WEBVTT
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Greetings and welcome to the Practical Matters podcast where we believe that making theology practical matters.
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I'm Kevin Saxton.
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This is Garrett Haywood.
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And this is episode 10.
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It is, yeah.
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In the double digits.
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Now, this weekend was a big football weekend.
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I know it's not basketball, but football weekend.
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Do you get to watch any football?
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I I watched zero football.
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I um we were out of town Tuesday through Friday, and then church is a pretty big deal.
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And so we came in hot Friday, and I was pretty much working all day, Friday, Saturday, um getting ready for church, and I I didn't want I did not watch any football.
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So I know UCF won 73 to 6.
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We were So it was a close game.
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Uh yeah, yeah, real close.
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We were one point away from setting the single game record, but um for points.
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But no, I didn't watch any for UCF?
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Yes, yeah, yeah, not for college football in general.
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No, no, no, just for the yeah, just for UCF.
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So, no.
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Did you watch any?
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I saw one game.
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Okay.
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Yeah, and it was Liberty University.
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So I thought it was worth mentioning.
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Yeah.
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Because you know, we're trying to mention Liberty University every single time we're gonna be able to do that.
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That's right, let's get sponsored.
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Um, but uh our alma mater, as it were.
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Um, and that was a good game.
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I mean, Liberty started out pretty far down and then made a little comeback, but not far enough.
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But did we lose?
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I don't even know.
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We did.
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Oh yeah.
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Okay.
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Unfortunately, all right, so you can still sponsor us, too.
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Yeah, yeah, no, yeah, absolutely.
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Uh you know, I I watch football, but like I you know, you could do other things while you watch football, you know.
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That's not as good as baseball.
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That's the best sport to watch and do other things.
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Or golf.
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I don't know why you would watch another man play golf, but that's a early hot take for you.
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But yeah, that's right.
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That is a little uncomfortable to me.
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But anyways, um it's uncomfortable.
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Yeah.
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It's like it's like uh it's like wearing another man's name on your back.
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Like when you wear a jersey, it has another man's name on it.
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Like, why are you wearing another man's name on your back?
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Anyways, I these yeah, these are anyways, yeah.
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You could tell I was homeschooled.
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All right, so um not that there's anything wrong with that.
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There's no, just maybe the way that I was, I don't know.
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It was more like Feral, it was within the 90s.
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Can you tell yesterday was Labor Day and Dr.
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Saxon was off from school and we're we're getting into it today's Tuesday, but it feels like Monday.
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You know, we're gonna be able to do that.
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Yes, but it also feels like Tuesday, which is the worst day of the week.
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Yes, that's right, yes.
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It's the whole thing.
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But the pod the podcast that we're doing right now, this uh the format that we have is that you've brought two topics.
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I've brought two topics, I don't know what you want to talk about, you don't know what I want to talk about, and I'll go first.
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Okay.
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Um my first topic is thoughts.
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Like, who knows my thoughts?
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Like, can God actually read my thoughts?
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And can anyone else read my thoughts?
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Oh, well.
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Um two good questions.
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Uh the answer is number one is yes, God knows your thoughts.
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Um number two, I don't think anyone can actually know your thoughts.
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Um I think when people say like I I can tell what you're thinking, I think it's just someone who knows you well, but they're not literally reading your mind.
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Um there are some like mind-reading videos circulating social media right now that are fascinating.
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Um but I don't think anyone can actually read your mind.
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Um, take an educated guess per se.
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Um But yeah, I mean Psalm 139, uh the Lord knows my thoughts.
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Um you even see some instances in the Gospels of Jesus, uh, God the Son, uh, knowing people's thoughts.
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Um like there's there's an instance when he responds to something the Pharisees thought, not what they said, and he responds out loud.
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Like um, so all three persons of the Trinity knows your thoughts.
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Uh I think that is true.
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Uh, I think there's also a sense in which um you're not you're not a victim of your thought life, uh, you are in control of your thought life.
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Um so you think of 2 Corinthians 10, 4 and 5, where Paul tells us to take our thoughts captive, um, or Colossians 3, 1 and 2, where we're told to set our minds on things above, uh, not on the things of this earth.
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And so I think there is an element in which we sometimes feel like a victim of our thoughts, but um but we are completely in control of our thoughts, which I think is important.
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Um a book that's um a book that I found really helpful is um uh Winning the War in Your Mind.
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Uh there's uh an adult version, and then there's a version for students uh that we've used in youth group before.
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Uh, but I like that book, Winning the War in Your Mind.
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Uh it's really all about um taking your thoughts captive and how uh your thoughts determine the rest of your life, really.
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Like your your your life moves in the direction of your strongest thoughts is kind of the the argument of the book.
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So um your questions were does the Lord know my thoughts?
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Does anyone else know my thoughts?
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Yes, the Lord knows your thoughts uh in a in a literal sense.
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I don't think anyone else knows your thoughts in a literal sense, although I think people who know you well can tell what you're thinking uh and take an educated guess.
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But I think the most simple, not the most important, but an important thing for the everyday Christian is to know that you're not a victim of your thoughts, you're in control of your thoughts.
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And it's actually imperative that you take your thoughts captive, set your mind on things above, uh, because your your life moves in the direction of your strongest thoughts, and so your strongest thoughts uh should be about the things of God.
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So um those are my thoughts on thoughts.
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Thoughts on thoughts.
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Um those are good thoughts.
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Uh what about um, I mean, obviously the Bible says flat out, you know, that God knows our thoughts.
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So, you know, sometimes I wonder, like, you know, and not, you know, does God hear me when I pray without praying out loud?
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But um, but yeah, that, you know, not not that I wonder that, but like I think that's something that can be something we could we could potentially ponder because I don't think we all think that God knows our thoughts, you know.
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I don't think we operate in such a way that we know that God knows our thoughts.
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Yeah.
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Well, even like uh like what you just said, uh Romans 8, um, like when you can't put into words what you're thinking and feeling, the Holy Spirit um helps you pray.
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That's a paraphrase of Romans 8.
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Right.
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Um it's almost I bring that up because it's almost like God knows your thoughts better than you do, right, in a sense.
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Uh so not only does he know them, but he knows them better than you.
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Um and so I I think he he definitely knows your thoughts.
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Yeah, I think I think the big question that comes in, like, because obviously other people cannot know our thoughts, but God is spirit, you know, and we must worship him in spirit and truth, like Jesus said.
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Yeah.
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Um, but there are he's not the only unseen spirit in this world.
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Yeah.
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So can the devil know my thoughts?
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Can demons know my thoughts?
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No.
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I I um I actually have strong opinions about this.
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So I think it's for the everyday Christian, I think it's really important to understand that there are other spiritual beings, like you just mentioned, but there's only one being that is uh omnipotent, omnipresent, uh omniscient, and that's the God of the universe, the one true God.
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And so while there is a devil and demons um roaming around, they are not those things.
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And so they are not everywhere, they do not know everything, uh, they are not all powerful.
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And so the way that they get to you is they they trial and error in terms of temptation.
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They try something and oh that didn't work on Dr.
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Saxon, let me try something else.
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Oh, he seemed to like that, let me try that again.
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And so they they get to you first, you know, using trial and error.
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That's my thinking on on um spiritual warfare.
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And I think that's that's gives us confidence because we oftentimes um we we oftentimes uh not transpose, but um impose the attributes of God onto other spiritual beings, but those are attributes that are exclusive to the one true God.
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And so I I do not think demons know your thoughts.
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Um I do think they know a lot about you, but I don't think they know your thoughts like the Lord does.
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So yeah.
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That's that's helpful, and I think that that's something that students ask me, you know, sometimes is is um can a can the demons, can the devil know my thoughts?
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And it it's I think it's a helpful thing for us to talk about.
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Um I think there's more to talk about with angels and demons.
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Yeah, sure.
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I think we'll save that for another time, but um because that's that's a real aspect of life that I think very few of us are considering at any given time.
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Um but yeah, I think it is helpful to know that only God can see our thoughts or hear and know our thoughts.
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You know, I think that that the thing we don't realize too that the that the enemy is doing.
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We well actually we think that the devil is the one who's tempting us all the time, but um but the devil is is uh not omnipresent like you just said.
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So it's it's not always the devil that is tempting, you know, like there's instances where it may be, um but you gotta be pretty important, I think, for the devil to be the one tempting you at any given time.
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Also, we're tempted by our own desires, but um that's a whole other thing, you know, from from James.
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But um but that yeah, we'll have to have that conversation at some point.
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Yeah.
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Angels, demons, and temptation at some point.
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Um yeah, okay, so topic uh topic number two um is the topic of rest.
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So uh coming off of we were just out of town last week for a couple days, um, got some rest.
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Yesterday was a holiday, labor day.
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Um we we did some restful things, but uh you know, Genesis says that on the seventh day the Lord rested.
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And Matthew 11, Jesus says, Come to me and I'll give you rest.
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And so there's an old testament principle of the Sabbath.
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Is that still applicable today?
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There's a lot to talk about here, but just um what do you think about the Christian and rest?
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Yeah, um that's a that's a good question because the uh I think a lot of times we're not that we're we're thinking about it in I just don't think we're actually thinking about it, actually, is what we're doing.
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We're we're probably just kind of going through life and handling things as they come to us and not doing a whole lot of intentional rest.
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Um, but yeah, that's that's a principle from creation that God rested.
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And obviously God did not need to rest.
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Like we need to rest.
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Um, and I do think we need to rest.
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Um, God does not sleep or slumber like a man, you know, he's he's not um he's not one to go to sleep at night and just kind of wake up in the morning and see what happens.
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You know, it's like we wake up in the morning and check our notifications, you know, God's not waking up and checking his notifications, God is always um 100% aware of every single thing that is happening.
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But I think that the principle in creation is that God chose to rest in um that he chose to enjoy his creation um more so than he ran out of power and now he needed to power back up.
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But because we're created in the image of God, we are created to rest, and so we actually can run out of energy and power if we don't rest.
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Um, I mean, so it's one of the Ten Commandments to honor the Sabbath, you know.
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Like we a lot of times when we talk about the Old Testament law, we talk about how um there's certain laws that are uh meant to endure.
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And uh a lot of times when people talk about that, they'll say the Ten Commandments, but they'll forget about that Sabbath one.
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Um and the Sabbath is Saturday, like the we worship as Christians on the Lord's Day, which is Sunday, not on the Sabbath day.
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The Sabbath day is Saturday.
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Um, but we are um we should still be uh engaging in some element of Sabbath rest.
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And in in our culture, it may not always be that we are able to do that on a Saturday, you know necessarily.
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Um but I think there's plenty of there's plenty of people who have written on this topic that would point out that the principle is not um necessarily like ever on Sabbath on Saturday, it's it's honoring this the fact that God called us to rest.
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And so I think that every week we have to build some sort of rest into our routine.
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And for most of us, it still kind of works out to be Saturday.
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I mean, for me as a as a teacher, uh I work Monday through Friday, and I um I go to church on Sunday and and um enjoy time with the church family.
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The day that is kind of the down day that should be is Saturday.
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And so Saturday is the Sabbath anyway, and it just kind of makes sense that that would be a day that I intentionally um choose to rest, to recharge, to allow, um, to allow God to do what He's going to do to refresh me and all those sorts of things.
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Um and I and I but at the same time, like I know I I used to be a fireman, and so when I was a firefighter, I worked 24 on, 72, or twenty that's what they work now, 24 on, 72 off.
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Can you imagine they go to work like three times a week a month?
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But really?
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Um yeah, yeah, yeah.
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My old department.
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Why did that change?
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Um well it doesn't it doesn't every department kind of has to do it on their own, but my department um that happened about a year after I left.
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Because you were 24 on 48 off, right?
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Wow.
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But I loved going to work, so I had to go on 48 on 24 off.
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Sometimes you did.
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Then I did a lot, yes.
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Um but uh the uh it's sometimes I would have to work on Saturdays, you know, so then what do you do?
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Um and that's the case for a lot of people, you know.
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If you're in the food service industry, you know, that's a big day they'll be working.
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If you're you know, there's certain industries where you really have to you have to work on a Saturday.
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Um so I think that the thing that we have to do is we have to intentionally build a day in.
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And sometimes maybe it is Sunday, you know.
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Sometimes it's like well, there's a lot of businesses that close on Sundays.
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Um, so maybe that's the day.
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Maybe we enjoy time with our church family in the morning and then you spend the rest of the day doing something that is restful.
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Um, but I think that I think it's the practical aspect of the rest that we don't always you know really think about.
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We think rest, okay, well, I gotta sit around and do absolutely nothing.
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Well, for some of us, yes, that is that is true.
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Um, for some of us, that may not be true.
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Uh I heard somebody say, and this was really, really helpful.
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Um he uh this guy was was saying, um, I don't even remember who this guy is, but he was like, if you're if you normally work with your mind, then your rest should be something that you enjoy with your hands.
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So you work with your hands.
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And if you normally work all week with your hands, then rest can simply be something where you engage your mind.
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Um and I think that that's a helpful thing, that rest looks different for all of us.
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And for some of us it means spending time with people, and for some of us it means not spending time with people, you know.
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And I think that that's that's the thing.
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We just have to figure out how is it that God made me, not how to, you know, not necessarily just my preferences, but how did God make me and what is it that is truly restful for me, and how do I engage in that intentionally at least once a week.
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Yeah.
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I think that's a great practical point, is that like oftentimes we hear the word rest and we think, well, I'm just sitting on my couch all day doing nothing.
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That's rest, but it's that's not the case for everybody, although it is the case for some.
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Like me.
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Um I yeah, I just sitting around doing nothing, I can't do it.
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Um but like yesterday I um well it was Labor Day, so we were off from school and from work, and um I do a lot of work with my mind, like you just said, and so I spent m pretty much all day yesterday outside, and I was um this is actually what made made me think of this topic is I was like moving a sprinkler head in my yard, and it took me longer than it should have for several reasons.
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But um, I was just in the dirt in the sun for hours, and it was awesome, you know.
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But if that's someone's everyday job, that's that they wouldn't find that restful.
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But I found that restful.
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Yeah, and I I loved it.
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So um what do you think about so uh the Sabbath in the Ten Commandments?
00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:07.679
You mentioned that already.
00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:15.039
Uh it's the only commandment of the ten that's not um how do I say this, reiterated uh in the New Testament.
00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:21.759
Um for instance, Christ says uh, you know, the Sabbath was made for man, man wasn't made for the Sabbath.
00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:36.720
Um so the the question being, do we need to observe a literal 24-hour Sabbath like God's people did in the Old Testament, or is there uh a more flexible principle for New Testament Christians?
00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:39.200
I don't know if I phrase that right, but you hear what I'm saying?
00:16:39.440 --> 00:16:40.320
I know what you're saying.
00:16:40.639 --> 00:16:46.080
Um honestly, like it what about where rest is talked about in the Sabbath is talking about in Hebrews?
00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:49.279
Like in some of that confusion, that's some of that's a confusing language in the book of Hebrews.
00:16:49.679 --> 00:16:53.679
Yeah, in Hebrews is like uh because it's referring to the Sabbath rest as heaven.
00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:55.200
Almost like soul rest, yeah.
00:16:55.600 --> 00:17:01.279
Yeah, uh and not not even like physical rest now, but soul rest later, right?
00:17:01.519 --> 00:17:01.919
Perhaps.
00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:17.359
So and so in some ways it is you could say most likely then that the concept of the Sabbath is meant to foreshadow you know, just like most things in the Old Testament are foreshadowing something to do with Jesus or the return.
00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:27.200
Um you could you could say that there's an L element to the Sabbath that is foreshadowing the rest that we will one day have as believers in Jesus with Jesus forever.
00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:34.960
Um but then again, like in the new heavens and the new earth, we like you said on Sunday, we will have jobs, you know, we'll be working.
00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:37.200
And um you said employment.
00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:38.640
I don't think we'll be employed.
00:17:39.119 --> 00:17:41.920
Um but we'll be working for sure, and we'll have jobs.
00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:44.559
We'll be employed in the in the for whom will you be working?
00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:50.480
And we'll be employed in the in the uh um what's the word I'm looking for?
00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:53.519
I don't know, but we'll be employed in the the endeavors of the kingdom.
00:17:53.680 --> 00:17:53.920
Yeah.
00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:56.079
So I don't know.
00:17:56.240 --> 00:18:02.240
It's it we will be you're you're right, but like it's just kind of funny to think about because you're not working for somebody else.
00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:04.799
Like it's not like you're gonna have like a bunch of employees, you know.
00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:07.279
Yeah we'll all be working for the King of Kings.
00:18:07.680 --> 00:18:16.079
Um but uh to your question was um the 24 hour.
00:18:16.559 --> 00:18:24.480
So I think even in the I think even in the um Old Testament, even in the New Testament, you know, the way that the Sabbath was interpreted was probably done incorrectly.
00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:27.599
Um I mean there was a way that the Sabbath's meant to be done, right?
00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:36.480
I mean, there's there's a whole bunch of laws about how the Sabbath is supposed to be done, but then you hear Jesus talking about how the Sabbath has been done wrong.
00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:42.079
So talking when he heals somebody on the Sabbath, and they're like, Oh my goodness, I can't believe you healed somebody on the Sabbath.
00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:42.480
Right.
00:18:42.640 --> 00:18:44.880
And he's like, What are you talking about?
00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:50.720
Like that's what that's the whole I mean that's that's one of the things you're supposed to be doing is being healed through the Sabbath.
00:18:51.200 --> 00:19:04.480
Um but then you know he he tells them, like, which of you uh, you know, like it it says in the law that if your neighbor's donkey isn't stuck in or ox is stuck in a in a ditch, you help them get it out, even if it's the Sabbath.
00:19:04.799 --> 00:19:09.039
And so I um and that's what Jesus, you know, Jesus refers to that.
00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:25.200
So I think that I think that it's kind of like one of those things, like where the where a lot of the religious rules in Jesus' day, where the religious leaders of the time built all these fences around the rules to keep the people away from the rules, yeah, so they wouldn't, you know, wouldn't cross the line.
00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:27.200
Uh I think they did that with the Sabbath too.
00:19:27.359 --> 00:19:37.039
So I think that the way that a lot of people even now that sell still, you know, still celebrate or observe a biblical Sabbath, I think the way they do it is probably too extreme.
00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:46.799
Um where you know, where it's just you know, where things get interpreted into it that probably don't need to be interpreted into it, if that makes sense.
00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:47.920
It does, yeah.
00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:48.880
It does.
00:19:49.119 --> 00:19:52.960
Um I think two two final comments on rest.
00:19:53.119 --> 00:20:00.880
Um you know, one is uh I found it helpful someone said, you know, work uh work fl from a place of rest, don't work for rest.
00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:07.599
So basically the phrase like you ever heard someone say, like, I just need a vacation, like you just work, work, work until you're exhausted and then you rest.
00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:13.599
But uh a better way to be to you know uh strategically plan rest so that you can work from rest, not for rest.
00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:15.119
I find that helpful.
00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:37.839
Um but also like viewing rest in whatever form as a step of faith, because the world would say, you know, more work equals more productivity, but it's kind of like that um you know that old fable, I guess, of you know, two men chopping a tree and one never stops to sharpen his axe, but the other one stops to sharpen his axe and he cuts it faster, even though he was chopping for less amount of time.
00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:38.319
Right.
00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:49.839
Um it's the same concept and just just viewing uh everything in your life as a step of faith, but especially rest uh and and trusting that the Lord will um will produce through you when you rest.
00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:52.960
So um those are my final thoughts on that.
00:20:53.119 --> 00:20:53.839
So yeah.
00:20:54.240 --> 00:20:56.400
Well, you know how it is with kids.
00:20:56.480 --> 00:21:00.319
You're about three days into vacation and you think, man, I need a vacation from this vacation.
00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:03.039
Yes, yes, that's yeah, yeah, yeah, that's last week.
00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:03.440
Yeah.
00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:05.839
So vacation.
00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:10.720
It's kind of like it's kind of like well, this is probably another hot take, but it's kind of like how Father's Day is not actually for the fathers.
00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:14.720
Well, vacation with your kids is just your kids begging for snacks in a different location.
00:21:15.119 --> 00:21:15.680
Yeah, exactly.
00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:16.400
Exactly.
00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:17.599
We had a great time.
00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:18.960
Like it, but it's you're right.
00:21:19.039 --> 00:21:23.119
Yeah, it's it's uh it's more of an investment in family memory sometimes than physical rest.
00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:27.200
Yes, it is, yeah, for for a parent, the vacation is is work.
00:21:27.279 --> 00:21:30.880
And you as once you once you see it that way though, yes, it actually makes it more enjoyable.
00:21:31.119 --> 00:21:31.680
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:21:31.759 --> 00:21:35.599
I don't I I loved it, but yeah, I did come home tired, so which is ironic.
00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:37.200
It is, isn't it?
00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:38.480
Yes.
00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:39.359
All right.
00:21:39.599 --> 00:21:42.799
Um, so another thing I have for you.
00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:47.599
I uh I use a phrase sometimes on here that I thought that might be helpful to uh to explain.
00:21:47.759 --> 00:21:49.759
It's one of my favorite things to think about.
00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:52.720
Um, but the phrase is common grace.
00:21:53.359 --> 00:21:58.799
So there are and I a lot of times use it as a noun, like there are things that are common graces.
00:21:59.440 --> 00:22:01.519
Um What's a common grace?
00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:10.720
Um yeah, we we actually talked about this um was it two Sundays ago in Psalm 145?
00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:14.160
Um we talked about it in a Sunday morning sermon.
00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:27.839
Um and I'm trying to remember the psalm reference, but um but anyways, there's the there's the reference in Matthew 5 uh where Jesus says that um God causes the sun to rise on both uh the just and the unjust.
00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:30.240
He causes the rain to fall on the evil and the good.
00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:38.240
Um and so you know common grace is uh is contrasted with salvific grace or saving grace.
00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:50.240
Um and basically, you know, everyone in the world, uh saved or not, uh experiences God's common grace, but um only only the saved have experienced God's saving grace.
00:22:50.319 --> 00:23:06.319
And so um in terms of like a sequence or a funnel, I think God's common graces um should cause uh a lost and dying world to long for God's saving grace, but you experience God's saving grace when you receive Christ by faith.
00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:10.400
Um and so I think common grace is contrasted with saving grace in that way.
00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:15.839
But uh common grace is is basically to say that like the the world is not as bad as it could be.
00:23:15.920 --> 00:23:30.160
Like it should be a lot worse because of sin, but it's not, uh, because God has has exercised some common grace on the world, and he allows the sun still to rise on believers and unbelievers, and the rain still to fall on believers and unbelievers.
00:23:30.319 --> 00:23:53.519
And so um I just think those those little moments um in life that that everybody gets to experience, whether they're right with God or not, are are God's common graces, and his common graces should point the loss to Jesus, and his common graces should point uh believers to a heart of of gratitude and uh longing for the new heavens and the new earth when everything will be uh like those moments of common grace.
00:23:53.680 --> 00:23:56.000
So that's how I think about common grace.
00:23:56.160 --> 00:23:57.039
But you have more thoughts there?
00:23:57.359 --> 00:23:58.400
Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
00:23:58.559 --> 00:23:59.119
Yeah.
00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:02.640
Um I uh no, I think I mean that's that's what it is.
00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:04.559
I what what are some what are some examples?
00:24:04.640 --> 00:24:09.200
I mean, obviously you said the rain falls on the just and the unjust, you know, that's that's an agricultural reference most likely.
00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:17.200
But um but what are some uh what are some like practical examples in our lives right now, today, of common graces?
00:24:17.440 --> 00:24:24.079
I mean, I think you're right, they are all around us, or we would be suffering a hundred percent of the time.
00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:26.640
Um but what are some common graces?
00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:50.319
Um so I think um like there are some things that are constant, you know, like the the uh the climate or um you know the taste of food or beauty, like there are some things that are constant in in uh in the universe, but I also think of moments of common grace, like um, you know, holding my can you believe this was Gunnar's first experience at the beach last week?
00:24:50.480 --> 00:24:50.880
Oh really?
00:24:51.039 --> 00:24:51.759
He's almost three.
00:24:51.839 --> 00:25:00.160
Um but I bring that up because like holding my son's hand as he like wades into the waters of the ocean for the first time in his life, that's a common grace.
00:25:00.319 --> 00:25:01.839
Like that's a pretty cool experience.
00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:06.000
Um and then he never wanted to get out, and so we just kept doing it over and over again.
00:25:06.160 --> 00:25:11.839
Um but that that first moment of experiencing that with a toddler is pretty cool.
00:25:12.079 --> 00:25:22.079
And I think you know, whether a a parent is a believer or not, when they experience that with their child or a moment like that, um, that's the Lord's common grace in the world.
00:25:22.240 --> 00:25:34.400
Um so I think there are some some common graces that are that are constants that never stop that the Lord has allowed to uh you know persist even though it's a broken world.
00:25:34.799 --> 00:25:47.279
But I think there are also moments of common grace that if we stop to realize, you might call them blessings, um uh but uh if you stop to realize like that's a that's a common grace uh uh uh from the Lord.
00:25:47.359 --> 00:25:52.240
So I mean I I would think of a blessing as a common grace, like absolutely.
00:25:52.480 --> 00:26:05.759
I uh the way that I you know trying to define common grace in a hopefully succinct way would be like anytime that we get to experience God's design um the way it was intended.
00:26:06.079 --> 00:26:13.119
So I think um I think marriage is a huge example of God's common grace that you know you don't have to be a believer to get married.
00:26:13.519 --> 00:26:17.599
And by marriage I mean like actual marriage, you know, one man, one woman for life.
00:26:18.160 --> 00:26:20.960
Um children are always a blessing, whether you're a believer or not.
00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:24.240
So we get to experience God's design in having children.
00:26:24.400 --> 00:26:42.799
Um and so that's yeah, that's the way I like to think about them is you know, if we can experience things that are God's design in this world, even though it's a broken world, and even though we may not know God, we still get to experience God's um God's you know um design.
00:26:42.960 --> 00:26:45.200
It's like it's like the sunrise and the sunset, you know.
00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:46.640
That's God's common grace.
00:26:46.720 --> 00:26:53.039
The fact that we get to look at a sunrise and a sunset and be like, man, that's beautiful, or or a rainbow, um, which is God's promise to the earth.
00:26:53.200 --> 00:27:01.119
Uh whether I know God or don't know God, it doesn't change the fact that that's God's promise to the earth and he's not gonna flood the earth again.
00:27:01.680 --> 00:27:03.359
Um so yeah, absolutely.
00:27:03.519 --> 00:27:12.480
Holding your son's hand and getting to experience things absolutely that is uh I mean it's a blessing, and I think a blessing is a common grace, no doubt, because that's something that anybody can experience.
00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:14.000
Yeah, yeah.
00:27:14.400 --> 00:27:27.359
Um yeah, I I think it was Psalm 145, um where we talked about um oh it was yeah, it was verse uh whatever, the verse where it says God does good to all in Psalm 145.
00:27:27.519 --> 00:27:27.759
Yeah.
00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:33.759
I felt the need when preaching that verse to clarify that that that's not a proof text for universalism.
00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:38.240
Um but it's it's simply to say that God shows his common grace to all.
00:27:38.640 --> 00:27:45.680
He doesn't show his saving grace to all, he shows his saving grace to those who place their faith in Jesus, but uh his his common grace is shown to all, he does good to all.
00:27:45.839 --> 00:27:45.920
Right.
00:27:46.160 --> 00:27:46.640
That's what it was.
00:27:46.960 --> 00:27:57.920
Which I do think that the helpful um the helpful thing to think about with that is that it is meant to point to, like you said, like it is meant to point to God's saving grace.
00:27:58.079 --> 00:28:12.400
Like it's not just common graces so that we can survive this world and end up in in hell, it's common graces so that we can desire more of the one who made that that grace to begin with and want more of that grace, especially through the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
00:28:12.720 --> 00:28:13.839
Like where did all this come from?
00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:21.039
I guess talking with someone the other day about um you know have how to have a conversation with an atheist.
00:28:21.200 --> 00:28:26.960
And um, I mean there's all kinds of angles you could take, but like one is um uh beauty in the world.
00:28:27.039 --> 00:28:33.200
We've talked about beauty on this podcast before, but like beauty would not evolve through a process of natural selection.
00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:35.519
Like beauty is not necessary for the world.
00:28:35.599 --> 00:28:41.519
So the fact that there are beautiful things in the world, like it has to it has to come from a creator.
00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:44.559
Like you can you can't tell me that the beauty evolved.
00:28:45.119 --> 00:28:47.200
That just doesn't logically make sense.
00:28:47.359 --> 00:28:54.799
Um and there are several other things in the universe that don't logically make sense uh uh from an evolutionary perspective, but beauty is one of them.
00:28:54.880 --> 00:28:57.519
Uh and common grace uh is is connected to all that.
00:28:57.599 --> 00:28:59.519
So uh we do have to keep moving.
00:28:59.680 --> 00:29:03.039
Um man, I have several other topics.
00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:05.920
Uh I'm gonna give you a softball because I know you have opinions on this.
00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:09.440
Um I don't have very many opinions.
00:29:09.680 --> 00:29:10.640
No, just a few.
00:29:10.799 --> 00:29:12.400
Uh tell us about Halloween.
00:29:12.559 --> 00:29:20.000
So uh I know it's September, and so we're still like eight weeks away, but we walk through Costco, and there's you know, my kids call him the scary man.
00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:26.240
There's a big figurine that's for sale you can put in your yard, and uh, we just have to tell them it's pretend and don't worry about it.
00:29:26.400 --> 00:29:30.960
And last week someone asked my kids if they're excited for Halloween, and I'm like, they don't really know what that is.
00:29:31.119 --> 00:29:34.960
Um but I know you have uh strong opinions on Halloween, so tell us about them.
00:29:35.200 --> 00:29:49.599
I do have very strong opinions on Halloween, and I I do have to say, like, as a disclaimer, like uh I I don't celebrate Halloween, I've never celebrated Halloween, and I will never celebrate Halloween, but I am not judging people who do.
00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:52.799
Um I'm not looking down on people who do.
00:29:53.119 --> 00:29:54.799
I'm just not gonna do it.
00:29:54.960 --> 00:29:55.279
Yeah.
00:29:55.440 --> 00:29:58.240
Um, and I'll and I'll tell you the reason why I don't do it.
00:29:58.319 --> 00:30:01.680
I mean, so uh I was I actually hate Halloween.
00:30:01.839 --> 00:30:03.039
Um, you know, we talked about hate.
00:30:03.680 --> 00:30:04.000
Yeah, yeah.
00:30:04.160 --> 00:30:04.480
Yeah.
00:30:04.640 --> 00:30:08.880
Um and I I mentioned that to my wife when we were at Costco this past weekend.
00:30:09.039 --> 00:30:10.319
I said, I hate Halloween.
00:30:10.799 --> 00:30:12.160
You saw the same thing, the same decoration?
00:30:12.319 --> 00:30:12.799
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:30:12.960 --> 00:30:24.160
Actually, I think we might have gone to Target, and it was Target was like everything was Halloween, and like and yeah, September, like Halloween is is uh the end of October, so we get this for two more months.
00:30:24.319 --> 00:30:25.920
And it's my least favorite time of the year.
00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:32.960
And I know there's there's people out there, even Christians, will say that Halloween is their favorite holiday, you know, and I I don't even look it as a holiday, I look it as something I just have to get through.
00:30:33.119 --> 00:30:37.680
But um, and I and I also don't, this is a whole nother thing, but I don't think it's redeemable.
00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:52.640
Um the um the the problem that I have with Halloween is when you s think about Halloween and you step inside any sort of Halloween anything, the thing that is being highlighted is darkness.
00:30:52.880 --> 00:31:00.240
It's some sort of darkness, it's some sort of magic, it's some sort of evil, it's some sort of just grossness.
00:31:00.640 --> 00:31:10.559
It's not like, you know, people are like, oh, if I just always dress my kids like princesses and knights, you know, then that's always a, you know, then I'm not really engaging with the darkness of Halloween.
00:31:10.640 --> 00:31:22.640
But like, yes, you are, because the first door you walk up to to trick or treat that has, you know, some sort of skeleton or some sort of celebration of death, you're a hundred percent engaging in that.
00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:24.720
You're a hundred percent pushing into that.
00:31:24.880 --> 00:31:32.000
And that and I get that that again, not judging people that celebrate, I'm just saying that is what Halloween is.
00:31:32.160 --> 00:31:40.160
And I know like it's like one of those things where if it's not, if it's not triggering your conscience, you know, then the more power to you, I guess.
00:31:40.319 --> 00:31:47.279
But my hope would be that we would think carefully about Halloween and about the fact that it is a celebration of darkness.
00:31:47.440 --> 00:31:51.599
And so then people will be like, well, this is the argument that people make to me all the time.
00:31:51.759 --> 00:32:00.480
Um, they'll be like, well, Halloween was founded in All Saints Day, you know, so like uh all saints, All Saints Eve, and so it's when we're actually celebrating the saints.
00:32:00.640 --> 00:32:04.640
So um, so you should like Halloween because it's it's celebrating the saints.
00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:20.880
And I'm like, well, that that's kind of like saying that we shouldn't celebrate Christmas because Christmas um as it the festival that was reclaimed for celebration of the birth of Jesus was actually a pagan festival, including the fact, including the Christmas tree itself.
00:32:21.200 --> 00:32:26.079
But we have as a culture reclaimed that, especially as a church reclaimed that holiday.
00:32:26.240 --> 00:32:47.680
And we're not looking at those historical roots, we're looking at the historical roots of like um Saint Nicholas, who would take gifts to kids, and you know, like um who was a real person that really did give gifts to children, you know, like there's there's elements of Christmas that we uh it it's been redeemed, you know, like there it has, yes, it started as a pagan festival, but it's but it now is a celebration of Jesus' birth.
00:32:47.839 --> 00:32:53.039
Like, and even if you want to say it's about Santa Claus, well it's that that's a saint who was following God.
00:32:53.200 --> 00:33:02.240
I mean, like, so um, and I and uh that Santa Claus is a whole nother thing, we'll talk about that another time, but um that actually would be a good topic to talk about.
00:33:02.559 --> 00:33:02.880
I would, yeah.
00:33:03.279 --> 00:33:04.000
I'm gonna write that down.
00:33:04.480 --> 00:33:19.359
Um but um but the the the problem with Halloween is that just because it was founded and its roots somehow are associated with All Saints Day, which you know there there's aspects of that, there's aspects where it's not, it's you know, some sort of Celtic thing, whatever.
00:33:19.440 --> 00:33:20.000
I don't know.
00:33:20.079 --> 00:33:24.079
But it what it has become in our culture is a celebration of darkness.
00:33:24.319 --> 00:33:35.920
And so I think a lot of times as the church we'll say, oh, well, we're gonna redeem it somehow by having um some sort of event to draw people in on Halloween or whatever, but like I don't wanna, I don't want to press into darkness at all.
00:33:36.160 --> 00:33:59.519
And I just don't think I mean I I love like a fall festival or whatever, I love like a you know, a um some sort of gathering, like you know, but uh but anything that's Halloween-esque I don't like because I don't want to engage in that that that so-called holiday at all, because it is a celebration of darkness, and I'm not trying to celebrate darkness.
00:34:00.160 --> 00:34:02.079
And I don't want that for my kids.
00:34:02.160 --> 00:34:08.639
I don't I mean the things that we allow into our hearts and into our minds and into our lives, like did through things like Halloween.
00:34:08.800 --> 00:34:18.719
I mean, I I I've never said about Halloween, but I was in the Cub Scouts, and as a Cub Scout, I went to a Cub Scout meeting that just happened to be, I think, on either Halloween or the day before or something like that.
00:34:18.880 --> 00:34:33.840
And my Cub Scout leader made a haunted house in her garage, unbeknownst to my parents who did not celebrate Halloween, um, and then made everybody one by one go through this dark or you know, this dark haunted house in their garage.
00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:40.880
And it I still remember the smells, I still remember some of the things that they're like, oh, feel this, and like I still remember some of the feel.
00:34:40.960 --> 00:34:42.639
I still remember somebody trying to scare me.
00:34:42.719 --> 00:34:44.400
I didn't sleep for three nights.
00:34:44.559 --> 00:34:56.000
Like you you're allowing darkness into your heart and mind, and like most of us are not strong enough to resist that, and so I just have I just have a big problem with it.
00:34:56.079 --> 00:34:57.840
Like, I just have a big I'm just not gonna do it.
00:34:57.920 --> 00:35:00.159
I don't want that for my my kids, I don't want that for my family.
00:35:00.239 --> 00:35:01.280
I just I just don't want that.
00:35:01.360 --> 00:35:08.239
I don't want to celebrate darkness, and and I think that it is probably in our culture too far gone for us to be able to redeem it.
00:35:09.280 --> 00:35:20.559
Um just like Christmas was originally redeemed, and maybe that maybe the Christians at the time thought that about Christmas as well, but um that it wasn't redeemable, but now it has been redeemed.
00:35:20.719 --> 00:35:23.119
Um, but the culture's still trying to get at that one, you know.
00:35:23.199 --> 00:35:26.800
Like the culture's always going to try and claim the holiday for darkness.
00:35:26.960 --> 00:35:27.599
Yeah.
00:35:28.400 --> 00:35:30.239
Um I think I think that's helpful.
00:35:30.320 --> 00:35:34.880
Like, I I think we were talking about a different topic off air and how it's just kind of like, yeah, of course we would do that.
00:35:34.960 --> 00:35:37.360
And then Christians just don't think through at first.
00:35:37.440 --> 00:35:42.159
Um Halloween probably falls in that category in some ways of like, yeah, of course we're we're celebrating Halloween.
00:35:42.320 --> 00:35:44.079
Like, what are your kids wearing this year?
00:35:44.239 --> 00:35:46.079
Um someone already asked us that too.
00:35:46.159 --> 00:35:48.239
It's like what are your kids gonna dress up as this year?
00:35:48.480 --> 00:35:58.159
Um and so I I don't like I think I wouldn't have as strong of an opinion as you, but like we're not um we're not huge fans of the holiday either.
00:35:58.239 --> 00:36:04.559
Um but like if you see a picture of my kid dressed up as a scuba diver or something, like uh we we might uh we we might do that.
00:36:04.719 --> 00:36:12.880
But um it is one of those things where you're I I do agree with the like it is a celebration of darkness, and so we do have to be very careful with that with that holiday.
00:36:12.960 --> 00:36:13.679
So yeah.
00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:16.880
My kids can dress up 364 days a year.
00:36:18.000 --> 00:36:19.760
Just not on October 31st.
00:36:20.480 --> 00:36:21.119
Yeah.
00:36:21.440 --> 00:36:23.840
All right, we do have to go um soon.
00:36:23.920 --> 00:36:25.760
So what's your hot take today?
00:36:26.159 --> 00:36:28.880
Well uh I think I've already shared like four.
00:36:29.039 --> 00:36:29.119
Yeah.
00:36:29.440 --> 00:36:35.280
Um but uh but the but the one I have for today is uh so we live in Florida, the free state of Florida.
00:36:35.440 --> 00:36:41.119
Lots of great things about living in Florida, and um those are celebrated through license plates.
00:36:41.199 --> 00:36:44.320
We have more specialty license plates than any state in the nation.
00:36:44.480 --> 00:36:45.840
Um everybody knows that.
00:36:45.920 --> 00:36:46.719
I didn't I didn't know that.
00:36:46.960 --> 00:36:49.280
Well yeah, well, I'm saying we do.
00:36:49.360 --> 00:36:51.360
Like that's that's that is that is the case.
00:36:51.599 --> 00:36:51.840
Okay.
00:36:52.000 --> 00:36:57.679
Um, but there's one license plate, there's several of them that are kind of annoying to me, but there's one that drives me crazy.
00:36:57.840 --> 00:37:06.559
It's one, it's it's an orange license plate with a sunset, you know, like somebody with a surfboard, and the tagline and the name of the license plate is endless summer.
00:37:06.800 --> 00:37:07.119
Huh.
00:37:07.360 --> 00:37:10.079
But like that's the worst part of living in Florida.
00:37:10.239 --> 00:37:13.039
Like, the worst part of living in Florida is that it's an endless summer.
00:37:13.119 --> 00:37:15.920
Like the summer goes on for 11 and a half months of the year.
00:37:16.159 --> 00:37:18.960
Why would we celebrate the worst thing about Florida?
00:37:19.280 --> 00:37:20.639
You don't like summer?
00:37:20.960 --> 00:37:21.280
No.
00:37:21.519 --> 00:37:21.840
Oh.
00:37:22.159 --> 00:37:25.280
Yeah, they say in Florida there's only two seasons summer and football.
00:37:25.679 --> 00:37:27.199
It's summer and snowbird.
00:37:27.440 --> 00:37:28.239
Yeah, that's true.
00:37:28.400 --> 00:37:28.880
That's true.
00:37:28.960 --> 00:37:30.480
Uh which is also still summer.
00:37:30.639 --> 00:37:32.880
I did not, I've never seen that license plate.
00:37:33.039 --> 00:37:37.119
Um my hot take is that Santa's not real.
00:37:37.360 --> 00:37:37.840
Just kidding.
00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:45.519
Um, my hot take is that um uh I I don't really have fully formed thoughts on this, but it's enough for a hot take.
00:37:45.599 --> 00:37:50.320
I think AI is going to extinguish video preaching.
00:37:50.480 --> 00:37:51.760
That's my hot take.
00:37:51.920 --> 00:37:56.159
Um I don't I don't have a uh preferentially, I don't like video preaching.
00:37:56.239 --> 00:38:01.440
I don't have a conviction against it, but I do think AI is going to cause it to go away.
00:38:01.760 --> 00:38:02.400
That's interesting.
00:38:02.639 --> 00:38:03.119
Hot take.
00:38:03.360 --> 00:38:05.199
I can see how that could be the case.
00:38:05.440 --> 00:38:06.000
Yeah.
00:38:06.320 --> 00:38:06.880
Good one.
00:38:07.119 --> 00:38:07.760
All right.
00:38:08.079 --> 00:38:15.039
Well, this has been the Practical Matters Podcast, where we believe that making theology practical matters.
00:38:15.199 --> 00:38:16.320
I'm Kevin Saxton.
00:38:16.559 --> 00:38:17.519
This is Garrett Haywood.
00:38:17.679 --> 00:38:18.559
See you the next time.
00:38:18.719 --> 00:38:19.679
Goodbye.
00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:13.039
Greetings and welcome to the Practical Matters podcast where we believe that making theology practical matters.
00:00:13.199 --> 00:00:14.240
I'm Kevin Saxton.
00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:15.679
This is Garrett Haywood.
00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:17.280
And this is episode 10.
00:00:17.519 --> 00:00:18.000
It is, yeah.
00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:19.600
In the double digits.
00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:22.640
Now, this weekend was a big football weekend.
00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:26.640
I know it's not basketball, but football weekend.
00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:27.920
Do you get to watch any football?
00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:30.079
I I watched zero football.
00:00:30.239 --> 00:00:36.000
I um we were out of town Tuesday through Friday, and then church is a pretty big deal.
00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:44.159
And so we came in hot Friday, and I was pretty much working all day, Friday, Saturday, um getting ready for church, and I I didn't want I did not watch any football.
00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:46.880
So I know UCF won 73 to 6.
00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:48.399
We were So it was a close game.
00:00:48.479 --> 00:00:49.840
Uh yeah, yeah, real close.
00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:54.079
We were one point away from setting the single game record, but um for points.
00:00:54.240 --> 00:00:56.159
But no, I didn't watch any for UCF?
00:00:56.320 --> 00:00:58.479
Yes, yeah, yeah, not for college football in general.
00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:00.960
No, no, no, just for the yeah, just for UCF.
00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:01.679
So, no.
00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:02.799
Did you watch any?
00:01:03.119 --> 00:01:04.159
I saw one game.
00:01:04.319 --> 00:01:04.480
Okay.
00:01:04.799 --> 00:01:06.560
Yeah, and it was Liberty University.
00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:08.159
So I thought it was worth mentioning.
00:01:08.319 --> 00:01:08.560
Yeah.
00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:11.680
Because you know, we're trying to mention Liberty University every single time we're gonna be able to do that.
00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:12.959
That's right, let's get sponsored.
00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:17.599
Um, but uh our alma mater, as it were.
00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:19.439
Um, and that was a good game.
00:01:19.599 --> 00:01:24.480
I mean, Liberty started out pretty far down and then made a little comeback, but not far enough.
00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:26.400
But did we lose?
00:01:26.480 --> 00:01:26.959
I don't even know.
00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:27.519
We did.
00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:28.079
Oh yeah.
00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:28.719
Okay.
00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:33.120
Unfortunately, all right, so you can still sponsor us, too.
00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:34.959
Yeah, yeah, no, yeah, absolutely.
00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:40.719
Uh you know, I I watch football, but like I you know, you could do other things while you watch football, you know.
00:01:40.799 --> 00:01:42.480
That's not as good as baseball.
00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:44.079
That's the best sport to watch and do other things.
00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:45.439
Or golf.
00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:51.040
I don't know why you would watch another man play golf, but that's a early hot take for you.
00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:52.400
But yeah, that's right.
00:01:52.640 --> 00:01:54.480
That is a little uncomfortable to me.
00:01:54.560 --> 00:01:58.000
But anyways, um it's uncomfortable.
00:01:58.239 --> 00:01:58.879
Yeah.
00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:03.040
It's like it's like uh it's like wearing another man's name on your back.
00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:05.359
Like when you wear a jersey, it has another man's name on it.
00:02:05.439 --> 00:02:07.760
Like, why are you wearing another man's name on your back?
00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:12.080
Anyways, I these yeah, these are anyways, yeah.
00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:13.680
You could tell I was homeschooled.
00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:19.520
All right, so um not that there's anything wrong with that.
00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:22.560
There's no, just maybe the way that I was, I don't know.
00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:25.120
It was more like Feral, it was within the 90s.
00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:27.439
Can you tell yesterday was Labor Day and Dr.
00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:31.439
Saxon was off from school and we're we're getting into it today's Tuesday, but it feels like Monday.
00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:32.000
You know, we're gonna be able to do that.
00:02:32.080 --> 00:02:34.639
Yes, but it also feels like Tuesday, which is the worst day of the week.
00:02:34.960 --> 00:02:35.759
Yes, that's right, yes.
00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:37.280
It's the whole thing.
00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:43.840
But the pod the podcast that we're doing right now, this uh the format that we have is that you've brought two topics.
00:02:43.919 --> 00:02:50.319
I've brought two topics, I don't know what you want to talk about, you don't know what I want to talk about, and I'll go first.
00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:50.879
Okay.
00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:55.680
Um my first topic is thoughts.
00:02:56.319 --> 00:02:59.680
Like, who knows my thoughts?
00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:02.879
Like, can God actually read my thoughts?
00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:05.439
And can anyone else read my thoughts?
00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:06.800
Oh, well.
00:03:07.199 --> 00:03:09.919
Um two good questions.
00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:13.280
Uh the answer is number one is yes, God knows your thoughts.
00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:19.439
Um number two, I don't think anyone can actually know your thoughts.
00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:26.960
Um I think when people say like I I can tell what you're thinking, I think it's just someone who knows you well, but they're not literally reading your mind.
00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:32.319
Um there are some like mind-reading videos circulating social media right now that are fascinating.
00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:36.719
Um but I don't think anyone can actually read your mind.
00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:39.520
Um, take an educated guess per se.
00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:44.719
Um But yeah, I mean Psalm 139, uh the Lord knows my thoughts.
00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:52.159
Um you even see some instances in the Gospels of Jesus, uh, God the Son, uh, knowing people's thoughts.
00:03:52.319 --> 00:03:59.280
Um like there's there's an instance when he responds to something the Pharisees thought, not what they said, and he responds out loud.
00:03:59.439 --> 00:04:05.360
Like um, so all three persons of the Trinity knows your thoughts.
00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:06.719
Uh I think that is true.
00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:15.120
Uh, I think there's also a sense in which um you're not you're not a victim of your thought life, uh, you are in control of your thought life.
00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:31.040
Um so you think of 2 Corinthians 10, 4 and 5, where Paul tells us to take our thoughts captive, um, or Colossians 3, 1 and 2, where we're told to set our minds on things above, uh, not on the things of this earth.
00:04:31.279 --> 00:04:40.959
And so I think there is an element in which we sometimes feel like a victim of our thoughts, but um but we are completely in control of our thoughts, which I think is important.
00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:49.680
Um a book that's um a book that I found really helpful is um uh Winning the War in Your Mind.
00:04:49.839 --> 00:04:56.079
Uh there's uh an adult version, and then there's a version for students uh that we've used in youth group before.
00:04:56.160 --> 00:04:58.639
Uh, but I like that book, Winning the War in Your Mind.
00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:05.360
Uh it's really all about um taking your thoughts captive and how uh your thoughts determine the rest of your life, really.
00:05:05.439 --> 00:05:11.120
Like your your your life moves in the direction of your strongest thoughts is kind of the the argument of the book.
00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:14.720
So um your questions were does the Lord know my thoughts?
00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:15.759
Does anyone else know my thoughts?
00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:19.360
Yes, the Lord knows your thoughts uh in a in a literal sense.
00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:27.759
I don't think anyone else knows your thoughts in a literal sense, although I think people who know you well can tell what you're thinking uh and take an educated guess.
00:05:28.079 --> 00:05:35.279
But I think the most simple, not the most important, but an important thing for the everyday Christian is to know that you're not a victim of your thoughts, you're in control of your thoughts.
00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:46.240
And it's actually imperative that you take your thoughts captive, set your mind on things above, uh, because your your life moves in the direction of your strongest thoughts, and so your strongest thoughts uh should be about the things of God.
00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:48.879
So um those are my thoughts on thoughts.
00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:50.800
Thoughts on thoughts.
00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:53.040
Um those are good thoughts.
00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:59.600
Uh what about um, I mean, obviously the Bible says flat out, you know, that God knows our thoughts.
00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:07.759
So, you know, sometimes I wonder, like, you know, and not, you know, does God hear me when I pray without praying out loud?
00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:20.319
But um, but yeah, that, you know, not not that I wonder that, but like I think that's something that can be something we could we could potentially ponder because I don't think we all think that God knows our thoughts, you know.
00:06:20.399 --> 00:06:24.319
I don't think we operate in such a way that we know that God knows our thoughts.
00:06:24.560 --> 00:06:24.720
Yeah.
00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:34.000
Well, even like uh like what you just said, uh Romans 8, um, like when you can't put into words what you're thinking and feeling, the Holy Spirit um helps you pray.
00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:35.920
That's a paraphrase of Romans 8.
00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:36.399
Right.
00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:41.920
Um it's almost I bring that up because it's almost like God knows your thoughts better than you do, right, in a sense.
00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:44.480
Uh so not only does he know them, but he knows them better than you.
00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:47.040
Um and so I I think he he definitely knows your thoughts.
00:06:47.360 --> 00:06:57.279
Yeah, I think I think the big question that comes in, like, because obviously other people cannot know our thoughts, but God is spirit, you know, and we must worship him in spirit and truth, like Jesus said.
00:06:57.439 --> 00:06:57.600
Yeah.
00:06:57.920 --> 00:07:03.199
Um, but there are he's not the only unseen spirit in this world.
00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:03.680
Yeah.
00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:06.240
So can the devil know my thoughts?
00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:08.160
Can demons know my thoughts?
00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:08.800
No.
00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:11.199
I I um I actually have strong opinions about this.
00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:26.879
So I think it's for the everyday Christian, I think it's really important to understand that there are other spiritual beings, like you just mentioned, but there's only one being that is uh omnipotent, omnipresent, uh omniscient, and that's the God of the universe, the one true God.
00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:33.439
And so while there is a devil and demons um roaming around, they are not those things.
00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:38.240
And so they are not everywhere, they do not know everything, uh, they are not all powerful.
00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:43.360
And so the way that they get to you is they they trial and error in terms of temptation.
00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:45.839
They try something and oh that didn't work on Dr.
00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:47.199
Saxon, let me try something else.
00:07:47.279 --> 00:07:49.199
Oh, he seemed to like that, let me try that again.
00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:52.720
And so they they get to you first, you know, using trial and error.
00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:56.079
That's my thinking on on um spiritual warfare.
00:07:56.240 --> 00:08:12.079
And I think that's that's gives us confidence because we oftentimes um we we oftentimes uh not transpose, but um impose the attributes of God onto other spiritual beings, but those are attributes that are exclusive to the one true God.
00:08:12.319 --> 00:08:16.079
And so I I do not think demons know your thoughts.
00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:20.720
Um I do think they know a lot about you, but I don't think they know your thoughts like the Lord does.
00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:21.680
So yeah.
00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:31.759
That's that's helpful, and I think that that's something that students ask me, you know, sometimes is is um can a can the demons, can the devil know my thoughts?
00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:34.159
And it it's I think it's a helpful thing for us to talk about.
00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:37.440
Um I think there's more to talk about with angels and demons.
00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:37.840
Yeah, sure.
00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:47.360
I think we'll save that for another time, but um because that's that's a real aspect of life that I think very few of us are considering at any given time.
00:08:47.919 --> 00:08:55.200
Um but yeah, I think it is helpful to know that only God can see our thoughts or hear and know our thoughts.
00:08:55.519 --> 00:08:59.360
You know, I think that that the thing we don't realize too that the that the enemy is doing.
00:08:59.679 --> 00:09:08.320
We well actually we think that the devil is the one who's tempting us all the time, but um but the devil is is uh not omnipresent like you just said.
00:09:08.720 --> 00:09:21.120
So it's it's not always the devil that is tempting, you know, like there's instances where it may be, um but you gotta be pretty important, I think, for the devil to be the one tempting you at any given time.
00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:27.200
Also, we're tempted by our own desires, but um that's a whole other thing, you know, from from James.
00:09:27.279 --> 00:09:32.159
But um but that yeah, we'll have to have that conversation at some point.
00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:32.799
Yeah.
00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:35.600
Angels, demons, and temptation at some point.
00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:42.080
Um yeah, okay, so topic uh topic number two um is the topic of rest.
00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:48.639
So uh coming off of we were just out of town last week for a couple days, um, got some rest.
00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:50.879
Yesterday was a holiday, labor day.
00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:56.879
Um we we did some restful things, but uh you know, Genesis says that on the seventh day the Lord rested.
00:09:56.960 --> 00:10:00.480
And Matthew 11, Jesus says, Come to me and I'll give you rest.
00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:03.519
And so there's an old testament principle of the Sabbath.
00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:05.360
Is that still applicable today?
00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:10.720
There's a lot to talk about here, but just um what do you think about the Christian and rest?
00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:23.919
Yeah, um that's a that's a good question because the uh I think a lot of times we're not that we're we're thinking about it in I just don't think we're actually thinking about it, actually, is what we're doing.
00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:30.639
We're we're probably just kind of going through life and handling things as they come to us and not doing a whole lot of intentional rest.
00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:35.600
Um, but yeah, that's that's a principle from creation that God rested.
00:10:35.679 --> 00:10:38.240
And obviously God did not need to rest.
00:10:38.639 --> 00:10:40.320
Like we need to rest.
00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:43.039
Um, and I do think we need to rest.
00:10:43.120 --> 00:10:51.679
Um, God does not sleep or slumber like a man, you know, he's he's not um he's not one to go to sleep at night and just kind of wake up in the morning and see what happens.
00:10:51.759 --> 00:11:01.200
You know, it's like we wake up in the morning and check our notifications, you know, God's not waking up and checking his notifications, God is always um 100% aware of every single thing that is happening.
00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:15.279
But I think that the principle in creation is that God chose to rest in um that he chose to enjoy his creation um more so than he ran out of power and now he needed to power back up.
00:11:15.440 --> 00:11:22.240
But because we're created in the image of God, we are created to rest, and so we actually can run out of energy and power if we don't rest.
00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:25.679
Um, I mean, so it's one of the Ten Commandments to honor the Sabbath, you know.
00:11:25.759 --> 00:11:34.399
Like we a lot of times when we talk about the Old Testament law, we talk about how um there's certain laws that are uh meant to endure.
00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:39.840
And uh a lot of times when people talk about that, they'll say the Ten Commandments, but they'll forget about that Sabbath one.
00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:48.559
Um and the Sabbath is Saturday, like the we worship as Christians on the Lord's Day, which is Sunday, not on the Sabbath day.
00:11:48.720 --> 00:11:50.399
The Sabbath day is Saturday.
00:11:50.559 --> 00:11:57.519
Um, but we are um we should still be uh engaging in some element of Sabbath rest.
00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:05.039
And in in our culture, it may not always be that we are able to do that on a Saturday, you know necessarily.
00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:19.440
Um but I think there's plenty of there's plenty of people who have written on this topic that would point out that the principle is not um necessarily like ever on Sabbath on Saturday, it's it's honoring this the fact that God called us to rest.
00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:25.519
And so I think that every week we have to build some sort of rest into our routine.
00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:28.000
And for most of us, it still kind of works out to be Saturday.
00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:38.799
I mean, for me as a as a teacher, uh I work Monday through Friday, and I um I go to church on Sunday and and um enjoy time with the church family.
00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:42.960
The day that is kind of the down day that should be is Saturday.
00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:58.320
And so Saturday is the Sabbath anyway, and it just kind of makes sense that that would be a day that I intentionally um choose to rest, to recharge, to allow, um, to allow God to do what He's going to do to refresh me and all those sorts of things.
00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:08.399
Um and I and I but at the same time, like I know I I used to be a fireman, and so when I was a firefighter, I worked 24 on, 72, or twenty that's what they work now, 24 on, 72 off.
00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:10.399
Can you imagine they go to work like three times a week a month?
00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:10.960
But really?
00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:12.399
Um yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:13.120
My old department.
00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:14.320
Why did that change?
00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:22.000
Um well it doesn't it doesn't every department kind of has to do it on their own, but my department um that happened about a year after I left.
00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:24.960
Because you were 24 on 48 off, right?
00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:26.159
Wow.
00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:29.919
But I loved going to work, so I had to go on 48 on 24 off.
00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:30.720
Sometimes you did.
00:13:30.960 --> 00:13:32.559
Then I did a lot, yes.
00:13:32.960 --> 00:13:40.080
Um but uh the uh it's sometimes I would have to work on Saturdays, you know, so then what do you do?
00:13:40.399 --> 00:13:42.000
Um and that's the case for a lot of people, you know.
00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:45.039
If you're in the food service industry, you know, that's a big day they'll be working.
00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:49.039
If you're you know, there's certain industries where you really have to you have to work on a Saturday.
00:13:49.200 --> 00:13:54.240
Um so I think that the thing that we have to do is we have to intentionally build a day in.
00:13:54.320 --> 00:13:55.840
And sometimes maybe it is Sunday, you know.
00:13:55.919 --> 00:13:59.200
Sometimes it's like well, there's a lot of businesses that close on Sundays.
00:13:59.279 --> 00:14:00.480
Um, so maybe that's the day.
00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:05.360
Maybe we enjoy time with our church family in the morning and then you spend the rest of the day doing something that is restful.
00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:11.360
Um, but I think that I think it's the practical aspect of the rest that we don't always you know really think about.
00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:13.679
We think rest, okay, well, I gotta sit around and do absolutely nothing.
00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:15.919
Well, for some of us, yes, that is that is true.
00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:18.639
Um, for some of us, that may not be true.
00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:21.679
Uh I heard somebody say, and this was really, really helpful.
00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:37.200
Um he uh this guy was was saying, um, I don't even remember who this guy is, but he was like, if you're if you normally work with your mind, then your rest should be something that you enjoy with your hands.
00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:38.559
So you work with your hands.
00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:45.360
And if you normally work all week with your hands, then rest can simply be something where you engage your mind.
00:14:45.679 --> 00:14:50.080
Um and I think that that's a helpful thing, that rest looks different for all of us.
00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:57.440
And for some of us it means spending time with people, and for some of us it means not spending time with people, you know.
00:14:57.519 --> 00:14:58.960
And I think that that's that's the thing.
00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:11.840
We just have to figure out how is it that God made me, not how to, you know, not necessarily just my preferences, but how did God make me and what is it that is truly restful for me, and how do I engage in that intentionally at least once a week.
00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:12.480
Yeah.
00:15:12.879 --> 00:15:20.080
I think that's a great practical point, is that like oftentimes we hear the word rest and we think, well, I'm just sitting on my couch all day doing nothing.
00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:23.679
That's rest, but it's that's not the case for everybody, although it is the case for some.
00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:24.480
Like me.
00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:28.960
Um I yeah, I just sitting around doing nothing, I can't do it.
00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:48.799
Um but like yesterday I um well it was Labor Day, so we were off from school and from work, and um I do a lot of work with my mind, like you just said, and so I spent m pretty much all day yesterday outside, and I was um this is actually what made made me think of this topic is I was like moving a sprinkler head in my yard, and it took me longer than it should have for several reasons.
00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:54.320
But um, I was just in the dirt in the sun for hours, and it was awesome, you know.
00:15:54.720 --> 00:15:58.320
But if that's someone's everyday job, that's that they wouldn't find that restful.
00:15:58.399 --> 00:15:59.519
But I found that restful.
00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:00.799
Yeah, and I I loved it.
00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:06.559
So um what do you think about so uh the Sabbath in the Ten Commandments?
00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:07.679
You mentioned that already.
00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:15.039
Uh it's the only commandment of the ten that's not um how do I say this, reiterated uh in the New Testament.
00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:21.759
Um for instance, Christ says uh, you know, the Sabbath was made for man, man wasn't made for the Sabbath.
00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:36.720
Um so the the question being, do we need to observe a literal 24-hour Sabbath like God's people did in the Old Testament, or is there uh a more flexible principle for New Testament Christians?
00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:39.200
I don't know if I phrase that right, but you hear what I'm saying?
00:16:39.440 --> 00:16:40.320
I know what you're saying.
00:16:40.639 --> 00:16:46.080
Um honestly, like it what about where rest is talked about in the Sabbath is talking about in Hebrews?
00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:49.279
Like in some of that confusion, that's some of that's a confusing language in the book of Hebrews.
00:16:49.679 --> 00:16:53.679
Yeah, in Hebrews is like uh because it's referring to the Sabbath rest as heaven.
00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:55.200
Almost like soul rest, yeah.
00:16:55.600 --> 00:17:01.279
Yeah, uh and not not even like physical rest now, but soul rest later, right?
00:17:01.519 --> 00:17:01.919
Perhaps.
00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:17.359
So and so in some ways it is you could say most likely then that the concept of the Sabbath is meant to foreshadow you know, just like most things in the Old Testament are foreshadowing something to do with Jesus or the return.
00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:27.200
Um you could you could say that there's an L element to the Sabbath that is foreshadowing the rest that we will one day have as believers in Jesus with Jesus forever.
00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:34.960
Um but then again, like in the new heavens and the new earth, we like you said on Sunday, we will have jobs, you know, we'll be working.
00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:37.200
And um you said employment.
00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:38.640
I don't think we'll be employed.
00:17:39.119 --> 00:17:41.920
Um but we'll be working for sure, and we'll have jobs.
00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:44.559
We'll be employed in the in the for whom will you be working?
00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:50.480
And we'll be employed in the in the uh um what's the word I'm looking for?
00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:53.519
I don't know, but we'll be employed in the the endeavors of the kingdom.
00:17:53.680 --> 00:17:53.920
Yeah.
00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:56.079
So I don't know.
00:17:56.240 --> 00:18:02.240
It's it we will be you're you're right, but like it's just kind of funny to think about because you're not working for somebody else.
00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:04.799
Like it's not like you're gonna have like a bunch of employees, you know.
00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:07.279
Yeah we'll all be working for the King of Kings.
00:18:07.680 --> 00:18:16.079
Um but uh to your question was um the 24 hour.
00:18:16.559 --> 00:18:24.480
So I think even in the I think even in the um Old Testament, even in the New Testament, you know, the way that the Sabbath was interpreted was probably done incorrectly.
00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:27.599
Um I mean there was a way that the Sabbath's meant to be done, right?
00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:36.480
I mean, there's there's a whole bunch of laws about how the Sabbath is supposed to be done, but then you hear Jesus talking about how the Sabbath has been done wrong.
00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:42.079
So talking when he heals somebody on the Sabbath, and they're like, Oh my goodness, I can't believe you healed somebody on the Sabbath.
00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:42.480
Right.
00:18:42.640 --> 00:18:44.880
And he's like, What are you talking about?
00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:50.720
Like that's what that's the whole I mean that's that's one of the things you're supposed to be doing is being healed through the Sabbath.
00:18:51.200 --> 00:19:04.480
Um but then you know he he tells them, like, which of you uh, you know, like it it says in the law that if your neighbor's donkey isn't stuck in or ox is stuck in a in a ditch, you help them get it out, even if it's the Sabbath.
00:19:04.799 --> 00:19:09.039
And so I um and that's what Jesus, you know, Jesus refers to that.
00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:25.200
So I think that I think that it's kind of like one of those things, like where the where a lot of the religious rules in Jesus' day, where the religious leaders of the time built all these fences around the rules to keep the people away from the rules, yeah, so they wouldn't, you know, wouldn't cross the line.
00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:27.200
Uh I think they did that with the Sabbath too.
00:19:27.359 --> 00:19:37.039
So I think that the way that a lot of people even now that sell still, you know, still celebrate or observe a biblical Sabbath, I think the way they do it is probably too extreme.
00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:46.799
Um where you know, where it's just you know, where things get interpreted into it that probably don't need to be interpreted into it, if that makes sense.
00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:47.920
It does, yeah.
00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:48.880
It does.
00:19:49.119 --> 00:19:52.960
Um I think two two final comments on rest.
00:19:53.119 --> 00:20:00.880
Um you know, one is uh I found it helpful someone said, you know, work uh work fl from a place of rest, don't work for rest.
00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:07.599
So basically the phrase like you ever heard someone say, like, I just need a vacation, like you just work, work, work until you're exhausted and then you rest.
00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:13.599
But uh a better way to be to you know uh strategically plan rest so that you can work from rest, not for rest.
00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:15.119
I find that helpful.
00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:37.839
Um but also like viewing rest in whatever form as a step of faith, because the world would say, you know, more work equals more productivity, but it's kind of like that um you know that old fable, I guess, of you know, two men chopping a tree and one never stops to sharpen his axe, but the other one stops to sharpen his axe and he cuts it faster, even though he was chopping for less amount of time.
00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:38.319
Right.
00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:49.839
Um it's the same concept and just just viewing uh everything in your life as a step of faith, but especially rest uh and and trusting that the Lord will um will produce through you when you rest.
00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:52.960
So um those are my final thoughts on that.
00:20:53.119 --> 00:20:53.839
So yeah.
00:20:54.240 --> 00:20:56.400
Well, you know how it is with kids.
00:20:56.480 --> 00:21:00.319
You're about three days into vacation and you think, man, I need a vacation from this vacation.
00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:03.039
Yes, yes, that's yeah, yeah, yeah, that's last week.
00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:03.440
Yeah.
00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:05.839
So vacation.
00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:10.720
It's kind of like it's kind of like well, this is probably another hot take, but it's kind of like how Father's Day is not actually for the fathers.
00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:14.720
Well, vacation with your kids is just your kids begging for snacks in a different location.
00:21:15.119 --> 00:21:15.680
Yeah, exactly.
00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:16.400
Exactly.
00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:17.599
We had a great time.
00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:18.960
Like it, but it's you're right.
00:21:19.039 --> 00:21:23.119
Yeah, it's it's uh it's more of an investment in family memory sometimes than physical rest.
00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:27.200
Yes, it is, yeah, for for a parent, the vacation is is work.
00:21:27.279 --> 00:21:30.880
And you as once you once you see it that way though, yes, it actually makes it more enjoyable.
00:21:31.119 --> 00:21:31.680
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:21:31.759 --> 00:21:35.599
I don't I I loved it, but yeah, I did come home tired, so which is ironic.
00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:37.200
It is, isn't it?
00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:38.480
Yes.
00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:39.359
All right.
00:21:39.599 --> 00:21:42.799
Um, so another thing I have for you.
00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:47.599
I uh I use a phrase sometimes on here that I thought that might be helpful to uh to explain.
00:21:47.759 --> 00:21:49.759
It's one of my favorite things to think about.
00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:52.720
Um, but the phrase is common grace.
00:21:53.359 --> 00:21:58.799
So there are and I a lot of times use it as a noun, like there are things that are common graces.
00:21:59.440 --> 00:22:01.519
Um What's a common grace?
00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:10.720
Um yeah, we we actually talked about this um was it two Sundays ago in Psalm 145?
00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:14.160
Um we talked about it in a Sunday morning sermon.
00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:27.839
Um and I'm trying to remember the psalm reference, but um but anyways, there's the there's the reference in Matthew 5 uh where Jesus says that um God causes the sun to rise on both uh the just and the unjust.
00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:30.240
He causes the rain to fall on the evil and the good.
00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:38.240
Um and so you know common grace is uh is contrasted with salvific grace or saving grace.
00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:50.240
Um and basically, you know, everyone in the world, uh saved or not, uh experiences God's common grace, but um only only the saved have experienced God's saving grace.
00:22:50.319 --> 00:23:06.319
And so um in terms of like a sequence or a funnel, I think God's common graces um should cause uh a lost and dying world to long for God's saving grace, but you experience God's saving grace when you receive Christ by faith.
00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:10.400
Um and so I think common grace is contrasted with saving grace in that way.
00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:15.839
But uh common grace is is basically to say that like the the world is not as bad as it could be.
00:23:15.920 --> 00:23:30.160
Like it should be a lot worse because of sin, but it's not, uh, because God has has exercised some common grace on the world, and he allows the sun still to rise on believers and unbelievers, and the rain still to fall on believers and unbelievers.
00:23:30.319 --> 00:23:53.519
And so um I just think those those little moments um in life that that everybody gets to experience, whether they're right with God or not, are are God's common graces, and his common graces should point the loss to Jesus, and his common graces should point uh believers to a heart of of gratitude and uh longing for the new heavens and the new earth when everything will be uh like those moments of common grace.
00:23:53.680 --> 00:23:56.000
So that's how I think about common grace.
00:23:56.160 --> 00:23:57.039
But you have more thoughts there?
00:23:57.359 --> 00:23:58.400
Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
00:23:58.559 --> 00:23:59.119
Yeah.
00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:02.640
Um I uh no, I think I mean that's that's what it is.
00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:04.559
I what what are some what are some examples?
00:24:04.640 --> 00:24:09.200
I mean, obviously you said the rain falls on the just and the unjust, you know, that's that's an agricultural reference most likely.
00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:17.200
But um but what are some uh what are some like practical examples in our lives right now, today, of common graces?
00:24:17.440 --> 00:24:24.079
I mean, I think you're right, they are all around us, or we would be suffering a hundred percent of the time.
00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:26.640
Um but what are some common graces?
00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:50.319
Um so I think um like there are some things that are constant, you know, like the the uh the climate or um you know the taste of food or beauty, like there are some things that are constant in in uh in the universe, but I also think of moments of common grace, like um, you know, holding my can you believe this was Gunnar's first experience at the beach last week?
00:24:50.480 --> 00:24:50.880
Oh really?
00:24:51.039 --> 00:24:51.759
He's almost three.
00:24:51.839 --> 00:25:00.160
Um but I bring that up because like holding my son's hand as he like wades into the waters of the ocean for the first time in his life, that's a common grace.
00:25:00.319 --> 00:25:01.839
Like that's a pretty cool experience.
00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:06.000
Um and then he never wanted to get out, and so we just kept doing it over and over again.
00:25:06.160 --> 00:25:11.839
Um but that that first moment of experiencing that with a toddler is pretty cool.
00:25:12.079 --> 00:25:22.079
And I think you know, whether a a parent is a believer or not, when they experience that with their child or a moment like that, um, that's the Lord's common grace in the world.
00:25:22.240 --> 00:25:34.400
Um so I think there are some some common graces that are that are constants that never stop that the Lord has allowed to uh you know persist even though it's a broken world.
00:25:34.799 --> 00:25:47.279
But I think there are also moments of common grace that if we stop to realize, you might call them blessings, um uh but uh if you stop to realize like that's a that's a common grace uh uh uh from the Lord.
00:25:47.359 --> 00:25:52.240
So I mean I I would think of a blessing as a common grace, like absolutely.
00:25:52.480 --> 00:26:05.759
I uh the way that I you know trying to define common grace in a hopefully succinct way would be like anytime that we get to experience God's design um the way it was intended.
00:26:06.079 --> 00:26:13.119
So I think um I think marriage is a huge example of God's common grace that you know you don't have to be a believer to get married.
00:26:13.519 --> 00:26:17.599
And by marriage I mean like actual marriage, you know, one man, one woman for life.
00:26:18.160 --> 00:26:20.960
Um children are always a blessing, whether you're a believer or not.
00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:24.240
So we get to experience God's design in having children.
00:26:24.400 --> 00:26:42.799
Um and so that's yeah, that's the way I like to think about them is you know, if we can experience things that are God's design in this world, even though it's a broken world, and even though we may not know God, we still get to experience God's um God's you know um design.
00:26:42.960 --> 00:26:45.200
It's like it's like the sunrise and the sunset, you know.
00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:46.640
That's God's common grace.
00:26:46.720 --> 00:26:53.039
The fact that we get to look at a sunrise and a sunset and be like, man, that's beautiful, or or a rainbow, um, which is God's promise to the earth.
00:26:53.200 --> 00:27:01.119
Uh whether I know God or don't know God, it doesn't change the fact that that's God's promise to the earth and he's not gonna flood the earth again.
00:27:01.680 --> 00:27:03.359
Um so yeah, absolutely.
00:27:03.519 --> 00:27:12.480
Holding your son's hand and getting to experience things absolutely that is uh I mean it's a blessing, and I think a blessing is a common grace, no doubt, because that's something that anybody can experience.
00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:14.000
Yeah, yeah.
00:27:14.400 --> 00:27:27.359
Um yeah, I I think it was Psalm 145, um where we talked about um oh it was yeah, it was verse uh whatever, the verse where it says God does good to all in Psalm 145.
00:27:27.519 --> 00:27:27.759
Yeah.
00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:33.759
I felt the need when preaching that verse to clarify that that that's not a proof text for universalism.
00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:38.240
Um but it's it's simply to say that God shows his common grace to all.
00:27:38.640 --> 00:27:45.680
He doesn't show his saving grace to all, he shows his saving grace to those who place their faith in Jesus, but uh his his common grace is shown to all, he does good to all.
00:27:45.839 --> 00:27:45.920
Right.
00:27:46.160 --> 00:27:46.640
That's what it was.
00:27:46.960 --> 00:27:57.920
Which I do think that the helpful um the helpful thing to think about with that is that it is meant to point to, like you said, like it is meant to point to God's saving grace.
00:27:58.079 --> 00:28:12.400
Like it's not just common graces so that we can survive this world and end up in in hell, it's common graces so that we can desire more of the one who made that that grace to begin with and want more of that grace, especially through the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
00:28:12.720 --> 00:28:13.839
Like where did all this come from?
00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:21.039
I guess talking with someone the other day about um you know have how to have a conversation with an atheist.
00:28:21.200 --> 00:28:26.960
And um, I mean there's all kinds of angles you could take, but like one is um uh beauty in the world.
00:28:27.039 --> 00:28:33.200
We've talked about beauty on this podcast before, but like beauty would not evolve through a process of natural selection.
00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:35.519
Like beauty is not necessary for the world.
00:28:35.599 --> 00:28:41.519
So the fact that there are beautiful things in the world, like it has to it has to come from a creator.
00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:44.559
Like you can you can't tell me that the beauty evolved.
00:28:45.119 --> 00:28:47.200
That just doesn't logically make sense.
00:28:47.359 --> 00:28:54.799
Um and there are several other things in the universe that don't logically make sense uh uh from an evolutionary perspective, but beauty is one of them.
00:28:54.880 --> 00:28:57.519
Uh and common grace uh is is connected to all that.
00:28:57.599 --> 00:28:59.519
So uh we do have to keep moving.
00:28:59.680 --> 00:29:03.039
Um man, I have several other topics.
00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:05.920
Uh I'm gonna give you a softball because I know you have opinions on this.
00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:09.440
Um I don't have very many opinions.
00:29:09.680 --> 00:29:10.640
No, just a few.
00:29:10.799 --> 00:29:12.400
Uh tell us about Halloween.
00:29:12.559 --> 00:29:20.000
So uh I know it's September, and so we're still like eight weeks away, but we walk through Costco, and there's you know, my kids call him the scary man.
00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:26.240
There's a big figurine that's for sale you can put in your yard, and uh, we just have to tell them it's pretend and don't worry about it.
00:29:26.400 --> 00:29:30.960
And last week someone asked my kids if they're excited for Halloween, and I'm like, they don't really know what that is.
00:29:31.119 --> 00:29:34.960
Um but I know you have uh strong opinions on Halloween, so tell us about them.
00:29:35.200 --> 00:29:49.599
I do have very strong opinions on Halloween, and I I do have to say, like, as a disclaimer, like uh I I don't celebrate Halloween, I've never celebrated Halloween, and I will never celebrate Halloween, but I am not judging people who do.
00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:52.799
Um I'm not looking down on people who do.
00:29:53.119 --> 00:29:54.799
I'm just not gonna do it.
00:29:54.960 --> 00:29:55.279
Yeah.
00:29:55.440 --> 00:29:58.240
Um, and I'll and I'll tell you the reason why I don't do it.
00:29:58.319 --> 00:30:01.680
I mean, so uh I was I actually hate Halloween.
00:30:01.839 --> 00:30:03.039
Um, you know, we talked about hate.
00:30:03.680 --> 00:30:04.000
Yeah, yeah.
00:30:04.160 --> 00:30:04.480
Yeah.
00:30:04.640 --> 00:30:08.880
Um and I I mentioned that to my wife when we were at Costco this past weekend.
00:30:09.039 --> 00:30:10.319
I said, I hate Halloween.
00:30:10.799 --> 00:30:12.160
You saw the same thing, the same decoration?
00:30:12.319 --> 00:30:12.799
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:30:12.960 --> 00:30:24.160
Actually, I think we might have gone to Target, and it was Target was like everything was Halloween, and like and yeah, September, like Halloween is is uh the end of October, so we get this for two more months.
00:30:24.319 --> 00:30:25.920
And it's my least favorite time of the year.
00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:32.960
And I know there's there's people out there, even Christians, will say that Halloween is their favorite holiday, you know, and I I don't even look it as a holiday, I look it as something I just have to get through.
00:30:33.119 --> 00:30:37.680
But um, and I and I also don't, this is a whole nother thing, but I don't think it's redeemable.
00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:52.640
Um the um the the problem that I have with Halloween is when you s think about Halloween and you step inside any sort of Halloween anything, the thing that is being highlighted is darkness.
00:30:52.880 --> 00:31:00.240
It's some sort of darkness, it's some sort of magic, it's some sort of evil, it's some sort of just grossness.
00:31:00.640 --> 00:31:10.559
It's not like, you know, people are like, oh, if I just always dress my kids like princesses and knights, you know, then that's always a, you know, then I'm not really engaging with the darkness of Halloween.
00:31:10.640 --> 00:31:22.640
But like, yes, you are, because the first door you walk up to to trick or treat that has, you know, some sort of skeleton or some sort of celebration of death, you're a hundred percent engaging in that.
00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:24.720
You're a hundred percent pushing into that.
00:31:24.880 --> 00:31:32.000
And that and I get that that again, not judging people that celebrate, I'm just saying that is what Halloween is.
00:31:32.160 --> 00:31:40.160
And I know like it's like one of those things where if it's not, if it's not triggering your conscience, you know, then the more power to you, I guess.
00:31:40.319 --> 00:31:47.279
But my hope would be that we would think carefully about Halloween and about the fact that it is a celebration of darkness.
00:31:47.440 --> 00:31:51.599
And so then people will be like, well, this is the argument that people make to me all the time.
00:31:51.759 --> 00:32:00.480
Um, they'll be like, well, Halloween was founded in All Saints Day, you know, so like uh all saints, All Saints Eve, and so it's when we're actually celebrating the saints.
00:32:00.640 --> 00:32:04.640
So um, so you should like Halloween because it's it's celebrating the saints.
00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:20.880
And I'm like, well, that that's kind of like saying that we shouldn't celebrate Christmas because Christmas um as it the festival that was reclaimed for celebration of the birth of Jesus was actually a pagan festival, including the fact, including the Christmas tree itself.
00:32:21.200 --> 00:32:26.079
But we have as a culture reclaimed that, especially as a church reclaimed that holiday.
00:32:26.240 --> 00:32:47.680
And we're not looking at those historical roots, we're looking at the historical roots of like um Saint Nicholas, who would take gifts to kids, and you know, like um who was a real person that really did give gifts to children, you know, like there's there's elements of Christmas that we uh it it's been redeemed, you know, like there it has, yes, it started as a pagan festival, but it's but it now is a celebration of Jesus' birth.
00:32:47.839 --> 00:32:53.039
Like, and even if you want to say it's about Santa Claus, well it's that that's a saint who was following God.
00:32:53.200 --> 00:33:02.240
I mean, like, so um, and I and uh that Santa Claus is a whole nother thing, we'll talk about that another time, but um that actually would be a good topic to talk about.
00:33:02.559 --> 00:33:02.880
I would, yeah.
00:33:03.279 --> 00:33:04.000
I'm gonna write that down.
00:33:04.480 --> 00:33:19.359
Um but um but the the the problem with Halloween is that just because it was founded and its roots somehow are associated with All Saints Day, which you know there there's aspects of that, there's aspects where it's not, it's you know, some sort of Celtic thing, whatever.
00:33:19.440 --> 00:33:20.000
I don't know.
00:33:20.079 --> 00:33:24.079
But it what it has become in our culture is a celebration of darkness.
00:33:24.319 --> 00:33:35.920
And so I think a lot of times as the church we'll say, oh, well, we're gonna redeem it somehow by having um some sort of event to draw people in on Halloween or whatever, but like I don't wanna, I don't want to press into darkness at all.
00:33:36.160 --> 00:33:59.519
And I just don't think I mean I I love like a fall festival or whatever, I love like a you know, a um some sort of gathering, like you know, but uh but anything that's Halloween-esque I don't like because I don't want to engage in that that that so-called holiday at all, because it is a celebration of darkness, and I'm not trying to celebrate darkness.
00:34:00.160 --> 00:34:02.079
And I don't want that for my kids.
00:34:02.160 --> 00:34:08.639
I don't I mean the things that we allow into our hearts and into our minds and into our lives, like did through things like Halloween.
00:34:08.800 --> 00:34:18.719
I mean, I I I've never said about Halloween, but I was in the Cub Scouts, and as a Cub Scout, I went to a Cub Scout meeting that just happened to be, I think, on either Halloween or the day before or something like that.
00:34:18.880 --> 00:34:33.840
And my Cub Scout leader made a haunted house in her garage, unbeknownst to my parents who did not celebrate Halloween, um, and then made everybody one by one go through this dark or you know, this dark haunted house in their garage.
00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:40.880
And it I still remember the smells, I still remember some of the things that they're like, oh, feel this, and like I still remember some of the feel.
00:34:40.960 --> 00:34:42.639
I still remember somebody trying to scare me.
00:34:42.719 --> 00:34:44.400
I didn't sleep for three nights.
00:34:44.559 --> 00:34:56.000
Like you you're allowing darkness into your heart and mind, and like most of us are not strong enough to resist that, and so I just have I just have a big problem with it.
00:34:56.079 --> 00:34:57.840
Like, I just have a big I'm just not gonna do it.
00:34:57.920 --> 00:35:00.159
I don't want that for my my kids, I don't want that for my family.
00:35:00.239 --> 00:35:01.280
I just I just don't want that.
00:35:01.360 --> 00:35:08.239
I don't want to celebrate darkness, and and I think that it is probably in our culture too far gone for us to be able to redeem it.
00:35:09.280 --> 00:35:20.559
Um just like Christmas was originally redeemed, and maybe that maybe the Christians at the time thought that about Christmas as well, but um that it wasn't redeemable, but now it has been redeemed.
00:35:20.719 --> 00:35:23.119
Um, but the culture's still trying to get at that one, you know.
00:35:23.199 --> 00:35:26.800
Like the culture's always going to try and claim the holiday for darkness.
00:35:26.960 --> 00:35:27.599
Yeah.
00:35:28.400 --> 00:35:30.239
Um I think I think that's helpful.
00:35:30.320 --> 00:35:34.880
Like, I I think we were talking about a different topic off air and how it's just kind of like, yeah, of course we would do that.
00:35:34.960 --> 00:35:37.360
And then Christians just don't think through at first.
00:35:37.440 --> 00:35:42.159
Um Halloween probably falls in that category in some ways of like, yeah, of course we're we're celebrating Halloween.
00:35:42.320 --> 00:35:44.079
Like, what are your kids wearing this year?
00:35:44.239 --> 00:35:46.079
Um someone already asked us that too.
00:35:46.159 --> 00:35:48.239
It's like what are your kids gonna dress up as this year?
00:35:48.480 --> 00:35:58.159
Um and so I I don't like I think I wouldn't have as strong of an opinion as you, but like we're not um we're not huge fans of the holiday either.
00:35:58.239 --> 00:36:04.559
Um but like if you see a picture of my kid dressed up as a scuba diver or something, like uh we we might uh we we might do that.
00:36:04.719 --> 00:36:12.880
But um it is one of those things where you're I I do agree with the like it is a celebration of darkness, and so we do have to be very careful with that with that holiday.
00:36:12.960 --> 00:36:13.679
So yeah.
00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:16.880
My kids can dress up 364 days a year.
00:36:18.000 --> 00:36:19.760
Just not on October 31st.
00:36:20.480 --> 00:36:21.119
Yeah.
00:36:21.440 --> 00:36:23.840
All right, we do have to go um soon.
00:36:23.920 --> 00:36:25.760
So what's your hot take today?
00:36:26.159 --> 00:36:28.880
Well uh I think I've already shared like four.
00:36:29.039 --> 00:36:29.119
Yeah.
00:36:29.440 --> 00:36:35.280
Um but uh but the but the one I have for today is uh so we live in Florida, the free state of Florida.
00:36:35.440 --> 00:36:41.119
Lots of great things about living in Florida, and um those are celebrated through license plates.
00:36:41.199 --> 00:36:44.320
We have more specialty license plates than any state in the nation.
00:36:44.480 --> 00:36:45.840
Um everybody knows that.
00:36:45.920 --> 00:36:46.719
I didn't I didn't know that.
00:36:46.960 --> 00:36:49.280
Well yeah, well, I'm saying we do.
00:36:49.360 --> 00:36:51.360
Like that's that's that is that is the case.
00:36:51.599 --> 00:36:51.840
Okay.
00:36:52.000 --> 00:36:57.679
Um, but there's one license plate, there's several of them that are kind of annoying to me, but there's one that drives me crazy.
00:36:57.840 --> 00:37:06.559
It's one, it's it's an orange license plate with a sunset, you know, like somebody with a surfboard, and the tagline and the name of the license plate is endless summer.
00:37:06.800 --> 00:37:07.119
Huh.
00:37:07.360 --> 00:37:10.079
But like that's the worst part of living in Florida.
00:37:10.239 --> 00:37:13.039
Like, the worst part of living in Florida is that it's an endless summer.
00:37:13.119 --> 00:37:15.920
Like the summer goes on for 11 and a half months of the year.
00:37:16.159 --> 00:37:18.960
Why would we celebrate the worst thing about Florida?
00:37:19.280 --> 00:37:20.639
You don't like summer?
00:37:20.960 --> 00:37:21.280
No.
00:37:21.519 --> 00:37:21.840
Oh.
00:37:22.159 --> 00:37:25.280
Yeah, they say in Florida there's only two seasons summer and football.
00:37:25.679 --> 00:37:27.199
It's summer and snowbird.
00:37:27.440 --> 00:37:28.239
Yeah, that's true.
00:37:28.400 --> 00:37:28.880
That's true.
00:37:28.960 --> 00:37:30.480
Uh which is also still summer.
00:37:30.639 --> 00:37:32.880
I did not, I've never seen that license plate.
00:37:33.039 --> 00:37:37.119
Um my hot take is that Santa's not real.
00:37:37.360 --> 00:37:37.840
Just kidding.
00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:45.519
Um, my hot take is that um uh I I don't really have fully formed thoughts on this, but it's enough for a hot take.
00:37:45.599 --> 00:37:50.320
I think AI is going to extinguish video preaching.
00:37:50.480 --> 00:37:51.760
That's my hot take.
00:37:51.920 --> 00:37:56.159
Um I don't I don't have a uh preferentially, I don't like video preaching.
00:37:56.239 --> 00:38:01.440
I don't have a conviction against it, but I do think AI is going to cause it to go away.
00:38:01.760 --> 00:38:02.400
That's interesting.
00:38:02.639 --> 00:38:03.119
Hot take.
00:38:03.360 --> 00:38:05.199
I can see how that could be the case.
00:38:05.440 --> 00:38:06.000
Yeah.
00:38:06.320 --> 00:38:06.880
Good one.
00:38:07.119 --> 00:38:07.760
All right.
00:38:08.079 --> 00:38:15.039
Well, this has been the Practical Matters Podcast, where we believe that making theology practical matters.
00:38:15.199 --> 00:38:16.320
I'm Kevin Saxton.
00:38:16.559 --> 00:38:17.519
This is Garrett Haywood.
00:38:17.679 --> 00:38:18.559
See you the next time.
00:38:18.719 --> 00:38:19.679
Goodbye.
