Remembering The Way Of God // Sermon Conversations

This episode covers 2 Peter 3:1-9 and Peter’s urgent call to remember the way of God.

We talk about how Peter, near the end of his life, writes to stir up wholesome thinking by reminding us of the words of the prophets and the commands of Jesus through the apostles. We look at the scoffers who mock the promise of Christ’s return, deliberately forgetting God’s power in creation, the flood, and the coming judgment by fire.

At the heart of it is God’s patience: He is not slow, but patient, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance. We also discuss what it means to be people of the Word, hiding Scripture in our hearts, praying it back to God, and using it to disciple others in everyday life.

If you need a fresh reminder to trust God’s timing and keep your mind fixed on Him, this episode is for you.

Website: jasonshepperd.com

Audio Devotionals: startwith7.com

Have Conversations Toward Salvation: goodgodgospel.com

Church Project Network: churchprojectnetwork.com

Good City: goodcity.org

“A Church of House Churches: An Articulated and Applied Ecclesiology”: https://a.co/d/0vgpSjV

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Rethink and Return Podcast. My name is Jason Shepherd. Every week we rethink things and return to God's original intention and his design. We generally do two recordings a week. One, we revisit a passage of scripture that thousands of people are studying together in a Sunday gathering or in a house church, and we're just gonna dig more deeply into these things, things that we didn't get to talk about enough or want to talk about more that we're wrestling with. And then we do another recording where we're just working out leadership things, being a pastor and ministry or leading stuff, and wrestling with tensions of how we live like that in our world today. So we'd love for you to like this, subscribe to it, share it with other people, enjoy the podcast. We'll see you soon. Hey, thanks for joining us for Rethink and Return Podcast. We love getting back into a passage of scripture and just getting into the word together. And I'm always grateful to do that with me, amigo.

SPEAKER_03 0:53

Always glad to be here and get a ride shotgun with you, bro.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Thanks, dude. We're in our next to last uh podcast on uh Peter, Second Peter, and uh in chapter three, and it's been good, man. I love I love this little letter, this little book of the Bible.

SPEAKER_03 1:08

I do too. And I I'll, you know, I have to say I haven't read this book in a long time. And so it's like to kind of rediscover these words has been good.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:16

And then also, you know, like part of this, our podcast is like we have stuff, a lot of people have this fascination with the tea that you drink and why that matters. And I found out a fun fact this week. One of the things that I didn't, I'm not really a tea guy, I'm a hot tea guy, yeah, but I'm not a cold tea guy. I don't know about like like I know you got your favorite places, but I did find out a fun fact about cold brew tea.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_03 1:42

Yeah, fascinating. And I I saw this on the shelf at a grocery store, it's so cold brew, and I was like, that seems like an oxymoron. It's like jumbo shrimp. It seems cold brew seems like two different things. And I've I found that uh cold brew means that you steep the leaves in a cold temperature for an extended period of time, and what it does is it makes the drink smoother and it takes out the bitterness. I thought this was a fun fact, and so it just requires longer to steep, and but the flavor is greater and it sometimes has less caffeine.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Well, it means a lot to me that you took the time to capture that, Dave. I did.

SPEAKER_03 2:18

I wanted to track that down because I know people care about the tea. I'm glad they care about the different nuances of the tea. And so I think cold brew, the next time you see it, you have a sense of that it was it took longer to make and it was made in a colder environment. Thank you, Dave. There you go.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Very meaningful. I'm assuming people did fast forward 10 seconds, and maybe you're catching up and we're about to start doing what we're supposed to do. But if you want to hear some stuff that uh tea fun facts, you can go back. You can go back and well, here we are, 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 1. We're wrapping this up, right? Right. Peter, the dude, I love to get into his mind about man, I mean, he's finishing a letter, but he's also finishing a life.

SPEAKER_03 3:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

I mean, to have to have this moment of realization that you're about to die, and to be spending those moments on this, right, I just I I mean, I I keep respecting the guy more, you know?

SPEAKER_03 3:20

Yeah. And it's like I I keep the thing I notice is I mean, he's got a deep love for the church. Obviously, he sees something happening that he's addressing, but this is a different Peter than the denial Peter, the rest the restored Peter on the shore, and the Pentecost Peter. Like this is a different dude when you think about where he came from and where he where he ended up. I mean, this this says a lot about the journey of this man's life, that he ends up thoughtful. I mean, he went from being erratic, he was known for being erratic in a lot of mood swings, and and now you get to this, especially this part, and he's talking about his love for the church, where he like where I know where you started where it says dear friends, you know, and that that matters.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

Well, you know, you know, I mean, living within him is the same spirit that lives within us. He's being saved from the same uh situation that we're being saved from. He's being sanctified in the same process that the Spirit of God is sanctifying us. So, yeah, 35 years later, we should all look back and go, that's a different guy. Yeah, that's a different woman. Yeah. And um, yeah, that is the that's the joy. And so now we do have a little snapshot of this progressive sanctification. Right. Like he he he was here, then he was here, and then he was here. Well, like we didn't get all of this life together, but the fact that God let him live this long, and then we get these little snapshots away. I mean, that's a gift, and a reminder to us that it's the same thing that's going on in us.

SPEAKER_02 4:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Yeah, so he starts off verse one, dear friends, my second letter. You have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I just love, you know, dear friends, you hear it a couple times in here. Man, I do love you. Yeah. And um, I I think if you spend time teaching people, feeding people, you develop a love for them. And I I mean, I know I do.

SPEAKER_03 5:09

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Over the years, I mean, I've spent a lot of time, you spent a lot of time teaching people. Yeah, and I can go back to where I was as a youth pastor for a little bit of time or a little bit longer, or you know, here for a very long time, yeah, and just go, you you just you develop a heart for the people that you're teaching. Peter did here. Dear friends, I I'm writing to you, I'm teaching you again, and I love you. You know, don't you agree with that?

SPEAKER_03 5:32

I agree with that. I think you know, one of the one of the principles of teaching and preaching is that you have to love the people. You have to have love in your heart. Like I know as a speaker, that's usually the last question I ask myself before I get on a platform is do I have enough love for this room?

SPEAKER_01 5:49

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 5:49

Right? Because it like if you don't, you end up, you know, the the talk of the sermon can take a whole different trajectory without love. And so I think, you know, he's saying, Dear friends, uh this is my second letter to write this to you and to stimulate a wholesome thinking. Like you can see this guy drawing his people to drawing his readers to come with him. Yeah, you know, I think that's powerful. And that this that and you talked a little bit about, like you said, uh, you know, I want something to happen in you that would turn your turn your heart more to Jesus. I think you talked about that idea of we talked about in some leadership, but the uh one click at a time, like you're getting people to turn their heart one click at a time towards Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

Yeah, you know, one of my sons wears a hat that is a military saying that says, Dials not levers. Like uh you know, the the the elite, uh forces, they they they they look at things as a dial, not a lever. We're not gonna pull a lever and and this thing change. We're gonna slowly turn the dial on these things.

SPEAKER_03 6:52

That's really good.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Dials not lovers. And yeah, I I think Peter is going, yeah, I I want to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. And then that he's trying to change the way they think. And scripture says so much about thinking, be transformed by the renewing of your minds, you know. Um, and so you could look that up and see a lot about thinking, a lot about minds. And Peter's like, I am trying to get I'm trying to get you to change. I'm not trying to fill you up, I'm trying to turn it. Yeah, there's a big difference. I mean, we can get filled up with knowledge, but if it's not stimulating our thinking, changing it, uh, if we don't walk out thinking a little bit differently today about Jesus and about ourselves in light of him, uh I I think we've missed it.

SPEAKER_03 7:37

I do too. And I I think that, I mean, what you know you wrote quoted Romans 12, too, about being transferred to renewing your mind, uh, that you may prove what the will of God is. Like it, you know, Paul says it's got to drop out of your head and into the rest of your life. I mean, I think that's what he was, you know, in order to spot these false teachers and all these things that are trying to get in the church, he's like, your heart has to be engaged in this because all you have is a bunch of knowledge. You're not gonna see what's coming at you. Your heart has to be in it and being led by Jesus because that's where the discernment is, that's where the real insight of it is.

SPEAKER_01 8:11

Yeah, that's right. Yeah, so he knows what the Spirit's done in his life, and he's trying to he and he he's reiterating again today here. The Spirit of God is writing these things to you. And so, and then he gets to verse two. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles. I love that he's tying, stimulate you to holy thinking, yeah, to recalling the scriptures. So good. Every once in a while, when I'm speaking with church planners or young pastors, I'm like, you're gonna figure out how much you believe in the power of the spirit and the power of the scriptures.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

Like, do you believe in the power of the scriptures? Yeah. Do you believe that the Spirit of God wrote the scriptures of God and that preaching the scriptures uh is enough? Like, I I like to say, you know, I get I get kind encouraging notes from people here all the time, which is good for my soul, of course. And a lot of times, like uh I got I got a note yesterday where somebody just said, My life is changed here, you know, just continually teaching me the word. I'm different, my family's different, my business is different, my life is different. I'm like, oh, it's beautiful, but they acknowledge it's the word. Yeah, you know, like I'll sometimes say here, my job is to expose and explain what the scriptures say. Then everyone who's listening, it's their job to accept it if it's true and then apply it to their life. So our job is just to go, here's what the scriptures say. You know, John MacArthur, old dude, I mean, he he died. But he he said, Um, I'm not the chef, I'm just the waiter.

SPEAKER_03 9:41

Right.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

My job is to serve it up fresh and hot.

SPEAKER_03 9:43

That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You always you sometimes say, you know, I'm just the delivery guy. I'm just here to drop off the mail. Like, yeah, don't shoot the messenger, you know. But there's so much to this because I think people think that they can know God without knowing the scriptures. And I said the other day when I was I was talking about that student thing I spoke at, that when the spirit speaks to somebody, he uses the verses that we know.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

That's good.

SPEAKER_03 10:08

When the spirit of God speaks to someone, it's not just random thoughts. It's like, oh, I just saw something, but the verses that are floating around in our gray matter that we've read or remember, like that's what he's saying. I want you to call to remember it's it's those things that the spirit of God uses to communicate to us and to help us to be comforted and guided and to know his will and the things that we all want in life.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

Yeah, yeah, I agree with that. Yeah, I'm grateful for the word. I mean, imagine the uh living in this world, following the Lord without his word. I mean, for me, I like today, just a couple of places I was in in his word that I just had to sit and meditate on. And I I I'm I just considered these things, and I literally started praying them out loud. And then I go on a walk and I'm in the woods, and I'm I'm praying these verses back. Yes, I'm praying to the Lord, but I'm literally saying some words from Scripture. You know you're praying the will of God if you're praying the word of God.

SPEAKER_03 11:04

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

And um I think it's important. That's why he said, I want you to recall these words. That's right. You need to know them, you need to hide them in your heart. And I didn't memorize everything that I read today, right? But I may read the same passage again tomorrow.

unknown 11:18

Right.

SPEAKER_01 11:19

You know what I'm saying? I may just keep keep it in until I I I feel a little released from it to go to the next thing that's right where I need something else. But I'm gonna I'm gonna continue recalling it. And then the fact that I'll I hope to be in the Word again tomorrow, right, is gonna I'm it's gonna keep me recalling these things, you know.

SPEAKER_03 11:36

That's right. And and and so remembering looks different in different ways. I think people say, well, you know, I can't I can't remember scripture and the verses and numbers and all that kind of stuff. But like you said, like when you get it in your soul and it bangs around inside of your head and your memory banks, and you start, even if you remember a fragment of it throughout the day, that's right, that counts. Like when you pray it back to the Lord, even like you know, uh the other day I was talking to somebody about Psalm 46, and I like I could remember a fragment of it. That's good. You know, I and what I remembered was what I needed.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

That's that's good.

SPEAKER_03 12:09

So and the other way that I remember is a lot of times I highlight in my Bible, and if I can't remember the chapter and the verse, I remember that it's on the right hand side of the page and that it is colored yellow. Wow, right? And so I like in my mind I know how to get to it, even if I can't remember the numbers. So there's remembering looks different in different ways.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

We remember, we all remember a lot. We remember songs. That's right. We remember scenes in movies. Even if we couldn't quote, even if we couldn't quote like uh the words that were said in that scene, we sort of remember it, it affected us, you know. Yeah. I know that every day, everything I read is not gonna be like the lifetime thing. I mean, 365 days a year, right? Plus, you know, I I I mean, it's just this constant sustenance of the word.

SPEAKER_03 12:58

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 12:59

I have some meals that I remember I talk about, right? I long for again, but I ate today. What I had for lunch today is fine. It's gonna keep me going. Right. Um, if I didn't have it, I'd be in bad shape.

SPEAKER_00 13:11

Right.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

But it it wasn't, you know, my time of the word today was probably more than fine. But it wasn't like uh I don't know that 10 years from now I'll remember it. Right. But I bet I will two or three weeks from now. But my time of the word a couple of days ago, I I actually I don't, you know, it wasn't the kind of day like I had today in the Word.

SPEAKER_03 13:30

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

And sometimes it's the passage of scripture we're in, sometimes it's a situation we're in, sometimes it's a condition of our heart, sometimes it's the moment that God's choosing to do something, and every day the moment won't be the same. And so, yeah, I just think we need to just keep this though in our minds. We need to recall the words that are spoken to us.

SPEAKER_03 13:48

And be people of the word. I mean, uh like I I know, you know, when you did this on Sunday, you talked about uh your experience with uh the pillows. Like someone asked me if you were going to talk about the pillows today, so I have to ask you about because you ill you used it to illustrate being a person of the word.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

Well, I got yeah, I mean, I got to the uh I mean I got to the other side of the bed. Not that our we got a big bed, and uh, you know, our room isn't huge, but uh Brooke's nightstand is filled with her her stuff, you know, like her Bibles and her journals and her pens. And so uh, but I I what struck me because I don't always walk over there, I walk around the bed and go out this way. Yeah, but uh I'm moving the pillows because she's out of town and I'm trying to keep her side, you know. I don't know, I don't know. I mean, you're married now for how long? A year and a half?

SPEAKER_03 14:40

27 months. Oh my gosh. Can you believe it? 27 months.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

Nah, that's right, man. That's crazy. Time flies, dude.

SPEAKER_03 14:47

You know it, man.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

I love it for you.

SPEAKER_03 14:49

So good.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:50

And she's like that, like you know, she'll leave the Bible. Uh she also she always has it by her nightstand, but then throughout the day, uh, has it around the house and always has it open. Like there's always she's always in the process of reading something or I love that, you know, or or you know, a lot of times she's reading these obscure Old Testament things. I'm like, I don't know that story. Sorry, babe. I'm not I don't know. You need to read it to me. Yeah, I love that. But that I think that you use that as an example to say we want you want your kids to know that you're people of the word, that it that it matters.

SPEAKER_01 15:21

Man, I um when I was in college, you know, I grew up in Tyler. Yeah. And uh I grew up my like my youth pastor and his wife, Floyd and Sally, uh they had they had us in their house like every Tuesday night for Bible study. Crazy, man. And then they had stuff on Sunday night and Wednesday night. That's how I I grew up learning the word from people like this. And then when I was in college, there was this couple, they didn't have any kids. And uh so they opened up their home like on Sunday nights later or something, I can't remember the night, I think it was. And there'd be like a I don't know, hundred, hundred and twenty-five, sometimes hundred and fifty college issues throughout the house, man, just littered. Very nice house, big, no kids. And they had like uh an open invitation to a large group of us. You can come by anytime, you can just come in. And for years people did. And sometimes you just walk in their house, man. They had no kids, so this is like their ministry. You walk in their house, and um and it was like their family. Sometimes you'd walk in, and I remember one day I walk in, and this lady, her name was Sally too. She was in a corner of one of the rooms, her Bible was open. I mean, it was worn thin, underlined everywhere. And uh she was in the corner and just weeping. Like her, and I walked by, I couldn't find her, and I then I started, I'm so sorry. She said, No, Jason, come in. And her pages were wet with her own tears. And so that marked me.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

You know, people invited me into their home teaching the Bible, sitting down with me, you know, one of my a man who decided just sitting down, asking me questions. What do you think about this? People teaching me the word. Um, last night I have something where a neighbor needs something, and they end up, they they actually go to our church, and uh, we're at their house in their garage, Logan's with me, helping them move a table. And they're we're talking a little bit about some scripture there, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, like I mean, people who follow Jesus, like we're the word is part of the conversation, man.

SPEAKER_03 17:18

Yeah. And uh it should be for us. That's right. I always say, you know, you you know that you're that you know the word when you can use it to describe something about your life. Yeah, you know, like that when you have when you're familiar enough with the scripture that you could go, today is like, you know, or I'm facing a challenge that's like Philippians 4 30, like you can you can equate a circumstance to a verse, that's also as a way that you kind of know, man, I I got this stuff inside of me.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Yeah, that's really good. I think um, I think that's important, and I like to to be able to, whatever conversation I'm in, I don't always.

SPEAKER_02 17:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

I mean, sometimes it's just not it. I mean, one guy that I'm one guy that I, you know, I'm discipling, trying to, you're very busy, we're spending time, he called me a little bit ago. I called him back. When we connect today, I will likely say something to him and then we'll sometimes send a verse to them.

SPEAKER_03 18:09

That's good.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

You know what I'm saying? So like I want to know the word well enough that I can help somebody else know it better than they do.

SPEAKER_03 18:15

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

I want them to see like whatever they're going through. Like, there's some there is some scripture ready for you in that situation.

SPEAKER_03 18:21

That's right. And like that's called prescriptive discipleship. If you want to nerd out on that, it's uh it's like in the moment when you recognize a need, someone goes, I'm going through this, and you can access a verse to give to that person to say, like, hold use this and you know, read it and then follow follow it. That's good. Yeah, it's like writing a prescription for someone and going, read this twice a day and call me in the morning.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

I I yeah, I love that. I haven't heard that phrase uh or that title, that moniker, prescriptive discipleship. But I really like having the ability to go, I think this will help you. And it doesn't have to be somebody in a crisis, it can be they're thinking about something, they're wrestling, they're wondering, wrestling, questioning something. And I go, hey, consider this. And then next time we're together, let's talk about it. That's right. A lot of our discipleship goes back to the great Shema, you know, here, or is it the Lord I got of the Lord is one? And then he goes into, hey, teach these things to your kids, like when you're walking down the road, you know, when you're sitting down, having dinner, like having in your home. Like when the word is part of our life, uh that's how we're able to disciple somebody just sort of naturally as we're going along.

SPEAKER_03 19:26

That's right. And so this is why you've got to have a you've got to have a steady IV drip of scripture. Some you gotta have some sort of steady kind of That's right. We need it every day, and it may not be you may not remember everything you read, but like that steady drip of truth every day, every day, and it starts to get into the fabric and the system of your life.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

Yeah, yeah. Um next verse, verse three and four. Above all, you must understand the last days, scoffers will come scoffing following their own desires. They'll say, Where was this coming? You promised, ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning. Scoffers, we don't use the word much, but we're very aware of the idea here that Peter is saying they're gonna have people come and they're gonna question you with questions that you don't know the specific answer to. And they're gonna try to make you doubt. Like um it's a conf it's an intentionally confusing question. Questions are not always out of curiosity. That's right. Questions are often meant to confound and confuse. Yes. You know, I mean, a lot of times questions sow seeds. I mean, the way of Satan, our introduction to Satan, yeah, was a question. And he wasn't just being curious, yeah, he was sowing a seed of doubt.

SPEAKER_03 20:43

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 20:44

And sometimes the most insidious thing people do is ask a targeted question to sow doubt. Yeah. And here's what they're doing here, too. So good. They're doing the same thing, and they're just like, Where's this coming? You promise. But they're not being curious, they're not being innocent. That's right. They're casting doubt. That's right. Which I think is a really um it's a sadistic way to live. In fact, the proverbs mention often how people would go around and whisper a question, just so doubt, you know? Yeah. And um, that's what scoffers do. Scoffers are scoffing and they're making people doubt. And they're here, what they're doing is like, hey, uh, is that really going on?

SPEAKER_03 21:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:28

Uh what do you think is God really doing something here? You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_03 21:32

That's right. And like when you look at this verse, it you know, it says, They will say, Where is the coming? He promised. I mean, they're questioning Jesus, they're questioning the eschatology. Like, you think about the real issues that this that they're scoffing, they're like, That's right, he's not who he claims to be, he's not coming back. You know, he says, uh it uh you know, uh as it's been since the beginning of Christianity, like nothing's changed.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 21:57

Right? I mean, all of these like what you're saying, like the a question. can be diabolical in a lot of ways. And like I always found like when I did uh whenever I talk about good God gospel, like with students they're always freaked out. Like what if someone asks me a question I can't answer? That's right. Like when someone something like this.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

And I sometimes that's out of curiosity. Sometimes that's sure.

SPEAKER_03 22:17

Yeah, but I always say, well you have to qualify the question. So I always tell students to say if someone asks you a question you can't answer, your next question should be if you knew the answer to that question, would it change your relationship with Jesus? Or would it make a difference if you gave your life to him?

SPEAKER_01 22:33

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 22:34

And if they say no, you then you're like, well I'm I'm not going to answer that question.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

Jesus did actually operate like that sometimes. Yeah. Like he would get asked a question and they would be like he's like I'm going to ask you one back.

unknown 22:44

That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

And then when they couldn't answer he was like yeah I'm not going to answer that question either.

SPEAKER_03 22:48

And he'd say go away and read and read. Go back and reread the law right he'd redirect them. And so but if someone says I really want to know and this makes a difference on whether I give them a life to Christ then and if you don't know the answer you just say then I'm going to do everything I can to help you find the answer.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

That's good, Dave. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:03

I'm not going to be afraid to Google it up or AI it or what I'm going to find some answers to this question. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

Yeah. I do love that. And um you know the the other thing though is they can't answer this question. Right. There's no way to satisfy the answer to this question. That's right. Which is another insidious way of asking questions. Like I'm asked I'm asking a question that you you'll never be able to satisfy the answer to. I mean um where is this coming you promised? Yeah I don't know it hasn't happened yet. I don't know why. I mean that's not for me to know it's not my decision. I don't have anything to do with this. Yeah I can't give you an answer to the question. And that I mean scoffers like they're they're pretty good at scoffing. Like they've gotten real intelligent. And that I mean the the translation for us today with this particular question would be something like um it would it would be something like um I lost it Dave sorry. Well it it's getting people to doubt it's getting people to people are going to ask a question and I had an example I lost it I'm sorry but people are going to ask a question that's going to get you to doubt if God's really good. Right like I mean the question this isn't exactly it but the question could be even hey man if God really is good and he's really in control right why did that bad thing happen this week? Why did this kid get hurt? Why did this people get this person get this injury? Why did they have this disease you know this impairment and and we're going to a lot of us would go I don't know yeah I mean I can give you a little bit of an answer the world's broken and fallen right you know and this side of heaven we got a lot of reminders of that our own flesh our own physical illnesses our own whatever tsunamis and hurricanes like we got a lot of stuff in this world to remind us that the world's fallen but beyond that I can't answer your question. And people will use that question to try to make you go, yeah, see, God's not good.

SPEAKER_02 25:04

Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

And then then the cool thing is I have a response to that um for people I'm like great if got if you're going to say that God is bad tell me where all the good comes from that's right. Like because there's so much beauty right that's right. I love to ask people the question where does good come from yeah and so yeah that's bad man. That's that's that's broken. Where's the good come from? Yeah that's right. If you're going to take all that so that's why I love the gospel it has the answers to all of this. That's right. It has the answers to the beauty has the answers to the brokenness and then it has the answers to the resolution and reconciliation of it all.

SPEAKER_03 25:37

That's so good. And I I think with any kind of question that is meant to try to be a gotcha question, you know, you're you we always have the freedom to make them prove it. Like a lot of like I think a lot of leaders get rocked back on their heels because they think oh well I don't know that maybe you maybe you're right. And my response is if someone says you know Jesus never claimed to be God I'm like well prove that how do you know that to be true? Like you just you just like like your beauty question you just put the question right back across the table and go, you proved this to me.

SPEAKER_01 26:11

If you do care about it go look it up. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 26:13

That's right. Yeah so I I think this within all of this is uh is helping should help us to know how to answer questions and not be thrown off by things we can't answer.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

That's right. And being in the word that's right is one of the ways we can do it because he he he goes on to say you know um he goes on to say in the next verses but they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens came into being the earth was formed out of water by water. Like they deliberately forget Peter goes on here to use a lot of teaching that he's already learned in scripture that Paul uses too and so we do have an answer for these things. Now it may not be the answer that's going to solve and satisfy somebody's curiosity or insidious questions but we do understand what's going on. Yeah these people who are trying to disprove God by their questions that we can't fully answer they have deliberately forgotten God. Right. Like his power these verses he talks about God's power his timelessness he's the creator like they have forgotten deliberately all these things which for me means oh he he he he says what Paul says in Romans 120 I believe since the creation world God's invisible qualities and divine attributes have been clearly seen being understood from what has been made so that all men are without excuse. You know he he says I think in verse 18 although they knew God's right and then Ecclesiastes says God said eternity in their hearts that's right and so there is something as we look at all of scripture you know a systematic theology we're putting all these things together that when God made us in his image there is an awareness of his existence that some people choose to deliberately forget. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:02

How does how does someone deliberately forget the truth?

SPEAKER_01 28:06

Like in your experience with pastoring and discipling people how does someone deliberately forget truth do you think I think I think they've chosen to reject it okay is what I mean. I think the the default position is I have chosen to reject that there is a God who I mean he he he goes into creation here. I mean his response is they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed. So like people look at all this Romans 120 God's qualities are here and they go I'm going to choose to not believe that there's a God who did all this I'm going to choose to believe something else. Yeah. And so deliberately forgetting I think means I'm going to choose to not believe that.

SPEAKER_03 28:48

Yeah. So really that someone has to harden their heart.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

Yeah I mean that that's that's the one of the phrases scripture uses right it is and you you just I you wonder if um what comes first right like if the choosing this leads to hardening of your heart or a hardening of your heart leads to choosing this. Yeah. At least choosing this would lead to a hardening of your heart. Yeah. What gets somebody to the point to where they deliberately forget I don't know. I mean there's so much here about I mean the greatest mystery in all of scripture and the greatest miracle is how a holy God saves a sinful human being it's it's the greatest. Yeah. It's the greatest mystery and it's the greatest miracle. Yeah. And we have a lot of knowledge about it but still there's so much mystery. Right. And so how does God save someone it's a miracle and it's a mystery. Even though we know a lot there's so much more we don't know. So good. And so how does somebody get to a place to where man God gave I I think when we look at God's grace this actually helps us view God's grace a little bit differently because we're like actually God gave them himself and they chose against them.

SPEAKER_02 30:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:09

You know and we we should we should then go God did make anywhere in the world yeah wherever somebody is they're made in his image yeah and they then choose to deliberately forget something yeah there's a lot about that there's a whole there's there's weeks of theological podcast about this. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 30:27

But yeah and well and you know and it makes me think of uh 1 Corinthians 2 where Paul says these things are are spiritually discerned through the Spirit. He's talking about how how God revealed Jesus and he said the natural man couldn't understand it. That's right because they're spiritually discerned. So I I think some I think it's possible for someone to hear the truth and then to know it but it never drops into the realm of living it out or acting on it and in the process they harden their heart to it's I think this is how you get people that know a lot of scripture whose lives are off the rail in rebellion. Dude super smart quote Matthew and quote commission and grew up you know throw all this stuff out and yet their lives are out of control. Yeah you know and to me like they've made a choice they they still remember it but they don't they got it in their memory banks they got on the gray map they've deliberately forgot it they've deliberately yeah cut that thing off I think that was isn't that the warning of Hebrews where it says uh in the day of salvation do not harden your heart that's right right don't harden your heart to the truth.

SPEAKER_01 31:31

I mean it should make us who believe this go, God thank you for your grace upon grace. Your grace that I understood that you existed and then your grace that I came to believe in you. Yeah. Because that's where we go Ephesians 2 89 it's by grace we've been saved. Yeah. Through faith not of ourselves. That's right. It's a gift. And so yeah they deliberately forget and then I mean this is wild by these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed by the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire being kept for the day of judgment destruction of the ungodly I mean I want you to talk about that water and fire thing because I think I've kind of I've kind of read past that you know and you you elevated that on Sunday the the uses of water and fire in how God works I mean so much in scripture I mean these the elements that God talks about but water and fire seem to be used more than anything I mean you know Jesus said you gotta be uh baptized born again in the water and the spirit water represents life he was like coming out of your mother's womb that's water yep Genesis 1 1 to 1 2 in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth now the earth was formless and void and darkness covered the surface of the deep so I'm like between Genesis 1-1 now God created the heavens and the earth okay what was that like well verse 2 the earth was formless and void and darkness covered the waters yeah and so it somehow between Genesis 1-1 and 1-2 this big earth ball of water yeah came and then God moved it and did it and he did it all by a word yeah and I mean man I I don't know how many words I've wasted in life I don't know how many times I should have used words that I didn't I don't know how many times I used words I should have but God is just using words and the stuff that we see comes into existence it's it's powerful it's what it it it should leave us in just awestruck wonder yeah and to for deliberately forget this I mean this is what Peter's saying you've deliberately forgotten this right so by his word by his word he spoke water into existence and then by his word he created all things out of that water yeah and then by his word he used that water to destroy yeah I mean that's yeah he he out of the same thing he created and he destroyed and then out of the same thing that he destroyed he will recreate he recreated the world after the flood and then he's gonna by the by that same word he's he's reserved things for judgment with fire. I mean fire in the scripture almost always represents judgment andor purification so he's gonna purify things and judge and take away sin and then by his word there'll be a new heavens and a new earth goodness gracious I mean Yeah yeah I like to say if you don't believe that then what do you believe? Right right I mean if you don't believe that then what do you believe? Like that this is I mean as as beautiful as this world can be it's so broken too. It is I mean we we don't want eternity with floods and fires and I mean take out the can sinful condition of humanity if we were all you know completely holy still on this planet we got mosquitoes and mudslides.

SPEAKER_03 35:09

Right that's right.

SPEAKER_01 35:10

And um yeah I think um got creations groaning longing to be redeemed scripture says and it will be yeah and we're we're gonna we're gonna get a glimpse of all this yeah like he's gonna we're gonna we're gonna somehow see it and know it. Yeah and we'll be I mean we'll fall down and worship.

SPEAKER_03 35:28

And then he talks about the element of he uses that line of fire being kept for the day of judgment. So he talks about water he creates and destroys with water but then fire as judgment and uh like w or what do you what do you see in that what do you see in that verse well there will be a final purification of all things.

SPEAKER_01 35:49

Yeah. And so if if we haven't been purified you know by the blood of the Lamb uh fire for judgment will purify what we will be remaining in here. Yeah yeah wow and so you know I mean uh everything attached to hell uses words like fire mm-hmm you know and so I mean judgment darkness but also fire and so yeah I mean but again this is God bringing everything into perfection and holiness and and beauty and I I just really love that with the same God has the power with his words to take something that's destroyed and create something beautiful. Yeah. So whatever situation you're in I do believe this I mean if the gospel is true or if my friend as my friend Joe B Mottner says if the tomb is empty anything's possible. That's right like uh if all that's true then man God can take any situation you're in in your life as broken as it may seem and he can make something really beautiful out of it just by the same word.

SPEAKER_03 36:58

Yeah that's a good promise. I believe it somebody is driving along 45 today and he's that needs to hear that that God can take and that he can make something out of nothing. Like you're looking at a circumstance you're like there's nothing here that God can pull something out of nothing and make something broken into something beautiful. It seems to be his way yeah that's his way it it does and I and I and I think people have to we have to we have to wait on it. We have to trust that that that is his way.

SPEAKER_01 37:27

That is faith faith is being sure what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Yeah that's right you know I've had to tell some people close to me lately I'm like we we we gotta trust the faithful promises of God. Right you know and um yeah you just keep trusting the faithful promises of God. That's right. Um in fact the next you know verse eight I I said the title of it I said keep remembering the way God works. That's right. But do not forget this one thing dear friends with the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day. Like God has a way of working and he's told it to us through scripture and we need to keep keep remembering the way that God works. Yeah and um one of the ways that God works is he works through time. I mean he works through his word he speaks things yeah to create or judge and destroy and recreate and um he's always heading towards recreation by the way right I mean that is the that's the direction of God. That's true. He's always heading towards recreation. Yeah his his tendency his trajectory is recreation yeah um but he also he's so by his word but he also works through one of the ways that God works is through time. Yeah he works through time and um God uses time to accomplish his work and sometimes the way God uses time to accomplish his work is he chooses slowness. Yes right and I don't know if this is talked about enough like there is nothing in our flesh that enjoys God using time right in a slow way. Right. I have never said God please uh wait longer right could you slow this down a little bit right one of the Psalms I was in today uh was just you know David crying out where are you Lord and some of the recordings I did this morning for Star Wars 7 like how long oh Lord yeah it's just part of God's way so we have to remember the way that God works one of the ways that God's work God works is in time and one of the ways God works with time is he chooses slowness and the slowness is doing something that the quickness wouldn't do. Yeah and so that's why Peter's like just remember God's time is very different than ours.

SPEAKER_03 39:56

Yeah how do you think you know I while you're saying this I'm thinking about you know people living in a what we call a Houston hurry. Everything is compressed and people up and down 45 and trying to get in and out and all this stuff and how do you you one of the things you said Sunday is that we have to make this our usual perspective. Yeah how do you get someone to how do you how do you negotiate that tension between the hurry of the city and God taking his own sweet time to do anything like people feel that at the same time in their soul. Yeah how how do you how do you get how do you negotiate those two things?

SPEAKER_01 40:32

Well I mean I think we we have to have slowness in our life but also okay there needs to be moments of speed yeah you know I'm saying I mean like well one place I was in scripture today uh I can't remember if it was for my own self or start with seventh thing or for something else but so that's why I can't remember the the reference but it it just said God do you not remember that we're not here very long I think it was Psalm 89. God don't you so start with seven don't you remember that we're not here very long? Yeah we're like we're fleeting and fragile and so there is something about our life that we live with an awareness I'm not here long. And so I I I think we go we go at a speed but when you're trying to force something that you can't do that's when you know hey I'm stepping into God's thing. Wow that's a good sign you know I'm gonna go I mean you had Paul said I wear nine and a day with tears there's a lot of talk about rest but there's also a lot of talk about let's go yeah you know I mean Tim Tebow the other day I listened to him on a podcast recently and he was like he he was talking about this idea of rest and he's like I get rest he said frankly I think most of rest means resting in Jesus he said but I want to get to heaven exhausted that's what Tebow said yeah that's right uh I like to joke sometimes in this building actually in this room we've had former a former president and then even Tim Tebow I'm like we had a former president of the United States and the president of Christianity right exactly Tim Tebow but like uh I'm like I want to get to heaven exhausted and you know some people are like that's wrong I there's there's I I rest I have rhythms of rest but then then I'm working hard you know work hard and rest hard but um we can't we can't force the Lord's hand right so when I find myself working hard but something's not moving and I've done everything I know to do with wisdom and counsel and ability and resources then I go oh this must be God and he's going slow. Yeah and so when I'm walking in the spirit and not letting my flesh lead I go okay God okay how long O Lord uh please please come but okay you know and I I I think that's how we have to see it at least that's where I am no I mean I think that's good advice like that I think that is a great sign if you're trying to force something God's is telling you to wait and to you know if you like you said if you've done everything you can do like even the scripture says after you've done all you can do you have to stand.

SPEAKER_03 43:08

At some point you have to go God's gonna take me the rest of the way he's gonna have to fight the rest of this battle he's gonna have to open the next door he's gonna have to do whatever like when I a lot of times I pray for people I always say you know if I you pray for someone that is going to into surgery we pray for the doctors that they would do everything they could do and what they can't do that God would do that.

SPEAKER_01 43:29

Yeah that's how I pray. Right that he would do what man couldn't well you know like for example if I go have a great meal like there's these oysters that this guy makes in our city and I'll say God thank you for making oysters right and thank you for making someone who can make an oyster taste like that's right that's right and that gives God glory. I mean I give God glory for the oyster and the in the intelligence of the dude who's making the oyster like that. Right. I go to a hospital I'm like God thank you for making this brilliant man. There's a surgeon in our church and He's like uh so many people in our church, he's he he God's used them to save their lives. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, um, but like he would give God glory. So I give God glory for saving this person's life. And and then I give God glory for making this man and making him so intelligent and giving other people before him intelligence that we keep building on.

SPEAKER_00 44:21

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 44:21

And so all of it gives God glory. And so we just keep remembering the way that God's working. The cool thing is you don't have to choose to trust God's slowness. He's gonna do whatever you want. And so I I'm gonna go at a speed that I feel like is healthy and right. And of course, we learn that. We keep growing in that. We have good people. Some people go, some people, I'm like, man, you're leaving a lot on the table.

SPEAKER_02 44:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:45

I don't want to get to the end of my life and go, man, I wish I just would have worked a little bit harder. And some people go too much, and I'm like, man, I wish you would have spent a little more time with your kids. You know, so we're all growing in this and learning in this. And um, this is part of having a wise counsel in our life and seeing good examples in our life and living in community and letting the Lord convict us. And our spouse may say something, or may kids say something in the spirit or like or we may get burnt out. I mean, all these things are signed. We have to keep being sanctified in our speed. Yeah. But we don't sanctify God in his speed. That's right. It's really good. His speed is his speed does not need to be sanctified. Right. It's already, it's already exactly right. Right. But ours does, and this is part of our ongoing sanctification.

SPEAKER_03 45:27

So good. I love it. So I think, you know, when you uh you you saying that we have to live with a combination of pace and perseverance. You gotta be able to pace yourself. That's good, and you have to also persevere.

SPEAKER_01 45:40

That's really good and hard.

SPEAKER_03 45:41

Yeah, that's right, and hard.

SPEAKER_01 45:43

Really good.

SPEAKER_03 45:43

Yeah. So we gotta get this last verse because I think it is Yeah, verse nine.

SPEAKER_01 45:48

The Lord's not slow keeping his promise. Why is someone understanding slowness? Instead, he's patient with you. Why? Not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. Oh good. Like, okay, we just talked about God's slowness. Yeah, but why is why is he being slow? Because he's being patient. That's right. Why is he being patient? Because he doesn't want people to perish. Yeah. Like what God is about is people's salvation. Yeah. And like I I said in the in the in the sermon for this, maybe that's why you're still alive. Yeah, that's right. Like maybe God's patience with you to leave you here is you're you're here for this reason. That doesn't mean that we don't go to work or go on vacation or, you know, play basketball with our kids or you know, pay the bills. I mean, we're doing all those things. But our overall purpose, I think, may be helping people find Jesus. There we w we we worship Jesus so much we want someone else to worship Jesus too.

SPEAKER_03 46:42

That's right. That's right. And like you know, when you read this verse, and even now when I look at it, like I I've you know, I've spoken in a number of places where people were lives were in rebellion, and I'd have conversations with them afterwards, they say, Yes, but nothing bad's happening to me. And it seemed like on the surface they were getting away with it.

SPEAKER_01 47:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:05

And I remember saying to this guy, I spoke to this guy in Huntsville, I remember saying, You're not getting away with it. God is being patient with you in hopes that you will turn around and that's really good, Dave. You know, and I think that I think that's what this verse set off in me was that people think, well, uh there's no consequences to what I'm doing, therefore it must not be wrong. And you can't ever confuse God's patience, you know, with his permission.

SPEAKER_01 47:32

Say that again.

SPEAKER_03 47:33

You can't ever confuse God's patience with his permission.

SPEAKER_01 47:37

That's right. Well, it really well said.

SPEAKER_03 47:39

He's extending grace. That's why, you know, I I think you know, the people that do the most hideous things, God was waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting for them to turn in hopes that they wouldn't do that, take that last step. You know, though that's what I that's what goes off of me when I, you know, I'm glad it did. You know, read this verse.

SPEAKER_01 47:59

I mean, I love God's heart, uh not wanting anyone to perish.

SPEAKER_03 48:02

Not wanting anyone to perish.

SPEAKER_01 48:04

But everyone to come to repentance. Luke 19, 10, Jesus said, The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. And I like to say, the more we love Jesus, the more we love what Jesus loves. That's good. And Jesus came to seek and save the lost. And so the more we grow in our relationship with Jesus, the more our heart is going to care for the lost. And some people are like, Well, I'm not great at evangelism. I'm like, okay. Right. Do you are you weeping for your city? Right. Are you begging God for the salvation of your coworker, your neighbor, your friend? Like, okay, let me just is your heart lined up with the heart of Jesus? I mean, here it is right here, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. Like, is that your heart? When you speak with someone, like is it 2 Corinthians 4 18? I can't remember. Um, it says this. So from now on, we see no one from a worldly point of view. Yeah. Like when I look at somebody, I'm going, I I wonder. I want them to know this. Like, so we can't use our excuse of I don't have the gift of evangelism, or I'm not good at evangelism. To go, okay, great. First, let me see if your heart's lined up with the heart of Jesus. Do you care about somebody being reserved for the day of judgment? Yeah. Because that's not God's heart. He doesn't want anyone to perish, and he wants everyone to come to repentance.

SPEAKER_03 49:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:29

So our heart needs to be lined up there too, and we need to check our heart.

SPEAKER_03 49:33

Well, I as uh I think you should say that principle again. Our love for Jesus leads to our love for people. Is that how you said it? Our love for Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 49:41

I think I said the more we love Jesus, the more we love what Jesus loves. Yeah, that's right. And um, if if that's what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_03 49:48

Yeah, that's it. That's what I'm talking about. Yeah, and so I think that's worth repeating.

SPEAKER_01 49:51

Yeah, I mean, I I think He He He sent His Spirit into our hearts as Galatius, Galatians told us we studied before this book. He sent his spirit into our hearts, and um, you know, he's changing our heart to be more like Christ. That's what sanctification is. And if we're not growing in this, we need to go, something's wrong. Yeah. Well, why is my heart uncaring about the lost? And we we need to be praying about that for ourselves.

SPEAKER_03 50:20

Right. And and then I I think you said it or uh maybe I imagined it, I but when you talk about we we no longer recognize anyone according to the flesh, but according to the spirit, like we're seeing people as either they're either they either believe in Jesus or they don't or they're on their way to him. That really makes racism really ignorant, right? We were judging people to or you know, based on their skin color or their whatever, yeah, you know, economic status, when we're really supposed to be seeing people according to the spirit, like this person needs Jesus, and my heart breaks over it.

SPEAKER_01 50:56

Of course, man. I mean, like, you know, my saying on this is for the believer, prejudice is ignorance. That's it. I mean, really, I think for anybody, but especially for a believer, prejudice is prejudice is absolute spiritual ignorance. Yeah. Because we're supposed to be looking at somebody and going, you know, I wonder if they've had an exchange between heaven and earth by the spirit of God, the gospel's gotten to them, and they believed it. That's what we care about the most. And I can go around the world to different countries everywhere and go, man, um you're different skin colors, different colors, but we have this common bond of Christ. That's right. And so it takes away the it takes away color and customs and culture.

SPEAKER_03 51:39

Yeah. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 51:40

But if we don't if we don't care about people's salvation, whether they look like us or they don't, something's wrong with our heart.

SPEAKER_03 51:50

Right. And that should be a constant, you know, you're talking about we have to have this perspective that God is patient, he takes his own sweet time, and then you have to check your heart based on the more you love Jesus, the more you should be loving the people he loves.

SPEAKER_01 52:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:03

And that we should never give up on the people that God hasn't given up on.

SPEAKER_01 52:06

That's right. They're still here.

SPEAKER_03 52:07

They're still here.

SPEAKER_01 52:08

He's patient with them.

SPEAKER_03 52:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:10

They're still here. He he has whatever amount of patience he has for them, and apparently it's a lot. That's right. He's kept them here so that they won't perish. So if somebody is still in front of you, God's patience is being applied to them.

SPEAKER_03 52:23

Yeah, that's right. It's powerful stuff.

SPEAKER_01 52:26

Man, and this is it. I mean, one more sermon, and then Peter's can't believe it. Then he's out. But um, I mean, I love that Peter cares about this stuff at the very end. You know, next week we're gonna get more into the last days. We didn't get into that on this podcast today. We skipped over that. I think unintentionally, but rather than go back and review it, because next week we do that. But you know, Peter said, Above all, you'll understand the last days, verses three and four.

SPEAKER_03 52:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:49

And so, you know, last days generally, I mean, for sure, it means the days after the uh resurrection and ascension of Christ before his return. So this era. Yeah, the last day. Yeah, people who have a lot of different beliefs, and yeah, some very passionate, and some just, you know, it's okay, whatever you say. I I've seen a lot of divisiveness over uh doctrinal differences and eschatology, which is end times, the return of Christ. Totally. People are taking the same Bible and seeing different things, they're taking the same scriptures, and I think the same spirit, people who love Jesus, who are saved, who have the Spirit of God living in them, and who have the same scriptures. So same spirit and same scriptures, but they're seeing things differently. And for me, what I really care about is I I said this we measure people's seriousness not by their perspective of this timing, but their but by their belief that in his time he will return. You know, I mean, I I can respect and enjoy somebody so much, yeah, even if we disagree on the timing, as long as we both are anxiously awaiting, longing for, looking for his return. That's right. No, I'm not gonna divide fellowship with somebody who thinks it's gonna happen before the tribulation, it's gonna happen after the tribulation, there's no such thing as tribulation, it's gonna happen pre-millennium, post-millennium, you know, like a millennium, there's no such thing. Like I I can really have great spiritual unity with somebody and should, yeah, if we have differences of opinion on those things. I probably can't have great spiritual unity with somebody who's like, I don't really care if Jesus returns.

SPEAKER_03 54:31

Right.

SPEAKER_01 54:32

I don't want to see him. Right. That's different.

SPEAKER_03 54:34

I'm not in any hurry. That's right. That's right, yeah. That's right. Well, I mean, I think you know, the old quote that Jesus is coming back, look busy, always applies to everybody. We've got to be about the business, be about his work, what he's doing on this earth, and know that he is coming back. But uh you remember, uh Sunday, you you did you had a quote, and I went I don't know how we skipped over all this, but you talked about the the last days. You know, you use that line. Do you remember that?

SPEAKER_01 55:00

Like you said, uh what's important about the last days is that not all that you said uh when we're thinking about the last days, we just aren't gonna last much longer.

SPEAKER_03 55:12

That's it. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 55:14

And um so what I'm I wanna I just want to make sure I'm stewarding my time well here for the kingdom.

SPEAKER_03 55:19

That's right. I mean, I just I so the the understanding of the last days, I know I know we've got stuff coming up next week.

SPEAKER_01 55:26

And we gotta go, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:27

Should always create a sense of urgency in us, but not be a point of distraction.

SPEAKER_01 55:31

Not anxiousness, but urgency. It's very different.

SPEAKER_03 55:34

All of these people, you know, Paul and all these guys are writing about you know, Jesus, they all were convinced that Jesus was gonna come back in their lifetime.

SPEAKER_01 55:42

Yeah, they were, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:43

And so Paul built all those churches because he thought his days were short, right? In Ephesians, he says, Redeem the time because the days are short.

SPEAKER_00 55:51

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03 55:52

They've always felt the closeness of the Lord, but it wasn't a distraction, it was urgency. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 55:58

Yeah, and and urgency doesn't mean anxiousness. Right. A sense of urgency can be a really beautiful, holy thing. And I do think the greats of our faith have had a sense of urgency.

SPEAKER_03 56:08

Yeah, I do too.

SPEAKER_01 56:09

That doesn't mean they had a sense of anxiety, and I I think uh knowing our days are numbered does create a beautiful, holy sense of urgency.

SPEAKER_03 56:19

I do too. I think that's the right holy urgency is the right phrase.

SPEAKER_01 56:22

Dave, great conversation. Appreciate it, man. We had an hour in this deal, so we're gonna let people go. Great. It was fantastic. Great passage, and we'll get one more. Thanks for that.

SPEAKER_03 56:31

One more, and may uh between now and next time, may everyone's T be cold brewed.

SPEAKER_01 56:38

This guy. Hey, thanks for watching. Uh, if it's good for you, like it, share it, subscribe to it. If it's not, uh find something better to do with your time. But hope you have a great week. You are loved. See you soon. Thanks for spending time with us today on the Rethink and Return podcast. Here's all we ask from you. Will you subscribe to this, share this, let other people know about it? That'll help us get the message out. Share this content with other people if it's helpful to you. We're grateful for you. See you soon.