Faith in the Midst of Doubt - Matthew S4E4

Summary

Podcast Summary: Deepen with Pastor Joby Martin

Episode: Faith in the Midst of Doubt - Matthew S4E4

Date: May 4, 2026
Host: Pastor Joby Martin
Guests: Multiple pastors/leaders from The Church of Eleven22

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Main Theme

This episode offers an in-depth examination of faith during seasons of doubt, centered on Matthew 11 and the example of John the Baptist. Through rich theological discussion and relatable stories, Pastor Joby and his guests address how believers can hold onto faith when expectations collapse, doubts arise, and suffering occurs. The conversation moves seamlessly between biblical exegesis, personal application, and practical encouragement for walking through hard seasons with Christ at the center.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Recognition and Impact of the William Wilberforce Award

• Pastor Joby reflects on receiving the award, highlighting that it belongs to the church as a whole, not just himself.
• The award acknowledges legislative advocacy for life, marriage, and religious freedom.
• "Our church doesn't just put up with me... they're hungry for the word. They're action-oriented people." (Joby, 01:40)

2. Intersection of Theology and Politics

• The panel discusses when and why political issues are addressed from the pulpit.
• They clarify that some issues are fundamentally theological (life, marriage, family, religious liberty).
• Separation of church and state is described as designed to protect the church from the government, not vice versa (05:00).

"Some things are clearly... life, God made it and defines it. Marriage – God’s idea. Family – God’s idea. Before there was ever a government, there was a family." (Joby, 04:06)

3. The Experience and Theology of Doubt

• Focus on John the Baptist’s journey from bold proclaiming faith (“Behold, the Lamb of God”) to deep doubt in prison.
• Doubt is reframed as “evidence that you have faith”; the real danger is disbelief (08:30).
• "Is he enough?" becomes a central reflective question for Christians going through hardship (11:00).

"Doubt is just evidence that you have faith. But disbelief is living as if God is not who He says He is and He doesn’t keep His promises. That’s the difference." (Joby, 08:45)

• John’s crisis is less about losing belief and more about longing for reassurance that following Jesus is worth it.

"He’s wanting to be reminded of what he believes so that he can have the confidence to face what’s coming." (Guest, 10:56)

4. Faithfulness in Suffering and the Sufficiency of Jesus

• The group draws a line between suffering for faithfulness (like John) and suffering for self-inflicted reasons.
• Emphasis on responsibility: "If you walk faithfully, you will clearly see the Lord walking with you regardless of circumstances" (18:16).
• A caution against entitlement and expectation that God “owes” the believer a good life (17:03); instead, gratitude for grace should prevail.

5. The Offensive Nature of the Gospel

• Discussion of Jesus’ phrase: “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” (25:01)
  • The gospel initially offends (convicts of sin) but is ultimately an invitation to healing and rest.
  • Offense arises when we are attached to our own plans or feel entitled to certain outcomes.

"If you get offended by the wrong thing, you’re in big trouble. But when that offense shifts, you begin to see the kindness of God—that is the conviction of your sin which leads to repentance." (Joby, 25:20)

6. Endurance and Vindication: Wisdom Outlasts Critics

• Jesus’ wisdom is proven by actions and outcomes (“wisdom is justified by her deeds”—32:51).
• Encouragement to let faithfulness and the work itself speak rather than getting caught up defending oneself against criticism, whether in ministry, relationships, or daily life.

"If you’re doing what the Lord told you to do and you’re under authority, just keep doing what you’re doing and we’ll see who the wise one is." (Joby, 34:16)

7. Jesus as Fulfillment of Prophetic Role and Divine Invitation

• Jesus’ “woes” are prophetic judgments and expressions of divine justice, connected to his role as the true prophet (42:43).
• Greater knowledge leads to greater responsibility; cities that saw Jesus’ miracles but didn’t repent face greater judgment (43:11).

8. Gospel Accessibility and Childlike Faith

• Jesus thanks the Father for hiding spiritual truths from the “wise and understanding” and revealing them to “little children” (47:16).
• True understanding comes through humility and trust, not pride or self-righteousness.

"If you think, ‘I’m not going to follow you until I figure this out,’ then you’re Lord. And that has nothing to do with salvation, dude." (Joby, 47:16)

9. The Easy Yoke and Finding Rest

• Exegetical insight: A rabbi’s “yoke” was his set of requirements for followers. Jesus offers a light yoke—simply “repent and believe.” (51:25)
• Contrasts toil and burdens of self-effort/religion with the rest found in Jesus.

“My yoke is not a long list of requirements…What is Jesus’ yoke? Repent. Believe. That’s it.” (Joby, 51:25)

• Constantly preaching the gospel to oneself is recommended, especially for those trapped in shame, guilt, or a works-based mentality (54:48).

10. Stewardship, Comparison, and Calling

• Healthy ambition is godly if it’s about faithful stewardship, not about trying to earn God’s favor or outdo others (58:23).
• God’s call is individualized; what is “enough” varies by season and role (59:14).

11. Living in the Freedom and Overflow of Christ

• Religion, moralistic striving, comparison, carrying secrets—all are described as exhausting ways to live.
• When operating in Christ, there’s a sense of overflow instead of depletion (63:40).

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On suffering and faith:
  “Will he be enough? Dang, Wild Bill, bro.” (10:58)
  (On a father’s challenge about serving in obscurity for Christ)

• On criticism and vindication:
  “You do not have to defend yourself when the critics come after you… If you walk with me and you live trustworthy, you can... trust me.” (35:10, 36:14)

• On rest in Christ:
  “Religious activity to try to prove yourself right before God... That’s a treadmill that’ll kill you.” (61:39)

• On ordinances and grace:
  "Ordinances point to the grace of God, not ‘if I do my part, Christ will impart me with grace.’" (65:51)

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Notable Timestamps

• 00:33: Conversation opens with major award recognition and reflections on the role of the church
• 06:56: Deep dive into John the Baptist’s doubt and relevance for believers
• 09:15–12:15: Is Jesus “enough” even when life goes sideways?
• 25:01: Exploration of “Blessed is the one who’s not offended by me”
• 32:51: “Wisdom is justified by her deeds”—enduring criticism
• 43:11–45:27: Jesus compares warnings to historical cities; significance of Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon
• 47:16: Hidden truths and the necessity of childlike faith
• 51:25: What is Jesus’ “yoke” and how does it differ from religious performance?
• 54:48–61:39: Preaching the gospel to yourself—living under grace instead of shame and exhaustion
• 65:51–69:10: On communion and baptism as reminders and declarations of the gospel

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Podcast Tone

Warm, honest, biblically anchored, with a pastoral mix of challenge and comfort. The team’s camaraderie, vulnerability, and relatable stories make the theology accessible and actionable.

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For Listeners Who Haven’t Tuned In

This episode offers rich spiritual encouragement, theological clarity, and practical wisdom for anyone wrestling with doubt, exhaustion, or the burden of “having to do enough.” The panel displays both empathy and exhortation, drawing listeners back to the sufficiency and rest found only in Jesus—no matter the storms of doubt, suffering, or critical voices they face.

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Best Takeaway:
"Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest… My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)—the heart of Christ for doubters, strugglers, and the weary.

Transcript

[A]

Welcome to Deepen with Pastor Joby Martin. The Church of 1122 is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. And we're praying this message helps you deepen your relationship with him. Now let's dive in.

[B]

Well, we finally got some rain. How many songs do you think we could name with rain in the title?

[C]

A lot. How many Charles Martin books could we name with rain in the title?

[B]

He does like water metaphors.

[C]

He does very much.

[B]

Pastor Joby, congratulations on the William Wilberforce award.

[D]

Man. That's really an award to our church. I mean, it really is. It's awesome. I didn't even know about the Florida family voice thing, you know, until Eric Dylan mate runs it. But this is a powerful organization that's fighting for, like legislatively fighting for life, family, marriage and religious freedom. And under Dylan Beck's leadership, they really focus on equipping churches to, you know, equip people to go to action. Dude, if. If just Bible believing Christians would vote. We are the majority, like particularly in the state, actually in every state. Every state. The majority of the citizens of every state claim to be Christians. That crazy. I know in actuality that's not true, but. Yeah, yeah, the highest is Alabama. It's like 90%. But the lowest is, I don't know, Delaware or something, but it's still like 57%. So it was, it was an honor. But. But our church doesn't just put up with me. I say that all the time. Thanks for putting up with me because I'm a lot. But they receive the word. They're hungry for the word. They are action oriented people. And a lot of people get run off for saying the things I say. A lot of people these days and our church doesn't. And so it really is an award to 1122 with the elders, the staff, and the folks of 1122.

[C]

It's a big deal. For sure.

[D]

It was cool.

[B]

It's probably tempting more so in some seasons than others to talk about political things.

[D]

No, it's more like whack a mole. You're just preaching. And when some confusing demonic, obviously not of Jesus, but of the devil junk comes, you just, you just smash in the head with the scriptures, you know, so I'm not hunting.

[B]

Oh yeah.

[D]

Especially in politics. Isn't it.

[B]

Isn't. Isn't there a quote that maybe Josh Howerton said about politics in the church?

[D]

Probably.

[B]

Is that where you.

[D]

Well, I think he's got an incredible take on this thing, you know, like, I think he's kind of leading the way in helping a lot of Christians who are primarily informed by the scriptures in how we ought to live and love and be in community together, not just as a church, but as a society. He's really, in my opinion, the leading voice on that right now.

[B]

I don't know if you.

[D]

What was his quote? Do you remember?

[B]

Well, I think he was the first person. He may have stolen from you. I don't know. He was the first person I heard say. I think that as soon as, like, as soon as the politicians go into the church's lane.

[D]

Oh, yeah. I think he stole that from me and I stole it from Mark Driscoll.

[B]

Okay.

[D]

So, yeah, that's.

[C]

It's actually not a political issue. It's a theological issue.

[D]

Correct.

[C]

First, that theology should work its way out in all scenarios of life, even civil, and you know what I mean?

[D]

Correct.

[C]

But.

[D]

And some things are clearly. I mean, look, man, I got opinions on taxes and stuff. You ever heard. I don't share them from the pulpit.

[B]

Right.

[D]

You know, I got opinions on, like, Desantis is doing property tax thing. Now. I've preached zero sermons on it because that's. That's politics. Right. You know, but when you're talking about life, God made it and defines it. When you're talking about marriage, that's God's idea. He made it. He defines it. When you're talking about family, God. It was God's idea. Before there was ever a government, there was a family. And then this is what the. The Florida family voice does. I mean, they're, you know, and then religious liberty, they're fighting so people like me can say the same things I say to equip churches and for the betterment of our society, you know, that's it.

[B]

I don't know if you, like, planned it, but it goes right along with. As you were setting John up.

[D]

Yeah. And like, you know, and Elijah.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

And John comes in the spirit of Elijah. They both got in trouble for calling out immoral governments. Huh. That's what they got in trouble for. Yeah. So to the people that are like, honestly, this idea of, like, separation church and state is not in the Constitution. It was a complete misunderstanding. The way it gets used today, it really was to protect the church from the government, not the other way around. Yeah, yeah.

[C]

John got in a lot of trouble.

[D]

A lot. Got his head chopped off. Yeah.

[C]

Yeah. It didn't end well for him, that's for sure.

[D]

Yeah, well, it is. It is. I mean, you don't pick up on It. If you don't know that Jesus is actually quoting two verses, two passages out of Isaiah. In the Isaiah 61 passage, it says, and set the captives free. And he leaves that part out of the. Here's what I'm fulfilling.

[B]

Yeah, well, we. I love what you said. Jesus essentially is saying, follow me. And it still might end badly.

[D]

Yeah, it does for most. Honestly, even now. I mean, I mentioned it last week. 2025 was the.1 of the deadliest years for Christians in regards to martyrdom, killed for their faith. But, you know, it didn't happen in Jacksonville, so nobody pays attention to it.

[B]

Right.

[D]

3, 400 people were murdered or were martyred, both, primarily by getting their heads chopped off by Islamists, you know, in Africa. Nobody, nobody says a word. And no college campuses or protesting these innocent people because it doesn't fit the narrative. It's a sick world we live in.

[B]

Yeah, well, let's get into this text and try, try to get a little bit into John's head. Right. Like what. What would get him to a place. And you, you talked about how earlier on, he's so bold, he's so confident. Behold the Lamb of God. He's like, he recognizes Jesus and then he's in this place of despair and discouragement. Like, how do you think he got there?

[D]

I think limited perspective is a part of it. You know, from what I read, the majority of folks that were looking for the Messiah, they were looking for because of their limited perspective, they thought Jesus was going to fulfill all the pro. All the prophecies of the suffering servant in his first round. Now, post crucifixion and empty tomb, we realize that, like, the desert's blooming and the lion laying down with the lamb, that all stuff is going to happen until the second coming vengeance of our God. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, like all the, all the swords being beaten into plowshares and all that stuff that doesn't come till round two when he comes back. And Jesus fills us in on that. Like when we get to mark 20, I mean, Matthew 24, we'll hear a lot about it. And so when he didn't take over, there's a part of. Could be John's like, well, is this the guy or not? When's he going to take over? When's he going to set the captives free? I'm one. But I think all of us with limited perspective in a really tough environment for long enough can, you know, like James says about doubts, like, we can drown in the sea of our doubts, but I, but a part of the reason I don't think John the Baptist drowns in the sea of his doubt is because he comes to Jesus, he doesn't give up on him, he comes to him and you know, I mentioned Jeremiah does the same thing. David is probably exhibit A in the desperation of his soul, comes to God. And God's never offended by that. He just says, you know, bring it to me. So even if your faith is like tiny right now, cool, no problem. Doubt is just evidence that you have faith. But disbelief is living as if God is not who he says he is and he doesn't keep his promises. That's the difference.

[C]

Yeah. One of the things about John the Baptist in this is he's certainly a human right. So when you think about doubt, you can think about it in terms of, it's like self concerned. And I do think there's probably some of that going on that would be very natural and make sense. Like he's very aware of the situation that he's in. He's in a bad spot, he's on his way to death. And so is, is he, is he doubting in the sense that Jesus didn't fulfill, he didn't feel like Jesus fulfilled his end of the bargain or he's just, his circumstances are like, bro, I did look at all. I was the forerunner.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

You know what I mean? Like, I did all this stuff and

[D]

thought you'd hook me up. Yeah.

[C]

Like, so is some of that going on? Yeah, maybe. I think it, I think for John it's way more about was it worth it? Like, I believe, I believe, but I'm having a little unbelief. Like just remind me, give me the confidence to face the death that is coming. The reminder that it was worth it, that you are him, that you, that all of this is actually worth it. And that's why you love Jesus's response because he's like, it's totally worth it.

[D]

Right.

[C]

Look at what I'm doing.

[D]

Right.

[C]

Not one word that you uttered in the wilderness, not one struggle, not one night in probably some version of desert poverty, not one struggle or was will be wasted. It was worth it. I think that's the, at the highest level, I think that's a lot of what's going on is that it's, he's, he's, he's wanting to be reminded of what he believes so that he can have the confidence to face what's coming.

[D]

Well, a real question to ask yourself, is he enough? Like, I mean if your circumstances just go to hell, man. Is he enough?

[C]

My dad asked me that one time. I think I've shared that with you before.

[D]

He said, like, when you were.

[C]

I was in high school.

[D]

When you were preaching.

[C]

No, I was. My. I was in high school. I shared it with y'.

[D]

All.

[C]

I think maybe here somewhere before, but I was in high school. Felt called to minister. Actually felt called to missions. I always thought I was going to be a missionary on the field. Somehow I'm here, you know.

[D]

Well, I tried to kill you every time you went out, man. That's true.

[C]

That's true. There was some tough days there. But my dad, when I. He was helping me work through some of this calling in my life, and he's like, all right, so if God sends you to a remote village in Africa, you don't speak the language, and you're. You. You're saying you're willing to go and labor your entire life, and what if no one ever gets saved? Will he be enough? Dang, Wild Bill, bro.

[D]

Billy's the man. Wild Bill still disciples.

[C]

Will he be enough?

[D]

And I'm like.

[C]

I mean, 16, 17 years old.

[D]

You're like, yeah.

[C]

You know what I mean? And. But I didn't have no kids. I didn't have no responsibilities. I didn't have. You know. You know what I mean? And so that's. That is the question is, is he worth it?

[D]

Isn't it interesting that Jesus's answer. You have to know that he's quoting the scriptures, like he's. He's tethered to the promises of God. It kind of reminds me of the road to Emmaus. The guys are like, have you not heard? Jesus was crucified, dead and buried. And Jesus doesn't go, ta da, here I am. He doesn't even give them the physical evidence. It says he. He went to the Old Testament and showed him every place. Like, he used. It was so rooted in the scriptures. And the scriptures tell us that, like, that's where you have to anchor your faith to. Is the promises of God. And even if you don't feel like he's enough in that moment, because God's not. I'm not belittling it. I don't know how to say it in a. In a more tender way when God's not answering legitimate prayer request, like, they just want a baby or they just want the person to be healed of cancer. Okay. You know what I mean? We're not talking about. God doesn't give me what I want. I'm not talking like you're being Childish, but like for real, you know, Then you got to believe the truth of the word of God more than you believe what you're telling yourself and what your feelings are telling you and what even some of your dumb friends that claim to be believers are telling you. I mean, half the point of Job, the whole point of Job is he gives and takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. The subplot is don't surround yourself with dumb friends because they don't say dumb things. And then one day you don't get a pass before God if you listen to their dumb advice and you get all emboldened by your dumb friends, their dumb non biblical little quotes that sound like Bible verses. And then you want to try to put God on the stand. He's like, gird up your loins and take this like a man. And he never apologizes for any of it. God doesn't. He just starts asking, where were you? You know what I mean? So you, you want to be rooted in the scriptures and, and then there's like a supernaturalness of the scripture that it'll, it'll, it'll divide into the bones and marrow. It'll get to places that advice can't get to or a podcast can't get to. And you can trust like the, the Bible is not just true. It is true, but it's trustworthy. Meaning you can lean your, the weight of your life against it and it will hold you up. And, and that's where Jesus goes with a little bit of a like, I mean, bro, John, John the Baptist surely had Isaiah 35 and 61 memorized, no question. And as, as he's quoting it, you're like waiting for that next line. It's like, is that all he said? That's all he said. Yeah, sure there's not one more like, nah, this wasn't a Ramez. This was a period and hate it for you.

[C]

I think it is important to draw this distinction in narratives like this, especially when we testimonies like this. Especially when we say words like, and you did a good job of this. You always do. John is in prison and being persecuted because he stood firm on the faithfulness of God's word.

[D]

Correct.

[C]

And it cost him his life.

[D]

Correct.

[C]

That is different than you are in a prison of emotional pain or you were in a prison of circumstantial pain because of your self inflicted wounds because you just done dumb.

[D]

Correct.

[C]

You know what I mean? Or you, maybe you didn't even know it was dumb, but, but you have self inflicted Those circumstances upon you at least willfully participated in it. That those two scenarios are not quite the same. They're not even close to the same.

[D]

Correct.

[C]

And so I think that's a part of the. But what you do see with John that I think rings true in both situations, that in John's question, there is no question. In John's testimony, we see a guy who has accepted responsibility for things trusted to him by God. Every step of the way. John has gone to the extreme to be as responsible as he can with the call that God put on his life and the position that God put him in and it cost him. And so I think that there's something to that in the sense of if you. The question's not only God, will you help me? The question is that God will help us in the circumstances that we're in, regardless even of how we got there. But the path forward is faithfulness.

[D]

I love that you use the word responsibility because a shadow of the American experiment, which I love. I love America. I just got a award about America stuff. We thought way more about rights than responsibilities, you know, and. Because another thing that will happen is you'll get imprisoned by your own disappointment because you begin to shift over to a posture of entitlement and you think God owes you a good life as opposed to just being overwhelmed with gratitude that he would even save you out of the muck in the mire. You know what I mean? And I mean, you see this in Paul's life. To live as Christ, to die is gain. I think you see it in John the Baptist's life. He never. There was no self preservation. There was obedience to righteousness. And then he, he got in trouble for it.

[C]

Yeah. There's one of those Christian cliches out there that's like God helps those that helps himself. This is not in the Bible.

[D]

That is not in the Bible.

[C]

I, I think the best version of that would be some version of God does work through human faithfulness.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

And so it's like if you're, if you walk faithfully, then the, Then you will clearly see the Lord walking with you regardless of the circumstances that you're in. If you're unfaithful to him, you're choosing willfully to be blind to God's faithfulness or to even reject God's faithfulness in your life.

[D]

Right.

[C]

Does that mean that is not how John got in his situation was through a rejection of God's faithfulness?

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

You get what I'm saying?

[D]

I do. And I know that saying's been around for a long time, but, man, one of the shadows of, like, the Twitterverse that we live in is everybody is trying to say everything in such a kitschy, memorable way that everything has to rhyme or be a play on words, but it's not true what you're saying anymore, you know? So to the pastors out there, be clarity wins, bro. Just try to be clear, not cute. And your thing might not rhyme. It might rhyme and people might be able to remember it, but if it doesn't, if it doesn't just directly align with the word of God, don't say it anymore.

[B]

The cool thing about what you're saying is it is very different to be in pain caused by your own mistakes versus, like, persecution. Pain makes me think of. I forget which one it is, but there are many psalms where he says, my enemies surround me and my iniquities. I'm suffering from my enemies surrounding me and my iniquities within. So the beautiful thing about Christ is that his compassion is for both regard, even if you cause it with your stupidity. He has the same promise. Come to me.

[C]

Come to me.

[B]

I mean, and. And if you're in the prison thrown by an unjust person, he's got the same.

[D]

So you've been asking preacher questions a lot lately instead of like, personal devotion ones. So a passage like this is why I'm really glad to do such a big chunk of text. Kind of left them. I probably wouldn't, but we're trying to get through Matthew. We got to get to the Great Commission by the fall. You know what I mean? But what it. The setup is so incredible, right? Because he goes through the woes. Like Jesus is putting on display his judgment. Judgment, his righteousness, his holiness, his justice. And then what does he do with it? Dude, if you didn't know, you would think the. The way he finishes up this section is, so you better get your act together and is. But instead, it's like the warmest, lowly and gentle invitation of all time. It's like the justice of God and the grace of God in this teaching is all there.

[C]

I think when. When John got the answer back, who knows how he responded The. Did he respond with it?

[D]

Like, okay, you know, I think to your previous. I think worth it.

[B]

I think he.

[C]

I think he did. And one of the most profound questions I've ever heard. And I think I heard Keller ask it first. And so I give him props. He may have gotten it from somebody else, but one of the most profound questions I've ever heard Is, do you see God as primarily useful or beautiful? And I think in John the Baptist, we see someone who was just completely enthralled with God.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

And because I have that history of his testimony of that, I think when he got the answer back, he was like, let's go. That guy, man.

[D]

That guy.

[C]

You know what I mean? Like, he. He is the one who is to come.

[D]

Well, Paul later will say things in very similar circumstances, like shipwreck, beaten, flogged in prison. And he sees it as a badge of honor. He's like, I can't believe I was considered worthy to suffer for the sake of Christ. I mean, one of my favorite tiny little verses at the very end of the Book of Galatians, because he's talking to Judaizers about circumcision. So he does a little play on words there, and he's like, I bear the mark of Christ in my body, and it isn't some surgery when I was 8 years old. It's the beatings I took, you know, as a badge of honor. Not like I got an award, like, I walked into a room and people stood up and clapped and say nice things about you. But the beating, like, so Paul's living today. Not that he would be scrolling Instagram and somebody, like, talks junk about him. He's like, can you believe I would be considered worthy enough for somebody to try to slander me for the sake of the gospel? Dude, That's. That's a surrender to Christ. I mean, he's seeing things through a heavenly lens right there on your next flight. Okay.

[C]

Which I'm sure is coming soon.

[D]

Tomorrow morning, 6am

[C]

you need to watch Scorsese's movie the Silence.

[D]

Okay.

[C]

Have you seen this movie?

[B]

That's not the one with the two missionaries.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

Okay.

[D]

Okay. The Silence.

[C]

The Silence. Now, I'm not theologically.

[D]

Whatever. Okay.

[C]

Prescribing this to. It's about two Jesuit missionaries who go into.

[D]

Don't ruin it.

[C]

Japan looking for one of their mentors who disappeared, okay. As a missionary. And along the journey, they, like, stumble upon this village that their missionary friend was in. And all the. They're living undercover because this is a time during Japan where Christianity was completely illegal, persecuted, and you were murdered.

[D]

Okay?

[C]

And they stumble on this village. And back then, the only thing people had by which to practice their faith was communion. And so they stumble into this village, and they real. Some of the believers that are there underground see them, and they gather in this little house, and the guys serve them communion. And it's this really like, super intense. It's really beautiful. But you move down the road. It's a really hard movie to watch. It's really long. It's really painful to watch. But it's great persecution. And they're crucifying Japanese believers in the ocean. They put them on crosses in the ocean. And the waves, as the tide would rise, they're. They're drowning while they're being cruc. And the whole time they're on the cross, they're just calling out to the Lord over and over and over and over again. It puts you in as much emotional conflict as I think a movie can in modern times. That gives you a sense of the depth of what the weight of what's going on here in Matthew 11. Oh, you're going to be into it. It's slow, but you're going to be into it.

[D]

Can't wait.

[C]

It's a thing.

[B]

So Jesus quotes from Isaiah and then ends with this. On the surface, kind of an odd phrase, Blessed is the one who's not offended by me.

[D]

No, it makes total sense.

[B]

On the, on the surface reading, you would think. Who's not discouraged following me, maybe, or doesn't doubt me, right? Because it seems like that's where he's coming from. So what, what's, what's the offense that John. Why is. How is John offended? Or who is he talking about with the offense?

[D]

Well, what I think what he's saying is like, be offended by the right thing, not the wrong thing. So if you were offended because I didn't give you the temporary things of this world, then you were chasing the wrong thing. And that's not what I'm about. The gospel is offensive at first. Like, if you had no concept of surgery and somebody came at you with a knife, you would be highly offended. But the moment you, you are enlightened to what's actually happened, you willfully sign up for it and show up and thank the guy for doing it. It's like that. So the offense, like, you know, we've talked about this a lot lately. The one thing. Well, there's a lot you can't do, make people do, but you can't convict them of sin, you know, and they'll be highly offended if you don't think you're a sinner. And I just keep telling you you're a sinner, even though what I'm saying is true. And so if you get offended by the wrong thing, you're in big trouble. But when that offense begins to shift and you begin to see the Kindness of God, that is the conviction of your sin, which leads to repentance. Then you're poor in spirit and you're going to get the surgery and, and get, get the payoff of salvation.

[B]

I think that you, you talked about it also, like the. When you are in, when you feel entitled. So if, if John's saying, this is not how I saw my future going, and if that would lead to a place of him being bitter towards God or bitter towards Jesus for it not going well, that, that's like a spirit of offense. Like, what's the spirit of offense? I'm important. And how dare you do this to me, man?

[D]

So it's James 4:1.

[B]

Exactly.

[D]

You something and you didn't get it.

[B]

So I think part of what Jesus is saying here is I, I'm the Lord. And so you don't get to say, hey, Lord, how about you do my life this way? You know what I mean?

[D]

Although most people do, which why they're offended by God when they don't get what they want, or from their perspective, they think bad things happen or they get something that they don't think they deserve or. Yeah, it's what Job was doing. You're trying to put God on trial.

[B]

Right?

[D]

Right. And he doesn't owe you anything, man. That's the thing. I mean, part of the reason we.

[C]

We,

[D]

man, I, I think it was maybe Howerton. I don't know. I saw this guy get interviewed. Yeah, it was Howton. And he interviewed. What was the guy. What was the guy that got arrested in North Carolina? Can't. Ptl. Ministry guy.

[C]

I can't remember his name.

[D]

Tammy Faye Baker. Jim Baker. Okay, so this guy interviews Jim Baker in prison and was like, dude, help me understand what happened, man. I mean, I would watch your altar calls. You had the biggest ministry in the country. And I would see you on stage crying about how much you love Jesus. And how did you fake that? And Baker goes in prison, goes, I didn't fake that at all. I loved him. I loved him so much. I just had no fear of the Lord, no awe of God. And the thing is, if you lose the awe of God, what actually diminishes is the grace of God. And then you'll slip into, well, hey, man, he wanted me. He chose me. He owes me. And Baker's in the health, wealth, prosperity gospel like crazy, thinking that he is entitled to it. And I mean, what a trick of the enemy. And all the while thinking you're doing a good thing because you have a lot of feelings while you're preaching. And so I heard that, and I thought, as one of the pastors here, I'm going to continuously elevate the awe of God, the majesty of God, the justice of God, so that, you know, this is the whole cross under life thing. As our understanding of the bigness of God increases, also the understanding of how just he is to judge us. And then what grows is actually our understanding of the grace that bridges the gap.

[B]

Jesus then gives these. He gives high praise to John, you know, greatest among all, born of women. But then he says, the least in the kingdom is greater than him. So unpack that a little bit.

[D]

You'll get to see the resurrection and understand it all. John's going to die before the resurrection, so he knows, in part, he's a very limited revelation of actually who Jesus is. He knows all he can know at that point. But, bro, I mean, it's like, okay, so John the Baptist dies in the middle of the Sixth sense. If you remember when you watched the Sixth Sense and then you re. Watched it, it was like a totally different movie. Brigasse's so funny. He's like, I just thought the woman, his wife was just wasn't talking to him. I could see that happening. You know what I mean? I didn't realize he was dead. It's like that. So we see everything, particularly the gospels, through the lens of the empty tomb. Okay? And I think also what Jesus is saying is, dude, like you said, John's been faithful. John did all the things, man. He did all the things. And anybody that surrenders their life to the lordship of Jesus Christ, it ain't about what you did to demonstrate your faithfulness. It's by faith you were saved, and then you were compelled by the love of Christ. And so then you started acting differently. Does he.

[B]

Does he call him the greatest prophet?

[D]

Yep, he. So Jesus puts him in line with Malachi. He's like the. The prophets of old. That's the last one.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Like, he's the. He's the final chapter on telling who is to come.

[B]

It's almost like the ones that were closest to Jesus chronologically, they got better and better.

[D]

Well, yeah, and they were also. I mean, they were standing on each other's shoulders. Right. I mean, Moses knows more than Abraham. Yeah, right. And Isaiah. Isaiah knows more than Moses because Isaiah has all of Moses's life to learn from and stand on to, then keep carrying the ball down the field.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

You know where you say, go ahead.

[B]

When Jesus then says, like, I thought of you say, pastor Joby, A lot. Three little bears. And that's what I think of when I 17, you know, we played the flute and you didn't dance, we sang in dirt, you didn't cry. You know, it's just like everything you do is wrong.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

And there's. I think there's a lot in this phrase. Wisdom is justified by her deeds. It's translated a couple different ways. So what.

[C]

What's.

[B]

What's in there? Like, he's basically saying, you'll see.

[D]

Outlast the critics. That's what he's saying. Yeah. So in the Old Testament, wisdom is personified as a woman because the word Sophia is the word for wisdom. And so especially in the Proverbs, it'll be like, Sophia, she cries out for you to come to her. You know, it kind of personifies it. And so I think if you lay, like, Galatians 1:10 over this, like, are you seeking the approval of man or the approval of God? Or if you're seeking the approval of man, you cannot be a servant of Christ. And so Jesus is saying, okay, so again, John the Baptist was a teetotaler. I drink a little. You call him a demon, and you call me a drunk. Hang around for a while. We'll see what happens. That's what he's saying. So, honestly, if and when you do get attacked, whether it's by the right or the left or the religious or the irreligious, part of what Jesus is saying is there's no need to respond to all that stuff. Just keep your nose down, do what I tell you to do. And wisdom is living in God's world, God's way, and just outlast it. Yeah.

[B]

Another translation. Instead of Ds, it's children. And I. I don't remember who was preaching, but I heard somebody talk about that word justified. It means kind of like vindicated or proven out.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

And it was connected to another use of that same word.

[D]

Yeah, I mean, that's part of it. Like, you know, I've been accused of all kind of, like, ill intentions in planting this church. I'm like, okay, cool. Just, we'll see, you know, we'll see. And you just. You just. Man, if you spend all your time just trying to defend. And honestly, Britt helped me a lot with this. Not just his words, but also his posture and the way he does ministry and lives his life. And so the best defense is just to, like, if you're doing what the Lord told you to do and you're under authority and you're Living in alignment with the scripture. Just keep doing what you're doing and we'll see who the wise one is. You know, we'll just see.

[C]

That's exactly what I was going to say is we've talked about it many times, but I feel like this is Jesus's version of saying you do not have to defend yourself when the critics come after you.

[D]

Right.

[C]

If you, you do not have to weigh the scales of your right and wrong and prove yourself to people. And I think this happens a lot. You know, you get into, like, let's just put it in a real human context. You get into a marriage, you know, your marriage experiences some brokenness. And you can take two postures. I'm sure you could take 20, but you could take at least two different postures. One posture is look at what I've all. Look at all that I've done. I've done good things. I'm a good person. And you're trying to weigh the scale and you're trying to prove that the reasons you're mad at me, you shouldn't be mad at me because you should see these other things and because. And if you see these other things, you know that I'm a good person, therefore the things that I've done that you don't like should weigh less. You can get into that game. You can.

[D]

And then typically you go ahead and remind them of all the bad things they've done.

[C]

Exactly. But that's what you're, what you're trying to do is balance the scales of justice and you're trying to use human wisdom. It's not even wisdom.

[D]

Right, right.

[C]

You're trying to use human reasoning in order to make an argument or a case for yourself.

[D]

You're litigating.

[C]

That's right. And that's not how wisdom works at all. Wisdom does not, doesn't work that way at all. Wisdom is certainly is primarily rooted in humility and patience and in confidence in God. That is what wisdom is in. I have a confidence in God. And so I'll put that in the context of my marriage, which doesn't. One, it's not apples to apples in regards to what we're talking about here, but when my wife brings something to me and says innocent evidence, or at least an evidence from her perspective of brokenness, my general posture is she's probably right, or there's at least some merit to this that I should have ears to hear, you know, and, and if there is no merit to it, and whether it's in my marriage or in the context of work or just critics in general, if there is no merit to it, then I trust it to the Holy Spirit. Like, just in the same way that I trust the Holy Spirit to convict me when there is something, I trust the Holy Spirit to convict, to carry me when there's not, and that he's going to be out defending me, and he's going to prove it over time and in his time. And so it's just a lot freer way to live. When Jesus gets into the my yoke is easy, my burden is light. I think a lot of that's what he's talking about, is you can trust me. If you walk with me and you live trustworthy, you can, you know, you. You can trust me. And even if you don't, you can still trust me to meet you right where you are, to help you get to another place, you know?

[D]

So I bet most people think the first proverb is the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge or beginning of wisdom, but it's not. It's number seven. And the previous six are. If I could sum it up, hey, sit down, buddy. You got some stuff to learn. That's what you're saying? Y. Like the. If the. If your posture is, of course, if somebody corrects me, rebukes me, encourages me. If I could humble myself with an attitude of I'm definitely not perfect, so maybe God's using this person in my life to help remove a log out of my eye. It goes way different than defensive. And I am. Oh, gosh, I get so defensive. So I'm the worst. Well, and it also depends on who the criticism comes from for sure. So that matters a lot. So when my wife has something to say that's very different than some random YouTuber that's got. Wants to evaluate my sermons.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

One of my favorite things Brit ever did is somebody was complaining about the sermons, and I don't. For some reason, you talk to the person and he said some version of, of all the things the Lord has entrusted you with, responsibility of the teaching ministry of 1122 is not one of them. And then, I mean, what do you say to it? Like, we have elders, we have other pastors, you know, we've got lots of accountability here. Yeah.

[B]

It's almost a parallel of when you say faith is always action. Wisdom can receive a rebuke. I mean, you just read. You read proverbs, it's all over the place. And so that's an interesting diagnostic of we tend to think wisdom. Oh, I know some Stuff. How about, can you hear somebody correct you and like receive it?

[C]

I think part of what Jesus is saying, yes, there's a humble posture in receiving feedback for your own good. The indictments against Jesus and John the Baptist are not done for their own good. They're done from spite and they're done from hatred and anger and jealousy. I think jealousy is a massive motivator. Fear and control from the Pharisees and the power structures that they had at the time. Because we forget that the Pharisees were a pretty persuasive political party in the Roman Empire.

[D]

Very.

[C]

They had the Romans ears, no doubt,

[D]

because they, because what they promised them is if you'll trust us with the Sadducees on the Sanhedrin, we will guarantee you peace. And peace for Rome just meant a lack of chaos. That's. And so a part of the reason Rome, Rome was not being gracious and allowing them to like make sacrifices at the temple and stuff. The Pharisees had just lobbied and be like, man, listen, if you'll just let our people do this weird superstitious thing, I mean, we believe it, but if you just let us do this stuff, then we can keep everybody from going crazy and revolting against you. And Rome's like, yeah, cool.

[C]

And we've talked about this over the last few years. Part of what I see Jesus do, last few weeks through Matthew, part of what I see Jesus doing here is going, it's boundaries. It's like, y' all are just unreasonable people. You're just unreasonable and you don't want to hear, you don't want to listen. You know, you're witch hunting and you're, you're not, you're not trying to, we're not trying to be in relationship here, you know, and he's, he's creating some boundaries. Just like, you know, I'm done with you.

[D]

I don't like this example because I don't, I don't like to call people Karen's because all the Karens I know are like the best, right? I mean, literally, it's a bad tag. It is a very bad tag. And you know, I think there's all kind of undertones there that I hate. But the middle aged woman that has decided that she is just going to tell the rest of the world how to do everything, that's the Pharisees, man. You know, and that's what Jesus is saying is like, bro, John the Baptist did one way, I did it another way. And none of y' all are happy, but I'm just going to do. I'm going to be in alignment with the word of God, and I'm here

[C]

to do what the Father sent me to do.

[D]

It's going to pay dividends. Don't worry about me. Mm.

[B]

I saw something here. So we know that Jesus perfectly fulfilled the role of prophet, priest and king. And I think I read somewhere that if you want to litmus test the prophetic office, it is to speak oracles from God and also pronounce woes. And so do you think that part of the reason why he starts to pronounce these woes is to. Is a nod to, like, I'm fulfilling that prophetic role?

[C]

He's being who he is.

[D]

Yeah. It's also. It's kind of the opposite of the. Like, the woe is kind of the opposite of the bl. Like, blessed are, you know, Makarios. This. This would be the. It's like, congratulations when these things happen because you are in alignment with who God has called and created you to be. But damn you when. If you're on this end.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

And there's only. There's no gradient here. God's very binary. Right.

[B]

How can you have a worse judgment? Like, what does he mean by worse judgment?

[D]

Oh, because we. Because God is a. In a. I know grace isn't fair, but judgment is just right. And so, just like there are rewards in heaven, I mean, it's hard to read the Scriptures and not come away with. There are some people that have a more severe judgment than others based on the knowledge that they have.

[C]

Yeah, well, Corazine and Bethsaida are Jewish. Tyre and Sidon are not pagan.

[D]

What he's saying, dude, he's like. So when he said those places, they're like, wow. You know, like, it's like talking to the Georgia fan about Gainesville. You're like, what? You know, and, dude, Sidon is where Jezebel's from. That's only anybody. That's what they know about that place. And here's what he's saying. He was like, if they had the evidence that you have for salvation, they'd all be saved. And so, you know, God brought judgment on them, right? And they're like, yep, and they deserved it. And he's like, it's worse for you because you got a head start. I'm standing right here. And that little. The thing about the kids playing, I had to, like, really? Because if you don't, you got to have some help with that. If you don't know what.

[B]

Right.

[D]

That means in the first Century. It just seems rando, what he's talking about. He's talking about judgment in cities. And he's like, and you, a bunch of kids just like, dilly dallying around with each other, and we're talking about the most serious things in the world. He's like, that's happening right now. So they would play. They had this game. It was kind of like Simon says, or like, red light, green light. You know, one of those kind of goofy kids games. And it was. You'd play the flute and everybody would dance, and then you'd sing a dirge, and everybody would act like they were at a funeral. Doesn't sound like a fun game, but that was the game in the first century. But they didn't have Netflix, so. And what he's saying is, I'm playing the tune, and you are not responding because you're distracted with the temporary things around you. Yeah. And it's happening today in church all the time.

[B]

I mean, it's so wild that Sodom and Gomorrah, you know, that's Abraham and Lot. And he says to Capernaum, it will be more tolerable, tolerable on the Day of Judgment for the land of Sodom than for you. Because they didn't really get a. They didn't get a chance to repent. Like, Sodom didn't have a message in that said, turn right. Like, the angels just went. And they.

[D]

Well, they tried, evaluate.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

And, dude, you want to read it? I mean, it's. We're talking about. It's wild male on male angel rape. That's. That was the final straw, bro. And then the. The people of the city are giving up their daughters to the. To be gang raped.

[C]

Right?

[D]

So, you know, sometimes people like, how could God wipe out a whole city, bro? You don't know what was happening in that city. Oh, yeah, he's a just God.

[B]

Where is it that he says, I can't remember if we've already talked about this earlier, Matthew, a similar thought. The Queen of Sheba came to see Solomon, and yet this is greater. I think maybe it's even just the sign of Jonah coming up. So he's doing these comparisons to this historical. Hey, there is responsive hearts to lesser signs.

[D]

Correct.

[B]

And now here's a greater sign, and it's being met with, you know, the singing, the red rover or whatever you said wild. So the. The closing part of this chapter, very famous verses, and so amazing. Why do you think Jesus says, I thank you, that you've hidden some things those Might, that might be confusing to some people because isn't the point to reveal things? It wasn't Jesus's point to reveal things.

[D]

Yeah, but he didn't say he's. I've hidden things from the wise and understanding. Because what you don't. I mean, here's the thing. If you think, well, I'm not going to follow you until I've figured this out, then you're Lord, you are preeminent. And from your understanding, God makes sense. That is has nothing to do with salvation, dude. That without faith it's impossible to please God. Well, if you just figured this out because you're smart and you believe all the apologetics, well, you're not surrendering anything. You're just signing up for the winning team at the end.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

And that won't get you saved.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

So blessed are the poor in spirit precedes the meekness of turning over the reins of your life. And so I said it in the sermon, though Jesus later is going to say, unless you change and become like one of these little children, you have no place in the kingdom. All right, well, what do children have? Ain't got power, they don't have status, they don't have experience, they don't have knowledge, they don't have understanding. But what kids do have is trust. They trust their mom and dad, you know, in a healthy relationship. Right, right.

[C]

I think. Go ahead.

[D]

That. And that's it. And that, that, that the word pisto believe. That's what that word means.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Trust. Yeah.

[C]

In the eyes of the world, these people, the Pharisees are the wise and understanding. And that is a title that they would have been known by. They would have been given that position in society as the wise and the understanding. And so I think part of what Jesus is pointing at there is self righteousness, you know, that, that the self righteousness is blindness. And there's not a lot of self righteous kids that are beating their chest over their own merit and what they've earned. You learn to do that over time and you begin to define yourself by your own righteousness as you get older and older and older and older. You know what I mean? And so I think that's what he's getting after. I don't, I don't personally think Jesus is like, I think he does see that the Pharisees are smart in the way that Pharisees are smart. But I don't think he's saying these are the wise and understanding ones. I think that it's more of a categorical like, dude, the, the world considers these people wise and understanding and yet they're the blind. Don't let the blind lead the blind.

[D]

How many religion profess in divinity schools and seminaries?

[C]

100% aren't Christians. Yeah, not 100% of them. But that happens all the time.

[D]

All the time, right? It's because honestly, they don't come humbly like a child under the authority of the word of God. They stand in authority over it and try to tell you what it is and is not. And I'm telling you, dude, when I was in seminary, bro, they feel sorry for the average church person because of their belief in God's word. That was the posture. And I'm like, bro, so poor in spirit. Yeah, but listen again, all we bring to the equation of salvation is the sin that requires it. And so if you don't come poor in spirit salvation, you ain't gonna be saved.

[C]

What do you think Jesus is referring to in 28? You know, he goes on his diatribe the Father. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. I know what the Father wants me to know. I know what the Father knows, the Father knows what I know. That then he gets into 28, right? And this is really famous. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. The I will give you rest part gets preached, taught a lot. What do you think he's specifically referring to in regards to labor and heavy laden?

[D]

I think in the context of talking to the religious leaders, because here's the thing, when he talks about his yoke, I honestly think that's like a, a bad English deep dive into what a yoke is. But religiously speaking, a yoke was the rabbi's written requirement of what it takes to be one of his followers. And that's what Jesus is talking about. And he's like, that'll wear you out later. He's going to say to the Pharisees, man, you just keep heaping these laws upon him and you don't even do them yourself. Like you're not obeying your own yoke. And then he says, but if you come to me, man, my yoke is not a long list of requirements. So what is Jesus yoke? What is the requirement to be a follower of Jesus? Repent. Believe. That's it. That's it. And I would have, I used to just say believe, but repentance was implied. Like Jesus, you don't just keep doing everything and just add him to it. You are renouncing your old self. The world, the devil. And you're saying, I believe in, I trust in you. That is the requirement. And even if you did a follow up, you're like, okay, so I'm in. I, I repent and believe. Now what are the laws that you want us to follow? He'd be like, cool. Love God, love people. It's still simple. Simple. And from all the things I read, one of the things, you know, like when the Pharisees would stand in front of everybody on the street corners with their flackeries all tied around their head and they would hold up their, their tzitzis for everybody to see and they would pr. So people would have like yoke competitions. It was like almost like the CrossFit games. And who could be the, like, who was the most dedicated? Who was the most radical? You know, who is the. Because that, that obviously meant that they were most dedicated to Yahweh and Jesus. Like, yeah, you missed the whole thing. Nothing will wear you out, bro. It's repent and believe.

[C]

So how do you think that plays into. Let's just take it into right now. 21st century Christian goes to our church, which is from my perspective, a grace filled Christ centered Bible teaching church. We believe, teach, preach. The imputed credit credited righteousness of Christ, the freedom that is in Christ. The yoke is easy. The burden is light. All the things you just said and have been teaching here faithfully for many, many, many, many years and it's really created a grace based culture, a biblically faithful grace based culture. However, there's no question to me that there's people that are walking around spiritually and religiously heavy and so they, they just are heavy and they, they feel like there's like a, like a weight on them, just a dark cloud and it's, it's joyless. So how do you encourage them to. It's like one thing to know the yoke is easy. It's another thing to be an environment where the easy yoke is preached and taught. It's another thing to live. My burden is light. You can find rest here.

[D]

If the only time they're hearing it is when they show up and listen to one of us talk about it, it'll never be enough. That's why you got to continuously preach the gospel to yourself. I mean, over and over and over and over and over and over and over because your voice in your head is always going to be louder than my voice in your ear. And I mean I have to constantly remind myself that the thing that I just did does not impact God's posture towards me. You know, I mostly do it with Bible verses to re. Preach the gospel to myself because I'll think, did I do a good job, God, you like me now. You know what I mean? Even though I know that's not it. But it just, you know, because there's not everything else in the entire world the job that you go to. The, the. The verdict comes after the performance. Every game we watch, every sport thing, it's the way we raise our kids. I mean, there's a verdict and there's a performance, and the verdict comes after the performance with this God's love towards us at the cross. The verdict comes before our performance. Now that should drive that. Which should drive us to live in such a way. But it's a constant reminder, man. A constant reminder. And honestly, if you grew up Catholic, it's gonna be hard. Was the guilt, man. And, and if you grew up like fundamentalist or certain brands of Southern madness, it's going to be hard because you were implicitly taught a works based righteousness.

[C]

It's funny. One of the things I've enc. Encountered regularly recently enough so that I'm aware of it is the like the am I doing enough?

[D]

Mh.

[C]

And there are certainly some diagnostic questions you can ask to find areas where there's like what I would call like big rock disobedience, where you're missing out on the joy of the fruit because you're not sewing the seed.

[D]

You know, you got to ask for what Are you doing enough? For what?

[C]

Exactly, exactly. So there's the like, am I doing enough? There's kind of two ways to. It's like, am I doing enough for God to be happy? Or there's the other posture was like, I just can't. I don't feel like I can do enough. But I'm doing my best to be faithful. Yeah, those are two different things.

[D]

So there's like the parable of talents, right? And it's like, honestly, probably not. You're probably not leveraging all that God has for the advancement of his kingdom. Honestly, because you're. We're way too into comfort and the applause of man. And so for every second you spent on Instagram comparing that was not enough. Okay, but, but if. Am I. Am I doing enough to make God happy in Christ? God's pumped about you.

[C]

That's the gospel.

[D]

That's the, that's the difference. So, you know, I mean, dude, I do a lot and I don't feel like I'm doing Enough. I don't, I just, I mean, I don't know if I'm a two or five. I just don't want to be a one. Like, I know I'm not in regards to salvation, but that's not about salvation. That's about stewardship, you know, and it compels me.

[C]

Yeah, there's like a godly motivation in the question at times. And then there's a like gospelless way to interpret that as well.

[D]

Well, the word ambition is used in the Bible most of the time. Paul tells us do nothing out of selfish ambition. But in Colossians it talks about godly ambition. So it's like a layer deeper than it's the why behind the what you're doing, you know?

[C]

Yeah, it almost comes off sometimes. It's like I'm trying to earn a spiritual vacation. Have I done enough?

[D]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

You tracking with me?

[D]

Yeah. You know, and we think about it

[C]

in terms of like work and hours earned and time off and all that stuff, you know, it's like a human reasoning way.

[D]

And then another question, another prepositional phrase you need to add to the end is like, and for who? Like for you. Well, the moment. Because a lot of it'll come out of comparison, you know.

[C]

Right.

[D]

And let's just say right now there's a stay at home mom with three kids and one of them's like nine months old, but she's scrolling Instagram and she's seeing all these people going mission trips and she's like, am I doing enough? You got to get real serious. This is why intimacy with good shepherd matters like crazy. And you got to do what he tells you to do and you're enough and somebody else is enough, depending on the season of life are just not the same thing. The, the key is, am I doing enough for the master? Like he told me what to do and am I doing what he told me to do? Well, let's talk about, does that make sense?

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

So you know, because if somebody's like, well, am I studying the Bible enough? For what? Like, what are you doing this for? Like, what God has called me to and the situation in life I am in, I am afforded the opportunity to study the Bible double digit hours every week. But that's not everybody's call. You know, we should all have devotional time in the scriptures. But to study it in order to teach it the way I teach it may not be the race God has for you. So you got to dig down in that place.

[B]

What I love about the two words I mean, maybe it's two words. 3. Labor is when I'm exercising my active agency towards a thing, and it's. It's exhausting. Heavy burden is the passive experience of the weight that I feel. A lot of times those things are connected to each other. But he's saying, hey, if you're in the mode of, like, trying to push this way or if you're crushed underneath this, come to me. My yoke is easy.

[D]

That's crazy, man. I'm on a. I'm on a preaching run right now. Like, I think I counted it up. It's something like. I can't remember. It's something like preaching 16 times in 16 days or something like that, you know, but, bro, energy and excitement and. But I really just feel like I'm doing what God gave me to do and, you know, these things just stack up and so, like, it's a. Yes, it's an advancement of the kingdom. It's a. You know what I mean?

[C]

For sure.

[D]

So I don't feel. I mean, I get physically tired, but, yeah, take a nap, get up and keep going, you know. But the burdensome of what he is talking about in regards to soul rest, this is about salvation. So, I mean, I talked about them like, dude, I mean, religious activity to try to prove yourself right before God, right? We've all been on that road, man. That's a. That's a treadmill that'll kill you. Gretchen said it the other day in the bill for more podcast that's. That'll be coming out. We had our wives there and she just said, secrets are exhausting. Think about that, right? Because so when you're walking in darkness and you're trying to keep up with what you're supposed to know, depending on the people, you're talking pro anxiety is exhausting. You know, when you won't turn that thing over to the Lord because you think you're in control, boy. I mean, some will wear you out when the result of the circumstances is what's driving you and you aren't in control of them. I mean, you can go on and on, right? Keeping up with the Joneses is exhausting. Comparison is exhausting. Think about all the exhausting things that we give ourselves to. Honestly, trying to stay well informed on the news and have an opinion about all things, like trying to be an expert in race relations and the nation of Israel and its role in the world and, you know, assassinations here. Political. I mean, bro, exhausting. And people do, man, they just give themselves over. And I'm telling you, you're like children playing tiddlywinks in the market. And Jesus is playing a tune and you're dancing to the wrong one. That's it. This is where some of you should reread Pipers. Don't waste your life, man. It's amazing how. How much energy and clarity God will give you when you're about his business.

[C]

Yeah, it's the Father's heart that the. The cup of your life be poured out because it's overflowing, not turned upside down to empty. Yeah, those are different things.

[B]

That's good.

[D]

You know, it's crazy too. Like, I don't know if this illustration make any sense, but. So like, I was in. I was in Argentina hunting red stag, and I was made to hunt. I love it. And, bro, we do about 12 miles a day up and down the mountains. And I couldn't wait to get up the next morning and go again. And there were times where I thought my heart was gonna beat out of my chest. Dude, I'm huffing and puffing. Okay, but no problem, no problem. Felt good. Couldn't wait. I trained for it. When I go to the. When Gretchen makes me go to the mall. I'm not built for the mall, dude. My back starts hurting, I get them all back. You know what I'm saying?

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[D]

You just feel like, I can't walk here, man. I don't feel good. I need a bench to sit on. I don't have to sit in the mountains ever. You know, I just go. It's so. Makes sense. So, like, so many times, like, we just give ourselves over to environments that we weren't meant for, and you wonder why you're just all lackadaisical.

[C]

Religion is one of those environments, bro.

[D]

It'll wear you out. Well, but. But when, man? But when you experience the freedom of Christ and you. And. And you see the get tos instead of the have to's. Oh, man, let's go.

[B]

It's a great book by Dane Orlando called Gentle and Lowly. And he just spends all this time unpacking the implications of that phrase. There's so much there. We're about out of time, pastors.

[C]

You're out of time.

[B]

Well, I know it's pastor bedtime.

[C]

That's all right, though.

[B]

Well, Pastor Joey, why don't you close us with. I mean, I just love how in the sovereignty of God, as we're planning for our schedules and everything, and these especially the big chunks, you know, they come together in a way that's just like, it's so cool to see them as these little snapshots or big snapshots, you know, of. Of a picture. So what else you got for us before we pray?

[D]

We closed with communion today, which is awesome. I love it. And as a Protestant church, I mentioned this quickly because we talked about it in the meetings today. We talk about ordinances, not sacraments, because sacrament means a means of grace, which is an oxymoron in and of itself. Like, what's a means of grace? Grace means without your means, you receive grace. And if it's by a means, then. And I give you that, it is a wage or something you earn. Do you see what I mean? And so the two ordinances that churches like ours have been commanded to regularly practice is communion and baptism. And these are pointing to the grace of God, not if I do my part, Christ will impart me with grace. And so I did think it's cool we got beach baptism coming up. And I hope people can see the tie here, like what you were talking about in the underground Japanese church, man, I think this is totally speculation. I just made this up. I think one of the reasons that Jesus gives us the ordinance of communion was to regularly participate in the remembrance of the gospel. He's saying, hey, when you get together, preach the gospel to yourselves again. And you for probably 16, 1700 years, you're not actually going to have a copy of this thing to dig through it, you know, but every time you break the bread and you drink of the cup, you're not just remembering that that event happened a long time ago, but you are re preaching the gospel to yourself. And every single time you participate in baptism, you are remembering and celebrating the resurrection. So you get the cross and the resurrection with the two ordinances of the church. And so that's why we do it, man. And so if you haven't been baptized as a believer, you should, because Jesus had to do it that way.

[B]

Beach baptism is amazing. So don't miss it.

[C]

Don't miss it.

[D]

And I want all the. If you're getting baptized, I want you to invite your friends. I want you to tell them, be like, hey, I'm getting baptized. Will you come celebrate with me? And they're going to say yes. And if they say no, if they can't because they got some. If they just say no, they ain't your friend. I'm going, honestly, they're going to say yes, especially these days. And then I want you to go to the next level because the harvest is plentiful. And I want you to take the next step and be like, well, have you ever been baptized? And they're gonna. Whatever they say as a kid or no. Or yeah, or whatever, okay? It is the open door for you to explain what baptism is. And in so doing, you will explain the gospel via your testimony. I mean, this is Revelation 12, man. This will be the blood of the Lamb and the word of the testimony right there together, all sandwiched. And then say, hey man, you could come. If they surrender their life to Jesus, get in the water with us and your friends, you get baptized too. I mean, how cool would it be to use this ordinance that points to the resurrection of Christ for your friend to come to know Christ and experience that resurrection?

[B]

Very cool.

[D]

Amen. Now let's do it. All right, let's pray. Dear Jesus, we love you. We thank you so much that while you could give us the woes, you actually give us the this invitation to come to you. Not to a set of religious obligations, not to an organization, not to an ideology, not to self fulfillment or self actualization, but to come to you. And in you, through your life, death and resurrection, we find what we're actually looking for. And that is not. That is peace with God and the peace of God in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you for listening to the podcast. The end. You nailed it.

[A]

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