The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Christian Evangelization: We Heard It Through the Grapevine!

Episode Date: January 7, 2022

People encounter Christ by encountering him through the words and deeds of Christians. Jeff shares how we can be an essential part of the "grapevine" through which others can be touched by God and encouraged to enter into a relationship with Christ. Snippet from the Show We want to be part of the grapevine helping people hear about the Lord, especially by bringing them to the Eucharist. We do this by touching people through our words and actions. Snippet from the Show Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow for full shownotes!

Welcome to the Jeff Kaven Show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together and living as activated disciples. This is show 252. We heard it through the grapevine. I'm looking forward to sharing some good news with you. Hey, new sound. I like that. I love drums. And it's a bit of a new feel going forward. I want to tell you a little bit of a little bit. bit about that. It is the start of a new year. Let me just start off by saying welcome. It's good to be with you. It really is. And I do hope that the year 2022 becomes a fantastic year for you. A lot of people said, we just want to move on to a new year. And that's what we're doing. And I've got just a little bit of a different feel for this show, a little bit more focused. I really wanted to

target this show to focus on really three things going forward. The Bible, obviously, it's key. And that's what we'll spend a good amount of time talking about is the Bible. And the Bible in a year has put the great adventure Bible study into orbit. And it is really growing as many individuals and parishes are catching a hold of God's plan. So the Bible is really, really key to this show. The second thing is discipleship. That makes all the difference between being a follower of Jesus and a cultural Catholic. And I know you don't want to be a cultural Catholic. I know you want to be a disciples. So we're going to talk about all things discipleship. How do we live? How do we pray? What is the shape of your day? All of that. And then evangelization. We must learn how to share Christ with others. And I'm

going to focus on those three things. We're going to focus on the Bible. We're going to focus on discipleship and we're going to focus on evangelization. I do hope that you will join me and I hope you'll share the show with your friends. They can go on Google Play or Apple. and subscribe and then, you know, rank the show, make some comments. It always, it always helps. Hey, two things before we get into today's topic about we heard it through the grapevine. I want to tell you a couple things. One is coming up in February, February 18th through 20th, we have a Bible in a year virtual conference. That's right. Ascension Press is putting it on. And there's going to be four main sessions beginning Friday night and then.

ending on Sunday afternoon. Each session is going to explore a different dimension of continuing a life immersed in the Word of God. Because I know that so many of you have gone through the Bible in a year. And by the way, it's number one again, number one in the country of all podcasts. And that is to me a tribute to God and he is raising his word and people are flocking to it. Good times. So I'm going to be giving a couple of talks. Father Mike's going to be giving a couple of talks and you, you get to interact. You do. We're going to have some real surprises for you coming up. But if you're interested in that, you can go to ascensionpress.com and we'll put the link in the show notes. Okay, the second thing I want to share with you,

Emily and I have a wonderful, wonderful cruise opportunity for you. I said that, a cruise opportunity for you in the family this August. And it's going to be the ninth through the 18th. We are taking a cruise down the Rhine River through Switzerland, where Emily's from, Germany and France and Holland. And I've taken this cruise before, and I've got to tell you, it's both visually stunning, spectacular, and the church history along the Rhine. Very, very interesting. So I'd look forward to spending some time with you on the Rhine River. That's August 9th through the 18th. information is in my show notes, and you can go to jeffcavens.com. Okay, so for today, we're going to be talking about a grapevine that is far different than the grapevine that Marvin Gay was talking

about in his hit song from 1968. You know, I heard it through the grapevine. Kind of a downer of a song, really, but the grapevine we're going to be talking about is not a downer. It is really uplifting. I've learned something very revealing in the last year, pertaining to the Bible in a year podcast that Father Mike and it worked on. What I'm hearing from people is that they heard about it from someone else. Somebody forwarded it to them or somebody heard it on a radio interview or a publication. The long and short of it is, is they heard it through the grapevine. Now, the grapevine is an interesting analogy to use when talking about evangelization.

Ultimately, we want to bring people to the Lord in a wedding celebration. That really is the goal of all this, is to bring the bride to the bridegroom, and that there would be the consummation of the relationship. They would be baptized, receive the Holy Spirit, and receive the Lord into their body in the Eucharist, not just a symbol, but really receive him in the Eucharist, which is what the church has believed from the very beginning, that communion time, which most people would call this, is a time of receiving the body and blood of Jesus. That's pretty powerful. So the wedding, wedding is very, very important in understanding we heard it through the grapevine because it was in the setting of a wedding that Jesus turned water into wine. It was in the middle. And this is a wonderful, you've got to read it sometime. It's John chapter 2. It's a little bit too long to read right here and the whole thing in the

podcast, but you can read it on your own, John 2, 1 through 11. You know the story. They were at the wedding and then they ran out of wine and then Jesus turned water into wine, something he's quite good at. So it was in the setting of a wedding where the wine had literally run out that Jesus demonstrated himself as the one who can't. and make wine out of water. If you could do that, you could open up quite a business, and I've never heard of anybody being able to do that except the Lord. What was surely going to be a disaster at the wedding

ended up becoming a moment of joy and a moment of tremendous celebration. Out of water, he made wine. Now, as C.S. Lewis pointed out in an essay on miracles in God in the Dock. If you haven't read God in the Dock, you've got to read that. But an essay on Miracles in God in the Dock, this was something he had done before. This is what C.S. Lewis said. God had done this before. He turned water into wine actually many, many times.

He says, God creates the vine and teaches it to draw up water by its roots and with the aid of the sun to turn that water into juice, which will ferment and take on certain qualities. Thus, every year, from Noah's time till ours, God turns water into wine. That men fail to see. Isn't that beautiful? You know, I got to be honest, I never quite thought of it exactly like that. And when I was reading C.S. Lewis, it just really hit me. Everybody's kind of blown out of the water with the water being turned into wine at the wedding. But you kind of lose track of the fact that in that nice cab that you were drinking last night, God did it again. He did it again with a reeling. He did it again with the Pinot Noir. God did it again. What was unusual this time was that

Jesus did in a moment what he normally did over an entire growing season. Isn't that interesting? And so out of water, soil and sun, he produces a harvest, the final product tasting far better. and offering far more nourishment than any of its individual parts could possibly do alone. To do it, he uses a grapevine. Can any of you mix with water? Can you mix water, dirt, and sunlight and produce anything like wine? Why don't we give it a week? We'll give everyone an opportunity to do that, and then we'll report next week.

I venture to say nobody's going to be able to do it. C.S. Lewis goes on to draw a powerful point. If such miracles only convince us that Christ is God, they have only done half their work. Miracles are, quote, a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some to see. So miracles have their full impact if whenever we see a vineyard or drink a glass, of wine, we remember that here works he who sat at the wedding party in Cana. I love that. I'll read it again. He says, so miracles have their full impact if whenever we see a vineyard or drink a glass of wine, we will remember that here works he who sat at the wedding party

in Cana. Put a fork in me. That is so good, isn't it? That is so good. And we must be reminded of this when dealing with one another. We are in awe at how he takes us in our raw sin, uncultivated human beings and plants us in his vineyard. He cares for us. He waters us. He produces in us the fruit of righteousness. All he asks of us is to do what? To abide. To abide. Oh, that's so good. It is his wisdom that produces in us fruit. And I like what James says in James 317. But the wisdom that comes from God is first of all pure, then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy, and good fruit, impartial and sincere. This change comes only through Jesus. Christ. That's the only way. He can take water and make it into wine. He can take you and he can

produce something with fruit of righteousness attached all over you. Three steps in evangelization. This is what I want to get to here. Three steps in evangelization. Using the grapevine as an analogy, some people may take a long time before they yield wonderful fruit. And others, kind of like the miracle of cana. It just comes very quick. But whether it takes a long time to ripen and yield the beautiful fruit of the vine, or whether it's very, very quick, like Cana, God has a work to do in you. And there are three points, three points of evidence that the early disciples used to describe their relationship with the Lord, keeping in mind this idea of the grapevine.

We heard it through the grapevine. listen to what john says in first john one one and i just love the writing of john by the way he's i don't know he's just got uh something that rings so well you know i love it i just really love it both in the gospels and first second third letters and then revelation okay listen to what he says first john one one that which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life. Isn't that interesting that John is writing to other people about their relationship with the Lord, and he likens it to, we heard him, we saw him, and we touched him, all right?

We heard him, we saw him, and we touched him. Now, when it comes to sharing Christ with other people, I think that you would admit that at the beginning of a relationship with the Lord for many people, it's hearing the good news. It's hearing the good news. And they heard the good news from somebody. They heard it through the grapevine. And that's what I want to get into. I'm going to take a break here. When I come back, I'm going to give you three points that line up with 1 John 1-1 that will help you understand how people. people can hear it through the grapevine, and hopefully, hopefully people will mature and yield that fruit that comes from hearing the good news through the grapevine. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Am I saved? How do I develop a better prayer life? How do I trust in God? The Curious Catholic is a new series of by-size books from Ascension that answer these questions and more. The Curious Catholic features small books from various authors that provide busy Catholics ways to go deeper into spiritual questions. The first three titles in the series are

from Father Mike Schmitz, host of the Bible in a Year podcast. Father Mike's books explore the topics of salvation, prayer, and trusting in God. To learn more about the Curious Catholic series, go to ascensionpress.com slash curious Catholic. That's ascensionpress.com slash curious Catholic. All right. Are you ready? Back in the saddle, we're talking about we heard it through the grapevine. And if you think about your relationship with the Lord today, you'd have to admit you heard it through the grapevine. We can go back and we can look at how many people went before you who are faithful, sharing Christ, living out their faith, impacted the world. And here you are. You are a Christian. And if you look at your, uh, your DNA as far as your ancestry.com goes, if it's the spiritual side of it, you will see that it goes all the way back. Part of it goes all the way back to Adam, but that was redeemed. And then we see it goes back to God. He has made us new. So three things that John said. We heard him, we saw him, and we touched him. Number one, we heard him. Now the beginning of a relationship

with the Lord, for many, is hearing the good news. It's hearing the good news. It might have been through you. It might have been a show on television, or could have been a podcast, a book, but they heard. They heard. And the question is, is what they heard important? Yes, it is. It is. and what they hear that catches the attention and really can yield fruit in their life is not your opinion. It's not what's going on in the news. It isn't, oh, you're not going to like this, but it's not even what's trending on Twitter. But what they hear, if it's the good news, it's going to make a difference.

And that good news, you've heard me talk about it over and over and over. That is the corigma. That's the proclamation of the gospel. That God loves them has an amazing plan for their life. sin has disrupted the plan, and Jesus has come and died for us, and now he wants us to radically reorient our life to him by repenting, and then he wants us to be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit, join his amazing family, the church, live a sacramental life, and eventually someday go out and make disciples themselves. That is the proclamation of the gospel, and at the heart

of it is that is that God created you for a plan and the brokenness of the human heart and original sin that just shot everything at that point but God has a plan and that plan is to redeem you and to bring you into the life of the Trinity to share his divine life his blessing by adopting you changing you and calling you a son calling you a daughter it's amazing Romans 1017 says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And by the way, if you want these notes, I'll just give them to you. And if you're not getting them right now, all you've got to do is text in my name, Jeff Kaven's, one word, to the number 33777. It's about as biblical as you get.

33777, my name. And I'll get you these. So you can interview any person today who is actively serving the Lord and ask them, how it all began. And they will tell you. it from the grapevine. They heard it from the grapevine. Speaking of hearing the good news, ladies, listen to this for a moment. Check out wine. Women in the new evangelization. A good friend Kelly Walquist started that ministry just so women would learn to live the faith and evangelize. And I'll give you her website in the show notes. It's a Catholic vineyard.com,

I believe. Catholic vineyard.com. I'm going to put it in the show notes for you. So that's a one, a bunch of ladies who are learning to share Christ with others. And every one of them, I haven't interviewed them all, but I would guess every one of them has heard it through the grapevine. Number two, John said, not only did we hear him, but we saw him. We saw him. Now, people watching is a very big pastime. And if you've been with me for the last few years, you know that I've mentioned a couple of times that when I was a kid, growing up, I would convince my dad to drive me over to Southdale Mall in Edina, Minnesota. You'd say, well, what's so special about Southdale Mall in Edina, Minnesota?

Well, I'll tell you what is so special. It's the first indoor mall in America. Yeah, right there in Edina, Minnesota. Well, anyway, my dad would drive me over there, and I'm sure he asked me, why do you want to go over there? And my real reason was I wanted to people watch. I wanted to watch people. I was fascinated with people, and I think we get this from being created by God, because God loves people. And I know you like people watching, too.

We go to the state fair. We go to, you know, all kinds of get-togethers, and people just are fascinated with people and food, those two things. But people watching is really, really something. And it's important for you and I to know that people are watching us. And that's what John said. He said, you know, we saw something. We saw something. And the question is, are your family members in the people in your world?

Are they seeing something in you? Have they heard something from you? Are they seeing something from you? We take in a lot through our eyes, don't we? Both good and bad. And people are watching us all the time, especially when they hear that we are Christians, when they hear we're disciples of the Lord. And if you take this route and you tell people that you're a Christian, you're a disciple with the Lord,

trust me, your life is going to be under, it's going to be scrutinized. Because people are going to say, hmm, I'd like to see. I'm going to listen more carefully. I'm going to watch him. And they want to look for a slip up, you know, or a dirty joke. or something like that, which you're not going to hear from you because you are a disciple. But sometimes people see us first and then they hear. John says, we heard, we saw, we touched, but sometimes people see us before they actually hear us.

And the good news of Christ can be communicated both by words and deeds. So, you know, be well armed with both words, and I say that in a good way. words and deeds. I should say be well prepared with words. Peter says, you know, you need to be ready to give an answer for the hope that is within you. And then the deeds. This is the way the Lord spoke to us in the Bible. He spoke in words. He demonstrated in deeds, and it's the way that we respond to God. The catechism calls it faithfulness. Faithfulness. And that's the way we are to respond to God. And so I say this just as a reminder to you, both in seeing and hearing, that what you say

and what you do really are important. And if you and I could sit with all of the other listeners to the show right now, together, and we could get people up in front of a microphone and say, okay, all right, all right, tell us a story. How did it begin? Trust me, every single one of them would have said, I heard something, I saw something. But then it comes to the third point that John brings out about hearing it through the grapevine. We hear it, we see it, but then he says, and we touched it.

Let me read that text again for you. 1 John 1-1-1 that which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life hmm wow this is getting good okay so we heard it we saw it but what others what others said and what we saw in others turns into how we were impacted i can tell you the whole story of my beginning of getting serious with God. I can tell you what they hurt what I heard. I can tell you what I saw and I can tell you how people impacted me. They touched me. The words and the deeds touched me deeply. In reality, God touched me through the lives of others. We heard it through the

grapevine. And you know what is very interesting about this is that You and I, we have touched the Lord. We have tasted and we know that he is good. How? In communion, every single time that we go to Mass, every time we touch Him. And so that is an amazing thought, isn't it? Some people would say, you know, as they recall the biblical stories, they'd say, boy, I wish I could have touched him. it's like the lady that reached out with the issue of blood and she touched the hem of his garment

or the person who was a paralytic or a leper and he touched them something he shouldn't have been doing according to the law of leviticus but he nevertheless he reached out and he touched them and they were healed it's not beautiful that's so so beautiful so we heard we saw we touched and that is your testimony. Trust me, that is your testimony. But let's turn it around just for a minute here and let's look at what you say and what you demonstrate and how you reach out to people will determine whether they hear see and are touched. And that's why the grapevine is so important because people don't just wake up one morning and say, oh, I had this conversion experience in my dream and I'm going to become a priest today.

they don't do that. It's a process, just like the grapevine. It's a process. And as C.S. Lewis said, and I said earlier, that if God can turn water into wine at a wedding, can he do it in other places? And you knew what the answer. You know what the answer was, right? He does it every day. And the key is that when you're drinking that glass of wine, are you reminded of the one who turned the water into the wine, that's the one who's working in your life? Oh, wow, it's just really, really great. So I want to encourage you today, really to do two things as we get ready to conclude here. I want to encourage you to savor what God is doing in your life as a result of hearing and seeing and him touching you. I want you to savor what he's done in your life. And look at the

fruit that has been produced in your life. And if you say, well, I'm, I don't know if I'm seeing that much, then make it your prayer. Lord, produce fruit in my life. I want to, even if you have to prune me, as often they did on the grapefines. And, you know, I've come home before. I don't know if you have, but I've come home before after some pretty screwed up haircuts. And before I got out of that chair, I looked in the mirror. I thought, oh, gosh. but you know what? That's okay. And maybe you feel like that when the Lord deals with you of, oh, Lord, you know, you're pruning me here. It's for your good. It's for the fruit in your life so that you can be fruitful and bring this message of good news to other people.

So, okay, please know that I'm praying for you. And I would ask you to pray for me. we have a lot to live for and a lot to do with jesus everything is different now and it's time to turn our hearts to the amazing plan of sheer goodness all right be blessed