Our conversation this week steers into the intriguing exploration of the Book of Acts, where Paul preaches to the Jewish community's rejection of Jesus as the prophesied Messiah. We stride through faith, understanding, and God's sovereignty. If that sounds appealing, then this episode is for you!
Our conversation this week steers into the intriguing exploration of the Book of Acts, where Paul preaches to the Jewish community's rejection of Jesus as the prophesied Messiah. We stride through faith, understanding, and God's sovereignty. If that sounds appealing, then this episode is for you!
Welcome to the Be Disciples podcast with your host, kyle Morris, dakota Smith and David Glavin. This is episode number 95, as we continue our study in the book of Acts. Good morning, gentlemen. How are you all doing?
Speaker 2:Good morning, what's up how you doing.
Speaker 1:Good yeah, hey, one thing we always mention this time of year it's football season, guys.
Speaker 2:What's the Monday night football song? How's it go?
Speaker 1:I don't know. One of them got kicked off for being racist.
Speaker 2:I don't know what the new it's Carrie Underwood now. It's been Carrie.
Speaker 1:Underwood.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It used to be. What's his name? See, I even forgot. He got canceled. Now I don't know his name.
Speaker 2:I don't laugh because I sent the laugh out. It's just more of like.
Speaker 1:Well, the song wasn't racist. It was just a Monday night football song. It was the guy who sang it said something in the past that can't cancel. Oh, the cowboy guy yeah.
Speaker 2:The guy who used to sing the song. Yeah, no that's NBC basketball, dang, dang, I mean in my mind. I'm thinking of like Fox NFL Sunday and, dude, the Cowboys are going to be good, they're going to win the Super Bowl this year. We just say that every year in case we're right.
Speaker 1:There's going to be a year where we're right. The problem, actually, this is what this is. The worst thing that could happen to us, at least since we live in Kansas, is if the Cowboys and the Chiefs are in the Super Bowl and the Chiefs win. That would be terrible.
Speaker 2:I might move. Yeah, if that happens, that would probably. Yeah, we're going to have a new pastor after that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm actually, I'm actually still excited about college football too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're going to go to a K-State game this year for the first time. David, are you down? I'm down.
Speaker 3:Wait, who's we? Was that an invitation? That's an invitation. I don't get those usually, yeah, wow.
Speaker 2:Well, you do now your own stuff, cowboy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we got to make it happen. Yeah, football season is a good time. We like football, but honestly, there's two reasons Dakota and I became friends, one Jesus, but really at the time.
Speaker 2:More importantly, unfortunately, it was the Cowboys.
Speaker 1:It was actually the Cowboys to start. So yeah, I think football has always been that time of year where one it reminds us of friends, because usually you get a bunch of friends together and watch football. That's right, and there's other sports you can do that, but football seems to be that easy to get around friends and hang out and you can watch any game, even if it's not your team. A lot of fun.
Speaker 2:Plus, it's the fall and the weather starts to become a little nicer and you can play a lot more outside, and, yeah, there's just something about the fall that's really beautiful. And, by the way, one other player the Cowboys drafted this year is Deuce Vaughn, the running back from K-State, yeah, and he's been tearing it up in the preseason, so I'm excited to watch the Cowboys for that reason as well. David, what do you think?
Speaker 3:Give us your there's something for everybody in football, the depth of your thoughts in football. The depths of my thought in football are as you were speaking, I thought only about food and fellowship the food of football, the getting together. There's talking, there's the people who aren't quite as interested in the game or like to come in at halftime and for the excitement of the second half.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like your Fairweather fan.
Speaker 3:Yeah, fairweather fan. See, that has a negative connotation, but if you don't claim to be a fan at all, then you're not Fairweather, you're just. Fairweather, you're in there for the parts that excite you Better to be Fairweather than not a fan at all.
Speaker 2:Is that what you would say? Not from the pulpit? No, not a podcast.
Speaker 3:I guess not, not a podcast. That might be yes, yeah.
Speaker 1:But I will say next Sunday night I know where I will be and Dakota's welcome to come watch it. But the New York Giants play the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night football, because, of course, the Dallas Cowboys are always nationally televised the first week. Why wouldn't they be? They're America's team, america's team. And now everyone turned the podcast off. Yeah, guys, we're here to learn about the Bible.
Speaker 3:You guys are talking about a team knowing like. At risk of drawing this out too long, I would like to point out that I did send a video to you two that did not get a response. It's because it wasn't funny dude it was. It was. It should have been acknowledged, but we can move past it. It was about the Cowboys.
Speaker 1:I get lots of videos and memes from people, people that don't even talk to me that much. They're just like oh, dallas Cowboys, kyle is a fan, let's just send it to him. I'm like, I don't even know you that well. You just made fun of me. Like you want me to start me sending you stuff and make fun of you Like I don't understand.
Speaker 3:But see, I don't follow it. I don't follow football, so I can't get in on the whole. This person came on this year. This person came off. We're doing well here. We're doing it Like no, I see something funny. That's making fun of what you like I can be a part of the conversation. I'm making fun of it. The antagonist.
Speaker 1:Well, the problem is with the Cowboys, like I said in my sermon two weeks ago now. I said you either love them or you hate them. It's not like you're a fan of something, like think of a team like I don't know the Arizona Cardinals, since we're from Arizona. Yeah, no one loves and hates the Arizona Cardinals. They're just, they just exist. They're just there. Like, you can be a Cardinals fan, but no one really hates the Cardinals. Maybe a Raiders fan would hate the Cardinals, I don't really know. The Cardinals are never a threat. The reason you hate the Cowboys is because they've been a threat. They're always there to play. They've had bad seasons, but they're winners. You only hate winners, you don't hate losers. That's just not a thing you hate. That doesn't even make sense.
Speaker 2:Tell us how you really feel, kyle. Yeah, stephen A, I'm a great sermonist, stephen A, I know you won't listen to this, but this is for you.
Speaker 3:There's a great sermonist situation there.
Speaker 2:Well, how do we segue this to the Bible?
Speaker 1:So the Bible is really important way more important than anything we're saying.
Speaker 3:Well, we're talking about the Apostle Paul. We're in acts. The Apostle Paul is all out on fire. Fan of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2:See.
Speaker 3:Lots of people don't like him.
Speaker 2:That's why you're here this morning. That's right, keep us in line.
Speaker 1:I'm so glad that my pain and suffering for following the Cowboys relates to Paul and somehow and his gospel fire, but I don't think those two things compare. That's ice of Jesus.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's really bad.
Speaker 1:So thanks David for leading me to a place. Bad biblical interpretation.
Speaker 2:Well, I should pray to rescue us from this long-winded introduction. Thank you, listeners, for joining us in our pastoral office this morning, but we're going to pray and then dive right into acts 1326 to 43. So, father, we thank you for this moment, we love you, we thank you for friendship, we thank you for our listeners and we pray that we would grow in our understanding of the Word and that, moreover, our heart would be transformed, conformed to the image of your Son. In Jesus' name, amen, amen. So why don't you read for us 26 to 31.
Speaker 3:Acts, chapter 13, starting at 26. Brethren, sons of Abraham, family, and those among you who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither him nor the utterances of the prophecies which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning him, and, though they found no ground in putting him to death, they asked Pilate that he be executed. When they had carried out all that was written concerning him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead and for many days he appeared to those who came up from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now his witnesses to the people, and we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers that God had fulfilled this promise to our children in that he raised up Jesus.
Speaker 3:As it is also written in the second Psalm, you are my son. Today. I have begotten you. As for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no longer to return to decay, he has spoken in this way I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David. Therefore, he also says in another Psalm you will not allow your holy one to undergo decay, for David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, he was laid among his fathers and underwent decay.
Speaker 3:He, whom God raised, did not undergo decay. Therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that though that through him, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you and through him, everyone who believes is freed from all things from which you could not be freed through the law of Moses. Therefore, take heed so that the things spoken of in the prophecies may not come upon you. Behold you scoffers and marvel and perish, for I am accomplishing a work in your days, a work which you will never believe, though someone should describe it to you. As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people kept begging that these things might be spoken to them. The next Sabbath, now, when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and the God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the grace of God.
Speaker 2:Alright. Thank you, david, for covering the passage as we begin. In this passage, verses 26 to 31 in particular were reminded that Paul is speaking to sons of Abraham's family right and those among you who fear God. And Paul says to us the message of this salvation has been sent. So I guess maybe a question just to get the ball rolling, pastor Kyle, why don't you start off? You know, when you're looking at the second half of this sermon from Paul, what are your initial observations? Go?
Speaker 1:We're starting to make a transition into proclaiming the gospel to the Jewish people, to Israel, really within their own context of their own history. I mean, that's what he's been doing. He's been building history up to this point, but now he's going to start inserting the things in which Jesus did into their history or parallel to what has been going on, and so you start to see him start to insert what was the promise of Abraham and how was?
Speaker 1:the promises of Abraham fulfilled through Jesus. How was salvation fulfilled through Jesus from the promises of Abraham? And so you start to see Paul now inserting the gospel into the history of Israel and why Jesus is the Messiah. That's what he's trying to tell these people. Jesus is the Messiah and is the only way to salvation. And here's how I'm going to show you through your own history, in which has been fulfilled in Jesus these particular things.
Speaker 2:So that's where Paul's starting out his argument to share the gospel with them, to hopefully persuade them, as he says many times and David, if you were to continue the conversation you know you read the passage for us you were to observe anything that kind of jumps off the page for you. What would that be as well?
Speaker 3:Well, continuing on that, something that stuck out to me this time was for those at verse 27, for those that live in Jerusalem, the rulers recognizing neither him nor the utterance of the prophets that were read to every Sabbath. You heard that they've heard this every Sabbath. They did not recognize him, they did not see it coming, and then you look, then skipping ahead toward at Verse 40. Therefore, take heed, so that the things that were spoken of in the prophets may not come upon you. So those, there's those who didn't hear, and he's calling them to Don't be like the ones that didn't hear. Behold you scoffers and marvel and perish, for I am accomplishing something in your day. Though someone may describe it to you in 41, you may not recognize it. So it's a challenge to say don't be like those who haven't heard. You've heard. Therefore, take heed and and hear this, see this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a great observation. I think the passage which we've tackled today begins with rejection and ends with rejection, and Everything in between is about the one who you should be accepting of. It's the Messiah that's been prophesied about. Preach to you, not only right now, preach to you, but spoken to you on the Sabbath, every single Sabbath, one after the next. I don't know the illustration in my mind it almost appears you could, you could, like, make a case for this. There's somebody standing in the middle of a train track and you're saying hey, the train is coming. Are you gonna? Are you gonna get out of the way? The train is coming, the train is coming, the train is coming, and then the person doesn't move. Well, I never saw it. And it's like what do you mean? You never saw it. Like you're staring out at the whole time. That's why you got hit by it, something to that degree.
Speaker 1:I found something very interesting this week. I was listening to, I was watching a video is Dr Jordan Peterson and Dr Gary Habermas.
Speaker 3:We're at Liberty.
Speaker 1:University interesting on the same panel and they were talking about the resurrection, of course, because that's what Dr Gary Habermas does is he debates academically for the legitimacy of the resurrection. So we had Jordan Pearson explaining All of his thoughts leading up to the resurrection Old Testament to Jesus and it was so interesting being a Christian having the Holy Spirit and dwelling in me listening to the words he was saying that everything he was saying was true, but it was always a tick off because he couldn't quite see yet what the truth fully is, which is the resurrection. So it's interesting how it was. It was like it's right in front of your face. The truth is right there, the train is coming.
Speaker 1:You've tried to logically try to figure all this out and which I think he's on this path towards trying to figure it out, though it takes faith, which we all know. There's a, there's an element of. I believe in the resurrection based off these things, but there's a faith element, a belief that takes place. So I just found it very interesting here that we have these, the leaders of the day, who should have seen it Plainly, if they really knew what the prophets had said, if they really knew what these things were doing if they're really looking For what God actually told them to be looking for, not for what they wanted in a Messiah, and I find that very interesting. Even today we see people who aren't Jewish, who are just looking. They still have that same problem, where they may get there logically in some fashion, but have a hard time really grasping the resurrection of Jesus Christ mm-hmm.
Speaker 3:The. I Think another one of that. That missing piece is the acknowledgement of God's control and God's sovereignty.
Speaker 2:That's where I was hoping you'd go. Yeah, follows this.
Speaker 3:God is the one who is, is in control of everything, and you see the, the leaders of the Jewish community, taking control of. So where they were off I mean in many ways they were off Instead of acknowledging their own limitations, their own sinfulness, were, we're raising themselves up in their own righteousness and Not submitting to God. So, whereas we can, when we do submit to God Humbly and to God's sovereignty, we can step back and acknowledge where we're off. We can be sharpened when we are challenged, when a thought, when an idea, when an understanding of scripture, and we we can, we're polished that way. But if we are hardened and puffed up in our own righteousness, we can't be changed, and I think that's why they were blind to it and deaf.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think that's an important characteristic to consider when thinking about the sovereignty of God and how he uses people. One I think there is an element where he determines this person is so calloused and so gone that I'm going to still utilize them for my purposes, despite their condition. You know, I do think that we often use the phrase God is in control of all things, and I think when we say that, that's comforting to another extent, on the other side of the coin, I think we have to be careful with that. It's not that God doesn't possess the ability to control or being in control of all things, but I would not say that God causes everything. I would say somewhere between God causes some or God causes many things as accurate. But like I can't say that God caused the individual to go and murder, I can't say that God caused sin or God caused Satan to do what Satan did.
Speaker 2:So we could have that discussion about the sovereignty and the will of God another time to a deeper extent. But I think whenever God wants to accomplish his plan, his plan is going to be accomplished. The illustration that I've heard one time is kind of like this you know, if you had this chess master champion sitting across from the table of somebody else that he's playing. It's not necessarily that God is busy moving the pieces of the other player for the other player, but regardless of what move the other individual makes across from him, god always wins. That's an incredible God who is in control and has the power and capacity regardless of what humanity is doing. So just some I guess you could say theology on the characteristics of God here in the passage.
Speaker 1:Way to go, deep to go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you like that. I agree with that Women.
Speaker 3:I think that was an important explanation of that too, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, it's just interesting because verse 29, it actually says when they had carried out. Who's the they? Well, it's the leaders of Israel, right? When they had carried out all that was written concerning him. It was written that, of course, the Messiah would be crucified. So they are fulfilling prophecy, even in their own rejection of Jesus. That's incredible, right? Then it says they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb, but God raised him from the dead.
Speaker 1:Well, it's because, I mean, they elevated themselves so highly. Right, we're God's people. We would never be the ones to reject the Messiah. Right, that was probably their mindset. We would never do that. That would be impossible. Well, you're actually the ones doing it. Yeah, like it's an amazing thing where we sometimes we even put ourselves in that place sometimes like, oh, that could never. I would recognize that I would definitely know if that was happening. And then we don't, and then we're just like, wow, I need to really reevaluate the things that I am thinking or believe, or whatever that may be. Am I getting scripture wrong or right? And so I just think we have to be careful. I think the Jewish people, who should have known God the most, the most intimately, with the most history, with a God-given law, they should have known and they didn't. So we have to be careful and they were very blind to what God was doing in this time. And that's a warning for us, and it's a warning in the passage.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, I think. As we continue on through the passage, we look at 32 to 37 and we continue to see this theme of the fulfillment of scripture. Look at 32. And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers this is Paul and Barnabas speaking to the people, verse 33, that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that he raised up Jesus. As it is also written. More promise and fulfillment theme. As it is also written in the second psalm you are my son Today. I have begotten you.
Speaker 2:I think this is speaking about the fact that Christ would become a man and be called the son by, of course, the father. 34 asks for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no longer to return to decay. He has spoken in this way. I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David. There's an extent to which Christ is the new David. Whatever you saw in David's life, typologically speaking, david's life foreshadowed a greater life to come in Christ His kingship, his righteousness, his deliverance, his rescue, expanding Israel's borders, all of these things right. Christ is a better David than David was.
Speaker 1:Yeah well, Israel was looking for David. They were not a Jesus, they were looking for an earthly man who could sin, who could be crying.
Speaker 2:Well, and David was very compassionate too, I mean, towards the loss and the broken. He rescued and delivered a lot of people. So there is that part of it. It's the warlike aspect.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the warlike aspect is what they were missing, because they they falsely accused Jesus of sin. They were making him to be a sinner.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and in the end you're an insurrectionist. You want an insurrectionist Like the Jewish people are just throwing whatever they can to get Jesus killed in the end, but they were literally claiming that he was doing the things that they wanted him to do to Rome. So yeah, very, very ironic thing, they have it all twisted and messed up. They're very short-sighted in what they want. We want power now, but we're also looking for the Messiah. But if the Messiah comes, he may take the power from us.
Speaker 1:So maybe not, like I don't know, like it seems so weird how humans put themselves in those situations where sin has corrupted those thoughts, corrupted what is good, and has put them in a position where they're so blind to what God is doing. And again, we all fall to that. We all fall to this blindness at times of we think something is good and we fall to a place of our own desires instead of God's, and that can happen. And that's where we go back to God's sovereignty, causation, like we cause things to happen, god doesn't always cause them, and so, because of our own blindness to sin, that's what's happening here Now. I think in the instance of Jesus' death and resurrection, god knew exactly what was going. He was in control the whole time, but he used Israel again in their failures to accomplish his will, and this is not the first time. It was like the 500th time, it feels like by that time.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah, more than that. But yeah, one thing that's interesting too as you continue on to the text, it just continues to speak about the promises that were given to David. Look at 35,. Therefore, he also says in another Psalm you will not allow your holy one to undergo decay. Where is that Psalm? My footnote says verse 35A. This would have been Psalm 1610. So Psalm 1610, you will not allow your holy one to undergo decay. Then 36, for David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay. But he, whom God raised, did not undergo decay.
Speaker 2:So now what Paul is preaching, presumably, is that, while David has not been raised yet, notice that the text says David is still asleep, while David hasn't yet been raised. While David's body has undergone decay, jesus has did not and God raised him from the dead. So there's again, there's this great contrast of Jesus and David, and of course, jesus is fulfilling the scriptures by way of his very own life. I think what these two individuals have been doing and have been preaching is they have been preaching the whole salvation meta-narrative of the scriptures, because the people of Israel should be most aware of that right, but after giving them this whole salvation history, there's always the challenge, there's always the so what? There's always the okay, what's the implication? What are you calling me to do? And, guys, we talked before the show of how important verses 38 to 41 is. So what are you seeing in 38 to 41 as we start to close out this sermon?
Speaker 3:David.
Speaker 3:Therefore, let it be known to you brethren, that through him, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him, everyone believes and is freed from all things from which you could not be freed through the law. So we have them talking about the prophecy, the promise, the fulfillment, how that's fulfilled and Jesus fulfilling that. But what does that mean? This is where it brings it into. What does that mean for us?
Speaker 3:This means that the forgiveness of sins, whereas salvation is coming through faith in Jesus Christ, who has this being the perfect, as David was a type, but his decayed Jesus is not decay. He is the Son of God, has the authority of God. Through him, sins are forgiven. Through him we are free and I think that also is speaking to maybe I'm reading into that a little but not bound to the law. They were blinded, even though they had the law In the very beginning. You've heard it every Sabbath. You heard it. You heard it. You didn't see it. But through faith in Jesus Christ cuts through the red tape of the law, cuts through the red tape of the leadership that takes this false authority and control. But we are accountable to Jesus, who is the one who freed us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and God's law is a good thing. The Psalmist declares his love for the law of God. The law is a lamp into our feet, a light into our path. So what Paul and Barnabas are really saying is, as the law has been taught to you in legalism, like you're set free from that and now actually, through Christ, you're able to properly, through his righteousness, to actually live out the law to a greater extent, not just an external righteousness of not murdering, but even internally, a righteousness of not being bound to hatred and bitterness. So we've been freed from the law to that extent Maybe you could say the performance of the law and now we're actually given the ability to live righteously for Christ, the way he intended the law to be lived out.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the law makes us aware of our sin, yep, and requires another empowerment.
Speaker 3:Yes, so, but you also have barriers that were put between people and God and Jesus, the barriers that Jesus has broken down. The curtain fell. No longer are we separated from the curtain fell, the holy of holies, the separation that used to be, and even the leadership stood between people and God and said this is how you and when. That happened in the Christian church too, where Christian leadership stands between people and God, but ultimately it is Christ who is the path to salvation, not that's right.
Speaker 2:And through him Allah, verse 38, through him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed, preached, boldly, given to you. What encouraging news that would have been, kyle.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think I was just kind of thinking about the freedom that Christ has given, not just in fulfilling the law, and where we still the law we said is still good and it's still something that we need to look to because it's holy living before God and as Christians we want to continue to live in obedience to him.
Speaker 1:But what a freeing message to the world is what I was thinking. I mean, we had Israel being the nation that was supposed to be an example, the light of the world, and in a nation that follows God. And in the Old Testament people would be converting over to Judaism, converting over to Israel, those who would repent, like Nineveh or whatever, not that they become Israelites, but they were repentant, that generation, and they would follow the one true God. But we have this message of Jesus, when we think of it going out to the nations and being free, this message that it can go to a nation where they won't, don't even have a Bible, and we can share the love of Jesus with them, we can tell them what it means and they can believe and truly be saved just by the message of Jesus. That's it, and what a freeing. They don't, they don't need to do all these laws, they don't need to do all these works, but if I just go to a remote place where they don't can't even read the Bible and they can't understand what, who Jesus is, and I can proclaim it to them and they believe in it, that's all that's needed.
Speaker 1:What a freeing thing Paul and Barnabas are set out to do. That's this message that he's telling the Jewish people. This is freedom, and Jesus has accomplished freedom for us and for the world. If we go and proclaim it and people become saved, like what a message that is going to be worldwide, that we see today, churches all over the world, that it's about the message of Jesus, his death and his resurrection, which his resurrection is mentioned multiple times in this passage. It's the resurrection of Jesus that he's proclaiming that frees us, and so, wow, I just I find the freedom to be not just in this moment, in this time, but Paul's really talking about a freedom that can go forth to all people.
Speaker 1:That Jesus accomplished, and he wants the Jewish people to get on board. I mean, he's evangelizing them first, telling the Jewish leaders we got to do this, and so, though, paul is going to go to Gentiles and he's going to go to different cities and he's going to preach to all kinds of people. There is such a the Israelites, the Jews, still have such a position in being God's people today that those who follow Jesus. What a witness they have to their own people about who Jesus is. So I find it freeing. I find it the greatest message in the world. That's why I'm doing this podcast with these guys. It's why I'm a pastor, because this message is free. It's freedom. The chains have been broken and you can follow Jesus to this day and you don't need to follow any law or works to get saved. And so believe in Jesus and live for him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean the text in 39 is clear through him, everyone who believes is freed from all things, and it's in the context of sins in particular. But 40 and 41 closes their message. Therefore, second time you see the word therefore, take heed. In verse 38, it says therefore, therefore, let it be known to you that through him, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed. Now it says therefore, take heed and we mentioned this earlier with David says so that the things spoken of in the prophets may not come upon you.
Speaker 2:Habakkuk, chapter one, verse five behold you scoffers and marvel and perish, for I'm accomplishing a work in your days, a work which you will never believe, though someone should describe it to you. He's talking about the hardness of hearts to not understand the message that's right in front of their eyes. So what I think is ironic about Habakkuk one five is it was obviously a time of injustice and difficulty amongst the people. The prophet Habakkuk is busy asking God a number of questions, and God actually entertains all of those questions and has a straight up conversation with him about his bold concerns, and God is just simply saying look, I'm doing something in your day and you wouldn't believe it if I told you. So all that to say. I think people have a choice of what they're going to do with Jesus. They're going to accept him or they're going to reject him. Acceptance is by faith and rejection is also by faith, but by faith and something else or someone else. Either way, you're going to put faith somewhere.
Speaker 1:Yeah, David, if you could wrap up our passage today and a statement or just a couple sentences, how would you wrap that up?
Speaker 2:You call it the encore. You know, as we were talking beforehand, these last two verses, I like that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it ends with this. You know they, they love the message so much they're hearing truth, yeah, and they're calling for the encore. They're saying they're begging. You know, read, and you know let's hear this again next Sabbath. We want to continue hearing this and Paul and Barnabas say To the people who are speaking to them, urging them continue in the grace of God, you know, and for whatever reason, saying I Kind of joked, like no, we're out of here, but you know, just do what we said and and keep going. But so, yeah, there's this, this charge that they want to hear more, they're hungering for more, and they say continue in the grace of God, and what's been presented to you, this is the truth, hear it, believe it and go for, by the grace of God, and and Essentially, that's what we're left with in our, in our faith.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, and I would also say that the preaching continues in 44 to 52, next week's passage. This is actually a very debated passage Next week. I don't think One can avoid it. There are debates about the nature of salvation in 44 to 52. So when we come back to the table we're gonna have to analyze, you know, number different positions on how God is working, specifically what it means for individuals to be appointed to eternal life. So we're gonna talk about that, have a fun conversation, but I still think the important thing is to not get so far off track with Theological debates and to still stay on track with what God is doing, and I think that that's a good place to land the plane today. What do y'all think? Any final thoughts?
Speaker 1:I Think it's it's just good to to focus on what Jesus has accomplished. There's death and resurrection. That's what Paul's preaching, and Paul's preaching preaching that freedom, and that's what we are Desiring to do with this podcast, and that you would believe and you'd go forth and be disciples and reach the nations, reach your family, reach your friends, reach the nation. So thank you so much for listening to the be disciples podcast. We just asked that you would like this, subscribe to it, send it to friends, rate us, throw some comments. That allows this podcast just to be more known online so we can share the Bible with more and more people. Thank you so much for listening. See you next week, oh.