S7E9 - Luke 5 & 6 - Disciples - Caught, Changed, Called

The nets were empty, the night was long, and one command changed everything. We walk through Luke 5–6 to trace how Jesus turns exposure into invitation: He catches Peter with undeniable power, reassures a trembling heart, and redirects a fisherman into a fisher of people. Then we watch Levi leave his booth, host a feast, and pull his friends into grace, even as critics miss the point. Finally, we linger on a mountain where Jesus prays through the night and selects a diverse team—zealot and tax collector side by side—to show that calling is discerned, not improvised.

We talk honestly about fear of the Lord, the moment when holiness cuts through our self-protection, and how “but at your word” becomes a lifelong practice. Obedience often precedes clarity, and real change is Spirit-driven, not self-styled. The physician comes for the sick, which frees us from pretending and invites us to repent in public ways: generosity, hospitality, and new priorities. Along the way, we push against the myth of sameness in church life. Many disciples, a few apostles—yet every follower carries weight in the mission. Your gift matters, even if it happens in the background, and encouragement is not optional; it’s fuel for growth.

If you’ve wondered where you fit, this conversation offers a map: be continually caught by Jesus’ power, continually changed by His word, and continually called into His work. We tie that to prayerful discernment, everyday faithfulness, and the beauty of a team that only makes sense because of a greater King. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs the reminder, and leave a review to help more people find the show. Where do you sense Jesus asking you to drop your nets today?

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Transcript

Audio Note And Welcome

SPEAKER_03 0:05

Hey Lifehouse family. This is Nate. Wanted to take a moment, and we're so thankful that you take the time out of your day to listen to the Life Talk podcast. I just wanted to give you a heads up. The month of March, we had a few audio issues, so we do apologize. The quality is not quite where we want it to be, but the content is still everything you expect from the podcast. So we hope you bear with us. Please forgive the issues this month. We are working on it and we will have it worked out shortly. So again, thanks for listening and hope you enjoy the episode. What's up, Life Talk family? Welcome back to the Life Talk Podcast. A joy to be coming with you each and every time, and especially on our series in Luke. We are, man, getting into the month of March. 2026 is flying by, and uh, we are privileged to have you join us. And man, a new month brings some new faces, but not unfamiliar to the podcast. So today I've got with me Jason Kreidler, Elder Extraordinaire. How many episodes now for you, Jason? We like Oh, I don't keep track. This is gonna be four or five. I was gonna say, like between you and Mitch, you know, we're like we got the Elder Scoreboard, so we gotta keep up with this. You're you're chalking it up now. But and then Jarvis Brennan, Jarvis is back from sabbatical. Good to have you, Jarvis. Committing a whole month of March, man. This is exciting. Great to be with us. So awesome to have you as always. And we have Rico da Silva. So we put you back at the end again, but we'll let you go first at one point here.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

So I am so happy to be here today.

Why These Passages Link

The Miraculous Catch: Being Caught

SPEAKER_03 1:38

It is a joy to have you guys. Yes, uh well, we are as we've been going through 2026, going through the book of Luke. And so today we are going to pick up where we left off last week. We are in chapter five, and uh, we're gonna do a little bit of a unique breakdown today. We're gonna do a few passages and link them together because there's a common theme. This is really cool when we go through God's word. We touch on so many good topics. But today we're gonna do chapter five, go through verse one through eleven, and we're also gonna go through 27 through 32, and then we're gonna jump ahead to chapter six and look at 12 through 16. And so you might be wondering, like, why are we doing that? Why are we uh breaking it up this way? And what's really important here is this addresses the calling of disciples that Jesus is doing here. And so at the start of his ministry, we've been walking through the temptation and and so many things that Luke gives us, and even all the way back to the start of January, the preview of how Luke gives us a lot of detail. But these really show us we see we're gonna see first uh Simon Peter and his calling, then we're gonna see Levi, and then we're gonna see Jesus setting apart the apostles. And so, how does this apply to us? And we like to have some fun with alliteration. I even heard Jason might or might not be on board. He was gonna try to rebel, but if you've been listening, we can do some alliteration. So I think uh what I saw as we kind of studied through this passage is really the catching and then the changing and then the calling that Christ calls us to. And so we see in in chapter five, we'll we'll read here talking about Simon Peter being calling or being called, and it says, On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he, Jesus, was standing by the lake of Gennesareth, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon, he asked him to put out a little bit from the land, and he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, Put out into the deep and let your nets for a catch. And Simon answered, Master, we toiled all night and took nothing, but at your word I will let down the nets. And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to the partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken. And so also were James and John, sons of Zeppedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, Do not be afraid, from now on you will be catching men. And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. So I think That is a deep, deep passage, but one of the important things I see is that catching. Like Christ has to catch us. There has to be something where we experience the power of Christ, where it comes into our life. It'd be easy for them, oh, this is a big catch of fish. Well, why the heck would Simon Peter react with, I'm a sinful man? Like he's coming face to face with the power and the glory of the Son of God. And that's really critical for all of us in our faith journey, really to be caught by the truth, caught by the power of Christ. And that's the start of our journey. We know we all, I think all of us here could share our story of really that revelation of us coming to that recognition of our sin. And Christ works it in different ways. We'll see throughout as we walk through this, but really important that you know Jesus displays his power. Jesus displays who he is, and that brings Simon Peter to a recognition of who he is in relation to Christ. I think we all have to start our faith that way is being caught by that spiritual recognition of our need. And so that was something I think is really important we talked through. All of our discipleship journey starts with that being caught by Christ. So any thoughts or things that you guys see in this passage is related to how we come to faith. Maybe people are out there still wrestling with some things or maybe thinking back. I even had an interesting conversation with a young lady who was like understanding her testimony. I think how we work through that can be pretty important.

Fear, Holiness, And Conviction

SPEAKER_04 6:02

Well, I know Jesus says here at the end, don't be afraid. Uh he tells Simon, which clearly means that he was afraid. There was fear like in in his initial experience with Jesus. And I think that's true for most of us. There's a moment where you recognize your sin in relationship to a holy and righteous God, and there's this gripping fear of, oh no, I'm in trouble. And that's just the beginning. It doesn't mean we're supposed to stay there. I mean, Jesus tells him, don't be afraid. But fear is a big motivator and it's a starting point. And even, you know, we're told in Proverbs that fear is the beginning of wisdom. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This is something that is key and crucial to our walk with the Lord, is to fear him. And then, and then he gets to come in and say, Don't be afraid. You don't have to be afraid, right? If you're in a right relationship with the Lord, you don't have to be afraid, but you should be afraid because God is a God who will in fact punish sin. So, like, this is a a really nice recognition of the relationship that Jesus brings to a man who recognizes his own sin. And yeah, we we've all been there.

SPEAKER_03 7:21

And I think that's good. He recognizes and he's like, I can't, I'm not worthy to be here. But Christ says no. Christ draws into that relationship, draws Peter in of, you know, no, I'm I'm not departing, I'm coming to you. Like you said, it's it's that fear not, but that's a hundred percent. We recognize that, like, and my sin is real and and I can't deal with it, and Christ is holy, and I'm never gonna live up to that. So that can be a very fearful experience. I think there's a definite part of that. So that's a great point.

SPEAKER_02 7:52

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think as I think of this and just kind of what you're talking about, Jason and Nate, it reminds me of Isaiah. Um, and just the encounter that Isaiah has where he's there and he gets before, you know, just the heaven, right? He's in the heavens and in his vision, and he falls to his knees and says, Whoa, it's me. Like, I'm a man of unclean lips. And well, what happened? So, I mean, Seraphim comes and puts the coal on his and says, Oh, guilt's taken away. And like, I think that's similar to what you see, I think, happening here. Peter is this realization, man. Like you guys guys have said, like, I realize and I recognize that in the presence of God, like I am nothing, and I and I have nothing, nothing to offer. And so that's why I think he he falls to his knees and he is again afraid. And so, yeah, I think it's an interesting kind of parallel to think about like Isaiah right before God, and then now we see clear to be more God in the plush, um, kind of having a similar encounter as he interacts with them. Yeah, so I think it's a yeah a cool correlation there.

SPEAKER_03 8:50

Yeah, it's a great example. And we see a lot of those, you know, Paul, you know, being blinded, you know, many examples like when we come face to face, you know, Moses, you can't even look at you know who I'm God, but you know, in his presence. So, yeah, so many examples, and that's a great one in the Bible of you know, that's really where it starts, you know, for all of us. And I know we all have different stories. Some people, you know, I say I wrestled for a long time before I was God broke me down. And many people, it can be fast, sometimes it can be slow, but it comes to that fearful recognition of that moment where you really recognize your sin and trust.

Obedience That Changes Us

SPEAKER_02 9:22

I mean, that was my that was my case. Like when I got saved, it was I I didn't necessarily have this life-altering thing that you know, I was at rock bottom, quote unquote, and then all of a sudden I I needed Jesus, like I was living life like I normally did. And then one day I encountered God through a service right here at Life House. And what I what did I realize? And I realized I'm a sinner, I need to be saved or and I couldn't stand before God except see Christ in that moment. And like I think that's what you see. And I think that's like you said, there's so many testimonies uh how then I think that's the common denominator of all testimonies, right? Like a testimony and catching isn't just I was born in the church, you know, catching isn't just you know, oh yeah, my my my dad was a pastor or my grandfather was a pastor, and so I heard Bible stories like, but a cast a catching is an actual relationship where Christ has extended saving grace to you, and we're responding in right response to that. And God has called us to Himself, and we're acknowledging man apart from Him enough. And again, I have no good about it. So I think that's what we start to see in the beginning here of the side of Peter, and I think it's a good example for us all. Like, have I had that actual experience, or am I just playing the part of culture? Uh, where you know, again, my culture says this is a what a Christian then have I experienced truly that face-to-face uh you know, figure with the kind of encounter with God in display that changes my heart. Because if you see Peter, we'll see. I'm not gonna spoil the rest, but we'll see that Peter's different, right? He's not the same Christian one that he once was, he's a different man with a different message, right? And that I think changes brunt and part of it.

SPEAKER_03 11:01

And even they fished all night themselves and caught nothing. So in their own strength, in their own abilities, even as master fishermen, they didn't catch anything. And I think that's all of us. You know, we were fishing for things, fishing probably idols, meeting in other places, and it took Christ saying, No, you know, put your nets down over here and see what this looks like, and experiencing that power of Christ over us for what we see in our own strength versus the power of Christ. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

I think that's that's what he did it for me right there when you just studied.

SPEAKER_00 11:34

Um, the words that Jesus said, and we can't see that in place four. When he said loud, that's the first thing he said, and the posture of the one who received the message, you can't see no whole bustard. We've been doing this all night. But so that butt right there, it let me understand that regardless of what I said before, I'm going to do what you instruct me to do. That's one of your points, which is change it. So when we hear the word, we not just get it and we change it immediately. By obedience, but his obedience, but the assert that, oh, you command me to do this. Something must happen if I do this, and it did. Then further in the text, we can see that he can himself, oh, the wow, who am I? Like I who you are, like we are professional men, and out of your word, I have to even call people to come and help us. And that's what the attraction does, right? When we put ourselves second and are not the one who created us, know us, and putting the seat in there. But it is something that comes with that sacrifice and being willing to do that without it's a good C the command.

Levi’s Call And True Repentance

SPEAKER_03 12:59

I I love it, man. We're gonna get Jason on board, I promise. But now Christ commands, you know, so we follow his commands. But yeah, just a little point. But we have to be caught by Christ. And so I think then, you know, of course, Christ says, follow me, and they do. And that leads to then, if we jump ahead to verse 27, Jesus calling Levi, and and we'll talk about next week. So make sure you come back next week. We're going to talk about all the verses uh in between here. We're not gonna leave them behind, but furthering our discussion here, Jesus, as he went out, saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at a tax booth, and he said to him, Follow me. And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? And Jesus answered them, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. So I think this passage really introduces change. We're caught by Christ, and then we recognize the change. You know, you're not going to be caught if you think you're righteous. If you have no issues, you're good. It's that recognition of a need to change. And of course, we know if we study biblical times, you know, tax collectors were hated people. You know, often they took advantage, they were very selfish, they would offer pilfer, you know, Roman, the Roman rulers gave them the authority essentially to take more. You know, they paid to Rome, but then they could skim off the top. And we see Levi really changed here. He does a generous thing. He's throwing a feast, he's changing, you know, how he's living, and he's inviting others, you know, like because of his change, like, hey, come and know the savior, you know, throwing a feast for him. So I think we see some real change that's highlighted both in Levi's response, because I think we would say, you know, it doesn't explicitly say in the text, but Levi knew who Jesus was, you know, he'd heard him. So when Jesus calls him, it's not like, oh, I don't even know who you are. You know, he was aware of who Jesus was. Jesus calls, he's caught by Christ and recognizes a need to change. But then we also see the reaction of the Pharisees, which, you know, again, we'll talk about the previous verses. This continues some of the things that they're saying. But the Pharisees didn't see any need to change. You know, and Christ is saying, hey, this is what it's all about. Like you're changing who you are. That's what I'm calling to be different people. So I think we see that very importantly, the walk of discipleship. We're caught and then we recognize the need to change and follow Christ.

Pharisees, Self-Righteousness, And Need

SPEAKER_02 15:44

Yeah, I think it's an important thing. I think that passage, it'll set up what we'll talk about, like you said, later, just in the way that the Pharisees interact. But I mean, thinking about those two realities, I almost still, you know, some adjacent thunder later, but like thinking of the Beatitudes, right? And just the reality of what you see happening work in LYA, right? We're going through them and kind of preaching to each one. And the first one is the porn spirit, right? So just this reality of being porn spirit and understanding that, like, like we said, kind of being caught, like I haven't lived from the Lord. And so therefore, like my all has to be in Him because I have nothing to offer in order to gain any salvation or give you anything or for you to benefit from me in any way. And I think that's where you see the change come in, is understanding that I'm formed spirit, thinking of myself less, and I'm thinking of like I don't have what it takes, I don't have the good, I don't have the blessing, whatever. And then we realize in the reality of being like that means I need something needs to be different. You know, there needs to be an actual change in my heart. And I think that's what the gospel does. Maybe to as we interact with Christ and as we see ourselves lapped, right, and our need for our savior, the savior, then as he saved us and spirit evolves, it starts to transform, right? These kind of patterns and these parts and and gives us ultimately, right, a new heart, raise from you know death to life. And so I think that's what you see like set new by happening. And I think it's interesting that it happens at the word of Jesus both times, ultimately, right? Like he says in Matthew 5, which worked. I can't find it. Matthew 5, where uh Regan kind of talked about toil all night and says, But at your word, I would love to hear that. So kind of the command of like, hey, do this, and then the response of Jesus, the response of you know, the kind of the blessing of that. And then again, if you're with Levi, it's you know, hey, follow me, right? There's just kind of commands following these words that Jesus is telling them, calling them into that the inhabits change and habits and different lifestyle. And so yeah, it's interesting, and it's interesting to think about just how the religious leaders respond, you know, that asked people are changing for the through the gospel for the benefit of God's people. Those who are stuck are exactly at that they're stuck. And so it's interesting to think through, even where am I in this picture, right? As I think about practical personal application, where am I? Am I living the life of Levi where I'm allowing the spirit to change me and not pressing into that and holding in and looking and asking God to search me and know me to see find the way because I know it's here, and then I'm, you know, walking faithfulness to that, or am I like a fair say that I'm not looking, you know, I've lived my life on, you know, follow the rules, uh checked the boxes, I'm phone, what I've been told, you know, kind of this legalistic way.

SPEAKER_03 18:38

But I think there's personal application of tip through the planet to your life, you know, that's the essence of the gospel, you know, come as you are, but be changed. You know, it's that recognition of our falling short. And now we want to, hey, another good C word for you guys conform. To be conformed to the image of Christ and not the world. So we're transformed. We're allowing the gospel, like you say, to change us, to fill us up, to show us the truth where we are not like Christ and to follow him. Like we're gonna follow him. Why would you follow somebody who you don't want to ultimately uh imitate and be like? And we know we can't be God like Christ, but he's giving us that perfect image to follow.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

And I think you made a good distinction of be change, not change ourselves, you know. Like that, I think the temptation is well, like you said, I gotta clean myself up. I gotta that's like no Christ on the spirit, they're changing us. We're just allowing, you know, through the conviction, through all to humble ourselves before God and allow Him to change us. But there's a temptation of like, I gotta fix this, you know, okay.

Grace, Testimony, And Heart Change

SPEAKER_00 19:44

I see the great observation there as far as the changing. For me, I get the authority of Jesus and the intentionality of his words, the command that he proceeds. Again, the first word that he said after this happened, he said, Father, he left everything behind. That's an observation that if I put myself in the place how I got into the faith, I had to, from my experience, he was, I know he was chasing me at how many times I've read from that call. So for me, that this man in scriptures, and this is uh this is a confirmation from everybody, especially you hear it on podcast right now, it's an observation that when you hear the word of God that he knows that he wants you to do something, there's an application here that do it immediately, not to hold, because tomorrow you cannot promise tomorrow. So when Jesus says follow me, I can see the intention of Levi, he left everything, but not only was transformed by his word, he was transformed enough that he invited his own friends to the feed. So that's it, that's another observation that we can see. Okay, so I'm gonna get up, I'm gonna follow him. I see what's happening. Hey, I know you guys, so you guys need to follow this man in where he's gonna to lead us, and we and this is the crazy thing. We have in scripture what happened at that time. They didn't, they just go by the man who had the power to say the words and transform the words. So this this is the eye opener of one of the seed that's the calling what he calls what you're going to do. Are you going to delay obedience or are you going to obey immediately in order to succeed?

SPEAKER_03 21:44

Yeah, and he says, like you say, he left everything, you know. And does that mean we have to leave absolutely everything? Not necessarily, but there shouldn't be anything we're holding on to that we would not give to Christ or not allow him to change within us. So I think, yeah, it's for. But you're stealing my calling. Don't get ahead of the calling. That's the third one next. But we'll get there.

SPEAKER_04 22:05

Let me plan a quick C for a later session. I love this idea that Luke has been dropping these breadcrumbs of how people will respond to Jesus. Right. Some people respond positively, some respond negatively. Here we see like both happening, right? Some people are responding positive and some are not. But I think Luke is building a case of how do people respond to Christ. And you're right, we see Levi just dropping everything. And that's going to roll into something that we'll see a little bit later.

Called To Community And Mission

SPEAKER_03 22:38

But like just put a put a pin in that thought for a later session. Yeah. I think that's good. And so often we want to divide the world in different ways, ethnicities, races, sexes, all these kinds of things. Really, the world is divided into just what you said, Jason, those who've responded to Christ and those who haven't. And that's really what makes a lot of difference. We get caught up in like who in different ways. And it's a great thing, Eric's like, we want to make different people what's wrong with the world when it's really sin, and it's those who've responded to Christ and those who haven't. So that's really good. But if we jump to our last passage here, looking at chapter six, it's kind of a minor passage, but I think there's some really important takeaways for us. But in chapter six, if you're following along in your Bibles, starting in verse 12, it says, In these days, he, Jesus, went out to the mountain to pray. And all night he continued in prayer to God. And when day came, he called the disciples and chose from them twelve, who he named apostles. Simon, who he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James, the son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. So, really, one of the concise lists of the apostles we get, and so something that's a good takeaway here in multiple things, you know, the difference. Jesus called his disciples. Sometimes we commonly say the twelve disciples, it's just sort of how we nomenclature, but they were really apostles. We see that Jesus had many disciples, and I think it's important if we study a disciple is really a follower of Christ. It's not the unique 12. They were set apart to be witnesses to his work. He'll tell them later in commissioning them. They had that unique role of witnessing all that he would do. But I think we see calling here. So this is we've talked about being caught, being changed, and then being called. And the application for us that I see is Jesus has set all of us apart in some unique way, obviously for salvation, but also what is he calling us to do in obedience? He's we could talk about spiritual giftings. He's giving you a specific role. And so not everybody's gonna be necessarily a pastor or speak, but we all are called and set apart to do something in the church, in the faith, for the kingdom of God. And so this is something that's pretty important. We obviously could even talk prayer, super important. Jesus didn't do this haphazardly, like, hey, let's uh draw straws for who's gonna be the apostles. Like, no, it's through a lot of prayer. And so we should also, through deep prayer, discern, like, all right, I've been caught, I'm changing. Oh, God, what do you want from my life? What is that calling, that purpose? And and over time, you know, depending on where you are in your context, a good C word, right? Christ may have different things at different points in your life, you know. Jason, you got several kids, Jarvis, you've got young kids, Rico's a little older, FCA directing. Like all of us have different callings and different points where God will set us apart. So I think that's a really important takeaway for us as we see that arc of discipleship being caught, being changed, and following a calling in Christ.

Prayer Before Choosing The Twelve

SPEAKER_02 25:56

Yeah, I mean, I think it reminds me just kind of what you're talking about, Nate. That it reminds me of 1 Corinthians 12, right? Where we all have a different product to play in the body, and that God has through like through the spirit given us that role. You know, it's not just now let me choose one, right? Like, but he's given us these different roles and through spiritual gifts, right? He gives us helps us decide and and really like live into that that placement, right? I I think there's well, we're living in kind of the the place where we are thriving, like where our gift is we thrive and water because he's gifted us to be that member of the body. Not everyone can be, you know, the arm or the you know, the foot, or be you know, you see that in there. But I think they're all just as important. And I think even just practically at Life House be taught through a starting point, kind of that role, right? As a natural discipleship kind of uh connecting to the overall body, it's it's a valuable thing to say, hey, let's talk about your gifts, let's think about your gifts, let's see where they would work at in the life of the church, not just lifehouse church, but and if you're you know an encourager by nature, like hey, where can we see you encouraging people? Right? How can you join in and how can you be called to and send little notes of encouragement to you know people in our church or to you know bring a meal to someone who's struggling, right? To you know, helping administrative support people who need it, you know, like God gives us these areas and we get to kind of as we're called, we get to kind of live out like all live together, but knowing that like each each of these 12 had different strengths, right? Like not all of them were Peter, right? Like they weren't all Peter doing all what Peter did, but they all have strengths that supported one another. And I think that's the same thing within the church. Like I'm not Jason, right? Like Jason does a lot of things well that I can't do. And like the I get to support Jason in his areas. Same for you guys, right? It all kind of we all work together with the same mission, with the same purpose, with the same visions. Like, how can we make the gospel known? How can we raise people up so that there will be people who know who wants to go on, right? And so I think that's a good a good thought of what you're thinking about and calling, but everyone is called, it's just where you're called to, right? In Christ, we're called somewhere, but we need to we need to be intentional to find that, right? It's not just uh stumble upon maybe it is, but most of the time it's like I gotta figure out where I'm gifted and look to be there. You know, what do I enjoy? What are my passions?

Gifts, Roles, And The Body

SPEAKER_03 28:16

Like you said, where that gifting is, that's really going to be going with the grain. You know, some have heard and thought is like when we're living out our calling and living in the way that Christ calls us to, especially with the gifting, like you said, that's going to be living out, going with the grain of your faith. And I think another important thing you're bringing to, we can see that in others. Like you said, you pointed out what each of us have. Like we should encourage others. We should point out, man, that was so encouraging. Use that gift, encourage, fan into flame, whether it's encouraging, whether it's giving, whether it's serving, whether it's speaking, whether it's administration, right? Like we need administrators so that you know we have good organizations. Like there's so many giftings, but sometimes we take for granted, like, well, I'm not the the preacher standing on stage, so I must just be a listener. Like, no, there's so many things. I know you just hospitality, we need greeters, we need you know, ushers, we need people in the parking lot who are friendly, just being friendly and welcoming people. That's a gift, you know, because not everybody can do that, and we should help each other, like you said in starting point, wherever they had.

SPEAKER_02 29:16

Well, that's such a good point, honestly. Like thinking about the encouragement of watching someone live out their dip and encouraging them in that gift. I think all really, I think for maybe younger believers, it's it's most vital because it's this area of like they're still trying to figure it out. Like, this isn't new. This is it. When I got first got saved, I didn't know what the heck I was doing. You know, like it was kind of just the life, and I I knew that I wanted to connect. I knew that I was calling in some way to do something. I didn't know what that was. I you know, I now know what it is, but and then I just was like, I just know that I'm supposed to be here. I knew that I'm supposed to be at the church whenever the church was open, right? I didn't I didn't know why or what. And what was super impactful, and what was I think you know, the drive back to how I came discovered my gift was people said, Hey, I see this in you. Hey, what you did there's happening. Follow this. I see this in you. This is where I see grow all of those areas, and I think that's a super, that's a really important thing. So I think it's needed. So encouraged, you know, those listening. Like, if you see people living out their gift, encourage them in their gift, right? Like encourage them in the ways that they are are are I love I I love how Jesus here he keeps culture because if we look by the calling, may I use that now?

SPEAKER_03 30:31

You can use it before you were jumping ahead, but now it's okay. We made that point. I mean we're in the calling.

SPEAKER_00 30:36

The calling, I can see that he didn't care about culture. We see that he called politicians, I call that doubtless, traitors in his call. And those 12 changed the world. We are in a so divided environment right now. I'm not gonna go to that church because they don't see me who I am, or I don't do not want to be in a room because they don't think like I think, or they don't dress like I dress. That's some this this is an observation that Jesus put here to break the cultural way of thinking on any error, which he he prompts us to humble ourselves and rely on our gifts. A lot of us we know that we have gifts, but we do not apply it because either we they are not in the same culture that we are, but at the same time, we have an obligation to point out those gifts in order to break those chains. And I think that's what Jesus did there. He went ahead and I'm gonna choose you, you, you, you he didn't ask. I mean he knew, but he didn't ask what tribe you you're from, what what's your status, how much money you have, or are you broke? He didn't care about that. He said, Hey, I have a I see the gift, and not because I call you and you're gonna follow me. You will uh change the world. And that's for generations we can see that. Who are we to think in these days that we don't want to do something because either a race issue or a I don't like who's speaking issue, or they don't sing by sounds issue. Who are you to go ahead and limit what God can do through his word? And if you are in a setting that he can impact you when you hear the word of God, you will follow him and leave everything behind, obviously.

Encouraging Gifts In Others

SPEAKER_03 32:32

That's good. We're not called to be homogenous, right? Like the giftings are not too often we fall into stereotypes and bias and think, well, that person, you know, they're a sinner, you know, kind of almost like the Pharisees. Like, that's not gonna use them. But and uniquely, we are in a diverse community of faith. And so all nations, races, tribes, as well as all kinds of gifts, you know. Like if we're all using the same gifting, we're gonna be a pretty deficient church. So, and if we all look the same, we're probably all gonna think the same, and we're all gonna have the same weaknesses and just miss what God's calling for us. So I think that's really good.

SPEAKER_02 33:06

Yeah, I think there's a gospel indication in there, like just thinking, oh, like no matter where you've been, no matter what you've done, no matter who you are, like the gospel applies, right? All the things that we talked about catching, the changing, the calling, like that applies first in salvation before it applies into you know, you're getting into church, right? And it reminds me of 1 Corinthians 6 and uh uh verse 11, but I'll recover what Paul's saying. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? We're not conceived, neither the sexually immoral or idolaters or adulterers, the men who practice homosexuality, their deeds, nor the greeting of drunkards, the rivalers, swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. It is a stop, it says, and such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, and you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. And so that aspect of that calling and that changing and that catching, like that's what's happened to us. Like Jesus called, like you said, we go people who were not, you know, they weren't the original uh religious elite, they weren't the ones who you know studied the Torah from the moment that they were even able to. They didn't memorize the first five books of the Bible. Like he didn't call those people, he called the people who were, you know, the the rough, the ones that needed and it says, and I got king for the sick, right? Not the healthy. And so I think there's a gospel implication of wherever you you're at, you might fall into the list of person six, but the reality is it's like, man, and so and so were some of you, like you were you were some of those people. And it's like, well, we have an opportunity in the gospel to respond to Christ and live out the and such was I, but I no longer am. I've been justified, I've been watched in Christ.

Diversity Over Sameness

SPEAKER_04 34:44

I think it's also really important for our listeners to recognize that there were many, many disciples here. Yeah, right, large crowds of disciples or people that were following Jesus. He calls them all up to the mountain and he chooses 12 of them. That does not mean that he rejected the rest. They were all disciples of Jesus. He chose 12 to have a very special, intimate, relational time of life with. And he was building those guys up very specifically to do something for a purpose to do something greater later on. It doesn't mean that everybody else was like rejected, like, oh man, I wasn't good enough to be chosen, so I guess I'm out. Like, that's not the way it worked. There was plenty of other people that were still following followers of Jesus that we'll read about later in the New Testament that supported Jesus and were more of that background player, but were still really important in his ministry. It just so happens that he chose 12, and 12 happens to be about the number of people that you can have strong, intimate relationships with. Like that's just kind of a fact that we learned. You really can't have strong relationships of more than like 10 or 12 people. And so Jesus is is building this core team with lots of other people around. So, you know, it just because you don't have this like big calling, right? You're you haven't been called to be the lead pastor of a church, doesn't mean that you've been like rejected by Christ. So I just want people to hear that. You know, it might seem like Jesus is is picking out just 12, and then everybody else is like, sorry, go home. You make 15. Yeah, right. That's not what's happening. Right.

SPEAKER_03 36:27

And if anything, those apostles, that calling and that choosing led to a lifetime of persecution, not that many of the other disciples weren't we're all called they ultimately died, martyrs' deaths, but that's how we know the Baptist's true, because like these guys aren't gonna die for a lie. So that's a really good point of yeah, all of the disciples. And I think just to tie a bow on these three, we're all called to continually, you know, it's not, you know, we come to faith, we're caught by the power of Christ, but that should continue to catch us throughout our life. Like it's not that one-time deal and we get past the gospel, but continue to be caught, continue to change. You know, we are continuing one degree of glory to the next, and then also continue to seek out that calling. What does God have you do? What is He gifting you to do, and how are you lifting that out? So well, cool, guys. This is a great start to the month of March, and we'll be back next week. We will uh jump back in chapter five, and Rico's gonna lead us through some important scripture next week. So hang with us. We appreciate you taking some time, guys. Great episode, and we'll see you next week. Thanks for tuning in to the Life Talk Podcast. If this episode encouraged you, please be sure to like, comment, subscribe, and leave a review so others can find this content as well. And we'll look forward to seeing you next Monday for another great episode.