Hey everybody. Welcome back to another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. Hello and welcome back to Friday. You made it through a week. We are almost through our week and we're excited about this weekend. We've got Fall Fest. We got a lot of exciting things coming up. There's supposed to be a big storm coming through though, so they say, so we'll see what happens. It's Texas, so maybe it'll rain. Maybe it won't rain. Maybe it's already raining as you're listening to this. That's also possible. But Pastor Rod, I'd love to get your thoughts on this one. My kid's school. They had a football game planned for Friday night and they canceled the game, or, well, they didn't cancel the game. They moved the game up to one and they are actually canceling school in Allen because his school is playing Allen. They're canceling school in Allen so that the whole school district can be there. Now, Allen's only got one school. Prosper is multiple. So Prosper is not canceling school for everybody, but they are telling those that attend Prosper High School, you get an excused absence if you want to cut. The rest of school to be able to attend this football game at 1:00 PM Texas recently passed. I don't know if it was a bill or I think it was Senate bill, actually, I'm looking at it now. Senate Bill 10 to require the 10 Commandments to be displayed in all public school classrooms. Did you hear about this? I did. This was recent. This was just year. And some people feel certain ways about that. Some people are thinking this is a good thing. We need morality in our classrooms. We need people to see what the law says, what God's law says, and I think fine. That's fantastic. Hey Ali. Allie just rolled up in the place like she owns it. Did you see that? Just swung the door open, swung both doors open and just stepped on in like she owns this place, plain music on her phone. Her theme song. As I was saying, Texas has a streak of Bible in her. She wants the Bible in the classrooms. She's very religious. There's a church on every corner. You could throw a rock at any direction and hit four churches before that rock hits the ground. And then even the water that the rock falls into is probably a baptismal font. People are baptizing in there as we speak. We are very religious here, and yet one thing that we have not been able to do except for our private charter schools. Is get an excuse absence for a church retreat. And so then I see our school saying, you know, let's just shut the whole thing down because football, guys, because football, football, right? Don't we all love football? I'm thinking for as religious as she presents herself, Texas, this is so, I, I wanna say I'm apoplectic at what they're doing. I'm okay that they do this. I'm not mad about it. Like, Hey, great, do that. But man, give the kids. A free pass from school if they're leaving school early to go to their local youth retreat. What a better way to show good faith efforts to say we care about your kids' education. Not only academically, but spiritually. We care about their conduct, we care about their character. So I think Texas, if she really wanted to go the extra mile, if she wanted to score a true touchdown with her parents. I think you should let your kids have an excused absence to go to their summer camps. Well, that one's less a problem. Their winter camps, there are youth events where ideally Christian education is taking place and it should take place as a front and center feature of Texas education. I think we at least say as much, we pay deference to it. We talk about, Jesus or God being first we pray, we have prayer vigils at our schools. No one seems to have an issue with that. We have prayer vigils in our public squares. We did that after the Charlie Kirk event. No one seems to have a problem with that. Again, we're very religious, and yet when it comes to actually supporting the religious institution, the church, the primary religious institution that got himself instituted, it seems like we, we waffle a bit on that. So, hey, God bless Alan. God bless, prosper. But please let your kids go to their winter camp with an excuse absence. Yeah, I can't disagree with anything that you just said. I'm ever. Anything that you just said? I think it's a helpful reminder to us that we are far from Christian in practice in our state and even just in our nation, right? I think we are still riding the coattails of. America is a Christian culture that I think is quickly transforming before our eyes and that's there in, in the social media world, if you're paying attention to what's going on, there's, in fact, you just sent a tweet to us as pastors the other day about the largest Hindu temple in the world that's being built in New Jersey. Yeah. Not Texas. Not Texas, not yet. New Jersey, Texas is gonna see that though and be like, well, hold on. Yeah, you wait. And even down in Houston though, there's the, one of the largest statues of a false God in the world is down in Houston and it's of one of these Indian gods and there's mosque going up everywhere to, and then Hindu. Hindu Gods. Hindu Gods. Thank you. What did I say? Indian. Indian. Thank you. Large. I mean, I get it. They're related often, but it's Hindu Fair. Yeah. And that's just in the religious culture. Then you add to that the secular culture of just atheism that exists out there and it's just, we do a lot of Christian things, but we are not necessarily Christian in practice. It's true to, to what it actually is. And so in that sense, as a parent I'm almost thankful for it because it, it helps me point out those distinctions to my kids. And remind them of that reality that, hey, just because you're growing up in Texas or in the Bible Belt, or whatever that looks like with 10 commandments on the wall in your classroom, that doesn't mean that this is a Christian nation. And there are differences there. And what it actually looks like to be Christian is different than what you're experiencing. So I'm with you. I wish it were different, but I'm also, part of me is thankful that we can point out the distinctions there and show that this is there, there's a long, there's a big gap between what it looks like to truly be a Christian people, a Christian nation, a Christian state, and to claim Christianity the way that so much of our state does. Yeah, and I'm sure there's challenges. I'm. Aware enough to know that I'm ignorant about what needs to happen at the administrative level to do something like that. I'm sure there's complications. I know it. I know there's things I don't know. I'm just saying if you can do that for a football game, man, you could do it for other things That I think make a lot more sense. You would think. You would think. Yeah. Well, let's jump into our daily Bible reading. We are in John chapter nine and 10. John chapter nine is I think one of my favorite. Encounters of Jesus, at least in the Gospel of John. And this is the healing of the man born blind. And it starts out with a question that is perceptive from the disciples. They want to know, Hey, why is this guy blind? What happened? Did he sin or were his parents sinners? And is that why he's blind? And Jesus says, no, it was actually. Part of God's divine appointment, that this man should be born blind in order that the works of God might be displayed in him. And then Jesus removes his blindness and heals him, and the man responds the way that he should. The man I think, has had a genuine encounter with Christ and is thankful for what Jesus has done. And goes about broadcasting that well the people begin to. Create quite a stir because of what has happened. And there's disbelief. In fact, so much so the religious leaders call this man's parents before them in order to ask them, is this really your son? And was he born blind? Because this is what's being purported and we need you to verify this. And the parents say Yes, but then they quickly distance themselves from their son because of fear of the Pharisees. They say, but you're gonna have to talk to him if you want more information on this. He's his own man. You can talk to him. Which is just a tragedy too, because you would think mom and dad would be ecstatic that this son of theirs was healed, that was born blind. That's amazing. And you would think if anyone can appreciate that, be beyond the man that was himself healed. His parents should be able to appreciate that too, and what Jesus has done. But they're not gonna say anything because they're afraid of being put out of the synagogue. Now that's gonna be something that comes into play later in this chapter, and that's significant because the synagogue was. The main source of Jewish life. And it wasn't just the religious epicenter, but it was also oftentimes the economic epicenter of a Jewish person's life. Certainly the social epicenter of a Jewish person's life. So to be put out from, or excommunicated from would've been devastating for a Jewish family and for his parents at least. They're not willing to identify with Christ to that extent. But the man is different. The man is then called before the Pharisees and they begin to question him. He has a great turn of. A phrase with the Pharisees where he says, Hey, do you, you're, you guys seem pretty interested. You want me to go get this guy? You guys wanna become his followers too. And the Pharisees hate that. They're angry about that. They are en enraged over the audacity, so to speak, of this man having, having such a question of over whether they would wanna become his followers or not. And so they are enraged and they end up doing what the parents were afraid of. They put him out of the synagogue, but then Jesus finds him in a sweet moment of compassion in finding him and seeking him out. Jesus is able to basically, I think bring him into his. His followership. And this man I think from here is gonna go on to become one of Jesus' followers. And it's fascinating and it will be fascinating when we get to heaven, to be able to seek this man out and say what was your life like from this point forward? Were you involved in the church, in the book of Acts? Were you involved in what was going on there in the Jerusalem church? Or did you go somewhere else to find out what happened with this man? But such a cool account here of boldness and courageousness for this man to identify with Christ, even in the face of opposition. Okay, so let's play the game again. Why did Jesus do it this way? We know, and you've said before in the pulpit that everything that Jesus does, everything scripture presents is purposeful. There's a reason behind it, and maybe we don't always know those reasons. Sometimes though those are elusive and we struggle to come up with a conclusion as to what is happening, but here, Jesus makes mud. He spits on the ground, which is gross, by the way. Mm-hmm. I thought about this and I thought, if Jesus were to do this to me and he were gonna spit on the ground, make some mud with this alive and then put it on some part of my body, I probably would recoil a little bit. Just saying, yeah, I love Jesus and I want all that Jesus has to offer, but his spit just feels a little too much for me. Yeah. In any case, yeah. That's what happens here. He spits on the ground, he puts mud in the guy's eyes. What on earth, what's happening there? And I think it's, he then tells him to go to this pool called Salom and Wash in the pool. John provides the commentary there, and I think it, it's helpful for us. The pool is called Salom, which means scent. And so I think there might be some of Jesus beckoning this guy into obedience to him, even in this initial act of healing of the man. Are you willing to obey me? Are you willing to do what I tell you to do? And the man is. Is obedient to him and is healed and then later on is going to be sent by Jesus as one of his witnesses from this time forward. So I think there's a foreshadowing of what Jesus is gonna do in this man's life through how he heals him in this miracle. I would agree with that. I think that's a really interesting take. I wondered too, because this is a Sabbath. If Jesus was. Intentionally provoking the Pharisees at the same time that he was healing this man. So maybe there's more than one thing Jesus is accomplishing by doing it in this particular way, but as we've said before, he doesn't need to. Jesus could speak the word and things are done. Yeah. He's healed from a distance before. This is not unusual. So the fact that he does something like this tells me that there's some kind of symbolism being affected. Jesus is trying to communicate more than just, I've healed you. And it seems like it is a ness. There's an obedience factor to it. So he required him to wash by putting something in his eyes. But also he's making mud on the Sabbath. Yeah, and then he's having this guy going to wash on the Sabbath, and I wonder if this is Jesus creating the context where the religious leaders challenge him on what he's doing. And so that's why it's mentioned here in verse 13, verse 14, rather, it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened the guy's eyes. Yeah. And you're right. And that's really what Jesus is doing now is really stepping directly into the confrontation with the Pharisees. We talked about that in one of the previous episodes when he went up on the Feast of Booths. And yeah, this is right on the heels of that. And so Jesus is now setting the stage for the conflict that's gonna lead him to the cross. And a lot of that is gonna come through this conflict with the Pharisees. So I think there's, yeah, behind the scenes God is sovereignly through Jesus working. This conflict out. 'cause the conflict has to come from somewhere. They have to get mad at him for something. Otherwise he's never gonna be on the cross. Right. And so some of this is very intentional that Jesus is bringing to light the contrast between the Pharisees in himself here. He's poking them in the eyes. Exactly. Hey, tell me verse 41, what does this mean here? It says this, Jesus said to them, if you were blind. You would have no guilt. But now that you say, we see your guilt remains. Yeah, it's, I think it's that statement you say, we see your guilt remains. He's pointing out the fact that your self-righteousness is in fact what is blinding you if you are aware of your blindness, if you are aware of your need. Kind of what he said earlier that I came not for the healthy. But for the sick, you don't recognize you're sick. And so the, I ironic part of that is you are sick. Mm-hmm. Because you don't recognize you're sick. But the ones that are sick and recognize that they were the ones that are gonna be healed, likewise, the ones that know they're blind are gonna be the ones that receive sight. You think you see, and yet you're still blind. Oh, that's good. Chapter 10 Jesus goes off on the extended metaphor here of the shepherd, and he mixes his metaphors. Initially. He is the door, and then he's gonna then become the shepherd here and the contrast. And again, he's going after the Pharisees here because he's contrasting himself as the one that is the shepherd, which would've had spiritual leadership connotations to it. As we saw in the Old Testament, the shepherds in Ezekiel were confronted for being wicked and evil shepherds that were fattening themselves at the cost or the expense of the sheep rather than caring for the sheep. And here Jesus is gonna say he's the good shepherd and. By contrast, not only is he not fattening himself at the expense of the sheep he's even giving of himself. He's gonna lay his life down for the welfare of the sheep, to protect the sheep from the wolves. And the implication is there, that the religious leaders of the Jewish people were the ones that were the wolves. They were there to steal, kill, and destroy. They were the ones that were trying to creep in. They were the ones that were the corrupting influence and the corrupting force. And so Jesus, again, is going after the Pharisees here. And he's gonna make a statement here about his sheep hearing his voice. Over in verse 27, he's gonna say, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. This is something that was indicative of a shepherd. A shepherd would have a call or a. Whistle or a sound that he would make in a sheep in the pen, because there would've been multiple flocks in the pen. The sheep would hear the voice of their shepherd recognize that voice and then go out and follow their shepherd. And so Jesus is saying he's done that with his flock. And he says, and I give them eternal life and they will never perish. No one will snatch them outta. My hand. And then he makes a statement. He says, my father was, give them to me as greater than all, and no one is able to snatch 'em outta the father's hand. And then this statement, I and the father are one. And that is everything comes to a screeching halt again at this point, because here again is another instance of Jesus claiming deity when he says, I and the father are one. You'll note in verse 31 the Jews are angry at this. They're gonna pick up stones because they want to stone him to death. And he says, which of my works are you going to stone me for? And they say, well, none of your works. Because you being a man make yourself God in verse 33. Boom. So if it wasn't as clear as it was before, it should be super clear abundantly so, and these are not his disciples saying, you're saying you're God, these are his enemies saying, we're gonna kill you because you're saying you're God. And this is another instance where we as Christians, can point to and say, look, even his enemies understood what he was saying. So if we're gonna argue that Jesus never claimed to be God, we've got problems here. Because not only did his disciples understand that he's God. Also his enemies understood that he's God. And so Jesus here is again, in this confrontation with them. I've heard Jehovah's witnesses argue that when Jesus says, I and the Father are one, he's really speaking to their unity of purpose and not their unity of essence. How would you respond to that? I think there's the, again, the response from the enemies here is one. Indication of what he actually meant there. I think they would, if he's saying we have the same purpose, I think they would've said, oh yeah, we do too. Right. But I think they're understanding and when you look at the holistically, everything that he said before this too, I think they're saying, okay, no we get what you're trying to say here. You're claiming the authority and power of God to Absolutely. And I think it's one of those situations where you might initially stumble over that and say, you know what? That's a good point. Maybe he is saying purpose, but all you have to do is just read three verses ahead. Right? And it's clarified for us, right? John? The gospel writer here is very deliberate in what he's presenting to us, and he's helping us to see the things that he's trying to show us, which is that Jesus is the son of God and he's also deity himself. You see that in the way that the religious leaders at the day, during the day responded to him so often. Most of the challenges that we receive. From critics of our understanding of the Bible, all we do is just read the context and we tell them what we see. So, great answer that. That's a really easy one I think, because all you have to do is look at the next verse. Yeah, yeah. And it's fascinating too because Jesus calls them not only just to believe his words, but also he goes on to say, look, if I do these works that you see me do, even if you don't believe me or believe my words, believe the works. So he's at least pointing back to the fact that the things that I've done should be enough for you guys to say, wait a minute, there's something different about this guy. And that's. Some of what led Nicodemus to him in the first place again, and Nicodemus is a great example of God drawing someone to himself over a period of time. But you wonder if Nicodemus is here listening to him going, okay, yeah, this is, again, I'm gonna go back and there's something different about this guy and I can't quite put my finger on it yet, but at some point, Nicodemus is gonna come to faith. Well, let's do this. Let's pray and then we'll be done with this episode of the Daily Bible Podcast. Lord, we needed a good shepherd. We needed a good shepherd to lay his life down for us. We needed a good shepherd who would call us out and that we would follow him by recognizing his voice. And we needed you to be able to open our ears to be able to hear his voice as well. And so we thank you for Christ that He is that. And we thank you that we get to follow him. We thank you that he has been so bold as to step into this conflict. We think that he came willingly for us and didn't shy away from the cross, but embraced it, stepped straight into it, and we even see how that is being. Orchestrated by him walking perfectly in obedience to your will as he encounters the Pharisees, as he encounters the opposition and as he takes it on while remaining perfectly submissive to you, so that ultimately he knows this is going to lead him to the cross. And yet he did it for us because he is our good shepherd and we're so grateful for that. And we thank you for these passages like this that we can point to, to say, look, Jesus is God, and we can have such great confidence in who he is. And we thank you and praise you for this. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Keep our new Bibles tuning again tomorrow for another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. See you then folks. Bye.

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Yeah. I would agree with everything that you said