Matthew Overview (#1.2021.03.07)

Scott Keffer [: 00:00:03

Hi. If you're looking for greater hope, assurance, and confidence through the shifting sands of life, Then join me on today's episode as we dig deep into the Bible to discover rock solid truth for life and living from the God of the Bible. I'm your host, Scott Keffer. Well, glad you are on today. Believing that god our father has called you here, the lord Jesus himself, for a purpose. So I thought it was interesting. We spent, Whatever 22 weeks taking a look at the name of God in in all different facets like a diamond, well, we lifted it up and we looked at it, Both Yahweh and all the compound names that surround Yahweh as god is using his name to reveal his character and his nature to us. Now we took a look at the names of Jesus as well to to get a sense of the the amazing sense of who he is.

Scott Keffer [: 00:01:03

So we we look at that kind of old testament, new testament, and how they connect. And I was asking the lord, so where do we go next? Where do we go next? And he brought to mind, really, this idea of promise and fulfillment, if you will, promise and fulfillment as god is revealing his nature as the world in a pregnant pause was waiting for the promise to be fulfilled. And so what a better place to look at the promise being fulfilled than to walk on a journey through the gospel according to Matthew, Really, the 1st gospel in the New Testament. And so, please join me as we walk each week through, the gospel in Matthew, and we wanna be as the as the shepherds were to worship the sovereign king. And so we're gonna walk through the gospel According to Matthew, we're gonna worship the sovereign king. So they have a sheet today. What I wanna do is give a sense, a context to where we are when when this unfolds in the history of the world so that we have some sense of what did it mean then and what will it mean to you now? What it mean then? Because all of this is about putting our trust and our confidence and our hope in him. In a world that seems to be spinning out of control, how do we look at him? What do we think about him, and who is he to each of us? What do we think about him? So the the very first thing I start with is this promise to Abraham promised to Abraham.

Scott Keffer [: 00:02:37

So go with me way left to the book of Genesis chapter 12. So we see here, here's Yahweh. Right? The I am that I am. And he says to Abram before his name is changed. Right. Here he is. He's a moon worshiper in the land of of Er, right, Er of the Chaldeans. Right? And the lord says to him, What's the very first word he says to him in your version?

Speaker B [: 00:03:05

No. Yeah.

Scott Keffer [: 00:03:06

It says no. Yeah. Go forth From your country, go. Very first, go forth from your country, from your relatives, and from your father's house. Here is his Kultur, here is his background. Here is his genetic connection, if you will. Right? Here are his people, and he say he says go. Go forth From your country, from your relatives, from your father's house.

Scott Keffer [: 00:03:29

This is all the definition of who we are. He calls him forth from that, and he says, go. Go where? To the land which I will show you, and I will, here's the promise, make you a great nation. I will bless you. I will make your name great, So you shall be a blessing. And he says, I'll bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you, I will curse. This is important. And he says, Not only a great nation, not only you'll be blessed, not only will your name be great, but in you, what? For verse 3.

Scott Keffer [: 00:04:02

In you, All the families of the earth will be blessed. So in your sheet, underline that. All the families of the earth We'll be blessed. Isn't that a great promise? Amazing. It's I mean, you you right now, Your eyes are opened, and you're in Christ, and you see this because of the promise that God made to to Abraham. So we see this promise to, to Abraham. It was originally to Abraham. Right? The Lord Godfrey says to Abraham.

Scott Keffer [: 00:04:35

And then we go forward 1200 years to king David. And if you go to 2nd Samuel 7, If you start if you look in verse 8, he says, now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, thus says Yahweh of hosts. We looked at that name. I took you from the pasture, from the following the sheep to be ruler of my people, Israel. I've been with you wherever you've gone and have cut off all your enemies For you, I will make you a great name like the names of the great men who are on the earth. I'll appoint a place for my people Israel, plant them. They may live in their place. Right? Live in their place, and I'll give you rest, it says in verse 11.

Scott Keffer [: 00:05:14

The Lord also declares you that Yahweh will make a house for you. When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendants after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name. Who's that? That'll be Solomon. Right? House for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I'll be a father to him, and he will be a son to me when he commits iniquity. I'll correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, but my loving kindness shall not depart from him as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from king before who I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall endure before me forever.

Scott Keffer [: 00:06:01

Your throne shall be established, how long, forever. So the promise of a forever throne, a forever throne, and then I have on your sheet, it's on 132, Yahweh has sworn to David, what's the truth, From which he will not turn back, of the fruit of your body I will set upon your throne. There's the promise The promise of an eternal throne, one who would reign forever and ever. Well, if you go forward to Isaiah Chapter 11, it says a shoot shall spring forth from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The spirit of Yahweh will be upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge, and the fear of the lord. Right? The the the he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what his eyes see nor make a decision by what his ears hear. Who is this 1? With righteousness, he will judge the poor, decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth.

Scott Keffer [: 00:07:03

He'll strike the earth With the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips, he will slay the wicked. Also, righteousness will be the belt of his loins, and faithfulness the belt of his waist. And what will that look like, lord? He will come. What will it look like? The wolf Will dwell with the lamb. The leopard will lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little boy will lead them. Cow and a bear will graze. The young will lie down together. The lion will eat straw like an ox.

Scott Keffer [: 00:07:37

The nursing child will play in the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child will put his hand in the viper's den. What? They will not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Then in that day, the nations will resort to the root of Jesse who will Stand as a signal for the people. His resting place will be glorious. A shoot from the stem of Jesse and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. Interesting. So this is a promise, a promise of messiah and restoration and renewal, not of some, But of all creation of all creation, Eden restored redeemed and restored, greater than it was in its original state. Restoration and a renewal of all of creation, The promise of messiah and the restoration and renewal of all.

Scott Keffer [: 00:08:47

So we have this promise to Abraham. We have this promise to David, and we have the promise of messiah and the restoration and renewal of all creation. Well, The Bible ends in the Old Testament. If you go to Malachi Malachi 44 through 6, he says, remember The law of Moses, my servant, even the statutes and the ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel. Behold, I'm gonna send to you, what, Elijah, the prophet, before the coming of the great and terrible day of Yahweh. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children In the hearts of the children to their fathers so that it will not come and smite the land with a curse. In your bible, what happens When you turn the page after Malachi, New Testament. Yeah.

Scott Keffer [: 00:09:38

It says New Testament. Yeah. Well, there's something missing in the middle there. 400 years. That's right. 400 years. So what do we see in there? Put on there. Right? This is this is Malachi, 460 BC, The book and the time when we show up here in Matthew, when Matthew opens up, it's sometime around 5 BC.

Scott Keffer [: 00:09:59

So 400, 450 years, something like that. The ruling power when we close the Old Testament were the Persians. The ruling power now when we open the New Testament are The Romans, what were they speaking? They were they were writing and speaking in Hebrew And Aramaic. So the Old Testament is written almost exclusively in Hebrew. There are some sections in Daniel written in Aramaic. Now the primary language is no longer Hebrew and Aramaic. What is it? It's Greek. So they're gonna translate the Old Testament into the Septuagint, Which is Greek.

Scott Keffer [: 00:10:40

Well, originally, we had the scribes. The religious groups in the Old Testament were the scribes. Now we have the scribes, The Pharisees and the Sadducees. The temple the 2nd temple was complete is where we ended. Solomon has completed the 2nd temple. In the New Testament, we have it being reconstructed and expanded, but a lot happened. So it's important that we put on the mindset. You really have to set aside your your worldview, and your perspective at the moment, and try and set yourself in this time to understand it.

Scott Keffer [: 00:11:13

Otherwise, we don't comprehend it. It's amazing to me. It baffles me how many Christians have no concept very little concept of the Old Testament. Don't spend much time in there. They don't like the God they see in there. I don't know what it is. It doesn't seem to be relevant. There's absolutely no way That you can be a Christian and understand Jesus Christ, the consummation of the ages, in the fullness of time, In the fullness of time, in the full when time was pregnant enough, Jesus Christ, it says in Galatians 4, in the fullness of time, the son was born.

Scott Keffer [: 00:11:49

Unto us unto us, a child is born. A son is given. His name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty god, Prince of peace, wonderful counselor. So let's get some history here. 450 BC. So the Persians are in control until about 331 BC. 100 and whatever that is, 29 years, Persia is conquered by Alexander the Great. How many have heard Alexander the Great? Right? He he conquers the Persian.

Scott Keffer [: 00:12:22

Well, he was an ardent student of Aristotle. He was an ardent student of Aristotle. Well, Aristotle was the 3rd in line of Socrates, And his star pupil was Plato, whose star pupil was Aristotle. And Aristotle had a Passion for unity, to unify all things. In fact, the word university really comes from Their understanding of unity and diversity, university, unifying things. So when Alexander, the great went out. He not only went out with soldiers, he went out with the largest group of scientist because he was really looking to unify, if you will, bring unity to wisdom and understanding and philosophy in the time, Which is very interesting. Not only was he a, a general, but he was really a philosophical general.

Scott Keffer [: 00:13:21

And they estimate that he His investment in science in this this whole idea of of scientific research was not was not equaled until the what we invested in the space program in the early sixties. That's how much money he put into this. And the the idea was to Helen the Hellenization of the ancient world, which is that space there as I put to Greekify to Greekify the world. In other words, bring all philosophies and all people into a Greek worldview, A Greek mindset, a Greek understanding. Well, in 327, when god said enough, Alexander, God finished his his rule, and there were there were literally 8 generals who fought. And it came down to the Ptolemies and Cell Seleucids who split the control, if you will, of his kingdom. And Ptolemy, the the first, controlled Palestine For a number of years until Antiochus, who was a Seleucid, took over in 198. And Antiochus was not not only like, Alexander believed in Hellenization, he believed in forced Hellenization.

Scott Keffer [: 00:14:41

Not just we're we're going to unify. You're we're gonna make you. So he forced Hellenization on on the Jewish population, and they were resisted by the Hesidians. They were called the pious ones who resisted this idea of Hellenization. They were called the pa the the pious ones. Here's what's interesting. You know what they're called today? Hasidic Jews. These are the Hasidians.

Scott Keffer [: 00:15:08

They are today's Hasidic Jews. That's their heritage, if you will. They were the pious ones who were resisting being Hellenized by Antiochus. Well, more and more of the conquered people were resisting this idea of Hellenization, including a group that was called the separated ones. And they were godly. They were passionate. They were zealous for for the ancient covenant, god's ancient covenant, for Yahweh's ancient covenant, and they were zealous to obey old testament law. You know what that group's name was? That was the original Pharisees, zealous for ancient covenant, obedient figure.

Scott Keffer [: 00:15:52

They were the separated ones. They were the original Pharisees, Woken apart, right, and set apart for god's purposes. Well, about a 175 BC, Antiochus Epiphanes. How many have heard the word epiphany? It means manifestation. He was the manifest God. That's what they called him. They called him Antiochus epiphanies because he was believed to be the manifest god, and he he literally fulfilled One of the abominations of desolation, he outlawed the keeping of the Sabbath, circumcision, And the possession of Hebrew scriptures, in fact, not only did he outlaw it, if you were caught doing any of those 3, you were put to death. Interesting.

Scott Keffer [: 00:16:40

And then it culminated in a 167 BC, literally, where he took a pig, And he sacrificed it on the altar in the holy of holies, the abomination of desolation spoken about, Well, a 164, there was a Maccabean revolt. Mattias led kind of a a guerrilla Revolte had 5 sons. His 3rd son was called Judas the Hammerer. He won religious freedom, and the temple was reopened. It was rededicated, and that's the celebration which goes on today. It's the feast of Hanukkah. Well, by 142, full freedom was restored, and it stayed in place till about 63 BC, in which case, Palestine was conquered by the Romans, by general Pompey. And a 100 years later, there's an Edumian chieftain who is appointed.

Scott Keffer [: 00:17:37

He's appointed as king of the Jews, and this is Herod. Right? He's half Jew. He's half. In fact, he's not even that. His father was an Edumian born in, he was a Edomite, And he had converted to Judaism, and he had married an Arab princess. And and, literally, when he was given that title, he climbed To the the steps of the temple of Jupiter, and he sacrificed and and and vowed himself in his allegiance to Rome. He was appointed by literally 2, Mark Antony, who is famous for Anthony and Cleopatra, And Octavius, who would become Caesar Augustus, and he survives. The, the 2 of them have a civil war.

Scott Keffer [: 00:18:27

He prostrates himself in front of Octavius promising to be the ever loyal subject. Well, he tries to win the favor of the Jews. He is a he's He's appointed king of the Jews. He marries a Hasmonean princess, and he he at the same time, He introduces a literally gestapo state. He had a spy network. There was imprisonment, torture, execution of anyone who fall fell under the slightest suspicion. And if you fell on his wrong side, he would execute you, including 3 of his sons He had executed his wife, Miriam, his Hasmonean wife, Miriam, he had executed his wife's mother, his wife's grandfather, and, of course, the famous order to execute every male child under the age of 2, which we'll see here in Matthew. By the way, it's important today to be discerning about where you go.

Scott Keffer [: 00:19:23

I would just suggest many people go to, Slickipedia. I would suggest you're very cautious about Slickipedia. Just you just understand where the mind the the worldview and the mindset is. Inside a Slickipedia, it says a majority of Herod biographers I always like to see what they say, and probably a majority of biblical scholars hold the event of the execution of these 2 year old children to be myth, legend, or folklore, and that's in the top sentence. So be cautious about where you get your info. So this is the case. He is the king of the Jews. He is the king he is appointed king of the Jews, And he is ruthless.

Scott Keffer [: 00:20:04

So the Jews are now groaning under foreign rule. Rome, they have this puppet king who's not even Jewish. He's considered a traitor to the Jewish interest. So, of course, at the time, there is this rise of Jewish messianism, An expectation that God would send, and I put on there a Davidic king who would conquer, who would free. He would be yes. He would be the in in the line of David, of course. You promised. He's gonna come, and he's going to free us from control.

Scott Keffer [: 00:20:40

So we start out the book of Matthew. What's chapter 1 verse 1 read? Somebody read it if they would, please. The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. So that's how it starts out. The genealogy, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, Jesus Messiah. Now go back. The son of David promised to David, the son of Abraham promised to Abraham. Right? Here is the connection.

Scott Keffer [: 00:21:10

And so throughout Matthew, you're gonna see this phrase, this was to fulfill this was to fulfill What the Lord had spoken through the prophets. So we're gonna see that this is a book of promise and fulfillment, promise and fulfillment. He's gonna continue to go back in a way no other book does, reaching back to the Old Testament to say, look. This was the promise. This is the fulfillment. This was the promise. There's a promise that John would would there would be a messenger, right, in in Malachi 31. There's a promise of the virgin birth.

Scott Keffer [: 00:21:44

There's a promise that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem from Micah. There's a promise that they would return they would go to Egypt and return, That his ministry would be to the Gentiles. That is miraculous he would heal miraculously. He would open the eyes of the blind. He would open, right, give hearing to the deaf. He would speak in parables, and he would have a triumphal entry. How many have looked at all the promises and fulfilled the messiah? Are you seeing that? Like, there's there's hundreds of them. But here's a reminder for us.

Scott Keffer [: 00:22:16

We think that's cool. We like it. And and we we often point to it from a, unapologetic standpoint. But I believe here, fulfillment is not as much about apologetics as it is about the sovereignty of the king. It is about the sovereignty of this king, of the the one who'd come, the king. From that point forth, Jesus shows up. And from that Time forth, he began to preach. What did he say? Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Scott Keffer [: 00:22:50

The kingdom Of heaven is at hand. The kingdom of heaven. Well, that phrase is only used in in Matthew, only in Matthew. Over 30 times only in Matthew, the kingdom of heaven. So here's my question. If you put on their mindset, What do you believe? What was their image of the promised messiah and his kingdom? What would be their image? Write down. What do you think? What would be their expectation? What were they looking for? What did they desire in messiah? What do you think? White horse and a sword. White horse and a sword.

Scott Keffer [: 00:23:26

What else?

Speaker C [: 00:23:27

Conquering king.

Scott Keffer [: 00:23:29

Conquering king. White horse and a sword. Conquering king. What else?

Speaker B [: 00:23:33

Military leader, Warrior.

Scott Keffer [: 00:23:35

Military leader, warrior, in the line of David, of course. Right?

Speaker D [: 00:23:39

Free them from persecution.

Scott Keffer [: 00:23:42

Free them from persecution. Earthly. Earthly. Yep. An earthly king. Right?

Speaker B [: 00:23:49

Would restore the Davidic kingdom.

Scott Keffer [: 00:23:52

He'll restore the the Davidic kingdom and the glory. Right? Cindy that came from that. We'll restore the glory. We will we will be once again, like, glorious in all the world. Right? The glories of the kingdom, the reputation of God. Right? So so I put on there, so what's your image of the king and his kingdom? Certainly, he'll come and overturn the election. Certainly, he'll come and restore the nation. Certainly, he'll come.

Scott Keffer [: 00:24:20

I just wonder, what is our image today of messiah and his kingdom. And let's make it even more personal. What what what are you looking for the king to be. Well, if you're like me, who has the spirit of America you know, we grew up in a country where Every man is free. Everyone does his own thing. I'm not sure I want a king. I'd love a king that comes to the rescue when I need him, Like to break glass in case of emergency god. We want the cavalry king who shows up when I have trouble.

Speaker D [: 00:24:53

Yeah. We we don't necessarily want him involved in our daily life unless he's needed to solve a problem.

Scott Keffer [: 00:25:00

So if you could stay over there, but if we need you, we'll call you. Right. I was Flick around with my phone, and I found that if you push the power button 3 times, it makes an emergency call. I thought, well, that was weird. I was just kinda playing around with it. Click, click, click, and it made an emergency call. Well, that's what we want from God. Right? If I if I need you, I'll call you.

Scott Keffer [: 00:25:19

So there's the question when he says, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. What is this kingdom? Who is the king, and what is this kingdom?

Speaker B [: 00:25:28

I was thinking sorry. Going back to that question before, if a king did come in like that, a ruler for us It's gonna solve all these things. In Revelation, it says that's gonna be the antichrist, actually. So when he comes in to conquer and rule and everybody is following him and loving him and bowing to him. That's not a good thing.

Scott Keffer [: 00:25:49

Interesting. There'll be peace. There'll be peace. World peace. World peace. So here's the question. Right? So as as we step into this study as best we can, and this is hard to do, once you set aside your picture of who he is. And let him reinform you.

Scott Keffer [: 00:26:11

Let him reeducate You let him remind you of who he is in a way, and the point is that you will worship him. So it says in chapter 2 of Matthew, he says, where where is he? Right? The the Magi come. Where is he who has been born king of the Jews. So interesting. He's born king of the Jews in the midst of the king of the Jews. For for we saw his star in the east, and we've come to Worship him. So that's what that's what I longed that we've come to worship. So that's where we begin.

Scott Keffer [: 00:26:46

We begin after this silent period. We begin Where there's a pregnancy which has come to term, if you will, in the world and in the in the fullness of time, in the fullness of time. This is where we are in in in Galatians that says in the fullness of time that a son was born. So that's where we begin in Matthew. Let's look at where we end. We all know this part. Let's look at where we end. Somebody read the very end of chapter 28.

Scott Keffer [: 00:27:15

We see this. The 11 disciples proceeded to Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw him, what'd they do in verse 17? They worshiped, but some were doubtful. So that's where we are today, isn't it? We worship. Some are doubtful. We worship, and we're doubtful. He says, Jesus came up. He speaks to them all authority.

Scott Keffer [: 00:27:39

He is the king, And he's not only the king. He's the sovereign king, the king of kings, and the lord of lords. He says, go, therefore, make disciples. Now here's what's interesting. What's the first in verse 19? What's the first word? What's the first word in his charge? Oh. Look back up here. Look back up in here in the promise to Abram. Lord god lord Yahweh said to Abraham what's the first word? Go.

Scott Keffer [: 00:28:03

Go. Go forth. Could be you're called out of. He's called out of where to go. Where to go? He says, go, therefore, and make disciples. So underline go. Make disciples where? Above of what? All the nations. Go back up to the promised Abram.

Scott Keffer [: 00:28:25

All the families of the earth will be blessed. I see that all the families of the earth will be blessed. So here's the charge. So he is so he makes this promise to to Abraham. Right? I will bless you, and in you, I will make your name great. And in you, all the nations, all the families of the earth will be blessed. He promises to David, your house and your kingdom will be forever. It'll endure forever, And then Jesus Christ shows up.

Scott Keffer [: 00:28:51

So we see this beginning, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, who is the fulfillment Of the promise, he is the son of David. He's the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham. He is the son of Abraham, And his charge to us in the end is the same as as his promise to Abraham long ago. The king's charge in his promise is go go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit. And here's the promise. What's the promise? Emmanuel. And, lo, I am with you always even to the end of the age. So join me, if you will, in the weeks months ahead as we take a journey and see this king, this king of kings, this sovereign king, The lord Jesus Christ, who is the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham, he's the fulfillment of the promise to David, and he is the fulfillment of the promise to the Gentiles So the light would shine in the darkness, and that you and I would have the opportunity to be grafted in to this promise, to enjoy the blessings of being in the line of Abraham and David and the rest of the believers.

Scott Keffer [: 00:30:08

And so let's walk together and see the lord Jesus and worship the sovereign king. So So write down an insight or an application you got from today. Promise and fulfillment. Promise and fulfillment. The kingdom of heaven. So let's share a few. What'd you get today? What are your insights?

Speaker E [: 00:30:31

Scott, this is Roger. Sovereignty of God just keeps coming up Over and over and over again as we cover, the bible a to z. You know, many, months ago, you suggested that we spend time in Isaiah 40 to 45, which I did. I I am the lord. There is no other. This theme just repeats over and over again. Last week, Steve Yost brought up The Ecclesiastes passage about what god has made crooked man wants to make straight. Steve, maybe you have Some insights you've spent some time with that passage this week.

Speaker E [: 00:31:15

I don't know. I have beat this horse before. For me, an instrumental Turning point was when I read John Flavel's book, The Mystery of Providence. This is a theme that's just repeated over and over again, especially in the Puritan writers. So my point is just grasp this truth and don't let it go. Understand it.

Scott Keffer [: 00:31:36

Yeah. I'm amen to that, Roger, and how this is the you see the fulfillment of this. Right? The, it it's the proof of this, and it's the, the assurance, I think, for you know, it's the proof of this. And going forward, it's the assurance of this. No matter what the world this was the world. This was their world. Like, crazy world. This is our world.

Scott Keffer [: 00:31:56

It's the it's the assurance of the sovereignty of God and his purposes. Who else today? What else do you get?

Speaker D [: 00:32:03

Scott, this is Jack. You know, occurred to me that in in in book of Matthew and the other books, Jesus ends up Confronting us. We get confronted with what he's what he says about who he who he is and and, How we are to, the choice we have to follow him or not and how we are to be behave his followers. You know, and any anybody that we bump into who's gonna be confronting us. One of the first things we ask, at least, occurs to me is, where did this guy come from? You've heard people say that. Right? Where did this guy come from? And what I what I wanna thank you for this introduction because this tells us this gives us context for what we're about to get into, And it answers the question, where did this guy come from? And so it seems to me that we we study both the content of what he's Saying, through Matthew, but it's important that we have the context before we get into the content. I think you've done a nice job of giving us That. So thank you.

Scott Keffer [: 00:33:06

Yeah. You bet. And it it it's important, isn't it helpful to see where the mindset came from, where the worldview and the mindset came from. I mean, that's where we are. Who else?

Speaker B [: 00:33:17

Hey, Scott. It's Cindy.

Scott Keffer [: 00:33:18

Hey, Cindy.

Speaker B [: 00:33:19

We, I just studied this so interestingly. And, one of the things that I thought you might find interesting was, Plato was a dullist, so he believed that the soul could be separated from the body, that it would go on. Whereas Aristotle, he was the guy he was the scientist, as you said. Like, the common sense, Intellectual. Only what we can see, touch physically. And that's the Greek thinking that, like, prevailed at that time and even tonight. Like, that that is how we think we are, like, common sense, practical, show me. And so it goes on, and that's, you know, just what you said.

Scott Keffer [: 00:34:05

Yeah. Here's where here's who we are, and you can see how the worldview gets established and how it We bake in it. We're the Ben Franklin how to. And if you look, we become how to Christians. You know? I mean, look at, you know, How to have a great marriage, how to have this, how to have that. You know? And the power of God gets neutralized in all of that and the glory of God as well. And I am deeply committed over to as many days as the Lord gives me to focus on the Lord himself, not ignoring that man has a role in all this. I'm a grace and grace guy, but it it is about, You know, the power and the sovereignty and the glory and the certainty of almighty God.

Speaker B [: 00:34:49

That's just the thing. Like, it's Through all time, he's been bringing all of history and all of nature and all of revelation general and Specific, you know, like, what we see, but also the word. Like, everything he's bringing that to the fulfillment in Christ, All without consulting us.

Scott Keffer [: 00:35:11

And he birthed him the 1st time, and he will birth him again in the appropriate time, in the fullness of time, at the exact right time. Anybody else today?

Speaker C [: 00:35:21

God, this is Steve.

Scott Keffer [: 00:35:23

Hey, Steve.

Speaker C [: 00:35:24

Hi. Just A couple points at the very beginning of your sheet with the word go. Right? But then it becomes, I will, I will. I will. Right? This is not about us. And, yes, we are to be obedient, but it's For god's glory. And, to Roger's point when bringing up my comment about the crooked, that falls in line with that where you say, I will do these things. I will get smarter.

Speaker C [: 00:35:53

Right? I will own this. I will do that. I will make This happened for God, and God is saying no. Stop striving. I will do this through you. And so one of the things that I just wrote at the end was this is this is about God's glory And not straightening our lives. This is this is gonna be somewhat of a crooked life, a nonlinear life For god's glory and not for ours.

Scott Keffer [: 00:36:24

For god's glory and not for ours. For the glory of the king For the glory of the king, the sovereign king, and, that's my prayer that you'll see him afresh. You'll see him afresh as the the the promised one fulfilled in in Jesus. Not only promised and fulfilled for the world, but promised and filled for his people and promised and fulfilled for the future and all for his glory, and we get we get the fruits of that glory. We get to to enjoy the fruit of that glory, and that's that's just an awesome thing. I want you to see him afresh. See him afresh. See him afresh.

Scott Keffer [: 00:37:04

Well, Jack, would you, would you close us in prayer, please?

Speaker D [: 00:37:08

Father, we thank you again for bringing us together to, get immersed in your word. We thank you for Scott's diligence in preparing this. We pray for his health. Pray that he will be restored, revitalized, and carried through this time of uncertainty by the promise you've made to him, to us, And to the world for those willing to listen. We we covet a king. We want you to be the ruler of our lives Because we know you are good, and we know you are sovereign, and that you act in ways that in all things for The good of those who call on your name. So we do that this morning. We thank you for this introduction and putting in context What we're about to experience that you're coming in the form of a man to ultimately redeem us through the shame of the cross, the shame and the glory of the cross.

Speaker D [: 00:38:02

We We can feel it coming, lord, and we ask you to hasten the day. So thank you again. Give us a productive week Representing you well as ambassadors of your word, call on us again next week to lift each other up, encourage each other, And bless each other through the precious name of Jesus. His in his name we pray.

Scott Keffer [: 00:38:23

Amen. And may the sovereign king of kings, may he bless you. May he keep you. May he cause his face to shine upon you. May he lift up his countenance, grant you his peace, and bless you as you walk in his name throughout this week. May you know him and see him refreshed. In Jesus' name, I bless you. Amen.

Scott Keffer [: 00:38:43

Thanks for listening. I hope you have greater hope, assurance, and confidence in your life and a deeper trust in the god of the bible and his son, Jesus Christ. Until next time, may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, and may the Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you his peace, his shalom in your soul and in your life. Until next time. May god bless you and keep you.