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Hope Channel

InVerse 3rd Quarter 2024: Stories that Transform

Sikhu Daco

Justin Kim

Israel Ramos

Joe Reeves

01 Rooted in Faith

02 Lost but Found

03 Discovering the Treasure

04 Caught in the Crossfire

05 Persistent in Prayer

06 Loving our Neighbor

07 The Wedding Garment

08 Bearing Fruit

09 Giving to God

10 Called to Serve

11 Living for Eternity

12 Filled with the Spirit

13 Building on the Rock

Coming to you from Silver Spring, Maryland, welcome to Inverse, a Bible-based conversation on life principles, contemporary issues, and thought-provoking perspectives.

Now here's your host, Justin Kim, with Inverse.

Wouldn't it be important for us to hear and learn and apply these stories in our lives?

That's what we're talking about in this week and in this arc that we're in on stories that transform.

My name is Justin Kim and welcome to Inverse.

And I want to welcome each 1 of you who are watching or listening on whatever platform you are.

And also Israel to my left and Joe and Siku to my right and to your guys' left.

Well, we are going to go into the Bible as we always do.

We are in verse, in the Bible verse, and we're looking at Matthew 13, 24-43.

Really talking about Why are there, well, I won't spoil it.

We'll actually read it before we get into it.

Loving Father, we thank you that we can come to your word.

We ask for understanding now, as we know that spiritual things are spiritually discerned, and so we ask that the Holy Spirit would be our teacher and our guide.

Lead us into all truth, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

If you're out there, please actually open up the Bible.

Get into Matthew 13 with us and go to inversebible.org and actually download the Bible study guide.

And if you don't have a computer right in handy with in front of you, you can also go to your Apple or your Android platforms and download the Sabbath School app and get the inverse Bible study guides there as well.

And we're going to kind of the way that Matthew 13 has this parable written is kind of like a sandwich.

We got bread, we got some veggie meat in the middle, and you got some bread on the bottom.

So we're gonna read the veggie meat part in the middle and talk about a little bit about parables and then actually get into the parable itself.

Israel 34 and 35, could you read that for us?

Yeah, it says, all these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables, and without a parable he did not speak to them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables.

I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world.

We did kind of touch upon this on episode 1, but I just wanted to reiterate, I think it's good to do so multiple times throughout a quarter.

Why does Jesus speak in parables and kind of gives a reason why he does so here.

Why doesn't he just speak straight sometimes as 1 frustration that they had back then and still people we have today.

Why doesn't just Jesus say, hey, heaven is like this.

Right here, he's saying not everybody will understand and apparently that's somewhat intentional.

He's speaking things that are so poignant and sharp that it's unveiled language So that some will understand and those that aren't willing to dig or go beneath the surface and look for it It misses them.

They don't they didn't comprehend what he's saying.

He says I'll open my mouth in parables I'll utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world so that parables actually are the best medium to try and convey these secret and mysterious messages that he's trying to give us.

So, actually, he uses them to illustrate things that would be difficult for us to grasp, but then he uses a story that helps us to access those truths a little bit better.

Sometimes when you speak so plain that it doesn't, it's not accurate.

Yeah, it gets too technical and too and not to convey eternal truths.

I mean that's, wow, you know, that's not usually what you think of the parables.

Let's actually get into the parable of the wheat and the tares we did establish in a couple episodes ago, and if you don't know what we're talking about we encourage you to go to hopetv.org slash inverse and you can actually look at back episodes on the parables of Jesus.

But I believe it was episode 1 where we talked about it's not our own interpretation that's imposed but Scripture interprets scripture and here Jesus interprets Jesus.

And so let's read the parable from verse 24 to verse 30 and we'll look at Jesus' explanation in verse 37 to verse 43.

So Siku, can you read verse 24 to 30 for us?

Another parable he put forth to them saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while men slept his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.

But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.

So the servants of the owner came and said to him, Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field?

The servants said to him, do you want us then to go and gather them up?

But he said, no, lest while you gather up the tares, you also uproot the wheat with them.

Let both grow together until the harvest.

And at the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers, first gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them but gather the wheat into my barn.

Okay thank you Siku and let's go to the interpretation verse 37 Israel can read verse 37 to 43 for us.

The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.

Therefore, as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.

The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire.

There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

He who has ears let him hear." Okay, thank you.

So I don't know about you guys, but like the greatest question that people have had when encountering religion and Bible and spirituality and church and all this religious, you know, this world, you know, that we're in, is why do bad things happen, not only to even good people, why do bad things happen at all if God exists, right?

And there's a lot of, each denomination has their answers to this, and people can give their, and it's very difficult, right?

Especially if they have a very bad, a tragedy story, like, you know, son has gone through, you know, 5 rounds of chemotherapy, and, or girls have been sexually, and then they died, and da da da da, like, all this.

How do you, how do we explain all that, is really what the core of this parable is.

So we're not going to just, we're just not intellectualizing here.

We're actually getting to what Jesus is answering that core question.

Joe, How would you use this parable to answer that question?

Well, it's the question of the servants in the parable.

Their first question is, did you not sow good seed?

Where did these tears or these weeds come from?

So they're kind of raising their eyebrow at the owner, like, did you do something wrong?

And so then the owners put on the defensive a little bit explaining, no I didn't put this in, there's an outsider that's put these weeds in here.

And so that's the burning question of the servants right away.

And then their second question is about timing.

Well, shouldn't we go pull them out right now?

If I'm experiencing all of this evil in my life or this suffering or this pain, why doesn't God just take away the pain right now?

But God doesn't always take away the pain right now.

And this parable provides some profound answers to the timing of how these weeds are removed.

So let's actually address some of that in the first question.

How does the Bible painting a picture of that there is good, there is evil, and it seems like it's not that good always has its way, that good is not in complete, seemingly complete control all the time, because it's very interesting in verse 25, it says, in verse 24, the kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good field in his field, verse 25, but while men slept, So this is, I'm assuming it's at night, right?

This 1, I mean, it could be daytime, but it's nighttime, they're sleeping, things are dark, they don't see, no one's around, meaning this is surreptitious, this is done without the person's knowledge.

I'm going to word seemingly is the word inserted there, and the enemy came and sowed tares.

Like is there a real struggle between good and evil?

Series

InVerse 3rd Quarter 2024: Stories that Transform

04 Caught in the Crossfire

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

InVerse 2nd Quarter 2024: The Great Controversy

05 The Defection of Humanity

29m

InVerse, 2nd Quarter 2022: James

03 The Importance of the Outward Man

27m

InVerse 3rd Quarter 2024: Stories that Transform

05 Persistent in Prayer

29m

InVerse, 1st Quarter 2019: Revelation

03-Jesus’ Messages to the Seven Churches

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InVerse, 1st Quarter 2023: God First

09 The Phoenician Widow: The Trusting Giver

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InVerse, 4th Quarter 2021: Deuteronomy

07 Circumcise Your Heart

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InVerse, 3rd Quarter 2020: Foundations of Discipleship

07-Process of Discipleship - Plant

27m

InVerse, 4th Quarter 2021: Deuteronomy

02 Rebellion and Consequences

27m

InVerse 3rd Quarter 2024: Stories that Transform

09 Giving to God

29m

InVerse, 1st Quarter 2022: Hebrews

11 Jesus, Author and Perfecter of Our Faith

27m

InVerse 2nd Quarter 2024: The Great Controversy

10 The Keepers of the Flame

29m

InVerse, 2nd Quarter 2022: James

01 It’s a Joy to Fall

27m

Sound Doctrine