The Bible Guys LIVE: The Power of Community

Show Notes

Episode 414: 
In this special replay of our live event, Jeff and Chris dive into the importance of community in our spiritual lives. We explore a powerful passage from Acts chapter 9, focusing on the transformation of Saul to Paul and the pivotal role of friendships in spiritual growth. We discuss how Paul's encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus and his subsequent introduction to the apostles by Barnabas, a figure of encouragement, highlights the profound impact of supportive relationships in our faith journey.

What is The Bible Guys?

Whether you’ve been following Jesus for years or you’re just starting to ask questions, there’s a seat for you here.

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.

Subscribe, bring your questions, and get to know the Bible one conversation at a time. Head over to TheBibleGuys.com for more information!

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of The Bible Guys. I'm Jeff and I'm Chris, and we are so excited that you're here. And today we have a very special moment. Yes, because people always hear the word Desiree, they hear the name Desiree. She's the brains behind the operation, and nobody's ever seen her. I heard from her. There's been a lot of questions if she really even exists, but she does. In fact, she's standing right. We're here here Desiree. Everybody welcome, Diserree. Okay, so today we're doing the episode. A while back, we did a Bible Guys live event with a live crowd, a live audience, and today we're gonna replay that. And so what's it all about. It is about the importance of being in community. So we hope you enjoy this episode. We're gonna play a game and the game is called Who's most Likely, And just like all the Daily Bible Guys, we have no idea what the questions are. They're just handed to us and we respond in the moment. So the goal is for us to read the questions. And here's the actual rules, is that we're going to ask a series of questions and then Jeff and I are going to hold up who we think is most likely to do that thing. And the goal actually is to get the is to match where we're trying to match up. So, in other words, and this is about ourselves. So the question is going to be asked, and who's who's more likely to do that? Chris or Jeff? We have to assess, like would I rather do that? Or are you like, like, whould be most likely to rob a bank? We'd have to decide, we'd have to decide which one would that be? Something like that. I'm pretty sure. I don't know. We don't know the questions. Okay, here we go. Question number one, what does it say forget their wallet for the day? Who's most likely to forget their wallets for the day? Yeah, I'd say, Jeff, that's mine. Oh you know what, we should probably hide from each other. So well, I just want the good you. I'll look at them this way, all right, you look that way. Question number two go to Disney on a whim. Yeah, we all know who this is. Yeah, that's and he's gonna sing all the songs all the way there too. You probably dress up and I dress up. I know everyone. Ye get your picture taken with all the princesses. What do we got? What's what? Start a side hustle, Start a side hustle. Who? Yeah, I'd say this one, right, Yeah, I suggest that's you. That's all right, here we go. Next one, who is like, become a Walmart greeter? I know for a fact who that is? No, way, that is you, buddy. You're going to volunteer as a Walmart greeter? Dude, dude, yes you are. You love nothing more than you get out in the middle of a crowd and just greet people you don't even know. Yeah, I like people, But that's that's gonna be your You look like a Walmart person. Wow, I'm just kidding. Wow. I didn't know what else to say. Wow. So you just thought of the most condescending thing you could think. You just defended the next morning. Okay, let's go exaggerate their stories. Yeah, I'll admit that one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I will say this, though they're always true. It's SHP four. Well, the facts are true, but I might say, like, oh, we're going forty miles an hour, we were going like twenty. Yeah, yeah, so that like an exaggeration. Yeah, but the stories are true. I think that was the point of that question. Or is that? Is there another one? Is that it? Oh? All right, that's it. Good job, ladies and gentlemen, good job. That's fun. Hey, I think we agreed on most of them. Yeah, except for the one. I'm sorry about that. Yeah, well, all right, there's nothing wrong with them. Mark. Hey, guys, we're gonna go ahead and read a passage and act Shepter number nine, and so it's kind of what we do on the Daily Bible guys. We sort of have fun and then we transitioned, and normally we have an agenda, like we're in a series right now, actually chronologically going through the Book of Acts, and we're pausing and branching off, and currently we're in Romans because Romans was written during the duration of Acts. But for this we're branching off and it's really just a standalone type segment. And this is the story of the apostle Paul. When he was converted, he was actually called Saul, and this is the story of his conversion on the way to Damascus. Yeah, so Saul Paul. If you don't know, Paul wrote most of the second half of the Bible, the New Testament, especially the parts to talk about what it means to be a follower of Jesus. And this is the very beginning of his journey. If you want to read the beginning of his journey X chapter eight, X chapter nine, that rate in that area X chapter nine is where it begins. And he has this encounter with Jesus, and Jesus radically transforms his life. Before that, he was persecuting Christians. He hated Christians. He was going everywhere and putting them in prison and ruining their lives and destroying their businesses and tearing down their homes, all kinds of things. As a matter of fact, he was even a witness to the very first martyr Stephen. Right, So this is a bad guy. Then Jesus has this encounter with Paul, and Paul is overwhelmed by Jesus in Pivots and he goes from being a Jesus hater and persecutor Christians to a follower of Jesus. And then persecution comes to him it's kind of like the table's flip on him. Yeah, And I think it's important also to reference that he was on his way to a city, Damascus, to actually sort of implement the same system of persecuting Christians as he was doing in Jerusalem. In fact, to head high priest Caiaphas, the one responsible for putting Jesus to death on the Sanhedron. Caiaphas was the one who commissioned Saul and said, go to Damascus, which, by the way, if you're looking at it map wise, Jerusalem's down here, and then if you go up sort of the Jordan River and you sort of cross over and then go all the way up over here is Damascus. It was dozens and dozens of modern day Syria, modern day Syria, that's right. And so he was on his way and then Jesus met him on the road and then he said who are you? And finally Paul realized, Saul realized it was you know, Jesus was real. And then he goes and lick lays there for three days and then God sends Antonius to go you know, heal him because he had lost his sight. And he laid there thinking about man I've been doing this all wrong. And literally right after that encounter with Anonias, then it picks up where we're reading today. Yeah, and so this whole night is about connecting right, making friends and you grow the best spiritually. And I think most people in the room you probably have a desire to grow spiritually. The best way is in the context of friendships. And we see this at the very beginning of Paul's life. Right, I'm still thinking about the Walmut Greader thing. I'm sorry, I need better friends. That's what I need. I just was pressured saying something. So Jesus said, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks what the insight comes out. Okay, we you know what. I'm gonna forgive you because I'm a good Christian. We're gonna move on, thanks Jess. So Acts Chapter nine is where this story picks up, and it's at the end of verse nineteen. We'll read a few verses here says Saul stayed with the believers in Damascus for a few days, and immediately he began preaching about Jesus and the synagogue, saying he is indeed the Son of God. All who heard him were amazed isn't this the same man who caused such devastation among Jesus followers in Jerusalem? They asked, and didn't he come here to arrest them and take them and change to the leading priests. Saul's preaching became more and more powerful, and the Jews in Damascus couldn't refute his proofs that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. After a while, some of the Jews plotted together to kill him. Now there's a huge amount of time between verse twenty two and verse twenty three, three years, according to the first chapter of Galatians, three years. But that's not Luke's point. So Luke is just telling us the events, He's not really trying to be clear on the order of things. But between verse twenty two that says that nobody could refute his proofs that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. The next phrase is after a while, that after a while three years. So that's kind of amazing. The Bible's its own best commentary. We know that from Galatians. So he says, after a while, some of the Jews plotted together to kill him. They were watching for him day and night at the city gate, so they could murder him, but Saul was told about their plot, so during the night, some of the other believers lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the city wall. When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to meet with the believers, but they were all afraid of him. They did not believe he had truly become a believer. And then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus, and how the Lord had spoken to Paul. He also said to or told them that Saul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus. So Saul stayed with the apostles and went all around Jerusalem with them, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. He debated with some Greek speaking Jews, but they tried to murder him. That kind of puts a squash on some of that stuff. And when the believers heard about this, they took him down to Cessarea and send him away to Tarsus, his hometown. And the church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and it became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the Lord, and with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers. Yeah, what a neat story. Yeah, it's very neat, and I think that one of the things that stands out that we want to focus on. And there's a lot that we can unpack, so we're not going to necessarily nuance all of it, but we want to focus on Barnabas. Yeah, the idea of this friendship that really changed everything. Yeah, really, And the reason why that it said that many Jews wanted to kill Saul is because you could imagine that if you were Christians and you were believers and followers of this you know, it was actually called the Way, the Way. It wasn't called Christianity, and it was called the Way, and if you were a part of the Way and you believed in Christ and then you heard about Saul persecuting Christians and all of a sudden he comes up and goes, oh, I've been converted. You're like, yeah, he's a trojan horse, isn't it right? And so they're thinking, no, this guy, I've heard about this guy. He's pulling fast one so we're gonna kill him. And then the other believers lower him down a wall. And by the way, that's a big deal because many of the city walls, as we know, you know, even still standing, like like Jericho is still standing, right, they excavated Jericho, but it's actually a lot of time walls, the walls off fell down. Well so Jericho, Yeah yeah, but yeah, we know where it was. Yes, we do know where it was. And there's a lot of rocks on the ground there are, okay, So yeah, so bottom line helps. It helps if you're can be a Bible guy, you know, to know the Bible, that that helps a little bit. Okay, there, really, I go for Walmart, you go for Jericho's walls. I'm not doing false teaching. Actually there are still some walls standing in Jericho on the northern side busted drop the mic. So bottom line is is a lot of the hills, a lot of the cities were on hills, and and a lot of the walls stood tall because of defense reasons. So if you think about lowering someone down several stories, that would be right, several stories down a wall onto what would be a really difficult landscape at night. So I mean, really, it wasn't just like a little cute little basket kind of a lowering. It was a risk life kind of a thing. Yeah, this is a full blown escape. Yeah right right. There's a lot of cool escapes in the Bible, by the way, but this is one of those where they just realized, Okay, Paul or Saul at the times what they're calling him, he has a really important mission and we can't let him die now. And so one of the things with Saul, you see, is he's incredibly bold with his witness. Immediately he went from being like this zealot that wanted to kill all the Christians too. Jesus took that part of his personality and Pivoten said, now just go tell everybody, and he is. He just wants to tell everybody. So there's that. The other side of it is everybody wanted to kill him because of it. So that's the danger that he was facing. And so then they get him out of Damascus and they're trying to send him to Jerusalem, and he he goes to Jerusalem and hooks up connects with the guy. The believers won't connect with him, None of the believers will connect with him. They're afraid of him. And he connects with a guy named Originally his real name is Joseph, and we know from Acts chapter four that all the Christians changed Joseph's name to Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, right, And so the one guy, the encourager in the room goes, you know what, I believe in this Saul guy, and I'm gonna encourage him. And that what's so interesting is that we know that Saul eventually has his name changed to Paul, so we know him as they Paustle Paul or Saint Paul. But here's what's really interesting is that one time, actually was when I was in Bible college, I started to do a little bit of my own study. I didn't read it anywhere, it was just my own study. And what I came across was I came I looked up every single reference of it talking about Barnabas and Saul. That Barnabas was the one who introduced them to the believers, So he introduced them to the disciples, the insiders. And if it wasn't for Barnabas introducing him and giving him credibility, he may not have connected with them and they may not have accepted him. So when I was reading it. Here's what I noticed is that the pattern started with Acts chapter nine. All the way through the end of the Book of Acts, it's always listed Barnabas and Saul, Barnabas and Saul. Barnabas and Saul. Barnabas and Saul were Barnabas's names first, and then it goes Barnabas and Paul, Barnabas and Paul, and you could almost see his reputation changing. And then it goes Paul and Barnabas, Paul and Barnabas, Paul and Barnabas, Paul and Barnabas, and then there's one reference where it says Paul and his friends. So Barnabas just fades into the title of friends. And then after that they split up, they separate, and then it just becomes Paul. And so Barnabas was there like the wing beneath his the wind beneath his wings. Right, he just sort of, you know, just shifted and just gave Paul the platform. And Barnabas is the unsung hero that everybody needs in life. Most of the time, when we think of the phrase or the term apostle in the Bible, what we're thinking of is you know Matthew and John and James his brother, and Andrew, and Philip and Thomas, and you know Nathaniel and all those guys. That's what we're thinking of. Those apostles that traveled with Jesus, that were spent time with Jesus. And the idea was that they need to have spent about three years traveling with Jesus, having been taught by Jesus. They're the apostles. But in the Book of Acts, the Bible also references a few others that are apostles that aren't part of those first twelve disciples. For instance, in this passage, we know because of Galatians, we know that when Paul or Saul goes to meet the apostles in what verse was that he tried to meet with the believers, And matter of fact, that word means he kept on and kept on and kept on trying it in work. But then in verse twenty seven, Barnabas brought him to the apostles. We know that the only two apostles he met was Peter and James. But it wasn't the James that was a disciple. This was the James that was the brother of Jesus. He was the James that was leading the church in Jerusalem at the time. So he only goes and meets with those two apostles. And the reason he was able to get in on that meeting was because Barnabas a couple of times in the Book of Acts is also referenced as an apostle. So what happens is you have one of the big dogs in the church his name Son of Encouragement. But the whole church at that time looked at Barnabas and said, that's a person that makes a difference and will pay attention to him. There's an apostle that somebody we're paying attention to. And when he decides to leverage his influence, he decides to encourage Saul, and he decides to leverage his reputation to get him in front of Saul or get him in front of Peter and James. This begins to change everything, and I think about this Saul. Eventually he had spent three during that one. Remember when I told you there was a long time, like three years. And after after a while, they're in verse twenty three is three and a half years. He's in the Arabian desert where Jesus was teaching him. This is what his claim was in Galatians. So he also had spent three years with Jesus in this special time. He said, it was almost like I was born out of the regular time. Right. He writes about that itself. So now what Barnabas is trying to do is connect Paul to the other apostles, saying, I believe he's an apostle. And I think about it. What if Barnabas hadn't just chosen to be Saul's friend. There was no advantage to Barnabas to be Sal's friend, none at all. As a matter of fact, it might have worked out better for Barnabas if he'd not decided to be Sal's friend. He's taking a great risk. But he decided to invest in this new believer. He saw something in him and he said, you know what, I'm going to come alongside you. I'm going to be your mentor. That's why it was Barnabas and Saul Barnabas, and he was the mentor, he was the coach, he was the encourager. And then I'm going to leverage my influence to get you in front of these other apostles, so that the leaders begin to recognize your influence in your giftings as well. And I think what would have happened in all of this is one of the most It's only just a couple verses, but it's one of the most pivotal events in Christian history. And this pivotal event. If Sauwim been recognized as an apostle, none of the rest of his writings would have ever mattered at all. None of them would have mattered nobody had been paying attention to them. But because Barnabas did this, Barnabas helped change the course of history. But it was never about Barnabas. He didn't make himself centered, he wasn't first on this. And instead he said, you know what, I'm going to come alongside this young guy and I'm going to do everything i can to help him grow up spiritually. And what I think is this, I think a lot of people feel like they don't have much ministry. You know, you look at Chris and how you know brilliant he is on stage sometimes and you think about you know, Trey and you know all the singers on stage, and you're not a singer. You're not a preacher whatever. But maybe some of the greatest things that have ever happened in Christianity have been from those people that were willing to be in the background, behind the scenes, that were willing to come along and be a friend to some new believer. Right, And that's what happened. I think Barnabas changed the course of history just by being a friend to this young upstart. So here's the big idea for tonight, and it's this sentence right here. You might be one friend or interaction away from changing the course of your destiny. Think about that. It's such a great phrase. You might be one friend away or interaction away from changing the course of your destiny. Hey, think about this. I wonder when when Barnabas first met Saul. I wonder if he realized in that moment, man, this is going to change my destiny. And the answer is no, no, no, you never realize that. Now, many of you have heard the story that Jeff and I met in Cuba a long time ago. Yeah, yeah, well we met, we met a long time before that, but in Cuba. That's that's what I was going to say. I was going to say, But does everybody really know. The very first time we met, oh yeah, yeah, no probably. So we met actually at a church retreat right in January of two thousand and six, two thousand and six, and actually I was hosting part of that retreat and I was doing the games, and it was Kensington's staff was there. Yeah, you came on behalf of heritage. Other churches were there, and I held I thought it was a good idea to hold a Texas Holdham poker tournament. And so and guess what, I never even met Jeff, and I'm the one holding the tournament. We played all night and the very final table it came down to two people for all the marbles, all the chips, and guess who it was. It was Jeff and me. It's hilarious, right, And he guess who won? He got lucky. Yeah, he got lucky. Sometimes he gets lucky. So but that's the first time we met. Here's my point. My point is who would have thought way back then in two thousand and six, I'd only been in Michigan two years, So who would have thought, like, wow, if we would have fast forward and said, you guys would be you know, have this history. I hadn't even come to hear it. Yet, Oh you had no. I didn't come to hear until March of that year. Wow. Yeah, see I didn't know. I didn't know. But think about it. Even tonight, you may be sitting down with somebody, meeting them for the very first time, and you're thinking, Wow. You may look back at this five years fromund and say, man, you were of my best friends and we met at that night. Or maybe maybe your action step from tonight is going to be to join a small group or leader small group, or serve on a serving team. Just decide to make a bigger church smaller and get connected. And then you'll say it's from that event that I met this person. Now years later I look back and say, one of the best decisions I've ever made. Yeah. So, the whole concept of Christianity, the whole concept of the church in Jesus's mind, was never a building. Matter of fact, I don't know if you knew this, they didn't have any buildings for the first three hundred years. They met in homes, they did life together, but there were no church buildings for three hundred years. Maybe what we think church is is not really what church is. The Christians didn't think, oh, it's Sunday, we got to go to church. Christians only thought of themselves as the church. They are the church, right, And so the idea that Jesus has in his mind for the church is friendships. It's it's relationships, it's engaging with one another in a relational level, and discipleship happens best in that context, because we're better when we do life together, right, We're better. Yeah, So let's I think we're coming close here. So we're going to run through three quick points and give you a verse with each point that is just a phenomenal verse. These are three types of friends that make your that make life better together. Number one is a friend who makes you better. A friend who makes you better, A good versus probably like me to you, Yes, like media I make you better and me you I complete you? Yes, yes you can. We need Proverbs twenty seven to seventeen as iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend. And we need to understand that that verse is pretty epic because with iron sharpening iron, there's friction, and there's there's there's sharpening, you know, and there's so there's shavings and there's all these kind of things. So it's not just super great all the time. Yeah, it's not all hunky doory compliments, that's right. It's it requires sometimes a little bit of friction, but that requires trust, and the only way that can happen is in the context of developing that friendship. Another one is a friend can help you find spiritual strength, and this is unique to a Christian friendship, and so you need to be active in this. Here's what Ecclesias he says. It says, if either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. You know, none of us are always sturdy. None of us are always at the top of our game. Chris is, but the rest of us are not always at the top of our game. Sometimes we trip, Sometimes we're heading in the wrong direction, and sometimes we're on the verge of making a bad mistake. And so we need godly friends that can pick us up when we're in the middle of that tripping up. Yeah, for sure. And then here's the last one. It's talking about a friend who always tells you the truth, whether you like it or not. And don't we all need this Proverbs, chapter twenty seven, Verses five and six say better as an open rebuke than love that is concealed. The wounds of a friend are faithful, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. And it's true, faithful are the wounds of a friend. And I got to tell you, I remember, I remember real quick. I'll tell you this thirty second story. When I was in Burger King as a teenager, me and my buddy Jeff. Me and my buddy Jeff Miller were in Burger King and we were arguing and we ordered the same thing, and he ate his fast and he was trying to pick off of mine and I said no, I said, you were not going to pick off my food. You ate your food. And he said, well, the Bible says that if somebody gives you their cloak, give him your coat, and you need to give me your fries. And I'm like, well, the Bible says, don't be obese and you're fat. And he's like, well, the Bible says be kind and the Bible says be giving. And I wrote back and I'm like, the Bible says don't deal. I told you know. And so we're going back and forth, like like quoting these Bible verses, and we were probably like sixteen years old, right, and this old man just gets up. He's all by himself, and he walks over to throw his tray ray and he kneels down. He goes, gentlemen, he goes, you're a little loud, but I got to tell you something. I got to tell you something else. The Bible says. The Bible says that your tongue can be like a sword or a scalpel. And he says, and it could be used to heal, he said, or it could be used like a sword to kill. And so I was like, and then, you know, then he just walks away, and we never saw that old man again, you know. And then I went home and I angel and we didn't have Google. So I'm like, I'm like looking through you know, and I finally found it, you know, and and that and really it is what it is. We all need somebody to tell us what we need to hear, even if it's if it feels like a wound, right, because because you know, sometimes we need to hear things that we need to hear. We all want to hear what we want to hear, right, and we tend to surround ourselves people who affirm everything about us. But that's not going to make us the best the version of us. Right, So everybody knows if you pay attention to our podcast, we love the Life Application Study Bible. And so the note for verse six says, who would prefer a friend's wounds to an enemy's kisses? Anyone who considers the source? What a great phrase, right, So if you consider the source, I've got an enemy who's kissing, I've got a friend who's willing to hurt me a little bit. Which one should I trust? Right? Well, when you consider the source, that's a pretty easy solution. So a friend who has your best interests at heart may have to give you unpleasant advice at times, but you know it's for your own good. An enemy, by contrast, may whisper sweet words and happily send you on your way to ruin. We tend to hear what we want to hear, even if an enemy is the only one who will say it. A friend's words, no matter how painful, are much more valuable. It's not a great note, it's great. Yeah. If you don't have a Life Application Bible, you should go get one. They're great. So let's wrap it up by saying, I hope you do get into a small group. I hope you do decide to join a team or lead a group. In fact, just look at your little cards there and on the back of those black cards, it'll tell you how to jump in and how to get connected. And we really do hope that for you today. I hope that you leave here today and you know people's names, you jump in and you get connected with other people. We would love to pray and transition it back to Kyle. Well, can I say one other thing? So join a group. You can lead a group if you want to. That information is there, get on a team, serve at Haritish Church. And if you're not sure how God wired you to serve, well yeah, that's right. This Sunday. Make sure this Sunday. It's this Sunday. So you've got to go online, like right now, Hairdischurch dot com and sign up. We're getting ready to to do our three to oho one class. And it's my favorite of all the classes we do, just my favorite because it helps you unpack how God shaped you for ministry, because every one of you is shaped to make a difference. Many of you, you might have that gift of encouragement like Barnabas did for many of us as you grow up. At first, the Christian life is really about you growing up and becoming more like Jesus and learning about Jesus. But over time it shifts from being a focus on you to you now instead of being the soul in the story, God's trying to move you into the Barnabas and the story, and this three oh one class can kind of help you figure out how God has wired you to help other people and serve other people. So sign up tonight for that. That's this Sunday, right, That's right, that's right, all right, Well, let's pray Heavenly Father, we are just so incredibly grateful for tonight, Thank you for everybody who has come out. And I pray Lord that you would help us to not only laugh and enjoy you and your truths and these people, but Father, help us to take the next step whatever it is Lord, that you're encouraging us to do, or you're prodding us to do. I pray Lord that we would have the courage and that you give us the opportunity to just take one step closer to you and to other people. Lord, thank you once again for laughter, for your blessings in our lives. We ask and we pray all these things and the powerful name of Jesus Christes to be met.