Hosea12,13 & 14

Sir Brian and Friends finish up the book of Hosea. Join us as we talk about Gods never ending love and grace, even when we turn our backs on him. Something we could all try in our own lives. Jesus said on the cross "Forgive them they know not what they do." So if you find yourself in hardship with people or loved ones,  Remember Jesus loves you and so do we! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 1:00

So but a Baraka Church had a uh had a wrestling match, and it was it was a great opportunity for fit people who weren't into religion, Christianity, vaguely know what it's about to sit down and have something entertaining. Uh now let's remember that the pastors were some of the wrestlers.

SPEAKER_06 1:25

That's a pastor was a Lamar.

SPEAKER_03 1:29

I was waiting for you to come out with some weird like a costume from Power Star.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

But uh uh no, the the the million dollar mug was a villain uh, and welcome back.

SPEAKER_06 2:30

We are here with Faith in the Streets. We are continuing with the Minor Prophet Hosea. Of course, as always, this is Tommy, and I have Sebrian. Scott. Mr. Scott, Pastor Scott here from Cross Point with us. Um so far uh we've really got into some good discussions about Hosea the Minor Prophet. I've got something that's on my heart right now that we're gonna probably get into here for a minute. But uh how was your week, gentlemen? How was it going?

SPEAKER_02 3:00

Okay, so uh I I had a wonderful time. Uh something happened uh last Sunday and it was uh it was really great to experience that. Uh it now it's happened before. And um good nice. So I'll I'll get right to the point. My my wife came with me to to the the service. So and and that's something I've I've had on my heart and definitely on my mind for a while. Um we've we've had her come out to we we went to a wrestling match at a church. Romantic. And it was no, it was it was really cool. Tommy, Tommy was along for that one as well, too. So um but uh Baraka Church had a uh had a wrestling match, and it was it was a great opportunity for fit people who weren't into religion, Christianity, uh vaguely know what it's about to sit down and have something entertaining. Uh now let's remember that the pastors were some of the wrestlers.

SPEAKER_06 4:19

That's a pastor was a Lamar. They don't let me do anything cool.

SPEAKER_03 4:23

Well, I was waiting for you to come out in some weird little sparking costume from Howard Stern.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

But uh no, the the the million dollar man who who was a villain uh uh back when I was I was I was watching wrestling as a kid. Uh he came out and he told his story about he uh how he came to Christ. And uh I don't know that it so much impacted it was my wife and her and her friends as well too. But it was it was definitely neat to see all of that together. So uh my wife was was it was certainly uh still kind of musing at the fact that we were at a wrestling match in a church. So uh just uh just really neat things. But this past Sunday it was it was really cool to have her along and it it meant a lot to me.

SPEAKER_06 5:24

So uh and it proved to everybody that she's real, that she's not make believe. Yes, I was like, she is real. Uh there's something too in me and you and our our walk, you have Ted Dibiasied me. I struggled with things, and you would bring up the things that the million dollar man Ted DiBiassi said, and I'm like, ah, you just Ted Debyassied me. Just in a nickel that many dollars. No, no, but it was it was wonderful to hear his story and for us to be able to use his testimony as our walk too, you know, part of our walking to help other people in their walk.

SPEAKER_02 6:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 6:02

It was it was pretty awesome. What about you, Scott? Anything good for you this week?

SPEAKER_00 6:07

Uh post-Easter, so it was a lot more quiet, but there was a lot more paperwork and uh lots of construction going on at the church, starting. So contractors, paperwork.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

None of the cool stuff I went to school for. Uh had a cool Bible study, had a cool over stimulating family feud Friday. Yes, that's right.

SPEAKER_06 6:26

We had family Bible feud at the church, kids versus adults, and the kids won by 20,000 points.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Yeah, they wiped us clean. Like, it wasn't even fair. We didn't even cheat or nothing. Like, we just straight up accepted it. Yeah. And that's fine. Yeah. I think I hope we do it again. I know that was stressful, um, but it was fun. Yeah. Uh my wife was kind of like, that was a lot. So I don't, she's like, I don't know how Tom does Taco Tuesday. I was like, Tom doesn't. Tom just plows through and everybody else has to keep up. Tom Tom Tom keeps it going.

SPEAKER_06 6:57

So the one thing that I want to take from this conversation is it's okay to have fun as Christians. Truth. No. You can have fun. Yes, you can have fun, you can smile, you can laugh, you can have camaraderie.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

Wow, that's weird. I just unclenched my jaw for the first time in my life since becoming a Christian.

SPEAKER_06 7:14

I have full faith that Jesus and his twelve boys that ran around. Yeah, they had a they had a joke or two. There's a chance. I I think it's fantastic that in The Chosen they show them playing chicken in the river.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Or make in front of how they dance.

SPEAKER_06 7:32

Yeah, you know, and make fun of how Andrew's got four left feet. Yeah. But I think people miss out on Jesus. He he was a human. He dealt with real human emotions. Amen. Which would have been sadness, which would have been gladness, which would have been joy, he would have laughed. You know, as a child, guess what? He would have messed himself. I know, it's hard to believe. But yes, and it's okay to be to be silly sometimes, and let's try to keep that in mind as we do our walk. So I do.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

I want to read uh this part in first person. But you had something you had a big event this week. You're not gonna skip on on that. Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_06 8:11

I forgot about that, believe it or not. Wow. I know well, I'm I'm used to putting myself last. I'm so selfless, as you can tell, and humble.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Folks, we're shifting the topic of this podcast.

SPEAKER_06 8:22

So um I my stepson had his first child, or his fiance had his first child, so I am now a grandpa, or as Brian has called me, Grandolf. I am Grandolf the Gray. I'm going for poop home. And here's the best part about it. His name fits perfectly with what we do here.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 8:44

He is Levi, which means he is a Levite. Which I'm going to play to that as I'm around him as we grow up. My cat get a priest. Yeah, I'm gonna kind of this is how Levites are supposed to be. This is how you slaughter a sheep. Well, biblically. I might wait until he's a little older to give him those to give him that information. Give him a kit right out. Yeah, it's wonderful. I was actually over there yesterday visiting, and to see my stepson with his son, I I know it's not a new thing, but it it's such an awesome experience to be a parent and then to be now a grandparent and to see how he was with his son. Um she actually texted me a little bit ago right before we started this, talking about how awesome it is to see him with his fiance, how he's caring for her in her time of you know, need and the baby as well. And I'm just I'm so excited to get to watch how this all plays out. Lord willing, I'll get to watch it play out and be a part. Um but yeah, being there spending time with him, holding the baby. He's so tiny, but he's not at the same time. Strong little booger. Um but yeah, it's gonna be fun. That was very exciting. It was nerve-wracking for a little bit because she was 36 hours in labor. Yeah, so but yeah, that's a wonderful thing that happened. Now, speaking of wonderful things, let's get into first Peter chapter two, um verse eleven through twelve looks like. Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to abstain from sinful desires which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. And I I'm gonna segue that with what we talked about in Proverbs. Okay. Being upright, being of good standard, having good character, good integrity. Very well done. So though the accusers do are doing you wrong, they may see your good deeds. Okay, stand on the the integrity that you have built. If you are a stand-up person, if you tell the truth, if you try to do what's right in all situations, if something is you're being accused of something, there will be enough people to say, mm, maybe not that guy. Maybe something's off here. Yeah, that doesn't sound like him, no. Yeah, let's investigate that a little bit. So uh yeah, I just I've been reading Peter and I saw that and I thought let's bring that into this this for today. So very well done, brother.

SPEAKER_02 11:32

That's that's uh that's uh very clever.

SPEAKER_06 11:34

Thank you. Amen. It's not me, it's just listening to the Holy Spirit. Good, good. Best one to listen to. Yeah. My Holy Spirit's starting to sound a lot like him. Sir Brian, that is.

SPEAKER_00 11:47

My conscience is a lot. I don't know how that is. I'll be like, no, brother. That's how I know.

SPEAKER_06 11:54

Yeah, exactly. Uh I think we are Hosea chapter 12.

SPEAKER_02 11:59

Okay. And I will begin to read, unless you wanted to you wanna wanted to start something else, God. No? Okay. All right, I will begin. Ephraim feeds on wind and pursues the east wind continually. He abounds in falsehood and destruction. Moreover, he cuts a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried to Egypt. And Yahweh has a contention with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways. He will cause everything to return to him according to his deeds. In the womb, he took his brother by the heel, and in his maturity he wrestled with God. Indeed, he wrestled with the angel and prevailed. He wept and sought his favor. He found him at Bethel. And there he spoke with us. Even Yahweh, the God of hosts, Yahweh is his name of remembrance. Therefore, return to your God. Keep loving kindness and justice and hope in your God continually. A merchant in whose hands are deceptive balances. He loves to oppress. And Ephraim said, Surely I have become rich. I have found wealth for myself in all my labours. They will find in me no iniquity which would be sin. But I have been Yahweh, your God, since the land of Egypt. I will make you settle in tents again, as in the days of the appointed festival, and I have spoken to the prophets, and I made visions abound, and by the hand of the prophets I gave parables. Is there wickedness? And Gilead, surely they are worthless. And Gilgal, they sacrifice bulls, yes. Their altars are like the stone heaps beside the furrows of the field. Now Jacob fled to the field of Aram, and Israel worked for a wife. And for a wife, he kept sheep. But by a prophet Yahweh brought Israel up from Egypt. And by a prophet he was kept. Ephraim has provoked sorry, has provoked to bitter anger. So his Lord will leave his blood guilt on him and cause his reproach to return to him.

SPEAKER_06 15:24

So this is talking about um to Jacob, where Israel actually came from. Which I think is interesting how it brings that into the to this part of the of the message here.

SPEAKER_00 15:39

Yeah, this is where God begins to kind of you can see they're waffling, like one's I'm better than you. And God's like, hey, remember where you came from, that's where this started. Like y'all started this way, wrestled uh at the beginning, and you're still trying this, but both of y'all are in trouble. That's that's what this passage is all about. Like, knock it off. Um, you're chasing after garbage, and remember where you came from, because I do. And that's the thing about God. You can't hide, man. Like they they want to say, like, verse 8, I'm rich, but my record is spotless. God says, nah, I've been your God since you came out of Egypt. I know better than that. Right? Stop pulling each other's heels trying to get ahead and do the right thing. That's what I take from that.

SPEAKER_06 16:27

The pull by the heel. I always kind of forget that part.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

Like, nah, me first. What else sticks out to you guys in this?

SPEAKER_02 16:39

Anything? Well, okay, so I I I like the uh he wrestled with the angel and prevailed. Uh I I I've always seen that as like Tommy and I were talking uh a little earlier, I think it was uh about uh how uh father and uh child kinda do these things. So uh when we were talking earlier about uh the Lord's burden being lighter and and he would hold it for you uh as you put it on seat. Look, see how light it is, see how light it is. Again, you're just like you know, uh I I can almost see Jesus going, you know, like uh you're so strong, Israel. Look at that, you know, you know this.

SPEAKER_06 17:33

And I'm glad you said that, just simply because, again, Israel. Look at you, Israel. He's not talking about a physical place, right? He's talking about the people. It would make absolutely no sense if he was talking to a place. Right, you know, but yeah, and it is like that. It's like holding the bike, you know, for your kid as you're teaching him how to to to ride a bike, you know, you get to let go eventually. Unfortunately, a lot of times we need more training wheels. Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

It's like telling your kid you can't pick, like you go, like, I can't pick up this gauntlet, you know, and your kid picks up and you go, Wow, you're like that's Thor's hammer you've just picked up. You're the strongest. And God's like, yep, now they believe they can do it, let's keep going. Right? They they believe it. But that that's a pivotal moment in Israel's history, so I don't think it's really A, nothing is coincidence with God, right? No. But that Hosea is moved by the Spirit to use that particular story in this particular passage is very fascinating because again, we're seeing the, but what about those guys? Or what about Israel? What about Judah? You know, and they're like, well, what are they doing? And God's like, it's both of you. And it's been that way, and we've wrestled back and forth, but here we are. And so the idea of being honest before God, I think, is really intense here. He says in verse 4, Yes, he wrestled and won, and he wept and pleaded for a blessing from God. There at Bethel, he met God face to face and spoke with him. The Lord of heaven's armies, the Lord is his name. So now come back to your God. So, again, there's the idea they've walked away, right? And they've worshipped all of these things, which he'll go on to talk about. But God is always there saying, I'm right here. I see it. I know the wrong you're doing. Turn around back to me, and I will love you again. And that's this whole book is is like, I've never walked away. You did Israel, you did Judah, right? Like, I'm right here. You acting like you're fooling me. Turn around. Thank you, QN. Turn around. But I mean, I think that's the overwhelming thing here, is like there's so much grace in this passage that deals with judgment that we forget the grace is in there. All agreed, yeah. Like, there's this one of those that highlights the need for tension and balance in in biblical study because there's grace and truth here. Right? Like, not that they're necessarily inseparable, but one lavishes while others sometimes corrects and rebukes, and we tend to be like, I don't want to stay around the truth too long. It starts meddling, right? Um, we like the grace part, we don't like the truth part as much, but the writer of John says Jesus revealed both. He came with grace and truth. God is still saying that hundreds of years before Jesus here through Hosea. Yeah, you gotta do both. I see it all. There is grace. But y'all gotta change. Like, and then he starts talking about their economy. Like, you're cheating people, like you're stealing, and you're acting like you're spotless. And he's like, nah, I've seen you since Egypt. This is not true. You know? I just think this is a just 12, these these 14 verses are powerful, and and there's so much in there. Anything else stick out?

SPEAKER_06 21:00

So you were talking a lot about it, and I want your opinion on this, Brian. We, as students doing what we do here as much as we've done it, we're seeing the grace that you talked about. We're seeing grace and the truth in this. Why is it that we miss out so much on the grace part? Why has grace been a four-letter word to the church for I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 21:30

We're still trying to find a means for us to be the to do our good works. Well, where does that lead us? Well, God says you're a dirty rag.

SPEAKER_00 21:45

Exactly. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 21:46

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 21:47

Exactly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:48

Um but we but we always still make it. We can't break the simplicity. Agreed. We we can't stand it. It's too easy. Grace is unfathomable. Yes. Why? Why? Yeah, and you should ask that every day, we're like, what why? Thank God, yes. But why? Why did you Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_06 22:07

But what is the answer to that? Okay. So let's look at what the answer would be to that unfounded grace, that unabounding grace. Okay. It's love. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_06 22:19

It's absolute and total love without condition. It's again, I go back into the the way that everything is set up. We have our father in heaven. Yep. You become a dad and a mother, which teaches you how to have unconditional love for your children, which again, you go back, he's the father, we are the child. And that's what it is. And if you and if you go into that, what could one of your children do that you wouldn't forgive them?

SPEAKER_00 22:49

Not a thing.

SPEAKER_06 22:50

Not a thing.

SPEAKER_00 22:51

I tell them that daily. Even when we're in the throes of a hellacious temper tantrum or a 13-year-old meltdown. Oh, yeah. I'm mad, but I ain't mad that mad. Yeah. There's nothing I could do that can bring me to be like, you're out forever.

SPEAKER_06 23:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

Like that would kill me.

SPEAKER_06 23:07

That's the one thing that I think makes it even stronger is he is our eternal father. And when you become a parent, you are an eternal parent. You don't ever no longer become a parent. Because at some point in your lifetime, you're going to need mom and dad. One way or the other. And when they're gone. Yeah. And when they're gone, how much do you miss them? How much do you go through thinking, oh, I wish I would have had this more time with them. Or listened. Cats in the cradle. Listen to that song and really absorb that song. If you don't cry, there's something wrong. Because that song, like when I actually sat and listened to it, I was like, oh my goodness. My whole childhood of me and my dad flashed before my eyes how I was working the swing shift with my children. You know, the things that I missed out on. Son, I got to work overtime today. You know, I remember when I started working 311s and my son was young, he hated 311s because dad wasn't there. Yeah. You know, and and it's just, it's one of those things. It's like we need to be more in the present and bring that love back. And let them know, yes, this is hard. Yes, this is a rough patch, yes, this sucks. But I still love you, and I'm here to protect you and to help you. I know you want to do this thing, and I know you're probably gonna do it whether I tell you to do it or not, but I'm still gonna love you afterwards. And the extreme cases that I've seen is where the parent will break the law to hide or protect the child. You know, which again unconditional love. Like if if your child did something I'm gonna say heinous or horrific, what level would you do to protect them and hide them?

SPEAKER_00 25:08

I mean, if they if they did it, I would absolutely be calling the cops and I'd be crying the whole time. See, I don't think I would. It would take me a hot minute to get there.

SPEAKER_06 25:18

I don't think I would.

SPEAKER_00 25:19

And that's probably something I shouldn't admit, but it's the truth. Right. Or I would take the blame. Right. Like, I mean, I can see that scenario. Those are like those questions like you don't know what you would actually do until you're in it, because you could say that, be like, there's nothing, but then your kid, your kid did this, and you're like, oh my gosh, lock that kid up.

SPEAKER_01 25:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:37

You're like, wait, that's my kid, you know.

SPEAKER_06 25:40

So my mom dealt with something when we had my when she had my sister, she was dealing with, you know, am I gonna love them both the same? Like, how can I love them both the same? And it's definitely an interesting question because you've got one that is six years older than the other one. So the six-year-old doesn't need the attention that the little one needs. Right. And that's hard to explain to a six-year-old. And sometimes you see situations where the older child gets neglected and feels neglected and things go away astray. Yeah. Um but somebody asked my mom if somebody put a gun to their heads and said one of them has to go, you couldn't choose. And I think that made her feel better because it made her realize that she does love them both unconditionally and she couldn't choose. I actually saw uh a thing on Friends the other day. They were asking Joey if he would give up girls or food and he couldn't make this. So I thought that was funny, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:47

What if the girl that provides food? No, I'm just kidding. She was a cook? Oh, okay. There you go. Maker? There you go.

SPEAKER_03 26:55

Candlestick maker? Oh, well, she's the whole shebang.

SPEAKER_00 26:57

The whole shebang, right. But but again, I just want to highlight in chapter 12, verse 6. So now come back to your God. Act with love. Now there's not just a come back and do nothing.

SPEAKER_03 27:05

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:06

You know, there's and that's not work salvation. It's it's act and love with justice and always depend on me. Right. You know, that that's the thing. And we do that with our kids all the time. We do that. But I think fascinating about what you said is a lot of people misunderstand, and again, I'm like not Catholic, but um throughout church history, they were called mothers and brothers and fathers and sisters for that reason. Because when one went away, you know, when God called one home, maybe your biological family used to have a community of people that were your mothers, brothers, and sisters who do the will of God, right? So it's a family thing. And so you are spiritual parents, whether you are biologically a parent or not. Like people look to you, people who say, Well, I don't have kids, I don't know anything about parenting. Guess what? You probably know more than you think, because nobody who becomes a parent knows anything about it. We're just like, oh, sounds like a good idea. And they're like, oh, snap, there is no there's no real book.

SPEAKER_06 28:01

There's no Dr. Spot book.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

Yeah, there's no one size fits all, where's your kid here book? I think that's what God teaches us is that look to me, I'll give you the answers, I'll show you. But stop turning away and acting like I don't see it. You know, it's like a cop sitting next to you and you like rub up your engine, you want to speed race him. You know, then they're gonna go and then as soon as you go, you know, like what'd we learn? You know, and and God's doing that with us. And I think so many people have a problem with the discipline aspect of God too.

SPEAKER_04 28:33

Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

And I was reading, and it's in Proverbs, and that's in Hebrews, like, don't go against God's discipline, because it shows that you're an illegitimate child, right? Like, that's the Hebrew writer says, if God is not disciplining you, you're an illegitimate child.

SPEAKER_06 28:47

Think about how abrasive that language is.

SPEAKER_00 28:50

It's extreme.

SPEAKER_06 28:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

Like, who wants to hear that? Like in the King James, I do believe it literally says you are a bastard. Probably, yeah. You know? Um, which, you know, if we've all watched any English TV or whatever, we know that's a terrible thing. And only Jon Snow made that a cool thing to be. Yeah, I forgot. You gotta live in a live in a brute cellar, you gotta weirdo. Harry Potter under the stage is a primitive drive. Um but then it's just it's a wild thing to see how what does Brennan Manning call? He says the furious longing of God, is the way he puts this. And it's like, oh, God is this like I love you so much of not leaving, but you have the choice to stay in your own pig pen over here. Right? And that's what he's fighting with them over. They're like, well, what about Judah? Well, what about Ephraim? What about Judah? God's like, it's both.

SPEAKER_03 29:42

It's all of you. You're all doing it.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

You're all idiots. Hey, we've got to the other nations yet. I'm just with my people. But then he talks about the idol worship and all that stuff, and he goes, He's let me show you what you're doing.

SPEAKER_06 29:54

So it kind of talks to me about verse seven there, Scott. Verse 7.

SPEAKER_00 30:00

But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales and they love to cheat. Um, so this is God again getting involved, placing himself in the economy of Israel. Right. Um, because have you ever seen, you know, they used to have those I wish sometimes I wish you're this podcast, I think, because I'm doing all these hand motions that you're it's I'm like 6'7 over here. But like um you just can't the the old scales that we see, and people would rig them. And if you go to a gas pump today, right, you see it's like blah blah so-and-so, the auditor of this county has inspected this gas pump to make sure the scales are right. Right. It's the same concept. So what they would do is they would wait the scale and deflate the product to sell less and get more.

SPEAKER_01 30:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:45

Does that sound familiar?

SPEAKER_01 30:47

I mean, it's nothing that it's new.

SPEAKER_00 30:50

It's not going to go, it's nothing that's resurged, it's always been and always will be until God comes back. Because what's really happening is when things start getting choked out like they're about to, and the economic situation takes a downturn, and people are trying to compensate for that. God has to step in and be like, oh no. Y'all put yourself in this business. You don't get to grift your way out. And it will collapse. It did here, it did every other time in history. It will in the future. You can't use crappy business ethics on people. Can I say crappy on a Christian podcast? Is that allowed? Yeah. Yeah, it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_02 31:29

I can edit it, but I probably can allow it. Cruddy. There you go. Thank you. It's very cruddy. Very cruddy. Yeah. Thank you.

SPEAKER_06 31:35

Um but thinking about how all this sounds so familiar. Like, again, nothing new under the sun. Like, come on, guys. Like, where are we missing the disconnect? Where is the disconnect? Not enough people are there, are we just so blind to it that is that what it is? We're just the cloud the mind of men's, the shadow knows.

SPEAKER_02 31:59

No, no, agreed, agreed. Like, like uh again, we know there's not a space for us to make it on our own works. We know that history repeats itself. We know there's nothing new under the sun. And yet we want to claim both those things. We we want to claim that there, you know, this is new, what I'm doing is new, and uh I'm gonna be a good person, and and I'm gonna get an out of boy when I go to when I go to heaven. That's all those things. So it's it's it's all it's endless until he comes back.

SPEAKER_00 32:40

We always think that I think it's because we think we're the exception, right?

SPEAKER_02 32:43

Agreed.

SPEAKER_00 32:43

We think we're the exception to this thing. Like we're the ones that are gonna get it right. But it's something that's not meant to get right because it's wrong.

SPEAKER_02 32:52

Agreed, right?

SPEAKER_00 32:53

And it's like Tyler Childers sings in his song Long Violent History. He says it's the worst that it's been since the last time it happened. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 32:59

That's that's fantastic, brother.

SPEAKER_00 33:02

You know, but it's it's it's exactly the thing, you know, and and it's we like to think we're gonna be the exception to the rule. We're gonna get it right this time. Every teenager goes through this. And I remember having to teach a youth class at the old building years ago about okay, you are special and you are you, you know, you are you know unique, but you're not unique. Like you you're you're no different than anyone else. You're not going to be the exception to this rule. Like, you're not going to be able to not give in to this temptation to knock it off. And they're like, Yeah, I'm good. Two weeks later. Well, okay. There's nothing new under the sun. Agreed, John. I think that's really it, is is we like to think we're we're we since we see history repeating, we think we can intercept it somehow. But yet we don't change our hearts as a whole. And I say we broadly. Right. And that leads to the repetition, and when history doesn't rhyme, it echoes. You know, so even if we kind of, maybe like kind of like a mirror system bending the light just a little bit more the right way, it's still gonna screw it up in the long run.

SPEAKER_06 34:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:09

You know?

SPEAKER_06 34:10

I think one of the things that I've kind of mess it up in the long run. One of the things that I have pressed a lot on is being right isn't all that important. Like you don't have to be right all the time. It's not so important that like again, perfection is not obtainable. We're not gonna be perfect. And we've said many times leave room for grace. Yes. And I think that's where a lot of people get hung up. Like you said, we're gonna get it right this time. No, you're not. Right. But it's okay. Yeah, there is grace for that. Right. You can try, and that's what you should do. You should try, but also allow yourself to fail and be corrected instead of, oh, I was right. I was right, I was right this time.

SPEAKER_03 35:00

It doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_00 35:01

You're gonna get to judgment day. You're gonna is that gonna work for God? I was right. Some people think it will. Well, I agree.

SPEAKER_02 35:08

Yeah. Willie heard an interesting uh an interesting uh take on the uh um the passage where the Lord says, even though you say Lord, Lord, I didn't I do these things in your name, whatever else, um that he's he will say, Go away, I never knew you. Um and it was that uh if I recall it correctly, it was um Oh, it was it was that they were they they were self-proclaimers. They were proclaiming the things that they had done whereas uh the idea Christian is gonna go like honestly, the only reason I'm here is because grace. That's that's it. I I didn't do I I I was doing wrong, and then I'm here. That it's it's baffling.

SPEAKER_00 36:11

And somehow I tripped all the way here. Stumbled the whole way.

SPEAKER_02 36:14

And it's by your grace that I am here.

SPEAKER_06 36:17

So I would say that it was the many broken bones that I had to suffer to get to where I'm at. Yeah. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 36:28

That's true.

SPEAKER_06 36:28

But it literally blew up your arm and shoulder. Uh I've said for many years the reason my nose is crooked is because God's had to hit me with a two by four every once in a while. Um but yeah, it's like we have to do it that's what we get upset about, I think, a lot of times. And maybe I'm wrong. I didn't do nothing. I have done absolutely nothing. It's only by God's grace that he has allowed me to be the vessel in which he worked through. The fact that it's me boggles my mind. Like, why are you choosing me? Why is this why are you doing this? Why why me? Why me? But over years of broken bones and two by fours and everything else, I'm starting to understand and realize that. You know, this is what God's purpose for me was. To realize it's not you. It's not.

SPEAKER_00 37:26

But still walk.

SPEAKER_06 37:27

Yeah. Yeah. And just keep one foot in front of the other. Hold fast. Or just keep swimming, just keep swimming. Yeah. All right. Let's go ahead and do how many chapters we got in this. No, we can do more. Let's try to do it.

SPEAKER_02 37:44

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_06 37:46

Chapter 13, Brian.

SPEAKER_02 37:48

All right. When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling. He lifted himself up in Israel. But through Baal he became guilty and died. They sing more and more and make for themselves molten images. Idols made from their silver according to their understanding. All of them the work of craftsmen. They're saying of them, let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves. Therefore, they will be like the morning cloud, and like dew which soon disappears, like chaff which is blown away from the threshing floor, and like smoke from a chimney. Yet I have been Yahweh, your God, since the land of Egypt, and you were not to know any God except me, and there is no Savior besides me. I myself knew you in the wilderness and the land of drought. As they had their pasture, then they became satisfied. Indeed. They were satisfied, and their heart became raised up. Therefore they forgot me. So I will be like a lion to them. Like a leopard I will lie in wait by the wayside. I will encounter them like a bear robbed of our cubs, and I will tear open the chest enclosing their heart. There I will also devour them like a lioness. It is your ruin, O Israel, that you are against me, against your help. Where now is your king, that he may save you in all your cities, and your judges of whom you said, give me a king and princes. I gave you a king in my anger, and took him away in my wrath. The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, his sin is stored up. The pains of childbirth come upon him. He is not a wise son. For it is not the time that he should delay at the opening of the womb. Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from death? O death. Where are your thorns? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion will be hidden from my sight. Though he is fruitful among the reeds, an east wind will come, the wind of Yahweh coming up from the wilderness, and his fountain will become dry, and his spring will be dried up. It will plunder his treasury of every desirable article. Samaria will be held guilty, for she is sorry, for she has rebelled against her god. They will fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women will be ripped open.

SPEAKER_05 41:57

That's a delight. A little one is a thought process there.

SPEAKER_06 42:13

But where else do we hear, O death, where are your thorns? Where are you where is your sting? First Corinthians 15. There you go. It's just amazing how they keep touching back and forth, keep going. Like it's all it's all there. It just we can't see the before our eyes or something. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 42:35

Well, but again, it's it's there's a there's so many proofs. Like where did the where did this Jesus fella come from? Like he didn't come from left field. It's it's we've been we've been staying it forever. Yeah. He's always worried. This is what he's gonna look like. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 42:53

Like all the many prophets that we have, there's all there's always something that is saying the Messiah to come. I don't know where they get where they miss it.

SPEAKER_00 43:06

Because their idea of that is a David figure.

SPEAKER_04 43:10

Which will work out in the series we're doing on Sundays, but is it because of the oppression and they haven't forgiven the oppression that they have dealt with?

SPEAKER_00 43:24

I think it's chapter 13, verses 4 through 6 lays it out. Again, I have been the Lord your God ever since I brought you out of Egypt. You must acknowledge no God but me. There's the first commandment, right? For there is no other savior. I took care of you the wilderness in that dry and thirsty land. But when you had eaten, you were satisfied, you became proud, and you forgot me. Again, we got this. We're the exception of the rule, we'll figure it out. God's like, You don't. Like, you really don't, but I'll let you try. Like, God is a gentleman, right?

SPEAKER_04 43:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:58

But like the that's Verse six is the bane of humanity. It's so easy to forget about God when things are going well in a lot of ways.

SPEAKER_06 44:08

And one of the things that I have learned over the last couple years, and I've tried to tell a lot more people about it, um, again, it's easy to praise God in the good times. Praise Him in the bad times too. But you have to understand that there is a rhyme and a reason to the bad times. Absolutely. I mean, I think you've said it, I've said it. What have you got on the horizon for me? This sucks right now, but obviously I'm doing something incorrectly.

SPEAKER_02 44:41

Well, and and and I generally say, like, what am I not seeing, or what will I see? Yes. So am I gonna learn something from this experience, or am I sorry, that if will I learn something from this experience that will change me in the future, or will I go through this to understand somebody else's uh you know, role in this situation? Again, it's it's what is it? Yes. So empathy.

SPEAKER_06 45:10

So yes, the only thing that I would change with what you said there is will I? God, you are obviously showing me something that I am missing. Now I have to pay attention. Thank you for bringing these hard times on me to get me to open my eyes to see these things so that I can have that transformation. Oh, agreed and learn the lesson so that I don't repeat it again.

SPEAKER_02 45:38

Well, I I tell myself that as far as the will will I. So I have I trying to keep my mind open is is is is this is painful, yes, or this is uh uh miserable, yes. But what am what am I going what is God gonna show me during this?

SPEAKER_06 45:55

Yeah, like one of the examples that I use that seems to be the easiest and quickest ones is Road Ridge. Oh, agreed. You get touched by every stoplight or every stop sign or every slow person. That's when I go, okay, God, what do you want me to see? I start looking around, paying more attention to my surroundings. Um and then it's also like, well, okay, so maybe there's something you don't want me to see. Like you don't want me to be a part of this accident that's about to happen up here. Or maybe somebody pulls up next to me that I haven't seen in a long time, or I see somebody that is struggling on the side of the road.

SPEAKER_02 46:31

Or or just that that minute uh uh attention to where your focus is. Correct. So if you're focused on I'm late, I'm late, I gotta be someplace, God's just like, slow down. Slow down. Enjoy the day. And so when you start to change your mindset and you're like, why am I what am I not getting here? Then you're just like, it's a really beautiful day. Look at that.

SPEAKER_00 46:56

You know? And unfortunately, we live in a culture that is in constant rebellion to that. Agreed. Like deadlines, time schedules, shift work, payments and due dates. We have scheduled ourselves into a relentless pursuit of hurry. Mm-hmm. You did a lesson about that, didn't you? Yes. Um it's called the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. Yeah. Um, it's based on a book by John Mark Comer. But yeah, the the thing to take away from that is God is never in a hurry. Like, yeah, God invented time, but we absolutely supercharged it to our destruction. Right? Like the sundial was great until people started keeping track of them.

SPEAKER_01 47:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:36

Then everybody could get a sundial, and now we all have time limits and we all have you know you know, time frames. Like, for instance, you know, church goes 20 minutes too long, people get mad. It's like, but what else you got? Like, you're here praising the God that you that saved you.

SPEAKER_01 47:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:51

What else could you be doing? And I mean, I get it. There's family things, there's activities, and I get it. It's just it's a a system that we allowed to be created that God never intended.

SPEAKER_06 47:59

With you saying that, why are those family things even there? Societal pressure and normalcy. They're there because of after church.

SPEAKER_00 48:09

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 48:10

So the reason you're anxious to get to the whatever after church, the only reason you have it is because of church.

SPEAKER_00 48:17

Right.

SPEAKER_06 48:17

So be thankful and grateful that you have that opportunity to gather together. I mean, uh it's it's a wonderful thing to be able to spend time with the people that you don't normally spend time with.

SPEAKER_02 48:31

We do we do, but uh navigating uh our social structures is is baffling. Okay, so no, like what I was trying to get at is is uh social graces uh or social etiquette, as as Scott was saying. Um they're they're baffling to me. Um we're we're we're meant to lie to one another, uh like and that's just to be anticipated. Uh how was your day? No, no, no. Don't genuinely tell me how your day was. I don't care. No, I and and and and it's also expected from you from the vantage point where you know that I don't care, and you're not gonna try and burden me. You're just like, I'm fine.

SPEAKER_01 49:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:17

And I never know, I never know anything. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 49:19

Well, and also with going with the social etiquette as a man, we are brainwashed into saying that we're fine. Because again, nobody cares. Nobody wants to hear that your job is breaking you down, the wife is tearing you apart, and you just got the weight on your world and on your shoulders all the time. You just say fine. There's a great little video out there that w what actually happens when a man says he's fine, he's not fine. He's just getting by. Like one of the things you hear a lot is he's got uh gas station coffee and he's got the cigarettes or the chew or or whatever the energy drink just to keep him going and uh Advil, you know, those kind of things. Um but yeah, and you're right. Like when I was hurt, people would ask me how I was doing. And I know that they didn't really want an answer. And it's not I'm not blaming anybody for that. It's fine. I I don't whatever. But I went through this list of things I could say that actually engaged. You know what I'm saying? So like people would ask me, say, Oh, how are you doing? 'Cause they were, you know, they were worried about me, obviously. But for me to say anything other than fine would have been something like you know, you're not gonna unburden everything right then and there. So like I would say things like if I was a puppy, I'd wag my tail. Okay. You know, something silly. So it kind of takes the pressure off of both people to have to have that interaction. You know? Like that's like you say, hey, how you doing? I'm fine, and then that's it. You just move on to the next person.

SPEAKER_00 51:02

And I think even you did a lesson on that about that how to uh we even design church around this, like people think like coming to service on uh and you should, they think that functions as like a fellowshipping, like get to know everybody environment. That's not what we're there for, and we're here so quick, and everybody's in such a hurry doing 800 different things that that's all you hear. Like every person I come, I stand at the door and greet everyone and tell them goodbye, and it's oh I'm fine, I'm great. I've had to invent other things, well that's me. I was like, well, if I was any better, I'd be there'd be three of me and you'd have to figure out which two to kill. You know? Um and usually people are like, wow, I'm out of here. Um, but I leave the door open if what for people if they want me to know or if I want them to know. Yes. We can have that. But like the social etiquette is hi, how are you? We've created a verbal transaction, it is now complete. Let us go sing a song, write a check, and put a few plates around, and then go home and we'll say hi, how are you next week? And you're always fine and everybody's happy. Yeah. And it's a sham. And God is calling it out in Israel right here. He's like, This is not true.

SPEAKER_01 52:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:08

You live in a reality TV show. Well, and and also, like, uh we're we're kind of getting there too, uh, in this discussion, but also too, being uh a member of the church and also having to be great all the time, having to be blessed all the time. Uh if you if you're if you're not feeling it, I mean, and you want to communicate so that somebody else can and again, fellowship and uh family, uh, because that's what we are, all of us. Um I think gee, just be more genuine. I I I try to be more genuine with those feelings. If I if I'm not feeling it, I'm just like, yeah, no, it's not a good day, man. That's it. Don't and if we want to talk about it, we can, but I'll I'll let you know, man. So uh or or if it's if it's good, I mean I I can't wait to tell you what what what the good thing is. I can use it with you. Exactly.

SPEAKER_06 53:05

So and that's the thing like you're saying, is like and and the closer you get to people, the real true, genuine closeness you get with people, you see that just in their mannerisms, the way they're looking, the just you tell when they're not, that's yeah, and and I've caught myself catching those things and going up to them when I get a chance and being doing okay, you know, you look like something's on your mind or whatever, you know. And I I think that's what we need to get to.

SPEAKER_00 53:34

Yeah. But we're in too big of a hurry, right? Right, right. That we we become the Levite or the priest to the Good Samaritan parable, yeah, right? Where we've got things to do. It's not that we don't want to help even. We always cast those guys as like super villains, like I'm just too busy. It's like well, no, they they literally had somewhere be. Yeah. But Jesus is making the case. Yeah. But love does. Yes. Love interrupts. Yes, yes. Love causes you to stop. Yes. You know? Um, and that's ultimately the question that changed the trajectory of my faith is what does love require of me? You know, that's ultimately the standard of being a Christian. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. You can't do either one of those without the other one. Agreed, yeah. And it creates a constant circle. Again, I go back to what I said earlier, love. Yeah, that's the standard. It's not church attendance, it's not Bibles. No. How many times have you read through the Bible? You know, do you have all the books of the Bible memorized in order? No, I went to Bible school, I didn't do that. But I could spell Nebuchadnezzar, you know, without looking. But like, I mean, we're just so busy that we can't even our inner soul is out of breath.

SPEAKER_05 54:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 54:47

And Thomas Merton is brilliant on this. He says we do a type of violence to your soul, that all this noise and garbage and stuff. And I mean, he wrote that back in 1963, the technological marvels of America. It's like, man, back then you didn't have nothing. Yeah. You know, if you'd be alive now, you'd be blown away, but it's the same situation, always will be.

SPEAKER_01 55:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:07

Yeah, we're just too important and we're too too busy to do what the what love requires because love is the thing that requires usually your most unrenewable resource, which is time.

SPEAKER_02 55:18

Love is patient.

SPEAKER_00 55:19

Yeah. Love is kind.

SPEAKER_02 55:21

Yeah. I mean, that's love has a time limit. Oh, like that's in the book of First Opinions. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 55:26

Where's that book at?

SPEAKER_02 55:28

Love is deceitful because you don't want to burden somebody else with no, I don't, I don't, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 55:32

Like, that's the thing, it's like I'll have like as a minister, and even since I was a kid, like in high school and like stuff, I would always know who was messed up, whether I knew him or not. And like who I could talk to, and like, hey, are you okay? And I'll even say that there, and I'll find people like that I've known forever, or like, I'm actually my job is to be your minister, and they'll be like, I just don't want to bother you. You're not bothering me. Like, quite literally, I have sought you out because I noticed something, and you're gonna be like, I don't want to bother you. Well, if that's the case, you've already technically, so sociologically bothered me by not including me in your problem.

SPEAKER_01 56:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:09

You know, like I'm here to be bothered, yeah, whether I want to be or not.

SPEAKER_01 56:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:13

Like that's the thing. It's just like we have to.

SPEAKER_06 56:16

And I think that's what a lot of people do with God as well. Like, God's too big and important to be worried about it.

SPEAKER_00 56:23

He's worried about the the kids in New Guinea or whatever. Yeah, yeah. My car problem isn't concerned to God. Are you kidding? Yeah, he he's big enough to do it. You know, just like we the we always say the devil's in the details, right? But God is in the smallest things. Oh, yeah. You know, God He was there before the details. Yes. God is in the atoms. Yeah. You know?

SPEAKER_01 56:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:46

And so he holds them all together. But I I and this goes back, I think, maybe here to Hosea, where we do this stuff and we keep knowing. Look at verse 13, the last, the middle sentence. But they are like a child who resists being born.

SPEAKER_02 57:01

Oh, right.

SPEAKER_00 57:03

We know the like listen to us. We're doing a podcast. How many podcasts are we going to listen to and books read? We're all saying the same thing, but we'll go out the door and do the societal things just because we're so trained in it. Like it's so ingrained from like kindergarten on. Do this, don't do that.

SPEAKER_06 57:19

I think it was uh Denzel Washington that I heard say this. Out of all people. At least it wasn't Matthew McConnelly this time.

SPEAKER_00 57:27

Only if you do the voice.

SPEAKER_06 57:28

Exactly. I don't know his. So the first thing we should do in the morning before we put our slippers on is get on our knees. And that's the one thing that I think is awesome about um with uh the chosen. You see as soon as they get up, they they thank the odd of the universe. As soon as they sit down for rest or eat or whatever it is, they always speak a moment to God and give Him the praise and the glory for those things. And that's I think that's paramount to getting things closer and be more reliant and seeing God work. You know, one of the things, and again, I'm gonna equate this to the family. You know, my mom will ask me if you heard my kids. Well, no, they don't need nothing. How much do we do that to God? Yeah. Like, have you prayed to God today? Well, yeah, exactly. Just say hi to him. Just give him, hey, good morning. Exactly. And this whole that's that that's the thing we do, we forget. Absolutely. I need to start remembering more. All right, Sir Brian. This is the last chapter. I'm about to say you look like you're pondering something.

SPEAKER_02 58:45

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, I I uh no, I'll uh oh go ahead. Uh 14. Uh no, it's a conversation I got wrong earlier. That's all. So you got it wrong? Yeah, I got it wrong. I was just thinking on it earlier. That's that's all. Uh anyways. Okay. Let the Lord be gracious with you, brother. No, uh agreed. Agreed.

SPEAKER_00 59:08

Um we have time to talk about it.

SPEAKER_02 59:12

Well, I mean, it doesn't serve me presently because I'm not speaking to the individual I got the conversation wrong. That that takes the pressure off me because I thought, what did I do? What did I thought?

SPEAKER_00 59:21

No, no, no. Well, now I have a third way to worry, but now I'm not worried anymore.

SPEAKER_02 59:27

Uh okay. Uh chapter 14. Uh you have a bookmark in your thing. Oh, thank you, brother. Thank you. I still go in there.

SPEAKER_06 59:38

You uh I'm not watching.

SPEAKER_00 59:42

Good thing your hand pushed it right down back in the pocket as far as you know.

SPEAKER_02 59:48

Return, O Israel, to Yahweh your God. For you have stumbled in your iniquity. Take words with you and return to Yahweh. Say to him, Forgive all iniquity and take what is good, that we may pay in full the fruit of our lips. Assyria will not save us. We will not ride on horses, nor will we say again, our God, to the work of our hands. For in you the orphan finds compassion. I'm gonna stop you. Good.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:32

Simply because I like what that says there in chapter three, in our particular translation. Well let's see what Scott says. So it says, Nor will we say again, our God. Our is capitalized, God is not. And then it says to the work of our hands, for in you, which is capitalized, the orphan. What is yours? Does yours do the same thing with that? How does yours read check verse three?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:59

Mine says, Assyria cannot save us, nor can our war horses. Never again will we say to the idols we have made, you are our gods. No, in you alone do the orphans find mercy. Um so mine, the you alone do the orphans find mercy is not capitalized.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:18

Okay, but it also says your gods, idols. It says both. Where I think with this one saying our God and then lowercase G basically saying idol at the same time. So I just I I just found that interesting how it did that. And I can see the difference and I understand the difference, but I want to make sure that we had talked about that. So go on with four Brian.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:42

Okay, I will heal their turning away from me. I will love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them. I will be like the dew to Israel. He will flourish like a lily, and he will take root, like cedars of Lebanon. His shoots will grow forth, and his splendor will be like the olive tree, and his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon. Those who live in his shadow will again rise grain, and it will flourish like the vine. His name of remembrance will be like the wine of Lebanon aware from. What more have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am the luxuriant cypress. From me comes your fruit. Whoever is wise so let him discern these things. Whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of Yahweh are right, and the righteous will walk in them, but transgressors will stumble in them.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:12

The thing I love about God, I'm just throwing this on there. He literally says, I need you to look at me and say this. Like word for word. And like he he lays it out. And then the book ends, and people are like, Well, what we this is all the whole thing. It's right there. He says, Do this, and this is what'll happen. And I think it's wild. Like the the people have to acknowledge. Verse 3 again. Assyria cannot save us, nor can our war horses. Like, nothing on the world stage, or in the world, or of the world, is able to, or can, or will ever save you. Amen. I mean, think about that. We invented the atomic bomb that we harnessed the power that God allowed us to harness the power that He created the universe, and nothing good really has come of it. We're still fighting about it and threatening it and bickering about it. Like that's but that's a powerful thing. It can literally alter, you know, the you know, a lot of things, but it can't save you. No.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:19

And this is again, I'm gonna go to movie quotes, uh, war games with Matthew Broadwick. The only way to win. How about a nice game of chess? Or no, is it tic-tac-toe?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:29

Or how about we play a game or something?

SPEAKER_06 1:04:31

No, no, at the end. Yeah. When he realizes there is no winner.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:35

The only way to win is to not play. It's to not play. Exactly. Annie Jacobs wrote a book uh a couple years ago. It's called Nuclear War Scenario. And again, not to get all weird, but she talks about what would happen if X country launched and what's the procedure, because her book is like 400 pages long, but it covers just 33 minutes of time. Like that's how much like the president literally let's say it's the president of the United States. He once he finds out there is only six minutes left for him to react, once it gets to him to call a unilateral retaliatory strike or not, there is six minutes left. Right? Nothing can say, but but then the the ultimate goal is well, we'll just fire everything we have too. You know? And so what's that called back in the day, mutually assured destruction mass? It's literally madness. But like people literally think, well, if nobody can have this pile of dirt, if we can't, then nobody will.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:28

And that's and again, and as much as I hate to say that, that's what it sounds like. It's like my stick's bigger than your stick. It's like I'm meaner, you're not, whatever. It it's just silly. But I like four where it says, I will heal their turning away from me.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:43

I will love them freely. It says there will be no bounds, and my anger will be gone forever. My anger. God says, Turn to me and say this these three sentences and mean it and do it.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:56

Yeah. And the the the and I I I want to use the word precious for. Other words. I don't know which one I want to use here. The preciousness of I will be like the dew to Israel. He will flourish like the lily and he will take root like the cedars of Lebanon. I love the way a cedar smells. And it's a beautiful thing to look at. And it's one of the strongest woods, I think. It resists rotting. It smells good. Exactly. So like that's just lights you can throw to people easier. I mean what? But yeah, that is just that's just a precious statement, right there.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:31

But also the do thing. Yes. To us, we're like, all the grass is what to them, that's their irrigation. They get rain like one month a year in this part of the world. Dew was the the water source that kept things at least quasi-alive in the ecosystem going. So when God says that, he's like, this is super important to them. We understand that, like, oh cool, God's going to make the the earth carpet wet when I would get up in the morning. No, this is water. Like this is this is what they need. Yeah, sustaining of life right there. And then it says you will blossom like a lily. And then it talks about the beautiful cedars of Lebanon, which is just a couple cities over. I've never seen any cedars over there, though.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:09

Yeah, all I see is a racetrack.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:11

Yeah. And it says, My people will again live under my shade. Yes. And they will flourish like grain and blossom like grapevines. They will be as fragrant as the wines of Lebanon was a happening place back in the day. And then he says, Stay away from the idols in verse 8. I'm the only one who answers your prayer, because up above he says, Repent of saying to these things, you're the one doing it. You know?

SPEAKER_06 1:07:36

And in eight it says, It is I who answer and look after you.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:39

Yes. I am like the tree that is always green. All your fruit comes from me, John 15. I am the vine, you were the branches. Yes. If you do not produce fruit, you'll be cut off and thrown into the fire. Right. So there is a tension, like, once you un once you unlearn something and relearn God's will, you have to do it that way. James says, if you know the thing you're doing or not doing is sin, then you're sinning by not doing or doing it. You know, paraphrase. So once you know, you're on the hook. Because God says, I've literally told you, like, say these three things and just stop and we're good.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:18

I mean, go back into what happened with Jonah. He says, what, eight things and the cows repent.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:23

Right? Yeah, the cows even sorry, I kept saying eight sentences. It's eight words.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:29

Eight words. That's it. What is it like four years and Nineveh will be no more, or ten days or something? Yeah. Yeah. And even the cows put on sackcloth and ashes. But we're over here, even today, we're just like, yeah, I said I was sorry to God. Okay, was it like Bo Clinton? Sorry? Like, sorry that you got caught? Or sorry, sorry that you're going to change. The truth of the matter is, it's always sorry because we're caught. Right. Nobody ever really in the world stage, on the social grace stage, sorry is an only acceptable transaction if you have been exposed. It's unnecessary information if you haven't, because it gets in the way. How stupid of a social thing this is.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:09

Right?

SPEAKER_00 1:09:09

Like, I get why you were like, I hate that. You know, it's like, man, it's it's so mind-boggling. And God is like, hey, just look at me. Yeah. Just look to me. Listen to me. I've told you everything. Listen. And we're like, cool. Five minutes later, we're like, well, let's go uh try this ourselves again.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:30

So what I'm going to refer to is Peter on the water. He takes his eyes off Jesus. What happens? What happens with uh Moses and the staff and the serpents? People look at the snakes, they are healed. Yeah, they look at the staff that Moses is holding and they're healed. They take their eyes off it. So many references to this look to me, turn to me, rely on the other.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:54

But then most of those come after a context where there's been some kind of battle going on, not the Peter thing per se, but where God has literally fought for them and they've seen him do something.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:03

And they're like, this definitely can't happen. God definitely won't come through this time, right?

SPEAKER_06 1:10:09

Well, and I think we talked about it maybe on one of these last podcasts. Um the blessing or the time that God comes through, just because it doesn't look like what you want it to look like, doesn't mean that it didn't happen. Right. Like God knows better than you do. You know what I'm saying? Like uh just a kind of a crazy example. God knows that I can't deal with a million dollars.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:38

You probably like all of us could get rid of it real quick.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:41

Yeah, exactly. Like he like just because like I could pray for something and it might not okay, uh a better example maybe is the Garth Brooks songs, Thank God for Unanswered Prayers. Okay. I mean, how many times have we prayed for something?

SPEAKER_02 1:10:54

Oh, brother, I have prayed for stupid things. I really and I'm just like thank you.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:02

Thank you for saying no to that idiotic request.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:04

Yeah, I guess what happens, I think, with a lot of people is it doesn't come in the form or the shape that they feel or want it to, so they reject it.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:15

Okay. It's C.S. Lewis talks about this our definition of good versus God's definition of good.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:20

Well, even Jesus says, Why do you call me good? Right. Only the Father in heaven is good.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:24

Right, but I mean, like, we'll say, like, I want it to line up this way. Like, let's say I'm Brian here. I say, I want to line up this to happen this week, this to happen this week, this to happen this week. Oh, okay. In this exact order, right? And you know, we already know how it's gonna go. But we do it every Sunday night. Uh, all of us do, and we're like, we got our week planned, and God's up there laughing. But like, but then it comes around and it actually accomplishes the goals, but it's not how you thought it was, so therefore you thought God was mad at you or didn't even answer.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:51

It's like, no, God answered, it's just not the package you wanted it to come in.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:54

Yeah, do you know, but I think I think that also comes with putting it on God. We we we say that as Christians a lot, and and it's and it's it's also leading leaving the decisions up to him as well, too. Just like I trust whatever he's got for me. Honest, that's legit. So I I mean, if I don't see it, I'm like, oh man, this isn't what I maybe it is. Maybe it is. Yeah. So Yeah, you maybe it's not what I asked for, but maybe it is.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:19

And it it's me being super transparent right now, we're gonna talk about is Scott fine. Um, yes, but I had trained myself to think I wasn't for a while until the other night I was out on my back porch praying, because that's what I do, and it's nighttime, and I'm in my little zone for the night, my little prayer, and I'm thinking about how stressed I am and all this stuff, and like the weight of the world is on me, and God's like, You prayed for the things that you're living right now. Did you think it was gonna be easy? Right. And I immediately just like, I was Job in that moment. I was like, I rest my case because I'm wrong.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:58

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:58

You know, like it's like you are living the things that you prayed for your entire life, and just because you're tired or your tummy hurts, or you're mad at the government, or whatever, or you ate too many Twinkies and now you feel fat or whatever we do to ourselves. Um, you think that that just messes it all up because you feel bad about it? Yeah. It's like, no. It just messes up the experience, but God's like, you prayed for this.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:21

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:22

And you're living the prayer. Yeah. So suck it up, buttercup, sometimes. God has to say that to me sometimes.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:28

Yeah, I mean, that's something that I think me and you have we've fully given over to God's will.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:36

Like I wouldn't say fully, all right, because I still I am stubborn. But and but I'm trying to. I'm I'm trying to visualize what my life would be if I just gave everything up to God. And it's my hopes, my prayers, uh everything resting on Him. So that way I okay, I've I've I've said this a number of times, and and it's just we would be terrible gods. Okay. We we would be terrible gods. And and it's and it's because uh when something goes wrong we don't get to blame it on anything but ourselves. So uh and and and and we're impacted by uh uh the events of the world and and and all and all those things. So as gods uh w we're terrible. So but the thing is, is if I can give it to uh him, then I know he has uh he has my interests at heart and and and I and I just let that play out. So so I have to convince myself, and I do, I still I still I still do that I that I that I am I am giving it to him and uh and and and uh and and I if this will work out in a way I haven't foreseen, but uh but it but it's it's gonna be good. I I because I trust him.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:12

Because in the end, there's nothing that God does that's not good.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:16

Agreed. Yes, God is.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:22

This didn't feel right to me, or I was this didn't wasn't delivered to me on a silver platter in the way in which I wanted it, or Amazon Prime was five minutes late, or whatever. You know, it's like it it it God will still accomplish it regardless of how I feel or how it comes to me. God is going to do it because he knows if he hands me a million dollars, yeah, I'll do good with it for like ten seconds, and then I've paid off all the debt and the people that I want to help, and now I'm like, let's go buy something stupid, and then we're back up the creek, right? Like, let's go buy a ranch in Montana. I don't I mean, that'd be awesome, but what am I gonna do with that? Just build me a fence and a cabin in a church building, and then we'll just start there. But other than that, you know, what am I gonna do with a million dollars?

SPEAKER_06 1:16:02

Well, that goes into what we've we've talked about with GPS. What was your term for it? You had the best term for it.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:09

Was it God's postal service? Was it probably parcel service? Parcel service, yeah. The possible, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:18

Yeah, so it's like you're going this way, and it's not God's way, right? So what happens is he reroutes you. He he pingballs or uh the tables, uh table tennis pingball, he pinballs you. In my case, he breaks a bone and sends me in another direction. But Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:41

But you come back out where you're supposed to.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:43

Exactly. It it's that that's why we call it uh God's parcel service. It it redirects you to where you're supposed to be. And it may not be where you thought it would be. There was one of the girls that has come down and given her testimony. She was talking about it, and I have to go back and listen to it. But like what is what do you feel like your your purpose is, what's your end game, your end goal. And honestly, I think we probably have one from growing up, or what we hear as children, what are you gonna be when you grow up? A juice box. I feel like a juice box most of the time.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:24

Um I was gonna be a detective. I should that's what it was, man. I guess. You're detecting lots of heretics. No, no, no. I am confused by the by the mannerisms and and daily blowings of people. I would have been a terrible detective. I wouldn't feel like we get distracted at step one. You can't genuinely mean you do mean that. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:17:48

Yeah. Oh, okay. I'm not qualified. It's like that comedian said, what did they do before they had like real evidence? Hey, there's a big pool of blood over here.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:56

Oh, neat, let's go over here and look at this. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:59

He's like, no, that's ooh, gross. I believe but my theory is so do I. Everybody's a Pink Panther there for a hot minute. Yeah, yeah. So he's a John Melaney, wasn't it? Yeah, it was John Melaney.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:11

Um Hosea is a walk through human nature. Really? It is. And that God uses the really wild marriage parable in Hosea to live it out. To show the Gentiles, kind of, I think, what he's saying, but then he just absolutely is like, Israel, come on. Judah, come on. Look at me.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:29

So we we know that there's no hierarchy to sin. Correct. We know that. But using But there is Disney Plus. But using the Hosea and the Gomer, um it brings it really straight into your living room. Right into your home.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:47

Because we all know a Hosea Gomer, maybe not like prostitute marrying priests, but like a situation ship that's not looking good.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:55

Yeah, like the so again with the English language, we say things and we take them for uh what they what we think they are right away. Um you could say sober, and people will think, you know, that they're not drunk at the time or they're not high or whatever. But sober could mean more than just that. You know what I'm saying? It doesn't necessarily mean that. Um adultery, again, same thing. Adultery is automatically thrown into the marriage thing, but in this situation is done against God. It's yeah, you're you the adultery could be more than just a spouse. It could be uh I guess maybe in other words would be betrayal.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:39

Is is those I mean I think adultery is always going to be adultery, but it's really but how that adultery comes about is how we define the betrayal level. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:49

Well and and and and again there's also the parallel made by uh God and uh the church and us being his bride. So again, those th those those are the uh because we're also talking covenants. Yeah. We're talking covenants and we're also talking uh uh stepping out of those covenants to do the the saucy sin thing. So uh that's that's that's what that's what it is.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:15

He did saucy I lost it.

SPEAKER_06 1:20:18

But he's right, you're absolutely right. Like Yeah, like the real attractive ones. Yes, yes, like that's the thing that I think we've talked about.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:25

So you're not just like, well, I'm gonna go step out and I'm gonna go murder. That'll be that'd be terrible, very terrible. Don't do don't do that. Yeah, yeah, don't do that.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:32

I've never and I I can't say never because anytime I have God's like, oh really? Yeah. I've never okay. Well, no, the other day at the Bible study a couple weeks ago, this did happen, the gathering, but like uh I've never heard someone be like, that felt really good to do. And you're like, I was not prepared for this this morning. Um there's a lady who was like, you know, talking about throwing hands with people and how good it made her feel, and like the power that she could exercise. And I'm like, oh wow. I'm gonna remember her from my guy. Today I'm choosing violence. Oh no, no, no, no, no. But I mean, I understood the way she told the story at first, I was like, wait, where's this going? And then it turned out beautifully. Yeah. But like at the same time, it was like It was like a road to redemption. Yeah, she was, and she made it, yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:19

I don't know. And she was saying it, she had that long look in her eyes as well, too. So I was just like, we probably need to mind her. So yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:21:27

Just just to kind of watch her a little bit. Yeah. She's saying Scott went and got his holy water out of the car afterward. That's it, yeah. Yeah, and again, it it those are the words and and the way that it it it hurts. And thinking about, and again, you said earlier, are we upset because we got caught? Are we sorry because we got caught, or are we sorry genuinely? And I heard a gentleman say it one time as a kid, actually, about we need to be genuinely what you got. We need to be genuinely sorry or apologetic. Like genuinely understand that we have hurt that person, whether we intended to or not. And again, don't so much be we are afraid of the punishment, we are afraid of the embarrassment, we are afraid of uh confessing to something that we're not proud of. But these are the times that we really need to do that. We need to be humble, we need to get past being embarrassed and owning up to what we've done. That's when you're really sorry or you're apologetic.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:46

This is what Paul says, godly sorrow versus worldly sorrow. Yeah, like worldly. Worldly sorrow is I'm sorry I got caught. Godly sorrow is, oh, I realize the gravity of this situation. Like there is no victimless person in this sin thing that I've done.

SPEAKER_06 1:23:00

I mean, I can go into that where they say, Well, who am I hurting by doing this? Somebody. Somebody, believe it or not, you may not think you are. Well, it's like pornography.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:08

That's where I was like, like you're literally without consent violating a woman. And people can be like, Well, she put herself out there. Actually, if you go into the dark seedy business, she may not have.

SPEAKER_06 1:23:17

Yeah, well, the whole world, the world part of it is what has ruined that situation and put her in that situation. If the world was the way it was supposed to be, that would not be a situation. Oh wow, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:29

Could you imagine the world the way it was meant to be? Shalom? Shalom. I can't wait to get there though. Agreed. Agreed. It's going to be fantastic.

SPEAKER_06 1:23:37

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:38

That's why Hosea concludes let those who are wise understand all these things and with discernment listen carefully. The paths of the Lord are true and right, and righteous people will walk by them. But people in the paths of sinners stumble and fall. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:23:52

Yeah. And again, I think that goes back to what I said when we started this, doesn't it? Uh let me find the right version here. Um live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. But who said that first?

SPEAKER_00 1:24:14

Oh, yeah. Jesus. Yeah, absolutely. Matthew chapter five.

SPEAKER_06 1:24:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:18

Let your light shine so that men may see your good deeds and glorify your father and God.

SPEAKER_06 1:24:21

And it's even being said here with the end of Hosea. Yeah. Like just do do right. Yeah. Be good. My buddy used to make fun of me all the time. I would uh say things to people like be a good girl or be a good boy as a as a ending to a conversation or whatever. And what are you who are you? I would say don't do anything illegal. Well, yeah, but I'd like you be a good girl.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:48

But we also say be good. Um uh Jesus says uh that no one's good except for the Father Father. So an a Christian is to be likened to Christ, but not to fully represent, I don't think, Christ. But let's not put it out of the realm of response, you know, a possibility. So uh so maybe let's be like good.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:23

Okay. Like okay? Like okay. Yeah. I'm fine.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:31

Now we're just gonna be like, Brianna say hi to it.

SPEAKER_06 1:25:33

I'm like good. I'm like good.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:25:36

Or light good. Or I'm good like.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:39

I am good like. Good like. I'm godlike. Whoa. Good, good. Yeah, yeah. Let's see. Uh I um I I don't have anything. No, there's no way.

SPEAKER_06 1:25:58

Be a good girl. There we go. Don't do anything illegal. Scott pray yourself.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:04

Our Heavenly Father, thank you for your overwhelming and everlasting love, Father, that you are closer to us than a breath, even in the moments when we choose to willfully turn away from you, when we choose to sin, when we get caught up in the ways and the fears and the cares of the world and time. But Father, you just simply stand there asking us just to stop and look and listen to you. Help us submit our lives to that fully. Help us to not just be sorry because we get caught, help us to genuinely grasp how we say things, how we react, how we act, how we treat people, and most of all, like we just said, let us reflect you. We are not the focus, you are. Let us be mirrors that reflect your glory, Father, and and and knowing that we aren't going to get it right. Help us not get hung up in perfectionism, because if we could do that, we wouldn't need a savior. And Father, we need one. Even on the best days. Even on days when we think we don't sin, we still need you, Jesus. So please never leave us, never forsake us. And ultimately, I don't help us understand we don't have to worry about you ever leaving or forsaking us. You've already told us you won't. But Father, help us to not leave or forsake you, or imagine that you've done those things. And Father, just let us love. Let love be our standard. Let us not become proud and forget you. Let us not turn to idols or vain things of this world to bring us salvation or to destroy things or to bring justice in a way we'd like to see. Uh, Father, may your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen.