“Sorry, Not Sorry!”
EPISODE 232
Rejoice at Jesus' Incredible Salvation
Would you rather hear the good news or bad news first? Good news — we're into session 5 of our Square One series, tackling a massive question: How does Jesus change things? Understanding the bad news of our sin helps us appreciate the incredibly good news of Jesus! He’s the center of everything and we watch what his suffering accomplished in Isaiah 53. Are you starting to see how Jesus’ story can change yours? Check out Matthew 27:32 to 28:20 this week and visit our website for more resources!
Takeaways
The Big Idea: Jesus has conquered sin and death to bring hope, peace, and joy to our lives.
This Week's Challenge: Read Matthew 27:32-28:20.
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Welcome to the Bible Geeks Podcast
Bryan: It's like no no Jesus is the focus of everything. That's sorry not sorry.
Ryan: right.
Bryan: Well, Hello everyone and welcome to the Bible Geeks podcast. This is episode 232. I'm Bryan Schiele
Ryan: I'm Ryan Joy.
Bryan: and thanks so much everyone for tuning in. We are here in our fifth
session of our square one series and this will sound like a very familiar conversation if you listened at the end of our last season.
Last year when we did the shortened version, the condensed version of square one. Now we're doing the extended version of square one getting into this second checkpoint conversation asking this question, how does Jesus change things?
Reflecting on Jesus' Resurrection
Bryan: But before we get into that discussion, let's follow up from the last episode where we challenged each other to write down our thoughts to this question.
What does it mean if Jesus raised from the dead? after our challenge what do you think about that question?
Ryan: The two words that come to mind for me are mortality and meaning. Like it totally changes those two things. I have at times in my life what maybe a lot of people have, like those spirals of thinking about my own mortality and thinking about death. And, you know, I remember many, many times in my 20s, just like sitting there thinking about, it's like, it's a hard thing to think about dying.
It feels unnatural. I think that is as it should be. That is because we were not made to end. We were made to continue living forever. God has said eternity in our hearts. Ecclesiastes 3.11 says, and speaking of Ecclesiastes, I think it also means that the preacher from Ecclesiastes has it wrong in his under the sun take.
The Impact of Jesus' Resurrection
Ryan: And I think that's what Paul is saying in Romans 8 and in 1 Corinthians 15, when he keeps going back to this idea of vanity and things seeming vain, they're not vain. And of course, that's part of the story of what the Bible is doing in Ecclesiastes is telling this bigger picture, but giving this under the sun take where everything seems to be meaningless.
Vanity of vanity, everything is vain. What's the point? The good person and the bad person, the wise person and the foolish person, they all die. They all lose their stuff. But if Jesus rose from the dead and if everything is gonna last forever, then your labor is not in vain.
1 Corinthians 15, 58, your work is meaningful forever. And so you're gonna live forever. You don't have to be afraid of death. You can look forward and joy and hope and you can work and labor and give your life real purpose by doing things that you're building forever,
Bryan: Yeah,
Ryan: forever. I mean, what a thing.
These things we're doing now, I build a house, it's gonna eventually fall apart. It might last three generations, but I build a soul, it's going to last forever.
Bryan: I really thought mostly about you know, not to overstate it, but I think it means everything. know, it is as we talked about in the last conversation like it is the linchpin of history really. It's the hinge that everything in history and everything in my faith rests on. I mean without Jesus raising from the dead as Paul talked about there in 1st Corinthians 15 and as we go on and read later in that chapter is like without it everything is meaningless.
And you know, but because he did raise from the dead that means that I can trust him that I believe who he said he is. and ultimately at the end of the day that means he calls the shots.
And I think that's the most important and meaningful thing for me every day is that it's not about me. It's about the one who has the authority to tell me what to do which I think really kind of connects perfectly with this session as we ask this question.
How does Jesus change things? He changes everything. It is like it is the most important discussion we can have at this point in our progression in square one.
Ryan: is the turning point, I think, or at least the first, you know, this is our second checkpoint. And I would say like this, number five, is a turning point where we're starting to shift from thinking about these things to trying to get them to see here's the heart of the gospel. And then our other checkpoint, number 10, is where we say, okay, now commit.
Are you ready? Here's what you need to do. And so these are the two key moments in square one. But I loved what you said there, that he's not a faker. And I think that goes with this idea of how does Jesus change things?
I think there's an old Josh McDowell little book, an apologetics book, and it gave options. They all started with an L. It was like, Jesus is either a liar, you know, a faker, or a legend, like this is just lore that is built up, which as we looked at last time, there wasn't time for that.
This happened immediately. Or he is Lord. He really is the one that changes our lives. It takes away all our biggest problems. So
Good News vs. Bad News
Bryan: Alright, so as we get into this conversation, let's kick this thing off with part one as we're going to get into a hook and a little bit of an icebreaker question before we get into the meat of the real discussion here in the next section.
Square One - 5: This is square one. How does Jesus change things? If you're having a bad day, you might run across someone who encourages you to turn that frown upside down, hang in there, or look on the bright side. Depending on what's going on, it can be tough when folks lob platitudes and empty, enthusiastic expressions our way to try and make a difference.
Sure, they probably mean well, but sometimes it takes more than cliche phrases and hollow words to pull us out of a funk. But maybe there's that person in your life, someone close to you who gets you, that knows just what to do, exactly what to say to help part those dark clouds of our heart and change our outlook.
When someone like that steps in to help, it changes the game in substantial ways. So here's a question for you. If someone comes to you with both good news and bad news, which do you want to hear first?
Part 1 Discussion
Bryan: Okay, so Ryan, we've discussed this before because we did this last season, but if someone comes to you with good or bad news, which one do you want to hear first?
Ryan: I was trying to remember what I answered
Bryan: I can't remember what I said before,
Ryan: yeah, I think I'm probably consistent because my tendency would be, you know, go back to when you're a little kid, you eat your vegetables before you get the cookie, right?
Bryan: I mean,
Ryan: need to deal with, I don't know. That's ingrained in me. Like, I don't think I would be able to enjoy the good news as much if I didn't deal with what, like I would just have this sense of impending doom that I'm waiting for.
I feel a sense of urgency to hear the bad news first. What about you?
Bryan: I don't know what I said before, but honestly at this point I don't think it matters. bad news is always going to be bad news and make it hard to focus on the good news for me. Like want to hear your good news as I'm sitting there, spiraling out of control about the thing you just told me that was bad prior to that.
Or like, you know, I don't want to like hear some really good thing and then have it blocked by some really bad thing and forget Bad news is always bad news and I don't like it.
Ryan: So the bad news is really all you need to hear because that's all you're going to hear.
Bryan: that's all I'm going
Ryan: send you, no matter what, first or second. Well, the reason I'm remembering now, the reason we put this question here and why I liked it is because we started in checkpoint one with the bad news and we've been building over the last four sessions from that first session into this good news.
And so we needed to understand the bad news before we could get the good news. So at least from this theological perspective, my answer is correct.
Bryan: I understand the theological argument for it, but I just don't want to hear it. So let's get into part two where we get into our purpose here in this discussion.
Jesus as the Center of Our Lives
Bryan: We focus in on something that Jesus said, we highlight the big idea, and then we get a little personal and ask a reach out question.
Square One - 5: We've already seen how desperately we need someone to rescue us. People do their best to put a positive spin on the situation with self-help and diversions, but God has acted to answer our deepest needs so that today we can rejoice in Jesus' incredible salvation.
There might be no better words to hear from a friend than "I've got good news." In Jesus' day, when word came of a tyrant's defeat or the birth of a king that could change things, they used a word translated "gospel" or "good news." An angel used that word with some shepherds one night 2,000 years ago. "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." Centuries earlier, Isaiah looked forward to messengers announcing Jesus. He said how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, proclaiming peace and happiness because God reigns.
He predicted God's return when all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. So here's the big idea. Jesus has conquered sin and death to bring hope, peace, and joy to our lives. His death on the cross, burial in a borrowed tomb, and resurrection from the dead are the heart of the saving good news.
When you understand what he did for us and what it means to have our sins forgiven, it can create a faith in Jesus that will remake your life. So what do you think about Jesus?
Part 2 Discussion
Bryan: Okay, so that was a lot and I think this really does center in on our theme this season, very nicely in fact, about the good news. And we are focused here on Jesus being the good news. So this reach out question we just asked, what do you think about Jesus,
Ryan: Ooh, yeah, these are big questions we ask, aren't they? on Wednesday night, I had a really great conversation with a brother about how centering your life in Jesus as opposed to all of the other true things that the Bible reveals, but like finding the center of things in Jesus, how that changed our discipleship.
And he's teaching, this brother I was talking to is teaching through our young adult class, teaching a book called " The School of Christ," I think is what it's called. I'll put a link in the show notes. I haven't read it, but he has really benefited from this. And he said that the preacher, this is a brother in Texas that wrote it, wrote it because he felt like he knew a lot and he was anchored in the Bible, but he wasn't really transformed until he started to spend time in the school of Jesus, learning how Jesus changes our hearts, how Jesus and the story of the gospel in Jesus helps us have a different approach to everything.
And there was a time when I really majored in Acts and Paul, basically.
And then like the Old Testament gets a little bit and the general epistles don't really touch Revelation. And then of course you touched on the gospels, but really the early church, if you look back to early Christianity, I'm talking about post-apostolic Christianity, really focused so much on the words and life of Jesus.
And then everything else, of course, is just as inspired, but it was amplifying and explaining or pointing to Jesus. And that's why we do what we do, right? That's why we start with Jesus in all of our episodes and why we keep coming back to that because that has been transformational. Jesus, boy, what do I think about Jesus? Jesus continues to change my life, I will say.
Bryan: Oh man, I have to think because right now I'm preaching through cross training and I have gone back to these marks of the master that we highlighted. And kind of like you, you know, sitting and thinking about like being at the feet of Jesus, the teacher. I'm just constantly impressed by him because there are so many things that he and his life addressed that are relevant to my everyday existence.
Like guess the only way I could put it is like he's so prolific in his ability to command and change every aspect of my life. Like there's not an aspect of my life that I think about that I'm like, oh, I don't know about that, that Jesus hasn't addressed in some. And I think from the standpoint of Jesus, he is good news, not only because of the salvation he brings and that he has restored a relationship between me and God.
But he's a mediator that I can connect with. He is someone that I feel like I can put myself in his shoes. And obviously they're way bigger shoes than I could ever fill. But just to know that I can be more like him every day and that I can trust in him more every day. And I can listen to him in ways that I may not have been listening to him before.
think Jesus is the best. Yeah,
Ryan: I really love what you said. One of your sentences, the four words, "He is good news." That is so powerful 'cause that's it. Like, He is good news. And if you can know Him, you will know what is good. And so, that's a good place to lead into our reading together.
Bryan: All right.
Reading and Reflecting on Isaiah 53
Bryan: So the next section here, we're going to get into the book. We're going to look at Isaiah 59 verses one to 13. We're going to read that together and then we're going to ask some questions about that reading to help us get a little bit deeper.
Square One - 5: We've previously considered a passage from Isaiah containing some bad news words like transgression, iniquity, and sin. The picture these words paint isn't very positive and they may leave you with a dark and hopeless outlook.
But a few chapters before that reading in Isaiah 53, 1 through 12, those same words show up. Only this time we learn about the good news of God's servant Jesus who came to fix our broken condition. So read Isaiah 53, verses 1 to 12 together to understand what Jesus went through for you. After reading, take some time to discuss it.
How does this passage in Isaiah 53, verses 1 to 12, help explain how Jesus changes our sin problem?
Part 3 Discussion
Bryan: All right. So before we get into our conversation around this reading, let's go ahead and read together. Isaiah 53 verses one to 12. And I'll kick us off here. It says, who has believed what he has heard from us and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no form or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by man, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and as one from whom men hide their faces. He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.
Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted, but he was pierced for our transgression. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and he was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its shears is silent. So he opened not his
By
Ryan: oppression By oppression and judgment, He was taken away. And as for His generation who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people, and they made His grave with the wicked and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence and there was no deceit in His mouth, yet it was the will of the Lord to crush Him.
He has put Him to grief when His soul makes an offering for guilt, He shall see His offspring. He shall prolong His days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. Out of the anguish of His soul, He shall see and be satisfied. By His knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and He shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore, I will divide Him a portion with the many, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong because He poured out His soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet He bore the sins of many and makes intercession for the transgressors.
How Jesus Changes Our Sin Problem
Bryan: following up from our conversation that we had in our first session with Isaiah 59 verses 1 to 13 with all of these bad news words that we talked about. I mean you can really start to see here where Jesus changes things in regard to that situation. And so you know we asked the question here how does this passage in Isaiah 53 verses 1 to 12 help explain how Jesus changes our sin problem.
What do you think after reading this just totally powerful path? Yep.
Ryan: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I was thinking about the last session we just did where He died for our sins according to the scriptures, 1 Corinthians 15 said, and here it is as you read this and you think, okay, this was written hundreds of years before Jesus came, and just so powerfully describes Jesus.
you know, there are some passages in the Bible that talk about the word of God being written on our hearts. You know, these words just get written into you and just so well express what Jesus did. One of the aspects here of what Jesus did, how Jesus changes our sin problem, it says He carries our iniquity in verse 12 there.
And those same words or a version of them are used to describe the scapegoat back in Leviticus
Bryan: Yeah.
Ryan: And it says that he, Ezekiel, is to carry the iniquity of the people of the rebellious house of Israel. He's carrying it for these 390 plus 40 days that he's laying there. it's referencing back to the scapegoat, it's referencing back to the priestly function.
But ultimately, it's pointing forward to this suffering servant who is going to carry our iniquity. I mean, Jesus said, "How did you not get it, you two men on the road to Emmaus?" That the whole Old Testament is about how the son of man needs to suffer and die for the sins of the people. How did they not get it?
Because everything is pointing to this. So that's something that Jesus does to change our sin problem is he takes it on himself. He carries it like the scapegoat who has the sins of all the people laid on him and then he sent out into the wilderness to carry them away.
Jesus has carried our sins away.
Bryan: I feel like that ties into something I was thinking here as well. Like not only about the act but also the attitude that he has while he's doing and the response that he has.
Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its shears is silent so he opened not his mouth. The idea that when Jesus went to the cross he wasn't fighting people. He wasn't yelling at people and causing a scene like maybe any of us would if we were unjustly being persecuted for something or threatened with our life because of some situation.
Like he wasn't fighting against it. And he was carrying all these things like a lamb. Like a sheep. he was quiet about it and I think that's just so otherworldly to think about his reaction. And he knew something that no one else seemed to know or that people just didn't resonate with or connect with yet.
That he was doing something I mean cosmically significant if you could put it that way. Like he was doing something
not only was he doing the Lord's will but he was saving us. He was bringing us back from death you know because of his actions there. And so why would he I don't know I would say I almost said misbehave. But why would he have fought against it knowing what he was about to accomplish for us.
Ryan: like I think of the Judas kiss and the do what you're gonna do.
Bryan: Yeah
Ryan: Just move this forward and each step of the way, not defending himself, but just it is as you say. And the way it plays out is it's like, I mean, Jesus had read this. Jesus was there when it was written, and Jesus saw how this is playing out.
Isaiah was straining to look into these things he's writing and to understand them, Peter says, but Jesus is living it out. I'm glad you brought that forward. The way that he goes through this process is a really important part of the
Bryan: So changing our sin problem is definitely a center point of this conversation.
Telling the Story of Jesus
Bryan: Let's move on to part four here of our conversation where we go a little bit deeper and tell the story of Jesus and then ask the big question.
Square One - 5: Let's dig a little deeper by considering Jesus' life. The Bible is Jesus' story. An entire book centered on this saving king. God's plan to heal us and make everything right culminates in him. His cross and empty tomb were the turning point of history.
And unlike us, his story has no beginning because he's always existed. Let's consider a few key moments in Jesus' story. Jesus is the eternal Son of God who made the world and then entered it to live as a human. He grew up in many ways like an ordinary Jew of his day. The main difference? He always did the right thing.
Most of what we know about his life came in his early 30s when he went about doing good and healing. He taught differently than other rabbis, explaining love as God's golden rule and declaring God's kingdom near. Generations of Jews waited for that kingdom to come through the Messiah or Christ, a king who would conquer enemies and bring God's glorious reign.
Many believed Jesus was that king, but they didn't understand God's plan for him to die for our sins. The Jewish leaders couldn't handle his teaching, miracles, and popularity with the people, so they had him arrested and killed in a humiliating and torturous way. On the Sunday morning after his death, he arose, appearing to hundreds of people over the next 40 days.
Jesus ascended to heaven where he reigns and speaks on our behalf. Then he sent the Holy Spirit to show us a new way and live within us. And today he saves all who surrender to him, acknowledging him as king and being baptized into him. So here's the big question. Are you starting to see how Jesus' story can change yours?
Part 4 Discussion
Bryan: All right so we asked there that big question are you starting to see how Jesus story can change yours? And this is after obviously a conversation of a bunch of the important events in Jesus story and his own life kind of beginning before the beginning really in John 1 all the way up through till today.
And we asked this question are you starting to see how Jesus can change your story?
Ryan: I am starting to see that, yeah. I think that it's cool.the way that the plan of God and the message fits together, it's neat to see
the way he did this to change our story as well as what he did, yeah, you can start to understand why we camp on the simplest truths of the good news, the heart of the thing. It's not Pentecost, it's not Paul, it's not Judgment Day, it's not the Exodus.
Jesus is the center of the story and the center of my story.
Bryan: feel like that just lines up perfectly with what I was thinking of here. You know of course Jesus story is changing my story every day and I see it more and more all the time.
But you know like mindfulness meditation where the encouragement is for you to like not to like zone out and empty your mind but just to always keep coming back to your breathing. Because like your breathing is kind of an important part of your life and you're always doing it whether you realize it or not it's like a centering thing to bring yourself back to.
And you know like where your Birkenstocks or whatever but I'm thinking about like this in the context of that kind of reminder. every day we live our lives coming back to the thought that Jesus is the center. Like you were just saying he's the one that I keep centering myself back in on.
thinking about him and thinking abou this life his interactions with people the words that he left for us. Of course even the prophecy that we read about him that point to him and things like that. Like always just reframing and re-centering my life around him because he's the center of it all.
And I think in a way to keep more mindful throughout my everyday life is to keep him at the center. That's probably the best thing I can be doing to be constantly revisiting him and thinking about him.
it's like you say it's why we start all of our episodes thinking about Jesus.
It's why we just constantly focus on him. I mean we could like hyper focus in on the exodus or Ezekiel or Abraham or whatever. But like Jesus is worth our attention and our focus. [Laughter]
Ryan: no, that's a great summary and maybe a great place to start wrapping
Wrapping Up and Looking Ahead
Bryan: All right so we'll get into our last part here part five where we wrap things up. We've got a challenge. We'll look ahead to our next conversation and then we'll offer a closing blessing.
Square One - 5: We've considered how Jesus' death and resurrection changes things. So this week, read Matthew 27, 32 through to the end of Matthew on your own and reflect on how this important moment in Jesus' story affects your life. As you start the next conversation, take a moment to talk about what you noticed. Jesus is such an amazing friend.
But with any great friendship, it takes both parties to make the relationship work. As we'll see next time, starting your journey with Jesus takes an all-in commitment, living a life which honors the great sacrifice he made for you. And as time passes and your trust in him deepens, so will your hope, peace, and joy.
Praise God for his saving work in Jesus that offers peace to all the earth.
Part 5 Discussion
Bryan: Okay so yeah this is a deep passage here in Matthew 27 basically to the end of the chapter.
Giving them a challenge to read through this over the week and just on the heels of our discussion of the resurrection.
It ties everything together really nicely. So we'll we'll check in on that on the next episode and the next conversation. But such a sad picture here in these verses of Jesus death but also so purposeful and motivational in the way that it can change us.
Ryan: Yeah, this is going to take you through the crucifixion, but also on the other side, right? It's gonna take you to the resurrection, right? We have this set aside to go through 28 verse 20. So it's gonna end with the great commission, with Jesus having all authority. So it gives you like both sides of the story, the seeming conquest and then Jesus snatching victory from the jaws of defeat and changing everything and then having all authority and sending us out.
So, and it ends, of course, with this call to discipleship, to making disciples, to baptizing. So that'll lead in nicely to either the next checkpoint, if you were doing the short one, or to our next conversation that we'll be on.
A Closer Look: Leading the Conversation
Bryan: So thinking about this session and thinking about leading this session let's take a closer look here on what we might recommend you do as you're leading these conversations. thinking about this study as you lead this you know getting into part one here. We're talking about good news. We're talking about bad news and focusing I think on good versus bad news. I feel like this helps set the stage for what we're talking about here.
And like you already mentioned session one was all about the bad news. So let's get into the good news. Let's start thinking about you know what this is all about. It's not just bad news. A lot of good has happened and all the good things have happened in what Jesus did.
Ryan: Yeah, and it starts to also set the stage for the bittersweetness of what we're gonna talk about, reading Isaiah 53. It's like, is it bad news? No, it's good news, but boy, it's hard news, you know? And so seeing good news and bad news interplaying, I think is a good setup.
Bryan: it isn't very easy but asking these questions if somebody like me doesn't really want to hear the bad news. Well tough luck. We're just gonna have to move on because you know we've already done that. Session one was all about bad news. Woohoo. So part two here in this discussion though I think does get into some really powerful questions as we start thinking about Jesus the events surrounding his birth are worth thinking about. Because even from the very earliest times when Jesus was laying in a major people were running around hearing about the good news. The good news of great joy for all the people.
And the message of Jesus has been that way all along. So this big idea here that we covered is that Jesus has conquered sin and death to bring hope and peace and joy to our lives. And that really does of course tie us into our last conversation.The big idea is centered in around this idea that Jesus raised from the dead.
And because of that he brings us hope and peace and joy.
Now we have hope.
Ryan: yeah,
we're going from an apologetics discussion, basically, which is that last session was the one thing in all of these sessions that really makes a defense of why to believe, but now we're talking about more so the meaning, and like you said, hope. And I'm glad that we spent a little time talking about just the idea of good news.
You hear the word gospel all the time, and we don't camp on it too much, but that's an important word. It's an important idea that has roots in the time that it was being used, but it isn't something, the meaning has changed for people. People will say, well, I take what he says as gospel, as if gospel means truth, which
it is true, but
what it really means is something has happened that is big and wonderful and brings peace.
There is security in the land, there's a new king, there is good news of peace and happiness because God reigns, throwing back to Isaiah 52. So that was a cool connection before we do that check-in. What do you think about Jesus? And I think that is a great, simple question that is much more open-ended than some of our reach-out questions, sometimes we just want people to just check in with themselves, but this can be a great opening to consider together both the believer's take on Jesus, here's what Jesus means to me, but also check in with them.
What is their location on that spectrum of a journey towards the kingdom, towards God? And you learn a
Bryan: I think so too. I really feel like it's a good check-in moment. Especially in sort of the middle I guess of these conversations. We're almost about the halfway point. So you know we move into there to our actual halfway point in part three where we get into our verse that we read here. And I think this reading is one of the most powerful ones that we are going to do.
There is a lot of baggage here in these verses about atonement and the Old Testament context. I mean Ryan you were talking in our conversation about like Ezekiel and depending on who you're talking to if you're studying with somebody who's like super nerdy.
I mean get into all that stuff for sure. But this verse has a lot of stuff that maybe you'll need to you know take some time with and explain. And make connections with in case things aren't overly clear. But just hone in here at the heart of the reading to connect with the fact that Jesus suffered.
And that he did all of this to overcome those things we talked about in the first session. Which were those the biggest problem the sin problem.
Ryan: there was a preacher that I knew years ago that for a long time, he would not preach on Isaiah 53 because he just didn't feel worthy of it. Like he wanted to try to capture the majesty of it and do it justice, and he felt like he had to grow into that. I mean, it is that kind of a passage, and it's big.
There's so many powerful ideas there, but like you said, there's, you know, you don't wanna get lost in all the big, strange words, but you also start to see in it, and hopefully we've set this up, if you've been doing the extended version, we've set this up already, but that there is a necessity for a sacrifice, that there is a necessity for atonement.
A sin has to be dealt with, and that goes all the way back to our first session. this is starting to pay off and click things into place of how God answers the
Bryan: And also the fact that you know we talk in a previous episode about how
You know all of these things put together really do highlight that the Bible has a consistent story.
And its theme is very clear. And that Jesus is at the center of it all. So tying all that together you know leads us into part four. And you know this is gonna sound really familiar I think to a lot of us. You know especially if as we talked about in like session three. the theme of the Bible the thread.
If you're doing this extended version though. I feel like it's helpful to know that these checkpoints kind of summarize the things that have come before it in some way. Because like you could possibly just skip over sessions two, three, and four. And some of the ideas are highlighted here in this checkpoint.
So that if you didn't get to those like you still are talking about the important things. And you haven't glossed over them.
Ryan: so we were conscientious of not duplicating what was before, This is basically, here's what happens in the four gospels if you just broke them down into, you know, a half dozen bullets, and then where was Jesus before he was born, and what is he doing after he ascends?
Bryan: we move into part five here of this conversation. And I really just wanted to highlight here the relationship. You know as you start really thinking like what does Jesus do to change things.
Or how has he changed things. Kind of centering in and focusing on the relationship that develops. Now is an important part of this conversation that shifts in some way. Like that I want to grow closer to him. I want toI want to know him more. And you know the more we talk about Jesus the more he's the focus of these discussions.
I'm hopeful that the bond of trust and love and familiarity grows on the part of the person who you're talking to. That you know this isn't just a one time like well we talked about Jesus that one time. It's like no no Jesus is the focus of everything. That's sorry not sorry.
Ryan: right. Well, and a lot of this, this is not a pressure thing, like do it well, but for awareness, a lot of that comes through from the person who's leading the study having a relationship with Jesus. And, you know, the more, as you touch on each of these questions, what do you think of Jesus? Do you believe Jesus is the son of God?
You know, whatever, these different questions allows for real life relationship to show up in a way that no bullet point collection can do, and so hopefully, yeah, if we've been doing it well, we've given enough space, enough facts, but also enough discussion questions that Jesus has been highlighted by this point, because the next time we're going to start thinking with them about how their life is going to change if they commit to follow Jesus and have this friendship with Jesus that you're talking about.
Shalom.
Bryan: Yeah. So moving forward you know we're going to get into this big change that happens. And then you know leading into that discussion that third checkpoint is really that moment that we talked about. where we're going to ask somebody to make a decision. This is the point. Given all this information what are you going to do about it.
And we're not there yet but we will get there here in short order. So yeah I think I think we're in a good place in this conversation in this discussion in square one. And we thank everyone for tuning in and following along This has been episode 232 of the Bible Geeks podcast.
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