Matthew 8-10: The Kingdom in Action - Season 4 - Episode 4

[00:00:02] Speaker A: Welcome to the YA podcast. Lean in as we dive into the practicals of life with Jesus as spirit filled young adults. [00:00:26] Speaker B: What is good, everyone? Welcome back to the podcast. It is good to see your face. I believe we're on season four, episode four. [00:00:33] Speaker A: Yes, we are. [00:00:34] Speaker B: I'm joined by the one and only Samuel Adebagio. It's good to have you here, bro. [00:00:37] Speaker A: Nice to have you too, mate. [00:00:39] Speaker B: Good, mate. It's good. Sam. What is? I got a random question before you, before we jump in. [00:00:43] Speaker A: Oh yeah. [00:00:43] Speaker B: What's the best food you've eaten this week? Oh, best meal. [00:00:47] Speaker A: What's the best meal? [00:00:50] Speaker B: To be honest, I don't, I don't remember what I had for breakfast either, bro, to be honest. [00:00:53] Speaker A: Funnily enough, I really enjoyed those hot and spicy pieces from kfc. It was actually really good. And they have a special deal on six for $8. It was good. [00:01:06] Speaker B: What about you feeling. Dad cooked some, some chicken last night. Oh my days. I've got a fun lunch as well today, mate. All right, Stuff is slapping. Bit of gravy. [00:01:15] Speaker A: Get some of that. So good. [00:01:18] Speaker B: It's good. All right, we're gonna, we're gonna log back in. If you're driving in the car. Hello if you're. Wherever you're tuning in from. Welcome back to the podcast. We've been going through the Gospel of Matthew. I did not write it even though my name is Matthew. That was a terrible joke. [00:01:33] Speaker A: No, I love it. I actually love it. We're keeping that in. [00:01:36] Speaker B: We, we are going through, we've been going through past couple of episodes through the Gospel of Matthew, looking at the different themes and sections and stuff throughout the Gospel, you know, been going through, I think chapter one to four, sort of one of them. And then Sermon on the Mount is the last episode we've just watched. And then here we're jumping in chapter eight to ten. And if you are someone who's just jumped around a little bit in the Bible before, sometimes 8 to 10 is maybe not a lot of the gospels that you've maybe read through. If you haven't read all of Matthew before, especially chapter 10, it's kind of a scary chapter sometimes. We love the Sermon on the Mount. That's something that people gravitate towards, but it actually provides great framework to what the heck's going on. So open your Bibles, going to jump in in chapter eight and stuff. But we're just going to give a bit of an overview. Jesus is literally just like, he's just taught Sermon on the Mount. He's just had what couple of thousand people listen to his. His. His teaching on just like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. On like, prayer, fasting. [00:02:33] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:02:33] Speaker B: Like treating your enemy enemies. Right. And all of these different things about what it looks like to live in the kingdom. And he's teaching on these things and then he comes down literally from the mountain. And Matthew, the writer, takes this massive swing of, like, themes from going teaching to like, I'm going to give you the biggest chunk of just everything that has happened of, like, healing, healing, healing, healing, healing, healing, healing. And massive, like, demonstration of the kingdom. [00:03:01] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:03:01] Speaker B: So chapters eight to ten could really just be summed up onto the demonstration of what the kingdom actually looks like. Jesus just talked about it and he's like, okay, this isn't just like all talk. This is deed. Paul says in the Bible. What does he say is like, the kingdom of God is not a matter of, like, talk, but of power. [00:03:19] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:03:20] Speaker B: And Jesus. And Jesus lives that. So we're gonna. How else do we want to summarize? Is there anything that I've missed right there? [00:03:27] Speaker A: No, I think you summarized it. [00:03:28] Speaker B: We're pretty much. We're gonna jump in. Chapters eight to nine are really interesting time. So if it's actually a really helpful thing, I. I actually audiobook read this and listen to it. And I was just like. It was just like a slap in the face of just miracle after miracle after miracle that. That Jesus did. And I was like, oh, wow. Like, this is. He's really. He's really doing a lot right now. [00:03:52] Speaker A: Yeah, it's quite rapid. Hey. [00:03:53] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:03:53] Speaker A: You were even just making that comment earlier about how like, like we spent so much time dwelling on the Sermon on the Mount, and it's teaching, teaching, teaching, and then it's just like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom straight away. Yeah. And yeah, it's. It kind of feels like, okay, like, now that I've taught you how things should look, let me now give you a ton of examples. [00:04:13] Speaker B: Yeah, super duper interesting. Like, and I was reading a commentary just earlier on this and stuff. The. There's a lot of parallels. So the Synoptic gospels are Matthew, Mark, and Luke, most similar. But it's really interesting. Mark usually is the gospel that we think to be like, oh, like, he's just like, firing through. He's got the shortest gospel. Matthew here has got the shortest accounts of all of these miracles, like, you know, cleansing the leper and the faith of the centurion. All of these accounts, the shortest versions of them are in Matthew, not in Mark. Yeah, so Matthew's literally just bullet firing away, just going like, here's like another example. Here's another example. And he's really, he's trying to, it's easy, you know, to like isolate these things. I'm like, oh, like I'm going to read, you know, verses one to four here, like as, as a devotional thing. But when you bird's eye view it, it's like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. He's communicating verse very significantly. The kingdom looks like something. Yeah, words don't speak as much sometimes as actions do. [00:05:10] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:05:10] Speaker B: And Jesus was like, guys, like, I'm not just here to talk, talk the talk, but walk the walk here. Yeah. So it's interesting essentially what's happening if we're jumping in, in chapter eight. Sam, what's, what's. Is there a bit of a structure here? Like what, what is the writer doing here? That's, that's. [00:05:28] Speaker A: Yeah, because if we're looking through all the miracles from 8 to 9, chapters 8 to 9, we kind of see these triads of like miracles happening. So we can see three miracles, then a teaching about discipleship, three other miracles, teaching about discipleship, and then three other miracles again. Then we get to chapter 10 where God, like Jesus does another bit of teaching again as well. So it seems very well structured as well with these discipleship ones very intentionally placed in, in between it as well. And we'll get into a bit of those discipleship ones in a second as well. And so, yeah, so chapters eight to nine, we see Jesus doing all these miracles. So he, at the beginning of chapter eight, he cleanses a leper, he heals the centurion servant, heals Peter's mother in law. And then we see the discipleship one, and then he. He steals the wind and the waves, and he heals more people as well. So there's a lot of different things happening, a lot of like healing control of like, you know, the weather as well. So I think as well, it's kind of showing the, the sovereignty of Jesus as well. Yeah, it's kind of affirming his authority as well. Because a lot of Matthew is about affirming that Jesus is the Savior. He is the Messiah. [00:06:36] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:06:37] Speaker A: He is that new Moses that, that one that we have been waiting for. And so all of these things are kind of affirming his authority that he has over all these things as well. That. Yeah, like they have never seen this type of authority before. Right, right. [00:06:50] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:06:50] Speaker A: Especially this wind in the waves one as well. Kind of especially with the ocean and that idea of, like, you know, that in early Genesis, that chaotic kind of nothingness and Jesus bringing it into order and stuff. And that was one of the defining kind of characteristics of the Lord, that he. He orders chaos. And he's doing that right there as well. He steals the wind in the way. So this would have been really significant for the Jewish reader as well. [00:07:15] Speaker B: 100. Yeah. Because, yeah, like, the audience being Matthew's written primarily to the Jews, their minds are already. As soon as you start talking about, like, you know, cleansing the leper, but especially the whole, like, calming the storm type thing, they're instantly thinking of, like, okay, we've got, like, who. Who else did weather miracles, like, in the Old Testament? The real significant guy, you've got, like, Moses, Elijah, like Osha, one of the Elijahs or Shaz or. Yeah, whichever one it was. Yeah. Like, their minds are instantly going back to, like, oh, like, we've got something really significant going on here. Like this guy. And he, like, he ain't. So they're communicating something about, okay, okay, this guy is divine. He's appointed by God, and he's trying to communicate to the Jews this guy's the Messiah, guys. But they're expect, like, you know, a lot. A lot of people know, you know, the Jewish expectation of the Messiah is like, okay, he's supposed to be some strong leading person. And Jesus then uses these, like, Matthew crafts this. He's got boom, boom, boom. Miracles. This is the Messiah. Wow, that's so amazing. But then you've got, like, examples of what does it actually look like to follow this Rabbi? [00:08:22] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. [00:08:23] Speaker B: And it doesn't look like the way you guys thought it did. Sorry. [00:08:25] Speaker A: Absolutely not. Yeah, because that. It brings us to those. Yeah, those two discipleship sections. So we have the first one in chapter eight, verses 18. [00:08:35] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:08:36] Speaker A: To 22. And so then a scribe comes to Jesus and says, I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus says, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head. Interesting way to respond. And another disciple comes and says, lord, let me go bury my father first before I come with you. And he says, follow me and let the dead bury their own dead pretty, pretty hard. [00:08:56] Speaker B: Like, dude, just let him bury his dad. [00:08:58] Speaker A: Just let him bury his dad. But what is Jesus trying to say here? I don't think he's just trying to be awful. [00:09:04] Speaker B: Well, so if this bloke didn't bury his dad, he wouldn't have gotten his inheritance, right? [00:09:10] Speaker A: Yes. [00:09:10] Speaker B: Which is really interesting, because that is true Jesus. Like, look, bro, you can have the security of your own life or. Yeah. Follow me. [00:09:16] Speaker A: Absolutely. Huge. Huge. Right? So it's. It's the cost of following Jesus that earthly things are not the most meaningful thing anymore. In fact, you shouldn't be focusing on them at all. That your entire devotion should be to Jesus, to God, which is. [00:09:34] Speaker B: Sorry. Yeah, that's really challenging. And that's hard. [00:09:37] Speaker A: Very. [00:09:38] Speaker B: Because, yeah, a lot of the. We're used to just needing the earthly things. [00:09:42] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:09:42] Speaker B: I'm so. Dude, I am so used to being like, oh, like, it's. It's comfortable. And as soon as this uncomfortableness of, oh, I actually need to rely on God for these things. Yeah, dude, that's like. It's easy to be like, man. Like, oh, like, you gotta trust the Lord. [00:09:56] Speaker A: That's hard. It's hard. [00:09:57] Speaker B: The engaging with, the wrestle with it actually is the place that God will begin to do the work of that. Like, absolutely, dude. It's like if you're confronted, which you should be, and a little bit unsettled by these facts. The. What Jesus says, foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Okay. Follow me. And don't even bury, like, leave that stuff behind. Follow me. And it's like, yeah, dude, that's hard to do. Yeah, that's really hard. Welcome to the club. [00:10:21] Speaker A: He's basically. He's basically telling him that, like, you. You may not always have a place to stay. Like, shelter is one of the key things that we want and makes us feel comfortable in life. Right. But Jesus is saying even that, like, there may be times me you don't have it. But if you trust me, that's. This is. This is the cost of it. But we obviously know as well that the cost is worth it, right? [00:10:44] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:10:44] Speaker A: There's nothing more important than serving Jesus and being within with him and in his will and stuff. [00:10:48] Speaker B: And what did he teach you in Matthew, like, last week? We just looked at, you know, Matt's like, Mat 6:33 is what. Seek first the kingdom. [00:10:56] Speaker A: Exactly. Yeah. [00:10:57] Speaker B: And these other things will be added to you. That is a great verse, but one of the hardest things to live out continually. You can get it right in one season and then pop, pop back in the control of, like, I gotta seek all these other things because I need to look after myself. Nah, yeah, apparently not. That's not how we're supposed to follow this, Rabbi. [00:11:15] Speaker A: Yeah, it's like comfort and a challenge at the same Time as well. [00:11:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:11:19] Speaker A: And then. [00:11:19] Speaker B: Good. [00:11:20] Speaker A: Then we go to the second story on discipleship. And this is Jesus calling Matthew. Where are we? So we're in Matthew 9, 9, 13. So he basically just goes to Matthew at the tax office. Matthew was a tax collector. And he says, follow me. And this is interesting, Matthew, it just says, so he arose and followed Jesus. Yeah, that's interesting, right? Because the previous one, these dudes are saying, oh, like, oh, I gotta bury my own dead. And Jesus is saying like, oh, like you. You foxes have no. Have holes and birds of the air have nests but have nowhere to lay your head. Like, it's kind of like there are these things that are kind of like standing in the way and they're not really quite willing yet to fully commit to it. But Matthew is the polar opposite, right? He just drops everything and follows him instantly. He's like. He's like, on the job, mate. He's on the job, sitting at the tax office straight away, didn't even clock out. And so then, yeah, then Jesus is sitting at his place with other tax collectors, sinners, things like that. And the Pharisees are like, why do you eat with sinners, Jesus? And then Jesus says, those who are, well, have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, I desire mercy, not sacrifice, for I do not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And that's interesting in the context of all these healings as well, with God ministering to people who are like, you know, sick, who were broken and stuff like that. It's. It's really Jesus summarizing as well. Like, what is this discipleship about as well? Yeah, like, it's not just about platitudes to the Lord. [00:12:52] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:12:53] Speaker A: It's about, like, you know, ministering to people. It's about reaching the loss. [00:12:57] Speaker B: And so, yeah, even another. I'm just noticing this now, the whole, you know, the first example, it's like you've got the scribe who comes up to him, and Jesus is like, well, this is like, you've got it. You've got to let go of all these other things. You've got Matthew, who's considered a tax collector and a sinner. [00:13:12] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:13:13] Speaker B: And Jesus is like, I didn't. Like, the whole contrast of. Is like, oh, it's actually easier. Almost like the sinners are being the ones invited at the moment to follow him. Whereas before, you've got the. The tax collectors and stuff. And not the tax collectors, sorry, the scribes and stuff coming, Jesus, like, it's this Whole. There's a massive amount of contrast from the first to the second. [00:13:30] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, it's a huge contrast. [00:13:33] Speaker B: So interesting. [00:13:34] Speaker A: Yeah. So it's almost like, yeah, Jesus. Like. Like this. Matthew is trying to convey that, like, okay, this is maybe the example that we don't want to follow, but this is a great example of what discipleship looks like. Just, just full trust in the Lord, not even worrying. Matthew isn't even worrying about like, oh, am I going to get fired? Should I finish my day of work? He's just like, no, Jesus has called me. And so I'm just going to go, yeah, so. Which is huge. [00:13:57] Speaker B: Wow. [00:13:58] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:13:58] Speaker B: So the point of these. It's really interesting. The point of the power of the kingdom and the demonstration of the kingdom is Jesus actually paving a new way of going, like, hey, guys, like, this is power and this is the demonstration of the kingdom. And it looks like something people's lives getting changed. Dude, a girl got raised from the dead. [00:14:18] Speaker A: Crazy. [00:14:18] Speaker B: Like, yeah, that's, that's. They haven't. They have no concept for that, bro. Like, I remember hearing. I remember hearing Shane Willard one time, he said they had. I'm pretty sure in the Greek before that they'd seen that they had no word for like resurrection. [00:14:31] Speaker A: Oh, really? [00:14:32] Speaker B: It just. The word for resurrection just meant surprise. [00:14:35] Speaker A: Yes. Actually, I remember that teaching. Yeah. Yeah. [00:14:38] Speaker B: So they're like, oh, I've this guy just rose someone back to life. What? Like, dude. But the demonstration of the kingdom was. Got Jesus going, hey, okay, this is. This is worth something here, but it's gonna look different. And so it's this like what you're saying before, this mix of like, this is such an amazing invitation, but it's also a challenge. Yeah, it's so mate. Crunchy stuff in the Bible. [00:15:04] Speaker A: Yeah. So sick. [00:15:05] Speaker B: It's good. And then we do. Do we want to move on to chapter 10? [00:15:08] Speaker A: Yeah, let's do it. [00:15:09] Speaker B: So chapter 10 really culminates this whole. It's like the crescendo part of this, of this section. Matthew, like we said before, loves doing themes. He's is a Jewish man. He loves thinking this way and just having everything grouped together. So the whole point of it's like miracle, miracle, miracle, little bit of teaching on discipleship, another miracle, miracle, miracle. Little bit more like discipleship, teaching. Miracle, miracle, miracle. And then boom. Like it's like big chunk, big chapter of. Of what does it look like to live this way himself? Jesus just modeled to the disciples for the past two chapters, miracles. They've seen literally firsthand someone come back to life, someone be healed. This person, like, Jesus didn't even lay hands on the centurion servant. Like, he's like, speak the word, boom. He's healed. Like, yeah. The amount of things that are going through their head, they're like, oh, wow, Jesus. Then in chapter 10, he says, verse one, he called the disciples towards him, gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out to heal every disease and affliction. Tells you the names of the disciples. And these 12 he sent out instructed them, go nowhere among the gentiles at the town of the Samaritans, but go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Proclaim as you go, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons you've received without paying, give without pay. Don't. This is. This is really interesting. Jesus is like, okay, you've seen me do it. Go and do it yourself. With like. They're like, dude, now can we have, like, a couple more weeks of, like, like, lesson before we can, like, observe? [00:16:42] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:16:42] Speaker B: It's like, no. And guess what? Here's some more challenge. Don't even take any money with you. Don't take copper for your belts, gold, silver. Take a bag for your journey. Two tunics or sandals or a staff, because the laborer deserves his wages. Dude, they're like, jesus, we're not even supposed to pack a bag. Trying to drown me? [00:17:00] Speaker A: Would my sandals break? You know, And. [00:17:03] Speaker B: And. But he's. I. I noticed him almost like, I feel like I would see Jesus smiling, like, oh, like he's trying to do something here. [00:17:12] Speaker A: Yeah, He's. [00:17:13] Speaker B: He's been like, I've modeled to you something, but I'm trying to get you to. It's more than just doing the miracle. I'm trying to invoke this type of trust in God that's like, oh, everything you've said is true. I will trust you and see. [00:17:24] Speaker A: Yes. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And so, yeah, so we see these repeated themes happening. So chapter six, seek first the kingdom of God, and all else will be added on to you. So do not worry about these things. And then we also see in one of the discipleship stories in between, in chapters eight to nine, talking about, like, you know, don't bury your father. The Son of man has no place to rest his head. So we're seeing these repeated things of, like, earthly treasures are not what we're about anymore. [00:17:50] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:17:51] Speaker A: That this journey requires you to leave those behind completely as well. And then it then moves on into the very heavy part of chapter 10. Just straight persecution. Just expect it. And Jesus goes in on how much persecution we're going to have in detail as well. Right. [00:18:08] Speaker B: Matthew does not spare details here. [00:18:10] Speaker A: No, he's like, we beware of men, for they will deliver you over to councils and scourge you their synagogue. Scorching is what Jesus experienced when they whipped him with that whip with like the embedded pieces of bone and all that kind of stuff. And then brother will deliver brother up to death and a father, his child. You will be hated by all. For my name's sake. Yeah, all of this stuff, it's, it's heavy. He even talks about how there'll be division, that I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. I've come to set a, a man against his father, a daughter against his mother, and a daughter in law against. And he keeps going on, on about how this, this journey is not like some easy yellow brick road. [00:18:50] Speaker B: Dude. I just imagine the disciples just sitting there. He's like, sort of got like, it's like half time break. Like, oh, like, yeah, like, you know, Jesus telling them what they're going to do next. He's like, oh, we're going to get vlogged. [00:19:01] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:19:02] Speaker B: Awesome. Oh, are you sure about this? Like, yeah, I'm, I'm down for the miracles part. Maybe the whole rabbi thing, the persecution part, bro, not as keen. [00:19:14] Speaker A: What? [00:19:14] Speaker B: Like, yeah, like they would be. They would be stressed out of their mind. Yeah, dude, like, you've watched Jesus been. He's like, oh, sort of drip feeding. Hey, by the way, this is what discipleship looks like. And you're like, oh, why is he saying that? Okay. [00:19:26] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:19:27] Speaker B: By the way, here's a little bit of what to slap. Boom. Now guys, you're gonna go and do it. [00:19:31] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:19:32] Speaker B: And it's like, dude, you feel thrown in the deep end. And that is like, absolutely. That's kind of the point. [00:19:37] Speaker A: And it seems really intense. And we were talking about this earlier, but to the people reading this who were being actively persecuted, because this was obviously written to a certain audience. This was after Jesus had died and like the gospel was being spread and all that kind of stuff. So these people are being actively persecuted, these readers. So they would see this and they would. They might have even been thinking before, are we outside of the will of God? Why are we facing so much persecution? Why does everyone hate us? Everyone wants to kill us. Yeah. This is almost an encouragement to them, actually. [00:20:08] Speaker B: 100%. It's like, it's it's interesting. I've been looking at like church history stuff and just even early sort of church stuff before you know, up until like 300 AD. Dude, you've got like Nero, like that's one everyone knows of. Dude. He was cooked. [00:20:21] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:20:22] Speaker B: Like just persecuting the Christians just cuz he liked it. Yeah, like just, just gave him a bit of joy just to make people's lives miserable before following the Christ. Like bruh. Like and so these people are like literally, they're not even surviving. They're literally trying to work out how to survive. It is. They're literally getting fed to lions in like the Coliseum. [00:20:41] Speaker A: Like that's insane. [00:20:43] Speaker B: We have, and us as Christians now, like we have zero concept of like what that would have been like. But it's like for them, they're literally afraid for their lives but still working out how this thing is like trusting God and how do I follow him and stuff. They're reading this letter and they're going like, oh, Jesus actually said this is all going to happen. Maybe it's going to be okay. And like even that like, you know, it's so easy to get bogged down. It's like persecution will come. I'm sending you out like sheep in the midst of wolves. But then he says this, he says, don't fear those who can kill the the body but can't kill the soul. Where is that? That's in verse 28. And he's like, yeah. So he's like reminding them of the worth that they are to God. It's like, no, no. Like it's. This is actually going to be okay. You're on mission. Things. Things may look confusing sometimes it may feel like persecution and like stuff's coming against you that's like, that's because this is a battle to fight the good fight of faith. But is this not. Is this not worth it? Like you've jumped down to verse 39 and he says whoever finds his life, loses it. But whoever would lose his life for my sake finds it. That to the original readers would have been like, oh this, I'm keeping my eyes on the prize. [00:21:53] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:21:53] Speaker B: Like even, even through the, the tensions of persecution, being made fun of. Whatever happens in like me following Jesus and learning to follow him just wholeheartedly and, and putting things behind me, no matter what happens, dude, that is ultimately where I find life. Yeah. [00:22:12] Speaker A: So I guess how do we apply all this? [00:22:15] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:22:16] Speaker A: So I, I think that one thing that I find is a good thing to take away from this as well. Is that we've come from all these, these miracles, these healings and stuff like that, the demonstrations of what it looks like to be a disciple as well, and the way it's in power, not just in words and stuff like that. [00:22:34] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:22:35] Speaker A: And then we see the chapter 10 about all the persecution we're going to face because of it as well. So obviously, especially like, you know, like, like you said, we don't have a full concept of how much persecution these guys were facing. Maybe people in the Middle east who are Christians maybe might experience it similarly. But like, we probably, we do get slandered a lot as Christians as well, even in the West. So there is definitely persecution for us to face. [00:22:58] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:22:59] Speaker A: So it kind of, kind of challenges us to go into our week and think about, okay, like, where have I allowed fear of that persecution to stand in the way of what God wants to do? Maybe there's a healing that needs to happen in my workplace. [00:23:11] Speaker B: Yes. [00:23:12] Speaker A: You know, in an environment that seems hostile, but God wants to do something incredible through that. If I can, with the help of the Holy Spirit. [00:23:20] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:23:21] Speaker A: Step through that fear. [00:23:23] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. And it's, and it's the fear of it as well, I think, like, that is so appliable. It's like, dude, oh, like, my boss isn't gonna just pull a gun on me because I said I'm a Christian. Like, like it's not, we're not persecuted that way. [00:23:33] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:23:33] Speaker B: But dude, there's the fear of them thinking you're absolutely weird. [00:23:37] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:23:37] Speaker B: Like, like all of these fears of, like, do. How they're gonna think about me, like, am I gonna ruin, like, dude. And it's just, just learning to trust and obey God and, and move with his love, and yet to not let that discourage you. Yeah, yeah, it's, it's, it's still. Yeah. I wouldn't like, like we were saying before, it's. It's not like we're not persecuted, dude. It just looks differently. [00:23:59] Speaker A: It looks different. [00:24:00] Speaker B: It looks different at the moment. Yeah, yeah. And it's still just as difficult. [00:24:04] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely. So, yeah, no, I encourage you guys, as you're listening to this as well, think about and pray about it as well. Like, one prayer is, lord, help me to, you know, not be consumed by the fear of the persecution and be encouraged by the fact that that is more worth it to, to lose your life than to like, to gain it through the earthly pleasures or anything like that or anything that the enemy can offer us and stuff like that. But there are heavenly treasures that are much more worth. [00:24:35] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:24:36] Speaker A: And how can I actively step out this week in ways that I can demonstrate Jesus in power, in ministering to people and where they're at and see people come into the kingdom of God? Because that's what Matthew's all about, like the kingdom of God and people coming into the kingdom of God. Anything else that you want to. [00:24:55] Speaker B: Yeah, Matthew, just like the kingdom that Jesus is teaching about here, it's so good that it's actually worth the suffering for it. Yeah. Like, this is, this is worth the suffering for it. And that's completely okay. And it's okay if it's intimidating as well. That's probably a good reflection. Question is like, where do I feel like I sort of tap out on this? It's like, oh, like I'm, I'm sort of. I'm down for the kingdom. I'm down for like, okay, like these miracles things. But where on the line when it starts to get into like. Okay, like my reputation gets involved and I'm starting to maybe fun of, like, where do I begin to tap out? Just be honest with yourself, because when you, when you bring that to the Lord and you bring that first of all really just to yourself, that's where the Lord's able to do the work in you and be like, why is that? That I feel like I don't want to. Like, I'm really hesitant to step out or, you know, for what people might think of me, what they're going to say, like, what. What's going to happen? You know, what are my family going to think of me? Like, all of these things. Like. But it's worth somehow what Matthew is communicating here. This kingdom that Jesus is advancing, this gospel of the kingdom is good enough to worth. Suffer. Like, worth. Worth suffering for it. Dude. Paul, like, you want examples and stuff. You look at Paul, you look at Peter, you look at all these guys, it was worth, like they count the reproach of Christ greater value than. [00:26:13] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:26:13] Speaker B: Than even just being like, what is that verse that's actually in Hebrews. Like, it's like they, they, they counted the reproach, the sufferings of Christ to be greater worth. [00:26:22] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:26:23] Speaker B: Than the treasures of Egypt is users as an example. But it's like compared to fitting into the world, the, even the persecution of Christ apparently is. And, and the suffering that maybe comes with it sometimes is of greater worth than what I would get just by. Just by. [00:26:38] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:26:39] Speaker B: With the rest of the world. [00:26:39] Speaker A: Yeah, dude, it's huge. And just the last thing to add as well, like Scripture on, like that it's a narrow road that we're on. [00:26:46] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:26:47] Speaker A: And the wide, wide road is the one that leads to death. And even if we look at it taking like outside of Bible context in terms of people who have done significant things for the world in the past, it's always people who have not followed the typical way that everyone wants to go. Yeah, but it's about people who were, were bold in what they knew to be right. Even like, you know, scientists as well, who were like, everyone was telling them no, the world is a certain way. But no, actually I think there might be a possibility that it's different and for us, even greater knowing that we are in contact, we are in intimate relationship with the creator of the universe who has all knowledge and is completely good in everything that he does. How much more should we step out in this narrow way? [00:27:32] Speaker B: Yes. So, yeah, that's why it's a good fight of faith. Not just a fight. [00:27:36] Speaker A: Absolutely. It's a good fight. [00:27:38] Speaker B: A good and worth it fight. [00:27:40] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. [00:27:41] Speaker B: It's good. Well, that's a lot of, a lot of crunchy stuff today. I feel like we might wrap that up. I would encourage you guys to read, read it in a chunk. Read chapters 8 through to 10 and let yourself just observe sort of how Matthew, you know, the stuff that we've been talking about today, look how he, he uses these things. And let the Scriptures encourage you yourself because they're supposed to do that, wrestle with them, ask yourself the questions and, and be confronted by, you know, you know, everything that we've just been talking about. Reflect on that, pray. Yeah. Let the Lord really transform you through that. So it's good. [00:28:14] Speaker A: Thank you so much. Bye. [00:28:17] Speaker B: Thanks, guys. Have a good week. Peace.