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Episode 661: In this episode, Chris Zarbaugh and guest co-host Quin delve into Proverbs 29, a collection of wisdom attributed to King Solomon, which was rediscovered by King Hezekiah and his men. We explore various verses, discussing themes such as the importance of accepting criticism, the role of authority, and the significance of discipline in parenting. We share a personal anecdote about how constructive criticism helped us improve our performance during a church event, highlighting the value of feedback from friends and mentors.
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Join Jeff and Chris for honest conversations about Scripture, faith, and the everyday stuff we all navigate. With humor, personal stories, and plenty of back-and-forth, The Bible Guys explore what the Bible says and how it connects to your life.
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You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in practical ways. Good morning, everybody. My name is Chris and I'm Quinn, and this is Quinn, and today we are the Bible Guys. Why Jeff is out of town across the world serving Jesus, suffering for Jesus in the sunshine while we're stuck in the tundra of Michigan. I had to scrape ice off my window this morning. It's what a price we pay for a living here. Quinn is our connections pastor at our church called Heritage Church. And guess what, well, Jeff is out of town. We are going to have a different guest every single day. So that's so fun. And today we have Quinn's Quinn, how you doing good? But have you ever been on the Bible Guys A couple of times? Yes? Yeah, you and I have done this. I think this is my third time. And for those who know us, we are the guys on staff who tend to put our foot in our mouth sometimes we have is what I just did. So this is gonna be fun. Yeah, well, you know, to be honest with you, I'm very bad at that. Do you know that I have this thing? This is irrelevant. I got to move on from this. But did you know I have this thing? And it's and it's it's it comes across as offensive. But I don't know why. But you know, everybody kind of knows. I'm a movie guy. I don't remember. I don't remember who I see a movie with. Okay, listen, ever, ever. Even if it's your wife, your daughter, I'll I'll. Take my wife specifically to the theater and because you know we're gonna go to the theater that often, and I'll say, hey, let's come see this movie. And then like three years later, I'll say, have you ever seen this movie? She goes, Chris, we saw that movie together. I've had best friends say that to me. I've had everybody, And for some reason, my brain doesn't log who I see movies. Even if it's short term, like you've seen Wicked like eighty times. You don't remember who you've seen Wicked with. I mean, I can remember a couple of times with my family, but but but I'm serious, and so for some reason, maybe I've just discovered that I don't remember who's on the Bible guys, So sorry about that. So anyway, today we are going to start with a question. Ready, and the question it says this, It says Quinn is the connections pastor. So here is today's question. If you had to connect with someone using dad jokes, what's your opening line and what are some of your backup lines? That's a crazy question jokes? How do you have some pocket dad jokes? I think I'm going to call this segment crazy Questions crazy? Yes, I do you ready? This is one of my favorites. I just discovered this the other day. Ready, Okay, where do you take someone who's been in a peekaboo accident? I don't know where the ICU? Come on, come on, that's great. That was pretty cheesy. I got one. I gotta cheose you one. Go ahead, Okay, if you're American in the kitchen, what are you in the bathroom? I don't want to take time to think about. This American in the kitchen? What are European? Oh? You know, I should have known that that was that's a that's a joke that we probably said we were kids. Yeah, yeah, I got I've got a three year old at home, so lots of cheesy dad joke. Okay, this is a different type of dad joke. I just saw these are off of my Tory Bug mugs. My daughter toy bought a mug and it has a QR CO for dad jokes. That's funny, and so we call her Tory Bug. So it's the bug mug, the bug mug. So the bug Mug says this the other day to whoever stole my copy of Microsoft Office, I will find you. You have my word and word is capitalized. You have my word. It's really funny. You gotta read it. Whatever you say. Yeah, I got a couple more. What did the buffalo say when he dropped his it off at school? I don't know. Bye soon? Oh that's great. I want to call my daughter and tell her that that is really good. She would love it, but I can't because she's working right now. Cheesy dad jokes. Yep. And then how about this one? What kind of felines can bowl? You know? I don't know alli cats. That's okay, it's okay. I learned one last night. I'm trying to remember. I think it went something. Like, what what days of. The week are the strongest? What is it Saturday? And Sunday. You know why, because they're not weak days. That's pretty good. You didn't have to explain it, but I kind of butchered. I just learned it last night. You didn't. But it's just poking fun. How about this? What did you just say micro? You don't say fund last one? You got a good one and it with something strong. Well I had two more of it. I'll pick the better of the two. Okay. How about this? Why do people of all ages love elevators oaks? I don't know, because they work on so many levels. Yeah, it wasn't that great. What would happen if you threw all the books into the ocean? It would cause a title wave? Which one's better? Yeah? I told you, I told you. I'm still trying to figure out what. All right, So that's so that's our opening segment. A bunch of dad jokes randomly with Quinn, who's been on the Bible Guys at least three times. Thanks Quinn, You're welcome. I should have I should have asked you that before we started taping. All right, very cool. Well today, oh, by the way, every day this week I'm going to announce this announcement. If you are looking uh to. Uh well, let me say it this way. If you're in Michigan and you are in the mood to come see the Bible Guys live, we have a Bibble Guys live event. But we're going to be actually doing and recording an episode of The Bible Guys in Heritage Church the Less City campus. Oh yeah, I heard about on April twenty fourth at six pm. So you just go to the church, walk in and just say hey, I'm here for the event, and uh, we'll be there and we're going to be doing an episode and then we'll be doing other stuff besides that. So it's just it's just a Bible Guy's live event. Yeah, if you're there, come up to Chris and tell me your best cheesy dad dye you'd love to hear. Oh man, that'd be really cool. I really would, of course I would. That'd be great and add it to your repertoire. Bye. That was my far the best one. That's the best one. And I can't I can't wait. Hang on, let me let me let me see. Uh, I know my daughter's at work, but let me just try call Tory. Tell her right now live on the Bible Guys. Yeah, why not. What how's the joke start? Do you want me to do it? How's the joke start? What did the buffalo say to his kids when he dropped them off in school? Okay, hello, hey Tory. What did the buffalo say to his kid when he dropped him off at school? You say bye, son? Oh my gosh, I can't. I just walked out of my classroom for that. She walked out of her classroom for that. Oh my gosh. Okay, you're on the Bible guys, so wild. Oh my gosh. I was like, kids, it's my dad. I'm so sorry, I have to go. And he called it. Tell me by sun kindergarteners eat. Is absolutely hysterical. Okay, we'll go tell them the joke. Okay, I love you. Bye. I'm going to go tell them. Okay bye. All right, that's funny. So she thought it was an emergency. Poor daughter, Yeah, poor poor dad. So anyway, all right, I got some scripture for us. Yes, oh, we got to do a terrible transition. Did you know that? Okay, let's see it. Uh, speaking of son, did you know that Solomon was David's son? Okay, I like the transition, And Solomon wrote proverbs. Right, that's it. That's the terrible transition. And these particular proverbs I was reading about. Jeff talked about it a couple episodes ago in Proverbs twenty five. They got hidden in the temple that King Hezekiah found like two hundred years later. So these proverbs, King has Akaia found them, and we're going to read them. This is the last one. Yeah, I was trying to give an indication that lean. For closer than yes. Yeah, all right, I got They told me I can move it too, you can pick it up too. Yeah, that's wow. I just read it like this. Come on, all right. Proverbs twenty nine, the last of King Solomon's wisdom. Right here, we're going to read the whole thing. Whoever stubbornly refuses to accept Christian to accept criticism will suddenly be destroyed beyond recovery. When the godly are in authority, the people rejoice, but when the wicked are in power, they grown. The man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father, but if he hangs around with prostitutes, his wealth is wasted. A just king gives stability to his nation, but one who demand demands bribes destroys it. To flatter friends is to lay a trap for their feet. Evil people are trapped by sin, but the righteous escape shouting for joy. The godly care about the rights of the poor. The wicked don't care at all. Mockers can get a whole town agitated, but the wise will calm anger. If a wise person takes a fool to court, there will be ranting and ridicule, but no satisfaction. The bloodthirsty hate blameless people, but the uprights. Seek to help them. Fools vent their anger, but the wis quietly hold it back. If a ruler pays attention to liars, all his advisers will be wicked. The poor and the oppressor have this in common. The Lord gives sight the eyes of both. If a king. Judges the poor fairly, his throne will last forever. To discipline a child produces wisdom, but a mother is disgraced by an undisciplined child. When the wicked are in authority, sin flourishes, but the godly will live to see their downfall. Your children, and they will give you peace of mind and make your heart glad. When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild, but whoever obeys the law is joyful as good words alone will not discipline a servant. The words may be understood, but they are not heeded. There is more hope for a fool than for someone who speaks without thinking. I think we need that one sometimes you mean, yeah, a servant pampered from childhood will become a rebel. An angry person starts fights, A hot tempered person commits all kinds of sin. Pride ends in humiliation about humanity brings honor. Humility brings honor. If you assist a thief, you only hurt yourself. You are sworn to tell the truth, but you dare not testify. Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety. Many seek the rulers favor, but justice comes from the Lord. The righteous despise the unjust. The wicked despise the god. Man. There's a lot to impact, And yeah, well there's twenty seven verses and proverbs, as we all know, is a collection of wise sayings. Right, so each one carries with it an incredible amount of wisdom, because that's what this book is. It's a book of wisdom. But they're so unrelated sometimes, right, they're they're just randomly, you go from one topic to the next, and it's pretty wild. Will this being the last collection of King Hezekiah and as Men, I imagine they just all right, here's what's left, throw it all together. And maybe it was more organized than that, but they're like, there's some good stuff we found in these walls. We got to put it in. Here, and that's why a lot of them don't go together. Uh, you know what, I don't think honestly, I'm trying to think about because I've done definitely, I've definitely done studies on the topic of you know, people piecing the Bible together and verifying it. I mean, that's just a big long discussion right for the ages, actually for the ages. But I don't think I've ever heard anybody say what you just said, which is that like these twenty seven verses weren't written consecutively, like like were they I don't know, Well, they could have been. But what we know is that verse chapters twenty five through twenty nine were written by Solomon two hundred ish years earlier King Hezekai and his buddies found him. And we also know that the Bible didn't have verses in chapters back then we created. Sure sure, sure, for sure, we knew that. Okay, So what you're what you were trying to say was the chapters don't necessarily go together, right, okay, okay, because I was pointing out that the verses themselves don't go to That's true, they don't, right And then and you said, oh, and I was like, I was saying, what. Because when they found him in the walls, they. Build one proverb bit of time. Who knows how they organized them, who knows what scroll they found first? Or Jeff Jeff probably knows he would know. That what Jeff knows everything. Jeff knows all things. Hey, without Jeff being here, why don't you and I both acknowledge the fact is he probably one of the smartest guys. You know, Oh absolutely, yeah, he's crazy. Absolutely, he can ask him anything about anything. Well, it's it's the jeopardy question king. So it isn't just like uh so, so you think, oh, wow, he studied the Bible so so much that he knows a lot of obscure things in the Old Testament and things that necessarily people forget, and he's really good with maps and all that stuff. But it's not just that, it's everything you say. Hey, I was reading about dump trucks the other day, and he'll say, well, you know, there's seven types of dump trucks. Right, And it's like a different tread on the wheels and the different front loaders, and it's like, Emma, Pastor Kevin. I would love to see them get into a debate. Those they are like the two smartest dudes I've ever met. Mine. Okay, well there it is uh and and nobody knows who that is. Pastor Kevin patorck Kevin. He does all the all the care for at our church. Yeah, he's over. Celebrate recovery and funerals and weddings and all that. Kevin McCarthy. And he has a cool nickname. What is it? P K p K And the first piece stands for pastor? Why don't Why don't we have a cool nickname? I don't know. Why do you have PQ? A cool name? It's not a nickname? Yeah, it's not. I mean, you know p Z yeah or p S eazy. What would you do if people started calling you PZ? What U? PZ? That's not that's not that's not good. So back to proverbs between on the first verse really stands out to me, and I know we'll probably jump all over, but whoever stubbornly refuses to accept criticism will suddenly be destroyed beyond recovery. This reminds me of the first time you and I started really had like a work interaction. It was easter. Do you remember last Easter? Yes, we got like twenty two easter services by the way, fourteen at Sterling Heights. You're preaching a bunch, it's going to be great. But I remember I was working there for probably a month, and I get done doing like the pre service game. I know, you know what I'm saying. I'm doing like the game and I'm giving away gift cards and it's fun. And I get backstage and you come up to me and this is like my first real interaction with you. And you stop me and you go like, hey, this. Is my best criss are about by the way, Hey. You're like a nine. You're great. What you just did was a two. Don't be a two. Be a nine. And some people you tell some people that are like, oh, my cousin can't believe me said that? What jerk? And I'm like, no, he's not a jerk. What he's doing is he's helping, right, But people don't realize that that criticism is important and we need it because then you go on to give me like tips, right, do this, don't do this, And the next service was great, it was more fun. I was looser. Well, criticism when when people bother to give feedback, that's a sign of caring. It's a sign of caring. So it really is. It's uh yeah, so and then when you told my son Steven, oh yeah, that's statement. Yeah, what did Steven say? Well, Steven's got like this fake great guy. I love. Stephen's a good friend of mine. He's got like this fake Boston accent that comes out sometimes, especially when he gets excited. He's like, wait a minute, but Dad called you a nine. You don't call nobody nine, Like that's freaking amazing. And he talked like for. Ten minutes about how you called me and nine. Yeah, freaking quiz you don't understand. So Stephen didn't country on the two. My son was amazed that I said your personality was an He was amazed. Yeah, yeah, because nobody's an eye, nobody's any You get a high likable. But I think in the church world, in the business world, in life like, we're going to be critique and we've got to learn to deal with it. We've got to learn, uh, to focus on that you're not. You weren't critiquing me as a person. You didn't say when you're ugly, when you're fat, when you're this, or that, you said your product, what you just did could be better. Here's how we fix it. And a lot of people get so sensitive and then don't touch my product. This is who I am, and that's not who you are. It's a thing you did or a thing you said. Well, I think we I think we talked about this already in Proverbs on the previous podcast. But you know, it says faithful or the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. So you know, the wounds of a friend is somebody who comes up to you and says, hey, man, you have your zippers down. You know that kind of thing. And then and then the friend who who wants to be polite and doesn't want to hurt your feelings is it says, uh, you know, faithful the wounds of a friend, but a kisses of an enemy are deceitful. It's you know, it's that way on a very deep level. So your true friends are going to be the ones that give you love and hard truth. So I don't know if you have ever heard this theory or not, but this is worth saying, I think so. John chapter one, verse seventeen says Moses came to bring the law, but Jesus came to bring both grace and truth. And so grace could be considered as something that you know, forgives. It's the relational piece of Jesus, right, it's the invitation piece of Jesus. But also the truth is hard truth. So I did a reading on this one time, and I say, if you think about it, a lot of Jesus's interactions said both grace and truth. So, for instance, the woman caught an adultery, the truth and the grace were both there. The grace was he said, where are your condemners? She said none, Lord, and he said, then neither do I condemn you. And then the truth is now get up and don't ever do that again, Go and send no more. Right the rich young ruler, it says, Jesus looked at him and he loved him. Right, and then and then it says he turns around and says, now go sell everything you have, give to the poor. So Jesus has both the dynamic of grace and truth. And and so that is the best if you think about it, it's the best friend in your life. The best friend gives you the hardest truth with the most amount of love. And if you think about it, somebody who just always loves and doesn't want to give you hard truth and challenge you and sharpen you, that's not a friend. And then somebody who just critiques with no relationship, well, that's awful too, right, and uh and so yeah, you have to have both dynamics, both grace and truth. You'll get people to say things like, oh, don't tell me that's not nice. I had a Bible professor who told me not too long ago. He said, nice isn't a fruit of the spirit. Oh that's gentleness, you know, kindness? Yea, yeah, yeah, But what the world says is nice, Like you don't tell the truth, don't say anything about this. That's what the world says. The fruit of the spirit gentleness and kindness. Right, So we need to do everything in love. But it's kind for me to tell you the truth. It's kind for you to tell me the truth. That's great. And then it says when the godly or in authority that people rejoice when the wicked are in power. They've grown. Boy, isn't that a mouthful? Well, that's been proven throughout history, hasn't it? Right? And every single genre in every organization, every administration, every Ooh goodness, gracious, it's just so true. When you have good rulers, man, the whole kingdom is happy. Yeah. Speaking of good rulers, it makes me think of good parents. Right, We've been talking about our kids a little bit. There's a couple of scriptures in here about disciplining your children. Fifteen and seventeen stand out to me. To discipline a child produces wisdom, but a mother is disgraced by an undisciplined child. And the seventeen discipline your children and they will give you peace of mind and will make your heart black. Well, and both of those talk about discipline. Yeah, Harch. A lot of people want to like, stay away from like that's not kind, that's not nice. Let your kids do whatever they want. But I think that's not being nice. I think as good parents, we have to discipline our children like like God treats us. You talk about a controversial subject, did you know that there's an actual version of the Bible that says if you spank your kid, he won't die. It's true, that's what it says. It actually says that. And so people are like to spank or not spank. You know, we're going to emotionally give him support. But anyway, I don't't even dive into that topic. All right, but discipline in any form right as opposed to letting the child rule. We've seen those parents let the child rule the child is is you know there's I don't have the right to tell the child what to do. Yeah, it's called job description. Well, and the thing the thing I've been thinking about too is my eight year old is so different from my three year old. All your kids are grown, how you discipline them, you know, at seventeen was probably way different than how you were disciplining them at three and eight. But my eight year olds so sensitive. Yeah, he loves people, and so for him, I take I'll take something he loves away, his Nintendo's. Book, just I'll never do it again. Yeah, but the three year old is not like that, like a three year old. These are kickeries, a scream, you'll throw something at your head and laugh about it. So how I discipline him is different than how I discipline the eight year old. And I'm sure you've got some of those stories with your kids and how you treat one versus the other. Oh yeah, you know what's so funny. You're at the age now what your kids are at the age now where in just a few years you're going to make the transition of your position. So I listened to a message series one time called Parental Guidance Required from North Point Church, and here's what he said. He said that right around the age of twelve or so, you stop leading from the position of authority and you start to transition as a parent to the position of influence. Right, so, in other words, like right now, you can look at your kids and say, do this because I said so, Do this because I'm dad, right, do this because you know so you your parent from position. But there's going to be a time very soon where the teenager it's not going to work. Do this because I'm dad, because I'm mom, because I said so, it's not going to work. And so what you have to do is you have to transition to a position of influence where you have to say, like, you know, I really, really I am disappointed in your son, or I really would like for you to do that. And what you have to do is you have to find ways to still be authoritarian, but at the same time gain influence. You can't totally lean on position one hundred percent without influence. You have to make sure that relational equity is built so that your kids will not have to go from having to obey you to wanting to obey you, right and so, and the order they get, the more important that becomes. But honestly, a good friend of mine said that he thinks that transition takes place around twelve years old. Wow, isn't that crazy? Which means you're right on the corner, buddy. So it's an interesting thing. I've been so fast. Yeah, So what else? What other verse sticks out to you that we've covered a few? Yeah, I mean, there's there's scriptures about anger, there's scriptures about I mean, the whole Book of Proverbs about wisdom. Right, I've been I've been going through a small group on HC group. With Pastor Jeff. We invited some young adults who serve in our church. And we've been talking through for Timothy, which is a lot about leadership, and he's been teaching us this thing called the Discovery Bible study. If you heard of that, Yeah, of course you go through these questions and so the questions that we go through every time we read the Bible, and if you're studying the Bible, these are great for you too. Is So you read the passage, then you say what does it say about God? The next question is what does it say about people? Or me? And then the third question what's a command to follow or a promise to stand on? And so as I'm reading through this, I'm like, Okay, what does it say about me? Was what I should do? What I should not do? What does it say about God? And then I really like verse twenty five, almost near the end something to stand on a promise or a command. Fearing people is a dangerous trap. Trusting the Lord means. Safety, and I think that sums up this whole, this whole chapter and a lot of proverbs, a lot of the Bible. Trust God, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, Lean not on your own understand standing Proverbs three five, which is so hard for some people, especially smart people. I'm not the smartest guy, but I have friends who are really smart and they're like, oh, that's. So hard for me. How do you just trust God? I'm like, I don't know. You just do it. You read your Bible, you pray, you get close to godly people, you do godly things, and you fear. You have the holy fear of Him, not of people, not a man. Well, one of the things that I've always lived by was, you know, when you trust God in circumstances. For instance, a lot of times we as human beings, we want to know why. Yeah, we say, well, just tell me why, God, Why should I go here? Why should I do this? Why should I obey? And you know, we think, as long as we know why, then we'll understand. But when we don't know the why, we have to lean into the who. So you know, you say, Okay, I don't know the why, then I just have to trust God for who he is. Is He a God who loves me, he wants what's best for me. He's always proven faithful in the past. You know, he's just right, he's holy, he is righteous. And so what you do is you you know we we seek the while all the time, but when the wy falls short and trusting the Who and that's that's that's what, that's what we lean on, right for all things. And one last comment, because I know our time is running thin, and that is uh, what's interesting about proverbs twenty verse twenty five. The one you mentioned was the word fearing and trusting can work interchangeably. So that was my first thought. Where it says, you know, not always says fear the Lord, right, and then trusting people. Right, We don't say fear people that often. Right, And some people can't brast the concept of Yeah, but. It works both ways, doesn't that good? So it says it says fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety. You can see it this way. Trusting people is a dangerous trap, but fearing the Lord means safety. That's so good, right, And. So it does work both ways, and yet both are true and both actually are slightly different, aren't they. Thats right? So which is really cool. So hey, when you read enough Bible, it all it all comes together done. That's right Scott today, that's right? Trust God today? Hey, Well, that is our time and so Thank you Quinn for being on the Bible Guys for the very first time, joining us and UH and hopefully we will see you tomorrow with a brand new guest on the Bible Guys.