Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 572 | Phil’s Boat Ramp Wheelchair Baptism & Jase Blows Religious Minds

Episode Date: October 28, 2022

Phil tells a funny story about the logistics of operating a wheelchair down a steep boat ramp for a heartwarming baptism. Jase outlines how man's laws and rules keep turning simple things into complex issues. Zach explores the difference between creatures and creators, and Al jokes about his recent hand injury. Zach discusses people's desire to be good without God, and Jase shares a simple thought that will surprise any religious-minded person! - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So we're back on unashamed. I'm still in Oklahoma. So I'm speaking tonight in Norman, Oklahoma, Dad, home of the Oklahoma Sooners, where we know some guys that played there back in the day. And so there's a podcast listener up here that I'm going to baptize today. So I want to ask you, I'll get your opinion.

we've all baptized a lot of folks through the years. But I've never baptized somebody when I only had one working hand. I can't get my right hand wet because of this finger issue and because of the way they got it fixed up. So how would you baptize somebody with your left hand only? Yep. You'd go ahead and get the other one wet and not worry about it. Well, Dad, I'm three weeks into my healing process here. I can't.

I know it. But the one who hears you, the time factor is nothing. That's what all this is about we're going to read today. I make matter no time necessary. You could stretch out your hand. Yeah. We just read Mark 3. What do you say?

Stretch out your hand. I probably would ask for heating. I can stretch it out. By the way, I have a, yeah. That is interesting. I was starting. I started to bring up something, but I decided not to. Yeah. Well, I do that all the time. Anytime Phil says he was starting to bring up something, but he didn't. I'm always, when the podcast

ends today, I do want to know what that was because I can't imagine what it was. I'll tell you, and it's, since Phil has no filter. Incredibly serious. Oh. Oh. It's modern day. And so. Well, I think it is weird that we were talking about, uh, how. right before you said that, your opening. I just referenced to Jace Reed, John

3.5, and it does say that he said to the man stretch out your hand, and he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. So if you lose your hand for baptizing somebody in Jesus, I think it's, I don't know, Al. What kind of faith do you have?

They told me, the government, the government of these United States sent us a news flash you are from now on until we say anything's changed you are not allowed to get within closer than six foot to a human being so it it threw a wrench in our car because when you baptize somebody you have to get you have to baptize them and in a pool of water so in order to baptize them, you have to get close and it's personal and your hands are on them. Well, I just said the one who raises the dead said baptize them. So I forget the government edict. You got to stay within

six foot of them. I'm not going by that. I'm breaking the law of the United States of America because I'm going to have to push you under the water and I got to have a hole of you without doing it. So it has to be up close and personal. I went with that and never called. the virus. Well, what about when your leader spits on the ground and makes a mud pie, and that was what he uses to heal someone? Where are the COVID restrictions on that? My power works in everything you see and everything you see. This was created. The metal to here was created. This was created. Coffee was created. He said, I'm the creator of all matter and no time, no timeline.

No, this is going to take a long time. That's why people say, well, the Earth is millions of years old because it couldn't have got there that quick. He's showing you by walking on water and making those fish and stuff. I can do anything like that. I made the cosmos instantaneously.

No time necessary. I have this great power. Yeah. You're asking Phil. He's saying I'm the creator. Here's some. fish. I'll fix them for you. He made fish. Yeah. Yeah, you're asking, if you're wanting a way out, you're asking the wrong man. Phil was the guy that baptized somebody

with a trache. And if I remember the story correctly, he called in the cardiologist, doctor. And they wrap saran wrap around the, right? Is that what happened, Phil? Yeah, they put, that was one of them and another one. He put, I saw that one happen. And it was like, like five or six people baptized the guy. And they, they put surround. wrap over his trachea hole. That was the doctor's advice. Yeah. So, by the way.

Sometimes you need the grace of the Lord and a box of saran wrap. That's it. And extra hands. And the doctor. And the doctor that I contacted to come help this woman. And it was another one. We had an elderly man who pulled up and I walked out to the vehicle. and he had about eight people with him

and he's in the back seat of when he's, you know, when he's kind of like a elongated, you know, multiple seats and I opened the door. I said, sir, what can I do for you? He said, I'm trying to get baptized, but nobody will do it for me. And he said, because I can't get out of my wheelchair. I said, we'll baptize your wheelchair and all.

So we go down there to the river and we left him in his wheelchair, roll the wheelchair down the boat launch until he went under and I had to have multiple guys, about six guys, to make sure. Roll it back up. If anybody slips, this thing is going out to 20 feet of water. He literally was, it had to been mistake-free baptism. I think I'd have tied a rope on the wheelchair just in case.

We just had six good, strong men, including the doctor. again and so when we we just pushed the we just baptized him sitting in the in the wheelchair you know that's what god said do baptize him he didn't say and you know no and look if they can't walk he can't told them down there well you yeah you can yeah so so the answer al is you you got you have to get reinforcements you got to get about six guys and that way you that's right you could have one hand that is i'm gonna reiterate i'm gonna make two points I reiterate, you could go Ronnie Lott and just cut it off, which I think would be noble, because it would represent the opposite of what the world does, non-believers, what they do with their middle finger.

So I think you could protest the protest in that way. You have scriptural basis for that. But if you don't want to do that, the second point I'll make. is you don't want to be known as being the man with the shriveled hand. Because, you know, all these stories in the Bible, that's what we do as humans. We tend to label people based on their problems because that's what he was known as. But Jesus said, watch this. I had two buddies that I duck hunted with, and both of them had lost this part of their thumb, Al, this part right here.

It was gone at the joint. People listening, it's the knuckle to through the nail is. A wood saw. He was in the timber business and those big old, you know, it doesn't take but that much in your finger or your hand or whatever's gone. Well, it cut it off right there. The other one, I said, what happened to your thumb? And he said, a turtle, big turtle. I said, how big was the turtle?

and he said like this, a big old loggerhead turtle. For you listeners, Phil had the size of probably 150-pounder. 150-pound loggerhead turtle. And I said, so how did, why would you get close enough to him so he could take your fingers off? He said, I was playing with him with a stick, and I was just about 10 years old. My dad was a commercial fisherman, and he turned around there, and he said, get away from that turtle. well he said i disobeyed my dad and kept messing with that turtle and he said the turtle just whey and his thumb was gone well he looked up at his dad and he said you know what his dad said i told just what

was going to happen he just kept running the net and uh he lives like you're kind of man did you have the just a just a small point feel you have the greatest sound effects when you're telling the story you always have had a talent for that so yeah and and it's it's a little you always have had a talent for that so yeah and I was going to say, too, for those of y'all who don't know, the Ronnie Lott reference, I had to look that up. I'd forget. I knew who Ronnie Lott was. It wasn't a quarterback for San Francisco, right?

No, no. You just showed the lack of football knowledge you have. He was not a quarterback. No, corner, corner. I think he was a safety. Safety. Well, that's pretty close. Free safety cornerback.

He was a defensive. You should have stuck with the generality. He was a defensive back. Defensive back. who injured his pinky and he didn't want the long recovery time so he just had the

he had the pinky amputated in 1986 so I didn't that half time during the Super Bowl did he go back in he goes back in had it cut off they taped it up and went out there look it up so I'm saying

we're we have the Lord I mean I'll take a leap of faith suck it up and go with it you got nine more You know what I find interesting about that story? Nine and a half. You bring that story up. It's the, those Pharisees were watching saying, oh, we want to see if he heals on the Sabbath. It was a common theme, which played a part in Jesus ultimately being crucified.

And what I, we didn't talk about when we did read that paragraph. This just hit me. But when Jesus had stand up in front of everyone. and they, when Jesus asked them, which is lawful on the Sabbath, to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill, because we have this big controversy. And what hit me on that, I heard somebody say one time, what religion does is, it tends, or legalism in religion, it tends to make things complex. because they had all these rules and books and volumes

because we're fixed to get to that in Mark 7 too about traditions. They make it all complex on what you can do. Yeah, Zach has a new word for it. He got into that little bit, eschatology. Yeah. But what Jesus did was make it simple. Make it simple. He's like, well, let me just ask you a couple simple questions.

I mean, you think how simplistic those questions. is it is it lawful to do good or to do evil to save life or to kill well and due to pride they wouldn't they wouldn't answer the most simple question which is save life do good yeah so when you think about what he did and you think about the ten commandments and the 600 and whatever how many laws 660 some odd laws and the old law and combined with the thousands of rules, traditions, and laws that they added, it became so complex. That's why when Jesus and the Spirit of Grace said, I'm going to give you two. In every turn, he made it simple.

You love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. You love your neighbors yourself. That'll cover it. Well, it just burnt. And in this case, they just, they're just silent. Yeah, I read this morning in Acts chapter four, it is funny that how the gospel expanded even beyond here. You got the,

the, Peter and, I think John, who was it? Peter and John got arrested. Yep. And put in jail because they were healing people. And,

and they were upset with them. And they're like, you know, whose name are you doing this by? And I was just thinking about the boldness of these disciples and how, you know, and these stories we're reading right now.

They're not quite there yet. They're like, uh, what's going on here? They're not really understanding all this. but then you look at post-resurrection, you know, and the boldness that they had. And when they asked them, whose name are you doing this in? By what authority? And they said, let it be known to you and all people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ

of Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead by this name, this man stands here before you in good health. And then they give an Old Testament quote, He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, by which became the chief cornerstone. He became the chief cornerstone. And there is salvation and no one else. For there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.

I mean, they're declaring the power of God. And it's so funny to me that these Pharisees, These same hard-hearted Pharisees or like, you can't, you keep doing what you're doing, but don't do it by that name. And they're like, we're not shutting up. We cannot help but speak.

They were given a warning to shut up, and they were told not to speak anymore, but they replied, judge for yourselves whether it's right and God's out to obey you rather than God. But we cannot help speaking about what we've seen and heard. You know, they didn't even slow, it didn't even slow them down.

It didn't slow down. That's the way we ought to be. Oh, yeah, and I love how it ends in verse 31. It says when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together, this is pretty incredible, was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the Word of God with boldness. And I think, you know, going back to our conversation from the last couple podcasts, because what we're seeing here unfold in the Gospel of Mark,

we're seeing kind of this boldness begin to emerge, But it wasn't there at the beginning. I mean, you see this. I mean, you see this in the beating of the 5,000. You see it with Jesus is walking on the water. I mean, you see, and they're all like, wait, what is, they're not quite getting it. And Jesus is slowly taking them down this three-year journey, the end of which he's going to be crucified. But then when that power comes through the resurrection, that's when the apostles gets, that's when they get set on fire by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And boldness comes through that. Exactly. We need a break. So what I was going to say was same thing. Well, well said, Zach, because when you get to Mark 6 in verse 30, which is the feeding of the 5,000, and it's Mark has a little different take on behind the scenes. And what I propose is that we,

we learn that there is a problem after this, because when Jesus walks home the water and Mark's account is different here also he doesn't record Peter's involvement in that you know where where Peter's like I mean he's like I'm gonna get I'm gonna get out of the boat what is that saying I'd rather be with Jesus on the the wild seas than in the boat without him I mean that was I respect Peter for that so he doesn't record that but when you get to to Zach's point that he just made

they had a moment here in the boat this was the first positive sign because he's a little bit upset because when he when you skip ahead to chapter 6 now this is after and we'll read it

the walking on the water in 51 when he climbed into the boat with them and the wind died down they were completely completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves. Their hearts were hardened. So we're going to back up and read what they didn't understand. But he's going to follow this up in chapter 8 and go further down that road when he feeds the 4,000. And I wanted to propose that you see something

happened in all the Gospels that I had never thought about before. But this is the time when Jesus is the crowd start after the feeding of the 5,000. I think if you wanted a pinnacle moment where the most people were amassing to be around Jesus, because we're going to read a verse where they were actually, when they would hear him coming, they would run. There were people running up and down the hill. hills to get to him. I mean, you just imagine that scene.

You know, when I was at the Sea of Galilee, you can see for miles. But just the fact of me visualizing people running down the banks, they're like, what is there a marathon? Is there a race? And they're like, no, we're running toward Jesus. But it all start, his crowds start dwindling. Overwhelmed with amazement. Yeah.

The crowd start dwindling after this. Because it goes, you know, he feeds 5,000 men, which. So, I mean, you're, I'm assuming there's at least 15, 20,000 people here, if it was 5,000 men. But in the, in the Mark 8, the next crowd, it was 4,000. You said, well, that doesn't mean anything. But if you tie this in with the John 6 account, and I'll read it real quickly, is after he feed, in John's account of him feeding the 5,000, well, remember, he gave this long speech about, I'm the... the bread of life.

Well, at the end of that, many stopped following him. Where's that at where it says, many of the disciples from that, yeah, that's a 666. From this time, many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. You do not want to leave me too, do you, Jesus has the 12th? So you remember that saying? And so, and I think it comes back to this same narrative that Jesus, although he was doing the miracles and he's supplying all this food, well, they had a picture that he's going to be king and we're fixed to rout, Rome, we're fixed to kill some people. And here's Jesus saying, no, I'm going, I came here to die. Well, it was not fitting the narrative of which they thought.

And even now, we have the main three detractors, which are the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Herodians. They didn't even hear at all when he said, you've seen all these miracles walking on water for all this bread. I'm making all the food. He said, next on the agenda is I'm going up to Jerusalem, I'm going to die. but at three days I'd be raised from the dead.

Yeah, but that, it's like... They didn't like that. It just went... Well, and even the fourth group that really were detractive were his disciples. And you kind of see that when you put all this together. Now, they did have a turning point moment here in the boat, and we'll read that. But I wanted to introduce that because when you get to chapter 8, after the feeding of the 4,000, there's a, there's an episode with the Pharisees.

Now, and I just want to read this first, and then we'll go back because I think it's important, and we kind of all agreed that you need to attack this from this angle. Where are you reading from? 814. So, now look, just think. Mark 814. Just think about this. He feeds 5,000 men, and who knows how many kids and women the first time.

And there's stuff left over. two chapters later he feeds 4,000 so and they have seven you know basketfuls left over so this this is really interesting so in verse 14 the disciples had forgotten to bring bread now this is right after he he just showed them okay look I can make bread for nothing It seemed like you would never, and what's so interesting is they bring one loaf. And I just kind of stopped me in my tracks. I'm like, well, why did you bring one? He obviously can make it from nothing. Or did you think in your mind, oh, but he's got to have one loaf to make, to multiply that?

I think that's what they were thinking. the common sense approach to that, which is still limiting Jesus. They still don't get it because he's fixed a really chastis them. But he says, be careful, Jesus warned them, watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod, which goes back to Zach's original point about Mark 3. They had hard hearts, which is why they didn't have compassion on the guy with their shriveled hand and why they wouldn't answer Jesus' simple question. You want to do good and save lives?

do you want to follow this Sabbath? So then it says 816. They discussed this with one another and said, it is because we have no bread. What? They're worried about that growth. They're worried about the slope of bread and they didn't bring the bread. And so he said, aware of their discussion,

Jesus asked them, why are you talking about having no bread? do you still not see or understand are your hearts hardened do you have eyes but fail to see and ears but fail to hear and don't you remember i mean he asked them a series of questions that for the first time and all this that are real personal and that are real uh insinuating about their hearts i mean he is not happy and when you read some of the other parallel passages, he's angry in this moment. He is lighting them up. And when I broke the five loaves for the 5,000, how many basketful of pieces did you pick up? 12, they replied. And when I broke the seven loaves for the 4,000, how many basketful of pieces did you pick up? They answered, seven. He said to them, do you still not understand? Sam? So I think it's better to read this first before we read it because we're going to have two episodes where you think they're sitting there saying, oh, this guy is amazing. He came here

to provide for us in our knees, but there's something in this that they missed. It's not what it appears to be because they obviously missed it. They didn't get it. I think it's easy for us sometimes. and look at these accusations against the Pharisees as these people with hard hearts as if it's those people. But here you have a comparison, same kind of language of the Pharisees and the disciples had hard hearts. And one of the,

I think there's a couple things in here that I see, but one of the big, big distinguishing things that I think Jesus is saying here, is there's a difference between creating things and creating things. And what I mean by that is this, that you go back to Genesis, 1-1, and there's a word in there called it when it says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

The Hebrew word for create in Genesis 1-1, it's not used in other places in scripture when it talks about creation. The word literally means it's Bahra, B-A-R-A, and it means to create out of nothing. The Latin is ex-Nahilo to take something. There's nothing there. and then the God that we serve, he creates out of nothing. So when Phil, at the beginning of the podcast, he was knocking on the table talking about this was created, the coffee was created.

We can take things, and somebody made that table that you guys are sitting at, but they made it out of something else. They made it out of a tree that was made out of an acorn that was made out of another tree. And it all goes back. Everything comes from something. And we can take the things that's here. And we can make stuff out of them. And I think they thought with Jesus, man, if we can get this guy some loaves, he has some kind of ability where he can make more loaves out of that loaf.

And Jesus is saying, you don't understand how I create. When I create, I do it out of nothing. And they're like, what do you mean? What does nothing mean? Exactly. I try to fathom nothing. And you can't even fathom that. But there's nothing.

And then God speaks and there's something. And Jesus is like, that's how to create. About the cosmos. Well, what was there? before the cosmos got here, most atheists will say nothing. You say, well, how did it all get here? They said, there was an explosion, and that's how it got here. But instead of saying what Jesus said, he said, now, I made it.

I made it. I got a book, let's see here. I got a book back here on my shelf written by a guy named Stephen Hawking. Jesus was saying, I am the explosion. Well, yeah. Yeah, well, that's why like this guy who wrote this book back here, Stephen Hawkins, brief history of time. And he's a brilliant, it was a brilliant physicist.

He's passed on now. But in his book, A Brief History of Time, he basically says that what you just said, that he's like, man, but he admits if this thing was created out of nothing, and he said, if time has a beginning, he said it smacks of divine intervention. And he said, therefore, the goal of modern physics is to disprove what he termed the standard model of physics. But the point is, they're trying to get away from this because that's the thing. The scientists have even discovered this, that the universe began to exist out of nothing. And we're like, yeah, I mean, the Bible said that for a long time. We've already known that.

But I think that's a tough nut to swallow. And it was for the disciples as well to consider the fact when Jesus is like, why are you bringing me love? Like, I need this. Are you not seeing what's going on here? They eventually got it. They got it at the resurrection, but it took a resurrection of Jesus' dead body to get it. They did, but I want to interject something, because I didn't, this didn't really... Hang on, Jay's. Let's take a break.

This didn't really click for me until I read John 6. But John 6th, you have the second feeding, which is the feeding of the 4,000. Then you have Jesus walking on the water, which he adds another forgotten miracle

is that after Jesus got in the boat, immediately then the boat quantum leaked to the shore. You know, that wasn't even discussed, but I'm saying they're seeing all this thing. I mean, this is the kind of stuff that drove, you know, Albert Einstein crazy is how do you go from point A to point B without space being filled up? It literally drove him crazy.

And here I'm like, well, Jesus didn't have a problem with that. Speaking of atoms and molecules. but then there's a speech here that he gives, and I know we've gone over this, but in light of him saying, be careful that the yeast of the Pharisees doesn't get in you. Look at the questions they asked John 6 after that boat got to shore.

So in 25 of John 6, it says when they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, when's you get here? Jesus said, I'll tell you the truth. You are looking for me not because of the miraculous signs, but because you ate the letters and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.

They were missing the spiritual aspects of what he was trying to bring out. So then they, when they asked him, what must we do in verse 29, what must we do to do the works God requires? and it's almost like Jesus in a raised voice. The work of God is to believe in the one he has sent. You're looking at him. But this is not going to work in religion, in Judaism, in tradition.

In their minds, this is not working because they're looking at him like, okay, you can do a few tricks, you know. So then I wanted to read one more. So they said, now this to me, just should have enraged him. And it probably did. And his anger, he didn't sin, of course. But so they asked him, well, what miraculous sign will you give that we may see it and believe you?

He just fed 4,000 and 5,000. The crowds were bigger. He's doing quantum leaps. He's walking on water. He's healed so many people that you probably can't find a sick person within 100, radius of that. I mean, it's just thronged. They're just touching their cloak and receiving that gift. He's driven out all the evil spirits and demons. I mean, he's basically cleaned up the earth. And they're like, well, how about a sign? I mean, in context of where this is

written, it's like an infuriating question. Yep. And they're like, so watch what they do. What will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert. That is as written. So they're going back to their history. And Moses. Listen, just a thought. Yeah. Fast forward a couple thousand years. And look at the human race and why they don't follow Jesus. You've got the same arguments with them.

Oh, it's same arguments. So they go back to Moses and look, he says, I'll tell you the truth in verse 32. It's not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven. It was my father. The same father I represent. That's who gave them the bread. So look, this is just so typical. So the first 34, sir, from now on, give us this bread.

Jesus, I am the bread. I am the bread of life. I'm taking bread and just multiplying it by the tens of thousands of loaves to feed all y'all. And everybody's having that. Give it to us. He said, you're eating it. Can we have this? And so meanwhile, the disciples said, well, we have a loaf in the boat.

And so you can't make this up. It's like a Duck Dynasty episode broke out, you know. They're like, well, do you want this loaf in the boat? Can we, can you use that? I mean, so you see why when he gives that speech in Mark 8, and he starts talking about remember, you're not remembering. This is happening so fast, and they're all trying to digest. But they're forgetting things that a human being shouldn't be forgetting.

You still have to justify how he's pulling off all this power. And his message is the opposite of what you think it should be. He's loving everybody because they're looking at these people. It's not powerful. I mean, you're helping cripples and the lame and people we don't even associate with. It was a tough crowd. It was a tough crowd. So, I mean, I know that was a long speech.

but I think when you look at it, John 6, where we're at here, I think this is the narrative that provoked him saying, don't have a heart like them. Yep. I mean, that's good. That's so good to think about it. Jesus is still a hard sale 2,000 years later. Would you agree, Zach? He's still a hard sale.

And you mentioned that John 6th when they were asking, you know, what good must be, what, what good must we do? In Matthew 19, that was the same question that the rich young ruler asked Jesus. What good must I do to obtain eternal life? And then Jesus just, I mean, decimates this guy in a very clever way. But if you read the whole story of the rich young ruler, which a lot of times we think it's a slam on wealth, it's not. I mean, he took what that guy's thing was. But what he says is in there, if you want to, if you really want eternal life, it's not, I'm paraphrasing. here. It's not something you obtain. You've got to follow me. I am eternal life. I am the way,

the truth and the life. And nobody comes to the father except through me. And that's the point he's getting that in John 6. That's the point he's getting that in Matthew 19. It's the point when Jesus says, again, Matthew 4, I think it's Matthew 4, that man shall not live by bread alone. He's pointing to himself. And I'm so glad you brought up that John 6 passage, because we participate in the in the communion every Sunday. And the reason why we do it every Sunday is because that is the focal point of our gathering time as the church body. And we're remembering that truth because it is so easy to think that somehow we're going to, that there's some other bread out there that we're going to feast on and somehow live. And Jesus is like, no, I am the bread.

Look, I'm all. I had to, I had to come. You want to take a break? Yeah, let's take another break. Well, here's what happened, I think, to churches, a couple points. One is we read Philippians 314, 3, 13, and 14, and somehow, because it says forgetting what is behind, I press on, you know, he was using an illustration about running a race. I mean, he was basically saying when you're running a race, you don't have time to, you know, to look over your shoulder and trace your steps. And somehow, we think that means, oh, well, we got to forget everything. But there is a reminder, a chastisement of people of his disciples in his presence, seeing all the wows and miracles and learning all the teachings that you could ever imagine.

And they're forgetting these things. And so he gives them a chastisement of saying, no, there's a remembrance that has to occur on a daily basis. And so there are some things that we do forget, you know, as far as we don't relive our sinful behavior or whatever. But the things that led to that and when our hearts got off, no, we remember those things because he started off that chastisement saying, don't be like them. And I found it fascinating that people could have hard hearts in the very presence of Jesus walking with him. This wasn't like a week. We're years into this ministry. And so a lot of people at churches, yes.

gather up and say, well, we need the present. We're trying to get the presence of God, which is kind of crazy when the mystery of godliness is that God is present inside of you, 24-7. Oh, he's here. And so that's why we have to remember on a daily basis what the big picture is all about. And it's more simple than complex, because this was another simple statement he gave when they said, well, give us the list of the works that are required. And he's like, believe in the one whom he sent.

That's the work. What? That just sends the brain, the religious brain into a milk. We can't stand it. Yeah, it is shattering. And I think about that rich young ruler, because that's what he asked. He said, what good do I have to do? And Jesus said, you got to follow the commandments.

And his response, because he's a negotiator, right? He's like, which ones? Like, what's the question is that? Like, which ones? What's the bare minimum that I have to do? Which is the problem, by the way. That's the problem with our approach. When we approach Jesus in this way, we said, what is it?

What do we mean by all this? Here's the issue is we are saying, God, how can we contain you into a container so that we can still have our own autonomy? And Jesus is like, you're not understanding what I'm saying here. Your heart's hard. The rich young ruler says what commandments? Jesus says he names like six of them. And the guy's like, well, I've done all those, which he hadn't done all those because

he had committed adultery because any man is lusted in his heart is committed to adultery. Jesus already said that on the sermon on the Mount. And that's the whole point. Jesus is raising the stakes so high throughout his ministry that the only logical conclusion is to be like the beggar in Luke chapter 18, which is a story that is right after the rich young ruler. account. You know what, you know what that blind beggar did? That's all he did. He just fell in his face and said, have mercy on me. Oh, son of David, have mercy on me. That's the response that Jesus is

trying to build and say, this is how you come to me. You don't come with your, with your hands full of your, your, your, your filthy words. No, no, no, no. You come with empty hands of faith and you cry, I'll have mercy on me. And that's when God turns and notices you. And I think that what's going on here is everybody wants to hang on to that autonomy. They're afraid to give it up. They want control. We all do. That's what's at stake. It reminds me of a... Yeah, but the... Go ahead. I was just going to say, the biggest miss of all was they still never really understood the purpose of the Messiah. When you look at John 6, 14, and 15, Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force withdrew himself. They still

had a misunderstanding of the purpose of why Jesus came. That's why they couldn't see him as Lord. They had misunderstood the purpose of it. Yeah. The Messiah was going to set up an earthly kingdom. Yeah. And they were still limiting his identity. They weren't putting two and two that he's a son of God either. He's a prophet. He's like the next prophet. And I mean, God, he waited, you know, for 400 years. Then he sent John to Baptist. And then he sent John to Baptist cousin, this Jesus guy, and boy, he's got some tricks now. He's not just a prop, but that's kind of the way it was thinking. But what made me think the Pharisees and the Sadducees and their response

and this, you know, watching to see if he messes up. And even here and now the disciples not getting it, it reminded me of this guy who says, if you don't, the preacher he was preaching, he said, if you don't think this happens today with, because we're going to see this in Mark 7, about following the traditions of men or making this religion complex. He said, do a Google search of church discipline. Take all the denominations.

And when you run up on the documents of church discipline, and he said, I want to quote one. And he said, this is on page 871. And look, then he said, does it really matter what I read if I had to go 8701? 871 pages through the church's discipline policy. We have 871 pages. This is not like 2,000 years ago, you know, reading the Torah.

He's like, this is now, this is our book on church discipline, and it's consisting of 171 pages. We've made this too complex. So when you go back to the Gospels and read these one-sentence questions and one-sentence lines about Jesus on summing up the big picture, it just does not work well with modern religion. It makes no sense. I mean, do it. You go, look, you'll be fascinated on what churches believe. What's the text that says you diligently study the scriptures, but these scriptures are talking about me, but you won't come.

to me. Yeah. I mean, that's one thing, and we have all this that we've added that you've got to understand that we have to go have a Rolodex to look up on a certain situation. I mean, I wanted to go read the text. Yeah, well, let's read the text. I mean, but I do love what Phil just mentioned. I think that, you know, before we get into the text, just to reiterate, because we've quoted that verse a lot where Jesus is meeting with the Pharisees. And, you know, we hear the term Pharisee and we think bad. But at the, when this was all going down, that wasn't a derogatory term. That was a prestigious term.

To be called a, to be a Pharisee would be to be a religious leader. You are respected. You are, you had the community. You were a community leader. But so when Jesus is meeting with these Pharisees who knew the scriptures very, very well, and he tells them, you study the scriptures diligently. And by them, you think that. you're saved yet you've missed me, the one that they point to. I think what this whole thing is

getting at is the presence of Jesus supersedes even the scriptures. But what our go-to is, is give us the thing. Let us put parameters around it. Let us be able to contain it. Because if we can contain it, if we can put it in a container, then we can control it. And that's the one thing that Jesus is telling us that we got to give up is our control. So, yeah, but let's read it. Go ahead and read it, Jace. All right. So you got Mark 6. So this is after, you know, what happens with John the Baptist, and they recant the story.

So in verse 30 of chapter 6, the apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. So it's like they had the interlude of telling what happened to John the Baptist after he specially commissioned the 12 and gave them this power to go out and they would anoint people with oil that that's in chapter 6 12 and 13 so it's like he picks right back up where he left off there and then in verse 31 then because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat he said to them come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest so they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place but many who saw them leaving recognize them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them so now here's where you see this

scene of just people they're not just gathering now they're running from every nook and cranny when jesus landed and saw a large crowd he had compassion on them i love this line because they were sheep without a shepherd, just running aimlessly looking for their needs to be met, but not in a way that it was trusting in a shepherd. But he still had compassion, which shows his heart, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things,

and that's what I want to highlight. It doesn't go into detail about what he's teaching, but I know they're character, spiritual, related issues. By this time, it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. This is a remote place, they said, and it's already very late. Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat. So now we have the disciples dictating policy on how Jesus should run his appearance on

earth from heaven, which is interesting. But he answered, will you give them something to eat? They said to him, well, that would take eight months of man's wages, are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat? So now they're arguing with Jesus about how to manage money. How many loaves do you have? He asked, go and see. They found out, they said, we got five and two-fif.

Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass so that, so they sat down in groups of hundreds and 50s, taking the five loaves and two fish, looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied. And the disciples picked up 12 basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and food. fish, the number of the men who had eaten was 5,000.

Now immediately, Jesus made disciples get in the boat and going ahead of them to Beth Seda, which means fish house, while he dismissed the crowd. After leaving them, he went up on a mountain to pray, which is amazing and awesome. When evening, and I know he's praying for them, there's no doubt. I mean, every time an example of Jesus praying, he's praying for his followers. when evening came the boat was in the middle of the lake and he was alone on land he saw the disciple straining at the oars because the wind was against them so they're going into the wind paddling about the fourth watch of the night just right before daylight he went out to them

walking on the lake he was about to intercept them but when they saw him walking on the lake They thought he was a ghost. They cried out because they all saw him. We were terrified. Immediately he said, take courage at his eye. Don't be afraid. Then he climbed in the boat with him. And the wind died down.

They were completely amazed for they had not understood about the loaves. Their hearts were hardened, which is why we started here. And look, he lambas some when he gets in chapter seven about what, you know, about eating certain. foods and all these rules and regulations. You talked about 871 rules, and their teachings are but rules taught by men. That's just to eat. That's just to have a meal. Yeah, and I know we're about to close here before we get to overtime, but just to reiterate

the importance of John 6th, when there's the same accounts in John 6, the thing they didn't understand is this, that it's even. to follow Jesus when he's just Savior, right? It's easy if he's just feeding everybody and everybody's getting satisfied and they're getting their fill. But what Jesus goes on to say in John 6 is he redefines what the real bread of life is. He says, I'm the bread of life. And when we partake that, just to reiterate again, the Lord's Supper every Sunday, we're proclaiming what? His death.

We're proclaiming his death until he returns. And so that's the part that I think about. That's the Lordship part, the part about dying to yourself and the pain and like, well, whoa, whoa, hold on. I'm in this because you're supposed to be the conquering savior. And he's like, yeah, but I'm also the crucified Lord. And if you don't, if you don't see Jesus as both Lord and Savior, then you don't see Jesus at all.

Well, that's true. I want to say in close, and we can talk about this in overtime, is that, look, I think Matthews, account says that in this moment of the walking on the water, their response was to worship him. And I do think it was a turning moment. But two chapters later in Mark, he's then hammering them with questions again. Don't you understand? Don't you remember?

And I think it goes back to their forget. They're having these moments where they're like, oh, oh, and then they forget it the next day because there's chaos going on. And so it reminds me of us. Look, this is a daily walker for a member of the big picture and who Jesus is in our role in the kingdom. Yep. See you in overtime.

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