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Foreign. Welcome to the Project 28 podcast. My name is Scott. I'm going to be your host today. If this is your first time with us, let me just take a minute and explain a little bit about who we are here and how that might benefit you. This platform was created as a way for you to be able to interact with us about questions that are on your heart and on your mind, maybe even some of those deeper questions, those troubling questions. Maybe you're facing some things in school or you're going through some things and situations at work. Maybe you're struggling with even some of the deeper questions about life and existence. You know, what is my identity? Is there a plan? Is there a purpose for. For my life? We want to be able to provide you a safe place to be able to ask those questions without fear and without shame or ridicule or anything like that, with the understanding that my friends and I are going to do the very best that we can to provide a biblical framework for those answers. And what I mean by that is we believe here that the scriptures were given to us by the Lord, and in them we unfold a beautiful story, like an epic narrative about the love of God that he has for humanity. And I. I know that's kind of odd for some people to hear because maybe you grew up in a church and the Bible was weaponized against you. You were just told a whole list of do's and don'ts in order to define what your faith meant. And that's not what we're going to approach it like. We're going to approach it like a beautiful story that it is. We're going to lean into the fact that the original audiences were just people like you and I, and that the original writers had something to telegraph about what God was doing, who he was, his identity. And we're going to take this in a little bit of a different angle. I want to show you some things that don't get talked a lot about with the Bible. And so if that's you, if you grew up in a faith context where it was just kind of weird to go to church or, you know, is harsh, and you went through a lot of that, then I'm sorry, I. That's not what it's all about. We just want to provide a way for you to be able to, I guess, begin to trust us as we build a relationship and understand that at the end of each broadcast, we're going to have something very practical for you to walk away with that helps you to navigate the life that you're living right now, the things that you're struggling with. We'd love to hear your celebrations throughout the future Podcasts. We're going to be doing interviews with people who are struggling with deep, life changing things in order that we can hear from them understand what God is doing in their life. Let me just see if I can illustrate this in a more simple way. One of my favorite things to do if I was given anything I could do on a day off, it would be to go hiking. I love to hike, I love to get outdoors and I like to do that in places that I've never been and whenever I come to like a new place to hike, a new trailhead, and I'm standing there about ready to walk down this path that I've never walked before. It's a little bit exciting and it's a little bit nerve wracking at the same time. I mean, we never really know what's going to be down that path if we haven't walked down before. That's why it's good to walk down with a guide or somebody who's been down at the very first time. Sometimes it can be dangerous, right? I mean, some friends and I did some work in a southern village in India once, for example, and we were way out in the jungle going down this path and it was overgrown by vegetation and everything. And we actually had done this a couple of times and we were going down a new path and so we had a contest of who, who would see the biggest snake that day. And sure enough, not far down the path, my guide all of a sudden smacked me in the chest with his hand and stopped me because about four feet in front of us was just this massive cobra. And it scared the daylights out of me. You got to understand, I have a Indiana Jones level of fear when it comes to snakes. And so I was like, nope. I just, you know, we're not going to go ahead until the path is clear. And that was one of the scarier things we've ever encountered. But then, you know, earlier this year too, my daughter and I were in Iceland in January and we took up another path that led down like some volcanic rock and things. And it came out on a glacier. And this glacier was absolutely breathtaking. Just clear blue ice, higher than a house you could walk down and in the crevasses and just explore. It truly just took your breath away. And so that path led to something that was profoundly beautiful that I will never forget either. Well, studying the Bible and understanding the content of it is a little bit like that. We can go down those paths that we've never gone down before in our Bible study, and we may see some things that are kind of frightening. The Bible does speak into things like that. But we can also see just the true beauty and the depth of what is there. And that's where I want us to go down today. I want us to start down a trailhead that shows us the true beauty of who Jesus is and what he's done for you, that hopefully by the end of our time, you're going to be able to walk away with a newfound understanding or maybe remembering something amazing about who Jesus is and what he has done for you. This whole podcast, the 18 part of it, is taken from a verse in the Bible that's found in second Peter 1:8. And to paraphrase that verse, it says if you do the things that were written before, before verse eight, in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so our goal with the podcast is to help you understand a deeper knowledge about who Jesus is, because I believe once we are able to do that, then we will have either greater devotion for Jesus and a better understanding for who he is. So let's do this. Let's go to the Bible, and I want to share with you a story. And the way that I'm going to do this is I'm going to explain what it would have been like for the original audience to have heard this story. And what I mean by that is they would have understood some things that we in 21st century civilization would not necessarily catch when Jesus was doing something. In order to do that, I'm going to go to a book in the Bible called John. John is found in the second half of the Bible that we call the New Testament. And it's one of the accounts, if you will. It's an autobiography or, I'm sorry, it's a biography of Jesus and who he was that was written by one of his friends that walked with him for three years. And he explains this. Now, one of the things you're going to need to know right up front is that John uses a lot of what is the first half of the Bible that we call the Old Testament when he writes his account of Jesus's life. For example, when you read his very first words in chapter one, verse one, he says, in the beginning was the Word, and the word was God. You're drawn to remember Genesis 1:1, the very first book of the Bible, which uses very similar language where it reads, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. John is laying the foundation that Jesus is the creator of the universe. This is who he is. So he continues to draw on language from Genesis. When he calls Jesus the light, the one who brings life dispelling darkness, he is the. The. The one true God. He came to reveal his plan to save creation, and that salvation comes through him alone. In chapter one, verse 10, he said he was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him. But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be called the children of God to those who believe on his name. So he's beginning to link the Old Testament with the New Testament in order for us to understand who Jesus really is. And that audience that he's talking to and writing to would have picked up on this immediately. They would have immediately known the Bible stories that they knew before and the things that they read, and they would have connected those dots in their head from Genesis. He goes on to using language from the second book of the Old Testament, called Exodus, to help his readers understand that Jesus is indeed God. In chapter 1, verse 14, he writes, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. His audience would have understood that Jesus dwelling meant that he tabernacled or he tented among them, recalling imagery from the Exodus about God being with the nation of Israel in all of his glory, leading them through the wilderness. And that's a different story that we can explain in a later episode. But for this, for today, we're just wanting you to see that, like, there's a connection going on here. And I'll show you why this is important. He continues to contrast light and darkness to verify the deity of Jesus, a theme that he refers to some 30 times in his letter. He writes, for example, in chapter three, verse 19, this is the judgment that light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. And again in chapter 8, verse 12, Jesus spoke to them again, I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. One of my favorite stories in John's letter brings this whole theme of light and darkness to a climax. In John, chapter nine, we read about how he miraculously heals a man who was born blind from birth. But he doesn't just heal him physically. He also heals him spiritually. And one of the most curious things about this account is the way that he performs this sign. The way that he does this miracle seems odd to us at first, but again, those people who are in the crowd watching this, they would have connected some dots that I want to share with you because it's a really cool story. So let's pick up this story in John chapter 9, in verses 1 to 7. Here we read, as he was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, rabbi, who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind? Jesus replies, neither this man nor his parents sin. This came about so that God's works might be displayed in him. We must do the work of him who sent me, which, while it is day, night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Here's this theme again. After he said these things, here's the miracle. He spit on the ground, made some mud from the saliva, and spread the mud on his eyes. Go. He told them, wash in the pool of shalom, which means scent. So he left washed, and he came back seeing. So what's going on here? I mean, like, why does Jesus make mud, which is mentioned five times in this chapter. How could he have performed the miracle that way? He could have really done it anyway that he chooses because he's God. He could have spoken it. I mean. But remember, signs in the Gospel of John are things that indicate something about Jesus that we need to know deeper things about who he is as the Creator. And he's been telling his audience from the very beginning that Jesus is the creator of the world. So by the time we get here to chapter nine, that's the picture they have in their minds about Jesus. He's the creator and he's the light of the world. So when Jesus uses this mud, then he's actually creating an object lesson that the readers would have connected back to their understanding that God was the creator, having made man and women from the dust of the ground. John started with Genesis, and he's doing a flashback to, to that narrative as well here. And the people get it. They understand it. Here's what it says in Genesis 2:7. Then the Lord formed the man out of the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being. He's connecting that creative moment from the dust to the clay that's being used. Some other parts of the Bible, it Says this, if God puts no trust in his servants and he charges his angels with foolishness. This is from a book called Job, how much more those who dwell in clay houses, which is a reference to you and I, to humanity whose foundations is in the dust and who are crushed like a moth. Again, it's that imagery that. That metaphor that we are like clay jars. And further on in Job, it says, your hands shaped me and formed me. Will you now turn and destroy me? Please remember that you formed me like clay, and you will now return me to dust. Interesting, right? So they're making a connection that Jesus as a creator is now standing before this blind man as his creator. It's more than just some guy who is able to perform a magic trick to make his eyesight return. But there's more, a more literally reading of John, chapter 9, verse 6 in the original language Greek that it was written in. We can read it, and it would be a little bit awkward reading, but here's what it would say. After he said these things, he spit on the ground, made some mud from the saliva, and spread his mud on the eyes of the man. So that adjective his actually can go to the mud more than to the eyes of the blind man. In other words, what we're saying here is Jesus takes his mud, he his creation, and he uses it to heal the man's eyesight. Now, the religious leaders that were part of the crowd would have likely known exactly what Jesus was doing and that he was claiming to be Messiah. The word Messiah, it means sent. 1. The Jewish people at that time were looking for a Messiah figure to come to be sent. And so that's why this is really interesting, because there's some deep stuff going on with him, just using the dirt to heal this man. He was the creator who could heal his creation physically, but even beyond that, he's the one that can heal him spiritually. So here's what all of that means for us. There's a beautiful passage in the Bible, one of my favorite ones to go to. It's found in Second Corinthians, chapter four. This is in the second half of the Bible known as the New Testament. Second Corinthians 4, verses 7 to 18. Let me read you this because it illustrates for us today what that miracle meant for that blind man back when Jesus healed him. Verse 7 says, now we have this treasure in clay jars. So there's extraordinary power, may be from God and not from us. So in other words, same imagery here that Paul, the author of Second Corinthians, is using. He's pulling back to the Old Testament to, to describe you and I. Today we are still these clay jars that have this amazing treasure within them. Here's how it all works out. Here's the practical application of this. It says here we are afflicted in every way, but we're not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. We are persecuted, but not abandoned. We are struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry the death of Jesus in our body so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in in our body. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus's sake, so that Jesus's life may be displayed in our mortal flesh. So then death is at work in us, but life is in you too. And since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke. We also believed and therefore speak. For we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise with Jesus and present us with you. Indeed, everything is for your benefit. So that as grace extends through more and more people, it may cause thanksgiving to increase to the glory of God. Therefore, we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. Here's the. Here's the great verse, verse 17. For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. Let me explain what all of that means. It's really simple and it's profound. What it means is Jesus as the Creator of the universe made us. He made us distinct. He loves us, he has a plan, he has a purpose for our lives. And as Creator, he understands what it is to suffer. Because he came to earth, he lived as a man, he's fully man, he's fully God. He went through tremendous suffering for us so that he could go to the cross, that he could die, he would be resurrected, and he was ascended to send his spirit to us, to be able to help us through the day by day things that we're facing. So whatever those questions are, whatever those things that are troubling you and keeping you up, those things that we are experiencing in our clay jars, to use the same verbiage as the scriptures, he understands that because he is the maker of our clay jars, he is our Creator and He stands ready to help us as well. This is not just in day by day stuff which he's here for because he understands what that's like. When you think about it. When I grew up, we learned a lot about Jesus and we focused a lot on the God part of him, like the learning and understanding his deity. He went to the cross. He. He died for us. He was resurrected. But if Jesus is fully God and he's fully man, and he is, we can also learn about what humanity is from him. We can look at a human being who experienced all types of stress, persecution, and troubles, and we can learn from him because he himself was in a clay jar, so to speak. He did that out of his love and this profound depth of wanting to have a relationship with us. I like to think about it this way. Let me use my own analogy back to the book of Genesis. Originally, in the garden, the first man and the first women. Women were given a choice as they stood before a tree. They were given the directive, don't eat of this tree, because that will open your eyes. And in effect, what it was saying is you would take power and control of your own life and say in yourself, you're not needing God, you're disobeying him. And when that happened, humanity took a different path. And we'll get into that and talk about that in future episodes. But a decision had to be made as they stood before that tree. Fast forward then to the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the first four books of the New Testament. Here we are also challenged to stand before a new tree. And that tree is the cross. Jesus, according to the Bible, was hung on a tree for our sins and for our troubles, our things. We now stand before that new tree. You and I do, having a decision to make. Do I have faith and loyalty in Jesus as he took on himself the consequences of, of that first act of disobedience in the Garden of Eden? Well, that's where we're at today, folks. I hope this is encouraging for you. I know that as I go through day by day stuff, I look at cultural things, I struggle with, getting older, understanding how to finish strong in life things along these lines. I take great and massive encouragement from the fact that my Creator is able to heal me and help me get through the day, but he's also there to provide me ultimate salvation, ultimate spiritual healing as well. And I want you to understand that as well. So whatever that issue is that you've got on your heart and mind, please communicate it to us. Please let us know what that is. We'll begin to pray alongside of you. We'll address it here publicly and we'll go into some future stuff about what the Bible really says about those things. But take encouragement. I'd encourage you to go to the Book of second Corinthians today, read through chapter four, understand what it means through your life, pray through that chapter as well. And I look forward to connecting with you guys on the next episode. God bless and take good care.