Is Your Value Recognized in God’s Eyes?

Episode Transcript
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Pastor Brent McQuay (00:00):
A suit, Power suit. Like, you know,
who's really in charge here?

Ti'heasha Beasley (00:05):
You are at all times. I think
for me, just putting on a nice
suit keeps me, like, energized and ready
and focused. So. I love red. It's
my new color for the season. So,
yeah, I'm. I'm feeling it. But we
all coordinated again. I think we have
on different shades of red. Almost like
you're the lighter shade. It goes from
the burgundy.

I don't know what this is. Maybe
I'm a guy, so I'm a little
bit. Like, I'm not colorblind. Like, I
know colors, but, like, I wouldn't know
what to call this.

Is I like a peach or what
do you think?

So what color is a mauve?

Mauve.

Peach.

Peach, yeah. Peach, Yeah. I like it.
I like it. Well, I'm liking it.
As long as we show up. Whatever.
Whatever color.

It's not a fashion podcast, by the
way.

Right, Right. Someone let us know in
the comments what color Pastor Brandt has
on today. That'll be fun to see.
But I'm exc. We are still in
our current sermon series, and this series
has been amazing. The Sunday school remix.
Before we dive into the conversation, what
has been your favorite parable thus far?

(01:16):
Before I even get even deeper in
that, we have our amazing guest, Tiff
Hines.

Tiffany Hines (01:22):
Hello.

I like to dive in. You'll get
to know my personality.

But what makes Tiff an amazing guest
specifically today? Because she's always great when
she's a guest, but today she did
not come to church planning on being
a guest. We actually had another guest
who got a little bit ill as
a fill in.

Yes. There's a bug going out. And
so a cattle walked in to the
door and I looked over at my
co producer and she's like, the guest
is not coming. So we both looked
up at Tiff at the same time,
like, tiff, can you. So it's kind
of like she was there. She looked
amazing. And we thought she would be
a great addition to this podcast. Tiff

(02:01):
is an all. She's an OG to
the podcast.

It's true, actually. She's teaching us how
to do this and she's. She's already
rocking her own podcast, trying to jump
into her.

I mean, I feel like you guys
have been now rocking with between sermons
for a while now.

Yeah. But even on between sermons and
the. The old segment, the old series,
you are part of that. A great
guest there. So we are always happy
to have you here.

And I love the new YouTube live
in this. It just speaks so much
to me. I'm an aesthetics person. It
gives a great energy. So I'm happy
about the rebrand. Yay.

Well, thank you. So going back to
my question, what's been your favorite parable
so far in this sermon series? The
Sunday school remix.

I mean, it's gotta be the one
that I taught on, right?

No, I mean, you can say that,
but I'm gonna say which one has
been my favorite so far?

No, I was gonna say for the
people. Could you guys give us a
recap of the title of each one?

Okay, let's go. Let's do the recap.

You can't do it or. You got
it.

You got it. And I'll chime in.

So we technically did the parable of
the Prodigal Son. However, I say technically
because we actually looked at all three
parables. So in that chapter, he lists
three parables in a row that are
all interconnected. They have the same purpose,
same meaning. So it's the lost things.
So we looked at the lost coin,
the lost sheep, and the lost son.
So that was good. And then Pastor

(03:25):
Carlton last week was the Parable of
the Talents. So master goes on a
trip, gives out his wealth to three
guys to manage while he's away. He
returns, and two of the guys have
done something great with the wealth, and
the third guy just buried it in
a hole. And he wasn't praised very
well for what he did. And then,

(03:47):
of course, on Sunday, this Sunday, we
actually did the Parable of the Hidden
Treasure and actually pulled it up on
my phone. We're gonna read it.

We gotta read it.

A whole lot of Bible.

Oh, gosh. So y'all buckle your seatbelts.
So we get into the.

Heaven is like a treasure in a
field, which a man found and covered
up. Then in his joy, he goes
and sells all that he has and
buys the field. End of parable. It's
literally two sentences, one verse. So for
those of you that like reading short
passages, that might be your favorite parable.

And where was that found again?

That is in Matthew 13, verse 44.

Love it. Okay, so now Teri asks
the question, what was your favorite parable?
And we still have one. Loading.

That's true.

And my sister, she didn't teach it
yet, so I can't say that that's
my favorite. But, you know, I would
say so.

Far was yesterday's message.

Are you just saying that because we're.

Talking about it, right? I'm trying to
get brownie points. No, it was really.
It was really impactful. And the other
two as well, I think just where
I'm at, it really spoke to me,
Pastor Chris's conviction and just this kind
of like, awakening of what treasure, you

(05:04):
know, is. And so. And that being
us. So it was my favorite one
you're giving away.

Sorry.

As I was talking, I was like,
yeah, yeah.

We didn't talk about the remix part
yet, but.

Okay, I'm sorry.

No, that's good. No, that's good.

And you remix this part and. Right.

So for me, I think what I
love is that we each developed our
messages separately in a way that's actually
not typical. So we do our sermon
planning once a week together where we
look at messages. But I was off
on vacation, so I didn't get to
see Carlton's at all. My mother was
in Nigeria. And also nobody really got

(05:44):
to see hers very much. And yet
in isolation, all three of us really
came away with, man, God really cares
about lost people.

Yes.

And so, like, the emphasis in all
three weeks on evangelism and sharing the
gospel and reaching out to those who
are lost, like, for me, as a.
As a pastor, that just made me
happy. It was like, I love it
when the Holy Spirit's doing something.

Yes.

And that's what it felt like in
this series.

I totally agree. Like, looking at all
of them. I love how. And we're
going to go into the remix part.
I love how we put the focus
on Jesus Christ, on God, and we
kind of took it off of us.
Because when we think about the parables
growing up, our favorite parables, we always
put ourselves in the story as that
person, you know, or, you know, we

(06:29):
are the prodigal son or daughter. We
are the person who's looking for treasure
in the field. And so I would
say, I don't have a favorite. This
always happens, right? I don't have a
favorite. I think I just like the
overall theme of all three parables where
we kind of remixed it to put
the focus on God. And so going

(06:51):
into that, what did you guys think
of the remix? How it totally shifted
the perspective from, like, us as the
people finding treasure in the field to
God seeing us as the treasure.

Yes. I want to jump in first
because I felt weird on the front
row because. Because so mom had us
raise our hands, like, if we were
taught the, like, the self centered way.
And then she's like, come on, y'all
aren't raising your hands. And I'm like,
well, but I'm not raising my hands
because I was taught here And I
was taught the right way. So I

(07:27):
recognize that there are a lot of
people that come away from this parable
with the wrong understanding. I never did.
And I think that's part an attest
to clc, just always doing a good
job of really keeping scripture in context.
But I think part of it too
is I'm shocked. And I want to
get your guys take before I say

(07:48):
too much. But, like, I was shocked
that more people didn't have the correct
interpretation of this parable. Like, it was
shocking to me. I won't say why,
but. Yeah, I'm curious.

No, I know. I need to know
why.

Right.

Okay. So the why is the three
rules of studying your Bible. Context, context,
context. And so, like, so. And maybe
this is gonna. You wanted to have
a segment of like, fun facts or
something. Maybe I'm jumping on that. But
so Matthew, we're just ruining all of
our planning.

My whole show.

Thank you for planning things. We're just
gonna do stuff. Yes, but so Matthew
13 is like. It's referred to as
the parable chapter. So there's seven different
parables within this one chapter, and two
very lengthy explanations of the meaning of
some of those parables. Okay, so chapter
13, it's really. It's just parable focused.

(08:43):
And so literally, he tells. I think
it's like three parables in a row.
And one of the big ones is
about a guy who plants some seed,
and there's somebody else comes in and
plants weeds amongst the seeds. And so
like, what is this supposed to be?
And then he tells a couple other
parables. His disciples come to him because
he's telling that in a crowd. Then

(09:04):
he goes to just his disciples, and
they ask him, hey, what. What is
this parable about the weeds even talking
about? And so this. And this is
what he says to them. I wanted
to pull it up.

He's nerding out already. This is why
I put that segment.

I didn't prepare about this. I did
highlight it.

It's my Bible.

It's mine. Read the Bible, man of
God.

All right. The parable of the weeds,
explained. This is Matthew 13, verse 36.
Says, Then he left the crowds and
went into the house. And his disciples
came to him, saying, explain to us
the parable of the weeds of the
field. And he answered, the one who
sows the good seed is the son
of man, which is a title for
Jesus. The good seed is the man
who sows the good seed is the

(09:47):
son of man. The field is the
world, and the good seed is the
Sons of the kingdom. So like right
there, he's explaining a different parable, but
he's saying, okay, the man is me,
the field is the world, the good
seed is my people. Right. He literally
explains that parable. And the very next
thing he says is the kingdom of

(10:08):
heaven is like treasure in a field
which a man found and covered up.
Literally the very next thing. So like
he's, he's explaining a parable about a
man and a field and something good.
And then he tells a parable of
a man and a field and a
treasure. And it's like, how could you
possibly read this with any other understanding
or explanation? Then what? He just literally

(10:28):
from his mouth said, hey, I'm the
man, the field is the world. And
the good thing in this parable is
people that I've called. Yeah. So like,
for me, like, it was like listening
to her, I was like, do people
really think that that's what this is
about? And I was, I was shocked.

He was shocked. What do you have
to say to that? Because I have
my, my opinion about that. But what
do you have to say?

I feel like that personally, that probably,
that with that in Matthew is probably
parable fatigue.

Okay.

And so it's the back to, back
to back that like, if you're not
looking at it and studying it, then
you just kind of, you can like
graze or put a glaze. Like it's
all saying the same thing when the,
they're like, there are different parables for
a reason. And it's like Jesus. Back

(11:21):
to back, parable, parable, parable. But he
was doing that because is hard for
people to understand, you know, the kingdom.
So.

And we do the same thing all
the time. We're like, well, let me
explain it like this. And then we
say the same thing. We already said
we're just trying to find another way,
different way to get through to people.
Yeah, I get that.

No, I, I agree with both. It
seems obvious, but I think for a
very long time we had a culture
that was really, I don't want to
say selfish, but kind of like self
centered in like even their relationship with
Jesus Christ. So like even I always
say this and I hope I never
get in trouble, but in the black
church, she said that in the black

(12:03):
church.

I'm listening.

You can attest to this sometimes the
messages were very motivational, very feel good.
It's like, how can I get through
this week? Give me some hope. And
it was easier to put hope in
yourself than it was to put your.
I mean, this Sounds really bad saying.
But in Jesus Christ, like, it's like,

(12:25):
yes, I believe that Jesus can do
these things, but he's going to empower
me to get myself out of this
situation. He's going to empower. You know,
so it's always.

That's not a black church thing. I
would actually say that's an American church
thing.

Yeah. I mean, I didn't want to
say it, but it just makes. I
grew up in a black church, so
I'm just speaking from experience.

I mean, you saw it where you
were.

I saw it where I was, and.

I've seen that in only white churches.
Yeah, it's just. It's that, you know,
we talked about that a few times.
The narc Jesus, the, you know, the
narcissistic approach to Scripture. And I think
that's part of what's going on with
people is that they just read it
in just this block. And so all
they read is that one verse with
a story. And they're like, okay, what
could this possibly mean?

Yes.

But instead of, like, realizing, okay, this
is verse 44, that means there's 43
verses before this, and there's a whole
context. There's a whole conversation that's happening.
Why don't I read it within that
context instead? We just go straight to
our verse of the day and pull
it up and it's just verse 44.
We don't read 43. We don't read
45. We just read 44.

I was gonna. Yeah, I think it's
a context thing. So over and over
again, is having to, like, the why
and, like, who. Who. Who are they
talking to? Like, those kind of things
that when you just read it, you
can. Which is the danger of is
people just taking it from that one

(13:53):
space and not looking at everything the
same. Black, white.

Yeah.

Like, it's just people don't read in
context full.

Yeah. That's why I'm on a kick
right now of getting people. I don't
want people to read their Bible. I
want people to study their Bible.

Yeah.

I learned that as a kid.

I think for a long time, even.
Even me, like, I was just like,
man, just read your Bible, read your
Bible, read your Bible. And in my
head, it was study. Right. Because I.
Because I know what reading your Bible
really should look like.

Yeah.

But. Because all I was saying was,
read your Bible, read your Bible, read
your Bible. People were like, all right,
I'll read it.

Right.

And that's it.

That's true.

But if you treated it like. If
you were in school. That's a different.
And so I think again, the season
that I'm like, man, I'm going to
start saying to people more about like,
study the Bible and look at it
when I think about other religions. And
so you have Muslims, like, they're taught
to study the Quran, you know, so

(14:54):
it's that thing like, let me show
you and guide you of how to
study the Bible. I think you mentioned
even in one of our staff recently
chapels of to study and of course,
like read it as well. Yeah, yeah.

There's gonna be times when you've got.

Five minutes, just need to read it.

And just read it and take it
in, you know. But that study part,
I'm like, I wish that I would
have looked at it and learned as
a kid and even as a teen
of like, what it is to like,
if I studied the Bible, like I
had to do for college.

Yeah, that's different.

It would be different.

So I mean, you keep saying something
and I hope you know I'm not
prying, but you keep saying with the
season that you're in, can you share
a little bit about like, how that
the message yesterday on this parable relates
or kind of like hits the season
that you're in? Like, what. What is
the season, I guess that you're in
and how is it like helping you?

Sure. I think that the season that
I'm in, I just feel this very
strong conviction of like, I need to
know Jesus in like a deeper way
than I ever have. So I know
him through, yes, Scripture and like you
can learn a lot about scripture and

(16:10):
music when it's, you know, and put
in the right place and those different.
But. But seeing how. How I guess
water it down that I know for
myself sometimes I've come become. And it's
like I'm not paying attention as sharp
as I should when I see someone
lost that it has brought this kind

(16:32):
of like awakening in my heart even
for like others. So when I see
that my prayer is just like, God,
what have I been like missing in
your word? That has not. Like, I
just feel like I know you and
I can. I have really rich relation.
I have stories and journals and we've

(16:53):
had some deep conversations, but I just
feel like, no, it's something else that
he wants in this season and like
what I've been doing is not enough.
And I feel like that that's not
just me. So yeah, it's like I
want to know you better, make it
work. The places that it's been a
struggle to understand Holy Spirit, like, show

(17:16):
me how to understand more. So the
message just really grabbed me because I've
been praying, like, give me God a
sincere heart. That what my life verse
is and what it's been is that
I'm back reconnecting to what that appeal
is, because I'm like, I feel like
I've gotten a little dull in my

(17:37):
appealing for the gospel.

Wow, that's so good. That's so good.
And when you think about this passage,
and I guess anyone can chime in
here, what are some practical applications we
can take away from just the remix
of it all? Like, Jesus is pursuing
us. We have this great value in

(17:59):
his eyes. Like, what are some practical
things that people can take away from
this parable alone?

Yeah. So let me. Let me recap
the message, I guess, real quickly. So
it's parable. Man sows seed into a
field. Wrong parable, Man.

So many parables.

So many parables on my brain. Man
finds a treasure in a field, reburies
it, goes. Sells everything that he has
so that he can buy the field
so he can retain possession of the
thing. And basically the parable is about
how Jesus is the man who finds
this treasure, his people, and he sacrifices

(18:40):
everything, you know, steps down from heaven,
takes on human flesh, dies on the
cross, all so that he could purchase
back something that he actually technically already
it was his, but we had sinned,
and there was a separation now. And
so he's redeeming us back. And so,
like, it's this idea that he already
found the treasure, but now he's redeeming

(19:02):
the treasure. So it's just a really
cool parable that talks about how much
Jesus loves us. He views us as
a treasure, and he views us as
the thing worth sacrificing for. And so
the takeaway then is to recognize that
we're loved, that we're valuable. And then

(19:23):
the third point that she made is
that we have a purpose, that there's
something that we're supposed to do. And
that third point may not be coming
directly from the parable, but it comes
from, why would he do this?

Right?

And so he's doing this because there's
a work for us to do. And
so, yeah, I think where it becomes
practical, it starts with recognizing that love
component. And I always have to try
and find this balance, because a lot
of times in, like, modern Christianity, evangelism
is God loves you and has a
wonderful plan for your life. But then
you open up your Bible, and that's

(19:57):
not evangelism anywhere in the scriptures, in
the gospels, in Acts and in Paul's
letters, it's always, you're a sinner and
you need salvation. You are the ones
that crucified the Savior. Like that's the
message of the gospel is that we're
sinners, but we've been saved by grace.

Saved by grace.

Right. But in that there is that
all of that took place because God
so loved the world. Right. And so
we do have to have this balance
of. Does God love you and have
a wonderful plan for your life? Yes,
he does. Is that the gospel? Not
exactly. Not really. Like the gospel is
we're sinners in need of a Savior,

(20:35):
but he is saving us because he
loves us. And now he has a
wonderful plan for our lives. So, like,
it all kind of works together.

Yeah.

But I think that, you know, she
quoted an old time preacher from the
denomination they came from that. And I've
heard my dad talk about this before
because it was such a monumental moment
in his life. But just this idea
that the hardest thing to get people
to recognize is how much God loves
them. And I think it really, it
lies in that how much God loves

(21:04):
them. Because I think a lot of
people can be like, okay, God loves
me, but he probably doesn't love me
in these circumstances or, you know, he
loves me, but he wishes that I
was. No, no, he just loves you.

Yeah.

And the amount that he loves you
is like a lot, man.

And because he like the deepness of
that quote was that love like corrects
love, sees flaws, but like a sacrifice
for that. Like, he loves you and
like we can't as human beings fully,
and we won't understand fully, like what
that looks like. Yeah, but like he

(21:42):
loves you so much that he sees.
Sees and he knows what you did.

Keep talking. There's a verse I got
to find. I got to find this
verse.

And he like paid a price, you
know, for that. And so that's the
part I can see when he was
saying, like, is that's the hardest thing
to preach? Is that because it goes
way deeper than I love you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's so true.
I was going to. And when you
find your, your scripture, Pastor, we, we'll
let you ch. But I was. One
question I was going to ask you
is like, how does that change your
perspective and your position with Christ knowing
that you were the treasure, that you
were valued? How has that impacted your

(22:28):
life personally? And she pauses.

I know, I'm trying to think.

I know. It's a, it's a good
question. To reflect on.

I think if I was listening to
and saying, okay, I am the treasure.
You are, you are the treasure is
that, I guess that you're already found.
And so if you look at yourself,
it's already found. Like Jesus isn't hiding

(23:03):
himself from us, but you've already been
found. But you. God has given you
like the grace to receive his salvation.
And so like you're graced for this.
It's only through grace. So like, thank
you God that you've now like revealed
grace to me. And maybe that sounds

(23:25):
kind of like fluffy, but again, it's
like the more in knowing God, like
grace is not like a, like, you
know what I mean thing that we
can like hyper grace it but like
how I guess rich and beautiful grace
is that he would reveal and give
us that gift of salvation. So yeah,
if I was looking at a treasure

(23:47):
is that like I've already like, I'm
found, you know, and so that's good.
I don't know, just walking kind of,
kind of different, which he hasn't hit.
And I can't hide from him, you
know. So yeah, I could. I need
to break that down a little bit
more. But I need my thoughts to
be a little.

Yeah, it reminds me of confidence, like
having confidence in Christ that I was
chosen by God. He sought after me.
So you show up a little differently
when you know that you've been chosen
and that you are valuable to Christ
and you can stand on those scriptures
and believe the scripture a little bit
deeper because you believe the foundation. It's

(24:29):
like he chose me. I. It was
by grace, you know, and so that's.
That's kind of the perspective I take
away from.

Because he first loved us. There's a
recognition now. All right, my verse that
I found. So it's Ephesians 3, 17,
19. She used it in the message.
But it was one of those where
I was like, I wanted to just
sit there for a minute because Paul
says, I pray that this is the
easy to read version, one of my
favorite versions of the Bible to read.
I pray that you and all God's

(24:59):
holy people will have the power to
understand the greatness of Christ's love. And
a lot of times we just go
straight into how long and wide and
high and deep and all that. But
sit with for just a moment. Paul
has to pray that you would have
power to understand Christ's love. That combined
with that quote of the pastor saying,

(25:20):
the hardest thing for people to get
is how much God loves. Yeah, it's
so hard that Paul had to talk
to the church in Ephesus and say,
guys, I am praying that you would
have the power to even begin to
understand how much Christ loves you. And
so, like, I just. I just. I
don't know. I just want to be
able to sit with that for a
minute and just be like, look, this

(25:41):
thing is so much. As much as
you think you know, there's more to
it. Like, what Christ did for you
out of a place of love, how
much Christ loves you, even in your
sin, even in your wickedness, even in
your failures, even in the worst moment
of your life, the level of love
that Christ has for you, you need

(26:01):
prayer and power to even begin to
understand how amazing it is.

Yes, that is a lot.

It is Paul's awesome. But he also
had a great testimony that he. He
had this encounter with Jesus and his
sin was revealed to him.

Yeah.

Of what he was doing to God's
people. And so with that, he. I
had a holy invitation, holy visitation, excuse
me from the Lord, that, like, he
now knows I am not a good
person, yet the Lord has chosen me

(26:41):
to share the gospel. Like, he loved,
like, obviously, Like, I know what I
did, and I know how I am.
Like, Pastor Chris was saying, I know
what I think, and I know those
things. But, like, I'm experiencing. Like, I
pray that you can experience the power
of that. And so I guess when
you've walked through it, you just kind

(27:03):
of talk, man.

Yeah. And honestly, even as a pastor,
there's. There's moments where it's like, jesus
loves you. And I'm like, has he
met me? Like, he knows my thoughts,
right? Because I don't know. Like, it
is. It's one of those things where
we can always kind of play that,
like, yeah, but I don't know that
he can love me that way. Like,
I know God is love, and God
loves everybody, but does he really love

(27:25):
me? And it's like, yes, he does.
And I don't know, maybe Taisha, you
can attest to this.

It became, why me?

You'll understand the context of the story.
Not to exclude Tiffany, but Tiffany has
no children.

Oh, okay, okay, okay.

So this. This whole concept became so
much more, I don't know, authentic, real,
understandable for me the moment Jaden was
born. So Jaden is my firstborn son.
And, okay, this kid is born, and
I look at him, and I'm like,
I love this kid. I love him
with everything that I am, everything that
I have. Like, I will sacrifice whatever.

(28:03):
I won't sleep for days. I will
give up all the little money that
I have. I will do anything and
everything for this child. And at that
point in his life, what did he
do? He screamed and he pooped. Like
that was it. Like it was. It
was just a screaming mess of grossness.

Yes.

And yet every time I looked at
this kid's face, it was just like,
I love you.

Yeah.

I can't. I can't explain it. I
don't understand, though. There's something like a
father to a child, a mother to
a child. Like, the first time you
look at Neo, like, all he did
is make you nauseous for months.

Right, Right.

Excruciating pain. And now he's screaming and
pooping and.

Yeah.

You're like, I love him.

I love them. Yeah. So I do.
I can't relate to that. And just
thinking about that in perspective. So, like,
how Christ loves us. It does make
it easier. But, man, even outside of
that, just thinking, like, if Neo did
things intentionally to hurt me, man, I

(29:00):
pray that I still can have that
same unconditional love. And I think I
will as a mother. But just thinking
of how much more Christ loves us
when we intentionally do things to hurt
him as his children. So, yeah, that's
a good perspective to show, like, how
much a father's love is, like, the
little natural love we can give here

(29:22):
on earth doesn't even equate to how
much he gives us. Yeah.

And then the next part of the
practical of this is, okay, we recognize
that for ourselves, but now we need
to see that in other people. And
that coworker that's been annoying you, guess
what? Jesus loves that person so much.
Your boss that just got done cutting,
cussing you out and isn't giving you
the raise that they promised, and, like,
you're just ready to just flip out.
Hey, Jesus also loves that guy, your

(29:51):
neighbor that, you know, keeps, you know,
I don't know, messing up your yard
or whatever. They don't clean up after
their dog. I don't know. What are
things that people have issues with their
neighbors?

The neighbor, I don't know.

Neighbor isn't. Doesn't turn down the music
at midnight. I don't know. Like, I
do have.

I've heard some crazy neighbor stories.

We have really good neighbors where we
live, so I don't even know what.

Like, I have a friend. Not to,
like, interject a weird story.

No, please. I love weird stories.

She was saying that every time they
went to bed at night, like, the
lights wouldn't be on across the street
at the neighbor's house until they went
to sleep. So it was always, like,
when they went to bed, they would
turn all the lights on in the
house, and she was like, it's very
annoying. I think they practiced, like, witchcraft
or something. But it was just funny.
Like, that was a funny neighbor story.

Yeah. But. So I. I think we
need to have that perspective. Yeah. First
for us in our relationship with God,
but then in our relationship with other
people to recognize the love and the
value that God has placed on their
lives. And I think that that's really
what draws us into this sphere of
evangelism, that it is so selfish of

(30:55):
us. I love the. What is it?
Penn Jillette, the pen and Teller guy,
he's an atheist, but he talks about.
He has this long quote that I'll
butcher now. But it's essentially this idea
of, like, how much do you have
to hate somebody to think that, like,
a truck is barreling down on them
and not warn them, not try and
get them out of the way? He's
like, and how much more so if

(31:15):
you really believe God exists and hell
exists, how much more so would you
have to hate somebody to not tell
them?

Right.

And it's like, this is an atheist
that doesn't even believe in God. But
he's like, no. Like, I. He's like,
I don't have a problem with evangelism
or proselyzing. Like, it's. You're supposed to
be doing that if you really believe
that this thing is real.

Yeah.

How much would you have to hate
me to not warn me? And like,
the moment I heard that, it was
like, man, how much? How much do
I hate my neighbor if I never
tell him about Jesus? How much do
I hate my co worker if I
never tell him about Jesus?

I had this quick thought, and I'm
thinking, what if a lot of people
get stuck with sharing the gospel because
they don't really believe that God loves
them? So it's like, how is it.
It can become hard to share that,
you know, there's this man who can
change your life. His name is Jesus

(32:08):
Christ, if they don't believe that for
themselves. So that's a perspective that I
think people sit with. And I just
want to encourage people, like, this is
a really good podcast to kind of
like, get you thinking about God's love,
because ultimately, when you accept it and
you realize it, then it can help
you share the gospel more easily. Because

(32:30):
it's like, I want you to experience
the freedom and the peace and the
joy and the love that I have.
But if you don't believe it that
you have it, then it's difficult to
share.

It's good.

Yeah.

And the only way to show that
is again, loving God when it comes
to like loving people. And so when
it, so you, you have the gospel
that you need to share. But God
also is very big into Christians sharing
love.

Yeah.

The greatest of them all will be
love. And so I can come to
you with the good news and he
wants me to do that. He wants
you to do that at work or
at school or whatever. But like I
would say a practical thing is learning
how to love people.

Yeah.

Like if you have to write down,
if you need help with some practical
ways of, like when I'm in this
space, these are different ways that I
can outwardly show love to my hard
boss or to my coworker who's always
trying to, you know, is looking for
my demise. Like, what are the things
that helps me to not attach feelings?

(33:37):
So like, if I don't feel like
I hate someone, then it's not hate,
but I'm not sharing something that I
really believe is real.

Yeah.

So if the, like sometimes it's, it
literally takes just practical preparation like you
would do for meal preps. And what,
like, how can I walk into work
with the plan to love my family,
to love whomever and with love? Because
sometimes we're in Chicagoland and there is
this evangelist on State street. He's been

(34:08):
there for like 40 years or 50
years, I don't know his.

Biggest influencer in Chicago without social media,
before social media.

But he is preaching the gospel. But
it is very harsh. It is very,
very harsh that.

So you don't agree with the way
that he presents the gospel?

No, and I'm sure, I'm sure that
some people have engaged with it because
truth is truth. But the love part
of how to do that is kind
of. So you like, oh, that's that
dude on State Street. You just, you
know what I mean? It just be
that's that crazy dude with his microphone.
Maybe it's upgraded over the, over the

(34:51):
decades. But just how much more impact
would the gospel be if you had
a plan of how to actively love
people?

That's good. I mean, my follow up
question to that is, I mean, because
it's getting icky now because the Bible,
it does help to love and share
the gospel. But sometimes you have, you
know, people who are like, well, the
truth is the truth and it, and
if I say it, it's not going
to be a loving thing. To say,

(35:21):
yeah, so how do you work that
out? Like, what's some practical things you've
done to share in both love and
truth?

I think community helps. So I need
to be able to ask other people
around me how do I come off?
And that part, that part. So that
then it helps because for a lot
of us, we know that the gospel
is going to be offensive. And evangelist

(35:49):
Preston Perry, he was sharing this in
this conference that I went to and
he was saying that Christianity is the
religion. It makes you come to a
choice. So you have other spaces that
like, well, we don't want to have
to choose because then you can do
whatever you want to do. We can
all be unsure. But the gospel actually

(36:12):
makes you come to a choice, yes
or no. So, but how do I
know with that is. I think community
and discipleship helps you to navigate that.
Like it's not going to be perfect
and helping people through that.

So yeah, I would just add to
that. Like, truth and love are not
exclusive ideas. Like you can have truth
with love. It's how you present the
truth, right? So you can say something
that somebody would not want to hear,
but you can say it in a
loving way. And part of that does
come to, as you talked about, relationship.

(36:49):
But for me it's like, okay, going
up to a stranger on the street
and saying you're a sinner going to
hell versus going to a friend and
lovingly saying to them, hey man, you
kind of, you, you already kind of
know this, don't you? Like the way
you've been living your life, like it's
not good, it's not leading to good
things. And you know, the Bible says

(37:10):
here, and like there's a loving way
to present the same exact truth. But
because you've already got relationship with the
person you're sharing it with now you're,
you're presenting it in a different way.
You're presenting it from a place of
love, right? And so I think that's
the balance that we have to find.
Like you can tell somebody what sin
is. You can do it in a

(37:30):
loving way or you can do it
in a non loving way.

That's true, that's true. And I feel
like, I think I shared before we
started this podcast live that I was
re watching the sermon yesterday. It's a
really good message from Pastor Chris on
this parable. And there was a part
where she was like, don't go to
sleep on this part now. And I
was literally on my way to sleep.
So Mama Chris, you were in the

(37:52):
spirit with that one. But I just.
I just remember sitting up and I'm
like, okay, being attentive to the message
again, to take down notes for the
show today. But the theme I kept
hearing was love. Like, even if you
go back and listen to that message,
it's an overarching theme in this parable.
God loves us. He's chasing us. And

(38:14):
even with all of the parables, I
feel like that's the theme. Love. Like,
God loves us so much. He is
going to come for you. He's going
to search for you. So maybe with
this remix, what are some of the
loopholes of looking at it from the
perspective of man being the person finding

(38:36):
the treasure in the field? Like, what
are some loopholes there?

So some dangers in reading really any
passages of scripture where you make yourself
the center of the story. It's probably
not good. That's probably not the intent.
There may be a couple of exceptions
to that, but I would say 99.9%
of the time, if. If you're making
it about you, you're missing the focus.

(38:59):
So there's just that general issue. Second,
if you're the man, then you're saying
that your relationship with Jesus is something
that you can purchase, that you can.
Because this man, he sells everything that
he has so he can buy his
salvation. And just bringing that concept into
this is like, well, that's clearly not

(39:20):
right. You can't buy your way to
heaven. And so, like. And I think
that there's. There's probably more even beyond
that. I'd probably have to spend some
more time. Time thinking about it. But
you lose out on the beauty of
what's really being communicated. That's. That's bad.
You make it all about yourself. That's
bad. Yeah. And then you're. You're trying
to create bad doctrine or heresy really,

(39:42):
in. In what salvation looks like. And
yeah, I think it just. You're all
around. It's just. It's just bad.

Yeah, don't do that. Yeah, that's good.

I think that a loophole could be
that love overseas, like sin. And so
that because he loves me so much,
which is a thing like, well, Jesus
loves us, so this is okay. And,
you know, he loves you just as

(40:14):
you are, even that statement. But he
wants to transform us. You know, there's
like, always a greater thing. So when
it comes to even churches that may
be more, say, like, affirming of certain
things, it's like, we can put it
all, like, under love, but I don't
know, the real character of love. And

(40:34):
that's the hard part. That, like, it.
It stings because it's like, Christianity makes
you choose. And that part is. It
can be tough. But me, I guess,
having my own description of love, there's
a lot of loose stuff that I
can put because God loves me.

That's something that actually we taught the
staff in that very, very long teaching.
So you guys might not even remember
this part. But one of the dangers
of interpretation of Scripture is if your
interpretation contradicts another place in Scripture, then
your interpretation is wrong. So anybody that
has this interpretation of God loves us
to mean that it's okay for us

(41:15):
to do whatever we're doing and that
he loves us regardless of our actions
and all of that. You're contradicting other
parts of scripture. You're contradicting First Corinthians
13, the passage about love that says
it rejoices in the truth. It doesn't
celebrate evil, it doesn't celebrate wrong. And
so you can't say that this is
loving when it literally, Scripture tells you

(41:36):
this is not loving. Right. And so
we always have to be careful of
when we're taking away, like, an interpretation
or an application of Scripture. If it's
contradicting or if it's going against something
else that the Bible's saying, then we're
wrong. Like, that's. You can't apply it
in that way because Jesus isn't a
liar.

Yeah.

So he's not gonna say one thing
one time and something totally different another.

That's so good. I feel like we've
been talking about that a lot in
this. With this sermon series Sunday School
Remix. I love that we're able to,
like, break down these passages and give
the right interpretation. I feel like that's
something God is just speaking in this
generation right now is like, listen, like,
God wants us to know how to
study the Word.

What does it actually say?

Right. Because he must look down here
like my children. They is out here
living bogus based on these bad interpretations.

So there's something that I both. I
really want to happen, and I really
don't want to happen at the same
time. Let me explain. I really want
somebody to be able to come up
to me after I've preached and challenge
me on it and say, hey, you
use this verse.

You know, we live. Right? Yeah.

No, no, no. Absolutely. Whatever. Like, you
know, you use this verse, but that.
The context of that verse, like, that's
not what it actually means. That's not.
Like, I would love for somebody to
do that to Me, you're open to
me. I don't want that to happen
because it means that I screwed up
an interpretation. I don't want to do
that to cause somebody else to have
to do the other part. But I

(43:06):
do. I want people in our church
to be so in love with God's
word, so in love with God and
getting closer to him, that they have
a deep value and a deep appreciation
for His Word, that they would be
the ones studying it and that they
would be able to be like, hey,
that's, that's not, that's not what this
says.

Well, now you've given them the freedom.

Wanted to say man and look. And
they're look. And there's, there's going to
be times.

I'm nervous about somebody.

I'm not nervous about it because I
think that there's also, there's passages where
interpretation is difficult. Right? And so, like,
there's some things, like as a church
man, we're getting in some weeds. So,
like, Sunday's message was preached by a
female pastor. So somebody's gonna come up
to me and be like, hey, Paul
says right here, I do not permit
a woman's teach. It's like, okay, so

(43:57):
here's how we exegete that text. Here's
our interpretation, here's what we think is
going on. And we could be right,
we could be wrong. And I'm okay
with that. And if the other person's
okay with that, then let's hang out,
let's have a great time. The problem
is some of those interpretations. I mean,
there's, there's churches. I was talking to
a former member of our church that

(44:17):
was just visiting. His son's in town,
so he just came through and he's
like, man, I just, I really miss
this kind of worship and this just
reckless abandon and just going all in
for God. He's like, man, I've missed
this because the church that I'm at,
it's more, you know, stoic and knowing
his background, knowing where he's at, like,
it's, it's a, it's a non charismatic
church. It's a church that believes that
the gifts have ceased.

Oh, wow.

And so it's like, well, yeah, their
interpretation of certain passages is going to
be different than ours. And I welcome
those kind of dialogues. What I'm getting
at though is like, if I'm just
clearly wrong or misusing text, like, yeah,
call me out. If we're just disagreeing
on the interpretation, let's talk about it.

Yeah, yeah. One thing That I was
going to ask you because I know
she got into Romans 8. And this
is, this is a question I've always
had to say be explained, explains. So
she gets into, you know, that I
will say iconic part in Romans 8
when it's, you know, neither death, you

(45:18):
know, all. Nothing can separate us from
God. And so I've even heard people
be confused by that. So if nothing
separates me from God, because we were
talking about contradicting, like, God's not going
to contradict himself in Scripture, can you
explain what Romans 8 is saying when
it's saying that nothing can separate us

(45:39):
from God? Especially when it's talking about
heaven and hell?

Yeah. That would take a lot more
time that we have, and it would.

You welcome the.

I know, right? What it would really
require is for us to. To pull
up Romans and read through all of
the context from my recollection right now
he's talking about the love of God.
So there is something that I think
that even sinners on their way to
hell, God still loves them. Right. But
so how do you reconcile? Well, if

(46:10):
God really loves them, how would they
end up in hell?

And that they can't separate you from
his love.

Right. So. And that's part of this
weird conversation of is God in hell?

I've never heard that.

And like, do they get to experience.

Think about it for a second. So
is God in hell? And the answer
to that is both a yes and
a no, because God is omnipresent. So
there is nowhere that God is not
present. Is his presence felt in hell?
And the answer to that is no.
According to scripture, it is a separation

(46:49):
from God's presence. But, man, this is
where we're getting into, like, some, like,
high place. Yeah. So the immediate application
for somebody is, okay, if God loves
me, how can I go to hell?
And the response to that is hell
is a choice. And that's part of
the thing that I think a lot

(47:09):
of people don't really recognize that you
are making a choice. You brought it
up earlier. Christianity is a choice. You
choose relationship with God or you choose
to not have a relationship with God.
If you're choosing not to have a
relationship with God, ultimately that means hell,
because hell is the absence of relationship
with God. And so, yeah, it's, it's.
There's trickiness to some interpretations, and that's

(47:30):
where context and study and time and
sitting with it.

Yeah.

Are important. But, yeah, the short answer
is, yeah, hell's a choice, and you
can go there even when God loves
you. So there Is in the same
way that, like, I can love my
child and he can still do some
stupid things that put some distance between
us, but even in the distance, I
still love him. Right. But he's making

(47:53):
choices to be somewhere that I'm not.

Yeah. I have so many other questions,
but I'm going to just table them
because we'll be another two hours.

See, I love to run downstairs, get
my big fat.

Right, then this will turn into a
whole nother. Not even a podcast anymore.
So as we conclude, as we wrap
it up, we are going into our
last segment. I wish we had, like,
a buzzer, like, whatever, but I don't
even know what that was. Don't ever

(48:27):
leave me for.

Don't give Andy good ideas. And he's
going to.

I'm not the queen of sound effects.
I'm just trying to make it make
sense. Right. We need a sound machine.
So we are coming up with the
best takeaway from this sermon, and we're
going to vote. Actually, we're not going
to vote. We're going to have you
guys watching. Vote. Who provides the best
takeaway? So we're gonna go. I'm gonna
let you guys. Cause I'm. I'm. I'm
a.

You're letting yourself go last.

Kind person. I'm trying to think of
a better way to say that I'm
gonna go last. That's selfish. Wait, did
we get a buzzer? We got a
buzzer out in the producer.

It's giving very much. Sports games.

It's giving.

Okay, so that was a buzzer announcement.
Yeah.

So let's go. First person, Tiffany, you're
our guest, our special guest. The best
takeaway from this sermon that you can
put out there. So you have to
say what it is and explain why
I would say 0.3. Okay.

Which was her then sharing about us,
understanding his love. And then we have
to share that love to others.

Okay.

And so when she said the. Her
them being in Nigeria and one of
the most dangerous places, I think north
Nigeria, she said for Christians and seeing
the brokenness of how people just don't
know Christ and how do we come
to a place where we are, like,

(49:54):
we aren't compelled to share the gospel.
So I think that part, that Great
Commission was the part for me of
you have to share it. Like, we
can't just.

She tried to say the Great Commission
because she knows, like, that's a hard
hitter in the Bible.

You want to make disciples.

Okay, you want me to go or
you want to go?

You want to I mean, I'm totally
going to cheat. So if you want
to go, because.

You saw my notes, so you're going
to.

No idea what you're going to say.

Okay, go.

I'm just going to cheat and say
the best takeaway depends on who you
are. And that's, that's kind of how
it is with a lot of Jesus
parables. There's multiple people in the audience,
there's different people listening. And the most
important takeaway depends on where you are.

Yeah.

And so for the person that is
what we describe, or Jesus would describe
as lost, the person that doesn't, hasn't
been found. Right. That isn't part of
the kingdom of God. The first thing
you know is that God loves you,
that his love for you is what
brought him to the cross and that
we need to receive that love first

(50:57):
and foremost. For the Christian already saved,
but is struggling with their own self
worth and value. There's been people in
your life that have talked down to
you, that have looked at you as
you're less than you need to know
how valuable you are.

I am giving the pastor, he's totally
like into layers.

Come on.

It's all layers. But that's why I
said you could have gone first, but
you chose not to. It's on you.

Lesson learned.

But that you are valuable in the
eyes of God. And your value I
love, I've used it before, but I
love what my mom said on Sunday
is your value is determined by what
somebody's willing to pay for you. And
what he paid for you is seen
in the cross, like the pain, the
suffering, the shame that was placed on

(51:43):
him, bearing the weight of everyone's sins.
He did all of that because you're
valuable to him. You're a treasure. In
fact. Fun facts. You wanted fun facts.

That segment is over, but you can
go ahead.

So when Jesus talks in the New
Testament, a lot of the things that
come out of his mouth are actually
Old Testament. But we don't always recognize
it because we don't read our Bibles
enough. We don't study our Bibles enough.
When he talks about this treasure in
the field, that's not a new concept.
Back in Deuteronomy 7, 6, God says
that the people of Israel, they are

(52:16):
his treasured possession. Right? Like this treasure
in a field, like it's been established
back in Deuteronomy. And so Jesus is
just referring back to what, what they
already knew. And what's beautiful is that
was about the people of Israel. God's
chosen people in The New Testament, we
get grafted into that family. He doesn't
get rid of that family or that
group. We just get added to it,

(52:37):
which is awesome. All right, so the.
The takeaway, the most important point for
those that are struggling with their identity,
you're valuable. But then ultimately for everybody
else, and I would say this is
probably for the 75% of the audience,
the takeaway is, what are you going
to do about it? Like, what are
you going to do with it? You've
already received salvation. You've already received the
love of God. You've already been the

(52:58):
treasure that's been found, but what do
you do with it? And I think
that more and more Christians need to
get to a place where they're actually
doing something with their faith beyond just.
I go to church and I sing
some songs, and I clap my hands
and I say amen to the preacher,
and then I go home and I
do my job, and I love all
my kids and all that. No, like,
what are we doing Monday through Saturday
to express the love of God to

(53:19):
other people? And I think the takeaway
needs to be, what are you going
to do with his love? Are you
going to be selfish? Are you going
to share it?

I guess. No. I'm just saying. No.
That was really, really good.

So I cheated. I had three.

You really did. And you stole mine.
Unbelievable. And you kind of took some
of her points, and you should have
gone.

Before me instead of.

This is a lesson learned.

I'm gonna go. Power suit failed you.

Not you coming for her suit.

He just came all the way.

You don't get a lot of power
in that suit.

It's fine.

Redeem the moment. You've got it. No,
give it to me in your. Your
vernacular, because you got this.

I can't. It's done.

It's.

You know how things could be overcooked.
If I talk, it'll be overcooked. So
what I'm gonna do is encourage our
amazing viewers to go ahead and take
a look at that message from Pastor
Chris yesterday. It was an amazing message.
I think we. We hit on some
things, but she really unpacked, like, the
message of God's love through this parable.

(54:23):
So take a look at it and
make sure you share any perspectives you
have. Who was your favorite takeaway between
Pastor Brent and Tiff, because clearly I
was out of this one.

I'm so sorry. I should have made
you guys.

I love good, fun facts, but let
us know and also remember to share
this video. We want to make sure
that we're just sharing what we are
learning through return between sermons and how
this podcast episode is blessing your soul.
Make sure to turn on your notifications
because when we go live, we want

(54:58):
to see you, engage with you. We
have people in our producer area who's
in the chats waiting to engage with
you. So let us know if you
have any questions, any comments, or any
way you want to be involved in
this. And until we meet again, have
an amazing week.

Awesome.

Are we done podcasting.

The outro?

What do you think?

Good.

It's a different flow.

Very different. I've been distracted cuz I
cuz Tony's cleaning and I just want
to call.

Microphone and just say hi Tony.

To scare him. And you know, he
would be really freaked out too, trying
to think of.

A way to do that.

I don't know.

All right.

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