Thoughts Of Some Guy In Ohio
Thoughts Of Some Guy In Ohio
Balancing Emotions and Faith: Navigating Modern Life with Biblical Wisdom
Have you ever found yourself caught between strong emotions and your faith? Join us as we share a personal story of dealing with road rage and how a child's innocent question led to a deeper understanding of balancing emotions with spiritual beliefs. Through personal anecdotes and biblical teachings, we explore the steadfast foundation Scripture provides, even when our feelings are unpredictable. Discover why the Bible remains a reliable guide, supported by historical documents and archaeological evidence, and how it can offer clarity and stability in our faith journey.
We'll also dive into the life of Jesus and his profound engagement with the world, contrasting it with the notion of a distant boss. By examining pivotal passages like John 1:1-18 and the Sermon on the Mount, we see how Jesus embodied grace, challenged social norms, and empowered the marginalized. His teachings address vital moral issues and call us to live as true followers of God. Learn how both Scripture and the Holy Spirit guide us through moments of doubt, providing divine wisdom and direction for a life aligned with God's will. Whether you're questioning or committed, this episode promises insights into navigating the complexities of modern faith through the timeless wisdom of the Bible.
You know, feelings are great but feelings can be misleading. I remember when I was in my early 20s I kind of prided myself a little bit on the fact that I try not to be too emotional. You know, as a guy that stands 6'5", 350-some pounds, you just kind of have this reputation right of I can handle anything. And, I'll be honest, when I was in my late teens and early 20s my emotions got me in trouble a couple of times. I remember one time it's probably my mid-20s, maybe a little older, because Everett was probably about four, and I used to have like really bad road rage, like really bad road rage and like people would cut me off and I would like in my car screaming at them. I never cussed at them, but man, I was like on the brink. I would call them a bunch of different names. And there was one time when Everett was in the back seat and I said something and he's like why are you mad at that person? And I'm like I don't know how to explain this to you, but they just deeply offended me. He's like how? And I'm like don't make me explain this, because if I have to explain this like logically, I'm going to realize that I probably need to like put myself in check right, and so over the years I've gotten better realize that I probably need to put myself in check. And so over the years I've gotten better at that and I've learned to kind of find the balance in my emotions and my feelings. And it's not to say that feelings are bad, it's not to say that emotions are bad they're not because I believe that that's how God teaches us. He uses those moments when we grieve and we feel sorrow and we feel joy. But when it comes to our relationship with God and it's something that I think I see now more than I've probably seen in most of my life we really base a lot of our relationship with God on how we feel right, once again, not necessarily bad. But the problem is is our feelings? Our feelings can lie to us, our feelings can change our perception of truth. Our feelings can get in the way of even having a relationship with God.
Speaker 1:The one thing that I hear a lot, especially for young believers, is why just don't feel God anymore? And my response is my response is I don't know how to help you understand that I don't feel God all the time. I don't walk around with like this cloud over me and have this perception or this feeling that God's like right here every single moment of my life. But the Bible tells me that he is. Scripture teaches us that God is beside us, he doesn't abandon us, he doesn't forsake us, and this is why understanding the Bible and being able to understand the Bible in a proper context and once again talking about feelings, sometimes when we read something in Scripture we have to kind of pull our feelings aside, because there's things in the Bible that sometimes God confronts us with that we don't like. Can we agree to that? And if we don't like it, what do we do? We dismiss it? Well, god, I don't feel like that's true. I don't know how to say this lovingly, but God's not worried about how you feel.
Speaker 1:The truth is the truth. The Bible is the truth. It's the truth that you and I stand on A lot of times when we're confronted with something and it makes us feel a certain way. I believe that's God trying to course correct something. But before we get too deep into this, because the next four weeks this is what we're going to talk about Not only do I believe the Bible is true 100%, I believe that it's divinely inspired by God, which means everything from Genesis to Revelation is necessary, is divinely inspired by God, which means everything from Genesis to Revelation is necessary. I believe that God's scripture is true and will stand the test of time until I die and the next generation dies too. I also believe it's the only thing in my life that I can truly 100% count on, all the time. Emotions aside. Scripture teaches us who God is and how we should live. So let's look at this real quick. Here's eight reasons why I believe Scripture is true.
Speaker 1:One Jesus trusted God's Word and he personally testified to its authenticity. So Jesus announced today the Scripture is fulfilled. In your hearing, this is Luke, chapter 4, 21. Jesus taught God's word, the law, and he lived it. Jesus also said do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. Matthew 5, 17. Jesus also resisted temptation by quoting Scripture, prefacing each response to Satan with. It is written On his resurrection day, the first Easter, he led two disciples through the Bible explaining all the Scriptures concerning himself Luke 24, verse 27. So Jesus stands on the Scriptures, believing them to be true.
Speaker 1:Number two the Bible is full of historical and geographical references. An imaginary work would not likely include so much historical detail. Specific details on places, dates, times, people in the ancient Near East culture fill the pages of the Old and the New Testament. Luke's account of Jesus' life includes every detail necessary to provide the full context for Jesus' birth. The Bible is actually used to study history. You know that. They find resources, they found cities all of this archaeology to prove not only its existence and its truth, but to establish places in time. Number three historical documents and archaeology confirm the Bible is accurate. Not only does the Bible include truthful spiritual content, but also records historical and geographical details with remarkable accuracy. For example, archaeologists discovered evidence of the destruction of Jericho that correlates to the biblical account found in Joshua. 1. Aramaic inscriptions that record the house of David were discovered from Chaldean, a siege ramp and a mass grave run earth that matched the Assyrian invasion during Hezekiah's reign. Historically, archaeologists use the Bible to back up and verify real information that happened in the world you and I live in.
Speaker 1:Number four Bible prophecies actually predicted historical events long before they happen. About 700 years before jesus's birth, micah wrote that the messiah would be born in bethlehem. You know how unlikely it is that you picked your own birth. 700 years before he was born, the Bible tells us that he was going to be born in Bethlehem. Zechariah predicted that Jesus would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, down to the exact money that his life was traded for. David prophesied that Jesus' hands and feet would be pierced. Isaiah predicted that Jesus' body would rest in a rich man's tomb, and Jesus' resurrection was also predicted multiple times. So the Bible includes embarrassing information about its heroes.
Speaker 1:I know I've talked about this. If I were to write the Bible, I would leave all the bad stuff out. But Jacob lied and he stole. Moses committed murder. David committed murder and adultery. Jonah ran from God. Peter denied Christ three times. Paul condoned the murdering of the followers of Jesus. If you're trying to convince people to follow the Bible, that's information you might not want to put in there, but they included it because these were real biblical accounts of things that happened. So the Bible includes number six.
Speaker 1:The Bible includes multiple eyewitness accounts. Matthew, mark, luke and John all wrote accounts of Jesus' life. If their stories were entirely different, you might not trust them, but if you look at them, a lot of them share a lot of the same consensus, with details here and there, and the reason why we see what we might call discrepancies is because each one of them was writing to a different audience so they had a different focus, kind of like an eyewitness account. If you talk about an eyewitness account, you and I can see the same event but you might have a different perception, you might be looking at things differently, but overall the story remains the same. Number seven and this is a big one.
Speaker 1:Culturally, the Bible values women and relies on their testimony. In that culture, women were seen as nothing more than property. The Bible goes out of its way to bring attention and respect to women of the culture. It rewards and celebrates women over and over again. So the Bible reports that women were the first to discover Jesus' empty tomb while the men hid in fear behind locked doors. If the male biblical authors had invented the resurrection story, they would have not described themselves as cowards, much less chosen female witnesses to Jesus' resurrection, especially since in their time a woman's testimony was considered worthless. The Gospels also readily report that Jesus spoke not only to women, including some who were prostitutes, but also to foreigners, children, lepers and tax collectors. He openly spoke with all sorts of people the culture found offensive or worthless. Why would you write stories and include people in the culture that were considered nothing more than property, unless there's truth behind what's being written?
Speaker 1:And number eight, last but not least, to anyone who studies the Scriptures through your personal life and experience, you can see how Scripture plays out in our lives. It affects us, it changes us, it molds us. You know, thinking back to my road rage moment, yes, my son brought that to my attention. But the Bible has course-corrected me in that way as well, because it teaches me to handle my anger, to handle my emotions, to love unlovable people, to watch the things that come out of my mouth, to even watch how I think about people that come out of my mouth, to even watch how I think about people. The Bible has been the source in my life since I was about 15 years old. It's not always easy to study. Sometimes we run into, especially when you get into the Old Testament. Some of it can be confusing. But I believe and once again, emotions aside, that everything we find in Scripture is true, that it's designed to help you and I live the best possible life we can for Jesus.
Speaker 1:Every I know I said this a couple years ago one of the biggest types of books that sell currently in our culture are self-help books. We're in the new year, right? We all want to do better. We all want to try to live better, to eat better, to take better care of ourselves, to love better, and we read all of these books. If we could learn to rely on Scripture, we're going to find all of that in there, and more. The greatest self-help books won't acknowledge it, but their ideas come from something God gave us a long, long time ago, because God knows who we are.
Speaker 1:So I guess in the next four weeks we're going to talk about this. Today we're going to focus specifically on who Jesus was. I believe, as I've already said, scripture has proven itself that it's all divinely inspired by God, that it's all purposeful. It's designed to help teach us and correct us. But before we get there, we're going to look at the life of Jesus, because in the New Testament, jesus is the closest thing we have to seeing who God really is.
Speaker 1:Now there's a lot of people that they like to talk about the life of Jesus and then they throw the rest of the Bible away. I don't think we should do that. I think all of it is necessary. But I think when we want to understand what does it look like to be a Christian? What does it look like to be a Christian? What does it look like, by the way, christian means to be Christ-like we have to understand and look at who Jesus was and what Jesus did.
Speaker 1:That's my measuring stick for my life. I don't measure myself by how good I am compared to you. I don't. I don't measure myself by how good I think I am compared to who I was last year. I measure myself by the standard that Jesus has set in the life that he lived. When you look at the Old Testament, god, through his prophets and through miracles, showed the way he established who he was. But there was still that distance. He was still kind of far off to them. But the moment that Jesus was born and I think coming out of Christmas it's fitting God himself, in human form, stepped into the world to live the life that you and I have to live, that you and I have to live. I can't imagine anyone else teaching me how to live my life any more important than someone who's actually lived in the same world that I live in.
Speaker 1:I used to have a boss a couple years ago that never set foot on the warehouse floor ever. He used to sit back in his office all the time. Pretty sure he played solitaire on his computer, I'm just saying. But every time something went wrong he was the first one on the floor, the first one offering instruction, the first one trying to tell us what to do. And I love the guy. He's a nice, but he had no idea what he was talking about. And it's not that I don't like him, but I don't trust him to come into the situation that I've worked really hard to be in. Then I'm on the floor, I'm in the crowd, I know what's going on. He comes in, says a few things, bounces and if it all falls apart, he doesn't take any responsibility either way.
Speaker 1:Jesus was the opposite. He came into the world that you and I live in. He understood what it was to struggle with sin. He understood what it was to struggle with people that didn't agree with him. He understood what conflict was. He felt emotions. He lived a life that you and I lived. The only difference is he was perfect. He honored God and lived for God to the very best. He was perfect. He modeled for you and me what it looks like to follow God wholeheartedly.
Speaker 1:So John 1, verses 1 through 18, says this In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him. Not anything made that was was not anything made that was made. By the way, this is an ESV version, so it's going to sound a little different. In him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him, and the darkness had not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. So John would kind of be the front runner. He would set the stage for Jesus' arrival.
Speaker 1:The true light which gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world and the world was made through him. Yet the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the word became flesh and it dwelt among us and we have seen his glory. Glory is the only son from the Father, full of grace, full of truth. So John bore witness about him and cried out. This was he of whom I said. He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me. For from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace, for the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, the only God who is at the Father's side. He has made him known. So Jesus steps into the world. He is the Word of God incarnate. Everything he says, everything he does, is living out the Scriptures that you and I read.
Speaker 1:I had a question yesterday from someone who was asking me in their Bible they had words in red and they were like well, what do the words in red mean I'm like well, those are the words of Jesus. And so that's kind of where this conversation went. And I was thinking about this because when you talk to a lot of times, when you talk to people in the church, even outside the church, everyone has, like this, culturally, this huge respect for Jesus. There's not too many people, even non-believers, that I've come across, that would say Jesus was a bad guy. He did a lot of great things. He had a lot of people, he taught a lot of great things. And once again, when we go back to people saying, well, we should live like Jesus, I agree he modeled for us what it was to be a follower, to live for his Father the way that we should.
Speaker 1:What makes it difficult sometimes is when you look at Jesus. He lives in a way that's set apart from the rest of the world. He didn't follow the normal cultural preferences. In my opinion, jesus was anti-culture. He walks into this world, shows respect to women, finds the lowliest of the lows, shows respect to women, finds the lowliest of the lows, those who are probably uneducated or poorly educated, and he uses this group of men and women, this early group of disciples, to literally change the face of the world. He touches lepers. He has conversations with prostitutes. He loves people that the world deem unlovable. He challenges authority. He he holds the pharisees accountable for their missteps, for the things that they say. He empowers men and women to go into the world to spread his truth, all while being perfect, never sinning, not once. He handles every conversation correctly. Even when he's in the temple flipping tables in righteous anger, he's still doing it the way God intended it, in righteous anger. He's still doing it the way God intended it. Jesus showed us exactly what it means to live in this world, but to follow God 100%. When we're looking to what it means to be a Christian, we have to understand and look at his life, the things that he says. I know we talked about the Beatitudes earlier, in the beginning of 2024.
Speaker 1:And as you read through the Sermon on the Mount, jesus says some tough things. He said some hard things. One of them that always comes to mind is he talks about anger and he says that if you're angry at someone, you're pretty much murdering them. Now, for most of us, we could push that away and say, yeah, but I'm not. But he's talking about your emotions and he's saying if you're so angry at someone, if you have unforgiveness in your heart, you might as well kill them. Stuff like that causes us to step back and we want to say well, that's not really what he meant. Jesus never minced words. He wasn't confused about what he said. He wasn't saying things to tickle the fancy of those who are around him. He wasn't just trying to make them feel good. He was teaching them to be holy.
Speaker 1:The Bible, the scriptures that we have, including the way Jesus lived, teaches us to be holy. Holy is hard. Once again, it goes back to how we feel. Well, god, that doesn't feel right. Right, but that's what the Bible says. You and I don't get to argue this. We talk about it, we discuss it, but it teaches us how to live. Jesus was perfect and because of his perfection, it put him in a place to eventually die on our behalf. He modeled what it is to worship God truly is to worship God truly.
Speaker 1:It's so hard sometimes to live like Jesus when you're not reading the Scriptures. You know, I continue to wrestle with this, and I wrestled it when I was young, because I understand that when you're a new believer, the Bible can be overwhelming. I've been privileged in my life and I've sat under a lot of really, really smart people and I've sat under a lot of professors that have helped me understand the context more and they've helped me me understand the context more and they've helped me to understand the Bible and where it's coming from. But the one thing that I struggle with and it's because I hear it a lot is it's kind of a two-part, it's a statement and a question. When people say to me well, I don't hear God talking to me and my next question is, well, are you reading the Bible? And their answer is, well, no, and I'm like do you not understand how important the Scriptures are, that this is our basis for life, that this gives us everything we need to know about who God is? The Gospels themselves show us God in the flesh and I understand. Once again, this can be hard to digest, but I can also tell you that, for the people who can't read the Bible, they can binge watch a Netflix show that's 12 episodes long and not miss a beat.
Speaker 1:I know people who spend. What is it? My wife calls it doom scrolling, right? Is that where we're at now? Like people sit on their phone, scroll through TikTok for an hour, two hours. By the way, in my lifetime, since TikTok has existed, I've only ever found two things that I found valuable on that, two people that I follow because I think what they say is important. But we spend so much of our time wasting our day away watching shows on TV, watching movies, scrolling through TikTok, scrolling through social media, comparing how everyone's vacation was better than mine, going through TikTok and talking about how great people's kids are, because their kids never misbehave, because look at those pictures they took on a perfect day when nothing was wrong, or we. You know, when people take pictures of their house and go, their house is so clean yeah, that's a lie, they just cleaned it before they took the picture like, let's right, so we waste so much of our time on things that really bring no value to our life.
Speaker 1:But we look at the Bible and we're like, eh, I'll get to it. The average house, the average household in America, has seven and a half Bibles. I don't know where the half comes from. I always wondered that. Like a little one maybe. Yeah, I guess that's true. I just always picture someone like cut a Bible in half for some reason. Seven and a half, seven and a half and most people don't read them. They don't engage with them. The number one seller and I 've already said this in books in our culture today, the Bible is still number one, but right behind it are self-help books, because we're not looking to the only place we can really find help. There's a lot of different books that I read. If you go in my office, there's books everywhere. I have nothing wrong with reading books with other people's opinions theologians, professors there's nothing wrong with that. But at the end of the day, your opinion holds nothing to the Scriptures, because the Scriptures are God-breathed. The Scriptures give me everything I need to live a life that honors God the things I say, the things I do, how I act, how I treat people, how I raise my kids. There's even stuff in there about weight loss, about eating properly and taking care of yourself and honoring the temple that God has given you. My life should be. My life as a believer should be guided by the words of God, always. If I come across something that doesn't line up with the word of God, it doesn't matter anymore. It's irrelevant, even if it sounds good, if it doesn't line up with the holy word of God, if it doesn't line up with the way Jesus lives his life. It's just an opinion, and your opinion my opinion compared to the word of God, means nothing. People ask me all the time how do I live for God more? And my answer will always be read the Bible, study the Scriptures, look at the life of Jesus. If there's one thing that you want to do this year that's going to guarantee that your life will become better, I will stand on this promise. More scripture will do that for you. More God will do that for you. More prayer will do that for you. This is the only thing we have the Bible, the word of God, the life of Jesus that actually gives us more than we give it. God's Word will never return void. It will always help us In our darkest moments. It provides comfort. Conflict with family. It teaches us how to handle it. Disagreements in culture, in a culture that lives differently than us. It shows us how to handle it. Disagreements in culture, in a culture that lives differently than us. It shows us how to love them, to show grace, but also to stand on truth. This book will change your life, but you have to engage with it. You have to put it into practice. You have to put it into practice. If there's anything that I can offer people, if there's any truth that I can give everyone I come across, god is perfect. Jesus was perfect. He died for my sins. We have the Holy Spirit in us which helps us to understand and grow, and the Word of God is everything we need to live for Him in the best way possible. If all I had was the Bible, that'd be enough. All these other books are great. Don't get me wrong. I'm not opposed to other authors, but if what they say doesn't line up with Scripture, I'd throw it away. God's not interested in you refuting Him. You can't argue with Him. You can try, it won't work. I always like when people say when I get to heaven, I have some questions. I'm going to ask God. No, you're not. When you get in the presence of God, you're going to be like I don't even know what to do right now, because he is who he is. He's given us everything we need. He showed Himself in human form, through the birth of His Son, what it means to be like Him, to be holy, to be perfect. If we apply it, if we study it, if you want to know if God's speaking to you. Pick up the Scriptures. If God feels distant, pick up the Scriptures. If you feel like you're lost, pick up the Scriptures. If you feel like you can't forgive, pick up the Scriptures. If you feel like you're lost, pick up the scriptures. If you feel like you can't forgive, pick up the scriptures. You guys see where I'm headed. Everything we do comes back to our understanding of who God is, and the only place to find it is in the Bible that he provided for us, because he lived the life that we did and gave us everything we need to live the life he's called us to. Let's pray.