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158 - Miracles, Mysteries, and Meaning · Relish: a Christian podcast

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  You're listening to thursday mornings with alex and don
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  team ad don is a pastor with 40
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  years experience and alex is just as curious as you are we look at the most
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  important and interesting questions about the bible and christian faith so let's
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  talk about it pastor don good morning alex how are you doing good good good
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  thanks everybody for joining us really glad you're with us once Once again,
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  these questions are, these ones are going to be cold for Don.
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  He's not going to know these ones at all.
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  And given the weather, cold is good. Yeah, it is.
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  We came into this room today and, you know. It was a heated discussion.
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  Yeah, it's one of those days I just go out and take care of the farm or work
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  things, take a shower and come in.
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  I just have yet to stop being wet, you know. But.
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  That's all right. Cold showers. Before we get into questions,
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  I wanted to bring up this, and we've talked about this a little bit.
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  It's this pastor in Pennsylvania where the man came into the church,
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  pointed the gun at him, pulled the trigger, nothing happened. Praise the Lord.
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  And when I saw that video, it was like, that's interesting.
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  And there were a lot of people in the comments, both sides, that were just like,
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  oh, wow, God clearly intervened in this moment. what a blessing,
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  and then the other side being like, you idiots, guns jam all the time,
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  they misfire all the time.
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  Did you remember seeing this video? Yeah, I do. Okay. Yeah. What was your first reaction?
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  Well, praise the Lord. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I don't know whether it was the gun
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  was deficient or the guy was deficient, but yeah, they jam all the time.
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  I don't really don't know that.
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  But God was there. I mean, it was in the timing. Right. I agree.
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  And there's been other times when the guns went off. Right.
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  Not this time. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.
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  I'd like to make a case for that intervention. Yeah. Divine intervention.
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  I talked to someone who was kind of a gun expert. What are the odds of that happening?
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  That gun not going off? Well, especially since you just used it already that
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  day. I was getting to that. I'm sorry.
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  I was getting to that. And I said, well, you know, what are the odds of that? he goes
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  any christian man so he says you know hard to
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  know without knowing what kind of gun it is is it a is it
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  a is it a piece of crap or is it actually does he know
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  what he's doing these kinds of things and so
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  he's like i definitely wouldn't be comfortable saying it
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  was god's intervention on that thing even though i understand that you
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  know he controls it all sure and then
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  what have i told you that he had just come from his cousin's
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  house where he had shot and killed his cousin hmm that
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  changed it a little different yeah i thought it made it
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  different yeah that's the part of that said whoa okay
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  so that's on video yeah and
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  i think that's it's not somebody said it was
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  on video yeah it's out there where people can
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  see it yeah that's what it was impressive yeah and
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  then when i found out the gun had already been shot then that was even more
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  impressive but i think we're still in that
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  mode where we try to explain everything that god
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  is doing in our midst away so that we
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  don't have to acknowledge that god is the god of the moment yeah as well as
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  the god of eternity yeah give credit to god for every good and good thing right
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  yeah yeah all right so question number one and some of these come from a travis thrap.
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  I'm getting ready for question yeah you know exercising and it
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  was just a video that he sent at me and it was a guy talking about like how
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  are you supposed to pray you know hands together
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  that's why i tell my kids in in church shut your
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  mouth and hands together bow your
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  head right does it tell us do that in the bible actually
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  it says also kneel and kneel so it
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  tells us to bow our heads hands together it doesn't say
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  anything about hands together okay hands raised is fine
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  but bowing bowing kneeling okay our
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  part of prayer okay doesn't say closing eyes
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  but we tend to do that when we bow and how how what is our daily posture of
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  reverence before another okay what is our daily posture of reverence before
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  an almighty and and i would say that's a clue.
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  Part of what I do is the fact that I have to eliminate distractions.
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  And so closing my eyes, having my hands folded, I find it's much more effective if I kneel in prayer.
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  Often I'll turn around and kneel at my chair so that I'm blocking out what's around me.
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  And so that is the way I focus in prayer.
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  Part of it is being in reverence before God, and part of it is cutting out the
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  distractions that keep me from an active prayer life with God.
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  Because there's two pieces to the prayer that I pray.
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  One is to praise the Lord and bring my petitions, and the other part is giving
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  God time to talk back, called listening prayer. Okay.
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  And that is giving God space to speak into the present. Yeah.
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  That's really cool. Yeah. The listening part is an important part.
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  It's a really big deal for a guy. Mm-hmm.
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  Yes. Well, it might be for women too, but I'm not a woman. I can't really say.
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  That's right. And so that piece that we as guys need to get all those visual
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  distractions and listening distractions out of the way so that we can focus
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  on god and and often for that listening prayer,
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  thy will be done yeah what's my part of
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  it right i found that god kind of not kind
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  of but definitely has a way of if you forget that listening part
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  oh he'll he'll he'll remind you yeah you will stumble a little bit and and i
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  always get your attention and i feel like i've gotten not better not better
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  but it's been more abundantly clear that oh yeah i remember when you were asking
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  for all these things and you didn't want to listen to see you know what we know what my will was,
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  well here you go that's pretty clear now let me give you attention yeah yeah
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  got your attention now it's right,
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  What about hands to the heavens? Because there's a lot of, I didn't want to
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  touch, there's a lot of pagan cultures that worthy bowing, hands together,
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  hands to the floor in front of whatever, face to the ground, looking down.
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  And it doesn't really tell us to look down in the Bible. It says to bow our
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  heads. Right. Right. It's hard to bow your head and not look down.
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  But there's also times where hands are raised, psalms.
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  Psalms, yeah. Many of the psalms have the hands raised, and it's looking down
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  and having your hands raised. Yeah, you can.
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  I'm not sure the exact position of
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  the body is nearly as important as the position of the heart before God.
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  Yeah, that's definitely. Because I prayed while I've been driving. Right.
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  Just because somebody was put on my heart at the time and I prayed for them. Yeah.
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  Okay. So not all that important, just what is the attitude, it is the relationship,
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  whatever is getting you into that.
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  Well, yeah, and basically your prayer time is time you have with God. Right.
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  And so going into the throne room, how would you position yourself before the
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  king and the king of kings? Right.
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  Yeah, and if you're not doing all those things, if you're not putting yourself
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  into a position for that relationship to happen, it's not really a relationship.
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  And that's a hard thing to remember, and sometimes we can get into the rut of,
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  okay, read this thing, let me get through this, and then pray,
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  and then, okay, now I've done what I gotta do.
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  Right, and guys, we tend to do that. It's on my list, and I'll take care of this and this and this.
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  Get through the list, and if prayer is one of the
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  things on your list instead of what creates the list and
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  that makes a difference yeah yeah if you
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  have you put in your list on your phone or something you know tell your wife
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  your lover you know every couple of days so she makes sure she knows
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  if that's her love language um boy i don't know if that's the right way to do
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  it but that might be what is fostering that relationship a little bit at least
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  starts at least starts that's true that's true i mean we've got to get something
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  on our radar before we start seeing it that's that's so true so if it needs
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  to be on a list do it But at least to start with,
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  when it becomes part of your nature and your character to do so,
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  you don't have to have it on the list anymore. That's true.
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  And then you've seeded that.
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  Yeah, that's a good point.
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  It's not something that comes natural to me if I'm making it so that it's on
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  a list that I make sure that I'm providing this to my spouse or somebody that
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  helps them to feel love and fosters that relationship.
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  That's probably a good thing. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. No. Okay.
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  The next question says, this is from Travis.
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  So in the NIV Bible, the New Testament is always talking about Jesus being the son of David.
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  Can you ask Don to take a deep dive into who David is?
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  Okay. And so that would go back to, okay, David's son of Jesse and was discerned
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  as the second king of Israel.
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  He took the place of Saul after Saul's life was over, but was actually called
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  into that position by Samuel, I believe it's 1 Samuel 16.
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  When God was seeking a man after his own heart, and so David became that man,
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  and doesn't mean he was perfect, but he was then a very profitable king, did center on God.
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  He really wanted to build a temple, and God said, nah, you're not doing that.
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  And Solomon then built the temple.
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  He really wanted to live for God, and he wanted to guide God's people as a good king.
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  Because the kingships didn't, it got off to a rocky start, the kingship of Israel.
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  And so he did correct that.
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  And in response to that, God gave David a promise that there would be one coming
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  that would rule on his throne forever.
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  And that is the connection that David has with Jesus.
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  Interestingly enough, it's in both genealogies that he's related.
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  That jesus is on the human side related
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  in a way as a son of david okay well
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  that's interesting okay so that that might be i didn't even think about this
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  i'm trying to think of what what travis might be trying to get to is this one
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  of these prophecies that jesus is the son of god this is one of those things
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  that we can point to as a fulfillment yeah okay so it'd be different.
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  Than saying jesus was son of man which reflects
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  jesus humanity right but it says jesus is connected right into the human into
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  the jewishness into god's promise if you will right that's god is now fulfilling
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  right okay all right that makes a lot of sense okay.
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  Like you said, not entirely without flaws, but repentant nonetheless. Let's see.
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  Any sort of legacy that needs to be touched on as far as the importance of that legacy?
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  Was anyone else attributed to David before Jesus?
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  Attributed to David before Jesus? Attributed to God before Jesus?
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  Or in between that lineage. he said
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  jesus son of david were there other peoples that said
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  that this person son of david well
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  his sons okay yeah his sons were sons of david but not to the same extent that
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  prophecy would connect to jesus right i'm just wondering if there's a different
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  or if it was described differently if it were different uh a different word
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  was used for his sons per his biological
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  sons compared to i am not
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  privy i can't pull that up in my little okay do
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  you have that on yours on my head no no no
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  but i have i have gotten into the greek your
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  app a little bit which is kind of interesting um well
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  this part would be in hebrew right see that's that's
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  the thing i probably wouldn't be all that helpful would it i i'm
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  not sure i i'm trying to think of another spot that would
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  talk about david's kin as as different uh i mean his biological sons and the
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  way they fought for the kingship and the you know after solomon's time it actually
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  separated into two kingdoms because they fought over it and these would also
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  be sons of david in the lineage.
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  So there would be those minor attribute
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  attribution that things would attribute
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  to david's sonship of david
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  i'm not sure now why do
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  they say son of david instead of descendant oh well
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  that's that's sort of a nuance of the hebrew
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  language okay barnabas okay son
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  of uh what is that barnabas is actually son of what that bar is son of bar jonah
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  son of jonah oh see so that bar part is son of and so barnabas i'm trying to think,
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  barnabas is son of uh oh acts chapter five
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  yeah the reason i'm asking this is because generosity you know i wouldn't call
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  myself this my grandfather's name billy i wouldn't say that i'm the son of billy
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  son of encouragement son of encouragement acts chapter 4 36 And so,
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  in the Old Testament Hebrew language, bar,
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  it means son of. Okay. Okay.
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  Bar Mitzvah, even son of Torah today, Bar Mitzvah, the Bar Mitzvah means that
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  it's a, now that person is a son of the law.
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  Okay. And so this is a, a Hebrew nuance, a way of saying, and so Barnabas,
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  Barabbas, Barjona, son of. Okay.
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  Jonah, son of Barabbas. so then
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  when they're saying that jesus is the son of david it
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  would be in the original hebrew it'd be like jesus is barn
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  barn david yeah barn david yeah
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  okay okay so that's just more
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  of a meaning it's not necessarily okay so now i'm
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  i feel like that gives me more questions so
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  it's not talking about well i didn't help myself at all on
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  this one yeah no so now is it talking about a lineage is
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  a descendancy or is it just
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  a namesake because obviously there's probably barnabas
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  is not these his father's name was not encouragement right
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  right okay that's just the meaning
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  of the name and we know that jesus doesn't mean son
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  of david right because his name was joseph he was
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  a levite and they the apostles card called him
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  barnabas okay because he was son of encouragement okay
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  so yes and the bar
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  mitzvah is an activity right to that
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  a rite of passage if you will for the 13 year old who's studied now the torah
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  and is now a son of the law okay and so that's a rite of passage among the hebrew
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  people okay so son of david yeah son of the king son of.
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  The king okay and now they just
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  think that was mentioned to be a
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  fulfillment of prophecy correct yes okay well
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  of course they would say that because they would have known prophecy they
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  would have known to attribute that so what credit does that give and we needed
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  that i mean if you really want to go far enough and say you know is jesus a
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  fulfillment of the prophecies right yeah of course i believe that let's let's
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  yeah and they're and and basically the writers are trying to help us understand that, yes, he is.
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  He's fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament.
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  Okay. And that's amazing, the number. What is it, 356 prophecies that Jesus fulfills? Yeah.
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  I mean, it's not just three or four. Okay.
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  There's an amazing number of prophecies that Jesus fulfills in the Old Testament. Okay.
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  All right. Well, hopefully not everyone out there knew all this stuff already
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  and just had to wait that long for me to get it to click in my brain.
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  Who were they talking to when he was called the son of David?
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  Was that important to who he was talking to?
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  Yes, context was very important because context would be where that term would be related.
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  Okay. And so you need to go to the context of the passage to see the audience
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  that was being addressed and why was Jesus talked about a bit instead of son of God,
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  son of David, what's the kingship piece that needed to be conveyed from the
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  prophecy to that community.
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  Okay. Yeah. So I would rather take those individually than say,
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  oh, this is what son of David means. Okay. Because I think that's dangerous.
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  Yeah, for sure. That makes sense. I was just wondering if it was a certain fitting,
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  a certain population of people that he was talking to, a certain culture that needed to hear that.
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  Likely the group that honor David as king. Right.
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  That was a wonderful time in that nation's history. Okay. Great.
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  Will you pray us out? I can do that. All right. Heavenly Father,
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  we thank you for the privilege of being able to answer questions.
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  And we pray that the answers were right and that people understand.
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  We thank you, Lord, for this ministry. And we thank you, Lord,
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  that we're able to answer questions.
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  Now, Lord, as we go into our day, we pray that you would guide us as we reflect on what's been said.
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  And Lord, help us be better, better followers of you. In Jesus' precious name, amen.
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  Amen. Well, everyone, that one was a little bit of a slog towards the end there. I apologize.
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  But we're so happy that you're watching this. Share it with a friend if you
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  get a chance. What is a slog?
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  What's a slog? Did I make that word up? I don't know. It could be possible.
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  I don't know. It's kind of a trudging. It's not in my lectionary.
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  Lectionary? Trudging through something. It takes a little bit. It's a little sticky.
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  It's a little down and takes a little bit of time to get out.
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  I'll add that to my lectionary. Oh, man. I'm going to have to look this up.
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  This might be one of those.
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  What was the last time that we thought? Wait. An Alexism? It might be.
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  There's been a few of those. My Bible study talks about Donisms.
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  Donisms. Well, that's exciting.
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  Well. We don't mean to be redoing things. Yeah. No, we don't mean to.
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  Anyways, everyone, thanks for joining us. And we'll see you all next week. Lord willing. Bye.
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  Thanks again for joining us for this week's episode. We are both having a ton
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  of fun making these videos and episodes.
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  And if you're having fun too, please tell a friend about this and help us to grow this mission.
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  Thank you and God bless.