The New Life Podcast
The New Life Podcast is hosted by Pastors Devon Patton and Luke Evans. Two pastors. One decade apart. Both Pastor's kids who grew up together and now serve side by side - one as a youth pastor, the other an associate pastor. Each episode they dig into Scripture, share real ministry experiences, and teach to help others grow in their daily walk with God.
Affiliated with New Life Church in Trumbull, CT
The New Life Podcast
Context Is Key (Ep. 44)
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In this episode, Pastors Luke Evans and Devon Patton answer a listener question about the difficult or seemingly boring parts of the Bible, including genealogies, long lists, and detailed instructions, and explain why every part of Scripture matters and how understanding the context can reveal a much bigger story.
What up? What up? Welcome to the New Life Podcast. We're so glad that you've taken the time to join us again. On a Monday. Not necessarily. Oh, you could watch it or listen to it whenever you want. This is true. This is how the internet is. Can we look up the stats on them? Monday. Monday morning. I was last week we had an issue with the Apple app loading it. Well, at least Mateo said it was an issue. Um with Apple. I believe he probably was the guy. Is Ernest the record? Ernest. Honest, I think is the one. He's real Ernest.
SPEAKER_03Those Ernest movies, like Ernest goes to camp and stuff. Those are funny, bro. He used to watch those.
SPEAKER_02No. But I had we had I had somebody message like 8 30 in the morning and they were like, Podcast isn't up. Where's the pod? Where's the pod? What time does it normally go out? Like 5 a.m. or something. Six. Six. Yep.
SPEAKER_00Alright.
SPEAKER_01I've yet to listen to an episode, but I'm just when Summer's watching it, I'll peek in. Sometimes I'll put it on like in on Monday mornings to make sure that it's there. And I'll just like listen. Except for last Monday. Yeah. Which I said. I said I normally listen to it. But I woke up late, I had to go help your dad with something, and then I just forgot. I had to pull over on the side of the plane passing, Mark. Bold moves.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he was having a rough, he was having a rough Monday. I just get a text in the group chat. I'm gonna be late. I went the wrong I went to the wrong place, Bags, and it's having a rough Monday. It's okay.
SPEAKER_00It's alright. We all have to.
SPEAKER_02We made it. We made it. We're here. And you guys are here. Welcome. Welcome. Where were you? Tell us. Where was I? I was here last week for the pod. Yeah, but not really. And then I went away. Not really. Yeah, we went to Florida for a few days. How was it? It was great. It was hot. Florida in August, who knew, right? I mean, yeah, we're just gotta know what you're signing up for there. No, but we it was kind of last minute, so we we like to go somewhere in August every year before the kids go back to school and stuff. Get away. And usually, you know, we've been doing all like the beaches around here. You know, we went to Cape Cod one year. Yeah, no, not Short Beach. Uh Seaside. Uh we went to Cape Cod one year. We like Montauk. Uh we went to the Jersey Shore. Yeah, I love the beach. It's the worst. But I gotta tell you, it's just for the prices that they charge for hotels in the Northeast, and for the quality of beach that you're getting with the price of the hotel, and it's like the predictability of the weather as well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Here. Are you not a B guy?
SPEAKER_02Like it could be. Nah, I'm a hotel. I'm a hotel guy. I know that's a hot take. Bed and Breakfast or Airbnb. Airbnb guy. Yeah, Airbnb. Oh, okay. I'm a bed and breakfast guy. Love it. Yeah, but bed and breakfast is very niche to New England. Yes. You're not going to Florida and go. No, like we go to like New Hampshire and go to like a bed and breakfast. Right. It's very new. It's very New England. It's lovely. So yeah, I mean I get that. If you're staying around, breakfast with a bunch of strangers in somebody's like kitchen. It's like, this is living. But if I'm going like if I'm getting on a plane and going somewhere, I have done the Airbnb thing, but it's I feel like I've had like worse experiences than it's like at the hotel, you just the amenities of the hotel. Like the convenience of something strong. It's like safe. They change my sheets, they make my bed, like there's food accessible. There, like it's just a different. Also, the you know, the Airbnbs just freak me out. Like the safety of like somebody knows the code how to get into my house. Yeah, exactly. Right? Like you're just staying at you're just welcoming somebody. Or like if some creepy person in the neighborhood knows that that's an Airbnb house, like I don't know. It just freaks me out. I'm sure there's no statistics to prove that my thoughts are as popular, but if there was like really the only time that we Airbnb is when we've gone up to up to where we went in New York. That was nice. Up in the what is it called? Uh Cat Skills. Cat Skills, yeah. Because there's just no hotels really. No. And so the and there's really nice Airbnbs. Um, but no. So but for the price that you would pay for a hotel around here on the beaches here, which are mostly public. It was like, man, we could just shoot on a get on a plane straight out of White Plains, and then on the way back, straight into Hartford. I'd just drive it. I haven't been to Hartford in half the Bradley airport in like 20 years.
SPEAKER_01Insert picture of me driving to Ohio. Crisscross applesauce. He's driving with cruise control on. What if you have to slam on the bird?
SPEAKER_03There was nobody there.
SPEAKER_02You got teenagers in the car. You just told us told every parent that was. You were driving like they were kidding. Everybody's over. Also that I can't get any further. Everybody calm down. Yeah, cut that from the podcast. Yeah, that was crazy. That doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_01The picture that did that right now is AI. Yeah, that's not real. It's a great flick. Dude, that'll be us next year in August in Florida. Yep. I'm coming. Are you?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I'm gonna try. Well, yeah. You said that. You said that every year. No, because I'm gonna try and talk Brody into entering for something. He's gonna do it. He's gonna draw. Well, yeah, he can draw. He can do the drawing one or something. Three on three. Is the adult three on three? Is there? Oh, dang. I forget. I don't think they have an adult one. Isn't there like adult pickleball now? Yeah. So there's not an adult three-on-three. Soccer. Soccer. Yeah. That will go up. I think it's like 4v4 or something like that. Something like that. Let's go. What are we doing? We'll get soap to go. Yeah. We'll have Spencer bring soap to go. Spencer was like pointing at himself.
SPEAKER_03I was like, oh yeah, good idea. We'll get soap to go.
SPEAKER_02We'll get Spencer to bring soap.
SPEAKER_03Good idea. Good thinking, Spence. See if your wife's available. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_02Oh man, but seriously. But seriously. Oh yeah, dude, let's go. Any adult thing I'm in.
SPEAKER_01We wiped the floor in pickleball last year. The one game we played? You only played one game.
SPEAKER_03We played against Tati and Chrissy. We smoked them. Like 21-0.
SPEAKER_01They had been like practicing. Dude.
SPEAKER_02No, dude. I speaking of that, you guys see the WNBA recently?
SPEAKER_01What's the WMBA? Haha, just kidding. Uh we so when we were talking about famous people that we had met, Spencer texted me while we were shooting, and I forgot that this happened, but we met at his cancer at uh at the Milford We thought Devin was an all-time troll.
SPEAKER_02That guy gets the crown, dude. His brother played at McDuffie, so we played them in high school. Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah, I remember that. Really? Mm-hmm. His little brother. He was huge. I looked just like him. No doubt that it was his brother.
SPEAKER_01Alright, well, wait, where did you guys meet Ennis Cantor? He had like a meetup thing in the world. Ennis Freedom. And you guys were like, yeah, we're gonna go meet him. Jake really wanted to go. We're like, yeah, I'm down. That's hilarious. That's great. It was like 10 years ago, probably.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's sick, dude.
SPEAKER_01Just a tall Turkish dude.
SPEAKER_02That's cool. He is a tall Turkish dude. I love that. Or is he a dude? We don't know. We don't know. We don't know. They don't know.
SPEAKER_01The WMA doesn't know they definitely don't know.
SPEAKER_02They have no idea. That's too good. Too good. Anyway. But yeah. Anyway. Isn't it weird how conversations just you ever think about that? I think we've talked about this before. But like you asked me about our trip to Florida, and we just ended up. Well, that's why I think it's really hard for people. I mean, me, I could talk to anybody about anything, but for people that's a bold, confident statement, isn't it? I can ask well, I can ask enough questions to be like, we can keep this conversation on. Yeah, you can keep it on. But like we've talked about it before. Like we go to birthday parties or you're sitting there with people that you don't know, and it's like, man, this conversation's the worst. Because it's just like they had we have all a bunch of stuff in common, so like it's easy for us to just keep it rifling. We could think of stories, think of different stuff. Like and we know each and we know and we know each other. What's that last one? Um uh yeah, and we know each other's like brains a little bit better. So like sometimes it's easier uh for us, but at the same time, I think our personalities, I think that's why people have commented on the podcast. It's like they feel like they're in the conversation with us, just listening or like watching us. It's like we're we're in the room with them. But it's like we've I've been to like birthday parties or family party or something, and it's like you're pulling teeth just to get it. Or you crack. I mean, or or you crack a joke or you say something that like one of us would think is funny, and they're just like looking at you, and you're like, dude, I that happens all the time with Nick, my wife's family. Like, I'll say something, I'll make no they do, but it's like I didn't know that until like we were dating her together for a long time. Like, I would make jokes, like I I'm like, especially now, like I'm razzing my father-in-law about different stuff, like making jokes, and like they're laughing and stuff, but it took forever to be like like they like Nancy would be like, Wow, Devin's really funny. He's like, This is great. And I'm like, Which is crazy because Nicole doesn't think you're funny. Yeah, Nicole does not be funny.
SPEAKER_03No, she does, she does. She has admittedly told me she doesn't think you're funny. No, on this, she does not find it funny.
SPEAKER_02Like, I say some funny stuff, and she's like, nah, not into that. Well, that, and she like like dumb and dumber, like that type of humor. She's like, I can't stand this. This is not for me. Slapstick, slapstick, like goofy, funny. It's not, which is like, I love that, like being goofy and silly.
SPEAKER_01I love being silly. I think I can hold the conversation, but when I crumble is when I'm realizing that this is gonna sound so stupid. When I realize that I have like 50% of the responsibility of keeping this conversation afloat, I just crumble. The weight on your shoulders, you're like lights, lights are too bright.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. That and like a big game playing. Not a big game player. No, like a Tuesday matchup, yeah. Teaching or coaching or being a youth pastor with teenagers, like they don't give you nothing to do with that. No, you gotta pull it out of them. Like talking to them and like, yes. You're like, okay, let's keep this going. Like, oh, I like your shoes. Cool, thanks. All right, no follow-ups. Brutal. Brutal and listen, this is not the topic of our podcast, but it could be a topic sometime. The art of the conversation will dwindle. Oh, because of the Because of phone. I mean, you know, like you're saying, talking to teenagers. I mean, it was hard. Walk into an elevator and just face everybody and just stand in front of them. How's everybody doing today? Like, people are gonna think you're an absolute psychopath.
SPEAKER_03We going up tonight, boys.
SPEAKER_02Like my dad, every single place we go, we cannot go anywhere without my dad talking to somebody. Chatting with somebody. And it's like, dude. My dad's the same way. Come on, so just like those commercials, the the you're turning into your parents, like that is our dad's like literally everywhere we go.
SPEAKER_03I love it. I like talking to people too. It's fun, it's wild. I don't but people you just go about your biz.
SPEAKER_01I I I've gone so far where lady, dude. I feel I feel sometimes that like I'll I'll walk around with like headphones on, and like if I'm like thrifting, that's crazy to me. I would literally do that.
SPEAKER_02You might as well wear a shirt that says, do not speak to me. Well, that's yeah, dude. The best so I coach a I coach.
SPEAKER_03He's like, I have one.
SPEAKER_02I I coach girls varsity soccer, and like I have to drive the bus. Yes. Um, and so like we just started the season, so I have to drive the bus. Like, and we have some long trips. Like, we're going away this weekend for like a trip to play um what's it, Covenant Christian? Oh, you guys are going up to Mass for such a fun trip. Friday and to Saturday, and so I gotta drive the bus. And we looked at the thing, it's like three and a half hours. Yeah, like it's past Boston. Yeah, it's past Boston. And I'm like, like thinking of that, like I'll sit there and just like yap to them, and they're like so annoyed the whole time. They're like, like, please stop making comments. Like, stop asking us. I'm like, we got three and a half hours to kill. Like, and they're just like, they'll put on their headphones, like they'll just like, and I'm like, I get it, because I was like that when I was in high school, but it's like I'm like sitting here, I'm like, I could talk.
SPEAKER_01You know who drives the bus that does that to me?
SPEAKER_02Pastor Andy. Yeah, yeah, dude. He loves my boys make fun of Andy all the time because he says the craziest stuff. And he'll say, like, all the he has all those like catchphrases that he uses. Yeah, that nobody knows.
SPEAKER_03Well, beats a this stinks, beats a sharp stick in the eye. It's like, yeah, I guess.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, everyone looks at me, like like it always reminds me of uh Michael Scott when he's like, I'll be on it, like moss on a Mississippi tree stump. Was the way I said it not clear enough for you to go make up your own thing? Uh it just reminds me of your dad because he just says the boys look at me and they're like, What? Oh dude, that's slamming.
SPEAKER_01That's slamming. He's the best. He is the best, yeah. He pressed me the other day because I said that Charlie's was like like an objectively good Philly cheesesteak.
SPEAKER_03He's like, Well, you've never been to Philly.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you don't just go inside of Philly. Don't talk Philly cheesesteaks to Pastor Andy. Also, never had a meat roll from Bill's ice. He throws ketchup all over his cheesesteak. So that's a little iffy. Dude. Oh man, I just want to share like every story about my catch. We used to have a Pastor Andy. You guys have eaten with him, right?
SPEAKER_03Did I share this on the pod? Or was I just telling me?
SPEAKER_02I think I was like telling some young adults when we were out the other day. It was like um like how he orders at a restaurant. You guys have all been with him, and again, it's like the same type of thing of like who he is, his personality, like he's trying to be like polite or like funny or whatever. But like he like sits up and he's like, hmm, uh, so on the hamburger, does that come with American cheese? And they're like, Why are you sitting up? Like he like sits up all the way and does it. He's a funny guy. Uh dude, we're gonna need video of that. So funny. The best now is like me and Drew, like he gets so fired up because like me and Drew just like we pick on him. We do, but he we just he'll say something.
SPEAKER_03He's like, What? You never said anything wrong?
SPEAKER_02Uh that's uh which is hilarious that you guys pick on him because Drew is extremely like him. Yeah, Drew messes stuff up. Drew's like, how many times? That's what it is, is they're so similar. How many times has Drew said something or done something funny or stupid, and you've made fun of him, and he just goes, Shut up, Devin. Shut up, Dev. It's so mad. Fine, fine. I just won't talk. Yes, exactly. Exactly. Fine. I don't want to say anything. No, I don't want to play. I'm good. Uh the big Drew. Oh man. Shout out. Dude, how many podcasts have we talked about Drew? Yeah, get him on. Shout out. Well get him on the pod. Today, before we get into our topic, I have a question for you guys. Oh, a question. All right. So I don't have a fun fact, but I thought of this the other day because I saw a post about it, and it was saying, like, you're not your life is not like uninteresting. You're just like used to it or bored. Does that make sense? Like, so like we get in these ruts, like I get in all the time, and I'm like, oh, I need to do something new or try something new. And so I thought of it and I was like, oh, that would be fun to share. So they do it's like a weekly bucket list. Like there's things that you have to accomplish in a week instead of I mean, maybe it is your bucket list because you die. But um if you have one week left, I don't know. You're dead. You're dead. What's that last one? Um, and so so again, these are things like you could do once a week, or you could take like the next 12 weeks, because there's 12 of them. I'll read them really quickly. But it's like you could do one of them over the next 12 weeks, and it's supposed to make your life just a little bit more interesting. So you're asking us if we've done any of these? No, I'm saying it's like each of us could create our own list and do this, or like the people listening could do this, and I think it'll make things a little bit more fun. Especially again, some of you are starting school, so it might be just too much. But so for mine, I wrote down it was like visit somewhere in Trumble you've never been. So it's like you can take it that first week and do something local. It's like, all right, somewhere in Trumble. Then it's like, all right, somewhere in Fairfield County, I've never been. All right, somewhere in Connecticut, I've never been. It's like all right, go somewhere, and I'm like, there's gotta be somewhere in Trumble I've never been before. And I thought about it, you know, on the trail like by Indian Ledge where people go and walk. I've never been to the right, like, or the the other side of it. You know, where you park your car and you go down that walk, like the rail trail or whatever it is. I'd never been across the street down the other side of it. It's cool, it takes you to over by the edge. Oh, see? But it's why'd you tell me that? I was gonna go.
SPEAKER_01It's like windy and it has like wooden bridges and stuff. There's another trail.
SPEAKER_02Don't tell me. Well, just tell me where it is. But tell me where it is. I've never been, I've never been to the part of the trail by the edge. Yes, I've never been to it.
SPEAKER_03They're like, we're gonna go over here. It's like, but wait, don't tell me.
SPEAKER_01So from from Trumble Center to Indian Ledge, and then from Indian Ledge to the Edge, but then behind the edge is another trail, and I've never been through it, but I've never been there.
SPEAKER_02See, that's what I mean. So I was like, that's true. Yeah, so there's somewhere in Trumble that I've never been. All right. Um, I saw this one, it was like create a one-minute video diary, like on and put it on social media, like on your story of like one minute, like, hey, at the thing, and then so it'll pop up on your memory next year, and you can go back and look at it. Like, hey, we're out, we're recording the pod, like this is what we're doing right now, and so you can go back and look at it. Um, this one again, we used to do it when we were in school because we were required to do it, but it was like memorize a portion of scripture, like not just one verse, but like, could you take like three or four verses and like really study it this week and really memorize it? And I was like, that's a challenging one, that'll be tough. Yeah, that would be tough. Yeah, like stay memorized, but that's what I mean. It's like because we can remember like the songs from Christian heritage that they'd make us sing, like about the verses, or there's different things that we it is wild how much easier it is to memorize songs, us like if you turn even if you turn the verse into a song like to help you, how much easier it is, you know. Uh write a handwritten letter to someone, not like a thank you note. It's literally just a letter that they'll receive in the mail. Like a what's up? Like what's up, like just filling them in on what's happening. And I was like, that's kind of sick. Like if you just wrote a letter to somebody or you got one in the mail and it's like this is what's happening.
SPEAKER_01I was like, that'd be cool. That would be the nicest thing like ever. Ever got. Like if I receive something like that, like just someone saying what's up would be like, dude, I'm framing this.
SPEAKER_02Now you know I know where to send that letter. Uh compliment a stranger, like you see somebody and you're like, Oh, dude, those shoes are so got to. Yeah, like that's nice. Makes people's day. It may it does. It's like, oh my gosh, I love that shirt. That's a cool shirt. Where'd you get it? Uh do something that your younger self, like you think your younger self would have been like, there's no way I could do that or achieve it. You're like, I drive my car every day. It's like, no, like they can't do that. I'm saying, like, something that you thought, okay, I don't think I would have ever been able to do this. And I don't know what that is, it's just like the thought. What? Nothing. Watch a random movie or try a new food. And I was like, that's an easy one. Like, try something new. Yeah. Uh a couple more. Give something away or buy something for someone if you think they'd like, and made me think of Pastor Luke got me this hat while he was on vacation. My guy loves the cracker barrel. It's the best place. Um, ask an older person to tell you a story. You might need uh quite a bit of time for hours. A couple hours. My pop is available if anyone needs to be able to do that. Yeah, but it's like that. It's like and then take some valuable lesson from that. Um go out and run an errand without your phone. I did that the other day, actually. Like accidentally or on purpose? On purpose. Yeah. Oh, it's okay. So it's like, all right, I'm gonna go to the grocery store.
SPEAKER_00I'm not gonna bring my phone, I'm gonna bring a list and like do.
SPEAKER_02I did I did exactly that. It was super weird. I bet. And then the last one was Oh, do a color photo scavenger hunt. This was on that guy's thing. Oh, those are the things. This is that's what I mean. You could just pick one and do it this week and be like photo scavenger hunt. Well, that's it. Yeah, like you go on a walk at the park and it's like, all right, green, and I'm gonna take pictures of You said that was 12? Yeah, there's like 11 or 12.
SPEAKER_00I think there's once a month. Yeah, once a month you pick one and do it. For a whole year. For a whole year. Since we got Mr.
SPEAKER_02Busy. Since we what? Mr. Busy over here. I yeah, I think I think you could bang those out in a week or two. Never mind. Once a month a month, I'm gonna try out food once and then it's that was the whole point. Is it's every I know he said once a month. Yeah, but you were saying because you were saying you were busy. Like you're like, no, I just meant the scavenger hunt one. Oh, no, it's literally like today, like over the next hour, I'm gonna find things that are yellow. So I'd take a picture of that over there. Something else that's yellow. It's and you just like a collage. Yeah, it's cool. So all right, that was it. I like that. Yeah. Spice up the life a little. Spice up your life. All right. Spice girls. No. I've never heard of that. Never watched. Powerpuff. Never watched. He said never watched. Like it's a movie. Spice girls.
SPEAKER_01I've never seen the Spice Girls movie. Cheetah Girls. That's a movie, right?
SPEAKER_02That is. I don't know what that is. Thank goodness. Now our generations are I know Cheetah Girls. You're like in the middle. Bet you do. My wife loves Cheetah Girls, so she plays the music all the time. It's a band? Like a band, like a movie, but it's like a Disney show. Yeah, they had like songs. It's like yeah, Hannah Montana High School musical. It's all the same type of thing. Never seen any of those. Yeah. Okay. Different generations, guys. Speaking of different generations, we had an email. Read the email. Bro. Nobody has it.
SPEAKER_03Oh dumb. Go ahead with that email now.
SPEAKER_02Oh my gosh. We have an email. Go ahead and read that. Also, let's not pretend like Devin didn't change the topic of what we're going to talk about until two minutes before this. And then he's like, pull the email up. I didn't know we were talking about this. Honestly, must have missed the second text about what you had just said. Yeah, thank you. Alright, read that.
SPEAKER_01So one of our awesome listeners. Great servant at the church, Carrie Turner. Yes. If you'd like to send us an email, it's the nopod at gmail.com. Um but Carrie uh sent in Carrie Patten Turner. Okay. Let's throw that in.
SPEAKER_02KPT.
SPEAKER_01Is that her actual middle name? That's her maiden name. Oh.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. She's my relation.
SPEAKER_01No. She's my cousin, no relation. She's my cousin. Um my question though is around the parts of the Bible that there aren't stories, especially in the Old Testament, there's a lot of genealogy. What are we supposed to do with that? I tend to skip over it completely, but it's in the Bible, so it has to be in there for a reason. Um sometimes it can be difficult to read, and why does it tell their ages or when they died? Um what should us non-Bible scholars do with those sections? And then she said a lot of nice things about you two. You didn't want to read that. Nope.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01Okay then.
SPEAKER_02That's nice. It's because she didn't it wasn't about him, it was about us. That's why we should have read the email. I would have read every word of it. Um I think what Carrie's referencing in specifically specifically? In specifically. In specifically, was Genesis chapter five, because that's what it references. It's it tells the genealogy. There's genealogy in the New Testament as well. There's genealogy and there's other lists of things, of names, there's lists of like how to build a temple. There's these portions of scripture that you look at and you're like, this is just a long list. And it's like, why what's significant about this? And initially, when I read that email, I thought of in the New Testament, maybe Mateo can look up the reference for me, but I didn't write it down. But it's it says all scripture is God breathed and useful for teaching, correcting, rebuking, um, preaching. Again, I'm butchering it, but it's the first part of that scripture where it says all scripture is God breathed, all scripture is important. Do you have the reference? Second Timothy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, 2 Timothy.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so it's in 2 Timothy. And it doesn't say like the exciting pieces, it doesn't say just the parts about Jesus, it doesn't say the parts that the cool stories. The cool stories, the ones that leave you asking questions. It says all scripture is God breathed, right? That's what we believe as Christians and believers, that it's 66 books written by 40 different authors, but it's inspired, human authors, but inspired by the Holy Spirit. And so that's what we know the Bible to be, believe the Bible to be. And so every single thing that is in here is important. And so I'm not saying Carrie is saying that. I know she doesn't believe that or say that. It's just sometimes we look at scripture and we're like, why is this here? And so one thing that we teach our teenagers, we do Bible study once a month where the kids literally get a physical Bible out and we write things down and we ask questions. It's a lot of fun. You should do it with your kids, you should do it um with your family. Uh, you should do it in your everyday life. It's spending time in God's Word. But what it prompts us to do is ask questions. But most importantly, is we've mentioned it here, is take things in context. And so how we teach the kids in youth is we take the verse, then we take the surrounding verses, surrounding chapters, surrounding books, and see how it all relates back to one another. And so it's a very simple and easy way to remember to read things in context. And so what Carrie's asking, and so what I found in in Genesis chapter five is by doing some research and looking into it, like the first thing, again, like I said, is all scripture is God breathed. It's here for a purpose and it's here for a reason. And one of the things in doing some research that I saw was it was super important for them to keep records back then, right? Everything would have been word of mouth, and so when somebody could have written it down and transcribed it, that's when they would have had a physical record of something. So it's like it it makes sense to be like, well, this for us in our culture today, we know everything we need to know about the people that were around. But for them at that time, it was super important to have a physical record of who was this person who came before who was this different thing. And one of the other cool things was it says, this is a book of the generations of Adam when God created man, he made him in the likeness of God, so it's that reminder of Adam was created, and then it lists all these things. But the study Bible that I was reading, it's it's not everybody. Like, no, it's not every it says, like, in the days Adam after he fathered Seth, like Seth is Adam's son, but what that word father means in the original Hebrew, it could mean like he was in charge over that time, or he was he was a relative of his. It didn't mean specifically always fathered, which I thought was interesting. Um, but the other thing that again, so these are the three pieces that the study Bible and then my research I thought was pretty interesting. And again, Carrie, you could take this, everybody could take this when reading it. The first one is, and I'm curious to hear your thoughts, but it says, so the in verse four, five, verse four, the days of Adam after he fathered Seth were eight hundred years, and he had other sons and daughters, thus the days of Adam lived were 930 years. And so it mentions Seth, even though we know Adam had two other sons previously, right? Cain and Abel. Um, and so I just think that that is the first piece, again, doing our research, reading things. We've talked about it the last few weeks of how interesting the Bible is when you sit and study it. But again, the context of it is like it asks the questions, well, like why did why did we talk about Seth and not Cain and Abel? Right. Um or any of the other children that Adam had that we don't even know. So it's like, yeah, nine, eight hundred years after was the life of Seth. So nine hundred and thirty years in total. So he was 130 when he had Seth, and then that's what we figure out is the way that this per Moses writing Genesis continues the genealogy. And so it's like that's super interesting to me. And it says Seth is is in made in the likeness of Adam. So we can look and say, in the verse before that, it said Adam is made in the likeness of God. So Seth isn't made in the Adam or in the likeness of Adam, therefore in the likeness of God. And it's like, okay, there we go. That's so why that's there is to mention that Seth was in the likeness of Adam, there in the likeness of God. So I thought that that was cool. Um, the other one is throughout this scripture it says that um Enoch is in here in this genealogy in Genesis chapter five, and then it just lists that Enoch in verse 24, Enoch walked with God and he was not, and God took him. Like, and it's like so, yeah, and then it continues on in the next genealogy. So it's throwing in those important again for us as we look at it, it's like we know now that Enoch walked with God. Enoch didn't die, Enoch was this one that God had taken him. And so again, it's just this really, really cool thing that that we see and these patterns in scripture, but also just looking at that, um, again, it just it shows the faithfulness of God um through through that, but through Enoch's life. And then uh the last point, and what I'll like make my final point on is this is verse 32, and then into chapter six, it says, After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Um, and then it goes into to chapter six, and again to clarify, this is why I believe in this portion of scripture, and what my study Bible said was the importance of the genealogy here is in verse five. The Lord saw the wickedness of the man that was great, was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And this is a story where we see Noah in the flood, right? So Noah's 500 years old, it ends with the genealogy there. And so all of chapter five is listing names, it's listing people and generations and and telling us their ages and telling us how long they were here and the kids that they had. But verse or chapter six, verse five points back to the faithfulness of those people, right? God's faithfulness to them. So it's like, oh, this is some long list of people. What does it show? It shows the complete contrast of faithful people and evil people. Chapter six, it says, In the heart of man, God saw that there was not only but one family and one person whose heart was not full of evil and wickedness. So there's generations, thousands and thousands and hundreds of years of people who went before Noah and to a point where the earth became so corrupt that God needed to cleanse it and say, Yeah, you know what? These people, we need to to start over. We need to. And I was like, Okay, so that's why it's there. Yeah, like, and you're like, Oh, okay, so there's these in it seems boring, insignificant. Um, people always say that about like the stuff when it comes to the temple. It's like, oh, it needs to be 14 cubits this way, and it's like all this different thing, like, why am I reading this? It's the specifics behind it. Go and read why, go and read what again. God had everything in design when it came to the temple, and this is what he said, and they followed after it, and the faithfulness of the people. But to me, it was again encouraging or I guess exciting to read because of that that point that came after. And that's why context is so important to go and read, but it's it just showed, and I was like, man, that's crazy. Thousands of years of God of faithfulness, and then because of sin, because of corruption, because of evil, now we see these people in Genesis. Just one chapter later where it's it's reading that is no, this is what needed to happen. And it all intertwines in a sense how you're saying how everything connects and how every there's a purpose to everything, is that if you go from that genealogy to other genealogies, say you move into the genealogy at the beginning of Matthew and a New Testament, what you continually see, right? You're you're reading that genealogy until this horrible point in time where God's had enough with the earth, and so he decides to flood it, and it cuts off there, and then you see other genealogies where it picks up and draws a line straight to Christ, who then comes to forgive all of our sins. And like you're saying, you you you take something like that, and I get it, don't don't get me wrong. I I don't think you know every day in your secret place you should be reading genealogy, and it is it is boring at times and it is confusing, and kind of you're reading it going, why why is this even in here? Yeah, um, but I think like you're saying, when like anything with scripture, when you when you begin to dig into it and you begin to try to gain some stuff for your own knowledge, like you just did, and how you just explained that to people, I would hope that people listening are going, Oh, well, well, yeah, that that's not that boring when you start thinking about it. And that's that is kind of interesting. And again, it's not something that you need to read every day, every week, even every month. But to but there are portions of scripture, whether it's in Leviticus talking about the law, or whether it's Deuteronomy going through everything that it's going through, or or genealogies, or like you're talking about the you know, the the temple needs to be this cubits high and this this, and you need this many pillars, and the the priest needs to do this before he goes in, and you know, you're reading it going, what does this have to do with me at all? And I think everything, everything in scripture it it points back to Jesus, and everything in scripture points back to the fact that he came to save us, and so when you're looking at that genealogy, and then you think about the promise of how you know this savior's gonna come and he's gonna be from the line of David, and then you start reading the genealogy in Matthew, and you see how how scripture all lines up perfectly and how it all leads to that, and you see, you know, you you you see people that you'd never think would be in the genealogy, you think of Rahab or other people that are in there, and you're like, Man, this is crazy the way that everything just kind of weaves weaves together like that. And it's scripture, right?
SPEAKER_00It's alive. There let me try to see if I could try and find that because there is I love that that portion. It's just at the beginning of Matthew, right? Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Oh, that's that's what it was when I was looking at it a little while ago. It was um like Boaz is in the uh genealogy of Jesus. Like we read the book of Ruth and we read about her story and everything like that, and then the the man that Boaz is like in their culture, right? Like her being a widow, Boaz redeeming her, like, and giving her um like that opportunity. And it's like, yeah, and Boaz is in there. Like, again, uh it's weird stuff, or interesting. Like you said, it right, it's it's it's 66 books, it's 40 authors, it's literally thousands of years because we don't even really know when Malachi ends and Matthew starts, we don't really even know how many years is in it. Like, it's thousands of years apart, and because of the documentation of people, like you're saying, they wrote it all down because of that documentation thousands of years earlier. Now, in the book of Matthew, we see Boaz's name, who's an old testament character. We see Rahab's old testament character, we see all these old testament characters that this genealogy has been has been passed down, and like our brains don't really get it because we don't write stuff down like that. But when you really think about your own life, even in the culture that we live in, like we we live and we on the stories of like my dad told me that story, and his dad told him that story, and his dad told him that story. Or like, like we we live that way, but we just don't get it because we don't write things down like that anymore. But like the way that the that the Bible all intersects and connects, even with different authors, even with this this is the that's the perfect argument towards you know, the fact that the Bible is is real and flawless, is this idea that someone could continually write this story even though it's thousands of years apart, and even though it's passed from person to person and still be that accurate and still fall into line in that way. And so whether you're reading the genealogy in Genesis, whether you're reading it somewhere else, whether you're reading it in Matthew, you see this this these puzzle pieces being put together that is clearly inspired by something way bigger than us or way bigger than the human brain could ever comprehend to do. Very cool, very cool stuff. So again, if you're reading something like that, a genealogy or some list or something like that, I encourage you to take it um in a way like I think uh I mean, blessed me, it did. Reading that again and and studying that again is like look at the faithfulness of God, look at these faithful people, or I think it's in is it in Hebrews, like the hall of faith? Um Hebrews 11. And it's it's the faithfulness and stories of God's faithfulness, but the faithfulness of his people. And so again, it's a challenge to us, right? Is we can look back. Maybe I said write a letter, maybe write a letter to some saint who blessed you in your life and somebody who encouraged you and just let them know, um, or thank you note for in some way. Or again, establish that for your own family if you don't have that, right? Is like we've seen God's faithfulness through generations, through hundreds of people, but it started with the faithfulness of somebody, and so it's like maybe that needs to be you, maybe that for your family is be faithful now so that you could see the generations of that in your own in your own life. Yeah, cool. That's awesome. I uh again, like Carrie, thanks for writing in. Anybody else wants to write in? We have something else next week that we'll talk about that somebody else wrote in. But no, no question is silly, and no question is and we'll try our best to answer it. And I hope Carrie that answered that question in some way or helped you out in some way. And the other people, like you said, it doesn't just have to be the genealogy. There are plenty of portions of scripture that you can read and go, That doesn't make any sense. This is kind of boring, or or this doesn't make any sense. And then when you start to dig into it and you begin to see these things, we just found out my parents just told me we just found out we my mom had no idea. So my son is fifth generation at this at New Life, right? Well, you know, New Life, and then when it was in Bridgeport and stuff like that, right? So, like my son, and then me, and then my mom. So on my dad's side, my son's fourth generation, obviously, but on my mom's side, he's fifth, which a lot of people don't know. And so it's Brody and then me, and then my mom, my mom's dad, my grandfather, was on the board that hired my papa, and then my grandfather's father, my great-grandfather, who I never met, who came over from Italy. When he came over from Italy, he would play his violin in the parks in Bridgeport and he would preach the gospel and do all these things. And so he was involved in the church in Bridgeport even before years and years before my papa ever even got there. And we just found out a few weeks ago that somebody through something found it and sent it to my mom or whatever that he was actually ordained with the assemblies of God's cool like years and years and years. Like we had no idea, and like the like the documentation, like something came up and they found out and everything. And it's like again, that genealogy of like knowing where you came from, where you've been, where the people before you have come from. And I I mean I know everybody can do you know 23 and me and all that stuff, and that's cool. What's the other one? Ancestry. Yeah, ancestry.com. I've never done any of those, but like just just knowing that my son is fifth generation in our church, and knowing that you know, his kids will be sixth and this and that, so on and so forth. Like, just knowing that is cool, and then you think about that, and that's only you know, what, a hundred years, 150 years of my family, basically. And then thinking about that and the way that God just kind of he's like, hey, watch this. Like let me let me connect all this. It's wild, dude. It's very crazy. Love it. It's cool, but you're you're fourth gen, right? He's talking to Spencer. Like his kids would be fourth. Yeah, his kids would be fourth. That's wild. My dad mentions it all the time, like the amount of like pastors in my family. Like it's not a not AG pastors and stuff, but throughout New England, like my great grandfather was a pastor in Maine. Um like it's like 40 something, because they had yeah, because like my grandma and she had like 12 brothers and sisters, and most of them were in ministry, and then also their kids were in ministry. So it's like I have uncles and cousins, they're all the pastors and uh the Levites, yeah, the worshippers.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so that's it. It's cool stuff. It's very cool. I think that stuff can apply too to um like you said, like even non-boring, but like when I I remember I I preach a sermon probably like two or three years ago on the prodigal son, and like everyone knows that story, but like I really studied it and like dove into like the intricate details of the whys and the what's going on politically, culturally in the time and things like that. It was just it's one of my favorite Bible stories because of how much I know about it now.
SPEAKER_02Studied it. Yeah. Well, the more you stuff, I mean we've talked about this when we talked about our all our the when we did the storytime stuff is just and it's like anything, subject in school, something you're doing at work, like when you actually enjoy what you're doing and like getting more knowledge about it, it just makes it more fun. Yeah, and it's the same with the context space. Like if you understand what's going on in everyday life, like history, like it's gonna seem more interesting when you can apply it or take it for what it is. It's like, oh, this event that happened in World War II. It's like, oh, that's kind of interesting. The more context or the more you understand outside of that, it's gonna seem more interesting to you.
SPEAKER_00So we've got another this like the thing went off, but I I think the camera's still on, right? Is it still on? Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_02He gets to practice with the uh With the shit thing back and forth instead of one live shot. Well you have a game for us? We have time.
SPEAKER_01Game time at the end. Game time at the end. I haven't heard that song in a while.
SPEAKER_02I wonder how many people turn off the pod now.
SPEAKER_01Probably a good chunk. How many people skip to right now?
SPEAKER_02Probably another good chunk. All our non-Christian watchers. That's fine. All our atheist viewers.
SPEAKER_01Well, I'm gonna give you a number and you're gonna stick it on your forehead.
SPEAKER_02So I'm trying to guess my own number. That's what I that's the different piece. Correct. So you're you're guessing the own number. No, on the last one, you were trying to gr guess my number. That's what we call it. Oh, yes, it was like in your hand. Right, but because we're both doing it at the same time, yeah. All right. So we have to close my eyes. I gotta close my eyes. Yeah, hold on. Let me under 100, right? For our audio listeners, yeah, it's under 1.4 million or something. For our audio listeners, I'm closing my eyes. Oh yeah, sorry, audio listeners. You'll be able to figure it out when we're done.
SPEAKER_01This pen is now working.
SPEAKER_02Anybody watching who wants to play along, just keep your eyes closed for the remainder of the episode. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, true.
SPEAKER_02Oh, wait, but you gotta turn those cameras off.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I'm not gonna look. I'm gonna look. I'm gonna look. You're gonna look? I'm gonna look. You're such a cheater. I have to cheat. Come on.
SPEAKER_03I can't look or I can look because it's on my head.
SPEAKER_02And he's blocking. He's blocking that camera. Come on.
SPEAKER_03Everybody say game time is that turn the camera off.
SPEAKER_02This is gonna this is not gonna stick. Just hold it. Just hold it. I gotta sit like this the whole time. Yeah. Can you tilt down? I can't see yours. Okay. Okay, do you want to go first? No, go ahead.
SPEAKER_00I don't know.
SPEAKER_02That's why I want to do it. Um if I ate this amount of hot dogs, would I be like a world record holder? In one sitting? Yeah. Yes. Definitely. Okay. Um I mean, how specific can I get? Like if I was like, if I was driving a car, would that be legal?
SPEAKER_01Oh. That question doesn't make sense at all. Wow.
SPEAKER_02Oh, like age? If I was, yeah. If I was this year's old. Kind of kind of a trick question. Because don't say anymore. Just say yes or no.
SPEAKER_03No. Okay.
SPEAKER_02I think you would get pulled over for driving that fast.
SPEAKER_03No, no. No, no, no, no, no. Oh. If I was this year's old driving a car.
SPEAKER_02You didn't say that. That's what I'm saying. Oh, if you were that year's old driving years' carrier, you get pulled over.
SPEAKER_03Okay, good. That really helps me out.
SPEAKER_02That's a good one. If if I if I dumbbell curled this weight, like one in each arm of this weight, would I be like a beast? Yes. Okay. Alright.
SPEAKER_03I don't even know if that's I was gonna say you're definitely asking the wrong person. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Let me just pause on that for a second. That's crazy.
SPEAKER_02That was insane. Alright. So I know where I'm at. I know my my cap, right? So if I saw this many cardinals in a day, would I be like, man, this is getting out of hand. There's some inside solution. Yeah. Uh you like that. Uh you were the only one that got that. Um if you saw this many No, you would think it's normal.
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_02Okay, I know. I think I want to guess, but I'll wait until my next turn. Yeah. Um if I was this old, would I be older than my papa?
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_02That's a that's a very stupid. Okay, my guess is somebody younger. My number is my number three? No. No? Okay. Don't tell me anymore. Do I tell them like close or don't tell him anything?
SPEAKER_00Thanks for that, though. Okay.
SPEAKER_02I get one more question and then I guess. Or I guess.
SPEAKER_01No, you have unlimited questions. Oh, okay. It's up to you. Once he guesses right, you won't lose. I can't even remember what I asked anymore.
SPEAKER_02Oh, if I curled this in both arms, what was the first question that I asked? Uh oh, if I eat this amount of hot dogs. So even if I guess you're not going to tell me like higher or lower. No, I can't. So there's no point in wasting a guess.
SPEAKER_00Uh I thought I had it right on, and I was trying to be cool. I shouldn't have done that.
SPEAKER_02Um have we recorded more podcasts than this number? If I took a bite of a grilled cheese sandwich and I took this many chews, would that be like a normal amount of chews before I swallowed it? What? I don't know how everybody's teeth are different, but I would say Imagine yourself eating a grilled cheese. I would see, I would say it's normal amount of chews, right? Am I am I mis am I am I misappropriating people's chews? No. You wouldn't have enough chews, you'd have to chew. You need a couple more chews.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, sure. Depends how big the bite is. Do the bite.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. A couple more chews. Yeah, a couple more chews. It depends on how cheesy it is too. We're talking extra cheese. American?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02American. I'll always. So this is this number is less than the amount of podcasts that we've filmed. Yes.
SPEAKER_00No, no, no. More. More, more, more, more.
SPEAKER_02This is more than the amount of podcasts. But it is less than my papa's age. You only got about 40 years to play around with. No, but then you said curls. Alright. Um, if if I played uh if I played baseball, would this number be uh would I be a pitcher? Or no, not even a number in baseball. Yeah, not even that's a wrong sport. Okay. Alright, alright. Okay, if I had this many let me think, I'm trying to think. Oh, if I was this go back to sports. If I was playing soccer, would this number be like an offensive player, you'd think? Like you know a little bit about soccer, but uh gauging on like the offensive guys that you have seen and watched. No. Yeah, no. No. Okay. Oh, dude, I'm right there. I'm right there. I'm gonna say my own. I don't want to guess because I just want to see his facial expression. Okay. 74.
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_02Did you get anything from that? You warned him. He was gonna say. I learned nothing. Okay, here we go. Okay. Everybody, I might get in trouble for this, so if this is my last podcast. If I was playing blackjack, one of them was a 10, and this was the other number, would I say hit me? Great question. I don't want to act like I know more about blackjack than the game. No, we know the general rules of the game. That's why I asked. Uh, you would probably say hit, but it's it's a tough one.
SPEAKER_00In a pinch.
SPEAKER_02In a pinch. Like you're down a lot, you need a big win. In a pinch, you're down to the window. I'm right there, guys. I'm right there. I got like a three, and I only have two guesses. That's the problem. I'm in like a three number window. Yeah, three number window window. Okay. Um I need to ask a better question. I need to ask better questions than this. Uh if I if I shot this out of 18 whole round of golf, would I be considered a good golfer? Very good. You'd be getting a call. You'd be, yeah. Like I mean, like in a tournament, like in a couple of things. Yes, you would be, yeah, you'd be on a very specific tour.
SPEAKER_03You'd be playing a lot of golf. Okay. All right.
SPEAKER_02Um, all right, here we go. If I was uh this number, uh dude, see this is where I could get in trouble, and you could tell me if this is illegal. Okay. I won't answer if you say it's illegal. Okay. If I was this in ranking our your players on your basketball team, if I was this number on the rank, am I pla am I starting the game? That's that's a legal question. That's a terrible question, but why? Because I know where it's at. So it's like Yeah, he's he's gonna I know how many people are starting. Yeah. So is that illegal? No. For the sake of time. I mean, even if you say it's illegal, you already know the answer is yes. Because if it was no, I would have said no already. So yes. So yes. Yeah. Alright, so I'm in between two numbers then.
SPEAKER_03I know exactly where we are. I got two guesses left.
SPEAKER_02Um it would does my number, would my number if I was that age, would I get an AARP card? What's that? Like retirement age? No. Yeah. You're you would have one of those, yes.
SPEAKER_01Okay. What the heck is AARP?
SPEAKER_02It's like old people. Alright, so is my number. You're gonna guess? I'll guess. I got one more after this. Alright. Is it five? No. So then it's yeah. He can't guess right now. I can't guess right now. But it was it was because my other one was that, yeah.
SPEAKER_03So I know mine now. So you want to swing for the fences here?
SPEAKER_02Think about your other PGA tour. I mean, again, you don't watch golf like I watch golf, but that was a fantastic. I think that was a great question that gave you a good and like your borderline course record. Yeah. But again, I don't know if that helps you. Is if I was the age of this number, would I be older or younger than your dad?
SPEAKER_00I don't know how old my dad is.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00Would I be I'm pretty sure older.
SPEAKER_02Older. It's older than older. Okay. So mine is four. No. That's your last guess? Yeah. What is it? Well, yeah, you lost. It's two. Oh, that went the wrong way. No, but you so that's why when I because the because you answered my grilled cheese question with you'd have to take a couple more choose. Yeah. More than two. More than two. No, no, no. Oh my gosh. No, I said, I said I thought two was enough, and then he said more, and then I was like, Yeah, you're probably right. So more than two. Oh, I guess. I was I was taking it as that is like, yeah. Well, it's not two, you'd need a couple more.
SPEAKER_01Oh.
SPEAKER_02So it's like, so is my number, how many would you need? That's why I went based on it's it's it's not less than three. You'd need a couple more. Yeah, that's what we said. Yeah, your number is a couple more. Go back and watch the tape. That's what you guys had said. So my num my thinking the number is four is not crazy. You'd need a couple more than two if your number is. Correct.
SPEAKER_01But your your number was two, so your question would I'm not crazy, right?
SPEAKER_02That makes sense. Your question will you're a little crazy.
SPEAKER_01Is my number an appropriate amount of chews for a grilled cheese? Right.
SPEAKER_02Somebody said two, and you said no, I think you'd need a couple more. So that would mean your number is important. Nobody said two. Nobody said two. Okay, we need all right. You said would I need more. I didn't say two. Somebody said a number. Saying you'd need a couple more than zero bites. Yeah. Okay, I guess. We didn't say you guys set me up for a few. No, no, no. We didn't say you'd need a couple more. Go back and watch it. It's fine. I was gonna win the game, and you guys tricked me. So it's fine. For not answering, honestly, then I guess we will. Is my number 62? Oh my gosh!
SPEAKER_04What?
SPEAKER_02Boom. Yeah. So how how long did you guys collude on this to be like, yeah, you know what? Let's just make crap up. And then we'll let Devin lose, we'll lie to him, and then Luke. The golf question, and then your dad's birthday got me that. Well, you said Lucated the riddles. I hated everything about that. That's because you thought you had it. I didn't. He said, Would it take me more chews? I'd like to go next. Let's replay this right now at the end of the chat. He said, Would it take me more chews than this number to eat a bite of grilled cheese? And I said, No, I think that's sufficient. And he said, I think you'd need more. I think you need a couple more. So then I said a couple more than that. And I said than then that number. Sufficient amount of chews. I get yeah, a couple than the number. And then you would be more than two. Two. Yeah. So would I need? And you said yes. Yeah, but I mean, yeah, but based on the game, that should make you narrow. I'm so confused. No, no, no.
SPEAKER_03Your four bites are so great. One, two, three, four.
SPEAKER_02But that's why we thought answering it that way would let him know that again. That it's a good one. Bless the rigged. Go back, replay the tape. Everybody's gonna be on my side. I'm done with this. Bye. You wanna hear it right now? And then we'll go back live. He's he's gonna really make us play this again. Bye, everybody. Yes, I would love to hear it. Have a great day. So frustrated, I definitely got that right.