Ep. 1 - Talkin' Most Impactful Verses (Edited)

Introducing the main members of Small Group: Benjamin & Lacey, and Taylor & Sabrina.  In this episode they discuss their most meaningful verses as well as some verses and parts of the Bible that can be difficult. They also go on to talk about what to expect in future episodes. 

Thank you for joining in Small Group, and please feel free to participate with us by sending your thoughts, questions, or ideas by commenting, messaging, or by email (goat.bear.lobster@gmail.com). You can also reach out, and find out more about us, at our website: SmallGroupPodcast.wordpress.com. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:42

And welcome. It's Friday night. Do you know where your kids are? If you're my parents, Lacey's parents, Taylor's parents, or Sabrina's parents, you do. Welcome to the Smile Greek podcast. I'm Ben with my wonderful wife, Life, Life Wife, Lacey. We are joined here with Taylor and his wonderful wife, Sabrina.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Hi, everyone.

SPEAKER_04 1:11

Great to have you all.

SPEAKER_02 1:13

Yeah. It's great to be here. Really excited to kick this off and hoping we'll have a good conversation about God and good fellowship. It's going to be great.

SPEAKER_04 1:24

God and life. And Taylor and I are kind of the nerds, I would say. I like to say I like to say Taylor is the old thing. Taylor's the Old Testament to my New Testament. Oh he's all about the Psalms and the Proverbs, and I'm all about the Greek.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

So I I don't know how far I would be able to dig, but more than I can.

SPEAKER_04 1:51

But we're luckily we have our wonderful wives to kind of tie us back.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

Here's an old testament word for you. Wrangle us in. Do you know this word?

SPEAKER_04 2:01

Ezir?

SPEAKER_02 2:02

Yeah. It's um it's a great Hebrew word often used to refer to God and his nature, but importantly used in Genesis to refer to Eve as the Ezir of Adam. Often translated as helper, I think it's a weak, bit of a weak translation. It's more like the one who is your steadfast ally that you must have in times of need.

SPEAKER_04 2:34

Is it that what's the song? Oh man. It's in one of the songs, right? In one of the psalms? Songs that we sing. Oh my goodness, I'm drawing a blank.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

Are you thinking Ebenezer?

SPEAKER_04 2:49

Ebenezer, that's what's going on. Ebenezer.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

Yeah, no. Different.

SPEAKER_02 2:53

Yeah, this word Ezer in Hebrew is very loaded with meaning, and our wives are our Ezers. We're luckily here with them tonight, and not just on the nerd train entirely.

SPEAKER_04 3:04

So joining us in the audience, by the way, is our wonderful three-year-old Gabriela. Shout out Gabby. She's been the X factor to this. We've been talking about doing this for a long time, and we've been a little hesitant and concerned, what do we do with Gabby? But we're just gonna roll with it and make it work. We're all I think excited and eager to get going. So tonight's episode is gonna be pretty simple. Little get to know you, everybody get kind of comfortable, and you know, not necessarily a full-on bio or testimony, but we will get into those in future episodes. I you know, eventually I'd like to devote a full episode to each person to give their testimony and and kind of walk out more of the details of their experiences. But tonight's gonna be a little lighter. Like I said, just some some basic get-to-know-you questions. If you're listening, and you know, these questions I think are we obviously we'll give our answers, but I think they're really important to kind of think on and consider for yourself as well. And by the way, I know we're not maybe one day we'll we'll do the show live. I know we're not live tonight, but with each episode, shoot us a comment, shoot us a message. You can also send us an email, I'll give you the email here soon. Any questions you have, any topics that you have that you want us to talk about. Obviously, this is going to be more spiritually geared and focused, but we also want to incorporate every once in a while, we won't get too heavy on you know current events, but you know, those things come up and and off obviously, you know, we've had some stuff just happen in the last year of you know events happening and people grappling with how to deal with that spiritually. And and so those are some things that we will eventually you know talk about and get into. But but yeah, any topics that you have, you can send us a message. Any questions you have, you can send us a message. Message. You can also email to Lacey and I's company that we are rolling out. This is part of it, G B L or Goat, Bear, and Lobster. Maybe one day in my testimony I'll explain the meaning behind it. But email goat.bear.lobster at gmail.com if you have any questions. And I will we'll we'll answer them. If you want to be anonymous, let us know. If you don't, let us know. And you know, we'll give you a shout-out and we'll we'll talk about it. So anyway, and we'll get more into future episodes and ideas that we have. But let's get things rolling. First off, how's everybody? I've been Bogart and the Mike here. Everybody good. We we've been catching up off off episode off air uh so much. I feel like, you know, I feel like maybe we could catch up a little bit on air, just fill everybody in. I know Lacey's been busy, like we said, wrangling. Me and a toddler.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

Yeah, so we just got back from a birthday party, and that was a lot of fun, and yeah, just crazy hectic Friday, but it's been fun.

SPEAKER_04 6:23

Busy day.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

Busy day.

SPEAKER_04 6:25

This is our Friday nights, guys. Partying it up on the beach.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Yeah, it's been a good Friday. We was low-key at work from seven to four, and then we sat outside and just caught up Taylor and I before we headed over here. And this is my first podcast. I'm excited.

SPEAKER_04 6:45

Is it really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

Wow.

unknown 6:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:48

Is this yours?

SPEAKER_02 6:50

Yes. I've been I've live streamed.

SPEAKER_04 6:54

Oh, that's right. Gaming. Do you okay?

SPEAKER_02 6:56

I didn't know if you wanted to go there, but let's go there. Well, I I nerdily will game, and sometimes I've been asked and have done some streaming of that. But yeah, but this is the first actual podcast that I've ever been on. So very exciting. Yeah, week's been good. It's been productive, and and we we are yeah, we're planning an upcoming youth retreat, which is exciting. I've been working on that with church, friends, and family.

SPEAKER_04 7:28

Yeah, enjoying this season. I feel like I should also add in the audience, joining us is our dog, Indiana. That's not Lacey grunting and groaning at Taylor. That is our dog. Letty reminding us he's here. But no, that's great. Yeah, I know you guys have a lot. You know, we got the Easter, we're in the Easter season. Uh, we have Easter rolling up, and you guys have big plans for that as well with the with the congregation we worship worship with. Obviously, we were you know, we worship together uh with the same congregation, but Taylor Sabrina have kind of led the way on a Bible reading, right? That are is that still going?

SPEAKER_02 8:10

Are we pulling okay to talk about? Of course, yeah. I think uh yeah, people will be finding out more about this church on Sunday. We have had a lot of help and support in our community planning a straight read-through of the New Testament. The day before Easter will begin that Saturday, and plan is to hit Revelation and finish Matthew to Revelation the morning of Easter. So we'll be doing that in our church sanctuary, and we're hoping that after we announce it this weekend we'll have more people get involved. It's gonna be great.

SPEAKER_04 8:52

And then those that are gonna stay for the whole time. Yeah, Matthew's probably gonna be wondering where everybody's at, our preacher, when he starts talking, because everybody's gonna be exhausted. But no, it's great stuff, it it really is.

SPEAKER_02 9:05

We're excited about it, we're praying about it, and we just hope it will be a time to glorify God reading his word, which is a Sabrina aphlete, but recently the only real like capital T truth that we can grasp at. Yeah. In this life, there's so many voices, and we just want to glorify by reading his word and spend time in community, encourage people to, if they want to, take a slot and read, or if not, just come listen.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Yeah, I also have like found myself in past years on Easter, it kind of slipping by in me thinking, oh, I wish that I would have done something more to spend more time with God, to be more intentional about celebrating the resurrection. So I feel like being in his word, his truth is the perfect way to celebrate Easter.

SPEAKER_04 9:58

Yeah, no, and I'm with you. I've I've felt that so many times where you know Easter, that day is there's so much going on, so much hype, and I think the older you get, you start to plan ahead a little more and want to capture that moment. But what you guys are doing with the the scripture reading, you know, is great because there's so much pomp and circumstance around Easter as a world holiday, as a you know earthly holiday, bringing scripture back into it and being the focus. And obviously, yeah, I I've taken I'm not poo-pooing on Easter at all, but you know, the you ever you know everybody talks about it, it surrounds the resurrection of Christ, which to me, again, I'm not poo-pooing Easter, but to me that's something I the birth and and death and resurrection of Christ is something I want to celebrate not just every Sunday, but every day with in my life. You know, having a holiday that really puts it on a pedestal, I think is is not a bad thing. But especially with all that, it's like Christmas, you know, you can have all these traditions and other things that bleed into it that kind of dilute the meaning, bringing scripture back into it, even if it's all of scripture or all of the New Testament, which is what you guys are doing, I think is fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 11:19

Yeah, thank you. We're excited.

SPEAKER_04 11:21

So yeah, if it's not Easter yet, you're listening, Easter 2020, yeah, 2026, you can email us if you want more information on that. Come join us if you want to participate. But let's um let's try this out. Let's get into it. All right. So, like I said, we're gonna keep it light on this episode tonight. We are just gonna go over some little just basic questions, just get to know a little bit about each one of us. So let's start it off. What are your favorite or most impactful Bible verses? I would say what is your you know, the common question is what's your favorite Bible verse? But let's be honest, we know each other well enough. I know Taylor well enough, I think by now to know he's like me. You can't just pick one. Once you pop the fun, don't stop, right?

SPEAKER_02 12:18

Yeah, I think I yeah, I really I like to think about this almost as an like that when I saw this question, the first thing I thought was like, well, okay, if I was really gonna force myself to think about verses both Old and New Testament.

SPEAKER_04 12:36

I know you earlier were saying I stay in your lane, sir.

SPEAKER_02 12:39

Yeah, stay in your line. I have I have more of a kind of like short, pithy, like literally one verse, Old Testament reference that I that I go back to a lot, and one slightly longer section of verses in the New Testament, and both of those were the ones that I selected to answer this question, thinking about it before the episode. Okay. That's kind of how I conceptualized it. Like if I were to one, like pick like truly like a single verse and and two as well as like something a little more substantial, and then two, to think like Old Testament, New Testament, kind of like where am I where do I go to frequently for like just like a quick how do I remind myself of some of God's truth, you know? Psalms or proverbs.

SPEAKER_04 13:29

No, you're on I mean that's me.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

Oh, is it yeah?

SPEAKER_04 13:32

Yeah y'all are both good at this, but you're all you maybe you've just gotten to me quicker than Sabrina has, because like you're on point with your psalms.

SPEAKER_02 13:41

Hey, man.

SPEAKER_04 13:42

Hey, Psalms 90. Have you read that? You should go read that. That was really good. Moses' Psalm.

SPEAKER_02 13:47

It's a great one. Hit it up. No, yeah. My one I thought of, we have in our home some verses that are framed, and one that I really love is uh Zephaniah 317. Ooh. Deep track. Deep tracks. Um Zephaniah. Yeah, it's it's one that I really it's just like short and it like reminds me of God's truth of like how he sees me and sees his children. And it also like points, I think, in a really powerful way to God's character and and sort of like how he responds to us. Yeah. And yeah, it's a great one. So I I'll Yeah, let's hear it. Yeah, let's hear it.

SPEAKER_04 14:33

So I don't have Zephaniah memorized yet. Yeah, so are you reading, are you reciting it from memory?

SPEAKER_02 14:41

I think I have it memorized. Yeah, the Lord your God is with you, the mighty warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you, and his love. He will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.

SPEAKER_04 15:02

That applauses for God. Y'all giving me too much time to prepare for this. Well, that was an accident, Marcus. Anyway. Yeah, that was a good one.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Yeah, it's I'm just kidding. It's it's awesome that he has a memorized.

SPEAKER_02 15:16

It's a really good one for me. I just I love the idea that like well, God is this mighty warrior. He looks after us. He sent a son to rescue us. And that's in season two. Stay stay tuned for season two. Spoiler alerts. And I also love the idea of God singing, like rejoicing over us with song. It's so cool to think that he's rejoiced, he rejoices and is so glad to see us come to him in a relationship and to seek his face.

SPEAKER_04 15:50

I'm gonna pull a tailor on you. There's a psalm. I actually had to speak about it a couple years ago. I spoke about it in church, and I can't remember which psalm it was. I'm I'm blowing my tailor moment. But it was about being vulnerable with God, and there was a there was a point in there where it was it echoed that sentiment of God singing to him, the writer of the psalm. It's such a beautiful thing. And that was one thing that jumped out at me. That's something we don't think we think about singing and praising to God. And it's so easy to think of God as a disciplinarian, right? And you know, you've got to trust and obey, and those are important things, but he's also a comforter.

unknown 16:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:32

And to think of it, to just say comforter is one thing, but to think of it as how does he comfort in song like that is beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:42

That was a correct answer, by the way. Good job.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

I was gonna say, I think like that's a nice transition because I have a a verse in the old testament that's one of my favorites. It's a collection of verses, and it is in Psalms. And I looked at this question similar to Taylor, where I broke it into Old Testament, New Testament, but I also thought about what is my favorite verse or collection of verses in this moment, like in this chapter of my life, because I feel like other verses have spoken to me at different times. But right now, I really like Psalm 139, 7 through 12, and 139 as an entire chapter has just like really been good for my spirit. I started digging into it after just like a hard chapter for me and Taylor, and it's really helped me. But the verses that really move me almost every time I read it, starting with verse seven, is where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, Surely, the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night, even darkness is not dark to you, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to you. And I just think that you memorize that one too.

SPEAKER_04 18:22

Yes, and I that one's longer than Taylor, so hey, fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 18:29

But I think it's just helped me realize, you know, as a Christian, we're going to be in some dark times, and that's okay. Like God wants us to turn to him, and we know that no matter where we are, whether it's like in the depths of Sheol or you know, ascending to heaven, he is with us. So yeah, I love those verses.

SPEAKER_04 18:56

That's such a great point. And you're right, they echo each other very well. But that's something that comes up, it's been coming up over and over again, struggling, struggles. Everybody everybody seems to be maybe it's just the the season of life that we're in, or maybe I've just been more aware or just paying attention more, I guess. But everything comes back to to struggles. Everybody is struggling in some way, or so and and that has been constant and forefront in a lot of conversations. I've just gonna mention this earlier, I forgot to mention it. Shout out to some of our friends. Kyle goes to church with us as well. He's got a podcast. I was on actually on their podcast last night with our preacher, and a lot of it we were talking about manhood and a lot of it revolved around you know struggling. I know Kyle's been going through his stuff. By the way, the the name of the podcast is Leave It at the Table if you guys want to go check them out. They they show us a lot of love and want to make sure we also we do the same. But yeah, that that struggling thing, you and I think this verse that you just recited, by the way, let's not forget that. She do the whole song, by the way. Oh man. She wouldn't say that, but she's a good thing. I'm not qualified for this show. But one thing I keep coming back to is you know, you being thankful. At the end of the, you know, all these struggles, there's so much behind them, there's so much to go through as far as long-suffering, endurance, patience. And where I always seem to land is thankful, gratitude for for those struggles because you grow and learn so much, uh, not just about yourself, but about God. Grow closer to God in some way.

SPEAKER_02 20:53

I would I'll I'll throw in another going off this theme of like going through a struggle, coming out on the other side of a struggle. This process which we call sanctification. Big word. Big words coming out of the other.

SPEAKER_04 21:09

That sounds like a great episode we should do.

SPEAKER_02 21:11

So we were reading in the book of Job the other day, and we were both impacted by this verse in Job. I'll start with Job, this is chapter 23, verse 8, starts, behold. I go forward, but he is not there. And backward, but I cannot receive him. When he acts on the left, I cannot see him. He turns to the right, but I cannot see him. But he knows the way I take. When he has put me to the test, I will come out as gold. We were both reading that, thinking about just like reflecting on different tests and struggles that we've been in recently, and just over the course of a life the life that we've been living in that idea that like Job who's of course just this example of immense suffering and affliction who cries out and has lost so much in his life and is looking back and and you know he's talking to his friends who are kind of turning their back on him he's he's really struggling and just that verse of like going through a test coming out as gold I thought that was a really powerful verse and I was just I was reminded of it when you were talking just yeah I actually came across I think it was Peter and I'll get more into this later but yeah I've been Taylor knows this I've we've been talking a lot I've been doing heavily into digging heavily into the second peter his second letter the way he talks about divine nature and going through each one of those attributes one by one and I've gotten through almost all of them I had to come back to faith faith is so there's so much there so much to unpack but it was I can't remember if it was Paul or Peter was one of those two that was talking about just recently came across this verse where you know you actually it was Romans.

SPEAKER_04 23:16

It was our study on Romans Paul where he uh you know count your you know basically I'm gonna butcher I'm not a good memorizer like you guys but you know like take account of those various trials appreciate those various trials that you're going through knowing that you know you you're being refined like gold and then Peter has something similar he says your faith is more precious than gold and they both kind of talk about that gold is refined by fire very similar to what you're talking about from Job.

SPEAKER_00 23:51

Yeah that's what we all said um uh I'm about to make it somebody's been very quiet over here planning and scheming I want to hear lacey's verse it no well I I'll get to that in just a second but I'm I'm just gonna make him twitch a little bit there's a song it's Brandon Lake and Jelly Roll. And that's the end of small group guys it was fun run. But no but like in the verse it says faith isn't proven like gold till it's been through the fire and so when y'all read that the song's in the immoral words of the prophet jelly roll oh my goodness but yeah so my my favorite verse is Romans 828 and it's and we know that all things work together for good to those who love the Lord to those who are called according to his purpose and just it it hit it's been my favorite verse for basically as long as I can remember but it's uh just a beautiful as my toddler gets into the cleaning supplies um but it's just a beautiful it's just a beautiful reminder it's a promise that if like if we follow the greatest commandment love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength everything's gonna work out and every it's not gonna be perfect. It doesn't mean we're not gonna go through trials and struggles and all the things but eventually everything's gonna be okay.

SPEAKER_01 25:40

Yeah I think that's a great reminder and like it has already worked out because of like Jesus' sacrifice for us like like it doesn't diminish the pain that we go through like we go through painful stuff but we already have hope because of what he's already done.

SPEAKER_04 26:02

Absolutely so Lacey says Romans 828 which I think by now at least everybody in the family knows that's Lacy's verse because every time it's brought up everybody looks at Lacey but just say kind of here I'm gonna do this for Lacey. Squirrel squirrel moment something that to our wedding day I got Lacey a family bible and before giving it to her or having someone give it to her since we're separated before the wedding I had sent it around to every all our family members and had all our family members mark their favorite verse in it. And I've actually taken all the verses they marked and I've put it in mine. So it's a neat little thing if you can do there's I wish I would have thought to do this earlier. I was able to get my grandfather you know I know his favorite verse he's passed since but I've also I've taken it from the family bible and I've marked them in my Bible too so when I'm reading it'll pop up you know like when I get through we're going through Romans we're together at church we were doing a Romans Bible study and and sure enough there's Lacey's verse you know and it's a it's a nice little thing when you're going through it and just you know you see names pop up that make you think about certain people. So I've been very blessed by doing that. But anyway there's a little life hack if anybody wants to try that.

SPEAKER_00 27:27

Well and one just sorry one more thing one thing that I have learned as I've gotten older is it doesn't necessarily mean that everything's gonna be okay on this side of heaven.

SPEAKER_04 27:40

And I had I had a sorority sister she was she was our chapter president absolutely beautiful beautiful soul that passed away from cancer but the day before she passed away she texted a friend and said healing is coming and so that's oh yeah I didn't mean that no you're great well because all my answers are meaningless compared to that I didn't go Old Testament New Testament but I have several verses one actually this has been my my favorite verse for probably the longest time it's one I I come back to but it it's it's a little different I guess in a way because it's more about the tone of the verse and all minor New Testament spoiler alert but do you have it memorized kind of because this one's in a song so it makes it a little easier but the song does phrase it differently this one's from Paul in 2 Timothy 2 Timothy 212 the latter half of the of 12 yeah he starts off for this reason I also suffer writing Timothy I also suffer these things but and here we go it's the way he says this and I think it's it's really my favorite verse because I I I love the confidence the wording of it and it's like this is something I I'd love to be able to say and and echo as firmly and resolute as Paul does here. I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that he is able to protect what I have entrusted to him until that day and that you know that gives me that whole notion it's it's not just an encouraging thought but it's a gut check am I entrusting him am I am I putting everything on my complete priority and focus on God and can I say the same with such confidence it's it's kind of like a gut check but I love that yeah and there's a song too that that that helps to memorize it there's a song is this a jelly roll thing no I had never heard a jelly roll song in my life I've heard so much about him I feel like I should at least listen to something there's a I think it's kind of a it's an old hymn I'm all about the old hymns like like your old testament I'm new testament when it comes to music lacey is all the current Christian music and I'm old hymns old song books all day every day.

SPEAKER_00 30:26

But um excuse me sir but I also grew up on the Gaithers so I'm I'm old school too but the song that it's in the first line in it is very convicting to me.

SPEAKER_04 30:41

The the course is based on this verse from 2 Timothy but the first line is I know not whom I have believed I know I know not why God's wondrous grace to me he hath made known I'm gonna have to sing it in my head to get to it Nor why unworthy Christ in love redeemed me as his own but I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded. But that whole thought of I don't you know Lacey and I've talked about this as far as you know we've both kind of grown up in church God has always been there God's always been a part faith which I'm gonna come back to here in a minute faith is always been there there's been a little doubt creep in and you know every once in a while where but nothing serious right where I really seriously question God or question whether there is a God and then you see and you meet people that struggle and come to God later in their life and you start to look at yourself like man I have been so spoiled and I don't know why he made it so easy on me to know him where you see every you know you see all these other people that are struggling and in so many different ways whether they're just rejecting God or not really being seriously pulled towards God. But Lacey and I talked about that where you you you also think about that notion that he doesn't give us more than what we can bear we must not be able to bear much according to God because he's made it very easy. Very humble perspective right he's made it he's made it immensely easy for us but like I mentioned a couple times already faith. I've been diving deep into faith. So 2 Peter Divine Nature I'm doing some writing on that Taylor's critiquing me at the moment as as soon as I can finish the faith chapter.

SPEAKER_02 32:40

Yeah I I really appreciate you sharing what you've got on that I need to I need to dig deep it's it's there's a lot of amazing insight and just depth.

SPEAKER_04 32:53

I mean it's you can tell me it's boring it's okay it's I know it's it's very dense I need to lighten it up a little bit but so with kind of going off favorite verses this one's always kind of stood out to me in 2 Peter first chapter he talks about hey look at this I've been working on it for a little over a year now so I've almost I have no reason not to have it memorized by now but if you you know to be partakers and I love how both his letters he's kind of writing to a wide audience where you can it's he's you almost feel like he's writing to us you look at Romans and Paul's letters to specific groups you you there's a little bit of well he's writing to the specific group about the specific thing whereas Peter's letters are very broad and very approachable for me. But he talks about you know to be partakers in this divine nature and that whole notion divine nature is very fascinating to me. You know kind of like Paul talks about the fruits of the spirit and he tells you the fruits of the spirit are these and he lays them all out. Peter kind of approaches it in almost a hierarchical way where he starts with faith supplemented to your faith virtue and then supplemented to your virtue did I just mess that up wow I just messed that up oh man I can't believe I messed that up it's knowledge I think let me double check I'm about the it's a it's a long day guys 9 p.m on a Friday don't features love we we've been partying hard tonight I gotta pull up no I was right take that Taylor it's also translated moral excellence but supply to your faith virtue into your virtue knowledge and into your knowledge self-control and into your self-control perseverance and into your perseverance godliness which is a very big one that I've realized I know nothing about godliness like holiness which is another topic we'll get into words we use all the time that we never really consider what they mean godliness and the brotherly love mutual affection philadelphia and then into that brotherly love or mutual affection love from faith to love and so like I said I've kind of gone through last year I wanted to vote one month to each one of those aspects faith started running into two months so I had to just pull up and I moved on and so now I've come back to faith and I I've got to finish my my study on faith here but everything in that study revolves around Hebrews this has become another favorite of mine Hebrews 11 1 gives the best definition of faith and it's it was a memory verse growing up I don't know if y'all remember Hebrews 11 1 and I we memorized it as faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen. Is that how y'all memorized it yeah do you remember that?

SPEAKER_02 36:14

Yeah we were talking about this verse at church on a Monday night a few weeks ago with um one of our church family members and she brought up this verse and yeah I mean it I think it's without going too much into I I mean your your exegesis of Peter here but yeah I mean I think it is kind of that really it seems mysterious at times to understand like how you get to a place of belief and faith. This is a broad topic that you're literally writing a book about but a chapter.

SPEAKER_04 37:03

That's just one chapter.

SPEAKER_02 37:04

But I yeah I think I think being a like yeah that that concept of partaking in the divine nature being conformed to the image of Christ is another way to understand that which you know Paul talks about in Romans. Where like we are in this process of not only being obedient understanding through suffering and challenges how to live in a more Christlike way but truly I I I go to this idea which is talked about a lot in the early church of theosis union with God which is like such a mysterious thing to try and even begin to con to like conceptualize in this life Sabrina can talk to this we were reading we just finished the other night with my grandparents reading uh we finished the last chapter of the Gospel of John with them we were reading through that Team John Team John beloved disciple foot of the cross we'll get to that in a minute but we were reading battle lines have been drawn that's right we we were reading John 17 and where he talks about Jesus talks about that's the prayer right yeah the high priestly prayer great prayer oneness with the Father and Jesus specifically praying for our oneness. Yeah goes to come right and it's it's it can be like really mysterious but like I do think it all ties together this idea of being conformed to Christ's image we fall we pray that we will get back up and that tomorrow will bring us new graces we pray that we will learn from the ways that we fall short and and we we rely on the Holy Spirit to guide us in this stumbling process of partaking in the divine nature theosis um oneness with our creator which is our destiny ultimately well and it's the nature of theosis is so awesome to think about thinking about theosis a divinity a divine just trying to grasp that really is difficult in itself and much less the nature of it you know but so the these questions and we've only gotten to one and I realize that yeah we're going deep yeah they reverses sparked sparked a good congo here well and and as part of it is to like I said just kind of re let some of our individual individuality show and without getting deep into like I said our testimonies but just kind of let our our character kind of show through our choices and everything.

SPEAKER_04 40:03

One thing about me that's going to probably come up a lot is I have this fascination with language meanings in and I feel like so much of our understanding and our even disagreements and debates boil down to definitions and meanings and and that's that that rings true in this verse in Hebrews 11 1. Like I said we we grew up memorizing it like I said faith faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen and like I said earlier you know faith is one of those things that some of us if we grew up in the church and and you know it's one of those things you just know it's just there like God you know you and faith faith when you back out and it it's such a pivotal thing a pivotal aspect of throughout scripture you know we are saved by grace through faith faith without works is dead all those things it all kind of revolves around faith and so as I've studied faith and looked into other translations going back to the meaning of words I've settled so I I actually made this chart and I know this is audio only but I made this chart of all of the translations so we you take a Hebrews 11 1 faith is the uh substance that's a keyword of things hoped for so substance of hope evidence of unseen if I break that down substance of hope evidence of unseen there's like I believe roughly 15 variations on substance substance of hope blank of hope and then there's like eight or nine uh variations of the evidence of the unseen and I might that was a quick count I might be off a little bit on that but so I looked at all those translations and I've settled on in ASB team NASB we love it we it's it's crazy how if you just change one little word how much more impact it can have how much more meaning it can have and like like I said I made this chart I like to you know do a little game where I let people you know pick which word means more to you which is more Kravitas to you and everybody comes up with different answers of faith is the blank of the un of hope the blank of the unseen where I land on it is faith is the assurance of hope the conviction of unseen that word conviction just man pulls so much but those are things I think we really need to you know consider. You know stop and look at those things we take for granted faith God Holy Spirit worship praise honor glory those words that just get bandied about you know willy-nilly when we sing them but do we really know what we're singing you know holiness holiness and godliness I we're running long already I'm I don't want to get on another tangent but that's another those are two big ones that I have a whole exegesis on that too as well but I've rambled on long enough on my answer.

SPEAKER_02 43:17

No that was great I appreciate you pointing us to that verse. I mean I don't know I I would I would just I think that it is so it's so key to remember where we're headed on this journey. And it is it is towards ultimately being freed of the sin in the world that we currently are sick with and it's a journey of moving toward being reunited with our creator. And it's it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 43:48

And I think it's a process like we declare our faith by saying Jesus is Lord and that you know is true for us but time and time again throughout our lifetime We're being tested with our trust. And so when like to get back to what we were saying earlier, when difficult things happen and we're in the middle of suffering, there's a moment that we can prove our trust in the Lord. And like even, you know, Jesus, he was crying out like if it's unnecess if it's if it's possible, take this cup from me. And so he shows that example of like putting his trust in God. And I think that's like a reminder for us that it's a lifetime process of being sanctified.

SPEAKER_04 44:37

You're putting that hope. This is the last thing I'll say on it, because I definitely want to get to this. Well, I had several questions, but there's one question in particular I definitely want to get on, get to. But uh that the exactly what Spree's talking about, the hope and the trust aspect, and like Hebrews 11.1 says, of the unseen, the conviction of the unseen, that's become such a big important thing for me. I read a book several years ago about a guy walk he was going to walk the Pentateuch, the first few books of the Bible, and you know, just walk in those places and and follow that trail. And he starts his book off. It was kind of a happenstance I came across this book, and he starts it off the base of Mount Ararat. Yeah. And there's, you know, where Noah's Ark is supposedly is it's basically the actual Mount Ararat, you know, is at the top of it. And nobody's allowed to climb it. There's only five people that are licensed, and basically two are in prison, two are dead, and then there's this one guy that he ends up meeting, and the guy tells him he has evidence of Noah's Ark. He's climbed the mountain, he's seen it, he has photos, he has evidence. And the writer of the book, Bruce, is basically, why don't you come forward with this? Like this would prove the Bible that, and I don't even remember reading it, like getting excited that somebody out there has proof. But I had to check myself because it was like proof that God exists, proof that I'm right. You know, you grow up, you you go through these disputes and these debates with other people, and you want nothing more than to just drop that bomb where you're like, oh, see, I'm right. Noah's Ark really exists. And I had to check myself because obviously that's not the right way to go about it.

SPEAKER_02 46:25

Right.

SPEAKER_04 46:25

And that made me kind of dig deeper into that whole idea of unseen. Because you think about what if somebody does come back, come out with proof of something like Noah's Ark or the Ark of the Covenant or you know, whatever it is, proof that the Bible is real. And then you have you'll you know you'll still have people that won't believe, but then you'll have a lot of people that might believe, but they're believing based on sight. And that's not what faith is, as Hebrews tells us. It's it it it made me take stock into it's not about proving that I'm right, it's not about proving that God is real, it's about having that trust, like Sabrina's talking about that trust and that hope that he is there. That's really where the power is of faith. And again, I didn't want to spend the whole night talking about that, but I just that whole idea, well, we should probably dig into it later in another episode of is it's it's there's peace that comes with that, realizing that it's not about proving who's right and who's wrong. It's about just putting hope and and trust into that unseen, that it's there.

SPEAKER_02 47:35

Yeah, that reminds me very directly of another verse that we were talking about before this episode, which I mentioned Y'all need your pods on podcast. No, no, no, no. This is this is this is a small group. Um it earlier I was talking about Zephaniah 3.17. But the New Testament verse that we were we were both thinking of, and Sabrina can talk more to this too, a verse that we both have really come to love and rely on is in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Now you're speaking my language. Here we go. Greek. It's verses 16 through 18, and it speaks to this it speaks to this idea of what is unseen, and it gets to faith, and it goes, Therefore we do not lose heart. For though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. Our light in momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory which far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. What is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. And that I mean, like right, like that's that's I don't know how y'all keep all this stuff memorized.

SPEAKER_01 48:59

It reminds me to what like Lacey was saying about the Romans 8 verse and how we may not be satisfied and most likely we're not gonna be satisfied in this part of heaven, but the the hope is on the other side. Like I don't know, there there's this theme of waiting that comes up a lot as a Christian, and I feel like sometimes we're in the middle of suffering, like everything else seems so hard. And so if we just remember like the waiting, yeah, I don't know, the endurance, the patience, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 49:36

All those things that come with waiting. So that's the first question. We'll uh I will wrap it up with one more question and a kind of a lighter question, something we kind of mentioned earlier that that's who we come back to. I do have a few more questions that we'll probably do a second icebreaker episode. This has been great discussion because there's some more there's some deeper questions and stuff that I like to discuss. One that I do have an old testament answer for, and so I want to kind of keep pace with you. But uh we'll do that in a later episode or in our next episode. But we'll we'll start wrapping it up with this question a little lighter. What is your favorite book of the Bible? Which brings up a hot topic that has been raging throughout our group, not just here in our small group, but our congregation, thanks to Taylor, who decided to just drop a bomb on everyone one Wednesday night. Kaboom. It's a great question, by the way. I think it's worth reliving. So you want to ask it? I'll butcher the question. I mean, it's kind of simple, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:48

I guess the easiest way to say it would be as like a hypothetical. So you're entering a time machine will leave the scientists to figure that out and whether or not time machines are the book, I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 51:02

It's scientific. Scientific speed of light. If we want to go down that route. Oh my gosh. But anyway, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 51:08

So without going too far in the weeds, basically like the hypothetical is you're going into the distant future, and you get to take a single book of the Bible with you as a physical copy. You don't know what the future is gonna look like. It could be I mean, we kind of know what the future is gonna look like in Revelation, but not exactly. Spoiler, that's season three. So, but like you're going to the distant future, you're like, I need to share a book with people. I want you could think of it as like, I want also a book that I will have for my own sake. What's what's the book of the Bible you're you're carrying along? And that that it's just like a fun way to engage sort of this idea of like what what part of the Bible has been really meaningful to you, what book of the Bible do you think is really impactful in a specific way, either in your life or in the lives of others, sharing the gospel, revealing to us how to live the Christian life.

SPEAKER_04 52:06

So that's kind of the that's the hypothetical. And to our listeners, like that's something to consider personally. It's a it's a great question. It's even better when you're at church and you ask one person and they give an answer, and somebody else walks up, and then you're all kind of holding your breath to see what happened. So, because this is kind of what happened, it was a lot of fun. Yeah, Taylor started, it was after church, he asked somebody, he asked somebody else, and then we started realizing everybody was either picking one of two, and I I gotta say this I love my wife. This speaks to her just wonderfulness. So spoiler alert ahead if if you want to pause and come back, but anyway, so he asked the question. We noticed we I picked you picked John, Taylor picked John, I picked John. Everybody was either picking John or Matthew. Everything was coming down to John or Matthew, and it was neck and neck, and so you know, somebody else would come in, and you know, we're like three versus three, four versus four, and so we keep getting more people to try to break the tie. Everybody's going, John, Matthew, John, Matthew, and then here comes Lacey, my wonderful, pure, sweet, just amazing wife, comes in and you ask Lacey the question, and we're all waiting. Which team is she gonna be on? And she goes, Philippians, no dumbness.

SPEAKER_00 53:32

Mark, right? Mark. Oh, was it Mark?

SPEAKER_04 53:34

I like Mark, but you were about to pick Philippians, right?

SPEAKER_00 53:37

Philippians is a close second, but I would pick Mark.

SPEAKER_04 53:40

So she's on her team all by herself. Yeah, it's still a gospel. Yeah. So it's a great question. It's a great thought, too, to to consider. But yeah, I love John. And not to get into another exegesis about logos. It's that first chapter of John blows my mind. I could spend all day talking about logos, but I won't. For the sake of my wife. She's heard too much about it.

SPEAKER_02 54:05

Shout out to the Gospel of Mark Lacey. Um I saw a funny Christian meme that was like a picture of like describing each one of the Gospels, and the picture for the Gospel of Mark was a cut from Mulan. I was like, let's get down to business.

SPEAKER_00 54:23

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 54:24

I was like, Yeah, you're speaking hard. We're hitting there.

SPEAKER_00 54:28

That's why I'm straight on. So I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_04 54:30

That's how I feel about John though. Although John's just oh, okay, you're right.

SPEAKER_00 54:34

John makes my brain hurt a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 54:36

But well, you gotta understand logos. So I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00 54:41

Mark is very straight to the point. Just Jesus did this and then he did this, and then this happened, and there is no fluff, there is no like uh symbolism or anything. It is just black and white. This is what happened. He just recorded it, and I love it. Yeah, and I mean, I I like Matthew, I like John some days, but just Mark just gets down to it.

SPEAKER_04 55:12

But let's get down to business.

SPEAKER_00 55:14

So that that's the perfect meme for it.

SPEAKER_02 55:16

To defeat but Satan. Satan. There we go.

SPEAKER_00 55:22

But Philippians is a very close second.

SPEAKER_04 55:25

Satan's great.

SPEAKER_00 55:26

Philippians has all the good stuff.

SPEAKER_04 55:30

So Philippians is kind of kind. I love James. James is a little brutal.

unknown 55:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 55:35

Like James will hit you right in the gut.

SPEAKER_02 55:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 55:38

Real quick. And I I'm sorry, I'll not I'm we'll we're coming, I'm gonna let you finish that real quick. James is James is brutal. I love James, but he is blunt. And I so I read a biography about John Adams, and I get a lot of John Adams vibes from James, and vice versa. Interesting. Philippians is like the kinder version of James. Anyway, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 55:59

So Philippians has be anxious for nothing. And you know, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, bring your request known to God. And whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, you know, think of these things and be content. And for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. And he even says, follow my example. I can never say that. I I'm such a do as I say, not as I do kind of person.

SPEAKER_04 56:29

And for when I say that, I get in trouble though.

SPEAKER_00 56:33

But but yeah, so I just I I love that so much for him to be able to say, like, follow my example. Like, I'm you know to defeat the devil.

SPEAKER_04 56:45

That's it. Sorry, I can't hear that now. It's stuck.

SPEAKER_02 56:49

Yeah. There's I'm gonna pull up another verse from Libyans since it is so great. I believe.

SPEAKER_04 56:57

You don't have that one memorized, huh? You need to step up your game, sir.

SPEAKER_02 57:02

We're in chapter two. It is it is do nothing, verse three, do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility, consider one another as more important than yourselves. I take it back, I don't like Philippians. That one is really like they're just you're right, Lacy. They're like there's some verses on Philippians that are like very like practical, like put this into practice, but also just they hit you. I'm like, I don't I often think of myself in a way that like is above others. That's wrong. I shouldn't be doing that. But yet I often am like, you know, I want I want the praise, I want the the admiration. I you know, I I it's something I struggle with. I think we all struggle with that in different ways. But yeah, there's so many like really good. Not me, I'm the most humble person you'll ever meet. There we go. Just ask my wife. But yeah, thank you for thank you for pointing out Philippians. That's great.

SPEAKER_04 57:57

Yeah I'm gonna stick with John as far as to answer the the original question is what's your favorite book? I'm gonna stick with John, as much as I like went on a tangent about Peter a while ago, but I will say this about John and I the in the beginning was the word and the word was God. Just amazing. I mean, just to sit there and grapple with that. But there's something uh about when you when you read all the way through John, I love this. You watch The Office, the Office fans. I Sabrina loves it.

SPEAKER_02 58:30

So I'm not big on TV. I like I we haven't gotten so much into like the personal thing. Like I will watch television. I will. I but but like it's like a one to two shows a year max for me, and then I just burn out on it too hard. The office is one of those you got you you gotta have in your repertoire.

SPEAKER_04 58:48

It's so good.

SPEAKER_02 58:49

But I need to dive in.

SPEAKER_04 58:50

Yeah, so it's a classic. Anyway, it it shows up especially in the office, but it's like a they're poking fun at a trope that you see all over. So Michael Scott in the office, he's the boss, he does a movie called Threat Level Midnight, and they finally show the Threat Level Midnight episode, and there's a narrator through the whole movie, and then at the end, and it's Stanley's voice. If you know the show, it's Stanley's voice, but then at the end, there's a big, quote unquote, big reveal where the guy narrating in the chair spins around and it's Michael Scott, but it's Stanley's voice. And Stanley has that deep, sonorous Morgan Freeman type voice, and that's the trope. It's like it plays on those old movie tropes of the narrator was the main character the whole time. That's the vibe I get from John. Yeah. So when you're reading John, it's like he keeps hinting at that disciple whom Jesus loved. That disciple is not the mis and then you get to the very end and he spins in the chair, and Stanley says, by the way, that that disciple Jesus loved, that was this guy, you know. So that's another reason why I love John. But anyway, Sabrina, what's your favorite?

SPEAKER_01 59:59

I did write down John, and I I feel like this question, similar to the question about favorite verses, it it's I feel the same way about it. Like right now, I think it would be either John or Psalms, but I wonder what it'll look like in a few years. Yeah. But Psalms has been very helpful. Taylor's been a big influence with Psalms. I think it's very practical for me, which may sound surprising because Psalms can be very poetic, but I think that like when I'm going about my day, it's helpful in like depending on what the struggle is, depending on what the season is. You can turn to psalms in any type of season, whether you're you're your heart posture is wanting to rejoice, or you're in the middle of suffering, or you're feeling angry, like whatever season you're in, you can find a psalm for it. And I think that is just an example of how God is with us no matter where we're we're at.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:03

Yeah. Shout outs to our pastor Matthew Morgan, who recently led us through a really good Wednesday night series on Psalm 20. Yeah, Psalm 23. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:16

I was thinking the one right before that, the uh you know, how to how to read the Bible.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:21

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:22

Where the you get through the poetry and the the narration and the literature, all the different types.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:28

I'm still grappling with that. That's so that's a that's a that's a tough one. But it's great stuff. It's definitely stuff to think about. You know, Psalms and Proverbs always get grouped together. You're talking about the practicality. That's I think I I'm drawn more towards Proverbs because of the practical nature of that, but I don't give I think my biggest holdup with Psalms, and I'm not discrediting anything, I don't want anything I say discredit any books of the Bible. I know we joke around, but uh Psalms, I never know who's talking. Is it David or usually I need to know who am I listening to?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:03

If I say David, it's probably right. Yeah, not always, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:02:06

And it and I can never be sure like what moment in his life, you know, it would help me to have some context. But there's a lot of good stuff. Again, I'm not discreeting, but I I love Proverbs because it's a little more, it's a little less poetic and it's more pithy, you know. Yeah, yeah. But New Testament all day.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:27

Are you gonna stick with to be clear? Taylor and I are big fans of the New Testament as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:33

For all of our listeners, we've been Boy Bay, right? We've been really enjoying Job recently, though, which has been great. Oh man. Doing uh a read-through chapter by chapter during Lent this year, and it's been really impactful. That's a good one.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:51

That'd probably be another good question. Again, I know I said I was gonna start wrapping this up, but yeah, you know, the and what are the chat what are the books that you grapple with the most? And I know Lacey talks about revelations. Numbers. Numbers.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:03

I hate numbers. That's not so bad. I'm so sorry. But numbers is so dry.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:10

We need a disclaimer about we respect the the Bible and the scriptures as much as we struggle with them sometimes. But so that's interesting.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:18

So that's Numbers is tricky.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:20

Revelations is usually revelation is usually the one that I I hear most from or used to hear most from her as far as the ones uh she doesn't like it kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:31

I I like it, but I don't know. I feel like revelation is just one of those things that's kind of like it's kind of like dinosaurs. We will never fully know like answers to it kind of thing. Just I feel like so many people have different theories on what this means and yeah, all the things. And I just need everybody to agree my nine is coming out. I need everybody to agree on what it means. Yeah, but but no, numbers is just what like when you try to like read the Bible straight through and you get to like numbers and Leviticus, it's so dry, and there's it's all the lineages, and I know that you love that kind of thing, but I like it for a time and the begots and and just all I like to sit there and map it out, but past that, it's not like I'm gonna relive our faxed, begot, no faxed, and no faxed begot.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:28

But that's interesting. Yeah, so numbers now. I I just remember hearing about, you know, the exact what you were just talking about with Revelations. Job is the one I struggle with the most.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:41

Really?

SPEAKER_04 1:04:42

Because if I'm being honest and objective, the the picture of God in Job just does not for me, and I don't want this to be discouraging to anybody. This is just something that's my my take on it. I'm not discrediting Job, it's part of the canon, it's it's part of the scriptures. But the picture that is painted of God in that book just seems to not conflict, but go, you know it's just it's different than the picture you get of God throughout the rest of the Bible. And that's where I really and that and and where does it fall in the timeline? Like some I've heard, and I I think this is a very interesting thought of it being right, you know, right after the flood or right before the flood, something like that. But being probably one of the older books of the Bible, I think is very fascinating to think about. But but just the image, the the the character of God in that is I mean, I think I think it's important because it it I may it it probably is revealing aspects of God. Uh and it's not one of those things I don't want to think about God that way. It just doesn't seem to to me fully Connect with the rest of them. But that's just me. That's my take. Don't put stock into it. That's that's one of my questions for God.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:10

I would wonder, and this is extemporaneous.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:15

Word of the day. Extemoraneous. And I just mispronounced it. And I don't know where my buttons are. Let's just see what happens.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:23

Oh no!

SPEAKER_04 1:06:24

That's the wrong word.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:25

My car's all flat and junk.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:27

That kind of applied in its own way. Hang on. I don't know. There it is. There it is. I wonder if the reason and this is this is speculative, but I wonder if the reason we're gonna be getting off in the weeds on Job a little bit, but Only one word of the day at a time, sir. I wonder if the reason that God's character in the book of Job seems maybe different from how we would look at God revealed as Jesus. Yeah. Is that Job's character as a human is in many ways very different from a lot of the other characters we see in the Bible. Because there's so many people who are like obviously insanely flawed, and like you could point to dozens of reasons why they could have been uh tormented in the way that Job was tormented.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:24

Not that they didn't suffer, you know. I look at people like I mean David, right? Yeah. A classic example of someone who's just like, wow, his flaws are really on display here. Yeah. And he's making these really bad, sinful choices. And yet the book of Job describes Job as being just like this really righteous, upright man who is suffering all these intense ways, experiencing his friends turning his back their backs on him. I wonder if it's that because of what the book of Job is showing us about trials, tribulations, suffering, I wonder if I wonder if our perception of reading Job and what quote unquote God's character is revealed in the book of Job feels different because Job himself is different. Not making it that God's identity is at all dependent on what Job is doing.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:22

But just to say that God's response to Job or the debatably lack thereof for so long in his life is quietness, whatever it may be that Job is experiencing the suffering, feeling this longing, not getting responses from God, feeling like, where are you? Are you hearing anything I'm saying? Or you know, I've what did I do to deserve this? I wonder if that is why God feels quote unquote different. Because Job feels different. Yeah. He is this righteous man. I mean, he's not perfect, he's a human.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:54

He's but he's he's suffering it, and he's he's suffering in a way that I mean I I see Job as like really one of the characters in the old Bible that uh prefigures the suffering servant of Christ in one of the most clear ways. Right. Job is not righteous in the way that God is righteous, the way that Christ is righteous, but he is surely based on the account of Job itself, but from a human perspective, quote unquote, undeserving of what's happening to him.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:29

That's a very good point. And and I should have led with this as a disclaimer, is I haven't really given Job a whole lot. I've I've tried to we've read through it and you know, and I've I've struggled, and I guess I struggle more with that the whole interaction between God and and the devil kind of thing. Oh yeah. That that part is where I don't but it's like there's other parts of the Bible where there's the nature, going back to the nature of Theos, the nature of God is shown, and you know, where he's he's having to be reminded, it seems like, by Moses not to kill all the you just brought these people out of Israel just to kill them. What would they say? And and it says God is reminded, you know, there's there's certain parts throughout the Bible that are just that seem to be odd and stand out, and it's uh kind of hard to grapple with at times with your your uh notion of God, but you take that to me like Job is a full book of that. And so those little moments you get that full book. So yeah. So we've got John, John, Philippians, favorite book, and then Psalms. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Those are I think strong candidates. So if you read nothing else this week, just go read the whole Bible.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:50

Just go dive in.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:52

Go pick out your numbers, just skip over it. It's fine.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:57

So we uh well we got through two questions. So this is a this is your this is an actual small group. That's how Bible studies go, right? You get hopefully through two questions, but we're gonna we're gonna end it there. Our first episode. We're finally doing it, guys. We've been talking about this for months. This is awesome, and we're finally doing it. So we're we really appreciate uh everybody that is listening.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:23

And you know, thanks, Mom.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:27

Shout outs. That list is long. We need a whole nother episode for shout-outs, but we finally got that first one done. Uh we'll we'll continue. We'll probably do our next episode. I there's still some good questions I want to continue on. We've got so much material, so much stuff to talk about. We will get focused on particular topics. What's another thing? We're gonna be probably more topic oriented here at first. We may get into like dissecting books and going, you know, doing series and stuff like that, but we want to probably stay more topic-focused like we've done tonight. And uh, we will have guests. We'll have, you know, like I said, we'll be more you know, dissecting what are other people saying and and dissecting what are they saying and how how should we take that and how should we navigate you know these different things in our everyday life. And but anyway, we're glad you joined us tonight. Stay tuned for more focused episodes, hopefully.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:29

So this is great. Thank you. Thanks for listening, everyone.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:32

Thank y'all.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:32

Yeah, I really am glad that this is kicked off. I think you know, free-flowing discussion tonight, which I think is a good way to open up. Yeah, just people getting a feel for like where we've been reading recently in the Bible, things that are meaningful to us.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:49

And hopefully it spawned some interesting thoughts, and whoever's listening, uh, you know, you you can get so topic heavy sometimes, and you're in focus on like faith, and we want people to really think about faith. And and hopefully some of our discussion did that tonight, but hopefully we hit some something else that sparked an interesting thought or consideration. And but you know, before we wrap up, I do want to give some shout-outs. Kyle Wright, like I mentioned earlier, was on his podcast. You know, show him some love, gather around table. He's done a lot for us to get this started. Oh my goodness. I said gather around table. That's my brother's podcast, by the way. If you want to go check that out, gather around table talks. Um, but yeah, uh, leave it at the table. Kyle Wright, he's done a lot behind the scenes to get us going, get us started, and uh I really appreciate that.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:40

So anyway, thanks for joining us tonight. We'll uh we'll see you on the next episode.