The Bryce Crawford Podcast - Luke Series Chapter 9 (EP 157)

Episode Date: December 9, 2025

In this episode, Bryce breaks down Luke 9.

If you're watching or listening to this right now, this means this is your sign to come to the Bryce Crawford Live podcast store in 2026. We're bringing it to Australia, New Zealand, and America at the front end of 2026. We're coming to Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Australia. We're coming to Auckland, New York City, Pennsylvania, Boston, Alabama, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Florida, Charlotte, North Carolina, Sacramento, California, Sacramento, California, and if you're a Mormon and you want to learn about Jesus and not Joseph Smith, we're going to be in Salt Lake City, Utah as well. of them is sold out, but there's some that have low tickets, and we want to make sure you get your seats. Go to Jesus in the street.org slash tour, get your tickets. Come out to the live podcast show

because I believe that God is preparing a word specifically for each city we visit. So go to Jesusandestreet.org slash tour, get your tickets. And we'll see you guys, 26 for the live podcast tour. What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Carver podcast. I'm Bryce. And today we are in Luke chapter nine for the Luke's years. But before we get into it, you know we're going to open up some gifts. Dylan the elf. Where are you? Dylan. Dylan. Dylan. Alright, which one do you like? You know, I'm not gonna lie, this blue one's kinda calling my name over here. Take the blue one.

You know what, I'm gonna take the blue one. Merry Christmas, Bryce. You earned it this year. Thank you. Thank you. That's really sweet of you. Okay. It's a harmonica. There you go. You always wanted to play music, didn't you? Thank you so much, man. This is sweet. Let's just give it a try.

Yeah, play it too. Okay, let me give it a try. Dude, that was super sweet. Yep, I'm living my dream right there. That was it. That was the nostalgia. I just came. Man, thank you so much for that.

That was super sweet of you. Yeah, I appreciate you. Yep. Thanks so much. Well, as always, we're going to get into the Word of God today. We're going to be in Luke chapter 9. We're going to see that he called the 12 together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases. And he sent them out and he said to them, take nothing for your journey.

No staff, no bag, no bread, no money. And do not have two eunuchs. and whatever you enter, stay there, and from their depart, and where they do not receive, you leave that town, shake it off the dust, and from your feet as a testimony against them, and they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel, and healing them. God calls and equips people.

God does not call the qualified. He qualifies the called. God chooses the most unqualified people oftentimes to do a miraculous work. And I think it's beautiful. And also, I think there's something important here. You know, I met someone back in earlier this year. By the way, so encouraged by the zeal that this woman has for God. But she said, well, Jesus said, told me to sell all my belongings in order to follow him.

And so I need to do so. We have to remember, we get the privilege of having a Bible that has letterheads and different sized fonts and different colored leather. but if we would just read it like it was originally written just one flowy letter, we're going to read like 10 chapters from now. Jesus is going to go, hey, you remember that time I told you not to bring tunic, not to bring money, not to bring a knapsack? Okay, now that I'm ascending into heaven, bring those things and use wisdom, Jesus is teaching the disciples early on while he's still alive in this thing,

in his physical body, to rely and trust on God. That's what he's teaching them. And so we just have to make sure we read the full context. of that. Now, Herod is perplexed. Now, this is interesting. Right here, we're about to get into some juice right here. Herod the Tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen. So they didn't know that

Jesus was of Christ, yet they think that he's just Elijah or John the Baptist. And Herod's like, John, I'd just beheaded. But who is this about whom I hear such things. Here's an interesting thought. Sexual sin is going to come after forerunners of the faith. You see, John the Baptist, the reason he was thrown in jail, was because he found out that King Herod was sleeping with his brother's wife. This is real. And so he walks up into the castle, into his palace, and rebukes him at King Herod. Stop sleeping with your bro's wife.

John the Baptist, we sometimes need a friend like that. I love that my brother Kenan shared that he's like, sometimes we need a friend like John the Baptist, you know, that walks up in there and says, hey, stop doing that. Stop, quit it. Stop sleeping with your bro's wife. Here, it's like, what the heck,

you're not going to tell me to stop sleeping with my brother's wife. Throw you in jail. But he doesn't kill John the Baptist because he's like, well, the people love John the Baptist. The people will revolt against me if I try to kill him. So whatever. those are in jail. Then, later on, this woman sends her daughter

for King Herod's birthday to perform a strip tease for King Herod. Is that not the most disgusting thing you've ever heard? King Herod's brothers' wife's daughter does a strip tease on King Herod. That's disgusting. It's disgusting. And King Herod's like, this is the greatest thing since White on Rice. He's like, I've never in my life had anything greater than this sexual dance.

This is a girl just performing it. I will give you, he looks at her and says, I will give you whatever you want, up to half my kingdom. You want half of my wealth. I'll give it to you, whatever you want. This girl comes home and says, Mom, you won't believe what. He just said to me, he said, he gave me whatever my want. She says, tell him you want John the Baptist head. on a platter.

So John the Baptist, not desiring to beheaded, John the Baptist, sexual sin is going to headhunt Christian. Be alert, be watchful. This is so interesting, freaking disgusting. Verse 10, on their return, the apostles told him all that they had done, and they took them to a town called Bethsaida, when the crowds learned that they followed him. And verse 12, it says,

Now the day began to wear away, and the 12 came and said to him, Send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions for we are here in the desolate place. But he said to them, you give them something to eat. He said, we have no more than five loaves and two fish. Now imagine this. God says, I'm going to do something great with you. And you're like, yeah, but I'm broken. All I got is just my shattered heart.

God can do extraordinary things with the wrong ingredients. God can do magnificent, beautiful things with an honest heart. even if it's broken. We have no more than five loaves and two fish. We're going to buy food for all these people for we were about 5,000 men. That's not even counting the women and the children. Have them sit down in groups of about 50 each,

and they did so, and they all sat down and taken five loaves and two fish. He looked up to heaven, blessed it, broke it, and they all ate and were satisfied, and what was left over was picked up. 12 baskets of broken pieces. This is important in verse 18 here. Now it happened as he was praying alone. Jesus asked the disciples,

who do the people say that I am? We're going to see the first time that one of the disciples realize he's the Christ. Like, well, some of you think that you're John the Baptist, some that think you're the private Elijah. You know, we have to ask ourselves

this question every day. Who do we say Jesus is? And he says, but who do you say that I am? And Peter says, you are the Christ of God. And in Matthew chapter 16, there's an elaborate answer.

Jesus says, it's not by flesh and blood that you've been able to understand this, but it is a gift from God. There's this interesting dynamic of the sovereignty of God in Scripture. where God reveals himself and makes it understandable to people. God's the one that softens the heart.

God's the one that brings the increase. Then Jesus foretells his death, he says in verse 22, The son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and on the third day be raised. This is so funny. Then he says, immediately after, This is so crazy.

So Jesus just says, I've got to suffer for three days. I'm going to die, be beaten, bruised, mocked, and killed. And then I'll be raised from the dead. And then he immediately says, if anyone wants to follow me, let him deny himself,

pick up his cross, and follow me. Have the same intention with your life that I'm having with mine. The same way I'm loving you unto death, you must love me unto death. For he says, for whoever would save his life will lose it. Whoever tries to grip their life and their own strength will lose their life. But he says, but whoever loses his life, for my sake, will save it.

What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Whoever ashamed of me and of my words of him will the son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory in the glory of the Father and of the Holy Angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death. until they see the kingdom of God. True life where Jesus starts the moment you put faith in him. What does it profit you to do things for selfish gain? You've already received your reward, Jesus says, many times in the gospel's eyeballs.

What does it profit you? It doesn't profit you anything. And about eight days after this, he took a transfiguration is so interesting. So powerful. About eight days after these sayings, he took within Peter and John and James. It's three closest. Peter James and John, they go up the man.

mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered and his clothes became dazzling white. The glorified Jesus, the incarnate Jesus in the flesh is glorified for a moment on a mountain in front of Peter, James, and John. Exalted and glorified. He's just glowing on a mountain in simple terms. And two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now, Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep. When they became fully awake, they saw him in glory, in his glory,

and the two men who stood with him. And Peter's like, dude, is it good that we're here? Are we even supposed to see this right now? Let me make three tense. One for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. Not knowing what he said, as he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them,

and they were afraid as they entered the cloud, and a voice came out of the cloud saying, this is my son, my chosen one. Listen to him. When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone, and they kept silent. And no one knows these days. You know what's crazy?

It's on the transfiguration where for the first time in this physical body, Jesus is seen in glory and in power in front of Peter, James, and John, Moses appears. And it's interesting because in the Old Testament, Moses was a prophet sent from God to set Israel from captivity as a nation. But now Jesus Christ, who is the new Moses in parentheses or in quotations, Jesus Christ is the new Moses who came, to set the captives free.

You and I have been grafted into the family tree of God that have been given a right, a white American male from America, or the Cambodian from Asia, or the Mexican from Latin America. We have been given the right to be called children of God grafted into this thing called Israel so that you and I are now Israel.

We have been set free. Jesus is the new Moses. To set us free. from captivity, set us free from sin. He's like, I'm the new Moses. It's so powerful to think that you and I, when we put faith in Jesus, have been given the right to become children of Abraham.

You and I become a part of Israel, this lineage, when we put faith in Jesus Christ, and Jesus is the new Moses to set us free. Set the captives free. He's ransomed us from hell. And on the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. and behold a man from the crowd cried out teacher i beg you to look at my son for he's my only child

and be old a spirit seizes him and he suddenly cries out it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth and shatters him again we see the destructive nature of demons and i begged your disciples to cast it out but they could not jesus answered oh faithless and twisted generation how long am i to be with you and bear with you bring your son here while he was coming the demon threw him on the ground and convulsed him but jesus rebuked the unclean spirit healed the boy and gave him back to his father and all were astonished the demons have to obey to Jesus. While they were all marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said, let these words sink into your ears.

He's like, if you hear anything, hear this. The son of man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, saying I'm about to die. But they didn't understand what he was saying. And then think about this, verse 46, an argument arose among them of who was the greatest. Because I know, I'm the greatest, man. I'm one of the three.

I'm one of the three. And then maybe John's like, no, man. You don't know, I'm closer than you are, Peter. man, I'm his favorite. I'm God's favorite. I'm the greatest. I'm the greatest. And then Jesus says this. Whoever receives this child and my name receives me and whoever receives me. And whoever receives me receives him who sent me.

For he who is least among you all is the one who is great. He's encouraging a humble, gentle spirit. John answered, Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to stop him because he doesn't follow with us. But Jesus said to him, do not stop him for the one who is not. against you is for you. You know what's so crazy about ministry is there's so much competition where churches, churches begin to dislike each other and disunify because they say, well, you're taking my congregation. That's my congregation. You can't take that person from my church.

Or, well, I'm the only one that can preach the gospel. They can't preach the gospel. No, no, no. Jesus says, don't stop people who are doing the ministry that they've been assigned to do. Rejoice that the gospel is being preached. There's no competition in the campaign. kingdom of God, we're on the same team. Why are we jealous of other people doing work for God, big or small? Why are we jealous of other people just because God trusts them with something that we're not trusted with. Maybe you can't be trusted with what God trusts someone else because it's going to crush you. And maybe God can trust you with what he trusts you with because it's going to crush someone else and he can trust you to handle it. And with the days drew near,

he set his face to go to Jerusalem and he sent some messengers ahead of him into a village of the Samaritans, but the people did not receive him because his face was set towards Jerusalem. When his disciples, James and John saw, they said, Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them? He's like this city doesn't do. Jesus, these guys don't like you. Do you want us to just ask God to tiki torch this city right now? Like, that's the craziest thing I've ever heard of my life.

Hey, Jesus, I do not like that these guys don't like you. Do you want me to ask God to just set this city on fire right now? He's a pyromaniacs right now. But he turned and rebuked them. Crazy. Don't do that. You know, I can just imagine, my grace is sufficient for them the same way as for you.

Maybe their time isn't yet to come. And then in verse 57 to close us out as they were going. He says as they were along the road, some said to him, I will follow you wherever you go. He says foxes have holds and birds have nest, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. to another he said follow me but he said Lord Lord let me just go bury my father first

and Jesus says leave the dead to bury their own dead but as for you go and proclaim the kingdom of God he's not saying that that don't care about your father see this guy's like well let me just go bury my father first we don't even know if his father's dead yet he's like well I just need to go deal with a few things and I don't know what I'll be back but I will be back maybe just can I go do this thing first empty promises not sold out for Jesus and another one said I'll follow you Lord but let me just go go say goodbye to my family. He says no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.

It's going to cost something to follow Jesus. And I would argue you, if it's not costing you, comfortability, resources, loss of friendships to follow Jesus, you might not be following the right Jesus. Because it costs something to follow him. God doesn't compromise to fit our standards. We should be allowing the Word of God to change our love. life and conform our heart.

It's going to cost something to follow Jesus. What does it cost you to follow Jesus? Guys, thank you so much for reading Luke chapter 9 with us. And tomorrow, we will see you for Luke chapter 10. Hey, thank you guys so much for watching the Luke series. I pray that this thing is a blessing to you. And the ultimate heart is so that you go and read this word daily. You don't rely on the podcast.

You rely on the word of God and the Holy Spirit. Thank you guys so much for watching. If you like the episodes, subscribe, follow us on social media, and we'll see you guys in the next episode.