Who wants to summarize interlude forests? Does anybody want to like just a few sentences like what was the interlude? Did you write a little snippet in your this to the story? As you're working out your story you maybe there's no right answer wrong answer how would you summarize the interlude?
My share
just answered one of the discussion questions which I thought is summarize for me. But he said, I opted to enter this world in a number of ways and I said that he was humble making miles he did not come to cause attention to himself. He was always for the poor and lonely and he came to serve not to be something
that's good. Good. You know, and I say for the interlay God was quiet for 400 long years. Powerful, right? You can say a lot more. But I think just God was quiet. And I know we had a request to see why do you think God waited for over 400 years after the end of the Old Testament? Before he brought Jesus Messiah to Judea? You we all think any thoughts
always a good answer. Yeah.
Need to make sure that the properties that was in the old just make sure he fulfilled everything before like, this is what everybody was talking about. This is debate Yeah.
Absolutely. Sherry Fox Dave interlude Why was God silent for 400 long years? Yeah, I
don't know if I've got insight into why God was silent because I yeah, like like, I guess reading with Malikai right. The last kind of prophetic voice of this thus saith the Lord and and then the next voice. I think John the Baptist crying out in the wilderness like prepare the way the Lord is coming, you know, kind of kind of bridging that prophetic voice into what we know of as the New Testament you know, but just I was telling Brian I was like, historically, it's super important if you know if we're as we're flowing through the story. We end with them in exile in captivity in Babylon and Ezra and Nehemiah, they come back and they are kind of rebuilding the temple, you know. But what happens is, the Persians are the ones that conquered the Babylonians and they allowed to return well, then eventually the Greeks come in and wipe out everybody. So now Alexander the Great and the Greeks and the Greco Rome. is in control of the land. And so that's one of the major differences. You got the Jewish people trying to figure out, you know, who are we what are we supposed to be doing? You know, Isn't this our land that God promised us and let us come back to that then you got this dominant political party? Over this that is controlling it, and they're taking all this tax money, like we mentioned with Ezra, Nehemiah, they kind of kept some of those things in place, because we're like, hey, we can make money with this. Let's keep out there. Keep paying your temple tax and we'll put Jewish people in place to help keep the order that we know of is Herod. So so but yeah, I think the the statement is that the time that Jesus came was the perfect time. It was the right time. You know, God knew exactly what he was doing. Well, in terms of Greco Roman life, it was major advancements and roads, transportations, commerce trade, setting up the cities super organized. So in a sense, it was kind of the perfect time for Jesus to come in and what we know from x his message to begin to spread, but you also have a peasant populace around Galilee, that are being controlled by Rome, but that just feel like they're a bunch of nobodies. And so as a byproduct of, they're not the important people, they're not in charge. They're not in control. They're just the normal folks. And this is who I think Jesus primarily hangs. Out With that we'll get into next week. But there the historical timing. It was perfect in light of even these things that we think of is not you know, the power, the people that were in control in charge didn't worship the Lord. But they did pave the way for God to do exactly what he wanted to do by sending His Son for us. So
I think that's good. I think that timing thing is, that's what a lot of people speak about. I haven't studied the interlude a whole lot. So I don't have a very well researched answer for you. But that would have been my answer. Also, I think the there's it's just a time like silence and rest is a way for God to cleanse and for there to be healing and restoration and for honestly, like a lot of that old stuff to die off. You know, I think even if you think about even currently in our nation as we think about, you know, entrenched things like slavery and how that's impacted our nation and you know, we're a couple 100 years and we still bear the woes and the marks and the weight of those those sinful choices of the people before us. And that creates divide and division and hurt and pain even though we're so far it feels like we're everybody's like it's so long ago but it's not there's people that are like, I can remember my great grandma or like there's someone that they can touch in their immediate sphere, that they know how things were different and alive during then and I think 400 years, it really gives opportunity to wipe some of that out so that silence is like a cleansing or restoring but also to and the Greek language like, like, we look at our New Testament, it is amazing if you know Greek and like could read and understand some of those passages. There's just so much more expression in the language. I think if that's the right word, I don't know, but it just communicates in a way that our English falls flat. I feel like and so I think that's another part I mean, there's so many things the road and the transportation and there is just like Dave said, I mean, set the stage in it was like enter Christ and it was perfect timing. So yeah. All right. Yes, ma'am. Yes.
I want the restaurant
light green. Yeah.
So once your hands so good. So what do you do? They said yes. To represent the blood clots. Yeah. Excuse me. But then if I walk back then I didn't know anything. Sure. Sure.
Yeah, yeah. And then from that for many, many years, there was a long tradition of wearing white on Easter to represent the rest of the risen Christ. So you know, like, that's where we get like, the peace lily and like this white, you know, being attached. It's not as much anymore it became, especially as Easter became Easter and more or less Resurrection Day and more, you know, commercialized and there's bunnies and you know, and like all that, like it's pastels and spring colors rather than this white like this cleanse is purified holiness.
Isn't that possible? I can't wrap my brain trying to come up with a logical explanation. We celebrate these disjointed things that we're doing and where did that come from? And my mind keeps telling me that the whole calendar is off from what it was like. Because if you go back and pull the Jewish calendar, I think the like approximately six to eight weeks off from what we do now. This is what we're in the classroom with Mr. Greg green calendar. I think so, in five weeks. Yeah. It's this. Deadwood. Yeah. When we had the Romans and the Greeks coming in and going by changing Yeah, yeah.
Well, I mean, reservoir, resurrection day Passover. Those were Jewish things that became Christian and that like God, Christ never told them to celebrate his birth. nowhere in Scripture, is it their celebration, or historically any celebration of Christmas. And I know that's kind of like, that's our holiday. And it's like, what is Christ tell him to celebrate? His resurrection, I'm alive. I conquered death and you are therefore alive because you believe in me and we celebrate resurrection. Resurrection is the holiday. And we miss it. And it was resurrection day and it was Passover. It was good Friday, Monday, Thursday, tomorrow, you know, we they had like, and so it was a week. But then even after that Easter in the celebration didn't mean the feasting continue. There was really 50 days there's 40 days. Eastertide is from Easter to Pentecost when he was raised up and then you have 10 more days till ascension when the Holy Spirit came down on everybody, and so it was it was 50 days of feasting, like it was, yeah, we fast, you know, for Lent, and then Easter comes and it rains in a time of feasting and celebration. And so there's these rituals and all of that. And I mean, I think it's, I can't remember I knew at some point but it's not coming to me. I don't know if David remembers but yes, yeah, it's just like with us we call it commercialization but yeah, it's a pagan isn't like where your your religious stuff gets mingled in with a worldly stuff. And yeah, absolutely. The
most enjoyable population though not in a circle across Easter for giving a new outfit
Yeah, and you know, it like it quote coincides pretty closely with spring. And like, you know, like that some of the pagan stuff with the bunnies like like that's when new life is like babies are born and all the flowers are blooming and so you get all these pastel so and I still don't know how the Cadbury although I do love Cadbury eggs like how they came to light bunnies like I mean it just everything got so twisted. And we're like Ha and so I think that's all that onus is for us as believers to reclaim, you know, it's like yes, I don't know that we can go around and say don't call it Easter call it Resurrection Day. I mean, I think you can use that language but I think it's okay for us to be Easter people because Easter has become very religious, even though it's commercialized and I think there's a lot of redemption that we can do as believers and how we celebrate and you know, how we spend our dollars and what we do with it. Make sure that we don't my bunnies and you know, put out you know, like again, like no shame if you do but I mean it's just like trying to have like he has risen and like have a cross or eat or like have those kinds of symbols in your home to celebrate and people are like, oh, you know, ease bunnies and like, no, there's that's not in here. So, yeah, yeah, get back to it. So, all right, y'all, let's do chapter 11. And now we're getting in this New Testament, we're probably going to be in a lot of passages that are super familiar to all of us. And I think the challenge for us is to make sure that we come as best we can with fresh eyes and try to really sit in the story but then again, we are still trying to pull out and so since nobody really took me up on enrollment, I guess Joyce kind of did. But does anybody want to share like your story so far? Starting with creation like read which like the your worksheet? Do you want to share it with us because we're supposed to be practicing it right. Do you want to practice right now? Anybody feeling brave? No judgment we're gonna have to have one of these classes coming up where we start assigning y'all like resume
and a hat.
That's right when you start
get someone's anxiety go up. Come on, because
again, these don't have to be long. Like I said, for me for interviews like God was silent. That's all you have to say. That's what happened there. Um, and so you're trying to tell this story, in a way and it's really beautiful when we start saying all of these things that happen and I think we see how how long suffering God is how gracious God is how merciful like that's what those are the things that rise to the surface. I think when we start looking at all the big picture so Cindy, buddy Kathy, are you wanting to share? All right, I told you last
time in college in my class, know
everything
and re listen to it and try it. And I'm just going out.
Like I took that same class, right? Yeah. But
hopefully this is fun college that you look forward to it and you're like I'm learning and I you know, like you gotta adjust those cobwebs off me somewhere in there. I know the
contemporary world was the heart of the matter. This was tough.
Yeah, well, and I think it's gonna be really good for you guys. It may and maybe you don't appreciate it right now when you're in it. But I think going through this because even all the people that Dave's lived through that I've even helped him with with me, I personally having gone through this. It made other passages come alive, because you can start orienting yourself in the story. And I think that
you'll listen to worship songs that we sing and you'll hear things that third recalling the story. You're in a Psalm and it'll recall the story and you're ready to hear a sermon and acts and you'll be like, they're telling the story. And so it's, it's pretty powerful. I think, if you like you said, if you know where you're at in the big picture, and we're trying to,
yeah, we're in there and you start seeing all the things like 40 days is really important, right? It's used a lot. 40 years, 40 days, 403 days. And you see these cycles and these repetitions and some of its literary but like it's also just God's beautiful design, how everything is ordered, and everything has purpose and nothing is just like, oh, we'll just stick that over there. You know, like he, he works all those things out,
but does it on page X i X. The very beginning introduction that walks through creation, covenant, calling out commandments. Great kingdom. Yeah. Communion. crumbling, yeah, it looks like at the church
and there's really no shame if you like what they wrote. You could write that down and just, I would say, you know, write it on some note cards, and just keep it with you. Like if you go sit in the doctor's office or your you know, instead of playing on your phone or something like you sit there and read like do a note card for each one, and just read over it. You know, until you learn it. There's no shame in that. It's not like you have to conjure all this thing
is that you don't have to remember and recall every minut detail right? Your point is to get to be able to tell the whole story of Scripture, in your own words. Not in my words are pregnant bongs words or Scott devolved any Hayes's words and your words and however you want to
wear it makes sense to you when
brandies boss took the class, she told the story, I think, yes, that's right by walking through different rooms of a house or something like that. She was able to kind of in what she does, she just walks through all the different things of the of the whole story set up in a different room. And so it was kind of a really creative way of telling.
Yeah, that's very cool. All right, y'all.
Well told you that wouldn't want to
honey. He's like, No, he's gonna do it. I'm gonna get him to do it's
public speaking tech. Right. Let's be honest. All
right. Well, y'all Prepare your hearts. We're gonna do it
next week. Telling that telling you I'll tell him you're volunteering to tell the story next week. Is camping
for you? Alright, well anything that stood out to you guys from this week? This was a lot of reading. We had all the Gospels what anything? Yeah,
that's something I had never heard someone talking about Marion Jones and all that. And it says, more than likely, Mary had been kicked out of her house for bringing shame. Yeah. And now I've never heard before. Yeah, I guess I always thought that once they realized what was going on. They were
we don't know a lot. I mean, this no, we don't know this is them reading between the lines, but I think they're spot on. I mean, I think I think there was a lot of shame and scandal I really liked. I don't know if y'all have watched the series they've chosen. But we've commented like multiple times. It was so powerful because people won't talk about that. But I love that scene between Mary and her cousin, when she they were setting up the wedding that Jesus was going to do his first big miracle to the Republic miracle. And she was saying, Oh, well you probably where she goes, No, I didn't I didn't get to do this. And there was like this. Oh, right. You know, and it was kind of and then Mary, you know, kind of redeems the MO and they keep going on. But I was like That felt so right and real. Like, again, if even if it wasn't exactly like that. You know, there is that in and like data. So it's like there had to be some kind of esteem for Joseph's family because he's in the line of David Right, like, but we also know that they were poor because they worked like they were workers. So they weren't wealthy. But yeah, he's still within this Miss King. linage. So, you know, definitely things have happened there. And there weren't like when we think of an inn, I think sometimes we think of an inn like, like it's a place where you go and pay somebody to stay there. But that was likely and I think they might have talked about this in the chapter but they stayed there because it was family. But they but they were still like will you're gonna be over here with the animals because again, there's that shame element. So it wasn't like they did that. You know, we always talked about the innkeeper like it's some, you know, person that didn't know them, but he was like, well, I'll help you. But he this is the best I can do you know, because it's like, why would he care if she's pregnant? Because she's there with her husband, right? Like, how would he know they're not like they were wedding rings or like he wouldn't know. But he knew because he was part of the family. And it was a small town and people I mean, even though they traveled, you know gossip travels faster than a donkey. I'm sure
given birth journey, character match
no
good be that donkey probably set her into labor. It's probably why they got there and she went into labor.
Something else that the Kingdom said donkey was
Yeah, I mean, I think the fact that they can even get a donkey was that they had some means because I mean, even a donkey was like to own a donkey was that was a fortune. Because I know granted this was hundreds of years before that, but if not close to a thought but when Stanley or Saul was King remember when his his dad's donkey went missing and he went to find him because it was a fortune. And they had to go find it. So I mean, they had some means to have a donkey but yeah, that I mean, I think it was just a common thing. I don't know that it was necessarily to poverty. Yeah.
She wrote on a donkey and he wrote, and Jesus didn't like your
eggs. See? Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. It's just I think there's something to that for sure. For sure. There's
some humility there. Like you mentioned earlier. Yeah.
How did you know the innkeeper was family. I missed that somewhere in my whole life. Well,
again, this is reading between the lines because that was common, like when you would travel, you would go to a family member's home, so it was likely we don't know that. I'm not saying that definitively, but I really think that's true. I think that makes the most I don't know that nobody knows definitively. Is
the innkeeper mentioned in the Gospel. Or was it just mentioned that there's no room in the inn?
Yeah. And somebody wasn't. I was I was, I couldn't remember. I don't know if it uses the word you're saying that I'm questioning myself but
I think we've added a lot to the story. Yeah, I think is the and we've embellished and things but and as I was telling Brandi last night, I was like it was they would come back to Josef's family and that's who they were going to stay with for the Census. There's a possibility that this was one house and upstairs is what would be like the bedrooms. And then often there was a guest room that was also upstairs and that's where the family stayed. Well, they had to stay on the first floor in the manger where the animals would be kept safe. But it's not like they were out of town or out back in this, you know, out in the field where the shepherds hang out barn or in a cave somewhere. You know, it was it was probably they were still in the house. It was just not the best part of the house, you know, but what strikes me and I can't I didn't read this closely to see if you mentioned it, but it's like Josef's family in where they were like that's the most important family in Israel. That's that's lineage of King David. You know, like you know the Joseph you know, son of David like he this this would have been an important family here. And yet, this is how they chose to treat Mary and Joseph
said to that same thing that that really she didn't even need to go yeah, that you know, that she she didn't need you know, knee deep and go with that she did, probably because she had no other place to go so
well and remember that he saw he heard from another angel that said you need to go because the the the Messiah has to come, you know through, like through death. Like Like if that was part of the prophecy so the angel came in is told Joseph so Joseph was like okay, we gotta go Joseph is underrated. I think you know, we don't talk about him a lot, but he's a really it's a me he's a lot like the women in Exodus like they were so pivotal and we don't talk a lot about that. It's like we talk about Exodus, we talk about Moses, but if not for all those women before him, that all whose shoulders he stood on, we wouldn't even get Moses like if the midwives, his mom, his sister, you know, like all of these women stood up Pharaoh's daughter and they went against what was expected or what Pharaoh had even decreed. And you have Joseph that. I mean, Joseph was trying he really thought he was making a good decision, right. He was like he decided to divorce her quietly. He was trying to protect Mary, even though he felt betrayed. He was still being a good man. And even in making that good choice. God still said, I want you to let your reputation go any dead you know, and I love that they said something in the book that I underlined. It was good. Something about God doesn't really care a lot about reputations or esteem either. So you know, it's just and I think we as believers have to constantly reserve the right to be misunderstood. You know that if God has asked us to do something, or we know in our spirit, that we ought to do something, and maybe the church body or maybe our family or friends are not going to agree with that. I mean, that's hard. To go against the grain, or to be misunderstood or to think people, people assume that you're doing the wrong thing, or being whatever, fill in the blank. But you know, it's between you and God. And you just say, I'm not going to defend myself, you know, I'm going to do this. And that's easy to say, and we can all be like, Yeah, but when we're in that moment, yeah, we don't want you know, that's, that's that's hard. And Mary and Joseph did that really, I think really beautifully. I can't even imagine. So yeah, and that stayed with them. Like they said it was a small town. Like Nuff said.
pieces that are missing in the Bible were never the worst some woman in the city cared and they found out that she was in labor and they actually have gone out and assisted who they could
have. Yeah, we don't know anything.
I'm pretty sure they didn't stay upstairs during this whole time. Well, can
you imagine a woman is in labor and that is not acquired. So yeah, you would hope that they would have come down in this this but none of our nativity scenes have any of their family members.
know that's what when I bought my nativity scene, I was like, actually don't need the wise man. Yeah. Give me some more shepherds
in our little, little kid one that we have. Dave always makes Talulah take him and put him put him in another room Yeah,
took him a couple years to get
this guy to have money. Which means his manager was pretty decent place. And
yeah, it probably wasn't I mean,
I the word in is not in the Bible. Yeah, there is no end. Yeah, so but it's so it's probably a house. It could be a guest house. Yeah. As a part of their house. And hey, we separate. I've rented
it out that and so that's where I think some people have said, Oh, it's an indie probably rented it out. Like they didn't know him. And then you know, other scholars would come back and said, Well, that wasn't custom. So that's why that's why we land where we think that that was probably their family. They knew that was not huge, and they didn't have a lot of money. So I don't know if they could have afforded to stay somewhere to pay
church. There's a church in Nazareth now that's bigger than the original mazzard city. Of up there and when the Christmas story happened, there's a church that's bigger that's on top of the entire Nazareth. So we're about churches. That's about the original size of measures like it was not it was small, so there was not houses and houses and housing house. Yeah, very small. Yeah, I like these random trips.
These are really good. Job. All right. Well, let's turn the page and then I need someone to read. We're going to do Matthew 117 through 24.
Everybody's favorite. We aren't going to read the genome genealogy. We're gonna skip past it but Matthew 117 through 24 It's a short one guy so we can read that right.
Yes, ma'am of chapter one.
So all the generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are 14 generations and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are 14 generations. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when as his mother Mary was a spouse to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost of her husband being a just man and not willing to make her Republic example, was minded to put her away privily that while he thought on these things we hold the angel of the Lord peered into him in a dream saying Joseph, to have Son of David or not to take him to the Mary that ye, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost, and she shall bring forth His son, and that shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save His people from their sins. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet. saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and I shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us, than Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had been him and took him and took unto him his wife.
Very good. I think I meant to say 325 Go ahead and read the next one. Sorry. Were you 25 Two.
Okay, I knew her not until she had brought forth her firstborn. Son, and he call his name Jesus.
Awesome. Thank you. That's my typo. Sorry. All right. Well, we just talked about this, but any other thoughts or anything you guys notice?
respected her for sure. Looks more concerned about how her image and how she would be betraying this side of her family and everybody besides
Yeah, that's good. Yeah, I didn't I didn't have you read the first part. But what's the beginning? You guys read this hopefully with your reading the first part of chapter one, what is what is all of that? drainage? You referenced it? When you started in 17. So what's all verses one through 16? Yeah, yeah, that's the stuff that gets us bogged down, especially in the Old Testament, right? mannessah But get amen who begat Josiah, like we hear this and we're just like, and I like their names that are not common. We don't know how to say them. But I always say like, those are, those are people that lived and there are people in this, this family of God, probably many, if not all of them will will see someday in heaven like and how cool to be like, so hit Well, probably not mannessah or Amen. But Josiah, um, you know, and some of the others, but I think how cool it'd be that you were like, Oh, are those midwives in X? You know, like, how cool is that? Peninnah you know, like they Samuels mother and she prayed or like all these people in these lineages that sometimes we get really bogged down, but I think it's really important and again, and unique that God is so specific about who he uses, and when he uses them. And that God uses messy people, right? This lineage is messy, all these generations that he listed here. Yeah. So we have a picture for you guys. What's the artist's name?
Do you remember Karen Smith,
Karen Smith,
Fletcher Smith.
So Do y'all know what this is a picture of? The picture it's right up on your note. Sorry, we're on the second page of your notes. There's a picture I should have had to alter. Yeah, turn the page you got a picture in your notes. Do y'all know what that is?
I'll just got one. pointed at it. I'm assuming that's Mary. All right. There's a clue. Nice. That'd be appropriate for tonight's lesson. Yeah.
Yeah, she was young.
Joe getting the book ends.
So what do you all think these are? I didn't get it right away. David with the apple. Yeah. Yeah. Once it comes to you with a chase by the wheat. Yeah. Not wait.
Oh, it's not Esther.
This is Esther. I mean, Ruth. I was totally buying it. I was like, Yes. Like though, right, Ruth and Boaz? Yeah. No worries. I I see. I transpose
they're all in Matthew one.
But Ruth and Boaz, right and the she laid on the chasing for MC and then they it's good. Right
have mercy. What rehab why
rehab,
because she saved I mean, look at the picture.
Which one? Yeah, which one is hard red. Right. Let's get remember how she they would notice the red
the red ribbons red cord. Yeah. Joshua and Caleb would know Yeah.
Steak. Who is the one with
no clothes.
Even
Tamar Tamar, let you go back and read that story again. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. So we've got Eve and Tamar and Rahab and Ruth and Mary. No Mary's at the end. Oh, no, but we got married. We got married. Who's in the middle? No, y'all should know this. Look at what's on Bathsheba, which I think if I if I was going to critique the artists, I'd say that she should draw faces on everyone. But Bathsheba because remember, they say the wife of Uriah Usai or what's his name? Uriah. They don't she didn't they don't say your name. They will say Bathsheba. So she's kind of in this Matthew lineage. But isn't that cool? So you've got a piece of art that shows us the lineage of Christ through these women that all like bore these this lineage here it's way more exciting than reading and isn't it? I thought that'd be a fun game versus people
that are mentioned in Matthew Damon.
I had fun. He showed this to me and I was like, Oh my gosh, is amazing. So,
so creative on the last page of your notes to include a link if you'd like to support Karen Fletcher Smith in order to print I know
I told Dave, we had to get one of these. I was like one last night. I was like, I'll find a spot in our house to hang out because that's pretty cool. But yeah, it's so powerful. But anyway, not just a fun game. It is a beautiful picture. And I think it's way more exciting than if we would have read that genealogy you get to see this and like you said, it conjures up these stories, and we're like, Oh, I know that story. I know that story. And so even I mean if I don't know if anybody draws or not, but you can even sketch in your like an image to represent, you know, like the apple. The fall like we do that a lot of times so I think anything we do like that, that kind of symbolizes for us. Those that's what God wants us to do is to remember, you remember my word, hide it in your heart, remind yourself of my truth of the stories because there are stories once we became a believer because of what Christ did in the new covenant. We are now folded in and so we're part of that. So I think again, those are good visuals to help us remember. All right, the only other thing I wanted to read with you guys, so I didn't. I wrote down a passage and I don't remember where oh, I've got it. I got it here. So this is do we have time are we good? Oh yeah, we got lots of time. Okay, this is Ken Guyer. I don't know if y'all have heard of him. He's a phenomenal Christian author. He writes a lot of devotionals and different like books like he's very creative. I love him. This is a collection of five. He does these moments with it's like intimate moments with the Savior incredible moments instructive, intensive, Mo insightful moments. And so these are all compiled like if you look for him, you can get them individual or this just has all of them. And my sweet husband gave this to me before we were married. This book is almost 20 When you go into my birthday into though, you did June of Oh 325 25th Birthday quite well. You didn't have to mention that part. That is an old book
it was a good gets a calculator.
Okay, so now if somebody wants to return your Bibles to Matthew For one through 11 somebody read that. So we've we've talked about, this is Christ Christ was born and we covered a lot of ground Christ was born and then he started his ministry. So this is Christ is on the scene. And that could be something that could be your title for this section. Christ is on the scene. He was born. He went into the wilderness. I was tempted which was really interesting because they they talked about this in the book too, right? Like, here's the Savior of the world has come. And what does he do? Like as soon as like John has this kind of this symbolic moment of baptizing him? Because remember, John the Baptist was like, not you. I'm not worthy, you know, and God was like, no or Jesus was like, No, you need to do this. And that's, you. We could get all kinds of deep in there with all that language of like, how he said, it's made righteous, it will, you know, like, the, what's the wording? Anyway, he talks about that and then he leaves and goes into the wilderness for 40 days, and he fasts and he's encounters the devil. And so he's gonna go wrangle with the devil before he starts his ministry such like, God has the weirdest plans, y'all. Like we would none of us would choose that right? So we're gonna pick up here where that happens. And these I'm not a big devotional person, but King Dyer like in this book, I've read it many times. It's so good. He takes a passage like this. And he kind of reads between the lines like we were talking about with the innkeeper, like trying to bring you into that moment and sit with that passage and imagine what it was like, and help you feel it and see it. And so it's just a different it's a more creative way and I love that. So somebody wants to read the passage, then I'm going to read his little like, I got a few pages here. I'll read for you. Matthew four one through 11. Who's got it. Okay, did you
attempt to come to him and say it to the stomach too.
The highest point competent if you're the standard are you three, he will command his angels concern in need, and they will do And Jesus answered him Do not put the Lord your God to the test. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed you all the kingdoms of the world and they're spilling all the Assam and give you he said, if you feel bound down and worship me. Jesus said to him away from me, Satan, for me is written, Worship the Lord your God and serve him home. Then the devil left him in the angels County.
Thank you, ma'am. All right. Um, I read this to you. This is the meditation he read. The desert is where we face the strongest and most seductive temptations in life. It is where the enemy is most formidable and where we are most vulnerable. into such a desert Jesus is now led. It stretches before him like an endless wasteland, frayed with goalies littered with splintered rock and sun bleached bones. stooped shoulder hills are hunched all around him. At his feet. impoverished plants reach skyward like beggars desperate for alms, but the eyes of heaven are unsympathetic. They offer no tears only the compensatory promise of night. As the sun goes down, the earth relinquishes its heat like a sigh great shafts of light alternate with shadow and the horizon become a grim silhouette. As Jesus searches for a place to sleep, his father's last words accompany him. Soldiers are the last words of John, look, the Lamb of God. Jesus knows what those words mean. He had been to the temple he had seen the altar who takes away the sin of the world. He remembers the smoke from the altar whispering with whispering toward heaven like a prayer. He remembers the priest in the knife in the blood for 40 days and 40 nights he remembers. It is his last day in the desert and the muted grandeur of dusk turns to halftones rendering the hills flat and featureless shadows seek refuge and alcoves of overhanging rock as if trying to muster courage to step into the receding light one by one they create from behind boulders and still pass chalky outcroppings of rock. The moon rises from the horizon and softens the edges of the mountains. Limestone escarpments clean gleam like icebergs in some dark, far off sea. In the moon washed night, the desert comes alive. crawling insects emerged from their holes. Cautious rodents scurry over sand. Cold Blooded reptiles slither over rocks, due to Jesus settles in a shallow cave, scalloped out of the hillside. His only bed is the cold hard ground, his only blanket the dark of night. Mark tells us that while Jesus was in the desert, he was among the wild animals, like some distant scent and memory of paradise drifts past those animals and starts them salivating. They come forward lean and haggard and hungry timidly at first sniffing him out their presence is a collective prayer, a prayer for that place where the wolf and the lamb could fly down together a prayer for the return of Eden. They since this man is the answer to that prayer, and at the mouth of the cave almost as if guarding the entrance to paradise they lie down together and sleep. The next morning the stretching Sun flings great handfuls of color onto the great landscape. It is barely up and already his anger can be felt growing hot and white and its ascent. Jesus wakes and pushes his weakened frame from the cool dirt. His Angular features look as if they've been chiseled from a slab of rock. His skin is parched His lips are cracked. And after 40 days of fasting he's famished a strategic time to strike think Satan as he steps from the shadows. His movements are weary for his unsure whether he will end up as a predator or prey. He takes us a tentative step forward and grows bold and seeing how thin and frail his opponent has become. If you're the Son of God, tell those stones to become bread. The temptation is not to make Jesus doubt himself but to depend on himself. Since the father hasn't lifted a finger to alleviate his suffering, why not take those things into his own hands? After all, it's been 40 days who would blame him? But Jesus doesn't take the baited hook instead he answers it is written. Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Regardless how consuming his hunger Jesus would rather be fed with the smallest crust of his father's word than with any the entire landscape of fresh bread from anywhere else. Satan steps back to plan his next move, a change of strategy might help and a change of scenery. He brings Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and provides him with the blunt end of the very weapon Jesus used against him. If you are the Son of God, he said throw yourself down. For it is written He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. In this first temptation, Jesus answered Satan by affirming his dependence on the Father. So in this temptation Jesus pushes that dependence to the limit. If you really believe God will take care of you reason Satan, Let him prove it. Prove it publicly so everyone can see. The temple was the center of religious activity for Israel. The jump would be seen by all the key leaders and the rescue would convince them that Jesus was indeed the Son of God and a single act he could win over every skeptic and avoid years of conflict with religious establishment, a tempting offer, but Jesus sees through it realizing that such a test would not be a confirmation of God's care, but a calling of his care into question. Without hesitating he replies, it is also written, do not put the Lord your God to the test. Such a test would say to God, if you really care about me prove it. The challenge does not demonstrate faith in God's care. It demonstrates a doubt that needs some more tangible proof before we will be convinced, rebuffed Satan steps back and regroups he then takes Jesus to an even greater pinnacle for an even greater temptation as god of this world. Satan has the earthly kingdoms in his pocket. He digs into that pocket and counts the change he makes a final offer. All this I will give you said if you will bow down and worship me. These are the kingdoms the father has promised Jesus these are the kingdoms he would someday possess that someday could be today. And all of tomorrow's sufferings could be avoided. All he would have to do is turn his back for a moment and merely bend a knee in Satan's direction. That's all but as who he would have to turn his back on that keeps his knees locked his own father, his father who loves him and delights in him. How could he been even a knee even for a moment and the betrayal of such a relationship? Jesus takes the loose change and throws it in Satan's face away from me Satan, for it is written Worship the Lord your God and serve him only. The word snap like a whip. Satan recalls recoils his lips wrinkle and derision and turns he turns to leave. He leaves Luke tells us until a more opportune time, a time when Jesus would be weak or more vulnerable, a time when his suffering would be more intense a time he could have avoided if only he hadn't taken sides in that desert so decisively and resisted so resolutely. In the Jordan. Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit and approved by the Father. In the desert he appeared abandoned by both every trace of God was swept away by the wind or buried by the sand. There was no form of affirming voice, there was no attesting sign. All Jesus heard from Heaven was the hollow whistling of the wind. All he saw when he looked up were vultures circling in ever narrowing patterns. Yet still he trusted still he obeyed. And only after out only afterward did angels come? Not good. So good. And so And with this, he always does a little prayer. And then we'll wrap up thought and I just want to read this one more paragraph because it's really good. He said, Give me the thirst to study God's word as you studied it, but helped me realize that it was not knowledge of His Word that delivered you. Even Satan had that but it was your obedience to His Word. That brought you safely through temptation. Not good. So good. All right.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So powerful.
Exactly what to sign up man?
Yeah.
Well, and I think, you know, like as, as we read this stuff that like the birth of Christ and then his calling into ministry, him going into ministry, were quick to say, well, he was gone. He was fully God, but it's like he was fully man, like he is he was in a flesh body. And that flesh was was weak. I mean, he was hungry, he was worn down. He went to all through those tests and stuff and he was able to withstand them. The only one human ever able to do that, but I think when we remember Christ's coming, it's like he was a man who came and lived and died. And I think was it in here that I've read so much stuff for work lately? Stuff starts and we're doing Eastertide devotion, so it's boring together. But was this where he quoted? Philip Yancey? And the the fish like he was had the tank? Did y'all read that? Was that in this was that in this chapter? Yeah, nobody read. Y'all didn't read it. It's on us that. Yeah, it's on page 131 34. If y'all haven't read that you have to read that gray box incarnation and aquariums. Philip Yancey is another great storyteller and paints great pictures of how to how to like see such a prayer warrior in a great vision but he talks about how he had this aquarium and he loved them and he put them in and took care. Of him. But every day like he's done no harm. He's created a really nice home and like all the effort to get just those all of the things and balance the pH and the nitrates and all this stuff for the saltwater fish. And he's like they live in a paradise and he brings them food and it's like they Hurry and hide because they see him as cruel. And as someone that can crush them. It was really powerful. And he said to my fish I was a deity I was too large for them my actions to incomprehensible and he's like the only way I could help them understand that my actions were merciful and loving like I had provided all of this for him was I would have to become a fish and go into the tank and speak fish language to so that I could tell so, you know, it sounds silly when you read it. He says it really well. And I think that guide you know what, all of this that we've read up into this point through the Old Testament through the interlude when he was silent, like the people just didn't get it they didn't get it they didn't get it and they were never going to get it. So God had to come join had to come down and humble himself right it's like Philippians two says in take the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men, even though he was had equality with God. He didn't regard that equality, and Paul chides us that we should have that same humility that Christ did. But then he came down and again, it's like he could be one of us and He knows what it's like to be in this human body that's made of dust that will return to dust that has limitations and speak to it. So it's like, yes, Christ is on the scene and He is our God and our Savior and our Messiah. And we never want to understate state that but I think equally true is that Christ our man, with a man that lived this life that lived and knew what we knew, what like, knows what we know and experienced the things that we experienced in all the ways that we did all of humanity that he endured that and so and I think, again, it's reiterated in the lineage of all these people. It's like, yes, he's God's son, but he also comes through all of these human, like this lineage to be a part of that is really powerful. So any thoughts or comments as you're summarizing the Christ? What is this one called? What's the little sub subtitle? Birth, Christ for Jesus enters our world. And we go really fast like there's not a lot of speak about Jesus's childhood we don't know and I think that you know, we've always right when he says that it was probably really normal. Like that's why there wasn't you know, and and that's probably why his own hometown was like, You're not by Messiah. You're a carpenter's son. We know like we've seen you you're just a normal boy. And so I'm sure that's hard to you know, like, make sense of that because he was like, they saw how human he was. They experienced the humanity of Christ. And so it was hard to believe the Messiah that the Messiah was also the the one that they had been, you know, calling so that's Jesus enters our world shows up on Jesus on the sea. Christ is on the same like that again, that's how I might summarize this like super short, sweet Jesus Jesus on the scene he enters enters our world. pretty profound. So, okay, um, no other thoughts or questions? If y'all turn the page we have next week. We're gonna be still in the Gospels. We're still on Christ. We'll be looking at the next
week we're gonna look at Jesus's message. So we have one week to summarize everything Jesus said, three years you can handle it. So it's a lot of reading again in your textbook, page 141 to 163 There are a lot of charts and tables and stuff that charts some of the parables and some of the miracles and that kind of stuff, but but, you know, just so I kind of kept it light with just one kind of reflection question because I know there's a lot of reading and we got Eastern, that kind of stuff. So we kind of try to scale down a little bit, but how could How would you after you read next week, how would you summarize Jesus's message? You know, well, Jesus is saying this, and where did he say that? You know, I think, again, we've kind of taken some liberties maybe embellished a little bit, some of it of thinking, Oh, this is what Jesus said, but Okay, where do they say that so just keep that in the back of your mind as you're reading through so that we can kind of kind of get to some, the core of what Jesus is trying to say to us through His parables and through his sermons and that kind of stuff.
All right, any final thoughts? Yeah, and
one reason, probably, because have you ever read the bad girls? Yeah, I read it not too long ago.
Yeah, it's good. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, girl. Girl.
Yeah, yeah.
The Tamar is a 10 stake right, but she's holding. So yeah. Which we think a 10 stake but most of the tips takes work if you're putting in sand longer
oh, gosh, it's been years since I read it. Yeah.
Friend Yeah, I mean, it was probably been around since like the late 90s. I think when it came out, like Yeah.
Slightly Bad Girl was really bad. Yeah,
I haven't read her SQL. Bad
just for the moment. Redeemed
even Rahab. All of them. All of them. Yeah. Yeah. All of them. We got like a question mark.
