Hey folks. Welcome back to another edition of the Daily Bible podcast. Happy Sunday. It is Sunday. In fact, it is Fall Fest Sunday. So we're excited about that. We've got a lot going on today. We are going to be at church for quite a while, and if you're serving and volunteering in Fall Fest, you're gonna be at church for. Most of the day today, which is awesome. And also thank you. We just want to issue a expression of our gratitude to you before all of this happens because we know that you're given a lot more of your time than you normally even do. And a lot of you give so much of your time already. You help set up and tear down our church and everything else that we're doing here. So, we're grateful for that. And so thank you for laboring So faithfully week in, week out, and thank you for going above and beyond. In fact we found out. Recently by one of our staff members, Allie told us that we have, I think she said a hundred volunteers for Fall Fest signed up. Sounds right. Which is fantastic. Such an encouragement to us as pastors. Thank you. We're are so thankful for you guys doing that. For sure. So, yeah, it's gonna be a, it's gonna be a great time. Pastoral, what's your favorite candy? Favorites. I really like the Lindell. What are those called? Truffles? Is that what they are? Yeah. Truffles. Yeah. I love the Lindell truffles. I typically get a variety pack at some point during the year. The lint, the L-I-N-D-T, is that the ones that you're thinking of? The ones that are like blue foil and like red and, yeah. Is that what they're called? Lint? Yeah. Lint, yeah. Okay. That's a weird name. I do love those. I love peanut m and ms. I love. I really love chocolate. So Reese's is on the list. Yeah. Although I'm pretty picky. I like high quality chocolate, so, I'll eat the normal stuff. Chocolate in the Hershey's, but I really like the good tasting chocolate, you know, the, the good stuff. I figure if I'm going to eat it, it's gonna be in calories. I wanna make sure that the calories count. Fair enough. And I know yours is Reese's. Yep. Reese's are probably number one. Yeah. And you also love the little Debbie. Christmas trees. Yes. Which those are out now. I saw them actually. I saw them at Walmart. Saw them too. I have not bought any yet, but I thought of you. Thanks man. I appreciate that. Did you pray for me when you thought of me? No. Not the way that you want. I was like, Lord, have mercy, Lord, protect him from too many of those, this, this Christmas season. Yeah. Well, fall Fest is gonna be awesome, and we're excited. We're praying and trusting that the Lord, I think we're prepped for about 500 kids coming through. And so it'd be awesome if we got more than that. We'll adjust, we'll gladly adjust. Yeah. But we're excited to see what the Lord's gonna do through this event. And again the reason why we do this is because this is a way for us to let the community know that we're here. A lot of the community, a lot of the area probably drives by that school every single day. And they don't realize that there's a church that meets there on Sundays. And so now if they are going to show up at our Fall Fest, they're gonna realize. This is where we have church on the weekends. And so they're gonna be aware, if nothing else, they're gonna be aware, Hey, there's a church that meets at a Founder's Classical academy in Prosper. And that's a good thing. And there's still time to invite people. I just got my hair cut yesterday and the lady cutting my hair in Montana, I said, Hey, we've got a fall festival at our school. And she was very interested in that at our church that meets at the school. She was very interested, so I gave her the information and she may bring her daughter over there for that event. So, very cool. Still time to invite people even today, even Sunday, if you're going out to lunch after church. Invite your waiter, invite your waitress, invite the table next to you to come to all us. That's if they have kids. Yeah. I guess that's fair. Yeah. 'cause it's really not for adults. That's true. It could. Yeah. But it's better for it. It's a kids' event. Yeah. Or family. So we'd love to have anybody show up. We'll take anybody. But really this is for families. That's fair. Yeah. And what are you dressing up again, as I forget, I'm dressing up as a pastor. I'm dressing up as It's supposed to dress up as something that you're not though, right? Isn't it the way it's supposed to work? No, not necessarily. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So if someone were to bring you a costume, a no, you would not work a No. Depends on what it is though, right? Nope. Does not depend on what it is. Maybe you would reconsider? No. What if your favorite parishioner came up to you and said, pastor pj, I just spent $5,000 my wife on this costume for me, my wife. My wife knows me better than number one to spend $5,000 on a costume for me. Your third favorite parishioner did this $5,000. They invest, they. Your name is Be Jeweled on the front of the costume. Yeah, Dr. Pastor pj. I would say, you, you know what, and they request that you wear it. I love that you care about the church so much, but I would really think that it, this, I don't wanna, I don't wanna damage the costume. I think you should post this on eBay, sell it, and then you can contribute the, the, the proceeds to the, the church afterwards. That would be great. I think you're gonna crush Dan Mayer's heart Well. I think he'll get over it. We'll see. Yeah. Hey, we are in Luke 12 and 13 today for our DBR and there's a kinda a smattering of subjects that Jesus gets into in these two chapters here. As he's teaching, he's teaching about a lot of different subjects, a lot of different topics. He begins and notice there again that the famous. Element of Jesus here because the, so many thousands of people had gathered notice that so many thousands of people had gathered together, so many so that he was, they were trampling one another. He then turns and tells his disciples and begins to teach them directly. You need to be aware of the Levin of the Pharisees. Now, Jesus is warned about this before, and so we've seen this already. But here he adds and he says this interesting comment here, which is, I think a lot of motivation for a life of integrity says nothing is covered up that will not be revealed or hidden, that will not be known. Therefore, whatever you have said in the dark, shall be heard in the light, and whatever you've whispered in the private room shall be proclaimed on the house tops. I think this is an appropriate setup for where he goes right after this where he says, you know what? You don't need to fear men. You need to fear God. Don't fear. Men who all they can do is kill you, but fear him who has authority to cast you into hell. Yes, I tell you. He says, fear him. So this is just, Jesus has given us plenty of fodder for saying, here's why it's good for you to live a life of integrity. And that's how he begins this section here in chapter 12. Yes. But what sense is it that you fear God? This sounds like Jesus is saying be afraid of him. Often when I hear the fear of God talked about, it's usually in the just revere him, think highly of him. And probably not untrue, but it sounds like Jesus is saying, Hey, you should probably have some legitimate. Fear of the Lord in a sense. Right. Talk about that. Yeah. And I would compare it to when you were growing up, if you had a father who cared about you and loved you and disciplined you, which I know is not everybody's experience, but if that was true of you, if the Lord provided that for you, you had a fear of the discipline that he could exact upon you, you had a fear of, I, I'll even go so far as to say that the pain that he could inflict upon you, if you. Stepped outta line if you did what was wrong. And so here there's an element of that with, that we should have with God. And the writer of Hebrews capitalizes on this as well as he warns us as Christians of the danger of drifting and the danger of falling into the hands of an angry God. There's a measure to which John will say perfect love casts out fear. We don't fear hell but we do nonetheless. Have a sense of fear of his just wrath against sin. And as Christians, we don't want to suffer the discipline of God. That's not a fun thing for us to have happen to us. So there's a fear of that discipline, a fear of even thinking forward to that time when what is said in secret will be proclaimed from the house stop. And the fear of the shame that would be associated with that, that should impact the way we live our lives. That should change the way we live our lives. Yeah. In verse seven, he says, before, actually before that, he says. Well, no, it is verse seven. I take that back. He says, fear not, you are of more value than many sparrows. And this gives you a sense of the kind of fear Jesus is talking about. There is a reverential holy fear of God, but there's also that sense of tenderness where God is saying, I care about you. Yeah. Trust me to care for you. And that's the way that we're supposed to understand this fear. It is reverential. It is. There is a holy fear, but it's also a sense of I know God, God's got. My back. Yeah. God's got my best in mind. Even when I fall or get attacked or get attacked or get off track. He's got our back. Yeah. Yeah. It's on from here. He goes on and talks about acknowledging him before the world, and we haven't talked about this. I think we've read it one other place before, but this is just another reminder to us. So the boldness that we need to have when it comes to our faith in Christ that we need to be careful not to be ashamed of him. And again, this goes back to the fear of man concept that we were just talking about. It's better to fear God than it is to fear man and fearing God will look like. Acknowledging him. It will look like aligning ourselves with him, identifying ourselves with him, even if that puts us in a position where we're gonna have to defend ourselves. And he says at the end of this passage in verse 12, he says, for the Holy Spirit is gonna teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. That we don't have to have fear that, well, what if I get put on the spot? What if somebody challenges me? What am I gonna say? And there's a. Encouraging reality here that God's gonna provide that. Now, that doesn't mean that you're not gonna be put in a situation where you may have a, an atheist coworker or a neighbor ask you a question theologically or doctrinally. You don't have the answer for that. It's okay to say, Hey, you know what? I don't know, but I'll get back to you on that. I know there is an answer. It's okay for you to have the confidence to be able to say, you know what? I know there is an answer. Let me get back to you on that and let's continue this conversation. Because there is that answer there, and that's part of the confidence that we can have in Christ. From here, he tells a parable. This is of the rich young fool. This is the one that, that stores up all his treasures on Earth. And in the end, basically God says your soul is gonna be required of you tonight. And who's will all of these possessions go to? Your confidence, your trust has been in your possessions and not in me. And so you're gonna lose all of these things. And then we get something very similar to what we read about in the Sermon on the Mount, and that is he turns to the subject of anxiety and he encourages the people not to be anxious, not to be worrisome. And to your point about his compassion here, he addresses that again. He talks about the ravens, these birds and ravens aren't the most beautiful animals out there. They're kind of ugly. They're these black, gigantic birds. He says it, even the Ravens, does he care for how much more value are you than they are? And he then talks about the. Lilies of the field and the grass that is so beautiful. And he says, you're of more value, but I love, and it's always spoken to me directly when it comes to anxiety, is what he says in verse 25. He says, which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to the span of your life? In other words, all of our anxiety in the end, what good does it really do? What change can it really affect? And the answer is, if we're honest with ourselves, nothing. Right? From here, he transitions to the subject of his return which is something that can at times cause people to be anxious as well. And yet his commendation to us is, his instructions to us is that we need to be the servants that are awake when the master comes back. And we need to be prepared for his return. And that's true of us as the church right now. As the church. We found ourselves currently on the eschatological timeline of. Waiting for the return of Christ, that's the next thing. There's nothing else to that has to happen before Jesus comes back for his bride. And all that does have to happen between now and then, is that the last soul to be saved. And that could happen at any moment, at any time. And so we need to be ready for the return of Christ. And. He goes on and talks about some more things along interpreting the times and the signs and it, again there's a lot of different subjects that Jesus is talking about here, pastor, I, any thoughts on how can we read a chapter like this seems to have so many disconnected things and walk away going, okay, this is my takeaway from this chapter. Several thoughts arise and the first one I would say is to read the Bible much like we are right now, which is read it with the whole in mind. Reading one chapter of one book of the Bible is often very challenging because you have to you have to really work hard to understand that particular context. And it's not a wrong thing. You should do that, make no mistake. But I would also say reading in the context of other books that are trying to. Try to accomplish the same thing helps give light to what Jesus is doing. So you might read Luke chapter 12 in light of what Matthew says and that really does help fill out the picture a little more. Now, in some ways it does complicate it because then you start saying, okay, well what exactly is Jesus referring to here? And how are we best to understand that? And that's where you have resources. Now, just because there's resources on google.com or you could type in anything on some websites, doesn't mean that it's a good resource, right? This is where having the community of believers. Who are like-minded and like-hearted is really a great starting place. You can say, Hey, what do you use for your study Bible? What notes do you typ typically go to? Talk to your pastors and ask them for the resources that they use when they're understanding their Bible, and they're trying to get an authority figure to talk about this particular passage, a commentary perhaps. So I would say those two things at minimum reading context and reading in the canon of scripture. But I also wanted to bring up a verse that I'd love for you to comment on here in verse 37. It says, blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. He says, truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline a table and he will come and serve them. How do you think we should understand this? It seems to me like Jesus is saying he's gonna come back and he's gonna serve his servants, he's gonna serve his people. What are we to make of that? I. I take a, an angle on this, an interpretation of this, where I look at the marriage supper of the lamb and I see an illusion here to that when he comes back for the bride of Christ for the church and takes the church to be with him. This is during the tribulation period. And this is one of the things that's happening during that time is the marriage supper of the lamb. And this is the illustration that Jesus himself uses and Paul capitalizes on it, is that the church is the bride of Christ. And so the marriage supper is the wedding feast, it's the celebration. And what I see here, what I. Read here and pick up even by the table imagery and the serving at the table is the idea that Christ, part of the marriage shepherd of the lamb, will Christ will serve his bride. Even in that instance, even in that context. Yeah, that makes sense. Jesus is one who serves his people. He came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Do you think there is any sense in which Jesus serves his people in the new heavens and the new Earth? Is there. Any opportunity or possibility where that takes place, we often think about heaven, where we're serving Jesus and I think that's gonna happen. Yeah. Obviously, yeah. We know that for a fact. Does Jesus serve Christians in heaven or in the heavenly, the new Jerusalem? I don't know. I've talked about this before with others as well, and I struggled to see that because I think his serving of, for example, in the upper room, his washing the feet and of the disciples and his, even his statement, I came not to serve or to be served, but to serve. Is within the context of his earthly ministry, that that's why he came. And even the washing the feet is the metaphor the living metaphor of the cross. And he's getting ready to go to the cross once the cross is accomplished, and he is exalted. In Philippians two, he receives the name that is above every name, that at the name of Christ, every niche, bow and tongue confessed that he's Lord. My understanding is heaven is going to be fellowship with our savior. No doubt. And what that looks like. It is beyond me. We're reading Randy Alcorn's book, heaven for Kids with our Kids in the Mornings. And he talks about this idea of being with Jesus and being in the crowds with Jesus and being in his presence and listening to him and kind of following him and seeing him. He's right there and you're with him and in that proximity. But does that mean that he's going to take on that same servitude towards us in heaven? And that's where I would say I maybe, but I tend to think no. Because of the place of exaltation that he has there. I don't think it's, I don't think it's beyond the pale of the potential, but I would say that's not my understanding. Yeah. And I suppose it really also boils down to how you define the word serve or how you think about the term help. God helps those not those who help themselves. This is, that, that was Ben Franklin. That was not the Bible. But how you conceive of God as God is important. And I guess I would offer you cautions as you think about texts like this. I took that text and I think it makes perfect sense to me that God would surprise us by doing the ultimate role reversal and saying, yeah, you're gonna serve me absolutely, but I'm gonna shock you and I'm gonna serve you as well. I don't think that's outside the realm of the possibility or outside the realm of God's character, but this is probably the only verse I think that says that God serves us in this particular way. So with that said, I don't wanna build a church on it. I don't wanna start my own denomination calling it those who are served by Christ Church or something like that. Now careful with how you read scripture. It's so good to think deeply and ask good questions, but in asking good questions, you also challenge yourself by potentially answering. In wrong ways. Mm. So yet again, I'm gonna refer you back to Canon and the community. Yeah. Make sure you do this in the context of other Christians who know the Lord, love the Lord, been walking with the Lord who are educated have the languages underneath their belts, God willing have years of. Practice and discipleship. You want that? Yeah. And then when you have questions like this, or you're struggling with some concept, man, what a good thing to, to utilize the church that God has given you in chapter 13. One section that I wanna make sure that we get to talk about here is Jesus teaching on the narrow door. And this is one that's difficult because we live in an area where there are a lot of churches and a lot of people would say, hi, I'm a Christian. And when we read here that there's gonna be few that enter through the narrow door. That doesn't always line up with our perception of reality around us. 'cause it seems like there's many, I mean, you look at some of the mega churches around us and there are thousands upon thousands of people that would at least claim membership at these churches. And you look at what. What that seems that even the culture here and granted we've talked about it, the culture's changing. There's people from the outside moving in here that are bringing to other religions in here as well, but there's still a lot of a Christian culture that exists here. So Pastor Ru, how should we understand that and how do we guard against becoming cynical against these much larger churches saying, well, Jesus said the way is narrow. So you guys, there's no way all of y'all are on the narrow path because he said, few, were gonna find it, not many. It takes a whole Bible to make a whole Christian. And so if you were only ingesting texts like this. And you were only reading Matthew seven and Luke 13 and saying, man, there's just nobody else. You might get into the Elijah mindset of saying, I'm the only one. There's no one else. This is it. Lord, just take me now. I might as well die. And the Lord says to Elijah, slow your real homeboy. This is my translation. I took I took Hebrew. So that's what it was basically. That's a sense. He says, slow your real homeboy. I've actually got 7,000 who have not. Bow the knee to Baal. So chill. I've got this. Yeah. Trust that the Lord, even though there is few and that really, that word, few versus many is a comparative word, and we don't have a reference for that right few by what number, by what standard. And I grant that just because there's not a number, it doesn't still carry a significance and a weightiness. I, I believe that. I trust that what that does for me is sober me into thinking. I wanna make sure that I'm trusting the Lord as he's revealed himself, rather than trusting my own intuition and my spiritual sensibilities. That's the first thing. Second thing I wanna do is make sure that. Others who presumably walk with the Lord are doing the same thing. That there is a sincere searching for what God says about himself and what he commands of us to do in response to that, and that I am caring enough to open their eyes to the same things that I'm seeing. And the way to do that primarily is gonna be through your local church. Your local church is the hub that helps you make sure that you're on the right track. Which again, I'm gonna go back to what I just recently said. Make sure, you have pastors. Who are following the Lord, who are wise, who have demonstrated responsibility and trustworthiness that you can say, I'm gonna submit myself to their leadership and put myself, place myself under their pastoral, protective care so that I don't go off the rails. Yeah. I wanna do this in community. I wanna do this in the canon of scripture and I wanna make sure, again, I have a whole Bible to make myself a whole Christian. Yeah. One other point here, this is a good text for us to do what Paul instructs us to do and pause to examine ourselves to see whether or not we're in the faith. One of the things that he says, which I think is chilling, is in verse. 26. When he says you will begin to say, we ate and drank in your presence and Utah in our streets. But he will say, I tell you, I don't know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil. This is similar to Matthew seven, but a little bit different. What they're appealing to in Matthew seven, they appeal to works here. They appeal to proximity. They're saying, we went to church, we showed up. We were there every Sunday. Yeah, we listened to sermons. We heard all I can't remember who the one that said it was it sounds like MacArthur. So maybe it was MacArthur. I think it was maybe. Who said Judas heard every sermon Jesus ever preached and yet still. Betrayed him, still was able to deny and betray him and commit the ultimate act of betrayal against him. Mm. So just because we are near the things of the Lord, just because our history is man I've grown up in the church, if we've never had that transactional occasion to put our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and ensure that our, the payment for our sin has been paid. It doesn't matter how long you've been there, how many sermons you've listened to, Jesus is gonna tell you the same thing that he tells these people here. I don't know where you come from, because you have to have that moment of surrender to him as your Lord and the Savior. So it's a good gut check too for us. That's heavy and necessary. Yeah. Well, let's pray and then we'll be done with this episode. And God make us a church full of those that are on the narrow path. And I pray that you'd keep us like that. I pray that we would be a church full of believers that are in relationship with you, not just in proximity to you, but in relationship with you. And that we would as such stand out and that others would want that, that they would be around us, be around us as Christians, be around our church and desire what we have, the hope that we have, the confidence in you that we have and that you would. By using us in as a result of that, that you would bring many others to faith in Christ as well. So it help us to be a light in this community even as we have Fall Fest today. We may it be a great and fantastic event where people are shown the light of Christ by our church. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Keep bring your Bibles. Tune in again tomorrow for another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. See ya. Bye.

​Well, thank you for listening to another episode of the Daily Bible Podcast, folks! We're honored to have you join us. This is a ministry of Compass Bible Church in north Texas. You can find out more information about our Church at compassntx.org. We would love for you to leave a review, to rate, or to share this podcast on whatever platform you're listening on, and we hope to see you again tomorrow for another episode of the Daily Bible Podcast. Ya'll come back now, ya hear?

Yeah. I would agree with everything that you said