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The Forging Table

THE FORGING TABLE | Matthew 17 (Ep. 553)

January 14, 2024 43m 13s Full transcript available
THE FORGING TABLE | Matthew 17 (Ep. 553)
0:00 / 43m 13s
In this episode of The Forging Table, we dive deep into Matthew 17, exploring the transfiguration of Jesus and the lessons it holds for us today. We discuss the importance of faith, the challenges the disciples faced, and how Jesus demonstrated his authority over creation.
Transcript
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0:50 This is Undaunted Life Man's Podcast.
0:53 I'm your host Kyle Thompson.
0:55 Let's get into it.
0:57 Welcome back to The Forging Table.
0:58 The mission of Undaunted Life is equipping men to push back darkness with content that
1:01 forges spiritual, mental, and physical resilience.
1:05 At The Forging Table, you'll see a group of regular guys forging spiritual resilience
1:08 by digging into God's Word, and we're welcoming all of you to come along on that journey with
1:11 us.
1:12 That's Zach.
1:13 That's Winkler.
1:14 That's Caleb.
1:15 But I got a bone to pick with you guys.
1:16 I'm not terribly satisfied with you guys.
1:19 There's something that happened when I started feeding the Forging Tableers.
1:25 There's all these weird things that come out in everyone's personality.
1:27 Ryan Horn the Horn.
1:29 The first time I threw out three options of restaurants to do for lunch, he suggested
1:37 a fourth one.
1:39 He picked a restaurant that wasn't on the list.
1:40 That was his first strike.
1:42 Second strike was he then proceeded to pick something that wasn't on the menu for the
1:47 restaurant that everyone decided on.
1:49 Two strikes and one at bat somehow.
1:52 Two strikeouts and one at bat somehow.
1:53 Sounds like something he would do.
1:54 That sounds like something obviously he would do.
1:56 But then this time, I threw it out to you guys like, "Hey guys, here's three options
2:00 for lunch.
2:01 Give me your feedback on this and we'll just kind of go from there."
2:05 So this is what I sent to you guys.
2:07 I said, "Here are your three options in no particular order.
2:12 Cudoba, Jimmy John's, Papa John's."
2:14 So we've got different categories, right?
2:16 We've got different things that we can do, you know, we're kind of meeting everybody
2:19 where they're at.
2:20 So Jake, Winkler, you were the very first.
2:22 You just said, "Jimmy John's."
2:23 You said, "Hey, this is what I want to do."
2:25 Now Caleb, you respond and say, "Jimmy John's, number one, Cudoba number two, Papa John's
2:31 number seven."
2:32 Now for those of you out there that struggle with math, I gave three options and he somehow
2:36 ranked something seventh, okay?
2:38 So I knew we were off to a bad start.
2:41 And then Zach, you said Cudoba one, Jimmy John's two, and then you made the category
2:45 of pizza third.
2:48 You didn't even say the name Papa John's.
2:50 It was as if you couldn't say it.
2:52 And then Jake, you decided to get it on the rank order in game.
2:54 You go, "Jimmy John's one, Cudoba two, Papa John's three."
2:57 So very first thing.
2:58 I'm a CPA, you know.
2:59 You can follow math.
3:00 I understand that.
3:01 And you can follow instructions.
3:04 What is y'all's problem with Papa John's?
3:08 And I guess Zach with the category of pizza, and I guess Caleb, what would you put it
3:13 third, fourth, fifth, and sixth before Papa John's since you made your own ranking system?
3:18 What is the problem?
3:19 I mean, Chick-fil-A, Kava.
3:21 What day is today?
3:23 Sunday.
3:24 So Chick-fil-A is off.
3:25 Kava, what is that?
3:26 I don't even know what that is.
3:27 Oh, it's delicious.
3:28 What is it?
3:29 It's like salads.
3:30 No, it's like--
3:31 Yes.
3:32 It's basically like--
3:33 Yes.
3:34 Chipotle.
3:35 So it's like salads.
3:36 It's like it's chipotle.
3:37 But with an interesting accent.
3:38 Oh, well, it can't be, depending on people and what they put in the bowl.
3:40 But like I would--
3:41 We've never had a salad at Chipotle.
3:42 Where's the Jimmy John's hate coming from?
3:43 Or not Jimmy John's Papa John's hate?
3:44 Where's it coming from?
3:45 Domino's.
3:46 This is better.
3:48 Pizza Hut's better.
3:49 Oh, false.
3:50 For sure.
3:51 Okay, wait, wait, wait.
3:52 All right.
3:53 Stop.
3:54 Hold on.
3:55 You have to trust the fattest guy in the room.
3:56 That's me.
3:57 Okay.
3:58 So give it to us.
3:59 Which one?
4:00 Okay.
4:01 Everyone's going to have to answer this.
4:02 We need the preeminent.
4:04 You can only order from one national pizza chain, right?
4:07 So not your little one that's in the corner of your community where you know the guy that
4:10 makes a pizza.
4:11 No, no, no.
4:12 If you go to a random city and you're filling pizza and you're ordering stuff to your hotel
4:16 room, what's your go to on order in pizza?
4:20 Marcos.
4:21 Is that a national chain?
4:23 Yeah.
4:24 Yeah, they're national and Papa John's would be behind them.
4:26 Okay.
4:27 So Marcos and Papa John's.
4:28 What about you two?
4:29 Domino's.
4:30 Domino's number one.
4:32 Domino's is typically the number one that I hear problems with where they're just like
4:36 domino's is so gross and like I've had some bad domino's experiences before, but okay,
4:40 we got Domino's Marcos.
4:42 Chipotle.
4:43 Chipotle.
4:44 He's still getting followed by this is what I deal with.
4:51 If you wonder what I deal with before we start recording this, it's this bigoted nonsense.
4:55 You understand the assignment when I'm forced to eat pizza at Domino's when you're forced
4:59 to eat pizza.
5:00 Do you not like pizza?
5:02 It's not it doesn't agree well with me.
5:05 Okay, I guess for me, if I'm doing one doesn't process the only one that I like well, the one
5:11 that I hit the most often that I get the most crap for is pizza.
5:14 I love pizza.
5:15 I get thin crust, Canadian bacon, thin and crispy like Taylor's business.
5:20 There's others.
5:21 I just don't understand you guys.
5:22 I just like I and I tried to do something nice for you guys.
5:25 And then here you go.
5:26 If you're wondering, we choose Jimmy John's I go and I put the order in I get all the
5:30 way to the end.
5:31 I'm ready to pay.
5:32 And then they're like, Oh, this is outside of our delivery area, which would have been
5:35 a great thing to tell me in the app that already has my address booked into it.
5:39 So then the next options I gave you were five guys, Qdoba and Buffalo wild wings.
5:44 And then y'all couldn't help me out even here.
5:46 Caleb, you go Qdoba five guys, Buffalo wild wings, Jake, you go five five guys, Buffalo
5:51 wild wings, Qdoba.
5:52 And then Zach doesn't even respond.
5:53 And so at this point, I'm like screw you guys.
5:55 I should just give you tofu and cardboard, which tofu is cardboard, but I broke the tie
6:00 in hat.
6:01 We had five guys, which we actually just got done eating.
6:03 And it works.
6:04 So is everybody.
6:05 Zach is satisfied.
6:06 How is it?
6:07 Is it agreeing with you?
6:08 It's so far.
6:09 Yeah.
6:10 I think what you've learned here probably is don't ask, just decide.
6:13 Just a science.
6:14 And you will link.
6:15 Yeah.
6:16 Just say, Hey, deal with it.
6:17 We are eating.
6:18 We are eating the following thing today.
6:19 Oh, okay.
6:20 So I will go with that.
6:21 I will totally turn this into a communist takeover like totalitarian show, man.
6:26 But the problem is is every time the horn is in that group text, you know, and I'm just
6:30 going to tell him I'm going to send the text to the two other people and say, Ryan, bring
6:35 your own food.
6:36 Okay.
6:37 Because if you're going to cause this many problem, yeah, seriously, I don't care if
6:40 you eat your, you know, ruffles right there into the microphone, I'm at least not going
6:43 to have to deal with it.
6:44 But that doesn't have anything to do with the transfiguration, which is how we're going
6:47 to kick off our discussion in Matthew 17 today.
6:51 So guys, open up your Bibles, get ready.
6:52 We're digging in to Matthew 17.
6:54 So Zach, how about you lead us off read Matthew 17 versus one through 13.
7:02 And after six days, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, his brother and led them
7:06 up a high mountain by themselves.
7:08 And he was transfigured before them and his face shone like the sun and his clothes became
7:13 white as light and behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with him.
7:19 And Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is good that we are here.
7:22 If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.
7:27 He was still speaking when behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them in a voice from the
7:32 cloud said, this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased, listened to him.
7:39 When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified, but Jesus
7:43 came and touched them saying rise and have no fear.
7:47 And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.
7:51 And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, tell no one the vision
7:56 until the son of man is raised from the dead.
7:58 And the disciples asked him, then why do the scribes say that the first Elijah must come?
8:03 Say that first Elijah must come.
8:05 He answered, Elijah does come and he will restore all things.
8:09 But I tell you that Elijah has already come and they did not recognize him, but did to
8:13 him whatever they pleased.
8:14 So also the son of man will certainly suffer at their hands.
8:18 Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.
8:23 So it's an interesting story.
8:25 It's something that I don't know that I've ever seen depicted in like a movie or any type
8:30 of show about Jesus's life.
8:31 I remember Dallas Jenkins, the creator of the chosen got dragged a few months ago because
8:36 he was, you know, asking people for stuff from the gospels that they wanted to see the chosen
8:41 do.
8:42 And a lot of people said the transfiguration and Dallas was confused why that was so important
8:46 to people to see the transfiguration.
8:49 And you know, people were like, oh, you know, Dallas is the devil and don't watch the chosen
8:53 because he doesn't understand why people like what they like.
8:55 So I don't really know what that's about.
8:57 But this is kind of a hard thing to to reason through and think about like, what does it
9:02 look like?
9:03 I just love that Peter just keeps his dumb stuff going.
9:05 He's like, this is awesome.
9:06 Can we stay here?
9:07 I'll build tents.
9:08 And it's just like, okay, Peter, we go camp.
9:11 Yeah.
9:12 We appreciate it.
9:13 Can we get with you?
9:14 Hey, all you guys have transfigured into kind of pseudo human beings.
9:17 Let me give you this actual like dwelling that I made for you.
9:20 But it's kind of a confusing thing to even talk about.
9:24 And if I'm being honest, I don't even know where to start the discussion here.
9:27 But the obviously when you're talking about Moses and Elijah, there's the law in the prophets.
9:32 So Moses represents the law, Elijah represents the prophets.
9:36 And there is a rebuke in here that Peter kind of made an error here when he put Jesus
9:42 on the same plane as Moses and Elijah.
9:46 And it's hard to know whether Peter did that because he was ignorant or whether Peter did
9:50 that because he actually thought that they were all equal, but he did receive rebuke
9:54 there.
9:55 But I'm just going to open it up for for any of you guys to talk about the transfiguration
9:58 because I didn't grow up in a church that I didn't grow up in church at all.
10:01 But even the church I first started going to, I don't know that we ever even talked about
10:04 this because it's kind of hard to be like, and because of the transfiguration, here's
10:08 how you should deal with your finances.
10:10 You know, it's kind of hard to draw that connection.
10:12 I mean, the first thing that that I read on this was, I think it was weird to be as well
10:18 that said that, and I don't, I don't remember if he actually had the Greek word in here,
10:21 but he said the Greek word is translated to metamorphosis, which means a change from
10:26 the inside out.
10:27 And the example uses like a caterpillar.
10:30 So it's like, not like, you know, you kind of think about when, you know, you see the
10:35 Lord in his glory, it's almost like the sun shining behind him, you know, but it's more
10:39 like the sun is shining from within him, right, which, I mean, I don't know, you know, what
10:46 do you want to say about that as well, but I just, just that picture is incredible.
10:52 And then, I mean, obviously you got to love Peter for being like, Hey, that was cool.
10:55 Here's what I'm going to do.
10:57 Right.
10:58 Let's set up our own Barnum and Bailey circus.
11:00 I got this.
11:01 That was a thing.
11:02 No, I mean, I wrote down what Jesus was within is now made visible without.
11:05 I mean, it's, you know, he's always been this.
11:10 He's always been God on earth.
11:12 But now he's actually showing that showing it to the disciples.
11:18 So it's a much more tangible, you know, and kind of going back to the last episode, the
11:24 idea like, you know, what do you need to see?
11:27 What do you need to see for you to believe?
11:30 And it's like, this is something where it's like, okay, obviously the disciples were they
11:35 believed, but this was like smack you in the face like, it's me, I am that I am.
11:44 And so I do think it's, you know, how fortunate I would actually say the disciples, you know,
11:51 Peter, I mean, how fortunate they were to actually see this and witness this because if
11:58 there was ever any doubt, it erased all of it.
12:02 I keep trying to figure out what, what could it have looked like because like, let me put
12:08 on my Dallas Jenkins shoes, like, how do you show that?
12:12 Because I was so pumped because I knew the end of the third season that they were going
12:15 to end with Jesus walking on water, and it's like, how in the world are they going to depict
12:20 this?
12:21 And I thought that they nailed it personally.
12:22 I thought that it was, it was incredibly dramatic.
12:25 It was traumatic for the people filming it because like it was, it was kind of sketchy when
12:30 you watch some of the behind the scenes stuff, like it was very difficult what they were
12:33 doing.
12:34 And every time I have seen Jesus walking on water depicted, it was always kind of serene
12:39 and Jesus is just kind of easily walking on top of it.
12:42 And it's like he's subduing with each step.
12:44 But the chosen showed it like, no, he's walking on uneven water, right?
12:48 And so he's stepping up and the stepping down and he's, he's on top of the water, but he's
12:52 still having to like keep his balance and those types of things.
12:55 And so I just don't know what would be pleasing for me to see this because I mean, you guys
12:59 have all read novels that have been turned into books and then you're either disappointed
13:03 or excited with the rendition that that's given to you.
13:06 But it's like, you know, what would have made you more satisfied?
13:09 Like what could they have shown and in what way to made it better?
13:13 Did you see the Christmas episode they did?
13:14 Yeah.
13:15 That was like a combination of a bunch of clips from the show that they turned into a Christmas
13:19 special thing.
13:20 Yeah.
13:21 And there was a part of it where they, I think it was an angel that had appeared as the three
13:25 wise men were walking in belief, that's right, but effectively it was just overwhelming light
13:29 and you see them cowering.
13:32 For me, I think that's almost, you know, just as potent as anything else, I would rather
13:36 leave it to the imagination.
13:37 I don't think you'll do any justice or something like this, but, you know, I think the way
13:41 I think about it is obviously all the things you guys mentioned, but also just thinking
13:47 about where we're headed, you know, eventually and just kind of a taste of what it might
13:52 be like to see that and then also you've got the promise of having glorified body yourself.
13:57 And the fact that you've got, you know, Moses and Elijah there with him having this conversation.
14:03 It's one of the few times in the Bible where we kind of get a peek behind the curtain of
14:05 some things that are happening and they were clearly recognizable by the, by the mortals
14:12 or the, excuse me, the humans that were standing next to him.
14:15 So I don't know.
14:16 I thought it was really interesting.
14:17 The other thing was just like what Wiersby said here is the transfiguration was God's
14:21 way of teaching Peter that Jesus is glorified when we deny ourselves, take up our cross
14:26 and follow him.
14:28 So rather than the world's philosophy of save yourself, the Christian philosophy is a yield
14:32 yourself to God.
14:33 Well, and I think the other at this point, I mean, God reveals himself on earth as Jesus.
14:43 At this point, you have to reexamine all of your worldview, all of it.
14:50 You can't just go, well, like, you know, there's no more religious pluralism like, well, there's
14:55 many paths to get to heaven.
14:57 You know, there's many things that you can do to be peace in God.
14:59 I can be kind and make it to heaven.
15:01 No, Jesus told you how to make it and he literally revealed himself to be God on earth.
15:06 Like that's him or the scientific materialism, like as an explanation to life and reality
15:12 apart from God, it's like, well, we just kind of, you know, grew out of nothing.
15:15 No, no, no, no, God's here.
15:18 He showed himself, he's telling you, this is who I was, and then he wrote all this other
15:21 stuff.
15:22 And Jesus has been quoting the Old Testament about this over and over and over again.
15:28 Do you think he just is ignoring what happened in Genesis and how the, how the world was
15:32 created or the, I think this was one that there was one that seemed no Marxist dialectal
15:41 or historical materialism that accounts for the progress of history through clash struggle.
15:46 And there's no social objectivism that elevates the individual whose egoism and genius prevail
15:50 over altruism, social conformism and sacrifice for others.
15:55 It's a complete reexamination.
15:56 You cannot, it's like, there's, there's so many extremes here at work and so many different
16:01 viewpoints.
16:02 And I'm over here going, as I'm reading this, I'm going, well, if Jesus, like, if you believe
16:07 who Jesus is, who he says he is, and then he reveals himself to the disciples that that
16:11 is who he is, why are we deviating from what you said?
16:16 Yeah.
16:17 That's, that's one thing I've engaged with is, you know, once you get to that fact that
16:23 Christ was who he said he was, and everything that's written here, whether you agree with
16:28 it or not is truth.
16:29 That's it.
16:30 Period.
16:31 And that can be a hard thing to do, especially in today's world.
16:34 It's, you know, counterculture rule and all that, but that's, that's what we had to deal
16:37 with.
16:38 And it can be hard, especially when you're talking about things like homosexuality and
16:40 all that stuff, you know, we just kind of have to deal with it.
16:43 Absolutely.
16:44 Well, let's go to the next section here.
16:45 Winkler, if you can hit verse 14 and read through verse 20, and I think I mentioned last
16:50 week of the week before, I alluded to verse 21 or 22 missing.
16:55 That's actually in this chapter.
16:56 We don't have to get into, to why some of those transcripts are missing verse 21, but
17:00 like in the ESV, it goes 14 through 20 and then skips right to 22, but it's because 21
17:05 wasn't in a lot of the most reliable transcripts, blah, blah, not a huge deal.
17:08 14 through 20, please.
17:10 And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and kneeling before him said, Lord,
17:14 have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly, for often he falls
17:19 into the fire and often into the water.
17:21 I brought him to your disciples and they could not heal him.
17:25 And Jesus answered, O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you?
17:30 How long am I to bear you, bringing him here to me?
17:34 And Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him and the boy was healed instantly.
17:38 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, why could we not cast it out?
17:43 He said to them, because of your little faith, for truly I say to you, if you have faith
17:49 like a grain of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there and
17:54 it will move and nothing will be impossible for you.
17:58 So obviously, I know we keep beating the strum, but I think we should continue to beat the
18:01 strum.
18:02 If you read the gospel accounts with no personality, Jesus will seem as if he has no personality.
18:08 Again, shout out to a beautiful outlaw by John Eldridge.
18:12 That's a book where he basically broke down different stories from the gospels and brought
18:16 out different personality traits of Jesus.
18:19 It was the first time I started reading the gospel with personality, with a little bit
18:23 of, you know, vigor, with a little bit of energy.
18:26 And we get that here because again, just just imagine reading it.
18:29 I know we've done this in previous weeks, but just imagine reading this, O faithless and
18:33 twisted generation, how long am I to be with you?
18:36 How long am I to bear with you bring him here to me?
18:39 Do you honestly think that's how he said this?
18:42 Within this context, which again, text without context is just text within this context.
18:47 This is exasperation period.
18:50 This is all the way up to righteous anger, like dummies.
18:54 How many times have you seen me do this?
18:57 Like how many times do I have to explain it to you in parable or in clear words that this
19:02 is what's happening and how many times you do I have to tell you exactly what you need
19:05 to do.
19:06 And then you keep doing this.
19:08 Like Jesus is literally like through in this situation, we have a father and a son, you
19:13 know, with, with your kid that has a demon, but Jesus is like parenting all these little
19:17 idiot apostles to where it's just like, dude, God, like pick up the threat at some point.
19:24 That's right.
19:25 Kyle, I agree with you.
19:26 That's a great job.
19:27 Man, you totally sum that up right there.
19:29 I have nothing else to add.
19:30 Now that would have been a great thing to hear right after that as opposed to radio silence,
19:33 which is dead air, it's just my favorite, do you have anything to add to that?
19:38 There's your transition set up.
19:39 That's what I was going to ask.
19:40 But you pretty much answered my question is just that like, who all is he talking to
19:45 there?
19:46 You know, is it just is it just the disciples?
19:48 Y'all's opinion?
19:49 No, no, it's anyone that's in your shop, everybody at that point.
19:53 Yeah.
19:54 I will, I will add the mustard seed discussion here that he's talking about.
19:58 I love, I mean, I was when I was reading this, I was like, okay, let me, I want to dig in
20:05 on this a little bit because I've never quite understood what exactly are you saying here?
20:11 And what he's saying, I mean, in the way I was reading it is his, the quantity of your
20:19 faith is less important than the effectiveness of it.
20:24 And I'll clarify.
20:25 I think every guy sitting at this table spends a lot of time in the word.
20:30 We believe, we pray, we, you know, try and walk a path with Christ as much as we possibly
20:38 can.
20:39 And I would imagine that we may ask God for some things, but we are not true.
20:44 I mean, when you pray, are you truly asking him or you kind of just going like, how much
20:49 do we go through the motions and it's like, am I a faithful person?
20:53 Yeah, I do a lot of things.
20:54 I go to church every Sunday and I do all these things, but I don't know that like how effective
20:59 is it?
21:00 And then I start looking at someone who maybe is recovering from addiction and is battling
21:05 this enormous demon.
21:07 And they say like, they know there's only one place for them to turn in desperation.
21:13 And it's like, I can't go through recovery without Christ.
21:17 You see like the people who are in prison who it's like their, their faith is maybe this
21:23 big when they first come in, but they know there's only one choice that they have for
21:28 redemption.
21:29 And that's Jesus.
21:30 And so to me, whenever I hear this, I'm going, yeah, there's a reason that those prayers
21:34 of please get me away from this addiction work.
21:39 And there's a reason that maybe some of our prayers don't and go ahead, Zach, so a couple
21:47 of things, one would be, I struggle with that a little bit, in one sense, it's like, you
21:54 want to be thankful for everything that you're given when you compare yourself to somebody
21:58 in those circumstances at the same time, probably more is expected.
22:02 So you have to take what you've got and run with it and do as much as you can.
22:07 I read a couple of commentaries and one just said that these guys may have been jealous
22:11 of the fact that they didn't get to go up the mountain and not necessarily, they could
22:15 have been neglecting prayer and other things.
22:17 And so when this emergency pops up, like Samson, their strength was gone because they weren't
22:21 in the word.
22:23 I thought that was pretty interesting.
22:25 This is just a side comment.
22:26 And I thought about this a couple of times since you've mentioned it.
22:29 That book that you're talking about, I read about half of it and I kind of stopped because
22:34 I wasn't sure how I felt about Eldridge assigning so many of his thoughts potentially to Jesus
22:43 in that perspective.
22:44 I remember specifically the one about a bird hitting a window and then the family laughing
22:49 because it was all timely and all this and that very well could be.
22:52 But at a certain point, it's like, I want to think, think really clearly about what am
22:56 I assigning to Christ that may not have existed.
22:58 So I don't know what your thoughts are on that.
22:59 Yeah, specifically my thoughts is, so here I am speaking for John Eldridge.
23:04 He's not giving me authority to do that.
23:05 So here we go, three, two, one.
23:08 I don't think his point is to say, this is how I know Jesus reacted.
23:13 It's more so this is a way he could have reacted.
23:16 And so this is like a depiction of what we see in scripture.
23:20 And so I think he knows what the default mechanism is for most people when they're reading scripture
23:24 and it's black and white, no personality.
23:27 And so he's infusing some of that thought pattern into the text without transforming what the
23:34 text is trying to communicate.
23:36 And so where I would say a book like that could go completely off the rails is if he
23:40 started assigning personality, motive and direction to a particular text, which again,
23:48 I haven't read in a few years, but I didn't get that at all.
23:51 There were some places where I was like, yeah, I don't know that that wouldn't really make
23:54 sense for those people to react that way.
23:57 But could they have?
23:58 Yes, it's completely plausible that they would have reacted in that way.
24:01 So that's how I would treat a book like that.
24:03 If you treat that book as scripture, like as the gospel on the gospel, that's dangerous,
24:11 but I don't think that was his point, kind of like they're chosen.
24:14 Exactly like the chosen or the passion of the Christ or any of those types of things.
24:17 It's like, this is a depiction of how we think this would look like what we can get past,
24:22 you know, the ratings agencies that, you know, are going to put a rating on this thing or
24:25 that are going to put it on their streaming platform.
24:28 It's that exact type of scenario.
24:30 And so it's those people that get so up in arms at the passion of the Christ or the
24:34 chosen like, you're not supposed to do this and you don't know what kind of conversations
24:38 they had.
24:39 And that wasn't that exact word was not in the Bible.
24:42 We don't know that they said that it's, but they're not changing core elements of what
24:46 the message was.
24:48 Right.
24:49 Okay.
24:50 It, you know, they're still going to in this season, they're going to bring Lazarus out
24:52 out of the tomb.
24:53 They're going to bring him out, right?
24:56 But they're not bringing Larry and Lazarus like they're bringing Lazarus out.
24:59 So if they fundamentally change, so people that are like wary of the chosen and aren't
25:03 Mormons given money to this thing and hold that, yes, if in the season where Jesus dies,
25:08 if he goes and gets his own planet with a bunch of other people or whatever, like Mormons
25:12 believe, yes, I'm with you, but it's only if they change the fundamental direction of
25:16 the message that I have concerns.
25:18 I'm not, I'm not concerned at all with them giving personality to the character or the
25:22 person from history.
25:23 Rather.
25:24 No, I appreciate that.
25:25 Some of it's really compelling.
25:26 I remember the one where he's talking about Jesus is sitting there and he started the fire
25:28 and started cooking the fish and in the beginning, he wasn't really recognizable and that he
25:33 may have been kind of messing with him and all that, but you know, that's a really compelling
25:38 picture of him sitting there waiting patiently for you to come and have a meal that's been
25:42 prepared in a very personal and intimate way.
25:45 So yeah, thanks for answering that.
25:47 That's how Dallas Jenkins has described it too in all those interviews.
25:50 You know, it's like, is it plausible?
25:52 Is it in keeping with everything we know about scripture?
25:54 So I mean, there is, I know you've heard from a lot of them, Kyle, but there is a lot of
25:58 people to get all worked up about stuff that small.
26:01 Well, that and that's fine and I'm okay with people expressing their preferences, but it's
26:05 these people that make these big, broad statements like the chosen is bad because it's not scriptural.
26:11 It's like, okay, are you the person that ruins again, what mentioned, you know, a novel that's
26:17 been turned into a movie?
26:19 Well, that didn't happen in the book.
26:21 Well, who who is saying that it has to be like, why did you expect them to do a page by page
26:27 like depiction of exactly what we see in scripture?
26:30 That you don't read Matthew as a narrative, really, like some of these stories go from
26:35 here to there and it doesn't really make sure why.
26:37 And guess what?
26:38 No one's going to watch that.
26:39 And I think what Dallas and the rest of the team of the chosen is trying to do is they're
26:42 trying to put the gospel out there for people to put their faith in and accept.
26:46 And so far, the re seasons in, I don't think there's anything that I see in the chosen
26:49 that would point someone to a false gospel.
26:52 I'd be way more worried about the church that they're going to with the pastor that is giving
26:55 them a false version of the gospel where, hey, raise your hand at the end of the concert
26:59 TED talk combo.
27:01 And then you're going to be saved and good to go without repentance or heart change.
27:04 Like that's what I'm more concerned about.
27:05 I'm not concerned about how things are depicted on camera.
27:08 Just don't bother me at all.
27:09 Yeah.
27:10 All right.
27:11 Let's hit this next section here.
27:12 Who read?
27:13 Okay.
27:14 Caleb, you're in.
27:15 So we're going to do verses 14 through.
27:16 Nope.
27:17 We just did that.
27:18 Didn't we?
27:19 All right.
27:20 Just do a 22.
27:22 You get to read two verses.
27:23 Okay.
27:24 From that little bitty Bible.
27:25 And hit it.
27:26 Okay.
27:27 Can make that work.
27:28 All right.
27:29 And while they were and while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, the
27:32 son of man is going to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill him and he
27:36 will be raised on the third day and they were deeply grieved.
27:40 Deeply grieved.
27:41 That's what then as be says, ESV says greatly distressed.
27:44 So this does not mean they heard it and were confused.
27:47 The disciples apostles did a lot of that.
27:49 They heard something like huh, they, you know, it wasn't like a parable where they had no
27:52 idea what Jesus was getting at.
27:54 They knew exactly what he meant.
27:56 It was communicated clearly and they were greatly distressed guys think about the last
28:01 time that you were greatly distressed, not mildly peeved, but greatly distressed.
28:08 The thing that doesn't make sense to me with this guys was and yet they weren't looking
28:15 for Jesus to raise from the dead.
28:18 So Jesus says the son of man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.
28:22 I don't think that they believe that, but somehow they were greatly distressed by that
28:26 message and they will kill him.
28:28 I don't think they believe that, but somehow they were distressed by the message and he
28:32 will be raised on the third day.
28:35 You can pretty much tell they didn't hear that part because they were greatly distressed.
28:39 And so when Jesus was delivered and killed, they weren't looking for him.
28:44 I don't get it.
28:45 Make it make sense.
28:46 Right.
28:47 I mean, it, well, in one way, you think about just going back to even the transfiguration,
28:52 you look at what, what did God say?
28:54 This is my son who I'm well pleased.
28:58 And then he ends it with listen to him and they still don't over and over again.
29:06 It's, you know, even going back to the bread, you know, the, the loaves when they're feeding
29:13 the Gentiles.
29:14 It's like, we've done this before.
29:15 We've been through here and you're still worried about do we have bread and it's like,
29:21 we didn't have enough bread last time and the Lord provided.
29:26 There's, I think it's more of a, they're distressed because they're still not listening.
29:33 It's like how many times do we need to get hit over the head by, you know, by in our
29:40 daily life?
29:41 How many times do we have to get hit over our head before we start listening and doing
29:45 what he says and then understanding that yes, like we are not going to go through life without
29:51 any sort of complications or hardships as a result of walking with Christ.
29:55 That's not going to happen.
29:57 It is going to, you are going to experience those things, but at the same time, when you
30:01 experience those things, if you are truly walking with Christ, you will not be distressed in
30:05 those moments.
30:06 You will actually take great joy in it.
30:08 I think also you're, I mean, if you, if we put ourselves in their shoes, right, they've
30:13 been part of his ministry for what two years now, some of them, you know, two and a half
30:18 years and they're, they're thinking of themselves.
30:22 I mean, they're like, I've, I've given my life to this, like, I'm seeing the most amazing
30:27 things I've ever seen, you know, I'm walking with Jesus and he's about to get taken away
30:31 from me.
30:32 So this, they're not, I mean, like you said, they're not hearing the last part of that
30:37 for sure, but they're also just thinking about, what am I going to do after that?
30:41 That's from my mind went.
30:42 I mean, if you really like, that's one thing that chosen does well and some of these other
30:44 commentaries puts you in, in, in that place, they're dealing with difficult life threatening
30:51 situations, in many cases, and this is the leader, right?
30:54 From a human perspective, and as soon as he's gone, I mean, I'm trying to think what a modern
30:59 day person would be an example, you know, you're instantly in, in a lot of trouble, right?
31:06 So they don't want to believe it potentially in the midst of all of these overwhelming
31:10 improves, they still don't want to listen, and how does that apply to us today?
31:14 I think the modern equivalent would literally be, I mean, think about how people are reacting
31:18 to, you know, post elections, whenever your favorite candidate does not actually, you
31:24 know, we hear all these alarming, I mean, I remember my wife after Biden got elected,
31:29 I mean, she was just like distraught.
31:30 She's like, it's good.
31:32 This is going to happen.
31:33 This is going to happen.
31:34 And I said, it's probably not it's, you know, look, it's not going to be great.
31:39 There's going to be a lot of things that we don't like that are going to happen.
31:43 But you know, in two years, you probably won't be able to do a lot of this anymore, which
31:48 has been the case.
31:49 Right.
31:50 So it, I mean, your modern day equivalent of like, why, when do I get distressed?
31:53 It's like, well, I, you know, this, I think this person should lead us and not everybody
32:00 else did.
32:01 When I think it's because this is kind of a macabre example of something like this, but
32:05 I think about how high-minded, nuanced thinkers think about Hamas.
32:11 Yeah.
32:12 And you know what?
32:13 Hamas doesn't want to kill every Jew and every American on the planet.
32:16 They don't want to do that.
32:17 You know what they want?
32:18 They want better schools.
32:19 It's just in their charter.
32:20 They want better, they want better roads.
32:22 They want more economic and educational opportunities.
32:25 That's what they really want.
32:27 It's like, how about you take them at their word?
32:30 Yeah.
32:31 They want the destruction of not only the state of Israel, but every single Jew.
32:36 When people say from the river to the sea, the next questions I need, you need to ask
32:40 is which river and which sea, because they mean the Jordan and the Mediterranean.
32:44 What's in between that?
32:45 About 7 million Jews.
32:46 Yeah.
32:47 And they're not like, hey, we just want the land and y'all can stay here.
32:50 It's like, no, we want the land and we want your blood.
32:52 Okay.
32:53 Believe them.
32:54 In this particular scenario, Jesus is like, take me out my word.
32:58 And the disciples are like, no, I've got my own frame.
33:00 I got my own frame of reference.
33:03 I've got my own overton window and I'm just going to kind of put you in my accepted version
33:07 about what's happening.
33:08 And it's just, it's shocking that they get to the resurrection and none of them are expected.
33:13 Yeah.
33:14 We have nothing from scripture that gives us any indication that they were expected of
33:17 a resurrection, which again, points to the incredible nature of the reaction of the disciples
33:25 after the resurrection.
33:27 I was thinking before we started recording today.
33:29 I was like, what are the reasons why I believe, you know, in this whole thing?
33:35 And the main reason I believe is because of the resurrection and specifically because
33:40 of the first century church, because the first century church was full of people that saw
33:44 a resurrected Jesus.
33:46 They weren't just told about it because 2000 years ago, we didn't see with our own eyes.
33:50 We just believe it based on evidence or based on faith or based on both, whatever.
33:54 But that's, that's the difference of kind of where we're finding ourselves in this continuum
33:58 is, is, you know, where you find your faith and what you're putting it in.
34:02 And for me, it's, it's in the resurrection.
34:04 And it's like, because there wasn't one disciple that was like, guys, but remember what he said?
34:09 Remember he said this was going to happen.
34:11 Remember I'm talking about Joan all the time.
34:12 That's stupid dude in the dumb whale.
34:14 Yeah.
34:15 Like guys to hold up like just batting down the hatchets for 72 hours.
34:18 We're going to be squared away.
34:20 No one did it.
34:21 They weren't looking for it.
34:22 Let's wrap up Matthew 17 and we're going to have the CPA in front of us read about the
34:26 temple tax. So a Winkler, if you will go to 24 all the way through the end, which is 27.
34:32 You got it.
34:33 When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two jockman tax went up to Peter and
34:37 said, does your teacher not pay the tax?
34:40 He said, yes.
34:41 And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first saying, what do you think, Simon?
34:46 From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax from their sons or from others?
34:51 And when he said from others, Jesus said to him, then the sons are free.
34:55 However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first
35:00 fish that comes up.
35:02 And when you open its mouth, you will find a shekel.
35:06 Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.
35:09 I would like to report that I've tried this.
35:12 Didn't work.
35:13 Okay.
35:14 So when you go bass fishing in a pond or something like that, I haven't done a lot of fishing
35:17 in my life.
35:19 Never found anything that a lot of times I don't even find my hook in their mouth or
35:22 the, you know, there's nothing there anymore, the minnow's gone, the worm's gone.
35:26 But the thing I really want to talk about here is Jesus could have stood on principle,
35:33 said, Hey guys, yeah, tax on all that.
35:35 I'm God though, like God in the bod.
35:38 So I don't need to do this.
35:41 This was like, this is not a hill to die on.
35:43 But hey, watch this, like, you know, I'm going to teach you a lesson while doing something
35:49 that I don't have to do.
35:51 And so I thought that that's just interesting, like he did it just to not be offensive and
35:54 just not to create ways because he didn't have to in a particular scenario.
35:58 I think this is one of those things we talk about.
36:00 Jesus is his personality that this would be really funny, you know, you know, that he's
36:05 like kind of leaning back and he's like, what do you think Simon?
36:07 Yeah.
36:08 What do you think I should put that in check?
36:11 Oh, he's like, he's behind your ear.
36:12 Nope.
36:13 Right.
36:14 It's in a fish.
36:15 He goes David Blaine on them.
36:16 Yeah.
36:17 You know, I mean, I really think this is, this is just funny.
36:20 But any, any puts it in a fish, right?
36:23 And one thing was interesting that I read was that this is the only miracle that involved
36:27 money that he performed to meet his own needs that used one fish.
36:33 And that does not have the results recorded.
36:36 Right.
36:37 Interesting.
36:38 Well, and another thing, they had other financial issues come up in the ministry.
36:43 Like, you know, with the feeding of the 5,000, like that was kind of a money.
36:47 It was a money and materials problem.
36:50 And so Jesus, you know, fixed the materials problem, but like he could have made a financial
36:54 thing like here, here's a Tesla and here's all this money.
36:59 You're going to buzz over to these other towns and you're going to buy food and then come
37:02 on back and then the poof, the Tesla Tesla will disappear for 2,000 years and then we'll
37:06 be all squared away.
37:07 But he didn't do that.
37:08 So yeah, that's interesting.
37:09 I hadn't thought about that before.
37:10 What do you mean by there's no re no results recorded?
37:12 Just in that he didn't say and then Peter went, cut the fish and behold, there was a
37:18 shackle and he paid.
37:19 I got you.
37:20 So we assume it happened.
37:21 Yeah.
37:22 Right.
37:23 Right.
37:24 Or maybe Jesus did that.
37:25 Just as a nice little funny joke for himself.
37:26 I don't know.
37:27 Maybe he was just like, I'm just kidding.
37:28 Here's a joke.
37:29 He's pulls it out of his pocket right here.
37:31 I had it the whole time.
37:32 I've been looking inside the fish mouth.
37:35 I'm like, I don't know.
37:36 For hours.
37:37 I can't find one.
37:38 Oh, that would be funny.
37:39 We're here to be takes another route on this too.
37:42 And he says, God gave Adam and Eve dominion over nature.
37:45 And this included the fish in the sea.
37:47 Human beings lost this dominion because of sin.
37:49 So Peter was not able to command the fish to give him the money Jesus Christ exercised
37:53 dominion over not only the fish, but also over the animals and the birds.
37:58 What Adam lost because of his disobedience Jesus Christ regained because of his obedience.
38:02 When I read that, I thought it was interesting.
38:05 I was thinking back through what CS Lewis would talk about, which is kind of if you find
38:09 in you things that can't be satisfied on this earth, you know, certain desires that
38:14 may mean that you're made for, you know, another place kind of a deal.
38:19 How many movies and depictions are there of these kind of supernatural interactions with
38:24 animals and all of that stuff that seemed to be prevalent in people's minds because
38:28 they're everywhere?
38:29 You know, this is saying, I guess at one point that there was at least some different type
38:33 of interaction between humans, I guess in creation.
38:39 I think so.
38:40 And next.
38:41 Right.
38:42 Doesn't it suck when you say something and you're like, surely someone else is going to respond
38:45 to that because it's a good point.
38:47 Doesn't it suck when there's dead air after you get done talking?
38:50 It's the most uncomfortable thing.
38:52 It makes me think of literally when politicians, they literally have a speechwriter write either
38:56 an applause line or a laugh line and they don't get it.
38:59 It's just it's the most Jeb Bush thing that could ever happen.
39:02 My mind was buffering.
39:03 I'm sorry.
39:04 Especially when we're talking about talking animals, right?
39:06 Yeah.
39:07 Right.
39:08 Right now.
39:09 But hey, we're we're going to go ahead and we're going to put a bow on Matthew 18 there
39:12 be or Matthew 17 because next week we're going to come into Matthew 18.
39:16 And there's a whole lot to discuss on 18.
39:18 So we'll cut off a little bit on this one and add it to the next episode.
39:21 So guys, make sure you are ready and read up through Matthew 18 for next week.
39:25 But before that you go, we are going to do a quick resilience boost.
39:28 Add an adult with life or mission is equipping men to push back darkness with content that
39:31 for just spiritual mental and physical resilience.
39:34 So I'm going to go ahead and describe some of the stuff that's in the show notes.
39:36 So I didn't talk about it during the episode.
39:38 So I'll talk about it now.
39:39 The forging table starter set, a lot of you guys are starting your own forging tables.
39:42 You're wondering what types of content should I have?
39:45 We partnered with Crossway to give you a gaggle of books so that you can get started and get
39:49 fired off.
39:50 So here are the books.
39:51 The ESV men's study Bible and do this year, the book of Romans scripture journal study edition.
39:56 So it's like a fancier edition of what we have in front of us right now.
40:00 Also a devotional from Paul David trip called new morning mercies, a book by Douglas O'Donnell
40:04 that really breaks down the different genres of writings inside the Bible.
40:07 That's the beauty and power of biblical exposition.
40:10 And then a book by the great Vody Bockam called family shepherd.
40:13 So guys, the only place that you can get all five of those together at a tremendous discount
40:17 is if you go to the crossway website.
40:19 So the discount is 50% off.
40:20 And I'll tell you how you can get that basically what you do is you go to the crossway website
40:26 and then you're going to start your own cross.
40:28 Sorry, like messed up my notes here.
40:30 All right.
40:31 So if you do a crossway plus membership, you start that up.
40:35 It's completely free.
40:36 So you'll set up that account.
40:37 Then you're going to put all five of those books in your cart.
40:40 And then you're going to go to your your cart and you're going to put in this code at checkout
40:43 BSSP 50 to get 50% off that stack.
40:47 That's Bravo Sierra Sierra Papa five zero to get a 50% off discount on that stack of amazing
40:53 books.
40:54 So make sure you guys check that out.
40:55 It's all here in the show notes.
40:56 And also I've got a link to our donation page.
40:57 So guys, if you're wondering how we can pull this off, how we have microphones in front
41:00 of us right now, how we're able to upload this to the to the internet and with electricity
41:05 and all this other stuff, it's because we can pay our bills and we can't pay our bills
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41:09 We have to have cheddar.
41:10 And so guys, if you want to hop in and be a part of what we're doing here, one way to
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41:19 spare in this time to help us to equipment to push back darkness, we would ask you to
41:22 do that.
41:23 So the link here is in the show notes.
41:26 Thank you guys so much for listening to this episode.
41:27 For ever you're listening to this, please subscribe, rate and leave us a positive five
41:31 star review.
41:32 If you want to come speak alive at your event or on your podcast to shoot me an email to
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42:01 I'm your host Kyle Thompson.
42:03 Remember keep pushing back darkness, keep forging spiritual, mental and physical resilience.
42:09 Keep seeking the lion of Judah.
42:24 (dramatic music)
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Kyle Thompson
The mission of Undaunted Life is equipping men to push back darkness with content that forges spiritual, mental, and physical resilience.
Kyle Thompson
Jesus is literally like through in this situation, we have a father and a son, you know, with, with your kid that has a demon, but Jesus is like parenting all these little idiot apostles.
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