Ever grappled with the mystery of scripture interpretation and its potential misuse? Well, we did, and the insights were eye-opening. We shared a stirring story about a friend who experienced manipulation through scripture misinterpretation, which also led us into a deep conversation about women in leadership roles within the church. We also explored how Satan tempts us in the same ways he tempted Jesus, reminding us that He has already overcome these trials - a comforting aspect that connects us deeper to our faith.
Have you ever considered the significance of the Apostles Creed? It was quite a revelation for us as we reflected on the essential truths of Christianity, with a focus on unity in Christ, rather than division. We also navigated through the harsh realities of our own imperfections, the judgmental tendencies within the church, and how our ego can hinder our spiritual growth. We found solace in the lessons offered by Jesus in Matthew 4 on overcoming physical temptations and building spiritual strength.
Ending on a powerful note, we challenged ourselves with the question "are you saved?" and its potential to impress upon people the importance of preparation for eternity. Our conversation ventured deeper into Jesus’ healing ministry and its transformative impact, emphasizing how miracles can instigate belief. Are we ready to reflect this in our lives? The journey may be challenging, but it's certainly worth it. Let's continue to navigate this faith journey together, one revelation at a time.
Email: findingfaith.losingsleep@gmail.com
Twitter: @FindingFaithPod
Ever grappled with the mystery of scripture interpretation and its potential misuse? Well, we did, and the insights were eye-opening. We shared a stirring story about a friend who experienced manipulation through scripture misinterpretation, which also led us into a deep conversation about women in leadership roles within the church. We also explored how Satan tempts us in the same ways he tempted Jesus, reminding us that He has already overcome these trials - a comforting aspect that connects us deeper to our faith.
Have you ever considered the significance of the Apostles Creed? It was quite a revelation for us as we reflected on the essential truths of Christianity, with a focus on unity in Christ, rather than division. We also navigated through the harsh realities of our own imperfections, the judgmental tendencies within the church, and how our ego can hinder our spiritual growth. We found solace in the lessons offered by Jesus in Matthew 4 on overcoming physical temptations and building spiritual strength.
Ending on a powerful note, we challenged ourselves with the question "are you saved?" and its potential to impress upon people the importance of preparation for eternity. Our conversation ventured deeper into Jesus’ healing ministry and its transformative impact, emphasizing how miracles can instigate belief. Are we ready to reflect this in our lives? The journey may be challenging, but it's certainly worth it. Let's continue to navigate this faith journey together, one revelation at a time.
Email: findingfaith.losingsleep@gmail.com
Twitter: @FindingFaithPod
It's time to wake up and pray up here on the Fighting Faith and Losingston podcast. Thank you so much for joining us again as we discover more about life situations and about the Bible. Hey, just to make sure, if you are tuning in for the first time, welcome to the show, welcome to the program, welcome to the podcast. I am Wes Easley, one of your hosts at Lofenit over on Twitter, and I have with me the producer, the executive producer of the show. How does that feel, pierre, to be an executive producer of the Fighting Faith and Losing Sleep podcast?
Speaker 2:I think it's just like a fancy title for more work, but it's nice. It's been a fun journey doing this with both of you. I just kind of did some of the editing. I toss out some topics and I mean you guys give me ideas and we hope the listeners you know give us ideas. But it's good to be back in the saddle been off for a bit for some health issues and travel things, but we're locked and loaded right. We're ready to roll.
Speaker 1:We are locked and loaded. That is Peewee31, over on Twitter, and his wife is with us, the star of the show. Michelle, go back, go forward. How are you, michelle?
Speaker 3:I'm doing well, wes, how are you?
Speaker 1:I am fine, you're not going to you, didn't like I'm? I'm trying to give you a hard time a little bit, you know.
Speaker 3:I'm being respectful Wes of your bear's losing streak.
Speaker 1:Now listen. I called you the star of the show. I'm trying to knock it.
Speaker 3:I'm not trying to knock it, I swiped, I feel it because, like you know, we were at Lambo on Thursday and that was not the most fun game for me, so I don't like to rub things in.
Speaker 1:Well, we are not a football podcast.
Speaker 3:We are a podcast, I know.
Speaker 1:Wes. Well, no, I was telling the listeners we're not a football podcast. We are a podcast that talks about life issues and we deal with them because we all have different angles, like Michelle Michelle's got her angle and how she grew up, pierre's got his angle and how he grew up, I have my angle and how I grew up, and so we just kind of combine each other. We're all three friends and we've talked this stuff out and we're working through life together and with you and we are so appreciative of you. And Pierre, since you're the executive producer, can you tell everybody how to get in touch with us if they happen to have any questions, because I want one of those question episodes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you can reach us on Twitter slash X, whatever it's called these days at Finding Faith Pod. You can also email us at findingfafelosingsleep at gmailcom. You can leave us reviews, preferably five stars, but I mean, if you want to do four, three, whatever you want to do, you can leave us comments and reviews as well. But just feel free to reach out. You know we're looking forward to interacting with any and all of you.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's been so much fun interacting with the different listeners so far throughout our journey here together and we look forward to interacting with so many more as we keep going on. And guys, michelle, maybe you can help because you're the sensible one of the three of us, I think.
Speaker 1:Well, maybe that's Pierre so maybe you have, oh all right, maybe I'm going towards you to kind of add a little fuel to my flame or something. I don't know what I'm doing here. But last time we concluded with Genesis I say concluded the episode, concluded with Genesis Back at the Garden and Satan and tempting Eve and Adam and all that stuff that was going on there, and then we really hey, we don't plan this stuff out too much, right, we got a kind of a plan, but we allow God to use wiggle room in creating these podcasts a little bit, right. So we did say, okay, let's go from Genesis to Matthew, let's kind of go bounce back and forth. Boom, right, here we are with Satan showing up in the picture again. I'm trying to figure out what this means because really for the last couple of weeks, as I've been praying over this and thinking over the podcast and stuff, I'm like man, we're talking a lot about Satan here.
Speaker 3:Well, it's funny that you said that actually, because I was just like going back over this verse again and the thing that actually stuck out to me this time was Satan, and that the reason that it stuck out is because, if you look, satan is also quoting scripture.
Speaker 3:So it kind of is like that, and we've had this conversation, I think, before, but it was like that aha moment of Satan knows scripture too. So I think sometimes in life you have those things, and it came up for my best friend this weekend. We went to a women's conference at church and she had been struggling with someone in her church basically saying that like giving scripture as to why a woman couldn't be a lead pastor in a church. So she was going over that and she said it just really bothered me and the person was giving her scripture why that couldn't happen. And the lady at the conference was a lead pastor and said oh no, no, I will send you scripture why that can happen. And so I think oftentimes in our lives we will have people who know scripture just so they can rebut what we have to say when we stand up for what the Bible says. And you see that very, very clearly right here in Matthew 4.
Speaker 1:Now, I've been having conversations too, and that is one of those topics the women as an executive pastor or lead pastor, or whatever you want to say and that is one of those that it is All right. So it's a sensitive topic. It could be, it is yeah.
Speaker 1:And if you go back in the past podcast and you go oh, they were talking about that. Yes, we were, we were talking about that. And then you know what? We came back for some more.
Speaker 1:Okay, because we do have to learn to agree, to disagree, and I know we've said this time or two before, but in society today, that is a lost art. You're either for me or you're against me. You can't be both. You can't be for me and with me and against me. You can't do that. I mean, that's what it seems like, right, but I think that we have to have patience in dealing with these things.
Speaker 1:And I had a conversation with somebody and we were talking I don't even know, we were talking about Calvinistic thoughts and the old tulip idea. And did God save you or did you save yourself? How much did you have to do with it? How much did God have to do with it? And we were going back and forth a little bit and it was essentially. He came down to it. He said well, yeah, but if a preacher is preaching this, he has to preach the truth. Of course, he doesn't need to be preaching, is what he said, right? And I was sitting there going. So we can't nobody could disagree about stuff.
Speaker 1:And as we were walking our way through it, I was kind of pointing down at the line and saying you know, some people really feel this way about God doing the saving and some people really feel like you know God, god did the saving, but it was their decision and I can hear arguments on both sides of it. He said so which one's right? I said, you know, I don't know, but I know that God brought me through my journey to the point that he did, to where I could make that decision to accept him into my life and so forth. And I said now, who did the saving? Because I should have been dead a bunch of times before I ever came to know my know God and accept Jesus Christ as my savior. I should have been dead a long time before that, but something kept bringing me to a safe spot, to where I finally got to that point and I could make that decision. So who did the saving? Did I do it? Did he do it? Because I know some of those things were out of my control.
Speaker 3:I think that, like what I noticed when you were, what I thought of when you were speaking, was, like so often, we challenge these things back and forth with one another and, like you said, we can't find that common ground to just agree to disagree. And I think we I know we've talked about this before in that I almost feel like the Bible is written in such a way that it's we each have our own interpretation with how it fits our lives, and maybe it was intentional that it was that way, and you're never going to get everyone to agree on probably anything. But I think what is unique is that that's where faith comes in, right?
Speaker 1:No, I agree. What are your thoughts, Pierre?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think I think you get that throughout Like there's so many different topics within the Bible that you could argue contradict each other in a way, and you know folks again will take sides on what that meaning is. It's hard to decipher and I know that there's. I feel there are things that we just aren't going to know, like we're not gonna know it all. We are not you know. All knowing you know only God is. But I also feel if you really want the answers and if God's willing to give them to him, you can pray for clarity on situations and he will. He will answer you.
Speaker 3:I think there's over here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it may not be what you want to hear, but I know, like I've been, I'm a big Elevational Worship fan. They have a newer song called Trust in God and what really just sticks out to me in the song is from actual Psalm 344. And it's basically King David, you know, speaking and he states you know I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. And I feel like that's what folks really need to do with the Bible. So when you have those moments where you're questioning who saved who, who did what? I mean I often just pray about it and sooner or later, you know I kind of get that whisper or I get that nudge or something happens that it's just too much to be a coincidence. That kind of answers, you know, the question for me and I know we've even talked about the conversation on homosexuality, et cetera.
Speaker 2:I haven't been praying about you, it's just answers, you know for that, and just certain episodes and clips. And all these things started coming up out of nowhere and it's not like I'm one that prays out loud where you know the Google microphones are gonna pick me up. This is silently, you know that no one else knows, and all of a sudden, all these things start falling into place. The topic gets brought up in our life group out of nowhere, and so when I have those moments of you know, okay, what's the answer here? What do I need to know? What do I need to get out of this? I try to pray for it and ultimately he answers me.
Speaker 3:Well, you've talked about that before. I'm pretty sure Like we'll have our podcast episode and we'll talk about stuff and then inevitably, like either it's come up right before the episode or right after when we've talked about it and all of a sudden here something happens and it's crazy, like that.
Speaker 1:Listen, we all know what algorithms are now and we're pretty educated on those things. There's some kind of algorithm of life that we don't even understand yet. And, Pierre, I'm glad it happens to you too because, honestly, I think I could telepathically make my phone bring up a news article if I wanted to. You know what I mean. Like I think I gotta stare at it and it can read my mind and it can tell me about these things. And so, yes, I do believe that you guys are right and I cannot wait for the million dollars that I'm talking about right now to jump into my bank account, which would be, I think we're touching on a lot of these subjects. But, listen, I hope you know, and I think that this is true and, yes, correct me where I'm wrong we have to have there are many, there shouldn't be many dividing lines, but there are many dividing lines when it comes to church, when it comes to religion, with guns of people's faith and stuff. Many dividing lines shouldn't be. But there has to be some of those essential truths, and I think, like over in First Corinthians 110, I think about Paul, and he kind of addresses this and just right out of the gate, bam, right out of the gate to the letters of the Corinthians. He says I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree that there be no divisions among you, but you be made complete in the same mind and the same judgment. For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe's people that there are some quarrels among you. Boy, oh boy, Paul, are you writing to this generation, or what? What generation are you writing to? So this is going on in the church. And he says I mean this that each one of you are saying, hey, I'm a Paul and I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas and I am of Christ. And then he says this really profound thing has Christ been divided? Paul wasn't crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except for a Christmas, and Gaius that no man should say that you were baptized in my name.
Speaker 1:That's kind of cool to see that, because he brings it back to some of those basic and essential things man can get in the way of a lot of this stuff. It was a man's thoughts that said, okay, God saved me. And another man said no, I saved myself, and those women can be a pastor. Nope, a woman cannot be a pastor. Those were the man things, right, those were the man things. But the essential things are that Christ was crucified for you, that you are baptized in the name of Christ.
Speaker 1:So there are some of those essential things that you can hear of and look at throughout the scripture that you go okay, there's no compromise there and Paul talked about you can eat meat. You can't eat meat. You can't hey, if it doesn't bother, you eat meat. If it doesn't bother, you don't eat meat. But Christ died for the meat. I don't know if he said that exact word, but you know what I mean. If it comes back to Christ, don't divide the Christ, Don't divide Christ. You can divide meat, don't divide Christ. You can divide some things, but don't divide who died for you and whose name you were baptized in.
Speaker 1:And then I think about verse 17 too, in that same little chapter there, for Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, that the cross of Christ should not be made void. So it goes back to that the cross of Christ, jesus, death, burial, resurrection, some of those essential things that he sent it into heaven. That's an essential thing. You kind of go back to the apostles creed to find a lot of those essential truths that the church believed in from the beginning stages and I think that we have to still believe in and stand up for today.
Speaker 2:We do, we do, and so I know we're again. We're going into Matthew four here, but one of the things that kind of helps me personally with the truths is to see Jesus kind of in our shoes. No, we're not the Messiah, you know, we didn't run the Lord of healing people. But when you look at at least, I have a title on my Matthew four and my title says that Jesus is tested in the wilderness. And how often are we tested in our lives? Like it's a lot, and so it's honestly like it's sad to see.
Speaker 2:But it's also comforting to know with me that you know Jesus walked through some of these same trials and tribulations that I did. And as we dive into it you'll see that, like Satan was was tempting the Messiah with the same things that he tempts us with, like it didn't change, but you know Jesus was the perfect one that could overcome it. Obviously we need him to overcome, but it should give us comfort knowing that he's already overcome the things that we're facing today, right now, in this moment that you know Satan basically tempted him with in the wilderness.
Speaker 1:And he's not powerful enough to be able to tempt us to a point to where we can't return either. We can use the same strategies that Jesus used here in Matthew, chapter four, to be able to ward off some of those things. And yes, man is imperfect. We have a tendency to have our ego in our pride and think, make us think that we are right or correct about all this information, that we have right and all of our ideas. But just to let you know, there's not that perfect church out there. You know, just, I think about that often, michelle and Pierre, and the old saying is if you find the perfect church, you may not want to go there because you might ruin it. Right?
Speaker 3:It's funny, see, this is what I'm saying West, literally at our women's conference, the pastor that was speaking said you know, when people say that they're going to leave a church because it's not perfect, well, don't go over to that church because you might ruin them with your perfectness. So like it's just, like it's true, we're imperfect people, so I don't, you can't, expect to have a perfect church. It's full of imperfect people.
Speaker 2:I think part of it is people are too focused on people in church. They're not focused on the word or the message, or Jesus or God, they're just focused on others. And you know that judgment builds up and you know expectations kind of settle in on what they expect you to do and how they expect you to act. And again, if we're imperfect, that's not fair to anyone. Regardless of what path you're going down, of how far you are along that path, it's really really difficult to call yourself a Christian and you're in there judging other people who maybe aren't as far along as you and your journey, or maybe they've taken a stumble, a step back, and who are you to kind of kick them when they're down? How are you better than them?
Speaker 2:And again, we see that in the daily world that's taking place, in its anxiety all over and you know the church is supposed to be that safe haven, come as you are, type of situation and I think that folks within the church sometimes lose that mentality, lose that thought process of just being accepting of others that are struggling with different struggles. We don't all have the same sins, we don't all have the same struggles and all sins are equal. So my sin is the same as your sin. So don't judge me for my stuff If you're not gonna look in the mirror and judge yourself for your own stuff. And I think that any and all churches have members that get to that point where they just become judgmental, pointing the finger, put their nose up at folks and kind of forget where they came from as well.
Speaker 3:Well, and we know the testing is gonna come right. Like. So we have to be ready, we have to be alert. But like, can we really show true obedience if we never have an opportunity to be tested or to disobey? But we have to remember that, like, our convictions are only strong if they hold up under pressure. So I think what Pierre is saying is a hundred percent spot-on. Like we're all gonna be tested, jesus was tested, we're all going to, and it's just a fact that it's gonna come. You don't know when it's gonna come, and usually it's when you're on your mountaintop.
Speaker 2:So like me, because the first thing Jesus test is with. It's like food, yeah, I read that first line is like Fasten up, like oh, I know this one, you know I'm driving my Popeye's every day, you know. Like, oh, man, I just. But I mean a different type of test. But I mean I mean you look at like gluttony, gluttony, you look at, you look at that, that type of situation that's, it's the same type of ordeal, or you're just kind of Not practicing moderation, you're you're overeating or you're eating things You're not supposed to eat, etc. And so, right off the bat, you know he tests Jesus with hey, turn these stones into some bread and eat Me being me, if I'm starving, I'm probably like, alright, let's do it. So I mean that's. That's why I just appreciate Jesus and his willpower, because I've been in those situations where I would, I would probably turn it into bread and get full.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I can hear that. I understand that. And we we are in Matthew, chapter 4. It's after, of course, matthew 1, 2 and 3, and in those beginning things we saw the birth, the genealogy of Jesus.
Speaker 1:I thought it was pretty fun episodes that we were doing back there you could always go to the past and listen to those if you would like to and then the baptism of Jesus, which was kind of important because we also learned about his cousin, john, a little bit, and the kind of attitude that John had was a Bold attitude to be able to speak out against religious people who were doing things that weren't necessarily a hundred percent correct, but they were still religious people. I, you know, I'm not gonna say that those people were going to hell or anything like that you know they're they're religious people, but they could do religious things better. And the thing is what John was trying to tell him and encourage him to do things, and he encouraged him in his own way. So as we get to this point here, we're starting to see Jesus now Start and walk his walk a little bit more, you know. And then, if history tells us right I don't think it's necessarily biblical, that doesn't give us a Bible age, but we've had plenty of scholars go through here and try to add it up Jesus around 30-ish years old, right about now, around 30 Years old, right. So that's that's the kind of man he's been, and and a hard-working man, I believe, is what he was back then. Of course you weren't gonna be some soy boy latte. I don't think you're gonna go down to the local coffee shop and get a soy latte double cappuccino or anything like that.
Speaker 1:At that time he was a carpenter son, so he worked with his hands and I think he was a tough guy. I think he was a tough guy. I think he had to be kind of tough guy in order to live back then but also just to do his ministry that he's gonna be doing, cuz he's always out there on the road. You know that's that's. That's a hard thing to do, and we see that Jesus was led up by the Spirit, it says, into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Now I don't know why you're gonna go out there and be tempted by the devil. You know Just all purpose, but that's what it kind of it looks like it's being done that way. The spirit kind of let him out that way and he fasted 40 days and 40 nights, like you said to hear, and he became a hungry now I don't.
Speaker 1:I don't become hungry, I become hangry you know that's that 40 days, about four hours, man, yeah, I ain't had nothing to eat or drink for hours. I'm getting hangry. I can't imagine what it's like then when you're doing it 40 days and 40 nights. It says the tempter my, my version says the tempter came and said to him and I I've been wondering what kind of form was the tempter in? Because we just finished reading Genesis and it was a sneaky kind of a thing. You know, it's a lizard, whatever it was, and and what. What was the form? Was this a mental thing? I don't know. I don't know that. I know the answer, that you know.
Speaker 1:And we've had many other verses that we've looked at over the course of time here on the finding faith and losing sleep podcast. We see where Satan is described as like a roaring lion Waiting around the corner waiting to pounce on us, you know. And we also see even Paul writing about how he was the prince of the power of the air over there in Ephesians. So I don't know, why did that? Did that thought cross y'all's mind?
Speaker 2:It did to an extent I, so I don't know why. It could be because of the verse five that we'll get into here, but I kind of think of the it will be Christmas Carol, if you're familiar with that. It's like the, the ghosts of Christmas past like coming to Scrooge. So I kind of think of the third one, who's like the future and it's like a grim reaper Type of character where you don't necessarily see like their face. It's just like this. It's dark spirit with like a hood on and it's kind of like cloak. That's kind of what I imagine, just kind of guiding Jesus away, trying to get him To be tempted into some of these items. It's kind of how I've always pictured it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I, I've gone through all I want, maybe not all the scenarios, but I've gone through many scenarios. I'd like to think that it Just just the, just the voice, you know, and yeah, cuz, cuz, I think I think Satan can is like the algorithms, where he can penetrate my mind, you know, and he can help me think things that I don't necessarily need to think, and I always need to be able to say no kind of a thought. You know, I Many things that I could be tempted with all around all different kinds of corners, and I have to be prepared to be able to say no to those things. I always wonder oh boy, man Wes, you're kind of weak, you're just, you're thinking bad thoughts or, you know, getting tempted by something you shouldn't be tempted with. And when I see something like this, where Jesus is being tempted as well, it helps encourage me that, yes, jesus was a hundred percent God, but he was also a hundred percent man, so he was tempted with some of the same things that I was, which here it was a physical thing and I think that you can put all physical desires into this Category and somebody who might be recovering from whatever it is, whatever kind of addiction it is they may have, and trust me, I know what that means because I'm a recovering addict and I don't think you ever are a non addict or your don't ever stop being an addict.
Speaker 1:I I'm always aware of those things and I never want to go into those doors to Accept that opportunity that I can, that's so readily available to me for whether it be alcohol, drugs, pornography, whatever it is. I know I'm an addict. Listen, I can, I can drink, I can eat a bag of candy corn if you set it down in front of me, and I'm not gonna stop until it's all gone. I know that right, so I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna open up a case of beer. I'm not gonna do all those things because I know that I won't stop until it's all gone. And those are physical temptations, and Jesus is tempted with that same kind of physical thing right here With this, and it doesn't matter if it's been 40 days or 49. Those physical Temptations are still gonna come at you all the time and it's for us to be able to be aware of, to be able to say no to.
Speaker 2:It isn't. I mean so Jesus answers, you know, if it is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. So I Mean it's think about us in our situation. So let's you just talk about being angry, you know, after, after four hours, and like how often do we Do we have those situations where maybe we're we're hungry and thirsty and we we just kind of cave in like so I know, at church, like we do our own 21 days of prayer where you're required to like fast, and you know some of those times can be can be difficult, like day in, day out. But honestly I do, I do pretty good within that window of the 21 days of prayer because I'm constantly like focused, I guess, and and when you're focused I think it's easier to kind of overcome some of the Weaknesses or things you don't think that you can overcome.
Speaker 2:And so I would say that here that Jesus was, was focused. So even after 40 days and 40 nights, you know he's saying that man shall not live on bread alone. Like what are we doing in like eight hours? Are we? Are we able to say, you know, man should not live on bread alone if we're hungry, you know, after eight hours, in our minds probably no, but if we really focused on it, I mean, I'm sure we could go longer than we would. It could even imagine without food, basically starving the flesh, which is often what you need to do the feet, the spirit. These are things that we could also accomplish if we put our mind to it.
Speaker 3:Well, I can attest to that, because when I had to have surgery, there were many things that I couldn't eat or drink, but when I had a blockage in my intestine, I could not Put. There was nothing, not a drip of water or anything, by mouth for three plus days, and I was so thirsty and Really frustrated, and it wasn't like I could just get up and walk around and take my mind off of it. All I could do was just lay in this hospital bed. So, yeah, it's, it's frustrating, but the thing that Sticks in my head is that we can do more than we think. So prayer was really powerful in that moment. And what kind of struck me as I was reading through this part is that doubt can creep in and the devil really tried to get Jesus to doubt his father's love, protection, provision, all of those things and what's, I want to ask you. So Jesus was obviously able to resist all of those temptations because he knew scripture, but what's the difference between what he knew, between him and the devil as far as scripture goes?
Speaker 1:I think Jesus knew how to apply it for good.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he obeyed it. So, like it's one thing to know scripture and that was kind of my whole point in this it's one thing for us to know it and to read it, but the key is that we have to obey it.
Speaker 1:No, you're absolutely right, and you know, by the way, jesus fasted 40 days and 40 nights. There's different kinds of fasting. You know, like I sometimes think fasting is being completely without anything like no food. I don't know, maybe this is what it was, maybe he was without food, maybe it was without water for 40 days and 40 nights. But there's also those times when you give up things for a period of time, like you were talking about Pierre, or even Lent, or something like that, and I think I've done that Well, I know I've done that before in the past just to get my mind concentrating and focusing on what I need to be focusing on.
Speaker 1:So whenever I was a young Christian, I was like, oh, he didn't eat 40 days, 49 days, there ain't no way, no way, he didn't do no. And then, when it became more educated so I want to make sure I throw that out there to people who might be just trying to figure it out for the first time and be like what he didn't eat 40 days and 40 nights? Now listen, this is. This is I got into the Bible right here. This is where I started reading. You know, matthew, chapter one. I made it through that first chapter and everything, and we're getting into the area where I started going. Huh, he didn't eat for 40 days and 40 nights.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to I'm going to probably be approaching it sometimes from that angle, because I do think that that's important to have people walk you through the scriptures a little bit and hope to have a better understanding of it. Okay, does that? Does that make sense? Is that okay to do? Yeah for sure. Okay, all right. So there's different kinds of fasting where maybe you just give up certain things to be able to keep your mind focused on God and, like you said, pierre, it's that time whenever, okay, I'm going to give up candy corn, I ain't going to eat candy corn this Halloween. Every time I get tempted with candy corn, I'm like, all right, lord, you got to help me with this. By the way, can you? I'm sorry for all the things I've ever did wrong for you. You know, it just kind of brings you back to that point of prayer with God and dependency on God for strength and also for all the other things in life. That goes along with getting over that temptation of candy corn. It's terrible.
Speaker 2:Terrible, terrible. It's awesome. We, getting rid of something that you're you're putting before God is is kind of how we've been taught it ourselves and through our churches. You know, it's not just food and water. Sometimes it's social media, for example. If, if your phone is a distraction and it's stopping you from getting into your Bible, it's stopping you from praying and in those type of things, and you can fast from something like that as well, because it's something that you're placing in front of the Lord and the goal is to put the Lord first again in your life.
Speaker 1:And I think it shows you, and and it shows you that you could do something like that right, and that you can prioritize God in a lot of different instances. But it also shows you that God can help give you the strength to overcome whatever it is that you want to put behind you too. So I think that that's it. So, yes, pierre, is written that you should not eat. Then devil said it is written man shall not live on bread alone. But every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God oh, that's what God said, I'm sorry, that's what Jesus said. It's written in red. Well, that's your reading, red right there. So that's what Jesus said. Jesus gave him scripture to kind of get him back a little bit right.
Speaker 3:It didn't.
Speaker 1:It didn't stop the devil. The devil took him into a holy city and had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him if you are the son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written he will give his angels charge concerning over you and on their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against the stone. I like that, you know. At first, at first, satan the tempter did not use scripture, right, he used his physical being. And then Jesus used scripture.
Speaker 1:And so then it was like, oh, the devil said, ok, all right, I'm going to play your game. You know like, let's, let's go, let's go, I know scripture too. And so he started playing that game and and he gave him scripture from the Old Testament about himself, about. You know what was written about Jesus a long time ago, which is one of those prophetic things that came true. Oh, another reason why you can know Jesus is the son of God and that you know prophesies came true about him and stuff like that. Jesus, the devil knew it too. You know, that's kind of cool. And then to see that the devil's playing his own game here.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, you got to think of where the devil came from, Like when you look at Lucifer you know we talked about this he was he was like the right hand man of God in heaven before he was casted down. So it's not like he's oblivious, you know, to the, to the scripture and to the ways. But this temptation is just kind of. It's really interesting because I I think about like the suicide rate in the world these days, and oftentimes you just think about the, the earthly pieces of it. So you know most people it's. It's over a significant other, whether it be a companion, it's over things like finances or loss. You know stuff along those lines.
Speaker 2:But honestly I hadn't really thought much about suicide being a devil's temptation. I don't know what goes through the minds in those situations. I know that the mind can be a powerful thing, but if you think about the, the rate, and you know how it's up so much these days with things like phones and distractions etc. That's a really powerful temptation, whether you're a Christian or not. Just roaming through this, this world, I feel like death itself and kind of.
Speaker 2:You know the, the whole attempting or committing suicide is a powerful temptation that you know you're not good enough, you're not pretty enough, you can't do this, you can't do that, and you've seen so many lives taken and to think about that as being a temptation for the devil to maybe win and prevent you from ultimately fighting that saving grace from God that you're, you might be on the path on or that might be in your future, he can all of a sudden stop that from even taking place. So you know you're walking your dark path. You know in life and before you can even get to you know God's grace, you know Satan's trying to jump in saying, yeah, it's over for you, it's, it's done. You should just end it now. There's no hope for you. That's a pretty deep temptation. I think it's one that we honestly see society kind of failing with at times here, just given the high rate that we have.
Speaker 1:And Jesus, you know you're absolutely right here and that you know we were talking about church earlier and stuff. And listen, we don't think that you have to go to church to be saved. I'm not going to say that it helps, but I don't think you have to go to church to be saved. And I say it helps because then you surround yourself with other people who have a like mind of trying to do things that are right and trying to trying to stay away from things that are wrong, trying to find ways to do good things in the community to build people up. But also, when it comes to something like you're talking about there with suicide, it helps out in that too, because I think you're surrounded by people who love you and you can find a community, you can find purpose, you can find worth it.
Speaker 1:Maybe that you can't find necessarily all by yourself. I would say, if somebody was feeling that way too don't forget about sunshine, don't forget about exercise, don't forget about vitamins, don't forget about eating right. There's so many things to be able to help with that, and you can't necessarily find that on your own. So it's always good to go around other people who can start steering you in a direction to help you find those things that can give you purpose and this life and stuff. So I think it's important to be able to find community like that, and that's what a church is it's a group, it's a community of believers together.
Speaker 2:It is. But you would also see why the devil would try to prevent you from getting there. Oh yeah, he would try to stop you from going to church or finding a church, or stop you from getting a Bible, or having that conversation with your Christian friend where something comes up and you can't maybe meet for coffee, etc. There's just so many ways that he wants to prevent you from doing that. But then again, here with Jesus himself, he's basically trying to get him to commit suicide before you know his calling on the cross, Like he's trying to prevent that from happening and kind of ultimately win over Jesus himself.
Speaker 1:And to test his Godship too, right, I mean, that's he's trying to do that too by saying look, it ain't gonna hurt you if you really got. Are you really God, you know? I think that there's that kind of little doubt in there too. Go ahead, michelle.
Speaker 3:Oh, I was going to say when Pierre was talking. It triggered something I read like the glorify app most mornings and I had saved one and I was trying to find it. But I won't read the whole thing, but it just says like the same miracle worker who multiplied the fish and the loaves was now walking on water near them and they thought he was the, was a ghost. Jesus response to the disciples who missed him and who cried out in fear is remarkable. The scripture says immediately he spoke to them and said don't be afraid the word used here means don't resist me and he climbed into the boat with them. He's saying the same thing to you and me. He's not running for a message, he's climbing into, be right there with us and he comes with his. With his presence comes peace. So basically what he's saying is like when, in the midst of whatever, hurts and heartbreaks are disrupting our peace, then we pray that we'll see him coming and we no longer have to cry out in fear. We can call out in faith, calm and trusting, anxious for nothing, because we know, we know he sees us, we know he's for us, we know he's in control and the Lord's near and we're safe.
Speaker 3:And part of that was I didn't read all of it, but part of it was saying that when you're tempted or when you're down and in despair, thank him.
Speaker 3:And it sounds crazy to say like, okay I'm, I don't see what you have for my life anymore and I don't want to live anymore, but thank you God. Like how do you? How do you do that in those moments? But basically what it's saying is to flip your mindset and if you turn your mind from a place of despair to thankfulness, that eventually it leads you back to that path of being thankful and you basically have to trick your mind into okay, wait, I'm thankful now, because you can't have that positive and negative at the same time. So I thought that was. It really stuck out to me that you know, in the midst of our storms and the midst of our trials, to thank him and to praise him and to say thank you for this, because when I'm in this fire, it's only going to make me stronger to come out the other side. So diamond has to go through that pressure and to become the diamond we have to do the same thing.
Speaker 1:So anyway, yeah, so the first time Jesus was tempted with the, with the turn of the rocks into bread and everything, I kind of look at him as having a slide grin on his face whenever he says it is written man should not live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, you know, like, like huh, take that Satan. You know just kind of live a little slide grins on his face. I don't know, that's the way I picture it. But this time, whenever Satan uses scripture to be able to tempt him, this time into his first God ship, and then the suicide thing, I look at Jesus, his point of finger. Now you know what I mean. Like.
Speaker 1:On the other hand, it is written you shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test. You know, I kind of look at it like he's disciplining Satan a little bit here in this, in this case, and that that's a good scripture right there Don't put the Lord, your God, to the test. You can't do that anyway, because God is perfect, but you shouldn't even try, right? I think it goes back to for us we can glean out this a little bit is is blaming God for things? Like God, you did this to me. No, no, no, look, no, don't, don't, you know, put God to the test and stuff things like that. And I don't know. What do you guys think about putting God to the test? Do you think that this is like what we talked about before, I think in one of the past episodes, where we saw different people praying for certain things and they would say, if you give this us this, we'll, we'll do this part. What do you guys think that this is part of that? Test stuff.
Speaker 2:I don't know. It's tough because I my mind ultimately goes to to non-believers and have a even throughout scripture. They often want to see something. So if your God's real, then do this. Or if your God's this, then he can do this. And they're basically testing you out, testing him out, and I think that's the case here. What's the devil? He's saying he will command his angels concerning you. They will lift you up. So if this is your God, if you're the Son of God, then I mean, what do you have to lose? This is getting ready to happen. Go ahead and do it.
Speaker 2:And Jesus, who probably could have I mean he is Jesus, he probably would have survived. But he goes back and he quotes scripture on top of scripture. It is also written. So take this, it is also written Eureka, do not put the Lord, your God, to the test. And so I think it's one of those situations that, even if we as Christians are maybe on the defense with some others that are non-believers, regardless of what they're kind of doing with pressing our buttons, don't put God to the test amongst those battles. Kind of keep that in mind when they're tempting you themselves. It may not be the devil, it may be other humans tempting you. You still shouldn't put God to the test in some of the situations that you're facing, but Jesus didn't, in a really difficult situation himself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's cool that he has verse on top of verse two, and how consoling is that for us at times, and for other people too. It's a good reason for us to be able to memorize scripture and to memorize verses and to be more able to flip pages in the Bible, even though your executive producer on a certain finding faith and losing sleep podcast will say that it's too loud to do that and it sounds like no. But it's good for us to have those things in our. You talked about the Bible being locked and loaded earlier I think it was before show and even after we started recording and they are our weapons. The Bible is our weapon. It's our sword. We should be able to yield that. Wield that, not yield that. We should be able to wield that effectively for God. And it's so encouraging as well to use those things. Now Jesus is using it as self-defense, but you could also use it for healing. You can use verses for healing. You can use verses for all sorts of things whenever it comes to Bible. All right.
Speaker 1:So then the devil took him up on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he said to him all these things I've given to you, if you fall down and worship me, worship me. That seems like the last thing. That would be a temptation to Jesus, right, but it was. It was, you know, it's what we're told that he's went up to the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. So here's a little temptation for you, jesus. And Jesus said to him be gone, satan, for his written. You shall worship Lord, your God, and serve him. Only Then the devil left him and, behold, angels came and began to minister to him. Now that trips me out too, just thinking about angels ministering to him. But you know, it is what it is.
Speaker 2:Well, I don't, so I don't read that. I know it says if you bow down and worship me, but to me personally this is more a temptation of power versus a temptation of just bowing down. He's basically trying to tell him that you basically have everything, like the powers over this kingdom, over the world is yours, which ultimately it is anyways. But that was kind of what he was tempting with. And again, these are things that we get tempted with in our own lives. How often are we tempted with power and money? That that's gonna be the answer to everything. You know we've had food, we've had, ultimately, suicide. Now we've had power. You know I'll give you everything you ever could want, everything you could ask for as a temptation, and even amongst that, you know Jesus is like get away from me Get out of here.
Speaker 2:And then he goes back to scripture. You know, worship the Lord, your God, and serve him. Only. So, again, three times it's taken place. Each time he goes back to scripture.
Speaker 2:And we kind of opened the show earlier talking about how we as a society really struggle to agree to disagree type of situations Even. You know, I think Michelle even talked about the fact that some people will bring up the Bible themselves to kind of throw it against you and have certain versions of memorized. So how cool would it be if we could have our own verses memorized to say, hey, it is also written at this. And that was be our retort, you know, to certain situations. You know, someone throws something at us and it's a version, and oftentimes we're like, oh, I don't know how to get around this, what do I say? And kind of maybe just back down. But if we, you know, did get into the word and start to memorize this, we could say, oh, it is also written. You know that this is the case and I feel like that's just a better response. If you can, you know, fight the Bible with the Bible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, totally. I go back to how do we ever get tempted with this part? How you know, I can understand getting tempted with food or with something that we shouldn't, do you know? I get that. I can get tempted with, you know, the suicide thing, or even, you know, wondering whether or not I'm saved or if God's real, or anything like that. I can get number two too. But what about the third one? How do we get tempted with that? It's, I think it's very easy. You know, whether we want to compromise our values or not, or Christian standards, we can all steal and get ahead of the game a little bit if we wanted to. I don't know if you can, but I can. We can do those things. That would be a little bit shady.
Speaker 1:I also, I think about Hollywood people too. I think about Hollywood people who maybe go to Hollywood with some values or some morals and then all of a sudden they get this big lead in a play or a lead in a movie or a film and they have to appear nude or they have to have a scene where they're making, you know, whatever with whoopie. I guess is what does making whoopie with somebody else? Does that compromise? Is that one of those things where you'll be famous, you'll have a good role, you'll open up more opportunities for you if you appear topless, or something like that. How does that compromise those things in Hollywood? And I try to approach that the same way in my life. You know, what am I doing that would compromise my values today? That I don't need to do, you know. So I think that we can kind of relate to all three of those.
Speaker 3:But I think that typically West. What do they do? What do they do those roles? Why do they wanna be famous? What do they do that for?
Speaker 1:Money, yup, and I feel like money is.
Speaker 3:You always hear money is the root of all evil, and so I think like I don't. I'm not saying money is a bad thing in and of itself, but the love of money and we've had this conversation before, but I think that's ultimately kind of what Satan is saying like here I'll give you everything and power. Usually money comes with power and being comfortable, and so I think we associate being comfortable with having things and having power, and Jesus is saying it's probably exactly the opposite Like I doubt Jesus was very comfortable for most of his life here on earth and I'm pretty certain he didn't really have any money, but he had joy. And I think oftentimes I can tell you that when in my life, when I had the most money, I was the most miserable. So it's hard, because I think we all strive to be comfortable, but I almost feel like and this is a hard one, but I almost feel like Jesus wants us to be uncomfortable, to see where our true character is.
Speaker 1:No, I would agree with that. It's not the comfortable. That often is leading the charge into a battle, and that's what we're doing as Christians is leading a charge into battle. So, after the temptation and everything, it just came minister to him. He got all fed back up and he got all good and everything. He started his ministry, his public ministry, and you know what he started doing? He started saying the same thing that John the Baptist did and that says that they said started saying to everybody repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Speaker 1:And, michelle, I think the last time that we talked about this which seems forever ago now, because we've gone from the Old Testament to the New Testament back and forth a little bit just that, you know, we might need to say that a little bit more, be a little bit more strong if we see somebody hurting themselves or something like that, because it is one of those urgent things. And, as this time period has gone on and I've gone, why in the world does Satan keep popping up in our battle studies, you know, or our finding faith and losing sleep podcast? Why does he keep popping up there? But I also remember that Jesus talked more about hell than he talked about heaven, and I think that that's probably one of those things that we might want to learn a little bit more too, because nowadays in the Christian world, I wonder if we don't try to coerce people to heaven. You know what I mean and I talked about, I joked about the soy boy, latte things or whatever but everybody gets so offended nowadays, it feels like, and so we need to, we need to politely and gently and I'm not saying we don't need to politely and gently, but I'm just saying we need to put a little bit of sugar on every word we say and everything like that to try and coerce people into heaven, instead of telling people, hey, repent, the kingdom of heaven's at hand.
Speaker 1:If you died tonight, where would you end up spending eternity? If you died tonight and you opened up your eyes again, where would you be? Heaven or hell. And I often, you know, I think that that's kind of a repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and it's a pretty good question just to be able to ask people, you know, hey, are you saved? Just to hear the response. And if they, you know what would people say? Oh, yeah, I'm saved.
Speaker 1:And then you ask why? Why do you think you're saved? And then listen for that response? Because if it's not surrounded with well, let me tell you why. It's because Jesus died for me. If it's because, well, you know, I made a pact with God. You know that kind of if it's not the right answers, then all of a sudden you have an opportunity to be able to direct and guide somebody. But let me tell you something. Asking that question, are you saved? Let me ask you a question are you saved? You know what that does. That tells somebody you care and you're not afraid. And we need people who care and aren't afraid. We need a lot of people who care and aren't afraid. We always talk about change. We always talk about how we wish society was better. We boy, it wasn't like this when we were growing up. Well, we need to be bold in order to get it back to where it was if we wanted to be different. That was just a thought that went through my mind about that message.
Speaker 2:It was true, because I mean you got a lot of funerals, for example, like everyone's in a better place now and I'm like apparently hell's just empty because every funeral I go to they're in a better place. And that's not what the Bible says. It's not, that's not the math that adds up. And some of these people I know their lives and if they're in heaven and I have nothing to worry about, I'm good to go. But that's not how it works. And so I mean even I know it's this consoling type of thing and we're probably getting to that whenever we get into the Matthew five a little bit and the beauties. But it's not like hell is empty, like everyone doesn't. The default is hell. It is hell, it is not heaven. The default is hell. And we got to realize that. And obviously this was years ago.
Speaker 2:Where you see the repent, the, basically the kingdom of heaven is near. What is near Like? I know we watched it chosen and like one of the scenes is like okay, so what's soon is what they ask Jesus, and Jesus is like soon. What's soon Like what does that mean? What does near mean to us versus what it means to God? Like what is time itself? Look how long it took over almost 400 years for Jesus's birth to appear after the Old Testament. We don't know what time is, and so that's why it says to be ready at all times. Be on guard, because no one knows when that day's gonna come but the Father. Why would you not wanna be prepared? And I can say I'm not always prepared. There's times and situations where I am not at my best, where if Jesus showed up, I'm like uh-oh, I might be in trouble here.
Speaker 1:You better not come during the cults game, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, pretty much, but no, but seriously like. But when it that's what we're told, when he's saying it's near, this is Jesus roaming the earth, but without his actual physical being here. We still have the spirit and the advocate, but we have no idea when that day's gonna come. So why will we live our lives reckless, not knowing not just when Jesus is returning, but when our own day's gonna end, like we have no day promise, as much as we like to make plans, and we're gonna do this tomorrow like none of it's promise? Things can be taken away and an instant, people can be taken away and an instant. I've lived it myself. So why not be ready at all times for that situation, for your judgment day?
Speaker 1:And knowing that, why not help other people be ready for that same thing too? Yeah, I'm telling you guys, that is fun to do. All right, maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, but to ask people those kind of questions, put your faith out there to live boldly, it is fun to do. And it's not fun because you're like, ha ha ha, look how strong I am. Oh, it's fun because people start thinking about it. And then people come to you with questions. You open up a big door of opportunity for people to be able to approach you with stuff. Because, man, regardless of what we think, saying something like that everybody knows it's bold. Everybody knows it takes a little guts to do, because they would never do it. You know what I mean. It takes a little bit of guts to ask somebody hey, let me ask you this are you saved? It takes some guts to do that, and people know that because it does take some fortitude. And look, I'm your huckleberry. I often say I'm dumb enough not to understand the severity of the situation. It's what it is sometimes. And so you just open out of the mouth of babes, right? It kind of goes like that.
Speaker 1:So Jesus was starting his ministry. He was going around saying that and I don't know how many people heard him do it or whatever. But he walked by the sea of Galilee. He saw two brothers, simon, who was called Peter, and Andrew, this brother casting his nend of the sea, and they were fishermen. And he said to them follow me and I will make you fishers of men. They immediately, it says, they immediately left their nets and followed him. I think it was an opportunity for him. I think Jesus had a reputation, probably you know at this point. You know, and whenever somebody offered you an opportunity to be able to walk with them, and they were somebody who was wise and somebody who was going to, you know, take care of you and everything. And that's what these guys did. They took care of. Obviously they had a little fishing business and everything like that on the side. Maybe it was parents fish fishing business and they had a little bit invested in it. But I love how they just immediately followed him when the time is right and Jesus makes that calling in somebody's life. I know it takes some time but, man, sometimes it just takes a moment for somebody to say you know, I'm following you, and I don't know when that moment is.
Speaker 1:I think about my journey and I know I shared it with you guys before and I often wonder when I decided to move here, where I am now in Alabama, from up north, I often wonder if that wasn't me just hearing that calling. You know, all the things lined up right and everything seemed to be right. But I knew where I wanted to go and I wanted to go live with my aunt and uncle, who were the only people I knew that seemed to have their act together, you know, and I knew there were church going people and I wanted to find out more about that. I honestly did.
Speaker 1:I would never admit it and I don't know that I necessarily thought about it that hard, but I knew I wanted whatever it was they had, because I had never seen that before, I had never seen that joy before, I had never seen that kind of love in a family before, even though they weren't a perfect family, even though they argued with each other sometimes, you know, even. But there was love there and I never had experience that before and so I wanted a part of that and I wanted to find out about that. And I wonder if that wasn't me hearing the, you know, having the hey follow me.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir, yes sir, and you know it called me while I was sitting in my cutlass, hopeless and barely surviving. It felt like you know something like that. But but it was a calling and I am left my stuff and I came down here. It wasn't immediate, but it was whenever I had that inkling, you know.
Speaker 2:I mean it happens. I mean we I talk about me getting baptized kind of being something my mom told me to basically do before she, before she passed. That was something she made me promise to do and he has started to go down that journey. So I started to kind of look into it and that's, honestly where my spiritual growth started to take place, like I had been in church off and on, but it's like, all right, she's passed, this is the the one thing I promised her I would do. So it's let's figure it out.
Speaker 2:And you know I we start to look in the movie and you know, we came here and our daughter went to a local church like for a summer with her cousin, like prior, and you know, let's give this place a shot and try it out. And you know, again, we fast forward and we're like like group leaders and all these things there now. But it all started with okay, let's, let's see how I can finish this promise and I was committed to following through with it. And you know, here we are years later and I feel like I've I've been changed.
Speaker 1:And he went on from there. He saw a couple other brothers, james, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in a boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets, and he called them and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him. And Jesus went about in all of Galilee teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom of healing, and healing Every kinds of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. And news about him went into Syria and they brought to him all who are ill, taken with various diseases and pains, demonic epileptics, paralytics, and he healed them and a great multitude followed him from Galilee to the capitalists, to Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan. That's just chapter four. You know, a big part of the following is starting to follow him and he's getting a lot of people that are following. His name is getting barely really recognized at this time and it's and it's cool to be able to see that happen. And you see how he was teaching in their synagogues he proclaimed the gospel, king of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. You know that all kinds of diseases were being healed by him.
Speaker 1:Now it's important to see this, because I think, as we carry on in our journey here, as we talk about life issues and about the Bible and how everything relates to one another and how the Bible is not an old book and it's archaic and it's ancient, but it's actually applicable even to today, you know, we can. I want to point out who was doing the healing, and right now, it's Jesus doing the healing. Right, it's God doing the healing through Jesus, and that's all we see, and it's kind of cool to be able to just okay, let's get other preconceived ideas out of our head, and I try to do the same. I've done this experiment before, so that's why I'd love to be able to do it with everybody else here but you just get preconceived ideas out of your brain and you say, okay, what is the Bible showing us here? And this is what we see so far, and that's all we see.
Speaker 1:Okay, and it's every kind of disease, and there's not one that he can't, which is kind of cool to right. I mean everything. Go ahead, make the list. He's got it all covered. I don't know how he does. Could you imagine, though? Could you imagine you were? You're a paralytic, you're healed. You know, if you were just deathly ill and you're healed, and why did you think that the healing was able to be done like that there, and why was Jesus able to heal at that time?
Speaker 2:I mean, I would think it's just a sign, a show that he's who he's proclaiming to be. So I mean, he's he's went 30 years. He finally just starts to to minister and he's building up, like to me at this point, like folks aren't aware that he's a son of God. You've seen John the Baptist talk about it, you've seen. You know, the devil obviously makes some statements, but others aren't aware of who this guy is. So I feel like it's kind of just planting the seeds, god, just kind of using Jesus, using his son to be this main attraction to start to get witnesses on who he is.
Speaker 2:And you know, oftentimes it takes those type of situations, be it healings, be it miracles, for people to start to believe in certain things. I can even say in our own lives. You know, sometimes you know you're praying for a miracle and it takes that prayer being answered for you to be like, okay, maybe this guy things real. That's what happens with a lot of people, and so for me, that's what I'm, that's what I'm seeing. So he's called us, first disciples and now he's just Roman. You know, he's teaching and all of a sudden he's healing and all. If you see someone, even to this day. If you see someone like healing folks of diseases, folks that are paralyzed, you're going to be interested in like what's? What's going on here? What's happening? It's going to cause a following and I feel like this was kind of God's plan to really get the boat rolling, for Jesus to kind of step out and start to reveal who he is to the world.
Speaker 1:I agree, I try to picture myself being able to heal. You know what I mean. I just I try to picture what I would be like if I could actually heal people or something, because you hear about those people that are faith healers and everything and they could do the healing. I would be like that scene in Bruce Almighty he's walking down the street and being able to change things. I mean, that's all I've been doing, that, I think going to the hospital. Why wouldn't you go to the hospital? Why would you make sick people come to you? I'd be going everywhere healing everybody all the time. If I could do that and maybe it doesn't work that way, I don't necessarily know, but I just I just wonder what I would be like if I could do something like that.
Speaker 1:And you got to have that humbleness, I think and Jesus probably had that. His whole mission was to preach, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand and he was going around and preaching the gospel and he was trying to get people to turn back their lives to God to some way, shape and form that would be appealing and appreciative from God. You know he was trying to make disciples is what he was trying to do and we can bring our own little miracles in people's lives. We can do the own healing by being there for them in the ways that we can be able to be there for them whenever they need us, and it's a great opportunity to be able to serve God in this world, because it definitely needs him Right, absolutely.
Speaker 2:All right.
Speaker 1:That wrapped up five, anything else, any last closing thoughts from either one of you.
Speaker 2:No, I heard you say that you know why people have to come to Jesus and I don't. I don't think that's necessarily the case, because when you read that first line where he heals the sick in 23. It doesn't say that people went to golly, it says Jesus went through golly, so he was roaming, he was, he was walking around, I don't feel like that's necessarily, at least in this moment. That wasn't people coming to him, that was him going out and basically getting his ministry started and showing what he was capable of, which, of course, we're all thankful for. I think we've seen the healing in our own lives, throughout Indiana, throughout Alabama, throughout, you know, wherever listeners are sitting like he's still going through and healing in our lives. We're not walking with him physically, but I think we're walking with him spiritually and we have stories, we have testimonies that show that he's still in the business of healing.
Speaker 1:Amen, all right, very good, listen. Pierre said all those information, all the information before, about how you can get in touch with the show so you can listen to the first part of that podcast, to be able to listen to that and to be able to do those things. But, as this podcast ends, if you could, though, you know, go ahead and hit that like button, hit that subscribe button, or whatever If you feel so. Led to do it helps with the algorithm and helps get the show out there. It's not for our sake. We hope to be able to help other people. That's the only reason why we don't take a penny in doing this show up here. We don't have, we don't have commercials or anything, do we?
Speaker 2:We don't. We've been offered to monetize, but I have not no, we don't want to monetize.
Speaker 1:I don't know if it'll go that way someday or whatever, I don't know but but we all just are doing this to be able to help other people not lose sleep and find their faith, that's all. And some of those things that I brought up tonight were making me lose my sleep, like how did how did Satan appear to him? What kind of form did he have? Right, and then how did the angels minister him? Who was the angels? Where did the angels come from? You know things like that. So I have those kind of questions and it's good to think about those things. It doesn't mean you're crazy, it means that you're thinking.
Speaker 1:You know it just means you're thinking. And if you could surround yourself with people who can give you good thoughts and ideas, and how that is, and how those people are going to get to know you and how those those thoughts came to be, and some answers to those questions and really find out what's important. Because I was getting, you know, I got in the weeds on those things. Where did Satan come from? Who's hating, where did the angels come from? I was getting in the weeds on those things. I was like, wait a minute, that's not what the point of chapter four is. The point of chapter four is to repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. If I were, if I were to, you know, put in a little little little headline over there of what chapter four is, that's what the, that's what the whole purpose of that one is for. And I said, don't lose your focus on that, wes, because that's what the most important thing is.
Speaker 3:Thank you. That's important, wes, because, like we can tend, I'm a detailed person so I can get bogged down in the details and I think it's really important, like you said, for that overarching understanding, just the basics.
Speaker 1:Thank you, pierre, thank you Michelle, thank you, wes. I'm talking to myself. Now it's time to go. Thank you, though, for listeners, very much for listening to this podcast and spending a little bit of time with us. We appreciate you so much and, as always, you pray for us. We'll pray for you.