Pure Faith: A Bible Discussion Podcast

A Kitty Cat and The Act of Being Reviled: An Intriguing Walk Through Life (Matthew 5:11-16...Part 1)

September 19, 2023 Mitchell Heitkamp and Michele Waymire Episode 112
A Kitty Cat and The Act of Being Reviled: An Intriguing Walk Through Life (Matthew 5:11-16...Part 1)
Pure Faith: A Bible Discussion Podcast
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Pure Faith: A Bible Discussion Podcast
A Kitty Cat and The Act of Being Reviled: An Intriguing Walk Through Life (Matthew 5:11-16...Part 1)
Sep 19, 2023 Episode 112
Mitchell Heitkamp and Michele Waymire

Ever had a furry friend adopt you instead of the other way around? Join us in a delightful conversation that began with a visit from a young kitty cat, that we now call Mixin or is it Jasmine? We share our laughs, the weekend trip to the lake with our feline visitor, and why with cats, it's always a case of them choosing their humans.

We then switch gears to dissect Matthew 5:11, which often seems a tad bit confusing. As we break it down into three parts, prepare to discover a whole new understanding of the different forms of persecution one might face for championing the word of Jesus. And here's a little teaser: the Greek word 'Makarios' plays a significant role in our discussion.

Lastly, we dive into the touchy subject of being reviled. It's not a pleasant experience, but it's one that calls for understanding and grace. Drawing from biblical instances where Jesus himself was reviled, and from our personal experiences, we explore how we can react and draw strength from such situations. And remember, being reviled for the love of Christ is not a condemnation, but a call to a future reward in Heaven. So join us in this heartwarming, enlightening, and, at times, challenging conversation. Sit back, relax and let's explore life's joys, challenges, and mysteries together.

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Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

Ever had a furry friend adopt you instead of the other way around? Join us in a delightful conversation that began with a visit from a young kitty cat, that we now call Mixin or is it Jasmine? We share our laughs, the weekend trip to the lake with our feline visitor, and why with cats, it's always a case of them choosing their humans.

We then switch gears to dissect Matthew 5:11, which often seems a tad bit confusing. As we break it down into three parts, prepare to discover a whole new understanding of the different forms of persecution one might face for championing the word of Jesus. And here's a little teaser: the Greek word 'Makarios' plays a significant role in our discussion.

Lastly, we dive into the touchy subject of being reviled. It's not a pleasant experience, but it's one that calls for understanding and grace. Drawing from biblical instances where Jesus himself was reviled, and from our personal experiences, we explore how we can react and draw strength from such situations. And remember, being reviled for the love of Christ is not a condemnation, but a call to a future reward in Heaven. So join us in this heartwarming, enlightening, and, at times, challenging conversation. Sit back, relax and let's explore life's joys, challenges, and mysteries together.

Support the Show.

Support our ministry

Check us out at purefaithliving.com

Contact us at purefaithliving.com/contact

Follow us on twitter @purefaithliving

Follow us on Facebook at Pure Faith Podcast

Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Pure Faith podcast. I am Michelle and this is my brother and co-host, Mitchell. We ask that you like this video, subscribe to our YouTube channel and don't forget to hit the notification icon to be notified when new episodes are released. So this is like deja vu.

Speaker 2:

It is kind of like deja vu.

Speaker 1:

So if you didn't see Mitchell's post, we had technical difficulties last week, so Mitchell said that it went about four minutes.

Speaker 2:

Four minutes into it.

Speaker 1:

And then it cut out our audio.

Speaker 2:

And then it was just pictured, Even if the audio was bad. As long as there was audio, I probably would have released it, but there was no audio whatsoever.

Speaker 1:

So just when we thought we were done.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so this is probably the first time we've re-recorded something.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I don't think we've ever re-recorded anything.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean I released some stuff that had poor audio, like it would pick up on the computer microphone instead of our kid microphone, but it's still.

Speaker 1:

I was like, you sent me the message and I'm like well, what do you want me to do about it? I know what we're gonna do about it, I mean it's the answer re-record but like, are you wanting to do that now so we can release it, or what you're playing here? I don't know. Yeah, so it will be like deja vu. Well, not for them because Not for them.

Speaker 2:

It's like oh, new view.

Speaker 1:

I hope I don't yawn or fall asleep Me too.

Speaker 2:

Oh, shoot it was beginning to probably be different, though.

Speaker 1:

Well, yeah, it'll be different.

Speaker 2:

I thought we could still talk about Zeke's cat.

Speaker 1:

Oh my gosh. Yes, but Zeke did get this cat. So last week, when we recorded, mitchell was telling us about how a cat showed up at their house while Eli was outside.

Speaker 2:

Ping on the back deck.

Speaker 1:

Ping off the back deck.

Speaker 2:

No, he's actually ping on the back deck.

Speaker 1:

Oh my gosh Anyhow. So the kitty cat's going in between his legs right.

Speaker 2:

Pretty much While he's ping. Yeah, it's a young cat. It was only a few months old.

Speaker 1:

Let me tell you, I saw a picture of this kitty cat and it's a little kitty cat, like it's young, it's a youngin, so not like baby but like at that one or two month stage I guess, because I mean it looks healthy, it looks like it's a good cat. But I didn't expect to be this little and you went away on your military weekend. So once we got done recording last week you went home, pretty much put the kids to bed and left. You went to Upper Sandusky. No, I went to Port Clinton. Port Clinton, that's right. So you went up there and Pages at home with Zeke, eli, ephraim and the new kitty cat. Yeah, so I get pictures of the kitty cat, which are so cute. Zeke's got this cat wrapped in a Spider-Man blanket.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

I received pictures all weekend of this cat wrapped in a Spider-Man blanket, but what got me is that they went to the lake on Saturday. The cat hitched a ride and in an unknown area, so I'm told and drove 20 miles 15 to 20. To the lake and when they got there the cat appears. And when it came home it got to sit on Zeke's lap in the Spider-Man blanket.

Speaker 2:

Oh it home.

Speaker 1:

Oh my gosh. So yeah, I guess you're gonna be getting a kitty cat face and I'm going to take it. It's not in the house.

Speaker 2:

It's not in the house, it's in the garage. It came in the house.

Speaker 1:

Oh, don't let that kitty cat come in the house.

Speaker 2:

But no, it doesn't stay in the house.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

I don't foresee that happening, but I could see it spending time in the house.

Speaker 1:

Well, I mean, like I said, our cat is an indoor, outdoor cat. The only thing that I suggest is that you really really think about it, because we do not declare cats. Scratchy is well-deserved of her name. She scratches up my furniture. That's the one thing that drives me crazy about this cat is that I look at our chair or something, you can see that she tries to scratch at it. So that's my only thing about it being inside is you have to figure all that out. But, as you know, I'm not a cat lover, so I bear.

Speaker 2:

What I like about cats is that fact that they're independent.

Speaker 1:

They are very independent. If you were going to get an animal and you had to choose between a cat, dog and a reptile, I would definitely take the cat, because you don't do anything. You just had to make sure there's food in the bowl, water in the bowl and there's a litter box. But cats well, cats can be friendly, but dogs, they welcome you. Your kitty cat's not doing that.

Speaker 2:

That's fine with me. Yeah, wow, it's not my cat anyways.

Speaker 1:

Alright, so is this name Jasmine? Is it a girl?

Speaker 2:

I haven't even looked yet. Oh my gosh, I have no idea.

Speaker 1:

I told Don. I said if it's not Jasmine, it'll be Jazz.

Speaker 2:

I liked this first choice.

Speaker 1:

Mixin, mixin. I was told it was Mixin, and then it was Jasmine. That's what I was told. So yeah.

Speaker 2:

And then you ask him now what the cat's name is, and it says how do you do?

Speaker 1:

You know you say that. When Paige sent me the picture of Eli, zeke and the cat and then a picture of Zeke with the cat, I started singing the Toy Story song. You got a friend in me. Paige loves Toy Story, doesn't she? She does. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is perfect because this cat's going to go everywhere with Zeke Probably Everywhere.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's good because it is getting him outside, because I mean not like they have a problem going outside anyway, right. But now it's like he'll just go outside and start yelling here, kitty, kitty, kitty, aw, and then actually know he's walking up to the back door. Oh, this golden is cat. Oh, my god, okay.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, I personally think it's good for them to have something like that you know that's around and cats don't like really loud noises. I mean, I know Eli is not really doing anything loud, but Zeke can look at the supply.

Speaker 2:

I see it.

Speaker 1:

Oh my god, don't hit me, no Revenge.

Speaker 2:

But no, I think it's good.

Speaker 1:

I really do so. Yeah, yeah, it's there. It's there. Did it go on the family wall? Class night it did, it did yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

The family walk.

Speaker 2:

It ran like along with us.

Speaker 1:

It did, yeah, and then it came back with you. Yeah, that's so weird.

Speaker 2:

Like it would run, like run past us and then dart off into the side ditch.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And then we'd go by, and then it come out and run past us and go into the side ditch. Oh my goodness. I had Zeke and Eli all worried, weren't Eli? Eli had to stop and try to get the cat and I'm like, no, it's just, let's go, it'll come. It ran this far out here. It's going to run all the way back.

Speaker 1:

Oh my gosh so cute.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Well, I'm happy for you guys A new addition to your family.

Speaker 2:

Sure.

Speaker 1:

I mean, you got chickens, you got bees, you got a cat, you got goats, you got a little. Maybe, One day you'll have that farmer's market.

Speaker 2:

Pigeon at me.

Speaker 1:

All right. So, yeah, that fly was in my face and I feel like it's all over my face, all right. So we are Look there. It is Sorry.

Speaker 2:

Go hit the microphone. You make the sound cut out again.

Speaker 1:

I know we don't want that, do we? Okay, just so you know, my calves hurt.

Speaker 2:

So you know I don't care. So we're on the same page.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I hear that we are.

Speaker 2:

Putting all the cards out on the table.

Speaker 1:

All right, so do you have your notes this time, because I think last time you said your notes didn't work the same as my notes or something it didn't refresh. None of you would know that, but we did have that discussion, so but you know it's fine now.

Speaker 2:

Okay, you actually used this last night to do my study and which, I have to admit, I really didn't study a whole lot because we did this last week.

Speaker 1:

so Right, we did, but you also said last week that you didn't know if you were really prepared for it, because Well, I thought it turned out fine.

Speaker 2:

I have no proof of it.

Speaker 1:

No, well, I mean, you got us like our lips moving and this might use Okay.

Speaker 2:

I'm not very good at reading lips.

Speaker 1:

Oh well, I said our time, where you got 20 minutes. Let's do this.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Speaker 1:

All right.

Speaker 2:

So I wouldn't do the same thing.

Speaker 1:

I missed it, I know right. It struck me crazy.

Speaker 2:

So I'm going to read the Beatitudes, matthew 5, 1 through 10, first. Okay, since we never did a recap at the end, so we just spent all the time. What do we say? 10 episodes.

Speaker 1:

I think, so I don't remember, I don't know however many parts that was.

Speaker 2:

Spent all that time going over the Beatitudes. I never did a final rereading of the Beatitudes as that final ending to them. So I'm going to read that and then I'm going straight into Matthew 5, 11 through 16, and as I start reading this it's going to hit me Okay so Matthew 5, 1 through 10. Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain and when he sat down, his disciples came to him and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness's sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Speaker 2:

Blessed are you, when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. So is me glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house In the same way. Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father, who is in heaven. So I got this. Fly is on my nose.

Speaker 1:

It's on your head. The fly is driving me crazy. I just don't understand.

Speaker 2:

It's probably the same fly that's here every week.

Speaker 1:

Oh my gosh Ready. No.

Speaker 2:

Um, I'm scared.

Speaker 1:

He said I'm scared to get on your nose. It's stupid. Oh, I hate flies. I'm not supposed to hate anything, but I hate flies.

Speaker 2:

So we are going to cover verse 11. So bluster you. Okay, sorry about that. We had to do some fly.

Speaker 1:

Extermination.

Speaker 2:

Sure, even though we didn't actually kill it.

Speaker 1:

But we didn't get it.

Speaker 2:

We don't know where it went. It disappeared.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so we're going to do this, so that way it doesn't come back.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so, oh, we're going to.

Speaker 1:

Bluster you, yes, yes bluster you.

Speaker 2:

So this is the same Greek word used at the beginning of all the Beatitudes, which is Makarios, which is that happy? Yes, but it's not the feeling of happiness, it's the state of being happy which we view in our modern day society.

Speaker 2:

We wouldn't necessarily view that as happy. We would view it as joyful or to have joy. Joy is the state of being and even though this means happy, it means that happy is in that state of being happy and not the feeling of happiness. So that is why a lot of people believe that. Or if you look in your Bible, verses 11 and 12 are tacked on with the Beatitudes.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

And then it's after verse 12 that you would have Normally have like a chapter break with a new title and a lot it's put on there or it's put with the Beatitudes, for, I believe, this reason, the fact that it starts with that same Makarios bluster you. But as we get into this, we will see that that's the only thing it has in common with the Beatitudes, Because the whole structure you know, we've covered this a lot whenever we're going through the Beatitudes the fact that the Beatitudes have that two parts, Chloe, and they were in what was it? Third person? Yes, Beatitudes are in third person, so it wasn't targeted towards anybody, it was just towards a group of people, a general group of people going through a certain situation or in a certain situation, and then so there was part A that covered that, and then there was a part B that was like a future promise. That went with part A. Well, with verse 11, it starts out with the same Makarios blusted R of you, blusted R, Blusted R, you. But the fact that this goes with that you.

Speaker 1:

Oh, yes, that is right.

Speaker 2:

It changes it completely. I see what you're saying. Now it switches from third person to second person. So now we have somebody who this is written to, which is you, which is anybody who reads this yeah, you are the person that's reading it.

Speaker 2:

Yes, where with the Beatitudes? It could just be any group of person. You may not necessarily be in that group, but now it is targeting a certain sort of people group. And also verse 11 and 12, they're more of a broader, broader view of verse 10, of that final beatitude, that summarizing beatitude, where but in this case, verse 11 is like the first part. It'd be like in all those beatitudes, you had the first part plus the future. So verse 11 would be like that group of people, but now it's you, it's a certain person which is you, the reader. But it has three different parts in it. It's blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely. So these are three different things?

Speaker 1:

Is that like merciful or poor, or you've got a right.

Speaker 2:

This has a list of things. Now, granted all three of these, they are similar in regards to the fact that this is what people and by people I mean more specifically evil will do toward you or against you or at you if you are basically living a Christian life and especially if you are out sharing the gospel. So this is going to be a big topic as we move on through these next several verses, that there is going to be an emphasis put on the fact that we, as Christians, should be going out and sharing the good news of Jesus, because we are technically disciples of Christ and we are to go out and make disciples of others, which would include sharing the good news of Jesus, and in doing that, you do run the risk of persecution, you run the risk of being reviled, you're on risk of people coming at you and basically, and we've talked about it too.

Speaker 1:

It's not really directed towards us.

Speaker 2:

No.

Speaker 1:

It's directed toward Jesus.

Speaker 2:

Yes, which I believe we talked about that at the end of our last episode that they saw.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that they saw. But yeah, that's what I'm saying. So we, even though you know when you read this it's to us, the reader, but when we get that backlash and you know it's not directed towards us personally- it is not about us, it is about Jesus, always.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so this verse 11 is kind of like that, this first part, which we've already kind of discussed, and it has these three parts. So now let's get through these three different parts of this verse 11. And the first one is revile. And the actual definition of revile is to be criticized in an abusive or angrily insulting manner. So this is like a verbal abuse, somebody verbally insulting you, just any sort of verbal attack towards you. And this is something that is actually directed towards you, so face-to-face, somebody is in front of you just verbally attacking you. So this is the idea of revile, but it doesn't go past that verbal attack, so it is just literally a verbal attack, it's just words spoken against you, but again, it's not technically against you.

Speaker 2:

They're speaking against you, but they're actually focused on Jesus. They're targeting it towards Jesus. So it's not about you. And some examples of people being reviled in the Bible Well, jesus was reviled in the Bible. When Jesus was crucified he was put up between two robbers. Well, when he was up on the cross, not only did the people walking by, they were reviling him, they were insulting him, saying stuff along the lines like oh, you say you're the Son of God. Well, where's your God now? Have him come, take you down from the cross. I'm paraphrasing this stuff here. And then somewhere we're saying all you say that you're going to destroy the temple and build it up three, or build it back up in three days, and you can't even get yourself off the cross. Just saying all the time we're spoken against Jesus. Even the robbers who were crucified next to him were even talking bad to him and viling him and stuff like that.

Speaker 1:

So it's visible. It's visible in the Bible.

Speaker 2:

It's verbal attack. One other spot I want to point out is in 1st Peter, 414, and this says if you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the Spirit of Glory and of God rest upon you. So the word used here that was translated as insulted this is the same Greek word that was also translated as reviled. So this is the same thing If you are reviled or insulted for the name of Christ. Well, this is. I'll save that so I get to the next section. So this is basically just saying that if we are sharing Jesus and we are again reviled verbally attacked, which insulted and reviled their synonyms is that the same?

Speaker 1:

Then s s is same. Didn't you learn anything in school?

Speaker 2:

No.

Speaker 1:

That's the only way you remember it, isn't it? I don't know. I think it's I don't know an English major.

Speaker 2:

No, I'm not an English reviewer.

Speaker 1:

I don't really keep my eyes on it.

Speaker 2:

Anyways, make sure the microphone's still working. So yeah, insulted, reviled, it's the same and it's on behalf of Christ. So, again, if we are sharing the good news of Jesus and we are verbally attacked because of that, this is saying that this is saying the same thing that we've seen in verse 11. You know, 11 started with Macarius, which I didn't do the research to see if this blessed is the same blessed that Macarius is, because there are multiple Greek words that mean blessed. So I'm not sure which, which Greek word this is, but it says you are blessed.

Speaker 2:

Well, again, that's also what we read in verse 11. But this goes a step further, because this is saying because the spirit of glory and of God rest upon you. So not only are we being, are we blessed because people are insulting us, we're viling us, but this is telling us that we will have the Holy Spirit with us. So that is something to keep in mind and again, like we were saying before, they're not targeting us, but it would be like they're targeting the Holy Spirit that is with us Right?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I guess I've never been targeted by it, so, but I just wonder how I would personally react to it, because I know that they're not saying it towards me.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, but yeah, it's my belief.

Speaker 1:

It's my. I'll take it personally.

Speaker 2:

It's what I, it's what I know I mean I've been attacked, but I don't think it was because of my faith.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, see, that's what I'm saying. Like I've been attacked also, but I don't think it's because of my faith, so I've never had anyone, you know, I guess, outside of just personal attacks like on me.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

But then that's just. That's just me knowing that I need to pray for forgiveness, I need to learn forgiveness, I need to give forgiveness to get forgiveness, like that's. That's my lesson, all that. But I've never talked, I've never once spoke about my faith or talked about Jesus or anything and someone attacked me about it. Like it. Most people just understand and they're, they're grateful that you talk about it and it's accepting. So I've never had it where it's the opposite.

Speaker 2:

I mean, I haven't really either. That was one of my biggest fears, and if we started, this whole podcast was you were going to get attacked.

Speaker 1:

We were going to be attacked.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I wasn't sure I was going to handle it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And then, like a year goes by and we would never were attacked.

Speaker 1:

We're only a two year close to it. I was thinking about this, we're pushing. I was just thinking about that because when you asked me it was during the football game the Bengals Detroit game and we were, I was up with L and it was before their wedding. I mean, that's coming up on two years so yeah, we're getting close to years. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

We were going to start right at the end of November, because that past December 3rd we had our first oh, that is right Two episodes, I think, recorded. They're first, or first two recorded before dead packs, yeah, and then we had to stop for a while.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, but I do, I remember. I mean, with you asking me and me accepting it, I never once thought about the backlash, if there would be it. But I could understand where you're coming from, because you're, I'm just here, because you asked me to. I mean, I learn a lot, but I don't. I don't prepare anything, I literally just show up. So I can understand why you would be thinking that you could be attacked by all of it, because it is You're the one that's giving the message, you're the one that's giving the study.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and that was like a fear whenever we first started. And now I kind of wish people would persecute us, which I did have a little bit, which I never I don't think I ever told you, the one there not too long ago. We did the, we did release two sermons back to back. Oh yeah, we had it for faster for a couple. They weren't back to back weeks but we released them back to back and the first one I got a little bit of people making fun of me, really.

Speaker 1:

I thought it was kind of cool.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, there's still one there. If you actually look at them, there's still some comments, oh, on any of them. I did delete a couple of them because they were just like had nothing to do with anything.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

But yeah, that was today the most popular thing we've released. Really Well that's quite interesting we had like a bunch of comments on it. Well, I say a bunch, but it's like seven, that's a lot for us.

Speaker 1:

Seven is a good number.

Speaker 2:

It is.

Speaker 1:

It's a perfect number.

Speaker 2:

It is. I don't know if it's actually seven.

Speaker 1:

Oh, okay, if there's seven. There may have been seven.

Speaker 2:

I think I might do a lead in two Perfect Okay.

Speaker 1:

Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you.

Speaker 2:

That's fine.

Speaker 1:

Because you're almost done anyhow. Oh, I am, but we had that little break.

Speaker 2:

I didn't even get through half the stuff we got through last week.

Speaker 1:

Oh, we had that little bit of break Remember we had a time out.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, just a few minutes. So I'm going to keep going.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

I don't know where I'm at, but I'm going to keep going.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

Okay. So the next one. So that was Revile. The next one is persecution, and this is the same persecution that was mentioned in verse 10. It's the same Greek word and persecution would include being reviled.

Speaker 2:

If you were being reviled, you couldn't look at that as a persecution. But persecution goes further, because persecution can involve a lot more, because even if you look at the apostles, all but one of the apostles were persecuted to the point of being martyred, so persecution could go all the way up to death. We read a lot about apostles being thrown in jail, a lot of apostles being beaten. So that is all part of persecution, but it doesn't necessarily have to be physical abuse that you are taking. It could just be verbal abuse, something along that line, but it could also be more along the economical side of it and the fact that, because you know here, living in the US, in this day and age, at least right now, we don't have to worry about being put in jail for talking about Jesus. We don't have to worry about somebody just coming up and physically assaulting us for talking about Jesus, but we do have to worry about people, and it's the best way to explain.

Speaker 2:

It would be like the cancer culture that we're in today. If there's a group of people in the US that's band together and if they don't like what you stand for and, in our case, christian beliefs, like the big thing that just happened not that long ago was the fact that abortion was prohibited and a lot of people, especially in that cancel culture type of group, if you stand up and say you're against abortion, if you are pro-life, they want to cancel you and try to shut you up and attack you because of your beliefs. So that is a possibility, but I mean they can come attack me because I got nothing.

Speaker 1:

I got protect me. You can come attack me.

Speaker 2:

I mean, my boss is Christian too, so he's not gonna fire me, whatever. Whatever, he'd be proud of me.

Speaker 1:

He would be.

Speaker 2:

Anyways, but yes, that is still like that. It doesn't have to be physical abuse, physical persecution. It could be, like I said, along the line of the cancel culture, an economical attack, and then it could also go into what we have next, which is uttering evil against you, uttering all kinds of evil against you, falsely. So this could also be considered a persecution. And the difference between this and revile is that revile is that face-to-face, verbal altercation. This would be that lying, scheming, like behind your back spreading false rumors, and you know this would actually fall more in line with that economical cancel culture type persecution that I was just talking about, and like these groups of people going behind your back and just saying lies about you to try to hurt your image, which I don't have an image. I mean, if I care about my image, I wouldn't be here in dirty bibs.

Speaker 1:

No.

Speaker 2:

And a pink shirt.

Speaker 1:

No.

Speaker 2:

See look at the dirty.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I see it, this is real, this is.

Speaker 2:

But you said I don't smell.

Speaker 1:

so no you, I could have a cold, I don't know, but I don't smell.

Speaker 2:

I don't smell either.

Speaker 1:

I mean. I smell something, so you know I'm not too sick but I don't smell.

Speaker 2:

So let's go ahead and finish, because the one thing we have left is on my account. So we have to remember that Jesus is the one speaking here. So this is on Jesus's account. And this does tie back in with verse 10, because if we go back to verse 10, it was for righteousness' sake. So blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake.

Speaker 2:

And what is that? Righteousness? That is doing what is right in the eyes of God. And in the case of that righteousness, it was living your life according to the beatitudes and living your life according to those Christian core values. So if you're doing that, if you're living those Christian core values and you are persecuted, then you are being persecuted for righteousness because you're doing what is right in the eyes of God. But now Jesus flips it and remember, this is just one verse later. And now he's saying that you know, if you are reviled, if you are persecuted, if you are, People are uttering all kinds of things against you falsely If this is done on Jesus's account, for.

Speaker 2:

Jesus's sake, then that is what this is about. So it's flipping that view. Because whenever you're looking at it for the sake of righteousness, you can live the Christian core values and not go out in public and start a podcast or go out on the street corner and and stand on a soapbox and talk about Jesus. You can live righteously without doing that, with just waking up, going to work, going to church on Sundays and just living your life in a Christian way without sharing Jesus. You can do that.

Speaker 2:

But whenever we are being persecuted for the sake of Jesus, if you're just waking up and going to work and not talking about Jesus and just going to church on Sunday and then not sharing Jesus after that you're not acting as a disciple of Christ. Well then you're not doing it for the sake of Jesus. But if you are sharing Jesus, if you are talking about Jesus, if you are openly just anybody who wants to hear about Jesus, start a podcast, talk about Jesus. If you do that and then you are persecuted or you are attacked, you are reviled, you are whatever. This is being done for the sake of Jesus, well now that is a different story. So it's just they're both about Jesus, but one is for sharing Jesus and one is just for living righteously. So they are different, but it is both about Jesus.

Speaker 1:

Everything's about Jesus.

Speaker 2:

And when you are, like I was saying before, verse 11 is like part one of this and verse 12 is part two. So part or verse 12 is going to be like that future tense, but it's going to be like the result of what happens in verse 11. So if you are persecuted, reviled or people are uttering false things about you for the sake of Jesus, like in verse 11, now, whenever we get into verse 12, then Jesus is going to tell us what's going to happen because of that. So that's what we will cover in our next episode, given our sound is still working.

Speaker 2:

So, hopefully, this will be a good episode.

Speaker 1:

Alright, well, we thank you for joining us. Please leave a comment on this video or go to our contact page on PureFaithLivingcom and send us a message and, as always, if you like what you hear, then we ask that you share this show with others so we can work together and spread the good news of Jesus Christ. Don't forget to subscribe, and we will talk to you all again next time.

Speaker 2:

Have a blessed day everybody.

Deja Vu
Understanding the Beatitudes and Persecution
Understanding Verbal Attacks and Persecution
Understanding the Future Consequences of Persecution