April 16, 2024 • 27 mins
In Episode 26, Jesus continues to throw those knockout punches as Those Crazy Bible Study Guys continue the study of the Sermon on the Mount! The continued theme of the devil's "If's" that create that spark of doubt and how Jesus is the one that can douse it with a firehose before that doubt becomes action! Join Those Crazy Bible Study Guys as that spark of lust discussed in Episode 25 can lead to today's topic of infidelity and divorce. That opens up the discussion that we shouldn't focus on the perception that the grass is greener on the other side but that if we tend to and water our own grass, it will actually be greener!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Hello everybody and welcome to episode
26 I'm Jim and
I'm Dale and we are those crazy Bible study guys oh man I'm doing really good
today it's just it's raining out where I'm at here springtime and up in Michigan,
(00:28):
but I'm doing pretty good.
Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, we're going to get some rain today too down here
in the good old state of Florida.
So that's what I love about our podcast, man. We are coast to coast,
north to south just about here. So I love that.
Oh, man. Well, and happy day to all you listeners out there.
Thankful for you guys and wherever you may be at. Again, we thank you for listening
(00:51):
and tuning in with us. We hope and pray that you can continue to spread the
word out about us and be kind of cool to even go on the east to the west coast, too, one of these days.
Yeah, we need our listeners to help us go east to west.
We've got north to south, but we can bring others along for the ride.
That's it, man. That's it. Let's get to those four corners of the earth,
(01:12):
the Bible says. I'm with you.
Hey, man. Yeah. Jesus, man, this is like the power sermon, man.
He is just, he's, I feel like it's lately on Facebook.
I've been, I don't know why I'm enticed with it, but I've been seeing a lot
of Mike Tyson boxing clips come up and I don't know why I'm intrigued by him,
(01:34):
but I mean, that guy just was just, he was tight and man,
he's just left, right. Just the, and the power behind his punches.
That's, that's how I feel like the sermon on the mountain is,
man. He's just, he's just throwing these left hooks, these right hooks,
these uppercuts you know just really hitting all these areas of our life that really we you know,
(01:57):
There's nothing in the Sermon on the Mount that there's at least one thing that's
going to apply to everyone.
And I know for me, there's multiple things that I'm learning and is just hitting
home with me personally.
So, man, he is just bringing it.
Yeah. Again, people will sometimes be like, well, you know, the Bible is not
(02:19):
for me. It's just old fables and tales.
No, absolutely not. It's so real. It's so raw. And like you're saying,
man, Jesus is uppercutting the heart here. I mean, he's really making us check ourselves.
And what's amazing is these words, everything he was teaching 2000 years ago applies to today.
And guess what? It's going to apply to tomorrow as well.
(02:40):
Yeah. You know, and so on until he comes back. And I mean, man,
like you said, I mean, these are some hard realities.
And I love that we're talking about them. you know it's what
i love about this time is you know again how
many times you know do are we learning this
kind of stuff i mean just again jim even you and i you know reading
through matthew 5 can tell you how many times i probably read through it skimmed
(03:03):
through it looked at it catched a verse or two but like coming together and
really diving in deep like this is what god called us to do you know get together
gather and talk and just be open and real i mean yeah it's I'm loving it, man.
Like you said, there's some punches, and they're hard. They're hard to take
sometimes. I mean, yeah.
(03:24):
Mike Tyson's not someone to mess with, man. Yeah, dude.
Man, I listened to this live conference thing, and he was one of the speakers on it.
He was very interesting to listen to, but man, he can fight.
But you know what? And he can fight. Yeah, and I mean, the thing about that
is for the opponent that he's facing, man, he can expose your weaknesses, right?
(03:50):
When you face a strong competitor like that, man, they show the cracks and the weaknesses.
We've even, you know, I coach softball and I'm in the middle of that right now.
And we're playing some teams that are much, much better than us.
And it's exposing though, but, you know, we had a practice yesterday that was
working on our outfield because it exposed the weakness that we had there. So, you know,
(04:15):
Sometimes we just need things straight in our face, right,
like this, that Jesus is doing to expose those things so we know the things we need to work on,
know those things that we need to come to God and just lay it at the altar there
for him and just ask him to just give us strength,
give us wisdom in these particular situations.
(04:37):
So yeah i like that and that's such a good lead into something i would i want to bring up today.
Too is you know again it's a
yeah we think of some of the stuff and we can instantly get in
the negative mind tone like we can just instantly beat ourselves down like
well i'm not good enough i'll never be good enough but that's.
Not what this is doing like this is like you said exposing some
(04:58):
of the realities and the truths that we do struggle we all
do struggle with things nobody's going to be
out there that's perfect that was jesus that's it and there's no
everyone else everyone else is a sinner and at that
point is to be able to you know jesus saying
hey i want to help you process and i want
to help you to that pursuit of perfection so one
(05:18):
thing they used to do all the time you know i'm still do is
lean management and that was always the mindset is you'll
never be a hundred percent but you can try to do your
best as much as you can to get to 99.9997 so
even though we'll know we'll never be perfect
like jesus the goal is to try to pursue what his
life is and so we actually have a really fun box today and
(05:41):
it really ties in like this is like for chapter five you
know jesus has about six different you know examples that
he's going through and we've already done three of
them we've got three more to go so it's kind of a nice like recap and
it said six ways to think like christ again that process
improvement of our life so don't think negative about yourself
don't beat yourself down we all fall short of the glory of god let today be
(06:04):
the day we step up and say you know what today's the day that we grow today's
the day that we improve and that's that's the mindset like again goes to think
like christ so i don't know jim if you want to read some of these and we can
check yeah let's do it because.
You know that's the that's the key here is that we just these are some things
(06:26):
that i i think the The other thing Christ is trying to tell us is, hey,
these are tough things and these are things come to me, man.
I can give you strength. I can give you wisdom.
I can give you peace. I can give you the strength to get through that moment.
So we were talking about this earlier, right? Is it starts with that spark and
that, that if that Satan throws us that he's that spark, right?
(06:50):
He's trying to throw the spark to create that if that starts to brew in your
heart that turns into action, right? And God just wants us, hey,
these are tough things. Come to me.
Get my strength get my wisdom get my grace get my mercy so so these are great
i love this six ways to think like christ so that we can try to do that when
(07:14):
we face these these some of these really,
difficult challenges that we're going to run into in life yeah and and yeah
so we'll we'll give you uh you know to let everyone know here we have four columns
that we're going to read down and again so this is what's really cool about
it of course obviously it's going to be a reference so we'll kind of throw out,
you know, the scripture verses is being referenced to what the ultimate example
(07:36):
is, what the main topic is.
The other columns are, it's not enough to, you know, insert,
you know, what we're trying to talk about the topic and then what we must also.
And I think what's neat is the, we must also column.
It's like you said, there's that spark. So, I mean, obviously the spark comes from somewhere.
This is kind of what Jesus is doing to kind of pinpoint us to where the spark
(08:00):
is starting to, you know, go about.
And that's the example we always give in lean management is if you're sitting
in your house and then you get a drip of water on top of you and you look up,
well, there's a little water spot and you can see water dripping in.
A lot of people instantly want to just fix that spot.
But the reality of it is water typically isn't entering in from that point.
(08:21):
Most time, most time it's coming from outside of the house and it's rolling.
And water will actually stick to an object until gravity eventually takes over and then drops.
So you could have a leak on the outside of the house, but you don't see it.
You don't know it until it's actually, you know, kind of a little bit of a couple
feet into the house is where gravity is taking over at that point.
(08:44):
And so this is what I love about this column is Jesus is taking it to that next
level to say, hey, let's root cause where this situation is,
where the water is coming in, so we can fix the house and make it stronger and better and safer.
And that's what these columns are. So I wanted to give that example out because I love that.
And that's what, again, he's not trying to beat us down and make us feel shameful.
(09:07):
He's trying to help us realize where the root cause of the problem is that we
can start to mend it in our heart.
So, yeah. All right. So we got six of them. So is it, you want to roll through all these?
No, you can, well, you can get started on those.
You know i'm gonna i'm gonna throw one more analogy to
you too like you know because i there's a
(09:29):
couple of cool themes that as we've been in matthew
that we've developed and one of them is like you know
satan's if is that kind of like he's trying
to throw that spark to get a fire going in you right and
and taking that immediately to jesus is like the fire extinguisher just blowing
right on it you know you just you just probably need to pinch the spark right
(09:49):
to put it out but jesus comes with that power fire extinguisher or that power
fire engine hose and just he's he's he's gonna make sure that spark don't ever come back you know so.
Man we got a new t-shirt idea right there yeah i know i think so.
Man yeah i love that yeah this is
gonna be cool yeah go for it man get it started yeah let's
(10:11):
check this out so our first reference goes back to five
chapter five all these will be in chapter five so 21 22
yeah the first example was murder and it's
not enough to avoid killing easy one
for us to understand we must also avoid anger
and hatred the spark right that's the
(10:32):
spark yes that's the spark you're not going to kill someone
just because you're just walking around like you're going to get upset you're frustrated
someone's going to cut you off you know in the while you're
driving or say something about you in public and that's
the spark so again it's it's that's what to avoid the
next one we have is related to references 23 through
26 verses the ad example is about offerings it's
(10:54):
not enough to offer regular gifts we
must also have right relationships with
god and others again what do we take away from this your perspective of your
heart check your heart you know are you doing something to gain or are you doing
something out of just true purity all right the third one is reference to 27
(11:16):
through 30 adultery it's what we just kind of I talked about.
And it's not enough to avoid adultery. We must also keep our hearts from lusting and be faithful.
So if somebody walks by, look up in the sky. Or we did at all costs.
Because again, that's the spark. Oh, did it? Oh, nice. I'll have to go back.
(11:38):
Someone comes by, look up in the sky.
Hey, I love that, man. But yeah, it's again, there's that spark.
If you go into the mindset of that, if then you start to think and then boom,
next thing you know, it can lead to a really bad place. The one we're going
to be talking a little bit about today is 31-32, talking about divorce.
(11:59):
And it is not enough to be legally married. We must also live out our marriage commitments.
Really important. Again, we make these oaths, we make these vows.
We need to maintain them. And there's going to be hard days,
hard times, hard challenges. So we have to see it through together.
Two more. 33-37 is oaths.
(12:21):
It's not enough to make an oath. We must also avoid casual and irresponsible commitments to God.
Interesting. Got to be careful. Words mean something. Yeah.
And then the last one, 38 through 47, the example is revenge.
It is not enough to seek justice for ourselves.
(12:44):
We must also show mercy and love to others.
Yeah. And that's a hard one, especially when we've been damaged or hurt really badly.
We kind of want to take it to the next level out of that revengeful mindset.
But again, I think of the cross, you know, Jesus died for my sins.
(13:05):
That was my punishment, you know, and he showed mercy and love to me.
Yeah i'm looking forward to that one coming up here in a
little a couple more episodes that because
that's just something i mean you know
everyone one every once in a while man well not
every once in a while but quite often right someone angers us
and or we get mad at someone or they do
(13:28):
do us wrong right and we want
to seek some justice but oh yeah
that that seeking justice justice that's
the spark right yeah and so hey and
again looking looking at these six six examples again you.
Know like i'm just looking at them like yep done you know been there done
that got those t-shirts in my closet you know like you know
(13:49):
not all of them but quite a few of them so you know it's like
again this is what i love about you know christ didn't come
to save the saved he came to help the sick so yeah
lord i just love how we've kind of i
mean like you said i've read matthew you
before but just some of these themes that have
come up from uh just us doing this bible study
(14:10):
through the podcast of of like that spark you
know that's i mean i i mean i knew that but
we've been just really diving into this and it's
a great thing right it's like recognize the spark
right and and you know just
pray to the man and bring the the
fire hose and the fire extinguisher sure right help me out
(14:32):
with this one jesus i need your strength here so amen yeah
there's a there's a footnote here well there's
a there's well it's not really a footnote but it there's kind of a summary
at the end i'm going to hit on that it says we are more often than not guilty
of avoiding the extreme sins so the it's not enough to column while regularly
(14:54):
committing the types of sins which which Jesus was most concerned,
right? The heart matter stuff.
In these six examples, our real struggle with sin is exposed.
Jesus pointed out what kind of lives would be required of his followers.
Are you living as Jesus taught?
So, all right. I mean, that's convicting. So, yeah, again, it's a daily struggle.
(15:21):
It's a daily pick up the cross. Focus on it and do your best.
So, yeah, I know I'm there.
I know that the spark tied with the, it is greater than if those have been our
major themes, these initial episodes here.
So let's dive into what Jesus teaches about divorce.
Yeah. So it's only two verses today. It's again, Matthew, we're still in chapter five, 31 and 32 today.
(15:48):
And it goes like this. It has been said, anyone who divorces his wife must give
her a certificate of divorce.
But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife except for sexual immorality
makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
So this one's a little, little sticky point here. And so I think you'd probably
(16:12):
be best. Maybe let's hit the footnotes. Yeah.
That was my immediate thought. I mean, I will say thankfully both of us,
even though, you know, we're not perfect in any manner, our,
our lovely wives have been there and worked with us and loved us.
So we, you know, we have not been in the position of a divorce.
So I definitely want to see where Jesus is saying here with the guidance of
(16:36):
these experts. And then we can kind of open up so we don't mislead or go in the wrong path.
Yeah, this is one of those situations where you're like, we've done this often, right?
In our Bible study, you read something and you're like, whoa,
hold on. Because at face value, it's like, what do you mean?
(16:56):
What's going on here, right? So yeah, let's hit some of those footnotes right away.
And I agree with you. I mean, my
wife has given me so much grace and mercy through the, man, how many times.
Boy i'm i'm gonna i think it's like 35 years
we're celebrating this year so oh man congrats yeah
(17:18):
that's awesome we just celebrated 18 so all right but i
do i do want to jump real fast i want to read an old footnote i'm
going to take us back like 20 episodes back to when
we did you know read about joseph and when
he had the dream with mary and you know yeah there's a
footnote in there that kind of gives us and i think this is just important
to know again jesus is referencing conferencing perspective of
(17:39):
that culture at the time so it's just
talking about jewish marriage so i wanted to at least read this
one more time so i kind of understand that we have that mindset
oh that's perfect yeah yeah a jewish
marriage involved three basic steps first the two families agreed on agree to
the union second a public announcement was made at this point the couple was
(18:01):
pledged this was similar to engagement today except that their relationship
could be broken only through death or divorce,
even though sexual relations were not yet permitted.
Third, the couple was married and began living together.
Because Mary and Joseph were engaged, Mary's apparent unfaithfulness carried a severe social stigma.
(18:22):
According to Jewish civil law, Joseph had a right to divorce her,
and the Jewish authorities could have her stoned to death.
So again is this
setting up kind of the perspective of the audience
Jesus would have been you know talking to and how they would have understood
it at this time so yeah the I was rereading this to were says but I tell you
(18:46):
that anyone who divorces wife except for marital unfaithfulness caused her so there was a.
Specific scenario there here too, related to it, but I think the footnotes are
going to do much better interpretation than what you, you know, nothing against Dale,
but I just, I think, I think we need some experts here on this topic.
(19:10):
Yeah yeah i agree yeah all right so i've got
one footnote that talks about it in summary here it says divorce is as hurtful
and destructive today as is in jesus's day so again you know and my friend where
i go to work out the guy that runs the place him and i talk quite often and he was,
(19:32):
he was just saying you know the more i read the bible the more it's like you
know things Things really aren't like, you know, you know how people always
say this new generation, you know, it's like things have been the same.
It's just been the scenario and the plot has been, you know,
maybe different, right?
Because of what we live in, in the technology or whatever of the day.
(19:54):
But that's why this is the greatest book on earth, right?
It, it, it's been applicable for over 2000 years.
So anyways, God intends marriage to be a lifetime commitment in Genesis 2.24.
When entering into marriage, people should never consider divorce an option
for solving problems or a way out of relationships that seem dead.
(20:18):
In these verses, Jesus is also attacking those who purposefully abuse the marriage
contract, using divorce to satisfy their lustful desire to marry someone else.
Are your actions today helping your marriage grow stronger, or are you tearing it apart?
(20:39):
And just for reference, Genesis 2.24 is, therefore a man shall leave his father
and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
And I think that's the important, I mean, we all, I mean, obviously,
Jim, you've been married, I'm married, and you know, that's the thing.
We made a vow in front of, you know, an audience of family members and friends
(21:00):
where We looked into, you know, our wives eyes and said, you know,
until death do us part, you know, it's a, it's a lifetime commitment.
And I think, you know, again, that's the challenge is a lot of people struggle
because they want that instant gratification.
There's a lot of me, me, me that's taking place. And a lot of it,
(21:21):
again, Satan's ifs are really coming in.
If I do this, if I go here, grass might be greener there.
Yeah. And there's a lot of changing. And, you know, that's, again,
I think that's, that's the heart matter where, you know, this is really taking
us now, you know, there are definitely other situations like, you know, again,
sexual immorality, you're cheating on your wife, you've done, you know, or spouse,
(21:43):
or, you know, don't want to just be specific there, but you're cheating on your
spouse, you're, you know, and even then I'll even take the next level if somebody
is physically getting harmed, right?
That's odd to me. I think that's another stance. Like it doesn't say that in
here, but I want to, I at least want to be sensitive.
Like, yeah, if you're in a situation where you're being physically harmed and
(22:04):
abused, that's a huge red flag. I mean, please take precautions and talk to
a pastor and, you know, really be engaged in that.
Don't, don't, you know, you got, you got to be safe too.
And I think that's also, that would be a big piece too.
I think this is literally just going on that mindset of adultery that we had talked about last time.
(22:25):
And again, that's the focus. Again, don't take things out of context,
take to things, what is actually there.
And you know, it's specifically talking about adultery throughout it.
So again, if you're planning on cheating, you are cheating, you know,
that's, that's the primary focus of what this is saying. And I think 32's footnote
might help a little, too, with that.
(22:45):
Yeah, I think, again, the context, right?
If we just read this and we didn't read what we read last time,
right, about lust, it might be taken out of context.
And you could be literal that, you know, this is all that's acceptable or whatever.
But the thing about this, right, is like you were talking about,
(23:09):
the grass is greener. I think that's a, you know, that's where we get in a lot
of trouble in life in general, right?
Not just in this area, but, you know, when I was younger, it was,
it was hard for me, you know, and I'm not just saying with relationships,
but just, you know, you're young, you don't have a lot and you desire more, right?
(23:32):
Right. And just that learning to, to kind of flip the lens.
Right. I feel like at the, at the eye doctor, right. Where lens one lens two,
you know, which one is clear.
Right. And just flipping that lens of just saying to yourself and looking and
going, look at what I do have.
Look how awesome this is instead of looking at what you don't have. And yeah.
(23:56):
That for me in my life that was a big game changer
when i started to like when i had that aha moment and started to apply that
and i was like man i got it so good i've got yeah my my wife my kids family
the job i had and where i live and stuff and you know it's really that discontentment.
(24:20):
Of thinking this is going to be better like you said
the grass is greener that that is what tends
to get us into this kind of trouble you
know like like what jesus is talking about
here so let me let me dive into that he well i
want to i want to say one thing real fast uh you know
someone told this to me and it's always stuck with me you know you can think
(24:41):
the grass is always greener but really the grass is greener where you decide
to water it and i love that saying because if we take the time again a lot of
people want the easy way out you know grass is greener on on the other side
of the fence because that person took the time to make it green or worked with it,
whereas I didn't. So that's why my grass isn't green.
But if I were to actually take the time, fertilize it, work the land,
(25:04):
you know, and watered it, amazing how much greener your grass really can be.
So it's again, you have to put the effort into it, water your own grass.
You'll be amazed at how green it turns out to be. Yeah. I love that a lot.
Just where are you going to put your effort and that's where
man that's i'm i'm taking i'm i'm going
(25:25):
to steal that one yeah that one in the memory bank so let's
talk about this in 32 it says jesus said that divorce is
not permissible except for unfaithfulness this does
not mean that divorce should be divorce should
automatically occur when a spouse commits adultery the word translated unfaithfulness
implies a sexually immoral lifestyle not a confessed and repented act of adultery
(25:48):
those who discover that their partner has been unfaithful should first make
every effort to forgive,
reconcile, and restore their relationship.
We are always to look for reasons to restore the marriage relationship rather
than for excuses to leave it.
Yeah. Cause I mean, again, things happen. So, you know, if you can work together
(26:09):
and do it as a team, that's the goal, right? I mean, again, for better or not.
And so, you know, you have to be a team player.
You have to work together, but if there's just unwillingness unchanged,
then that's again, new perspective.
Perspective yeah i think you hit the nail on the head there right it's got to
be a team effort you got to work work together on it it's like you know anything
(26:31):
in in a marriage you when you're on the same page working through it man you
can you can get through anything so that's it.
Good stuff today man yeah yeah some of these get i get nervous i'm not gonna
lie some of these topics i get nervous like oh i don't know i don't have any
experience in this or i don't know if we're gonna say the right thing but yeah
and god is good and how would a beautiful what a beautiful piece of knowledge
(26:53):
today to help us grow more like christ so definitely definitely,
father god thank you so much for our study today we
we thank you for your continued insights about those sparks
that the devil continues to try to throw at
us continue to help us to remind us
to just come to you father and get that
fire extinguisher to put them out in your name we pray
(27:16):
amen amen man good stuff yeah all right everyone yeah don't forget so remember
like jim just said in that prayer if you see a spark go ahead and put it out
very simple stuff and until next time enjoy the gift of today.
Hello everybody and welcome to episode
26 I'm Jim and
I'm Dale and we are those crazy Bible study guys oh man I'm doing really good
today it's just it's raining out where I'm at here springtime and up in Michigan,
(00:28):
but I'm doing pretty good.
Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, we're going to get some rain today too down here
in the good old state of Florida.
So that's what I love about our podcast, man. We are coast to coast,
north to south just about here. So I love that.
Oh, man. Well, and happy day to all you listeners out there.
Thankful for you guys and wherever you may be at. Again, we thank you for listening
(00:51):
and tuning in with us. We hope and pray that you can continue to spread the
word out about us and be kind of cool to even go on the east to the west coast, too, one of these days.
Yeah, we need our listeners to help us go east to west.
We've got north to south, but we can bring others along for the ride.
That's it, man. That's it. Let's get to those four corners of the earth,
(01:12):
the Bible says. I'm with you.
Hey, man. Yeah. Jesus, man, this is like the power sermon, man.
He is just, he's, I feel like it's lately on Facebook.
I've been, I don't know why I'm enticed with it, but I've been seeing a lot
of Mike Tyson boxing clips come up and I don't know why I'm intrigued by him,
(01:34):
but I mean, that guy just was just, he was tight and man,
he's just left, right. Just the, and the power behind his punches.
That's, that's how I feel like the sermon on the mountain is,
man. He's just, he's just throwing these left hooks, these right hooks,
these uppercuts you know just really hitting all these areas of our life that really we you know,
(01:57):
There's nothing in the Sermon on the Mount that there's at least one thing that's
going to apply to everyone.
And I know for me, there's multiple things that I'm learning and is just hitting
home with me personally.
So, man, he is just bringing it.
Yeah. Again, people will sometimes be like, well, you know, the Bible is not
(02:19):
for me. It's just old fables and tales.
No, absolutely not. It's so real. It's so raw. And like you're saying,
man, Jesus is uppercutting the heart here. I mean, he's really making us check ourselves.
And what's amazing is these words, everything he was teaching 2000 years ago applies to today.
And guess what? It's going to apply to tomorrow as well.
(02:40):
Yeah. You know, and so on until he comes back. And I mean, man,
like you said, I mean, these are some hard realities.
And I love that we're talking about them. you know it's what
i love about this time is you know again how
many times you know do are we learning this
kind of stuff i mean just again jim even you and i you know reading
through matthew 5 can tell you how many times i probably read through it skimmed
(03:03):
through it looked at it catched a verse or two but like coming together and
really diving in deep like this is what god called us to do you know get together
gather and talk and just be open and real i mean yeah it's I'm loving it, man.
Like you said, there's some punches, and they're hard. They're hard to take
sometimes. I mean, yeah.
(03:24):
Mike Tyson's not someone to mess with, man. Yeah, dude.
Man, I listened to this live conference thing, and he was one of the speakers on it.
He was very interesting to listen to, but man, he can fight.
But you know what? And he can fight. Yeah, and I mean, the thing about that
is for the opponent that he's facing, man, he can expose your weaknesses, right?
(03:50):
When you face a strong competitor like that, man, they show the cracks and the weaknesses.
We've even, you know, I coach softball and I'm in the middle of that right now.
And we're playing some teams that are much, much better than us.
And it's exposing though, but, you know, we had a practice yesterday that was
working on our outfield because it exposed the weakness that we had there. So, you know,
(04:15):
Sometimes we just need things straight in our face, right,
like this, that Jesus is doing to expose those things so we know the things we need to work on,
know those things that we need to come to God and just lay it at the altar there
for him and just ask him to just give us strength,
give us wisdom in these particular situations.
(04:37):
So yeah i like that and that's such a good lead into something i would i want to bring up today.
Too is you know again it's a
yeah we think of some of the stuff and we can instantly get in
the negative mind tone like we can just instantly beat ourselves down like
well i'm not good enough i'll never be good enough but that's.
Not what this is doing like this is like you said exposing some
(04:58):
of the realities and the truths that we do struggle we all
do struggle with things nobody's going to be
out there that's perfect that was jesus that's it and there's no
everyone else everyone else is a sinner and at that
point is to be able to you know jesus saying
hey i want to help you process and i want
to help you to that pursuit of perfection so one
(05:18):
thing they used to do all the time you know i'm still do is
lean management and that was always the mindset is you'll
never be a hundred percent but you can try to do your
best as much as you can to get to 99.9997 so
even though we'll know we'll never be perfect
like jesus the goal is to try to pursue what his
life is and so we actually have a really fun box today and
(05:41):
it really ties in like this is like for chapter five you
know jesus has about six different you know examples that
he's going through and we've already done three of
them we've got three more to go so it's kind of a nice like recap and
it said six ways to think like christ again that process
improvement of our life so don't think negative about yourself
don't beat yourself down we all fall short of the glory of god let today be
(06:04):
the day we step up and say you know what today's the day that we grow today's
the day that we improve and that's that's the mindset like again goes to think
like christ so i don't know jim if you want to read some of these and we can
check yeah let's do it because.
You know that's the that's the key here is that we just these are some things
(06:26):
that i i think the The other thing Christ is trying to tell us is, hey,
these are tough things and these are things come to me, man.
I can give you strength. I can give you wisdom.
I can give you peace. I can give you the strength to get through that moment.
So we were talking about this earlier, right? Is it starts with that spark and
that, that if that Satan throws us that he's that spark, right?
(06:50):
He's trying to throw the spark to create that if that starts to brew in your
heart that turns into action, right? And God just wants us, hey,
these are tough things. Come to me.
Get my strength get my wisdom get my grace get my mercy so so these are great
i love this six ways to think like christ so that we can try to do that when
(07:14):
we face these these some of these really,
difficult challenges that we're going to run into in life yeah and and yeah
so we'll we'll give you uh you know to let everyone know here we have four columns
that we're going to read down and again so this is what's really cool about
it of course obviously it's going to be a reference so we'll kind of throw out,
you know, the scripture verses is being referenced to what the ultimate example
(07:36):
is, what the main topic is.
The other columns are, it's not enough to, you know, insert,
you know, what we're trying to talk about the topic and then what we must also.
And I think what's neat is the, we must also column.
It's like you said, there's that spark. So, I mean, obviously the spark comes from somewhere.
This is kind of what Jesus is doing to kind of pinpoint us to where the spark
(08:00):
is starting to, you know, go about.
And that's the example we always give in lean management is if you're sitting
in your house and then you get a drip of water on top of you and you look up,
well, there's a little water spot and you can see water dripping in.
A lot of people instantly want to just fix that spot.
But the reality of it is water typically isn't entering in from that point.
(08:21):
Most time, most time it's coming from outside of the house and it's rolling.
And water will actually stick to an object until gravity eventually takes over and then drops.
So you could have a leak on the outside of the house, but you don't see it.
You don't know it until it's actually, you know, kind of a little bit of a couple
feet into the house is where gravity is taking over at that point.
(08:44):
And so this is what I love about this column is Jesus is taking it to that next
level to say, hey, let's root cause where this situation is,
where the water is coming in, so we can fix the house and make it stronger and better and safer.
And that's what these columns are. So I wanted to give that example out because I love that.
And that's what, again, he's not trying to beat us down and make us feel shameful.
(09:07):
He's trying to help us realize where the root cause of the problem is that we
can start to mend it in our heart.
So, yeah. All right. So we got six of them. So is it, you want to roll through all these?
No, you can, well, you can get started on those.
You know i'm gonna i'm gonna throw one more analogy to
you too like you know because i there's a
(09:29):
couple of cool themes that as we've been in matthew
that we've developed and one of them is like you know
satan's if is that kind of like he's trying
to throw that spark to get a fire going in you right and
and taking that immediately to jesus is like the fire extinguisher just blowing
right on it you know you just you just probably need to pinch the spark right
(09:49):
to put it out but jesus comes with that power fire extinguisher or that power
fire engine hose and just he's he's he's gonna make sure that spark don't ever come back you know so.
Man we got a new t-shirt idea right there yeah i know i think so.
Man yeah i love that yeah this is
gonna be cool yeah go for it man get it started yeah let's
(10:11):
check this out so our first reference goes back to five
chapter five all these will be in chapter five so 21 22
yeah the first example was murder and it's
not enough to avoid killing easy one
for us to understand we must also avoid anger
and hatred the spark right that's the
(10:32):
spark yes that's the spark you're not going to kill someone
just because you're just walking around like you're going to get upset you're frustrated
someone's going to cut you off you know in the while you're
driving or say something about you in public and that's
the spark so again it's it's that's what to avoid the
next one we have is related to references 23 through
26 verses the ad example is about offerings it's
(10:54):
not enough to offer regular gifts we
must also have right relationships with
god and others again what do we take away from this your perspective of your
heart check your heart you know are you doing something to gain or are you doing
something out of just true purity all right the third one is reference to 27
(11:16):
through 30 adultery it's what we just kind of I talked about.
And it's not enough to avoid adultery. We must also keep our hearts from lusting and be faithful.
So if somebody walks by, look up in the sky. Or we did at all costs.
Because again, that's the spark. Oh, did it? Oh, nice. I'll have to go back.
(11:38):
Someone comes by, look up in the sky.
Hey, I love that, man. But yeah, it's again, there's that spark.
If you go into the mindset of that, if then you start to think and then boom,
next thing you know, it can lead to a really bad place. The one we're going
to be talking a little bit about today is 31-32, talking about divorce.
(11:59):
And it is not enough to be legally married. We must also live out our marriage commitments.
Really important. Again, we make these oaths, we make these vows.
We need to maintain them. And there's going to be hard days,
hard times, hard challenges. So we have to see it through together.
Two more. 33-37 is oaths.
(12:21):
It's not enough to make an oath. We must also avoid casual and irresponsible commitments to God.
Interesting. Got to be careful. Words mean something. Yeah.
And then the last one, 38 through 47, the example is revenge.
It is not enough to seek justice for ourselves.
(12:44):
We must also show mercy and love to others.
Yeah. And that's a hard one, especially when we've been damaged or hurt really badly.
We kind of want to take it to the next level out of that revengeful mindset.
But again, I think of the cross, you know, Jesus died for my sins.
(13:05):
That was my punishment, you know, and he showed mercy and love to me.
Yeah i'm looking forward to that one coming up here in a
little a couple more episodes that because
that's just something i mean you know
everyone one every once in a while man well not
every once in a while but quite often right someone angers us
and or we get mad at someone or they do
(13:28):
do us wrong right and we want
to seek some justice but oh yeah
that that seeking justice justice that's
the spark right yeah and so hey and
again looking looking at these six six examples again you.
Know like i'm just looking at them like yep done you know been there done
that got those t-shirts in my closet you know like you know
(13:49):
not all of them but quite a few of them so you know it's like
again this is what i love about you know christ didn't come
to save the saved he came to help the sick so yeah
lord i just love how we've kind of i
mean like you said i've read matthew you
before but just some of these themes that have
come up from uh just us doing this bible study
(14:10):
through the podcast of of like that spark you
know that's i mean i i mean i knew that but
we've been just really diving into this and it's
a great thing right it's like recognize the spark
right and and you know just
pray to the man and bring the the
fire hose and the fire extinguisher sure right help me out
(14:32):
with this one jesus i need your strength here so amen yeah
there's a there's a footnote here well there's
a there's well it's not really a footnote but it there's kind of a summary
at the end i'm going to hit on that it says we are more often than not guilty
of avoiding the extreme sins so the it's not enough to column while regularly
(14:54):
committing the types of sins which which Jesus was most concerned,
right? The heart matter stuff.
In these six examples, our real struggle with sin is exposed.
Jesus pointed out what kind of lives would be required of his followers.
Are you living as Jesus taught?
So, all right. I mean, that's convicting. So, yeah, again, it's a daily struggle.
(15:21):
It's a daily pick up the cross. Focus on it and do your best.
So, yeah, I know I'm there.
I know that the spark tied with the, it is greater than if those have been our
major themes, these initial episodes here.
So let's dive into what Jesus teaches about divorce.
Yeah. So it's only two verses today. It's again, Matthew, we're still in chapter five, 31 and 32 today.
(15:48):
And it goes like this. It has been said, anyone who divorces his wife must give
her a certificate of divorce.
But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife except for sexual immorality
makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
So this one's a little, little sticky point here. And so I think you'd probably
(16:12):
be best. Maybe let's hit the footnotes. Yeah.
That was my immediate thought. I mean, I will say thankfully both of us,
even though, you know, we're not perfect in any manner, our,
our lovely wives have been there and worked with us and loved us.
So we, you know, we have not been in the position of a divorce.
So I definitely want to see where Jesus is saying here with the guidance of
(16:36):
these experts. And then we can kind of open up so we don't mislead or go in the wrong path.
Yeah, this is one of those situations where you're like, we've done this often, right?
In our Bible study, you read something and you're like, whoa,
hold on. Because at face value, it's like, what do you mean?
(16:56):
What's going on here, right? So yeah, let's hit some of those footnotes right away.
And I agree with you. I mean, my
wife has given me so much grace and mercy through the, man, how many times.
Boy i'm i'm gonna i think it's like 35 years
we're celebrating this year so oh man congrats yeah
(17:18):
that's awesome we just celebrated 18 so all right but i
do i do want to jump real fast i want to read an old footnote i'm
going to take us back like 20 episodes back to when
we did you know read about joseph and when
he had the dream with mary and you know yeah there's a
footnote in there that kind of gives us and i think this is just important
to know again jesus is referencing conferencing perspective of
(17:39):
that culture at the time so it's just
talking about jewish marriage so i wanted to at least read this
one more time so i kind of understand that we have that mindset
oh that's perfect yeah yeah a jewish
marriage involved three basic steps first the two families agreed on agree to
the union second a public announcement was made at this point the couple was
(18:01):
pledged this was similar to engagement today except that their relationship
could be broken only through death or divorce,
even though sexual relations were not yet permitted.
Third, the couple was married and began living together.
Because Mary and Joseph were engaged, Mary's apparent unfaithfulness carried a severe social stigma.
(18:22):
According to Jewish civil law, Joseph had a right to divorce her,
and the Jewish authorities could have her stoned to death.
So again is this
setting up kind of the perspective of the audience
Jesus would have been you know talking to and how they would have understood
it at this time so yeah the I was rereading this to were says but I tell you
(18:46):
that anyone who divorces wife except for marital unfaithfulness caused her so there was a.
Specific scenario there here too, related to it, but I think the footnotes are
going to do much better interpretation than what you, you know, nothing against Dale,
but I just, I think, I think we need some experts here on this topic.
(19:10):
Yeah yeah i agree yeah all right so i've got
one footnote that talks about it in summary here it says divorce is as hurtful
and destructive today as is in jesus's day so again you know and my friend where
i go to work out the guy that runs the place him and i talk quite often and he was,
(19:32):
he was just saying you know the more i read the bible the more it's like you
know things Things really aren't like, you know, you know how people always
say this new generation, you know, it's like things have been the same.
It's just been the scenario and the plot has been, you know,
maybe different, right?
Because of what we live in, in the technology or whatever of the day.
(19:54):
But that's why this is the greatest book on earth, right?
It, it, it's been applicable for over 2000 years.
So anyways, God intends marriage to be a lifetime commitment in Genesis 2.24.
When entering into marriage, people should never consider divorce an option
for solving problems or a way out of relationships that seem dead.
(20:18):
In these verses, Jesus is also attacking those who purposefully abuse the marriage
contract, using divorce to satisfy their lustful desire to marry someone else.
Are your actions today helping your marriage grow stronger, or are you tearing it apart?
(20:39):
And just for reference, Genesis 2.24 is, therefore a man shall leave his father
and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
And I think that's the important, I mean, we all, I mean, obviously,
Jim, you've been married, I'm married, and you know, that's the thing.
We made a vow in front of, you know, an audience of family members and friends
(21:00):
where We looked into, you know, our wives eyes and said, you know,
until death do us part, you know, it's a, it's a lifetime commitment.
And I think, you know, again, that's the challenge is a lot of people struggle
because they want that instant gratification.
There's a lot of me, me, me that's taking place. And a lot of it,
(21:21):
again, Satan's ifs are really coming in.
If I do this, if I go here, grass might be greener there.
Yeah. And there's a lot of changing. And, you know, that's, again,
I think that's, that's the heart matter where, you know, this is really taking
us now, you know, there are definitely other situations like, you know, again,
sexual immorality, you're cheating on your wife, you've done, you know, or spouse,
(21:43):
or, you know, don't want to just be specific there, but you're cheating on your
spouse, you're, you know, and even then I'll even take the next level if somebody
is physically getting harmed, right?
That's odd to me. I think that's another stance. Like it doesn't say that in
here, but I want to, I at least want to be sensitive.
Like, yeah, if you're in a situation where you're being physically harmed and
(22:04):
abused, that's a huge red flag. I mean, please take precautions and talk to
a pastor and, you know, really be engaged in that.
Don't, don't, you know, you got, you got to be safe too.
And I think that's also, that would be a big piece too.
I think this is literally just going on that mindset of adultery that we had talked about last time.
(22:25):
And again, that's the focus. Again, don't take things out of context,
take to things, what is actually there.
And you know, it's specifically talking about adultery throughout it.
So again, if you're planning on cheating, you are cheating, you know,
that's, that's the primary focus of what this is saying. And I think 32's footnote
might help a little, too, with that.
(22:45):
Yeah, I think, again, the context, right?
If we just read this and we didn't read what we read last time,
right, about lust, it might be taken out of context.
And you could be literal that, you know, this is all that's acceptable or whatever.
But the thing about this, right, is like you were talking about,
(23:09):
the grass is greener. I think that's a, you know, that's where we get in a lot
of trouble in life in general, right?
Not just in this area, but, you know, when I was younger, it was,
it was hard for me, you know, and I'm not just saying with relationships,
but just, you know, you're young, you don't have a lot and you desire more, right?
(23:32):
Right. And just that learning to, to kind of flip the lens.
Right. I feel like at the, at the eye doctor, right. Where lens one lens two,
you know, which one is clear.
Right. And just flipping that lens of just saying to yourself and looking and
going, look at what I do have.
Look how awesome this is instead of looking at what you don't have. And yeah.
(23:56):
That for me in my life that was a big game changer
when i started to like when i had that aha moment and started to apply that
and i was like man i got it so good i've got yeah my my wife my kids family
the job i had and where i live and stuff and you know it's really that discontentment.
(24:20):
Of thinking this is going to be better like you said
the grass is greener that that is what tends
to get us into this kind of trouble you
know like like what jesus is talking about
here so let me let me dive into that he well i
want to i want to say one thing real fast uh you know
someone told this to me and it's always stuck with me you know you can think
(24:41):
the grass is always greener but really the grass is greener where you decide
to water it and i love that saying because if we take the time again a lot of
people want the easy way out you know grass is greener on on the other side
of the fence because that person took the time to make it green or worked with it,
whereas I didn't. So that's why my grass isn't green.
But if I were to actually take the time, fertilize it, work the land,
(25:04):
you know, and watered it, amazing how much greener your grass really can be.
So it's again, you have to put the effort into it, water your own grass.
You'll be amazed at how green it turns out to be. Yeah. I love that a lot.
Just where are you going to put your effort and that's where
man that's i'm i'm taking i'm i'm going
(25:25):
to steal that one yeah that one in the memory bank so let's
talk about this in 32 it says jesus said that divorce is
not permissible except for unfaithfulness this does
not mean that divorce should be divorce should
automatically occur when a spouse commits adultery the word translated unfaithfulness
implies a sexually immoral lifestyle not a confessed and repented act of adultery
(25:48):
those who discover that their partner has been unfaithful should first make
every effort to forgive,
reconcile, and restore their relationship.
We are always to look for reasons to restore the marriage relationship rather
than for excuses to leave it.
Yeah. Cause I mean, again, things happen. So, you know, if you can work together
(26:09):
and do it as a team, that's the goal, right? I mean, again, for better or not.
And so, you know, you have to be a team player.
You have to work together, but if there's just unwillingness unchanged,
then that's again, new perspective.
Perspective yeah i think you hit the nail on the head there right it's got to
be a team effort you got to work work together on it it's like you know anything
(26:31):
in in a marriage you when you're on the same page working through it man you
can you can get through anything so that's it.
Good stuff today man yeah yeah some of these get i get nervous i'm not gonna
lie some of these topics i get nervous like oh i don't know i don't have any
experience in this or i don't know if we're gonna say the right thing but yeah
and god is good and how would a beautiful what a beautiful piece of knowledge
(26:53):
today to help us grow more like christ so definitely definitely,
father god thank you so much for our study today we
we thank you for your continued insights about those sparks
that the devil continues to try to throw at
us continue to help us to remind us
to just come to you father and get that
fire extinguisher to put them out in your name we pray
(27:16):
amen amen man good stuff yeah all right everyone yeah don't forget so remember
like jim just said in that prayer if you see a spark go ahead and put it out
very simple stuff and until next time enjoy the gift of today.
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