Bible, Bros & Brew
Bible, Bros, & Brew is all about helping you navigate your relationship with God in practical, real-life ways. Hosts David and Phil dig into scripture—'chopping up the word'—and bring it to life with insights you can actually use every day. And while they’re at it, they share their favorite 'brews'—don’t worry, it’s not booze! Just a solid lineup of classic coffees and teas to keep the conversations flowing.
Bible, Bros & Brew
Breaking the Cycle| What Can Separate Us?| Bible, Bros & Brew
Have you ever wondered how coffee blends and quirky mugs could spark conversations about identity, redemption, and the spirit of the holidays? Join Jon, Ryan, Phil, and David for a festive Christmas edition of Bible, Bros & Brew. Over our favorite brews and some laughter-filled moments with beloved mugs, we wrap up the profound truths of Romans 8. Together, we reflect on walking in the Spirit, embracing our identity in Christ, and celebrating the joys of the season. It's a heartfelt, reflective, and joy-filled conversation wrapped in the warmth of camaraderie.
Imagine a universe where every choice aligns perfectly with grace. Drawing parallels between God's omniscience and Marvel's multiverse, we dive into the complexities of free will and divine foreknowledge, celebrating the assurance that God's plans are always for our good. This discussion crescendos with Paul's powerful declaration in Romans 8:31, offering fresh insights into God's grace and the blessings of being joint heirs with Christ.
Feel God's overwhelming love as we explore Ephesians and 1 John, celebrating Jesus as our advocate who frees us from condemnation. This holiday season, let us wrap you in a heartfelt discussion that underscores the unbreakable bond between believers and God's immense love. We close with festive greetings for Christmas, Hanukkah, and the New Year, reminding you of the beauty of community and the hope that carries us into a new season.
Join us on social media, your favorite podcast app, YouTube, and Rumble to stay connected, be inspired, and grow with us in faith. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share this episode—we'd love for you to be part of our community as we continue exploring God's Word and spreading the joy of the season!
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gotbrew@biblebros.net
Welcome to this special Christmas edition of Bible Bros and Brew. My name is Philip, and with me is my big buddy, figgy, also known as Mr Figgy Puddin'. We're here to welcome you to this episode, and I'm not alone, though. I have with me my favorite people in all the world, besides my wife and kids, of course, and that would be David McIntyre right here, then I've got John down there, and then, of course and that would be David McIntyre right here, then I've got John down there, and then Ryan right here. And welcome guys. Hope you guys have had a good day so far today.
Speaker 2:Good job on the pointing man.
Speaker 1:You got it down, dude that was not even rehearsed, man, it wasn't I wasn't close enough.
Speaker 3:What happened to the intro, Phil?
Speaker 4:This is all part of it, dude, it's all inclusive. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
Speaker 3:It's all good.
Speaker 1:But, as you can tell, we're kind of playing it fast and loose on this episode of Bible Bros and Brut, but we're mellow and chill. I really want to do it. It's cool, but we're actually going to be picking up tonight in Romans, chapter 8. We've been on Romans 8 for at least three episodes that I can remember right now and we've been just working our way through. Actually, we started back in Romans 6 because we were on the topic of breaking the cycle of sin, and so now we're going to do our best to conclude this whole theme that we've been on for the end of the year podcast. So stay tuned, we're going to talk about some good stuff tonight to wrap up in Romans chapter eight.
Speaker 1:Hello everyone, welcome to this episode of Bible Bros and Brew. It is our special end-of-the-year slash Christmas edition episode and with me I've got as I've said before already, I've got David here. No-transcript identity in Christ. We've been talking about walking in the Spirit. We've been talking about, even touched on, the redemption of the body last time because of the Romans 8 theme that we've been on. So we're going to be taking the last few verses, the last group of verses, in Romans 8 theme that we've been on. So we're going to be taking the last few verses, the last group of verses in Romans 8 for this time around, and just breaking them down, going through them and seeing where we end up to wrap up the year. But before we get into all that, of course we have to talk and ask what's going on in the cup? Let me see, I'm going gonna go with elf and john first.
Speaker 4:Um I today have uh, just like we talked about last week, have decided to drink a holiday blend, as you will and, of course, in a non-festive teenage ninja turtles mug. I this holiday blend is from starbucks. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles mug this holiday blend is from Starbucks. I cannot tell you what is in it because I don't know and I also don't like it.
Speaker 3:It is not. How long have you sat there sipping on that coffee that you don't like?
Speaker 4:It has been a very long day and I need some caffeine in my system, and sometimes sipping on something that shocks your tongue a little bit will keep you awake.
Speaker 2:We've all been there before. Yes, yes.
Speaker 3:I go get another cup.
Speaker 4:What.
Speaker 3:I refuse to be put to shame by a bad cup of coffee, right.
Speaker 1:How should I?
Speaker 3:have a bad day over that.
Speaker 1:Man, oh man. Well, John, we wish you all of the blessings that may come from struggling through that cup of coffee. Ryan, how about?
Speaker 3:you, sir, I do want to say, john, you do look a little bit like Elphaba.
Speaker 4:I should have brought a red. You know what? I am wearing red shorts right now, so that sounds about right.
Speaker 1:Nice. Are you serious.
Speaker 3:Yes, some kid is at home right now talking about Mommy. It's him.
Speaker 1:What he does in his off time Exactly.
Speaker 3:Mischief. He's more tough-ass. Better watch out. He does bad things, but he loves Jesus.
Speaker 4:Praise God. Merry Christmas At all. Wiley Rascal.
Speaker 1:Ryan. What about you, sir? What do you have in your cup?
Speaker 2:I will give you a dollar, if you could guess.
Speaker 1:Black Rifle.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 4:Does it?
Speaker 2:rhyme with Pete's Holiday.
Speaker 3:Blend. It doesn't rhyme with yeets.
Speaker 2:It does rhyme with yeets, oh man Yeets y' oh man Dude Yeets y'all. The yeet holiday blend. We got to continue with it. Yes, in my very boring outdoor cup from I forget what the name of the store is. That's all right.
Speaker 1:It's very boring, but well insulated.
Speaker 2:It is, it's like very just like you know.
Speaker 4:No, it's old, rustic, stylized modern.
Speaker 2:I don't know yes.
Speaker 4:Exactly Sexy.
Speaker 2:I'm trying to delete that out.
Speaker 4:Sorry, not in front of.
Speaker 2:Santa.
Speaker 1:How about you, David, what you got going on in the cup man?
Speaker 3:Well, I've spent the last few days trying to hunt down a good Christmas coffee to share with you tonight.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:And, to my chagrin, I made it nowhere, because all the. Christmas coffee in my neighborhood was sold out.
Speaker 1:Oh man, my neighborhood was sold out.
Speaker 3:I even tried to get some Peet's holiday blend and I couldn't find any anywhere.
Speaker 4:So for this episode.
Speaker 3:That's where I went, buddy.
Speaker 2:Sorry.
Speaker 3:Of course I went to where all the white people went.
Speaker 2:All the white girls. Yeah, all all the white people went. They'd be just all the white girls.
Speaker 3:Yeah, all of the white girls got it. That's what Ryan said. I did not say that.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3:I've settled in on a box of Green Mountains French Vanilla for my coffee for the night. I've never had it before, I don't remember having it, and it's quite lovely. I partake of it in my sweater weather.
Speaker 2:Nice Sweater weather. Sweater weather.
Speaker 1:Good stuff, man, good stuff, dude. Well, to wrap it up, I I don't know that this is a christmas themed coffee, but it's a good coffee and I've featured it before. It's actually from peregrine. It's called malted marami va mara marami I'm not sure how to say that, but it does have Christmassy type notes here Chocolate, malt, cherry wood and Merlot, also known as Merlot. So I think that it's one of those things that you just have to try it, man. You got to try it. There's no way to describe the beauty of this coffee. And speaking of beauty, I do have a Biltmore mug that I wanted to break out for this here podcast. Biltmore has an awesome Christmas thing they do where they light the whole situation up and there's got a tree that's 9,000 feet tall and all kinds of cool stuff like that.
Speaker 3:I think that's funny, where they light the whole situation up you can tell it's a mansion. It's a mansion.
Speaker 1:It's an estate. Shall, we call it an estate. Yeah, dude. So I just you know this is as close as I can get to Christmas right now.
Speaker 3:They light the whole situation up.
Speaker 1:Very fancy, very refined language, as you can tell yes, there you go.
Speaker 4:Yes, yes.
Speaker 1:So on to biblical things we're going to wrap up Jesus, take the wheel. We have swerved.
Speaker 2:I'll take full responsibility.
Speaker 3:I feel like he let us down this path I would have left when we lit the situation up. Yes, oh man.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about the biblical situation tonight. Let's hit Romans, chapter 8. Ryan, I believe he's got the scriptural display for us here, so we'll take a gander at it. We left off talking about verse 28. And for the sake of time, we won't dig deep into that here. For the sake of time, we won't dig deep into that here. But just to say we left off here.
Speaker 1:We know God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose, and we mentioned last time that the all things there definitely ties in to all the things listed in the previous verses, and so that's something to just kind of chew on there. But we're going to move right into verse 29, david. I'll read it here. It says for those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. Now that sounds like purpose to me. It says so that he, talking about Jesus, would be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, talking to God, again talking about God, again, those he predestined, he also called. Those he called he also justified. And those he justified he also glorified. Justified, he also glorified. So this whole passage here.
Speaker 1:When I read it, david, I get this idea of purpose, this idea that God had something in mind with redemption. It wasn't just a thing that he did to try to cancel out all the sins we committed. That was definitely part of the deal, and thank God it was part of the deal. I would not want to take the punishment for all the stuff I've done, um, but that was just honestly one of the I don't know what, what to call it like step one. You know it was the prerequisite or whatever. But once he recreated our spirits, uh, laid all the punishment for our sins on Jesus and we became raised together with Jesus as a new creation, according to 2 Corinthians 5.17,. Now we have this idea from the Scripture. As far as what God had in mind, beyond just the forgiveness side of things, we see now, wow, there's a whole idea of being conformed to the image of His Son and being justified and glorified in the whole nine yards. What hits you, david, when you read those verses?
Speaker 3:When I see it, I see a process right. I see that God is laying out a process for the person that he foreknows who chooses and accepts Christ. That person moves to the next stage in that because it goes from foreknew to predestined, destined to look like or to be made in the image of his dear son, which can only happen by you accepting Christ as your Lord and personal Savior. And so when you do that, you become predestined, you look like him and then you move from that to being called. God has purpose for your life. Then you move on to being justified, you're made righteous and then the final part is you're glorified with him. So I look at it and I see a process and it also it's a foretelling, if you will, of how things will flow for the man who believes in God and walks in righteousness. And it flows with all that we've read so far in Romans, chapter 8. On, because Ryan has, I like something he shared with us a little bit earlier about this and how we taught him when he was in ministry.
Speaker 2:So share that right? Yeah, so, um, uh, the way it was explained to me is that there are multiple outcomes, um, and God knows them all. And in fact, um, we see this like in marvel. Um, it is, uh, marvel is using basically the gospel, in my opinion, to explain the story, and I'll just uh share my screen here. So you see this, yeah, you might be familiar with the tva from, uh, marvel, right in the multiverse, and how you see that green line going through the middle there.
Speaker 2:Well, that's the main, that's the main storyline, that's all of the decisions that we've, you've made in your life. But there's all these alternate realities, all these alternate choices that you can make, and God knows the outcome of all of those different things, as your pre, you know. So it goes into like predestination does you know who's going to? God already knows who's going to choose and who's not going to choose. My opinion is, and what I see in the scripture, is, that God is predestined all of his creation to the gospel, to salvation, to heaven, but we still have free will ie something like this chart here to whether or not we choose or don't choose salvation in the son Jesus, and so God knows all the outcomes, the outcomes that you can't even fathom in total different realities, and so that's why I believe you know, like when God comes to Moses between the rock and the hard places, he can't see me, because if you see me you'll die. I think that if a human being sees God on this side of heaven, you will die because you can't take in all of the reality that God is. God is all of these different realities.
Speaker 2:When you were five years old, you had a decision that you could have made Am I going to steal the cookies from the cookie jar or not? Then they get infinitely more complex from there. When you're a teenager, am I going to hang out with this group of friends or this group of friends? And all of those things lead to different reality, those decisions, and God knows both ways. No matter what you choose and no matter what you live out, god knows when you come to the gospel, am I going to choose or am I not going to?
Speaker 2:God knows both outcomes for your life, life, and they're infinitely more complex, and I believe that God has set up your life to intersect the gospel more. That's his grace, more than once, several times, and that's the grace of God, and so that's how it was kind of explained to me and taught to me in ministry school. That's how it was kind of explained to me and taught to me in ministry school. Um, it's kind of hard to wrap your head around sometimes and hard to um, I know, for even for me, like it took me a while to digest this and to say, well, that's kind of what I, that's what I believe. It took me a long time, but, um, when it comes to predestination and knowing that, the future of God and knowing the future of God, this kind of helps me understand the love of God in the sense of, like he desires everyone to go to heaven, yes, but you still have the one, the responsibility and the opportunity yourself to accept a son, jesus, as your savior.
Speaker 1:That's good Ryan, good stuff man.
Speaker 3:Thanks for sharing that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Multiple paths, man, Multiple paths, and God knows every single possible choice we could make. That's what David, I think David meant in Psalm 139 when he's like if I try to make my bed in hell, you're down there. If I go to heaven, you're up there too. You know the thoughts I'm thinking before I even get a chance to think them, you know, you know the thoughts I'm thinking before I even get a chance to think them. If we ever even grasp that for one moment, like just how insanely I may not be the best descriptor, but just how extravagantly all knowing God really is, like the omniscience of God, really grasp that it's one of those things where, if you can imagine the first time you will ever stand before him like this, let's say, at the end of your lifespan, you stand before God. You'll have this instant knowing that he knows everything about you completely. I mean stuff that you don't even know about you. He knows about you.
Speaker 3:Right. And then you know it's a little hardy to lie. Yes, when you're standing in the presence of someone who knows you better than you know yourself, you know there's only one way, and that's true.
Speaker 1:That's just. It's a. It's a mind boggler man. It's a mind boggler man and that's why it says in Hebrews 5, maybe it's 4, it says there's nothing that's not manifest in his eyes. Everything is wide, open, naked and exposed before the eyes of him, with whom we have to do this.
Speaker 1:And I think Hebrews 4, near the end of the chapter, but it just goes to show you, man, there's nothing that could catch God off guard about your life. You know, even when you mess up or sin or whatever else, take a wrong path, make a wrong choice, it's not like God's surprised by that. You know you haven't done anything to catch him off guard and that's something, honestly, in a weird way it's comforting. It's like man, thank God, you know. Yeah, it should, it should.
Speaker 1:It's like thank God that he already saw me screw up. And I think about that at times, mainly when I've screwed up so much that I'm like why did God even want to bother with me? And then I realized he already knew that he was going to get the short end of the stick when it came to this relationship. You know what I mean. Like I take on all these benefits and I give God so much mess when you first come to him, but somehow he turns the mess into a masterpiece, you know, bit by bit and step by step, and so it's a blessing dude.
Speaker 3:That's good, phil, that's really good.
Speaker 1:Praise God. But moving on, we'll go to the next verse here in 31. This is when Paul really I think Paul was kind of in his zone by this point, because he had already kind of set down some themes and said some things. That was like, dude, god did this, god did that, he gave you the Holy Spirit, he predestined you, conformed to the image of his son, on and on and on. And then he kind of it's almost like a crescendo situation here in verse 31. He says what then shall we say in response to these things? In other words, like man, what do you even, how can you even take all this in? If God is for us, who can be against us? And I think that's fascinating David, because it's like his, like adding everything up and like the sum total of what he's been saying up to this point is this idea that God is for us.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:Because he's like, hey, what can we say to all this? If God's for us, well then, how do we know he's for us? Look back at those previous verses. He's destined us to be conformed to the image of his son. He called us, he glorified us, he justified us, he gave us the Holy Spirit. I mean everything about this says I'm on your side, you know. And so we get down to this part. He said if God is for us and some translations even say it this way they say since God is for us. They don't even fool with the. If they just say since God is for us, who can be against us? You know, if you really sat and just meditated on that one verse, man, it'll blow your mind, it'll take you to another place, man.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it will. And I want everybody to consider something for just a minute. If you will consider something for just a minute, if you will. When he makes this statement, you know, in 31, if God is for us, who can be against us? You have to take into and I know it's been a minute since we've been at the beginning, but you have to take into that he is referring in context to everything he said yeah, yeah, from Romans 8, even before Romans 8, from 7 into 6, which is why we started in 6.
Speaker 3:But he's saying all of these things regardless of the fact that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are into Christ Jesus. Pour down no condemnation to those who you know are into Christ Jesus. You know that. You know the law of sin and death versus you know the I just lost it all of a sudden Walking in the flesh versus walking in the spirit, the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, setting us free from the law of sin and death, going on into our other choices that have happened. And you know, because of the adoption, we're now sons and if we're sons, then we're heirs and joint heirs with Christ.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Coming down, that you know all these things are true with us because we're born again and the spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead will also raise you from the dead.
Speaker 3:You know, he's giving us so much encouragement through this process. And then we get to this part where it says that this is all yours, if you are, if you're willing to suffer a little bit and receive his glory. And so then he talks a little bit about the suffering that we go through and that all of creation goes through and tells us that it's really kind of a shared suffering. We're all groaning, waiting for the day of redemption.
Speaker 3:And then it talks about the hope that we have in that redemption and that day coming where the earth says I'll be made new. And we, as men, say we'll get our glorified bodies, we'll become something we've never been before as humans. And it walks us through all that. It tells us, all things work together for your good. Or to those who are called according to his purposes, it tells us we're predestined, we're called, we're purposed and all of that. And then it comes to this masterful kind of beginning of a conclusion that says so, if God is for you to this degree, who can be against you?
Speaker 1:Man praise God.
Speaker 3:And so that is a significant statement that says stop for a minute and just look at the big picture and see the degree to which God is for you, all that he's given you, all that he's equipped you with, all that he's called you to, predestined you for. Glorified you. Glorified you even though you go through suffering. He says even when you go through suffering, I've made Jesus an intercessor on your behalf, who makes intercession for you with groanings that cannot be uttered. And so he's laying all of these benefits, all of these things out that go back to 6.1, where it says should we continue on sinning? Wow, you know that God may be glorified or whatever. I forgot what that specifically is.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:The answer is no, undoubtedly no.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And then it walks us all the way from 6, all the way through here to come to this point where now Paul is wrapping it up and saying look, this is who you really are. This is why you can overcome sin. This is why you can break the cycle of sin in your life. If God is for you, who can be against you? It's just such a significant thing.
Speaker 1:My goodness, man, dude, that's awesome. It's like you know how David said in Psalm 103,. He said Bless the Lord, o my soul, and forget not all his benefits. And to me it's like this when you lay down that list of everything in Romans 8, and even back to Romans 6, for that matter, it's like, dude, all these benefits he's given us through Christ. I mean everything is connected to how we're connected to Christ. That's why it says we're joint heirs with him. We get that same benefit package that he partakes of, benefit package that he partakes of. And it's something that it says in Luke 12, I think it is.
Speaker 1:Jesus said it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. It's your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom, and so it's one of those things. It's like it was something that God was, if you want to put it this way, like looking forward to. You know, there it is Cool beans, yep, luke 12, 32. Thanks, ryan.
Speaker 1:It says don't be afraid, little flock, for it gives your father great happiness to give you the kingdom. Now, if you just take some time to kind of think about that, it's like, wow, god, god's happy about us having all the benefits that he purchased for us through Jesus. He's happy for us to have those things. And you know how it is like when you I mean for those of you who have kids when Christmas Day comes and they finally get those gifts that they've been, they put on their list and the whole thing and you know they've been wanting it all year or whatever, and you see them open that box and the joy that they have. It's like man. It just makes you feel good, dude, it is your good pleasure to give your kid that gift for Christmas. Right, that's good. Praise God.
Speaker 3:It also reminds me of what you just said in Psalm 68. It talks about how God daily loads us with benefits.
Speaker 1:Come on, man Come on.
Speaker 3:Daily loads us. He carries our burdens for us. He daily loads us with benefits.
Speaker 1:See, we look at things sometimes, man, and indulge me for a minute, david, I might go off on a little branch here. Come on branch. I might go off on a little branch here, a little branch. But we look at things sometimes based on what does God require? You know, what does God demand of me? What does God require of me? And honestly, dude, I heard Joseph Prince say this and I honestly don't listen to Joseph Prince, hardly at all.
Speaker 1:But this thing, I just happened to catch it one day on a little clip on YouTube and he said the law demands but grace gives. And I thought about that. It's like, wow, god is a giver. It's not even so much about what he's demanding from us or requiring of us or you know that type of thing. It's more about what can I give to my children? You know, and there's so much scripture to back that up, regardless of how our religious tendencies would like to tell us otherwise, dude, you know we feel more comfortable with religious performance to get something from God. We think that's kind of the way to do this thing If I behave well enough, if I stay away from X, y, z sins and I also do these X Y, z good works. Man, I'm checking things off the list and God's got to do something awesome for me. We look at it as kind of a transactional thing, but God's over here like I'm a giver.
Speaker 1:You know, in James chapter one actually, brian, if you could swing over there. In James chapter one it's talking about wisdom. He said in verse five he's like if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. I think that's what it says. Yeah, if you need wisdom, wisdom, ask our generous God and he'll give it to you.
Speaker 1:Now, one thing that blew me away is when I was studying this passage and I think it was one of my Kenneth Wiest word studies in the Greek New Testament Great volume thing set to get if you ever want to dig into it he said if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask the giving God. The word there when it says he's the one that gives, it's actually a descriptor of God himself. And so in the Greek it reads let him ask the giving God. I thought that was fascinating, dude. It's like it's so part of his character that it's part of his title the giving God. You know, like John the Baptist, god the giver. You know what I'm saying and that just blew me away, dude, but I forgot what I was even trying to say at this point I'll throw it.
Speaker 3:You know you're talking about. You know what god demands there you go this is what what he gives yeah and one of the things that's so cool about god you kind of said it was that inevitably, whatever god demands is so much less than what he gives, because God is an extravagant giver.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:I'm sure you all have heard the old cliche you can't be God-given.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, you know, the reality is you can't.
Speaker 1:That's true.
Speaker 3:And that's not just you know old charismatic cliche, it's, it's a fact yeah it's a reality and I know some people who try to do it um and woefully inept compared, compared to God. But what. God will ask of you is in no comparison to what he will give to you, is in no comparison to what he will give to you in exchange for that.
Speaker 1:Man, absolutely dude, and it's just one of those things it's like once you start grasping the giving or generous character and nature of God, when you begin to see him that way, it does something to you, man. And believe me when I say I'm still working on that, even though I've read it, even though I know it, like up here. It's another thing to get it down into your heart and to go, wow, man, it is actually God's good pleasure to want to give me things, to want to bless my life, to want to see me do. Well, there's so much there, man. Well, there's so much there, man. It honestly will melt your heart if you really take the time to think about it, because if you want to break it down as to why he's that way, it always comes back to 1 John 4. God is love Period. That's why.
Speaker 3:So I'll dovetail it even more into what we're reading right now, because if we go on to verse 32, it says something significant and it says he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things? Yeah, so he's not. I mean, it's like you know, it's such a simple thought. He's already given you his absolute best, mm-mm-mm.
Speaker 4:Man.
Speaker 3:So everything else after he gave you Jesus and bought about salvation and redemption and new life for you. You have to ask yourself the question if he gave me that, and that's the ultimate why would he ever give me anything less?
Speaker 1:Right right.
Speaker 3:What would be more than giving me Jesus Right Dude and to God when he gave you himself? In Jesus, there's no higher thing. It's just like you know, I got so frustrated with some people a couple of years back because they didn't appreciate something that I thought was valuable, and it ultimately caused me to leave that place. Because I said to them, or I said to myself when I said to my wife, I've given them the best I have my children and they've disrespected it, wow, wow.
Speaker 3:So I'm not going to leave anything else around to be disrespected when I bring my children into an environment and let them partake of and be a part of that environment, serve and give and so and all of that I'm allowing, I'm giving you my best and I recognize my best is my children, and so it's the same concept with God, but better and bigger. How will he withhold any good thing from you, having given you his absolute best?
Speaker 1:Goodness man Gosh, that's powerful. I mean, you know, Jesus was well put it this way there's, no, there's. Try to name one thing that's more valuable than him. You know, just try to find anything in heaven, earth or anywhere else that would be more meaningful or valuable than God's own son it's and the fact that he said he didn't even spare his own son it. You know, I think about that in terms of like. Would I ever send my daughters, either one of them, to death for somebody else?
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:And not just, I guess, any old plain vanilla death, but like a torture, a horrible death, a death where you knew that they were going to suffer significantly. I couldn't do it. I'm sorry I couldn't do it. I'm sorry I couldn't do it, but then here's God saying I'm all in on this.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm all in, and that's just. That's wild, it's wild.
Speaker 1:Praise God. It just shows you even and it's hard for the human mind to grasp. That's why it says in Ephesians 3, it says to know the love of Christ, even though it passes knowledge. You know, it's hard to even grasp it because it passes knowledge. I'll tell you what. I think Ryan's got it up here.
Speaker 1:Ephesians 3, it was one of those things Paul was praying about and he said in verse 14, he said For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I ask that, out of the riches of his glory, he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being. And it's interesting that he's asking for you to be strengthened in your inner being for a specific reason In verse 17, he said so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Then you, being rooted and grounded in love, will have power, together with all the saints, to comprehend the length and width and height and depth of the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. He's telling us, dude, you actually have to get strengthened by God just to comprehend his love for you.
Speaker 3:And it's also cool in there in that verse, you also begin to see that there also, not only is the Father giving you his absolute best, jesus also laid it down.
Speaker 1:Goodness man.
Speaker 3:He laid it down. So you get double love. You get the Father saying I love you, here's my best. Double love. You get the Father saying I love you, here's my best. And Jesus saying I am the Father's best and I willingly give myself, regardless of the cost, to me for your benefit, both present and to come. And in the past. He reaches back into the past, at the point of death and at the point of life.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Again after that, on his resurrection Wow, past at the point of death and at the point of life. Yeah, again after that one is resurrection, wow, it's the coolest thing. And then when you go on, then you begin to see I am so loved that verse 33 says who will bring any charge against?
Speaker 4:God's elect.
Speaker 3:Now look at this. We're called something that we have not been called in any of Romans yet and it's. God's elect. We're taking on a whole new meaning now. We're not just this, we're not just called and foreknown and predestined and justified and glorified, but we are his elect, his supreme chosen.
Speaker 1:Come on man.
Speaker 3:His singled out ones.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, goodness.
Speaker 3:It's just amazing, dude. And here's the thing. I'm sorry. Go ahead, dave. No, no, just the last part is it is God who justifies that's right. In other words, it's not only him who gets to make you right or wrong, but it's even him that gets to lay this title to you. He's the justifier.
Speaker 1:Come on man.
Speaker 3:The justifier says you're elect.
Speaker 1:Come on, dude. Fire says you're elect. Come on, dude. It was like it would be like like going into a courtroom and somebody is accusing you and the judge himself has already said not guilty, you're good to go, I've justified you. You know that's. There's no charge that could stick is basically what it's saying, because it is God who justifies, is the is, is the one who justifies you now going to turn around and condemn you? You know that's not going to happen, because God's not wishy-washy like that. You know he meant to make a statement with what he did on the cross. It was very definitive. What he did on the cross, man, yeah.
Speaker 1:It says here yep, in verse 33, who dares accuse us, whom God has chosen for his own, who dares to accuse us? Now we know, based on Revelation 12, that Satan does try to come and accuse the brethren. It says it there. It says he accuses them before God, day and night. He's always.
Speaker 1:And let me tell you something if you're dealing with that in your own mind and heart, if you're dealing with all these thoughts of just constant accusation against yourself, you know, you know what you did, you know how you should have done X, y, z, or you did do this or you should not have done that. And it's always this accusing tone, always this trying to nail you to the wall for stuff you've done. That doesn't come from God, that comes from the enemy. That is the accuser of the brethren, always trying to find something to pin you to the wall about. But it says here who is well, I guess back in Romans 8, sorry who dares to accuse those whom God has chosen for his own?
Speaker 1:No one, for God himself has given us right standing with himself. It's like it ain't God accusing. He's the one that gave us righteousness and in verse 34, who then will condemn us? Is there anybody left? You know? Who then will condemn us? No one, for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us. He's sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand, pleading for us, not accusing us, not condemning us, pleading for us.
Speaker 3:You know what, philip? I want to say something real quick and I just want to encourage you and I want to tell you to stop doing something. Stop mimicking the let me say that again, let me do it in English too. Stop mimicking the enemy's accusations of you. Ooh, right, so the enemy can call you and say of you things that he wants to In the heavenly court system. He can go to God and he can say you did this and you did that, and you did this and that. And God looks at you and Jesus stands on your side as your attorney and says you know, he looks at you and sees Christ Jesus and said justified, not guilty, right. But we have a way sometimes that we can let what the enemy has said about us get in our heads and then we can start talking and thinking recklessly.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and we'll start talking and thinking in the same reckless way that the enemy is accusing us so that it doesn't just become the enemy who's accusing us. To a degree we're accusing ourselves and we're already declaring ourselves guilty, because the enemy said and we've got to be so careful not to mimic him that even when we sin and we have messed up, the moment we go to God and repent of it, we are forgiven. That's why Paul said I forget those things which are behind and I press forward towards those things which are in front of me.
Speaker 3:I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. He's almost like look, I forget about it. Yeah, I did that, I forget about it. And I keep reaching forward.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Because forward is the only way for the believer to go. Philip, can I just point out one other thing about 34? Please, I want to point us back, not only 34, but to 26 and 27, and remind everybody of something that we didn't talk about a great great deal when we covered it before. Just remember Jesus intercedes for you. You literally have a prayer partner, you have a prayer friend who knows you, he knows what's in your mind and he knows what's in your heart, and he knows how to go to the Father on your behalf and he prays perfectly according to God's will. For you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Never lose sight of the fact that you've got that prayer partner. You've got that intercessor in Jesus who's praying about you, thinking about you. When you feel like you're alone in your situation and circumstance, it's like no, no, Jesus is interceding on my behalf. That's also yet another reason why all things work together for my good.
Speaker 1:Come on.
Speaker 3:Right, Because Jesus is on my side. He's intercessing for me in the best way possible. Even when I don't know how to pray for myself, he knows how to pray for me perfectly. And so never forget, just don't forget that little thought there that I and it's not a little thought, it's a huge thought Jesus is interceding for us.
Speaker 1:Wow, it's like what 1 John 2 says, that first verse. He says if anybody sins, we have an advocate with the Father and it is Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:And if you look up that word advocate, it actually means like your attorney. You know he's the one like pleading your case, coming alongside there it is. He says in verse one my little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you will not sin. He's like I'm trying to tell you to stay away from that stuff. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate before the Father, jesus Christ. And I love this. I love this dude, the righteous one. He's the only one that can claim that title for real. You know he's the righteous one dude can claim that title for real. You know what I mean. He's the righteous one dude. That's why he can be our advocate, because he is one million percent righteous. It all lines up that verse we just read. That's from John. He wrote that years after Paul wrote this in Romans 8.
Speaker 1:But the same theme runs through all these different epistles throughout the New Testament, because it is the Spirit of God who's the ultimate author of these ideas and there's so much consistency to it. Man. But back in Romans 8, I know we got to try to wrap that up. Here we are in verse 35. Again, talking about God's love. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ. Again, we're seeing that love in all the previous verses. Shall trouble or distress or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger or sword, as it is written, for your sake, we face death all day long. We're considered a sheep to be slaughtered. Nope, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him who loved us.
Speaker 1:And there's another translation I thought was kind of cool. It's one of those kind of literal Greek translations and it says in all these things, we over-conquer. I love that. It's like it's not just conquering, but like going beyond that, we over. Yeah, there's one, the new American standard we overwhelmingly conquer, we overwhelm. That doesn't sound like you know, you're tied with one second left and you kick the field goal to win no more than overwhelming. That's like a blowout. That's like the golden state warriors playing you know the local high school team and it's like, you know, 155 to 30. You know what I mean. That's the kind of thing we're talking about over, conquer, overwhelmingly conquer, um. And in verse 38, for I'm convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else. So he's like, okay, all the above and then some, nor anything else in all creation. Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Speaker 3:Praise God for that man, I want to throw two things at you. First, I want to go back to 33 and 34. I want to read this from the Lexham Context Commentary when it talks about who is there to condemn us, and all of that. It says Believers cannot be condemned because the judge has ruled in their favor and their advocate has the judge's ear.
Speaker 4:Come on.
Speaker 3:Who will bring a charge against God's chosen ones? God is the one who justifies them. Who can condemn them? Christ, the one who died but was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, is the one who pleads their case. I just thought that was so awesome.
Speaker 3:That's good and then again, I keep circling back around. All things work together for our good, and here's how deep it goes, goes even beyond where it was written, where it says snow. In all these things, we are more than conquerors. Will death keep us from all things working together for our good will, angels or principalities? Will the present nor the future, any powers, powers, height nor depth, anything else in all creation? Will any of this be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord? No, that's why all things work together for your good.
Speaker 2:It's really simple.
Speaker 3:The reason why things work together for your good is because he loves you.
Speaker 4:Man man, man man.
Speaker 3:It's not extra deep, it's not all of that. It is because he loves you, and if there's anything that you should get out of Romans, chapter 8, and after I kind of looked at this today and was just been reading through it it's that I'm moved by the fact that God loves us so immensely.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Because this is a love letter. It's a love letter that says, even through your challenges, I love you, regardless of what's going on, I love you. When you find yourself struggling and trouble, I love you. I've got a hope for you, I've got a plan for you.
Speaker 3:My thoughts for you are good. I believe in you. I believe in me and you. I will raise you to life Again. When the enemy comes in and tries to condemn you, I'll be there and your advocate will be there. I love you immensely and have you covered on all grounds. Praise.
Speaker 1:God.
Speaker 3:All territory is mine and you're in my territory and because I love you, you are more than conquerors, through Christ, who does what he loves you, christ, who does what he loves you, it's just, it's the it's, it's a. We've traveled a long way, I think, philip, to hear God say the reason why you can break the cycle of sin is because, I love you.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow. That nothing else even needs to be said. Brother, that's awesome. Right there Praise.
Speaker 4:God.
Speaker 1:Praise God, knowing his love for you, it'll do something for you, man.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and then. Now that's our prayer for you.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And what Philip just read a minute ago. May you know the height, the depth, the breadth, the width of God's love for you, and may that love change you, because now his love becomes the catalyst in our lives. When we're sitting here, we don't need to look for another reason to change. We have all the reason to change that we need, and it's he loves us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's awesome man, wow. Well, guys, this is a great place for us to put our bookmark for the night. We just want to just encourage you. I know we shared a lot of scripture on on the podcast and uh, but we encourage you to go write some of these scriptures down, take time to read them over and over again, take time to meditate on them. Uh, get different translations, get you some concordance helps some, uh, word study tools. We talk about blueletterbibleorg. We talk about BibleHub. I think is that org too, biblehub or com? Yeah, so many great study tools to kind of help you dig into these things that we've been talking about. This Romans 8 is a nuclear bomb worth of just amazing things God has done and said and spoken over us. Man, I guess nuclear bomb is not the best description but a spiritual nuclear bomb.
Speaker 1:Yes, but we want to say thanks for tuning in and we want to, of course, encourage you to go back and listen to the previous episodes that led up to this. Also, if this has blessed you in any kind of way, like this video, leave a comment, in whatever application you're listening to it, on Subscribe to the podcast. We want to give a special shout out to our folks over at Rumble. We want to give a special shout out to our folks over at Rumble. We appreciate you guys, man, for tuning in. We've been seeing some activity over on Rumble and we're glad to see that man so shout out to Rumble the audience there.
Speaker 3:Just another quick note too we're going to take a couple of weeks off for the holiday.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So we're going to come back. The first episode will be back. We're going to record. The first episode will be back. We're going to record. We'll have our live recording on January the 8th and that means the next episode, the first episode of the new year, will be the following Tuesday. Whatever that is, I think that's the 14th of.
Speaker 3:January, so allow us a little bit of a break. You can still reach us on social media and Facebook, instagram, twitter. Now, if you're out there on Twitter, hey, find Bible Bros and Brew and like us. We'll like you back, and we're starting to build a little community out in twitterverse as well nice good stuff let's pray for people before we go to and, uh, let's just, let's just pray that this sinks in yeah, and that they, they know the height and breadth and depth and the love of god amen to that man.
Speaker 1:praise god. Father, thank you for sharing these awesome concepts, these awesome ideas on this podcast, through the Holy Spirit, and we thank you for your word. Your word has made it plain. Your word is established, father, that you have already foreordained us to be predestined. I mean, you've predestined us to be conformed to the image of your son and we are grateful for that. You said so many awesome things in this chapter here, father. You said that you blessed us, you called us, you justified us, you glorified us. All these things are ours the fact that we're joint heirs with Christ, the fact that there's not one thing that can separate us from your love. All of these amazing things you've put in these verses and these passages.
Speaker 1:Father, I pray right now for every person that has heard this podcast. Lord, reveal to them, just like what Paul prayed over the Ephesian church, reveal to them the height, the length, the depth, the breadth of your love for them, father. May they know the love of Christ, even though it passes knowledge, so they can be filled with all of your fullness. Just like you said, father, I pray that you break down any barriers of condemnation, barriers of just low self-image, self-deprecation, all those things that hinder us and keep us from fully receiving your love. Break those barriers down, father. Open the eyes of their understanding. Help them to see themselves as you see them, lord. We pray for that, and that they would come to know your love like they've never known it in their whole life. We give you praise for that, father, and we thank you for a revelation of your love, a revelation of your goodness towards them, of your good and kind intent towards them. We give you praise for these things and we agree on this now, in Jesus' name. Amen, praise.
Speaker 3:God, amen. We are believing the best for you, not just in the rest of this year, but I just believe next year is going to be a different kind of year.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:And I think it's going to be good for us. And so just believe God, trust him, dig into these scriptures, like Philip keeps encouraging you to do, and get to know and become acquainted with the love of God. It will absolutely impact your life in ways that you never knew that it could, until next time. I'm David, he's Phillip, that's Ryan, that's John. Ryan and John, come back on so you guys can give everybody a good old fashioned Christmas wave. There, the boys are. There, the boys are.
Speaker 2:We wish you guys, for those of you celebrating it, we wish you fashion Christmas wave there. The boys are there.
Speaker 3:The boys are Merry Christmas everybody, you guys for those of you who's celebrating it we wish you a merry, merry Christmas. Isn't Boxing Day around here somewhere too?
Speaker 2:Yeah, the day after Christmas.
Speaker 3:We also. We wish you a happy Boxing Day. Also happy Hanukkah to our Jewish siblings. We're praying for you, we're praying for God to do some things and we just love you guys all. So have a blessed and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everybody.
Speaker 1:Yep, god bless you. Thank you you.
