GRINDIT podcast

How many times have you prayed and got nothing but crickets? It seemed as if God was silent and you pray and you pray some more, only to give up because you think God doesn't care since He isn't answering...Did you know Jesus had unanswered prayers?!?! He sure did...in the Garden of Gethsemene. He told his disciples he was grieved to the point of death and then he went and prayed three times that God would come up with another way to get our sins forgiven. All Jesus got from God was crickets...Did he quit? No...He knew what God's plan was and he followed through with it bearing great pain and agony for you and me, so our sins can be forgiven and we could have a relationship with God!

Judas was hand-picked by Jesus to be a part of the twelve. He has heard the teachings, he has seen the miracles, he has even performed them himself, yet he has met secretly with the religious leaders to betray Jesus. He was the treasurer for the group and he has been stealing money the whole time which tells us that Judas was greedy and he loved money. What better way to get paid big bucks than to sell out Jesus to the rich religious leaders in Jerusalem! And that is exactly what Judas does. For thirty pieces of silver, which he doesn't even keep, he sells Jesus to the religious leaders and from that moment on, he planned to commit premeditated murder.

Jesus tells one more story to help his disciples to try and understand his returning but then he shifts the focus to when he actually does return. He tells them what Judgment Day is going to be like and how he is going to separate the sheep from the goats. The sheep go to heaven and spend eternity with him but the goats are rejected from his presence for eternity! What’s the difference? The sheep did…the goats didn’t. The sheep worked for the Lord and grew his kingdom. The goats did their own thing and could care less because they didn’t have a relationship with Jesus. Which one are you?

Jesus tells four stories to try and help his disciples understand his returning. In this podcast we talk about the first two but all four of them have a certain theme:

Jesus was leaving the Temple with his disciples when he tells them "This building you see will be completely destroyed and not one stone will be left on top of another." They were curious and wanted to know when this is going to take place so Jesus gives them some signs to look for. However, he ties these signs into his returning toward the end of Matthew 24 and we discuss these signs so that you will be prepared! Even so come quickly Lord Jesus!

As Jesus was leaving the Temple with his disciples, they were in awe of the beautiful buildings there and Jesus throws out a comment that blew their minds, "Do you see all of these buildings? They will all be demolished and not mine stone will be left on top of another!" Later they come to him and ask when this is going to take place. Jesus could have said, "In AD70 by the Roman government..." but he didn't. He simply gave them some signs to watch for and when they saw the signs, they should be expecting this to happen. Jesus predicted this way before this when he was speaking to the woman at the well in Samaria, "The time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem."

How many times have you heard something like, “I’m not going to that church because it’s full of hypocrites”? Many people do not even know what a hypocrite is (Male actors in Greek plays who wore masks and pretended to be women and play different parts). Jesus exposes the hypocrites for who they really are and it’s not a pretty sight to behold. He pronounces all these woes and exposes their hearts for all to see and hear. At the end of the “woes” Jesus gives one last heartful plea for the Jews, as well as the religious leaders, to repent and except him for who he is…their Messiah, the Savior of the world. Spoiler alert! They kill him in a few days by crucifixion, but he would get the last laugh as he was resurrected in three days! But this still had very little effect on them because they continue their persecution against the apostles and those who follow Jesus.

For over three years Jesus has sparred with the religious leaders because they have tried to prove he was not the Messiah. They keep coming back for more after getting exposed to the people around them and Jesus continues to expose their true heart and motivation. They have finally been silenced after sending the “expert” in to question Jesus and Jesus turns the table on the Pharisees and religious leaders in Matthew 23. They have surrounded Jesus, along with a crowd, and Jesus begins to call them out for their hypocrisy and sin. It had to have been a shock for the crowd to hear him be so bold, especially standing in the midst of those who want him dead! The religious leaders were supposed to be the example of God and they were the total opposite. Jesus, who they rejected, was God in the flesh, and he mirrored the heart of God and gave us all an example to follow.

Throughout the rest of Matthew 22, the Pharisees and the Sadducees try to stump Jesus and prove to everyone that he is not the Messiah as he claims. They send in some disciples along with some of Herod’s men and they get shamed. The Sadducees ask about the resurrection when they don’t even believe there is a resurrection! Jesus made them look foolish in front of the crowds and they were astonished by his answer. Then the Pharisees bring an expert in religious law to Jesus thinking he was smarter than Jesus and he could get. The job done. Wrong! Jesus answers his question and then takes the answer one step further because he knew the Pharisees weren’t following that commandment! After this attempt, they finally learn their lesson that, no matter how much wisdom they think they have, it’s no match for God’s and from this point on, they don’t ask Jesus any more questions. When are we going to learn our lesson?

Jesus is sparring with the religious leaders once again as he has entered Jerusalem and cleansed the Temple. This gives him an opportunity to tell them some parables pointing out their hypocrisy and in Matthew 22 he rips them by telling them a parable of a wedding feast. The king sends out invitations that keeps getting rejected and the people who were invited eventually kill the king’s servants. He sends in an army and destroys the place, then he sends more servants to invite anybody to the feast and one person shows up without the correct attire. It didn’t turn out well for him and neither will it for these religious leaders, if they don’t repent of their sins and accept Jesus!