Growing Together
Step into a virtual garden of spiritual growth and community connection with the "Growing Together" podcast. This podcast is a nurturing space for individuals seeking to deepen their faith, cultivate relationships, and explore the boundless beauty of a shared spiritual journey.
Each episode of "Growing Together" is a breath of fresh air, where Pastor Michael, Syd, Nic, Pastor Holly, and Pastor Roger try to navigate the twists and turns of life while staying rooted in faith. Their warm and inviting presence makes you feel like you're sitting in a cozy living room, engaged in a heartfelt conversation with old friends.
Diving into topics ranging from personal growth and self-care to building resilient relationships and fostering a sense of community, the podcast aims to equip listeners with the tools to nurture their faith in all aspects of life. Through scripture readings, open discussions, and interviews with experts in various fields, "Growing Together" provides a holistic approach to spiritual development.
Whether you're a lifelong believer, a seeker on the spiritual path, or simply someone curious about how faith can shape lives, "Growing Together" offers a welcoming haven for everyone. Tune in during your morning routine, while taking a leisurely stroll, or even during a quiet moment of reflection – the podcast fits seamlessly into your daily life.
Join the "Growing Together" community and embark on a journey of discovery, growth, and genuine connection. In a world that can sometimes feel disconnected, this podcast reminds us that nurturing our faith and cultivating meaningful relationships can lead to a life that's deeply fulfilling and spiritually abundant. Subscribe now to start your journey of growing together in faith and fellowship.
Growing Together
Jesus 101
What makes a miracle truly miraculous? In this thought-provoking conversation, we peel back the layers of Jesus' supernatural acts to reveal their deeper purpose. Far from being mere spectacles to dazzle crowds, Christ's miracles served as powerful demonstrations of how faith activates divine intervention.
We examine multiple Gospel accounts where Jesus performed extraordinary healings – from a Roman centurion's servant to ten lepers – highlighting how true belief consistently preceded supernatural results. Perhaps most fascinating is Christ's repeated instruction for recipients to keep their miracles private. This counterintuitive command reveals Jesus' focus on transformation over publicity, substance over spectacle.
The discussion takes a compelling turn when we share a recent miracle from our own congregation. A woman diagnosed with aggressive cancer received prayer, only to later discover the disease had completely vanished. This powerful testimony bridges ancient accounts with present reality, challenging our often-skeptical modern perspective that demands video evidence before acknowledging divine intervention.
Most profoundly, we explore how Jesus crafted his miracles and parables with timeless relevance, ensuring his message would resonate across generations and cultures. Unlike historical figures whose words become outdated, Christ's teachings maintain their potency regardless of technological or social evolution. His genius lies in communicating eternal truths through everyday examples that remain universally meaningful.
Ready for a fresh perspective on forgiveness? Join us this Sunday as we explore the profound statement: "I am not releasing you from the debt, I am releasing myself." Discover how letting go liberates not just others, but your own spirit as well.
Finally got that buttoned up today.
Speaker 2:Hey Nick, there's something on an auction that you need. It would look great in your front yard. What holiday? No, it's a cat no. It's something he can shoot the cats out of. It's a Civil War cannon? Oh, that would be fantastic. It's only up to $300.
Speaker 1:$300 is worth it, Nick.
Speaker 3:How much is it originally.
Speaker 1:Well probably about $16,000. Yeah, wow, get it, nick. I'll put it in the front yard of the church and we'll try to shoot it.
Speaker 2:I ain't scared.
Speaker 4:Hey.
Speaker 1:I got the powder. I ain't scared, we'll try to. I got the powder, we can shoot it At least once.
Speaker 3:Shoot bowling balls out of it, if nothing else we could say we're like a Civil War.
Speaker 1:It's a reenactment. Because we're so close to Schönbrunn we could say we're some historical landmark, yeah sure.
Speaker 4:There was a battle of organic church. It was a slight skirmish.
Speaker 2:As soon as I see that, oh, Nick needs that. Yeah, that'd be cool.
Speaker 3:So Roger almost got hit by a semi over the week.
Speaker 2:Yes, my navigator, oh, you need to. Instead of telling you you need to turn, you know Like a Lyle in advance. Yeah.
Speaker 3:You sound like Chase about me now.
Speaker 2:You're right there.
Speaker 3:You need to turn here, so I start turning.
Speaker 2:He's like hanging on the horn, I said and she's hollering at me so I didn't see I didn't.
Speaker 4:Oh lord, that probably is the true test of any relationship. Yep, just go on a road trip, yep.
Speaker 3:Hey you know, and Even airports do it too.
Speaker 4:I get so yeah, I haven't done that too many times.
Speaker 3:We were going into Denver. It was my first time flying alone and it was with Chase and Denver's a big airport and it's got like trains and stuff going and then you have no service in the trains so we got separated at one point. I'm screwed. We found each other, though I'm tired.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I am exhausted.
Speaker 2:I thought it was Monday today. I'm thankful it's not. I told my dementia patient I would see her on Wednesday.
Speaker 1:She said it's not.
Speaker 2:I told my dementia patient I would see her on.
Speaker 1:Wednesday.
Speaker 2:She said today's Wednesday, she's calling you out. I said oh, and I've got dementia.
Speaker 1:Irony, irony.
Speaker 2:I said see your brain, my brain, I'll see you on Friday. She'll forget. I ever said it. But she called me out on it.
Speaker 1:That's the good news about being wrong.
Speaker 3:No, that'll be the one thing she remembers. She'll hold on to.
Speaker 1:Well, I have kept myself busy today. I left work early so I could get some of the grass mowed before it rained. So I came and did that. It was about two well, it wasn't quite two hours on the mower, about an hour and a half on the mower, and then I came in and finished the coffee cart, or next step on the coffee cart. Did not finish it, it still needs the base with wheels. Then I went out and put electric to the cross. It is fully functional at this point. Went to hang the lights Guess what Lights are missing a part. So now I had of lights. Um, and then what else did I do?
Speaker 3:did you get the lights on macbid?
Speaker 1:yes, yeah, yeah they're only missing the transformer, so I just ordered the transformer. It wasn't. It wasn't a huge deal, but I got them for next to nothing, so yep I thought you had those lights or all these different ones. No, those are the lights, but they're missing a part. Well, you got them, I just opened them. Oh, no reason to open them, I didn't need them.
Speaker 3:Well yeah, that's true, there wasn't any power out there.
Speaker 1:You had them for six months.
Speaker 3:Oh, it's probably been six months.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's probably been every bit of six months.
Speaker 3:Speaking of lights, I had a string of lights from last year that we never ended up putting up to go outside. I had like $178 rebate come in the mail on Saturday. I'm like oh. I'm using this for Mother's Day.
Speaker 2:I must do something wrong. I never get my rebate. Oh, we get all of ours. Really, it looks like junk mail.
Speaker 1:That's the trick. It looks like junk mail, it's just a little card.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's a little tiny card. You have to like yeah, it looks like junk mail.
Speaker 2:Perforated edges. I thought, do they email them too?
Speaker 1:You can call them or email them and they'll reissue them if they haven't been.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's been so long.
Speaker 1:Well, but they know they track them by your address. So yeah, and your email address too, I think I don't remember for sure.
Speaker 2:I was like I'm going to ask Pastor Michael what I need Listen.
Speaker 1:I had over a hundred dollars worth, and my wife spent every bit of it.
Speaker 3:Same yeah. But I've spent every bit of it. Same yeah. But so I was like well, I'm going to finish getting the rest of the lights because we have our backyard fencing all around like well, three, yeah Three, because then the fourth, well, I guess kind of four. The other gate is shorter, but anyway, the second, third and fourth string. I'm putting the bulbs in and then I attach them and none of them work besides one bulb. And I'm like what?
Speaker 3:is going on and I'm trying different extension cords. I'm seeing if it connects to this one Like what's? What is the issue? The stinking light bulbs weren't like in all the way but it felt as almost because they're waterproof. Yeah, maybe, that's probably it almost felt like you were going to break them. Is it like the Edison bulbs? Yeah, yeah, maybe. That's probably why it almost felt like you were going to break them.
Speaker 1:Is it like the Edison bulbs? Yeah, yeah, they're waterproof. So they have like a there's a rubber gasket in there you have to twist past.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it has to be yeah, yeah, that's exactly it.
Speaker 2:Do they all work now?
Speaker 3:They all do now.
Speaker 1:Yay, yes, oh, I also hooked up the washer today too. Now I've got. Every time I come in this building I find a new job you have to plumb the dryer. I have to run a gas line, it's because you keep bringing stuff down and doing stuff. I want to do.
Speaker 2:It keep saying greater can't be greater, unless we get there can't be greater.
Speaker 1:Doing the same thing we're going to need a greater storage yeah well that's for sure. Looking at one of those too, trying to figure out how I can get it down here with my tesla, though hey, my dad got his from that lock.
Speaker 2:What's it called lock?
Speaker 1:is it one of those metal ones?
Speaker 2:like the shipping container yes, oh, in cam In Cambridge and they delivered it.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I want to say it was free delivery.
Speaker 1:That's what I want.
Speaker 3:I want to do a fixer-upper of a shipping container.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like turn it into a tiny home A little yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh, you need two of them though.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Either side-by-side or one on top of the other.
Speaker 3:Up and down, yeah, but then it wouldn't be a tiny home. I guess it'd kind of be a tiny home. It's still very much so be a tiny home.
Speaker 1:Very much so. Be a tiny home by the time you put the insulation in that thing. What's the wall of that? Or the width?
Speaker 2:It's nothing. It's just 8 feet, nothing there. Well, actually it's less than 8 foot, because legal highway is 8 foot.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:So, yeah. So it's got. Yeah, so it'd be under 8. Yeah, it'd be under that fly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you can see it, roger, I can see it. Roger's eyes are fixed. He can see the fly. He saw it in 3D. It's high definition. So on 3d, it's high definition, 4k, I'll tell you what. Oh, it's amazing. I forgot about that. Now what?
Speaker 3:we gotta hang the tv still too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I quit, I'm retiring as of right now tonight you have to hang no, oh, but my problem is is I'm running out of time before my schedule gets busy, and so I'm trying to squeeze in as much as I can before I get to the point where I just simply can't.
Speaker 2:You're going to be exhausted when you have to travel. Oh no, he'll get cranked up for that.
Speaker 1:Well, I know, but he'll.
Speaker 4:You know I'm doing, listen we could just shoot you out of the cannon. Shoot you out of the cannon. It's a good idea.
Speaker 1:It's a good idea. So, for the festival that I'm going to or the competition I'm going to, I have a show this Friday, then I have two the following week.
Speaker 2:Yes, and then the competition.
Speaker 1:We could be well-practiced and listen, come back, it's railroad festival, so I have the whole week railroad festival. I perform on friday night on the gazebo stage, but I have a show friday afternoon too have you ever lost your voice? Uh, no, I, I mean it. Yeah, it has happened, but I'll be okay. Okay, plenty of time in between to recoup. Hey, stay hydrated.
Speaker 2:The 27th, hydrated with honey or something. Yeah, the 27th. I have to be gone for about two hours, okay.
Speaker 3:So he won't be at the festival.
Speaker 2:It's a set-up day, it's fine, I know.
Speaker 1:What day of the week is that? I don't know. 27th.
Speaker 2:Tuesday, thursday, it's fine? Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 1:There won't be a whole lot on.
Speaker 2:Tuesday. Anyway, I got to go back to the eye doctor and he's going to fit me for a new pair of glasses. Oh, that I can really see, my dad won't get his new glasses because he's still getting injections, so it might improve even more.
Speaker 1:So he's waiting. I'm going to get an injection too, so he needs taillights to come home, you need a speed injection, something I have never dragged like I am today. I'm dragging. I wish you guys could have seen me can you stop with that, please? Sorry, no, actually I can't. My nerves feel like they're coming through my skin what's it called?
Speaker 2:it's a fidget he made his own fidget, it's a toggle and an eyelet the is is.
Speaker 3:If my hands were on it, I couldn't stop either uh, the electric out to the cross.
Speaker 1:And I don't know if any of you have ever seen that it was this old beat-up plastic box. I'm not even sure how they had it attached to the cross. So I started doing my homework, trying to figure out how I was going to do this, like make this work. So I called one of my guys at work. I was like hey man, like this is what I'm working on, what do you? I started doing my homework, trying to figure out how I was going to do this, like make this work. So I called one of my guys at work. I was like hey, man, like this is what I'm working on, what do you think? And he was, like, stop by and see me tomorrow. I'll give you some pointers. I show up in his maintenance shop today and he hands me a box almost fully built. He's like here I had to put it on the cross, which it was still difficult because that cross is steel. They're like what are they About? Three inch I-beams? Yeah, they're solid. Did you take the wood off the back before you?
Speaker 2:Wood has been off of it.
Speaker 1:Where have you been?
Speaker 2:Not here.
Speaker 1:No, I haven't been here. My phone was dead. I've been calling him for three days. I mean, it's fine, I don't care. Um, maybe, maybe it keeps coming up Spam. Yeah, maybe, that's it.
Speaker 2:Potential spam.
Speaker 3:Your phone now knows not to answer, michael yeah.
Speaker 1:So I got the, got everything wired up out there and as soon as I came inside it started to downpour. I was like, thank you Jesus, there was lightning and I'm hanging off of this crop like working on it. I was like I ain't stopping because she's almost done, but that's been a project that's been on the list for two years at this point. Lots of people say they're going to help do it. Oh, take care of that.
Speaker 2:Not, I said the little red hand it's not an easy job.
Speaker 1:It required a special skill set, but it's all wired up now nothing you can't find on YouTube, oh, yeah, that's a fact, that's the only reason this building is still standing. I learned how to use a what do they call it? A pocket hole jig on a YouTube video.
Speaker 2:That's what my kids do they. Youtube, everything.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm working on that coffee cart, the base of that coffee cart, and I didn't want the screws to be like run sideways through it and I didn't want to use metal plates because I wanted to be able to put the casters on. I was like man, how do you do that? I was like pocket holes are the answer. But how do you use a pocket Like? How do you make a pocket hole?
Speaker 4:It's easy.
Speaker 1:honestly, it's really easy.
Speaker 4:I had a kid show up from Roto-Rooter one year to fix the bathtub. Nope, and he immediately got on YouTube and started YouTubing his way through it.
Speaker 1:That scares you, doesn't it? And he was like yeah.
Speaker 4:I'll be back tomorrow. I don't have the right parts or whatever, and I'm thinking get out of here, that's what you're going to do, I could do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, how much you can charge me for this, so I think I ended up doing that myself. My wife is always fascinated how much stuff I can fix on my own. I mean, I wired the whole basement on the one side, just like.
Speaker 1:I'm walking around I got my my little tool belt on with my stuff in it and I'm just like but I need to be able to, like, I need everybody to leave me alone today. Honestly, I'll be honest, I was thankful I was here by myself, because it was so quiet in the building. I was able to sit in there on the floor and argue with myself about how I was going to do this. I was going to make it work. Go out to the cross. Do the same thing out there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I feel not needed anymore.
Speaker 1:Uh-oh Well, Roger, YouTube's just getting too good.
Speaker 2:You're always going to be needed. Yeah, right.
Speaker 1:But the reason I have this in my hand, by the way, sid, is it is a 3-16th toggle, which doesn't seem fascinating to anybody. But do you know what size hole you need in order to use a 3-16th toggle? 5-8ths Half inch, half inch, half inch. Really, doesn't that seem excessive? Yeah, it does, it's really excessive.
Speaker 2:But if you drill it just a little smaller, you can take and shove it up in there.
Speaker 1:Well, I bought a half inch drill bit today, so guess what? It's a half inch hole, because I didn't have a half inch drill bit when I came yesterday to do this. I have every other size not a half inch.
Speaker 1:Well, now, I do, but it's all those ones laying on the floor. I went through all of them trying to find a half inch, but I didn't have one. You could have got one that was close. I didn't have one that was close. I mean, I guess there was one there that probably could have been passable, but I would have been making a mess. Just one half inch.
Speaker 2:That's what the broom's for.
Speaker 1:I'm done cleaning up my own messes at this point. So tomorrow I'm going to install some gas line Hopefully don't kill anybody. We'll see you got dope?
Speaker 2:I don't know no not that kind of dope. Hey, that's inappropriate. Not that kind of dope.
Speaker 1:It's pipe, dope, pipe dope, I knew what you meant I know Everybody else might not have. No, I don't have any, but I don't have the pipe either. So I'm going to go buy the pipe. You're going to have it threaded. It's already going to be threaded. Oh, okay, you're going to buy a length that's threaded. Yeah, I'm going to buy a four foot length, because that's really all I need. Buy a four foot length and a T, and I'll be good. So there's a gas line. Now we're just talking maintenance.
Speaker 4:So this this is a maintenance episode.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Church Maintenance 101.
Speaker 1:There's a T already coming, or? I'm sorry. The line just comes to an abrupt end and at that end there is a fitting running into the gas stove, so I'm going to take that fitting off, put the T in. The gas stove is going to come off the top and then the other one is going to go over to the dryer.
Speaker 4:Okay, we on the same page. Now we got a valve. Glad I had to explain it.
Speaker 1:You need a valve.
Speaker 2:For what? So you can shut that.
Speaker 1:There's already a valve there?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, but what if something goes wrong and you shut that? You got to shut that valve off. And then what if we have an event?
Speaker 1:There's a valve already. What if they have an event and need to stove? Then they use the big stove? The valve is after the big stove. Well, yeah, yeah, but you don't have a big stove, can they use both stoves? If you have another valve, yeah, they could. Yes, I'm not gonna put a valve in, just so we're all clear. Just I'm just being honest. It's not gonna happen well at my house.
Speaker 3:Chase now wants to move our bedroom not bedroom gosh our bathroom into the laundry room and our laundry at least he's a plumber and can I know, but I was like the laundry room is the one room that's like completely done and I I said from the get-go. I said we're starting this room and we are finishing it and we are never touching it ever again, because like there's just so much stuff that's like halfway, or you know, and I'm like don't be touching my laundry room.
Speaker 1:You know how I fixed that at my old house.
Speaker 3:Sold it.
Speaker 1:I wish I were kidding. Yeah, but I'm not. When I left that house, there were so many half finished projects. We got to this house and I'm like man, this is nice.
Speaker 4:Nothing to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Although I walked past a doorknob the other day is nice, nothing to do. Although I walked past a doorknob the other day, I was like that doorknob's loose, I'll get to it. And then I come down here and work for four and a half hours.
Speaker 3:Well, I can't do it there. I don't have any screwdrivers.
Speaker 1:All my screwdrivers are here. No-transcript months. I mean, we hadn't even been in the house for six months no and the thing went bad. That's where he bought it from, so I don't feel bad. It's a lowe's problem, not a michael problem now I'm not condoning that. I'm just saying that it wasn't covered under the home warranty. So Jesus.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what about him?
Speaker 3:Nice guy that's a nice guy yeah.
Speaker 1:Upstanding citizen.
Speaker 3:Performed miracles.
Speaker 1:Yeah, performed a miracle or two.
Speaker 3:One or two.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 10 out of 10.
Speaker 4:Would hire again. You could argue he's still doing it, amen, you guys might just want to still mute my microphone just asking me to leave at this point this is a farewell. This is a farewell show, so he's gonna act up he just Yelp reviewed Jesus yes, I did.
Speaker 1:Oh, let's look. Let's see if there is a Yelp reviewed.
Speaker 3:Jesus, oh I'm.
Speaker 1:I did, is there? Oh, let's look what. Let's see if there is a.
Speaker 3:Yelp review. Oh, I'm sure there's a lot Yelp.
Speaker 1:Does anybody even use Yelp? I've never utilized Yelp.
Speaker 2:I never have.
Speaker 1:Okay, oh okay. Jews for Jesus. These are all people whose name is Jesus and they own businesses. Yeah, very interesting.
Speaker 3:What if you put Jesus Christ?
Speaker 1:Okay, this one is a bit questionable. Hunky Jesus and Foxy Mary competition oh, five stars. Questionable Hunky Jesus and Foxy Mary competition. Nope, five stars, no, and it is a pride event.
Speaker 2:Of course.
Speaker 1:Of course it is. So there's that for you folks. Google that Some more useless information that we have stored away in our archives. What's tonight's topic?
Speaker 2:Jesus, his key mirror, oh, his timeline, the timeline.
Speaker 4:Oh man. Well, that tells you how prepared.
Speaker 1:I am for tonight. Chat GPT. He's like this is my last show.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You might have to fill in for the next few weeks. Oh boy, why Somebody has to hit that card. Tonight. My dad is at the farm because the local carryout down there is doing a Queen of Hearts.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:And there's seven cards left and at this point it's like $270,000.
Speaker 1:Okay, now here's the thing, and this is just. I'm just asking, I'm not just asking a general question If he hits, is he paying for the carpet in church, like I mean $270,000. If he's taking you away, that's fair.
Speaker 2:I mean, I think that my dad is a very generous Five grand is really nothing to ask, if I ask absolutely, you pulled me away from podcast. Yeah, the least you could do this is the second week in a row, see, and he put tickets in for me too.
Speaker 1:There we go, there we go. Maybe Don's going to win.
Speaker 2:I said I'm highly blessed in favor. Yes God, if you're producing miracles. I can tithe by a percentage off of that money, let's go.
Speaker 3:Now did he put his name on that though.
Speaker 2:No, he's got my name on my tickets. His name is on 40 tickets because him and my cousin's husband split.
Speaker 1:Do you have to be there?
Speaker 2:You get half if you are not there. You get all of it if you are present, gotcha.
Speaker 1:I don't even know what that is. I've never even heard of it.
Speaker 2:I mean, I've heard of it.
Speaker 1:It's a big deal. Yeah, it's kind of like bingo for guys, isn't it Right?
Speaker 2:Something like that.
Speaker 1:And it can last a long time. Like 52 cards.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so 52 weeks.
Speaker 4:Unless that queen of hearts hits yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, queen of hearts, hit yeah yeah, yeah, I don't know how it works either. I just know that my name's in there 10 times. They did one in either jewett or sio a few years ago. There was like a millionaire like yes, like coming in on a helicopter yeah, like a private helicopter, like to play.
Speaker 1:So if he hits so your dad's number of his 40 tickets, his name would have to get pulled Right and then he would pull a card.
Speaker 2:No, he's got a number on that card of the seven cards that are left, uh-huh. So if his name and that card is the Queen of Hearts, then he gets the money Gotcha. Yeah, very interesting. Oh, I wonder how that works Out of those seven cards that are left.
Speaker 1:How does he get to pick that number? They've got the cards plastered up on the wall, taped up on the wall and they've got their number, but his name is already like he has to buy into it every week.
Speaker 2:Yes, every week. And so, on those 40 tickets, those 40 entries, he gets to write a number, a single number, on the 40 entries, whatever number of those seven he wants, so like he's got five tickets on each number Interesting.
Speaker 1:Interesting and so if they pull his name but it doesn't hit we go again next week. Interesting, interesting.
Speaker 2:But I had a dream, I had a vision, huh, mm-hmm Interesting.
Speaker 1:But I had a dream. I had a vision hey, Don is going to get rich.
Speaker 2:I had a vision and God said I'd be tithing $30,000.
Speaker 1:Let's go.
Speaker 2:But I think we're only up to like 280 or something this week. That means at least one more week. I mean, should we leave early again, again next week?
Speaker 1:Next week? Yeah, hey, I'll tell you what.
Speaker 2:Listen, I had to drive 45 miles an hour home last week. So he could follow you, so he could follow me.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we're going to be on location next week.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, come on down, let's go.
Speaker 4:We're recording on location.
Speaker 2:We can set up in the camper or in the bar. There's three campers down there.
Speaker 1:There's the bar. All we need is a little bit of electric. We can do it. Actually, that's battery operated. We could literally do this from anywhere we have electric.
Speaker 2:Every camper is hooked up to the main fuse box, where we have electric.
Speaker 1:Oh goodness.
Speaker 2:We have an outhouse as well.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm not interested in that, but okay.
Speaker 2:You might be down there. The carryout has plumbing. You can just walk across the street Back to miracles.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:What was Jesus' first miracle? Turned water into wine. Water into wine, yeah, water into wine.
Speaker 3:Now Bartimus. He was one of the disciples right.
Speaker 1:No, bartholomew, bartholomew, Ah, never mind, not Barnimus.
Speaker 3:I know that was going to be my leading into this too, because I'm like, oh yeah, we just talked about him. No, we didn't.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:We didn't talk about him. She just wrote down her notes. Never mind, Well forget it, Well forget it. She just threw her papers up in the air. She's done.
Speaker 3:No, I kind of just wrote mostly his miracles.
Speaker 1:I'd like to just point out that that's another Mother's Day. His mom pushed him to turn the water into wine? She did he said I've not yet come into my own, and she's like, just do it. And so he did. Yeah, man, I could have had that Mother's Day message. We could have served wine on the way out.
Speaker 1:No no, probably not. Okay, hey, that's why this church is fun, folks. No, I'm kidding, we don't use real wine in communion, at least not that we tell you. It's just a little tiny sip. You don't know, maybe that's why my wife doesn't like it. Bye, don, bye, guys, hit the jackpot.
Speaker 2:You leaving already.
Speaker 3:It's time already.
Speaker 1:It takes me an hour and 40 minutes to get down there. That's crazy. Where are you going?
Speaker 2:Down below Barnesville. Do you listen?
Speaker 1:He doesn't.
Speaker 2:I promise you.
Speaker 3:So he got his eyes fixed, but then his ears broke. I don't know, his ears just started going too.
Speaker 1:I told him the other day. I was like dude, you have to get a hearing aid. If you huh me one more time worse than my kids. You go out there and get a gym.
Speaker 2:Not even a gym you have a safe trip Not the gym, head into.
Speaker 1:Bellsville All right, john, drive safe.
Speaker 2:Bye, you go in that gym and you on that end and somebody talks to you from this end you'll go, huh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you can take these headphones off of him right now and I can talk at this level and he will still go, huh oh.
Speaker 3:I know, but Chase would say the same thing about about me, though, but we all know he mumbles, so it's a little bit of both. No, you were talking about the mother's day, yes, and then, like a message, and another one, um, was he? So god was in, is it tyree or is it okay? And a greek woman knelt before him um begging for him to like rescue her possessed daughter, uh-huh, so well, demon possession is a big one that comes out quite a bit.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, honestly it does like it's hard to get track of all these yeah, well, I have 28, 29, 30, 33 considering.
Speaker 1:ascension is a miracle Healing things that he did.
Speaker 4:Oh, yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:That's not true. That's not true. Yes, it is no, I'm sticking to 33. So we can run through them in order if you want, I think we lost too much time in the intro.
Speaker 4:I agree.
Speaker 1:I'll just hit the bullet points, then we can pick the ones we want to talk about.
Speaker 4:I think one of the main things throughout his miracles is he's always—I'm not saying he's testing people's faith, but he wants to see how much faith people have, and more or less those are the people that he's blessing. Are those people with true faith, not just people that want something for themselves, not just for people who want to see the miracle happen as a spectacle, but for you're gonna perform miracles, I know you can do it, and he's like all right bye, you know then yeah I think it was his son also needed healed maybe I wasn't in last week's podcast.
Speaker 1:I don't remember that conversation I think we briefly touched over it as when you went to the bathroom, my brain is fried um one of the the things I agree with you entirely because he actually the um. The pharisees basically ask him to perform a miracle. They tell him perform a miracle and he says that's not how this works like yeah, it's not, we're not gonna do that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, this isn't a magic show.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, right, yeah, yeah. Not what I'm trying to do here, not a circus sideshow, yeah.
Speaker 3:Okay, so the Roman officer. It was his servant who was paralyzed. I know we talked about this?
Speaker 1:No, we didn't. Yes, we did. No, we didn't.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we did know, we talked about it last.
Speaker 4:Well, I've got it right here, okay, okay, so matthew 8, 5 through 7 uh, yeah, oh okay, so he goes into capernum yes and they call him a centurion, at least in this edition of the bible uh I've got like the third grade level over and he's actually he's trying to get this healing, believe it or not, for his servant yes, which is that right?
Speaker 3:there is like oh so there's this powerful roman yes, I thought that was concerned about the well-being of a servant, which is kind of, especially it being a roman officer yeah, yeah, so that I think impresses jesus from the beginning yes um, and he he says to Jesus, he says I do not deserve to have you come under my roof.
Speaker 4:So other soldiers see this. They hear him say that and of course Jesus is actually astonished to hear him say that, like he's actually saying like no, I'm not worthy of you because of, in fact, I'm a Roman, you know, I'm a soldier, all of these things that come along with that. And Jesus says I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, but the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown aside into the darkness where there will be weeping. And and then he says to this Roman soldier so he's making that point that it's not so much that this is happening because I'm performing this miracle, it's because you believe it, it's because I can do it through your faith. I can't just do it because it's something I want to do so I could show off.
Speaker 3:Yes, there was something, and I can't think of what it think of that I wanted to touch on roger. What do you have?
Speaker 1:uh, nothing oh good gravy. I'm looking up something specific. I need to. I need the um. Yeah, okay, the healing of the leper is um and the rising of gyrus's daughter yes, those two miracles. There's blind men, there's addition, but after each of those he says um, he tells them not to tell other people about it yeah, like very specific to tell them to not tell other people about it. I'm curious about that, Like what's your mindset? Why do you think he does that?
Speaker 4:Part of me thinks he knows they're going to.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:I'm not saying he's baiting them into doing it, but it's almost like he already knows Sinners yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, in my mind it went to he's telling them not to tell anybody because if it starts to get out which it already was out at that point but the more it gets out, the more these people are following him. That fly landed right on your forehead. I tried to get it too on your forehead. I tried to get it too. Uh, then the, the pharisees, sadducees, the leading priest, all of those people are going to start to follow him and question and, like it becomes more aggressive, faster. That would be my thought.
Speaker 4:I mean, I can't imagine why else they would or was it kind of like god with adam and eve, like don't do it I don't know you knew yeah, that is curious but, like I said, it could be just because in some ways it's like he already he wanted them to know, like already, like I know you're gonna go tell people, you know you can't help it, but I want you to know. Did you hear?
Speaker 1:that fly on the podcast.
Speaker 4:You heard it I want you to know that you probably you know, you probably shouldn't, just you know, because sometimes it's with your faith, it's like keep it in perspective, yeah, every time. I guess, when something good happens to you, don't go throw it in everybody's face.
Speaker 1:I just got a whole Sunday service y'all. I just got a whole Sunday service From Nick or from From my reading. I don't even know what.
Speaker 4:Nick just said he's on another topic.
Speaker 1:I'm on the same topic, but I want to know why jesus didn't tell what was telling him not to tell. I've got a whole list. I can't share them with you because now you got to listen to a sunday service okay.
Speaker 3:So I have another hmm like thing to bring up, like, oh well, why did he do that? Um, I was talking about the, the mother's faith, like with the daughter yeah, the daughter who was possessed. And, um, jesus said first I should feed the children, my own family, the jews. It isn't right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs. He wasn't being rude to the lady. Instead, jesus was explaining that he came first to god's special children, the jews, and she was like well, that's true, lord, but even the dogs under the table?
Speaker 3:were allowed to eat the scraps from the children's plates. He's like good answer and basically he changed his mind because of what she said. But I was kind of like, hmm, like, was he just doing that, trying to fall? Follow the law? You know what I mean of the Jews.
Speaker 4:No, I don't think so Well, if you remember, he doesn't ever do anything outside the law, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's true. So you know, got that going for him. Yeah, very true, very true.
Speaker 4:I think again, it's like he knows his main purpose is to get people to show their true faith. Yeah, that's what it's all about.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:You know it's not saying I'm going to do these miracles so people believe in me. He doesn't need for that to happen.
Speaker 3:Yeah, what he?
Speaker 4:needs to see is people of true faith, yes, and he wants other people to see people of true faith, so they can. You know those. Those people can be an example. You know, that's the only way he's going to truly convince people. You know, because otherwise, if you think about it, yeah, you could say a hundred people could have saw that miracle. But we're not talking in our time, where you can post it on facebook or where there's cameras everywhere. Yeah, in those days like okay, so so 100 people said they saw a miracle.
Speaker 3:You know yeah, so they say yeah.
Speaker 4:But it's not truly believable. But if you get one person with true faith, I think it goes a lot farther. It can you know that's a seed. Yes, yes as he talks about, you know, mustard seeds. So that's what he's after.
Speaker 1:So that's what he's after I don't mean to jump ship again, but I'm gonna. I saw it was meant to be a funny, but it said number of miracles over history and it's a bar graph and everything's really really high until the invention of the camera and then it gets really really small.
Speaker 3:The irony too.
Speaker 1:And it stays small until it gets to the invention of Photoshop, and then it gets really, really small, and then um the irony too.
Speaker 2:And it stays small until it gets to um the invention of photoshop, and then it jumps back and it was one of those.
Speaker 1:But that's I mean, that is very true, because we are in a mindset of pictures, or it didn't happen. You need to show me proof. So if you're telling me that there was a miracle, there was a miraculous healing of a person or somebody raised from the dead, I need to see a video of that person being raised from the dead, or I need to see, or it's not real, it can't be real.
Speaker 3:But now it's to the point of well, is it real or is it AI? Exactly that's what I was going to say.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So I think that it's interesting that our mindset has shifted as time has evolved to the miracles having to be tangible, something physical, that you, we had a miracle in our building not long ago and not like one of those like, oh, that was miraculous, like Holy crap, that was miraculous, like it was wild. So there's a girl who had attended here a while ago. She started coming again. Her and I had talked several times after she had stopped coming. The first time there was a messy split with her husband and just like there was some uncomfortable tension in the building and she, after they divorced, learned that she had cancer and it was pretty aggressive. She couldn't eat, couldn't gain any weight, like was pretty aggressive and they basically told her it wasn't a whole lot more that you do for it. Like there was like we can do radiation, we can do some things and slow it down, but really there's not much. We can do radiation. We can do some things and slow it down, but really there's not much we can do.
Speaker 1:The following Sunday she was here and she had told Kathy that she had found out she had had cancer and she wasn't doing well and whatnot. So she comes up front, we pray for her, she goes down in the spirit. The next week she comes back and we get the opportunity to pray for her again. Week three, she wasn't here and I was like, oh, that's disappointing, but you know whatever. Week four, she tells me that the cancer's gone, like she doesn't need to have radio, like they can't find it, that now all she's got to do is start eating and putting on weight again Like there was nothing.
Speaker 1:And now here's the thing that could have been something that the doctors had done prior to, but we were believing that it was going to happen. So I think it's a shift in mindset, it's faith, to believe that these things can happen. And that's what it's all about. We don't see miracles like we used. We can't prove that that was anything that we did. I don't need to prove that it was anything that I did, because here's what I said God is good and that's all that matters. If it was something the doctor did, if it was just simply a miraculous healing from prayer, hey, I'm going to take either one. Yeah, you know what I mean. Yeah, I feel like people too often want this to be some sort of showy miraculous. Yes, the Bethel Church in Redding, california. Are you familiar with Reading California? Familiar with them? They put out a lot of worship music yes.
Speaker 1:A lot of worship music. Their worship team leader husband and wife duo, I think had a child die and that church fasted and prayed that that baby was going to be resurrected. That baby was not resurrected, that doesn't mean that there wasn't something greater at play.
Speaker 2:There was still something happening.
Speaker 1:I feel like we've just gotten to the point where we have to have it in our own hands.
Speaker 1:We have to touch it. We have to feel it. You know we talk about Thomas and you know I get there's logic behind that. There's pictures where it didn't happen. I get it. But I think there's also that faith, the grain of a mustard seed. If I can believe that God can move that mountain, god will move that mountain. It's silly stuff, you know. I said you know I'm gonna go out here and finish this electrical work and not get electrocuted tonight.
Speaker 4:And I did.
Speaker 1:I didn't even get shocked from my own stupidity, so like that alone is miraculous. That's a, that's a plus.
Speaker 4:Oh, just giving everything up to God.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:You know you have to do that Because you're praying for this miracle, whatever it is, and it may not be God's will, or it may be God's will but it's not time yet. So you think, well, he didn't answer that one, well, you don't know that, you don't always know that.
Speaker 1:And if you're not?
Speaker 4:totally giving it up to god in the moment and keeping it that way in your heart, then it's, it can become uh, you can become resentful, you can become doubtful.
Speaker 1:He didn't answer it in the way that yeah, yeah, yeah roger and I sat in a meeting one time with somebody who told us that their wife was gonna die within months like my wife's gonna die, but that's okay. God told me he's gonna give me a new wife. His wife's going to die, but that's okay. God told me he's going to give me a new wife. His wife's still alive. Now I want to just say something to you. Do you know how hard that is to put back in your brain, like to not?
Speaker 1:look at that person and say yeah was that God or was that your own selfish?
Speaker 3:Yes, do you know what I?
Speaker 1:mean Selfish, once it's. It was such a bizarre statement and very matter of fact, oh yeah, very matter of fact. She was going to be dead before her family reunion and he was going to get a new wife, and it was just like that. And I thought, hmm, after the family reunion was over, I was like so what's going on? Because it was god says god, god told me, god told me, he showed me, I know, I know, yeah, I know. And then oftentimes we get wrapped up in that it's the same with those end of times prophecies oh, the world's going to end on this date, at this time. Listen, no man shall know the time, and I believe that wholeheartedly. I don't think you can do math to figure it out. I don't think you can do math to figure it out. I don't think you can look at the stars and figure it out. I think you're going to know when the trumpet sounds.
Speaker 4:You can sell a lot of copies of the Inquirer when you do that, yeah right, I mean they made a boatload of money doing that?
Speaker 1:Are they still making that? Oh yeah, smut survives anything, smut survives anything. Yeah, they'll still put that to paper. Yeah well, yeah, bat boy and Jesus hanging out in Tatooine.
Speaker 4:Well, you know, you touched on Deborah and your sermon and that's another great point is everything that she's doing is she gives it up to God. That's God's will. Everything that she's doing is she's not doing it for herself or her own glory as a woman, any of those things. Everything that she's doing, she's not doing it for herself or her own glory as a woman, any of those things. Everything that she's doing is focused on what God wants, and in fact that's what I want to do. I kind of wanted to take that a step further. In next week's podcast is just talk about Deborah and her life. Can we call her Debbie? Yeah, we can call her Debbie.
Speaker 1:I like Debbie. No, actually I like little Debbie life, and can we call her debbie? Yeah, we call her debbie.
Speaker 3:I like debbie. No, actually, so that I like little debbie me too. Yeah, okay, we'll bring the little debbie.
Speaker 1:Okay, now I'm on next episode now I'm back, I'm back. We got a snack cake here.
Speaker 3:I'm back we're reeling them in our snack cake.
Speaker 1:If you promise snack cakes and vanilla or no, not vanilla, snack cakes and coke every week, I'm in. Count me in. Um, no, I had a. I went to a church one time where the lady was preaching a christmas message. She was talking about joseph and she kept calling him joe and I was like I'm gonna snap like joe schmo, like you're not buddies with him.
Speaker 4:You don't like right, yeah, you can't just decide to call him joe. So this just brought up an interesting thought for me. Okay, so say you're, say your uh elvis gig just takes off and you become a star doing this and you're playing all these shows. You know, all these stars have their list of things they need in their hotel room. What's mine, what's on that list? What five things do you need?
Speaker 1:well, first of all, coca-cola. There has to be I was gonna say that's number one has to be coke in was going to say that would be number one.
Speaker 3:Has to be Coke, mcdonald's Coca-Cola. I'll take cans Cold cans.
Speaker 1:I'll take cold cans, but it has to be a 12-pack. I don't want those little mini things. Oh yeah, 12-pack of cans. Oh man, have you ever had this is? You have probably never eaten these. It's a little Debbie snack cake, but it's a strawberry-filled shortcake.
Speaker 3:It was white icing just on the bottom it looks like a Swiss cake roll. Yes, that's it. They are so good. I love those.
Speaker 1:I shake a box of those out into my side table drawer. The next thing I know I've got a stack of wrappers laying on my stomach and I can't move. Strawberry shortcake roll yeah, so that's for sure on the list. I also love peanut butter M&Ms, but I can't eat too many.
Speaker 3:I feel like I can't move.
Speaker 1:Of course I mean I eat one of those like shareable size bags.
Speaker 4:It's like Well then, that probably shouldn't be in your hotel room?
Speaker 1:No, definitely not.
Speaker 3:You're not going to fit into your.
Speaker 1:I'm already nervous. I bought a brand new belt for my peacock suit 98% confident I ain't fitting in that suit, even taking out of it.
Speaker 3:I'm just saying in this story time right now, like say, let's just say right now that you're going to perform somewhere in Florida and we're preparing right now for your hotel room right now, Like you're not going to fit in it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for your hotel room. Right now You're not going to fit in it. Yeah, that's very possible, very possible. Yeah, very possible.
Speaker 2:We have to have a bicycle and a treadmill in it.
Speaker 1:You know that in Vegas there was a guy that they called Fat Elvis, that he just sat and sang he couldn't stand up, he couldn't. No, he couldn't, he was a big guy, big dude. That's why they called him Fat Elvis. He couldn't stand up, he couldn't. No, he couldn't, he was a big guy, big dude he couldn't stand. That's why they called him fat elvis, yeah it's like fat albert, oh my god yeah I don't know who it was.
Speaker 4:I can't remember who it was, but I saw they needed, like all, orange m&ms, yep now like they had to be all orange.
Speaker 1:There was one artist and I wish I could remember who it was who required an autographed photo of Bugs Bunny in his dressing room when he arrived. If Bugs Bunny wasn't there, if there wasn't an autographed picture of Bugs Bunny when he arrived, he would leave. Maybe it was Elmer Hood. His reason was anybody can write Bugs Bunny on a photo of a rabbit and consider it a day Like there's no real Bugs Bunny, right. So like I mean, it would be a photo of Bugs Bunny but just write, just sign Bugs Bunny on there. It's not like Bugs Bunny is going to actually autograph it.
Speaker 1:And he said if they didn't, you knew they didn't have their stuff together. If they couldn't figure that out, they were never figure out how to pull the show off okay, huh, which I thought was really.
Speaker 4:I was hoping he had a logical.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I thought was really interesting yeah because I, you know, I watch constant. There's constant productions happening at our theater yeah, and it's amazing to watch some of those bands come in and they don't have their stuff together oh, I bet we did a patsy cline tribute and she was an absolute train wreck. Well, she, she was mean, she was just plain old mean. Really, she was not somebody you would want to socialize with, and I think the band was probably.
Speaker 1:No, just mean Diva is like I want things a certain way. She was just like that sounds like trash. That was she's just honest.
Speaker 4:I don't even think she was honest because she wasn't all that great herself.
Speaker 1:But, there's that, so the band. I was probably slightly afraid of her and so they didn't perform well together, because they're always worried about the.
Speaker 4:You're going to be a Patsy Cline impersonator. You better be dead on. Yeah, Because for me there's no second.
Speaker 1:Same with Loretta.
Speaker 4:You can't fake, loretta, you better be.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I got to see a Loretta tribute that played with her actual band members. Now they weren't all the most current band members, but there were guys that played with her over time and it was amazing. You would have thought for sure that Loretta was on stage. The voice, the mannerisms, the whole thing was just spot on. Yeah, I would have married Loretta Lynn, by the way, didn't care how old she was, she was my favorite, just the way it is.
Speaker 4:Yeah, she's up there.
Speaker 1:Yep, All right, Jesus miracles.
Speaker 3:Back to the drone. Back to the drone.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, this fly is going to have to go.
Speaker 3:I know, I know.
Speaker 2:He's pushing his luck yeah. He's going to get squished here in a minute? No, he won't. No he won't.
Speaker 4:Well you were talking about. You know he doesn't want anybody to let the word out that he's performing these miracles, because it's going to cause all this backlash and you know, Well, of course, that's what it does, and a lot of these high priests, a lot of the Pharisees, they start to claim that all the stuff that he is doing is coming from.
Speaker 1:Satan, beelzebub, and not from God. Yes, he can do these things because he can cast out demons, because he is the prince of demons. Basically, he can cast out demons because he has control over them.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so they're painting a complete different picture of him and what he's doing. And, of course, what Jesus says is one of my favorites because, yeah, it ties into Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln used this very phrase, but Jesus says you know, if it's from, you know, beelzebub. He said every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined. Every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then they will be your judges, but if I drive demons out by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Speaker 1:I thought you said straw man and I was like why?
Speaker 4:is this Strong man yeah?
Speaker 1:it was strong. I was like why does a straw man live in a house? Sounds like he would be more in a barn or a field. Sorry, my ears wobbled.
Speaker 4:I'm just thinking of Wizard of Oz.
Speaker 1:I know that's exactly what I thought.
Speaker 4:Because doesn't the witch call him that Straw man or something? She called him something like that, I don't know.
Speaker 3:Tin man? No, yeah, I think the witch calls him straw man or something, once he's ready to light him on fire.
Speaker 4:Let's not go down that road.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because once you get me down that road, you ain't getting me back. That's one of my all-time favorite movies.
Speaker 4:So he goes on to say he who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven, men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.
Speaker 1:Blasphemy.
Speaker 4:So I think another thing that ties into why he's performing these miracles is because he's always got something like this to say he always has a message behind him Again. He's not just performing miracles, walking away like hey, that was cool. I was thinking, let's see what I can do next.
Speaker 1:He always five and the guys on the way yeah, he's always got this point boom, and I was.
Speaker 3:I was thinking that earlier, like I'm sure there were times he's got the ultimate mic drops yeah, but like these, I'm sure there were times that the you know john didn't decide to write something about him eating a sandwich, overlooking the water because there was no revelance to it.
Speaker 1:Right, you know I there was a uh, what's the guy's name that was in um the gaither vocal band?
Speaker 1:he's a funny guy, uh who oh uh, I know who you mean by can't think of his name. Uh, lowry, yeah, lowry. What's his? Uh, bruce chris lowry, no, no, no, are you really? I don't know who you mean, but I can't think of his name. Lowry, yeah, lowry, what's his? Bruce Chris Lowry, no, no, no, are you really what, babe? Bruce Lowry, no, oh my gosh, you guys stop. There's an echo in here. Bruce Lowry, bruce, bruce, bruce, bruce, bruce. Stop. I hate this. What was his name? I told you.
Speaker 3:Mr.
Speaker 4:Mr Lowry, sir, I didn't even hear what band you said Gaither Vocal Band Gaither Vocal.
Speaker 1:Band Mark Mark Lowry. He was talking about Jesus being in the house preaching the message, and then they cut open the roof and lowered down their frame.
Speaker 4:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, and he's like you know, jesus' sermon didn't even make it in the Bible, but the miracle did Like. This interruption made it in the Bible but not the message. The message didn't matter in that one.
Speaker 1:It was more about the faith of the friends, yes, who were willing to go above and beyond. Now he was making a joke out of it, but then he said uh, he followed up with. He's like could you imagine? Be sitting in sunday service and you hear his chainsaw fire up on the roof? Somebody lowers their friend down. He's in a baptist church, so they can't do anything and they gotta pull him back up it would happen in a pentecostal church.
Speaker 3:We just like, look, all right, okay, here we go, just keep worshiping oh geez michael say he's gonna be working on stuff. Yeah yeah you see me fall through the attic. Is that roger's blood?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, what's going on up there, what's dripping on?
Speaker 3:me what do we got so his miracles um so when he healed the 10 men, yet the one was the only one who showed back up basically like that's just baffling Like ten men. So the other nine just didn't care.
Speaker 1:That's how it is, isn't it? That's how it be, that's how it be.
Speaker 3:It says Luke 17, 17 to 18. Jesus asked didn't I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner? Except this foreigner.
Speaker 4:Foreigner, foreigner, foreigner, this peasant no, just kidding, you sound like Jim Gaffigan. And then, of course, he heals the demon-possessed boy and he actually gets a little. Jesus gets a little out of sorts on this when he's getting a little upset with people because, uh, what's he say? Um says oh, unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? He's like bring the boy here. You know like I gotta do this again.
Speaker 4:People still aren't getting it like yeah, how long do I have to keep this up?
Speaker 1:well, there were more miracles. Do I have to perform? There were times when he was telling that his disciples were saying well, why couldn't we cast out that demon? And he says you have so little faith, you can't even try. You have so little faith. I had one. Oh, it's my favorite one Duh Lazarus. I thought for sure you'd mention that he also gets angry in that moment as well.
Speaker 4:Oh, yeah, because.
Speaker 1:Lazarus is sick. They show up and say your friend Lazarus is sick, please come Do something about it. Basically heal him, make him well. And he said Lazarus will not die. It's all good, we're going to hang out here for a few more days, yeah.
Speaker 1:I'll get there when I get there. Yeah, we're going to hang out here for a few more days. And the purpose behind that was everything was very intentional. His decision on when to go was intentional. He knew that Lazarus needed to be dead for several days in the tomb and buried in order for them to know that he was in fact dead and not just sleeping. And that was Jewish custom Right. So he waited until Lazarus was buried. He went back, calls Lazarus out of the tomb. Before that he's speaking to Mary and he says she says well, yes, I know my brother will rise in the last days. And the next line is Jesus wept. He was frustrated that in all of this I am talking and you still aren't listening, you still don't hear what I'm saying to you.
Speaker 1:Now I blame Jesus to some degree because he always spoke in parables, right? So like everything he says sounds like a story. I'm not sure like is this literal or is this a story. But again, it was intentional.
Speaker 3:And I think that's also like my brain when it's like there's got to be stuff that that we're missing.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, you know what I?
Speaker 3:mean Because he? There's no way he talked about like this. I guess there is a way because he's, you know, he's Jesus.
Speaker 1:But yeah, the point with the parables. Though the scripture says that there were people who will not understand, he will speak things that people will not understand. There are some people permitted and some people not permitted to understand what he says, and so I believe that that is the definition of revelation knowledge. That is the definition of revelation when you're able to finally read it and understand it.
Speaker 4:But you have to understand, I think, the parables. He does keep them simple and I think it's his greatest tool in getting to people and understand what he's talking about. Because if he just kept it simple and said if you sin, you're going to hell, I mean everybody would be like okay.
Speaker 1:All right.
Speaker 4:There it is, I guess. But when he can put it into words that people can really sit back and think about, then they might go. Oh, Because it's all from like life experience. That's what I was going to say he uses things that these people do in their daily lives to get them to understand what he's trying to do. So you know he's yeah, he's, that's the teacher. Part of him is he's trying to you know, speak. He's speaking their language.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 4:He really is. Yeah, but it does. Yeah, it forces them to pay attention.
Speaker 3:He's almost dumbing it down so much for them that they just still don't understand.
Speaker 4:But still he's making. Yeah, you do have to pay attention, you know. He's not just going to, like I said, make these simple statements and it kind of goes over people's heads or take it or leave it. It makes people think a little bit. That's what he's trying to do, yeah, buddy, and of course he knows that this is going to be for all time. He's just not speaking to the people that are standing in front of him. He's talking to people, for all time.
Speaker 1:That's the struggle, I think, for them is he's speaking in such a way that, while it does seem simple, it almost seems too simple, and then there's always follow-up questions.
Speaker 4:Yeah, Well, you know I talk about Lincoln a lot and one of the main books that he read as a young child and through his young adulthood was the Bible. So when he's writing stuff like the Gettysburg Address, it's the same thing. He's not just talking to the people standing in front of him. For that generation. He's leaving it for people for all time to ponder and think about and to grow upon. So he took that right from Jesus himself.
Speaker 1:Now and I would like to point out that when he's writing these speeches, he is not aware that he's going to be assassinated, that he will be a highly looked at historical figure, because at this point there have been presidents before him who are unremarkable, quite frankly.
Speaker 1:Presidents after him. That would be unremarkable, and so the brain power that goes into that, that says I'm not doing this just for myself or just for these people, I'm doing this for all the time, was really, again, genuinely a remarkable statement or concept. Yeah, and it was quite simple.
Speaker 4:It wasn't a long-winded Right. You know, these parables really aren't long-winded. No, yeah, they get right to the point, but it does you have to think about it. I think like the Gettysburg Address is yeah, you can read it, but you have to think about it. Yeah, you know, and it may, it'll make sense for all time. It will never not make sense, just as jesus word, his words, will never. It'll never come a generation where his words don't make sense, which is remarkable because they're yeah, there's plenty of people in history the things they say, that's only good for their time.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah you know, we can't. You know yeah they're not applicable to what we're doing today, so that's a rare gift to be able to do that and again, like I say all the time, it's 2025, it's we have the easiest access, the best access yeah, to anything you like.
Speaker 3:use that to your advantage, especially when it comes to the Bible, you know? Yep, yeah.
Speaker 4:Well, and I think Jesus knows how much this world is going to change. Oh yeah, one thing that us human beings, we never know what the future holds or what it's going to be like. But he knows exactly what it's going to be like. So he knows that what he's saying can hold throughout all time, because he's sticking, for the most part he's sticking to things of the earth yeah you know the things.
Speaker 4:You know that that will always apply. No matter how technology changes things, no matter how much it changes us as a people, those things will always remain the same yeah before we button up, can I give you a teaser for sunday's message?
Speaker 3:so, is this the one you just thought of?
Speaker 1:No, no, I oftentimes my sermons start out with some thought that I've had in the middle of the night or whatever, and a lot of times I won't write them down. I'm like, oh, I'll remember that in the morning I'm awake enough and I'll remember that in the morning. And I never do so. The other night I woke up with this statement in my head I am not releasing you from the debt, I am releasing myself. That was the whole statement. Okay, the next morning I get up and our Bible reading is the parable of the slave who owed the King thousands of dollars. The King forgives the debt. Then he goes out and has his fellow slave arrested and I was like, holy crap, that's it. So, um, that's going to be this sunday's message, and it was very, very timely for myself. So just be prepared for what's going to be a kind of a wild ride on sunday. I'm excited.
Speaker 1:I'm excited to see where it comes from and where it ends up and yeah, it's not about debt like money, debt like I mean.
Speaker 3:Obviously it can be yeah but it's about forgiveness generally speaking yeah, yeah, because that can be a debt that you feel.
Speaker 1:Well, I think holding unforgiveness like I, and I say this one all the time. It's you know, you're drinking poison hoping the other person dies. They don't even know. You're upset with them right.
Speaker 4:They care that you're upset right but you're living this life of absolute misery.
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, absolutely, yeah, I'm excited for it.
Speaker 1:So that'll be a good one. I'm excited too. Yep, really excited. Uh, we're also um, did a really nice job on the fundraiser shouldn't say fundraiser the the building fund last week. I think total right now is $1,600. Oh wow, in a week, so felt pretty good.
Speaker 3:I thought Cooper was going to take that money. I did too, for a second.
Speaker 2:He was having a good old time up there yeah.
Speaker 1:Whose turn is it to pray?
Speaker 3:Shit. Yeah, I think it's me.
Speaker 1:Alright, you remember which button.
Speaker 3:Mmhmm A.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 3:Are they?
Speaker 1:labeled A, b, c, d. Yeah, oh, I didn't know that. Learn something new every day.
Speaker 3:Dear Heavenly Father, lord, I just thank you For this time that we've had as we close on our adventure with Michael. I just want to thank you for everything that he has put into this podcast and just started it, and I'm fortunate that we can take it on and see where it goes with everything. I just pray that you be with him in the next areas of the church that he's focusing on. Lord, we know he's up to good for your kingdom. I just pray that we all have safe travels in your name, amen.
Speaker 1:Amen.
