00:00 Introduction and Greetings

00:17 The Importance of Church Attendance

00:54 Understanding Parachurch Organizations

02:58 Defining the Church

06:01 Guidelines for Personal Bible Study Resources

09:55 Exploring Parables in Matthew 13

14:52 Parables and Teachings in Luke 8

19:38 Conclusion and Prayer

20:26 Outro and Podcast Information

Find out more about Compass Bible Church.

Learn more about our Bible Reading Plan.

Questions or Comments? Email us podcast@compassntx.org

Hey everybody.

2

Welcome back to another edition

of the Daily Bible podcast.

3

Good.

4

Good morning.

5

We didn't mention it, but it's Monday.

6

So yesterday was Sunday.

7

Hopefully you went to church.

8

So yeah.

9

Happy.

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We assumed it Sunday, a day ago.

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It's Monday.

12

We assumed that you were

going to church though.

13

We assumed we didn't even bring it.

14

We, yeah, we just assumed that

you were gonna be there already.

15

Yeah.

16

And church is good to attend.

17

I know there's a lot of other options

that are out there that people go to.

18

A lot of different things.

19

I was thinking about

gonna a different one.

20

Were you But I showed up.

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I'm like, I should probably be there.

22

I mean, it's good.

23

Because , if you went to another one,

they might not know that you're a pastor.

24

And so when you stood up and

grabbed the guitar and started

25

to lead worship and then yeah.

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That would be a little awkward.

27

Kick the pastor off the

stage and started to preach.

28

They'd be like, who is this guy?

29

Yeah.

30

But if you brought fire, maybe I brought

fire, like in the word preaching.

31

I'm trying to be champion

trying to appeal to the younger.

32

I was thinking like a literal flames dude.

33

Okay.

34

I mean, if you brought literal flames,

fire, you let me, preacher, this

35

thing's going to go down in flames

Day of Pentecost Tongues of fire.

36

Yeah.

37

Hey, so, something that's in its genesis

was meant to come alongside the church

38

in fact, that's, its behind its very

name are some organizations like Young

39

Life or FCA or Bible State Fellowship,

or some of these others that we know

40

of today as parachurch organizations.

41

So, parachurch Para meaning

to come alongside of the, come

42

alongside the church these are

organizations that I remember.

43

For example, young Life.

44

Growing up out here was huge.

45

A bunch of people were involved in that.

46

There was another one called K Life

that was very similar that was basically

47

a midweek student ministry program

that wasn't put on by any church.

48

So you had a bunch of people from

different kinds of churches and

49

different backgrounds showing up

at this bible study basically.

50

But there would be

young life retreats and.

51

Young life presence on college

campuses and you'd have big

52

conferences and everything else and

they were there as preaching the

53

gospel, helping students meet Jesus.

54

And there was a lot that

was really good about it.

55

But by the same token I've seen,

there have been times where the

56

parachurch has been conflated.

57

With the church itself.

58

So I remember having some conversations

even back in, in California with

59

some people that would come to our

college ministry on Sunday nights.

60

And then they were super heavily involved

in one of their campus ministries,

61

which again, parachurch organization.

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And they would say, well, we do worship

there and there's preaching there.

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And so that's my church family and.

64

While I appreciated that, their

commitment to that, and I think that

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they were receiving some good teaching.

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The parachurch is not the church, right?

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And so, as we think about it here,

maybe you're involved in a parachurch

68

ministry, somewhere in our area.

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You're involved, you've got kids in

FCA or you've got kids doing another

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Bible study, or you've got kids that,

or maybe you're part of a Bible study

71

fellowship, BSF or something like that.

72

They're good, but they're

not the church itself.

73

And so when our commitment to the

church is challenged by a parachurch,

74

then I think it's important that we

remember, man, I gotta make sure that I'm

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prioritizing the church and getting my

main meal from the church, from the bride

76

of Christ, and then supplementing that

with the time that I have left over from

77

some of these other ministries out there.

78

Okay.

79

A couple follow ups.

80

And this isn't the question that was

sent into us, but we're gonna, we're

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gonna riff on this just a tad bit.

82

Why is it not a church If there's

Christians and doesn't Jesus say

83

where two or three are gathered?

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There I am in the midst of them.

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Why is it not considered

church with the capital?

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See I've seen posts recently of people

saying, oh look, me and my guys are,

87

we're gonna go out bow hunting in

the middle of the field and there's

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five of us and we're Christians.

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Therefore, this is a church gathering.

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One of us is gonna lead a Bible study.

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We'll sing a couple songs together.

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Why is that not considered?

93

Church.

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Yeah.

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Because of what church is defined by.

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So where two or three are

gathered that we need to remember

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contextually, that's Matthew 18.

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That's in the context

of church discipline.

99

So Jesus is saying there that where

you have two or three gathered,

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you have the authority of Christ

imbued in what's taking place there.

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So, you're able to go through the

process of discipline that's not about

102

fellowship, that's about the authority of.

103

Preserving the purity of the church and

fighting for the purity of the church.

104

So for us to say where two or three

are gathered their Christ is, thus,

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that's the church is not what the

biblical concept of the church is.

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What we see the pattern of is we

read through the New Testament,

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is that churches are established,

elders are given to the church.

108

And so there's pastors and there's elders.

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So your para parachurch organizations

are not led by pastors and elders.

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They're led by your volunteers, they're

led by a director, they're led by, whoever

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your peers, but they're not led by.

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By pastors.

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And so the New Testament model

shows that churches are to be

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shepherded by pastors, by elders.

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And then the other thing too is the

New Testament and we talked about this

116

a little bit a couple weeks ago, has

given the church specifically a couple,

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primarily two of the ordinances that

we observe as the Protestant church at

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least, and that is baptism and communion.

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And so the church shepherded by

their pastors are the primary

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areas where baptism and communion

are both to be carried out.

121

And that's why we went to

First Corinthians chapter 11,

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the context of that where.

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Get into communion is in the

context of the local church.

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And even when we look at church

history, as Protestants, a lot of

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times we take church history and we

throw it out with the baby of the

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ba, the throw out the baby of it.

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With the bathwater of Catholicism.

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We're like, well, tradition church

history is bad because Catholics appeal

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to that for why they follow the Pope.

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But I think there's something for

us to be able to say, okay, how has,

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how have things been done over the

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What's the pattern established there?

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And let's do our best to follow that.

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And so that's another thing that makes

the church as well as the biblical

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precepts of the one anothers things

like that are called to be lived out in

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the context of the local church, acts

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And that is what we understand as

the gathering of the local church.

138

And that's why we can't say that.

139

My Parachurch organization

is the same as my church.

140

Yeah.

141

And the parachurch works best when

it does do what its stated position

142

is, which is to come alongside

the church and to support it with

143

additional helpful ministries for sure.

144

And all of them, if they do call

themselves a parachurch, they recognize

145

that that's the whole, the name itself.

146

As you said at the beginning,

tells you what its function is and

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it comes alongside the church to

support what the church is doing.

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So on that note, then we should be aware

that Para church is meant to help the

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church and if it's undermining your

connectivity to the church or if it's

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not supporting, it's overcoming that

that's a problem and we should wanna.

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Resolve that.

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On that note, then the person that sends

in this question here is asking a question

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about resources for personal bible study.

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What are some wise guidelines to go about

discerning what is helpful and what's not?

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And they bring up two resources that

lots of people have probably heard of.

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One of them is the Bible project and

the other one is got questions.org.

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So those are two big

ones that are out there.

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There's others.

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How do we discern the

good, the bad, the better?

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And are there any other guidelines that

you would suggest for someone who's.

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Looking into those things.

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Yeah, I would say number one,

Google is a dangerous place to be.

163

If you're just gonna throw out a question

to Google, and that's not what this

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person said at all, but I know some of us

do that, that's exactly what they said.

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And so we need to have discernment.

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And that is important.

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And so as you I know a lot of

people go to got questions.

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I've heard a ton of people talking

about, Hey, I went to got questions

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and I checked, got questions.

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I've interacted with, got

questions a little bit.

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I haven't interacted with it

a ton to be able to know and

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give a blanket affirmation or

I find them generally helpful.

173

Yeah.

174

Yeah.

175

So, , like I said, yeah, I haven't

heard anything concerning about that,

176

but I don't know who's behind it.

177

And that's part of the danger here

is anytime we're gonna look at.

178

At an external study,

help to know who's behind.

179

It's helpful 'cause that's going to give

us an information, some information of

180

you talked about bias earlier, of the

slant or the bias that they're gonna have.

181

Yeah.

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In interpreting a passage or a text.

183

And so that's why it's great

to go to them, but I would

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listen with your ears attuned.

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The Bible project is great in giving

their flyovers of the books and things.

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I think they're creative.

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They're very artistic.

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I think there's some helpful things there.

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But just listen with your ears

sharp, with your ears attentive.

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And if some, they say something

that you've got questions about,

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no pun intended, then you can.

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Include in this list.

193

Your pastors, these, what you're

doing right now, writing this question

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into us on the podcast to say, Hey

I've got a question about this.

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Shoot your question into us.

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We'd be happy to try to answer it for you.

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And it's not, we're not the

only source of truth out there.

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But we're happy to help and to

help you with discerning, okay.

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What is the answer here

with this question?

200

That's really helpful advice and

I really can't improve upon it.

201

I would just affirm it

to the furthest extent.

202

There's a, there's so many good things

out there online, there's so many good

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things, but as many good things as

there are, there's probably twice as

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much maybe triple as much bad things.

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Things that we would say, oh, that's

not helpful, that's not useful,

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or that's a misunderstanding.

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Yeah.

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Or a misdiagnosis of the issue,

a misdiagnosis of the whatever.

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There's so many areas where we would say,

oh that's helpful, but not totally true.

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So one thing that I probably

have practical thing.

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Whatever research that you're doing

when you go to their websites, one, one

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clear takeaway I think that you could

use with a pretty strong degree of

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accuracy is if the website doesn't look.

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Professional.

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That's usually a good hint.

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Don't listen to this.

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Usually it's, if it's a guy named

Bob in his basement typing out

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blogs and it's a discernment blog.

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Yeah.

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Avoid that.

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Yeah, usually That's a good rule of thumb.

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Don't go to websites that look shoddy.

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They haven't been updated by,

the last page update's been

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2011 or something like that.

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That would be a really

helpful rule of thumb.

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But man, there's so much more out

there and I would say, find trusted

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resources that recommend other trusted

resources, that's usually the best play.

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So we've recommended you

resources, we, things that we like.

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And they usually will speak

about one another favorably.

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They do that on purpose in order to give

you a network of resources to utilize.

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So I would say let trusted resources

recommend other trusted resources.

232

Yeah, but still be discerning.

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And I would be careful with

podcast and social media channels

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because anybody can do that.

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Anyone can do that.

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Anybody.

237

Yeah.

238

And so just because they've

got, my mom has a podcast, right?

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I'm just kidding.

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She doesn't have a podcast.

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They've got a pretty filter on and you

know, , yeah, just be careful with that.

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My dog has a podcast.

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Does he do?

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What's your dog's name?

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I don't even have a dog.

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Okay.

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I was just gonna say the

podcast me Pastor Rod's dog.

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Maybe the dog that was pooping

on your lawn last year, though.

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It is.

250

They might have the podcast.

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I feel like.

252

Could I cleaned up after him or her?

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It's my dog now.

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Yeah.

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So just be discerning on that.

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Yes.

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And that's, yeah.

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Everyone can pick up their phone and all

of a sudden be a theologian on Instagram.

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That's.

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That's not what we wanna be turned into.

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So That's true.

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Yeah.

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Well, let's turn to God's word.

264

We're in Matthew 13, and

we're in Luke eight today.

265

We've got some parallel topics

and situations here, but this is

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all about parables in Matthew 13.

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This is, if you think about parables in

the Bible, Matthew 13 should come to mind.

268

This is one of the go-to chapters here.

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There's other chapters

that contain parables.

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Obviously we're gonna read some

of those, but this is the main.

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The largest section I think of teaching

parables that we find in the scriptures.

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And it's interesting because

these great crowds show up.

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Now, if great crowds were to show

up to our church on a Sunday,

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I wouldn't think to myself, let

me make what I'm about to say.

275

Super hard to understand.

276

And yet that's what Jesus does here.

277

He says, I'm gonna teach in parables

so that those that have eyes to

278

see, can't see, and those that

have ears to hear, can't hear.

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And so this is a fascinating situation.

280

And there's the parable of the

sower, the parable, the weeds, the

281

parable, the mustard and the leaven.

282

The parable of the treasure and

the pearl, the parable of the net,

283

and then bringing new and old out.

284

All of these are.

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Taught in such a way as the

people won't be able to fully

286

understand what Jesus is teaching.

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And the disciples even ask, why are

you teaching these things in parables?

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And Jesus says, so that those

who don't have eyes to see will

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be kept from understanding.

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So this is a, an act of judgment in

Matthew 13 of Jesus against a portion

291

of the audience there by teaching

things in a way that they're gonna

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continue to remain in the state of.

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An inability to see and

an inability to hear.

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And and so he teaches these things about

the kingdom that are told in story form.

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And that's what a parable is.

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It's a story with a point or

it's a story with a moral.

297

And he's doing that for those

that are able to understand it.

298

But he's also doing it in a form

of judgment with the crowds that

299

are gathered there, which really

highlights what we were talking about,

300

I believe on one of our last podcasts.

301

Jesus will distribute light he'll

distribute knowledge according to

302

the receptivity of the audience.

303

And so it is actually a mercy of

Jesus not to give them more light

304

unless they acquire more judgment.

305

And so even though it is

judgment, it is also a mercy.

306

Yeah.

307

But you'll also notice in this same

chapter and chapters following,

308

Jesus is gonna explain to his

disciples, here's what this means

309

and here's why this is important.

310

So again, you see the principle of more.

311

The right response means you

get more light from Jesus.

312

Jesus gives you more understanding,

more more ability to comprehend

313

what it is that he's saying.

314

And I think that principle

still holds true today.

315

Our obedience to Jesus commands

renders us able to receive

316

more from Jesus and not less.

317

Yeah, for sure, for sure.

318

As we go through these parables, , a

lot of 'em are pretty familiar.

319

The parable, the sower, you've

got the four different types.

320

The first.

321

Path there is the outright

rejection of the gospel.

322

The second path is is the

one that receives it, and

323

immediately there's signs of life.

324

What struck me this time reading it is it

says it, it continues for a little while,

325

and so this is somebody that could be.

326

In the church for a period of time.

327

This is somebody that could be

professing faith for years even,

328

and then encounter opposition,

then encounter the persecution,

329

then encounter the difficulty, and

then they fall away from Christ.

330

Right?

331

So this is not that, this is right

away, immediate, and I'd say the

332

same thing about the third soil.

333

The thorns, the ones that's

choked out by the lust of the

334

world and the cares of the world.

335

It may take a while for those

things to fully snuff out the

336

professed faith of this individual.

337

And it may be that this, these

are the people there in Matthew

338

seven saying, Lord, Lord.

339

We, we were following you.

340

Yeah.

341

That they go their whole life still

professing that they're following him

342

and yet there's not the fruit there.

343

And that's the differentiation.

344

'cause the good soil is good soil

because of the fruit that it bears.

345

And so the parable of the

sower is again, one of.

346

Probably the most famous

parable that he's to told.

347

And it's those four paths.

348

There's only one that's really the good

soil there, the one genuine believer

349

there, which tells us lots of things.

350

And it would be such a good thing

for you to spend time studying this.

351

You're just reading it right now.

352

So don't feel like you have to pause

on every reverse to understand it all.

353

You're just trying to get the sense of it.

354

It would be worth studying, but

one, one thing that stands out here,

355

verse 30 of Matthew 13, let both

grow together until the harvest.

356

He's talking about the weeds

and the wheat and the weeds.

357

Are those in the.

358

In the parable.

359

This is the second parable

or the next parable.

360

The weeds are those that are

not Christians and the weed

361

are course they're believers.

362

He says, let them both grow

together until the harvest.

363

The harvest being the end when

Jesus gathers all of his people

364

together and brings them in.

365

Here's what's fascinating.

366

This tells us we should always expect that

there will be unbelievers in the church.

367

Period.

368

Yeah, no matter what you do, no matter

how strict your membership requirements

369

are, if you meet with every single member

and say, tell me what the gospel is.

370

Hey, I think they'll be convincing enough.

371

Yeah.

372

And Jesus is telling us, you should

always expect that there will be

373

unbelievers in the church practically.

374

Then what does this mean?

375

I don't think it really

changes a whole lot.

376

Your job is still the same, but you

should be aware there's gonna be

377

unbelievers in your midst and it's

gonna be hard when you see, oh,

378

someone that I loved and cared for.

379

And I brought the meals.

380

I can't believe they're no

longer walking with Christ.

381

We ought to expect it.

382

Not that we're cynics, but that we're

aware of what Jesus is saying and this

383

is gonna cause us then to experience

more maybe frustration and sinful

384

conflict because of that reality.

385

Yeah.

386

There's gonna be unbelievers in our

midst that need to be prepared for that.

387

Yep.

388

Well, as we jump over in Luke eight

we find a few more parables there.

389

The parable of the sailer is

repeated in Luke chapter eight.

390

He talks about the idea

of a lamp and a light.

391

And something that is worth noting here

is he talks about the fact that everything

392

that is concealed will be revealed.

393

And that's a good sobering reminder for

us that nothing is done in secret, nothing

394

is done that escapes the notice of God.

395

It's all gonna be revealed on one

day, either at the Beamer seat

396

or in the great White throne.

397

And that is something that we need

to be, allow to be a sanctifying

398

thought for us that, that we're never

escaping the notice of God when it

399

comes to things both good and bad.

400

And so this can be a sobering thing as

far as, hey, don't think that your sinning

401

in secret is not gonna be found out.

402

But then also it can be, Hey, when

you do things in secret Allah, what

403

Jesus commended in Matthew chapter

five and six, your Heavenly Father

404

who sees in secret will reward you.

405

That, that those things will be

revealed on that day as well.

406

, I think it's really cool at the beginning

of Luke eight that these ladies get

407

special credit here, Mary Magdalene,

Joanna and Susanna they are commended as

408

a key support role in Jesus' ministry.

409

These were ladies that were helping

financially support the disciples

410

and Jesus as they were going through

their their work in their ministry.

411

Pretty cool that Luke

specifically calls them out here.

412

It says here that.

413

At the beginning of chapter eight, the

12 were with him and also some women.

414

Does this mean that Jesus

traveled with the ladies?

415

It appears that way.

416

Yeah, I think so too.

417

I think they were part of the band.

418

I think so too.

419

Yeah.

420

That's huge.

421

Yeah, I think that's really cool.

422

It strikes me as funny.

423

Yeah.

424

I don't know.

425

Strange even it's counter my expectations.

426

I'll just say that.

427

That's fair.

428

But I think that's what it says.

429

I would agree.

430

And that's incredible.

431

Yeah.

432

It's interesting 'cause Luke in

records here, the garrisons and

433

this is something that we see

in, I think all of the synoptics.

434

And in fact, yeah, we do Matthew chapter

eight, mark chapter five as well.

435

And yet.

436

Luke and Mark both record, only

one man coming to coming out demon

437

possessed, and Matthew Records two.

438

And I think the best explanation of

that is Matthew was an eyewitness.

439

He was there, whereas Luke and

Mark, neither of them were.

440

And so Luke and Mark May have

been recording Jesus's interaction

441

with the one that he was talking.

442

Where there could have been two versus

the other accounts are recording.

443

Just that Matthew's account is recording.

444

Hey, I was there and I saw two of them

there, but it's another reminder of

445

Jesus's power over the spiritual world.

446

We've seen his power, in fact,

even right before this power

447

over nature calming the storm.

448

Here we see his power over the spiritual

world that the demonic forces are at.

449

His win and will they have to beg

permission of Jesus to go into these pigs.

450

And so they're not able

to just do as they please.

451

Jesus is the one that is in charge here.

452

And then we see the power over

life and death at the end of Luke

453

chapter eight with Jairus again

and the power over sickness.

454

So really you see so much of the

deity of Christ in Luke chapter eight.

455

You see that the power over nature,

the power of the spiritual world, the

456

power over sickness with the woman,

with the discharge and the power

457

of her life and death as he raises

Jairus's daughter from the dead.

458

Luke chapter eight is a pretty bold.

459

Pretty clear testimony as to who Jesus is.

460

Yeah, those pigs, man.

461

2000 of them, right?

462

2000, yeah, 2000.

463

So I just want to point out

to you it's at least one man.

464

There's probably two and one only gets

the focus, but Jesus is willing to

465

sacrifice 2000 pigs for two people.

466

Yep.

467

Let's just let that sit

on you for a second.

468

I know we have a lot of

people that love animals.

469

I do too.

470

I like them a lot, contrary to the

things that we say about cats, but I

471

just need you to see that God values.

472

At least 2000 animals to two people.

473

And that should tell you about how God

values people versus the animal kingdom.

474

We should a good point.

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We should do good things to the animals.

476

Protect him, care.

477

Yes.

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All those things, but the

people are where it's at.

479

Only people possess the image of God.

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And that's what makes us

distinctly valuable in God's sight.

481

He values his image,

which is why he values us.

482

You just need to see that.

483

Please care for animals and your

animal and all animals in proportion

484

to the way that God cares for them.

485

One final thought here with the Garrison

Demon Acts there is they one or both of

486

them want to go with Jesus, and Jesus

says, no, I want you to go and tell

487

other people what you've seen and heard.

488

And so his tune is changing a little bit.

489

Now.

490

He's been telling people, some people

at least, Hey don't tell people

491

about what I've done for you, but

go and offer what you need to offer.

492

This is in Gentile territory.

493

And he says, go and tell others what

you've seen and what you've heard.

494

And that's similar to

what we talked about.

495

Yesterday at church on Sunday when

we talked about the fact that we as a

496

church have been called to proclaim the

excellencies of him who called us out of

497

darkness and into his marvelous light.

498

So Jesus is telling the gne to go do that.

499

You haven't been cleansed of a, of

demons i, I trust, but you've been

500

cleansed of your sin and that's

even more remarkable than this.

501

And you've been tasked

with the same thing.

502

And that is to go and tell

others what God has done for you.

503

And so what a good charge for us as

the church, for us as individuals.

504

Let's not forget that's why we're

still here primarily is to go and

505

tell others what God has done for us.

506

So we can take that away from from

this and submit to the Lordship of

507

Christ because he, again, he's God.

508

And we see that so clearly

in Luke chapter eight.

509

Let's pray.

510

Lord, give us opportunities to testify

to who you are and to your deity and

511

to what you've done in our lives.

512

We pray for multiple opportunities.

513

Even this week coming off of a

sermon talking about how we need to

514

be a church that is, is doing that.

515

I pray that you would give us chances

with our neighbors and that we would

516

not just see the chances but take them.

517

That we would not just see the

opportunity but that we would lean into

518

the opportunity and be obedient to the.

519

Prompting of the spirit, even

in our lives to go and do this.

520

And so give us those opportunities.

521

Help us to even be fruitful

in those conversations.

522

Lord, we'd love to hear that people are

be being saved because of the gospel

523

being shared by people in our church.

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And Lord, we, we know that you're able

to do that and you can, and you desire

525

to see more and more people saved.

526

So use us towards that end, we pray.

527

In Jesus' name, amen.

528

Keep your new Bibles tuning again

tomorrow for another edition

529

of the Daily Bible Podcast.

530

See you.

531

Bye.

532

Bernard: Well, thank you for

listening to another episode of

533

the Daily Bible Podcast, folks!

534

We're honored to have you join us.

535

This is a ministry of Compass

Bible Church in north Texas.

536

You can find out more information

about our Church at compassntx.org.

537

We would love for you to leave a

review, to rate, or to share this

538

podcast on whatever platform you're

listening on, and we hope to see

539

you again tomorrow for another

episode of the Daily Bible Podcast.

540

Ya'll come back now, ya hear?

541

PJ: Yeah.

542

I would agree with

everything that you said