This is the Truth Network. Coming to you from an entrenched barricade deep in the heart of central North Carolina, Masculine Journey After Hours, a time to go deeper and be more transparent on the topic covered on this week's broadcast.
So sit back and join us on this adventure. The Masculine Journey After Hours starts here now. Welcome to Masculine Journey After Hours. I'm Danny, your host, and we are discovering uh Right. Discussing another topic.
What are we doing? I'm not even sure what we're doing at this point.
So, uh, but Art, you have picked our topic this week, so you want to set it up for us again? Yeah, I'd be glad to. I came up with this last week after Harold had put a message on our message board about seeing a A sparrow's nest just outside of his house and seeing the Birds coming, the parents coming and going with bugs and worms for the little babies to eat, and how it had to be part of God's plan. And at the same time, I had a picture. I'd taken a picture of a bird's nest I had that was kind of inside the tongue of an old haybaler.
It was kind of inaccessible to my dogs, but my dogs knew it was there and they kind of made a game out of staring at it, barking at it, trying to think they might get in it even though they into it, even though they knew they couldn't reach it. And it was pretty funny to me to watch them. We would go back in the cow pasture or something and come back. And here they would go. They would take off running right up there to check on that bird's nest and see what was going on there.
But I thought, you know, I asked myself, you know, what can I see in God's? Plan in this picture is: Is there humor here? Does God have a sense of humor and God? I've heard that question asked before, but never really heard it answered. And I thought the people in this group would be glad to answer it for me.
And they're pretty smart. They're throwing around words, all kinds of words tonight that people in Davie County had never heard before, where I'm from. And so, you know, one thing I've thought of since then is if God meant for these dogs are having fun with this. And if God gave these dogs a sense of humor, they meant for them to be happy and to have joy. Does it not not also follow that that's what he meant for man?
So I'd like to throw that out to maybe somebody can say something about that too. And with that, I'll turn it over to Danny.
Well done, Art.
Well done. you know, in our intro to after hours is time to go deeper and usually in this crowd things get usually pretty deep. They get pretty deep pretty quick.
So Jim, we're going to start with your clip. I wanted to first respond to that because I'm inspired. First of all, I'm shocked. that neither Me or Sam have come up with this topic before because we've talked about it all the time how God deals with this world. We've done it before.
Okay, I know I'm senile. And I have a question that I've wanted answered. And you were talking about big words. I never really could figure out the difference between hermeneutics and homiletics.
So if we could do that sometime, that'd be great. My mom's a Mitsubishi. You know, you were a toyota, but oh no. Are you looking at me? I have no clue.
I was looking at you. He's raised from Davy County. This clip, and it was kind of interesting because I went. looking in the chosen and This was the third one I went after, and it was kind of perfect because it's a very subtle humor, but it is Jesus talking, and hopefully, we can. Interpret his Hebrew in this because this is from the chosen and sometimes his.
Dialect is a little confusing to us. down home Southern boys, you wouldn't know I was one, would you? But I am. But this is Jesus. First of all, he is talking to Simon Peter and trying to draw him out a little bit because he's down.
And Mm-hmm. The second pericope, that was the word we were talking about there. And that's a. Little story that comes usually is pulled out of the text, but this is sort of out of the text. But the second one is John and James being reprimanded by Jesus, but it's in a very loving and humorous way.
And yes, Jesus does laugh in that clip.
So let her rip. Simon, what troubles you? Nothing, just excited for the trip, you know? You can tell me the truth. You're telling me you don't already know what's in my head?
That's a conversation for another time. That's from I'm the only one among us who is married.
So you think I should have only called single people? Of course not. And I'm glad it didn't, but Eden will be alone with her Ema. I'm scared that things could get worse and you wouldn't be there. See?
That's what I mean. You already know anyway. Simon, everyone here knows what you're thinking most of the time. It does not take God's wisdom. Hmm?
Yeah. You wanted to use the power of God. to bring down fire. to burn these people up.
Well, it sounds a lot worse when you say it that way. Mm-hmm. You too. You're like a storm on the sea. Come on Thunder.
Exploding out of your chests at every turn. Mm-hmm. Fact. That's what I'm going to call you from, Alan. James and John.
The Sons of Thunder. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
Okay. Today It was not good. But strong passion can be a good thing when channeled for righteousness. I just may have to delay giving you that authority we discussed earlier. or in smaller doses.
Until you two calm down a bit. And uh I I love the fact that that this is a These are a couple of sayings and there are many throughout this series. that show Jesus with a sense of humor. And enjoying the company, I have often said, you know, Cecil B. DeMille has a lot to answer for.
Great man. He did. Good movies. about Christian things. He was a Christian.
But it It was so Uh I don't even know the word and that's Unusual for me, but lots of them don't come to me these days. But it was so. Elevated, it was so reverent, it was so.
Well, I could do a quote, but even in the after-hour show, I'm not going to Amadeus. But this was a case where. There was no humour. Uh Seeing joy was difficult. It was so serious.
And I heard. Good. probably three, four decades ago. that I should read the Bible And read the New Testament, read what Jesus is saying, and see him with a smile on. His face instead of the way most people read it, and it's very serious.
And it is amazing what that'll do for your theology, your understanding of God, if you can see Him smiling most of the time. It's easier for a rich man or for a one to go through with a high of a needle than or For a camel to go through an eye of a needle. I'll get it. Thank you. I thought you were going through the eye of a camel for a minute.
I'm ready to go back to play my clip, but didn't we just do that? Yes, we did. One of the things that I was going to share and Uh was it, and now I am again because I forgot the other one. God gave me a really funny. Thing to share this morning, and apparently that one was just for me.
But one I often do share is when I was driving back and forth to Divinity School. and I was going back to the school after I'd taken a semester off because of some personal things happening. And they wanted to interview me to see if they wanted me back. You guys can understand that, right? But uh the Interview Was going well, and I had one person that didn't want me back, and I knew it.
I had one person that did want me back, and I knew it. And there was a third person who was brand new on the faculty, and he didn't know me from Adam.
So The person that didn't want me back basically was explaining that she wanted to be sure that I would not be an embarrassment to God. And I took that very seriously, something I don't do very often. On the drive home, I basically said to God, If I'm going to embarrass you, take me out right now. And I meant it. But I made it home without an answer to that prayer.
Well, I had my answer, but I wasn't really ready to accept the. I'm not taking you out. But uh that Ate at me for a while. I did get to go back to school, but I ended up. Driving home three, four, five months later.
Same place in the road because I was commuting from Morganton to Boiling Springs and I clearly heard God. You know, sometimes I think it's God, sometimes I know it's God. This was one of those, I know it's God. He said, Jim, you embarrass me every day. But I love you.
And I laughed the rest of the way home. And I knew he was laughing with me. And if God doesn't have a sense of humor, Now, I'm not going to say I don't want to be in heaven. I want to be in heaven, but it'll certainly not be the place that it's been cracked up to be. You reminded me, I can't remember the name of the movie, but when Michelle and I first got married, we watched a movie on the story of the life of Jesus.
And it was the first one I had ever seen where it depicted him laughing. And there's a scene I remember. vividly. He and the disciples were walking up the road and they were laughing and Picking at each other and like popping each other, you know, like guys do. And I was somewhat Appalled to start with because I always had that theological.
You're talking about the Bible, we're talking about Jesus. You better be serious. But it did loosen things up, if you will, for me to be able to see God as. More friendly, more approachable, so to speak.
So, you know, that did me a lot of good.
So, his whole point in creating us was for a relationship. And what kind of relationship does it include at least some humor? Yeah. Yeah, we Go ahead. I was just going to say a boring one.
One that I don't want to be a part of for very long. Humor is vital. Like you talked about in the last show, Danny, there's something about humor that does the heart good. Right, and so God would not have created us with that in our system had He not meant for us to have a sense of humor if He didn't also have a sense of humor. Yeah.
I mean, the Bible is a weighty book. There's, you know, it's a life and death book, right? But. Like a lot of things, I think, God doesn't Just overtly put it out there. You got to dig for these things.
And if you're in the Bible, you're going to find those humorous points. I mean, and you know, we were talking earlier: we're created in the image of God, and we think we're funny, but he's not. That's crazy. You know, we know that we get that from our Father. And I just think that'll be a big part of what we experience in the future kingdom of just having.
Can you imagine it? The Father telling jokes, right? I mean, that's what I think it'll be. There'll be a part of it. They'll be the ultimate dad joke.
I was going to say that. There you go, Joe. A lot of dad jokes, right? And you better laugh, by the way. You're in big trouble.
Now, one thing. A little caveat. What you said is true. If you look in the Bible you will find humor. Unfortunately, many of us, in fact, probably all of us to some extent, are going to find what we're looking for.
So there'll be people out there right now. that don't want to see humor in the Bible. They're offended that we're doing this. And they can go to the Bible and they can find verses that will say, No, you're wrong, you're wrong. But if you go with an open mind to God with anything, it'll give it to you.
And if you go with a closed mind. He'll let you stay where you are. Just a couple of examples. One before I get into my clip was I was thinking when y'all were talking in the first show about there was a lot of f fishing stories, right?
Well, the first fishing story that I can think of is Joan and the whale. The whale is the first fisher of men, right? Yeah. And then that whole story, it only gets good after he spits him up and he's like, go preach to Nineveh, and then. He's in the sun, and God gives him a gourd, and then takes the gourd away.
The worm eats it. I mean, it's hilarious if you read through that story. And there's a lesson learned there about dealing with a bad attitude. But God is snickering the whole time. I mean, when you look at that story, it's amazing.
Another one that makes me laugh and is related to my clip is, it's always made me laugh, is in. John 4, when Jesus goes to the woman at the well, and he kind of calls out her sin. And you know you'll hear it here in the clip, but She's you know, he reads her mail essentially. Word of knowledge and she essentially is like. Oh, I perceive you are a prophet.
Duh. You know no, this isn't your ordinary guy to come priest coming to you or whatever. But it is really a good story. And you see that humor in here and also a playfulness of Jesus. You know, this is, you know, a Artistic license that they've taken in creating this clip.
But there could be a lot of truth to it if you listen to it. But I love how it ends as Jesus. Basically Makes her this was his first sermon, essentially, or his first outreach, his first time of witnessing and declaring that he was the Messiah. And, you know, just the interaction between him and how she goes to tell everybody about him. Besides, what do you need from me if you have your own supply of living water?
Long story. But Jewish water is better than Samaritan water, hmm? That's not what I said. Are you a better man than our ancestor Jacob? Who dug this well?
Your watchet is better than his? I know, Jacob. and everyone who drinks this water. will thirst again. But whoever drinks the water that I give him We'll never be thirsty again.
Wouldn't that be nice? The water I give. Will become in a person a spring of water welling up to eternal life. Really? Yes, really.
Prove it. First, go and call your husband and come back. I will show you both. I don't have a husband. You are right.
You've had five husbands. and the man you're living with now. It's not your husband. Hahaha Ah, I see. You're a prophet.
Where am I supposed to go when I need cards? I have not revealed myself to the public as the Messiah. You are the first. It would be good if you believed me. You picked the wrong person.
I came to Somalia just to meet you. Do you think it's an accident that I'm here in the middle of the day? Mm-hmm. I am rejected by others. I know.
But not by the Messiah. And you know these things. Because you are the Christ. I'm going to tell everyone. I was counting on it.
Spirit and truth. Spirit and truth. It won't be all about mountains or temples?
Soon. Just the heart of it. You promised. I promise. This man told me everything I've done.
Oh, he must be the craft!
So she's happy that she just had everything exposed because she knew she had met the real Jesus and he had came in compassion. But I believe there was humor that kind of just something, the unexpected, that opened her heart up to him and just the way she went off in great joy. And if you watch further into that scene, how she goes and tells everybody and she brings back like 100 people next time. Just a powerful story. But, you know, humor is a big part of what Jesus, some of those parables and stuff he told, they had a lot of truth, but some of them were, you know, quite humorous or, you know, not what you would expect when you compared it to the rabbis of that time of just speaking the Torah and that, just that.
You reminded me of a story. None of y'all probably ever had this experience, but you have a heated discussion with your wife right before you go to church. Yeah um I've had one of those, or one or more of those, probably. And this particular Sunday morning, Michelle and I had an interchange. before church and um So I did what any good, self-righteous guy would do.
I put on my suit and tie, and put on my game face, and went to church anyway. And we hadn't settled anything.
So we walk into church, and I'm thinking, you know, it's an hour. I can play this all for an hour, the ultimate pose, right? And A guy walks by me. We weren't even close friends. I mean, he didn't know me like you guys know me or something like that.
And he turns around and he goes, Are you okay?
Okay. And it was God, to me, it was God going. No, you're not okay. And, but, you know, as we talked about, you know, in the pre-show and everything, you know, God has a point to everything. And yes.
He has to get to some of us with a little bit of humor. You know, never in a condemning way, because there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ, but it is in kind of. Hey, let me get you to laugh at yourself a little bit because so seriously, because. You're not fooling anybody. You know what I mean?
And and that that's just so So godlike, I think. Anybody else? Not everybody at once, goodness. Yeah, we got another clip, don't we? Nothing.
I got nothing. Are you going to play my clip? I am going to play your clip.
Okay, so my clip comes from Bruce Almighty. And in this particular scene, it's towards the end of the movie. And so he's meeting with God face to face. It's played by Morgan Freeman. Morgan Freeman, as God asked him to pray.
And he has a rosary in his hand. He said, so use this, you know, to pray with the rosary or whatever. And so Bruce goes to pray, and then listen to the interchange. and see what happens after the humor. After the humorous part that God brings up, and then we'll talk about why the humor was important.
What do you want me to do? I want you to pray, son. Go ahead. Use them. Um Lord.
Feed the hungry. and bring peace. Two. All of mankind. I'm fine.
Great. If you want to be Miss America. Ah, come on. What do you really care about? Grace, Grace, you want her back?
No. I want her to be happy. No matter what that means, I want her to find someone. We'll treat her with all the love. She deserved from me.
I want her to meet someone. Who will see her always as I do now through your eyes now? That's a prayer. Yeah. Yeah.
It's good. It's good. It's good. I like the end of that. You get to see God's humor, but the whole point of the humor is, Your Bruce is saying what he thinks he needs to say.
what God would want him to say. And what God wants is authenticity. God already knows his mind, already knows his heart, but he wants Bruce to know his own heart. You know, and through that humor he disarms him. You know, it makes him laugh at himself a little bit and says, Is that really what you want?
In a very humorous way. You know, that yeah, it's great if you want to be Miss America, right? You know, and so it makes him think about it going, okay, that's not really what I was going for there. You know, and God takes him to a deeper place, but that deeper place is authenticity with God. And that's vital to be authentic with God.
And I think that's what he's after. relationship with us that is just intimate beyond any other. You know, and God's often used that with me. There's so many stories I've shared on here, I don't want to recycle some of them, but there are times that he'll, you know, I'll pray about something and I can hear him kind of go, is that really what you want? You know, and I just have to go, well, let me rephrase that, God, you know, and kind of go at that again, you know, because you can't just.
Say what he wants you to say. You got to say what's on your heart, and he'll work on you. In that. And so it's just a great way to see him and his relational skills with you the way you need to hear it. One of the great things in that clip is the other way you and I often experience God.
He asks a question. And. You couldn't see it because this is radio, but God asks him Does he want grace back? And he struggles with that question. And you know, he wants to say yes.
Because he wants her back, he does. But he goes to the No. And that is learning what love is. He no longer wanted what was best for him, and getting her back would have been best for him. He wanted what was best for her.
And. turns out. Spoiler alert in this movie. He gets her back and that's best for both of them. But until we're In that position of love.
And God's not going to say, well, no, you've got to do this, this, this, and that. Most of us would like. The checklist. In my life, I've had that happen once, and it was only three long because I can't remember any more than that. But He doesn't do lists, he sets us up to answer our own questions.
Yeah, yeah. Ronnie?
Well, I think we're just passing it on. Yeah. Pass the mic. It's in those times where God asks us those questions that it lets us look into ourselves with an introspect. You know, and he knows that that's what we need to hear.
And so he always does come at me with questions for the most part or a small, smart little thing that makes me think deeper. But it's always about taking me deeper so that I lean into him more. And so I'd encourage you to do that this week. Lean into him more. And a great place to learn to do that is at boot camp in Royston, Georgia, November 20th through the 23rd.
You know, time to lean into God and experience him in new ways.
So you can join us. You can look us up on masculinejourney.org and register there and find out more about us.
So talk to you next week. This is the Truth Network. Yeah.
