In the Face of Adversity: Persecution and Perspective

Show Notes

Episode 364:
We explore Mark chapter 13, focusing on the disciples' questions and Jesus' responses about the temple's destruction and the signs of the end times. We reflect on the significance of Peter, James, and John's inquisitive hearts in seeking deeper understanding from Jesus. The conversation takes a poignant turn as we discuss the theme of persecution and the courage needed to stand firm in faith, drawing inspiration from historical accounts of martyrs and modern-day believers facing adversity. We emphasize the importance of being vessels for God's message and finding peace in being part of His greater plan.

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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. Hey, we're back. Yeah, everybody's thrilled, Yes and I am. And let's by the way, this is the first ever Bible Guys episode that you've ever tuned in, in which case we're here for the first time. So yeah, okay, and then they're out the Yeah, they turn it out to Hey, we are doing a brand new segment today that we've never done. I know, I am so excited about that. Yeah. New ideas are good, fresh, it's good. Yes, it's called One Must Go, which is interesting. Yes, So this is how it reads. It says, two items with a distinct smell will be presented. Choose one to stay. The other will be erased from existence forever. Choose wisely. Choose wisely? Remember Oh yeah, yeah, The Night the Templar Night in the Indian Jones and The Least Crusade Last Crusade. Yeah, how about you getting the title before me? Those are like the only three movies I watch those. In The Lord of the Rings, in The Hobbit, he Chose, He chose, So one must Go. So we have two smells. So which one would you let me make you a smell guy? Sure? Sure, okay, I love smells. Okay, so here we go. Are you ready? Yep? First one? Which has to go? Fresh flowers or freshly baked cookies? That is an awful, awful, awful choice. Terrible choice, yes, because they're both wonderful. Yes. So so I'm trying to really think hard about this. I'm taking this game seriously. You know, when you when you when you're walking around and you smell like lilies in the breeze, you smell fresh jasmine in the air, It's like, what do you It's like, what are you talking about? Getting rid of all that? Versus cookies You only sort of smell when you drive by bakery, which smell wonderful, But flowers would It would impact the whole world. So I'm gonna say get rid of cookies, as much as that pains me to say, Well, I think so you're only getting rid of the smell, You're not getting rid of the flavor. So so yeah, I totally I don't eat a lot of flowers. So you're saying if you get rid of the smell of flowers, they be useless. It'd be forever. Yeah, yeah, so my very favorite smell of a flower. Now, I hate the scent, like if somebody just sprays a scent in the room. Manufacture, that's right. But I love the smell of fresh lilacs. Love them, and we used to have a bunch on our property. There was a big li like bush behind my grandmother's house on our property. So I have a massive lilac bush in my backyard. I love it when the breeze blows just right and you can smell it. Oh, yard, it's great. We have two lilac bushes in our So. Yeah, I would choose get rid of the freshly baked cookie smell. Yeah me too, Me tooe all right. Number two, citrus or chocolate. The smell of citrus or the smell of chocolate one has to leave the earth forever. I would get rid of the smell of chocolate. Wow, you're such a chocolate lover, I know, but I love the taste. Again, she's not getting rid of taste, although I know smell and taste are attached. But she didn't say, but you can taste citrus as well. I know, But I love the smell of citrus. Yeah, yeah, so I'm with you on that, and never like ooh good, a chocolate smelling soap. Right, that's correct, that's correct. But I like lemony flesh, lemony fresh. Yeah, citrus is too universal. Yeah, okay, So here's the other side, too detrimental to the world. What is this one? Did you see number three? Oh? This is a These are too bad smells. Get rid of one. Yeah. So body odor or bad breath? What do you think? I immediately know the answer to this going to be bad breath for no body odor really, because bad breath is controllable. You can you can keep your distance. Yeah, right, body odor. If somebody has body odor, it's the circumference around that person, is I mean, you're talking like down when you're talking about who sometimes you know, yes, you know. Sometimes I was on a plane four seats away right with some people who. But you and I have been in many cultures where bathing is not a part of the culture. Yes, and it's quite quite shocking how musky those planes are shocking. Yeah. Yeah, So I would choose bad breath as well. I mean I would choose bodyodor. Eliminate body od. Yeah yeah. So so hey, I'll tell this three for three. Yeah, we are, I'll tell us in three seconds. There was a guy. There was a guy. He was four seats down for me, and it was so bad I couldn't stand there. I told the flight attendant and she's like, come on, And then she came over and she was even further removed from me because she's now in the aisle, right, so she's four seats away and an isle away. And she went to go lean over to tell me that the plane was full, that she couldn't move me. And she leaned over to talk to me and she goes, sir, I like, and she started gagging, and she goes and then she changed her sentence and she goes, I will find you a seat immediately. It's hilarious. And she did. Yeah, And that poor guy probably had no sense and no sense of it. No, probably not, probably not his world. They don't do they don't bathe or whatever. So yeah, okay, would you get rid of the scent of freshly cut grass or of pinewood? Hmm, that is hard. I think I would get rid of the smell of freshly cut grass me too. We are in alignment on every one of these. Yeah, I love the smell of wood. Yeah, me too too, And it's it's it's it's again. I'm thinking of the whole world here, so freshly cut grass, like, what's what's the real big loss there? Right? Although freshly cut grass is pretty amazing, of course it is. Okay, Now, I thought, because you're such an outdoor like yard guy, oh you would love Yeah, yeah, I like, I like, I like cutting grass, I don't necessarily love the freshly cut grass smell. And then lastly, popcorn or peppermint. That's a tough one because popcorn is pretty wonderful. However, I would get rid of peppermint. You would get rid of peppermint. Yeah, And the reason why is because popcorn is so wonderful, Like when you pop popcorn, it fills everything and it's wonderful. Peppermints is like usually it's like the sprays. Right, But even when I'm eating peppermint, and I just I don't know, man, I mean, I guess, I guess it would hurt the the breath mints. Well, you and I are completely in line. Wow, Yeah, because I would have chosen popcorn. So we've chosen all five of these. We chose the same thing. Wow. I think she was hoping for disagreement. Maybe so, but again we're very like, yes, I agree, preferences. Okay, Well that I'm sure was riveting the best seven minutes of people's lives. There, six minutes and fifty second yeah, fifty four fifty five heading into it, all right, and seven from a twenty four minute podcast. Not too bad. So let's jump right into Mark chapter thirteen because we read half of Matthew twenty four last time. So how this is going to go is we're going to read the first part of Mark thirteen. Then on the next podcast we're going to go back and read the rest of Matthew twenty four, and then we'll come back and read the rest of you. No, we'll read Luke. The next podcast will be the first half of Luke. Oh yeah, there's three of them, three for them. Then we'll go back yep, yep, yep. Okay, okay, So Mark chapter thirteen, and we're going to read one through twenty three. It says as Jesus was leaving the temple that day, one of his disciples said, teacher, look at these magnificent buildings, look at the impressive stone in the walls. And Jesus re plaied, Yes, look at these great buildings, but they will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another. Later, Jesus sat on the Mount of the Olives, across the valley from the temple. Peter, James, and John and Andrew came to him privately and asked him, tell us when will all this happen? What sign will show us that these things are about to be fulfilled. Jesus replied, don't let anyone mislead you, for many will come in my name claiming I am no messiah. They will deceive many, and you will hear of wars and threats of wars. But don't panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won't follow immediately. Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in many parts of the world, as well as famines. But this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come. When these things begin to happen, watch out. You'll be handed over to the local councils and beaten in the synagogues. You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell them about me. For the good news must first be preached to all nations. But when you are arrested and stand trial, don't worry, and don't worry in advance about what to say. Just say what God tells you at the time, for it is not you who will be speaking, but the Holy Spirit. Brother will betray his brother to death, a father will betray his own child, and children rebel against their parents and cause them to be killed. And everyone will hate you because you are my followers. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. The day is coming when you will see the sacrilegious object that causes desecrations standing where he should not be. Reader, pay attention. Then those in Judea must flee into the hills. A person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack. A person out on the field must not return even to get a coat. How terrible it be for pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days. And pray that your flight will not be in winter, for there will be greater anguish than those days than at any time since God created the world. He'll never be so great again. In fact, unless the Lord shortens that time of calamity, not a single person will survive. But for the sake of his chosen ones, he has shortened those days. Then if anyone tells you, look, here's the Messiah or there he is, don't believe it, for false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God's chosen ones. Watch out, I've warned you about this ahead of time at that time, what versus Marie through Oh yeah, I am there, so I can't. I can't let you know the rest of it yet, don't click, don't. Yes, we'll come back at that few days. So this is pretty close to yesterday's podcast. There are a few details that are different. Yeah, and can I just camp on one of the details quickly? Go ahead? Uh. So, this particular version in Mark is different than Matthew twenty four because it actually tells us who did the questioning to Jesus when he predicted the temple being destroyed. Oh yeah, It actually says later Jesus said, at the amount of all of us across from the valley of the Temple, and it says Peter James, John and Andrew came to him privately and asked, whereas the Matthew twenty four version yesterday just said they just asked him, right, So, so you remember what I'm Are you predicting what I'm going to say? I'm guessing. Yeah. So I wrote a message, and I remember talking about it with you. I think you even delivered one of the messages where I did a study in college, because when I was in college, somebody had made a comment in the New Testament history class and they had said, there is evidence that Jesus played favorites, and they said it was it was always Peter, James and John. And the way they described it was they said, well, Jesus had the twelve, and then Jesus had the three, and then he had the one, you know, and Peter was who they claimed to be the one, even though that John thought it was him right right, I'm jesus favorite, the disciple of Jesus loved, the one whom Jesus loved. John always referred to himself as that. But they were saying Jesus had the one, and of course they compared it to David of the Old Testament. You know, David had his thirty mighty men, and then he had his his three you know, and and all these kind of things. And they were talking about groups and comrades and people that sharpened iron and all that stuff, which, by the way, is all true, completely true, right, so there's nothing wrong with that. But I really disliked the idea that Jesus played favorites. And it's like and so actually they even in my past, even in my pastoral training, uh, they would say, uh, you know, they'd say, like them all, but love a few, And I would say, what does that even mean. They're like, well, you know, just disciple the willing, you know, like like you know, those those people in your ministry who really want to know more. And that got me thinking too, because I thought to myself, oh, like them all, love a few disciple, the ones who want to know more. And then I started noticing in the scriptures that it was it always seemed to be Peter James and John who did the asking. Now in this case there's Andrew, right, and every once in a while there was there was somebody else, but for the most part, it was always Peter James and John pulling Jesus aside. And so here's my observation. My observation is, and this is applicable to everybody listening, because Jesus, I believe, responded to Peter, James and John because they had a willing heart. In other words, Jesus didn't pick them as his favorites. Jesus let them in on more of himself in response to their inquisitive and passionate heart. So it's evidenced in scripture they're the ones who pulled him aside. Early on, by the way, early on, all the way, at the beginning of the Gospels, Jesus would teach the whole crowd, and then Peter comes along and says, hey, teach me more about forgiveness, right, Peter, James and John says, teach us more about the parable of the seed and the sowers. And then you'll notice later on in scriptures, you know, he says, hey, come a little further and pray with me. You know, everybody stay back, except for Peter, James and John, where hed say, hey, I'm gonna go to the top of the mountain, and the transfiguration was about to happen. He says, everybody stay back, except for Peter James and John. Hey, the little girl isn't dead, she's just sleeping. Everybody out who doesn't believe, but except for Peter James and John. So I believe that it's Jesus who brings them in to experience more of himself because they're the ones that wanted to know more. So the application I believe isn't that Jesus plays favorites. I believe it's Jesus responds to willing hearts. So if you want to know more about God, and you want to have experienced God at the next level, then pursue him. Be inquisitive. Be the kind of person who listens to the podcast it isn't just content with that alone, but then pulls out the Bible and digs into it. You know more yourself. You don't just go to church and listen to the same thing that the crowd listens to, but be the kind of person that wants to know more than the crowd, the kind that goes to God and says, Okay, God, there's my word for you today. But let's press into that. So if God, this is your word for me today, it's church, let's press into that together. What do you really want me to do in my life because of this truth? Right? And I believe that's that's why that's why you have Peter, James and John that's why you have the quote unquote favorites. It wasn't Jesus choosing them, it was it was them choosing Jesus and Jesus responding. So yeah, so there there's a there's value in that, right that move at the movers, invest in the people that have the not not the most questions, but the you know, the greatest potential, right and that that that's a hard thing because we want everybody to have access. And of course Jesus came so that none would perish, but that all would come to pends. He came to seeking to save all the laws God's will love the whole world, right, Right, So there's all those things, but there are some that even in your business or uh in your ministry or that you're trying to pour into and disciple, that are leaning in more and that seemed to have a greater desire and also greater abilities. And so you know, James eventually became the first of the disciples that were martyred. Right. So, well, there's that John was the last one to die. He was he maybe lived to be close to one hundred or over. Peter became the kind of the leader of the early Church. And so you've got these guys that Jesus is pouring into because of the significant impact you know that they're going to make. So I think Jesus could also see their future impact. Yeah, for sure, not to minimize the impact of Bartholomew. It's just different, right, It is different. Yeah, So the thing that jumps out at me that's different in this passage would be he says in verse nine, when these things begin to happen, watch out. You'll be handed over the local councils, beaten the synagogues. We already read that part. You'll stand trial before governors and kings because you're my followers. But then he says, but this will be your opportunity to tell them about me, for the good news must be preached to all nations. And then he says, but when you're arrested and stand trial, don't worry in advance about what to say. Just say what God tells you at that time, for it is not you who will be speaking, but the Holy Spirit. Sometimes were horrified by persecution and by struggle. But that's God's only way to get the gospel to those kings, those governors, those rulers, and you know, I've mentioned before different people that were being persecuted, particularly when there was some horrible atrocities happening in Sudan, and it was the extreme radical Muslim groups that were coming in and just wiping out whole villages. They were At first they started killing all the men and raping the women. And then instead what they started to do is cutting off the man's hens and feet, but leaving them alive. Because a man who can't work is a drain on that village as opposed to him being dead is totally the thing. Right, It's even harder for all those men in that village to not be able to work. And so I remember hearing one of the pastors say he was a bishop in that area, said, you know, don't pray that the persecution stops. Pray that we'll have the grace to show Jesus love while they're persecuting, and that we will have the words, that God will give us the right words to be able to lead them to Jesus, because how else will they ever hear right, And I remember thinking, oh, my goodness, and that's what he's saying there. So I think about it. Did you ever when you were a kid, or even maybe now, do you ever think what would happen if I had a gun pointed at me? Hey, renounce Christ kind of thing? Yeah? Thank through that right? Well, yeah, yes, I've contemplated that so many times, because you know, when we were both student pastors, you know, the Columbine was short of the first big one, right, and and goodness gracious, I've talked about it in sermons with my teenagers at the time, talking about like what would it truly be like? You know, And of course over the years it's happened so many times now with people in faith, and you know, face a part of it sometimes and and yeah, that's that's a scary deal. I was just reading about a So there were the disciples and then you know, Jesus goes back to heaven. It is the disciples, most of them lived into fairly older time, and the disciples had disciples, and then the disciples disciples had disciples. That's how the gospel continued to spread. And there was I was reading a story yesterday about a gentleman that was holding the manuscripts from Paul's letters for his church in the western portion of the Roman Empire, near what would be Tunis today. And the Roman Empire had decided again to go after the Christians. And he had them in a box, and the word came that he was going to be arrested, him and several the other key leaders, seven of the key leaders. So he's debating, what do I do. Do I take these with me or do I you know not he was a Roman citizen, so I took him with him. They wind up putting them in prison, and for months they were reminding each other of you know, Paul's writings of Hey, you know, I'm going to run my race. I'm going to finish this thing. Whether if I live is Christ, to die is gain. And they were encouraging each other and reminding each other that we're not the only ones that have ever been persecuted. This is how the gospel goes forward. The concept of the blood of the martyrs is the seat of the church is true right, all these things, And then they were brought before the governor, and this Roman governor and he demanded that they renounce their faith and he was giving them a chance, if you'll renounce your faith, if you will just acknowledge the Emperor as your God. And they said, we have no God but Jesus, and he had them executed. And I was reading that last night. I was sitting in my chair last night and just really moved by this has been the church. Then it pivoted. He pivoted from there to a bunch of Chinese leaders dear in Mao's Revolution. And when they shifted over to the Communists, they killed over a million people, most of them Christians. They kicked down the doors, say, arrested people. And I'm just thinking about that. All throughout history, whether you're talking about ancient history or modern history, Christians are faced with that. But he says, don't worry about it. Right, He says, don't worry in advance. You don't have to be freaking out about it today because God will give you the right words at the right time. And just to understand that it's not your words, it's God's words. It's not your life, it's God's life. It's not you making an impact, it's God using you to make an impact. And if you can just I am content with the idea of being God's vessel. I'm content with being a person that God uses for his message, whether it's whether I live which is Christ, or to die is gain, as Paul says. And so this is kind of that past. Don't worry about it. Just know he because He doesn't give these things to be afraid of. Don't worry about it. God will do the right thing and he'll use you. Yeah. You know when you had cancer and it was scary for you and you had no outcome, Yeah, your response was You're like, hey, you know, you can't threaten a Christian with heaven, right, That's right, And you were just super you know, a matter of fact about it. And even that, I remember thinking, Okay, I'd like to think that i'd be that way. I hope i'm that way, you know. Would I have more anxiety and fear that just get a hold of me, you know, more sadness? I don't know. But but yeah, even that, So all of that to say, I believe you're the kind of guy I could totally see you somewhere in the jungle, somewhere for somebody's that has a spear to your head or a gun to your head and they're like, renounce the Lord or whatever, and you're like, well, I guess today's my day. You know, you get to go see Jesus before I go. Let me tell you, bud, Jesus, Well that Paul did ye. So Paul standing before kings and the emperor and he declares the Gospel to them, and how else were they ever going to hear unless somebody stood in front of him? Right right? So yeah, well that's it. Well, hey, that's a good place to end, and we will pick up on this topic and also the next time on the Bibble guys,