4-82. Prayer Parables

Luke 18:1-17

In this episode, Dan Reed and Josh Brockman explore the importance of prayer, faith, humility, and understanding God's holiness through biblical parables and personal stories. They emphasize the need for persistent prayer and humility before God, drawing lessons from Luke 18 and other biblical passages.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Now he was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, In a certain city there was a certain judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. Now there was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, Give me justice for my opponent. And for a while he was unwilling. But afterward he said to himself, Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow is bothering me, I will give her justice, lest by continually coming she wears me out. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge said. Now will God not bring about justice for his elect who cried to him day and night? And will he delay long over them? I tell you that he will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find that faith on the earth? And he also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves, that they were righteous, and viewed others in contempt. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying these things to himself. Swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I pay tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift his eyes to heaven. But he was beating his chest, saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humble, but he who humbles himself will be exalted. And they were bringing even their babies to him so that he would touch them. But when the disciples saw it, they were rebuking them. But Jesus called them, saying, Permit the children to come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Can we start off with an over and under?

SPEAKER_00 2:19

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

482. Six more chapters. 102? Depends on if your number. Did you f did you get the uh camp and brand on devots figured out?

SPEAKER_00 2:35

I think I'd look at it. I'm gonna look at it on the road tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

That's cra Man, I didn't even know it could muted.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

I guess you can, but well, yeah, like I say, if I did, I did the same thing on my uh on the time before, but the time I did everything the same thing as the time before that and it worked, so I think I just need to I think it was something in my playback.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Well, since Josh has already started recording, um I know I was wondering if you still noticed that. I saw that well, I saw the smirk on your face first, and I was like, he's recording, so I looked up in the corner, and 4-82 is already underway. I thought we were doing show pick central today. That's why I dress like this.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Yeah, we can do that. We're doing air on both.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

We're doing one truth today.

unknown 3:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

You'd be surprised how many times I've started the Show Pick Central podcast and had to restart when I say, Welcome to the One Truth. Nope, that's not it. Scratch. Hey, those are one of these days when I have enough time, I'm gonna take all those those uh whatever you want to call them, and and edits and and paste them all together and just let it out there to the world. But right now I don't have enough time.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

I can imagine. Yeah. Welcome. We're doing the one truth. Y'all don't want my show pick central takes on in any of that show pick stuff, I promise. Uh so we're glad you're here. First time listener, if you've made it through two minutes and 15 seconds, thank you. We're gonna jump into Luke 18 and a little pre-conversation or pre-podcast conversation last night with Josh. The plan is to get through 18, and I don't know if that's gonna happen. We're 82 episodes into season four, and we're through 17 chapters of Luke. So anybody, if you want to have just a little fun, over under on where we finish Luke. Will it be in 2026? Will it be in 2027? Will it be over 100? Free hat to the one that's the closest.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Free hat to the one that's the closest. Message us. Comment on Facebook, however. Hopefully we see it. If you do. Yeah, I I would I would shoot with either way, but that would probably message us. And we'll see who gets the closest to what the final season, episode number is.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

Don't call. And he'll immediately text me back. Did you mean to call? Yeah, I I did.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

I needed to talk. Uh I'm better than I used to be about answering. Never for a while. I just I was thinking about dis disassembling that part of my phone. My phone only texts. It doesn't it doesn't talk, but I've gotten better about it.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

You know who answers when I call? Carrie answers.

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Yeah, she answers.

SPEAKER_01 5:56

No, that's all that's that's she might not text me back, but she'll answer when I call it.

SPEAKER_00 6:00

If you want a little glimpse into our life, you could you could see we could be driving down the road and somebody call me and I'll silence it, and I think I'll call them back when I've got time. No. And and you can but count to ten and then her phone's gonna start ringing. And then she'll answer because she says, No, I'm just gonna answer it. And I said, Well, okay. But that uh that that's almost a daily occurrence, I think. But I have in my defense, I have I have gotten better. I've gotten to where I answer most of the time. Well, some of the time. But I do answer, so I used to just not. Anyway.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

Anyway.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

Welcome back, Dan. Glad to have you.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

It is good to be here. Survived a week in Houston.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

Hey. That was during the hurricane, huh?

SPEAKER_01 6:53

That was during the hurricane. We got hey, I tell you what, that deal came right through the right timing because they let us out early that Thursday so we'd get home to see the women and kids.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

They did. And I got home and Friday, we had a lot of stuff to do. Wayne and the last set, and that little storm put clouds over Crum America till about four o'clock Friday afternoon, and it was fantastic. My parents were up.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

Nothing wrong with a cloudy day in July.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

No, my parents were up, and dad got to do a little pig farming, which is wonderful. Kids went to six flags. Dad a little pig farm when he was young, but he was telling me they had a four-acre trap. They just turned their pigs out. Probably like we all need to do, just turn them out, let them have at it. The ones that come up at six weeks old when they're ready to wean, we'll wean them and throw them in the chip barn, Josh. See what happens.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

Hey, I tell you what, when I was in college, we uh I guess we ran out of space in the fairing houses. And um we um at Dan's and we um uh we we put about four to seven, eight litter, something like that. I know there was at least four of them, there may be a few more than that, out in those big dirt cell lots, babies and all. And then babies would lay in a pile out in the middle of that lot in the sun, and then them sows would start calling and they'd just be laid out kind of in a line, and then pigs, that the first one they come to, they just grab a hole, it didn't matter if it was their mama or not, and then the next one would fall in, and the next one, and they just they just keep going down the line until they found somewhere to eat. And uh it worked, it worked fine. They looked a little rough when we weaned them that day, but uh they come back around those pigs, actually. They they did pretty well. They won we won a little bit out of that set of pigs. Uh I have no doubt that one of them won something. Yeah, it was uh I do remember that day we put them in the nursery, and it's like, we better give them a minute. They weren't those cute little fat babies that you normally wean. It's like, ooh, look at that. It was it was back when you had the window shut. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I I'll I re you know, you know some things are just burn in your mind like you can remember. It's odd. I think we were talking about this the other day, but uh I can remember him shutting one of those windows, say, whoo, we better give them a minute. We did. Something like that.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

That's good. Yeah. That's probably when it called and said, You need to come get your pigs.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

Oh, it was it was a deal. It was a deal, but uh yeah, four acres. You think that pig I sent you a video of earlier in Montgomery County was running around on four acres?

SPEAKER_01 9:44

I think that dude could cover four acres real fast.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

If this was a video, this is this is in one of there's a lot of times I wish we did this on video, and a lot of the times I'm thankful that we don't. But if I could show y'all this, my wife, as we were laying down last night, shows me a video, which I forwarded to read this morning before we started, of a warthog running across the pasture, I guess.

unknown 10:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

And it said uh missing or something, as it was like animal control. It was someone's one of two pet warthogs. And I'm saying if warthog, like if you've watched the Lion King Puma and Tomon, like it was a warthog.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

Yeah, a little more streamlined than old Pumba, but man Yeah, yeah. This dude, I would not want to chase him.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

No, and I wouldn't want him chasing me.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

Oh no, he'd catch me real fast.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

But uh apparently in Montgomery County, maybe one of our listeners, maybe you're listening and you had a warthog out on the run, but you um got your warthog returned. But uh, yeah. I didn't know that was an option for for a pet, but uh apparently so. So warthogs in Montgomery County.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

I don't know if that one would cuddle well.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

No, no, no, no, no, no. That that's a scratch that off the list. But that's a sentence I never thought I'd hear come out of my mouth. I saw a warthog that was in Montgomery County, Texas. So I guess never say never. Anyways, to move out of Montgomery, and about 2,000 years back and across the globe to Israel, jump back in uh to Luke. Like uh Reed said, uh we'll see how far we get in in Luke 18. Uh if we get to the end, I'll be surprised, but we'll we'll find out. So as uh we kind of left off there in 17 uh again um uh a lot. And if you remember 17, uh we were when we were covered in the last part of 17. It's one of those passages that's difficult to to uh understand precisely and and uh exactly what uh what Christ is uh was speaking to in terms of his coming, but uh we kind of covered some of that, and if you haven't heard that, maybe go back and and check that out. And we'll probably get into that just a little bit more again as we get into uh a few verses down into this chapter of chapter 18 of Luke, but uh Dan sent me a message yesterday about man, how about them first eight verses uh we get into this chapter, and so we've uh we've been excited about it, looking forward to it. And I know after even as we dig into the second uh kind of section of chapter 18, um and so on, is some of mine and Dan's favorite uh favorite passages there, and kind of back to back to come after that. So excited to get into it today. No Dan is, and uh we'll uh we'll just kind of take them in a few chunks, Dan if that works for you, and and uh go from there. Any any opening thoughts?

SPEAKER_01 13:05

I think I've had enough opening thoughts.

SPEAKER_00 13:07

Uh well I meant opening thoughts about Luke 18. Uh no. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

And you can edit this out, but you are pretty scratchy on my end. I don't know what it sounds like on your end.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

I don't know. Sounds fine about you.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

Try that again.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

That was a little better. Maybe it's just something. Maybe it's an internet connection here.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

Yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

We're I I can hear you. It's fine. I just didn't know if it was conveying through to the recording.

SPEAKER_00 13:47

It should be recording locally anyway.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

That's perfect right there. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

Okay. I must have had a cord laid up against something. Good enough?

SPEAKER_01 13:58

That that would make sense. Yeah, that's great.

unknown 14:00

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

Perfect. Perfect. All right. All right. So as we kind of talk about these first uh first handful of verses in Luke 18, Dan, and and um, you know, I don't know what subtitle in everybody else's mind parables on prayer. And we can kind of we can kind of see uh see that in the very first verse. Obviously, now he was telling them a parable to show them that at all times they ought to pray and not lose heart. And so uh again, as we kind of think about where we're at in the life and ministry of of Christ Jesus, uh, we're we're getting closer to his final descent into Jerusalem, and and on this side of the cross, we we see everything that happens, uh or we've seen everything, and we can read it in the gospels of of uh that that the Son of Man is to be beaten, suffer and and be crucified for the sins of the people and um and and then you know obviously raised from the dead. But at this point, I think uh it's still it's a continual preparation of these men that have walked with Jesus for three years and um come have come to know that him to be the Messiah, and are still um somewhat like the uh the other Jewish people are are having a hard time truly understanding what he what he means as these things come up of of um that he's gonna go away for a while and that uh he must suffer and and this, that, and the other. And so I think we see just continually Christ speaking on things like like he does here of uh preparing them for those certain times, but also preparing them for the the way in the kingdom of after he um not only has suffered and and died and is there in the tomb three days and then and then comes back, but then after that ascends, and then they go out and and continue the uh the commission that's given to them and and the proclaiming the gospel, discipling the nations. And um so in that light we see the same for us that we could take and apply these same teachings um that were meant for them in that time and meant for us now, of in this specific instance, uh praying and praying for his coming and and and that. And so we see that in a neat parable, I thought, here um, here on the front side, Dan.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

Absolutely, and it it's oh, it's ironic, uh Josh, uh that the first one we're gonna talk about when I'm back uh from our all-staff gathering in Texas um is prayer, because that is really what we focused on this week uh with FCA as we start. School year starting, so things are getting ramped up again. Summer planning, summer camp season, all that's behind us now, and so it's incredible to work in with the ministry that obviously we need to focus on prayer, but that lead with prayer. And there's a book, and I'd have to figure out who or find out who read or who wrote it, but it's called Lead with Prayer. And anybody that needs to be convicted or wants to be convicted or feels like giving it a shot, read that book, lead with prayer. And the first verse right here it says, teaching them the need for them to pray always and not give up. And we're gonna see those circumstances come full full come here uh in this first group of verses here as we read. But prayer always and not give up. That's that sounds simple, but are we truly, really always communicating with God? Are are we praying without ceasing? Are we falling on our knees? Are we getting in the closet where it's dark and there's no distractions and praying to God, and then as we go about our day, uh we're just talking to Him? Because when we're com having a conversation with God, there's not much else that can get into our brain. And if I can stay continually focused on my Creator, my Redeemer, my Savior, my day goes a whole lot better. And it it's it's quick to reveal itself when I do not stay focused on who my creator is throughout the day. And prayer can just be a mindset, guys, of where we're letting our thoughts go, who we're keeping our thoughts on. And there is tons of people that just need pray for God knows, He just wants us to let him know that we know, and we've got a model, it's not the FCA model, this model's been out there forever. It's called the Axe model, Josh. I'm sure you've seen it. But the A stands for adoration. How can we not adore the one who created us? How can we not adore the one who sent his son to die for us? Praising God for all that he is, everything. And then the next one, the C is confession. Man, confess your sins and they'll be forgiven. That's biblical. We're gonna get into some of that in the in the second group of verses this morning, Josh. Confessing. Confessing our sin, not hiding. It's not that you're hiding your sin, but you're not confessing, you're keeping your sin pridefully to yourself and not confessing to God how bad we've messed up. And the T is for Thanksgiving, man. You want to count your blessings, just start counting them, just start naming things you can be thankful for. And then the S, the very last part of Acts, prayer model, is the supplication part, asking God for our needs, to fulfill our needs. Presenting our request to Him. Simple model. You can look it up. I mean, I just looked at to make sure I was gonna say everything right right there, but it took me two seconds. And I have an old iPhone and internet sketchy in Crum America. You can probably find it faster than I do in certain parts of the world. The Axe prayer model. Simple. And there's nothing wrong with using a guide to go through your prayers, daily prompts to go through your prayer life.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

Definitely. No one's preaching through the Psalms this summer, and uh take it, and um you know, so many of the Psalms are are prayers of David, and so we we we end up in those conversations on Sunday mornings. I say we end up, he he ends up teaching on that from that vantage point a lot, and and uh it's been a Sunday or two back, but talking about the uh the the means of grace that's provided through prayer. How often we think about prayer is this um this uh you know helpline or or you know if I'm in in need or if I'm if I'm in a bond then then I'll go to God. And certainly it it it is that and can be that, but like you said, Dan, and and like Nolan says, of the the the means of grace of being to commune with God in prayer is uh uh I know for me it can it gets sometimes just just underestimated. We get busy. And you look up and it's and and you wonder, man, why am I why am I having such a a tough time with this day or this week or this season or this that and then you think when when have I sat like you said in a in a closet or in a room or in a in your pickup, wherever, with everything off, all the distractions away, and intently just communed with God in that uh that instance. And and you think of of even the depth behind that of what what access do we have there? We have an advocate with the Father. We no longer uh the tempter that's there before him, uh and the the one that that seeks to to uh bring a uh a negative case against us in Satan. He he has has no bearing uh for those in Christ. And we have an advocate, Jesus Jesus Christ the righteous, that who sits at the right hand of the Father, who's the one mediator between God and man. So um these these places that we're at in the gospel and leading up and getting closer to the the kind of the culmination of Christ's earthly ministry, we we see the the barrier that was then broken down for the Gentiles, especially that that dividing wall, as Ephesians says, is is no longer. And he brings the two into one new man and and the the veil that we'll read about here in in a few weeks that it's torn from top to bottom. And do we do we really understand the beauty and advantage of being able to just talk with God? And uh I I I'll speak for me. Uh uh I don't have that mindset and think of that nearly enough.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

So well, and we can correlate this to hog farming or any kind of farming or just daily life. We are proactive in health protocols for sales, proactive for health protocols for babies. Because we've probably been in a reactive state of mind with some of those with the sickness or disease before. Oh man, I forgot to vaccinate, or oh man, we didn't vaccinate for this, or we didn't give that, and now this is happening. Well, what about in our prayer life? Are we proactive or are we reactive in our prayer life? When Jesus in in Matthew says, pray like this, he says, our father who art in heaven, I would much rather go to God saying, Our Father, Lord, you're awesome, instead of saying, Oh God, this is wrong. If that makes sense. Can we get out in front of the stuff through prayer that's in our life? And then when it happens, we know we we've got an advocate fighting for us. And we've already talked to God, we've already had a conversation, we've already spent time on our knees in that certain scenario that may be happening. You know, Josh, if we're not proactive in health protocols on the farm, one little deal may wipe a crop out. Or either you got 70 babies or 700 of them. How's that reaction gonna happen?

SPEAKER_00 25:27

Definitely. Definitely. No, I was thinking about that um kind of kind of similarly of uh well, I was thinking about it, but I lost my train of thought. So must not have been something needed to be said.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

The Lord is working this morning.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

Sometimes it's kind of like an an acts, and Paul says I wanted to go, you know, the master, but I was I was withheld by the spirit. I I wanted to tell y'all what was on my mind right there. But uh it it quite literally slipped my mind. It'll it'll maybe come back to me if it's worth saying. So um anyways, he so he he does this as we kind of look into 18 and and press into it a little bit uh through a parable. And and so you'll have heard uh the scripture at the beginning of the episode um that we kind of read through uh on the intro there that we've kind of been doing that. But uh, as we kind of look back into these first first um specifically, first seven verses, um, or first five verses, he he does this in a parable, and and it's probably just worth taking the second to reread so we're all on the same page, because um it's really interesting to me, a few things about it. So it says in in a certain city there was a certain judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. So uh uh judge, unjust judge, an unrighteous judge. Yeah, no fear of God. That's obviously the the first sense of that, and and and as a result of that, no fear, fear of man. So they'll then it goes on. There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him saying, Give me justice for my opponent. And depending on the translation you have, that could be worded a few different ways, but the literal underneath that is give me justice. So she's crying out to this judge who who's crooked, give me justice in this situation. And for a while he was unwilling, but afterward he said to himself, even though I don't fear God, nor respect man, yet because this widow's bothering me, I will give her justice. So he's not giving her justice because it's the right thing to do. He's not giving her he's giving her justice because of her continual cry out to him for it, so lest by continually coming she wears me out. And then Jesus makes the makes the uh makes the connection here. He says, And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge said. And so there I was kind of reminded read back in chapter eleven, um, the parable that he that he speaks of uh right after he talks about the Lord's Prayer, ironically not. Um But in that parable back in chapter 11, verses about five through uh five through eleven, he he says uh um about the man that's at persistent in the middle of the night, uh, that he needs something to eat, and and the guy says, I've already put my children to bed, I'm in bed, can't yet rise up and give you anything. And he said, Because of his persistence, he'll give him what he needs. And then he finishes that up and he said, So you who being evil, if you know how to give good gifts to your children, then then what what about the the father who gives the the Holy Spirit? What will he do? And I kind of see the same here of even hear what the unjust judge said, even this unjust judge, after continual persistence by this widow, who doesn't care anything about justice, he gives her justice. And then then he says, Now, will God not bring about justice for his elect who cry to him day and night? And will he delay long over them? So we get a same picture of even of him. Here we are. What will what will God do for his children, his elect, who cry to him day and night?

SPEAKER_01 29:23

Yeah, and that's not that we're gonna wear God out, you know, or just keep bugging him, but maybe it's just a how much faith do you have, young man? How much faith do you have, young woman? Do you have faith enough to know I'm gonna answer in my time? Do you have faith enough to just keep praying that prayer? I I like praying and seeing an answer immediately. Hey, a lot of times we do see that. But what is the year after year prayer? Talk to parents that are that are older now, and one guy in particular said, Man, I prayed for my son for 30 years to come to know Jesus. And in that 30th year, he came to know Jesus. He surrendered his life to Jesus and started following him. In the 30th year, like I haven't done anything for 30 consecutive years in my life. I haven't lived with my parents for 30 years, I haven't been married for 30 years, played ball for 25, but that's not 30. This guy prayed for 30 years. Can you imagine sometimes when he approached the throne of God? Do you know, was it the same every day, Josh? Probably not. But he didn't stop praying. He didn't give up. He knew his prayer would be answered. And delay in answer wasn't a no. Maybe the maybe God needed to know how faithful dad was before he could soften the heart of the son. That scares me, Josh.

SPEAKER_00 31:05

Well, and so it's it's so interesting. I'm gonna word that last sentence a little differently. Maybe God took the time for the dad to see how faithful dad was. How often in those situations does God is God is using you know James talks about the trials that we should endure patiently and with joy, but but how often do we look at those trials and and God uses those trials to teach us about ourself, about some of our weaknesses that we need to give over to him. About in this case for this man, yeah, 30 years. There's no way that there was ever not, I would assume, maybe we should add this guy on, uh those times of of Lord why why hasn't he come to faith? Why haven't you drawn him? Why you know and I think we see that uh consistently, you know, you read through the old testament and you and uh and even the new, but you you see that over and over of of um I guess the point I'm I'm getting at is that that we learn things about ourself. And uh we're going through Job on Tuesday nights and and we were talking last night kind of we were we're right in the middle of it. We're like a chapter 19, 20-ish. And um it's just chapter after chapter of of how distraught Job's life is, and how his friends are all incompassionate and saying, You you need to repent, you've done this, you've done that, and if you've never read Job, um it may it get done, you get in the middle of the book of Job, it's however many chapters 30-ish. Um but you get in the in the middle of it, and I mean it it's just on and on of how basically miserable Job is. But last night it was so neat, I think it's in chapter 19. Um he goes on for a while in chapter 19 in response to one of his friends and says, uh, I'm gonna flip over there as I'm talking about it, but um, that's Joelle. That is not Joe, but in chapter 19, he goes on, there's 42 chapters, by the way, if anybody's wondering. And uh two years worth of podcast. Do what?

SPEAKER_01 33:38

Two years worth of podcast.

SPEAKER_00 33:42

Yes, yeah, give or take. There's no telling. Um, but like in uh in in in in 19 verse 7 he says, Behold, I cry violence, but I get no answer. I shout for help, but there is no justice. He's walled up away, so I cannot pass, and he's put darkness on my paths, and he's stripped my honor from me, and he's removed my crown from my head. And so if you don't know the story of Job, Job was wealthy, he had had it going on, and the and the book kind of opens, and um he's sacrificing for his family. Um he's doing he's a righteous man who loves and cherishes God, and and and Satan, Satan, uh the book opens, Satan's in the throne room of God, and he's saying, you know, uh basically God gives him the the right to go and and take Job's stuff because he's Satan says to God, he says, Job only serves you because you've protected him, you've put this hedge around him where he's got all these things happening. So short version, Job loses everything. He loses his kids, he loses his his business, he loses his all kinds of stuff, and then then uh then he loses his health, and and so then there's all of these chapters of the just how rough it is, how bad it is, how miserable it is for Job. And so 19 last night, and we were going through it, and he says those things about how bad it is. But then you get to 25, and he says, But as for me, I know that my redeemer lives, and at the last he will rise up over the dust of this world. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall behold God. And he goes on. My point being, even in all of that time, Job never wavers in in his trust of God. He realizes it's God's sovereignty that's allowing all of these things to happen to him, how miserable it is, and he doesn't understand why, and he gets pretty frustrated through there too. It's a really good book to read. Um, but but he never wavers of who God is and who who who he is and and what what the ultimate glory is in the Father. And so I think in those times, like you say, when you're you're praying for something on end, um sometimes it's just the Lord showing us that. And sometimes it's it's him protecting us from something, asking for something that we don't need. Absolutely. You know, there's there's a ton of different answers, but I think we can see a little bit, just to kind of shift gears just a little bit in seven, of of how we should should pray too. And that's it, that's another thing that uh a pastor that I I had uh sat under for a while right here by the farm, he used to say we need to learn to pray the Bible, uh, to pray the scripture, and you read the Psalms, and you read even through the New Testament, and you learn, you know, what what does God require of you? What does God ask of you? Um well that's to to love kindness and mercy and to walk humbly with him. But but what uh what should our prayers look like? What should we be praying? And I think we can kind of get a little bit of a picture, and this was this was neat for me in verse 7. He says, Now God will not will God not bring about justice for his elect who cry to him day and night. And I got to thinking about that wording of crying out, and and um back in Genesis 18 and 19 that and and Sodom and Gomorrah and the things that are going on, and and in, and it's it's quoted some in the New Testament too, but in in 18, Genesis chapter 18 it says, So Yahweh or the Lord said, The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, the outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah, and their sin is exceedingly grave. And I will now go down and see whether they have done entirely according to its outcry. So I remember when the first time that I they came across that, and um, and and you read it again in chapter 19 when the two men are standing before Abraham, and and they said uh they they they ultimately say that that we're gonna go down to Sodom and Gomorrah and evaluate it because the outcry has been so great, and if it's like the outcry has been, then we're gonna destroy it. The righteous within Sodom and Gomorrah were praying out to God for justice, for righteousness. They were living amongst the midst of sin. And so I see a lot of the same here of um crying out, this widow crying out for justice. And so it it was one of those instances that I just are exactly the same length, but it just made me think of that story in Genesis 18 and 19 of the righteous crying out. So how how should we pray? We should cry out for for this, you know, against the sin in our own life, that's repentance, and against the the sin that's surrounding us. God, lead them also to repentance in your kindness. God, you know, do do what you said you were gonna do. And then I think that's where verse 8 comes next. He says, I'll tell you that he will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find that faith on the earth? And so again, linking, how how should we pray? We we I mean we should pray in a lot of different ways, but here we should cry out for for justice and for mercy, because thankfully mercy is the only only way that we got justice by the mercy of Christ.

unknown 39:19

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 39:21

So, anyways, I thought that was a interesting uh interesting thought of of how how should we pray all the time. Without seizing.

SPEAKER_01 39:37

However, it is all the time. I think the next one verses Josh, and if we want to read those, we I sure can. It's not the gospel, but it's the result of the gospel of what the what episode or what instance takes place here. It says he also told a parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else. It says two men went up to the temple to pray. One a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. Just two incredible guys, God-fearing guys. One knew the law, one didn't care about the law, he just wanted your money. One knew the law and questioned everything that Jesus came to do. And the other one was a tax collector. One of the most looked down on people of that day and time. Greedy, evil, cheating, whatever you name it. That's what they were. It says, Two men went up to the temple to pray. One a Pharisee, the other tax collector. The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself. God, I thank you that I'm not like other people, greedy, unrighteous adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give a tenth of everything I get. Look at me, look what I've done. And I gave this example uh at the Brenham Devo. And I promise you, Josh is gonna get that figured out because we had a microphone on and everything was working great. He's gonna get it pulled up, and we're gonna have on the road in Brenham, and we're gonna have on the road at camp as well.

SPEAKER_00 41:27

Pray for that.

SPEAKER_01 41:29

Absolutely. But I gave this example in Brenham. I talked to a guy a couple weeks ago, and it was gonna be, amongst several other things, a tougher conversation. But I just I was like, God help me with this conversation. I don't want to talk, I don't want to be in this conversation, but it's gotta be talked about. Let's just, God, what what how do you want me to lead this conversation? And this is what God told me to ask him. He said, When I got in the conversation, I just opened it like this and said, I want to know if you were to die tonight, and God said, Why should I let you in my heaven? What would you say? And the answer came, because I've been a good steward of what you gave me. And that broke my heart. And of course, I went and said, the answer is nothing about me, I, you, at all. There's if I is in your answer, it is incorrect. The only answer is because you sent your son to save me from my sins. Because of your mercy and grace. I'm a sinner, saved by grace. And if we can't answer that way, we we're like this Pharisee. Like, look at me. Fasting twice a week. I'm not like this tax collector, I'm not like the adulterers, I'm not greedy, I'm not unrighteous. Because we are unrighteous. We're prideful, we're we're whatever it is. We're sinners. And since we're on the subject of prayer today, I'll pray for the future conversations because we're gonna have more. And there's a lot of people praying for those conversations, that conversation. So add that to your list, please. It says, but in verse 13 of Luke 18, it says, but the tax collector standing far off would not even raise his eyes to heaven, but kept striking his chest and saying, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. I tell you this, and went down to his house justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts exalts himself. He'll be humble. But the one who humbles himself will be exalted. That is your God, I am a sinner. And there may be some jewels in your crown because you've been a disciple that's making disciples. But no matter what great thing you do, if we don't acknowledge that Jesus Christ came to be a sacrifice for our sins, sent by God, our Creator, his Father. Because he loved us that much. Acknowledgement. Part of the Acts prayer model. Acknowledgement. Confession of our sin. It's in John, those who confess their sins will be forgiven. I'd have to look it up to know the exact verse. That Pharisee was saying, Well, I don't do this, and I don't do that, I don't do this. Do you think when you meet Jesus face to face, well, I didn't do this, I didn't go out and do this, I didn't do this, I didn't do that. You think he's gonna say, good job. Congratulations. You missed the point. I I I think we make it too difficult. We we we often get tied up into what are we doing, what can we do, instead of just acknowledging, man, I'm just a sinner saved by grace. Sinners saved by grace, and God sends me here. I'm a sinner saved by grace, and then there's but God, right? I'm a sinner, but God sent his son for us. I'm a sinner, but God saved my soul. I'm a sinner, but God offered me his mercy and is graceful to me. The Pharisee, the religious one of that group, missed the point. But the tax collector, the thief, the cheat, whatever you want to call it, understood. He got it. Man, I'm a sinner, but God thank you. Have mercy on me, the sinner.

SPEAKER_00 46:15

It's interesting. Um we were talking about this last weekend, the simplicity of the gospel, and that Christ died for sin, was buried, and was resurrected. The the simplicity of the gospel is that is that though you were a sinner, Christ's righteousness imputed on you, your your sinfulness imputed on him, for those who who have faith and trust in him. But the depth of the gospel and I think the the recognizing what it means, realizing what it means to be a sinner, to be sinful. It means that you're irreconciled or unreconciled. I'm not English, whatever, to God. Irreconciled or unreconciled, whichever one it is. And and the Bible says you're an enemy of God, to be to be a sinner, to be, you know, we talk a lot about uh you know one of the one of the things that's always made this analogy that's kind of helped make this a little clearer to me is is to realize the depth of your sin is to realize the magnitude of what you've sinned against. And the analogy goes something to the fact of uh you know, if if I take a a key and I uh I scratch an old beat up 1985 farm truck that's kind of rusted out anyways, and I scratch it. It's not that big a deal. It's wrong, shouldn't do it. It's not my you know, but but it's fine. If I do the same thing to uh to Camlin's Toyota car that's kind of reverse car, it's it's it's a nice little car. It's nothing spectacular. It's Carrie's old one, and it's got a few dings and dents and stuff along the way. So if I scratch, it can see well that's still um it's the same scratch, it's the same all, but but but it's a little worse because what it is. And and if you carry that on, let's say there's a there's a $180,000 Lamborghini or whatever they cost that that's sitting downtown, and I walk by it and I and it's you know immaculately kept, not a blemished one, perfectly, you know, it stays in a in a air-conditioned room, and I scratch it the same way. Well, it means so much more, and what happens and the and the point of it is is is you see the magnitude more of that scratch, even though it's the same key, the same scratch as the old beat-up pickup, because the magnitude of of that changes because of what you've sinned against. And so I thought I think that's why every every believer, in my opinion, should read Sproul's book titled The Holiness of God. Like you I I read it last summer for the first time, so I'm not but when you get time and when you can't man, I read that book because you you see he does such a good job painting with what the title of the book is the holiness of God, who God really is. And to look at yourself appropriately in the light as a sinner and what that really means, because it can be nominalized in in our time, because we talk about it all the time. I know I'm a sinner, I'm a sinner, and that that's but but what we have sinned against, the Lord of glory, the the maker of earth, the creator of me, the one who puts breath in my lungs. And so when when you think about it that way, and then you read this parable and you see the completely craziness of the Pharisee that says, God, I thank you that I'm not like these people, that I'm that I'm not, and then the tax collector who realizes God be merciful to me. And when you look at God in the light that he should be looked at, and and Christ in the light that he should be looked at, that that Jesus, that perfect, righteous, holy God, who humbled himself and stepped down into human flesh and dealt with all the same things that we deal with, temptation-wise, yet without sin, on my behalf, because it's something that I couldn't do. When I think of those things in that light, then I realize the one that I've sinned against and the great depth of the simplicity of the gospel that's come down to save me in nothing but mercy and grace that I didn't deserve. So so you you you can you can take the simplicity and the depth of the gospel and then it kind of if if it if it doesn't humble you, you've got a big problem. That problem may just be lack of understanding. That problem may be more severe than that. But it's it's a humbling thing. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. It's a humbling thing to realize the mercy of the living God provided in Jesus Christ for a sinner like me. And I'm not saying that I wake up every morning with that mindset, but man, I should. I should I should pray that every morning. I should I should pray that every night. And I know that the more that I I focus on on his word and see these things and surround myself with that, the the more that that I see it clearly. But anyway. Amen. I think that part was for me if it if nothing else. So well, read come back next week and we'll we didn't get through 18, but we made a good push at it. We got through half of it, so that's good. And uh I think it's a good segue into next week because we pick back up next week in the the rich young ruler that's that's even more along the same lines. And uh one of my uh one of my favorite passages. I know I say that all the time, but um the rich young ruler makes a lot of things, just mine too. Just makes sense. So yeah, it's one of our favorite passages, along with most of the rest of the Bible, so yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:58

Numbers doesn't get high on that list, but that's okay.

SPEAKER_00 53:02

Yeah, numbers is a it's a lot of repetition in the beginning. It's hard to get through.

SPEAKER_01 53:10

But you can learn a few things.

SPEAKER_00 53:13

You can learn yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:16

A lot of history there.

SPEAKER_01 53:18

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 53:19

Very valuable.

SPEAKER_01 53:20

Don't skip that one, just may not be in your back pocket verse to go to one day. Yeah, might be.

SPEAKER_00 53:29

Might be.

SPEAKER_01 53:30

There for a reason in mysterious ways. Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_00 53:33

Definitely there for a reason. So awesome. Well, thank you guys, as always, for tuning in, checking out uh the one truth this week. We are happy to be back with you, and uh look forward to continuing on. So reminder, shoot us a message either through the through the fan mail, send us a text, or just you can just text us either one, and we'll kind of keep a keep a list of that of who does with your guess of the final episode number of season four. New one truth head on the line.

SPEAKER_01 54:07

Man, if you we could like make a grand prize too. If you if you gave us the number, the week we're gonna do it, and that might that might be a hat of the shirt.

SPEAKER_00 54:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:24

I've got zero ads of zero shirts in the weight, but I'm talking about this one.