Jeramie: Well, welcome back to the SCC Saver Podcast. We were savoring God through every bite of scripture. I'm one of your co-host, Alan Smith, Pastoral Apprentice at Sanibel Community Church. As always, joined with Jeremy Rinney, senior pastor of Sanibel Community Church. Jeremy, as senior pastor, well, you raised four kids who they're all back right now, which is pretty cool. Yeah. ⁓ to see kids that love Love you, just evidence of your faithfulness and discipleship and and great parenting with you and Jennifer. But now they're back in the church. They're serving the church and they're members and becoming members of the church. And at the same time, we have UBS this week. Yeah, we do. We have like ⁓ 50 kids here and just it's tons of energy. Yeah. It's so fun. I've been able to to serve with the kids and teach Bible lessons and keep them engaged. It tons of fun. And so I bring this up to ask kind of What what is the role of the church in discipling the young kids? Why would you VBS and like I think it's cool just to see evidence of your kids are back, which is evidence of hey, the the church is for the kids and for raising up children. Yeah. Yeah. Well, ⁓ y you know, kids are a blessing from the Lord. ⁓ they're part of his original design. Before Adam and Eve fell in the garden, he said, Be fruitful and multiply. Right. So God's original design is that image bearers who worshipped him would be multiplied throughout the world. ⁓ but we know since sin is coming to the world, ⁓ children need to be discipled, they need to be saved. ⁓ God's ⁓ primary children's ministry is the family. Mm-hmm. It's not the church. Right. ⁓ family is, you know, fathers and mothers to bring up their children in the instruction, training the instruction of the Lord. So really the the the primary place where kids are to be taught the word of God and to shown what the Christian life's about and to hear the gospel should be at home. Mm-hmm. ⁓ then what the church does is we also kind of then buttress and support that's great by discipling the parents. And then in those cases, ⁓ y and then we also, you know, disciple the kids as well. So we have the age appropriate training. But I think it it's always important to keep that in mind because I think sometimes we we we get this idea of like we need people to come to church, we need to have programs for their kids and then they drop their kids off and then we do things that make people like the church so they'll come. And it's It's kind of a backwards way of thinking. It really should be like, you know, we need to see parents come to know the Lord so they can disciple their kids. Yeah. Yeah. Because, you know, you think about it, you get we have their kids at VBS this week. It's awesome. God works through that. Yeah. But it's just a few hours. That's right. I mean, how many hours a week are they with their parents as little kids? Yeah. So really critical that parents ⁓ do, you know, Bible reading with their kids. You know, some things we did were really simple. We would ⁓ eat together every night. So we got to Talk, ⁓ talk about the Lord. That's great. ⁓ we got to, you know, we'd read the Bible story with the kids, we'd pray with them and taking them to church. Like it's amazing how, you know, parents don't bring their kids to church or they'll take like four months off of church to, you know, get them in some sport or something. Right. So it, you know, it's it it's just the parents drive the spiritual discipleship of their kids. Yeah. Yeah, that's great. It's the the the church coming alongside the parents. That's right. disciple in helping disciple and train up and equipping them to be able to do that. Yeah. And I love children's ministry. I'm pro children's ministry. We're looking for a children's ministry assistant right now. So it's like we're in favor of that. But if the parents aren't doing it, you're kind of facing an uphill battle. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. So yeah, just a testimony of of God's goodness and parents and test and in and teaching. And so if your parents out there, man, you have a high and holy calling. Just go for it. God's going to use your faithfulness. And and I think sometimes parents, they we look at ourselves and we're like, we're not perfect. We failed. And you just kinda want to throw up your hands. Like it, you know what? Just get back on the horse. It's kind of like Bible reading. Yep. Just get back on the horse and keep riding. And so it's that consistency over time that ⁓ that that really matters. And and you know, your kids need to hear the gospel. ⁓ your kids are not saved because they've been raised in a Christian home. That's right. They need to hear the gospel and repent and believe. So keep preaching the gospel to your kids too. That's great. That's cool. Speaking of Bible reading, getting back into the Bible reading, ⁓ we are in a new month, month six, days one through six. So you would have read ⁓ and what we're commenting on is first Kings one through ten. So that's a new book. ⁓ Psalm 119, we went through the first 48 verses. And the Gospels, we started Luke and went through one through two twenty, and then Ephesians one through. 321. So a lot to introduce here. ⁓ in this new Old Testament book, we're getting a shift now. at what we just came out of David's life. We talked about David and Samuel, and now we're getting to Solomon. Solomon is our primary character that we're going to observe here in First Kings. So, Jeremy, you want to introduce a little bit what's going on in First Kings, kind of high level. Yeah, I I think especially in the Solomon segment, ⁓ in chapters one through ten, we're really seeing the glory of Solomon. You know ⁓ the the the promise to David that one of his descendants would sit on the throne is coming ⁓ true in a big way. we see Solomon's throne is established, all the kind of old enemies and the unresolved dangers that could undercut his throne are taken care of in the first couple chapters. and and then you know you see the glory of his wealth. ⁓ of course, the famous thing about his wisdom. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, chapter three, he he prays a prayer, ⁓ asking. the Lord for wisdom and the Lord grants his prayer ⁓ for for wisdom and he pleased the Lord that he asked for understanding to discern what is God kind of gave him like a genie wish. Yeah, local. Kind of like like, you know, rub the lamp sort of thing. Like, hey, ask for anything, I'll give it to you. Mm-hmm. And he says I want wisdom. Yeah. Yeah. Isn't that pretty cool? Yeah. It's amazing. ⁓ actually you know, the Bible verse has verse of the day You know, and I I always look at it, see what it is. ⁓ yeah. It's James five five sixteen. If anyone I think it's five sixteen. If any no, it's different. Chapter one. Chapter one. Yeah. One sixteen. Yeah. Yeah. There we No one six. Yeah. There you go. If anyone lacks a lacks wisdom, let him ask. Right? And it's just like, you know, you're wondering like, okay, did he draw on Solomon? 'Cause what he asked for was d w wisdom and discern what is good and evil and what is right, and that pleased the Lord. ⁓ and he said he would give him a wise and discerning mind. And then of course he would write ⁓ our our wisdom book of Proverbs, which is just packed with wisdom. So Yeah. And he's got great wealth. ⁓ he builds the temple. ⁓ remember David was told you will not build the temple, but but the sun who comes from you will. ⁓ you know, the gold furnishings, the just the scale and kind of epic you know, nature of it. ⁓ the the huge pillars out front, the ⁓ the the way he covers the inside of the Holy of Holies with gold, this huge golden cu basically it's a cube. Yeah. And ⁓ which by the way, again, that golden cube appears at the end of the Bible in the book of Revelation. When the new Jerusalem comes down from heaven, people often wonder, like, why is it a big gold like I can't believe we're gonna live in a gold city. Uh-huh. Like, no, it's a symbol that we're gonna live in the holy of holies in God's presence. Yeah, that's right. Exactly. A little bit of like temple theology is the temple, it it bears God's name because he he built it for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel, and then it would it would host God's presence, so his glory would fill the temple. So dot God would dwell there forever, and then it was a part of his mission to for a place for foreigners to seek the Lord, that all the peoples of the earth would come to know that Yahweh is God. So there's this just continued biblical theological theme of the temple being carried throughout, which starts here and then would move actually into individual believers and into the church and the new covenant and then is being restored all the way back in the new heavens and new earth, as you just mentioned, which is And you know you mentioned the the nations too. I think that's I so again, the main theme of these first ten chapters ⁓ i is to is to see Solomon's majesty on every level, his knowledge, his wisdom, his wealth, his success, ⁓ the establishment of his throne. ⁓ and in in some ways he's this is kind of the closest picture we get to the the glory of Christ when he's finally In the new heavens and new earth reigning over the world. That's right. It's a picture of it's a kind of little tiny, tiny, tiny foretaste of that. ⁓ but but you also get the theme of the nations coming in. So when Solomon is dedicating the temple and he's praying in chapter eight, I love this verse forty-one. Even for the foreigner who's not of your people, Israel, but has come from a distant land because of your name, for they will hear of your great name and strong hand. And basically, if they come and pray, accept their he's saying accept the foreigners' prayers, then all the peoples of the earth will know your name to fear you as the people of Israel do. And then you also and then you have it in part coming true because the Queen of Sheba comes in chapter ten. Yep, that's right. And she's blown away. Yeah. So so again, this is picture of the nations coming. To the great king and his temple. Yeah. And that's what's happening today with missions. The nations are coming to the great king Jesus into his temple, the church. Yeah. And actually in our reading, which we'll we'll hit on, Luke and Ephesians both really hit on this 'cause you have, you know, Jesus coming to fulfill to Israel and to the nations. Yes. And then in Fijian Ephesians, Paul talks about a mystery of the gospel is that Jews and Gentiles would dwell together in Christ. So yeah, you can see it all the way back here to this temple theme. Yeah. ⁓ so yeah, that that's that's kind of the first half of first kings, and then the second half is a little bit depressing. Yeah, we'll get to that next week. Yeah, Solomon, ⁓ you know, it's like he's like Jesus, but then you get to chapter 11, you're like, He's not Jesus. Which is really the all the heroes of the old testament who are Christ figures, they show us glimpses of Christ, but they always leave us yearning for the true Messiah. That's right. Yeah, the Old Testament's always leaving us longing. That's good. Psalm nine one nineteen, ⁓ just a Big old beast of a psalm. Longest chapter in the Bible. Yep. And ⁓ and really, if if you sometimes are like, Why why am I reading through the Bible and you start losing ⁓ your kind of mojo to keep plowing on, just read one nine just pick one of the sections of one nineteen because it's all about the goodness and power of God's word for our souls and how good it is to know and to keep his word. Yeah, it's great. ⁓ it's an acrostic psalm. Mm-hmm. So what's that mean? It means that ⁓ it's ⁓ it that all of the the sections f ⁓ start with one of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Yeah. Alphabet Gimaldalad Hey and on and on. So ⁓ so that's why there's so many sections. So it's but it's meant to be memorized with each one beginning with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Yeah, that's right. One of my favorite actually verses in the Bible comes from Psalm one nineteen and I think it just by nature of this is a personal reflection of aspiring to the pastorate, seeking to be a man of the word, teaches the word, loves the word, is nine through eleven. How can a young man keep his way pure by guarding it according to your word? With my whole heart I seek you. Let me not wander from your commandments. I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. That's just the Christian life. That is especially just again, inspiring pastors, man, guard it according to the word. Seek it. And that I might store it so I can teach it and it might not sin against you. So yeah, it's just beautiful. The whole thing is like, I mean, if you've lost maybe some of your zeal for the word of God, go through Psalm 119 and pray and cry out to the Lord, Lord, help me to adopt this view of your word. It's just beautiful. Yeah, and that section you just read, which is the second section, Beth, the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet. ⁓ y I I I love that you kind of have a a ⁓ battle plan here for Purity, for holiness, for fighting sin. You know, wherever it is in your life, you're fighting sin. you know, how how do you fight sin? By f treasuring the word of God. That's great. So it's your sword. And if you if you feel like you're just losing in the fight with the ⁓ against sin, it's like, man, ⁓ verse eleven, I've treasured your word in my heart so that I might not sin against you. So it's as I treasure God's word, meditate on God's word, read God's word, that I'm going to be equipped. not to sin against the Lord. Yeah. And it's when I neglect his word that I'm not going to be equipped and I'm probably sin's gonna run me over. Yeah, that's great. ⁓ in fighting sin with the word, ⁓ historically, ⁓ the reformers and many talked about how the how the word is is a mirror, ⁓ a muzzle and a map. So it's a it's a mirror because it shows you your sin. It shows you yourself. It measures you up against holiness. It's a muzzle because it restrains evil and then it's a map. It tells you how to live a life of godliness and righteousness. That's great. And you know what? That's money. That is money. The mirror, the muzzle, the map is money. Wait, what do you mean? What? Money. Money. You know, like cash money. ⁓ Like it's like great. Do I get paid to say that? Is that what you're saying? No. It's just if you it's I'm just kind of speaking r like really cool slang right now. ⁓ yeah. Yeah, that's right. You don't speak jive, bro. Do not speak China. Dude, someone where was that the other day? Someone brought that up. I was like, I was like, this is crazy. Yeah. I don't know. I don't think people say that anymore. No, I don't think anyone says that. Luke 9. Okay, the Gospel of Luke. Speaking of ⁓ Solomon's glory, but he's not that glorious. But we do see the glorious one, which this falls on familiar ears. We know our Christmas story, right? We know the visit of the Magi and the wise men. ⁓ so maybe we don't talk about this from a from a Christ ⁓ or Christmas perspective, but as ⁓ introduction to Jesus and his mission and what he came to do. And so right off we get ⁓ John the Baptist and Jesus, both of their their births kind of side by side, which is really cool. ⁓ drawing back to a lot of Old Testament themes and prophecy about ⁓ you know, Elijah being a forerunner as as John the Baptist would be a forerunner and p final prophet before The great prophet Jesus. And so yeah, we get this contrasting, and then we get the birth of ⁓ the prediction of Jesus and his vi Mary's visit to Elizabeth and Mary's song. ⁓ and then we have both the birth of John the Baptist and Zachariah's song. So we've got both of these songs attached at birth in God's fulfilling promises and his and his plan. Yeah. You know, it's kind of like ⁓ a shoelace, you know, being your shoes being laced up. You have these two threads. You have the thread of Elijah's birth. And you have the thread of Jesus' birth, the shoestring. And ⁓ and they're they're connected to each other, and the two stories kind of crisscross over and over as you read them. So it's like, you know, you have John's birth predicted, chapter one, followed by Jesus' birth predicted, and then you're back to Mary ⁓ visiting Elizabeth, and you have Mary's song, then it's followed by Zechariah's song after the birth of John, but then you have the birth of Jesus. So and really trying to show us that. that these two characters, their their initial ⁓ interweaving as fulfillment of prophecy. So like you said, John is the fulfillment of the forerunner, ⁓ the the new Elijah, and Jesus is the Messiah ⁓ who's going to bring ⁓ salvation to his people. And and there's I think another thing you can do in chapters one and two is you can get the the interpretive lens for the life of Jesus. Yeah. Who is he and what is he going to do? ⁓ and he's going to bring God's blessing. ⁓ he's going to bring chapter one, verse sixty-eight, redemption, verse sixty nine, salvation. ⁓ so s ⁓ verse seventy seven, to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins. So really you get the a kind of roadmap of why Jesus is coming. He's coming to save his people from their sins. And that all comes out in those prophecies and those songs. you know, Mary's a great figure. ⁓ in in the story. it's interesting when you start talking about Mary, you know, that that's one of the points where ⁓ Protestantism, Catholicism sort of veer were. And ⁓ you know, I obviously I'm a Protestant and I think that the Roman Catholics overread Mary. Sure. ⁓ you know, there is no immaculate conception in the Bible. She's not you know, she doesn't have merits that we appeal to She you know, we don't to go through her to kind of talk to the son. Yes, right. ⁓ and so so you know, the the kind of Mariology that's built up in Catholicism is is just non-biblical and ⁓ borderline in some cases almost idolatrous. Yeah, totally. But on the Protestant side, I think sometimes there's a neglect of Mary. Yeah. Yeah. What should our attitude be towards Mary then? I think I think one of the key things, because even as I was reading it afresh this this time, it's like Yeah, you I think we veer away from from Mary a lot because of the, you know, yeah, the abuses. The abuses. But there is a sense in which she responded in faith. Yeah, and and I think that's exactly it. She is a mighty hero of faith. ⁓ and even more than that, of God's favor. I mean, she's the favored woman. She has favor with God. ⁓ you know, she's she goes to see Mary and ⁓ I mean Elizabeth, and Elizabeth profit is kind of Full of the Holy Spirit prophesies, blessed are you among women, and your child is blessed. So, ⁓ so in some ways, I I think Mary is is kind of the picture of Israel, you know, being pregnant with the Messiah, God's people. So the promise that was given to Eve, the promise that was given to Israel. Yeah, that's all of these, you know, and you think about Israel's history, there's all of these pivotal women. Who had miraculous pregnancies to kind of keep the promise of Abraham going. And so here's Mary with the most miraculous of all, which is she's she hasn't even been with a man. So, like you you know, like Sarah, Abraham's wife, she was ⁓ you know, she she didn't wasn't able to have kids, but ⁓ but here's Mary, she's never even been with the man. Yeah, that's right. It's a virgin birth. So yeah. So I think you have the most miraculous birth. So Mary, in a way, is kind of summing up. all of the hopes of Israel that the Messiah would come and give birth. And so she's, you know, this this incredible typological figure. Yeah. ⁓ and then I just think like her submission to the Lord. Yeah, it's great. Like as the Lord wills. I mean this is can you imagine this teenage girl being told this? Yeah. And and she just submits yeah to the Lord's will. Yeah, it's great. ⁓ yeah. So I think she's a marvelous character whom on the Protestant side of the fence we neglect, underutilize and don't ponder enough about. Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ maybe one theological question that I think comes up a lot with Jesus' birth, is why did Jesus have to be born of the Holy Spirit? That's a great question. Yeah. Yeah, because he's born of a woman, but then he's born of the Spirit. That's right. And and I think it it really gets to ⁓ the fact ⁓ that that he is God, fully God and fully man. Yeah, that's right. And so so it points to his ⁓ the two natures in one person. The hypost what we call the hypostatic union to use theology in her language. Yeah. ⁓ but but but that's that's why it has to happen that way. Yeah. And he's he's birthed forth not of sinful man, but conceived of the Holy Spirit, sinless in God. And that's the angel's explanation, chapter one, verse thirty five the angel replied to her the Holy Spirit will come on you and the power of the most high will overshadow you. Therefore, in other words, because it's the Holy Spirit doing it, The holy one born to you will be called the son of God. He he couldn't have been called the son of God in the way that he is if if his father was Joseph. Yeah, that's right. He just couldn't. Yep. So the son of God there means more than just a descendant of David. It means ⁓ someone who is God. Yeah. Which can only happen through the Holy Spirit. Yeah, that's great. Yeah, that's a great question. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's just beautiful. It's like sometimes I think yeah, I think sometimes People kind of veer away from the more extensive theology, but this theology leads us to worship. And just think about that the amazing plan of God that this is how he would do it. He would come and accomplish salvation and fulfill the mission, giving birth all the way back to or going back to Genesis three fifteen, which is the promise of the offspring of the woman. And now he's here. Here now here's the offspring of the woman. And ⁓ and and it's like, yeah, th this is the one who could do what Solomon couldn't do. Yeah, that's right. Because Solomon is just a just a man. Yeah. And so ultimately all these people are are the offspring of Adam who are all have a sin nature. And so you need someone who is not the offspring of Adam, but he's the son of God. Yeah. ⁓ by the Holy Spirit. Yeah. Amen. That's great. Well, lastly, our New Testament epistle, Ephesians. Yeah, I love Ephesians. Yeah, it's great. It's ⁓ I would say probably next to Romans, one of the towering theological worlds of the New Testament. it's it's so rich. ⁓ the the structure of Ephesians, high level, you get chapters one through three, which really talk about the theology of our salvation and what the gospel means for us. And then chapters four through six are therefore this is how you live in light of it. Yeah, that's right. Now that's not. Perfectly clean. You're gonna find theology lots of theology in four through six and you're gonna find lots of implications in one through three. But but roughly you can break the book up that way. So we've read the first half, which is the theology of our salvation. Yeah. Yeah, beginning off in the in the first chapter, there's ⁓ a strong theology of all the spiritual blessings in Christ. I actually just went through and highlighted everything that's in Christ. So all all of he says, Blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. That's right. And then it's because he chose us in him in the foundation of the world for adoption to be in Christ, which is just beautiful, this doctrine of predestination of God choosing a people for himself to be in Christ, to experience the riches, the richness of blessing and to look like him and to be finally glorified in him, which is one of the promises in that the Holy Spirit will bring to ⁓ completion because he's the guarantee or the down payment. It's also translated until we acquire possession of it. And so interestingly, just to kind of piggyback on that, you have a kind of Trinitarian structure. Yep. Two verses three through fourteen. So you have the father's choosing us in Christ in three through six, seven ⁓ to ten, you have an emphasis on the sons purchasing us with his blood. Yep. And then you get the spirit as the down payment. So there's a sort of Trinitarian flow ⁓ to this. ⁓ and then chapter two, you you have the amazing picture of our like what it means to be a Christian. Yeah. One to three, dead in your sins. Mm-hmm. Four through six, raised with Christ. Yeah. And then now a new people in Christ, you know, saved through faith. ⁓ chapter two, verse eight and nine, very important verse. For you are saved by grace through faith, and this not from yourselves. It's a gift of God, not from works, so that no one can boast. So we're not saved by good works, we're not saved by church attendance, we're not saved by church membership, we're not saved by going to seminary and becoming a pastor. That's right. ⁓ we're saved by faith alone. And even the faith itself is a gift. Yeah, it's right. So, you know, why does one person have a You know, going back to the parenting thing, you know, the one of the things you realize about a cr as a Christian parent is you can't guarantee that your kids will be saved because ultimately faith is a gift. Yeah, that's right. So you can have you know, five kids raised in the same house with parents who read the Bible stories, send them to the same youth group, and four will follow Christ, say and one won't. And you're like, What did I do wrong with that kid? You didn't. Yeah. That faith is a gift. Yeah. Yeah, it's hard. It it it that drives obviously I don't have any kids, but that just drives a level of dependency and prayer on God to save and to do a work that only he can do, which is salvation by grace through faith. Yeah. And and we're not passive. We don't just sit back and be like, Well, God'll save him if he wants. Like, no, our job is to proclaim the gospel. That's right. And to teach the gospel. Because faith so how does that faith get there? Faith comes by hearing, Romans ten says, and hearing by the word of God. So we proclaim God's word. And God sovereignly gives through his word the gift of faith to hearts. So our job is to keep proclaiming the word. So if you're out there parents and you have a kid that you just are burdened because that kid is not walking with the Lord, ⁓ your job is just to keep praying for them and trying to, you know, have them hear the word in in whatever way you can. And the the good news is is you you never you never write ⁓ off. You never say like, ⁓ They're 40 years old and they've been ignoring it. Like, man, God can save people at any moment. So you never give up. Yeah, it's great. One of the amazing parts of this passage that I that I love is that section 11 through 22, which is namely some of the spiritual lessons. Again, he's like, You were far off, but now you're redeemed. ⁓ and now that you have you have peace, you have access in one spirit to the father. your fellow citizens with the saints, you're a part of the household, and that that's built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets and Christ Jesus being the cornerstone. Man, Christ is everything. He is the cornerstone of our faith. It's it's one of the beautiful truths of hey, the the assurance of our salvation and hope is not on the strength of our our faith, but the object of our faith. Christ is the cornerstone. That cornerstone is solidified. It's not moving and he is reigning. So therefore we're in him in in the heavenly place and to have spiritual blessings. And ⁓ hitting back a little bit, one of the things I often pray for is verse ten. It says that we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. And you know, hey, hear that. God has prepared good works for you beforehand that you should walk in them. And maybe if you're losing feeling a little bit of purpose, what am I doing in life? Know that the Lord has prepared good works for you to walk in them. It's just such a sweet comfort. Yeah, we're not saved by works, verse nine. But we are saved for words. Yeah, that's great first in. That's great. And ⁓ and also, you know, you mentioned the cornerstone. So just to kind of tie that thread together from first Kings. First Kings, you have the the glorious reigning Solomon who takes the throne and builds the temple and ⁓ and even believes that the Gentiles will come in. Ephesians, you have Jesus who's now risen, reigning on the throne. He's building his temple, of which he's the cornerstone. And both Jew and Gentile are included in the temple. Again, listen to this temple language. ⁓ chapter two, verse 19. So then is speaking to the Gentiles, the Gentiles, you are no longer foreigners and strangers. So you're not like you were in the Old Testament where you were outsiders, but you're fellow citizens with the saints. God's people is Jew and Gentile now. And members of God's household. Here we go. Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. That's temple language. Mm-hmm. With Christ Jesus himself and the cornerstone. In him, the whole building being put together grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in which you two are being built together to be the dwelling of God's Spirit. So just as that Holy Spirit comes down and the cloud fills Solomon's temple, so now the church, the Jew Gentile church, which is the new temple filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁓ with with the Gentiles coming in as they were, you know, like Queens, ⁓ the Queen of Sheba. So now all the nations are coming into Christ into this temple that's not a physical building in Jerusalem, but it's a spiritual building made of living stones, ⁓ indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Yeah, that's beautiful. And that's exactly his next argument when he talks about this mystery of the gospel. And so what this mystery of the when we think about mystery, we think about like sci-fi mystery of like, ⁓ it's unknown. Agatha Christie, Heracle Poe. Like, how are we gonna solve the mystery? Yeah, you'll never figure out. It's just a mystery. Yeah. Well, that's not the way that the Bible really talks about mystery. It's something that was formerly hidden and is now clearly revealed. And so what was formerly hidden was that Jew and Gentile would dwell together as God's people. Yes. And then now it's clearly revealed that they are all one in Christ through the Messiah as one people. And so that's the mystery of the gospel that's revealed. That's just beautiful. Yep. That's right. Yep. And it and just think how powerful that would have been to those first century Christians. ⁓ you know, who were up to this point had had been separated and Jew and Gentile were, you know, very separated in in Greco Roman society in many ways. And now suddenly they're a new people together. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's beautiful. And that's what, you know, later on in in in four, which you'll read, but just a little charge and encouragement. To the church to be one. Yep. One Lord, one spirit, one faith, one gospel, one baptism. Yep. In Christ. And that's the that's the charge that we aim for. So if you want to be praying for your church, our church, pray for unity. Mm-hmm. Unity in the love of Christ. And that'll that'll keep us on the straight and narrow and keep us from sin and guard our hearts according to his word so that we can ⁓ be a witness to the world to encourage one another. Yeah, it's the gospel that unifies us. It's not ⁓ social categories. You know, I I don't need Jesus to be able to be in social circles with people who are my age and stage of life. Yeah, that's right. I don't need that. I don't need people I don't need Jesus to get along with people who are like me. The gospel shines when people are different from each other. That's right. And are from different cultures, different backgrounds, different viewpoints, but are unified in the gospel. That's when the gospel shows its power. And so it's when Jew and Gentile are family and love each other in the church that you're like, why are they together? I mean, if I'm hanging out and like I'm with all my like friend, you know, the put it this way the local church is not meant to be a friend group of the people who are just like you. It's meant to be this display of people from who are different from each other but love each other like family. And the world's like, why do you guys all love each other? And it's like you're obviously not the same. You're not the kind of people who would normally hang out and golf together or whatever. It's like, no, it's the gospel that binds us together. Amen. Yeah. Amen. Any closing comments, encouragements? ⁓ no. ⁓ besides, ⁓ maybe we think about it today. Pray for the families in our church. Yeah. Pray for the parents in our church to have wisdom and bringing up their children. As we'll read in Ephesians coming up, probably this this next reading in the training and instruction of the Lord. Yeah, it's great. Yep. Well, this has been another episode of the SCC Saver Podcast, where we are we are savoring God through every bite of scripture. Till next time.