1 00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:13,840 Happy Monday. Welcome back into the ERC 2 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:17,960 Leftovers podcast. Pastor Matt, Pastor Chris here 3 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:22,000 with some follow up thoughts to the message from yesterday. 4 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:27,520 Some funny personal thoughts along the way, the past week, 5 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:29,400 the past few days, whatever it might be. 6 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:32,880 How you doing man? I, I, I feel man, I'm good. 7 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:35,800 I'm good. Like I, I had a great weekend 8 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:39,800 and I thought yesterday's service was like, you know, like 9 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:41,440 I really enjoyed it front to back. 10 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:43,920 So yeah. But I'll tell you what, man, I 11 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:47,320 think the, the thing that, OK, so yesterday I have to rewind. 12 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:53,240 I don't, I don't think I've ever seen the people on a Sunday 13 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:57,920 morning during a sermon react the way they did when you just 14 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:01,960 started eating day old chicken Nuggets in front of them and not 15 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:05,640 saying anything. There was just like these, so 16 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:09,120 many people from the audience just yelling random things at 17 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:10,800 you. I've never seen them react that 18 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:11,680 way. So. 19 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:14,480 Yeah, if you haven't, if you haven't watched the message or 20 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:16,200 if it didn't come through, well, it's not going to come. 21 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:20,840 Well, on the audio version on on Facebook feed, you can see what 22 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:23,000 was going on. But I started yesterday's 23 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:26,520 sermon. Someone else, Shannon sank and 24 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:28,960 read the passage for the day. And then I just brought the 25 00:01:28,960 --> 00:01:32,800 table in my notes up there and opened up a McDonald's bag and 26 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:35,200 started eating chicken Nuggets with BBQ sauce. 27 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:38,040 Didn't say anything. I was just dunking Nuggets and 28 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:39,680 and chewing. Yeah, you were. 29 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:40,520 Hey, man. And I was. 30 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:43,760 I was actually weirdly jealous 'cause I shouldn't like them, 31 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:45,560 but I love McDonald's chicken Nuggets. 32 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:46,640 Yeah. Yeah. 33 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:48,760 So anyway. Delicious, delicious. 34 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:52,960 So, and that's how I started. And this isn't my illustration. 35 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:57,360 I, I copped this for I saw this somewhere else and I thought it, 36 00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:00,280 I thought it worked for this passage and I thought it would 37 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:02,720 be attention getting. So I, I mimicked it. 38 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:09,039 But when I was fully prepared to just be up there in awkward 39 00:02:09,039 --> 00:02:13,080 silence with the room, just silently wondering what was 40 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:15,760 going on, but people started calling out. 41 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:18,960 They like, what are you doing? Or did you bring enough for 42 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:20,880 everyone? Or are you are you going to 43 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:22,720 share those with me? Like there, there were so many 44 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:24,520 different. I think I even heard somebody 45 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:27,000 say what kind of sauce? Like, wow. 46 00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:29,640 And I was trying not to. I was not out there to like 47 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:32,240 converse. I I wasn't really wanting to 48 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:36,120 engage with with the reaction so everyone's just confused. 49 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:39,240 Cause the whole idea was that you would not react is that you 50 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:42,840 would just like eat the Nuggets without even thinking about the 51 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:45,520 fact that you're staying in front of 100 and almost 200 52 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:48,160 people, you know? And in that way, it's genius. 53 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:51,360 But in another way, like the audience reaction was wild. 54 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:55,160 And they clearly by the reaction, the question, the 55 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:56,960 question I asked in the illustration that we were 56 00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:01,440 talking about are, are are you here to just watch me eat like 57 00:03:01,640 --> 00:03:05,880 me be fed spiritually? Do you come to church to watch 58 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:09,800 me work out my salvation being or, or are you working out 59 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:11,200 yourself? Are you coming to eat? 60 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:14,000 Are you coming to be filled? So that was the question. 61 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:17,440 But clearly people, people were there to be filled. 62 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:20,000 They were there to eat too. Like they were like, no, give me 63 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:23,640 some of that. So no, that was that was how I 64 00:03:23,640 --> 00:03:26,760 set it up yesterday. And I think, yeah, I think it 65 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:28,760 landed. I think the point came across 66 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:32,040 and they were follow. I yeah, I had other inner 67 00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:35,200 weavings of that illustration later in the message too, but. 68 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:38,960 Yeah, it was wild, though I have no other way of describing it. 69 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:43,000 Like there had to have been at least at least 10 different 70 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:46,640 people who are shouting out random things and children too. 71 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:49,400 You. Really got them. 72 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:53,640 And The thing is like, you know, if you're listening to this, you 73 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:57,320 probably go to this church and you know, that's not typically 74 00:03:57,320 --> 00:03:59,520 what happens. Like, you know, somebody can be 75 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:03,160 on a good run, like Holy Spirit run and every once in a while 76 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:07,240 here and Amen. But that's usually the extent of 77 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:08,680 it. We don't have a whole lot of 78 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:11,920 like audible responses during the message usually. 79 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:14,440 Not usually, unless we unless we ask a question. 80 00:04:14,440 --> 00:04:16,200 Yeah, yeah. And you guys are great about 81 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:18,399 answering questions and stuff and I and I love that. 82 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:20,640 But yesterday was just different. 83 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:25,520 It was wild. So yeah, that's, that's where we 84 00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:29,600 started, ended up with what we also don't do at the end, and we 85 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:32,240 probably should do more often. We don't, I don't want to call 86 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:35,800 it like an altar call 'cause I think that's, I don't know, I 87 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:38,480 think that has weird connotations to, to call it 88 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:40,400 that. But we, we don't often invite up 89 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:42,560 for baptism at the end of the service. 90 00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:46,760 We don't often like invite into again, the phrase faith 91 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:48,680 decision. Like I don't love that either. 92 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:52,120 But we don't, we don't ever really like set up a call to 93 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:55,280 Acts. I, I, I guess like a call to 94 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:59,240 professing, hey, yes, this is what I, I want this, I'm 95 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:04,080 declaring that I believe in Jesus and I want to be baptized 96 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:06,600 and I, and I want to learn how to live this Christian life. 97 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:10,320 Like we don't often facilitate moments for that because we're a 98 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:15,520 conservative Midwestern Lutheran Church and that's how our people 99 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:18,680 are. So anyway, that yeah, ended with 100 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:22,200 a call to baptism that wasn't taken up by and I did get a 101 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:25,600 couple text messages afterwards that they appreciated the moment 102 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:27,320 and the invitation. There were a couple. 103 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:32,640 I really almost came up or I, I really almost brought my kid up 104 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:35,080 and that there were a couple of those. 105 00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:39,000 So it just any of you listening like I do truly believe what I 106 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:45,840 said that we sometimes have two formal of a view of baptism. 107 00:05:45,840 --> 00:05:50,080 Yes, it is important. Yes, it should be entered into 108 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:53,640 thoughtfully and considerately and carefully and prayerfully. 109 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:59,320 Like it shouldn't necessarily be a split moment decision because 110 00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:01,840 I do think it has lasting impact in this passage that we'll talk 111 00:06:01,840 --> 00:06:04,360 about. There's Simon the sorcerer did 112 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:08,960 enter into baptism and still was like wildly unequipped or not 113 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:11,640 understanding what he was entering into. 114 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:15,840 So like, I do think we should be careful and cautious and 115 00:06:15,840 --> 00:06:19,560 considerate of, of entering into baptism and what we actually 116 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:21,280 believe and what we're actually professing. 117 00:06:21,280 --> 00:06:24,920 So I'm not saying we shouldn't set it up with, with any sort of 118 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:27,880 education or care or, or consideration, but I do also 119 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:30,840 believe it can be that simple. You know what, you're here, you 120 00:06:30,840 --> 00:06:32,320 believe this, you've never been baptized. 121 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:35,080 You should be baptized, be baptized right now. 122 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:39,440 And we can do it right now. So yeah, if there's ever any of 123 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:41,880 those moments moving forward too. 124 00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:45,600 I I had a couple of responses that I was like, and any given 125 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:48,360 Sunday, I'll I'll come to your house and baptize your kid right 126 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:51,960 now if you want like it. It is that accessible. 127 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:58,400 It's not something reserved for a special manufactured moment at 128 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:00,320 church. That's that's not the picture of 129 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:01,920 baptism we see in the Bible. No. 130 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:05,200 And actually I had a guy, I was thinking about this yesterday. 131 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:08,520 I had a guy during seminary, I think he was the class in front 132 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:11,520 of me and he brought up this moment. 133 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:15,400 He was, he was at a, a bar or a pub, something like that. 134 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:18,840 And you know, he'd struck up this conversation with this guy 135 00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:22,080 and he had been witnessing to him for better than an hour. 136 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:26,960 And the guy probably similar to the eunuch, his mind was opened 137 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:30,240 up like he had, he already had some kind of background about 138 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:32,120 Jesus. So like Jesus wasn't a new 139 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:34,760 concept to him. But like in that moment at the 140 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:39,960 bar, the guy absolutely authentically as you can receive 141 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:41,920 Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. 142 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:47,440 And that that guy who was at seminary, he said, I baptized 143 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:50,960 him there. And I was like, that's awesome. 144 00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:55,400 But it sparked this debate in the seminary as to like, hey, 145 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:58,560 should you have done that? And then, you know, you look at 146 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:01,760 this text and here's water. What's to stop us, right. 147 00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:07,120 And so I, I, I was, I was on the favorable side of that debate of 148 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:11,440 saying no man, that man accepted, loved and understood 149 00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:14,960 his need for Jesus Christ and he wanted to be baptized. 150 00:08:14,960 --> 00:08:16,720 He wanted his sins to be washed away. 151 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:23,640 Understood that baptism is the sacrament, the expression of how 152 00:08:23,640 --> 00:08:26,840 that happens. And so I mean, yeah, why? 153 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:30,440 Why stop that from happening? So what I think, I think part of 154 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:34,760 maybe the negative side of the reaction to that is we, at least 155 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:40,039 when I was in seminary, there's a hard, profound emphasis put on 156 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:45,120 the Great Commission of, of that baptizing them and teaching them 157 00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:47,120 everything I've commanded you like. 158 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:50,120 Those are one and the same. And I do believe the like that 159 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:54,040 makes sense baptizing and teaching where I think it maybe 160 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:56,200 goes a little too far. We we get caught up in our heads 161 00:08:56,200 --> 00:09:00,640 of of the ongoing element of that teaching, especially as it 162 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:03,920 relates to like the pastorate. I think that absolutely makes 163 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:09,040 sense for parents of a child. Like no, you're entering into 164 00:09:09,040 --> 00:09:13,840 this baptism as well as long as they are in the your household 165 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:17,800 and in the honor thy father and mother state, which that never 166 00:09:17,800 --> 00:09:21,080 really goes away. But but when you're particularly 167 00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:25,120 when they are a minor and in your care and not in their own 168 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:31,200 adult life, yeah, that that teaching part of being raised in 169 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:34,440 a Christian faith and you as parents encouraging and growing 170 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:35,920 and nourishing your child in that. 171 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:38,480 I do think it's significant where I think there's a little 172 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:43,440 less of, of an impact and we see it even acted out in the in the 173 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:48,720 apostles here in Acts. They're not responsible for each 174 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:51,160 and every individual that they baptized. 175 00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:54,280 Their ongoing teaching and learning. 176 00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:58,000 Yes, they taught them good and true things, which then the Holy 177 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:01,200 Spirit worked and and convicted and brought them to faith in 178 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:03,520 that. And, and to some degree they, 179 00:10:03,680 --> 00:10:06,840 the disciples did teach them the things that Jesus commanded them 180 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:08,880 and it brought them to faith and it brought them to baptism. 181 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:13,320 But from that point on, they're kind of it. 182 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:15,440 It's where I ended yesterday. You're you're working at your 183 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:17,440 own salvation with fear and trembling. 184 00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:20,400 The disciples were not living out their faith for them. 185 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:24,240 What what Simon asked of them. They could not work out his 186 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:29,880 repentance for him. So to that degree, I think, I 187 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:32,920 think it is OK from that moment at least, at least as a pastor's 188 00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:35,160 responsibility goes. You, you taught him everything 189 00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:39,520 to that point to to bring him the good news, the gospel, to 190 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:42,480 the point that he wanted to declare his faith in that. 191 00:10:43,960 --> 00:10:46,360 You're not on the hook for holding his hand for the next 50 192 00:10:46,360 --> 00:10:48,640 years of his life, though. I don't, I don't think. 193 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:51,360 No, I don't think so either. And, you know, especially 194 00:10:51,480 --> 00:10:54,680 speaking specifically of yesterday, I think it, it is 195 00:10:54,680 --> 00:10:59,880 appropriate and it is good to offer those seemingly spur of 196 00:10:59,880 --> 00:11:03,120 the moment kind of things. Because here's the thing, if 197 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:06,520 you're at ERC or any other church and that is offered to 198 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:10,000 you in the moment. And man, God and the Holy Spirit 199 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:12,680 are saying, OK, I'm talking to you right now. 200 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:16,800 Well, gosh, you know what? After that, we can probably 201 00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:20,400 pretty safely assume they're going to continue in our care 202 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:23,640 under, under, Yeah, under our general care. 203 00:11:23,640 --> 00:11:27,960 And so like then, although it is technically in some way always 204 00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:32,920 spontaneous, it's not, it's not a situation where there won't be 205 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:37,360 follow up, you know, and, and yeah, I mean, we can't, we, we 206 00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:40,760 don't save anybody, you know, we don't save anybody. 207 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:44,600 So you're, you're 100% correct in how you use that sense of 208 00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:48,080 like, you have to work out your salvation and fear and 209 00:11:48,080 --> 00:11:49,640 trembling. Like that's on you. 210 00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:53,800 Like there is the individual component of like, what is my 211 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:56,720 relationship look like with our Lord and Savior? 212 00:11:57,160 --> 00:12:00,600 And, you know, so outside of Sunday or any other like 213 00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:03,560 specific things where we're teaching, preaching, whatever, 214 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:07,640 but yeah, like it is down to the individual to say I value my 215 00:12:07,640 --> 00:12:11,800 relationship with the Lord enough to seek this out, to 216 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:14,840 repent regularly and, you know, all those kinds of things. 217 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:17,800 And if you're listening either yesterday or listening to this 218 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:23,120 now or just generally in your Christian walk, as it were you, 219 00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:25,720 you wonder, well, what what should it look like? 220 00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:28,360 Or, or maybe there's an individual at church or, or 221 00:12:28,360 --> 00:12:33,040 someone, you know, who's like I, I'd like what their faith looks 222 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:34,680 like because we, because we can think like that. 223 00:12:34,680 --> 00:12:38,520 We, we can see people and be like, wow, I wish I was the 224 00:12:38,520 --> 00:12:41,920 Christian that they are. I think it's OK to think that, 225 00:12:42,400 --> 00:12:47,120 but go like, if you see that or there's that, whatever I, I want 226 00:12:47,120 --> 00:12:51,400 that or, or just like twinge of jealousy in you within that, Go 227 00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:54,680 talk to them. Go, go, go get coffee with them 228 00:12:54,680 --> 00:12:57,360 or, or, or go out to for apps or something with them. 229 00:12:57,360 --> 00:13:00,720 And, and talk to them about their faith, like how they, how 230 00:13:00,720 --> 00:13:04,360 they've been brought to that point in their life for their 231 00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:07,000 faith to be something that's that's desirable, that's 232 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:08,640 appealing to you. If you don't know what that 233 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:13,760 looks like, but you can see someone who has what it looks 234 00:13:13,760 --> 00:13:16,040 like, I think, I think it's OK to lean on that and to be 235 00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:19,960 encouraged and, and learn from their experience in that. 236 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:22,160 But you got to talk to them. Don't don't just be like, oh 237 00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:25,400 man, that person's awesome. And they make me want to be a 238 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:28,400 better Christian. Like, again, if you're kind of 239 00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:31,080 putting their faith up there on a pedestal as as as an idol as 240 00:13:31,160 --> 00:13:33,960 what, what happens when they're no longer in your view or, or 241 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:38,240 what happens when they inevitably fail, that that's 242 00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:40,520 honestly, I'm not and I'm not whatever. 243 00:13:40,520 --> 00:13:41,880 That doesn't absolutely have to be. 244 00:13:41,880 --> 00:13:44,360 But if we're putting our faith in anyone other than Jesus, that 245 00:13:44,520 --> 00:13:47,000 there will be moments of failure and disappointment in that. 246 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:49,080 So absolutely. Yeah. 247 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:53,800 So anyway, I'm glad that landed, yeah. 248 00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:57,360 Yeah, actually what what you're talking about right now I think 249 00:13:57,360 --> 00:14:01,360 is a great segue to something I caught online recently. 250 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:06,640 And you know, it did make me, it did make me feel small in a way 251 00:14:06,680 --> 00:14:10,160 of like, oh, that person's that person's faith. 252 00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:12,160 Wow. I don't, I don't even know how 253 00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:13,520 I'd hold a conversation with them. 254 00:14:14,640 --> 00:14:16,400 But yeah, I think you have a clip, right? 255 00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:19,240 We're going to new segment. We're going to skip Would you 256 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:22,800 rather this week and we're going to do a Pastors React. 257 00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:25,080 There we. Go If you don't know this guy, 258 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:28,840 this is comedian John Crist, and he's a Christian guy. 259 00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:32,080 Often. He's a clean comic, often pokes 260 00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:35,440 fun at silly things that Christians do and it's just 261 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:39,600 weird forks or things we've made-up or or adhered to in the 262 00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:42,800 Christian faith. So this is him riffing on what 263 00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:46,280 it would be like to meet some of some of, I guess, like the Mount 264 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:51,640 Rushmore of of Christian people throughout the Bible and and how 265 00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:54,320 he feels inadequate to that. So take a listen to this and 266 00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:56,160 then and then we'll react. This is John Crist. 267 00:14:56,560 --> 00:14:58,680 Did any Did any of your parents ever tell you that when you go 268 00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:00,640 to heaven you're going to meet some of the Bible characters? 269 00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:04,120 That's terrifying. What are we going to say to 270 00:15:04,120 --> 00:15:05,120 them? I know not. 271 00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:07,400 What am I going to say to Noah? He's like, dude, I built an ark 272 00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:09,200 with my bare hands. It took me 100 years. 273 00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:12,480 I was like, I get ticklish during a pedicure. 274 00:15:12,560 --> 00:15:18,520 Did I fiery furnace? That's crazy, fellas, because I 275 00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:21,240 was in an Uber one time with no AC, and I get it. 276 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:24,040 What am I going to say to Samson? 277 00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:26,040 He's like, dude, I killed a lion with my bare hands. 278 00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:29,160 I ripped the lion's arms off with my bare hands. 279 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:31,040 I was like, I'm allergic to bread. 280 00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:37,440 Oh, come on, man, Come on. Man it's so good though, like. 281 00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:41,600 OK, I, I mean, OK, so here's here's the thing. 282 00:15:41,920 --> 00:15:46,960 I, I caught this like a couple days ago and man, that's he's, 283 00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:50,120 he's so spot on. And I was laughing about it, but 284 00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:53,760 then like 30 seconds after I watch, I was like, oh wait, oh 285 00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:56,800 man, I, I, I'm feeling a little weird now. 286 00:15:56,800 --> 00:16:02,480 Like I, you know, 'cause in the, in the infinite scope of 287 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:06,360 eternity and being able to interact with these real life 288 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:09,960 people who live these real life things like, you know, you, you 289 00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:12,960 hang out with a friend and you swap stories and you feel like 290 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:15,560 on some level you're on equal footing, even if you haven't 291 00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:17,720 done exact dude, there's no equal footing here. 292 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:20,200 There's no equal footing. Here it doesn't feel close. 293 00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:24,720 No, I just can't. OK, So yeah, he used the word 294 00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:27,680 terrifying. And I always thought before 295 00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:30,120 seeing that clip, I was like, oh, it'd be so cool to go talk 296 00:16:30,120 --> 00:16:33,400 to Peter or whoever. And like actually now I'm I'm 297 00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:35,280 second guessing all of those thoughts and that's. 298 00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:40,200 And that's more often when like people talk about, and I've had 299 00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:43,600 these conversations too, of, oh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna ask Noah 300 00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:47,320 this thing or I'm gonna see what see what John was actually 301 00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:49,480 thinking in this moment or, or how they react. 302 00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:52,040 And I don't even know that we will have, I don't know that I 303 00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:55,120 fully believe we'll even have the opportunity to ask those 304 00:16:55,120 --> 00:17:00,960 questions. But maybe anyway, yeah, what am 305 00:17:00,960 --> 00:17:04,960 I going to say to Peter? Like that could actually be a 306 00:17:04,960 --> 00:17:08,319 thought provoking conversation because I don't I don't think 307 00:17:08,319 --> 00:17:12,720 he's going to be up there just ready to answer all in 308 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:14,359 everyone's questions about his life. 309 00:17:14,359 --> 00:17:17,240 And I don't think that's going to be his purpose there either. 310 00:17:17,839 --> 00:17:21,480 And what would I say that would be thought provoking and and 311 00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:24,680 meaningful for what he went through? 312 00:17:24,800 --> 00:17:30,080 Or or Samson or Noah or Moses? Like yeah, must have been crazy 313 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:32,800 when the Red Sea split. Wow. 314 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:38,120 I saw a rainbow once like. I saw a double rainbow all the 315 00:17:38,120 --> 00:17:43,200 way across the sky once, like. I was, I was talking to Kristen 316 00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:46,760 this morning about that, that little bit that John Chris did 317 00:17:47,120 --> 00:17:50,200 and started laughing because it's like, hey, Moses, did you 318 00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:52,280 see that study guide I wrote about you? 319 00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:54,240 Pretty good, huh, Don't you think? 320 00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:57,000 There's some excellent study work on the life that you 321 00:17:57,040 --> 00:17:59,440 actually lived. Like, come on, man, I, I don't 322 00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:01,360 have anything for any of these people. 323 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:04,440 And I think like, you know, you think about Peter in particular 324 00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:08,520 because we apparently we love to pick on him because he just says 325 00:18:08,520 --> 00:18:11,160 things like, you know, he lets all of his intrusive thoughts 326 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:12,640 win. Yeah. 327 00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:17,320 Like am I going to walk up to Peter and be like, dude, you oh 328 00:18:17,320 --> 00:18:19,440 so many times you just stuck your foot. 329 00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:23,240 Like I'm I could never, I could never, I could never say 330 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:27,040 anything like that to him. Like there's no way I, I have, I 331 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:29,560 have no legs to stand on. Not a chance. 332 00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:34,720 Or Samson eventually just man, how did you not see that coming? 333 00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:38,920 She was working the whole time. Man, you. 334 00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:41,880 Can't. You can't say that there's no 335 00:18:41,880 --> 00:18:45,400 way you can do that. And I just, you know, I get 336 00:18:45,400 --> 00:18:48,240 ticklish during a pedicure. Like really, really. 337 00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:50,760 Come on. Man, these are my these are the 338 00:18:50,800 --> 00:18:53,760 adversity that that I've overcome in my Christian. 339 00:18:53,760 --> 00:18:58,720 No, it's not even. The adversity is so, you know, 340 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:02,320 I, I caught another bit he did where his sister got this brand 341 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:04,040 new shiny house. And like, they're showing him 342 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:07,480 around and somewhere in the kitchen it says, I can't 343 00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:09,840 remember what says something about, yeah, you know, the 344 00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:12,920 adversity and like the, the troubles we've been through. 345 00:19:12,920 --> 00:19:15,200 And he's like looking at this golden chandelier and being 346 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:16,800 like, oh, yeah, I can really tell. 347 00:19:17,120 --> 00:19:18,560 Yeah. This is really tough for you, 348 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:20,040 isn't it? Like. 349 00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:24,040 The it's it's the lyrics from Treating My sorrows. 350 00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:28,760 I think is oh, we will. We will be brushed down but not 351 00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:32,240 but not destroyed. Yeah, like you're going to 352 00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:35,400 overcome this like multi $1,000,000 house you're living 353 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:36,080 in. Oh, wow. 354 00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:37,880 And. He points out, Oh man, the the 355 00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:40,200 your pool chairs got delivered two days too late. 356 00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:44,280 Like that's, I don't think Moses was talking about, Paul was 357 00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:48,200 talking about like midwife suburbia here for what you had. 358 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:52,600 To overcome, like Paul, Paul's in chains in a prison for years 359 00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:54,800 on end. And you're like, yeah, but Paul, 360 00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:58,000 you know what I mean? There was that one time those 361 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:00,240 guys didn't talk to me at work for a week because I brought up 362 00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:02,800 Jesus. Can you imagine how awkward that 363 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:04,320 was for me, Paul? Like. 364 00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:08,280 Come on man, you don't. I'm sorry, I talked to these 365 00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:10,640 these guys about Jesus and they tried to kill me. 366 00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:15,440 Yeah, yeah, it's, it's madness. So no, if you if you're not 367 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:19,440 familiar with John Crist, he's a funny guy, clean comedy, 368 00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:22,400 Christian worldview in perspective. 369 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:27,640 His podcast net Positive is also a a funny listen week to week. 370 00:20:28,120 --> 00:20:30,240 I, I, I listen to his podcast each week. 371 00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:34,280 I know that maybe not totally connected with that, but 372 00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:37,040 Wednesday's net positive with John Crist that drops and that's 373 00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:39,360 always a funny hour. Long I just, you know, The thing 374 00:20:39,360 --> 00:20:43,840 is like the best comedy is is always it always has truth in 375 00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:46,560 it, and that's and that's what just totally makes. 376 00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:48,440 You laugh at yourself, the silliness. 377 00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:52,280 Of yourself, yeah, but I, I came I came out of that little clip, 378 00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:55,640 you know, when I first heard it just going Oh my gosh, I, I 379 00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:59,200 don't know if I've ever felt smaller than I do right now 380 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:03,680 like, yeah, I, I don't. So I in in in a very kind of 381 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:08,000 serious way. It did make me think OK, like I 382 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:11,840 need to put on my big boy pants from time to time and not worry 383 00:21:12,120 --> 00:21:14,920 about what people think, you know, because quite honestly, 384 00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:19,200 like the, the, the creator of the universe is asking me to 385 00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:23,440 participate in his mission and quite frankly, regardless of 386 00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:27,680 what that cost me, that's OK that it's going to be fine. 387 00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:29,800 It's OK. Absolutely. 388 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:35,160 We're going to jump into some highlights, some follow up 389 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:39,240 questions from Acts Chapter 8. We read most of the chapter 390 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:41,880 yesterday. I didn't highlight all of the 391 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:44,440 things necessarily. We've kind of talked about my 392 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:47,120 main points and you can go back and listen to that whole message 393 00:21:47,120 --> 00:21:51,360 back on the ERC Sunday's podcast feed that is posted from 394 00:21:51,360 --> 00:21:53,640 yesterday too. But a couple things that I 395 00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:58,080 wanted to dive back into, especially in the middle of the 396 00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:00,520 chapter here. Simon the sorcerer. 397 00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:05,360 I'll reread parts of this story here starting at verse 9 in Acts 398 00:22:05,360 --> 00:22:07,640 chapter 8. Now for some time a man named 399 00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:10,400 Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the 400 00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:13,360 people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone 401 00:22:13,360 --> 00:22:16,200 great and all the people with high and low gave him their 402 00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:19,880 attention and exclaimed, this man is rightly called the great 403 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:23,000 power of God. They followed him because he had 404 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:25,480 amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. 405 00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:29,520 So this guy is clearly not acting in the power of God. 406 00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:31,040 Talked about a little bit yesterday. 407 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:35,360 There's also a bad side there. There's super, there's evil 408 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:38,680 supernatural power at work in the world as well. 409 00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:43,840 So he's acting in that Philip comes to Samaria, proclaims the 410 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:46,400 Gospel, verse 12. But when they believed Philip as 411 00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:48,640 he proclaimed the good news of the Kingdom of God and the name 412 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:51,240 of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 413 00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:55,600 And Simon himself, this magician guy Simon himself believed and 414 00:22:55,600 --> 00:22:58,840 was baptized, and he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by 415 00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:01,440 the great signs and miracles he saw. 416 00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:06,880 So this guy, Word of God, good news of the gospel Trump's 417 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:10,680 whatever dark magic, evil, evil beliefs that he was having, 418 00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:14,520 seemingly turns his life around, comes to Christ, proclaims, 419 00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:20,240 declares faith in Jesus. And then there's this weird sort 420 00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:25,840 of verses 14 through 17. It's just kind of a strange 421 00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:29,840 dynamic when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had 422 00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:32,600 accepted the word of God again, this this is Philip, not one of 423 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:34,760 the apostles. He went and and ministered and 424 00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:36,920 proclaimed the gospel. The church had been scattered. 425 00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:41,480 The apostles are staying in Jerusalem near most of the 426 00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:44,480 persecution and or the highest concentration of persecution and 427 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:46,600 adversity. The rest of the believers that 428 00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:48,080 they scatter throughout the region. 429 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:51,080 Verse 14 when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had 430 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:53,800 accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. 431 00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:56,640 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that 432 00:23:56,640 --> 00:24:00,040 they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit 433 00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:03,640 had not yet come on any of them. They had simply been baptized in 434 00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:06,760 the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John place their 435 00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:08,760 hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. 436 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:13,800 OK, we did not dive into this yesterday. 437 00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:20,400 What do you mean the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of the 438 00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:26,080 believers? I thought I was taught that by 439 00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:31,080 faith, by grace alone and and you are sealed with the promised 440 00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:35,800 Holy Spirit, right. So what it but this verse is 441 00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:39,040 saying the the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them. 442 00:24:39,120 --> 00:24:41,480 So couple different possibilities here. 443 00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:45,680 Are there different measures? Are there different outpourings 444 00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:48,880 of the Holy Spirit? I think to this point in the 445 00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:51,480 series, we've, we've talked about that pretty clearly that 446 00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:55,920 yes, this, this kind of coming on of Pentecost, we, we don't 447 00:24:56,960 --> 00:24:59,520 regularly walk. Maybe one of you are out there 448 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:01,960 that does just go around all week laying hands on people and 449 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:03,160 healing them from various things. 450 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:06,000 We'd love to talk to you about that if that's your life right 451 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:08,000 now. But there's a pretty specific 452 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:13,160 outpouring of miracle power given to the apostles. 453 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:16,440 And even then we see it's kind of exclusive before the 454 00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:19,720 apostles. It's not all the believers who 455 00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:24,080 are acting in this way. It's it's the 12 and then Steven 456 00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:27,120 and and Phillip in this passage is is also in that group of 457 00:25:27,120 --> 00:25:29,680 seven that Steven was who they were kind of specifically 458 00:25:30,360 --> 00:25:35,800 commissioned to to go out. But there isn't this exceptional 459 00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:39,120 over the top, filled up outpouring of the Holy Spirit, 460 00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:41,520 every believer. Right. 461 00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:44,320 So, I mean, at this point, again, we've talked about it in 462 00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:47,760 previous weeks, before the scattering, there was somewhere 463 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:52,240 in the neighborhood of about 5000 people at least who had 464 00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:55,200 become Christians who'd put their faith and their hope and 465 00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:57,880 all those things into Jesus Christ. 466 00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:00,880 Now, were they any less saved than Peter? 467 00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:05,440 Absolutely not. But we were not seeing the same, 468 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:10,200 the same signs out of every single believer necessarily. 469 00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:15,080 But then again, like again, I've never, OK, great example. 470 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:19,560 I've never spoken in tongues that does not that does not 471 00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:23,840 indicate that like I don't know and love and have Jesus Christ 472 00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:27,880 in my heart as like the saving figure of my entire existence. 473 00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:32,560 But it does mean that God has not given me that specific gift 474 00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:35,320 of the Spirit up to this point in my life. 475 00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:37,560 Could still happen. That'd be awesome. 476 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:41,360 I would love that, but like, that's not something that God 477 00:26:41,360 --> 00:26:43,720 has given to me up to this point. 478 00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:47,480 And even as it relates to salvation, the I mean the 479 00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:51,880 Ephesians 1 is where we see that verses 13 and 14 in Ephesians 1, 480 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:54,840 you were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, 481 00:26:54,840 --> 00:26:57,320 the gospel of your salvation, when you believe you were marked 482 00:26:57,320 --> 00:26:59,480 in him with a seal. The promised Holy Spirit was a 483 00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:02,440 deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption 484 00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:04,720 of those who are God's possession to the praise of his 485 00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:06,760 glory. So, and, and plenty of other 486 00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:09,480 places in Paul's writing, we see that it's, it's the Holy Spirit 487 00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:14,000 that does the working, that does the, the convicting and bringing 488 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:17,640 to salvation by the spoken word, by the truth of the word. 489 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:21,960 The Holy Spirit is doing that. So there's no reason to believe 490 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:24,880 that the Holy Spirit isn't working in the lives of these 491 00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:28,680 believers or that they don't possess this promised seal of 492 00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:32,320 the Holy Spirit too. I think what is maybe missing, 493 00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:33,520 there's a couple different things. 494 00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:36,480 It's either this exceptional outpouring of the Holy Spirit 495 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:39,880 that does seem to be reserved only for specific works or 496 00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:43,600 specific people, specific apostles, disciples and leaders 497 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:46,080 in the church. Or there's this other little 498 00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:49,440 nuance here, verse 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come 499 00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:51,640 on any of them. They had simply been baptized in 500 00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:57,360 the name of the Lord Jesus. Now name of Jesus, very 501 00:27:57,360 --> 00:28:00,000 important, powerful, very good, very powerful. 502 00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:06,800 But in in the Great Commission when Jesus did instruct them to 503 00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:11,240 go and make disciples, teaching them everything I've commanded 504 00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:16,320 you and baptizing them. He says the Trinitarian names, 505 00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:18,840 right? Like it's all that's Matthew 28, 506 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:24,680 baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of 507 00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:27,360 the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I've 508 00:28:27,360 --> 00:28:30,640 commanded you. Now interesting note here that I 509 00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:35,120 picked up on not so long ago was if you look up when Jesus says 510 00:28:35,120 --> 00:28:38,000 in the name, and this is just a fun little fact. 511 00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:41,480 If you look that up in the original language that's not 512 00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:45,080 plural. Did you ever notice that it's 513 00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:47,920 not even plural. He doesn't say in the names of 514 00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:50,440 and then less three different entities or three different 515 00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:52,720 people. He says singular in the name. 516 00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:56,600 Therefore we have this excellent source. 517 00:28:57,280 --> 00:29:00,240 It's all it almost feels too small, but this excellent bit of 518 00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:05,920 theology that says, Oh no, God is 1 Father, Son, Holy Spirit, 519 00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:08,640 all one because he uses the singular. 520 00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:12,000 You could have very well used names, and I think it's very 521 00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:16,200 intentional that Luke didn't. He quoted Jesus or Matthew, 522 00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:19,280 didn't he? He quoted Jesus correctly when 523 00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:23,200 Jesus used the singular name. Right, and that's that's what 524 00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:26,600 makes so we've been singing a song Elohim lately, and that's 525 00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:29,120 which is really just the Hebrew word for for God. 526 00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:34,920 But when in reference to the creator God, this triune God of 527 00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:38,520 Christianity that then that encompasses all the things, 528 00:29:38,520 --> 00:29:42,160 right? That's that's God is Elohim is 529 00:29:42,280 --> 00:29:44,320 father, son and Holy Spirit. And that's kind of the rest of 530 00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:48,440 that song talking about the father, Son, Holy Ghost, Holy 531 00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:52,600 Ghost instead of Holy Spirit. But like that's that's the 532 00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:56,400 epitome of God in that name. Elohim is all three of these 533 00:29:56,400 --> 00:29:57,560 things. So this it's kind of the same 534 00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:00,520 thing you're saying like the name, the name that they that 535 00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:03,960 they share the name that encompasses all three of them 536 00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:07,240 together. One, and that's the Yahweh. 537 00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:08,680 I am. I am all things. 538 00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:13,120 I am existence itself. Therefore nothing can exist or 539 00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:16,400 has ever existed without me. Me being Father, Son, Holy 540 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:16,880 Spirit. Yeah. 541 00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:20,040 So that's that's important to note. 542 00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:23,440 It's also important to note as as much as I said we can just 543 00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:26,080 enter into baptism. There's there's a part of this 544 00:30:26,080 --> 00:30:29,840 passage that maybe suggests it was done incorrectly. 545 00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:35,320 If if they were only baptized in the name of Jesus. 546 00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:42,200 Our words matter what what we say, how we do it matters. 547 00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:46,280 We see later with Simon his he thinks he can just buy the power 548 00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:48,800 of the Holy Spirit and that belief is entirely wrong. 549 00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:50,920 He gets, he gets called out. That's a bad deal. 550 00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:55,040 For that, but so this I think there's there's one of a couple 551 00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:58,360 things happening here either either there's an exceptional 552 00:30:58,360 --> 00:31:00,840 outpouring of the Holy Spirit that can only be given by the 553 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:02,560 apostles. So Peter and John come to do 554 00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:07,080 that or they're coming to do baptism properly. 555 00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:10,440 I, I guess in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 556 00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:15,480 And, and kind of that we do believe that that baptism is, is 557 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:19,800 an outpouring of God's grace is we see the voice from heaven 558 00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:22,600 and, and the descending of the dove, right when, when Jesus is 559 00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:26,840 baptized, like there's, there's something imparted in baptism. 560 00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:30,560 It's not just symbolic, it it is meaningful. 561 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:36,760 And maybe that was missed by by the initial baptisms in Samaria 562 00:31:36,760 --> 00:31:37,800 here, right? Yeah. 563 00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:40,640 And I think that's, I think that's a fair thing because 564 00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:44,560 here's the thing, we, we've been talking about the giants of our 565 00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:46,720 faith basically right this morning a little bit. 566 00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:51,920 Even the giants of our faith outside of Jesus himself are 567 00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:55,400 still human. They are prone to make some 568 00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:58,400 mistakes. And that's not again, that's not 569 00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:03,360 saying that any of these people like are not worthy of our study 570 00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:08,280 in our effort and even are kind of us looking up towards them as 571 00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:11,520 as fathers and mothers of faith. Of course they are, but they're 572 00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:15,040 still human. And you know, the Luke, the 573 00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:18,560 author of Acts, like he makes it pretty clear in chapter 2. 574 00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:20,920 And we've I've talked, I think we've talked about this a couple 575 00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:23,280 different times. We've referenced this that Yep, 576 00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:28,440 that it's not a question in baptism, God gives you, seals 577 00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:32,720 you with the Holy Spirit. And so for him to come along and 578 00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:35,720 you know, several chapters later as he's recounting this history 579 00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:40,040 of the early church, for him to specifically say baptized in the 580 00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:44,760 name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that means something that he did 581 00:32:44,760 --> 00:32:48,800 not name the Trinity in that that Luke maybe saw something 582 00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:50,640 that he's pointing out to us too. 583 00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:56,400 Yep, absolutely. What else we have to talk about 584 00:32:56,400 --> 00:32:58,840 this morning is a question that was brought up. 585 00:32:59,880 --> 00:33:05,080 So in relation to Simon and kind of the rest of this, apart from 586 00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:08,040 the baptisms and whether or not they were done correctly or in 587 00:33:08,040 --> 00:33:11,720 the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Simon, though he 588 00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:15,120 has been baptized, though he has professed faith and seemingly 589 00:33:15,120 --> 00:33:18,280 Philip believes that he is a believer. 590 00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:22,160 Verse 18 when Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying 591 00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:24,600 on of the apostles hands, he offered the money and said, give 592 00:33:24,600 --> 00:33:27,920 me also this ability that everyone whom I lay hands on may 593 00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:33,920 receive the Holy Spirit. A weird gesture in wanting to 594 00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:37,560 pay money, but I think there's part of it that is, hey, I want 595 00:33:37,560 --> 00:33:40,440 to help. I want, I want to do this too. 596 00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:43,680 I want to be part of it. Now he has the checkered past a 597 00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:46,280 little bit where he is performing supernatural signs 598 00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:50,320 and wonders and maybe he just sees this juiced up real power 599 00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:52,000 because he was a magician. There could have been there 600 00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:53,360 could have been supernatural power at work. 601 00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:57,760 It could have just been sleight of hand and and mischief magic 602 00:33:57,760 --> 00:34:00,480 that he was doing. The apostles were working in 603 00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:05,920 real power and obviously knew that they were never seen that 604 00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:08,360 trick before. That's that's that's the real 605 00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:10,800 thing is is part of his perspective, I think. 606 00:34:11,480 --> 00:34:14,679 But Peter rebukes him strongly. You have no part of sharing this 607 00:34:14,679 --> 00:34:17,080 ministry because your heart is not right before God. 608 00:34:17,239 --> 00:34:21,440 Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope 609 00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:26,080 that He may forgive you or for having such a thought in your 610 00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:28,760 heart. The question posed here, this is 611 00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:35,440 verse 22 in chapter 8. In the hope that He may forgive 612 00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:36,800 you. Ouch. 613 00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:42,639 We don't often talk of repentance as a as a Gray area, 614 00:34:42,719 --> 00:34:43,600 right? Like if. 615 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:49,480 First, John 19 If you confess your sins, God is faithful and 616 00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:52,560 just and will forgive you of your sins and purify, purify you 617 00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:55,520 from all unrighteousness, right? Like there, there's cause and 618 00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:58,800 effect here. So what do we do with this? 619 00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:06,920 Peter seems to leave some doubt that Simon could be forgiven for 620 00:35:06,920 --> 00:35:09,440 this action. Oh my gosh, yeah. 621 00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:11,720 And that's so scary. That would be scary. 622 00:35:11,960 --> 00:35:14,880 That's so scary. Well, because we also get, you 623 00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:18,800 know, you can kind of pair this up a little bit with when Jesus 624 00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:23,400 is talking about they're going to be those who come to me and 625 00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:25,800 say, Lord, Lord, didn't we do this and this and this in your 626 00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:27,880 name? And and then it ultimately he 627 00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:30,960 goes on to say, and he's going to say, I didn't know you. 628 00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:34,120 I didn't know you well. And, and we can relate this 629 00:35:34,120 --> 00:35:38,920 directly to Simon because like there is a certain level of 630 00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:43,320 pride or greed or, or a sense of like, Hey, everybody look at me. 631 00:35:43,640 --> 00:35:47,840 So in the same way that Jesus talks about that, like, why am I 632 00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:50,320 doing what I'm doing? Is it for God? 633 00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:53,120 Is it for me? So everybody looks at me and 634 00:35:53,120 --> 00:35:56,000 says, Oh my gosh, look at what he can do and like, look at how 635 00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:57,680 he teaches. And that's so cool. 636 00:35:57,680 --> 00:36:01,000 And you know, you know, it's again, similar thing. 637 00:36:01,200 --> 00:36:03,880 It's, you know, the same way that Jesus talked about the 638 00:36:03,880 --> 00:36:07,320 Pharisees and other religious leaders praying out loud in the 639 00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:09,240 streets and making a big deal out of it. 640 00:36:09,240 --> 00:36:11,600 And he says, Yep, you've already gotten your reward and your 641 00:36:11,600 --> 00:36:15,000 reward was from man. It's not from God because your 642 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:17,360 heart was not positioned in the right way. 643 00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:19,520 And that's what God judges, right? 644 00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:22,160 God is going to judge your heart. 645 00:36:22,440 --> 00:36:26,000 So Tim Keller often times puts it best, and I think he said 646 00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:29,360 this several times over, which is man, there needs to be a 647 00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:31,560 repentance even for our good deeds. 648 00:36:31,840 --> 00:36:35,760 Because when my good deeds, which Simon clearly wants, even 649 00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:40,600 my good deeds done for the wrong reason inside my heart, those 650 00:36:40,600 --> 00:36:43,600 need to be repented of. They absolutely do. 651 00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:45,760 Yeah. And there's there's this 652 00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:50,480 dynamic, there's this appeal from Simon just for power. 653 00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:53,680 And again, it's it's unclear, but I don't think it's 654 00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:57,760 unreasonable to to decide that from, from this passage. 655 00:36:57,760 --> 00:37:03,240 He still has selfish motive. He still has that, yeah, God's 656 00:37:03,240 --> 00:37:06,640 awesome, but he's also, he's making me awesome. 657 00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:09,960 And look how awesome I am because of this power that I 658 00:37:09,960 --> 00:37:12,640 have. When really we're much more 659 00:37:12,640 --> 00:37:16,960 supposed to have that Christ be magnified posture, right? 660 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:24,760 Like May, May Christ, your love, your power be seen in my life, 661 00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:30,240 not my my best isn't worth seeing is, is, is not. 662 00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:33,400 But may your best shine through me. 663 00:37:33,400 --> 00:37:35,840 May the work that you've done in my life. 664 00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:38,680 And Simon doesn't apparently have that posture here. 665 00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:42,400 So there's this insincerity of heart that I think is more at 666 00:37:42,920 --> 00:37:49,400 the core of the concern here. Did he did he even enter into 667 00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:56,440 this, this faith sincerely, correctly, fully, fully 668 00:37:56,440 --> 00:37:58,320 understanding, or was it was it just a gimmick? 669 00:37:58,320 --> 00:38:01,800 Was it a thing? There's a new there's a new gig 670 00:38:01,800 --> 00:38:04,120 in town. These guys are getting all the 671 00:38:04,120 --> 00:38:08,080 attention now. If I want to continue my, my way 672 00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:12,000 of life, my, I got to jump on that bandwagon and even even 673 00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:15,000 it's fake. I got to act like I'm in on that 674 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:17,760 because that's what has everyone's attention now. 675 00:38:17,800 --> 00:38:20,480 It makes me think of, I don't know if you've seen this, 676 00:38:20,480 --> 00:38:25,760 there's, there's this former Only Fans model that I know. 677 00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:28,520 This just took a turn. That's a weird turn, man. 678 00:38:29,880 --> 00:38:32,200 Nala Ray. But I actually, it just came 679 00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:35,040 into my mind in this moment in thinking about Simon. 680 00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:44,600 Her name is Nala Ray and she has kind of come full circle and and 681 00:38:44,600 --> 00:38:50,920 declared that she's a Christian now and denounced like is is is 682 00:38:50,920 --> 00:38:53,880 not doing the only fans thing anymore, but is now selling. 683 00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:58,480 And and I think her like whatever heard her faith 684 00:38:58,480 --> 00:39:01,680 decision and I think she did use the phrase faith decision or or 685 00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:05,520 yeah, coming to Christ, I think. She hasn't read, She hasn't read 686 00:39:05,520 --> 00:39:08,160 Ephesians yet, where it says your faith is not even your own. 687 00:39:08,160 --> 00:39:10,000 It's a gift. She'll get there, hopefully. 688 00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:14,040 It's in the past six months or so and now instead of only fans 689 00:39:14,040 --> 00:39:17,240 subscriptions, she's she's now selling like Christian faith 690 00:39:17,440 --> 00:39:22,000 courses online. Yeah, So I don't know, I'm just, 691 00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:26,800 I'm just seeing like similar shades here too of is and I 692 00:39:26,800 --> 00:39:28,400 don't know, I don't know everything about her. 693 00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:29,920 I haven't researched the whole story. 694 00:39:29,920 --> 00:39:33,480 I've just I've listened to her talked about in in news 695 00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:36,520 briefings around other podcasts, just kind of her situation too 696 00:39:36,520 --> 00:39:40,760 like, but I'm seeing similar shades of oh, there's this 697 00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:45,880 untapped market of Christians of, of people that would be like 698 00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:48,520 minded. And if I declare that I'm one of 699 00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:53,400 them now is is there now this untapped market of of potential 700 00:39:53,400 --> 00:39:55,840 that that could enhance my. Life like I can replace my 701 00:39:55,840 --> 00:40:01,520 income like that's my that's my real heart motivation that would 702 00:40:01,520 --> 00:40:04,920 be that's dangerous I. Don't know anything and I would 703 00:40:04,920 --> 00:40:08,880 hope and pray that this that her conversion is is sincere, but 704 00:40:08,880 --> 00:40:11,360 the but the couple of news briefings that I've heard or 705 00:40:11,360 --> 00:40:15,240 read it just I don't know Spidey sense is tingling a little bit 706 00:40:15,240 --> 00:40:17,760 for this. This is not this is not a real 707 00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:23,240 thing or even to it could be a real thing and I hope it's a 708 00:40:23,240 --> 00:40:24,200 real thing. I hope so too. 709 00:40:24,200 --> 00:40:29,440 Should she be selling like Christian living courses online? 710 00:40:30,240 --> 00:40:32,480 Probably not. After having been a Christian 711 00:40:32,600 --> 00:40:35,840 for six months. Coming from that, that 712 00:40:35,840 --> 00:40:37,520 lifestyle, yes, radical transformation. 713 00:40:37,520 --> 00:40:43,520 And no, we're about to get into Paul Saul, who he did not have a 714 00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:47,760 long crash course of, Hey, get your stuff together and build up 715 00:40:47,760 --> 00:40:50,240 your reputation and then go build the church. 716 00:40:51,480 --> 00:40:54,040 But I don't know, so I don't know. 717 00:40:54,040 --> 00:40:55,600 OK, so maybe, I don't know. Maybe. 718 00:40:56,200 --> 00:40:58,360 Yeah, I don't know that's. God working with Absolutely. 719 00:40:58,360 --> 00:40:59,400 He could. He? 720 00:40:59,400 --> 00:41:00,880 Absolutely. Could I hope he is but. 721 00:41:01,200 --> 00:41:03,720 I also just kind of, I don't know, I just thought of that in. 722 00:41:05,560 --> 00:41:08,760 Well, and actually, actually, we get, we get a good warning in 723 00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:10,920 the Bible about elders in particular. 724 00:41:11,160 --> 00:41:14,600 You are not supposed to deem somebody a leader in the church 725 00:41:14,640 --> 00:41:17,920 too quickly because guess what can happen to them? 726 00:41:17,920 --> 00:41:21,520 The devil in their in the youth of their faith can get a hold of 727 00:41:21,520 --> 00:41:25,120 their pride and skew them and just mess with them. 728 00:41:25,120 --> 00:41:28,200 And then all of a sudden they go from like somebody with this 729 00:41:28,200 --> 00:41:31,160 budding amazing new faith that God has given them. 730 00:41:31,480 --> 00:41:36,200 And it gets twisted just enough that that, and of course, of 731 00:41:36,200 --> 00:41:40,400 course that can happen. I mean, Satan is busy, he's 732 00:41:40,400 --> 00:41:42,600 active. He knows that God's real. 733 00:41:42,720 --> 00:41:46,600 So he's going to act as if God's real, but like he always does, 734 00:41:46,600 --> 00:41:48,640 he can take something. Well, it's like comedy. 735 00:41:48,640 --> 00:41:51,640 We talked about that. The best comedy always has truth 736 00:41:51,640 --> 00:41:52,920 in it, right? Well. 737 00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:55,120 The best lies. The best lies have truth in them 738 00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:58,120 too. Yeah, so I did. 739 00:41:58,120 --> 00:42:01,360 I did pick up on a couple commentaries on 8/22 to jump 740 00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:03,840 back to the specifics of this for a second and. 741 00:42:03,840 --> 00:42:07,640 Why? Yeah, and so like, like the 742 00:42:07,640 --> 00:42:10,880 Matthew Henry commentary, you know, about the doubt of like, 743 00:42:10,880 --> 00:42:13,120 can he even be forgiven? He he says this. 744 00:42:13,120 --> 00:42:17,120 Here's just one quote. The doubt here is of sincerity 745 00:42:17,320 --> 00:42:21,680 of Simon's repentance, not the part in itself if his repentance 746 00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:25,800 was sincere. And Benson also goes on to say 747 00:42:25,800 --> 00:42:29,320 something similar, and without all doubt, if Simon had 748 00:42:29,320 --> 00:42:32,760 repented, he would have been forgiven, and goes on to say for 749 00:42:32,760 --> 00:42:35,520 that would for that would have been contrary to the whole tenor 750 00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:38,240 of the gospel. But the doubt was whether he 751 00:42:38,240 --> 00:42:43,960 would sincerely repent. Right, OK, so and and it's a 752 00:42:43,960 --> 00:42:48,360 little bit of a weird translation in English as. 753 00:42:48,360 --> 00:42:52,680 Well. The the root word there in verse 754 00:42:52,680 --> 00:42:56,280 22 is oh, I lost my spot and according to your repent 755 00:42:56,280 --> 00:42:59,280 therefore of the of this wickedness of yours and pray to 756 00:42:59,280 --> 00:43:03,080 the Lord that if possible, the USB is translated as if 757 00:43:03,080 --> 00:43:05,880 possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven to you. 758 00:43:06,040 --> 00:43:10,320 The Greek word there is ara and that's most literally then or 759 00:43:10,320 --> 00:43:13,240 therefore. So actually a very clear cause 760 00:43:13,240 --> 00:43:16,760 and effect, which which then I think like, I think that then 761 00:43:16,760 --> 00:43:21,120 applies to these kind of commentary theories of if your 762 00:43:21,120 --> 00:43:26,240 repentance is sincere, then then you would be forgiven. 763 00:43:26,760 --> 00:43:28,560 So there there is that cause and effect. 764 00:43:28,800 --> 00:43:31,480 Some of our English translations, NIV says in the 765 00:43:31,480 --> 00:43:34,160 hope that you may receive forgiveness. 766 00:43:34,360 --> 00:43:38,920 ESB if possible, those leave a little bit of a Gray area that 767 00:43:39,560 --> 00:43:43,160 maybe kind of overshadows the, the necessity of sincerity in 768 00:43:43,160 --> 00:43:46,800 that part. How do we know if, if we are 769 00:43:46,800 --> 00:43:50,400 sincere in that? Maybe a follow up question to 770 00:43:50,520 --> 00:43:53,080 how can I be sure that my repentance is sincere? 771 00:43:54,440 --> 00:43:57,040 It's it's a check your heart thing is, are are your motives 772 00:43:57,840 --> 00:44:00,520 for yourself? Are are your motives like 773 00:44:00,520 --> 00:44:06,400 Simon's for yourself? There's a little bit of, I don't 774 00:44:06,440 --> 00:44:11,440 know, unsureness is that that's not a word That's fair. 775 00:44:11,720 --> 00:44:14,640 There's there's a little bit of confusion in this passage. 776 00:44:14,640 --> 00:44:19,280 I think the one thing that we could say for sure is we don't 777 00:44:19,280 --> 00:44:23,640 act out our faith truly, if we're acting like Simon, that 778 00:44:23,680 --> 00:44:25,600 that that's that's the one thing I would say. 779 00:44:25,600 --> 00:44:30,760 I'm not, I'm not sure exactly the operation of this verse or 780 00:44:30,760 --> 00:44:35,040 or why he's maybe lacking the Holy Spirit, why he's lacking 781 00:44:35,040 --> 00:44:37,080 the opportunity for forgiveness here. 782 00:44:37,120 --> 00:44:41,800 What I would say is don't then live your faith like Simon is 783 00:44:42,000 --> 00:44:43,520 right like that. Like that's the one thing I 784 00:44:43,520 --> 00:44:46,600 could say for sure. He, he's, he's acting in selfish 785 00:44:46,600 --> 00:44:51,280 gain. He's he's saying, oh man, if I 786 00:44:51,280 --> 00:44:55,960 was a Christian, I could enhance my life in, in this way, my 787 00:44:55,960 --> 00:44:59,480 life, my life would get better. That's a terrible way to enter 788 00:44:59,480 --> 00:45:02,360 into Christianity, honestly, because it's with a humble heart 789 00:45:02,680 --> 00:45:05,520 and it's with a heart that's going to be persecuted. 790 00:45:05,520 --> 00:45:08,120 It's with a heart that's going to experience trouble. 791 00:45:08,160 --> 00:45:11,720 That again, John 1633 that that Jesus has overcome the world. 792 00:45:11,720 --> 00:45:14,720 So we take heart in that. But Jesus at no point promised 793 00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:17,760 sunshine and roses for being a Christian. 794 00:45:17,880 --> 00:45:20,680 Like, Oh no, that's not part of the package. 795 00:45:20,880 --> 00:45:23,400 No, not at all. And I think a couple things here 796 00:45:23,400 --> 00:45:27,560 real quick to continue to clarify, I hope is that well, 797 00:45:27,560 --> 00:45:31,080 OK. So go back to there's a lot of 798 00:45:31,080 --> 00:45:35,400 conditional clauses in the gospel and we don't like that 799 00:45:35,400 --> 00:45:37,760 word conditional when it comes to the gospel. 800 00:45:37,840 --> 00:45:41,320 We, we, we butt up against that because, well, Jesus Christ, 801 00:45:41,320 --> 00:45:43,200 forgiveness is not conditional, right? 802 00:45:43,840 --> 00:45:47,800 But then again, we get Jesus specifically saying, if you 803 00:45:47,800 --> 00:45:51,320 forgive others their sins, your Father and heaven will forgive 804 00:45:51,320 --> 00:45:53,160 you. And then he goes on to say the, 805 00:45:53,400 --> 00:45:57,640 the, the other side of the coin. And if you don't, then your 806 00:45:57,640 --> 00:46:00,880 father will not forgive you. OK, so like we have several ifs 807 00:46:01,160 --> 00:46:05,840 coming directly from Jesus. And the other part of this too 808 00:46:05,840 --> 00:46:10,400 is like again, and I've heard this in from the the best 809 00:46:10,400 --> 00:46:13,360 preachers I've ever heard. They they clarify this in in a 810 00:46:13,360 --> 00:46:19,240 really good way, which is to say like we are to love God for God. 811 00:46:20,240 --> 00:46:24,520 I should not love God in the hope of his benefits. 812 00:46:24,880 --> 00:46:30,560 I need to love God because I love God and that that can be 813 00:46:30,560 --> 00:46:33,320 from especially a human perspective that gets difficult 814 00:46:33,320 --> 00:46:37,880 sometimes because so many of our relationships are in some level. 815 00:46:37,880 --> 00:46:39,520 What have you done for me lately? 816 00:46:39,960 --> 00:46:43,800 Maybe maybe the closest we can get to a pure I love you no 817 00:46:43,800 --> 00:46:47,160 matter what is maybe your kids or maybe your spouse. 818 00:46:47,560 --> 00:46:52,320 Like you know, so like from the spouse example for for for an 819 00:46:52,320 --> 00:47:00,680 example, I love my wife regardless of whether regardless 820 00:47:00,680 --> 00:47:04,960 of amount of intimacy or regardless of what I think she 821 00:47:04,960 --> 00:47:08,600 can do for me or whatever. Like, I love her regardless of 822 00:47:08,600 --> 00:47:12,200 all those things. And so God calls us to love him 823 00:47:12,200 --> 00:47:15,040 the same way, regardless of whether your life goes great or 824 00:47:15,040 --> 00:47:16,800 if it goes terribly like the prophets. 825 00:47:16,800 --> 00:47:20,120 And literally your whole life is a grind in an uphill battle. 826 00:47:20,360 --> 00:47:23,640 Do you love me anyway? And it's that kind of love that 827 00:47:23,640 --> 00:47:27,720 we need to exercise with God so that our hearts are in the right 828 00:47:27,720 --> 00:47:30,680 position. Do I love God no matter what 829 00:47:30,680 --> 00:47:34,960 happens to me? And here we see Simon saying, 830 00:47:35,040 --> 00:47:39,320 well, I want to believe in this God because I want his power. 831 00:47:39,680 --> 00:47:42,360 And Peter clearly points out your heart's in the wrong 832 00:47:42,360 --> 00:47:46,160 position. So if then you repent with your 833 00:47:46,160 --> 00:47:48,640 whole heart, then you will be forgiven. 834 00:47:48,760 --> 00:47:51,480 So the question isn't whether God Forgives because we know he 835 00:47:51,480 --> 00:47:53,520 does. The question is, is your heart 836 00:47:53,520 --> 00:47:55,880 in the right position to really repent? 837 00:47:56,200 --> 00:48:02,720 And you know the Alcott's commentary, he, he's talking 838 00:48:02,720 --> 00:48:05,040 about Peter. He says Peter neither forgives 839 00:48:05,040 --> 00:48:08,680 nor condemns, but he bids the offender to turn to the searcher 840 00:48:08,680 --> 00:48:11,160 of hearts. And that's the thing, right? 841 00:48:11,160 --> 00:48:13,040 Like, how do I know if I'm really repenting? 842 00:48:13,400 --> 00:48:16,000 Well, Lord, I'm going to make that ask. 843 00:48:16,000 --> 00:48:18,280 Lord, I need you to search my heart. 844 00:48:18,720 --> 00:48:21,720 And God will respond. I promise, man, I've, I've had 845 00:48:21,720 --> 00:48:24,680 those moments of like, Lord, I, I don't know if I'm doing this 846 00:48:24,680 --> 00:48:27,120 for me or for you. So like, I, I need some clarity 847 00:48:27,120 --> 00:48:30,040 here. And man like, like the rushing 848 00:48:30,040 --> 00:48:34,040 of wind, sometimes it has come upon me like no, man, you're 849 00:48:34,040 --> 00:48:37,000 good or oh, you know what actually that was for you. 850 00:48:37,560 --> 00:48:40,680 And God does that work. He wants our hearts. 851 00:48:41,000 --> 00:48:43,160 He wants our hearts and he wants them to be in the right 852 00:48:43,160 --> 00:48:45,480 position. So, man, if there's ever any 853 00:48:45,480 --> 00:48:48,760 doubt about like, your intentions on something, ask the 854 00:48:48,760 --> 00:48:52,320 searcher of your heart, you know, ask him to search you out 855 00:48:52,600 --> 00:48:54,880 and he'll do it. He'll do it. 856 00:48:55,160 --> 00:48:57,000 Yeah. And that sincerity, if our 857 00:48:57,000 --> 00:49:00,400 sincerity towards God is conditional on how blessed we 858 00:49:00,400 --> 00:49:06,480 feel by God, well, then our the sincerity of our faith is then 859 00:49:06,760 --> 00:49:09,160 conditional. We're not loving God for for who 860 00:49:09,160 --> 00:49:13,680 he is or what he's done. It's more of how we feel about 861 00:49:13,680 --> 00:49:17,720 what he's done lately. And and that's that's we can't 862 00:49:17,800 --> 00:49:21,120 get into the place where we're I keep referencing the lyrics from 863 00:49:21,120 --> 00:49:22,680 Christ be magnified, but it's so good. 864 00:49:23,360 --> 00:49:28,240 I won't be formed by feelings if a lot of the time people get 865 00:49:28,240 --> 00:49:30,160 angry at God and it's OK to get angry at God. 866 00:49:30,480 --> 00:49:37,560 But does that define like you need to work that out with fear 867 00:49:37,560 --> 00:49:39,760 and trembling because God is not against you. 868 00:49:39,920 --> 00:49:45,920 He he hasn't brought hardship into your life just because he's 869 00:49:45,920 --> 00:49:48,240 looking for something interesting to do that day. 870 00:49:48,240 --> 00:49:52,000 He didn't just decide that that's that's just life. 871 00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:54,160 That's just the brokenness of of sin. 872 00:49:54,160 --> 00:49:58,120 It's not God striking you with bolts of lightning down here 873 00:49:58,120 --> 00:50:01,680 just because he's looking for something random to do that this 874 00:50:01,680 --> 00:50:05,680 final thought from Ellicott. I like that he's kind of talking 875 00:50:05,680 --> 00:50:08,160 about the ambiguity that that Peter is in. 876 00:50:08,200 --> 00:50:11,720 Peter, had he seen repentance, he might have said thy sins are 877 00:50:11,720 --> 00:50:14,440 forgiven. Had he seen a conscience utterly 878 00:50:14,440 --> 00:50:17,160 dead, Simon's conscience being utterly dead, he might have 879 00:50:17,160 --> 00:50:19,720 closed the door of hope. As it is, he stands midway 880 00:50:19,720 --> 00:50:23,480 between hope and fear and keeping silence leaves judgement 881 00:50:23,720 --> 00:50:27,640 to the judge because he tells Simon to repent and Simon's 882 00:50:27,640 --> 00:50:31,160 response is still. He goes back to the apostle and 883 00:50:31,160 --> 00:50:35,320 says, pray for me that that none of what you said will will 884 00:50:35,320 --> 00:50:38,640 happen when Peter has just said to him, dude, you got to work 885 00:50:38,640 --> 00:50:42,080 this out for yourself. This is between you and God, 886 00:50:42,160 --> 00:50:45,720 yes. Could they pray, pray that Simon 887 00:50:45,720 --> 00:50:48,160 would be compelled, that his heart would be softened to 888 00:50:48,160 --> 00:50:50,520 repentance and and to bring about a sincerity faith? 889 00:50:50,520 --> 00:50:52,000 Yes, they could pray those things for him. 890 00:50:52,280 --> 00:50:55,520 But there's a part of Simon's response that makes me think you 891 00:50:55,520 --> 00:50:58,160 do it. You're, you're closer with God. 892 00:50:58,160 --> 00:51:01,040 You're more powerful with God. Your words mean more to God than 893 00:51:01,040 --> 00:51:03,240 mine do. And that's a really dangerous 894 00:51:03,240 --> 00:51:05,640 place to be. That's not working out your own 895 00:51:05,640 --> 00:51:08,240 salvation. And I think that's what Peter 896 00:51:08,240 --> 00:51:12,400 has said, man, I can't be a sincere heart for you. 897 00:51:12,880 --> 00:51:17,640 This is on you to to believe, to repent, to be truly contrite and 898 00:51:17,640 --> 00:51:20,160 humble in this. And I can't make you do it. 899 00:51:20,600 --> 00:51:23,400 And and we see them part ways and we we don't know, we don't 900 00:51:23,400 --> 00:51:24,960 know what happened to Simon out of this. 901 00:51:25,400 --> 00:51:29,280 The the main thing I take from this passage is you want you 902 00:51:29,280 --> 00:51:33,320 want to know how to live your life out as a Christian, not 903 00:51:33,320 --> 00:51:38,880 like Simon like that might I'm just I'm just like that might be 904 00:51:38,880 --> 00:51:41,240 a shorter answer. And there's there's obviously 905 00:51:41,240 --> 00:51:43,640 examples and illustrations that we could give Book of Ephesians 906 00:51:43,640 --> 00:51:45,920 is great for for the road map of how to do it. 907 00:51:45,960 --> 00:51:51,880 How not to do it is Simon. Yeah, and I mean, I, you know, 908 00:51:51,880 --> 00:51:54,680 you brought you brought that up and I think that's so good even 909 00:51:54,680 --> 00:51:57,360 for modern day believers to think through this a little bit. 910 00:51:57,640 --> 00:52:02,160 So like if I think, for example, and I've known people like this 911 00:52:02,240 --> 00:52:06,040 well-intentioned people who, you know, when they say pray for me, 912 00:52:06,440 --> 00:52:09,520 they're they're not saying it because I just need, I just, I 913 00:52:09,520 --> 00:52:13,080 know the power of prayer and I know God listens to his Saints. 914 00:52:13,320 --> 00:52:16,680 They're more so getting to the point of like, I think you have 915 00:52:16,680 --> 00:52:20,200 a better connection to God. So why don't you do that? 916 00:52:20,480 --> 00:52:23,160 And I've, I've, I've heard Christians do that and, and I 917 00:52:23,160 --> 00:52:26,720 know that's what they mean. And that's, that's scary a 918 00:52:26,720 --> 00:52:30,600 little bit because to think that you're a pastor or your elder or 919 00:52:30,600 --> 00:52:33,440 whoever that you're kind of looking up to in your faith, 920 00:52:33,440 --> 00:52:37,520 which is fine, but whoever that is, to assume that they have a 921 00:52:37,680 --> 00:52:41,640 better, brighter connection to God, then you have access to 922 00:52:41,640 --> 00:52:43,320 your. Words matter more to God. 923 00:52:43,520 --> 00:52:46,240 No, that's not a thing. That's not a thing because God 924 00:52:46,480 --> 00:52:50,960 loves all of his people because we are all made in his image and 925 00:52:50,960 --> 00:52:54,320 he has sent his son for all of us. 926 00:52:54,400 --> 00:52:56,840 Period. So like, yeah, I don't, you 927 00:52:56,840 --> 00:53:01,080 know, you're pastors. We don't have a better, we don't 928 00:53:01,080 --> 00:53:02,840 have a clear line to God than you do. 929 00:53:03,000 --> 00:53:06,120 And don't hear that. And we don't want to hear your 930 00:53:06,120 --> 00:53:08,120 request or care for you in prayer. 931 00:53:08,120 --> 00:53:13,720 We do, of course, hopefully it's from a point of, oh, I want you 932 00:53:13,720 --> 00:53:16,520 to know about this in my life and I want you to care about 933 00:53:16,520 --> 00:53:19,920 this. And would you also pray for me 934 00:53:19,920 --> 00:53:23,080 in this, pray with me for this in my life. 935 00:53:23,080 --> 00:53:25,840 And I, I want you to care about and know about this thing that's 936 00:53:25,840 --> 00:53:28,360 going on in my life. And I think that's generally how 937 00:53:28,360 --> 00:53:30,960 we're approached with things. The vast majority of the time. 938 00:53:31,240 --> 00:53:33,280 So. But I mean, like, you know, 939 00:53:33,280 --> 00:53:36,920 it's, it's I want you to pray for me because I want you 940 00:53:36,920 --> 00:53:39,800 walking with me, right? Not for me. 941 00:53:39,800 --> 00:53:40,720 Yeah. Not for me. 942 00:53:40,880 --> 00:53:43,520 Perfect. All right. 943 00:53:43,960 --> 00:53:45,760 And I think that's where we're going to leave it. 944 00:53:45,840 --> 00:53:48,320 Yeah, that was that was big. This is close to an hour. 945 00:53:48,320 --> 00:53:49,440 It's got it. Oh, it might be more than an 946 00:53:49,440 --> 00:53:50,240 hour. I don't have a time to. 947 00:53:50,240 --> 00:53:50,920 Take her. Here we go. 948 00:53:50,920 --> 00:53:54,040 But. Just those couple of things, 949 00:53:54,040 --> 00:53:59,160 Holy Spirit, and working out forgiveness sincerely, that's. 950 00:53:59,400 --> 00:54:01,520 Oh yeah, yeah, that's a lot for one day. 951 00:54:01,520 --> 00:54:04,360 It is a lot for one day, so thanks for hanging with us. 952 00:54:04,480 --> 00:54:08,080 A little bit of fun stuff along the way, but some real stuff in 953 00:54:08,080 --> 00:54:12,600 the truth of God's Word as well. Hit like and subscribe on the 954 00:54:12,600 --> 00:54:14,640 podcast platform that you're listening to. 955 00:54:15,040 --> 00:54:18,800 And yeah, share with those. There's a lot of you listening 956 00:54:18,800 --> 00:54:21,680 follow up to the sermon, but if you know someone in your life 957 00:54:21,680 --> 00:54:25,400 that could benefit from this further conversation to share it 958 00:54:25,400 --> 00:54:26,840 with them and give them a listen. 959 00:54:27,320 --> 00:54:31,280 Do that because I don't say do that so that we can be more 960 00:54:31,280 --> 00:54:33,240 powerful and have more listens. Ha, ha. 961 00:54:33,240 --> 00:54:36,280 Then I'd be like Simon, No, we say that because like the 962 00:54:36,280 --> 00:54:39,920 message of the gospel as it's being worked out and you know, 963 00:54:39,920 --> 00:54:42,520 in conversations just like this or in your garage, in your 964 00:54:42,520 --> 00:54:45,640 living room, at your workplace, they're important conversations. 965 00:54:45,640 --> 00:54:49,400 And so like, man, the more you can share that out, the more you 966 00:54:49,400 --> 00:54:53,120 can give people a line into like, what does it mean to be a 967 00:54:53,120 --> 00:54:54,680 Christian? How does, what does this look 968 00:54:54,680 --> 00:54:57,000 like? Please do that, because we're 969 00:54:57,000 --> 00:54:59,720 talking making eternity stuff here, not just like day-to-day 970 00:54:59,720 --> 00:55:00,600 stuff. Yeah. 971 00:55:00,880 --> 00:55:03,040 So thanks for hanging with us, taking on this conversation. 972 00:55:03,040 --> 00:55:06,240 We hope it encourages you in your faith as you work out your 973 00:55:06,240 --> 00:55:08,720 salvation as well. We'll catch you next week.