LifeTalk Podcast
LifeTalk is the official podcast of LifeHouse Church MOT. Our heart for this podcast is to help our church grow and to go deeper here at LifeHouse. We’ll be interviewing staff members & hearing their testimonies. We’ll be discussing various topics such as parenting, marriage, day-to-day functions of the ministry and so much more from a biblical perspective. Our goal is to help equip our church to glorify JESUS in every area of life.
LifeTalk Podcast
S7E39 - Luke 18:1-17 - Faith Lessons for Right Now
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If your prayers have started to feel like one more task you fail at, Luke 18 offers a different picture: prayer as a necessity that keeps us from losing heart. We sit with Jesus’ parable of the persistent widow and ask what it means to keep showing up with faith when answers feel slow, pressure is real, and life refuses to cooperate. Along the way, we confront the ways our instant gratification culture trains us to treat God like a shortcut instead of a Father.
Then we take on one of the most uncomfortable contrasts in Scripture: the Pharisee and the tax collector. One prayer is packed with self-congratulation, the other is a simple cry for mercy and only one walks away justified. We talk about works-based salvation, spiritual pride, and the subtle ways comparison can turn faith into either contempt or despair. If you’ve ever wondered why your spiritual life feels out of alignment, this section will help you diagnose what’s happening beneath the surface.
We close with Jesus welcoming children and redefining what connected faith looks like. Childlike faith is not naïve; it is humble dependence, trust, and a willingness to receive the kingdom as a gift. If you feel disqualified, distracted, or distant, this conversation points you back to the foundation: consistent prayer, honest repentance, and staying connected to Christ. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a review, then tell us what part of Luke 18 challenged you most.
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Fourth Quarter Check In
SPEAKER_02What's up, Lifehouse family? Welcome back to the Life Talk Podcast. We are rolling through the end of September here. Man, we are about to enter the fourth quarter of the year. It is just crazy how fast it flies by. Where's my QAQC guy? What's this? Episode 39, right?
SPEAKER_01Episode 39.
SPEAKER_02Tracking towards 52 for the year. So that's crazy how it flies by. But we appreciate you listeners keeping with us and going strong. And was it football? You know, you can't see us, but we hold up the four, you know, the fourth quarter. Everybody holds up the four. So we're all doing that. We're going into the fourth quarter of the year starting in just a couple days. But have the usual suspects with me today. Jonathan Bush, what's going on today? How you been, man? I'm doing well. Thanks. Speaking of quarter, you know, school's going along. You guys like halfway done with the semester now.
SPEAKER_03And yeah, coming up on those first examinations and you know, evaluations, making sure they're meeting and learning what they need to learn. And yeah, it's kind of the first you go, well, these guys are doing well, and these guys need to apply themselves more.
SPEAKER_02That's right. It's an important time check. So and Rico's back with us. He's still on the job. He has not abandoned ship yet.
SPEAKER_00So what's going on, Rico? It's it's a good day to be here. No more applications, please. Stop submitting your applications. I'm back. Okay, that's right.
SPEAKER_02We can we can close it. Good to know. That's right. Close the gap. Close the gap. And Jeremy's back with us. How's how's school treating Kathy? She's still enjoying the school year, or you having to be her emotional support husband, or what's the deal?
SPEAKER_01Well, I mean, you know, she's she's doing as she's doing good, but you know, enjoying is a is a that's a tough term to quantify or to qualify. So, you know.
SPEAKER_02Very much uh well, we hope the listeners are enjoying the podcast for sure. But we are continuing on this week. We are jumping into chapter 18. We finished up 17 last week. Rico took us through uh really an important look at the kingdom of God and what that means as represented in Christ and uh his promises and preparation. But we're gonna get deep into some application today. Jesus is gonna get very real with us and what our look and some of these ways that how we live that out particularly is gonna be pretty important. And so we're going to see some consistency and continuity. We're going to see some contempt and conceit in workspace salvation, and then we're going to see a connected faith. So thanks to Jeremy for the help, but not even just alliteration. We are going a step further. We have three letters that we are keeping consistent for the listeners. So we are upping the bar this week. Now probably I'm good, man. I'm glad I can do something to impress somebody. Three cons there. Wow. Three consumers. Wow, there's not a con here. Somebody is the odd person out. So
Why Prayer Is A Must
SPEAKER_02but yes, we want to look at the first several verses in 18, which really tell us the importance of the consistency and continuity, especially when it comes to our prayer life, because we know prayer is so important because it's the relationship bringing God into our life. And so, and starting in verse one, Jesus said, now he told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not give up. And before we go too far, I think this is a little just quick aside of how reading different interpretations, reading different versions of the Bible can be helpful. Different interpretations, different translations say ought here, but if you actually look at the Greek word die, it actually is necessity. This is a must. It's not just a should, but we need to pray and not give up. And so he goes on to give the illustration here that there was a judge in a certain town who did not fear God or respect people, and a widow in that same town that kept coming to him, saying, Give me justice against my adversary. For a while he was unwilling, but later he said to himself, Even though I don't fear God or respect people, yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice, so that she doesn't wear me out by her persistent coming. And then the Lord Jesus says, Listen to what the unjust says, judge says, will not God, who is just in himself, grant justice to his elect who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay helping them? I tell you that he will swiftly grant them justice. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? And so important here that, especially culturally, we are in an instant gratification culture. We have Amazon that will give you like same-day delivery or within 24 hours. We have DoorDash that will bring your food to you. So, whatever we want, we have commoditized it and accelerated to where we have this expectation of instant gratification, all the pleasures we want. We can just grab things online, order them immediately, and all of these things that create our own mindset where we kind of think we can just pray one time, and if God's like a genie, he should just grant it to us like immediately. But that totally undermines the relationship we have with God and what Christ is telling us, and that it's the relationship so much more than what we're asking for. And so he tells us this parable to really illustrate how we should live expectantly, knowing that God is a good father, and we're going to get to the father in our third part of this passage here. But when we truly understand our relationship with God, he's not going to give us anything we can't handle, he's not going to withhold something that we need. And so when we have that, we can have a persistent and patient approach to our prayer life, actually seeking God first, and then what we're asking for in God's will and in God's timing.
SPEAKER_03With
Patience In An Instant Culture
SPEAKER_03the uh prayer piece of this, you know, jumping off here in the beginning of the chapter, just looking back with last week when we looked at when Rico brought basically God's kingdom and you know the duality of that of, you know, God's kingdom's here now, but not yet, you know, it's to come. And so when you have that, it's you know, one of the questions that comes to mind, well, okay, so now what? And I think this is what keeps us grounded because you see, you know, in that first verse there where it talks about, you know, you you must pray to not lose heart. And I think in when we think about what is to come, it's not, well, when is it? You know, God, it's gonna be a thief in the night, but it's gonna be very evident. But I want to live each day in preparation for that. But to do that, I must pray. Prayer, I need to be connected to my father so that whatever life throws at me today, I can face that. And it's not gonna be in my strength, obviously, it's gonna be in the spirit and God that are gonna be answering those prayers. And it may not be just that one prayer for today, but it may be a litany of prayers as and not just a list, because it's in part prayer is that communication, and we'll probably get more into this as we dive more into these uh passages here, these verses, is understanding what God is doing and and being able to understand, okay, it's not just that I'm sick or this this event, but understanding what God is doing and how it's impacting me in a way to sanctify me and those around me, and to be involved in that.
SPEAKER_00It's amazing how in this passage we can see this widow asking for something, right? We can see help in here, and something that comes to mind, especially when coming out of prayer. I even took it in my now and I put it in my notes. When we love somebody in the natural, how do we communicate with them with words, with speech? Right? Everybody have a different kind of way that they want to be loved by or loved to, right? But communication is important. We always heard communication is the key, right? Especially with my wife.
SPEAKER_02I know communication is not a con, but it's a calm. But you see what I'll let it slide, you know.
SPEAKER_00So bring it back around is how do we communicate with the one that we said we love, which is God? We communicate through prayer, but not just prayer, prayer in consistency. I think that's the first alliteration that you mentioned, right? Consistency. So how do we know how does he know that we for him? He already knows everything, right? But how do we communicate to him in a way that he can pause everything? See, he said heaven stops when we communicate with him, revelation, right? So do we do we just wish something happened without communicating with the person that we love? Can we do that in the natural? No, I cannot expect my wife to do something for me if she don't know. We communicate to them, to him, right? To her or to him. But at the same time, this is what is so evident that prayer is so important. I think prayer is the most essential way to demonstrate, especially in our prior in a in a in our private part of the day, to communicate with the king of kings, and he hears. That's what I think that's what I got from there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so in verse one, when he says that they ought always pray and and not lose heart, that that lose heart word, when I was looking it up in the Greek it means to become weary, discouraged, or to give up under pressure. And so this comes like Jonathan, you were saying on the heels of Jesus talking about what's gonna happen, like the the kingdom, the the already and but not yet, and the expectation of of of him coming again. And so Jesus is continuing this theme of his return and how essential persistent prayer is as we wait his return. And it says uh uh staying in in connected with the Father and in prayer will keep us from giving up under pressure, from from being discouraged from weary and weary.
SPEAKER_02Some very important themes, especially with the communication and we'd even draw out here, you know, the widows asking for justice and the elector crying out for help. A lot of times, again, we think asking God for whatever we want, but if we're truly asking in his will for what we know God would want, and it aligns an alignment, and that's where prayer aligns us with God so perfectly that we're asking exactly what God's will is, and then we know he's gonna grant it in his timing. So why prayer is so important? Because if we have a prayerless life, we're gonna be very out of alignment. You know, that's when we really start seeking our own kingdom. And a good thing we taught in a prayer class a year ago is we want God's kingdom, God's way. Too often, you know, we're wanting God's kingdom, but our way. Or maybe we're wanting our kingdom, but God will do it like kind of your way, but it's what I want. And so prayer is so critical in bringing that alignment. So we learn a lot from this passage. It's a need in our life. So, in your faith, do you pray consistently and continuously to your heavenly father, to your savior, and build that relationship?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's you said it was a need, and and that's what the widow was bringing, right? Was those ne needs that she had. And so, I mean, it's just when you think of it in the context of what she brought with the needs, it seems obvious, but at the same time, when we pray, it's like, well, what do I pray about? Well, just what's what what are you struggling with today? What is it that you you're and it doesn't always have to be struggles, it could be praises as well. Thank you, Lord, for the rain today. You know, I didn't have to water my yard. Thank you. You know, those type of things. Heavy. Yeah.
The Trap Of Self Righteous Prayer
SPEAKER_02Be open in your prayers. But as we move ahead, now we're gonna see contempt and conceit really contrasted against this deep prayer life. Now we're gonna see how not to pray, essentially, as he tells a parable. And interestingly, I want to highlight here in verse 9, he told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous. And what did this lead to? They looked down on everyone else. And he highlights this through this parable. And he says, Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, one a tax collector. And I think we've talked about it some on the podcast. Tax collectors were hated and really looked down upon in society. The Pharisee, notice here, was standing and praying like this about himself. God, I thank you that I'm not like other people, greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give a tenth of everything I get. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven, but kept striking his chest and saying, God have mercy on me, a sinner. Jesus wraps this up by saying, I tell you this one, the tax collector, went down to his house justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. So this is the real warning Jesus is giving us against a works-based salvation, against a mindset that we can earn something when really we never can. And Charles Spurgeon even says what the Pharisee did here was not even really a prayer. He wasn't even really asking or doing anything to God. He's just promoting himself and how great he is. And we also notice that he is standing. You know, he's not on his knees, he's not humbled before God. He's standing and separating himself from who he feels he's better than. He thinks he can isolate. So this is where we see that this kind of mindset continues to breed contempt, breed conceit, and ultimately isolation. And I think especially applicable where we can carry this into our culture today, we are immersed into a social media celebrity culture that is all about self-exaltation. It's all about curating our image online, making ourselves look good. I have such a great family, I have such a great fun vacation, I live this great life. We're trying to exalt ourselves and make ourselves look so good, compete against others when actually we are the tax collector and we just don't act like it a lot of times. So I think hugely critical here for us to understand the danger of a workspace mindset. And then this ties back to something we talked about in chapter 14 with Jesus and the banquet. Like, don't sit at the head of the table, sit at the bottom and allow Christ to call you up rather than exulting or thinking more of yourself.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, and there the humility piece is what you're keying off on. And I think a practical way of looking at it is just if you look at what the Pharisee five times he uses the same letter, I. And it it doesn't focus on what God does or has done, but he's focused on what I have done, you know. Uh like like you're saying, it's a work-based righteousness, and and what God calls out is saying, hey, he's already received his reward. And so I think uh in self-reflection for us is if we ever get to a place, part of it you can say, well, is as I'm humble, is am I focused on self? Am I focused am I does my language include a lot of I look what I've done or or what am I doing? And and as opposed to asking, well, okay, God, what what what needs to change in me, you know? And so I mean I think that can it can be hard if you're if you are to some level selfish because you probably a lot of times like that tax collector or the Pharisee compared to the tax collector didn't think of himself as a bad guy. But he but he was focused on himself, and so to not see that I think what happens, what needs to happen at times is probably a buddy come along and just say, Hey, do you do you see this? Do you recognize this? Because I think sometimes we we may not. And so it's good to have those accountability partners that are there to encourage you.
SPEAKER_00I I was gonna say accountability partners, I think you read my notes that I was I was looking at. But it it's kind of crazy how the this speaks values to us. And we have to remember one thing looking at these passages, this passage about the Pharisee and the tax collector. And usually we when we read scripture about the tax collector, it's something bad in those days, right? In those days where we can see here the tax collector was not necessarily used to go into church because they feel that they're better than everybody else. In this passage, we can see that even the Pharisee and the Far and the tax collector they there, but the Pharisee not even praying to God. He says that hey, he stands up but he prayed to himself. He said, I, I, I, I. The tax collector is separated from everybody else because he thinks that he's not worthy. That's an observation. So what I get from this is that hey, listen, as you mentioned, we are tax collectors, but they have pasture, and just a message for you, the hearer that we hear in this, tax collectors can spend eternity with God. And that is huge for me.
SPEAKER_01I think a lesson for us all is we all need to beware of spiritual pride. Being that works-based mindset that you talked about, Nan. It it it will blind us to our need, it will isolate us from from from the Lord. Self-righteousness is probably the greatest barrier to to God. Justification, just like the the the man who beat his chest, the justification comes through mercy and not merit. He he said, God be merciful to me, a sinner. So that probably one of the shortest, one of the shorter prayers, but it it's the truest prayer we need. Like I'm acknowledging that I'm a sinner, break and and getting coming to the end of myself.
SPEAKER_03I was just gonna say with that, is that David has a bunch of examples. If you if you're trying to figure out how to how to pray that is Psalms. You know, and it a good one is like Psalm 51 have mercy on me, oh God, according to your steadfast love, according to the abundance mercy, blot out my transgressions. Yeah. And so if if you're for the listeners, you need some examples in your prayer life, turn to Psalms and just start reading those and praying those.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I have that jotted down to Psalm 51, 17, a broken and contrite heart. Yep.
SPEAKER_00I remember I I I speak to all men on this passage right here, repentance. And Psalm 51 was one that a true repentance you can find finding in Psalm 51. Read it, understand it, practice it. But is there's a a a passage of scripture that it shows what after you'll be forgiven, Psalms 32. It teaches you where you are if you're not forgiven. He said, David said, Hey, my bones are crushed, but my my inner twine with you is not there because I'm separated from you because I'm not confessing. He said that hey, I'm still doing the will of God, but I'm separated from him because I'm not in communication with him. So I'm glad that you mentioned that because it's correlation. How can you tell me this 66 books in the Bible basic instructions before leaving earth is not correlate to the number one thing that is a need, repentance and get back to the source about to say?
SPEAKER_02And this is a works-based mindset is going to lead to contempt and conceit or despair. Because either you're exceeding, you're doing so great you look down on everybody, or you're failing, and now you're in despair and you feel lost. Because the flip side, you know, the Pharisees very prideful here, the I, but it can go the other way where I'm so bad, I've done so many wrong things, I, I, I. It's still prideful, it's just on the opposite extreme. You know, whereas the tax collector understands and calls out for mercy and receives the justification. So he's leaning on God, he's crying out to God, he's not focused on himself, he's external. But it's important to note that pride can go both ways, you know, because it's not always just the conceit. It can also flip to despair when now I'm not getting the likes on social media, or I'm not, you know, somebody else's had something better. Like now we start to despair, and it's still prideful, even though we're now feeling inferior. So just to make sure we get that right on both sides and why we need to be leaning into our faith. And of course, all of this is prayer from the first point, but but the last few.
Receiving The Kingdom Like A Child
SPEAKER_02Verses here starting in uh verse 15 short. A lot of us kind of know this, but have we really comprehended it? It's another good C, not a C-O-N, but a C O M. But have we comprehended our relationship to God? Are we connected in the right way? And so it says people were trying to bring infants to Jesus so that he might touch them. But when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them, like we don't need these little kids. He's he's too busy for these children. Jesus, however, invited them and said, Let the little children come to me and don't stop them. Why? Because the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. And I think this ties immediately back to the works-based mindset, which is divorced from God and focused on ourselves. But if we're connected to God, we understand that we are children. God is our father, like we are part of a family. And so if we haven't humbled and become like children to enter into the kingdom God, to have a connected faith, we're never going to get there. And we've really misunderstood it. And I think this is again why we came up with connected was, you know, children attach in a very important way. You know, when children come into the world, you know, after birth, they're seeking to connect to their parents. They're looking to attach. I've learned a lot about this with my wife and I being on a foster and adoption journey. Fortunately, a lot of kids who've been through trauma struggle with attachment. They struggle to connect because of that and the lack of trust. But we have to humble ourselves to trust God as a little child and have that healthy connection to Him that's not based on us, but is based on Christ. And I think again, seeing some real application in our time and culture, we are super focused on adult happiness. We should be able to get the pleasure, we should be able to do whatever we want, you know, make our own choices, you know, if we're Americans, we're free, which means pursue happiness and do whatever we want. But we sacrifice children so often because we see through things like divorce and same-sex marriage that robs a children of a mother and a father, and divorce which splits up and breaks apart a family. Why did those happen? For adult happiness, children end up getting hurt. And so when adults become the priority in the mindset, we lose it. And I think Jesus here is showing, especially us as Christians, need to have that humble, childlike, connected faith that understands who we are.
SPEAKER_01So I think reflecting on this passage overall, like I mean, just looking through, like, you see the th three, well, actually four, but one of them was an anti-type here, but like, but you three outsiders that were not necessarily highly highly valued in society at that time, you know, the the widow, the tax collector, and the child, and they're all examples of what we should be doing persistence, repentance, humility, and dependence. And then the one who we would think, oh, that person's got it all together, is the self-reliant, self-righteous, you know, works-based. So it you know, it's a warning for us to really examine our hearts, to be to to dive in and rely on the Lord and and and lean into him in humility and dependence. It's kind of what I see as a overarching for this passage. It's good.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I just appreciate how type the scripture all ties together and just again, you got the child here and how God's kingdom, you're supposed to come like a child. It's not saying that as a child that they are in God's kingdom, but that the the a vulnerable child who has a lot of need and etc. But tying back into chapter 17, just talking about you know, that temptation that leads to sin and guarding against, you know, leading children into sin, and how we need a renewed heart, and and that heart that you know has forgiveness, that heart that seeks repentance, that looks for joy in what God is doing, and just all those, you know, connections of of what God's kingdom looks like, and how it isn't based on what we see here in world in the world now with what strength is, you know, and it's not the the strong, but it's it's the weak. And and to what Rico said, I think about a week or two ago was was it's it can be the weak too that that end up in hell are the poor. So it's not it's there there's not a correlation there one for one, but it's just showing that God's kingdom, it's not based on what the world has, it's based on God's kingdom. It's it's how He created creation and and and it's based off of God. And so just that that perspective, I think, is that getting back to your prayer and being connected is having that perspective of in reminding us to you know that humility piece so that we don't get caught up in to be like a Pharisee that is, you know, hey God, look at look at me, I got it together.
SPEAKER_00I a little thing that Jeremy, you were reading my notes, by the way. But anyway, anyway, let me let me know cheating around. Yeah, yeah. I was like looking over at you, I guess. Let me smart. Let me see if I can reward it differently. But in we have to see something here about history, what history tells us exegetically in this passage in number 18. In those times, we can see that the elderly was the ones who will place hands on people in order for them to feel blessed. And anybody who wants to reach to God, they will have to go through the sender or the one who represents God in order for them to feel blessed. That was in the then Jesus came, in the now is different. And I want to make sure that if you're hearing this, this is very this is a very powerful passage of scripture widows, tax collectors, children, Rico, Jonathan, Jeremy, Nate, listener, everyone is welcome. The question is, are you going to surrender and give it out to him? Never ever feel disqualified that you do not have direct access to the one who gave you life in the first place. Let's go deeper. When Jesus in the last hour, the man who was there with him, what did he say? Remember me, he still had breath in his lungs, and he still asked God to forget, he still acknowledged who he was and what Jesus said tonight. You will be with me in paradise. So for the hearer, when we listen to this, you're not disqualified based on what you have done. If you still got lungs, if you still got hair air in your lungs, be grateful because you have an opportunity. A couple podcasts ago, we read about the two men. One went to heaven, one went to Hades. And the one in Hades, he was like, Hey, go tell my people. We're like, No, you have the people, and in the now we have pastors, we have relations, we have relationship, we have community, we have the word. So again, everybody can be qualified. The question is, are you ready to surrender?
SPEAKER_02100%. And I think this even, you know, Jesus says in John 3, you know, you have to be born again, you know, and that has become maybe a little cliche with evangelical Christians, but it's true, you know, that is the start, you know, being born again, coming like a child, but then staying connected and really staying in that childlike faith. We grow up in our faith, but we never, like you say, Rico, get past the gospel. Like that is always the foundation.
Closing Encouragement And Next Steps
SPEAKER_02So, listeners, if your prayer life is struggling, be consistent, be like that widow, get involved in your prayer life. It is active, it is work, it is part of our walk. If you're struggling with starting to feel some conceit or despair, ask God to really just chip away at your heart to bring you to that point of understanding, being more like the tax collector, giving up self righteousness, and never lose that childlike connection that we have to Christ and how he died for us and made a way for us to be adopted as sons and daughters of the king. So, Light Valves family, thanks so much as always for joining us. We pray you have a blessed week and we look forward to seeing you next time.
