Latest / North Bible Recap / Episode 27: 1 Corinthians and Numbers

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Episode 27: 1 Corinthians and Numbers · North Bible Recap

• 0:10
  SPEAKER_02: Good day, everybody.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so glad that you're joining us for another episode of North Bible Recap.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_02: We are actually in number 10 of 2026.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna have to go ask Crystal exactly how many total.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_02: We're in a bunch of episodes now.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_02: And so I'm so glad to have Pastor Clint joining us.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's great to be back on.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: This is one of my favorite things to do, talk about the word of God and chat with you about it.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_02: Well, no, I enjoyed the last time and looking forward to this time.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_02: And we're gonna be diving into a lot.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: And I just I want to remind you um, this is a great opportunity to be able to use these podcasts to be able together with other people, uh, maybe they can you listen to it on your own and then gather and talk about it, or even watch it, stop and pause, discussing.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_02: So much you can do.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: But it's also part of our meeting plan as a church, and also on the weekends, we preach from the scripture, and it's a great benefit.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a huge impact.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: If you're really wanting to study the word of God holistically, you can come listen to the sermons on the weekend, be a part of the local church, talk about them in your small groups, uh, in other activities at the church, and then be involved in the scripture reading plan yourself and listen to these uh recaps to help kind of guide you through.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: It really is an all-encompassing uh process for it really is.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, so today uh we're gonna dive into, we're gonna start off 1 Corinthians.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: You're gonna lay us a foundation for that.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna cover chapters one through four.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, then we're gonna go back uh to uh the book of numbers and we're gonna look at chapters 15 through 28.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna get toward the end, but not complete with um numbers.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_02: And if you're wanting to have a foundation for you know the start of numbers, go back to listen to last week.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Last week was the intro for numbers.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Pastor, so many incredible stories in numbers.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I don't know that we're gonna be able to get to all of it, but we're we're gonna cover some ground today in it.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: And then also we'll go into um Psalms, yeah, uh chapters 41, 42, 43, and no Proverbs this week, okay?
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_02: So um anyway, let's dive into it.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_02: A light load.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_02: A light load.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_02: A light load.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_02: So let's dive into it, and why don't you go ahead and lead the way?
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so let's dig into First Corinthians.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll first lay kind of the intro, the foundation of First Corinthians, and then today we're gonna cover chapters one through four and talk a little bit about it in more detail towards the end of this first segment here.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the author was the apostle Paul, and he's writing as a spiritual father to the church that he planted.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to know more about that, you could go back to Acts chapter 18.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: So this is a very significant letter uh in our Christian faith, but especially to them at that time.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: And he's writing with apostolic authority, uh, but more with a pastoral tone.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: He's encouraging, reminding them, thanking the Lord for them, uh, but also dealing with some very heavy stuff and weighty things, Pastor.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we think this is written around A.D.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: 53 through 55, somewhere in there.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and he was writing this when he was actually in Ephesus during his third missionary journey.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: And uh most people believe that this is probably the second letter that he had written to Corinth, even though we refer to it as 1 Corinthians, because in this, in chapter 5, verse 9, he references a previous letter that they had gotten.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so a little bit about the history of Corinth.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: This kind of lays the foundation for a lot of our talk on chapters one through four today as well.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but it was originally in a Greek city that was destroyed uh by Rome in 146 BC, and it was rebuilt as a Roman colony.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: It was a strategic port city between the East and the West, so there was a lot going on there.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and there were a lot of extremely wealthy and influential people.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there were games that were being held there that were second to only the Olympics, and it was known for sexual immorality and then also luxury.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, there was a famous saying that not every man can afford to go to Corinth.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of money there, but then also a lot of sin.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: So Paul stayed there for about 18 months, and now we're gonna hit some of the cultural context uh we kind of dealt with, or at least likely hit that status and wealth.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_02: So let's stop there for just a moment.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: You made the statement Paul was there about 18 months.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: So again, going back to connecting that to Acts chapter 18, uh, where he's there in Corinth uh and he's there for about 18 months.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_02: He literally is just typically his approach, just so you know, he would go to the synagogue and begin to start there, and then he would move out.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_02: And of course, ultimately, usually the synagogue, the people didn't listen to him much there, but he would move out into the uh, you know, to the Gentiles, and uh he just literally, one person at a time, shared the gospel and planting this church, literally a pioneer work planting the church in Corinth is what he's doing over these 18 months.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: He's very strategic going to this place of affluence.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's a trade route, a lot of money, um, a lot of immorality going on there.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and but he is very strategic in taking the gospel of Jesus Christ, knowing that if people come to Christ here, then they're gonna begin to be sent out other places.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we wonder why he's called the apostle, Paul.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's the reason, Pastor.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: He was going into these communities, starting churches, and then passing them off to local leadership and then moving on to the next opportunity.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: So leaning into that culture, you mentioned uh it being a trade route.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh well, a lot of status and wealth there.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh there was a lot of clients that could be available.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and then wealthy elites hosted house churches.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: So social class divisions were sharp.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: There was a big dividing line between the rich and the poor.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, people were suing people, they were shaming people publicly and using things against them.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and the majority of the church was likely poor.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: We know that because verse 26 of chapter one says, not many of you were of noble birth.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: So he's kind of showing us and indicating to us that great divide that's going on there.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um, one great thing about as you read this, like, I'm I'm so glad as a as a as humanity, we have moved past all this stuff.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_02: We don't have we don't have um the wealthy elites, the poor.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: We don't have any more the strong uh client system.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_02: This we we we don't have lawsuits shaming people and and people getting on and making other people look bad.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_02: Aren't you so glad we don't have to deal with that nowadays?
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: I think last time we were on together, uh we talked about all of the stuff in James sounded real familiar.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh 1 Corinthians sounds real familiar to the world we're living in.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_02: If if somebody took me really serious on that, um don't don't because that's that's sarcasm.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's some sarcasm there because people haven't changed.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_02: The only thing that's going to change us is the word of God, the spirit of God, and the people of God being with them.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, this next piece I think makes the way Paul wrote this letter make a lot of sense to me.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, because there were traveling celebrity speakers who were very admired, uh, and they taught to win arguments at all costs.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: It didn't matter if there were truth to their arguments or not.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: So they were going around, people called them sophists.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, they were going around with their rhetoric and just trying to win all these arguments.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: And eloquence in this society equaled power and wisdom.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: It was all about how charismatic you could be and impressive you could be as a public speaker, performance-based.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: So the Corinthians judge leaders by charisma and skill, and this explains the divisions that Paul starts talking about, even between him and Apollos.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: There wasn't fighting between Paul and Apollos, but the people were trying to establish them as leaders and choose sides because that was the society and the culture that they lived in.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_02: And it's very much similar to today.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_02: Matter of fact, a lot of ministries, um, and I'm not taking away from those individuals, but people are attracted to the incredibly gifted, charismatic leaders.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_02: And again, there's nothing wrong with having incredibly gifted speakers, communicators, charisma.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_02: But when we begin to take anybody, and I felt that pressure, uh, as a pastor of the church, like trying to be like these named celebrities, because it's like people have a push of a button, they go listen to the best speakers out there, but then they come to listen to me.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm not, I'm not of that caliber.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: But the thing about it is, is we we we have to we have to be, number one, not comparison in nature.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_02: We have to be looked to God's word.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_02: Are these individuals giving us God's word?
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_02: Are they exampling a life of character that's pointing us and it's a character, it's a life to follow, versus just sheer making decisions on where I'm going to go to church, who I'm gonna listen to, based on their talents and their gifts and the number of people that's going there.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's uh we've heard it said, I think we've probably both said this.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you can't be bragging on the talents that God gave you.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, those are God-given.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: You can you can maybe boast a little bit more in hard work and effort and in determination, those kind of things.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_02: So, Clint, you you mentioned the immorality there, specifically uh sexual issues.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_02: Talk about that that culture that was like in that city.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: There was a big sexual culture, Pastor.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: I was actually gonna hit that, is the temple of Aphrodite was in Corinth.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're not familiar with Aphrodite, uh, she was known as the Greek goddess of love, fertility.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and a lot of people used that goddess as something to promote uh sexual immorality.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: So there was sexual indulgence was being normalized in the society, prostitution was linked to worship, uh, and then there was a strong honor and shame culture that was also was showed associated with it, and the body, the physical body for humans, was really valued at a very low level.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so all of that was going on uh in this.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: So then there's some key themes for 1 Corinthians.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, just quickly going through those and then we'll we'll jump into the passages.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, division in the church was key.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um we still struggle with that today.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, celebrity leadership and idolatry of ministers, uh, we still struggle with that today.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: The wisdom of God versus worldly wisdom, again, very familiar to us.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: The power and foolishness of the cross is also a theme.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: Spiritual maturity, spiritual immaturity and carnal thinking, uh, unity over status, servanthood over performance, dying to personal rights, and resurrection as central to the faith.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I I think that's so good.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm gonna just when it comes to breaking down, um you take the first four chapters we're gonna deal with today, we're gonna talk about divisions and how the devil is always trying to divide.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_02: Uh you know, Christ talks about in the scripture is always leaning to unity, and the devil is always dividing homes, he's dividing churches, he's dividing businesses, he's dividing so division is that, but then chapters five through seven deals with the topic of sex and really speaks to um stuff that was going on in the church.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_02: And Paul says this shouldn't be done.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, even some of the people in the world would say this is shameful, and it's happening in the church.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_02: And he talks about you know valuing uh singleness.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes we don't value singleness of he really leans in there.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_02: He said, Be single like I'm single.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_02: And then he speaks to marriage.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_02: If you are going to get married, that you have one husband, one wife, and that you are to be responsible uh for sharing your uh uh pleasure together, not with other people, not with anything else.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_02: And then he dives into food and all the issues with that was going on, and even how when they would come together in their gatherings in chapters 11 through 14, and how that the rich were taking advantage of the poor, and that they were not, and people were getting drunk on uh the wine that was meant to be a moment of of recognizing the blood and the body of Christ Jesus.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_02: And then, of course, at the end is the resurrection where it dives into the very last thing.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_02: So I want to there's five sections to the to the book, and so it's important to understand how those sections are you know divide up divisions, sex issues, food issues, gathering issues, and then the resurrection.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: Very good.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna lean into some key passages uh out of chapters one through four and start off in chapter one.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I mentioned earlier he wrote this, uh, he's an apostle, but he wrote this very much as a pastor.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it was really by nature a corrective letter.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but he didn't lead off with correction.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: I love the way he opens this.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm just gonna read 1 Corinthians uh chapter 1, verses 4 through 9 for us.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Paul says, I I always thank my God for you and for the gracious gifts he has given you.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: Now that you belong to Christ Jesus, through him, God has enriched your church in every way, and with all of your eloquent, eloquent words and all your knowledge, this confirms that what I told you about Christ is true.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, he will keep you strong till the end, so that you will be free from all blame on the day when the Lord Jesus Christ returns.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: Pastor, I just love this because before he talks about division, he leans in and reminds them of who they are in Christ.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: He leans in more importantly and reminds us of who Jesus is to us and the foundation and everything.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: You think you're eloquent in your words, it's because of the gifts that Christ gave you, and not to forget that.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I love that part, love that opening.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: It quickly shifts then to divisions in the church and a call for unity.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: So we find in uh verse 10 there, chapter one, that there are to be no divisions among you.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then he follows that quickly in verse 13.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Is Christ divided?
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh was Paul crucified for you, and um just begins to lay the foundation for that.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, in in it's interesting, he says no divisions.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_02: We we tend to migrate to the people we like that makes us feel comfortable, makes us feel valued.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_02: And the the church is the most, or it should be the most beautiful mosaic on the face of the planet where people of all different groups, not just oh, I'll worship with my age group.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_02: No, no.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_02: I I am 18 years of age, but I'm also standing beside somebody who's 80 years of age worshiping Jesus.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_02: That I may be from this country and somebody else in that country, but yet, because that's what Corinth was like.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_02: It was a very um diverse city.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but yet oftentimes in those cities you just migrate to the people that are like you.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_02: But no, no, no, we come to church.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_02: We'll stand you know beside somebody uh from Mexico, somebody from the US, somebody from Africa, or somebody from one of the Asian countries, standing side by side worshiping Jesus with different skin tones, different um accents, poor and rich.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: That's the church of Jesus Christ.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_02: But the devil wants to take what's happened in the culture, he wants to take um our own uncomfortableness because we're not used to being around somebody who because you it is what it is, you just grow up with what you have.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_02: And it's no fault of you know your own.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_02: But at some point you got to make a choice.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: Do I want to be a part of the greater kingdom of God or am I going to keep this thing to myself?
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_02: And uh when you do, it will stretch you, it will push you, uh, and it will cause you to be able to engage with people that think differently, that act differently, that even worship differently than you.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_02: But what we are doing as the church is that we're pushing through based on this new humanity that Jesus has established, and that new humanity is that we are one in Christ Jesus.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I remember you recently talking about growing up in church where everybody's called brother and sister and you don't really even know their first names, right?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, in the kingdom of heaven is that way.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: We can joke around about that from the past, but really there's something beautiful about brothers and sisters in Christ, sons and daughters in Christ, mothers and fathers in Christ, and the kingdom of God being diverse is a beautiful thing.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he jumps into talking about the wisdom of God, and he's still dealing with division, but when he starts talking about the wisdom of God, I think he's correcting these people and the way that they view things in society, that they're raising themselves up into a different status based on knowledge and the things that they know and the wisdom that they have.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: In verse 18, it says, The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and he's establishing what true wisdom is in this.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then he comes back in 26 through 29.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: God chose the weak so that no one may boast.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to just read that passage or a portion of 31, just right after that.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: It says, Therefore, as the scriptures say, if you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Pastor, this has been one because I I was uneducated for the most part, have been uneducated as a as a young man and have learned a lot through life experience.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: We've talked about that, that's been documented, I've shared that uh in many different environments at Norchurch.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: This used to stand out to me um as someone that had hope because I didn't have education.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: But I think Paul is also aiming this at the educated.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: The pride that comes along with gaining knowledge and power and influence and being eloquent and uh having the gifts that some others may not have uh could easily be confused, and you can begin to boast in yourself rather than to trust in the Lord.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um I've seen it happen where a friend uh started out as a small business owner and the small business uh started booming, and uh he quickly quit trusting in the Lord and started trusting in himself.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that that's heartbreaking.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that that's what Paul is referencing here uh is to continue to boast in Christ and make sure that we're keeping him at the center.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's the beginning of divisions in the church, too.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and he continues what basically in chapter one, verse 16, he said, uh, I mean, excuse me, and he leads into that in the end of chapter number one, but then in chapter number two, he just continues on with the wisdom.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, he's continuing to emphasize the wisdom of God.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and in fact, I put it in my notes.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: This is just a continuation of chapter one.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um in verse one and two, there in chapter two, I decided to know nothing about you except Jesus Christ in him crucified, crucified.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: Excuse me.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and then four and five, my message and my preaching were very plain.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: Rather than using clever and per persuasive persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: I did this so that you would trust not in human wisdom, but the power of God.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: He's using words of wisdom when it comes to mature believers.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: He later says that.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: When I'm talking to mature believers, uh, I talk about those deeper things, uh, not the wisdom of the world, but the wisdom of heaven.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: But in this situation, he's clarifying with these people that aren't mature in the faith.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: And he's trying to establish with them to not only uh be leaning on wisdom, knowledge, people that can be super persuasive and impress others.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and he he he's laying out there in verse two and verse three I came to you in weakness, timid, and trembling.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: He's basically laying out there, but he but he said, I relied on the power of the Holy Spirit.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_02: You've you just mentioned.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_02: And so he he's like totally reversing.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_02: He he's you know, the Bible's always the first will be last, the last will be flirt first.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_02: And he's saying, You're boasting and all these great communicators and what they offer, what they do, but yet I came timid, I came trembling, I came realizing that I need God.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_02: I need God to be able to do anything.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_02: So good.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: Pastor, he had everything that he needed to be the man.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, he had the education more than any of the others.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, there's there was nobody in that time would have more education than uh the Apostle Paul, more connections, uh more um resources than the Apostle Paul.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but yet he realized none of that, all that's dung.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_02: He would say that later on, and well, it's just it's worth nothing outside of knowing Christ and Him crucified.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: You mentioned that demonstration of the Spirit's power, uh verses 10 through 12.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: But it was to us that God revealed these things by his spirit, for his spirit searches out everything and shows us God's deep secrets.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: No one can know a person's thoughts except that person's own spirit, and no one can know God's thoughts except for God's own spirit, and we have received God's spirit, not the world's spirit, so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: He's establishing this is true wisdom.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: What the spirit is teaching us, not the world's wisdom, but what the spirit is teaching us, and we're receiving from him is what real wisdom is.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_02: And he goes ahead and talks about how that uh the natural person uh does not accept the spiritual things.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_02: And that's exactly what uh Jesus, he's tying into what Jesus did in John chapter three, um, about how that talking to Nicodemus, who could not figure out this being born again, and Jesus says, No, no, no, the wind blows for it once talking about the spirit of God.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you can see the effects of the wind in the trees, but you don't know where it's coming from, where it's going to go.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_02: We don't control that, we don't control God.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_02: But he says, but you see the power of the Holy Spirit.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_02: And he and he's speaking to Nicodemus about uh it's not flesh, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the spirit is spirit.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_02: And of course, Paul is here emphasizing that.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_02: And then, of course, he dives into chapter number three and he starts talking about Paul and Apollos.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's still kind of a continuation, but it leans more into that idea of status and that uh, you know, that human pride where we want to lift something up, idolize it.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we want to value things that aren't necessarily uh of God.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: But in this situation, they're taking two godly men that had made a big impact in these communities that the Lord is using in great ways, and they're trying to idolize them.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um verses one through three, he's reminding them you're still worldly because there's jealousy and strife that we're seeing in this.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then verses five through seven, it's Paul plants Apollos waters, God gives the growth.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: He is making himself a brother and a co-laborer with Apollos in this, and he's making sure that people understand that God is the one that gives the increase, he's the one that makes things grow, not man or woman or individuals uh and their gifts.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I love that.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: Then he comes back, even though he's already established it in example, he says, we are God's fellow workers.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: He made himself Apollos' brother and wanted that to be clear.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_02: He is really doing a good job in this chapter of like somebody may be more gifted, somebody may, but we're all fellow workers, we're all together in this thing.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_02: We're all some of us may water more than somebody else, but we're all waterers.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_02: Somebody may plant more than, but we're all should be planters, but it's God.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: So we talked about a little bit of that culture of sexual immorality and the devaluing of the physical body.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: In verse 16, chapter three, he says, You are God's temple.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: Don't you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the spirit of God lives in you?
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: Stop deceiving yourselves.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: If you think you're wise by this world's standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_02: He's laying the stand, he's laying right there the framework for what he gets in chapter five when he starts talking about sexual immorality, too.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_02: But he is really emphasizing your body does not belong to you.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_02: 100%.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_02: Your body belongs to the one who purchased your body, Jesus Christ, through his shed blood on Calvary.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then he comes back to the status piece towards the end of chapter three, uh, verses 21 through 23.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like the summary of Paul versus Apollos' argument.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: He says, so don't boast about following a particular human leader, for everything belongs to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Peter, or the world, or life, or and death, uh, or the present and the future.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: Everything belongs to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: So again, he's bringing everything together holistically and trying to get rid of those divisions.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so still that status, um, the temple, the body, it's still coming down to the divisions in the church.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, chapter number four, he got dives into more of just that depth of relationship between him and the Corinthians.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_02: He's reminding them of, you know, I spent 18 months with you.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_02: And here go ahead and dive into that, Clint.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so uh he kind of leans into more of Paul and Apollos as an example to kind of set the stage for that.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, don't make judgments about anyone ahead of time uh before the Lord returns, for he will bring out our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: Then God will give each one whatever praise is due.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so this is a really strong teaching to those that are judging everybody for public image.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: He's setting the stage and what healthy relationships and interaction with other human beings should look like.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: It shouldn't be based on our charisma uh and and the gifts that we have, but instead it could it should be our deep private motives.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: And he's urging people uh to not be so quick to judge others because the Lord's gonna sort all that out.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, while we may be respected publicly, uh God knows what's happening privately.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: So what do you have that you did not receive?
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's a big question uh in this chapter as well.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's in verse number seven, he asked that question.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, yep, absolutely.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then jumping down to 14 through 15, uh, for what gives you the right to make such a judgment?
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: What do you have that God hasn't given you?
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: So through these four chapters, Pastor, it's kind of an in and out of all these major themes that we've discussed, uh, where he again is reminding them of their own relationship with the Lord, not casting judgment on others, and that reminder that they are God's God's possession, and God has given us everything.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing that we have done or received that wasn't from him.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: So why boast?
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, I think you emphasize this, and I've heard you say that on these first four chapters, the tone is set in the letter.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and really you the emphasis is on the cross and how it dismantles what what does it when we look to the cross, and because that's what Paul's trying to get them to do, is look to the cross.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_02: What does that remind us of, or what does that it puts things in line, puts things in perspective?
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_02: What would be those things?
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I I think it calls us to sacrifice uh in change, death, uh death to self.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it's a crucifying of pride.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's what that is.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_02: And pride has to die.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: And and that's what Paul's dealing with directly in this.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_02: The status means nothing.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_02: You can have all the money in the world, it means absolutely nothing if you don't have Christ.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um, in this celebrity culture that you've you've already talked about, it means nothing.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, nothing.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_02: And um, and in fact, let me just encourage people.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody's chasing over being an influencer and just getting becoming a name.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_02: And again, there's nothing wrong with having money, there's nothing wrong with having influence, having power.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_02: But with all those things comes incredible responsibility to not create division, but to bring people together.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_02: And to bring people together to point them to Jesus Christ.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_02: So if God is blessing you, if you're pursuing money, if you're pursuing to be that influencer, watch out.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_02: Now, if God gives those things to you, then use it and stir it it for God's glory.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_02: That's so good.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_02: And um, I think that's Paul is emphasizing that the cross dismantles pride and status, the celebrity status, and and division, it heals and gives hope.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_00: Calling calling a church to maturity is really good.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: You ready to jump into numbers?
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_02: Let's let's go.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_02: Numbers chapter 15 through 28.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: So last episode, there was the intro to numbers and those first 14 chapters.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're going to recap chapters as best we can.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: You say often, Pastor, the Bible's not boring, you're boring.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: And as I'm reading through numbers and even prepping for us having this talk today, man, numbers, the book of numbers is not boring.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: I can promise you that.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_02: No, no.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's it starts off as a census, and basically that's why the the book numbers.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it starts off as a census of the people together, kind of what they've got out of Egypt, like, okay, now how many people are here?
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_02: Because they're just like fleeing, and now they're like trying to keep track of what tribes and how many people's in this tribe, how many soldiers do we have, all that stuff, which is all good, but then it dives into a whole bunch of stories that are pretty significant and pretty powerful.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: So for some people that haven't read the Bible consistently, sometimes you could look at certain portions of scripture.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: I've heard it said about Leviticus and a few other books of oh man, that that's tough reading.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I I understand kind of the sentiment behind that because sometimes there can be a lot of genealogy and uh it seems like there's not really a lot of storytelling in in some of those sections.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: Numbers is not one of those books, Pastor.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: I think that some people, because of the registration and the census, they stop in the first couple chapters, stop, but there's a lot of incredible content throughout, and we're gonna jump into some of that.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so in chapter 16, we talk about Korah's rebellion.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_00: We we can't again, we can't get to all this.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: Chapter 17.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: There was this really intriguing story of uh the 12 tribes bringing a staff and setting them before the Lord.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: And Aaron's staff is the one that God used.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: And uh there was actually a bloom and a bud that started growing on it, and that's how God showed the person that he wanted uh their staff to rise to the top.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: And God used this as a punishment to a lot of the people that were complaining.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a common theme throughout numbers uh complaints, people bickering, being upset um and mad about this journey that they're on.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, exactly.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_02: So you have in chapter 15, there's this Moses is constantly dealing with bickering, complaining, bat bite back uh backbiting, uh, all kinds of issues here.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that's what's going on with this rebellion that you talked about with Korah.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_02: And we're gonna get in that in Psalms, actually, amazing thing, but um uh because it's amazing how the Bible just is hyperlinked back and forth.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_02: And but even after this judgment, and God still is emphasizing to uh Moses that uh God will get them to the promised land, that's a promise, uh, and that their failure has not canceled God's larger plan.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_02: That's really the emphasis here in chapters 15 and 16 specifically.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_02: And then, of course, that rebellion that's against Moses, uh kind of rival, like who are you to lead me?
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_02: And you know what?
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_02: Moses had that from the very beginning.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_02: The whole time.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_02: The very first thing that he did to try to help the children of Israel out was it was not what he should have done, and it was outside of God's plan, uh, at least for what we can see.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_02: It was when the Egyptian soldier was mistreating um an Israelite, and he what does he do?
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_02: He goes over, it's the first time, first time that he actually takes action.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_02: You got him as a baby being raised, but that was the first as an adult.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_02: He goes over and he defends the Israelite and kills the Egyptian and then buries the Egyptian in the sand, and then what happens?
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_02: The next day he goes out, the scripture says, and they're like, Who are you?
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, who appointed you as the leader of me?
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_02: Because he was trying to correct his brothers, yes, yeah, and so from then on, it's like all he's dealing with was trying to help these people out, and but he was also kind of one of those that was kind of the outsider looking in because he was raised in Pharaoh's home.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_02: They probably looked at him as the you know, goody two shoes that had the silver spoon in his mouth and had all of the things and probably had a different dialect.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_02: He spoke the Egyptian language, probably very pure, and then also spoke Hebrew, and so there and he was the wealthy kid.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_02: He was just all the stuff that created a rub, and um and it was hard.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_02: Then he comes back after 40 years with this word from God, and then these miracles and stuff, but he's it was just a constant people, but but that's the very nature of people, too.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_00: I I I think Moses's story really shows us humanity, the complaining, the bickering, the never satisfied.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_00: God provides a miracle and we're so quick to forget it.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so so yeah, number 1710 kind of goes back to Aaron's staff.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: Place Aaron's staff permanently before the Ark of the Covenant to serve as a warning to rebels.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: This should put an end to their complaints against me and prevent any further deaths.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's that that theme that you're talking about, Pastor.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_02: So what happened here is so the audience understands is Korra rebels against uh Moses.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_02: He's rivaling his leadership as he's wanting to take over.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_02: And Moses says, Okay, we're gonna just let God decide this.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_02: You stand outside your tents, I'll stand over here, we're gonna pray.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_02: And it says that the the ground opened up and a fire consumed 250 men, and then there was actually a plague that killed over 14,000 people uh over the next little bit.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_02: And that's just amazing.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing, amazing.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, in chapter 18, God sets apart the priest and the Levites.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_00: So, again, like the the very significant things in the history of the Bible are happening in these mid-chapters of the book of Numbers.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, chapter 20, Pastor, this is kind of a more famous story where Moses strikes the rock.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_02: And just before you move on for that for that chapter 18, you talked about the priest.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_02: There's the priest's duties that are clarified, the Levites' responsibilities, but also this is the first time that tithe and offerings established as part of the law.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_02: Now sometimes we think of the the uh tithe is only connected to the law.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_02: That is not the case.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_02: The tithe goes back to Abraham before, long hundreds of years before there was a law, God is asking for the tithe.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_02: So that is not the case.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_02: Matter of fact, you even go back into the Garden of Eden, the tree of life was a tithe.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_02: It was saying, This is not yours, this is God's.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_02: This is God's.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_02: That's good.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_02: And people were there's Adam and Eve said, No, I'm gonna take what's God's, yeah.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_02: God in disobedience to him.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_02: So, but this is the first time under the law that the tithe is established, and so then go on to the next chapters.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so Moses strikes the rock.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the problem is God asked Moses to speak to the rock because the people needed water, and instead of speaking to the rock, Moses hit it twice with his staff.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, water came from the rock, and the people were nourished by it.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_00: But God had a little uh words for him in uh chapter 20, verse 12.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_00: But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, because you did not trust me enough to demonstrate my holiness to the people of Israel, you will not lead them into the land that I am giving them.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_00: This is very significant in Moses' journey, meaning that he won't enter the promised land.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_02: This is so sad.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's heartbreaking for me.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_02: Here is Moses, who 40 years raised in Pharaoh's home, kills that Egyptian, word gets out, he has to flee for 40 years.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_02: Then he goes, now he's he's getting up in years, and he has headed the promised land.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_02: There's no reason why he shouldn't be in the promised land.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_02: And in this moment, his anger gets the best of him.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, from what we can gather.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_02: We don't know all the details.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_02: The Bible doesn't give us all the details, we just do know that he didn't do what God wanted him to do in those moments.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_00: There was some form of disobedience by both him and Aaron.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, and so that leans into and it just what hurts me, and what also is a warning for me, it should be a warning for us, because that's what the Bible is, it's for our example and for our learning.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_02: Is that I see many of my minister friends that have been doing ministry for 30 years and doing great.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_02: And then they disqualify themselves from being able to be used in their local church because of choices that they made.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_02: And that may all of us be careful to stay humble and to stay at the cross and stay in God's word and to continually let the Spirit of God and remember that this world will do a trick on you if you don't stay before God.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_02: And um, and so Moses is a great example of that, that even the greatest of the greats can fail.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and you don't necessarily have to disqualify yourself to not finish well.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, you can just be angry and bitter and mad at the world, but not be disqualified.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, in chapter 20 takes a turn because we see Moses won't enter the promised land and then Aaron dies.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and it's really it's really about faithfulness matters all the way to the end.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's really the whole message here, and that spiritual maturity uh does not eliminate accountability.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_00: No, it does not, it actually should increase it at a level.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_00: So, chapter 21, we move on, and there's this introduction of the bronze snake.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I might have you just kind of give us some background on this, Pastor.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_00: But again, the people are growing impatient, they're complaining.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and God is killing them, and he tells Moses to use a bronze snake to bring healing.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my goodness, I'm responsible for unpacking that one.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you're oh my lord, I don't even know what that's about.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_02: No, I do.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's it's it's an amazing story.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_02: Again, the this book is not boring.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_02: You're boring, I'm boring, but this book is not boring.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_02: And of course, again, out of their sheer complaining, rebellion, God's trying to get their attention.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_02: God does not want to punish us.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_02: God doesn't want to discipline us.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_02: No, but out of his love, he will discipline us, he will punish us to get our attention back on him and our focus back on him.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_02: And so obviously, God sends some venomous snakes uh into the camp because they are, and I I've been there.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_02: I know exactly, I mean, I'm not the exact camping spot, but I have seen the territory.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_02: It is barren, it is horrible.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_02: Like just seeing where the children of Israel, two million of them were, makes me want to complain for them.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and much less I'm having to live in it.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_02: You don't know if you're gonna have water, food the next day.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_02: God continues to provide for them miracle after miracle, and they would still complain.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_02: God sends the venomous snakes, begins to bite them, and then they cry out to God, and then God tells Moses, Hey, make a bronze snake, put it on a pole, put it up, and anybody who comes and looks at that will be healed.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_02: And what's really interesting because Jesus later on uh would say that to Nicodemus in John chapter number three, as he would unpack that.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_02: He said, Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so will the Son of Man be lifted up.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_02: Speaking that he would become that curse.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_02: That if anybody looks to him, He said, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_02: And so therefore, if we look to him, and not just look into him like, oh yeah, it's cool, Jesus.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_02: No, no, I'm talking about for your salvation, for your hope, that you believe in him.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_02: And then judgment is taken away, hope is given, eternal life is provided.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_02: And it's really interesting to me, Clint.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you you look at people wonder if you've ever looked at the medical sign on a building or anything, or it's it's the snake.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_02: It's very interesting.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_02: That's tied back to scripture.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_02: So much what we have in our Christian judo-Christian world view is tied back to these scriptures.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_02: May we not forget that.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_02: That's good.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_02: May we not forget that.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_02: So that's the story of the snake.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_02: I hope I unpacked it in.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, oh that's great.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_00: We'll move on to chapter 22, 23, 24.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_00: That Balaam.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_00: This is great stuff.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_00: Go for it.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_00: So Balak asked for Balaam to come and basically denounce the children of Israel.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_00: Who's Balak?
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_00: Publicly.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_00: You tell me who Balak is.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_02: So the children of Israel are moving through the um the land headed toward Canaan.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_02: And basically, um Balak was one of those that was um kind of an area territorial leader that uh was looking to destroy uh these people.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_02: And he had this person that he knew of that was um put curses on things.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_02: And because here's the thing there is spiritual warfare that's going on.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, this is not some fictitious idea and that this is not play stuff.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_02: No, no, no.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_02: No, there is spiritual powers or spiritual forces out there.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_02: But as a follower of Jesus Christ, when I say that, we don't walk in fear.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_02: We got the Almighty, God Almighty.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_02: There are dark forces, but it's not like we're worried about hexes being thrown on us.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we're not worried about uh stuff.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_02: Now, if you go play with that, you go, you go meddle in the darkness of this world, you you go play with the Ouija boards and you go begin to entertain, yeah, you better watch out because those those spiritual forces will take hold of your mind, no doubt, your body, your life, and destroy you.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_02: But as a follower of Jesus, we don't have to worry.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the same with the children of Israel.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_02: The whole emphasis here is that there is nothing that the enemy can do against the child of God that God is not going to allow it.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_02: So, anyway, go ahead, go ahead.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_00: So Balak sins for Balaam because he wants him to come into his area, territory, to curse the children of Israel publicly and slander them.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_00: And God begins communicating with Balaam as he's going.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_00: He actually talks to him through a donkey, which is one of the most incredible stories in the Bible.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, God speaking to Balaam and telling him his wishes and desires through a donkey.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and Balaam stuck to his guns when he went, Balak gave him the opportunity to speak.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, I think the scripture records three times he had the opportunity to speak uh to groups of people, and every time instead of cursing the people of Israel, he blessed them and spoke blessings over them.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_00: So that was really cool.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_00: In Numbers 23, 12, it says, But Balaam replied, I will speak only the message that the Lord puts in my mouth.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and that that stood out to me.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_00: So even though he was in this high pressure situation uh with all these demands, he began to uh deny cursing Israel and continued to speak blessings over them.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_02: Now, let me just say something about Balaam so that we can understand is that um Balaam was hearing from God.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, God can speak to the unrighteous, God can speak through a donkey.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, God can do whatever he wants with anybody.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_02: But people also have choices and free will.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_02: And while Balaam was like, nope, I can't curse them, God said no, and I can't curse these people.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you do find in the New Testament, even, that God speaks very clearly to the Balaam spirit and has a problem with it.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_02: What's going on here?
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_02: And that this could relate to a lot of people that are in church right now, because while Balaam realized God's voice and he did not curse them because he couldn't, he said, Well, this is not gonna do any good to curse them, it's not gonna matter.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_02: What he did do is he still took what he should not have taken, and he actually helped devise a little of a plan that would lead the children of Israel into areas of compromise and sexual immorality.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_02: And here's the point is that you may raised in church and you know God's voice, but you keep flirting around in the edges.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_02: It was a call for Balaam to surrender and become a God follower, too.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, to become surrender his life to Yahweh, but he did not.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_02: He did not.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_02: God's trying to speak to him, he did not fully surrender, he actually becomes a tool of the enemy to trip up the children of Israel.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_02: And so while he did not put curses on them to automatically just send chaos in their life, what happened is that some of the temptation he put out there actually became a trap for the children of Israel.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_02: The Moabite women, yes, yeah, and so then it becomes so actually, and so the New Testament he's cursed for that.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm just telling you, be careful, be careful out there.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_02: You may hear God's voice, don't find your security in that you find your security in obeying God's voice and fully surrendered to him completely everything to Christ.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_02: That's good.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_00: Jump to chapter 26.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so the registration is happening here.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh chapter 26, 64 through 65.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_00: Not one person on this list had been among those listed in the previous registration taken by Moses and Aaron in the wilderness at Sinai.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_00: For the Lord had said of them, they will all die in the wilderness.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_00: Not one of them survived except Caleb, Joshua.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_00: Sad.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_00: Two men.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_02: Sad.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_02: Goes back to the complaining.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_02: God's going to move on.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_02: And of course, it goes back to, you know, you we get some things that we just moved past real quick was the uh sinning and the spies and the spies, which which we covered last week.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, in the in the bad, you know, the bad report of the ten, the two that gave the positive report, which was Caleb and uh Joshua, which are two amazing guys, two amazing guys.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_02: Joshua would lead the people, but then Joshua Caleb would be the one that give me that mountain, 85 years of age.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_02: And I've always said, I want to be that person.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I want to be that, I want to be a Caleb.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_02: So good.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_02: That's still taking mountains when you're 85 years of age and fighting spiritual battles.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's what you have: a new generation that God has raised up, and which will lead into uh Deuteronomy and the final um you know message of of of of um of Moses.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_02: But go ahead, wrap us up.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so chapter 27, we need a new leader, right?
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no one else is going but two people.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Joshua becomes the new leader.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_00: And uh Moses said to the Lord, O Lord, you are the God who gives breath to all creatures.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_00: Please appoint a new man uh as leader for the community.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_00: And that man was Joshua, who had been his right hand man through all those years.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_00: So very significant passages in chapter 27 in the back end of that chapter.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then chapter 28, we kind of close out there with just instructions on offerings.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so again, we could have spent hours discussing uh some of the topics that we uh barely touched on here, but incredible book.
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to encourage everyone, dive into the book of Numbers uh as we're reading through the reading plan, or if you're not on it yet, join in with us, lean into it, and allow the Lord to grow you through it.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we need to understand that humanity, that human nature, that sin nature uh draws us to that complaining, that bickering, never being satisfied, that self-centeredness that we all need uh relief from, you know.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_00: Preach.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_00: And it goes into that First Corinthians type stuff, doesn't it?
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's a sense of pride.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh whether you have a lot or you have nothing, pride can swell up in you.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, all sin roots from two things pride and lust.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_00: And uh pride happened to be quite a bit that the children of Israel were dealing with uh throughout this entire journey and in the life of Moses.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_02: And so, really, the book of Numbers, as we wrap up these chapters, we still got a few more to go, uh, is about God shifting from an old generation to a new generation.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_02: And basically, if God's if you don't let God use you, he'll move on to somebody else.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, he will.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_02: And that's a scary thing.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to be there.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then also, you can the way you go about life can delay how quickly God moves you through it.
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_02: Preach that.
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_02: So I I wrote down one sentence for this, what we read today.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_02: God disciplines rebellion.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's the first thing to think about.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_02: He preserves his promise.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_02: He's gonna fulfill his promise, whether you let him or not.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_02: He protects his holiness and prepares a new generation to move forward.
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_02: That's good.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_02: It's really good.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_00: He's gonna use somebody.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_02: So, how about the book of Psalms?
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_02: You want to dive into it?
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_02: Let's dive into it.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_02: Psalm 41 through 43.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_02: So 41, 42, 43.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_02: Let's let's just do a real quick overview of the book of Psalms.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_02: There are how many chapters in the book of Psalms?
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_02: 150.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_02: How many are written by David?
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, don't know for sure, but somewhere between 71 to 73, most people would kind of lean into that.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_02: But all of them are influenced by David.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so they're broken into five books.
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_02: That is uh books one through 41, and we'll wrap up book one, um, chapter 41 today, and then book two is 42 through 72, book three is 73 through 89, book four is 90 through 106, and then book five is is 107 through 150.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so we're gonna be reading Psalms all year.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, all year.
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_02: And so, really, that those five books reflect the Torah, yeah, the Pentateuch.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, the Pentateuch are what's the first five books of the Bible?
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_00: Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_02: And so you get those five books, and so it is to mirror, which is really again, the Bible's brilliant, and it's mirrors those.
• 55:34
  SPEAKER_02: So the first book mirrors Genesis, second book, and like Leviticus, and then Numbers and Deuteronomy.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_02: And so um, it's Exodus.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_02: So anyway, it's just just powerful, just beautiful, and so um let's let's dive into um 41.
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, and really 41, 42, 43 is a message of betrayal to hope.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_02: And so Psalms 41 is written by King David, Psalms 42, it's written by the descendants of Korah.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, stop there for just a moment.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_02: I thought we talked about Korah.
• 56:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we did.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_02: His rebellion against Moses.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_02: And who is Korah?
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_02: He's a Levite, it's a Levitical family line in the Old Testament who became the primary uh leaders in the temple when it comes to music, gatekeepers, worship leaders.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_02: They were people of excellence, people of incredible talent, musically speaking, and leading people in worship.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's really interesting.
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_02: But they're also known in chapter 16 of Numbers, we already talked about that, about the rebellion against Moses and Aaron.
• 56:47
  SPEAKER_02: They rose up, and as a result, there was judgment as Korah and his followers were swallowed up.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_02: That's chapter 16 of Numbers.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_02: Excuse me.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_02: But interesting to note, you have Korah, the descendants of Korah, rotten Psalms 42.
• 57:06
  SPEAKER_02: What is that about?
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_02: I thought Korah was swallowed up.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_02: Well, Korah was the Korah, and those that were following him.
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_02: But the Bible says in Numbers chapter 26, okay, wrapped up there in one verse, it says, But the sons of Korah did not die.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_02: But his sons didn't.
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_02: So it speaks to this.
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, his sons chose not to align with the Father.
• 57:36
  SPEAKER_02: That's good.
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_02: This is important to note.
• 57:39
  SPEAKER_02: It may not sound like a lot, and sometimes when you read God's word, there's little bitty things in there, treasures, that you got to catch and realize.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_02: So it's important to note because you go back to go back and just a little bit of extra reading, Ezekiel chapter 18.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_02: Because it opens up and he said, You have heard it said that the parents will eat sour grapes and their children's teeth will be set on edge.
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_02: What is that about?
• 58:04
  SPEAKER_02: It is a reference going back to Deuteronomy, where it says that the sins of the fathers will visit to the third and the fourth generation.
• 58:14
  SPEAKER_02: And so basically, what they had done is they had taken a statement that was made, that was really made, that the sins of the fathers will visit to the third and fourth generation.
• 58:23
  SPEAKER_02: And they made it a law that if your dad was like this, you was going to be like this.
• 58:28
  SPEAKER_02: Well, God never said that.
• 58:30
  SPEAKER_02: What he did say is that Clint, because of your parents' choices, and I know some of your parents' choices, you've been open about that, because of their choices, their sin is going to visit you.
• 58:38
  SPEAKER_02: In other words, it's going to impact your life.
• 58:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 58:41
  SPEAKER_02: Impact your life in that, okay, I've got extra challenges.
• 58:44
  SPEAKER_02: I've got some extra things that I've got to deal with now.
• 58:47
  SPEAKER_02: But that doesn't mean that you're doomed.
• 58:48
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 58:49
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't mean that now you you got to be like you're, you know, a this family member that made the choice.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_02: You got to do the exact same things.
• 58:56
  SPEAKER_02: That's not the case.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what Ezekiel chapter 18 is about.
• 59:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's saying if the father is like this, the son doesn't have to be that way.
• 59:05
  SPEAKER_02: The father is just a sinful man that's made horror, horrible choices.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_02: The son can be a godly man.
• 59:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_02: But yet also you could have a godly father and then the son make ungodly choices.
• 59:20
  SPEAKER_02: We all have to make our own choice and follow God for ourselves.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's what I think is hopeful right here when it comes to first chapter 42, is that Korah had followers and tons of them died that day.
• 59:36
  SPEAKER_02: But his sons chose not to go the way of the Father.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_02: Did what was right.
• 59:40
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 59:41
  SPEAKER_00: Pastor, I was just kind of thinking as you were talking, uh, we didn't we didn't discuss this, but uh Korah versus Moses is it's kind of like uh an example of Satan in heaven.
• 59:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, absolutely.
• 59:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, because it was all around worship influence.
• 59:57
  SPEAKER_02: Worshippers tend to draw the attention, and and so anyway, and then chapter 43, so 41 written by David, 42, the descendants of Korah, 43 uh is unknown.
• 1:00:08
  SPEAKER_02: We don't know who wrote that, and so um anyway, let me just break down just real quick.
• 1:00:14
  SPEAKER_02: Chapter 41 is blessed in weakness.
• 1:00:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, God's care in sickness and betrayal.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_02: And David's had a lot of betrayal.
• 1:00:27
  SPEAKER_02: And verses one through three deals with really this main principle: what you sow in mercy, what you reap in mercy.
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_02: So if you sow mercy, you're gonna reap mercy.
• 1:00:41
  SPEAKER_02: Uh also, verses four through nine in this chapter, following God does not exempt you from relational wounds.
• 1:00:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we're we're gonna be struck.
• 1:00:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we're going to be um betrayed.
• 1:00:55
  SPEAKER_02: But what we have to do as children of God is we have to forgive, we have to love.
• 1:00:59
  SPEAKER_02: Now we have to set right boundaries sometimes with people who will continually do something, but yet we do not hold the grudge.
• 1:01:06
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:01:07
  SPEAKER_02: We do as Christ did again and again and again.
• 1:01:10
  SPEAKER_02: And then also the last part of chapter 41 deals with shows us that suffering may surround you, but it doesn't have to define you.
• 1:01:18
  SPEAKER_02: No, it doesn't.
• 1:01:19
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what David is emphasizing here as he is speaking.
• 1:01:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, suffering can actually define you in a good way.
• 1:01:28
  SPEAKER_00: If you're clinging to the Lord and allowing it to grow you and shape you, um, then that definition can be positive.
• 1:01:36
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, people usually choose one way or the other on suffering, they allow it to become their story and uh they become a victim.
• 1:01:46
  SPEAKER_00: And they're there are real victims in our world, uh, but we have to be careful not to always associate ourselves with victimhood and take that upon ourselves and let that become um our identity.
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's very confusing.
• 1:02:00
  SPEAKER_02: So diving into chapter 42, and actually, to be honest with you, 42 and 43, most people believe that are kind of one song.
• 1:02:07
  SPEAKER_02: So it could be that chapter 43 is actually the uh descendants of Korah, also, because they just seem to fit so good together.
• 1:02:14
  SPEAKER_02: But really, the emphasis here is that when you feel distant, when your soul feels distant, how do you respond?
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_02: And here's what it opens up, which is the most one of the most beautiful phrases.
• 1:02:27
  SPEAKER_02: As the deer longs for the streams of water, so my soul longs for you, oh God.
• 1:02:34
  SPEAKER_02: When I initially memorized it as the deer pants for the water.
• 1:02:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, panteth is the uh King James.
• 1:02:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and um basically the psalmist is spiritually dry, but he's remembering those days and he's longing for a spiritual drink.
• 1:02:52
  SPEAKER_02: So good, spiritual, and then there's this wrestling with discouragement that you find in chapter um 42.
• 1:02:59
  SPEAKER_02: He says, Why am I discouraged?
• 1:03:01
  SPEAKER_02: Why is my heart so sad?
• 1:03:02
  SPEAKER_02: Why, and those are things that we all need to really, but then he says, I'll put my hope in God.
• 1:03:07
  SPEAKER_02: In the midst of this, being why, why, why I put my hope in God.
• 1:03:12
  SPEAKER_02: Why, why, why I put my hope in God.
• 1:03:14
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the emphasis here.
• 1:03:17
  SPEAKER_02: And in faith, basically, it's about preaching to yourself.
• 1:03:20
  SPEAKER_02: We gotta learn to preach to ourselves, we gotta learn to say the right things.
• 1:03:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we listen to the voices on TikTok, listen to voices on you know social media or silos of information and news feeds and people that we have in our life, but we gotta learn to have self-talk, no doubt.
• 1:03:35
  SPEAKER_02: And our self-talk has to be grounded in God's word, with God's word.
• 1:03:39
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, what does God's word say?
• 1:03:41
  SPEAKER_02: That I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna say that to me again and again and again.
• 1:03:44
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna speak those things into existence, even though I do not know.
• 1:03:48
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna believe God's word.
• 1:03:50
  SPEAKER_00: As a man thinks, so he is, right?
• 1:03:52
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 1:03:53
  SPEAKER_00: We need to be processing that and thinking out loud.
• 1:03:58
  SPEAKER_02: And then he wraps up there in chapter 42 is that um holding to the covenant of God and his emphasis that feelings will fluctuate, but the covenant of God remains steady.
• 1:04:09
  SPEAKER_02: That's good to know.
• 1:04:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's crazy how things still just apply to our everyday life written all those years ago.
• 1:04:17
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, absolutely.
• 1:04:18
  SPEAKER_02: And then 43 is about choosing hope again.
• 1:04:21
  SPEAKER_02: And I just want to emphasize this because it is easy to get so discouraged and believe the lies of the enemy and feel the shame from your mistakes and regrets and whatever it is, being disillusioned, uh, people leaving you, forgetting you, uh, not caring about you, that you just throw in the towel.
• 1:04:39
  SPEAKER_02: And that's exactly where the enemy wants you to be.
• 1:04:42
  SPEAKER_02: And the whole theme of chapter 43 is moving from desperation or despair to determination.
• 1:04:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's literally being able to move, all of us are gonna feel despair.
• 1:04:55
  SPEAKER_02: But my determination overrides my despair.
• 1:04:58
  SPEAKER_02: That's good.
• 1:04:58
  SPEAKER_02: My determination for what to cling to God, yeah, to hope in him, the will of God, to obey him, to follow him.
• 1:05:06
  SPEAKER_02: And then when I do that, there's always going to be hope.
• 1:05:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:05:11
  SPEAKER_02: And it's a cry of uh vindication, uh, it's a prayer of light and truth that God's light will shine into my life.
• 1:05:17
  SPEAKER_02: He's he cries out there in verse number three, and it's a return of worship.
• 1:05:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's a constantly going to God and worship.
• 1:05:24
  SPEAKER_02: He anticipates the joy that is coming if I stay in God's presence.
• 1:05:27
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm telling you, he even says here, there I will go to the altar of God and experience my exceeding joy.
• 1:05:35
  SPEAKER_02: Hope is not denial, it's anticipation of what is to come.
• 1:05:39
  SPEAKER_02: That's really good.
• 1:05:42
  SPEAKER_02: That's it.
• 1:05:43
  SPEAKER_02: He is our hope.
• 1:05:44
  SPEAKER_02: He is our hope.
• 1:05:46
  SPEAKER_02: He is our hope.
• 1:05:46
  SPEAKER_02: Clint, anything else you want to say?
• 1:05:49
  SPEAKER_00: We covered a lot of ground, Pastor.
• 1:05:51
  SPEAKER_00: We did, we did, we did, we did.
• 1:05:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's exciting to get for uh 1 Corinthians started out and and uh almost close out numbers.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm looking forward to the reading in the coming weeks.
• 1:06:04
  SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you.
• 1:06:05
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for joining me today.
• 1:06:08
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate it always.
• 1:06:09
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for your leadership at North Church and what you do and the difference and the church.
• 1:06:14
  SPEAKER_02: God is building his church.
• 1:06:15
  SPEAKER_02: That building is going up.
• 1:06:17
  SPEAKER_02: In Oklahoma City, in Guthrie, we're looking at we're getting closer and closer to launching our expansion there.
• 1:06:24
  SPEAKER_02: And then of course, Somos Church, they've been expanding.
• 1:06:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they're they're moving a little bit faster than us down in Santa Cruz.
• 1:06:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Blivia.
• 1:06:32
  SPEAKER_02: They have less um, they have less um codes and restrictions.
• 1:06:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the codes are a little bit different.
• 1:06:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, we're excited about what all God's doing and and the those opportunities for build his church.
• 1:06:43
  SPEAKER_02: Well, hey, I hope that you enjoyed this.
• 1:06:45
  SPEAKER_02: Again, get together, talk about it with people, uh, listen to it, and then discuss what you're learning here.
• 1:06:51
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, give us some feedback.
• 1:06:53
  SPEAKER_02: Let us know, you know, what you're hearing and share it with somebody.
• 1:06:58
  SPEAKER_02: And until next time, we'll look forward to seeing you on North Bible Recap.