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
The Power of Practicing Gratitude | Bible, Bros, & Brew
In Psalm 50:14, the Bible encourages us to give God an offering of thanksgiving, which is explained in practical terms as the "fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name" (Hebrews 13:15). Scripture is replete with these types of encouragements, and if we're wise enough take heed to them, we'll discover of the most powerful forms of fellowship with God that exists. In this episode, David and Phil continue exploring the themes of thankfulness and gratefulness, particularly in light of the transformative power that can be unlocked when gratitude becomes a daily disposition of mind. So grab your Bible and your favorite brewed beverage, and join us as we dig into the Word together to unveil the power of practicing gratefulness!
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Last week we started a series on gratefulness and on the importance and power of being thankful and grateful. In this episode of Bible Bros and Brew, we're going to dig a little bit further into that topic and just talk about the type of blessings that open up for you when you're thankful and the things that God can do to a thankful heart or with a thankful heart. So stay tuned, get ready. It's going to be a fun time. The word is always fresh. And we we take the scriptures to second crack. Come on, man. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. It's on and pop up. We need the air horn for that one. But uh, but yeah, man, just want to say uh good evening to everybody or good morning, whenever you happen to be listening to this. Uh, welcome to the podcast. We are here as always to talk about the word of God. We do our best to bring the scriptures, to bring scriptural insight to different topics that we cover on the podcast. The whole purpose of it being not only to give uh explanation and exposition and things like that from the scriptures, but also to encourage all of you watching to become students of the Bible yourself. That's probably our biggest goal here is to get you excited about God's word because we know what it's done for us. We know the things that God has done uh through his word in our lives. And I'm telling you, man, once you once you really dig into the Bible and get a hold of these scriptural truths, uh, they're all through. All I mean, there's a wide range of stuff that God covers in the word. So um, but once you lay hold of those things and and make them part of your life, I'm telling you, uh, you can't ever be the same again. So um that's our stated goal here, and we like to have fun while doing it as well. Uh, as always, we don't take ourselves too seriously. Uh, as you anybody who's already seen some of our episodes would definitely know that. Um, but my name is Philip, by the way, for those who don't know, and then I have to my uh left, your right, John, and then on the far end of me is David. And we are here to uh talk about the subject of gratefulness and thankfulness. And we started this series last week, so definitely feel free to check out that episode where we kind of kicked it off talking about the importance of being thankful, the power of being thankful, and and just how how vital it is to really take time to acknowledge and count your blessings, as the old saying goes. Because, man, a lot of times, you know how it is, we can take things for granted and don't realize we're doing it. So um, but before we get too deep into the woods, we always have to kick things off with our famous question on Bible Bros and Brew, and that is what is in the cup? Oh, yeah. Okay, I'll tell you what, John, start us off, man. What is in your cup tonight, sir?
SPEAKER_02:Man, I'm so glad you asked. Listen, I got something for you. Oh snap to get into the season. I pulled out my little nutcracker mug. I pulled out the the Dunkin Donuts. Yes, white chocolate peppermint mocha. Peppermint, just white chocolate peppermint. It is just one thing though.
SPEAKER_01:It's perfection.
SPEAKER_02:Come on, it is perfect.
SPEAKER_01:So honestly, the Christmas tree.
SPEAKER_02:I'm I I hear Mariah. There we go. Okay, I just wanted to make sure. I just wanted to set the mood straight, but I also don't want to get copyright strikes. But man, this white chocolate peppermint just it ooh. Some I I know it's gonna sound dumb, but like something about peppermint, like I love peppermint so much. Dude, peppermint Christmas. That's what I am right now. I didn't want to pull out the same Stoke iced coffee, you know, for a third time in a week in a row, but right. It's the same but different. Same but fresh. So check out Duncan peppermint coffee.
SPEAKER_03:Okay. What about you, Mr. David? Drop the bomb on it, David.
SPEAKER_00:Tonight I am um going back to an oldie buck goody because it is it is my first entry uh with you guys into the Christmas drinking season. And so I thought I'd whip out the caramel vanilla to quintessential uh flavors of the season. Yes. And um as it was the first day that I opened it, it just is a coffee. This is from Red Barn, by the way. Red Barn Roasters in um well, it says New England. I think it's in either Maine or Vermont. Um it's just a lovely coffee, and Redbarn Roasters has some really, really good coffees that you should take the opportunity to go to their website and consider. So nice. There you go.
SPEAKER_03:Good stuff, man. You know, since we are all in this Christmas spirit right now, dude. I I took heed to my wife's advice and decided to be a good one. He's a smart woman, you should do that daily, dude. That's like the the key to life, man. But um, I decided to Christmas up my cup, and what I would normally have, and I always seemed to go the peregrine way, which uh this is the Columbia, but I did a little something special here tonight. I threw in some Southern Comfort Egg Nogue the coffee, bro. You already know it is good. I was so glad that it was good because I didn't want to waste a cup of coffee. But but yeah, man, it's it's right on point. It's like infusing me with Christmas spirit, dude. It's like perfect almost at this point.
SPEAKER_00:So, right when a brother gets infused, you just better watch out.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, yes, yes, something different, you know what I mean. Like, I mean it's called the spirit of Christmas, right? God gave us the spirit of gratitude, he gave us the spirit of Christmas. See, come on. John's already read you don't want me on this episode, it's too much. I mean, I'm feeling the organ coming, I'm feeling like there's a priest coming on here. I feel the Mariah Carey coming on.
SPEAKER_00:No, no, no. Now we lost the season.
SPEAKER_02:Oh man, that's too good. That sounds like a good cup of coffee.
SPEAKER_03:Amen. Yeah, good stuff. Well, that's what's in our cups for the night. Now let's talk about what is in the word, as always. And of course, as soon as I start talking uh about the word, I got choppy for some reason. I don't know what that's all about, but it happens, man. Uh, we'll consider it like maybe some old 1980s MTV graphics that we're trying to do here.
SPEAKER_00:So and Satan trying to get in the way.
SPEAKER_03:Get be behind me and don't push. So um, but anyway, uh, so we're talking about the subject of gratitude. And I'm telling you, when it comes to like the this practice of gratitude in the life of a believer, it's something you could never do enough, if we're being honest. Like, it's something that I think every believer, really every person, you know, just in general, even people who don't believe in the Bible or don't claim to be Christian, they also understand the power of gratefulness. You know, there's a lot of uh, even in the secular world, if you want to call it that, like there's people who have gratitude journals and stuff like that. It's like keeping track of things to be thankful for. Of course, in my mind, I'm thinking, well, who are you thanking? You know, but that's another note there. But for those of us who are believers in Jesus, and we we of course direct our thanksgiving towards God Almighty, towards the Father, towards Jesus, because it's uh according to what James said in James chapter one, I think it's like verse 17, he said, every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from above and comes from the Father of lights, in whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. So uh all the good things you have ever experienced in your life, there is a source for it, and that source is God because he is the source of all goodness. You know, there's no such thing as goodness apart from God, he is goodness itself. You know, in 1 John 4, I think it's verse 4 possibly, or or no, verse 8, it says, uh, God is love, and we know that in that love is contained his goodness, his mercy, his faithfulness, all those things. Um, and so that's you know, as you become as you begin to acknowledge not only who he is, but also what he's done for you. There's something that happens in your heart, something that happens to where it's like the things that are we consider to be problems in our lives, they start to kind of become diminished. You know, you you start realizing, yes, okay, I'm life might not be perfect for me right now, but there's a whole lot I can be thankful for, even in the midst of difficulties or obstacles, roadblocks, whatever. Uh, it doesn't matter because I have a lot to be thankful for, you know, and and I just encourage whoever's watching, whoever's listening, take a few moments um and just really stop and consider. Like, you know what? If you woke up this morning, that's a good place to start. If you feel like you're finding it, uh finding it hard to to find things to be thankful for, start with the fact that you're breathing and kind of work on from there, you know, because I I I used to say this all the time, and uh, I don't know, just came to me one day. Any day that I wake up on this side of the dirt, that's a good day, you know. So choose where I'm at with it, man. And uh there's always something to be thankful for, always something to be thankful for. And so we want to, you know, first of all, before we jump too deep into the scriptures, uh, just to kind of set the table in that way, just to kind of get your mind geared into that type of thinking, like looking for things to be thankful for, acknowledging the goodness of God in your life, because it truly is pervasive. If you really take time to think about it, his goodness has been pervasive. If you've had a meal today, if you had a place to live today, come on, Jesus, if you had uh uh clothes on your back, these types of things, man, God's been good. God's been good, man. So um, but I know we want to start uh obviously kick it off with some scripture here. Uh David, I think you mentioned Ephesians 5 that you wanted to start off with, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, let's look at take a look at Ephesians 5. You know, last week we started off by looking at Psalms 50, and in Psalm 50, we saw that there was a call the Father desired for us. He said, Not not that you try to do all this stuff, but that you give an offering of thanks. And um, so that's that's it's it's a thanksgiving offering. And even there's a promise later on in Psalm 50 that's associated with giving thanks. And I want to encourage you to go and take a look at that scripture. But today, as we look at Ephesians chapter 5, um we're gonna find we're gonna find ourselves once again looking at a New Testament version. We spent most of our time last week in the Old Testament, but this time we're gonna look in the New Testament, and we're gonna start at Ephesians chapter 5, verse 15. And in verse 15, and I'm gonna be reading from um, I believe I'm reading from the King James, yeah. It says, See that when you see then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Wherefore, be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is, and be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Verse 20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. And you know, like I think we may have said it last week. There we go again. Um, just a little reach back into our last series that we talked about, where we talked about submission being part of humility, and uh not just submission, but really the call from the Bible is so frequently to submit to one another. There are times when we must sit submit to leadership, but then other times where we submit to one another and we come under each other's mission, and there's a wonderful thing that happens uh in our lives when we do that, and if we have on the servant's robe of humility, we can easily submit to one another. But not only are we called to submit, here we are seeing that he says, in everything, give thanks, and um, you know, I can easily see that for some people right off the rip, the the first question is everything. Yeah, everything. Yeah, in everything, give thanks, and I and you know, it would be you know, Philip and I could sit here and be like, Yes, in everything, give thanks, and pretend like we know it's not at times one of the most difficult things that we're asked to do.
SPEAKER_04:Right, right.
SPEAKER_00:But the reality is that giving thanks is something that the god that God calls us to regardless of our current situation and circumstance, and in all of it, it tells us, as Philip was sharing earlier, we can always find something to be thankful for regardless of the situation and circumstance. And so, um, if we then uh Philip, you want to add to that? You want to chat on that for a minute?
SPEAKER_03:No, I just I think I love that scripture in Ephesians 5, you know, giving thanks always for all things. Um, because what it does is it sets your mind just to continue that attitude of gratefulness, like with everything. Because gratefulness really is an attitude, you know, it's it's a it's a a mindset where your perspective is to look for what you can thank God for instead of looking for what you can complain about. You know, it's better to be on the on the thankful side than on the complaining side, because I think we mentioned it last week, David, in 1 Corinthians 10. You know, God had a serious beef with the Israelites for being complainers, you know. He was not he was not happy, you know. And I think that the word that's used in 1 Corinthians 10 in the King James, it says murmur. It said, Neither let us murmur as they did in the wilderness. And it was saying, you know, there's these people that uh the Israelites who were wandering around the wilderness, even though their needs were met every day, even though God brought forth water out of the rock, even though he fed them with manna, the whole nine yards, every single day for 40 solid years, they still found occasion to complain. They still were like, Did God just bring us out here to kill us? You know, is saying all kinds of stuff like that. God's like, Oh, okay, you want to pray rough? We can pray rough. You know, he had to kind of go there. So um, yeah, it it's it's something where uh just to get back on the topic, just to have an attitude, a mindset of gratefulness, looking for the things to be thankful for instead of looking for what to complain about.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and you know, that that you mentioned the complaining, and you know, I just think back to the Israelites, and they literally complained all the time. Yeah, they did, and it was like, you know, God bought us out here to kill us, you know, God bought us out here so that we'd starve to death. God bought us out here so we could, you know, we could die of thirst in the wilderness that he'd give us over to our enemies. And it's like, you mean the God that just split the sea?
SPEAKER_03:Right?
SPEAKER_00:He did it all, he did these miracles just to say, now die. It's the it's the wildest, it's the wildest thing, but it shows you the difference between sin and righteousness. When we are living according to a life of sin, it is the easiest thing to do to complain. Yep, yep, it's so easy, and and just like we're saying that with Thanksgiving, you can find anything to be thankful for, people will also find anything to complain about.
SPEAKER_03:Man, that's true.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my goodness, lives can literally be surrounded by good things happening all the time, and they'll just put on that old, you know, Israelite complaining bag, and just like, well, you know, they didn't have the so-and-so this time. It's like, but everything else is perfect, it's your perfect food, it's your perfect drink, you're surrounded by your family, everything's okay. Yeah, but Timmy wouldn't hear this time. Come on, you know, if we're not careful, I I'm almost first of all, complaining is a sin.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah, it is, absolutely, and to get into a bunch of complaining and be unrepentant about it is not a good thing for your life.
SPEAKER_00:No, but then on top of that, to give yourself over to complaining means that you have removed yourself from Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_03:Come on, man.
SPEAKER_00:And it's interesting that the door of Thanksgiving opens up good things in our lives, and the door of complaining opens up not good things in your life. So we've got to practice the and I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you guys I can complain and I realize that about myself, and so I'm having to make life adjustments that I practice Thanksgiving, that I literally wake up in the morning. Thank you, Lord, that I'm awake today. You know, before I get out of bed, before my feet touch the ground, I'm saying something of thanks and thanksgiving to God. That when I start my time in prayer, I start my time in prayer with some level of giving thanks to God. I'm learning to apply along, and again, I just keep wanting to say this. If you didn't hear what we talked about with pride and humility, you don't you may not quite see the track we're on. But there's this track of getting humble, there's this track of getting low and properly positioning ourselves before God. And part of that puzzle is being thankful.
SPEAKER_04:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:And we've just we've we've we've lost it in our world that we live in because it's it's so easy. Everybody's doing it. They do it on TV. Look, you could turn on music and they're complaining in the music. You know, you see your favorite celebrities out there complaining on TV, complaining in the newspapers, complaining in the magazine. You know, every you know, there's always everybody's just wired to be critical about everybody's everything. Look at it. We even get upset and complain that we don't live the lives that we see these fake people live on social media.
SPEAKER_04:It's true.
SPEAKER_00:We all have to know that they're not living such a charmed life that everything everywhere is perfect, right?
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely. Not only that, man, but it's I mean, you talk about like a lot of the talking heads that are out there, the pundits, you know, they've got an angle, they've got an agenda, and so they're gonna push that. And one of the primary ways they do it is through complaining, it's always complaining about what the other side's doing, you know. Can you believe what the Democrats did? Da-da-da. Can you believe what the Republicans did? Da-da-da. And it's just like it, it's it's amping people up so much to be to find things to be outraged about all the time.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and can no, and can we just tell you? Let us, if you don't know this, let us be the first to tell you. We're your brothers, we love you. The media is designed to divide and conquer you. 100% the media is designed to give you the kind of information that will make you feel hopeless, that will make you feel stuck, depressed, anxious. I think I said hopeless already, and that's that's as bad as it gets. But it's designed for that. Do you realize? Just think about it. I'm sure there have got to be some good stories of people doing good things in your community. When was the last time you ever saw one of them on TV? Nope, they tell you right now what the Democrats and the Republicans are doing, they're telling you the difference between science and faith. They're telling you about the Muslims and the Somalis, and they're bringing this group of people and that group of people. So not only are they trying to isolate people out into their own little groups, and then they target those groups, and then they try to pit those groups against each other with the way that they go about communicating the news, communicating their their uh, you know, we're going to have a debate, you know, live on air, and one guy from one side is on, and one guy from the other side is on, and they go and you're on there, and you're feeling and then you're like, I'm never gonna talk to that person again, and this person's like, I'm never talking to you again because you're a so-and-so. They say you're a so-and-so, nobody's talking to each other, everybody's feeling anxiety, everybody's feeling animosity, everybody's angry, everybody's complaining, and you don't think that that's designed? My goodness, it's designed, and we've got to, I think God knew that, and he gave us the weapon of thanksgiving, and the weapon of praise, and the weapon of gratitude, in order to allow us to take ourselves and to be able to say, I see what you're doing, but I'm in, but not of this world. So, since I'm in it, but not of it, I don't have to function by its operations, I don't have to give myself over to that calamity that you guys are inventing for the sake of destroying people's lives, and so it's why we got to stay connected to these scriptures. Yeah, now if you look here in this scripture in Matt in Ephesians 5.20, there's this word thanksgiving. And um, if you dig into it, John, you might want to look at the KJV Strong's version of this, because if we click on that word uh uh to thanksgiving or to giving thanks there. We'll give John just a second, there we go. In verse 20, if we click on that word giving thanks, it's gonna take us over to the Greek word, and we find something that if you don't know, it's not interesting to you at all. But when I saw it, I was like, now that's fascinating. It comes from the Greek word Eucharisto or Eucharisteo, and it means thanks, giving thanks, uh, giving thanks, gave thanks, it's past tense, it's present tense, it's future tense. But it's all about variations of thanksgiving, and it means to be to be grateful, to actively to express gratitude towards, and to especially to say grace at a meal. So there's another opportunity for you to give thanks every day. Every time you put food in your mouth, you're giving thanks for God who provides that food for you, He's your resource. Even look, check it out when your bank account goes ding-ding because you get a check. You don't thank the boss for that. You you they've done their reasonable service. Thank God for providing you with the resources.
SPEAKER_04:There you go.
SPEAKER_00:To be able to do what you've got to do, and even when those resources aren't enough, thank you, Lord. It may not be enough, but it's getting me there. Help me to bring in more Jesus. Yeah, you know, so you there's so many things, so many ways to give thanks. When you look down at the Strong's Exhaustive, it tells us that it's from the Greek word eucharistos, and it means to be grateful again, to express gratitude, and again, especially to say grace at a meal, to give thanks, to be thankful. Um, I want to look at this help word study, though, Philip, really quickly, and it talks about uh this comes from the combination of you, you meaning good, and Xeris meaning grace.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, that's cool.
SPEAKER_00:Wow, properly acknowledging that God's grace works well. Boy, that turns this whole thing up up a whole nother knowledge. Dang. Giving thanks is to acknowledge that God's grace works well. Example, for our eternal gain and his glory to give thanks literally says, I'm thankful for God's good grace.
SPEAKER_03:That is really cool. I I never knew that was there. That's good stuff, man.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I I love it. And it's such a it's such a it's such a positive thing um to see and to dig into and to um to just realize that we're really even in thanks, we're still talking about God's grace, which I think maybe at some point next year, Philip, we should probably cover that and talk about what God's grace is.
SPEAKER_03:Oh my goodness, yeah, that's got to happen there.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that'll be a loaded episode, several episodes. I'm several episodes. Yeah. What are you thinking, Philip?
SPEAKER_03:Um, uh first of all, I I just really I never knew that was uh I didn't realize it was the combination of caries, which you know means like grace and that type of thing, and then you mean uh to do was it to do something well? I think that was what it was. Um, maybe I'm wrong.
SPEAKER_00:Uh God's grace works well.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, God's grace works well. Now, what what popped in my head immediately was 1 Corinthians 14, and I had to look it up while you were talking, uh, it's 1 Corinthians 14, verse 17, and that's in the midst of Paul talking about uh praying in tongues and and then the gifts of the spirit and things like that in 1 Corinthians 14. And uh in that verse in verse 17, I don't know if you can head over there, John. Yeah, here we go. Um in the King James it says, You may well here, what's that? Is that the new living? I believe I don't know what what translation it is. I'm sorry. Yeah, King James, there we go, verse 17. It says, For you verily give thanks well, but the other is not edified. And I looked up the Greek words behind that phrase, give thanks well, and it's it is Eucharisto, just like what we were talking about earlier. So it's just like another witness that popped in my head. I was like, Yeah, it it is giving thanks well, you know, God's grace works well. And I just I love I love that definition. I love that the fact that that's what's behind those words in the Greek. It's like um, because anything that when we talk about caris or that that word for grace, it's talking about something given out of the kindness of the giver's heart, not dependent upon the worthiness or whether or not the person receiving it deserved it, or whatever the case is. It's a grace given purely out of the motive of love from the giver's heart. And uh, because I remember I did a study on that word caris a while back, and and I was blown away because it kind of gave me a feel for what the grace of God's all about. It's about the heart of the giver far more than who the receiver is. Right. So um I can see where uh even in in this, you know, we're talking about gratefulness, we got to remember who the giver is and acknowledge him as the giver and recognize that again, James 1, every good and perfect gift comes from him, you know. Uh recognize the source of the blessings that you have. Uh, it's always a good thing to do that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and and I love that to give it's about the giver, it's about the giver of the grace, which is still another reason to give thanks. Yes, I'm thankful for the one who gives grace. That's right. Because he chose to give it to me, and I, of my own being, am unworthy of it. I don't deserve it, but that he would look upon me and say, I declare you worthy, I make you worthy, and I indwell you. Thank you, Jesus. I know for the dwelling of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in me, making me something that of my own accord I am not. Yeah, and I am not worthy of. God is so good.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, he is.
SPEAKER_00:The other thing I think I want to say here is that um one of the one of the things that I did notice as I'm digging into this is that Thanksgiving precedes so many good things happening, and our Bible is literally filled with Thanksgiving and miracles, or Thanksgiving and positive things happen, thanksgiving and things going well. And so I thought we'd just we Philip and I both have some scriptures around this, and so I thought that we would look at a few if you're okay with that, Philip.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:So let's look at Jesus and um let's look at Matthew chapter 15, looking at verse 32. And again, John, I'm running from the from the King James on that. Uh Matthew 15, verse 32. It says, Then Jesus called his disciples unto him and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat, and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way. And his disciples say unto him, When should we have so much bread in the wilderness as to fill so great a multitude? And Jesus said unto them, How many loaves have you? And they said, Seven and a few little fishes. And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. He established order. And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and broke them, and gave to his disciples and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat and were filled, and they took up all of the broken meat that was left, seven baskets full, and they did eat, they that did eat were four thousand men beside women and children. So it's interesting here, first of all. Um, and we see the same thing with the five when Jesus feeds the five thousand, the four and the five thousand count only account for the men. Right does not account for the women and the children, which means this was an exponential exponentially larger miracle than you might first believe. But uh notice there that before there was any distribution, the first thing Jesus did with the resources was give thanks. And once he gave thanks for them, he then distributed them. And we see this miracle happen that somewhere between Jesus and those baskets where they were distributing, the fish and the bread multiplied. But if Jesus had just said, do it, God, I don't know if it'd been the same. Well, if Jesus said do it, God, it would have been done, you know. But it's this concept that we see Jesus over and over again, and we'll see in some more scriptures. Jesus is always allowing thanksgiving to lead the way.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, always absolutely absolutely thought, Phil? Yep. I I wanted to go to uh the next scripture on in Luke 17. I was thinking about that. Um, John, if you don't mind heading over there, um, Luke 17. This is the story of the ten lepers, and and it's probably familiar to many of you watching. Over in that um passage, excuse me, um, we got it coming up on the screen, verse 12, it says, as he entered one of the villages, he was met by ten lepers. Now, you guys, um, I'm not sure how familiar some people are with that term leper, but uh in the Bible, when you when you see that term leper, mainly in the New Testament, um, it's talking about people who have the disease called leprosy, and it was kind of a bad deal back in the day. It was a disease that affected the skin, it turned people's skin totally white, almost like uh like powder looking white, and it was a pretty rough situation. Like you were immediately considered an outcast in in that society if you had leprosy. Uh, it was one of those things where you were one of the untouchables at that point.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, first of all, that thing was contagious, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:It was contagious, so they they knew like you know, got to quarantine these people to a certain degree.
SPEAKER_00:Um, but if you just feel just you ever I know you've heard of it, but there literally have been leper colonies, yeah. Leper colonies, absolutely put all the lepers together in one place and they would lose limbs and digits, yeah, and things like that. It was really a sad sight.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely. You might have somebody whose part of the skin of their face is missing, different things like that. I mean, it was a pretty horrendous type of thing. Um, and so obviously, you know, these guys were in need of healing. And so it said in verse 12, as he entered one of the building, one of the villages, he was met by ten lepers. They stood at a distance, and again, this is because of the societal issues at the time. Uh, they stood at a distance and raised their voices, shouting, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when Jesus saw them, he said, Go show yourselves to the priest. Now, what he's referring to there was a uh it was a ceremonial type of thing that they would do in the Levitical law in the Old Testament. There was a whole system, a protocol of like purification. Like if a leper got healed, then he would go show himself to the priest. The priest would declare him officially clean and free from the disease. And then I think there was an offering or something they would do. I don't remember all the details, but long story short, when Jesus said, Go show yourself to the priest, the lepers knew exactly what that meant because that meant you're healed. Basically, that's what it boiled down to. Jesus was saying, basically, I'm declaring that you're healed. And it's interesting because it says right after that, verse 14, and as they were on their way, they were cleansed. So I'm sure they were thinking, like, hold on, you didn't you didn't touch me, you didn't pray over me, you didn't, you know, how do I know I'm healed? Am I just supposed to start walking? And that was exactly what Jesus told them to do. Go show yourself to the priest. And it says, as they were on their way, they were cleansed. So it was that act of faith, that act of, I believe that Jesus, if he told me this, that means he declares I'm healed. So I'm gonna go ahead and walk as if I'm healed and go show myself to the priest. And as they were on their way, that act of faith produced that cleansing. They were cleansed. In verse 15, when one of them saw that he was healed. Now look what he did. This is this is fantastic. He came back praising God in a loud voice. Now, again, think about the type of social pressure, the type of uh mental toll that would take on somebody to have a very visible disease that would automatically consider you to or render you as an outcast in society. And now you're completely healed, you can be integrated back in, you know, you didn't you won't give anybody else any kind of disease. You talk about freedom, you know, you won't have that ailment anymore. I mean, dude, that's a reason to praise God. That's a reason to be very thankful. So he came back with just a heart full of thanksgiving. He was praising with a loud voice, it says, and uh, and back in verse 17, I'm sorry, not verse 17, maybe it was 17. Uh almost lost my there it is in verse 15. It says, He came back praising God in a loud voice. In verse 16, he fell face down at Jesus' feet in thanksgiving to him. Dude, I don't blame him. Uh, and he was a Samaritan, so this guy wasn't even an Israelite, he wasn't even part officially, technically part of the Abrahamic covenant, but Jesus healed him anyway. And then verse 17, and Jesus asked a question I thought was interesting. He said, Were not all ten cleansed? Jesus asked. Where then are the other nine? Verse 18, was no one found except this foreigner to return and give glory to God? Now look at that, it's like it was it was kind of a kind of an odd thing to the Lord. He was like, You mean nobody came back to thank God but this one dude? Wow. And then in verse 19, then Jesus said to him, Rise and go, your faith has made you well. Now, in the King James, I like the way it was put in there, it says, Rise and go, your faith has made you whole. And the reason why I like that word whole there, W-H-O-L-E, is because it probably extended beyond just physical healing. I think the wholeness that Jesus spoke over this guy was also the healing of his mind from the trauma of being in that disease, having that disease. Uh, all the years that he spent feeling that rejection, feeling being that that that thing of being out uh outside of normal society, all of that I believe was part of his repair, part of his becoming whole. And not only that, but there could have been some financial restitution that happened too, because I'm sure that you know, for people who maybe were dealing with that type of thing, they probably were trying to spend money on physicians or whatever the case was to try to find a way to get cured from it. So there could have been a financial element where he got made whole from as well. So uh to me, it like Jesus took it a level beyond for the guy who came back and was thankful. He said, Not only did I cleanse you of the leprosy, but you're made whole now, you're completely restored. So uh I just thought it was a fat fantastic story, man.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's a great one, Philip. I want to take us to another one. I want to look at Acts chapter 27. And if we look at Acts chapter 27, and we start uh at verse 33, we see Paul uh on a ship headed to um um ultimate he's gone on a journey here, you know. He sails for Rome on this ship, and in the midst of that trip, that journey, there's a storm at sea. Um in verse 13 it says, when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they have obtained their purpose, they sailed close by Crete. But not long after that, there arose great, there arose against it a tempest wind called Eurocliden. So basically a huge storm.
SPEAKER_03:Um the wind had a name, bro. That must have been pretty serious, right? Right, okay, sorry.
SPEAKER_00:And so there they are thinking they're out good and they got the right wind, and it's like, no, it's Eurocliden. Uh and they were like, No, not that dude. And so that's not really how it happened. Uh but they I'm sure they realized quickly they had aired. Right, right. And so um, there were all kinds of things they were out there for uh 15 nights overall. Verse 27 says, But when the 14th night was come, as we were driven up and down in Adria, about midnight, the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country and sounded and found at twenty fathoms. And when they had gone a little further, they sounded again and found it fifteen fathoms. Then, fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast forth anchors out of the stern. So they found some land, and as they tested it out, they found they were at one point, and then shortly thereafter, they were found out that they were five more fathoms down, which meant that land was approaching quickly. And so they were concerned, so they dropped anchors. Well, um, you don't even have to know a whole lot about sailing to know. You drop anchors in the middle of a Eurocliden type of wind, the degree that this wind was, that they say, and you're going to ultimately tear that ship apart.
SPEAKER_04:Wow. Wow.
SPEAKER_00:And so, and verse 33 it says, And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that you have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing. Wherefore I pray you to take some meat, for this is for your health, for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you. And when he had thus spoken, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all. And when he had broken it, he began to eat. Then were they all of good cheer, and they also took some meat, and we were in all we were all in the ship, two hundred and thirty three score and sixteen souls, so two hundred and seventy-six souls. Wow. And when they had eaten enough, yeah, good lord, they enlightened the ship and cast out the wheat into the sea. So they recognize the situation as dire, and Paul steps up here. You know, that even at one point before this, some of them were trying to jump off the ship. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And Paul was like, not a single man can leave the ship. So Paul already knew what God wanted to do, he already had the promise. And he said to the Centerion and to the soldiers, Except these stay in the ship, you cannot be saved. So then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat and let her fall off. But I find it so interesting here that in the midst of this dire situation, this is life and death, because you're out in the middle of the ocean and there is no boat. And even 15 fathoms by boat that could be a prop that could get you there maybe quickly, and you run up and wreck your ship against the rocks. But you jumping in the sea to switch to swim 15 fathoms, you look up a fathom and see how far that is.
SPEAKER_04:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:Imagine giving thanks in the midst of all of that, yet in his giving thanks, look what happened. All of the men's hearts became merry. My goodness, they were all of good cheer, it says. Right in the middle of that story, in the midst of trouble, Thanksgiving was offered and received.
SPEAKER_03:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:You got another one, Philip?
SPEAKER_03:Um, I well before I jump to the next thing, I just wanted to say, I mean, think about like um the type of flip that was in their minds from because you said that all the men were merry, you know, after Paul had said what he said and prayed the prayer. But can you imagine like the type of desperation that might have tried to creep in during a time like that with these guys? Yeah. I mean, even if you're an experienced sailor, uh, you know, you run up against something like that. It's like, am I gonna make it out of this alive? It might be crossing your mind, you know. So um, I just thought that was awesome.
SPEAKER_00:Might might be was. I mean, yeah, who wasn't sitting there saying, you know, I didn't tell my baby so and so. I wish I could, you know, you know, making their own lives flash before their eyes, yeah, you know, yeah, for real.
SPEAKER_03:Like when you come to a moment like that in life where where you truly do think or you truly wonder if this might be my last day on earth, brother, all kinds of stuff can run through your head. Yes, I can't. You know, so and um speaking as someone who has experienced that, I can tell you, you know, it's it's uh you know, to to be in a time like that with that much pressure and stress, and then here comes the the the spirit of God really to bring that merry merriment or whatever however you'd say that in a cheer. The cheer, the good cheer. Um, I I firmly believe that it was you know that that was the work of the Holy Spirit, you know, like you said, the the promise of God through Paul that calmed those men's hearts, you know, to where they they could have the confidence to that they're gonna get through it. So good stuff, man.
SPEAKER_00:And the giving of thanks, y'all. The giving of thanks.
SPEAKER_03:That's it. That's it. But um, I want to jump to to John chapter 11. You're talking about another scripture that uh that we could go to. Uh John 11. This is one of those things, one of the most famous stories in the Bible. It's not really a story, it's an account. I want to make sure I make that clear. Um, but this is about the when Lazarus died.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's a good one.
SPEAKER_03:Man, let me tell you. Uh in verse one, it says, Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. So this was Mary and Martha's hometown. It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, not the same Mary that was Jesus' mom, a different Mary, uh, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. So she was very familiar with the Lord Jesus. She had, you know, obviously had done this, uh, what was recorded, I think in John 9, uh, maybe it's where that whole situation was recorded. But um, in verse 3 it says, Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. Interesting. Evidently, Jesus had some type of friendship or connection with Lazarus. He said, He whom you love is sick. And in verse 4, when Jesus heard that, he said, first thing he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So this is these are people he was very fond of. They had some kind of connection, you know, probably far far more than what the scriptures record, obviously. Uh, in verse 5, when he had heard, therefore, that that he was sick, talking about Lazarus, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. And I'm my first thought is, really? You know, but then you know we will keep going. Then after that, he said to his disciples, Let us go into Judea again. His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee, and goest thou thither again? He's like, Man, just a few days ago, they were trying to kill you. You sure you want to go that area again? Um, his disciples said, Yeah, and Jesus answered verse 9, Are there not 12 hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he sees the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbles because there is no light in him. And I'm sure that went like right over the disciples' head, uh in some way. But um, in verse 11 it says, These things said he, and after that he said to them, Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. And then said his disciples, I love this, well, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. They're probably thinking he meant physical sleep. Like, okay, well, if he's resting, hey, let him rest, he'll he'll he'll recover. Uh, and then Jesus had to give them the reality check at that point. Uh then said uh verse 13, it said, Howbeit Jesus spake of his death, but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest and sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, so he's giving them the absolute no-holds barred truth of the matter. Lazarus is dead. And in verse 15, this was probably a shocker to them. He said, And I'm glad for your sake that I was not there. Can you imagine what they might do?
SPEAKER_00:It's like, why did he say that?
SPEAKER_03:And I'm glad for your sake that I wasn't there, to the intent that you may believe. Now he's got a reason for not going earlier. Nevertheless, let us go unto him. Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, let us also go that we may die with him. So Thomas is thinking, you know, okay, the Jews are after Jesus, we might as well go and be gangsters right along with them, you know. Okay, verse 17. Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave, talking about Lazarus, had lain in the grave four days already. That was probably not a very pleasant situation. Uh, in verse 18. Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about 15 furlongs off. And and many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother. Then Martha, as soon as she had heard that Jesus was coming and went and met him, but Mary sat still in the house. And then Martha said unto Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother had not died. But I know that even now, whatsoever you will ask of God, God will give it to you. She's like, Hey, look, maybe it's still not too late, you know. Verse I love her.
SPEAKER_00:I just I love her faith right there. Man, yes, just she's just all in.
SPEAKER_03:She was like, You know what? I would I wish he would have been here before he passed, but you know what? Even now, I'm pretty sure you can you can bring this guy back. Um, and then verse 23. I love this. Jesus tells her plain as day what's going to happen. Verse 23, Jesus said to her, Your brother shall rise again. And then verse 24, Martha got a little deep with it. She said, Martha said unto him, Well, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. You know, she was thinking like he meant far off in the future, you know, that whole thing. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, lady. Okay, don't you worry about that. I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She said unto him, Yeah, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who should come into the world. All right. Uh well, I know I've already spent a lot of time on this. We'll go down to um let's see here. Yeah, we're gonna go down to about verse 34. Uh this is where Jesus uh went to actually, you know, to find out where Lazarus was. Jesus in verse 34 said, Where had you laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. And then verse 35, Jesus wept. Shortest verse in the Bible, but man, has it been quoted all over the place?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, it has.
SPEAKER_03:And then verse uh 36, then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him. Okay, now verse 38. Um, actually, we'll skip to verse 39. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, said to him, Lord, by this time he stinketh. He stinketh, man. For he's been dead for four days. And then Jesus had to reminder, Jesus said to her, Said I not unto you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God. Don't forget what I told you, lady. So then they took away the stone, sorry, from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Now, here's the whole point I was trying to get to. I took the the scenic route. He said in verse uh third verse 41, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. Now, this is interesting because there's no record in this chapter previously of Jesus praying anything to the Father. I thought that was interesting, but he said it in past tense. Thank you that you have heard me. You have already heard me, and it reminds me of what Jesus told everybody in Matthew 7. He said, Your father knows what you have need of before you even ask him. He knows. He said, Father, I thank you. So he was thanking God for hearing the very thing that Jesus may not have physically asked yet. You know what I'm saying? That's pretty awesome. And I know, verse 42, and I love this, and I know that you hear me always, but because of the people which stand by, I said, that they may believe that you've sent me. Imagine seeing this, y'all. Like Jesus is standing there, he's looking up at the you know, to the heavens. He says, God, thank you that you heard me. And I know you hear me all the time. I'm just need I wanted to say that for the people that are around. You know, it's like this thing like, just in case, you know, they don't know that we're like this, you and me, Father. You know, I gotta let them know that's how we are. Um, and verse 43 and when he thus had spoken, now again, he did this with thanksgiving first. When he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus. Come forth and verse 44, he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes. I'm like, I guess he was scooting, you know.
SPEAKER_00:There's no denying what that picture might have looked like.
SPEAKER_03:I know, and maybe he was doing like the three-legged sack race where you're just hopping along. You know, we don't know. Uh his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said to him, Loose him and let him go. So they they took the grave clothes off, and this dude literally came out of the grave and lived again. So that was the power of what God can do when thanksgiving is being brought forth. You know, we and I just find it so awesome that Jesus chose to give thanks first. And it's not only true with that, but also with the Last Supper and when He like you, I think you mentioned earlier, when He fed the 5,000, he gave thanks and then broke the bread. It's this pattern of Thanksgiving being a prerequisite uh before the miracles take place.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's good, Phil. We're gonna put a bookmark in it right there, but you guys realize that what we're talking about is not just in these couple of places. You can you can look at the the uh the marriage supper, you know, the last supper, and you see once again Jesus before giving each of the elements, the bread and the wine, he gives thanks and then he distributes out to all of the people. If you look at uh Philippians chapter four and you look at verse six, uh Paul reminds us to be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God. And there are other verses and scriptures that we see over and over again where this happens, and so what we're communicating to you is that it's our responsibility to lead with thanksgiving, and thanksgiving will then lead us, and so we just have to trust God through all of those things, man. We're so glad that you guys have joined us tonight. Uh thank you, thank you, thank you for listening. We appreciate you, and we appreciate that you're willing to spend time and to hear from us, and uh, we hope that we're scratching that itch, if you would, uh, that you have to understand and better walk with Jesus every day so that you too can hear him say, Well done, my good and faithful servant. Philip, any final thoughts before we wrap?
SPEAKER_03:No, I am good. Uh I've said plenty. Uh, just just I would encourage everybody just to find things to be thankful for. Count your blessings, just make that part of your everyday mindset. That's it.
SPEAKER_00:And this this is in the you know, maybe one of the in the pre-show, I asked the question about why is this such a season where everybody feels like just kind of slowing down. And we live a fast-paced life, especially in this country, other countries it may be just a little bit different. But in this time that we slow down, what a great opportunity to give things and to re realign our focus and attention and our effort to lead with Thanksgiving. Well, you guys, thanks so much again for joining us. Uh, make sure that you connect with us on social media. We'd love to connect with you there. We put reminders out there about some of the things we've talked about. We bring some key points forward for you. You can find us on Instagram, TikTok. You can find us also as you may already have us on YouTube and Rumble. We're just so glad to have everybody here to be a part of the Bible Bros and Brew family. Until next time, I'm David. He's Philip. Hiding in the back is John, and we are out.
