Sweet Selah Moments Podcast: Recent Episodes
Sweet Selah Ministries
Welcome to Season 12! We are continuing the stories of Jesus, now linking some of our favorites to the Fruits of the Spirit, starting with Love. Our story is found...
May you be blessed by Cici’s gift of song as we at Sweet Selah take July off to rest. We will be back in August, Lord willing!
Sharon and Nicole read through several passages today discussing Jesus’ mother Mary and how she surrendered her life to the beautiful and heartbreaking mission of carrying, raising, and letting...
On today’s episode, found in John 4:1-42, we are talking about the woman at the well and Jesus’ life changing conversation with her that can change our lives as well!...
Today we will be discovering more about Mary Magdalene and her life following Jesus. She is mentioned often throughout his ministry years and plays a key role after his resurrection....
Join Sharon and Nicole as they discuss Jesus’ view of children and rejoice in His heart for their value…a very controversial view in His day! They will be looking at...
In today’s episode, Sharon and Nicole talk about the widow’s two mites and also the parable of the woman with the lost coin; discussing the dilemma of either too much...
Have you ever felt desperate for an answer from God? In today’s episode, we talk about the tenacious faith of the Gentile woman who came to Jesus for healing for...
There are days when it feels like we have way too much to do. How can we find time with God when the needs keep piling up? Jesus knew this...
Did you know that several women played a role in financially supporting Jesus and his disciples during his ministry years? Listen in today as we learn about the women who...
In today’s episode, we will read the story about the woman caught in the act of sin, and Jesus’ surprising response to what would appear to be her obvious guilt....
It is easy to love the important, the popular, the “big” people in our culture who can benefit us in some way. But loving the least? The overlooked? The small?...
Have you ever had a situation where you had tried everything on your own and nothing helped? Our episode today looks at a woman in the Bible who struggled for...
There are times in all of our lives when we feel like God is silent…but is He truly? Listen in as we read about Mary and Martha and their heartbreak...
Welcome to Season 11~The Stories of Jesus~ In this episode, Sharon and Nicole start to dig into the stories of Jesus in the Bible, particularly the stories in which He...
Is life not going as well as you would like? Are you waiting on help from God that seems far off? Listen in with us today as we read...
Have you had seasons in your life when depression had a grip on you? Are you, perhaps, struggling with it now? Join us today as we read about David’s...
Does your heart yearn for God? What does that look like in our daily lives? Listen in today as Sharon and Nicole read Psalm 84 and learn how to...
Testimonies…we all have them, but how do we share them? God is always at work around us, and as Christ-followers, He is daily changing and refining our hearts as we...
Waiting can be so hard. I don’t know if anyone actually likes it! Can we learn to “wait well”? Listen in with Nicole and Sharon today as they chat about...
Have you ever been betrayed by a close friend? It is a terrible feeling to be sure. Where do we go for help? Join Sharon and Nicole as they...
We humans can put way too much trust in money, can’t we? We often feel that all our troubles would go away if we just had a little more. Is...
Sometimes forcing oneself to be good seems to take a tremendous amount of effort. Join Sharon and Nicole as we learn from David in Psalm 39 how to be good...
Forgiveness is such a huge part of our journey as Christians. We first receive it generously from God, and then we are asked to freely give it to others. But...
Blessings are such a beautiful gift to speak over those we love and care about, and can be a joy to give! But wishing God’s best for someone who is...
Where do you go when you find yourself in trouble? Too often we go to friends and family a LONG time before we remember the first One we ought to...
We have an update for you. Enjoy this shorter episode, today, and learn why we are going to a monthly format. Remember to email Sharon and Nicole at sh*@*ah.org with...
Episode 1: Dealing with Enemies Dealing with Enemies Transcript Episode 141 – Dealing With Enemies. Start Season Ten with Nicole and Sharon by exploring the ancient word, “selah” and discovering...
No matter how hard you try, the work is never done. So. When is one supposed to rest? Join Sharon and Nicole in this encouraging episode as they share tips on how to rest well - even in the middle of the mess. God has made us with a desire to work and be productive and also a need for rest. Let's honor Him in both areas, and stop thinking of rest as optional.
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You can read the transcript for When Is It Time to Rest?-Episode-140Speaker 1:
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word with Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole:
Welcome to Sweet Selah Moments. This is episode 140, When Is it Time to Rest? Today as we close out our winter/spring season of podcasting, we want to revisit that elusive word rest. I don’t know about you, but my life is busy. Even when I try really hard to keep it uncluttered. If I don’t intentionally set aside time to rest, rest will just not happen.
Sharon:
Same here, Nicole, even without children and puppies. No matter what age or stage it seems that we can always find something else to do.
Nicole: Always.
Sharon:
Always. And yet God calls us to rest in him over and over and over again. Why is it we find ourselves feeling guilty when we stop when he tells us to do it?
Nicole:
I know, that’s a good question. I know I get hung up on this earning of rest, you know, feeling like I deserve it after I work hard for it. And when I do rest, I see all the undoneness around me and feel like I should be doing all the things.
Sharon: Yeah. Yep.
Nicole:
It’s so hard to get my focus off of what I need to accomplish or earn for rest when God is just offering it to me freely.
Sharon:
Exactly. And you’re right. One of the secrets is you can’t wait till you’re done ’cause,
Nicole:
You’ll never be done.
Sharon:
You’ll never be done. There’s always another task. (Nicole: Yep) Always, always, always. And I think the American work ethic that we have is good in the sense that we all work hard and accomplish a lot. (Sure) But bad in the sense that we put our value in what we do, not in whose we are.
Nicole:
Oh yeah. Right. I mean, think about a lot of our ancestors that came over and were hardworking farmers and they had to work and work, that’s in our bones, in our heritage.
Sharon:
It’s in our genes. It absolutely is. So therefore, work feels laudatory. Rest feels slothful.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon: Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole:
Or extra or silly or you know, frivolous. That’s sort of thing. Frivolous.
Sharon: There you go.
Nicole:
Frivolous. Like, oh you rest. Oh well that must be nice.
Sharon:
That must be nice. Yeah. And then, and the good guys one that says, well, I wish I had time to rest, but I am too busy doing important things.
Nicole:
Exactly. I’m working. Rest is not for me ’cause I’m working hard.
Sharon:
Exactly. Exactly so.
Nicole: It’s tough.
Sharon:
Well, today we are gonna look at some of my very favorite scriptures on rest and learn some vital lessons about our absolute need for it. Whether we think we have time for it or not.
Nicole: Yep.
Sharon:
So let’s start at the very, very beginning. Nicole, why don’t you read our first passage of the day.
Nicole:
Perfect. I’m reading from Genesis 2:1-3. “So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.” So this is interesting. You know what I just realized?
Sharon: What?
Nicole:
That he created rest and Adam and Eve rested before they ever did work.
Sharon:
Their first day was rest.
Nicole:
Their first day of existence, they were made on the sixth day, right? It was the sixth. And the next day they rested before they ever did anything. God did the work for us. He made all of creation and then rested to show us ’cause he didn’t need it. But then Adam and Eve rested before they did anything else.
Sharon:
Isn’t that the nicest?
Nicole: What?
Sharon:
They could just hang out and look at all the new birds and animals and all the things.
Nicole:
Because God did the work for them.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
Isn’t that such a beautiful start to this whole concept of rest?
Sharon:
It’s gorgeous. It is. And I mean, talk about it being established at the beginning. (Nicole: Yeah) On the first week (Yep) it was established.
Nicole:
So it’s very important.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
And I don’t know why we fight it so much and overlook it so much.
Sharon:
I know it.
Nicole:
We need it Sharon. We need it.
Sharon:
We do. Rest is a blessed thing. (NIcole: Yes) Yes. So God didn’t just wanna rest himself. He wants us to rest. (Yes) And I love that Resting is one of the Big Ten in the Ten Commandments. That has always fascinated me because I feel like we know ‘thou shalt not murder’ still applies. (Mm-Hmm) We know that committing adultery is still wrong. You know, all of those are Ten Commandment things. (Right) But somehow we walk away from the rest one. So, (Yeah) so anyways, I’m gonna read from Exodus 20:8-11. This is our next passage on rest. “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work. But the seventh day is a sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day, no one in your household may do any work.” (This includes, just in case you think there’s an exception clause)
Nicole:
That one kid that gets to work.
Sharon:
(I know it. Okay) “This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. For in six days, the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them. But on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.” (Nicole: Yes) So God established a pattern of work and rest for his people Israel, that is so clear. And you know, Jesus didn’t not do it. He changed it a bit. (Right) Because it became very legalistic and (Yeah) choking. (Mm-Hmm) But he observed Sabbath. He went to synagogue like everybody else. (Right) He was in the synagogue on Sabbath. He definitely healed people on the Sabbath when they came across his path. (Yes) But he was, you know, the other healing days were there too. Mostly he rested. (Yeah) He clarified Sabbath though. He said in Mark 2:27 that “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath”. Because what had happened was the Pharisees and the other religious leaders were so diligent in keeping it that they’d made it exhausting. (Right) It didn’t feel restful at all. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Don’t walk too far. You can only take so many steps or it’s work. Well what if, what’s restful for you is a long walk through the woods? Oh, nope. Can’t do it. Can’t do it.
Nicole:
Too many steps.
Sharon:
Yep. And then the disciples got in trouble for taking grain and rubbing it between their hands to eat it. (Nicole: Goodness) Because that’s work. So basically they’d robbed the Sabbath of what it originally
meant. What do you think Jesus meant when he said “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath”?
Nicole:
I believe that God truly wanted to bless us with the Sabbath. You know, it was a way of showing us our smallness, that our ‘never doneness’, that we will always feel. And we need to feel that, that we’ll never be done because it points us to him and how he completes all things. And how he keeps the world running, not us. And it keeps us humble. I think there’s a humility in, well I haven’t earned this rest and there’s a million things that I’ll have to do until I die, but God gave me this gift. So there’s joy in that. I think they had lost the joy of the Sabbath trying to keep it as a rule.
Sharon:
Right, right, right. It was an annoyance to them. Instead of a ‘we get to’, we get to rest? Seriously?
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
This is so cool.
Nicole:
It’s like a snow day. Well, you know what’s neat about the Ten Commandments? There’s the one about the Sabbath and the ones after that I had read recently that those are, you kind of need to be in a place of rest. It’s like a transition. The day and keep it holy. It’s kinda the to the other ones that spring from a life of and rest. I thought that was really
Sharon:
That is interesting. Yeah.
Nicole:
It’s because it’s kind of like ‘don’t murder’, yeah that’s a good one. ‘Don’t be envious’. ‘Don’t steal’. ‘We’ll keep the Sabbath day holy’. Well that doesn’t feel as heavy as like not murdering.
Sharon:
Uh-huh. Right, right, right.
Nicole:
But it was important enough,
Sharon:
It was that important, yeah.
Nicole:
For God to make it a commandment.
Sharon:
Sabbath
transition
commandment,
obedience
interesting.
Right, right.
Nicole:
Cause he knows we are better when we rest in him.
Sharon:
Absolutely. Absolutely. And I know there are a million different opinions on Sabbath even today. I’m gonna share mine, but I don’t say that it’s the one you have to do at all. (Nicole: Right) It’s just as I wrestled with this, what I came up with. (Yeah) And I kept in mind that doctors, you know, are on call on Sundays. And I’m awfully glad they are. (Yes. Thank you doctors) Hello. If I had a heart attack on a Sunday, I’d hate for everybody to be going or Saturday or whatever day. Sorry. Can’t help you today. (It’s my rest day) Firemen still, you know, hose down burning buildings (Yes) if it happens on what we would call a Sabbath day. So I knew that it couldn’t be strictly kept. But I kind of liked the thought that you work for six, do ordinary work and then you set aside a day for him. (Yes) One way or another. So when the girls were in high school, I started something I call Sabbath-ing.
Nicole:
I love it. We’re making it a verb.
Sharon:
Because, I made it a verb and I would tell my family, ’cause they were new to this and I didn’t make anybody else do it. This was my thing. It was my conviction. It wasn’t law, it was just my conviction. And I would tell them, if you need any help, including you, Raymond, my husband, like if you wanna wash the car, it has to be done Saturday during the day. (Nicole: Yes) Because once the sun goes down, I’m not working. Oh, it felt so good to say it. So they would have to remember, you know, anything that they needed help with to get help with it. Because I really did, you know, I’d have supper and then I would just read books. (Oh, that’s so nice) I would, you know, watch maybe a TV show. I’d take long walks. (Yeah) I would nap on the Sunday after church and then sun down Sunday night, I’d be helping them get ready for school the next day. (Yes. Yeah) But I took the 24 hours, kind of like the Jewish people do. They go sundown to sundown. And I found that worked better for me.
Nicole:
That does work really well. Doing a whole 24 hours in one day is kind of, it’s almost a little impossible. (Sharon: It is) But I love the sundown Saturday ’cause Sunday evening is a great day to prep for the week ahead. (Absolutely) If you’re busy and have kiddos and everything else. So having that evening is, but you’re ready for it. It’s kind of like a special quiet time. Now I get to sit there and I’m rested. It’s become a joy to plan my week on Sunday nights now. (Yes. Yes) Instead of like, oh, I hate planning, because I’m rested.
Sharon:
Yes, ’cause you’re rested and you can go into it. So I call it Sabbath-ing. And then if I speak at a retreat, I’m not resting. (Nicole: Yeah) But then I try to find another day during the week. (Yes) That’s my Sabbath-ing, you know, day.
Nicole:
And that’s okay because it’s not legalistic. (Sharon: No) You don’t need to only rest on Sunday. Obviously our pastors can’t rest on Sundays. (Exactly) They get all of three hours between morning and evening events. (Yeah) So they have to pick a different day to Sabbath. (Right, right, right) And that’s totally fine.
Sharon:
It is. I think it is. I think the concept is six days of work, one day set apart, holy, different day. And whenever it is, it’s ’cause it’s for your good. (Nicole: Yes) We’re not bowing to Sabbath. (Right) Sabbath is not an idol. It’s given to us ’cause we need it. Our bodies need rest.
Nicole:
Yeah. And I think even if we’re starting from a place of super busy, super crazy schedules, even if we can’t give a full 24 hours or a full day, even if we’re intentional about a few hours to start out with. (Sharon: Right, right)Just being submissive in that and sacrificial in that time. Like, okay, God, I’m giving you these three hours today where I’m gonna rest or whatever it is. We can start small I think (Sure we can) if it feels daunting to take a whole day. (Yes we can) Especially where you’re just kind of trying to figure out where to fit it and it grows into something more.
Sharon:
Right. Right. And like I said, that’s a conviction. It’s not, I’m not preaching it for everybody but, that’s what has worked for me.
Nicole:
Yeah. For sure. So.
Sharon: Okay.
Nicole:
Well I’m gonna read Psalm 23. I’ve always loved this psalm. So I’ll read the first three verses, as they emphasize rest really well. “The Lord is my Shepherd. I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green pastures. He leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along the right paths, bringing honor to his name.” I just read that in two different versions because I memorized it in a different version. That’s funny, green meadows. This reminds me of my little girl when she memorized this, when she was in, I think she was kindergarten. He lets me lay down in green grass, or he lets me sit in green grass. I love that.
Sharon: He lets me.
Nicole:
He lets me sit in green grass, she said. Oh, I love this. He is our good Shepherd though. God knew that we can’t just stop everything. And he provides all that we need first. We really have all that we need to rest. We don’t need to do as much as we think we do. We don’t need to have everything perfectly organized. We can just rest as we are.
Sharon:
Exactly so. And I love verse three, “he renews my strength”. Well first you’ve rested in the green meadows, you’ve had the peaceful streams and that in itself renews our strength. And from that we can go back and work again.
Nicole:
And then he guides me along the right paths to bring honor to his name. So there’s the rest, there’s the renewal and then there’s the getting back to work fresh.
Sharon:
Exactly. Exactly.
Nicole:
It’s a nice pattern to it.
Sharon:
So, so good. It’s like I really can nap. It’s all right.
Nicole: It’s safe.
Sharon:
So, but we’re foolish sheep sometimes. (Nicole: Yes) We think we have to work and fret and worry all the time, even though it does no good. So Psalm 127 kind of scolds us for overworking. So now we’ve heard the Shepherd say rest. (Yes) Now we’re gonna get a scolding. So I’m reading verses one and two of Psalm 127. It says this, “Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted. Unless the Lord protects the city, guarding it with sentries will do you no good. It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat, for God gives rest to his loved ones.” (Oh) Isn’t this the coolest? It’s like, (it’s a beautiful verse) you know what, you can work and work and work and work and work and it will do you no good anyways unless God is in it. (Right) Right. You can build the strongest house in the world and an earthquake or a sinkhole can jus, whoosh! There it is, just gone. Right?
Nicole: Just gone.
Sharon:
Right. So basically rest. Don’t frantically work every second of every day.
Nicole:
Panicking you won’t have enough to eat.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
Is God going to provide for us.
Sharon:
Right. Yeah. Yeah. So that is so good. So God tells us to rest. How about you and your kids? Do you let your children rest? Or are you like, no, no, work all the time. What are your thoughts on that?
Nicole:
Oh goodness. I had learned early on with my oldest, she would come home from school and be just so exhausted. And then before I asked her about her day, I would take her and give her some crayons and let her go rest in the corner and just color. (Sharon: Aww) Because she was so frazzled and so like a miserable little thing. She was all grumpy. But then she was fine when she had time to rest and decompress. (Isn’t that neat?) As an earthly mom, my kids now are, you know, they’re in sports and they have instruments in school and they’re busy little things, but giving them the opportunity to rest, they’re so much better for it. And it’s a joy to help them rest. (Yes) Because it’s like a gift I can offer them. And I think about God is such a way better parent than I am to me So he also finds joy in seeing us rest. He wants us to be at our best for him. He doesn’t want frantic, exhausted, (No) soldiers for Christ marching on until our boots fall off our feet in blisters. You know, he’s very kind. He wants us to have rest.
Sharon:
Yeah. And wisely. It’s when we’re rested that we do the best anyways.
Nicole:
It’s true. Because we’re not dogging along one foot in front of the other on our own strength.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
It stops us to remember to look up to him.
Sharon:
It does. That’s why it’s a holy day. (Nicole: Yeah) You know, it’s a day set apart to remember he’s in charge.
Nicole:
That’s true. Because if we just took a day for ourselves, it’s not quite as restful.
Sharon:
Nope. No. It’s not.
Nicole:
There’s something different about that.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. Alright, well let’s look at one more rather disastrous story, where the Israelites got themselves in trouble. (Nicole: Oh yeah) They were about to be attacked and in a panic they tried to make a treaty with Egypt to help them and didn’t reach out to the Lord, which would’ve been a far wiser thing to do. (Probably) So Isaiah 30:15-19 says this. “This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel says, only in returning to me and resting in me, will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it. You said, oh no, we will go get help from Egypt. They will give us swift horses for riding into battle. But the only swiftness you are going to see is the swiftness of your enemies chasing you. One of them will chase a thousand of you. Five of them will make you all flee. You will be left like a lonely flagpole on a hill or a tattered banner on a distant mountaintop. So the Lord must
wait for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion, for the Lord is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for his help. Oh, people of Zion who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will be gracious if you ask for . He will surely respond to the sound of your cries.” So I love the fact that when they’re rushing around, ask Egypt, we’ll do all these things. (Right) They’re just making it worse. (Yeah) I can do that. I can make it worse. In a panic, I can spill the coffee because I’m not careful and I can do all the things wrong (Yes) because I’m too frantic. (Oh yeah) It’s in quietness and confidence that my strength comes. It’s the stopping when I’m scared and getting help.
Nicole:
Yes. Even in an emergency. Just a quick three second closing of my eyes, ‘Lord, help me’. It just resets our bodies.
Sharon: It does.
Nicole:
It gets our body out of that flight or fight where we’re not functioning at our best and our most fluid, where we are jerking around and anxious. So there’s something about just recentering our focus on God (Sharon: Yeah. Yeah) that gives us that calm to think more logically, I think.
Sharon: I agree.
Nicole:
You know, we’re not running to Egypt to make,
Sharon:
Right. Make better decisions and you really get God’s perspective here. He is like, what are you doing? (Nicole: Right) Oh my goodness. You are gonna be so in trouble. And now I must wait.
Nicole:
Right. I must wait for you to come to me.
Sharon:
Right. I mean he could force them, but that’s not God’s way. (Nicole: No) He wants us to come. (Yeah) He tells us all the time, come to me, you know? And we don’t. So he must wait.
Nicole:
And you know, sometimes even just the act of stopping to acknowledge him and remembering the big picture, the big plan, sometimes the emergencies just seem to fizzle down a little bit.
Sharon: They do
Nicole:
That, maybe missing your flight or, we were at the airport recently and it was just chaos. And I was like, let’s breathe. We got this Josh, let’s pray. And it did. We calmed right down. We weren’t frantic about missing the flight. (Sharon: Yes) And everything worked out. And it’s not the end of the world. We could just reschedule a flight. (Exactly) No one’s gonna lose a limb. But in the moment things feel so huge and so emergent, you know? (Yep) But I think just stopping to refocus on God, it just makes it, Oh this isn’t really life or death. It’s okay.
Sharon:
It really isn’t. Yes. And if he really is in charge of us, Oh, and he is.
Nicole:
Oh yeah, that’s right.
Sharon:
And he really is sovereign and has things planned out (Nicole: Yeah) and he does, then even a missed flight can be an opportunity for something we don’t know.
Nicole:
Exactly. What if there’s a person that you speak to?
Sharon: Exactly.
Nicole:
You just don’t know. We have to trust him and breathe. When these things feel so huge.
Sharon:
Yes. Yes. And remember when we turn to him, we remember he’s right there. (Nicole: Yes) It’s not like he leaves us. (Right) Right in the chaos he walks us through it. We just have to remember he is there. I can remember a chaotic time where I remembered the verse where his righteous right hand will hold me so I don’t have to be afraid. (Oh) And I just pictured it. You know half the time I had my little hand up just imagining him holding it. (Right) Because I was scared. But my big Father’s hand was holding mine. (Oh) So I wasn’t going anywhere he wasn’t going with me, right?
Nicole:
Right. Oh, I love that.
Sharon:
So we have got to stop (Nicole: Yes) when the bad things happen and rest for at least a second. (Yes) And look at him. So there’s so many more verses. I had to stop because I’m like, okay, so this podcast could be 75 minutes long. You know the verses that talk about Jesus getting up early to find times to pray. (Yeah) Jesus was so crowded by people. (Oh yeah) He had very little freedom. So what did he do? He went without sleep because it was that important to get the restfulness of being alone with God. (Yes) And maybe he slept there. Sometimes in my quiet times, I pray, sleep, pray, sleep, pray.
Nicole:
I love that.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. So the aloneness with his Father is where he regathered his strength. So he called his disciples to come away and get rest in Mark 6 when they got interrupted by the crowds. (Nicole: Oh, that’s right. Yeah) He did the crowds but then he sent them away again and he went up into the mountains to be alone.
Nicole:
It was important to him.
Sharon:
It was so important to him. You know and I also discovered a bit of rest that Jesus chose shortly before he was crucified. I noticed it when I was writing the Bible study I wrote on the book of John. He had just raised Lazarus from the dead. And the plots to kill him were multiplying. And there he is resting. I didn’t know this part. Nicole read it for us. It’s John 11:53-54. I love this so much.
Nicole:
Oh fun. “So from this time on, the Jewish leaders began to plot Jesus’ death. As a result, Jesus stopped his public ministry among the people and left Jerusalem. He went to a place near the wilderness to the village of Ephraim and stayed there with his disciples.” What? I have never seen that verse before.
Sharon:
Until I did the Bible study on it. I hadn’t either. I’m like,
Nicole:
That’s amazing!
Sharon:
He has a wilderness time right before the crucifixion. Just like he had a wilderness time right before he started his ministry.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
And I don’t how long it was.
Nicole:
That’s amazing.
Sharon:
But he went to a place near the wilderness and stayed there.
Nicole:
See, and that’s a good example too, because sometimes if I sit in the middle of my house, I see all the needs and the things and the kids. There’s something about removing ourselves from the things that distract us. I mean, Jesus could have been endlessly busy (Sharon: Yes) healing for everyone. (Yes) And so he removed himself from the needy people and the distractions that were always there to prepare himself for the big rescue plan.
Sharon:
Exactly. Exactly. Before the work of the cross there was a a rest.
Nicole:
That’s so beautiful.
Sharon:
Isn’t that so cool?
Nicole:
I didn’t know that.
Sharon:
It really is. Yeah. I was so happy when I found that. Well then, there are so many commands to rest. We really ought to take them seriously.
Nicole:
Yes, we should.
Sharon:
Our bodies need it. One of our speakers at the Refuge Retreat this past fall was Dr. Saundra Dalton- Smith. She’s written a wonderful book that I’ve underlined and re-underlined.
Nicole:
It’s so good. It’s so good.
Sharon:
Called Sacred Rest. So she shares from a medical and spiritual perspective, our body’s many needs for rest in seven specific areas. Not just the need for sleep, but the need for mental rest and social rest and emotional rest. (Nicole: Yes) So I recommend it. (Mm-Hmm) It’s so thought provoking. And if you still feel you need permission to rest, Dr. Saundra will give you the permission. So, but okay. Let’s finish by getting as practical as we can. We’re gonna come into July rest month soon. We always rest for the month of July and I so love that month. (Yes) It’s the month where our entire ministry stops every single thing and we do nothing. It’s so fun.
Nicole:
It’s wonderful.
Sharon:
So Nicole, why don’t you walk us through what you and Josh have implemented in order to rest in your own busy family and then I’ll share some things too. Let’s talk. I mean, ’cause we’re in this ministry and we try to practice it even though we still find it hard.
Nicole:
Yes. We still struggle with it. It’s not like it’s natural and every Sunday’s perfectly lovely. (Sharon: Yeah. Yeah) So it’s funny, when we first started talking about this, I was so excited to implement this and made rather a daunting list of things I wanted to do. (Yeah) Or felt I needed to do in order to have the perfect Sabbath rest day. You know, prepare things before. Well we’ve only probably ever had two perfectly orchestrated Sabbath days where I did like the laundry was done, the house was clean. It’s impossible. (Of course) But I feel God has shown me so gently through all of this with four busy little girls and a husband and dogs that rest truly is a gift. (Yeah) I have collapsed into Sabbath rest more times than I have jaunted in with my plan. I tell you, you know, it’s a gift that I can’t earn. I am never done enough to feel like I can make it on my own. You know? So it’s become more of a surrender, that I still have so much to do, but I’m trusting God that he has it and that I can rest in him even with the dishes full in the sink and, you know, it’s still okay. I can still benefit from this gift despite me not earning it. So as a big family, I like to have us rest separately for a while. So sometimes the girls, you know, they fight ’cause I have four girls from seven to 13. (Of course. Yes). So they’re all a little annoyed with each other. So everyone goes into a different area of the house. They get to do whatever they wanna do. It’s their fun. Like oh, great time to pull out that big Lego set, the big coloring page, whatever. Get out the bigger items (Right) to play with. So everyone has some quiet rest time on their own. I love to read or to crochet or to knit. (Yes) Or nap. Napping isn’t happening a lot lately. If the weather is good, we’ll go for a walk or we’ll go outside. My husband likes to disc golf, so he’ll take the kids disc golfing sometimes. We’ll do like a small, family activity. (Yeah) And if it’s crummy weather and we’re all exhausted: snuggles on the couch with popcorn in a movie.
Sharon: I love it.
Nicole:
Or we’ll do a game day. So we try to do intentionally separate Sabbath rest time and then intentional together time on a Sunday.
Sharon:
I like that. Yeah.
Nicole:
Yeah. We do have Sunday evening activities, which I’m still praying about, ’cause it makes our Sabbath day very short.
Sharon: Yeah.
Nicole:
Like two and a half hours. (Sharon: Yeah. Yeah) So that’s tough. So we kind of, on those days we just rest. Like I’m napping. That’s it. We’re not playing Monopoly, mama’s napping. You guys can go play outside.
Sharon: Right, right.
Nicole:
But we’ve found that, you know, it’s okay to just rest on those days.
Sharon: It is.
Nicole:
I try to make a crockpot meal the night before or we just do subs. We just throw together some food easily. Yeah, and we try not to schedule events where we’re all separate on Sundays. So we’ll go to like a family party together or something. We try not to all scatter to the four corners of the world because (Sharon: Yeah, yeah) you know, the kids are older.
Sharon:
You do that enough.
Nicole:
Yes. During the week we’re everywhere. But Sunday is family day.
Sharon:
I like that.
Nicole:
So that’s what we’ve got. Nothing fancy, just,
Sharon:
Yep. That was my parents too. We always took a family walk and rested on a Sunday. And the rest of the week we could do our own things.
Nicole:
Oh sure. (Sharon: Yeah) But it’s nice that the walks are nice. (Yeah) Especially now it’s getting warmer outside.
Sharon:
Yeah. The walks are beautiful. So I feel like again, the Sabbath was made for man. So what are the things that feel restful? What are the things that make me set it apart as a holy, a separated day. (Nicole: Yes) You know, whatever that is. So yeah. And then there’s also the other things we do that are restful that aren’t Sabbath things. Like I start my day with a quiet time. (Oh yes. Yeah) And I would, I absolutely am with Jesus there. I would rather get up early and have my time with God than stumble through the day without him. I’ve learned the hard way. (Yes) That even if it’s short you know, so I have my quiet time in the morning and then I always have reading without electronics and warm milk and a cookie before I go to bed every night. And I’ll tell you what, it sets my body for sleep.
Nicole:
That’s so important. Yeah.
Sharon:
It does. My body’s now: Oh, warm milk, cookie, I know what this means. It means you’re going to fall asleep soon. (Nicole: Yes) So it’s just a rhythm that I have, a rhythm of rest. (Yes) So my day’s book- ended with rest and now that I’m in my sixties, I need an hour to an hour and a half after lunch every day to rest again, which I didn’t used to need. And it’s a little annoying, but I do a lot of hard work in between. (Yeah) And if that’s what this little old body needs now, and it means that I can still do all the things I love to do. (Right. Nap away) I also nap.
Nicole: That’s great.
Sharon:
Isn’t that so fun? And then of course we’ve talked in the past about Selah days.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Once a month I take a day and run away with the Lord or stay home with the Lord. But it’s a Sabbath-ing idea where I’m just reading the books that I’ve laid aside that help me study him better. Reading the word, praying, napping. Yeah.
Nicole:
That’s so good. I forget about the intentional stopping through our daily days too.
Sharon:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Nicole:
That we need, we need to be reminded of him so often.
Sharon:
We do. We really do.
Nicole:
It’s like you said, starting a day without him in the morning is always awful.
Sharon:
It’s always awful.
Nicole:
I’ll get a really good rhythm going where I’m getting up early and meeting with him and my day is just so much better. It’s not perfect. (Sharon: No) But I’m responding so much better to the chaos around me. (Yes. Yes) And then if something happens, like we stay up late one night for something, then I get up
late, then I’m grumpy, then I stay up late. It’s awful. It’s like one bad decision is spirals the whole thing. But once you’ve had that rhythm of rest, to lose it, you’re like, oh, I gotta get back. Like, I need him.
Sharon: I need it.
Nicole:
I need these moments. Like those bookends like you said, like the quiet at night and the quiet in the morning. Without those, I’m a mess.
Sharon:
Me too. And I wanna be nice.
Nicole: I do.
Sharon:
And it’s hard for me to be nice unless I’ve had those quiet moments.
Nicole:
Yes. I want my kids to like being with Mama.
Sharon:
Yeah. There you go. Well, we need to stop, but we could talk about this forever. And if you wanna see more, just look at our website. So let me pray for us. Oh, Father, thank you for this season. Thank you for all Nicole and I have personally learned about the early church, about you, about boldness and witnessing for you, all the things. And Father, thank you for the gift of rest. The fact that you want us to, you call us to, you actually command us to stop. Lord, help us to be good workers and good stoppers. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole:
Amen. It’s hard to believe we are finished with our ninth season of podcasts. We hope that as summer approaches, you will carve out some time to rest. When is it time to rest? Well, the answer to our question today is when God says it’s time to rest, not when the work is necessarily done, because that will never happen. Let’s be intentional and plan rest into our lives. Sharon and I have discovered that when we rest, we are able to accomplish so much more. How about you? Have you got any rest stories for us? We’d love to hear them. Write us at sharon@sweetselah.org or through our website, sweet selah.org/podcast. We’ll be back in September with a whole new season of sharing with you. Until then, may God grant you moments of rest. And thanks so much for listening.
Speaker 1:
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Oftentimes, God loves to work with small people, small starts, and tiny encounters. Join Sharon and Nicole as they discuss Philip's one encounter with one man that led, eventually, to Christianity flourishing in Ethiopia. We don't have to have a whole lot to do a whole lot for the living God who works within us. He enjoys working with small. And He can turn small into HUGE anytime He chooses! Let's finish our series on the early church with a look at how God did exactly that and be challenged to go and do the same, today.
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You can read the transcript for The Power of Just One-Episode-138Speaker 1:
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word with Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole:
Welcome to Sweet Selah Moments. This is episode 139, The Power of Just One. It’s hard to believe that this is our last episode on the Book of Acts for season nine. Next week we are going to do something totally different, but today we are finishing our study of the very early church. While it is still mostly in Jerusalem and mostly Jewish. Perhaps in some other season we’ll explore the rest of Acts where we’ll meet Paul and follow his missionary journeys to the Gentiles. This last passage of scripture in Acts chapter eight will take us out of Jerusalem for sure, and we will see how God can use just one person to change a nation. I can’t wait to dive in.
Sharon:
It is amazing what just one person can do, Nicole. You know, God seems to delight in using those who are little to do big things. So can you think of some examples in the Bible where he did that?
Nicole:
I know David, we have to start with David and Goliath.
Sharon: We do.
Nicole:
The smallest of the brothers taking down a giant. That’s pretty epic.
Sharon:
That Is hugely epic. And then using Gideon, who was in the smallest tribe and the the youngest kid (Nicole: Oh yeah) who was not courageous at all. Gideon is hiding, threshing weed in some kind of cave somewhere, when the angel comes to him and says, hello, bold warrior and Gideon’s, like, uh, who are you talking to?
Nicole:
Are you talking to me?
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. Tiny again. (Nicole: Yes) Tiny Again.
Nicole:
I think of baby Jesus. He came as a baby. That was pretty tiny.
Sharon:
No kidding. No kidding. And not only was he born in a manger, which was a small and insignificant location. But he grew up in Nazareth and everybody knows nobody good comes from Nazareth. I mean, it
was like the worst place to be from. It was like the ghetto kind of thing, you know? (Right) And yet that smallness lent to such bigness. It’s so, so fun.
Nicole:
It’s amazing.
Sharon:
And he still uses small things today. Yeah. And, you know, I was thinking about my mentor Fern Nichols, who was the founder of Moms in Prayer International now In over 150 countries. And, you know, translations of their booklet in close to a hundred languages. I mean, it’s just stunning how many thousands upon thousands upon thousands of women pray in Moms in Prayer groups. And it started with one, with Fern. Who was just worried about her kids in junior high school. . And was like, if I could just find one other mom to pray with so that I could just pray for them and pray scripture over them, I would feel better.So how does that happen? Fern would say, I have no idea. I think it was God.
Nicole:
It was God. I love her.
Sharon:
I mean, I know it was God. You know what I mean? She’s just a simple woman that wanted to pray for her kids. And now it’s this international ministry. Just one.
Nicole:
That’s amazing.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. So.
Nicole:
I know, and I think of Sweet Selah when I joined, I think five years ago, there was only six members and we all sat around your little table. ’cause we could all fit .
Sharon:
That’s right. We were still fitting at the table.
Nicole:
It was so tiny, I know. And I loved it. It was just a small little thing that you had started with, it was just you, Lois, and one other person. Right?
Sharon: CaraMae. Yeah.
Nicole:
That started just three women with a heart for rest and serving God. And now look, there’s 22 of us on the ministry team. We have nine board members. You and I got to go to Alaska together. That was pretty cool.
Sharon: That is true.
Nicole:
Far away travels. But it’s grown into something so much more. The podcasts are fun and the Bible studies. But God takes our little offering. He just multiplies it.
Sharon:
He multiplies it.
Nicole:
Beyond what we can imagine.
Sharon:
More than we can imagine for sure. We’ve got followers in Nepal.
Nicole:
I was just gonna say, and there’s people in Nepal that listen to us. Like we never would’ve said, Hey, let’s, let’s minister to the people over there.
Sharon:
I know. I know. It’s just amazing. I’m so grateful. So, so grateful. Well, we’re gonna look at the power of just one today in our scripture. Main character is Philip the Evangelist again. We met him last week. Philip was one of the seven men chosen to be a deacon in order to make sure food distribution was smooth for all those widows in the church. And then we saw him last week as he went to the hated Samaria, preached the good news of Jesus there and saw them all, many of them converted to faith. So Philip was instrumental in moving the area of witnessing from Jerusalem and Judea into Samaria, which is Jesus’ mandate. (Yes) Today we’re gonna read how a spirit led encounter enabled Philip to spread the gospel to another country on another continent. So fun.
Nicole:
That’s so great. I love it.
Sharon:
Okay. Let’s begin.
Nicole:
We’re reading from Acts 8:26-40. And I’ll start with verse 26. “As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, go south, down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza”
Sharon:
“So he started out and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the Queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship,”
Nicole:
“And he was now returning, seated in his carriage he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah.”
Sharon:
“The Holy Spirit said to Philip, go over and walk along beside the carriage.”
Nicole:
“Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, do you understand what you were reading?”
Sharon:
“The man replied, how can I, unless someone instructs me? And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him.”
Nicole:
“The passage of scripture he had been reading was this: He was led like a sheep to the slaughter. And as a lamb is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.”
Sharon:
“He was humiliated and received no justice. Who can speak of his descendants, for his life was taken from the earth.”
Nicole:
“The eunuch asked Philip, tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else?”
Sharon:
“So, beginning with this same scripture, Philip told him the good news about Jesus.”
Nicole:
“As they road along, they came to some water and the eunuch said, look, there’s some water. Why can’t I be baptized?”
Sharon:
“He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.”
Nicole:
“When they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch never saw him again, but went on his way rejoicing.”
Sharon: “Meanwhile,
Nicole:
I love that.
Sharon:
(This is so fun) “Meanwhile, Philip found himself farther north at the town of Azotus.”
Nicole:
He just found himself here.
Sharon:
(Look at that, I’m in Azotus) “He preached the good news there and in every town along the way until he came to Caesarea.” (Wow).
Nicole:
Wow. This is such a fun passage.
Sharon:
I just so love Philip. Oh my goodness. All right. Well, this, we’re gonna break down into small sections. Nicole, there’s so much to learn from this story. So let’s just just take it little nibbles at a time. I’m gonna start with verse 26. “As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.” Alright, so there’s some specific instructions. I would like you to go south down the desert road and just walk it. Now, does Philip know what’s going to happen to him there? Absolutely not. Does Philip know why? Absolutely not. Philip, apparently, I mean, I need to be more like Philip. Philip heard the word and just did it.
Nicole:
He just went.
Sharon:
I think he was having a great time.
Nicole:
He might have been. I know. I’m like, wait, can I have some more details please? Where am I going? What’s happening?
Sharon:
Yep. Yep. But often goes, he’s like, alright, cool. What’s God gonna do with me next?
Nicole:
This is a happy little guy.
Sharon: He is.
Nicole:
“So he started out and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship.” So he meets this very powerful man of authority who was on his way to Jerusalem to worship. So I wonder if he was seeking, clearly he, the eunuch was looking for something. I wonder why he was going to Jerusalem to worship. It probably wasn’t his gods. It was probably,
Sharon: Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole:
Looking for more information about Jesus, maybe. Or maybe he was Jewish.
Sharon:
Just God, maybe Jewish. Yeah. I think, and he had gone to Jerusalem to worship. He’s now returning. (Nicole: Right, so) So he is on his way back. And of all things, there he is on a deserted road. (Right) And a man of great authority. Yeah.
Nicole:
This guy just walks, yeah, that’s kinda neat that he comes upon him. He didn’t look like, oh, go meet him by this rock here. No, just on the way.
Sharon:
Nope. He just kind of, yep, and so now he’s returning from Jerusalem. That’s verse 28, “Seated in his carriage he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah.” So he’s reading it out loud. How fun is that?
Nicole:
That is interesting.
Sharon:
Yeah. Not to himself, out loud. He’s trying to understand and maybe reading out loud helped. What a fascinating man he was. He was seeking God. And he’s bumping along in a carriage. And what’s he reading, these scrolls? Trying to figure them out. Oh my goodness. Jesus says, knock and you will find, seek and the door will be open to you. This guy is seeking.
Nicole: He is.
Sharon:
And of course, the Holy Spirit has him in Isaiah.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon: Yeah.
Nicole:
Well, I was gonna say, of all the Old Testament, that is a really good book to read.
Sharon:
It’s a really great place to put him.
Nicole:
But we didn’t have the New Testament yet, which makes it very clear. But the Old Testament, you have to really dig if you don’t know what you’re looking for.
Sharon: Yep.
Nicole:
So verse 29, “The Holy Spirit said to Philip, go over and a walk and walk along beside the carriage.” So I love that he’s just listening to God, like, okay, I’m here now on this deserted road. Now what? Well now go walk alongside the carriage. Okay. And off he goes.
Sharon:
Off he goes. Sure.
Nicole:
He just goes, yeah.
Sharon:
Yeah. In fact, verse 30 says, Philip ran over.
Nicole:
So he went very enthusiastically,
Sharon:
This is why I think Philip was having one of the best days, you know? Just, this is so fun, Lord, being your servant.
Nicole:
Like a scavenger hunt. Like, what’s next? Okay, I found this. What’s next?
Sharon:
I think it’s so fun. So Philip ran over and heard the man, because the man’s reading out loud, conveniently from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, do you understand what you’re reading? So he’s not like, oh, here, move over. You know? He’s just asking a simple question, do you understand what you’re reading? (Oh, that’s a good point.) I love that he joins in with what the eunuch is doing. (Mm-Hmm) He’s not changing subjects. He’s ready to help if it’s needed. But he’s very polite about it. Just, Hey, do you understand?
Nicole:
He doesn’t come up and introduce himself and his credentials? (Sharon: No) And hey, I know how to tell you what, you know, he doesn’t push himself on. He just kind of asks questions.
Sharon:
Yeah. He’s very clever. Yeah. I liked it.
Nicole:
Yeah. Good job, Philip.
Sharon: That’s right.
Nicole:
“So the man replied, how can I, unless someone instructs me, and he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him.” So this is interesting. Again, Philip hasn’t said he has any special knowledge of the Messiah or the scriptures or anything. The guy’s like, oh, come on up here and see if maybe you can muddle this over with me. You know? (Sharon: Yeah) He invites him right into his carriage. (Yeah) He doesn’t know who Philip is. And I think he’s just so passionately looking for something. He’s seeking God. (Yes) That he’s probably not thinking what he would, he’s not doing things he would normally do. You don’t often have strangers on a deserted road jump into your carriage.
Sharon: I know.
Nicole:
Especially as a powerful man, you could be robbed or kidnapped, whatever.
Sharon: Yes. Yeah.
Nicole:
So this is, God’s definitely moving him.
Sharon: Absolutely.
Nicole:
Beyond what he would normally do.
Sharon:
Yeah. Exactly. And I think Philip must have had a very winsome personality (Nicole: Yeah) as an evangelist, the kind of person you just trust.
Nicole:
Right. Like, oh yeah, come on in my carriage, buddy. What do you think?
Sharon:
Yeah. Hang out. So I’m gonna read verses 32 and 33. “The passage of scripture he had been reading was this, (and this is from Isaiah 53) He was led like a sheep to the slaughter. And as a lamb is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. He was humiliated, received no justice, who can speak of his descendants, for his life was taken from the earth.” This is a linchpin passage, Isaiah 53 detailing Jesus’ death. And I’m sure it was a beloved text of early Christians because it’s all here. (Nicole: Right) Jesus did
no wrong. And yet he was led to slaughter. He was humiliated. There was no justice in it. Even Pilate said, I find no fault in him. (Right) He had no descendants. You know, he didn’t marry, his life was taken prematurely from the earth and on and on and on in Isaiah 53. (Yeah) And Isaiah saw this in advance. And I believe that those passages were what the early church turned to. So it was perfect for Philip, an easy one.
Nicole:
It was, ’cause he’s probably very familiar with that. (Sharon: Yeah) “The eunuch asked Philip, tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else? So beginning with this same scripture, Philip told him the good news about Jesus.” So really neat that he was able to share the gospel message right from that same passage. (Yes) Because he probably knew it, like you said, it was very important to him. And that God just used what he had before him. (Beautiful, I know) He didn’t have to add anything else but what was already there.
Sharon:
Uh-huh, and it was clearly successful because let me read 36-38, “As they road along, they came to some water and the eunuch said, look, there’s some water. Why can’t I be baptized? He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water and Philip baptized him.” That’s successful. The eunuch is like, I believe, can I be baptized. Just like that.
Nicole:
Immediate and complete conversion.
Sharon:
Absolutely. This is amazing. The seeker was found. He wants to be born again right away. And baptism, you know, he’s down into the water coming up as a new creature. It it is such a tangible symbol (Nicole: Yes) of what happens internally. (Yeah) And Philip does not hesitate. He doesn’t say, but you are from Ethiopia. (Right) Or, you know, you work for a queen in a foreign country. (Right) He just, you believe, let’s do it.
Nicole:
Oh, I love that.
Sharon:
Let’s just do it. It reminds me of my brother David actually ’cause David kind of walked away for a little bit from the Lord, and then he was reading the Bible one night and he just knew Jesus was who my parents had said he was and he wanted baptism immediately.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
Because of this story. He’s like, why do I need to wait?
Nicole:
I love that.
Sharon:
I want to confirm it in baptism. And so he did.
Nicole:
That’s so neat. (Sharon: Yeah) We had a meeting like that at our church once they were confirming, I think that was when we first came to the church, there was someone that had just given their testimony, and he was seeking membership. And they said, well, you know, baptism is a part. He’s like, let’s get baptized right now. I wanna be baptized right now. So he drove to the neighbor’s house and they used their pool. They just baptized him in the swimming pool. (Yeah) And it was so beautiful. (Beautiful) There’s something that happens inside of us when we’re saved that this washing of our sins. (Yes) And this freedom that we yearn for that outward expression of it. (Yes) Like you gotta see what’s happening inside. So the only way we, you know, let’s jump in some water and see. (Yeah, yeah, yeah) So you can see what’s happening.
Sharon:
It’s awesome.
Nicole:
It’s so beautiful.
Sharon:
It’s awesome. I love baptism.
Nicole:
So verse 39, “When they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch never saw him again, but went on his way rejoicing.” So neat, what a fun verse. So I think of, this reminds me of Enoch who walked with God, and God took him like forever.
Sharon: Yeah. Right.
Nicole:
But he kind of snatched up Philip. So that’s, I wonder why he did that? I dunno why he just kind of took him away.
Sharon:
Yeah. I wonder if so the eunuch could really see the supernaturalness of it all.
Nicole:
That’s what I was wondering. Yes.
Sharon:
You know, God himself sent this man to you because you were seeking.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And just to confirm that this is true, let’s make him disappear.
Nicole:
Right. And like, now he’s done his job, so now, I think you’re right, because instead of it feeling like an emotional in the moment conversion, like he went back home like, well, I hope that was true. Was that just a weird thing I got from the sun? But having I think such a profound ending to it,
Sharon:
It kind of was a stamp on it. Yeah.
Nicole:
Yeah. Yeah. And then he said he went on his way rejoicing. So it didn’t, it must have been a momentary startling, but then he was fine.
Sharon:
Yeah. Well, filled with the Holy Spirit. He’s got the love, joy, peace, patience, kind of all that stuff flowing through him.
Nicole:
That’s amazing.
Sharon: Unbelievable.
Nicole:
What a story he had to tell when he went home.
Sharon:
Yes. Oh my goodness. And then verse 40, “Meanwhile, Philip found himself farther north at the town of Azotus. He preached the good news there and every town along the way until he came to Ceasarea. I just, I see Philip as a man of great joy. (Nicole: Yeah) And also flexibility.
Nicole:
Yes, he does seem rather easy, go with the flow.
Sharon:
Use me Lord. And what a joyful, joyful story. Well, one thing that I discovered, I had so much fun looking this up. I knew that Ethiopia has a history of being the oldest country in Africa to have Christian roots. (Nicole: Oh, wow) And that fascinated me because here we see the beginning of the Ethiopian church, one man (Oh) who happened to be a very important man. (Yeah) So, I found in the Smithsonian Magazine December 10th, 2019 issue, this cool thing. So I’m just gonna read it because it really kind of underlines the fact that Ethiopia had a church way before it should have. (Oh, cool) So in the dusty highlands of Northern Ethiopia, a team of archeologists recently uncovered the oldest known Christian Church in Sub-Saharan Africa. A find that sheds new light on one of the old world’s most enigmatic
kingdoms, and it’s surprisingly early conversion to Christianity. Smithsonian is not a Christian magazine. They’re like surprisingly early. How did they know about Christ?
Nicole:
How did that happen?
Sharon:
Yeah. Moving on. An international assemblage of scientists discovered the church 30 miles northeast of Axum, the capital of the Axumite kingdom, a trading empire that emerged in the first century AD. That’s like right when our Ethiopian guy was around. And would go on to dominate much of Eastern Africa and Western Arabia. Through radiocarbon dating artifacts uncovered at the church they concluded that the structure was built in the fourth century AD (and so on). The discovery of the church and its contents confirm Ethiopian tradition, that Christianity arrived at an early date in an area nearly 3000 miles from Rome.
Nicole:
Wow. That’s cool.
Sharon:
So I don’t know, but I’m thinking, (Nicole: But maybe) I’m thinking that we just had secular archeologists shocked about something that we just read in scripture that one man, Philip, was obedient to being lifted up and just dropped down wherever God wanted. Who spoke to one man who made the long trip to Jerusalem seeking (Yes) and found. (Oh) And went away rejoicing and brought it to a nation.
Nicole:
That’s amazing. That gives me goosebumps.
Sharon: I know.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
I was so, so jazzed by it, as I’m reading it, I’m like, oh, this is so exciting! And it just shows you what God can do with one. (Nicole: Yes) Like one little David who, you know, knocked the head off a giant practically. (One little stone) Well then he sliced it off. (Yeah) And all the littles that can become big in God’s hand. (Yes) We do not have to be some big person to do big things because we have a big God. (Yes) We can stay little. And I’ve, I’ve told this before, but it was just so important to me when I was about to step into the role of national director for Moms in Prayer, I was walking Ogunquit, which of course is my favorite place to walk. I’ve been walking there for years and years and years. And this particular day I found this cove where the water was coming in, but it wasn’t in all the way yet. And all I could think of was the cleft in the rock, because I found like this little place to sit in the rock and just watch the waves and it was like almost a cave. And the rocks were big. (Yeah) And the waves were big. And I suddenly felt really small. And was just talking to my big God about just how big his world was and how tiny I felt. ( And it’s one of the times where I really felt like God really spoke and he’s basically like, good, you feel small, you are. Stay small. You’re about to become a national director. You stay
small. You let me be big. And that message has stayed with me all these years. You stay small. Let me be big. (Yeah) We don’t have to be big. We don’t have to be responsible for all the things. We just chose a new website and we spent a lot of money yesterday. And I thought, but it’s okay. I’m small. God is the big one. God will do what God will do. I don’t have to be in charge. I am relieved I’m not in charge. (Thank goodness) God may be in charge. Please be in charge, God.
Nicole:
Yes, we don’t have to be great or bring anything into the equation. (Sharon: No, no) We just have to crawl to him and say, I need you. (Right) And then he does all the greatness through us.
Sharon:
He does. Think of Mary, one more example. Little Mary teenager thinks she’s just marrying Joseph and living in the sort of, not like town of Nazareth all her life. (Nicole: Right) Right? You know, a nobody. (It’s simple. Yeah, yeah) Basically. And yet what happens, God says, I’ve chosen you, your womb to put Messiah in. (Wow) The Son of the living God. God in flesh. Just little Mary. (Yeah) From a really weird town.
Nicole:
From poor Nazareth.
Sharon:
And yet she did it. She said, Yes.
Nicole:
She did. Yeah.
Sharon:
And Ole Joseph was just a carpenter. He was just Joseph. Jesus was just the carpenter son. Just Joseph. (Nicole: Yeah) They were not big people. And yet God did the biggest thing in all of history through these tiny ones. So let us never think we’re too small. If there’s any problem it’s we think we’re too big.
Nicole:
Oh, true. Because then we get in the way.
Sharon:
We get in God’s way,
Nicole:
Yeah, for sure. Cause he can’t work through that.
Sharon:
Like last week when we talked about Simon, the great one. (Nicole: Yes) Oh no. As long as you think you’re the great one, you’re useless. (Right) Soon as you realize how small and inadequate and pathetic you are. (Right) God’s like good, now we can work with that.
Nicole:
Exactly. He does his best work through small things.
Sharon:
He does. He does. He does. So, okay. Well let’s look at our three questions as we finish our last little segment in the book of Acts. What was your favorite verse, Nicole? And tell me why.
Nicole:
I really liked 39. There’s so much fun things in here. “So when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch never saw him again, but went on his way rejoicing”. So just really neat, this beautiful picture of baptism after this man who was seeking God, found him. And then this crazy little snatching away of Philip. I just think That’s so funny. Just pop, take him away. And then I love the little end of that too, where the eunuch went away rejoicing.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
He was just so happy with what he had discovered about Jesus. And Philip came alongside him and helped him understand it. It was just this beautiful little journey to Christ. So I think that’s really neat.
Sharon:
I loved that too. And I chose that verse.
Nicole:
Did you? Every third episode we have to pick the same verse.
Sharon:
I know. And I think it’s because, you know, we’ve walked through the stoning of Stephen, the severe persecution. (Nicole: Yeah) We’ve walked through some hard things. (Yeah) This story is just plain happy.
Nicole:
It’s just fun. Disappearing people and, yes.
Sharon:
It is. From beginning to end. It’s just happy. And so he went away rejoicing is why I chose it. (Nicole: Yeah) Because I thought, God, you know, serving you can be hard. You can get stoned to death. Okay. So that’s hard. But it’s also happy. (Yes) It’s also, look, look what you’re letting me do. This is stunning that you let me talk to this person. Thank you. That you let me do this. (Yeah) That kind of thing is such an honor.(Yeah) When we get to share him with people and do things. So I just, I loved the happiness of it.
Nicole:
Yeah. Especially for Philip ’cause we think that he was able to see Stephen be stoned, or he knew Stephen, he was working with him, (Sharon: Knew him well, yeah) So for him to have this like, joyful moment of furthering the gospel, despite his friend’s pretty terrible death. (Right) That’s really neat.
Sharon: Right. It is.
Nicole:
He got a little bit of joy in the journey.
Sharon:
He’s yet another man I wanna meet in heaven.
Nicole: Yes!
Sharon:
For sure. And certain.
Nicole:
Keep that list going.
Sharon:
Yes, Yes, yes, yes. Okay, so second question. What did we learn about God from this passage? Well, I learned number one, God cares for the one. One man trying to figure out Isaiah 53. And God deposits Philip beside the chariot.
Nicole:
I love that. I didn’t think about that.
Sharon: Just one.
Nicole:
Yeah, that one man.
Sharon:
So I love that he cares for the one. (Nicole: Oh) And if you read about some conversions in other countries that came from dreams or from one thing, God, if you’re seeking, he will let you find. (That’s so beautiful) And then the second thing, when we obey, and Philip was, I mean, he was running towards that carriage. (I love that) He was an eager obey-er. (He was) God can use us in mighty ways.
Nicole:
Mmm. That’s so good.
Sharon:
So those are my two.
Nicole:
Yeah. I had put that God grows his church his way and in his timing and he grows it everywhere in the most unlikely places: in the heart of this man along the side of the road, you know, the deserted road, Philip comes alongside. These things are so random. Philip probably couldn’t have orchestrated that on his own. He couldn’t have orchestrated that on his own.
Sharon:
No. Not in a million years. How would he know that?
Nicole:
No. And knowing that this man could potentially be the one that brings Christianity to the continent of Africa, like he never would’ve thought that was how his day was starting. He was just getting up, serving God and just, that’s so amazing to me. We don’t even know the impact if we just simply obey. Where he took Philip that day, the long term impact of that. Like this is 2019 that they had that study? (Sharon: Yeah. Yeah) That’s fairly recent. (Yeah) That they’re still understanding.
Sharon:
They’re still uncovering old churches and going, okay. So now this is even older than we thought it was.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
Yeah. Which of course,
Nicole:
So Philip’s obedience is, you know, all the way till now.
Sharon:
All the way till now. It’s absolutely beautiful.
Nicole: Pretty cool.
Sharon:
It really, really is. So I can remember a small thing that I thought would do no good. That led to a conversion of a friend of mine. Yeah, I’d talked to her a lot about Jesus, and she was very polite. And you know, she’s a very, calm, lovely person but not really interested in faith, you know? (Nicole: Yeah) She was part of a little mom’s group I had. And one day I was telling her it is really hard to be a Christian some days. because I have to forgive and I’m really mad and I don’t wanna forgive. You know? So I was kind of whining at her and I was in no way trying to convert her, I was just venting a little. I was irritated. Yeah. And she went home and she was in the shower the next morning. (Yeah) She started thinking about what she’d learned in college, which is that religion is the opiate of the masses, that you choose religion ’cause it’s comfortable. And I was telling her the day before how annoying Christianity was and how uncomfortable it was ’cause I had to forgive.
Nicole:
That’s too funny. (Sharon: Right?) She’s like, wait a minute.
Sharon:
And she said, wait a minute. And in the shower she said, you know what? I want to believe in something bigger than myself. (Wow) Even if it’s hard. And she accepted Christ. (No kidding) No kidding. So random whining.
Nicole:
Right. Like, you didn’t think that was gonna do anything. You were just being honest and living your life.
Sharon:
I know, I know.
Nicole: Amazing.
Sharon:
God can use anything.
Nicole:
He really can. Even when we fumble it.
Sharon:
Even random whining.
Nicole:
Thank you Lord.
Sharon:
Okay. All right. Back to the questions. Number three, Nicole, what did we learn about the early church and how can we apply that to today?
Nicole:
They were obedient. They were so obedient and quick to obey. That is so profound to me. Go over here and they went, go to this place and they went, they just, they were listening to God. They were listening to him. They heard him and they obeyed.
Sharon:
And they did. I love that.
Nicole:
That’s just so neat. I definitely need to do more of that. The listening and obeying immediately and not asking questions about how this is gonna turn out or try to make it better by my own strength. Just go. Just go. I tell my kids, just do it. Don’t ask me questions.
Sharon:
Oh my goodness. I love it. Yeah. And I also was so fascinated for our church. You know, we fund missions and organizations and we should. (Nicole: Yes) But we also need to look after the one. (Mm- Hmm) And I think one way our church does that is at Christmas time where the elders get together and for the Christmas fund, decide on either one family or a couple of families. Individual, unique, not a a ministry, but just people that need help.(Right) Paying their bills, you know, getting a new water heater or whatever it is they need. Just serving in simple ways so each person matters. And we see that in this particular lesson. And I wanna remember that. The one matters.
Nicole:
Oh, God sees each one of us separately. (Sharon: Yeah) We are his church. We are his children. (Mm- Hmm) But we’re also his Sharon and his Nicole. (Yes) And his eunuch and his Philip. Like we are so individual to him still. (Right, right) And that’s so beautiful.
Sharon:
It is. And we need to notice the one in church that’s lonely.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Even if we’re busy and we think we don’t have time for one more person.
Nicole:
We’ll get yelled at if you don’t pick up your kids quickly from the children’s church.
Sharon:
Right, right. Sometimes.
Nicole: There’s time,
Sharon:
I know it. Sometimes we have to stop for the one.
Nicole:
It’s true. Yeah.
Sharon:
In our church. Yeah.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s a good reminder.
Sharon:
All right. Well, let us pray. Heavenly Father, thank you, thank you for this fun discovery that this Ethiopian eunuch may have been the one to start the earliest Christian church in the continent of Africa.
I’m just so wowed by that and so amazed, Lord, that you answered his cry to understand. Thank you. And Father, if there’s a one out there listening right now to this podcast who needs you in a special way, help them to ask and then would you please wow them with your answer? In Jesus’ name, I ask this. Amen.
Nicole:
Amen. Well, that’s a wrap on our study of the early church. I learned so much from these earliest followers of Jesus. We hope you did too. Next week we’re going to return to a topic we both love. Rest. Did you find it hard to find time to rest? Or perhaps you feel guilty when you stop the busy for a bit and just sit? We can’t wait to talk about this next week. We’d love to hear from you. You can comment on any episode at our website address: sweetselah.org/podcast. You can also write us directly at sharon@sweetselah.org. Please consider leaving a review on your favorite podcast app so we can be noticed by more people. We appreciate donations tremendously. Go to sweetselah.org/donations and write podcast partner in the memo line, and then come back next week for our last episode in season nine that’s all about rest, episode 140, When is it Time to Rest? Thanks so much for listening and have a great week.
Speaker 1:
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Do you find it hard to share your faith with people? It's not easy, is it, even if your desire is to share good news with everyone. Our early Christians are now being persecuted, and that persecution is pushing them out of their comfort zones and into new places and situations. One of the first places they go is to Samaria - an area that would never have been their first choice before they met Jesus. And yet, they were met with great success! Let's go to those who are hungry for truth - even if they seem unlike us. Join Sharon and Nicole as they unpack an early missionary trip into Samaria.
If you enjoy what you hear, consider leaving a review on your favorite podcast app. Comments are welcomed and answered. And, if you wish to become a partner with us in this ministry, you can donate here.
You can read the transcript for Preaching to the Unlikely-Episode-138Speaker 1:
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word with Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole:
Welcome to Sweet Selah Moments. This is episode 138, Preaching to the Unlikely. Sharon, some people seem ready to hear the gospel, of course, but an awful lot don’t. How do we know when and how to share the gospel with unlikely people?
Sharon:
It’s tricky. It really is. You know, one of my favorite verses on witnessing is found in 1 Peter 3:15, “But in your hearts, revere Christ as Lord, always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” So that seems to indicate we don’t barge in where people aren’t yet ready to hear a full sermon on the gospel. Right? So how do we share our faith then with those who need God, but seem far from him? That’s tricky.
Nicole: It is.
Sharon:
So, one way I’ve done it in the past is to teach a course called Christianity Explained. I’ve done this, I don’t know, five or six times now, and it’s really yielded a lot of fruit. It’s really been fun to do. And it is what it says. You’re simply explaining Christianity, real biblical Christianity. So I invite neighbors over, I’ve had neighbors receive Christ through it. (Nicole: Wow) I’ve had it at church, and people have brought their aunts and uncles and whatever, not uncles. I usually teach this to ladies, like, where did the uncles come from? And then I share it. So it has six lessons. And the first three, just tell you why it’s Christianity, following Christ. What’s so special about Christ according to Christians? Well, Christians actually believe he’s God, which non-Christians sure don’t. Christians actually believed that the cross wasn’t just an awful death, but that the punishment we deserved was put on Jesus on the cross. So that’s unique to Christian faith. And only Christians believe that he actually rose from the dead. So those are three distinctive things that explains Christianity. So you’re not saying it in a way that’s like, you have to believe this. You’re just telling them.
Nicole:
You’re just presenting the facts to them.
Sharon:
Right. And then the last three are, you talk about grace. How we’re not saved by works, but by grace. And then what it means to repent and then what faith means. And the whole time we’re reading the entire book of Mark with them.
Nicole: Oh, wow.
Sharon:
So skipping nothing, even the really hard part where for some bizarre reason, we are sending demons into pigs who drown themselves. And I’m like, this is a hard thing to discuss with people that have no interest in God. But it leads to such fun discussions.
Nicole:
Oh, I bet. That’s a really neat one to start off.
Sharon:
I can’t even tell you. And they take their homework seriously. They read the chapters they come back with, I mean, one lady came back and said, so Jesus was Jewish? And I said, yeah, he was, (Nicole: Wow, yeah) I mean, things that they just didn’t know. Right. And it’s a safe place to learn. But Nicole just sharing the truth of the gospel in that sort of non pushy way. I have seen in almost every class someone come to know Christ.
Nicole:
That is so neat.
Sharon: It is.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
So that is my offering. Sharing Jesus with the unlikely. Sometimes it’s just giving a forum where it’s not pushy.
Nicole:
Right. Providing a place to answer questions and to tell. Wow.
Sharon:
Yeah. And six weeks gives you enough time to really dive deep. And the word of God is speaking as they’re reading it, you know?
Nicole: Oh, wow.
Sharon:
So, it’s really fun.
Nicole:
That’s really neat.
Sharon:
I feel like I should do it again. It’s been a few years.
Nicole:
Yeah. What a great course.
Sharon: Yeah.
Nicole:
I know. I’ve found that most people, you know, myself included, we connect better to real stories, you know? And so I have lots of kiddos and puppies and life is busy. I don’t know if I could offer a a six week course right now, Soon, maybe? (Sharon: No) Or even doing a Bible study seems like a big, daunting task. But I think that in just simply sharing about my daily life and how God helps me, and my struggles and my triumphs, you know, it’s just a very subtle, honest way to share his love. (It is) Because he’s so part of my life. (Yes) And because I’m walking with him, and he helps me on the good days and the bad days. You know, I love that our church says a lot that our testimony should always be 24 hours old.
Sharon:
Yes. I love that thought.
Nicole:
And that’s, yeah, it’s such a good reminder that, oh, I do have a story to tell from yesterday. Like, how did God get me through yesterday? And the, you know, the chaos that it was with all the kids. And that’s my story to tell. I don’t have to make it overly special. I can just say, you know what, yesterday was crazy, but God did this and weaving him into the story of my life. (Sharon: Yes) It leaves space for them to ask questions if they want. (Yes) Like, oh, why did you pray and ask God to fix your fridge for you? That’s weird. (Exactly) Why don’t you call a repairman? Well, I did, but God, you know.
Sharon:
Right, right. And I think what happens is you’ve established yourself as someone who has faith, and then somebody that has trouble someday they’re gonna find you. (Nicole: Yes) And that’s when then they’re asking, ‘always be prepared to answer when they ask’. (Yes) Then they’re asking and then you can go into more depth. God’s in charge. (He is) We are so not in charge. We just have to be willing.
Nicole:
Right. And we just follow him. And that peace that comes from following him daily amidst the chaos, that’s gonna shine through.
Sharon:
Exactly. You know, it’s actually been a blessing to see unlikely people come to faith. It really strengthens my faith when I see it. Like, for example, Lee Strobel, no one thought he’d wanna come to Christianity.
Nicole:
He’s got such a cool story.
Sharon:
He has such a cool story. His whole investigation of Christianity came about because he was freaked out that his wife had become a Christian.
Nicole: Oh no.
Sharon:
And as a reporter and a logical man he’s like, she is in a cult and we need to rescue her.
Nicole:
I must save her.
Sharon:
And in the trying to save her, he got saved. I think it was so good. His book, The Case for Christ, is phenomenally well researched. So can you think of some unlikely folk, famous or not famous like Lee Strobel, who have come to know the Lord?
Nicole:
I know. I was thinking about that. And I was thinking of, I love Jim Elliot’s story, and I love his sacrifice. So he went to the natives of Ecuador and preached to them and was killed for it. (Sharon: Yes) And the fact that his wife continued in the faith, I think is rather unlikely a little bit, that she could have been a little angry with God for losing her husband,
Sharon:
Especially to a spearing death.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
I mean, it wasn’t a nice death.
Nicole:
No, it was awful. Well, that people group became Christians because they continued to witness to them. I think it was two years afterward, they continued to go back to the people there. That was an unlikely group of people. They’d killed the first batch of missionaries. You would think, oh, maybe they’re not receptive. We’ll just leave them be. But they went back and now they’re believers and I think that’s so neat.
Sharon:
That’s a beautiful example.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
And we should just never say never. I prayed for Ray’s father from the time I was 16 until my 59th year of life.
Nicole: Oh, wow.
Sharon:
That is 43 years.
Nicole:
I’m glad you did the math for me. I’m going 1, 2, 3.
Sharon:
Of praying without him seemingly budging, an inch closer to God.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
He just, he was closed. He would be, he’s so polite. He’s the nicest man. So I would share Jesus with him. And he, I could see him. He was just waiting me out. He would like close his mouth. I’m not gonna say one word. If I asked him questions, he would just stare at me and wait for me to change the subject.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s funny. He was determined to not be budged.
Sharon:
Oh man. Dad Gamble endured me for 43 years.
Nicole:
That’s beautiful.
Sharon:
And totally miraculously, after our pastors had visited him and come away saying, he’s closed. He just isn’t, Sharon, he doesn’t wanna hear us. Nine days before he died, he’s like, I’m ready. Can I receive Jesus? And he did.
Nicole:
Wow. Oh, that’s amazing.
Sharon:
So never say never. That is my conclusion.
Nicole:
That’s a good one too.
Sharon:
Yes. Yes. We need to be ready to share our faith with all the people.
Nicole:
Yes. Absolutely.
Sharon:
Even those who seem far away or even awkward to us.
Nicole:
That’s a good point. Well, today we’re going to read about how the disciples started to preach to some unlikely people. Back in Acts 1:8, Jesus told his disciples to spread the gospel beyond the borders of Israel. “But you’ll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria into the ends of the earth.” And of all the places they didn’t want to go, Samaria would rank high on that list. So let’s talk about why the Samaritans were disliked by the Jews.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
This is really fascinating. I didn’t realize that. I know the story of the Good Samaritan and the people walked far around him, but I didn’t understand where that conflict came from. So the Jews had had this ongoing feud with the Samaritans from a little bit before the time they returned from the Babylonian captivity. So during the time of captivity, the King of Babylon was capturing and moving all these people groups around. So the Jews that were left that were not taken into captivity, they intermarried with those who were brought in, the Gentile people that were brought in, and they started worshiping their gods as well. They were intermarrying, they were inter worshiping. They kind of muddled up their, their lines. So 70 years later, when the Jews returned, the Samaritans came to help rebuild Jerusalem. The Jews called them half breeds and sent them home. The Samaritans built their own temple. The Jews considered it pagan, and the feud just continued to grow.
Sharon: Wow.
Nicole:
The Samaritans didn’t want the Jews that had come back to reestablish things as they were before ’cause they thought that was ridiculous. So this just grew and grew uglier over the years. The Jews hated the Samaritans so much that they crossed the Jordan River rather than travel through Samaria, which was quite a ways away.
Sharon:
Isn’t that crazy? Yeah. Just didn’t wanna walk through Samaria.
Nicole:
Not even be near them. So they were all Jewish. They all started as a Jewish people, and then just slowly divided and separated.
Sharon:
Wow. Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole:
So, no love there,
Sharon:
No love there. Which is why Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well was like shocking.
Nicole:
Absolutely shocking. They couldn’t understand what he was doing.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. So, okay. Based on all that, where did the disciples go? They go to Samaria when they are leaving Jerusalem. So let’s read today’s passage in Acts 8:1-25. And I’ll start with verse one. And we’re kind of going back to the end of the killing of Stephen. “So Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen. A great wave of persecution began that day.” I didn’t realize it was that day, the day that they killed Stephen.
Nicole:
Isn’t that awful?
Sharon:
Man? All right. Sharon. Read the passage. All right. “A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem. And all the believers, except the apostles, were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria.”
Nicole:
“Some devout men came and buried Stephen with great mourning.”
Sharon:
“But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison.”
Nicole:
“But the believers who were scattered preached the good news about Jesus wherever they went.
Sharon:
“Philip, for example, went to the city of Samaria and told the people there about the Messiah,”
Nicole:
Crowds listened intently to Philip because they were eager to hear his message and see the miraculous signs he did.
Sharon:
“Many evil spirits were cast out screaming as they left their victims. And many who had been paralyzed or lame were healed.”
Nicole:
“So there was great joy in that city.”
Sharon:
“A man named Simon had been a sorcerer there for many years, amazing the people of Samaria and claiming to be someone great.”
Nicole:
“Everyone from the least to the greatest, often spoke of him as the great one, the power of God.”
Sharon:
“They listened closely to him because for a long time he had astounded them with his magic.”
Nicole:
“But now the people believed Philip’s message of good news concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. As a result, many men and women were baptized.”
Sharon:
“Then Simon himself believed and was baptized. He began following Philip wherever he went. And he was amazed by the signs and great miracles Philip performed.”
Nicole:
“When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had accepted God’s message they sent Peter and John there.”
Sharon:
“As soon as they arrived, they prayed for these new believers to receive the Holy Spirit.”
Nicole:
“The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them, for they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
Sharon:
“Then Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers, and they received the Holy Spirit.”
Nicole:
“When Simon saw that the Spirit was given, when the apostles laid their hands on people, he offered them money to buy this power.”
Sharon:
“Let me have this power too, he exclaimed, so when I lay hands on people, they will receive the Holy Spirit.
Nicole:
“But Peter replied, may your money be destroyed with you for thinking God’s gifts can be bought.”
Sharon:
“You can have no part in this, for your heart is not right with God.”
Nicole:
“Repent of your wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you your evil thoughts.”
Sharon:
“For I can see that you are full of bitter jealousy and are held captive by sin.”
Nicole:
“Pray to the Lord for me, Simon exclaimed, that these terrible things you have said won’t happen to me.”
Sharon:
“After testifying and preaching the word of the Lord in Samaria, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, and they stopped in many Samaritan villages along the way to preach the good news.” Oh, what a fun passage. There’s so much in this. I wanna do this a little differently. Sometimes we do it verse by verse. I wanna do it by people. There’s so many fascinating people. And I’d like to talk about them one at a time. So, and I wanna start with Saul, who’s mentioned at the very beginning. So Nicole, what further information do we learn about Saul from this passage?
Nicole:
He was completely in agreement to stone and kill Stephen.
Sharon: Yeah.
Nicole:
There was no hesitation. He was in complete agreement.
Sharon:
He was probably cheering them on. Gimme your coats. Gimme your coats.
Nicole: That’s so sad.
Sharon:
I know. It was, and then he’s dragging men and women. I mean, he’s not waiting for them to preach like Stephen. He’s going into their houses.
Nicole:
Right. Well, it said, like you said, it’s that the wave of persecution started that day. And I guess the word, I think the word ‘destroyed’ the Hebrew or Greek word, it meant kind of like tear apart, like a wild animal would ravage. Like (Paul) just, Saul destroyed the early church, you know, ripping apart the members, throwing them in prison, killing them. It was awful.
Sharon:
It was awful.
Nicole:
I don’t think we understand,. I didn’t understand that to the extent that this destroyed the early church.
Sharon:
I really didn’t either. They had to leave Jerusalem or they’d all have been thrown into prison. This was a vendetta.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
And I wonder if part of it is Saul’s trying super hard to justify the stoning of Stephen.
Nicole:
Oh, I wonder.
Sharon:
You know, sometimes when you do something wrong, you have to justify it. So you get more rabid about it to just kind of make it sound okay. I can remember, you know, explaining why I was right on something when I actually wasn’t and really trying to make it right. Because I didn’t wanna admit I was wrong.
Nicole:
Right. ‘Cause he had to live with the guilt of being okay with watching Stephen die. And what happened with him impacted Saul. It did something to him.
Sharon:
It did. It did. Saul, when he’s Paul, talks about it later on as well. So, yeah. So we’re meeting Saul and we’re certainly not meeting Paul, the one who’s been converted. But Saul was hugely responsible for the dispersion of the people. (Right) You know, ’cause they were all just jumbled into you know, smooshed into Jerusalem. (Yeah) And of course, they weren’t supposed to stay there. So, I mean, that’s not the nicest way to be,
Nicole:
But this got them moving.
Sharon:
It did get them moving. Yes, it did.
Nicole:
All the way to Samaria.
Sharon:
Okay. So that’s Saul. He’s a very important part of the story. I want one last look next at the person, Stephen, our Stephen whose death was so impactful, you know?
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
It had a lingering effect on the church. We read a little bit more about him in verse two. “Some devout men came and buried Stephen with great mourning.” So, it was probably courageous even to go out and bury him.
Nicole:
Well, I think they were not allowed to mourn people that had been killed as criminals. So their mourning out loud (Sharon: Wow) was an act of defiance showing that they saw
Sharon:
Even that was courageous.
Nicole:
Yes. They were kind of like, we know he was killed, you know, wrongly. So just, there’s so much in here. But you’d think that, oh, Stephen’s life was a waste, but it really wasn’t ’cause we are talking about him now. He’s impacting our life now with his sacrifice. So nothing is lost. God doesn’t waste any life, any pain.
Sharon:
Yep. I can’t tell you which church father said it, but one of the church, ancient, ancient church fathers, said the church was built on the blood of the martyrs.
Nicole:
Ooh. That is powerful.
Sharon:
And they really were because the belief was so strong, they were willing to die for it. (Nicole: Right) And even after Stephen’s death and all the imprisonments when they’re dispersed. They’re gonna go and talk about Jesus anyways.
Nicole: Still.
Sharon:
Man. All right. That’s good stuff. So there we’ve got Saul and Stephen. Next we’ve gotta look at Philip. Good old Philip.
Nicole:
Let’s talk about Philip.
Sharon:
Yeah. Philip confused me for a bit ’cause I was thinking he was Philip, the disciple of Jesus. I really was. (This a different one) And for whatever reason, no Bible commentator thinks that’s the same Philip. So I
have to receive that. I’m like, yeah, but couldn’t it be? I kinda want it to be, but there were four Philips mentioned in the New Testament. Two are sons of Herod. And then the one that I wanted this guy to be was one of the original twelve disciples of Jesus. But this Philip, well the original disciple of Jesus first followed John the Baptist, and then Jesus. Very little is known about him. Although church history tells us that he went into Phrygia and preached the gospel there. And that’s in modern day Turkey. So, yeah. So he just kind of fades from sight, the disciple Philip. The Philip we’re reading about today is a different Philip. And you know what? I have to tell you, this is one reason I believe the Bible is true. If I were writing the story, I wouldn’t have had so many Marys or Philips in the Bible.
Nicole:
Isn’t that funny? It’s true though. You’d make the names more distinct. So it’d be,
Sharon:
So it wouldn’t be confusing.
Nicole:
It’s gotta be true. There’s way too many Marys and Philips.
Sharon:
Right. Any author worth her salt wouldn’t do that. But, but this is not a story. (Right) This is the truth. (History. Yeah) There were four Philips. There were tons of Marys, sorry people. That’s the way it was.
Nicole:
As confusing as it is this is the truth.
Sharon:
That’s the way it was. So, okay.
Nicole:
So fourth Philip.
Sharon:
Fourth Philip was chosen as one of the seven deacons to help the widows get fed equally and fairly.
Nicole: Oh, okay.
Sharon:
So he worked closely with Stephen.
Nicole: Oh.
Sharon:
Oh dear Philip. Yeah.
Nicole:
So this Philip was known as Philip the Deacon, or Philip the Evangelist. He’s the one who goes to Samaria after the great persecution begins. It must have been a safer choice than Jerusalem. Although, it seems rather a bleak prospect that drove them there.
Sharon:
Yeah, I know it. I know it. Yeah. Hard as the persecution was. It did move those followers of Christ outta the city, even to the dreaded Samaria, which fulfilled what Jesus had commanded to start in Jerusalem. But go everywhere else. So, okay. So Philip goes to Samaria and I love that about him because this was not a popular place.
Nicole:
Right. Right. Well, let’s read about Philip in Samaria and see how he fared there. So I’m gonna read verses four through 13 and then we can study them. “But the believers who had scattered preached the good news about Jesus wherever they went. Philip, for example, went to the city of Samaria and told the people there about the Messiah. Crowds listened intently to Philip because they were eager to hear his message and see the miraculous signs he did. Many evil spirits were cast out screaming as they left their victims. And many who had been paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was great joy in that city. A man named Simon had been a sorcerer there for many years amazing the people of Samaria and claiming to be someone great. Everyone from the least to the greatest, often spoke of him as the great one, the power of God. And they listened closely to him because for a long time he had astounded them with his magic. But now that people believed Philip’s message of good news concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ as a result, many men and women were baptized. Then Simon himself believed and was baptized. He began following Philip wherever he went, and was amazed by the signs and great miracles Philip performed.”
Sharon: Wow.
Nicole: Interesting.
Sharon:
Wow for Philip. He was a successful preacher.
Nicole: He was.
Sharon:
I bet he was good.
Nicole:
Yeah. Apparently to kind of blaze in there to a place where they didn’t like him. He didn’t like them.
Sharon:
Yeah. And here they are, following him around. Of course, the miracles didn’t hurt.
Nicole:
Those do help, I’m sure.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
Heal a couple lame people for good measure.
Sharon:
Yes, yes, yes. So he was passionate. And it’s fascinating to me that all these people that continue to speak about Jesus, they’re in a new location, and yet they’re still , you know, talking about the Lord. It’s beautiful.
Nicole:
They don’t really have the safety of numbers or the support of the other new believers.
Sharon: No. No.
Nicole:
You know, that he’s just, I think he’s off by himself at this time.
Sharon: Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole:
So that’s pretty good.
Sharon:
But he’s not gonna stop. He wants everybody to know.
Nicole: That’s great.
Sharon:
Oh boy. So then Peter and John are gonna get involved. They wanna encourage these new believers in Samaria. So they joined Philip. And I’m reading verses 14 to 17, “When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had accepted God’s message they sent Peter and John there. As soon as they arrived, they prayed for these new believers to receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them. For they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers and they received the Holy Spirit.” Well, that’s so fascinating. And you and I have both been puzzled a little bit by that, but I’m gonna let you explain it ’cause you told me before we started the podcast, and I’m like, why didn’t, I mean the Holy Spirit came instantly on the guys in Jerusalem.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
How come Peter and John had to show up?
Nicole:
So the commentary I read said that it was very important for Peter and John to witness the Holy Spirit coming into the Samaritan’s hearts. Because if they had gone back and said, the Samaritans are now believers, or if they had heard secondhand that they were, I don’t think they would’ve been believed by the church.
Sharon:
Because they were the Samaritans. The unlikely. Yes.
Nicole:
Right. And I think for the Samaritans part, to have Peter come there and John be part of when the Holy Spirit came on, and again, it kind of started to bond them. So there wasn’t two separate groups of new converts. They were the one Church of God, you know, the United Church.
Sharon:
Yes. I love that.
Nicole:
So it was kind of this way to unite the Jews and the Samaritans.
Sharon:
Under one authority.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
The Apostolic authority. And confirming in front of Peter and John.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
Oh, guess what? Samaritans are, they’re not a separate, lesser group.
Nicole:
Even the Samaritans can receive Jesus.
Sharon:
Yes, yes, yes,
Nicole:
So it’s kind of cool ’cause we received the spirit instantly. Now, I think this is the only instance where it was a little bit delayed. But it was for a very important reason.
Sharon:
Very important reason.
Nicole: So cool.
Sharon:
The Samaritans are no longer second class citizens.
Nicole:
No, isn’t that beautiful?
Sharon:
They’re equal. I love it.
Nicole: Really neat.
Sharon:
Okay. Last person is Simon the sorcerer, who was often called the great one. Can you imagine walking around going, yes, I’m the great one.
Nicole:
I’m the great one. I do some magic. Oh my goodness.
Sharon:
He sounds like something of a showman.
Nicole: He does.
Sharon:
Yeah. Doing magic and wowing the crowd. So it must have been interesting for him when he saw real healings without the magic.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
It’s like, wait, wait, this is real power. It’s not trickery.
Nicole:
This is what I do. That’s interesting.
Sharon:
Yeah. I kinda like that. So, well, let’s finish the passage. We’re gonna find old Simon reverting, kind of back to his old ways. The showman is living on, even though he accepted Christ. So why don’t you finish up.
Nicole:
All right. Verses 20-24. Let’s read about how Peter and John definitely set him straight, good old Peter. (Sharon: Yeah) “But Peter replied, may your money be destroyed with you for thinking God’s gift can be bought. You can have no part in this. For your heart is not right with God. Repent of your wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive your evil thoughts. For I can see that you are full of bitter jealousy and are held captive by sin. Pray for me, Simon exclaimed that these terrible things you said won’t happen to me. After testifying and preaching the word of the Lord in Samaria, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem and they stopped in many Samaritan villages along the way to preach the good news.”
Sharon:
And that ends our little section of the day. Oh my goodness, Simon. It is easy to get off track.
Nicole: It is.
Sharon:
He was doing well for a while. But he had inside him that bitter jealousy. So he’s acting like everything’s okay, but, but I think he’s like, Hey, I am not the great one anymore.
Nicole:
Right. He was kind of following along in the glory of Philip thinking he could just, Yeah. But Peter called him out on it. And thankfully he was quick to repent.
Sharon:
Yes, Yes, yes, yes. I mean, he’s seen the signs. He’s like, okay, no, no, no, no. Please don’t let these terrible things happen to me. So, but he just needed to be brought up short. And I love that we’re affirming again, you can’t buy your way into God’s kingdom. You can’t buy your way into miracles. And God’s really not interested in people who want to perform miracles. He’s more interested in the ones that just want someone healed, not wanna be the great ones.
Nicole:
And we can’t become something great in God’s kingdom with what we brought with us before we were saved.
Sharon:
No. Exactly.
Nicole:
I think he was trying to still be the great one for God.
Sharon: That’s true.
Nicole:
And that’s not what God wants from us.
Sharon:
No. He wants humble.
Nicole:
Yes. And then he gives us new gifts to use.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
Through him, but not in our own merit can we do any of this.
Sharon:
No, no, no, no, no. As soon as we do that, we’re super in trouble.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And then let’s just look at verse 25 again ’cause that is so cool too. “They stopped (Peter and John stopped) at many Samaritan Villages on their way back.” They’re like, okay, we get it. Samaria is in.
Nicole:
Hey, this worked with the Samaritans.
Sharon:
Yeah. It’s funny how their biases had to continually be overcome. They were so used to being separate as Jews. So first you get to Samaritans and we’re gonna see, you know, further and more to the uttermost parts of the earth, what Jesus asked for, that all people, all nations are welcome at the foot of the cross. It’s just gorgeous. So I love it. All right. So that’s how we shared our faith. And we’ve talked about that. I think we’re just going right to the questions because my goodness, we’re running outta time and I want to know your favorite verse. So.
Nicole:
So much today, alright. I liked verse 24. “Pray to the Lord for me, Simon exclaimed, that these terrible things you said won’t happen to me.” I just was kind of humbled by his quick response, his authentic and quick response to, you know being confronted with his sin. You know?
Sharon:
That’s true. He could have prevaricated and explained and justified. He just said, uhoh.
Nicole:
You’re right. Help me. I don’t want this to happen. So I just was really inspired by his quick repentance. And, you know, I need to be that way with God too. If someone calls something out, like, oh, you know what, I’m, you’re right. And not try to justify, well, actually, this is why I did that.
Sharon:
Yes. And, yeah, I’m more, much more likely to do that. Yes.
Nicole:
Oh. Yes. So that was really, that was convicting for me.
Sharon:
That is convicting. We are learning from Simon, the great one.
Nicole:
Yes. From the Unlikely convert, but.
Sharon:
When he became humble. (Nicole: Yeah) Yeah. I think that’s awesome. Oh, I didn’t even think of that. I chose, “But the believers who were scattered preached the good news about Jesus wherever they went.” Verse four. All I could think of was, they’re new in their faith. Now they’re nomads. They’re immigrants, they’re in a new place. They don’t know the town, they don’t know where the doctor’s office is or whatever. You know what I mean?
Nicole:
Who the safe people are if they need help.
Sharon:
Right. I mean, they’re strangers there, and yet what are they doing? They can’t wait to tell about Jesus.
Nicole:
Isn’t that amazing?
Sharon:
The persecution did not stop them at all. And I just love that, the boldness that they had. So.
Nicole:
That is really neat.
Sharon:
Yeah. Well, all right. Second question. What did we learn about God? Well, I learned a couple of things. Number one, God wants all of us to come. Even the unlikeliest. And second of all, God does not want us to turn our preaching into a sideshow for our own gain, which would’ve been Simon.
Nicole:
That’s a good one. Yeah. Yep, for sure.
Sharon:
Yeah. How about you? What did you learn about God from this passage?
Nicole:
Oh, the same thing, that his love and salvation is for everyone, not just for a certain group, but is for everyone in the world.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. Holy Spirit was given alike, yeah, I love it. And Nicole, what did you learn about the early church and how can we apply that today?
Nicole:
They were a tenacious group of people.
Sharon: Weren’t they?
Nicole:
They just, like you just said about verse four, they continued to preach in different areas. After Saul destroyed and scattered their early church. They had to leave family. They probably left behind people in prison. Just amazed that they didn’t just say, oh, this is too hard. I don’t wanna do this. I’m going back to, you know, the Jewish faith. But they were tenacious. They held on despite severe persecution, and they obeyed God no matter what, even to death.
Sharon:
They did. They did. It is amazing. And it’s why I know that Christianity is true.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
Nobody that didn’t know it a hundred percent would do what they did.
Nicole:
No. There’s no reason to.
Sharon:
They knew it. They knew it to their core. They were eager to meet Jesus. I mean, some of them had watched Stephen seeing Jesus before he died.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
The reality that this was not the only life was just big in them.
Nicole:
Yeah. And that probably really carried them through a lot of it too.
Sharon:
Yeah. So, well, let me pray. Man, this went fast. Oh, Father God, I thank you so, so much for this life lesson for all of us. That we, we need to be bold in speaking of you, we need to remember that the most unlikely are loved by you. There’s no one outside your ability to heal, restore, change, and save. God, help us. Help us in small ways and big ways to share the good news that you love all people and have died for them and want them in heaven with you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole:
Amen. I am so glad that no one is too far from God and impossible to convert. God so loved the whole world, and that means everyone in it. I want to be less pessimistic about people knowing God is able to bring the hardest soul to faith. How about you? Do you have some unlikely converts in your own life? We’d love to know their names so we can pray for them with you. You can write us at sharon@sweetselah.org anytime. We love hearing from our listeners. You can donate at sweetselah.org/donations too. We appreciate every gift that helps us produce this podcast. We hope you’ll be back next week for episode 139, The Power of Just One. Thanks so much for listening and have a great week.
Speaker 1:
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
When we rebel against what we know to be right, we are walking into Deep Trouble. Ever been there and done that? Like a child who learns the hard way that "Don't touch the stove!" is a kind warning to keep one from being burned, adults who refuse to listen to God's good commands also get burned. Join Sharon and Nicole as they talk about the high cost of rebellion and the great joy that comes from just doing the right thing.
If you enjoy what you hear, consider leaving a review on your favorite podcast app. Comments are welcomed and answered. And, if you wish to become a partner with us in this ministry, you can donate here.
You can read the transcript for The High Cost of Rebellion-Episode-137Speaker 1:
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word with Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole:
Welcome to Sweet Selah Moments. This is episode 137, The High Cost of Rebellion. Oh, rebellion. That’s a strong word, Sharon. And it does carry with it hard consequences. I looked up its meaning, and I saw on just Google the first time ‘an act of violence or open resistance to an established government or ruler, or the action or process of resisting authority, control or convention’. Then I looked it up on Merriam-Webster, and this one I thought was interesting: ‘opposition to one in authority or dominance, open armed, and usually unsuccessful defiance of or resistance to an established government, and then an instance of such defiance or resistance’. So I thought about that, ‘usually unsuccessful defiance’.
Sharon:
That is so funny. And isn’t that the truth about rebellion? It usually just lands us in trouble.
Nicole:
Almost always. I was thinking back through instances of my own young life and grownup life, and my children and my pets, and whenever they openly defy what I say, it’s almost always a bad consequence. (Sharon: Yes) I don’t wanna wear these practical boots. I wanna wear my favorite shoes. And then they end up going through a muddy path at school and ruin their favorite pair of shoes and they’re devastated. Or they’ll leave something on the floor and I’ll say, don’t leave that there. We have two dogs that chew things and it gets chewed and they’re devastated. (Yes) So these acts of rebellion, or I don’t wanna listen, it just never ends well for us.
Sharon:
It doesn’t. Even little rebellions. Like, I don’t feel like going to bed. You pay for it the next morning when you’re exhausted.
Nicole:
Yes, that’s right. That’s something I struggle with as a grownup. Like, well, I’ll be fine. I can stay up late and do what I want and no, I feel horrible in the morning. Rebellion doesn’t often work out in our favor.
Sharon:
No, it doesn’t. Well, I have a story of a rebellious time in my life. I didn’t see it as rebellion at the time, but it was. So I was sort of in rebellion for years when it came to food. I used to, when I was in my twenties, I could eat and it never showed.
Nicole:
Oh, it’s a wonderful time of life when you could do that.. Those were the days.
Sharon:
Ah, the twenties.
Sharon:
Oh man. I can remember sitting on my bed cross-legged having bought a pint of ice cream and just taking a spoon and eating the whole pint with my friend Julie, who had our own pint. And we were both as skinny as rails. So then I get older and my metabolism shifts, and I don’t like adding the pounds, but I’m not eating differently than before. And I rebelliously don’t wanna believe that I have to eat differently. (Yeah) So I rebelliously didn’t wanna believe it up till over 200 pounds, when my knees started hurting on stairs, and I was absolutely headed for knee surgery. When walking made me out of breath so that I stopped walking. (Right) Where I basically became unhealthy. And then the crowning devastation was the word obese. I went to the doctor and he’s like, oh, well you’re in the obese category. And I’m like, I hate that word. (I know. I don’t wanna be in that category) I hate that word. So that rebellion was putting me in a very dangerous place healthwise. And I had to give up eating the way I wanted to. And I did. And I’ve lost my weight again. And I still have to fight the rebellious part of me that says, but I want a huge ice cream sundae after a huge dinner and then a brownie after that. (Right) And the answer is no.
Nicole:
Again it’s not good for you.
Sharon:
I can’t do that. Not if I want to do the work God’s called me to do, which requires a healthy body.
Nicole:
Right. With energy.
Sharon:
Yeah. So, but there’s so many forms. The 2-year-old, I can just picture this little boy, don’t touch that stove, It’s hot! Burns his hands. (Nicole: I know) Right, right? Or if sadly, the 17-year-old who defiantly drinks and drives, causes a car accident that completely changes the trajectory of their whole lives. And then there’s more subtle rebellions, refusing to forgive someone, which causes bitterness to creep into your life and ulcers, and then eventually just a really unhappy spirit. And a farness from God, because we won’t confess our sins. You know, when we rebel against God’s wise laws, in the end, we’re hurting ourselves. It’s unsuccessful. As your definition from Merriam’s said.
Nicole:
Almost always. Yep.
Sharon:
Yes. So, okay. Well, let’s move to Stephen’s speech. He’s in the middle of this passionate speech with a glowing face.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Last week, we had him walk us through Abraham and Moses and Joseph, basically pointing out that God uses really strange and unusual circumstances to show us things.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
So he’s recounting all the ways Israel would also not listen to the good God who saved them, was trying to help them. That’s where we’re going now. (Nicole: Yes) So let’s read now about the examples of rebellion in Israel, which we sadly see reflected in our own lives as well. So why don’t you start with verse 30.
Nicole:
All right. So we’re gonna do Acts 7, I’m gonna read 30-53. So verse 30, “Forty years later in the desert near Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush.”
Sharon:
“When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. As he went to take a closer look, the voice of the Lord called out to him,”
Nicole:
“I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses shook with terror and did not dare to look.”
Sharon:
“Then the Lord said to him, take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground.”
Nicole:
“I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans and have come down to rescue them. Now go for, I am sending you back to Egypt.”
Sharon:
“So God sent back the same man his people had previously rejected when they demanded, who made you a ruler and judge over us? Through the angel who appeared to him in the burning bush, God sent Moses to be their ruler and savior.”
Nicole:
“And by means of many wonders and miraculous signs he led them out of Egypt through the Red Sea and through the wilderness for forty years.”
Sharon:
“Moses himself told the people of Israel, God will raise up for you a prophet like me, from among your own people.”
Nicole:
“Moses with was with our ancestors, the assembly of God’s people in the wilderness, when the angels spoke to him at Mount Sinai. And there Moses received life-giving words to pass on to us.”
Sharon:
“But our ancestors refused to listen to Moses. They rejected him and wanted to return to Egypt.”
Nicole:
“They told Aaron, make us some gods who can lead us for we don’t know what has become of this Moses who brought us out of Egypt.”
Sharon:
“So they made an idol shaped like a calf, and they sacrificed to it and celebrated over this thing they had made.”
Nicole:
“Then God turned away from them and abandoned them to serve the stars of heavens as their gods. In the book of the Prophets, it is written, Was it to me, you were bringing sacrifices and offerings during those 40 years in the wilderness of Israel?”
Sharon:
No. You carried your pagan gods, the shrine of Moloch, the star of your god, Rephan, and the images you made to worship them. So I will send you into exile as far away as Babylon.”
Nicole:
“Our ancestors carried the tabernacle with them through the wilderness. It was constructed according to the plan God had shown to Moses.”
Sharon:
“Years later, when Joshua led our ancestors in battle against the nations that God drove out of this land, the tabernacle was taken with them into their new territory. And it stayed there until the time of King David.”
Nicole:
“David found favor with God and asked for the privilege of building a permanent temple for the God of Jacob.”
Sharon:
“But it was Solomon who actually built it.”
Nicole:
“However, the Most High doesn’t live in temples made by human hands. As the prophet says,”
Sharon:
“Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. Could you build me a temple as good as that, asks the Lord? Could you build me such a resting place?”
Nicole:
“Didn’t my hands make both heaven and earth?”
Sharon:
“You stubborn people. You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did. And so do you.”
Nicole:
“Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute, they even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One, the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered.”
Sharon:
“You deliberately disobeyed God’s law even though you received it from the hands of angels.” Well, we’re gonna stop there for a minute. I can just sense Stephen’s huge frustration. Hello. Messiah has come. He fulfilled so many of the prophecies. Yeah. He healed the sick. He cast out demons. He multiplied bread and fish. He walked on water. He raised people from the dead, and he walked out of a grave himself. This is the One you say you’re waiting for. Come on. (Nicole: That’s right) Believe already. Oh, man. All that I can see is Stephen saying, we did this in the past. Do you see the problem it got us? We got sent away to Babylon for it. Wake up. That’s what I get out of this passage. How about you?
Nicole:
The same. I think you sense his frustration and he’s, it’s just a cycle of doubting and getting into trouble and God correcting them, and then God’s saving them again. There’s this cycle that keeps repeating and he’s probably like, can we stop the madness? But believe we have the signs. He’s here, the Messiah’s here. He’s like, you’ve, in the past, you’ve continually killed the prophets. Ignored them. Persecuted them. So I think he is at this boiling point of why do we keep doing the same thing expecting different results?
Sharon:
Yes. Exactly. Exactly. And he’s identified with them. He’s walked for this story. He’s shown that he respects the temple. One of the things they were saying he didn’t do, but he’s also reminding them, you guys, we’ve gotten it wrong a lot. (Yes) Oh man.
Nicole:
He did a good job putting himself, like you said, with them like brothers and sons.
Sharon: Yes, he did.
Nicole:
And he’s like, we the Jewish, so he wasn’t standing aside going, you, you, you did all this. He’s like, we, I’m here too. I’m a Jew too. But see that he is the Messiah.
Sharon:
Yes. Yes. And I feel like he had to say it like that. (Nicole: Yeah) Because he had to wake them up. (Yeah) You know, it’s like, you remember the story of Nathan coming to David and telling David there was this rich guy (Yes) that had tons of sheep. And there was a little poor guy over there that had one little sheep that they treated like a pet. (Right) And the rich guy, when his friends come to visit, grabs the little guy’s one sheep and David’s all upset and then says, we need to kill this man he was so bad, or you know, punish him. (Right) And Nathan goes, actually, you’re the man. (Yeah) You took the wife from someone else. It’s the same kind of thing here. (Mm-Hmm) You know, they’re tracking with him.( Mm- Hmm) And then he’s like, and we’re doing the same thing. So it was a very effective way. And I wanna believe that some of the people that weren’t listening then, never forgot those words and listened later. (Yes) That’s what I wanna believe. So.
Nicole:
I don’t know if we talk about it this one, but because their reaction is so strong later, I think that they’re, it was.
Sharon:
It’s definitely gonna imprint on their mind.
Nicole:
Yeah, for sure.
Sharon:
Especially ’cause the way Stephen looked.
Nicole:
Right. Oh, that’s true. A glowing man is recounting this
Sharon:
Yes. And also, how’d they let him go that long, I mean, that was a long speech.
Nicole:
Oh, right. That was.
Sharon: Right?
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
I think they’re just like mouth-drop hearing it.
Nicole:
I wonder if that’s what allowed him to speak, ’cause like they know the history. They’re like, yeah, yeah, yeah. We know about Moses, we know about Joseph. They’re our ancestors. We preach about them all the time. (Sharon: Right, right) I wonder if the glowing moment happened to allow them to listen longer. (Yes) Allow Stephen the opportunity to speak (Yes) truth into their hearts.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. ’cause that is, that is long.
Nicole:
It is a long passage.
Sharon:
For somebody that nobody likes and that they’re mad at.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
I mean, when I sadly argue with people and they start saying things, I wanna butt right in. I don’t wanna give them a fifteen minute window. (Nicole: No) Right?
Nicole:
You wanna tell them that they’re wrong. So hurry up and get to the,
Sharon:
Yeah. So I think there was something supernatural, I’m pretty sure there was something supernatural going on here.
Nicole:
I feel like there might have been.
Sharon:
Yeah. So, good. And you know what else it reminds me of (one more thing, then we’ll keep going) but Jesus was saying, when you are asked to stand before authorities, it’s somewhere in Matthew, I think, he says, don’t worry beforehand what you’re gonna say. My Father will give you the words.
Nicole:
Oh, so cool.
Sharon:
Did God not give Stephen the words?
Nicole:
I doubt he had this written down and practiced.
Sharon:
Uh-uh. No, this just,
Nicole:
Cause where did this come from?
Sharon:
This is the filling of the Holy Spirit.
Nicole:
Well, there’s something I was reading, a commentary, and some of the facts that he recounted about Abraham are different from the facts we read about in Genesis. It throws off the timeline a little. It throws off where he actually left, like in Genesis, it says he left from the place of Ur. And then here it says Haran, after his father died. And in Genesis it says before, so what they were saying was, this was such
proof that he was anointed by the Holy Spirit. That these words like facts that he wouldn’t have known ’cause it wasn’t in the text at the time, (Yeah) but when the historians went back and kind of like recalculated things like it, it all lines up. (Yeah) It’s just that they listed Abraham before his older siblings because he was more important. But that one little fact, it just kind of goes to show that God had anointed him with these words right from him. With even a little bit of a fixing of the history that they knew.
Sharon: Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole: So cool.
Sharon:
That is so amazing. It really is. Well, even though Stephen gave it all he had,
Nicole:
I know he did.
Sharon:
The Jewish leaders were not buying it. Sadly. They rejected this last heartfelt plea from Stephen who knew, I’m sure, he was risking his very life to plead with them like this. (Nicole: Yeah) So let’s finish our chapter. Why don’t you finish it, Nicole, with the very sad, but also amazing ending to Stephen’s earthly life.
Nicole:
All right. So verse 54 says, “The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fist at him in rage. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God. And he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. And he told them, look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him and they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul. As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus receive my spirit. Then he fell on his knees and cried out, Lord, do not hold the sin against them. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”
Sharon:
Oh my. This part is so rich. We’re gonna have to go verse by verse, there’s no other way. (Nicole: We are) Let me start with verse 54. We’ve just got to camp on this for a bit. (Yes) Man. Okay 54 says, “The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists at him in rage. So we’ve been studying anger in home group. We’re doing ‘Unoffendable’ in our home group right now. And looking at passages like ‘man’s anger never brings about the righteous life that God desire’. And ‘in your anger do not sin’ and and don’t hold onto it, and all this stuff. And they were just angry. They were in a fit of rage. (Oh yeah) Their pride’s been wounded. Their righteousness was being called into question. (Right) Right? So they are beyond just a little angry, they are shaking their fists at him. And the sad thing about rage is it really clouds your thinking.
Nicole:
I was gonna say they weren’t thinking logically at this point.
Sharon:
No, no. They were not. That’s when you break furniture, when you’re in a rage.
Nicole: Right. Right.
Sharon:
That’s when you say words that you never thought would leave your mouth. And that you can sit and shame on for a long time, even though you don’t have to ’cause Jesus forgives you.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
You know, rage is deadly.
Nicole: It is.
Sharon:
And rage is what is a mob. A mob gets stirred up to the point where they are not thinking. (Nicole: Yes) So that’s what I’m imagining. Instead of receiving this and hearing the pleading, guys, let’s not do this again. God does work in different ways and Jesus showed you who he was. They’re like, what? You’re telling us we were wrong? (Mm-Hmm) And so rage takes over. So sad.
Nicole:
Oh, it is. Well, they’re probably, their very identity was being called into question. You know, they prided themselves in being whatever.
Sharon: Yeah.
Nicole:
These men of God. This was a big deal. But verse 55 says, “but Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God. And he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand.” So he’s watching, and he’s got to be aware of the rage he has, it’s visible on these men in front of him. Like if we relied on our own strength, it might be like, oh man, it’s time for me to get outta here. Or maybe change what I said to kind of appease the situation. But he doesn’t. He keeps his eyes like full of the Holy Spirit. He gazed steadily into heaven. So he’s looking to where he needs to be, like deadly focused steadily on God. All right, God, I’m looking to you because this is getting a little scary. And I love that God gives him this beautiful vision right into heaven.
Sharon: I know.
Nicole:
That’s really cool.
Sharon:
That is the coolest thing. That is so beautiful. It really is.
Nicole:
That he gets to see God and then Jesus too. Because this is who he’s just been talking about and defending is Jesus.
Sharon:
Yes. And there he is, sitting on the throne.
Nicole:
At the right hand, like validating everything Stephen has just said that, yes. He is the Messiah. He did die, he did rise again, and he’s right there.
Sharon:
And there he is.
Nicole:
He is at the right hand of glory. Beautiful.
Sharon:
I wasn’t making this up because, ‘Hi’.
Nicole:
Wait, I see him. Like, guys, I see him.
Sharon:
Yes. Unbelievable.
Nicole:
That must have been such a beautiful reassurance for him.
Sharon:
Oh, wow. Wow. Wow.
Nicole:
That God would give him that right before his death.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
Right before a very horrific death.
Sharon:
Uh-huh, a very horrific death.
Nicole:
That’s not a good way to go.
Sharon:
Yeah. So, verse 56, he’s telling them about it now. He’s gazing into heaven and he’s like, look, well, let me read it. Not paraphrase it. “And he told them, look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand.” Look! Oh wow, the joy. Oh, Lord Jesus, I see you, you are there. Everything else pales. Because that’s where he is about to go.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
And it’s true. It’s there. And I’ve told this story once before, but it’s just the sweetest story. It was so much fun. I had a piano student named Barbara Porter. And she was dying of cancer, and she knew she was dying, and they’d done all the things and there was no stopping the death. So, but she was a very active woman, so she still wanted to do piano lessons. So she came every week and she still walked every day, even though, you know, she was swollen and it was painful to walk. (Nicole: Oh yeah) She was not gonna lie in bed. So I became kind of a safe place for her where we still did piano, but we did more talking (Sure) because I didn’t mind talking about her death. You know, and it’s a hard thing to talk to your husband and son and daughter about death.
Nicole:
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Sharon:
Right? Because they don’t want you to die. (Nicole: Right) But she was pretty sure she was gonna, you know, unless God did a miracle. And so we talked about it and getting ready for it, and she said, would you pray that I could walk until I die? The thing is, it’s not death that scares me. I know I’m gonna be in heaven. (Right) It’s having to lay in bed for a bit first. I don’t wanna lay in bed. (Yeah) So I said, all right, I’ll pray for that. And I prayed for it on, you know, on the piano bench. I can see it. And then I remembered Stephen, I remembered how he saw Jesus before he died. (Right) And I prayed that. I said, Lord, and also could Barbara see you? Would you give her the blessing of seeing you before she steps into heaven? So, fast forward, Barbara died and I was at the wake with Ray and her son and her husband were there, and they told me the story and they gave me, I’ve written a blog about this. They’ve given me permission to tell this story. They said she walked until less than 24 hours before her death.
Nicole: Oh, wow.
Sharon:
Because she’s a stubborn woman. And she was just laying there, you know, dying. And all of a sudden, Nicole, she sat straight up, put her hands out and smiled so big, and then she died. And I just thought, Jesus, what a sweet answer to my kind of off the cuff, ‘let it be like Stephen’.
Nicole:
I know, right.
Sharon:
Isn’t that the nicest thing?
Nicole:
You didn’t even have to pray for it daily, faithfully. He heard your prayer.
Sharon:
I’m like, do you know I prayed for that? God did it. You know, I shouldn’t be so shocked.
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
That God did it. So, but anyways, isn’t that the sweetest prayer to pray for anybody?
Nicole:
That’s so sweet.
Sharon:
I’ve now asked that for me.
Nicole:
I know. Hey, that seems nice.
Sharon:
I’d kinda like to see you before I died too. It just makes a transition. It was such a gift to Stephen.
Nicole: Oh, sure.
Sharon:
It was such a gift to Stephen that he saw so clearly where he was about to be and everything else pales.
Nicole:
Yes. And his heart to the end. He could have just kept that moment and just ‘Wow and just stared up. But he shared it. He was so excited. He gave them again, one last chance. (Sharon: Yes) I see him. (Yes) Right now I see him.
Sharon: Unbelievable.
Nicole:
Oh, he shared that beautiful moment with them. I think that’s really cool too.
Sharon:
That is cool. You’re right. I’m glad you pointed that out. Yeah. He didn’t keep it to himself.
Nicole:
No. Oh, man. All right. So verse 57: “Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him.” Oh, this verse is so telling of sin. It doesn’t like to be exposed. (Sharon: Right) You know, that pride, that shame. It’s like he shed light on that what they believe was not true, and that Jesus was the Messiah and they were so angry, and so they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. And all I picture is a toddler. (Yes) Like my defiant child going, I don’t wanna listen, Mama, put their hands over their ears, stomping their feet completely unreasonable. And you look ridiculous.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
These grown intelligent men were slapping their hands over their ears and refusing, and shouting, trying to drown out the truth that Stephen was speaking.
Sharon:
Yeah. So this is rage.
Nicole:
This is rage at its ugliest.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
They were irrational.
Sharon:
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Rational people don’t do this. (Nicole: No) That’s why one should never encourage anger, because then it leads to rage. And then you, Oh man, you just don’t wanna remember what you did when you were raging. So.
Nicole:
No. So yeah. The rather embarrassing scene in verse 57.
Sharon:
So continuing the thought, it’s so weird. It’s in the middle of a sentence that we start 58.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
So I’m gonna start your sentence so it comes together. “They rushed at him and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul.” So first of all, I had not noticed that he wasn’t stoned where he preached.
Nicole:
Yeah. I didn’t either. It was interesting.
Sharon:
Now I’m realizing that he first was dragged out of a city that couldn’t have been pleasant. (Nicole: No) Especially by screaming men, blocking their ears and shouting in rage. So I’m sure it wasn’t a gentle dragging.
Nicole:
Or a quiet scene.
Sharon:
Yeah. And I’m like, he really was following in Jesus’ steps because Jesus carried the cross out of the city to his death and Stephen is now being dragged out the city to his death. He had the honor of, you know, suffering like his Savior did. (Nicole: So similar to what Jesus did) So fascinating. And the accusers take off their coats and Saul egged them on. He didn’t stone them. But when Saul later on becomes Paul (Yes) the great apostle (Yes) after meeting with Jesus, (Spoiler alert) yes, he says often I’m the chief of sinners. I think that etched in his mind was him saying, gimme your coats. Do it, do it. Do it. (Right) And remembering Stephen, and remembering how beautifully Stephen died and thinking, how could I have done that? (Right) I’m the chief of sinners. I egged this on this death of an innocent man who was just trying to help us. And yet you called me to be the apostle to the Gentiles. (Wow) You know, part of Saul’s humility comes from how God still chose him after what he’d been. And he was there. He was there at the stoning of an innocent man.
Nicole:
Wow. How God can redeem us in our stories.
Sharon: I know.
Nicole:
It’s amazing. And I love that Paul recognizes later on that like, I was chief among sinners. Like, oh yeah, you can say that. Oh no, he was right there in there.
Sharon:
He was right there in the evil.
Nicole:
He could claim that.
Sharon:
Yep. Yep, yep, yep.
Nicole:
Oh, it’s so good. So verse 59 says: “As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, Lord receive my spirit. So as he’s being stoned, which I can’t, that’s a horrible way to die. What a very painful, humiliating way to die. Just pain after pain. He doesn’t curse them, he doesn’t throw rocks back at them, like just you wait. Your judgment’s coming. Like, he doesn’t say anything about that. He just prayed, Lord, receive my spirit. I think that’s so beautiful. (It is beautiful) He never took his eyes off of Jesus.
Sharon:
No. In fact, he’s like, please, can I come now and see you.
Nicole:
Right. I know. It’s just a beautiful moment.
Sharon:
So beautiful.
Nicole:
But his faithfulness and looking at God, I wonder, I was reading a commentary on that too. And I think that could have been Saul’s first exposure to Jesus, like seeing how this man died, even if it didn’t change his heart in that moment.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
That, like you said, that moment stuck with him, I think his whole career.
Sharon:
It was an imprint.
Nicole:
Like maybe Stephen wouldn’t have asked to have been this pivotal moment in Saul’s life at the time. Like that isn’t, I don’t wanna sign up for the guy that was martyred and stoned that changed Paul’s life, but God used Stephen in such a powerful way that it changed the trajectory of Paul’s life. Like that’s huge.
Sharon:
For sure. Yeah, it is.
Nicole:
We have no idea how far reaching God will use us if we’re surrendered.
Sharon:
So true. It’s so true. And I’m sure Paul didn’t forget verse 60 either in terms of what Stephen said. So he’s, Lord Jesus receive my spirit, then he falls to his knees, then he fell on his knees and cried out, Lord, do
not hold the sin against them. And when he had said that, he fell asleep. So the love for the enemy is the mark of the Christian.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Nobody does that.
Nicole:
No one can, we can’t do that.
Sharon:
Nobody does that.
Nicole:
We can’t even be nice to people that are mean to us.
Sharon:
Right. But that is one of our marks (Nicole: Yes) as Christ followers. (Yeah) We’re like, don’t hold this against them. I want them with me. I want them to see what I’m seeing. So, okay. We need to go on to favorite verses because man, it’s just so much to talk about. So, Nicole favorite verse?
Nicole:
Fifty-eight, but it’s kind of bleak. “They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of the young man named Saul.” Just the mention of Saul there was, I just kind of camped on that for a little bit, like I’d already mentioned. (Sharon: Yeah) It’s just so profound that he was there. And he saw that and how that could have affected and started, maybe that was the first seed, even if he went on, I think after he saw Stephen, he was still persecuting and killing Christians. (Mm-Hmm) So it wasn’t like he was sitting there going, oh, I should be kind now. Like it wasn’t an instant transformation at that moment. But God was still working in his heart. (Yes) And even though we didn’t see the results of that till later on, and no one else did ’cause he was still murdering Christians, God was starting a work in Saul’s heart. (Absolutely) And I love, we cannot get discouraged if we think that what we’re doing for people that we’re praying for, or living out our life isn’t making an instant impact on someone’s life. We do not know. We could look at this and like, well, Stephen, what a shame. His young life was cut early. He didn’t get to do all that God had for him. But he did.
Sharon:
He really did.
Nicole:
This is what God had for him and his faithfulness,
Sharon:
He lived every day God planned for him.
Nicole:
Yes. Up to the last second did.
Sharon: Yep, he did.
Nicole:
And that surrendering in that shortened life was way more far reaching than if Stephen might have just continued preaching the word. (Sharon: Yeah) We don’t know and we can’t make that call.
Sharon:
No. No, we can’t. Oh, it’s a wonderful passage. It is. Mine real quick was fifty-five where he gazed steadily into heaven. I also loved that, that his focus was on the Lord. What did I learn about God? God lets really bad things happen to his followers. Okay. Just there it is. Yeah. And also God is really real. And we don’t stay dead.
Nicole:
No, we don’t.
Sharon:
There really is a throne room and we are gonna see it.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon: Bam.
Nicole: Love it.
Sharon:
How about you?
Nicole:
He never leaves us even when he allows bad things to happen to us. He’s with us to the end of our earthly adventure and beyond. He was right there. He was right on the other side of that threshold waiting to give Stephen the biggest hug.
Sharon: He was.
Nicole: I think.
Sharon:
And for the early church and what can we apply today as a church? Whether we’re popular or not, we preach the good news. And we keep our eyes steadily on the risen Lord.
Nicole:
Mm. That’s good.
Sharon:
So let me pray. Oh man.
Nicole: So good.
Sharon:
This is, I’m still impressed by Stephen.
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
Oh, Father, thank you for the witness of this good man. Thank you that the mark of the Christian is longing even for enemies to know you and be changed. Help our enemies to know you and be changed. Lord, show them yourself. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole:
Amen. We are so glad you joined us today as we studied Stephen, who is often called the first martyr of the Christian Church. Do you ever wonder if you’d ever have boldness like that if you were in a similar situation? I sure do, but I know that God will give you and me all we need to stand for him if and when the time comes. Studying his word is one of the best ways to be ready if ever God asked this of us. We’d love to hear your thoughts on this episode and the podcast in general. Would you review our podcast on your podcast app? You can write us at sweetselah.org/podcast or directly email at sharon@sweetselah.org. We love hearing from our listeners. If you want to become a podcast partner and receive our monthly news, you can donate at sweetselah.org/donations and write podcast partner on the subject line. And please come back next week for episode 138, Preaching to the Unlikely. Thanks so much for listening and have a great week.
Speaker 1:
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can print and download the transcript here.
Nicole and Sharon talk about remembering, today. Why is it important to think back on wonderful things God has done in the past? How does that keep us going in times when we don't seem to see Him moving? We're talking about Stephen, one of the first martyrs of the church, today. Let's study what Stephen had to say about remembering and why we mustn't forget.
If you enjoy what you hear, consider leaving a review on your favorite podcast app. Comments are welcomed and answered. And, if you wish to become a partner with us in this ministry, you can donate here.
You can read the transcript for Don't Forget to Remember-Episode-136Speaker 1:
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word with Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole:
Welcome to Sweet Selah Moments. This is episode 136, Don’t Forget to Remember. Today we’re going to look at one of the Bible’s most famous sermons preached by a man about to be stoned to death. Yes, Stephen, one of the earliest followers of Christ, has been accused and is now about to give his defense in Acts chapter seven. It’s an interesting defense, Sharon. He basically recites the history of the Jewish nation, at least in the first part of the speech that we’re gonna look at today. Why do you think he spends so much time repeating old history?
Sharon:
That’s such a good question, Nicole. It’s something that I pondered a little bit because everyone there knew the history that Stephen shared and that we will read later in today’s discussion. So why share it again? I can think of several reasons. First of all, Stephen wanted them to know that he was a devout Jew. He knew his history. He remembered all that God had done in the past. Second, I think Stephen wanted to set the groundwork for the message of Jesus by grounding it in what had happened in the past, sort of finding common ground with his accusers and showing them his orthodoxy. See, I am orthodox. I do believe all these things to be true. I do support Moses, even though you told me I didn’t, you know? He believed the scriptures as they did. And third, simply that remembering the past is super important. We need to do that too. So we’re actually gonna do that. Before we look into Stephen’s remembrances, we’re gonna share a few of our own. This has been fun preparing for. (NIcole: It has) So let’s go back and forth sharing pivotal moments in our own faith journeys. I’d like you to start, what’s one of your early memories of something that drew you closer to God? Let’s start with our childhood years and kind of walk ourselves in faith up to today. We’ve gotta remember these pivotal moments and share them with others. So it’s story time. (Yay!) Go ahead Nicole.
Nicole:
This is so fun. So one of my very first early childhood memories was right after I asked Jesus into my heart and was baptized that next Easter. We were in my favorite childhood church ’cause we had moved quite a bit with military, but this church was just my favorite. They had lots of kids programs. They had dramas and play productions. I just loved being there. And that Easter, they did a really special drama. They dramatized, Jesus’ death and resurrection and it was so profound for me. It had a whole new meaning to me. Now that he was my personal Savior. (Sharon: Yes) It just felt so special and real. And then they did this very special communion where they passed out whole dinner rolls.
Sharon: Wow.
Nicole:
To a 6-year-old that’s like, wow. No dry wafers. But I remember holding this whole dinner roll going, this is amazing. But the fact that they connected communion with his sacrifice, it was so special, that first communion. (Sharon: Oh) I just remember eating that roll and thinking, wow, this is his body. He did die for me. (Yes) That was a big moment in my little heart.
Sharon:
I love that. And isn’t it fun how you saw what a difference the Holy Spirit made?
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon: That’s lovely.
Nicole:
So cool that he revealed himself to my little heart.
Sharon:
I think that’s so sweet.
Nicole:
And I just loved that roll.
Sharon:
I was just gonna say to make you remember your first communion (NIcole: Yes) he said, here’s a honking big roll to remember it with.
Nicole:
I know. So fun. I love it. How about you?
Sharon:
Oh, well, you know, as I look back I thought, I have a rhythm in my early childhood that has stuck with me all these years, I think ’cause it was repeated every single night from the time, probably I was three or four until maybe 12 or 13. And that was family devotions. My parents did family devotions. So we read a Bible called The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s cute.
Sharon:
And so there’d be a picture and they’d tell us the Bible story. And then there were three questions to answer. And my other siblings, two were close in age to me and then my brother was born quite a bit later, so the three of us that was a question for each of us for most of the years; so we’d answer the question and then we would kneel.
Nicole: Oh!
Sharon:
My father, my mother, me and Bethany and Raymond. And then little baby David was hanging out. (He came along) Yeah. So we would kneel and pray. Youngest to oldest, we would pray. (That’s so special) And then we would sing a little song called Jesus Tender Shepherd Hear me, Bless your little lamb tonight, (Oh my goodness) Through the nighttime be thou near me, Keep me safe to the morning light. I will not sing it. You can thank me, but I can hear it. And it was every night.
Nicole:
That’s so special.
Sharon:
All my growing up years, if anything solidified Christ in my life, it was that daily pattern. I will be forever grateful.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s so beautiful.
Sharon:
Forever. Ever grateful for it.
Nicole:
I love that.
Sharon:
Yeah. Aren’t we blessed?
Nicole:
We are so blessed.
Sharon:
We are both blessed with good childhood memories.
Nicole: Yes. Yes.
Sharon:
I mean, we have some bad ones too. But, you know, I’m really thankful for the good ones.
Nicole: Yes, indeed.
Sharon:
So let’s move on to marriage. I think our listeners will be happy that we’re not going to go year by year on this section.
Nicole:
This could take a long time.
Sharon:
Yes. Let’s move to marriage. So marriage to Josh. What was pivotal for becoming a godly wife? What is some of the things about marriage that you remember? What should you remember?
Nicole:
Yeah. I know there’s been so many moments, but I was thinking back to the one that kind of stood out the most. It was right before I’d had my first child, Olivia. I was pregnant with her, and I was reading this great book about insecurity and how we as wives fall prey to trying to get our sense of worth from our spouses. We put too much pressure on them to satisfy that longing that we need to get from God. And how that kind of shifted to, you know, that’s not good because a marriage of an insecure flawed human who will, mostly inadvertently, not make me feel loved all the time (Sharon: Of course) and glorious. So it was that moment that I stopped trying to please Josh and to get him to fill my self worth, and then looked to God instead for that. So it didn’t depend on if he’s having a bad day or forgot to tell me I looked cute today, or told me I had a good lunch or made him a good supper, that didn’t mean as much, it didn’t matter as much if he forgot.
Sharon: I love it.
Nicole:
So the pressure was off of him and I became a much better wife. And he reaped the benefits of having a more settled, I think, wife that wasn’t always like, oh, you don’t think I’m beautiful today? I didn’t need that from him as much.
Sharon: Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole:
Not perfect. Still falter. And sometimes I really do want to hear that I made a nice supper, that I look cute. (Sharon: Yes) But I don’t cling to his words as much. Now I cling to what God says to me.
Sharon:
That’s an awesome shift. It really is. And it’s one we all have to make because we can’t idolize our spouse. I think, you know, most of us have been there where it takes a while to realize that we put too much pressure on them. That’s good.
Nicole:
They don’t want that pressure. And if they’re having a bad day, I would have a bad day. And that just wasn’t, it wasn’t going very well.
Sharon:
Yeah. No. Oh, man. Well, mine was definitely what I sadly refer to as the PhD years. (NIcole: Oh yeah) When Ray was teaching at West Point, trying to write a dissertation, having to drive half an hour, literally over a mountain to get to West Point. (Wow) We lived further away, totally exhausted all the time and had no time for us, had no time for himself. They were hard years. They really were. And I felt bitterness
creeping in because I had all the work of the home and the children on my shoulders. And instead of seeing how busy he was, I focused on poor me. Right.
Nicole:
We’re so good at that.
Sharon:
Which is a very sad and selfish thing. So I turned to prayer through the advice of a godly mentor, and took every bitter thought as they came. And, oh, there were quite a few that came, and I turned them into a prayer right away. I had a set prayer, I prayed to fight off the bitterness that Satan was trying to hamper me with. (Nicole: Right) So I would just pray, Lord, help Ray to love you and love us more and more, even in this hard time. That was it. And that just turned off it. And after a while, whatever tormenting spirit was having fun, was like, I give up.
Nicole:
She keeps praying. It isn’t working.
Sharon:
She keeps praying. And that is when I really realized the power of prayer too. That if I wanna fight a negative thought, well if the negative thought’s coming from the enemy, the last thing he wants me doing is praying. So I can just say, oh, thank you for that bitter thought, ’cause now I’m gonna pray.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s a great reminder to pray to God. Right.
Sharon:
Yeah. So there’s that. Okay. Let’s move on to mother-ing. We’ve done wife-ing,
Nicole: We have.
Sharon:
So let’s do mother-ing.
Nicole:
Ah motherhood.
Sharon:
What have you learned about that?
Nicole:
Oh gosh, yeah. Motherhood is very refining, isn’t it?
Sharon: Oh, yes.
Nicole:
There’s something about kids that point out all your flaws a little bit more than husbands do, I think.
Sharon: Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole:
So I was thinking back to, I’d had two pretty scary pregnancies, and I’ve talked about that before. And then I lost a baby, which was obviously very difficult. And I remember during that time, I had a dream about Jesus, he just gave me this beautiful dream, and I had a picture of holding my baby and giving it to him and placing my baby in his hands. And that image has stuck with me through mothering all these years. You know, when I’m overwhelmed or worried and I’m trying to fix the girls on my own, I don’t know what to do with these four beautifully exhausting humans that need me all the time, I just sit back and in my mind, I visualize just like, kind of pushing my little herd of girls toward Jesus. Like they’re yours. You love them more than I ever could. You know their whole path. Like, why am I trying to control them so much again?
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
Their health, their everything, their character. You just kind of get so caught up in the daily things sometimes that I forget. He knows the big picture for them.
Sharon:
He does. Yeah.
Nicole:
He knows every hair on their head every day that they’re to live on this earth. Like, why do I need to keep pulling them back from him? So I do this, but he just whispers that to me, you know, I love them more than you can.
Sharon: Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole:
So I just keep giving them back to God. But in mothering that image is so precious to me of just passing them into his capable hands. Yeah.
Sharon:
What a beautiful memory, that is so, I love it. I love it. And it stood you well,
Nicole: It has.
Sharon:
Through the four that are still with you here on earth.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
I like it. So one of my favorite memories now as having adult children, is again, a rhythm. I think I must be a rhythm person.
Nicole:
You must be a really good dancer.
Sharon:
I don’t even know. But a rhythm that we do with our adult children, because they don’t live near us. (Nicole: Right) We will fly to visit them or drive to visit them, and they’ll have to do the same to us. is the last night of a visit. The adults sit and share prayer requests with each other. (Oh) And then we go in a circle. Ray always decides, we let him, and he’ll say, okay, so Sharon, you’re gonna pray for Mary. Mary, you’ll pray for me. You know, and we pray for each other until we see each other again.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s really cool.
Sharon:
It is so beautiful. And so I have this beautiful memory of multiple times doing this with them. And as we do it, we’re remembering the visit and then we’re reminded on how to pray. So there’s all kinds of things that come out of that in the future. I love hearing what my son-in-law wants prayer for. (Nicole: Right) Because it gives me an insight into him that I might not get in casual conversation.
Nicole:
Right. Right. So she may not get to that. Right. Oh, I love that. Yeah. That’s a great idea.
Sharon:
Isn’t that sweet? Oh man. It’s so fun. Okay. Now, recent memory of something that, that has caused you to grow and that you should remember.
Nicole:
I should remember. Yes. I’ve been journaling again, I haven’t been journaling in a while, but I’ve been practicing rhythms in my life because they’re very helpful.
Sharon:
They are. Yes.
Nicole:
When one is busy, easily distracted. So, the rhythm of journaling, the title of my journal says, ‘now all I know is grace’. And I’ve just been pondering that and like, God, what does that mean? What does that mean? And I’d read a passage in, I think it’s 2 Corinthians, it might be first about, where Paul says that
you don’t judge me God, so I don’t judge me like I am free. There’s no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. And I sat with Jesus one day and said, I don’t think I fully understand this God. I’m so hard on myself still. I still assume you are so hard on me. But then he did. He just revealed it to me. He spoke right into my heart and he’s like, before I even saved you, I knew you were still gonna sin. And he still saved me, Sharon.
Sharon:
He did, Honey. He did.
Nicole:
He knew I was still gonna be as messy as I am today. And still, even if I go through life as stubborn as Samson, where God still uses me blind and dying at the end, he’s still gonna accomplish his will through my life.
Sharon:
He is. He is.
Nicole:
So I can choose to be super stubborn, or I can walk with him and reap the benefits of fellowship with him when I get to heaven. He’s still gonna say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Whether I did all the perfect things or all the wrong things. He still loves me and I just can’t get over that.
Sharon:
Yeah. That grace.
Nicole:
That grace, it’s so beautiful. But just something that he’s just really pressed upon me again. So now there’s this, there’s a freedom that comes from knowing how deeply he loves me. I can’t get this wrong. And it draws me to him. Like, how can I not wanna give him my whole life in this? Because his love for me is so beautiful.
Sharon:
Isn’t it? Yeah. Yeah. I love it. Well, I’ve got a phrase too. Isn’t that interesting how he gives you phrases?
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And you remember them and they help you.
Nicole:
It helps you remember, yeah.
Sharon:
Yeah. I was reading John 15 for one of our online bible studies and noticed something new about the vine and the branches. Usually when I read, I’m ‘remain in him so I can bear much fruit’. I’m a doer. Right.
(Yes) Must bear fruit. This time I just camped on ‘remain in my love’. (Oh) He doesn’t just want me to remain in him to bear fruit. Although I do love that. I love being useful to him. (Yes) He would like me to remain in his love because he loves me. (Oh) And he wants me to feel the love he felt from his Father as a human on earth. That love is what he wants for me. So, it’s another thing. He’s always calling us closer. (He is) He’s calling you closer. He’s calling me closer. And I can just whisper throughout the day, I want to remain in your love. Keep me that close. I don’t wanna walk away from it. Yeah.
Nicole:
Oh, I love it.
Sharon:
Oh, our God is so good.
Nicole:
He is. He’s so nice.
Sharon:
So, when we review history, what we’re doing is remembering how he met us in the past. And then even our recent history we’re reminded of things he told us in our quiet times that carry us through the days. Remembering is huge.
Nicole: Yes, it is.
Sharon:
So we’re gonna let Stephen remember and we’re gonna read all about it today. So Acts 7 is where we are. So why don’t you start and let’s do it by sections.
Nicole:
Okay. This is a big passage. “Then the high priest asked Stephen, are these accusations true? This was Stephen’s reply: Brothers and fathers listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham in Mesopotamia before he settled in Haran. God told him, leave your native land and your relatives and come into the land I will show you. So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran until his father died. Then God brought him here to the land where you now live. But God gave him no inheritance here. Not even one square foot of land. God did promise, however, that eventually the whole land would belong to Abraham and his descendants, even though he had no children yet. God also told him that his descendants would live in a foreign land where they would be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, God said, and in the end, they will come out and worship me here in this place. God also gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision at this time. So then Abraham became the father of Isaac. He circumcised him on the eighth day, and the practice was continued when Isaac became the father of Jacob. And when Jacob became the father of the 12 patriarchs of the Israelite nation.”
Sharon:
There you go. Then that was Acts 7:1-8. Well, what stands out to you most in this about Abraham and his faith walk? This is all about Abraham mostly.
Nicole:
Yeah. It’s so interesting. When he first starts out, he leaves everything behind. He didn’t have a child yet for descendants. He didn’t have any land. God didn’t say, oh, go here, you already have land set up for you. He stepped out in complete and utter faith. There was no plan B for Abraham.
Sharon:
He didn’t even really understand plan A.
Nicole: No.
Sharon:
He just did it.
Nicole:
He just did it. Like, when we step out, we always have a path or a plan or kinda like, well, if this falls through, we have this, like we move to a house, we have another house waiting for us.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
And from what I remember in a Bible study, the place he left was actually very nice. Like he was, I think he was fairly wealthy. He had like a nice home. So he left so much to just trust God. Like, okay, I have no kids, no land here I go.
Sharon: Here, I go.
Nicole:
You’re making something totally new, a whole new nation that’s yours. Like, what does that even mean?
Sharon:
And I have no children. Yeah.
Nicole:
Right. Just a lot of unknowns. But he just left and followed God.
Sharon:
He did, all his life. And even though he actually never gained the land himself. (Nicole: Right) He still believed. The faith was huge. Absolutely. So cool. So we remember Abraham as a father of the faith.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Okay. So now I’m gonna read about another famous guy, Joseph, as Stephen continues his history lesson. So this is Acts 7:9-16. So we’re back to talking about the patriarchs, Abraham and Jacob. And verse nine says, “These patriarchs were jealous of their brother Joseph (the sons of Jacob). And they sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles. And God gave him favor before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. God also gave Joseph unusual wisdom so that Pharaoh appointed him governor over all of Egypt and put him in charge of the palace. But a famine came upon Egypt and Canaan, there was great misery, and our ancestors ran out of food. Jacob heard there was still grain in Egypt so he sent his sons, our ancestors, to buy some. The second time they went, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers, and they were introduced to Pharoah. (Man) Then Joseph sent for his father Jacob and all his relatives to come to Egypt, seventy-five persons in all. So Jacob went to Egypt, he died there, as did our ancestors. Their bodies were taken to Shechem and buried in the tomb Abraham had bought for a certain price from Hamor’s sons in Shechem.” So, okay. God certainly lets his people suffer to refine them.
Nicole: He does.
Sharon:
Joseph gets this great dream, gets this pretty little coat, and next thing he knows, he’s a slave in Egypt.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
And then he allowed a famine. God allowed a famine. So, we’re recounting history and we’re remembering that God doesn’t always do things in the way we would expect.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon: Right?
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
So that’s kind of where I came down on this one. That Joseph was definitely refined through all this. He could have been so bitter and been delighted at a chance to get back at his brothers when they showed up, and he did not.
Nicole:
Right. I was thinking that like what if he had just gone right to secondhand man in Egypt under Pharaoh to that position without the refinement. He might have used his power for evil. He might not have had a humble heart that was kind to help them when they needed food. (Sharon: Right) You know, he could have, like you said, taken vengeance on his brothers. I mean, he could have very easily destroyed all of
them because he was second in command in Egypt. (Yeah, he absolutely could have). So I just, that refinement that God walked him through, he didn’t seem to complain. We don’t see that in the text. But I mean, God was with him through all that, everything. He didn’t keep him from the trials, but he was with Joseph in the trials. And he delivered him out of the trials.
Sharon:
Exactly. So, we’re here in a rocky history really aren’t we? So, okay, let’s finish this part of the sermon with Moses. Would you read verses 17 to 29?
Nicole:
(All right) “As the time drew near when God would fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased. But then a new king came to the throne of Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph.” (I wonder what happened about that. How come he didn’t know about Joseph? I’ll have to look that up.)
Sharon:
Did they not write about him in the history books?
Nicole:
Right. Were there no pictures of him? I mean.
Sharon:
No. Or maybe that king didn’t like history.
Nicole: Maybe.
Sharon:
And he forgot.
Nicole:
(Maybe. That’s for another day) So verse 19, “This king exploited our people and oppressed them, forcing parents to abandon their newborn babies so they would die. At this time Moses was born, a beautiful child in God’s eyes. His parents cared for him at home for three months. When they had to abandon him Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and raised him as her own son. Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in both speech and action. One day when Moses was 40 years old, he decided to visit his relatives, the people of Israel. He saw an Egyptian mistreating an Israelite. So Moses came to the man’s defense and avenged him, killing the Egyptian. Moses assumed his fellow Israelites would recognize that God had sent him to rescue them, but they didn’t. The next day, he visited them again and saw two men of Israel fighting. He tried to be a peacemaker. Men, he said, you are brothers. Why are you fighting each other? But the man in the wrong pushed Moses aside. Who made you a ruler and judge over us, he asked, are you gonna kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday? When Moses heard that he fled the country and lived as a foreigner in the land of Midian. There his two sons were born.”
Sharon:
Do you know, Nicole, as I’ve been listening to all these stories, I’m sensing a theme that I think Stephen wanted his listeners to get ahold of. And that is that things don’t happen the way you think they’re going to.
Nicole:
That’s a great point.
Sharon:
Moses thinks he’s going to, you know, take over and be the hero. He speaks well at this point, 40 years.
Nicole:
Yes. Did you notice that?
Sharon:
Yeah. And forty years later in the wilderness, he’s like, I’m a stutterer. I can’t do this. So he had to be totally humbled before he could be used. Well, Stephen’s, eventually next week when we do the podcast, gonna get to talking about Jesus. And I think he’s setting them up to say, Hey, our God does not work in the ways we expect. So you are expecting a king, and Jesus didn’t come as a king.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
But he always works in ways that are ‘off’ from a human perspective.
Nicole:
Right. So it doesn’t seem like the easiest, quickest path. Like Moses just wanted to waltz down and like, Hey, I’m your relative. God told me to deliver you. They’re like, who are you?
Sharon:
Right. Exactly. So, and Jesus came as a lamb, not the lion yet. You know? So I think he’s kind of, he’s, you know, he is repeating the history for a lot of reasons. But one of them is, can we remember that God told Abraham to go where he didn’t know where to go, and that Joseph had to be a slave first. (Nicole: Yes) And that Moses started his career at 80, basically. You know, God works differently. So why did you think you knew how Jesus would come?
Nicole:
Ooh, that’s so good.
Sharon:
That’s my theory, anyways, so, but anyways. Okay. We’re gonna choose favorite verses. So my favorite verse was verse 22, because of that speech thing. “Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in both speech and action.” Yeah. I never noticed that until this reading you and I both, that stood out to us because we remembered that at the burning bush, Moses is like, I can’t speak.
Nicole:
Mm-Hmm. Yeah. Like what happened in forty years?
Sharon:
God actually had to weaken him so that his strength could be manifested in him. It just fascinating.
Nicole:
Wow. That is neat. I wonder if, ’cause he learned the wisdom of the Egyptians, I wonder if he was trying to do it in what he knew in his own strength.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
And well, I’m a great Egyptian speaker, I’m gonna come to the Israelites on my own.
Sharon: Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole:
Very interesting.
Sharon:
He had to be emptied first. (Nicole: Yeah) What was your favorite verse?
Nicole:
Oh, that’s cool. I liked verse nine. It said, “These patriarchs were jealous of their brother Joseph, and they sold him to be a slave in Egypt, but God was with him.” (Sharon: Aw) And I love that. And the first part of that 10 says, “and rescued him from all his troubles”. But I love that again, when things don’t go the way we planned. He had a vision. He probably had an idea of how God was going to use him. He was really excited about this dream. God took him down a really rough path instead. But God was with him. (He was) He didn’t like, well see you at the end of this rough patch. You know, you’re on your own. But He, God is with us through hard things.
Sharon:
It’s so amazing. It’s like he has to weaken us so we notice him. (Nicole: Yeah) Abraham’s going where he doesn’t know where he is going. Joseph’s a slave. Moses gets kicked out of Egypt and lives in obscurity for forty years. It’s almost like, I can’t use you till you realize you need me.
Nicole:
Right. Would get us out of our little comfort area, out of our safe little, you know, routines?
Sharon:
Yeah. Fascinating. Okay. What did we learn about God from this passage? What did you learn about God?
Nicole:
He has been with us from the start, as he’s recounting the history of all these men. He was with Abraham, he’s with Joseph. He was with (Sharon: Moses) Moses. I was gonna say Stephen. I’m like, no, we’re not there yet.
Sharon:
He was definitely with Stephen.
Nicole:
He is, he’s with him right now as we’re talking. But just that he was with all of these men of faith that paved the way for the fact that God is with me today.
Sharon: Yes!
Nicole:
And it’s kind of neat.
Sharon:
It is. It’s beautiful. And I put God uses unlikely circumstances to train us. So when we face something we don’t like, like when I lost my hearing, that was not my favorite time. But there was a training that came from that that was good. So I have to remember that. (Nicole: Yeah) The most unlikely things God uses for good. (He does) And what did I learn about the early church? Well, the early church reasoned from the Bible. Scriptures were huge for them. And we need to never walk away from the living word of God, the Bible in our own churches. And then I also learned they were bold and passionate, really wanting others to see and come into the truth. I mean, Stephen’s in a dangerous situation and Oh, he’s not backing down. He’s giving a sermon. He’s not like, sorry guys, I’ll be a little quieter. You know, he’s preaching.
Nicole:
He goes at it full throttle. That’s cool.
Sharon:
Yeah. What did you, what did you learn about the early church?
Nicole:
I think that they seem to go back and talk about history. And I think that’s really important. Like, remember, oh, remember our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they continually remember who came before them. And they don’t just highlight their, their highlights, their big moments. They go through the low moments too. And I think that’s really important.
Sharon: It is.
Nicole:
You have to remember where we’ve come from and what God has brought us through, and not just the big mountaintop experiences, so we don’t fool ourselves or trick new believers into thinking it’s all gonna be like these powerful moments where your face is glowing. Well, also this happened before and this is
gonna happen tomorrow for him. (Exactly) So I think it’s really important to accurately remember our history with God.
Sharon:
I agree. Remember the hard as well as the good. And present it as, and this is the Christian walk. (Yes) There’s hard as well as good, but oh man, even in the hard, it’s good.
Nicole:
It’s good in the hard. Yes.
Sharon:
Because he’s with us. And to be real, people that don’t have Christ also have hard.
Nicole: They do.
Sharon:
They just don’t have God with them in it.
Nicole:
Right. The hard is harder.
Sharon:
What would you like? Would you like the hard without God trying to figure it out on your own or would you like him to make your face glow in the middle of it?
Nicole: Right, aww!
Sharon:
There’s our choices. So, okay. Well, let’s pray. Oh, Father, thank you for the gift of memory. Thank you that we don’t just sort of live in today without any remembrance of what has happened before ’cause memories can be so sustaining. Father, thank you for everything recorded in your word, the sort of communal memories of our faith, starting way back with Adam and Eve. I’m just so grateful for that. And Lord, help us to never forget the things you have done in our own personal lives and our stories that have shaped us, that have helped us, that enable us to serve you and that draw us near so we can just remain in your love, amazed by your grace. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole:
Well, that was fun. Exploring our own histories of life with Jesus. We’d love to hear your stories too. Write us by emailing us at sharon@sweetselah.org or by commenting on this episode. You can find all our episodes @sweetselah.org/podcast. We’d be so grateful if you would give us a review and share this podcast with others. Thank you to those of you who have already done that. And please come back next week for episode 137, The High Cost of Rebellion. Thanks so much for listening and have a great week.
Speaker 1:
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can view and print the transcript here.
Sharon and Nicole study the growing pains of the early church. Think about it. What would your church do, if 5,000 people joined it in a day? Even good growth can be painful. Let's learn from the wisdom given our church fathers via the Holy Spirit on how to grow a church well. And while we're at it, let's talk about what qualifies someone to serve the Lord. Hint. It's not necessarily their resume.
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You can read the transcript for Growing Pains-Episode-135Speaker 1:
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word with Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
NIcole:
Welcome to Sweet Selah Moments. This is episode 135, Growing Pains. Have you ever experienced growing pains? I have. When I was a little girl, I would wake up crying because my legs hurt so bad and my dad would come in and rub them for me so I could fall back asleep. Now, as an adult, I’ve had different growing pains: growing into motherhood, and now helping my children grow into teen years as little women. It can be painful most days, trying to think ahead of all these girls and what they may need, and figuring out ways to guide and teach them to be kind and productive members of society. Oy. It’s hard to learn to think less of me and what I want to do with my day, and remember to look to God for help instead of trying to do it all on my own. Sharon, how about you? Are there growing pains at your age and stage of life?
Sharon:
There sure are, and it’s so kind of fun to have you take it from childhood, ’cause I’m gonna bring it to really old age.
NIcole:
We’ll cover all of it.
Sharon:
Right. Which is not where I am at yet, but oh where I am headed. I am so blessed with a mother who wants to prepare me for very old age.
NIcole:
Well, that’s lovely of her.
Sharon:
She’s still helping me, Nicole. (Nicole: Oh) she’s teaching me things. She doesn’t like me to stay a long time to like talk for four hours or so anymore and she gently says, in her little British way, when you get older, dear, your brains cannot handle the concentration necessary for a conversation. And then she reminds me that Billy Graham could only handle an hour of talking towards the end of his life. And so I stay two hours and we have wonderful talk and I can tell by the end, she’s almost 90, that her brains wanna break. And it is not me. It is not like, oh, I just wish this daughter of mine would leave, she’s boring, you know? She just can’t do it. And the other day she said to me, you know, when I was taking care of your grandfather, he told me that I needed to make the bed less tightly because it was hurting his feet. (Oh) And she said, to this day, I’m ashamed of myself. I thought, how on the earth could tight sheets hurt feet? What a ridiculous thing to say. And I don’t know any other way to make a bed. She said, guess what? The sheets hurt my feet. (Aw, that’s so cute) I know. I just keep thinking to myself, there’s even growing pains in old age.Trying to express needs that seem weird to people in different stages of life. You know? And I would never consider that when I’m making a bed for a very old person, I shouldn’t, you know, make the hospital corners.
NIcole:
Right. Makes it tight and tidy. Yeah.
Sharon:
Yeah. It wouldn’t even make sense to me. But she very gently is teaching me. And I am so blessed that I have the kind of mummy that’s teaching me how to take care of her. And then also how I can teach my daughters how to take care of me.
NIcole:
Oh, that’s so wise.
Sharon: Yes.
NIcole:
She’s a good mummy.
Sharon:
Oh my goodness, she really is. So, so basically, as long as God gives us breath, we have the ability to grow and change.
NIcole: Yes.
Sharon:
And we have growing pains.
NIcole: Oh, sure.
Sharon:
And it’s actually a good thing, you know? We have to, we have to grow and change. I had such an epic fail not long ago,
NIcole:
I love these.
Sharon:
Oh man, where I had to grow up again. Everything went wrong at an airport. And due to no fault of our own Ray, and I missed a flight and had to go to the expense of getting a pet friendly hotel, ’cause we had Bella with us, (Nicole: Oh, Bella) on no notice waiting for the next flight, which wasn’t until the following day. And Nicole, instead of praying and saying, Lord, help me to shine in this Lord, help me to be gracious to the airline officials that actually cost us our flight, help me to give them grace. Right? (Right) I was so crabby, I sulked, I felt sorry for myself. I was icily polite, and I thought later, I’m actually glad they didn’t know I was a Christian. And what a terrible thing to say.
NIcole:
Oh, I know.
Sharon:
Because I wasn’t shining for the Lord. And it was all because I didn’t pray in the middle of a hard thing. So I had a painful experience, a growing pain. And God in his grace has given me several difficult situations since so I can practice,
NIcole:
You can practice. Yeah.
Sharon:
Going to him in prayer and saying, okay, okay, you know how I did it wrong at the airport three weeks ago? I’m gonna do it right this time. Lord, come into me. Fill me with your Spirit so that what comes out is grace and not my natural self, which is to be kind of crappy when I don’t get my way.
NIcole:
I think we’re all bent a little that way. But don’t you love how he’s such a kind parent? He’s such a kind Father. Like we would teach our little girl. I have a daughter who loves to bake and she’s tried to make pancakes a couple times with disastrous results. She did salt instead of sugar too much and they’ve been awful. But instead of just yelling at her, oh no, you can’t make pancakes, you’re terrible. We take the time to teach them to do it again.
Sharon: Yes.
NIcole:
But God’s so kind. Even though we’re like, why do we have to do this hard situation again God, that was not fun? But you’re right, there’s growing pains, there’s teaching moments.
Sharon:
Yeah. And they’re for our good.
NIcole: They are.
Sharon:
And even when your little calves were sore and your father was helping you and all that stuff, everything that happens to us, the growing pains were to make your legs grow.
NIcole: Right.
Sharon:
And make you be an adult.
NIcole:
Exactly.
Sharon:
Right. So it had a purpose. So.
NIcole: It does.
Sharon:
All right. Well, today we are going to look at the growing pains of the newly formed church in Acts and then just start the amazing story of Stephen, one of the first martyrs of our faith. So let’s read through the whole chapter of Acts 6 first, which is where we are today. And then let’s dive deep and talk about it all. So
NIcole:
I love it. All right. So I’m gonna start with verse one of chapter six. “But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek speaking believers complained about the Hebrew speaking believers saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.”
Sharon:
“So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, we Apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program.”
NIcole:
“And so brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility.”
Sharon:
“Then we Apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.”
NIcole:
“Everyone liked this idea and they chose the following. Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, Nicholas of Antioch, an earlier convert to the Jewish faith.”
Sharon:
“These seven were presented to the Apostles who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.”
NIcole:
“So God’s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem. And many of the Jewish priests were converted too.”
Sharon:
“Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people.”
NIcole:
“But one day, some men from the synagogue of freed slaves, as it was called, started to debate with him. They were Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and the province of Asia.”
Sharon:
“None of them could stand against the wisdom and the Spirit with which Stephen spoke.”
NIcole:
“So they persuaded some men to lie about Stephen saying, we heard him blaspheme Moses and even God.”
Sharon:
“This roused the people, the elders and the teachers of religious law. So they arrested Stephen and brought him before the high council.”
NIcole:
“The lying witnesses said, this man is always speaking against the holy temple and against the law of Moses.”
Sharon:
“We have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy the temple and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”
NIcole:
“At this point, everyone in the high council stared at Stephen because his face became as bright as an angel’s.
Sharon: Man!
NIcole:
Ooh, that’s a showstopper.
Sharon:
I know, I know. At a glowing face. Wow. Wow, wow. Well, we’re gonna actually start with the church’s growing pains. And then we’re gonna come back to Stephen and actually the next few podcasts will be about him. So, Nicole, breaking it down verse by verse, I think is the best way to go ’cause every verse has so much in it. So I’m gonna start with verse one and read it and then talk about it.
NIcole: Sounds good.
Sharon: How’s that?
NIcole:
I love it.
Sharon:
Alright, let’s do it. So chapter six, verse one. “But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent.” (The growing pains) The Greek speaking believers complained about the Hebrew speaking believers saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.” So basically we’re at, that’s not fair. Right? And of course the Greeks would feel slighted ’cause they’re not Jewish. I mean, you know, come on, but in my mind, they’ve been flooded with new believers. Right? (Nicole: Sure) There were 3000 the first day, then 5,000 more added. There’s an awful lot of widows now to take care of. Right. (That’s right) And because Christianity doesn’t look for, you know, the wealthy donors, they look for the poor, (Right) the disenfranchised, the weak. (Right) There’s a disproportionate amount of poor, disenfranchised and weak and widowed people.
NIcole: That come.
Sharon:
Right. Right. So this is a overwhelming responsibility.
NIcole: Oh, sure.
Sharon:
And of course it probably wasn’t fair, but I don’t know that it was intentional. It’s just like, I mean, what would we do if Eliot Baptist Church grew by 5,000 people?
NIcole:
Oh, my word. I don’t even know.
Sharon:
I don’t either.
NIcole:
You’d be so focused on like, we don’t have enough chairs that you wouldn’t be worrying about every little issue all at once.
Sharon:
Exactly. And all this clump of new poor people with needs. Right?
NIcole:
Right. Definitely overwhelming.
Sharon:
So, yeah. So anyways, in conclusion, they were overwhelmed.
NIcole:
Yeah. To say it lightly. So verse two, it says, “So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, we Apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program”. So that’s interesting. So I love that they called a meeting of the believers. So they did the right thing. They gathered everyone. And they clearly stated their calling again, like we’ve been called to preach. We have been called to teach, we’re not called to run the food program.
Sharon: Right. Right.
NIcole:
So that’s probably why things aren’t going great right now, because this is not our, our gifting. So they kind of acknowledge their weakness, but they highlight what they feel like God has called them to do.
Sharon:
Yeah. I think it’s so good that they didn’t try to do it all. (Nicole: Oh yeah) You can’t do it all. (No) No. I mean, there’s so many needs you’d never sleep.
NIcole:
Right. Right. And they would neglect what God has called them to.
Sharon:
Yeah. So. Their calling. Yeah, so good. Verse three. “And so brothers select,” (So he’s telling them to even do the selecting process, that’s so interesting. I just noticed that. He’s called, they called the believers together. So you guys) “Select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility.” I just so love these qualifications. No resume on food distribution experience. Right. Well, this guy has knowledge about widowhood or whatever.
NIcole: Oh sure.
Sharon:
The qualifications all are to do with character and with their walk with the Lord. They’re well respected.
NIcole:
Great point. Yeah.
Sharon:
Yeah. So they’re, you know, if they’re well respected, they’re not foolish people that fly off the handle at the drop of a hat or anything. They’re well respected. They’re full of the Spirit. So they’re yielded, they’re yielded men that are yielded to the Holy Spirit.
NIcole:
Who will listen to God.
Sharon:
Yes. That is the most primary characteristic you wanna look for in a Christian organization, is not the skillset. (Nicole: Right) It’s are they a yielded vessel to the Lord God? Really.
NIcole:
That’s a great point.
Sharon:
Because from that comes wisdom.
NIcole: Yes.
Sharon:
So, and so there we go. That’s how they made choices. And I feel like we should copy them.
NIcole:
Yes. That’s very smart. So verse four says, “Then we Apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word”. So again, it’s just really good that they recognize their place, they recognize the need. They didn’t say, oh, this isn’t for us. You guys figure it out. They made a plan, they helped delegate, Hey, pick seven men. They presented a good plan, but they gave it to someone else to work through it. (Sharon: Yeah) So they knew their limitations. They were wise with what God had given them. I just think that was really smart.
Sharon: It was.
NIcole:
Because God didn’t call them to do everything everywhere.
Sharon:
No, no. And that is the only way you survive 5,000 new people joining you really quickly.
NIcole: Right.
Sharon:
Is delegation.
NIcole:
Because twelve disciples taking care of 5,000 plus people?
Sharon:
Impossible. Exactly. So.
NIcole:
No way.
Sharon:
So, yeah. Well, fortunately, verse five, everyone liked this idea.
NIcole:
It ends well.
Sharon:
And they chose the following, Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit. He’s the one that gets a parentheses and like a description. Because we’re going to go from this sort of general talk to a very specific focus on Stephen in a little bit. But we first meet Stephen here. He was one of the well-respected men full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom chosen by the believers for outstanding-ness and serving the widows in this way.
NIcole:
That’s pretty neat.
Sharon:
And then Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicholas of Antioch, who by the way, was an earlier convert to the Jewish faith. (Excuse me)
NIcole:
Kind of a fun little tidbit.
Sharon:
A second little parentheses there. So he was twice converted.
NIcole:
I know. I was thinking that like, oh, that’s kind of interesting for him to come to become a Jew and then to kind of turn again to become a Christian. Like that must have been quite a turning.
Sharon:
Yeah. That’s really kind of fun. That Nicholas got the full deal.
NIcole: He did.
Sharon:
He got to be Jewish first and then a Christian Jew.
NIcole:
That’s kind of cool.
Sharon:
So, it was just fun to see their names and think, oh my goodness, when I get to heaven, I’d love the story of Procorus ’cause he had a story.
NIcole:
Right. How many widows did you get to help? That’s kind of neat.
Sharon:
Yeah. And were they all happy?
NIcole:
Right. Were they thankful for the food? All right. So verse six says, “These seven were presented to the Apostles who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them” Oh, I love that. They’re still involved in the process, doing what God had called them to do, which was to pray and to preach the word of God. (Sharon: Yes) And so they were doing again, what they were called to do and doing it well.
Sharon:
They were, they were,
NIcole:
They prayed over these men. It seems like sometimes, you know, well, I’m the toe and I’m better than the finger or the thumb in the body of Christ. But just because they were the twelve Apostles who were preaching and praying, they still kind of commissioned and sent these men doing (Sharon: Yes) maybe what was seen as lesser work of giving food to widows. (True) It’s not as glamorous as going around and being seen, one would think, but they still prayed for them and kind of sent them into this area of service with like God’s hand of blessing on them.
Sharon:
I love that too. I really do. There was a holiness of that sendoff. And it glorified what they were doing. It made it important. This is important enough that we’re laying hands on you to do this job. Right.
NIcole:
I just think that’s so neat. They did a good job with that.
Sharon:
So nice. Yeah. So verse seven. “So God’s message continued to spread.” Why? Because the Apostles weren’t trying to do all the things. (Nicole: Yes) That’s why, because they did not have to micromanage and be in control of everything. They were free to continue to preach the word. And so God’s message continued to spread and the numbers of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem. This is a good thing they had the seven guys on board. (Yeah) And this little line, the last part of verse seven says, “And many of the Jewish priests were converted too”. (That’s neat) Isn’t that the happiest thing? (It is) You know, ’cause sometimes you’re like, how come all these religious leaders don’t get it when they’re studying Isaiah 53? (Right) And other texts. But they did. And I think some of, and I’ve said this before, I think some of the priests that were at the temple when the veil split in two (Oh yeah) when Jesus died and there was an earthquake and the world went dark for three hours, hello, (It’s pretty profound) pretty profound right there, started their journey then. And then as they hear these unlearned fisherman showing them from scripture that Jesus is the Suffering Servant that Isaiah specifically predicted, they humbled themselves and said we were wrong. (Wow) Isn’t that lovely?
NIcole:
That’s just so nice to know, ’cause you do kind of, are like, those poor religious leaders. Like they just didn’t get it. Like they’re always like, you heathens, you snakes.
Sharon:
Yes. Those bad religious leaders.
NIcole: Right.
Sharon:
Yeah. Well, some of them said I was wrong and they came.
NIcole: That’s nice.
Sharon:
I don’t know. Made me happy. So, all right. So now we’re gonna move from that general discussion on how to better organize the church to one specific man in the church. And he was one of the guys appointed to distribute the food. So the cool thing is every single man on that list has a story including Procorus, who now I’m gonna look up in heaven.
NIcole:
Find him in the registry.
Sharon:
Yes. Some get more press than others but every one of us has a story with ups, downs, adventures and trials. And God knows every story and helps every one of us. Isn’t that just the stunning-est thing?
NIcole:
It’s so beautiful.
Sharon:
With every chapter. Oh man. So our story for us in the podcast for now and the next couple ahead, is this amazing, dedicated, passionate lover of Jesus, Stephen. Man, he’s a guy. So let’s divide the verses up again. And Nicole, why don’t you start with verse eight and let’s get to know Stephen.
NIcole:
Okay. “So Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power performed amazing miracles and signs among the people.” So here he is full of God’s grace and power. He was performing some of the same signs and miracles as the Twelve, you know, the original disciples. So that’s interesting that they noted that.
Sharon:
Mm-Hmm. I think it’s so cool that he did that. So he wasn’t just distributing food, (Nicole: Right) which is very important. . Maybe he was healing a couple of widows while he was feeding them.
NIcole:
Right. He was, clearly God was with him.
Sharon: Yes.
NIcole:
He was a surrendered man.
Sharon:
Yeah. So good. Hah, but here’s where it gets sad.
NIcole: I know.
Sharon:
“But one day, some men from the Synagogue of Freed Slaves, as it was called, started to debate with him. They were Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and the province of Asia.” I was so fascinated by Synagogue of Freed Slaves.
NIcole:
I know. I was like, I’m gonna look that up and see why it’s called that.
Sharon:
That is so fascinating. There’s a lot of speculation. (Nicole: Yeah). It’s not mentioned elsewhere, so you’re just like, you’re guessing. (Yeah) But the primary guess as I read different commentaries on it, was that they were freed Roman slaves who had banded together because of their shared experience. (That’s interesting). Yeah. Freed Roman Jewish slaves, ’cause they’re you know? (Right). And so they’re clearly up for the debate. I wonder if once you’ve been freed, you’re a little pushier, ’cause you’re, I’m not gonna be enslaved again.
NIcole:
Right. So you guard things closer.
Sharon:
There might be a bit of a chip on the shoulder, you know? (Nicole: Yeah) And that might be part of the reason why they’re like, wait a second. What are you doing to our faith? I’m free now I can talk to you about this.
NIcole:
Oh, they didn’t, they were afraid of being taken back in even in a religious entrapment sort of thing.
Sharon: Maybe.
NIcole:
Maybe. Yeah. Because they were very ready to fight him on this.
Sharon:
They were very ready to fight him. They were. Yeah.
NIcole:
All right. So verse 10 says, “None of them could stand against the wisdom and the Spirit within which Stephen spoke”. So God is with him. It’s not just Stephen saying the great words he heard his friends say or just kind of off the cuff. God is clearly speaking through this man.
Sharon: Yes.
NIcole:
These are God’s words coming out of Stephen’s mouth. This is not Stephen.
Sharon: Exactly so.
NIcole:
Because how many of us can say that nothing coming out of our mouth is bad, it’s just all wisdom in the Spirit of God. Like that’s, that’s a rare day.
Sharon:
It’s a very rare day. It’s a rare minute.
NIcole: Yes.
Sharon:
Man. So there he is. They couldn’t stand up against him. So what do they do? They persuade some men to lie. So this is verse 11. I should maybe read it. “So they persuaded some men to lie about Stephen saying, We heard him blaspheme Moses and even God.” So now they’ve gone from just debating to being wrong.
NIcole: Right.
Sharon:
It’s like we’re gonna win this argument at any cost, even if we have to lie to do it. And that’s just wrong.
NIcole:
It is. That’s sad.
Sharon:
There you go. Yeah.
NIcole:
It’s just wrong. Verse 12. “This roused the people, the elders and the teachers of religious law. So they arrested Stephen and brought him before the high court.” So I feel like they were a little defensive and definitely in the wrong, because if you have to resort to breaking God’s laws, like do not lie is one of the big ones.
Sharon: It is.
NIcole:
The Big Ten. One of the Ten Commandments. If you have to resort to sin in order to win your argument or your point, you know that that’s not right.
Sharon:
It’s not right.
NIcole:
They had to be underhanded in order to rouse up the people and the elders. And it just, it’s sad to see that happening against poor Stephen.
Sharon:
It really is. Reminds me of Jesus, falsely accused. (Nicole: Yes). Dragged before the council, you know? Verse 13, “The lying witnesses said, this man is always speaking against the holy temple and against the law of Moses.” So same basic charges as Jesus had, misinterpreting things Jesus said that Stephen probably was just repeating what Jesus said. And they’re getting the same kind of false understanding. (Right) False understanding of it.
NIcole:
So verse 14 continues, “We have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy the temple and change the customs Moses handed down to them”. And I put the same thing. This is all the same stuff they accused Jesus of. This is the same fear. They don’t really have ground to stand on against Jesus and his coming. They just kind of keep sticking to this one little, you know, this one thing that they heard. Oh, he is gonna tear down the temple and destroy our law. Because that’s all they have. It’s what they know. The temple and the law feels safe. It’s that legalism of, I follow the rules and I can be good enough.
Sharon:
Mm-Hmm. Yep. And it’s a guaranteed rabble-rouser cry. Nobody wants that temple destroyed.
NIcole:
No. It’s sacred to them.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. So here we go again. Right? Man.
NIcole: I know.
Sharon:
So then this very fascinating verse 15. “At this point, everyone in the high council stared at Stephen because his face became as bright as an angel’s.” This verse seems to come out of the blue.
NIcole: I know.
Sharon:
They’re having this argument. And all of a sudden, la— there’s Stephen with a shining face.
NIcole:
He’s shining. That’s funny.
Sharon:
Stephen himself must have been bewildered at first at this, it’s gotta have been, you know how when the Holy Spirit first came, there was a fire on everybody’s head. I feel like there was a whoosh of an infilling of the Spirit there that made him glow. (Nicole: Yeah) You know, God was giving him, ’cause God knew what was about to happen to him, which was (Nicole: Oh, I know) (Sharon: PS spoiler alert) not going to be pleasant. And he knew that he needed, in his weakness, God’s power in him. So he starts to glow. So God fills him in a very special way. So it’s almost like he’s removed from the pettiness of everything that people are doing around him. (Right) And he’s already in the joy of the Lord. The strength of God is whooshing through him. (Yeah) And I’m imagining, this is imagination, I’m imagining that it goes from sharp words that Stephen’s feeling that are bruising his spirit to being so filled with the joy of the Lord that you just are watching their mouths move. (Oh, yeah, like, just kinda blurs to a little sound) You know, Lord, you are here with me. Wow. You are really here with me.
NIcole:
Am I glowing?
Sharon:
This is so cool. And it is my fondest wish and prayer that if ever I am placed in a point of severe persecution, could I please have what Stephen had?
NIcole:
Can I glow for a minute?
Sharon:
Yes. Yes. So that I have the strength I need in the weakness.
NIcole:
Yes. To get through it.
Sharon: Yeah.
NIcole:
You know what’s really neat? The only other person this happened to was Moses. When the glory of God came on Moses and his face was, they couldn’t look on upon him. (Sharon: Yeah, yeah) So Moses and Stephen got this really special moment where the Holy Spirit like literally shone, the glory of God shone through. And it’s almost like God was just putting like all the chaos and all the bickering back and forth, he just quietly just gives his stamp of approval on Stephen, like you said, kind of wraps him in this little glowing hug.
Sharon:
Yes, little bubble.
NIcole:
Like this is my little servant I’m pleased with.
Sharon: Man!
NIcole:
Just a really powerful, beautiful moment. Like a calm in a storm.
Sharon:
It is. And wait til we see next week what Stephen’s gonna do with it while he’s filled with the Spirit. My goodness. So, okay. So that is our lesson for today. The Growing Pains. And actually what happens to Stephen is part of the growing pains too.
NIcole: Yes.
Sharon:
And we’ll see that because, you know, when somebody dies for their faith, everybody else that has the same faith starts to go, oh, do I wanna, do I really believe this? (Nicole: Yeah) ‘Cause it could lead to my death. (Right) Yeah. Which we have people all over the world that face that. (Yes) When they choose Christ, they know they could be choosing a very premature death. Yeah. So, all right, well let’s go on to our favorite verses and why. So what’s your favorite verse out of all these amazing verses?
NIcole:
There’s a lot. There was a lot in here. I settled, I kept going back to verse 10. It said none of them could stand against the wisdom and the Spirit with which Stephen spoke. So they had to resort to lying about him. ’cause Stephen was walking with God so closely. He was surrendered and he had wisdom for God that he allowed the Spirit to work through him, and no one could find anything to say against him. They had to lie to find something against this man.
Sharon:
Yeah. Isn’t that neat?
NIcole:
That was so encouraging. I wanna be so close with God. And so in tuned with him that people have to make up lies. Like when you first read that, I was like, oh, they’re lying about him. That’s awful. Poor Stephen. But then it was this shift of wow, he was such an upright man, so close to his Jesus that they had to lie to find something to accuse him of. Like, I want that faith.
Sharon:
That kind of faith. Exactly. Exactly so. It reminds me of Daniel where they’re like, well, we can’t find anything wrong with Daniel so we’re gonna have to get him in trouble for praying. Yeah.
NIcole:
Right. I know. Like, that’s a great way to be found out to be.
Sharon:
Isn’t It? Yeah, exactly. May people have to lie about me in order to get me.
NIcole:
Yeah. I know.
Sharon:
So, well, mine was verse 15. We can be in the hardest situations and yet still feel his peace. And joy. (Nicole: Yeah) Because God can come upon us (Yes) in such a special way. So I love that verse. (That’s so good) So yeah. Okay. So what did I learn about God from this passage? Well, God is able to grow things rapidly if he chooses to, and then God is able to give us joy even in the hardest times. I just love that in the midst of hard it can be still good. (Yes) Yeah. And I’ve had times in my life where that has happened. (Yes) So, wonderful. How about you?
NIcole:
I love it. I put, despite all that Satan threw at that early church, the number of believers still grew. He tried several different tactics and now he’s trying to stir up fighting in the church and they still continue to grow.
Sharon: Tah dah!
NIcole:
I love that.
Sharon: That’s right.
NIcole:
That God doesn’t get derailed by our problems.
Sharon:
Nope. He doesn’t. Nope. If God has a plan, the plan will happen.
NIcole:
It’s gonna go through. Yeah.
Sharon: That’s right.
NIcole:
And then I put that God is with us when he calls us, that we can trust that he will shine in our weakness.
Sharon: Yes.
NIcole:
Little play on Stephen there.
Sharon:
I like it. I’m liking it. That’s awesome. And what did you learn about the early church and how we can apply it today?
NIcole:
Yeah. They did a really good job working through the problems that arose, I think they took care of it fairly quickly. They brought it up together. They didn’t talk behind people’s backs. It looks like they gathered all the believers and said, okay, here’s the problem. Here’s what we think would be a good solution. They made a plan and they solved the problem, you know? (Sharon: Yeah) And I think they had a lot of grit to work through the trouble that they first had in the beginning. (Yes) So that was good. I think they had a good method for working through trouble.
Sharon:
I loved it ’cause they weren’t defensive. They’re like, what? We, Jews are not, you know, being bad to you, Greek widows.
NIcole:
Right, right. They didn’t try to defend themselves. They said, okay, well here’s the problem. You see, here’s how we could fix it.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. I like that.
NIcole:
They did a good job.
Sharon:
Yeah. So yeah, that was one of mine, that they cared for widows. And we need to do the same in our churches. And anybody that is alone. That we have to be family for them. And then they also recognized the need to share the load. And we have to always be delegating as a church as we grow.
NIcole: Yes.
Sharon:
Sharing the load and not trying to take on too much to ourselves.
NIcole:
No, that’s good.
Sharon:
Boy, this was fun. All right. And it goes so fast. Man.
NIcole: It does.
Sharon:
Okay. Well, I am gonna pray. Heavenly Father, I just so thank you for the humility of the apostles who when they were told the Jews were being unfair to the Greeks, heard it, responded in a wise and good way publicly, and appointed men to deal with it. Lord, may we learn from that when we are criticized, please give us that humility that listens, and sees where we might be at fault or where we could do better. Forgive us for how often our pride gets in the way of what we could learn if we could listen. And Father, thank you for Stephen, and as we continue to study him in the weeks ahead, would you teach us more about how to be yielded to you? In Jesus’ name, Amen.
NIcole:
Amen. We hope today’s chat about Acts 6 inspires you to muscle through those growing pains, seeking God’s help and delighting in the fact that God cares about you and wants you to grow your faith. Maybe you even got some practical ideas for growing things in your own church. We would love to hear from you. Tell us when you listen and where, tell us what you are learning. Let’s be friends. Email us at sharon@sweetselah.org. And if you want to hear from us once a month, consider becoming a monthly donor, even for $5 a month and become a podcast partner helping us to get the word out. To donate go to sweetselah.org/donations and please come back next week for episode 136, Don’t Forget to Remember. Thanks so much for listening and have a great week.
Speaker 1:
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
It's bad enough to face opposition from ordinary people, but what happens when your own governing authorities disagree with you? The stakes can be quite high for disobedience in those cases. That's where Nicole and Sharon find the apostles in the early church, today. Join them for a discussion about how to handle opposition when you are doing what is right and still getting in trouble for it!
If you enjoy what you hear, consider leaving a review on your favorite podcast app. Comments are welcomed and answered. And, if you wish to become a partner with us in this ministry, you can donate here.
You can read the transcript for Facing Opposition-Episode-134Speaker 1:
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word with Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole:
Welcome to Sweet Selah Moments. This is episode 134, Facing Opposition. We are moving in our study of the Book of Acts from the earliest days when the Holy Spirit first indwelled believers to the beginning of persecution. Sharon, it seems like there has always been opposition and persecution for Christians.
Sharon:
Yes, there has. And you know what? It’s the strangest thing ’cause what did Jesus teach? He taught us to love. What is so scary about that? He calls us to come to him, that we might have life abundant. He forgives sins and cleanses people. He promises eternal life. We are even told to be nice to our enemies as Christians. So it puzzles me, Nicole, until I remember that the enemy, Satan, is as real as God is. The only explanation that makes sense to me considering Jesus’ teachings are so kind and so non-threatening, is that people throughout this century have been angry at peaceful Christians. So angry they wanna hurt them, is that the devil is at work in their hearts. There’s a battle raging.
Nicole:
Oh, there is.
Sharon:
And Satan does not want people to get clothed with immortality and live in heaven in a happy place.
Nicole:
No, he doesn’t. Well, he hates Jesus. He’s trying to be him. And he wants to get as many of us to follow him as possible. (Sharon: Yeah) I get get the Voice of the Martyr emails daily, and it’s always so staggering to me to see the persecution around the world. (Yes) And to see how powerful it’s happening and how big it’s happening, and how many people are affected by it ’cause we don’t, we don’t always see that here (We don’t) In the states.
Sharon:
I can remember communicating with a missionary in a restricted country and I could not use words like pray or God (Nicole: Wow) or Jesus or Bible. I could say, I talked to my dad about you. (Oh) And that was my way of saying, I’ve been praying for you. (Right) But she actually got kicked out because somebody was careless. (Oh, that’s so scary) And her phone was being tapped, and it’s a wonder she didn’t get imprisoned. (Yeah) You know? So, boy, oh boy, there’s persecution today, but here at the very beginning of the early church, there was persecution then. (Yeah) So, and I think it is absolutely related to the enemy. So we’re gonna look at what Paul has to say about the enemy and his tactics in a very familiar passage. Ephesians 6:10-20. Would you just read that for us? And let’s remember that God is real, but so is Satan and his demons. (Yes) Okay.
Nicole:
All right. So starting in verse 10. “A final word, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power, put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not
fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you’ll be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle, you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes put on the peace that comes from the good news, so that you’ll be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet and take the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. And pray for me too. Ask God to give me the right words so I can boldly explain God’s mysterious plan. That the good news is for Jews and Gentiles alike. I am in chains now still preaching this message as God’s ambassador. So pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him as I should.”
Sharon:
We talked last week about prayers for boldness.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
Paul’s asking for that right here. Help me be bold. And I feel like the, one of the key verses here is stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. If it’s a spiritual battle, we need to spiritually fight it. And that’s with prayer.
Nicole:
Right. And that kind of keeps all that armor on and keeps it effective. We’ve actively put on these things and then we have to pray and remember.
Sharon: Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
Who’s on our side, who we’re fighting against, and that we’re not alone. I think if we’re praying for other believers, we’re not gonna feel alone in this battle.
Sharon:
No, no, exactly.
Nicole:
We’re gonna remember.
Sharon:
Exactly. I’ve said this before. I have a picture in my Bible and this Chinese pastor I pray for is now on his fourth year of captivity out of a nine year sentence. (Nicole: Wow) And I know his wife’s name and his son’s name and his name, and they’re my specials. I can’t pray for every persecuted Christian. {Right) But God told me this family for this season. (That’s so sweet) So I just pray for them. (Yeah) And that’s in obedience to this. Be persistent in your prayers for all believers. And I love to imagine that as I’m praying,
God just fills him anew with strength to share Jesus in the prison, that gives his teenage son the strength to keep walking the path with Christ. (Yeah) Oh, I pray all kinds of fun things.
Nicole:
Oh, that gives me the tingles.
Sharon:
So much fun. It’s a battle. It’s a battle.
Nicole:
It is, yeah. We cannot forget that.
Sharon:
Yeah. Well, let’s get to the heart of our lesson. More and more people are following Christ in the early church. And I guess I do understand why the religious leaders would be upset as people are leaving their teachings for the teachings of Christ. So I guess in that sense, I understand the opposition. They think people are being led astray, but wow. They seem more eager to stamp it out than to understand it. (Nicole: Yeah) Right? So we’re gonna read Acts 5:17-42, alternating verses. This is our passage for the day. And I’ll begin, verse 17. “The high priest and his officials who were Sadducees were filled with jealousy.”
Nicole:
“They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.”
Sharon:
“But an angel of the Lord came at night, opened the gates of the jail and brought them out. Then he told them,”
Nicole:
“Go to the temple and give the people this message of life.”
Sharon:
“So at Daybreak, the apostles entered the temple as they were told, and immediately began teaching.” (That’s still me. Okay.) “When the high priest and his officials arrived, they convened the high council, the full assembly of the elders of Israel. Then they sent for the apostles to be brought from the jail for trial.”
Nicole:
“But when the temple guards went to the jail, the men were gone. So they returned to the council and reported.”
Sharon:
“The jail was securely locked with the guard standing outside, but when we opened the gates, no one was there.”
Nicole:
“When the captain of the temple guard and the leading priest heard this, they were perplexed, wondering where it would all end.”
Sharon:
“Then someone arrived with startling news. The men you put in jail are standing in the temple preaching, teaching the people.”
Nicole:
“The captain went with his temple guards and arrested the apostles, but without violence, for they were afraid the people would stone them.”
Sharon:
“Then they brought the apostles before the high council where the high priest confronted them.”
Nicole:
“We gave you strict orders never again to teach in this man’s name, he said, Instead, you have filled all Jerusalem with your teaching about him, and you want to make us responsible for his death.”
Sharon:
“But Peter and the apostles replied, we must obey God rather than any human authority.”
Nicole:
“The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead after you killed him by hanging him on a cross.” (Right to his face.)
Sharon:
(You actually did. Yes.) “Then God put him (Jesus) in the place of honor at his right hand as Prince and Savior. He did this so the people of Israel would repent of their sins and be forgiven.”
Nicole:
“We are witnesses of these things. And so is the Holy Spirit who is given by God to those who obey him.”
Sharon:
“When they heard this, the high council was furious and decided to kill them.”
Nicole:
“But one member, a Pharisee named Gamaliel who was an expert in religious law and respected by all the people, stood up and ordered that these men be sent outside the council chamber for a while.”
Sharon:
“Then he said to his colleagues, men of Israel take care what you are planning to do to these men.”
Nicole:
“Sometime ago there was that fellow Theudas who pretended to be someone great. About 400 others joined him, but he was killed and all his followers went their various ways. The whole movement came to nothing.”
Sharon:
“And after him, at the time of the census, there was Judas of Galilee. He got people to follow him, but he was killed too. And all his followers were scattered.”
Nicole:
“So my advice is: leave these men alone. Let them go. If they are planning and doing these things merely on their own, it will soon be overthrown.”
Sharon:
“But if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God.”
Nicole:
“The others accepted his advice. They called in the apostles and had them flogged. Then they ordered them never again to speak in the name of Jesus, and they let them go.”
Sharon:
“The apostles left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus.”
Nicole:
“And every day in the temple and from house to house, they continued to teach and preach this message: Jesus is the Messiah.”
Sharon:
Wow. Wow. Wow. There’s so much cool stuff in this
Nicole: There is.
Sharon:
Oh my goodness. I wanna start at the very beginning and talk about this jealousy angle. (Nicole: Yeah) It starts with saying that the priests are jealous, because the people are listening. I mean, the people might have thought they were boring, and now they’re like, Hey, why aren’t you listening to us anymore? (Right) I think sometimes we can resent others who are more successful than us, even if they’re doing good. We’re guilty of jealousy at times too.
Nicole:
Oh, sure. Even if we’re working toward the same goal. I mean, I don’t know if they thought they were working toward the same goal of guiding God’s people to God, but if we think we’re all kind of on the same team, we shouldn’t be jealous if we see someone else with more followers or more earthly accolades that seem more tangible when we could be having more heavenly things. We have to just trust the path God has given us.
Sharon:
We absolutely do. And it’s one of the things our ministry has in our general principles, is that big or small, just your will be done. We are not the only ministry out there saying, please stop and read your Bible and pray. There are thousands of them, and there should be. (Nicole: Yes) Because different ministries will reach different people. So we will be as big or as small as God wills it, and we’ll just, you know, stick to our niche, basically.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
But anything else can lead to jealousy. We wanna be the the best known for— No, no, we don’t.
Nicole:
Well, that jealousy gets in the way of doing the work. We’re so busy looking at the other person or other people. (Sharon: Right, right) That we’re not focused on the task at hand, what God has given us.
Sharon:
Right. It can get competitive.
Nicole: Oh, sure.
Sharon:
And pastors can do that too. So how many people are in your church, you know? No. Who cares? We need to do, you said it at the beginning, the path marked out for us. (Nicole: Yes) Yeah. So, so anyways, we’ve gotta watch out for jealousy.
Nicole:
Yeah, for sure.
Sharon:
We just do. So, okay, so then, I just wanna talk about the fact that they escape prison. Peter does this later in Acts chapter 12.
Nicole: He does.
Sharon:
And when you read about it, which we won’t, ’cause we won’t get that far. They put like extra chains on him and had extra guards and stuff. Now I get why. I forgot.
Nicole:
‘Cause he’s done this before.
Sharon:
They got out before.
Nicole:
Isn’t that funny?
Sharon:
I totally forgot about the first prison break.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
And I just remembered the Peter Prison break.
Nicole:
I don’t remember this one either. This one’s a little bit quieter. There’s not as many things happening about it. (Sharon: Right) Not as much talk about it. It’s just they went to check, there was no sign of breakout and they were just at the temple preaching.
Sharon:
So there they were. (Nicole: Yeah) Just so, so fascinating.
Nicole:
That’s so interesting. I wonder how they did get out because they didn’t really say what happened.
Sharon: No, no.
Nicole:
They didn’t say they unlocked the doors. They just escaped prison.
Sharon:
They just went out and the angel or whoever told them, go back to the temple, and don’t you love, it’s daybreak. They’re just out of prison.
Nicole:
First thing in the morning. They obeyed.
Sharon:
They’re like, my life is not my own. You command me and I do it, wow!
Nicole:
Man though, if the angel of the Lord comes and busts you outta prison and tells you to do something, I think I’d be like, yeah, sure.
Sharon:
Just do it. Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole:
You just got me outta prison.
Sharon:
Yes. Yes. Yeah. I hope that would be my attitude. I am such a comfort lover. I might have been, could I change my clothes?
Nicole:
Could I just shower first?
Sharon:
Could I have a cup of tea, you know, instead of just obeying. (Nicole: Yeah) I don’t know that I’m quite as good as they are, but we’ll see if the Lord ever tests me in that particular fashion. But I love their dogged determination.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And Nicole, it’s not like they’re going somewhere else to talk about Jesus. They are walking right back (Nicole: Yeah) to where they were arrested from (Right) and doing it again.
Nicole:
They weren’t even trying to be a little bit more covert about it, like, well, we’ll just hold this quiet thing in this back alley where no one hears. No. Right back into it.
Sharon:
They’re doing it again.
Nicole:
That’s boldness.
Sharon:
Unbelievable. So, just so funny.
Nicole: It is.
Sharon:
So, and then I wanna talk about Peter. So Peter gives a wonderful chat to these guys, and right after they say, you’re accusing us of killing him, as we know, part of the thing. So, I’m gonna just read this section again and let’s just talk about what Peter says.
Nicole: Okay.
Sharon:
They’re yelling at him. We gave you strict orders never again to teach in this man’s name. Instead, you’ve filled all Jerusalem with your teaching about him, and you wanna make us responsible for his death. Okay. So that’s their accusation.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
And then they actually let Peter and the apostles reply, and their first reply is sort of their thing. We must obey God rather than any human authority.
Nicole:
They say this every—
Sharon:
The third time.
Nicole:
Yes. It’s a pattern for them. They go right to it.
Sharon:
It’s the second time they’ve said it, but I also applied it to Sapphira last week. The fact that she needed to obey God about not deceiving, rather than man, Ananias. So, but she was in cahoots with him anyways. So, okay. So they’ve got this, they’ve got the order, right? (NIcole: Yep) God’s told us we have one mission. It’s not like we have multiple things and we could just stop the ‘preach about Jesus’ and go do something else.The thing we’re supposed to do is this. (Right) So we gotta obey him. And he didn’t give us any other command. This is the command. (Right) So, and then verse 30, the God of our ancestors. Here it is. “The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead.” Here’s this resurrection linchpin that the whole whole gospel hangs on, after you killed him by hanging him on a cross. Sorry. But, y’all are the ones that did it.
Nicole:
It’s like we’re telling people because it’s the truth. I just think that’s so funny that they said that to them.
Sharon:
Well, people had just gotten dropped dead for deceit. So.
Nicole:
Right. Let’s be really clear and honest with what we say to them.
Sharon:
That’s right. So then God put him in the place of honor at his right hand as Prince and Savior. He did this so the people of Israel would repent of their sins and be forgiven. We are witnesses of these things. That’s their whole purpose, to be witness. And so is the Holy Spirit who was given by God to those who obey him. So there is that beautiful speech. It wasn’t that long.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
But Peter’s back to talk about the resurrection.
Nicole:
I was gonna say, he sits there, they’re accusing them, they’re yelling at them. They say, we’re here under God’s authority. We have to obey God’s authority. Yes, you did kill him. But then he still gives the gospel message to these men.
Sharon: He does.
Nicole:
They never leave without clearly presenting it over and over again. But it’s the one that God raised from the dead and he’s here for the Jews and the Gentiles. They keep trying to offer the salvation even to—
Sharon:
They do! They do.
Nicole:
The Sadducees and the Pharisees and these men, I mean, that just struck me. The compassion and the faithfulness to the message (Sharon: Yes, yes) above all else.
Sharon:
And the purity of what they’re doing. They’re not fighting back. (Nicole: No) They’re not sneaking around. (No) They’re here we are. We have one mission and we’re gonna do it. It’s beautiful.
Nicole:
It’s admirable for sure.
Sharon:
And so nonviolent.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
Oh my goodness. Wow. Wow, wow. So what did you think of what Gamaliel said? After the anger that resulted in them wanting to literally kill the apostles?
Nicole:
Yeah. It’s like the voice of reason coming. Like, oh, hey guys. It’s interesting. I don’t know, his initial motive would’ve been like, oh yeah, just let it fizzle out. But then he does speak truth. But if they’re doing what God has told, you might be fighting against God. So he kinda gets serious really quickly. You
Sharon:
You wonder if Gamaliel is actually listening a little bit.
Nicole:
I wonder. And his heart’s starting to kind of ponder these things because, you know, he was, oh yeah, it’ll fade out. They’ll just, you know, the guys will die off and don’t worry about it. It’s not a big deal. This has happened before. (Sharon: Yeah. Yeah) But I think that, you know, they’ve seen so many healings and so much is happening so much more than those 400 followers that scattered before. That it’s this, this little movement is gaining traction. (Oh yeah) He’s like, well, but maybe you’ll find yourself fighting against God. This feels a little different.
Sharon:
You don’t wanna fight. God.
Nicole:
No. So he did give some good advice there.
Sharon:
He did. And they actually obeyed it.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon: Which is rare.
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
But really good. Really, really good.
Nicole:
But they still flogged them, but,
Sharon:
I know. Well, we’ll still beat you up and tell you not to do it again. Right?
Nicole:
Right. But don’t fight against God. But and then they left rejoicing.
Sharon:
I love that.
Nicole:
That’s so cool. I mean, the fact that they just kind of, they defended their faith. They went and obeyed again and they’re back arrested again. Flogged. And there they go out rejoicing. Hey, we’re doing what’s right. We’ve followed God and been faithful.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
We’ve gotten flogged.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
And we’re thankful to do it.
Sharon:
They were worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
And it’s almost like, Lord, you’re giving me this honor to join you in this suffering. You think I’m worthy of this, that I can do this? I mean, they were like thankful.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
They were thankful of it. It reminds me of the passage in Philippians, Philippians 3:10, where the first time I read this as an adult, the first part of the verse is, I wanna know Christ and the power of His Holy Spirit. And I’m like, amen. Amen. Love this verse. And I wanna know Christ and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings.
Nicole:
It’s like, oh wait, what?
Sharon:
Says Paul in the second part of verse 10. And I’m like, oh!
Nicole:
Do I have to do both things?
Sharon:
I kind of like the first part better.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
You know, I wanna just be with Jesus and be happy. But part of being with the man of sorrows is sharing in the fellowship of his suffering. And I love the word fellowship because it’s something we’re not gonna know unless we do it. Where he comes alongside us, he’s already within us, the Spirit of Christ is within us. That’s the Holy Spirit. And he’s like, I know. I know. So my beautiful Chinese pastor, when he’s being beaten or whatever’s happening, Jesus is right there with him in it because Jesus has been there. Done that. (Nicole: Yes) There’s a fellowship that comes. It’s kind of like if you’re a mama and you have lost a baby. There’s a fellowship you share only with other women who have lost a baby because it’s such a unique experience that other people can feel bad but they can’t enter in. Right? Or if you were abused as a child, there’s a kind of a bonding that goes on where you’re like, okay, you understand what it’s like to have your freedom taken away in that way. (Right) Right? So when you suffer for being good, for following God, you have an honor and a thing with Jesus (Yes) that you don’t get any other way. (That’s true) I don’t have that. (Yeah) ‘Cause I have not been persecuted. (Right) And I think it’s why those martyrs are robed in white and how Jesus wipes their tears away. It’s a high honor to be a martyr for Christ.
Nicole: Oh, it is.
Sharon:
It’s a high honor.
Nicole:
But you hear stories about people that have banded together, that have been persecuted in other countries. There’s a unique bond between them, a unity, this beautiful— to survive that together. Hearing their stories and the fact that they can continue to put themselves in harm’s way, (Sharon: Yes) at risk of their family. That (Yes) from a human perspective that sounds crazy. Why would you put your children in harm’s way? Why would you do something that’s gonna cause such grief to yourself and to your children? (Right. Right) But I think that when we fellowship with God in that way, there’s something unique about that and really precious. (There is. Yeah. There is) That no one can take away from that. (No, no) And it’s that extra boost to get them through the difficult path they have ahead.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. And Paul knew it. So when he says, I want to know you, I want to share in the power of the Holy Spirit, I wanna share in your sufferings and the fellowship that comes. He had experienced that. He did, after being beaten severely and put in stocks in the innermost prison in Philippi, (Nicole: Oh gosh, yeah) end up singing hymns at midnight.
Nicole:
I know. I just dunno if I would do that. I’m trying to think about that.
Sharon:
There must be some kind of fellowship of which we are unaware.
Nicole:
An extra, well, there’s certain, you think about some of us have easier paths on earth and then there’s some that just seem to suffer for Christ continually. (Sharon: Yeah) And it’s like, this doesn’t seem fair, but we look at it from an earthly perspective, we don’t know. (Right) But there’s, I think there might be an extra measure of something (Yes) given to those that just have to go through hell on earth here to follow Christ.
Sharon:
Right. Oh, I definitely believe that. The first shall be last. The last shall be first. (Nicole: Yeah) All those things. You know, when I have my thankful Thursdays, I, you know, when I pray on Thursdays for Thanksgiving, I’m like, I don’t know why you had me born in cushy America. (I know right) Where, you know, I’m sitting on a brown leather couch with a cup of hot tea after having, you know, a hot shower.
Nicole:
And the fire toasting my toes, you know.
Sharon:
Yeah. I mean really we have been given so much.
Nicole:
So, so much.
Sharon: So much.
Nicole:
And our biggest persecution was recently, I think through Covid and dealing with pandemics and churches closing and to go to church or not. (Sharon: Yep) That’s probably the biggest thing I’ve experienced in my life. (Right) With opposition going to church (Yes) or not being able to, or whatever the conflict that kind of arose from that.
Sharon:
From that. Yeah.
Nicole:
And that was pretty mild. No one threatened my life.
Sharon:
Oh my goodness. And it didn’t hurt. (Nicole: No) We haven’t had pain. We have not. He says this at one point you have not yet suffered to the point of shedding blood. Well, that would be me. (Yeah) That would be me. So, so, okay, we need to be ready for this stuff. I hope it doesn’t happen, but we need to be ready for this stuff.
Nicole:
But we should so it doesn’t take us by surprise.
Sharon:
Yeah. And maybe if it does, Nicole, we’re gonna get the joy they felt. We are worthy to suffer with you, Jesus. Wow. I look to that as sort of my reassurance. That if it happens to me, that is what’s gonna come with it. That fellowship,
Nicole:
I think so. Yeah.
Sharon:
That I can’t imagine right now.
Nicole:
Right. Because we look at something hard, I remember when having one child and then two and then three, and then four. And people look at me and go, oh, how did you, how can you do four children? It’s like, well, I couldn’t at one and you have two kiddos, so yeah, right now if you had four, it’d be way too much.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
God gave me the grace. He gave me what I needed for each child as they came along.
Sharon:
At the right time.
Nicole:
Right. When I had Olivia, I didn’t have what I needed for four children. (Sharon: No) I had just enough for one, just barely enough. So I think if the way that they felt this joy and they could count it as a blessing to suffer with him in the moment, God gave them the strength they needed for the path for them.
Sharon:
I think so too.
Nicole:
We do not right now, have that strength (Sharon: No) ’cause we don’t need it right now.
Sharon:
No. Right. But we can trust we’ll get it.
Nicole:
Yes. But he’s ready. He’ll give it to us if we need it. And I rest in that.
Sharon:
And we might feel such joy that we’re like, why did I worry about this?
Nicole: That’s true.
Sharon:
This is so cool.
Nicole:
Right. It’s way better than I was worrying about.
Sharon:
Yes, yes, yes, yes. Oh my goodness. Okay. Well let’s go to favorite verses. Yeah. What was your favorite verse?
Nicole:
Oh, 41. “The apostles left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus.” This verse just feels there’s so much here. And I admire them so much for being at that point where they counted it, they were rejoicing, that God counted them worthy to suffer (Sharon: Yeah) disgrace for his name. And I’m not there today.
Sharon:
No. I don’t like being disgraced.
Nicole:
No. I’m not there today. And so it’s kind of a, okay God, if I need to be there, make me there, put me there.
Sharon:
Put me there.
Nicole:
Start working on my heart now, because I’m nowhere near rejoicing that I get to be disgrace for you. I’m not saying, Hey, I wanna suffer.
Sharon: No.
Nicole:
So work in my heart. It was very convicting. And I was just really inspired by their hearts.
Sharon:
Yeah. Oh, so good. Mine was 31.
Nicole:
Oh, a different one.
Sharon:
Yep. You never know with us. “Then God put him in the place of honor at his right hand as Prince and Savior. He did this so the people of Israel would repent of their sins and be forgiven.” And we’ve already really talked about it, but just the fact that Peter’s talking to the enemy and what’s he saying? God did this so you could be forgiven. (Nicole: Yeah) God did this for your good. I know you want to kill us. I know you’ve just hauled us out of the temple again after putting us in jail last night. I know you hate us. (Yep) But hey, he did this for you. (I know) And we’re talking about it ’cause we want good for you, not harm. Huh? So good.
Nicole:
There they are being peaceful again.
Sharon:
Yes. Oh my goodness. So yeah. So those are both great verses.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
So, number two question. What did we learn from God? Well, I learned that God can open prison doors.
Nicole:
Yeah. That’s a nifty skill.
Sharon:
That’s a skill. So as I’ve been praying for my Chinese pastor, I’m like, well, Thy will be done. But I feel like he’s been in there long enough.
Nicole:
And open some doors today,
Sharon:
I’ve been praying for four years for him
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
Could you just release him, Lord and let him go home?
Nicole: Oh!
Sharon:
I can ask. Right. I’m God’s kid. I can ask.
Nicole:
You can, you can certainly ask. You can always ask.
Sharon:
But his will be done. For all I know he’s got a great ministry going in the prison, so. (Nicole: Oh, yeah) Yeah. So that. God could open prison doors. The fact that God sent them right back to speak about him. (I love that) God is really clear. I need to be his witness. And I mean that is through and through. If you deny me, I will deny you. (Yes) We don’t get to lie about being Jesus’ followers. (Right) We don’t. And that’s repeated. (Yes) We are his followers and we have to be pure through and through and say it and say it and say it, even when it leads to, in the world’s eyes, disgrace. So that’s hard. But it’s true. (Yes) And then the last thing, God’s message for me, if you can tell me what you learned about God, God’s message of forgiveness is so vital that Peter repeats it in a room full of hostile people.
Nicole:
Yeah. No, that’s good. So what I learned about God from this passage, just that he’s faithful. The end of 39, it says, fighting against God. You may even find yourself fighting against God. He was with them. He was on their side. He was with them. God is faithful. He’s with us in this fight. No matter how difficult it is.
Sharon: He is.
Nicole:
He will not abandon us.
Sharon: Nope.
Nicole:
He is not frightened. My men’s words.
Sharon:
Nope. Nope. He’s not.
Nicole:
I love that.
Sharon:
Yes. So good.
Nicole:
That’s really neat. And then his authority, as they’ve said several times, every time they’re brought before the council and they’re accused, we told you to stop doing this, why didn’t you, we have to obey God’s
authority just to be reminded that he is an authority. And there’s no refuting that, if God tells me to do something, nothing you say should sway me.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
God’s authority is it.
Sharon:
That’s the one that wins. Absolutely. Yeah.
Nicole:
So I thought that was really neat. And then just again, that God’s, the message of his Son’s death. And that is so important. His gift of salvation, his message of salvation is of utmost importance.
Sharon: It is.
Nicole:
He put these men, he brought these men through tough times in order for that message to get out.
Sharon: Absolutely.
Nicole:
That’s incredibly important. And then it just leads me to think, am I doing that? Is it the most important thing in my heart, in my life? Am I looking for opportunities for that? Am I listening to God through difficult instead of going, oh, this is a hard time. I’m whatever. Why are you doing this to me? Okay, God, this is tough. But in it still, how can I show your love?
Sharon:
Exactly. And make me ready, you know? (Nicole: Yes) I’ve told you before about the woman that just sat down beside me in the bus when I first got married and I was going to University of Maryland and said, my husband and I have been reading the Bible. Do you know anything about the Bible? So I mean, he does bring the opportunities.
Nicole: He does.
Sharon:
But we wanna be ready for him.
Nicole:
We do. Because we can just be like, oh, I don’t know what you’re talking about. (Sharon: Yeah) And then read our book.
Sharon:
Yeah. I’m kind of busy today. Right?
Nicole:
Right. It’s about being ready. That’s good.
Sharon:
Yep. Okay. So what did I learn about the early church and how can I apply it? Well, they obeyed the Spirit and preached the gospel and all the things even when it was not easy. And they rejoiced in persecution and so I’m filing this away. I mean, Corrie ten Boom lived a pretty plush little life until her mid fifties. I’m only in my mid sixties, bad things could still happen.
Nicole:
Plenty of time for persecution.
Sharon:
Plenty of time for persecution. So if it happens, I want to be thankful that I was counted worthy for it.
Nicole:
Be ready to receive it well.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
You’ve said that. I just wanna receive what you have for me, Lord. Even if it’s kind of yucky at the moment, to receive it.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole: That’s good.
Sharon:
Yeah. How about you?
Nicole:
Oh, they were so determined. I admire their determination. They just get busted outta prison and they don’t go hide. They go back. Crack of dawn they’re back right at the temple preaching again. (Sharon: Yeah) I love their determination. (Yes) And their passion for that message. I think it’s so good. So I think that applied to me today, again, do I have that same passion and determination to follow even when I’m opposed or whatever life throws at me?
Sharon:
Absolutely.
Nicole:
I think that’s really good.
Sharon:
Well, let’s pray. (Nicole: Yes) Father, I feel led today to pray for people that might be listening in another country that are being persecuted. Lord, may they feel that joy of being worthy to suffer for you. May they know the fellowship that comes from sharing with Jesus and his sufferings. Would you give them a touch of your presence that is so real and so vital that they can’t help but rejoice that they are yours. And for us who are not suffering, Father, help us to continue to stay close to you, to desire you to hide your word in our hearts. Make us ready if you have hard days ahead for us, Lord, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole:
Amen. What a challenge we were given today to face opposition with the decision to follow Jesus and talk about him anyway. Was this hard for you? Do you wonder like we do if you can stand strong when the trials come? We can friends, by God’s grace and the help of the Holy Spirit. Let’s keep close to God in the good times so we are strong in Him when and if bad times come. We would love to hear from you. Email us at sharon@sweetselah.org. Review our podcast for us so it gets seen. Consider becoming a financial partner with us so we can continue this work of sharing God’s word through our show. You can donate at sweetselah.org/donations. It would really help us if you would consider that. And as always, we hope you’ll come back next week for episode 135 Growing Pains. Thanks so much for listening and have a great week.
Speaker 1:
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can print and download the transcript here.
We pay a price when we choose to deceive others. And we never fool God. Join Sharon and Nicole for a look at the high price of deception, today, as they look at a couple in the early church and how their choice to deceive cost them their lives. Let's speak truth. It's safer. And also wiser and leaves us much more at peace with God and others - including our own selves.
If you enjoy what you hear, consider leaving a review on your favorite podcast app. Comments are welcomed and answered. And, if you wish to become a partner with us in this ministry, you can donate here.
You can read the transcript for Deadly Deception-Episode-133Speaker 1:
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word with Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole:
Welcome to Sweet Selah Moments. This is episode 133, Deadly Deception. Last week we celebrated the incredible unity amongst the believers of the early church. Today sadly we are reminded that human beings are fallible and sinful, and therefore churches are far from perfect. Also, we’ll learn that there are consequences when we sin.
Sharon:
Oh, that word consequences. It brings back such memories of the time when our daughter lived with us, with her four kids at the time, while her husband was in Afghanistan, she had a little girl who was three years old at the time, little Mercedes, and I can’t remember the context, but there was a rule she was supposed to obey, and I was in charge of her. It might’ve been getting to bed, and you know Mary said, now Nina’s in charge of you. You know, that kind of thing. So anyways, in the cutest little voice ever, she said, if we don’t obey you, there will be consequences. (Nicole: Oh!) And I’m like, oh, darling, consequences. I guess you don’t want those consequences. And she had these big eyes, you know, like there will be consequences. (Right. Not consequences.) I know, not that. It was probably with Mercedes, all you needed to do is speak sharply at her. I mean, you know how some kids are just softhearted. (Yeah) So it wouldn’t have been severe, but to Mercedes it would’ve been severe, just a little talking to a sweet girl. So how about you? Do you have consequences in your house?
Nicole:
We do, in fact. We have many. It’s funny, they change over the years and they change from kid to kid, because children are so very different.
Sharon:
They’re so different. You think you’ve got it figured out.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And then another one comes along, you’re like, wait a second. That didn’t work for you. Yeah.
Nicole:
Yes. Especially with four girls, I kind of figured, oh, we’ve raised one little girl so far, we’ll do the–, Oh, no, you’re completely different. Okay, well maybe we’ll use some of the–., Nope. The third one’s different too. And the fourth one, I just threw my hands up.You each have your own thing, but it’s been fun. So they have changed over the years, but recently we’ve been doing this button system. They can earn buttons for doing chores. And they can cash those buttons in for cash or for TV time, screen time. For like an ice cream date with dad or shopping, you know, little fun things.
Sharon:
That’s so fun.
Nicole:
So one of the cool things about that is if they disobey, they lose buttons. (Sharon: Oh) And, you know, that’s very effective. Not my buttons. One day, one of my children, which I won’t name, I was like, oh, you haven’t been earning your buttons. You haven’t been putting them in. She’s like, well, you’re just gonna take them away. I was like, well, honey, I don’t just take them away for fun. It’s because you disobey. But she was just not admitting it was her fault. (Uh-huh) Yeah. Mom just takes it away.
Sharon: Funny.
Nicole:
Funny how that happens, but yes, that’s been pretty effective.
Sharon:
I think the button thing is fun. And I think, you know how families have codes, kind of, you’ve got a code. Don’t take my buttons.
Nicole: Right. What?
Sharon:
No one outside your family would have a clue.
Nicole:
It’s so true. I never thought of that.
Sharon: Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole:
Not my buttons Mom. Like what?
Sharon:
We have all kinds of things like that in our family too. You know, like ice cream for dinner, when we say that. Well, I guess that’s actually pretty normal. But anyways, it’s one of our favorite code words.
Nicole: That’s great.
Sharon:
So, so funny. With my girls, a lot of times it was, you know, if you want friends to come over to play, because I homeschooled for a long time, we have to get through X amount of work, and if we’re not done the consequence is they can’t come because the work comes first. You know, that kind of thing was just sort of a natural consequence. So, and (Nicole: Oh, sure) we have consequences as adults too. (We do) If
we speed, for example, police cars with flashing blue lights come up behind us, and we are pulled over and asked to pay a fine. (I know) I’ll never forget one of my funnest pullovers, I know they’re not fun, but I was coming home from somewhere, I think it was like a Bible study, like a really holy thing. (Funny. Right) And I had praise music turned up loud, and I was singing to the Lord, (Just rocking out in your car) and I was going 50 miles an hour in a 35 miles an hour zone.
Nicole: Oh, no.
Sharon:
And I didn’t even know I was doing it. That’s no excuse. I know. That’s no excuse. I’m just saying, I didn’t say, I think I’ll break the law. I just did. So there’s a police car at the end of the bridge, and I’m like, I look at my speedometer, I’m going 50 miles an hour and it’s a 35. (Nicole: Oh no) So I pull over and there’s like five cars pulled over. It’s like this sting operation they’re doing. Right. And so I roll down the window and I say to him, I so deserve this. (Oh) Because I mean, I did. (Right, kInd of refreshing) And I didn’t say my excuse is that I’ve been praising God. I just said
Nicole:
That would’ve been–,
Sharon:
I just said, I so deserve this. And there’s these grumpy people in the other cars. And you know what he did?
Nicole: What?
Sharon:
He said, you know what, go ahead.
Nicole:
Wow, Sharon.
Sharon: I know.
Nicole:
That’s pretty good.
Sharon:
And then the grumpy faces got grumpier.
Nicole:
Right, how’d she get off?
Sharon:
So, but anyways, I was just receiving the consequence. You know, I did deserve it. And I got grace. So.
Nicole:
That’s awfully nice.
Sharon: Yeah.
Nicole:
I know. Well, these natural consequences, they’re a lot of fun, but they’re effective. I think God puts ’em in place to keep us. We don’t have parents now to say, Hey, don’t do that. So for us, it is those natural consequences and God gently guiding us or not so gently sometimes.
Sharon: He does.
Nicole:
I know for me lately, I feel like I’ve been having some natural consequences with food, trying to make healthier choices. But there’s certain foods that really affect my joints and make my eczema flare up, and my hands will crack if I eat them. And they’re not the most healthy food. So it’s kind of a natural consequence for me to really strengthen my self-control, self-discipline.
Sharon:
Yep. Yep. Yep.
Nicole: And say no.
Sharon:
Yep. Yep. So grownups have consequences too.
Nicole:
We do. We can’t escape ’em.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. My bedtimes are definitely consequences. If I go to bed too late, then the next day’s hard.
Nicole:
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Sharon:
Just is. So God wants us to be disciplined and careful for our own good. When we aren’t (Nicole: Yes) it hurts us, basically. Well, today we’re gonna read a story in Acts of a couple who were deceitful. But I don’t think anyone, especially them, expected the consequence that followed the deceit. (Yeah) No. So let’s read the passage now. You go ahead.
Nicole:
All right. We’re gonna do Acts 5:1-16. And I’ll start with verse one. “But there was a certain man named Ananias, who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property.”
Sharon:
“He brought part of the money to the apostles, claiming it was the full amount. With his wife’s consent, he kept the rest.”
Nicole:
“Then Peter said, Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself.”
Sharon:
“The property was yours to sell or not sell as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us, but to God.”
Nicole:
“As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified.”
Sharon:
“Then some young men got up, wrapped him in a sheet and took him out and buried him.
Nicole:
Happened to have a sheet.
Sharon:
Oh, my goodness.
Nicole:
“About three hours later, his wife came in not knowing what had happened.”
Sharon:
“Peter asked her, Was this the price you and your husband received for your land? Yes. She replied, that was the price.”
Nicole:
“And Peter said, how could the two of you even think of conspiring to test the Spirit of the Lord like this? The young men who buried your husband are just outside the door, and they will carry you out too.”
Sharon:
“Instantly, she fell to the floor and died. When the young men came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
Nicole:
“Great fear gripped the entire church and everyone else who heard what had happened.”
Sharon:
Oh, yeah. The apostles (just sort of changing the topics here)
Nicole: Meanwhile–,
Sharon:
Yeah. We’ll go back to the story, verse 12. “The apostles were performing many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers were meeting regularly at the temple in the area known as Solomon’s Colonnade.”
Nicole:
“But no one else dared to join them, even though all the people had high regard for them.”
Sharon:
“Yet, more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord, crowds of both men and women.”
Nicole:
“As a result of the apostles work, sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats, so that Peter’s shadow might fall across some of them as he went by.”
Sharon:
“Crowds came from the villages around Jerusalem bringing their sick and those possessed by evil spirits. And they were all healed.” So we had this last time, too, there are two very distinctive parts of this story.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
There’s this, oh, for crying out loud, you lied about something and now you are dead, both of you, Ananais and Sapphira story. And then there’s this huge amount of miracles. Until I reread this, I’d forgotten how many healings and miracles there were at the beginning of the church. So, but we’re gonna talk about them separately in sections. So Nicole, why don’t you start by setting up the deception of Ananias and Sapphira and what happened.
Nicole:
Okay. So we’re gonna go backwards a little bit to Acts 4, the last chapter, because the last few verses of Acts 4 kind of set the scene for us. So here’s Acts 4:32-37. “All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own. So they shared everything they had. The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s great blessing was upon them all. There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need. For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas, which means son of encouragement. He was from the tribe of Levi and
came from the island of Cyprus. He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles.” So here, Barnabas, we love Barnabas.
Sharon: We do.
Nicole:
He set this great example, he had some land, he sold his fields, and he gave the money to the apostles, which they would take and give to those who were needy in the community.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
So this all was going fairly well. There was no command for this. It was not a demand on this. This was people being led by the Spirit. They felt like what they had was not their own. So there we go.
Sharon: Okay.
Nicole:
So now we’re gonna go back to Acts 5:1-2. “But there was a certain man named Ananias, who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property. He brought some of the money to the apostles, claiming it was the full amount. With his wife’s consent, he kept the rest. So this is a little bit different. They premeditated this with his wife. They sold the property. They kept some of the amount with his wife’s consent, and then brought another portion of it to the apostles to share. So they weren’t asked to do this. It doesn’t seem like they were led by the Spirit to do this. There was kind of this like sneaky underhanded.
Sharon:
Oh yeah. They wanted credit for giving all their money, but they weren’t giving all their money.
Nicole: Right. No.
Sharon:
Look, we sold this and we’re giving you all our money.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
No, No, you’re not. It’s okay if you gave part of it, but it’s not okay to say you gave all of it.
Nicole:
Right. And well, that’s the thing. They didn’t have to say that. They could have just said, Hey, we’re gonna give you half and we’re gonna keep half. And everyone would’ve been perfectly fine with that.
Sharon:
Everyone would have been, now, they wouldn’t have looked quite as holy as Barnabas, I guess.
Nicole:
Because he sold the whole thing.
Sharon:
I mean good grief.
Nicole:
But there’s some weird pre meditated stuff going on here.
Sharon:
Absolutely. Absolutely. So, all right, let’s review the consequences to Ananias. “Then Peter said, Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not sell as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away.” This is not Communism.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
This is not, you joined the Christian cult and we now get all your money.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
No, this was their free choice. And that’s very clear here about that. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us, but to God. Okay. So as soon as Ananias heard these words, I mean that instantly, he’s dead. He falls the floor and dies.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
And of course, everyone who heard about it was terrified. Wouldn’t you be?
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
What? And then some young men, who probably never forgot this, got up, found a sheet to wrap–, I mean, it’s not like,
Nicole:
I wanna know where the sheet came from.
Sharon:
I know. It’s not like they were planning on a death that day.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
But there’s this dead body.
Nicole:
Oh my word.
Sharon:
So they had to grab something fast, and they went out and buried him. Now, I mean, no one killed him. He just dropped dead. Oh, man. Alive. It feels like that’s a kind of severe punishment. Right?
Nicole:
It does. Yeah.
Sharon:
Well, you know, it’s interesting because as I was studying this, I just finished reading portions of the book of Leviticus, which is interesting reading too. And I think it’s fascinating that at the beginning of the time in the wilderness, there were really severe consequences for people that disobeyed. And at the beginning of the church, there were really severe consequences for Ananias and Sapphira. So let me read, Leviticus 10:1-2 “Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu put coals of fire in their incense burners and sprinkled incense over them. In this way, they disobeyed the Lord by burning before him the wrong kind of fire different from what he had commanded. Okay. So that doesn’t sound huge. It wasn’t what was commanded, though. That’s not what they’re supposed to burn. (Nicole: Right) Maybe it was easier to do it than whatever they were supposed to do.
Nicole:
Right. We don’t know their intentions and why.
Sharon:
I have no idea. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or maybe, they thought it didn’t matter. Come on, this is getting picky. Right.
Nicole: That’s true.
Sharon:
So they got judg-y. I don’t know. God does not tell us that.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
Verse two. “So fire blazed forth from the Lord’s presence and burned them up, and they died there before the Lord.
Nicole: Yikes.
Sharon:
Okay. So they put the wrong incense in the torch and now they’re dead. Right.
Nicole:
Yeah. That does seem a little harsh, but,
Sharon:
Yeah. So my kind of pondering, this is the fun about the Bible, Nicole. If you just read it fast, you don’t, there’s so much you miss.
Nicole: Oh, sure.
Sharon:
When you have to meditate on and think, Lord, why? Seeing the parallel accounts, I think that God at the beginning of something, you know, the beginning of that wilderness journey and the tabernacle and all the things, the beginning of the early church, is saying, I mean what I say. I am really real. We are not creating rules to just go through the motions on. (Nicole: Right) I tell you to do things and I’m real and I expect you to do it.
Nicole:
They’re for a reason.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
We may not always know the reason. We have to trust that his rules are for a reason.
Sharon:
Right. So it’s a sobering reminder that if God tells you something, you best do it. And believe me, I am sure that the priests after Aaron’s sons were like using the right incense.
Nicole:
Probably a lot more cautious. And maybe it was a heart check for them. Maybe their hearts weren’t in the right place and things were kind of getting sloppy.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
And so this renewed their passion for him to do it as a motive of sacrifice or offering.
Sharon: Exactly so.
Nicole:
As opposed to just doing my job, I’ll just use this leftover.
Sharon:
Yeah. This is easier.
Nicole:
Right. So who knows.
Sharon:
No, no, no. God told you what to do, you need to do it.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. So, that was the first thing that I thought of was that, and then I also, um, just fascinated about how we all wanna look better than we are. You know, Ananias and Sapphira wanted to look better than they were. Mm-Hmm.
Nicole:
Tell the Cheerio story. I know.
Sharon:
Yeah. Oh my goodness.
Nicole:
Isn’t that funny?
Sharon:
But there’s something that humanizes us that makes people relate, that says, Hey, I am a sinner struggling to get this right. There’s a unity in that. There’s a linking arms in that, that is not there when you’ve got someone that’s sort of above saying, well, I’ve mastered it, what’s your problem?
Nicole: Right.
Sharon: Right?
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
So we have got to be the real us.
Nicole:
Yes. And if Ananias and Sapphira had said, you know what, you guys, we don’t feel led to give the whole amount. I think the apostles would’ve said, that is fine.
Sharon:
Right. They wouldn’t have thought less of them.
Nicole:
No. But they wanted to look better than they were. So.
Nicole:
I know. And that’s such a dangerous place.
Sharon:
So fascinating. Yeah. I can run into this when I have set aside a day to be with the Lord and then someone asks me to do something, it’s really hard for me to say, oh, you need me, but I need to be with Jesus. So it’s tempting to say something else. And yet I’ve tried to be honest and say, well, I can help you this much. But honestly, if I don’t have my once a month day with the Lord, I can’t maintain the pace that I think he wants me to maintain. So on this day, I really can’t do more than this. You know?
Nicole: Right. Right.
Sharon:
And sometimes I have to say that. Sometimes I can change my selah day and serve if the need is great.
Nicole: Sure.
Sharon:
But I shouldn’t make up different reasons. It should be okay for me to say, this is the day I’ve already set apart for Jesus.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
I shouldn’t have to sound like I’m busy.
Nicole:
Right. To sound more impressive almost.
Sharon: Right. Right.
Nicole:
Because it does almost sound, it feels like it’s an easy out, well, I’m just gonna spend the day with Jesus. I don’t wanna help you.
Sharon:
Yeah, I know. It sounds terrible.
Nicole:
But it’s not. But when you structure your entire life around those moments of rest with him in order to serve at a certain capacity.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
Those days are very important.
Sharon: They’re vital.
Nicole:
You need them. Or you can’t serve the rest of the month.
Sharon:
Well, exactly. And there are always needs.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Now, if God redirects, yes, Lord.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
You know, it’s not like my mom’s having a heart attack and I’m like, sorry, selah day.
Nicole:
It’s my selah day.
Sharon:
Right. So obviously it’s circumstantial, but my temptation is always to say, well, I’ve got so much ministry work.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
Because that somehow sounds more justifiable.
Nicole: Right. It does.
Sharon:
Yeah. But no, no, I’ve got a selah day.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
And that’s sacred.
Nicole:
It is. Oh, I love that.
Sharon:
So anyways, okay. So this is what fascinates me, Nicole, is Sapphira, Ananias’ wife. ‘Cause we’re back in a time where the husbands had all the control and the wives had very little.
Nicole: True.
Sharon: Right?
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
And wives are supposed to obey in even a bigger way than I think God even wants now for us to do. We are to submit to one another, and we are certainly to honor our husbands, but Sapphira doesn’t get a pass because she was the wife. Ananias decides to do this. She agrees. Okay. So they make it clear that she agreed with it. So they’re giving Sapphira here autonomy.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Sapphira as a human being, can’t hide under Ananias told me to do it.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
She was responsible for what she chose as well. What’s comforting about this is if Ray tells me to rob a bank I don’t have to do it.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
Ta da. Right.
Nicole:
So that’s good. We get a pass.
Sharon:
I know. Not that Ray would remotely do that, but you know what I’m saying.
Nicole: Oh, sure.
Sharon:
I am responsible before God to obey God rather than men.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Sapphira was responsible before God to obey God rather than men.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
So she was an equal partner in that. And she got dead too.
Nicole:
She did get dead too.
Sharon:
So anyway, can you read that part of the story, the Sapphira part?
Nicole:
Yes. So verse 7-11 says, “About three hours later, his wife came in not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, was this the price you and your husband received for your land? Yes. She replied, that was the price. And Peter said, how could the two of you even think of conspiring to test the Spirit of the Lord like this? The young men who buried your husband are just outside the door and they will carry you out too. Instantly she fell to the floor and died. When the young man came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear gripped the entire church and everyone else who heard what had happened.”
Sharon: Yeah.
Nicole:
You think? Two people just dropped dead in the service.
Sharon: Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole:
So I think the consequence for her was as severe, because in the very first verse it says, “Ananias with Sapphira sold the land. (Sharon: Yes) And then kept the portion of the money, which she agreed to.”
Sharon:
With her consent.
Nicole:
Yes. So at the very beginning it sets up that he didn’t sell the land, and then she just kind of, it did sound like they were together in this.
Sharon:
Yes. So she’s responsible because she was an active participant.
Nicole:
Correct. Yes.
Sharon:
So perhaps if she wasn’t, she wouldn’t be. God is so good that way. He knows our hearts.
Nicole:
Yeah. But then she came in and, I mean, who knows, but she was an active participant in this.
Sharon:
Yeah. And she really paid for it.
Nicole: Yeah. Yeah.
Sharon:
She absolutely did. So. And it’s interesting to me that the Holy Spirit revealed to Peter what had happened because Peter’s like, Hey, you’re lying to me. How did Peter know that?
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
He did. He knew it. God revealed it.
Nicole:
He did. Well it’s interesting ’cause this passage, I remember I was thinking it was like a big thing against lying. You know, this is a story you told. Oh, you heard about Ananias and Sapphira, they dropped dead ’cause they lied. Like, I don’t wanna ever lie, I’m gonna drop dead. But I think it goes a little deeper than that too. It was this heart condition before, this conspiring to trick God.
Sharon: Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
To look better than they were supposed to. It wasn’t just the lying. Lying is very serious.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
I think in Proverbs there’s a section that says ‘there’s six things the Lord hates, nay seven he despises and one of them is lying lips’.
Sharon:
Lying lips. Right.
Nicole:
He does not take lying lightly. Lies are big for God. I think because they, they entrap us and create such a web, such a world that harms us so much.
Sharon: Right. Right.
Nicole:
Along with others. So God’s like, don’t lie.
Sharon: Don’t do it.
Nicole:
It’s miserable. The consequences are so much bigger (Sharon: Yes, yes) than you wanna deal with, really.
Sharon:
Absolutely. He wants the real us.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And if we’re deceitful and lying we’re not the real us. He wants us messy and and sinful and fragile. He wants us to come to him as we are.
Nicole:
And if they had showed up and said, Lord, we’re nervous, we’re not gonna be able to pay our bills. If they didn’t have the faith to give all, he would’ve been fine with that.
Sharon: Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
It’s just this conspiring, this heart condition to appear better than they were. They premeditated lying. I think that’s why the consequence was so severe. Because it said something about Satan had filled your heart. So it feels like something was going on more than just, oh we’ll just keep some money. (Sharon: Yeah) And this is a new early church and I think again, the consequence was severe maybe to protect the rest in that group. (Yes) If they showed up, appeared to be as good as Barnabas, they could have led people astray. We don’t know what could have happened.
Sharon:
Oh my goodness. Yes.
Nicole:
But it could have gotten messy quickly to have people whose hearts were filled with Satan be part of this group.
Sharon:
Yeah. And you know, I’m thinking, I hadn’t thought of this before, but I wonder if they had gotten bitter, like, oh, for crying out loud, I am not gonna give every penny that we sold to the church. Who do they think they are? Not that anyone asked it of them.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
But if you get that bitterness, then Satan comes right in and whispers, they are asking too much. You know, that kind of thing. So then they’ve got this hardened heart, which if it had gone unchecked would’ve caused all kinds of trouble.
Nicole: Sure.
Sharon:
Yeah. So, alright.
Nicole:
There was a lot more here than just lying.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
I think there’s a lot more heart stuff brewing’.
Sharon:
There sure was. So, okay, now we’re gonna look at the second section, at what happened after their death. So I’m gonna read again because we are walking away from Ananias and Sapphira who have been buried.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Bless ’em. There we go. And I’m reading Acts 5:12-16. “The apostles were performing many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers were meeting regularly at the temple in the area known as Solomon’s Colonade. But no one else dared to join them, even though all the people had high regard for them. Yet more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord, crowds of both men and women. As a result of the apostles work sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats so that Peter’s shadow might fall across some of them as he went by. Crowds came from the
villages around Jerusalem bringing their sick and those possessed by evil spirits and they were all healed.” So God not only punished severely back then, he showed up extremely.
Nicole:
Yeah. He did.
Sharon:
Boy, oh boy. Even Peter’s shadow was enough for people who trusted Jesus to be healed. So it must have been an amazing time.
Nicole: Oh yeah.
Sharon:
The Pharisees who had tried to stop it all by killing Jesus must have been going crazy because the healing is still going on and Jesus, they think, is dead. Even without Jesus, the disciples are healing in Jesus’ name, still about Jesus. And this is how the early church got such an amazing start.
Nicole:
That’s so neat. I love that. That’s so, his shadow though. Wow. That makes you wonder.
Sharon: Yeah.
Nicole:
Like can you imagine just walking and people putting their sick in your shadow because they know that you have power from God.
Sharon:
Unbelievable. Yeah. Ah, incredible. So, alright, well let’s look at our three questions to end the study. Let’s get practical. So first of all, Nicole, what was your favorite verse?
Nicole:
I picked verse 14. It said, “Yet more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord, crowds of both men and women”. So this verse is right after Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead in their meeting place. That could have really deterred people. It’s a new faith kind of blossoming. So I love that nothing stops God’s work, even when we seem to mess it up badly as humans. That could, like you see new stories. Oh no. They’re gonna hurt the Christian faith with their terrible testimony.
Sharon: Uh-huh.
Nicole:
Or being bad Christians or whatever. God’s work still continues.
Sharon:
He can continue through it all. Amen.
Nicole:
We can’t stop him. So I love that.
Sharon:
That’s so good. Well, I chose 12, and it was really the second part of verse 12 “and all the believers were meeting regularly at the temple”. I love the meeting regularly (Nicole: Yeah) ’cause Hebrews also says, “do not forsake assembling together as some (Yes) are In the habit of doing, but rather encourage each other”. (Yeah) It’s really important that no matter what seems to get in the way of it, we meet together to strengthen each other. And I think that’s one of the reasons they stayed strong. Yeah. (Yeah, I think so) Okay. So I’ll answer number two first and then you can, what did we learn about God from this passage? Well, number one, God is not mocked. (No) He’s real. He’s love, but he’s also holy. (Mm-Hmm) And you don’t try to think you’re going deceive him. (Yeah) Number two, God poured out his Spirit in healing in a huge way during the early church, which is amazing. And number three, he can reveal hidden things because he told Peter, I think, (Oh yeah, that’s right) I think he told Peter. I mean maybe Peter discovered it some other way, but. (Right) Yeah. Okay, so those are mine on God.
Nicole: That’s good.
Sharon:
What’d you learn about God?
Nicole:
I put he’s just, he can’t tolerate sin. He’s just so big. He’s big with his justice and he’s big with his generosity and his grace. He’s just a big God.
Sharon: He is.
Nicole:
He gives big.
Sharon:
He so is. I love it.
Nicole:
I put truth is important, but also I was thinking unity and kind of protecting the church. He protects us sometimes.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
From something that could have become, we might just see this and go, that’s a really harsh consequence for sin, but left unchecked, we have no idea what that could have caused.
Sharon: Absolutely.
Nicole:
In the church.
Sharon:
And he knew.
Nicole:
And he knew.
Sharon:
And we can trust him.
Nicole: Exactly. So.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. So, okay. Well what did you learn about the early church, Nicole, and how can we apply that to today?
Nicole:
Oh, their generosity. I’m just so struck by their generosity. How they were faithfully meeting together. They were praying and they were receptive to the Holy Spirit when he convicted them. Hey, what you have is not your own. Sell it. Look at those who are needy. And then you can all focus on the message of my resurrection. I just think that’s really neat that they were open enough to him to hear that.
Sharon:
Yes. Filled with compassion.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
Beautiful. Beautiful. And that’s what we need to have.
Nicole:
Yes, for sure.
Sharon:
Yeah. So, well I had the that they met regularly part, the early church always met at Solomon’s Colonnade. That’s what they did. So, they cared for each other’s physical needs as well as spiritual, which you just said. And they kept growing. And this is interesting because I think a human tendency is to form little cliques and think you’re big enough.
Nicole:
Yes. You’re comfortable.
Sharon:
You’re comfortable and you don’t really wanna add anybody else because it might change the dynamic.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
Right. I have run into that with bible studies, with prayer groups and all kinds of things where it’s almost the selfish thing that you wanna do is like, oh, but I just love us.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
You know? But maybe the kind thing is to keep growing. And in the case of the church, the church needed to keep growing.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Even if it got so big, it felt unwieldy. You don’t keep people out of learning about Jesus and the resurrection. So they didn’t form a comfortable clique. They continued to call people to come. Thousands came, how do you deal with thousands? They didn’t know, but they didn’t say, whoa, stop. They kept bringing people in. And we need to do that in our church too. We need to always welcome new people. Sometimes my brain is so full of old people that I already know that smiling at somebody in church can be hard because I’m like, oh, I have to meet somebody new again. (Nicole: Right) Well, yes I do. (Mm- Hmm) Yeah. So anyways.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s good.
Sharon:
Let me pray. Heavenly Father, help us. Help us. Help us to be compassionate and kind and welcoming to new people that walk into our churches. Help us to look to you and want to meet with you regularly, want to meet with others regularly. Oh Lord Jesus. Give us that enthusiasm and zest of the early church to follow you wholeheartedly no matter what. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole:
Amen. We love studying God’s word with you. You can reach us by emailing us at sharon@sweetselah.org. You can find all our podcast episodes at sweetselah.org/podcast. And if you wanna help us continue sharing the word through study and discussion, please enable us to continue our work by donating @sweetselah.org/donations. As always, we’ll hope you’ll come back next week for episode 134, Facing Opposition. Thanks so much for listening and have a great week.
Speaker 1:
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can print and download the transcript here.
In some of His last words to His disciples, Jesus spoke of His longing for them to love each other as God the Father loved Him, God the Son. He told them that the world would know they belonged to Him by their love for one another. This is the high standard set for us who are believers. Outsiders should know we are Christians by our love for each other. Yet, being sinful, we often fall far short of that ideal. Let's look at the beautiful unity the first followers had, and then talk about how we can do likewise in our churches today.
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You can read the transcript for Authority Issues-Episode-131Speaker 1:
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word with Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole:
Welcome to Sweet Selah Moments. This is episode 132, United in Christ. At the very beginning of the church, right after Jesus ascended into heaven, and the Holy Spirit filled the disciples with himself, the followers of Christ were united. Sadly, it didn’t last long. Human beings are sinful creatures. And Luke, in the Book of Acts, tells us stories of great unity and also division. However, today we’re going to look at the beauty of unity in the body of Christ and study it. Sharon, I’m looking forward to learning from the earliest days of the church.
Sharon:
Me too, Nicole. I do like unity. This is going to be a fun lesson. So let’s look at what the disciples did that created such unity and learn from it. But before we dive in, let’s reflect on some times of real unity that we’ve experienced in Christian circles from our own personal backgrounds, as it were. It’s not all division and hurt feelings, thank the Lord. I’ve seen incredible unity. Do you know what one of my favorite memories from the Refuge Retreat was? (Nicole: What?) It was after the retreat. I mean, I loved the retreat. I loved the worship. I loved seeing women walking around, praising God and admiring the lake, you know? (Yes) But there was a magic moment. We were all sitting at a restaurant afterwards, all the weary team members, and we were happy but weary (Yes) at the end of it. And everybody was smiling and laughing at each other and, and rejoicing in what God did. And it was like, I almost stepped back and was like looking in on you guys, and I just teared up. (Oh) Because we prayed for that kind of unity. (We did) And when you have that kind of pressured work for a retreat, you can have disunity a little bit. You know what I mean? (Oh, sure) And we did not. We did not. It was so beautiful. I’ll never forget it. Isn’t that funny? (That’s so neat) A little moment at a restaurant where everybody was rejoicing. (Yeah) About you, do you have any, I mean, that was kind of a weird one, but do you have any memories of a time of great unity in the church?
Nicole:
Yeah, actually just recently. Our Sunday school class will take on people in the community that have needs for Christmas, and usually do some Christmas gifts specific to, umm the family might say, oh, we need some snow pants for our daughter. Or, you know, gas cards or whatever. Well, this year the list was kind of odd. It was for paper plates and paper utensils. And so that sparked some questions from our group, and they’re asking why do they need the paper? Come to find out, they had trouble with their water that led to, they had trouble with mold, they had trouble with this. And just, their (Sharon: Wow) problems were huge. And they were simply asking for very small things. So our little Sunday school class took it upon themselves to bless this family and get them an air scrubber to help get the mold out of their air, because they were struggling with breathing problems. (No kidding) And it’s continuing, like some of the men that work in remodeling and building are asking about, oh, well, what do the cabinets look like? Can we fix up the cabinets? Can we fix up the floor? So it’s become this big beautiful project that people were super excited about. And it’s fun to see the different people in our group with different expertise asking the different questions. (Wow) Yeah. Like, oh, I worked in HVAC. I know that an air scrubber would be good. Oh, I work with construction, so I know how to fix a floor. And I just was kind of sitting back going, this is really cool. Like, I’ll buy the paper plates, but or give money towards something. But the fact that they all came together to bless his family was really cool to see.
Sharon:
That is awesome. That’s unity at its best. I had another similar one that happened. One of the women from our home group needed to move apartments, and she was moving from a ground floor apartment to a second floor apartment with, you know, the tiny skinny stairs in old houses.
Nicole:
Oh, those are awful.
Sharon:
Yeah. And the day she needed to move, it was raining, but like 38 degrees. (Nicole: Oh) You know, the worst. (Just gross) The worst. It’s almost better to have snow. Right? Well, we have a, you know, a ministry at our church called Labor of Love. Nicole, in that condition, nine people showed up from Labor of Love and they moved everything in an hour and a half. (No kidding) Cheerfully and lovingly.
Nicole:
That’s amazing.
Sharon:
She called me, she said, they’re done.
Nicole:
They’re soggy, but they’re done.
Sharon:
Exactly. Those kinds of things are just so beautiful. They really are.
Nicole:
They really are. Yeah.
Sharon:
So, you know, sometimes we sadly focus on the disunity in the church because that’s so jarring to us. So it’s kind of nice to remember when the body of Christ works the way Jesus asked it to. It is beautiful. It is. So before we read our main passage for the day, let’s take a peek at Jesus’s desire of unity from his followers. He was really clear on this point. I’m gonna start by reading from John 15:9-17. So listen to Jesus’s plea for his disciples to love each other as I read, this is what he says. “I have loved you, even as the Father has loved me, remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love. Just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes. Your joy will overflow. This is my commandment. Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command, I no longer call you slaves ’cause a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit so that the Father will give you whatever you ask, using my name. This is my command: love each other.” So Jesus loved the Father, and the Father loved him. The members of the Trinity, really all one God. And yet that love somehow flowed between them. And that’s what he wants for us. That same kind of beautiful love that flows between Father, Son and Spirit. He wants that to flow among us, his followers. I love that he tells them to love each other twice in this passage, and also love each other.
Nicole:
Yeah, in case you missed it.
Sharon:
PS: love each other. He really means it. We are supposed to, that is like the greatest commandment. Love God, then love each other. We can’t get away from that even if we want to run away to other things.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
That’s the greatest. That’s the heart of it.
Nicole:
It is for sure. It’s so important, I think, to Jesus, to God for unity. Over in John 17 Jesus prays for unity for us, which I think is super cool. Those that have come to know the Lord by witness of others directly. I love this passage. I’m gonna be reading John 17:20-26. “I am praying not only for these disciples, but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one. Just as you and I are One. As you are in me, Father and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me, I have given them the glory you gave me so they may be one as we are one. I am in them, and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want these whom you’ve given to me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began. Oh, righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do. And these disciples know you sent me, I have revealed you to them. And I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.”
Sharon:
That is so beautiful.
Nicole:
What a beautiful passage.
Sharon: I know.
Nicole:
There’s so much in here.
Sharon:
Yeah. I love the yearning. Oh, Father, the love we have. I want them to have it. I mean, it’s just so cool, right?
Nicole:
Yes. And he repeats those things again, how he repeated before, love each other. And here you are in me and I am in them. There’s such a closeness, a oneness that can only happen through God.
Sharon:
It’s so amazing because we all still maintain our own personality. It’s not like one of the Hinduism beliefs is that nirvana is the end goal, sort of, you’re sort of all one together, but without an individual personality.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And that is not Christianity.
Nicole: No.
Sharon:
God loves uniqueness. He made flamingos and elephants.
Nicole:
Right. Very different things.
Sharon:
You know, I mean, come on. So, he specializes in us being unique. And yet the thread that weaves through it that ties us all together is Holy Spirit in us, love shining out of us. I mean, have you ever met someone that, even though you don’t know it, you’re pretty sure they’re a Christian?
Nicole:
Oh, yes. That happens quite a bit. It’s really neat. You’re kind of like, wait a minute, there’s something there about you. I kind of love you and I don’t know why but,
Sharon:
There’s like a joy in their eyes.
Nicole:
Yes, there is.
Sharon:
That’s the only way to say it. I can remember meeting a woman a long time ago named Vicki in the woods, just walking my dog. And the way she said, hello, no kidding. So we start talking and I’m like, are you by any chance, I mean, do you go to church? You know, you kind of start with do you go to church.
Nicole:
Yeah, your gonna hedge into it.
Sharon:
She’s like, yes, I love Jesus. I’m like, I knew it. I just knew it. And she became a member of our prayer group. It was just so sweet.
Nicole:
Oh, how fun. That’s so neat. I just love that.
Sharon:
Yeah. So, so, so good. All right. Well, unity. Yay. That’s our basic theme so far, is that it’s possible. And that’s what the Lord wants for us. Unity and love is what Jesus wants. So now we’re actually gonna go to Acts, which is where we’re supposed to be and we’re gonna see how the disciples showed it. Last week we talked about John and Peter’s arrest and how they were told not to speak about Jesus again. They’re don’t do it. And they had declared that they would obey God rather than men and then they’d been released. So we’re now gonna see what happens next. Because basically they didn’t say, okay, we won’t talk about Jesus.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
So, alright, Acts 4, starting at 23. And Nicole, why don’t you read a verse and then I’ll read a verse and let’s study to the end of the chapter there.
Nicole:
All right. So starting in at 23, “As soon as they were freed, Peter and John returned to the other believers and told them what the leading priests and elders had said”
Sharon:
“When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God. Oh, sovereign Lord, Creator of heaven and Earth, the sea and everything in them,”
Nicole:
“You spoke long ago by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor, David, your servant, saying, why were the nations so angry? Why did they waste their time with futile plans?
Sharon:
“The kings of the earth prepared for battle. The rulers gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah.”
Nicole:
“In fact, this has happened here in this very city, for Herod Antipas and Pontius Pilate, the governor, the Gentiles and the people of Israel were all united against Jesus, your holy servant whom you anointed.”
Sharon:
“But everything they did was determined beforehand, according to your will.”
Nicole:
“And now, oh Lord, hear their threats and give us your servants great boldness in preaching your word.”
Sharon:
“Stretch out your hand with healing power. May miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
Nicole:
“After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.”
Sharon:
“All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own. So they shared everything they had.”
Nicole:
“The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s great blessing was upon them all.”
Sharon:
“There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them”
Nicole:
“And bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need.”
Sharon:
“For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas, which means son of encouragement. He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus.”
Nicole:
“He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles.”
Sharon:
There’s our passage. It kind of divides into two sections pretty easily. First they prayed. Then we see their actions after that prayer. So let’s start with the pray part. (NIcole: Yeah) You know, Peter and John come back and they say, they told us not to talk about Jesus. First response, they go to prayer. (Yes) Right. Which is pretty good. It was quite a prayer.
Nicole: It was.
Sharon:
What stood out to you the most about that prayer?
Nicole:
I love that first of all, Peter and John went right back to work. They just went right back to the gathering and said, Hey guys, they told us not to talk, but we’re gonna talk about Jesus. (Sharon: We’re gonna talk,
yep) So here we go. But they asked for help. They got right down to it, and they started to pray and ask for help. So the thing that kind of stood out was, it’s interesting, the Holy Spirit came upon them after they prayed. And I was thinking, ’cause I know that in the very beginning of this passage, the Holy Spirit had come upon the believers. There was a really big moment. (Right) Right? (The mighty wind) Yeah. So, I don’t know if the Holy Spirit was in all of the believers at that moment, or if he was still coming in waves as they were kind of sitting down and submitting to him. Because here they sat down to pray and the Holy Spirit filled them. So I don’t know if this was a first filling or just a refreshing?
Sharon:
Maybe a refreshing.
Nicole:
That’s kind of interesting.
Sharon:
Yeah. But it was fascinating. I think, I don’t know. But I think that, you know, if they were normal humans, there’s a little bit of fear now.
Nicole: Oh, sure.
Sharon:
They’ve been told not to do it. So they’re going to God in prayer and saying, okay. Help us. Help us. Help us. Help the miracles to continue so we can show that the name of Jesus has power. (Nicole: Right) Help us, help us. Help us to declare his resurrection. (Yeah) You know, and the Holy Spirit kind of visibly was there again going, oh, I’m still here.
Nicole:
I’m still here, guys. So I was wondering, was it like a recharge or a refresh (Sharon: Yeah) because, well, and also like back in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come upon people for a time (Right) and then would leave again. (Right) So, I’m just wondering if he almost kind of recharged them in the way they had heard about from old, kind of in a way they knew.
Sharon:
I think a recharge. Yeah, ’cause once we accept Christ, the Spirit lives within us. (Nicole: Right) But we can grieve the Spirit (Right) by ignoring him, we can stifle (Yes) what he wants to do. Or, he can come in like a roaring flame.
Nicole:
You just feel him so powerfully.
Sharon:
I think that’s revival. Right?
Nicole:
Oh, sure. Right.
Sharon:
Revive us again, Oh Lord. Jazz us up. (Nicole: Right) Right? (Right, restore us) We can get kind of plodding, you know, doing the things, but really just, you know, kinda watching our TV and, you know, having picnics.
Nicole:
Getting distracted and dulled. Yeah. We can get really dulled to him.
Sharon:
Dull, we can get dull. Yeah.
Nicole:
So this is kind of neat, and I love that when they asked, they weren’t asking for protection. They weren’t asking for curses on the people hurting them. They weren’t asking for this miracle for their benefit. They were asking for boldness to preach his word, his message.
Sharon:
Give us boldness. Yes.
Nicole:
What a cool prayer. That shook me. I’m like, oh, they weren’t even praying for their own safety.
Sharon:
No, No, no, no, boldness. (Nicole: Yeah) So if there was some timidity, they’re like, get rid of it. Get rid of it. (Yeah) I do not need to be afraid. (Yep) Give me the courage to speak. Paul does that a lot in his epistles when he writes his letters. (Yes) He says, pray for me to preach it boldly, because every time Paul preached it, well, not every time, a whole lot of the time when Paul preached it, they stoned him, they flogged him, they put him in prison. And then he’d go to the next town and he’d be like, could you pray that I still preach this boldly? ’cause I know what’s coming. (Wow). I’m gonna get hurt again.
Nicole:
And not to avoid a stoning this time, but for boldness. So that just really struck me as these people did have courage.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
They knew the message they had was worth the risk.
Sharon:
It was worth it.
Nicole:
And they were praying for boldness. Lord give us boldness to tell this.
Sharon:
Yeah, yeah. So they knew it, and yet they knew they needed him.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And that’s so beautiful and so perfect. They were united in, okay, so could you help us here.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
And bam, the Holy Spirit, whoosh, rushed in again.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And then out they went, preaching the word with boldness. And also we don’t always get to feel God. You know? Our emotions can get in the way. You know, if somebody dies, we’re gonna have a time of mourning and we may not feel a rush of joy (Nicole: Right) for a season. But, I feel like the Lord gave him that rush of joy and that assurance. I am so here with you. Go for it. You know? And that, that is what they needed at the beginning of this ministry to keep on keeping on, even though now they’ve been told not to. (Right) There’s a difference from just doing it and then doing it despite being told not to.
Nicole:
Despite severe opposition. Yeah. It’s
Sharon:
Yes. Pretty severe.
Nicole:
And threats and yeah.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I have never reached that point of persecution yet where I’ve been told not to.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s true. We really haven’t.
Sharon:
I hope, oh Lord Jesus, I hope I can do this.
Nicole:
I know. But to remember to pray for boldness.
Sharon:
Yes. Yes. Yes. Oh my goodness. Okay. Well, the second part of it is what happens after the boldness. And it kind of, it moves away from, I mean, it’s been established that they were gonna continue preaching and doing the things. And there’s still gonna be miracles and all that. But now we’re kind of turning to the internal life, not the preaching to other people life. (Nicole: Right) But turning to the internal life of the church. And because our third question, when we ask our questions every time directly relates to that, we’re gonna kind of linger on that third question and discover what they did as a local body of believers that created that unity. But let’s ask the first two questions first, and then we’ll go. So Nicole, what was your favorite verse out of all the verses and why?
Nicole:
I already said it earlier, I forgot I was gonna say it later, but I was just so excited. I love verse 29. “Oh, and now, oh Lord, hear their threats and give us your servants great boldness in preaching your word.” Hear their threats, Lord, you hear the problem. But again, they didn’t pray for deliverance. They didn’t pray for them to have condemnation on the bad guys. They just prayed for boldness, for courage. And I love that. They prayed for what they needed and what they knew they were lacking, ’cause they can only control themselves.
Sharon: Right. Right.
Nicole:
We can’t fix what the Pharisees are telling them to do or not to do. We can’t stop the threats. But God, I need boldness to do what you have called me to do.
Sharon:
Yes. Yes. Help me. Help me. (Nicole: Yes). Yeah. I love that. It reminds me of King Hezekiah, when (I think it was Hezekiah. I’ll write something in the show notes if I’m wrong) I think it was Hezekiah, who gets this letter from the enemy that they’re gonna overtake Jerusalem. And they’re gonna cream ’em all and they better surrender or else. And what does Hezekiah do? He goes, he takes the letter, he lays it on the altar and he goes, here’s the letter, to God, help. In fact, he said, we do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s so good.
Sharon:
And it’s just, that’s such a beautiful line that I have, I love that when you know scripture, you can use it. ‘Cause I’ll be in situations where I’m like, I do not know what to do. Keep my, I don’t say but my eyes, ’cause my eyes aren’t always on him. So that would not be true. I say keep my eyes on you. Bring my eyes to focus on you. When I look at the problem, it looks so big, Lord. And it looks so scary. So, you know, I don’t know what to do. My eyes are gonna stay on you because you do.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And you will bail me out again.
Nicole:
It’s so true.
Sharon:
Which he does.
Nicole: He does.
Sharon: Yeah.
Nicole:
That’s the place that he wants us, that humble heart looking to him because it builds that relationship with him. God, I cannot do this. I need you to help me. And he’s so ready to come in and help us.
Sharon:
He is. I love that.
Nicole:
He loves that. ‘Cause it builds that foundation with him.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. And I’m lingering on your verse because it was my verse.
Nicole:
Oh! What? That never happens.
Sharon:
Well, I mean, there’s so much power in that.
Nicole: There’s a lot.
Sharon:
And there’s so much teaching in that.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
That in our confusion in our, I don’t know what to do next, you heard what’s going on, Lord. You actually know their hearts better than we do. (Nicole: Right) You know the future. You’ve told us that we have a mission and that is to go and preach the gospel to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the world. I mean, they know their mission. (Right) Right, right. So help us do it.
Nicole:
Help us do it. Right. They didn’t need direction. They just needed a dose of confidence.
Sharon:
Yeah. It’s a real challenge to me. If there comes a time, Nicole, in this country where, you know, we’re forbidden to talk of Jesus. (Yeah) Okay. We’re gonna have to get in a prayer meeting together and unified say, you heard what they told us. (Yes) Give us boldness.
Nicole:
And this verse is a great format for that prayer. Lord, here’s the problem. Like that, like Hezekiah, we think, and the letter. Here’s the problem. You see it, God, we need help. Help us, God. Tell us.
Sharon:
Help us do it. Yeah. And they were unified in their decision making, which is good. It wasn’t like all of them said, no, no, let’s not. And one guy had to go by himself to the temple. Because they really sought the Lord, I believe the Lord gave them the answer together. And, so they at least had strength in numbers.
Nicole:
That’s good. And that is so encouraging when you’re not the only person praying.
Sharon:
It really is. And that’s why we have to gather together. We have to, because we get strength from each other. And we get the Holy Spirit power. And another one strengthening us when we’re weak and vice versa. So, so important. So, okay. That was question one. Question two is, what did I learn about God from this passage? So I’ll start with that one, and then you can tell me what you learned about God from the passage. Well, I was reminded again, of just how powerful he is. The Spirit shook the room.
Nicole:
That’s pretty cool.
Sharon:
Whoazers, you know, I mean, people didn’t come running, so there must not have been the noise there was the first time. But God is big and God is powerful. And who are we to be afraid of mere men? God can shake a room and do way more than that. So, and then also God works miracles. And when he chooses he can make blind men see and lame (that was lame and blind) and lame men walk. He can do whatever he wants. God in a miracle can go over, oh, what’s the word? Instead of letting the natural law (Nicole: Yes) he can kind of go over the natural law (Supersede it. Yeah. Yeah) Supersede, thank you for the word. And do what he wants.
Nicole:
That’s so cool.
Sharon: Bam!
Nicole: I love it.
Sharon:
I do too. What did you learn about God from this passage?
Nicole:
Oh, he hears our prayers and he answers. He does, he hears our prayers and I love that. And he answers, it said later, in verse 30, what verse was it? His great blessing. He said he poured out his great blessing upon them. And I can’t find it because I’m on the wrong page, but I love that he gave them more than they asked for. He poured out his great blessing on them.
Sharon:
Isn’t that sweet.
Nicole:
He gives us more than we ask sometimes.
Sharon:
That is so true. I have learned, you know, when I’m in a season of giving and serving that feels exhausting, he has so many times poured back into me so much at the end of that season. I’ll never forget the time he gave me a free week at Camp of the Woods. I’ve talked about that before.
Nicole:
Yes. I love that.
Sharon:
Where, you know, I’d done this big retreat and I was really tired and I had kind of just said, oh Lord, it’d be so nice to come back here. But it’s way too expensive, you know. And then lo and behold, first time ever, some guy that had been going to Camp of the Woods for years decided to give three scholarships, not just to a person, but to their whole family (Nicole: Oh wow) to spend a week at Camp of the Woods. And the director of the camp remembered me from six months ago. (Oh my word) And Mary and Angel, and Ray and I, and little Gabriel, there was just one baby at that point, (Oh) and Katherine was overseas, so she couldn’t, (Yeah) we got a week at Camp of the Woods.
Nicole:
That’s really neat.
Sharon:
I’m like, oh, wow, Lord. So anyways, yes.
Nicole: He does.
Sharon:
He pours out more than you can imagine. So.
Nicole:
Yep. And then I love that he’s faithful. They mentioned David in verse 25, like from our ancestors, they know the stories of God and he’s faithful. He’s been faithful to their ancestors. And he’s faithful now in that moment too.
Sharon:
He is. He is. I love that too. So much. Okay, so now we’re getting to the second part of the passage we read where all the believers are united in heart and mind. They felt that what they owned was not their own. So they shared everything they had, that part.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
What did you learn, Nicole, (I’ll let you go first) about the early church and how do we apply it? Today?
Nicole:
Yeah. I put that they were committed, back to verse 23, Peter and John returned to the believers as soon as they were out of jail and getting yelled at. They were very committed to what they were doing, committed to the message, willing to risk public scorn, imprisonment, death, all of the scary things to get this message out. They weren’t afraid. They weren’t afraid, they were probably afraid, they weren’t afraid to ask for help. They were quick to ask for help because I’m sure they were very afraid. If you’re praying for boldness, you’re afraid. And I love that they were focused on others’ needs, above their own, the way that they were selling things and trying to make sure that there were no needy among them.
Sharon:
Wasn’t that beautiful?
Nicole:
Yeah. That’s really powerful. Because I think that can be a huge, if we’re so concerned with eating and clothing and shelter, we’re not free. Our minds, our bodies aren’t free to be, Hey, God, how can you use me today?
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
Like, oh my word. How am I gonna feed my kids today? I have no clothes. Those immediate needs can feel so consuming (Sharon: Yes, that’s true) that we’re not as free. So for them to take care of the needs in their community, (Uhhuh) so that they were all free to serve the Lord. Like, wow!
Sharon: Beautiful.
Nicole:
So powerful.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it wasn’t forced. They chose to do this. They wanted to do it. So it says they felt that what they owned was not their own. So that was their own thing. This is not mine.
Nicole:
Conviction from the Holy Spirit.
Sharon:
You know, God gave me what I’ve got and I need to share with others. Oh, that’s so neat.
Nicole:
I love that.
Sharon:
I love it. And of course, your Sunday school class and our Labor of Love are examples of that. Seeing the need of another and joyfully meeting it.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
It’s kind of fun.
Nicole:
If it was forced it’d be weird.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. It would not be the same thing at all.
Nicole:
But they came to this completely on their own. And they joyfully gave, and I just think this is a beautiful model that they all kind of came together.
Sharon:
It is. It so is. Well, I learned that they were united in heart and mind. In heart, they loved; in their mind their theology. They knew that God had called them to do something. And they did it. And I think we need to have both. We need to have heart and mind united. They willingly shared, which you had said they wanted to be generous when they saw the needs. And their focus always, you know, and that’s not just in this last section, this was throughout the whole section we read was the resurrection of Jesus. (Nicole: Yes) Peter’s talking about the resurrection of Jesus. That is the big deal, because that’s the linchpin of our faith. (Right) If Jesus, what does Paul say in 1 Corinthians something? He says if Jesus was not raised from the dead (Right) we should be pitied. Because we’re getting flogged, we’re getting killed. We have no money anymore. Everybody hates us except the ones that joined us. If Jesus did not
raise from the dead, then this hope we have that we’re gonna be with him forever, and whatever happens here who cares, we’re going to heaven, is kinda stupid. Right?
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
So the linchpin of our faith is a resurrection of Jesus Christ. And that has got to stay in our churches too. It really does.
Nicole: Absolutely.
Sharon:
We cannot just be self-help ish, you know?
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
When you’re having trouble in your marriage, try these five easy steps, you know? Sometimes they’re biblical steps and they’re good. But the heart of the Christian faith is a dead man rose again, conquered death and is able to forgive sins and make us someday step out of our corroding bodies into immortal bodies to live in this new way, cool place. It has some kind of river running through it and leaves on trees. And I mean, you read about heaven and you’re like, oh, I cannot wait.
Nicole:
I know. It’s so exciting. And back in John, we read that in the very beginning, I remember just reading that he was talking about how he’s excited to be with us.
Sharon: Yeah.
Nicole:
‘Cause he loves us so much he can’t wait to be with us forever. I’m like, what? That’s really cool.
Sharon:
Isn’t that the best?
Nicole:
Like, you really wanna spend forever with me?
Sharon:
Yeah, are you sure?
Nicole:
I don’t know if I wanna spend forever with me.
Sharon:
I know. And the first part of that whole discourse is, I’m going to prepare a place for you. I mean, I think he was, he was not looking forward to the cross, ’cause it says it was for the joy set before him that he endured the cross.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
But the joy set before him was, wait till you get here, right?
Nicole:
Oh. That’s so fun.
Sharon:
So that is the linchpin of our faith. If it’s just self-help, when troubles come, we’re gonna flit away. (Nicole Yeah) But if we know that the resurrection is true and we will be resurrected someday, and we’re united in that as a church, we will stick out that persecution.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Because we know good things are coming.
Nicole:
Right. And then we’ll have the courage to ask for boldness in our faith ’cause the message we’ll want to tell ’cause we believe it.
Sharon:
Yes. Yes. Yes. Especially as the days get short. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I gotta pray. Oh my goodness. Oh, heavenly Father, thank you. Thank you for your invitation to come to you to receive forgiveness of sins and life everlasting in your presence in a beautiful place you have prepared for us. Oh, this is the good news. Lord. Help us never to forget it or weary of talking about it. We thank you in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole:
Amen. Thanks for joining us as we unpacked all the goodness from this week’s lesson. God truly wants us to love each other and be united in our fellowship as we worship him together. Have you experienced that beautiful unity in your own church? We hope so. If not, take heart. We all can grow in that area. And none of us is yet perfect at unity or love. But this study made me want to really commit myself to doing my best with the help of the Holy Spirit to walk in love and unity with fellow believers. We’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Write us anytime at sharon@sweetselah.org. Consider writing a review of this podcast so more people can find us. That would be a great gift to us. We also gladly accept donations. You can donate at sweetselah.org/donations. Please consider helping us share the word with others. As
always, we hope you’ll come back next week for episode 133, Deadly Deception. Uh oh. Looks like we might be reading about a break in the unity of that early church. Thanks so much for listening and have a great week.
Speaker 1:
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print our transcript here.
It's not always fun, obeying authorities. There are days when you want to break the speed limit, and times when you wish you could disobey ... maybe just a little. However, God calls us to obey authorities in almost all cases. There is a time, though, to disobey. Join Sharon and Nicole as they talk about this tricky subject on today's podcast.
If you enjoy what you hear, consider leaving a review on your favorite podcast app. Comments are welcomed and answered. And, if you wish to become a partner with us in this ministry, you can donate here.
You can read the transcript for Authority Issues-Episode-131Speaker 1:
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word with Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole:
Welcome to Sweet Selah Moments. This is episode 131, Authority Issues. Now there’s a topic, Sharon. Let’s start by defining the word authority. So authority is defined as the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience. So, Sharon, I have to confess, I really struggle with respecting people and authority if they are not living what they’re asking or telling me to do, or if they’re unkind or belittle people, it really irks me and makes me not want to follow or listen to them.
Sharon:
I get it. I really do.
Nicole:
Yeah. So how about you? Have you ever had issues with authorities in your life?
Sharon:
You know what’s hard for me? It’s hard for me to listen to an authority that’s telling me to do something that I think is just plain silly, where I always think I have a better way, you know?
Nicole: Oh sure.
Sharon:
Like, really? You really want me to fill out this entire form? I don’t know why you need to know my mother’s maiden name to do whatever, you know?
Nicole:
Yes. Oh yes.
Sharon:
So I have struggled with authority for a long time in different ways, because I think too much of myself sometimes and think I know better and probably they have good reasons for what they’re asking me. (Nicole: Right) One time I struggled with authority was in high school when we wanted to run that Bible study after school, our high school bible study, and the principal let all kinds of student organizations use the classrooms after school, but did not let me. She said, you cannot bring religion onto campus. So I did respect her in that we didn’t try to secretly meet. (Sure) But I did take it to the superintendent and the school board. And so we little 15-year-old kiddos, are standing up before the school board saying, we just wanna do a Bible study, ’cause we all come from different places and it’s easier to meet at the school. And so we were granted it over the principal’s objection.
Nicole:
Wow. Oh, that’s wonderful.
Sharon:
Yeah. We had to pay, I think, 50 cents a week for covering the cost of electricity, ’cause the principal said, well, they’re using our electricity. So, so we paid for the electricity.
Nicole:
Isn’t that funny? But you did it in a respectful way. You didn’t talk down to her or belittle her or anything. That was really good.
Sharon:
Yeah. Although I don’t think she was pleased that I went over her head.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
And I was really all trembly about the thing. But, I was thankful that I had done that. So yes, sometimes we have problems with authorities, right? We just do. Well, the Bible tells us to respect authorities in almost every situation, Nicole, not all of them. And we’re gonna get to the exception. But let’s read a few verses that highlight the respective authorities before we get to the big exception clause we’re gonna talk about today. So why don’t you start.
Nicole:
All right. So I’m gonna read Ephesians 6:1-3 to start us off. It says, “Children obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do. Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with a promise. If you honor your father and mother, things will go well for you and you will have a long life on earth”. Oh, how I loathed that verse as a child. That was the worst. But this one is nice. It’s a command, but it has a gift too. It comes with a promise. And I love that. Like, hey, if you honor your mother and father, things will go well for you and you’ll have a long life. This can be very difficult. But there are ways to honor our parents. Sometimes we have wonderful parents and it’s easy to honor and obey our parents. Sometimes it can be hard. It’s not easy for everyone. But there’s ways to honor that can still be beneficial to both people.
Sharon:
Absolutely, there can be. Yes. And children, if they don’t obey their parents, can stick forks into electric plugs, drop radios into bath water while they’re in them and run into the street to catch their ball and get run over by cars.
Nicole:
Yes. And do other terrible life threatening things.
Sharon:
Yes. So for the preservation of the child, (Nicole: Yes) the parent has to be an authority figure. (Absolutely) Yeah. And when we get to the exception clause, we can actually talk about when it’s okay for a child to not obey their parent. Because there’s this big exception clause. But by and large parents are the authority. And most parents actually love their children and are trying to raise them to do what is right and good, and to protect them. So.
Nicole:
Yes, God has equipped us with a larger vision of the world in our children’s safety.
Sharon:
Yes. We know a little more. Right.
Nicole:
Yeah, so we can be good authorities in their life.
Sharon:
Yes. So, okay. Well the next section talks about submitting to secular authorities, government authorities. I’m gonna read it. It’s Romans 13:1-7. There’s a lot of verses Paul dedicates to obedience to authority, so let’s hear them. “Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God. And those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So, anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted and they will be punished. For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong. Would you like to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right. They will honor you. The authorities are God’s servants sent for your good. But if you are doing wrong, of course you should be afraid for they have the power to punish you. They are God’s servants sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong. So you must submit to them not only to avoid punishment, but also to keep a clear conscience. Pay your taxes too, for these same reasons, for government workers need to be paid. They’re serving God in what they do. Give to everyone what you owe them. Pay your taxes and government fees to those who collect them and give respect and honor to those who are in authority.” So what’s fascinating to me is that Paul was under oppressive authority when he wrote this.
Nicole:
He was. Yes.
Sharon:
It wasn’t like the Roman government was thrilled with Christians. (Nicole: Right) You know, they were an oppressed nation underneath the thumb of Rome. And some of the taxes that were collected were of course for good things. They were for building the aqueducts that brought fresh water to the cities. They were paving roads. They were paying the officials that took care of the bad guys and got them off the roads. Right?
Nicole:
It made the roads safer for them to spread the gospel and work on the next roads.
Sharon:
Exactly. Yes, exactly. But those same taxes were used for bad things too. Some of them might’ve been used to pay for the lions that devoured Christians (Nicole: Oh goodness) in the Colosseum. What? And yet pretty clear here they were to pay their taxes. Jesus paid taxes too. Got ’em out of the mouth of a fish one time, which I thought was like,
Nicole:
I know. That’s a fun story.
Sharon:
I know. I’m like, maybe if I don’t have enough money for taxes, I could try that approach, I dunno how that would go. So, we are to live within the structures of the government placed over us. God has allowed that structure. Even when the Israelites were sent away to Babylon, they were captured and they were, you know, basically dragged away in chains to Babylon, they were told to pray for the peace of the city where they were living.
Nicole:
Isn’t that interesting?
Sharon:
They were told to plant gardens there. They were told to care for the welfare of where they were, because that would affect them.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
So we are, except for the exception clause that we’ll get to, we are to obey the authorities placed over us. Even if they make really dumb rules we’re still supposed to do it.
Nicole:
Well, and this authority at the time was not a Christian authority either.
Sharon: No, no.
Nicole:
He wasn’t talking about, they didn’t even have a choice in who could rule over them. The Jewish people could not.
Sharon:
No, they did not. They were under oppressors.
Nicole:
Right. And they still said respect and obey. So that’s, we need to let that sink in for a little bit. I know I do. So we’re gonna read Hebrews 13:17 now, a different type of leadership. This one says, “Obey your spiritual leaders and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls. And they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit.”
Sharon:
That’s so cute. Don’t make them sad.
Nicole:
I know. This is hard work overseeing your soul. Let them have reason to do it with joy. So that’s really interesting. Again, it said this for the secular leaders as well, that they were, I don’t know if it said they were accountable to God, but God placed them (Sharon: Yes) in a place of authority. Here with the spiritual leaders, they’re placed in authority, but they’re accountable to God.
Sharon:
Oh, that’s an extra point. You’re right. Yeah, yeah.
Nicole:
Yeah, there’s a different level of authority and accountability for our spiritual leaders, so maybe cut them a little slack and be kind because they’re accountable to God for how (Sharon: Oh yeah) how we respond to them. So that’s interesting.
Sharon:
Yeah. They carry a large burden because of that.
Nicole: They do.
Sharon:
It’s like the verse in James that says don’t be eager to become a teacher. They’re judged more strictly. (Nicole: Yes) Right. So (It’s a little scary) you need to be careful about that. Exactly. So we’re to obey them too and submit to their authority. Now it’s funny because as I’m thinking about our church there’s not a lot that they tell me to obey. (That’s hard to follow) Basically, they just tell me to obey God. So I guess obeying my leaders in my particular situation is obeying God.
Nicole:
Yeah. We don’t have a very restrictive, repressive church or anything.
Sharon: No.
Nicole:
There’s not a lot that I struggle to obey. Like, oh, they want me to do this. This is really tough.That’s a good point.
Sharon:
Yeah. I’m trying to think of something that, I guess the closest I could come to it is if I went to a business meeting and I discussed an issue, but in the end, I didn’t like the decision being made.
Nicole:
Yes. That’s where I went to too. That’s where my thoughts went to.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. Is okay, but these guys are advising it, and they know the situation better than I do. Or maybe like every year we choose a special thing to give our Christmas money to.
Nicole: Yes. Yeah.
Sharon:
Well, maybe I wanted it given somewhere else, but I’m gonna respect my leaders (Nicole: Yes) who have said, you know, we’ve seen all the issues out here and these are the people that really need it this year. So that would be where, and I do, I submit, I’ve never once gone up to them and said, hey, excuse you, why are you not giving money to whose-y what’s it over there?
Nicole:
You didn’t agree with my decision. Yeah. That’s a great point. There’s nothing,.
Sharon:
So maybe that’s it.
Nicole:
There’s nothing over God or the Bible that I feel like I have to really fight to obey, because they’re right on with that.
Sharon: They are.
Nicole:
But you’re right, in the everyday workings of how we work our church as a family, some of those things I don’t always, well, I think I’d rather see this flourish instead of this, but they’ve prayed over it and decided so I can obey and respect their decision.
Sharon:
Yes. We can respect that. They’re the ones that are in the weeds.
Nicole:
Right. They’re the ones that have been seeking God on this for weeks at end. So Yeah. That’s a good point. I like that.
Sharon:
Yeah. Well, I just figured that out, talking to you right now. So that’s good.
Nicole: Thanks, God.
Sharon:
Okay. Well the last one is from 1 Peter, our Peter that we’ve been dealing with, 2:13-14. “For the Lord’s sake (says Peter) submit to all human authority, whether the king as head of state or the officials he has appointed. For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right.” For the Lord’s sake submit. Isn’t that an interesting thing? So that we bring honor to Jesus. And you know, Nicole, we can do just the opposite sometimes with our Christian offended-ness. (Nicole: Oh, sure) And
we can have people think the worst things about Christians. Like they’re never satisfied and they’re always judge-y and they hate everybody, (Right), all those things. And he’s saying, for the sake of Jesus, we should be doing this differently. I think that’s really interesting.
Nicole:
I’ve never seen the sake of Jesus part, ’cause I think we get so offended as Christians, or we’re really afraid to submit to and respect authority that is not a full blown follower of Christ. (Sharon: Yeah. Yeah) And I mean, very few of our actual leaders are, yes, our pastors are our spiritual leaders, and they are right on. But above our pastors, as far as authority in our culture and our world and our government, they’re not. (They’re not) They’re not men that we would naturally look to for spiritual guidance or good moral decisions. But, when we submit and honor and respect them, it is for God’s sake, like you said. So people don’t look at us as the Christians that are always hating and they’re never happy. And you know, sometimes God gives us a leader that we need and not the one that we want.
Sharon:
Oh, that’s true. That’s true.
Nicole:
There’s been kings that he’s appointed in Israel before that he’s used as a time of judgment or a time of bringing them back to God. (Sharon: Both) ‘Cause if everything’s glorious and happy, I’m not okay, God, what in my life is causing the sin that’s flourishing in my community. So when we have leaders that we may not be super pleased with, maybe that’s a time that I really dig into myself before God.
Sharon:
Yeah, teach me. Yeah.
Nicole:
Yes. Okay, God, what’s in me that needs to be?
Sharon:
So true. So true.
Nicole:
It’s tough. It’s a hard thing.
Sharon:
It is tough. Well, it makes me think of what Jesus said about carrying Roman soldier’s backpacks, back in the Sermon on the Mount, he’s like, if the soldier asks you to carry their pack for a mile,
Nicole: Oh wow.
Sharon:
Carry it two. Nobody likes that, ’cause it’s not fair that we should have to carry his backpack. They don’t care what I’m doing. I could be on my way to something important, and the soldier just stops me and says, Hey, carry my backpack and you want me to carry it an extra mile? So that is a prime example of how the
Lord Jesus views even being asked to do unreasonable, annoying things. Like, why am I driving 25 miles an hour here?
Nicole: Right.
Sharon: Well,
Nicole:
This makes no sense.
Sharon:
Right. Yeah. I can go 50 here safely. Right?
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
So, because it says to go 25 miles. That’s why you do it. So things like that where, there are annoying rules. We don’t like the rules, but for the Lord’s sake.
Nicole:
For the Lord’s sake. Yeah.
Sharon:
For the Lord’s sake, we ought to be known as a gentle people.
Nicole:
We really should. Yeah.
Sharon:
We really should. And we’re not a lot of times.
Nicole: No.
Sharon:
Okay. So we’ve kind of established that there are authorities and most of the time we’re supposed to obey them. (Nicole: Yes) There is an exception.(Ooh) And we’re gonna now read about that time. (Alright). When Peter and John, Peter, who just wrote, for the Lord’s sake, submit to all human authority. Peter, who just wrote that. Peter writes in his letter that Peter and John chose not to obey authorities in this part of Acts. So we’re gonna keep this in mind, as we’re reading it. So Acts 4:1-22, let’s hear the story where they bucked authority. I’ll start with verse one. “While Peter and John were speaking to the people, they were confronted by the priests, the captain of the Temple Guard and some of the Sadducees.”
Nicole:
“These leaders were very disturbed that Peter and John were teaching the people that through Jesus there is a resurrection of the dead.”
Sharon:
“They arrested them. And since it was already evening, put them in jail until morning.”
Nicole:
“But many of the people who heard their message believed it. So the number of men who believed now totaled about 5,000.”
Sharon: Wow.
Nicole:
That’s amazing.
Sharon:
“The next day, the council of all the rulers and elders and teachers of religious law met in Jerusalem.”
Nicole:
“Annas, the high priest, was there along with Caiaphas, John, Alexander and other relatives of the high priest.”
Sharon:
“They brought in the two disciples and demanded, by what power, or in whose name have you done this?”
Nicole:
“Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers and elders of our people”
Sharon:
“Are we being questioned today because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to know how he was healed?”
Nicole:
“Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead.”
Sharon:
“For Jesus is the one referred to in the scriptures where it says, the stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.”
Nicole:
“There is salvation in no one else. God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”
Sharon:
“The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see they were ordinary men with no special training in the scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.”
Nicole:
But since they could see the man who had been healed standing right there among them, there was nothing the council could say.”
Sharon:
“So they ordered Peter and John out of the council chamber and conferred among themselves.”
Nicole:
“What should we do with these men, they asked each other? We can’t deny that they have performed a miraculous sign and everybody in Jerusalem knows about it.”
Sharon:
“But to keep them from spreading their propaganda any further, we must warn them not to speak to anyone in Jesus’ name again.”
Nicole:
“So they called the apostles back in and commanded them never again to speak or teach in the name of Jesus.”
Sharon:
“But Peter and John replied, do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him?”
Nicole:
“We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.”
Sharon:
“The council then threatened them further, but they finally let them go because they didn’t know how to punish them without starting a riot, for everyone was praising God.”
Nicole:
“For this miraculous sign, the healing of a man who had been lame for more than 40 years.”
Sharon:
Oh my goodness. What a story.
Nicole:
Oh, this is so fun.
Sharon:
Oh, so what had the religious leaders so upset, Nicole?
Nicole:
I think they couldn’t control this at all. There was no way they could squash this. There was no way they could brush it aside. The healed man was standing there on his heeled ankles and feet. Everyone had seen it. They couldn’t even punish Peter and John without causing a riot. They couldn’t control this anymore.
Sharon:
Yes. I think it got them freaked out.
Nicole:
Right. No one’s listening. We’ve lost our authority and our control over the people.
Sharon:
Yes. And then when they bring Peter and John in, what does Peter do? Tell the same thing again, right? Yeah. There’s no other name except Jesus’ name.
Nicole:
There’s no name. Yep. So, I think that’s kind of neat.
Sharon:
Yeah. They’re pretty unhappy about it.
Nicole: They are.
Sharon:
I love that these, quote, untrained men spoke with such confidence. They weren’t intimidated at all. Peter’s like, let me just keep witnessing here. Okay, I was talking to the people over in the colonnade that were all excited about the healing of the lame man. Cool. You arrested me. Now I got more people to tell. So let me tell you too, oh my goodness.
Nicole:
He doesn’t miss a beat. And again, it’s with so much boldness and confidence. He’s just bursting.
Sharon:
He can’t not talk about it.
Nicole:
No, with talking about the greatness of God and what he has done. It’s so neat to watch him just like, okay, (Sharon: It’s so neat) I’ll tell you guys too, guess what just happened? (Exactly) Like they said, we can’t stop telling about everything we’ve seen and heard. We can’t.
Sharon:
They can’t. They knew they had seen Jesus alive again, and they also knew that they’d been called as witnesses. That was Jesus’ direct command to them. You are to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the world. That’s their mission and commission. So.
Nicole:
So they were doing it.
Sharon:
Yeah. How could they be silent then?
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
They could not be. So what’s the guiding principle here? When do we obey God? Even if it means conflicting with an earthly authority figure.
Nicole:
That’s so tough, isn’t it? I think if someone in authority over us has us directly disobey God and directly disobey the call and command on our life from God, we can’t obey that. If they have us do something that is against God’s word or something that would hurt somebody, or in this case it would stop spreading what God said, you are my witnesses. Go and tell everyone about me. (Sharon: Right. Right) If they said, no, you can’t do it anymore, they can’t stop telling, God directly commanded them to do this.
Sharon: Exactly so.
Nicole:
We are committed to love. We are committed to be kind. We are committed to speak the truth. We can’t stop doing that.
Sharon: No.
Nicole:
If our country suddenly had a decree that Christianity is outlawed and we can’t speak about God anymore, we would have to disobey that.
Sharon:
We would, we absolutely would. And here’s, that’s our exception clause. If we’re forbidden to speak about Jesus. Well, we’re gonna speak about Jesus to our death.
Nicole:
Yes. Because if we don’t speak about him, others will die without knowing him. And that’s a worse crime than us speaking Jesus’ name and possibly getting killed for it.
Sharon:
Yes. Exactly.
Nicole:
Not pleasant.
Sharon:
Not pleasant.
Nicole:
Not easy. But it’s true. If you weigh it in light of eternity, is what I’m punished for or I’m doing now, going to affect someone else’s eternity.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. And the death of the martyrs brought more people to faith in Christ because they (Nicole: Amazing) wouldn’t stop talking. (Right) Because they knew Jesus was alive and well. (Yes) And they knew that the only name by which people could be saved was his beautiful name.
Nicole:
And that gave so much validation and so much power to what Jesus had done through their death.
Sharon: Exactly.
Nicole:
Because like you have said, people won’t die, like they’ll hold onto a lie for a little bit or to a fun story, but they won’t give up their lives for anything less than the absolute truth.
Sharon:
Right. Absolutely. So that’s really cool. And other places where I think disobedience is allowed, I think if a child even was told by a parent to murder someone they shouldn’t obey that.
Nicole: True.
Sharon:
Right. I mean, that’s a command from God. Thou shalt not murder.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
And I think there are limits to obedience, and they are when they directly conflict with what God’s word said. I remember telling a relative of Ray’s who will remain nameless, that I declared all my piano earnings.
Nicole: Oh, yeah.
Sharon:
And she said, that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. They would never know how much piano you taught. That’s just stupid. And I sat there looking at her thinking, well, oh, well, that’s what’s right to do.
Nicole:
Right, right. It’s what I’ve been asked to do. Yeah.
Sharon:
And I need to do it. Right. So, you know, people are not always gonna agree with our choices. If we’re asked to lie for an employer?
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
I don’t think that even if they’re our authority as our employer, we don’t lie.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
Things like that, you know. Obey God over man.
Nicole:
Yes. And I think even in a marriage or in friendship, if a marriage, if your husband asks you to do something (Sharon: Yes) that is against God’s commands and against the Bible, you don’t do it.
Sharon:
You don’t do it.
Nicole:
You don’t steal for him. You don’t lie for him. (Sharon: No) Whatever it is. (Right) Whatever God has commanded us. The Ten Commandments, starting with those. (Yeah) If it goes against God’s Ten Commandments. (Right) We definitely should not obey earthly authorities over that.
Sharon:
Right. We must obey God over man.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Now, when you’re asked to carry a backpack a mile, there’s no law about, no command against doing that, then we are kind and we carry it too.
Nicole:
Yes.
Sharon:
You know, a lot of times we submit to silly things because it’s not violating a law of God. We may not like it. We may think it’s silly, but we still do it.
Nicole:
Right. And doing it, so a silly kind of side note, the school we go to, we drive through a neighborhood where there’s another school right there, and some of the parents have been complaining, I think I’ve mentioned this before about this, the PCA parents speeding through. Well now some of us PCA moms are trying to go even like right exactly at the speed limit and stop for every crosswalk and let extra people out. (Sharon: Aw) Because it’s going that extra mile. (Yes, exactly) Like sometimes there’s nobody there, and I’m driving through at 20 going, I could easily do 35. (Right) And no one would see me, (Right, right) but I will go 20 because God calls us to do the extra silly thing sometimes.
Sharon:
That’s the extra sillies.
Nicole:
Because they’ll see that one mom with my PCA sticker on my trunk going slow and no one else is there. Maybe that changes her heart toward Christians.
Sharon:
Exactly. Exactly.
Nicole:
And that’s why we do the extra mile with the soldier.
Sharon:
Exactly, for the Lord’s sake.
Nicole:
For the Lord’s sake. Not for our own. I get nothing for going 20 miles an hour. No one’s watching me except
Sharon:
Except irritated.
Nicole:
Except irritated and a little bit late. But what does it do for God’s kingdom? And it does do something for me actually, because it teaches me to obey.
Sharon: Exactly.
Nicole:
And get over myself.
Sharon:
I have to get over myself daily. It’s so sad
Nicole:
All the time.
Sharon:
Okay. Well, what was my favorite verse this time? My favorite verse was verse 10. It says this, “Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, the man you crucified by whom God raised from the dead”. I feel like that said it all.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
In that one verse, Peter said all the things. And he said it clearly and he said it boldly and he was gonna continue saying it. And we can never not say that ourselves.
Nicole:
No, we can’t. I love it.
Sharon:
How about you?
Nicole:
I know, that whole section was so exciting. I love when Peter just got all—,
Sharon:
Oh man, I know it.
Nicole:
So 12. “There is salvation in no one else. God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” So I think that it’s just kind of neat proclaiming too, the leaders too. The ones that thought they were so special and they were called and set apart by God. (Sharon: Right, right) To testify in front of them. There’s salvation in no one else. You can’t save yourself, spiritual leaders.
Sharon:
The law can’t save you.
Nicole:
The law can’t save you trying to appear good. It’s only through God’s wonderful name.
Sharon:
Yes. So clear. Yeah. So clear and so simple.
Nicole:
And so simple. Yep. I just love his boldness there.
Sharon:
I do too. Well, what did you learn about God from this passage, Nicole?
Nicole:
God gives us what we need when we need it.
Sharon:
Yes, he does.
Nicole:
How did their day start out? Going to a prayer meeting? It was interrupted by miracles in crowds and an impromptu sermon, and then dragged to a council meeting to be prosecuted.
Sharon:
After being in prison overnight.
Nicole:
After being in prison. Like this was quite an episode for these two guys. They were ready and their words came and this wasn’t just Peter, this was God speaking through him. (Sharon: Yes) And what an impact and what a beautiful message we have today to read. God equips them. And I love that He never abandons them on, you know? They didn’t get to where they were going that day, but God had a whole other side adventure and he was with them through it all.
Sharon:
And it was an adventure that lasted a day. (Nicole: Yes) Really, I guess. Right. They were kept overnight. So that’s so cool.
Nicole:
That’s true. I love that he prevails over all of the silly nonsense.
Sharon: He does.
Nicole:
the authorities and some of the rules, that through all God’s word still gets out. Like you have to stop talking about God. No, we can’t.
Sharon: We can’t.
Nicole:
We can’t stop talking.
Sharon:
Yep. Yep. And they didn’t lie. They didn’t say they would stop and then go out and talk about ’em.
Nicole:
Right. They were honest.
Sharon:
They said, no, actually we can’t do that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So cool. Yeah.I added, there’s only one name, one Savior, Jesus.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And we cannot deny his name. And that is repeated. Jesus would say that he who denies me, I will deny him before my Heavenly Father.
Nicole:
Yes. That is sort of an ironclad thing. Christians aren’t allowed to lie about loving Jesus.
Nicole: No.
Sharon:
We have to say it.
Nicole:
Yeah. That’s a black part of the Bible, the black and white part. That’s very clear. We do not deny his name.
Sharon:
We don’t so that’s just it.
Nicole:
And it’s a very powerful name. Look at all the things it can do in this message.
Sharon:
Yes. I know it. So what did you learn about the early church and how can we apply that today?
Nicole:
The early church had a lot of movement, a lot of adventure still. I feel like our daily walk with God is not quite so tumultuous and quite so adventurous.
Sharon:
I’m actually okay with that.
Nicole:
Yeah. We have a more predictable, kind of like a steadier path with God now. Like this is, wow, what a two days for these guys? So I think what I learned from them is that flexibility and that willingness to go where God leads them. This was definitely not the path they set out in, but they went with it. They spoke boldly. And you’d mentioned this earlier. They were honest. They didn’t tell the leaders, oh no, yeah, we’ll stop talking about God.
Sharon: Wink, wink.
Nicole:
Right. And then sneak out and do it. They were honest. They honored God in everything they did, even if it could have gotten them in some serious trouble. (Sharon: Yeah) They didn’t know that by saying, actually, we can’t stop talking about God, that their lives wouldn’t end today.
Sharon: Exactly.
Nicole:
They didn’t know. And they could have kind of justified the lie, like, well, maybe we should tell a lie so we can still keep getting God’s word out because you can see it’s easy to justify that.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
But they didn’t.
Sharon:
They didn’t. They just said, Nope, we can’t stop talking about him.
Nicole:
They stuck to the truth and what God had told them.
Sharon:
That would be such a fun song. You should write it. Can’t stop talking about him.
Nicole:
Oh, I like that. And I do like to talk. So it’d be very fitting.
Sharon:
That’s so good. Yeah.
Nicole:
What did you learn about the early church?
Sharon:
Well, that their focus was to bear witness, that testimonies matter.
Nicole: Oh yeah.
Sharon:
And you know, that’s one thing I do love about our church home is that we often have people get up and testify and give testimonies.
Nicole:
I love that.
Sharon:
The personal story. And you know, Peter’s like, we saw him live after he was dead. We can’t unsee that.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
And he told us to do this, and we can’t not do what a dead man who lives told us to do. Testimonies matter. And their testimony and their rigid decision to stand by what happened and not be swayed no matter what people said to them is what built the church. And my goodness, they went from 3000 at Pentecost now to 5,000.
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
It’s just exponentially growing.
Nicole:
It’s growing so much. I know it’s so exciting.
Sharon:
It’s so fun to see.
Nicole:
They all believed. And they believed ’cause they were arrested in there. Like they were able to bring more people to Jesus. (Sharon: Yes( Because again, they just faithfully kept to their path.
Sharon:
They kept to the path that they were told to do. So we have to always testify to our Jesus. So, oh, so good. Well, let us pray. Oh, heavenly Father, thank you just for the excitement of reading about the early church, the wow factor as Peter and John get arrested, and yet still say, we will speak of you, Jesus. We will speak of your fame and your name and your saving power. Oh Lord God, forgive us when we just get hum drum. Help us to have that same enthusiasm that we want to proclaim. That you are King, you are Savior, you are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Use us this week, Lord. Give us a willingness to speak boldly and opportunities to do so. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole:
Amen. Have you ever had to go against authority legitimately because they ask you to do something you knew Jesus would not want you to do? Write us and tell us about it. Or if you’re in a difficult situation now and would like prayer, we’d be honored to pray for you. You can contact us by email at sharon@sweetselah.org. If you’d like to support this ministry and the work we do to share the Bible and practical application each week, please consider donating even a tiny bit a month. Every bit helps, and it’s so valued by all of us at Sweet Selah Ministries. You can donate at sweetselah.org/donations. We hope you’ll come back next week for episode 132, United in Christ. Have a great week.
Speaker 1:
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
It's a common problem for us. We really want to take credit for things, even when sometimes we aren't the ones who deserve that credit. As Christians, all credit for anything good we do belongs to Jesus. Not us. Nicole and Sharon share from hard personal experience what happens when we try to take some of that glory for ourselves. It's not good. Join us for a humbling look at giving God the glory!
If you enjoy what you hear, consider leaving a review on your favorite podcast app. Comments are welcomed and answered. And, if you wish to become a partner with us in this ministry, you can donate here.
You can read the transcript for Pointing to Jesus-Episode-130Speaker 1:
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word with Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole:
Welcome to Sweet Selah Moments. This is episode 130 Pointing to Jesus. We are studying the early church in season nine, and we’re learning so much about how to do life together as a Christian family, as we study the earliest beginnings of Christian fellowship and worship. We are up to Acts 3 today, and our theme is Pointing to Jesus. Last week, we got to step inside the story of a lame man who had just wanted a few coins to buy some bread and ended up healed and saved instead. What a fun story that was. What happened next though was not as good. People started praising Peter and John instead of Jesus, the source of healing and the only one worthy of praise.
Sharon:
Yeah. That’s an all too familiar human reaction. When we see someone do something stupendous, we turn to praise and sometimes almost worship of that person. And yet the Bible’s very clear that only God is to be worshiped. So, Nicole, I’ve been remembering as we’ve been preparing for this episode, a rather embarrassing time in my own life (Nicole: Oh, no) when God had to take me to task for a really bad attitude, I had two preschoolers at the time, and Steve and Annie Chapman were popular Christian folk singers. (Yeah) And there was a line in one of their songs that just drove me nuts. It bothered me. I didn’t like it. Steve would sing out, ‘It would mean so much to me if you are the only one they see’. And I would kind of pout and think, well, really, God, the only one they see? (That’s awesome) Huh? I think I want them to see me too. (Just a little) Oh my word. It really bothered me. Well, the weirdest thing happened after I kind of said it out loud and got kind of rebellious about the whole thing. It was almost like the Spirit inside me left me alone. I don’t think he left me. I mean, when he’s inside you, he stays there. (Right) He was still residing in me, but he was silent and unhelpful. I was the worst person for about three days. (Oh no) I didn’t even like me. (Oh, wow) Honestly, I was just, I was crabby at everybody. Everything irritated me. (Oh, yeah) Nothing was right in the world.
Nicole:
Those are not fun days.
Sharon:
Oh my goodness. And God quietly reminded me that this is what people would see if they only saw me.
Nicole: Mm. Ouch.
Sharon:
Yeah. When they see Jesus in me, they actually see the best version of me, because I am only complete and whole and well, when I’m yielded to him.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And it was, it’s a lesson I’ll never forget because the contrast was horrifying.
Nicole: Oh, yeah.
Sharon:
It really was. So there’s a new song that I love by Casting Crowns. It’s kind of the same theme that drove me crazy with Steve and Annie, but I’ve reformed and it’s the, ‘I don’t wanna leave a legacy song. I don’t wanna leave a legacy. They don’t have to remember me. Only Jesus.’ (Nicole: Oh) And I can’t even say it without crying. Because honestly, Nicole, that’s what I want. (Yes) What’s the point if someone remembers me, nothing. Does that get them to heaven? (Right) Does that give them eternal life? Does that give them the wholeness that comes from Jesus? No, no, no. I want them to see Jesus.
Nicole:
Oh, I feel that. That’s so beautiful.
Sharon:
So. But I went through some real punishment first, which I needed. I needed to be taken down about seven pegs.
Nicole:
Oh, it’s that refinement. It always hurts. It hurts to burn away our selfishness.
Sharon:
Yes, it does. It does. So anyways, we point to Jesus, not ourselves.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And that brings true joy.
Nicole:
It does. And you know, it’s really tough because nowadays in our culture, I mean, it’s probably always been this way, but I only live now, so I only know now. (Sharon: Yeah. Yeah) But it’s so tough. We’re so ingrained with the pressure of being seen and applauded for our good deeds and our gifts. (Yes) How are you special? We’ll make a whole YouTube channel about it. Be an influencer, be a TikTok star. Everything is about how am I special and unique. (So true) And how do I get glory and likes and followers? (Mm-Hmm) It’s very hard to be counter-cultural. And go, no…. God, how do people see you in me?
Sharon: Exactly.
Nicole:
It’s a total mind shift and a totally different way to live life.
Sharon: It is.
Nicole:
It’s very hard when everyone around you is Oh, no.
Sharon: Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
You know, I think about people that I’ve seen in my own life or in ministry over the years that really portray that. And, you know, nursery workers, they’re some of the first people that come to mind.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
They really live out, that glorifying God instead of glorifying others. Because they’re there faithfully every week kind of tucked away in the nursery where you don’t see them. You don’t see them coming early to lay out the Cheerios and the books, and they stay late and clean everything.
Sharon: Everything.
Nicole:
They have to take information on children’s allergies and then soothe that crying baby. But for parents that just want that one hour of peace to sit and worship and hear God’s word, it’s such a gift.
Sharon: It is.
Nicole:
But they don’t get seen. And they’re not like, oh, we’re the nursery workers. Hey, let’s have a–, you don’t even know their names sometimes.
Sharon: No.
Nicole:
They quietly sneak in the back door.
Sharon:
Just quietly do their thing.
Nicole:
They’re so faithful. Yeah.
Sharon:
I love that. That is such a great example. You’re right.
Nicole:
Yeah. So they’re a good, good example to us. And then one of my favorite characters in the Bible, and I don’t even know her name. It’s the mama of the little boy with the five loaves and the two fishes. She made him a lunch that day. Well, I’m assuming that, it could have been his dad or his brother, but most likely it was the mama.
Sharon: I agree.
Nicole:
That packed that little boy a lunch and off he trotted with his little lunch and Jesus took her little offering to him, her little thing that she could do. And he did a huge miracle with it.
Sharon:
That is so true.
Nicole:
I don’t even know her name. But look what she did.
Sharon:
I actually have never thought of her before. I feel very badly about that. Thank you for reminding me. There was probably a mama behind the bread and fish.
Nicole:
There probably was.
Sharon:
The boy probably couldn’t make bread.
Nicole:
Probably not. And lunches. Oh, I don’t know about you, I hate making lunches so much. It’s my least favorite task every day. Line it up. But look, that mama did it one more day. She did the right thing. And look what happened to that lunch.
Sharon:
One more day. Yeah. I’ve been making lunches for Ray Gamble now for 43 or 44 years, because he’s always taken a lunch to save money. And I’m so tired of writing the little love note every day, they’re so similar. But he loves my little love notes.
Nicole:
That’s so cute.
Sharon:
And if I ever leave one out, he informs me. It wasn’t there.
Nicole:
You should get some like little stamps made up with like a little similar sentiment. Just like stamp it. No, keep writing it. It’s so much more special. Look at me. I’m streamlining ’cause I hate lunches.
Sharon:
Oh man. Well, let’s see how our early church fathers handled the pressure of being the superheroes for a few minutes.
Nicole: Oh yeah.
Sharon:
Because going back now to the lame guy who gave glory to Jesus, the people around are starting to give glory to Peter and John. (Yeah) They’re becoming the superstars.
Nicole:
That happened really quickly.
Sharon:
Oh yeah. Oh yeah, it does. We like to adulate. We like to go ‘wow, wow, wow’ to people.
Nicole:
Isn’t that funny.
Sharon:
So we’re reading from Acts 3:12-26 today. And Nicole, why don’t you just start us off with verse 12 and let’s see what happens.
Nicole:
Yeah. “Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd. People of Israel, he said, What is so surprising about this and why stare at us as though we had made this man walk by our own power or godliness.”
Sharon:
“For it is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of all our ancestors, who has brought glory to his servant Jesus, by doing this. This is the same Jesus whom you handed over and rejected before Pilate, despite Pilate’s decision to release him.”
Nicole:
“You rejected this holy righteous one and instead demanded the release of a murderer.”
Sharon:
“You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. And we are witnesses to this fact.”
Nicole:
“Through faith in the name of Jesus, this man was healed. And you know how crippled he was before. Faith in Jesus’ name has healed him before your very eyes.”
Sharon:
“Friends, I realize that what you and your leaders did to Jesus was done in ignorance.”
Nicole:
(Let me start again) “But God was fulfilling what all the prophets had foretold about the Messiah, that he must suffer these things.”
Sharon:
“Now, repent of your sins and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped away.”
Nicole:
“Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord. And he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah.”
Sharon:
“For he must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long ago through his holy prophets.”
Nicole:
“Moses said, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me, from among your own people. Listen carefully to everything he tells you.”
Sharon:
“Then Moses said, anyone who will not listen to that prophet will be completely cut off from God’s people.”
Nicole:
“Starting with Samuel, every prophet spoke about what is happening today.”
Sharon:
“You are the children of these prophets, and you are included in the covenant God promised to your ancestors. For God said to Abraham, through your descendants, all the families on earth will be blessed.”
Nicole:
“When God raised up his servant, Jesus, he sent him first to you people of Israel to bless you by turning each of you back from your sinful ways.”
Sharon:
Oh my goodness. This is such an amazing speech by a fisherman, isn’t it?
Nicole:
Very quickly, he didn’t prepare this at all.
Sharon: No,
Nicole:
There’s no sermon notes.
Sharon: No.
Nicole:
it says, he saw an opportunity and addressed the crowd.
Sharon:
There he is. It’s brilliant. It’s absolutely brilliant.
Nicole: It is.
Sharon:
I wanna divide it up into four sections, Nicole, with four verses each.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And then just talk about them. There’s too much to just talk about the whole passage, I think. So could you reread that first little bit and then tell me what you learned from it.
Nicole:
Yeah. This part is fun. “So Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd. People of Israel, he said, What is so surprising about this and why stare at us as though we had made this man walk by our own power or godliness? For it is the Lord God. It is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of all of our ancestors who has brought glory to his servant Jesus by doing this. This is the same Jesus whom you handed over and rejected before Pilate, despite Pilate’s decision to release him. You rejected this holy righteous one and instead demanded the release of a murderer. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. And we are witnesses of this fact.” Peter pulls no punches here.
Sharon:
He’s pretty blunt, isn’t he?
Nicole:
He’s very bold and he doesn’t like kind of sugarcoat it at all.
Sharon: Nope.
Nicole:
I love this. So he saw his opportunity. He addresses the crowd. Hey guys, listen up. Why are you surprised by this? Why are you staring at us like we made this happen? He so quickly in his first sentence says, it’s not us, it’s God.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
And I love that He doesn’t kind of like bask in the glory for a minute.
Sharon:
Not even for a nanosecond.
Nicole:
And even say, oh God, you, he just points right to Jesus. And that’s so beautiful. He’s so quick to be humble and give him the glory.
Sharon:
Yes. All the talking is about God and not him.
Nicole:
No. He doesn’t even talk about his own story, which is like, well, I was this and now God used me richly. No.
Sharon: No.
Nicole:
Why are you looking at me, he says?
Sharon:
Oh my goodness.
Nicole:
So I love this. And then he kind of goes over, their history with Jesus and how they reacted to him. So he’s taking the vision off of him, pointing it to Jesus and then walking through Jesus’ story.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
How he was rejected. But yet God is still willing to forgive them and they can accept Jesus after what they did.
Sharon:
I love it. I love it. Yeah.
Nicole:
So beautiful.
Sharon:
And this is recent. So they know that Jesus died. They know that Pilate wanted to release him.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
So he’s just reminding them of this history as he starts this.
Nicole:
Right. Kind of priming the gospel message there.
Sharon:
Yes he is. So, okay, now I’m gonna read verses 16-19. “Through faith in the name of Jesus, this man was healed. And you know how crippled he was before. Faith in Jesus’ name has healed him before your very eyes. Friends, I realize that what you and your leaders did to Jesus was done in ignorance. But God was fulfilling what all the prophets had foretold about the Messiah, that he must suffer these things. Now, repent of your sins and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped away.” So he’s back to Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. I mean, the name is mentioned over and over. Faith in the name of Jesus, faith in the name of Jesus. So again, we’re pointing to Jesus in this section. And then he’s so kind, Nicole. He’s like, friends after I’ve just lectured you on the fact that you killed the holy One of God, (Nicole: Right) I realize you did it in ignorance. And most of them did. (Right) If your religious leaders are telling you that this guy is a heretic and he’s blasphemed God. (Right) And they stir up a crowd that says, Crucify him. (Yeah) I get why in ignorance he’d be like, What? He blasphemed God, you know?
Nicole:
Right. Oh, if our leaders think he’s bad, he must be bad.
Sharon:
He must be bad. Right. Right. So he’s gentle with them now. I mean, first he’s not. In the part you read, there was not a lot of gentleness.
Nicole: Nope.
Sharon:
You know, they had to be aware of what they did. But now he’s like, but you did it in ignorance. And guess what? If you turn and repent of your sins, your sins will be wiped away. This is the incredible good news. We can’t get rid of the stain of sin. Jesus gets rid of it for us. And so now he’s appealing to them. This is what you can do. Right?
Nicole:
Yeah. Oh, that’s so good. Yeah. You did this, might have been in ignorance. Now you can do this.
Sharon: Exactly.
Nicole:
Great. Okay. I’m up next with verses 20-23. “Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord. And he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah. For he must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things as God promised long ago through his holy prophets. Moses said, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me, from among your own people. Listen carefully to everything he tells you. Then Moses said, anyone who does not listen to that prophet will be completely cut off from God’s people.” So this is interesting. Peter is backing up his words with scripture.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
With a reliable source. They all know Moses. They’re all good Jewish people. They know Moses.
Sharon:
They know Moses,
Nicole:
They know his words. And I love that he goes back to that to kind of reassure them that, Hey, this is all stuff that we’ve talked about in synagogue. This is what, like, you know this is happening. And then again, he kind of gives them, he gets back to being a little more blunt, but you’ll be cut off from God’s people. Like, follow this warning, heed this because the consequences of it are very big.
Sharon: Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
You don’t wanna miss this opportunity for salvation.
Sharon:
Right. Right. If someone’s walking towards a cliff, you don’t say, uh, pardon me, can we just chat for a minute? You say, you take three more steps, you’re dead. Right?
Nicole:
Maybe reconsider your path. You say, no, I care for you. Do not walk off that cliff.
Sharon:
Don’t do it. Don’t do it.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
Right. Yeah. And that’s what he’s seeing. Yeah. Yeah. I love that first verse too in 20 that you read. “Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord.” Isn’t that beautiful? Times of refreshment.
Nicole:
Yeah. It sounds delightful.
Sharon:
I know. When I think of refreshment, I think of a cool breeze on a hot day and a lemonade.
Nicole:
Oh yeah. That’s great.
Sharon:
You know, that kind of thing. Just something that soothes and comforts. Peter is, yes, being stern in his warning. You will be cut off if you don’t do this, but hey, you can have the refreshment of not feeling guilt for your sin, of being clean again.
Nicole:
The alternative to this horrible thing Is this beautiful thing.
Sharon:
Yeah, beautiful thing. Absolutely.
Nicole:
So he does a great job contrasting them.
Sharon: He does.
Nicole:
So that it makes it like, oh, this would be the better choice, to choose.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. The better choice to choose. Absolutely. Well, the last verses 24-26. “Starting with Samuel, every prophet spoke about what is happening today. You are the children of those prophets. And you are included in the covenant God promised to your ancestors. For God said to Abraham, through your descendants, all the families on earth will be blessed. When God raised up his servant, Jesus, he sent him first to you people of Israel to bless you by turning each of you back from your sinful ways.” I love
that Peter did his homework and studied through the prophets. I keep going back to the road to Emmaus, when those two disciples are so depressed about Jesus dying, that they don’t realize that oh, Jesus is walking beside them alive and risen.
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
Right. But it’s getting dusk to be fair. (Nicole: Right) And you don’t expect to see a dead man walking. (That’s true) And he probably had a cloak on, whatever. Anyways, he unpacked the scriptures for them and explained all those things. And after he broke bread with them and Jesus left them, they ran right back to Jerusalem to tell everybody. (Right) I think a lot of what they discovered about what the prophets said came from Jesus’ mouth himself on the road to Emmaus. (Oh, how neat.) I mean, I don’t know that, this is a theory.
Nicole:
But it’s a pretty sound theory.
Sharon:
It is based on some reality.
Nicole:
What else do you talk to Jesus about? You don’t talk about the weather with Jesus.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. And it says that Jesus unpacked it. So they are now equipped with the verses from the Old Testament that point to the Jesus that everybody in that room knew about because they all were alive when Jesus was alive (Nicole: Wow) ’cause it’s that fresh an incident. So, and it kind of reminds me too, of the Jesus Storybook Bible (I love that one) where Jesus is on every page, right? (Yes) In every story. That’s kind of what Peter’s saying, starting with Samuel, every prophet spoke about this.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
This is everywhere. And then, oh, Nicole, my favorite part is that he says, when God raised up his servant, Jesus, he sent him first to you to bless you. Who did Jesus go to first? The Jewish people. His precious people. There’s an honoring that they’ve been given. (Nicole: Right) And Peter’s like, look at the honor you are given. Who is it that says, Abraham, through your descendants, all families on earth will be blessed.(Yes) All families on Earth are gonna be blessed. But guess what, it starts with the Jews. (Yes, you were the chosen people) You guys, it starts with you.
Nicole:
I know. Even though they were gonna reject him. He still offered them that little piece.
Sharon:
So the Holy Spirit sure spoke through Peter in that.
Nicole:
He did. In such a powerful way.
Sharon:
Unbelievable. It’s just been really, really fun to read it and to think of what a blustery, crazy guy Peter was.
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
And now he’s just full of all this passion and hope.
Nicole:
And so unsure of himself too. ‘Cause after he had denied God, he went just back to his old life. He just did, he was done. He didn’t know what to do with himself. And Jesus came and found him and brought him back and restored him. And then to see him so boldly proclaiming.
Sharon:
This confidence
Nicole:
Oh, it’s so exciting.
Sharon:
Unbelievable. It really is.
Nicole:
It gives such encouragement and hope to us that even when we do mess up horribly, God can restore anything. Look what he’s done with Peter. Look at the words that God is putting through Peter to these people.
Sharon:
Yes. Yes. And so right away Peter points them to Jesus. And he takes opportunity there. The prayer meeting was going on somewhere else, but the mob was actually with Peter because it’s not every day you see a lame man walking around jumping. Right?
Nicole:
Right. I wonder if those were the people that were on their way to the prayer meeting, I wonder what happened, if at the prayer meeting they’re going, where is everybody?
Sharon:
They’re all at the colonade where Peter’s giving this message.
Nicole:
Maybe that’s why they got kicked outta synagogue eventually.
Sharon:
Yeah. Exactly. So. All right. Well, let’s close out by asking our key questions of the day. What was your favorite verse and why?
Nicole:
I liked verse 20. You had mentioned that earlier, but it’s so beautiful that, “then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord. And he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah”. So the times of refreshment sounds like such a beautiful breath of fresh air. (Sharon: Yes) Like you said, like that cold lemonade on a hot day, that relief of sin, because when we’ve done something wrong (Yes) and we haven’t confessed it. It’s probably one of the worst feelings in the world.
Sharon: It is, it is.
Nicole:
It really is, that unconfessed and that you just, you feel like everyone can see.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
You don’t want people to know, to live that way is so miserable.
Sharon:
If you live in condemnation, self condemnation (Nicole: Yes) you beat yourself up. (It’s terrible) You don’t even need to be punished by others, you punish yourself.
Nicole:
Right. And I was not a non-believer very long in my life before I was a believer. But the feeling I have with unconfessed sin as a believer, it’s not as strong as what it would be without Jesus. (Sharon: Right) That whole feeling of being lost is so much more profound. (Yes) So that refreshment, I know that feeling of refreshment. I’ve experienced it. (Oh, it’s beautiful, it is) Any believer in Christ has it, and it’s such a beautiful thing. And it comes right from him, the presence of the Lord. (Yes) Like that’s amazing, not like oh, something I kind of give you to the side, but right from the presence of God.
Sharon:
And you’d think, from the presence of the Lord, fear, panic, despair. But if you’ve repented, refreshment, relief. That’s what comes.
Nicole:
You can walk into his presence and there’s refreshment there.
Sharon:
Yes.
Nicole:
Because of what he’s done for us. It’s just, it’s so humbling to me. And I’m just so in awe of what he’s done for me. And I’ve done nothing to deserve that. (Sharon: Nope. Nope) That refreshing from my sins. You know, I think (It’s so beautiful) it’s just a beautiful verse.
Sharon:
It is. I love that too.
Nicole:
And then the little promise, he’ll again send you Jesus. I’m assuming he’s talking about him coming again, ’cause he’s already died for us. (Sharon: Right) Your appointed Messiah. So yeah, that presence. And then he’s coming back for me.
Sharon: He is.
Nicole:
And, then for us.
Sharon:
Yes. And if you repent, you are one of us. You’ll be waiting for him too. Exactly.
Nicole:
So, that verse is so beautiful and all of this big event happening, him pointing to Jesus and reminding them of their sins, that verse is such a beautiful—
Sharon:
Such an invitation.
Nicole: It is.
Sharon:
It’s really beautiful.
Nicole: It’s love.
Sharon:
I actually chose the first part of verse 12. It says this, “Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd”. I was just like, do I see my opportunities?
Nicole:
Ooh. Yeah.
Sharon:
He saw his opportunity and it makes me wanna pray in the morning in my devotion times, help me to see the opportunities, Lord. Help me to see them. One of my favorite opportunities that I did see, because it was so blatant and in my face, was when Ray and I were first married and I was on the bus to University of Maryland, Baltimore Campus. Our apartment handily had buses going to University of Maryland, ’cause a lot of college students lived there. (Nicole: Right) So Ray had the one car and he went to Fort Meade to work, and I took the bus. So anyways, I sat down beside this woman, Gina, who I’m still friends with. (Oh) And Gina said to me, so I just have a question for you. I mean, she doesn’t know me from Adam. (Right) And she says this, so I just have a question for you. My husband and I have been trying to understand the Bible. What’s, and it’s really confusing. Do you know anything about the Bible?
Nicole: You’re like—
Sharon:
I mean, Nicole.
Nicole:
That’s one of those opportunities that kind of smacks you in the face.
Sharon:
Yeah. At that point, evidently I needed a really, I mean—,
Nicole:
Those are the ones I pray for, like God, make it very obvious to me.
Sharon:
It was so obvious. So Gina and Milton came to our apartment. We became friends and we did a Bible study together.
Nicole:
Oh Sharon. Oh my goodness. That’s so precious.
Sharon:
Yes. Unbelievable.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
And like I said, we’re still Facebook friends today. I mean, she doesn’t live near me or anything. Gina, if you’re listening, hi.
Nicole:
You still could have ignored that. I mean, we still can ignore the really blatantly obvious ones.
Sharon:
We really can.
Nicole:
We could have been like, well that’s kind of too big for me and pushed it off. So you still were willing to see that?
Sharon:
Yep. Yep. So I wanna see the opportunities.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And then I want the boldness to speak. (Nicole: Yeah) Which the Holy Spirit can give us.
Nicole:
I would love that.
Sharon:
So, okay, so what did I learn about God from this passage? Let me tell you and then you can tell me.
Nicole: Sounds good.
Sharon:
All right. Number one, God’s name, Jesus, has power.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
The name of Jesus. I can’t tell you how many times in chapter three we have read the phrase ‘name of Jesus’.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
The name itself has power. It’s a powerful name. It’s why we’re not to take his name in vain. (Nicole: Right) I don’t know why, but I guess ’cause it represents all of who God is. So that’s just interesting to me about God. (Yeah) Number two, times of refreshing come when he is near, he’s a balm to our souls.
Nicole:
I love that. And don’t we need that?
Sharon:
So, yeah. And number three, he’s a covenant God. He made a covenant with Abraham for Abraham’s seed. Abraham’s seed, the Jewish people, just like we would’ve done, (It’s not like I’m condemning them. I would’ve been just as bad) they were really bad. Let’s just face it. They were really bad without the Holy Spirit. And yet he kept his covenant with them. And who does he come to first? The ones he promised.
Nicole:
Aw, that is sweet.
Sharon:
He’s a covenant keeping God.
Nicole:
Yes. So that’s what I learned. How about you?
Nicole:
I like that. I put that he has a big, perfectly laid out plan and we get glimpses of it here and there.
Sharon:
That’s so true, for the prophets, from Samuel, yeah.
Nicole:
And it’s fun to see, kind of like you talked about the men walking with him on the road. Jesus helped to connect the dots of that big plan.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
It was such a mystery in the Old Testament. And it was there, but no one could put all, no one had put all the pieces together yet.
Sharon: Right, right.
Nicole:
And now Jesus had come and returned to heaven and he’d revealed it to his disciples and to the believers. Like this was it. Like I was the piece that put all of this together.
Sharon:
Yes. The Cornerstone. Yeah.
Nicole:
Yeah. So it’s really fun to see the ‘aha moments’ of the disciples and how they’re all excited to share like, oh yeah, and he’s coming again. So there’s still a plan that we’re not fully aware of. Like we know he’s coming back. We don’t know when.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
We don’t know what the final restoration of creation in ourselves really looks like. So there’s still more to come. And it’s exciting to see those little glimpses of, and then Jesus is coming back again. So I think that’s kind of neat.
Sharon: I love it.
Nicole:
He’s got a big plan and we get glimpses of it. And that we can trust him to keep his promises. Like you said, he’s a God of covenant. So he kept his promises from the Old Testament. And we have Jesus. And now he’s going to keep his promises to be with us and to come again, to send Jesus again.
Sharon:
He is. Amen. Yeah, yeah.
Nicole:
And then I put that he’s looking to restore us. That even here’s Peter talking to the Israelites, to the Jewish people that had just offered up Jesus to be murdered, to be sacrificed. And he is looking at them with restoration and forgiveness and healing. (Sharon: Absolutely) How beautiful is that? (Yes) He could have said, Peter could have said, God gave you the opportunity and you blew it and stinks to be you. Go on your unmerry way because you are now lost.
Sharon:
He could have, yeah.
Nicole:
He could’ve smote them. He could have done anything, but he didn’t.
Sharon:
He was kind.
Nicole:
He confronted them with their sin.
Sharon:
Firm, but kind.
Nicole:
Yes. But he offered restoration.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
I think it’s so beautiful. Yeah.
Sharon:
Oh, I love it. I do. Okay.
Nicole:
Yeah. So what did we learn about the early church?
Sharon:
Yes. Yes. We’ll do that one next. What can we learn about the early church and how can we apply that today? Well, we need to recognize the opportunities to point to Jesus and share the good news.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
They sure did. They also studied the Bible.
Nicole: They did.
Sharon: Didn’t they?
Nicole:
They did. They knew their scripture.
Sharon:
They knew their stuff. Oh my goodness. And we are to be heralds of the truth that Jesus is not dead. He’s reigning in heaven. Am I pointing to Jesus enough? You know, am I just generic? We should be a Christian and in God, or do I point to Jesus the Savior? You know?
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
I think we need to do both. I mean, Jesus is God. But that specificness.
Nicole:
I think you’re right. Yeah. ’cause he did that. I like that.
Sharon:
What about you?
Nicole:
I put to be bold in truth. Like you said, they knew the scripture. They were ready. Peter didn’t have any inkling that this was going to happen today. He was just going to a prayer meeting and he was able to speak boldly from the scriptures ’cause he had been studying. So just be able to see the opportunity and then be bold enough to speak what God puts on our hearts.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
And not be afraid. And I think that also they were really quick to point back to God. So I think that’s something I could take from that too. When something, when God does use me, when he chooses to use me in a way, immediately, it’s him.
Sharon: Deflect it.
Nicole:
Not me. Yes.
Sharon:
Trust me. Don’t say, I want some of the glory. It goes really badly for you.
Nicole:
It’s good to know.
Sharon:
Don’t walk down that path.
Nicole:
Oh my goodness. And then after all that, they were quick to point to salvation. They took the boldness of the truth, they took the fact that everything comes from God. Everything good comes from God and then right to salvation. It was just this nice little (Sharon: Yes) bow on the package of, you know what, take all this knowledge and go to God with this.
Sharon:
And here’s what you can do with it. Right. They didn’t just leave him with a lot of factoids.
Nicole:
Right.
Sharon:
This is what you do now.
Nicole:
Right. Like, oh, God is wonderful and great. He is. Now with that knowledge, go to him. And he’ll restore you.
Sharon:
Yeah. And you’ll be refreshed.
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
That’s so beautiful.
Nicole:
I like that part.
Sharon:
Oh man. Well, let us pray. Father, thank you. Thank you for this sermon. Thank you for Peter’s kindness and boldness, truth telling and love, all mixed together by the power of your Holy Spirit into a beautiful package. Oh Lord, we can’t talk like this unless you fill us. We ask that you would, that you would give each of us listening to this and Nicole and me as we’re doing this, eyes to see, and ears to hear the opportunity that you give us, to speak the name of Jesus and to call people to repentance and refreshment. Oh Lord, use us please. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole:
What a great reminder we had today to always point to Jesus and not ourselves. Have you ever wrestled with wanting to keep the praise for yourself? It’s a real struggle, isn’t it? If you enjoy these shows, would you consider leaving a review or writing us a note so we know you are out there listening? We also send out a monthly newsletter to all who support our show. If you’d like to be added to the email list, donate any amount at sweetselah.org/donations and write Sweet Selah Moments on the memo line. We’ll make sure you get our newsletter to correspond with us. You can write us at sharon@sweetselah.org. We’d love to hear from you. And please do come back next week for episode 131, Authority Issues. Have a great week.
Speaker 1:
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Sometimes, we feel too busy to help. We think we're inadequate to the task, and walk away doing nothing, even when there's a need. There's a better way. We might not be able to do ALL we want, but we usually can do something. Let's talk today about what CAN we do in various situations. And let's explore what Peter and John DID do, when they came across a guy looking for money.
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You can read the transcript for But What CAN you do?-Episode-129Speaker 1:
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word with Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole:
Welcome to Sweet Selah Moments. This is episode 129, But What Can You Do? Sharon, that’s a fun question. Tell me why did you title this episode with a question?
Sharon:
Well, this particular question, Nicole, ‘what can I do’ has helped me so much over the years. I need to give a big shout out to my friend Gail Hadden, who did a talk based on this question years ago at a Moms in Prayer event. Gail was helping us see that when we are busy, even if we can’t help to the degree we want to help, we can still do something. Sometimes we’re like, well, I can’t help because I can’t do the big thing. We can do the little thing. So let’s talk about being busy first of all, today. Jesus was often so busy he didn’t even have time to eat. Busy actually happens.
Nicole: Yes, it does.
Sharon: A lot.
Nicole:
It does, more than we want it to sometimes. Here’s a great Bible passage that describes a time like that in Jesus’ life. It’s found in Mark 1:30-34, and I’m gonna read that. So here’s a, a glimpse into the busy life of Jesus. “Now Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever. They told Jesus about her right away. So he went to her bedside, took her by the hand and helped her sit up. Then the fever left her and she prepared a meal for them. That evening after sunset, many sick and demon possessed people were brought to Jesus. The whole town gathered at the door to watch. So Jesus healed many people who were sick with various diseases, and he cast out many demons. But because the demons knew who he was, he did not allow them to speak.” So this is just one day in Jesus’ life.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
He starts out his day at a loved friend’s house, healing his mother-in-law. And then he stays and has a meal with her, visits with her. Then he goes after sunset and he heals very sick and demon possessed people. The whole town was there. There’s a big crowd. That’s a long day.
Sharon:
It sure is. And it actually started with synagogue. I didn’t put that part in for you to notice.
Nicole: Oh, yeah.
Sharon:
But they were in the synagogue in the morning. And then before sundown, he still heals because Jesus heals on the Sabbath when it’s appropriate. And so he’s healing the mother. And then, after the sunset, oh my goodness, everybody and their brother shows up.
Nicole:
They did. And these these are big things. These aren’t like, oh whatever. This is demon possessed and sick people. So very heavy hurts that he’s dealing with.
Sharon:
Heavy stuff. Absolutely, heavy, heavy stuff. And Jesus was younger than I am now. And also he was Jesus.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
But after sunset, I don’t have a lot left in me these days. I’m kind of like needing to slow down my pace and after sunset’s when he’s just getting going. So.
Nicole:
Right. And he started a full day too. He didn’t have the morning off and then heal in the evening.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
So this was a really demanding full day.
Sharon:
It was a very full day. There’s another busy time that I’ve always been fascinated by. It’s in Mark 3:20-21. Let me read it. “One time Jesus entered a house and the crowds began to gather again.” (That seems to be standard right?).
Nicole:
Gathers crowds.
Sharon:
“Soon he and his disciples couldn’t even find time to eat. When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. He’s out of his mind, they said.” So in this case, it got so crazy the people never stopped coming.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
They came and they came and they came. Jesus’ family actually tries to rescue him from this endless mob. They didn’t see how he could possibly cope, but cope he did. Right? Even without eating, evidently. Sometimes Nicole, we are busy due to no fault of our own. I mean, sometimes it is my own fault I’m busy. I say yes to too many things. I haven’t scheduled in rest times, you know. But there are times when we can’t help it.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
It’s not a sin. Jesus was busy and he didn’t sin. So having times when it’s hard to eat happen. Right. And we don’t need to blame ourselves if it’s beyond our control. So can you think of some examples? What’s some things that would be beyond our control where, you know, we might schedule our rest times and have a beautiful little plan on paper, that doesn’t work?
Nicole:
Do you know what’s a really great way to disrupt my beautiful little planned out? Sick kiddos. Never fails every time. If I get a month planned out so nicely all my poor kiddos get sick, one after the other. No, sick children, you can’t plan that. You can’t schedule that.
Sharon: Nope.
Nicole:
You have to stop and take care of them. When I worked in the dental office, we would have a nice planned out day with patients every so often, always there were emergencies. And if you’re closing up and leaving, you can’t turn someone away who walks in with a toothache.
Sharon: No.
Nicole:
Or a bloody mouth, ’cause they got hit or something else. Emergencies happen. You have to take care of them.
Sharon:
You do. And we don’t schedule in, you know, five blocks for emergencies on a day, do we?
Nicole:
No. Because you can’t make that much space for things.
Sharon: No. No.
Nicole:
And we have several friends that foster children and they’re called at a moment’s notice.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
To pick up a child, maybe an infant, maybe a child in crisis. And those again, they’re instantly very busy.
Sharon: Absolutely.
Nicole:
And they can’t control that.
Sharon:
They can’t control it. When I took care of Dad Gamble, it was a two hour process to get him up and going in the morning.
Nicole: Oh, wow.
Sharon:
So I’d have a day planned with an aide coming to do the two hours.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And she’d call in sick.
Nicole: Oh, no.
Sharon:
Well, there goes that two hour block of time. Right? So yes, sometimes busy happens. Living a full life is not wrong.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
So I wanna establish that first, because sometimes we feel guilty if we’re busy and it’s not always our fault. So. What are some in instances from your own life when busyness has happened to you? Not just the sickness, but You’ve got four daughters in school and a puppy business.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
I guess just normal is busy. Right?
Nicole:
It’s so funny. Just normal is busy. That’s a tagline I’ve used a lot now. We have four daughters and we have them only do one activity a season if they choose.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
But if it’s drama and volleyball, you gotta pick one, Honey. Because even with just one, it’s one times four.
Sharon: Yes, it is.
Nicole:
And they’re in different grades and different volleyball schedules and basketball schedules and drama. So it’s a lot. Just on a very paired down schedule. We don’t do a lot of extras. But we still find we’re busy and there’s youth group and there’s kids choir and kids club and all these great things.
Sharon:
So many good things.
Nicole:
And it’s busy.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
Even keeping it paired down.
Sharon:
Yes. And it is even for Ray and me. Because we do home group and we do welcome center and my parents still need us.
Nicole: Oh, yes.
Sharon:
And my daughters love to call me and talk to me and I love to talk to them.
Nicole:
Right. That’s good.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
But it’s hard even with, you know, good, good things keep us busy.
Sharon:
Yes. Well, so what happens then when someone in our church has a huge need? Let’s say a mama is hospitalized and she’s got little kids at home and her poor husband’s still trying to hold down a job to take care of the hospital bills. What do we do as a church family? Well, we share the load. There’s probably no one at our church who at a moment’s notice can just kind of move in and take care of the children, you know full-time?
Nicole:
Like step into their life and jump in.
Sharon:
Yeah. Right. Right. But if each of us ask that question, we’re getting back to our theme title again. What can I do? Together we can serve. So what in your season of life, what could you do for that hospitalized mom? Because you can’t move in.
Nicole:
Right, cause I have my four kiddos.
Sharon:
What could you do?
Nicole:
If they have a little girl, we could take on one kiddo and help keep one kiddo for a few days. Or we could arrange for meals and I could bring a meal over. Or I could see if they have dogs and maybe walk their dogs one day. We could gather with other people and make a schedule for helping, but I can’t take on everything. So just saying, I can’t help at all, there’s probably something I could do.
Sharon: Exactly.
Nicole:
One day, one meal, one something.
Sharon:
Yeah. And if we all ask that question, like I could go over and take a shift.
Nicole: Right. Right.
Sharon:
I could say, I’ll do the afternoon, or I’ll do a morning or whatever. I could buy groceries. (Nicole: Yes) And bring them by. Things like that. I think too often it seems so overwhelmingly big. (Right) And we look at our already overwhelmingly big lives.
Nicole:
Yes. And go, how can we fit this in?
Sharon:
Right. And instead if we could just say, well, what can I do? And even if it’s a small something,
Nicole:
Even if it feels like, oh, it’s only one meal, that’s one whole meal that they don’t have to worry about.
Sharon: Absolutely.
Nicole:
That’s a big thing. It adds up.
Sharon:
Absolutely. Sometimes the smallest things mean so much. I remember when I gave birth to Katherine and my mom and my grandmother could only stay like three days. And then they left me.
Nicole: Oh no.
Sharon:
Because my grandmother had to go back to England. It wasn’t her fault, she had a ticket. And I’m looking at this little baby thinking, I can’t do this.
Nicole:
What do I do?
Sharon:
She’ll not survive my ineptness. And one lady brought me one meal in a crockpot and I can’t tell you how much it meant.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s so sweet.
Sharon:
That’s all she did.
Nicole:
Isn’t that great? Those are the best meals. They taste so good when they’re delivered. Even if it’s like you get four lasagnas, they’re so special because, we, with one of our kiddos, we got seven lasagnas. But you know what? I was just, I was so tickled that someone thought, ’cause as a mom who cooks the meals, it’s a lot of work.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
And you’re exhausted. And the baby does not know it’s supper time for the rest of your family and they’re always hungry at that time. So one meal makes such a big difference.
Sharon:
It does. It really does. You know, I remember even being overwhelmed by the number of missionaries our church supports, feeling like I’ve gotta pray for them all, but, but there’s so many of them. And shoot, we have five pastors too. I need to pray for the pastors and their families. And, oh, what about the elders? I should be praying for the elders and the children’s directors and the women’s ministry director. They need prayer, you know?
Nicole:
There’s so many of them.
Sharon:
Yeah. And feel like super overwhelmed. So I asked the question, well, what can I do? Right. And God gave me a system that really works for me, where I just pray regularly for each one, one day at a time. So they sure don’t all get prayed for daily or even weekly. But when I do land on their names, they get prayed for deeply.
Nicole:
Oh, I love that.
Sharon:
And that’s so satisfying to me that I can go deep for them, even if I have to space them out. We actually have a YouTube channel, and if you wanna learn more about ‘organizing your personal prayer life’, that’s what the series is called. You can go to our six part series on that topic. I love that prayer method. I’ve been doing it for years. Each video’s about 12 minutes long. They’re called Tuesday Talks. Anyway, I can’t pray for everyone I love in depth.
Nicole:
Right. Every day, all the time.
Sharon:
And if you wanna learn more about how I figure that one out, go to our YouTube channel. What I can do is organize a prayer life. So over time I pray for them deeply. So.
Nicole:
Oh, I love that. I’ve saved those videos. I’m looking forward to watching them and doing that. I’m almost there. I’ve been trying to make space in my life to have a more organized prayer life’ ’cause I love that, ’cause you can do a little bit. You can pray for this person every Tuesday or whatever it is. I love that idea. It’s really great.
Sharon:
It’s really fun. Because it’s a surprise every day. I’m like, oh, it’s Pastor Joel’s turn. Oh, cool. So I pray for Joel and Heather and you know, and they come up so seldom because there’s so many of them that it’s always a surprise and it’s always fun.
Nicole:
And you know what? I bet that person has something special happen that day, there’s some blessing to them and they’re like, oh, someone’s praying for me somewhere. And that’s just, I love how God works that way.
Sharon:
He does. And I can feel that too when people are praying for me. I’m like, oh, I just got this rush of joy. Lord, who’s praying for me.
Nicole:
Yeah. I love that. I feel like it’s so sad. But prayer gets vilified now in our culture and oh, we’ll pray for you, and people dismiss it and think it’s not important. But the value of prayer cannot be overstated. It’s such an important, it’s such a beautiful encouragement and a great thing to add to practical help.
Sharon: Absolutely.
Nicole:
And if you truly can’t do a meal or take a child, prayer is not a, well, I’ll just pray for you then. That’s huge.
Sharon:
It is huge. Because prayer is work.
Nicole:
It is work.
Sharon:
And when you pray deep for someone, your mind is engaged, your heart is engaged, your time is engaged.
Nicole:
Yes. Well, watching your videos and how you organize your prayer, it is time and effort.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
And it’s a sacrifice of your mental capacity, of your organization skills and your time to sit and pray for someone even once every six weeks.
Sharon: Absolutely.
Nicole:
So it is a gift you can give someone. So don’t belittle prayer.
Sharon: Absolutely.
Nicole:
It’s such a beautiful thing, friends.
Sharon:
Absolutely. It’s what we can do. Yes.
Nicole:
Yes. And that’s a huge thing.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. So.
Nicole:
Well, our passage today is taken from Acts 3:1-11. It’s all about a healing where Peter and John did what they could do for a lame man. Sharon, I’ll start reading at verse one and let’s go back and forth.
Sharon: Alright.
Nicole:
“So Peter and John went to the temple one afternoon to take part in the three o’clock prayer service.”
Sharon:
“As they approached the temple, a man lame from birth was being carried in each day. He was put beside the temple gate, the one called the beautiful gate so he could beg from the people going into the temple.”
Nicole:
“When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for some money.”
Sharon:
“Peter and John looked at him intently and Peter said, look at us.”
Nicole:
“The lame man looked at them eagerly expecting some money.”
Sharon:
“But Peter said, I don’t have any silver or gold for you, but I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, get up and walk.”
Nicole:
“Then Peter took the lame man by the right hand and helped him up. And as he did, the man’s feet and ankles were instantly healed and strengthened.”
Sharon:
“He jumped up, stood on his feet, and began to walk. And then walking, leaping and praising God, he went into the temple with them.”
Nicole:
“All the people saw him walking and heard him praising God.”
Sharon:
“When they realized it was the lame beggar they had seen so often at the beautiful gate they were absolutely astounded.”
Nicole:
“They all rushed out in amazement to Solomon’s Colonade, where the man was holding tightly to Peter and John.”
Sharon:
Oh my goodness. He must’ve been in shock. He’s holding onto them like, whoa, whoa. What has just happened to my legs?
Nicole:
Is it gonna stay? Is it gonna keep, am I gonna fall?
Sharon:
I think it’s so cool. Well, okay, so in this story, seeing we’re talking about what can we do?
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
What couldn’t Peter and John do? What didn’t they have?
Nicole:
They did not have money, Sharon.
Sharon:
A familiar state for me as well.
Nicole:
Well. Yeah. You know, this is so often the case with many of us, you know. In our family too, we have allocated all of our money to various funds, paying for school, tithe, home repairs, missions, puppies. So when another need comes up, sometimes it’s hard to find money to help.
Sharon:
It sure is. Us too. We love supporting missionaries and good causes, like our local pregnancy center, the House of Hope mission, (Nicole: Yes) that provides meals for people. But there are always more causes and needs (Always, yes) than there are resources it seems. It’s why when we ask for money for Sweet Selah Ministries, we always ask God to give us just enough because there’s so many needs out there. I only want enough to pay our bills with a tiny surplus for emergencies. You know? (Yes) We don’t have to have this huge coffer ’cause there’s a lot of needs. (Absolutely) There’s a lot of needs.
Nicole:
Yeah. And our lame beggar today got a lot more, even if it wasn’t money.
Sharon:
Exactly. What could they do? Oh my goodness. What they could do was in the name of Jesus, heal him.
Nicole:
And isn’t that so much more than a momentary, oh, well thank you for this mea;, this money to get a meal for my hungry tummy for the next six hours.
Sharon: Exactly.
Nicole:
Oh. And now I can walk, so maybe now I can go provide for myself, or I can help others who are worse off than me.
Sharon: Exactly.
Nicole:
So what they gave him was so much more lasting and so much more profound than a quick fix.
Sharon:
It sure was. You know I love how it starts with Peter saying, look at us.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And he had the man actually look at him. I think another gift, a sort of side gift that Peter gave him, was seeing him, really seeing him. I mean, people notice the beggar, but probably most of the time they walked by fast.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
Or they tossed him something quick. They didn’t engage him. When you look in someone’s eyes and you ask them to really engage you, you’re dignifying them.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
You know what I mean? You really are. And I’m guilty sometimes of walking fast by people that feel uncomfortable to me.
Nicole: Oh, sure.
Sharon:
And not engaging them because I’m a little scared.
Nicole:
Right. Because don’t we all long to be truly seen in love.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
And to take the moment to stop and to look into the eyes of someone who’s suffering. That’s huge.
Sharon: It is.
Nicole:
Because we’re sitting there in their discomfort, in their pain with them for a moment. (Sharon: Right) And that makes us uncomfortable. And we have to acknowledge their pain and suffering.
Sharon:
It does. It does. Absolutely.
Nicole:
And then acknowledge, what can I do? Because if we look into their eyes, we can’t just walk away.
Sharon:
We can’t just walk away. Which is why the Good Samaritan story is so fascinating that the Rabbi and the Levite or whoever the guys were that ignored the guy in the ditch, they go to the other side of the road. Da da da da. Not looking. Not looking.
Nicole:
Isn’t that funny? That’s right. Just because they don’t catch his eyes. They don’t have to feel compelled to engage.
Sharon: Exactly
Nicole:
There’s something in us. I think there’s something called the mirror neurons in our head. If we’re close to someone and we’re watching them our body responds subconsciously. If you smile, I’ll smile back. If you itch your head, I might itch it too.
Sharon: Yawning.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
It works for yawning too.
Nicole:
It’s true. We’re compelled when we’re close to someone, we’re compelled to help. So that’s a great way, they looked at him intently.
Sharon:
Yeah. And dear Peter and John, they were actually going to be part of a three o’clock prayer service. I mean, there was a start time do the prayer service.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s true. They were going to do something good.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. And they were interruptible. I love that about them. They stopped. Peter looked in his eyes and then Peter takes advantage of the opportunity and he declares in the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, you just get up and walk.
Nicole:
I love that.
Sharon:
Yeah. And then he does, I also like that Peter takes him by the right hand to help him.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And he doesn’t, it says, and as the man gets helped up, as the man grabs back as he did, the man’s feet and ankles were instantly healed. It’s not until the man grips back and, and kind of receives what Peter’s offered.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
That the healing takes place.
Nicole:
I love that.
Sharon:
Isn’t that fascinating?
Nicole:
Again, it’s that up close, personal contact.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
They could have walked by in a hurry and said, oh, we’ve got five minutes to make it to the meeting. Hey, you’re healed. Like, throw it and keep going.
Sharon:
Right, right, right.
Nicole:
But the fact that they stayed, they spoke, they looked and then they helped him.
Sharon:
And gripped him as well. I just think that is so, so beautiful. And then what’d you think of the guy’s response?
Nicole:
How beautiful. He leaped up and he is praising, I love that he praised God right away.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
I love that he acknowledged, I don’t know where he was in his faith walk, or what he knew about Jesus, but the fact that he recognized that. Peter and John did a really good job explaining where that healing came from.
Sharon:
Yes. Yes they did. And he heard that. He said that Jesus the Nazarene and the lame man recognized that, yeah, you’re right. He praised God.
Nicole:
So he received the whole thing well instead of, I think with the lepers sometimes the nine that kind of went with like, oh, thanks for the healing, I’m out of here. But maybe when they looked at him intently, they saw he was ready for something more. Like, who knows.
Sharon: Yes. Yeah.
Nicole:
The Spirit must have prompted ’cause the Holy Spirit was in them now.
Sharon: That’s right.
Nicole:
He could have prompted like, this man is ready for that complete healing inside and out.
Sharon:
Yep. And Peter was abiding in Christ enough that he heard the Spirit’s nudge and stopped, gave up on that three o’clock meeting. He ends up having his own speech, which we’ll read about next week instead.
Nicole:
I know. It’s so funny.
Sharon:
So are we as willing to let God change our agenda? That is the question.
Nicole:
That is a great question. It’s so hard. CS Lewis said that about children, like children are not interruptions from the work, from the right work. They are the work.
Sharon: They are.
Nicole:
And these moments, these are the moments where Jesus truly works. It’s in our interruptions.
Sharon:
It actually is.
Nicole:
It’s never like our big planned events, the big speaking engagements, the big good deeds for God. It’s on our way to them where we’re like, wait a minute, why are you interrupting my perfectly planned out Jesus mission?
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
And that’s where God works best.
Sharon:
Isn’t it beautiful?
Nicole:
Which is so funny ’cause we dismiss those. I get so annoyed with interruptions, Sharon.
Sharon:
Oh, I do too.
Nicole: It’s awful.
Sharon:
Because I like my agendas.
Nicole:
Yes. I love my plan. It’s tidy and it works. And I know that good work will be done at three o’clock at that prayer meeting. What? You want me to stop? This is uncomfortable. I don’t wanna talk to a man who’s crippled. What? But those are the moments, you know? My kids interrupt me with those questions.
Sharon:
Yeah. And God chose a man to be healed who would not be quiet about it.
Nicole:
Yeah. He certainly wasn’t.
Sharon:
He was walking and leaping and praising God.
Nicole:
I love that.
Sharon:
That’s the coolest thing.
Nicole:
Well, he drew quite a crowd too.
Sharon:
Yes, he did. And so next week when we talk about Peter’s talk, we see that even that’s part of God’s plan ’cause now you’ve got all these people going, Wow, you know?
Nicole:
What’s just happened? What do we do with this?
Sharon:
I know. I know. So, such a fun story. It really is. It reminds me a little bit of I think it’s Bartholomew, blind, maybe that’s Bartimaeus, Bartimaeus, the blind guy.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Who kept shouting and everybody’s like, pipe it down. And he’s like, no, I’m gonna scream until Jesus sees me, you know? He was a great guy to heal because he was loud about it.
Nicole:
Yes. Oh, that’s funny. Well, I wonder it said that his feet and ankles were instantly healed and strengthened. I wonder if they saw, if they were somehow deformed or twisted. I wonder if Peter and John got to actually see the healing?
Sharon:
Kind of yeah, back in shape again. You’re right.
Nicole:
Yeah. I wondered about the actual mechanics, like how, ’cause they helped him stand up, but I wonder if they were able to actually see. Like how cool that would’ve been.
Sharon:
I know, ’cause even if, you know, they were healed without a miracle, you know, something got fixed, like they were paralyzed (Nicole: Sure) and they weren’t paralyzed, you’d normally have to do therapy and work on the atrophied muscles and do all the things, right?
Nicole:
Yes. You can see they haven’t been used.
Sharon:
Right. Not this, everything just, life just kind of poured right back into those ankles and feet.
Nicole:
Yeah. If he’s leaping, that’s a complete healing.
Sharon:
That’s like super complete.
Nicole:
He didn’t need eight weeks of PT for that.
Sharon:
No, no PT for him.
Nicole:
I love that.
Sharon:
Yeah. I think he was clinging to Peter and John more in shock than in need.
Nicole:
Oh sure. Yeah. Like, wait, what is happening? It’s so beautiful. I love this.
Sharon:
So cool. So cool. Well, let’s go on to our key questions. What was your favorite verse in this passage, Nicole, and why? Tell me. Tell me.
Nicole:
Well, I first picked seven, but I’m gonna change it and go back to six now, because I love what Peter says in verse six. Peter said, I don’t have silver or gold for you, but I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene get up and walk. And I love how he said that. Like, sometimes I feel like it’s like, oh, I’m so sorry I don’t have money. We feel kind of bad, but you know, I can pray for you. Or I can heal you. But he said it was such like, I have no gold or silver for you, but I’ll give you what I have.
Sharon:
I’ve got something better.
Nicole:
And he knew what he had was more valuable. And you can see it in his boldness, the way he said it. Like, actually, and then we’ll help you walk through Jesus. So I love that he saw the value of prayer and help in Jesus more than the value of silver and gold.
Sharon:
Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
He didn’t apologize for not having a worldly practical solution to the man’s problem.
Sharon:
Right. No apology at all. Instead, there’s enthusiasm.
Nicole:
Yeah. It’s like, I got something better.
Sharon:
Oh, I got something way better.
Nicole:
And I love that about Peter. I thought that was really neat.
Sharon:
That’s an awesome line. I love it. I love it. I liked four. Peter and John looked at him intently and Peter said, look at us. That eye contact, that truly seeing. I’ve told this story before, but it really drove it home to me. This eye contact thing and people noticing you? The day that I walked in Ogunquit with this old army jacket on and a hat. And I was walking up the Marginal Way. And then I looked at this beautiful hotel and decided I would like to see what it would cost to stay there. And so I go into the hotel lobby and there’s this man who’s on the phone and I’m pulling off my hat and what I don’t realize is my hair is standing straight up in the air. I look really weird. And I’ve got this old coat on that’s stained and everything. I mean, it’s really a ratty coat.
Nicole:
Yeah. But it’s your warm walking coat.
Sharon:
It was my warm walking coat. It was not my pretty coat. He never looked at me. He pushed buttons, pretended he stayed on the phone.
Nicole:
Oh my word.
Sharon:
He never engaged me. And until I went to the restroom and looked at my face I didn’t understand why. Then I understood why. He thought I was not sane.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
The way I looked, I wasn’t.
Nicole:
You’re like, Oh, hello Sharon.
Sharon:
But it highlighted for me the sadness of not being noticed. It was a very strange feeling to be invisible and to be a non person in someone’s eyes. I’m glad it happened to me.
Nicole:
Yeah. You’re treated differently how you’re dressed and how you’re presented.
Sharon: Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole:
If I’m dressed up well, people receive that really well if you go to different places. If you go to, you know, dental conferences you’re received differently than if you’re just in absolutely comfortable not so nice clothes.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
There’s a very big difference.
Sharon:
A very big difference. So I just love the intentness of the looking. So.
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
Okay. Well I’ll answer this one first. The next question is, what did we learn about God from this passage? Well, I learned that God can call us to do extraordinary things while we’re just on our way to church, being ordinary.
Nicole:
I have to remember that the next time I’m like, get in the car kids. Ah, where’s your bible? Where’s your shoes? Girls, something great might happen on the way to church.
Sharon:
On the way to church. Who knows? And I learned that I need to watch for his interruptions.
Nicole: Oh yes.
Sharon:
And see them as his instead of the annoyance I normally feel. What did you learn about God from this passage?
Nicole:
He sees the overlooked. He saw that man with his little crippled ankles. Peter and John were his disciples and they were men about his business and kingdom work. And they were going to the prayer meeting. But he saw that beggar who was sitting there with his broken ankles. And I thought that was so sweet. (Sharon: Yes) So God sees the overlooked and he uses broken ordinary people.
Sharon: He does.
Nicole:
Here’s our Peter again.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
Bold for Christ and excited and healing people, just to see him following God so faithfully after all that he has gone through. God uses broken, ordinary (Sharon: He does) fishermen (Yes) that have no idea what they’re doing.
Sharon:
Fishermen that just a few short months ago had denied him. Yes.
Nicole:
Yes. He knew nothing about healing and ankles, but he knew his God and he trusted him.
Sharon:
Yep. So cool. Really cool.
Nicole:
And the last thing I learned about God was he gives us so much more than we ask for. And sometimes he doesn’t give us what we ask for. Like, I just need money. All I need is money. He’s like, no, you don’t. You need to be healed.
Sharon:
Oh, that’s so true.
Nicole:
So what he gives us sometimes we’re like, why didn’t you give us what I asked for God? Because what he gives us is more than we ask for, but it’s what we truly need.
Sharon:
I love it. And that is so true, and I’ve experienced that. That’s so cool.
Nicole:
Yeah. So we need to be on the lookout that if we’re not getting–,
Sharon:
We have to trust him.
Nicole:
Yes. We can trust him. And when we ask him and he says, no, wait. Because he has something better.
Sharon:
He’s got something better.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
I agree. I agree. Well, how about the early church? How can, what did we learn from that and how can we apply it today?
Nicole:
Their willingness to see. They saw him rushing off to their meeting ’cause we’re, I’m so guilty of that. Too busy doing my own things. I don’t look for the needs. Look for the interruptions like you had said. I think they were willing to look for that and reach out and do what they could to help.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
We don’t have any money, but actually we’re gonna heal you instead.
Sharon: So good.
Nicole:
And they stayed to rejoice with him afterward.
Sharon:
They did. They lingered. Yes.
Nicole:
I love that. It was this complete picture. They saw, they did what they could and they stayed and watched him leap and rejoice and praise God.
Sharon:
They did. They basically laid aside all their own plans (Nicole: Yes) and entered into this guy’s world.
Nicole:
And I love that.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. I love that too. I also was interested in the fact that the early church took part in synagogue life (Nicole: Oh yeah) at that stage, they were going to a prayer meeting at the synagogue. You know?
Nicole:
That’s a great point. They didn’t completely abandon–
Sharon:
No, no. They were still synagogue-Ing at that point until they got thrown out under Paul’s regime. But at this point they’re still going, they’re still praising God. They’re still entering. It’s the same God. You know?
Nicole:
Right. Oh, how neat. I never noticed that.
Sharon:
Yeah. It’s kind of fun to see that. But I also said that the way we can learn from it is their sensitivity to Spirit. Yes. They were interruptible, they noticed the invisible ones. So kind of similar to what you saw, as a church body, we can’t be so rigid in our planning that we’re not interruptible. (Nicole: Right) This past Sunday, Joel talked about how glad he was that we got involved with the orphanage in Ethiopia. Well, that was an interruption. It wasn’t something anybody had on their radar. And then one person in our church got it on her radar. And pretty soon the church is adopting kids right and left. You know?
Nicole:
Oh, I know.
Sharon:
And what a change and what a blessing came out of this need that kind of became our church’s need. (Nicole: Yeah) So we’ve gotta keep that sensitivity to the Spirit. (Right) Because he has full right to interrupt us and say, no, do this. (He does) He really does.
Nicole:
He can completely change our course.
Sharon:
Whether we want him to or not sometimes.
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
So, well, let’s pray. Father, thank you. Thank you for this happy story. Thank you for that lame man who dared to grip Peter’s arm and then ended up leaping and praising and walking with joy again. Lord, you bring joy. Help us Father, in our daily lives to see interruptions as allowed by you. Help us to look for the moments when we can talk about Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, in whose name mighty things can happen. Give us courage, Lord, for those times and sensitive hearts. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole:
Amen. We are so happy you chose to listen to Sweet Selah Moments today. We hope you receive some practical help on how to serve others even when you’re busy. Let’s all work together this next week on asking what can we do when we see a need and acting in whatever way, small or big that God leads us? This show does require finances to produce. We know your resources are limited just like ours, but what could you do to support us? Even $5 a month would help, especially if a lot of our listening friends made this decision this week. Want to donate? Head over to SweetSelah.org/donations and donate securely to our nonprofit organization. What a blessing that would be for us, and come back next week for episode 130, Pointing to Jesus. Have a great week.
Speaker 1:
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can print or download the transcript here.
And .... they're off! Once the Holy Spirit enters in, our disciples are new men and women. Sharon and Nicole talk about courageous sharing of the Christian faith, their own experiences, and dive deep into the book of Acts and Peter's amazing sermon. You won't want to miss today's episode.
If you enjoy what you hear, consider leaving a review on your favorite podcast app. Comments are welcomed and answered. And, if you wish to become a partner with us in this ministry, you can donate here.
You can read the transcript for Launched-Episode-128Speaker 1:
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word with Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole:
Welcome to Sweet Selah Moments. This is episode 128, Launched. We are studying the book of Acts right now, focusing on the very beginning of the Christian Church. And today we are looking at Peter’s amazing sermon in Acts 2 that truly launched the church. Let’s talk about Peter for a moment. He’s an unlikely guy to preach a sermon that launches a whole movement and church that’s been around now for over 2000 years.
Sharon:
He sure was unlikely. (Nicole: I know) I love that Jesus chose him. Peter was a fisherman along with his brother Andrew, and his friends James and John. And he self described himself as a sinful man in one of his early encounters with Jesus, and actually told Jesus to stay away from him because he was too sinful. Nicole, can you read that story for us? I just wanna hear it again. (Yeah) Peter saying that.
Nicole:
Perfect. This story is found in Luke 5:1-11. “One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret” (I dunno, we’re gonna say that) “the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. He saw at the water’s edge, two boats left there by the fishermen who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boats. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch. Simon answered, Master, we’ve worked all night and haven’t caught anything, but because you say so, I will let down the nets. When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in their other boats to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’s knees and said, Go away from me, Lord. I am a sinful man, for he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken. And so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, don’t be afraid. From now on you will fish for people. So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything, and followed him.”
Sharon:
Isn’t that the craziest story?
Nicole:
They left all that fish.
Sharon:
I know, I’ve always worried about that. That’s a lot of fish.
Nicole:
Hope it didn’t go to waste, but,
Sharon:
Hopefully somebody else took care of the fish.
Nicole:
Right. But isn’t that, that’s such a beautiful story.
Sharon:
So it is, and Peter was called Simon back then. So we, you know, we kinda go back and forth between Simon and Peter. And evidently he was not living the purest of lives. I love that he was so taken aback by Jesus’s miracle and Jesus’s obvious holiness that he felt he couldn’t even be near Jesus. It’s like, go away. I am. You don’t know who I am, basically. If you knew who I was, you wouldn’t have even been nice to me kind of thing. He really is so fascinating. Peter said crazy things at other times, he was impulsive. I love Peter. He put his foot in his mouth. I remember on the Mount of Transfiguration, and you know, Jesus is talking to Elijah and Moses and Peter’s like, let’s build tents. ’cause he didn’t know what else to say and he had to say something. Right.
Nicole:
He had to fill that awkward silence. Oh yeah. Oh, I feel you there, Peter.
Sharon:
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. So, so, and he was a simple fisherman. He was just fishing. And now he’s preaching this incredible sermon. Jesus actually changed his name to Peter, which means rock, and declared that Peter’s faith would be part of what he built his church on. And it was. This simple fisherman guy.
Nicole:
I know. And all this is even more amazing to me because when we remember that Peter was the one that denied, he even knew Jesus right before he was killed.
Sharon: Yeah. He did.
Nicole:
You know, he boasted that he would never desert Jesus just the night before. And then he denied he even knew the Lord.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. So of all the disciples, only one denied him. (Nicole: Yeah) And it’s Peter who’s now gonna be in charge. I love that. Oh my goodness. (So cool) Our amazing Savior, after his resurrection, purposefully went after Peter. Nicole, the one that had been the bad-est next to Judas (Right) and repeated the miracle of the fish. I mean, there it was again, they didn’t catch fish. (Yeah) And then the same miracle again, fed him fish and restored Peter to fellowship. It’s such a beautiful passage. It’s found in John 21 and I’m gonna read just 15-20, this part where instead of rejecting Peter, as Oh for crying out loud you cannot be faithful to me even right after the Lord’s Supper and all these things, instead restoring him. So here it is, verse 15. “When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” And I’m thinking, he means like the fish and all the stuff right there. “Yes Lord. He said, you know that I love you. Jesus said, feed my lambs. Again Jesus said, Simon, son of John, do you love me? He answered, yes Lord. You know that I love you. Jesus said, take care of
my sheep. The third time he said to him, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, do you love me? He said, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. Jesus said, feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you dressed yourself and you went where you wanted. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go. Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which, (excuse me), by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, follow me.” There’s the reinstatement. What did he say to begin with? Follow me. Peter dropped his nets and followed him. He denied him three times. Jesus asked the question three times, yes. Do you love me? Will you feed my sheep? And then he warns him. You aren’t even gonna be able to dress yourself. You are gonna have no freedom and you’re gonna be led where you don’t wanna go. So follow me. Okay.
Nicole: Sounds great.
Sharon:
So here’s your last chance, Bud.
Nicole:
Right. Oh, I love that though. He’s not just like, Hey, follow me. It’s gonna be amazing.
Sharon:
No, no, exactly.
Nicole:
No prosperity gospel there
Sharon:
No prosperity gospel there. Jesus took this flawed human and used him mightily. Today we’re going to look at the rest of the sermon Peter preached on Pentecost, which sure doesn’t sound like a sinful, get away from me, fisherman man at all. It’s so different. After he was filled with the Holy Spirit that swept through like a mighty wind, Peter was a different man. So Nicole, why don’t you pick up the story, Acts 2:22 and we’ll read back and forth.
Nicole:
All right. “Fellow Israelites, listen to this. Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did among you through him. As you yourselves know.”
Sharon:
“This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge. And you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.”
Nicole:
“But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.”
Sharon:
“David said about him, I saw the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”
Nicole:
“Therefore, my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices. My body also will rest in hope.”
Sharon:
“Because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead. You will not let your holy one see decay.”
Nicole:
“You have made known to me the paths of life and you fill me with joy in your presence.”
Sharon:
“Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried and his tomb is here to this day.”
Nicole:
“But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him an oath, that he would place one of his descendants on his throne.”
Sharon:
“Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay.”
Nicole:
“God has raised this Jesus to life and we are all witnesses of it.”
Sharon:
“Exalted to the right hand of God. He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.
Nicole:
“For David did not ascend to heaven. And yet he said, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand.”
Sharon:
“Until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”
Nicole:
“Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this, God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
Sharon:
“When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, brothers, what shall we do?”
Nicole:
“Peter replied, repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Sharon:
“The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off. For all whom the Lord our God will call.”
Nicole:
“With many other words he warned them and he pleaded with them, save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”
Sharon:
“Those who accepted his message were baptized and about 3000 were added to their number that day.”
Nicole:
“They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
Sharon:
“Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.”
Nicole:
“All the believers were together and had everything in common.”
Sharon:
“They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.”
Nicole:
“Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.”
Sharon:
“Praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number (which was already 3000 new ones) daily, those who are being saved.” Whoa.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
That’s really cool.
Nicole:
This is a great passage.
Sharon:
I know it. So Nicole, what stood out to you about that sermon?
Nicole:
Oh, I know. So this is not the same Peter that we saw earlier in the beginning of those passages. He’s always been outspoken.
Sharon:
Yes. This is true.
Nicole:
He’s always said things, but there’s a confidence now, in his words. There Is a certainty that is not from Peter. That’s the Holy Spirit. And to see him being used by God and putting aside his insecurities about being this sinful man that God could not use. (Sharon: Yes. Yes) And he’s standing there now in front of all of these believers, boldly proclaiming these powerful words. It’s just like, wow. Go Peter. It’s just so neat to see him, to see God using Peter and Peter allowing God to work through him.
Sharon: Yes. Yes.
Nicole: Beautiful.
Sharon:
A lot of people, I mean, fear of speaking in public is one of the greatest fears. And he is boldly speaking to over 3000 people, evidently.
Nicole:
Yeah, that’s right. More than that, ’cause if 3000 came to Christ,
Sharon:
I mean, and he’s seen mobs turn against Jesus. So without the Holy Spirit, he could have been terrified.
Nicole: That’s true.
Sharon:
But instead, he’s empowered and he is jazzed that they’ve all come to hear and he’s gonna tell him.
Nicole:
Well and he dropped some hard truths too. Like you said, they could have gone after him for that easily.
Sharon: Oh yeah.
Nicole:
Oh, whom you crucified.
Sharon:
Yeah. That was pretty blunt.
Nicole: Yeah. So.
Sharon:
It sure was.
Nicole:
Just beautiful, the boldness that he spoke with that.
Sharon:
Yeah. I love that he had that knowledge of the Old Testament so that he could say, do you know what? We all know David. (Nicole: Right) David said these things and part of it was prophecy. Let me show you how it was prophecy.
Nicole:
More of that prophecy revealed.
Sharon: Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
So fascinating.
Sharon:
Yeah. And that’s what had him so excited. And that’s, these people that all knew about Jesus having died. I mean it just happened and it was a really big deal. They, some of them, knew people that had seen him after he rose again from the dead too. Right? Because 500 did. So they are definitely engaged. And they’re looking at someone who says, I saw him. We saw him. Look at all of us, ’cause there’s like 120 of them or however many there were, all of us saw him after he was dead. His body saw no decay. He didn’t come back as a zombie. Right.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
He came back with a normal body.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
You know, so very, very cool. And then, the other thing that stood out to me about the sermon was repent, be baptized.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Get the Holy Spirit. There’s like this three step process there. Repent, turn away from your sinning. (Nicole: Yes) Which he was a sinful man. He knew all about that repentant thing, Peter. (Mm-Hmm. Right) Be baptized. (Yes) And Jesus and his disciples did baptize, as well as John. And then guess what’s going to happen? Holy Spirit.
Nicole:
It’s like, it just happened to us. And it’s amazing.
Sharon:
Yes. It’s gonna be in you too.
Nicole:
That must have been fun to preach about that after just having experienced the Holy Spirit.
Sharon: Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole:
Like that must have been such a powerful surge for them.
Sharon:
Oh, the rush must have been incredible that day.
Nicole: Amazing.
Sharon:
Just amazing. So the result is 3000 people get saved that day. Nicole, have you ever been in a stadium event where thousands of people got saved?
Nicole:
Maybe not thousands, maybe hundreds.
Sharon: Oh yeah?
Nicole:
Or less. Yeah. They used to do the, I don’t know if they still do them, ’cause I’m old and don’t do teen events anymore, but they used to do the Word of Life Super Bowl where they’d take you (Sharon: Oh yes) to different locations all night. You’d go bowling, you’d go ice or roller skating, and then you’d go to a hockey game. And at the end, the middle, I think it was the middle or the end of the hockey game, they’d put out this little red carpet. And this guy would walk out to the middle of the ice and he would preach God’s word and people could come down to the ice to accept Jesus. And that was always really amazing to see mass amounts of people going to receive Christ.
Sharon:
Going to receive Christ. Yes.
Nicole:
Because most of our, I think only two churches that we’ve been to, growing up, ever had like altar calls where people would go. So I’ve seen some people go forward, and that’s always really powerful,
Sharon: It is.
Nicole:
To see lots of people go down. It’s, it’s, quite amazing to see.
Sharon:
It’s amazing when the Holy Spirit moves in that way. It really is.
Nicole:
Yeah. It’s very exciting. How about you?
Sharon:
Yeah. I actually had the privilege of seeing Billy Graham.
Nicole: Oh, wow.
Sharon:
Yes. I was just a little girl at the time. And it was in Boston. My parents kind of met, well, they didn’t meet through Billy Graham. They met at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, that story, but, okay.
Nicole:
Okay. That’s seriously cool. We have to talk about that someday.
Sharon:
Yeah. It was really fun. Yeah. Watching it go by. But Billy Graham was over there at that time, and he was preaching in the Harry Gates Stadium, and my parents were in the Billy Graham Choir.
Nicole: Oh, wow.
Sharon:
So my mama, who came to know the Lord through my dad’s testimony, also got to hear Billy Graham and kind of grew up as a Christian on his preaching.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
So, when he was coming to Boston, of course they hauled all of us kids, no matter how tiny we were, to go and hear him. And I remember everybody flowing down the aisles too. And I can remember the, I don’t know, the electricity in the air, the joy of it, the incredible power of it. It’s really something. It really is.
Nicole:
When the Holy Spirit moves there’s no denying it.
Sharon:
Oh man. And so really the first crusade was Peter talking to all those people.
Nicole: Oh right.
Sharon:
And, you know, over 3000 were saved. How many were listening?
Nicole:
Right. I wondered about that.
Sharon:
Yeah. And then after that, it says every day more people were added that were being saved.
Nicole:
Right. Yeah. That’s amazing.
Sharon:
So incredible. Okay, well, let’s reread the results of what happened after all those people chose to accept Jesus’ forgiveness of sins. Can you reread 42-47 of Acts 2?
Nicole:
Yes. “So they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their numbers daily, those who were being saved.”
Sharon:
Well, you know, I started to wonder at the beginning, where were they meeting? Right?
Nicole:
Right. That’s a lot of people to meet in houses.
Sharon:
I mean I thought 120 was a lot. But now I see they meet in the temple courts in the big crowds.
Nicole:
That makes more sense because these people, the Jewish people weren’t incredibly wealthy at the this time.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
Because this is during the Roman occupation. I thought they were struggling.
Sharon:
Not a lot had mansions.
Nicole:
No. Probably. And the ones that did were probably the Pharisees who didn’t really wanna
Sharon:
Right. They weren’t part of this crowd anyways. But they haven’t been thrown out of the Temple yet. They’re still Jews.
Nicole: Oh, right.
Sharon:
So they’re allowed to go and the temple was huge. So there were courts you could go to. And that’s how I’m sure people were added daily to those who were being saved, ’cause they see this huge crowd of people. They hear the talk about Jesus and I’m sure there were a lot of Peter-like sermons being preached.
Nicole:
Oh, sure. And they could probably hear. Oh, let’s go do our regular sacrifice the temple. Wait, what’s going on over here?
Sharon:
What’s going on over there? Right.
Nicole:
Why are the women and the men together? Hold on.
Sharon:
Yeah. And it says, verse 43, they were filled with all the many wonders and signs performed. (Nicole: Oh) So there’s still healings going on. (Wow) There’s still wonders and signs. So they’re continuing what Jesus did. And it’s like, you thought you killed him. He’s still here among us. In fact, he now resides within us. His Spirit does. (This is bigger than it was,) And this is even bigger than it was, because there’s more of us.
Nicole:
Wow. I wonder what they would’ve thought. All the Pharisees and people that were trying to stop Jesus, just standing there watching this happen and watching it kind of like a wildfire just spread out of control.
Sharon:
Totally wildfire.
Nicole:
Oh my word. We can’t control this.
Sharon: No.
Nicole:
Like the temple’s filled with them and there’s, everyone’s doing signs and wonders. Like, what is happening?
Sharon:
Unbelievable. Unbelievable time.
Nicole: So cool.
Sharon:
And they’re still finding favor with all the people at this point.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
God was gracious. Because eventually, you know, they’re scattered and all kinds of hard things happen. But at the beginning, there’s like this nurturing time where they found favor. They can be at the temple, they can share the incredible good news. And God keeps adding, adding to the numbers before the dispersion.
Nicole:
Yeah. That’s really neat. That is true, ’cause you don’t hear them, like the priests aren’t coming out yelling at them and throwing them out yet.
Sharon:
Nope, they’re not. They’re pretty silent. In fact, somewhere in Acts, I don’t know if we’ll get to it or not in our study of it, it says that many priests came to know Jesus.
Nicole:
I wondered. I wonder how many heard that and it was like, I can’t deny this. Look, they’re finding the prophecies fulfilled in the scriptures that I know so well.
Sharon:
That they know so well. And also when Jesus died, the curtain was torn in two. That’s kind of (Nicole: Oh, that’s right) weird. So I wonder how many priests are like, okay. So there was an earthquake that day. It was dark for three hours in the middle of the day, and the curtain was ripped in two. I think that just the signs and wonders the day Jesus died, converted some of those priests as well.
Nicole:
Sure. Yeah. Because they knew the significance of the curtain.
Sharon:
Right now they’ve got favor. So good.
Nicole: Amazing.
Sharon:
And I’m assuming that when they broke bread together in homes, they divided up.
Nicole:
We’ll meet at your house on Wednesday.
Sharon:
Yes, exactly.
Nicole:
This was amazing. The heart of these early believers to sell their possessions and to meet together. And it said they had everything in common, to be at such a place of harmony, even being different personalities and different lifestyles.
Sharon:
Isn’t that amazing?
Nicole:
What an amazing time to be part of that, you know?
Sharon:
Right. And they weren’t forced to do it. It wasn’t like Communism where now that you joined our church, we’re taking all your money.
Nicole:
We wear blue on Wednesdays and on Thursdays we do this. Like, it wasn’t this rigid.
Sharon:
No, it was absolutely organic. They’re like, oh, this person has a need. I’ve got more than I need. Let me meet their need.
Nicole:
How beautiful.
Sharon:
Because who’s inside them? The Spirit.
Nicole:
Right. They never had that before to guide them.
Sharon:
They’ve got the compassion of God. They’ve got the love of God, which is a sacrificial love, not a selfish love. And all of a sudden they’re taking care of everybody. So.
Nicole:
That’s so neat. There’s something, there’s something really neat about this early community together and what they, how they did everything together. Breaking of bread, which I’m assuming is just eating together.
Sharon: Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole:
But there’s, I just recently met a pastor and he’s starting, starting a church in Portsmouth and they do this. They have a small gathering of people and they have a message and he feeds his little congregation. Every Sunday he puts a meal on for them. And I think that’s so beautiful.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
It’s such a sweet thing to eat with fellow believers you know?
Sharon:
It is. Breaking bread together is so important.
Nicole:
Yeah. Like potlucks back in the old—, you know.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
When we grew up in these old Baptist churches,
Sharon: Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
It’d be like, I love potluck Sunday.
Sharon:
Absolutely. It’s family.
Nicole:
It is, yeah.
Sharon:
It’s family hanging out together and eating Aunt Gertrude’s weird salad.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
That’s just part of it. Right?
Nicole:
The weird Jell-O salad, we’re never quite sure—.
Sharon:
Yes, the weird Jell-O salad.
Nicole:
But there’s something really special in that.
Sharon:
Yeah. There is. I like the four things they were devoted to. Teaching, fellowship, Communion, the Lord’s, you know, breaking bread, and prayer.
Nicole:
Oh right.
Sharon:
We still have all four of those rhythms today. When we go to church the pastor teaches us from the sermon. We have Sunday school. We get taught in Sunday school. We have fellowship together, not just then, but when we do projects together, when we’re feeding the homeless and going on mission trips and stuff, we take Communion. (Nicole: Righ) We break bread together. We remember the Lord’s death until he comes and we pray. We still have those rhythms. It’s like the heart of church.
Nicole: It is.
Sharon: Really.
Nicole:
You need those things to keep us together, united.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. And then the giving, we still give. Right now we’re giving towards our food pantry, but we’re still giving.
Nicole:
Oh, I love that.
Sharon:
So really, really cool. Okay. Well let’s go to our key questions. What’s your favorite verse, Nicole? Tell me. Tell me.
Nicole:
Let’s see. I have to find it. I liked verse 39, which is, oh, “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off. For all whom the Lord our God will call”. I like that verse ’cause that verse is about me.
Sharon: It is.
Nicole:
That verse is about us.
Sharon:
You far off person.
Nicole:
Yes. How cool that Peter, did he even know he was talking about us today?
Sharon: Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole:
And about my children and my grandchildren, if the Lord doesn’t return before I have grand babies. I just think that’s so amazing that God’s plan for salvation was so far reaching
Sharon: So big.
Nicole:
Beyond what even they knew at that time. He’s just talking to this group of Jewish people in front of him, and they’re so excited. He had no idea it’d be 2000 years later (Sharon: Yes) that you and I would be excited talking about him, talking about us.
Sharon:
Yeah. That far off.
Nicole:
That far off. And it could still be even farther off still.
Sharon: It could.
Nicole:
But I just think that verse is so amazing.
Sharon: It is.
Nicole:
God is so much bigger than us and so much bigger than all the things that we see. He sees this big, beautiful picture. And I can just trust him that if it’s another, you know, thousands of years or tomorrow.
Sharon:
That’s because he’s still got more far-er off-er people.
Nicole:
More far-er off-er. Yes. But how beautiful. I like that verse.
Sharon:
I love that.
Nicole:
How about you?
Sharon:
I chose the second part of verse 46. “They broke bread in their homes and ate together with” (these are my words: glad and sincere hearts.).
Nicole:
Ooh, those are good words.
Sharon:
I thought those are so neat because there’s a gladness when we come together, or there should be, if we’re filled with the kind of love God has, there will be gladness. Right. Because God loves, he loves really weird, messy people. And so if we’re filled with his kind of love, we also love really weird, messy people. And we’re glad they love us.
Nicole:
Yes. Being those weird, messy people,
Sharon:
Being those weird, messy people. Yeah. And then I love the sincere hearts. Just the purity of it. You’re not putting on, you’re not doing it to be comfortable. I mean, they didn’t have fancy churches back then. Right?
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
Their hearts were just open and sincere and glad to be together and wowed by the fact that Messiah had come, you know? It just was a really crazy happy time.
Nicole: Oh yeah.
Sharon:
And I love that verse.
Nicole:
Oh, that would be so neat.
Sharon:
Yeah. So, okay, this is what I learned from God from this passage or about God from this passage. And then you can tell us. One, God moves in hearts when we obey his leading to speak. You know, and I find this over and over again when I’m publicly speaking (Nicole: Yes) because oh, nine times out of 10, I don’t feel ready for some reason or other. (I know) Somebody’s just told me something awful or my daughter’s in crisis, or I feel sick, you know? (Right) All the different things. And yet when I obey and open my mouth begging him to fill it with good things he speaks for me. He does that. God moves in hearts when we speak. And even if we don’t think we spoke that well, so what? God moves in hearts, even with weird speaking.
Nicole:
Yes. Thank goodness.
Sharon:
He can do that. So that’s number one. Number two, God filled their hearts with joy, service and love for each other, the things he filled their hearts with, part of it was gladness. God fills us with gladness. That’s something I learned about God. And then the desire to serve and love others. And then, I underlined this, “God added to their number”. It was his work. (Nicole: Yep) And I love that the Bible says it that way, you know, Peter might have preached but God’s the one that changes hearts. (Yes) God added to their numbers. (Oh, that’s so good) So we can always trust him with that. We don’t have to, like, if we ever were in a stadium and no one came forward, it wouldn’t be on us, if we had prayed. (Right. Right) God is the one that changes hearts.
Nicole:
Well, that’s good to remember.
Sharon:
Yeah. Just in case you’re ever in a stadium speaking.
Nicole:
Yeah, next time I’m speaking to 10,000 people.
Sharon:
Exactly. So what did you learn about God from this passage?
Nicole:
Oh, I put exactly what you just said.
Sharon:
Oh, no kidding.
Nicole:
Just, you know, God’s power to change hearts. Peter had no magic words. It wasn’t what he said.
Sharon: Nope.
Nicole:
And if he said the wrong words, it wouldn’t have mattered. God still would’ve changed the hearts of those people that day, because God gives us what we need. He gives us the words, but even if we botch it, it’s God that changes hearts.
Sharon:
It is. And that’s such a relief.
Nicole:
It’s such a relief.
Sharon:
And in their case, when they initially spoke, he literally gave them words in different languages.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
So it was super him. Because they didn’t even know what they were saying. So.
Nicole:
But no, I think that’s, I love that. Just, it takes the pressure off of us. We just have to be a willing vessel for God to use.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
And he does the work, he does the changing. It’s not on us. Thank you God.
Sharon:
Exactly. Yep. And that’s why the most important prayer is that we are surrendered.
Nicole: Yes. Right.
Sharon:
It really is. Way more than you know, that we’ve polished up a speech. It’s where’s our heart? We need that sincere heart. We do.
Nicole:
Yep. Exactly.
Sharon:
Yeah. So, okay. Well, what did we learn, Nicole, about the early church and how can we apply that to today?
Nicole:
I absolutely was blown away at how close they were. They were such a close community in the beginning.
Sharon: They were.
Nicole:
They had such a hunger for Jesus. They were just so excited, selling all that they had, meeting together every day in the temple. Like, it just blew me away, their passion (Sharon: Yes) in the beginning, you know? They couldn’t stay apart. They wanted to share everything with each other, their meals, their experiences.
Sharon:
They’re running to the temple all the time just to be together.
Nicole:
Yeah. And then, oh, there’s a need. Let’s sell it and give to the needy. I just, they’re, their complete devotion to God is (Sharon: Yes) beautiful. And we really could take some lessons from that.
Sharon:
We sure could.
Nicole:
That excitement again of the early church, we’ve lost a little bit of that.
Sharon:
Yep. I think we’ve become complacent. That’s what I wrote. It’s so easy to get complacent. You know, and the word that they use is devoted. They devoted themselves to the teaching, the fellowship, the Communion and the prayer. And you know, am I devoted to that? Or is it routine?
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
You know, and when something’s new, it’s obviously easier.
Nicole:
Oh yeah. There’s always that new excitement.
Sharon:
But we still need to be devoted. And also they made sure that some of their gatherings were in public places, so they were continuing to bring people to Christ. (Nicole: Right) And sometimes I think we’re a little too isolated. I love that, one thing that our church does do, we do baptisms outdoors in a public park.
Nicole:
Yes. Oh, I love that.
Sharon:
Because that’s an example of what the early church did. We’re doing our thing. We’re not forcing it on other people, but they can see it.
Nicole:
Yes. And they’re free to ask questions and go, why are they doing that?
Sharon:
Exactly. I think we need more of that.
Nicole:
Yes, for sure.
Sharon:
I really do. Because otherwise we’re so insulated that people don’t always see it. So if we wanna take a page from the early church have more, you know, outdoor services in parks.
Nicole:
Yes. Especially after Covid, we’ve become even more isolated and more comfortable with our private Christian lives because you know of ridicule and the fact that we were isolated for so long in homes and watching messages online. It’s a great medium. It’s wonderful. We have it. But are we still staying inside?
Sharon:
Right. People need to see us being happy together.
Nicole:
Yes. Absolutely.
Sharon:
So we need to be not just in church doing it.
Nicole:
Mm-Hmm. Absolutely. And is my heart excited to go to church on Sunday? I’ll tell you. Sometimes dragging four girls out the door on Sunday, (Sharon: Oh, goodness) I am not devoted to going to church that morning. (No) We need to get there. (Yes)
Sharon:
I can’t, I don’t even wanna tell you how many short words there would be in the car before we’d pull in.
Nicole:
Oh, it’s awful.
Sharon:
And then go, oh, hello.
Nicole:
Good morning.
Sharon: Yes,
Nicole:
It’s terrible. I’m like, you guys, we have to be nice for at least 20 minutes in the car before we’re nice to people in church.
Sharon:
Yes. Yes. Oh, man. Well, let me close us. Let’s pray. Oh, Father, thank you for just this little push, this nudge for Nicole and me to be devoted to the fellowship. And Father, help us in our own little church to find more ways to do it publicly, so that those around us see the joy, see the gladness of heart that comes from worshiping you. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for these lessons from the early church. Help all of us to put them into practice this week. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole:
Amen. Well, that was some sermon we just heard through Luke’s history of the early church in the Book of Acts. It’s amazing that 3000 people followed Jesus that day. That was surely God’s power at work in lives. We’d love to learn more about you and your life. Would you consider sending us an email and letting us know how and when you listen to Sweet Selah Moments? You can write us anytime at sharon@sweetselah.org. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and also on our website SweetSelah.org. Please consider donating so we can continue sharing this program with you. And come back next week for more discovery as we continue to learn about the very first days of the Christian Church. We’re calling episode 129, But What Can You Do? This is an intriguing title. Join us next week and until then, may God bless you and guide you through his powerful Holy Spirit in all that you do.
Speaker 1:
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
The Holy Spirit came BIG to the early church when He first showed up. Today, let's talk about the power and purpose of the Holy Spirit as we explore what happened at Pentecost after Jesus' death, resurrection and ascension. May you be wowed by God's Spirit and encouraged to trust Him more and more.
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You can read the transcript for Upended by the Holy Spirit-Episode-127Speaker 1:
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word with Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole:
Welcome to Sweet Selah Moments. This is episode 127, Upended by the Holy Spirit. Sharon, how did your parents explain the Holy Spirit to you as a child?
Sharon:
That’s such a fun question ’cause I’ve heard of children that don’t understand at all how God can be in them. Heard of a little boy who was trying to feed Jesus.
Nicole:
Oh my goodness.
Sharon:
Because he was in him. So I don’t know why. It just never felt hard to me to understand that Jesus will come and live in your heart. They told me, and I felt him come in at age four. I just knew he filled me. It was one of my earliest happiest memories. So, and we had a painting in our home. It’s a really old one. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen it. It’s a way too white Jesus. As so many of them were.
Nicole:
With blonde hair and blue eyes. You’re like, hmm?
Sharon:
Yes. But he’s standing at a door knocking from Revelation 3:20. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone opens the door, I will come in and eat and sup with him.” (Nicole: Yes) And it had that verse on it. So, you know, from earliest childhood, I saw Jesus literally knocking. (Oh) And the whole idea of he’s not just gonna barrel in even though he could. (Right) He knocks (Oh, that’s so sweet) and we open ourselves to him. And then he resides, like in a house. He resides in our house. This body houses him. So somehow I understood it enough, I guess, ’cause I never tried to feed Jesus. I just knew he’d come in, so. (Oh my goodness) But it’s a hard concept for children. How have you explained the Holy Spirit and his role to your own children?
Nicole:
Yeah. So, it always, I never really pondered it too much as a child either. I just kind of accepted it. Like, same thing, that room in your heart. That was probably the terminology that they used a lot. He comes in, he makes a room in your heart. So for the kiddos, I try to keep it simple because children understand things better than we do sometimes. They just accept things.
Sharon:
Yes. They accept things better. You’re right. s
Nicole:
Yeah. They have this beautiful way of just believing, like, oh, he’s in me. So, I just bought a book for Charlotte recently, right before she got saved. It was called ‘My Best Friend, Holy Spirit’. And it was this picture of Jesus, like, the Holy Spirit standing next to this little child. And it goes through the book and how you talk to the Holy Spirit and how he’s with you. It’s like having a best friend there to comfort you. (Sharon: Oh!) To guide you, to ask advice from, that you’re never alone. That he’s always with you, beside you. And I thought that was such a beautiful way even for me as an adult, to understand. (Absolutely) He’s my best friend, always with me. When I’m sad, I can turn to him. When I’m confused, I can turn to him. When I’m happy. Did you just see what happened? This is so great. I always have someone to talk to. (Mm-Hmm) So I like that. The way that this author described that. That was really clever.
Sharon:
I think that’s lovely. I do. And it is— I tell you, so many children’s books are really for grownups too.
Nicole: Oh yes.
Sharon:
And that would be one of them. I’d love that.
Nicole:
The Jesus Storybook Bible is my favorite version.
Sharon:
Yes. Yes. It’s wonderful.
Nicole:
I read it to my kids and I have tears streaming down my face. Like, mom, why are you crying? this is so beautiful. Can you guys see?
Sharon:
Yeah. I used to say to my kids, wait until you are reading it to your children.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
You know, or whatever. Because it’s something about growing up and you’re like, oh my goodness, this is profound.
Nicole:
Yeah, it is. It’s so beautiful.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. So good.
Nicole:
So last week we were in a waiting place with the disciples and the followers of Jesus. He had told them right before he ascended into heaven to go back to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit to come. And wait they did. Jesus was crucified on Passover weekend, and now it’s Pentecost. So I did a little digging into this.
Sharon: All righty.
Nicole:
So Pentecost means fiftieth day, and it was the fiftieth day of Passover, or forty-nine days after Passover. And Jesus was crucified on Passover.
Sharon:
Yes, he was. They had that Passover supper.
Nicole:
Yeah. Which is kind of interesting because he was the Passover Lamb. So, there’s so much in this. There’s so much in this. And so the Pentecost day, the fiftieth day, was also called the Feast of Weeks in the Old Testament. So, little side note, like other Jewish feasts, the Feast of Weeks is important in that it foreshadows the coming Messiah and his ministry. So each and every one of the seven Jewish feasts signified an important aspect of God’s plan of redemption through Jesus Christ.
Sharon:
Isn’t this beautiful?
Nicole:
So even back then, the feasts, they didn’t fully understand why they were doing these rituals and these feasts and Passover and sacrifices. But it was all foreshadowing Jesus’ coming to be that ultimate sacrifice.
Sharon: Yes. Uhhuh.
Nicole:
That’s so exciting.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
So Jesus was crucified as that Passover Lamb and rose from the grave at the Feast of First Fruits. Following his resurrection, Jesus spent the next forty days teaching his disciples before he ascended to heaven. So fifty days after his resurrection and after ascending to heaven to sit with with God, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit as promised to indwell the disciples and empower them for ministry. The promised Holy Spirit arrived on the day of Pentecost. So in knowing when these holidays were and how long Jesus was
on Earth before he returned to heaven, forty-two days, we can see that it was exactly one week they had to wait for the Holy Spirit to come to them.
Sharon:
Isn’t that something? Good for you!
Nicole:
Hey, you did some math. And it’s like, oh, that’s, but it’s right there. I love that they lay it out for us to see if we do some digging.
Sharon:
Yeah. And I am glad they only had to wait a week.
Nicole:
Yes. And not several weeks.
Sharon:
Because it could have been months or years. I mean, Abraham and Sarah waited till she was ninety-nine to have the baby. (Nicole: Yeah. Yep) You know, God is not always quick. So relatively speaking, for our God who keeps us waiting, i.e. we’ve been waiting over 2000 years now, (for him to come back) Right. A week was pretty quick.
Nicole:
It was, and it was probably, it was probably a merciful wait, because they’d just watched Jesus leave. (Sharon: Yes) And He’s like, I’ll be coming back the same way. And they’re like, is it now? Is it now? Is he coming? (Yes) We miss him.
Sharon:
Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. It probably felt like a long time though, just because they didn’t know the ending, you know?
Nicole: Right. Right.
Sharon:
So, but anyways, they also didn’t know exactly what they were waiting for.
Nicole: True.
Sharon:
The Holy Spirit, I think is the least understood member of the Trinity. We’ve got God the Father and God the Son. They seem to be talked about more. The Holy Spirit’s also a person. He’s part of God. And he’s that part that indwells humans like we were talking about. So, God, the Father’s the one we kind of picture on the throne in heaven. Although like all the Trinity, he’s omnipresent, he’s everywhere. And God the Son is God manifested in human form. Right. And God, the Holy Spirit is God in us. When we accept
Jesus’ gift of salvation, he enters into us and takes up residence. So that’s a hard concept to understand. Especially as all three are really one, one God.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
Oy. Well, today we’re gonna learn more about how that Spirit, the Spirit, first came to dwell with and in believers. And it is quite the story.
Nicole:
I’m so excited.
Sharon:
I titled this episode Upended by the Holy Spirit because he came in big. There was nothing subtle about it. No one could miss him. And I love that Nicole. It makes me trust that when Jesus comes again and he says, no one will miss him, we really won’t miss him. (Nicole: Yeah) He will come big. (Oh man) Just like the Holy Spirit came big. So time to read the passage. I’m gonna start Acts 2 with verse one, and we’ll read back and forth to verse 21. Okay, here we are, one week later. (I know) “On the day of Pentecost, all the believers were meeting together in one place.”
Nicole:
Suddenly, here we go. “Suddenly there was a sound from heaven, like a roaring of a mighty windstorm. And it filled the house where they were sitting.”
Sharon:
“Then what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them.”
Nicole:
“And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.”
Sharon:
“At that time, there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem.”
Nicole:
“When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.”
Sharon:
“They were completely amazed. How can this be they exclaimed? These people are all from Galilee.”
Nicole:
“And yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages.”
Sharon:
“Here we are, Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia,”
Nicole:
Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome,”
Sharon:
“(both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done.”
Nicole:
“They stood there amazed and perplexed. What can this mean, they asked each other?”
Sharon:
“But others in the crowd ridiculed them, saying, they’re just drunk. That’s all.”
Nicole:
“Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem, make no mistake about this.”
Sharon:
“These people are not drunk as some of you are assuming, nine o’clock in the morning is much too early for that.”
Nicole:
I love that.
Sharon:
Who’s drunk by 9:00 AM?
Nicole:
(Right) “No. What you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel.”
Sharon:
“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.”
Nicole:
“In those days, I will pour out my Spirit, even on my servants, men and women alike.”
Sharon: And, oops.
Nicole: Oh!
Sharon:
I’m so excited.
Nicole:
“And they will prophesy.”
Sharon:
‘And that will cause wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and clouds of smoke.’
Nicole:
“The sun will become dark and the moon will turn blood red before that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives.” (There we go).
Sharon:
“But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Wowsers)
Nicole:
That’s powerful.
Sharon:
I know. We’ve gone from praying, praying, praying, waiting till bam, windstorm.
Nicole:
Everything happening at once.
Sharon:
Whoosh. So, okay, let’s look at this passage, Nicole, I’ll take the first section. So I’m gonna look at just verses 1-4. “And on the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly there was a sound from heaven, like the roaring of a mighty wind storm. And it filled the house where they were sitting. Then what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.” Unbelievable. Wow. Well, first of all, if it was all the believers in one place and they were in a house, it had to be a big one. (Nicole: Oh yeah) It just did. Or like I said, an inner courtyard. Sometimes the house has an inner courtyard and it needed to be, I think, near the center of the city because people came running, you know, so they weren’t like,
Nicole:
Oh, right, way off in the woods somewhere.
Sharon:
Out in the woods somewhere. Right. They were in the city and it was so loud. Oh my goodness. The people ran to hear it. So this was big. The Holy Spirit came big. And I can’t imagine if people far away could hear it, how loud was it in the house?
Nicole:
Oh, yeah. Right up close.
Sharon:
Wouldn’t that be scary?
Nicole:
A little terrifying. Yeah. We just came through a big windstorm yesterday.
Sharon: Yes, we did.
Nicole:
It was very loud.
Sharon:
Oh, it was so loud.
Nicole:
And when wind comes whistling through like that, it kind of makes you feel very small.
Sharon:
It makes you feel very small. It was very big. And then they’re looking at each other’s heads and there’s tongues of flame on somebody else’s head not burning them.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
But, it was so obviously the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
It wasn’t like they had to guess.
Nicole:
Right. Like, oh, did you feel it? No. No, no. I don’t think that was it.
Sharon:
No, no. It was,
Nicole:
It was undeniably the Spirit.
Sharon:
It was so clear, so. And I love that once they were filled, they couldn’t shut up. Oh, they were, my thought initially was that they were glorifying God and they were, but they’re opening their mouths, Nicole. And words are coming out that they don’t even recognize.
Nicole:
That’s amazing.
Sharon:
It was, it was upended. That’s all I have to say. It was absolutely upending.
Nicole:
That’s a great word for them.
Sharon:
Upending. It’s like, whoa. What? Whatever they were expecting, I doubt it was wind storms and fire. I don’t think so. But anyways, your turn, you get the middle section.
Nicole:
Yeah. So verses 5-13. “At that time, there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers. They were completely amazed. How can this be, they exclaimed? These people are all from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages. Here we are: Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus in the province of Asia. Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt in the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs.” (Arabs. I said that funny) “And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done. They stood there amazed and perplexed. What can this mean, they asked each other? But others in the crowd ridiculed them, saying, they’re just drunk. That’s all.” So this is amazing ’cause everyone’s, like you said, they heard the noise, it was loud enough for everyone to come running. And then when they got there, it must have been such a shock to hear their language.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
Because they were all amazed and perplexed and bewildered. So maybe it wasn’t commonplace for people to know several languages back then.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
Because I feel like nowadays it’s fairly easy to learn a second or third language. In school, my children are learning two different languages on top of English. So it’s rather remarkable. Maybe it wasn’t as common back then.
Sharon:
It might not have been.
Nicole:
But for them to come and all of a sudden hearing them praising God and saying how wonderful he was in their own languages, this was so neat. Because you couldn’t fake this.
Sharon:
No. And you’re right.
Nicole:
And I think that’s why it was so astonishing for them to hear people speaking fluently in their language about how wonderful God was. You can’t make that up. You can only fake knowing Spanish for a little bit.
Sharon:
That’s true. It doesn’t work long term.
Nicole: No.
Sharon:
It doesn’t. And it wasn’t an unknown language, If they’d just sort of been babbling in a language nobody understood at that time (Nicole: Right) it wouldn’t have had the impact of Wait, wait, what, you’re, I’m hearing this.
Nicole:
Right. Like, wait a minute. Yes. Did you hear that? He’s speaking in my language. I haven’t heard this. So that’s really neat that God did something so profound. It could not have been fabricated. It could not have been. Oh, well, they were just faking. Like, no, you can’t fake that.
Sharon:
No. You can’t fake that.
Nicole:
Suddenly fluent in another language. Like that’s incredible.
Sharon:
Yeah. Which is why the drunk comment is so silly. Drunks don’t suddenly burst out and speak foreign languages,
Nicole:
Not eloquently and excitedly. Usually it’s slurred and it’s not, it is funny. But I was thinking that actually, Pastor Yves just talked about this in our Sunday school. He was talking about kind of when Jesus came to earth, he reclaimed so many things that were broken from the Old Testament. (Sharon: Yeah) And you look back at the Tower of Babel when they were all separated and they couldn’t speak to each other.
(That’s interesting) And then Jesus comes back and he filled them with the Holy Spirit and all of a sudden they’re speaking in a language where everyone could understand again. (Wow) Like how cool it was kind of, he was talking about it more in the spiritual realm about signs to Satan and the demons that, Hey, remember that time we had to scatter them because they were, you know (Yeah, yeah) plotting against us. Now we’re gonna bring them together again.
Sharon: Together.
Nicole:
So cool. That is, there’s so much in here.
Sharon:
I had never thought of Tower of Babel.
Nicole:
I hadn’t either.
Sharon:
Yeah. That is so neat.
Nicole:
But God redeemed that. The scattering of people. He was there speaking in their language.
Sharon: He did.
Nicole: Really cool.
Sharon:
That’s lovely. And maybe men from Galilee in particular were not known for speaking many languages too, ’cause they’re like, what? They’re all from Galilee.
Nicole:
They’re all from Galilee. So that’s so cool there. And then the scoffers, there’s always gonna be scoffers. Well, they’re just—, even if it’s something so miraculous, you can’t refute it.
Sharon:
That is so true.
Nicole:
Someone’s still gonna find something.
Sharon:
They’re still not gonna believe it.
Nicole:
Yeah, ’cause they just don’t want to.
Sharon:
They don’t want to. It’s that simple. I was reading in Matthew the other day about the village that begged Jesus to leave after he healed the demon possessed guy. They’re like, please go away. And I’m like, really?
Nicole:
Was that the one he sent them into the pigs?
Sharon:
The pigs, that one.
Nicole:
They were mad about the pigs.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. And they’re like, just go. And I’m like, you know, we can still reject
Nicole: We can.
Sharon:
The most incredible things. Instead of being drawn towards them.
Nicole:
We get hung up on losing the pigs and not the restoration of the man that was demon possessed.
Sharon: Right. Yeah.
Nicole: So sad.
Sharon:
Wow. Okay. So they’re ridiculing. And I’m gonna finish off with the beginning of Peter’s speech, which is a long speech. So we’re gonna continue that one next week. So he steps forward with the other eleven apostles and shouts to the crowd. Well, he has to shout. There’s a ton of people.
Nicole:
It’s wind and fire and languages being spoken.
Sharon:
I know. So I love that he took command of the situation. (Nicole: Yeah) The Holy Spirit made him pretty bold. (Yeah) He’s talking to this huge crowd (Wow) about the Lord. So, and he says, listen carefully, all of you fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem, make no mistake about this. These people are not drunk as some of you’re assuming nine o’clock is too early for that. So, and then he goes to the prophet Joel, and here’s my theory from last week again, that when they were waiting, they were also pouring over the scriptures. And they found another prophecy. And maybe they didn’t understand it (Mm-Hm m) initially, but now it’s making really good sense. (Wow, yeah) Because they might’ve found in the last days, God says, I will pour up my spirit upon all people. And they’re like, wait a second. Jesus just said, wait for my Spirit. (Right) Oh, we need to read what Joel says.
Nicole:
Oh right. Maybe this is it.
Sharon:
Right. “So your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. In these days I will pour out my spirit, even on my servants, men and women alike. And they will prophesy.” I love that the women are so included now. (Nicole: Oh yeah) It’s just amazing. And then it goes on, “I’ll cause wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and clouds of smoke.” Well, we’ve seen wind and fire. But verse 20, “The sun will become dark. The moon will turn blood red before that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives.” We’re still waiting on that one.
Nicole:
I think that hasn’t happened yet. Yeah.
Sharon:
Yeah. Because guess what? Not everyone that God wants saved has been saved yet.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
So Joel’s prophecy was for them, and it’s still for us. Boy, when the sun becomes dark and the moon is blood red, Jesus better come fast because we need the sun.
Nicole:
Yeah. That’s a little scary, isn’t it?
Sharon:
It Is. But that’ll be a clear sign. That’ll be big. Right? (Nicole: Right, yeah) And then I love that he says, but everyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved. I don’t think even Peter fully understood how everyone, everyone was at that point. He’s still thinking mostly the Jewish community. But, there it is in Joel, everyone who calls the name of the Lord will be saved. (That’s so beautiful) So God’s always wanted everyone. (Yeah) He always has even, I mean, Rahab, he took on little Rahab who was a, (not Jewish) you know, not Jewish at all. Yeah. And was a, they think a prostitute in Jericho. So he took dear
Ruth, the Moabitess. (I know) Welcomed her in. He loves the people. God so loved the world. (He did) I love it. (I know, he does) So that’s Peter’s beginning of the speech. It’s like, be saved, call on his name.
Nicole:
That’s so neat. He’s so excited about it to be so impassioned in all this.
Sharon:
Oh my goodness.
Nicole:
I love that.
Sharon:
Yes. Yeah. And I wonder when he speaks then, is he speaking in the language that they all held in common in Jerusalem?
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
Or did they all just still hear it in their own language? I don’t know.
Nicole:
Right. Was it the interpretation in their own ears? Or was it coming from the mouth of the men who are speaking?
Sharon:
Right. I have no idea. I’ve idea.
Nicole:
That’s so neat.
Sharon:
So something to ask when we get to heaven.
Nicole:
It’s becoming a very long list. It’s a good thing we have forever. Because I have a lot of questions.
Sharon:
Yes. We have forever. It’s so good. So, well, let’s go to answering our key questions. And you get to start first. What was your favorite verse out of all of these?
Nicole:
Ooh. I know it was hard. There was so many exciting things. I landed on the last verse, verse 21. “But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Because right before that, they’re talking
about the future prophecy of the sun will become dark, the moon will turn dark blood red before God comes. And it’s kind of ominous. And the verse above says, blood and fire and clouds of smoke. So it seems like, but there’s always this, but like when verses start with ‘but’ in the Bible, (Sharon: I love that. Yes) But God. But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. There’s that hope and that assurance that even if everything is scary, we just have to turn to him. (I know) We just look to him. He’ll save us no matter what. Every time, all the time. And no matter what is happening around us, in big things and small things, the end of the world or the end of a job, like we just need to turn to him and we’ll be saved.
Sharon:
Isn’t it beautiful? (Nicole: Yeah) It’s not like you have to climb Mount Everest. (No) Call on the name of the Lord. That name is powerful. (Yeah) Jesus is enough. (It’s beautiful) Oh, so good.
Nicole:
I liked that verse.
Sharon: I love it.
Nicole:
How about you?
Sharon:
Well, I chose the first verse.
Nicole: Oh, fun.
Sharon:
So we kind of bookended it. The first verse says, “On the day of Pentecost, all the believers were meeting together in one place.” I just love there they are together again. All in one place. And it just underlines for me how important when you can get to real church. That you don’t just sit at home in your living room, in your pajamas, munching on popcorn, watching the worship team sing. Right?
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
It’s not the same.
Nicole:
It’s not the same. No.
Sharon:
It’s better than nothing. If that’s all you can do, but to be there like this past Sunday even though with my hearing music doesn’t sound good.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
I still love saying the words or trying to sing them. No one really wants to hear me sing at this point. I have no sense of tune. But saying the words in unison (Nicole: Yeah) with this wonderful church family we have, (Oh yeah) declaring who Jesus is. It’s still worship for me. And now it’s funny, Nicole, it was really jarring at first. I wanted to run out of the sanctuary ’cause it just sounded so hard on my ears in May. But the longer I’ve heard it sound discordant, the more I’m like accustomed to it, I guess. So I no longer wanna run out. Now I’m just jazzed about the words.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s so neat.
Sharon:
So I’m back to feeling I can worship.
Nicole: Good.
Sharon:
Which is such a good thing. So I’m so glad I waited it out. I kept coming. There was a little temptation of why am I going? It sounds awful. Or why don’t I just go for the sermon. I’m so glad I didn’t do that.
Nicole: Oh, good.
Sharon:
Because being altogether in one place, declaring the truths out loud, which we mostly do through song, (Nicole: Right. Oh yeah) you know, ’cause otherwise the pastor’s mostly speaking, is profound.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
It really is.
Nicole:
There’s power in speaking those words. (Sharon: Yeah. Yeah) And sometimes, well, you are musical as well, when you’re more musical and a vocalist, you’re singing, I’m thinking of the notes and harmony. I love hearing the sounds of the music together and the voices. (Yes). Sometimes you get distracted from the words and what you’re actually saying. So in days when I’m really sick and I can just listen, it’s sometimes more powerful to me to hear the words. (Right) To really read them and go, oh wow, God, sometimes I was so excited to sing that part I didn’t realize the words I was saying.
Sharon:
Yeah. Declaring these truths together.
Nicole:
These are powerful truth. Yeah.
Sharon: Oh man.
Nicole:
It’s amazing.
Sharon:
It is. So that was why it was my favorite. I just love being all together in one place.
Nicole:
It is good. I love that.
Sharon:
So okay, so what did I learn about God from this passage? Well, the primary thing for me was that God keeps his word. Prophecies were fulfilled. The Joel prophecy about men and women, you know, shouting out together, that’s what was happening. And it just makes me trust that someday actually the sun will be dark and the moon will turn blood red. Not that that’s warming my heart too much, but I know that it’s leading in the second coming of Christ.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
So in that sense, it’s a good thing. But prophecy after prophecy after prophecy, has come true, come true, come true. And it just gives me such great faith in the word of God. And that what we read now, even though we may not fully understand it, we ought to read it. We ought to have it in our hearts. Because someday we may be discovering and going, oh wow, the temple’s being rebuilt. That was in, you know, whatever. All the things. So, that’s what I learned, that God keeps his word.
Nicole:
Yeah. Oh, that’s cool. I love that.
Sharon:
Yeah. How about you?
Nicole:
I put that he empowers us to do what he calls us to do. And that nothing’s too hard for him. You know, he sent the Holy Spirit and then he told them to wait for the Holy Spirit so they can go and spread his word. And then he sent the Holy Spirit and they were able to spread his word very easily with the Holy Spirit’s power.
Sharon:
And who would’ve predicted they did it by speaking languages they didn’t know. Unbelievable.
Nicole:
Right. They may not have been able to, they couldn’t have learned all those languages so quickly on their own. There’s no way they could have prepared it and in and of their own strength, they could not have done what God had just asked them to do in that moment.
Sharon:
Yeah. I love that.
Nicole:
I think that’s so cool that nothing’s too hard for him. We just need to let him work through us.
Sharon:
Right. So when we get called to something, it really doesn’t matter if we feel equipped, he’ll do the equipping.
Nicole:
No. Even if it’s not within our own strength. Like, Oh, I’m gifted in this so I should serve in this area. Yes. Maybe. But also I’m terrible at this, but God has called me to it. Okay. God, you’re taking the lead for this one. I’m just along for the ride.
Sharon:
Just along for the ride. Yes.
Nicole:
And those are the moments where you just really see him work, ’cause you can’t take any credit for it.
Sharon:
Isn’t that neat? No, ’cause you know it’s not you.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
So what do we learn about the early church and how we can apply that to today?
Nicole:
Oh, we serve a mighty God.
Sharon: We do.
Nicole:
We can do anything.
Sharon: We do.
Nicole:
I just was so struck by that in these passages.
Sharon:
Yes, absolutely, absolutely.
Nicole:
And there will always be people who don’t believe and scoff. So don’t get distracted by them. Don’t get discouraged by them.
Sharon:
Well, that’s a good point too.
Nicole:
Because there’s always gonna be people going, well, you’re just drunk. Well, it’s just this, that’s not really happening or whatever. Don’t get distracted by that.
Sharon:
Just keep on keeping on. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I wrote, they were united. The early church was definitely united. All the little quarreling hadn’t happened yet.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s right.
Sharon:
Sadly will. But they were united. They celebrated together. They did holidays together. (Nicole: Yes). You know, and that’s fun. I like doing Christmas and Easter and some of the high holidays of the Christian Church together at church. Right? Good Friday service, Oh, so many.
Nicole:
Oh I love doing that. It makes it so much more special. Yeah.
Sharon:
And also they were eager to share the good news. They were not shy about it. They were jazzed about sharing the truth. And sometimes those are things that I feel like we need to do more. We need to be united as a church. We need to celebrate together.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
I think we’re good at that part. But we need to also be witnesses to what God has done in our life. One of the things I like about our church is we have a lot of testimonies.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
We need to witness to what God has done.
Nicole:
Oh, we really do.
Sharon:
And we need to celebrate with other people for what God’s done in their lives.
Nicole:
Yeah. So no, that’s so good.
Sharon:
So go early church.
Nicole:
Yeah. They’re doing so good.
Sharon:
Yeah. Alright, well let us pray. Heavenly Father, thank you. Thank you for showing up so big. Lord, I confess that I don’t always remember what power is within me through your Spiri., That I do not have to worry about words coming outta my mouth if I have yielded to you. You are able to help me speak well through your Spirit. Father, help all of us to value unity, to value being all together in one place. Help us to lay aside any differences that are petty or silly. Lord, help us to be united in the great work of calling others to be saved just by calling on your wonderful name. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole:
Amen. Can you imagine the sound of that rushing wind and the feeling you would get when the Holy Spirit enabled you to speak in different languages? What a wild ride they had that day. That same Holy Spirit power is available to us today as he indwells us as God’s children. I think we are all guilty of not remembering that often enough. We love studying God’s word with you and we love hearing from you. You can write us anytime at sharon@sweetselah.org. If you want to donate to our ministry and we are only able to operate because of your donations, please consider donating @sweetsela.org/donations. We would be so grateful. We’ll be back next week for the rest of Peter’s sermon and the spectacular results. We’re calling episode 128, Launched. Have a great week.
Speaker 1:
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
How are you at waiting? It's particularly difficult to wait, when you don't know how long that wait is going to be. Join Sharon and Nicole as they talk about waiting wisely, and discover how the first disciples of Jesus waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit. We hope this encourages you in your own season of waiting.
If you enjoy what you hear, consider leaving a review on your favorite podcast app. Comments are welcomed and answered. And, if you wish to become a partner with us in this ministry, you can donate here.
Read the transcript for The Waiting Days-Episode-126Speaker 1:
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word with Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole:
Welcome to Sweet Selah Moments. This is episode 126 The Waiting Days. I don’t like waiting all that much. How about you? One of the hardest waits in my life was when I was pregnant with my third daughter. I went into preterm labor at 24 weeks, which is way too early, and was put on bedrest and spent some time in the hospital making sure she was doing okay and that she stayed in until she could safely enter the world. I would go into labor for several hours each day, and that was very unpleasant, to say the least. And I, of course was very worried about her. So waiting for the safe time for her to be born as close to 40 weeks as possible was one of the longest waits I have had to date.
Sharon:
Oh my goodness. And you had two other children at the time?
Nicole: Yes, I did.
Sharon:
And you had to stay in bed?
Nicole:
I did. I taught Olivia how to do laundry. She was three, I think at the time, three or four.
Sharon: Wow.
Nicole:
Yeah. And then Ellie was 16 months.
Sharon: Wow. Nicole.
Nicole:
It was rough.
Sharon:
Yes it was. I can see that. Well, I’ve had some hard waits too. And I think my hardest was waiting for Ray to return from the Persian Gulf War. (Nicole: Oh yeah) When we said goodbye on December 15th, right before Christmas, we thought Ray would be gone for a year. He wasn’t, but we thought he was. Oh, Nicole, the ache I felt that first night, especially, I just couldn’t face going to bed. (Oh) I cried myself to
sleep on the couch. (Oh, Sharon) And then hearing the news each day and knowing that scud missiles were falling near where Ray was. (Mm-Hmm) It was pretty rough. And even if he did come home again, I wondered if the war would change him or maim him in some way. There was so many things over which I had absolutely no control. So I learned a lot about trusting and waiting and keeping going during that season in our lives. And it was actually good for me. I’d never been on my own. I went from my father’s house to Ray’s and my house, never by myself. So to be alone in a foreign country. ’cause we were in Germany with two girls and two dogs and a cat. (Oh my goodness) I really had to grow up fast. (Yeah) I found that my walk with God went deeper when I had to rely on him more. And I discovered that I could do more than I thought I could with God helping me than I ever imagined. It was amazing. So the loneliness turned to companionship with the Lord. And I will be forever grateful for the lessons I learned. All because I had to wait. And I’m awful glad it wasn’t a year, just five months that he was away.
Nicole:
That’s still a long time though. Five months, you’re never, you’re not used to being away from them. It feels like forever.
Sharon:
It sure does. It’s so funny ’cause I talked to somebody later about that and she said, well, I didn’t see my husband for five years during some war, World War II it must’ve been. I’m like, okay, you trumped me.
Nicole:
Five years, a little longer than five months, but it felt like five years.
Sharon:
Yes. So, Well, today we are gonna peek at the eleven disciples and their wait. Nicole, can you remind us what happened in the first part of chapter one of Acts before we read further?
Nicole:
Yes. So this is right after Jesus was risen from the dead. He’d spent some time with his disciples right before he was about to return to heaven. So he had told them to not go to Jerusalem until they received the Holy Spirit, which I don’t know if they knew what that was at the time.
Sharon:
I don’t know if they did.
Nicole:
It’s kind of exciting. That would give them the power that they needed to do what God called them to do. So then Jesus ascends into heaven and the disciples are left there looking a little lost for a minute, looking up at the sky. And then two angels appear and say, what are you doing waiting, looking? What are you doing? Like go.
Sharon:
Go to Jerusalem, wait there.
Nicole:
Go to Jerusalem. Wait. Yeah. So go and wait.
Sharon:
Isn’t that the strangest open ended thing?
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
They didn’t say wait till next Thursday.
Nicole:
Right. They didn’t know how long.
Sharon:
They didn’t say Jesus will be back a week from Tuesday. Right? It was open-ended and they were not in control. Any more than you were when you had to fight the labor pains, or I was, when Ray was near scud missiles falling. I mean, sometimes waiting is super hard because you don’t have any control over it. And they didn’t know how long the wait was gonna be. So, alright, let’s read the rest of chapter one, Acts 1:12-26 and see what they did while they waited. So why don’t you start with verse twelve and we’ll go back and forth.
Nicole:
All right. So twelve, “Then the disciples returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, a distance of a half mile.”
Sharon:
“When they arrived, they went to the upstairs room of the house where they were staying. Here were the names of those who were present: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon (the Zealot) and Judas (son of James).” (As opposed to the other one.).
Nicole:
(Right. There’s a lot of James.) “They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary, the mother of Jesus, several other women and the brothers of Jesus.”
Sharon:
“So during this time, when about 120 believers were together in one place, Peter stood up and addressed them.”
Nicole:
“Brothers, he said, The scriptures had to be fulfilled concerning Judas, who guided those who arrested Jesus. This was predicted long ago by the Holy Spirit speaking through King David.”
Sharon:
“Judas was one of us and shared in the ministry with us.”
Nicole:
“(Judas had bought a field with the money he received for his treachery falling headfirst. There, his body split open, spilling out all his intestines.)”
Sharon:
“The news of his death spread to all the people of Jerusalem. And they gave the place the Aramaic name, Akeldama, which means Field of Blood.”
Nicole:
“Peter continued, this was written in the Book of Psalms, where it says, let his home become desolate with no one living in it. It also says, let someone else take his position.”
Sharon:
“So now we must choose a replacement for Judas from among the men who were with us the entire time we were traveling with the Lord Jesus.”
Nicole:
“From the time he was baptized by John until the day he was taken from us. Whoever is chosen will join us as a witness of Jesus’s resurrection.”
Sharon:
“So they nominated two men, Joseph called Barsabbas, also known as Justus.” (What?)
Nicole:
He had a lot of names.
Sharon:
He really did. “And Matthias.”
Nicole:
“Then they all prayed, oh Lord, you know, every heart, show us which of these men you have chosen”
Sharon:
“As an apostle to replace Judas in this ministry. For he has deserted us and gone where he belongs.”
Nicole:
“Then they cast lots. And Mathias was selected to become an apostle with the other eleven.”
Sharon:
Wow. Okay. Lots to look at here. And we’re gonna do what we normally do. We’re gonna look at it in chunks. And you get the first chunk.
Nicole: Oh, fun.
Sharon:
So talk to us about the first little part of this and what you learned about it.
Nicole:
Yeah. So I’m looking at verses 12 through 14. “The apostles returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, a distance of a half mile. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room of a house where they were staying. The names of all the disciples were Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon (the Zealot) and Judas (son of James). They all met together and were constantly united in prayer along with Mary, the mother of Jesus, several other women and the brothers of Jesus.” So the first thing that jumps out to me is I love seeing Mary, the mother of Jesus all nestled in with the disciples.
Sharon:
I know. Isn’t that lovely?
Nicole:
Oh, that just like warmed my heart to see that. (Sharon: Yes) I remember on the cross, Jesus had looked at John and said, (That’s right!) this is your mother now, take care of her. And to see that they did, they kind of all were, you know, loving on Mary.
Sharon: I love it.
Nicole: That’s great.
Sharon:
And if John was there, she was gonna be there. That’s so cool.
Nicole:
Yeah. I just love seeing her, because you don’t, I don’t remember seeing much of her in scripture after his death. So kind of seeing her here, it’s like, oh, she’s doing good. She’s okay.
Sharon: There she is.
Nicole:
She’s with her boys.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
You know, the rest of the gang. So I love seeing that. And then also, Jesus’s brothers were there and that’s interesting. I think they didn’t believe at the beginning.
Sharon:
No. They did not.
Nicole:
Like you’re not the Messiah, you’re our brother Jesus and you’re a punk, or whatever. But to see them there too, I think that’s really cool.
Sharon:
I love that.
Nicole:
They’re all together.
Sharon:
I wish I knew their story.
Nicole:
I know. That’d be so fascinating.
Sharon:
How did they turn? But whatever’s, yeah.
Nicole:
Another person to ask in heaven.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
So I think that this is really neat that they mention them all praying together constantly.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
I wonder what that would’ve looked like, ’cause constant is all day.
Sharon: A lot.
Nicole:
It’s not just a portion, like, oh, in the morning and evening they prayed together. They were constantly united in prayer. So they were together. That must have been a really beautiful time of bonding. Were they trying to, excited to talk to Jesus again because they hadn’t, you know, they probably were missing him. So, I don’t know. It’s just very fascinating to me what that would’ve looked like. You know, and were they just so happy to talk to Jesus?
Sharon:
I think it’s wonderful. I do. Yeah. And all the time is a hard thing to even comprehend, but I think they didn’t know what else to do. Right. (Nicole: Right) They’re waiting. (Yeah) Here we are. God, here we still are. And here we still are.
Nicole:
Right. So well, we’ll just keep praying because before, when Jesus was with them, he taught them how to pray. (Sharon: Right) But their prayers were very different before Jesus came and died. (Yes) So this would’ve been, I think, a fairly new way of communicating with God for them. (I think so) Maybe a more relaxed way, as opposed to more of a proper way to pray in the temple or whatever. (Yes) So this was kind of new, so maybe it was just figuring out and what else are you gonna do while you’re waiting for (Right) this Holy Spirit to appear?
Sharon:
Right. Exactly. Exactly.
Nicole:
So, very neat.
Sharon:
Yeah. And in my section it says that there were 120 believers together in one place at one point. So I’m just so curious as to, you know, how were there 120? Who were the 120? And did they all smoosh into that house? That’s some big house? Was there a big courtyard? Was it just the temple? So.
Nicole:
How was it situated? Yeah. It’s an interesting little peek at them.
Sharon: Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
Kind of like a quiet, private moment.
Sharon:
But I love that prayer is first and foremost on their hearts. The church was founded in prayer even before the Holy Spirit came.
Nicole:
That’s so cool. Oh, that’s so good. I didn’t think of that.
Sharon:
All right. Well, I’ve got the next section, which is verses 15-20. And it starts with this 120 believers part. So let me read that again, and then we’re gonna kind of break it down. “During this time when about 120 believers were gathered together in one place, Peter stood up and addressed them.” (So just stopping here for a minute. Over 500 saw Jesus after his resurrection. So, obviously more were believing at this point than just the disciples and Mary and Jesus’ brothers.}.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
So 120 of them evidently came. So.
Nicole: That’s great.
Sharon:
Alright. So Peter’s standing up and he’s stopped praying.
Nicole:
Took a break from praying.
Sharon:
Took a break from praying to do something. “Brothers, he said, The scriptures had to be fulfilled concerning Judas who guided those who arrested Jesus. This was predicted long ago by the Holy Spirit speaking through David. Judas was one of us and shared in the ministry with us.” So, okay. They’d been studying the scriptures, they saw where Judas actually appeared in some prophecy. And I’m gonna read a little bit about that at the end, which is fascinating. And for some reason, Peter felt like there needed to be the same number again. Maybe there were 12 tribes of Israel. There should be twelve apostles.
Nicole:
Oh, maybe. Yeah.
Sharon:
Right. So anyways, that’s what he’s decided. And then we have this interesting parentheses that goes from verses 18-19. It says this about Judas. “Judas had bought a field with the money he received for his treachery falling headfirst there, his body split open, spilling out all his intestines. The news of his death spread to all the people of Jerusalem. And they gave the place the Aramaic name Akeldama, which
means Field of Blood.” Well, Nicole, I had to really stop here because Matthew tells this story differently.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
So I’m gonna read what Matthew said, and then we’re gonna try to figure out how they’re both true.
Nicole:
The mystery —
Sharon:
So Matthew says in Matthew 27:3, “When Judas, who had betrayed him, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse. So he took the 30 pieces of silver back to the leading priests and the elders, I have sinned, he declared, for I have betrayed an innocent man. What do we care? They retorted. That’s your problem. Then Judas threw the silver coins down in the temple and went out and hanged himself. So, okay. So Judas didn’t have the money. (Nicole: Right) So then verse six, “The leading priest picked up the coins. It wouldn’t be right to put this money in the Temple Treasury, they said, since it was payment for murder.”
Nicole:
Well, at least they admitted that much.
Sharon:
So they didn’t want it either.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
Nobody wanted that money.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
“After some discussion, they finally decided to buy the Potters Field, and they made it into a cemetery for foreigners.” So as I’m like, okay, so who bought the field? Did Judas buy the field, or did the leading priest buy the field? And as I studied it, I realized the priest did not want that money any more than Judas did. So they’re like, right, we can’t take this money either. So they bought the field in Judas’ name, it was his field. They weren’t taking that money.
Nicole:
Right. They didn’t wanna be associated with it.
Sharon:
Right. So, Judas got a field whether he wanted it or not, and owned it. And then Matthew says he hanged himself. And Luke in Acts says that he fell headfirst with his body splitting open. (Nicole: Right) So, okay. The priests buy this field in Judas’ name. Judas doesn’t want it. (Right) He hangs himself in it. He’s so distraught. And then he falls eventually. And they’re very graphic. I don’t know that I needed to hear about his intestines, but evidently I did, ’cause it’s in scripture. And so the news of that gross, extra worse death, not just hung, but split open, changed the name of that field. (Wow) So everybody knew about Judas. It’s so sad.
Nicole:
That is really sad.
Sharon:
It really is. And it’s so fascinating to me the guilt that even the priests felt about it ’cause they wouldn’t take the money back.
Nicole:
Isn’t that funny? I thought that was really odd. Oh, well, we can’t put it in the, in the Treasury. We can’t, like they knew.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
This was payment for murder.
Sharon:
Yep. Exactly. So, very sad time. So, okay, Peter continues, after we get that aside about what happened to Judas. (Nicole: Right) “This was written in the Book of Psalms where it says, let his home become desolate with no one living in it.” That field was just used as a burial place for foreigners. It also says, “Let someone else take his position,” which is so interesting. So I looked up the Psalms where it says that. And Psalm 69 talks about the home being desolate and starting at verse 19, it is talking about Jesus here in sort of prophecy, “You know, of my shame, scorn and disgrace. You see all that my enemies are doing, their insults have broken my heart, and I am in despair”. (Oh) “But instead they give me poison for food. They offer me sour wine for my thirst”, (which they did to Jesus.) And then verse 25 says, “Let their homes become desolate, their tents deserted.” So that’s that prophecy. And then in Psalm 109, where it says, “Let someone else take his position,” that’s in verse eight. It says, it’s talking about the one that destroyed him, surrounded him with hateful words, slandered and told lies about him. “Let his years be few. Let someone else take his position.” So they were as well as constantly praying, I believe, going through the scriptures together, finding now that Jesus has died, risen again. They’re looking at scriptures in light of Messiah’s death and resurrection. I’m sure they’re looking at Isaiah 53 that talks about the Suffering Servant. (Oh yeah). But they’re finding all these prophecies that have come true.
Nicole:
That’s amazing.
Sharon:
It’s so amazing. And they’re stunned by them. And a lot of them, when Jesus walked the road to Emmaus, with the disciples after his resurrection, he showed from scripture.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
So a lot of it is going back to that too.
Nicole:
That would’ve been so fun for them to see.
Sharon: I know.
Nicole:
Because he, Jesus, spoke of so many things and they didn’t understand it. So for them now to have this like ‘aha moment’ of, oh look, this is it here. Oh, this is him here. Oh, that’s Judas. That must have been quite—
Sharon: Unbelievable. Yeah.
Nicole:
A moment for them.
Sharon:
So this waiting time was a rich time, I think, of studying the word as well, as Peter talks about here, as well as prayer.
Nicole:
Oh, how cool. Bible and prayer, Bible and prayer. Heart of every church.
Nicole:
Yes. Absolutely. Oh, I love that, that’s so fascinating. All right, well I’ll finish with verses 21-26. And so they say, “So now we must choose a replacement for Judas from among the men who were with us the entire time we were traveling with the Lord Jesus, from the time he was baptized by John until the day he was taken from us. Whoever is chosen will join us as a witness of Jesus’s resurrection. So they nominated two men, Joseph (with all the nicknames) called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Mathias. Then they all prayed, Oh Lord, you know every heart, show us which of these men you have chosen as an apostle to appoint to replace Judas in this ministry. For he has deserted us and gone where he belongs. (Ouch) Then they cast lots. And Matthias was selected to become an apostle with the other eleven.”
Sharon:
So Matthias is one of the Twelve.
Nicole:
He is So now he’s one of the Twelve. We don’t know a lot about him. There’s not very much in scripture. And I think there was confusion whether he was Matthew and he wrote the book of Matthew for a while, ’cause their names were similar. So he caused a little bit of confusion with his name. But, other than that, we don’t know a terrible lot about him. What was so interesting about this was I looked into the casting of lots, ’cause when you read it before, I think it’s always been associated with gambling and kind of like a negative thing.
Sharon: Yeah, yeah.
Nicole:
But it wasn’t though, back before the Holy Spirit, they didn’t have God working in them, whispering to them, leading them the right way. Yeah. So what they would do is they would cast lots, which were sometimes stones or rocks or whatever it was. They would pray before and say like they did here, show us Lord what the answer is. And so they put their trust in God to give them an answer in a rather unconventional way to us now, but we have the Holy Spirit.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
So that’s just so neat to me that they asked God, Hey, which guy is the right guy?
Sharon:
And we don’t know how to hear you so we’ll cast lots.
Nicole:
And they wanted to get it right. So that was kind of cool. I liked seeing they were still looking to God for guidance in this.
Sharon: Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole:
It’s a big decision.
Sharon:
Huge decision. It really was.
Nicole:
Yeah. And they were trying to find someone who had witnessed Jesus’s ministry here on earth.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. And Matthias had. I thought that was fascinating. It had to be someone who was there from the beginning (Nicole: Yes) of his active ministry.
Nicole:
From the Baptism it says, right from the beginning.
Sharon:
From the Baptism. Right. So that they could witness to everything Jesus did publicly. And including of course, seeing him after he rose from the dead. So Mathias must’ve been one of the ones that saw that.
Nicole:
That’s interesting.
Sharon:
That’s what they had seen.
Nicole:
I wonder they had a smaller group of, ’cause so many people saw Jesus during his ministry. He had his twelve disciples. (Sharon: Right) But I wonder if there was like another group that we didn’t hear much about.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I was reading, I can’t even remember where in scripture about large crowds following Jesus. Oh, it was after the Sermon on the Mount. (Nicole: Oh yeah) And large crowds started following him everywhere. And I was really feeling sad for him because can you imagine just trying to have a bite to eat and everybody’s staring at you. And you’ve got this huge crowd going, look, he’s eating now or whatever.
Nicole:
What’s he gonna do next?
Sharon:
Next. Right. It must’ve been so disconcerting. So yeah. A lot of people followed him. They were waiting for, you know, more of a show.
Nicole: Sure.
Sharon:
Some of them. Can I see another miracle, please.
Nicole: Oh yeah.
Sharon:
Oh look, maybe he’ll heal that leper. You know?
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
And then more teaching. Yeah.
Nicole:
So kind of cool. So I wonder what Matthias was doing. Is he all along watching Jesus and kind of growing in the sidelines?
Sharon:
Yeah. So, and I wonder how Barsabbas also known as Justus —
Nicole:
Oh, I know. I felt really bad for him. He must’ve been kind of bummed. Like, well how come? I did wonder? Like how was his heart after this? Was he really disappointed or feeling maybe I wasn’t good enough, ’cause to be one of the Twelve. That must have been quite a thing.
Sharon:
Quite the honor. Although seeing they all died Martyr’s deaths.
Nicole: Well,
Sharon:
Maybe Joseph called Barsabbas should have been— okay.
Nicole:
Avoided that. Because I think even Matthias ended up being martyred.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
They said at the end. So none of them had a terribly delightful, happy ending here on Earth.
Sharon:
No. Yeah. Yeah. Being famous is not always fun. (Nicole: No) Right.
Nicole:
No. So that’s a big burden. Yeah. Very interesting.
Sharon:
Yeah. Well, now we’re gonna look at the whole passage together and answer some very key questions. And our first one is favorite verse. And I’ll go first ’cause it’s actually one of the verses in your passages. It’s “Then they all prayed, Oh Lord, you know every heart, show us which of these men you have chosen”. I just so love that they knew that God cared about that choice. And that they knew that God knew hearts. And you know, even as I’m choosing people for Sweet Selah and don’t know what to do, it’s so nice to know that God is interested in that. That he actually cares, you know?
Nicole:
Oh, that is sweet.
Sharon:
You know every heart. And I remember a time when Ray was getting out of the military and we were in Germany again. We lived in Germany two separate times. And he had no job. And so he took nine, it took nine months. He started nine months early to try to find a job. And he knew he wanted to teach in a Christian school. He knew he wanted high school, not college even though he’d taught at the college level. He hates writing Nicole. And if you’re a college professor, you have to write in order to get your tenure and all the things. (Nicole: Oh wow) He didn’t want all those games. He just wanted to talk about history with people. (Right) And he wanted Christians so he could talk about the Lord. (Oh, sure) So he knew it. And he applied. And he applied and he applied. And we prayed. And we prayed and we prayed and I prayed a prayer that he said, thanks a lot for ’cause (Oh no) I prayed, Lord, we really want your will. (Yeah) So shut every door except the one that you want us to walk through. (Right) And Ray’s like really? I have been rejected. (Every door?) And rejected. And rejected.
Nicole: Oh Ray!
Sharon:
So many times. He just, he never got the job. He got interviews overseas, but you know, he’s communicating by phone from Germany. (Nicole: Right) Nobody can see him in person. (Oh yeah) He, for nine months never got the job.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s so discouraging.
Sharon: I know.
Nicole:
It’s a long wait.
Sharon:
It was my fault. So, but God honored that prayer. He kept shutting doors and so we got to the point where we literally had had to ship our car, but we didn’t know where we’d be living.
Nicole: Oh my.
Sharon:
So we shipped it to New Jersey and at forty we were moving back in with his parents. Oh, that’s fun. Two children, pets, and we have no place to go.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
So we’d shipped the car, we were flying out, you know, to live with his parents. In less than two weeks. When all of a sudden my sister heard that Portsmouth Christian Academy had just opened the high school. They hadn’t even had a high school till then. Only one year of it. And they needed a history teacher. (Nicole: Oh my) So she called us in Germany, which was a big deal back then. Ray called Dennis Runey, who was the headmaster and got the job immediately. (Oh my word) And it was close to home. (Yeah) We didn’t know it, but his mother had very few years left of life. (Oh) We got to be with her. (Wow) Oh my goodness. It’s been the perfect place. We’ve been there longer than Ray was in the military now. (Oh wow) And God closed every other door.
Nicole:
Except for that one that was wide open.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
And easy to walk through.
Sharon:
Right. So asking him, I mean, it just meant the world to me. God, you know. Show us.
Nicole:
Oh, I love that.
Sharon: He does.
Nicole: He does.
Sharon:
That was super long. I’m sorry.
Nicole:
That’s so good. Well, I read this morning in my devotions that God loves us too much, let me get this right, to give us what we want when it’s not the right time. (Sharon: Yes) I butchered that. But it’s something along those lines (Yes) that he won’t just give us what we want when we want it (No) ’cause it’s not the right time. (Right) And so he loves us enough to make us wait.
Sharon:
And that was another hard wait.
Nicole: Yes!
Sharon:
Let me tell you.
Nicole:
Oh, I’m sure.
Sharon:
And humbling.
Nicole:
Yeah, ’cause once you’re established with your family and your marriage, you just kind of wanna do your thing and to move in with somebody.
Sharon:
Oh my word.
Nicole:
Especially parents.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
We love you parents, but it’s just tough.
Sharon:
It would’ve been really hard.
Nicole:
Tough for them. Tough for us.
Sharon:
Oh man. So that was my favorite verse.
Nicole:
That’s a great verse.
Sharon:
And it has a personal meaning to it.
Nicole:
Oh, I love that.
Sharon:
How about you? What was your favorite verse?
Nicole:
I love that verse. I had already talked a little bit about it, but 14, “They all met together and were constantly united in prayer along with Mary, the mother of Jesus, several other women and the brothers of Jesus.” Just the fact that they were all together. (Sharon: Yes) After Jesus had left, they were together. You know, comforting each other, learning together, loving on Mary, the family. Just that picture of restoration. (Yes) You know, like Jesus’s brothers were kind of, uh, and now they were all there together.
Sharon:
Together. And men and women.
Nicole:
And the women too. I love that.
Sharon:
Yes. In one place, which is radical.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
‘Cause in the synagogues, the men were on one side, women were on the other side.
Nicole:
It’s very separate. So just this new, this new thing was starting.
Sharon:
A new thing was starting.
Nicole:
And I love that. And it was just like the intimate core group of Jesus’s, you know, his loved ones. I just think that verse is so neat.
Sharon:
I love it. Okay. Second question. You get to start this one. What did we learn about God from this passage of scripture?
Nicole:
Ooh. Oh, I talked about my first part in the first verse. He restores brokenness. They’re all together after the loss of Jesus. (Sharon: Yes) And the brothers were together. (Yeah. That’s good) And then he works with us where we are at, I put. With the casting of the lots, he worked with them in their little human way trying to understand God. I love that.
Sharon:
Right. He accepted that they didn’t know. They just didn’t know.
Nicole:
They threw some stones and God spoke through that still. So. I like that.
Sharon:
Oh, that’s so good. Well, I loved that God speaks to us through scripture. He spoke to the disciples even about, you know, replacing Judas through Psalms. (Nicole: Oh Yeah). So the Old Testament speaks to us and it helped them too. So God speaks to us through that. We learned that God wants us to look to him in prayer. They prayed and I’m sure that was pleasant to him. And then, enemies of God meet bad ends.
Nicole:
Oh yeah. That’s a hard truth.
Sharon:
It’s sad but true. Yeah. Judas’s was particularly unpleasant. So. So that’s what I learned about God.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
From that. And so, but here we go. What did we learn about the early church? And how can we apply that today? Well, what I felt like I learned was the constant seeking. (Nicole: Yes) I don’t know that we constantly seek, we get very complacent in our comfy cushy American world. (Oh sure, Mm-Hmm) I think if we were starving or if there were bombs falling on our heads, we would be more constantly seeking. (Right) You know? And that doesn’t mean I’m asking for that. But, that being said, they prayed a
ton. (They did) They did. And prayer and looking to God for leading has to be so, so key in any church or ministry. It’s too easy for us to assume we just know the answers. (Oh yeah) Prayer keeps us humble and still looking. It’s so important. I can remember being a little bit frustrated in another church, not our church, a long time ago in another place, where the business meetings and, and everything would start with just this sort of perfunctory prayer. Okay, let’s open in prayer. Lord be with us. Amen. And then right to the meeting, there wasn’t–
Nicole:
Right to business.
Sharon:
Right. Right. Or finishing with, oh, we’re out of time to pray. Somebody just close us, quick, you know?
Nicole: Oh yeah.
Sharon:
I don’t like that. And that’s why in our Sweet Selah Ministries team meetings, we spend a ton of time in prayer.
Nicole:
We pray through the meeting.
Sharon:
We pray through the whole meeting because it’s about seeking him. We cannot just think we know it and give a perfunctory nod to God.
Nicole:
Right. Like, oh, hey God, thanks for showing up. Okay, let’s get onto the important things.
Sharon:
Yeah. We have to always humble ourselves and remember he’s leading. He’s leading. He’s leading.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s so good.
Sharon:
He’s leading. So how about you? What did you learn about the early church?
Nicole:
Yeah. Prayer. I put prayer is really important. And their faithfulness in seeking him constantly and asking him for, guidance when selecting a new member. Like there was so much looking to God. Same thing. I think we think we either know it or we just assume, Oh, God knows my needs and he’ll supply it. Right?
Sharon: Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
Like you said, I’m not praying for food for my children tonight. (Sharon: No) I’m so blessed. I’m not praying that we’ll get over cancer right now. Like right now we’re in a really good spot. (Yeah) So my prayers aren’t that intense and faithful and long. And this was a good reminder to me, a good challenge. Hey, you should still be praying constantly. (Yes) There’s plenty of things to pray constantly about.
Sharon:
There sure is. And his desire is us to abide with him, to be that close.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
Every moment.
Nicole:
And it’s not just for the things to give and to receive, it’s also that relationship. He just wants to talk to us.
Sharon: Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
He just wants to hear us.
Sharon: I love it.
Nicole:
I’m like, oh God. Okay. So you wanna hear about my day even though it went fairly well. Okay, alright then, here goes.
Sharon:
That’s right. And then the gratitude thing comes from that too.
Nicole:
Oh yes. That changes our whole being, you know? And then finally, church is family. Just seeing them all together with loving on Mary and the brothers like taking care of each other, praying together, worshiping together. It’s so important to build that community, that closeness, with our church.
Sharon:
It is. Absolutely, with our, with our blood family when we can. I love looking at the choir with half the choir being your extended family and also we’re family, Nicole.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Even though we’re not related.
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
‘Cause we’re sisters in Christ.
Nicole:
And I love that.
Sharon:
It’s so good. I do. Well, okay. Well let us close in prayer. How’s that for a thought? Father, thank you. Thank you for this peek at the very, very beginning of the church for those who loved you, being faithful to pray and pray and pray. And just wait for your perfect timing for what was gonna come next. Lord, may we do likewise. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole:
Amen. It must have been so hard for the disciples to just wait and also hard to replace Judas and feel the sorrow of one of their own falling away from Jesus and then dying. We’re leaving them this week still waiting. How about you? Are you waiting with no end in sight? Sharon and I would be honored to pray for you as you try to wait. Well, you can email us at Sharon’s email address at sharon@sweetselah.org. You can also reach us through the Sweet Selah Ministries website, SweetSelah.org. We offer all kinds of encouragement to our followers. You can join online bible studies, watch our YouTube videos, read our weekly blog called Musings, and follow us on social media. Check us out and do come back next week as we study the event that changed our guys forever. We’re calling episode 127, Upended by the Holy Spirit. Have a great week.
Speaker 1:
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can print or download the transcript here.
Welcome to Season 9! Sharon and Nicole are digging in to the book of Acts this season, and they're starting with a talk about endings and new beginnings. As usual, there are lots of discoveries made as these two talk, share and laugh together. Join us as we begin this new series.
If you enjoy what you hear, consider leaving a review on your favorite podcast app. Comments are welcomed and answered. And, if you wish to become a partner with us in this ministry, you can donate here.
Read the transcript for Endings and Beginnings-Episode-125Speaker 1:
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy
lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word with Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of
refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and
Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole:
Welcome to Sweet Selah Moments. This is Episode 125 Endings and Beginnings. We are starting a brand
new season today. We’ll be studying the first eight chapters of the Book of Acts in the Bible. I’ve wanted
to look at the early church for quite some time, and now we are.
Sharon:
We are. This was your choice and I’m so glad you chose it, Nicole. I’m so excited. It’s going to be
fascinating to see how a band of random guys chosen on purpose by Jesus set out to share the good
news of life after death and rescue from sin’s grip. It really is amazing when you think about it. Jesus
chose unlikely men. He chose fishermen. He chose a radical zealot. He chose a tax collector just to name
a few. Some of the disciples just kinda show up and we don’t really know their background, but there
they are chosen by Jesus, not because of any great talent or fame, but because he wanted them. Isn’t
that the sweetest reason?
Nicole:
Oh, yeah.
Sharon:
I love it. Kinda like he chooses us. Right?
Nicole:
I know.
Sharon:
And they literally, by walking in the Spirit, change the world with the true message of salvation by faith in
Jesus. It’s an astounding story.
Nicole:
Yeah. It really is.
Sharon:
And we get to study it together.
Nicole:
I can’t wait. I’m really hoping that we can learn more about how they did church back then, Sharon. I’d
like to see what we can learn as we do church today.
Sharon:
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
It’d be very helpful. So let’s start though with some background on the book itself. So I did some
research and the Book of Acts was written by Luke, and I did not know that.
Sharon:
No kidding?
Nicole:
I was assuming it was written by Paul. But it was written by Luke and it was probably finished by 60 or 62
AD and they think that because Nero severely persecuted the Christians in 64, which you talk about. And
then Paul, his death was around between 64 and 68 AD they believe. So none of that was recorded. We
kind of left Paul at the end of Acts kind of in jail waiting (Sharon: Yes, yes) to see what happened. So theybelieve it was finished before then since Luke didn’t record it. Acts is the only biblical book that
chronicles the history of the church immediately after Jesus’s ascension.
Sharon:
It’s a really important book.
Nicole:
It’s a unique little book. Yeah.
Sharon:
It is, yeah.
Nicole:
So this book provides us with a valuable account of how the church was able to grow and spread out
from Jerusalem into the rest of the Roman Empire and eventually the entire world.
Sharon:
Yes.
Nicole:
And to us today. So this is really cool. So the title of the book of Acts comes from the Greek word ‘praxis’.
A word often used in early Christian literature to describe the great deeds of the Apostles or other
significant believers. So acts of believers, kind of cool. In short, the Book of Acts was written to provide a
history of the early church, which is what we need.
Sharon:
Do you know what? That was a fabulous introduction, thank you.
Nicole:
Oh, thank you.
Sharon:
So fun. Well, this is such a weird title for the beginning of a new series, Endings and Beginnings. But I
called this first episode that, because it’s kind of an overlap with the Gospel of Luke. Luke backs up a
little bit before we get to the early church, to the ascension, when Jesus is lifted up from earth, before he
then moves forward and chronicles what happens next. And I like that. You know how sometimes you’re
watching a movie and then there’s another part to it, and they kind of give you a summary a little bit.
Nicole:
Yes.
Sharon:
Or they bring you back a bit. So Luke is gonna start with Jesus’ ascension where he leaves, because really
that’s the beginning of when they have to figure things out without his physical presence there.
Nicole:
Right. That’s like a good recap for us.
Sharon:
Right.
Nicole:
Thank you, Luke.
Sharon:
Right. And then they’re in the same boat we’re in, they get the Holy Spirit, which hasn’t happened yet
either. But they don’t have physical Jesus walking around with them.
Nicole:
Right, right.
Sharon:Yeah. So, all right, well let’s start by reading Acts verses 1-11, our passage for today. And then we’ll look
at it in more detail. So I’ll start with verse one. Here we go. So, and here’s the reference to the Gospel of
Luke right in the first verse, Nicole. Here it is. “In my first book, I told you Theophilus about everything
Jesus began to do and teach”
Nicole:
“Until the day he was taken up to heaven after giving his chosen apostles further instructions through
the Holy Spirit.”
Sharon:
“During the forty days after he suffered and died he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he
proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive.”
Nicole:
I love that.
Sharon:
(Unbelievable) “And he talked to them about the kingdom of God.”
Nicole:
“Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, do not leave Jerusalem until the Father
sends you with a gift he promised, as I told you before.”
Sharon:
“John baptized with water, but in just a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Nicole:
“So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, Lord has the time come for you to free
Israel and restore our kingdom?”
Sharon:
“He replied, the Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times. And they are not for you to
know.”
Nicole:
“But you–” (Oh, go ahead)
Sharon:
Oh, sorry, it’s your turn.
Nicole:
I know, but it’s a good verse.
Sharon:
I was getting really wrapped up.
Nicole:
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses, telling
people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Sharon:
“After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see
him.”
Nicole:
“As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white robed men suddenly stood among them'”
Sharon:
“Men of Galilee, they said, Why are you standing there staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from
you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go.” So there we
are. Jesus has just left earth.Nicole:
Yes. Wow.
Sharon:
And that’s what we’re gonna look at today. The way we’re going to study this is we’re going to look at
small chunks instead of just one verse at a time. Because our last study was on Thessalonians and that
was a letter.
Nicole:
Yes.
Sharon:
It was a little different. This is history.
Nicole:
Yes.
Sharon:
And so I’m going look at the first chunk, the first three verses and chat about them, and then you’ll get to
move on after that. So here we go. So we’re gonna look at verses 1-3 first, and I’m gonna read them
again and then talk about ’em. So, “In my first book, I told you Theophilus about everything Jesus began
to do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven after giving his chosen apostles further
instructions from the Holy Spirit. During the forty days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the
apostles from time to time. And he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive and he talked
to them about the kingdom of God.” So Luke writes precisely. (Nicole: Yes) He always does. We know
that he’s chatting to Theophilus and that he actually did that for Luke too. So even though tons of people
read the gospel, he had a specific person in mind. He researched it very well. His Gospel of Luke. We
think that he got a lot of his information directly from Mary because, (Oh, wow) I know, because when
you look at Luke 2 we’ve got Mary pondering things in her heart. We’ve got the incident of Jesus going to
the temple when he is 12 and her freaking out because she can’t find him.
Nicole:
Oh. From a very motherly point of view, yeah. Wow.
Sharon:
A motherly point of view. So we think that he got a lot of eyewitness accounts. (Nicole: Yes) And put it all
together. (Oh, neat) So that’s what he did. So then he talks about the next very important thing that he’s
gotten from eyewitnesses which is during forty days after Jesus was risen from the dead that he kept
appearing. It’s interesting. He wasn’t, nobody could pin him down for all those forty days. Do you know
what I mean?
Nicole:
Yeah. He was kind of everywhere.
Sharon:
He was everywhere. He walked through doors. So his resurrected body could do things that his earthly
body could not do.
Nicole:
Wow!
Sharon:
It’s interesting. He has still the earthly body ’cause you can see the marks in his hands. (Nicole: Yes) That
hasn’t changed. But the ability to walk through doors is unique to him.
Nicole:
I tried it and I can’t do it yet.
Sharon:You can’t do it. No, I walk right into them. Exactly. So, and he proved to them in many ways that he was
really alive. That is such a fun verse because–
Nicole:
I know it makes me laugh.
Sharon:
It does. But that is the biggest stumbling block for people. (Nicole: Yeah) What you believe in somebody
that died, that they came back to life. That was a stumbling block back then. Just like the virgin birth was
(Right) as it is today. Because these are supernatural events that don’t happen, but they did. (Right) They
actually did. And I think it’s fun too, that when he came back, he talked to them about the kingdom of
God. A lot of training went on that we don’t, we don’t have that recorded. But I think it came out in the
apostles teachings and then in the early church. He was prepping them for when he was gonna ascend.
Isn’t that neat?
Nicole:
That’s so neat. I didn’t realize that he was around for forty days after his death and resurrection.
Sharon:
I know it. Yeah. It’s pretty cool.
Nicole:
I’m so excited about this book.
Sharon:
Yes.
Nicole:
There’s so much I didn’t know. Okay. So my turn and my section is verses 4-5. “So once when he was
eating with them, he commanded them, do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he
promised. As I told you before, John baptized with water. But in just a few days you will be baptized with
the Holy Spirit.” So I think it’s neat first that he was eating with them. He was doing very human things
still.
Sharon:
One of the proofs. Ghosts don’t chomp down on food.
Nicole:
No. Didn’t he say that when he first walked into the room? Like, Hey, feed me. Do you have some fish?
Sharon:
Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
Because they recognized his person, they recognized his face as Jesus. But it was still so fascinating. I
can’t wait to see what we’re gonna look like as we’re resurrected.
Sharon:
I know. It’ll be interesting.
Nicole:
We’re gonna be changed somehow.
Sharon:
Yes.
Nicole:
Because he is enough different that they had to be convinced he was alive.
Sharon:
Yes. And evidently, we’ll walk through doors.Nicole:
I know. You don’t even have doors in heaven. So he’s eating with them. He’s doing very human, very
community based things with them still. And he’s talking, he’s giving them instructions as he’s living life
with them still. This is so neat, that “sends you with the gifts he promised”. So Jesus is about to leave,
but God still promised to give them help, to give them gifts. He wasn’t just leaving them with nothing.
Sharon:
Not abandonment.
Nicole:
So I love that he didn’t and he told them to wait until they had these gifts, this help. So God doesn’t send
us out unprepared. Like, okay, well I was here, do my job. Good luck to you. He was like, wait, let me, let
me prepare you for this. (Sharon: Yes) Let me give you what you need in order to go out and do what I’ve
called you to do.
Sharon:
I love that. I love that.
Nicole:
Very neat.
Sharon:
Yeah. I wonder if they knew what he meant when he said, you’ll be baptized by the Holy Spirit.
Nicole:
I know. Probably not. This was also new to them. (Sharon: Yeah) They were the first believers to have
Jesus among them and then leave, and then the Holy Spirit. They were the very first. So all of this was so
new.
Sharon:
Exactly.
Nicole:
Probably had no context. So you probably tried to be like, okay, you were completely immersed in water
and you came out different. The Holy Spirit is gonna completely immerse you and you will be different.
Sharon:
Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
So he did a good job trying to explain it. They’re probably like, what is going on?
Sharon:
Yes. Exactly. What exactly is this? Yeah. It would’ve been very mysterious, I think.
Nicole:
I know!
Sharon:
Yeah. So, all right, well, my turn with verses 6-8. “So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking
him, Lord has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom? He replied, the Father alone
has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know, but you will receive
power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me
everywhere, in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Which is so cool.
So, okay. So they’ve got Jesus back. He’s resurrected. He’s eating fish. He’s talking to them about the
kingdom. And they’re like, so, so when is it coming?
Nicole:
Right. Let’s go.Sharon:
Right, right, ’cause all along, you know, part of the Old Testament prophecies haven’t been fulfilled yet
because Jesus’ Second Coming is coming as the Warrior King. Right? And so what messed up some
people, with Jesus’ First Coming is they didn’t read the, like Isaiah 53 passages that said he was gonna
suffer and die.
Nicole:
Right. Right.
Sharon:
They just looked at the warrior passages.
Nicole:
Oh yeah. The ones they wanted to happen now, because right then they were living in oppression. Yeah,
Sharon:
Right. Exactly. And so they’re still like, so is it now? Is it now? Is it now? I wonder when they got to
heaven, if they’re like, really, 2000 plus years?
Nicole:
You still—?
Sharon:
You know, it’s just so funny. It’s just so funny to me. But anyways, Jesus gives a very clear answer. These
dates are not for you to know. (Nicole: Yeah) Okie dokie. We don’t get to know it. (Yeah) You know,
sometimes our children ask us things and we’re like, you do not need to know that right now. (Right)
Yeah. Like, what is in my Christmas present or whatever. You do not need to know that now.
Nicole:
And it’s not out of maliciousness or lording it over, it’s out of concern and love because we know that
they can’t handle that information.
Sharon:
Right. Yes.
Nicole:
Or it would be damaging or whatever. So God knows that we cannot handle that information. No. We
can’t.
Sharon:
Nicole, can you imagine what it would be like if they’d been told, let’s, let’s just say Jesus is coming back
in 3000 years afterwards ’cause (Nicole: Right) I don’t know. And it’s not for me to know. (Right) Let’s just
say that. And what if he said, well, I’m coming back in 3000 years. Okay. So where’s the anticipation of
being ready for him to come?
Nicole:
Oh yeah. You’d slack, I would slack off hard. Like, oh, we got another thousand years before he comes. I
don’t have to be a good Christian. I just need to survive this. We got another thousand years of living on
this earth.
Sharon:
Mm-Hmm. Exactly.
Nicole:
It would be terrible.
Sharon:
It would be terrible.
Nicole:Wow.
Sharon:
That’s why we can’t know. (Nicole: Yeah) Because every generation has to know, this may be the last one
where people can hear about Jesus. (Mm-Hmm. Yes.) We can’t get lax.
Nicole:
We need that sense of urgency.
Sharon:
We do.
Nicole:
We really do. ‘Cause we’re so lazy in and of ourselves,
Sharon:
We are so naturally lazy. We really are. Oh my goodness. Oh, okay. So then in verse eight, he returns to
talking about the power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. So you’re gonna be baptized in the Holy
Spirit, whatever that is. (Nicole: Yeah) And I love the way you described it, immersed in God’s own Spirit
is what’s gonna happen. And then he gives a little bit more. He says, you’re gonna receive power. (Oh
yeah) That’s interesting. (That’s new) Yeah. That is new. Now, when he sent them out two by two, when
they were still apostling/discipling with him before his death, he gave them temporary power from the
Holy Spirit to heal. (Yes) But it was temporary for the mission.
Nicole:
Yeah. And even in the Old Testament, some people had, the Holy Spirit would come upon them for a
time, for a certain task.
Sharon:
Right.
Nicole:
But never stayed.
Sharon:
Never stayed. But now there’s gonna be this immersion where the Holy Spirit is within us where just like,
you know, he’s all through us.
Nicole:
Wow.
Sharon:
And there’s gonna be that power that’s there, which is so exciting.
Nicole:
I know.
Sharon:
And then he tells ’em their job. You’re my witnesses. And, I’ve told the story a million times. Ray Gamble
came to know Christ because they were the witnesses. Because they walked with Jesus. And they saw
him die, and they saw him rise again. And rather than deny what they saw, they endured horrible deaths.
(Nicole: Oh yeah) Because it was true. And they knew it was true. And that’s how my husband came to
faith (Amazing) was their witness. (That’s so beautiful) So he tells them that, you’re gonna be my
witnesses, but can you imagine them being told they’re gonna tell people everywhere, like to the ends of
the earth? What? Are you kidding me?
Nicole:
That’s a very big task God.
Sharon:That’s a huge task. How in the world?
Nicole:
Better get some better sandals.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. But I kind of like that this is even good advice for us. You know, we start in our own
Jerusalem. Right here with our family. I mean my little Jerusalem was my mom leading me to Christ at
age four. Right?
Nicole:
Right. Oh, I love that.
Sharon:
And then in school, I bridged out a little bit to my Judea and I told my school friends about him and then
Samaria and now we’re on a podcast that’s heard all over the world. So it does happen.
Nicole:
Yes.
Sharon:
It does.
Nicole:
But we don’t have to panic and head out to the farthest reaches of the world tomorrow. We need to
start, like you said, small with our little Jerusalem. I love that.
Sharon:
Yes. And he kept some people right in Jerusalem.
Nicole:
Yeah. Some of them didn’t leave.
Sharon:
You know, not everybody went to the ends of the earth. And he raised up Paul and Paul did a lot of the
ends of the Earth-ing. Right? So, but it’s just so fun that right then they’re listening. What, wait, we’re
gonna do what?
Nicole:
Maybe getting a little overwhelmed and God’s like just, Nope, start with, start here. (Sharon: Yes. Yeah) I
love that. All right, then I’ll finish up with verses 9- 11. These are fun verses. “So after saying this, he was
taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. And as they strained
to see him rising into heaven, two white robed men suddenly stood among them. Men of Galilee, they
said, Why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but
someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go.” Oh my word. I love these verses. I
just, you picture yourself there, just watching like Jesus, after you’ve gone through so much with him,
they followed him. They learned from him. They betrayed him. They’re restored to him. They watched
him be beaten and killed. They despaired. And here he was again. They had him back and now he’s
leaving again.
Sharon:
And only forty days later.
Nicole:
Only forty days. They probably were, I’m thinking their minds were whirling, trying to connect all the
things he had said about his death.
Sharon:
Yes. Yes.Nicole:
With the reality of that and the reality that he was resurrected and everything was coming to a
completion. It’s like, okay, so what did he say then? Does it mean this now? All of that in forty days and
then, hey, you’re going out to the ends of the world. So much.
Sharon:
So much.
Nicole:
Their little brains are probably processing so much.
Sharon:
Yes.
Nicole:
And they’re just standing there watching him go to heaven. I wonder how long they stood there.
Sharon:
I would’ve been hoping he came back down again. That’s for sure.
Nicole:
But maybe, maybe he was joking. Is this a test? What’s that? No, it’s a bird. And I love that though, but
Jesus even immediately doesn’t leave them in that state of loss of a dear person they love so much.
Sharon:
Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
He sends his, I’m assuming angels, ’cause they appeared suddenly.
Sharon:
I think they probably were.
Nicole:
Some angels go, Guys, what are you doing here? Why are you staring? He’s coming back. So immediately
Jesus comforts them, reassures them that he’s coming back.
Sharon:
Yes.
Nicole:
But you have a job to do. Yes,
Sharon:
Exactly. And you actually were told to go and wait in Jerusalem.
Nicole:
Right.
Sharon:
For the Holy Spirit.
Nicole:
So why are you standing here? You have a job. Such a beautiful thing that God comforted them and
reassured them and pointed them back to what they were supposed to be doing.
Sharon:
Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
He’s such a kind God. He didn’t leave them gaping there at the sky going what do we do now?
Sharon:Exactly. Exactly. They needed a little more of a nudge there (Nicole: Yes) definitely. And I love too, that it
says that he will return from heaven in the same way. Because that’s been passed down to us. I know
they probably thought, they probably looked at the sky a lot wondering, is this the day he’s coming back
the way he left. Right. And of course it wasn’t for any of them. (Right) And it may or may not be for us,
but we’ve got in Revelation that, wonderful talk, and I think Jesus said it too, that the Son of Man is
coming like lightning in the sky. No one’s gonna miss it. (Wow) When he returns, the entire world is
gonna know it.
Nicole:
So it won’t be a little quiet cloud elevator coming down.
Sharon:
Yeah. It’s gonna be pretty amazing.
Nicole:
Oh my goodness. It’s so exciting.
Sharon:
It really is. So we’re still looking forward to that second coming. (Nicole: Yeah) So my dad used to say,
keep your eyes to the skies. Look for him.
Nicole:
Yeah. Oh, that’s so neat.
Sharon:
I love it. Okay, so there, there’s our sort of dissection of it all. But now we’re gonna look at the whole
passage together and answer some of the key questions that we are asked. And our three questions for
this whole season will be, what was my favorite verse and why? What did we learn about God? I always
want that. Why did we learn about God from this passage? And number three, what did we learn about
the early church and how can we apply that to today? Because I really do believe the Bible is practical as
well. We are learning history, but we also wanna, well, what did I learn for me? (Nicole: Yeah) What can I
do now based on what I’ve learned?
Nicole:
Right. No, I love that.
Sharon:
So why don’t we start with you and your favorite verse.
Nicole:
I love verse 11, the very last verse. “Men of Galilee, they said, why are you standing here staring into
heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the
same way you saw him go.” So I just love God’s provision and his care. (Sharon: Yes) And his compassion
to comfort them in probably a bit of a scary moment. Like, oh no, we’re on our own. (Yeah) And then
that beautiful promise that he’s coming again. (Yes) So be ready. He’s coming. So I just think that’s so
neat because it was a comfort to them and a comfort to us.
Sharon:
It is. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they’d said goodbye to him when he died, and then only forty days later they
had that second. So.
Nicole:
Oh, so tough.
Sharon:
The comfort was needed.
Nicole:
Absolutely.Sharon:
Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
What about you?
Sharon:
I chose verse seven where Jesus said, “He replied, the Father alone has the authority to set those dates
and times, and they’re not for you to know”. I wrote, I’m being trained in waiting. (Nicole: Oh) And that
builds trust and faith. (Yeah) We don’t know everything, but you know what? If we knew everything,
where’s the faith? Where’s the trust?
Nicole:
Right. We wouldn’t go to him. ’cause we’d know it all.
Sharon:
No. We’d know it all. So this is a training time for us. Do we trust that he’s coming again? Do we look up
to the sky with anticipation? Do we have faith after over 2000 years that Yes, he will. He’ll be back.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s so good. Yeah.
Sharon:
Right. So that was my favorite verse because I’ve had a lot of training and waiting this year. So.
Nicole:
I know. We’re like it’s not my favorite year.
Sharon:
Yeah. So, okay. So I’ll start with this one. What did we learn about God from this passage? So one thing I
learned about God, and it’s from my favorite verse, God is not obligated to tell me everything. I would
like him to.
Nicole:
Yeah.
Sharon:
Yeah.
Nicole:
It’d be so nice if he was, but.
Sharon:
Yes. And sometimes it would make decision making easier, you know?
Nicole:
Yes. Yeah.
Sharon:
Do I do this or that? Well, if I knew the outcome, I’d know which way to go.
Nicole:
Clearly pick which one. Right.
Sharon:
Right. But I don’t. So, God wants me to gain and grow in trust and faith. And therefore, I’m not gonna
know everything, and I better just receive it like a little kid and not pout about it. So.
Nicole:
That’s good.
Sharon:And number two, God doesn’t abandon us. The Trinity, the Spirit part of the Trinity lives in me. And
that’s a huge mystery and gift. My God is not just outside me. He’s always in me. (Nicole: Yeah) I can’t
lose him, if I go to prison, he’s in me. (Yeah) You know, if somebody puts me on a deserted island, he’s in
me. He’s with me. They cannot, they can’t do it, Nicole. They can’t take God from me.
Nicole:
Oh, I love it. That’s so good.
Sharon:
Isn’t that awesome?
Nicole:
That’s a great thought.
Sharon:
Yeah. So how about you? What did you learn about God from this passage?
Nicole:
Oh, very similar. I was so impressed by that. The fact that we are never abandoned or unprepared to do
what God has called us to do. He calls us, sometimes it feels like an impossible task, but he’s there with
us. He prepares us. He comforts us. And I put also God living in us. Wow. Like we have the power of God
with us forever. We don’t get it taken. It’s not taken back when our job is done. God has given us the
Spirit forever. And that power is always available. And I– Wow. It’s hard for my little brain to process.
Sharon:
Yes. Yes. And we forget that.
Nicole:
We do. I do not tap into that enough.
Sharon:
No, we, we don’t. That’s exactly it. It’s there. We don’t tap into it.
Nicole:
It’s there. Yeah. And we take it for granted I think. I wonder if the people that had it for a shorter period
of time were–, if they could feel it more or had more of a rush with it, and when it was gone they missed
it. We remember, I remember very vaguely my period of time without the Holy Spirit in me. And I
remember the feeling when I was saved. And it was a remarkable feeling. (Sharon: Yes) But I’ve had him
in me now for 31 years. (Yes) So I think sometimes we forget what it was like to live without the Holy
Spirit.
Sharon:
Yeah. We do. And he’s still, it’s not like we’re robots. He’s not he’s not programming our every move.
(Nicole: Right) So we still have choice (We do. Yeah) to not tap in. (Right) And to go our own selfish way.
(Yeah) And to grieve him. (Yes) Because he’s a part of us. Right?
Nicole:
Right. We can make those choices to keep sinning. So it was a good reminder to me to be in that place of
awe still, that like a fresh, like he’s in me. God anointed me with the Holy Spirit. Wow. What am I doing
about that?
Sharon:
Yes. Yes. Yes. Totally immersed. So cool. Yeah. Okay. Well, Nicole, what did you learn about the early
church and the application kind of things?
Nicole:
Yeah. So they asked a lot of great questions. They were asking Jesus, even the, the silly questions like,
Hey, when are you gonna come and defeat the kingdom? And when are you gonna be the Warrior King?
But they weren’t afraid to ask questions. And they listened and they obeyed when the angels said to goto Galilee and to wait. They listened. And they waited. They got the help from the Holy Spirit. So I think
that was really very wise of them.
Sharon:
Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
To gather their wits before they went out into the ends of the earth. I thought that was good.
Sharon:
I love that. Yeah. And listening is a very important part of being the church (Nicole: Yeah) as a body. And
the whole body. They went to Jerusalem, not Galilee this time. (Oh yes. Yeah) But anyways, the whole, all
of them did it as a church.
Nicole:
Yes. Well, so that was the other thing too. They didn’t do things alone. They talked to each other and I
think even God sent them out in pairs. They were never alone in that. So I think like how can that apply
to us today? Not to try to do this on our own.
Sharon:
Right.
Nicole:
To ask good questions of each other and our pastors and our people that, you know, study the Bible.
Sharon:
And do it together.
Nicole:
And do it together. Yeah.
Sharon:
Absolutely.
Nicole:
But not forget to ask the Holy Spirit ’cause he did give us a wonderful guide right living within us.
Sharon:
He surely did. He surely did. And then, you know, like with our church goes in a certain direction. Like
now we’re going to be working with a program that adopts orphans from Africa. Which we did for a
season. (Nicole: Yeah) We went in the same direction. And we either supported those that were, or we
were one of the ones that did.
Nicole:
Right. Right. Oh that’s good.
Sharon:
Yeah. So I kinda like the togetherness there.
Nicole:
Yeah. What about you?
Sharon:
So, well, what I learned about the early church is, they started out pretty confused. Which comforts me.
They expected Jesus to be king right away. Straining their eyes to heaven. Come back, you know. It
must’ve been hard to see Jesus leave that scary moment. So their church, the church started with a great
loss of God’s physical presence on earth as Jesus.
Nicole:
Oh yeah. Wow.
Sharon:You know, it started with loss. Which is so fascinating to me. So I just, in terms of application, there are
gonna be times of loss. There’s gonna be times of sadness. (Nicole: Yeah) But great things can come out
even of sad times. (h, sure. Yeah) Because out of that huge loss came a cohesiveness as a group like
we’re gonna see. And obedience together so that together they could do Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and
the uttermost parts of the world. (Right) So loss can lead to still victory. Yeah.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s really good.
Sharon:
Yeah. So anyways, I think it is gonna be so much fun to watch them band together. And to see them do
what they do. And we’re actually stopping in chapter eight, and Paul starts in chapter nine. So early
church, even before Paul. The church that Paul persecuted, is what we’re looking at.
Nicole:
Oh, wow. That’s so neat.
Sharon:
So, it’s actually kind of fun. So we’re mostly looking at the disciples and the ones that they converted.
Nicole:
Yeah. I think it’ll be so fascinating ’cause you think of the early believers, oh, well, they’re the heroes of
the faith and how they did marvelous things for God. But I love seeing their humanness too.
Sharon:
Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
Their confusion, their loss, their scared. You know, I love seeing like, oh, okay. I can relate to that.
Sharon:
Exactly.
Nicole:
Because I’m right there with you.
Sharon:
Yes. Yes. They were never superhuman.
Nicole:
No. And how did they do it and how they went back to God. (Sharon: Right) So this’ll be so good.
Sharon:
It will. Well, let’s pray. Oh my. Lord, thank you. Thank you for the testimony, the witness, the beauty of
the early church. Thank you for the twelve rough and ready men you chose in your sovereign wisdom,
using the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. Thank you for what they did. Thank you for
their testimony and their faithfulness. Oh Lord. I really do wanna meet them someday, your precious
men. And Lord, as we study in the weeks ahead, teach us. Teach us how to do church well together. In
Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole:
Amen. We are so glad to be back with this new season that’s all about the early church. Studying God’s
word always yields treasures, and today was no exception. We’d love to hear from you. How’s your
church life going at the moment? Did you learn anything new from today’s talk? You can email us at
sharon@sweetselah.org or comment on this episode @sweetselah.org/podcast. Join us next week for
episode 126, The Waiting Days. Have you ever had to wait for something not knowing exactly how long
the wait would be? That’s hard. We’ll be talking about that next week as we dive into the second half of
Acts chapter one. Have a great week.
Speaker 1:We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative
production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be
found @sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can print or download the transcription here.
It's almost Christmas and time to reflect on the prophecies and promises concerning our Lord and Savior, Jesus. Join Nicole and Sharon for a happy discussion about Jesus' first ... and second coming! Merry Christmas, friends. We hope this episode brings tidings of joy to your souls.
Read the Transcript for Prophecy and Promise-Episode 124Speaker 1:
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word with Sharon and Nicole, we pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole:
Welcome to Sweet Selah Moments. This is episode 124 Prophecy and Promise At Christmas Time. We are taping this early, but by the time you hear us, Christmas will be just a few days away. Are you ready? Are you excited? We hope so. Sometimes Christmas can be a big disappointment when expectations fall through. Illness and bad weather can get in the way of the plans we make. We hope better for you this year. Sharon, I’ve been anticipating Christmas for a long time. I do my shopping as early as I can, as my goal each year is to be shopped, wrapped, and ready for Christmas before December 1st.
Sharon:
You are stunning with that, Nicole.
Nicole:
I heard that somewhere. I read it somewhere or someone told me and I said, that is what I want to do. It sounds wonderful. So it was not my own creation, but that leaves the month free for time with family and friends and slow drives with hot cocoa to see lights in the neighborhood. And you know, so many of those little activities that my kids just love to do that get lost in the shuffle if I’m running around last minute getting things together. So, for so many years I was overwhelmed and did not enjoy the season because I was so busy with merry making I didn’t even have time to sit and read a couple fun books with my kids. We used to have all these Christmas books I’d pull out just at Christmas time and every year I would look and go. We didn’t read any of them.
Sharon:
Oh, how sad.
Nicole:
And that made me so sad. I need to read these books. So now I keep things really simple and plan things out in advance so I don’t feel that hurry feeling that can steal joy.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
It’s awful. So it really gets in the way of anticipation of Christmas to be so busy. So I can’t sit and reflect on Jesus’s miraculous birth if I’m stressed and frantic. So this year I am really anticipating the peace of the season now.
Sharon:
I am so impressed by you and I’m not a shopper, so I do it all in one day.
Nicole: Do you?
Sharon:
Yes. And I just make my big long list and I start early and I just go to the stores and when I’m done, I’m done. Because I don’t like shopping. So it has to be just one day. That’s all I can endure. So I haven’t started
Nicole:
There’s still a few days left to get it done, you know?
Sharon:
Yes. But I will.
Nicole:
That’s awesome.
Sharon:
What I’m anticipating is it’s been a long time since I have had all my grandchildren in my own home (Nicole: Oh) for Christmas. We often go to see them, but they’re all coming to us. And now that I’ve invited them and they’re all coming, I’m a little panicked because there are seven of them and they are older now, so they are big. And it is a small house and it’ll be winter. So, I’m working on, you know, where are the boots gonna go? Where are the coats gonna go? (Oh, sure) What are we gonna do every day? And I have this really fun Christmas pickle game we’re gonna play. (Oh, fun) We have a little pickle we hide on the tree. And we’re gonna hide it every day.
Nicole:
Oh, I love that.
Sharon:
And there’ll be a present every day for the pickle finder.
Nicole:
Sharon, what a fun idea. That’s a great idea.
Sharon:
It’s gonna be so fun. And sometimes the present will be just for the pickle finder, but sometimes it’ll be like candy canes for everybody and they’ll share out the candy canes and stuff. So.
Nicole:
I wanna come to your house and play this game.
Sharon:
And another rule, once someone has found the pickle, they get to hide the pickle, but not participate. (Nicole: Oh) So that the little guys that might not find the pickle as fast, get a chance to find the pickle.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s great. Wow.
Sharon:
I’m having fun with it, so I hope they do so.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s so fun.
Sharon:
So, a lot of the fun for me right now is anticipating.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
It really is.
Nicole:
Oh, it’s the best part sometimes.
Sharon:
Yeah, but anticipation isn’t new. From earliest days, people have looked forward to different events. (Nicole: Yes) The Old Testament is full of holidays and feast days. And I suspect people looked forward to ceasing work, which you do at a holiday and just enjoying themselves. We all need the rhythm of work, rest, play. So today we’re gonna look at some key passages of anticipation of the birth of the Messiah. And then we are gonna do some anticipating of our own as we anticipate a second coming as King.
Nicole:
Oh, fun. I love this. So we’ll start with prophecies and go back and forth sharing what the prophets said and then how they were fulfilled. And we’ll answer the question every time, “What was being anticipated?”. So Sharon, why don’t you start us off in Genesis. Seems like a good place to start.
Sharon:
Right at the beginning. I remember back in my college days at Gordon College learning about the first mention of Jesus in the Bible and being astonished that it happened in Genesis.
Nicole: That’s so fun.
Sharon:
Good grief. It’s called in theological language, the proto— see if I can say it, protoevangelium. Now there’s a mouthful. The definition from Merriam’s Dictionary is this, “A messianic interpretation of a text, presaging man’s ultimate triumph over sin through a coming Savior, used as the first anticipation of the gospel.
Nicole:
Hmm. That’s neat.
Sharon:
And that’s Genesis 3:15. So I’m gonna read Genesis 3:14 and 15. It’s the part where God is angry with the serpent for having deceived Eve. And then her eating, and Adam eating the forbidden fruit. The serpent gets an immediate consequence and a future consequence to anticipate. And let me tell you, it’s negative for sure. Nothing nice about this anticipation. Here’s the passage. “Then the Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly groveling in the dust as long as you live. And I will cause hostility between you and the woman. And between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head. You will strike his heel.” So way back in the beginning of time, God knew he would send his Son to be an offspring of a woman.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
Stunning. Yeah. We read all about it all over the New Testament. I chose a verse from Paul’s letter to the Galatians, Galatians 4:4, that shows that fulfillment. It says this, “But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.” So here’s the anticipation. This curse was passed on orally from Adam, who heard it, to his children, guess what God told the serpent. (Nicole: Right) It was all oral right from the beginning. And the children passed it on, in the garden this is what happened. Nothing was written down till Moses.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
So this was oral history.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s so cool. I forget about that.
Sharon:
Isn’t that fascinating? And you can just hear the grandfather telling the children around the campfire, and God said to the serpent, you will grovel on your belly for the rest of your life, right. All that stuff. So the anticipation was there, and then Moses wrote it down, that there would come a time when the enemy, the serpent, would be crushed in the head by someone who would be born of a woman who was strong enough to deal with him. What a reassurance. Someday Satan, because of course Satan is
represented by the serpent, we’re gonna smash you in the head. (NIcole: Yeah) Yeah. It’s a little fuzzy, not made clear until much later. They’re reciting things they don’t completely understand, but still, (Right) it was there. Satan who inhabited the serpent might strike the Redeemer’s heel, but the Christ, the Anointed One would strike his head. There would be a battle. And where would you rather be hit, your head or your heel?
Nicole:
Right. The head’s a lot more—
Sharon:
Oh yeah. The head is it, where’s the most damage inflicted? Your head. I love that right after the fall from that great perfection of the Garden of Eden, God was already setting up a plan to defeat the enemy. Okay. Nicole, your turn.
Nicole:
That’s so good.
Sharon:
What else does the Bible say about Jesus’ coming? His birth?
Nicole:
Yeah. Oh, this is gonna be so fun. So I’m gonna read from Numbers 24:17 first. So, the verse is,”I see him but not here and now. I perceive him but far in the distant future. A star will rise from Jacob. A scepter will emerge from Israel.” So this is interesting. So the prophecy here is from Balaam and he’s actually not, he’s not a prophet from God. I think he’s a pagan prophet. And the ‘see’ is more of an inner anticipation or expectation of a future seeing because he’s not gonna see Jesus tomorrow. Right. But because we will all see Jesus one day when we stand before him for final judgment. And sometimes in prophecies, the timeline is hard to tell, ’cause they’ll be given a vision and then even the prophets aren’t entirely sure when this will come about.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
But for this one, there’s definitely a far out happening.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
So, and then he talks about the star, A star will rise from Jacob, and the star is both literal and metaphorical, an actual star in the sky to signify a King has been born. But because it’s such a heavenly sign, it points to the fact that Jesus is God’s Son. Not just a grand king, but the grand King. And then Jesus is also called the Bright and Morning Star. I think that’s in Matthews, where they call him that. So, and then the name Jacob is listed in connection with his dissent from the line of David. So fulfills a
prophecy that he will come from the line of David, from Jacob, also called Israel. So there’s a lot just in the beginning.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
And then the scepter will emerge from Israel. So again, the scepter is referring to royalty. That he’s coming from the line of Jacob and David. And that’s a royal line. So very cool.
Sharon:
Yes. So much.
Nicole:
Yeah. Just in that. So then we read in Matthew the anticipation or the conclusion of that, “Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the reign of King Herod. About that time, some wise men from Eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem asking, Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose and we have come to worship him”. And that’s Matthew 2:1-2. So we see the actual physical star here, the one God placed in the sky to announce his Son’s birth, and the birth of a star or a person of great importance, a celebrity was also born, which was God’s son, the Messiah. This is the most anticipated arrival ever in history. The Jewish nation of Israel had been longing for and anticipating his arrival for hundreds of years.
Sharon: Hundreds.
Nicole:
They had that 400 (year) period of silence. That was just excruciating for them. And also the wise men correctly call him king and have come to worship him as he deserves. It’s pretty amazing to see how all these little things line up, just from one vers, to his birth.
Sharon:
Isn’t it amazing?
Nicole:
I’m sure there’s more in there, but I was like, okay. That’s probably good.
Sharon:
It’s fabulous.
Nicole: It is.
Sharon:
It is. And kudos to the wise men who came so far away because they anticipated and yearned to see the newborn king.
Nicole:
Yes. Wasn’t that so cool? They must have been watching. I wonder if they knew beforehand to watch the sky or they just happened to go, Hey, what’s that new star? Let’s figure it out. So cool.
Sharon:
Yeah, so cool. I love it. I love it. Okay, here’s the next one that we chose. It’s Psalm 72:10-11. “The western kings of Tarshish and other distant lands will bring him tribute, the eastern kings of Sheba and Seba will bring him gifts. All kings will bow before him, and all nations will serve him.” So here we go. Solomon is about to ascend to the throne in this particular Psalm, and it ends with the prayers of David about Solomon. And he’s seeing into the future, and he’s seeing that there’s going to come a time when Messiah will be there and kings will come and worship from far lands and they will bring gifts. I just can’t stand it because Matthew 2:11 says they, the wise men, entered the house and saw the child with his mother Mary. And they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. (Nicole: Wow) It’s just so cool. David, again, like you said, prophecies, the person that’s prophesying is seeing vaguely into the future. (Yes) Right? They don’t know exactly, but these wise men that may or may not have been actual kings, but maybe they were kings, who knows. But they’re coming with wealth. They’re coming with the bearing of kings and they’re bringing gifts. And he saw it, he saw it in advance. And then can you imagine Mary and Joseph, these poor people that, you know, birthed in a stable and evidently have a little house maybe by the time that wise men show up. And their baby is being bowed to by these wealthy men and being given gold. (Wow) And that is what we believe facilitated them living in Egypt, ’cause they had nothing.
Nicole: Oh, really?
Sharon:
And then they had to flee, right? So that Jesus wasn’t killed. What are they gonna live on? They’re immigrants. Oh, how about gold?
Nicole:
Right. We can hock the frankincense, right?
Sharon:
Right. Exactly. Exactly. So fun. So fun.
Nicole:
It is. So, we’re in Isaiah now, Isaiah 7:14. “All right then the Lord,” (is that part of the verse?)
Sharon:
It is in the New Living Translation. And it doesn’t even sound like it’s part of the verse.
Nicole:
It doesn’t, I was like, is that a Sharon word In the beginning?
Sharon:
Sounds like it, but I did not do the New Living Translation.
Nicole:
“All right then the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look, the virgin will conceive a child. She will give birth to a son and will call him Emmanuel, which means God is with us.” So Isaiah is giving validation to this by saying the Lord himself will give a sign. Like this isn’t just him speculating, and the sign is a virgin birth. So this is completely unheard of and quite impossible from a human perspective. We can’t manifest this.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
We cannot. Science is trying and I don’t think we can do it yet. And also there’s a really big hint with the name Emmanuel, God with us.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
So that’s kind of cool. So then we read in Matthew 1:18, “This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother Mary was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit.” So here we have the fulfillment, the anticipation of Emmanuel. He is with them now. So cool. He’s here. And Mary was unwed and still a virgin. And she conceives a baby. And that’s only through the power of the Holy Spirit could this have happened.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
And it states it clearly how it came about.
Sharon: Yes. Yes.
Nicole: Amazing.
Sharon:
And Isaiah saw it beforehand. And when the New Testament was written, and they’re explaining all this, they used passages like this to understand it. Jesus is God with us. Isaiah told them that long time ago.
Nicole:
I think that’s so neat.
Sharon:
I do too. Oh my goodness. And again, in Isaiah, because Isaiah just got the lion’s share of all this.
Nicole:
He’s got all the fun prophecies about the baby. Yes.
Sharon:
I super wanna meet him in heaven.
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
Unbelievable. Okay. So I’ve got Isaiah 9:6-7. “For a child is born to us. A son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, his government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David, for all eternity, the passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s armies will make this happen.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s a cool verse.
Sharon:
I know. Like, you better believe this is gonna happen. Right? So there’s a ton in here. The fact that there’s a child born, which we’ve already talked about. The fact that he’s called mighty God. God with us again. (NIcole: Yes) You know, it’s God in flesh. The the embedding of the Trinity is here, right here at the beginning. But what we’re gonna look at, and this one is that it’s from his ancestor David. (Yeah) And so that’s why everybody looking for Messiah would look for someone from the line of David. (Yeah) It had to be from the line of David. (That’s so interesting) Yeah. So Luke 1:31-32 says, “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. So there it’s spelled out really, really clearly. (Yeah) You are the one.
Nicole:
Yeah. He came for his own.
Sharon:
This one is coming. Yes. Exactly. So there it is.
Nicole:
Well, and mine kind of continues from that too, a little bit. I’m in Isaiah 11:1-2. “Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot. Yes, a new branch bearing fruit from the old root. And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him. The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.” So again, it’s kind of tracing Jesus’s lineage through David. But this is an interesting view on it. So from what I can gather, Jesse’s family was a bit obscure before David became king. Like they weren’t, you know, really well known. (Sharon: Right) And then again, Mary and Joseph were not well known or famous or prominent. And Jesus came from a long line of messy broken people.
Sharon: He did.
Nicole:
David’s line was kind of a hot mess. You know, he was an adulterer and a murderer. Rahab, the prostitute, then way back with Adam, the bringer of original sin. You know, the list is not impressive, nor is there a lot of wisdom or understanding in the family line thus far. But God. But God steps in and then in verse, in John 3:34 it says, for he is sent by God, he speaks God’s words, for God gives him the Spirit without limit. So I think the anticipation here is this healing, I think. This new shoot, this new branch of David’s family that has the Spirit without limit, the Spirit that gives wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, knowledge and fear of the Lord. So it’s like this strong, fresh new sprout that we can safely trust and look to.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
So he is from the line of David, but he’s gonna be the real true King. The one that will have the Spirit of God. So I think that’s part of it, because it was kind of hard to find, you know? But he’s a Spirit without limit. He has access to all of this without end. And he will not fail.
Sharon:
Exactly. He will not fail like every other person. I mean, all our genealogies are messy, let’s face it. (Nicole: Oh yeah) And we contribute to the mess. (Yes) So this so cool. And I love that Trinity is here again. Right. Spirit. Right. The Spirit of, so you see God, the Father, God, the Son, God the Holy Spirit, even in these verses.
Nicole:
That’s so neat.
Sharon: Amazing.
Nicole:
There’s so much in them.
Sharon:
Yeah. Okay, well we’re moving from Isaiah, although we didn’t have to, there’s probably more there.
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
We’re going to a kind of a sad verse. Poor Jeremiah. He’s called ‘the weeping prophet’ for a reason. He spent most of his life miserable. I mean, his job was to basically bemoan the fact that Israel was going to be taken into captivity. (Nicole: Right) Because they wouldn’t listen and they didn’t listen. And God said, they won’t listen to you, but say it anyways. (Nicole: Oh!) I know.
Nicole:
Sad. That’s a tough job.
Sharon:
I think he must be so happy to be in heaven now.
Nicole: Probably.
Sharon:
On the other side of all this. Yeah. So, but this is a particularly brutal verse. It says this, “This is what the Lord says. A cry is heard in Rama, deep anguish, bitter weeping. Rachel weeps for her children refusing to be comforted, for her children are gone.” I get that. Don’t comfort me. My child was taken from me. Nobody, you do refuse to be comforted to begin with. You’ve gotta grieve it out, right? (Nicole: Oh yeah) It’s a horrible thing. Children are supposed to outlive their parents. And when they don’t, it is a grief I’ve watched friends walk through that is unimaginable. It’s just awful, awful, awful. And when it happens under the circumstances in which Jeremiah saw it, it’s like triple awful. So let me read what happened in Matthew 2:16. “Herod was furious when he realized that the wise men had outwitted him.” (Sharon: ’cause of course Herod had said, Oh, come back and tell me when you find the Messiah) (Nicole: Yes) (Sharon: Because basically I’m going to kill him. (Nicole: Right) (Sharon: And the wise men got a dream that said, don’t you be going back to Herod)
Nicole:
Right. He’s up to no good.
Sharon:
So anyways, Herod’s furious. “So he sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem, who were two years old and under, based on the wise men’s report of the star’s first appearance.” What kind of a brutal person does that?
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
I can’t. I don’t want to even think about it, Nicole. The thought of a sweet mama with her firstborn son, or her third born son. It doesn’t even matter what born son.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
Her little 2-year-old or her infant.
Nicole:
Oh, I know.
Sharon:
Because it was two and under. What did they ever do?
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
Nothing. Of course there was crying. Of course, Rachel representing Israel, (NIcole: Yes) is saying, I refuse to be comforted. Leave me alone.
Nicole:
Just makes no sense.
Sharon:
Just scream and pull out my hair. They killed my children. Unbelievable. The battle that raged when God entered Mary and distilled himself as a baby was intense, in the spiritual realm. Because here comes Messiah, the One that’s gonna save us from death. And Satan, the enemy, is gonna nip at that heel as much as he can.
Nicole:
Oh, he’s not going down without a fight.
Sharon:
No. He is not going down.
Nicole:
He tried everything to get him.
Sharon:
And, you know, all I can think of is, Joseph was chosen so well, of course God chose well. Because if he had not obeyed instantly. Like, he gets the dream. Get up and go. What if he’d been like, okay, well I need to kind of tie things up here.
Nicole: Oh, right.
Sharon:
I would’ve been more likely doing that.
Nicole:
Right. You sure God, Egypt? Like it’s kinda, you know?
Sharon:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was gone in a heartbeat. And if he hadn’t, Jesus would’ve been killed.
Nicole:
Right. Oh my goodness.
Sharon:
So what a wonderful earthly protective daddy he was. That saved Jesus’ life.
Nicole:
Oh, I never thought about that about Joseph. That’s so sweet.
Sharon:
Yeah. And it’s so stunning to me that God let Jeremiah see this tragedy hundreds of years before. And I think it’s because God knows it was a tragedy. God is grieved too. He doesn’t love evil. And I bet all those little babies are so loved in heaven that died. I know. But what an awful, awful, awful thing.
Nicole:
I know. And he saw all those mamas in their grief too.
Sharon: Yes, he did.
Nicole:
He did. That was really sweet. Alright, so Hosea 11:1 says, “When Israel was a child, I loved him. And I called my son out of Egypt.” So this one is really interesting. I think there’s two parts, actually, I have three parts to this. I saw the first was kind of the reference to salvation. You know, when Israel was a child, you know, disobedient and kind of willful, I loved him. And I called my son out of Egypt. So without, we can’t procure our own salvation. Neither could Israel, neither could his son. You know there’s nothing of our own merit that allowed this salvation. You know, the calling out of Egypt, Egypt at that time was their oppressor. (Sharon: Yes) Just miserable. So there’s that. Then there’s (the) actual
Israel was called out of Egypt. (Yes) He called the whole nation out of there and saved them from Egypt. But then also, we’ll go to Matthew 2:13. “It says, after the wise men were gone an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, Get up, flee to Egypt with the child and his mother, the angel said, stay there until I tell you to return because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So here we see the actual calling out of his son out of Egypt, because (Yes) he was going to be killed. You know? So I think the anticipation here, God’s protection and perfect plan for us.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
You know, this seemed like just a scary place for his only son to be in, surrounded by the horrific death of all the peers, all the little boys in his life that he would’ve grown up with, you know, and then having to flee for his life with his parents. Like we were just, you had mentioned earlier they were not wealthy people. And the type of work that Joseph did, he probably had established some clients and established himself. And to have to uproot that and leave to a foreign country with your little 2-year-old and your wife. And then have to reestablish, you know, your work in a new place, and Egypt wasn’t exactly a godly nation.
Sharon: No.
Nicole:
They had a horrific history with them. So you had mentioned too Joseph’s faithfulness in trusting God to go to this place that seemed like a terrible idea.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
Go to Egypt, God?
Sharon: Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
And to listen. You know, I think sometimes we despair when life gets tough. You know, like, oh, this isn’t God’s best for us. You must have messed up. But look at what God led Jesus through.
Sharon: I know.
Nicole:
You know? God did not abandon his son and he will not abandon us. (Sharon: No) Even when it seems like evil has won, God made a way to protect his son.
Sharon:
Yes, he sure did. And then he calls his son out of Egypt back to Israel eventually.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And it’s like if you read this verse before it all, you’re like, wait, wait, the Messiah is supposed to be born in Bethlehem. How is he being called out of Egypt? But he was.
Nicole:
He was, he was left there for a time and kind of a scary situation as well. And then he brought him back to where he needed him to be.
Sharon:
Right. So a prophecy that didn’t make sense becomes sensible. Yeah.
Nicole:
Right. Yeah. Very interesting.
Sharon:
Yeah. Oh, I love it. Okay. Micah, this is one of my favorites because it’s about a tiny thing. I like the Tinies. Micah 5:2. “But you Oh, Bethlehem Ephrathah are only a small village among all the people of Judah, yet a ruler of Israel whose origins are in the distant past will come from you on my behalf. (Nicole: Ooh!) I love that. And that is why of course, when the wise men said we’re here for the Messiah the rabbis that Herod had them consult said Bethlehem. (Wow) Because Micah 5:2 actually. Because of Micah 5:2 right there.
Nicole:
Because of this passage. That’s pretty cool.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. So people knew he was coming from Bethlehem, which is why going back to ‘I’m calling my son out of Egypt’, would’ve been like, what?
Nicole:
He’s supposed be in Bethlehem.
Sharon:
And yet it was both. Yeah. So, so here it is. Luke 2:1-7: “At that time, the Roman Emperor Augustus decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire (This was the first census taken
when Quirinius was governor of Syria) all returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child. And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger because there was no lodging available for them.” So it was a census during Quirinius’s reign, which Luke is very specific. So that’s actually how we know when Jesus, the right timeframe.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
So fascinating. But Jesus had to be born in Bethlehem. So God used a secular ruler who thought it was time to find out how many people he had. Right?
Nicole:
To bring about the prophesy.
Sharon:
To bring Joseph to Bethlehem.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
Unbelievable how the prophets could prophesy this years before it happened and how it doesn’t even seem like it would’ve, they lived in Nazareth.
Nicole:
Right. How did they end up over there?
Sharon:
So many prophecies. Nicole, looking at them all as a whole, what stood out to you the most?
Nicole:
This was so fun. You know, God gave so many, gave the prophets so many little and big clues, and he gave so many details and so many seemingly random and unconnected things that needed to be fulfilled in order for Christ to have been the correct Messiah. You know?
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
I remember in high school, one of my teachers had talked about, I think there’s over 400 plus prophecies about Jesus’ coming.
Sharon: So many.
Nicole:
And he said that for that to have been a random occurrence that Jesus just [filled] it is like the entire world was covered with little, like one by one tiles. And that one tile had a star on it. If you just walked over the entirety of the earth and randomly picked up one of those tiles and they found the star, that’s how improbable it would be for someone to just randomly fulfill all of these prophecies. So it had to be God ordained that Jesus came when he did. (Sharon: Yes) And all these events lined up. It just, it’s mind boggling to wrap your head around it.
Sharon:
Isn’t it? It really is. It is. It’s a stunning testimony to why the word of God is so important to us.
Nicole:
Yes. It’s beautiful.
Sharon:
And why we can trust it. We have actually no time to talk about looking for a second coming, because we spent the entire time on his first. But I will say this, we can trust the prophecies, even the ones we don’t completely understand yet, when Jesus coming back.
Nicole: Yes. Yeah.
Sharon:
Because it’ll be like it was for these guys. It’ll be, Aha.
Nicole:
That’s what you meant.
Sharon:
That’s what you meant. (Nicole: Right) Yeah. And they’ll all be fulfilled. I have no doubt.
Nicole:
Yeah. But they all come about in his time, in his way. So we can just trust that he’s got this.
Sharon:
Yes. He does.
Nicole:
Even if it seems super obscure, like this won’t happen. Trust God. He’s got it. He’s got it. He’ll make a way.
Sharon:
He’s got it. And he sees the whole of history from beginning to end. Now. (Nicole: Yes) We live in a tiny little timeline part of it. But God sees the beginning from the end. (He does. We can trust it) And so, I mean, obviously he knows where the end is. He’s already seen it. (Right) So we can trust, and I love it that he gives us glimpses just to reassure us that he’s got this. Even the hard things. So.
Nicole:
That’s so good.
Sharon:
Well, let me pray. Oh, thank you Lord. Thank you for the coming of Messiah. Thank you that you did distill yourself into human flesh and came as a weak and helpless little baby. Thank you for the rescue into Egypt and back. Thank you for all the things. Thank you for the fight that went on so that we could live with you forever because of the death and resurrection of your son. We honor you this Christmas. We love that we can anticipate the return of the King Jesus someday. Hallelujah. In your name Lord. Amen.
Nicole:
What a reassurance we have that God’s words are true. As you worship the Lord Jesus this Christmas remember all the planning that God did in order to bring us home to him someday and whisper an extra prayer of thanks. Merry Christmas everyone.
Speaker 1:
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @SweetSelah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can print and download the transcript here.
We are finishing our series on Paul's letters to the Thessalonians today with a chat about having a good work ethic among other things. Join Sharon and Nicole for the grand finale as they discuss How to Live Wisely in Troubled Times.
Read the transcript for Good Work!-Episode 123Speaker 1:
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word With Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole:
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 123. We are calling it Good Work. Let’s start by talking about work. Sharon, what kinds of jobs have you had over the years?
Sharon:
Well, a ton, Nicole. I just did everything I guess. I started out babysitting as I think most girls did back when I was young. I graduated to cleaning houses.
Nicole: Oh.
Sharon:
And hostess-ing at a restaurant. I wasn’t old enough to waitress at first. From there I waitressed my way through college.
Nicole: Nice.
Sharon:
And then I also lived with a lady who had multiple sclerosis, and I was paid by the state to help her with her daily tasks. I loved her so much, Nicole.
Nicole: Oh, I bet.
Sharon:
It really was wonderful. And looking back on that, she really prepared me well for the days of caregiving with Dad Gamble. So that was good. Who knew? I taught junior high students. I worked for a radio station in the advertisement department. I raised two sweet daughters. So there was the mother gig (Nicole: Yes) that went on. I taught piano lessons. I worked for Moms in Prayer. I was a receptionist at Portsmouth Christian Academy in the summers.
Nicole:
Oh, were you? That’s so fun.
Sharon:
I was the summer face. Yes.
Nicole: Nice.
Sharon:
And now I direct Sweet Selah Ministries. So just you know, a few jobs.
Nicole:
Just a few things. My goodness.
Sharon:
And you know what’s kind of funny? I majored in history.
Nicole: Did you?
Sharon:
At Gordon College. And I have yet to do any history related job. So perhaps in my nineties I’ll find a job in history.
Nicole:
Find something else. Yeah, and use that degree.
Sharon:
Yeah. Because when I was a teacher, I taught my minor, English and French, which I should never have been allowed to teach. I didn’t know enough. But anyways, I’ve totally loved the variety of jobs. And I have to say, this current job running Sweet Selah Ministries is my second favorite. First favorite is always mama and grandma.
Nicole: Oh, sure.
Sharon:
But second favorite. How about you?
Nicole:
That’s nice. Well, we’re so similar. We’ve both had a variety of jobs for sure. I also started babysitting at the age of 10 for family friends.
Sharon: Wow.
Nicole:
She started with two kiddos and she ended up with eight. But I only babysat up until she had, I think, five. They moved away. So I babysat. I also cared for an elderly woman with Parkinson’s disease.
Sharon: Wow.
Nicole:
I would bike over to her house and do her hair for her and just visit with her and clean her house while her husband would go shopping.
Sharon: That’s sweet.
Nicole:
Yeah. Odds and ends. So kind of funny. I also would house sit for people with dogs, if they’re going on vacation. And then I worked at JC Penney’s for a while in the men’s suit department. I would measure and fit suits. And then I was over in the jewelry department for a while, and that was so fun. I loved helping people pick out things, their you know, an engagement ring or something. So then after college I became a dental assistant and worked in several different dental offices. And actually I cleaned computers for a while too, over the summer.
Sharon: Huh?
Nicole:
At a local school district. That’s where I met Josh actually. He was interning there as technician.
Sharon:
That is so cute.
Nicole:
And I was cleaning computers. I’m like, oh, who’s that guy? Anyways, I cleaned computers. Then I worked at a crisis pregnancy center for a few years as a client advocate, and then I trained as a lactation counselor to help the new moms for a while. So that was really fun. I loved that. Oh yeah, then I had a few babies in there. Then there’s that mom gig that you never quite, you’re never quite finished with that one.
Sharon: Never.
Nicole:
Yeah. And so currently I am mom-ing these four brilliant and busy ladies. And I’m a dog owner and breeder, also helping with email for that. And now I am a podcast co-host with Sweet Selah Ministries.
Sharon:
Look at you! Do you know what is fun about this? You know how when you’re trying to choose your college and you’re trying to choose what you’ll do for the rest of your life?
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
It’s this big huge decision.
Nicole: Oh yeah.
Sharon:
And if you get it wrong, you know, life will never be the same again. (Nicole: Right) And yet, look at the variety of jobs we’ve held. It’s amazing. It really is.
Nicole:
Oh yeah. And nothing to do with like that one, what is your one path the rest of your life? I was paralyzed trying to decide that.
Sharon:
Oh yeah, you can be.
Nicole:
And dental assisting is such a small part of my life, I’ve done so many other things that I have loved and that God has used. So it’s okay, young, overwhelmed high schooler. You will not ruin your life by choosing the wrong career path for a few years.
Sharon:
Absolutely not. And there’s time and a lifespan to do a lot of fun things.
Nicole:
Oh yes. Absolutely.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. Boy. Okay. Well, today we’re finishing up our study of Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians. As Paul finishes this last letter to them he talks about a lot of different things. But one of the themes is how then should we live and work in light of troubled times and in light of being believers in Christ. I think this chapter is really relevant to all of us today. So how about we start? I’ll begin with chapter three, verse one. And we’ll read the whole chapter back and forth before we study, verse by verse. So here we go, 2 Thessalonians 3:1. “Finally”, (that’s kind of a clue it’s the last chapter) “Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we ask you to pray for us. Pray that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and be honored wherever it goes, just as when it came to you.”
Nicole:
“Pray too that we will be rescued from wicked and evil people. For not everyone is a believer.”
Sharon:
“But the Lord is faithful. He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.”
Nicole:
“And we are confident in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we commanded you.”
Sharon:
“May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ.”
Nicole:
“And now, dear brothers and sisters, we give you this command in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Stay away from all believers who live idle lives and don’t follow the tradition they received from us.
Sharon:
“For you know that you ought to imitate us. We were not idle when we were with you.”
Nicole:
“We never accepted food from anyone without paying for it. We worked hard day and night, so we would not be a burden to any of you.”
Sharon:
“We certainly had the right to ask you to feed us, but we wanted to give you an example to follow.”
Nicole:
“Even while we were with you, we gave you this command. Those unwilling to work will not get to eat.”
Sharon:
“Yet we hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing to work and meddling in other people’s business.”
Nicole:
“We command such people and urge them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to settle down and work to earn their own living.”
Sharon:
“As for the rest of you, dear brothers and sisters, never get tired of doing good.”
Nicole:
“Take note of those who refuse to obey what we say in this letter. Stay away from them so they will be ashamed.”
Sharon:
“Don’t think of them as enemies, but warn them as you would a brother or sister.”
Nicole:
“Now, may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times and in every situation, the Lord be with you all.”
Sharon:
“Here is my greeting in my own handwriting, Paul. I do this in all my letters to prove they are for me.”
Nicole:
“May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.” I love that ending part.. So funny.
Sharon:
I love it. I love it. Okie dokie. That’s a lot. So we’re gonna break it down and examine each verse one at a time. I’m gonna reread verse one as we begin to dig deep. I love this part.
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
Okay. So my verse, verse one, “Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we ask you to pray for us. Pray that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and be honored wherever it goes. Just as when it came to you.” Prayer matters. It matters. Jesus told people to pray. Paul begs for prayer all the time. I don’t completely understand why things happen when we pray and don’t when we don’t, ’cause God can do whatever God wants to do. But he chooses to act when we pray. And over and over we see this as Paul says, pray, pray, please pray. So something is released. when we do the prayer thing. So, and I love what he’s praying for, that the message will be spread. He’s passionate about getting the message out to the Gentiles all around the world. (Nicole: Right) So spread rapidly. And that it’d be honored because so often it wasn’t and he would get booted out of another town. Right?
Nicole: Poor guy.
Sharon:
Poor guy. I know it. But that’s what he wants. He wants the message to be heard and to be honored just as when it came to them, because the ones he’s talking to believed it and honored it.
Nicole:
Right. Oh, I know. Well, verse two says, “Pray too”. So he’s continuing asking more specifically for more things. “Pray too that we will be rescued from wicked and evil people, for not everyone is a believer.” So it’s interesting. he does see the value in prayer and he is also giving them a specific thing.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
And it’s not, you know, help me not to be harmed and be wealthy. And, you know, it’s a very unselfish prayer. It’s a very good one. Please help me be rescued from evil people. But it’s a warning too, I think that, you know, not everyone is a believer. It’s a reminder that we are fighting against some very wicked and evil people. You know, but I think there’s also a little bit of grace in that for, not everyone is a believer. That statement, because it’s a reminder that, you know, we have the grace of God, but they don’t. So they are wicked and evil ’cause they don’t, they’re not a believer. So there might be a little bit of grace in there too. Like a reminder like, Hey, yeah, this is worth the fight.
Sharon:
I kinda like that thought too because we need to give grace to unbelievers. They aren’t free yet. They don’t know that they’ve been saved and they’ll be loved forever.
Nicole: Right, right.
Sharon:
So they’re probably very much unhappier.
Nicole:
I’m sure they are.
Sharon:
Yes. So, oh, that’s so cool. Okay. Verse three. “But the Lord is faithful. He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.” So he’s just talked about rescue and evil people and not everybody’s believing, but, so now he’s kind of almost comforting. But God is faithful. I mean, we don’t have to freak out and be scared. He strengthens and he guards us so we can rest in that. So we are to be aware of evil, but we’re not to be cowed by it.
Nicole:
Yeah. Afraid to leave the house because it’s everywhere. Oh, that’s good. And then verse four, “And we are confident in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we commanded you”. So I love that he stays confident, like you just said, we’re not cowering. But also he’s so good at encouragement, isn’t he? You know, we’re confident that you are doing, so you’ve been doing it. Good job. And will continue to do the things we commended you. So that’s an exhortation. It’s a keep it up.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
You guys are doing great. Keep doing great.
Sharon:
Keep going. Yeah. So encouragement and exhortation all in the same breath. And boy, isn’t it easier to please someone who is pleased with you.
Nicole: Oh, sure.
Sharon:
You just want ’em to keep applauding.
Nicole:
Yeah. And it’s a good reminder too, I think sometimes, you know it’s hard to be a Christian and do the right things. And sometimes you get weary and think, well, I’ve been doing good. I’ll take a little break. It’s like, no, keep doing it. Keep going.
Sharon:
Yes. Don’t stop, don’t stop.
Nicole:
That’s a good reminder.
Sharon:
Yeah. Verse five is another one of those little blessings. I love finding them. I just do, “May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding, an expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ”. So there’s three blessings in here that he wants their hearts to be led into a full understanding. So that’s important. Sometimes we don’t fully understand who God is and what we have in him. So to pray for someone to have that understanding is a wonderful prayer and an expression of the love of God. That we fully express God’s love to others. I need prayer for that. I don’t always feel like expressing God’s love for others. And I want to fully express that; he’s so patient, which leads to the third, patient endurance that comes from Christ. And patient endurance has been a word that God has really laid on my heart because of all the difficulty I’ve had with hearing. And sometimes he doesn’t heal. Sometimes he says, I have to patiently endure. But I can and I can be patient in it because that comes from Christ, Christ’s Spirit living within me.
Nicole:
Right. Oh, that’s so good. And then verse six, he says, “And now dear brothers and sisters, we give you this command in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Stay away from all believers who live idle lives and don’t follow the tradition they received from us”. So again, he’s kind of pulling them in as brothers and sisters. We’re a family, you know? And he’s giving this command in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, not Paul trying to set up something on his own. (Sharon: Yes) So he’s kind of backing it. But this is interesting, to stay away from all believers who live idle lives and don’t follow the traditions.
Sharon: It is.
Nicole:
So I just think of like as a parent, your parents tell you when you’re a little girl, you know, pick your friends carefully because who you’re with is who you become. And I think he’s saying the same thing, like the people we spend the most time with, that we share life with, they influence us powerfully, whether we know it or not. So if we’re hanging around with believers who are not following God’s commands and who are idle, it’s so easy just to settle in and be idle with them too. So this is a really good reminder, to be careful who we hang around with.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
It’s so much easier to slip into old habits of sin than to constantly be on guard to be a good example.
Sharon: Absolutely.
Nicole:
Especially with believers, ’cause you’re family, so you assume it’s a safe place to just—
Sharon: That’s so true.
Nicole:
You’re more like, when I’m with my friends who don’t know Christ, I’m definitely more guarded and cautious. But with my believers, oh, we’re all Christians, it’s fine. You can get into more trouble that way.
Sharon:
You actually can and you can walk away from the tradition (Nicole: Yes) that they received. Which is basically the word of God. (Right) So Yeah. And I think that’s interesting that that’s a part of it, that they don’t follow the tradition they received.
Nicole:
Yeah. That’s interesting.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. Probably because idleness leads to not studying the word. Idleness leads to not, you know, being regularly in fellowship.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
You know, we get really lazy.
Nicole:
Well, that’s true. The idleness really does open the door to so many other sins, I think. Because you’re just hanging around with nothing to occupy your time. And our natural inclination is to sin. So our mind is gonna find those ways that aren’t good.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. And idleness leads to selfishness, right?
Nicole: Oh sure.
Sharon:
It does. So, Hmm. Okay then, verse seven, “For, you know that you ought to imitate us. We were not idle when we were with you.” So Paul’s not asking them when he tells ’em to work hard to do something he didn’t do. He worked hard. He was not idle. He was a tent maker. And so he took his profession with him. And he still sewed. I don’t know what he did. I guess he made tents. Right?
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
That would involve sewing, I think.
Nicole:
I think so.
Sharon:
Of some kind, or weaving or whatever’s.
Nicole:
Whittling the stakes. I don’t know.
Sharon:
Quite frankly, I have no idea how you make a tent.
Nicole:
I was gonna say, I don’t know. Especially back then, it was different materials.
Sharon:
Yes. But whatever it was, Paul did it.
Nicole:
Right. Oh, that’s good. And then verse number eight, “We never accepted food from anyone without paying for it. We worked hard day and night, so we would not be a burden to any of you.” So I think sometimes we get it in our head that work is bad. like, oh, work, but work existed before the fall.
Sharon: Yes. It did.
Nicole:
They were working in the garden. God gave them a purpose and a job. And it was a joy to them. So I think when we think of work, it’s rrr work. But no, it’s good for us. It’s good for us to do what God has called us to do, to bless others by it. And I think Paul did a great job of illustrating that.
Sharon:
It is. It’s so true. That’s such a good point. I always take the month of July off, we have the Selah rest month. Right. And I laze about and am idle.
Nicole:
It’s delightful.
Sharon:
And do you know what? Yeah, it is. And yet at the end of the month, I’m kind of bored. You know, and I’m ready to go back to a, to-do list and seeing things accomplished.
Nicole:
Yes. It does feel wonderful.
Sharon:
It does. It does. So, okay, verse nine, “We certainly had the right to ask you to feed us, but we wanted to give you an example to follow.” So right here he is pointing out that the workers are worthy of their wage. He could have had them pay for him. He was working in terms of teaching the scriptures to them, in terms of healing people, in terms of listening to their sad stories. He was a pastor. Pastors get paid. Right?
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Yes. So he had the right, but what he chose to do instead was demonstrate a work ethic. Because he wanted them to follow the example of a work ethic.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
Even though as a pastor he didn’t have to do that.
Nicole:
Right. Oh, that’s good. And then verse 10 says, “Even while we were with you, we gave you this command. Those unwilling to work will not get to eat”. Do you know that was the motto of Jamestown and the early settlers? That’s what I think it was, John Smith, had said to, I can’t remember which person it was. But he said, those who don’t work don’t eat. So it’s a very practical and necessary command at certain times. Because if you had to feed all these people and a limited amount of food, you gotta work for it.
Sharon:
That’s exactly right. And everybody has to work for it. Yes.
Nicole:
Yeah. So that’s good. I think, you know, obviously this is not referring to those who cannot work or who are in need. (Sharon: Yes) Just as a side note to remind us. (Yes) But if you are completely able to, to not be that burden, as Paul said, we didn’t wanna be a burden to you. If you see people that come and just always ask you for things and never, it’s like, ugh. You’re not excited to see them. You don’t wanna be a burden on anybody.
Sharon: No. No.
Nicole:
There’s such a gift in being able to bless others and to be blessed at times when we fall on hard times.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
But to be that person, you don’t wanna be that person.
Sharon:
You don’t wanna be that person
Nicole:
That’s not a good witness of Christ to always be like, Hey, could I, you know? No one wants to be around that.
Sharon:
I had a friend who said to me, ’cause she was going through hard times, she said, I am so tired. She’s southern. Oh, I’m so tired of being pitiful.
Nicole:
Bless her heart. No.
Sharon:
That was perfect. So, but yes. Being pitiful on purpose, you know, she was being pitiful on purpose, is not a good thing.
Nicole: No.
Sharon:
So, okay. You know, we would love to feed you. Here’s a job.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
Here’s a job. Yeah. I love that. Oh my goodness. Okay, verse 11, “Yet we hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing to work and meddling in other people’s business”.
Nicole: There it is.
Sharon:
So now we’re going back to how idleness, laziness, sloth actually makes you a not nice person in other ways. They have nothing to do except mess with other people. Right.
Nicole: Right. Yeah.
Sharon:
You become selfish and not wanting to serve. And instead you’re critical of other people. You’re kind of justifying your own laziness.
Nicole:
Kind of sitting back, watching everyone else and Yeah. That’s funny ’cause I wondered why idleness? Why highlight idleness as a thing to come against? It doesn’t seem too terrible in and of itself. But it is such a slippery gateway sin to so many others, isn’t it?
Sharon:
It’s because it’s self-indulgent. Yes. And when we start just self indulging, we’re actually less happy.
Nicole:
Oh it’s true.
Sharon:
Than when we have accomplished things and blessed others.
Nicole:
And we’re looking to fill that. Well when we’re looking to fill that unhappiness and looking, you know, I think of King David when he was idle.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
What a mess that started.
Sharon:
Yes it did. Exactly. So good example.
Nicole:
It’s not good. Yeah. I’ll pick on David. So verse 12 says, “We command such people and urge them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and work to earn their own living. So again, Paul is not saying this for his own gain, so he can get more. He’s concerned about them. He knows, like you said, they’re not really happy. This is not what they need to be doing. Settle down and work ’cause it’s better to do that.
Sharon:
So much better. So much better. Absolutely. Verse 13, “As for the rest of you, dear brothers and sisters, never get tired of doing good”. And you know, sometimes I don’t know about you, but in school, here’s an example. I would be doing a group project, I hated group projects in school.
Nicole: Oh yeah.
Sharon:
Because I was a firstborn and I wanted to do it right. So I would do 95% of the group project. So that I’d sure that we got a good grade on it.
Nicole:
It was done properly. Right.
Sharon:
And it was done right. And you can get really tired of like, how come I am doing most of the work?
Nicole:
Right.
Sharon:
Well, because you march right in and take over Sharon. That might be it.
Nicole:
And people are like, oh sure, go for it.
Sharon:
But, but point being, we can get weary, especially when we see other people not doing the same, that comparison thing that is so dangerous and he’s saying, Uhuh, Uhuh, don’t get tired of doing good. I love that. I need to remember that you know, if we don’t get tired of doing good, I can’t remember the verse, but it’s never grow weary of doing good for in due season you’ll reep a harvest if you do not give up. (Nicole: Yes, yes) That is a verse in one of the Pauline letters. And you know, that’s the point, when we don’t give up, there’s a harvest that comes from it. So.
Nicole:
Yes. No, that’s good. Because he’s been focusing on the idle people. But the ones that are doing good job, it’s like, well, I’ve been working really hard and I’m—, you know? It’s so easy to get that attitude. Then he says, verse 14 says, “Take note of those who refuse to obey what we say in this letter. Stay away from them so that they will be shamed”. So that’s really interesting. I think that’s more referring to if we’re walking with God and following him, there’s natural blessings that come from that. There’s that peace that comes from doing what God has put before us. (Sharon: Yes) And we emanate that peace and God’s love and blessing from our lives. So I think if we stay away from them, they’re not receiving that (Right) peace and reaping the benefits of our, I don’t know, following God. (Yeah) So I’m thinking maybe that’s it. I’m trying to think how else they could be ashamed if we stay away from them. (Yeah) But that was kind of tricky to think through.
Sharon:
Yeah, it is kind of tricky, but evidently that’s what will happen. And it’s not so that they will be beaten up.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
It’s so that they’re like, oh, I wanna go back and help.
Nicole:
Yeah. Maybe that’s it. Looking over at the little community garden and everyone’s working hard and they’re sitting by themselves. So maybe that’s it. Maybe it’s more of an isolation. Not an isolation, but kind of, (Sharon: Kind of) like you’re isolated if you choose the wrong thing. It’s not fun over there. So come back quicker.
Sharon:
Exactly. Exactly.
Nicole:
We’ll settle on that.
Sharon:
And they’re kind of self choosing it too.
Nicole: That’s true.
Sharon:
You know, ’cause they, they can work.
Nicole:
Right. Oh yeah.
Sharon:
So, but verse 15 softens it a little bit. It says, “Don’t think of them as enemies, but warn them as you would a brother or sister”. So I love that. Because the end goal, always, is that there’ll be a return to fellowship. It’s never permanent, Get out of here.
Nicole:
Right. Or a judging or a shaming. It’s a Well, this is the natural consequence of your sin. (Sharon: Right) It’s gotta sting so that you come back.
Sharon:
Right. Exactly so. We had an incident in Germany when we were in a German church where a woman started attending our church who had chosen Germany ’cause the welfare system was better than France. And so she moved to enjoy welfare. So that was unique. So we worked really hard with her for a long time. We showed her how to live on a budget within the welfare system, so she wouldn’t run out of money and then she would repeatedly go out to restaurants and spend all her money and then ask us to feed her.
Nicole: Oh no.
Sharon:
For the rest of the month. And so we did, we stopped feeding her. Yeah. And I can remember her coming over and saying, I’m really hungry and me saying, we did show you, you know, and all this stuff. Mm. And then she finally, she went to another church and she did it with like, for a few other churches and eventually everybody kind of got tired of it. And she came back to me and she said, why? And she let me tell her. I said, oh, you’re always taking, you need to give.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
If you offer to work in the nursery, if you offer to serve in some way, you’re gonna be so much happier.
Nicole: Oh yeah.
Sharon:
And then I fed her that day.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s nice of you.
Sharon:
Yes. But anyways, she reformed. She went back to school. She became a nursing home assistant.
Nicole:
Oh my goodness, Sharon. That’s wonderful.
Sharon:
Isn’t that the sweetest ending?
Nicole:
Wow. That’s a perfect example for this passage.
Sharon:
I know, I thought so. Yeah, it was.
Nicole:
So it worked.
Sharon:
It actually did. But it was really painful in the middle.
Nicole:
Oh sure. Well ’cause you don’t wanna tell anyone that’s hungry, and send them, It feels wrong.
Sharon:
It does. It does. If we hadn’t spent like five months watching her not do anything we advised, we couldn’t have done it. So.
Nicole:
And that line between grace and enabling, it’s hard sometimes. (Sharon: It’s hard) We really have to lean on God to know when we need to stop, you know, hold back and go, Okay, now you must feel the consequences. So you don’t continue to sin.
Sharon: Right. Exactly.
Nicole:
So it is a grace. It just feels hard.
Sharon:
Hard. But it ended well.
Nicole:
Good. I’m so glad. Then verse 16 says, “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times. And in every situation, the Lord be with you all.” I like this verse.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
After some hard commands to you know, kind of push away or withhold some of the blessings from those who are idle, to come back to, the Lord himself is gonna give you peace. And He’s with us in all circumstances, even in hard ones where we say no to people.
Sharon:
Yes, yes. He will. Yeah.
Nicole:
The Lord be with you also. I like that verse.
Sharon:
I do too. Verse 17 is fun. In my translation it was in capital letters, it’s kind of cute. “Here is my greeting in my own handwriting, Paul. I do this in all my letters to prove they are from me.” ‘Cause he had to guard against people pretending they were him. Even back then, people were pretending to be someone they weren’t. Weird.
Nicole:
That’s interesting. Do you think he had someone write his letters for him?
Sharon:
Usually I think he had a scribe.
Nicole: Okay.
Sharon:
But he would sign it with his signature, which evidently even back then they’d recognize as Paul’s signature. So it was like, this is really me.
Nicole:
Wow. That’s interesting. And then verse 18 says, “May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all”. What a beautiful ending to his letters.
Sharon:
So lovely. So now it’s time for our three questions. So Nicole, what was your favorite verse?
Nicole:
Oh, verse 16.
Sharon: Aw.
Nicole:
“May the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times in every situation.” Just the promise of peace in every situation. “And the Lord be with you all.” Like he’s with us through everything.
Sharon: He is.
Nicole:
Good and bad. And it’s his peace. He is the Lord of peace.
Sharon:
He is. Himself. Yes.
Nicole:
Himself. And we have him. It’s just such a beautiful reminder. How about you?
Sharon:
I love that. I chose verse three, but the Lord is faithful. He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.
Nicole:
Ooh, that’s a good one too.
Sharon:
Just a reminder that I can trust him. So what did I learn about God from this passage? I’ll start on this one. Number one, he strengthens us. Number two, he guards us from the evil one. Number three, he moves when we pray. And number four, he is the Lord of peace and he gives us that peace.
Nicole:
That’s so good.
Sharon:
Those are mine. What about you?
Nicole:
That’s good. Well, I said that he is practical too. He gives very practical advice.
Sharon:
Yes. He does.
Nicole:
Very practical follow through for these things. And he’s just, he calls out sin fairly. You know, for those people who were working hard, I bet sometimes it feels like, oh man, I’m doing good, but am I, is it doing any good to do the good and to be called out and reminded to keep on is so good. And that he called out, Hey, these people need to be reminded not to be idle. So.
Sharon: Exactly.
Nicole:
God is just, we can trust him.
Sharon:
I like that part too.
Nicole:
He’s fair. Yeah.
Sharon:
Yes. Yeah. And so what do we learn about living wisely in troubled times?
Nicole:
I put choose friends wisely. (Sharon: Yes) Choose to surround ourselves with people who are going to encourage us and push us more toward walking with Christ. And not that will distract us with idleness or gossip or whatever else.
Sharon:
I like that. And I wrote I need to go about my work and doing good no matter what anyone else is doing. Sharon just needs to do Sharon.
Nicole:
That’s so good.
Sharon:
Yes. And we need to be honest with those who are flailing about, but do it in love. And then lastly, pray. Pray, pray. Pray. Pray.
Nicole:
And then pray some more.
Sharon:
Yes. Speaking of which it’s time to pray.
Nicole:
It is time to pray.
Sharon:
Oh, heavenly Father, I thank you that you alone can minister mercy and justice in the right balance. Thank you for this chapter. Thank you for the reminder of the dangers of being idle and slothful. Help us to please you with our work ethic. Help us to please you with the way we serve. And thank you Lord, that you are faithful and you guard and protect and strengthen. And even when we’re idle, you want us warned, just so you can bring us back to you again. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole:
Amen. We are so thankful for you, our listeners, and we hope you enjoyed studying along with us this fall. It’s almost Christmas. Would you consider a gift to our ministry? We are working on several new projects next year, and we have a goal of gaining 10 more monthly donors. Whether you donate specifically to the podcast as a podcast partner or generally to the ministry, it would be such a wonderful blessing for us. Go to SweetSelah.org/donations. Your donation is also tax deductible as we are a registered nonprofit ministry. We’ve got one more episode to share with you in 2023. We couldn’t let this year end without at least one Christmas episode. Our last episode of the season is episode 124 Prophecy and Promise. Join us next week as we look at the Christmas story together. Until then, we hope you will continue to live wisely in these troubled times.
Speaker 1:
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @SweetSelah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can view and download the transcript here.
Not everyone who claims to know and love the Lord Jesus actually does. We need to be careful and discerning as we listen to teachers of the Bible. Paul warned his dear converts in Thessalonica about this. We still need those warnings, today. Join Nicole and Sharon as they discuss counterfeits and how to determine who is the "real deal" ... and who is not.
Accept no Counterfeit-Episode 122Speaker 1:
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word With Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole:
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 122, Accept No Counterfeits. Well, that’s an interesting title Sharon. Why’d you choose that?
Sharon:
Well, today’s chapter, chapter two of 2 Thessalonians is mostly a warning chapter. Paul is concerned that the Thessalonians might be led astray by false teachers, especially regarding the return of Jesus. He spends quite a bit of time telling this church what is not true, so they won’t be fooled. A counterfeit, according to the Cambridge English Dictionary, is something that is made to look like the original of something else, usually for dishonest or illegal purposes. We’re gonna read about counterfeit people in chapter two of 2 Thessalonians, but before we do, have you ever had to deal with someone pretending to be who they weren’t, Nicole?
Nicole:
Yes. And you know, it truly blindsided me to discover who they truly were. You know, it makes it hard to trust people when some people are so good at being false.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
You know, it makes you wonder. They’re so good that it’s hard to know if they even believe that what they’re trying to pretend to be is who they are.
Sharon: Yeah.
Nicole:
Like, I think you actually believe that, it’s intense, you know?
Sharon:
It’s intense. It is. Yeah.
Nicole:
So how about you?
Sharon:
Well, I was thinking of a really scary encounter I had with a guy who was not what he claimed to be in Germany many years ago. So, this is a long time ago. He was not a good man. We’ll leave it at that. And our church had tried, especially me, very hard to help his family due to his neglect. This did not make him happy with me or with the church. So one day he shows up at our apartment, ’cause we all lived in apartments, in Germany. Ray wasn’t home, so I certainly didn’t let him in. I stepped out into the stairwell and said hi. And he said, Hey, I just need you to do me a favor. Would you do me a favor? I would be so grateful. I’m like, oh, he’s being nice.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
Okay. So he said, we’re leaving soon for the States and I don’t have time to mail this box, and you’ve been so nice to my wife. Would you mind mailing this package for me? And I thought, oh, a chance to be kind. He likes me now.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
Right. So I take the package and I said, sure. I will. You know, and thinking, Oh Lord, maybe he’s changed. Right?
Nicole:
This is an easy way to help. I can mail this.
Sharon:
Yeah. So then I noticed he put my return address, you know, and then he had it, you know, to where he was gonna be.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
And the Lord prompted me. I know it was the Lord because of what you’re about to hear. I thought, what if there’s something in this package that shouldn’t be in this package?
Nicole:
Oh, my goodness.
Sharon:
And my return address is on it with my name.
Nicole:
Right.
Sharon:
So I said, I think I need to look, Lord, I feel really guilty opening somebody else’s package. But he did put it in my care.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
So I opened it up and I’m feeling through all his stuff, including underwear. And I found a gun.
Nicole:
Oh my goodness.
Sharon:
A Persian Gulf War gun.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
Yeah. So I took my hands off it. I called the police, the military police. And I said, so somebody asked me to mail a package for them and there’s a gun in the package and could you come over here please?
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
So they came over and they said, it is really good you opened that because it would not have gotten through the X-ray machine.
Nicole: Okay.
Sharon:
And it’s your name on it.
Nicole:
Oh, wow. Good glory. That could have been so bad.
Sharon:
I know, it could have been really, really, really bad for me.
Nicole:
Oh my word, Sharon.
Sharon:
So for years I used to say, ’cause then of course he got in big trouble, if I’m ever found murdered, and I’d tell people his name.
Nicole:
Check with him first.
Sharon:
Go after him. Right. Yeah. It’s been years now. So, ’cause I was shaken like a little leaf.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s so frightening.
Sharon: Yeah.
Nicole:
Like, what was he intending to do? Like what was his thought for giving that to you, you know? Obviously not for-
Sharon:
Well, probably, I think what his thought was, if I get it through, I can sell this for a lot of money because it’s a war souvenir.
Nicole: Oh, sure.
Sharon:
And if it doesn’t go through, I know exactly who I’d like to get in trouble for it.
Nicole:
Right. Have her take the fall.
Sharon:
So people aren’t always what they seem.
Nicole:
Oh, my goodness.
Sharon:
And although he initially wasn’t a bad guy, when he was so nice to me, I was willing to believe him again.
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
Because I like to believe that people are good.
Nicole: Yep.
Sharon:
Even bad guys can be good. He wasn’t good.
Nicole: No.
Sharon:
No. Alright. Well, let’s look at this tricky chapter, shall we? Yes. Nicole, why don’t you start and we will read back and forth.
Nicole:
All right. So starting verse one of chapter two. “Now, dear brothers and sisters, let us clarify some things about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we will be gathered to meet him.”
Sharon:
“Don’t be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don’t believe them. Even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation, or a letter supposedly from us.”
Nicole:
“Don’t be fooled by what they say, for that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God. And the man of lawlessness is revealed, the one who brings destruction.”
Sharon:
“He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call God and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God claiming that he himself is God.”
Nicole:
“Don’t you remember what I told you about all this when I was with you?”
Sharon:
“And you know what is holding him back for he can be revealed only when his time comes.”
Nicole:
“For this lawlessness is already at work secretly, and it will remain secret until the one who is holding it back steps out of the way.”
Sharon:
“Then the man of lawlessness will be revealed. But the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by the splendor of his coming”
Nicole:
“This man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles.”
Sharon:
“He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them.”
Nicole:
“So God will cause them to be greatly deceived and they will believe these lies.”
Sharon:
“Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth.”
Nicole:
“As for us, we can’t help but thank God for you dear brothers and sisters loved by the Lord. We are always thankful that God chose you to be among the first to experience salvation. A salvation that came through the Spirit, who makes you holy. And through your belief in the truth.”
Sharon:
“He called you to salvation when he told you the good news. Now you can share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Nicole:
“With all these things in mind dear brothers and sisters, stand firm and keep a strong grip on the teaching we pass on to you both in person and by letter.”
Sharon:
“Now, may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us, and by his grace, gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope,”
Nicole:
“Comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say.”
Sharon:
Oh my goodness. He always, I mean, this is the middle of the letter. This is chapter two. And here he is giving them comfort. And it almost sounds like a conclusion. But he’s just concluding the hard part again.
Nicole:
He’s a wonderful encourager and a wonderful writer, counselor. He’s fantastic.
Sharon: He is.
Nicole:
We would do well to take some more of his style, you know?
Sharon:
Oh, my goodness. Yeah.
Nicole:
The encouragement in between the hard.
Sharon:
Right in between, he inserts all these good things.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
Yeah. But when we go verse by verse to figure this out, Nicole, I wanna make a side note now to our listeners. So, okay, listeners, this passage that is so hard to understand is why Nicole and I believe so strongly that we can read the Bible on our own and get insight. But we also need to rely on wise teachers and scholars for interpretation and understanding some of these hard passages, ’cause quite frankly, the man of lawlessness and the antichrist is a hard passage for me. We need the body of Christ. Being a believer alone goes against the design God established for his church. We’re supposed to work together. And when I am confused about a scripture passage, I am so glad I have pastors to whom I can turn, who have studied these passages in far greater depth. Podcasts, Bible studies are great, but we all still need to belong to a local body of believers, just like the Thessalonians did in their local church. All that to say, our limited understanding, what we’re about to share with you all of these verses, is not enough. We hope that if a verse stands out to you and makes you curious, that you will research it further and ask your own pastor for help. Let’s be thankful for these shepherds who help us with the hard parts. The ones that have studied the originals in Greek and Hebrew, which we have not done.
Nicole:
Yes. Not yet.
Sharon:
So here we go, Nicole.
Nicole:
Here we go. I know. This is tough.
Sharon:
Seeking to understand God’s word to us in 2 Thessalonians chapter two. But just kind of giving this caveat here, we’re just Sharon and Nicole. If something we say doesn’t set right, well, you’re probably right.
Nicole:
Because we’re trying to learn it too.
Sharon:
Go talk to your pastors.
Nicole:
Yes. That’s when you ask a pastor.
Sharon:
The only part that is sacred here is when we read God’s word.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
The rest is us doing our best with our limited knowledge to understand it.
Nicole: Absolutely.
Sharon:
So give us some grace here.
Nicole:
Lots of grace, like Paul did. So much grace.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
We’ll take it all.
Sharon:
Okay. Nicole, you get to start with verse one this time.
Nicole:
Yes. This is a gentle introduction to this passage. So he says, “Now, dear brothers and sisters, let us clarify some things about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we will be gathered to meet him”. So, Paul’s heart, man, his heart for truth here, he starts out caring. He reminds them, you know. Dear brothers and sisters, [they] are dear to him. But he wants to clear up the confusion for them because his heart really is for God’s truth.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
So he is like, okay, let’s clarify some things here, about God. So I like that. He’s, you know, he is kind and encouraging, but truth, let’s clear some things up.
Sharon:
Absolutely. And clearly they’d had something happen, somebody had come to them and told them some things that weren’t true.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
And they might have even pretended to be Paul. There’s a part where it says, letters supposedly from me.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
You know, so they’ve been, they’ve had a counterfeit show up to say some things.
Nicole:
Something definitely got messy, enough to get back to his attention and have to address it specifically.
Sharon:
Right. Exactly. So verse two says, “Don’t be so easily shaken and alarmed by those who say,” (so here’s what they said,) “that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don’t believe them. Even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation or a letter supposedly from us.”
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
That must have driven Paul crazy.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
But the letter was from you. No, it wasn’t.
Nicole: No.
Sharon:
‘Cause the day of the Lord is not here.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
Shoot. I mean, we get that now with people that clone Facebook accounts.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
And pretend they’re somebody else. Guess what? There’s nothing new under the sun.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
It happened back then too. People pretending to be who they were not.
Nicole:
And that would feel really scary to have that, like, Oh no, I didn’t say that. Like Paul’s letters were very important to them, so for them to say, oh, we had a letter from you saying this, that must have really hurt his heart. LIke, Oh, no!
Sharon:
Oh, my goodness.
Nicole:
Like this, this is heavy. they were trying really hard to convince you of this.
Sharon:
Yes. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Okay. So, well, we can’t be naive ourselves either. We can’t get shaken and alarmed by, you know, the way I see current events, the world will end within the next two years.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
And people say that.
Nicole:
Oh, people say that all the time. There’s always a doomsday.
Sharon:
Yeah. And they’ve saying it for 2000 years.
Nicole: Right, right.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. So not every person who thinks they have end times figured out actually does.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
Okay. So we need to be cautious. And that’s for them, who were being actually led astray. But we can be led astray too. You know, there are scary things happening right now in our world.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
There are things that make me think, Oh, maybe the end times are close. That’s okay. We’re supposed to always think they’re close.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
But we’re not supposed to pinpoint it. Even the Son of Man, Jesus, when he lived on earth, did not know.
Nicole:
Right.
Sharon:
And we’re not gonna know. It’s coming like a thief in the night, which we read about in the 1 Thessalonians.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
So let’s not get shaken and alarmed. ’cause fear is not from God.
Nicole:
No, it’s not. Oh. So verse three continues with more of that. “Don’t be fooled by what they say, for that day will not come until there’s a great rebellion against God. And the man of law lawlessness is revealed, the one who brings destruction.” Whew. So don’t be fooled by what they say. I think we also long to have control and have that insider’s glimpse of what’s gonna happen, don’t we?
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
And so we’re so drawn to, oh, well this person says this and connected this Bible verse. So maybe, maybe he is coming in three weeks. So I think we all just want to know.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
But don’t be fooled by what they say.I mean he does, but he does give us some signs it seems to be aware of.
Sharon:
Yes, he does.
Nicole:
So he’s not just like, chill out. What will be will be what happens. He’s like, okay, this is what’s—, there’s gonna be rebellion against God it seems. A man of lawlessness is gonna be revealed who’s going to bring destruction. So as he says before, don’t scoff at prophecies.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
But be wise, don’t be fooled by every person saying they’re Paul.
Sharon:
Exactly. Exactly. And the man of lawlessness, Paul knows, has not yet shown up.
Nicole:
Right. So we say, Okay.
Sharon:
Yeah. So verse four explains this man of lawlessness, that he’s also antichrist, people call him that as well. It says in verse four, “He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call God and every object of worship”. So he is gonna defy all gods, “gods” out there, and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God.
Nicole: Oh, wow.
Sharon:
So here’s some prophecy.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
So many people look for the time when on Temple Mount, a Jewish temple will be built again.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Right now it hasn’t been. And they think, and again, I’m not walking down that road. God can come whenever he wants.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
I’m not gonna—, but they think, and I see why from this verse that the temple will have to be rebuilt in order for the antichrist to sit in it.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
Claiming to be God.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
So it is a sign, and we don’t understand it yet, but I believe that just like Isaiah 53 didn’t make a whole lot of sense until Jesus was the Lamb that was slain.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
Some of these things will make perfect sense at the time we need to know them.
Nicole: Yep.
Sharon:
So we need to study them.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
‘Cause that time is coming.
Nicole:
Right. No, that’s true. I think sometimes it’s kinda like reading a horoscope or something like, oh, well this could, you could kind of like put things into prophecy. Like, oh, well this seems to fit.
Sharon: Right. Right.
Nicole:
And unless you’re actually in it, then you say, okay. Like when Jesus came, oh, now Isaiah makes sense.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
It fits perfectly.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
I wouldn’t have put that together. I couldn’t have put it together.
Sharon:
Exactly. Exactly. Yeah.
Nicole:
So in verse five, he says, “Don’t you remember that I told you about all this when I was with you?” So he is reminding them, Hey, we’ve talked about this. Like, I was there with you. I said these words, I was in there with, you know, in person. So hold fast to those. Don’t forget, but hold fast to what you know, you know when you hear these false words and these false teachers. What do you know? You know the truth. You’ve heard it, don’t forget.
Sharon:
Exactly. So if Paul told them one thing and then they get a supposed letter from Paul that says something totally different. Which is maybe why they wrote him and said, oh, did you write this letter? Because—
Nicole:
Yeah. It’s different than what you said when you were here.
Sharon:
Exactly. So anyways, who knows? It would be interesting to ask them in heaven.
Nicole: We will.
Sharon:
Okay. Verse six. “And you know what is holding him back for he can be revealed only when his time comes.” So that’s interesting. What is holding the antichrist back?
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
Charles Swindoll, a pastor that I trust, in my Charles Swindoll’s Study Bible, posits that perhaps the Holy Spirit is what is holding him back. And as long as the church is here before the rapture and the Holy Spirit’s dwelling within all of us,
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
He’s held back.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
But when we’re raptured and the Holy Spirit isn’t present in people.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
Although some will come to know the Lord again at that time. But when that’s gone, there’ll be no more restraint.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
So that was interesting.
Nicole:
Something to think about. Yeah.
Sharon: Yeah.
Nicole:
And that helps bring back that power that God puts within us. Like we have God living in us.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole: Wow!
Sharon:
So what happens if we’re raptured and all that power is now removed from the earth. Then everything held back is gone.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
So that is a possibility.
Nicole:
Something to think about. So where am I? Verse, okay, so this one. “For this lawlessness is already at work secretly, and it will remain secret until the one who is holding it back steps out of the way.” Wow. So it could be the Holy Spirit. We don’t know.
Sharon:
We don’t know.
Nicole:
That’s interesting. So, you know, it feels like there is so much going on around us. Like I feel like we get glimpses of this. You know, in the seen and the unseen world, sometimes you just hear a news story and are like, Ooh, that just, there’s something more going on in that.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
This sounds like end times, this kind of reflects this verse. Huh. And it’s all to make us more aware.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
And to keep us close to God. Okay. God, I see something going on. What’s happening? Walk with me through this. Give me wisdom.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
In how to live in these end times.
Sharon:
Exactly so, exactly so. Verse eight, “Then the man of lawlessness will be revealed.” (But, this is my favorite part.) “But the Lord Jesus will slay him with a breath of his mouth.”
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Bam.
Nicole:
Just his breath.
Sharon: I know.
Nicole:
Just his breath. Just, you’re gone.
Sharon:
Yeah. A little breath.
Nicole:
I love that.
Sharon:
And destroy him by the splendor of is coming. Oh. For crying out loud. This is just so cool. And this would, I’m using the word fun in a really odd sense here. This would be fun if I’m being persecuted severely someday by some evil person.
Nicole: Oh sure.
Sharon:
If I just think of Jesus’ breath going puff, and think you’re only being allowed to do this because the time has not yet come. But he could destroy you with his breath.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
And it makes me think of Jacob. When Jacob was wrestling with God all night and it looked like Jacob was gonna win. God’s letting him think he’s so tough. And then God takes one finger and goes plink on his hip and Jacob collapses.
Nicole:
There is goes, I know.
Sharon:
So we think we’re so cool.
Nicole:
I know.
Sharon: But, no.
Nicole:
It’s like when he talked to Job, like, who are you, Oh man?
Sharon: Exactly.
Nicole:
Like, I made you.
Sharon:
Yeah. It’s like a little ant with his little dukes up fighting a human.
Nicole:
I know. You’re like, awe.
Sharon:
And the human just goes, step.
Nicole: Right
Sharon:
There goes the ant. Right.
Nicole:
Oh my goodness.
Sharon: So fun.
Nicole:
That’s a good verse.
Sharon:
Oh man. Okay.
Nicole:
So this man will come to do with the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles. So it’s pretty clear he’s not from God. He’s coming from Satan with counterfeit power. But apparently he’ll be fairly convincing.
Sharon: Yeah.
Nicole:
You know, this reminds me of when Moses was talking to Pharaoh.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
You know, and the signs. And he would do a sign from God and so would the priest. And it was like, okay. Well they up to a certain point though.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
Satan’s power is only so good. There was a point in all of those signs and wonders where they could not copy it anymore.
Sharon: That’s right.
Nicole:
So it’s just like, okay. Yeah. So this guy’s gonna come and he is gonna have power, but it’s counterfeit and he can only do so much. We have to remember that he is only allowed to be this person of lawlessness, this antichrist because God is allowing it.
Sharon:
Absolutely. One breath and he’ll be gone.
Nicole:
Yep. And that breath comes and he’s done. So let’s take heart in that.
Sharon: Absolutely.
Nicole:
Satan’s power is limited and we serve the One with the mighty breath.
Sharon:
I’ve never heard it said that way before. It’s so true though. We serve the One with the mighty breath.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
Oh, that’s so cool. That’d be a fun study, the breath of God.
Nicole:
I know. It does quite a bit. Gave us life. And spoke the word. Yeah.
Sharon:
Oh, that’s fun, ok, well sure.
Nicole:
Another podcast.
Sharon:
I know. Back to verse 10. Okay. “He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction.” And then this is the phrase I really wanted to camp on, “because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them”.
Nicole:
Oh, so hard.
Sharon:
Here we are back again.
Nicole: Yep.
Sharon:
The truth would save them, but they’re refusing to love and accept it. And the one thing God will not do is force you. The way he’s made love, love can’t be forced.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
So you can’t, they get to choose and they refuse to choose.
Nicole:
That’s so sad. So, verse 11. “So God will cause them to be greatly deceived and they will believe these lies.” This is a hard verse. This is a hard verse to understand and to read. Because he is full of grace and mercy, but God will cause them to be greatly deceived. So I wonder if this is because of their unbelief. ‘Cause he mentioned the verse before, they refused to love him.
Sharon: Right. Yeah.
Nicole:
And they refused to accept the truth. So then he causes them to be deceived.
Sharon:
I think so. Yeah.
Nicole:
I don’t think it was a, You’re deceived and that, you know, I think.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. They had their chance.
Nicole:
He offered it to everyone. Yeah.
Sharon:
But there comes a point. Yeah, yeah.
Nicole:
And so now they’re part of the plan. So I don’t know. I think of this, as resting in his mercy and knowing that he loves those, he loves all of us so much more than we can understand. And if our heart is for the lost, God loves them even more than we do. And I’m just gonna trust that he’s gonna sort it all out.
Sharon:
Yep. And he is.
Nicole:
In his mercy he knows what’s best and he knows what he’s doing. So.
Sharon:
He does. He does. Yeah. And they had a chance to accept the truth that would save them.
Nicole:
Right. He did offer that to them.
Sharon:
He did. Yeah. Verse 12, “Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth.” You know, following God, we don’t do it ’cause it’s easy-peasy.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
We do it ’cause it’s true.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
There is a God. He made you, he made me. He died for us. There is a place called heaven and a place called hell.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
So we need to believe the truth. Even when it’s not easy ’cause it’s true.
Nicole:
Right. And it’s worth it. So, verse 13, “As for us, we can’t help but thank God for you dear brothers and sisters, loved by the Lord. We are always thankful that God chose you to be among the first to experience salvation. A salvation that came through the Spirit who makes you holy and through your belief in the truth”. Oh, I love this verse. What a beautiful break in the middle of a lot of really heavy prophecy, heavy things, to encourage and love on them again. He’s so thoughtful. You know, he shows them hope in this hard letter. And I love that he calls out that you’re loved by God.
Sharon:
Isn’t that neat?
Nicole:
Just, oh, thanks God.
Sharon:
Sprinkled throughout, isn’t it?
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
He never gets too far away from that.
Nicole:
No, you were loved by God. So I just, thinks thats the best.
Sharon:
It’s beautiful. Verse 14, “He called you to salvation when we told you the good news. Now you can share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Oh, Jesus said that, I want you in heaven with me sharing my glory.
Nicole: Oh wow.
Sharon:
What in the world does that mean? I have no idea.
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
But it sounds glorious.
Nicole:
It sounds good. I’ll take it.
Sharon: Yeah.
Nicole:
“With all these things in mind dear brothers and sisters, stand firm and keep a strong grip on the teaching we have passed on you, both in person and by letter.” It’s like he’s just saying, hold on you guys.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
Hold on. A strong grip, like grabbing it like it’s your lifeline. Like you’re in the water and you’re holding onto that rope for dear life. Hold on. To the truth you know.
Sharon:
Yep. I love it. Verse 16, “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace, gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope,” (This is half of the blessing, you get to finish it, but I love how he describes God the Father. He loved us by his grace. He gives us eternal comfort. He gives us a wonderful hope. That’s our God.
Nicole:
What beautiful gifts. And the other half of that blessing, “comfort you, strengthen you in every good thing you do and say.” Oh, so beautiful. Don’t we need both more of both of those, more comfort and more strength, you know? Especially in what we say and what we do.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
In every good thing you do and say, he gives us comfort and strength.
Sharon: It’s so nice.
Nicole:
We couldn’t ask for a better gift.
Sharon:
No. We couldn’t.
Nicole:
He’s so generous.
Sharon:
Yeah. And again, this is not the end of the letter.
Nicole:
I know, it’s like a little side note.
Sharon:
He’s just like, and can I bless you again?
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
I’ll give you another blessing. I should do that more. I don’t sprinkle blessings in my conversations.
Nicole:
No. In the hard talks, I definitely don’t, it’s just slog through at the end. Like, okay, are we good? We’re good. But to stop with these little blessings and encouragement. Oh. So good.
Sharon:
Yeah. It just shows that the heart of Paul is love. So, love. Okay. What was my favorite verse and why? This was hard. There were so many cool ones. But I chose verse eight. And verse eight says, “Then the man of lawlessness will be revealed, but the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth”.
Nicole:
That is a fun one.
Sharon:
I couldn’t resist. I just, and destroy him by the splendor was coming. I just love the imagery in this. And the reminder, no matter how big I think God is, he’s bigger.
Nicole: I know.
Sharon: I love it.
Nicole:
It’s so cool.
Sharon:
That was mine. Which one did you choose?
Nicole:
I really liked verse 12, nope, 13. It’s the one that he just stops in the middle of all the hard stuff and goes, ah, I can’t thank God enough for you. And that you’re loved by God. And we’re always thankful that God chose you to be among the first to experience salvation. So again, that little encouragement, like they were the first believers in this new way.
Sharon:
That’s true. We’re not the first.
Nicole: No.
Sharon:
We’re 2000 years later.
Nicole:
We’re old believers.
Sharon:
They were the first.
Nicole:
But they were among the first. Like he kind of reminds them of the special position, the special gift it was to receive this, but also like, Hey, it’s okay, you’re working through this. This is a new way to live in Christ. I just thought that was so beautiful.
Sharon: Oh, it was.
Nicole:
Makes you holy. I know. It’s such a good verse.
Sharon: It is.
Nicole:
I like that one.
Sharon:
What did you learn about God from this passage?
Nicole:
Ooh. His power, Sharon. His power and control. He allows all of this big stuff that’s coming, this man of lawlessness, this destruction. It’s only and all because of his power in allowing it to happen.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
He’s in total control.
Sharon:
And he can stop it with a mighty breath.
Nicole:
Yep. And when he’s done with it, he’s done with it. So I just love his, his power is really exciting to read about.
Sharon:
So, so cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I had that too. That he’ll allow evil to prosper, but only for a season. He wins.
Nicole: Yep.
Sharon:
You know, and then he promises eternal comfort, as well. So it’s hard now, but it won’t always be hard. That verse in Psalms, ‘weeping may endure for the night’ and Oh, the night might seem long.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
‘But joy comes in the morning.’
Nicole:
Absolutely. And his complete knowledge of it too. Is that omniscience, does that mean all knowledge?
Sharon: Yeah.
Nicole:
Is that omniscience?
Sharon:
Yeah. He knows it all.
Nicole:
He knows everything. He knows the very end. So again, he’s got it.
Sharon:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And when he’s looking at the whole picture, he’s like, oh, I see how it ends here. Trust me on this one.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
This looks so long now. Wait till you’ve been in, heaven for 3000 years.
Nicole:
Right. That will not seem so bad.
Sharon:
That one year of awfulness won’t seem so bad.
Nicole:
I know. It’s beautiful.
Sharon:
So, okay, so what did we learn about living wisely in troubled times? What did you learn about living wisely?
Nicole:
He says it a couple times and I think it’s really good to acknowledge. Hold on. Stand firm. And what am I holding onto? What am I standing firm in? God’s word, you know, and his love and his grace to us. Eeverything else is sinking sand. I just hold onto his word.
Sharon:
So true. So true. Yep. I, the same basically, but expect troubled times.
Nicole:
Yeah. That’s a good one.
Sharon:
This is all through the Bible. Expect troubled times. I just feel like almost every book in the Bible has something that either assumes trouble will happen. Shares trouble that is happening or tells you to expect trouble will happen.
Nicole:
And yet sometimes we’re still surprised by it.
Sharon:
I know. Funny.
Nicole:
God knew that we would be a little—. stubborn in this.
Sharon:
Yeah. Well we were made before the fall for not this. So I think we’re always a little uncomfortable with this because it’s not really what we were made for. We were made for something so different, Nicole.
Nicole:
That’s so true.
Sharon:
So when trouble comes, it just feels like that shouldn’t be happening.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
Well, initially it wouldn’t have.
Nicole:
That wasn’t the plan. We weren’t made to be broken.
Sharon: No.
Nicole:
We were made perfect.
Sharon:
No, so interesting.
Nicole: Yeah, it is.
Sharon:
Yeah. So, and then also remember the truth that the trouble times won’t last.
Nicole:
Yes. I like that part.
Sharon:
So, you know, expect troubles. Remember that they won’t last. Those are my things.
Nicole:
That’s so good.
Sharon:
Well, let us pray as we end this very difficult chapter where Nicole and Sharon are like The man of lawlessness, help.
Nicole:
We’re not really sure what’s happening, but go and study it. Talk to someone who knows.
Sharon:
Right. Oh, heavenly Father. How I thank you. How I thank you that we don’t need a seminary degree to come to your word. How I thank you for good pastors, for good teachers that Nicole and I can go to when we’re stuck and we’re just not sure. Lord, I thank you for mystery. I thank you that even though I still don’t completely understand those passages, I know so much that I do understand about you, Lord, that I can trust you with the things that are confusing. Oh Lord, all of your word is good. Help us not to run away from the hard passages, but to press in. To at least have them in our brain for the time and the
season when they’ll make sense to us. Thank you. Father, thank you for your love, your comfort. Thank you for the promise that it ends well. And thank you for your mighty breath. In Jesus name, Amen.
Nicole:
Amen. We hope you enjoyed hearing from us try to figure out these difficult verses. Our goal is to just be us with you, doing our best to study and ponder God’s amazing word. We’d love to hear from you. What did you think of this chapter and this episode? Write us at SweetSelah.org/podcast or at Sharon@SweetSelah.org. Donations can be given at SweeSelah.org/donations and consider becoming a podcast partner. We send a newsy little email once a month with pictures and chatter about our lives. We’d love for you to join this podcast partner family. Just donate any amount and write podcast partner in the comments. And do come back next week for our last look at the letters to the Thessalonians. Episode 123 is called Good Work. We’re looking forward to that one. Until then, watch out for counterfeits and stay close to Jesus, the genuine Son of God and Messiah, our Savior.
Speaker 1:
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @SweetSelah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Let's talk about growing up. When we accept Christ as Savior and surrender our lives to Him, we don't know a whole lot. We're babies in the faith who need training and teaching. Join Sharon and Nicole as they discuss growing up in the faith as they start unpacking Paul's second letter to Thessalonica.
Read the transcript for Growing in Faith and Love-Episode 121Speaker 1:
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word With Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole:
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 121, Growing in Faith and Love. We are starting a new book of the Bible today, although it’s closely related to the one we’ve been studying. Paul wrote two letters to the church at Thessalonika, and it’s time to look at the second letter. I did some research, Sharon, on the second letter, where he addresses some of the same issues from the first letter that had actually gotten worse. And he offers hope despite persecution. He speaks about and clarifies the coming of Jesus as there was some confusion that had arisen, and he ends with a specific challenge to the idle members in the church. I’m excited to dig into what Paul follows up on with this church and that this church that’s so dear to him.
Sharon:
Oh my goodness. It really is. He loves them and he doesn’t give up on them.
Nicole:
No, he doesn’t.
Sharon:
And it’s not like he didn’t have other churches.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
Paul’s like following up with the Corinthians. And he’s, everybody that he saw come to know Christ. They’re his spiritual babies.
Nicole: They are.
Sharon:
You know, and so,
Nicole:
He took good care looking up after them.
Sharon:
I wonder how many hours a day he spent praying for all the churches.
Nicole: Oh, yeah.
Sharon:
And thinking about them and writing to them, because the more churches that happened, the more responsibility he felt he had towards taking care of ’em.
Nicole:
Oh, sure. The more letters and the more prayers, like that’s a full-time job is praying and writing letters.
Sharon:
I know. I’m impressed with all he does and how God’s love in him expands. You know how love expands when you have another kid?
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Because when I had Katherine, I’m like, oh my goodness, I have another baby coming, but how could I possibly love this baby? Oh. But then Mary showed up and I loved Mary, you know? So same thing every time Paul got a new spiritual baby.
Nicole:
I know, his love grew for them.
Sharon:
So, it’s so good.
Nicole: That’s cute.
Sharon:
Oh my. Well, it’s a short little letter, the 2 Thessalonians one. So we are gonna cover it’s three chapters in three weeks.
Nicole:
Yeah. Perfect.
Sharon: We think.
Nicole:
Yeah. We’ll see.
Sharon:
We’re gonna start with chapter one and I really had a hard time choosing a title for this episode because Paul covers a lot of territory.
Nicole:
He does, yeah.
Sharon:
But I was struck by his compliment (he’s so good at complimenting) to the church and his greeting in verse three. The compliment is we can’t help, we can’t help but thank God for you.
Nicole:
I love that.
Sharon:
Because your faith is flourishing and your love for one another is growing. Oh, what a beautiful encouragement that verse is. So, even though he is gonna do some more instructing he always is like, but as I’m telling you hard things don’t forget. I see you. I see what you’re doing right?
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
So we’ll talk more about that when we look at that particular verse. But in general, as we continue to study how to live wisely in troubled times, which is our series here, making sure our faith flourishes and our love grows, are two very good ways to live wisely. So here we go. Let’s dig into this letter and marvel at the backbone and courage of this little church that Paul planted, but then had to leave before he really wanted to, due to the inevitable persecution that always seems to come when Paul shows up somewhere.
Nicole:
I know. Poor Paul.
Sharon: I know.
Nicole:
Bring in the party.
Sharon:
Yeah. So I’ll start with chapter one, verse one, and we’ll read back and forth. “This letter is from Paul, Silas and Timothy. We are writing to the church in Thessalonica, to you who belong to God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Nicole:
“May God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, give you grace and peace.”
Sharon:
“Dear brothers and sisters, we can’t help but thank God for you, because your faith is flourishing and your love for one another is growing.”
Nicole:
“We proudly tell God’s other churches about your endurance and faithfulness in all the persecution and hardships you are suffering.”
Sharon:
“And God will use this persecution to show his justice and to make you worthy of his kingdom from which you are suffering.”
Nicole:
“In his justice, he will pay back those who persecute you.”
Sharon:
“And God will provide rest for you who are being persecuted. And also for us, when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven, he will come with his mighty angels.”
Nicole:
“In flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don’t know God. And on those who refuse to obey the good news of our Lord Jesus.”
Sharon:
“They will be punished with eternal destruction forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power.”
Nicole:
“When he comes on that day, he will receive glory from his holy people, praise from all who believe. And this includes you, for you have believed what we told you about him.”
Sharon:
“So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do.”
Nicole:
“Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored because of the way you live, and you’ll be honored along with him. This is all made possible because of the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ.”
Sharon:
There’s that word, grace again.
Nicole:
So much grace.
Sharon:
Well, Okie dokie. There’s some heavy stuff in this passage. Some of it’s scary. Let’s go verse by verse and look closely at what Paul had to say. So I’ll start with verse one and read it again, and then talk about it. This letter, this is the greeting, I guess this is the way they almost always started their letters, is from Paul, Silas and Timothy. We are writing to the church in Thessalonica to you who belong to God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, I did a little background work again on Silas and Timothy, just so we know, because obviously they’re with Paul right now and writing this letter. Silas is first found in Acts 15:22 in terms of, I mean, he was found when he was born.
Nicole:
Right. As we know of him.
Sharon:
But the first time we know about Silas is when he is much older than birth. He’s a church leader in Jerusalem.
Nicole: Oh, okay.
Sharon:
And when Paul took the letter to the Jerusalem church and said, you know, do we have to have Gentiles circumcised? Do we have to have Gentiles not eating meat? What are we doing with these Gentile converts? Do they have to follow all the Jewish laws?
Nicole:
Oh, great questions.
Sharon:
It’s called the Council of Jerusalem. And decisions were made, and then a letter was written formally by the church leaders in Jerusalem to send back to these Gentile churches going, well, what are we supposed to do with some of these rules?
Nicole:
Right. We’re not Jewish, so what do we do?
Sharon:
So Silas was one of those leaders.
Nicole:
Oh, interesting.
Sharon:
And he accompanied Paul and Barnabas with that letter back to the Gentile churches. So he was part of that. So when in Acts 15:40, Paul and Barnabas had that parting of ways.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
‘Cause they didn’t agree, Silas was already in place for Paul to say, well, I’ll just take Silas and I’ll do my second missionary journey with Silas. And Barnabas of course, took John Mark. And there were double the missionary journeys because of a fight.
Nicole:
That’s amazing.
Sharon: Ta da.
Nicole:
Silas was up and ready and running. He was ready to just jump up with Paul. Wow. That’s really fascinating. I didn’t know that about Silas.
Sharon:
There’s good old Silas. And then, okay, who’s Timothy? Well, Timothy was born in Lystra, which is Asia Minor. He had a Christian grandmother and mother and a Greek dad.
Nicole: Oh, wow.
Sharon:
Who probably wasn’t a believer because when the grandmother and mother are commended for how they taught the faith to Timothy, the dad wasn’t mentioned. So, I mean, maybe he came to know Christ later, who knows? I don’t know.
Nicole:
But not before the letter was written.
Sharon:
But anyways, Timothy was mentored by Paul. He was a lot younger than Paul, and he was mentored. He traveled with him and Silas at times, and obviously was with them at this juncture in time. So Timothy was a younger leader of the church, but one that was very, very dear to Paul. So.
Nicole:
That’s a nice little group of men right here.
Sharon:
These three buds are all together here. And they’re writing again, the second time to the Church of Thessalonica. And I love how he describes them, ‘to you who belong to God, the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ’. So we belong too. So it’s to us as well, because we belong to God the Father. We belong.
Nicole: We do.
Sharon:
We’re in the in crowd. The best ‘in crowd’. The one that everybody’s welcomed to if they would just turn and say, can I belong?
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Can I be saved? Yes, you can. Just confess your sins and come to me. So enough on verse one, which was really long. I apologize.
Nicole:
Oh. But there’s so much in there. Like, who are these men? Now we know. I love it. So verse two is, “May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace”. I just love that he starts most of his letters that way and then ends it with grace. Because what can we do without God’s grace?
Sharon: Nothing.
Nicole: Nothing.
Sharon:
So can we be very grateful for God’s grace? Yes. We can.
Nicole:
Yep. I don’t think he can say it enough, especially where he is putting harder things in here to be, you know, corrected or addressed. He’s like, Hey, grace and peace, you got this guys. Okay, here it comes.
Sharon:
Perfect, perfect, perfect. Okay. Verse three, “Dear brothers and sisters, we can’t help but thank God for you because your faith is flourishing and your love for one another’s growing”. So flourish means to grow and develop in a particularly healthy way.
Nicole: Oh, yeah.
Sharon:
So they’re being persecuted, and yet their faith is flourishing.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
Isn’t that fascinating? So usually, you know, a plant flourishes when it’s planted in an ideal environment. This frightens me a little bit, Nicole, because if their faith is flourishing in persecuted times, is that actually good soil for faith to grow?
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon: Evidently it is.
Nicole:
That’s something to sit and think about for a while, isn’t it?
Sharon: Oh yeah.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
Yes. Like could I grow through the good times? But you know what? Faith can flourish even when we’re being persecuted. And love can get better. It can grow. So in this hard time, Paul’s like, and yet you’re clinging to God. And because of that, in the soil of persecution, you’re not only hanging in there, you are flourishing.
Nicole:
Oh, that must have been so nice to hear.
Sharon:
Oh, I’m so proud of that church.
Nicole:
Okay. We’re growing the right way. Okay.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
Yeah. And then he continues with verse four of that encouragement. “We proudly tell God’s other churches,” (love that, God’s other churches).
Sharon:
Isn’t that neat? They’re not Paul’s.
Nicole:
They’re not Paul’s.
Sharon: They’re God’s.
Nicole:
They’re not, yep, they’re God’s other churches. “About your endurance and faithfulness in all the persecution and hardships you are suffering.” They must have been going through a lot.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
For him to call that out. And then again, what an encouragement. And they probably really needed to hear that, that we are flourishing, we’re following God, we’re holding fast so well that Paul is talking about us to other churches as an example.
Sharon: I know.
Nicole:
Whoa. When people ask, if I have younger moms that come to me and ask for advice, it’s always like, what? I’m not, I don’t feel like I’m at that place where I can give advice. But if someone’s asking or they use you as an example, it’s like, okay, I must be doing what’s right. I must be doing the right things, God.
Sharon:
Yes. What an affirmation.
Nicole:
And that means so much. Yeah. It’s like, okay, keep on doing what you’re doing. Keep on following God.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
So this is probably just what they needed to hear right now in the midst of a lot of stuff.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
That wasn’t fun.
Sharon:
Yes. I love that. And I love that in that he’s also acknowledging, it’s not like you’ve got life rosy.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
I know you’re enduring. I know this is hard. So.
Nicole:
It’s so good.
Sharon:
So yeah. Yeah. So verse five, “And God will use this persecution to show his justice and to make you worthy of his kingdom for which you are suffering”. I always like to talk about his mercy and love best, but you know what? He is just.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And if we don’t remember that, we don’t try hard enough to convert and show people the need to come to Christ.
Nicole: Oh yeah.
Sharon:
You know, Nicole, if you think about it, these people that are persecuting, even the ones right now in the world that are, heaven help them. Except heaven won’t, if they fall into the hands of a wrathful God after they die.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
God is just, he will not allow this kind of evil to flourish indefinitely.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
There will be a time where people will pay. And although that’s sad, it’s also encouraging because if God just let it go, he’s saying it’s okay to be cruel.
Nicole: Oh, right.
Sharon:
Oh, no, it’s not. No, it’s not. And you will pay.
Nicole:
He knows it’s wrong, he knows it’s sin.
Sharon:
If you don’t repent.
Nicole:
Yeah. And he will deal with it, so. Oh my goodness. And so verse six, “In his justice, he will pay back those who persecute you”. So I think there is that comfort in that verse. It seems kind of harsh, but knowing that God is in control, he sees the whole thing. He sees the whole big picture. And that it’s a relief too for them. Like sometimes when you’re being wronged, it’s like, do I need to stand up for myself? Do I need to pay them back revenge? Because that’s our natural human instinct.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
So to be told, God’s got it, he will pay them back. Like, okay, okay. I just need to endure and look to you God, not to those who are persecuting me. I don’t have to worry about how to deal with them. If I look to you and endure and show love, their hearts could be changed.
Sharon: Absolutely.
Nicole:
And if not, you’re gonna deal with them, God.
Sharon:
You’re gonna deal with ’em.
Nicole:
It’s not mine to deal with.
Sharon:
Exactly. It’s not mine to deal with. And that’s what we need to remember. Jesus was like a lamb led to the slaughter, who opened not his mouth.
Nicole: Yes. Wow.
Sharon:
At certain points in that trial. Right? And, he sure could have defended himself.
Nicole:
Oh yeah. If anyone had more rights and anyone was more perfect than Jesus.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yep. Exactly. So, God does…, it’s going to be okay someday.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Nobody’s getting away with it.
Nicole: No.
Sharon:
In fact, if we’re ever persecuted, we ought to look on the cruelty of those people and pity them.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And say, Jesus, bring them to repentance because it’s not gonna be pretty.
Nicole:
No. His justice is not.
Sharon:
They will be paid back.
Nicole: Yep.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Verse seven. “And after he will pay back those who persecute you, God will provide rest for you who are being persecuted. And also for us.” (”Cause Paul’s being persecuted too.)
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
“When the Lord Jesus appears from heaven, he will come with his mighty angels.” This is the reminder that there will be a time when the strife will be over and there will be rest. That verse in Revelation where it says, “Jesus will wipe every tear from their eyes”? It’s actually specifically directed to those that were persecuted and were the martyrs.
Nicole:
Oh, wow. That’s so beautiful.
Sharon:
You know, he sees what they’ve gone through. And there’ll become a time of rest. It won’t always be hard. And he’ll appear from heaven. Da da da dum!
Nicole:
He’s coming.
Sharon:
He’ll come with mighty angels, trumpets. It’s gonna be really cool.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And you get to read the next part. It’s like the mighty Hero.
Nicole:
I know, the second half. Come with his mighty angels. And in flaming fire. That’s so cool. “Bringing judgment on those who don’t know God and on those who refuse to obey the good news of our Lord Jesus.” So yikes. It starts out so cool with angels and fire, and then it gets really sober.
Sharon: Yes. It does.
Nicole:
It’s really sobering there. This is so tough. You know, our hearts should break for those who don’t know. And we should be so thankful that we do know.
Sharon:
Yes, yes, yes.
Nicole:
We should be rejoicing in that ’cause that this is heavy stuff. You know, he’s coming to bring judgment on those who refuse to obey.
Sharon:
Yeah. And all they had to do was say yes to him.
Nicole:
I know. I know.
Sharon: Come on.
Nicole:
Such a heavy thing.
Sharon:
Yeah. Oh my goodness. But this is why we witness.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Because we don’t want anybody to face that judgment.
Nicole: No.
Sharon:
We really don’t. So, it gets worse in verse nine.
Nicole:
I know. I was gonna say, it doesn’t get better yet. Hold on.
Sharon:
“They will be punished with eternal destruction. Forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power.” C.S. Lewis, you know, reminds us that we choose hell.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
We’re given the invitation to come. It’s a non-exclusive invitation. Anyone can come. No matter what your grievous sin. God says, come, I’ve already taken your punishment on myself on the cross. But you have to receive it.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
If you don’t take it from my hand, I can’t give it to you.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
I’ve used this example before in talks I’ve given. What if my daughter, Katherine, was a single mom and she really needed a car. And Ray and I decided, oh, she doesn’t have the money to get a car. Let’s work really, really hard and let’s get a really good secondhand car for her.
Nicole: Nice.
Sharon:
Because we wanna give it to her. We wanna bless her. Right? And we bring it to her, and we say, and we’ve worked for two years to get it. I’m making this really intense here. And none of this is true, but, you know. Let’s, we’ll call the daughter, Kelly. So Kelly, after two years of Ray and I saving all our money and saying, here, Kelly, here is your car.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
And she says, oh, I couldn’t take that. I would be so hurt. I worked really hard to get you the car. I’m so excited to give you that car. Please take the car. You need the car.
Nicole:
It’s a free gift.
Sharon:
You’re walking three miles to work uphill both ways. Right?
Nicole:
In a snow storm.
Sharon:
Yeah, in a snow storm. If say, she didn’t take the keys, it doesn’t matter that we worked all that time to get the car for our Kelly.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
It wouldn’t be hers.
Nicole: True.
Sharon:
So that’s the part we have to do. We have to take the keys, as it were.
Nicole:
Yeah. And accept that free gift.
Sharon:
And if not, it’s eternal destruction forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power because they refuse to enter in and be with the Lord in all his glorious power.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s so tough,
Sharon: Man!
Nicole: That’s heavy.
Sharon: Huh. Okay.
Nicole:
Hopefully the second verse gets a little bit more peppy. “When he comes on that day (Oh, it is) He will receive glory from his holy people, praise from all who believe. And this includes you for you believed what he told you about him.” Wow. Again, this is kind of like the end goal, the big picture. You know,
that all of this suffering, all of this persecution, it will be worth it. The suffering does matter. It’s going for a purpose. It’s going for them being sanctified.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
Them receiving glory.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
And then praise to God, you know?
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
So I just think this is such a nice way to end all of the heavy stuff.
Sharon:
The heavy stuff, which honestly it has to be there. Or we would not be spurred on to share the good news.
Nicole:
Right. We should be really like, ooh, clenched up about number eight and nine. Like, man, we don’t want, tho even those who persecute us, like sometimes someone can be really awful to you, which you don’t want them to burn in hell forever.
Sharon: No. No, no.
Nicole:
You might feel like, oh good, you’re gonna get yours. And you’re like, okay, well actually,
Sharon:
Not that much.
Nicole:
I didn’t really want to be that harsh.
Sharon:
No, not that much. And that’s why Jesus spent so much time talking about hell, I think. It’s a real place, we don’t want, and it was designed for Satan and his angels not for people.
Nicole:
Right. When he offered that gift.
Sharon:
He so loved the world.
Nicole:
Yes. So all of them, even the persecutors and the people that are causing so much trouble,
Sharon:
Even the persecutors, if they turned.
Nicole:
Yep. If they turned.
Sharon:
Oh man. So, okay. Verse 11. “So,” says Paul, “We keep on praying,” (a constant theme, always prayer) “for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do”. Now here’s another good prayer to pray for my grandchildren when I keep on praying for them.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
That God would enable my grandchildren to live a life worthy of his call on their lives. Oh, is that not what I want for them? I look at their cute little faces and the pictures on the piano, and they’re still in that pretty much pre-adolescent innocent stage. And I’m like, God has a call on your life.
Nicole:
That’s so cute. Yeah.
Sharon:
I want, oh, listen to him that he could enable you to live out your purpose. May he give you the power my sweet little grandchildren to accomplish all the good things that your faith in him is gonna prompt you to do. You are gonna be told to do things, every single one of you, with your different gifts and talents. May God enable you to live that life. I mean, I pray for them daily, and I’m like all over this verse.
Nicole:
That’s a great verse to pray.
Sharon:
This is what I want for them. Yeah.
Nicole:
Yeah. Oh, I like that one.
Sharon:
And for other people too, not just for my grandchildren.
Nicole:
But especially your grandchildren.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
They’re just so cute. Aww, and then verse 12 says, “Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored because of the way you live, and you’ll be honored along with him. This is all made possible because of the grace of our God and our Lord Jesus Christ”. Wow. This is cool.
Sharon: It is.
Nicole:
So, if they endure all of this, if they press into God, if they lean unto him, Jesus gets honored because of the way they’re living.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
Which is cool. And then they will be honored along with him.
Sharon: Yeah.
Nicole:
I’d never noticed that before. That’s really,
Sharon:
Isn’t that neat?
Nicole:
Remarkable.
Sharon: It is. It is.
Nicole:
And all of this is not because they’re especially good or great or hustle or anything. This is all made possible because of the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
It’s not our own. It’s nothing that they have that we don’t have. They’re not special. They’re sinners that were saved by grace because of Jesus.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And so are we. That word grace is so beautiful. No wonder Paul speaks it all the time.
Nicole:
I know. And it’s such a beautiful reminder. We’re not alone.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
We’re with, Jesus is with us in all of this.
Sharon: Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
He suffered too.
Sharon:
Yes. Oh, he sure did.
Nicole:
And it says that too. Like we, we are honored along with him because he suffered just as much as they did.
Sharon: He did.
Nicole:
More, he suffered more.
Sharon:
Yeah. He stepped into flesh and felt what we felt. God is not asking us to do anything he hasn’t done even more so.
Nicole:
Yeah. That’s beautiful.
Sharon:
Yeah, it is. It’s— Oh my goodness. Wow. Okay. Time for our favorite verses. What was your favorite verse and why?
Nicole:
The last one is so good. This was such a heavy, heavy chapter. And I love the last verse. “The name of the Lord Jesus Christ will be honored because of the way you live, and you’ll be honored along with him.” And it’s all possible through the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ. So you’re looking back up to verse eight and nine about people who are gonna be judged and hell, and it’s just like, man, this is really heavy. So this verse too, because of the way we live.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
They’re seeing this little church flourish still.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
And grow and keep on keeping on and studying the faith despite all the things they’re trying to do. They’re noticing because they’re still persecuting. We don’t know what’s happening in those persecutors’ hearts and those —. The people around us.
Sharon: That’s so true.
Nicole:
We don’t know. And because of the way we live, it makes such a difference.
Sharon:
It does. It does.
Nicole:
So it’s such a good command for a good reminder to me like, Hey, how am I living? Am I keeping on, am I doing what I need to do? Because if my heart is burdened for those around me that don’t know Christ, or that scoff at Christ or persecute me.
Sharon: Yeah.
Nicole:
What is this doing by seeing how I keep looking to him.
Sharon:
Exactly so, exactly so, and you know, with their being persecuted, logically, if they didn’t really believe it, why in the world would they choose to, you know, lose finances, lose status?
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
In people’s eyes?
New Speaker: Lose safety?
Sharon:
And get whipped, you know, or whatever was happening to them. This is why, somebody a long time ago said the church was built on the blood of the martyrs.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
So many people chose a really uncomfortable life because they knew it was true.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
That you can’t say they were all crazy.
Nicole:
Right. They didn’t just do this on a whim. Like, well, we’ll just see it out. But for so many people to choose such a hard existence.
Sharon:
Oh, yeah. Yes, and do it with joy.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
And do it with love.
Nicole:
And thankfulness.
Sharon:
That’s actually the testimony, and that’s the honoring, and that’s the crown they get on their heads, which when they’re in heaven, they’re actually just gonna lay the crown back down at Jesus’ feet.
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
But, but that’s why they’re honored.
Nicole:
And that’s why we’re all here today, because we read about their faithfulness and persecution.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
Well, if they survived all of that, no one whipped me this week, Sharon.
Sharon:
Nope. Me neither.
Nicole:
No one threw stones at me.
Sharon: That’s right.
Nicole:
No one even gave me too much of a hard time for loving Jesus. Like, wow. If they can be faithful to the end, I can be faithful.
Sharon:
Absolutely. Absolutely. Oh, so good. So good. Well, I chose verse 11. “So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do.”
Nicole:
That’s so good.
Sharon:
So, you know, as I was thinking about it, I don’t always remember that he gives me that power. I think of God as giving me love and shelter.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
Nestling in, I’m a Selah person. I love my days where his wings cover me. Right. But I need to remember his power. When I need to be enabled to do something hard, when I’m afraid in some way of something.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
The power is available if I ask for it. It’s right there. So he gives me the power to accomplish these things.
Nicole:
That’s so good to remember.
Sharon: Yeah.
Nicole:
We do forget that sometimes. It’s amazing.
Sharon:
Love that. We do forget it. We do. So, okay. Well, what did I learn about God from this passage? Well, huh. I learned he’s just, which is actually, it’s a good thing. If he, even though it’s hard to hear, if he were not just, if he just scoffed at sin himself, what an awful world it would be.
Nicole:
Oh gosh. Yeah.
Sharon:
Wrong is wrong. And he punishes.
Nicole:
He calls it out. Yep.
Sharon:
Yeah. No one gets away with it. I learned that he’s returning and he enables me to do life well. And there’s a promise of rest coming.
Nicole:
Whew. I know.
Sharon:
How about you?
Nicole:
That’s a nice promise. I gleaned from this that he wants us to finish well. You know, they started well, but to continue on in the faith and continue to hold fast. I think he wants us to finish well. He doesn’t want us to get all excited for Jesus and be like the seed that sprouts up quick and then just withers and dies.
Sharon: Yeah, yeah.
Nicole:
You know, finish well, to be that good example. And then God is so full of grace.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
I just—, it’s so rich. That word is in this passage so much, and yet I still can’t fully grasp how much his grace is. Yeah. For me and for us. It’s beautiful.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. And the fact that it is said so often just is sort of that sweet reminder that that’s who he is. Even as we’re talking about his justice right now is still a time where people can repent.
Nicole:
Yes. There’s still grace.
Sharon:
That’s why he hasn’t come back for 2000 years. Because he’s not willing that any should perish, but all should come.
Nicole:
Because of grace. Oh, I love it.
Sharon:
Wow. Well, what did you learn about living wisely in troubled times?
Nicole:
Yeah. So if we’re going through persecution and hard times and suffering, our God knows. He’s been through all of that. Just like you had said, Jesus doesn’t ask us to do anything that he hasn’t done himself even more so. I just love that we’re not alone. He suffered as well. God has felt all the pains, all the fears, all the persecution we have, so we can, we can trust him when he tells us what’s going to happen after the persecution or through it, we can trust him. Even if we’re like, how is this gonna be good? I don’t see it. He’s like, it’s okay, I allowed this. I see the end. I suffered with you. I’m with you in it. Trust me.
Sharon: Yeah.
Nicole:
And we can trust him.
Sharon:
We can, we can. He’s walked the path before us.
Nicole: Yep.
Sharon:
Yeah. Oh, that was good. I think when I was thinking about this, I don’t need comfortable times to flourish. And that’s what I have to remember.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
When hard times come, that’s not an excuse to like, well, guess I can’t serve God anymore. Life’s too hard.
Nicole:
There’s no rain. I can’t grow for a while.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. I can flourish in bad times. In fact, sigh, perhaps I will flourish better when times are hard. And looking back over my life, some of the things I look back to where I grew the most, like during the Persian Gulf War, I flourished because of the hard time and I had to lean in. So.
Nicole:
Isn’t that amazing?
Sharon:
None of this, Oh, I can only flourish if you’re nice to me, God, and give me a happy, easy life. No.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
No, we can flourish in the hardest of times.
Nicole:
That’s a good reminder.
Sharon:
Yeah. Well, let us pray.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Oh, heavenly Father, we thank you for your grace. We thank you that you are not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. We thank you that you so loved the world and you died for the worst of sinners, and you welcome all into your kingdom even if it’s the last second of their lives and they never did another good thing. God, you have been so merciful in so many ways, but we also thank you for your justice. That wrong is wrong and good is good, and that you will repay. You will not allow evil to go unpunished. We honor you, God of justice, God of grace, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole:
Well, that was inspiring and sobering, wasn’t it? I hope if we ever face harsh persecution, God will enable our faith to flourish and our love to grow right in the thick of it. Thanks for joining us for this look at this amazing church and it’s testimony of faith. We’d love for you to write a review for us. Podcasts only get seen if they’re reviewed and shared. That’s a wonderful way for you to help us. That costs time, but not money. However, we would welcome donations as well. If God leads you to help us produce this podcast, you can donate at SweetSelah.org/podcast anytime. Write us at SweetSelah.org/podcast or email us at Sharon@SweetSelah.org. Come back next week for a look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Episode 122 is called Accept No Counterfeits. We’ll be learning some discernment skills next week. I’m looking forward to it. Have a great week.
Speaker 1:
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @SweetSelah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Join Sharon and Nicole as they ponder Paul's final words in his letter to the Thessalonians. So. Much. Wisdom!! We get practical, today. Let's learn.
Read the transcript for Words of Wisdom-Episode 120Speaker 1:
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word With Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole:
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 120 Words of Wisdom. Sharon, what are some words of wisdom from the Bible that have guided you, especially?
Sharon:
How many verses do I get to choose? There’s a lot of verses that have guided me through hard things. Well, when Ray was in the Persian Gulf War and fear and anxiety really threatened to cripple me, 1 John 4:18 kept me grounded. And that says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love”. And I just kept saying, okay, there’s no fear in love. Lord, I need your perfect love here, because I’m feeling the fear and it’s not from you and I know it’s not healthy. So that really, really helped me then. And then we’ve talked about this when the girls were teenagers and I was having a hard time losing control as a parent.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
I really liked it best when they thought everything I said was true.
Nicole:
I know that’s a fun time.
Sharon:
Teach me mom, and I was so willing to do it. And then they noted that maybe I wasn’t quite as perfect as I first thought I was and life went downhill. So anyways, I didn’t know how always to deal with their sassiness. And I, looking back, Nicole, I don’t think they were sassy as often as I thought they were sassy. You know, I think they were just trying to relate to me more as an adult. And I was not ready for them to do that. So anyways, I literally trained myself to recite Proverbs 15:1 before I let myself speak “A gentle answer turneth away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger”.
Nicole:
That’s a good one.
Sharon:
Oh, I had to, I made a deal with myself, you have to say that in your head before you respond.
Nicole:
That’s so smart.
Sharon:
It super helped. I recommend it ’cause you’re coming into those years, my friend.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Yeah. So, and then when I was the main caregiver for Dad Gamble, and the days were long and hard at times, I just loved Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 12:9, this is what it says. “But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me”. And I would just remind God of that verse. I’m feeling really weak. I need your power. I do. And you know what? God gave it. He gave it. Oh my goodness. So how about you, Nicole? What words of wisdom from the Bible are guiding you these days?
Nicole:
Oh, I know there’s so many.
Sharon:
Or in the past.
Nicole:
So let’s see, one of my all time favorites, because I have anxiety and at times it’s better and worse, but I’ll have panic attacks. And it’s just so crippling to have them. And you feel out of control and you feel a little crazy sometimes when they come up. And it’s not always circumstantial that you have a panic attack. It’s just a physical response. And the verse that has always been my lifeline, beginning during middle of those, uh, moments, is 1 Timothy 1:7, “for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and of a sound mind”. And I would just say to myself like, this is not from God. He’s given me power and love and a sound mind. I have a sound mind. So when I was feeling completely out of control, my body was betraying me and telling me to run there’s a bear, and all these horrible things, and there wasn’t. God’s word was just that lifeline I clung to.
Sharon: Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
But that’s a very special verse to me.
Sharon: Absolutely.
Nicole:
And then for parenting and life in general, Galatians 6:9 is huge for me, I have this all through my house. “Let us not grow weary of doing good for in due season we will reap if we do not give up.” And I don’t
wanna give up on, you know, the daily things and my kiddos and my husband and myself, but do not grow weary of doing good. ’cause sometimes good is weary.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
It’s just, it’s hard work. Especially those teenagers, those toddlers and
Sharon: Every age.
Nicole:
Yes. Every age. And then I also have a verse about being slow to anger and, James 1:19. “You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.”
Sharon:
That is such a good verse.
Nicole:
I had that in my car on a little card, on my, you know, my dashboard that I would look at when the kids were all fighting and go, listen, first.
Sharon: Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
Don’t be angry. Don’t spout off. It’s so easy to do that first, but.
Sharon:
It is. Yeah. And when we don’t listen first, oh my goodness I have an example of that. Yesterday I went to a new Hannaford’s to try to get no salt tomato sauce.
Nicole: Okay.
Sharon:
‘Cause they didn’t have it in our Hannaford’s.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
And I have to have no salt because of my Meniere’s Disease.
Nicole:
Probably hard to find that too.
Sharon:
It is. And normally when I look for it, it has like a blue label.
Nicole: Oh yes.
Sharon:
That says ‘no salt’. So I looked for the blue label. So a man came up to me and said, can I help you find something? I said, you’re out of no salt tomato sauce too. I just looked here as well. I’m so discouraged. He said, well, would, could you try a Hannaford’s brand? I said, your Hannaford’s brand has salt. And he handed it to me and I pushed it back. And then I took it again and it didn’t have salt. It just didn’t have the blue band because I didn’t listen to him. And so then I had to say, sir, I owe you an apology. I am so sorry. I did not listen. I’ve been studying James 1:19 as well.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And I thought, here’s an example. I was so sure that he was wrong. ’cause I didn’t see my little blue thing.
Nicole:
Right. What we’re used to.
Sharon:
I didn’t even let him finish his sentence. And he was trying to help me. So then he looked a little odd. Like, you don’t have to apologize quite so profusely. But I did have to apologize quite so profusely. I was outta line.
Nicole:
I know. It’s so easy to be quick to anger and quick with what we think we know ’cause we know so much more than everyone else, so.
Sharon:
Oh yeah. I knew more than the man that worked at Hannaford’s. Honest to Pete Nicole. What a shameful thing of me.
Nicole:
Oh, I know. But you were quick to apologize so that’s huge.
Sharon: I was.
Nicole:
And you learned that.
Sharon:
Even if he thought it was a little odd with my apology.
Nicole:
I’m so sorry.
Sharon:
Yeah. But you know, part of it was having just studied that passage in James and going, here I am. Not listening.
Nicole: Oh, yeah.
Sharon:
So I made chili with that no salt tomato sauce. And it was delish.
Nicole: Oh, good.
Sharon:
In conclusion. Well, okay.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s great.
Sharon:
Back to the podcast. Our last section in the first letter to the Thessalonians, is full of verses like you and I just quoted back and forth to each other, little wisdom packed verses of truth and light. Honestly, Nicole, I could take one verse a week and meditate just on that one verse, trying to apply it daily and be so blessed. In fact, I really might do that in January.
Nicole:
That’s a great idea. Just so much in here.
Sharon:
Fun. Oh, because it would be fun just to have one verse a week for, Oh, I think I might do that.
Nicole:
I love that.
Sharon:
Yeah. Anyways, for now, let’s read them, shall we?
Nicole: We shall.
Sharon:
Why don’t you start with 1 Thessalonians 5:12 and we will read to the end of the chapter and the book, stopping at verse 28. Go for it.
Nicole:
All right, sounds good. So 1 Thessalonians 5, and I’m starting at verse 12. “Dear brothers and sisters, honor those who are your leaders in the Lord’s work. They work hard among you and give you spiritual guidance.”
Sharon:
“Show them great respect and wholehearted love because of their work and live peacefully with each other.”
Nicole:
“Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone.”
Sharon:
Just pause here. I could take a sentence, not a verse, out of these. Right?
Nicole:
I know there was like three or four things in that one part.
Sharon:
Right, right. This might take me through April. Okay. Verse 15. “See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people.”
Nicole:
“Always be joyful.”
Sharon:
“Never stop praying.”
Nicole:
“Be thankful in all circumstances. For this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”
Sharon:
“Do not stifle the Holy Spirit.”
Nicole:
“Do not scoff at prophecies.”
Sharon:
“But test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good.”
Nicole:
“Stay away from every kind of evil.”
Sharon:
“Now, may the God of peace make you holy in every way. And may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.”
Nicole:
“God will make this happen. For he who calls you is faithful.”
Sharon:
“Dear brothers and sisters, pray for us.”
Nicole:
“Greet all brothers and sisters with a sacred kiss.”
Sharon:
“I command you in the name of the Lord to read this letter to all the brothers and sisters.”
Nicole:
“May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”
Sharon:
Oh, I love that. Do you know what though? Verse 26 translated in the New Living Translation, that’s the only time it’s bothering me to see sisters. I don’t think you know, I should greet brothers because I’m a sister,
Nicole:
I know. I was gonna chat about that with you later. I’m like, oh, this is interesting. I wonder what a sacred kiss was back then.
Sharon:
Sacred Kiss. Yeah. Because in most translations it’s ‘greet the brothers with a kiss’.
Nicole: Oh.
Sharon:
New Living Translation changes it to brothers and sisters whenever they believe that it really meant people.
Nicole: Everyone. Sure.
Sharon:
Right. But I’m like I don’t know about that one. But anyways, let’s examine each verse one at a time. And why don’t you start with verse 12. Let’s go back and just dig into the richness of these verses.
Nicole:
All right. So I’ll read verse 12 again. It says, “dear brothers and sisters, honor those who are your leaders in the Lord’s work. They work hard among you and give you spiritual guidance”. So this is very timely. ’cause October is Pastor Appreciation month.
Sharon:
Yes. Wasn’t that amazing?
Nicole:
It’s just so special. Yeah. And you know, it’s such a hard job. They do so much for us. They are not perfect, but they are specifically attacked spiritually because of the work that they do to minister to us.
Sharon: Truth.
Nicole:
Our teachers, our pastors. And that’s a, that’s a big burden that they have to bear.
Sharon: It is.
Nicole:
And they’re always so willing to, you know, encourage us, pray for us. If I call or text a pastor, never once has one said, you know, I’m just having an off day, like, just call me tomorrow. They’ve always been there for us in times of need.
Sharon: Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
And that’s a big burden. That’s a big responsibility.
Sharon: It sure is.
Nicole:
So I love that he’s pointing that out and to honor your leaders and just, you know, remember what a hard job they have.
Sharon:
Exactly. Sometimes we forget. We just assume, well, we hired you.
Nicole:
Right? Yeah. You’re there at my beck and call for all my emotional and spiritual need.
Sharon:
Good grief, 24/7 for 500 people in our church.
Nicole:
That’s a lot of people.
Sharon:
It’s ridiculous.
Nicole: It is.
Sharon:
Yeah. Sometimes we ask too much of them really.
Nicole:
We do. Yeah, we do,
Sharon:
Well, verse 13 kind of continues it, it says ‘show them great respect and wholehearted love because of their work and live peacefully with each other’. You know, this great respect. I have kind of, a pet peeve about. Sometimes I feel like some people look for fault not just with our pastors, but with Bible teachers. Oh, sure. I know we need to be careful of heresies. I know that. I know we need to be careful and not take everything everybody says as true. But I also think we need to extend grace to people that say words all the time.
Nicole:
Yes.
Sharon:
If ninety-five percent of their words are correct, it is possible that the 5% you heard that sounds a little off, is not what they meant to say.
Nicole: Oh, yeah.
Sharon: Right?
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
Because I have done that. I have written something and in my head it made sense. But what came out that Jan, the editor, has to fix, she’ll say to me, I don’t think you meant that.
Nicole:
But she gave you grace.
Sharon:
And I’m like, Oh, for crying out loud. I did not mean that. Right. But she gave me grace and she also fixes it. I love you Jan. So I just think we have to be careful. We need to treat those that teach and lead with great respect. And not believe the worst about them. Not be like fault finders that are like, oh, let’s see if they, you know, are going to mess up.
Nicole:
Yes. Sitting there specifically looking and watching for fault. That’s not the same as watching for heresy. I do not believe.
Sharon:
Yeah. It’s a different category. So anyways, we’re to show them great respect. And we’re to believe the best. And wholehearted love because of their work. They’re real people with real needs and hurts and insecurities of their own. It’s not like they’re hardened to it when, you know, five people in a row tell them the one thing they didn’t like about the sermon.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
And don’t bother to mention all the things they did. Right? They’re still vulnerable. And we need to give them wholehearted love and remember they’re real people.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
And here it says right in this verse, live peacefully as much as we can.
Nicole: Sure.
Sharon:
Let’s not try to stir up trouble. Okay?
Nicole:
No, ’cause that makes their job harder ’cause we’re all calling them saying, oh, so and so.
Sharon:
Oh my goodness.
Nicole:
And yeah, live peaceably,
Sharon:
Can we just be nice?
Nicole: Can we?
Sharon: Yeah. Okay.
Nicole:
All right. So verse 14 says, “Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid, take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone”. So this is like, almost like three different little sections in this verse.
Sharon: Yes, it is.
Nicole:
So I think it’s good he makes a clear distinction that he’s not without compassion for those in true need.
Sharon: Yeah.
Nicole:
You know, however, he does warn against those who are lazy. But at the end he kinda wraps it up with ‘be patient with everyone’.
Sharon:
Even those lazy ones.
Nicole:
Even the lazy ones. Yeah. But I love how he points out, you know, encourage those who are timid and then take tender care of those who are weak. So he’s pointing out the people that probably feel overlooked or feel not as valuable. And separating them from those who are choosing to be lazy.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
So it’s a very complex verse there.
Sharon: It is, it is.
Nicole:
Like, talk to those who are lazy, you know, warn them like, Hey, this is not what you should be doing, but then look for the ones who truly need help and help them.
Sharon:
I love that.
Nicole:
Yeah. It’s good.
Sharon:
Nice analysis.
Nicole:
Paul’s so wise.
Sharon:
Yeah. So good. Verse 15, “See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people”. We don’t get to do revenge.
Nicole: No.
Sharon:
We just don’t. “Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord.” It’s not— all revenge does is escalate anger. I mean, the Hatfield’s and the McCoy’s is the great example of you know, two hundred years later they’re still fighting and nobody even knows what the original problem was. We just don’t like Hatfields. We just don’t like McCoy’s or whatever’s. We have to be really careful with revenge. The golden rule applies to this situation. Do unto others what you would have them do to you. You know, if I’m mean to someone on an off day, I would really like them to give me grace. Right?
Nicole:
Yes. That would be nice.
Sharon:
I wouldn’t like them to escalate and pound my face.
Nicole:
Right. On the one day you have a bad day.
Sharon:
Exactly. So we don’t— Using evil to fight evil is evil.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon: There you go.
Nicole:
It’s the same source of evil. Yeah. Right. It’s not good.
Sharon:
So don’t do it.
Nicole:
All right. Instead, verse 16, “Always be joyful”.
Sharon:
Now that’s a toughie.
Nicole:
It is. So sometimes being joyful feels easier than others. But I think sometimes we get joy and happiness confused. They are very different. Happiness is circumstantial. Happiness is, oh, yay, I won something. Or Oh, yay, there’s no traffic or whatever. My jeans fit really well today. Or, happiness is circumstantial. It can be easily changed.
Sharon: True.
Nicole:
Oh, it’s raining and my new shoes, whatever. I’m picking very shallow things. But happiness can be fairly shallow and circumstantial.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
Joy, though, we can feel joy in sorrow and in trouble. That is a difference. So God is saying, always be joyful. Don’t always be fake. Don’t always fake happiness. And oh, it’s fine. You can be sorrowful, crying in the middle of a terrible struggle and still have joy in your heart because you have peace and comfort from God. And that is completely different.
Sharon:
Yes, it is. It’s deep down.
Nicole:
It is. And he doesn’t expect us to have an artificial happiness.
Sharon:
No. No, he doesn’t.
Nicole:
It’s the joy that he gives.
Sharon:
Yeah. I love that. Well, this next verse is “Never stop praying”. And interestingly, the day that I prepared this, I had just read Psalm 88. Which will now stick in my mind forever because it is the most depressing psalm ever. It starts out crying for help. “My life is full of troubles.” And it ends with, “You have taken away my companions and loved ones. Darkness is my closest friend”.
Nicole:
Oh my goodness.
Sharon:
I know.
Nicole:
That is heavy.
Sharon:
Most psalms that start sad, they kind of talk themselves out of the sad and at the end they’re remembering the good things.
Nicole:
Yes. Ends on a good note.
Sharon:
Right. Psalm 88 has, I mean, he’s sad from the beginning to the end. Oh. But he never stops talking to God about it.
Nicole: Oh wow.
Sharon:
I’m like, oh, I actually see the purpose of Psalm 88. Even if the answer doesn’t come, this psalmist never stopped praying. He always ran to God. Even though he was clearly in a season where he couldn’t pep himself up very quickly. Right?
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
And, we’re to never stop. We’re to talk to God when things are happy, we’re to talk to God when things are sad, and we’re to talk to God when things are sad and they stay sad.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
Which is Psalm 88. Which Is now one of my weirdly favorite Psalms.
Nicole:
This sad, depressing psalm. It’s my favorite. Aw. But I love that though.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. So.
Nicole:
Because we don’t always have to be joyful and praying and telling him, sometimes we don’t see the end. And it’s hard.
Sharon:
Right. We don’t, and even in the middle of the depressing. We still come to him.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s beautiful.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. So.b
Nicole:
Oh, that’s so good. I know, these three verses I feel like are very close, 16, 17, and 18. So 18 says, “Be thankful in all circumstances”. Another really hard call for hard times.
Sharon:
Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
Nicole:
But, “For this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus”. So I think that thankfulness brings that joy that was mentioned in that earlier verse. You know, how do I always be joyful? And how do I never stop praying and be thankful in all circumstances? That feels like a bit of a tall order, you know? But God wants that for us. That’s his will for us who belong to him. And we don’t have to be, I think to have that joyful, thankful heart. We have to always be praying. We have to pour out our sorrows to him.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
Like that Psalmist did, you know?
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Nicole:
And that, you know, that relationship is built with him ’cause we’re talking to Jesus, we’re telling him our sorrows, and then he gives us the joy and then we’re thankful.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
So it’s all together.
Sharon:
Yeah. And I do believe the Psalm 88 guy eventually, maybe by Psalm 101, right? I mean, I don’t know how many Psalms he wrote.
Nicole:
He got a little peppy toward the end. Let’s hope. I’m sure he did. If he’s talking to God. I’m sure at some point he did find that joy.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I always have loved that it says thankful in all circumstances. Not for.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
I don’t have to be thankful for cancer. But I need to find a reason to be thankful in a cancer journey for the good God can bring through it.
Nicole:
That’s a great point.
Sharon:
I think it’s a good distinction. Those little prepositions matter.
Nicole:
Oh, they do. It can change everything, so,
Sharon: Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole: Good point.
Sharon:
So, okay. Verse 19, “Do not stifle the Holy Spirit”. You know, I think that’s easy to do. Stifle the Holy Spirit. He urges us to say something about God in a secular crowd and we freeze. We’re like, I don’t wanna say it.
Nicole: Yep.
Sharon:
He prompts us to forgive someone. We block our ears. I don’t wanna forgive them. But what we need to do is we need to act when we feel that nudge to call somebody to say, sorry, to say a word about God and not let, like you’ve talked about this, Nicole, when somebody says, oh, you’ve got such a joyful spirit. You try to point to God with it.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
You know, even if it’s a secular person. That’s not stifling the Holy Spirit. That’s if the Holy Spirit says, who are you gonna give the credit to?
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
You need to do it. So I think that’s partially what that means. We get little promptings to do good. Don’t stifle him. If he’s prompting you, do it.
Nicole:
Right, ’cause then it becomes easier. That’s the walking with the Spirit.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
And if we’re always doing our own desires and our own sinful—, we’re gonna get used to listening to ourselves who is/are louder than the Holy Spirit.
Sharon: Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
And that’s not good. So the next one is, “Do not scoff at prophecies”. That’s interesting. So prophecies, I feel like sometimes they’re kind of warnings. And obviously they’re for telling of things to come, what’s coming down the line. So I think that we need to heed them and realize that they’re very important. If Paul or another prophet in the Bible is telling us of something to come, we should listen.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
Because we don’t know what’s going to happen.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
And they’re giving us a like an early prep for it.
Sharon: Exactly.
Nicole:
Here’s what coming. Don’t scoff at it. Like pay attention. This could be really important.
Sharon:
Exactly. Don’t blow it off.
Nicole:
Yeah. It’s worth some acknowledging that.
Sharon:
Exactly. It’s so good. But then it kind of gets balanced with verse 21. “But test everything that is said. Hold onto what is good.” So we don’t scoff, we don’t go ftsst, we listen to it. And like the Bereans in Acts, we go to the scriptures to see if what is said lines up with the scriptures, if somebody today says something.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
So we are to test it. Not everything that’s said is true. But everything good we should cling to. We hold onto it even if it’s hard.
Nicole:
Yeah. No, that was good. And then verse 22 says, “Stay away from every kind of evil”. So that’s pretty clear. But you know, I think sometimes Satan’s really good at disguising evil. Like, oh, stay away from evil. I got it. I won’t murder my neighbor. I won’t steal. But Satan’s so clever at hiding evil and something that appears to be good. So we have to be on guard. And I think that if we want to be fully aware of what is evil, it’s that studying the counterfeit bills.
Sharon: Yes. Yes,
Nicole:
So if you need to just determine what the counterfeit or what the real one is, study the real one. And so for us as Christians, to avoid evil, that’s disguised, we need to be in the scriptures. We need to know
God’s word. We need to know the truth so well that when evil sneaks up clothed in good. We go, oh, no, no. That’s not true.
Sharon:
Exactly. Exactly. Oh, that’s good. I love verse 23 because it’s a blessing and I love blessings. “Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way. And may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.” What a lovely thing to pray for someone.
Nicole:
That is beautiful.
Sharon:
What a blessing for your children.
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
Or my grandchildren, just Paul is so good at blessing the people he loves.
Nicole:
He really was and kind of stopping in the middle of a lot of heavy, hard,
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
Like, spurring on things. I can’t think of the word for that. Like,
Sharon: Exhortations.
Nicole:
Exhortations. Yes. Like, hey, this is hard, but just here’s a little blessing in between.
Sharon:
Yes. Yeah. I love it.
Nicole:
He’s so good. And then he continues, verse 24, “God will make this happen for he who calls you is faithful”. Wow. I love this. There’s a lot in these verses. You know, and it’s not this unachievable to-do list that he’s giving us. Like, you need to do this. You need to pray and be faithful and, and be loving. He’s saying God will make this happen.
Sharon:
Yes. Isn’t that a relief?
Nicole:
God makes it. Yes. For he is faithful to make this happen. Oh, I just love that, we can rest in that.
Sharon:
It’s beautiful. Yeah. Then verse 25, “Dear brothers and sisters, pray for us”, back to prayer. Paul knew prayer mattered. He wouldn’t be asking for prayer if prayer didn’t do something.
Nicole:
Yeah. He’d seen the effects of it. And then I get the kissing one, “Greet all brothers and sisters with a sacred kiss”. And I was gonna look up and see like, what was the sacred kiss? But what was the sacred kiss back then? How did Jewish people greet each other? It must be different than walking up and like, you know, giving someone a big old kiss on the lips. I’m assuming that’s not it.
Sharon: Yeah.
Nicole:
But I was thinking that if you’re going close enough to someone to give him a kiss on the cheek or whatever, there’s a real true warm affection. .
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
It’s like a family tie. Where I think he had said earlier in this book, like, don’t pretend to love, truly love others. And if you’re walking up to, you know, your fellow sister in Christ and giving her a big old squeeze and a kiss on the cheek, she’s gonna know you really love her.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
You don’t kiss people you don’t like.
Sharon:
Exactly. Exactly. I love that. Verse 27, “I command you in the name of the Lord to read this letter to all the brothers and sisters”. Whoa. This letter needs to be read out loud. It’s that important. And Peter said in 2 Peter 3:16, don’t twist Paul’s words as ignorant people twist the other scriptures. So the Apostle Peter basically lumped Paul’s letters with other scriptures.
Nicole:
Wow.
Sharon:
So even in the day that Paul’s letters were written the Christians were starting to realize the Holy Spirit was speaking through these chosen apostles. So it’s gotta be read out loud, because these are God’s words through Paul to them.
Nicole: That’s huge.
Sharon: It is.
Nicole:
That must have been a big revelation for them to realize that. Like this is—,
Sharon:
Yeah. This is more than just a normal letter.
Nicole:
Right, ’cause we have the Bible in its entirety and it’s just the Bible, we know it’s all good. They didn’t have all of that collected together. They were starting to piece together. That would’ve been very interesting.
Sharon:
But Peter named Paul’s letters as scripture..
Nicole:
He did. Wow. That’s super cool.
Sharon: Yeah.
Nicole:
And then verse 28, “May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” Oh, I love it. He starts with grace and he ends with grace, you know?
Sharon: That’s Paul.
Nicole:
It’s the truth, and he points back to Jesus Christ, the true grace of Jesus Christ. Like what better place to get it from than him?
Sharon:
Yes. And that also, after all the things to do, is so good to remember. Oh yeah. That’s grace. God forgives us if we don’t do all the things we’re supposed to do. So.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
Oh my goodness. Nicole, we have hardly any time for our last three questions ’cause this was so rich.
Nicole:
There’s so much in it.
Sharon:
So my favorite verse real quick was verse 24, “God will make this happen. For he who calls you is faithful.”
Nicole:
Yes. Amen. That’s what I picked too. I love it.
Sharon:
Well, that was nice and quick. Good.
Nicole:
It was. Perfect.
Sharon:
And it’s a wonderful verse, ’cause we really have to trust him for all these things.
Nicole: Absolutely.
Sharon:
What did you learn about God from this passage?
Nicole:
Oh, he’s faithful and he cares about our hearts. And he wants us to be joyful and thankful.
Sharon:
He does. Yeah. Yeah. That was basically me. God can make me holy and blameless. Only he can do this.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
But he can do this. He’s also the God of peace and has extended grace through Jesus’ sacrifice.
Nicole:
All good things.
Sharon:
Yeah. And what did I learn about living wisely in troubled times? Oh, so much.
Nicole: So much.
Sharon:
Don’t stop praying even when the times are troubled. Don’t stop being thankful even when things aren’t great. Don’t stop being deep down joyful.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Not fake happy. Keep on living and loving no matter what, what’s going on around you. You just keep doing the good things.
Nicole: That’s good.
Sharon:
That’s what I got from this, ’cause he’s talking to people in troubled times. He’s telling them to keep doing all this stuff.
Nicole:
Yes. Keep on…
Sharon:
And their are times were troubled-er then ours are.
Nicole:
Right. I know. They had a lot of trouble going on.
Sharon: Yeah.
Nicole:
I know. So I put somewhat similar, ‘rest in God for his help and our spiritual growth. It’s not all on us. Rest in God for his help’. And then he’s so compassionate. He sees the tiny details. And the people who feel tiny, you know, the timid and the weak and the lonely.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
His care and his love for us is just so amazing.
Sharon:
It really is. I’m glad you noticed that part. That’s why God’s like, watch out for those timid ones.
Nicole:
I know. And the weak ones.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
Like they just, they feel overlooked. He sees them and he called them out specifically.
Sharon: He does.
Nicole:
I just, I love his compassionate heart.
Sharon:
I do too. Oh man, that was beautiful.
Nicole:
So much good stuff.
Sharon:
I gotta do more with this passage, because I just, I can’t get over the richness of it. I just can’t.
Nicole: It’s great.
Sharon:
Well, let me pray for us. Oh, heavenly Father, thank you. Thank you that you love the timid and the weak. Thank you that everything Paul tells us to do here, these things are for our good. These things are
to bring us joy. We are so grateful, Lord, for your word, your living word that teaches us how to live. Father, help me remember when I’m like, what do I do? What do I do? To just go back and read this passage? Because you give so much instruction on how to live well. Help me to remember, Lord, that no matter how troubled the times are, the rules don’t change. We’re still supposed to be kind. We’re still supposed to be patient. We’re still supposed to treat our pastors with respect. Oh, Father, thank you for this passage. Thank you for the way you teach your children, and thank you for your grace, ’cause we surely do not always get it right. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole:
Amen. Thank you for joining us on this journey through Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians. It’s been a rich journey and we’ve learned a lot about living wisely in troubled times. Are you enjoying this series? We’d be so honored if you would take the time to leave us a review on your podcast app so that others can find this podcast, please share us with your friends. Write to us anytime by going to SweetSelah.org/podcast. You can also email us at Sharon@SweetSelah.org. We love connecting with our listeners. It’s a real encouragement to us. We start the second letter to the Thessalonians next week. Join us then for episode 121, Growing in Faith and Love. Until then, may the words of wisdom we read today stay in our hearts and enable us to live wisely in these troubled times.
Speaker 1:
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @SweetSelah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and view the transcript here.
We are children of the light if we belong to Jesus, the one who declared "I am the light of the world!" Celebrate all that means with Sharon and Nicole, today. No hiding and cowering in a dark corner. Nope. We get to dance in the light! Join us for a joyful look at all the goodness God has poured out on His children. It's amazing!
Read the transcript for Children of the Light-Episode 119Speaker 1:
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word With Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole:
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 119, Children of the Light. Last week we talked about the hope that Christians find in death. This week we are going to talk about the coming of our King back to planet Earth. That’s super exciting, Sharon.
Sharon:
It is. You know, I can remember back in high school on a really dreary day where I did not want to be in high school.
Nicole:
We all have a few of those days, don’t we?
Sharon:
I was standing in the cafeteria line with my tray, you know, just kind of plodding, thinking about geometry after lunch or something equally dismal and I started thinking about the rapture, you know, and thinking, wouldn’t this be a great time for the rapture? My tray would fall to the ground. I’d never have to face geometry.
Nicole:
Please Jesus come now.
Sharon:
And up I would go into the sky. And honestly, I was so caught up in the moment, I was expecting it almost. It was really a happy moment.
Nicole:
Sharon’s standing in line with her eyes closed, just like, Hey, go over there, get your sloppy joe.
Sharon:
Take me now. Yeah. So, but it was really fun, ’cause I had just recently seen the old Left Behind movie. There’s been a new Left Behind movie since then. There’s been new Left Behind things. But it’s such a wild concept if this is the way it happens, that the Christians are caught up and the non-Christians are like, why are there all these empty cafeteria trays? Right?
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
So, but it really lifted the mood for a short period of time that day.
Nicole:
That’s great. Oh my goodness.
Sharon:
Oh my goodness. So did you ever read the Left Behind series or watch the movie?
Nicole:
I watched the newer Kirk Cameron one, and I think I read one or two of the books. But it’s very fascinating to pursue that whole thought, that whole, like, Hey, what happens after the rapture? Because we don’t often think about that.
Sharon:
No, we’ll be gone.
Nicole:
We’ll be gone, but what’s gonna happen afterward? And I think the part that always kind of terrified me is like, will I be the one left behind thinking I should’ve been raptured. Like, please Lord, am I saved? I’m saved. You love me, I’ve talked to you.
Sharon: Yes, yes.
Nicole:
But just in case, please save me. I don’t wanna be left behind.
Sharon:
I wanna be, when the two women are doing whatever they’re doing, I wanna be the woman that gets taken.
Nicole:
Yes, exactly. But as, as a child, I was like, oh, no, am I really saved? So it was a kind of a funny,—
Sharon:
And it can be scary too, and we may not completely understand it anyways, so who knows? I keep remembering that the Jewish people thought they knew how Messiah was gonna come the first time, as a warrior.
Nicole:
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Sharon:
And even though Isaiah in Isaiah 53 told them very clearly, he’d come as a suffering servant they kind of focused on the parts of scripture that said he came as a warrior, which he will do the second time. So I’m like, okay. So don’t get too solidified in what you think Sharon Gamble. The main thing is, you know the Lord.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
And the Lord loves you and you love him, and
Nicole:
And at some point,—
Sharon:
So be ready for whatever.
Nicole:
Right. Right. No, that’s a good point, ’cause they missed, so many of them missed the Messiah when he came (Sharon: Right) ’cause they were looking for the wrong version of him.
Sharon:
Exactly. And that’s,
Nicole:
We don’t wanna do that.
Sharon:
No, we do not wanna do that. So, all right, well, let’s divide,…. divide? Let’s dive into this passage. Way back when Paul was walking miles and miles sharing the gospel and bringing it to the Gentiles, Christians were watching for Jesus’ return 2000 years ago.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
Just like I was in high school. I don’t think we’re ever supposed to lose that sense of anticipation. Ever. God wants us to live with that. ’cause one day he really will return and we wanna be ready. Mm.
Speaker 2: Speaker 3:
Jesus spoke of this to his disciples warning and encouraging them to always be ready. So let’s start there with what Jesus said before we go to our passage.
Nicole:
Okay. So we’re gonna read from Mark 13:32-37. And I’ll start and you can do the other verses.
Sharon: Okay.
Nicole:
“But about that day or hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father.”
Sharon:
“Be on guard. Be alert. You do not know when that time will come.”
Nicole:
“It’s like a man going away. He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge each with their assigned tasks and tells the one at the door to keep watch.”
Sharon:
“Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back, whether in the evening or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn.”
Nicole:
“If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping.
Sharon:
“What I say to you, I say to everyone, watch.” Okay, so that’s from the mouth of Jesus. We’re to watch. We’re to look. Even Jesus as a man didn’t know when he’d be coming back, and neither do we. But his message was clear . Yeah. We’ve got to watch for his return and eagerly await him. Let’s not be caught sleeping like, nah, you know, whatever.
Nicole:
Someday he’ll be back. But, whatever,
Sharon:
It’s been 2000 years. Yeah. Or ignoring the one who comes again. So we need to really keep anticipating.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And live in that happy place.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
All right. So now we’re gonna move on to Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians. Remember, they’re fairly new Christians and he’s encouraging them to remain faithful in troubled times. So these words in the letter are to encourage and strengthen them. So they’re gonna do the same for us when we read and listen today, I’ll start with verse one. “Now, concerning—(I don’t think I said this, 1 Thessalonians 5:1).
Nicole: Perfect.
Sharon:
“Now, concerning how and when all this will happen, dear brothers and sisters, we don’t really need to write you.”
Nicole:
“For, you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night.+
Sharon:
“When people are saying everything is peaceful and secure, then disaster will fall on them as suddenly as a pregnant woman’s labor pains begin. And there will be no escape.”
Nicole:
“But you aren’t in the dark about these things, dear brothers and sisters. And you won’t be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief.
Sharon:
“For you are all children of the light and of the day. We don’t belong to darkness and night.”
Nicole:
“So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded.”
Sharon:
“Night is the time when people sleep and drinkers get drunk.”
Nicole:
“But let us who live in the light be clearheaded protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet, the confidence of our salvation.”
Sharon:
“For God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us.”
Nicole:
“Christ died for us. So that whether we are dead or alive when he returns, we can live with him forever.”
Sharon:
“So encourage each other and build each other up just as you are already doing.” There he goes again. I just so love Paul. All right. Well, let’s examine each verse. And I’m gonna start with verse one, and we’ll talk through them. Now, says Paul, concerning how and when all this will happen, dear brothers and sisters, we don’t really need to write you, Oh, he’s about to.
Nicole:
Right. Disregard this letter.
Sharon:
I’m noticing that. But I think what he’s saying is, this was part of the first instructions I gave you. This was so important that when Paul talked to new believers, he wanted to mention it. And it makes sense to me. Jesus had just ascended into heaven a few decades before. Right?
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
And everybody’s like, well, when’s he coming back? When’s he coming back? And those that knew him, had seen him?
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
I mean, we are not yearning like they yearned. ”Cause we never got to touch him.
Nicole: No. Right.
Sharon:
We never got to see his face and his body like they did.
Nicole:
That must have been really hard for them.
Sharon:
Oh, so hard.
Nicole:
I never thought about that.
Sharon: So hard.
Nicole:
Those that had actually seen, like when is it? Now is he coming back?
Sharon:
Is it now? Yeah. I mean, we’ve had to live without you for two years now, Lord.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
I mean, they had no idea that we’d still be, is it now, 2000 years later?
Nicole:
Wow. That’s crazy.
Sharon:
Because as Peter said, I think, ‘a day is a thousand years and a thousand years is a day with the Lord’.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
You know, time is like a blink for him.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
But, thousands of years seem long to us.
Nicole:
Yes, it does.
Sharon:
Just saying. So anyways, it’s not new news. It’s something that they were taught. And I think it’s important for us to think of that when we talk to believers, new believers too. This is an important part of our whole faith and creed. He’s coming again. And they should have known that first, even though he is about to repeat it.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
And maybe add more to it or whatever. So.
Nicole:
Well, that’s good. So verse two says, “For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly like a thief in the night.” I think this is a really great analogy that he used.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
It’s very relatable. ‘Cause no one ever expects, you know, a thief in the night.
Sharon: No.
Nicole:
And there’s no prep. You have no idea, you’re totally unprepared. And it’s not a, it’s never, it’s funny, he would use this. It’s not a pleasant thing to have a thief come in the night.
Sharon:
It’s a shock.
Nicole:
It’s a shock. Right. You wake up and your stuff is gone, or you catch him in your house and you’re terrified. And it’s, Christ’s return is a good thing. But it’s funny that he, if you’re unprepared, it becomes almost like a terrifying shock
Sharon:
Oh, it sure would if you were unprepared.
Nicole:
Right. So I think it’s a great analogy that he picked for that.
Sharon:
Yes. And it will be jarring because the supernatural is going to enter the natural world. And, you know, we talk about angels, but right now we don’t see them.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
Right? And we talk about Jesus, but we haven’t seen him. And people don’t appear from the clouds. And trumpets don’t sound
Nicole:
Not every day.
Sharon:
No. So it will be a shock, like a thief in the night.
Nicole:
Absolutely. Oh yeah.
Sharon:
You’re right. So, okay, verse three, “When people are saying everything is peaceful and secure, then disaster will fall on them as suddenly as a pregnant woman’s labor pains begin”. I love this. And there’ll be no escape.
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
You know, there isn’t.
Nicole:
Not when the pains start.
Sharon:
Nicole, it’s so funny, my friend Kathy, with her first baby the pains were so bad she got off the table and said, I’m not doing this.
Nicole: Oh, no.
Sharon:
And her husband and the doctor are looking at her like, well, yeah, you are.
Nicole:
There’s no stopping this train.
Sharon:
There is no escape.
Nicole:
There isn’t. And sometimes you’d wish there was one.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
If you’ve ever been in labor, you understand that, so like, oh, I just don’t wanna do this anymore. Like, Ah! Oh no.
Sharon:
Right. Yeah. She’s the only one I know that tried to walk away from it. Yeah. So too funny. Only it wasn’t funny for her at the time at all. So basically, and I think here, he’s not talking to the Christians, but people are like, I’m fine. And then he comes and you can’t escape it.
Nicole: Oh, yeah.
Sharon:
Which is why last week, I’m so glad you prayed, ‘Today is the day of salvation’. This is why we have to have an urgency about telling people about Jesus, because there will be a day when it’s too late.
Nicole:
Right. There’s no going back.
Sharon:
And so we need to share the gospel. I can get lazy with that because I want like the perfect moment. I don’t wanna be pushy. But I’m feeling that urgency. People need to know and they need to not put it off. Because like a thief in the night, bam. Someday there won’t be another time to think about it. So wow. Okay.
Nicole:
Verse four, “But you aren’t in the dark about these things, dear brothers and sisters. And you won’t be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief. So I love this.” We’ve been told to watch for this, so we will not be caught unaware.
Sharon: Right.
Nicole:
But I still think we get very lazy. At least I do. I’m not always thinking, oh, today’s the day. Like I don’t always wake up with that thought of eternity or today’s the day the Lord’s coming. Sometimes I’ll cry out out. Lord, take us today if it’s a particularly difficult day. But I don’t think… This is a good verse to remember. We’ve been warned.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole: We know.
Sharon:
It is coming.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And hopefully it’s gonna be like, whoa, whoa. It’s here. It’s finally here. Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole:
Like the watch, I think it was in the other passage about the watcher standing by the door to watch for.
Sharon: Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
The master coming home,
Sharon:
The owner to come home.
Nicole:
I think that’s what he’s called us. We’re supposed to be watching and being ready.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
Like, okay. Watching the signs. Is he coming?
Sharon:
Right. Right. Yeah. And you want him to come with you doing what you’re supposed to do.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
Like, you know, the servants in the house not having, you know, I can imagine servants in the house thinking the master will be gone a long time. Just, you know, not cleaning things up.
Nicole:
We’ll do it right before he gets back. Break into like the good wine in the basement, the extra yummy cheese in the pantry.
Sharon:
Uhhuh. And then, uh oh. There he is.
Nicole:
And then take it easy. Right.
Sharon:
Exactly. Exactly. So okay, verse five. And this is where I pulled our title, ‘Children of the Light’ from, “For you, (you’re not in the dark about these things) For you are all children of the light and of the day”. Nicole, don’t you like being a child of the light?
Nicole:
That’s beautiful.
Sharon:
It’s a beautiful phrase. We do not belong to the darkness and the night. That’s ’cause we know, we’ve been enlightened, you know, dark. When it’s really dark, you stumble. You don’t know if somebody’s left something on the floor, you trip over it. My poor friend, um, broke her shoulder because someone had left something on the floor and she was just getting up in the middle of the night for something and she tripped over it, you know? You don’t see well, and everything— and then shapes look different in the night. You know, they look scary. They look like ghosty things sometimes because we don’t see them clearly. Everything’s fuzzy. We’re not there. We’re children of the light. We see clearly because God has opened up the knowledge of what’s gonna happen for us so we don’t have to stumble.
Nicole:
That’s right. That’s cool.
Sharon:
I know, we know the beginning from the end. So cheer up. That’s a really good thing to know. So
Nicole:
Nice. So then verse six, “So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded”. So I’m assuming when he says not asleep like the others, is he referring to the non-believers?
Sharon:
Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep.
Nicole:
Okay. So stay alert and be clearheaded. So be ready. We’re not to be clouded by hundreds of distractions around us each day, because I don’t think all of us are trying to avoid drinking during the day.
Sharon:
No, this is true.
Nicole:
I don’t think, I mean, some of us might struggle with it, but I don’t think that’s what he’s referring to. But I think it’s just the distractions. There’s so many distractions that can make us not clear-headed. We can be distracted with social media, with our phones, with trouble, with gossip, with food, with tv, you name it. Audio books, anything. Anything that keeps us away from God and not clearheaded we have to be careful with.
Sharon:
We have to be so careful. And yet another reason for being in the word every day.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
‘Cause it clears our head. We’ve seen light. Even if it’s a verse, just one verse pulls us back to God. So.
Nicole:
And if we start with him in the morning, he fills that longing, that place inside of us where we won’t look to fill
Sharon:
In other ways
Nicole:
With the distractions and make us—
Sharon: Exactly.
Nicole:
One good choice kind of starts the rest of the day off good.
Sharon:
It does. It’s so does. It does. Yeah. Verse seven, “Night is the time when people sleep and drinkers get drunk”. And he’s talking about it in a negative way. Not, I mean, he gave us night, we sleep during the night. It’s not like we’re not supposed to sleep.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
I think he’s talking again about the unbelievers, the people that don’t know him yet.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
So, and I see this, there’s two bad responses. There’s the sleep response and there’s the drunk response. So the drunk response is just that I just wanna be wicked.
Nicole:
Yeah, reveling in it.
Sharon:
You know, I don’t care. I just, you know, I’m just gonna live and party and whatever. And the sleep response is the dulling of the mind. The I don’t have to think about this. I don’t wanna think about this.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
What was, is it ‘Gone with the Wind’ where she always said, I’ll think about it tomorrow.
Nicole:
Yes. I love her. Right. I just, don’t wanna think about that today. Yes. I’ll think about that tomorrow.
Sharon:
That’s right. Just put it off. All the ugly thoughts. No.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And, you know what, before we know Christ, we don’t wanna think about it. We don’t wanna talk about death.
Nicole: No.
Sharon:
We don’t wanna talk about what happens afterwards.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
We don’t wanna talk about the fact that there actually might be a God who loves us and cares about us, but who also holds us responsible for one thing, turning to him. You know?
Nicole:
That’s a good point.
Sharon:
So anyways, so there’s a little warning there.
Nicole:
All right. So verse eight says, “But let us live in the light, be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love and wearing as our helmet, the confidence of our salvation”. So this is really neat. I like this because this is a, it’s like an intentional ‘how to be clearheaded’. It’s a prescription. Yes. It’s like an easy to follow form. Like, okay, clearheaded, I wanna be clearheaded, I wanna be ready. God, how do I do it? Oh. But we are protected by the armor of faith and love. So God doesn’t just give us something really hard to do and say good luck. He’s like, I want you to live in the light and be clearheaded, but you are protected by my armor of faith and love. And then wearing as our helmet, the confidence of our salvation. So we’re protecting our head, our brain, with the confidence of our salvation with, if I die tomorrow, I’m with you.
Sharon:
I’m with you.
Nicole:
Which is what he’s talking about. Being ready for the return of Jesus. And that my confidence is in that when he comes back, I am ready because he has saved me. So that’s an important piece to all of this. Like, why do I wanna be ready and watch for him? Oh, I’m confident because I’m saved. I don’t have to fear his return.
Sharon:
Exactly. No, it’s an eager, happy thing.
Nicole:
So then I want to look for him.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
If I’m not confident in my salvation, if I don’t know him, I don’t know what to expect.
Sharon:
I wanna hide.
Nicole:
Right. What’s this thief gonna come and steal from? I don’t know. I don’t know him. He’s a thief. He’s an unknown person.
Sharon:
Yes. As opposed to your, he calls us friends.
Nicole:
My Jesus is coming back for me. You know? So it’s a different, it’s so amazing that we can have that confidence only through him.
Sharon:
Yep. Only by being children of the light. Yeah. Okay. Verse nine, “For God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us.”
Nicole: Phew.
Sharon:
I know, this is such a cool verse. Because basically he ought to be angry with us. We ignore him. He tells us how to live and we go and do the opposite. We are defiant way more often than we ought to be. Or we’re careless. We are selfish. We are so many things that would make me not think he’d want us. But what did he do? He chose to save us.
Nicole: I know.
Speaker 3:
Not to pour out his anger on us. And the saving cost him because somebody had to pay that punishment ’cause we deserve it. And he took it so we didn’t have to that. That’s just stunning. It’s not like just Superman swooping in and with his big strong muscles saving, it’s him suffering. Saving us.
Nicole: Oh yeah.
Sharon: It’s huge.
Nicole:
It’s a sacrificial saving.
Sharon: Sacrificial saving.
Nicole:
He lost his most precious thing. His son.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
To save us.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole:
That makes it a lot bigger.
Sharon:
A lot bigger cost. Some of the superheroes, you’re like, you’re just having fun. It’s not even hard.
Nicole:
They’re just showing off.
Sharon:
Yeah. But not for Jesus. Jesus said, I’ll take their sin on me. You hit me with all the wrath that is deserved for their sin. I’ll take it.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s so beautiful.
Sharon: Yeah. Ooh.
Nicole:
Oh, where am I? Verse 10, “Christ died for us so that whether we are dead or alive when he returns, we can live with him forever”. So first, kind of what you just said, his sacrifice, you know, his defeat of death with offering up his Son, Jesus died and then he defeated death. Death can’t hold us. It didn’t hold Jesus. And because of that, it won’t hold us so that we won’t be kept by death. We still have to experience
death, but it won’t hold us because we’re going to, whether we’re dead or alive, when he comes back, we’re all gonna be alive with him.
Sharon:
Yes. Paul has made that really clear the last couple of weeks.
Nicole:
Very clear. Yes.
Sharon:
Yeah. So, so good.
Nicole: Love that.
Sharon:
Yeah. And I love it says we can live with him, so that we can live with him forever. Why does he wanna do it? He wants us.
Nicole: Aw.
Sharon:
He died for us ’cause he actually wants us.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
Which is what a lover does. A lover wants to be with his beloved. That’s why he did it. He really wants us with him him.
Nicole:
He really, really does love us, doesn’t he?
Sharon:
It’s so precious. So, all right. So verse 11, “So encourage each other (he said that so often) and build each other up just as you are already doing”. This is why we go to church. This is why we are in fellowship with other Christians. So we can build each other up, so we can encourage each other when we’re down, so that we can be reminded of the truths that we find in the light.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
When we kind of get cloudy brained and it looks darkish.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
We need each other. We absolutely need each other. And so, even though Christians are not perfect and they can be annoying and they can let you down and do all the things, it’s still better to be with ’em than without ’em.
Nicole:
Yes, it’s so true.
Sharon:
Over and over and over again we need each other’s encouragement. So, and then I love that last little bit again, just as you already are doing. Paul again is like, okay, I’m telling you all this stuff, but it’s not ’cause you’re bad.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
You’re already doing it. I’m just encouraging you to do it more and more. And I’ve gotta remember that like you were saying with your children, I need to remember when I, if I’m saying something critical, but I do see you doing this. ‘Cause Paul’s really careful to do that over and over.
Nicole:
He is wonderful with seeing them and seeing where they’re at and acknowledging it while still encouraging them to be what God has called them to be.
Sharon: Absolutely.
Nicole:
I don’t think he had kids, but he would’ve been a good dad.
Sharon:
He would’ve been a good dad. Well, he had a ton of kids. They were spiritual children.
Nicole:
I guess he did. All the gentiles. All of us, I guess.
Sharon:
Exactly. Exactly. So, okay. Well, what was your favorite verse? We’ll start with you and why?
Nicole:
I know, this was hard. There was so much in here and I really enjoyed a lot of it, but I kept coming back to nine, “For God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ. Not to pour out his anger on us”. There’s just, it’s so beautiful that he chose to save us through his Son. And then he didn’t pour out all his anger on us. And like you had said, you said it so well when you talked about this verse, we deserve so much of that.
Sharon: We do.
Nicole:
And his mercy, his mercy is so great in this verse. And I’m just kind of in awe of God again. Like, wow. You didn’t just like, oh, help me not sin anymore and give me heaven. You also saved me from pouring out your anger on me.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
I don’t know what that is, but that sounds pretty terrifying.
Sharon:
I don’t want it.
Nicole:
And I absolutely deserve that. So just wrapping my head around his love and mercy is like, Oh!
Sharon:
That’s beautiful.
Nicole:
Wow. Thanks. Thank you God.
Sharon:
It’s beautiful. He chose this.
Nicole:
Yes. And he chose his Son to save me. Horrible, terrible me. Like why?
Sharon:
‘Cause he wanted you with him.
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
Nicole, he really does love us.
Nicole:
He does. I just, I can’t, I can’t fully grasp it. And I want to.
Sharon: I know.
Nicole:
He’s amazing.
Sharon:
He’s so beautiful. Yeah. And that’s why the Bible never gets old. You and I have been Christians for like forever. And yet we’re still like, wow, that is such a cool thing.
Nicole:
And this is the basics. Like God loves, for God so loved the world. Everyone knows that verse. And I still am wrestling with just how deep his love is. (Sharon: Yeah, yeah. Yeah) There’s so much to it.
Sharon:
Well, I chose the verse before it, verse eight, “For let us who live in the light be clearheaded. Protected by the armor of faith and love and wearing as our helmet, the confidence of our salvation”. And it brought me back to children of the light, the clearheaded. To be clearheaded we see clearly. And so we need to stay in the light of his word and of the truths that we’ve learned. And not walk away from those. I love that faith and love protect us.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
And I was thinking of the opposite. Doubt and bitterness and hate do the opposite of protecting. They make us vulnerable to attacks from the enemy.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
And Satan is prowling like a lion trying to attack us. So when we choose bitterness and hate, we’ve opened ourselves up. When we choose love that’s a protection.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
Isn’t that neat?
Nicole:
That is neat.
Sharon:
I kind of really loved that. So.
Nicole: That’s cool.
Sharon:
I love it. And then the confidence of our salvation also protects us from the enemy.
Nicole: Oh, right.
Sharon:
When we really believe that we’re saved.
Sharon:
And we’re not like uh oh, you know, scared? The enemy’s, one of his favorite methods is fear.
Nicole: Right.
Sharon:
It torments us.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
And we do not need to be afraid.
Nicole:
No. Because he can, if he’s like, oh, are you really saved? Just go, actually he does really love me.
Sharon:
Yes, yes.
Nicole:
‘Cause he says he does. And you can’t take me out of his hand.
Sharon:
That’s right. So we step into the light. Exactly.
Nicole:
Oh, I love it.
Sharon:
Yeah. So, okay. What did we learn about God? Well, I learned number one, he’ll return on his timetable. And I don’t get to know it
Nicole: Darn it.
Sharon: I know.
Nicole:
I’d really like to know a little bit.
Sharon:
Number two, he expects me to watch. And the more I love him, the more I will yearn for his return.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
You know, if he’s an abstraction,, you don’t yearn for an abstraction. The more I know him as my personal wonderful God who loves me, the more I want him.
Nicole:
That’s so true. Aw.
Sharon:
So just moving closer that way. And then number three, he chose to save us because he wants to be with us. It’s just such a happy thought.
Nicole:
That’s amazing.
Sharon:
I like that thought.
Nicole:
I love that.
Sharon:
Yeah. How about you? What did you learn about God from this passage?
Nicole:
I was thinking about how he calls us children of the light and of the day. And we don’t belong to the darkness and the night anymore and we did before. And you had described what it’s like to be in the darkness, but also there’s like a hiding I think like a festering wound or you’re hiding something in the dark in your sin, you’re just stuck in this place of darkness. And I love that God calls us forth to be children of light. Like he wants us out of that place and he’s so good to lead us there.
Sharon: Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
In his light. And it’s like, oh, it’s much better here, Lord. I thought I was wanting to be in the dark away from you and Oh, shame and hiding sins. But in you, there’s so much beautiful light and freedom, you know?
Sharon:
So much. Yeah.
Nicole:
It’s just nearly neat.
Sharon:
Yeah. When you were saying the hiding I was imagining sort of huddled in a corner of the darkness.
Nicole:
Oh, you’re never sprawled out enjoying the complete darkness. It’s always like a corner somewhere.
Sharon:
Yeah. Whereas in the light, you can stride, you can run, you can dance. You can do all kinds of things ’cause you can see. That’s so cool.
Nicole:
It is neat. And then his mercy again not to pour out his anger, which we deserve, but he gave us life instead. You know. That’s what a kind and giving God he is.
Sharon:
So kind. Oh my goodness. Yes. So, all right. Okay.
Nicole:
And then what did you learn about living wisely in trouble times, Sharon?
Sharon:
Well, I love that we are enlightened. That we know how it ends. And that I can go back to that when I’m dealing with whatever stressors I’m dealing with. But heaven, you know?
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
But there is heaven, That we shouldn’t be thrown off by troubles, is another thing I learned, that they happen. In fact, this morning I was studying Psalm 34. And I gotta read you verse 19, because it kind of fit. I did my Bible study first, and then I worked on this thing. And it says this, “the righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time”. Now that’s just such a cool truth because the righteous person does face many troubles. So can we just get that out of the way? You know, it was just stated like an obvious ‘duh’, a fact.
Nicole: Yeah.
Sharon:
The righteous person experience many troubles. But when does the Lord come to rescue them? Oh. Every time.
Nicole: Oh.
Sharon:
So there’s kinda like a rhythm to my life, you know? I have some easy days and I’m really grateful for them. And then the next trouble comes along. There it is again. You know, and I have to remember that the Lord rescues me every time.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
Every time. And that changes the trouble. It’s almost like, okay, so what are you gonna do this time, Lord?
Nicole:
Right. As you come alongside me whatcha gonna talk to me about in this trouble?
Sharon:
Here’s another one. There’s an old Steve and Annie Chapman song where he sings, you know, ‘things are getting tough and the money’s tight’, you know, this kind of thing. Kind of this little twangy thing. And then the chorus is ‘things are looking good for a miracle’. And it’s just such a fun thing. Whoa. It’s really bad. Looking good for a miracle then.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
But there’s an expectation that he does rescue us, so.
Nicole:
Oh, I love that.
Sharon:
So we’ve got that rhythm. So that’s kind of fun.
Nicole:
Such a good verse. I like that one.
Sharon:
How about you? What did you learn about living wisely in troubled times?
Nicole:
He’s such a marvelous God that we serve. And I think reading through this passage and seeing his plan for us and how he gives us the hope of him coming back, but also the plan, like, I am coming back, so don’t be caught unaware. Yeah. He doesn’t leave us to figure it out on our own. So I can really trust him. ’cause he has my best interest at heart till the very, very end. And then to eternity.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
And he doesn’t leave us just kind of hanging with all of him and all of what he is to figure out on our own. That even in that, he does walk with us and he tries to explain as much as he can without our minds exploding. What’s coming. Just like, what a marvelous God I have. I can rest in that, that he’s got me, that he’s got the future and I can trust him and daily look at him and say, okay, what’s today, ’cause you know what’s coming up.
Sharon: Yep.
Nicole:
And you know what’s coming up when you come back in return.
Sharon:
Exactly. And I can rest in that.
Nicole:
And I can trust you and rest in it.
Sharon:
Yes. I love it. Oh, that’s beautiful. Well, let’s pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you that it’s living, Lord, just reading it even fresh right now with Nicole today, you show us new truths. Father, we are so honored that you wrote to us that we have in our possession, your living words. Help us never to take that lightly. Thank you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole:
Amen. Thanks for joining us on this journey through First Thessalonians. We’ve covered a lot of territory from suffering and persecution to blessings, advice, and end times. Wow. And the letter is actually pretty short, just five chapters. I love how Paul fits so much teaching into one letter. Speaking of letters, we’d love to hear from you. Write us at SweetSelah.org/podcast or donate at SweetSelah.org/donations. It costs a lot to run this podcast. We’d appreciate a donation no matter how small. Put podcast partner on the memo line and join our partners. We’ll send you a monthly newsletter catching you up on our own lives and what’s going on in the podcast. Join us next week for episode 120, Words of Wisdom. Until then, pick up your Bible and explore. It’s full of wisdom and light and truth. God’s living word written to you.
Speaker 1:
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @SweetSelah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can print and download the transcript here.
We do not grieve as those who have no hope. In our grief as Christians, we have the sure hope of Heaven to steady us. Sharon and Nicole talk about death, today, and the beauty of resurrection. Join them for a hope-filled look at a passage of scripture and listen in for practical applications for everyday life.
Read the transcript for Facing Death with Hope-Episode 118Speaker 1:
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word with Sharon and Nicole, we pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole:
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments podcast. This is episode 118, “Facing Death with Hope”. Christians look at death very differently than those who don’t believe in an afterlife. We have hope, even when someone dies, that we will see them again. We have a sense of urgency, too. We want our loved ones to know that through Jesus’s sacrificial death, they can pass from death to life again. So we share our faith often with others. It’s a wonderful thing not to have to fear death.
Sharon:
Oh, it is. It really is. Although, quite frankly, I fear the pain that might come before the death. I think we all vote for quietly going to bed one night, and Jesus just kind of tapping our shoulder and saying, ‘come with me now.’ You know.
Nicole:
Sounds really nice.
Sharon:
Doesn’t that sound beautiful? And just kind of step outta your body and hold his hand.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
But you know, we can’t choose that. And sometimes the Lord allows pain for reasons beyond my understanding. He just does. But anyways, death itself for a Christian is simply a door that opens into eternity with the Lord Jesus. It’s actually kind of exciting when you think about it. Sometimes I get excited about it. My girls get mad at me. They’re like, “Mom, stop it.”
Nicole:
I’m so excited about that.
Sharon:
I’m like, I’m just excited. You know? But anyways, we talked about this before with Lazarus, you know, who was dead four days, and then he has to come back. And we both felt sorry for him, you know,
Nicole:
And maybe he was really nice. Did he wanna come back?
Sharon:
Exactly. I have a dear friend right now whose, mom is in her nineties, and she’s had multiple heart issues. And she’s finally decided, you know what? I’m not gonna ask to die. I’ll live as long as God lets me live. But I no longer want extraordinary things to be done to my body, so my heart beats again. When it stops, I’m gonna trust that God stopped it. Right?
Nicole: Right.
Nicole:
So, and she has children and all the children know the Lord. And so she called them around, she called her husband around, and she said, I’ve made the decision that if my heart stops, don’t you start it again. I’m ready to go home to Jesus. And they all kind of cried, but agreed. They’re like, ‘Yeah, mom, we know you’re ready to see him.’ So that, that’s how we ought to be as Christians. You know, not, I don’t, I do not believe in suicide. You know, even in the last little bit of life. I do believe we should live every day God gives us. But I completely support not, not asking to be made to live longer than, you know, one’s heart holds out. I think that’s really good. I love her attitude.
Nicole:
Oh, I know. And that attitude can only come from a peace in Christ. ’cause how can we sit? I’m like, oh, yeah, sure, mom, if you wanna die, that’s fine. Like, what? No, I’m saving you whether you like it or not, you know?
Sharon:
That’s right. I need you around till you’re 117.
Nicole:
Right. Even if you’re miserable.
Sharon:
And the mom is like, really?
Nicole:
No, I love that though. I think when I think about death, I also really worry about the pain part. I really hope I don’t go flying off a bridge into cold water or something terrible. I like to just pass in my sleep.
Sharon: Yes, please.
Nicole:
Actually, um, Josh’s grandfather passed about a year ago, and he had such a beautiful death. He had all his children around. He was on hospice for a little bit. He went downhill fairly quickly. And They realized that like, kind of with, you know, there’s nothing else we can do. Let’s just keep him comfortable. Sends him home. So he had this nice comfy bed in the middle of the living room, and all his children and grandchildren were telling him stories and making his favorite desserts in the kitchen right there next to the living room.
Sharon: I love it.
Nicole:
And giving him little taste of cookies. And he had been diabetic for a few years, so I think he was rather enjoying the sweets all of a sudden! You know? And I just, they kept sending us pictures of his wife snuggled next to him in the, in the living. I said, Josh, that’s how I wanna go.
Sharon: Yes.
Nicole:
With all my family just right there just loving on me. And he just would smile and he was in some pain, and they would give him some medicine, but he just passed in such a beautiful way.
Sharon:
That’s lovely. It is. And that’s a Christian family affirming that it’s not goodbye. It’s, see you later, honey.
Nicole: Yeah. Right.
Nicole: Oh, sure.
Sharon:
See you later.
Nicole:
And there’s still tears.
Sharon:
You lucky dog. You’re going before us.
Nicole:
You get to go first. But even amidst the tears, there’s still that like, but he’s, he’s out of pain now. Grandpa is there first. And so it was just, it’s kind of cool. I mean, I think as a young mom, my heart always squeezes when I think of leaving my family.
Sharon: Yes. Yes.
Nicole:
Its hard. Like, oh, my babies, who’s gonna take care of them? And my husband, how’s he gonna find where he uniforms are hidden in the back of the closet for the kids if they’re not organized. So I worry about that. But there really is a peace even in that I know that God’s got them.
Sharon:
He’s got them, he does.
Nicole:
He loves them more than I do. And he’s got a plan even through that pain. Maybe it’s supposed to be for a reason.
Sharon:
Yeah. One of my favorite books, I don’t know if you’ve ever read Kara Tippett’s book, the name of the book’s escaping me right now, but she had breast cancer and she did die. And, and she was very honest, because she had young children. And she did not want to leave. Who would?
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
You know, but towards the end of her journey, she said, you know, I’m telling my husband, you are an awesome husband. You need to marry again. And you’re too good at husbanding to not to do it again.
Nicole:
Keep it all to yourself.
Sharon:
And like, now there’s selflessness.
Nicole:
No kidding. I don’t know if I’m there yet.
Sharon:
Yeah. Oh my goodness. Yeah. Well, she walked a rough journey to get there. But it’s a great book. And if I ever remember the title, I’ll let you know.
Nicole:
Yeah. That’s so interesting.
Sharon:
So, yeah. Well, I just love the passage we’re about to read. Last week we read Paul’s advice on how to live wisely. Now he’s gonna talk to us a bit about how to die well, really. Let’s face it, we’re all gonna die. This actually applies to everyone.
Nicole: That’s true.
Sharon:
So we are reading First Thessalonians four 13 to 18. And I will start us with verse one, except that it won’t be verse one, it will be verse 13. What in the world, the first verse of this section. 13.
Nicole:
The three must have got deleted.
Sharon:
That was so silly. “And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died. So you will not grieve like people who have no hope.
Nicole:
For a sense, we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again. We also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.
Sharon:
We tell you this directly from the Lord. We who are still living when the Lord returns, will not meet him ahead of those who have died.
Nicole:
For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout with the voice of the archangel. And with the trumpet call of God, first the believers who have died will rise from their graves.
Sharon:
Then together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth, will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.
Nicole:
So encourage each other with these words.”
Sharon:
Wow. This is actually a lot to unpack.
Nicole:
There’s a lot there.
Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. So I’m gonna start with verse 13. And we’re not theologians. But we’ll do our best.
Nicole:
So bear with us!
Sharon:
Yes, that’s right. Yep. But we are of the firm opinion that the word is for every person, even Nicole and Sharon.
Nicole: Absolutely.
Sharon:
And that we can learn from it despite our lack of seminary degrees. And we are thankful for pastors and churches.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
’cause we can run to them when we need help too.
Nicole:
Oh, sure. Yeah.
Sharon:
So. Okay. Verse 13, “and now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died. So you will not grieve like people who have no hope.” Well, first of all, the assumption is that people will grieve. And he’s not telling them not to. So that you won’t grieve like you have no hope. Not so that you won’t grieve. Because I think…
Nicole:
oh, I acknowledge that.
Sharon:
… that would be terrible to say to someone, you know, they’re in heaven. Why are you crying?
Nicole:
Oh gosh. Yeah.
Sharon:
That’d be just so mean. You know we’re grieving their loss. We’re grieving waking up every day for the rest of our lives, not seeing them. And I have several friends who recently have lost spouses or children. Oh my goodness. And there will not be a day be, I’m gonna cry, just thinking about it between now and eternity, where they don’t wake up to that loss.
Nicole:
Oh yeah.
Sharon:
Grief is real and it’s, it’s okay. It’s part of life. And no one should be told they shouldn’t grieve.
Sharon:
However, we do not grieve as those who have no hope. And that is the thing. It’s the I’ll see you soon. I’ll see you on the other side instead of I’ve lost them forever.
Nicole:
I’ll miss you till I see you again. I’m gonna miss you dearly, but I know I’m gonna see you again.
Sharon:
I’m gonna see you again.
Nicole:
That’s so beautiful.
Sharon: Yeah.
Nicole:
And so my verse is kind of similar to that, “But for, since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again.” So there’s that hope. “We also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.” This verse is so amazing. Sometimes, like, I think, I forget how marvelous God is and how complete his rescue plan from sin was. You know, he describes it so well here that we have forgiveness and hope now from our sins, right? We are forgiven. And we have hope for eternity. And then hope for future life as well. So once we die, we get to spend time with, we’re with him forever. Yes. There’s so much hope. There’s hope in this daily life where I’m struggling to not be angry, to not be all the sins, list them all. But then when I look past my today, hope I have future hope too.
Sharon: You do.
Nicole:
That’s a lot of hope.
Sharon: Forever hope.
Nicole: Forever Hope.
Sharon:
I know and forever loved.
Nicole: Yes.
Sharon:
That is just so crazy to me. We will never not be loved.
Nicole:
I love that. And then God will bring back with him the believers who have died. So again, hope to see our, that’s just amazing. He’s bringing them back that have died.
Sharon:
Isn’t that beautiful?
Nicole:
Just so cool.
Sharon:
I love it. I know. And here’s your mama. That you’ve lost. Or here’s your grandma, whatever. So your baby, there’s dad gamble waving at me saying, yeah, go ahead. Tell me. I told you so. There is a heaven.
Nicole:
Yeah. Oh my goodness. I can’t wait.
Sharon:
When he accepted Christ, right before he died. Oh, so good. I can’t wait to see this. Okay. Verse 15. “We tell you this directly from the Lord. We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.” Those who die. See Jesus before we do, they just do. I think of the thief on the cross who says, remember me when you get to paradise. And Jesus says, “Truly, I say to you this day, you will see me in paradise.” So that’s Luke 23:43. So somehow God takes us to heaven, even though eventually we’re also going to have new bodies made, and we’re gonna be on earth. It’s complicated. We’ll get into that in a couple of the verses that come further. But basically we are gonna see Jesus when we die. And I’ve, I’ve watched it happen. I’ve watched my mother-in-law see Jesus as she was dying.
Nicole:
Oh my gosh. That makes me cry every time.
Sharon:
Yeah. I’ve seen it. So I I’ve seen it personally. There you go. And I’m a witness.
Nicole:
And I believe! Oh goodness. And then verse 16, it becomes more fantastical. “But the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God.” So all these three really big things, you know?
Sharon: Yeah.
Nicole:
First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. So it’s hard to wrap my head around that, because when you, like what you just said, when we die, we’re with Christ, but we’re gonna see them rise from their graves. I’m not sure what that’s gonna look like.
Sharon:
Isn’t that strange?
Nicole:
It’s a little startling, because all you can think of is our culture is obsessed with zombies. I’m like, I don’t think that’s a great picture of what’s gonna happen.
Sharon:
Don’t feel like that’s what’s gonna happen. No.
Nicole:
But rising from the grave has never been this beautiful picture of life. It’s always been something gross and scary.
Sharon: Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole:
So for God to take that, and it’s going to be amazing. Like, how are they gonna rise from the graves?
Sharon:
It is, it’s so fascinating. There’s some Christians that believe that what happens when we die is called soul sleep. So that basically we think we saw Jesus instantly, but actually a lot of time has passed. You know? ’cause you stay.
Nicole:
I have friends believe that.
Sharon:
But Randy Alcorn in his book “Heaven” thinks that we’re immediately caught up with Christ, but we’re not given the new body yet. And that somehow all the dust particles that were us. Because it’s not like we’re gonna stay un decomposed.
Nicole:
Right. Stay together in one big pile.
Sharon:
So, but all of them sort of reform into this new body when Jesus returns. So it’s, I don’t know.
Nicole:
Yeah. This is just gonna be amazing,
Sharon:
But it’s gonna be good.
Nicole:
I don’t know. I just think it’s gonna be a rather startling, there’ll be yelling and archangels voices. Maybe he’s gonna sing as you have a good voice and then trumpets and then dead will rise. It’s gonna be quite a moment.
Sharon:
It is going to be wild.
Nicole:
We won’t not know it’s happening.
Sharon:
That is a good point. We will definitely know it’s happening. This is not a quiet thing, which is why when I somewhere in scripture says, I think Jesus said it, when you hear the Messiah is here, or the Christ is here, don’t believe him when he comes. You’re not gonna miss it.
Nicole:
Yeah. I don’t think we could if we try.
Sharon:
No one’s gonna miss it.
Nicole:
Very exciting.
Sharon:
Woo. Okay. Verse 17, “Then together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth, will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.” I can’t even imagine. I’ve always kind of wanted to fly, you know? I guess we will.
Nicole:
We will! I think on clouds!
Sharon:
I guess we will, just be right up there. Yeah. Jesus is supposed to return. As he left, the angels said that the disciples saw him ascend into heaven. And the angels said, why are you staring at the sky? Go back to Jerusalem. He told you what to do. But as he left, he will return. So he’s, I mean, look up, right? He is coming back. And from the east to the west, everyone will know that trumpet will sound. Whoa. So cool. And then we get kind of a further thing. I actually went to Revelation 21 for this, because when he returns from the sky, really cool things happen. So I’m gonna read Revelation 21, verses one through seven, “Then says, John, I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the old heaven. And the old Earth had disappeared and the sea was also gone.”
Sharon:
All Right. “And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven like a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud shout from the throne saying, look, God’s home is now among his people. He will live with them and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things have gone forever. And the one sitting on the throne said, look, I am making everything new. And then he said to me, write this down for what I tell you is trustworthy and true. And He also said, it is finished. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end to all who are thirsty. I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings. And I will be their God. And they will be my children.”
Sharon:
I get to be a kid. I love that. I have to be grown up so often.
Nicole:
I know. It’s no fun.
Sharon:
I know. It’s just so nice to think someday I get I, well even now I’m God’s kid. It’s such a beautiful, beautiful thing. So, so basically there’s sort of heaven up there. But there’s gonna come a time where Jerusalem descends from heaven, earth and heaven are made new.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
And he’s living here. But it’ll be new. And if you can figure it out, good for you.
Nicole:
It’s such a beautiful passage, but it’s like I what my little brain cannot comprehend what that means. But it sounds amazing.
Sharon:
It is. Yeah. And I suspect that even Randy Alcorn, who has researched it, has written a mammoth book on it, which I read and devoured and loved. It’s gonna be like, wait, what? You know, none of us know.
Sharon:
We can’t comprehend what we haven’t seen completely.
Nicole: Right. Yeah.
Sharon:
You know, we can’t. But wow. It’s gonna be good.
Nicole:
I’m so excited. That’d be so fun. Yes. So, and then after all of this, after all of these wonderful things to think about, I love this verse. It makes me chuckle. “So encourage each other with these words.” Like sit stew on it, talk about it. Encourage each other. On those days when um, you’re struggling. Hey, guess what? Jerusalem’s coming down in a cloud, the dead in Christ will rise. We have hope. So there’s a reminder that to look up from. We can get so caught up in the daily yuck…
Sharon:
We can, yes.
Nicole:
… That we forget to look ahead to the hope that Christ is coming back again.
Sharon:
That sure hope, it makes all the difference. And we do need to remind each other. ‘Cause you’re right. When we’re slogging along heaven seems really far away.
Nicole:
It feels huge. And just reminding ourselves that this present trouble won’t last forever.
Sharon:
It will not.
Nicole: It won’t.
Sharon:
There’s a time when he’s personally gonna wipe my tears. What?!
Nicole:
I know. I can’t get over that part. That’s so sweet.
Sharon: Ah, ya a ya.
Nicole:
We don’t have to pull ourselves together and clean our faces before we go to Jesus. We can go to him with runny mascara, tears and snotty noses. And he’s gonna say, come here, I know.
Sharon:
It’s that children thing. We get to be children and we get to be children with the best father ever.
Nicole:
Yes. Yeah. Oh, so beautiful.
Sharon:
Yeah. All right. Okay. Time to go to our three questions. I’ll start with my favorite verse and tell you why, and then we’ll see if you chose the same one. Well, I chose verse 16, the first part. “The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout with the voice of the archangel and with a trumpet call of God.” There’s just something so magnificent about that thought. And you already expressed it so well. There’s not really that much more I have to say about it, except that it’s gonna be like the wildest concert you’ve ever been to on steroids. It’s gonna be incredible. And for those of us that know him, the surge of joy as the Holy Spirit within us says, it’s time.
Nicole: This is it.
Sharon:
This is it. I don’t even know how we’re gonna contain the joy.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
I just, woo. Oh
Nicole:
My goodness. I’m so excited.
Sharon:
So it’s just so goose bumpy. It’s so, that was my favorite.
Nicole:
Yeah. I picked a different one this time too. I love verse 18. “So encourage each other with these words.” It’s just after so much information and so much thinking about and trying to understand how will the dead in Christ rise and what will this look like? So encourage each other with these words. Like, just
remember and remind each other and talk about it. And just hold them fast even if you don’t understand them. And I don’t know exactly what all of this means. I can be encouraged by them.
Nicole:
That God has a plan bigger than me. He understands more than me. So I can safely trust him with my today and my tomorrow. Because he’s got it.
Sharon: He’s got it.
Nicole:
He’s got a great plan all planned out.
Sharon:
He’s got forever.
Nicole: He does.
Sharon:
Exactly right. Exactly right. So, yeah. And I love that the reason he said it was not so people could get into endless arguments about the minutia. Like, you know, is it, do you sleep the whole time? But then what happened to the thief? And you know, we could, we could take what was meant for encouragement and we could turn it into controversy and yelling.
Nicole:
Right. He didn’t say go and debate it endlessly and makes you understand everything perfectly for theology. He said, go and encourage each other with these words.
Sharon:
So I really like that. So, okay. This is the purpose. It’s encouragement.
Nicole:
Yeah. No, that’s really good.
Sharon:
I thought that was really good. Yeah. Well, what did you learn about God from this passage?
Nicole:
I am a little in awe of how thorough he is and just.
New Speaker:
reading through the thing, reading through this passage and seeing his salvation plan for us to the very end. This was no thrown together haphazard plan. Like, well, we can try to save him this way and see
how it goes. Every little detail has been planned out so intricately and so perfectly, we couldn’t even do this. I’m just kind of in awe of how he has, he’s so sovereign and how he has everything under his control and it’s just, it’s just a beautiful thing to, and he shares it with us.
Sharon:
And he shares it. It doesn’t stay a mystery. He shares it.
Nicole:
The whole thing. Even if He knows.
Sharon:
As much as we can figure it out.
Nicole:
Right. Even though he’s like, you’re not gonna understand any of this, but this is my plan. Like, okay, I’ll believe you.
Sharon:
I’m gonna hold onto the wipe the tears. And they’re coming back and no more death and sorrow. Got it.
Nicole:
That trumpet sounds fun. The rest, I’m just not sure. I’m just gonna trust you.
Sharon:
Exactly. Oh yeah. Yeah. Well, here’s the things I learned about God. One: God will reunite us all someday. I actually will see dad Gamble again. And if Ray goes to heaven before me, I will grieve every day till I die. I know that. But at the same time, I’ll see him again. Yeah. So we’ve talked about it. You know how everybody gets their own house. We’re like, do you think God will put us next door?
Nicole:
We did talk about it.
Sharon:
We’d really like to be next door.
Nicole:
I’d like to be like friendly with you in heaven. I know we’re not married in heaven, but can we be like best buddies?
Sharon:
I know it. It’s so weird to contemplate that, isn’t it?
Nicole:
It is. It’s that’s another hard concept.
Sharon:
That’s another hard one.
Nicole:
We do not understand.
Sharon:
So, but a real refreshment to know that I will see mom Gamble again. I will see my grandma Pike again. And, and man, I, you know, I picture everybody 30. Do not ask me why. I just feel like everybody will be 30 years old.
Nicole:
I had thought that too. That’s so weird.
Sharon:
Isn’t that strange?
Nicole:
‘Cause Jesus was 30 ish and 30 is like a good age. You’re not like an adolescent. You’re not like super old. It’s like a great age.
Sharon:
Yeah. So somehow I’ve never, I can’t imagine my grandma Pike at 30, but somehow I think I’ll recognize her and it’ll be so cool. And we won’t run outta time to catch up with each other.
Nicole: I know.
Sharon:
’cause eternity.
Nicole:
We’re gonna need it too. There’s a lot of people.
Sharon:
We Oh, so many people.
Nicole:
And you and I have lots of words. So we’ll have plenty of time to talk to all the people with all our words.
Sharon:
That’s right. And if we get tired, we could take a century being quiet and we wouldn’t run outta time.
Nicole:
I’m taking a sweet selah a hundred years. So no one talked to me. I’ll be over here.
Sharon:
Shout to you in a century. Exactly.
Nicole:
Oh my goodness. I love it.
Sharon:
So, so that’s number one. Number two: the fact that Jesus will return. I know it’s been over 2000 years. I am aware. He will return and it will be victorious. And there will be trumpets. So that I learned about God. And number three: we get to live for him forever. Will never not be loved. That’s one of my favorite things,
Nicole:
Oh, that’s so cool.
Sharon:
that I’m never not loved.
Nicole: Wow.
Sharon:
I can never say, no one loves me. Ever.
Nicole:
Oh. Like can’t even have a good pity party and say that, can we?
Sharon:
Noooooo. We are loved and we’ll be loved forever.
Nicole:
Take that on my kids’ list.
Sharon: Yay.
Nicole: That’s great.
Sharon:
So, okay. What did I learn about living wisely in troubled times? Well, when we realized what is to come, eternal life of Christ, and a triumphant return when all will be made right. We can endure today’s troubles. We have a sure hope. Death doesn’t win. And that’s, that’s how we live wisely with this. We walk beyond the slog. And we see the bright future. And there’s wisdom in that. Now we still have to slog. We still have to control our bodies. Like we talked last week, we still have to do hard things. But sort of shining over all of it is that sure hope of heaven.
Nicole:
Oh, that’s so true.
Sharon:
And it makes you happy even when you’re sad. Because you know, it ends well. Isn’t it nice? I mean, my mom, my mom is terrible with books, Nicole. She always peaks at the last page.
Nicole:
Oh, does She? That’s scandalous!
Sharon:
Yes. If it’s not happy, she won’t read the book. But God must understand this because he’s telling us how it ends.
Nicole:
Oh, just for your mom. Your mum.
Sharon:
For the people like my mom that like, I need to know how it ends or I don’t wanna do this.
Nicole:
That’s so funny.
Sharon:
Yeah. Oh, she’s so bad. I’m like, ‘you did not.’ She said, ‘I had to darling. What if it hadn’t ended well?’
Nicole:
But then, you know, and it would just, oh, that’s too funny. Bless her.
Sharon:
She’s so cute. Oh my goodness. I love my mom. So how about you? What did you learn about living wisely in troubled times?
Nicole:
Fairly similar. You know, in these hard times to look up, you know, look ahead. Jesus will return and we will see our loved ones again. And we will spend forever with him and with, you know, and with those that love him too. And we can, the thing that I always get stuck on is we’re in this slog. We’re in the
yuck. And I can choose to live in my flesh in that moment. And, or I could choose to live in his spirit and remember these things. And either way, the stuff still has to get done. Right.
Sharon: This is true.
Nicole:
I had a terrible yesterday. I’ll have to tell you real quick.
Sharon:
Oh, you had a terrible yesterday.
Nicole:
I have a robot vacuum, which I love. And it, I push a button and it vacuums my floor for me.
Sharon: Ooohhhh.
Nicole:
It’s magic. I love. I named her Rosie, like the robot from the Jetsons. So Rosie vacuums my house and I love her. I put little googly eyes on her and she’s just my favorite little thing.
Sharon:
You put eyes on her.
Nicole: I did.
Sharon:
That’s hysterical.
Nicole:
She’s my little pet. ’cause she was, before I had dogs. And so I had let the dogs outside, brought them in, went and got myself a cup of water. Started Rosie. And I was washing dishes and I smelled a smell.
Sharon: Oh no.
Nicole:
And I went and looked and Rosie had found a little pile from one of my dogs.
Sharon:
She was not.
Nicole:
On the carpet. The one carpet, the one area rug in my whole downstairs.
Sharon:
And that’s what they chose.
Nicole:
And she rubbed over it and rubbed over it and smeared the dog poo all over the carpet. All up my hallway,
Sharon: Nicole honey.
Nicole:
embedded in the vacuum. And I was so upset and angry and I was crying. ’cause it’s such a horrible, disgusting mess to clean up. And about five minutes into just being miserable, miserable, Sharon,
Sharon:
I would’ve been too honey.
Nicole:
As I’m peeling things apart and disinfecting, I was like, you know what, there are bigger things to worry about. This is not as bad as it seems, Nicole. God still loves me. And it, I felt better inside, even with my hands covered in dog poo and bleach galore. But it just made me kind of chuckled today. Not yesterday, but yes, the stuff is still gonna happen. It’s the dog poo will still happen.
Sharon:
It will. It will.
Nicole:
But I can choose to really be miserable in my flesh. And it didn’t feel very good.
Sharon: Nooo.
Nicole:
And then when I changed my attitude and looked to him, the vacuum did not magically get cleaned.
Sharon: No.
Nicole:
But I was a little less miserable.
Sharon:
Yes, exactly. Yes. And that’s when we’re like, yes, but heaven.
Nicole:
But heaven.
Sharon:
It’ll be good in heaven.
Nicole:
In heaven my robot vacuum will not run over dog poop in my mansion God has built for me.
Sharon:
Exactly. Oh my goodness. Oh man. Well, let us just take a moment and thank God. Oh, my. Lord, thank you. Thank you so much for your gift of eternal life. That is the good news, the gospel. We are so grateful that you thought us worth saving ’cause we’re not. And yet you loved us that much. Father, help us too, in the hard moments of life to remember that there’s a forever loved ending for those of us that have come to you, and you want all of us to come to you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole:
Amen. Only God knows when each of us will die. It’s why it’s so important not to wait to choose to come to Christ and ask for forgiveness, for sin and surrender ourselves to him. Paul often urged the people he met not to wait but to come to the Lord Jesus. In two Corinthians six, one through two, Paul says, “As God’s partners, we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God’s kindness and then ignore it. For God says, at just the right time, I heard you on the day of salvation, I helped you. Indeed, the right time is now. Today is the day of salvation.” If you have never humbled yourself and asked God to forgive you and save you, today is the day. Call out to him and he will answer you. Our God loves it when we turn to him, He is merciful and loving and ready to forgive and welcome you. If you want to learn more, would you write us at sweetselah.org/podcast. We’d love to chat with you and pray for you. We want you to have the sure hope of heaven too. Next week, we’ll continue talking about heaven and that time still to come when Jesus returns to call his own children to himself. Join us for episode 119, “Children of Light.” Until then, may God bless you and draw you ever nearer to him.
Speaker 1:
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found at sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Ever been given really bad advice? It happens. We're told some magical food will make us better and instead it makes us worse. Or, we're advised poorly on how to handle a relational dilemma and realize too late we listened to the wrong person. Well. There's One we can always go to for good advice, and that's God Himself. Sharon and Nicole will get practical, today, as they examine what Paul has to say to the Thessalonians. It's amazing how applicable it is for our own lives today. Listen in!
Read the transcript for God-Pleasing Advice-Episode 117Speaker 1 (00:02):
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word with Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole (00:28):
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments podcast. This is episode 117, “God Pleasing Advice.” We’re going to give practical today! Paul is full of great advice on how to live wisely in troubled times. But, before we get to Paul’s advice to the Thessalonians, let’s talk about advice in general. Not all advice is helpful. Sharon, have you ever been given bad advice?
Sharon (00:51):
Oh, yes. You know, sometimes just looking at the cover of a women’s magazine is hysterically funny. ’cause on the same cover you’ll hear, ‘How to make the decadent chocolate cake’ with, you know, 10,000 calories in one bite. And then the next article will say, ‘Are you feeling like you’re eating too many sweets?’ And you’re like, okay. So in some magazines they’re like, ‘What kind of advice do you feel like today? Do you feel indulgent? We’ll advise you on how to eat rich chocolate. Do you feel, um, stringent? Let us help you diet.’ So,
Nicole (01:29):
Any advice you want, just pick it from the cover!
Sharon (01:30):
Yes! Just choose your advice and turn to the right page. That’s good. So, but more seriously, when I was first married to Ray, we had the, I guess, normal adjustment to being married. And I was not doing well with Ray. I was quite unhappy with him. Poor baby. He worked tons of hours. He’s in the military; it’s not like he could come home until his guy, what do you call it? The colonel could release him. Sure. But in my opinion, if he says he’s coming home at five, he should be home at five. Right. So I found a million little things to be sad about. Plus, as you know, Ray is a truth teller. And it took me awhile to get used to him telling me truth, like, “would you like to walk?” “No.” You know, he’s just very blunt answers. So anyways, I really like him now, so it’s all good.
Nicole (02:22):
I’m so glad.
Sharon (02:37):
Back in the early days, it was really hard and I had two good friends who will remain unnamed. One friend was kind of a man hater, you know? She just didn’t like men and she did not like Ray. Yeah. And she was giving me the advice, literally at one year of marriage, ‘you need to divorce him’.
Nicole (02:43):
Oh, wow.
Sharon (02:44):
No kidding. Like, you deserve better than this. I can’t believe he treats you this way. And, you know, just picking up on every negative thing I said and, and expanding it into something, it wasn’t.
Sharon (02:55):
And then I had this quiet other friend, so gentle, and she’d say, “well, why do you think he did that, Sharon?” And I’m like, how dare you make me think of Ray’s perspective.
Nicole (03:07):
I don’t wanna think about why! It hurt!
Sharon (03:09):
Exactly. Or what do you think the Lord would have you do?
Nicole (03:12):
Oooohhhhh!
Sharon (03:12):
I know.
Nicole (03:14):
That’s the question.
Sharon (03:15):
Yes. Had I listened to the first one, I would not be married to my bestest best friend who makes me happy just about every day now.
Nicole (03:26):
Oh.
Sharon (03:27):
So I’m so thankful. I listened to the quiet, annoying one. Who would not back me up with my whininess, but forced me to see my husband’s side, so,
Nicole (03:37):
Oh, that’s so good.
Sharon (03:38):
That’s my story. That was my bad advice. How about you?
Nicole (03:41):
Uh, same bad marriage advice. It feels like marriage and raising kids, people always have lots of advice to offer, whether you want it or not. And sometimes you’re like, where did this come from? But we were married fairly young. Um, not terribly, but pretty young. And everyone at my work, my patients and even some of my coworkers were like, “Wow, you’re so young. Well, it’s okay. Your first marriage is for practice. Second marriage is for money. Third marriage, that one’s for love.” And I just stared at them like, I don’t want three marriages. I just want this one. Like, I’m gonna skip to three and just say, this one’s for love and we’ll just do our best.
Sharon (04:17):
There you go. Josh can be 1, 2, 3, all in one person.
Nicole (04:22):
Yes. But I couldn’t believe that they were just like, oh, it’s fine. It’s just practice. I’m like, oh gosh. I don’t know if I think that.
Sharon (04:27):
Isn’t that wild.
Nicole (04:28):
Yeah. And then I got some pretty bizarre parenting advice too. Um, my firstborn was awake during the day, and I’m sorry, she would sleep for most of the day, and be awake all throughout the night. And I was exhausted.
Sharon (04:39):
Oh no.
Nicole (04:40):
Exhausted. And I don’t remember if someone told me this, or probably read it online, but you’re supposed to like flip your baby upside down to reverse their day and night. It helped to flip them up and put them back where they were supposed to be. And I’m like, what? Even sleep deprived that did not seem wise to somersault my two week old baby.
Sharon (04:58):
That is hysterical. You just never know. You know, all advice is not good.
Nicole (05:02):
No. And where it comes from, and I, sometimes it’s well-intentioned and sometimes it’s not. It comes from a place of either bitterness or bad experience. You gotta be careful with advice.
Sharon (05:11):
We absolutely do. I so agree. Oh my goodness. Well, we’ll turn from bad advice to guaranteed good advice.
Nicole (05:20):
That sounds great.
Sharon (05:21):
I know. Whenever we read God’s words in the Bible, we’re safe, Nicole. We can trust him. These readings are always my favorite part, because we can’t mess up when we’re reading God’s words.
Nicole (05:33):
It’s true.
Sharon (05:34):
Our words are fallible, but Gods are not. These are our sweet Selah moments. I love it. So start us off. Let’s go to the good advice.
Nicole (05:43):
All right. So we’re gonna be reading good advice from First Thessalonians 4, 1 through 12 today. And I’m gonna start with verse one. “So finally, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus, to live in a way that pleases God as we have taught you. You live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more’
Sharon (06:02):
“For you remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. “
Nicole (06:07):
“God’s will is for you to be holy. So stay away from all sexual sin,”
Sharon (06:12):
“then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor.”
Nicole (06:17):
“Not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways.”
Sharon (06:23):
“Never harm or cheat a fellow believer in this matter by violating his wife. For the Lord avenges all such sins as we have solemnly warned you before. “
Nicole (06:33):
“God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives.”
Sharon (06:37):
“Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching, but is rejecting God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.”
Nicole (06:48):
“But we don’t need to write to you about the importance of loving each other, for God himself has taught you to love one another.”
Sharon (06:55):
“Indeed, you already show your love for all the believers throughout Macedonia. Even so, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you to love them even more.”
Nicole (07:04):
“Make it your goal to live a quiet life minding your own business and working with your hands just as we instructed you before.”
Sharon (07:11):
“Then people who are not believers will respect the way you live and you will not need to depend on others.” This is wild. Wow. Wow. Okay, let’s examine each verse one at a time. And Nicole, you’re up first.
Nicole (07:27):
All right. So verse one again is, “finally, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus, to live in a way that pleases God as we have taught you, you live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more.” So I appreciate how, first off, Paul is urging from a good place, the place to please God. So he says, in the name of the Lord Jesus, I urge you to live this way so that it pleases God. It won’t please the people around you. It doesn’t show off anything. And it doesn’t give glory to Paul. Like, ‘Hey, my little, my cute little Christian Church doing good.’
Sharon (07:58):
That’s a good point. “Do it for Paul”; he doesn’t say that, does he?
Nicole (08:02):
Right. He says, “to please God.” So I love that. And then at the end, he says, you live this way already and we encourage you to do so even more. So I like that he’s recognizing that they’ve already done well.
Sharon (08:15):
Yes.
Nicole (08:16):
And I think as a mom, when I tell my kids, if I kind of blanket like, ‘Hey, you guys have been really bad about taking care of your dishes.’ One always pipes up, ‘But I put mine away yesterday and Thursday.’ And they’re so disappointed. We don’t see any of those little good things. So, Paul saw, Hey, you live this way already and we encourage you to do so even more.
Sharon (08:35):
I love that. ’cause that’s positive. And you’re right. It doesn’t negate the effort that has been there.
Nicole (08:40):
Right, even if it’s not the best effort. We’re still, I see that you’re trying. So I thought that was good of him to do.
Sharon (08:45):
Oh, I think that’s good advice for me. I ought to remember that. Okay. Verse two. “For you remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.” Well, the word ‘remember’ stood out to me. First of all, um, we need to be in the Bible a lot so we remember. I forget that I’m supposed to pray blessing on my enemies, conveniently. Right. But there are things that I need to remember. I need to remember that I’m supposed to be slow to take offense and I’m actually supposed to prefer others ahead of me. Um, we don’t, we don’t remember unless we’re reminded. So it just, it pulled me back to the word that what remember what we taught you and I need to remember what Paul taught them. And what the Bible says about it.
Nicole (09:32):
Oh, that’s good.
Sharon (09:32):
And then he says, “by the authority of the Lord Jesus.” So, um, Jesus’s authority is behind this. And you know, a lot of things I was saying that were hard just a minute ago were from the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is actually really hard stuff, so much of it.
Nicole (09:51):
Yeah.
Sharon (09:51):
Blessed are you, when you’re persecuted, be happy when people are mean to you. You know, it’s so funny. Living the Christian life is easier if you avoid it actually. But um, but it’s not right and it’s not good. So by the authority of Jesus, we need to obey the words he says. Even the hard words. Especially the hard words.
Nicole (10:12):
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that’s good. So then verse three says, “God’s will is for you to be holy. So stay away from all sexual sin.” So I think he points this one out specifically. It’s because sexual sin can be so consuming.
Sharon (10:26):
It can.
Nicole (10:27):
And I feel like it takes a lot of other sins in order to pull it off. Whether it’s an affair, you have to be coveting or envying, um, lying if you’re, you know, anytime you have, if it’s a sexual sin, it’s outside the context of what God intended, in a, um, in a marriage. So anytime you do that outside of it, I think there’s gonna be a lot of other sins to get there. And the consequences for that one is so high.
Sharon (10:52):
Yes. It is.
Nicole (10:53):
So much higher than many of the other ones. So, and you’re also messing with the possibility of creating a life.
Sharon (10:58):
Yes.
Nicole (11:00):
I don’t think God takes that lightly either. ’cause then it opens up a whole new mess that you have to decide and that life could be in jeopardy. So I think he’s bringing that one up because, um, that can be a really bad one. And I think the culture of that time, which is the next verse, I’ll wait for the next verse elaborates some more on it.
Sharon (11:18):
You’ll segue to me. It’s funny how, it seems like all cultures struggle with sexual sin.
Nicole (11:24):
Yeah.
Sharon (11:24):
Isn’t that fascinating? It’s, it’s a strong drive in us and it’s. Good within marriage and it can…
Nicole (11:31):
Necessary for life. But…
Sharon (11:32):
… and there is that part of it too. Yes. But it can wreak havoc as well.
Nicole (11:36):
Yes.
Sharon (11:36):
I thought you said that really, really well. I hadn’t thought of the fact that sexual sin also means you’ve committed other sins.
Nicole (11:44):
It’s not, it’s not usually a standalone thing.
Sharon (11:46):
Yeah. Thank you for that. Oh, that’s well done, Nicole. Okay. So moving on to verse four, “then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor.”
Sharon (11:58):
So, you know, it’s interesting. We are called to control our bodies.
Sharon (12:02):
And for a long, long time, I let, um, my body control me when it came to food. I ate for comfort, I ate for pleasure. If one piece of chocolate cake tasted good, two might taste better. Right. And, uh, I ate without even thinking about eating. And it took a long time and a lot of gaining of weight for me to wake up and realize, whoa. I don’t think I’m in control of my body here. I think my body’s controlling me. And the Bible’s pretty clear. We are, we are to control our bodies.
Sharon (12:36):
We are to take our ability through the Holy Spirit to say no to them. That’s why God asks for fasting sometimes. So that we just don’t allow cravings to become addictions. Right?
Nicole (12:51):
Yeah. No, that’s good.
Sharon (12:52):
‘Cause they can so easily. So, real important that we do that in many areas, but in this case, he’s talking about in sexual sin. We can control our bodies.
Nicole (13:01):
We can, yes.
Sharon (13:02):
We, we like to think I couldn’t help it. We actually can. Um, and to live in holiness and honor, I love that because in holiness and honor, there’s no shame. Holiness is purity. It’s a set apartness. It’s a wonderful goal. Are we all holy all the time? Oh, that would be no.
Nicole (13:24):
It’s a big no there.
Sharon (13:25):
Yeah. Yeah. Big.
Nicole (13:26):
No. But when we are, it feels so nice and free.
Sharon (13:28):
That’s why we have confession of sin. Yes. But, but that state of holiness, which we can achieve whenever we ask forgiveness and God washes us clean, there we are again. Holy washes away the shame. So if we control our bodies, we don’t let them pull us in directions we should not go. There won’t be shame. There’ll be holiness and honor.
Nicole (13:52):
Oh, that’s so good. Yeah.
Sharon (13:53):
Oh, I mean, it’s a good thing. You don’t wanna think of it just negatively.
Sharon (13:56):
It’s a good thing.
Nicole (13:56):
It’s a good thing. I forget sometimes like our body, our, our actual physical body is the flesh that we wrestle against. You know, like our spirit is new. But our body still is used to wanting to do bad things with like, kind of like, no body, you don’t need that cake. You don’t need that sexual sin. Focus.
Sharon (14:12):
And it is a battle.
Nicole (14:15):
It is for sure. We’ll fight it to the day we die.
Sharon (14:18):
yesss, we will.
Nicole (14:19):
So verse five, “not in lustful passion, like the pagans who do not know God and his ways”. So same thing. So in this culture, at the time, I believe there, the way they worshiped in the temples was with prostitutes, and other terrible manners of sexual sins. So that was very common and accepted at that time. So around them, the worship services that were being held were completely opposite of what God called them to do.
Sharon (14:46):
Yes.
Nicole (14:47):
So I think that’s why, another reason why Paul might have pointed that one out, like, this is not how you’re supposed to worship. The pagans do not know God. They do not know his ways. And even that was said with some, some grace,
Sharon (15:00):
It was!
Nicole (15:00):
Like they don’t know. And like all those terrible, disgusting heathens, they don’t know God. They don’t know His ways. You are called to live apart, to show them the difference. But it was just such a beautiful way to talk about…
Sharon (15:11):
It was gentle, wasn’t it?
Nicole (15:12):
… something really heavy and and ugly. So, yeah.There was a lot going on at that time for those new believers.
Sharon (15:18):
Yeah. No kidding. I love that thought too, that, um, God does not want women ’cause usually, or, or little boys or what whatever they were doing in the temple with people. He doesn’t want them violated. Our God wants to protect people from being marketed.
Nicole (15:36):
Oh, Sure.
Sharon (15:37):
And I just about guarantee you that the temple prostitutes were not like all jazzed about their job
Nicole (15:43):
Right, right. Yeah.
Sharon (15:44):
A lot of them were probably forced into it. And I just love that our God values every human.
Sharon (15:50):
Oh, so good. All right. Verse six. “Never.” So now never is a strong word here. “Never harm or cheat a fellow believer in this matter by violating his wife. The Lord avenges all such sins as we have solemnly warned you before.” So sad when sexual sin is within the church.
Sharon (16:12):
I’m wondering, Paul wrote to the Corinthians about a sexual sin in their church. I don’t know if he was thinking of that or I almost feel like he’d seen it somewhere because he’s so firm. Why would you do this? Why would you take a fellow believer’s wife and violate her in that way? You know, don’t do this. God is angry when you do this. He’s… God is a loving, merciful God, but God does not like to see people abused. No, he absolutely does not. So we have to be in guard on, in guard, on guard about our feelings for others. And I think that’s really important. I’ll remember one time I went to, there was a prayer meeting at our church, and um, I went to the prayer meeting. I really wanted to go to the prayer meeting. And the only one there was, um, my pastor and there was no one else. And we sat there for a little bit, and then we’re both like, no.
Sharon (17:05):
No. If no one else comes praying, especially such an intimate thing to do. And I didn’t like, have any feelings for him, and I doubt he did for me. However, you don’t wanna gain them. And by being in a position of vulnerability like that, where we’re, you know, pouring out our hearts. It wasn’t wise.
Nicole (17:23):
It could open the door to possibly something. But maybe not, but possibly something in all appearances of evil.
Sharon (17:28):
And so, don’t walk down that path. And we both kinda mutally agreed and left!
Nicole (17:35):
That was that.
Sharon (17:36):
Yeah. So anyways, that’s, and that comes from verses like this; just back away from that far. I’d rather be silly…
Nicole (17:44):
Right.
Sharon (17:44):
… and be far away than, you know, walk to the edge that way.
Nicole (17:47):
Dance that line. No, I hear you. So the last verse says, “God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives.” So after all of these fairly heavy warnings, he just reminds us again, like what is God has called us to more, he’s called us to more. And sometimes it’s hard, but he wants us to live holy lives.
Sharon (18:06):
He does. Verse eight says, “therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching, but is rejecting God.” Whoa.
Nicole (18:16):
That’s a big one.
Sharon (18:17):
That’s a big one. “Who gives this Holy Spirit to you.” So this isn’t just Paul being fussy, this is God saying, do not do this. So that was clear.
Nicole (18:26):
That was very clear. And then nine says, “but we don’t need to write to you about the importance of loving each other for God himself has taught you to love one another.” That was really neat. And I love how you, he can see the Holy Spirit working. And he points it out like, God’s already working this out in you. You’re already loving others. And that’s gonna be a comfort for Paul, who’s giving so much of himself to go around and be a missionary to these people. Start these churches, he longs for them, worries for these people, prays over them. And he sees growth because God does the growing, he does the increasing.
Nicole (18:59):
That’s gotta be encouraging to Paul. And then he passed on that encouragement to them like, ‘Hey…
Sharon (19:03):
You sure did.
Nicole (19:04):
… I see God working in you!’
Sharon (19:05):
And after that heavy lecture. It’ so nice to think, okay, so he doesn’t think we’re all doing bad things. He’s just warning us against them. He thinks we actually love. Well, yeah. And that’s reassuring because we can sometimes read into what people say the worst. Can’t we? The worst motivation.
Nicole (19:25):
That’s a really good point.
Sharon (19:26):
Yeah. So how, how clever of Paul (inspired by the Holy Spirit) to follow up the, the sternness with a ‘But you love each other so well.’
Nicole (19:35):
But you love each other well. That’s good.
Sharon (19:38):
So then he kind of expands on it in verse 10. “Indeed you already show your love for all the believers throughout Macedonia. Even so dear brothers and sisters, we urge you to love them even more”.
Nicole (19:50):
I love that.
Sharon (19:51):
What is that?! You’re doing great, now do it even more. Right. It makes me think of, um, when he talks, I think it’s in Ephesians where he says, I want you to know the height and width and depth and breadth of God’s love for you. You know, the love is so much bigger than we can even wrap our mind around. So we can always learn to do it more. We just can.
Nicole (20:13):
I don’t think we can ever love too much and I don’t think love ever depletes us, like serving or like other, the other spiritual gifts we can kind of overuse sometimes on our own strengths. I don’t think we can ever overuse love. Ever.
Sharon (20:26):
It’s so wonderful. Oh my goodness.
Nicole (20:29):
And then verse 11 says, “make it your goal to live a quiet life minding your own business and working with your hands just as we instructed you before.” So I just recently found this verse like two years ago. It was in my quiet time. And I’m like, oh, this is a great verse!
Sharon (20:44):
Isn’t it?!
Nicole (20:45):
This should be like my motto for life. Like, here’s God’s will for your life.
Nicole (20:49):
Make it your goal to live a quiet life. Like, whoa, that sounds lovely. But if you think about this, like how beautifully simple our lives would be if we did this, if we just
Sharon (20:56):
I know
Nicole (20:57):
Live simply, minded our own business, worked with our hands, what God gave us to do, it just would be a much better place.
Sharon (21:04):
It sure would. I love that. Mind your own business. We get into trouble when we start minding other people’s business.
Nicole (21:09):
Oh we do!
Nicole (21:10):
We love minding theirs and not our own more, I don’t know why.
Sharon (21:13):
It’s so true. And not everybody’s happy with us poking into their business. Ah, oh, it’s a great verse. So, and then verse 12 says, “then, you know, if we do this, if we do the quiet life, if we mind our own business. If we work with our hands, then people who are not believers will respect the way you live and you will not need to depend on others.” You know, I always go back to my neighborhood with this. ‘Cause I, I, it’s so silly, but I wrote down on this one: clean your yard. Put the trash out. Pick up the litter. Don’t be needy. Be a good neighbor. You know, part of making it your business to be quiet and just thoughtful is in your own neighborhood. I want, I don’t need to be the fanciest house on the block and trust me, I’m not , but the, the yard should be mowed. There shouldn’t be, you know, old car parts sitting all over the front of it.
Nicole (22:06):
Right.
Sharon (22:06):
I wanna be respectful of my neighbors and just make sure my own little plot is as it ought to be.
Nicole (22:10):
As well tended. Oh, I like that.
Nicole (22:13):
Well, it says that you’ll not need to depend on others. And I don’t think that, like you’ve talked about times and I’ve talked about times of need where God has provided for us. And fellow Christians have blessed us. That’s different. Not need to depend on others. I think if we’re always in other people’s business and busy and not doing the work God has given us, being faithful, we’re gonna run into some crisises, err crises. And people are gonna feel like, they’re like, oh, help me. I need this. Oh, help me. And we’re gonna be the needy people that are always running around frantic. And God doesn’t, that’s not a good witness.
Sharon (22:43):
It is not.
Nicole (22:44):
We don’t wanna be that, like you said, being a good neighbor, like being able to take care of ourselves and, and help others if they need it.
Sharon (22:50):
So. Yes. Exactly.
Nicole (22:52):
Its a good way to live. Yeah,
Sharon (22:53):
Absolutely. And there will be times of neediness. You’re right. Yeah. But, but we don’t wanna create them right out of our own silliness. Yes.
Nicole (23:01):
Right.
Sharon (23:01):
Yeah.
Nicole (23:01):
That’s a good distinction.
Sharon (23:03):
All right. Here we go to our questions now. What was my favorite verse and why? Well, Nicole, what was your favorite verse?
Nicole (23:12):
Let’s see. So my was verse 11. I really like that one. I think it’s a great reminder. Um, and I’ll read it again. “Make it your goal to live a quiet life minding your own business and working with your hands just as we instructed you before.” Um, it just reminds me to do what God has placed before me.
Sharon (23:28):
Yes.
Nicole (23:29):
Eyes to my little furrow, my little row that I’m planting. Focus
Sharon (23:32):
Stay in your own lane.
Nicole (23:33):
And not get distracted.
Sharon (23:35):
I love it. I love it. Well, I chose verse two. For you remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. Mostly just because I’m so big on not ever thinking I know the Bible so well. I don’t have to read it. You know what I mean? I just need to be reminded. So back to it, back to it. Back to what he teaches me every day.
Nicole (23:57):
He does.
Sharon (23:57):
So that was mine.
Nicole (23:59):
I like that.
Sharon (24:00):
So, all Right. Well, I’ll start the question two, which is, what did we learn about God from this passage? Well, I, I found three things. Number one: God values sexual purity.
Nicole (24:10):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (24:11):
He surely does. He’s clear. Number two: God asks me to control my body. I’m told to do it. I know he helps me do it, but I’m asked to do it. That’s the command.
Nicole (24:24):
Yeah. Yeah.
Sharon (24:25):
And number three: God himself teaches me to love others. Which is really good, ’cause I could not do it without his help.
Nicole (24:32):
We need a really good teacher for that one.
Sharon (24:34):
Yes. Yes.
Nicole (24:34):
‘Cause that one’s really hard sometimes. Oh goodness. So I got what did I learn? Okay. Love each other. Oh no, that was the last one. Sorry. He works in people’s hearts. I like that. God changes them. He works. We can do all of the best. I’m sure Paul was a wonderful teacher. And a wonderful letter writer. We love reading his letters now, but ultimately God was teaching them to love each other. He worked in their hearts. So God does the work. I like that.
Sharon (24:59):
I like that too. I think that’s awesome. Yeah. Okay. What did we learn about living wisely in troubled times? I have to keep coming back to ‘that’s the title of the series.’
Nicole (25:08):
Yes.
Sharon (25:09):
And, and it’s so good because so much of what he’s talking about, even the sexual sins you know, it’s every, it’s every generation apparently, you know?
Nicole (25:18):
Even way back then we thought they were so much better.
Sharon (25:20):
So we live in troubled times too. What did we learn about it? So I’ll let you start and you kind of cheated and went ahead, but go back to it.
New Speaker (25:28):
I did, I did!
Sharon (25:28):
What did you learn about living wisely in troubled times?
Nicole (25:33):
Yes. So love each other. Live a quiet life and mind your own business and do your own work
Sharon (25:39):
And do your homework.
Nicole (25:41):
Do your own work!
Nicole (25:42):
Stick to your own things. Work with your hands what God has given you. So that verse again, I just keep going back to that verse. You know.
Sharon (25:48):
It really does make life simpler when you’re like, okay, well what’s my next thing? Elizabeth Elliot used to say that over… and I have actually been overwhelmed lately. ‘Cause at the recording of this, by the time it’s actually aired, we’ll be way past the retreat. But we’re recording it before the retreat and things just keep coming at us, you know…
Nicole (26:06):
and all those little last minute things
Sharon (26:07):
… my broken printer, which took an entire day to fix and all that, and I just have to remember, just do the next thing. I don’t have to worry about all the rest of it. Stay in my lane. Yes. Do what God’s asked me to do this day. Trust him for tomorrow.
Sharon (26:21):
I don’t have to, you know, be running around worrying about things that haven’t even happened yet. The half of them won’t happen. You know.
Nicole (26:27):
It’s true. I know. It’s so true.
Sharon (26:29):
Just behave yourself where you are, Sharon.
Sharon (26:31):
That’s a good one. I like that. So, um, I, I learned about living wisely in troubled times. It’s easy to do what feels good. And that’s kind of the mantra of our culture to, it feels good; you be you. You know, all that stuff. And although in some ways there’s truth to that, God made us uniquely and individually. And we are to be the best us we can be. It also can lead to indulgence, where there shouldn’t be indulgence. We’re supposed to be set apart holy. We’re not supposed to look like everybody else. We’re supposed to be the ones that do say no. Gently, that do love ridiculously. That do all the things that reminds me of Romans 12, one where Paul says, I urge you brothers and sisters to offer your bodies as living sacrifices and it’s your spiritual form of worship. Uh, this is how you know God’s will when you offer yourselves to him. Yeah. You know? So living in such a way in troubled times where, where every day I’m in the word and I’m offering myself in the morning. Lord left to myself, you and I both know how that’s gonna go. So,
Nicole (27:43):
I stray very quickly.
Sharon (27:45):
So help me to be a surrendered vessel. Help me to control my body. Help me to do the hard right thing that I know in the end will bring joy and not sorrow.
Nicole (27:55):
No, that’s good.
Sharon (27:57):
Oh, Paul’s so smart. He is because he’s inspired by the Holy Spirit. Well, let me pray for us. Lord, I thank you for good advice. Father, I am so grateful for advice I can trust. Lord, you made us, you wired us. You are perfect in every way. What you tell me I can trust. Help us all Lord, to live wisely even when the times are troubled. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole (28:27):
Amen. Paul was very clear and firm on his advice this week, wasn’t he? I love God’s unmistakable words that tell me how to live wisely. It’s good to know what he wants of us. May we all please him in the way we live this week. We’d love to hear from you. Write us anytime at sweetselah.org/podcast. We would be very grateful for your donation of any amount you can donate at sweetselah.org/donations. Write podcast partner on the memo line and get our monthly email newsletter. We love our podcast partners. Come back next week for episode 118, “Facing Death With Hope”. We may not like talking about death, but it is a reality in every single one of our lives. The uniqueness of the Christian faith is found in how Christians view death and resurrection. Next week, we talk about the sure hope we have in Jesus. See you then!
Speaker 1 (29:23):
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found at sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Sharon and Nicole are counting blessings, today. Big and small. They're looking at the amazing joy Paul had, despite his many hardships. Join them for an inspiring look at this portion of scripture and hear some practical and fun stories on how to find the joy-filled blessings in your own messy life.
Read the transcript for Joy-Filled Blessings-Episode 116Speaker 1 (00:02):
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word With Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole (00:28):
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 116, Joy-Filled Blessings. We’ve spent the last couple of weeks talking about standing firm and unshaken even in the midst of troubles and persecution. It’s been good and challenging. Today we turn a corner and get to read a passage that is filled with joy and blessing. This ought to be fun, Sharon.
Sharon (00:50):
Yes, it should be. I love these verses we’re gonna read today, Nicole. Paul is so exuberant, happy, and relieved to hear that this precious church is standing firm, that he basically can’t control the joy that is brimming up inside him and it spills out all over this part of his letter. I just love it. But before we start, I’d like to talk a minute about giving someone a blessing. Nicole, have you ever been formally blessed with someone praying over you for that very purpose?
Nicole (01:18):
You know, I can’t remember. I feel like we were prayed over when we went on a missions trip once when I was a teenager. But also the church we grew up in when I was younger, we always ended the sermon; the pastor read a blessing to the whole congregation.
Sharon (01:31):
Oh, mine did that too.
Nicole (01:31):
The Lord bless and keep you and his face shine upon you, it was really beautiful. And then recently my cousin got married up in Northern Maine and at the end of the wedding, when they were married, they had everyone in the congregation all reach forward, reach their hands forward and we all said a blessing together and blessed the newlyweds. That was such a special moment.
Sharon (01:50):
Yes.
Nicole (01:50):
I want to always do that at weddings now.
Sharon (01:52):
Yes. Isn’t that beautiful?
Nicole (01:54):
That was really special. So.
Sharon (01:55):
Yeah, yeah. I’ve always wanted to be Jewish on Friday nights for Shabbat because the husband prays a prayer of blessing over his wife.
Nicole (02:03):
Oh, that’s sweet.
Sharon (02:05):
I know.
Nicole (02:06):
I wanna be Jewish too.
Sharon (02:06):
Yeah.
Nicole (02:08):
Hey Josh.
Sharon (02:09):
I’m like, to Ray,, can we some light some candles and you’re supposed to bless me.
Nicole (02:13):
Oh, that’s so sweet. I didn’t know that.
Sharon (02:15):
Isn’t that lovely? It’s such a part of the Jewish culture, which, I mean, we have been adopted in. We could do this thing.
Nicole (02:21):
Okay. We don’t have to be Jewish to pray, but, yeah.
Sharon (02:23):
Well, I learned the most about blessing from my friend Sherry Schumann. She’s the, I forget if she’s called the president or the C E O or the whatever, but she runs, with God’s help, Christian Grandparenting Network.
Nicole (02:37):
Oh, how nice.
Sharon (02:38):
And Sherry talks, she has this wonderful talk about blessing your grandchildren formally, really praying blessing over them and what it can mean to them to speak, you know, what you see in them through prayer. Father, thank you for this child that is so kind. Lord, I just love how you’ve blessed this child with a creativity, you know, or whatever. That kind of thing. And then the literal blessing, Lord Bless you, keep you, that kind of thing. So Ray and I have adopted that. It’s easier for us in the sense that if we saw our grandchildren every other day, it might, they might find it a bit tedious if we were like, come here for a blessing. But we see our grandchildren twice a year, so it works out beautifully for us. And we just got back not that long ago from seeing Mary and her five kids and her husband too. He was also there. Sorry, Son-in-law. Love you. So, and they’re really on board with us. They’re awesome. So everybody sat on one couch and then Ray and I sat on the other and one at a time, I’m gonna cry ’cause I love doing this so much.
Nicole (03:42):
I know, you’ve already made me tear up just thinking about it.
Sharon (03:44):
Love it. It’s like my favorite thing, even though it’s hard ’cause it’s always when we’re leaving, but, one at a time, they come and sit between us and we hold their hand or we touch their shoulder and Ray goes first and he thanks God for who they are and how God has wired them. And he prays, you know, for whatever things you know, we want in their lives. And then I add whatever he missed.
Nicole (04:06):
That’s so sweet.
Sharon (04:07):
And then I end with ‘the Lord bless you and keep you’. And then the next one comes and sits.
Nicole (04:13):
Oh my goodness, Sharon.
Sharon (04:13):
And it’s their special time. It just, you know, I mean, Jacob blessed all his sons. Right? Although his blessings were unique.
Nicole (04:20):
Some of them of them weren’t very nice.
Sharon (04:22):
They were more like, some of them were more like prophecies.
Nicole (04:25):
Right.
Sharon (04:25):
Thankfully, God has given me no negatives.
Nicole (04:27):
Oh good.
Sharon (04:28):
This is good.
Nicole (04:29):
You will be a troubled person who pursues his brother and—
Sharon (04:33):
I know. Yeah. I was like, wow. Those are not the blessings Sherry taught me.
Nicole (04:37):
No. That’s funny.
Sharon (04:37):
So, but I love the biblical thought of we’re their elders.
Nicole (04:44):
Yeah.
Sharon (04:45):
And more than anything, ’cause I don’t know how many years I have, I wanna bless them. I wanna bless them. I wanna bless them. So I love blessings.
Nicole (04:54):
That’s so beautiful.
Sharon (04:55):
Yes. So this is supposed to be the joy-filled one, and now we’re both crying.
Nicole (04:58):
I know. Like, can you bless my children? Like, am I allowed to do that? That’s so beautiful.
Sharon (05:03):
Of course you can do that. Yeah. You can make it a Sunday night tradition.
Nicole (05:07):
Oh my goodness. That is so sweet.
Sharon (05:08):
You could just choose to add that as a rhythm to your lives.
Nicole (05:11):
Yeah. Well it’s so easy in this world to see the negative and especially, you know, as a mother and as a grandmother, you’re always looking to guide them and help them and correct them.
Sharon (05:19):
Right.
Nicole (05:20):
But you often see the things to fix in them.
Sharon (05:22):
Yes. Yes.
Nicole (05:23):
And not always—. So that’s such a beautiful way to stop and see the good that’s in them, that God is already growing in them.
Sharon (05:29):
Yes. Yes. And to pray that that’s what continues.
Nicole (05:32):
Yeah. Oh, I just love this.
Sharon (05:34):
Well, okay. Well, perhaps we should read the scripture.
Nicole (05:38):
See if Paul brings us to tears today too.
Sharon (05:41):
Let’s dive in and hear Paul’s joy firsthand. Why don’t you begin.
Nicole (05:45):
Alright. So today we’re gonna be reading 1 Thessalonians 3:6-13. “But now Timothy has just returned bringing us good news about your faith and love. He reports that you always remember our visit with joy, and that you want to see us as much as we want to see you.”
Sharon (06:03):
“So we have been greatly encouraged in the midst of our troubles and suffering, dear brothers and sisters, because you have remained strong in your faith.”
Nicole (06:10):
“It gives us new life to know that you are standing firm in the Lord.”
Sharon (06:14):
“How we thank God for you, because of you we have great joy as we enter God’s presence.”
Nicole (06:20):
“Night and day we pray earnestly for you asking God to let us see you again, to fill the gaps in your faith.”
Sharon (06:26):
“May God, our Father and our Lord Jesus, bring us to you very soon.”
Nicole (06:29):
“And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows.”
Sharon (06:37):
“May He, as a result, make your heart strong, blameless and holy as you stand before God, our Father, when our Lord Jesus comes again with all his holy people. Amen.” Those last two verses are a blessing.
Nicole (06:53):
Oh!
Sharon (06:54):
Something you could pray over your children. So now its—
Nicole (06:56):
I love that. Now I can go home and like find all the blessings in the Bible and start writing ’em down.
Sharon (07:00):
Oh, yeah. Yeah. It’s so fun.
Nicole (07:02):
That is fun.
Sharon (07:02):
I start looking for them now. You know, more than I used to. Thank you Sherry Schumann, if you’re listening to this podcast.
Nicole (07:07):
I know. That’s so cool.
Sharon (07:08):
So yeah. So now’s time to examine each verse one at a time. And you get to start with verse six.
Nicole (07:13):
Alright. So if you didn’t catch last week’s podcast, the week before, Paul has been trying to get back to this church in Thessalonica and see how they’re doing. And Satan has prevented him from going. And they’ve been so concerned with checking on them that finally Paul sends Timothy to find out how they’re doing. So then, now “Timothy has just returned, bringing us good news about your faith and love. He reports that you always remember our visit with joy and that you want to see us as much as we want to see you.” I think this must have been such a blessing for Paul, who’s been worried, he’s been anxious. Like he can’t get to them. They’re probably wondering what’s happening. He sends Timothy and that they are remembering his visit with as much joy as he’s remembering them.
Sharon (07:57):
Yes. That was so sweet.
Nicole (07:59):
That’s great. Because sometimes you wonder like, is it all lopsided? Like, did they have as good of a time as I had? You know?
Sharon (08:05):
Exactly so.
Nicole (08:06):
But to find out that this church really did seem to love Paul as much as he loved them.
Sharon (08:11):
Yes. Isn’t that sweet? Yeah. And also Paul’s pretty happy probably that Timothy’s back safely too.
Nicole (08:16):
Yes.
Sharon (08:17):
You know?
Nicole (08:17):
Yeah.
Sharon (08:17):
He comes back with good news. Guess what? They haven’t forgotten you They want you to come too.
Nicole (08:22):
Yes. And also that they’re still growing in their faith.
Sharon (08:25):
Yes.
Nicole (08:25):
Obviously that’s probably even more exciting than the fact that they did love Paul. But I just think this must have been such a moment for Paul to hear.
Sharon (08:32):
What a relief.
Nicole (08:32):
Timothy’s home. Everything’s going great.
Sharon (08:35):
Yes.
Nicole (08:35):
Great start to our verses,
Sharon (08:36):
Beautiful. Beautiful. So verse seven. “So we have been greatly encouraged in the midst of our troubles and suffering, dear brothers and sisters, because you have remained strong in your faith.” Yes. So he’s all happy, but his troubles and suffering are still going on. He’s made that clear, whatever they are. He’s still sick is my theory. But whatever. But hey, he’s not even thinking about being suffering. He’s too happy. His relief is almost palpable. They’re okay. He’s so selfless. He could be just, you know, if I’m feeling pain, it’s really hard for me to be like, focused on how other people are doing.
Nicole (09:16):
Oh, sure. Yeah.
Sharon (09:17):
It’s like, I hurt.
Nicole (09:17):
Like you take care of you. I’m dealing with this, this feels huge right now.
Sharon (09:21):
I am hurting. Right. And I can get to a point of very unhealthy self-pity and self focus. Paul is not doing this. Paul, in the midst of trouble and suffering is thinking about other people, praying about other people, being happy about other people. The best thing we can do when we’re in the midst of suffering is not dwell on our own pitiful selves all the time. Right?
Nicole (09:46):
Yes. Oh yeah. Wallow in our pity parties.
Sharon (09:47):
Oh man,
Nicole (09:48):
We’re so good at pity parties. I throw the best ones.
Sharon (09:51):
Yes. We feel it’s indulgent, kind of like eating ice cream.
Nicole (09:55):
I know, it’s awful.
Sharon (09:56):
But it comes back and bites you worse than ice cream ever does because then your world gets so bitter and small.
Nicole (10:03):
Yeah. It’s so small.
Sharon (10:03):
Anyways. Go Paul.
Nicole (10:05):
So, and then he continues in verse eight, “It gives us new life to know that you are standing firm in the Lord.” So this, like you just said, this report that they’re doing well, it’s revitalizing Paul no matter what he’s going through, sickness or troubles. This is kind of sparking a new joy in his heart. And because his focus is on the right things, he’s not having a pity party.
Sharon (10:28):
Right. Right.
Nicole (10:28):
So when we’re in troubles, if we’re looking for that good to see the growth in others, we’re gonna get that spark of new life too.
Sharon (10:35):
Yes. Yes.
Nicole (10:35):
You know? So I think that’s kind of neat.
Sharon (10:37):
It’s beautiful and it’s so selfless. It’s not like, Hey, you’re doing all right. I’m suffering. Why should I be happy for you? I mean, he’s just thrilled. He’s thrilled.
Nicole (10:45):
When I was thinking like, new life that you were standing firm in the Lord, I think we’d mentioned in an earlier podcast that sometimes we feel like we have to do it all. We have to plant the seed and water and harvest. And this is kind of cool because he’s gotta be encouraged, ’cause he’s probably like, he planted the seed and he left and he didn’t know if the droughts came and killed the seeds. And now he’s seeing these little green shoots push through.
Sharon (11:07):
Yes.
Nicole (11:07):
Without him being there to tend it. God is growing them. And he gets to see it though. Like how cool.
Sharon (11:13):
Beautiful. Beautiful. Yeah. Okay. Verse nine, “how we thank God for you! (Exclamation point) Because of you we have great joy as we enter God’s presence.” Paul’s prayer life is so robust. He doesn’t just go and ask for things. He’s entering God’s presence with joy. He’s just being happy with God.
Nicole (11:37):
I know.
Sharon (11:38):
Right? I mean, sometimes I do that and it’s really fun. God, I’m just so happy.
Nicole (11:42):
Right. This is happening and this is happening.
Sharon (11:45):
Yeah. It’s just so nice. And I love that he remembers to thank God.
Nicole (11:48):
Yeah.
Sharon (11:49):
You know, because Timothy comes back and Paul could just go, phew. Well now let’s pray for the Corinthians. Right?
Nicole (11:56):
Right, well, I got this other letter to write. So
Sharon (11:57):
Yeah, exactly. Moving on. Check it off. But no, he takes the time to thank. And I love in our ministry and in my personal prayer life, that Thursdays are Thankful Thursdays. Yeah. I pray as you know, long prayer lists six days a week with different focuses each day, but Thursdays are Thankful Thursdays and I put aside all the prayer lists and I just thank God and I just list all the things. It’s so fun. And I brought it into the ministry and social media. Thursday is Thankful Thursday. And I love it when people participate because we sometimes we have to work at being thankful. And we’re supposed to be. So I think it’s a good exercise, every week I need to come up with something new for social media for which to be thankful. And it’s a good thing. It really is.
Nicole (12:48):
That is good.
Sharon (12:49):
My grandmother in England when she was in the nursing home and she could no longer see, ’cause of cataracts, she could barely hear, she could not walk. She just kept saying, I’m so very, very thankful. God has been so good to me. My family’s marvelous. This is a woman who was a hundred and almost one.
Nicole (13:12):
Wow!
Sharon (13:12):
Who needed help with everything at this point. And every single nurse that entered the room, Oh, thank you, dear. I’m so sorry to be a bother.
Nicole (13:22):
Sweet lady.
Sharon (13:23):
No complaints.
Nicole (13:24):
Yeah. Just all thankfulness.
Sharon (13:25):
Just gratitude. Honestly, Nicole, she had trained herself over the years. This is a woman that lived through World War II, went to bomb shelters every night with her children. All kinds of sad things happened to her. Many, many, many.
Nicole (13:39):
I was gonna say, we’ve lost the art of thankfulness. We are not a thankful people.
Sharon (13:43):
No. We do not practice it. (Nicole: No) And I’ll tell you, I learned from my mother who learned from her mother. You look for what to be grateful for. (Yes) And that’s how you get your little joyful heart. (Right) So, anyways.
Nicole (13:56):
And we forget to thank God. We forget. I forget to thank God for good things.
Sharon (13:59):
Yes. We forget to go back. And Paul’s like dancing with God over this.
Nicole (14:02):
I know. That’s so good.
Sharon (14:04):
‘Cause Oh, who kept their faith strong? Might have been God. So he goes to the right person and has great joy as he enters God’s presence in Thanksgiving.
Nicole (14:13):
Oh, that’s so good. Well, verse 10 talks a little bit more about his prayer life. “So night and day, we pray earnestly for you asking God to let us see you again to fill the gaps in your faith.” So first I see here again, he is so faithful in praying he didn’t go talk to them about Jesus. All right guys, good luck. Pray for them once. Oh God, help that church. He’s praying earnestly. And again, this is not his only group of people he’s been ministering to. So that’s really cool that he’s been faithful in prayer and then again, asking God to let us see you again, to fill the gaps in your faith. He’s continuing the work. He’s being faithful in the work God has given him. Not just Oh good. They’re, they’re saved. Okay.
Sharon (14:53):
They’re launched.
Nicole (14:53):
Off we go. Exactly. He’s like, okay, are they growing in their faith? Let’s fill the gap so they become strong—
Sharon (14:58):
I love that thought.
Nicole (14:59):
Well-rounded Christians. Very good.
Sharon (15:01):
Beautiful.
Nicole (15:01):
So that’s a good verse for us to carry with us as we evangelize.
Sharon (15:05):
Yes, it is.
Nicole (15:05):
Praying earnestly and continuing the faith.
Sharon (15:08):
Yep. And going back to where he talked about Satan preventing him, prayer is warfare in a lot of ways. So when you are earnestly praying, we’re praying that hearts stay open. We’re praying protection, we’re praying all kinds of things.
Nicole (15:22):
Right. It’s so important.
Sharon (15:23):
Part of prayer is warfare. It is. So that’s really cool. Okay. So now he’s hoping, verse 11, “May God our Father and our Lord Jesus bring us to you very soon.” He’s still trying to get to them.
Nicole (15:38):
He is. Oh Paul.
Sharon (15:38):
Bless him. He hasn’t quit. He sends Timothy to let them know, I’m really trying here. Right?
Nicole (15:45):
Right, right.
Sharon (15:45):
But it’s not like, okay, Timothy’s gone, now I’m done. I’m still trying to get to you. May God let me come. So he’s still asking God. And you know, Jesus says that, he talks about the persistent widow that keeps knocking. You know, we can keep asking.
Nicole (16:01):
He’ll let us.
Sharon (16:02):
He’s our Father. He’s our Abba. And so Paul’s knocking at that door again. Can I please go see these people? I loved it.
Nicole (16:10):
That is sweet. And then (verse) 12 is, “And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow just as our love for you overflows.” There’s just so much love and overflows of love.
Sharon (16:22):
I know. I like the rhyme that the New Living Translation people put in.
Nicole (16:26):
I know.
Sharon (16:26):
May all people grow and overflow.
Nicole (16:30):
It’s just so nice because you had said he probably only knew them for about three months or so. And there’s so much genuine affection for these people (Sharon: Yes, yes) in Christ. And we can’t do that on our own. There’s no way you can love and be this concerned with people you’ve met three months ago. There’s just no way. God has put into us like this deeper capacity for love because of him. (Yes) It’s only through him. (Yes) So if we feel like we’re having trouble loving people, or Oh, I can’t let any more people into my life, that’s because we’re not getting love from God.
Sharon (16:59):
Exactly so.
Nicole (16:59):
And he can fill us.
Sharon (17:00):
We need to go have a Selah Day.
Nicole (17:02):
That’s a good warning sign that maybe your love tank is empty.
Sharon (17:05):
Yes. Yes. Gotta go fill up. I love that.
Nicole (17:07):
Go fill it. Yeah.
Sharon (17:08):
Yeah. And that really is a beautiful blessing to pray for your children. May the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow just as our love, your Daddy’s and mine overflow.
Nicole (17:19):
Oh, your gonna make me cry again.
Sharon (17:21):
Isn’t that the most beautiful thing?
Nicole (17:23):
I love all these blessings.
Sharon (17:24):
These blessings are so fun. And until you are aware of them, you forget to look for them.
Nicole (17:29):
You do. It’s that training and thankfulness. We’re not a thankful people.
Sharon (17:33):
Yeah. So verse 13 is continuing this blessing. So Paul is, I’m picturing him, laying his hands on them figuratively as he says this, “May he (God) as a result, make your heart strong, blameless and holy as you stand before God, our Father, when our Lord Jesus comes again with all his holy people. Amen.” So this blessing, a blessing is a kind of a prayer because we’re not saying, dear God, we’re saying, may God. But that Amen is kind of like, I’m blessing. I’m asking God to do this for you. So it’s kind of interesting.
Nicole (18:10):
Right. Like a feel of like, okay, God, now you do it. Takeover.
Sharon (18:14):
Yeah. I thought what was interesting about this though was that someday we stand before God.
Nicole (18:19):
Oh, yeah.
Sharon (18:22):
So “Make your heart strong, blameless and holy as you stand before God, our Father, when Jesus comes again.” Yikes. I mean, we’re saved by Jesus’ blood. And when, God says, why should I let you into my heaven? We point to Jesus because he took the punishment I deserve. Right. It’s not ’cause we’ve been any great shakes. But at the same time, the parables you read in the Bible where Jesus says, I gave this person one talent and gave this person five talents. I gave this person ten, and you know, the five and ten people did great. So in heaven you will be in charge of five cities and ten cities. I don’t understand them. And I’m not trying to unpack a parable right now in the middle of Thessalonians, but the point is, what we do here matters there.
Nicole (19:06):
Yes.
Sharon (19:06):
Somehow. So when I stand before God my salvation is secure, but how I’ve lived matters. And so he wants them to have strong, blameless and holy hearts. And the other thing I love about this is he’s not saying, May God remove all the troubles from your life and give you chocolate.
Nicole (19:26):
Right.
Sharon (19:27):
He’s saying, may God make your heart what it needs to be. And this is what we primarily need to pray for the ones we love, that their character is strong.
Nicole (19:37):
Yes. No matter how God chooses to do that.
Sharon (19:39):
Right. Because that character goes with them into heaven.And I don’t know what being in charge of five cities and ten cities means at all. It’s just strange to me. But it’s gonna follow me. What I do here, how I build my character here, is going to be useful to God. Not only here, but in heaven. So anyways,
Nicole (19:58):
We need to be mindful of that.
Sharon (19:59):
Yeah. So, all right, well then.
Nicole (20:02):
Three question time.
Sharon (20:03):
Three question time. And I’ll let you go first with the favorite verse.
Nicole (20:07):
My favorite verse. So I picked 12.
Sharon (20:11):
Of course you did.
Nicole (20:12):
Because you did, didn’t you? I was like, I wonder if she’s gonna pick that one. I should pick a different one.
Sharon (20:16):
No, no. Do 12. Do 12.
Nicole (20:18):
It’s all the love. “And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow just as our love for you overflows.” Ah, that’s just such a beautiful verse.
Sharon (20:28):
It is.
Nicole (20:28):
And I am sometimes a grumpy person and people are overwhelming and not fun to love. And I don’t overflow with love for my child, anyone, that I’m in contact with. So this was just really beautiful that God, God loves me with that overflowing love.
Sharon (20:42):
Yes, he does.
Nicole (20:43):
Even when I’m having a grumpy day.
Sharon (20:45):
He does.
Nicole (20:45):
So should I not go and bestow that overflowing love on the people that are irritating me in the moment? I just, I love his love for me. It’s beautiful. And then that, charge to love others with that same love.
Sharon (20:57):
Yeah. Yeah. I like the grow part too, because we can grow in love. And we need to grow because I also have the days where I’m like, I’m a people person, but there’s been too many of you.
Nicole (21:09):
There’s been too many people today. Yeah. It can get overwhelming for sure.
Sharon (21:14):
Yeah. I can remember one time when I was flying somewhere for Moms in Prayer a very wonderful friend of mine said to me, I am praying that on the plane you have divine encounters, and you know, the ability to bring people to Christ. And I felt so guilty because I was like, oh, I really wanted to sleep,
Nicole (21:33):
But I was praying for a nap.
Sharon (21:35):
Yes. So yes, we’re sometimes grumpy and sometimes, but that’s why we actually need that alone time with God. The filling up your love bucket. And so Selah Days are for me, essential. Just a day to be still with him and just be loved.
Nicole (21:52):
Let him whisper. Oh honey, you need to love that person a little bit more.
Sharon (21:55):
Yes. Yes.
Nicole (21:55):
Instead of somebody telling you, ’cause it makes you a little bit more grumpy.
Sharon (21:57):
Exactly. Exactly. Oh, that’s all it does. You’re right.
Nicole (22:00):
Yep.
Sharon (22:00):
You’re right. So, okay. All right. So that’s our favorite verse, verse 12. Obviously significant. We both chose it. So, okay. So I’ll go first on this one. What did we learn from God from this passage? Well, first of all, I just said it, God can make our love grow. Which is good because we do not possess the amount of love that he has. So please make it grow, good prayer to pray, make it grow. And praying sometimes can just be joy in his presence. You know, Paul just was happy. And I wanna be happy in God’s presence, not always coming with a list.
Nicole (22:35):
Yes.
Sharon (22:35):
You know, and that’s what a Selah Day does for me too, because I’ll walk by the ocean, or even if I’m sitting on my deck looking at trees grow.
Nicole (22:42):
Right. And little birds twittering.
Sharon (22:44):
And my little birds, just finding joy in his presence and knowing that prayer is so multifaceted. Prayer is abiding with Christ. It’s bringing your sorrows, it’s confessing your sin, it’s being thankful. And sometimes it’s just being happy with him. So I like that.
Nicole (23:01):
That’s so nice. I like that.
Sharon (23:02):
How about you? What did you learn about God from this passage?
Nicole (23:05):
I have been struck by what can happen during troubles and suffering. That we can be encouraged and we can remain strong and we can grow and have overflowing love.
Sharon (23:15):
Yes.
Nicole (23:15):
And troubles are not fun. And I don’t want troubles. I want God to have all that happen to me when things are going well. And I think I can be a good little Christian girl and avoid these troubles if I pray enough or do this enough. And it’s like, oh, that’s been a hard lesson to learn.
Sharon (23:30):
It is hard.
Nicole (23:30):
That you can do everything right, and we can’t do everything right because we’re sinners. Even when we try to do the right thing I’m doing it for my own benefit to avoid trouble.
Sharon (23:37):
Exactly.
Nicole (23:38):
So I’m not a good Christian girl. So it’s just this, God’s just like, Be still and in the trouble I am with you. And even through this trouble, you’re going to grow.
Sharon (23:47):
Yes. Yes.
Nicole (23:47):
And you’re going to have love. So that was just like, God is with us through all of it.
Sharon (23:51):
He is. He is. And and he leads us by the hand.
Nicole (23:55):
Yes.
Sharon (23:55):
I mean, he’s our shepherd.
Nicole (23:57):
See you at the other end of this trouble, no, he’s walking through the trouble with us. And I’m just so struck by his love for us.
Sharon (24:04):
I know. Me too. Because you know, sometimes somebody that’s going through a really, really hard time, you get overwhelmed by their sadness.
Nicole (24:12):
Yes.
Sharon (24:12):
Right? And you’re like, I kind of need a break from feeling sad with you. God never needs a break.
Nicole (24:18):
Oh, thank goodness.
Sharon (24:18):
From feeling sad with us.
Nicole (24:19):
I know. And he’s with all of us. That he feels all the things of all of our troubles.
Sharon (24:23):
No matter how big I think God is, he’s bigger. He is, just that thought. How big can he be? He’s huge to do that.
Nicole (24:30):
To walk through our sadness.
Sharon (24:31):
Yeah. So, nice. Oh, okay. Nicole, what did you learn about living wisely in troubled times?
Nicole (24:38):
I put that there’s still joy in crisis and in trouble. And then to look beyond ourselves at others and to see the good and the growth in them.
Sharon (24:47):
Yes.
Nicole (24:47):
So just to kind of get us out of our funk, I know I love a good funk. But to get out of that. Look around at ‘what’s God doing in my friend’s life? What’s God doing in my children? What’s my husband’s heart?
Sharon (24:56):
Yes.
Nicole (24:57):
Seeing kind of through God’s eyes at the big picture of how we’re trying to get our hearts to be holy and blameless before him. That it makes the sickness or whatever trial I’m going through a little bit less sharp.
Sharon (25:08):
Right, right. Yeah. I’ve really pondered that part too. Or did you have more? I’m sorry.
Nicole (25:12):
No, just that because in heaven, like if you look at it in the light of heaven someday, these trials won’t seem so big. But the refinement of what he’s trying to do to make us more Christ-like is the big picture. So when we look beyond our suffering to see those little growths, that’s the big picture. We get a little glimpse of heaven.
Sharon (25:27):
Yeah, exactly.
Nicole (25:29):
I’m done.
Sharon (25:29):
I love it. I love it. That’s good. I was like, oh, I don’t wanna cut her off. So, yeah, I think that the not self-focused thing is so important too. And that really struck me that he was concerned about them even while he was suffering. And I’m reminded of the first five, well, four years ’cause I got pregnant in my fourth year, but for four years I had no children and I desperately wanted children. And, I went to baby showers.
Nicole (25:53):
Yeah. Oh.
Sharon (25:53):
Yeah, that’s hard.
Nicole (25:54):
That’s so tough.
Sharon (25:55):
So, trying to not be self-focused at a baby shower when I wanted the baby they were having and making myself with God’s help, be happy.
Nicole (26:06):
Yes.
Sharon (26:07):
Be happy for this friend who’s so excited to have her fifth child, you know.
Nicole (26:11):
I know.
Sharon (26:12):
Or whatever.
Nicole (26:13):
It’s hard. Yeah.
Sharon (26:13):
That’s a different kind of suffering. But it is a suffering to lay aside my own hurts and my own pity in myself that I don’t have that. And I was able to do it except for one shower. One shower I had to leave ’cause I started to cry. And then it would’ve been about me at the shower. Right? And that’s not fair to the person that was having the baby.
Nicole (26:38):
I know.
Sharon (26:38):
It was supposed to be a happy time.
Nicole (26:39):
Right. And God knows us and he knows our hearts. And you were strong for so many baby showers. Maybe that one, he just,
Sharon (26:45):
Oh, he was very nice to me about it. He was.
Nicole (26:48):
Our culture is not, I’m finding my generation, we’re not very good at that. We’re very easily offended now. Well, you shouldn’t do that ’cause that hurts me because of my past whatever—? And I think it’s so important that similarly twins, twin things can be difficult for me. Losing Claire’s twin.
Sharon (27:04):
Oh my goodness. Of course they can.
Nicole (27:06):
And I’ve made myself go to twin birthday parties or twin baby showers or acknowledge it and rejoice for them. But like I said, one out of ten times, it’s too hard. And that’s okay ’cause God still sees that. But if I’m trying to see the joy and the good in things and not just like, well, I could be a real miserable person about it, but God has given me the ability to look beyond, most times.
Sharon (27:27):
I love that. Most times. And it is okay to cry.
Nicole (27:30):
It is okay to cry.
Sharon (27:31):
I wrote a blog about that in August.
Nicole (27:33):
Yes!
Sharon (27:33):
It’s okay to cry.
Nicole (27:35):
Thank goodness ’cause there’s lots of stuff to cry about sometimes.
Sharon (27:38):
Yes. And then the other little lesson was to go to God persistently asking and not giving up because Paul, for the last three podcasts, has wanted to go see them and he’s still praying about it.
Nicole (27:49):
I know. Go Paul.
Sharon (27:49):
He hasn’t stopped yet. Yeah.
Nicole (27:51):
Persistent.
Sharon (27:53):
So, okay, well, I’m gonna pray and I’m gonna pray a blessing over our listeners.
Nicole (28:00):
I love it.
Sharon (28:01):
So here we go. All right. Oh, Father, how I thank you for everyone that listens to our podcast, to those that enjoy Nicole’s and I sometimes strange thoughts and your word being presented. And Lord, today I just lift my hand in blessing over everyone from the different countries that listen all across the world and say this, may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows. May God as a result, make your heart strong, blameless and holy as you stand before God, our Father, when our Lord Jesus comes again with all his holy people. Amen.
Nicole (28:52):
Amen. Thank you for joining us for this joyful talk about blessings. We hope you have been blessed as Sharon prayed over you. Write us anytime at SweetSelah.org/podcast and you can donate at SweetSelah.org/donations. We could use the help and we’d love to add you to our podcast partner list. Would you prayerfully consider giving to help us get these podcasts out? Thank you. And please do come back next week for episode 117, God Pleasing Advice. Next week, we are going to get a lot of great advice on how to practically please God with how we live. I can’t wait. See you then.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @SweetSelah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
I remember a close friend during the first day of a huge tragedy saying over and over to me, "I just don't know what to do." Her circumstances had overwhelmed her and there seemed no path forward. Ever been there? How in the world do we stand, unshaken, when the very earth beneath our feet feels like its tilting? Join Sharon and Nicole as they talk about what it takes to stay "unshaken" in this very messy world in which we live.
Read the transcript for Unshaken-Episode 115Speaker 1 (00:02):
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word With Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole (00:28):
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 115, Unshaken. Sharon, this is an intriguing title. Why did you choose it?
Sharon (00:38):
Well, because we live in shaky times, so uncertain, it sometimes seems like there’s no place to stand that is really solid beneath our feet. We really have very little control as humans, much as we like to think otherwise. For example, we can feel financially secure, but we could have a bank failure. Or we’re an earthquake away from being homeless. You know? We can feel healthy and athletic, but at any moment we could lose our health. That also goes for our people. We could lose our people. (Nicole: I know) Or they could be unhealthy. We know that life is fragile. So even counting on good people doesn’t guarantee they’ll always be there. Right. (That’s true) It just won’t. It won’t. So the only way to be unshaken is to be with the one unshakeable place to stand. And that’s with Christ. And that’s what we’re gonna talk about today. So, but first, let’s talk about shaking. Have you ever been in an earthquake?
Nicole (01:36):
You know, once there was one in New Hampshire, back when I was a teenager. I had woken up and my room was, was shaking, like trembling, and it was such a deep rumbling shake. It was interesting. But I thought it was a really large truck going by slowly. But it was longer than a truck would go by. And I remember finding out later that, oh, New Hampshire had an earthquake. I was like, what? I felt that.
Sharon (01:57):
Yes, yes. Yes. I was there for that one too. Yeah. And our, we had a I think, a clay interior to our chimney. And there was this huge ker thunk and the clay in the chimney came down.
Nicole (02:10):
Oh no. Oh, funny.
Sharon (02:11):
Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (02:12):
We had nothing fall off shelves or anything. It was rather, you know, for our first earthquake, it was thankfully very mild. I’m sure other parts of the world are chuckling at our earthquake.
Sharon (02:23):
Yeah. Pretty mild. Pretty mild. I can’t imagine the shaking to the degree that the earth is splitting open and I mean, where do you put your feet? Right? The closest I can come to it is actually Meniere’s Disease, the disease that I have, because when I have what they call an episode or a seizure, there’s a little hum that starts in my ear and spreads across my sort of whole face. And it’s my warning. And then, oh, baby, I’m not just spinning, you know, vertigo. There’s no horizon. It’s like I’m walking, if I try to walk, which I don’t anymore, because then I throw up. It’s like you’re on a ship, you know, there’s no up and down. It’s unbelievable. There’s nothing stable. Nothing. So, I’ve learned that the only way to survive my little Meniere’s earthquakes is to find a focal point. And I mean, the wall’s moving too, but I find a spot on the wall and breathe deeply and slowly and pray and then slowly things settle. So I kind of have earthquakes. But they’re only in my brain. Everyone else is like, we’re fine. Right.
Nicole (03:36):
Sharon’s own personal earth earthquake.
Sharon (03:37):
My own personal earthquake. So.
Nicole (03:39):
Lucky you.
Sharon (03:41):
But Oh my goodness. But it does make me realize just how awful it would be to be in one. And it’s hard to stay unshaken when you don’t have a horizon. It really is.
Nicole (03:53):
Yeah, that’d be really bizarre.
Sharon (03:54):
So, okay. Today we are going to learn more about being unshaken, even when our life is tilting crazily off center, because we could be unshaken by circumstance too. Last week, Paul talked about how much he wanted to visit with this new little church again to make sure they were okay after all the persecution they were experiencing. And we discovered that Satan had kept him from coming. That was sobering. Yeah. Well, we’re gonna continue with this train of thought today. Our passage is a short one. It’s 1 Thessalonians 3:1-5. So just five verses. Can you start us off with verse one, Nicole?
Nicole (04:28):
That I can. Verse one, “Finally when we could stand it no longer, we decided to stay alone in Athens.”
Sharon (04:36):
“And we sent Timothy to visit you.” Evidently Timothy could come.
Nicole (04:39):
Yeah. It’s interesting.
Sharon (04:40):
“He is our brother and God’s coworker in proclaiming the good news of Christ. We sent him to strengthen you, to encourage you in your faith.”
Nicole (04:49):
“And to keep you from being shaken by the troubles you were going through. But you know that we were destined for such troubles.”
Sharon (04:55):
“Even while we were with you we warned you that troubles would soon come. And they did. As you well know.”
Nicole (05:02):
“That is why when I could bear it no longer, I sent Timothy to find out whether your faith was still strong. I was afraid that the tempter had gotten the best of you, and that our work had been useless.” So this was really weighing on him.
Sharon (05:15):
I know. And you know, this wasn’t his only church. He was writing to other churches too. Paul spent a ton of time in prayer, I’m sure.
Nicole (05:23):
Wow.
Sharon (05:23):
He had a lot of babies. Right? Baby Christians. So.
Nicole (05:24):
Yeah, little baby churches.
Sharon (05:26):
Okay. Well, let’s examine each verse one at a time. And you get to start with verse one.
Nicole (05:32):
All right. I’ll read it again. It says, “Finally when we could stand at no longer, we decided to stay alone in Athens.” So from what I can gather, they decided to stay in Athens.
Sharon (05:43):
Brilliant!
Nicole (05:43):
No, I actually did— this verse was so deep. No, I did actually look it up because I wanted to see what that meant. So I guess with that church, there was some confusion concerning when Paul would return. So maybe they were really anxious. Like, where’s Paul? He was supposed to be here last week. He hasn’t come yet. So I was just trying to imagine like if we had booked a good speaker that we loved, or a traveling pastor and they didn’t show up, we would be really concerned for them.
Sharon (06:07):
That’s so true.
Nicole (06:08):
We’re like, Hey, we had this conference planned. Where’s the speaker?
Sharon (06:11):
True.
Nicole (06:12):
And we can find out easier than they could have back then.
Sharon (06:14):
Oh, by far.
Nicole (06:16):
Yeah. A quick text message or, you know, track ’em on your cell phone. So I think, you know, maybe this was, he was trying to tell them quickly, I’m okay, or whatever it was, there was some sort of— you know, lack of communication as to where he was.
Sharon (06:30):
That’s exactly it. And you know, you’re right. There was no instant communication at all. Letters took time.
Nicole (06:35):
Yeah, they did.
Sharon (06:36):
So they’re like, where is Paul? Is he coming back?
Nicole (06:38):
Yeah. And I think how that you would feel if you couldn’t tell someone that you’re okay or why you were being prevented and like, not just ’cause like, oh, I just didn’t care anymore. So.
Sharon (06:46):
Right.
Nicole (06:46):
So it seems like he was really burdened with trying to get to them. Yeah. So that was kind of interesting.
Sharon (06:51):
Yeah, that was, and you did a good job with that.
Nicole (06:54):
Thank you.
Sharon (06:54):
I learned that he stayed in Athens. So, okay. So he says, and we sent Timothy to visit you. So he stayed alone. Or with the we, I’m like, was there somebody else with him? Maybe.
Nicole (07:06):
Well, that’s what I was wondering. ’cause they said we, and then he sent Timothy. So I’m not sure. That part was confusing. I couldn’t figure that out.
Sharon (07:11):
Yeah. There might’ve been a couple of people with him, but “We sent Timothy to visit you. He is our brother and God’s coworker in proclaiming the good news of Christ. We sent him to strengthen you, to encourage you in your faith.” I love Paul’s heart, ’cause if he was sick, and we talked last week about maybe Paul was prevented by illness from travel, he might’ve liked Timothy to stay with him. Timothy was like a son to him. You know, I have a hard time letting go of my daughters, even though they’re fully grown women. He’s like, do you have to go home now?
Nicole (07:41):
I know.
Sharon (07:42):
Why don’t you stay and visit me a little longer. So he was very selfless. He’s like, I can’t go. I’ve tried and tried. I can’t, will you go, will you please go? And then he sends Timothy instead. So I thought that was a sweet sacrifice, especially if Paul was in a troubled time himself. But what he wanted more than anything was to strengthen and encourage. So I thought those were two good goals for me to think about. Do I strengthen others in their faith? Not just general strengthen, like eat your Wheaties.
Nicole (08:12):
Right.
Sharon (08:12):
Right? Or whatever you eat nowadays, your protein bar. Wheaties is kind of old school there. But anyways, it’s strengthen in your faith and encourage you in your faith. That’s what you know. So anyways, Paul finds a way around the fact that he can’t get there and sends Timothy.
Nicole (08:30):
Yeah. That’s good, before I move on to my verse, to strengthen you, and not to get you out of your trouble or to ease your discomfort, but to strengthen, encourage you in your faith.
Sharon (08:38):
I know.
Nicole (08:39):
That’s a good point. Ooh.
Sharon (08:40):
That’s right. He’s not giving them strategic ways to, to
Nicole (08:43):
Avoid the pain and suffering.
Sharon (08:44):
To avoid the pain. No.
Nicole (08:46):
Yeah. Oh, that’s harder.
Sharon (08:46):
Allow me to help you as you suffer.
Nicole (08:49):
Right? Hmm.
Sharon (08:50):
Yeah.
Nicole (08:50):
A good point to ponder
Sharon (08:52):
Mm-hmm. It is.
Nicole (08:53):
So verse three, “And to keep you from being shaken by the troubles you were going through. But you know, that we are destined for such troubles.” So I really appreciate Paul’s honesty here. I feel like from the beginning, he clearly told them that we are Christians and we have this amazing hope in Jesus, but we are not going to scoot through this life scot-free. We’re going to have troubles.
Sharon (09:14):
Right.
Nicole (09:15):
So the fact that he was honest and upfront in the beginning and didn’t kinda like get ’em all to Jesus, get ’em revved up and then, oh, by the way, you might suffer, maybe, kind of someday.
Sharon (09:25):
Yep. Now that I’ve hooked you, let me tell you the bad part. Right.
Nicole (09:26):
Now that we got you here.
Sharon (09:27):
The fine print.
Nicole (09:28):
Exactly. He seems like he was upfront and you know, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows right away. (Sharon: Yes) So it was good that he was honest and I think, I don’t always wanna start with that when I’m witnessing to people like, Hey, come to Jesus. Sometimes it’s really hard.
Sharon (09:43):
It doesn’t sound like a good selling point. Does it? No.
Nicole (09:46):
No. And you wanna wait till later. But he was honest with them.
Sharon (09:49):
Right from the start.
Nicole (09:49):
And maybe that’s what helped them stay the course,
Sharon (09:52):
I think so.
Nicole (09:53):
Because it wasn’t such a surprise. Like, are we doing it wrong? ‘Cause this is really hard all of a sudden.
Sharon (09:57):
And it makes the commitment genuine.
Nicole (09:59):
True.
Sharon (09:59):
You know, if you are just out for the next big thrill are you gonna sign up for a religion that people are gonna persecute you for? I think not.
Nicole (10:07):
You wouldn’t last very long.
Sharon (10:09):
No. So it makes them count the cost before they come to Christ.
Nicole (10:13):
Yeah. It makes sure it’s a true, a true commitment, a true heart conversion.
Sharon (10:16):
Right. Do you believe that he really is God of the universe? Do you believe that he truly is the one that can take away your sin? Do you believe that you really are going to enter heaven someday? And then the suffering is less, you know? But you’ve gotta choose for the right reasons.
Nicole (10:33):
Yes. Yeah.
Sharon (10:33):
And I think too often we wanna manipulate people, you know, like selling a product.
Nicole (10:39):
Yeah, yeah. No, for sure.
Sharon (10:41):
And that’s not right. So, okay. Verse four, “Even while we were with you, we warned you that troubles would soon come and they did, as you well know.” Basically we told you so. There we go. It’s gotta be part of that gospel message.
Nicole (10:57):
Yeah. And here it is.
Sharon (10:59):
Yeah. It’s interesting to me too, kind of going back to your verse as well, where keeping them from being shaken by the troubles, I oftentimes wanna fix people in their troubles, you know what I mean? Make it better. Oh, stop crying. You know? It’s making me uncomfortable that you’re sad. Which is really mean, because sometimes people need to be sad.
Nicole (11:19):
They do. Yeah.
Sharon (11:20):
Yeah. I can remember my daughter saying to me at one point, I know mom. I know. Can you just let me be sad for a minute? I’m thinking, I just tried to make her sound happy so I wouldn’t ache with her. And that is selfish.
Nicole (11:35):
I know. It’s hard not to do that. I find I try to do that too.
Sharon (11:37):
Oh my goodness. It’s like,
Nicole (11:38):
Oh, don’t be sad. Let’s think of something happy instead.
Sharon (11:41):
Yeah. Yeah. Let’s cheer up because I’m sad when you’re sad. And I don’t wanna be sad. I mean, you know, you think you’re doing it for them, but there’s a little bit of selfishness in it. I think, for me anyways, where I’m doing it for me, I would rather be happy. And I’m happier when my children are happy. So hey, be happy.
Nicole (11:57):
Yes. It’s hard to watch people suffer. You just want ’em to get through the suffering part. Like learn the lesson quick and get to the good.
Sharon (12:01):
Yep, yep, yep, yep.
Nicole (12:03):
Green pastures again.
Sharon (12:05):
I can remember Elizabeth Elliot saying in ‘A Path Through Suffering’, which is a book she wrote, because boy oh boy, did she know suffering? The title is A Path through Suffering. You try to avoid it, it’s gonna come back and bite you. You’ve got to walk through it. And the best gift we give people is what Paul is doing. We’ll encourage you, we’ll strengthen you to walk through it. Yeah. We aren’t gonna try to make it go away until it’s been dealt with.
Nicole (12:32):
That’s really good.
Sharon (12:33):
So, wow. Alright. Your turn for verse five.
Nicole (12:36):
Oh yes. Okay. “That is why when I could bear it no longer. I sent Timothy to find out whether your faith was still strong. I was afraid that the tempter had gotten the best of you and that our work had been useless.” Paul’s heart again, goodness, he really loved and cared so deeply. This was weighing on him. You know, I think he was wondering, I dunno if he was worried or just concerned for them, but enough that he was like, Timothy, you gotta go find out. Like, yeah. Did Satan get to them? Are they okay? Are they strong in their faith? And you had mentioned earlier, we don’t know what it was that kept him from going, but if he was terribly ill or afraid of being, injured or hurt if people were, you know, rioting against him, to send away a close friend. Like that was a big sacrifice.
Sharon (13:20):
It was a huge sacrifice.
Nicole (13:21):
But he was that concerned for them.
Sharon (13:22):
Yes.
Nicole (13:23):
Timothy, you’ve gotta find out if they’re doing okay.
Sharon (13:25):
Yeah. Yeah. They need to see one of us.
Nicole (13:27):
Yes. Let them know. So I just think that was really, you know, was it dangerous for Timothy? So I think it was really good that, again, his heart, he just was so concerned.
Sharon (13:37):
I know. And these are people he knew for less than three months, we think.
Nicole (13:41):
Oh, that’s right.
Sharon (13:42):
This is stunning. I mean, Paul loved deeply. He really, really did. And it’s a good lesson to me. You know, I don’t just get to love the best friend since fourth grade.
Nicole (13:54):
Right.
Sharon (13:55):
I’ve gotta love the new lady at church too.
Nicole (13:57):
Yeah, exactly. And there’s room for that deep love.
Sharon (13:59):
Yes. God gives it to us.
Nicole (14:02):
Yes.
Sharon (14:02):
If we spend time with the God of love, he fills us up and we can flow it out.
Nicole (14:07):
Yeah. And that’s good.
Sharon (14:08):
That’s so good. Alright, time to go to our three questions. So I’m gonna do my favorite verse first this time. And I chose verse two.
Nicole (14:17):
Okay. Good. Different verse.
Sharon (14:19):
Oh, you picked a different verse? It’s always fun to guess.
Nicole (14:22):
It is.
Sharon (14:22):
I love not knowing.
Nicole (14:23):
I know!
Sharon (14:23):
It makes it more interesting.
Sharon (14:27):
So verse two, “And we sent Timothy to visit you. He is our brother and God’s coworker in proclaiming the good news of Christ. We sent him to strengthen you, to encourage you in your faith.” And I chose it because of the strengthen and encourage when faith is weak, especially in troubled times. This is a charge to me. I need to strengthen and encourage in the faith. And I need to remember that because I can sound like some secular self-help person sometimes. Do you know what I mean?
Nicole (14:56):
Yeah. Oh yeah.
Sharon (14:56):
You’re talking to someone and they’ve got a problem and I’ve got a practical answer that doesn’t include Christ. And it’s okay to be practical, you know? You do need to cook your chicken for so long? Right?
Nicole (15:06):
So you don’t get salmonella. Right. Yeah.
Sharon (15:10):
I don’t have to like toss in Jesus with the cooking instructions necessarily, but a lot of times I should be bringing in their faith when I don’t. And it just was a reminder to me. So I really liked that verse.
Nicole (15:24):
Oh, that’s good.
Sharon (15:24):
And you chose a different one.
Nicole (15:26):
I did.
Sharon (15:26):
With only five verses.
Nicole (15:28):
I know. I thought that was pretty funny. So I did verse four, “Even while we were with you, we warned you that troubles would soon come and they did, as you well know.” There felt like a lot in that verse that was good for me to think on. They were with them. They warned them the troubles would come. So they were honest with what was the hard parts of the gospel and the hard parts of following Christ. It wasn’t all just, ’cause like you said, I feel like I’m guilty sometimes of selling a product. Like, oh, Jesus is great that he’s with me and he’s changed me, but also I’ve had to struggle through a lot of things with Jesus. So I like that he was honest. And then he said, and they did, as you well know, there was this like empathy or compassion in that like, as you well know. Like, you know.
Sharon (16:10):
Yes. I know you’re suffering.
Nicole (16:13):
Yes. You’ve already experienced them.
Sharon (16:14):
Right.
Nicole (16:14):
And I see that.
Sharon (16:15):
Right.
Nicole (16:15):
And I think that was, I just thought that verse was really beautiful, the way that he reminded them, that he warned them and that they did have troubles and that he he saw them in their troubles too.
Sharon (16:24):
Exactly. And as a mom, your children need to see that. That—well, they do, I’m sure because troubles come. Right. But I think the way you handle them, you know, as a mom is, you know, yes, troubles come to Christians too.
Nicole (16:38):
Exactly.
Sharon (16:38):
We are not exempt. If they see that in the home, when they go out into the world and they have troubles. As I told you, honey, troubles will come.
Nicole (16:47):
And as you saw too, I think that’s so important.
Sharon (16:50):
Yeah. I think I failed a little bit in that because I tried to fix everything for my kids so much, to kind of soften their way.
Nicole (16:58):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (16:58):
And, you know, I think that my girls both did struggle a bit when they got out into the quote real world where there wasn’t a mama to fix their stuff, you know?
Nicole (17:06):
Right, right.
Sharon (17:07):
But I think it’s important for even children to know that when you choose Christ you choose the truth. But part of that truth is you will suffer. But of course, if you don’t choose Christ, you suffer as well.
Nicole (17:21):
Right.
Sharon (17:22):
So, take your pick. Do you wanna suffer with a God who loves you, comforts you, and will give you eternal life. Or you wanna suffer without him?
Nicole (17:28):
Yep. Either way is hard. Choose your hard.
Sharon (17:30):
Choose your heart. That’s right. That’s right. Oh, that’s so good. All right. Okay. So what did we learn from God from this passage? You get to do that one first.
Nicole (17:41):
Okay. The thing that I got from this passage was that God continues the good work in us despite troubles. Despite hardship, even through all of this, they were still standing firm in their faith. Even though they were going through trials. So like, God can still, it feels sometimes in the valleys like, oh, this is just something to get through. Like a path through suffering, as quick as I can get through it, fix it. Get to the mountaintops to experience all the things with Christ. But we grow in suffering, sometimes more.
Sharon (18:12):
We do. Our faith is strengthened.
Nicole (18:14):
And I hate to acknowledge it. Yes. But to sit in that suffering with God and let him do the work he needs to in my heart and not just try to get through it.
Sharon (18:21):
Right. Right. And say, teach me. Teach me right where I am. Or one of my hardest things to say, but I try to say it. I receive this. Mm. I receive what you have obviously allowed. I’m asking you to take it away, but I’m receiving it too, because you’ve allowed it.
Nicole (18:36):
Right. Yeah.
Sharon (18:36):
Yeah. That’s so good. The other thing that I learned thinking about the Unshaken theme. Oh yeah. The good news of Christ is the rock solid place that sustains me in the troubled times. That’s my rock right there. Jesus died for my sins. Jesus never leaves me nor forsakes me. Jesus takes the worst things in my life and somehow brings good from them. That rock solid gospel message is my rock. No, what is it? All other things are
Speaker 2 (19:10):
All other ground is sinking sand.
Sharon (19:11):
Sand. Thank you.
Nicole (19:13):
On Christ the solid rock I stand,
Sharon (19:15):
All other ground is sinking sand.
Nicole (19:16):
Yes.
Sharon (19:17):
So standing on the rock of the good news of Christ and Jesus himself is my unshaken place.
Nicole (19:22):
Oh, I love that.
Sharon (19:23):
Yeah. So what did we learn about living wisely in troubled times, Nicole? Because we have our own troubles right here.
Nicole (19:31):
Yes, we do. For number one, troubled times will come.
Sharon (19:35):
There you go. If that hasn’t been made clear it ought to have been.
Nicole (19:38):
Right. In case you missed it they will come, and not to be surprised by them. And if we just keep looking to God and holding onto that to that faith in him that we first came to him with. Like, I trust you, God, I trust you with my life, no matter what my life path looks like. You’ve still got me.
Sharon (19:56):
Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Beautiful. Beautiful. I had that too when I wrote down, Expect trouble. Live sacrificially. And then cling to the gospel. Which strengthens faith.
Nicole (20:07):
It’s really the only thing we can do is cling to that rock with all that’s in us. (Sharon: Yes) When the earthquakes come, when the big windy storms come. (Yes) Hold onto that rock.
Sharon (20:15):
Hold onto that rock.
Nicole (20:16):
Flat. You put your fingers in the crevices and hold on.
Sharon (20:19):
Yes, yes. Well, it’s funny that you say, when the earthquakes come, because I chose to close out this podcast with a Psalm about earthquakes.
Nicole (20:27):
Yay. That’s funny.
Sharon (20:29):
Yay! It’s Psalm 46, and I’ve shared this before in a podcast, but, I was part of Moms in Prayer when 9-11 occurred and the World Trade Towers fell down and I was having a Moms in Prayer meeting at my house for Portsmouth Christian Academy, the school where my husband taught. And we were praying, and I never answered the phone, ever when we’re in the middle of prayer.
Nicole (20:53):
Right.
Sharon (20:54):
The phone rang and I answered it, which was the most bizarre thing. That was God. It was.
Nicole (20:58):
I can’t even imagine you doing that. That’s why I’m like, that’s so weird.
Sharon (21:01):
So weird. It had to be the Holy Spirit making me do it. It was my Aunt Nancy saying, turn on the tv ’cause the first tower had fallen. So we did, we stopped praying. We went and we turned on the tv. We saw the second tower. We saw it. You know?
Nicole (21:17):
Yeah. Oh yeah.
Sharon (21:17):
And then of course, we’re mothers. Where do we wanna be? At Portsmouth Christian Academy where our children are. Right. So off we go and we go to the principal and the principals. ’cause there were, you know, two. But anyways, we went and we said, we’re here, we’re moms in prayer. ’cause they all liked us there ’cause we prayed for them. Right? How can we help? And that’s when we found out that, you know, two of our students lost their daddy on one of the planes. So there was crying, there was wailing. And and they said, go and pray with these kids. And I felt so inadequate. Nicole, what do you say? One of their classmates just lost their daddy. And we don’t know if, you know, World War III is on it’s way in. It was a very frightening time. And God said Psalm 46. And this psalm has meant so much to me because, you know, when you read it in good times, it’s still good.
Nicole (22:11):
Good. Right.
Sharon (22:12):
But when you read it, when the mountains are falling into the sea. It’ steadied me. It helped me be unshaken. So I just thought this would be, this is my Unshaken Psalm basically.
Nicole (22:23):
Yeah. Oh, I love that.
Sharon (22:24):
So why don’t you start with verse one. Let us just celebrate the one sure place in a shaken world.
Nicole (22:33):
“God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.”
Sharon (22:38):
“So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea.”
Nicole (22:44):
“Let the oceans roar and foam, let the mountains tremble as the waters surge.”
Sharon (22:50):
Yes. And that’s—
Nicole (22:52):
That’s that Selah pause. Yes.
Sharon (22:53):
Yes. It’s a Selah pause, despite the fact that the Living Translation says Interludes.
Nicole (22:57):
I looked at it, I’m like, Interlude, I think that must be Selah.
Sharon (23:01):
It’s Selah. They changed my word on me.
Nicole (23:03):
Anyway.
Sharon (23:04):
So, okay. So this first three verses is basically, this is where we go, even when mountains fall into the sea or the World Trade towers crumble into dust. God is the refuge and strength. Then God’s gonna bring us in these next few verses to the eternal city that is unshaken. So I’ll start with verse four. And so we’ve completely changed topics, here we go. “A river brings joy to the city of our God. The sacred home of the most high.”
Nicole (23:34):
“God dwells in that city. It cannot be destroyed. From the very break of day, God will protect it.”
Sharon (23:41):
“The nations are in chaos and their kingdoms crumble. God’s voice thunders and the earth melts.”
Nicole (23:48):
“The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us. The God of Israel is our fortress. Selah.”
Sharon (23:55):
Yeah. Isn’t that something?
Nicole (23:56):
That’s so cool.
Sharon (23:57):
That there is a city that is standing. And nothing will bring it down.
Nicole (24:02):
It cannot be destroyed. That’s really amazing.
Sharon (24:05):
Okay. Verse eight. “Come see the glorious works of the Lord. See how he brings destruction upon the world.”
Nicole (24:13):
“He causes wars to end throughout the earth. He breaks the bow and snaps the spear. He burns the shields with fire.”
Sharon (24:20):
“Be still and know that I am God. I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.”
Nicole (24:32):
“The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us. The God of Israel is our fortress. Selah”
Sharon (24:39):
Selah. Isn’t that beautiful? There’ll come a day when he’ll cause all wars to end. There’ll come a day when we’ll be in that city of God with a river flowing through it. Everybody talks about this river. I can’t wait to see it. Daniel talks about the river.
Nicole (24:53):
Must be a spectacular river.
Sharon (24:54):
John talks about the river. I think Ezekiel might talk about the river. I’m like, I gotta see this river. Which I will.
Nicole (25:00):
We will. Oh.
Sharon (25:01):
Probably before you, Uhhuh?
Nicole (25:04):
That’s no fair.
Sharon (25:04):
I’ll save you a place beside me to admire it.
Nicole (25:07):
Perfect. I love it.
Sharon (25:10):
So much fun. So much fun. So, and then you know, as I was reading it at P C A, Portsmouth Christian Academy, we’re being attacked basically by another country in a way, ’cause people from another country are flying those planes. Someday God will be honored by every nation. He will be honored throughout the world. How do you stay unshaken through troubled times? You remember truth? The truth is there is a heaven and it ain’t gonna be destroyed. In fact, God’s actually gonna restore the earth and create this beautiful new heaven and earth. So we are safe because of that. And when we’re still, just like I have to be still with a Meniere’s attack, you know, if I move about,
Nicole (25:57):
It gets worse.
Sharon (25:58):
Yeah. We won’t even go into the horrible things that happen. But if I stay still and I find my focal point everything kind of settles down. Right? That’s what we have to do when we feel shaken. Focal point, fix your eyes on Jesus. Right? Just stare. Be still and know who God is and who wins. And then the shaking stops.
Nicole (26:21):
Ooh. That’s such a good example.
Sharon (26:22):
Isn’t that awesome? Yes. It’s just so cool. This is what we have in our God. And this is why we have to stay immersed in the word. And this is why when Sharon had absolutely no words for frightened teenagers, I could go to The Word. And God’s word was more than adequate. It wasn’t me, it was him who spoke. And I’ve just never looked at this Psalm the same way again.
Nicole (26:47):
I don’t think you could find a better verse on your own or say words better than this psalm during that time,
Sharon (26:55):
In that time.
Nicole (26:55):
Only God could have provided such a perfect thing to comfort.
Sharon (26:59):
Yes, he has the best words.
Nicole (27:00):
He does. Yeah.
Sharon (27:01):
He really does. And this is why it’s the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast because our Sweet Selah Moments are when we’re actually reading God’s words.
Nicole (27:08):
Yes.
Sharon (27:09):
Or discussing them because he has the truth. He holds the answers. That’s where we’re supposed to be. So, all right. Well, let us pray. Oh, heavenly Father, thank you for your word. Thank you that you wrote us a living love letter. A living truth letter that gives us what we need to know, that equips us and trains us, and teaches us and rebukes us. Um, God, you speak and I just am so grateful that I have your word to hear what you have to say. Father God, in troubled times, help us to be unshaken because our fixed eyes are on you. Help us to be still and know that you are God. You are our refuge. You are our strength. You are our very present help right there with us in the midst of trouble. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole (28:11):
Amen. Thank you for joining us today. We hope you have been strengthened and encouraged to remain unshaken even when life is hard. We’d love to hear from you. If you have a particular trouble in your life that needs some extra prayer, write us at SweetSelah.org/podcast. We’d also love to have you as a Podcast Partner. Even committing to $10 a month would help us so much as we continue to produce these podcasts. Would you pray about this? We send out a special newsletter each month to our partners, and we are so grateful to them for helping us pay for these podcasts. You can donate at SweetSelah.org/donations. And please do come back next week for episode 116, Joy-filled Blessings. Next week we’ll be walking away from troubles and straight toward joy despite them, Paul is going to teach us how to extend blessings to others and show us the reality of joy rght in the midst of hard times. You won’t wanna miss this. See you next week.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @SweetSelah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
No one asks for them. No one wants them. However, suffering times are present in everyone's life eventually. We live in a fallen world, where death, sickness, natural disasters, wars, and misunderstandings abound. Whether you are suffering a small or big loss now or have suffered recently, join us as we talk about how to wisely get through the suffering times. Paul understands suffering, and his words in God's Word will ground us in the midst of the pain.
Read the transcript for The Suffering Times-Episode 114Speaker 1 (00:02):
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word With Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole (00:28):
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 114, The Suffering Times. We are spending most of Season eight studying the two letters Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica in Greece. At the beginning of this study, we read about Paul’s first meeting with the people of Thessalonica, first in the synagogue, and later at Jason’s house when some of the Jewish people in the synagogue rejected Paul’s message that Jesus was indeed Messiah. And this poor little church had barely begun when Jason and others were arrested and made to pay a fine, all for believing in Jesus. Sharon, why does believing in Jesus upset people so much?
Sharon (01:06):
It’s weird, isn’t it, Nicole? Jesus comes bringing a message of salvation, forgiveness. He doesn’t hurt people. He doesn’t form an army to persecute individuals or amass huge wealth so that people would be jealous of him. Jesus was humble. He was kind, poor, good, and yet he was rejected, and he still is today. You know, I think part of the reason is that we have an enemy who actively seeks to turn people against the living Lord. And I think part of it is that people don’t want to believe that Jesus is Lord, because that means we have to submit to him, right? It’s also exclusive. He’s the only name by which we may be saved, and at least in our culture and back then too, nobody, nobody wants one way they would like to make some choices. Thank you very much.
Nicole (01:59):
Yes.
Sharon (01:59):
Sort of the consumer religion.
Nicole (02:01):
A buffet of sorts.
Sharon (02:03):
Yeah. So, but it’s still disturbing that Christians are actively persecuted. Christians that are called to love and be kind. So. Back in Thessalonica and now in many parts of the world today, this is what happens. So how about you? Have you ever, I mean, we’re in America here. Have you ever suffered for your faith?
Nicole (02:24):
Honestly, nothing too terribly growing up. Maybe a few names or teasing comments in college, but really nothing terrible, which is amazing to be able to say that, you know.
Sharon (02:33):
It is.
Nicole (02:34):
But I feel like I find that I’m more heavy hearted watching my girls struggle more than I ever did, and so young. They’ve already had to defend their faith, and I’ve had to coach them in that. And that’s been hard to see as a mom, but nothing when I was younger.
Sharon (02:47):
No, I know. I feel like I was pretty blessed too. In fact, I almost feel guilty, you know, we were born in a place where, and in a community where, ’cause Christians are persecuted in United States too, but in a community where it wasn’t such a big deal. But I was in high school kind of definitely over the top about Jesus. Right? I started this Bible study. I wanted everyone to be saved. I preached at bus stops. So I did get a little persecution, Surprise, surprise. I was labeled a Jesus freak. And that’s how Ray, you know, first knew me was as the Jesus freak of the school.
Nicole (03:28):
Oh, that’s so cute.
Sharon (03:28):
So he used to call me Freak in the hallway.
Nicole (03:31):
Oh, he just dropped the Jesus part.
Sharon (03:32):
This was before I fell in love with him for sure. I’d be at my locker or something and he’d walk by and go, Freak.
Nicole (03:39):
No kidding.
Sharon (03:40):
Yeah.
Nicole (03:40):
Isn’t that funny?
Sharon (03:41):
Well, that’s when he was the atheist, remember? (Nicole: Right) Before my Ray came to know Jesus, so some students just kind of stayed away, because, you know, I was very vocal. So, and then here I joined a book club many years ago in our hometown, and my opinions were not popular there either. And I’m like, okay. So this book club where I’m hoping to be a good witness, I can’t read the books that they’re suggesting, because they have parts in them that I feel are inappropriate for me to read. (Right) And they don’t wanna read my books even though I’m not choosing Christian books because they’re too nice. Right? So that did not go well.
Nicole (04:20):
No. What do you do?
Sharon (04:20):
So, but many people around the globe are suffering far, far worse. This is, you know, talk about first world problems, this is first world problem persecution. This is nothing compared to what other people are coming to. So, but it could be coming to us as well. In fact, as you were saying, your children are feeling it more than you did.
Nicole (04:41):
Yes.
Sharon (04:41):
My grandchildren will be. The time is coming (Nicole: It is) when there may be genuine suffering here. So I’m eager to read today’s passage and learn from Paul’s references to suffering in this baby church. So let’s start.
Nicole (04:54):
Let’s start with that. All right. So today we’re reading from 1 Thessalonians 13-20. And I’ll start with verse 13, and then Sharon will alternate. “So therefore, we never stop thanking God that when you received his message from us, you didn’t think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God, which of course it is. And this word continues to work in you who believe.”
Sharon (05:20):
“And then dear brothers and sisters, you suffered persecution from your own countrymen. In this way, you imitated the believers in God’s churches in Judea, who because of their belief in Christ Jesus suffered from their own people, the Jews.”
Nicole (05:35):
“For some of the Jews killed the prophets and some even killed the Lord Jesus. Now they have persecuted us too. They fail to please God and work against all humanity.”
Sharon (05:45):
“As they try to keep us from preaching the good news of salvation to the Gentiles. By doing this, they continue to pile up their sins, but the anger of God has caught up with them at last.”
Nicole (05:58):
“Dear brothers and sisters, after we were separated from you for a little while, though our hearts never left you, we tried very hard to come back because of our intense longing to see you again.”
Sharon (06:09):
“We wanted very much to come to you. And I, Paul tried again and again, but Satan prevented us.”
Nicole (06:17):
“After all, what gives us hope and joy and what will be our proud reward and crown as we stand before our Lord Jesus when he returns? It is you.”
Sharon (06:26):
“Yes. You are our pride and joy.” I just love Paul.
Nicole (06:30):
This is such a good chapter.
Sharon (06:32):
I really love reading the whole thing first so we get the context. But let’s go back now and dig deep. You get verse 13 and we’ll rotate on, kind of just pondering the deepness of these verses.
Nicole (06:45):
Yeah. All right. So I’m gonna read verse 13 again. “Therefore we never stop thanking God that when you received his message from us, you didn’t think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God, which of course it is. And this word continues to work in you who believe.” So I think this is so sweet because Paul is writing, but to them, and then he’s saying, I think he’s thankful that they received God’s word. And then he’s also really excited to see that they continue to grow. And I think that’s really important. Sometimes we focus on the evangelistic part of ‘come to Jesus, come to Jesus’.
Sharon (07:24):
True.
Nicole (07:24):
Good luck. And I mean, sometimes all our part is, is to plant that seed.
Sharon (07:30):
True.
Nicole (07:31):
But I think this is really neat that he’s kind of checking back in and then he’s really excited to see the work continue in them too.
Sharon (07:37):
I love that. Yeah. And that is so important. You’re right. If if, if no one follows up with someone that’s received Christ, they really can flounder. So, wow. That’s good. All right. Well, verse 14, “And then, dear brothers and sisters, you suffered persecution from your own countrymen. In this way you imitated the believers in God’s churches in Judea who because of their belief in Christ Jesus suffered from their own people, the Jews.” So it’s interesting that he’s comparing them to the Jewish people that suffered ’cause some Jewish people believed in Jesus, and some did not. Paul was one of the did nots and was persecuting those that did until Jesus literally blinded him on a road. Got his attention. So, I love the fact that he’s saying, you’re just like us now. Yay. Persecution.
Nicole (08:29):
I know.
Sharon (08:30):
But it also reminds me that our own people will persecute us. People that we would, you know, think would like us. You know, sometimes family members are like keeping their distance from us because they know who we are. Or sometimes, I have a couple of family members who actually make decisions about what I think based on generic Christianity.
Nicole (08:54):
Oh, yes. Not actually knowing.
Sharon (08:55):
And not on me. Right. Yeah. You must feel this way because I’ve been told in the news that this is how Christians feel, kind of thing, without bothering to check in with me. And that’s hurtful Yeah. To me, because I don’t always feel the way they think I’m going to feel. So, anyways.
Nicole (09:13):
It can be tricky.
Sharon (09:15):
Yeah. And the more the times get dark, the more likely it is that our own tribe—
Nicole (09:20):
Yes.
Sharon (09:20):
You know, either family members or neighborhood or community are gonna look askance at our exclusivity. I mean, we do believe Jesus is the only way.
Nicole (09:30):
Right.
Sharon (09:30):
We do. So.
Nicole (09:31):
Yeah. Well, so verse 15 says, “For some of the Jews killed the prophets and some even killed the Lord Jesus. Now they have persecuted us too. They failed to please God and work against all humanity.” So, I was very struck by how heavy a charge that was.
Sharon (09:50):
Huge. Yeah.
Nicole (09:51):
There, we know that our sin doesn’t just affect us, but this feels like it’s affecting a lot of people.
Sharon (09:56):
Right. Right.
Nicole (09:56):
And you think of all humanity, what they were doing to stop the flow of the gospel affects, I mean, even us now.
Sharon (10:03):
So true. Yeah.
Nicole (10:04):
Because we were, we have received, we’re the Gentiles.
Sharon (10:08):
We are.
Nicole (10:09):
And the word has come to us, but they were trying so hard to stop it. You know, they killed the prophets, they killed Jesus. They’re persecuting the believers. Like, this is affecting all of humanity. ’cause humanity needs to know about Jesus.
Sharon (10:20):
Yeah. You know, you wonder what it looked like in the spiritual realm. You know, here’s this baby new church. Jesus is back in heaven. The Holy Spirit is in them, and if they don’t share it, Christianity dies.
Nicole (10:34):
Wow. That’s true.
Sharon (10:35):
I mean, Jesus left the disciples sort of in charge of spreading the message and Satan’s working overtime.
Nicole (10:42):
Trying to squash it while it’s young.
Sharon (10:43):
Yeah, exactly. Kill it while it’s young before it spreads to Nicole and Sharon. And, you know?
Nicole (10:49):
I know!
Sharon (10:49):
Thousands of years later, ’cause you’re right, it does affect that. So, yeah. Wow. Yeah. Well, this verse broke in the middle of a sentence, so I pick up the sentence. So I’m gonna read your sentence in verse 15, and then move on to 16,my verse, “They failed to please God and work against all humanity as they try to keep us from preaching the good news of salvation to the Gentiles. By doing this, they continue to pile up their sins. But the anger of God has caught up with them at last.” So this is pretty fierce too. Right? God’s not all mercy. I mean, I love talking about his mercy and his love. That’s like my favorite thing. Right?
Nicole (11:25):
That’s the fun part.
Sharon (11:26):
But, he is also just, yeah. And, it’s a relief in some ways to know that people don’t get away with it. They really don’t. And nothing makes God angrier than preventing others from hearing the good news that he loves them. You know, sin that hurts people, makes him angry too. But to keep people from salvation. You know, and it makes me think of the verse where it says that when people hurt children or prevent them, it would be better if a millstone was tied around their neck and they’re thrown into the river. You know, because the wrath of God against people that prevent the hearing of the word is, is huge. Because why? Because he loves us. He wants everybody to know him. Don’t prevent people from knowing that I love them and I saved them. Right? So.
Nicole (12:23):
No, that’s a good one. The next one is 17. It says, “Dear brothers and sisters, after we were separated from you for a while, though our hearts never left you, we tried very hard to come back because of our intense longing to see you again.” Paul truly loved those he ministered too, didn’t he?
Sharon (12:40):
He did.
Nicole (12:41):
I think that’s why the message was received so well, at least with this church, is because he was so sincere in it, they must have seen his, his love and in his letters. And I love that he practiced what he preached because in Romans, this reminded me of that verse in Romans, it’s Romans 12:9 “Don’t pretend to love others. Really love them.”
Sharon (13:00):
That’s such a great verse, isn’t it?
Nicole (13:01):
It is. And Paul wrote Romans, so I feel like he really practiced what he preached, and he truly loved them. Like their hearts never left you. And he was separated from them, and he tried really hard to come back ’cause of his intense longing.
Sharon (13:14):
Yes.
Nicole (13:14):
They’re like, oh yeah, I’m curious how you’re doing. Like, I have an intense longing to see you. Like that’s a real true love.
Sharon (13:20):
Yeah. Yeah. He let himself ache for them. You know, I mean, emotionally he got involved.
Nicole (13:25):
Yes, he did.
Sharon (13:27):
And you can hear it. I ached. I kept trying to come. All these things. And he was prevented, which is so sad.
Nicole (13:35):
I know. I wanna know what happened, what was preventing him.
Sharon (13:37):
I know.
Nicole (13:37):
Like, what was Satan doing to keep him?
Sharon (13:39):
I actually have a theory on that.
Nicole (13:41):
Oh, do you now?
Sharon (13:41):
I was pondering it because I’m like, this is interesting you know? So I’ll go to my, are you done with your verse?
Nicole (13:47):
Yeah, that’s it.
Sharon (13:48):
Just checking. I’m like, I’m moving on, but then I should check with you. Okay. So verse 18 says, here he goes again. I mean, this whole thing has been, we wanted to come. We wanted to come. Verse 18 says, “We wanted very much to come to you. And I, Paul tried again and again, but Satan prevented it.” So, you know, we win the war, but not every battle is won. Satan stopped Paul from coming. And that fascinates me. Paul’s so strong in the Lord. He knows how to pray. You’d think he could just, you know, win, all the time? But God allowed Satan to prevent him. Because I mean, God’s sovereign, God could smish Satan today if he felt like it. But he allowed it. But this is what I’m wondering. I’m wondering if, you know how Paul had a thorn in his flesh. You know, like painful eyes, something we thought of or something. What if he was sick?
Nicole (14:41):
Oh!
Sharon (14:41):
What if he just wanted to come, but he wasn’t healthy enough to travel.
Nicole (14:45):
Right.
Sharon (14:45):
And so he’s like, please make me better. Please make me better. I wanna go see them. I don’t know. Or maybe there wasn’t funding.
Nicole (14:52):
Oh, yeah.
Sharon (14:53):
That would prevent travel.
Nicole (14:54):
That’s true. Yeah. Or like, I was thinking unrest. I don’t know. I was trying to think of what could prevent them. Like some threat, ’cause to prevent you from going someplace you really wanna go, it has to be like you are on your deathbed. Or like really sick.
Sharon (15:05):
Right.
Nicole (15:05):
Or you’re trapped somehow. Or there’s like, unrest in the village and they went to kill him. Like, who knows what it was that prevented it. Funding would keep you there too.
Sharon (15:13):
Yeah. But it’s interesting that he attributes it to Satan. That there’s a battle going on. I wanted to come. The enemy stopped me.
Nicole (15:21):
Yes. It makes it feel like it’s something more than the normal. Like when I get a cold, I’m not like, oh, Satan’s after me. I don’t go right there. I’m just like, oh, I got caught a cold. I got it from my kids. Whatever. I’ll feel better. But for him to say Satan prevented him, it must have been pretty intense.
Sharon (15:34):
There’s a warfare going on. Yeah. Yeah. I’m kind of glad I don’t see the spiritual realm all the time, because I think it’d be really scary.
Nicole (15:42):
I don’t think I’d leave my bed if I could see what was going on.
Sharon (15:45):
But sometimes, you know, we, I think we just think, well, we’re Christians, we’re the victors, da da da da. Which we are. But, and we don’t hav to be afraid of Satan, but sometimes he wins a battle or two.
Nicole (15:56):
Yeah. Very interesting.
Sharon (15:58):
But I love that Paul doesn’t give up. It’s not like, oh, wow. Satan won. Huh-uh. He just keeps fighting back.
Nicole (16:03):
He tries again and again.
Sharon (16:04):
Again and again, and again and again. And that’s a good lesson to me. Don’t give up. Try again and again and again. So I really like that part.
Nicole (16:13):
Well, verse 19 says, “After all, what gives us hope and joy and what will be our proud reward and crown as we stand before our Lord Jesus, when he returns? It is you.”
Sharon (16:25):
Awww.
Nicole (16:25):
Isn’t that the sweetest thing?
Sharon (16:27):
He just sounds like a proud dad.
Nicole (16:29):
He does. I was thinking this feels like what I would say to my children. You know, it gives me hope and joy. So the fact that he’s not counting on his own accolades, and I did this and I saved these people, and he’s so happy that they have received God’s word.
Sharon (16:42):
Yes.
Nicole (16:42):
That they are growing.
Sharon (16:43):
Yes.
Nicole (16:43):
They are his joy and his hope. Seeing God’s word flourish in other people.
Sharon (16:47):
Yes. Mm-hmm.
Nicole (16:48):
That’s a beautiful thing.
Sharon (16:49):
It’s a beautiful thing.
Nicole (16:49):
And again, I think we get a glimpse of Paul’s heart to truly follow God and to honor God, because he’s rejoicing in the things that, I feel like this is something Jesus would say to us.
Sharon (16:59):
Yes, It is. It’s so lovely.
Nicole (17:01):
We are his crown and reward. It’s beautiful.
Sharon (17:03):
Yeah. Yeah. And you know, now I’m thinking maybe God allowed Satan to prevent because God wanted them to grow without Paul.
Nicole (17:11):
Yeah.
Sharon (17:11):
Right?
Nicole (17:12):
And maybe get the confidence that they could grow with the Holy Spirit in them, not without Paul kind of guiding them the whole way.
Sharon (17:18):
Yeah, yeah. This kind of stabs at me because sometimes I feel like I’m more essential than I am.
Nicole (17:22):
Don’t we all though?
Sharon (17:24):
Right?
Nicole (17:24):
Well, you need me.
Sharon (17:25):
It’s like, oh, guess what? God can work even if you’re not there.
Nicole (17:29):
Yeah. He’s very capable.
Sharon (17:31):
Yeah. So that’s just, I just kind of thought of that thought just now. That’s kind of fun.
Nicole (17:35):
That’s good.
Sharon (17:35):
So, as if your verse 19 wasn’t enough, we move on to verse 20. “Yes, says Paul, You are our pride and joy.” So what sweet praise. Why pride? Well, he’s proud of them because they accepted the cost of following Christ. They didn’t just go, oh, yay, I’m gonna have an easy life ’cause I accepted Jesus. They saw from the earliest days as we know, following Christ because it’s the truth (NIcole: Yes) is always right, but it is not always easy. And he’s proud of them because they believed that long term, this is the only answer and the only way, even though short term they’re suffering for it. They would’ve been quote, better off without God.
Nicole (18:23):
Right. Right. We were fine before.
Sharon (18:25):
In the material sense of the word. I mean, I don’t know that probably the joy they felt just with Christ within them, you know, was worth it even with the suffering. But just, you know, from a non-Christian perspective, that’s, it’s so, so that’s kind of the pride. And then the joy. Well, ’cause Paul really likes them. They just make him happy.
Nicole (18:45):
He seems to. He really does, yeah.
Sharon (18:47):
So I just thought that was the sweetest thing. And I love how he mixes the hard in this passage of, I wanna come, I wanna come, Satan is preventing me. Suffering, suffering, suffering with, I’m just so proud of you. It’s such a good mix.
Nicole (19:02):
Yeah, he’s such a good encourager.
Sharon (19:02):
He is. He is.
Nicole (19:04):
He has a good balance of like, Hey, you are suffering. I’m suffering. Satan is real. There’s a battle going on.
Sharon (19:09):
Right.
Nicole (19:10):
But I’m really proud of you and you are growing and you are doing well. And that’s so important.
Sharon (19:14):
It is. I know. And I think it’s good to acknowledge the hard, which he does. But then he is like, but whatever.
Nicole (19:24):
Because you guys are doing good anyway.
Sharon (19:25):
Yeah. So just so fun. So, oh, that was cool. That was a cool passage. So now we go to our three questions. So what was your favorite verse out of these verses and why was it your favorite? That is question number one.
Nicole (19:40):
All right. Let me find verse 13 in my paper. Oh, I picked 13 and I’ll read it again ’cause it’s so good. “Therefore, we never stopped thanking God that when you received his message from us, you didn’t think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God.” Which of course it is. I love that part.
Sharon (19:59):
I do too.
Nicole (19:59):
Which of course it is. “And this word continues to work in you who believe” I like this verse because it feels like this beautiful example of the message of the cross, the message of salvation. (Sharon: Yes. Yes) It’s presented to us. It’s God’s word, when we accept it, the very word of God, it continues to work in those who believe. (Yes) It just feels like a nice summing up of what happens in us when we hear the word of God. God loves you. He died for you, he forgave you. (Yes. Yes) Wow. We take that inside and we hold onto that truth and that’s what transforms.
Sharon (20:33):
It is. It is. I chose the same verse.
Nicole (20:36):
Did you?
Sharon (20:36):
Why am I not surprised? I’m like, amening everything you’re saying.
Nicole (20:40):
Like, yes!
Sharon (20:41):
I wonder if we should consult before the podcast so we get two verses in. But same thing, we obviously, we believe that the word is important. Every podcast is about God’s word because that’s where we’re safest. Not with our words. But the fact that the word works in us was the kind of the phrase that really got to me. When I do my morning quiet time and I’m reading the word, you know, it’s not like every day I have this great epiphany of new stuff. Right? But it’s working in me. It’s teaching me truths, you know? That will stick with me and stay with me. And that, that this work that’s even hidden, I think.
Nicole (21:22):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (21:22):
That I don’t even know about and comes out later, you know?
Nicole (21:25):
Yes. That is a really interesting way about God. Cause sometimes we want him to fix our anger issues right away or fix this problem right away. And so sometimes when you just sit with him on that faithful daily basis, you’ll just look back and be like, oh my word, I used to be really, whatever? And now I’m not. Like, how did this happen God?
Sharon (21:43):
Yeah.
Nicole (21:44):
It was in those quiet moments.
Sharon (21:45):
It is gradual. Gradual learning day after day.
Nicole (21:48):
Yeah. And that’s so cool that sometimes he does strike us and we are like, Paul, stop persecuting Christians and start talking to them about me. And he did it.
Sharon (21:56):
He did.
Nicole (21:57):
Sometimes God will grab us and say, enough of that. Do this instead. And sometimes it’s a, it’s a slow change though.
Sharon (22:02):
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Nicole (22:02):
So we have to be open to both and how God wants to work with us.
Sharon (22:07):
Yeah. Yeah. But if we don’t go to the word, if we don’t read it, it can’t work within us. God can’t work within us. (Nicole: Right) So his word is living and active. It is living, it is so different from any other book. And we have got to be in it. We do.
Nicole (22:20):
Yes. We desperately need it.
Sharon (22:21):
Yeah. So evidently we both needed to say that. About the same verse.
Nicole (22:25):
But it’s cool that we still got a different perspective on the same verse. God’s word is living and it speaks to us.
Sharon (22:31):
Yeah.
Nicole (22:31):
How we need it. I love that.
Sharon (22:32):
Yeah. So what did we learn about God from this passage? Well, I’ll go first this time. Number one, I learned again that he allows suffering. Mm. He didn’t prevent Satan from preventing whatever it was that kept Paul in place when Paul was dying to get back to the Thessalonians. Like, I got shoved out of there so fast and I wanna teach them more. They don’t know everything they should know. Ladi ladi dah. But God allowed that suffering. And I think it’s important for me to remember that, God sometimes chooses suffering for me. And I just have to accept it. And even more sometimes he allows Satan, some victories.
Nicole (23:15):
Yeah.
Sharon (23:16):
He does.
Nicole (23:16):
That’s tough.
Sharon (23:17):
It is tough.
Nicole (23:18):
That’s tough to swallow.
Sharon (23:18):
Yes. Yes. It is.
Nicole (23:20):
Just squash him now.
Sharon (23:21):
Right. Right. And the third thing for me that just fascinated me was how super angry God gets at people who prevent others from hearing about salvation. That is fascinating to me. That this is what makes God mad. The Pharisees made him mad because the Pharisees had all these rules that keep kept people from actually knowing God. Because they had to obey all these rules. Right. This is what makes God mad. We cannot prevent people from hearing about him. It’s like a really bad thing to do.
Nicole (23:54):
That is. Now there’s a verse in Proverbs that talks about like six things that the Lord despises, no, seven things he hates.
Sharon (24:01):
Yes.
Nicole (24:01):
And I can’t remember all of them. I know lying lips is one of them. I’m like, okay, girls, God hates lies. Like, we make sure that we do not lie. That’s one of the things God says he hates. So it’s, it’s very important for us as Christians to take note of the things that God hates and at what angers him.
Sharon (24:16):
Yes, it is.
Nicole (24:17):
He is slow to anger and wonderfully merciful in grace. But we still need to be aware of what angers our God.
Sharon (24:22):
We do. We do. Yeah. And this is why we have to be in the word too. If we cherry pick and we just read the I love you. Come to me, all you who are weary, I’ll give you rest. All truths.
Nicole (24:34):
All our favorite verses.
Sharon (24:35):
I know. But we don’t read about, he gets angry.
Nicole (24:40):
Yes.
Sharon (24:41):
Then we don’t have the awe and the reverence and the respect that we also need to have for the being who created galaxies. Right?
Nicole (24:51):
Well, and it takes away some of the impact of his mercy too, if we don’t realize that he is this holy, powerful, wrathful, God..
Sharon (24:57):
Yes, that’s so true.
Nicole (24:57):
Then it’s like, oh, he’s merciful. Oh, okay. Well my Grammy’s merciful and she’s awfully kind and cuddly. So there’s no, there’s no real weight to that mercy.
Sharon (25:07):
So true.
Nicole (25:07):
Like he could wipe us out with a breath. And he withholds. And he has every right to do that.
Sharon (25:12):
He does. He does.
Nicole (25:13):
And yet he holds that back.
Sharon (25:15):
You’re right.
Nicole (25:15):
That makes it more.
Sharon (25:16):
So the mercy even is more, we’re more grateful for it.
Nicole (25:19):
Wow. Yes.
Sharon (25:19):
Which we ought to be.
Nicole (25:21):
We should be.
Sharon (25:21):
Yeah.
Nicole (25:22):
For sure. So, well, the things I learned about God from this passage, number one, is that God does the work. Paul wasn’t able to stay. And I think you had mentioned this too. Sometimes we feel like we have to do it all.
Sharon (25:35):
Yes.
Nicole (25:35):
And I think maybe this is why God pulled Paul away to show him that you were there, you planted, you wanted to be there, but yet they still grew despite hard times.
Sharon (25:44):
Surprise.
Nicole (25:45):
Cause I was doing the growing, you know? I think there’s another passage in the gospel. They talk about some will plant and some will harvest. And it’s not always us that plants, harvests, threshes, does all the, you know, farming things.
Sharon (25:58):
Right.
Nicole (26:00):
Clearly not a farmer.
Sharon (26:03):
Yeah. Love that.
Nicole (26:03):
So that we don’t have to do it all and that despite us God’s got ’em.
Sharon (26:07):
Yes.
Nicole (26:07):
God will do the increase.
Sharon (26:08):
Yes. This is a really good, when your children go to college, listen to this episode again.
Nicole (26:12):
I know.
Sharon (26:13):
Because I’m like, no, I need to be there. I need to give you more advice.
Nicole (26:17):
Yes.
Sharon (26:18):
And they’re like, no, no, you’re done Mother.
Nicole (26:20):
But wait, can you change your tire? Can you balance… okay, wait.
Sharon (26:23):
That’s so cool. So, okay, last thing. What do we learn about living wisely in troubled times? You can go first on this one. What did you learn about Living Wisely?
Nicole (26:33):
I know, I was thinking that we need to hold on to what we know is true.
Sharon (26:38):
Yes.
Nicole (26:38):
So as troubles came, they held onto what they knew was true about the Lord. And they continued to grow. And then I was, what Paul was doing, he was encouraging other believers and he truly loved them.
Sharon (26:49):
Yes.
Nicole (26:49):
So for me, like encourage my fellow believers going through trouble and truly love them and find people that will also do the same for me.
Sharon (26:56):
Absolutely.
Nicole (26:56):
Encourage and love me.
Sharon (26:58):
Yes. Yes. Yes. Well, that’s the beauty of the family of God when it’s working as it ought to.
Nicole (27:02):
Yes.
Sharon (27:02):
It is. Absolutely. I wrote, I need to try and try even when Satan blocks something that I believe is good, if it’s, you know, trying to witness to someone like Dad Gamble, don’t give up. You know, it took him decades to accept Jesus.
Nicole (27:18):
I know.
Sharon (27:18):
But persevere. I really got the thought that Paul kept trying to do that. So, and then we need to read the very words of God when we’re suffering. We need to not think we know it all. We need to go back to the word and back to the Word and back to the word again. And lastly, we need to not be shocked by suffering. Like it’s Wait, what I’m suffering? Duh? I remember somebody writing in a book that had cancer. She said, I’m not saying why me? I’m saying, why not me?
Nicole (27:52):
Wow.
Sharon (27:53):
Why not me? People get cancer. Good people get cancer. Bad people get cancer.
Nicole (27:57):
Right.
Sharon (27:58):
Medium people get cancer. Cancer happens, you know?
Nicole (27:59):
It does.
Sharon (28:02):
And instead of why me? Why not me? Mm-hmm. We all are asked to carry across, we all have suffering in our lives. It shouldn’t be such a shock. Like, we can waltz through life with nothing.
Nicole (28:14):
Right.
Sharon (28:15):
So I thought that was, especially in troubled times, we need to think why not me?
Nicole (28:18):
Yes. Remember
Sharon (28:19):
Why not me? Yeah.
Nicole (28:20):
Oh, that’s a good one.
Sharon (28:22):
All right. Wow. So suffering times, let me pray for this cheery topic. Okay. Oh, Father God, I thank you for it though. I thank you fo these good words written to people that were suffering and that apply to us today because you allow suffering to occur today as well. Thank you, Father, thank you so much that you are greater than any suffering we endure. That you are able to help us persevere. That the glory that waits for us is, is so big that the suffering is gonna seem small someday. Father, bless everyone listening. Give them a week of joy, of knowing that you’re proud of them as they follow you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole (29:16):
I am very thankful that I’ve had very little suffering so far for believing in Jesus. This has been a good study, though. Who knows what lies ahead. May God make us all ready. How about you? Have you suffered because you love and honor the Lord Jesus. Tell us about it. We love hearing from you. Consider writing a review of the podcast too, or sharing it with a friend. Let’s help more people find this study and join us on this journey. And please do come back next week for episode 115, Unshaken. Paul continues to encourage those Christians to stay strong even when troubles surround them. We’re going to talk about how to stay unshaken in a world full of troubles. We hope you’ll join us.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @SweetSelah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
How are you at sharing your faith in Christ? For most of us, much as we want to share, it's difficult. Our heart races, our breathing speeds up, and our hands get clammy. What if we do it wrong? What if we alienate someone we love? Join Sharon and Nicole for a close look at how Paul shared Christ and how we can do so as well - with wisdom and respect.
Read the transcript for Sharing Christ Wisely-Episode 113Speaker 1
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word With Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole (00:28):
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 113, Sharing Christ Wisely. Well, Sharon, before we talk about how to share our faith with others wisely, let’s talk about how not to do it.
Sharon (00:42):
All right then.
Nicole (00:43):
So, as followers of Christ, our job is not to march up to people thinking we are better than they are and start telling them how they were wrong without even knowing their stories. And then to act like we have all the answers. No one that I know has ever been converted this way. You know, simply by mere argument or debate or being told what to do. So, how about you, Sharon? Any suggestions on how not to share your faith with another?
Sharon (01:07):
Well, you hit the nail on the head with that. If we don’t know people, they don’t know us, it’s unlikely that, um, telling them they’re wrong to start with is going to endear us to them. Yes. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I think, um, some other things we should not do is we shouldn’t start with their lifestyle choices That they’ve made outside of Christ. You know, um, they’re, they’re drinking too much. If we start with that, we, we have lost the fight to begin with. Because there’s that judginess the thinking we’re better, which we’re not. Right. We’re just little sinners that got saved by grace. (Yes) And we’re offering to someone else the same thing. And, um, endless words, I think sometimes. We can overwhelm people with too much information. I’ve been guilty of that. Someone will ask me to tell them about God, and I’m like, well, let’s start at creation. (Right) You know?
Nicole (02:02):
There’s so much to tell about him. Where do you start? I get over excited too. Big surprise.
Sharon (02:07):
Right. Exactly. And I’m like, so, you know, 20 minutes later they’re like, wow. Okay. Thank you.
Nicole (02:13):
Glazed over.
Sharon (02:14):
Yeah, exactly. So I think it’s Spirit led is what we need. We absolutely have to be led by the spirit. So, but I’m so excited to get to this next portion of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians. Paul remembers back to when he and Titus were first there sharing the gospel message with these very people. Actually, he was there with Silas, not Titus. I said that wrong.
Nicole (02:35):
Oh, yes. I was thinking like, wait a minute.
Sharon (02:37):
Silas. There are a ton of great tips in this passage we’re gonna read today about how to share faith. (Nicole: Oh, good) Tadda. (So we don’t do, what we just said not to) Yes. Just so we can learn more than just what we’re not supposed to do. So let’s begin. Our reading today is 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12. You get to start this time with verse one. Let’s read back and forth, hear the whole thing, and then we’re gonna do our verse by verse, ‘What can we learn from these verses’?
Nicole (03:03):
Perfect. “So you yourselves know, dear brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not a failure.”
Sharon (03:10):
“You know how badly we had been treated at Philippi just before we came to you, and how much we suffered there. Yet our God gave us the courage to declare his good news to you boldly in spite of great opposition.”
Nicole (03:23):
“So you can see we were not preaching with any deceits or impure motives or trickery.”
Sharon (03:28):
“For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the good news. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts.”
Nicole (03:39):
“Never once did we try to win you with flattery, as you well know, and God is our witness, that we were not pretending to be your friends just to get your money.”
Sharon (03:48):
“As for human praise, we have never sought it from you or anyone else.”
Nicole (03:53):
“As apostles of Christ we certainly had a right to make some demands of you, but instead we were like children among you, or we were like a mother feeding and caring for her own children.
Sharon (04:03):
“We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s good news, but our own lives too.”
Nicole (04:10):
“Don’t you remember, dear brothers and sisters, how hard we worked among you? Night and day we toiled to earn a living so that we would not be a burden to any of you as we preached God’s good news to you.”
Sharon (04:22):
“You yourselves are our witnesses, and so is God, that we were devout and honest and faultless toward all of you believers.”
Nicole (04:29):
“And you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children.”
Sharon (04:33):
“We pleaded with you, encouraged you and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy for he called you to share in his kingdom and glory.” So, so much in this passage about how Paul witnessed, and I can’t wait to pull out of it how Sharon should witness. So let’s go back and study verse by verse. Nicole, you got verse one.
Nicole (04:58):
All right. So I’ll read it again. It says, “You yourselves know, dear brothers and sisters that our visit to you was not a failure.” So I think he’s starting off kind of reminding them of God’s work and God’s hand in all of their lives and how what they’re doing isn’t for nothing.
Sharon (05:12):
Right.
Nicole (05:13):
And it wasn’t a failure, like it’s producing fruit.
Sharon (05:15):
Yes, exactly. Or he wouldn’t be addressing them as brothers and sisters.
Nicole (05:18):
Right.
Sharon (05:18):
Because no one would’ve converted.
Nicole (05:20):
Exactly.
Sharon (05:22):
So verse two, “You know how badly we had been treated at Philippi just before we came to you and how much we suffered there, yet our God gave us the courage to declare his good news to you boldly in spite of great opposition.” Oh my goodness. So now we know that after Paul and Silas left Thessalonica, they had to leave Berea too. (Nicole: Yes) Now we know that before they went to Thessalonica, they were in Philippi and they got treated, Oh, surprise, badly there.
Nicole (05:53):
Wow. They just can’t catch a break.
Sharon (05:54):
That’s the theme song. Absolutely. So they sure didn’t come bringing just sunshine. Right?
Nicole (06:01):
Right, right. They were in the midst of some suffering themselves.
Sharon (06:04):
Yeah. Yeah. So they shared truth that would put their hearers in danger, and they did not hide the hard stuff. And here’s our little message. Neither should we, neither should we. Even in opposition, they were clear and confident about telling the truth. I need to remember that, I, of course, when I want somebody to come know Jesus, I want them to know he’s their Shepherd. He loves them, there’s safety in being his, and we’re nestled under his wings, and he’s a refuge in times of trouble. But I, I think I need to be careful to also say, and it won’t always be easy.
Nicole (06:37):
Right.
Sharon (06:38):
But it won’t always be easy without him either. And I can say that for a fact. It’s like, okay, so you’re gonna suffer in life and you’re gonna have hard things happen. Do you want it with God or without God?
Nicole (06:46):
Right. Well, that’s kind of it, isn’t it? (Sharon: That’s the choice) Do you wanna stumble along on your own strength and (Right) fail pretty quickly, or do you run him with you?
Sharon (06:53):
Right. Yeah. But when I tell you to come to Christ, I’m not saying do it so you won’t suffer.
Nicole (06:57):
Exactly. You can’t avoid suffering that way.
Sharon (06:59):
Right. And, and Paul evidently told them about the horrible time they had in Philippi, which should have clued them in even before Jason got arrested and he got shoved out of uh, Thessalonica.
Nicole (07:09):
And apparently it didn’t scare them off.
Sharon (07:11):
At all. They had that enduring hope.
Nicole (07:13):
That’s encouraging. Yeah. So verse three says, um, “So you can see we were not preaching with any deceit or impure motives or trickery.” So I love this, his sincerity, you know, like this was not for their glory or gain. This was costing them pain and suffering and time and money as they’re traveling from place to place. (Sharon: Yes) Very quickly. (Mm-hmm) They didn’t really have time to settle in and kind of get cozy. So he’s not just breezing in on sunshine going, Hey, it’s all great. He’s living, (living it out before them) the struggle. Yeah.
Sharon (07:41):
He sure is. Exactly. So, and there was no trickery. It wasn’t like the Oh, it’s all be perfect, like you said, the sunshine.
Nicole (07:49):
Right. They’re honest and sincere in how their life with Christ was. Yeah.
Sharon (07:52):
Yeah, yeah. You can have this too.
Nicole (07:56):
It’s great!
Sharon (07:58):
I love it. And yet their joy must have come through big time.
Nicole (08:01):
Right. To be able to still show them Christ.
Sharon (08:04):
Yes.
Nicole (08:04):
Through all of that.
Sharon (08:05):
Yes. I love it. Okay. Verse four, “For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the good news. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts.” Oh, Nicole, to be entrusted with the good news. That’s us.
Nicole (08:25):
Wow. Yeah.
Sharon (08:25):
That’s us. We are to go and be witnesses for him. He has trusted the most amazing news on the planet, that our sins can be forgiven, that we can live eternally with God, to frail human beings like us. Wow.
Nicole (08:40):
Wow. Yeah.
Sharon (08:42):
Yeah. Um, it’s lifesaving medicine to the dying, and we are the ones that are delivering it.
Nicole (08:48):
Oh. And don’t we forget that sometimes?
Sharon (08:53):
Yeah, yeah.
Nicole (08:53):
We’re just kind of like, I’m saved, I’m good. Thanks God.
Sharon (08:53):
And, and stay in our own little Christian clubby bubble. Right?
Nicole (08:56):
Yeah. Oh gosh. That’s convicting
Sharon (08:57):
Yeah, I know, I know, I know. And we can’t be people pleasers. (Nicole: Yeah) He said that very clearly. Our purpose is to please God, not people. (Mmm) And he’s the one that’s gonna examine our motives. That has helped me so many times, Nicole. Because one can be misunderstood.
Nicole (09:11):
Oh. Very easily.
Sharon (09:11):
And I have been a couple of times big time where a motive was attributed to me that was totally false. Totally false. And that’s really painful.
Nicole (09:21):
It is. Yeah.
Sharon (09:22):
And, and the thing that helps is to remember, okay, so who am I trying to please though? Oh, it’s God. So I can look up to heaven and say, Lord, did I please you? You saw my heart, you know, my motives. And then in the, the times I’m thinking of, he said, yes, honey, you did, you know, you’re an imperfect little cutie, but you didn’t, you didn’t have the motive that person said you had.
Nicole (09:43):
Right. Right.
Sharon (09:44):
I don’t know that he called me an imperfect little cutie, but that’s how I imagine he talks to me because he loves me so much.
Nicole (09:51):
He’s so gentle with us.
Sharon (09:52):
Yes. He is. So we need to please God.
Nicole (09:55):
Yes.
Sharon (09:55):
That’s gotta be our motive.
Nicole (09:57):
So verse five says, um, “Never once did we try to win you with flattery, as you well know. And God is our witness, that we were not pretending to be your friends just to get your money.” So he’s very good about kind of being honest and open and just saying like the facts to like, Hey, we weren’t trying to, to breeze in and schmooze you over and take your money and keep going. You know?
Sharon (10:18):
Right. Right.
Nicole (10:18):
That I think he’s reiterating that they weren’t in it for themselves.
Sharon (10:22):
Exactly. That is exactly the point of this. And so many preachers back then, the false preachers back then, and today, some that even start out with really good motives start to flatter, to get more people to like them.
Nicole (10:36):
They get corrupted by the money, because there’s a lot of money.
Sharon (10:38):
The money.
Nicole (10:40):
In saying good words and healings and prophecies. There’s a lot of money in that.
Sharon (10:44):
Yes, there is.
Nicole (10:44):
And I think he’s trying to let them know like, Hey, this is not for our benefit. (Sharon: No) You know, God called them to this, to the suffering and the pain and the (Exactly) not lots of money and glory. Yes, exactly. So he’s so sincere. I think he so wants them to know his heart. (Right, right) And his motives in this, even though God judges his motives. (Yeah. Yeah) He wants them to know.
Sharon (11:01):
He does. And he’s certainly not traveling with a great entourage and big fancy tents and, you know, eating on, you know, pillows and stuff.
Nicole (11:09):
When I arrive have some date cakes here.
Sharon (11:11):
Yes.
Nicole (11:11):
A special candle here. Yeah. He just, he’s running from the other towns still bruised and beaten, going, Hey, can we stay with you?
Sharon (11:18):
Yeah. You got any band aids?
Nicole (11:19):
Right.
Sharon (11:19):
Exactly. Yeah, Oh, so different. So different. But they need to be reminded of this because, uh, flattery feels good.
Nicole (11:26):
Oh, sure. Yeah.
Sharon (11:27):
And people that have wealth make you think that you can have wealth too, if you do what they say.
Nicole (11:31):
Well, and don’t we measure success by wealth and what we see though as humans.
Sharon (11:34):
Yes, we do. Yeah.
Nicole (11:35):
Like, oh, well, that guy must be saying the right thing or doing well look all his stuff.
Sharon (11:38):
Cause look at how successful. Right, right. Right. Yeah. No, some of god’s greatest people were the ones that had nothing. Yeah.
Nicole (11:45):
Yeah. Jesus didn’t have anything when he was on earth.
Sharon (11:47):
Right. Exactly. I don’t know why we associate God’s pleasure with prosperity.
Nicole (11:52):
Yeah.
Sharon (11:53):
It’s not there.
Nicole (11:54):
It’s not a good lie.
Sharon (11:55):
All right. Verse six, back to the human praise. “As for human praise, we have never sought it from you or anyone else.” So let’s just pause here. He’s more noble than me. Because I cannot say that I have never sought human praise.
Nicole (12:10):
It’s hard not to.
Sharon (12:13):
I blame my mother. My mother when I was little, I’m not kidding you. My mom thought, or, or, or acted like she thought anyways, I’ve never asked her, um, that I hung the moon. She’d be like, Sharon, the way you brush your teeth, (Nicole: Oh, my goodness) is amazing. I am so proud of you. You know, everything I did was just, Oh!
Nicole (12:32):
It’s the encouraging mom.
Sharon (12:33):
Oh, everything. She just, oh, the way you combed your hair today was just precious.
Nicole (12:37):
Wow.
Sharon (12:37):
The way you smiled at your brother. I just loved it. So then I marry Ray. Okay.
Nicole (12:43):
I feel like he’s not as encouraging as your mother would’ve been.
Sharon (12:46):
Oblivious. Oblivious.
Nicole (12:49):
Do you comb your hair, Sharon? I didn’t notice.
Sharon (12:51):
He’s like, so you combed your hair. So did I, you know, so I did not get the same level of praise to which I was accustomed.
Nicole (12:58):
Right.
Sharon (12:59):
And I can remember one day when it finally dawned on me that this was not going to happen, you know? So I’d freshly washed and polished the floor, like shiny, the old kind with the wax on top and everything.
Nicole (13:09):
Yes. The layers you had to put on. Wow.
Sharon (13:11):
Oh, my goodness. I mean, I slaved and I don’t like house cleaning. So I said, Ray, come here. Look at the floor. And he looks at it like, what? Nicole, it was shiny. So I finally said to him, okay, you need to say this to me. I don’t care if it’s sincere, this is how bad I was. I want you to say, I have never seen a shinier floor. You have done a great job. And he’s looking at me like I’m crazy. So anyways, this is a confession. I’m not as noble as Paul. I have sought human praise, especially from Ray, who now will say what I ask him to say.
Nicole (13:43):
That’s so great. Even if it’s praise, I have told you to say, I will take it and love it.
Sharon (13:47):
Take it. Yes. He he grins and makes it funny.
Nicole (13:50):
Aw. What a good sport.
Sharon (13:51):
So, but I need to be satisfied with just pleasing God.
Nicole (13:55):
Yeah. That’s so tough.
Sharon (13:55):
If we walk around waiting for humans to praise us, then we’re stunted. We’re really stunted.
Nicole (14:00):
Especially if we’re waiting for it to be an indicator of how well we’re doing for Christ.
Sharon (14:06):
Yes.
Nicole (14:07):
We’ll be very disappointed and feel like we’re failing.
Sharon (14:09):
Mm-hmm. Exactly. So, yeah. And, and God doesn’t measure us by what we do, but because we are his kids. He just loves us. And we are the ones that want all these measurements. You know?
Nicole (14:21):
I know. He doesn’t measure us or check us off for our growth. He just loves us.
Sharon (14:25):
No, he’s so good. All right.
Nicole (14:26):
He’s so much nicer than us.
Sharon (14:27):
He is. He’s so much nicer.
Nicole (14:29):
So verse seven says, “As apostles of Christ, we certainly had a right to make some demands of you, but instead we are like children among you. And we were like a mother feeding and caring for her own children.” So he does a really good job of using very gentle and compassionate, um, comparisons. You know, comparing him to them. And like, I’m not here to kind of come in and make demands and do, I’m just like a mother caring for her children.
Sharon (14:54):
Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (14:54):
Like what a gentle, safe illustration he used.
Sharon (14:56):
Isn’t that beautiful?
Nicole (14:57):
Yeah.
Sharon (14:57):
That’s exactly right. He wasn’t lording it over. In fact, they came like children, he said too.
Nicole (15:01):
Yeah. So even more meek than a mother kind of taking care of them, like come in willing to learn with them. Really.
Sharon (15:06):
Yes. Exactly. And saying, Hey, we’re all the same at the foot of the cross. We’re just inviting you to join us there. (Nicole: Yeah) Right. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Verse eight. “We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s good news, but our own lives too.” Personal. It’s personal. They weren’t up in some ivory tower or the fancy tent I was talking about where no one could see their flaws. (Right) They were up close and personal, living, sweating, doing all the things together. And that’s how we have to be as well. (Yes) We are not the hero. And we should not try to be the hero. It’s an exhausting place to put ourselves and we will fail. There’s one hero. He’s Jesus. (Right) He gained the victory. We can’t do it well like him. We need to let people see our flaws. (Yes) We need to let people see our leaky tears. (Mmm) We need to be us because God shines through broken people. (Yes) And we want God to be who they see. (Mmm) Not us. And I love that Paul says this. We’ve got to share our own lives with people. And that’s the good, the bad and the ugly.
Nicole (16:11):
Right. And it’s not just saying, oh, well I suffer too, you have to live your life alongside others.
Sharon (16:17):
You do. You do.
Nicole (16:17):
So they see the suffering.
Sharon (16:18):
You do.
Nicole (16:18):
You can’t just tell them about like, oh, well I’ve suffered, but really truly living and doing life with people is, which shows them everything.
Sharon (16:26):
Yes.
Nicole (16:26):
The good, the bad, the ugly. We can’t just say it like from afar too, you know.
Sharon (16:30):
Exactly.
Nicole (16:30):
It’s easier to be like, oh yes. You know? But to actually show the suffering that’s really hard sometimes.
Sharon (16:35):
It’s so hard. It is.
Nicole (16:36):
Why are we so bad at this?
Sharon (16:37):
And we think it’s gonna somehow make God look worse.
Nicole (16:41):
Yeah.
Sharon (16:41):
But you know what?
Nicole (16:42):
Or repel people from us.
Sharon (16:43):
Right. Right. But instead it just shows our faith that he still loves us even when we messed up.
Nicole (16:50):
So it does make him look a lot better.
Sharon (16:51):
Oh, it does. Yes.
Nicole (16:52):
All right. So verse nine. It’s me, right?
Sharon (16:57):
Yes, it’s you. Verse nine.
Nicole (16:58):
Like, wait, did I just talk? I just talked a lot for your verse. Sorry.
Sharon (17:02):
That’s okay. There was a lot to say.
Nicole (17:03):
Ah. So verse nine says, “Don’t you remember dear brothers and sisters, how hard we worked among you? Night and day we toiled to earn a living so that we would not be a burden to any of you as we preach God’s good news to you.” So kind of what I said for your verse, but they were, they were in it with them. They were doing like working alongside of them, sweating, you know, and just reassurance that they weren’t in it for the money. And um, just kind of reminding them of what they did when they were there with them, like in case you forget we were just like you. We just live with you guys.
Sharon (17:30):
Yeah. I think it’s so handy for those of us who wanna witness to see Paul describe how he witnessed.
tNicole (17:35):
Yes. Oh yeah. It’s very good.
Sharon (17:36):
It’s wonderful. It’s wonderful. Verse 10, “You yourselves are our witnesses and so is God that we were devout and honest and faultless toward all of you believers.” So that’s where Paul strove to be. He wanted to be devout. He wanted to, you know, his words to be holy. And honest, which means, you know, if he was tired, I assume he said he was tired. If his bones were hurting from the last beating, I assume he told them. Um, and, um, and he wanted to be faultless. He wanted to, you know, if, if I’m going to, and to me, faultless as a Christian isn’t perfection. It’s admitting sin and being forgiven and being faultless again. To me it’s an endless, it’s an endless beautiful cycle of I sinned, I’m sorry, I’m clean. Because we don’t have to stay in the sin. And as soon as we say we’re sorry that sin is thrown into the depths of the sea, and we are clothed in righteousness. So we can almost live in a, a state of lots of righteousness if we are quick to confess.
Nicole (18:40):
Oh, I love that. So we don’t have to try to show up and be faultless. ’cause we would fail in about 10 minutes, maybe five for me.
Sharon (18:46):
Yes. Yeah, exactly. The faultlessness comes, at least the way I see it in my own life. From, from the fact that he washes me clean. And that he’s never sick of seeing me come back dirty again.
Nicole (18:58):
I know, the fact that that forgiveness is available moment by moment. I can mess up.
Sharon (19:04):
It’s amazing.
Nicole (19:04):
Mess up, ask for forgiveness, mess up again in 10 more minutes and still come back to him.
Sharon (19:08):
Yeah.
Nicole (19:08):
So throughout the day I can have moments of faultlessness.
Sharon (19:11):
Yes. Yes, you can. Yes. I just confessed. Stand still, I’m faultless at the moment.
Nicole (19:17):
Right. This very moment.
Sharon (19:20):
Oh, so good. All right.
Nicole (19:22):
Oh goodness. So verse 11 ends, he says, “And you know that we treated each of you as a father, treats his own children.” So this, it’s kind of neat. He’s mentioned children, mother and father in (Sharon: He has) this passage.
Sharon (19:34):
Family, yeah.
Nicole (19:35):
Family. That struck me as he really wants to incorporate this feeling, this idea of they’re a family.
Sharon (19:40):
Yes.
Nicole (19:41):
Yeah. Like I’ve come in as a child, as a mother and a father kind of as a safe, secure, loving, um, place. Guidance, if they need it, from him.
Sharon (19:48):
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Nicole (19:49):
But he’s also there to nurture and check on them like a mother. And he’s like a child with them learning about Christ, growing with them.
Sharon (19:56):
It’s beautiful.
Nicole (19:56):
So just such a nice way to say family. We’re family guys. And I’m here for you.
Sharon (20:01):
Yeah, yeah. It’s wonderful.
Nicole (20:02):
It is.
Sharon (20:02):
This is how we should do this thing. Yes. And last verse, verse 12, “We pleaded with you, encouraged you and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy. For he called you to share in his kingdom and glory.” Oh my goodness. That’s the awesome truth. We’re called to share in a glorious kingdom. And Paul really wanted them to get it and then live worthy lives. It makes me think of in Hebrews where it says, we’re to spur one another on toward love first. (Nicole: Yes) And good deeds. So, okay. We’ve been given this great gift. We are members of an eternal kingdom. Let’s walk worthy of it. So it’s, it’s like he starts with the family. He starts with, we loved you. It starts with we didn’t demand money. And, and then he says, and we do want you to walk worthy. (Yes) We do want you to obey.
Nicole (20:50):
That is important.
Sharon (20:51):
Yes.
Nicole (20:51):
But it shouldn’t be the starting line. Like you have to fix yourself before you come to God.
Sharon (20:55):
Exactly.
Nicole (20:55):
Cause we will never make it. Ever.
Sharon (20:57):
Right. Right. Exactly. You start with, with the coming alongside. (Nicole: Yes). And then gently start showing. And you know, a lot of ways, Nicole, if somebody is loving the Lord and has the Holy Spirit within them and is reading the word God will show ’em. Right?
Nicole (21:12):
Yeah. We don’t have to always plan and prepare these strategic moments.
Sharon (21:16):
No, kidding.
Nicole (21:17):
But if we are faithful with God in our life, like they were faithfully just following God,serving, working alongside these people, people saw.
Sharon (21:23):
Yes.
Nicole (21:24):
And that’s the key.
Sharon (21:25):
Yes.
Nicole (21:25):
That sometimes is more than our words.
Sharon (21:26):
It is absolutely
Nicole (21:28):
Not that we shouldn’t be ready to talk about our faith, but living it is so important.
Sharon (21:32):
It is. It is. Oh my goodness. So fun. Alright, well I’m gonna go first with my favorite verse and I’ll be curious if you have the same one. this is gonna be fun. I chose verse eight.
Nicole (21:42):
Okay.
Sharon (21:43):
Did you or not?
Nicole (21:44):
I did four this time. That’s good.
Sharon (21:46):
Okay I chose verse eight, which says, “We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s good news, but our own lives as well.” And I just wrote, love is doing life with people, inviting them into an untidy home cooking dinner while they set the table. (Nicole: Yeah) You know, that’s what he was saying here. We shared our lives and I I have found that, you know, hospitality that, that is meaningful is not the perfect home. It’s literally come for dinner. It’s kind of crazy here, here’s the dishes, set the table, then you can come chop the peppers. (Right ) Just let ’em do life with you. And and that’s family.
Nicole (22:21):
Yeah. Then it’s not a performance, it’s genuine.
Sharon (22:23):
Exactly.
Nicole (22:23):
It’s, oh, hey, it was a crazy day. I’m still chopping veggies. Jump in and we’ll talk about your day together.
Sharon (22:28):
Exactly.
Nicole (22:28):
I love that.
Sharon (22:29):
I love that. Okay. Verse four, you got a different one,
Nicole (22:31):
Verse four. Yeah. So it was “For, we speak as messengers, approved by God to be entrusted with the good news.” There’s that entrusted part again. (Sharon: Yes) That’s that’s really cool. (Yeah. Yeah) And then our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our heart. So that for me is a really good reminder that, um, my goal is to please God and not people. It’s so easy to look for validation from humans about whether or not I’m doing a good job or I’m doing it right or serving God well. And if you don’t hear that, you think like, what am I doing wrong? What’s going on? But just to be able to sit with God and like, am I pleasing you God? Like you say, am I pleasing you? (Yep) Is this what you want from me? And he knows the motives of my heart.(He doe) So even if flub something that was pleasing to him, it, he knows my heart.(Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm) And that just gives me such a peace.
Sharon (23:16):
Doesn’t it? Yeah. And if the heart is wrong, you say you’re sorry. (Nicole: Yes) And you’re forgiven. (Right) You cannot lose.
Nicole (23:23):
I can’t go wrong with him as the one that I’m pleasing.
Sharon (23:26):
Right. Right. Exactly. Exactly. It’s beautiful. Okay. All right. So what did we learn about God from this passage? Um, this is what I learned. I learned that he calls us to share in his kingdom. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) He trusts imperfect people to share the good news. (Yep) And then the, the one you just said, he examines our motives and looks at our hearts. The, both the good and the scary. (That’s good) Did I cover everything or do you have some things you found?
Nicole (23:51):
I, well,, he says good news in here several times. So I just think that’s, God really wants us to know him. He wants us to know the good news.
Sharon (23:58):
Yes.
Nicole (23:58):
Like this is so, like the good news, the good news, the good news. Like that’s such an important part of our, our faith walk. We kind of hear it in the beginning and then we just kind of go in our merry way. But for me to be reminded that, um, God wants us to keep that fresh.
Sharon (24:11):
Yes he does.
Nicole (24:12):
In our hearts, we’re willing to share it quickly. And for us to always be remembering the, the beautifulness of the gift that he gave us.
Sharon (24:19):
Yeah. And never being tired of hearing the gospel.
Nicole (24:22):
Yeah. He wants us to know him. So I like that.
Sharon (24:23):
Yeah. Oh, I love that. That’s beautiful. Okay. Living wisely in troubled times. I’ll let you go first on this one.
Nicole (24:29):
So what I was thinking about was, um, just being close with other believers, you know, working alongside of them, praying, loving and suffering together.
Sharon (24:37):
Yes.
Nicole (24:37):
We will do so much better if we work and love and pray and communion with each other.
Sharon (24:41):
We will. And coming alongside people means that we have to sacrifice our will to the will of others. It means we have to endure people that gratet on our nerves. And all of that is actually part of sanctification.
Nicole (24:55):
Yes. Cause I was just telling my girls that the other day, like, we each want our own rooms and we’re just so tired of always fighting. I’m like, girls, if I did that, I’d be doing a disservice. Because you wouldn’t be learning to soften those rough edges.
Sharon (25:08):
Right.
Nicole (25:08):
You know, where you’re not learning to solve conflict, but we need to be annoyed.
Sharon (25:12):
Yes. We do.
Nicole (25:13):
We do. Cause then we find out, wow, Nicole, you’re really short-tempered with this.
Sharon (25:17):
Right.
Nicole (25:17):
You gotta chill a little bit.
Sharon (25:18):
Right, right. Yeah. Yeah. And then in desperation you go to God and ask for help.
Nicole (25:21):
Yes.
Sharon (25:21):
And then lots of good things happen. Removing all trouble from your children is no way to help them grow up, ready to face the world.
Nicole (25:29):
No. They’ll fall apart pretty quick.
Sharon (25:30):
They will. Yes. Absolutely. Well done. I like that.
Nicole (25:32):
Thank you.
Sharon (25:33):
Uh, let’s see. What did I write? Um, we need to remember the great good news we have. That’s how we live wisely in troubled times. Um, and please God, by the way, we lovingly share it. We need to treat people gently. (Nicole: Yes) Like a mom, but also speak truth. It’s both. (Yeah) Um, and we need to be honest and do life, honestly, even when it’s messy with each other. (Yeah. It’s so important) Just, you know, just be us. It’s such an important thing. I love this. I love how Paul shared his life with them. And I think his reminder in this part of the letter, he’s, he started out with all the encouraging things. (Yes) He’s about to, you know, talk about some of the harder things, but he wants to remind them first, Hey, I didn’t come bossy. I came simply, I came ‘along siding’ with you. (Yes) Right. And so now I’m gonna tell you some other stuff, but, um, I want you to remember this is the way I started. This is the groundwork. So.
Nicole (26:29):
Well, it’s like before you give a criticism or a hard thing, you always start with like the compliments or the encouragement first. (Sharon: Yes) And he is very good at that.
Sharon (26:36):
Yes. The love sandwich.
Nicole (26:37):
Yes.
Sharon (26:38):
We call it, say something kind. Say the hard thing. You have to follow up with something kind.
Nicole (26:43):
Yes. And the first layer of this letter was quite delightful.
Sharon (26:47):
Very nice layer.
Nicole (26:48):
Very nice. Thank you Paul.
Sharon (26:49):
Beautiful. Beautiful, beautiful. Well, let me pray for us, because we are called to share that good news. And we are called to do it in such a way, um, that hopefully we make it attractive to people. We won’t always, sometimes we’re gonna be a stench in someone’s nostrils. But that, I want that to be, they’re hating the good news, not they’re being annoyed at my judgy nastiness to them. You know what I mean?
Nicole (27:15):
Yeah, no, for sure.
Sharon (27:15):
If it’s not gonna come out well, I want it to not come out well because they’re offended by what God said. Not what I said.
Nicole (27:21):
Mm-hmm. Yeah. That’s a good prayer.
Sharon (27:23):
So all right. Let’s pray. Oh, heavenly Father, thank you so much for this beautiful example of Paul’s on how not only to lead people to Christ, but then how to nurture them and love them. Father, give us his gentle ways. Help us to work in humility beside other people, considering them better than ourselves, and knowing that we are so weak without you. And Lord, help us to live honestly. Help us to confess sin quickly, um, but not hide it under a shiny face. Lord, help us to be us. I know you use us best when we are ourselves, and so we ask for your help in all of this. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole (28:11):
Amen. It was so helpful to learn more about how to share the truths about Jesus wisely this week. We hope you were energized to share the gospel. Write us and let us know if God gives you an opportunity to speak about him. to someone who doesn’t know him yet. You can write us at Sweetelah.org/podcast. Anytime. We love hearing from you. Consider writing a review of this podcast too, or sharing it with a friend. Let’s help more people fin this study and join us on this journey. And please do come back next week for episode 114, The Suffering Times. The Christian life is not always roses and rainbows. Sometimes we are called to suffer for his sake. Let’s explore that next week. Until then, may God help you live wisely in troubled times.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @SweetSelah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Nicole and Sharon talk about endurance, today, and the wonderful gift Christians have in the sure hope of the gospel. Join them as they ponder Paul's words to a tiny, threatened, but persevering church living out their faith in a hard place. You might find yourself enduring with more hope as you listen!
Read the transcript for Enduring Hope-Episode 112Speaker 1 (00:02):
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word With Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole (00:29):
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 112, Enduring Hope. We are just starting a new series this fall called Living Wisely in Troubled Times. We’re going to be looking at two letters Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, and learning from these letters how to live in our own troubled times. Sharon, why did you choose Enduring Hope as a title?
Sharon (00:51):
Oh, Nicole, it was hard to choose a title. There are so many good verses in the first chapter of 1 Thessalonians, but the one verse that resonated with me the most was verse three. Paul is so encouraging to this baby church. Listen to what he says. He says, as we pray to our God and Father about you, we think of your faithful work, your loving deeds, and the enduring hope you have because of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, we’re gonna dig into that verse more in just a minute, but for now, I just want to talk about that enduring hope. It hit me hard because we just studied last week what they did have to endure. Jason, barely saved when he and his friends are hauled out of his home and popped in prison simply because they were Christians, and then they had to pay money to get out. Financially there was a cost too. Their faith was so new and so tender, and yet, despite all the troubles they had enduring hope. Enduring hope. They knew that a brighter day was coming and they had a Savior waiting for them at their journey’s end here on Earth. I wanna live like that, Nicole, with enduring hope.
Nicole (01:55):
Yeah. So do I. Well, let’s look a bit at the book of 1 Thessalonians for a minute before we dive into chapter one. So I did some research on it, and Paul wrote this first letter to the Thessalonian Church from the city of Corinth around AD 51. And it was just a few months after having preached in Thessalonica on his second missionary journey. So he said he had to move on quite a bit. (Sharon: Yeah) So he probably had more to say. It was like, Hey, let me get this penned down and send it off to you guys. (Exactly).
Sharon (02:23):
Yeah. And note that he didn’t stay in Berea either then. We talked last week, Thessalonica, Berea, said he was in Corinth (Nicole: Yes) when he wrote this. Okay, cool.
Nicole (02:30):
He was always on the move.
Sharon (02:32):
He was indeed. And I love how he doesn’t forget where he’s been. (NIcole: Yeah). Isn’t that sweet?
Nicole (02:36):
Oh, that is true. He’s at the next place, but he’s not like, okay, they’re good. We’re done. Check it off my list.
Sharon (02:41):
Nope. Nope. He’s a little mama that’s gathering people at every place, and then has to check on his chickadees.
Nicole (02:44):
He has a big heart.
Sharon (02:46):
I love it. Well, thank you. Okie dokie. Let’s begin. We are gonna read chapter one, all 10 verses, and then we’re gonna go back and chat about each one. And I’ll start with verse one, verse one. Verse 1, “This letter is from Paul, Silas and Timothy. We are writing to the church at Thessalonica to you who belong to God, the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May God give you grace and peace”
Nicole (03:12):
“We always thank God for all of you, and pray for you constantly.”
Sharon (03:16):
“As we pray to our God and Father about you we think of your faithful work, your loving deeds, and the enduring hope you have because of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Nicole (03:25):
“We know dear brothers and sisters that God loves you and has chosen you to be his own people.”
Sharon (03:30):
“For when we brought you the good news, it was not only with words, but also with power for the Holy Spirit gave you full assurance that what we said was true, and you know of our concern for you from the way we lived when we were with you.:
Nicole (03:43):
So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit in spite of the severe suffering it brought you in this way. You imitated both us and the Lord.”
Sharon (03:52):
“As a result you have become an example to all the believers in Greece, throughout both Macedonia and Achaia.”
Nicole (03:59):
“And now the word of the Lord is ringing out from you to people everywhere, even beyond Macedonia and Achaia. For wherever we go, we find people telling us about your faith in God. We don’t need to tell them about it,”
Sharon (04:12):
“But they keep talking about the wonderful welcome you gave us and how you turned away from idols to serve the living and true God.”
Nicole (04:21):
“And they speak of how you are looking forward to the coming of God’s son from heaven, Jesus, whom God raised from the dead. He’s the one who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming judgment.”
Sharon (04:32):
This is such a lovely dear first chapter. He loved those guys so much. All right, well, we’re gonna talk through each of those 10 verses together. And I get to dissect verse one. I’m gonna read that verse again. “This letter is from Paul, Silas and Timothy, we are writing to the church in Thessalonica to you who belong to God, the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May God give you grace and peace.” So I noticed three things about this verse. First of all, I love that Paul is not a loner. He’s not doing this stuff alone. He, he was with Barnabas and he was with Silas. Now he’s got Timothy with him as well. (Nicole: Yeah) Paul always surrounded himself with other people. And Jesus, when he sent out the disciples for their little missions trip when he was living on the planet here, sent them out two by two.
Nicole (05:20):
Oh, that’s right. Yeah.
Sharon (05:21):
Yeah. God wants us in community. He does. That’s why I love working with the team in our own Sweet Selah Ministry. And that’s why whenever I speak, I’m begging one of you to go with me. I don’t wanna be alone. (Nicole: Yeah) I just don’t. And neither did Paul. So that’s number one. Number two, I just love the word ‘belong’, to you who belong to God in Jesus. He’s talking to those who have become part of God’s family and can never un-become it. (Oh, that’s so nice). They’re the ones who belong. And I just think it’s so beautiful. And then grace and peace is something that Paul says often. (Mmm) And we talked about grace and peace, one of our talks a while back. (Yeah) And I remember saying, I’m gonna incorporate that into my life.(Yes) I have. (Oh, good) Just saying. It’s a weird way. Facebook birthday greetings? (Oh) I always say grace and peace to you on your birthday and always.
Nicole (06:17):
Oh, that’s a fun birthday greeting.
Sharon (06:18):
Isn’t that nice?
Nicole (06:19):
I think I’ve only used it three times. I’ve tried to like, ease it into casual conversation. It’s, it’s not easy.
Sharon (06:24):
Well, yeah. It’s strange. But, but wishing someone grace, undeserved, pardon?
Nicole (06:29):
Oh!
Sharon (06:29):
And, and Shalom peace. That wholeness peace.
Nicole (06:32):
A great birthday wish.
Sharon (06:33):
Yeah.
Nicole (06:34):
I’ll have to steal that.
Sharon (06:35):
Anyways, that’s verse one.
Nicole (06:37):
I like it. So verse two says, “We always thank God for all of you and pray for you constantly.” So Paul’s heart is so sweet here. I love that. I love the community about them praying constantly and thanking God for them. (Sharon: Yes) And isn’t that how we should be acting as believers in Christ? (Mm-hmm) I don’t pray for other churches or thank God for them. You know, I don’t think about that. (Yeah. Yeah) But they are not competing with these other churches for who can do the most work for God, or our church is better. I love the sense of community. Like we are all believers, all one group in different sections.
Sharon (07:13):
I love that too. It’s a beautiful way to be.
Nicole (07:16):
We should really work on this as believers in America.
Sharon (07:18):
Uh-huh.
Nicole (07:19):
Myself included.
Sharon (07:23):
My brother’s church always prays for a fellow church as part of their, (Nicole: Oh, really?) they have a big long prayer time and they pray for people that are sick and pray for a ministry and a mission, and they pray for another church.
Nicole (07:32):
I love that.
Sharon (07:33):
Isn’t that beautiful?
Nicole (07:33):
I’ve never thought about that before. And that’s terrible.
Sharon (07:35):
I bet he did it ’cause of 1 Thessalonians. I’ll have to ask him.
Nicole (07:39):
You’ll have to. But that’s super. But I love how they’re doing that. That’s really neat.
Sharon (07:41):
So cool. Um, verse three, “As we pray to our God and Father about you, we think of your faithful work, your loving deeds and the enduring hope you have because of our Lord Jesus Christ.” So Paul is pulling a Barnabas here. He’s encouraging, he’s encouraging so much. This is, we are not just praying for you to do well. We’re thanking God for you. Because you work faithfully. So they haven’t given up. They’re faithful in their work. And part of that is loving deeds for others. And loving deeds is work, Nicole. (Yes. It is) You know, going and washing somebody else’s laundry ’cause they just had surgery. That’s not what I call fun. It’s work. But it’s important work. You know, and good old Dorcas that sewed all those garments. That was work. But loving deeds, he’s seeing that in them. Um, it’s not just entertainment on a Sunday morning for us. We’re supposed to have faithful work. We’re supposed to have, um, loving deeds. And then that beautiful enduring hope, which they certainly have demonstrated. Cause otherwise they wouldn’t still be Christians after what they’ve been put through. (Right) Yeah. (No kidding) It’s a great verse.
Nicole (08:44):
All right. Verse four, “We know, dear brothers and sisters, that God loves you and has chosen you to be his own people.” So this verse I think has a beautiful reassurance in it for them. (Sharon: Yeah, yeah) Just a reminder like, and that security too, that God loves you and he chose you. And then to kind of instill the sense of belonging in them too. (I love that) Like, you are God’s. You’re not my new little Christians. You’re not, you belong to God. So he’s always gonna be with them, even if Paul isn’t there, you know, (Yes) as a founding person of the church. So I think, I just think it’s a nice, reassuring verse.
Sharon (09:18):
I think that’s awesome. And I like your point that Paul isn’t the hero. God is. (Right) God’s the one they belong to. God’s the one that chose them. And, you know, these are things we need to be reminded of. You know, and if enough people tell me I’m annoying, or downright irritating, you know, I can forget that, well, God loves me, he chose me.
Nicole (09:40):
Right. Oh.
Sharon (09:40):
Sometimes we, we need to be reminded. And what a beautiful reminder. So, you know, they’re, they’re reading this letter and all they’re hearing at this first part is you are loved, you’re doing great. I pray for you all the time. You are that important to me.
Nicole (09:57):
Wow.
Sharon (09:59):
It’s beautiful.
Nicole (09:59):
It’s a great beginning. What a great encouraging, sweet—
Sharon (10:01):
Yeah.
Nicole (10:01):
Like, Hey guys, you’re doing wonderful.
Sharon (10:03):
Yeah. Yeah. And by the way, we love you.
Nicole (10:05):
Yeah!
Sharon (10:05):
So nice. I would like letters like that. That’s really nice. So moving on, verse five, “For when we brought you the good news, it was not only with words, but also with power. For the Holy Spirit gave you full assurance that what we said was true and you know, of our concern for you from the way we lived when we were with you.” So I love that he points out that it’s not just saying the words, it’s the Holy Spirit coming within. And we actually talked about that, how Jason and fellow believers in prison coughing up a lot of money to get out.
Nicole (10:39):
Right.
Sharon (10:40):
If they hadn’t had the Holy Spirit indwelling within them with full power. At the very beginning of their Christian life, before they were experts in anything. ( They could not have stood firm. You know, but they did because of the Holy Spirit. And that is just such a so cool thing. And then, um, he has concern for them in how they lived when they were with them. That’s said really poorly. Paul wanted them to remind them that we were concerned about you when we were with you. And we showed our concern by how we lived. We didn’t lord it over you. We didn’t demand obedience to us. We just loved on you.
Nicole (11:22):
They lived out their concern and love for them, like working alongside them instead of over them, you know?
Sharon (11:26):
Yeah, exactly. And that’s, and, and even the follow up with the letter is more proof of how much he cares for them. And that’s the same as it is in friendship. In friendship, you gotta show up. You can’t always show up big if you’re going through something yourself. But there better be a little show up or the friendship will drift away. So Paul’s still showing up for them.
Nicole (11:48):
Well, verse six says, “So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit, in spite of the severe suffering it brought you in this way. You imitated both us and the Lord.” So I see that encouragement in this verse. You know, he’s reminding them that they are not alone. The Holy Spirit is with them. And that also they’re not alone in their suffering. That Paul and his friends also have suffered for Christ. And then ultimately the Lord suffered (Yes) And died for them. So just that, that encouragement that they’re not alone in their suffering. And they understand, from a place of We’ve lived it out too.
Sharon (12:24):
Right, right. Yeah. I was just thinking, can you imagine a sermon, you know, a gospel message, sermon in America, you will suffer severely if you accept Christ, you will be persecuted, you’ll be thrown into prison, you will lose your money. But he’s the truth. We don’t do that too often. But Paul had to. (Yeah) I mean, it’s like, (It was the reality) What I’m inviting you to is, is um, banking everything on the fact that this is true and that eternity awaits you because you choose suffering now.
Nicole (12:57):
Yeah. And the chance that you are going to lose everything fairly quickly after converting .
Sharon (13:02):
Yeah. Yeah. So, cool. Amazing. Okay. Verse seven, “as a result of the fact that they did all these wonderful things, despite suffering, you’ve become an example to all the believers in Greece, throughout both Macedonia and Achaia.” So Wow. The word spread through their suffering, the fact that they held on, that’s what stood out. You know, sometimes God does allow suffering for good. Yes. I don’t think Joni Erickson Tada said, oh, sign me up at age 18 to break my neck and be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life, because that’s how I’d like to live for you.
Nicole (13:38):
That’s how I wanna glorify you God.
Sharon (13:39):
Right.
Nicole (13:39):
From a wheelchair.
Sharon (13:40):
No kidding. And yet God chose that path for her. And out of it has come such an incredible testimony of staying with the truth, enduring hope, um, throughout her life. She’s just one of my heroes of the faith because of that. So, it’s just really cool that sometimes our best example isn’t, look at me, my life is all happy. It’s actually through how we deal with suffering.
Nicole (14:07):
Oh, absolutely. Um, so verse eight, it’s fairly similar, but, “And now the word of the Lord is ringing out from you to people everywhere, even beyond Macedonia and Achaia, for wherever we go, we find people telling us about your faith in God. We don’t need to tell them about it.”
Sharon (14:23):
Isn’t that wild?
Nicole (14:24):
How cool. So it’s not just they were, they were faithful in suffering and that could have been enough but then the people in their town knew that they were faithful in their suffering. People outside their town are hearing about this. Like, what an impact. And I think it’s so encouraging for them to know, to see the work of God through them now. Because sometimes we’ll suffer and we work for God and we don’t see the fruits of it in this life. And for them to, for God to allow them to see it now, so soon after becoming Christians and, and going through intense suffering, like what a beautiful gift to them.
Sharon (14:55):
Isn’t it? And they wouldn’t know unless Paul told them.
Nicole (14:58):
They’re in prison.
Sharon (15:00):
Right.
Nicole (15:00):
Read the local news. They had no idea that people knew about their story.
Sharon (15:03):
Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (15:03):
So I just think that’s so neat that they were able to hear about how God was working through them already.
Sharon (15:08):
Isn’t that cool? And it must have been merchants that travel and, you know.
Nicole (15:12):
Yeah. Like how did the word get out?
Sharon (15:13):
Yeah. Yeah. It’s not like there’s podcasts back then.
Nicole (15:17):
Right. Maybe it was such a big deal that these people, their neighbors were just doing their life and all of a sudden, they heard about this Jesus and followed him and then they were taken from their homes. I guess that would be rather a big story. It’s like, oh, did you hear about Jason? Did you hear about so-and-so?
Sharon (15:30):
Yeah. Yeah. And then it spread.
Nicole (15:31):
Yeah. Very neat.
Sharon (15:31):
Super, super, neat. Okay. Verse nine, “For they keep talking about the wonderful welcome you gave us and how you turned away from idols to serve the living and true God.”
Nicole (15:41):
Ah, so there it is too.
Sharon (15:42):
There it is again. So, but Paul comes to another place because he is been kicked out of the last one,. And they say, have you heard about what happened at Thessalonica? And Paul’s like, just might have, I was there. Right. So there was true change in them. Basically they turned away from idols to serve the living and true God. Repentance means ‘to turn away from’, that’s actually the meaning of it. It’s not just, you know, oh, sorry, didn’t mean to And then doing the same thing over and over and over and over and over again. ’cause you don’t actually really care. You’re just saying you’re sorry. Repentance is turning from. They did, they stopped going to temple. They stopped worshiping the idols. They threw their idols out, um, to go against your culture and all your habits like that. That was all they were steeped in the Greeks, and and they’ve gone against so many traditions and cultures in order to believe the truth.
Nicole (16:34):
And their change was so significant that many, many, many people noticed.
Sharon (16:37):
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Nicole (16:38):
Amazing. All right. Verse 10 says, “And they speak of how you are looking forward to the coming of God’s Son from heaven, Jesus whom God raised from the dead. He is the one who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming judgment. So here he’s just, again, he keeps commending them for their faith. (He does) And they’re like, guys, you’re doing great. They’re talking about this and that and that you’re looking forward. And also, I think there’s hope in here too. He’s kind of reminding them, you know, like, looking forward to the coming of God’s own Son. And he’s already rescued us from even worse terrors. So. That’s a nice verse to end on.
Sharon (17:12):
I think it is. I do. And it’s, it’s for the joy set before us that we endure the suffering here. And that’s what he’s saying. You are looking forward to the coming of God’s Son from heaven. Who also as Spirit resides inside them, who they know full well now. So the longing is there for them too. So cool.
Nicole (17:32):
Yeah. Cause you can’t endure all this without getting discouraged. Even if you are full of the Spirit, you could get weary of the suffering. But to continually keep that hope before you.
Sharon (17:40):
That enduring hope?
Nicole (17:41):
Is what, yes, is what keeps them going for sure. And us.
Sharon (17:42):
Exactly. Exactly. So, okay. So we’re gonna do a pattern in these, Fall Studies. We, will walk through the verses like we just did. And then we’re gonna end with the same three questions every single time. What was my favorite verse and why? That’s question number one. Question number two, what did I learn about God from this passage? And number three, what did we learn about living wisely in troubled times? Which is the name of our series.
Nicole (18:09):
Yes. Alright. Cool.
Sharon (18:11):
Okay. Nicole, what was your favorite verse and why?
Nicole (18:14):
Ooh. I really liked verse six and I’ll read it again. It says, “So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit. In spite of the severe suffering it brought you. In this way you imitated both us and the Lord.” So I just think that’s so neat. They received the Holy Spirit with this joy. They were so excited to hear his message. And then it’s so beautiful how they fully embraced their new faith and completely relied on God from the very beginning in their troubles. There was no turning back for them.
Sharon (18:43):
None.
Nicole (18:43):
And their faith is just very inspiring to me. Like, would I do that now? I’ve been a Christian for many years. Am I as willing to put my whole hearted faith in Christ? If I was dragged outta my house tomorrow and put in prison?
Sharon (18:57):
I know.
Nicole (18:57):
Would I be as faithful as them so soon?
Sharon (18:58):
So soon.
Nicole (18:59):
It’s a little,
Sharon (19:01):
It’s a little intimidating.
Nicole (19:02):
I don’t want to ask myself that question, but it’s a question I need to sit with and like, do I have the faith of these early believers in such hard times?
Sharon (19:08):
Yeah. Yeah. And it really does sort of negate the, the strand of Christianity that says everything will be well if you receive Jesus in this life and in the life beyond. Ah, no. No. Not necessarily.
Nicole (19:22):
Yeah.
Sharon (19:23):
So this is funny ’cause we did not talk about our favorite verses.
Nicole (19:25):
No. Did you pick that one too?
Sharon (19:27):
I did. I wonder how many times this fall? Let’s keep doing it this way (Nicole: This is so fun.) ’cause this is funny. I didn’t choose verse three ’cause I’d already talked about verse three, the enduring hope. You know, I chose verse six and it was actually the word joy from it. He received the message with joy in spite of suffering. The fact that, um, in the midst of suffering there can be joy. And that is such a cool thing. And I can remember way, way back, I had, um, a pastor’s wife who mentored me and her husband at one point had been put in prison for stealing money. And she looked at me and she said, Sharon, this is hard to imagine if you haven’t been through it. I was devastated, I was shamed, I was all these things. But running through it all was a joy. Because God was going to husband me. He was gonna take care of my kids. And I knew I wasn’t alone.
Nicole (20:22):
That’s amazing.
Sharon (20:23):
I know.
Nicole (20:24):
We can’t, you can’t make that up.
Sharon (20:26):
No. No.
Nicole (20:27):
There’s no way.
Sharon (20:27):
The kind of joy that God gives is not based on circumstance. It’s on the Sure Knowing that He lives within us. So.
Nicole (20:34):
That’s amazing.
Sharon (20:35):
It’s a great verse. Obviously. We both chose it.
Nicole (20:37):
There’s a lot in that. And I love that there’s different parts of it we love.
Sharon (20:40):
I know. It’s so much fun. So, okay, well what did we learn about God from this passage? What are some of your thoughts on that?
Nicole (20:46):
I feel like through all this, I just was reminded that God doesn’t abandon us. No. He doesn’t like, oh you’re my child. Good luck. See you in heaven. Like he’s there with us in our suffering. (Sharon: Yes) And in our trials and in our joy. And that our hope can very safely rest in him. ‘Cause that’s the only place we can hope on. (Yes) Everything else could be ripped away tomorrow. But God will always be with us.
Sharon (21:07):
I love that. I love that. And I, I chose things like God loves and chooses people.
Nicole (21:13):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (21:14):
Which is such a cool thing. The belonging thing I thought was so key. (NIcole: Yeah) He wants us to join his flock. He wants us to belong to him. It’s not like we’re exclusive, it’s open to the world. (Yes) God so loved the world. Um, but when we choose him, um, then he chooses us. And it’s sort of choices everywhere. And we’re a part of his flock. So I love that. And then, um, also that God does not prevent us from suffering. It’s actually almost expected.
Nicole (21:41):
Right. And we have to remember that.
Sharon (21:43):
Yeah.
Nicole (21:43):
So we’re not surprised and, What have I done wrong God?
Sharon (21:44):
Right. Yeah. Do you know what? That is, that’s what Satan does to us. He accuses us. You’re suffering because you did this or you didn’t do that. When in reality people suffer. People suffer with God and without God, suffering happens.
Nicole (21:59):
Yes. Well that was even in that passage from Isaiah, we had read, I think that was last week though. But when it talked about people thought that Jesus was suffering because of the sin he had committed.
Sharon (22:07):
And it wasn’t his own sin.
Nicole (22:08):
It wasn’t his sins. Suffering doesn’t always come from sin.
Sharon (22:13):
Exactly so.
Nicole (22:13):
And it’s hard to remember, but a very important point.
Sharon (22:16):
It is. It is. And we just need to receive it. And then the other thing is just basically from verse six, that the Spirit can give us joy in suffering. Only God, only God can give us joy. Which kind of goes back to what you said, learning that God is always with us, so that no matter what we’re going through, he’s there. He doesn’t say, this is too painful. I need to walk away.
Nicole (22:35):
Right. I need a break from this.
Sharon (22:37):
I need a break. Because there are times when I’m dealing with somebody that’s in bad trauma. (Nicole: Yeah) Where it is too painful. I need to walk away for a bit (Yes) in my humanness.
Nicole (22:46):
And we’re limited. Yeah. For sure.
Sharon (22:48):
Right. God never walks away. Ah. So good!
Nicole (22:51):
Thank you Lord.
Sharon (22:51):
Yeah. Alright. So what did we learn about living wisely in troubled times? What did you learn about that?
Nicole (22:59):
So I was thinking that for me it would be to hold fast to my faith and remember God’s words to us and what he has done in the past for us. I think remembering is really helpful for me if I am going through a hard time. Like, well, I’ve gone through hard times before and God is with me. So just remembering that he’s not going to abandon me, you know, and trust that, trust that he’s doing work through the suffering.
Sharon (23:22):
That’s the other thing. That it’s not wasted. Like with our Thessalonians Their suffering produced awe and joy among Christians everywhere and, and enabled them to say, whoa, I didn’t suffer in the first two months of my faith. (Yeah) And look at what they’re going through. So.,
Nicole (23:39):
And they’re encouraging us even now. Which is really neat. (I know) Their suffering was not wasted. I love, Pastor Yves always says that, that God doesn’t waste our pain.
Sharon (23:47):
No, he doesn’t.
Nicole (23:47):
And that’s so precious to know that.
Sharon (23:49):
It is, it is. That there’s a purpose in it, even if we hate it. (Nicole: Yeah) And we’re allowed to lament it too. (Yes) Right. ’cause David in the Psalms is such a great example of that.
Nicole (23:59):
Absolutely.
Sharon (23:59):
It’s like how long, oh Lord, how long?
Nicole (24:02):
Do I have to keep this suffering? But thanks for being with me. But how long?
Sharon (24:06):
Exactly.
Nicole (24:07):
Good ol’ David.
Sharon (24:08):
It’s simultaneous. It’s awesome. It is so awesome. Yeah. And we learn that suffering’s a witness to a world that watches not just the Christians, but also to non-Christians. (Yeah) If, if we receive what happens and don’t fall apart, or if we do fall apart, we fall into God’s lap. Right? Because again, I don’t want us to, I grew up a little bit thinking, and I don’t think it was my parents’ fault or the church’s fault. I think it was my own fault that I had to always kind of act like everything was happy and breezy. (Yeah) Whether it was or not. And no, we need to be truthful about the hard as well as the good. The first week after I lost my hearing and the hearing loss was total then like I could hear nothing, I cried all week.
Nicole (24:53):
Mmmm.
Sharon (24:54):
And somebody said, I’m sorry you’re having a crisis of faith. And I’m like, um, I’m not. I’m just—
Nicole (25:00):
I’m just crying ’cause this is sad.
Sharon (25:02):
Crying.
Nicole (25:02):
I don’t want to lose my hearing.
Sharon (25:04):
Yeah. Yeah. And it wasn’t sobbing. It was just like leaking. (Right) You know, I just leaked. It was my leak week. I would, I would try to, you know, the phone would ring and (Yeah) and Ray would say, the phone’s ringing, you know? And I’d be leaking tears, you know, that kind of thing.
Nicole (25:21):
You mourn each thing you lose, in the moment. Like, oh, I can’t hear this at the moment. There’s a process when you’re going through suffering.
Sharon (25:27):
Right. Right. And it is Okay. And it’s not a crisis of faith. You can simultaneously trust God.
Nicole (25:32):
Yes.
Sharon (25:32):
And, and leak tears.
Nicole (25:33):
And leak away.
Sharon (25:33):
So another thing for living wisely in troubled times, we just need to remember that we need to receive the good and the bad from God’s hands. (Nicole: Yeah) Job was good at that. “Naked I came from the womb, naked I will return. The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Absolutely)That is such a hard thing to say. (It is) And yet that is how we live wisely in troubled times. . It really is. So, and then I think also the praying, Paul did a lot about praying. We’re praying for you about this. We’re praising God about this. We need to pray constantly. And that’s sometimes hard if you’ve prayed and you’re not seeing the results. Right.
Nicole (26:17):
Yes. We get, I get so discouraged, so easily, like, oh, I didn’t pray right. It didn’t work. All right, fine. I won’t keep praying. Like it’s, we’re so easily, uh, (Sharon: Dissuaded) discouraged. (Exactly) It’s true. Yeah.
Sharon (26:28):
And yet we’re to still pray. We are, we’re supposed to be like that persistent widow that never stops knocking at the unjust judge’s door. And God says, if the unjust listen to her, he’s, I’m certainly gonna listen to you. He said, keep asking.
Nicole (26:41):
I’m a lot kinder then them.
Sharon (26:42):
Keep knocking. Keep seeking. So, um, so we do, and sometimes, you know, you’re praying and praying and God’s choosing to do something different than what you prayed for. Um, you, you pray and you say why? And you say, well, how should I pray then? Or what can, can I learn from this? Or what can these people learn? If you’re not gonna take away that cancer, Lord, bring good from it.
Nicole (27:04):
Then what else? Yeah. What is to learn in it then if you’re not gonna do what I’d hoped you’d do?
Sharon (27:08):
Yeah. But we…
Nicole (27:08):
Well, that brings us closer to him. (Sharon: Exactly) That’s where our relationship grows with him. (Exactly) And then we change too ’cause we don’t expect him to just be our genie.
Sharon (27:16):
Exactly. He is our constant companion. When things go smoothly and when they don’t. (Mm) And you know, your little, um, stopping three times a day is such a sweet way of remembering that. That even in the midst of, Hey, I prayed for an easy day and um,
Nicole (27:34):
What just happened?
Sharon (27:36):
This isn’t it. Right. Um, to still go to him and say, well, teach me then, Lord. (Yes) Teach me through it. What do you have for me? I feel like if I’ve asked I’ve done what I can do. (Right) He tells me to ask. I ask. And then if he gives me what I asked for, I’m like, whoa. Wow. Thanks. And if he doesn’t, I receive it. And I say, well, I asked you, you must have something better. Even though this is harder, you’ve still given this to me. And I leaked tears. Right.
Nicole (28:04):
Right. I receive it ’cause it still came from your hands.
Sharon (28:07):
Yeah. Yeah. And then the last thing that I found from this living wisely in troubled times, is we always need to look forward to what awaits us after death.
Nicole (28:15):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (28:15):
Because he pointed that out to them.
Nicole (28:17):
He did.
Sharon (28:17):
Yeah. Part of enduring hope is that it will not always be like this. And we need to remember that ’cause when we’re in the trenches it sometimes it can feel like it will always be like this.
Nicole (28:29):
It’s never ending. Right. And we can get discouraged. I think that’s so important. And I don’t remember that enough. And maybe it comes as we get older too, the remembering that the, that what our end will be with Christ. (Sharon: Yes) And if we have that hope, we pick up our eyes out of like, you know, we’re just taking one foot in front of the other. (Yes. Yes) But if you look up and see the finish line. (Right) And really live in that awareness of like, man, it’s going to be glorious. (Yes) It’s coming. (Yes) Have that enduring hope., keep your eyes on Jesus. and not the muck around you. And it’s a little bit easier.
Sharon (28:59):
It is a little bit easier. And apparently when we get there, uh, who is it for the joys…? No, it’s something that Paul said about these momentary struggles will be as nothing. . Paul, who’s been lashed and beaten and shipwrecked and whatever’s.
Nicole (29:14):
Kicked out of every town he’s ever been in.
Sharon (29:16):
Like these momentary troubles. So somehow everything that seems so sloggy and heavy?
Nicole (29:21):
Yeah.
Sharon (29:22):
Um, will, it’ll be worth it.
Nicole (29:24):
It pales in comparison to what.
Sharon (29:25):
Yeah. We’re gonna have tears wiped, we’re gonna have a joy beyond what we can possibly imagine. And it really is all gonna happen. Praise God.
Nicole (29:35):
Hmmm. Absolutely. That’s beautiful.
Sharon (29:35):
Yes. Okay, well, it’s time to pray. Oh, Father, thank you. Thank you that with suffering comes joy. Because you never leave us or forsake us. You are the one that doesn’t think it’s too hard to be with us in the middle of it. Father, I thank you that no matter how long we trudge your Spirit stays by our side. And I thank you, Father, that the ending is good. Give us enduring hope. Father, thank you for the witness of these young Thessalonian Christians that are still inspiring us today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Nicole (30:14):
Amen. We are so glad you are joining us on this journey. We’d love feedback. So write us, what was your favorite verse from 1 Thessalonians chapter one, tell us who you are and where you’re from. You can write us at SweetSelah.org/podcast. Consider becoming a podcast partner. We could use some more monthly support, bigger, small, every little bit counts. We are a nonprofit ministry, so you can even count us as a tax deduction. donate@SweetSelah.org/donate. We love our Podcast Partners and send out a monthly newsletter telling you all sorts of behind the scenes information as well as a peek at our own lives. And come back next week for episode 113, Sharing Christ Wisely. And let’s all endure in hope this week. Our God’s got us. We can totally trust him even in the middle of troubled times.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @SweetSelah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Join Sharon and Nicole for a brand-new series. They'll be studying 1 and 2 Thessalonians. Paul wrote to encourage this new church and gave wonderful advice to them that is useful for us, today. Check out today's podcast and learn a bit about sharing your faith in a hostile culture. You'll laugh and ponder along with our two co-hosts as you learn important Biblical truths at the same time. Join us!
Read the transcript for Living Wisely in Troubled Times-Episode 111Speaker 1 (00:02):
It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word with Sharon and Nicole, we pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole (00:28):
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 111, Living Wisely in Troubled Times. And this isn’t just a title for today’s podcast. It’s the title for our new series on First and Second Thessalonians, the two letters from Paul we’ll be studying this fall. Sharon, I feel like this is really relevant right now because we seem to be living in hard and troubled times.
Sharon (00:51):
We surely do. But you know, I wonder, perhaps all times are hard. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) There’s always trouble. There’s wars, disease, unrest, arguments, a culture that does not promote the best values, confusion in every century, Nicole, in one way or another. But yeah, I do feel like we are living in some extra tough and unsettling times right now for those of us who believe the Bible truly is the word of God. We’re not exactly, um, revered in public places at the moment. Right. It’s kind of why I feel the study of the letters Paul wrote to the Thessalonians is timely. I love my Charles Swindoll Study Bible so much, and what he wrote about what he calls the big idea in Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians is so good that I actually want you to read it for us. (Oh, I’d love to) So, but we’re giving credit, this is Charles Swindoll, and it kind of summarizes the big idea of 1 Thessalonians. So go for it.
Nicole (01:49):
Oh, fun. Okay. So this is from the Charles Swindoll Study Bible. “What’s the big idea? Impressed by the faithfulness of the Thessalonians in the face of persecution, Paul wrote to encourage the Christians in that community with the goal that they would continue to grow in godliness. Paul knew that the people had been exposed to errant teachings from those in opposition to the way of Jesus Christ and the grace of God. He also understood that unless the young church continued to mature in its faith, the danger would only increase over time. So, with that in mind, Paul taught the people that any spiritual growth would ultimately be motivated by their hope in the return of Jesus Christ. Paul never told people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, for he knew that what ultimately inspires change is a life of consistent walking in the power of God’s Spirit. To this group of young Christians with questions and uncertainties, Paul offered the hope of Christ’s return, providing comfort in the midst of questions and motivation for godly living.”
Sharon (02:50):
I just, I was gonna summarize it, Nicole, and I’m like, that’s almost cheating.
Nicole (02:54):
Yeah.
Sharon (02:54):
Cause I just wanna say what Charles Swindoll said. It’s so well put. So there it is.
Nicole (02:59):
Love it.
Sharon (03:01):
Now I’m gonna pull out just two phrases here to talk about for a minute. First, one of the goals in writing, Charles Swindoll thinks, was that these new believers would grow in godliness. That’s the goal for them to grow in godliness. It should be one of our goals as we work with people and in our own lives.
Nicole (03:19):
That too.
Sharon (03:19):
Maybe especially in our own lives that we grow in godliness. But what do you think that means? How do you encourage, for example, in your life, young moms with children and your own children to grow in godliness?
Nicole (03:30):
Yeah, that’s a good question. So, when I think of growing in godliness, I think of becoming more like God, right? Kind of like a child growing up to resemble their parents in manners and behaviors. So what we say to our kiddos, when we’re trying to teach them character traits, we’ll say, Olstads don’t lie, or Olstads are kind and loving. So we’re trying to remind them who they are and whose they are. (Sharon: Uhhuh) And those character traits are ones that God has as well. So I think that helps to instill that within them. And then in that same way, I remind myself of the character traits of God that I want to grow into, either by saying a verse I’ve memorized (Yeah) or that I read off the fridge because it’s harder to memorize things nowadays. Or I’ll repeat a phrase throughout the day when I start to display less than godly character qualities. And that’s usually followed by a prayer for patience.
Sharon (04:23):
I love it. I love finding a verse for the day. I really do. Or just a phrase for whatever time of life I’m in. (Nicole: Yes) It really does help. And it’s God’s word. (Yeah) So we know it’s, you know, a good thing to be reciting. (It’s doing it’s work, yes) With my, when I was going through my hearing trouble, one of the phrases is from Revelation in a totally different context, but I kind of absconded with it. “This calls for patient endurance,”
Nicole (04:50):
That’s perfect.
Sharon (04:50):
Isn’t it?
Nicole (04:51):
I love it. And I just would grin and say, well, Lord, sometimes what you want from me is just patient endurance. Thank you Jesus. And so I agree. I think staying in his word, knowing God, if we wanna be more like God (Nicole: Yeah) we need to know who he is. (Yes) And so introducing your children to who he is and also the grace he gives when we lie, even though we’re an Olstad.
Nicole (05:15):
Yes. Quite often actually like, wait a minute.
Sharon (05:20):
Yeah. Yeah. All that stuff helps in Godly living, I think.
Nicole (05:22):
Yes. For sure.
Sharon (05:24):
Well, the other thoughts Swindoll brings out that I really like is that we don’t grow on our own strength. I mean, we can do the Bible study, we can recite the verses, we can do our daily quiet times, la-di-la-di-da, we can do all the spiritual disciplines, which we should. (Nicole: Yes) Because that puts us in a place to hear from God. But we grow when we walk in the power of God’s Spirit. (Mm-hmm) And we can check the boxes without ever checking in with God. (Yeah) Right? Unfortunately.
Nicole (05:50):
That’s so scary.
Sharon (05:51):
So for me, that starts with how I begin my day. When I carve out that little quiet time, I’m putting my marker down, you know, God first, Lord, I want you, this matters to me more than anything, and I need your help. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) So it can’t be just, I’m doing the quiet time as a chore. It’s, the most important part is the request for help. (Yeah) Right. (Yep) It’s not just, ‘Right, I’m reading the scripture, I’ve learned wise things, I’m smarter biblically, and okay, I’m done. It’s Jesus, help me with my day. (Mm-hmm) Right? (Yes) So it’s the Spirit’s help. So, and then, and then a kind of a surrender to the day, kind of a, ‘alright, Lord, uh, you know what I wanna accomplish, but help me to be interruptible if you’ve got other plans. (Yeah) Lead me by your Spirit. And when the ugly things happen, I’m gonna so need you to respond (Mm-hmm) in a godly way, or I will blow it. You and I both know this.
Nicole (06:44):
Yeah. It’s tapping into that power for the day.
Sharon (06:46):
Right. Right. And he wants to be asked. (Nicole: Yeah) He, he doesn’t want us just to assume he’ll be there. He says, ‘Ask me, ask me’. And it’s a humbling thing. So, anyways, I think that’s really good too.
Nicole (06:57):
That is really good. Yeah. No, absolutely. I think time in his word in the morning is so important. And I also find, so after starting the day with him, it’s prayer. Prayer is such a powerful tool for me. (Sharon: Yes) Especially as a busy young mom, I never forget it at home. It’s always something I can do on the go. And it keeps me in his Spirit, in his power. Cause it’ll remind me, I’ll stop and I’ll pray. And then you get that fresh surge of power from him, the encouragement from him to keep on going. (Yes) Lately I’ve been doing more scheduled prayer stops (Uhhuh) So praying throughout the day as I need it for sure. And then I pray first thing in the morning, in the middle of the day, and then before bed. (Oh, I love that). And they’re quick stops and kind of like a little Selah stop.
Sharon (07:46):
You know I’ll approve of that.
Nicole (07:48):
Yes. But in this season of life, it’s, I do really well with rhythms and routines. (Sharon: Yes) And this is a great way to incorporate those kind of pre-scheduled times with God that I might rush through and miss sometimes. (Mm-hmm) But I know I have three solid ones there. Then praying before meals and you know, here and there. But anytime I can put in a stop with God throughout the day to check in, like, okay, God, it’s noontime. I yelled at the kids and I was being selfish, like, forgive me. (Yeah) It’s kind of like a reset throughout the day.
Sharon (08:16):
I was just gonna use that word ‘reset’. (Nicole: Yep) Absolutely. Yeah. We need to schedule stuff like that. (Oh yeah) I remember back a long time ago when I would wanna, you know, drive an hour to see my parents and my, it was two hours, I think, see my parents and my in-laws when we lived at Fort Devin’s, one of our stops. And it never worked out. You know, it just never did ’cause I filled up my calendar with other things. (Mm-hmm) It wasn’t until I set aside Wednesdays as the day. (Oh yeah) that then I saw them every week. And if I missed the occasional Wednesday, at least I had that rhythm, like you said. (Yes) And it’s the same with the Lord. Setting up a special time ensures that at least it happens then.
Nicole (08:54):
Right. Even if I forget in between those times. (Sharon: Yes) I have three solid markers with God. (Yes) That gets my mind set back on him.
Sharon (09:00):
Yep. Yep. Back on him where it belongs. (Nicole: Yep) And then we’re Spirit led. So (Yes) Cool. Well this is Paul’s goal for the Thessalonians as he’s writing to them, is to help them be Spirit led. (Mm-hmm) To live a godly life. To not be led astray by people that are gonna come in and tell them that they’re doing it wrong. (Mm-hmm) So, um, but we’re gonna start this study at the beginning and that’s before the Thessalonians actually knew Jesus. So I’m excited about that. We’re gonna go to Acts of course, to do that. So how did Paul meet the people, um, in Thessalonica? Let’s read Acts 17:1-15 and find out now. So Nicole, you’re gonna start with verse one. We’ll read back and forth. Um, let’s get introduced to these people and see how they came to know Jesus.
Nicole (09:49):
Yeah, sounds good. “So Paul and Silas then traveled to the towns of Amphipolis (Sharon: Good job) and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica where there was a Jewish synagogue.”
Sharon (10:03):
“As was Paul’s custom, he went to the synagogue’s service and for three Sabbaths in a row, he used the scriptures to reason with the people.”
Nicole (10:13):
“He explained the prophecies and proved that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead. He said, this Jesus I’m telling you about is the Messiah.”
Sharon (10:22):
“Some of the Jews who listened were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with many God-fearing Greek men. And quite a few prominent women.” Oh.
Nicole (10:32):
“But some of the Jews were jealous. So they gathered some troublemakers from the marketplace to form a mob and start a riot. They attacked the home of Jason searching for Paul and Silas so that they could drag them out to the crowd.”
Sharon (10:45):
Oh my word. “Not finding them there, they dragged out Jason and some of the other believers instead and took them before the city council. Paul and Silas have caused trouble all over the world, they shouted. And now they are here disturbing our city too.”
Nicole (11:01):
“And Jason has welcomed them into his home. They’re all guilty of treason against Caesar for they profess allegiance to another King named Jesus.”
Sharon (11:11):
“The people of the city, as well as the city council, were thrown into turmoil by these reports.”
Nicole (11:17):
“So the officials forced Jason and the other believers to post bond and then they released them.”
Sharon (11:22):
I’m just gonna hit a pause here for a minute. Note that nobody was upset when Paul was there preaching. It wasn’t until people stirred up a mob that anybody even got upset about it.
Nicole (11:32):
Yeah. Isn’t that interesting?
Sharon (11:33):
Goodness gracious. Okay, verse 10, “That very night the believers sent Paul and Silas to Berea. When they arrived there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.”
Nicole (11:42):
“And the people of Berea were more open-minded that those in Thessalonica. And they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.”
Sharon (11:54):
“As a result, many Jews believed, as did many of the prominent Greek women and men.”
Nicole (11:59):
“But when some Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God in Berea, they went there and stirred up trouble.”
Sharon (12:06):
Good grief. Not enough that they got him out of Thessalonica. They’re gonna go follow him.
Nicole (12:11):
Yeah. That’s stressful.
Sharon (12:13):
Yikes. Verse 14, “The believers acted at once, sending Paul on to the coast while Silas and Timothy remained behind.”
Nicole (12:22):
“Those escorting. Paul went with him all the way to Athens. Then they returned to Berea with instructions for Silas and Timothy to hurry and join them.”
Sharon (12:31):
Okay. Well, yeah, so. Paul and Silas are on their first missionary journey together. It’s Paul’s second missionary journey, but the first one with Silas, because he was on his first journey with Barnabas (NIcole: Yes) we talked about last spring as the guy who literally got the new name, son of encouragement. ’cause he was so encouraging. So Paul and Barnabas actually parted ways. Nicole, remind us why.
Nicole (12:54):
Yeah. They had a really intense, uh, disagreement about John Mark and whether or not he should be allowed to come with them again after abandoning them on the first missionary trip that he went with them on.
Sharon (13:04):
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And Barnabas, our encourager is like, give him another chance. And Paul’s like, this is too important.
Nicole (13:10):
Right.
Sharon (13:11):
So now Barnabas and John Mark are preaching in one place, and Paul and Silas have gone in another direction. He’s usually invited to speak as a guest and he always points to Jesus in what he reads from the Old Testament, there’s no New Testament. He’s in the process of writing it basically.
Nicole (13:31):
That’s right. They’re living it.
Sharon (13:33):
Yeah. They’re living the New Testament. Isaiah and many of the prophets so clearly point to Jesus in their prophecies. So Paul just unpacks this and shows the people that Messiah has indeed come. It’s like, read this. This is what Jesus did, kind of thing. (Nicole: Yeah) So we’re actually going to do this together. We’re gonna read Isaiah 53:1-12. Just listen to these words. This describes what exactly happened to Jesus in the time when these people were still living. I mean, it had just happened a couple of decades ago. It’s fresh. Anyone can verify that Jesus lived, died, was crucified and that many, many saw him alive again afterward. This is why Paul would unpack these scriptures to open eyes to the truth. (Mm-hmm) Oh my goodness. So. (Cool) Alright, well, got carried away. Let’s read, um, Isaiah 53. I think what I wanna do is read it in two parts. So can you read 53:1-6? (Sure) Thanks.
Nicole (14:28):
All right. “Who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm? My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot. Like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance. Nothing to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised and we did not care. Yet, it was our weaknesses he carried. It was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins. But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.”
Sharon (15:25):
Okay. So, I mean, I have no idea what passage Paul read. I’m just thinking this is one of them. Because the Jews were expecting a warrior King. (NIcole: Yes) Like David, right? (Yep) So he had to show them from Isaiah that that’s not what was prophesied. (Mm-hmm) What was prophesied was somebody where there was nothing majestic in his appearance at all. (Right) He was despised and rejected. This is the Jesus that came and it’s right in the scripture. So, so cool. Well, let me pick it up at verse seven. Let me read the rest. “He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. Unjustly condemned he was led away. And no one cared that he died without descendants. That his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people. He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone, but he was buried like a criminal. He was put in a rich man’s grave, but it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life. And the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands. When he sees all that he has accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous. For he will bear all their sins. I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.” There’s the cross, right there. There’s the cross, there’s the resurrection. There’s even the weirdness that he died a criminal’s death and was buried in a rich man’s grave. (Right) Both of which happened.
Nicole (17:25):
All the details are in there.
Sharon (17:26):
All the details.
Nicole (17:27):
That’s amazing.
Sharon (17:28):
It’s so cool. So I think Paul would read and explain and just testify to what he saw as well in each place he landed, you know, as he’d go, (NIcole: Oh yeah) from synagogue to synagogue. He’s like, you guys, it’s right here. (Wow) Jesus has come and let me prove it to you from our Bible.
Nicole (17:45):
That’s really neat.
Sharon (17:45):
Yeah. So cool. And some Jews were persuaded as well as some Greeks. So Thessalonica is in northern Greece, what was called Macedonia at the time. So Jason is one of the guys that must have received the truth about what Paul said. (Nicole: Right) And Jason invites him into his home. I’m assuming Paul and Silas were like living there. That’s why they thought they, when they burst into Jason’s house. (Right, right) that they’d find him there. So what a cost for Jason, who has, I mean like a week ago, the most, maybe two months ago, believed that Jesus was Messiah. (Right) And now things, bad things are going to happen.
Nicole (18:25):
Yeah. He gets pulled out of his house and thrown in jail. That’s not, that’s a, a rude awakening to Christian faith, huh?
Sharon (18:32):
It sure is. I dunno about you but when I prayed and asked Jesus into my heart at four,
Nicole (18:36):
I wasn’t expecting that!
Sharon (18:38):
And I didn’t get that. Nobody persecuted me.
Nicole (18:41):
Right. Wow. So, so Jason ends up in prison with a few others, but Paul and Silas evidently weren’t in the home at the time.
Sharon (18:48):
Yeah. It kind of reads like a spy novel, doesn’t it?
Nicole (18:50):
I know, it’s very exciting. Like, where are they?
Sharon (18:52):
Yeah, I want a movie made of it. You know? They’re breaking down the doors, where are they? (Nicole: Right) And Jason’s like, oh, thank goodness they’re not here. (Yeah) Get word to them. Send the servant out by the back door. Tell them to run. I don’t know. God kept them safe somehow so they could be smuggled out of the city. (Oh yeah) So most commentators believe that after the three weeks of teaching in the synagogue, Paul and Silas probably stayed longer, a few months. (Okay) ‘Cause that’s normally what happened. Paul would preach for three weeks, people would get mad at him, kick ’em outta the synagogue, then he’d preach for everybody. And then people would get mad at ’em. (Right) Throw him out of all the cities. Just kind of the way it is. So, um, but boy, oh boy, it caused a riot eventually (Mm-hmm) because people didn’t like what Paul was saying. And these new believers were put in prison. (Mm-hmm) Have you ever been in prison by, I mean, I —-
Nicole (19:39):
I love that.
Sharon (19:39):
I don’t necessarily mean as a prisoner. I mean, you could share that if it’s true.
Nicole (19:42):
Well, there was this one time.
Sharon (19:45):
But I mean, have you ever gone to jail?
Nicole (19:47):
No. Well, only with my kids to see the local police station for a field trip. (Sharon: Yeah, yeah, yeah) So nothing too nefarious.
Sharon (19:52):
Oh, my word. When I was in Germany, one of the things that I joined was prison ministry. (Nicole: Oh, neat) And there was a holding cell or facility for bad American soldiers. (Oh wow) Who, you know, were awaiting trial for, I mean, murder, rape. (Oh wow) Stealing, smuggling. (Yeah) Bad guys. Really bad guys. And we went in there to do a chapel service once a week. And I can remember the first time, you know, the search as you go in, taking everything outta your pockets. (Oh my word). You know, getting your pocketbook put aside, going through all these machines to make sure you were not carrying contraband. And then the number of doors that you’d, there’d be a door in front of you and you’d walk through a door, and then the door behind you would go kerthunk. (Wow) And then there’d be a pause, and then the door ahead of you would open and you’d go to another holding area where the door behind you slams shut. (Oh, wow) You feel really trapped.
Nicole (20:48):
Like a little claustrophobic, huh?
Sharon (20:49):
Yeah. You’re not getting out easily. (Nicole: Wow) It was really something. It really was. (Yeah) And you know, they were treated much better probably than Jason was treated in his prison cell, you know?
Nicole (21:00):
Yeah. The standard for prison care is a lot higher than it was back in the day,
Sharon (21:04):
Yes. Yes. But it’s still a hard thing to be put away and not know when you’re getting out. (Nicole: Oh, yeah) Even if you think you’re just doing a chapel service and getting out in an hour, you’re like, well, there’s a riot. I’m not going anywhere. Yeah. So, so talk about being put to the test right away. Um, there they are in jail. So what sustained them, Nicole? What kept them Christian with only two months or so under their belt?
Nicole (21:26):
Right.
Sharon (21:27):
Man!
Nicole (21:28):
It’s gotta be the Holy Spirit because they couldn’t sustain something like that on their own. No. If I joined a club or a new group or whatever, and like a couple days later I was being dragged from my home, in prison, fearing for my life. Like, I’m done. This, this is, this is whack. (Sharon: Yes) I don’t want any part of this place. So the fact that they were able to endure, it’s the Holy Spirit.
Sharon (21:49):
It absolutely is.
Nicole (21:50):
Yeah.
Sharon (21:50):
It’s the spirit. It means that their transformation was real. Yes. When they said, Holy Spirit come in.
Nicole (21:56):
Mm-hmm. He did.
Sharon (21:56):
He did.
Nicole (21:57):
And he filled them. (Sharon: He did) And it’s amazing that they didn’t have to grow in the Holy Spirit. He was there full force for them immediately. (Yes) It wasn’t like, oh, we only have a little bit of Holy Spirit. We can’t endure this trial. God filled them completely, fully and full power.
Sharon (22:12):
Absolutely. And they withstood (Nicole: Beautiful) So, so fun.
Nicole (22:15):
It is fun.
Sharon (22:16):
Yeah. So off Paul and Silas go to Berea, which, you know, I mean, this is how they do their missionary journey. Stay until you’re kicked out. Go on. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) I’ve always been fascinated with the Bereans though. (Mm-hmm) How are they commended, Nicole?
Nicole (22:30):
Well, Acts 17:11-12 says “The people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica. And they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. As a result, many Jews believed, as did many of the prominent Greek women and men.”
Sharon (22:51):
Isn’t that cool?
Nicole (22:51):
Really cool. So they were open-minded. They were willing to listen to them. (Sharon: Yes) But they didn’t just accept it blindly. They went back to the scriptures and made sure what they were saying was the truth.
Sharon (23:01):
I love that.
Nicole (23:01):
That’s really neat.
Sharon (23:02):
And I love that they’re commended for that. (Nicole: Yes) They’re not, they weren’t expected to blindly listen to someone they didn’t know. (Right) But Paul’s talking from the Bible, their Bible, they’re God’s word, which is also ours. (Right) And they’re seeing the truth in it. It’s so, so fun. (It is) And evidently it also tells us something about the Jewish folk in Thessalonica because they weren’t as open-minded. The Bereans get more praise. (Yeah) The Jewish people are the ones that, well, some of them, I mean, Jason could have been one of the Jews that did believe, but the Jews that did not believe were so ticked off they went to Berea to stir up trouble there too.
Nicole (23:36):
That’s right. Oh my word.
Sharon (23:38):
So, for crying out loud. So I think we’ve talked about this before, but I think that we have to be so careful ourselves when we hear a speaker, when we read a book, (Nicole: Mm-hmm) we hear a preacher, to go back like a Berean and compare it to the scriptures to make sure things are not taken out of context.(Yes) It’s so important we read the Bible itself and we read it in context and we’re not led astray just because somebody says a couple of Bible verses that could have been pulled out of context.
Nicole (24:06):
Yeah, absolutely. Well, it’s— that way we won’t be led astray by false teaching or even a simple human error. (Sharon: Yes) I mean, the person, our pastors and teachers and friends, we’re all human and we’re prone to error or mistaking something. (Exactly)So even just to, to know that and be aware of it. (Yes) And to trust that the Holy Spirit can teach us things when we study with him, you know?
Sharon (24:25):
Absolutely. Yeah. And just, just a plug for the pastors at our church who are amazing,
Nicole (24:30):
They really are.
Sharon (24:31):
My husband Ray, the very careful historian. (Nicole: Yes) Um, he catches errors easily. So then he’ll go and he’ll talk to the pastor one-on-one. When you said this historically, it was actually ta-dah ta-dah. (Right, right) You know, or this sounded contradictory. Every pastor has thanked him, gone back and researched. Nathan once wrote a paper for Ray.
Nicole (24:53):
Oh my goodness.
Sharon (24:53):
Our, our pastors are fabulous. There was no, well, I’m the authority here. Did you go to seminary? None of that. There was a humility. There was a, you know, looking at it with Ray.
Nicole (25:05):
And a learning moment. That’s really neat.
Sharon (25:06):
They’re phenomenal.
Nicole (25:08):
Aw. We’re so blessed by them.
Sharon (25:09):
We’re so blessed. We’re so, so, so blessed. Oh my goodness. So good. Well, Paul and Silas had to leave Berea as well after the Thessalonians that didn’t believe went and shoved them out of there too.
Nicole (25:19):
Oh my goodness.
Sharon (25:20):
So, um, what a job.
Nicole (25:22):
I know, right. Stay till everyone gets angry, then move on along.
Sharon (25:26):
Yeah. You know, I know that there’s more persecution of Christians now. I know there is. (Nicole: Yeah) But I feel like we haven’t really hit that level yet. What do you think?
Nicole (25:34):
No, I don’t think so either. (Sharon: No, no) You know, I think about it and I’ve never had my life threatened. I haven’t been in prison for my faith. I don’t worry about my children. We go to church and I’m not, my first thought isn’t, oh, I hope someone doesn’t come and arrest us today or come in to hurt us. It’s a very beautiful, freeing thing to worship God in our country right now. (Sharon: It is, it is) I mean, definitely get made fun of. We’re definitely getting some pressure (Right) and we’re made to feel— But that’s, I still don’t fear for my life yet.
Sharon (26:00):
Not yet.
Nicole (26:00):
Or imprisoned? Not yet. Let’s hope it’s further down the line.
Sharon (26:03):
I know it. And, and we both need to be grateful. (Nicole: Yes) So grateful and also aware that God’s people sometimes are called to have patient endurance (Yes) during persecution. That nobody’s promised Sharon that she gets to live and die sitting on her cushy brown couch, doing her quiet time with her perfectly made cup of tea. Right? (Right) I mean, I’ll sign up for that till the day I die but at any moment, if something happens, I need to be willing, like Paul and Silas, to take the hard with the good. (Mmm. Absolutely) Our Lord is worth it. (Yeah) Right, right? (No, very good). Well, this season we are going to go verse by verse through the letters Paul wrote that new tiny church in Thessalonica, we’re going to learn how to mature in the faith, in the midst of persecution and trouble. (Mm-hmm) Because that’s how they started out. We’re going to be encouraged by end times information and strengthened to stand firm right where we are. I love these letters so much. I really do. They’re some of my favorites. But I always say that. They were, they were both written shortly after Paul’s visit. After all, he wasn’t there that long. He needed to say more. (Nicole: Right, right) He had so much more to say and it has great value and relevance for us today. (Yes) So let’s pray. Father, I thank you for this study. I thank you for how timely it is as we live in more troubled times where, um, Christians are not respected, sometimes with good reason, today. Father teach us through troubled times, teach us through our own, and as we study what happened at Thessalonica, Lord, show us, show us principles and truths that will help us live wisely today. Thank you Lord. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole (27:55):
Thanks for joining us today. We would be so encouraged if you would write us at Sweetselah.org/podcast or donate to this ongoing ministry @sweetselah.org/donations. We love chatting with you each week and hope this series inspires all of us to live wisely in hard times. I’m so eager to get started, and I hope you will join us each week as we unpack God’s word together. Come back next week for episode 112, Enduring Hope.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found@sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can print or download the transcript here.
Join Nicole and Sharon and a host of others as we share our own journey toward a podcast totally run and fueled by God because of our own weaknesses. This one is personal. And short. Because after our sharing, come interviews with followers and friends plus the people behind the scenes at WORD Radio. This is our last episode of Season Seven and it's full of celebration, giving glory to the One who gives strength when we are weak. Enjoy! See you in September 2023 for Season Eight ...
Want to become a Podcast Partner? We'd love to have you on our team! You will get exclusive emails from Nicole and Sharon and our deepest gratitude if you are led by God to become a monthly donor. Seriously, even a $3 a month donation would be such a help. Go to DONATIONS tab on this website and sign up today. Write that you are choosing to be a Podcast Partner in the Comments section. Thanks.
Read the transcript for His Strength in our Weakness. 100th Episode Celebration -Episode 110Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to a podcast designed to bring biblical encouragement to your weary soul. We are so glad you’re listening and we pray God blesses you and strengthens you in your walk with him. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is brought to you by the cooperative efforts of Sweet Selah Ministries and Word Radio. Sit back and enjoy.
Nicole (00:28):
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 110, His Strength In Our Weakness. This is our last episode for season seven, and it’s a bit different from a normal episode. We are actually taping it early during our 100th episode podcast party April 1st. As we talked about how to celebrate 100 episodes, we both wanted to make sure God got the glory, particularly because we know our own weaknesses so well. Let’s start right there with our weaknesses and then move on to God’s strength. Sharon, tell us what makes you feel weak when it comes to creating and producing a podcast.
Sharon (01:06):
Well, to start with, I couldn’t produce a podcast to save my life, which is why we are so grateful to Word Radio for helping us with it.
Nicole (01:14):
Yes.
Sharon (01:15):
I’m not a technology person.
Nicole (01:16):
No
Sharon (01:17):
I only like computers when they work. I want to pound on them with my little fist when they do not. And I remember during Covid we had one episode where we were trying to tape from home.
Nicole (01:29):
Yes.
Sharon (01:29):
Do you remember? I could never get the volume.
Nicole (01:31):
No. It took us over an hour and a half to just figure out—
Sharon (01:33):
We got nowhere.
Nicole (01:34):
Yeah.
Sharon (01:34):
Yeah.
Nicole (01:35):
It was not fun.
Sharon (01:35):
It was really sad. So, weakness number one, cannot do technology. Weakness number two, when we first started, I’d never listened to a podcast. I actually didn’t know what they were. (Nicole: Really?) I had no idea. And yet, (That’s so funny) my board said, I think you should do a podcast. I’m like, okay. What’s that? (Whatever that is) And then, general weakness is just that we do so many other things, you and I, it’s not like we just do a podcast. (Sure) You’re very involved. I’m very involved in other things. So the attention we give, it never seems to be the amount I feel, as a perfectionist, (Mm-hmm) we ought to give. (Yes) And yet I feel like that’s where God wants me. (Mm-hmm) I think every time when I come to the studio, frazzled about something, (Mm-hmm, there’s always something) which is what God seems to allow every time, I have to settle my spirit. We all pray together. And I have to remember, oh yeah. It’s not about my strength. (Yes) It’s okay that I’m weak. In fact, God works best when I’m not full of myself, when I’m crying out to him to help me because I can’t do it. (Yeah) So that’s where he basically puts me every time we do a podcast taping. How about you?
Nicole (02:51):
About the same. Yeah. It feels that way, doesn’t it? It’s always something very troubling or very, um, heavy on Tuesdays sometimes. (Sharon: Yeah) I’ll tell you there’s something about that. But I think that is a good place to be because we can’t carry on in our own strength. We have to look to God. You know, I think every taping, I’m always very aware of my weaknesses. First off, my big one is that I’ve battled anxiety all of my life. And there are just some days that I get caught up thinking I didn’t prep or practice enough. You know, and anxiety kicks in and you just forget words. (Yeah. Yeah) It’s like, Lord, give me words. And he does. He always comes through and helps. And even when I think, oh, that sounded absolutely crazy. It doesn’t, somehow he uses it anyway. I don’t know.
Sharon (03:34):
Isn’t it amazing?
Nicole (03:35):
It is you know. And the second thing that’s always making me, makes me feel weak is being recorded while speaking. I have been made fun of and teased my whole life for talking too much, too fast. Like, oh, Nicole, the chatter box. And I’ve hated that about myself. And for God to use a thing that I’m most self-conscious about or most dislike about myself for his glory, I would not have chosen this way to bring myself glory. So it’s gotta be for him. Cause this is not fun.
Sharon (04:03):
I so love that. And I wanted you so much to tell that to our listeners because we want so much for you all to know. That it’s God’s strength alone that enables us to even do this thing. Isn’t it?
Nicole (04:14):
Oh yeah. No, this is not something we’re naturally fantastic at. (Sharon: No, no) This is rather a dying to oneself every Tuesday we record.
Sharon (04:22):
It sure is. It’s sacrificial every time. So
Nicole (04:22):
For sure.
Sharon (04:25):
Let’s move on to the amazing truth that God actually works best (Nicole: Yes) through weakness by looking at Paul’s story of weakness in 2 Corinthians 12:1-10. So why don’t you read verses one through four to start with, and we’re gonna kind of break it into sections.
Nicole (04:39):
All right. So 2 Corinthians 12, “Paul’s vision and his thorn in the flesh. This boasting will do no good, but I must go on. I will reluctantly tell about visions and revelations from the Lord. I was caught up to the third heaven 14 years ago. Whether I was in my body or out of my body. I don’t know. Only God knows. Yes only God knows whether I was in my body or outside my body. But I do know that I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell.”
Sharon (05:13):
Wowsers.
Nicole (05:13):
Yeah.
Sharon (05:14):
So Paul basically starts out kind of squirming almost as he admits to having been blessed with visions and maybe being in heaven.
Nicole (05:21):
I know. It’s kind of interesting isn’t it?
Sharon (05:22):
Yeah. It’s like you know, I kind of don’t wanna even talk about this because I can’t tell you what I saw. It was too crazy. It was too wild.
Nicole (05:29):
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Sharon (05:29):
Can you imagine?
Nicole (05:30):
To try to describe a really strange dream you have. It’s like, well, it’s hard to describe it.
Sharon (05:32):
But it was real. Right?
Nicole (05:34):
Yes.
Sharon (05:35):
So it’s so funny when Paul says, there’s another place in scripture where he says, I was like an apostle abnormally born. The other apostles all saw Jesus and walked with him. Well, guess what. Paul did too. But Paul was brought to heaven, whether in his body or out of his body, he doesn’t know. (Nicole: Yeah) To see Jesus face to face. (Wow) I mean, that’s unique. (Very) Very unique. So he starts off this whole section with, I actually got to go to heaven and come back.
Nicole (06:05):
That’s a good grab ya kind of thing for, to begin a story with.
Sharon (06:07):
It sure is. All right.
Nicole (06:09):
Actually I went to heaven.
Sharon (06:09):
So let me now read the next section that deals with the weakness Paul was given. That experience says Paul is worth boasting about, but I am not going to do it. “I will boast only about my weaknesses. If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so because I’d be telling the truth. But I won’t do it because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message. Even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud”. Oh my goodness. This is so fascinating to me. (Nicole: It is) God allows the enemy in sometimes, he did with Job. (Yeah) Satan said, can I have a go at Job? And God said yes.
Nicole (07:00):
I know. It’s so wild to think about.
Sharon (07:03):
And here we have Paul saying God’s allowed Satan to torment me so I won’t be proud. Isn’t that fascinating? And he’s glad about it.
Nicole (07:14):
Yeah. Oh, I think of a tormenting spirit, I think of Saul. But it was a different, it was a different tormenting spirit, I think for Saul. For Paul. He’s saying here, Paul’s saying it’s keeping him humble.
Sharon (07:23):
Right.
Nicole (07:23):
And close to God.
Sharon (07:25):
Yep. And dependent on God. And that’s why he’s glad. And I get it in the sense that whenever I think I’m hot stuff, I fall on my face. (Nicole: Yes) I don’t do well. (Yes) I need to be kept reminded that it’s through God’s strength and not my own. And I think that’s what Paul is saying here.
Nicole (07:44):
Yeah. And also when you’re going through, if you have a day, I’m thinking of something physical. If you wake up with a daily pain or an ailment or something that , some physical thing, you do have to kinda like, okay, God, this morning I feel even worse than I did yesterday. Like, please help me today.
Sharon (07:57):
I can’t do it without you. Literally.
Nicole (07:58):
Right. There’s a walking with him like, (Sharon: Yes) I physically cannot go through my day and serve you without your help. (Right) So it becomes like this beautiful relationship with God.
Sharon (08:08):
Yeah. Dependence, a yoking.
Nicole (08:10):
Right. Because we don’t always talk to him on the good days. I don’t.
Sharon (08:13):
No.
Nicole (08:13):
When I’m just feeling great?
Sharon (08:14):
Yeah. Off you go.
Nicole (08:15):
Sun’s shining. Off I go. But when I’m going through something tough or a daily thing, I’m definitely gonna be seeking him more.
Sharon (08:21):
Right. Right. That’s good. Okay. Finish the little passage. We’re gonna end with verse 10, but start at verse eight there.
Nicole (08:27):
All right. “Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness. So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses and in the insults, hardships, persecutions and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Sharon (08:50):
Oh my goodness. Nicole, what is Paul saying about weakness here?
Nicole (08:53):
I think he’s trying to get it across, not to view weakness as a bad thing. (Sharon: Right)As a curse. (Mm-hmm) He’s saying that he’s rejoicing in taking pleasure in weaknesses, insults, persecution and troubles, which we do not naturally do.
Sharon (09:06):
No, we do not.
Nicole (09:07):
But he’s saying he does now with God’s strength.
Sharon (09:09):
Yeah. Because then you get to see God’s strength. (Nicole: Right) And you know, I remember when we were super poor and we got to see God’s provision in miracle after miracle (Yes) as he provided. (Yep) If we’d had enough money, which we now do, I’m not seeing the miracles because I don’t need the things because we have the money we need. (Right) And I guess in the same way, you don’t see God’s strength at work if you’re just revving along without some kind of weakness yourself. (Mm-hmm) And Paul needed a big weakness of some kind (Yeah) in order to not, um, kind of be all braggy, I guess.
Nicole (09:45):
I guess so cause he had quite the, he could have been, he’s mentioned that before. He was the Jew of all Jews and had the lineage and the knowledge.
Sharon (09:51):
That’s true.
Nicole (09:52):
He was so maybe he could have easily become like the Christian of all Christians, you know?
Sharon (09:56):
Yes. Because he got to go to heaven.
Nicole (09:57):
Right.
Sharon (09:57):
Right. Yeah.
Nicole (09:58):
So maybe God knew that and out of kindness for him and his soul gave him that trouble.
Sharon (10:02):
He said, All right tormenting spirit, have at Paul. Yowsers.
Nicole (10:03):
Yeah. God knows us so well and he loves us. And even in these things that seem like, oh, why would God send a tormenting spirit to poor Paul? He’s serving God, doing the right thing. (Sharon: Uh-huh) But God sees the bigger picture and he saw Paul’s heart. (He does. Yeah) So there’s a reason why he did this.
Sharon (10:18):
Uh huh, and Paul recognized it.
Nicole (10:19):
Yeah.
Sharon (10:20):
Go Paul for recognizing it.
Nicole (10:21):
That’s so good. He did. Yes.
Sharon (10:22):
Yeah. You know, a lot of scholars think Paul’s problem was with his eyes.
Nicole (10:26):
Oh really?
Sharon (10:26):
You know, I was thinking he was blinded by that light on the road to Damascus after all, and was totally blind for three days until Ananias bravely came and laid hands on him. So maybe that weakened them.
Nicole (10:37):
Yeah.
Sharon (10:37):
We aren’t sure. But there are two passages in Galatians that give us hints that the problem was the eyes. So can you read them for us?
Nicole (10:43):
Yeah, sure. So Galatians 4:13-15 says, “Surely you remember that I was sick when I first brought you the good news, but even though my condition tempted you to reject me, you did not despise me or turn me away. No. You took me in and cared for me as though I were an angel from God or even Christ Jesus himself. Where is that joyful, grateful spirit you felt then? I am sure you would’ve taken out your own eyes and given them to me if it had been possible.”
Sharon (11:10):
So there’s the first one.
Nicole (11:11):
Interesting.
Sharon (11:12):
So scholars look at that, You would have taken out your own eyes, they wonder if he had some kind of, I mean it was unpleasant, you know, stingy eye thing that maybe looked gross.
Nicole (11:22):
Right. Because he says You would’ve rejected me. So it was a visible ailment.
Sharon (11:25):
It was visible. How embarrassing.
Nicole (11:27):
I know.
Sharon (11:27):
He’s trying to share the gospel and tell about Jesus and he’s got these icky eyes.
Nicole (11:30):
With leaky eyes.
Nicole (11:32):
Well, I’ll read the next one too. So Galatians 6:11 says, and this is all in bold print, it says, “Notice what large letters I use as I write these closing words in my own handwriting.”
Sharon (11:44):
And there’s the second hint.
Nicole (11:46):
Yeah.
Sharon (11:46):
Maybe he had to write large cause he couldn’t see well.
Nicole (11:49):
How interesting. I never saw those verses before. (Sharon: Yeah) That’s really interesting.
Sharon (11:53):
Yeah. And it’s guesswork, cause Paul never says, And it was my eyes that I had the affliction with, you know?
Nicole (11:58):
Right. Yeah.
Sharon (11:58):
So people have guessed all kinds of things. (Nicole: Oh yeah) But those are the passages that say that it’s probable, that something might have been wrong with his eyes. (Wow) Yeah. So I can’t imagine how awful it would be to lose my sight, even partially. (Oh, I know) I love reading so much. And it sounds like it was painful too. (Mm-hmm) And yet Paul’s glad. His desire to be useful to God was greater than his desire for perfect health. And he knew that an unattractive and annoying health issue would keep him humble. (Yeah) And therefore useful to his God. And God gave him the strength to carry on because Paul had to continually rely on God and not his own strength. (Hmmm) So as we close out this section of the little podcast, let’s rejoice that God is able to work through our weaknesses.
Nicole (12:42):
Yes.
Sharon (12:43):
Because he surely has, hasn’t he?
Nicole (12:44):
Oh, he has. Every time we record, we always finish and go, Oh, thank you Lord. That wasn’t what we prepared or thought we were gonna say. And it’s always just what he wanted us to say. And we’re so thankful for him to show us every time.
Sharon (12:56):
We are so grateful. Yes. So yes, it’s a celebration of a hundred episodes, but we are not patting ourselves on the back.
Nicole (13:03):
No.
Sharon (13:03):
We’re like, how? How did we do this, only by God.
Nicole (13:07):
And by the end of the race we’re like, ok, keep going.
Sharon (13:11):
Oh. So thank you Jesus.
Nicole (13:13):
Yes. Yes.
Sharon (13:14):
Okay, so we’re gonna finish up with some comments from you, our listeners now. As you listen, remember that all glory goes to God, the one who gives us strength to do the podcast. This is what God can do when we yield. I don’t ever wanna think we can do it on our own because we can’t.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Dear Sharon and Nicole, these podcasts from the book of Nehemiah have been a blessing to me. I have been instructed, convicted, encouraged, and inspired. Thank you for sharing your hearts, insights and stories in ways we can relate and respond to. May the joy of the Lord be your strength.
Sharon (13:54):
Selah Ministries has been a blessing in my life. One particular incident was something Sharon said during a women’s retreat, the importance of those Sweet Selah times with the Lord and how establishing them early on carried her through some of the hard times in her life. I always remembered that wisdom. So when I lost my husband, I was so heartbroken. But it was those Sweet Selah Moments that carried me through, along with amazing people God brought into my life.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
What a blessing this is. I listened to it on the way to work last week. It was exactly what I needed in this very emotional, raw and difficult season after the sudden passing of my brother. I love the format with you and Nicole. I’m going to carefully listen and spread them out so I don’t finish the season by next week. Thank you.
Speaker 5 (14:46):
I just wanted to let you know how much I’m enjoying the podcast. I reviewed it on iTunes and shared it with my clan in today’s email. I hope it brings you many more listeners and their faith is strengthened because of the work you and your team do. Thank you for what you do. And be sure your team knows that they are appreciated too.
Speaker 6 (15:08):
I have been so blessed by the ministry that God has entrusted to you ladies. My husband and I started protecting our Sabbath days and we have noticed God’s attitude adjustments that have been happening in our lives. Thank you for allowing God to use you. God bless you.
Speaker (15:26):
I just listened to episode eight. I swear I could sit and listen to you and Nicole all day. So thankful for you two. I am starting my 21 day challenge today. I wish I could have listened to this earlier.
Speaker (15:39):
So glad to have your podcast available again after the summer break. Thank you for this timely reminder of studying God’s word for ourselves. There are treasures just waiting for us to discover, but we have to do our part and look for them. God’s blessing to you.
Speaker 9 (15:58):
This week has been a real doozy with a lot going on and a lot of moving parts. I was really feeling the negativity all today and walked into the gym tonight with an attitude, I was going to show the treadmill who was boss. Usually I listen to music on the treadmill, but tonight for some reason, aka a nudge from Jesus, I turned on the latest episode of Sweet Selah Podcast. It was just what I needed. I still slayed the treadmill, but my attitude has changed.
Sharon (16:33):
Oh my goodness. Thank you to all of you who wrote in and thanked us for the podcast. It’s such an encouragement to get these comments and these are just a few, you really don’t need to hear them all. But we are blessed to know that something that we have offered has been a blessing to you. We’re gonna hear from some people now that are here in the studio. So enjoy hearing what they have to say. Cindy, thanks for coming to our party today.
Cindy (17:08):
You’re welcome.
Sharon (17:09):
You have a unique, role in Sweet Selah Ministries. So how did you first hear about us before you share with our listeners your uniqueness?
Cindy (17:18):
Well my daughter is the moderator for your podcast, which is spectacular.
Sharon (17:23):
Ah, and the secret’s out. There you go.
Cindy (17:25):
But I heard about you first through my church.
Sharon (17:27):
Okay.
Cindy (17:28):
Because we go to church together.
Sharon (17:29):
Yes we do. Yeah. And the word gets around about Sweet Selah. Yeah. Yeah.
Cindy (17:33):
It does. It’s awesome.
Sharon (17:33):
So do you get to ever listen to the podcast?
Cindy (17:35):
I do, I do.
Sharon (17:36):
Good.
Cindy (17:37):
I love listening to my daughter on the radio.
Nicole (17:39):
That’s so cute.
Sharon (17:40):
Isn’t it?
Cindy (17:41):
Yes.
Sharon (17:42):
She makes it so happy, Cindy.
Cindy (17:44):
Yes. Yeah.
Sharon (17:44):
All Nicole wants to do is serve the Lord and laugh.
Cindy (17:47):
Exactly. Yeah.
Sharon (17:48):
It’s a a nice combo.
Cindy (17:49):
Oh, it’s wonderful.
Sharon (17:50):
It really is.
Cindy (17:50):
Yep. She’s great.
Sharon (17:51):
We have a lot of fun together. We really do.
Cindy (17:52):
You do. And you can tell it. Yep. That’s why I love the podcast cause you can really hear that joy and that fun. So it’s good.
Sharon (17:58):
Good, good. Yep. We enjoy so much, um, entering the word and studying the word, but trying to make it practical.
Cindy (18:03):
Absolutely. And it’s great.
Sharon (18:05):
So. And having Nicole’s perspective cause she’s younger. (Cindy: Mm-hmm) You know, it’s been a while since I’ve had kids and I never had four. (Right). Yeah. (Yep). So Yes. (That’s neat) That’s so fun. So when do you listen? Do you listen in the car?
Cindy (18:15):
In my car. Yeah. Usually all the way to work. (Sharon: Yep) Because it gets me going for the day.
Sharon (18:19):
I love it.
Cindy (18:19):
I love it. Yes.
Sharon (18:19):
Well, thank you so much and thanks for being such a great mom to Nicole.
Cindy (18:22):
You’re very welcome.
Sharon (18:23):
We appreciate that.
Cindy (18:24):
Yes.
Sharon (18:28):
Donna, how did you first hear about Sweet Selah Ministries? Do you remember?
Donna (18:33):
Actually, I do. I believe it was at one of the retreats (Sharon: Oh) that I had gone to. And I’ve been going to a few throughout the years. (Uhhuh) But that’s when I first saw you. And I think one of them Jere Vincent (Yes, yes) yes, he was there. So I think that was one of the ones where I really got to know you a little bit more.
Sharon (18:56):
Uhhuh, uhhuh. I’m so glad. And you get all our stuff, which is fun.
Donna (19:00):
I do. I get your emails every day. You know the daily messages that you have and notes and information and (Sharon: Good, good) inspirations.
Sharon (19:10):
Yeah. Yeah. And that’s our goal is just to inspire and help as best we can.
Donna (19:15):
Yes.
Sharon (19:16):
And, and point people to the scriptures. Of course. Absolutely.
Donna (19:19):
Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And I look forward to looking at the events coming up, things that are coming up.
Sharon (19:24):
Good. Well you just keep coming because I love having ya.
Donna (19:28):
Thank you. I enjoy it.
Sharon (19:31):
So Rosanna, thank you for coming to our party today. How did you first hear about Sweet Selah Ministries and the podcast?
Rosanna (19:39):
Well, I think through friends and I have heard you at the Maranatha Ministries, which you were excellent. And also at the tea party.
Sharon (19:48):
Oh, it was so fun having that tea party, wasn’t it?
Rosanna (19:50):
Yes. Yes.
Sharon (19:51):
At the Silver Fountain Inn. And, um, what do you enjoy most about the ministry?
Rosanna (19:57):
I just enjoy your talks. I think one thing that really stands out is the importance of those Selah times. (Sharon: Yes) And how I remember you shared how it’s so important to have that because it’s what carries you through the trials and the hard times. And so recently I lost my husband, 10 months ago, but it was during those Selah times that I cried out to God that he really ministered to me.
Sharon (20:23):
Only God can take something so sad and so hard and just make something beautiful out of it.
Rosanna (20:27):
Amen.
Sharon (20:28):
Amen. I wanna introduce you, Ron, to our podcast listeners because you are essential to this podcast and I am so grateful. Tell, tell everybody what do you do to help us?
Ron (20:40):
Well, Sharon, you know that we had a combined good idea some three years ago to use the radio studio recording facilities to help Sweet Selah Ministries do an important task. And that is how about make a good recording?
Sharon (20:57):
Absolutely. And Nicole and I have the technology knowledge of a gnat. And so we were so grateful when you said we could come and record here and partner with Word Radio. It’s been fantastic.
Ron (21:10):
I knew it was going to work, but I was pretty sure it would be quite laborsome and it turned out to be easy and fun with you guys.
Sharon (21:18):
It has been. And we always start with prayer. We always ask the Lord to bless it and Ron I’m so grateful for your prayers and the heart you put into just wanting what we want, which is what we say to honor God and encourage others.
Ron (21:35):
As you know, the theme, the central theme for Word Radio is God’s precious word (Sharon: Yes) the Bible.
Sharon (21:41):
We have tried really hard to keep the podcast Bible centered. We love chatting. (Ron: Yes) But what matters the most is that Sweet Selah Moment where we’re actually reading the Word because we know we won’t mess up then because it’s God’s word. Our words are so fallible, which is why we pray. But God’s word is eternal and it’s true. And getting it out over the airwaves, however that happens is a blessing. So thank you Ron. I’d love to introduce you next to Ron Malone’s beautiful wife with a really nice name, Sharon Malone. Sharon, how fun to have another Sharon. There aren’t many of us.
Sharon Malone (22:19):
No. And there are less as time goes on.
Sharon (22:21):
There are. So I feel like we’re quite unique and it’s kinda fun that we get to work together. Sharon, would you tell our listeners what is your role? I mean I think they’re gonna recognize your voice just as you talk. But what’s your role in producing the podcast?
Sharon Malone (22:35):
I was asked to be the voice at the beginning and the end of the program and I would like to give credit to your nephew who gave us our first podcast music. (Sharon: Yes) And I do a lot of the editing and you need to have a good music bed underneath what you’re doing. So I’m grateful for that. And I take the raw files when Sharon and Nicole get done and Ron passes them off to me and I get to hear a little bit of the chatter before and a little bit after as they decompress. And not too much. And it’s just fun because I feel like I’m in the studio with you a little bit and then I have to edit off all of that chatter and then add the intro and the outro. So that’s what I do.
Sharon (23:20):
We are so grateful for you, especially because if we mess up, we don’t have to start all over again. We just sort of stop and say, Sharon Malone, we’ve messed up, we’re starting back here. And then we go forward and let’s face it, we mess up. Yeah.
Sharon Malone (23:36):
Yeah. And sometimes we forget to say, oh we did a mess up. We need to.
Sharon (23:40):
Yes we do. And poor Sharon has to go back.
Sharon Malone (23:43):
And I was, you know, we have to try to listen carefully to all ends and even in the beginning and the end once we see what happens. (Sharon: Yes) So God is always in control. Ron always tells me that when you’re recording, even if the mistake goes through, people need to know you’re human.
Sharon (24:00):
Absolutely. And we actually, believe it or not, we have one follower of the podcast, the favorite parts for her are when we mess up and we’re like, Really?
Sharon Malone (24:10):
And they never quite know when you go off script because your stories are so wonderful.
Sharon (24:13):
I know it. Yeah.
Sharon Malone (24:14):
In your examples. So, and it’s just a great pleasure and a joy to help people to learn to rest in the Lord and spend time with our Heavenly Father and have some direction. And that’s what you and Nicole, you’re good guides on the way. So.
Sharon (24:30):
I think this is the way Christians are supposed to do life. We partner. You know, Sweet Selah is a distinctive ministry from Word Radio, but we have the same Savior, the same Lord, the same love for the scriptures. And when we can partner together, better things happen. Cause trust me, Nicole and me trying to do this without the studio, we don’t even wanna go there.
Sharon Malone (24:54):
Well, we’re grateful that we have this studio. We didn’t always have these wonderful facilities. So God has provided for all of us. (Sharon: Yes) And so we do a lot of ‘one-anothering’.
Sharon (25:03):
We do. We do. Thank you so much.
Sharon Malone (25:05):
You’re welcome Sharon.
Sharon (25:07):
So Carol Corbett, who sometimes does ads for us, thank you so much. And who markets for us. What’s, what’s your contribution to the podcast? I mean I can tell you what I think it is, but what do you think it is? Cause I don’t know if you know how important you are.
Carol (25:25):
Well I do a lot of promotional things for you folks, including gather spots for all of your wonderful events.
Sharon (25:33):
Thank you.
Carol (25:34):
But aside from that, I think mostly it’s emotional support and providing assistance from far off places.
Sharon (25:41):
I was going to mention that emotional support. Yes. And I’m glad you zeroed in on that because just having your happy face in Word Radio and your just encouragement and your sense of humor that keeps things from feeling heavy and more serious than I can be has been absolutely refreshing and wonderful. So thank you just for being you and supporting us in the ways that you do and being in that little background room making graphics and making things happen for us. Thank you.
Carol (26:12):
Oh, you’re so welcome.
Ron (26:14):
Heavenly Father, we just thank you for using so much in our lives, sometimes very unusual and unfamiliar things like a podcast to speak intimately to us from time to time. We know that because the podcast is dedicated around the word of God and about the Holy Spirit doing his work through the word of God in our lives, that things can be accomplished for the kingdom, both for women and men who hear, and done for the glory of God. So we thank you for the time that you’ve given us, that you’ve given the inspiration to Sharon and Nicole and others to formulate the podcast and to have it technically be able to be delivered. Thank you for all of those who have taken part in all of this. We give the past and dedicate to you thinking for the future that you’ll give us horizons of ingenuity and initiative that you might be maximally glorified in our lives. Thank you, heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, your Son, we pray. Amen.
Nicole (27:28):
Amen. Thanks for listening to this last podcast. We are taking our summer break now, but we’ll be back in September. We hope many of you’ll meet us at our first ever Sweet Selah Retreat. You can find out all about it by going to our website SweetSelah.org and clicking on the Refuge Retreat 2023 tab. Comments are so welcomed and appreciated. They keep us going some days. You can comment on this episode at SweetSelah.org/podcast. Donations are needed. Would you consider becoming a podcast partner? Go to SweetSelah.org/donations. Thanks so much. We wish you a beautiful summer and may you discover the amazing strength of God as you come to him with your own weaknesses. God bless you.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @SweetSelah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Once upon a time, there was a follower of Jesus named Joseph. He was so encouraging, though, that he got a nickname that literally replaced his birth name. Barnabas: Son of Encouragement. Nicole and Sharon talk about the value of being an encourager and how the Holy Spirit can pour fruit into us that enables us to be encouragers. Be encouraged! Listen in.
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Read the transcript for The Blessing of Encouragement. Learning from Barnabas-Episode 109Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to a podcast designed to bring biblical encouragement to your weary soul. We are so glad you’re listening and we pray God blesses you and strengthens you in your walk with him. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is brought to you by the cooperative efforts of Sweet Selah Ministries and Word Radio. Sit back and enjoy.
Nicole (00:01):
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 109, The Blessing of Encouragement. Sharon, I love being encouraged and I often need it as a Mama.
Sharon (00:39):
Oh my. Yes.
Nicole (00:40):
So I remember recently taking the girls to Aldi where you have to bag your own groceries. And as I was standing there at the bagging table with my four kids all asking me lots of questions (Sharon: Of course they were) and maybe fighting and trying to help me bag, and I’m trying to sort the groceries into different bags so it’s easier to put ’em away at home, you know? (Yep, yep) And so this sweet lady comes up to me and she says, you are so organized. I’ve been watching you, and you just seem like you have everything so well sorted. And what nice helpers you have. Well, I’ll tell you, Sharon, I was not exactly thinking they were the best helpers at the moment, nor was I feeling organized. I was tired and frazzled and I just wanted to get to the car and put the audiobook on to calm some of that chatter down a little bit. (Yes) But that lady made me feel like I wasn’t completely failing that day. And you know, it put a smile on my face.
Sharon (01:29):
I love that, she saw you.
Nicole (01:30):
She did.
Sharon (01:31):
Oh my goodness.
Nicole (01:31):
And all that crazy. And I thought, oh, thank you Lord.
Sharon (01:34):
That was a blessing.
Nicole (01:35):
It was such a blessing.
Sharon (01:37):
I really was. And encouragement can change your whole mood.
Nicole (01:39):
It really can. And it’s something, so mundane, like I have to grocery shop. I bring the kids cause I have to bring the kids. You just get through it. (Sharon: Absolutely) And she’s like, you’re so organized. I’m like, am I? Well.
Sharon (01:48):
Mothers, mothers need to be seen cause they don’t even see how much they do themselves. (Nicole: Yeah) they don’t. (No) So, oh, I love her.
Nicole (01:57):
Yeah. She made me happy.
Sharon (01:57):
Whoever she was.
Nicole (01:58):
So, how about you? Have you been encouraged?
Sharon (02:01):
Well, I can get really discouraged with my books sometimes. (Nicole: Oh yeah) Writing a book is a huge investment of time and energy. (I’m sure) And there’s such a strong desire in my heart that the book would be useful to those that read it and God would be honored through it. I mean, it’s my heart. It’s like birthing a baby, you know? So I love the writing part. I really do. I love nestled in and talking about Jesus and writing it all down. But I am terrible at the marketing part where you’re supposed to rally all your followers and jazz them up to write multiple reviews for your books. It just feels awkward to me. (Yeah) You know? So for my latest book, the ‘Loved’ book, the Bible Study on the Gospel of John. (Yeah) I didn’t do much in the way of revving the crowds, Nicole. I really just wanted people to write reviews organically, you know, cause they loved the book. (Right) So people who read that book and generally like it enough might tell me and tell their friends, but they’re not writing the reviews, shall we say? Reviews are hard to write and I don’t write reviews myself. (Right) So, who am I expect others to write ’em. I don’t even do it. So I might love a book and tell my friend about it, but I don’t take the time to go to Amazon and write the reviews. (Oh yeah. You don’t think of it) For crying out loud. So anyways, for months I only had eight reviews. I’d go every day. I made myself just go once or twice a day. Not like every hour. How many reviews does the new book have? Right? Eight, eight. Eight.
Nicole (03:29):
Still eight.
Sharon (03:29):
Like, yes. Still eight. Like for a couple of months. And most of those eight are from people I know. I mean, I think they really like the book, but they know me so it doesn’t mean as much. But anyways, just recently I got three more reviews from people I didn’t know as well. (Nicole: Oh) Good reviews. (Oh, good) I know. And I was so encouraged to know the book is a blessing. (Oh, wonderful) Because that’s why I wanna know. (Yeah) You know, I just, is it, is it doing what I asked God for it to do? (Right, right) Right? And a review from someone that doesn’t know me says, oh, it did minister. Oh.
Nicole (04:03):
I’m not just spreading a review cause I love you.
Sharon (04:05):
Right, exactly. So kind words and thoughtful appreciation are rich gifts, aren’t they?
Nicole (04:11):
But it’s true though. And you know, we don’t, I forget sometimes to do those encouragements, if it’s not like a clear thing from God to go and encourage this specific person. (Sharon: Yeah) The daily little encouragement sometimes, you know, we forget to encourage our husbands or my kiddos. (Yes) And they need it so much too, just like I do.
Sharon (04:28):
They do, they do. In fact, I used to have a nag rule, you know, when I had to nag Ray about something. (Nicole: Yeah) Like, could you please fix the dripping faucet or whatever. (Yeah) Five compliments. Five encouragements, (Five) For every critique.
Nicole (04:43):
Ooh, that’s good.
Sharon (04:44):
Yeah. Because I didn’t wanna be known for the nag.
Nicole (04:47):
Right.
Sharon (04:47):
I wanna be known for the encouragement.
Nicole (04:49):
But sometimes you have to remind them.
Sharon (04:51):
You do.
Nicole (04:51):
But I like the five encouragements.
Sharon (04:52):
So. Five encouragements for one nag.
Nicole (04:54):
Oh, I like that. I have to remember that.
Sharon (04:56):
So anyways, yeah, it really helps. And also, I, this is the other thing I did. I’d put the nag on the calendar. I reminded Ray about this on this day. So, Sharon, don’t you be talking about again for another week, so that I wouldn’t get after him all the time.
Nicole (05:12):
That’s great.
Sharon (05:13):
Because Proverbs talks about that a nagging wife is like, they wanna run away and hide.
Nicole (05:17):
Hide in the corner of the roof.
Sharon (05:18):
They’d rather eat dried bread.
Nicole (05:19):
Right. Which sounds terrible.
Sharon (05:21):
I know. So I didn’t wanna be one of those women.
Nicole (05:24):
Well that’s a good way to prevent it.
Sharon (05:25):
That’s so off topic, but just there we are.
Nicole (05:28):
Don’t nag your husband. Be nice.
Sharon (05:30):
Yes, Yes. A little marriage advice, thrown in with the encouragement thing.
Nicole (05:33):
Perfect.
Sharon (05:34):
So, well, today we are looking at a man named Joseph who got his name changed to Barnabas, which means son of encouragement because he was that encouraging.
Nicole (05:43):
That’s so cool.
Sharon (05:43):
Nobody called him Joseph anymore.
Nicole (05:44):
I love that.
Sharon (05:46):
He just went by Barnabas. He would’ve been a great person to be around.
Nicole (05:50):
I think so.
Sharon (05:50):
You know, I just had Annetta, our team member with us. (Nicole: Yeah) She is a great person to have around. (She is) She, her whole ministry is called, ‘I Celebrate You 365’, because she loves celebrating people. She loves celebrating God. She loved everything. She loved the bed I had for her. She loved the colors in my bedroom. (Oh my goodness) She loved the little rocking chair. She loved that there was a water bottle. She, Annetta, is son of encouragement, she’s daughter of encouragement. (Oh) We should call her Barnabelle. So Annetta, if you’re listening, I love you. Thank you for being so encouraging. So, okay, we’re gonna look at Barnabas now, There are multiple passages in Acts about him, so we can’t even get to all of them. But let’s, let’s begin where we first meet him, in Acts chapter four, I’ll read this one. It starts at verse 32. “All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own. So they shared everything they had. (The Apossibles, hah, the Apossibles?) “The Apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s great blessing was upon them all. There were no needy people among them because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the Apostles to give to those in need. For instance, there was Joseph, the one the Apostles nicknamed Barnabas, which means son of encouragement. He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus. He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the Apostles.”
Nicole (07:21):
Oh my.
Sharon (07:21):
So, this is how we first meet him.
Nicole (07:23):
This is so neat. This whole passage is so fascinating that there were no needy among them. Like what a beautiful gift of like hearts of sharing and (Sharon: I know. Yes) really just focused on God. Like, God, what do you need me to do? Oh, okay. I’ll sell my house and give money to the needy and we’ll all be.
Sharon (07:36):
Yeah. And it was all voluntary.
Nicole (07:37):
Yeah.
Sharon (07:37):
It’s not Communism, (Nicole: No) where you’re like, guess what? You’re sharing? You know, whether you want to or not. (Right) It was freely done.
Nicole (07:44):
Oh yeah. And then Barnabas just kind of pops up cheerfully, oh hey, I sold a field. Here’s some money.
Sharon (07:49):
Here’s some money.
Nicole (07:50):
They nickname him Barnabas
Sharon (07:51):
That would definitely encourage somebody, right?
Nicole (07:52):
Yeah. Well they named Barnabas right then. This is the first time we see him, right? In scriptures?
Sharon (07:56):
Yeah, that’s right.
Nicole (07:56):
So they must, he must have been quite a cheerful guy to, get the nickname so soon.
Sharon (08:01):
I know it. And you know what? And he didn’t just encourage with words. He encouraged with money.
Nicole (08:05):
Yeah. With actions too.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
And he didn’t actually have money. So had to sell something to give the money.
Nicole (08:10):
Yeah. It wasn’t like he was—,
Sharon (08:11):
Wow.
Nicole (08:11):
That’s pretty cool.
Sharon (08:13):
Yeah, it’s a great start.
Nicole (08:14):
I like this guy. So Barnabas shows up in Acts nine, and lo and behold he’s being encouraging. So I’ll read this passage now. “When (Paul) when Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to meet with the believers, but they were all afraid of him. They did not believe he had truly become a believer. Then Barnabas brought him to the Apostles and told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus and how the Lord had spoken to Saul. He had also told them that Saul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus. So Saul stayed with the Apostles and went all about Jerusalem with them preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.”
Sharon (08:51):
Go Barnabas. That took some courage.
Nicole (08:53):
Yeah. To vouch for Saul.
Sharon (08:53):
You know? Cause, yeah, Saul at that point had, you know, was pretty new at being a converted Christian.
Nicole (09:01):
Yeah. You’re just like, is this gonna hold or is he going to drag us all away?
Sharon (09:04):
Yeah, cause you’ve been dragging women out, men and women out of their houses. Right.
Nicole (09:08):
Yeah, I’d be a little nervous too, but that was so sweet of him to stand beside him and to vouch for him.
Sharon (09:13):
Yes. Yes.
Nicole (09:15):
When he might not have really known if he was gonna stick with it, you know?
Sharon (09:17):
Well, I know, I know. And you know, Saul telling his story is one thing. People are like, yeah, yeah, yeah, cause we still don’t trust you.
Nicole (09:23):
Right.
Sharon (09:23):
They had a bias. Barnabas is like, listen to his story. This is the coolest story.
Nicole (09:28):
I know.
Sharon (09:28):
Right? He’s affirming Saul’s ‘on the road to Damascus Jesus came and saw him’, you guys, you know?
Nicole (09:36):
Right.
Sharon (09:37):
That’s just so Barnabas.
Nicole (09:39):
Yeah. And then he had just been talking about how he preached boldly in the name of the Lord. So that’s, that’s really cool that Barnabas was able to come along and just, (Sharon: I love it) set the stage for Saul. (He did) Yeah. (He did).
Sharon (09:48):
So, so then Saul, who becomes Paul, and Barnabas become, surprise(!), good friends and partners.
Nicole (09:54):
Yeah.
Sharon (09:55):
I am so not surprised about that. So the next time we are gonna look at them is in Acts chapter 11. And I’m reading verses 19 through 26. “So meanwhile,” (so I don’t know what had happened meanwhile, but we have two chapters we skipped) “the believers who had been scattered during the persecution after Stephen’s death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch of Syria. They preached the word of God, but only to Jews. However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene began preaching to the Gentiles about the Lord Jesus. The power of the Lord was with them. And a large number of these Gentiles believed and turned to the Lord. When the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw this evidence of God’s blessing he was filled with joy and he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord.” Barnabas was a good man. I love this. Luke is, nobody can stop saying nice things about him.
Nicole (10:52):
I know.
Sharon (10:53):
So anyways, verse 24, “Barnabas was a good man full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith, and many people were brought to the Lord. Then Barnabas went on to Tarsus to look for Saul. When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. Both of them stayed there with the church for a full year teaching large crowds of people. (It was at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians by the way”.
Nicole (11:21):
That’s a nice little side note.
Sharon (11:22):
Yeah. Yeah. So here he is getting Paul welcomed again in a new congregation.
Nicole (11:27):
Yeah.
Sharon (11:27):
Come, come with me to Antioch. Unbelievable things are happening here, you gotta see it.
Nicole (11:32):
That’s so neat, I love it.
Sharon (11:34):
Be part of this.
Nicole (11:34):
He was full of joy. He was all excited about what was happening.
Sharon (11:37):
My goodness. Yeah.
Nicole (11:37):
With God, that’s so neat.
Sharon (11:39):
Yeah. Barnabas actually reminds me of my mom. (Nicole: Oh) In this way I’ll tell you. (Yeah) If there’s a family gathering and my mom is talking to me and she sees a person sitting by themselves she is compelled to leave me mid-sentence, thanks mom, and go and talk to them. So, she says as she sits down and pats their knee. (Yeah) Tell me how you’re doing. She can’t stand to see anybody left alone. (Oh, she’s so sweet) She is so sweet. But then of course, if she’s talking to them and there’s someone else, (Nicole laughs) off she goes again, that’s just my mama. (Oh) She doesn’t want anybody left out. And this is Barnabas.
Nicole (12:17):
Yeah. Oh, I love that.
Sharon (12:19):
Nobody left out. I love that so much.
Nicole (12:21):
Oh, he’s so cool.
Sharon (12:21):
Oh boy. But now we’re gonna turn a little corner here. It’s gonna get a little tougher. It’s not tough yet. I’m just sort of preparing us for the toughness that’s coming, but it gets real. (Nicole: Mm-hmm). Just because Paul and Barnabas were Christians and lovers of Jesus did not mean they were perfect people. (Mm-hmm) Which is definitely a relief to all of us who are also lovers of Jesus and also not perfect people. (Yep) Right? They’re gonna have a sharp disagreement and part ways, (Mm-hmm) somewhere in the next few readings that you and I are gonna do. (Yeah) But let’s read the passage, set the stage, and remember that the Bible tells us true stories. (Mm-hmm) The Bible speaks the truth. (Yeah) And real people get offended and disagree.
Nicole (13:00):
Yep. And it’s good to learn from their examples. So.
Sharon (13:02):
It is.
Nicole (13:03):
All right. Well, I’m gonna set the stage. I’m reading Acts 13:1-5. “Among the prophets and teachers of the Church of Antioch, of Syria were Barnabas, Simeon, called the black man, Lucius from Cyrene, Manaen, the childhood companion of King Herod Antipas and Saul. One day, as these men were worshiping the Lord in fasting, the Holy Spirit said, appoint Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them. So after more fasting in prayer, the men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way. So Barnabas and Saul were sent out by the Holy Spirit. They went down to the seaport of Seleucia and then sailed for the island of Cyprus. There in the town of Salamis they went to the Jewish synagogues and preached the word of God. John Mark went with them as their assistant.” So now I’m gonna skip down to verse 13 because it’s really important to the disagreement that is coming. “Paul and his companions left Paphos by ship for Pamphylia landing at the port town of Perga. There, John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem. But Paul and Barnabas traveled inland to Antioch of Pisidia.” So in this passage, Barnabas is called by God to work with Saul, soon to be called Paul, on a missionary journey to the Gentiles. He brings along John Mark, who is actually his cousin.
Sharon (14:25):
Yeah. Isn’t that fun?
Nicole (14:27):
That’s cool. I didn’t know that.
Sharon (14:27):
Yeah. It says that I think in Colossians.
Nicole (14:30):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (14:30):
That John Mark is his cousin.
Nicole (14:32):
That’s neat.
Sharon (14:32):
And so he’s there to assist them.
Nicole (14:34):
Yeah.
Sharon (14:34):
But then he leaves.
Nicole (14:35):
Leaves. So why did he leave?
Sharon (14:37):
We don’t know.
Nicole (14:37):
You’ll have to let us know Sharon.
Sharon (14:39):
Stay tuned. So continuing the tale, we’re now in Acts 14:21 and I’m reading through 28. So they, you know how you had to read this incredibly long list of names of cities?
Nicole (14:52):
Yes.
Sharon (14:52):
I’m about to do the same thing. They went to a whole lot of places.
Nicole (14:55):
They were busy.
Sharon (14:56):
Yes. So in between what we didn’t read, they were in many places. (Nicole: Yep) So picking it up, “After preaching the good news in Derbe and making many disciples, Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch of Pisidia, where they strengthened the believers. They encouraged them (go Barnabas) (Yeah) to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders in every church. With prayer and fasting they turned the elders over to the care of the Lord.” Isn’t that beautiful? (Mmm, that is) They turned them over to the care of the Lord (Oh) (I love that) in whom they had put their trust. Then they traveled back through Pisidia to Pamphylia. They preached the word in Perga, then went down to Attalia. Finally they returned by ship to Antioch of Syria where their journey had begun. The believers there had entrusted them to the grace of God to do the work they had now completed. Upon arriving in Antioch, they called the church together and reported everything God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles too. And they stayed there with the believers for a long time.” Isn’t that nice?
Nicole (16:11):
It must have been a really nice time to hear the stories and kind of feel the excitement.
Sharon (16:14):
Yes. You guys, lemme tell you. (Nicole: Yeah) And I just so love they stayed a long time. (Yeah) They weren’t always on these missions trips. (Mm-hmm) They actually got to rest in between. (Yeah) As a Selah person, (I appreciate that) it’s just really nice that they had rest in between. So. (Yeah) But they seemed to have continued that journey in complete harmony. That’s what God called them to was that first missionary journey.
Nicole (16:33):
Yes.
Sharon (16:33):
They did it.
Nicole (16:33):
Yep. And they completed their work.
Sharon (16:35):
And they completed it. They finished it with great joy, great reports to the church at Antioch. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) They fellowshipped with other believers. They hung out in Antioch a long time. (Yeah) So now we come to the parting of the ways. (Oh) Yes. I’ll read Acts 15:36-41. “After some time, Paul said to Barnabas, let’s go back and visit each city where we previously preached the word of the Lord to see how the new believers are doing.” (Which is really smart of him. Let’s check up on them, you know?) “Barnabas agreed and wanted to take along John Mark. But Paul disagreed strongly since John Mark had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in their work.” Okay. So this was desertion according to Luke.
Nicole (17:19):
Okay. It wasn’t a little side trail.
Sharon (17:20):
John Mark’s like, I’m done.
Nicole (17:21):
Wow. Okay.
Sharon (17:23):
Their disagreement. And that’s not the John Mark disagreement. If I would not just keep interrupting myself reading the Bible.
Nicole (17:29):
It’s such an interesting story though.
Sharon (17:30):
I like wanna talk about it while I’m reading it. The disagreement we are talking about, this one between Paul and Barnabas, their disagreement was so sharp that they separated.
Nicole (17:40):
Wow.
Sharon (17:40):
“Barnabas took John Mark with him and sailed for Cyprus. Paul chose Silas and as he left, the believers entrusted him to the Lord’s gracious care. Then he traveled through Syria and Cilicia strengthening the churches there.” So it was a sharp disagreement.
Nicole (17:57):
Yeah. Enough to part ways. That’s —
Sharon (17:58):
Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (18:00):
That, Ooh. It makes you feel like, ooh, inside (Sharon: Owies!) To think of two believers so in disagreement they couldn’t reconcile. They just went different ways.
Sharon (18:07):
Right. They had to go different ways. And it so reflects the personalities. Paul was driven. Right.
Nicole (18:12):
Yeah. Oh yeah.
Sharon (18:12):
He’s always been driven. And that is why God chose him. Because he, you know, if he’s told to go, doesn’t matter how many cities he’s stoned in, he’ll go to the next city and do it again.
Nicole (18:23):
And he had a hard path to furrow, to preach to the Gentiles. (Sharon: Yep. Yep) To go against the Jewish people. And I mean, he had a tough task ahead of him. He needed that personality.
Sharon (18:33):
He did. He did. And he felt like we’ve gotta have an assistant we can count on.
Nicole (18:37):
Yeah.
Sharon (18:37):
Right?
Nicole (18:37):
Yep.
Sharon (18:38):
But Barnabas, who has the little soft, melty heart.
Nicole (18:42):
Right. It was like, let’s give another chance.
Sharon (18:42):
Let’s give another chance like Jesus did Peter. Right?
Nicole (18:47):
Right. And it was his cousin too. He probably felt that sense of responsibility as well.
Sharon (18:51):
Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (18:52):
So you can see each side.
Sharon (18:53):
I can see each side, yeah.
Nicole (18:54):
And like kind of pick, Oh yeah.
Sharon (18:55):
And Paul might be like, yeah, he’s your cousin. Right?
Nicole (18:58):
Right. Okay, he still deserted us, so.
Sharon (19:01):
Oh man alive. So, but because of that departure, there are now two missionary sets going out.
Nicole (19:09):
Isn’t that cool? God used that.
Sharon (19:12):
Yeah. Out of the hardship. Silas got an opportunity to be with Paul. (Nicole: Right) Which is great. And they went in one direction and Barnabas didn’t stop working. And as we’re about to find out, when you tell us what happens next, John Mark didn’t go ‘Well fine, I’m not gonna be a Christian anymore, Paul didn’t want me’ (Right) at all. So.
Nicole (19:31):
Well, let’s find out then.
Sharon (19:32):
Move on.
Nicole (19:33):
So this story does have a happy ending. We’ll finish with Colossians 4:10-12. Paul evidently reconciled really well with John Mark. This is what he writes at the end of his letter to the Colossians. This is verse 10, Articus, wait Aristarchus—
Sharon (19:52):
That works for me Nicole.
Nicole (19:53):
“Aristarchus, who is in prison with me, sends you his greeting and so does Mark, Barnabas’s cousin, as you were instructed before, make Mark welcome if he comes your way. Jesus, the one we call Justus, also sends his greetings. These are the only Jewish believers among my coworkers, and they’re working with me here for the kingdom of God and what comfort they have been.”
Sharon (20:14):
Oh, Mark has been a comfort.
Nicole (20:16):
He’s been comfort. And he’s asking people to take care of him. So he clearly has some feelings of kindness toward him.
Sharon (20:22):
Yes. Yes. And Mark, instead of being bitter and saying, well I’m not working with Paul again.
Nicole (20:27):
Right.
Sharon (20:27):
What’s Mark doing? He’s gone to prison to serve Paul. (Nicole: Yeah) Where Paul is, I mean, Mark’s not in prison. Paul’s in prison.
Nicole (20:34):
But he goes to someplace not fun (Sharon: Yeah) to serve him. (Yeah). Oh.
Sharon (20:38):
Now this is what should distinguish Christians. (Nicole: Yes) We’re going to disagree, we’re going to have personality clashes. We’re going to see things in different ways. (Mm-hmm) but we’re not allowed the option of staying bitter and not forgiving. (Right) Jesus is so blunt about this. It’s downright scary. (Yeah) If you don’t forgive, I won’t forgive you. (Yeah) Okay. Okay. I’m forgiving.
Nicole (21:01):
Right. I’ll go right now and do it.
Sharon (21:02):
Yes. I’m doing it right now. You know, it’s very clear. (Nicole: Yeah) That we have to.
Nicole (21:06):
And look at what would’ve been lost if that disagreement had broken up all of those men. And if, well, fine, I’m not going. Even if John Mark hadn’t decided to keep going, he wouldn’t have been able to encourage Paul at the end when he was in prison.
Sharon (21:19):
I know.
Nicole (21:19):
And he probably really needed the encouragement and help then.
Sharon (21:22):
Yes. Yes. And Paul’s like, and take care of Mark. (Nicole: I know) He’s brought me such comfort. (I love that) I think as Paul matured in the faith, cause we all mature, a little bit of Barnabas rubbed off on him.
Nicole (21:34):
Oh yeah. And softened his edges a bit.
Sharon (21:36):
Yeah.
Nicole (21:37):
That is really neat.
Sharon (21:38):
So, but don’t you love that the Bible tells the truth?
Nicole (21:41):
Yes.
Sharon (21:41):
It doesn’t, just like Luke who’s writing Acts doesn’t go, well maybe we won’t mention the part about the disagreement. You know, it might discourage people. No. It’s what happened.
Nicole (21:50):
But I love that and I love that it shows the ending as well. It shows cause this is life. We are going to have disagreements. We are going to butt heads.
Sharon (21:57):
It is. Yes.
Nicole (21:57):
But if we are filled with the fruit of the Spirit, if we are daily walking with God, quick to forgive, God takes all of our mess, cause he knows we’re going to be messy.
Sharon (22:06):
He does. Yes.
Nicole (22:06):
And he makes something beautiful out of it.
Sharon (22:08):
Doesn’t he?
Nicole (22:09):
A separate missionary team and encouragement later on. Like we don’t, we have no idea.
Sharon (22:13):
No idea.
Nicole (22:13):
We just have to be faithful and forgive and be ready to serve where he call us.
Sharon (22:17):
Exactly.
Nicole (22:17):
To who he calls us to.
Sharon (22:17):
Exactly.
Nicole (22:20):
Even if we fought with them before.
Sharon (22:22):
Yep. Yep. And we can be at least reassured that even the great ones in Acts had their disagreements too.
Nicole (22:28):
Yeah, exactly. And we could follow their examples.
Sharon (22:31):
Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (22:31):
Oh, I love this story.
Sharon (22:32):
Oh, I do too. Okay. Well, with the little bit of time we have left, let’s look through the nine fruit of the Spirit. And this is the last time we’re going to do this because next week is another kind of episode. So I’m gonna talk about Barnabas and love. That’s the first fruit we’re gonna look at is love. Well, I feel like he oozed love. I mean, it just came kind of poured out of his pores. You know, giving John Mark that second chance is an example of it. And you know, that was just what John Mark needed, I’m sure. (Nicole: Oh yeah( Because John Mark must have felt terrible that he had deserted, but who wants to go to a new town and get beaten up again? (Yeah). Right. I don’t, I just don’t think he was quite strong enough for that yet. And he’s like, you guys, I’m so, my body hurts too bad. I’m going home. Or whatever the reason was. (Yeah) But Barnabas is like, let me take you, let’s do this again. I wanna restore you. (That’s so beautiful) You see love in that. And you definitely see love way back at the beginning when he sold this property. (Oh yeah) There are needy people among me. I don’t need this property. Let me sell it and help you. So yes on love. (Yes) Check mark for Barnabas.
Nicole (23:40):
All right. So Barnabas and joy, I feel like this one’s really easy.
Sharon (23:44):
Isn’t it easy with Barnabas?
Nicole (23:45):
Joy. There’s so much joy and encouragement though, you know, to be given words or a mission to come alongside a brother or sister in Christ, to encourage them and lift them up and point them to God. There’s, it gives back this beautiful gift of joy too. (Sharon: Yes) Because that’s why he was so joy filled. (Yeah, yeah) God equipped him to go and be joyful. And then he received the joy of encouragement, like of being an encourager back.
Sharon (24:08):
Yes. It’s perfect.
Nicole (24:09):
I just think it’s so fun. Yeah. So, he seems to really encourage with joy and he didn’t complain about going with Paul or anything. He just did encourage joyfully.
Sharon (24:16):
Yep. He did. He did. And it’s joy that makes you an encourager because you’re happy. (Nicole: Yeah) You see the good, you’re like, oh, look at that. As Annetta said, that rocking chair is perfect. Right?
Nicole (24:30):
Yes. You see, and he saw, he was so excited about what was happening.
Sharon (24:34):
Yes, yes.
Nicole (24:34):
He was joyful.
Sharon (24:36):
Oh, my goodness. Yay! And he’s definitely peace. He’s a peacemaker. (Nicole: Yeah) In the beginning when Saul is being suspected (Mmm-hmm) and the Apostles don’t want anything to do with him, he’s like, come with me, I’ll make peace between you. Let me tell you Saul’s story, you guys, you’ve gotta welcome him. (Yeah) And then making peace again with John Mark. He definitely wanted to live at peace with all men. So he brought, he brought a desire not only to be peaceful himself, but to make peace, I think.
Nicole (25:06):
Oh yeah. That peace kind of was far stretching. (Sharon: Yeah) It wasn’t just on him. No, it’s cool. I like that. (Yeah) Patience too. He showed lots of patience. I think he showed patience with his disagreement with Paul, it doesn’t say that. (Yeah. Yeah) He held a long grudge and then he was patient with John Mark and brought him back. (He was) So, he had some patience too.
Sharon (25:22):
He sure did. Absolutely. Kindness. Kindness to Paul who was a new believer, kindness to John Mark, kindness to random people that needed the money from his field.
Nicole (25:34):
Right.
Sharon (25:35):
Kind.
Nicole (25:35):
He was a kind guy. Yeah.
Sharon (25:36):
Kind. He was kind. Yes.
Nicole (25:37):
And then for goodness, um, I don’t know. He really seemed to encourage others out of the goodness of his heart and not to further himself or to bring himself glory. (Sharon: Yes) You know? (I agree) In fact, some of his encouragements brought him on rather tricky journeys. He had to go to those places where they were not welcome and they were treated so poorly. So it wasn’t something he was doing to get a kick out of it. Like, oh, this is fun, encouraging. Like, this is not fun. (No) This is difficult. Some of these places were not (Uhhuh, yep) very welcoming. So I think that he had this goodness in him.
Sharon (26:08):
Deep down goodness.
Nicole (26:09):
Yeah.
Sharon (26:09):
I agree. And boy he was faithful, faithfulness. Little John Mark there’s like, I’m done. I’m out of this mission trip.
Nicole (26:17):
Yeah.
Sharon (26:17):
Barnabas finished.
Nicole (26:18):
He did, I like that.
Sharon (26:19):
He finished the journey even though the conditions were incredible. I mean, every city they walked into and then they go back the way they came and encourage, they’re going back into cities that they’d been tossed out of.
Nicole (26:33):
When they knew their faces, they knew—.
Sharon (26:35):
Yeah. But he faithfully did it.
Nicole (26:38):
That’s crazy. Gentleness. Um, I don’t think Barnabas, he didn’t seem to force the encouragement, you know, and I love, I loved when he brought Saul with him to vouch for him. There was a gentleness in that and like, Hey guys, look at what God has done in Saul’s life. You know, and he didn’t get all heated and try to debate with them that Saul was okay. He just gently showed them (Sharon: Mm-hmm) this is who Saul is now through Christ. And then later with John. He just was very gentle.
Sharon (27:03):
He was, and even in Antioch when Saul’s back in Tarsus where he grew up, probably cause he didn’t know what else to do and Barnabas is like, come on. Come to Antioch. You wouldn’t believe the things that are happening in Antioch. Gentle inclusion.
Nicole (27:18):
That is nice. He did these gifts, he did these fruits really well.
Sharon (27:21):
Yeah. He did the fruits well.
Nicole (27:22):
He did.
Sharon (27:23):
And then self-control. I kind of had the same landing places. The faithfulness. He had the self-control to go to the next town that might beat him up again. I feel like that takes self-control because (Nicole: Yeah) naturally we don’t wanna go to the next town and get beaten up again. (No) I mean, I don’t.
Nicole (27:39):
No, thank you.
Sharon (27:39):
I don’t like pain. I don’t even like pain in the dentist chair. Which is why I pray for persecuted Christians whenever the dentist is working (Nicole: Do you really Sharon?) in my mouth because that embarrasses me. It shames me. I’m like, right. So they’re sticking something in your teeth, for two seconds to make your teeth better. You just go pray for persecuted Christians right now in your brain.
Nicole (28:00):
That’s so funny.
Sharon (28:01):
Yeah, it helps. Cause I’m such a wimp.
Nicole (28:04):
That’s great. Oh, I love that though.
Sharon (28:04):
Oh, I’m such a wimp. So I admire these guys tremendously and I’m secretly thankful God’s never asked me to do that. At least not so far.
Nicole (28:13):
Dental fillings are the hardest things.
Sharon (28:14):
I know. Oh, well, let’s pray. Heavenly Father, how grateful we are for the witness of Barnabas. A gentle man who wanted to include people, who didn’t wanna exclude people. One that richly loved you. Father, thank you for this dear man. Thank you that he got a new name because he was so encouraging. It was so much a part of who he was. Thank you, holy Spirit, for the work you did in Barnabas’s life that we can all benefit from. Oh Lord God, help us to be encouraging. Help us not to be just critical. Give us the five good things for the one little criticism, that we are looking for how to encourage, to lift up the spirits of those around us. In Jesus’ name we ask this. Amen.
Nicole (29:09):
Amen. Thanks for joining us today. We would be so encouraged if you would write us @SweetSelah.org/podcast or donate to this ongoing ministry @SweetSelah.org/donations. We love chatting with you each week and hope with all our heart that these podcasts truly are an encouragement to you. Join us for one last episode next week before we stop for the summer. Episode 110 is extra special. It’s called His Strength in Our Weakness. You won’t wanna miss this one. Until then, let’s be encouraging to everyone we meet.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @SweetSelah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Oh to have a passionate heart like Stephen, who was martyred for his faith in the early days of the church. Sharon and Nicole explore his story, together, seeing how the fruit of the Spirit enabled Stephen to have a heart of passion for those around him, even when that passion cost him his very life. It's an amazing story and one full of surprises. Join us!
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Read the transcript for The Power of a Passionate Heart-Episode 108Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to a podcast designed to bring biblical encouragement to your weary soul. We are so glad you’re listening and we pray God blesses you and strengthens you in your walk with him. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is brought to you by the cooperative efforts of Sweet Selah Ministries and Word Radio. Sit back and enjoy.
Nicole (00:28):
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 108, The Power of a Passionate Heart. Today we’re going to look at the life of Stephen, a man who lost his life because of his faith in Christ, but showed a passion and a trust in Jesus to the very end. He’s an amazing example of being all in for the Lord, Sharon. He held nothing back, not even his own life.
Sharon (00:52):
I know, he’s an amazing example for us, Nicole. I am really excited to study him today. He’s mentioned in Acts chapters six through eight, and then a little mention in Acts 22. So let’s discover who this guy is. We meet him first in Acts chapter six in the midst of a controversy in the church. So let’s start by reading Acts 6:1-7. I’ll read verse one and we’ll go back and forth. So, “but”, it starts with but. “But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek speaking believers complained about the Hebrew speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.”
Nicole (01:35):
“So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, we Apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program.”
Sharon (01:43):
“And so brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility.”
Nicole (01:53):
“Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.”
Sharon (01:56):
“Everyone liked this idea and they chose the following. Stephen, (our guy for today, Nicole) a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicholas of Antioch, an earlier convert to the Jewish faith.”
Nicole (02:14):
“These seven were presented to the apostles who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.”
Sharon (02:18):
“So God’s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem and many of the Jewish priests were converted too.” Oh, I kinda like that aside. (Nicole: Yeah) And you know why? All right, this is totally off topic, but I have always loved that the Jewish priests were converted too. You know my theory on this? (What?) When Jesus died the um, what do you call it? (The veil) The veil (Yeah) was ripped in two. (Yeah) This thick, thick veil that should never have been ripped in two, it just did. It ripped in two, and all of a sudden the Holy of Holies was visible. (Mmm) Wouldn’t that convert you?
Nicole (02:52):
It’d be rather shocking to see it all of a sudden when you were not expecting to.
Sharon (02:54):
I know. So I feel like things like that helped to convert some of the Jewish priests.
Nicole (02:59):
Oh yeah. Oh, that’s a cool side— I like that.
Sharon (03:01):
Yeah, side note. So, but back to the controversy in the church. What was it?
Nicole (03:06):
So you have these two different groups of new believers, of Jewish believers, the Greek speaking ones, and the Hebrew speaking believers. There was a little bit of angst between them before this. (Sharon: Uhhuh) So I think like Satan was using that and kind of adding this other little thing. Like one group thought the other was ‘holier than thou’. And the other one thought, ‘why are you so Greek’, you know, in your religion? So, cause they weren’t really called Christians yet. They were just the new, they’re mostly Jewish, believers at this point. (Yeah, yeah) Not a lot of Gentiles. So each group was annoyed that their widows were not getting their fair share.
Sharon (03:35):
Their share of food.
Nicole (03:36):
Of food. Poor widows.
Sharon (03:38):
I know. The poor widows in the midst of this thing. (Nicole: Yeah) So, but at least they knew to bring their complaint (Right) to the Apostles.
Nicole (03:43):
So they brought it to the disciples and asked. So that was good. They did it the right way. So.
Sharon (03:48):
They sure did. They sure did. And I’m very proud of them for that. (Nicole: Yeah) But it is interesting that even in a church situation, you have your groups. (Yes) You really do. So. (Be so careful about that) Right, right. Well, we learned something about Stephen here from this. They chose men who were ‘well-respected and full of the spirit and wisdom’. So that’s who Stephen evidently was. (Yeah) He was well respected, full of the Spirit and full of wisdom. That, that was kind of the criterion to distribute food, which is fascinating to me. Nothing about ‘what do you know about food’? Right?
Nicole (04:21):
Right. Isn’t that funny? Yeah. Oh, who has the biggest cart to drag the food? It was, oh, let’s find someone worthy and responsible. Yeah.
Sharon (04:27):
Who’s wise and responsible. And with food, you’ve gotta be responsible because people need to eat, like, daily.
Nicole (04:33):
Right.
Sharon (04:34):
So you’ve gotta always be responsible in the giving it out. I also kinda like that the Apostles knew they couldn’t do all the things themselves. (Nicole: Yes) We all have our gifts. It takes time, I am a witness. to prepare a talk. And it takes time to pray, to have prayer time. And they needed to devote themselves to prayer and this preaching of the word. (Yes) Because that was the gifting God had given them. And you cannot preach the word without praying first if you want it to be God-blessed. (Right) And not do it in your own strength. So I love that they divvied up the responsibilities like that. I thought was good.
Nicole (05:11):
Yeah. Cause when you first read it, you could be like, oh, that sounds a little bit like haughty, you know? But I think that their heart was, well, this is what God has gifted us and called us to, and they were wise enough to realize, we need to delegate this. Find responsible, good men to do that.
Sharon (05:24):
Exactly. Exactly.
Nicole (05:24):
So it’s very smart of them.
Sharon (05:25):
It was smart. It was very smart. Because what they’re saying is, we can’t do it all.
Nicole (05:30):
Right.
Sharon (05:30):
Which is basically our Sweet Selah message, isn’t it?
Nicole (05:32):
I was gonna say, that, that seems familiar to me.
Sharon (05:34):
Yeah.
Nicole (05:34):
We can’t do it all.
Sharon (05:35):
No. So what has God given me to do? But at the same time, they didn’t abandon the widows.
Nicole (05:41):
Right. They didn’t say, oh, that’s just not for me to do.
Sharon (05:43):
Right. They’ll figure it out.
Nicole (05:43):
Sorry. God will take care of them.
Sharon (05:45):
Right. You gotta pray. We need to talk about Jesus. We’re not feeding you. No. They found men who would be responsible, who were filled with the Spirit. So the Holy Spirit was working in them. (Nicole: Yeah) That fruit had to be there. The love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control had to be there. And that had wisdom in how to do it. So, so good.
Nicole (06:04):
They handled it well.
Sharon (06:04):
They did.
Nicole (06:07):
So let’s keep reading and see what happens to poor Steven now.
Sharon (06:10):
Oh yes.
Nicole (06:11):
We’re reading Acts 6:8-15, and I’ll start. “So Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people.”
Sharon (06:22):
“But one day some men from the Synagogue of Freed Slaves (as it was called) started a debate with him. They were Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilisia and the province of Asia.”
Nicole (06:34):
“None of them could stand against the wisdom and the spirit with which Stephen spoke.”
Sharon (06:38):
“So they persuaded some men to lie about Stephen saying, we heard him blaspheme Moses and even God.”
Nicole (06:45):
“This roused the people, the elders and the teachers of religious law. So they arrested Stephen and brought him before the high council.”
Sharon (06:52):
“The lying witnesses said, this man is always speaking against the holy temple and against the law of Moses.”
Nicole (06:59):
“We have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy the temple and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”
Sharon (07:06):
“At this point, everyone in the high council stared at Stephen because his face became as bright as an angel’s.” Isn’t that wild?
Nicole (07:14):
That is interesting.
Sharon (07:16):
Yeah. It’s like, whoa, what happened to your face there?
Nicole (07:18):
Um, there’s something on your face.
Sharon (07:20):
Yes. Yes. It’s like light, like you’re glowing.
Nicole (07:23):
Yeah. That would’ve been startling.
Sharon (07:24):
Isn’t that–, Oh, it’s so fascinating. But let’s go back to the beginning. Why is Stephen being arrested?
Nicole (07:29):
Oh, don’t you feel like it’s stemming from jealousy? They were angry they couldn’t best him with their words of wisdom. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) Because it wasn’t Stephen fighting with his own knowledge. It was the Spirit. Clearly it says the Spirit filled him. (Yes) And he was speaking his words. (Yes) So you can’t go against the Spirit of God. (No) And I think they were really frustrated, maybe jealous. It’s just awful.
Sharon (07:46):
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I feel like it’s back to what happened with Jesus. They couldn’t defeat Jesus in arguments,
Nicole (07:54):
That’s true.
Sharon (07:54):
But they didn’t, they didn’t want Christianity to spread, so they had to stop Jesus. Well, here we’ve got Stephen. You can’t convince men in argument. He’s doing powerful miracles.
Nicole (08:04):
Oh, right.
Sharon (08:05):
You know, he’s converting people. And so part of it, I think was, we gotta stop this guy.
Nicole (08:11):
Yeah. Before he keeps spreading this message.
Sharon (08:13):
Right. Yeah, right. Instead of going, wow, he’s unstoppable. Maybe there’s something to his message. (Nicole: Right) It’s like, it’s not our message. So he’s gotta go. (Oh, it’s awful) It’s so sad. So, all right. Well now we come to Stephen’s unshakable faith and passion as we see what he says in the face of accusations and angry men. He defends himself by walking these accusers through the Old Testament reminding them of the history of the Jews, who again and again, disregarded God, even though God showed up and rescued over and over. So here’s how he starts. I’ll just read verses one through five and give us the idea of the history. I mean, it goes on for like 40 verses. We’re gonna read five, but just to get the gist. So the high priest asked Stephen, and now I’m reading from scripture, so I should— verse one, “Then the high priest asked Stephen, are these accusations true? This was Stephen’s reply, Brothers, fathers listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham in Mesopotamia before he settled in Horan. God told him, leave your native land and your relatives and come into the land that I will show you. So Abraham left the land of the Caldeans and lived in Horan until his father died. And then God brought him here to the land where you now live. But God gave him no inheritance here. Not even one square foot of land. God did promise, however, that eventually the whole land would belong to Abraham and his descendants, even though he had no children yet.” Isn’t this fun Nicole? He starts by just saying, you know, brothers, fathers, he pulls them in. He’s like, I believe the same history you do.
Nicole (09:52):
Right. Oh yeah.
Sharon (09:53):
So he’s trying to disarm them, to start with ‘you guys, I believe in Abraham. I know the history of our nation’. So that’s how we begin.
Nicole (10:02):
I love that.
Sharon (10:03):
Yeah.
Nicole (10:04):
He’s so good. Well, Stephen goes on for a long time. So we’re gonna pick it back up with David in verse 46 and read into chapter eight, one through three. So I’ll start. “So David found favor with God and asked for the privilege of building a permanent temple for the God of Jacob.”
Sharon (10:19):
Okay. So he’s gone through Noah and all the different people and whatever.
Nicole (10:23):
Yes. And now we’re at David.
Sharon (10:23):
Now we’re up to David.
Sharon (10:25):
But verse 47, “It was Solomon who actually built it.”
Nicole (10:29):
“However, the most high doesn’t live in temples made by human hands. As the prophet says,”
Sharon (10:34):
“Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. Could you build me a temple as good as that, asks the Lord? Could you build me such resting a place?”
Nicole (10:44):
“Didn’t my hands make both heaven and earth?”
Sharon (10:47):
“You stubborn people.” Okay, so now—
Nicole (10:50):
Now the gloves are coming off.
Sharon (10:51):
The gloves are off. “You stubborn people. You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did. And so do you.”
Nicole (11:04):
“Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute, they even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One, the Messiah, whom you betrayed and murdered.”
Sharon (11:14):
“You deliberately disobeyed God’s law even though you received it from the hands of angels.”
Nicole (11:19):
“The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusations and they shook their fist at him in rage.”
Sharon (11:24):
“But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God. And he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand.”
Nicole (11:38):
“And he told them, look, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand.”
Sharon (11:45):
“Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him.”
Nicole (11:49):
“And dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul.”
Sharon (11:58):
“As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, oh Lord Jesus receive my spirit.”
Nicole (12:03):
“He fell to his knees shouting, Lord, don’t charge them with the sin. And with that he died.”
Sharon (12:09):
“Saul was one of the witnesses and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen. A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem. And all the believers, except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria.”
Nicole (12:27):
“Some devout men came and buried Stephen with great mourning.”
Sharon (12:30):
“But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison.” (Whoa)
Nicole (12:41):
That turned ugly quickly.
Sharon (12:42):
Whoa. It did. Stephen turns from reciting history to speaking to the men in front of him who are repeating that inglorious history of ignoring God in their midst. They’re just doing it over again. I think he got frustrated cause he’s like, I’m telling you all this stuff. You are looking at me with disgust. You’re still not hearing me.
Nicole (13:02):
You’re not getting it.
Sharon (13:03):
You stubborn people. Come on, listen. The Holy Spirit’s trying to tell you things. So, but they ignored God in the midst and he’s trying to, he passionately tries to shake some sense into them. (Nicole: Yes) Right?(Yep) So there’s his passion coming out. Well, it doesn’t work, does it?
Nicole (13:19):
No. They get so, I mean, the fact they cover their ears. It sounds like a toddler when I’m trying to tell my little one like what to do. (Sharon: Uhhuh) Even my six year old, they don’t wanna hear. They clamp their hands over their ears they are so determined not to even hear your words.
Sharon (13:31):
They don’t wanna even hear it.
Nicole (13:32):
That stubborn heart.
Sharon (13:33):
This is so sad. They would not listen. Even though Stephen has just walked them through all the times the Jewish people did not listen to their detriment. (Nicole: Right) And hello, we’re doing it again here. (Yeah) They still did not listen. It was so, so sad.
Nicole (13:46):
And they didn’t even respect the fact that, remember his face glowed. So there was some sort of like supernatural holy presence with him.
Sharon (13:53):
Absolutely, going on.
Nicole (13:54):
And they still chose to ignore all of that and all his words.
Sharon (13:57):
And all the signs and wonders, Stephen, he did powerful miracles.
Nicole (14:00):
That’s true.
Sharon (14:01):
They missed it all. So sad.
Nicole (14:03):
It is so sad.
Sharon (14:04):
Oh my word. I gotta tell you a quick story here. You know how Stephen saw Jesus before he died? (Nicole: Yeah) I mean he did. He’s like, whoa, receive me.
Nicole (14:12):
Right. Right.
Sharon (14:12):
He’s kind of made the death a little easier. Well, I had a friend named Barbara who I taught piano lessons and she was one of my adult students. (Nicole: Yeah) She had had cancer in her twenties with young children. And she prayed she could live at least to see her children through high school. (Oh) And she did. (Oh, that’s wonderful) And so she had a really wild sense of humor. She said, why didn’t I pray that I’d live to see my grandchildren? (Oh) Because what happened was the cancer came back and it was killing her. (Oh no) And so Barbara would come to me and instead of actually playing the piano a lot of times we would just talk. (Yes) Because it was hard for her to talk to her husband and her kids about it. They didn’t wanna talk about upcoming death. (Right) But she knew she was dying. (Yeah) And she had a couple of prayer requests. She wanted to walk until she died. She couldn’t stand the thought of being stuck in bed. (Right) And then I added one for her. I said, I want you to be like Stephen, Barbara. I want you to see Jesus before you die.
Nicole (15:10):
Oh my goodness.
Sharon (15:11):
So every single day I prayed that Barbara would walk till she died. (Nicole: Yeah) And that she would, like Stephen, the one we’re studying (Yes) see Jesus before she died. So, she did walk until the day before she died. (Wow) And then Ray and I got there early to the funeral home for the wake part of it. (Yea) And her husband and her son were there smiling. They said, you are not gonna believe what happened right before she died. (Oh, Sharon, you’re gonna make me cry) I’m gonna cry telling you this. They said she sat right up. She looked with her arms open and opened her smile wide.
Nicole (15:47):
Oh my goodness.
Sharon (15:48):
She did Nicole. God answered my prayer.
Nicole (15:50):
That is so beautiful.
Sharon (15:52):
Like Stephen, my Barbara saw Jesus before she died.
Nicole (15:55):
What a gift!
Sharon (15:55):
Isn’t that sweet? Because then you’re not scared. I mean, there he is. Right? There he is. (Nicole: Right. Oh, hi, I see you)
Nicole (16:01):
I just go right to you.
Sharon (16:04):
So I’m kinda praying that for me too.
Nicole (16:07):
I’m gonna add that to my list of things too.
Sharon (16:09):
Because obviously God does these things right?
Nicole (16:12):
Yes. Yeah.
Sharon (16:12):
So he could do it for you and me too.
Nicole (16:13):
Oh, what a beautiful way to go.
Sharon (16:14):
Anyway, I just had to tell that because that, that prayer came out of this story. Cause I knew God did that. Yeah.
Nicole (16:19):
Yeah. I wouldn’t even think to pray that unless—, yeah. Oh, I love it.
Sharon (16:20):
So.
Nicole (16:20):
Oh wow. We have more passages to look at in Acts 22:18-21, as Paul reflects back on that horrible scene where Stephen was stoned and how he argued with God, who asked him to go and tell the Gentiles about the living Savior. This is what Paul had to say. So I’m reading now. “I saw a vision of Jesus saying to me, hurry, leave Jerusalem, for the people here won’t accept your testimony about me.”
Sharon (16:49):
“But Lord, I argued, they certainly know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and have beat those who believed in you.”
Nicole (16:56):
“And I was in complete agreement when your witness Stephen was killed. I stood by and kept the coats they took off when they stoned him.”
Sharon (17:03):
“But the Lord said to me, go for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.” Stephen’s death, and especially the way he died in joy must have made an impact on everyone who witnessed it.
Nicole (17:13):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (17:14):
I love that Paul refers to it again, reminding those who were listening of this wonderful man of passion. Paul must have never forgotten it. I’m sure he didn’t.
Nicole (17:21):
Yeah. He mentioned it again.
Sharon (17:22):
I mean, he’s standing there saying, gimme your coats. Go ahead and stone him. (Nicole: Yeah) And then you see Stephen’s joy, his forgiveness, all the things, A-mazing. (Mm-hmm) So Paul remembered it. He just did. So, okay, well now we’re gonna turn to the fruit of the Spirit. We already know from the fact that Stephen was chosen to hand out the food appropriately, that he was a man full of the Spirit because that was the criteria for the job he did. (That’s true) Nicole, this is what we should do all the time when we’re looking for people to fill positions at Sweet Selah Ministries. (Yeah) Are they full of the Spirit?
Nicole (17:54):
Oh my word. That would make things so easy.
Sharon (17:57):
Yeah. Yeah. Of course none of us are all the time. So maybe that would disqualify all of us.
Nicole (18:01):
You might not have taken me on then.
Sharon (18:03):
But I just love that it’s not like, so how are you at accounting? You know?
Nicole (18:08):
Right.
Sharon (18:09):
It’s, are you full of the Spirit? Do you have love and joy?
Nicole (18:12):
Not what are your gifts? What can you bring to the table, but what do you let God do through you?
Sharon (18:16):
What do you let God do through you? That is the thing. Absolutely. That’s the criteria. So let’s break it down. Character trait by character trait. How did our Stephen exhibit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? I love those.
Nicole (18:37):
I know.
Sharon (18:38):
I actually like reciting them cause I need to a lot. To remember.
Nicole (18:42):
Yeah. And how do we keep forgetting them?And I’m like, oh yes.
Sharon (18:44):
Oh, no, no, no. Wait I’m supposed to be gentle. That’s right. Yeah.
Nicole (18:47):
It’s a good reminder.
Sharon (18:48):
Oh my goodness. So I’ll start with love. Okay, here we go. So well, love, he asked God to forgive them while they were pelting him with rocks. Yeah.
Nicole (18:55):
Yeah. That’s so hard to beat.
Sharon (18:56):
I rest my case.
Nicole (18:56):
Right.
Sharon (18:58):
I mean, come on. He’s, he’s on his knees because he’s been hit so hard he can’t stand anymore. (Nicole: Oh) And he is like, Lord, don’t hold this against them.
Nicole (19:06):
Oh. Just like Jesus did on the cross.
Sharon (19:07):
Yes.
Nicole (19:08):
He was so Christ-like.
Sharon (19:08):
That’s agape love. That’s sacrificial love. That’s the love that isn’t I love you because you love me.
Nicole (19:15):
Right. What can I get out of it?
Sharon (19:15):
Right. Cause they were clearly not loving him at the moment. In fact, they were vicious. And they blocked their ears to not even hear when he’s trying to save them. (Nicole: Right) Right? (Oh) And yet he loved them enough to say, oh God, don’t hold this against them.
Nicole (19:30):
Hmm. That is love.
Sharon (19:31):
So yes. I feel like he had love.
Nicole (19:33):
I think so. So joy. Oh, Stephen was full of joy. He was excited when he was testifying in the, um, at his trial there. He had joy.
Sharon (19:42):
Then that’s really wild, isn’t it? Yeah.
Nicole (19:44):
That is. He had joy serving and then at the end, he had such joy when he saw Jesus.
Sharon (19:48):
I know.
Nicole (19:49):
Oh, my word. So.
Sharon (19:49):
I know, I know. And he shouted it out. Do you see him?
Nicole (19:52):
I know. He was so excited. He could have just enjoyed that private moment with all the other chaos. I’m just gonna look at Jesus. But he didn’t, he chose to share it.
Sharon (19:58):
Oh, I love it.
Nicole (19:59):
And his joy was very apparent.
Sharon (20:00):
I can’t Imagine.
Nicole (20:01):
Because Paul remembered it years later. So, he does show lots of joy.
Sharon (20:04):
Yeah. He’s shouting out, Lord, receive my spirit.
Nicole (20:06):
I know.
Sharon (20:07):
It’s like, okay, I’m ready.
Nicole (20:08):
I’m outta here.
Sharon (20:10):
Yes. Yes. Oh, I love the joy. Yeah. So peace. That’s the next one. Well, he was halfway to heaven while on earth looking at Jesus. So of course he had peace. (Nicole: Oh yeah). Right? Because he knew where he was going. Receive me. (Mm-hmm) So, and he also, you know, he had peace in just the way he was able to start from Abraham and walk them through. (Yeah. He wasn’t panicked) You know, he wasn’t rattled by the fact that he’s on trial for his life. I mean, he didn’t even talk short. I don’t know if I, I mean I usually have lots of words, but I don’t know if I would’ve had lots of words at that time. But he had the peace to carefully go through it all. (Yeah) So peace. He had peace.
Nicole (20:46):
Yes, he had peace. Patience too. I think kind of in that same thing, he showed great patience in listening to the accusations of the men and not screaming you’re a liar to them. I mean, they were (Sharon: That’s true) all telling falsehood. And you’d be so, I get so upset if someone says something wrong about me. But he let them go through the trial and he stood so calmly even though they’re trying to kill him.
Sharon (21:05):
That’s so true.
Nicole (21:06):
He was very patient. (Sharon: Yeah) Even when they clamped their ears and acted so ridiculous. He was so calm and he was just very patient with him.
Sharon (21:13):
I love that. You know, and thinking about it, instead of like defending himself, (Nicole: Yeah) Like, I did not say that about the temple. He just patiently takes them through their history. (Yeah) Trying one last time (Yeah) to turn their hearts toward Jesus.
Nicole (21:29):
Oh. He was focused on their hearts and not trying to save his own skin.
Sharon (21:32):
I know.
Nicole (21:32):
That’s beautiful.
Sharon (21:33):
Isn’t that something?
Nicole (21:34):
That’s not what would’ve been, that would not have been my thought. I would’ve been like, no, no, I didn’t do that.
Sharon (21:37):
Yeah. Yeah. No, he just, he’s like, okay, got another chance. Here it goes.
Nicole (21:41):
Yeah. Wow.
Sharon (21:41):
Not wasting it on defending myself. So
Nicole (21:44):
So he was very patient.
Sharon (21:45):
Yeah. And he was kind. Next attribute is kindness. Well, for starters, the healings, I mean, he healed when he saw people hurting through the power of the Spirit. He wanted them to be healed.
Nicole (21:58):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (21:58):
And so he reached out and healed all the time. I love that. I love that. And then he’s chosen to be one of the food distributors. Well you gotta be kind, you’ve gotta love widows. Right?
Nicole (22:10):
Oh, that’s true.
Sharon (22:11):
And you have to be kind about distribution. You can’t be like, well I’m Jewish, so let’s slip the Jewish widows a little extra. Right?
Nicole (22:19):
Right.
Sharon (22:19):
He was kind to the Greek widows too.
Nicole (22:22):
Oh good. Yeah. He was kind.
Sharon (22:23):
Go Stephen.
Nicole (22:25):
So for goodness I feel like he, his heart for God, you know and for God’s truth, that he was not afraid to speak of it despite facing death. And that, you know, that goodness of God was really shining through him, you know? (Sharon: Yeah) He just had such a goodness about him, again, with trying to serve and help the widows. (Yeah) And then again, focusing on the needs of others despite his impending doom.
Sharon (22:46):
Yes. Yes. That’s sheer goodness.
Nicole (22:48):
Yeah. That’s not something we can fake.
Sharon (22:49):
And that comes from the Spirit. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) Exactly. Exactly. Okay. Faithfulness. Well, I kind of already mentioned this before, but if you’re going to distribute food, people need to eat daily. (Yes) So you have to be faithful. (Yeah) You absolutely have to be faithful to it. You can’t just do it occasionally. You can’t just forget. (Right) You know, I do, I do have a few friends who are, you know, just sort of, they get wrapped up in what they’re doing. They, they forget to feed their husbands.
Nicole (23:15):
Oh no.
Sharon (23:16):
Literally, you know, they’re busy with whatevers, you know? That’s just their temperament. They just flit from one thing to another. So, but Stephen was faithful.
Nicole (23:27):
Yeah. And he didn’t forget. That’s good.
Sharon (23:28):
No he didn’t forget. Yeah. Yeah. So even our own Thursday food pantry at our church, we’re open on Thursdays and people depend on us to be open on Thursdays.
Nicole (23:36):
Right. Yeah. They need to have that stability to be able to , you know, eat, it’s important.
Sharon (23:40):
Yeah, exactly. So, okay.
Nicole (23:43):
Gentleness, goodness, he didn’t scream or throw rocks back at them.
Sharon (23:48):
Nope.
Nicole (23:48):
He didn’t scream and holler and call down God’s rage and damnation on them when they were in the trial either. He was so gentle. (Sharon: Yeah. Yeah) And he started out, I love what you said about he tried to draw them in like, oh, brothers and fathers like, come here and listen to me. Like he showed that caring.
Sharon (24:04):
Listen to me. Exactly. Exactly. It wasn’t until the very end where he is like, you’re so stubborn. I’m trying to show you Jesus. Oh, wake up.
Nicole (24:12):
Right. But he had such a gentleness. And you know, and he said what he needed to say with gentleness up until the very end, even in his death, he asked God to forgive them. I just think that’s—
Sharon (24:23):
Unbelievable.
Nicole (24:23):
Real, Spirit-led gentleness.
Sharon (24:24):
It is. Absolutely. Yeah. And then of course, self-control. Who could preach a coherent message, right? When you’re about to be stoned to death. And yet he did.
Nicole (24:35):
Yeah.
Sharon (24:36):
And he took his time. It’s very long if you read it.
Nicole (24:38):
Yeah. Which you should. It’s lovely.
Sharon (24:41):
Yes. It’s a self-control thing.
Nicole (24:44):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (24:45):
So special. So can you think of a person in your life or in history that exhibited that kind of passion that Stephen had for you know, Christ at any cost?
Nicole (24:57):
Yeah, that’s a really good one. I was thinking, and there was a missionary at our last church, and I think her name was Sophie Janista. And she was a missionary up until she was in her eighties, I wanna say. She just faithfully kept, she’d come back, raise support, and go back(Sharon: And go right back out again) out faithfully serving the Lord no matter what. She had such a fire for Christ and for getting his message out to the world. (Yeah) And I know cause my great, great-Aunt Francis would always write her emails and see how she was doing and pray for her faithfully. (Uhhuh) And I thought like, wow, eighty-five, you could be like, (Retired on a beach) Sitting on the porch and just chilling. And no, she was, (Nope) she was serving the Lord up until the end. (Aww) I thought that was such a— I dunno know, she just, she’s a neat woman.
Sharon (25:33):
I think that’s a beautiful example of a passion that’s like, oh no, there’s no expiration date on my passion here.
Nicole (25:38):
Yeah. That’s the thing.
Sharon (25:39):
I need to keep sharing. I love these people that I’m working with. Yeah. (Nicole: I like that. How about you?) I I thought of Jim Elliott, of course. (Oh yeah) ‘He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose’. (Mm-hmm) I’ve always loved that quote. He’s like, so I give up my life. I’m not in charge of my life anyways. I could get run over tomorrow. Right. (Yeah) So he’s no fool to give up a life we’re not in charge of anyways. (Right) To gain what we can’t lose, A place with Christ. You know? So his example of just doing what God called him to do, knowing it could kill him, which it did.
Nicole (26:11):
Right. Yeah.
Sharon (26:13):
Yeah. So I love that one. And then I had, we called him Uncle Paul, but he wasn’t really my uncle. My dad when he was in the Air Force and living in England, which is where of course he met Mummy. (Nicole: Yeah) He was, I mean if you read his diaries, talk about a man of passion. My dad was a man of passion. Every single thing he saw as a gift from God. (Wow) So he had a habit of thumbing, you know, to get a ride cause he had no car. (Oh yeah) And then witnessing to everybody that picked him up. (Oh my goodness. How sweet) So Uncle Paul picked him up one day and Paul was an alcoholic about to lose his marriage, and my dad brought him to Christ. (Oh my goodness) So then Uncle Paul was so passionate about Christ that he was one of God’s smugglers. He, he not only smuggled Bibles into eastern Europe, he once smuggled a van in. And I’m like, well, how did you get back? Right? But I think it was— probably. I think he probably had somebody else that drove him back. But that was his mission. (Wow) He had such a passion and he gave up the drink and he was sold out to the point that he risked his life multiple times (Oh, that’s so beautiful) for the sake of the gospel. Yeah. So we have known people, haven’t we? (Yeah) That are like, nothing matters more than Jesus. Even if I die.
Nicole (27:29):
Right. I know. And that’s hard to say lightly.
Sharon (27:31):
That’s really hard to say.
Nicole (27:32):
That’s really hard to say.
Sharon (27:33):
You know what, it’s harder for you to say than for me too, because you have little ones that depend on you.
Nicole (27:37):
I know.
Sharon (27:38):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I had a harder time with it as a young mom. (Nicole: Yeah) I did. I really did.
Nicole (27:42):
Cause it feels really selfish. You feel like you’re leaving?
Sharon (27:44):
Right.
Nicole (27:45):
Yeah. It’s hard.
Sharon (27:45):
Exactly. So hard. So I’m just super impressed with Stephen and everyone who has that kind of sure-knowing that Jesus is that real.
Nicole (27:53):
Mmm. Absolutely.
Sharon (27:55):
So let’s pray. Oh, Father, we love stories. Thank you for the, the life of Stephen. What a beautiful story. He loved you so much that even at his trial, he’s desperately trying to get them to see who you are, Lord Jesus. And maybe some of them did later, Lord like Saul did. Father help us, help us to love you that much, to want desperately for people to know you, to have the kind of kindness that wants to feed widows. Thank you for examples like this Lord and only by your Spirit can we do them. So fill us, fill us today, this week to go out in strength, the strength of your Spirit to preach the gospel to all who will listen. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole (28:50):
Amen. This study of Stephen today is a challenging one. I love how God enabled Stephen to literally see him as he was dying. It’s so good to remember that if we are ever asked to literally lay down our lives for Christ, he is able to do the same for us. What an inspiration Stephen is, even after all these years later. We hoped you enjoyed studying him as much as we did. Next week we move on to episode 109, The Blessing of Encouragement. We’ll be looking at the life of Barnabas whose real name was actually Joseph, but everyone called him by his nickname Barnabas, which means son of encouragement because he was so gifted at that. I can’t wait to dig in. As always, find us at SweetSelah.org/podcast and consider donating by going to SweetSelah.org/donate. We’d love to hear from you. May God enable all of us to live out our faith fully like Stephen. Have a great week.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @SweetSelah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Join Sharon and Nicole as they admire an obscure, quiet woman who served the early church in its first days after Jesus died and rose again. Dorcas didn't seek attention. She just saw needs and met them. Let's be more like Dorcas. Join us for a good discussion on serving others and how that can be done with the Spirit's help and all the fruit on display.
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Read the transcript for The Beauty of Acts of Service-Episode 107Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to a podcast designed to bring biblical encouragement to your weary soul. We are so glad you’re listening and we pray God blesses you and strengthens you in your walk with him. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is brought to you by the cooperative efforts of Sweet Selah Ministries and Word Radio. Sit back and enjoy.
Nicole (00:29):
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 107, The Beauty of Acts of Service, Learning from Dorcas. We’ve spent Season 7 exploring the nine listed fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. Let’s read that passage one more time as we turn to people in the New Testament who lived out this fruit in their real lives. “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things.” Sharon, do you have any last thoughts to share on our study of the fruit before we move on to look at New Testament people?
Sharon (01:12):
Well, I really loved diving deep into each fruit, Nicole. I found it harder than I thought to define each fruit, and then to look at how to live out that calling to exhibit each fruit in our daily lives. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) So it was challenging. (Yeah). But rewarding. It really was. I think, I think just reciting the list of the nine helps me remember how I’m supposed to treat people in my daily dealings with them. If I can just filter my words through love, joy, peace (Makes, a huge difference) I think it makes a difference. (Yeah) And each one, I think over and over we realized was impossible, ironically.
Nicole (01:46):
Yes.
Sharon (01:47):
So they’re all impossible without God’s help.
Nicole (01:51):
Exactly.
Sharon (01:51):
So that was good for me to remember too that I’ve gotta constantly be going to him. Give me love, joy, peace, patience in my interaction with this person, you know?
Nicole (02:02):
Right.
Sharon (02:03):
So, practically that’s what I’ve learned from it. How about you? Any last thoughts?
Nicole (02:07):
Yeah, pretty much kind of the same thing. I’ve also really enjoyed, you know, talking through how to apply them, you know, and they can seem pretty easy on the surface, but as we go to live them out, I’m quickly reminded of how much I need to walk in the Spirit, asking him to guide my actions and words to really have those fruits grow nice and plump, you know?
Sharon (02:26):
Yes. Yes. We want plump fruit.
Nicole (02:27):
We do.
Sharon (02:28):
Not skinny fruit.
Nicole (02:28):
We do. And then the relief of knowing that it’s not me that makes the fruit, because I run out of love and patience pretty quick in the morning.
Sharon (02:36):
Oh, me too.
Nicole (02:37):
Startlingly fast. So just that reminder that these are impossible without God. So God, I need you. You can make these fruits grow.
Sharon (02:44):
Yes.
Nicole (02:44):
So that was encouraging as well.
Sharon (02:45):
It was. It was. Yeah.
Nicole (02:45):
Really good.
Sharon (02:45):
Well, as we finish out the season, we’re gonna look at three awesome New Testament people. And they’re not the big deal guys, you know? (Nicole: Yeah) They’re smaller people in the, the New Testament that are really important. Dorcas, Stephen, and Barnabas. I love the three of them. (Yeah) I wanted to ponder how the fruit of the Spirit exhibited in the real lives of people in the early church. And we did talk about Dorcas earlier in our episode on the Fruit of Kindness. So we already know that Dorcus has kindness in her, displayed beautifully in her life. However, it’s kind of a package deal, this fruit. It’s not like the gifts where none of us have all the gifts.
Nicole (03:25):
Oh, right.
Sharon (03:25):
You know? Right. But with fruit, we have all the fruit.
Nicole (03:29):
Right.
Sharon (03:30):
Isn’t that interesting?
Nicole (03:31):
That is cool.
Sharon (03:31):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Like with a gift. I have the gift of public speaking. Dorcas had the gift of helps. (Nicole: Right) You know, she probably didn’t speak in public and I don’t sew. Right? So, but God gives us all nine. It’s fruit, not fruits. (Yeah) You know, we have all that fruit. So I think it’s gonna be fun looking at Dorcas again with not just kindness in mind, the fruit I assigned her last time, but all of them. But let’s start by reading the story once again.
Nicole (03:59):
All right. So I’m gonna be reading the Dorcas story. She’s also called Tabitha at times, but we will refer to her as Dorcas in this podcast. So I’m reading Acts 9:36-42. “So there was a believer in Joppa named Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor. About this time she became ill and died. Her body was washed for burial and laid in an upstairs room. But the believers had heard that Peter was nearby at Lydda. So they sent two men to beg him, please come as soon as possible. So Peter returned with them, and as soon as he arrived, they took him to the upstairs room. The room was filled with widows who were weeping and showing him the coats and other clothes Dorcas had made for them. So Peter asked them to all leave the room. Then he knelt and prayed. Turning to the body, he said, Get up, Tabitha. And she opened her eyes. When she saw Peter, she sat up. He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then he called in the widows and all the believers, and he presented her to them alive. The news spread through the whole town, and many believed in the Lord.”
Sharon (05:06):
I love this story so much.
Nicole (05:07):
It’s such a fun one.
Sharon (05:07):
It really is. It’s reminiscent of Jesus raising Jairus’ daughter, taking the hand, presenting her to everybody again. So sweet.
Nicole (05:17):
It’s so wild.
Sharon (05:18):
Do you know what? If Dorcus hadn’t have died (Nicole: Yeah) you know, prematurely, we probably never would’ve heard of her. There’s a ton of Dorcases running around making clothes for people that you never hear of. (Right) It wasn’t like she was announcing her kindness all over town. She was just quietly taking care of the people that needed clothes.
Nicole (05:37):
That’s right. Yeah. She was just sitting quietly sewing and doing good. You know, I think it was her death and all the grieving from it that brought her to the attention of Peter. God must have wanted us to know about her.
Sharon (05:48):
I am sure he did. Yeah. I love that she’s highlighted because she’s not, showy, you know?
Nicole (05:55):
Yes.
Sharon (05:55):
In terms of the gifts, not the fruit. You know, her gift is a quiet, behind the scenes gift. But God shined a spotlight on her by allowing that death and then bringing her back. (Nicole: Yeah) I think it’s beautiful. Yeah.
Nicole (06:08):
That is pretty cool.
Sharon (06:09):
Well, we need to celebrate this quiet saint. So here we are. We’re gonna, we’re gonna list the nine Fruit of the spirit and talk about how we see Dorcas exhibiting all the fruit, you know, all nine character traits as best we can. And I’ll go first.
Nicole (06:24):
All right.
Sharon (06:25):
So the very first fruit is love. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) And of course, Dorcas showed love. I’ve been, this is my year to study agape love. We’ve talked about this before. And agape is the word that is hardly ever used outside of Christian references because it’s that abnormal a love. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) It’s not, I love you because you loved me. (Right) It’s not, I love you because of what you do for me. (Right) It’s not, I love you because I’m in a good mood today. I love everyone. Right? (Right) It’s sacrificial. (Yeah) It’s, it’s the love that is willing to hurt ourselves for the good of another love. Man. It’s a hard love. But, Dorcas’s way she lived, noticing the poor sewing, sewing, sewing, making, garment, garment, garment. I mean, it wasn’t like the widows were showing one garment she made. (Right) It was like, she made me this, she made me this. (Whole outfits) She took care of that. I know. Yeah. Maybe for the kids too. Who knows? She probably had limited resources. Well, of course she had, we all have limited resources.
Nicole (07:30):
Yes, exactly.
Sharon (07:30):
Right? And I mean, maybe her fingers hurt sometimes from the sewing, or maybe her eyes got strained. But she noticed and she sacrificed. She had the kind of love where she’s helping the poor. It’s not like they’re giving back. (Nicole: Right) In terms of, you know, and now I’ll pay you or something. (Right) They gave her back in gratitude, but that’s it. So yes,, in conclusion on this one, Dorcas definitely showed love.
Nicole (07:58):
She did. Oh, Dorcas. (Sharon: Yeah) So I’m gonna talk about how she showed joy. And I found a verse in Psalms, 40:8. It says, I take joy in doing your will my God, for your instructions are written on my heart.
Sharon (08:13):
That’s the perfect verse for her.
Nicole (08:14):
That’s so good for her. Because she didn’t, I mean, as far as we see from the text, she didn’t complain because no one was like, well, I got this coat from her but she was kind of, you know, a little grudgingly, you know, whatever, like her leftover coats, they were crying and showing with pride, like all the beautiful things she had made. (Sharon: Yeah) So there was joy in her work, I think, you know, and it can be heartbreaking to serve and minister to the poor and the needy, and to hear from the widows of their heartbreak that could really,
Sharon (08:39):
Really weigh you down.
Nicole (08:41):
Yeah. For sure. (Sharon: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm) And hearing how she continually served so many, it seems like she found joy in serving for sure. You know, it’s, (Yes) the joy of the Lord gave her strength, I think. (Yes) And she just kept on serving (Uhhuh) and found that joy. I think that’s, that’s really sweet.
Sharon (08:55):
I love it. I feel like they wouldn’t have been so sad about her death if she hadn’t been a joyful woman. Yeah.
Nicole (09:00):
Yeah. I agree.
Sharon (09:01):
Oh, that’s nice. I love that. Hmm. So love, joy, peace. Well, it’s not mentioned that she’s peaceful necessarily, but, I’m thinking of 1 Corinthians 13:3 you know, the beginning of 1 Corinthians where it says, if I, you know, had the gift of tongues and of angels, but didn’t love. (Nicole: Yes) Well, verse three says, if I gave everything I had to the poor, but I didn’t love others, I would’ve gained nothing. You know, and here’s Dorcas giving things to the poor. (Right) Well, if she didn’t have peace, she would’ve had nothing too, because people that feel obligated, they have a different way of giving. Kind of like that joy thing, the widows wouldn’t have been so sad she died if she was like, I spent half the night working on this for you. And don’t wear it out because I do not have time to make you another one.
Nicole (09:56):
Right. I am out of material. My fingers are bleeding.
Sharon (09:58):
That’s right. That’s right. Do you see these fingers? I have worked myself to the bone for you.
Nicole (10:03):
Right.
Sharon (10:03):
And then your child goes and rips out the knees of the trousers I just made for them. Do you know how busy I am? Do you know how many how poor people there are, you know, there is that kind of person. (Nicole: Yeah) Right? (Yep) Who is like that? Who’s just so bothered by what they’re doing that there’s no joy or peace in it.
Nicole (10:20):
Right. Because the peace comes from giving and trusting God that he’s gonna take care of your needs too.
Sharon (10:25):
Right. So I think the evidence of her joy, which you just talked about, and her peace was the response of the widows to her death.
Nicole (10:33):
Yes. No one said, oh, Paul bring back that grumpy lady who made these coats for us.
Sharon (10:38):
Exactly so. They loved her because they felt loved by her.
Nicole (10:43):
Yes. That was so good.
Sharon (10:45):
So I believe there was peace.
Nicole (10:46):
Oh, I love that.
Sharon (10:47):
Yes. There we go.
Nicole (10:48):
There we go. There was peace. I like it. So patience. Well,, sewing takes patience.
Sharon (10:55):
Yes it does. And you know that better than I. Cause you sew more than I do.
Nicole (10:59):
Yes. Sewing takes a lot of patience. I mess up a lot. So I rip things out and start again. Sewing takes patience. Dealing with people and loving on them takes patience.
Sharon (11:08):
That is true.
Nicole (11:08):
Seeking out people to serve and to be kind to takes patience. And she did all that well. Again, we don’t see her complaining. So I think that’s so sweet. And then I found a verse that I thought was good to go with patience. It says in Ecclesiastes 7:8, “Finishing is better than starting. Patience is better than pride.”
Sharon (11:26):
Finishing is better than starting. Yeah. She didn’t just start garments, did she?
Nicole (11:31):
No, they had full coats. It wasn’t a half coat or a half skirt.
Sharon (11:34):
No, no.
Nicole (11:34):
And she didn’t seem to have a lot of pride cause it doesn’t say, we didn’t see, we don’t see her boasting here. And people weren’t complaining that she didn’t finish the things she said she would do. So she seemed to be a truly patient woman you know?
Sharon (11:45):
She did.
Nicole (11:46):
Very sweet.
Sharon (11:46):
I think I’d really have liked her.
Nicole (11:48):
I think so. I’d have liked one of her coats.
Sharon (11:51):
Well we’ve done love, joy, peace, patience on to kindness. Which we already did an entire episode where we talked about Dorcas being kind, kindness costs – in sewing, it costs in time, it costs in money. You know, all those things. You know, my sister’s church has adopted a family from Afghanistan that had to flee.
Nicole (12:12):
Oh. Oh wow.
Sharon (12:13):
And they demonstrated kindness with them. They, first of all, there was the kindness of wanting to do it. (Nicole: Yeah) Right? (Oh yeah) And it took sacrifice for that because they had to fill out like 30 pages of paperwork. (Oh my goodness) That had to promise all these things that they would you know, take care of this family for a year at least on full support and then half support. (Wow) And watching that family flourish in America, learn English. My sister herself is the one that teaches the wife English.
Nicole (12:43):
Oh my goodness.
Sharon (12:43):
The husband knew it cause that’s why he had to be removed from Afghanistan cause he was a translator for (Nicole: Wow) our people. Which meant that when the Taliban took over, he was a persona non grata over there. (Wow) And I’m like, that is kindness in action that cost. (Yes) Right? (Yeah) Yes. And so Dorcas did the kindness that cost. She could have done other things with her time (Mm-hmm) then spend it slaving for other people. (It’s true, yeah) Basically. But she showed that kind of kindness. (Oh) And I love that. And it makes me wanna be kinder.
Nicole (13:17):
Yeah. The kindness that costs. I’m good at quick little kindnesses that don’t inconvenience me too much. (Sharon: Uhhuh. Right) But the kindness that costs, that’s, that’s (Yeah) tough.
Sharon (13:25):
That is.
Nicole (13:26):
I’m gonna sit with that one for a while. So now we’re onto goodness. Um, I feel like this one kind of ties in a bit with patience, cause I think of one of my favorite verses in Galatians, “do not get tired of doing good cause at just the right time we’ll reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up”.
Sharon (13:44):
Oh, that’s a good verse.
Nicole (13:45):
And I think of Dorcas, sewing away, doing those kindnesses, helping the poor. And she did reap quite a harvest. You know, she was so loved, she was so loved they asked her to be brought back from the, well, I don’t know if they asked her to be brought back from the dead, but she was so loved that she got to be brought back from the dead.
Sharon (14:00):
Yes. Yes. She’s one of the few that got to kind of hear, you know how people say nice things when you’re dead?
Nicole (14:07):
Yes. That’s what I was saying. Like she got to know how loved she was.
Sharon (14:10):
Yes.
Nicole (14:10):
What a gift that quiet, gentle woman sewing away. (Sharon: Yes) Sometimes you don’t see the fruit of your labor. (Right) Especially if you are in a quieter, more serving role. (Mm-hmm) So to the fact that she was able to be brought back from the dead and so many people came to know about Christ because of her story. (Yes) And all those she ministered to that loved her, were able to tell her that. Like, oh, we missed you so much. Like (Exactly) What a neat harvest for her, you know?
Sharon (14:36):
I can’t even imagine being brought back to life to a room full of people who loved you and are like, we’re so glad you’re back. She might have been like, wow, you brought me back. Yay.
Nicole (14:47):
It was kinda nice where I was. I know. I was thinking that when I read that. Like, was she happy to be back?
Sharon (14:52):
I know it.
Nicole (14:53):
How much of heaven did she see? Was she like, oh no!
Sharon (14:56):
Yes, how many more clothes did she have to sew?
Nicole (14:58):
Right.
Sharon (14:58):
And then there’s this little fear of like living up to your reputation because she had a really good one.
Nicole (15:04):
Right. Oh, that’s funny. And then becoming a woman of note—, you know. (Sharon: Yeah)Oh. You were dead and now you’re alive. (Yes) It’s quite interesting to think about what her life coming back to would’ve been.
Sharon (15:12):
Oh my goodness. And she was such a quiet, unassuming woman we believe, so it must have been a little overwhelming for her.
Nicole (15:18):
Oh sure. If she’s used to quieter. (Sharon: Yeah) But, oh man. (That’s so sweet) But I feel, I feel this so deeply in motherhood, you know, the daily exhausting things. The words of wisdom and guidance that you keep saying that you kind of get tired of saying (Yes) and then I see that verse on my fridge to keep on going.
Sharon (15:34):
Keep going. Don’t give up.
Nicole (15:36):
Yeah. The seeds are planted and they may be growing. I just don’t see those cute little green sprouts yet. But they are growing.
Sharon (15:41):
Yes, they are. They are. There are roots down there. Even if they haven’t broken the surface.
Nicole (15:46):
Yes.
Sharon (15:49):
Oh, that’s good. Goodness was good. Well, the next one is faithfulness. And that takes perseverance and time. She didn’t just make the one garment, the widows were showing multiple items that she sewed for them. It had to be ongoing. That’s faithfulness. Doing it in season and out of season. I’m working on Gabriel, my oldest grandson’s new, big Afghan to fit his bed. (Nicole: Oh yes) And I’m in the boring middle, you know. (Yeah) He wanted hunter green so I had to find yarn that had hunter green, you know, patterns. (Yeah) And then he wanted, orange, hunter orange. So I have orange stripes on the sides where it was gonna go over his bed. Yeah. But the whole top of it is just hunter green. (Green) And it’s big because his dad is over six feet tall and Gabriel’s as tall as his mother now. So I know he’s gonna be big and I want it to be, you know, a man’s size, you know?
Nicole (16:45):
Right.
Sharon (16:45):
So, so, okay. I have to be faithful to keep going with this thing. And the boring hunter green right now. So faithfulness is finishing. And so I’m identifying a little bit, not that I sew, with Dorcas who did that, who just kept going and finished garment after garment after garment. Because there’s never an end to poor people. And she’d see somebody in need and she’d say, what can I do? And what she could do was sew. So that’s what she would do again. (Nicole: Yeah) Faithful, faithful woman (Oh, I like that) to her calling. Yeah.
Nicole (17:23):
Yeah, that’s good.
Sharon (17:23):
So nice.
Nicole (17:24):
It’s so fun to start a project. I always have so much energy at the beginning of a project. Finishing is a lot more hard.
Sharon (17:29):
Yes it is. Yes it is. That’s where I am in the messy middle of Gabriel’s afghan. And he is returning to the United States. It has to be done by August.
Nicole (17:37):
Oh, so you have a deadline.
Sharon (17:38):
I have deadline.
Nicole (17:38):
Deadlines are helpful, but a little terrifying. (Sharon: Yeah. Yeah) That’s fun. So now we’re on to gentleness. So I found a verse in 1 Peter 3:4 that says, “You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfolding beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which is so precious to you”. Oh, Dorcas, I bet you had a wonderful inner beauty
Sharon (18:00):
Yes.
Nicole (18:00):
And they can see it in the love of those around her (Sharon: Mm-hmm) so clearly. (Mm-hmm) I just love that. You know, to bless the widows and make clothes for them. There’s a gentleness needed to care for the brokenhearted and for those that have less. (Yes). You know, there’s a tender heart, you know, that’s really needed to really see the needs of others.
Sharon (18:16):
That’s so true. That’s so true. We can miss it in our busy self preoccupations. Right?
Nicole (18:23):
Oh yeah. The tyranny of the urgent. You just kind of keep going. But she had tenderness and a gentleness to see the needs of the lesser people.
Sharon (18:29):
Right. And then to meet them.
Nicole (18:30):
Yes.
Sharon (18:32):
In a gentle way. (Nicole: Yes) In a gentle way. Here I sewed this.
Nicole (18:35):
Well it was a quiet way, it wasn’t a way that, she wasn’t helping them for the sake of glorifying herself (Sharon: No) but it was for actually like, what do you need? You need clothes.
Sharon (18:42):
She was very practical. Yeah, yeah.
Nicole (18:44):
I’ll make you clothes.
Sharon (18:45):
Yeah. What a gentle witness? (Nicole: Yeah) And look at what happened. The whole town came to hear about it.
Nicole (18:51):
I know. So fun.
Sharon (18:52):
Yes, yes, yes, yes. Okay. Self-control. Well she had that in spades cause she finished her projects, right? (Nicole: Yes) So that verse you quoted, Galatians 6:9? I had written it down for this one. (Oh) “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we do not give up. (Mm-hmm) You know, and I’m thinking she didn’t even have a sewing machine. Right?
Nicole (19:17):
Oh, that’s right.
Sharon (19:18):
I feel like she was either weaving or she was hand stitching.
Nicole (19:22):
That’s a lot of, that takes a lot of self control.
Sharon (19:25):
That takes lot of self-control (Nicole: Yeah) Especially when your hands cramp up and all this stuff. (Oh yeah) So it takes self-control to stick with something. (Yes) So here’s to you Sunday school teacher who prepares a lesson week after week after week. (Absolutely) Or the person that works in the nursery and shows up and holds children that maybe shouldn’t have been brought, with runny noses. (Yes) Week after week after week. Or even the women at our church that whenever there’s a funeral, they organize the food afterwards so the family doesn’t have to. (That’s so sweet) Over and over. I just, I lift my microphone to you all because these are the ones that have the self-control, the discipline, to get these non-noticed jobs done and done, well. (I agree) I so love it. I really do. So do you know anybody? Can you think of anybody in your own life who just was a Dorcas-ish person who’s not been highlighted in any way, but that you just, I mean, here you go Nicole. Who would you like to highlight?
Nicole (20:26):
Who would I like to highlight? (Sharon: Yeah) I was thinking of, we’ve been to so many different churches over the years because we moved a lot, the church pianist. I feel like in every church we went to, I’m always fascinated by piano players and watching their fingers move. But they always just quietly moved up, play their beautiful music for us to all worship God, you know? Cause we were an older Baptist church, so it was piano and organ for most of the services. (Yeah) So, but they were there every week, rain or shine. (Yes) They never missed a Sunday that, I mean, they seemed to never miss a Sunday. (Uhhuh) And just quietly serving God and without them so much would’ve been missing from our worship service.
Sharon (21:01):
I love that.
Nicole (21:01):
But they always showed up and I was just always amazed at the faithfulness. (Sharon: Right) And the quiet, like, there’s not a lot of glory. No one’s like, oh, thank you pianist. Like no one thanks them.
Sharon (21:10):
No, no. They just assume they’re gonna play so you can sing ‘Amazing Grace’.
Nicole (21:13):
Right. Exactly. And then they just quietly go to their seat. There’s not a lot of thanks in it.
Sharon (21:17):
Yeah. Yes.
Nicole (21:18):
And it’s usually the same pianist for years and years.
Sharon (21:20):
You know what I’m remembering now? Do you wanna know the name of my pianist when I was a little girl? (Nicole: Yes) I just remembered her name. Beulah.
Nicole (21:28):
Beulah, what an awesome name.
Sharon (21:29):
Beulah C. Baker.
Nicole (21:30):
Oh my goodness.
Sharon (21:31):
How did I remember her middle name?
Nicole (21:32):
I don’t know.
Sharon (21:32):
All of a sudden you’re talking and I’m like, Beulah C. Baker.
Nicole (21:36):
Isn’t that sweet.
Sharon (21:37):
There she is. She felt very elderly to me at the time. She was probably younger than I am now. But she was a widow.
Nicole (21:45):
Yeah.
Sharon (21:45):
And same thing. She just played every week. (Nicole: Yeah) And nobody applauded her. (Yes) Aw, (I know) what a great choice.
Nicole (21:53):
I know. I I have to applaud our little pianist on Sunday and say ‘Thank you’.
Sharon (21:57):
Yes. It’s right. And sometimes I know from friends who are pianists, they get the music at the last minute. (Nicole: Yeah) Or they’re accompanying a singer who decides to sing the verse differently (And they change the key) and they have to catch up or change the key. It’s not easy.
Nicole (22:12):
No, it’s not.
Sharon (22:13):
And there’s not a lot of glory in it.
Nicole (22:15):
No.
Sharon (22:15):
Oh wow.
Nicole (22:17):
So church pianists, I think they’re special, a special kind of people.
Sharon (22:20):
They are. Well I actually have two. I’m cheating. I thought of two people. The first one you know, maybe I just like strange names cause Beulah C. Baker is such a fun name.
Nicole (22:30):
That does stand out.
Sharon (22:31):
Um, Miss Marguerite Fancy.
Nicole (22:33):
Oh, I love that name.
Sharon (22:35):
Isn’t that the most adorable name?
Nicole (22:36):
That’s great.
Sharon (22:37):
When Ray was getting his PhD and I was basically single parenting (Nicole: Yeah) an 18 month old and a three month old at that point, (Oh my word) with cloth, diapers, all the things. I met Miss Marguerite Fancy because she always baked homemade bread for church. (Yeah. Oh) Which is pretty cool. (Yeah) And I decided that, you know, to be a full homemaker cause I wasn’t busy enough, I needed to learn how to make homemade bread.
Nicole (23:04):
Oh, don’t you love when you get these notions?
Sharon (23:06):
I know.
Nicole (23:07):
It’s like, great. What was I thinking.
Sharon (23:09):
So I learned how to make Miss Marguerite Fancy’s homemade oatmeal bread.
Nicole (23:13):
Oh, delicious.
Sharon (23:13):
Which is so good. I should make it again because for years I made it. (Nicole: Yeah) It was just a staple on our table. (Oh) And nobody really noticed Marguerite Fancy. She just made a bread. And I loved getting to know her, Nicole, because she actually had a really fascinating history. She lived with her sister. She never married, her sister and her husband. (Yeah) So I just, I just wanted to honor her because people never did. So. (Right). Honored. There you are Marguerite.
Nicole (23:41):
Oh nice job Marguerite with your fancy bread.
Sharon (23:42):
Yeah, with her little bread. And then the other one is my Aunt Joan, who, um, never was blessed with grandchildren of her own, but for every single one of my grandchildren, has made a very ornate sampler, unique to them with their name, their birthdate, their birth weight. A beautiful poem, over and over she’s done these. And it’s just such a sweet example of, you know, both faithfulness, self-control and, and loving kindness. She’s celebrating grandchildren she’ll never have, you know? (Nicole: Right) With our, with our seven and you know, she even did the last one, I thought maybe she’s gonna be tired. Right? (Right) Anastasia has hers too.
Nicole (24:29):
She does. Oh, that’s so sweet.
Sharon (24:30):
Yes. And they’re all beautiful. And Mary to, to her full credit, she hangs them all in what, whatever the latest baby’s nursery is.
Nicole (24:39):
Right. Oh, that’s so sweet.
Sharon (24:40):
So they all hang together. Mary sent her picture from the Netherlands with all five of them proudly displayed.
Nicole (24:46):
Oh, to honor her hard work. That’s so special.
Sharon (24:47):
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (24:48):
When something like that is treasured like that.
Sharon (24:49):
Joan gives so many gifts away. And she’s a sewer. (Nicole: Yeah) She does all these quiet things as well. (Mm-hmm)
Nicole (24:56):
A lot of makers are quieter in their, I dunno, the quiet ones are usually the, the makers that give the (Sharon: Yes, yes) I think of, you know, Anne and Melissa are both such talented (They are) yarn magic people with the way they make things, the way they, (And they’re quiet) yeah, and they’re both very quiet, but they’re so quick to give something, a gift. (Absolutely) Or encourage someone that’s sad. I just, I’ve been blessed by both of them so many times.
Sharon (25:20):
It’s interesting, isn’t it, that the gift of generosity is often paired with someone who’s creating things. (Nicole: Yeah) I’ve seen that too. (Yeah) Over and over. (That gift of giving) And the church and anybody that knows them is just quietly blessed. (Yeah) Because of what they gave. And they actually don’t want the spotlight shown on them. (No) You know we don’t have to feel sorry for them because they’re like, no, no, please, no.
Nicole (25:44):
Don’t look at me. Don’t make me stand up.
Sharon (25:46):
Don’t shine the spotlight. In fact, I’m having a hard time even with our financial donors. (Nicole: Yeah) Because we’ve got financial donors for Sweet Selah Ministries and we wanna have this supporter’s reception to thank them. (Yes) They actually don’t wanna be thanked. (I know) I’m like, no, we must thank you.
Nicole (26:03):
We want to thank you.
Sharon (26:03):
Yes. No, we do not want to be thanked. They just wanna quietly give, you know?
Nicole (26:09):
That’s so sweet.
Sharon (26:09):
So I’m having to reassure all our donors. We won’t tell people how much you gave. We won’t actually say anything about you. You can quietly sit at a table. Could we please just celebrate with you what God has done?
Nicole (26:22):
Oh, I love it.
Sharon (26:23):
Isn’t that fascinating?
Nicole (26:24):
Yeah. That is neat how that gentle spirit, that humble, it really does tie in so closely to generous giving.
Sharon (26:31):
Yes, it does.
Nicole (26:32):
That’s such a cool thing.
Sharon (26:33):
Yeah. And when the Bible talks about the first being last and the last being first, some of us with the big mouths, we’re at the back of the line. I know we are.
Nicole (26:41):
Oh, for sure.
Sharon (26:41):
Dorcas is gonna be up at the front and I’ll be waving at her from a distance.
Nicole (26:43):
Save us some oatmeal bread.
Sharon (26:48):
That’s right, Miss Marguerite.
Nicole (26:49):
Right. Yeah. No, I believe that wholeheartedly.
Sharon (26:53):
And that’s just all part of the God who sees. (Nicole: Yes) God sees everyone and he honors and values everyone. And the fact that Dorcas got raised from the dead, so we’d notice her, that’s not insignificant. (No, not at all) That had to happen. And she did exhibit the fruit of the Spirit.
Nicole (27:13):
She did it so well.
Sharon (27:15):
Well, let’s pray. Oh Father God, how I thank you for this quiet woman who we’ll get to meet someday who is still alive and well with you in heaven. Lord, thank you for the testimony of a quiet life of someone who sees need and simply gives without, blowing trumpets about it. We are so grateful for the Dorcas’s we have known. And Father, if there’s a Dorcas or three out there listening, would you just whisper to her in her ear? I see you. I’m so proud of you. Thank you Lord. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole (27:56):
Amen. Thanks so much for listening today. I loved highlighting one of the quiet ones in the Bible. It’s so good to know we don’t have to be a big shot to be valued by God. In fact, God makes it pretty clear we ought to strive to be a humble person, not a prideful one. Dorcas is a great example of that. Next week we’re going to look at a man who became known because of his great passion for Jesus. We’ll be studying the life of Stephen, the Church’s first martyr, in episode 108, the Power of a Passionate Heart. As always, find us @Sweetselah.org/podcast and consider donating by going to Sweetselah.org/donate. We’d really appreciate it. May you find quiet ways to serve this week and come back next week as we continue this study. God bless you.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found@sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Self-control does not come naturally to us. If one piece of chocolate tastes good ... three might taste better! We know early bedtime is wise, and yet we stay up late. Over and over, we humans tend to fail at self-control. We like indulging ourselves, even if the end results hurt us. Sharon and Nicole discuss how the Holy Spirit can help us learn self-control in daily living, which yields great peace and blessing. Join them!
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Read the transcript for Learning Self-Control-Episode 106Speaker 2 (00:01):
Welcome to a podcast designed to bring biblical encouragement to your weary soul. We are so glad you’re listening and we pray God blesses you and strengthens you in your walk with him. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is brought to you by the cooperative efforts of Sweet Selah Ministries and Word Radio. Sit back and enjoy.
Nicole (00:28):
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 106, Learning Self-Control. This Fruit of the Spirit is the last of the nine, and it’s a tough one, Sharon. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) It’s remarkably difficult to control oneself. New Year’s resolutions are a good case in point. Studies show that most people fail in the new New Year’s resolutions by February.
Sharon (00:50):
By February.
Nicole (00:51):
Yes. That’s so sad. According to a Forbes report, and I’m quoting here, “research shows that by February, about 80% of people have already forsaken their New Year’s resolutions”.
Sharon (01:02):
That’s a high percentage.
Nicole (01:04):
Yes.
Sharon (01:04):
It really is. No wonder this has to be a fruit of the Spirit.
Nicole (01:07):
I know.
Sharon (01:08):
It’s hard to motivate oneself. Nicole, there are so many ways we fail in this. We fail to limit our food intake, for example, (Nicole: Mm-hmm) even though we know the more food we eat, the more calories to feed our fat cells.
Nicole (01:22):
Yes. And we know that exercise every day is good for our bodies. Yet life gets busy and exercise doesn’t happen.
Sharon (01:29):
Oh, yeah. And then going to bed on time is another one. We know we need sleep. You know, sometimes I find that even getting up from the couch in order to brush my teeth feels too hard. So I sit there and make it worse by the delay.
Nicole (01:43):
And then there’s a daily time with God and the Word, so important yet so easy to skip on a busy morning, especially if we stayed up too late the night before, not brushing our teeth, pushing off the inevitable and therefore slept in bit.
Sharon (01:59):
Yikes. We need help.
Nicole (02:01):
We really do.
Sharon (02:02):
We do so much damage to ourselves with our lack of self-control. So today I’d like to look at some words Paul wrote in Romans to help us understand how we can position ourselves so the Holy Spirit can help us in this important area. Let’s turn to Romans 12. This entire chapter gives the best advice on developing this particular fruit of the Spirit of self-control. Let’s read it and then dive in verse by verse and discover what God has to say about it.
Nicole (02:33):
All right. I’m gonna start with verse one then. So Romans 12, verse one. “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.”
Sharon (02:51):
“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person. By changing the way you think, then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good, pleasing, and perfect.”
Nicole (03:06):
“Because of the privilege and authority God has given me. I give each of you this warning, don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves. Measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.”
Sharon (03:18):
“Just as our bodies have many parts, and each part has a special function.”
Nicole (03:23):
“So it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.”
Sharon (03:28):
“In His grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you.”
Nicole (03:40):
“If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well.”
Sharon (03:46):
“If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.”
Nicole (04:02):
“Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.”
Sharon (04:09):
“Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.”
Nicole (04:14):
“Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.”
Sharon (04:18):
“Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble and keep on praying.”
Nicole (04:27):
“When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.”
Sharon (04:33):
“Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them. Pray that God will bless them.”
Nicole (04:39):
“Be happy with those who are happy and weep with those who weep.”
Sharon (04:43):
“Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people, and don’t think you know it all.”
Nicole (04:51):
“Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable.”
Sharon (04:58):
“Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.”
Nicole (05:02):
“Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the scriptures say, I will take revenge and I will pay them back, says the Lord.”
Sharon (05:12):
“Instead, if your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame.” (On their heads)
Nicole (05:26):
That part’s a little fun.
Sharon (05:27):
I like that translation, burning coals of shame on their heads.
Nicole (05:30):
Wow. “Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.”
Sharon (05:36):
Oh my goodness. This is such an incredible, I have always loved this chapter. It is chock full of great wisdom and advice, and boy does it take a lot of self-control to do it all, right?
Nicole (05:47):
Yes, it does.
Sharon (05:49):
All right. Well, I’m gonna read the first two verses again, and then we’ll dissect them, and then we’ll go back and forth because there is so much here. And I feel like we’re gonna learn about self-control. All right. Reading chapter 12, verses one and two, and then talking about them. “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice. The kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think, then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” So starting with that first verse, he’s pleading with us to give our bodies to God. This isn’t just, maybe I ought to do it. This is Please, please. And I think it’s so ironic that I’m calling this a chapter in self-control, but the first thing we’re asked to do is to give up control, right?
Nicole (06:48):
Yeah.
Sharon (06:48):
We’re yielding mm-hmm. The best way to gain self-control is to yield control to the only one who can give it to us.
Nicole (06:57):
Mm-hmm. Absolutely.
Sharon (06:57):
Isn’t that funny? And that’s actually, it takes a lot of self-control to make yourself yield. Right?
Nicole (07:03):
It does. Yeah.
Sharon (07:04):
I mean, that’s a weird way to look at it, but it does. And then the other part I liked, and then you get to talk too. I do all the time.
Nicole (07:11):
No, I love it.
Sharon (07:13):
He says, this is truly the way to worship God. You know, in the Old Testament, worship was bringing a sacrifice. Right. (Nicole: Oh right) It was bringing a gift to the altar. Either a thank offering or a sin offering, but an offering. (Yeah) Well, God says, well, what I’d like you to bring is you. So one of the ways I worship God is to just offer myself to him. (That’s so beautiful) As a, as a living sacrifice. (Yeah) It’s beautiful. (It is) And that’s the beginning of self-control, yielding self. So.
Nicole (07:47):
That’s so tough. But we need to start with that yielding, because as you look through this chapter and the things that it’s telling you to do, like, oh, that’s so nice. Like, don’t pretend to love others. Really love them. Okay. And then you’re confronted with a really difficult person. I’m like, oh, I really have to love this person. I can’t just fake it.
Sharon (08:03):
No, no.
Nicole (08:04):
But I have to surrender and say, God, I cannot, Nicole cannot love this person without your help. So I’m surrendering, I’m giving you my life as a sacrifice. And through that, the Holy Spirit is able to work.
Sharon (08:16):
And that’s the only way he is. And that’s why in verse two, he says, God’s gonna transform us into a new person.
Nicole (08:22):
Yes.
Sharon (08:22):
Because the person we are is not the person that wants to feed the enemy when they’re hungry.
Nicole (08:28):
Yeah. That’s the hard part.
Sharon (08:29):
Or pray blessing on their head, right?
Nicole (08:31):
Mm-hmm.
Sharon (08:31):
All these things are impossible without that yielded-ness first.
Nicole (08:35):
Yes. And I think also the part about renewing your minds, the more that we get into the practice of stopping, sacrificing ourselves, God, I, my life is yours. What do you want me to do? Help me to do this. (Sharon: Yeah) The easier it’ll get, it’ll become more of a habit. We’re renewing our mind. (Mm-hmm) So we’re thinking about loving, serving, loving our enemies the way God wants us to.
Sharon (08:55):
Exactly so.
Nicole (08:56):
And not the way our sinful mind wants to, which is our go-to, usually.
Sharon (09:00):
Yes. It is.
Nicole (09:00):
We have to get God’s way into our brain.
Sharon (09:02):
Right. Right.
Nicole (09:03):
And this is how you do it.
Sharon (09:04):
It is. It is. And when we get it through our thick skulls that we’re not in charge of us.
Nicole (09:08):
Yes.
Sharon (09:08):
When we’ve surrendered to God, that meant we actually invited him to have the throne in our heart. Yes. Um, that’s the renewing of the mind. Whoa, whoa, whoa. I’m not in charge. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) I asked God to run this day, and he’s decided to allow this difficulty, and (Right) I need to receive it. (Mm-hmm) and then I need to yield to what he’d have me do with it. Yeah.
Nicole (09:26):
That’s so good. So good. So difficult. All right. So the next section has to do with the gifts of the Spirit, which are related to fruit, in that when we practice in our area of giftedness, it’s best if we do them with the love, joy, peace, patience, et cetera, that comes from the fruit of the Spirit. So verses three through eight, again, “Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning, don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. Just as our bodies have many parts, and each part has a special function so it is with Christ’s body, we are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. In His grace God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well, if your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly”.
Sharon (10:41):
Hmmm
Nicole (10:42):
This kind of goes back to that first verse of surrendering to God before we do anything else, but I just think this is so beautiful that when God gives us gifts, he’s also equipping us to do them well.
Sharon (10:52):
I think so too. Yes.
Nicole (10:53):
It’s not just like, it takes a lot to serve God. If you’re trying to give generously, you do need to—, or to serve well, or to teach well or encourage, you still need those fruits of the Spirit to kind of spice it up a little.
Sharon (11:05):
Yes, you do. Yes, you do. And you need, like, if you’re a teacher, I, of course that one stood out to me because I’m a teacher, teach well. That requires self-control. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) I mean, don’t just slap it together, Sharon, teach well. Control yourself to prepare to do it well. Right?
Nicole (11:22):
That’s great.
Sharon (11:23):
Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (11:23):
Self-control is very important in preparing and being, I think, mindful to help serve others in our area. We can’t just always like, oh, when it comes up, I’ll just kind of wing it, you know?
Sharon (11:33):
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We’re supposed to do it well, and that requires that self-control. Yeah.
Nicole (11:37):
Oh, that’s good.
Sharon (11:38):
I like it. I was interested in that first section of that verse where it says, don’t think you’re better than you really are. I thought that was, that was really interesting.
Nicole (11:46):
You notice I skipped over that part.
Sharon (11:48):
Well, I was thinking, Ray has this thing, it says, be honest in your evaluation of yourselves measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. So we’re to be honest about what we can and cannot do. (Nicole: Right) Ray’s like, I wanna be a basketball player. I am five foot eight and a half. Ain’t gonna happen.
Nicole (12:08):
Oh, Ray.,
Sharon (12:09):
I know, no matter how hard Ray might try. Right? (Nicole: Right) He can’t compete against seven foot men. (Right) He just can’t. So he’s had to receive who he is and (Right) teach history in a Christian high school instead of being in the N B A. Right.
Nicole (12:26):
That’s great.
Sharon (12:27):
So I kind of thought, oh, I like that way of looking at it because I do need to be honest. God, what gifts have you given me? What gifts have you not, you know, where’s, where are my limits?
Nicole (12:37):
Right.
Sharon (12:37):
Right. So that I don’t think I have to do everything. (Nicole: Right. We can’t do everything) Yeah. We have to work within what we’ve been given. But that what we have been given to do with our gifts, we do it with that self-control of doing it well. (Yes) Yeah. So. (I like it) That’s good. All right. Next up, uh, these instructions on basic living out of our faith, and these are hard. (Yes) So, verses nine through 13, this is the one you, you referred to. “Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them.” Rats. (I know) And of course, he sees our hearts. So he knows. (Yes. He knows, they may not but God knows) “Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with—” here it is again, twice. “Love each other with genuine affection. And take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble and keep on praying when God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.” Wow. Wow. Wow, wow, wow. Okay. (Tall order) So Yeah, it is, because what God’s saying is we’re not gonna surface skim this stuff. You know, we want you to really do this. We, God, God wants us to really do this. I guess they’re ‘Trinity. (Right. Him and Jesus!) Father, Son and Spirit want us to do this. We’ve gotta really love them. (Yeah) Well, that means we’ve gotta bring it to the Lord constantly. (Yeah) Um, and ask for his help in it. And we can’t be lazy. We have to work hard at these things. And, you know, it’s so funny, I, I love resting in the Lord and being in his presence and all that stuff, and knowing that he works through me, but he also causes me to work hard too. (Mm-hmm) And that involves that surrender. And that involves, you know, when I’m tired, still practicing hospitality, (Yeah) for example. And cheerleading for someone else when they got what I wanted.
Nicole (14:39):
Mmm. That’s tough.
Sharon (14:39):
You know, he’s telling me to do that. Right. Take delight in honoring each other. (Nicole: Yeah) So, and I love that one, Nicole, because that’s something I can do. When somebody gets honored I have a choice. I can ignore it or I can really celebrate what happened to them. Well, I’ve got instructions here.
Nicole (14:55):
Yes.
Sharon (14:56):
Control myself. Control any little bit envy, that be in there and instead celebrate something good that happened to a friend.
Nicole (15:05):
Oh, I love that.
Sharon (15:06):
These are so practical.
Nicole (15:07):
Well, in celebrating someone else’s goodness too, it brings out, it brings a joy and a peace to my heart. I know when I’ve done, if you, instead of having that bitterness kind of grow that envy, like, well, I’ll just ignore it cause I wanted that. (Sharon: Yeah) But when we do surrender and use that self-control to push those things down, (Yeah) there is a beauty and a healing that comes from like, okay, Nicole, this wasn’t your time, or your thing to have.
Sharon (15:28):
Right.
Nicole (15:29):
So it’s good.
Sharon (15:29):
It’s what this person needed. Yes, yes, yes
Nicole (15:32):
But I really like the verse. It says to, “rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble and keep on praying”. It’s like every part of that verse requires self-control.
Sharon (15:44):
It does.
Nicole (15:45):
Because rejoice in confident hope, hope is unfulfilled something, you know, it hasn’t happened yet.
Sharon (15:50):
You’re right it hasn’t happened yet.
Nicole (15:50):
So we’re confidently self-controlled, waiting for something, that hope, you know?
Sharon (15:56):
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Nicole (15:57):
And then we’re being patient in trouble, which who loves to sit in trouble. It’s not fun. And be patient.
Sharon (16:01):
And sit patiently in it.
Nicole (16:02):
Sit patiently, like, okay, Lord, you have this.
Sharon (16:04):
Receiving what is. Yep.
Nicole (16:06):
It’s hard, you know, and then, then keep on praying That self-control, that discipline (Sharon: Yes) of going to God with our concerns, with our prayer requests, and then just being still with him. (Mm-hmm) But doing it not just quickly when I need him, but the self-control, the self-discipline of prayer, of intentional prayer. (Yeah) That’s really important. I need more of that. I’m not good with self-disciplined prayer, Sharon.
Sharon (16:28):
Uhhuh. And that keeping on, I mean, I prayed for four decades for Dad Gamble. It’s, it can get really wearisome. (Nicole: Yeah) When you pray, you see nothing. Or sometimes you see the person get worse.
Nicole (16:38):
Right. And you’re like, uh-oh, did I do it wrong?
Sharon (16:40):
Okay. Yeah. Did I do it wrong? So to keep on praying no matter what. And what that does is keep us connected to the God who loves us.
Nicole (16:48):
Right. Right, right. And we forget that sometimes. It’s that relationship.
Sharon (16:51):
Just so the best. These are such good verses.
Nicole (16:55):
Yes. They are.
Sharon (16:55):
They really are. And they’re so necessary.
Nicole (16:58):
Yes. (Sharon: So) Well, now we’re getting to the hardest stuff at the end of the chapter.
Sharon (17:04):
Yeah. We thought it was hard already, right?
Nicole (17:07):
We thought it was already tough right? So exercising self-control with enemies who are out to hurt us. I think this at least requires a master’s degree in self-control, Sharon, or maybe a PhD?
Sharon (17:18):
Yeah.
Nicole (17:19):
So I’m reading verses 14 through 21, which ends the chapter. “So bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them. Pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all. Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Dear friends never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the scriptures say, I will take revenge. I will pay them back, says the Lord. Instead, if your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they’re thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will keep burning coals of shame on their heads. Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.” Man. Oh man. It’s interesting. These all deal with relationships with difficult people, with enemies.
Sharon (18:17):
They do. Mm-hmm.
Nicole (18:18):
This whole section does. And there’s a whole section on it.
Sharon (18:20):
Like he knows we need it.
Nicole (18:23):
So I feel like he knows, God’s like, you guys need this because this is so difficult. When you’re hurt, when people hurt you, the last thing you want to do is bless them, to pray for them.
Sharon (18:31):
Feed them.
Nicole (18:32):
Yes.
Sharon (18:32):
What?
Nicole (18:33):
You know he said, help take care of their needs. (Sharon: Yes) And especially this part, it says live in harmony with each other. And it says down here again, do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. (Right) Man, that’s tough.
Sharon (18:44):
It is, all that you can. Rats. Yeah. I can remember Fern Nichols saying to us, okay, so you’ve had an argument with your husband and he’s 95% wrong, and you are maybe just 5% wrong. She said, you need to say sorry first for your 5%, even if he’s not ready to say sorry for his 95%. (Nicole: Yeah) And that’s hard. (That’s so difficult) That’s as much as possible, as much as it depends on you living at peace with them. (Right) Saying sorry for the 5%, you can do that. Do what everything is possible for us (Yes) to do.
Nicole (19:19):
Within our power. Yep.
Sharon (19:21):
Yeah. Yeah. And that takes self-control when you’re like, (Nicole: It does) but they’re 95% wrong.
Nicole (19:25):
So they have to do their 95% apology first.
Sharon (19:28):
Yeah, why do I have to go first?
Nicole (19:29):
And then I’ll pray for that. Right?
Sharon (19:30):
That’s right.
Nicole (19:32):
Yeah, definitely tough.
Sharon (19:33):
Oh my goodness. Yeah. Yeah. And praying blessing on enemies definitely takes self-control.
Nicole (19:37):
Yeah. That is something for sure.
Sharon (19:38):
It really does, (Nicole: Man) So, but it’s so good and it’s so nice that God will, will take care of it for us. It’s not like, it’s not like he’s letting people get away with it. He is a God of justice. And I pity anyone who falls under his wrath.
Nicole (19:51):
Mmm, that’s true.
Sharon (19:52):
So it’s gonna be made right in the end and they’ll either repent or they’re in trouble.
Nicole (19:56):
Right. Exactly. And I think if we remember that we’re no longer under the wrath of God, that we, that might give us more compassion to pray for our enemies.
Sharon (20:03):
Yes!
Nicole (20:04):
You know?
Sharon (20:04):
Exactly, exactly.
Nicole (20:06):
Not a good place to be. And it also takes the pressure off of us. You know, he’s the righteous God. He will take revenge and pay them back. That’s not our job.
Sharon (20:13):
It’s not our job.
Nicole (20:13):
We don’t need to sit and connive ways to make them pay and suffer and change them. Like let it go. Give it to God and pray for them.
Sharon (20:20):
Exactly so. Exactly so. So instead of saying they’re toxic, I need to stay away from them. Apparently we’re supposed to feed them.
Nicole (20:27):
I know.
Sharon (20:28):
Which, which might mean being close to them.
Nicole (20:31):
I know.
Sharon (20:31):
Oh wow.
Nicole (20:31):
Can we do like a Door Dash? Can we send food to them?
Sharon (20:36):
Yeah. Let’s mail it long distance. Oh boy. Okay. Well now it’s time to apply it to us, our own lives. How do we exercise the fruit of self-control based on everything we just learned in Romans 12 in our own experiences? So why don’t you start with God, how do we exercise self-control with God?
Nicole (20:54):
Yeah. No. So I’m thinking at the beginning we were talking about staying up too late and not getting up early enough to spend time with God. (Sharon: Yeah) I feel like that I can practice self-control in relationship with God simply by going to bed on time. (Yes) So I can actually wake up, spend time with him. (Yes, yes) And the simple things of self-control and self-discipline in a routine with God. And if I feel like I’m too busy to pray, setting up times in the day, like at 10 o’clock I’ll pray, or at two, whatever it is for me and God. (Mm-hmm) That routine and that rhythm with him is so important.
Sharon (21:24):
Those rhythms are so important cause on our own, we’re not gonna find them. But if we create the habits (Nicole: Yeah) Then they’re, you’ve, you’ve got the space for it. (Yes) Basically.
Nicole (21:32):
And then from those, those routines can grow more, you know, organic prayer or whatever. But I think, so sometimes people worry about setting up routines and rhythms is too rigid. It doesn’t feel as natural or as spiritual. But it really is though. You need those spaces first.
Sharon (21:47):
You do. You do.
Nicole (21:48):
In order to grow a relationship with him.
Sharon (21:50):
You absolutely do. Yeah. And I think of also with God not growing weary of turning to him, of yielding.
Nicole (21:57):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (21:58):
You know, we can get tired of it, but self-control says, no, every time you yield again. Every time you say you’re sorry again. Every time we keep doing it. (Nicole: Yeah) That self-control of continuing to do the right thing with the Lord.
Nicole (22:09):
That’s good. Yeah. I like that one.
Sharon (22:11):
So, okay. Family is next. How do I exercise self-control with family? Well, one way is not responding in anger when Ray Gamble provokes me in some way.
Nicole (22:22):
Yes.
Sharon (22:23):
But just, you know, sometimes, I don’t know if you do this, but sometimes literally I take my unruly tongue and I hold it.
Nicole (22:31):
Yes. I was just biting my tongue thinking of it.
Sharon (22:32):
Between my teeth. I mean, I’m not kidding. I literally have my teeth over my tongue because if I don’t, my tongue is going to say something.
Nicole (22:39):
Yes.
Sharon (22:41):
That I am going to regret. Another way of exercising self-control, Ray leaves the lights on all the time, just turn them off, Sharon. (Nicole: Right) Don’t point it out to him every stinking time, you know, just (That’s a good one) turn them off. (Mm-hmm) And then the last way I thought of with family, and then you do get a turn with family too, is listening to my daughters on the phone and to my husband when we take walks without always wanting to interrupt and get my turn. To control myself, to really be fully engaged in what they’re telling me. Responding to them, not waiting for them to hurry up so I can have my turn.
Nicole (23:20):
Right. Ooh, that’s a good one.
Sharon (23:21):
And that’s exercising, that’s self-control for me.
Nicole (23:24):
Yeah, no, that’s good. Uh, mine was very similar. I put self-control with my tongue.
Sharon (23:29):
Yes.
Nicole (23:29):
And then that verse James 1:19. “Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger.”
Sharon (23:35):
There’s the verse for it. Yeah.
Nicole (23:36):
Yes. I always, I’m like, quick to listen, cause you, I, wanna do the opposite. Mm-hmm. So self-control with my tongue. My tongue gets me in trouble with my family as well.
Sharon (23:43):
Yep. And we’re around the family so much that we have many more opportunities to mess up. Right?
Nicole (23:48):
We do. We really do. I think I, we forget that. Like why am I so mean to my family? We’re with them all the time.
Sharon (23:54):
All the time.
Nicole (23:55):
So they get the good and the bad and the tired.
Sharon (23:57):
They get it all.
Nicole (23:58):
They do.
Sharon (23:59):
They get it all.
Nicole (23:59):
The dear families.
Sharon (24:00):
Sunday was a bad day for me. I just was crabby. I think I was just tired.
Nicole (24:06):
Yeah.
Sharon (24:07):
And Ray very graciously, you know, sort of let some things go and then I thought, you know, I, nobody needs me right now. I’m gonna go take a nap.
Nicole (24:16):
Nobody needs me. I’m taking a nap.
Sharon (24:18):
I felt so much better. I was nicer. Ray’s like, yes, please. That nap. Go for it. Take it.
Nicole (24:24):
And that’s good. You recognize— I’ll do that with my girls, mommy needs a timeout. Just don’t talk to me for five minutes. It’s not you, it’s me.
Sharon (24:29):
It’s a reset. I just need a reset. Exactly. Okay. Well what about Christians, Nicole? How do we exercise self-control with our Christian family?
Nicole (24:38):
Yeah. So this was fun to think about. I was thinking in our actions and my own self-control with learning to walk with God and be more like him and not going back to old sinful ways or patterns or habits. (Sharon: Mm-hmm. Yeah.) Because it’s easy to fall into sin if your friend is doing it. You know what, I don’t wanna cause others to stumble. So if I’m not self controlled in my walk with God, then I’m gonna slide back into old ways and I could encourage, you know, godly people around me to do the same thing. And that’s not,
Sharon (25:05):
Absolutely.
Nicole (25:05):
That’s not good
Sharon (25:07):
No, it is not. No, no, no, no, no. I think for me as a leader, one of the hardest areas for me to exercise self-control is when someone else is leading and I immediately think of a better way to lead. And it’s not my job. Right?
Nicole (25:24):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (25:24):
They’re in charge. No one put Sharon in charge of all the committees at Church. Right? (Nicole: Right) And let’s be glad cause not everybody might like my leadership style. So I have to exercise self-control and let other people lead the way they lead.
Nicole (25:39):
Right.
Sharon (25:39):
Right?
Nicole (25:40):
Right. Yeah.
Sharon (25:40):
Why does it have to be my way? It does not. Good gravy, Sharon. So giving grace with people that have different leadership styles. And even if they feel inefficient to me in some way, whatever. So sometimes it’s just letting people be them and not taking over.
Nicole (26:00):
Oh, that’s a good one too.
Sharon (26:00):
When you have a leadership personality. Anyways.
Nicole (26:03):
Or a better idea.
Sharon (26:04):
Okay. So, all right. With non-Christians, people that don’t believe the way I do, how do I exercise self-control? Well, I’ll tell you what, sometimes I literally bite my tongue when someone says something that I violently disagree with. (Nicole: Mm. Yes) Which is just, or they’re misrepresenting a good person because they heard about them on the news and they’re just seeing it wrong. I so want to defend with anger and just the sheer power of my personality. (Yes) You know? And no, no, no, no, no. Is that going to help it if I fan that flame? I don’t think so. So I have to wait until I get control of myself and yield so my words are helpful, not harmful. And that’s what I have to ask myself. Is this gonna be helpful or is it gonna harm?
Nicole (26:53):
That’s a great test before it comes out of my mouth.
Sharon (26:55):
It is. Yeah. And just because somebody misrepresents a Christian in the—, you know, that I love, you know, doesn’t mean I have to fire off at them. They’ve been influenced by other things too. So, I think that’s the hardest; most of the time I think it’s pretty easy to just hang out with my neighbors and people. It’s when they attack a value that I hold dear.
Nicole (27:18):
Yes. That is so tricky though.
Sharon (27:20):
Yeah. Yeah. And I do have to speak the truth, but Oh, there’s that follow up: in love.
Nicole (27:25):
In love. Yeah. Don’t forget that part. It’s a little small.
Sharon (27:27):
Right. So that’s where I need self-control. How about you? What did you find for that?
Nicole (27:32):
Yeah. I think whenever we talk about non-Christians, I feel like it always comes down to our witness, to them. You know, like, how are we, how are we showing them Christ? You know? And if we are self controlled and controlling that tongue for me too. For me it’s more like issues that I, that just are wrong. I feel like I should let them know they’re wrong. They shouldn’t believe this, they shouldn’t support it.
Sharon (27:50):
Right, right.
Nicole (27:51):
But as we’re reading in that book ‘UnOffendable’ together too, it’s not my job to right all the wrongs of the world. I don’t need to fight every battle. God will let me know the ones.
Sharon (27:59):
Right.
Nicole (27:59):
And is it helpful or am I just, that’s wrong. And you should know it’s wrong.
Sharon (28:04):
Yes, yes. You silly person you.
Nicole (28:06):
Right. Like, that’s ridiculous.
Sharon (28:07):
Right. Right.
Nicole (28:08):
So I think for me, self-control with my tongue and my words. Like, is this point, what I’m going to say? Is this gonna show them God’s love? Is this gonna point them to Christ? If not, Nicole, shut your mouth.
Sharon (28:17):
Just be quiet because (Nicole: It doesn’t help) nobody’s won by yelling. (No) No. It just makes them get their back up more.
Nicole (28:24):
No, you never convert people to Jesus by screaming at them,
Sharon (28:26):
By screaming at them. Or if you do, they come for the wrong motives.
Nicole (28:30):
Terrified. Right?
Sharon (28:30):
Right, right. Oh my goodness.
Nicole (28:32):
Don’t recommend it.
Sharon (28:33):
Yes. Oh, we need self-control. I think it’s so interesting that that’s the last fruit of our nine. (Nicole: Yeah) It’s like in order to exercise all the others (Yes) correctly, we need self-control. And yet the the key to self-control is yielding self to the one who alone can control us. (Yes) And that’s God. So let’s pray. Oh Lord God Almighty, how I thank you that you do help us, that we are not left flailing about alone with our emotions and our unruly tongues. Thank you that you live within us. Thank you that your mercies and compassions are new every morning. Thank you that every day we have a chance to yield again, to yoke ourselves to you, so that you can help us live in productive ways and kind ways, in ways that further your kingdom. Oh Jesus, help us to be more like you. In your name I pray. Amen.
Nicole (29:38):
Amen. Thanks so much for listening today. We’d love to hear from you. Where do you struggle with self-control? What has helped you lean into the Spirit so he can give you more of that fruit? Write us @Sweetselah.org/podcast. It costs us $400 a month to produce this podcast. Right now, less than $200 a month is covered. Would you please help us? Become a podcast partner and receive our monthly emails and receive our deepest gratitude for your help. You can donate @Sweetselah.org/donate. We would really appreciate that. Next week, we’re going to start a three week series that dives deep into the lives of New Testament characters who exhibited the fruit of the Spirit. We’ll start with Dorcas in episode 107, The Beauty of Acts of Service. Have a great week.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found@sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Gentleness is not weakness. In fact, it's a lot easier to be loud and angry than it is to be quiet and gentle when provoked. It requires an immense amount of strength and self-control. Join Nicole and Sharon as they talk about their favorite gentle people, and discuss how to yield to the Spirit in this area, growing the fruit of gentleness each and every day.
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Read the transcript for The Surprising Strength of Gentleness-Episode 105Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to a podcast designed to bring biblical encouragement to your weary soul. We are so glad you’re listening and we pray God blesses you and strengthens you in your walk with him. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is brought to you by the cooperative efforts of Sweet Selah Ministries and Word Radio. Sit back and enjoy.
Nicole (00:01):
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 105, The Surprising Strength of Gentleness. We’ve been walking through the fruits of the Spirit, one fruit at a time, wanting so much to grow in this area of living a fruitful life. We’ve talked about joy, love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness. Only two fruit left, Sharon. Today, today we talk about gentleness. When I think about gentleness, it reminds me of a dear family friend of mine, Robin Vine. She was a close friend of my mom and I had started to babysit her kiddos when she only had two kiddos, and now she has eight.
Sharon (01:08):
Oh my, family grew a bit.
Nicole (01:10):
It grew quite a bit. I started babysitting when I was 10 for her two little ones.
Sharon (01:14):
Wow.
Nicole (01:14):
And yeah, her oldest ones now are married with children. So that’s a little weird. It makes me feel a little old. But she was such a gentle woman. With all of those children she was this gentle, soothing mama. When she would correct them, it was always so gently with this gentle spirit. I just thought she was amazing. And she’d say, oh, after two, it’s all the same. And I’m like, I’ve had four. I don’t feel that yet.
Sharon (01:39):
Maybe you need eight.
Nicole (01:39):
Maybe I need eight. That’s the secret. And you know, it’s so sweet. As I’ve seen her children grow up, they’re all young adults now. And some of them are still my oldest daughter’s age. They’re all so gentle. They have that same gentle spirit of their mom and their dad. (Sharon: Oh Nicole, what a tribute) This family, they just have this beautiful love for Jesus. And it shows in her gentleness. I’m like, oh, when I grow up I wanna be like her in her gentleness.
Sharon (02:04):
Yes. So good. You know, I’ve said this before, one of the things I wish I could change the most is the anger I had with my children.
Nicole (02:11):
Yes.
Sharon (02:12):
A gentle answer turneth away wrath. (Nicole: Mm-hmm I know) Gentleness is so important. And it’s so hard.
Nicole (02:18):
It’s so hard.
Sharon (02:19):
Yes.
Nicole (02:19):
And we spent a lot of time with them, so we saw them behind the scenes too. So she truly was gentle all the time.
Sharon (02:24):
I love that.
Nicole (02:25):
It wasn’t a show.
Sharon (02:25):
I love that. Oh my goodness.
Nicole (02:26):
It’s a beautiful thing.
Sharon (02:27):
Well, Dad Gamble’s one of my favorite gentle people.
Nicole (02:29):
Oh, I love him.
Sharon (02:30):
He’s just always been gentle I remember a time when either Mary or Kathryn, one of them had this little cheap necklace that got tangled beyond measure.
Nicole (02:40):
Oh yes.
Sharon (02:41):
And I’m trying to untangle it and worried I’m gonna break it more. I have no patience for the thing. And it was cheap, you know, like five bucks. But they were crying. And so gentle Dad Gamble said, give it to me. And then he put on his special, he had like a magnifying glass in one eye. (Nicole: Yeah) And then he had little tweezers and he, it took him over an hour of just sweet tugging and pulling gently to fix a cheap little necklace.
Nicole (03:11):
Oh my goodness.
Sharon (03:12):
Because that’s what they wanted.
Nicole (03:14):
And that’s what a gentle person would do.
Sharon (03:15):
And that’s what he did. Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (03:17):
I’d be like, five bucks, throw it away.
Sharon (03:18):
I wouldn’t have the patience. Throw it away. Let’s start over. So.
Nicole (03:20):
Aw. That’s so sweet.
Sharon (03:22):
So sweet. And then we had a dog I loved that. I had to learn to be gentle with, Tank. Of course Ray named him.
Nicole (03:30):
Did Ray name him?
Sharon (03:31):
Yeah. I didn’t get to name a dog till Bella. But Tank had been abandoned. We think he, it was, you know, it was on a military base of course cause we lived on military bases. (Nicole: Right) The next door neighbors’ girl found him. And he had mange, he had fleas. He was a mess. He was absolutely a mess. And we think maybe he was thrown out of a car because he threw up every time he got in a car.
Nicole (03:53):
Oh my goodness.
Sharon (03:54):
He had definite PTSD about cars. But if you even raised your voice at Tank, he shook and went to the bathroom all over the floor. He just did. So if we weren’t gentle with him we were gonna pay for it.
Nicole (04:06):
Right.
Sharon (04:07):
You know, and let alone poor Tanky. So. But being gentle with Tank it’s all he needed. Nicole, he’s my favorite dog. He adored me.
Nicole (04:16):
Even though he was a little bit more work.
Sharon (04:19):
He was a little more high maintenance. But it’s funny that gentleness bonded us so closely.
Nicole (04:22):
Wow.
Sharon (04:23):
And wherever I was, Tank was right there.
Nicole (04:25):
Oh, that’s so interesting.
Sharon (04:26):
And he saw me through the war, Persian Gulf War.
Nicole (04:27):
Wow.
Sharon (04:28):
Yeah. Yeah. So I learned a lot of gentleness from Tank.
Nicole (04:32):
Oh, sweet puppy.
Sharon (04:33):
It was so good. Yeah. Well, I chose ‘The Surprising Strength of Gentleness’ as our title because I think sometimes we think of gentle as weak and it isn’t. So it’s based on three of my favorite scripture verses actually, this whole concept. And it’s Matthew 11:28-30. I memorized it of course in the King James version when I was little. And even then I often felt burdened and heavy laden, even then as a kid.
Nicole (04:58):
I know, right.
Sharon (04:59):
Which is kind of silly when I think about it, but I’ve always been an overachiever. Right? (Nicole: Yeah) And overachievers get stressed. (Yes) Even if they’re eight years old and wanna get straight A’s in school. So, there’s some good things about working hard. There’s also some bad, right? You get overstressed. And I’ll tell you one thing, it surely makes one tired if one is doing all the work in one’s own limited strength.
Nicole (05:20):
Mm-hmm.
Sharon (05:20):
Yeah.
Nicole (05:21):
It’s the quickest way to burnout.
Sharon (05:22):
Good gravy. So later I memorized it in the New International Version, and it’s the version where we find the word gentle used. So I’m gonna read it in the New International Version. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” So let’s just linger there for a moment. What stands out to you about those verses?
Nicole (05:56):
Doesn’t that last verse always feel like a breath of fresh air?
Sharon (06:00):
Yes.
Nicole (06:00):
Just like, I always kind of sigh and like unwind a little whenever I read that. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. Like why am I carrying mine? Drop it for a minute and just bask in his lightness, you know?
Sharon (06:13):
Exactly. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Nicole (06:14):
The other part ‘for I am gentle and humble in heart’. He’s not overachieving and pushing and driving and pushing us forward.
Sharon (06:23):
He’s not the sergeant with the private, ‘Move it’.
Nicole (06:25):
No. Right. ‘Get it done. Win people for my kingdom’, he’s gentle and humble. Like, oh, I wanna work for somebody. I wanna serve somebody who’s gentle and humble.
Sharon (06:33):
Yes. Yes.
Nicole (06:34):
That is such an inviting person to be with.
Sharon (06:37):
You know what, that’s the word, inviting. You want to be near the one who is gentle and humble.
Nicole (06:44):
I want to be yoked to him. Cause to be yoked with somebody, you’re going in the same direction, following the lead of whoever you’re attached to.
Sharon (06:51):
Uhhuh.
Nicole (06:51):
With a big wooden beam around your neck.
Sharon (06:54):
So you want it to be the one that’s gonna take you in easy directions and take you gently and take the bulk of the load.
Nicole (07:01):
Yes.
Sharon (07:01):
Which is what he does.
Nicole (07:02):
He does. We don’t have to equally share it.
Sharon (07:04):
Oh, man. I can remember walking down the road, I can’t remember which dog I had at the time. I think, I think it was Porsche, Ray named one of our dogs after the fast race car, because we had lots of interesting names. But anyways, whatever dog it was that I was walking with, I was feeling burdened and heavy laden.
Nicole (07:22):
Yes.
Sharon (07:22):
You know, like this verse says, come to me if you feel burdened and heavy laden. That was me. A lot of friends were in crisis. And I was just carrying this load of, oh, help this one, who’s got this crisis. Help this one who’s got this crisis, da da da da. And then this verse came to me and I thought, wait a second. His yoke and his burden is light and I don’t feel that. It’s heavy. Why Lord? And he’s like, because you haven’t given it to me.
Nicole (07:51):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (07:52):
You’re carrying it. You’re not yoked. You know?
Nicole (07:55):
Right.
Sharon (07:55):
So I did. I just basically mentally took this huge chunk of hurting people that I was so worried about and went ‘kerthunk’, right onto God. And I immediately felt lighter. He’s like, trust me with it.
Nicole (08:12):
Yes.
Sharon (08:12):
The reason you’re in trouble is you’re not trusting me with it. You’re trying to solve all these problems yourself and you are not bringing them to me. So.
Nicole (08:20):
Wow.
Sharon (08:20):
So that verse helped me then too. It was really, really neat.
Nicole (08:22):
That’s a great verse.
Sharon (08:23):
It is.
Nicole (08:24):
I need to read it more often.
Sharon (08:24):
It really is. Yeah. Yeah. So he’s gentle, he’s humble. So here’s the deal, it kind of seems strange to me when I was younger that Jesus would be called meek in the King James. Or gentle.
Nicole (08:36):
Yeah.
Sharon (08:37):
Because I associated it with weak.
Nicole (08:40):
Right.
Sharon (08:40):
And how can the King of kings and Lord of lords be weak?
Nicole (08:44):
Right.
Sharon (08:45):
It confused me, but it’s so far from what the word really means. So I’m gonna go to Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary and read what they define ‘gentleness’ or ‘meekness’ as being, it’s “sensitivity of disposition and kindness of behavior founded on strength and prompted by love”. You know, and we were talking about, you know, that wonderful woman that had eight kids and was gentle?
Nicole (09:11):
Yes.
Sharon (09:12):
That took strength.
Nicole (09:13):
Oh it did.
Sharon (09:14):
That to be gentle when you wanted to yell, took strength. It took self-control. I am impressed with her. Gentleness is not weakness. (Nicole: No) At all. The patient, here’s continuing with the definition, “the patient and hopeful endurance of undesirable circumstances, identifies the person as externally vulnerable and weak, but inwardly resilient and strong”.
Nicole (09:37):
Ooh, that’s interesting.
Sharon (09:38):
Isn’t it?
Nicole (09:39):
Yeah.
Sharon (09:40):
Meekness does not identify the weak, but more precisely the strong, who have been placed in a position of weakness where they persevere without giving up. Yes.
Nicole (09:49):
Ooh, these are very good.
Sharon (09:51):
So all of a sudden you wanna be meek.
Nicole (09:53):
Yes. Well, and here’s the definition of meekness, Sharon, that confirms that the word Jesus used is far from being weak or a pushover. It’s more of a controlled strength, like you said. Here’s what the Encyclopedia of the Bible says. The meaning of weakness, meekness, ugh, bad slip. “Meekness is one of the most commonly misunderstood terms applied to godliness. It has been interpreted in a variety of ways, from weakness and timidity to strength and self-control. The Hebrew word meekness is from ‘anah’ to bend over, to bow down, to labor or toil, to bend down, to be low, depressed or humble.”
Sharon (10:33):
Hmm. Yeah. So it’s a choosing.
Nicole (10:34):
Yes.
Sharon (10:35):
It’s a choosing to do it.
Nicole (10:36):
Not being forced down out of weakness.
Sharon (10:38):
No, you bend down.
Nicole (10:39):
LIke, I am putting myself down.
Sharon (10:40):
It’s not shoved down.
Nicole (10:41):
Yeah. That is very interesting.
Sharon (10:42):
Yeah, it is. So to be gentle is to control our strength. It’s strength under control. To receive hard things with patient endurance. To not push our weight around demanding our own way. And it takes a whole lot more strength and self-control for me to reply with gentleness to an angry person than it does to yell right back.
Nicole (11:01):
Yes it does.
Sharon (11:02):
Oh baby. Yeah. Gentleness is a beautiful word. So we’re gonna look at some instances of gentleness in the Bible, because we always like going to the Bible.
Nicole (11:10):
Yes.
Sharon (11:11):
So I’m gonna read Isaiah 40:11. This is such a nice one for you Nicole, cause you are in this verse.
Nicole (11:18):
Oh, exciting.
Sharon (11:19):
Wait til you hear it. It’s beautiful. “He (God) will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.
Nicole (11:34):
Oh, that is sweet.
Sharon (11:35):
That’s yours.
Nicole (11:37):
I know. That is, I need to be gently led with my little lambs.
Sharon (11:42):
Yes. Yeah.
Nicole (11:42):
All going in the wrong/different directions.
Sharon (11:44):
And gentleness begets gentleness.
Nicole (11:46):
Oh yes.
Sharon (11:47):
Right? So when you let him gently lead, you’ve, you’ve been gentled.
Nicole (11:51):
Right. So I’ve been shown that way. And then I can lead and parent out of that way of gentleness.
Sharon (11:55):
I love that.
Nicole (11:56):
That’s a really nice one. I like that.
Sharon (11:57):
That is like such a mother verse and it’s so encouraging to know that he carries the little lambs close to his heart. He’s carrying your babies close to his heart.
Nicole (12:04):
Oh he is. That goes back, that laying down the burden too. I don’t have to carry them on my shoulder. I can give them to Jesus.
Sharon (12:11):
Exactly.
Nicole (12:11):
He’s already carrying them.
Sharon (12:13):
He already is. He already loves them. So much. So, yeah. Yeah. I think that’s beautiful.
Nicole (12:20):
That is a good one. I’ll read another passage from Isaiah, this was 43:1-3. “Look at my servant, whom I strengthen. He is my chosen one who pleases me. I’ve put my spirit upon him. He will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or raise his voice in public. He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle. He will bring justice to all who have been wronged.” Ooh. That’s a good one.
Sharon (12:46):
Isn’t that beautiful?
Nicole (12:48):
We feel so, I feel so helpless sometimes. And you see the weakest reeds getting crushed or injustice in the world. (Sharon: Uhhuh) And you just wanna like, shake your fist and go, why? Why are the innocent being harmed? (Mm-hmm) But he doesn’t raise his voice and he’ll bring justice to those who have been wronged.
Sharon (13:02):
He will. He sees it.
Nicole (13:04):
And that’s such a beautiful thing.
Sharon (13:05):
He sees it.
Nicole (13:05):
He does see it.
Sharon (13:06):
Yeah. And you think of a broken reed. Who doesn’t just, you know, step on a piece of broken grass? Right?
Nicole (13:12):
It’s already broken, it’s already weak.
Sharon (13:13):
Right. It’s already weak. God doesn’t. And I think that is so neat when it applies to people that are broken. You know, we can never say they’re too broken to be mended. (Nicole: Right) God, no matter how broken you are, still protects the weakest reed. (Yes) And the little candle that has the tiniest flicker left. (Yeah) He doesn’t put it out.
Nicole (13:37):
Put a big one next to it instead. Yeah.
Sharon (13:39):
No. He fans the flame. I love how God loves the weak. (Nicole: Mmm) I do. Because I often am.
Nicole (13:47):
Yes.
Sharon (13:48):
You know, and you can kind of feel like you’re useless at certain points in your life. Well, he’s never gonna crush the broken reed. He’s never gonna stamp out the flickering flame. I love it.
Nicole (13:59):
That’s a beautiful passage.
Sharon (14:00):
Such, such a good one. I really love it. Well, now we’re gonna read a longer passage, 1 Timothy 6:3-11. So, why don’t I start with verse three and we’ll read back and forth. “Some people may contradict our teaching, says Paul to Timothy. But these are the wholesome teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. These teachings promote a godly life.”
Nicole (14:26):
“Anyone who teaches something different is arrogant and lacks understanding. Such a person has an unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words. This stirs up arguments ending in jealousy, division, slander and evil suspicions. “
Sharon (14:39):
“These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt and they have turned their backs on the truth. To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy.”
Nicole (14:50):
“Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.”
Sharon (14:54):
“After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world. And we can’t take anything with us when we leave it.”
Nicole (15:00):
“So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content.”
Sharon (15:04):
“But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.”
Nicole (15:14):
“For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people craving money have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.”
Sharon (15:24):
“But you, Timothy are a man of God. So run from all these evil things, pursue righteousness and a godly life along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.”
Nicole (15:37):
Hmm. Pursue these things.
Sharon (15:40):
Pursue gentleness. Isn’t that fun?
Nicole (15:42):
And the ending for pursuing is much better than the ending for pursuing the love of money or wealth. And you can see, I don’t wanna be pierced with many sorrows.
Sharon (15:50):
No. You know, being wealthy doesn’t make you happy.
Nicole (15:54):
No.
Sharon (15:54):
I mean, you can be happy wealthy, you can be happy un-wealthy.
Nicole (15:57):
Yeah, exactly.
Sharon (15:58):
But being wealthy isn’t the source of happiness. In fact,
Nicole (16:00):
It’s not a guarantee of happiness.
Sharon (16:01):
No. Good heavens. Sometimes it just makes you fussy.
Nicole (16:04):
Right. You have more to lose.
Sharon (16:04):
I know some wonderful wealthy people who are not fussy at all. But I also know some wealthy people who they’re so used to the best coffee.
Nicole (16:14):
Yes.
Sharon (16:15):
That nothing else will do. They’re so used to getting their way in the kind of bedroom they wanna sleep in and the kind of, everythings, that if they don’t get it, they’re miserable. They haven’t learned contentment in whatever situation they are in. Like (Nicole: Right) Paul learned. And so it can be, it can be a problem. Wealth can be a problem. It really can.
Nicole (16:34):
Oh yeah. I think so cause you’re still have, you can still overspend I think. I was talking to someone who is rather wealthy and listening to this person. They still were paying their credit card debt. They were still, they just had more money to do things with.
Sharon (16:45):
Spend on more things.
Nicole (16:45):
But they were still having the same struggles we were. Just on a slightly different scale.
Sharon (16:49):
Yeah. You can still be in trouble with your mortgage of your mansion.
Nicole (16:52):
Yes. Yes. It’s all the same trouble, just a little bit of different scale
Sharon (16:57):
And there’s a ton to manage with money. So, so the goal of life is not to be wealthy.
Nicole (17:02):
No.
Sharon (17:02):
If it happens to you, yay. You can be generous and give, give, give.
Nicole (17:06):
Yes.
Sharon (17:06):
But the goal of life is not to just accrue stuff. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) If we have enough food, what does he say? I gotta find that place.
Nicole (17:12):
Food and clothing.
Sharon (17:14):
Food and clothing.
Nicole (17:15):
Just food and clothing.
Sharon (17:15):
Then you should be contented with that.
Nicole (17:15):
He didn’t say shelter.
Sharon (17:17):
Not even shelter.
Nicole (17:17):
He didn’t say car.
Sharon (17:19):
Yep. Nope. Food, clothing.
Nicole (17:20):
Didn’t say nice. Yeah. No. Just food and clothing. Like, huh. I, Hmm. I have a lot more than that. And I don’t feel so content all the time.
Sharon (17:27):
We have so much. We have so much.
Nicole (17:29):
Oh, it’s crazy.
Sharon (17:29):
I remember, um, back when I was struggling with my kitchen cause it was so tiny.
Nicole (17:33):
Yes.
Sharon (17:34):
You know, this is a familiar story, but I’m just gonna tell it again because it really helped me with contentment. Yeah. I was very envious of people that had space in their kitchen so actually more than one person could be there in the same time, you know, where they actually had kitchen tables in their kitchen where you could sit. None of which I have in my kitchen. And all of a sudden, Nicole, God gave me a face of a woman and I knew she was from Haiti because my pastor had just come from a mission’s trip there. And he was talking about where he was in Haiti, that there were people that were, like 20 people were sharing one hut for sleeping. (Nicole: Wow) And the hut was so small that if you laid 10 people down, you could barely fit them in. (Oh my) So you had to sleep in shifts (Wow) with the shelter. (Yes) Otherwise you were outside all the time. So she was from one of those huts and she’s just looking at me. What? And I was so ashamed of myself. (Mm-hmm) I had a whole house. (Yeah) I had a whole house and I was whining about a kitchen. She was cooking outside.
Nicole (18:37):
Right. And sleeping in shifts.
Sharon (18:39):
For cry— and sleeping in shifts. Man, we have got, if we’re gonna compare, which we’re not supposed to be doing.
Nicole (18:46):
Right.
Sharon (18:46):
Can we just remember how much we have?
Nicole (18:48):
Yes.
Sharon (18:49):
And be grateful. You know, instead of always looking at more. So I just thought that was really cool. And so we’re to run from all these things and instead we’re pursuing gentleness.
Nicole (18:58):
Yes.
Sharon (18:58):
We’re pursuing the quiet way of life. Not the aggressive way of life.
Nicole (19:03):
I was gonna say pursuing wealth and fame and riches is so aggressive and cutthroat and you have to hurt so many, it feels like you have to hurt so many people to get there.
Sharon (19:10):
Yeah. Right. Right. Right. Right.
Nicole (19:10):
You know, cheat. And it’s just—
Sharon (19:12):
Yep. We don’t wanna do that.
Nicole (19:12):
Unless God has blessed you with that. Not everyone that’s wealthy is doing that.
Sharon (19:15):
No, no. Not everybody. No. But, but to pursue it can do that. If it’s given—
Nicole (19:20):
Yes. Above God, pursuing it above God.
Sharon (19:22):
You know, some of my friends that, that have money are like, wow, how’d that happen?
Nicole (19:25):
Right.
Sharon (19:26):
You know.
Nicole (19:26):
Exactly.
Sharon (19:26):
That’s the way for it to happen.
Nicole (19:27):
And that’s a beautiful gift from God that they are, that he’s given to them because obviously they’re doing something good with it. So.
Sharon (19:32):
Yeah. Exactly. Well, we’ve got more from Timothy and Paul.
Nicole (19:36):
I know.
Sharon (19:36):
Because Paul was such an advisor. Why don’t you read the next one.
Nicole (19:38):
So second Timothy 2:23 and 25. “Again, I say don’t get involved in foolish, ignorant arguments that only start fights. A servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but must be kind to everyone. Be able to teach and be patient with difficult people.” (Ooh) “Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts and they will learn the truth.”
Sharon (20:02):
Isn’t that interesting? When you disagree with someone gently instruct and perhaps God will change their minds.
Nicole (20:08):
Not us. So we don’t have to prove our point. We don’t have to argue in debates. (Sharon: No, Uhhuh, Uhuh) We have to be kind.
Sharon (20:14):
Right. And be gentle. The flavor that we leave, the aroma of Christ that we leave should not be of an aggressive in your face, sticking your fingers in their cheek, you know, kind of thing,
Nicole (20:27):
This is how it is. This is what it’s supposed to be
Sharon (20:30):
Yeah. Very few people are won by yelling.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Yeah. I have never been persuaded by someone yelling at me.
Sharon (20:34):
I’ve never been persuaded by yelling because the person that’s yelling and shouting at me becomes the enemy.
Nicole (20:39):
Yes.
Sharon (20:40):
And even if they’re right, you instinctively don’t want the enemy to win.
Nicole (20:45):
No. It’s so funny, when I was training at Options for Women, I had read this book about this lady, her life story, she was the head of a Planned Parenthood type organization who was responsible for thousands and thousands of abortions. (Sharon: Wow) And so many pro-life people had been so aggressive and hateful toward her and thrown dismembered baby dolls and called her horrible names and threatened her family and her. One person invited her to coffee one day, bought her coffee and just talked to her and listened to her, loved on her. And that person was the one that showed her God. And she left the industry, became a Christian, repented of her ways because that person was kind. It wasn’t the person holding the sign saying, ‘abortion is murder’. You’re a murderer. (Yeah. Yeah) It was a person that stopped and said, how are you? What do you, how can I pray for you?
Sharon (21:33):
Isn’t that awesome?
Nicole (21:34):
Just gives me chills to think about.
Sharon (21:35):
I love that.
Nicole (21:36):
But gentleness wins, you know?
Sharon (21:37):
Gentleness wins. Well, when you think if we are gonna imitate Christ, the fruit of the Spirit does not include anger, does not include fighting. Does not include aggression.
Nicole (21:47):
Yeah.
Sharon (21:47):
It’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. That’s it. It’s the softer ones. And yet they’re not weak.
Nicole (21:58):
No they’re not.
Sharon (21:58):
In fact they’re hard.
Nicole (22:00):
Yes. Cause you have to squish down those stronger feelings too and do these gentle ones.
Sharon (22:04):
Oh man. So, okay, now it’s time to apply it. We always, I love getting practical. You know, to just talk theory. You know, you can walk away too vague.
Nicole (22:14):
Right. That sounds great, but,
Sharon (22:16):
How do we do it in practice?
Nicole (22:17):
Yes.
Sharon (22:17):
So first of all, God, now how do you practice gentleness with God? That’s interesting.
Nicole (22:22):
This one was tough.
Sharon (22:23):
That was hard.
Nicole (22:23):
I could not think of something. I thought about, well maybe not, I even asked my girls about it. Like, well, maybe not getting angry with God or yelling at him. I said, well, I think he wants us to be honest with him though. And David really let God have it sometimes.
Sharon (22:36):
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (22:36):
I don’t know if that’s gentleness. I don’t know how to show gentleness to God.
Sharon (22:41):
I am not sure either other than to gentle myself to accept his yoke.
Nicole (22:47):
Oh. Maybe not be the stubborn oxen trying to go the other direction.
Sharon (22:51):
Yeah. Yeah. That’s the best I could come up with, is it’s strength under control with gentleness. So when I start the day surrendered and I say, I wanna take your yoke. I mean, I got plans and it’s hard for me. I like my plans.
Nicole (23:07):
Got my list, I’m ready to go.
Sharon (23:08):
Yeah. Yep. Yep. But I’m going to choose to yoke myself to you. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) And if you pull me in another direction, I wanna go with you. I’m gonna be gentle. I’m not going to tug against you and kick.
Nicole (23:20):
Yeah. So maybe more the definition of the humble or the meekness aspect of gentleness in a relationship with God.
Sharon (23:26):
Yeah. That’s the best I could come up with.
Nicole (23:27):
Yeah.
Sharon (23:27):
Because I do think that he allows us to say, I’m so angry right now.
Nicole (23:31):
Yes, absolutely.
Sharon (23:33):
You know I am anyways, so I’m just telling you, I don’t know why you let this happen.
Nicole (23:37):
Right. So I don’t think that’s not being gentle with him, but I like that. I think it’s our, I think you’re right. It’s our attitude of coming, going, all right, God, here’s my day, fit in, you know, where you can, kind of thing.
Sharon (23:47):
Exactly.
Nicole (23:47):
Like actually no, God, this is your day. What do you have me to do?
Sharon (23:50):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Nicole (23:50):
And can I maybe do this later? Is it okay?
Sharon (23:52):
Yeah. Yeah. Yep, yep, yep. Or you know, I’m bringing you my plans, but yes Lord, if you distract me, if you move me somewhere else, I say yes. (Nicole: Yeah) Or one of my favorite phrases, I receive this, I receive this, I receive what you’ve put into my life. (Yeah)That is hard to say sometimes.
Nicole (24:10):
Yes, it is. Like, I don’t want it though.
Sharon (24:12):
Especially like when you’re sick, you know? Please heal me. I think you can ask, but I think you also have to say, but I receive this. I receive what you’ve allowed. I had to do that with Meniere’s Disease.
Nicole (24:23):
Yeah.
Sharon (24:24):
Did I want Meniere’s Disease? Not particularly. Would I still like to be healed from it? Oh yeah. But I receive what he’s allowed. So anyways, there you go.
Nicole (24:34):
That’s good.
Sharon (24:34):
How about family?
Nicole (24:36):
Ooh. I think for family gentleness can be shown by making allowances for their faults.
Sharon (24:41):
Yes.
Nicole (24:41):
Knowing and expecting my husband and my children to make mistakes as I do.
Sharon (24:46):
Right.
Nicole (24:47):
But giving, kind of making that space for that it will make me less— I’ll be more gentle with them if I expect it. You know, it won’t be like, what? I won’t be so aghast if they fail me. I’m like, okay, they’re children. They’re going to make a mistake.
Sharon (24:59):
They’re going to fail. They’re going to spill the milk.
Nicole (25:01):
Yes. And be gentle when it happens.
Sharon (25:03):
Yes. Yes.
Nicole (25:03):
I think kind of preparing myself, like this is gonna happen. Josh might not (Sharon: Expectations) throw me a big party. I have to expect this to not be, (Right) You know, that can help, that can kind of help soften things and make you more gentle going in.
Sharon (25:15):
I like that. I like that. And then literally practicing gentle tones. Feeling the anger stir in me. I can remember doing that once with my granddaughter. She was mean to her brother and my first response was anger. (Nicole: I know) And I thought, okay, I did this all wrong as a parent, could I at least get it right as a grandparent? You know? So, I took her away from her brother that she’d been mean to and I wanted to say angry things. (Mm-hmm) Like, you may not treat him like that.
Nicole (25:44):
Right. You’re siblings, be nice, be kind.
Sharon (25:48):
No, but instead I prayed first. Oh, this was so much fun to get a second chance at this cause I can’t tell you the numerous times I failed as a mother. I prayed first and what came out was, Honey, why would you do that to your big brother who loves you so much? She burst into tears.
Nicole (26:06):
Oh my goodness.
Sharon (26:07):
We both cried. I said, I know darling. I know you just got angry. Nina so understands. Cause two seconds ago I was angry with you. I didn’t say that part.
Nicole (26:19):
Right.
Sharon (26:19):
But the whole atmosphere changed.
Nicole (26:21):
Oh, wow.
Sharon (26:22):
And instead of her anger, making my anger, which would make her angrier, and then me having to confess to my daughter that I’d been angry at her daughter, which as a grandparent, you never wanna have to do that.
Nicole (26:32):
Right.
Sharon (26:33):
Cause you wanna be allowed to touch their children. It worked beautifully. I’m like, why did I not learn this when I was younger?
Nicole (26:39):
I know. Why do we think, it just, it does feel like weakness I think.
Sharon (26:43):
I think it does. But it isn’t. I came alongside her, Honey, why did you do that darling?
Nicole (26:49):
And it, that gentleness led to a true change and repentance in her little heart.
Sharon (26:53):
It did. It was, it worked.
Nicole (26:55):
Because you didn’t, you didn’t trigger her anger to kind of spur up.
Sharon (26:57):
Right.
Nicole (26:57):
Because no one ever changes in anger.
Sharon (26:59):
No. No. So that’s how we do it in family.
Nicole (27:02):
Oh, that’s good.
Sharon (27:02):
How about with Christians?
Nicole (27:05):
Ooh, I kind of , you know, I feel like some of our Christians and friends, it feels like family. So just having that gentle heart toward mistakes that they do make mistakes. Being quick to forgive and treating them gently, even if they’re making decisions we don’t agree with. Be firm with truth, but be gentle with them.
Sharon (27:19):
Yes. It’s always truth and love. (Nicole: Yes) Always truth and love. (Yeah) Truth is harsh without love. (It is) Love is mush that doesn’t do good without truth.
Nicole (27:27):
Yes. You need that foundation.
Sharon (27:28):
It’s gotta be both . So yeah.
Nicole (27:30):
Oh, and to be gentle when people approach you with your faults. That was my other one.
Sharon (27:34):
Yes.
Nicole (27:34):
I receive this. Thank you for your criticism.
Sharon (27:36):
Yes. Thank you.
Nicole (27:39):
That one’s tough.
Sharon (27:39):
Yep, yep, Yep. Saying thank you first is the way to go. (Nicole: Yes) It’s so hard to do, but it, it slows you down. (Yes) And then you’re like, okay, well how am thankful? Thank you that you let me know how you felt. (Yeah) I would so much rather you tell me then have you sit in bitterness.
Nicole (27:54):
Thank you that you love me enough to tell me when I’m doing something or you care about me enough.
Sharon (27:59):
Yeah. Yeah. It’s so good. So good. Galatians 6:1 has something about this too. And it actually goes along with what you’re saying, “Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, (So this is a Christian brother or sister) you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourself. Or you also may be tempted.” (Nicole: Oh) I think that is such good advice. (Yeah). We’re not above sinning. (No) Whatever they’ve done there, but for the grace of God, go we. (Yes) You know? So we don’t come in a spirit of judge-y, I am so much better than you. How could you? (Right) We don’t know their story. (Right) We gently restore. We gently say, Hey Honey, you know, and if they don’t listen, then we’ve spoken truth. (Yes) And we wait. And we pray and we hope that they can be restored. Right? (Yes) Yeah. Cause that’s the goal, is not to shove ’em away so that they, they, you know, die in a dark and lonely hole. (Right) The goal is always restoration.
Nicole (28:58):
Isn’t it? I think we forget that. I think sometimes we’re more focused on the truth being heard or known or letting people know they did not do the right thing. (Sharon: Yes) Now I’m that way like, this is wrong. You need to know this is wrong. (Right) But to what end? Why am I telling this person that? (For restoration) Is it just to tell them they’re wrong or is it because I really want them to be restored to goodness.
Sharon (29:15):
Yeah. And if we really love them, we don’t want the consequences of what they’re doing. (Nicole: Yes) So it comes from a spirit of gentleness and also humility. I could be there. (Oh yes) I wasn’t married to your husband or you know, I didn’t have your childhood. I can’t put myself in your shoes. (Right) Yeah. Yeah. (No, that’s good) That’s really good, I love that scripture. I think we need that scripture.
Nicole (29:35):
We do.
Sharon (29:35):
So non-Christians. I found a scripture for this one too, 1 Peter 3:15, and we’ll have to end there because Oh my goodness, Nicole, we just chatted our way through the whole time. But this is one of my favorite scriptures. So we’ll end with this. “But in your hearts, revere Christ as Lord, (We always do that first) Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” (We wanna be prepared to share) “But do this with gentleness and respect.” When we share our faith, we do it respectfully. The other person has asked, and we do it gently.
Nicole (30:11):
Yes.
Sharon (30:12):
Not with a lecture tone.
Nicole (30:14):
Right.
Sharon (30:14):
So, oh, let’s pray.
Nicole (30:15):
That’s a good one. Yes.
Sharon (30:15):
Oh Heavenly Father, how grateful we are that you are gentle and humble. You who are King of all and don’t need to be. You are. And we can come to you because of that. Father, I wanna be the kind of person people dare to come to because I am gentle and humble and I won’t make them feel all judged and wrong. God, help us to show gentleness in every contact. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole (30:47):
Amen. Thank you so much for listening as we ponder gentleness. Do you have a story about a person in your life who blessed you because they were gentle with you? We’d love to hear it. Write us to any time @sweetselah.org/podcast. It costs a surprising amount of money to run this podcast and we surely would appreciate your help. You can @sweetselah.org/donations. Reviews are always a gift to us so that others can find our podcast. Would you consider writing a review? Thanks. Next week we’re going to discuss Learning Self-Control in episode 106. That’s a tough one. We’re looking forward to unpacking it with each other, studying what God has to say about self-control. Until then, may God bless you with a gentle spirit and a happy heart.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found@sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Faithfulness. We all want our friends and family to possess that character trait, don't we? It's not always easy to be faithful. Join Sharon and Nicole as they look at Biblical examples of faithfulness, and talk about the importance of that Christian fruit in life. Let's be faithful in all our relationships. Starting now.
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Read the transcript for Walking in Faithfulness-Episode 104Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to a podcast designed to bring biblical encouragement to your weary soul. We are so glad you’re listening and we pray God blesses you and strengthens you in your walk with him. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is brought to you by the cooperative efforts of Sweet Selah Ministries and Word Radio. Sit back and enjoy.
Nicole (00:29):
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 104, Walking in Faithfulness. I love faithfulness, Sharon. To have people in your life that you can count on is such a gift. And of course, to have God who is always faithful as my heavenly Father is so reassuring. Two of the most faithful people in my life growing up were my parents, actually. (Sharon: Oh) My dad came from kind of an abusive and very dysfunctional family where church was a punishment. They dragged (Oh, my) him to a local Catholic church, and it was not something he enjoyed. And my mom was a pastor’s kid in a pretty strict church where she couldn’t do anything quite well enough. So neither one had a great early experience in churches, but they came to know Christ and rededicated themselves to him. And I can count on one hand the Sundays we missed growing up. (Aw) They were very faithful.
Sharon (01:16):
You were an always there family.
Nicole (01:18):
We were, you know, and we really enjoyed going to church for the most part. You know, we had been part of a few churches in the process of moving and settling into areas that were not so great. But they, my parents, helped instill a love and a habit of church attendance. And that was really precious.
Sharon (01:33):
It is precious. And it takes, it takes effort to get children dressed and out the door on a Sunday morning. Oh my goodness. I can remember when our kids were little, it seemed like all our fights took place on a Sunday morning,(Nicole: Yes) between Ray and me.
Nicole (01:47):
Why is that?
Sharon (01:48):
What is that? And I finally, I finally got over expecting things from Ray that he was not able to give. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) And just got up earlier and got them ready early and everything was peaceful again. And it was so worth it. It really was.
Nicole (02:05):
And then you had time to find the lost shoe or untangle the knot from the hair.
Sharon (02:08):
I had time. Exactly. I was always trying to sleep in that little bit and then it’s, (Nicole: Oh yes) Where’s the shoe? And Ray’d be like, how do I know where the shoe is? (Right) Right?
Nicole (02:16):
This one will work. That’s a mud boot.
Sharon (02:17):
So we’d get to church, but you know, then we’re mad. (Nicole: Oh yea) And that is not the way to go. So, anyways, I understand why it’s hard for people to get to church. (Yes) And I think nowadays it’s harder than ever because so many activities happen on a Sunday.
Nicole (02:30):
Oh yes. You’re fighting every sporting activity and every adventure out there.
Sharon (02:33):
You are. Yeah. Yeah. And yet there’s such a sweetness about faithfully being there. (Nicole: Oh yeah) There really is. Oh, that was a good example. (Yeah) I liked it. It’s funny, as I was thinking of faithfulness, I thought of my parents and Ray’s parents both. We are blessed that we have parents that stayed married and loved each other. And my parents still do love each other. They’re living. Ray’s parents have died. And I loved watching their love growing up. (That’s so sweet) Mom and Dad Gamble were just inseparable. They did things together, uh, sometimes more than Mom Gamble wanted. I remember when Dad Gamble first retired, he didn’t really have hobbies. So he’s like, so what are we doing today? And she’d think, oh, wow, you’re with me all day now. But they adjusted and they did a lot of trips together. They did some camping together. (Oh) And when Mom got sick, Dad got sick, they both did at different times. They were there cleaning out the wounds, you know, sitting in the hospital day after day, never leaving the other’s side.
Nicole (03:36):
Oh, that’s so sweet.
Sharon (03:37):
Just such an example. (Nicole: Yeah) And then my parents as well. (Mm-hmm) They met from two different cultures. Mom’s, British, Daddy’s American, and, uh, they had to meld their cultures together. (Yeah) And there were differences. And as my mother said, there were some marital moments, when things did not go smoothly. (Right) But, but they’ve stayed married, they’ve stayed happy. They still walk together every day. They play Scrabble every night. They have an ongoing Scrabble battle. (Oh my goodness) And it just blesses me that in my heritage are people that stuck it out.
Nicole (04:14):
Oh. That is such a gift.
Sharon (04:15):
When it was hard and when it was easy. Isn’t it? (Nicole: Yeah) It’s a huge gift. I’m so, so grateful. So faithfulness is a wonderful thing. (It is) I feel we should define it. We’ve kind of talked about people that have lived it out in their lives. (Yeah) But what’s the definition?
Nicole (04:30):
Hmm. The definition of faithfulness. So from dictionary.com, it says, ‘the quality of being faithful. Or fidelity, the fact or quality of being true to one’s word, or commitments, as to what one has pledged to do, professed to believe, et cetera; lasting loyalty and trustworthiness in relationships, especially in marriage and friendships’. (Sharon: Huh) ‘And the quality of adhering to a standard or an original or a fact’. So there, there were a lot of definitions for faithfulness. Sometimes you get like one or two, but there is all of these things describing (A ton. Yeah) how one can be faithful.
Sharon (05:06):
Yeah. Basically, if somebody’s faithful to you, you can trust them.
Nicole (05:10):
Yes. They’ve got your back. You don’t have to worry about something being let down there.
Sharon (05:14):
Yeah. You’re not blindsided. So, oh, I wanna be that faithful friend.
Nicole (05:18):
Oh yeah. What a gift to others.
Sharon (05:19):
And that faithful wife. (Nicole: Yes) Yes, yes, yes. Well, it’s a fruit of the Spirit. (Yeah) And so therefore we need God’s help with it. (Absolutely) And in marriage. Definitely.
Nicole (05:29):
Yes.
Sharon (05:30):
We need God’s help with it. So, but we’re gonna look at some characters from the Bible that exhibited faithfulness. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) And take turns with that and just kind of examine the faithfulness in their own lives. (Yeah) And I’m starting way back in Genesis with Noah. (Hmm) He was faithful to God in the weirdest of circumstances. (Mm-hmm) He’s told to build an ark. And I, you’ve seen the ark, right? (Yes) I haven’t seen it. (It’s wild) The one that was built to scale in what state? Kentucky?
Nicole (06:00):
Kentucky. Yes.
Sharon (06:01):
Kentucky. Yes. I’m going someday. That’s on my bucket list. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) If I don’t get there, here in this life, God will show me the ark in heaven. (Right) Anyways, it’s huge.
Nicole (06:10):
It is so big.
Sharon (06:11):
It’s huge. It had to hold all the animals. It was huge. He’s building it on dry land. There’s no water around. A lot of scholars believed there was also no rain at that time. (Nicole: Right) It was just sort of a mist. And wasn’t until the flood that some kind of atmospheric thing (Yes) changed. I can’t, don’t ask me to explain it cause I’m not scientific. But anyways, this was craziness.
Nicole (06:32):
Yeah. He looked completely crazy to be out there building something like that.
Sharon (06:36):
Unbelievable. This was craziness and it took years. I don’t know how many, it was between his 500th and his 600th year. I studied that in Genesis, but I don’t know more than that. So it could have taken almost a hundred years. He also had to gather two of every animal. (NIcole: Right) And seven of some animals. So he did this year after year after year after year. Faithfully doing what God asked with no rain and no water.
Sharon (07:04):
Unbelievable. So I chose a verse that kind of explains it in Hebrews, actually, I didn’t go to Genesis for it. Hebrews 11:7 says this, “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith, he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.” He was warned about things not seen. (Nicole: Wow) And he trusted. (Yeah) And so we need to do the same. Sometimes God tells us to do something that’s hard and we don’t see the good in forgiving or whatevers, right? But we do it and we trust. So there is a great example of faithfulness. (I love this story) You got an example of faithfulness?
Nicole (07:46):
Yeah. I get to talk about Abraham. He’s pretty cool too. (Sharon: He is, he is) so way back there in Genesis as well. So Abraham, he had a really great life. He was all settled in a really nice city with a lot of nice cushy advances back then, you know? (Yeah. Yeah) And God said, I’m gonna make you a great nation, even though you’re old and have no children. Leave? (Can you stand it?) That part just kills me. (Unbelievable). And he takes them outside, shows ’em the stars and says, this is how many children you’re gonna have. Still they had no children and he was faithful and he trusted God. And he went into the desert. And you know what kills— what really gets me, is that Abraham never saw his millions of children. He never saw the Promised Land. He ended up living his life out in the desert, trusting in God being faithful to him, you know, waiting to see that promise fulfilled. But he never I mean, he did get a little, he got a little weary and sidetracked at one point. (Yeah. He did. Sarah kind of helped with that, yeah.) Tried to rush ahead to children.
Sharon (08:40):
But he remained faithful until the end as well.
Sharon (08:44):
He did. He did.
Nicole (08:46):
It’s just so fascinating.
Sharon (08:46):
Such a wonderful example. (Nicole: Yeah) He really is. He really is. And then no wonder they named Isaac ‘Laughter’, you know, and they finally had their kid.
Nicole (08:54):
Oh I know. That just makes me giggle.
Sharon (08:55):
It just cracked them up. I mean, he’s a hundred, right?
Nicole (08:57):
Yeah.
Sharon (08:57):
When he has his son.
Nicole (08:58):
She was like 99. Yeah, I can’t even imagine.
Sharon (08:58):
Yeah. Something like that. Very past the prime (Nicole: Yes) of having children. I love that story. (And here’s this little boy). I love it. And I love how he believed in what he did not see.
Nicole (09:08):
Mm, absolutely. And then after they had Isaac, he was told to sacrifice him. Again, makes no sense. And he was faithful!
Sharon (09:15):
He got right up next morning, Remember?
Nicole (09:17):
Yes.
Sharon (09:17):
The next morning gets up and goes.
Nicole (09:19):
Yep. Tied him up, got the knife in the air and then God was like, actually, stop this.
Sharon (09:23):
Yes, yes, yes. Actually I will provide the ram.
Nicole (09:25):
Yeah. But wow. His faithfulness is astonishing.
Sharon (09:27):
He is. He’s like the father of all faithfulness.
Nicole (09:29):
Yes.
Sharon (09:29):
You’ve got a good one there.
Nicole (09:30):
I know. I love Abraham.
Sharon (09:33):
Well, my next one’s at the end of Genesis and it’s Joseph. (Nicole: Oh) I love Joseph. (Oh he’s a good one too) Joseph the little kid with the rainbow coat who was absolutely his daddy’s favorite. (Yes) He might have been number 11 in children. But he was number one for Rachel, the wife that Jacob wanted from the very beginning. (Yes. The one he really loved) So he was, in Jacob’s mind, kind of his firstborn son. And the other guys were not pleased with that decision. (Mm-hmm) So of course they wanna kill him. Instead they merely sell him into slavery where he has to be slave for the rest of his life in a foreign land, Egypt. (Right) And what does he do? He faithfully does the right thing. (Mm-hmm) He works hard for Potiphar, the guy that he’s assigned to. (Yeah) Everything prospers because he’s doing right. (Right) Even though he could have been bitter and angry. (Right) Because nothing had gone his way. And it wasn’t his fault he was his dad’s favorite.
Nicole (10:25):
Right. He’s, he went from being a spoiled child to a indentured servant.
Sharon (10:29):
Yeah. And so he did good.
Nicole (10:30):
He did.
Sharon (10:30):
And then of course, Potiphar’s wife accuses him falsely. And, and he gets thrown into prison. And what does old Joseph do? He does well in prison as well.
Nicole (10:40):
He is so good.
Sharon (10:41):
So I’m reading from Genesis 39:19-23 here. “When his master, Potiphar, heard the story his wife told him saying, this is how your slave treated me, he burned with anger. Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him. He showed him kindness, granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison.” (Nicole: Oh my word) Why? Because Joseph was trustworthy. He was still being faithful to God. Amazing. And back to the scripture, “He was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.” (Wow) So the warden had a cushy job, basically, cause he made Joseph the warden. I
Nicole (11:26):
I was gonna say, free labor. And he trusted him. He didn’t check anything. He said.
Sharon (11:29):
Joseph was faithful.
Nicole (11:30):
Wow.
Sharon (11:30):
Joseph continued to be faithful when everything said, why should I be faithful to a God who keeps letting bad things happen to me? And I’ve heard many women say that to me. (Mm-hmm) What does God have against me? Why should I love him anymore? You know? Well, because he’s good. (Mm-hmm) And because he still loves you even if he’s allowed bad things. (Yeah) Look at our Joseph. (I know) I know.
Nicole (11:53):
Just keeps getting from bad to worse but his faithfulness continued.
Sharon (11:56):
Yep. But it’s still better to be good.
Nicole (11:57):
Yes.
Sharon (11:58):
That’s the thing.
Nicole (11:58):
That’s true. Oh, that’s a good point. Yeah.
Sharon (12:01):
It’s still better to be good.
Nicole (12:02):
He would’ve been miserable if he had been bitter and angry.
Sharon (12:04):
Well, yeah.
Nicole (12:04):
And it wouldn’t have gotten him anywhere
Sharon (12:05):
Wasted away in prison.
Nicole (12:06):
You’re right. (Sharon: Yeah) But because he followed God and was faithful in the goodness, he was able to have a better life within (Eventually) the trouble. (Yes) Yes.
Sharon (12:14):
Yeah. So okay.
Nicole (12:14):
Very interesting. I get to talk about Ruth. I love Ruth.
Sharon (12:18):
Yes, I do too. We just did a study on Ruth. I’ve enjoyed it.
Nicole (12:21):
I know.
Sharon (12:22):
Yeah.
Nicole (12:22):
She’s so faithful. So her husband dies, she doesn’t have to stay with her mother-in-law. And sometimes relationships with mother-in-laws can be a little tricky. (Sharon: Yeah) Her sister-in-law had already left to go back to her family. Ruth was faithful and she stayed with Naomi as she went back to her homeland. (Yeah) She faithfully provided for her. She went out and got a job for her and she just stayed with her to the end, even though there was nothing in it for Ruth. She had to travel to a foreign land as a foreigner. (Mm-hmm) Get treated, probably not great cause she was a foreigner. (Mm-hmm) And she was faithful to the end. And then God brought her to Boaz. (Yay) And then she got to get married and have a baby.
Sharon (12:58):
I love it.
Nicole (12:59):
And then Jesus came from them.
Sharon (13:00):
And when she had the baby, she was faithful because she gave Obed to Naomi. And Naomi—
Nicole (13:05):
Oh, that’s right.
Sharon (13:06):
It, it came under Naomi’s family line. Not Boaz’, the first child.
Nicole (13:10):
You’re right. That’s right.
Sharon (13:10):
So they kind of co-parented.
Nicole (13:12):
That’s so cool. I That’s really tough to do.
Sharon (13:14):
Are you kidding me? She had had no children for 10 years with Naomi’s son.
Nicole (13:20):
Right.
Sharon (13:20):
So she’d been barren. She finally has a baby. (Nicole: Oh) And she places it on Naomi’s lap.
Nicole (13:26):
That’s awfully nice.
Sharon (13:28):
Incredible faithfulness and love to Naomi. You know, no wonder they say all those words that—
Nicole (13:34):
I was gonna say,
Sharon (13:34):
In the marriage ceremony, ‘wherever you go, I will go, wherever you die, I will die. (Nicole: Yep) May God deal with me ever so severely, if anything but death separate you and me’.
Nicole (13:43):
Yeah. That’s a very faithful statement.
Sharon (13:45):
Yeah.
Nicole (13:45):
It doesn’t get better than that.
Sharon (13:47):
Yeah. Yeah. And she chose God all the way through. So good.
Nicole (13:49):
She did.
Sharon (13:49):
Well, we talked about David and Jonathan’s friendship (Nicole: Yeah) back when we did our study on David and their faithfulness was amazing because Jonathan was, hello, going to be the next king after Saul. And instead Jonathan recognized that God had chosen David, not him. (Yeah) And instead of, you know, joining his father and trying to kill David, he actually hid David several times from his dad. And he was loyal to David and he was gonna stand by David’s side. He was killed, unfortunately, so he couldn’t. But Jonathan was a faithful friend to his own detriment.
Nicole (14:22):
Yeah. Oh.
Sharon (14:23):
Unbelievable. Oh man. Jonathan’s just so a hero to me. (Nicole: Yeah) But then David, when he becomes king, realizes that he could still be faithful to Jonathan even after Jonathan’s death. (Yeah). And seeks out, any remaining children that were alive of Jonathan’s. There’s one, Mephibosheth, who is crippled. And Mephibosheth, scared to death, comes into David’s presence. (Yeah) And David lets him, I’ll just, I’ve got too many scriptures to read on this one. I’ll just read the last little bit. “When Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him, honor. David said, Mephibosheth, at your service, he replied, (he was so scared). Don’t be afraid, David said to him, for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father, Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather, Saul. (David’s enemy) (Nicole: Yeah) And you will always eat at my table.”
Nicole (15:20):
Wow.
Sharon (15:21):
What?
Nicole (15:21):
He did not have to do that. Jonathan was gone. He didn’t.
Sharon (15:25):
And Mephibosheth wasn’t looking for it at all.
Nicole (15:27):
No.
Sharon (15:27):
He was scared to death at what was gonna happen. He’s like, I’m the only survivor. What’s gonna happen now?
Nicole (15:32):
Right. Wow.
Sharon (15:32):
But he was faithful past death to Jonathan.
Nicole (15:36):
That’s so good. The faithfulness. It’s towards God almost at this point.
Sharon (15:41):
Yeah it is.
Nicole (15:42):
Because his friend isn’t gonna benefit from that. And this guy was just living his life, didn’t know that he could have a better life if a king bestowed favor on him.
Sharon (15:49):
Right. Yeah.
Nicole (15:50):
But oh, that’s just,
Sharon (15:51):
I know. I love that story.
Nicole (15:52):
They have a cool relationship.
Sharon (15:53):
Yeah.
Nicole (15:53):
Well let’s talk about Daniel
Sharon (15:56):
He’s a great example too.
Nicole (15:57):
Yeah. So brought into captivity as a young man. He stayed faithful to his ways and asked for permission to not eat the way everyone else was being forced to eat. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) And God blessed him and he thrived in that crazy diet in this new land. Which I just love that, all vegetables. And then he would be, he was so faithful in his praying, he prayed three times a day. (Yep) Every day. And I believe it, it was fairly public too, cause people saw him and reported him to the king in a land that did not worship the One True God. So that was an odd thing. And then he was faithful to the end in refusing to bow down to the idol. Then he was thrown into the pit of lions. (Mm-hmm) Which then God protected him from.
Sharon (16:35):
Yes he did. Yeah.
Nicole (16:36):
So faithful too. He, I mean, I think he was assuming he was going to die in that pit of lions.
Sharon (16:40):
Yep.
Nicole (16:41):
Cause one has never heard of God stopping lions eating.
Sharon (16:43):
No, one has never heard that. They were hungry. Yes. Cause they threw in everybody else afterwards. And the lions had no trouble destroying the rest.
Nicole (16:49):
Oh my goodness. Yes. So he was faithful unto death for Christ.
Sharon (16:52):
He was.
Nicole (16:52):
He was willing to go to his death for him.
Sharon (16:54):
Yeah. Yeah. I love it. And Daniel’s another one who you could easily have turned his back on God. (Nicole: Yeah) Right. He’s taken and he’s (Nicole: To a new culture and country. Yes) Ripped away from everything. You know, God, God honors, if not in this life, in the next life, those that are faithful, whether we get rewards here or not. (That’s true) And I think we’re seeing that over and over again. (Yeah) Faithfulness is, is knowing that God is who he says he is. (Mm-hmm) And that no matter what he allows in, (Right) he is still good.
Nicole (17:25):
Yeah. Even if he’d allowed the lions to eat Daniel, (Sharon: He is still good) there would have been rewards for faithfulness then.
Sharon (17:29):
Yeah. Yeah. His friends Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, when they got the fire furnace, it was like, you know, our God’s gonna deliver us? But even if he doesn’t (Nicole: Yes) he’s still our God.
Nicole (17:38):
Oh, that verse always gives me chills. Say that before pain.
Sharon (17:41):
That’s it. That’s faithfulness. This is the faith God wants. (Nicole: Yeah) Not faith that we snap our fingers and he does what we want, so therefore we like him.
Nicole (17:50):
Right. He’s not our genie.
Sharon (17:52):
No. He’s either God or he isn’t. (Nicole: Yep) And he actually never promised any of us a rose garden.
Nicole (17:57):
I know.
Sharon (17:57):
Right?
Nicole (17:58):
And we want that so much.
Sharon (17:58):
I know. I know It. So, but um,
Nicole (18:01):
Daniel had a good, he had a great faithfulness. And it’s such an encouragement to us, you know?
Sharon (18:05):
It is such an encouragement. So I’m gonna move on to Hosea because Hosea actually represents God’s faithfulness.
Nicole (18:12):
This is a hard this story to read.
Sharon (18:13):
Yeah. Talk about a crazy thing to do. Go marry a woman who is a prostitute and who will not be faithful to you after you marry her.
Nicole (18:20):
Right.
Sharon (18:21):
Have fun with that.
Nicole (18:22):
That does not sound like a fun marriage.
Sharon (18:23):
Right. So Hosea does. (Nicole: Yeah) And they have children together. And then Gomer, her name, leaves and goes back to a life of prostitution. So, and then God says, go buy her back again. (I know) And love her again. So, I’m gonna read Hosea 3:1-5 cause I just love the way this goes. “The Lord said to me, go show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.” (Wow) Demonstrate that I am loving an adulterous people. (Wow) This is our God. “So I bought her for 15 shackles of silver and about a homer and a lethik of barley. Then I told her, you are to live with me many days. You must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man. And I will behave the same toward you. For the Israelites will live many days without king or princes, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods. Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings In the last days.” So Hosea was asked to live out how God loves us and his faithfulness to the people Israel was, even after they went after the raisin cakes and the idols and stuff. (Right) He bought them back by the blood of Christ. And he buys us, redeems us by his blood. That’s how much he loves us. That’s how faithful he is to an unfaithful people. (Mm-hmm) Once he makes covenant with us, Nicole, he’s faithful.
Nicole (20:11):
He doesn’t break it.
Sharon (20:12):
He doesn’t break his word. We break ours.
Nicole (20:14):
I know. You can see the faithfulness (Sharon: Oh, man) of God so much in this story too of Hosea, but just, oh, just God, his faithfulness to us and never letting us go and never failing.
Sharon (20:24):
He never does.
Nicole (20:24):
Yep. That’s so good. All right. So I’m gonna talk about Mary and Joseph. Oh, I love them.
Sharon (20:30):
They’re such a nice couple.
Nicole (20:30):
They were both faithful in an incredibly and difficult path that God called each of them to. You know Mary, he called her to be the mother of the Messiah and carry this completely unexpected pregnancy. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) And then Joseph, to trust God’s plan and to marry her despite this miraculous pregnancy with, you know, no explanations. (Right) And take care of her and the baby. And they were both faithful, both of them called to a hard task coming together in faithfulness to follow God and then committing to raising the Messiah. (Yes) Wow. That’s a big task. I can’t imagine, like No, no, no. Don’t pick me. I’m gonna mess this up. But they were faithful up until you know, I don’t know when Joseph died in his son life. (No, they don’t mention that. Yeah) Mary was faithful and stood with him through the end. That must have been so devastating.
Sharon (21:15):
Even at the cross she was there.
Nicole (21:16):
She was at his feet watching her son die.
Sharon (21:18):
Yep.
Nicole (21:18):
So, faithfulness to the end for sweet Mary.
Sharon (21:20):
Beautiful couple. God chose well, of course he did.
Nicole (21:23):
He did. Of course he would know.
Sharon (21:25):
Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (21:25):
But they were very faithful.
Sharon (21:26):
And then of course our Jesus was faithful. (Nicole: Yes) He, in the end at the Garden of Gethsemane, begged for another way. (Mmm) The human in him did not want the cross. (Yeah) You know, and yet he did it. And I, I love what Hebrews 12 taught when it talks about fixing our eyes on Jesus. (Mm-hmm) So I’m gonna read verses two and three, “Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of our faith, for the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him, Jesus, who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
Nicole (22:07):
Wow.
Sharon (22:08):
Look at what Jesus did for us.
Nicole (22:08):
Jesus did that for us. Yes.
Sharon (22:10):
His faithfulness to us, to the point of death. (Nicole: Yeah) Right. And also separation from God cause when all our sin came upon him on that cross when he said, take, let me take their sin and you punish me. (Right) There was the, ‘My God, my God. Why has thou forsaken me moment?’ It’s when the sin separated God from God. (Right) God, the Son, from God, the Father for that time. (The Godhead, the Three. Yeah) Probably the worst agony of all.
Nicole (22:36):
Oh my gosh. Yeah. To go from that communion, that unity of those Three. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) To being separated. It must have been awful. (Unbelievable) We can never understand that. (Yeah. Yeah) And then I think about the disciples, and almost all of them died martyr’s death and pretty horrible ones too.
Sharon (22:53):
Yeah. They weren’t attractive. No,
Nicole (22:54):
No. It wasn’t a quick hanging or something.
Sharon (22:56):
Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (22:56):
All except for Judas and John. But John was exiled and Judas hung himself. So none of them had terrifically wonderful ends.
Sharon (23:02):
No, they didn’t either.
Nicole (23:03):
But they were faithful in sharing the gospel to the end of their lives, even though faced with awful opposition and terrible deaths.
Sharon (23:10):
Yeah. Yeah. A wonderful faith,
Nicole (23:12):
So true faithfulness for sure.
Sharon (23:13):
Yeah. Yeah. I love faithfulness. I wanna read one more quick passage and then we’ve gotta move on to talking about God and family. I just wanna read this from 2 Timothy. This is Paul writing to Timothy at the end of his life giving Timothy last advice. And at the end of his advice, he says, “This is a trustworthy saying. If we die with him, we will also live with him. If we endure hardship, we will reign with him. If we deny him, he will deny us. If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful for, he cannot deny who he is.” (Nicole: Wow) If we’re unfaithful, he still remains faithful. That is amazing.
Nicole (23:55):
He can’t be unfaithful.
Sharon (23:56):
No, he can’t.
Nicole (23:57):
That’s incredible.
Sharon (23:58):
He just can’t.
Nicole (23:59):
Wow. He can’t deny who he is.
Sharon (23:59):
So that’s why we’re , thankfully, so safe.
Nicole (24:02):
Yeah. So, Oh.
Sharon (24:03):
Well, with all the fruit, faithfulness is also a hard one. (Nicole: Yes) You know, it means sacrificing our own will sometimes to be faithful to commitments. (Right) And things like that. And even harder. Let’s talk about how we put it into practice practically now.
Nicole (24:18):
Yes. Those are always the hard part.
Sharon (24:20):
Starting with God, in our relationship with God. How do we show faithfulness?
Nicole (24:25):
Time with him such a sacrifice, that sacrifice of time with him, faithfully meeting with him, faithfully reading our Bibles, faithfully attending fellowship with other believers, just faithfulness and coming back to him when we sin to confess our sins. But that coming back to God constantly and just being willing for him to change us. But we have to come to him in faithfulness.
Sharon (24:45):
Yeah. Yeah. I think of the five Holy Habits podcast we did.
Nicole (24:48):
Yes. Yes.
Sharon (24:49):
It was all about the faithful things one should do.
Nicole (24:53):
Yes. That song as a kid, like read your Bible and pray every day you’ll grow, grow, grow.
Sharon (24:57):
Exactly.
Nicole (24:58):
It’s simple, but not always easy. But it’s simple. It’s just time with God.
Sharon (25:01):
And it’s being faithful even when things don’t go our way.
Nicole (25:04):
Yes.
Sharon (25:05):
When we lose our job, when we lose a child. (Nicole: Yes) When we have hard things happen to us, to be faithful to God, even then. I think it blesses his heart. (Mm-hmm) Because what we’re saying is, God, I’m not just loving you because you’re giving me what I want. (Right) I just love you.
Nicole (25:21):
I love you in the hard times too. Not just when I’m being blessed.
Sharon (25:24):
Yeah. Because you are God. (Nicole: Yeah) Period. Whether you’re nice to me here or not. I know you’re gonna be nice to me there, but regardless you’re still God.
Nicole (25:31):
And don’t we all wanna be loved like that though?
Sharon (25:33):
Yes.
Nicole (25:33):
Not for what we do, but for who we are.
Sharon (25:35):
For who we are. (Nicole: Yeah) Yeah. So that’s faithfulness to God. (Yeah) Absolutely. Yeah. For family, obviously marriage faithfulness. (Yeah). I talked about that a lot. And you know, there are times when one wonders what one was thinking when one chose the spouse, one chose. Right. But we made a commitment.
Nicole (25:52):
Yes. We did.
Sharon (25:53):
And therefore (Nicole: Til death do us part) we work it out. (Yes) That’s right. Ray put up a sign and it said ‘divorce free zone’. (Yeah) Early in our marriage when we were having multiple reasons to not want to stay together. (Yes) Because we weren’t getting along terribly well, but we just didn’t bring up the word. (Yep) It was, all right, we’re in this together. How are we gonna get through the next 50 years arguing as much as we do? (Right) And we did, and we learned to argue much less. And we, we blended together. But it takes faithfulness. And also the other thing I thought of family was care for parents. (Oh yeah) You know, visiting my parents, caring for them. And even though I’m busy, I’m called to honor them. (Mm-hmm) And that’s a faithfulness thing.
Nicole (26:31):
Oh, that’s a good one.
Sharon (26:32):
Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (26:33):
Yeah. I thought of marriage first too. When we first got married, we said, divorce will not be a word that we say or throw at each other or use in any way. (Sharon: Yeah) My kiddos, they had friends recently get divorced, their parents, and they’re like, mom and dad, will you ever get divorced? And we were talking, we said, we promised God, not just each other, but we stood before God and said, we promised till death to us part to say, well guys, we are trying so hard with God’s faithfulness and his sustaining us never to entertain that as an option. (Right) And it’s hard. It’s not easy,
Sharon (27:01):
It is hard. It’s not easy.
Nicole (27:01):
Because it does come into your mind like, Nope, I promised I wasn’t gonna use that as an escape. You know?
Sharon (27:06):
Right. Right.
Nicole (27:06):
But it’s not easy.
Sharon (27:07):
No.
Nicole (27:08):
And then as a mother to younger children, faithfulness to them and being a godly mom and raising them the way that I should.
Sharon (27:13):
Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Well how about for Christians, fellow Christians, how do we show faithfulness to fellow Christians?
Nicole (27:20):
Yeah. I’m thinking by keeping our friendships healthy, you know, by discussing any issues that come up fairly quickly, not letting them fester (Sharon: Mm-hmm) But being open with our friends and loving, and for, you know, our church family too, being an active and faithful member as much as we can. (Yeah) As God calls us to that faithfulness to our local church, it really does make a difference.
Sharon (27:39):
It does, yeah. Nobody can do everything in the church. And it’s really silly to think you can.
Nicole (27:43):
Yes.
Sharon (27:44):
But what’s, what’s my portion?
Nicole (27:46):
Yes. What’s my part? And I’ll do it faithfully. (Sharon: Right) If it’s sweeping this room, I will sweep it faithfully to God.
Sharon (27:51):
Exactly. Yes. Yep. Big or small, what’s my little service? And show up and do it.
Nicole (27:56):
Yes. Exactly.
Sharon (27:56):
And then faithful to not hold grudges, faithful to love.
Nicole (27:59):
Oh yes. That’s a good one too, too.
Sharon (28:01):
Right. All of those, I think those are great. And for non-Christians.
Nicole (28:05):
Mmmm. I think if we are faithful to God, that those around us will benefit from our becoming more Christ-like and kind. (Sharon: Yep). They can’t help but be benefited from our— Look at Joseph. He was faithful in prison and his warden benefited from that.
Sharon (28:19):
He sure did.
Nicole (28:19):
The prisoners benefited from that and they were not believers. (Sharon: Right, right) So, if we are, if we stick to our commitments that shows faithfulness. And I think that points ’em to Christ. Cause that’s not a normal thing we do on our own.
Sharon (28:30):
No, it is not. Not at all. Not at all. And we, if we say we’re gonna do something, we should do it.
Nicole (28:35):
Yes.
Sharon (28:35):
We just absolutely should. You know, I was thinking, this is silly, but I really think showing faithfulness about mowing our lawn is good because, you know, we live in a neighborhood, you don’t so much. (NIcole: Oh yeah) We live in a neighborhood where everybody has to walk past our yard. (Oh yeah) Right. Your yards all kind of meld into one in some places, yeah. Right. Exactly. And to be a good neighbor is to, I mean, we definitely don’t win yard of the month, but we keep it mowed. (Right, you keep it tidy) and we don’t have, you know, trash cans littering the lawn. (Right. Right) I I think part of showing faithfulness is doing due diligence as a good neighbor. (Yeah) You know, and that shows it too. And to not do that shows the opposite. It shows someone that is not faithful in small things. Cause God does want us faithful in small things as well.
Nicole (29:21):
Yeah. It starts there with those little things, doesn’t it?
Sharon (29:24):
Yeah, yeah. It makes a difference. Feel like though, we were talking about faithfulness and marriage, we should say one thing to the people that are listening going, I’m divorced. Because here we are rattling on about, you know, my wonderful parents are staying, our parents are still married. We’re still married.
Nicole (29:36):
Yes.
Sharon (29:36):
So let me just say this. We haven’t walked in your shoes. (Nicole: Mmm) And we don’t know what you went through. And we absolutely know that there are times when divorce is unavoidable. (Yes) You cannot help it. And guess what? Even if it was avoidable and you didn’t, there’s this thing called forgiveness. (Yes) That is deep and wide and high and long. God’s love does not change. And there’s always time to be faithful starting now in whatever situation you find yourselves in. So, no false condemnation down on your heads, dear people that might have felt it with what we said. None.
Nicole (30:16):
Yeah. We don’t want that. Absolutely not.
Sharon (30:18):
No, but we do wish you faithfulness in the future in whatever you’re doing. (Nicole: Yes) So there. I just felt like I had to say that.
Nicole (30:24):
No, that’s good.
Sharon (30:25):
So let us pray. Oh, Father, ultimately only you are completely faithful. We all fail in big ways and small ways, but Lord, our heart today is to walk in faithfulness, to be a trustworthy person, to keep our word, to show up, to put aside our own interests and benefit others in faithfulness. So fill us with your Spirit, Lord, give us that fruit that only comes through you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole (30:56):
Amen. We are so thankful for you, our faithful listeners. It is a joy to share our thoughts and hopes and encouragements to you each week on the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. Would you consider writing a review for us so more people get to hear about this podcast? Become a podcast partner with us by going to SweetSelah.org/donate. And it’s not too late to register for our fall retreat in beautiful New Hampshire right beside Lake Winnipesauke. You can find all the information about the retreat by going to SweetSelah.org and looking for Refuge Retreat 2023. We’d love to meet you there. Next week we’re going to discuss The Surprising Strength of Gentleness in episode 105. Until then, may God help all of us be faithful. Have a great week.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found@sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can print and download the transcript here.
If only God is good ... how are we to practice the fruit of the Spirit, goodness? Nicole and Sharon ponder what it means to be filled with the fruit of goodness and then apply it practically to daily life. Join them as they study what God has to say about this unique fruit of the Spirit.
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Read the transcript for The Uniqueness of Goodness-Episode 103Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to a podcast designed to bring biblical encouragement to your weary soul. We are so glad you’re listening and we pray God blesses you and strengthens you in your walk with him. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is brought to you by the cooperative efforts of Sweet Selah Ministries and Word Radio. Sit back and enjoy.
Nicole (00:28):
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 103, the Uniqueness of Goodness. We’re examining the Fruit of the Spirit, one fruit at a time. Sharon, what makes goodness so unique?
Sharon (00:41):
Okay, well, I actually think goodness is the hardest of the fruit to define Nicole. It’s, it’s tricky because the Bible makes it clear that only God is truly good for starters. And what is good anyway? How is it uniquely different from love and joy and kindness and patience? They’re all good too. So this is what I think. I think goodness is an inner state of rightness with God that exhibits itself in countless ways and actions. But it’s unique in that, like with the other fruits, like patience. I can act patiently even if I don’t feel patient. (Nicole: Yeah) You know, I do that with children sometimes. When they were little, I was aggravated cause they were slow, but I acted patiently on the outside. (Yes) So that I was nice to them. Huh. Which inwardly, I wasn’t so much. I’d be like hurry up. I don’t think you can do that with goodness. (Mm-hmm) I don’t think you can act goodness without being good. I feel like that is it. It’s innately part of who you are and we either are inwardly right with God or we’re not. (Mmm) So that’s what I think is unique about it and it’s why it was tricky trying to work on a podcast about it. (Yeah) You know, but here we are. So, well let’s start with the dictionary. Now that you’ve heard my sort of fumbling attempts at describing it, tell me what the definition of goodness is from that perspective.
Nicole (02:02):
Yeah. So dictionary.com says ‘it is the quality of being morally good or virtuous, or the quality or state of being good’. And it said ‘kindly feeling’ so, okay. Goodness blossoms into feeling kindly. Um, the Greek word means ‘uprightness of heart and life’. So I looked up the word good also and here’s what I found, um, ‘that which is morally right; righteousness; goodness equals kindness’. So, as far as our inward goodness, I think sometimes we can pretend to be good a little bit, but I don’t think it’s as sustainable to fake, you know? (Sharon: Right) Like you can fake patience for a little bit. Cause at some point our hearts will be revealed and with it our motives. So if we’re not good with God, we really can’t fake goodness for long.
Sharon (02:47):
No, we cannot.
Nicole (02:48):
No. And then I looked, Biblestudytools.com says it so well, they said, ‘goodness in man is not a mere passive quality, but the deliberate preference of right to wrong; the firm and persistent resistance of all moral evil and the choosing and following of all moral good’. So wow. We will not just stumble on goodness, will we?
Sharon (03:10):
No, we will not.
Nicole (03:12):
No, it is yet again another fruit we really need God’s help on. It reminds me of the verse, Jeremiah 17:9-10. I only know it in the King James version, but—
Sharon (03:21):
I have verses like that, where it’s King James only because that’s what I memorized.
Nicole (03:23):
I can’t relearn it in a new version. But the version is ‘the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I the Lord.” So God knows we can’t do this and he’s here to help us find that goodness with him.
Sharon (03:41):
Absolutely.
Nicole (03:42):
Just very encouraging.
Sharon (03:42):
Yes, it is. And if God alone is good, (Nicole: Yes) the only way we have it within us is God within us helping us. (Mm-hmm) So.
Nicole (03:49):
So true.
Sharon (03:50):
Well, let’s look at some bible verses that talk about goodness and maybe that will continue to flesh out this, (Nicole: what this looks like) Christian character trait. So, I’ll start with Jeremiah 6:16, this is what the Lord says. And notice all the action words here. I was having so much fun with the verbs. (Oh) So I’m gonna emphasize verbs as I read it. “Stand at the crossroads and look, ask for the ancient paths. Ask where the good way is and walk in it and you will find rest for your souls. But you said we will not walk in it.” Oh my goodness. That’s such a sad ending to such a really good verse.
Nicole (04:29):
It is Oh, we will not walk in it.
Sharon (04:32):
I know it. Yes. And yet here, step by step, Jeremiah tells us how to find the good way. First we stand. We’re at that crossroads. Just stop. I’m so big about stopping, you know, I am. So the stop, the selah.
Nicole (04:47):
Yes.
Sharon (04:47):
The whoa, whoa, whoa, there’s a crossroads here. I need to stop. And then look and ask for the— ,why do you think the ancient paths? Look for the ancient ones. That’s fascinating.
Nicole (04:55):
Well, maybe the new ones were built toward like a newer thing that wasn’t established or didn’t have good rules yet. You know, the old ones were true and trusting. You knew they were clear and safe.
Sharon (05:07):
Tried and true. Exactly.
Nicole (05:07):
Yeah, they’d lead you to where you needed to go.
Sharon (05:10):
Yeah. Yeah. That’s so true. Plus ancient. I mean, God’s truth has not changed.
Nicole (05:14):
Yeah.
Sharon (05:14):
When we try to make up new things,
Nicole (05:17):
Doesn’t always work so good.
Sharon (05:18):
No. No. His truth is his truth. (Nicole: Yeah) Ask where the good way is and then when we find it, we walk in it and that gives us rest (Wow) for our souls, which is the most beautiful thing. So part of goodness is being still, we get good by being still and soaking in the Lord, which is why I adore Selah times. And I know you do too. (Yes) So tell us a little bit about Selah times and then I’ll tell you a little bit about Selah times because I think this is important that we don’t just have short times with God. (Yeah) But we have occasional long times with God.
Nicole (05:52):
They’re really different. The short versus the long times with God.
Sharon (05:55):
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Nicole (05:55):
This verse is so simple, but not easy. You know, you see very clearly stand, look, ask and walk, and then you find rest. But it’s the doing part that’s so hard sometimes.
Sharon (06:06):
Yes.
Nicole (06:07):
You know, I have not had a Selah time in a long time, like a full out day with God. And it really shows in my life, you know, I feel that tight ball of hurry that kind of builds up in my chest. And you get that feeling again of like, oh, I’m a hamster on a wheel trying to do more faster to catch up or to get ahead. And that deep soul rest, you know, that calm that comes from just sitting in stillness with the one who can see you to your innermost self. You know? And just having that loving God that knows truly who I am, and he still loves me.
Sharon (06:37):
Yes.
Nicole (06:38):
He sees like all the yucky stuff and he still loves me you know? There’s nothing like being in that place in your heart and mind. Um, and you know, for me it takes me a long time to process and deal with things right as they come, they happen. So I put it in a box labeled ‘I’ll deal with that later’.
Sharon (06:51):
You put it in a box, that’s good, yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (06:52):
You know, I just, I don’t have time for those emotions. We’ll deal with them later, but Selah times with God, I get to sit, still my mind, still my body, and kind of unpack some of those things that have been stored up. And then there’s this peace and stillness.
Sharon (07:04):
Yes.
Nicole (07:04):
And that basking in his love. And I always come back so refreshed and ready to do things and I’m a better me. (Sharon: Yeah) And I work better. (Mm-hmm) But there’s still that block of like, Ooh. But if I stop, will I get more behind? So I am always kind of wrestling with that. (Mm-hmm) And when I do it, I’m like, I should have done this earlier. It’s always good. (Yeah) But getting to that point,
Sharon (07:25):
It’s so hard.
Nicole (07:26):
It’s so tough.
Sharon (07:27):
I know. I know.
Nicole (07:27):
It shouldn’t be this hard.
Sharon (07:29):
Well, I think the enemy fights against us being still.
Nicole (07:32):
Yeah.
Sharon (07:32):
He wants to keep us just on the hamster wheel. And, and yes, it is counterintuitive that taking a day off will help you work better.
Nicole (07:42):
It does feel that way, doesn’t it? But there’s, there’s so much science now that backs that rest does make us work better.
Sharon (07:48):
It does. It makes us more effective.
Nicole (07:48):
Yes.
Sharon (07:50):
We, we run the hamster wheel less and less effectively unless we get that rest.
Nicole (07:54):
Yeah.
Sharon (07:54):
So I still, I mean, I do one every month. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) Granted, I don’t have four children, and a puppy business. So Yeah. It’s a little easier for me, but, um, I still, even then I’m leaving work undone. (Yeah) And, and for the work ethic, the American work ethic? (Oh, sure) That’s hard. (Yeah) That is always hard. But, but when I, you know, break away and just say to myself, Sharon, the universe will run without you for a day. Surprise, surprise. You’re not as essential as you think you are. You may go away for the day.
Nicole (08:28):
Yep. Don’t we think that though? Like, oh, everything will fall apart without me in control.
Sharon (08:32):
Exactly. I know it. I have to be there. So, lately for my Selah days, I’ve been doing Christian biography or autobiography.
Nicole (08:41):
Oh, fun.
Sharon (08:42):
For a long time I was reading non-Christian books and the Bible of course. (Nicole: Yeah) And, and praying. And that’s been wonderful and rich. And, but my mind is tired, I think, by the time I get to a Selah Day. And Dr. Saundra Dalton Smith (Yes) who is gonna be one of our speakers at the retreat, wrote a book called ‘Sacred Rest and the Body’s Seven Needs for Rest’. One of her seven needs for rest is a mental rest. (Oh) And I really, I feel like I needed permission on my Selah Days to not do the intellectual thing. (Yes) For some reason, I associated a Selah Day with deep study of the root words, you know, in the Bible in Strong’s Concordance.
Nicole (09:21):
The Greek and Hebrew. Right?
Sharon (09:23):
Right. And that’s fine.
Nicole (09:25):
It is. Yeah.
Sharon (09:25):
But lately what God’s been leading me to is reading biography and learning from the lives of saints that have gone before me. I’m reading, have you ever heard of Patricia St. John?
Nicole (09:37):
No.
Sharon (09:38):
She’s written a lot of children’s books, like ‘Treasures of the Snow’. Wonderful book. You need to get it for your girls.
Nicole (09:44):
Oh! Yes.
Sharon (09:45):
And she was a missionary for years and years and years, in I think Morocco.
Nicole (09:49):
Wow.
Sharon (09:50):
Now I can’t remember the name of the place, but she ministered with very little results. (Nicole: Wow) But she gave her life to it. And, a few came to know Jesus. (Mmmm). And by the end of her life, you know, people were witnessing to what she had done that she didn’t even see herself.
Nicole (10:08):
Oh, that’s so sweet.
Sharon (10:09):
And it’s her autobiography. And Nicole, on every page I’m renewed.
Nicole (10:14):
Wow.
Sharon (10:15):
By the dedication of this woman. It is, it’s just what I need for this season.
Nicole (10:20):
Right.
Sharon (10:20):
You know?
Nicole (10:21):
Oh, that’s so fun.
Sharon (10:22):
So, it’s so good. So Selah Days basically are just setting aside three to six hours. It’s not like you take 24. I mean, if you can, go for it.
Nicole (10:31):
I know. Hey.
Sharon (10:31):
Right.
Nicole (10:32):
That’d be amazing.
Sharon (10:33):
But, I usually take five to six, and I take the best hours of the day, like 9:00 to 3:00 or you know, 8:00 to 2:00. And it’s God’s time. It’s just offered up to him. And so I try not to have a set agenda. (Nicole: Right, right) Because I want to be free to, you know, read a passage in the Word, be intensely praying for somebody that’s sick. (Yes) Whatever God tells me. (Yeah) Sometimes I nap, which is always refreshing in the middle of it.
Nicole (11:01):
That’s so fun to be allowed to take a nap.
Sharon (11:04):
So fun. Yep. And sometimes I just take a walk and admire nature. God shows me each time. (Nicole: Yeah) But you know how you’re talking about the the tight ball? (Yes) He unravels it. (He does in just those four or five hours) At the end of it, it’s really, it’s really different. (Yeah) You come home different and you come home more able to get back into the fray. So anyways, cutting a long story, well, it’s already long, shorter than it could be. We love Selah time.
Nicole (11:33):
We love Selah time. Yes. You need it. We need it.
Sharon (11:36):
We need it.
Nicole (11:37):
So do it.
Sharon (11:37):
Yes.
Nicole (11:38):
All right. So the next passage of scripture is advice from Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) Proverbs 2:9 says, “Then you will understand what is right and just, and fair, every good path”. So to understand the good path, we need to go back to verse one and read it in context. So Sharon, why don’t you start with verse one and let’s read it back and forth, and then we’ll discuss each verse to kind of really unpack this wisdom.
Sharon (12:03):
Yes. All right, let’s do it. All right. Verse one. And this is leading up to the good path, “My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,”
Nicole (12:15):
“Turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding,”
Sharon (12:19):
“Indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,”
Nicole (12:23):
“And if you look for it as for silver, and search for it as for hidden treasure,”
Sharon (12:28):
“Then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.”
Nicole (12:33):
“For the Lord gives wisdom. From his mouth, come knowledge and understanding.”
Sharon (12:37):
“He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless.”
Nicole (12:44):
“For he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones.”
Sharon (12:48):
“Then you will understand what is right and just and fair. Every good path.”
Nicole (12:54):
“For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.”
Sharon (12:59):
All right. So here are the, here’s the instructions. First of all, I’ve gotta accept the words. I’ve gotta accept that God’s words are truth. And then I’ve gotta store them up. I’ve gotta know them, which is a quiet time, basically. That’s verse one.
Nicole (13:11):
Right. Perfect. Verse two, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding. So storing them up, but also being willing to listen to wisdom.
Sharon (13:21):
Yes.
Nicole (13:21):
Are we open to it? Is our heart willing to receive that, ‘applying your heart to understanding’? So.
Sharon (13:26):
Mm-hmm. And part of a good quiet time is saying, help me listen. (Nicole: Yes) So that we actually get something out of reading the Bible. (Absolutely). Indeed, we’re getting louder now, (Ha ha) If you call out for insight and cry aloud. (Mmm-hmm) Okay. So now he’s saying, this is important enough that you need to cry out for it. (Yeah) This is no small thing to find that good path.
Nicole (13:46):
Find that passion for it, (Sharon: Yes) really reach out. Oh, good. (Yeah) And if you look for it as for silver, and search for it as for hidden treasure. So again, that passion and drive that this is important enough to set aside my daily activities and look for that treasure. My, my kindergartner just did a play about this. It was so cute— at school— (Oh really?) about searching for the hidden treasure. They each had a little thing about, they had a a thing, they all took turns speaking. (Yeah) And they were talking about how God was the best treasure of all. And how this man had sold everything he had (with this treasure map) to buy the treasure map and go find the treasure. And he finally got there and it was the best thing ever. And it talked about how Jesus is our treasure. But it was so cute.
Sharon (14:23):
That’s awesome. But the kids are learning it so early. I love that.
Nicole (14:27):
Yeah. That Jesus is a treasure, we really should put aside (Sharon: Everything else) and search with everything in us. Yeah.
Sharon (14:32):
Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (14:32):
Okay.
Sharon (14:34):
Okay. So then if we do all these things, we will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. So here’s part of our reward. Understanding.
Nicole (14:43):
Yeah.
Sharon (14:43):
Knowing God.
Nicole (14:44):
And that’s a gift.
Sharon (14:45):
Yes.
Nicole (14:45):
“For the Lord, gives wisdom, from his mouth, come knowledge and understanding.” So this has to come from God. We can’t just sit there and think up on our own how we’re gonna do this and what’s the right path, or listen to people that are not following God closely.
Sharon (14:58):
True.
Nicole (14:58):
Or we’re gonna get ourselves in trouble. (Sharon: Yeah) We need to make sure it’s coming from God.
Sharon (15:01):
Because he’s the one who holds success in store for the upright. He’s the shield for those whose walk is blameless. It’s only in him.
Nicole (15:09):
Yep. Exactly. And then this one kind of piggybacks off that, but “for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful one”. I just love that. When we’re seeking him, looking for him as a treasure, and walking in his way, he’s gonna protect us. (Sharon: Yep) And make sure that we stay on that path if we’re close to him. (Mm-hmm)That’s really cool. What a good promise.
Sharon (15:27):
That’s, that’s where his protection is, is on that path.
Nicole (15:30):
Yeah.
Sharon (15:30):
Not so much when we’re wandering off into the brambles. Right?
Nicole (15:33):
You’re right. Yeah. Wow.
Sharon (15:35):
So then here’s our key verse. “You will understand what is right and just and fair, every good path.” All this looking, seeking, being with God (Nicole: Yes) ends up with us finding the good path. Yay!
Nicole (15:47):
Hmm. Where we should be. Yes. And the last verse, “For wisdom will enter your heart and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul”. Like at this point, it’s all kind of settling into your heart, becoming part of who you are. That wisdom, you know? (Sharon: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah) And then it’s something that you enjoy. Sometimes it’s like, oh, reading my Bible. But the more you do it, the more you long for it.
Sharon (16:06):
You sure do.
Nicole (16:06):
The more your appetite is bigger for it.
Sharon (16:08):
Absolutely. Oh, neat. Well, the next verses are from Ephesians 5:8-9, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, live as children of light. For the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. And find out what pleases the Lord. The fruit of the light is goodness”.
Nicole (16:31):
Yeah.
Sharon (16:32):
Oh my goodness. Listen to me. Oh my goodness. It’s goodness.
Nicole (16:34):
Oh my goodness. It really is.
Sharon (16:37):
So, the uniqueness of goodness is that’s, that’s where the light comes from. And out of goodness comes the kindness that gets associated with all this stuff.
Nicole (16:44):
That’s really cool, isn’t it?
Sharon (16:44):
Yeah.
Nicole (16:45):
Goodness really is an intrinsic thing, really, to bring about those other fruits and the light. I like that.
Sharon (16:51):
It is. Yeah. Yeah. So it’s, it’s also a matter of integrity. It starts inside you. (Nicole: Yeah) And integrity is when you’re the same inside and out. (Right) I used to joke that at the Moms in Prayer Getaways I went to with the other state coordinators, (Yeah) not only did no one say anything negative to me all week, they didn’t think it. I mean, they just all seemed, maybe they did, right? But it seemed like it was a week of integrity where our insides and outsides were just aligned with the goodness of God.
Nicole (17:19):
That’s really special.
Sharon (17:20):
Really a beautiful, beautiful time.
Nicole (17:21):
That’s awesome. No one even thought it.
Sharon (17:24):
Oh, man. So, all right. Let’s conclude this section with two more passages from Ephesians Nicole. Both urge us to be like God, the only one who is good inside and out. So why don’t you read Ephesians 4:22-24?
Nicole (17:39):
All right. “Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature created to be like God, truly righteous and holy.”
Sharon (17:58):
So there we have the old sin nature does not have God within it. You can’t be good. And then we’re putting on that new self, the new thoughts, new attitudes. And that’s when we, we have the goodness because it’s his.
Nicole (18:10):
That’s a good idea.
Sharon (18:11):
Yeah. And Ephesians five, I love verse one. “Imitate God.” I mean, we could just stop there.
Nicole (18:16):
Yeah.
Sharon (18:16):
Just, just be like God. Right? (Nicole: Simple) “Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us. A pleasing aroma to God.” Live a life of love like Jesus. (Yeah) Imitate God. Isn’t that beautiful?
Nicole (18:42):
It is. It reminds me that imitate God because you are his dear children. I just think of our little kiddos, you know, and you’re getting ready and they’re, besides you trying to fake put on makeup or do their hair.
Sharon (18:51):
Yes.
Nicole (18:52):
Or they follow daddy out in the yard and they’ll be raking next to dad and making a terrible mess and not doing it well, but they’re trying, they’re imitating mom and dad. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) They’re imitating us (Mm-hmm) because they’re our dear children. They love us and we love them. And so taking that to my relationship with God, that I know I’m not gonna rake a nice pile of leaves behind him. (Right) Or be as good as I should at the first try. But to continually seek to imitate him.
Sharon (19:13):
I love that. Exactly.
Nicole (19:15):
That’s where I need to be. Yeah.
Sharon (19:16):
And it places him when we rake leaves beside him.
Nicole (19:18):
I know.
Sharon (19:19):
Right? It does.
Nicole (19:20):
Even if it’s a yucky little funny pile. He still loves us. We’re trying.
Sharon (19:21):
Right. Right. Yeah, yeah.
Nicole (19:23):
He’s so gentle in his teaching of us.
Sharon (19:28):
He is so gentle. I’m so thankful for that. I really, really am. And we need it. We need to be with him so we can reflect him. (Nicole: Yes) So that we can have that light in us. Goodness comes from God alone. (Mm-hmm) We can’t fake it for long. You’re right. (No) I feel like goodness really is an inner integrity (Yeah) of our ourselves. (Yep) So, all right. So now we’re gonna talk about application. We’re gonna look at how we utilize that fruit of goodness in our relationships with God, with family, with Christians and others. Nicole, you’re up first. How do we do goodness with God?
Nicole (20:05):
Hmm. I know.
Sharon (20:06):
I told you this is, to me, this is the hardest attribute to think about.
Nicole (20:08):
This is tricky. I was thinking too in my quiet time, in my Selah times with him, to be honest. It’s kind of a good start. (Sharon: Yeah) He already knows our hearts. He knows where we’re at. But if we can be honest about our need for him and where we’re struggling, I think he can start a good work in us and bring out true goodness from him. If we’re honest where we’re at. So if we’re like, oh no, I’m fine, I’m doing good. I’m, I’m doing good works. We’re not gonna be able to be taught by him.
Sharon (20:32):
Here I am, your faithful servant.
Nicole (20:34):
Yes. Sitting to do my devotions.
Sharon (20:35):
Did you notice what I did yesterday?
Nicole (20:36):
Yes. Yeah. But I think we can let, um, I don’t know, like self denial kind of get in the way of God, I’m not good. I need you. My goodness. My good works are nothing (Sharon: Mm-hmm) if it’s not for you. (Mm-hmm, yeah). So just that admitting like, I need you.
Sharon (20:51):
Absolutely. You know, it’s funny, I landed on exactly the same thing.
Nicole (20:54):
Oh yeah. That’s funny.
Sharon (20:55):
You can’t lie to God.
Nicole (20:56):
Yeah.
Sharon (20:57):
You need to come and confess sin. You need to say (Nicole: Yes) You saw my, my attitude yesterday, Lord.
Nicole (21:03):
Yes. When I was fighting patience.
Sharon (21:06):
I might have hid it from everybody else, but you saw it. (Nicole: Yeah) And we need to work on this Father, because I don’t wanna just be nice on the outside. (Right) I really would. I would really want to inside want to be nice. Can we, can we get past that, Uh, you know, the acting good to the being good?
Nicole (21:23):
Yeah. Just skip ahead to that.
Sharon (21:24):
:So. And I think that pleases God. (Nicole: Yeah) And we’re like, help me. Help me. Help me. (Mm-hmm) And the nice thing about confession is he washes you clean and then you are good. That’s what’s so stunning about it.
Nicole (21:35):
Oh, that’s true. That’s so fun.
Sharon (21:36):
We can always be good. (Nicole: Yeah) Not cause we are, but because we confess and he gives us, he clothes us. He puts on his righteousness on us. (Mmm) We don’t ever have to stay messy. It might mean a lot of confessing. (Mm-hmm) But he’s up for that. He’s the one that said, how many times did you forgive? Oh. Seventy times seven every day.
Nicole (21:58):
He never gets tired of forgiving us. I can’t get over that. Cause I get tired of forgiving.
Sharon (22:02):
I know. I do too. And I think that’s why we stay away from him sometimes, because it’s so embarrassing.
Nicole (22:08):
Yep. I’m back here again.
Sharon (22:09):
Yeah. Here I am again. Surely you’re as sick of this as I am. (Nicole: Right) And he’s just like, I’m so glad you came. Let’s wash you clean. (Mm-hmm) Let’s do it again.
Nicole (22:18):
Let’s start again. Oh, he’s such a good God.
Sharon (22:20):
isn’t that wonderful? So that’s God. Pretty good.
Nicole (22:23):
That is good.
Sharon (22:23):
So I’ll start with family and then you can do family with goodness. Well, I think with family, my family right now, my immediate family is Ray. (Nicole: Yeah) And if you wanna count Bella. The dog. So, um, I think living honestly with Ray, being me with Ray. (Yeah) And you know, this is so silly, but, um, we like walking every day. (Yeah) But the other day it was so cold again and it’s offensive when it’s cold this time of year. (Yes!) So Ray said, why don’t we dance instead because Ray has made playlists. Nicole, I am not kidding you.
Nicole (22:59):
I can’t picture him.
Sharon (23:01):
We have, I know, does Ray not look like not a dancer? (Nicole: No) So he has a 1950s, you know? (Oh fun) Then the sixties, the seventies and eighties and the nineties. So we chose the 1960s. (Yeah) Yeah. And we could, nobody should ever see us do this. We look ridiculous, but we dance three fast dances and one slow dance and we just let loose. (That’s so fun.) Because I’ve been married to him for 43 years and I can live with integrity (Mm-hmm) with Ray, I can just be me. (Oh) So we boogie along and then we do a slow dance together and it’s so good.
Nicole (23:35):
That’s so cute Sharon.
Sharon (23:35):
It was really fun. I’m like, we should do the dancing thing more often. We used to do it during Covid.
Nicole (23:44):
Oh, that’s a good idea.
Sharon (23:45):
But he still had the playlist, so we did it again. So anyways, the whole point is how wonderful that we can be ourselves with our family. (Nicole: Yeah) I would not dance like that in front of you, even though I love you and you’re my friend. (Right) You know, but I can in front of Ray and it’s just the sweetest thing. So that’s a silly example, but in all ways my goodness should be internal. (Yes) And, and honest with Ray. (Mm-hmm) So that what comes out of me is a wealth of wanting him to be good and wanting to do good for him.
Nicole (24:20):
Oh, that’s so good.
Sharon (24:21):
So that was, that was mine. How about you?
Nicole (24:23):
Kind of similar again, I put being kind and honest. That honesty I think is so important in that goodness journey.
Sharon (24:29):
Yeah. It is.
Nicole (24:30):
But you know, thinking of being the mother and the family and I have all the kiddos right now, kind of thinking about their good over my own and then making sure that I’m right and godly because I’m making a lot of decisions for them at this point in their lives.
Sharon (24:43):
Yeah. And they watch.
Nicole (24:43):
They do.
Sharon (24:44):
It’s so sad.
Nicole (24:45):
Yeah.
Sharon (24:45):
It’s one of the hardest things about teenagers because when they’re little, they just kind of blindly think you’re the greatest.
Nicole (24:51):
They keep saying, you’re the best mom ever. You’re never angry. I’m like, what?
Sharon (24:55):
How are you missing this?
Nicole (24:56):
How did you miss yesterday’s blow up?
Sharon (24:58):
Yes. Yeah. Well, when they’re teens they stop missing it. And so it’s a humbling thing, but it can be a really healthy thing. (Nicole: Yeah) You know, to go, wow, you’re noticing my flaws. (Mm-hmm) I was trying to hide them from you. (Right) So now let’s work on them together. (Yeah) And then the honesty comes. Thank you for showing me that. (Right, right) Which the original, the initial response and the one I often did, which I should not have done with my teens, was don’t you be rude to me. (Yeah) But you know, sometimes it needs to be Thank you. (Yeah) Thank you. I was sharp with you. (Mm-hmm) I agree. Mary one time said, you know, when I get to your age, I surely hope I’m more mature than you are.
Nicole (25:37):
Oh my goodness.
Sharon (25:38):
Oh yeah. That didn’t go over well.
Nicole (25:39):
I can’t imagine it would.
Sharon (25:41):
Yeah. Yeah. But she was right at that moment. And if I’d had more maturity, I would’ve said, you know, I hope you are too. (Nicole: Yeah) I’m really sorry that I let you down with that comment. (Right) I am so not perfect. Will you pray with me?
Nicole (25:55):
Oh, yeah.
Sharon (25:55):
This is where we have to get to. But we’re so used to when our kids are young, being the hero.
Nicole (26:01):
Right.
Sharon (26:01):
It’s really hard not to be the hero.
Nicole (26:02):
It’s a hard transition.
Sharon (26:04):
But it can be good because then you work with them on your own character while you’re working on theirs. So anyways, a little non-solicited advice there. You’re welcome.
Nicole (26:12):
I was gonna say it’s coming up soon. I’ll take it.
Sharon (26:15):
So, okay. So I forget who’s turn it is to go first for Christians.
Nicole (26:19):
I think, oh, you went first for family. So I’ll go first for Christians.
Sharon (26:23):
Okay, it’s yours.
Nicole (26:23):
So I kind of feel similar to my family response, but being honest and open where we are and I think more of making sure that I’m walking in goodness so I don’t affect the body of Christ in a negative way. So if I’m miserable and not close to God, it’s gonna affect where I’m serving in church in my attitude.
Sharon (26:38):
It is.
Nicole (26:38):
You know, cause we are a body. (Sharon: Yeah) So if one of us is having struggles,
Sharon (26:41):
Yeah. You’re right.
Nicole (26:42):
You gotta kind of help that person in struggle. So if I’m always struggling, cause I’m not spending time with God, I don’t have that goodness coming out, if I’m being a troublemaker. (Sharon: Yeah) That can be a real,
Sharon (26:51):
It can be a real downer.
Nicole (26:52):
It can.
Sharon (26:53):
For people. And then they have to practice all this grace on you.
Nicole (26:56):
Right. Which probably might be good for them, but—
Sharon (26:59):
We’d rather not be the sandpaper in their lives.
Nicole (27:01):
Yes. I don’t wanna be like the bum toe dragging along the body of Christ.
Sharon (27:04):
Right, right.
Nicole (27:04):
So just kind of making sure again, you know, our actions affect so many other people.
Sharon (27:08):
They do.
Nicole (27:08):
More than we know and want to admit some days.
Sharon (27:11):
Yep. I agree.
Nicole (27:11):
So just making sure that my heart’s right with him.
Sharon (27:13):
I agree. And I thought too that if we’re imitators of God and goodness we’re for them, we cheer them on. We’re not like jealous when they get something we don’t. (Nicole: Yeah) We’re just genuinely happy for them.
Nicole (27:25):
That’s a nice thing. Yeah.
Sharon (27:26):
And God, God is such an encourager, I wanna be an encourager. You know, and a quick forgiver?
Nicole (27:32):
Yes.
Sharon (27:32):
And God is all those things. (Nicole: Mm-hmm, no that’s good) So yeah. Okay. So how about non-Christians? Well, it’s still just being good. Sometimes that can mean not allowing somebody to be talked badly about. (Nicole: Yeah) Although that can happen with Christians too. (Mm-hmm) But defending them, making sure that we stand up for the person that is being maligned in some way. (Yeah) One of the most irritating goodnesses for me is, and it happens way too frequently, I tend to when I’m shopping, (Yeah) put things all over the cart, including the part where the baby sits (Yeah) and then put my coat over it. (Oh) I have, this is confession time, several times gone out of a Walmart or a Hannaford’s not having paid for what’s underneath my coat. And you get to the car and you’re in a hurry. (Yes) And you’re like, I didn’t pay for this $2 item. Well, back in woman. (Right, the pack of butter, yep) Back in. You go in and you pay for it and you wait in line again. You confess to the cashier.
Nicole (28:36):
Yes. And they’re, they look at you like you’re crazy cause you’re paying for your two, well, back then it was $1.50 eggs. Now it’s quite a thing to pay for your eggs. Mine was always eggs. I’d stick it underneath the baby carrier.
Sharon (28:46):
Oh, so you had that too?
Nicole (28:47):
Oh. Several times I’ve walked out and there’s a carton of eggs right there and I go, Ugh. And I bring the baby back inside with the eggs and I need to pay for these.
Sharon (28:54):
Yep. Yep. But that’s goodness. That’s goodness.
Nicole (28:56):
Yeah. And it’s an odd thing. (Sharon: Yeah) My thought was, I think that goodness is one of those fruits that stands out more than others in the world. (Mm-hmm) Because it really does set us apart as different. (Yes, it does) Because we’re making a stand for what is right when we’re choosing goodness.
Sharon (29:10):
Over what’s convenient or what is easy.
Nicole (29:12):
What is cultural. Yeah.
Sharon (29:14):
Right. Right.
Nicole (29:14):
Like it would’ve been so much easier to pack up that crying baby and take that carton of eggs with me.
Sharon (29:18):
Exactly.
Nicole (29:19):
And it really wouldn’t have hurt much for the forty-eight cents it was back then. But the thing is, when we stand for goodness, we really do stand out to the world.
Sharon (29:26):
We do.
Nicole (29:26):
And I think if we do it with gentleness and with truly God leading us, it can be a powerful (Sharon: It can be) impact to them and lead them to Christ.
Sharon (29:33):
Yeah. Yeah. And that’s what keeps us good. Doing the things nobody sees but God.
Nicole (29:38):
Yeah.
Sharon (29:38):
Who so sees it.
Nicole (29:39):
He does.
Sharon (29:40):
Which is why I’m back in there all the time.
Nicole (29:42):
With your, with your butter.
Sharon (29:43):
My butter. Well, this was fun. Let us pray. Oh Lord, I thank you that you can make me good because of your righteousness, not my own. Father, thank you that as often as I need to, I can come confess and be forgiven and made clean again. And how we praise you, Lord, for your goodness that never needs fixing like ours does. We honor you today, Lord. Help us to develop the fruit of goodness. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole (30:18):
Amen. Well, goodness, this was a tough fruit to explore, but it all boils down to staying close to the Lord and letting his goodness change us from the inside out. Do you have any thoughts on goodness? Did we miss something you you’d wished we’d shared? Write us. We love to hear from our podcast listeners. You can find us @sweetselah.org/podcast. You can donate @sweetselah.org/donate. When you donate, tell us you are a podcast partner and we’ll add you to our monthly newsletter list. It’s a fun way to share stories with you about our own lives and the behind the scenes stuff that happens when trying to make these podcasts happen. We would be honored if you would take the time to write a review too. In any case, come back next week for episode 104, Walking in Faithfulness. Until then, may you be filled with the goodness of God.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found@sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Kindness can be far too rare in this busy, self-focused world of ours. But what a difference it makes when we take the time to notice another human being and reach out to help them or encourage them in some way! Oftentimes, one act of kindness spurs another. It has a beautiful ripple effect. Join Nicole and Sharon as they discuss kindness, our next fruit of the Spirit. Learn practical ways to practice this fruit and kindle its growth in others.
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Read the transcript for Kindling Kindness-Episode 102Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to a podcast designed to bring biblical encouragement to your weary soul. We are so glad you’re listening and we pray God blesses you and strengthens you in your walk with him. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is brought to you by the cooperative efforts of Sweet Selah Ministries and Word Radio. Sit back and enjoy.
Nicole (00:28):
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 102, Kindling Kindness in Ourselves and Others. I like this title Sharon. Kindness takes work and we do need to kindle it and start that fire of desiring to not just be nice, but to be kind to others.
Sharon (00:44):
Yes, kindness costs us. It means we need to get out of our own way and notice another’s troubles and not just focus on our own. And then we have to do something about their troubles. And that can be troublesome.
Nicole (00:58):
Yeah.
Sharon (00:58):
If we are feeling a bit busy and preoccupied ourselves. So let’s try to recall some times, can you recall, some times some people were kind to you because honestly, kindness is so nice when it’s done to you.
Nicole (01:10):
Mm-hmm. Yeah. And it can really stay with you for a long time.
Sharon (01:12):
It can.
Nicole (01:13):
My daughter just came back from snow camp this weekend. I was remembering my first time in snow camp, and I was a very awkward, homeschooled child that was not making friends so well. There was only two other girls from our church and they just were not interested in being friends with me. So I was sitting one day kind of lonely, and one of the youth leaders came up and she just took me under her wing.
Sharon (01:33):
Awww.
Nicole (01:33):
Nicole, let’s go ice skating. We went ice skating and cross country skiing. And we talked and laughed. And she told me about Anne of Green Gables, and she just completely blessed my heart as a little girl. And I had stayed close with her over the years. And actually about two years ago, I wrote her a letter and just thanked her for her kindness to me when I was younger. Cause I just was such an awkward, lonely child.
Sharon (01:54):
That is beautiful. Because honestly, your whole thought process of going away to retreats could have been ruined.
Nicole (02:01):
Oh yeah. I would not have gone back if it wasn’t for her. I was being made fun of.
Sharon (02:06):
She invested a lot of time in you it sounds like.
Nicole (02:07):
She did. Who wants to hang out with a sixth, seventh grader for an entire, I mean, she really was so kind to me.
Sharon (02:12):
Oh. I love her.
Nicole (02:13):
I know.
Sharon (02:13):
I don’t even know her and I love her.
Nicole (02:15):
I love her too. And now I watch Anne of Green Gables. I’m like, hello, Cheryl. You’re just such a wonderful human.
Sharon (02:21):
I love that.
Nicole (02:22):
So that really stuck with me. And I remember when Josh and I were young, we hadn’t gotten married just yet. We were trying to work through marriage. We were dating in our old church and this married couple who I thought was super cool. (Sharon: Yeah) They had like five kids. It kind of like felt like they had life all together. They took us out to ice cream one night and just told us we were doing a good job. (Oh) They were proud of us. And how we were trying to be godly and seek God in our coming up marriage. And we were really like, wow, thank you. Like, they’re like, oh, Josh was a trustee at the time, um, a trustee in training, and I was on the missionary committee. They’re like, we love seeing you guys serve in the church. We’re really proud of you. And whoa. Like, they saw us.
Sharon (02:59):
Wow. They did. And they had how many kids?
Nicole (03:00):
They had five kids
Sharon (03:02):
And they took you guys out.
Nicole (03:03):
Maybe six, they had a lot of kids. Right. And now as a mother of four, I’m like, that was huge.
Sharon (03:07):
Oh yeah, that’s right how huge that was.
Nicole (03:09):
I mean like this is huge. Like, I just, I never forgot them taking us out to ice cream so randomly to show us.
Sharon (03:14):
That was such a huge time investment.
Nicole (03:15):
Yes. I just love that. So that was really special. And then recently, I’m just loving PCA. (a school) Everyone’s so polite in the pickup and drop off line. They always let me out. It used to kind of feel like you gotta wait your turn and bust out before everyone else to get in line and to move here. And if you’ve ever been through the PCA pickup line, it’s rather twisty turning. It is curvy. It can be confusing and stressful. (Sharon: Uhhuh) But the kindness of people there stopping to let people out. I’m just, I’m always shocked. And my girls laugh at me like, oh, they let us out. They’re like, mom, you say that every time. Like, but I’m so surprised. Like they let me out. Like they stop the line of traffic and let me get out.
Sharon (03:55):
That is so nice.
Nicole (03:55):
I’m just so touched by kindness and it cheers me up for, you know, until someone cuts me off when I leave PCA.
Sharon (04:01):
But isn’t it funny how a small thing can do a big thing?
Nicole (04:04):
Oh yeah. You know, like, just, just change your mood.
Sharon (04:06):
Like ice cream.
Nicole (04:06):
Yes.
Sharon (04:07):
This couple, going back to them. They took you out not for a meal.
Nicole (04:11):
Right, just some ice cream.
Sharon (04:11):
And didn’t take you out multiple times. They took you out for ice cream.
Nicole (04:14):
Yeah.
Sharon (04:14):
And somebody let you go ahead of them in line with a smile.
Nicole (04:18):
Yes.
Sharon (04:19):
Little things can make such a difference.
Nicole (04:21):
It doesn’t take much.
Sharon (04:22):
Yeah. Kindness is huge to change attitude. Yeah. I can remember when Kathryn was first born. My mom and my British grandmother came to stay with us. Of course.
Nicole (04:33):
Oh.
Sharon (04:34):
But Kathryn was two weeks late. (Nicole: Oh) So my grandmother had a flight back to England very soon. (Yeah) So they could only stay like two days and so they left very quickly cause they had to go back to Massachusetts where my mother lived, and I was in Maryland, and then fly grandmother home. (Yeah) And I was all by myself, with a baby and I didn’t know what to do. And my mother had not stayed long enough to make me feel safe. And one neighbor who I didn’t even know that well, just made a crockpot beef stew. Oh. I mean with, you know, golden mushroom Campbell’s soup. We’re talking not that great. Right?
Nicole (05:09):
Right.
Sharon (05:10):
It was the best soup, stew, excuse me, I had ever tasted, I got the recipe. Every time I make the stew, I think of how much that little act of kindness (Nicole: Oh yeah) did for a young mom holding a baby and scared to death she was gonna break her. You know?
Nicole (05:26):
Right. Just having a meal made with that love.
Sharon (05:29):
So beautiful.
Nicole (05:29):
Oh.
Sharon (05:29):
Yeah.
Nicole (05:30):
That is sweet.
Sharon (05:30):
Right. And it’s helped me remember, I don’t have to do a gourmet feast for somebody.
Nicole (05:34):
I know.
Sharon (05:34):
Right?
Nicole (05:34):
We get hung up on doing something so big and so perfect that we don’t often do kindnesses.
Sharon (05:39):
Right. And it’s better to do a small kindness than no kindness, cause you can’t do a great kindness.
Nicole (05:43):
That’s true. That’s a good phrase. I like that.
Sharon (05:47):
There you go. So, okay, back to our theme. Kindness is also a fruit of the Spirit. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) Those who walk with God, who is kind, become more like him over time as he leads them. Christians are called to this kind of living (Mmm-hmm) even when it’s awkward or inconvenient or plain exhausting.
Nicole (06:04):
Yeah.
Sharon (06:05):
You know, you still gotta throw in the Campbell soup and make the crockpot or whatever.
Nicole (06:09):
Right.
Sharon (06:09):
And it’s actually one reason I love belonging to a church cause we can practice kindness together.
Nicole (06:13):
Yeah.
Sharon (06:14):
When someone has a need, we all bring one meal (Nicole: Mm-hmm) for example, in a two week period.
Nicole (06:18):
Right.
Sharon (06:18):
Instead of one person bringing all the meals, we work together to serve and help a family that can’t afford a moving van. And we all carry the boxes.
Nicole (06:27):
Yeah.
Sharon (06:27):
It makes it a little easier to be kind.
Nicole (06:30):
It’s true. It’s kind of like our little, our little offering we give gets multiplied to so many more things. You know, bringing our two loaves and our five wait, five loaves, two fish. The fish and the loaves.
Sharon (06:40):
Those ones, yeah.
Nicole (06:40):
Bringing those little ones. Just bringing our little bit to God and like, I am so busy with my kiddos, I just have enough money, time to make one meal. But then five other families are making a meal for that family too.
Sharon (06:51):
Right.
Nicole (06:51):
And I love that. You know?
Sharon (06:52):
Yeah. Yeah. Being together is, kindness together is,
Nicole (06:55):
It’s huge.
Sharon (06:56):
Huge. It’s actually easier.
Nicole (06:57):
Yeah. And I think those are the things that can change the world and change people’s hearts is kindness. It’s an easy thing to multiply.
Sharon (07:04):
It is.
Nicole (07:04):
You know, I think you’ve heard those stories where one person will pay for the person behind like, oh, I’ll pay for their coffee.
Sharon (07:09):
Oh, that’s right.
Nicole (07:10):
I love those stories. Like 155 people will go through, you know, a coffee shop and they pay for the person,
Sharon (07:15):
Yeah, paying it forward.
Nicole (07:15):
Yeah.
Sharon (07:16):
Yeah.
Nicole (07:16):
How fun. Like that can change your whole trajectory of your day.
Sharon (07:19):
It sure can.
Nicole (07:19):
And you’re not really out any extra money cause the person before you paid.
Sharon (07:23):
No, exactly.
Nicole (07:24):
It’s just the thought, that momentum.
Sharon (07:25):
It is. And once you’ve had kindness done and you realize how a little thing does a big thing?
Nicole (07:30):
Yeah.
Sharon (07:31):
You know, then you’re more willing to do it. So.
Nicole (07:33):
You know kindness is a huge way that we as Christians can make a big impact in the lives of those around us. You know, I think for non-believers in those millions of little ways, you know it, but it takes a thoughtfulness to look out for ways to bless. And it does require putting of others’ needs ahead of our own.
Sharon (07:49):
It does. You have to look and think, what do they need?
Nicole (07:51):
And we’re not naturally that way. We’re kind of selfish.
Sharon (07:53):
No. Because we’re always quote, ‘busy’.
Nicole (07:55):
Yeah.
Sharon (07:55):
Right. (Nicole: Yeah). Right. Agree. Well, when I think of an Old Testament example of kindness, the book of Ruth springs to mind. That whole story is (Nicole: Yes) kindness overload. So Nicole, can you set the stage for this story? And then you and I are gonna read back and forth together a little bit of it.
Nicole (08:11):
Yeah. I love this story.
Sharon (08:12):
I do too.
Nicole (08:14):
So it starts out that there’s a famine in their land, in their hometown. So Naomi’s husband moves her to a foreign land. They with their two sons. And then while they’re living there, her husband dies. Which is so sad. And then her two sons marry these two girls from a foreign land. And then her two sons die and she’s left. Naomi is left in this foreign land with no husband, no sons. No way to support herself. No hope. What does she do?
Sharon (08:39):
Yeah. Pretty awful.
Nicole (08:41):
That’s pretty awful.
Sharon (08:42):
And no grandchildren either.
Nicole (08:42):
Right. And back then women could not support themselves. They needed, a husband was security and children, sons, specifically. Daughters were not security, sons were security.
Sharon (08:52):
Sons were security.
Nicole (08:52):
And she’d lost everything
Sharon (08:55):
She had. Yeah.
Nicole (08:56):
So.
Sharon (08:56):
Yikes. All right. Well we’re gonna pick up the story in Ruth 1:16. This is where one of the two daughters-in-law (Nicole: Yes) says, I wanna go with you back to Israel, which is what Naomi decides to do. And even though Naomi’s like, no, no, no. Why would you go back with me? I’m gonna starve to death.
Nicole (09:15):
Right. I have no more sons for you.
Sharon (09:17):
Yeah. Exactly. So, why don’t you start with verse 16 and let’s read back and forth.
Nicole (09:21):
Yes. So, well, her other daughter-in-law did actually end up going back to her foreign land. She said, girls go home to your families. I have nothing for you. No more sons. One of them did leave and now she’s talking with Ruth. I forgot that part.
Sharon (09:34):
That’s quite alright. It’s a big story.
Nicole (09:36):
So picking up—it’s a big story. “So Ruth replied, don’t ask me to leave you and turn back wherever you go. I will go wherever you live. I will live. Your people will be my people and your God will be my God.”
Sharon (09:48):
“Wherever you die, I will die. And there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us.”
Nicole (09:57):
“When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more.”
Sharon (10:02):
“So the two of them continued on their journey. When they came to Bethlehem, the entire town was excited by their arrival. Is it really Naomi, the women asked?”
Nicole (10:11):
“Don’t call me Naomi, she responded. Instead, call me Mara, for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me.”
Sharon (10:17):
“I went away full, but the Lord has brought me home empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has caused me to suffer and the Almighty has sent such tragedy upon me.”
Nicole (10:28):
“So Naomi returned from Moab, accompanied by her daughter-in-law, Ruth, the young Moabite woman.” (Woman) “They arrived in Bethlehem in late spring in the beginning of the barley harvest.”
Sharon (10:39):
Okay. Chapter two, Ruth works in Boaz’s field. Verse one. “Now there was a wealthy, an influential man in Bethlehem named Boaz, who was a relative of Naomi’s husband, Elimelek.”
Nicole (10:50):
“One day, Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, let me go out into the harvest fields to pick up the stalks of grain left behind by anyone who is kind enough to let me do it. Naomi replied, all right, my daughter, go ahead.”
Sharon (11:02):
“So Ruth went out to gather grain behind the harvesters and as it happened, she found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz, the relative of her father-in-law Elimelech.”
Nicole (11:12):
“While she was there, Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters. The Lord be with you, he said. The Lord bless you. The harvesters replied.”
Sharon (11:20):
“Then Boaz asked his foreman, who is that young woman over there? Who does she belong to?”
Nicole (11:25):
“And the foreman replied, she’s the young woman from Moab who came back with Naomi.”
Sharon (11:29):
“She asked me this morning if she could gather grain behind the harvesters. She has been hard at work ever since, except for a few minutes rest in the shelter.”
Nicole (11:38):
“Boaz went over and said to Ruth, listen my daughter, stay right here with us when you gather grain, don’t go to any other fields. Stay right behind the young women working in my field.”
Sharon (11:47):
“See which part of the field they are harvesting, and then follow them. I have warned the young men not to treat you roughly. And when you are thirsty, help yourself to the water they have drawn from the well.”
Nicole (11:58):
“Ruth fell at his feet and thanked him warmly. What have I done to deserve such kindness, she asked? I’m only a foreigner.”
Sharon (12:05):
“Yes, I know Boaz replied, but I also know about everything you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband. I have heard how you left your father and mother and your own land to live here among complete strangers.”
Nicole (12:18):
“May the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge, reward you fully for what you have done” Oh, what a beautiful thing to say to her at the end.
Sharon (12:28):
Wasn’t that, that was kind.
Nicole (12:29):
That was so kind.
Sharon (12:30):
I mean, everybody’s kind here. It’s amazing.
Nicole (12:34):
Yeah. He might not have known where she stood with God Almighty, you know, and to just offer her that comfort cause she was a foreigner.
Sharon (12:39):
And the wings of refuge. I so love God’s, the image of God’s wings over us. It was super kind of him. So he was kind not only with his actions which was, well we’ll get to those in a minute. He was kind with his words.
Nicole (12:52):
Yes.
Sharon (12:53):
He was kind with his words. What were some of the actions he was kind with?
Nicole (12:57):
To seek her out to make sure she was okay.
Sharon (13:00):
Uh-huh.
Nicole (13:00):
And then to let her know like, hey, here’s the really good place to get some grain Oh. And get some water too. He didn’t just let her like, oh, this poor woman just, you know, picking up the straggles, whatever’s this riffraff on my field.
Sharon (13:11):
Uh-huh.
Nicole (13:11):
He sought her out to make sure she felt welcome and safe and taken care of.
Sharon (13:15):
And safe. That’s another kindness.
Nicole (13:17):
That was huge back then.
Sharon (13:18):
I spoke to the young men.
Nicole (13:19):
Yes.
Sharon (13:19):
And so basically they touch you, they’re in trouble.
Nicole (13:22):
Right.
Sharon (13:23):
Yeah.
Nicole (13:23):
Oh, to have that, what a comfort that must have been for her.
Sharon (13:25):
What a protection. Yeah. Because she’s really very vulnerable out there.
Nicole (13:29):
Mm-hmm.
Sharon (13:29):
She really is.
Nicole (13:30):
She’s a foreigner. She has no one to speak up for her, no one to protect her. (Sharon: Right) And she’s a woman back then. (Right) She had very little allies on her side.
Sharon (13:37):
She did.
Nicole (13:37):
So for the master of the field to come and seek her out and assure her that he had, that she had his protection.
Sharon (13:41):
So nice.
Nicole (13:42):
My goodness. That must’ve meant the world to her.
Sharon (13:44):
It was wonderful. And before Boaz is kind, we have Ruth’s kindness to Naomi. (Nicole: Yeah) Oh my goodness. May the Lord deal with me ever so severely if I don’t do this.
Nicole (13:54):
Oh wow.
Sharon (13:55):
She’s like, I’ve already made a promise. Don’t you make me go back on it cause I’ve told God to basically beat me up if I don’t do what I say.
Nicole (14:02):
Yeah.
Sharon (14:03):
She was determined to go with her mother-in-law.
Nicole (14:05):
She was, and then to offer to go, let me go out and get some food for us. Like let me take care of you.
Sharon (14:10):
Yeah. Let me humble myself and basically be a pauper and hope people drop grain so we can pick it up so we don’t starve to death.
Nicole (14:18):
Right. And make a, she would be very obvious being a foreigner then, again. (Sharon: Yeah) Kind of allowing herself to be open to ridicule or criticism.
Sharon (14:25):
Absolutely.
Nicole (14:26):
Very brave.
Sharon (14:27):
Yeah. So, oh, I love the kindness of Ruth and Boaz. And I kind of believe that Naomi must have been kind for Ruth to get to know her God. You know, it doesn’t—
Nicole (14:37):
That’s true.
Sharon (14:38):
When we meet Naomi, she’s, she’s not unkind, but she’s pretty much a mess.
Nicole (14:42):
She’s struggling with some bitterness there. She calls herself bitter.
Sharon (14:44):
Right. Right. She’s pretty much defined how she’s feeling.
Nicole (14:47):
Right.
Sharon (14:48):
But there must have been a time, cause Ruth says, your God is my God. Where through Naomi and Elimeleh and the, the two sons. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) where Ruth came to trust the God of Israel.
Nicole (14:59):
Right.
Sharon (15:00):
Yeah. And still trusted him even though everything had fallen apart for them. Isn’t that fascinating?
Nicole (15:05):
Oh, she did watch all that too. Right.
Sharon (15:06):
Yeah. She never had kids. Her husband dies, her father-in-law dies and she’s still trusting the God of Israel. So,
Nicole (15:12):
Hmmm. So there must have been some kindness there before.
Sharon (15:14):
Wowzers. I think so. I do. So All right. So yay Ruth. Yay Boaz. Now let’s look at some examples from the New Testament. There are so many to choose between, cause Jesus was so kind, so often. Like children. He was kind to children, told the disciples, don’t push them away.
Nicole (15:31):
I know.
Sharon (15:32):
He took time.
Nicole (15:33):
He did.
Sharon (15:33):
That was patience too.
Nicole (15:34):
Yes.
Sharon (15:34):
To be kind to children.
Nicole (15:36):
I love that one. And he was kind to the grieving widow of Nain who only had the one son who had died.
Sharon (15:42):
Oh, that’s right.
Nicole (15:43):
I love that story.
Sharon (15:44):
I love that story too. And then to lepers, he was kind, not only did he heal ’em, he touched them.
Nicole (15:50):
Yeah. That was huge.
Sharon (15:51):
They hadn’t been touched in, I don’t know how long, but Jesus touched them. We see his kindness over and over again. The way he stops things to talk to people the way you know, who was it? Blind Bartimaeus shouting and causing a scene. And everybody’s like, be quiet and Jesus stops and goes, come here.
Nicole (16:08):
Wow.
Sharon (16:09):
He’s just so kind.
Nicole (16:10):
He is. Oh, so so kind.
Sharon (16:10):
I love it. Yeah.
Nicole (16:12):
There’s also a wonderful story in Acts about a kind woman. We’re going to close out this part of the podcast with her story. So we’re reading from Acts nine, starting at verse 36. “There was a believer in Joppa named Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcus. She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor.”
Sharon (16:29):
“About this time she became ill and died. Her body was washed for burial and laid in an upstairs room.”
Nicole (16:36):
“But the believers had heard that Peter was nearby at Lydda. So they sent two men to beg him, Please come as soon as possible.”
Sharon (16:45):
“So Peter returned with them and as soon as he arrived, they took him to the upstairs room. The room was filled with widows who were weeping and showing him the coats and other clothes Dorcas had made for them.”
Nicole (16:57):
“But Peter asked them all to leave the room. Then he knelt and prayed. Turning to the body he said, Get up Tabitha. And she opened her eyes, when she saw Peter, she sat up.”
Sharon (17:07):
“He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then he called in the widows and all the believers and he presented her to them alive.”
Nicole (17:15):
“The news spread through the whole town and many believed in the Lord.”
Sharon (17:18):
“And Peter stayed a long time in Joppa, living with Simon, a tanner of hides.” (Wow!)
Nicole (17:24):
I’d forgotten about this story.
Sharon (17:26):
Isn’t this the sweetest story?
Nicole (17:28):
It really is.
Sharon (17:28):
Dorcas, Tabitha.
Nicole (17:29):
Yes.
Sharon (17:29):
It’s so weird. She has two names.
Nicole (17:31):
I know.
Sharon (17:33):
But she does. But what a sweet woman she must have been.
Nicole (17:37):
Yeah. For them to all be— And the fact that the first thing they did when he came in, look what she’s done for us. They were devastated at the loss of somebody so kind.
Sharon (17:45):
So kind. And they were widows.
Nicole (17:46):
Someone to help.
Sharon (17:46):
So again, we just talked about Ruth the widow. (Nicole: Oh right) They were dependent on the church at this point to take care of them. And Dorcas has saw them and made them clothes.
Nicole (17:55):
That’s so sweet.
Sharon (17:56):
Don’t you love the behind the scenes people?
Nicole (17:58):
Yes.
Sharon (17:59):
Honestly, there’s so many. Jesus says in heaven, the first will be last and the last will be first. (Nicole: Yeah) Little old Tabitha who just sewed clothing, right. And never preached a sermon in her life. (Right) Or raised anybody from the dead herself. (Right) She’s gonna be first. I just think she is because she saw people. (Yes) And she went out of her way to be kind.
Nicole (18:19):
She saw the needs and she fixed them. She helped them.
Sharon (18:23):
Yes. Yes.
Nicole (18:23):
In practical ways too. So, oh, Dorcus, Tabitha, Tabitha, Dorcus. You’re so kind. I’ll wave you from the back of the line because,
Sharon (18:31):
Exactly. There she is.
Nicole (18:33):
You’re so nice. Yes.
Sharon (18:35):
So precious. Oh, and they wept for her. So she had to do more than just do clothing. She must have brought love with it.
Nicole (18:42):
Oh for sure.
Sharon (18:42):
Yeah.
Nicole (18:43):
Oh.
Sharon (18:43):
It makes me think of that first line of 1 Corinthians 13. You know, when it starts just defining love.
Nicole (18:49):
Yeah.
Sharon (18:50):
Love is patient, love is kind.
Nicole (18:51):
Mm-hmm. Yes.
Sharon (18:52):
That’s the first two things that define love.
Nicole (18:54):
I know. And then to see the kindness of Jesus again. To give her back to them for a time.
Sharon (18:58):
Yes.
Nicole (18:59):
Wow.
Sharon (19:00):
Yes. Yes.
Nicole (19:01):
I mean that’s just really neat, like God sees so much, he sees all those people and he knew that those widows needed her a little bit longer.
Sharon (19:07):
Yep. Yep. Just like the widow of Nain needed her one son to support her.
Nicole (19:11):
Yes. Alive a little bit longer
Sharon (19:12):
Boy, there’s been a lot of widows in this, our examples. I didn’t even realize it when I was setting them up, but you know, James says, true religion is taking care of widows and orphans.
Nicole (19:21):
Yeah.
Sharon (19:21):
Basically, let’s be kind to the ones that can’t demand it because they’re on the outs.
Nicole (19:27):
Yeah. Yep.
Sharon (19:27):
Let’s show kindness to the least ones.
Nicole (19:29):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (19:30):
Who are the most ones. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) Because they’re so precious in God’s sight.
Nicole (19:33):
Absolutely.
Sharon (19:33):
I love it. Okay. Well now it’s our turn, Nicole.
Nicole (19:36):
Yeah.
Sharon (19:37):
Let’s look at our four categories and talk about how we can practice/exercise kindness towards God, family, Christians and non-Christians. So, God, here we go. How are we kind to God? How do we, how do we work this one?
Nicole (19:51):
Yeah.
Sharon (19:51):
What are your thoughts?
Nicole (19:53):
Kindness to God. I’m really bad at remembering to thank him for things when he does things for me.
Sharon (19:58):
Oh, there you go.
Nicole (19:59):
You know, going back and remembering like, we’ll pray. Oh this, we need this to work out. And then it does. It’s like, yes. Awesome.
Sharon (20:04):
We move on.
Nicole (20:04):
And we, I go on my merry way. Yes. And I live in that blessing he’s given me. And I’m like, oh, I never thanked you for this. God, thank you for your kindness. Thank you. I think being mindful and remembering what God has done for me, I’m not very kind to God.
Sharon (20:18):
I think that’s a great way to do it. Yeah. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) Yeah. And seeing the thing he wants most is our company. (Right) Being with him. (Yeah) Telling him we love him. That’s another kindness.
Nicole (20:27):
I know. He’s so sweet. He doesn’t demand much.
Sharon (20:29):
No.
Nicole (20:30):
He doesn’t ask for much.
Sharon (20:31):
No. It’s so amazing. And then Jesus gives us a, a sort of an interesting way to be kind to him. Mm-hmm. When um, he’s separating sheep from the goats. (Nicole: Yeah) You know, at the end of the age. (Yeah) And he says, I was thirsty and you, you gave me something to drink. I was hungry and you gave me food. I was in prison and you visited me. What you did for others you did for me.(Yeah) So literally being kind to God is being kind to those in need. (Mm-hmm) He receives it as if we did it to him. (Mm-hmm) Isn’t that amazing?
Nicole (21:02):
That is really cool. That’s a good thing to remember.
Sharon (21:05):
Wowzers. Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (21:07):
Am I helping Jesus?
Sharon (21:08):
Just even bringing a cup of water to someone.
Nicole (21:10):
Yeah.
Sharon (21:10):
You know, he receives it as done to him as well.
Nicole (21:13):
Oh. I remember hearing a song as a teenager about that. Like seeing Jesus, it was kind of a, it was a shocking song, too. Like I see Jesus underneath the overpass, you know, with stained teeth looking for money. And I’m like, what? And I was like, oh, oh, the least of these.
Sharon (21:27):
Yeah. And when you did it for them,
Nicole (21:29):
Right.
Sharon (21:29):
You did it for me. We need to see Jesus in them and go, this is an opportunity to be kind to Jesus.
Nicole (21:33):
Yes.
Sharon (21:34):
By, you know, helping the widows and the orphans. And the others.
Nicole (21:36):
And the homeless person.
Sharon (21:37):
Yeah. So beautiful.
Nicole (21:39):
Oh.
Sharon (21:40):
Yeah. And I just had to read this one verse about God’s kindness to us, cause it’s one of my favorites, before we move on. It’s Titus 3:4-5. “When God, our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we’d done, but because of his mercy.” So man was God kind to us and we sure don’t do enough righteous things to earn that death. Right?
Nicole (22:02):
Know what, we don’t.
Sharon (22:03):
So, but he was kind. So Yes. And I love your thank you’s. I think that’s a great way to be kind to God, so I love it. So family kindnesses.
Nicole (22:12):
Yeah.
Sharon (22:13):
I have a very recent one.
Nicole (22:14):
Oh, good. Share.
Sharon (22:15):
So I’ll tell you my story of a Ray kindness to me. (Nicole: Oh) When we were first married, I wanted, you know, birthdays to be special. (Yes) And Ray was not great at birthdays being special at all. You know, he would give me things in paper bags and his first present to me were muffin tins. And I’m like, in a paper bag. I’m like, wow. Muffin tins. He said, (That’s great!) he said, you told me you wanted to make me muffins.
Nicole (22:42):
Oh my goodness.
Sharon (22:43):
Oh, oh, oh. It was not pretty.
Nicole (22:46):
That one should go in a book too. That’s, that’s really,
Sharon (22:49):
Wow. So you bought me a present, so I’d make you muffins and you didn’t even wrap it.
Nicole (22:53):
Right. On my birthday!
Sharon (22:54):
I can’t even. So I, you know, did all the things wrong.
Nicole (22:59):
Yes. Oh yes.
Sharon (22:59):
You know, and wept, was terrible, didn’t make it any better at all. But, one of the next years I finally got smart and wrote him a list and I said, number one, presents must be wrapped. You may use tin foil, but they need to be wrapped. Number two, there needs to be a card with mushy words. Some of those mushy words need to be your own. Number three, there needs to be a cake and candles. You do not have to make it. (Nicole: Yes) Buy it. But I need candles. (Yes) And I’d like flowers. (Oh) So he had his list.
Nicole (23:28):
Yes.
Sharon (23:29):
But he kind of was hung up on the flowers part because what a waste of money.
Nicole (23:32):
Yeah.
Sharon (23:33):
You know, they last three or four days and they’re dead.
Nicole (23:35):
Right.
Sharon (23:35):
So he had this great plan. He bought me some silk roses and he figured that was it for the rest of our married life.
Nicole (23:43):
You’re good for life. They’re not gonna die.
Sharon (23:45):
And he meant it. And I’m like,
Nicole (23:47):
Logical then.
Sharon (23:48):
Okay. That’s, you know, thank you for all the other wonderful things you’ve done. Cause from then on out, he knew his list. And when the girls were older Nicole, he’d go, okay, troops, time for mother’s birthday. Who’s making the cake? Who’s, you know, you know,
Nicole (24:02):
You get number two out everybody, and go, go!
Sharon (24:04):
Who’s gonna wrap the presents? Let’s do it. You know, because he knew what to do.
Nicole (24:06):
Yes.
Sharon (24:07):
All I had to do was tell the man what to do.
Nicole (24:08):
I know.
Sharon (24:09):
He’s so sweet. I love it.
Nicole (24:09):
What a novel concept, to express what we want clearly to our husbands.
Sharon (24:13):
What a novel concept. Right.
Nicole (24:13):
Huh! What a thought.
Sharon (24:15):
Yeah. Well it’s worked out much better for me than the ‘he should know’ approach does.
Nicole (24:19):
I know. It doesn’t work. Spoiler.
Sharon (24:20):
Just sayin’, tell him. So, anyway, so I had to explain gently to him that the silk flowers are beautiful. I still have them.
Nicole (24:26):
Yes.
Sharon (24:26):
But I’d like real ones. So anyways, this year I got it all because we’ve been married 43 years, including the beautiful, beautiful flowers.
Nicole (24:36):
Oh, that’s so nice.
Sharon (24:37):
Because for Sharon, even though it makes no sense to Raymond why I would want something that dies; that costs way too much money in his humble opinion.
Nicole (24:45):
Right.
Sharon (24:46):
But I want it. (NIcole: Mm-hmm) And because he’s kind, not because he thinks it’s a great idea (Right) Ray Gamble buys me flowers. Not everybody would want them, but (Right) I actually really do. My birthday’s in February,
Nicole (24:57):
But Sharon on her birthday would like fresh flowers, please. And thank you.
Sharon (24:59):
Yes. And thank you. Thank you. Yeah. So there you go.
Nicole (25:01):
Oh, I love that.
Sharon (25:02):
That’s my example of kindness.
Nicole (25:03):
That’s really good.
Sharon (25:05):
Yay Ray.
Nicole (25:05):
Well, and that’s, I think that’s key though. It’s, kindness in our family is thinking through the days ahead of our loved ones, you know, and like, okay, how can I make it easier? How can I brighten your day in little ways?
Sharon (25:16):
Yes. Yes.
Nicole (25:16):
You know, for my kiddos. Okay. She’s going to stumble and be stressed out making her lunch. So I’ll make this kiddo’s lunch. This kiddo wants to make her own lunch. Do not touch her lunch. She’s very particular.
Sharon (25:25):
Uhhuh.
Nicole (25:25):
Wonderful. But I stick a little note in there as a kindness, you know?
Sharon (25:28):
Oh yeah.
Nicole (25:29):
And then, you know, for your spouse too. It is the ‘how do you feel love’. Not how do I want to love you?
Sharon (25:35):
Oh, that’s so important.
Nicole (25:36):
And oh, that’s tough because how I want, how I feel loved feels like a great way to love my spouse. (Sharon: Uhhuh) He doesn’t receive that love. Just like for Ray, buying flowers for you doesn’t make him feel love. Like it makes no sense (Uhhuh) but he loves you with kindness because (Yes) that’s how you feel love.
Sharon (25:51):
Exactly so.
Nicole (25:52):
So being aware of our family and our spouses particularly, I think, and knowing how they feel loved and showing them kindnesses in that way.
Sharon (26:00):
It’s so important.
Nicole (26:00):
Josh’s is quality time. He just wants me to sit with him even if we’re not engaged in deep conversations, staring into each other’s eyes side by side as he’s playing his tractor game. (Sharon: Yep) And then he talks to me.
Sharon (26:09):
That is such a man thing. Shoulder to shoulder time is so important.
Nicole (26:11):
Yeah. And I’m sitting there going, I have so much to do. Is this enough quality time yet? Can I knit while we quality time? And just, but being with him and I should be so honored that he wants to spend time with me.
Sharon (26:22):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that is, yeah. Kindness is putting someone else’s interest ahead of our own.
Nicole (26:27):
Yep. And it’s never a big thing, just sitting. Well, for me it feels like a huge thing to sit still, but yeah, it’s really not that huge.
Sharon (26:32):
It’s not that huge. Yep.
Nicole (26:33):
We can do this.
Sharon (26:33):
One of Ray’s favorite things that I do for him on weekends is bring coffee to the bedroom. (Nicole: Oh) Because he has a hard time waking up. (Yes) So I’ll wake him up and say, I’ve got your coffee right here. (Oh) So then he can take a few sips of caffeine before he gets out of bed. (Yes) It takes me no time to do that. And it’s his top favorite things that I do. It’s on his top favorites.
Nicole (26:51):
Josh used to make me a breakfast sandwich all the time because he knows in the morning I don’t,
Sharon (26:55):
You’re the one that’s not the morning person.
Nicole (26:56):
I’m not a morning person and I’m always getting the kids, he’s like, you won’t eat if I don’t cook food for you. So he makes me food.
Sharon (27:01):
Aww. See kindness.
Nicole (27:02):
So sweet. So kind. Little things.
Sharon (27:03):
Oh boy. It’s so nice.—- Okay. Well, Christians in church. Yes. How are we kind in church? What are some ways there?
Nicole (27:12):
I think being friendly and accepting of anyone that can walk in through the door that isn’t dressed in their Sunday best.
Sharon (27:20):
Yes.
Nicole (27:20):
Not being startled, but being willing to greet people wherever they’re at like, oh, hello and welcome, who might act or look differently than us. (Sharon: Yep) or the other Christians in the church being kind to them if they don’t have the same interests as us, or if they come up very close to our face and tell us a big loud story when you’re like, oh, hello, it’s good to see you. (Yes) Being kind to them.
Sharon (27:39):
I prefer a foot between us, not two inches. Right.
Nicole (27:43):
Personal bubble. My little brother is very good at being super close to people.
Sharon (27:47):
And you’re like, wow.
Nicole (27:48):
Oh hello my love. He does and that’s great. But being kind to people who are so different from us because someone is being kind to me at church too, because (Sharon: Oh my goodness) I’m going to be odd to them.
Sharon (27:58):
Exactly so. We are not exempt from oddness. We might think we are, but we are not.
Nicole (28:02):
Nope. So being kind with each other’s quirky behaviors.
Sharon (28:06):
For a long time we had a lady in our church who had dementia and she would constantly mistake Ray for her husband.
Nicole (28:13):
Oh no.
Sharon (28:14):
So, you know, she’d get separated from her husband cause she wandered and she’d sit down beside him and say hello to him.
Nicole (28:20):
Oh my goodness.
Sharon (28:21):
And then the husband meanwhile would be looking for her. (Nicole: Right) So I would go find him and Ray would be kind to her until the husband would take her to the real husband.
Nicole (28:30):
Right. Darling. Hi.
Sharon (28:34):
Bless her heart.
Nicole (28:36):
That’s so precious.
Sharon (28:37):
Oh my goodness but she still attended church and she was always so nice.
Nicole (28:39):
Yeah.
Sharon (28:39):
But she just got confused.
Nicole (28:41):
She just swapped her husbands over a few times.
Sharon (28:42):
That’s right.
Nicole (28:44):
But what a great way to be kind though.
Sharon (28:45):
Ray was so kind to her, Nicole.
Nicole (28:47):
Yeah. And he could have been very uncomfortable.
Sharon (28:49):
He could have said, Hey, I am not your husband. (Nicole: Yeah) But she wouldn’t have understood at all. (No, no). So there’s an example. I’m just giving Ray all kinds of kudos here.
Nicole (28:56):
Nice job Ray. Ray is a kind man.
Sharon (28:58):
Go Raymond. Yeah. So last category, being kind to people that don’t know the Lord. Being kind to strangers.
Nicole (29:04):
Yes.
Sharon (29:06):
So that’s where you’re nice in line and you let people cut ahead of you. You open doors for people. Right.
Nicole (29:11):
Yeah.
Sharon (29:12):
What’s some other ways to be kind to strangers?
Nicole (29:14):
I feel like this is where we could really shine as Christians to the world. (Sharon: Yeah, yeah) Like this is the opportunity. We don’t always have opportunity to share our faith in great long dissertations or for, for them to see how we live. When you’re standing behind someone in a grocery store, being kind, being patient, letting them go ahead of you, like you said. (Yep) Oh, one day I was kind to somebody, this boy came up and he was fumbling for money and he didn’t have enough and he was a teenager and I paid for his and I just, I was like, oh, I can be kind to you. (Yay) He’s like, he kept thanking me. I’m like, oh, it’s fine. It was like a $1.50 for his little sandwich. (Yeah) But he was like, thank you, thank you. It’s those little things we have to be watching for them.
Sharon (29:49):
We have to watch for kindness opportunities.
Nicole (29:50):
Because it’s so much easier to be like, all right buddy, just pay for this and move on. My kids are waiting in the car.
Sharon (29:54):
Right.
Nicole (29:55):
Like, just stop. But instead taking the time to be kind instead of grumpy. (Sharon: Yeah) I don’t always do that. That was a God moment.
Sharon (30:01):
But cash register moments are huge. (Nicole: Yeah) Thanking the clerk. Thanking the bagger. (Yes) You know, if something goes wrong, say that’s okay.
Nicole (30:08):
When they’re all flustered and people are yelling at them cause they’re just— Like, oh, I’m sorry, you look like you’re having a rough day today.
Sharon (30:13):
Yes.
Nicole (30:14):
A small kindness. It won’t slow her down. She’s still doing the things well. Right, right. Just talking with them and letting them feel like they’ve been seen.
Sharon (30:20):
So important.
Nicole (30:20):
Yeah.
Sharon (30:20):
Oh Lord. Make us kind.
Nicole (30:22):
I know.
Sharon (30:22):
Let us pray. We’ll ask for it. Lord, I do ask that you would help us to be kind. Holy Spirit, thank you that you build that fruit in us. Give us opportunities this week to be kind. Help us to notice where kindness is needed. Help us to be selfless when you ask us to be. And sprinkle kindness all over the place, Lord. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole (30:48):
Amen. Thank you for joining us this episode. If you would like to extend some kindness to us, we would love to hear from you. Write us at Sweetselah.org/podcast or donate at Sweetselah.org/donate. A review of this podcast on your favorite platform would be super kind. We’d love for more people to learn about the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. And do join us next week for episode 1 0 3, The Uniqueness of Goodness. Now there’s an intriguing title. Thanks so much for listening today. We appreciate your kindness.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found@sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
It's awfully hard to be patient. Especially when we aren't told how long we have to wait for whatever-it-is we are hoping for. However, patience is truly a gift as well as a fruit of the Spirit. It enables us to trust that God is, indeed, working things out even if we can't see it. Being patient totally beats losing our temper and raising our blood pressure. That's for sure. But it's awfully hard to learn it. Join us for a great discussion on the fruit of the Spirit - patience.
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Read the transcript for Practicing Patience-Episode 101Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to a podcast designed to bring biblical encouragement to your weary soul. We are so glad you’re listening and we pray God blesses you and strengthens you in your walk with him. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is brought to you by the cooperative efforts of Sweet Selah Ministries and Word Radio. Sit back and enjoy.
Nicole (00:29):
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 101, Practicing Patience. I am not sure I even wanna talk about this one, Sharon. You know how they say, don’t pray for patience or God will give you plenty of opportunities to practice it. Well, when my friend Jenny and I used to do Moms in Prayer together when we were homeschooling, we would joke and say, let’s pray for endurance instead of patience, because that one’s a little easier.
Sharon (00:52):
Oh, that’s so funny.
Nicole (00:54):
Because patience is hard.
Sharon (00:56):
It is hard. I totally agree. And I am not naturally a patient person. I tend to move quickly, think quickly, and it’s really hard to slow myself down sometimes. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) So here are my confessions, the situations where I have realized frequently that I’m not yet perfected in patience. Number one, when I try to make a simple phone call to a major corporation, and I get bounced around the system pushing buttons.
Nicole (01:23):
Oh, it is annoying.
Sharon (01:24):
Oh, man. And every, like, they give you three options. None of the options are the options I need.
Nicole (01:30):
No.
Sharon (01:30):
So then I start saying, Operator, Operator.
Nicole (01:33):
Yes. Person.
Sharon (01:33):
And sometimes the operator comes and sometimes I have to keep going through the buttons. (Nicole: Yeah) And then when I finally do get a person, I have to remember that it is not personally their fault (Nicole: Yes) that I spent 15 minutes pushing the buttons incorrectly. (Right) And be nice to them. So that’s number one. Number two, when I’m in a hurry and the traffic is slow. And usually I’m in a hurry because I waited too long to go someplace. (Yes) Yeah. So I’m irritated at all these cars who have done nothing to hurt me, and it’s really my own fault. So, and then the third one, I get so irritated when I cannot open a pill jar or a jam lid.
Nicole (02:11):
Oh, yes. It’s so annoying.
Sharon (02:12):
It’s like, I am a grownup. How can I not open the jar?
Nicole (02:14):
Where are my muscles?
Sharon (02:16):
How about you? Where are you, um, where do you struggle in this area of patience?
Nicole (02:21):
Well, now I’m cringing a little bit because on top of my, at least three that I wrote, I’m also empathizing with the three you mentioned. So, Oh my goodness, right now, my six year old has, is in the process of mastering the art of tying her shoe. In great details she shows me and tells me in super slow motion as we’re running out the door, always just a wee bit behind, how to tie her shoe. And I’m like, can I do it? Can I just do it for you? We gotta go That’s hard.
Sharon (02:48):
Yes.
Nicole (02:48):
Also, traffic gets me too. Uh, we live on a dirt road, and every once in a while, someone who’s never been on a dirt road will be in front of me going 10 miles an hour and going around every little bump like it’s gonna destroy their car. And I’m like, okay. That’s not fun. And then waiting in line is the worst. Oh. It drives me crazy. I hate standing and waiting.
Sharon (03:10):
It feels like a waste of time.
Nicole (03:10):
It does. I’m wasting time. I could be doing all these things. And I think that’s why I don’t, I don’t think I would enjoy Disneyland. I could not wait for three hours for a ride. It’d have to be (Sharon: It would not be worth it) the ride of my life. And it’d have to give me like a gold bracelet at the end for it to be worth three hours of my life. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) So clearly I could use a good dose of, oh, I hate to say it, but patience.
Sharon (03:30):
Patience. Yep. Exactly. And I’m bonding with you over yours as well. Absolutely. To get to the point where we receive what is.
Nicole (03:37):
Yes.
Sharon (03:38):
Because that’s really what patience is, receiving what is, without kicking against the goads. As the Bible says. I’m awfully glad it’s a fruit of the Spirit, because only God can help us get better at this. (Nicole: Yeah)And we need to ask him. We do. We need to ask him, Jesus, help me be a patient person. Impatience leads to anger and bad decision making and spilled coffee grounds. I remember the day that I was in a hurry, and I don’t know, the coffee wasn’t doing what I wanted. And, and because of my impatience, I spilled coffee grounds. They’re really tiny, you know? (Yes) Everywhere. And so then I just wasted more time. (Right) Because my impatience had caused the trouble. So.
Nicole (04:18):
It very often works in our, it doesn’t very often work in our favor to be impatient.
Sharon (04:22):
No, it does not.
Nicole (04:23):
Hardly ever.
Sharon (04:23):
It does not. One of the most patient people I’ve ever known was Ray’s father. (Nicole: Oh) Dad Gamble. (Yeah) Oh my goodness. I think it’s partially because he had polio as a child. He spent his kindergarten year in bed.
Nicole (04:34):
Oh my goodness.
Sharon (04:36):
And they had to massage his leg every day. It really affected his leg (Nicole: Right) particularly, and you know, it was a busy family. There were seven kids. (Oh my word) So he spent a lot of time alone. (Yeah) And nobody could be with him all the time. (Hmm) And I think he learned early on, I have to wait.
Nicole (04:52):
Yeah.
Sharon (04:53):
So he would say to me, I don’t know why people are in such a hurry, honey.
Nicole (04:56):
Oh.
Sharon (04:57):
I don’t know why people are in such a hurry, if they’d just slow down life would go better for them. And sure enough—
Nicole (05:02):
He’s not wrong.
Sharon (05:03):
He was right.
Nicole (05:03):
Yeah.
Sharon (05:04):
Yeah. The Amish have a saying, ‘the hurrier I go, the behinder I get’.
Nicole (05:09):
Oh gosh. I need to sew that into a pillow.
Sharon (05:11):
That is—
Nicole (05:12):
I need to sew it slowly onto a pillow so it goes into my brain.
Sharon (05:15):
Yes. Sew it slowly. The hurrier I go, the behinder I get. Sometimes the most important thing we can do is slow down.
Nicole (05:23):
That’s so true. (Sharon: Right) I know my grandmother was a very patient woman as well. She taught me how to knit and sew and garden. And she just never seemed to be in a hurry. She’d sit with me and take out my little row of messed up stitches and show me again, I was little and I wanted to learn all this. She was so patient with me. (Sharon: Uhhuh, uhhuh). And I love that. I want that.
Sharon (05:41):
I want that too. People talk to you more if they don’t think you’re looking at your watch and in a hurry too.
Nicole (05:47):
Right.
Sharon (05:47):
You know, some of the deeper conversations you have with your kids and I have with Ray, (Nicole: Sure) come because we are quiet.
Nicole (05:53):
Yeah. We’re not rushing.
Sharon (05:55):
Yeah.
Nicole (05:55):
Well, they feel like there’s space and that they’re important and we want to hear them if we’re not, oh, I gotta go to my next thing on my list. See you later.
Sharon (06:00):
You got five minutes, spill your guts quickly. (Nicole: Right) Right. That doesn’t work very well. (Gosh) So.
Nicole (06:07):
Well, Sharon, let’s look at what the Bible has to say about patience next then.
Sharon (06:11):
Good girl, Nicole.
Nicole (06:11):
There’s some amazing examples of patience in there. And the most famous example, of course, was Job. We even have that expression that someone ‘has the patience of Job’ in our English language. Job endured so, so much, and yet held onto his faith and endured it. So let me read just a short passage to give the heart of it. So Job 1:8-22, “Then the Lord asked Satan, have you noticed my servant Job? He’s the finest man in all of the Earth. He’s blameless; a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil. Satan replied to the Lord, Yes, but Job has good reasons to fear God. You have always put a wall of protection around him and his home and his property. You have made him prosper in everything he does. Look how rich he is. But reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face. All right. You may test him, the Lord said to Satan, do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don’t harm him physically. So Satan left the Lord’s presence. One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting at the oldest brother’s house, a messenger arrived at Job’s house with this news, your oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them when the Sabeans raided us, they killed all the animals and killed all the farmhands. I am the only one who escaped to tell you. While he was still speaking another messenger arrived with this news. The fire of God has fallen from heaven and burned up your sheep and all the shepherds. I am the only one who has escaped to tell you. While he was still speaking a third messenger arrived with this news. Three bands of Chaldean raiders have stolen your camels and killed your servants. I am the only one who escaped to tell you. While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news. Your sons and daughters were feasting in their oldest brother’s home. Suddenly a powerful wind swept in from the wilderness and hit the house on all sides. The house collapsed and all your children are dead. I am the only one who escaped to tell you. Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship. He said, I came naked from my mother’s womb and I’ll be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord. In all of this Job did not sin by blaming God.”
Sharon (08:32):
I, every time that is read, doesn’t matter how many times I read it, I’m like, what? How?
Nicole (08:37):
Yes. Wow.
Sharon (08:38):
How? You know, sometimes you do have a Job period of time. But I don’t think anybody, goodness.
Nicole (08:44):
To this extent.
Sharon (08:45):
To this extent.
Nicole (08:46):
Oh, his children. I mean everything.
Sharon (08:48):
Yeah everything.
Nicole (08:48):
The man owned, in an instant before the first messenger could finish telling him the bad news.
Sharon (08:52):
The next one comes.
Nicole (08:53):
It’s just insane.
Sharon (08:54):
Yeah. Talk about bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. Over and over again. And yet the key to this whole thing is Job’s response. I came naked from my mother’s womb, I will be naked when I leave. He did not cling to possessions or title or even family.
Nicole (09:10):
Oh, I know, so hard.
Sharon (09:11):
I know. That’s the one. It’s like, okay, take away my house
Nicole (09:14):
Take my sheep, take my camels. But not my babies.
Sharon (09:17):
Not my babies. Yeah.
Nicole (09:17):
Oh, so hard.
Sharon (09:18):
Although, if you take away all my possessions it hurts my babies. So that’s hard too. (Nicole: Yeah) But not the same as not having your babies. (Yeah) Yeah. So I feel like he just had this attitude, it’s one reason he was called blameless, (Right) that, you know, I’m God’s. (Yeah) And what matters is him. And whether I have a lot, or, it’s kind of like, you know what, Paul says in Philippians, I have learned in whatsoever state I am therein to be content. (Yeah) King James version. That’s the one I remember.
Nicole (09:43):
Therefore. Yeah.
Sharon (09:44):
You know, basically, you know, whether I have a lot or a little, my self-esteem, my feeling of worth comes only from being God’s.
Nicole (09:54):
Right. And in that way, it never will be shaken.
Sharon (09:57):
Right.
Nicole (09:57):
If we’ve learned to live with little, learned to live with a lot, we can go between either one as God deems appropriate.
Sharon (10:04):
Right.
Nicole (10:04):
Because he did give it to us. And he can take it away.
Sharon (10:06):
He can take it away.
Nicole (10:07):
And I think we need to remember that second part, you know?
Sharon (10:09):
We do.
Nicole (10:09):
And bless his name, blessed be the name the Lord when He does.
Sharon (10:12):
Oh, yeah.
Nicole (10:13):
That’s a tough one.
Sharon (10:15):
That is, that is. That’s faith under trial.
Nicole (10:17):
Absolutely.
Sharon (10:18):
That’s why Job got his whole book.
Nicole (10:19):
Right. That’s why he got a whole book but I don’t think Job was excited there.
Sharon (10:24):
No but it does make me remember that, you know, when I’m super happy in my comfy house. (Nicole: Yeah) And, I am. (Yeah) And I’m grateful. I think it’s fine to be grateful for my (Oh yeah) beautiful little ranch house that I love so much. I have to remember, but my security can’t be there.
Nicole (10:40):
Right.
Sharon (10:41):
And I love my Ray, but my security can’t be there.
Nicole (10:46):
Right.
Sharon (10:46):
There’s only one rock. And it’s Jesus.
Nicole (10:49):
Yeah.
Sharon (10:49):
And everything else could fall apart and fall away and God would still be good and God would still love me and I would still have a happy forever after in heaven.
Nicole (10:58):
Yes.
Sharon (10:58):
So that’s where the heart of it has to be. So, wow. But he was patient.
Nicole (11:03):
He was.
Sharon (11:04):
He endured it all and he, and he stayed the course with God.
Nicole (11:07):
He did. Right to the end.
Sharon (11:07):
He never cursed God.
Nicole (11:08):
No. Good job Job.
Sharon (11:09):
Yeah. So, okay. Okay. So another great example is Abraham. He was told to leave all he knows and follow God. So I’m gonna read Genesis 12:1-9, “The Lord had said to Abram, leave your native country, your relatives and your father’s family and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous. And you’ll be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on Earth will be blessed through you. So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed and Lot with him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran”. (NIcole: Spring chicken. Sharon: I know, makes me feel downright young at 65!) “He took his wife Sarai” (cause she wasn’t Sarah yet) “his nephew Lot and all his wealth, his livestock, and all the people he had taken into his household in Haran and headed for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Canaan, Abram traveled through the land as far as Shechem. There, he set up camp beside the oak of Moreh. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, I will give this land to your descendants. And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord who had appeared to him. After that, Abram traveled south and set up camp in the hill country with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built another altar and dedicated it to the Lord and he worshiped the Lord. Then Abram continued traveling south by stages toward the Negev.” Okay. So he’s lived all his life in one place til he’s seventy-five.
Nicole (12:42):
Yeah.
Sharon (12:42):
And God says, uh, go. First of all, you’re gonna have kids, you’re gonna have descendants and go where I send you. And then he wanders about.
Nicole (12:50):
Isn’t that wild?
Sharon (12:52):
And he patiently did what God said and just went and went and went and built altars all over the place.
Nicole (12:58):
I love that. Cause, Oh, I love this part where the Lord appeared to him and said, I will give this land to your descendants. Abraham built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord. He didn’t go, kids! I’m seventy-five. Where are my kids?
Sharon (13:09):
Come on Lord.
Nicole (13:10):
Hold on. Am I missing something? And the fact that I feel like our, the American dream and kind of what we all aspire for is to like do these things in succession and steps. Like get the house, get the kids, have kids, you know, settle into a nice cozy house and then retire. Live off what you’ve accumulated for retirement wealth and just take it easy.
Sharon (13:27):
Right.
Nicole (13:27):
He, I, I’m assuming he’s kind of getting to that spot. He left a beautiful, cushy home.
Sharon (13:32):
He sure did.
Nicole (13:33):
God’s like—
Sharon (13:34):
He sure did. He lived in tents for the rest of his life.
Nicole (13:35):
Yeah. He went backwards, countercultural, counterintuitive. God pulled him backwards from what we think we should be doing.
Sharon (13:42):
Yes. And it doesn’t sound like he was impatient with God til, (Nicole: I know) I mean Sarah was one that got kind of impatient. (Yeah) And that’s why they had Ishmael. But Abraham just waited.
Nicole (13:51):
Yes. I just, I love that. Like I’ll give this land to your descendants. He didn’t say, I’d be like, God, what kids? I have no children, seventy-five. Where are my babies?
Sharon (14:00):
Yeah. We have more examples too.
Nicole (14:02):
Yeah, He had good patience.
Sharon (14:02):
Yeah. Jacob for instance, you know, he works seven years to marry Rachel. Which is a lot of time.
Nicole (14:08):
Yeah. When you’re in love.
Sharon (14:09):
And then he gets tricked into marrying Leah. So he has to work another seven years for Rachel. But he did it cause he loved her.
Nicole (14:16):
Mm-hmm.
Sharon (14:16):
So, patience there too.
Nicole (14:17):
Oh yeah. And then both David in the Psalms and his son Solomon in his writings, they both have a lot to say about patience too. You know, it honestly is better to slow down and live with what is actually happening instead of stamping our feet and trying to make things happen when they clearly won’t.
Sharon (14:32):
Yes it is.
Nicole (14:34):
So here’s a few verses to drive home this point. I really need to listen to these verses. So Proverbs 15:18, “A hot tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention”. That’s a good one. Proverbs 16:32 says, “Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty. And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city”. And then Psalm 37:7-9 says, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices. Refrain from anger and forsake wrath. Fret not yourself. It tends only to evil. For the evil doers shall be cut off. But those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land”. And then last I’ll read Ecclesiastes 7:8, “Better is the end of a thing than it’s beginning. And the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit”.
Sharon (15:35):
These are so good. I love that two of them say it’s better to be slow to anger. You know, anger gives you that adrenaline rush.
Nicole (15:45):
Mm-hmm.
Sharon (15:45):
So you feel like you have to do something.
Nicole (15:47):
Yes.
Sharon (15:48):
You’ve got all this like energy pounding through you and yet the wise person slows it down right there. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) I wish I’d learned this years ago because I would give into that anger and I would say things that then I had to go back and repair damage to. (Right) Over and over again. One of the saddest homeschool days of the Gamble family, homeschool life, back when we were in Germany, Ray was at the Persian Gulf War. (Yeah) And I had Kathryn and Mary at home. And so I was, you know, a single parent basically.
Nicole (16:26):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (16:26):
They were with me all the time. And I love my children, but I just (Nicole: I remember those days) just wanted grown up time. Right?
Nicole (16:33):
Yes.
Sharon (16:33):
And I was homeschooling to boot so they didn’t even go away to school. They were with me all the time. So I had been given an invitation from some friends to go out to lunch.
Nicole (16:43):
Oh nice.
Sharon (16:44):
And I really wanted to go, but I was also pretty rigid about homeschool. I had to get the homeschool done first.
Nicole (16:50):
Right.
Sharon (16:50):
You know, because in my mind, if I’m going to homeschool, they have to do it.
Nicole (16:54):
You’re gonna do it well, yes.
Sharon (16:56):
And at that point I was pretty non-negotiable about it. So inevitably when you want your children to go quickly, you know where I’m going with this?
Nicole (17:02):
Oh my goodness. They do the exact opposite.
Sharon (17:03):
Right. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) I’m like hurry up, hurry up, hurry up. I wanna go to dinner. I’m gonna have to cancel the lunch if you are not quick.
Nicole (17:10):
Right, right, right.
Sharon (17:10):
So poor Kathryn gets so freaked out by the fact that I’m pushing her and pushing her that she tries to go too fast.
Nicole (17:19):
Yeah.
Sharon (17:19):
Right. And she’s a straight A student. She was valedictorian of her high school class. She’s brilliant. She has her master’s degree. (Nicole: Yeah) But that particular day she could not do the work because her mother was breathing down her neck. And so she got everything wrong on her spelling test and it was really slow. (Yeah) Which is not Kathryn. (Yeah) And I lost it. (Mm-hmm) I put a big red F across that page. I told her how terrible her spell— I did everything wrong.
Nicole (17:46):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (17:47):
Everything wrong. Everything you should never do.
Nicole (17:49):
I laugh cause I’ve been there.
Sharon (17:51):
Oh, oh it was awful.
Nicole (17:51):
Oh, I know. It’s like why?
Sharon (17:52):
We still talk about the day of the F. Because she got A’s. Mary and she got A’s.
Nicole (17:58):
That one time Kathryn got an F.
Sharon (17:59):
Mary also did terribly too. You know, they both did terribly because I was impatient.
Nicole (18:04):
Yes.
Sharon (18:05):
And then I made it worse by shouting at them. And then of course I had to cancel the lunch because I had to undo the damage I had just done.
Nicole (18:14):
Now you have traumatized, crying children. It’s like, oh, oh no.
Sharon (18:17):
Yeah.
Nicole (18:17):
I can’t.
Sharon (18:18):
I can’t.
Nicole (18:18):
Yeah.
Sharon (18:18):
So served me right.
Nicole (18:20):
You know that’s so interesting.
Sharon (18:21):
Slow to anger, if I’d been slow to anger.
Nicole (18:23):
Yeah.
Sharon (18:24):
It’s so much better.
Nicole (18:25):
It feels like, with a warning to be slow to anger wrapped up with this, that impatience is the beginning of anger
Sharon (18:34):
Yes. That’s a good way to view it.
Nicole (18:34):
My goodness. It does escalate cause where else can it go?
Sharon (18:37):
Right.
Nicole (18:38):
If we’re impatient, it’s not gonna go anywhere good.
Sharon (18:40):
Nope.
Nicole (18:40):
It blossoms too, we are trying to force something that isn’t meant to be. And in that forcing, we cause chaos around us too.
Sharon (18:46):
We sure do. And we hurt the ones we love.
Nicole (18:48):
We do. Oh!
Sharon (18:49):
We absolutely hurt the ones we love.
Nicole (18:51):
Because I find when I’m impatient and forcing things that I want to go the way I want to go. I say things and I get nitpicky over things I normally would not do.
Sharon (18:58):
Exactly.
Nicole (18:58):
Like how come you didn’t put this on? Like, it doesn’t matter if their socks are on backwards, but when I’m impatient, suddenly it’s the end of the world. My child can’t put her socks on right. It’s like where did that come from?
Sharon (19:08):
Yeah. I love that thought. That impatience is a warning that you’re getting angry and you need to slow down and get patience instead.
Nicole (19:17):
Yep.
Sharon (19:18):
So slow to anger is so important.
Nicole (19:19):
It is.
Sharon (19:20):
And when anger comes, we gotta deal with it, of course. But not by spouting off the first things out of our heads or, or you have an F day and those are terrible days.
Nicole (19:29):
Yeah. Those are terrible days.
Sharon (19:30):
They’re terrible days.
Nicole (19:30):
And they’re not easily erased and (Sharon: No) thank the Lord that he uses these things and they become jokes later on.
Sharon (19:36):
I Know, my girls forgave me. Children are such sweet forgivers.
Nicole (19:40):
They are.
Sharon (19:41):
They really are.
Nicole (19:41):
They’re so good. They’re so gracious to us.
Sharon (19:43):
I’m so grateful for them.
Nicole (19:43):
There’s a lot of forgiving impatience stories, you know, are wrapped up in homeschooling too. We had a notorious day when I was a girl being homeschooled (Sharon: Yeah) where my mom had just had it and she threw a eraser at us. So we never, poor mom will never live it down. Remember that time you threw an eraser at my head. She’s like, you ducked. It was fine.
Sharon (20:03):
Yes. I see your mom has a better reaction. I’m like, don’t talk to me about the F day.
Nicole (20:08):
I know.
Sharon (20:08):
I still feel mortified.
Nicole (20:10):
Oh, so funny.
Sharon (20:11):
Oh my goodness. So anyways, Solomon and David have it right.
Nicole (20:16):
Yes.
Sharon (20:16):
Patience is so important.
Nicole (20:17):
It is.
Sharon (20:18):
It just is. So now we’re gonna get practical again. I love this. I love how we take the second part and say, okay, well all right, now what do we do with this?
Nicole (20:24):
Right. This is all great. How do we use it in real life?
Sharon (20:26):
Right. Right. So patience with God, family, Christians and non-Christians, starting with God. Okay. So patience with God. I, for me anyways, my patience with God comes when I pray for something and, you know, if it’s a straight no, you know I can get over it.
Nicole (20:44):
Right.
Sharon (20:44):
You know, please let it be a sunny day and it’s pouring rain. Okay, well that’s a no, I guess not. I guess the farmer was praying for rain and you know?
Nicole (20:51):
He won.
Sharon (20:52):
So, but when I’m praying for like a loved one to come to know Jesus?
Nicole (20:57):
Right.
Sharon (20:57):
Or somebody to change a behavior and it just doesn’t seem to be doing anything.
Nicole (21:02):
Mm-hmm.
Sharon (21:03):
I have to be patient knowing God is at work. But he is so gentle. (Nicole: Yeah) And he knows them better than I do. And he’s not going to make robots out of them. They get to choose. So I have had to practice patience over the years, praying for people. Trusting that even when I see nothing, when I pray God is moving in ways I just can’t see yet.
Nicole (21:26):
Yeah.
Sharon (21:26):
So that’s mine. How about you and patience with God?
Nicole (21:30):
It’s kind of similar. I think also, when I sit down to do quiet time with God, it’s like, okay, I’m here. I’m ready. Pour on the goodness. Fill me. Feel the love and the patience, the kindness, the goodness.
Sharon (21:40):
Yeah.
Nicole (21:40):
And it doesn’t come so quick sometimes.
Sharon (21:42):
And do it in five minutes.
Nicole (21:44):
Right. Like, God I have six and a half minutes before I have to go about my day. Like just give it to me, God, gimme all the goodness. And then it’s like I don’t feel it. So for me, patience with God is being still long enough for him to do the work in my heart.
Sharon (21:56):
Yes. Yes.
Nicole (21:57):
And when I’m praying for bad things to stop or sickness to go away or pain to go away, to realize that, like you said, he is working behind the scenes and not at the pace I would choose and not at the outcome that instant that I want. (Sharon: Uh-huh) But patience knowing that he’s got this, he knows the big picture.
Sharon (22:13):
Yes. Yes.
Nicole (22:13):
And it’s not just me he’s working in through the situation. There’s other people he’s also working through.
Sharon (22:18):
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (22:19):
At different places and I need to be patient with God as he works.
Sharon (22:23):
Yes. And trusting.
Nicole (22:24):
And trusting. Yes.
Sharon (22:26):
Exactly. Yeah. Well family requires a ton of patience.
Nicole (22:31):
We could be on this one for a while.
Sharon (22:33):
Yeah. Sometimes it’s easier to be patient with strangers that you don’t live with, right?
Nicole (22:37):
Yes it is.
Sharon (22:39):
As I was thinking about Ray and me as a couple, we are, we have very different interests. We just do, Ray loves tanks. He loves to play this game called Armored Warfare. And another one called World of Tanks where tanks, fight tanks.
Nicole (22:52):
I love it.
Sharon (22:54):
And, you know, I don’t find that particularly interesting, but then I love people. And I wanna talk about my team day and I wanna talk about Nicole and I on the podcast taping and all that stuff. And um, the best and kindest thing we can do for each other is patiently listen to the other. And we’ve both learned to do that. (Nicole: Yeah) I’ve learned to understand the tank battles. Thank you very much. And I can find out what level he’s at and discuss that with him. Right. And he takes our prayer sheet. We have a, you know, weekly prayer sheet and a monthly prayer sheet. (Yeah) He uses it every day and then he makes himself remember to ask me about whatever’s happening; like today he prayed for our podcast. (Yeah. Oh) So on our walk today, he’ll have a pause. (Mm-hmm) and I’ll know he’ll Rolodex through his mind.
Nicole (23:41):
Yes.
Sharon (23:41):
What was I praying about today so I can ask Sharon and then I need to pay attention when she talks about it.
Nicole (23:48):
Right.
Sharon (23:48):
And listen patiently to Sharon burble,
Nicole (23:51):
Yeah.
Sharon (23:51):
About my podcast time. So, but that’s offering patience to each other and letting each other ramble for a bit.
Nicole (23:59):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (23:59):
So that’s ours. How about you? How do you work with patience in your home?
Nicole (24:03):
It’s similar with Josh. We do have different interests, I’m learning to love tractors. Tractors and tanks.
Sharon (24:09):
Yes. Learn to love tractors. Yes.
Nicole (24:10):
Our sweet men, tractors and tanks. But there is, you know, that slowing down and, and actually listening. Cause sometimes you don’t wanna ask like, I don’t really wanna hear about it, but you know what, Hey, tell me about this tractor. Like how did you learn about it? What does this implement here do? I know the word implement now. So I feel pretty fancy.
Sharon (24:25):
I’m pretty impressed.
Nicole (24:26):
And then him listening to me talk about Sweet Selah and puppies and the kids’ day and actually listening. It does, it really does come back to you when you put a little effort into patience.
Sharon (24:35):
It does.
Nicole (24:36):
And then for the children, making allowance for their mistakes, I think knowing that they’re going to tie their shoe incredibly slowly or talk to me about something that, you know, at the worst possible time, like the big long dream when you’re trying to get ready in the morning.
Sharon (24:53):
The dreams. I had that too.
Nicole (24:54):
Oh, the dreams.
Sharon (24:55):
They wanna tell you every detail of the dreams.
Nicole (24:56):
Yes. Like you have such long dreams. It is interesting. (Sharon: Yeah) Yeah, we had three this morning. I’m like, oh, you all had big dreams. Okay.
Sharon (25:05):
In the car, tell me in the car.
Nicole (25:06):
Yes. So just being, giving myself like an okay, Nicole, you’re going to have to make space for this today.
Sharon (25:12):
Yes.
Nicole (25:12):
Because it’s going to happen, just expecting it to happen.
Sharon (25:15):
Yes.
Nicole (25:15):
It does make it a little bit like, okay. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) This was an interruption that I prayed about and I’m expecting so I’m more patient with it.
Sharon (25:21):
Exactly. And that’s why we can’t fill our days chock full.
Nicole (25:26):
Yes.
Sharon (25:26):
Because we have to allow for the patient times where we, (Nicole: Right) we want to slow down and listen. (Yeah) Because you sure want those kids to be talking to you as teenagers, right?
Nicole (25:36):
Yes.
Sharon (25:36):
And I sure want a good relationship with my Ray all my life.
Nicole (25:39):
After your kiddos are gone.
Sharon (25:41):
Yes. Yeah. It’s so important.
Nicole (25:41):
And it involves listening to those kind of boring dreams now.
Sharon (25:45):
Absolutely. It just does. Yes, you’re right. And then at church with Christians, the interesting thing about, you know, going to churches is you don’t get to, unless you’re a very bad church, you don’t get to choose the kind of people that are there.
Nicole (25:57):
Right.
Sharon (25:58):
I mean, I suppose in some very bad churches where you only allow certain people to belong that are like you, that might be different, but that’s not church. Church is welcoming people that are in all ages and stages and conditions.
Nicole (26:11):
Yes.
Sharon (26:11):
From the lady shaking with the drug addiction.
Nicole (26:13):
Right.
Sharon (26:14):
Right. Everybody. So, you, that means you and I, rub shoulders with people that are not like us. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) Who are going to talk about subjects that don’t necessarily interest us.
Nicole (26:26):
Right.
Sharon (26:26):
Who are going to choose to run a meeting in ways that we feel are highly inefficient.
Nicole (26:31):
Right.
Sharon (26:31):
Yes. And in all those cases, the fruit of the Spirit of patience blesses someone else. It’s a way to show love. Love is patient. (Nicole: Mm-mm) Love makes allowances for people that are different and lets them be them.
Nicole (26:48):
Yeah.
Sharon (26:49):
So that’s, you got anything else? I mean, that’s the church thing for me.
Nicole (26:52):
It’s hard to be, it’s hard to be patient with Christians sometimes cause like, I think we’re harsh with ourselves and harsh with them. Like, oh, you should be, you should have gotten this by now.
Sharon (27:00):
Yeah, come on.
Nicole (27:00):
You accepted Jesus in your heart. Like you just, you’re good, you should be there. And we’re not, we’re all in different, different, like, I love how they describe it, like different grades in school.
Sharon (27:10):
Mm-hmm.
Nicole (27:10):
I could be in kindergarten, you could be in fourth grade, but be patient with me, I’m still in kindergarten.
Sharon (27:13):
Sometimes you get sent back to preschool.
Nicole (27:14):
Stay back in preschool a couple years. (Sharon: Yeah) But we have to be patient with where we all are on our walk with God
Sharon (27:22):
Yes, we do. And that’s loving.
Nicole (27:23):
It is.
Sharon (27:24):
That’s so loving. So, and that’s what makes people feel comfortable at church.
Nicole (27:27):
Right.
Sharon (27:27):
Which we wanna be a welcoming, safe place.
Nicole (27:29):
Yes.
Sharon (27:30):
Yeah. So, and last of all non-Christians, well for example, witnessing to non-Christians takes time. You know? (Nicole: Yeah) You, you can’t be impatient and why didn’t you accept Jesus I told you about him. Right. You just have to love them as they are. (Yeah) You know, and receive them with all their quirks as well. (Yeah) I think a lot of loving patience is not demanding that people fit our idea of, you know, the most efficient and the most like us that they can be.
Nicole (28:03):
Right. Right, right.
Sharon (28:05):
You’ll let them be them.
Nicole (28:05):
Yeah. And I think what has been huge for me lately with being patient with non-believers is the realization that they don’t, they don’t know any better. They don’t have Jesus inside of them, like (Sharon: Mm-hmm) I’m no better than them. I have the Holy Spirit that prompts me to choose the right thing. That prompts me to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness. Without him I am no different than them.
Sharon (28:26):
Absolutely.
Nicole (28:26):
So to be patient with them because they don’t have the option to choose, that they can’t be patient because of the Holy Spirit. They don’t have him.
Sharon (28:34):
They don’t have him. Yeah. I’ve found this patience thing on a plane to be interesting too. Oh. Sometimes, you know, cause I do quite a lot of flying around.
Nicole (28:42):
Yeah.
Sharon (28:42):
Sometimes, you know, the plane stops and you know, you need to get out.
Nicole (28:46):
Yeah.
Sharon (28:47):
And for whatever reason the door doesn’t open for 25 minutes.
Nicole (28:51):
I know that’s the worst. Cause you just wanna get off at that point.
Sharon (28:53):
And then praying for that fruit of the Spirit. Lord, help me to just receive what is mm-hmm. I can’t make that door open. The airline people have a reason and I don’t know what it is.
Nicole (29:03):
And what a good example. Cause everyone gets a little testy after a long flight.
Sharon (29:06):
Yeah.
Nicole (29:06):
I just wanna get off Yeah. Get a little claustrophobic.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
So just the waiting in line thing. (Nicole: Yeah) And trying to bring a sense of peace as well.
Nicole (29:14):
Yes.
Sharon (29:15):
By our patience in lines and in waiting in public. So, yeah.
Nicole (29:19):
That’d be a good one.
Sharon (29:21):
Yeah. So, okay, well we’re gonna pray for patience. Sorry everyone.
Nicole (29:26):
Oh, no! Brace yourself world. We’re praying for patience.
Sharon (29:28):
Oh, heavenly Father. And we do need it. And I do pray for it, Lord, because that F day was such an awful day when I didn’t have it. So Lord, we truly do ask you to pour into us that fruit of patience, the slowing down, the listening to someone else out of love. The receiving what is and not trying to kick open doors out of our own anger and selfishness. Holy God, thank you that we can ask you for it. That we don’t have to try to manufacture it. So I ask in Jesus’ name that all of us would receive the gift of the fruit of patience this week and be amazed at what you’re gonna do because we’ve shown love through patience. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole (30:21):
Amen. Thank you for joining us for this episode. We hope that if God gives you the opportunities to practice patience this week, that you smile and remember this podcast and nail it. I suspect God’s gonna give me a few lessons in patience as well. It’s how we remember the lessons. We always love to hear from you. So write us at sweetselah.org/podcast or donate @sweetselah.org/donate. If you want to join the growing number of women coming to our retreat in September, make sure you go to our website SweetSelah.org and look for Refuge Retreat 2023. We have women coming from 19 different states so far. The best spots for sleeping are filling fast. We would love to meet you there. Check out the video on the retreat page and then consider registering. It’s only $55 to register and housing and food can be as little as $145 for the weekends. This is an affordable three day retreat with nationally known speakers and beautiful places to sit and admire New Hampshire’s Lake and Mountain region in the early fall. Oh, we would so love to meet you there, and come back next week for episode 102, Kindling Kindness in Ourselves and Others. Kindness is a dying virtue it seems these days. Let’s rekindle our desire to be kind in our own lives and in the lives of those we love. Have a great week.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found@sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for joining us.
You can print and download the transcript here.
The Bible talks about a "peace that passes all understanding" in the book of Philippians. There are times when God gives us peace in the midst of chaos. We feel whole and well and fine despite whatever storm swirls around us. This is gift. This is unexplainable. This is one of the deepest blessings of being a child of God. Join Sharon and Nicole as they talk about "unexplainable peace" in today's episode.
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Read the transcript for Unexplainable Peace-Episode 100Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to a podcast designed to bring biblical encouragement to your weary soul. We are so glad you’re listening and we pray God blesses you and strengthens you in your walk with him. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is brought to you by the cooperative efforts of Sweet Selah Ministries and Word Radio. Sit back and enjoy.
Nicole (00:29):
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 100, Unexplainable Peace. Sharon, can you believe it? This is our 100th episode!
Sharon (00:39):
Wow and wow. No, I can’t.
Nicole (00:41):
I know.
Sharon (00:42):
It just doesn’t seem that long ago when my board asked me to consider doing a podcast, and I wasn’t even sure what one was. I’d never listened to one in my life. Nicole, it’s been so much fun. (Nicole: It has) And I am really, really looking forward to our podcast party on April 1st. It’s right around the corner now. Podcast listeners, there’s still barely time for you to email me. Either a voice clip or a written word about you, our listener. We’d so love to hear from you so we can put together a special edition podcast all about you, our other followers, and truly all about God, (Nicole: Mm-hmm) who has put this whole thing together, and whom we depend on every single time we meet. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) because we never feel prepared enough, do we?
Nicole (01:24):
No. No.
Sharon (01:25):
So anyways, if you wanna be a part of our podcast party episode, would you email me, please? My email is Sharon@Sweetselah.org. So how about you? Do you feel like it’s been a short time or a long time we’ve been doing the podcast?
Nicole (01:40):
It feels like it’s been a short time. This has gone so fast.
Sharon (01:43):
I know. It’s over three years.
Nicole (01:44):
I can’t believe that. I was like, wait a minute. Three whole years?
Sharon (01:47):
Yeah.
Nicole (01:47):
Maybe like, it feels like a year and a half maybe.
Sharon (01:50):
I know.
Nicole (01:50):
Time goes so quick.
Sharon (01:51):
It does. It does.
Nicole (01:52):
But Sharon, this podcast has been such a blessing to me. It’s so wild how God brought us together to do this since this was nothing on my radar either.
Sharon (02:00):
I know. I know. It’s a total God thing.
Nicole (02:02):
It is. And I actually really don’t like being recorded. It’s terrifying. So God has really stretched and grown me, and it’s so amazing because as I prepare and pray and read the scripture for these episodes, I am growing in my own walk with God. You know?
Sharon (02:15):
Me too.
Nicole (02:15):
There’s an accountability to teaching others and talking about God’s word. And that keeps me close to God, you know? And I just—. (Sharon: Uh-hmm) The fact that he could do all this without us, and he chooses to work through two broken, terribly imperfect women. (Sharon: Yes) To talk about his love. I’m just, I’m in awe of him and how he uses us. Just (Sharon: Me too) thank you, God.
Sharon (02:34):
Yes.
Nicole (02:35):
Thank you.
Sharon (02:36):
And you said it so well, two broken, imperfect women.
Nicole (02:39):
Yeah.
Sharon (02:39):
Who inevitably show up at Word Radio, feeling under prepared.
Nicole (02:44):
Every time.
Sharon (02:46):
Every time. Every time. And yet the Holy Spirit steps in and, um, we pray, pray., pray that He makes us not say things that we shouldn’t.
Nicole (02:54):
Yes, please Lord. And he always fills in our big gaps.
Sharon (02:58):
He does.
Nicole (02:58):
He just does.
Sharon (02:59):
He just does. So thank you, Father God.
Nicole (03:01):
Yes.
Sharon (03:01):
Oh man. Well, I love that our 100th podcast is on the beautiful Christian attribute of peace. Love that word, even. (Nicole: Yes) Now, the Jewish people value peace so highly that it’s part of their greeting to one another. When they say hello, it’s shalom. So shalom is a little more than just generic peace-iness. (Nicole: Yeah) So tell me, tell me, I asked you to look up the definition.
Nicole (03:26):
Oh, I did. It was fun. So yeah, you normally think of peace or peace be with you. And it is. It’s how they greet and say farewell to each other. I love that. That’s so sweet. But it goes a little bit deeper than that. Instead of just wishing a person a lack of war or struggle, but rather shalom goes deeper according to this article I read on christianity.com. It says, it is a completeness. ‘It’s completeness, it’s soundness wellbeing, complete reconciliation. True shalom can only be found through God.’
Sharon (03:55):
I love that.
Nicole (03:55):
Doesn’t that sound wonderful?
Sharon (03:57):
Yes. Yes.
Nicole (03:57):
Yeah. And one of the names of God is Yahweh Shalom, the Lord of peace.
Sharon (04:01):
Yeah.
Nicole (04:02):
So pretty cool.
Sharon (04:02):
The Lord of wellbeing, of wholeness. (Nicole: Yes, soundness) There’s a sense of just being all you. You know?
Nicole (04:09):
Mmmm, yes. Complete, not lacking anything, just together. (Sharon: Mm-hmm, Mm-hmm) So I love that.
Sharon (04:13):
I do too.
Nicole (04:13):
So now we’re gonna look at some Bible passages that celebrate that special shalom peace only found in God. And Sharon, how about you start us off today?
Sharon (04:22):
Well, I will. The first time shalom is mentioned in the Bible is in Genesis. God’s just made a covenant with Abraham and is speaking to Abraham about the future when this word is first used. So I’m gonna pick up the story in Genesis 15:12 and read through Genesis 15:16, “As the sun was going down,” (Abram, he wasn’t even Abraham yet, he was still, Abram at this point) “fell into a deep sleep and a terrifying darkness came down over him. Then the Lord said to Abram, You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. But I will punish the nation that enslaves them. And in the end, they will come away with great wealth. As for you, you will die in peace, Shalom, and be buried at a ripe old age.” (Nice)
Nicole (05:12):
That’s nice.
Sharon (05:14):
“After four generations, your descendants will return here to this land for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction.” (Nicole: Mm-hmm) This is such a bizarre, weird passage.
Nicole (05:25):
Yeah.
Sharon (05:26):
I’ve had so much fun sort of looking at it and thinking, okay. Terrifying darkness to start with. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) Well, yeah. If you, God’s big, right? (Nicole: Yeah) Abram’s just this little guy. And so of course it’s a little terrifying when God comes down and speaks and then what does he say? Abram has no kids.
Nicole (05:46):
Right.
Sharon (05:46):
And he says, your descendants are gonna be enslaved for 400 years. What? I don’t even have a child.
Nicole (05:52):
Not such a peaceful thing to be told right away.
Sharon (05:54):
I know. So that’s kind of strange. Yeah. So, but they’re gonna come away with great wealth, which is of course exactly what happened. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) The Egyptians were so glad when finally, Pharaoh kicked the Israelites out.
Nicole (06:07):
That’s right.
Sharon (06:08):
They’re like, here, take our jewelry. Go.
Nicole (06:09):
Just take our stuff. Just go. That’s so funny.
Sharon (06:10):
So it exactly happened the way God said.
Nicole (06:12):
Wow.
Sharon (06:13):
But what assurance to Abram that at least he’s gonna die in peace. (Nicole: Right) Shalom, at a ripe age. Can I pray this prayer for me? Because, I really like this.
Nicole (06:25):
It does sound like a rather pleasant way to go. There’s some terrible ways to die. And this sounds like a nicer way to go.
Sharon (06:29):
It does. It does. So Abram is reassured that he at least is dying in peace and that he will, and God’s talking about the descendants, like they’re really gonna happen. (Nicole: Yeah) And Abraham believed that for years and years, which we’re gonna study that later on in one of our episodes. He, he just believed it (NIcole: Mm-hmm) even though he had no kids. And that has always just astounded me. So, I’m glad he got shalom death.
Nicole (06:52):
Yeah. After a rather big prophecy to kind of mull over.
Sharon (06:55):
Right.
Nicole (06:56):
Yeah. Very nice. There’s always peace with God in the middle of big things.
Sharon (07:00):
There is. There is.
Nicole (07:02):
So now I’m going to read in Numbers. It is the most ancient of blessings and it’s still so beautiful to read and to pray over those that you love. Numbers 6:22-27, “Then the Lord said to Moses, tell Aaron and his sons to bless the people of Israel with this special blessing. ‘May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace. Shalom, whenever Aaron and his sons bless the people of Israel in my name, I myself will bless them’.” I like this passage a little bit better.
Sharon (07:37):
I love it. Yeah. This is a little easier to understand
Nicole (07:40):
Yeah. Well this is a beautiful song that we sing in church now too, and it’s one of my favorites. It’s just called ‘The Blessing’. And it’s such a beautiful thing. I love when God gives us rich words that we can use too, cause sometimes you don’t know what to say to your loved ones and you want to bless them.
Sharon (07:54):
That’s so true.
Nicole (07:54):
Here’s this beautiful thing to pray, like the Lord bless you and protect you and show his favor on you and give you peace. So I need to pray that more over my children. I like this one.
Sharon (08:02):
I do too. We pray a blessing over our grandchildren the last night we visit all the time.
Nicole (08:08):
Oh, I love that.
Sharon (08:09):
And they sit, one at a time in between Nina and Papa. (Nicole: Yeah) And this would be a great blessing to pray, you know. (Nicole: Yeah) Yeah, yeah.
Nicole (08:14):
A good thing to send them to bed with at night. I’m always like, oh, I’m out of stories. I’m out of songs. Just go to sleep babies. I’m gonna try this one.
Sharon (08:21):
Try this one. Yes, yes
Nicole (08:22):
Yes. This is so good.
Sharon (08:23):
And tell your girls just how rich Shalom is. You know, I want your full well being.
Nicole (08:28):
Yes, his peace is going to be so much deeper than anything else you can find in this world.
Sharon (08:32):
Absolutely. Oh my goodness. I had the hardest time choosing the passages for this Nicole, because there’s so many times that Shalom is mentioned in the Bible.
Nicole (08:40):
Oh, that’s so cool.
Sharon (08:41):
But one of them was so interesting to me that I just couldn’t not do it. And it’s in the book of Esther, Esther 2:10-11, and at the point that the shalom word shows up (Nicole: Yeah) Esther has been taken to the king’s harem and is is being prepped for her night with the king in this crazy contest of who would be the next queen of Persia? Oy! How awful for these girls. I mean, I never think, oh, how exciting. I always think this is awful.
Nicole (09:07):
It is.
Sharon (09:07):
That those poor girls had to do that. (Nicole: Yeah) So anyways, um, starting at verse 10, “Esther had not told anyone of her nationality and family background because Mordecai had directed her not to do so. But every day Mordecai would take a walk near the courtyard of the Haram to find out how Esther was doing” (what was happening to her). Literally what this passage means, according to my Bible, is Mordecai was checking on Esther’s shalom.
Nicole (09:33):
Oh. Interesting.
Sharon (09:33):
He was checking on her wellbeing.
Nicole (09:35):
Yeah.
Sharon (09:35):
How are you?
Nicole (09:37):
Yeah.
Sharon (09:37):
You know, not just, is she living, but are you, are you handling this nightmarish situation? (Nicole: Mm) Do you still have your peace?
Nicole (09:46):
Yes.
Sharon (09:46):
Are you still whole? (Nicole: Yeah) Even with all the things they’re trying to do to you to make you attractive to the king.
Nicole (09:52):
To change you on the outside. How are you inside?
Sharon (09:54):
How is your inside? How is your shalom? (Nicole: Wow) You know? And that’s what a true friend does. You know, you know, if you’re just passing someone briefly, it’s how are you doing? Oh, I’m fine.
Sharon (10:04):
Oh yeah, I have said that. And then thought later, I just lied.
Nicole (10:08):
I’m not fine.
Sharon (10:09):
I’m not fine at all.
Nicole (10:10):
I didn’t have time to tell her all the things that happened this morning.
Sharon (10:12):
Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I just said this simple, I’m fine. (Nicole: Right) It’s just like the standard greeting. (Nicole: Yeah) But when someone says, no, no, no, no. How are you really? (Mm-hmm) How’s your shalom?
Nicole (10:22):
Oh, that’s so good.
Sharon (10:23):
Then they’re saying, I have time.
Nicole (10:26):
Yes.
Sharon (10:26):
To sit and listen to you and hear the nitty gritty. I have time to hear what inside you is roiling and is making you not shalom-y. (Nicole: Right) Right? So anyways, I love that.
Nicole (10:40):
That’s awesome. That’s so good.
Sharon (10:40):
So when you and I get together sometimes, Nicole, I’m gonna say to you, how’s your shalom?
Nicole (10:44):
Is it feeling shalom-y, or not so much?
Sharon (10:46):
Yeah.
Nicole (10:47):
That’s really good. I love that. Oh, okay. So let’s transition to the New Testament. We’re gonna look at Isaiah 9:6, “For a child is born to us, a Son is given to us, the government will rest on his shoulders and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Shalom.
Sharon (11:08):
I love it. And there’s our transition. We’re still in the Old Testament, but we’re looking to the Prince of Peace.
Nicole (11:14):
Right. So all that shalom from the Old Testament is wrapped up into Jesus. (Sharon: Yes) He is the Prince of Peace. (Yes) Then he came down to us and brought that peace with him. (Mm-hmm) Ah, then he left the Holy Spirit with the peace inside of us.
Sharon (11:27):
Exactly. Ta da.
Nicole (11:29):
That’s a lovely transition.
Sharon (11:30):
Isn’t it?
Nicole (11:31):
Peace is you Lord.
Sharon (11:31):
It’s Perfect. And also when you think of shalom as being, you know, wholeness. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) Jesus had it. (Yeah) We so often lose our shalom because of guilt. Because of unconfessed sin.
Nicole (11:44):
Yeah.
Sharon (11:44):
Because of secrets we harbor. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) Because of nasty little bitterness that’s crept into our lives. (Mm-hmm) All those things rob us of shalom. Shalom comes when we freely confess and are forgiven. You know, God offers it all the time. That’s Jesus the Prince of Peace.
Nicole (12:01):
Right.
Sharon (12:02):
He died, he took all the stuff we feel guilty about on himself and took the punishment on himself so that we’re free. (Nicole: Yeah) But as long as we’re, you know, beating ourselves up about it, not confessing it, trying to hide it, there’s no shalom.
Nicole (12:18):
Oh no. And even if we’re busy like Peter looking at those waves that can steal that shalom pretty quick.
Sharon (12:23):
It sure enough can.
Nicole (12:23):
The trials around us, we need to keep our eyes focused on Jesus or we’re gonna get it swept away by all that.
Sharon (12:28):
Right. Right. So he’s our hero on peace cause he’s—
Nicole (12:31):
He is.
Sharon (12:31):
The one that does it right. Oh my goodness. Well, this kind of peace can be rare because we are so prone to worry and (Nicole: Yes) bitterness and hiding,
Nicole (12:41):
Distraction and—
Sharon (12:41):
All the things. So, but I’ve, I’ve felt it before sometimes in the most unlikely of circumstances. I can remember being so bone weary, taking care of Dad Gamble in the midst of a trying situation and suddenly God would swoop in in his tender mercy and remind me that I’ve got this, I’m carrying you. (Nicole: Yes) Give me the load. You do not have to carry it. And all of a sudden there’s this unexplainable peace.
Nicole (13:10):
Isn’t that wild?
Sharon (13:11):
This situation hasn’t changed.
Nicole (13:12):
Nope.
Sharon (13:12):
At all.
Nicole (13:13):
Nope.
Sharon (13:14):
But all of a sudden I’m reminded that I am not doing this by myself. I have God within me helping me. It’s weird and wonderful and unexplainable.
Nicole (13:23):
Unexplainable. It really is. Oh, absolutely.
Sharon (13:27):
So good.
Nicole (13:28):
And it’s funny cause you feel, I feel like that those times when that deep shalom peace comes, it’s usually during the harder times in life.
Sharon (13:35):
It is.
Nicole (13:35):
Like there’s that peace of like a quiet morning with the birds and coffee, Oh, thanks God, what a beautiful world. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) And then there’s that deep seated peace that you cannot manifest on your own that just washes over you. Almost like a warm like shower kind of thing. Like, oh, okay, we can do this. God, you’ve got us and that— (Sharon: Yeah) What a gift that he gives us.
Sharon (13:55):
It is, Paul calls it the peace that passes understanding.
Nicole (13:58):
And he is right. That’s a great description of it.
Sharon (14:00):
It is, you know, it is. Yeah. And you can feel it in the midst of war, which I did when Ray was literally at war.
Nicole (14:05):
Right.
Sharon (14:06):
In the Persian Gulf War. (Nicole: Right) You know, you can still feel that unexplainable peace.
Nicole (14:10):
Oh, absolutely.
Sharon (14:11):
And it’s a gift.
Nicole (14:12):
It is.
Sharon (14:12):
It’s such a gift.
Nicole (14:12):
It really is. Oh
Sharon (14:13):
Man. So we’re gonna only look at two New Testament examples of shalom because of time, but it’s all over the New Testament too. One of them that I just love is Jesus uses this beautiful word right after he heals the woman with the issue of blood who touched the hem of the garment. (Nicole: Oh) So it’s Mark 5:32-34. So, she’s just touched his garment when I enter into the reading, “But he kept on looking around to see who had done it. Then the frightened woman trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of him and told him what she had done”. She must have been so scared.
Nicole (14:50):
Oh, I know, right.
Sharon (14:51):
Oh my word. And instead of him being like, why are you doing this? (Nicole: Mm-hmm) He’s like, “he said to her ‘daughter, your faith has made you well, go in peace’. Go in shalom. Your suffering is over. I just love that. Not only are you healed of the, the issue of blood, you know that (Nicole: Right) tormented her. You are whole. You don’t have to feel unclean anymore. You have made peace, may the shalom go with you.
Nicole (15:19):
Ah, and isn’t it just like Jesus to completely heal us? (Sharon: Yes) And we think, she must have thought maybe it just was the issue of blood. That was her, her, you know, ailment. But Jesus healed her in a way that she probably wasn’t expecting. (Sharon: Yeah) Healing from the shame, you are shalom, you are whole, sound, complete. Oh so cool.
Sharon (15:36):
Yeah, yeah.
Nicole (15:36):
Oh, I love it.
Sharon (15:38):
Just beautiful. Just beautiful. So.
Nicole (15:40):
Yeah. So Jesus used that word a lot and so does Paul. It’s one of his favorite greetings and blessings to the churches that he loves. So here’s an example that’s repeated often from 1 Corinthians 1:2-3, “I am writing to God’s church in Corinth, to you who have been called by God to be his own holy people. He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus just as he did for all people everywhere who call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ their Lord and ours. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.” Shalom.
Sharon (16:15):
I’ve started doing this when I do birthdays on Facebook.
Nicole (16:19):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (16:20):
I say grace and peace to you on your birthday. (Nicole: Aww) Because those are words Paul used over and over again. Grace, may you give it and receive it, right. Which is undeserved pardon? So when you’re giving grace to people, you’re like, okay, so you do not deserve how nice I’m being to you after the way you just treated me.
Nicole (16:37):
Right.
Sharon (16:39):
Anymore than I deserve the grace God gave me (Nicole: Mm-hmm) when I have been such a rebellious child. So you offer grace and then shalom. (Mm-hmm) Wellbeing, what I want for you is wholeness. (Yeah) You know, and oh, I just love the word. I just do. So, okay.
Nicole (16:56):
It’s a good word.
Sharon (16:57):
We’re gonna get practical now. How do we practice this Christian attribute of shalom or peace with four different categories? God, family, Christians and non-Christians. And so we’re gonna talk about it with God first. How can we seek God’s shalom? And I really, really think that the key is confession. I have to tell you.
Nicole (17:18):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (17:18):
It is keeping short accounts with God. (Nicole: Yes) If I have a sin between me and God that I have not confessed because I really am ashamed of it and I really don’t wanna talk to him about it, there is no peace. There is no shalom. The wholeness only comes when I am the same inside as I am outside. (Nicole: Yes) When I am transparently me. (Yes) And I’ve talked before about the awful African elephant story in my life. But, but it just, that was such a stark reminder to me of what not telling a sin does for you. I was in England, I’ll just repeat it real quick. We were staying in a borrowed house and, um, I kept wrecking things in their house.
Nicole (17:58):
That’s right.
Sharon (17:59):
So first I borrowed their car and I stripped their gears and they needed a new transmission.
Nicole (18:05):
Oh no, Sharon.
Sharon (18:05):
Well, I did confess that one because how do you not confess that one? The car doesn’t work, right? (Nicole: Mm-hmm) So they fixed the transmission. They were so nice. They didn’t charge me for it. They said, oh, it was going anyways, la la la. So the next thing I do is I open a door, which is a French door that you’re just supposed to pull the knob. It’s a decorative knob, not a turning knob. (Oh)So I just, instead of pulling the knob like I’d done every other time for some bizarre reason, I thought it wouldn’t turn. And I turned it so hard, I broke the knob.
Nicole (18:33):
Oh no.
Sharon (18:34):
Also something I needed to confess. So now I’ve broken two things in one week of living in this home. So I confess it, they fixed the knob. So then the third thing that happens is the guy that had lent us his home, was living in his in-laws’ home so we could have his home for this period of time when we were in England, had gone to Africa. And when he was there, the people on the missions trip had bought him these huge wooden elephants. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) Beautifully carved, I mean, not something I can replace, okay, because I don’t go to Kenya that often. So, so there was a daddy elephant, a mom elephant, and a baby elephant. And they were in their decorative fireplace in like the hearth area.
Nicole (19:15):
Sure. Yeah.
Sharon (19:16):
So the girls and I just decided we’d do ballet in the living room. I’m not sure why. And so we’re flailing our arms and legs around and one of us kicks over the father elephant and breaks his leg. (Nicole: No) Yep. So there’s this broken leg of this elephant I can’t replace. (Yeah) And I did the wrong thing. I put the leg back on the elephant and balanced him there.
Nicole (19:41):
Right.
Sharon (19:42):
And I left it alone.
Nicole (19:43):
Like, nobody touch the elephant.
Sharon (19:45):
Nobody touch the elephant. Nobody go in the living room for the entire time we’re staying there. (NIcole: Right) I never told them. (Oh) And the longer I didn’t tell them, like after we went back home from England, I still hadn’t told them about the elephant. The more I, I lost my relationship with the Lord. (Mm-hmm) God was not happy with me.
Nicole (20:01):
Yeah.
Sharon (20:02):
I had basically lied by omission.
Nicole (20:04):
Right. Right.
Sharon (20:05):
I had damaged their home and I hadn’t told them and small thing, but not to God.
Nicole (20:10):
No.
Sharon (20:10):
No ma’am. I, all the closeness I had with him was shadowed by my guilt (Nicole: Mm-hmm) that I had not done what was right. (Yeah) Out of shame and embarrassment. Took me six months. (Oh) At Christmas I finally wrote them a letter, confessed my sin, sent them $50. I, I don’t know why.
Nicole (20:31):
Right.
Sharon (20:32):
What can I do? I did not fly to Kenya and buy a new one. And then I had my relationship back with the Lord. (Nicole: Oh) But there was, my point is, this was a really long story. My point is that if I want shalom with God (Mm mm) I need to do the right thing. (Yeah) I need to confess to him and to others, there cannot be secrets. (Mm mm) There just can’t. So.
Nicole (20:54):
Oh, so good.
Sharon (20:55):
That’s my example of how to seek shalom with God. (Nicole: Yeah) God knows you’ve sinned. You might as well confess it and move on.
Nicole (21:00):
Why? Why do we think he doesn’t? Or that we can explain it away before like, well, let me just kind of like work it out in myself God, and then I’ll come to you when I think I’ve got it. I always try to do that.
Sharon (21:09):
Yeah.
Nicole (21:10):
You know, even one of my daughters recently had something they wanted to confess and I could tell was bothering them. They were just so, like everything was affected by it. And as soon as they finally told me and they just felt so much better, mom, I feel wonderful. I’m like, yes, honey. Like quick confession is what God wants for us.
Sharon (21:25):
It is.
Nicole (21:25):
And it’s kind of for our sake, it’s not—
Sharon (21:28):
It is.
Nicole (21:28):
It’s not for his benefit. Like he doesn’t get anything out of us telling him.
Sharon (21:32):
God is fine sitting on his throne.
Nicole (21:32):
Right.
Sharon (21:33):
Yes.
Nicole (21:33):
His day is continuing as normal. He wants us to have that peace.
Sharon (21:37):
Right. Right.
Nicole (21:38):
That wholeness with him that we can only have through honesty with him.
Sharon (21:41):
Absolutely.
Nicole (21:42):
It’s for our benefit.
Sharon (21:43):
Yes. So that’s how to have shalom with God.
Nicole (21:46):
Yes. Absolutely.
Sharon (21:47):
Just be you, be real. Confess it.
Nicole (21:48):
Yes. And then when we have that shalom, I think it’s the staying, when we find shalom with God, trusting that God can sustain it, and just staying close to him, keep that, you know?
Sharon (21:56):
Yeah. Yeah. And as many times as we have to confess, which is frequent.
Nicole (22:00):
Mm-hmm. Yes.
Sharon (22:01):
We do it. We just do it.
Nicole (22:02):
Just get it done.
Sharon (22:03):
Okay. Family. What happens when a family has no shalom? You know, because sometimes that happens.
Nicole (22:08):
Yeah.
Sharon (22:08):
So in my case with just a husband at home now, the things that give us shalom in the home is, you know, again the confession, that we don’t hide things from each other, that we’re real with each other. (Nicole: Yeah) Rhythms for Ray and I, (Mm-hmm) we have a Sunday rhythm together. We have, you know, our walking every day rhythm. (Mm-hmm) Having patterns that keep us connected and close (Yeah) give us shalom. And the freedom to tell each other everything, there aren’t secrets between us, is a just a wonderful thing.
Nicole (22:42):
Yeah.
Sharon (22:42):
And I want Ray, I want my Ray to wanna come home.
Nicole (22:45):
Yeah. I always said that.
Sharon (22:46):
I don’t wanna be the kind of wife where the second he gets in the door, I’m like, well, it’s a good thing you’re home because—
Nicole (22:52):
Right. And here’s the list of what you’ve done.
Sharon (22:53):
And he’s like, now I’m leaving.
Nicole (22:55):
Right. This is not fun.
Sharon (22:57):
Right. I want, I want home to be where he wants to be. (Nicole: Mm mm). And that means creating an atmosphere of peace where he’s safe. (Yeah) Where he’s not worried every time that he’s gonna be berated.
Nicole (23:09):
Where they can be themselves.
Sharon (23:10):
Because he’s not perfect, you know?
Nicole (23:11):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (23:12):
So that’s mine. How about you? How do you, with family?
Nicole (23:14):
I think I need to get a poster, say ‘Shalom in the Home’. I really love that.
Sharon (23:18):
Oh, I kind of like it.
Nicole (23:18):
You said that so cute.
Sharon (23:19):
I like it. Yeah.
Nicole (23:20):
Shalom in our home. Yeah. I had asked Josh, I said, what do you think? Like, what are good things that we do? Or what can we do when things feel unpeaceful in our home? And he’s like, slowing down, you know, taking things out of the schedule again, cause we’re in the thick of it with little ones (Sharon: Yes) where you can just keep adding things to the schedule. (Mm-hmm) Oh, it’s a quick little thing here. And just this night a week and then all of a sudden it feels like there’s hurry and there’s no time for that peace. So slowing down, making sure we have family dinners.
Sharon (23:45):
Yes.
Nicole (23:45):
Do you know how many things pop up at family dinners? Even if they’re fairly short ones over frozen pizza, that the kids will tell me about their day. And those, it gives space for those moments for good conversations.
Sharon (23:56):
And that’s the key.
Nicole (23:58):
And that’s when that peace comes. after the kids have confessed or we’ve talked about a big issue or something.
Sharon (24:02):
Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (24:02):
So for us, slow down, and then we are, we have a few rhythms set up. We’re trying to get more with the kids cause those are so helpful to have a, a schedule, or a pattern of rhythms that we can look all look forward to, you know, like, oh, this is when we all get to rest and catch up on, at this time. So.
Sharon (24:16):
Right. Right. I think they’re important. I do.
Nicole (24:18):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Sharon (24:19):
So, okay. Third category is Christians. The church needs to practice shalom as well. And we can be really bad about that sometimes.
Nicole (24:26):
Why are we so bad at it?
Sharon (24:27):
We can. But part of that is quick confession again with other fellow believers.,
Nicole (24:32):
Yeah, with each other, yep.
Sharon (24:33):
And, um, letting people be them, I think. You know, part of Shalom, a wholeness is, is being you; not having to put on, do you know what I mean?
Nicole (24:44):
Right. Right.
Sharon (24:46):
So if I have a problem, I should be able to share it. (Nicole: Yeah) And sometimes church can feel like the least safe place to share because you feel like you have to be perfect (Right) which is totally the opposite of what church is supposed to be.
Nicole (24:58):
I know.
Sharon (24:59):
It’s supposed to be the place where you can be real.
Nicole (25:01):
And you can confess with each other.
Sharon (25:02):
I’ll never forget Nicole, we were at, it was a little house church we were going to when Ray was stationed at Fort Devens. And we were, we had the sermon and then we had table talk afterwards. People sat at tables and talked. And this lady was shaking like a leaf. (Nicole: Oh) And she said to us, she said, I need prayer right now because I need a fix so badly and I’m here and I’m trying to kick drugs.
Nicole (25:21):
Oh my goodness.
Sharon (25:22):
Okay. So that’s real. (Nicole: Yeah) That’s not wearing your pretty dress and talking about Jesus loves me.
Nicole (25:27):
No. And hiding it all. Right.
Sharon (25:29):
So we did, we laid hands on her. We prayed that, you know, that the cravings would go away. (Nicole: Yeah) That’s, that’s her being able to be herself. (Yes) And feel safe enough to say it. And I think church at its best is when we do that.
Nicole (25:43):
Oh yeah. No, I agree. I was thinking too, just being able to be there to help and comfort in times of trouble.
Sharon (25:49):
Yes.
Nicole (25:50):
Because God comes to us with that shalom in times of trouble and crisis, (Sharon: Uhhuh) and if we as Christians are available and willing to help fellow Christians during times of hardship, that’s a great way to be Jesus to them and help them find that shalom if they’re in the middle of a big storm, speaking God’s peace into their life and being able to actually physically help them with things.
Sharon (26:08):
I love it. Yeah.
Nicole (26:09):
Like laying hands on her and praying for her.
Sharon (26:10):
That was a help.
Nicole (26:12):
Right. That was a help. That was an actual thing to do.
Sharon (26:13):
And when we’re doing like meetings and things like that, and we’re leading them, especially, not to be so rushy and brisk, brusque, (Nicole: Mm-hmm) I think that’s the word, brusque, that we don’t create that peaceful atmosphere.
Nicole (26:27):
Right.
Sharon (26:28):
You know, and I know with our team meetings, one thing that I think is huge is we start with not just, okay, Lord, bless the meeting quick, we gotta get going.
Nicole (26:35):
Right.
Sharon (26:36):
We start with a devotion.
Nicole (26:37):
Yeah.
Sharon (26:37):
We start with an attribute of God, we start with praise. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) We spend, you know, fifteen-ten minutes, ten to fifteen minutes, just honoring God. And that sets to me the shalom tone (Yes) that we need, that it’s not all about us and the stuff we gotta get done.
Nicole (26:55):
Right, and there’s breaks throughout it too, where we even pray more.
Sharon (26:59):
We pray more.
Nicole (26:59):
We’ve created space for the shalom.
Sharon (27:01):
Right.
Nicole (27:01):
Because when we’re stopping to pray, it is such a ‘Okay, catch your breath’.
Sharon (27:06):
Isn’t it? Yeah.
Nicole (27:06):
Hi God, thank you that you did this. (Sharon: Yeah, yeah) Because we could so easily bust through the agenda.
Sharon (27:10):
Oh my goodness.
Nicole (27:11):
Without him and be like, uhhh?
Sharon (27:13):
Yes. Yes. Church should be a place of prayer.
Nicole (27:15):
Absolutely.
Sharon (27:16):
And meetings should be a place of prayer. Christians do life differently.
Nicole (27:18):
Yes.
Sharon (27:18):
The more we pray, the more we stop and be with God, the more we get done. Our board meeting does that too. We have so much to cover in a board meeting. But we spend the first 45 minutes in prayer.
Nicole (27:29):
That’s so good.
Sharon (27:29):
And amazingly the rest all happens.
Nicole (27:33):
It does.
Sharon (27:33):
Because we’ve, we’ve come to a point of worship and quiet.
Nicole (27:37):
Right.
Sharon (27:37):
So anyways, that’s how we do it with Christians, I think. And lastly, what about non-Christians? How do we show shalom to non-Christians. And the best I could come up with there was my home. (Nicole: Yeah) I want my home to be a place where strangers can come and immediately feel like I want ’em there. (Yeah) Where, you know, people will be like, should I take off my shoes? And it, and it’s okay if you’re the kind of person that makes people take off their shoes.
Nicole (28:01):
Right. Doesn’t mean you’re un-shalom-y.
Sharon (28:03):
Okay. That’s alright. But I like to say no, you know, and stick ’em on the furniture if you want. You know? (Nicole: Right) Be you. (Yeah) Be you here and here’s the fridge. Open it up, grab what you need. (Yeah) You know, I just want that kind of atmosphere where they’re not afraid to touch things.
Nicole (28:19):
Right. Oh yeah.
Sharon (28:20):
Right.
Nicole (28:21):
That does make it more comfortable just to come in.
Sharon (28:22):
What do you think, what are some other ways to show Shalom to unbelievers?
Nicole (28:26):
Yeah. They, they’re watching us more than ever. They’ve always been watching us. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) They do. (Mm-hmm) And I think how we handle difficult times in crisis, how we we’re gonna, we’re gonna freak out our knee jerk reaction. ‘Oh no, this is terrible’. (Yeah. Yes) But how we recover and how we allow that shalom to abide in our hearts and then shine out, I think is huge.
Sharon (28:44):
Yes. Yes.
Nicole (28:46):
Like, okay, everyone’s freaking out, but that lady’s not freaking out. Why is she not freaking out? Shalom. It’s Jesus!
Sharon (28:52):
Exactly. It is.
Nicole (28:53):
And I think living out that peace is such a great testimony to them, you know?
Sharon (28:57):
It is. It is.
Nicole (28:58):
But being brave enough to show that.
Sharon (29:00):
Yeah. Yeah. I think that’s lovely. I remember a man that died recently in our church and our pastor said, he was trying to comfort the doctors. The doctors are like, we’re so sorry. There’s nothing else we can do for your cancer. And he is like, it’s okay, don’t worry. You know? I mean, why? Because he knew where he was going.
Nicole (29:19):
Yeah.
Sharon (29:19):
And that honestly, the end of life can be an incredible time to show Shalom. (Nicole: Yeah) Because we know we’re stepping out of these broken bodies and we’re walking into heaven. (Wow) Man. So I hope I really do death. well some day.
Nicole (29:34):
I know. We should start praying now for it. Lord, prepare me for death well.
Sharon (29:37):
Cause I also pray for the Abraham death, which is dying at a ripe old age with shalom in my heart. Yeah, sounds good.
Nicole (29:44):
God, if I’m in the hospital dying of cancer, help me to have some shalom.
Sharon (29:47):
Exactly. Oh man. Well, it is time to pray. So let us, let us pray. Oh, Father God, how I praise you that you are the God of Shalom. That you offer us wellness, fullness, healing, total peace within us because there’s a way to deal with the yuck. You take it, you cleanse us, you make us free. Thank you so much, Lord God. This week, Father, when any one of us feels frazzled and hurried and crabby, would you just breathe shalom into us? It’s a gift of the Spirit, Lord. Peace is a gift and a fruit. And I just pray that that fruit would blossom in each one of us this week. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole (30:41):
Amen. Oh, Sharon, how I want my children and family to experience Shalom in their lives. I want to walk in it myself too. How about you listeners? Any ideas on how to think differently about shalom the unexplainable peace? What can we do to increase shalom? We’d love to hear from you. Write us about shalom. Send us your voice clip or email telling us who you are and how you discovered our podcast and what you like about it. Tell us how we can improve it. We really want to hear from you. Pray for our podcast party on Saturday too, please. We want it to honor God and all He has done. We’re so grateful God chose us, two average women, to study the Word with you. And speaking of that, come back next week for episode 101, Practicing Patience. Oh boy. I know. I’m going to learn a lot from this one. Until then, shalom, friends.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found@sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for joining us.you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Join Sharon and Nicole as they explore what "deep down joy" looks like in a world that is not always a happy place. Explore with them how to find joy in the every day of life, resting in what is always true despite the hard things all around us. Listen as they talk about the place of lament as well in the life of a Christian and enjoy a well-rounded discussion of the Christian fruit of JOY.
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Read the transcript for Deep Down Joy-Episode 99Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to a podcast designed to bring biblical encouragement to your weary soul. We are so glad you’re listening and we pray God blesses you and strengthens you in your walk with him. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is brought to you by the cooperative efforts of Sweet Selah Ministries and Word Radio. Sit back and enjoy.
Nicole (00:28):
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. We are exploring what it means to live a fruit filled life this season. We weren’t created just to slog through our days. Nope. God created us on purpose for a purpose. He gives us the great blessing of being able to bear fruit in his kingdom. We’ve explored what it means to bear genuine fruit, and a whole lot of that is wrapped up in being filled with God’s Spirit so he can put into us the Christian character that enables us to not just survive, but thrive in this messy world. We looked at the beautiful fruit of love last week. No one will want to hear the good news of the gospel from us unless they first know they’re loved. So much of what we convey to people isn’t our words as much as our character, who we are. So today we’re going to look at the fruit of Joy. This is episode 99, Deep Down Joy. Sharon, I think I might know, but what gave you the idea for this title?
Sharon (01:25):
Well, did you ever sing that Sunday school song, ‘I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart’?
Nicole (01:30):
Yes. I love that one.
Sharon (01:32):
‘Down in my heart to stay’.
Nicole (01:33):
Yes.
Sharon (01:34):
That one. It’s such a fun song to sing. And the part that I was focused on when I chose this title was the ‘down in my heart, deep down in my heart’ part, because joy, unlike being happy, is not always a surface thing. It’s deep. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) And it can remain even when the circumstances of life would tell us we could not be joyful. I think we can be joyful even when we’re not happy, in other words. (Nicole: Yes) Right? There’s a deep downness to it. It’s a very profound children’s song.
Nicole (02:06):
It is. It is. And I’m glad we learned it when we were young. I’m hoping to teach— I don’t know if my kids know that one yet. Oh!
Sharon (02:11):
I feel like it’s an important song.
Nicole (02:12):
I know, they must. If not, I’ll teach it to ’em tonight.
Sharon (02:15):
Yeah. I think there were hand signals to it too, so, but I’m not sure.
Nicole (02:19):
I can’t remember. Down in my heart to stay, and I’m so happy. (Singing together) So, so very happy.
Sharon (02:23):
Yeah. Okay.
Nicole (02:24):
That’s a great one.
Sharon (02:25):
Yeah. And guess what? It’s joyful.
Nicole (02:27):
It is.
Sharon (02:28):
Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (02:29):
It’s a good one for today.
Sharon (02:30):
All right. So, well, we’re gonna talk and study out this Christian character trait called joy by looking at some passages of scripture that talk about joy, because it’s, it’s not what one might think. And I think by exploring the different passages I’ve chosen where God talks about joy, we’ll get away from the notion that you have to be happy all the time. (Nicole: Yes) I’ve talked about this before. I remember seeing one particular choir come to Gordon College years ago when I was in college. Every single one of the 40 member choir smiled the whole time.
Nicole (03:06):
Oh my goodness.
Sharon (03:07):
It was really weird and a little freaky. Yeah. (Yeah) And they were all happy and everything was wonderful in their lives, and Jesus made it perfect. And instead of me being drawn to them it was almost the opposite. I’m like, oh, wow. They are, they’re doing, they’re, I don’t, I can’t relate.
Nicole (03:28):
Right, right.
Sharon (03:30):
So, so joy does not mean a false pretense of everything’s fine all the time. (NIcole: Right) We get to be sad. (Yes) We get to say I’m struggling. (Mm-hmm) We get to say, life is hard for me right now. (Mm-hmm) That’s all good. The psalms are full of lament. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) We can lament. So I wanna, as we talk about joy, get away from the notion, let’s get away from that ‘notion’ that we have to act out something that isn’t real. (Nicole: Yes) Does that make sense?
Nicole (04:07):
Yeah. It’s not a fake Pollyanna face that Christians throw on. I have joy no matter what. It’s a real deep, deep down– joy.
Sharon (04:14):
It’s deep down. Exactly.
Nicole (04:15):
And it’s always there, even in pain. So we’re gonna read all about it.
Sharon (04:17):
Alright. Yay! And you get to go first, (Nicole: Alright) so you get the first verse. Go for it.
Nicole (04:22):
Okay. So Nehemiah 8:10, “And Nehemiah continued, Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Oh, one of my top 10 favorite verses for sure.
Sharon (04:44):
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Nicole (04:46):
But there’s something about this verse, you know, on those tough days, to remember that God loves me, no matter what, you know, and then saying this verse, “the joy of the Lord is my strength”. You know, it, it’s what keeps me going. That it’s his joy as my strength, not my own. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in my kitchen trying to do supper, trying to help a kid with homework, trying to break up a fight, trying to be kind of excited when Josh comes home and greet him nicely.
Sharon (05:13):
Yes. Yes.
Nicole (05:13):
And I’m just like, I’m at my end, starting to yell at the kids, and I stop and go, God, I need your help. Help me. And I say that verse, “the joy of the Lord is my strength”, and I remember his love. (Sharon: Yeah) And it gives me the joy, which then leads to the strength to, ‘deep breath, okay, kiddo, five times five is 25. This is how you spell this. And now I’m stirring the supper that’s almost burning. But it helps me jump back into the chaos of that moment where I am not enough. I don’t have any more strength. (Sharon: Yeah) But the joy of the Lord gives me that strength. Or, you know what, sometimes when my kids are fighting, I’ll just burst out singing. I’ll start singing a worship song.
Sharon (05:50):
No kidding.
Nicole (05:51):
Because they’re just—, and I’m like, you know what? ‘How great Thou art.’ I start singing and they kind of stop, looking and I’m like, sorry, I just need to get a little bit of joy in there.
Sharon (05:59):
That is awesome. That is so fun. And it’s the joy of the Lord (Nicole: Yes) that’s our strength. So worship brings you back to joy in the Lord. Yes. And our strength comes from remembering who he is.
Nicole (06:14):
Absolutely.
Sharon (06:15):
And getting our faces and minds out of the pit that is the reality of this world sometimes.
Nicole (06:20):
Yes.
Sharon (06:21):
So, yeah. Oh, that’s so cool. I love that. Well, mine is Psalm 16:11. It says this, “You will show me the way of life granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever”. I just love the thought of the joy of his presence. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) God doesn’t come with baggage like people do. (Nicole: Oh, yeah) In his presence, there’s just joy. People come with crabbiness, they come with, misunderstanding me. You know?
Nicole (06:53):
Mm-hmm. Right.
Sharon (06:54):
They come with judgy-ness, they come with all kinds of things, but in his presence is joy, because God is love. (Nicole: Oh, wow) And he has none of that baggage that misinterprets me. He knows me and he loves me anyways. Which is so amazing.
Nicole (07:08):
That’s beautiful.
Sharon (07:09):
So his heart is toward us, you know, and I think of another verse that I didn’t choose, Zephaniah 3:17, He sings over us.
Nicole (07:18):
Oh, I love that verse.
Sharon (07:20):
So being in his presence is what brings the joy, you know?
Nicole (07:23):
Mm-hmm. Absolutely.
Sharon (07:24):
And I was thinking of a time, I was thinking, what was a time of my life of, you know, joy of presence? (Nicole: Mm-hmm). And this is a weird one, but my dad has always loved the night sky (Nicole: Oh yeah) and meteor showers. So atypical childhood, but my dad and mom would wake us kids up at two or three in the morning.
Nicole (07:43):
Oh my goodness.
Sharon (07:44):
At the peak of, you know, a meteor shower. (Nicole: Yeah) They’d have all the lawn chairs out in the backyard so we could lay back. Mom would make the hot chocolate.
Nicole (07:52):
Oh my goodness.
Sharon (07:53):
And we would say, I see a falling star. You know, we’d watch all the, we’d watch it. And being alone outside at night alone would not have been any fun at all. In fact, I don’t look at meteor showers on my own because I don’t find it fun. But the joy of being with my dad that kept it safe, and my mom that gave me hot chocolate, their presence, (Oh) their presence was why it was fun. Right?
Nicole (08:19):
Right. Oh, that’s such a good example.
Sharon (08:21):
God shows us the way of light and grants us the joy of his presence, the Spirit with us all the time.
Nicole (08:29):
That’s amazing.
Sharon (08:29):
And that means that even the hard things are good things because he’s there.
Nicole (08:34):
Oh, that’s a good one. I love that. Yeah.
Sharon (08:36):
Isn’t that nice? I love that verse.
Nicole (08:37):
I was thinking too, you said that he doesn’t have baggage or anything. When we are having a hard time and I reach out to a friend and I just need that comfort or encouragement, I still have to go, well, how are you doing first before I pour all my heart? So you still have to be mindful of what they’re going through. (Sharon: Yes) And kind of bear their burdens. But I can come to Jesus worn out and ragged and not be like, do you have anything I need to bear for you, Jesus?
Sharon (09:00):
That’s so true.
Nicole (09:01):
How is your day going God? I can go, God help me!
Sharon (09:03):
Yes. Yes.
Nicole (09:04):
And I don’t have to be mindful of what—, so that’s really cool. We can come into his presence with no expectation of having to get more burdened.
Sharon (09:11):
Exactly so, exactly so. So there is joy in his presence.
Nicole (09:15):
Absolute joy. Oh, I like that one.
Sharon (09:17):
Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (09:17):
All right. So I’m gonna do Habakkuk 3:17-18. “Even though the fig trees have no blossoms and there are no grapes on the vines, even though the olive crop fails and the fields lie empty and barren, even though the flocks die in the fields and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation.” Man. This is a cool passage because I think it strips away any notion that joy comes from anything else. There’s no figs, there’s no grapes, no olives, there’s no, there’s no sheep, there’s no cattle. There’s nothing that could give joy except for God. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation. (Sharon: Yeah.) Because there’s times in our life when we have nothing else to rely on, but we can always count on God and the joy of our salvation (Sharon: Yes, yes) to uphold us. I just think that’s really cool.
Sharon (10:10):
It’s beautiful.
Nicole (10:10):
So I think that if we’re looking to God for our source of joy and not on our circumstances, I think back to Covid when we were all locked away in our homes, that was really difficult for people. People like you and I, (Sharon: Yes) to be isolated, but to still find joy in the presence of God and meeting with him (Sharon: Mm-hmm) and finding joy, not in our circumstances, because if we look to our circumstances, we would have been an absolute mess.
Sharon (10:35):
Pretty bleak. Yes.
Nicole (10:36):
And the days I did, I was an absolute mess, despaired, you know, depression, all of those things. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) But on the days I looked to God, there was joy that didn’t come from circumstances.
Sharon (10:44):
Right.
Nicole (10:45):
Because anything that, even if you do have grapes and figs and a barn full of cattle, it could be gone the next day in a fire.
Sharon (10:51):
It sure could.
Nicole (10:52):
Or a hailstorm. We cannot rely on these things.
Sharon (10:54):
We can’t. You’re absolutely right. And there’s a real theme song going on here. It’s in the joy of the Lord. (Nicole: Yeah) Joy in your presence. I’m gonna rejoice in you cause I have absolutely nothing else. (Mm-hmm) Yeah. Yeah. This is our theme. That’s why it’s deep down.
Nicole (11:08):
Yes. Oh, the joy of salvation. Right. And then that, that total knowledge of no matter what, I am his.
Sharon (11:13):
Yes. I’m his forever.
Nicole (11:15):
What joy does that bring?
Sharon (11:17):
And guess what? It ends well. It ends well.
Nicole (11:18):
It does. Yeah.
Sharon (11:20):
Or, or it begins well, as C.S. Lewis would say. (Nicole: Yeah) This is just the introduction. We haven’t even gotten to chapter one when we get to heaven. We open the book!
Nicole (11:29):
Yay!
Sharon (11:29):
“Yay! So, okay. Mine is John 15:10 and 11. Jesus is speaking here. He says, “When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love. Just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow”. Oh my goodness. Why is he telling us to remain in his love? Cause he wants us joyful. (Nicole: Mmmm) My God is interested in me having joy. (Hmm) I think that is the coolest thing. He’s commanding me in John 15 to abide, remain, stay close to him, humbly needy to him, doing things his way, because that’s where joy flows. (Hmm) So again, we’ve talked about this before. The commands are, are to make us happy. (Nicole: Yeah) Because then we, we don’t have all these regrets that come otherwise.
Nicole (12:20):
That’s true.
Sharon (12:21):
You know? It’s kinda like, um, imagine you’re climbing a mountain (Nicole: Mmm-hmm) and you’ve got a really professional mountain guide who knows the best way up that mountain and knows the best summit, the safest place where the ledge isn’t gonna fall off and you’re gonna, you know, drop to your death.
Nicole (12:38):
Plummet to your death?
Sharon (12:38):
Right. That’d be good. And where you can watch the sunrise. (Nicole: Oh, great). You know, so you can either obey the way the mountain guide tells you to go, even though sometimes he might bring you in ways that don’t look as nice. (Yeah) Or you can say, ah, I can do it on my own and not obey. And so what happens, most likely you don’t get up the mountain because you get lost if you’re not following the one that knows the way. (Right) Where’s the joy? In obedience. On following that mountain guide and getting to the right summit and watching the sunrise over a mountain range. So when, when Jesus says, remain in my love, and that’s where the joy comes from. (Yeah) When he says, obey my commands, that’s where the joy comes from. (Mm-hmm) He’s not joking.
Nicole (13:23):
No.
Sharon (13:23):
He’s the experienced guide.
Nicole (13:26):
Wow. And there’s, there’s joy in the peace of knowing that you’re putting your hope in him, like he will get you there.
Sharon (13:32):
Yes.
Nicole (13:32):
You don’t have to have that unsettled, well is it this route? Is it that way? Will I fall off the mountain? Or if they’re following a guide that knows the way, there that joy is like a peacefulness.
Sharon (13:41):
Yes.
Nicole (13:41):
Like, okay, we’ll get there.
Sharon (13:42):
Yes. And the happy expectation, if we persevere, going back to ‘STEP’.
Nicole (13:46):
Yes.
Sharon (13:47):
Surrender, trust, expect that sunrise. Persevere in that obedience and there will be joy.
Nicole (13:54):
Yeah. Oh yes.
Sharon (13:55):
So.
Nicole (13:56):
Good, love it. All right. I’m gonna do Hebrews 12:1-2. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down. Especially the sin that so easily trips us up and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the Champion, who initiated and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him he endured the cross disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.” So, looking beyond climbing the mountain, the brambles, the bushes, looking beyond the pain, the trials and the struggles in this life, we will find our joy in remembering what is at the end of this long hard journey.
Sharon (14:44):
Yes. Yes.
Nicole (14:45):
We’re gonna be with God forever. And thinking through how this manifests itself in our lives, like you’ve lost several grandchildren. (Sharon: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm) I’ve lost a child. (Mm-hmm) And I think that looking forward to meeting them in heaven,. (Sharon: Yes) it adds such a sweetness to the journey on earth. Like, someday I will see you again. (Yes) It just makes heaven a little bit more real and a little bit more special. (Mm-hmm) I know for our family too, my little one talks about it a lot cause it was her twin.
Sharon (15:10):
Yes.
Nicole (15:10):
And so she mentions in talk, what’s he doing in heaven with Jesus? What’s going on? And that just brings such joy to my heart, to my aching mama’s heart, and so much peace knowing that at the end I will see you God and I will see him and everything will be wonderful.
Sharon (15:26):
It’s a wonderful thing.
Nicole (15:27):
There’s joy in this horrible journey.
Sharon (15:29):
Yes. Yes. And sometimes it is horrible. And Jesus endured the horrible for the joy (NIcole: Yes) set before him, which was us with him. (Yeah) That’s what brings Jesus joy.
Nicole (15:39):
That blows me away.
Sharon (15:41):
I know.
Nicole (15:42):
I don’t know if I’d wanna be with myself forever.
Sharon (15:45):
It’s just so stunning because he, Trinity, was complete without us, but what brought him joy? Suffering to bring us with him so we could experience seeing the ones we lost and experience that sunrise that’s beyond every sunrise we’ve ever seen.
Nicole (16:01):
Yeah. Oh my goodness. Yes.
Sharon (16:02):
Experience chapter one of a book (Nicole: Yeah) that will go on forever. So cool.
Nicole (16:07):
It’ll be so good.
Sharon (16:08):
Okay, last one, James 1:2-3. I’ve saved the hardest for last.
Nicole (16:12):
Oh.
Sharon (16:13):
“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy (Nicole: That verse) for you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. And you read that and you’re like, uh, what if I don’t really want my endurance to have a chance to grow?
Nicole (16:31):
Can I opt out of this verse?
Sharon (16:34):
What if that doesn’t sound appealing to me? Right? (Nicole: Yeah) But James is serious. Hey, when you have a chance to hone that endurance, (Mm-hmm) welcome it, because somehow that matters. It matters in how you live out your life. It matters in the strength of your faith. It matters in even the closeness you have with the Lord. (Mm-hmm) You know, and when I run to God in trouble, there’s a strengthening of my faith that can’t be found to the same degree in running to God when I’m happy.
Nicole (17:05):
True. Yeah.
Sharon (17:06):
Is this a little bit harder to run to the one who could have fixed it and didn’t?
Nicole (17:09):
Mm-hmm.
Sharon (17:10):
If God is sovereign and I have trouble, he allowed it. So when I still faithfully go to him and say, you know what? I am going to find joy in this trial because you allowed it for a good purpose. (Nicole: Yeah) I, I am strengthening my faith. And that’s important. It really is. (Nicole: Yeah) So. Woo. That was a tough-y.
Nicole (17:32):
It is.
Sharon (17:32):
Yep. Yep. And you probably, it’s kinda like Amy Carmichael’s, ‘Oh, a chance to die’. Oh, a trial. I’m going to count it joy.
Nicole (17:39):
Right.
Sharon (17:40):
Um, you know, this is a maturing process.
Nicole (17:42):
Yes. It might take a few of those trials, to start counting them as joy.
Sharon (17:45):
Yes. Yes. But there is joy in a trial when we lean on him.
Nicole (17:50):
There is. Yeah.
Sharon (17:50):
And there’s a stunning sense of his presence. When we first, you know, dropped our $40,000 a year and didn’t have any money when Ray was a Christian school teacher, I can’t tell you the joy there was in getting free freezers and pianos. And, and clothing and vacations. It was astounding. (Nicole: Wow) I never would’ve had that. (That’s amazing) If I hadn’t had the trial.
Nicole (18:11):
Right.
Sharon (18:12):
Yeah.
Nicole (18:13):
Oh, that’s so good.
Sharon (18:14):
Yeah. So there’s a lot of good that comes from it, even though nobody signs up for it.
Nicole (18:17):
Nope, no, thank you.
Sharon (18:18):
So, okay. We’ve pretty much concluded that joy does not come from circumstances. It comes down from that deep down knowing, that we’re ultimately safe and fine, watched over and protected. And the end of our lives is really the beginning of something amazing. So now is our time to get practical. We’re gonna look at how we can practice joy in our four areas of life. God, family, Christians, and unbelievers. I wanna live it out Nicole, and it’s a bit of a challenge for me to ask God how to do it with joy. So, let’s start with God. How do you bring joy into your relationship with God?
Nicole (18:56):
I, it’s kind of making quiet time fun. You taught me that actually, like finding like your spot. Get your favorite snuggly blanket or get your favorite tea. Like, don’t make it a drudgery, but find joy in meeting with God. If it’s being outside on your porch and hearing the birds twitter when you’re meeting with Jesus.
Sharon (19:12):
Mm-hmm.
Nicole (19:12):
Find that place that it is a joy. (Sharon: Yes) Because in the beginning sometimes it’s hard to get to the quiet time until we are filled with the joy of the Lord. So before he becomes the reason we are running for quiet time. Maybe make it a little fun before.
Sharon (19:26):
Absolutely. Exactly. And that’s the whole point of a Selah day too.
Nicole (19:30):
Yeah.
Sharon (19:30):
It’s a day dedicated to runaway from every other responsibility. Walk, you know, a pretty path.
Nicole (19:38):
Yeah.
Sharon (19:39):
Sip tea, read a Christian book, pray, think, sleep, nap.
Nicole (19:45):
Right.
Sharon (19:45):
You know, and that’s what Sabbath is too. Sabbath was not meant to be a chore. It’s a ‘take a break’.
Nicole (19:51):
Yeah.
Sharon (19:51):
And there’s joy in that.
Nicole (19:53):
There is. Yeah.
Sharon (19:54):
So, when we sabbath, when we quiet time, when we take a Selah day to be with God, we’re, we’re enjoying his presence. We’re not doing things for him.
Nicole (20:03):
Right.
Sharon (20:03):
We’re just enjoying being with him.
Nicole (20:05):
Yeah.
Sharon (20:06):
And it gets easier and it’s really fun.
Nicole (20:09):
Oh it does. Oh and I always come back so joy filled from Sweet Selah days.
Sharon (20:12):
Oh, me too.
Nicole (20:13):
Like quiet times are great, they get me through the day. But a Sweet Selah day. Man.
Sharon (20:16):
That can give you a week.
Nicole (20:17):
That’s some joy boost there. Yep.
Sharon (20:19):
Exactly so. Exactly so. So, okay. So that’s, God. That’s how we do it. I also thought singing.
Nicole (20:24):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (20:25):
When I, when I burst into song, that’s joyful. And it’s worshipful. So song is a good one too. Yeah. So, okay. How about family? How do you bring the fruit of joy into your family?
Nicole (20:36):
Yeah, I know. Us moms, we can often set the attitude in the house, can’t we?
Sharon (20:41):
Mm-hmm.
Nicole (20:41):
So just recently, Ellie was really disappointed. She’s my one that loves events and looks forward to things so much. (Sharon: Yeah) And when things don’t happen, she’s devastated. And so an event was canceled and she was devastated and she’s just sitting there kind of moping and I kept trying to perk her up with a couple little things and she wasn’t—
Sharon (20:58):
She wasn’t perking.
Nicole (20:58):
She wasn’t perking up. So I said, Ellie, let’s pray about this. Like, duh mom. Let’s pray. I’m like, let’s tell God how disappointed we are.
Sharon (21:07):
Good.
Nicole (21:07):
Let’s bring that disappointment to him cause I don’t do that enough. This was a God moment cause I don’t do this as I should. (Sharon: Uh-huh) And so we did. We sat and we prayed and said, ‘God, Ellie’s so sad that she didn’t get to do this. Like what can she find instead? Give her some joy to enjoy the rest of the day.” (Sharon: Yeah) And she did, she and her sisters found this great little thing. They made a whole thing in the basement. They made a whole village in the basement.
Sharon (21:26):
Really?
Nicole (21:27):
Mom, come shop and sleep and play in our village. And I’m like, oh, my basement, it was just cleaned. It’s fine. Have fun.
Sharon (21:33):
Sacrificial love.
Nicole (21:34):
Yes. Out in the real world. So yeah, I think that just bringing our disappointments to God. (Sharon: Yes, yes) You know, and just asking him for joy.
Sharon (21:42):
I think that’s great. I do, I do. I think that, there’s kind of twin things with mothering that I remembered brought joy to my family. One was rhythms, you know?
Nicole (21:53):
Yeah.
Sharon (21:53):
The joy of, you know, every night we sing a song before bed. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) Or every Christmas we make the gingerbread houses or (Yeah) every Easter we do this. Um, but then the breaking out of rhythm, like Ray and I do. I mean one of our favorite things is ice cream for dinner. Yeah, one cannot have ice cream for dinner all the time for obvious reasons. (Nicole: Well, yes) But you know, we eat healthy, we eat healthy, we eat healthy. And then one of us will say to the other, let’s do ice cream for dinner.
Nicole (22:22):
I love it.
Sharon (22:23):
I know. It’s such a simple, silly thing. And he has this cool Maxima where we can have the, you know, the little sunroof down.
Nicole (22:30):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (22:30):
And we crank up the music and we drive to Memories Ice Cream, which is a 45 minute drive on windy roads where the Maxima (Nicole: Oh goodness) takes the curves well.
Nicole (22:39):
Oh, nice.
Sharon (22:40):
And we have the best time.
Nicole (22:42):
Oh, how fun.
Sharon (22:43):
So spontaneous weirdo things like ice cream for dinner.
Nicole (22:47):
Yeah.
Sharon (22:47):
You know, and, and sometimes we need that. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) We need to, rhythm is good, but um, breaking out and doing something crazy is kind of fun too.
Nicole (22:55):
It is.
Sharon (22:56):
And doing things like that with my Ray who’s very, you know, sort of (Nicole: Regimented) rhythmic and everything. It can be really fun if I choose things that he’d really like.
Nicole (23:05):
I love that.
Sharon (23:06):
Yeah.
Nicole (23:06):
Oh, that’s fun.
Sharon (23:07):
So yeah. Yeah. Okay. How about Christians? How do we bring joy to fellow Christians?
Nicole (23:13):
Hmm. Well I think going back to last week’s podcast about giving grace, I think that we can help our brothers and sisters in Christ to find joy when they’re having struggles. You know, instead of beating ’em up, just coming alongside of them and (Sharon: Yeah) maybe doing spontaneous fun things with them.
Sharon (23:29):
You know what, really? Yeah, yeah.
Nicole (23:31):
Like I, we used to do, I used to have a Valentine’s Day, I called it Gal – entine’s Day and did it the day before Valentine’s Day. (Nicole: Yeah) For some of my friends whose husbands kind of forgot about Valentine’s Day sometimes?
Sharon (23:41):
Uhhuh.
Nicole (23:41):
And we just had fun together at my house. So I’d make some little, little scones and some coffee when we had little babies and we’re all staying home. (Sharon: Yeah) And we would just have a little thing together (I love it)and just celebrate our friendship. And I think just looking for the people that are struggling, you know, and finding some ways to put some joy into their life and that was a lot of fun for us.
Sharon (23:59):
I agree. Yeah.
Nicole (24:00):
In a tough season.
Sharon (24:00):
Yeah. Yeah. I think we need to look for the lonely ones and make time for them.
Nicole (24:05):
Yeah. I think so.
Sharon (24:05):
Yeah, yeah. And do fun things with them.
Nicole (24:08):
Yeah.
Sharon (24:08):
And listen to them. And don’t make them happy necessarily. Sometimes they need to be sad with you.
Nicole (24:13):
Yes.
Sharon (24:13):
But, but give opportunities for fun things to do.
Nicole (24:17):
Right. In the midst of hard in their world sometimes.
Sharon (24:18):
I like it. I really like it. You know, I was thinking, probably cause the retreat is so much on my mind anyways.
Nicole (24:24):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (24:25):
But a retreat is a way to give Christians a joy time. (Nicole: Oh) We’re offering in September a refuge, you know, get away for the weekend, have awesome worship leaders. Oh my goodness. I love their harmony so much.
Nicole (24:39):
Oh, I’m so excited to hear them.
Sharon (24:39):
Leading us in worship and sitting out under the stars and just belting out songs to God while we look at stars, twinkle overhead and (Nicole: Yeah) sitting by the lake and, and not having to wash dishes.
Nicole (24:51):
Oh yes.
Sharon (24:51):
You know? I mean, right there.
Nicole (24:53):
There’s so much joy in that.
Sharon (24:54):
Just right there, not having to plan meals.
Nicole (24:57):
Yes.
Sharon (24:57):
You know, having one role, you know? (Nicole: Mm-hmm) In normal life a woman has so many roles. She’s a daughter, she’s a wife, you know, she might be a mama, she’s an aunt, she’s a neighbor. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) Well you go to a retreat and you’re a daughter of the King.
Nicole (25:11):
Wow. Yeah.
Sharon (25:12):
You know, it’s just, so retreats can be a way, or special events can be a way to bring joy (Nicole: Oh yeah) to Christian women.
Nicole (25:20):
They certainly bring joy to me.
Sharon (25:22):
Yeah, me too. So that’s awesome. And now how about non-believers? How do we bring joy into the lives of non-believers?
Nicole (25:30):
I know this one I think comes out more naturally kind of in the way we just live our lives. You know, if we’re sitting with Jesus, if we’re with him and we’re filled with that joy that comes from him, it’s going to spill out naturally and they’re gonna see it in our lives as to we interact with them.
Sharon (25:44):
Yeah, yeah.
Nicole (25:44):
And then they might ask, well, why are you so happy all the time?
Sharon (25:47):
Yes.
Nicole (25:47):
And then you can tell them, this is not fake or natural, this is from Jesus. So I think that maybe just sharing with them and alongside of that, not just always appearing joyful, but being honest with our struggles as well.
Sharon (26:01):
Absolutely. Yes.
Nicole (26:02):
Because when they see the struggles and they see us say, but the joy of the Lord is my strength, despite my struggles, that’s where I think it really connects.
Sharon (26:08):
Mm-hmm. I agree.
Nicole (26:09):
You know, cause we can appear to be happy in the smiling choir with cheeks that probably hurt from smiling so much.
Sharon (26:13):
Yes.
Nicole (26:14):
Because Jesus just loves us. Um, he does love us and there’s joy in him, but there’s sorrow too. But in that sorrow, we find more joy, more capacity for joy, you know?
Sharon (26:23):
Yes, absolutely.
Nicole (26:24):
So I think being able to share that with, with non-Christians, just again, kind of doing life with them and letting them see you struggle and go back to Jesus.
Sharon (26:30):
Mm-hmm. mm-hmm, I agree. I think it’s real important that they, they see a real us.
Nicole (26:34):
Yeah.
Sharon (26:35):
You know, recently we had that windstorm and Ray and I were in Florida, so we missed it. And our neighbors were watching our house, but they didn’t notice the roof, you know?
Nicole (26:45):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (26:46):
They noticed that trees fell down and did not hit our house, which was great.
Nicole (26:49):
Yes. .
Sharon (26:50):
And one of our neighbors moved all the branches out of our front yard for us.
Nicole (26:54):
Aw, that’s nice.
Sharon (26:55):
Which was awesome. (Nicole: Yeah) But, um, what had happened to the roof was evidently the original roofer had left some nails off. So we basically had a roof with a mohawk.
Nicole (27:05):
Oh really?
Sharon (27:05):
There was a section of the roof where the shingles were sitting straight up.
Nicole (27:09):
Oh my word.
Sharon (27:10):
So, um, so I just made it a joke, you know, because they felt so bad they hadn’t told me, like they could have done anything anyways.
Nicole (27:16):
Right, right.
Sharon (27:17):
And I’m like, it’s got a mohawk and we just laughed about it and you know, but just, just doing life together and.
Nicole (27:23):
Yes.
Sharon (27:23):
And, and not, you know, I didn’t make it a big deal. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) It was just kind of funny.
Nicole (27:29):
That’s, but you could have, I mean, you could have chosen to be offended that they didn’t see that.
Sharon (27:33):
Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (27:33):
And you could have, but you chose to make it fun and lighthearted and joyful.
Sharon (27:37):
Right, right. So, but it was still a trouble. And I think we should show our troubles.
Nicole (27:40):
Yeah. Yep.
Sharon (27:41):
So, and real important to know. So there we go. All right. Well, let us pray about genuine joy, the deep down kind.
Nicole (27:49):
Yes.
Sharon (27:50):
Before we close. Lord, I thank you that there are so many scriptures that link joy with trouble. Father, you say, in this world we will have trouble, but be of good cheer. You’ve overcome it. So Father, I thank you so much that these two principles walk side by side, and I pray for those who feel anything but joyful today. And I ask that you would bring them comfort, that they would have the space to lament and cry, but that also deep down they would know that your presence never leaves them. That your love for them holds no matter how messy life gets. And that they can find joy there deep down, knowing that the ending is good and you love them forever. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole (28:47):
Amen. Well, I certainly enjoyed this episode and hope you did too. We are not always going to feel joy. We know that. If you’re going through a rough season, it’s okay to grieve and lament. And certainly when we’re with others who are suffering a false ‘cheer up’ can really hurt someone. But we hope that you’ll ask the Lord how to enable you to spread the deep down kind of joy everywhere you go as he leads this week, as best you can. And I’m going to try to do the same. Next week is a very special one for the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. We will be airing our 100th episode. We’ll be exploring the Christian attribute of peace. We’re calling episode 100, Unexplainable Peace. Because honestly, having peace in this messy world can only be explained by Jesus helping us. We’ll look forward to the discussion as always, and the 100th episode party that comes afterward. Until next time, we wish you that joy, joy, joy down deep in your heart.
New Speaker (29:55):
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found@sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for joining us.you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
What does it mean to love like Jesus loves? Do we emulate Him in the way we love, or are we rather selfish in our loving? Nicole and Sharon talk practically about how to love like Jesus in the mundane parts of life.
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Read the transcript for Love Like Jesus-Episode 98Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to a podcast designed to bring biblical encouragement to your weary soul. We are so glad you’re listening and we pray God blesses you and strengthens you in your walk with him. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is brought to you by the cooperative efforts of Sweet Selah Ministries and Word Radio. Sit back and enjoy.
Nicole (00:28):
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 98, Love Like Jesus. This is season seven for our podcast, and we are unpacking the fruit of the Spirit, one fruit at a time right now. And of course, we are starting with the beautiful fruit of love and the best kind of love, the kind of love that is specific to Christians and shown to us by Jesus when he lived and walked on earth. The Greek word for it is agape. Sharon, can you explain to us what agape means?
Sharon (00:57):
I would love to, that’s actually part of my word for the year. God’s asked me to really focus on sacrifice this year and sacrificial love. And agape love is a sacrificial kind of love. It’s a ‘put the other first’, servant-hearted kind of love. I’m like, really, Lord, that’s what you want me to focus on this year. It’s not just an ‘I kind of like you’ love. It’s an ‘I would die for you’ love. Amy Carmichael had this saying, whenever she had to surrender her will to do good for someone else. You know how Jesus tells us to die to ourselves. (NIcole: Mm-hmm) She’d say, oh, it’s another chance to die. (NIcole: Oh) This is a chance to die to myself. That’s agape love, dying to our selfish ways, our, our desire for things to go the way we want. It’s, it’s hard.
Nicole (01:51):
It is hard.
Sharon (01:52):
Yeah. So.
Nicole (01:53):
It’s a hard word for the year Sharon.
Sharon (01:55):
I know. Last, last year’s word was ‘abide’. (Nicole: Oh) Hang out with Jesus. It was a great year.
Nicole (02:01):
This year it’s down to business.
Sharon (02:03):
I know. I’m like, Lord, what is coming up? Maybe I don’t wanna know. It doesn’t matter. That’s the word he gave me. So I’m gonna just dig in. So it’s a hard one to emulate cause it really means laying aside our own selfishness for the good of others. And you know what? I was reading up on it, and it’s hardly ever found in non-Christian Greek literature.
Nicole (02:21):
Really?
Sharon (02:21):
It’s rarely used.
Nicole (02:22):
Wow.
Sharon (02:22):
Agape. It’s almost like it had to be invented by Christians to describe the rarity of this kind of love that wasn’t motivated by someone doing nice things to us so they deserve our love. (Nicole: Right) Right? And you know, it’s funny, I, have you ever heard the Delilah Show? I don’t even know if it’s on anymore.
Nicole (02:39):
Oh yes. Yeah. It’s on at night, yes.
Sharon (02:40):
Is it? Yeah. Yeah. It’s so fun.
Nicole (02:42):
The love song.
Sharon (02:42):
You know, you know, and some of it is so sweet. You know, my mother just died. Would you play a song so I can remember her and I cry and listen to this song, you know? But some of it’s kind of funny because, you know, I would like to dedicate this song to Shirley, who I love. And Delilah will say, why do you love Shirley? (Nicole: Yeah) And then the man will say, Shirley cooks for me and she makes nice food for me. And Shirley makes me feel good about myself. And Shirley is always there for me. And I’m like, wow. So what happens if Shirley gets sick and she’s no longer cooking for you and listening to you, will you still love her? (Nicole: Right) Right? Because the married kind of love is for better or for worse. (Nicole: Yeah) In sickness and in health till death do us part. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) the married kinda love is agape love. But a lot of times we have a, what I would call a quid pro quo love.
Nicole (03:35):
Right.
Sharon (03:35):
I love you because you love me. (Nicole: Yeah) And you’re showing me affection, so Oh, I feel warm toward you. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) Agape love says, I love you even when you hurt me.
Nicole (03:46):
Oh, that’s so hard.
Sharon (03:47):
I know. And that’s my word for the year.
Nicole (03:52):
I’ll be praying for you Sharon.
Sharon (03:54):
Thank you.
Nicole (03:57):
Oh, it’s so easy to love the lovable people. It’s really hard to, to love the ones that are unkind. (Sharon: Yeah) And the ones that are harder to love.
Sharon (04:04):
Yes.
Nicole (04:04):
So, yes. This is a good one. (Sharon: Mmm) So I’m glad this is a fruit of the Spirit, Sharon, because I cannot produce that kind of love on my own. Not at all. So, how do we show agape love? How do we learn to express that love to others when we wanna show selfish love? Well, this reminds me of our podcast we did about, um, the vine.
Sharon (04:26):
Yes.
Nicole (04:27):
Staying attached to the vine. So walking in step with the Spirit and staying attached to the vine because we have to have his sap flowing through us and his living water in order to love that way. Or there’s no chance for us,
Sharon (04:40):
No chance.
Nicole (04:41):
We’ll resort to selfish love instantly.
Sharon (04:41):
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I think that’s why I wanted to start with the vine, with the step of the Spirit. We, we’ve gotta establish first that we can’t do this. That this is fruit given to us by the Lord. (Nicole: Right) And that the only way we walk in it is by asking for it, longing for it, studying it. And staying attached to the vine.
Nicole (05:03):
Exactly.
Sharon (05:03):
Well done.
Nicole (05:03):
I love it.
Sharon (05:04):
Yeah, that’s so true. Okay, so let’s each list a few examples of how Jesus loved. Just to set the tone. Okay?
Nicole (05:11):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (05:11):
We won’t mention the obvious. He literally died for us.
Nicole (05:15):
There’s that one.
Sharon (05:16):
There’s that one.
Nicole (05:17):
That’s a good one.
Sharon (05:17):
He also loved people uniquely during his ministry years. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) But, um, here’s some other ones, that I thought of. One, one that I’ve always loved is that he didn’t just heal the lepers, he touched them. These are people that no one touched. Contagious disease they thought, gross flesh falling off, you know? No one wants to touch a leper. He touched them. So that’s one of mine. Another one is he was kind to the outcast at the well, the Samaritan woman that nobody liked who had to go to the well alone. Um, and he even humbled himself and asked her for help. I mean, that’s such a, just such a showing of love to the unlovely. (Nicole: Yeah) And then when he was dying on the cross, he’s looking at his mom while he’s in agony and making sure John’s gonna take care of her.
Nicole (06:06):
I know. That kills me. (Picture his mama.)
Sharon (06:08):
So just little acts of love in Jesus life that are big. (Nicole: Yeah) How about you? Can you think of any?
Nicole (06:15):
I was thinking about the woman. He saw the heart of the woman who washed his feet with tears. (Sharon: Oh) She came into that room with all those men just looking at her with such scorn, and they knew her sins. And obviously Jesus did too, but he saw her heart. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) He knew that her heart was to worship him. That’s so, I just think that’s so precious.
Sharon (06:32):
It is. Yes.
Nicole (06:33):
I love when he allowed the children to come to him and he blessed them.
Sharon (06:36):
I did too.
Nicole (06:36):
And everyone else is like, keep those kids outta here. And he’s like, let them come to me. I just love that. He saw the little, the unimportant quote unquote people (Sharon: Mmm-hmm) in society. (Sharon: Mm-hmm. Yeah) And then my third one was when he brought the little boy back from the dead for his widow mama.
Sharon (06:52):
Yes.
Nicole (06:52):
Like, holy cow. She had no one. She had her boy and God, God brought him back. Jesus brought him back for her. That’s so special. He knew that she would need him.
Sharon (07:03):
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. His compassion was incredible. And we could go on and on and on.
Nicole (07:08):
There’s so many, it’s hard to pick just three. I’m like, okay, what are my top three favorites? But there’s a lot of them.
Sharon (07:12):
Right. Right Because I mean, Jesus was a walking example of love in everything he did.
Nicole (07:18):
He was. Yeah.
Sharon (07:19):
Even when he got kind of ticked off at the Pharisees, he wanted them to turn. (Nicole: Yeah, right) You know, he wanted them to see, he showed love all the time. He really did. So we’re gonna look at two key passages of scripture that revealed to us that agape kind of love. And the first one, Philippians 2:3-11, really celebrates Jesus’ agape love for us. So I’ll start with verse three and let’s read back and forth. (Nicole: Sure) Okay. So, Philippians 2:3. It starts with this, “Don’t be selfish. Don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves”. That’s a hard one.
Nicole (07:59):
(Uh, yeah.) “Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others too.”
Sharon (08:05):
“You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.”
Nicole (08:09):
“Though he was God he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.”
Sharon (08:14):
“Instead he gave up his divine privileges. He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. And when he appeared in human form,”
Nicole (08:24):
“He humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.”
Sharon (08:29):
“Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names.”
Nicole (08:37):
“That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth.”
Sharon (08:43):
“And every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” I love this verse so much. You know, one of the things I love about it is, it’s a principle really. After sacrifice comes honor. You know, the Lord lifts up the humble. (Nicole: Yeah) And he is not really fond of the proud. I mean, he loves them, but he wants them squished so he can lift them up. You know? (Nicole: Right) So that’s just a principle that Jesus lived out. He humbled himself and then he was honored. And it’s just, we see that in so many different lives.
Nicole (09:17):
Right. He didn’t have to glorify himself. God brought him to the time when it was right. (Sharon: Yeah) That’s so neat. (Sharon: Yeah) You know this is, this passage is chock full of sacrificial love.
Sharon (09:26):
Isn’t it?
Nicole (09:26):
Like each, everyone don’t look for your own interests, but the interests of others. So if you want to know, how do I show that? These are very practical ways. Don’t try to impress others. Be humble. Think of others better than yourself. Oh, extremely easy things for us to do. Again, we need the Spirit for these things. So don’t feel like you have to do them on your own.
Sharon (09:44):
Yes, we do. Yes.
Nicole (09:45):
The same attitude as Christ. I just love that. And the fact that he was fully God and he put that aside. (Sharon: Yes) He didn’t cling to it and go, well, we are equal. So maybe you should go down and die on the cross. There was never, he just submitted (Sharon: Mmm-hmm) and believed and came as a human.
Sharon (10:03):
He did.
Nicole (10:03):
He didn’t cling to that privilege of God. It’s just, that blows my mind.
Sharon (10:06):
It does to me too.
Nicole (10:07):
How could you give up that power? Like how, how would you willingly set that aside?
Sharon (10:10):
Yeah. Yeah. I was even thinking, what must it be like to be weighted down by gravity when you lived (Nicole: Oh my gosh) in a state where there wasn’t? (Nicole: Yeah) You know, we don’t understand it cause we’re so used to it. But there must have been a kind of like a kerthunk heaviness for Jesus when he first took on flesh. You know, and then he was also constrained by time.
Nicole (10:31):
Right. And being an infant and then a toddler, and then. That must have been, it could have been excruciating. Like a little claustrophobic and kind of trapped to be God Creator into a tiny little form. (Sharon: Yes) Oh my word. I never thought of that.
Sharon (10:45):
Isn’t that wild?
Nicole (10:45):
That is insane.
Sharon (10:46):
The, the humbling that God did to be as little as he was when he, he was, you know, spoke stars into existence is astounding.
Nicole (10:58):
And to be so vulnerable as well.
Sharon (11:00):
Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (11:00):
To be such a frail human.
Sharon (11:01):
Yeah. And he chose this.
Nicole (11:02):
Wow.
Sharon (11:03):
He absolutely chose this. Talk about sacrificial love.
Nicole (11:07):
I’ll say, what a love? We can’t, I can’t even fully grasp that.
Sharon (11:10):
I can’t either. I can’t either. So when he asks us to do things like, consider others better than ourselves, and we think, excuse me, better, how about equal maybe, but not better. (Nicole: Right) Right? Um, okay, then Okay, then how about if I do stop understanding myself so well and imputing motives to others that are not the best. Right. How about if I think, what would their best motive be? What if, what if I was the annoying one? (Nicole: Mm-hmm) You know, because normally, if Ray and I are having a little marital moment (Nicole: Yes) as my mother calls it, I’m convinced that I’m not irritating at all. Right?
Nicole (11:49):
Right. It’s never us.
Sharon (11:49):
It’s all Ray.
Nicole (11:49):
I know.
Sharon (11:52):
But perhaps Sharon should consider that maybe she was driving him crazy. Right. So, and then to consider other interests and not just our own. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) Sometimes, you know, walking with Ray, you know, he just kinda wants to talk a lot about the school day or the tests he’s grading. And it can sound repetitive cause there’s always grading and all, you know. But how about if I, how about if I show interest? How about if I show interest in what interests him? (Nicole: Yeah) Yeah. All these things are so good.
Nicole (12:22):
So good.
Sharon (12:22):
And they all require a dying to self. (Nicole: Yes) A chance to die.
Nicole (12:26):
That’s so good. I love her story. If you haven’t read her story, it’s really good.
Sharon (12:31):
Yeah, I do too. All right. Well the next one is, part of it is my family verse for the year because this defines agape love and I looked it up. (Nicole: Yeah) And the word used for love is agape in this passage.
Nicole (12:42):
Oh, that’s cool.
Sharon (12:43):
Yeah. Just so you know.
Nicole (12:44):
Look at you doing the extra homework.
Sharon (12:45):
Look at that. So first Corinthians 13, and why don’t you read verse one.
Nicole (12:50):
All right. “If I could speak all the languages of Earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or clanging symbol.”
Sharon (12:59):
“If I had the gift of prophecy and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge. And if I had such faith that I could move mountains but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.”
Nicole (13:14):
“If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it. But if I didn’t love others, I would’ve gained nothing.”
Sharon (13:24):
(Wow.) “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud.”
Nicole (13:33):
“Or rude. It does not demand its own way.” (Oof) “It is not irritable and it keeps no record of being wronged.”
Sharon (13:40):
“It does not rejoice about injustice, but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.”
Nicole (13:47):
“Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful and endures through every circumstance.”
Sharon (13:55):
“Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever.”
Nicole (14:02):
“Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete. And even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture.”
Sharon (14:08):
“But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.”
Nicole (14:12):
“When I was a child I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child, but when I grew up I put away childish things.”
Sharon (14:20):
“Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror. But then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely just as God now knows me completely.”
Nicole (14:38):
(Oh, I like that part.) “Three things will last forever. Faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is love.”
Sharon (14:46):
Isn’t this the most beautiful impossible passage?
Nicole (14:50):
Yes. I don’t know any young Christian girl that didn’t have this read at their wedding.
Sharon (14:54):
Yes, yes, yes. Yes.
Nicole (14:55):
But it is, it’s such a list of the comparison of the, of agape love versus what our love wants to be, you know? And (Sharon: Mmm-hmm) Oh it’s so good Sharon. It really is. You just have it just downloaded and not have to struggle through to be so much. It’s like, God, just make me love like you.
Sharon (15:10):
Really. I know if I, if I never get further than love is patient, love is kind, it would change so many of my interactions every day. You know, and this is why it’s not enough to read the word once and walk away. (Nicole: Right) Because quite frankly we default to selfishness. We just do. It’s sad, but it’s true. So we have to come back to this again and again and again. And you know, the first part where it talks about all the fabulous things you can do for God. You know, it reminds me of the people in Matthew that we read about that said, oh, I prophesied in your name and I drove out demons. And Jesus says, I never knew you. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) Owies, you know? It, it’s not enough to do the good things. We have to, we have to love and the only way we can do that is to receive and get filled up with his.
Nicole (16:01):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Sharon (16:02):
Right. And that means that abiding, that staying close, that being so happy that he loved us, that it kind of spills on out on other people.
Nicole (16:11):
That’s the key though, isn’t it? If we don’t believe we’re fully loved by God, how can we show agape love to others?
Sharon (16:17):
We can’t.
Nicole (16:17):
We have to feel it.
Sharon (16:18):
Right.
Nicole (16:18):
We have to believe it. And we have to know it.
Sharon (16:20):
Right. It has to start with knowing him. And knowing that he thinks we’re amazing. Which is so crazy cause we know without him we wouldn’t be.
Nicole (16:28):
Right. Cause we’re inside our own brain. (Sharon: Yeah) We know what we think.
Sharon (16:30):
Yeah. But he really, really, really does love us.
Nicole (16:33):
I know.
Sharon (16:33):
Yeah.
Nicole (16:34):
That’s crazy.
Sharon (16:35):
And every time we come back, cause we do the wrong thing again and we have to say we’re sorry again (Nicole: Mm-hmm) he says, come here, I’ve just been waiting for you. (Nicole: Oh) I mean honestly. And when we wrap our heads around that, then we can give out that kind of love.
Nicole (16:52):
Yeah. If we know it’s a not a finite resource, if we know that the love what we’re receiving from God is abundant and unfailing, (Sharon: Mmm-hmm) wow! Wouldn’t we wanna give that out more freely and know that, oh, I can give you this because the love I feel is so overwhelming. (Sharon: Yeah, yeah) I can love you even though I think you’re an idiot.
Sharon (17:10):
Exactly. And I will because I don’t know your motivation.
Nicole (17:14):
Right. Exactly.
Sharon (17:14):
Exactly. Yeah. And also thinking of it just from God’s perspective, God is patient, God is kind.
Nicole (17:20):
Mm-hmm. He’s so patient.
Sharon (17:20):
He’s not irritable, he isn’t rude, you know, all those things. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) Because that’s agape. That’s the sacrificial love. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) So, all right then now it’s time to get practical about this thing. We’ve talked about the incredible love that Jesus exhibited. How are we going to live that out in the everyday messiness of real life?
Nicole (17:42):
Here we go.
Sharon (17:42):
So each week as we look at a fruit, I wanna apply it to four areas of our lives. How do we show that kind of love to God first, to family, to fellow Christians and to our neighbors and coworkers who don’t follow Christ and who don’t even share our values?
Nicole (17:59):
Ooh, that’s a good one.
Sharon (18:01):
Yeah. So first up, God. Nicole,
Nicole (18:04):
Yeah.
Sharon (18:04):
How do we show sacrificial love to God?
Nicole (18:07):
Mm. I think you had mentioned this another podcast, but that sacrifice of time. You know? (Sharon: Yes) I can’t make more time and in this season of life with kiddos and puppies and all the things I do not have a lot of time. So for me it’s church. Making it a priority to go to church. (Sharon: Yep) We sacrifice that time, even though an extra day of the weekend would be really great. So making church a priority and also, even more personally and more—, my daily sacrifice of time. We say this all the time, but my goodness. We just need it. Sacrificing my first five minutes, my first ten minutes with him.
Sharon (18:41):
Yes. Yeah.
Nicole (18:41):
Making sure that I am there with him.
Sharon (18:44):
Yes. My pastor used to say, first and final five, first five minutes of the day, last five minutes of the day.
Nicole (18:52):
Oh, that’s a good one too.
Sharon (18:52):
Isn’t that good? A lot of F’s.
Nicole (18:54):
Yes.
Sharon (18:54):
First and final five. I need things that are easy to remember.
Nicole (18:58):
Yes!
Sharon (18:59):
The older I get, the easier they have to be. But you know, to just lay there in bed and the first five minutes or even first five seconds. Good morning Lord. (Nicole: Yeah). You know. And then the last. And Ray and I do the last every night cause we always end, you know, with my head on his shoulder and him praying for us, which is so nice. It really is.
Nicole (19:18):
That’s so sweet. Yeah.
Sharon (19:18):
But those little time sacrifices You’re right. And another way Jesus very clearly tells us in John, if you love me, obey me.
Nicole (19:26):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (19:26):
I know. Remember that one?
Nicole (19:28):
I forgot about that one. Yeah.
Sharon (19:31):
Oh, that’s right. So, okay. So I need to obey him. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) And that means to honor my parents and (Nicole: Yeah) And spend time with them. It means to have a kind and gentle answer when I’d rather lash out. If I love him, I show it by my obedience.
Nicole (19:47):
Mm-hmm. That’s good.
Sharon (19:47):
And yet so funny because my obedience to him actually is his love for me because the way he’s telling me how to live is actually the best way to live.
Nicole (19:58):
Right.
Sharon (19:58):
So it’s very circular
Nicole (19:59):
Because his commands always come with a benefit or a promise. I still just love that.
Sharon (20:03):
Absolutely. Exactly. So, okay. So we need to show God love with our time and with our obedience. There we go. That’s practical. Okay. How about family?
Nicole (20:13):
Family? Ooh. I think for me, serving my family without complaints or playing the martyr.
Sharon (20:20):
Oh, I was so good at that martyr game. I’m sorry to say. And they never, nobody ever likes a martyr. It’s not like you win when you played that card.
Nicole (20:28):
No. They never come and save you. They’re like, oh poor mom, we’ll do the dishes for you. They don’t, they ignore you? They don’t care you’re miserable doing the dishes.
Sharon (20:34):
Nope. Nope. You’re irritating them. That thing about being irritating. (Nicole: Yes) The martyr is an irritating person. Yeah.
Nicole (20:39):
It is. Oh, it’s so hard.
Sharon (20:40):
It feels so satisfying short term, but then it doesn’t.
Nicole (20:44):
And then it doesn’t, then it feels yucky. So I think serving with sacrificial love is just making sure that my heart’s really even in it. Yes. And then kind of on the flip side again of serving my family, leaving that pile of laundry that I really wanna get off my couch and get done and check off my list. And stopping to read a book with my six-year-old.
Sharon (20:58):
Awww.
Nicole (20:58):
The same book that we’ve read four times already. And I’m just— not my favorite book, but just stopping in the mess. That’s really hard for me to stop in the middle of something. (Sharon: Yes) It’s very hard. And just being with her, it’s a sacrifice.
Sharon (21:09):
It is a sacrifice because you want that laundry done.
Nicole (21:12):
I do. I wanna be done with it and then I’ll be with you. Just gimme 10 more minutes. But no.
Sharon (21:16):
No. She needs it now. Exactly. (Nicole: She needs it now) And you know it’s funny cause the laundry being done is very visually satisfying.
Nicole (21:22):
It is.
Sharon (21:22):
Reading a book doesn’t have that same quality to it.
Nicole (21:26):
There’s no task done that you can see or quantify.
Sharon (21:29):
Right.
Nicole (21:29):
Yeah.
Sharon (21:29):
So, but it’s so important. (Nicole: It is) Yeah. It’s kind of like one of mine because, I, you know, I have grandchildren I don’t see that often and when I see them, the younger ones wanna play pretend. Well I’ve got a 64 year old brain, you know and pretending that, you know, a robot from outer space, you know, my grandsons love this, you know, has come and, you know, being afraid of a robot and goodness fighting back with you. This is not me. I am not a robot fighter. It’s just not how I’m wired.
Nicole (21:59):
Your side hobby? (Sharon: Yeah)
Sharon (22:01):
So, it’s a sacrifice of making my brain go back to make pretend land. Which, you know, I’ve been away from that for a few decades and just enjoying and playing it because it brings them such joy. (Nicole: Oh yeah) And if I want them as teenagers to wanna see their Nina, well I best be hanging out with them and playing make pretend now.
Nicole (22:23):
That’s a great word.
Sharon (22:24):
Or they’re gonna have already associated me with ‘well we have to be nice to her’, you know? I don’t want them to have to be nice to me. (Nicole: Awww) I want them to wanna hang out with me. (Nicole: Right) And that means make pretend right now.
Nicole (22:35):
Yeah.
Sharon (22:36):
So you know,
Nicole (22:37):
Fighting off killer robots from space.
Sharon (22:38):
Right, right, right. So that’s an example. And then with Ray, it’s just really diving into the things that he loves and you know, he’s done that for me. He has memorized the names of the people on the team and the board.
Nicole (22:50):
Oh has he?
Sharon (22:51):
And he asks me questions on purpose about it. And I know it’s on purpose cause this is not natural Ray. (Nicole: Yes) He wants to take an interest in what interests me.
Nicole (23:00):
And you know what I found that in our own marriage too, when I started talking to, my husband loves tractors and I go to the tractor shows that I don’t care about and he tells me about antique tractors I know nothing about but seeing his face light up. (Sharon: Yes) And he tells stories of his family who used this tractor on their farm in North Dakota. I learned more about my husband. Yes. And then lo and behold he’s asking me about knitting or something. I’m like, you don’t really care what yarn I’m using. So it does, when you start to give sacrificial love, you do get it back in return.
Sharon (23:28):
You do.
Nicole (23:29):
Not that we should give it to get it back. (Sharon: Nope) But you know, it may take a little bit, but it comes back to us.
Sharon (23:33):
It does. Sacrifice before honor. (Nicole: Yeah) Like with Jesus. (NIcole: Oh yes) It’s the same thing. You know, we think ‘martyr’.
Nicole (23:41):
Yes.
Sharon (23:42):
I have just done sacrificial love and died to myself again. (Nicole: Yes) And then God lifts up the humble. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) You know, it’s just so sweet. (Nicole: It is) It’s so good.
Nicole (23:52):
It’s a beautiful cycle.
Sharon (23:53):
Okay. So God, family, Christians, fellow believers. (Nicole: Yeah) Sometimes, quite frankly, they can be harder than non-Christians. Because our expectations are often way too high.
Nicole (24:04):
Absolutely.
Sharon (24:04):
Christians are sinners. Hello. You know, and somehow we feel like they ought to behave better, (Nicole: Mm-hmm) you know, but they don’t and neither do we sometimes. (Nicole: Right) So give me some examples of how to show sacrificial love towards fellow believers.
Nicole (24:19):
I was thinking the same thing, giving grace because I do tend to hold myself and others to a higher standard and mostly others than myself, (Sharon: Mm-hmm) let’s be honest. So remembering to give them grace when they falter and to encourage them to come back to Jesus and not beat them over with what they have done wrong.
Sharon (24:34):
Yep. Mm-hmm.
Nicole (24:34):
Because yes, we have the Holy Spirit in us. Yes, we’re saved but we’re still in this sinful flesh suit that we, we struggle with. So give them grace.
Sharon (24:41):
I love that. I love that. I’ve also thought that, you know, I can choose my friends, people that have similar interests to me (Nicole: Sure) you know, things like that. At church, I’m asked to be friends with people that I find very quirky, that I don’t have a lot in common with. (Nicole: Yeah) Cause they’re sisters and brothers in Christ. (Nicole: Right) And part of sacrificial love is loving them, hearing them, meeting them where they’re at. Being willing to, you know, help them move or clean their house or do some of—, I, the least, you know how there’s love languages? My least love language, believe it or not, is acts of service.
Nicole (25:20):
Oh really?
Sharon (25:20):
Oh. Oh. I am not a service person. At the end of all the potlucks (Nicole: Yeah) I’m talking to someone, hearing their problems. (Nicole: Oh yeah) I am never cleaning up the dishes. And when I try I drop ’em.
Nicole (25:33):
That’s right.
Sharon (25:34):
Right. We’ve talked about that. I’m not good at this stuff, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t times when I need to sacrificially go clean someone’s house. (Nicole: Right) Even though it’s not my preference, I’d rather listen to them tell me their troubles.
Nicole (25:48):
I’m sorry I’m not gonna help you cause this isn’t my love language. So—
Sharon (25:51):
Yeah. Exactly.
Nicole (25:52):
No, sometimes it does require that sacrifice.
Sharon (25:54):
Sometimes you gotta wash the feet.
Nicole (25:56):
It’s true.
Sharon (25:56):
Right?
Nicole (25:57):
The stinky ones too.
Sharon (25:58):
You just do. So, so those are some examples. Yeah, yeah,
Nicole (26:02):
I like that. That’s really good. Yeah.
Sharon (26:04):
Okay. How about, you know, our neighbors, our coworkers. (Nicole: Yeah) The stranger in Walmart. How do we show sacrificial love to people that, um, don’t know the Lord, don’t show our values are, are very different from us and don’t even have a common starting place? At least with the Christian, we, we link arms in knowing and loving Jesus.
Nicole (26:24):
Right. And it helps you get over those quirks or those (Sharon: It does. Yeah) failings because you know that they’re going to hopefully come back to Jesus soon and you have that common ground.
Sharon (26:32):
Right. Right. Right.
Nicole (26:33):
But yeah, how to love, it’s I think for us it’s remembering that they don’t have the Holy Spirit. (Sharon: Uhhuh) It’s remembering that they are lost and searching for God, you know? (Sharon: Yeah) And that even though some, some of their sin and their wrong choices they make trying to fill that void in their heart, it can be really hard to watch them live that out. And it can be offensive to us. (Sharon: Yeah. Yeah) Or repugnant. We have to remember that. And I think sacrificial love for them can look like showing kindness and not avoiding or looking down on them for their sin.
Sharon (27:00):
Absolutely.
Nicole (27:01):
Because we were there. (Sharon: Right) Not too long ago.
Sharon (27:04):
Right. And we’re still there in many sins.
Nicole (27:07):
Yes. Yeah. And we were once just as lost as they are. (Sharon: Yeah. Yeah) And doing life with them, with healthy boundaries as needed (Sharon: Mm-hmm) for different things. But just being ready to share Jesus’s perfect example of sacrificial love. We have to be with them to show them that love.
Sharon (27:21):
We do.
Nicole (27:22):
If we avoid them because Oh, that’s—, we’re never gonna show them love.
Sharon (27:24):
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Absolutely. And I think it’s, I think I’ve read somewhere that within two years of becoming a Christian, most people don’t have non-Christian friends anymore.
Nicole (27:35):
Wow.
Sharon (27:35):
And that’s a sad truth. Yeah. Because part of it is a natural moving away (NIcole: Lifestyle change) from the lifestyle. (Nicole: Yeah) But to still invest in our non-Christian friends. I think it’s super important.
Nicole (27:50):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (27:50):
You know, there’s a lot of things you can do. Maybe you don’t get drunk on a Friday night with them. (Nicole: Right) But you can have ’em over for dinner. You can take a walk with ’em. (Nicole: Right) You can clean their house.(NIcole: Right) if they’re sick.
Nicole (28:01):
Bring them a meal when they’re sick.
Sharon (28:03):
Those kinds of things. (Nicole: Right) Exactly.
Nicole (28:04):
If we leave them, I don’t think that leaves a very good taste in their mouth for Christianity.
Sharon (28:09):
I agree.
Nicole (28:10):
No, we have to be so careful. And some people we do, we have to be careful about our friends because our friends influence us.
Sharon (28:15):
Right. Right.
Nicole (28:15):
And if we have friends that are encouraging us to do the wrong things, obviously, that’s sort of those healthy boundaries.
Sharon (28:19):
Right. Right.
Nicole (28:20):
But still be willing. We have to be a part of their lives somehow to show love.
Sharon (28:23):
Right. Right. And God will show us because oh, this is done by the Spirit.
Nicole (28:27):
Right. Not us again.
Sharon (28:27):
So he shows us. Right. He leads us, if we stay in step with him, you know, okay, this neighbor just came to my house. Well that makes it my business, doesn’t it? Right.
Nicole (28:37):
Yeah, absolutely.
Sharon (28:38):
Or we had a bad fire in our neighborhood and they had nothing. (Nicole: Oh) So we did a drive and we took up money and you know, we gave away our own coats because it was winter and she literally didn’t have a coat.
Nicole (28:51):
Oh my goodness.
Sharon (28:52):
You know, those kinds of things. You, you just give (Nicole: Yeah) you know, and you want to be at the forefront of that. Not like, well I give through my church. Right?
Nicole (29:00):
Right. Give to your neighbors. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) Josh is really good about keeping up with neighbors. He’s always plowing driveways and shoveling things.
Sharon (29:07):
Oh. see. Those things are so good.
Nicole (29:08):
Digging out their ditch when they don’t notice. (Sharon: Yeah) The little things, like the practical help sometimes. Means a lot.
Sharon (29:12):
The practical helps. Yeah. And sometimes just stopping to chat even when I’m in a hurry. (Nicole: Yeah) You know, I’ll be walking and a neighbor will call me over and I’ll, if I absolutely, like I have a doctor’s appointment or something, I’ll say, I’ll call you. I have to, but if I can stop, I should. (Nicole: Yeah) Because that’s a divine interruption.
Nicole (29:30):
It is. (Sharon: Right) Even if you missed that last half mile that you wanted to get in.
Sharon (29:33):
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So, so those are some practical ways, but again, only by his grace. So let’s close in prayer and ask for it.
Nicole (29:40):
Mm-hmm.
Sharon (29:42):
Lord God Almighty, agape love is amazing. We are humbled that you humbled yourself and took on flesh for us, Lord. We don’t know the half of it, of, of what that cost you. And we are so grateful. Father, I pray that those who are listening to this podcast would be flooded with the knowledge that you love them deeply no matter what. That you long for them to stay in step with your Spirit. That you want them close. That there’s no sin so big that you don’t stand ready to say, I, I died for that. I took your punishment. Come and be forgiven. Oh Jesus. Help us to everyday bask in your love. Feel it, know it so that we can then agape love others, in your name and by your strength alone. Amen.
Nicole (30:51):
Thanks for joining us today. We love talking about love and we love getting comments and thoughts from you who listen. Write us anytime at Sweetselah.org/podcast. Donate at Sweetselah.org/donations and write ‘podcast partner’ on the memo line. We will get you on our monthly newsletter list where we share photos and thoughts and family stories with our partners. What a fun fruit of the Spirit we’ll have to unpack next week. Get ready for a super fun time unpacking the Fruit of Joy in episode 99, Deep Down Joy. Until then, let’s be grateful for God’s beautiful agape love for all of us. Have a great week.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found@sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for joining us.you for joining us.
You can print and download the transcript here.
Galatians has a lot to say about bearing fruit - the good kind AND the bad kind. Paul exhorts the church at Galatia to "stay in step with the Spirit." Join Sharon and Nicole as they talk about daily living in step with God - walking the path He has marked out for each of us uniquely. It's a fun and practical talk on how to hear God's voice in the everyday.
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Read the transcript for In STEP with the Spirit-Episode 97Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to a podcast designed to bring biblical encouragement to your weary soul. We are so glad you’re listening and we pray God blesses you and strengthens you in your walk with him. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is brought to you by the cooperative efforts of Sweet Selah Ministries and Word Radio. Sit back and enjoy.
Nicole (00:27):
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 97, Staying in Step with the Spirit. As we start to look at the fruits of the Spirit in the series, we have to start with the Holy Spirit. He’s a member of the Trinity, which in itself is a complicated topic, Sharon, want to try to explain Trinity to us?
Sharon (00:45):
Oh, well, let’s just dive in at the deep end, Nicole. Okay. So, Trinity is a mystery that theologians have wrestled with for centuries. So I don’t know that I’ll exactly solve it for us, but, God is big. He is not like us. He is so big that within one person there are three. And that is such an amazing concept and part of what makes him God and not us. So there’s God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, which I love because it’s the Holy Spirit that lives in me that means that God’s with me here. You know, there’s sort of like God in heaven and there’s God here. So God is with me. And the best explanation I’ve ever heard of the Trinity that’s helped me, that maybe will help and maybe won’t. But here it is. It’s all about two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen, H2 O, which is water.
Nicole (01:44):
Yeah.
Sharon (01:45):
Right? But H2 O shows itself in three extremely different ways. It can show itself as ice, it can show itself as liquid and it can show itself as steam, but it’s all two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen. It’s the same substance. It is not a different substance. (Nicole: Wow) But, it’s shown in three different ways. So I kind of wonder, Lord, did you do that on purpose so that I could understand the Trinity better? Because it really helps me. That’s because ice is so distinct from water, which is so distinct from steam, but it’s the same. (Nicole: Wow) So that’s my best explanation of the Trinity from a layman non-seminary trained person. You’re welcome.
Nicole (02:27):
That’s pretty good actually. That helps me a little bit too.
Sharon (02:32):
So how did you handle the Holy Spirit when you were a little kid? Because I know some kids are like, when they hear that the Spirit’s within them, that Jesus lives in their heart, they try to feed him, and you know, things like that,
Nicole (02:44):
It is kind of cute, isn’t it?
Sharon (02:46):
Yeah, yeah!
Nicole (02:47):
No. So I remember, I remember accepting Jesus and just feeling like this joy come over me. I’ll never forget that day, but I never really gave him too much thought, I don’t think. I don’t think it was ever really expressed to me in a way that, um, I kind of grasped onto until I was a little bit older. And then I was like, oh, yeah, there’s the Holy Spirit, and I kind of don’t really pay much attention to him. Maybe I should try to talk to him or pray to him. Do I pray to the Holy Spirit?
Sharon (03:12):
Or does the Spirit enable me to pray to talk to Jesus and God?
Nicole (03:15):
Just like hi Holy Spirit, you kind of get ignored. I talk to God and Jesus. So I just tried to wrestle with that growing up. Um, but it’s funny, my kids, I just bought a book for the girls called The Holy Spirit, My Best Friend.
Sharon (03:27):
What?
Nicole (03:27):
Before we did this podcast.
Sharon (03:28):
No kidding?
Nicole (03:29):
So I was like, you know what? I’m just now starting to really understand or trying to understand the Holy Spirit and his power. My kids have no idea either. We should try to learn this together. It’s such a simple explanation too, to kind of go through. (Sharon: Yeah) About how he’s with you and how he helps you, enables you to remember the things that you’ve learned from God. Like, Hey, be kind. So I thought that was kind of neat and a little bit, you know,
Sharon (03:52):
I love the timing. That’s amazing.
Nicole (03:54):
Yeah!
Sharon (03:54):
And you know, sometimes the best explanations are the ones given to children, at least for my brain.
Nicole (03:59):
Yes. That’s why I love the Jesus Storybook Bible so much.
Sharon (04:01):
Yes, yes.
Nicole (04:02):
It takes those big stories and it’s so beautifully simple.
Sharon (04:04):
It distills it. Yeah. I love that about God. It’s simple enough for a child to, to grasp and yet complex enough that men can argue about it forever. Right? So.
Nicole (04:15):
Oh, for sure. Yeah. And that’s the mystery and beauty of God. If we understood him, then we’d be like, oh, all right. Check that off. Moving on to the next thing.
Sharon (04:22):
Exactly.
Nicole (04:22):
There’s always more to know about him.
Sharon (04:24):
There’s more depth.
Nicole (04:24):
It’s incredible.
Sharon (04:25):
All the time. Absolutely. I had the same kind of experience when I accepted Christ. I didn’t think of Holy Spirit. I asked Jesus into my heart. (Nicole: Right) And seeing God, Jesus. Holy Spirit are One. That’s cool. That’s fine. God is in me. Jesus is in me. The Spirit is in me because they’re One. But, I never, I never misunderstood it like physically I had to feed God or anything like I’ve heard some children do. But the same glow, the same knowing as a four year old, as a four-year-old, that God had entered me, I knew it.
Nicole (05:00):
You’re not alone anymore. (Sharon: Oh, yes!) I just felt this presence with me, so strongly. It was, (Sharon: Yeah) it’s hard to explain.
Sharon (05:05):
It is. But that’s, I think, the beauty of the Spirit being left with us. Remember Jesus saying, you know, it’s better actually that I go, you know, right now I’m in a physical body. I’m in one place at one time, and if you know, like I’m visiting Nazareth and you’re in Cana, I’m not with you. But when I go, I send the Spirit who’ll always be with you. And that’s what we’ve got. The Holy Spirit is the ‘always be with you’ part of the Trinity where we can be in a prison. We can be like Corrie ten Boom in a flea-infested, horrible hole, you know? But he’s within us. They can’t get to him.
Nicole (05:45):
(They can’t kick him out.) Oh, I love that. I love it.
Sharon (05:47):
I love it so much. So, well, I do a series of talks on the portion of scripture we’re gonna read today, and it’s called In Step With the Spirit. So it’s all about, about the Holy Spirit, and I’m excited to share it on a podcast in this format, for a change. So we’re gonna read the passage that goes along with the In Step With the Spirit Talk, and then unpack some principles that God kind of showed me from it. So why don’t you start the reading, Nicole, and we’ll read back and forth.
Nicole (06:17):
All right. I’m gonna start with Galatians 5:13-26, “For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.”
Sharon (06:30):
“For the whole law can be summed up in this one command. Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Nicole (06:36):
“But if you’re always biting and devouring one another, watch out. Beware of destroying one another.”
Sharon (06:43):
“So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.”
Nicole (06:50):
“The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other. So you are not free to carry out your good intentions.”
Sharon (07:05):
“But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.”
Nicole (07:11):
“When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear. Sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures.”
Sharon (07:18):
“Idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division.”
Nicole (07:31):
(And the list goes on) “Envy, drunkenness, wild parties and other sins like these. Let me tell you again as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Sharon (07:44):
“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,”
Nicole (07:58):
“Gentleness, and self-control. There’s no law against these things.”
Sharon (08:02):
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.”
Nicole (08:10):
“Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirits’ leading in every part of our lives.”
Sharon (08:16):
“Let us not become conceited or provoke one another or be jealous of one another.” Okay, So we’re studying fruit, fruitful living. What do you learn from this passage, my friend, about cultivating fruit?
Nicole (08:31):
Yeah. So I think we definitely need the Holy Spirit for this one, seeing as they are the fruits of the Spirit. (Sharon: Yes) So first and foremost, we need to belong to Jesus.
Sharon (08:40):
Yes.
Nicole (08:40):
He needs to be, He needs to be our Savior. We need the Holy Spirit within us. We cannot do this on our own And we also need to walk in the Spirit, which really means just keeping him in the front of our minds. You know, filtering life through him. Like the verse said, that even though we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us, we are still at war with our flesh.
Sharon (08:59):
We are.
Nicole (09:00):
So we need his help.
Sharon (09:01):
It’s so true.
Nicole (09:02):
Yeah. And our sinful nature’s trying to get us to do the exact opposite of what the Holy Spirit wants us to do. It’s a battle.
Sharon (09:08):
It is.
Nicole (09:09):
And we desperately need to lean into him to win that battle.
Sharon (09:12):
Mm-hmm. You are so right. You are so right. And you know, one thing that I noticed about this passage, which I hadn’t really picked up on before, is if you look at the beginning, um, he’s talking about loving your neighbor as yourselves, not biting and devouring each other. You know, he’s, he’s telling the church at Galatia, Hey, hey, hey. Behave nicely towards each other. Right? (Nicole: Yeah) And then at the very end, he, he kind of concludes with it, “Let us not become conceited or provoke one another or be jealous to one another”. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) And so in between this message to the church to behave nicely. (Nicole: Yeah) Behave yourselves, basically. (Nicole: Right) In the middle, it tells you how, you know. (Nicole: Right) All these things are, we’re still capable of all these things. This I think is what is so sad. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) Even as Christ followers, we are still capable of jealousy, of stirring up dissension of (Nicole: Yeah) ‘You’re not gonna believe what she said’. (Nicole: Oh yeah) ‘Are you kidding me?’ You know, all that kind of thing isn’t just eradicated when we accept Christ. And you’re right. We have to have the Holy Spirit at the forefront in order, in order to conquer the flesh that wants to be jealous, that wants to be conceited, that, that is offended if people don’t ask us how we are, you know? I mean, really?
Nicole (10:26):
Yeah. It does. That sinful nature rears it’s ugly head so easily. It’s shocking. You’ll start the day feeling so good and kind of like, you know, in the Spirit, and you just kind of like go on your way and then, bam! You’re angry, (Sharon: Angry about something) you’re angry or jealous or gossipy so quickly. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) So it is, it’s a battle. And we have to lean into him.
Sharon (10:43):
We do.
Nicole (10:43):
We have no chance without him.
Sharon (10:44):
We have no chance. And as Christians, we live in community with each other.
Nicole (10:48):
Yes.
Sharon (10:49):
So, you know, we bump shoulders all the time. And so if we don’t learn to lean into the Spirit, uh, it’s not gonna be a very healthy church community situation. It really isn’t.
Nicole (10:58):
Yeah. It can get ugly really quickly.
Sharon (10:59):
So, this is a warning to us. And it’s, it’s a good one. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) It really is.
Nicole (11:03):
Yeah.
Sharon (11:04):
So, well, as I studied all this, I came back and kinda landed on Galatians 6:25. In the NIV it reads this way, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” So that word, step, okay, if the Spirit’s in me, how do I stay in step with him?
Nicole (11:09):
Yeah.
Sharon (11:09):
Because God lets me walk away if I want to. I am not a robot completely controlled by God. I want to be controlled by God.
Nicole (11:33):
I know.
Sharon (11:33):
But I have to yield. (Nicole: Yes) He won’t take it. And that brings me to my step thing. So here we go. We’re supposed to walk in the Spirit and stay in step with it. So what do you think that means? Do you have any other thoughts before we go into my four little steps?
Nicole (11:51):
Yeah. Well, okay. So I know in my life when nothing is going horribly wrong, you know, that those times when you feel like you need constant communication and instruction and encouragement from God, that’s actually when I start to go wrong when things feel good. Because in reality, I still need him step by step. (Sharon: Yeah) And when I start to go, oh, thanks God, things are going good, I’m good for a while, I usually get in trouble. But I find that the things that trip me up the most are the little daily things that build up. You know?
Sharon (12:20):
Yes!
Nicole (12:20):
Like, do I really need to be angry at my kids for not turning their clothes right side out when they put it in the laundry? Or, should I really lash out at my husband and ignore the fact that he had a really rough day at work and maybe give him some grace? You know? I remember doing this bible study once on motherhood and it said that when you’re frustrated and you’re trying to discipline your children, that when you look at them, envision the cross in front of them. (Sharon: Oh) So you have to look through the cross or around the cross, to see your children. And when you look at the cross, you’re seeing what God did for you and how he forgave you. And that for me is a very powerful reminder to get me back in step with the Spirit and go, okay, God, I did not start out this discipline session with you, with me. Can you help me please?
Sharon (13:00):
Yes. Yes.
Nicole (13:01):
And then all of a sudden my words are seasoned with kindness, (Sharon: Uh huh) and more toward, I want to encourage you to be better, instead of I want to beat you for doing the wrong thing.
Sharon (13:10):
Exactly so.
Nicole (13:10):
Man, it makes such a difference. Just like a switch.
Sharon (13:13):
Yes. And I love the way you said it’s little things, cuz I do think it is, I don’t think we wake up one morning and say, I would like to be a mass murderer. Right?
Nicole (13:22):
Right. Let’s have a drunken party.
Sharon (13:23):
No!
Nicole (13:23):
No, no. It’s small, little slides.
Sharon (13:24):
Yeah. Or I think I’ll rob a bank today. But, but small steps of allowing bitterness in, of allowing, our rights to make us feel justified in anger or bitterness. Those small steps pull us away from being yoked with God. (Nicole: Yes) Away from staying in step with the Spirit because the Spirit’s not walking in that direction.
Nicole (13:46):
That’s true.
Sharon (13:46):
He’s not walking towards bitterness and anger. Right.
Nicole (13:49):
That’s a great point.
Sharon (13:50):
Yeah. So you’re right. It’s the small things. (Nicole: Yeah) It is. So, okay, so here we go. I wanted to just make sure I let you say everything before we walk into our steps. The first step, and what I did was I took the letters S, T, E and P, and I made each of them a word that I think is part of staying in step with the Spirit.
Nicole (14:10):
This will be fun.
Sharon (14:10):
The first, letter is S in step and I used the word ‘surrender’. Yeah.
Nicole (14:18):
Yeah. That word.
Sharon (14:19):
Because, because really that’s what it is. It’s our will or his will all the time. My will is to wanna snap, you know, when the kid does something wrong. It’s funny you talk about the laundry inside out. Ray always has one sleeve the wrong way. Just one. I’m like, how does he do this? He takes one sleeve off right. And the other one’s inside out all the time.
Nicole (14:38):
Oh my goodness.
Sharon (14:39):
You know, and yet that’s such a piddly little—, whatever.
Nicole (14:41):
But it can really get to you after a while.
Sharon (14:44):
It can get just so silly.
Nicole (14:44):
Yes. And you’re like, why am I so angry over this turned inside out sock? Like, Nicole, let it go.
Sharon (14:49):
Just turn the sock. Yeah, exactly. (Nicole: Yes, Oh) So this surrendered heart. So, um, the verse in the Bible that I chose to go with the S is from Paul’s talk to the church at Rome in Romans 12:1 and 2. And this is what he says. “Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you’ll be able to test and approve what God’s will is, his good pleasing and perfect will.” Love that. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) And it works with surrender well. So why don’t you define surrender and talk to us about it a bit.
Nicole (15:36):
So I liked what GotQuestions.org had said that, surrender is a battle term. And I kind of didn’t realize that, that it implies giving up your rights to the conqueror.
Sharon (15:47):
Interesting.
Nicole (15:47):
Yeah. And then a more traditional definition would be “to yield to the power of another, to give or deliver a possession of anything upon compulsion or demand”. So it’s a battle term for surrendering, but there’s a willingness to, I think with Jesus (Sharon: Mm-hmm) there’s more of a willingness. We’re more—, cause he’s a gentle conqueror. He doesn’t come in and demand.
Sharon (16:10):
True. Yes.
Nicole (16:11):
He gives us freely the gift of salvation. And then in return, it’s all we can do is give him our hearts and our lives. Like, I’ll take it, you’ll do much better with it than me. But there’s an act of willingly surrendering. So in my own life, things I struggle to surrender is my children. It always comes back to my kids right now in this season of life.
Sharon (16:30):
Well of course it does.
Nicole (16:31):
But it’s really hard to surrender my children’s health and wellbeing and futures to God sometimes. We think we know better and we think we can control it. So to surrender my children to him, knowing that he has great plans for them and he’s gonna do a lot better with them than I am.
Sharon (16:47):
Uh huh, uh huh.
Nicole (16:48):
And then just leaving them in his hands.
Sharon (16:53):
It’s the leaving too, isn’t it? Yes, yes.
Nicole (16:55):
It’s the leaving that’s even harder, you know? And then even on a simpler, just starting my day with him before I go and start to do my to-do lists like, God, what do you want from my day today? So if you take off all these things from my list and give me an interruption, that’s what you want me to do. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) And being willing to surrender to his leading through things that don’t seem like that’s part of the plan.
Sharon (17:15):
Right.
Nicole (17:15):
You know, I mean, most of Jesus’ ministry was interruptions.
Sharon (17:18):
It was.
Nicole (17:18):
And he surrendered to his Father’s will, and he would stop for those interruptions and surrender and deal with them instead of going to the main mission where he was going, (Sharon: Uh huh) and Oh, I want a heart more like that.
Sharon (17:28):
Oh, absolutely. Yes. Yes. Surrender in the small things and the big things. And the big thing is the children. (Nicole: Yeah) Oh my goodness. And yet you’re right. He knows better. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) His will is like we just read in Romans 12, his good pleasing and Oh, perfect will.
Nicole (17:44):
Yeah. And I can’t, I can’t match that.
Sharon (17:46):
No, no, no, no. I was thinking even of small surrenders like I’m going to church on Sunday. (Nicole: Oh, true) That’s a surrender of free time in a culture that says, you know, do other things on a Sunday. But it’s a surrendering of time and it’s saying, you know, this is important and this is my weekly surrender. And I like the thought of, you know, the daily surrender too. When we pray at the beginning of the day. (Nicole: Yes) That surrendered heart to, and I yield to you, I wanna stay in step with you. So I surrender my will to yours. Because if you lead me this way, I wanna walk with you and not be, Wait, where are you going? You know, I wanna be with him. So I think that’s so good. I was trying to think of a biblical example of surrender. And I think one of the very, very best is Jesus’ mother, Mary.
Nicole (18:34):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (18:35):
She has a plan for her life. It’s a nice plan. It’s a simple plan. She just wants to marry Joseph and have kids. Right?
Nicole (18:40):
Right.
Sharon (18:41):
And God comes in and says, no, you’re going to be the mother of the Messiah, so, and you’re gonna get pregnant and people are gonna think bad things about you. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) And she said, may it be to me as you have said. I mean, just, okay. She surrendered everything to stay in step with the Holy Spirit who had a special plan for her life. Talk about an interruption.
Nicole (19:03):
Absolutely. Her whole life was kind of derailed there.
Sharon (19:06):
So, man alive. Okay, well that’s surrender.
Nicole (19:10):
All right. So the next one we’re gonna talk about is T for trust. So the verse is Proverbs 3:5. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”
Sharon (19:21):
(Both) Mmmm. Trust with all your heart. That all is so like inclusive.
Nicole (19:27):
Yes. Like, oh, that part too, God, are you sure? I think I can do that one. No, no, I can’t.
Sharon (19:31):
No. All, all, all. So I looked up trust and I came up with this definition, “A firm belief in the reliability or ability or truth or strength of something or someone”. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) That’s what it is.
Nicole (19:44):
That’s good.
Sharon (19:44):
You know, it’s, it’s as simple, as firmly believing that when I flump down on my couch to do my daily quiet time that the couch will hold me up. I, I don’t actually worry about it. It’s quite, quite the nice couch.
Nicole (19:57):
Right.
Sharon (19:57):
You know, there’s trust there. Or I can remember, this was a little more scary. My kids catching me unaware. They’ll be like walking on a wall.
Nicole (20:06):
Yes.
Sharon (20:07):
Catch me mom. And leaping
Nicole (20:08):
Oh my goodness.
Sharon (20:09):
Totally convinced that I’m capable of catching them.
Nicole (20:12):
Yes. Of rushing and saving them in the nick of time.
Sharon (20:14):
Yes. Yes. And I’m like, oh, for crying out loud. I wasn’t even looking at you. It’s a good thing I caught you. So trust, trust is just a firm belief that it’s gonna work the way you think it’s gonna. And really with this step principle, you know, the fact that to stay in step with the Spirit, we gotta trust, where he’s leading. Right?
Nicole (20:31):
That’s true.
Sharon (20:31):
We surrender, but we also have to trust that that path where, you know, he’s taking us a way we didn’t really wanna go. (Nicole: Right) We need to trust it.
Nicole (20:39):
Absolutely.
Sharon (20:40):
Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (20:40):
That’s so tough. I remember doing that with my dad too. I would leap up off of six or seven steps and go, Daddy catch me, I’d say it as I was mid-air, and he would reach over and grab me just in time. He never dropped me that poor man. I would just go, Daddy, catch me and leap off the stairs so many (times). He’s like, you gave me so many gray hairs doing that.
Sharon (20:58):
Oh it was so much fun Dad.
Nicole (20:59):
And I trusted him. I just knew he was going to catch me. Poor guy. (Sharon: Yeah. So funny) Whether he was ready or not. (Sharon: Oh man) So yeah. So it was surrendering and then I think trust is so good. It comes after surrendering because once you surrender something, trusting that God’s going to keep it.
Sharon (21:14):
Yes.
Nicole (21:14):
Like your kids, God, you’ve got them. And now don’t try to take them back, Nicole. God’s got them. (Sharon: I trust you) I trust you Lord. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) I trust you in my life; you’ll have my children as well. (Sharon: Mm-hmm, Mm-hmm) So thinking of a biblical example, Abraham, he’s a really good one. He trusted and without knowing where he was going and you know, I didn’t realize that the city he left was really nice, that Abraham was a wealthy man, or his uncle was, and he lived—
Sharon (21:38):
Yes.
Nicole (21:39):
And so he lived,
Sharon (21:40):
He lived well.
Nicole (21:40):
He lived well and he left all of that behind, going to the unknown to tent and live in the desert. Isn’t that wild to think about that?
Sharon (21:47):
Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (21:47):
Like if we’re like, hey Josh, God is calling us to leave everything behind. A nice job, a nice cozy warm house.
Sharon (21:53):
And I don’t know where we’re going.
Nicole (21:54):
We don’t know where we’re going. And we may not even, I don’t know if God told Abraham at that time, if he wouldn’t see the fulfillment of like, if he, he wouldn’t be the one to see the promise.
Sharon (22:01):
I don’t think he did. Yeah.
Nicole (22:01):
So he didn’t even know.
Sharon (22:03):
No. He just left.
Nicole (22:03):
It’s crazy. And he trusted God and took his family and left.
Sharon (22:06):
Yeah. Abraham’s not just known as a man of faith because he trusted about Isaac who got born when Abraham was a hundred. (Nicole: Oh yeah) Just leaving comfort for the unknown (Nicole: Mm-hmm) is an incredible act of faith and trust. And you know what came from it was beautiful, beautiful.
Nicole (22:23):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (22:24):
But man alive. That’s, that’s big trust.
Nicole (22:27):
That is. Yep. He started his whole journey out with God with that huge trust.
Sharon (22:31):
Yeah. Yeah. So, okay. So we’ve done S, we Surrender. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) if we’re gonna stay in step with the Spirit, we have to have a surrendered life and then we Trust. And then the E is Expect. We actually expect that this is gonna result in good things.
Nicole (22:46):
Oh I love that.
Sharon (22:46):
It’s a happy word.
Nicole (22:47):
Yeah. I like this one.
Sharon (22:48):
I like expect. So, alright, so the verse for that is Psalm 27:14. “Wait and hope for and expect the Lord. Be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes. Wait for and hope for and expect the Lord.”
Nicole (23:05):
Oh. That’s so nice.
Sharon (23:08):
Isn’t that nice?
Nicole (23:09):
Yeah. I love it.
Sharon (23:09):
That’s the Amplified. I like that version.
Nicole (23:11):
Yeah, that sounds great. I love the wait and hope for and expect the Lord. (Sharon: Yeah, yeah). That’s great. So the definition of expect is “to regard something as likely to happen or regard someone as likely to do something or be something or even believe that someone will arrive soon”. So that’s kind of neat.
Sharon (23:31):
That’s kind of nice.
Nicole (23:32):
We do, we expect all of these things. We can expect safely all of these things of Jesus because he will not let us down.
Sharon (23:38):
He won’t.
Nicole (23:38):
So I love that we can expect him to arrive soon. Come back and take us home, Jesus.
Sharon (23:42):
Yes, please.
Nicole (23:43):
We can expect that and we can trust that he will. (Sharon: Uh huh) They all kind of come together. You surrender trust and then you expect, but you can trust in that expectation of Jesus, you know?
Sharon (23:51):
Yes we can. Yeah.
Nicole (23:52):
So what that would look like, you know, I think when we trust him, we expect him to lead us and we have to watch for in our daily lives. So we surrender, we trust him and then we expect, okay God, how is this gonna show up in our lives? And we watch for it because it’s going to happen.
Sharon (24:06):
And we watch for it. Exactly.
Nicole (24:08):
Yeah. So being ready to see it.
Sharon (24:09):
Yeah, yeah. It’s kinda like your example of the interruptions. We’re expecting that if there’s an interruption, he has a purpose in it.
Nicole (24:15):
Absolutely.
Sharon (24:16):
And so then it’s not a negative thing, it’s a positive thing. Ah, well I didn’t expect this person to show up at my door. (Nicole: Right) Okie dokie, Lord, I expect you’re gonna do something through this cause I prayed (Nicole: Mm-hmm) that this would be a day led by you. You know? (Nicole: Yeah) And then that kind of changes the whole tenor of it.
Nicole (24:32):
Oh it does, on the whole heart of the matter.
Sharon (24:35):
Yeah. It really, really does.
Nicole (24:36):
Oh that’s so good. Yeah. And you know and trust that if we ask for help in what to say or what to do, that he will come through and he will give us what we need.
Sharon (24:43):
Absolutely.
Nicole (24:44):
It’s relying on him. Yeah. It’s tough but it’s good.
Sharon (24:47):
It’s tough but it’s good. This is a silly example but it makes me think of Bella. Whenever we take a walk with Bella and we come back in cause I mean Bella has little tiny legs and we walk her like crazy. She does like five miles a day some days.
Nicole (25:01):
Good for her, little thing.
Sharon (25:02):
And she’s just a little tiny teddy bear puppy. Most teddy bear puppies are not abused like that. But she trots along with us as good as gold. So her reward is a dream bone. They’re called dream bones and oh my word. I don’t know what’s in ’em but she loves them. So we come in from the walk and I take off her leash and I take off her little coat if it’s cold out and then she starts to dance because she knows, she expects (Nicole: Right) that something good is gonna happen. (Nicole: Yeah) You know, after that walk. And sure enough it does. And then she leaps for her little bone and she runs off. It’s just so cute. So.
Nicole (25:39):
That’s so sweet.
Sharon (25:39):
She’s got a happy expectation.
Nicole (25:41):
Yeah.
Sharon (25:41):
And it makes her trot along on the walks quite nicely.
Nicole (25:44):
Knowing that she’s got something to expect on the way home.
Sharon (25:46):
Yes. Yes.
Nicole (25:46):
That’s good.
Sharon (25:47):
And we should have that happy expectation too that when we’re in step with the Spirit, it’s not like God is out to hurt us. (Nicole: Yeah) When we ask for fish, he doesn’t give us a scorpion.
Nicole (25:57):
Right.
Sharon (25:58):
You know, we can expect (Nicole: Mm-hmm) that he’s gonna bring good from it.
Nicole (26:01):
That’s wonderful.
Sharon (26:01):
So I love that. I was thinking of a Bible example again cause that’s sort of our theme song here. And I was thinking of the time when Paul was so convinced he was going to, I think Asia Minor, I should have looked this up, but I did not. So I think it was Asia Minor. And he has a dream. And in the dream a guy from Macedonia in the Greek area says, please come. And Paul, who expects God to interrupt him (Nicole: Right) immediately changes his plans and goes to Greece. (Nicole: Hmm) Just like that, you know, he had an expectation that God would direct. And so if he’s gonna close the door in one place, all right then, I receive it, says Paul. I’m not gonna kick that door in. Um, where would you like me? Oh, Macedonia? Got it Lord. And so off he goes.
Nicole (26:45):
Isn’t that—? And he didn’t even say, well, let me make sure, let me pray, let me ponder. Are you sure God? He just, he just obeyed.
Sharon (26:51):
There was a dream and he believed it was from the Lord cause he expected God (Nicole: Right) to do things like that.
Nicole (26:56):
Because he was walking in step with him.
Sharon (26:57):
Yes. Yeah. Isn’t that cool?
Nicole (26:59):
Oh, I love it. All right now to the P. So we did Surrender, Trust, Expect, and now Persevere. “Let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9.
Sharon (27:15):
I love that verse so much cause you can get weary of doing good. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) Especially when you’re not seeing immediate results and we’re the instant society, we like immediate results.
Nicole (27:24):
Yes. Absolutely.
Sharon (27:25):
So here’s our definition, “to keep at something in spite of difficulties, opposition, or discouragement.” (Nicole: Mmm) “To keep at it.”
Nicole (27:33):
That’s a good one.
Sharon (27:34):
So, and I saw that when I taught piano lessons. The ones that practiced, amazingly got better. Yeah, I know. Strange.
Nicole (27:40):
What a concept!
Sharon (27:40):
Right. They played their scales, they did their dozen a day, these little finger exercises to get their fingers stronger. And then my goodness, they advanced.
Nicole (27:52):
Wow.
Sharon (27:53):
Those that would come every week and explain why they couldn’t possibly have spent 15 minutes a day on the piano did not progress, shall we say? You know, or very slowly.
Nicole (28:01):
Right. Not surprisingly.
Sharon (28:05):
So, they needed to persevere in the daily boredom of the ‘dozen a days’ in order to progress. And I, I found the same thing when I did my diet a couple years ago and lost my 50 pounds. (Nicole: Mmm) There were days, there were weeks, they weren’t just days, there were weeks of discouragement where I’m doing all the right things and I’m not dropping one pound.
Nicole (28:24):
Right.
Sharon (28:24):
And that’s just not fair.
Nicole (28:25):
Right.
Sharon (28:26):
Because I was hungry a lot.
Nicole (28:28):
Right.
Sharon (28:28):
Good gravy, but by persevering the weight did come off. (Nicole: Yeah) I just had to keep going and not let discouragement and opposition stay in the way. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) So perseverance is hard.
Nicole (28:42):
It is, it is. You need to be in step with the Spirit to keep that perseverance up because it’s really, really hard. So that verse is on my fridge, on my mirror. It’s everywhere in my house because in the season of life I’m in, I just get so worn out during the mundane tasks, you know?
Sharon (28:58):
Yes.
Nicole (28:59):
Dishes and, it just gets a little monotonous for me. Um, and this verse has been such an encouragement to me. Um, I hold onto the promise that I will reap a harvest of plenty if I don’t give up. I pray that over all the little interactions with my kiddos and you know, it adds up to them really truly loving and walking with the Lord in their lives. And that would be amazing.
Sharon (29:18):
Yes.
Nicole (29:18):
You know, I pray that, you know?
Sharon (29:20):
Yes.
Nicole (29:20):
I pray that every extra effort I put toward my marriage results in a husband that feels loved and who loves freely in return. But it’s the not giving up it. We must keep on doing the right thing even when we don’t want to.
Sharon (29:33):
Amen. Sister. Yes.
Nicole (29:35):
Which is a lot of the time. Let’s be honest. (Sharon: Oh) So Bible example of perseverance. Daniel was pretty good. Daniel kept doing the right thing in Babylon despite being pulled away from the life he knew and all. And from, you know, he did that whole special diet in a land where there was a lot of decadence and delights.
Sharon (29:56):
Oh my goodness. Yes.
Nicole (29:57):
And he could have eaten whatever he wanted.
Sharon (29:58):
He was encouraged to eat whatever he wanted.
Nicole (30:00):
Yeah. And almost threatened. But the fact that he stayed—, talking about dieting and doing the right thing, that’s really hard.
Sharon (30:06):
Yes.
Nicole (30:06):
It’s easier in your own little home, kind of, you don’t have the goodies when you’re at a party. You’re at a banquet, at a kingdom with food all around you to stay the course and persevere is amazing. And when he would pray three times a day, despite the order for death, if he did it.
Sharon (30:20):
Yeah. Despite death.
Nicole (30:20):
Despite death being the consequence of being caught, he persevered.
Sharon (30:25):
He did. I love Daniel.
Nicole (30:27):
So Daniel’s a good one.
Sharon (30:27):
He stayed good. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) Even though he was ripped away from everything good. (Nicole: Yeah) And forced to be in a land he didn’t want with people over him. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) But he didn’t, he just kept doing the right thing.
Nicole (30:38):
He did.
Sharon (30:39):
Oh my goodness. Let’s, let’s keep in step with the Spirit. Let’s Surrender, Trust, Expect, and Persevere.
Nicole (30:45):
I think that’s a good idea.
Sharon (30:46):
All right. Let’s do it. Okay. Well, it’s time to pray. My goodness that went fast. Oh, heavenly Father, I thank you. I thank you that there is the gift of the Holy Spirit, that we’re not told that all on our own we’ve got to manufacture that love, joy, peace, patience, stuff, Lord. You live within us and if we will surrender and trust, we can expect if we persevere that you will give us that fruit that we can’t do on our own. Thank you Lord. Help us to live fruitfully. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole (31:21):
Amen. Well, we’ve got a lot to practice this week as we ask for God to help us to stay in step with his Spirit. Remember, if you’re new to this, babies are called toddlers for a reason. When they first learn to walk, they don’t just glide across the room, they wobble and teeter totter for quite some time. So let’s take our first toddler steps today and do our best to surrender, trust, expect and persevere. We love hearing from you. Write us at Sweet Selah.org/podcast and tell us your thoughts on Spirit-led living. Tell us how God is teaching you. We also would be so grateful for reviews of this podcast so that it can be shown to more people. Would you consider doing that for us? And as always, we’re grateful when you support us financially. Go to sweetselah.org/donations to make a donation and write ‘podcast partner’ on the memo line so we can send you our monthly newsletter. You might especially want to get that newsletter this month as we plan our 100th episode party. We hope you’ll be back next week as we examine the fruit one at a time. We’ll start with the greatest fruit, love, in episode 99, Love Like Jesus. Until then, watch your step.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found@sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for joining us.you for joining us.
You can print and download the transcript here.
Episode 96 is all about discernment. Not everyone who "sounds" like a Christ follower actually is one. Jesus warns us of "wolves in sheep's clothing" and tells us to discern by looking at their fruit. Well, how do we do that? Nicole and Sharon wrestle with this dilemma, and chat about how to love those who don't know Christ and to be aware that not all who claim His Name belong to Him. Join them as they open the Word and study it together. Let's be good fruit-bearers!
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Season Seven is called "Fruit-Filled Living." Nicole and Sharon are kicking this season off with a look at John 15 this episode. What does it mean to bear fruit in our lives? How can we make sure our daily living is "fruit-filled?" And why does that matter. Join the discussion, friend. We love comments!
Want to become a Podcast Partner? We'd love to have you on our team! You will get exclusive emails from Nicole and Sharon and our deepest gratitude if you are led by God to become a monthly donor. Seriously, even a $3 a month donation would be such a help. Go to DONATIONS tab on this website and sign up today. Write that you are choosing to be a Podcast Partner in the Comments section. Thanks.
Read the transcript for Fruit Filled Living-Episode 95Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to a podcast designed to bring biblical encouragement to your weary soul. We are so glad you’re listening and we pray God blesses you and strengthens you in your walk with him. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is brought to you by the cooperative efforts of Sweet Selah Ministries and Word Radio. Sit back and enjoy.
Nicole (00:28):
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 95, Fruit Filled Living. We are back after a long break and eager to start season seven today. We’re devoting an entire season to fruitful living and today is sort of our introduction. We’ll be looking at many different Bible passages related to bearing fruit. Sharon, talk to me about this topic.
Sharon (00:49):
Well, there’s more on it than I thought there’d be. Let me tell you, it is definitely gonna fill the season.
Nicole (00:55):
Oh, good.
Sharon (00:56):
But let’s start simply, what’s your favorite fruit? Let’s talk about actual fruit before we talk about spiritual fruit.
Nicole (01:04):
Yeah. My favorite fruit, I do love apples.
Sharon (01:07):
Do you?
Nicole (01:07):
I do. I love them, but it’s really hard to find like a really good apple. I like the crispy sweet ones. (Sharon: Uhhuh) And I found at, um, butternut Farms, which is a little, a little farm near us.
Sharon (01:17):
I’ve been there. It’s beautiful.
Nicole (01:18):
Yes. It’s a beautiful farm. They have this whole giant chalkboard with every apple that they grow and a description about each one, like this one’s sweet and a little bit mushy, good for applesauce. This one is good for pies. This one’s good for et cetera. (Sharon: Wow) This one’s good for eating. So you can look and find like your perfect apple.
Sharon (01:36):
That perfect apple. (Nicole: Yeah) Isn’t it stunning? This is so like God. Snowflakes are individual. An apple is not just an apple. You have Macintosh and you have Gala. And I just got apples called Envy.
Nicole (01:48):
I’ve never heard of those.
Sharon (01:49):
What is an Envy apple? I don’t know. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m,
Nicole (01:52):
It’s like one that Eve would’ve gone after.
Sharon (01:53):
I’m a little suspicious about the title. I feel a little guilty having bought it. What is this envy apple.
Nicole (01:58):
You’ll have to tell me what it tastes like.
Sharon (02:01):
But my favorite fruit is always fruit in season. (Nicole: Oh yeah) Like a strawberry picked in the, what is it, June around here? (Nicole: Yeah) Best, best, best grapefruit when it’s fresh from Florida and not kind of wooden.
Nicole (02:16):
There’s a big difference between, (Sharon: there’s a huge difference) I do not like grapefruit from the store, but we had fresh grapefruit and it changed my life.
Sharon (02:22):
Oh yeah. You know why? Cause it was juicy, wasn’t it?
Nicole (02:25):
Yes. And it wasn’t as bitter and like hard and dry.
Sharon (02:27):
Mm-hmm. Yep. I’ve started to think about that, Nicole. And part of what makes fruit good is the amount of moisture in it. The amount of liquid in it. Strawberries that are juicy. (Nicole: Oh, true) The grapefruit that’s juicy. And I thought of living water. (Nicole: Yeah) The fact that Jesus gives us living water and, and when we’re, when we’re fresh because we’ve just been with him, our fruit is sweeter.
Nicole (02:51):
Oh I like that.
Sharon (02:51):
There’s my little analogy of the day to get us started.
Nicole (02:55):
That’s perfect though.
Sharon (02:57):
So anyways, let’s now talk about spiritual fruit. But I just thought, wow, there’s so much fruit and the best fruit is fresh from the vine, you know? (Nicole: Yes). That stayed close to the vine.
Nicole (03:06):
That hasn’t been transported and frozen. I love it. Well, there is a lot of correlation between actual fruit and the fruit that we’re gonna talk about today. The fruit that God gives us. So let’s talk about the fruit that God gives us.
Sharon (03:18):
Absolutely.
Nicole (03:19):
You know, God gives us a purpose while we’re here on earth, we’re not just saved and we just kinda like hang out and wait for heaven. We have a job. We have a purpose here.
Sharon (03:27):
We do.
Nicole (03:27):
Yeah. And it’s really important.
Sharon (03:27):
We do. Absolutely. And it’s to be fruit bearers. (Nicole: Yes) That it’s so wonderful, Nicole, to think I will live here until my purpose is done. (Nicole: Yeah) God has a plan for me.
Nicole (03:38):
Yeah.
Sharon (03:39):
And it’s fruit bearing. Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (03:40):
Absolutely. And sometimes our fruit, surprisingly isn’t always tangible.
Sharon (03:45):
No.
Nicole (03:45):
And we will cover that more next week.
Sharon (03:47):
Oh, we sure will.
Nicole (03:48):
A cliff hanger.
Sharon (03:48):
We sure will. Yes. And sometimes you look good on the outside and you’re not on the inside.
Nicole (03:53):
Yeah.
Sharon (03:54):
Absolutely.
Nicole (03:55):
You get a gross apple. But again, later next week,
Sharon (03:57):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Nicole (03:58):
And sometimes fruit bearing is hard.
Sharon (04:01):
It is.
Nicole (04:01):
Sometimes it’s hard to do.
Sharon (04:03):
It is. It’s gonna hurt. (Nicole: Yeah) Yeah. And we’re gonna learn about the hurting today. So I just, I just think it’s so crazy how too often we want to present Christianity as this soft, comfy, happy feeling, you know, all the time. And it is that because we have the Lord always with us, but he asks hard things of his disciples.
Nicole (04:24):
Yes.
Sharon (04:25):
He does. And um, so we’re gonna get into that today. We’re gonna start with the basics. And it really doesn’t get much more basic than Jesus’ illustration of the vine and the branches, which is what we’re gonna look at today. It is so easy to think we can do stuff on our own and we just can’t. (Nicole: Nope) So we’re gonna study Jesus’ amazing message to his disciples in John 15 in just a moment. But first, would you set the stage for us? What’s going on at the time that Jesus talks about the vine and the branches?
Nicole (04:55):
This is kind of amazing. This is right before they’re headed to the Garden of Gethsemane and ultimately this horrible, painful, terrible death. So this is like moments before, it feels like they’re walking to the garden cause you have this chapter about the vine and the branches. Then there’s this chapter right after that, he talks about the Holy Spirit and then he prays for his disciples. (Sharon: Yes) And the chapter right before he goes to the garden. Uh, so I can just see Jesus sitting down and talking to them and it’s so beautiful, isn’t it? That even on the way to his death, he was still so burdened.
Sharon (05:27):
He’s still teaching!
Nicole (05:27):
With giving wisdom to his disciples. (Sharon: Yeah) Not trying to get out of it.
Sharon (05:31):
No!
Nicole (05:32):
Or trying to hide, but telling them every little thing he could possibly get in before the end.
Sharon (05:36):
I love it, It was like me right before my girls went to college. Wait, I have more to tell you.
Nicole (05:41):
Wait, can you balance your checkbook yet?
Sharon (05:42):
Yes. Yes.
Nicole (05:43):
Do you know how to separate your clothes?
Sharon (05:44):
Are you sure you can do the laundry? Yeah. Yeah. It’s like he’s got all these last minute details. (Nicole: Yeah) And, and I mean it’s a long discourse (Nicole: Yes) on the way to the garden. He is just like, and this and this. And this. So I feel like the vine and the branches is hugely important. (Nicole: Right) He is trying to equip and prepare these disciples for what’s going to happen. (Nicole: Yeah) And he wants them to be fruit bearers.
Nicole (06:06):
Absolutely.
Sharon (06:07):
He does. So, okay, let’s read about it. Let’s read it. Why don’t you start with verse one and we’ll go back and forth.
Nicole (06:13):
All right. So we’re reading from John 15. “So I am the true grapevine and my father is the gardener.”
Sharon (06:18):
“He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit. So they will produce even more.”
Nicole (06:26):
Hmm. “You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you.”
Sharon (06:30):
“Remain in me and I will remain in you, for a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine. And you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.”
Nicole (06:41):
“Yes, I am the vine. You are the branches. Those who remain in me and I in them will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”
Sharon (06:50):
“Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.”
Nicole (06:59):
“But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want and it will be granted.”
Sharon (07:05):
“When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.”
Nicole (07:11):
“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.”
Sharon (07:15):
“When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love. Just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.”
Nicole (07:22):
“I have told you these things that you’ll be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will be will overflow.”
Sharon (07:28):
“This is my commandment. Love each other in the same way I have loved you.”
Nicole (07:33):
“There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
Sharon (07:37):
Oh my goodness. Can we stop there? He’s saying this right before he lays down his life. (Nicole: Yes) For his friends.
Nicole (07:42):
Can you feel that?
Sharon (07:43):
Like right before.
Nicole (07:44):
That weight. Yeah.
Sharon (07:45):
Wow. Okay. Back to verse 14. Woo. “You are my friends if you do what I command.”
Nicole (07:52):
“I no longer call you slaves because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends. Since I have told you everything the Father told me.”
Sharon (08:01):
“You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.”
Nicole (08:11):
“This is my command. Love each other.”
Sharon (08:13):
Okay.
Nicole (08:15):
It’s so good.
Sharon (08:16):
Yes. Let’s dig deeper now, Nicole, we’re gonna look at each section carefully and learn how we can bear fruit in God’s kingdom. And why don’t you just start, reread verse one and tell me what you think. We’ll go back and forth.
Nicole (08:29):
All right. This will be fun. So verse one is, “I am the true grapevine and my Father is the gardener.” So right off, I’m struck by Jesus’ humble heart. He’s acknowledging that God is the gardener. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) He’s giving God the authority to prune and to water and to grow as he will.
Sharon (08:46):
Yes. All the things.
Nicole (08:47):
So his humble heart is a really good thing that we should put ourselves into a place of as well. Like I’m not doing any of the growing, I’m here.
Sharon (08:54):
Right. Right.
Nicole (08:55):
You do that.
Sharon (08:56):
It’s interesting, you know, we’re the fruit, but we can’t do the fruit stuff, the branches, because we need the vine.
Nicole (09:03):
Right.
Sharon (09:03):
But Jesus chose to do everything his Father told him, cause his Father was the gardener. So there’s this like hierarchy thing going on when Jesus was on earth.
Nicole (09:11):
And he immediately established it.
Sharon (09:12):
Yeah, he did. He did. I love that.
Nicole (09:14):
I think that’s kind of cool.
Sharon (09:15):
Yeah. Okay. Verse two and three. I’m gonna read these two together cuz they kind of go together and this is an ‘ouch-y’ part.
Nicole (09:22):
Yeah it’s a little tricky.
Sharon (09:23):
Yes. It is. Hmm. “He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you.” It’s a little ruthless here (Nicole: Yeah) isn’t it? Branches cut back or removed even. But you know why, that’s how important the fruit is. The gardener wants the branches to bear fruit and he will do even painful things because he wants the branches to fulfill their purpose.
Nicole (09:55):
Oh, absolutely.
Sharon (09:56):
Right? A branch is just this dead thing unless it does what it was made for. And we are just dead things if we’re not doing what we were made for. And so we’ve gotta be pruned. (Nicole: Yeah) We just do. And part of the pruning is listening to and obeying the message that God gives us. Doing things like choosing forgiveness. Not being offended, submitting to God, allowing hardness in our life. Like sometimes, (Nicole: Yes) you know, I’ll be, I remember when I was in Moms in Prayer, I was the national director, I was doing all these things. (Nicole: Yeah) And then Dad Gamble came in and lived with us. I got pruned. I could not do my job. I had to quit my job because I needed to take care of Dad Gamble. Which was absolutely more important than what I was doing, even though what I was doing was very visible and very fun (Nicole: Yeah) I needed to go home and take care of Dad. So we have to submit to the pruning, the cutting back.
Nicole (11:00):
Accept what he cuts off.
Sharon (11:01):
Right. So that we can bear more fruit later.
Nicole (11:04):
Absolutely.
Sharon (11:05):
Yeah.
Nicole (11:05):
Have you ever seen a tree or a bush pruned like a fruit tree or a fruit bush pruned?
Sharon (11:10):
I’ve seen a grapevine pruned and it looks like a stump on the ground. I’m like, that will never flourish.
Nicole (11:17):
Yes. So my uncle in-law has a beautiful berry farm in Mechanic Falls. He grows blueberries and raspberries and strawberries and all the berries. So he was showing my mother-in-law how to prune her blueberry bushes. She has about 20 of them.
Sharon (11:31):
Wow. Uhhuh.
Nicole (11:32):
And she came up to me all excited going, come see my bushes. They look dead. They’re completely, he pruned off everything. And I’m like, oh no. She was like, let’s do it to yours too.
Sharon (11:41):
And you’re like back off Mother-in-law.
Nicole (11:41):
But my poor little blueberry bushes! So we did, we pruned them and it was, it’s very hard cause I’m cutting off things that have growth.
Sharon (11:50):
Yes.
Nicole (11:51):
But the whole goal of what he told us us was all these little offshoots that are producing little blueberries, you cut ’em all off. (Sharon: Yeah) Because it sucks the energy, the energy from the stem and the roots that need to go into growth of the branches.
Sharon (12:04):
Really? Okay.
Nicole (12:05):
So you should only have so many main branches cause the plant can’t sustain more than, I think it was five or whatever. (Sharon: Uhhuh, uhhuh) So you’re cutting new growth and you’re cutting ruthlessly thinking you’re not gonna have any blueberries. I’m cutting off like blossoms that were gonna turn into blueberries.
Sharon (12:18):
You’re like, goodbye blueberries.
Nicole (12:19):
Goodbye blueberries. The first year was a little rough because it has to kind of heal.
Sharon (12:23):
Right. Right.
Nicole (12:23):
And put the energy where it’s supposed to go. The next year, my blueberry bushes were loaded this year.
Sharon (12:29):
Wow.
Nicole (12:29):
I couldn’t, like it works. He wasn’t lying. But it was scary to trim everything off.
Sharon (12:35):
Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (12:36):
So to to think about that in my own life, like what God is cutting off, that I’m putting energy into that really isn’t, you know, growing us where God wants us to be. (Sharon: Right) It’s hard cause it could be a good thing. It could be producing fruit, but little, you know, three blueberries. LIke not 10 blueberries, but three.
Sharon (12:50):
And not what he wants for you. (Nicole: Yes) The main branch, what he wants. Yeah. We can get really distracted by a lot of things and sometimes we need to be taken back to a stub.
Nicole (12:59):
Yes. And the plant does kind of bleed a little. It’s tough. So, anyway pruning is tough, but it’s necessary.
Sharon (13:05):
It is necessary. And it’s for greater good.
Nicole (13:08):
It really is.
Sharon (13:08):
That’s the thing we have to remember. Okay, you’ve asked me to step back. There’s a purpose in this. Let me draw close to you Lord, and fill me, fill me, fill me so that I can burst with blueberries again. Right?
Nicole (13:21):
Right. And that can be a sweet time too. That healing time where you are kind of sitting there in the stillness with God going, oh, you took all these things away that I thought were producing fruit. So what, where do I need to grow now?
Sharon (13:30):
Yes. And we listen better.
Nicole (13:32):
We do.
Sharon (13:33):
Because, we’ve been pruned. You know, it’s like, okay, so what do you want cause I thought I knew. (Nicole: Right) Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Nicole (13:39):
Very interesting. So the next verses are verses four and five. “Remain in me and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit is if it is severed from the vine. And you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes. I am the vine and you are the branches. Those who remain in me and I in them will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” So this reminds me of when I was homeschooling the girls, we talked about these verses and we went and found a plant that was growing in our house and we pulled off a leaf and we just put it by itself on the side and said, let’s see how this leaf does.
Sharon (14:13):
Oh, how does it do?
Nicole (14:14):
It died very quickly. (Sharon: Yes) It turned brown and crusty. And, and it was such a good illustration for the girls to see that like, oh, this leaf might wanna grow, but it can’t, it’s dead. Like as soon as we disconnect from God, we can do nothing. He mentions it several times in this passage.
Sharon (14:28):
He does over and over. And he’s pretty clear, “Apart from me you can do nothing.”
Nicole (14:33):
Nothing. Not like, well, you’ll do okay. No, you can do nothing without him.
Sharon (14:38):
Nothing. Absolutely.
Nicole (14:38):
We are as useless as a dead leaf.
Sharon (14:40):
What a great illustration. Yes. The leaf died fast.
Nicole (14:42):
It did, without nutrients.
Sharon (14:45):
Of course it did. That living water is necessary.
Nicole (14:49):
Yes, it is.
Sharon (14:49):
For everything. I love that Jesus calls himself living water. I do.
Nicole (14:53):
That is really cool.
Sharon (14:53):
I love the word remain too. It means, it implies you could wander away.
Nicole (14:58):
Right.
Sharon (14:58):
And, and he’s like, no, no, no. Stay. (Nicole: Yes) Stay close. Stay close. Stay close. Over and over. The other word for it is abide. (Nicole: Yes). Live with me.
Nicole (15:08):
Yeah.
Sharon (15:08):
Be attached to me. We have to stay attached.
Nicole (15:11):
Yeah. That’s the only way to live.
Sharon (15:11):
Yeah. So, okay. Verse six is a tricky one. ” Anyone, Says Jesus, who does not remain in me, is thrown away like a useless branch and withers, such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.” Okay. So this is sobering. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) This is sobering. If we are not attached to him, bad things are going to happen to us. (Nicole: Yeah. Yeah) They really are. We have to have that living water. We are gonna wither. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) And I thought about it because it almost sounds like, well, but if I was attached to you, I thought I could, I could never lose you. You know, what does that mean, Lord? Does that mean I can lose my salvation? And I remembered a passage in 1 Corinthians:3. So I actually, I have my Bible right here.
Nicole (15:54):
Oh, good.
Sharon (15:54):
And I’m gonna read us, um, verses 10 through 15 in 1 Corinthians 3, because it kind of dovetails with this a lot. And I think it’s a really important one. So this is what Paul says in 1 Corinthians, “Because of God’s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful for, no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have. Jesus Christ.” So that’s the foundation. And if we’re attached to the vine, if we’ve chosen the vine, (Nicole: Yes) We have chosen Christ. (Nicole: Right) “Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials, gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value, if the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved. But like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.”
Nicole (16:58):
Wow.
Sharon (16:59):
Isn’t that something?
Nicole (17:00):
That is intense.
Sharon (17:01):
We’ve been given Christ.
Nicole (17:02):
Yes.
Sharon (17:02):
That’s the foundation. We’re to build on it. We’re to bear fruit. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) If we don’t bear fruit, we will still be saved but as through fire. We want the ‘well done’, you know?
Nicole (17:13):
We do.
Sharon (17:14):
We do. And somehow in heaven, it’s gonna matter what work we did. We’ll still get there. (Nicole: Right) We’ll still be loved in all this stuff, but we need to produce for him, you know? (Nicole: Right) We’re, we’re so in this ministry about resting, which he lets us do. (Nicole: Yes) And nestling close, which is so sweet. But he also asks us to bear fruit and he, he means it. (Nicole: Right) I guess that’s what verse six says to me. I mean it.
Nicole (17:42):
It’s not a suggestion.
Sharon (17:42):
I mean it.
Nicole (17:43):
Right. Like, oh, if you’re cozy, you can bear some fruit. (Sharon: Right) You need to bear fruit.
Sharon (17:46):
You need to do it. (Nicole: Yeah) Yeah. Or you’ll wither and you’ll have nothing to show for yourself when you get to heaven.
Nicole (17:52):
Yeah. That’s right.
Sharon (17:52):
And you’ll get there. But as through fire. I don’t even wanna think about what that means.
Nicole (17:57):
No.
Sharon (17:58):
So.
Nicole (17:58):
Were you there this Sunday when Pastor Yves showed that little clip about—
Sharon (18:02):
Yes. I was thinking of that too. The Francis Chan clip where (Nicole: Yes) he’s like, instead of walking on the balance beam and everything, he’s clinging to it, just trying to not fall off.
Nicole (18:12):
Right. Just do a nice, safe, you know, easy life. And then you stand before the Lord and go ‘ta-da’ with your arms up and,
Sharon (18:18):
And you’ve done nothing.
Nicole (18:18):
You’ve done nothing. (Sharon: Yeah) But just, and that was so convicting. Oh my goodness.
Sharon (18:22):
So convicting.
Nicole (18:22):
Yeah. And I feel like we should really take that from this as well. You know, if you’re not willing to be pruned and bear fruit. That does not sound fun. I don’t want to be withered and thrown away.
Sharon (18:30):
No, no. I’d rather be pruned. I don’t wanna be chopped off.
Nicole (18:33):
No. No thank you.
Sharon (18:34):
Yeah. You may prune me.
Nicole (18:36):
Yes.
Sharon (18:36):
Yes. Okay. Moving on.
Nicole (18:38):
So how do we avoid this? I like verse seven. Cause it gives us a little bit of a like how to avoid six. “But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want and it will be granted if we say attached to the vine, to the living water, the power that he gives us to do what he calls us to do is limitless.” Anything we want. (Sharon: Yeah) It’ll be granted. (Sharon: Yeah) We forget that we have that untapped power of the Holy Spirit living in us.
Sharon (19:06):
Absolutely.
Nicole (19:06):
And if he calls us to bear fruit, he’s actually producing the fruit. It’s not us. We’re just (Sharon: Mm-hmm) hanging out, growing it.
Sharon (19:12):
Yes, exactly.
Nicole (19:13):
And abiding, we’re abiding.
Sharon (19:15):
Yeah. Sucking up the nutrients. That’s it. Gimme more nutrients. Yes. That’s so true.
Nicole (19:19):
And it’s him that does the, that does the growing and the increase. So even through that, it requires us still just to remain, to be there and to grow with him. And he’s still, he produces the fruit.
Sharon (19:29):
He does it.
Nicole (19:30):
So cool.
Sharon (19:31):
Yeah. Yeah. So it’s not stressful. (Nicole: Right). You just have to stay close.
Nicole (19:34):
Right. We don’t have have to sit here and try to say, well what fruit do I need to produce specifically?
Sharon (19:39):
Yeah. There’s not a, a panic thing. (Nicole: Yes) Right. Right. Which is good. Yeah.
Nicole (19:42):
It is very good.
Sharon (19:43):
Yeah. Verse eight. “When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.” Oh my goodness. He wants us to produce much fruit. And that those are the ones that are his special disciples, Right?
Nicole (19:58):
Oh yes.
Sharon (19:58):
They’re the ones that bring glory to the Father. Jesus spent his whole earthly life desiring to bring glory to the Father. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) And we’re, a disciple is a follower. (Nicole: Yes) They do what the rabbi does. (Nicole: Right) So we also wanna bring glory to the Father. And how do we do that? By staying attached to the only one who can produce the fruit through us. And then we can be just as amazed when the little grapes show up as anybody. Right.
Nicole (20:22):
Cause we know we had nothing to do with it.
Sharon (20:23):
Nothing to do with it except staying close. Like, whoa, look at that fruit. So there’s no pride in it. (Nicole: Right) It’s when we walk away that we wither.
Nicole (20:31):
That’s true.
Sharon (20:32):
So, there’s just this humble, use me Lord. (Nicole: Yeah) Just use me and if you want it, use me in Mom’s in Prayer? Great. If you wanna use me taking care of one older man who needs a lot of care (Nicole: Yeah) use me. It’s up to him what kind of fruit we’re gonna bear and which seasons of life. So.
Nicole (20:51):
That’s so true. That reminds me of the jars of clay where he makes us and he decides what we’re used for. Some are (Sharon: That’s right) probably to hold pretty flowers. And some were used as chamber pots, so God chooses where to use us and when and we just have to be willing to,
Sharon (21:03):
That’s right. And we’re just the pot.
Nicole (21:06):
Yep. Just a little old pot. So verse nine says, “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me, remain in my love.” That’s a great love, isn’t it?
Sharon (21:16):
Yes.
Nicole (21:17):
He loves us as much as God loves him.
Sharon (21:20):
That’s huge love.
Nicole (21:21):
Love as a father to a child. Like we love, you have children, you know, I have children. That love, that mother’s love is so strong, but God’s love is pure and he is love. So his love is a hundred times more strong than our love can be.
Sharon (21:33):
Yes, yes, yes,
Nicole (21:34):
So that’s really cool. And then I see the ‘remain in my love’, like, well what does that mean? But verse 10 kind of explains what that means. Like what does it mean to remain in his love? How do we remain in God’s love?
Sharon (21:45):
Well, I’m glad you asked. I’m going to read verse 10.
Nicole (21:47):
Perfect.
Sharon (21:47):
“When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love. Just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.” Jesus on earth walked in obedience. (Nicole: Yes) He did.
Nicole (22:00):
Up until death.
Sharon (22:01):
Yeah. Until death, which he’s about to have. (Nicole: Yes) And he’s in the garden saying, if there’s any other way, take this cup from me. But not my will (cause Jesus’ will at that point, his human will was No, no, no, no, no, no. I don’t not want this). (Nicole: Yeah) But he wanted God’s will more. It’s so beautiful. So we need to obey. The way. to stay near, the way to remain, is obedience. Sin separates us from him. Bitter hearts are made proud and God is not close to the prideful.
Nicole (22:30):
Mm-hmm. He’s close to the humble.
Sharon (22:31):
Right. You know, and the unforgiving. He’s pretty clear that we need to have soft hearts toward him and obedient hearts to stay close to God. We have to be always, confessing sin and, and getting back to where we need to be with him. And he welcomes us over and over, but we do need to walk in obedience. Or we’re gonna be far away from him. We just are. (Nicole: Yeah). So.
Nicole (22:55):
And I want to be in his love. Being, remaining in his love sounds like a beautiful place to be. Even if it requires some work and some obedience, confessions.
Sharon (23:02):
It does. Yes. Yeah. We’re not remaining in his anger. (Nicole: Yeah) We’re remaining in his love. Staying close means we’re loved.
Nicole (23:08):
Absolutely.
Sharon (23:09):
It’s cool. It’s worth giving up some bitterness.
Nicole (23:11):
I think so. (Sharon: Yeah) It sounds like a good exchange. Well and then verse 11 even it says, “I have told you these things that you’ll be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow.” So obedience equals remaining in love equals Jesus’s joy that will overflow in us. So again, sounds like a pretty good trade up.
Sharon (23:29):
It’s pretty happy. Yeah. Yeah. Bitter people are not happy.
Nicole (23:32):
No.
Sharon (23:32):
Unforgiving people are not happy. (Nicole: No) People that fly into rages are not happy.
Nicole (23:38):
People hiding in their sin, not going to confess, to confess to God. That’s such an unhappy place to be.
Sharon (23:43):
It is. Yeah. There’s joy in remaining with God.
Nicole (23:46):
Absolutely.
Sharon (23:46):
I love that God is a joy God.
Nicole (23:49):
Yes.
Sharon (23:49):
You know, not a dour, must be serious all the time and feel, you know, deeply about things. We can smile, we can laugh, we can be full of joy. So I love it. So, okay, verse 12, “This is my commandment. Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friend.” Said right before Jesus lays down his life for his friends.
Nicole (24:15):
Wow.
Sharon (24:15):
We are called, here’s the pruning, we are called to sacrificial love.
Nicole (24:19):
Yeah.
Sharon (24:20):
So that’s verse 12.
Nicole (24:22):
Sacrificial love is tough. (Sharon: And 13) So (verse) 14 says, “You are my friends, if you do what I command, I no longer call you slaves because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends since I have told you everything the Father told me.” Wow. We are friends with Jesus.
Sharon (24:39):
That is so amazing!
Nicole (24:41):
Just marinate on that for a minute. Like, wow. It’s just that, to imagine him as a friend is, it’s hard to imagine cause you do think of him as so high and holy.
Sharon (24:50):
Yes.
Nicole (24:51):
But he calls us his friends.
Sharon (24:52):
Yes. He wants to be that close.
Nicole (24:53):
That’s amazing.
Sharon (24:54):
He wants us to tell secrets to him.
Nicole (24:56):
Yes.
Sharon (24:57):
And get him, like he gets us.
Nicole (24:58):
Tell about our good days and our bad days. (Sharon: Yes) And the little things. (Sharon: Yes) And that always really struck me when I first came to Christ too. He cared about the little things too, like, do you really care about this, Lord? This seems so silly. Like it’s not a big thing, you know?
Sharon (25:09):
Uhhuh.
Nicole (25:09):
It’s not cancer.
Sharon (25:10):
Don’t friends care about little things? They sure enough do.
Nicole (25:12):
Yeah. He’s such a good friend. (Sharon: Yeah. Yeah) And isn’t this cool? He says, um, now that you are my friends, I have told you everything the Father told me. Whoa. That’s just really interesting to me.
Sharon (25:22):
Yeah. That’s the telling each other’s secrets. (Nicole: Yeah) Jesus, Jesus told all the things. It’s so beautiful.
Nicole (25:27):
Very cool.
Sharon (25:27):
It is. I love it. I love it. Okay. Verse 16, he’s being really clear. “You didn’t choose me, ” and they didn’t, remember?They were fishing, they were selling, you don’t sell taxes, you take taxes. They were taking in taxes. You know, all the things the disciples were doing. And Jesus was the one that chose them and said, I chose you. I follow you. “So you didn’t choose me, I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for using my name.” Wowzers. Here we are back to, Hey, if you stay attached to me, if you start to know what I want, you can ask for it. You can pray for it and be given it.
Nicole (26:10):
Wow.
Sharon (26:11):
You know, if you’re far away, you might be wanting the wrong things. (Nicole: Right) And you’re not going to get ’em. (NIcole: Right) But if you stay close, your heart is aligned with God’s and you want people to come to salvation.
Nicole (26:22):
Absolutely.
Sharon (26:22):
You, you want to let go of the bitterness that has taken ahold of your heart. (Nicole: Yeah) And you ask in his name and he helps you with it.
Nicole (26:29):
Oh, for sure.
Sharon (26:30):
It’s a beautiful thing. And he wants lasting fruit. And I I just love that. I, I pray for that a lot when I’m speaking. Fruit that lasts, Lord. Not just, oh, that was a fun retreat. I’m gonna go home now and forget it in two days.
Nicole (26:44):
Right.
Sharon (26:44):
Just some fruit that lasts, something that makes each of us that are there, um, wanna love him more, serve him better, hear whatever specific calling he has for us at that time. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) We want lasting fruit in the lives of our kids too.
Nicole (26:58):
Oh yes. (Sharon: Yeah) Yeah. That’s, how can we have lasting fruit? The last verse. “This is my command. Love each other.” So I think about that. Like that’s, that is one way that we produce fruit. If we’re staying in him. Where, you know, it reminds me of like when I’m trying to eat healthy, like the first couple days is tough, and then when I start eating fruits and vegetables and whole foods, I get a taste for them and I long for those.
Sharon (27:21):
Yes. Good point.
Nicole (27:22):
If we remain in God, we’re longing for the good things. So we will ask in his name for what he wants us to ask for. What’s good for us and good for those around us.
Sharon (27:30):
Right. Right.
Nicole (27:30):
But if we’re not, if we’re away and just eating junk food, you don’t want the good things as much.
Sharon (27:34):
No. You want more junk food.
Nicole (27:36):
You want more junk food.
Sharon (27:37):
Yes. That’s a sad thing about it. (Nicole: It is) You have one piece and you want 17 more, which is where you get into trouble with junk food.
Nicole (27:43):
Exactly.
Sharon (27:43):
Yeah.
Nicole (27:43):
So it’s kind of like the same thing with, with being close to God, the closer we are with him, that then he’s going to give us that appetite for the things of him.
Sharon (27:51):
Yes. Yes.
Nicole (27:51):
He’s, we’re gonna desire those things more and love each other. It’ll be easier to love each other. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) Because we’ll be feeding ourselves from God. And that’s the living water, which is filled with love.
Sharon (28:01):
It is.
Nicole (28:01):
And grace and mercy. And we can pour that out on others around us. (Sharon: Yes) Instead of just like growing, or my trying to grow the little leaf in my angry soil by myself, eating junk food.
Sharon (28:11):
Right. Oh, that picture. Oh man. But to stay attached means love, means joy. It means purpose.
Nicole (28:22):
Yes.
Sharon (28:23):
We’re gonna unpack this, you know, season, the purpose, the fruit bearing, the things that we bring with us into eternity because we sure don’t bring our nice little house. (Nicole: Right) Right? Or even, you know, our buff bodies, they get older as we get old and less buff with age. But what we do bring is the fruit. (Nicole: Yeah) And I’m just so excited to unpack it. But let’s pray from our introduction. Oh, heavenly Father, we acknowledge that you are the Gardener. You get to choose what kind of fruit we bear. You get to choose what soil we’re in, get to choose when to prune us. That is your beautiful responsibility and our pleasure and privilege to receive it. And Lord Jesus, thank you that you want us so close that you call us friends, that you pour into us living water so that we can just watch with awe at what you do in us because we have remained, stayed, abided with you. Oh Lord. during this season of study help us to be fruit bearers. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole (29:47):
Amen. Well, thanks for joining us on this new adventure as we explore what it means to live a fruit filled life. Even though, even though that pruning can be painful, the joy of producing good fruit for God’s kingdom is definitely worth it. Speaking of new adventures, we’d love for you to consider joining us in September for the Refuge 2023 Retreat in beautiful New Hampshire on Lake Winnipesaukee. We’ll have three days and two nights together studying the word, enjoying the beauty of early fall in New England and worshiping all together in one place. To learn more, go to SweetSelah.org and look for Refuge Retreat 2023. All the information is right there. We’re always grateful for comments, donations, and reviews as well. Thanks for listening. And join us next time for a talk on discernment. How do we know our fruit is good and not bad? Join us for Episode 96, Good Fruit, Bad Fruit. Have a great week.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found@sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Sadly, one of the greatest casualties of a busy Christmas schedule can be the loss of time to visit lonely people. By the time we've finished keeping up with our "main" people, we're all done in and unable to even think about visiting Great Aunt Ruby. However, if we keep a "simple" Christmas we can find the time - not for every lonely person on our list perhaps - but for the ONE that God points out to us. Join Sharon and Nicole as they talk about all the triggers a holiday can set off in people's minds and hearts. It's not always a happy day. How can we, with God's help and by His grace, keep a tender heart toward the hurting this year? Join us for this talk and find your "one."
Want to become a Podcast Partner? We'd love to have you on our team! You will get exclusive emails from Nicole and Sharon and our deepest gratitude if you are led by God to become a monthly donor. Seriously, even a $3 a month donation would be such a help. Go to DONATIONS tab on this website and sign up today. Write that you are choosing to be a Podcast Partner in the Comments section. Thanks.
Read the transcript for A Tender-Hearted Christmas-Episode 94Speaker 1 (00:00):
Merry Christmas Sweet Selah friends. Sit for a moment and reflect with us as we study God’s Word and the very first Christmas. We are so glad you’re here. This Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is brought to you by Sweet Selah Ministries and Word Radio.
Nicole (00:18):
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 94, A Tender hearted Christmas. Last week, Sharon and I looked at ways to keep Christmas special and yet simple. One of the blessings that comes from keeping it simple is that we have the room and space to keep a tender heart for others. Christmas is not a happy day for many people. There are a lot of emotions that are triggered at Christmas time.
Sharon (00:41):
Oh, there sure are. The first Christmas without a loved one, for example, is a tough one. I remember the year Dad Gamble died and it was December 2nd, so it was really close to Christmas time. We were still dealing with death certificates and the empty room, his empty room at our house, and the ache was great. I loved him so much. Then our daughter was told that the foster child they were sure they could adopt, was being taken away from them. So we ended up flying to Iowa to help her with her own broken heart while we were still dealing with ours. It actually was healing. You know, we kind of were there for each other, but it wasn’t the happiest Christmas.
Nicole (01:19):
No, I don’t imagine it was. There are also people who aren’t able to be with loved ones and the hurt that someone isn’t coming home for Christmas can make it really hard to be in the holiday mood.
Sharon (01:30):
It can. Yeah.
Nicole (01:31):
Family is such a big deal at the holiday, Sharon, and families are complicated
Sharon (01:34):
Oh yes, they are.
Nicole (01:37):
So Christmases can be tough, you know? For us personally, last year was really tough for us. We all got Covid right through Christmas and missed all the family parties.
Sharon (01:45):
Oh, my goodness.
Nicole (01:45):
And Christmas Eve service at church, which is my absolute favorite. It was hard to keep all our spirits up.
Sharon (01:51):
Yeah. Yeah. You can have a Covid Christmas. (Nicole: Yes) You’ll never forget it. Let’s hope you don’t ever have another one. Yeah, well that’s why we’re gonna look at how to keep a tender heart toward others this Christmas. We’re gonna look at three passages of Luke 2, continuing, and then talk about how the first Christmas family stayed tender and how we can too. So, back to Luke 2. Last week we read about the journey to Bethlehem, the uncomfortable birth in a stable of some sorts, where baby Jesus was laid in a manger where normally cattle or donkeys or sheep ate their food. Nothing fancy or perfect about that setting. The first Christmas was not ideal. I’m gonna pick up the story now at Luke 2:7, and we’ll read back and forth. “She (Mary) gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger because there was no lodging available for them.”
Nicole (02:43):
“That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep.”
Sharon (02:50):
“Suddenly” (Sorry).
Nicole (02:50):
Nicole: It’s okay.
Sharon (02:52):
(I just told you we were reading back and forth, and I’m not.) “Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared among them and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified.”
Nicole (03:02):
“But the angel reassured them, Don’t be afraid, he said. I’ll bring you the good news that will bring great joy to all people.”
Sharon (03:08):
“The Savior, yes, The Messiah, The Lord has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David.”
Nicole (03:15):
“And you will recognize him by this sign. You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth lying in a manger.”
Sharon (03:22):
“Suddenly the angel was joined by a vast host of others, the armies of heaven, praising God and saying,”
Nicole (03:30):
“Glory to God in the highest heaven and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
Sharon (03:36):
“When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, let’s go to Bethlehem. Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
Nicole (03:44):
“They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph, and there was the baby lying in the manger.”
Sharon (03:50):
“After seeing him the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child.”
Nicole (03:56):
“All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished.”
Sharon (03:59):
“But Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.”
Nicole (04:03):
“The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had seen and heard. It was just as the angel had told them.”
Sharon (04:11):
I love so much that God chose rough, lower class men to announce the birth of his son to the town of Bethlehem, the whole town, evidently. (Nicole: Yeah) They told everyone.
Nicole (04:20):
They were very excited.
Sharon (04:21):
Nicole, these guys were not even trusted to be a witness in a court of law their reputation was so poor in those days. (Nicole: Wow) And yet they dropped everything to go find that baby. You know, I think that busier more, um, important people, even if angels came to them, would go check it out later when they had more time. Right?
Nicole (04:39):
Hmm. That’s a good point.
Sharon (04:40):
But those shepherds, they’re like, we’re on our way to Bethlehem time now. Right.
Nicole (04:45):
That’s true. They weren’t so busy with their important things that they were available for when God called them.
Sharon (04:49):
They were. They were. Isn’t that neat?
Nicole (04:51):
Oh, I love that part of the story, and I love that God chose those lowly shepherds to announce his birth and just how beautiful their unabashed joy was at sharing the news with everyone who would listen. (Sharon: Yep) Oh. To have a heart full of joy like they did that night. It’s really interesting, Sharon. I didn’t realize how closely the shepherds would’ve understood about Jesus being that perfect sacrificial Lamb, cause the shepherds outside of Bethlehem would’ve been in charge of raising little lambs for sacrifice. So this would’ve been very significant for them.
Sharon (05:19):
Yes, it would have. And as time went on, and then they might have witnessed the crucifixion. (Nicole: Yeah) And the resurrection. If they accepted Christ as their Savior, those same shepherds would see the Lamb slain.
Nicole (05:30):
Wow. Very cool if you think about that.
Sharon (05:32):
Yeah. Oh. Okay but let’s go back to Mary for a moment, Nicole. She’s just given birth for the first time. I mean, just like that day, right? She’s not home in a cushy bedroom. (Nicole: No) She doesn’t have her aunts or sisters or friends around to help her. And she’s never given birth before. And she, you know, she had no one except Joseph to help her.
Nicole (05:52):
Right.
Sharon (05:52):
She’s just traveled a long distance, couldn’t even find a place to give birth. Right? She’s in some kind of stable. How ready do you think she was for a gang of shepherds to show up at the door of the stable?
Nicole (06:04):
I’m thinking not ready at all.
Sharon (06:07):
Oh, for crying out loud, would you have wanted to see anybody?
Nicole (06:09):
Oh my word. No. We had quite a few visitors when we had our first baby and it was overwhelming. And I was in a beautiful, clean little hospital room.
Sharon (06:16):
I can’t even.
Nicole (06:17):
Oh my goodness. But she definitely would’ve had to have been gracious to receive them after just having a baby. And then, you know, Joseph and Mary both would’ve been exhausted by this point, I would imagine after traveling and then a long night giving birth.
Sharon (06:29):
And then surprise!
Nicole (06:30):
Oh, there’s some shepherds.
Sharon (06:31):
Some shepherds are here. Here they are. Yeah.
Nicole (06:35):
It’s a lot.
Sharon (06:36):
I’m trying to think of how I can apply this to daily life and I, I think this is how. I have to ask myself this question. Am I open to interruptions in December?
Nicole (06:45):
Oooh, That’s a good question.
Sharon (06:46):
When I’m busy. Right?
Nicole (06:47):
Yeah.
Sharon (06:48):
Can I make time for a cup of Christmas tea if someone unexpectedly shows up at my door? Or am I irritated that they’re wrecking my, um, perfect plans?
Nicole (06:57):
Right.
Sharon (06:58):
You know, I’ve gotta be open for interruptions. Really need to be open. So I, my heart is that I will pray for that kind of tender heart that welcomes the unexpected and watches for the ones that need extra loving.
Nicole (07:11):
Oh, I’m right there with you on that one. Unplanned things can really throw me off. I think that I need to be more open and pray the same thing about, you know, being more willing to accept the unexpected. (Sharon: Yes) And maybe pray to be more kind to those awkward relatives that we all need to deal with at Christmas parties. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) Or be willing to host friends and their kiddos during the busy Christmas season. Because really people should take precedence over stuff.
Sharon (07:35):
Yes. And our time schedules.
Nicole (07:37):
Absolutely.
Sharon (07:38):
Yes. In fact, if we keep the simple Christmas, we’ll have time.
Nicole (07:41):
Right.
Sharon (07:42):
For the unexpected cup of tea. (Nicole: Yeah) Or whatever. I mean, I’m saying cup of tea cause I’m British. I doubt Mary offered the shepherds a cup of tea.
Nicole (07:49):
Probably not.
Sharon (07:49):
Right. And here’s the thing about hospitality too. The house does not have to be perfect. The hostess doesn’t actually need to have to drop everything. I often invite my guests into my kitchen, hand them a paring knife and say, Hey, I’m still making the salad, you’ve got the cucumbers. Right?
Nicole (08:05):
Right.
Sharon (08:05):
Or maybe they help me wrap presents or address cards. Can I just make them family for a bit?
Nicole (08:10):
Oh.
Sharon (08:10):
Then it doesn’t feel so like, Oh my word, I don’t have time to sit and entertain you. Who said I needed to sit and entertain them? Why can’t I just invite them into my life? (Nicole: Oh) I’ve actually found that engaging my guests and helping me run my home makes them feel more at home than sitting with me trying to be polite while I’m thinking of all the things I need to do.
Nicole (08:30):
That’s a great point.
Sharon (08:31):
Yeah.
Nicole (08:33):
I love how you do that. We won’t often have guests to stay overnight at our home right now because all the rooms are filled with multiple children’s bunk beds. So we have a little limited space, but having people over to the house is hard for me sometimes because we are in that season of life. There’s always toys on the floor. Always craft projects out.
Sharon (08:48):
Of course there are. Yes.
Nicole (08:49):
So, you know, getting over the need to have everything perfect or the feeling that my house is super in need of updating then, that I, I just can’t host. You know, it’s really hard for me to sometimes get out of my own way and just have people over and enjoy their company. (Sharon: Yeah) Something God is definitely working out in my heart.
Sharon (09:03):
Yes. Well, all we have to do is think of Mary welcoming shepherds to a stable.
Nicole (09:08):
Welcome to my stable.
Sharon (09:09):
This is the King of kings. (Nicole: Yeah) In a manger.
Nicole (09:12):
Pull up a bale of hay.
Sharon (09:13):
Yeah. Pull up a bale of hay.
Nicole (09:14):
That’s true. Well now we’re going to move on to our next portion of Luke 2. We’ll be reading Luke 2:21-35. And I’ll start with verse 21, Jesus Is Presented in the Temple, “Eight days later when the baby was circumcised he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel even before he was conceived.”
Sharon (09:33):
(I love how they obeyed God in that.) “Then it was time for their purification offering as required by the law of Moses after the birth of a child. So his parents took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.”
Nicole (09:45):
“The law of the Lord says if a woman’s first child is a boy, he must be dedicated to the Lord.”
Sharon (09:50):
“So they offered the sacrifice required in the Law of the Lord, ‘Either a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons’.”
Nicole (09:59):
“At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout. (Oh my goodness.)(Sharon: That’s okay) He was righteous and devout and was eagerly awaiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him.”
Sharon (10:15):
“And had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.”
Nicole (10:21):
“That day, the Spirit led him to the temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the Baby Jesus to the Lord as a law required,”
Sharon (10:28):
“Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God saying,”
Nicole (10:32):
“Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace as you have promised.”
Sharon (10:37):
“I have seen your salvation,”
Nicole (10:39):
“Which you have prepared for all the people.”
Sharon (10:41):
“He is a Light to reveal God to the nations and he is the Glory of your people, Israel.”
Nicole (10:47):
“Jesus’ parents were amazed at what was being said about him.”
Sharon (10:50):
“Then Simeon blessed them and he said to Mary, the baby’s mother, this child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall and many others to rise. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him.”
Nicole (11:05):
“As a result the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed and his sword will pierce your very soul”
Sharon (11:12):
Whew! What stands out to you, Nicole, about this passage the most?
Nicole (11:16):
Well, first I’m struck by Mary and Joseph’s devoted hearts to God. You know, they named him Jesus and they were probably very poor and they, but they still gave a small offering and obeyed the law.
Sharon (11:25):
Yeah, yeah. They sure did.
Nicole (11:27):
And next Simeon, he’s a really interesting character. Mary didn’t know that God had promised him that he’d live until he saw the Messiah or that this had been a lifelong dream of his. So for this older man to come up and fawn over her baby and even for her to let him hold Jesus (Sharon: Yes) was really very remarkable. You know, Mary had such a kind heart. She really seems to have just gone with the flow with all these unusual events surrounding Jesus’ birth and his life here.
Sharon (11:52):
She really did right from the beginning. Oh, I’m going to have a baby, although I’ve never been with a man. May it be to me, as you have said. (Nicole: Yeah)That’s our Mary. She went with the flow.
Nicole (12:01):
Oh, we’re traveling while I’m pregnant. Here we go. Oh baby born in a stable.
Sharon (12:04):
Oh, shepherds showing up on the doorstep. Oh man taking my baby away from me and holding it. You know, I never did well with that. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) I loved holding my babies so much and someone would say, can I hold your baby? And I’d be like, well, okay.
Nicole (12:19):
Do you have to?
Sharon (12:20):
And the whole time they were holding them, I’m like, maybe they’ll cry a little and I can take them back. Oh, let me take them now. I was terrible. Oh, so go Mary.
Nicole (12:27):
Yeah, she was very gracious.
Sharon (12:28):
Yes. She didn’t even know Simeon.
Nicole (12:30):
I know.
Sharon (12:31):
Yeah.
Nicole (12:31):
Very interesting.
Sharon (12:32):
So okay, let’s talk about being tenderhearted in our homes when unexpected, well we already did. We talked about being tender hearted in our homes when unexpected company comes to call. Now we’re gonna talk about honoring older people who have perhaps outlived their spouses and their siblings. How can we make Christmas special for them?
Nicole (12:48):
Oh, that’s good.
Sharon (12:49):
So I wanna practice the rule of the one thing here in Nicole. I know a lot of elderly people and I cannot visit them all, but could I visit one? Could I just bring a little gift and sit with them and listen to their stories? That’s my goal this year.
Nicole (13:01):
I like that.
Sharon (13:02):
To visit one, to look beyond my own enjoyment of the holiday. And I do like to make it nice for me and Ray and my kids. Could I make it nice for one other person?
Nicole (13:11):
I like that idea. Um, so we were trick or treating last year and we went to this house that we hadn’t gone up to before cause the light was always off and the light was on this year and we went up the driveway. (Sharon: Oh) We’re off in the woods and there’s little log cabins and it’s rough trick or treating time. But we got up to the door and this sweet little old lady answered the door and she was so apologetic she didn’t have candy for us because no one ever came to her door before.
Sharon (13:33):
Oh, bless her.
Nicole (13:34):
She didn’t know there were any kids in the neighborhood. So she felt so bad and we were just like, oh, she never gets visitors. So my girls, when we were leaving her driveway, they were like, mom, we need to bake her Christmas cookies and deliver that to her.
Sharon (13:47):
Oh my goodness.
Nicole (13:47):
So how sweet. We have a couple little older couples in our neighborhood that we bring Christmas cookies to that, you know, we kind of feel like it’s a little bit of something. Maybe a treat for them cuz they don’t do a lot of baking. Well I hope it’s a treat for them cause they are the aforementioned, overly sprinkled cookies.
Sharon (14:03):
Of course they are.
Nicole (14:04):
So who knows, let’s hope it’s the thought that counts.
Sharon (14:06):
Right, right. Oh that’s neat.
Nicole (14:08):
And Sharon, you know, one thing I love that our church is doing this year is they’re doing these sweet little care packages that they put together. And all you need to do is let the Connect to Care Team know that you’re interested and they can give you a package.
Sharon (14:19):
Yeah I noticed that. I Like that.
Nicole (14:19):
And they connect you with an older couple or a person.
Sharon (14:22):
Yeah. They even put the package together for you.
Nicole (14:24):
It’s so simple.
Sharon (14:25):
It is.
Nicole (14:25):
I love that idea. (Sharon: Yep) We tried to do it last year, then we got sick. We decided not to spread our germs to them.
Sharon (14:31):
But you would have if you had not had covid.
Nicole (14:34):
Yeah. The girls were very excited. We may try to do it again this year.
Sharon (14:36):
Yeah. Yeah. It’s kind of one of the things that’s so sweet about belonging to a church. Yeah. Because they give you opportunities, you know, to do things like that. Fill the Samaritan’s Purse Shoe Boxes and you know, so it’s just a good thing. It really is.
Nicole (14:48):
I think you can benefit from other people’s gifts. If they’re really, really good at gift packages and I’m not, they’ve already made it, then it makes it easier for me to go and visit. It’s wonderful.
Sharon (14:56):
That’s beautiful. Yeah. Okay. So we’re going to accept the unexpected company in our house. We’re going to love on at least one elderly lonely person.
Nicole (15:07):
Yeah, around us or in our life. Yep. I love it.
Sharon (15:09):
All right, well we get one more example here we go, in our tenderhearted pursuit. So we’re gonna finish reading Luke 2 with verses just 36 through 38, the prophecy of Anna. “Anna, a prophet was also there in the temple. She was the daughter of Penuel from the tribe of Asher. And she was very old. Her husband died when they had been married only seven years.” (Nicole: Oh). I know.
Nicole (15:33):
“Then she lived as a widow to the age of 84. She never left the temple, but stayed there day and night worshiping God with fasting and praying.”
Sharon (15:41):
“She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem.” So here we have another old person who actually lived a pretty tragic life. No kids, only seven years of being married before she lost her husband, (Nicole: Oh I know, that’s sad) and then a life alone. Oh man. A lifetime of living near or in the temple actually. She was there every day. (Nicole: Yeah) So Nicole, what are rules about widows who have no one to care for them? And did she actually live in the temple? I’m curious.
Nicole (16:18):
Yeah, I know. I’m not entirely sure, but when I looked it up, Gotquestions.org said that she might have been given housing in the temple because she was a prophetess it said. Or she had housing really close by. But either way she was there every day.
Sharon (16:30):
Which is sweet.
Nicole (16:32):
It is. You know, cause being a widow back in that time and being childless to boot, it left her with the very few options for provision. With no one to care for her she would’ve relied upon her church for her daily needs and how cool that God rewarded that daily devotion and allowed her to see the Messiah with her own eyes. (Sharon: Yeah) You know, some commentaries think that she was 84 and others think she might have been as old as 104.
Sharon (16:54):
Really?
Nicole (16:54):
Yeah.
Sharon (16:54):
Wow.
Nicole (16:56):
So either way, that’s a really long time to wait and fast and pray for the Messiah.
Sharon (17:00):
It surely is. And she did it every day. And Oh God rewarded her as well as Simeon.
Nicole (17:05):
That’s so cool.
Sharon (17:05):
You know, there’d been 400 years of silence from God.
Nicole (17:10):
That’s right.
Sharon (17:10):
That’s a long time to wait for God to speak again. There were no prophets during the time. There were no new books of the Bible written during that time, you know, kind of thing. It was a silent time. And, and yet Simeon and Anna, having not seen anything from the past, having not seen anything in their entire lives, were still waiting. Were still longing, were still believing for Messiah. That kind of faith is astounding.
Nicole (17:35):
Oh it is.
Sharon (17:36):
It really, really is.
Nicole (17:37):
They are wonderful examples of that.
Sharon (17:38):
I love that. I love that. Well in this case, you know, Anna was elderly too, but she was also very poor. (Nicole: Yes) So I wanna focus now on what do we do for the poor and needy at Christmas time. Again, we cannot feed the whole world. We can’t visit every homeless shelter, but we could do one thing, right? (Nicole: Yeah) So we could do a Christmas shoebox. We just talked about that. And you know, I have to confess to you, I am not a, I’m not initially a good Christmas shoe boxer because I hate shopping. I never have liked shopping. I don’t wanna shop. I never wanna shop. But Ray picked up a Christmas box from our church this year and brought it home to me. I was not at church cause I was on a retreat and he’s like, and this is Ray, (Nicole: Yes) I picked up a Christmas box, here. I’m like, oh, okay. So who’s filling the box?
Nicole (18:27):
Right.
Sharon (18:27):
Would that be me? But I went to Walmart and all of a sudden I had in my mind the person I wanted to shop for. (Nicole: Oh) I wanted the older girl, you know, the 10 to 14 year old one?
Nicole (18:37):
They’re harder to shop for.
Sharon (18:38):
They are harder to shop for and you know, they’re not as cute anymore.
Nicole (18:42):
Right.
Sharon (18:42):
Right. So, but I, I had her in my head. I had a theme, Nicole.
Nicole (18:47):
Oh my goodness.
Sharon (18:48):
I know, all sort of pastels. And I had a little cap for her in case she was in a sunny climate and she needed a cap. And then I got some pastel socks for her in case it was a colder climate. So I was kinda covering all my bases. I spent a really lot of money on that shoebox and then they wouldn’t have all fit in the shoebox. (Nicole: Yeah) So I had to get a bigger shoebox. So then I found a bigger shoebox so it would all fit in. And then I had to jam it shut.
Nicole (19:13):
Yes.
Sharon (19:13):
So God changed my heart about the shoebox thing and I’m so absolutely glad that I did.
Nicole (19:20):
I’m so happy.
Sharon (19:20):
Because now I’m praying for her. And I even put in a picture of me and Ray and I wrote her a Bible verse, the whole thing and they have this tracking system.
Nicole (19:28):
Yes. That’s new this year. I love it.
Sharon (19:29):
And I’m like, you know what, I actually now wanna track it because my, you know, the Grinch’s heart that was too small? I had a really small shoebox heart. It grew three sizes that day.
Nicole (19:40):
Oh, a Grinch shoebox.
Sharon (19:44):
But I needed, I needed my church and my husband to spur me on. But that’s my one thing.
Nicole (19:50):
Oh I love it. I love that our church is doing that now. Yeah.
Sharon (19:53):
Yes. It helps me.
Nicole (19:53):
Yeah. We did one this year for the same reason. It’s hard to find, it’s just, it’s one more thing for me to go find a shoebox distribution center and return it to the place on time. (Sharon: Yeah) Not my strong suit. But we got one too this year and it was so fun.
Sharon (20:06):
Oh good.
Nicole (20:06):
For the girls to fill it. Same thing. Spent more than we thought. Filled, they brought this little shoebox from church and it barely did half of them. So I found this big, boot box in the basement that we filled. But it was fun. And you can add the tracking, you can also add like a little devotion and I think they send a book and maybe they check in with the kiddo about Jesus. So I thought let’s try that this year too.
Sharon (20:26):
Oh lovely.
Nicole (20:27):
Cause that’s really important.
Sharon (20:27):
Yes it is.
Nicole (20:28):
You pray for them.
Sharon (20:29):
Yeah, yeah.
Nicole (20:29):
But it was really fun. So I love that they’re doing that this year.
Sharon (20:32):
I do too.
Nicole (20:34):
I know our church has a couple of outreaches that we can be involved with as well. So you know, if you don’t go to our church, obviously look into your own church and see, you know, we have a neighborhood food pantry on our church property.
Sharon (20:44):
Yep. Yep, we do.
Nicole (20:44):
Also they provide, our House of Hope serves meals to the hungry as well. So you can go and serve there.
Sharon (20:51):
I love it. So there are many opportunities. Choose at least one.
Nicole (20:55):
Yes.
Sharon (20:55):
And if we free ourselves of all the other things, we have the time to choose one.
Nicole (21:00):
Right. Right. Being open to seeing them too. Cause even outside of the church, they do Toys for Tots and the coats for kiddos and the Angel Tree.
Sharon (21:08):
Yes. There’s so many.
Nicole (21:08):
There’s so many opportunities to do a simple little thing to bless someone at Christmas time.
Sharon (21:13):
Right. And it’s what you want your children to see.
Nicole (21:14):
Absolutely.
Sharon (21:15):
You want you to see them. You know, the year that our grandkids lived with us, when their daddy was in Afghanistan, I went shopping with Gabriel to buy a Christmas present for his mom. You know, I did that with all the kids so that Mary still got Christmas presents cause (Nicole: That’s so sweet) you know, I didn’t know if Angel’s presents from Afghanistan would arrive in time and it was just, you know, it was gonna be a hard Christmas for her without her husband.
Nicole (21:36):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (21:37):
So we’re pulling into the Walmart in Portsmouth right on Route 1 and there’s a homeless man looking very shaggy with his little sign held out. And Gabriel said, who is that Nina. And I usually ignore those homeless people with their signs. And I told Gabriel, I said, he’s someone that doesn’t have a place to live, probably honey. (Nicole: Right) And he’s asking us to help him. Well why didn’t we help him, Nina?
Nicole (22:06):
Oh my goodness.
Sharon (22:07):
I’m like, oh Lord, forgive me.
Nicole (22:09):
Children’s hearts.
Sharon (22:10):
We were in the Walmart and I said, you know, Gabriel, we’re gonna buy him a Walmart gift card and when we come out, if he’s still there, we’re gonna give it to him and then we’re gonna pray for him. So sure enough, he was still out there.
Nicole (22:22):
Oh wow.
Sharon (22:22):
And I unrolled my little window. And then I gave him his, you know, his little gift card to Walmart where he could buy whatever he needed to buy. (Nicole: Oh) And then Gabriel prayed on the way home. He was in the backseat, you know, in his little car– I don’t know if he was still in the car seat or booster, whatever. God, please help him find a place to sleep tonight. Help him to find a job. And all of a sudden something that I see too often–
Nicole (22:45):
Yeah.
Sharon (22:47):
Was magnified for me because of a little boy. (Nicole: Oh, that’s sweet) And I still haven’t done this. Maybe I really will do it now because I’m talking about it in a podcast. I want to have gift cards ready and I want to have little bags in my car ready so that, you know, it has like a little kind bar in it and an apple or something. A pack of gum and then a gift card Yes. To like a Walmart so that when you’re stopped at a stoplight and you see the person, you’ve got the bag.
Nicole (23:16):
Right.
Sharon (23:18):
You’ve got something there.
Nicole (23:19):
And you’re giving them a safe gift. Cause you’re always worried about— (Sharon: I know) So it’s a fine line. And I feel like I tend to go too safe and just ignore them. I know I do. I’m like just be safe and just don’t. But I love having that. I love that idea Sharon, having something ready that you could give them that would actually bless them.
Sharon (23:33):
Bless them. Yes. Yes.
Nicole (23:34):
And not encourage them for anything they’re doing.
Sharon (23:34):
A pair of socks. I dunno. Just, just stuff.
Nicole (23:40):
Just something.
Sharon (23:40):
The last one I saw, which I had nothing for cause I still haven’t done my bags said, Every little bit helps.
Nicole (23:46):
Mm, I know.
Sharon (23:47):
So.
Nicole (23:47):
It’s so tough.
Sharon (23:47):
Wow. Wow, wow. So, well, okay, on that note, let’s read some short passages from the Bible about giving. Nicole, why don’t you read what Jesus has to say about having a tender heart? Because this is convicting. (Nicole: Yes) And Matthew 25:31-40.
Nicole (24:03):
All right. “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you cared for me. I was in prison and you visited me. Then the righteous ones will reply, Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink or a stranger and show you hospitality or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you? And the King will say, I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me.”
Sharon (25:05):
Isn’t that the most profound thing, that Jesus receives it as a gift to him? When Gabriel and I actually gave something to that homeless man, Jesus said, thank you.
Nicole (25:16):
That’s amazing.
Sharon (25:17):
It’s just such a unique way to think about it. And yet it’s, it’s what the Lord tells us.
Nicole (25:22):
Absolutely.
Sharon (25:23):
That when we’re giving, when we’re welcoming, he is blessed by it too. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) Not just the person we’re doing it for.
Nicole (25:31):
Yeah. That’s a remarkable thought. We need to remember that more.
Sharon (25:36):
We do. We do.
Nicole (25:38):
I say it to my girls a lot. So when you’re kind like how you treat each other, it’s like how you treat Jesus. You know, if you’re kind to each other, it’s like being kind to Jesus.
Sharon (25:46):
Kind to Jesus. Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (25:46):
Yeah. But kids seem to understand that better than we do sometimes.
Sharon (25:48):
They do. We kinda lose a little bit of that in our cynicism.
Nicole (25:51):
Oh, for sure.
Sharon (25:52):
We really do. (Nicole: Yeah) Yeah. You know, and I was thinking as I was reading this how Mary and Joseph honored God in this. He was naked and they clothed him.
Nicole (26:02):
Oh, those little strips of cloth.
Sharon (26:03):
Right? And they showed hospitality to strangers, those shepherds. And then later on, the wise men. (Nicole: They did. Yeah) So they also did this. And God notices. I think that’s the other thing to just realize. God notices when we’re kind and when we’re not. And it matters. It matters.
Nicole (26:23):
It matters more than our nicely decorated Christmas tree
Sharon (26:25):
It actually does.
Nicole (26:27):
It does cause it matters for eternity for his kingdom, not for our momentary pleasure here.
Sharon (26:28):
It does, it does. Oh my goodness we have got to stay simple so we can be tenderhearted. (Nicole: Yes) They go together. If we’re too busy, (Nicole: There’s no time) our hearts are closed. (Nicole: Yeah) Because we’re too busy getting all our stuff done. We can be very self-centered at Christmas time.
Nicole (26:46):
Oh, so easily. Oh my goodness.
Sharon (26:47):
Oh man, man, man, man. All right. Well I’m gonna close this out with these words from James 2:1-8 and then 13-17. James also is a shoot-straight hitter with his words.
Nicole (26:59):
Yes, he pulls no punches.
Sharon (27:00):
Okay. So here we go. Well at least he starts with ‘my dear’
Nicole (27:05):
He’s, he’s easing into it.
Sharon (27:05):
(Before the punch.) “My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others? For example, suppose someone comes into your meeting dressed in fancy clothes and expensive jewelry, and another comes in who is poor and dressed in dirty clothes. If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person, but you say to the poor one, stand over there or sit on the floor. Well, doesn’t this discrimination show that your judgements are guided by evil motives? Listen to me, dear brothers and sisters, hasn’t God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith? Aren’t they the ones who will inherit the kingdom he promised to those who love him, but you dishonor the poor? Isn’t it the rich who oppress you and drag you into court? Aren’t they the ones who slander Jesus Christ, whose noble name you bear? Yes, indeed. It is good when you obey the royal law as found in the scriptures, love your neighbor as yourself. But if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law. There will be no mercy for those who have shown no mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you. What good is it dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith, but don’t show it by your actions, Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing and you say goodbye, have a good day. Stay warm and eat well. But then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do. So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.” Oh boy.
Nicole (28:48):
That’s something to sit and meditate on, isn’t it?
Sharon (28:50):
Yes it is. Yes, it is.
Nicole (28:52):
My goodness. It’s actually a sin.
Sharon (28:53):
Mm-hmm. Yep. And I can see that. I can see that. Oh God bless you, be well. But I’m not giving you one thing.
Nicole (29:00):
Right.
Sharon (29:01):
And again, we can get over guilted. We can’t do everything. (Nicole: Right) But can we do the one thing? Can we have a tender heart?
Nicole (29:09):
Well, and if we are praying and asking God for that one thing and that one person, he’s going to give us discernment.
Sharon (29:14):
He will.
Nicole (29:15):
He’s gonna make it clear that this is the one to bless today.
Sharon (29:18):
Yeah. This is the one I’ve chosen for you.
Nicole (29:19):
We don’t have to worry about getting overwhelmed with saving everyone or doing the wrong person. God’s going to guide us as we ask him.
Sharon (29:26):
Yes he is. Yes he is. Now let’s pray.
Nicole (29:27):
Yes.
Sharon (29:28):
Oh Heavenly Father, forgive us when we have hard hearts or a cynicism gets in the way of wanting to help people who have genuine needs. Forgive us when we feel too busy to visit the older person, the lonely person. Forgive us when interruptions at our door annoy us rather than being seen as sent by you. Father, may this Christmas be one where we keep our hearts tender, where we’re tender to your voice, most of all Lord. Who are the ones you have chosen for us to love and minister to this Christmas? Show us Father, and help us to be faithful to obeying the command to love others. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole (30:17):
Amen. Well, that’s a wrap for season six of our Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. From studying heart lessons to convicting words about being tenderhearted, this season has had me thinking and growing and changing. I’m so thankful for God’s word and how he speaks through it, helping us live wisely. We hope that your Christmas is rich in love and good deeds. Friends, we wish you quiet moments by your tree and sacrificial moments where you reach out and love someone in need. May the Christ of Christmas dwell in your hearts and give you great joy. Please write and let us know you listen. Please give at Sweetselah.org/donations and please watch for season seven starting sometime in February, 2023, Lord willing. Have a simple, tenderhearted Merry Christmas.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @SweetSelah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Christmas is upon us and we could easily drown in great ideas. There are gourmet chocolates that could be made and parties that could be arranged and exquisitely wrapped presents suggested in magazines and on Pinterest. Great ideas are on display everywhere. Not to mention all the fabulous ways to keep Christ in Christmas with the way you celebrate with your family. How in the world does one keep Christmas simple? Join Sharon and Nicole for some advice on doing the ONE thing well. Let's make wise choices this Christmas so we can be "all there" to enjoy the holiday season and truly take time to marvel at a Savior come to earth as a tiny baby because of His great love for us.
Want to become a Podcast Partner? We'd love to have you on our team! You will get exclusive emails from Nicole and Sharon and our deepest gratitude if you are led by God to become a monthly donor. Seriously, even a $3 a month donation would be such a help. Go to DONATIONS tab on this website and sign up today. Write that you are choosing to be a Podcast Partner in the Comments section. Thanks.
Read the transcript for Heart Lessons-A Sweet Selah Simple Christmas-Episode 93Merry Christmas, Sweet Selah friends. Sit for a moment and reflect with us as we study God’s Word and the very first Christmas. We are so glad you’re here.
This Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is brought to you by Sweet Selah Ministries and WORD Radio.
Nicole (00:01):
Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 93, A Simple Selah Christmas. Sharon and I came to the studio today dressed in Christmas colors, and excited to talk together about celebrating Christmas well. It’s so easy to overdo the holidays and try to cram in so much fun that nothing ends up being that much fun at all. Sharon, do you remember some hectic Christmas times in the past?
Sharon (00:24):
I sure do, and boy, did you just not speak truth there. We can cram so much fun in it ceases to be fun. (Nicole: Oh, yeah) Isn’t that the saddest thing?
Nicole (00:32):
I know.
Sharon (00:33):
Oh my goodness. Well, I remember specifically a year when we were living near West Point. Ray was a professor of West Point Cadets and completing a doctoral dissertation, which meant basically I did Christmas alone. (Nicole: Oh, yeah) All the decorating, the cards, the food, the present buying and wrapping, all the things. (Nicole: Mm-hmm.) He was just, you know, treading water, trying to stay afloat with all he was doing. But, two things stand out to me about that Christmas. First of all, somehow I ended up deciding I had to make Snow White dresses in pink and purple, the colors my girls wanted, with incredibly complex patterns, and I was a terrible sewer. I had to have my neighbors over all the time, and I had to do it after the girls were in bed. So I was up until like, one in the morning making these Snow White dresses.
Nicole (01:23):
Oh, wow.
Sharon (01:23):
And that was also the year that I decided they had to have an expensive Fisher-Price kitchen set.
Nicole (01:29):
Oh, yes.
Sharon (01:29):
Because they would love it. I was just so sure they would love it. As it turns out, they’d rather cook in the kitchen with me, so they did not love it, but I thought they would. So, anyways, very stressful in every way, exhausted by Christmas morning.
Nicole (01:42):
Oh, I bet.
Sharon (01:43):
Tuck them into bed that night and say, what was your favorite present? And they said, the chapstick that was in the stockings. I’m like, are you kidding me? The thing that cost 99 cents and took no work and effort on my part at all.
Nicole (02:01):
Oh, how funny.
Sharon (02:02):
Yeah, that was, that was the last really hectic Christmas because clearly one just needed to give boxes and chap sticks out and everybody would be happy.
Nicole (02:11):
Oh my goodness. That’s so true. You know what, that same thing happened to me when I was a kid. We got the Fisher-Price kitchen set.
Sharon (02:18):
What?
Nicole (02:19):
My parents were all excited to give it to us, and we played in the box for three days.
Sharon (02:23):
You did not.
Nicole (02:24):
We did, we didn’t even touch the set. My parents returned the kitchen set and gave us a box.
Sharon (02:30):
I love that. Boy. Sometimes we think it’s the expensive things that are gonna do it, and it isn’t.
Nicole (02:35):
I know. I know.
Sharon (02:36):
It really isn’t.
Nicole (02:38):
So now with kids of my own, instead of buying them, you know, big kitchen sets that we don’t play with (Sharon: Uhhuh) it’s easy to get a little crazy with them now because we have family that live super close. (Sharon: Oh yeah) Growing up I was in a military family. We were far away from people and I’m sure that the same was true for you guys as well.
Sharon (02:55):
Yes, yes. We had no relatives around at Christmas, so you’re right. That simplifies it.
Nicole (03:00):
It does.
Sharon (03:00):
You have a ton of relatives around.
Nicole (03:01):
We do. And it’s wonderful, but it can get a little crazy. When the girls were younger, we would try to do all the Christmases in one day. So both grandparents’ houses and ours.
Sharon (03:11):
Oh, my goodness.
Nicole (03:11):
It was exhausting for everybody.
Sharon (03:13):
Yes. Yes.
Nicole (03:14):
So we decided this wasn’t the best way to go about it. And now we do Christmas Eve with one side and Christmas Day with our side, with my family. And then Christmas morning we do our family quiet and together.
Sharon (03:25):
Oh, I love that.
Nicole (03:26):
So it makes it a lot more simple. And then I host Christmas mornings. We’re not bringing the kids everywhere, and I keep the meal incredibly simple.
Sharon (03:33):
Smart girl.
Nicole (03:33):
So we do, um, meatballs in a crock pot. Make meatballs subs and eat leftover cookies. Like really simple or else I’m not gonna wanna host.
Sharon (03:42):
Yeah. Because you wanna enjoy them opening their presents and doing all the things. You don’t wanna be in the kitchen like Martha was. Missing, missing all the fun that Mary was having. Right?
Nicole (03:51):
Yeah, absolutely. So it gives us more time to, you know, play games and laugh and board games and visit.
Sharon (03:56):
Oh, I love that.
Nicole (03:57):
And not be like, oh, I have to get the turkey out. (Sharon: Yes) So for us that’s been a way that we can make it a little bit simpler instead of the crazy hectic.
Sharon (04:04):
I like that. I like that. Yeah. We don’t do turkey for Christmas. The Thanksgiving, is all about the meal. (Nicole: Yes) But, um, Christmas is is more about the family. (Nicole: Yeah) Well, I mean, it’s family around the Thanksgiving table too, but when you add in the presents and all the other stuff you don’t need the fancy meal as well.
Nicole (04:18):
No. You’re tired by then.
Sharon (04:19):
Well, I think that was really smart. So, well, I think all of us really want the same thing at Christmas, Nicole. We wanna enjoy the holiday, find a way to keep the busyness enough in check that we get to savor the rich moments. (Nicole: Yeah) Right. I think we need to talk about the power of the one thing here. (Nicole; Mm-hmm) Kinda like your, ‘and we have meatballs’. That’s, that’s what we have. (Nicole: Yeah) We have meatballs, that kind of idea. But we’re gonna talk about it in each area of Christmas in a little bit. But first of all, I wanna look at the very first Christmas and notice specifically what was simple about it and what was not. Because we’re talking about the Simple Selah Christmases here, so let’s do it.
Nicole (05:03):
Yes. I love that. Wow. We’re going to read the very familiar passage in Luke chapter two, just a few verses at a time with Selah stops to talk about what was simple and what was not. This week and next I’ll start by reading Luke 2:1-5, “The Birth of Jesus. At that time, the Roman Emperor Augustus decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria. All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for the census. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who is now expecting a child. (Sharon: Hmm) Well, this part doesn’t sound simple, Sharon. Mary’s pregnant, and now they have to go register themselves at a highly inconvenient time. It’s a long journey. And they don’t know what they’re going to encounter when they get there. We know they encounter a huge amount of people and nowhere cozy to say the night.
Sharon (06:04):
Nowhere cozy at all.
Nicole (06:05):
No. And Mary goes into labor. All of this was completely out of their control and not what they had planned on at all, I bet.
Sharon (06:13):
I bet it wasn’t. I mean, I think Mary probably thought she got to stay home to have her baby.
Nicole (06:18):
I know, here she is on the road,
Sharon (06:20):
Wow. Boy. So, okay, then. Let’s acknowledge right up front that we cannot control all the circumstances surrounding us at Christmas time.
Nicole (06:29):
Mm-hmm. Good point.
Sharon (06:30):
Puppies being born around Christmas, which is happening in your life, is a circumstance that makes it all a little more crazy. And sometimes illness hits and suddenly everyone’s droopy at Christmas. You can’t prevent the flu.
Nicole (06:41):
Nope.
Sharon (06:42):
Or there’s power outage, you know? Mary and Joseph still got on with it and did the next thing, in obedience to the law. They carried on. And you know what? We can too. God was with them on that journey. No robbers attacked them. Baby Jesus wasn’t born out in a field in the middle of nowhere anyways. At least they got to Bethlehem unharmed and in time for the birth. So here we go. Our first simple suggestion is to receive what you can’t change with good grace. If plans go crazy, continue to do what you can without falling apart knowing God’s got you. We’ve gotta let go of that perfect picture of Christmas. (Nicole: Yes) Because it ruins what is with what could have been an actually perfect this side of heaven.
Nicole (07:27):
It’s not gonna happen.
Sharon (07:28):
It’s not gonna happen.
Nicole (07:29):
We’re always going to be disappointed. Yeah.
Sharon (07:30):
Yes. Why do that to ourselves?
Nicole (07:33):
I don’t know.
Sharon (07:34):
I think we have to just accept the adventure as it comes. Oh, look, the power went out. Cool. Now we’re doing Christmas by candlelight. Yay.
Nicole (07:42):
Right.
Sharon (07:42):
Right?
Nicole (07:42):
Right. Just roll with it and make the best of it.
Sharon (07:44):
Roll with it. Mary and Joseph had to roll with it. Babies come whether you want them to or not when they’re due. Right? But, I think that’s just a really important life lesson is that things are not gonna go according to plans. So let’s just accept it and move on.
Nicole (07:58):
Yeah. And keep our plans simple so we don’t disappoint ourselves.
Sharon (08:01):
Right. Yeah. So now I’m gonna read our next section, Luke 2:6-7, “And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger because there was no lodging available to them.” Okay, so this part of the story is simple, right, in terms of, it wasn’t a fancy birth.
Nicole (08:26):
Right.
Sharon (08:27):
Mary’s probable desire was to give birth surrounded by the women in her family at home where she was used to (Nicole: And had support) but instead they did at least find a place to lay the baby down, cloth to wrap him in and some sort of shelter from the weather. Uh, no Christmas tree or decorations though, right?
Nicole (08:43):
Nope.
Sharon (08:45):
But it was a divine moment when God himself became tiny and helpless as a baby. It wasn’t a fancy one. But in that simplicity, was that not still God in flesh (Nicole: I know) that they were looking at?
Nicole (08:59):
How amazing.
Sharon (09:00):
Yeah. The simple was still beautiful.
Nicole (09:03):
It was.
Sharon (09:04):
Yeah.
Nicole (09:04):
Sharon, I think it’s really important for us to remember that we do not need our Christmas to be fancy, for it to be beautiful.
Sharon (09:10):
You’re right.
Nicole (09:11):
The most beautiful Christmas ever in history was so simple and not fancy at all, maybe even a bit smelly with all the animals hanging around the barn. But beautiful and simple nonetheless. And even at the moment of his birth, there was no great fanfare or parties, no massive parades or banquets to celebrate this future king. The God of the universe came in human form so humble and so quiet, in a dirty little stable with just animals and his stepdad to witness his arrival. I don’t want us to lose the beauty and the simplicity of that precious moment, that Jesus modeled even as a newborn that less is more. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) Because he is the more that we really need and all this other stuff just distracts us from him and keeps us from focusing on what he truly wants us to do.
Sharon (09:53):
So true. So true. Sometimes it’s all just distractions and the baby in the manger’s the thing.
Nicole (10:00):
Mm, absolutely.
Sharon (10:00):
Right? Yeah. All right. So what have we learned so far in keeping a Simple Selah Christmas? Number one, expect that circumstances won’t always be as ideal as we might wish. And receive what is and make the best of it. Instead of pining for the impossibly perfect Christmas. Focus on how to make whatever we have special. So that’s number one.
Nicole (10:21):
I like that one.
Sharon (10:22):
Number two, the most important thing of all at Christmas is it’s a time to celebrate God entering our world in the form of a tiny, helpless baby, identifying with us in every way. Right from the beginning of life. Even identifying with extreme poverty. (Nicole: Oh yeah) Even that. So, number three, we don’t need to spend a ton of money to make Christmas special. It’s not about the material stuff. They’re gonna play in the boxes and like the chap stick, right? It’s about the heart of family being together, remembering Christ’s birth.
Nicole (10:52):
I know. I feel like that last one is especially hard for parents with young kids to remember.
Sharon (10:57):
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Nicole (10:58):
We are completely bombarded with commercials and ads and Christmas catalogs and you name it. And it’s all trying to convince us that in order to be the best parents we need to buy our kids all the plastic stuff and the latest and the greatest. It’s overwhelming to our kiddos though.
Sharon (11:12):
It is. It is. It can be. (Nicole: Yeah) They can get tired opening presents.
Nicole (11:15):
They can. And to our bank accounts.
Sharon (11:18):
Yeah. It’s bad for that too.
Nicole (11:19):
It’s not so good for that. But I had seen this picture a few years back. It had this little girl from a different country and she was cradling her one beautiful doll. (Sharon: Oh) And to the side of her was this little girl next to a Christmas tree with presents piled as high almost to the top of the tree. And she’d open one gift and drop it in the pile and then quickly tore into another. And it was just very powerful cuz you could see the love for the one toy in the first little girl’s face and that the other girl looked like she was in a race just to finish opening the all the gifts. And this picture was hugely convicting to me.
Sharon (11:51):
Wow. Yes.
Nicole (11:52):
You know, and I had bought into the lie that I needed to buy their Christmas happiness with stuff. (Sharon: Uhhuh) With too much stuff.
Sharon (11:58):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And sometimes less is more, that one doll was valued because it was the only thing right?
Nicole (12:05):
Her one thing to cherish and take care of instead of like, gotta open all the presents.
Sharon (12:09):
Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (12:09):
So, I don’t know. That’s been in my back to my mind now for Christmas.
Sharon (12:13):
Yeah. I remember one Christmas, the one Mary was staying with us. (Nicole: Yeah) Uh, we, we spent all day opening presents because we’d open one each and the kids would go play with it.
Nicole (12:23):
Oh, I love that idea.
Sharon (12:24):
And then another hour they’d open another. And there weren’t a ton, but even then we let kids be kids, which is when they get a present they wanna play, they actually wanna play with it.
Nicole (12:34):
Or, like, put it down. You’ve got more to open.
Sharon (12:35):
Put it down you’ve got more. That’s right. And they’re like, wait, wait, but why not? This is really cool.
Nicole (12:39):
Yeah. And you know what, as a child, we had one particularly meager year and I never knew it until we were older. It was my favorite Christmas, Sharon.
Sharon (12:46):
Really?
Nicole (12:47):
We opened one gift an hour and I think we had all of four or five presents that year. And I never knew it was because they didn’t have very many gifts for us. We opened one and I can still remember those are some of my four favorite gifts that I had as a kid.
Sharon (12:59):
See, slowing down can make you savor things more.
Nicole (13:02):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (13:02):
Yeah. It really can.
Nicole (13:03):
So you can remember the value of that.
Sharon (13:05):
Yeah. All right. So let’s talk about the value of the one thing. (Nicole: Yeah) That we don’t have to do all the things. You know, for example, there’s tons of advent activities out there for children and adults. Ways to remember Jesus and Christmas. (Nicole: Yeah) Can we just choose one? (Nicole: Mm-hmm) Nicole, what are some of the options available for parents who wanna incorporate the true story into the mix?
Nicole (13:27):
There’s a lot of them.
Sharon (13:28):
Yeah. I’ll bet there are.
Nicole (13:29):
So let’s just talk about a few different ones and we’re gonna choose one. One that fits your family. One of our favorites, and I’ve mentioned this before on previous podcasts, but we got this really cute little advent book, craft book. It’s called The Truth in the Tinsel. And it has a portion of the story of Jesus and a little craft that corresponds with (Sharon: Aw; Uhhuh) the story. Now listen, I’ve been doing this book for years. We have never done all the crafts and we still have never finished the book. But it’s really fun to pick a few to do each year and sometimes even one or two. (Sharon: Yeah) Because you can do all 30 days of the crafts. We never have. And that’s okay.
Sharon (14:04):
And that is all right.
Nicole (14:04):
Yes.
Sharon (14:05):
You get to do it your way.
Nicole (14:06):
Right. And also, my kiddos love crafting. So this is really important. This is a great way for us to make the Christmas story real, more real. But not everyone likes to craft.
Sharon (14:16):
Mm-hmm. So it might not be everybody’s choice.
Nicole (14:18):
Right. Exactly.
Sharon (14:19):
Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole (14:19):
So I’ve heard that they have this cute little shepherd that you can hide around your house, kind of like the elf on the shelf.
Sharon (14:24):
Instead there’s a shepherd looking for Jesus.
Nicole (14:26):
There’s a shepherd, so cute. So that would be a fun idea. That’d be fun. We did add this very simple little giving manger thing that I had seen. We have this little wooden manger and when the kids do kind things, they take a little, hay colored pipe cleaner and lay it in the manger (Sharon: Ohhhh) and make it cozy for baby Jesus. And then Christmas Eve we put him in his little plush manger, hopefully.
Sharon (14:45):
Cause hopefully they’ve been kind.
Nicole (14:48):
Right. And it’s very simple. It’s just a little reminder for my kids as they’re younger to maybe fight a little less.
Sharon (14:53):
It’s a kindness reminder.
Nicole (14:54):
It is. But very simple. You can buy a kit. I just made my own with some little clay and a cheap box from Hobby Lobby.
Sharon (14:59):
You smarty. Yeah. Oh that’s lovely.
Nicole (15:03):
So that’s kind of fun.
Sharon (15:03):
And that’s tactile. I like that.
Nicole (15:04):
Yes. It’s very visual. Also I think having, you could have your kiddos focus on saving a few dollars in coins here and there and you could buy a gift for a family from that Samaritan’s (Purse) gift giving catalog.
Sharon (15:14):
Oh, that’s fun.
Nicole (15:15):
You could send like some chickens or a goat or a pig. My nieces do that and they just love it, “Auntie, we bought a goat for a family to feed ’em for two years”. I mean, what a blessing to do. (Sharon: Yeah, yeah) You know, kids. And again, it gets kids thinking more about others and not about themselves.
Sharon (15:28):
I love that.
Nicole (15:28):
Yeah.
Sharon (15:29):
And you could do a different one each year. Okay, this year we’re gonna buy a goat.
Nicole (15:33):
Right.
Sharon (15:33):
And then, and then everything is geared towards that one thing, which makes it more meaningful instead of, “Wait, no. We have a craft to do. Oh, and hold on. We’ve gotta hang an ornament for the Jesse tree and oh, let’s read this story”. And then you’re rushing through it again. Like opening present after present.
Nicole (15:50):
Right. Well that’s the thing with all these things is, if it doesn’t feel simple to you, don’t do it. Just choose the one, the one that will be a blessing for you and your family.
Sharon (15:59):
And then enjoy it. Savor it.
Nicole (16:00):
Enjoy it. Have fun with it. Yeah. I love crafting. So the crafting one is like right up my alley.
Sharon (16:03):
That’s your deal.
Nicole (16:04):
But we do three of them a year, not 24.
Sharon (16:07):
And I am terrible at crafting. People take crafts away from me because they can see how badly I’m putting them together.
Nicole (16:13):
I don’t believe that.
Sharon (16:14):
It’s sad. Oh, it’s true. It’s so true. But we do the advent wreath every year. That’s our thing.
Nicole (16:20):
Oh, I love that.
Sharon (16:20):
And we did that with the kids. And Ray and I do it. In fact, I just bought a new devotional for this year. We’ve done CRU, we’ve done a Christianity Today one, we’ve read the sermons of James Montgomery Boice. Cause Ray and I are kind of the intellectual type, you know. But this year we’re doing Max Lucado’s In the Manger.
Nicole (16:38):
Oh, I love that.
Sharon (16:38):
And so we do ours at dinner time. (Nicole: Yeah) Because, you know, Ray tends as a school teacher to be busy in the evening. So we are gonna read to each other. I’ll read one night, Ray will read the next and we’ll read the simple story and we’ll light our little advent wreath.
Nicole (16:51):
Oh, I love that; I love that you’re still doing that too.
Sharon (16:53):
We still do it. It’s that, just for the one thing.
Nicole (16:55):
Yeah. The one thing for you two. I love it.
Sharon (16:56):
Yeah, yeah. But that’s it. No crafts for me baby. Mm-hmm.
Nicole (17:00):
Well let’s talk about the one thing idea when it comes to baking and cooking.
Sharon (17:04):
Alrighty.
Nicole (17:05):
So do we really have to make Christmas fudge, do the cookies and make gingerbread houses?
Sharon (17:10):
No. (Nicole: Nope)
Nicole (17:11):
Unless it’s a real sweet spot for you and your family.
Sharon (17:13):
Well, that true. If that’s your deal, go for it.
Nicole (17:15):
Yeah. Then bake away. (Sharon: Yeah) It is not mine. So, well, so for our family, a few years back we started doing a very simple sugar cookie baking day. We invite one family over every year and we cut out cookies with lots and lots and lots of sprinkles. I get these little five container sprinkles on clearance the year before. (Sharon: Brilliant) And the kids just go to town with them. It’s crazy.
Sharon (17:34):
Yes.
Nicole (17:34):
So I usually have sprinkles rolling around my kitchen for a few days afterward. But we’ve made some great memories with family and friends over the years. (Sharon: Yeah) And I have this one video of Ellie, it’s my favorite. She was probably three years old and she was sitting on the counter with her pile of sprinkles in her hands and she just kept mounding it on top of her cookie. And she’d go, sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle. And she’d say sprinkle as she was sprinkling. I was just watching her and laughing. I didn’t stop her. So her cookie was very mounded with sprinkles.
Sharon (18:04):
Mount Sprinkle. Yes.
Nicole (18:05):
So cute.
Sharon (18:07):
That’s so cute. I love it. Well, I actually do very little baking for Christmas. I do hot cross buns at Easter. (Nicole: Yeah) I do this big apple pie deal and all the stuff for Thanksgiving. So this year I’m just gonna make a pecan pie at Kathryn’s house. We’re going to see Kathryn for Christmas, because she loves the pecan pie. (Nicole: Yeah) But that’s not my sweet spot. (Nicole: Yeah) Now my daughter Mary, that’s her sweet spot. It’ll be elegant. It’ll be gorgeous because that brings Mary joy.
Nicole (18:31):
Right.
Sharon (18:31):
It’s not hard for her, it’s joy.
Nicole (18:33):
Right.
Sharon (18:34):
But for me it’s decorating.
Nicole (18:35):
Mm-hmm.
Sharon (18:35):
I still want that live tree. I still water the thing every year, you know, and it takes two days to decorate it, you know? So, but that’s Thanksgiving weekend for me. There’s nothing that happens Thanksgiving weekend. I keep it clear for the one thing.
Nicole (18:53):
Oh, perfect. Right.
Sharon (18:53):
I pull out all my decorations, the tree’s the only two day thing. Everything else is done on the Saturday.
Nicole (18:59):
Right.
Sharon (18:59):
The tree gets the lights on the Saturday, then I rest Saturday night and Sunday cause of my Sabbath.
Nicole (19:05):
Nice. Good.
Sharon (19:05):
And Sunday night I put on the ornaments.
Nicole (19:07):
Oh that’s wonderful.
Sharon (19:07):
And it’s the one thing. So it doesn’t feel overwhelming to me. I’m doing nothing except playing happy Christmas music and putting out all my little decorations. I have a little snowman collection.
Nicole (19:18):
Oh, cute.
Sharon (19:18):
Snowmen. They’re so cute.
Nicole (19:19):
They’re so cute.
Sharon (19:20):
I have an entire shelf of snowmen. I have nativity sets everywhere, including outside. (Nicole: Yes) I go to town on decorations because I love it. (Nicole: Yeah) But even that, it’s one weekend. What doesn’t happen in that weekend doesn’t get out of the boxes.
Nicole (19:33):
Well and you’ve set aside time for this years in advance. You’ve been doing it this way forever.
Sharon (19:37):
Yeah, yeah, it’s what I do.
Nicole (19:37):
So it’s not like, Oh I have to fit in decorating. It’s part of your rhythm.
Sharon (19:37):
It’s part of the rhythm.
Nicole (19:41):
Oh, I love that.
Sharon (19:43):
Exactly.
Nicole (19:43):
Very smart. Well I reuse decorations from year to year. So I don’t go out and buy all new things either.
Sharon (19:48):
That’s smart.
Nicole (19:48):
I just kinda keep it simple.
Sharon (19:50):
Yeah, like the snowmen appearing every year.
Nicole (19:51):
Right.
Sharon (19:51):
I don’t need new stuff.
Nicole (19:52):
We bought all the ornaments and decorations for our tree 15 years ago when we got married and they’re still on there.
Sharon (19:59):
Good job. Good job.
Nicole (20:01):
It works. So for us, like my girls and Josh, they love Christmas lights inside. We’re off the road so people are not seeing our homes. I don’t focus on outside. Sometimes I’ll put a couple things on the porch. Very simple. But I put lights everywhere. Every doorframe, every railing.
Sharon (20:16):
Oh Nicole.
Nicole (20:16):
I wrap it with lights and they love it. And we leave it up until February. We just turn it into Valentine’s Day lights and we hang hearts on them.
Sharon (20:23):
Why not?
Nicole (20:23):
And New Year’s lights.
Sharon (20:24):
You know, that makes so much sense. If you’re gonna go to the trouble of putting up the lights. (Nicole: Oh yeah) Enjoy them during the darkest days of the year.
Nicole (20:29):
Oh we drag it out. Exactly. Well that’s the thing we love. As Josh says, it makes the house feel so cozy and cheerful in those cold dark months. So for me, Christmas lights, (Sharon: It’s the lights) inside the house.
Sharon (20:39):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Nicole (20:40):
Anywhere there’s a surface, there’s a light.
Nicole (20:41):
So even our tree, we made it more simple cause we used to go to get a real real tree at a local tree farm. And it was a lot of fun, but it started to get a little harder. We had to get a truck and get the kids there.
Sharon (20:53):
Oh yeah.
Nicole (20:53):
And go find the tree, cut it down. Then it sat on the porch for a couple days till Josh could level out the bottom to fit into my tree stand (Sharon: Mm-hmm) which kept breaking and the tree kept falling over. And I’m like, I gotta find a good tree stand. Finally, I found this beautiful little tree on clearance three years ago. And it has simplified my tree, putting up experience.
Sharon (21:10):
Ta dah!
Nicole (21:11):
It’s wonderful. I can go downstairs and in 20 minutes this tree is up. I can decorate the lights, the kids can put the ornaments on and I’m not as stressed about it.
Sharon (21:19):
See, you’ve chosen what is simple for you.
Nicole (21:21):
Exactly.
Sharon (21:22):
That’s great.
Nicole (21:22):
I don’t have to water it. I don’t have to worry about getting it out on time.
Sharon (21:24):
You don’t have to do all the things.
Nicole (21:25):
Yeah. And you know what, I loved getting the real tree and someday we might. But for right now, a simple tree is what I need. A simple fake tree.
Sharon (21:32):
Good for you. Good for you.
Nicole (21:34):
What about Christmas cards, Sharon? Do you do those?
Sharon (21:36):
Yeah, I do. But I only recommend it if it’s a happy thing for you. I’m a writer, so I write a Christmas letter every year. And because we moved so many times, you know, in 17 years of military travel, sometimes multiple times in one year, and I made friends everywhere I went, I have quite the Christmas card list.
Nicole (21:55):
Oh, how fun.
Sharon (21:56):
And I love hearing from my friends. I love seeing a recent picture. I love knowing how their life is. So for me it’s a joy. And I just have a week where the cards are out on the dining room table and I do them as I can. (Nicole: Nice) And it, it works for me. But, I have a lot of friends now who just send a Christmas email.
Nicole (22:14):
Oh yeah.
Sharon (22:14):
That’s fine. (Nicole: Mm-hm) I still get their news. I don’t have to, you know, have it tangible.
Nicole (22:18):
Right.
Sharon (22:19):
Some people send it in January and some don’t send it at all. (Nicole: Yeah) You can’t do it all.
Nicole (22:24):
You can’t do it all.
Sharon (22:24):
You have to know what to say yes to and what to say no to.
Nicole (22:26):
Absolutely.
Sharon (22:27):
How about you?
Nicole (22:29):
Um, I’m not much of a writer. No. What I really love is I love photos. Photos are so special to me. So our family, we try to do family photos every year. So I usually have a nice family photo in fall to use for Christmas cards. (Sharon: Yeah). Or I choose the kids’ Christmas pictures. Cause we didn’t get family photos this year. It was a little crazy so we didn’t do it.
Sharon (22:48):
Oh, okay.
Nicole (22:48):
So we’re just gonna use the girls’ school photos and a cute one from us, you know, sometime this year.
Sharon (22:53):
Sure.
Nicole (22:53):
And I just make the photo cards. You can just print out a photo and then put a little blurb on the back.
Sharon (22:59):
Beautiful. Like Merry Christmas.
Nicole (23:00):
Yes. From the Olstads. We did this this year and we’re all alive and well. Yeah,
Sharon (23:03):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Nicole (23:04):
And then Josh helped me set up a template a few years ago. So I can easily just print out the addresses on these little sticker cards.
Sharon (23:10):
Oh my goodness. I need a Josh.
Nicole (23:12):
It’s wonderful.
Sharon (23:12):
I still hand write them all.
Nicole (23:14):
Do you? That’s not ( Sharon: Yes. Oh wow) sounding fun.
Sharon (23:17):
That’s awesome.
Nicole (23:19):
Yeah, I just sit there and stick um and the kids help me, Stamp, sticker, you know address label.
Sharon (23:20):
And the kids help so that’s fun. (Nicole: Yeah) And that says to them, we care about these people.
Nicole (23:27):
We do. And we love getting, when we get the people’s letters back, we open ’em, we stick ’em all around our door frames. I love getting Christmas cards.
Sharon (23:33):
I do too.
Nicole (23:34):
That’s special for us.
Sharon (23:35):
I do too. All right then. So we’ve covered cooking, decorating cards, devotions. What about presents, so much to buy and so much to wrap. How do you handle presents?
Nicole (23:46):
Well per that picture conversation earlier, we’ve been trying to make a change. First off, I think that with any change, it’s really important not to just ambush your kids with it. So just telling them we’re doing a simpler Christmas with less stuff on Christmas morning,
Sharon (23:58):
Surprise.
Nicole (23:58):
Might be a bit of a shock. And they may not be on board with that, right.
Sharon (24:01):
One present. Uh huh.
Nicole (24:02):
So maybe, maybe prep your children first. I’ve been talking to the girls about this for a while because we’ve been trying to declutter all the extra stuff in our life anyway.
Sharon (24:11):
Yes, yes.
Nicole (24:12):
We’ve been going through their extra toys, their extra clothes, extra everything. So now we’re taking the same, you know, decluttering theme to Christmas. So they’re good. They’re, they’re prepared for it, you know. (Sharon: Yeah) So we were asking the girls what they thought would be a good idea too. And we’d heard this poem before this ‘something you want, something you need, something to wear and something to read’, like using that as a base play for Christmas gifts.
Sharon (24:31):
Oh I love that. A want, say it again.
Nicole (24:34):
A need.
Sharon (24:34):
A need.
Nicole (24:35):
A wear.
Sharon (24:36):
A wear. (Both: And a read)
Nicole (24:38):
So I’m like, what is the one thing you really want and what do you need girls? So what’s your favorite book and something to wear? So it’s been really fun. They’ve been brainstorming, oh, this is what I really want. Well, maybe not, maybe it’s this, but they have it in their hearts and heads now that they’re getting the one thing.
Sharon (24:53):
The one thing. The one want.
Nicole (24:55):
Yeah.
Sharon (24:56):
That’s nice. I like it.
Nicole (24:56):
So it’s kinda cool. And so we’ve gotten their toy collection down to one set of sorts and then we just, if we do buy a toy, it goes with that set instead of buying a whole new collection. Like if they collect ponies, they get an extra pony.
Sharon (25:07):
Oh, that’s good.
Nicole (25:08):
Or if Barbie dolls they get a new Barbie. So, and also that new toy kind of sparks ’em to play with what they have already.
Sharon (25:13):
The old set.
Nicole (25:15):
Right.
Sharon (25:15):
Oh that’s good. I like it.
Nicole (25:16):
We’re trying. So that’s kind of fun.
Sharon (25:18):
Yeah, yeah.
Nicole (25:18):
But I think that, you know, one of my kids said something to me, Sharon, I was asking like, what, what do you like about Christmas? What do you not like? And one of them said, it’s really overwhelming mama to try to find a place to put all my new presents.
Sharon (25:30):
Huh.
Nicole (25:30):
Isn’t that amazing? I was like, oh my word. You know, I mean good glory, my effort to do what I thought I needed to do and give them all the things. I’ve been overwhelming them.
Sharon (25:38):
It’s been stressful.
Nicole (25:39):
Yeah. Taking some of their joy out of Christmas.
Sharon (25:39):
Oh my goodness. We are so blessed in America.
Nicole (25:42):
We are.
Sharon (25:42):
The abundance is ridiculous.
Nicole (25:44):
And we can drown in it sometimes.
Sharon (25:45):
Yes. And so we can un-drown them. And that sounds like what you guys are gonna do this year.
Nicole (25:49):
Yeah, we’re trying.
Sharon (25:50):
Yeah. I like it.
Nicole (25:51):
Yep. And wrap early. I’m trying to wrap my gifts early before December.
Sharon (25:54):
Yeah, that’s a really good idea too. So, well, you know, I’d like to talk as we close this out about Ray’s five pound bag principle which he has lectured me on a time or seven. Sharon, says Ray, you have a five pound bag in which to fill for the day. That’s all you’ve got is a five pound bag. You are constantly trying to jam seven pounds into that bag and then your bag breaks. You’ve gotta take some things out in order to keep it at five pounds. So let’s talk for just a minute about if we’re gonna add stuff to the season, like cards and decorating and stuff, what do we eliminate?
Nicole (26:32):
Right.
Sharon (26:33):
So that we keep it simple. So we have to let things go if we’re gonna do other things.
Nicole (26:39):
I love that. Oh, I do so love Ray’s wise little statements he makes. He should write a book called Ray’s Wisdom, I would totally buy it.
Sharon (26:48):
I love that.
Nicole (26:48):
Oh man. So, okay. I think that kind of what we’ve been doing everyday life is after an event that has felt especially stressful, we evaluate and see if we really needed or should have gone to it. So, and try to make better decisions in the future about where we spend our time with our kiddos and stuff.
Sharon (27:03):
Yes. Yes.
Nicole (27:03):
So I think taking that into Christmas, it’s important to look at our week ahead or the weekend and, you know, make sure we don’t have back to back events. We can say yes to too many things, even if they’re all really good or fun things.
Sharon (27:15):
And we have to choose the one thing sometimes. What’s the one thing we’re doing today?
Nicole (27:19):
Yes. And talk to your kids about it.
Sharon (27:20):
Too bad we can’t do them all, but next year we’ll do a different one thing.
Nicole (27:24):
Exactly.
Sharon (27:25):
Yep. Yep.
Nicole (27:25):
So, and as far as more practical day to day things, maybe only focus on maintaining one area of your house for the week before Christmas so you don’t get too stressed.
Sharon (27:33):
There’s a good idea.
Nicole (27:34):
Instead of cleaning the whole house.
Sharon (27:34):
Right. Just one tidy room.
Nicole (27:36):
Just one, like the kitchen. Or maybe just the downstairs or if you’ve guests coming, just the guest bedroom. Like keep it simple for yourself. (Sharon: Yeah. Yeah) I also keep meals really simple that week before Christmas. So scrambled eggs, cereal nights or quick crock pot meals or even your apples and popcorn Sabbath meals.
Sharon (27:50):
My apples and popcorn. Yes. You’ve got to cut back on some things if you’re gonna do others.
Nicole (27:56):
Right.
Sharon (27:56):
Because your five pound bag will break.
Nicole (27:57):
Only have a five pound bag. And with Christmas stuff you’re adding more in so you gotta take something out.
Sharon (28:01):
You’ve gotta take some stuff out, so. Oh, that’s so good. (Nicole: Yeah) That’s so good.
Nicole (28:04):
And you know what’s like a big stop for me is that my girls are watching how I do Christmas now and that this will become their recipe for Christmas making when they’re older someday. And I don’t want them to feel like they have to do everything and equate Christmas with stress.
Sharon (28:16):
Right.
Nicole (28:17):
I want them to see that Christmas can be simple and beautiful.
Sharon (28:20):
Yes. So that they do the same in their families. (Nicole: Yes) And it doesn’t end up being like a dreaded time of year.
Nicole (28:26):
Yeah, for sure.
Sharon (28:26):
Which is so sad when it becomes that way.
Nicole (28:28):
I know. It’s how people hate Christmas.
Sharon (28:30):
Yeah. Well we do the same thing with the ministry too. We slow it down in December. I’m hardly speaking at all that month and you know, I’m gonna keep my one Selah day of the month and have a Christmas Selah by my fire and looking at my tree, you know, reading the Christmas story out loud to Jesus and me and just, you know, so I want those one things to stay.
Nicole (28:51):
Yes.
Sharon (28:51):
You know, my quiet times, my Sabbath things, stuff like that. But we just need to slow it down a little bit so that we can actually savor.
Nicole (28:59):
Absolutely. You know, despite all the craziness, Sharon, I love making a big deal about Christmas.
Sharon (29:04):
Yes.
Nicole (29:04):
Jesus’s birth is the most significant birth ever. And I do think it’s okay to celebrate that.
Sharon (29:08):
It is.
Nicole (29:09):
I think I need to be more intentional about adding in more quiet time with Jesus. Just him and I because I, I sometimes get so focused on making it a blessing for my kiddos and getting them to focus on him that sometimes I forget to take my own Selah Christmas time.
Sharon (29:22):
You need Selah time too. You do. Yes.
Nicole (29:25):
You know, it’s fun to do the crafts with them and I get something from the stories, but Oh man, there’s nothing like sitting with Jesus alone one on one.
Sharon (29:31):
There’s nothing like it. And we’ve gotta grab those little tiny moments to do that.
Nicole (29:36):
Absolutely.
Sharon (29:36):
We really, really do. So, so let’s talk about that for a minute. Let’s talk about our five minute pauses or Selah stops.
Nicole (29:43):
Yeah.
Sharon (29:44):
I actually think we’re almost out of time, but can we read a few of them together?
Nicole (29:48):
I think so.
Sharon (29:48):
And we’ll put the rest in the show notes. I love posting these and they’re also on our advent bible study that we’re doing right now. At the end of the Bible study. Just five minutes of quiet to help us recalibrate and remember what Christmas is all about.
Nicole (30:04):
Absolutely.
Sharon (30:05):
Here’s one, just one five minute thing. Stop and sit and really listen to a favorite Christmas song. Really listen, like to all the words. (Nicole: Yeah) From beginning to end.
Nicole (30:14):
Oh, I like that one.
Sharon (30:15):
That’s one.
Nicole (30:15):
Stop and pray for those who are going to be with you over Christmas, asking God to prepare their hearts for the season and asking for his grace to love them well. (Sharon: Yeah) That’s important.
Sharon (30:24):
If we pray about it, it’s probably gonna go better, right?
Nicole (30:28):
Yeah. Than if we dread it.
Sharon (30:29):
Mm-hmm. And maybe just one more for now, but we’ll put the rest in the show notes. Stand outside on a clear night and look up at the stars and remember the star. Just, just that. We’ve gotta take these little breaks even when we can’t take the big breaks.
Nicole (30:44):
Absolutely.
Sharon (30:45):
So, so we’ll get the rest on the show notes and if you’re doing our advent Christmas Bible study right now, you know about this cause every day we give you a five minute thing to do. And if you’re not, you can still join in. Just write me at sharon@sweetselah.org. We’d love to have you join us for the Advent Bible study. Well, let’s pray. Father, I just thank you so much that the first Christmas was simple, a baby and a manger. You in flesh come to earth. God, show us the one thing in each category that we should do and all the things we shouldn’t so that our hearts are full of yearning for your second coming and joy at your first this Christmas season. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Nicole (31:33):
Amen. I feel all excited for Christmas now and I hope and pray I can help my family really enjoy the season. We’d love to hear from you. How do you find those quiet Selah moments at this time of the year, what you eliminate in December so you can have room in your five pound bag for Christmas fun? Write us, you can find us at sweet selah.org/podcast. We are always grateful when we get a review too, so please give us a Christmas gift of a review if you wouldn’t mind. We welcome donations always, but especially need them at the end of our fiscal year, which is December in our ministry. Go to sweetselah.org/donations and mention that you want to be a podcast partner to receive our monthly newsletter. And join us next week for episode 94, Tenderhearted Christmas. Christmas is not a happy time for many people. Let’s talk about how we can simply help the lonely this Christmas. Until then, merry preparations to you all.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @SweetSelah.org. Thank you for joining us.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Join Sharon and Nicole as they talk about the long-lasting consequences of sin and also the beauty of restoration despite that. David started out well as a small boy, got lost in the middle with an egregious sin, but David ended well. David's heart was steadfast at the end of his life, even when it looked like he'd be on the run again - this time from his own beloved son. We'll study a sad story of David's son's rebellion and admire the way David still looked to God when even his own child turned against him.
Continue reading Episode 92 - Heart Lessons - The Steadfast Heart at Sweet Selah Ministries.
One of the most amazing truths of the Christian faith is that God forgives those who come to Him with a repentant heart. Even before Jesus was born, God was in the forgiving and restoring business. Join Sharon and Nicole today as they look at the ache of unconfessed sin, and the beauty of repentance. Chains fall off when we stop trying to hide and simply admit we were horribly wrong. And only God has the power and the authority to wash us clean once more, having taken the punishment for that sin on Himself.
Continue reading Episode 91- Heart Lessons - The Repentant Heart at Sweet Selah Ministries.
So this is definitely the saddest podcast of this season, as Nicole and Sharon talk about the path that led to much destruction in David's life. His choices that led to adultery, murder and a cover-up started long before the actual deeds were done. Join us for a thoughtful look at the small and subtle temptations of life that can lead us astray. We can be miles away from the godly path before we even realize it if we aren't careful.
Continue reading Episode 90 - Heart Lessons - The Rebellious Heart at Sweet Selah Ministries.
There are days when one just feels too tired and crabby to be noble. And yet, to possess a noble heart and live out the characteristics of generosity, kindness, dignity, and high moral principles is an admirable way to live. David often made choices that benefited others even at his own expense. He let go of personal affronts for the greater good. He valued sacrifice and hard work in others and praised them. Join Sharon and Nicole as they discuss the value of living out godly principles even when it's hard.
Continue reading Episode 89 - Heart Lessons - The Noble Heart at Sweet Selah Ministries.
So far, we've admired David in many situations and watched him live out a godly life. Today, we turn to a harder story. David loses his temper and the decisions made when one is in a rage are never good. Join Sharon and Nicole as they discuss the value of possessing a humble heart. There actually is something to admire about David, today despite his anger. He was willing to be humbled. Join us in the discussion and covenant with us to keep a humble heart.
Continue reading Episode 88 - Heart Lessons - The Humbled Heart at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Sharon and Nicole talk about one of the darkest incidents in King David's life today on the podcast. It's a horrifying story of betrayal and the slaughter of the innocent. David has been on the run for years, and it isn't getting better. And yet, he still believes. He still turns toward God instead of away from Him. How do we have that kind of perseverance? Join us. Review us. Share us. Please and Thank You!!
Continue reading Episode 87 - Heart Lessons - The Persevering Heart at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Sometimes things go wrong, and stay wrong, for way too long. Ever been there? Ever felt like you did nothing to deserve the mess you're in? Join Sharon and Nicole as they follow David, the shepherd boy anointed king, still hiding out in caves trying to escape being killed by the current king. It surely did not feel like the anointing was going to come true. And yet ... it did. Watch how David chose to abide even while hiding from King Saul.
Continue reading Episode 86 - Heart Lessons - The Abiding Heart at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Loyalty is an increasingly rare commodity. What an incredible gift a loyal friend can be! Join Nicole and Sharon as they study the unique friendship of David and Jonathan and then apply it to their own lives. Let's be loyal friends even to our own hurt. Let's love others as well as ourselves, following David and Jonathan's and even more, Jesus' example. Join us. Review us. Share us. Please and Thank You!!
Apologies for the crackle toward the end of the podcast.
Continue reading Episode 85 - Heart Lessons - The Loyal Heart at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Got any giants in your life right now? Circumstances that loom over you and threaten you and intimidate? Today, Sharon and Nicole share about times in their own lives and in the life of David where a courageous heart was needed, and only possible because God was there, too, helping and rescuing. We all need to remember just how much bigger God is than our circumstances. Join us. Review us. Share us. Please and Thank You!!
Continue reading Episode 84 - Heart Lessons - The Courageous Heart at Sweet Selah Ministries.
What happens when we stop what we are doing and simply worship God? As Nicole and Sharon continue their series on King David, they explore the value of praising God in all circumstances and talk about the power of music and adoration in the life of a Christian. Want to lower your blood pressure and feel more assured that it's all going to turn out all right in the end? Turn your eyes upon Jesus, the Good Shepherd.
Continue reading Episode 83 -Heart Lessons - The Worshipful Heart at Sweet Selah Ministries.
It's a brand-new season here at The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast and are these sheep cute or what?!! Nicole and Sharon are diving in to a new series called Heart Lessons from the Life of David. We are starting with a look at the quiet heart. Why did God choose David? Well, maybe it was because while David was watching sheep, he was also choosing to get to know God in the quiet.
Continue reading Episode 82 - Heart Lessons - The Quiet Heart at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole and Sharon finish with encouraging words for you today, friend. Paul ends his letter to the Ephesians with encouragement and we can learn from him how to encourage others. This is our last podcast of Season Five. Did you enjoy the Bible Study? What would you like to hear next? We take a break over the summer months, but will be back with Season Six, Lord willing, in September. Have a beautiful summer, and make sure to take time to be with the God who loves you intensely and perfectly.
Continue reading Encourage - Ephesians 6:21-24 - Episode 81 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Want to be equipped for battle? Yes. We are in a battle. It's a spiritual one and swirls around us all the time. The enemy of our souls wants to side line if we are believers and wants, at all costs, to keep those who don't know Jesus ignorant of Who He is and how much He loves us. If we want to be strong in the Lord, fighting on our knees for those we love, we need to Armor Up.
Continue reading Armor Up - Ephesians 6:10-20 - Episode 80 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
If you are a living, breathing human ... and we believe you are if you are reading this ... you work. All of us have work to do. When we're older and retired, we still have homes or nursing home rooms for which to care. We still have to brush our teeth. When we're younger, we often work in the home and out of the home and trying to find time for relaxation and focus on the family can be difficult.
Continue reading Work Lessons - Ephesians 6:5-9 - Episode 79 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Being a parent is hard. It does not always look "picture perfect" at all. Just as soon as you think you've figured out how to do it with your firstborn, your second born comes along and it's tricky all over again because God makes everyone uniquely. The Bible has some timeless truths, though, that can help us navigate parenthood. Come be encouraged. Sharon and Nicole share their own stories and dive deeply into God's Word to seek His answers for raising children in difficult times like ours.
Continue reading Parent Lessons - Ephesians 6:1-4 - Episode 78 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Paul gets very specific about marriage at the end of Chapter five. Some of his words have been misunderstood and therefore rejected. But all of the Bible is God-breathed and useful to us, given for our growth. Join Sharon and Nicole as they discuss the roles of husband and wife as outlined in Ephesians. Hear their stories. Enter in to the world of marriage when Christ is the head of the home, and even when He is not.
Continue reading Marriage Lessons - Ephesians 5:21-33 - Episode 77 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Last week, Nicole and Sharon examined a whole boatload of wisdom. Today, they dive deeply into what it means to "live a life of love." God's greatest commandments to us are to love Him and love others. It's harder than it sounds. Share in the discussion, today, friend. How do you handle it when loving people is far from easy? How can you be known as a person filled with God's wonderful love? Join us.
Continue reading Live a Life of Love - Ephesians 5:1-20 - Episode 76 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Paul gives us many practical instructions at the end of Chapter 4 in Ephesians. Join Sharon and Nicole in studying these wonderful commands for our good and let's learn together. Want to live wisely and well with no regrets? Here's a boatload of wisdom to help you do just that.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Continue reading A Boatload of Wisdom - Ephesians 4:17-32 - Episode 75 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
We are interrupting our Ephesians study for one more week in order to share with you one of the most important podcasts Nicole and Sharon ever taped. Listen in to hear their stories of how they came to the Shepherd and became His very own. This episode was first aired near the beginning of our podcast taping, but we want to make sure you have heard this. It's at the very heart of who we are and why we come to you each week with a little message and words of encouragement.
Continue reading Becoming His - Episode 74 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole and Sharon take a one week break from Ephesians in order to explore the lives of the women who were brave enough to stand at the cross and "be there" while Jesus suffered and died. That takes a special kind of courage and a definite and deep love. There's a lot to unpack as the story unfolds, and we made some sweet discoveries along the way. Join us for a fresh look at the greatest event in history from the eyes of some pretty amazing women.
Continue reading The Women at the Cross - Easter Week - Episode 73 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Don't you long to be "fully mature" as a Christian? It's so sadly easy to get caught up in petty arguments and hurt feelings and forget how much we need each other. Join Nicole and Sharon as they talk about the need to be united as Christians in order to get the work done that God asks of us. Together is definitely better. Join us as we explore this ... together.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Continue reading Together is Better - Ephesians 4:1-16 - Episode 72 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Join Sharon and Nicole today as they explore one of the best passages about God's love in the Bible. They'll talk about the concept of "asking Jesus into your heart" and then they'll study the passage of scripture. Along the way, you'll hear stories from their lives (as per usual) and hopefully glean application for daily living as well. It's a beautiful portion of God's Word. Let's study it together!
You can print or view the transcript here.
Continue reading My Heart His Home - Ephesians 3:14-21 - Episode 71 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
God has a plan for us once we accept Christ. And it's to share the good news that He has made a way for us to be freed from the power of sin and death. He wants us to live forever with Him in a perfect place where sorrow and suffering will be replaced with love and hope and joy. Now that's a great plan. But how do we share it? Not all of us feel comfortable knocking on stranger's doors or shouting out this great news at the local supermarket, right?
Continue reading So What's the Plan - Ephesians 3:1-13 - Episode 70 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Ever been just a tad bit frustrated by the arguments Christians can have with one another? Ever been a part of an argument where you wish you could go back in time and not say what you said? Join Nicole and Sharon for a sobering look at how we ought to live with one another, learning from Paul and some of the arguments earlier Christians had. Yeah. This arguing thing? It goes waaaaay back.
Continue reading We're In This Together - Ephesians 2:11-22 - Episode 69 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Have you marveled at mercy lately? Because it's really pretty amazing. Nicole and Sharon talk about God's great mercy toward us, and our response to it on today's podcast. Come be amazed, and find practical application for your life today.
You can view and download the transcript here.
Continue reading Marvelous Mercy - Ephesians 2:1-10 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Join us, today, as we talk about a great way to pray for our loved ones. If you're like us, you spend most of your time asking God to make them happy and keep them safe. Right? I mean. Isn't that what we always want for those we love? We can get downright specific, too. Asking for straight A's for our kids and a bigger house and such. Paul shows us an amazing and actually better way to pray.
Continue reading Soul-Care Prayer - Ephesians 1:15-23 - Episode 67 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
How are you at remembering to be thankful? It's especially hard to rev up thankful thoughts when life is going terribly, isn't it? Join Sharon and Nicole as they admire Paul's counting of blessings in this passage of Ephesians, despite the fact that the Ephesians lived in hard times. Listen in as we share practical advice on how to handle rough times with a heavy dose of "noticing" what is still good. Join us for Episode 66, friend.
Continue reading Count Your Blessings - Ephesians 1:3-14 - Episode 66 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Welcome to Season Five, friend. Nicole and Sharon are going to be digging in to the wonderful book of Ephesians this season. What better way to begin, then to ponder Paul's greeting? Grace and Peace. Join us for a look at those words from the Bible and ponder with us how they apply to our lives today. Because they really do. And ask you listen, friend? Grace and peace to you.
Continue reading Grace and Peace - Ephesians 1:1-2 - Episode 65 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Christmas 2021
Dare to Trust - Mary's Story
Join Nicole and Sharon as they explore living faithfully in a fear-filled world. It's hard to imagine the emotions swirling through Mary, probably still in her teens, when an angel appeared and told her she was to be the mother of the longed-for Messiah. She had to trust God in some really hard situations. There were plenty of reasons to be fear-filled.
Continue reading Dare To Trust - Faithful Living in a Fear-Filled World - Episode 64 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Christmas 2021
Dare to Obey - Joseph's Story
Join Nicole and Sharon as they explore living faithfully in a fear-filled world. Joseph the carpenter had no idea his world was about to change when he became engaged to Mary, mother of Jesus. Yet it did. Totally and irrevocably. Yet when we observe his life, we don't see fear. We see faithful obedience. Let's learn how to live obediently like him, no matter the chaos around us!
Continue reading Dare To Obey - Faithful Living in a Fear-Filled World - Episode 63 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Christmas 2021
Dare to Be Different - Elizabeth and Zacharias' Story
Join Nicole and Sharon as they explore living faithfully in a fear-filled world. Elizabeth and Zacharias surely lived in a fear-filled world, and they had personal sadness in their lives as well. Yet they were faithful way back then. May they inspire us to be faithful right now in our own fear-filled world today. Join us for a Christmas chat about faithful living.
Continue reading Dare To Be Different - Faithful Living in a Fear-Filled World - Episode 62 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nehemiah persevered in reforms and calling people back to following God over and over and over again. He persevered. Sharon and Nicole discuss how easy it is to wander away from our promises to God and our zeal. They talk about how to stay close to Him even after failure. And they also finish out the book of Nehemiah. Thanks for persevering with us. Would you like more Bible Studies or do you prefer topics?
Continue reading Lessons in Perseverance - Nehemiah 11-13 - Episode 61 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
There are times when there is no escaping it. We are just plain in the wrong. And we know it. Nicole and Sharon discuss the value in confessing sin immediately, and the freedom that comes from speaking truth and being forgiven. This is liberating. Join us for a talk about confession and repentance, learning from God's people long ago.
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Continue reading When You're Wrong and You Know It - Nehemiah 9-10 - Episode 60 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Join Sharon and Nicole as they discuss the joy that comes from knowing God and hearing His Word. It's stunning to read about how long the people of Jerusalem stood in rapt attention, listening to the reading of the book of Moses. It's humbling, when we think how short our own attention spans are. Let's talk together about the joy of the LORD. Join us.
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Continue reading The Joy of the LORD - Nehemiah 8 - Episode 59 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nicole and Sharon marvel at Nehemiah's perseverance and celebrate the finishing of the wall in this episode. It's a stunning accomplishment. They also confess to some unfinished projects in their own lives and discuss what is worth "finishing well" in this life. There might have been some tears in this one. No matter what, let's finish well the race marked out for us, shall we? That's one thing we don't want to leave undone.
Continue reading Finishing Well - Nehemiah 6 and 7 - Episode 58 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
You know what's stunning? When a great leader stoops to wash another's feet or clean a mess up off the floor. When someone who could demand others do the work while they watched rolls up their sleeves and pitches in and helps. That's the kind of leader Nehemiah was. That's the kind of leader Jesus asks all of us who love Him to be. No one gets to be bossy and lord it over others.
Continue reading The Greatness of a Servant's Heart - Nehemiah 5 - Episode 57 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
When people oppose you it's not any fun at all. When they oppose what you believe God has called you to do it can be downright discouraging and sometimes even frightening. Nehemiah had to deal with huge opposition while he rebuilt Jerusalem's walls. And he handled it like a champ. We can learn a lot from this wise man when we face opposition of our own. Join Nicole and Sharon as they discover the four ways Nehemiah was able to keep going despite those who opposed and threatened him and take heart.
Continue reading Opposition and How to Handle It - Nehemiah 4 and 6 - Episode 56 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Nehemiah prayed a bold, audacious and impossible prayer. He waited for months. Then God answered a huge, improbable YES. It's a stunning story. Join Sharon and Nicole as they unpack it and talk about asking for the impossible. This was a fun one! Enjoy, friends.
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Continue reading Planning the Impossible with God - Nehemiah 2 & 3 - Episode 55 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Sometimes you have time for long prayers. Sometimes you pray long for big answers. Sometimes you are in a panic and simply say, "Help me, Jesus!" A prayer-full life, like Nehemiah had, is the goal. And wow. That guy surely could pray! Join Nicole and Sharon as they start our study of the book of Nehemiah and be amazed at how relevant his story is ... to ours today.
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Continue reading The Prayer-Full Life - Nehemiah 1 - Episode 54 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Church. What kind of picture comes to your mind when you hear that word? The Bible is very clear that we are to fellowship with other believers. We all have gifts that we are meant to share within the body of Christ. We need to listen to teachers and we need to gather together as a family of believers as well. But church is not easy. Mostly, because it's filled with imperfect people in varying stages of maturity with very diverse personalities.
Continue reading Five Holy Habits - Fellowship - Episode 53 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
You know what else we don't have time for unless we make it a priority? Service. Nicole and Sharon unpack how to serve wisely with limited resources and talk about the sweet, sweet benefits that come from helping another human being in need. This is definitely a holy habit we all should be forming. Join us as we talk about how to serve wisely.
Want to become a Podcast Partner? We'd love to have you on our team!
Continue reading Five Holy Habits - Service - Episode 52 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Well this is kind of fun. Yes, REST should be one of our holy habits! Join Sharon and Nicole as they talk about the value to taking time intentionally and utilizing it for ... stopping and resting. Most of us don't have loads of free time lying around waiting for us to fill it. We need to believe that rest matters, that we are not failing if we rest, and that God is pleased when we choose sometimes to just stop.
Continue reading Five Holy Habits - Rest - Episode 51 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
How's your prayer life? Do you find it easy to talk to God? Do you have the "habit" of praying? Let's talk about the different kinds of prayers we Christians pray, and let's just be amazed that the God of the Universe wants to hear from us. Often. For more details on Organizing Your Personal Prayer Life, visit our YouTube channel and click on the series with that name.
Want to become a Podcast Partner?
Continue reading Five Holy Habits - Prayer - Episode 50 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Join Sharon and Nicole as they talk about the importance of developing a habit of Bible reading. It can feel quite daunting, but it doesn't have to be that way! We'll share practical ways to read the Bible even when you are leading quite the busy life. Join the discussion and listen in!
Want to become a Podcast Partner? We'd love to have you on our team! You will get exclusive emails from Nicole and Sharon and our deepest gratitude if you are led by God to become a monthly donor.
Continue reading Five Holy Habits - Bible Reading - Episode 49 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
LAST EPISODE OF SEASON THREE
Trying to find stillness in a busy world is hard. Join Nicole and Sharon as they talk about the value of silence and quiet in this last episode before our summer break. It's worth the work to find times to be still before the Lord your God. Listen in and get helpful tips on how to find the quiet. Remember that we have three seasons' worth of podcasts available to you here on our website.
Continue reading Shhh. Be Quiet - Episode 48 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
PARABLES
Waiting is hard. It's especially hard when you have No Idea how long the wait will be. Join Nicole and Sharon as they talk about waiting well. Puzzle out the parable about the bridesmaids waiting for the groom with them. There are so many layers to a parable. Let's explore this one together.
Want to become a Podcast Partner? We'd love to have you on our team!
Continue reading Keep Watch - Episode 47 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
PARABLES
Just who IS my neighbor? It was a tricky question then and it's a tricky question now. Join Sharon and Nicole as they examine the parable of The Good Samaritan. There are so many wonderful lessons to be learned from this parable. Listen in and be challenged. Add your comments as we discuss just who is my neighbor and ... what are my responsibilities toward him or her?
Continue reading Loving Your Neighbor -Even When It's Inconvenient - Episode 46 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
PARABLES
Let's join Jesus and His disciples at a dinner party where He tells us about the grandest of dinner parties, a truly magnificent banquet, that awaits us. And, while we're at it, let's talk about banquets and foods and how to behave oneself when invited to one. Join Sharon and Nicole and listen in on their discussion.
Want to become a Podcast Partner? We'd love to have you on our team!
Continue reading The Banquet - Episode 45 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
PARABLES
Jesus started many a parable with the words: "The Kingdom of Heaven is like ..." And let's face it. He should know. After all, He is the King of the Kingdom of Heaven. Join Nicole and Sharon as they look at seven short little parables about Heaven. Be amazed with them at the marvels that await us there.
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Continue reading The King and His Kingdom - Episode 44 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
PARABLES
Sharon and Nicole ponder soil and seeds today. The parable of the sower teaches us great lessons about where we should plant ourselves and how we should live so we produce a harvest. Join them for a tender talk about life on the farm - God's farm - as Christian seedlings!
Want to become a Podcast Partner? We'd love to have you on our team! You will get exclusive emails from Nicole and Sharon and our deepest gratitude if you are led by God to become a monthly donor.
Continue reading Be Part of the Harvest - Episode 43 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
PARABLES
Nicole and Sharon are going to look at a parable about being a good steward, today, and then challenge themselves - and us - to be wise with how we use the time, money, talents and possessions God gives to each of us. It matters how we steward what we've been given. Eternally. Join the discussion!
Want to become a Podcast Partner? We'd love to have you on our team!
Continue reading The Rewards of Stewardship - Episode 42 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
PARABLES
Nicole and Sharon are going to do a "heart check" today, as they look at the parable of the prodigal son. How's your heart these days? It's so easy to allow rebellion and bitterness to run the show in our lives, when what we really need are hearts that love like God loves. Join us as we talk about the blessings found in cultivating a loving heart.
Continue reading Heart Check - Episode 41 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
PARABLES
Ever been lost? It's not much fun, is it? There's a great feeling of relief when someone cares enough to search for you and find you. Today's episode is going to explore the parables of the lost coin and the lost sheep. It's also going to talk about redemption and how God rejoices when a lost one of His ... is found.
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Continue reading The Joy of Being Found - Episode 40 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
EASTER SERIES
This last episode in our Easter series looks at transformed disciples after Jesus ascends to Heaven. They had a purpose and a mission and they were amazing at accomplishing it because they were powered by God the Holy Spirit. Nicole and Sharon pivot from the disciples of long ago to all of us who live now. God has made you on purpose and He truly has a plan for your life.
Continue reading Living Out Our Purpose - Episode 39 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
EASTER SERIES
Have you ever messed up SO much that you felt it was hopeless? Peter may have felt like that after denying that he even knew Jesus - especially after declaring earlier the night before that he would be the faithful one. Just. So. Humiliating. Right? We've been there, too. Nicole and Sharon share from their hearts about how God is able to restore the broken, and that there's no such thing as too broken for God to fix!
Continue reading Restoring the Broken - Episode 38 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
EASTER SERIES
Join Sharon and Nicole as they discuss Easter Week itself. We'll dive deep into the Word of God as we look back, and we will also talk practically about how to truly stop for a little while this week and ponder the incredibly mystery of God's great grace and salvation toward us. This is a full session and we are so excited to share with you our thoughts and ideas as we approach the highest holiday of all for Christians around the world.
Continue reading The Greatest Grace at Sweet Selah Ministries.
EASTER SERIES
We'll be looking at the last supper Jesus had with His disciples before His crucifixion in today's episode. We'll also talk about how essential it is to remember and reinforce what's important by repetition like we do whenever we take the bread and drink the cup, marveling once again at what Christ did for us. Join us for an important conversation today.
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Continue reading We Need to Remember - Episode 36 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
EASTER SERIES
Have you ever knelt on the floor and washed someone's filthy feet? It's hard to imagine, isn't it? Mostly today, we wash our own feet, don't we? Back in Jesus' day, when everyone walked around in sandals, feet got super dirty and the least slave or servant in the house would be assigned the miserable task of cleaning up the feet before people tramped all over the house. We might not need foot washing these days, but there are plenty of icky jobs that still need doing, aren't there?
Continue reading Choosing the Hard - Episode 35 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
EASTER SERIES
Join Nicole and Sharon as they journey back to Palm Sunday and then ... even a little further back, in order to understand some back stories. Have you ever changed an opinion about someone or something after learning more about their backstory? Let's talk about the importance of knowing context when we read the Bible and ... when we are tempted to judge our fellow humans!
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Continue reading Backstories Matter - Episode 34 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
What feelings are brought to the surface when you read the title of today's podcast, The Good Wife? Depending on your family life as a child, and where you are now in life, you might find the reading of these words ... hard. Just what does the Bible say about "wifing?" How would God have us handle this very important role? Join Nicole and Sharon as they explore what God has to say about being a "good wife" in various circumstances.
Continue reading The Good Wife - Episode 33 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
How's that mouth of yours? Does it always speak words that help and heal or ... occasionally ... do you wish you had shut that mouth before it uttered words you wanted to take back? Yep. The Bible tells us that controlling the mouth and tongue is HARD. Join Nicole and Sharon, today, for a tough talk about how God can help us "watch our mouth" and say words that bless.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Continue reading Watch Your Mouth - Episode 32 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
There are a whole lot of Proverbs on working well and not being lazy. This is good. However, there is also a time for planned rest. We are all about purposeful stopping here at Sweet Selah Ministries. So, what's the difference between rest and laziness? How do you Work Well and then Rest Well? Join Nicole and Sharon as they puzzle this out, studying the Word of God together. With you!
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Continue reading Work Well. Rest Well. - Episode 31 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
There are very few treasures in life more important than a few good friends. Let's talk about how to be that good friend and how to find those good friends in today's podcast. Nicole and Sharon have some practical examples and also stories to share as we see what Proverbs says about friendship. Join us!
You can download and print the transcript here.
Want to become a Podcast Partner? We'd love to have you on our team!
Continue reading How To Be A Faithful Friend - Episode 30 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Don't you just hate it when you do something foolish? The Book of Proverbs has a lot to say about foolishness and how to guard yourself against doing and saying things you will regret. Join Nicole and Sharon as they talk about how to avoid foolishness and share some life lessons along the way.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Continue reading Don't Be Foolish - Episode 29 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Welcome to our first episode in Season 3. We are focusing on Proverbs and Parables this season, with a mini middle section around Easter. Join Nicole and Sharon as they discuss wisdom together. What exactly is wisdom? How does it differ from knowledge? And ... why should we want wisdom above all else?
You can download and print the transcript here.
Continue reading Wise Up - Episode 28 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Have you ever rescued someone? Have you ever needed rescue? Nicole and Sharon swap rescue stories and then open God's Word and rejoice in the greatest story of rescue ever told. Join us for this last episode of the season as we talk about Jesus, Lord and Savior. Merry Christmas, friends!
You can download and print the transcript here.
Continue reading The Perfect Rescuer. Jesus' Story - Episode 27 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
If you have experienced infertility or child loss or know someone who has, you know what a searing, painful experience it is. Nicole and Sharon share from their personal experience and from the Word of God, what it's like to want a child desperately. Join us for a study of Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist, who endured years of waiting and scorn, and who did it with grace and faithfulness. Let's talk and encourage one another today.
Continue reading Longing for a Child. Elizabeth's Story - Episode 26 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Mary woke up one morning, expecting to marry Joseph, like she had the morning before that. Then an angel came and told her she would be expecting in a whole different way. From small town girl with a fiancé to the mother of the Son of God and a whole new life that was nothing like the one she had planned. How about you? Has your life gone as planned? Chances are, you have also had disruptions and detours and destination changes.
Continue reading When God Changes Your Plans. Mary's Story - Episode 25 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Somedays it is quite easy to be thankful. Other days? Not so much. Join Nicole and Sharon as they talk about creating a meaningful Thanksgiving and cultivating a grateful heart in the good times and the bad times. Want to get some gratitude going in your heart? Have a listen, friends.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Continue reading The Thankful Heart - Episode 24 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Jesus warns us that the way to Heaven is narrow. It does not always look like the easiest of ways. And yet it is the only way to eternal life lived with Him. Nicole and Sharon talk today about this unpopular Christian position, and how we get this belief straight from our Founder - our Lord and Savior - Jesus Christ Himself. Join us for the discussion about believing there is one way in a world that believes there are many.
Continue reading The Narrow Way - Episode 23 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
It's not always easy to trust God, is it? And yet, God is absolutely trustworthy. He's never broken a promise. He's never been unfaithful. Nicole and Sharon continue discussing the Sermon on the Mount and the issue of trust in today's episode. May you be inspired to trust Him more and more!
You can download and print the transcript here.
Continue reading Do We Really Trust God? - Episode 22 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Very few people on this planet don't have money issues at one time or another. How 'bout you? Jesus has a lot to say about money, worry, and the desire to have enough of the things we need to live life comfortably. Join Sharon and Nicole as they talk about worry, money, and all the things that keep us from a life of trust and peace. Thanks for joining us and please share our podcast with others if you have enjoyed it.
Continue reading Money Problems and Other Big Worries - Episode 21 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
It's probably one of the world's most well known prayers. Amazing in its simplicity and length and profound in every. single. word. Nicole and Sharon unpack this prayer and talk about the value of prayer itself. What a privilege it is to be able to talk to God. Join us for today's episode and walk away refreshed. That's our goal and prayer for you, friend. And share your thoughts in the comments afterward.
Continue reading Pray Like Jesus. The Lord's Prayer - Episode 20 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Sometimes we work awfully hard to please the wrong people. Oy. Nicole and Sharon talk about that "people pleaser" thing that can make us do more than we should more often than we ought for all the wrong reasons. Join us today as we encourage each other and you as well to please the One who matters most. We'd love to hear from you so do comment below. When is it especially hard for you to walk away from a people pleasing situation?
Continue reading Just Who Am I Trying to Please? - Episode 19 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Oh this is a tough episode. Jesus does not shy away from talking about marriage, divorce, adultery, revenge and other hard, hard topics. Nicole and Sharon study what He says together and offer comfort, hope and sober warnings as well for all of us as we work through difficulties in our relationships with others. Come prayerfully and listen and learn from Jesus' words on these tough subjects. Our prayer is that you will walk away renewed and determined to look to Him for relational help and healing no matter how messy your situation might be.
Continue reading When Relationships Hurt - Episode 18 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Got Anger? Yeah, so do we. It's hard to maintain one's peacefulness when certain things happen to us, isn't it? Jesus has some strong words to say on the subject of being angry. Nicole and Sharon share their own anger issues and talk through how to honor the Lord Jesus when we feel the steam building. Join us for today's episode and feel free to comment if you have good ideas on how to handle your anger in a way that does not hurt anyone around you.
Continue reading Anger Issues - Episode 17 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
How are you doing at shining God's light on the people in your life? Are you "salty" as you share God's truths in love? Nicole and Sharon move from the Beatitudes and Attitudes to Actions this week. What does it look like to live in such a way that people see Jesus in us? Join us for today's show. We love comments, so add your thoughts to this episode below. Thanks for watching!
Continue reading Actions - Episode 16 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Join Sharon and Nicole as they talk about attitudes and how Jesus' view of how our attitudes ought to "be" looks a bit different. Join the conversation as we read the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount and talk about how to live them out in our real life worlds today.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Continue reading Attitudes - Episode 15 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
We start this season where we ended last season. With the idea of taking an informal sabbath one day a week, which is certainly not a new idea. In fact, God commands it in the Ten Commandments. But ... what if you are in a season of life where resting makes you want to laugh a little bit hysterically? Nicole and Sharon unpack what God wants and doesn't want from us when He tells us to REST.
Continue reading Sabbathing in Different Seasons - Episode 14 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Sabbathing. Episode 13. Exodus 20:1-17; Colossians 2:13-17.
This final podcast of Season One is all about "keeping Sabbath" as Christians in America today. What does that look like? What does the Bible say about the sabbath? Nicole and Sharon discuss Old Testament and New Testament passages that talk about God's command to rest one day out of seven. They walk away from legalism, but not from God's intent that people ought to take a break and rest.
Continue reading Sabbathing - Episode 13 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Episode 12.Breakthrough Prayer.Habakkuk 3
Sharon and Nicole finish up the 3-part series on prayer, discussing today when we get a breakthrough while praying earnestly, even if the answer is not what we expect. We can learn so much from Habakkuk when he had his own breakthrough as we read his response to God. Join us today and rejoice that when we pray, breakthroughs come!
You can download and print the transcript here.
Continue reading Breakthrough Prayer - Episode 12 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Episode 11.Praying in light of forever. Habakkuk 2.
Life can be so hard sometimes. Are you struggling with a painful situation and crying out to God for an answer? Sharon and Nicole continue the 3-part series that was started last week on praying when it’s hard, and this week, they continue the conversation talking about waiting on the Lord and praying in light of eternity. Join the discussion as we ponder, with Habakkuk, the times when life seems very unfair.
Continue reading Praying in Light of Forever - Episode 11 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Episode 10. When It's Hard To Pray. Habakkuk 1
Sometimes when you pray, God answers just as you would like and you rejoice in Him. Other times when you pray, you do not get the answer you wanted. Sometimes ... it's HARD to pray. Nicole and Sharon are starting a three part series today on the little book of Habakkuk. Habakkuk was not happy. He did not get the life he wanted.
Continue reading When It's Hard To Pray - Episode 10 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Episode 9. Be A Tree. Psalm 1. Isaiah 61:1-3
It's a long process to go from a seed to an oak tree. Takes years. But once that tree has grown, it stands firm for centuries. The winds can blow and the storms can come, but its roots have grown deep next to the water and it is steady and unshaken. Let's be like that tree. Join Nicole and Sharon for a discussion today that features lots of laughter and study as they talk about why we should all be like that tree.
Continue reading Be A Tree - Episode 9 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Episode 8. Making Your Quiet Time Personal. Luke 8:4-15
So, we all know we ought to spend time with God ... but it's hard. We have busy lives. We have people who depend on us. We can barely accomplish all that we are supposed to do as it is. And yet. We have an invitation to meet with the King of the universe. The Shepherd who loves us tenderly.
Continue reading Making Your Quiet Time Personal - Episode 8 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Episode 7. Becoming His. John 10:1-28
What does it mean to belong to God? Discover with Nicole and Sharon the beauty of belonging to God. Learn about the Good Shepherd who cares for His sheep with a deep and enduring love. You are loved. Listen today and discover it. This podcast could change your life.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Continue reading Becoming His - Episode 7 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Episode 6. Thirsting for the Living God. Psalm 63
Sometimes life is hard. And you hurt. And God seems very, very far away. Nicole and Sharon will be talking about some of those very hard times in their own lives. Then, we'll unpack Psalm 63 and discover ways to cope when it all seems too much. There's hope in this podcast. Have a listen.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Continue reading Thirsting for the Living God - Episode 6 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Episode 5. Turn Your Worries Into Prayers. Philippians 4:1-9
Do you find yourself in an endless cycle of worry that drains all your energy? There really is a better way. Join Nicole and Sharon as they talk about ways to turn worries into prayers ... and how that simple change can literally change everything else!
You can download and print the transcript here.
Continue reading Turn Your Worries Into Prayers - Episode 5 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Episode 4. How to Stop the Busy. Isaiah 30:8-21
We often spin faster and faster when we get busy, trying desperately to catch up. That old saying, however, is true: "The hurrier I go, the behinder I get." There is a better way to stop the busy. Let's look today at God's Word to Isaiah—and to us—and talk about some practical ways to slow down and meet with God and breathe.
You can download and print the transcript here.
Continue reading How to Stop the Busy - Episode 4 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Episode 3. When the Mountains Fall into the Sea. Psalm 46.
We live in a scary world. Today, Nicole and Sharon look at a psalm written for times of crisis. Step aside from the busy and enjoy a Sweet Selah Moment as we look at God's instructions on what to do in a crisis.
Show Notes: Correction from Sharon: When speaking of the planes crashing on 9/11, I said the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania was headed for the Pentagon.
Continue reading When the Mountains Fall into the Sea - Episode 3 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Episode 2. Finding Time for the Quiet Time. Matthew 6:30-34
What if we thought about a quiet time with God differently? What if we kept it simple and manageable? What if ... instead of "having" to do a quiet time ... we start to be amazed that we "get" to have one. Let's marvel at the fact that God the Creator, Maker of Heaven and earth and you, wants to spend time with you and help you with your daily tasks.
Continue reading Finding the Time for the Quiet Time - Episode 2 at Sweet Selah Ministries.
Episode 1. Journey to Stillness. Psalm 46:10
The episode in which we introduce ourselves and our own personal journeys to stillness. If you have a desire, like we do, to know God better and love Him more and more ... but life just feels like it's getting in the way ... you'll want to join us today as we talk practically about cultivating stillness in busy lives. Love, Sharon and Nicole
You can download and print the transcript here.
Continue reading Journey to Stillness - Episode 1 at Sweet Selah Ministries.