Why We Need to Talk About the Return of Jesus EP 37

In this episode of Unfiltered Faith: Beyond the Church Walls, Evelyn and Krystal revisit chapters they had already discussed after receiving a study guide that led them to slow down and take a deeper look. What started as a review turned into an honest conversation about prophecy, spiritual readiness, and why so many believers avoid talking about the return of Jesus.

Together, they discuss how this subject has often been mishandled through fear, confusion, arguments, and speculation—and why that should not keep believers from studying what Scripture clearly teaches. This episode is not about hype, predictions, or dramatic theories. It is about returning to the Word of God and asking what the truth of Christ’s return should produce in the life of a believer.

Evelyn and Krystal talk about the difference between fear and faith, hysteria and hope, and why biblical prophecy should move us toward holiness, watchfulness, and everyday obedience. They also challenge listeners to examine whether they are spiritually awake, truly grounded in Scripture, and living in a way that reflects real surrender to Christ.

This episode is a reminder that the return of Jesus is not meant to make believers panic—it is meant to make us ready. If you have ever felt intimidated by prophecy, confused by end-times conversations, or unsure why this topic still matters, this discussion will encourage you to dig into the Word for yourself and keep your eyes on Jesus.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Hello, and welcome back to Unfiltered Faith Beyond the Church Walls. I'm your host, Evelyn, and I am grateful you're here tonight. I'm here with my co-host, Crystal, and this is an extension of our Tuesday night Bible study, a place where we gather to grow and be challenged and to allow God's word to shape how we live beyond Sunday mornings. So tonight, Crystal, we're going to basically again recap the first few chapters of the John Bevere's new book. So we started this last week and we decided to basically go back to it because last week I'd ordered the actual Bible study guide streaming video. And it literally, as you know, came in from Amazon. What I it showed up at my door 10 minutes after we showed up at Bible study. So I didn't have it. And so we we basically created our own little study from the book. And then when I got home and looked at this book and watched the live stream, I'm like, oh no, we need to go back over it because he did obviously it's his book and um his studies. So it I couldn't possibly have done it justice without watching his video. So again, for people who um love studies and and get together as a group, John Bevere put out a book, The King is Coming, and he also put a Bible study guide, which we're gonna start going through and we're gonna kind of recap that tonight instead of going on. We decided as a group not to continue to basically go back and kind of start over.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

It was a lot, yeah, and then so he broke it down. It's actually even extended, so we only did the first three chapters.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Well, yeah, well, we only did the first. Um we should have done study one, two, and three last night, but we decided just to break it down to one.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Um, and just kind of recap, watch that video, and then next Tuesday we'll do study two and three together. Yeah. And then so this may go six, may go eight weeks. It'll just depend on what um how it goes. So just so everybody knows kind of where we're coming from, it's gonna be it's gonna sound very familiar from our last week podcast, but I think it's important, and we have a few um extra little nuggets that he gave us in the video. So very interesting. Um, with that being said, I want to say our normal disclaimer we are not biblical scholars, we're not pastors, we're just two ladies who love to recap what we learned on Tuesday and just have a good discussion about what the Lord's doing uh through our lives through the ministry and our Bible study. Um, so we're just so glad you're here. Okay, so let's before we get started, let's open in prayer. Father, we thank you for today. We thank you for your goodness, your mercy, and your word. We thank you that your word is true, does not return void, it is living, and it is able to search our hearts and correct us where we need correction. Lord, as we talk today, help us be clear, honest, and led by your spirit. Keep us from fear, confusion, and pride, and help us not to chase opinions more than truth. Give us understanding, wisdom, and humility as we open this conversation. And Lord, for every person listening, I pray that you would stir their heart, not toward panic, not toward hype, but towards true faithfulness toward you. Draw us closer to you, wake us up where we've grown dull, strengthen us where we've grown tired, and help us to live like people who really believe you are who you say you are. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 3:51

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

All right, so let's just start right there, Crystal. We covered, like we said, really basically chapter one already. And in this group, we covered many more than that, but we're gonna kind of go back and review through the study guide. So it became clear that it wasn't something we needed to just breeze past because once you started talking about prophecy and the return of Christ, we realized real quick that this was one of those subjects that we need to slow down, and people either like lean in all the way or they kind of back away from it.

SPEAKER_02 4:23

Yeah, that's that's so true. And there's not much of a middle ground. So people either are fascinated with it to the point that it becomes like all they talk about, or uh they just avoid it, like it's radioactive. They're like, nah, I don't want to hear it.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

Well, and true, and you know, we talked about this. Really, either extreme isn't healthy. Yeah, you want to be somewhere kind of in the middle, right? Um, and just be, you know, really looking and and reaching out to the Lord for direction because this isn't a weird topic, this is a the cornerstone really of the Bible. Like John Bevere had mentioned in there that this is one of those topics, and we did mention this in the podcast last week, but I'm gonna reiterate it. This is the second most talked-about subject in the Bible, which I did not know that. I didn't know that either.

SPEAKER_02 5:07

And John Bevere mentioned it was the second coming of Christ is mentioned in the new scripture of the New Testament. All the way through.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

About one in every 30 verses, right? Because it said he said it was mentioned like what, like 318 times. Yeah. Again, something you know, I did not realize. Um, the music and playing in the backgrounds are a little Riley, so you know, bear with us. This is this is real life here. We're we are uh studying the word and we have a baby, so and now she's you know making faces at us. Um and like I said, neither extreme is healthy. Yeah, um, the return of Jesus is a major part of the Christian faith, and you know, the fact that we just need to embrace it, and really we want to be that group of people, and we talked about this a lot last night, like the urgency, the desire for the Lord's coming, and to help, you know, people who are not close to the Lord or don't know the Lord. It's you know, our jobs as Christians to kind of walk like Christ, right? Talk like Christ, so people can see Christ in us, so that the Holy Spirit can lead them to become uh believers and followers of Christ.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Right? You know, and the other thing we talked about, and this uh again, John Bavier mentioned it too. There are a lot of believers who barely talk about this subject unless there's you know war or disasters going on. Uh they'll talk about that stuff, they'll talk about the wars that's going on, the disasters, the governmental issues, all these things seem to get the highlight and gets people stirred up, but you don't hear anybody talking, or I shouldn't say anybody, because that's not true. You don't hear a lot of believers um talking about the second coming of Christ. And he said it good, you know, he said it right. He's like, How is it that it's like like you said, about one in every 30 verses, the second most talked-about thing next to salvation, yet nobody's talking about it. Right, you know, yeah, it seems like Jesus uh God put that in the Bible that many times for a reason.

SPEAKER_02 7:05

He wants us to be aware and discuss it, and you know, and then as people see what the signs they know of the end of times, like, oh, there's been rumors of war, right, more storms, then it's like, oh, all of a sudden everybody becomes an expert for like three days, like they know then that Jesus is coming. Right. It's not something that they study throughout, it's just something that they might really dive into as they're hearing the wars or rumors of wars.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

Right, you know. Well, it's true, and then basically then we have um overnight theologians, right? Everybody's got a chart, everybody has a theory, everybody has a microphone. Um, and that's why I think, and he talked about it at length, it's just so much for us to just come back to the scripture, right? And ask, you know, Lord, because the Holy Spirit, like he'll guide us in truth, and it's there, it's in the word. We don't need, you know, commentary to tell us that Jesus is coming back, you know. We just need to turn turn the word and and you know, look to Jesus for the direction, you know, Holy Spirit to guide us. So I think that's why, like I said, it's important to come back to the scripture and ask, what is this actually supposed to do in us like right now? Like, because the point is not to become dramatic, the point is to become ready for his return.

SPEAKER_02 8:24

Yeah, and I think one reason that uh some believers avoid talking about the second coming is because maybe they're intimidated. You know, some people hear prophecy talked about and they feel like they need a dictionary or a history lesson and about six commentaries just to understand one chapter, and that's not true.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

Yeah, that's so true. And well, and actually we talked about this last week, and and even Tuesday night, it's also there's a fear.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

Um, you know, a lot of people have only heard about prophecy taught in ways that make them feel confused or anxious or you know, overwhelmed.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:58

Um, so instead of being, you know, strengthened, they become like rattled and afraid, and that's not what the Lord wants. And, you know, let's be honest, some people have been so foolish around this subject that by setting dates and all the crazy stuff, and we took again, we talked about this last week's podcast, a little bit of re repeat, but with these wild predictions, we talked about it last night at the at Bible study, where it's like, you know, I think you even said it's like, oh, well, you know, you've been saying this for 1800 years or whatever, 2,000 years, you know, why are we to believe it now? And people get cynical.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

Yeah, and it's like then people don't look because they're like, Oh, yeah, whatever, they've been saying this for a long time. But it's it's funny, I actually came across a real this guy of I don't even know who he is, I don't follow him, but he talks about like his childhood when they're talking about the second coming of Jesus, and they're like, Yeah, it's a little boy. You know, they told me that people are gonna be coming up out of the grave, and then that reminds me of Ghostbusters, where in the very first movie, I think it was the first one, they're talking about it in the I don't remember their names, but they're in the car talking, and he's like, he's like, Yeah, but the dead is rising. Talk like all the ghosts coming in New York City, and I'm like, bro, and then I was younger, I'm like, I'm like, how can we like zombies walking around? Like, I wasn't really sure. Right. I'm like, what is like I didn't really know what that meant, but I just thought that was crazy. That one that real came up after we started doing all this stuff. But kind of getting back to our the topic, so when people so like when these predictions they don't happen, it makes people more cynical of the word. They start lumping biblical prophecy in with nonsense, and that's so so dangerous because that's taking God's word kind of out of context. You don't really believe what the word is saying just because you know, we're we're human, we're fleshy. Jesus doesn't even know the date or time, only the father knows. That's right, that's true. So I know for myself, whenever someone's like, oh, Jesus coming back on this date, I'm like, well, that's not true. Like, I don't know, that's not the date because we Jesus doesn't know, we don't know. So once people start predicting, I'm like, that ain't it.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

Well, you can take it to bank that they don't know because you know, we know that the Bible, you know, God said nobody will know the time nor the day. So that's a a good example of bad handling of scripture.

SPEAKER_02 11:29

It's like why would God reveal a date and time to man but not his own son? Yeah, you know, yeah. And that right there, I think is what turns people off because instead of just conversation leading to holiness, hope, and watchfulness, it turns into an intellectual arm wrestling match, basically.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Yeah, you know, and that's a point right there because prophecy is not supposed to make us arrogant or you know, you know, haughty or like, oh, I know more than you kind of thing. It's really just supposed to make us alert. Yeah. Um, so let's talk about why this matters. So Jesus' return matters because it changes how we live right now.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

Right.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

And it's not just information for the future, this is truth that should affect us today. Right. You know, when um you really believe Christ is coming again, you stop living like this world is all there is. You you actually are living for eternity, right? Um, you stop building your whole life around temporary things and really keep your eyes focused on the Lord, stop treating sin like it's oh, it's no big deal kind of thing. Right. You stop acting like obedience can wait, you know?

SPEAKER_02 12:37

Yeah. It also should bring urgency, but not panic.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:42

Just urgency. It makes us think differently. It makes you ask yourself if the way I'm living lines up with what I say I believe. So does my life represent Jesus well?

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Yeah, that's right. It's like does scripture it, you know, our scripture ties hope into holiness, you know, that hope that we have. When we know that Jesus is coming, that should move us into purity, not being passive, um, you know, wanting to live like a clean life that is, you know, basically worthy of what our Lord died for. Like, why, you know, don't live, you know, like nothing matters because it does. You know, it should give us comfort. You know, his second coming should give us comfort. Because when we look around at the conditions of this world, I know I don't want to be here forever. I want to be, you know, in his presence. We see a whole bunch of injustice, evil, deception. Um, you know, we need to be reminded that this is not how the story ends, you know. It's his second coming when he comes again. Evil does not win, and that is that's something to be thankful for. You know, darkness certainly doesn't get the final word, although when you look around, you, you know, I know I'm like, Lord, win, you know, it's it because it's getting kind of crazy. And I love the fact that we know that heaven is not chaos like this world, so that we have something to look forward to. There's hope, you know. Lord's coming back for his bride, and we just gotta be ready.

SPEAKER_02 14:10

Yeah, and it's hope. You know, that's what people need the most, I think.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:15

Because a lot of folks, uh, myself included, they're just worn down, tired, discouraged. I mean, we just saw what another 30 or something Christians killed on Palm Sunday in Nigeria, which is absolutely awful. Yeah, terrific, yeah. So like so dark. Yeah, we're watching the world just get darker and wondering what in the world is going on and and when is it gonna end?

SPEAKER_00 14:38

Yeah. And actually, the return of Christ reminds us that history is moving somewhere and God has a plan, and you know, as we talked about last week, nothing catches him off guard. So he sees what's going on, like you said, in Nigeria, and I'm like you know that his heart's breaking for those, you know, for for those Christians that are being slaughtered over there.

SPEAKER_02 15:01

It reminds me of the scripture that we read in Revelation, don't remember what it is, but what talks about the martyrs of blood saying Lord when?

SPEAKER_00 15:07

Lord when, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:07

Lord when.

unknown 15:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

When are they going to be their blood's gonna be avenged? Yeah, when is the blood gonna be avenged? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

Yeah. So that doesn't mean everything is easy, it doesn't mean we get to coast, but it does mean we have hope that is anchored in something bigger than the headlines and definitely bigger than culture. And I posted something earlier today on our ministry wall, which and this is just facts, or actually, maybe I posted it yesterday, and it said, make sure you are not being discipled by culture. And I think unfortunately, so many people are, you know, they're just rolling through all the TikToks, scrolling through all the TikToks, and just being discipled by culture, and that's not a good place to be.

SPEAKER_02 15:46

I think this is where you know, balancing our life, that's where it matters because Jesus tells us we have to watch and be ready for him. But what that doesn't mean is becoming strange, obsessive, or detached from real life. We still have to live our life. We just have to watch and be ready and then not allow culture to shift our views away from Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

Yeah, exactly. Being watchful doesn't mean you stop living, it doesn't mean you start chasing every conspiracy, rumor, or you know, dramatic voice online.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

Right.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

Um, just being watchful means being spiritually awake, you know, paying attention to where your you know where your heart is, staying in the word and prayer. And if you do, or I shouldn't say if you sin, it could when you sin, because we're not perfect, but when you sin, you need to repent quickly. Um, and basically don't make excuses for compromise, you know. Don't live, you know, day to day numb and you know, just going through motions, you know, live intentional.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

Yeah. And it also means you don't keep saying, Oh, I'll get serious later. Later, or like later I'll forgive, or later I'll obey, or later I'll deal with that sin, or later I'll start spending real time with God because that kind of thinking is dangerous. Because what if later never comes? What if Jesus comes tomorrow?

SPEAKER_00 17:08

That's right, because we know that tomorrow is not promised. Um so let's be honest, some people want a version of Christianity that keeps them comfortable but never confronts them. Yeah, you know, they want encouragement and they want blessings and promises. You know, we have a I just printed out and gave you a thing, and like all the promises that the Lord has, they want all those things, right? But not willing to deny themselves and surrender and walk wholly with the Lord. Um, but if you really believe Jesus is coming again, casual Christianity starts looking real shaky.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

Yeah, and in Bible-believing Christians, they look like they're basically extremists.

SPEAKER_00 17:50

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_02 17:53

But honestly, all of this really just it forces a heart check.

SPEAKER_00 17:57

Yeah, so let's ask these questions. Are you living ready? Not perfect, because we're not perfect, but are you yielded and are you serious about your walk with God? You know, are you staying obedient and awake? Um, and or have you gotten used to church language without real surrender?

SPEAKER_02 18:17

Yeah, so let's make this practical. What does readiness actually look like for a regular believer trying to live this out day to day?

SPEAKER_00 18:28

So I think for for all of us, it would look like faithfulness and the small things. Um, it'll look like being the same person in private that you are in public. It looks like obeying God when nobody sees it and staying tender towards conviction, you know, allowing him to um soften your heart in those areas where you maybe are a little stubborn, like I know I can be. Um you know, guard what you allow into your mind. And I it's like I said something to Amy last night at Bible study, you know, when they said she was we were talking about different movies and stuff, and I'm like, yeah, be careful, little eyes, what you see, you know, because you know, garbage in, garbage out, you know, kind of thing mentality. And then making sure that we're forgiving when our flesh really wants to stay bitter and angry, you know, and loving people, but not compromising just to fit in. That's real important, especially in today's culture. Um, I think it also looks like not being spiritually asleep. You know, people are physically, we're so busy, but sometimes we're spiritually dead and tired, you know, running everywhere, doing everything, but there's no watchfulness, no weight, no awareness, really no hunger, uh, you know, in Christ.

SPEAKER_02 19:45

Yeah, and I I believe that happens slowly. I don't think anyone wakes up one day and says, Oh, I think I'll just become spiritually dull. I think it happens with one compromise at a time, one distraction at a time, and one neglected prayer, you know, at a time.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

Yeah, that's true. And the return of Jesus should affect how we think, how we talk, how we spend our time, what we actually are giving our attention to. Um, it should make us more serious about repentance and committed to truth. And certainly urgent about sharing the gospel. And we talked about that at length last night. Like, how can we get out and share the gospel more uh to the lost? Um, because you know the time is near and we it it you know, we should be in an urgent time, you know.

SPEAKER_02 20:34

Yeah, because if we really believe the Lord is coming, then we should live like eternity is real.

SPEAKER_00 20:40

Yeah, not just singing about it or talking about it, or in our today's in our culture today, posting about it, you know, on social media. Um I think one of the biggest things we need to say is prophecy should not produce like hysteria in believers. We shouldn't get all crazy over it, but we it should produce like just a living hope. You know, live holy, give us hope. There is a difference between the two. Hysteria just scares people, it's reactive, it's emotional. Um, it can actually turn into some being unstable and gullible. You know, you fall for every next, you know, oh, Christ is coming, every next person saying that. So you don't want to be that gullible person, but just be steady, faithful, and stay grounded in the word.

SPEAKER_02 21:26

Yeah, that's good. Because some people act like the only two choices are to be obsessed about the subject or just to completely avoid it. But there is a healthy biblical middle. You study it, you respect it, you stay humble, and you let it do what it's supposed to do in your life, which is transform you to live a life like Jesus, and just to keep your eyes fixed on him.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

Yeah. And let me just say this the return of Jesus is not bad news for the believer, it is blessed hope. He and John Bevere said that. Blessed hope, and I love that. There is definitely weight in that. There is definitely seriousness to that. But for those of us who belong to Christ, this should stir the longing and reverence and joy as we wait for his return.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

Yeah. And that's a good point because some people hear the subject and only think fear, because I know I did at first. But if your life is in Christ, this is also hope. This is a promise. This is the reminder that we are not abandoned down here trying to survive on our own, that there is a purpose to this world and what we go through.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

Oh, amen to that. Because as you know, the enemy would love nothing more than for believers to either be asleep or distracted by speculation that they never mature, you know. Um, but the Lord calls us to be sober, ready, faithful, and grounded. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 22:49

So let's bring it home. What are the real questions people need to ask themselves after a conversation like this?

SPEAKER_00 22:56

I think one of the first is, am I spiritually awake or have I gotten too comfortable? Uh maybe the second is, is there anything in my life I keep putting off that I know God has already dealt with me about? You know, He's, you know, again, we've He told us to do so, but we're not responding, you know, take that first step. Um third is, am I living in a way that reflects that I belong to Jesus? Or am I blending in with the world, with the current culture, you know, and people really can't tell that I'm walking with the Lord? And fourth, has my hope in Christ actually changed how I live? Or is it just a belief I carry in my head?

SPEAKER_02 23:37

Oh, yeah, those are good questions. Um, I think another question is have I let fear or confusion keep me from studying what God clearly chose to include in his word?

SPEAKER_00 23:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:49

Because if it's in his word, then we don't need to run from it.

SPEAKER_00 23:53

That's true. We may not understand every detail, you know, all at once. And, you know, as we're reading it, we talked about like the word, you know, you get something different every time you read. We're going through our second time through the Bible in the last year. We did it you know last year and we're starting it again. And we just need to stay teachable. We need to keep our eyes on Jesus and not just on systems and debates. We let scripture interpret scripture. Um, so if I had to sum it all up, here's the outcome of today's conversation. The return of Jesus is not a fringe topic. It's vital, part of our faith. It should not lead us into fear, confusion, or drama. It should actually lead us into readiness, holiness, hope, and faithfulness. And revisiting these chapters reminded us that believers do not need to shy away from prophecy. We need to approach it in the right way, with humility, with scripture open, and with a heart that are willing to be changed.

SPEAKER_02 24:52

And our goal is not just knowing more, our goal should be living differently so people can tell us apart, because we are called to be set apart.

SPEAKER_00 25:02

That's true, right there. So a couple things that we found uh in the video that John Bevere we watched last night in streaming was that when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple for purification, he was around 33 days old. And we found that interesting because he was crucified at around age 33. So that was interesting.

SPEAKER_02 25:24

Yeah, actually, I think all of us, I think that's actually the one thing that went through all of our minds was like, dang.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

Yeah, exactly. Um, and it just shows us a couple solid facts here. Jesus' parents were being obedient to the law, not just going through motions. So what they did is they made sure that Jesus was circumcised at day eight. Um, he was officially named Jesus, and you'll find that that scripture in Luke 2, 21, and they brought him to Jerusalem for presentation and purification. Um what do you what did you think about what he said last night in the video?

SPEAKER_02 26:04

Um I thought it was cool, you know, that Jesus as a baby at 33 days old was recognized by Simeon and not because of his human instinct, but because the Bible says that the Holy Spirit was upon him, and the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not die before seeing the Lord's Christ, then the Spirit led him into the temple at just the right moment. And we'll s we can see that in Luke 2, 25 through 27. So this, of course, was not luck, this was actually divine timing, that Jesus as a baby was acknowledged by Simeon as the King of King, the Lords of the Lord of Lord, the actual Messiah, and yet Jesus was crucified at that very temple at the age of around 33, not being believed that he was the king of king, the lord of lord, and the messiah by the very people who were looking for him, yeah, who were looking for him, but not only that, they could ver uh verbatim teach the Torah? Yeah, the Torah, the Torah, the five, the first five books the first five books of the Torah, word for word, so they should have been the first ones to recognize the Messiah.

SPEAKER_00 27:29

Right, he said what the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the lawyers, right? Yeah. All turned against him, uh knew the scripture. They knew the scripture, like the back of their hands. Right. And Simeon was recognized as more than a Jewish hope. You know, he called him God's salvation, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people in Israel. And that was huge because even as a baby, Jesus was being identified as a savior for all people, not just one nation.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

And then he also, um, Simeon also gave a prophecy about conflict and cost. He said Jesus was appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel and would be a sign spoken against. He also told Mary that a sword would pierce her own soul. You'll see that in Luke 2, 34 and 35. So, right there in the temple before Jesus, Jesus ever preached a sermon, there was already a prophecy, both salvation and suffering, which is that's amazing. Yeah. And they it said that like Mary and Joseph were amazed. Oh, yeah, right, that they knew you know what they had, what he had said about, you know, um, basically their their baby at that point, right?

SPEAKER_02 28:48

And it wasn't just Simeon, right, who prophesied about Jesus's, about Jesus being Messiah, Anna, who was a prophetess uh from the tribe of Asher, she was in advanced years, she was devoted to worship, fasting, and prayer. You can see that in Luke 2, 36 through 37. And she came at that same moment, she gave thanks to the Lord and spoke about Jesus to those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. You'll see that in Luke 2, 38. So that means there were still faithful people in Israel truly waiting on God, even in even in a spiritually dry time. And I believe John Bevere mentioned that, like, that's the difference between Simeon and Anna versus the Sabbath Pharisees and the Sabbath. Like, yeah, they were waiting, but they weren't like waiting like Simeon and Anna. And Anna were they weren't devout, right? They weren't righteous. Yeah, they were basically opposite of what these two who recognized a baby as the Messiah.

SPEAKER_00 29:51

Right, right. And the witnesses were elderly, faithful, and spiritually alert. So um, I mean, that is worth saying out loud. He said that he's like, if we want to know what to watch for so that we don't miss the second coming of Christ, like they missed the first coming, right, is to basically be like Simeon and Anna, right? Be faithful, spiritually alert. Um, the religious system as a whole didn't recognize him, but two older saints who stayed in prayer and expectation, those are being the keys, um, did. Yeah, you know, and sometimes the people who recognize what God is doing are not the loudest people in the room, they're the ones who have stayed close to him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:35

Yeah. So I I mean, that was pretty cool too. Yeah, that was just amazing to learn about because we didn't get that from our study right prior to actually watching that video. So I'm glad that we did go back.

SPEAKER_00 30:46

Yeah, yeah. And that we're taking the time to do this a little bit slower. Yeah. So again, the John Bevere, the King is coming. Um, if you want to get reading this book is amazing, but if you actually want to get his live stream, you need to get the Bible study streaming video because there is a QR code in the beginning of it. That's why we kind of redid this chapter. Yeah. Um, is because we didn't have this book last week. And now that it came in and we had it, we scanned it, we realized we were missing a lot of good information from his streaming video, which is about the first uh chapter was about 18 minutes long, not long, not long, but it had a lot of good little uh wisdom nuggets in there. Um, so I think it was great to revisit these chapters that reminded us that believers do not need to shy away from this. You know, we just need to approach it with humility, you know, keep our keep the scripture open and keep our hearts you know pliable and open and ready and willing for change.

SPEAKER_02 31:45

And the goal is not knowing more. I mean, you know, the goal obviously is living differently. We want to live like Simeon and Anna. We want to recognize Jesus' coming. We definitely don't want to miss it like the religious leaders of the time who should have recognized Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 32:04

That's true. Because knowing the Lord is coming should change the way we walk and talk today. So um I think it's good information. Very good. So, Krista, why don't you close us uh up in prayer?

SPEAKER_02 32:15

Father, thank you for your word. Thank you that you never leave us without truth and you never call us to walk blindly. Thank you for the hope we have in Jesus. Lord, search our hearts. Show us where we've grown distracted, dull, comfortable, or careless. Show us any place where we've allowed compromise to sit too long. Wake us up where we need waking up and correct us where we need correction. Help us not to be driven by fear, but by faith. Help us not to be consumed with opinions but grounded in truth. Teach us to live watchful, surrendered, and ready. Strengthen us to walk in holiness and obedience in a world that is pulling hard in the opposite direction. And for every person listening, I pray that you draw them closer to you, let your words settle deep in their heart, give them wisdom as they study, give them peace as they trust, and help all of us live like people who really believe you're coming again. In Jesus' name, amen.

SPEAKER_00 33:13

Amen. So I want to thank you all for listening to this episode of Unfiltered Faith Beyond the Church Walls. We pray this encouraged you, challenge you, and most of all push you back into the word yourself. Don't just skim over things. Go study, go pray, and let the Lord deal with your heart.

SPEAKER_02 33:32

And if this episode spoke to you, share it with somebody who needs it. Sometimes people are hungry for truth. They just need somebody to start the conversation. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 33:40

We love you all, we appreciate you. We will see you next time. Until then, stay grounded, stay hungry, and stay unfiltered in your walk with Jesus. We love you and we'll see you next Thursday. God bless.