The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Instrument Rated Christians

Episode Date: September 7, 2018

An instrument-rated pilot is a pilot who is able to fly using only the flight instruments within the plane. This allows a pilot to fly in low visibility without becoming disoriented. Today, Jeff shares how you can become an instrument-rated Christian, able to fly despite the storm within the Church today. Snippet from the Show: Jesus comes and gives us a way to live our lives [so] that when the storms come, and suddenly everything that we have depended upon is gone, you can still depend upon him.

You're listening to The Jeff Kaven Show, episode 80, instrument-rated Christians. Hey, I'm Jeff Kavins. How do you simplify your life? How do you study the Bible? All the way from motorcycle trips to raising kids, we're going to talk about the faith and life in general. It's the Jeff Kaven Show. Hey, welcome to the show again this week. So glad that you have the time.

to join me. Want to continue talking about the good things of the Lord and specifically in how to become activated disciples in our lives and how to follow the Lord on a daily basis. But it's been a little rough lately, hasn't it? It's been difficult. I know it has for many of you. And I appreciate your emails and your text talking about some of the discouragement that you've gone through by listening to the news and some of the comments that your relatives and colleagues at work are making. And some of you even said it's a little embarrassing to be Catholic right now. And I would agree with you. It's been very, very difficult. And that's what I would like to talk to you about today. And that's why I called the show today, instrument-rated Christians.

We'll explain a little bit more of that in just a moment. Hey, last week I was able to talk about the introduction of the Great Adventure Bible. I've got to tell you, I'm really happy about this, and I've been doing a lot of interviews on radio stations around the country talking about the new Great Adventure Bible, and there's just nothing like it. And I'm hearing this from you, too, that some of you're receiving your Bibles now. The Great Adventure Bible is the new Bible, put out by Ascension Press, and it is taking the Great Adventure Bible timeline chart and the methodology of reading the Bible in chronological order, and it's taking that and it's putting it right into a beautiful brand-new Bible. And the response that we're getting is overwhelming. So I want to thank

you. And we'll do more shows in the future about how to use that Bible. But to be honest with you, it's kind of self-explanatory. As you open it up, it has articles in there on how to read the Bible as a narrative, as a complete story. All of the period charts from the Great Adventure are in the Bible. And every page that you're reading in the Bible, all 73 books have a small color-coded stamp on the edge that tells you what period you're in. And so it really is a game changer of a Bible. And if you'd like to get yours, you can go to ascensionpress.com and go ahead and order years. As far as I know, they're shipping because I'm getting those messages from you. And I've got mine right here and absolutely love it. It has become my new Bible.

And we're going to talk more about it in the future. Hey, this week I wanted to encourage you concerning what we are going through. And I spoke about this a couple of weeks ago in the show 78 called Church Scandles and Mousetraps. But I want to continue on this for just a little bit. you know, when you are navigating throughout life and you're trying to make your way and just do the best you can, there are certain landmarks that you have in your life that you grow to depend upon. When you're younger, you grow to depend upon mom and dad, grandma, grandpa, maybe something in your own hometown. As you grow older, you start to depend upon your job. and your 401k, and still, depending upon mom and dad, they're there, and they're always there to

give you advice, and maybe your parish priest, you know, he's been there for a few years now, and life is good, you know, everything is in place. But then suddenly everything changes in your life, and you're not sure what to do, because the things that you have depended upon for so many years like mom and dad, maybe your uncle or aunt or a brother or sister, your 401k, your job. Everything starts to change. Maybe you lose your job or your company calls you and says that they went bankrupt and no longer do you have a 401k. And you're thinking, what? I've been depending upon this for so many years. Or maybe you lost your mom or your dad and everything looks different. and you're not sure how to navigate anymore.

This happens to all of us, I think, you know, to one degree or another. And I know that when it comes to flying an airplane, I was in a discussion with a good friend of mine this last week, and we were talking about this, and he was talking about being an instrument-rated pilot, and an instrument-rated pilot is a pilot who goes through a class to become a visual flight rules certified pilot, you know, called VFR, where the pilot is trained that he doesn't have to look at some of the things that he's familiar with. Like in flying into the

Twin Cities, you would look for Lake Minnetonka, or you'd look for U.S. Bank Stadium, downtown where the Vikings play, or you look for, you know, Lake Harriet or Lake of the Isles, some of the great landmarks in the Twin Cities. But what would you do? do if suddenly a cloud moved in and a storm moved in and you couldn't see the things that you were used to, the things that you were gauging before, you know, the things you were relying on before they were just gone. What would you do? Well, when it comes to flying an airplane, if you suddenly can't see the things that you have been depending upon, you can go into what's called a state of vertigo where all the sudden everything is upside down. You don't know what is up.

You don't know what is down. And you are completely confused. I know that a while ago, many of you know about John Kennedy Jr. And Kennedy, who had not yet qualified for flying with instruments alone, found himself in a very, very difficult situation, probably had less than one hour's experience flying his plane at night without an instructor. And a reporter noted that a common cause of crashes among pilots untrained in instrument flying was taking off when visibility was good, but flying into conditions where it was not, making the piloting more difficult than they can handle. And in Kennedy's case, and you can look this up, but Kennedy's mind started playing tricks. The instrument panel in front of him and his head were telling him different things.

The instruments were saying one thing and what his head was telling him was another thing. And it was like one of Barlow's better psychedelic efforts for the Grateful Dead. Only this nightmare was for real. Kennedy lost his bearings and then lost control of the plane. In the dry parlance of the investigation, this is called disorientation accident. It's a disorientation accident. Kennedy seems to have had a sudden attack of what pilots call black hole vertigo, a three-way disconnection between reason, instinct, and reality, even an inability to tell the difference between up and down. In the night haze, Kennedy's instincts began to lie to him. His mind's I was blind, only with experience which Kennedy lacked. Can a pilot trust the needles on the

dials more than what his brain is telling him? Now, when it comes to getting over this, you've got to be trained. You've got to become an instrument-rated pilot. But in everyday life as Christians today, we can run into the same thing that Kennedy did. We can run into the same thing that many pilots run into, and that is that suddenly a storm comes in, and those sites that you're so used to, those relationships that you have depended upon so much, mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, father are gone, and you don't know what's up or down anymore. That's what happens in our lives, and that's what some people are going through right now. They're saying, But I've always depended upon bishop so-and-so. I've always depended on Father so-and-so.

But what I'm hearing in the news is like a storm coming into my life. And I don't know what to do. I feel disoriented. I feel confused. I don't know where to turn. I feel panicked. I feel like I'm going down. I feel like I'm losing control. Yeah, you might be. But I've got good news for you. And that is this, that Jesus Christ has come to teach us how to walk by faith and not by sight. Jesus comes and gives us a way to live our lives that when the storms come in and suddenly everything that we've depended upon is gone, you can still depend upon him. I'm going to take a break. When I come back, I want to talk about you becoming an instrument-rated Christian who can fly when the storm comes.

comes in. You're listening to The Jeff Kaven Show. Reading the Bible is something we as Catholics know we should do, but let's be honest, it can be kind of complicated. Even though it's a complete story, the Bible isn't really one book. It's more like a library, with dozens of books and dozens of genres. There's poetry, prophecy, and prose. There are apocalypses and revelations, historical accounts, and allegories. No wonder it's difficult to keep a finger on the story of God's love and plan of salvation for his people, the thread that keeps all of it together. If you're wishing there was a simple guide to help you tie all of this together,

then you're just like Jeff Kavins and Tim Gray. That's why they wrote the book, Walking with God. Walking with God is a single book that traces the story that ties the Bible together. It helps you to understand the big picture of the Bible If you're looking to read more of the Bible, walking with God will help you do it with confidence, peace, and clarity. You can find out more and order Walking With God on ascensionpress.com or on Amazon. Hey, welcome back to the Jeff Kaven show.

We're talking about becoming instrument-rated Christians. And I'm not going to make this real complicated, but I do want to encourage you today because I watch the same news you do and I know that it can become very discouraging, and some of the landmarks in the Catholic world that people have depended upon are not there anymore, and they want to know what to do. I want to point you to Jesus. I want to point you to the one who Scripture says is the same yesterday, today, and forever. A year ago before these stories began to break, Jesus was the same. he was the same yesterday and he is the same today and he'll be the same tomorrow and in a month

from now when more stories come out he will be the same nothing is going to change that he's the same and that messiah that king of kings that lord of lords Jesus Christ of Nazareth is calling on you to walk by faith to walk by faith and not by sight because what we see and what we hear and what we can experience, they're temporal and they change, but he doesn't. And so I want to guide you to him. And this might be a period in your life, as it is in mine, where we press into God's Word and press into the sacraments

and the teachings that have been handed on to us from long ago. This might be that time where we find that anchor for our soul like we've never known before we learn to really trust in the Lord. I don't think that it's an accident that you're listening to the show today and that you're being led to God's word. I think it is interesting that it's the week after we introduced the Great Adventure Bible that we're circling back around now and saying, hey, let's go deep into his word. Let's go deep into his word. Let me draw your attention to one chapter in Hebrews, which is very important for what we're talking about today. when it comes to becoming an instrument-rated Christian, and that is Hebrews Chapter 11.

Hebrews Chapter 11 has been called by some as the Hall of Faith. You know, it gives us a long list of people who were experiencing storms in their life, but they walked by faith. And to walk by faith is to depend upon His Word. His word is like the instrument rating that pilots receive. They can't look at what's happening around them anymore because it's disorienting. They've got to look for what is sure, and that is His Word. And that's why Hebrew starts off in chapter 11 in verse 1 with this phrase.

It says, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. And then it goes through a whole litany of people who have walked by faith. Verse two, for by it the men of old received divine approval. By faith, we understand that the world was created by the word of God so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear. By faith, Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he received approval as righteous. God bearing witness by accepting his gifts, he died, but through his faith, he's still speaking.

By faith, Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found because God had taken him. Now, faith, now before he was, it goes on, says, now before he was taken, he was attested as having pleased God. And without faith, it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. By faith, Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, took heed and constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this, he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which comes by faith. By faith, it goes on in verse 8 and says by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance and he went out not knowing where he was to go he went by faith maybe you're like Abraham today maybe you don't know exactly which way to go but if you walk by faith and trust in God he will lead you says by faith Abraham he sojourned in the land of promise as in a foreign land, living intense with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.

And then it goes on and on, verse 10, for he looked forward to the city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God. By faith, Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. Isn't it beautiful? It goes on and on. I'm not going to read the whole chapter, but I do encourage you to read it, Hebrews chapter 11. The point that I want to make this week is that in these times when the things that you've been depending upon seem to be shaky, look to Christ, look to Jesus, become an instrument-rated Christian, and fly by faith in the Lord that is to do. depend upon those things that you cannot see, but you know we're there. And that is his faithfulness, his plan. Now, one of the great paragraphs in the catechism that I so love, there's a couple of them I'd like to share with you. One is paragraph 236, which tells us that there are two things that we

really need to get a hold of. One, when we dive into God's word, we're going to come to know the mystery of the Trinity. We're going to get to know the heart of our father. And even though things are rough all around us, you can know the heart of your father in Scripture. You can know him. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Do not lose hope in your Heavenly Father, who loves you, and by the way, is guiding the church today. He may be doing things that are beyond our understanding but we can come to know him in his word. We can also come to know his plan by diving deep into his word, and his plan is sure, and it's not going to change.

He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. I also like paragraph 150 in the catechism. It says faith is, first of all, a personal adherence of man to God. at the same time and inseparably, it is a free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed. Now, there's two aspects to faith. One is a personal adherence of man to God. In other words, you're making a mental assent. I believe. I believe in God. I believe his word. I believe what he's passed on to the church. And that's good. Don't let the news take you off that. But the second aspect is a personal adherence, a personal trusting of yourself.

Do not let ABC, NBC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, Fox, don't let any of them take you off of your trust in your Heavenly Father. don't let any of them take your trust away from his magnificent plan for your life. Yes, there are rough waters. And if you look throughout salvation history, you will see an amazing plan spotted with rough waters. But God has been faithful all the way through it. And he will today. He will today. Don't let people discourage you. put your hope in Christ. You know, that Hebrew word hope is the Hebrew word tikva, tikva, ha tikva, the hope. And hope is like an anchor for your soul.

Your hope is not in what men will do or women will do. Your hope is in what God has done and continues to do. Your hope is in the one who doesn't change. and if you will set your heart on that hope like an anchor, you will not be discouraged. You will not be cast aside. Now, I really felt like I wanted to share this with you this week because I know it's been difficult. I know it has. But don't put your hope in chariots. Don't put your hope in men. Don't put your hope in the plans of men. Put your hope in Jesus. Put your hope in the blessed mother. Put your hope in the saints who have already walked this walk and perhaps have gone through even worse times than

we're experiencing now. Put your hope in that which doesn't change, which is Jesus, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, the Blessed Mother, the saints, His Word, and you will. You will experience that foundation which doesn't move. I want to pray for you right now, and I want to hear from you too. I want to hear that, you know, how you're doing right now. And, and let's pray for each other. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord, I lift up my brother. I lift up my sister to you right now. And I ask you, Lord, to give them that strength, that strength that comes from your word, that strength that comes from your actions in salvation history, that knowledge that we can depend upon of who you are and what you've done. Lord, our

faith is in you. Our trust is in you. You are the foundation and the anchor of our heart. Thank you, Lord, for giving us strength and the strength to be strong for others. Be glorified, Lord, in all that is going on. And may your purposes continue and may your plan succeed. May your name be known around the world through our response to what you. we hear. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, my friend, go out, be strong, put your faith in Christ. Amen? And I love to hear from you. You can simply send me an email if there are topics you want to hear about, comments that you have concerning this show or previous shows. You can write me, here's the email, The Jeff Kavan Show,

at ascensionpress.com. And by the way, if you get your Bible, your new great adventure Bible, I so want to hear your response and how that Bible is blessing you. God bless you. We'll talk to you next week.