When God’s Answer Isn’t the One You Wanted

or are you even working? Today, we're going to see a question asked by John the Baptist. Jesus, are you the one to come or should we look for someone else? And I'll give you a hint. It's not a question about his identity. It's a question about Jesus' ministry agenda. You're not going to want to miss this one. Welcome to the Forgotten Jesus podcast where you'll learn about the real Jesus from the Bible. I'm your host, Pastor Adam French. I'm here with Pastor Robbie Gallady and Candy Gallady. Robbie is the pastor of Long Hollow Church and he is the founder and can he's the co-founder of Replicate Ministries. Both of them are authors, Bible communicators, and traveling the world recently as well. Glad to have you back. I'll tell you good news. Weight here is finally back in stock. Let's go. By the time this podcast drops. Hopefully. Now, I will say it's a good thing and it's not so good thing because the book on what God showed me on the porch for 10 months for those who know it and how to tune your ear to hear from the voice of God. Just practice as I learned. The book sold out on Amazon in six hours and then it sold out of the entire first printing in six days. Which again, my publisher is like, yeah, what a great thing. I was like, yeah, but nobody can buy it now for a month. So anyway, right now it's back in stock. Come on, invite. And here's the cool thing. I read the entire book. And so if you want to get the audible, you can listen to me reading it as well. Yeah, you record yourself. Yeah. We got emotional. We would finish those chapters. Vivian, Jeremy, we'll tell you Robert. And we would finish the chapters because we relived what God had done at Long Hollow. What he wants to continue to do and we just be overwhelmed. I think I'm like page 4050, but one of the things that I really love, I hope it's okay to talk about it. I'm just talking a little piece of it is where you talk about quieting your mind, the critiquing part. And you talked about the critic. Yeah, the critic and how you wanted to really just remove or reject anything that would take you away from just sitting in the presence of God. And you kind of come to God with, you come to God with this posture of, I'm just, I'm just so excited and so grateful to be in your presence. It just, for me, it changed my whole approach to sitting with the Lord. And I felt like it was more rich. It was more I felt more connected because God is holy. He's pure. There's no, he's not, he's not doubting us or condemning us or speaking negative things about us. Yeah. It's like coming to, coming to see that, that long lost best friend that loved you was your number one encourager. Like you get to sit with God every day and they, and they want to see you do well. So I would say

that because there's so many practical things. This is a book that is about a very deep subject. It's deep. There's volumes written this, this big about it, but it's practical. It's things that you can do. I do sitting in my chair at five and five a.m. I got, I put some things in practice already and I've been doing this for six years. Right. So, so something that still learning and it was, it's helpful. So I really, I just want to say it's, it's been encouraging to me already. So, thank you. Candy is loving it by the way. She's been, she'll take, tell us how long, how far into the page you on candy. What page are you on candy? I have not started it yet. What? Because we were out of town and I had, I brought it with me. She values it so much. She was away when she has the time. She said she lived. She said. Well, I will say, honey, I'm writing a book right now. So it's kind of hard to write one and then also be reading your buddy else's right now. So I will read it. I guess you get to pass and she's reading a book. I'm writing a book. No, but Adam's right. One of the big things for me during that time was trying to discern the difference between the voice of God and the voice of Satan or the voice of self. And I tell people over time you realize that the flesh and Satan speak with a certain dialect and it's never the voice of God. And it's how you know, Satan's voice always comes with criticism. The critic comes with judgment, condemnation, guilt, fear, shame. That's never the voice of the Holy Spirit. And his voice has a certain accent to it. Most people never get to hear it because they don't spend time to bend their ear and take the time. And so it takes, it takes, it's like a muscle hearing from God and sitting in silence and solitude and waiting on the Lord is like working out. You're not going to get it right away. You're not going to bench press 315 pounds. You're not I mean, I do it in the first year, but eventually if you keep with it, you'll build up to work is not to work. That is the work. See, because we, you and I high driven high, the, you know, type A person, I want to make it happen. We've got to, we feel like we're wasting time and I've been doing it six years like you. And many times to this day, I still have to tell myself, because I would think, am I doing anything? I just wasted 20 minutes or 40 minutes sitting with, and the Lord or mom, no, the work is not to work, because you got me and I finally got you. And the goal is not to get something from God. Remember, the goal is to be with God and to

get God. That's the goal. Well, one thing you said really spoke to me because I had a guy, I've had a lot of these questions have come up about how to know the difference between what the enemy is saying and what God is saying. And it's very elementary, but it truly is knowing the word. This guy was asking me this morning, he said, well, you know, how do you know the difference between like when you're angry and it's and it's righteous and when you're angry and it's sin. And I use Jesus example, it says Mark five when Jesus says Jesus angry and then his heart was grieved. So when you get angry, you get shot and think, okay, is it am I mad? Because this is I'm grieving over the over a sin. Like so if I get let's say like if Jojo or whoever it wouldn't be Jojo, never never Jojo. Let's say let's say Stella, let's say Stella, who's an angel, she would never do this by the way, she is hypothetically, this is hypothetically, it was Stella and she was disrespectful to her mom. So I is that simple? But his sin, right? It's just honoring. So my heart would be Hey, you know, Stella, I'm so sorry, you know, it hurts my heart that you would talk to your mom that way she loves you. Now, so but if I get angry at the guy that cuts me off in traffic or flips me off, whatever, am I angry at sin? Right? You know what I'm saying? So it's like it's like depending on what you're angry at, depending on what you're angry at. And I was telling him like if you actually can take take a step back and look and go, is my heart grieving over something that was simple that happened? Or is this me having a distorted view of love, which is what somebody hasn't listened still listen to my sermon yet. But that was my probably point one, I listen to that. You feel bad. I'll just say you don't listen to the trial. A full mobility here is funny, because I said, you know, Jocelyn, I

were talking about how much we miss you guys were like, okay, it's so weird not to hear from Robin Candy. And I was like, I know, and she's like, we miss him. I was like, I'll tell, I'm gonna tell him before I get back. I was able to tell. But I said, I said, I don't know if he even he must not. Maybe my sermon was terrible. No, I didn't even listen. He would probably tell me like if I did something wrong. And so when you said you had listed, yes, that was that was actually comforting. No, I told you two or three times on the trip was like, I got to listen, I'm sorry. But literally, we taught on this trip for a total of hours about four hours a day on the bus, not to mention all the stops and churches stuff. Well, that's the whole point. I mean, you get a really you want to relax, you don't have to worry about. Well, and then I had lunches and dinners with I try to meet with everybody to get to know them and then hang out top. So we did not really have any time to do that. What was the favorite thing you ate? Why you're there? Because I got the pork, German food, I don't think it was pork knuckle. I'm playing. I was. Yes. Yes. Yes. Like the roof of the pigs. I mean, yes. And these were were huge. I'm like, what's this? Wait, hold on. Hold on. I say, because I'm from West NC. Oh, yeah. And I've literally opened the refrigerator and seen and seen pig feet. Okay. Sorry. But I'm saying, so what's the pig knuckle? It looks like a horse. This thing looked like they got off. Really? Have you ever heard of the pig? No, look it up. You don't believe me? Pork knuckle Roberts. Oh, you heard of it? Roberts looks at it actually was not bad. It was pretty good. But by the fourth day or fifth day of pork schnitzel and pork, breaded pork and pork so everything's

poor. Everything's pork. They're chicken too. And we did have a hamper one day. We had a hamper. She was like, Oh, well, she would have died on that. Well, we did. I didn't eat it there. And by day five, the boys came to us and said, listen, dad, we just found every where we looked, rig was looking on the app, you know, rigs like dad, we found like a half or 0.2 miles away is like a Burger King. And guess who walks up with them? Uncle Jeremy. And they said, it's always like, listen, somebody's like, somebody's got to take him, man, I hate to do it. But I mean, I guess if I have so here we catch up on his mouth. I was in the court, and the Jeremy's out eating a wiper, a baby double wiper. And then I found out they got a McFlurry. Oh, this guy got a Snickers Flour. I mean, Robbie's teaching flour. You guys are eating burger. I love it. Yeah. All right, let's get into something biblical. Come on, every time of two weeks. Matthew 11, I've been waiting for this for a while now. We're gonna probably take it in two sections, because it is a lot. We don't want to miss anything. Matthew 11, we're gonna start verse two, Candy. And I want you to I want you to read - When Jesus had finished giving instructions to his twelve disciples, he moved on from there to teach and preach in their towns. Now when John heard in prison, what the Christ was doing, he sent a message through his disciples and asked him, "Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?" - Ooh, okay. This is going to help anybody today who's ever prayed a prayer and it seems like God didn't answer it. And then before, or maybe if you're listening,

you're praying stuff right now and it seems like you're believing God, you're trusting God, you pray for a long time, and it seems like there's no answer. Or better yet, the answer hasn't come the way you expected it, or even anticipated it. And so it looks from the surface. John is asking a question. John the Baptist, so let me give you the scenario here. John the Baptist right now is asking a legitimate question, okay? He really wants to know the answer to this. And before we go on, who is John the Baptist, for those who don't know who are listening? Who is John the Baptist? - He's the Wild, Wild West prophet, right? - Ooh, yeah, he's a wild man. John is a wild man. - He's the forerunner, right? - Right, he's the forerunner. - He's the forerunner. - Not a Jeremy's car, but Jeremy's got a forerunner. - He's the forerunner. - Oh, yeah. - He's the one who comes before. - Yeah, he comes before. - Okay, who was he though? How is he connected to Jesus? - Cousin. - Yeah, we think it's his cousin. We think Mary and Elizabeth were related. Probably his older cousin, obviously, by six months,

prepares the way for Jesus. He's an Elijah-like figure. We talked about this before, if you haven't heard our episodes on John the Baptist. He dresses up in a Elijah-like costume, and he's preparing the way for the Lord. So he is the epitome of someone who is living out his God-given calling, and he's doing all the right things, and he still winds up in a prison cell, okay? Now, somebody needs to hear that. He winds up in a prison cell, and he's being persecuted for doing everything right. So somebody will always say, "Well, am I struggling right now? Why is it so hard? I'm doing everything right." Well, rest assured, same thing happened with John, okay? Herod Antipas, one of Herod the Great's three sons. Candy, you know the three. Herod Antipas. Herod? - Agrippa. - Agrippa. What's the other one? - Herod. Antipas. Agrippa. - Antipas, Agrippa, and what does it start with? - He's asking us before, and you answered that thing.

- I think I said Agrippa. He gave the last two of the things last time. I can't remember. - Robert? - Epiphanese? - No, not Epiphanese. - It's one thing to fill up, but it's not. - Herod? - Herod Philip. I think that's it. - Really? - I don't have one of my notes here. I'm trying to think of it on the fly. - Herod Philip. - You don't know it. - I don't know it either. I think it on my mind. - Double name guy. - My brain is locked in. - So we named him a Herod or Phil? - No, we don't know it all. I think it's Herod Philip. Herod Antipas, Herod. Herod Agrippa, Herod. Antipas, Herod. Anyway. It's another Herod. - One of Herod's. - Yeah, yeah. He was really creative with the name calling.

Would you say, Robert? - It's the no child. - It's the no child. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. Okay. So Herod Antipas decides to take his brother's wife Herodias to make it even more. I mean, could these people not come up with another name? No, Herod, Herod, Herod. I mean, he took pride in his name and everybody else did. So his brother's wife, Herod Antipas's brother's wife, actually, he takes her and he marries her from his brother. Okay. Now, according to the Torah, and remember Herod the Great is not fully Jewish. He's half Jewish, but he is a man who keeps one foot in Rome, one foot in Israel, and he's trying to play both sides. Okay. He's trying to keep Rome happy so you can do what he wants. And so he's not a true Jewish person, they look down on him. But according to Jewish law, which he's trying to tangentially keep, he marries his brother's wife, which is illegal in the Torah. It's an illegitimate marriage as long as the brother is still what? - Really? - Still living. Okay. So John the Baptist, John's a black or white guy. There's no gray for John. It's either right or wrong. So what does John do? John calls him out the king, the leader for what?

- For men. - A dull man in morality. And because of that, John lands himself in a prison on the backside of the Dead Sea. Okay. Herod might have wanted to release John, we don't know for sure, but they have a little party and Herodias was not happy. So Candie, I want you to fast forward to Matthew 14, we'll get to this later and take it in its entirety, but I want you to go to Matthew 14 and I want you to see the party that is thrown for Herodias and her daughter, her teenage daughter. Okay? Matthew 14. Are you there? - Verse 6. - Okay. Matthew 14 verse 6. Herodias' daughter danced before them and pleased Harrods. So he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. All right, separate there. Here's an old man being watching a teenage girl dance erotically before her. I mean, this is just sickness. So now he takes his brother's wife and now he's looking at his niece. I mean, think about this, his teenage niece dance and he sees her and he's so overwhelmed. He says, Hey, I'm going to go ahead and give you whatever you want. So keep going. Whatever you desire is yours. So she goes and talks to mama prompted by her mother. She answered, give me John the Baptist's head here on a platter. Okay, so let's stop there. So John the Baptist is in prison. Let's go back to Matthew 11. John the Baptist is in prison. And that is what's coming. Okay. So you could say this is an ancient version of Jerry Springer. I mean, this family is wild and John in prison has find himself between a prison and a platter prison and a platter. He's not in a rock in a hard place, but hard place. But he's in a prison between a prison and a platter. And while he's in prison, okay, he's waiting to be released because his cousin is Jesus. He knows what Jesus has done and what he's doing. So John's like, Hey, man, listen, why am I still in jail? It makes no sense here. This evil, you know, jerk over here is prospering.

And if the Messiah is here, which I've already said, he's here, what is John already said, repent for the kingdom of heaven is what? At hand, which means what 2000 years from now? Oh, Jesus is there now kingdom is now. Oh, here and now I heard that book. I heard that book here and now back in print, right? Oh, yeah. Back in print? Yeah, back. It is back in print, believe it or not. Back by popular demand, my favorite book that nobody read here and now is back in print. It's actually about the kingdom on earth today and how we don't have to wait for the spiritual bottle rocket ejection from earth into the abyss of heaven waiting for the spiritual scanner in the sky to scan the barcode to see if we're not. That's how most people look at Christianity. It's not that we can just experience it today. Okay. So John is preaching. The kingdom of heaven is here at hand near in your midst, right? Jesus, his cousin comes along and pre soon as John's in prison, Mark one, Jesus went and Galilee preaching the gospel of God, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent and believe the good news of the gospel. So John knows the kingdom agenda starting the kingdom ministries advancing. Now, remember, just cyborg, what does John think the kingdom coming looks like? Let's just clarify here. What does John think? Does he have it like that? Is it turning my other cheek, putting the sword down, trusting in God, or is it killing, destroying our enemies, Israel in charge, the Romans are subdued, death and bloodshed. Which one do they think is the kingdom of heaven coming? Horse on a white claw? I mean, what do they think? Is it kingship? Like you're saying, like they, they believe that they have to come and take power and become king. Yeah, they believe when the kingdom came to earth, what happened, Candy? Well, they, they believed that the oppression would stop. Right? Pressure would stop. What else? What is the kingdom of heaven look like for a Jewish person at this time? The temple would be rebuilt temple. Well, the temple is rebuilt at this time. But they would be in power and control. They wouldn't be in a Roman rule. Under. Yeah, exactly. No oppression. Romans are destroyed. Greek influences removed. God is sitting on the throne. His Messiah comes to earth and the Messiah for them doesn't come riding on a donkey, humble and lowly. The Messiah for them is coming on a horse with a tattoo on his thigh and a sword in his hand, like revelation. And Jesus will come like that, but not here. Right? Like I tell people, when Jesus came the first time, he came as Savior and Lord and King, right? Or Savior and Lord. When Jesus comes the second time, he comes as judge.

Okay? What do I mean? First time Jesus came, he was lowly in me. He gave an invitation. Anyone who's weary over on the economy, I'll give you rest for your soul. Anybody at any time could choose Jesus right now. If you're listening, you haven't chosen to follow the Lord, you could do it right now, right where you are. Repent of your sins, which means I'm not in control anymore and put your faith in Jesus, meaning Jesus, you lead the way. However, there comes a time when the window closes. The window will close and we move from Jesus as Savior to Jesus as judge that we see in revelation. And the judge comes back just to say, that's it. You had your chance, your had your choice. people their choice for what they ask for on earth. What did a person who's far from God ask God to do the entire time they lived and form or fashion, voice or action? They said, God, leave me alone. And what does God say? When this person stands before the Lord on judgment day at the great white throne of judgment, every person in line will hear the same thing. Hey, Mr. So-and-so, come on up, Mr. Jones, come on up, yes. What did you say on earth about me? You told me, leave me alone. God, I don't want you. I don't want you in my life. I don't want you in my school. I don't want you in my neighborhood. I don't want you on the internet. I don't even want to see you. And God said, God looks at him and says, you have your wish. Go to hell. I mean, I don't know if he's going to say it like that, but that's in a sense what they get. They get what they always wish for. I tell people, if you don't love Jesus on earth, you're going to hate heaven. After all, he's everywhere. You can't not walk without bumping into Jesus. So if you don't like Jesus now, you're going to not like heaven there. Okay. So, John's in prison and John sends two of his disciples, two delegates to ask Jesus the Messiah a question because Jesus' ministry is advancing and John's ministry has come to a stand still. And the question he asked is this, are you the one to come or should we what? Look for someone else. Look for someone else or expect someone else. Now, what does it seem before I tell you what it is? What does it seem like John's asking? Is he a prophet or is he the Messiah? Okay. Yeah. That's how he really are. Yeah. Are you really the Messiah? What else is he asking? Jeremy, what's he asking? I mean, I think he's got it. Can I answer? Yeah. What do you think he's asking? I mean, he knows he's the Messiah. He's already said that. Okay. Wow. Well, he said behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So, he knows that. Okay. Yes. That's the first clue. And then I would say he's like, dude, why haven't you got me out?

Okay. Yeah. You're getting ahead. But that's what he's asking. But what does it seem like he's asking? Oh, I see what you're saying. He's saying like prove yourself? Yeah. Why? Yeah. Okay. What it seems like, and I've preached this wrongly in the past and maybe you've heard it previously and you and the preach it, not the way John would ask it, is you're preaching it from a different lens. You're not understanding John's past or John's mindset. It seems like John's asking, are you the Messiah? Are you the chosen one? Are you the real deal? But that can't be the case. He's not asking about Jesus. Are you the truly the Messiah? He's not asking about his identity. Here he knows his identity. Go to John chapter one verse 32. I want you, Adam, to go to Zechariah 99 in the Old Testament, the prophet Zechariah. Can he go to John 132? Okay. This is at the beginning of the ministry of Jesus. And Jesus is walking by the Sheeshor around, and Jesus is around the ministry of John. And then all of a sudden John sees him, says, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." But even then, I don't think he knows he's the Messiah yet, fully, because he says how he understood this in John chapter one verse 32. So read John 132, Kenny, you got it? John 132. And John testified, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and he rested on him." Keep going. I didn't know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water told me, "The one you see the Spirit descending and resting on, he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God." Okay. So he's saying this is how I know. Go back and read the first two. Read 29 and 30. I missed that first two. But read 29 and 30, because this is the context. Okay. The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is the one I told you about. After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me." Okay. Let me tell you a little sidebar here. When he says, "This is the Lamb of God," we immediately think of the wrong sacrifice. Let me just clarify. We think of the sacrifice of what? What festival? Passover? Passover. Passover. Yeah. Passover. Or Namkabur is another one, but Passover. We think Jesus, and he is the Passover Lamb, but that's not what John says here. John uses this idea not of the Passover sacrifice, but of the Tamid sacrifice, which was the daily sacrifice in the temple. Okay? So that's an interesting clarification. Passover was for liberation. That's going to come. But the daily sacrifice that they sacrificed in the temple was the Tamid sacrifice, which is the sacrifice they offered to the Lord.

you may be wondering, how do I know he's the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world? Well, the Lord told me, when you're baptizing a bunch of people, you're really baptizing them to repair the way, it's kind of like this. You're gonna spend, you're gonna have a roulette wheel and you're gonna keep spinning, this is probably a bad example, you're gonna, it's the one that comes with mine. You're spinning a roulette wheel, you're gonna keep spinning it and eventually you're gonna land on double zero, or zero, right, eventually. But you gotta keep spinning the wheel until you let, once you hit double zero, the Messiah's, that's the Messiah. Okay, basically. So in a sense, he's saying, you're gonna prepare the way, people come in, yoke and I come on in, baptize you. Next one come in, send me in, come on in, ask your, come on in, baptize. And then eventually you're gonna go over some Messiah and here's the way you're gonna know. When you baptize one of them, now keep on, John knows Jesus is his cousin. People always think, well they knew as a little boy 'cause everybody else is telling on each other and not Jesus, yeah, I mean, yeah, true. He knew Jesus was special, you know. He knew Jesus, you know, was different, but he didn't know he was the Messiah. That's a big ass, that's a big idea, okay? He knew he was different, but this is where he knew, okay?

And here's what he says. He says, as God says, when you're baptizing, you will know he's the one. When the spirit descends on him looking like a dove and resting, that's the key. Not just descending in the Old Testament, the spirit descended, but it says, descending and resting or remaining on him, that's the one. And John says, I'll tell you what, I've seen it. He's the one. So it removes John questioning if Jesus is the Messiah, okay? Now, to understand what John's asking, you have to go back to two Old Testament passages. I love this, I love to teach on this 'cause this is very insightful. Two Old Testament passages, Zechariah 9.9, Candy, I want you to go to Malachi 3.1. You have to know these two passages to know the question John's asking, okay? Zechariah 9.9 includes a phrase that we're gonna see here. And the phrase was, the one who is to come. Now watch this. Zechariah 9.9, read this. - Rejoice greatly, daughter Zion. Shout and triumph, daughter Jerusalem. Look, your king is coming to you. - Say it again, your king is what? - Your king is coming to you.

- The coming one. - The coming king, keep going. He is righteous and victorious. Humble and riding on a donkey on a coat, the fall of a donkey. - Okay, so right away, they knew from Zechariah that the Messiah would be the coming one or the coming king. So they came up with this idea of calling the Messiah the coming one. Sure you again, Malachi 3.1. - See, I am going to send my messenger and he will clear the way before me. - That is John. John's the messenger, clear the way before him. Watch this. - Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to his temple. - Who suddenly what? - Come to his temple. - Watch this. Malachi, make sure you don't miss it. Keep going. - The messenger of the covenant you delight in see he is coming. - He is coming number two. - The armies. - Keep going. - Says the Lord of armies. But who can endure the day of his coming? - The day of his what? Coming, three times Malachi says the coming one,

the one who is the come, the coming one. Here's the point. John knows these scriptures like the back of his hand. Why? Because he is the scripture in Malachi 3. - Hmm. - That's his role. - Wow. - Now watch this. John isn't questioning Jesus' identity. John is questioning Jesus' ministry agenda. Basically what he's saying is this. Okay, I know who you are. Of course I know who you are. If you're the Messiah, which I think you are, why am I still in prison? Why are evil men still prospering? Why am I being persecuted? Why is Israel still being pushed down and attacked? Why is Herod not being called for his sin? Why is he not being punished? Jesus, what are you waiting on? Here's what John's asking. Jesus, I need you to hurry up. You're dragging your feet way too long, man. I know you have a plan, but let's start pouring out some wrath on these people. Let's start sending some fire down from heaven on these people. Let's start calling them out on what they did.

Let's get this party started, Jesus. What are you waiting for? Oh, by the way, why are you at it? Can you get me out of prison? That's what he's asking. In that one line, that's what he's asking. John is in a sense, and this is gonna hit personally. John is basically showing us that Jesus' actions are not meeting John's end time expectations. Now, for many of us, we can relate why. How many times has the way God has worked in our life not met our expectations? God, if I was in charge, I would have done it a little differently than you did. I mean, I know if you're listening, it never happened to you, but I've heard of people. (laughing) And this is the challenge for all of us. We want to follow Jesus as long as he is a Jesus of our own imagination, the Jesus of our own expectation. As long as I can craft and manufacture and make Jesus and Jesus does what I want, when I want, then I'll follow him. But let me remind you, Jesus will not be molded into anybody's mind. He won't be made into whatever you want. Even John, who he goes on to say after this, we're going to see next week, which is going to be mic drop moment. He even says, John's the greatest prophet of all.

The greatest prophet of all, and guess what Jesus does? He says, John, I'm not going to acquiesce or change my plant, God's plans for nobody. Not even the greatest prophet who's ever lived. And so here's the question, have you ever wondered why worldly people, prosper and Christians never get ahead? No, they won't. Have you ever wondered why you suffer more than unbelievers who are not suffering at all? Or why do they seemingly get ahead? And I can't get ahead. This is the question John is asking. And Jesus' answer is about to shock him. Because you would assume, before we read it, you can read ahead for next week, you would assume Jesus, oh, John's in prison. Oh, God, Leah, I forgot. My cousin, okay, it'd be like Jeremy, Jeremy's the older of the two of us. So, by about six months. So, I mean, literally, the other Jeremy, Jeremy's like the older brother, okay? He's the older cousin. Jeremy's about six months older, okay? So, Jeremy is in prison, or let's reverse it. I'm in prison, Jeremy's out, okay? Or Jeremy's in prison, it doesn't matter, okay? Can't get you out immediately. Yeah, Jeremy's out, I'm in prison.

And I send word, I say, hey, listen, Adam, do me a favor, go tell big germ, I'm in prison, bro. And it stinks and it's not good and the food's bad. It's horrible. Little damp in here, don't have a place to sleep. Can you tell Jeremy, like, listen, I need out. Are you the one to come? Or should we start looking for someone else? You know, why am I still in prison? Would you go to Jeremy and say, hey, Jeremy, Robbie's in jail, Jeremy's like, oh no, what would he say? What would Jeremy do? I hope. Can he come get you out? Immediately, let's bring the Calvary, Robert, roll out. Ben, we'd take the podcast crew. - Or Caden? - Mission Impossible, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't. - Can he be the Invivian, hanging from ropes? - Yeah. - You know what I'm telling you? - I think it'd be me. - Yeah. (laughing) - You would be hanging with a laser shooter, yeah. - There would be no me on me. - Yeah, yeah. What you wouldn't do is you wouldn't, seemingly, as Jesus is about to do, ignore the request, basically. Because that's what it seems like. And then Jesus sends him like a pep talk, which we're gonna see next week. It's like, what are you talking about? That's not what John needs. John doesn't need encouragement.

John needs rescue. John needs release. - Yeah. - And Jesus is gonna show us something that I think will apply to all of our lives. But until next week, I want you to read ahead, verse four and on. And I want you to see how Jesus responds when his closest friend and family member is in a dire situation. And you would think, and again, I love this about John, John gives encouragement to all of us to show us that. Sometimes, God's plans are not our plans. And even John, who had a front row seat to messianic theology, missed it. And if John can miss it, then we can miss it. But at the end of the day, we're gonna see the most important thing for the Christian life is not intellect, but trust. You don't have to know everything about God. Or know everything about your life or your future or why things happen to trust the Lord. What Jesus is about to ask John for is, "John, you may not get it, but will you trust me, brother?" Because in the end, we win, we win. - Praise God. I think many of us underestimate what God is doing while we're waiting. We think he's not working. You think of Moses? 40 years he's waiting, right?

Before this, he's the burning village. And that's where God creates that dependency on him. And so you made, like you said, we're waiting for an answer. When's this gonna end? When am I gonna get past this sin? When are me and my wife gonna get closer? Whatever it could be. When am I gonna sell this, whatever it could be going on? And it's like, we don't think that God takes breaks. Like God doesn't, God is always at work. So Jesus told us. - That's right, always at work. - He's always at work. And we can't underestimate what he's doing while we're waiting. And so, I'm gonna start for next week. I really am. - Yeah, anything else, anything else? - I could, but that's gonna give us a word for us at the end? - Can any word for us at the end? - No, I just think what you said was so profound that we don't have to know all the answers, understand everything. what he's doing. Amen. I just thought that was really good. That's good stuff. That's good stuff. Thank you so much for joining us on this episode of learning about the forgotten Jesus.

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