Curt Harlow [00:00:00]:
Hello, my friend, and welcome to another episode of the Bible Study Pod. I have everyone's favorite, at least the available today. Favorite, Kevin Thompson. Kevin, what chapter are we in today?
Kevin Thompson [00:00:13]:
Acts 24. I love the Bible study.
Curt Harlow [00:00:15]:
Yes.
Kevin Thompson [00:00:16]:
There are none other.
Curt Harlow [00:00:17]:
No others.
Kevin Thompson [00:00:18]:
Just this one.
Curt Harlow [00:00:18]:
No. Yeah, I'm coming at you. Other Bible studies. So we are in chapter 24. Kevin, just catch us up a little bit. We are in the last four messages of our series. Been doing quite a while here at Bayside. Every campus does the same passage, but different communicators have slightly different takes on it, but all within solid hermeneutics.
Curt Harlow [00:00:41]:
Give us a little of the context here, Kevin, on our passage.
Kevin Thompson [00:00:43]:
Yeah. So this is kind of the culmination of what we've been studying for months from the standpoint of Paul has been persecuted. So there's this great pattern throughout Acts, right? The apostles go to a new territory. They preach, great response. That happens, that irritates the religious leaders. They experience persecution. They then scatter to the next new location. The word is preached, great response, more persecution, and they scatter to the next.
Kevin Thompson [00:01:09]:
And now this has reached a culmination where we get to Jerusalem. Paul's arrested. And now for the rest of the book. This is where he's gonna be. He's gonna be somewhat in chains now. Some believe he got released after this, but this is gonna be the rest of his life. And so now we're getting into the trials and ultimately an appeal to Rome. And really we're watching as God is taking the Jewish religious leaders and the Gospel of Jesus Christ kind of Christianity and showing the contrast and the great debate that's going on there.
Curt Harlow [00:01:40]:
Yeah, very good. So we're going to start in verse 22, and we're going to read it through. And then Kevin and I are going to kind of dissect some hermeneutical and exegetical principles. Hermeneutical meaning. Let's use the right sort of smartest thinking and tools with the text and exegetical meaning. Let's come with the right unbiased attitude. We're here to learn whatever the Bible wants us to learn. Starting at verse 22.
Curt Harlow [00:02:06]:
Pull over if you're driving. If not, I hope you got a Bible in front of you. Here we go. 24, 22. Since Felix was informed about the way, he adjourned the hearing, saying, when you. We debated this for quite a bit.
Kevin Thompson [00:02:25]:
Right before, and neither one of us knew how to say it beforehand. But now I sound so knowledgeable.
Curt Harlow [00:02:29]:
No, yeah, yeah. When Lus. The Commander comes down, I will decide your case. Being Paul, he ordered that the centurion keep Paul under guard, though he he could have some freedom, and that he should not prevent any of his friends from meeting his needs. Several days later, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and listened to him on the subject of faith in Christ Jesus. Now he spoke about righteousness, self control and the judgment to come. Felix was afraid and replied, leave for now, but when I have the opportunity, I'll call for you. At the same time he was also hoping that Paul would offer him money.
Curt Harlow [00:03:10]:
So he sent for him quite often, I mean, and conversed with him. After two years had passed, Prosius Festus succeeded Felix and because Felix wanted to do the Jews a favor, he left Paul in prison. What I find interesting about the context here, Kevin, is that we have this macro view of how people respond to the Gospel throughout the book of Acts. So just as you said, Paul goes into Ephesus, Philippi, Athens and a pretty similar Athens. A little bit different, but a pretty similar pattern. He's fruitful. Everywhere people come to Christ, Jews come to Christ, God fearing Greeks who know the Old Testament come to Christ and complete pagan Greeks come to Christ. All three come to Christ.
Curt Harlow [00:03:58]:
Also though there is a bunch of people that yawn and leave and are like, we're not even sure why we're protesting. We don't understand what's going on here. We're just with the crowd and then there are people that are adamantly opposed, aggressively, violently opposed and you kind of have these three different groups. Now we get the micro. So now it's not the giant crowd of Athens. It's not the complete Greek pagan culture of Philippi or Corinth. It's not the primarily Jewish, but with a lot of gentiles of Ephesus. It's one guy in charge, a guy named Felix.
Curt Harlow [00:04:37]:
I don't know if you're like me, I just keep thinking Felix the cat. But you got to put some, you got to put some like gravitas to Felix.
Kevin Thompson [00:04:44]:
It's not Felix, it's Governor Felix.
Curt Harlow [00:04:45]:
Yes, he's got a lot of power here and he is familiar with Christianity before Paul. It tells us, and then he has this very unique response. What do you make of this passage? Why did Luke and the Holy Spirit go, yeah, we gotta get this little story of how Paul witnessed to Felix into the big picture.
Kevin Thompson [00:05:04]:
Yeah, I think on one hand Luke is giving us history and he's just saying, hey, here are the trials that happen. And here's how, ultimately, here's how Paul's going to end up in Rome, all those kind of things. But then I think there is this really practical kind of concept of how when we're presenting the gospel, people are going to respond in different ways. And what I love about this passage is it's a very, to me, Western American approach to Christianity. He kind of knows about it, kind of intrigued about it, wants to bring his wife around it. Hey, can I make some money off of it? I love to.
Curt Harlow [00:05:40]:
That's a really good point.
Kevin Thompson [00:05:42]:
The NIV has this language.
Curt Harlow [00:05:43]:
He's the first American in the Bible.
Kevin Thompson [00:05:46]:
Little capitalism. The NIV has this language. I don't remember what translation you read, but it says, when I find it convenient, I will send for you.
Curt Harlow [00:05:55]:
Yes.
Kevin Thompson [00:05:55]:
And just that idea of literally his eternity is at stake. He doesn't recognize it.
Curt Harlow [00:06:00]:
Yes.
Kevin Thompson [00:06:01]:
So is it convenient? Is it Easter? Is it Christmas? Has Mama died? Do I want to take this faith seriously or not?
Curt Harlow [00:06:07]:
Am I going through a crisis?
Kevin Thompson [00:06:08]:
No. And then the rest of the time, it's just not convenient to me. So I'll appease the Jews. I'll leave you in prison. Not that big of a deal to me. Basically toying now with the very voice that God has sent to save him. And he doesn't even recognize what a.
Curt Harlow [00:06:21]:
Privilege that he has. Paul, the great missionary in front of him.
Kevin Thompson [00:06:24]:
Hey, no excuses for Felix.
Curt Harlow [00:06:25]:
Yeah, no, not at all. So immediately when I read this, I went immediately to the parable of the four seats and the parable of the soyer sower. And for years, when I worked with the university students, Kevin. I just got into this mode. I'm not sure even how I discovered this. When I would meet with a student and we were new in our relationship, I would read that parable to him. I'm like, let's have a cup of coffee, get to know each other, share our stories. And once we got a little bit familiar with each other, I'd say, can I read you a parable and ask you a question? And I read in the parable of the Four Soils, so there is the hard soil.
Curt Harlow [00:06:59]:
Seed goes down on the soil. Birds come and get it. Nothing happens. There's the rocky soil. The seed can't take root because the rocks are the problem. There's the weedy soil. The seeds are robbed of nutrients by the competition of the weeds, and then there is the soft soil. And here is the amazing thing about human nature and the gospel and how the Holy Spirit prepares people.
Curt Harlow [00:07:23]:
Almost everyone I meet with would be brutally honest. They'd answer the question honestly.
Kevin Thompson [00:07:28]:
And the question. The question, which one is which are you?
Curt Harlow [00:07:30]:
Which one are you? I can remember a guy named Kelly at Cal State Stanislaus. I'll call him Kelly because that's his name. And I read it, and he said, oh, I'm the hard soil. I'm the hard soil. Here's my background. Here's what happened to me as a child. We barely know each other. And he's like, I'm the hard soil.
Curt Harlow [00:07:49]:
I don't. I don't. Anything that, in essence, he said. I'm not quoting him directly. Anything that has hope attached to it repels me.
Kevin Thompson [00:07:57]:
Wow.
Curt Harlow [00:07:58]:
Because I don't want to be disappointed. And it's. It's. I can only attribute it to the power of the parable itself. It's like, people go, there's. I just. I do not have the courage to lie about this. And I will tell you.
Curt Harlow [00:08:14]:
Guess which soils were the most popular most often?
Kevin Thompson [00:08:19]:
Answer. It should be weedy. That's the one that should be the most.
Curt Harlow [00:08:22]:
Yeah. No, no, no. Weedy and rocky. I would say Wheatie was in first place. I really. It's Felix.
Kevin Thompson [00:08:29]:
Yeah. Yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:08:29]:
I am really interested in this. I'm convicted about this. I have competition that I do not want to get rid of in my life, and I. To really take this seriously, I would have to pull some things up by the roots. That would be. I just don't want it. It's not convenient for me to do that. In your words.
Curt Harlow [00:08:51]:
And then we'd see Rocky, too. Like, I used to be on fire for Christ. I used to go to church regularly. I can't tell you the amount of people. And this is just. To me, what happens when I read the Bible all the time, how credible this passage is. 2000 years ago, different culture, different language, different government, different socioeconomics. Everything.
Curt Harlow [00:09:13]:
Everything about Felix is as different from you and I as it could be. And yet I see Felix every day.
Kevin Thompson [00:09:20]:
Oh, yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:09:21]:
I see him every day. And I can't tell you the amount of people that would say to me, I had this moment in young life where I felt God. I had this moment in youth group. A friend brought me to camp. I went with a friend to Easter once. I had a random moment hiking in the mountains where I felt like Jesus spoke to me or called me, and then I did nothing about it or I did something about it for three months or half a year. And that's the rocky soil I sprouted really quickly. And now I'm talking to you five years later about this.
Curt Harlow [00:09:58]:
Like we talk a lot about there's the world so unchurched. That's true. They're not un Jesused, though. I mean, I think the Holy Spirit's more active than we know and putting more Pauls in front of more Felixes than we know.
Kevin Thompson [00:10:13]:
It's interesting. A lot of scholars believe that that parable of the sower is the key interpretive parable for all the other parables, that that's the one you have to understand that Jesus meant for us to understand. If I'm not mistaken, I think it's in all four gospels, at least three of the four. And that's the interpretive key. And then now I love now taking that parable as the lens through which we're going to even read, which by.
Curt Harlow [00:10:36]:
The way, Acts 24, using Jesus as the lens interpreting the rest of the Bible is pretty. So I got a question might come up in seminary.
Kevin Thompson [00:10:43]:
What's your take? And I mean, there's interpretation here because we're not told.
Curt Harlow [00:10:46]:
Right.
Kevin Thompson [00:10:47]:
Why did he bring his wife? And in that culture, I mean, was that a good relationship where she's Jewish? And now he was intrigued to see what are you gonna think about this? Was he creating some conflict of man? The Jews really don't like Paul. I mean, some do. But how are you gonna deal with my wife? Like, have you dealt with these other people? What's going on with the bringing of the wife?
Curt Harlow [00:11:10]:
And here's my total guess on it. So we might be departing from the solid hermeneutics that we're.
Kevin Thompson [00:11:15]:
This has become a Bible study now.
Curt Harlow [00:11:17]:
Yeah, yeah. So I think there's a great tension in our sinful nature and our image of God that's in us. So the image of God, I believe, is fully reflected in both male and female. He made us. It was good. This is a very ancient Jewish kind of teaching that when male and female come together cooperatively, we get the fullest expression of that. This is good part of creation. The gift of celibacy is the grace to reflect God's nature in your life without the help of a spouse, which is really truly a supernatural gift and very rare, I believe.
Curt Harlow [00:11:56]:
So you have this powerful, powerful thing that I think shows up in every culture, every place. It shows up in a lot of. It's untaught. It's DNA level. I need the other gender to become fully who I am. Then you have our sinful nature, which makes us incredibly biased, cruel and sexist. Long, long history of suppressing Whoever is not as strong physically, literally physically, if I have physical power over you. And of course that's a generalization.
Curt Harlow [00:12:33]:
But males, denser bones, more muscle mass. Da da, da. So I think you have this weird dynamic where there is a good chance that Felix actually needs the counsel of his wife and that she has a influence on him that has made him familiar with Christianity and familiar with the Old Testament. So it could be a very positive thing. Could be she's a great leader and a great person and he has a relationship with her where he really respects and needs her piece of advice. It could could be that sort of weird manipulation where he's throwing her into the mix just for fun and games and, you know, all that sort of thing. We don't know. And most likely, Kevin, it's a little both.
Curt Harlow [00:13:17]:
She probably has more power and influence in the relationship than he even realizes. And he's probably got more nefarious motives than the passage tells us. That's my best guess.
Kevin Thompson [00:13:27]:
No, absolutely. I. I'm intrigued by what Paul chose to talk about.
Curt Harlow [00:13:32]:
Yes.
Kevin Thompson [00:13:32]:
So you're in this thing. You're now in front of this governor. He actually is intrigued. He wants to listen to what you're going to communicate. And the text says very specifically, oddly specific.
Curt Harlow [00:13:44]:
Yes.
Kevin Thompson [00:13:44]:
So we have this generic. He spoke about faith in Christ, Jesus. Okay, great. And as Paul talked about righteousness, self control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid. Why those three? And first of all, what would be your three? And why these three?
Curt Harlow [00:14:05]:
Oh, those are my three. Every time.
Kevin Thompson [00:14:07]:
Kevin.
Curt Harlow [00:14:09]:
You know, I do believe that we have too much of a man centered idea of evangelism us centered idea of evangelism. So if the Apostle Paul had, he was fruitful, people got saved, people ignored him and went along with the crowd and didn't change a bit and didn't even know why they were there and people got mad. We are going to have those three reactions as well. And probably every time the gospel is presented, those three reactions happen in some degree. So we spent a lot of time going, let's have a seminar at thrive on how to be more effective at witnessing or how can churches be more effective at witnessing.
Kevin Thompson [00:14:56]:
How not to make people mad. Right. Or afraid.
Curt Harlow [00:14:59]:
Yes, yes. And of course there is the offense of personality, which is different from the offense of the gospel. We can do this offensively. I've seen it happen many times. But the real seminar we should do is are you preaching the gospel? Just are you telling your friends and neighbors, co workers, Are you telling them the gospel? The gift of evangelism trains us and equips us to serve people by telling them the gospel. We're all witnesses. And I. So my three tend to be four, and they tend to be Campus Crusade for Christ, Bill Bright.
Curt Harlow [00:15:38]:
That's what my four are. There is a God, There's a problem, you're a sinner. God's incredibly astonishing loving response to my pride, lust, greed, et cetera, et cetera, is to send his only begotten son, fully God, fully man. And now, attracted by grace and the Holy Spirit, I must make a decision. But I can't remember ever going White throne judgment.
Kevin Thompson [00:16:09]:
I think maybe I should.
Curt Harlow [00:16:11]:
I should.
Kevin Thompson [00:16:11]:
Maybe we should try this. This is brilliant from standpoint. So think about it. This idea. All right, let's start with righteousness. Yeah, I'm not there. I recognize that I'm not there, but I do recognize there is a concept of righteousness that I should be in some way. Okay, let's drive that home.
Kevin Thompson [00:16:26]:
Even more self control. It's what we all want, right? I mean, was this close to a New Year's resolution?
Curt Harlow [00:16:33]:
You want to get people convicted? Go write yourself.
Kevin Thompson [00:16:36]:
The idea that, I know I should have this. I don't have it. Even if I have it some, that just makes me more guilty that I don't have it more often. We can look at it now. It's the fruit of the Spirit, so it doesn't have it.
Curt Harlow [00:16:46]:
Right.
Kevin Thompson [00:16:46]:
So righteousness. Nope, don't have that. Self control. Nope, don't have that. Bad news. Judgment's coming. Well, it's almost like this perfect trifecta. Now, to point into Jesus in a way that I would never consider.
Kevin Thompson [00:16:59]:
I'm talking about man. God has. Has a plan for your life. And, you know, you're a little. You're broken. That's our phrase. You're broken.
Curt Harlow [00:17:06]:
What will you knit in your mother's womb for?
Kevin Thompson [00:17:08]:
God wants.
Curt Harlow [00:17:09]:
Let's find the color of your parachute.
Kevin Thompson [00:17:11]:
That's exactly right. But instead, Paul, like, pierces the very heart of this very powerful man at the issues, that he would know that I don't have that and that this throne can't save me anything like that. And the result, get this. Felix was afraid. Well, now in that moment of fear, you have a choice. You can either live in denial of it and send Paul on back, or you can actually lean into it and actually ask Paul, then what is the answer? And so the brilliance of this evangelistic experience was it forced a decision. And then Paul, the great evangelist felt no responsibility.
Curt Harlow [00:17:53]:
Right.
Kevin Thompson [00:17:54]:
For the outcome as we should. It's tempting for us to do so. You know, whenever you communicate at Auburn on Sunday, I'll be at Blue Oaks. We'll just look at that.
Curt Harlow [00:18:02]:
I was just going to ask you, where are you preaching this past.
Kevin Thompson [00:18:04]:
Yeah, so I'm at Blue Oaks.
Curt Harlow [00:18:05]:
You should go to that sermon they specifically need if you're not coming to Auburn.
Kevin Thompson [00:18:09]:
Righteousness.
Curt Harlow [00:18:09]:
Because that was really good, what you just said.
Kevin Thompson [00:18:11]:
But then I got to stand back.
Curt Harlow [00:18:13]:
Yes.
Kevin Thompson [00:18:14]:
And go, look, this is not my task. Because if I think I can manipulate a response, then first of all, I'm not getting a true response. I'm getting manipulation. And then suddenly I'm taking credit, and I don't want to take credit for your salvation because I don't want to take blame for who you are, what you did.
Curt Harlow [00:18:29]:
Well, also, I did not come with wires of persuasive words, but a demonstration of the spirit's power. So we make no converts. The Holy Spirit makes the converts. We are the ambassador. What you just said just sparked a memory, though. I have started with righteousness in witnessing to people, but here's the error I made. I did it only with international students. And here's how we do it.
Curt Harlow [00:18:54]:
So we would talk and I'd say, if you will tell me your worldview, I'll tell you my worldview. And so you respectfully, you really earn the debt of listening. You can't just go, this is a manipulative technique. Tell me what you know, you believe from Indonesia, you're Muslim, probably, and I'll tell you what it means to be an evangelical in America. You have to really listen. And when you actually listen, what you find with a lot of 18 to 25 year olds, worldview is that it almost never, and this is even true with a lot of people raised in the church, but it almost never takes into account the problem of justice and injustice. So we have five tenets to our faith. My parents are Buddhist, I come from a secular home, and here's my worldview, all of those.
Curt Harlow [00:19:49]:
At the end, I would find myself naturally, not manipulative, naturally going, so what do you do with the injustice that you bring into the world? How does your worldview handle that problem? And the answer is always try harder. Oh, yeah, it's some version of, I'm gonna do more good than I did bad. And I'll go, this is the primary place where you and I disagree and the primary place where we should discuss, we shouldn't talk about, you know, your view of Mary, which sometimes when you talk with Muslims they wanna talk that idea. Or how did Jesus really die on the cross? Or not. Let's not start there. Cause those conversations have been had a lot and not been fruitful. Let's start with what does your worldview do with the injustice you bring into the world? And what does my worldview view? How do we take it? And let's have an exchange there because I don't think I understand your worldview enough. But in that sense you really are talking the issue of righteousness.
Curt Harlow [00:20:49]:
You're talking, what do you do about the fact that we are not righteous. And it's not something that's very. I can't remember a single conversation. Atheist model, agnostic, in other words, really smart agnostics where they tried to argue that they were righteous. They might argue that humanity is righteous, which is a loser argument by the way. Sorry, all my friends read the headlines. Yeah, exactly. But all that to say, I think your point is very well taken.
Curt Harlow [00:21:20]:
This is a brilliant approach by Paul.
Kevin Thompson [00:21:21]:
And even the concept of self control.
Curt Harlow [00:21:23]:
Yes. Of why it's the micro of that righteous issue.
Kevin Thompson [00:21:26]:
Why do we. Not only do we lack self control, why do we know we should have more?
Curt Harlow [00:21:31]:
Right, Right.
Kevin Thompson [00:21:33]:
Well, it's not like my German shepherd of old was out there going, man, I should have more self. Whenever my owner puts, you know, chicken out, I'm no, they just go get it.
Curt Harlow [00:21:42]:
I was going to go somewhere dark. We're like, I've destroyed that carpet in there. And I felt really bad. There is a whole Instagram feed devoted to guilty looking dogs. And I often, I often think even dogs have a conscience. Yes.
Kevin Thompson [00:21:58]:
I love, I love the idea too here of, of the. He sent for him frequently. Yeah, this wasn't a one time conversation. It was this intrigue and is this a little governmental boredom? And so this was, you know, whenever he wanted to have a change of scenery, he called Paul in and have this conversation about these eternal things. Or is this kind of gnawing? I wonder if he's having trouble sleeping sometimes at night thinking about what Paul had said. And Paul brings him, he comes back in. And Paul is more than welcome to talk. As long as I'm here, I'll talk wherever I go.
Kevin Thompson [00:22:34]:
This is what I'm going to do. This is that idea of frequently talking.
Curt Harlow [00:22:38]:
I have had many students in my life, and adults too in my last 14 years at Bayside. But the missional environment of the secular university campus really facilitates this many students in this. I want to have this conversation frequently. And usually the curve of it goes like This I am convicted and bothered by the sense of truth in the gospel message. Then I want to debate you. I'm going to prove you wrong. I am going to be Lee Strobel. I'm going to go out there and prove you wrong.
Curt Harlow [00:23:14]:
And then one of two things happens. I realize this is God's grace in my life and they become a Christian or I don't want to speak ever again because this is too hard to think about. And the saddest Felix might be the saddest character in all of Acts. I'd almost rather you have the guy going, gosh, you're ruining my idol building business. But you have Felix who's like, I probably hint enough to get a bribe out of this. But you sense that's not the whole thing. That's not the whole thing. He's afraid.
Curt Harlow [00:23:56]:
At some point it penetrates. I was telling the students in Mexico, I said, my biggest fear for you coming down here in Mexico is that you'll build houses, love on kids, make great friends, encounter great leaders, show up at the meetings at night, lift your hands in worship, weep and pray at the altar with your friends and almost be changed. And then you'll go back home and you'll go to your high school and you'll go to your nice family, a lot of them just from Christian homes too. And you won't really be transformed. You'll have had a week long experience that you'll think about fondly.
Kevin Thompson [00:24:37]:
It's Felix.
Curt Harlow [00:24:38]:
Yeah. It's the saddest thing in the world.
Kevin Thompson [00:24:40]:
So close.
Curt Harlow [00:24:41]:
It's the saddest thing in the world.
Kevin Thompson [00:24:42]:
He had more spiritual conversations than so many other people.
Curt Harlow [00:24:46]:
Yeah.
Kevin Thompson [00:24:47]:
So close. Almost.
Curt Harlow [00:24:49]:
Yeah. I gotta think, Kevin, there might be someone listening to this conversation right now. Not to be cheesy, but that you're attracted to the things of God. They are, understand the gospel, well acquainted with the way. Well acquainted with the way. Yeah. You know you're not righteous. I know I don't have enough self control.
Curt Harlow [00:25:11]:
Every afternoon right after the lunch I picked and man, I just think our appeal would be. Let's get to the application. My application. I'll go first for once. My application would be if there's someone out there listening that you don't almost let God change you. Don't be Felix. Just as simple as that. If you had to give an application of this passage, Kevin, what would you.
Kevin Thompson [00:25:39]:
Well, let's take it from the other side then. So you're going with somebody who's. Who is a pre Christian, not yet a Christian. Let's go with a Christian. All right. The opportunity to testify, to evangelize at the highest of levels. If you truly love Jesus, you would love to have an impact with positions of power like this. Okay, Is that what you want? How did Paul get it? We read early in the chapter, we have sounds this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world.
Kevin Thompson [00:26:13]:
He is a ringleader of the sect and even tried to desecrate the temple. So we seized him.
Curt Harlow [00:26:20]:
You too can go into the power.
Kevin Thompson [00:26:22]:
Halls of influence, falsely be accused, lied about, riot, chaos about him. And yet Paul, instead of going, God, what are you? I'm obeying you, and this is what I get. Had such a trust to open up his hands and say, okay, I don't deserve to be here, but this is where God has placed me and there has to be a reason for it. I can't help to think that there are some Christians listening to this at this moment. And you are not where you think God wants you to be, not because of anything you have done right. You haven't been given the promotion you think you deserve. The relationship has broken down. It wasn't your own choice.
Kevin Thompson [00:27:03]:
Your child has rebelled. Whatever you're facing today is the last thing you would have ever chosen for yourself. And in God's divine sovereignty, at minimum, he has allowed it. He might have actually caused it.
Curt Harlow [00:27:15]:
Yes.
Kevin Thompson [00:27:16]:
Are you willing now to embrace that today and say, okay, God has a purpose for me at this moment. And wherever he takes me, I'm going to make much of Him. Because here's what I do. I have this vision of where God wants to use me, right? And man, as soon as he takes me there, I'm ready. But until then, I'm kind of bitter. And not only am I not going to bring glory to God, I'm probably going to bring some disdain to his name. Because the attitude I'm going to have until he gets me where I know he wants to take me, and then I'll be ready to move again. God wants to use you right where you are today.
Kevin Thompson [00:27:50]:
And so however you got there, your own choice, somebody else's choices, that really doesn't matter. What matters is that God is going to put you in a place that you and I are not going to be. And he expects you as the listener to make much of him. And then parable of the sower outcome belongs to God. Ultimately, does Felix believe or not believe? Time will tell. Eternity will show. Your job is to make much of him.
Curt Harlow [00:28:13]:
Wherever you are, Today, Absolutely. Our good friend and one of the most incredible leaders, Andrew McCourt. Who? Brie. We're going to have Andrew on the pod, right? He's. He's okay.
Kevin Thompson [00:28:23]:
The second, the second person on with an accent. That'll be great.
Curt Harlow [00:28:26]:
Isabel McCourt gets intercede for us. So.
Kevin Thompson [00:28:30]:
Yeah, because. Because we know he's not listening to the Bible study.
Curt Harlow [00:28:32]:
Exactly.
Kevin Thompson [00:28:33]:
She's listening to the Bible study.
Curt Harlow [00:28:34]:
So he said a brilliant thing one time. The one time he said. He said, we always think we're called to a place. I'm called to California, I'm called to Sacramento, I'm called to Auburn. He says, but you're called to a time and to a people as well. You were born in this time. And the people that God has put around you, the room God has put you in, if he wanted you in a different room, guess what? You'd be in a different room. And I've said that to myself so many times.
Curt Harlow [00:29:03]:
Like, if God wanted me in that room, I'd be in that room. And if he didn't want me in this room, I wouldn't be here. So I'm in this room. What is the opportunity for Christ in this room? And I think once you start thinking that way, first of all, you get out of victim mentality, you get out of ego and celebrity mentality, and you start getting into the funnest part of Christianity. It really is. So you think about this. People go, oh, I love that worship leader. I love that.
Curt Harlow [00:29:31]:
I want goosebumps on my goosebumps. I absolutely do. I love worship when I hear someone preach. Like even today, just listening to you this, when I hear someone preach good, I find that deeply satisfying. I love that. But the funnest time I've had in Christianity is watching Jesus take a few pieces of dry bread and dry fish. That is called Curt Harlow. And using me, a sinner very well acquainted with my failures and sins, using me to impact someone else's life.
Curt Harlow [00:30:04]:
Like, I always put it this way, Kevin, what happened to the chubby kid that gave Jesus his lunch at the feeding of the multitude? And by the way, people are saying, how do you know it was a chubby kid? He was the only one there. They were there. He was the only one there with an extra lunch.
Kevin Thompson [00:30:20]:
I mean, obviously, this was a helicopter mama. It was one of the two.
Curt Harlow [00:30:23]:
Yes, exactly. But the point is, what happened to that kid when he stood next to Jesus and Jesus broke the bread and the fish? I don't know. It doesn't tell us. I Got a good guess. He was impacted for the rest of his life. And that's what it feels like when you go, God's put me in this room and I'm here for you. I'm here to be a witness for you. And I'm gonna.
Curt Harlow [00:30:42]:
I'm gonna lovingly speak the truth, so. So, yeah, do that. Lovingly speak the truth. Hey, I gotta tell you, if you enjoyed Kevin today, Kevin, you got your own podcast around here that people should listen to.
Kevin Thompson [00:30:55]:
That's exactly right. Change the odds.
Curt Harlow [00:30:56]:
Change the odds.
Kevin Thompson [00:30:57]:
And family were never meant to be a game of champions.
Curt Harlow [00:30:59]:
And it's the only podcast in the Bayside universe in the Thrive Podcast network that is sometimes PG 13 in a biblical.
Kevin Thompson [00:31:07]:
Our young interns cannot edit it. I can tell you that.
Curt Harlow [00:31:11]:
So. So you definitely want to listen to that. Also, I would check Kevin out. He's at Granite Bay. Quite a bad. He's at Blue Oaks for this particular passage. If you go to bayside online.com, you can see where all the different campuses are. You can find all this information there.
Curt Harlow [00:31:25]:
Also, what is the website for Thrive podcastnetwork.com backslash worldwide. No, I'm just joking. Thrivepodcast.com. see all the podcast marks on there? What else we got there on there?
Kevin Thompson [00:31:41]:
Am I doing this right with Morgan?
Curt Harlow [00:31:43]:
Oh, yeah. That's a spectacular one.
Kevin Thompson [00:31:45]:
A great. I wouldn't listen to Marks, but Morgan and Leslie is excellent.
Curt Harlow [00:31:48]:
I would definitely listen after the first season, though. I said, you kind of are. You guys are doing it right.
Kevin Thompson [00:31:53]:
No, that's exactly right.
Curt Harlow [00:31:54]:
Well, they answered the question.
Kevin Thompson [00:31:55]:
West Town has better days.
Curt Harlow [00:31:57]:
Better days, which is all about the Bible and mental health. Such. Such a great resource on there and on and on and on. Go ahead, get this. And would you do me a favor, please? Do not say you'll do this and then wait and then you won't. Right now, would you like share. Make a comment, Ask a question. What do you want us to address in the future? We'd love to be responsive to you.
Curt Harlow [00:32:15]:
And as always, thanks for giving some time to the study of God's word.