Latest / The Living Waters Podcast / Ep. 203 - Examining God’s Gift of Laughter

Transcript

Ep. 203 - Examining God’s Gift of Laughter · The Living Waters Podcast

1:05
Mark Spence: Did Jesus have a sense of humor?
1:06
Mark Spence: Yes, absolutely.
1:08
Emeal Zwayne: Absolutely, and that's a really good question, mark, and I want to talk about this.
1:12
Ray Comfort: Question Mark.
1:14
Emeal Zwayne: Ah, question, mark.
1:15
Emeal Zwayne: But why is it seriously?
1:19
Emeal Zwayne: Why is it that certain people equate humor and laughter with being unspiritual?
1:28
Oscar Navarro: Right, I mean it really is have you met some Presbyterian pastors?
1:33
Emeal Zwayne: I love my.
1:34
Ray Comfort: Presbyterian friends, but I saw a guy who wrote a comment on a sermon I preached at Chino Hills where I used quite a bit of humor throughout the whole thing.
1:40
Ray Comfort: He says cut the humor.
1:41
Ray Comfort: Someone said that yeah he says cut the humor, it's not spiritual.
1:43
Ray Comfort: And I thought, oh boy, you'd be a fun person.
1:46
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, I mean seriously, you get these people that are baptized in lemon juice.
1:51
Ray Comfort: Like what, Seriously it's like.
1:55
Emeal Zwayne: And they just will not laugh.
1:57
Emeal Zwayne: They will not.
1:58
Emeal Zwayne: It's almost like oh, that's not good, that's not.
2:00
Emeal Zwayne: Where do we get that from, man?
2:02
Emeal Zwayne: Where does that come from?
2:03
Emeal Zwayne: Here's when you know, friends, that a society is facing a massive moral crisis, that it's heading toward total and absolute collapse, that it's on the brink of utter destruction.
2:24
Emeal Zwayne: It's when you see a growing number of grown people pushing their dogs around and baby strollers Such a Ray what's wrong with that?
2:38
Emeal Zwayne: Or placing their dogs on the front of their bikes in a basket with sunglasses.
2:44
Ray Comfort: No repent, I told Janet Parshall off of that on live radio when she said I've got a bike with a basket.
2:51
Oscar Navarro: It's not a basket.
2:52
Ray Comfort: If I hit 95, I'll be on a three-wheel bike with a basket, and until that time I've got a platform with a dog on it, not a basket.
2:58
Emeal Zwayne: Dog on a platform.
3:00
Oscar Navarro: Guys, seriously, what you know, what you need is one of those side carts like the old school ones.
3:04
Oscar Navarro: Yeah.
3:04
Emeal Zwayne: Oh yeah, that'd be cool, those little motorcycles.
3:08
Ray Comfort: If I ever get a big dog like a great Dane, I'll put them like that, that'd be great.
3:11
Emeal Zwayne: Seriously, Ray, you should get a great Dane.
3:13
Emeal Zwayne: Put a saddle on it.
3:14
Ray Comfort: Always one Twice the size of Ray and I need to get me a ladder.
3:19
Ray Comfort: Also Go for a ride.
3:21
Emeal Zwayne: But seriously, guys, I'm so perplexed by this.
3:24
Emeal Zwayne: Dogs and strollers, dogs and baby slings, those baby carriers and slings.
3:29
Ray Comfort: What's wrong with that I?
3:30
Emeal Zwayne: purchased one of those Dogs dressed up in fancy outfits Dogs have you guys seen those dog bakeries?
3:38
Emeal Zwayne: They have dog treat bakeries.
3:40
Emeal Zwayne: They bake dogs.
3:41
Emeal Zwayne: I knew you were going to say that, yeah, hot dogs, they got dog nannies, some people.
3:49
Emeal Zwayne: I was looking up last night.
3:51
Emeal Zwayne: I was finding pictures of these luxury dog houses with air conditioning, pools, waterslides, hot tubs.
3:58
Emeal Zwayne: This is one dog house, yeah, oh well.
4:02
Emeal Zwayne: No, I mean different ones.
4:04
Emeal Zwayne: I grew up where a dog was not even allowed in your house.
4:09
Mark Spence: Amen.
4:10
Oscar Navarro: Amen Did you grow up that way, people actually buy dog food.
4:14
Ray Comfort: Disgusting.
4:14
Ray Comfort: What is?
4:16
Emeal Zwayne: wrong with you people?
4:18
Emeal Zwayne: Seriously, I'm tired of this stuff.
4:21
Emeal Zwayne: I have a dog.
4:22
Emeal Zwayne: I love my dog.
4:23
Emeal Zwayne: She's a nice dog, she's a dog.
4:26
Ray Comfort: But where does she live?
4:27
Ray Comfort: Inside or outside?
4:29
Ray Comfort: Inside my house.
4:32
Emeal Zwayne: In my bedroom I sleep on the floor.
4:39
Mark Spence: Do you let your dog?
4:40
Emeal Zwayne: sleep on your bed.
4:41
Emeal Zwayne: My dog doesn't come into my room.
4:44
Emeal Zwayne: In fact, I think twice I've tested her to call her into my room, but she knows If she's going after a ball full sprint, she gets to my door.
4:54
Emeal Zwayne: If it happened to go into my bedroom, she'll stop.
4:55
Emeal Zwayne: She knows she's not allowed in there.
4:57
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, but guys, come on, I'm talking insanity.
5:02
Ray Comfort: I was watching your dog drive your car to work.
5:05
Mark Spence: today, I saw a dog driving a Tesla.
5:06
Mark Spence: He did not.
5:08
Emeal Zwayne: No, but seriously, it was a big deal for me when we got our dog Willow three and a half years ago to actually have a dog inside our house.
5:14
Emeal Zwayne: You have a beautiful dog.
5:16
Mark Spence: I have to say she is pretty amazing.
5:18
Mark Spence: Ray not so much, no, actually Ray's latest dog is actually very pretty.
5:22
Emeal Zwayne: Lucy, lucy, lucy's still living on your head, huh Ray.
5:26
Ray Comfort: Yeah, she loves spending time on my head.
5:29
Emeal Zwayne: But, guys, it's crazy, things have gotten out of whack with animals.
5:34
Emeal Zwayne: I just have to say that I have to air that I know I'm going to get hate mail, area grievances, hate mail, death threats and probably everyone's going to bring pit bulls to attack me.
5:44
Mark Spence: I was mauled by a dog in the face.
5:45
Mark Spence: Well that's understandable, obviously.
5:47
Mark Spence: I would have looked like Tom Cruise if it wasn't for all the stitches.
5:51
Oscar Navarro: It's pretty bad For those of you who have listened and never seen.
5:53
Oscar Navarro: It's pretty bad.
5:54
Oscar Navarro: We don't look at Mark on purpose.
5:58
Emeal Zwayne: Mark, do you just be honest?
6:00
Emeal Zwayne: I'll try.
6:02
Emeal Zwayne: He always is he's a question For a change.
6:06
Emeal Zwayne: Mark be honest, do you just A change?
6:08
Emeal Zwayne: Do you just Do you tolerate your dog?
6:12
Mark Spence: I totally do.
6:13
Mark Spence: I asked each one of my kids and my wives individually.
6:18
Mark Spence: I said, hey, are you going to cry when Rusty dies?
6:21
Mark Spence: And they all said absolutely.
6:23
Mark Spence: And I went I'll.
6:25
Ray Comfort: Prepare yourself because I'm backing up the car.
6:27
Mark Spence: No, I mean I'm not going to cry when my dog dies.
6:31
Mark Spence: I'm not hoping that he dies.
6:32
Mark Spence: If something happens where everybody has to move out and something happens to my wife, I'll take care of the dog, but I Mark, you might surprise yourself when you're done, when your dog dies.
6:45
Emeal Zwayne: I grew up in an Arab home culture where you constantly, where you eat your dog.
6:50
Emeal Zwayne: Don't get into this hot dog eaters.
6:55
Emeal Zwayne: Okay, we are Nitzel men.
6:56
Emeal Zwayne: I grew up in a home where you just give your dogs away.
7:00
Emeal Zwayne: I mean all my life, every dog we've ever had, just give it away.
7:05
Emeal Zwayne: I think I may have shared.
7:06
Emeal Zwayne: A long time ago our poodle tiny had bad breath, helitosis.
7:10
Emeal Zwayne: My sister was a dental hygienist.
7:11
Emeal Zwayne: They would try to brush the poor dog's teeth Anyhow.
7:14
Ray Comfort: Miserable, depressed dog Change its diet.
7:17
Ray Comfort: It's probably eaten Arab food.
7:20
Ray Comfort: It was a it was a.
7:21
Emeal Zwayne: No, this was a dog that lost its lifetime partner from the previous owners and it was utterly depressed.
7:25
Emeal Zwayne: They gave it to us.
7:26
Emeal Zwayne: It had stinky breath One day.
7:29
Emeal Zwayne: We just went to the park.
7:30
Emeal Zwayne: I go, what are we doing?
7:31
Emeal Zwayne: Oh, we're just going to the park.
7:33
Emeal Zwayne: My brother takes poor tiny out, puts it down and says tiny, go pee.
7:40
Mark Spence: That's the last I saw tiny.
7:41
Mark Spence: That's terrible.
7:42
Emeal Zwayne: I know it was at Myles Square Park.
7:44
Emeal Zwayne: He's still there.
7:45
Emeal Zwayne: You probably came across tiny Mark when he lived out there in the area.
7:48
Emeal Zwayne: Change its name it was a dog that would go pee on command.
7:52
Ray Comfort: That's why my brother said go pee tiny, we have a, we walked off, and then we left.
7:55
Ray Comfort: No wonder it was depressed.
7:56
Ray Comfort: You called it tiny, tiny.
7:59
Oscar Navarro: We have a corgi that my family is obsessed with and we brought him home and we were all trying to figure out the name.
8:03
Oscar Navarro: I said why don't we name him Speed Bump?
8:08
Emeal Zwayne: You got a corgi and there goes the podcast.
8:11
Ray Comfort: The dog head, corgi, is on its grown up, that beautiful dog.
8:13
Emeal Zwayne: Oh yeah, Rachel.
8:14
Emeal Zwayne: Well, Rachel loves because she grew up with corgis the last time.
8:18
Oscar Navarro: So my grandma I don't know if I should tell the story, but I'm going to my grandma, sweet old lady, mexican woman, like from a different era, a different time.
8:28
Oscar Navarro: Why am I nervous?
8:29
Oscar Navarro: So she went to Mexico recently to visit her family and, like her family grew up like they were Mexican Indian.
8:37
Oscar Navarro: So like I've been to my grandpa's house, like he literally like, or my great grandpa's house, they literally like, stuck up you know, a pole in the ground, was like this is our land and they built their home.
8:47
Oscar Navarro: So that's kind of where she goes to visit.
8:50
Oscar Navarro: And so she comes back, you know, this elderly woman, and she and we're like how was it, grandma?
8:55
Oscar Navarro: And she's like, oh, it was so sweet you know my brother she goes, my brother, he's doing so well and we're like, what is he doing?
9:02
Oscar Navarro: Well, he's raising these dogs in his backyard and he has them fight each other and it's so cute.
9:08
Oscar Navarro: We're like grandma.
9:09
Oscar Navarro: That's illegal, she's like no, but it's cute and fun.
9:13
Emeal Zwayne: Oh man, I'll elite that, bro.
9:15
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, is it illegal in Mexico?
9:17
Emeal Zwayne: Oscar, I'm pretty sure it's illegal everywhere.
9:19
Emeal Zwayne: Well, I don't know about that, but it's gotta be and have that, the cock fighting or the roosters.
9:25
Emeal Zwayne: It's pretty well, that's crazy what do you guys like that?
9:27
Ray Comfort: I don't approve of that.
9:28
Ray Comfort: By the way, you're gonna get pictures of dogs on Mark's computer.
9:30
Emeal Zwayne: Oh that's what you're doing.
9:31
Emeal Zwayne: You like dogs, right.
9:33
Ray Comfort: I absolutely love dogs.
9:34
Ray Comfort: Seriously, I don't know if you've seen me in action, but whenever there's a dog lying on the ground, I lie with it.
9:38
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, that's true.
9:38
Emeal Zwayne: We've seen you Absolutely love dogs.
9:40
Emeal Zwayne: We've seen you barking airports.
9:42
Ray Comfort: We've seen you that is communicating with another species, ray.
9:47
Oscar Navarro: Ray sit.
9:48
Ray Comfort: Sit.
9:49
Mark Spence: I'm gonna go Ray really sees eye to eye with the dogs.
9:54
Emeal Zwayne: Literally.
9:54
Emeal Zwayne: Okay, friends, here's a comment from Isaac 164748321968847.
10:04
Oscar Navarro: Are you serious?
10:04
Oscar Navarro: No, can we take bets.
10:05
Oscar Navarro: Can we take bets on Hoff, and EZ's name is mentioned in this one.
10:08
Oscar Navarro: It's cool, so we'll at least one.
10:09
Oscar Navarro: Let's see here.
10:10
Oscar Navarro: I wouldn't be able to this is amazing, amazing.
10:13
Emeal Zwayne: This is now my favorite podcast.
10:15
Emeal Zwayne: I'm 13 and I've listened to every episode and I don't know how I listen to any other podcast.
10:21
Emeal Zwayne: It's been a so ray of comfort for me.
10:24
Emeal Zwayne: It really hits the mark.
10:26
Emeal Zwayne: It really deserves an Oscar.
10:28
Emeal Zwayne: It's really easy to listen to and it's really helped me grow in a relationship with the Lord.
10:34
Emeal Zwayne: Ez really encouraged me, so I'm starting a Bible memory journey and I was wondering if you could do an episode on memorizing the Bible or your favorite Christian movies, slash show, ps.
10:48
Emeal Zwayne: All my family agrees.
10:49
Emeal Zwayne: Ez is right on Augustine and different flavors of coffees and gross.
10:53
Emeal Zwayne: I would like EZ to do more poetry on the channel for your right.
10:58
Ray Comfort: I agree with the poetry.
10:59
Ray Comfort: Yeah, it was four, it was four, four times.
11:02
Ray Comfort: Ez is mentioned four times.
11:03
Emeal Zwayne: Thank you, isaac.
11:04
Emeal Zwayne: You're the most wonderful person in the world and my best friend forever.
11:09
Ray Comfort: Isaac means laughter, doesn't it?
11:10
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, isaac, really, though 13 listening to the podcast.
11:13
Ray Comfort: Yeah, it's so cool.
11:14
Ray Comfort: Instead of being in a gang, he's listening to the podcast.
11:17
Emeal Zwayne: Those are the only two options he might be in the podcast.
11:19
Emeal Zwayne: A 13 year old is in a gang.
11:21
Emeal Zwayne: A living waters podcast.
11:22
Ray Comfort: Me and my gang listened to the Living Waters podcast.
11:26
Emeal Zwayne: All right, friends.
11:26
Emeal Zwayne: This podcast is brought to you by.
11:29
Emeal Zwayne: God has a wonderful plan for your life.
11:33
Emeal Zwayne: Speaking of God books.
11:34
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, mockery, mockery, ray this book Give a subtitle.
11:39
Emeal Zwayne: This book is very important.
11:40
Emeal Zwayne: What's?
11:40
Ray Comfort: the subtitle the myth of the modern message.
11:42
Ray Comfort: Oh there it is.
11:43
Ray Comfort: That's right, I forgot.
11:44
Ray Comfort: It's hard thing to say.
11:45
Ray Comfort: I've got a list.
11:46
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, friends, let me just say if there is any book of ours that you should give out, aside from maybe the Gospel of John and maybe the four Gospels, it would be this one.
11:56
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, and look, we want it to get out.
11:59
Emeal Zwayne: That's why it's only 4.99 for you to just get one copy.
12:02
Emeal Zwayne: But wait, but wait, you get.
12:04
Emeal Zwayne: No, you get 10 or more.
12:05
Emeal Zwayne: They're $2 each, 48 or more, they're a buck.
12:09
Ray Comfort: And if you buy 100, we pay you.
12:13
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, but we want to get these out.
12:14
Emeal Zwayne: So if you get the book, read it, you see its importance.
12:17
Emeal Zwayne: Get a case of 48, you give them out.
12:19
Ray Comfort: They can read it online free of charge at freewonderfulbookcom.
12:24
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, so read it there and then get it and give it out Again.
12:29
Emeal Zwayne: This is to help people recognize it.
12:30
Emeal Zwayne: There's a biblical way to present the Gospel.
12:33
Oscar Navarro: I will say I've read maybe eight or nine of Ray's books out of the hundred Eight or nine 89.
12:39
Oscar Navarro: I think that's my favorite one.
12:40
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, yeah, it's really really good and it's concise.
12:43
Ray Comfort: Yeah, it's not too bad, it's short.
12:45
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah.
12:46
Ray Comfort: Like the.
12:46
Ray Comfort: Author.
12:47
Emeal Zwayne: Thank you for doing that for me, ray.
12:49
Emeal Zwayne: All right friends.
12:51
Emeal Zwayne: On to the topic of the day, examining God's gift of laughter.
12:57
Ray Comfort: I don't think it should be.
12:58
Ray Comfort: Anything should be laughed at.
13:00
Ray Comfort: What do you know about laughter?
13:01
Ray Comfort: No, laughing.
13:03
Emeal Zwayne: Man, seriously, they're talking about aliens and stuff these days.
13:08
Emeal Zwayne: You guys know that, all this stuff going on in Congress we just did a podcast on it but I was looking at some drawings and stuff that they have of these aliens and these things look like they have no sense of humor.
13:21
Emeal Zwayne: Seriously, how much it would stink to be an alien.
13:26
Emeal Zwayne: I mean, do you ever see aliens laughing?
13:30
Emeal Zwayne: I can't imagine aliens.
13:31
Ray Comfort: Well, they could do a movie of laughing aliens and be different.
13:34
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, but seriously.
13:37
Emeal Zwayne: Thank you, lord for laughter.
13:39
Emeal Zwayne: One of the most common compliments we get on the podcast is that it brings people joy and cheer and they're able to laugh.
13:51
Ray Comfort: It's fun when they turn it off.
13:52
Ray Comfort: Yeah.
13:53
Emeal Zwayne: That's the best part.
13:54
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, and guys, the benefits of laughter.
13:57
Emeal Zwayne: I want you to listen to this.
13:59
Emeal Zwayne: This is from mayoclinicorg.
14:03
Emeal Zwayne: It says this is short-term benefits of laughter Stimulates many organs.
14:08
Emeal Zwayne: Laughter enhances your intake of oxygen.
14:10
Emeal Zwayne: Rich air stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles and increases the endorphins that are released by your brain.
14:15
Emeal Zwayne: It activates and relieves your stress response.
14:18
Emeal Zwayne: A rollicking laugh fires up and then cools down your stress response, and it can increase and then decrease your heart rate and blood pressure.
14:26
Emeal Zwayne: The result a good, relaxing feeling, and it soothes tension.
14:30
Emeal Zwayne: Laughter can also stimulate circulation and aid muscle relaxation, both of which can help reduce some of the physical symptoms of stress.
14:39
Ray Comfort: Have you ever laughed to a point maybe you're gonna have a heart attack?
14:42
Ray Comfort: Oh man, when it just gets it.
14:44
Ray Comfort: Just think, hey, this isn't funny anymore, I can't stop.
14:47
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, like I can't breathe, where the next day you actually have like your ribs hurt, yeah.
14:53
Ray Comfort: I remember seeing a Peter Sellers movie years ago, one of the Pink Panther ones.
14:57
Ray Comfort: I didn't watch the whole movie because it's dirty, but this portion was on YouTube, reset on some super glue or something, and it just because it's just what I'm like and I just couldn't.
15:07
Ray Comfort: I fell off my chair physically laughing and I couldn't stop.
15:10
Ray Comfort: It was horrible.
15:10
Ray Comfort: Seriously, it was horrible.
15:14
Emeal Zwayne: No, but what is it?
15:15
Emeal Zwayne: What is laughter?
15:17
Emeal Zwayne: It's such a weird phenomenon that I mean when you, especially when we know we speak to crowds of people all four of us do, ray, it's like a tonic, isn't it?
15:28
Emeal Zwayne: When a when a crowd for both you know oh yeah, for both the audience and in the place you ain't not Ray, seriously, because this is, this is a specialty of yours.
15:37
Emeal Zwayne: You've been doing it for a while I'm a friend.
15:39
Ray Comfort: I'm a fan of the Andy Griffith show.
15:41
Ray Comfort: One show.
15:45
Oscar Navarro: Thank you.
15:48
Ray Comfort: But he says his preacher's passes, sermons are as dry as dust.
15:52
Ray Comfort: He got caught saying that and it was very interesting.
15:55
Ray Comfort: Made me think about chicken coop.
15:57
Ray Comfort: Our chicken coop gets his dry as dust every week.
15:59
Ray Comfort: It's just something about it.
16:01
Ray Comfort: Just read right.
16:01
Ray Comfort: And what we do before we clean the chicken coop is if you don't, you spit, choke together, death on dust.
16:06
Ray Comfort: Just quick spray of the host, like that, and you've got no dust and there's a way to take a dry as dust sermon and Sprinklet with water.
16:15
Ray Comfort: Yeah, and that's a little bit of humor, not overdoing it, just a little spray of humor right at the beginning.
16:20
Ray Comfort: That makes them and you feel relaxed, because the fear of every congregation, if you're a new preacher, is oh, is this gonna be a taste of eternity?
16:28
Ray Comfort: Is there gonna be an end?
16:29
Ray Comfort: Is there light at the end of the tunnel?
16:30
Ray Comfort: If you make a joke right at the beginning, I don't mean a silly joke, but just a little bit of humor.
16:35
Ray Comfort: It relieves them and makes them realize your humor Sorry, your human and that you're gonna Not be too heavy on them in that sense.
16:44
Ray Comfort: Yeah, cuz you got, you've got a sense of humor, so it's it's essential to do that.
16:48
Oscar Navarro: It also helps with memory and agreeability.
16:50
Oscar Navarro: If you can get somebody to laugh with you, they are more prone to become agreeable.
16:54
Oscar Navarro: Yes from a preaching perspective, that's helpful because you want people to agree with God's word.
16:59
Oscar Navarro: From an evangelistic perspective, that's helpful because you want people to agree with God's word.
17:03
Oscar Navarro: It also Retriggers their attention span, hmm, so at the end of a particular point, you know, at five or ten minute point, it's great If you, if you get a little bit of laughter, because it retriggers them back into to listening to what you have to say.
17:17
Mark Spence: You know I talked in the past about the amygdala hijack.
17:20
Mark Spence: I don't know if you guys remember.
17:21
Mark Spence: Oh yeah, of course You're engaged in a conversation and somebody's made that up out of their mind and they cannot relate to what you're saying.
17:27
Mark Spence: They're just so angry.
17:28
Mark Spence: And I was reading how do you get somebody out of an amygdala hijack?
17:31
Mark Spence: And it was tell a joke.
17:33
Mark Spence: Well, tell a joke in that Real lines are thinking.
17:36
Mark Spence: It brings them back down to reality.
17:38
Mark Spence: Now they're able to converse with you.
17:39
Mark Spence: I was looking up on got questions on some of the most common questions that are asked and then and they had a little section on Silly questions that came in where they just didn't know what to do with no cat.
17:50
Mark Spence: How do you answer this?
17:51
Mark Spence: Let me read one of those questions for you.
17:52
Mark Spence: It was Is it wrong to take homeless people bowling and then gamble on which one of them is going to win?
18:01
Mark Spence: Essentially, a group of young people would pick up some homeless people, take them to a bowling alley and buy them some food, pay for their bowling and then gamble on which one of them would win, not having an idea which was the best bowler.
18:13
Mark Spence: So that was an honest question that came in someone.
18:15
Emeal Zwayne: Actually Somebody asked that question.
18:17
Mark Spence: They didn't know how to respond to that.
18:18
Mark Spence: Is it wrong to take homeless people bowling and gambling?
18:22
Mark Spence: Which one?
18:23
Mark Spence: What do you do, you know, with that?
18:25
Mark Spence: I mean, we live in a very unusual, unusual, strange place.
18:28
Mark Spence: Did Jesus have a sense of humor?
18:29
Emeal Zwayne: Yes, absolutely, absolutely, and and and that's that's a really good question mark.
18:35
Emeal Zwayne: And then I want to question mark.
18:36
Emeal Zwayne: But why is it seriously?
18:42
Emeal Zwayne: Why is it that Certain people equate humor and laughter with being unspiritual, right, I mean?
18:53
Oscar Navarro: it really is.
18:53
Oscar Navarro: I have you met some Presbyterian?
18:56
Oscar Navarro: I love my first right.
18:58
Ray Comfort: I saw a guy who wrote a comment on a sermon I preached at Chino Hills where I used quite a bit of humor throughout the whole thing.
19:03
Ray Comfort: He says cut the humor.
19:04
Ray Comfort: Someone said that he says cut the humor, it's not spiritual.
19:07
Ray Comfort: I thought, well, you'd be a fun person.
19:10
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, I mean seriously.
19:11
Emeal Zwayne: You get these people that are baptized in in lemon juice and they just will not laugh.
19:21
Emeal Zwayne: They will not.
19:21
Emeal Zwayne: It's almost like oh, that's not good this time.
19:24
Emeal Zwayne: Where do we get that from?
19:25
Oscar Navarro: Yeah, where does that come from?
19:26
Oscar Navarro: It's a misunderstanding of the joy that God has given us to enjoy in this world.
19:32
Oscar Navarro: And actually there's a great.
19:33
Oscar Navarro: I Read this book a number of years ago.
19:35
Oscar Navarro: It's called God mocks a history of religious satire from the Hebrew prophets to Stephen Colbert, and he talks about the both the good ways and the bad ways that mockery and humor is used.
19:47
Oscar Navarro: No, and so the Old Testament talks quite a bit, uses mockery quite a bit.
19:51
Oscar Navarro: Interestingly, god uses mockery in the Old Testament To poke fun at false prophets and false idols.
19:57
Oscar Navarro: Psalm 2, verse 4 he who sits in the heavens laughs.
20:01
Oscar Navarro: The Lord scoffs at them.
20:03
Oscar Navarro: Psalm 37 the Lord laughs at him for he sees his day coming.
20:06
Oscar Navarro: Proverbs 3 though he scoffs at the scoffers, yet he gives grace to the afflicted.
20:12
Oscar Navarro: So Proverbs well, yeah, so, over and over again in the Old Testament, what we see is that God Laughs at false idols.
20:19
Oscar Navarro: Even the phrase is like it has eyes but cannot see.
20:23
Oscar Navarro: In ears, be can but cannot hear.
20:25
Oscar Navarro: It's laughing, it's mocking.
20:27
Oscar Navarro: God is mocking at the false idols.
20:29
Oscar Navarro: I've been crazy.
20:30
Oscar Navarro: Look at you, gave it eyes and it cannot see.
20:32
Ray Comfort: And then it goes further on to say and it's dumb, and those that make them, I like them exactly, really dumb.
20:38
Oscar Navarro: Yeah, so God uses mockery in the Old Testament and Jesus uses humor in the new.
20:44
Oscar Navarro: In this book that I read, he talks about how we Need to understand the nature of humor and how it's changed over time.
20:51
Oscar Navarro: What's funny to us today would not be funny 2,000 years ago.
20:54
Oscar Navarro: Yeah, so what made people laugh 2,000 years ago?
20:58
Oscar Navarro: He observes hyperbole, and hyperbole was a way of like making people laugh.
21:04
Oscar Navarro: It was the humor of the day.
21:05
Oscar Navarro: So when he says you can't pass through the eye of the needle, he's using hyperbole All the times that you go.
21:12
Oscar Navarro: So think about just use that idea and go back and read Matthew, mark, luke and John and see how Often Jesus uses hyperbole to make a point.
21:20
Oscar Navarro: People his onlookers would have laughed in that moment.
21:23
Oscar Navarro: He was using humor to make a point that stuck strain at the net.
21:28
Ray Comfort: Swallow the camel.
21:29
Ray Comfort: Yeah, you want to get smile.
21:30
Ray Comfort: Imagine that in your mind someone string in a hat and swallow your camel.
21:34
Ray Comfort: Yeah, legitimate use of humor.
21:36
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, now, obviously we know that there are certain things that we shouldn't be laughing at, absolutely and your jokes Like no problem concerning that one.
21:46
Mark Spence: Like, what do you say to the guy who says it?
21:48
Mark Spence: Listen, I don't find Brian Rigen or Tim Hawkins or Darren Streblow funny.
21:51
Mark Spence: I like Joe Rogan, I like Maybe some other filthy guys.
21:56
Mark Spence: I wrote, I looked up some guys like Daniel Tosh, frankie Boyle, dave Chappelle Hmm, these are the guys that somebody might say.
22:03
Mark Spence: I find that these guys are really funny.
22:04
Mark Spence: Yeah, what you want me to smile at.
22:06
Mark Spence: Well, you want me to have a good time with man.
22:10
Mark Spence: Come on, it's so bad.
22:12
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, well, I would say you need to read first Corinthians 13 love does not rejoice, and unrighteousness and what these guys are talking about are unrighteous things.
22:22
Emeal Zwayne: They're things that shouldn't even be spoken of Scripture talks about.
22:26
Ray Comfort: But some of the things they say are funny, but they're laced with filth, right, it's just like drinking a polluted drink.
22:32
Emeal Zwayne: I mean, when I was a teenager, you guys might remember Andrew Dice Clay.
22:35
Emeal Zwayne: He was, like, known to be the filthiest of the filthiest.
22:39
Emeal Zwayne: And then there was a guy, sam Kenneson, I think.
22:41
Ray Comfort: Yeah, he was really bad.
22:43
Emeal Zwayne: He used to be a pastor or something, I think that guy, or at least, professed Christ, was like an outspoken believer.
22:47
Emeal Zwayne: And then he, of course and that usually happens right, it's like it gets even worse when they, when they professed Christ, and then go into the world.
22:55
Emeal Zwayne: It's like they're making up, trying to make up for lost time or something you know.
22:58
Ray Comfort: Darren Strebler, who mentioned this, is a friend of ours, a friend of mine.
23:01
Ray Comfort: I've known him for years.
23:02
Ray Comfort: He's part of clean comedians, but remember we had we went to a restaurant and had lunch with him and you hear someone out in the in the kitchen dropped a whole stack of plates and he just yelled out need a hug.
23:14
Mark Spence: But he did it when it was there's absolute silence, because that caused a great commotion when the dishes fell and then, out of nowhere, the silence was broke, with Darren yelling out do you need a hug?
23:27
Mark Spence: That's right.
23:27
Oscar Navarro: Normally, when I hear glass break at a restaurant, you guys have probably heard me say this I'll wait till that moment of silence.
23:31
Oscar Navarro: I go job opening.
23:35
Ray Comfort: Also when Darren I told Darren in New Zealand with me.
23:36
Ray Comfort: I might have talked to him just before, but I was sitting just before we took off and I couldn't believe what he did.
23:41
Ray Comfort: He had stood up, his mouth was right under the air vent and he was drinking.
23:47
Ray Comfort: It Just made me laugh.
23:48
Ray Comfort: He had no smile on his face, and that's he's genuinely funny.
23:56
Ray Comfort: I love it.
23:57
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, and so it is good to laugh.
24:00
Emeal Zwayne: I mean I love the verses and scripture that reference laughter.
24:04
Emeal Zwayne: I mean Proverbs 17, 22,.
24:06
Emeal Zwayne: A merry heart does good like medicine, and a broken spirit dries the bones.
24:11
Emeal Zwayne: There is a kind of this medicinal feeling that you get from laughter.
24:17
Emeal Zwayne: I mean you've always been good at this, especially with my kids, your grandkids.
24:21
Emeal Zwayne: When they've been down or sad, you try to make them laugh.
24:25
Ray Comfort: Yeah, I thought you were going to mention the marshmallows that I used to get.
24:31
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, we can't forget that that was crazy.
24:34
Emeal Zwayne: Ray would stuff my kids.
24:36
Ray Comfort: They hurt themselves, they'd start, they'd fall down and start crying.
24:39
Ray Comfort: When they were little kids, I had a big jar of these small marshmallow things that just kind of grew a handful and stuff in their hand and into their mouth.
24:46
Emeal Zwayne: It always worked, though, and just made them smile.
24:48
Emeal Zwayne: It always worked.
24:49
Emeal Zwayne: All my kids have diabetes now, but it worked.
24:53
Mark Spence: Rachel getting honey before she was one.
24:55
Emeal Zwayne: Poor Rachel.
24:56
Emeal Zwayne: Oh, that's right.
24:57
Emeal Zwayne: She had to have those caps on her teeth because they rotted out from the honey.
25:00
Ray Comfort: Ray would give her in the night and dipped pacified, shut her up because she was driving us crazy yeah.
25:07
Mark Spence: Proverbs 15,.
25:08
Mark Spence: 15 says all the days of the afflicted are evil, but the cheerful of heart has a continual feast.
25:14
Mark Spence: You know, I grown up with my brothers.
25:17
Mark Spence: There was a lot of laughter inside the house and usually it was at the expense of one of us.
25:21
Mark Spence: Whenever somebody would come inside the house during a dry moment, my brothers would say hey, mark, make her laugh, take off your shirt.
25:31
Mark Spence: They were always so quick and always so witty and no ability to be able to respond, because if you did respond you'd get beat up.
25:40
Mark Spence: Welcome to having older brothers.
25:41
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, bro, your brothers.
25:43
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, we've done some stuff on your brothers.
25:46
Mark Spence: Says the guy who duct taped me to a street light.
25:50
Mark Spence: I can't believe you did that.
25:54
Emeal Zwayne: That was one of the most hilarious and through water balloons at me.
25:56
Emeal Zwayne: Well, we had strangers throw water balloons at you.
25:59
Oscar Navarro: You did, don't forget that you bring up a good point, which is because the scripture also warns against scoffing and mockers, and so there is certainly verses that warns us about a kind of humor, a kind of laughter that is not godly, and we often, I think the wrong thing is to define scoff as simple mocking or jeering.
26:22
Oscar Navarro: But I've heard it said actually I'll just read this quote this person says that when we scoff in a sinful way, we crack a joke in order to expose disrespect.
26:33
Oscar Navarro: And they go on to talk about how scoffing in a way that is sinful does it at the expense of excluding another person.
26:42
Oscar Navarro: So it's, in other words, it's at the expense of another in a way that makes them feel excluded.
26:47
Oscar Navarro: Yeah, Right.
26:48
Oscar Navarro: That's the difference, which means you can make a joke that might be funny to one person.
26:53
Oscar Navarro: You know we can make a joke about Ray being short, but if we made a joke about someone else being short, maybe it would be a kind of mockery.
27:00
Oscar Navarro: That's not right because of the response that it gets.
27:02
Oscar Navarro: If it doesn't bring that person joy or camaraderie, then yeah, it's in sin.
27:08
Mark Spence: This is a great point.
27:08
Mark Spence: Yeah, that's good.
27:09
Mark Spence: At what point does humor cross the line?
27:13
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, yeah, I think, when it's selfishly motivated.
27:17
Emeal Zwayne: You know when it's carnal, oh, foolish justing, yeah, of course justing.
27:22
Emeal Zwayne: When it carries with it an intent to hurt, to wound, you know when it's sexual driven, sexually driven, yeah, uncouth, potty humor, yeah, potty humor.
27:33
Emeal Zwayne: All of that, you know, it's just, you're going outside the bounds and that's why I love these comedians, even some of them that aren't believers, who keep it clean.
27:44
Emeal Zwayne: Yes, and they show you that you don't have to have that filled in order to laugh.
27:48
Emeal Zwayne: It just seems like the world, the godless, worldly comedians.
27:52
Emeal Zwayne: Their whole aim is just to be crude in order to get a laugh, and that, to me, is like that's the lowest form of wit.
28:00
Mark Spence: You know, I find it interesting Aaron Mitchell, Aaron, the actor who does our narration for a television program.
28:05
Mark Spence: He said when he was taking a class on stand up comedy, that there were two things that a comedian was not allowed to do.
28:13
Mark Spence: A promising comedian, so you would do stand up.
28:16
Mark Spence: You didn't know the people and you didn't know the topics that were coming up.
28:18
Mark Spence: So the different subjects are being thrown at you and you had to just work with it.
28:22
Mark Spence: It's called improv, right?
28:23
Mark Spence: And so he said, the two things that you're not allowed to do as a comedian is you are not allowed not secular, mind you You're not allowed to use foul language and you're not allowed to talk about fecal matter.
28:34
Mark Spence: He's up because these were cheap laughs, cheap ways in order to get people to laugh.
28:38
Mark Spence: And if you can get somebody to laugh without using those two elements, then you're actually funny.
28:44
Oscar Navarro: I was on an improv comedy team in school and we won California State first place champions.
28:50
Mark Spence: Wait what?
28:51
Oscar Navarro: What.
28:51
Emeal Zwayne: In high school.
28:53
Ray Comfort: Why is this the first time we're hearing about this?
28:54
Ray Comfort: I know about it.
28:55
Ray Comfort: He was an improv I've always admired.
28:56
Ray Comfort: Comedy sports, because that's a nightmare for most of us.
29:00
Oscar Navarro: Improv it was at first, yeah, but we had similar rules because we were in high school, so you couldn't cuss and you couldn't use foul language, and it was really helpful.
29:07
Mark Spence: So were you funny.
29:09
Oscar Navarro: I was back then Tell me a joke.
29:10
Oscar Navarro: I got nothing.
29:11
Oscar Navarro: Yeah, I think at the expense of other people is really valuable.
29:16
Oscar Navarro: I also think that there's just a view of things right For us.
29:21
Oscar Navarro: I think we poke fun at each other.
29:22
Oscar Navarro: I can poke fun at myself, and there's a way of doing it that's glorifying because ultimately, we have a low view of ourselves and a high view of God, and that's the reason why jokes at me don't affect me from people that I love and trust or even people that I don't Like.
29:38
Oscar Navarro: I have a low view of myself.
29:39
Oscar Navarro: I find truth and humor in the reality that I'm imperfect and going on too long and I find it glorious about God being perfect.
29:46
Oscar Navarro: And so I also think that humor can create a distinction between man and God.
29:53
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, yeah, and I think you need to be sensitive to people.
29:56
Emeal Zwayne: You nailed it earlier about talking about jokes we may make about Ray or about each other or whatever.
30:02
Emeal Zwayne: We all know that we find that funny amongst ourselves and we enjoy it, but there are others that may not, so you have to learn to read the room.
30:12
Mark Spence: Okay, so this is a great, great point, right?
30:13
Mark Spence: What do we do for the listener who says I'm the butt of everybody's joke, I'm being bullied, right?
30:19
Mark Spence: Maybe they're in junior high or high school, and maybe even older.
30:22
Mark Spence: Maybe they're employer, Maybe they're in a situation where they are being bullied, continually ridiculed.
30:29
Mark Spence: How do they handle it?
30:32
Emeal Zwayne: Well, I think, if it's an environment that you can control, you have to be honest with people.
30:37
Emeal Zwayne: You know what if?
30:38
Emeal Zwayne: It's high school.
30:38
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, that's tough.
30:40
Emeal Zwayne: I think you've got a, first of all, secure identity in Christ.
30:43
Emeal Zwayne: Amen.
30:44
Emeal Zwayne: Bring a knife yeah, you have to, you have to.
30:46
Emeal Zwayne: And then you have to understand.
30:48
Emeal Zwayne: You have to understand the world.
30:50
Emeal Zwayne: Right, and Wait, did I miss something?
30:54
Emeal Zwayne: I missed it too.
30:55
Oscar Navarro: You said find your identity in Christ.
30:57
Oscar Navarro: And then I said bring a knife.
30:58
Oscar Navarro: That helps too.
31:02
Mark Spence: I saw a video on YouTube where this guy goes into an assembly setting in a secular school and he said I want you to make fun of me and watch.
31:12
Mark Spence: This is what we typically do.
31:13
Mark Spence: And he was responding back to the accusations of this girl who's going off your shirt is ugly, my shirt is ugly.
31:19
Mark Spence: What do you mean?
31:20
Mark Spence: My shirt is ugly, this shirt rocks.
31:21
Mark Spence: He goes and you have it.
31:22
Mark Spence: You have a silly accent, my accent, no, I don't.
31:24
Mark Spence: And he starts to defend himself.
31:26
Mark Spence: And that's what people do that are on the other side of being bullied.
31:29
Mark Spence: Yeah, and so he didn't know what to do, did not respond.
31:33
Mark Spence: Everybody's laughing and he goes.
31:34
Mark Spence: Now watch.
31:35
Mark Spence: This is how you handle a bully.
31:37
Mark Spence: Maybe you're familiar with this.
31:38
Mark Spence: If not, look it up on YouTube.
31:39
Mark Spence: And so your shirt is ugly.
31:41
Mark Spence: I know they didn't make it any smaller, even he just starts rolling with the punches and laughing with the bully, and his point was a A bully cannot bully you.
31:51
Mark Spence: If you laugh with the bully now, if you roll with the punches, well, then he's gonna think that you're hilarious yourself, hmm, and then they move on to somebody else to bully, which is yeah, that's right, it's YouTube.
32:03
Ray Comfort: How do you find that?
32:04
Mark Spence: I'll find it for you, my, uh.
32:05
Oscar Navarro: My daughter one day told me she was like for second grade is my youngest daughter.
32:09
Oscar Navarro: Who's hilarious?
32:10
Oscar Navarro: And she's like, yeah, um, somebody called me weird at school today and I was like, oh really, what would you do?
32:15
Oscar Navarro: And she goes yeah, it runs in the family.
32:17
Oscar Navarro: I Love that it was actually truth.
32:20
Emeal Zwayne: It's true.
32:21
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, I think you do that, you know.
32:24
Emeal Zwayne: For along with remembering your identity in Christ, your acceptance in the Lord, I think that you learn to also keep at the forefront of your mind the understanding that this is what's expected from the world, in the sense that when a dog barks, you don't get shocked.
32:41
Emeal Zwayne: When a cat meows, you don't get shocked.
32:42
Emeal Zwayne: Right, when a Orange tree has orange blossoms on it, you don't get shocked.
32:46
Emeal Zwayne: So you have to remember that's the way of the world.
32:48
Emeal Zwayne: And then you have to remember who they are.
32:50
Emeal Zwayne: They're lost, they're blind, they're dead.
32:52
Emeal Zwayne: So you need to still be thinking as a believer, right, how can I still reach them with the gospel?
32:58
Emeal Zwayne: And and how do you?
33:00
Emeal Zwayne: I mean scripture, scary.
33:01
Emeal Zwayne: We often forget these verses.
33:02
Emeal Zwayne: You love your enemies, you pray for them, you do good to them.
33:05
Emeal Zwayne: You know I love that too, mark, you learn to roll with the punches and just kind of shrug it off and laugh and say something witty and response.
33:13
Emeal Zwayne: You know.
33:13
Emeal Zwayne: And and then you, you talk.
33:16
Emeal Zwayne: You talk to your parents, you talk to your good friends, you pour your heart out to God and you confess your struggle and the pain that you're feeling.
33:24
Emeal Zwayne: And you ask him to help you and strengthen you and make you a light.
33:27
Ray Comfort: You know I have to think about you and you ask for help.
33:31
Emeal Zwayne: If it's of a, if it's of a nature abuse that is abusive, you need to get help absolutely and you need to enlist others.
33:37
Emeal Zwayne: It can help you in that you know.
33:39
Ray Comfort: So that's important.
33:40
Ray Comfort: I don't care if you ever told me anyway that YouTube channel, that YouTube title, is how to stop a bully.
33:46
Mark Spence: Rookskibs nine, nine years ago, 2.5 million views.
33:48
Oscar Navarro: I think it's important.
33:49
Oscar Navarro: I love what you said, like if there is a point where it becomes abusive and unhealthy, and yeah, you need it, you need to ask for help.
33:56
Oscar Navarro: There is.
33:57
Oscar Navarro: I think one of the lies that happens when we are being abused or belittled is that people tend to think I deserve this, or this happens because I am weak, I am small, whatever the case is, and that thing is not happening to you because there's something Intrinsically wrong with you.
34:12
Oscar Navarro: It is not your fault when you're experiencing that kind of abuse.
34:16
Oscar Navarro: There's not something wrong with you in that situation.
34:18
Oscar Navarro: There's something wrong with the person that's sinning against you.
34:21
Oscar Navarro: And so often that lie prevents people from going and asking for Help and getting support because they think this is on me, this is my fault, I'm confessing some sort of weakness that I have by going and getting help by.
34:34
Oscar Navarro: That is a lie from the devil.
34:35
Oscar Navarro: Yeah, and we all need help at times Especially easy you have to ask for it.
34:41
Oscar Navarro: That hurts my feelings.
34:42
Ray Comfort: Oh, sorry yeah roll with a punch.
34:45
Mark Spence: Ecclesiastes three, four says that there's a time to weep and a time to laugh, and a time to mourn and a time to dance.
34:52
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, yeah, there is a time for that, and and let's do it.
34:56
Ray Comfort: Yeah.
34:58
Emeal Zwayne: Can you dance?
34:58
Emeal Zwayne: Can you guys dance?
35:00
Emeal Zwayne: I can't.
35:01
Mark Spence: I can't.
35:02
Ray Comfort: my wife can dance, I cannot no the only done, only done, so I can do is with the stand-alive.
35:07
Ray Comfort: That's about it.
35:09
Mark Spence: And all my kids can dance.
35:10
Mark Spence: They all love the dance.
35:12
Oscar Navarro: I'm the dancer in my marriage, are you?
35:13
Oscar Navarro: I do love to dance.
35:15
Emeal Zwayne: Really, oscar, can you dance Absolutely?
35:16
Emeal Zwayne: Wow, as he says it with humility I can do it with grace.
35:20
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, you can.
35:21
Emeal Zwayne: What I don't want you.
35:23
Ray Comfort: You can dance right using the New Zealand word dance, not dance and dance oh dance.
35:35
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, job 820 to 21 behold, god will not cast away the blameless, nor will he uphold the evildoers.
35:40
Emeal Zwayne: He will yet fill your mouth with laughing and your lips with rejoicing.
35:44
Emeal Zwayne: Well, was that?
35:45
Ray Comfort: one of Job's comforts.
35:47
Emeal Zwayne: It was.
35:48
Oscar Navarro: I was just thinking like what is, what is the situation where you, you just don't want Something that you don't want to say in front of somebody and like I think a good example for us is, like you, how bald Eddie Roman is, like he's so bald.
36:01
Ray Comfort: I think he's one of the boldest preachers I know.
36:03
Ray Comfort: Leave him alone.
36:05
Emeal Zwayne: Bold bald.
36:06
Emeal Zwayne: He's listening.
36:07
Emeal Zwayne: By the way, I'll tell you some of the the best times for Rachel and me is when we've had some point of tension between us, and Then one of us will crack a joke and gonna be, rachel wouldn't know.
36:17
Emeal Zwayne: Typically, and we'll both just break down in the laughter and seriously, it's like instant healing.
36:23
Oscar Navarro: It's such a good tool.
36:24
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, and we just realized that was why were we, you know, arguing over that or having tension over that?
36:28
Oscar Navarro: You know, it just immediately brings reconciliation and again, it's like this medicine, it's like it's just just instant shot of, of boosting, you know, pleasure and going back to what I said earlier, because Kelly, kelly and I say that often she says it more often like humor is such an powerful tool in our marriage and what is it doing that moment?
36:49
Oscar Navarro: It makes you realize how small that thing is, that you're about to make really big yeah right, yeah, so it's always laughing at me.
36:59
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, I love this.
37:00
Emeal Zwayne: In Psalm 126, 1 to 3, when the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dream.
37:06
Emeal Zwayne: Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue was singing.
37:10
Emeal Zwayne: Then they said among the nations the Lord has done great things for them, the Lord has done great things for us and we are glad.
37:17
Emeal Zwayne: What scriptures that.
37:18
Ray Comfort: That's Psalm 126 1 to 3 and speaking of that, spurgeon said if anyone's mouth ought to be full of laughter, it should certainly be ours, speaking of the Oscillation between tears and laughter when it comes to God's salvation that he's crowded us.
37:32
Emeal Zwayne: I mean, again, you know that laughter is often a byproduct of being relaxed.
37:38
Emeal Zwayne: Enjoy, yeah, being being at peace, being at ease, and all of that is Is a byproduct of knowing the Lord, you know, trusting God.
37:47
Emeal Zwayne: I mean usually someone, typically, when they're tense, you know, and just stressed and frazzled, it's hard to get them to laugh, you know, because they're just so wound up.
37:56
Emeal Zwayne: But but when you're in that relaxed, at ease mode, you're open to that and and it just it's that kind of gift that keeps on giving and so we need to keep our focus where it should be on.
38:08
Ray Comfort: I've mentioned it before, but it's it's applicable at the moment.
38:10
Ray Comfort: I remember when came out of a vet veterinarian where a dog had been put down our dog he put down, but a mother and a daughter, and she wasn't a 30s.
38:19
Ray Comfort: The daughter came out just absolutely destroyed because they're their dog had been put down.
38:24
Ray Comfort: It was a big dog which is harder to put down than a little dog.
38:27
Ray Comfort: Anyway, okay, the million dollar bill.
38:34
Ray Comfort: As they came out blubbing their eyes out, I said this will help you pay the bill and they both burst out laughing and when walking down the sidewalk, Still laughing you know we used to have a gospel track called Matt as hell.
38:45
Mark Spence: That's right and there was a bad road rage scenario that that I had witnessed and this guy pulls up to the gas station and he's yelling and he's cussing at this guy that had Cut him off or something.
38:56
Mark Spence: And I went up to him and I had that gospel track Matt is how and I go.
38:58
Mark Spence: You look like you could Really use this.
39:00
Mark Spence: I didn't know what to do.
39:02
Mark Spence: I was just bracing myself and he looked at it and just started laughing.
39:05
Mark Spence: You know I had it.
39:06
Mark Spence: Yeah, Matt is hell.
39:08
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, gospel track.
39:09
Emeal Zwayne: And you know it's interesting, isn't it that at funerals, typically at the wake or even at the funeral, people will get up and start sharing memories and people start laughing.
39:18
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah, and you would think, wait, this is a funeral.
39:20
Emeal Zwayne: Why are you laughing?
39:20
Emeal Zwayne: You know, and I grew up in in the Catholic context where you didn't do that.
39:24
Emeal Zwayne: I mean, at funerals, everyone is in black, black.
39:27
Mark Spence: Is that a Lebanese culture thing?
39:28
Mark Spence: It's an.
39:29
Emeal Zwayne: Arab culture thing, everyone's in black.
39:30
Emeal Zwayne: I mean, you know it goes back to this a mediculture they would hire more right, yeah, it was a demonstration of this is you know trap.
39:36
Emeal Zwayne: But but for the believer especially, I mean it's healing as people are mourning and weeping it.
39:41
Emeal Zwayne: There's those moments of laughter as you're remembering the person and God uses it to give you that sense of comfort and my Funeral is gonna be hilarious with you heating it up.
39:50
Emeal Zwayne: Oh, I can't wait.
39:54
Mark Spence: Got all the jokes like we're gonna die first and raise.
39:57
Mark Spence: Gonna have to tell jokes.
39:59
Ray Comfort: I know I'll just put pictures of you guys up.
40:02
Emeal Zwayne: That'll do it.
40:02
Emeal Zwayne: I love Luke 621.
40:04
Emeal Zwayne: This is Jesus.
40:05
Emeal Zwayne: Bless it Are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled.
40:09
Emeal Zwayne: Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
40:12
Ray Comfort: Yeah, and in his presence is fullness of joy.
40:15
Emeal Zwayne: Amen at his right hand, pleasures evermore.
40:18
Emeal Zwayne: And you know this is kind of cool even that it's mentioned.
40:21
Emeal Zwayne: You know we often talk about the, the godly, virtuous woman of Proverbs 31, 21, proverbs 31, 25.
40:27
Emeal Zwayne: Strength and dignity are her clothing and she laughs at time to come.
40:32
Emeal Zwayne: There's this joy about her, you know she's she's full of, of Laughter, she considers a future because she's at peace and every every anniversary my wife and I, like we ask what are our strengths and weaknesses and anniversary last year.
40:46
Oscar Navarro: I said what are our strengths?
40:47
Oscar Navarro: And she said laughter.
40:48
Oscar Navarro: And I said what are our weaknesses?
40:50
Oscar Navarro: She said hand-to-hand combat.
40:53
Emeal Zwayne: And you know it's interesting when you think about you know Abraham and Sarah and the promise that God gave them that they were gonna have a son, and you remember Sarah laughed and it was not the right kind of laughter, right, and you know, and she's like I did and he's like no, but you did laugh right there.
41:09
Emeal Zwayne: It's a funny little discourse.
41:10
Ray Comfort: It is, I love it.
41:12
Emeal Zwayne: No, it didn't just no, didn't, yeah.
41:14
Emeal Zwayne: But then she has Isaac, right, and I love what it says in 21, 6 of Genesis.
41:19
Emeal Zwayne: It says and Sarah said God has made me laugh, yeah, and all who here will laugh with me.
41:24
Emeal Zwayne: You know, like that came to that point where now it became righteous laughter, like Joyous laughter, like Lord you did it.
41:30
Emeal Zwayne: Isaac means laughter, yeah, and Isaac means laughter I sick.
41:37
Oscar Navarro: I'm gonna go back to laughter.
41:38
Oscar Navarro: What you brought up earlier and what you kind of touched on, which is the idea that because maybe there's a new believer here listening, that is like has that?
41:46
Oscar Navarro: Wow, you know, like I, I do still find these comedians Funny that maybe I shouldn't be fine funny.
41:53
Oscar Navarro: I'm reminded of Romans, which says do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be Transformed by the renewing of your mind.
42:00
Oscar Navarro: And it goes on to say so that you can attest.
42:04
Oscar Navarro: Maybe right now you have not been able to attest yet, because there's still more transformative work to happen in your mind and the only way that happens is by saturating your mind with God's words surrounding yourselves, with the community of believers, so that your Flavor palette of humor will be changed, so that your mind will be transformed, so that you can be able to enjoy Godly humor and begin to attest to, to the tasteless, ungodly humor that you have now, not much different than when, like my kids, kids just don't have the same robust flavor palette as most adults.
42:45
Oscar Navarro: Besides, easy, right there, flavor palette hasn't developed yet.
42:49
Oscar Navarro: But when you get older, your flavor palette develops and you can take.
42:52
Oscar Navarro: You're not just wanting the sweet, you want the savory.
42:55
Oscar Navarro: You want it All in that same way as believers.
42:58
Oscar Navarro: We need to develop that flavor palette.
43:00
Oscar Navarro: We need our, our minds to be transformed, to be more like Christ.
43:05
Emeal Zwayne: Yeah there's something sweet about righteous laughter, and especially when it's among People that you know and that's really a whole part of community.
43:15
Emeal Zwayne: I mean humor oftentimes comes with Familiarity.
43:20
Emeal Zwayne: I mean we have so many inside jokes between us all here because we've known each other for so long and we can just too long we can say a word right, or give an expression or, and immediately we start laughing because it triggers all of that, and so I like that, oscar.
43:36
Emeal Zwayne: Community enhances laughter, and then becoming accustomed to the righteous Attributes that should be longed us as believers through the word and living them out will also enhance appreciating righteous laughter.
43:49
Emeal Zwayne: So one final thing here and we'll wrap up.
43:52
Emeal Zwayne: But I talked about earlier that the short-term effects of laughter.
43:56
Emeal Zwayne: Here are the long-term effects.
43:57
Emeal Zwayne: You improve your immune system, you relieve pain, you increase personal satisfaction and you improve your mood, and these things can carry over into long-term impact through being a people of laughter.
44:13
Emeal Zwayne: All right, friends, there you have it.
44:19
Emeal Zwayne: We hope to keep you laughing through the years.
44:21
Emeal Zwayne: So please, let us help you.
44:23
Emeal Zwayne: Email us at podcast of living waters, calm.
44:26
Emeal Zwayne: Let us know how we can do interesting podcasts and oh, ray, comfort brought me a stack of things, ray, I can't believe I didn't think about these when I was thinking about what to uh tell our friends to get a hold of today.
44:36
Emeal Zwayne: 101 things dogs do to annoy their owners.
44:40
Emeal Zwayne: 101 things husbands do to annoy their wives.
44:43
Emeal Zwayne: 101 of the dumbest things people have done.
44:46
Emeal Zwayne: And don't forget our.
44:47
Emeal Zwayne: Is it upside down?
44:49
Emeal Zwayne: Oh, the skydivers upside down?
44:52
Emeal Zwayne: 101 of the world's funniest one-liner Tracked.
44:56
Emeal Zwayne: You got to get those friends.
44:58
Emeal Zwayne: And don't forget, god has a wonderful plan for your life.
45:01
Emeal Zwayne: That's it there, you have it.
45:03
Emeal Zwayne: Thank you for joining us.
45:04
Emeal Zwayne: Well, raise, anxious to get out of here.
45:06
Emeal Zwayne: Oh yeah, hey, zay Linco.
45:07
Ray Comfort: Linda's here and there's lunch and I'm hungry.
45:10
Emeal Zwayne: Dead chicken Is it dead chicken?
45:12
Emeal Zwayne: Yes, it's dead chicken.
45:13
Emeal Zwayne: Thank you For joining us, friends.
45:16
Emeal Zwayne: Oh, and all that stuff at living waters calm, don't forget my face of the murder than all that other stuff.
45:19
Emeal Zwayne: Thank you for joining us.
45:20
Emeal Zwayne: We'll see you here next time on the Living Waters podcast.
45:24
Emeal Zwayne: The ultimate cure For insomnia.