Joy After Tears | Psalm 126 & 147

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a

couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in

practical ways. Hey, everybody, we are the Bible Guys. I'm

Chris and this is Jeff Man.

We are gonna look at the two psalms that we

talked about yesterday Some one twenty six and Psalm one

forty seven. Some one twenty six is very personal and

how God rebuilds ruins and Some one forty seven is

like this cosmic gods so great and he restores souls.

So it's it's really cool. It's gonna be cool.

Yeah, I agree. And uh. Before we jump into that,

we have a segment that desires put together. Uh and

it's called Manes So you went we hired.

It's the only only only secon we have with the

jingle yep, although we're trying to get the segment. There's

the theme songs.

Yes, yes, well here it is. This is written in

by Alex d Bye Alex, and he writes this, have

you ever had a mentor who changed your life? And

what do you look for in a mentor?

Wow? What a good question.

Yes, and by the way, we would love to hear

your questions. If you want to write into us, send

us an email simply at info at the Bible guys

dot com. Yeah, or you can comment on any of

one of our platforms. We would love to get those

and use them. So you want to take a shot

at that.

Yeah, I've Yeah, I've had a few mentors. I would say,

my dad really, what it means to be a dad,

what it means to be a man, a Christ follower.

He just went to heaven a few weeks ago. And

then I had Stan Will was my trumpet teacher. He

was the only one of I had a couple of

school teachers who took an interest in me, but most

of them were repulsed by me because I was such

a bad little kid in school and it was just energy.

It wasn't that I was bad kid, it was just

that I get my school work done very quickly and

was bored to death in a traditional school environment. But

Stan made a big difference in my life. Introduced me

to music, and that set up my run towards college

and how to pay my bills for school. Made me

believe when I was a kid, a teenager, that college

was possible because we didn't have any money how was

I ever going to go to college?

Right?

But began making me think, hey, there might be an

opportunity for you to get a scholarship if you had

worked at it. So that's what I did. And then

I had a couple of mentors through college that wound up.

They were professors that I just kind of leaned into

and I learned a lot about what to do not

to do from them. And then I would say in

ministry long term, Rick Warren had a big impact on

me from AFAR For a long time, I read the

purpose driven Church, not the purpose driven life, but the

purpose driven Church twice a year for the first five

years I was in ministry, and it made a big,

big difference in my view of the paradigm that I

felt called to try to build and lead in. And

then you know, we wound up becoming friendly and so

that was kind of cool. I got spend a lot

of time with him and a few others. David Elms,

I would say, is my other one with regard to

global missions and that kind of thing. So, yeah, what

do I look for in mentors? People who are wiser

than me. That would be one. People who have the

ability to articulate their ideas clearly. And I always have

been attracted to people who build systems always, so something

that I can see, not just these vague ideas, but

I can figure out how to apply them in my life.

And I'm kind of a systems guy, and so finding

a structure, a system, a paradigm that I can figure

out how to begin implementing was important to me. And

then accessibility is important. And do you have access to

him like Rick? I didn't for years, but I had

his book, and so I think books, you know, have

been a great opportunity to have, you know, mentored me

when I couldn't have access directly to the person.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, So I mean, well that's first of all, Wow,

that's a lot. I didn't expect you to list all

your mentors, or at least a lot of them. I

was maybe thinking one for me, So I'm feeling pressure

to come on to multiple But I would say, I

would say my dad didn't become a mentor for me

until later on in life. So and then, and none

of my brothers, although I loved all of them and

I was close to them, never considered any of them

as a mentor. So I was mentor less until I

went to church and when I became a Christian, my

first mentor type person. And I would even say even

I was in baseball my whole life since T ball,

and I would say, there wasn't even like a really

like a good friend of a coach there. I didn't

really have a mentor until I was about maybe fifteen

or sixteen, and I had a pastor named Jamie, and

he was a goofy kid. He was a goofy person.

He was way way less athletic than I was, so

in that way, he was artsy. So I liked that

side of me because I had an artsy side, but

he didn't have the athletic side, and I sort of

had both. And and you're kind of cool that way.

I'm kind of cool that way. I'm like Zach Cafron

huh in high school musical.

Oh you brought it on your own self? I did?

I did. But anyway, the point is is that he

was a mentor to me. And you know what, now

that I'm talking this out loud, I'm not sure I've

ever even thought about this until just now, But my

strongest mentors have been those people who are are gifted

in communication. So people who have really looked up to

and tried to model after are people who amaze me

with their ability to communicate.

Yeah.

Yeah, So I would say, I would say the three

that come to my mind, or my pastor Jamie growing up.

And then I would say from afar, Andy Stanley is

one of the best communicators in terms of ability and

style and clarity that I've ever heard in my life.

He's one of my favorite ones. And then I would

also say Dave Wilson. So Dave Wilson was probably the

only three of that group who not only was a

mentor to me in terms of communication, but also mentored character.

He mentored humility and character, probably maybe more than anybody

that I know.

So I would say that's one of the things I

look for, quite honestly, is look for character. Success is important, obviously,

you want to build, you know, you're trying to figure

out how to build your life and to climb higher,

and so you're looking for somebody who's successful. But there

are lots of successful people who don't have any character, right, Right,

And that's why so many people say don't meet your heroes,

right is because most successful people don't have a ton

of character in all the other areas of life, maybe

in the area it took to get to that successful place,

and so that was something that I was always looking for.

My dad was very balanced with his character and a

very disciplined person and hard worker and all those things,

and really grew in his faith. That was important. Stan

was funny but kept me in line, and that was

it was hard to find somebody who was entertaining and

captured my attention as young man, but also made me

obey the rules, keep me in line, and he motivated

me in a lot of ways, and so that that

was great. And then he began. Stan began to cast

a vision of what could be right. Maybe you get

a scholarship, and so in that one then it wasn't

always just that Stan gave me everything I wanted. Stan

made me laugh and being funny and laughing is important

to me, and our thinking was similar. But he also

began to try to show me the future. But he

kept me in line. That discipline thing, that character thing

was important. I think a couple of my professors that

I looked up to didn't have the character. They just

had this knowledge and parent wisdom, didn't have character. That's

why I didn't name them. And then you know, Rick

had that character that I was like, man, I want

that in my life. That forty years of ministry, never

an accusation with regard to moral issues or anything like

that really carried a great model for me, I think personally.

And then David now, same thing, seventy years old or

whatever now and just walking with the Lord and a

man of character really get it done, hard work, ethic,

that kind of thing. And so I would say, if

you're approaching a mentor you want be respectful. The best

way to get my attention when people come to me

clearly trying to figure out how to get like when

you came and wanted me to mentor you. That Usually

the people who catch catch my attention though, are the

ones who say, hey, I've noticed this, I've seen this.

They ask really compelling questions, right, not just would you

mentor me, but they start digging and going, why how

do you think when you made decisions? How did you

come to that conclusion? How did you learn this thing?

Where are you finding this information? And then usually I'll

give them material and say hey, go read this, and

it's when they come back and go I just read that,

like in a week. I read it. I'm so excited.

I got this question, this question that kind of eagerness

and hunger catches my attention. What about you? When people

are coming and saying, hey, would you mentor me?

Well, I would definitely say, uh. I always try to assess.

I feel pretty unworthy sometimes and so I always think

to myself, what can I offer this person? Right, But

if they're asking me to mentor them, then it You know, again,

this is an Amy Stanley quote, right, It's not my

job to fill your cop it's my job to empty mind.

So the idea of like, but what captures my attention

would be, I guess the same thing. Somebody who I

feel like I could gel with, who really wants everything

that I have to offer. And it doesn't really matter

whether that's competency ministry stuff, or whether it's character stuff

or leadership stuff, because I've sort of had niches of

all those kind of things. Right, Yeah, but I would say, yeah,

the same thing, just an eagerness to learn, and then

whether they gel with me and whether that would be

something that I feel like I would enjoy doing.

Yeah, the mentor relationship mentor mentee relationships. There has to

be kind of a friendship in that, and so you

can't force that. You can't just kind of schedule that.

Yeah, And by the way, that's what I was referring

to on whether or not I was going to say

yes to the mentorship, right, hey would be my mentor.

My yes is going to depend on a long term

relationship with that person.

For me, Like with Rick Warren, I didn't have access

to Rick, but I read everything he wrote. I listened

to everything he said on recordings. I showed up at conferences,

and I just decided he was my mentor, whether he

knew it or not. And then he noticed later on

his team began to notice, Hey, this church is really

doing something, and they wanted to figure out who we were.

I just mentioned, hey, Rick's been my mentor from you know,

three thousand miles away and just for ten years. And

so that's it is collecting and getting paying attention to

everything that that person says, everything they write, and to

figure out how it applies to your life. Begin putting

in an application rather than expecting that they're going to

give you the time. Then as the Lord opens the door,

man sees it so towards the end, I had a

list Chad Asthma as my executive pastor, and I went

in one day and said, hey, these are my four mentors,

and we never say no to them. If there's any

way for us to say yes, we'll say yes. So

David now almost comes raising money. We give money. Rick

Warren says, hey, would you go to Rwanda? We canceled

like three things and went to Rwanda with him. Right,

We said, okay, if we want access, we have to

be sitting at the table. We have to show up

and when they give us that opportunity, walk through the

door and do that. And so it turned out proximity

gets causes invitations.

Yeah that's right.

So yeah, I think that's a great one. I think mentors,

the whole idea of being of finding a good mentors important.

But then you have to get in stick with the process.

And I would say, don't go a Lakhart. Well, I

like what this mentor says. I don't like what that

mentor says, right, right, So I only had one mentor

in each of the key areas of my life that

I really paid close attention to. I looked around, I

shopped around, I tried to find other opportunities, but I

found the one that I said, Okay, this is what

I'm going to build after, and I'm not going to

go and compare his opinions to somebody else's opinions. I'm

just going to run with this one. So there's something

to that. Anyways, we mentioned we're going to read these

two chapters. We took a long time on that. When

we had the time, I think, because you're going to

find out that these two chapters that we're reading, we

didn't do a transition.

You know, speaking of mentors, you know who's the best mentor? God?

Oh there you go, very good. And he wrote a

book and spent some time in his book. That's right, yea,

And eventually he's gonna invite you. It is joining there,

it is okay. So some one and some one forty

seven were written, we believe by people who were heading

back to Jerusalem during this Ezra and Nehemiah esther time right.

Yeah Israel chapter one, yeah, time.

Prasing Cyrus timeframe. So here's what it says. In some

one twenty six, when the Lord brought back his exiles

to Jerusalem, it was like a dream. We were filled

with laughter, and we sang for joy, and the other

nation said, what amazing things the Lord has done for them? Yes,

the Lord has done amazing things for us. What joy?

Restore our fortunes. Lord, as streams renew the desert, those

who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy.

They weep as they go to plant their seed, but

they sing as they return with the harvest. What a

good one? I like them? Six verses yep, And then

in one seventy says, I praise the Lord. How good

to sing the praises of our God. How delightful and

how fitting The Lord is rebuilding Jerusalem and bringing the

exiles back to Israel. He heals the hearted and bandages

their wounds. He counts the stars and calls them by name.

How great is our Lord. His power is absolute, his

understanding is beyond comprehension. The Lord supports the humble, but

he brings the weak down into the dust. Sing out

your thanks to the Lord. Sing praises to our God

with a harp. He covers the heavens with clouds, and

provides rain for the earth and makes the grass grow

in the mountain pastures. He gives food to the wild

animals and feeds the young ravens when they cry. He

takes no pleasure in the strength of a horse or

in human might. Nor the Lord's delight is in those

who fear him, those who put their hope in his

unfailing love. Glorify the Lord, O Jerusalem. Praise your God,

O Zion, for he has strengthened the bars of your

gates and blessed your children within your walls. He sends

peace across your nation and satisfies your hunger with the

finest wheat. He sends his orders to the world, and

how swiftly his word flies. He sends the snow like

white wool. He scatters frost upon the ground like ashes.

He hurls hail like stones. Who can stand against his

freezing cold? Then at his command it all melts. He

sends his winds, and the ice thaws. He has revealed

his words to Jacob, his decrees and regulations to Israel.

He has not done this for any other nation. They

did not know as regulations. Praise the Lord.

So these two chapters are written in rejoicing, and they're

just acknowledging that God is good. And dude, what an

unbelievable picture where it says, those who plant in tears

will will harvest in shots of joy. They weep as

they go to plant their seed, but they sing as

they return with the harvest. You know, for a person

like you who grew up planting and harvesting, you know,

it's it's a it's just a word picture of you know,

like at the beginning there was sorrow and now they're

they're reaping the benefits of joy, and it's a picture

of the exile to the return. Right.

Do you know the ministry bearing precious seed? Do you

remember that from our our old days?

I don't think so.

So they used to use this this passage, and it

was in the King James, he that goe with fourth

bearing precious seed, so doubt uh, he who goe with

forth weeping, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing.

I was talking that it's a bible printing ministry, Okay,

that they did, and they for free they print bibles

through churches and then they for free send them all

around the world to missionaries and places that don't have

any Bibles and stuff. But that's that's what they use.

Yeah, yeah, kind of yeah, well, that's that's amazing. It's

pretty neat and uh and yeah. So it's pretty clear

that that these chapters would have been written. And let's

remind ourselves that these were actually songs, right, because all

the songs were songs. So this is these are these

are things they would have sang. And it's possible that

they could have sang this on their journey to Jerusalem.

These kind of songs are like, you know, now in

our days, we're singing waymaker, he makes a way, Yeah right,

all that kind of stuff. That's how they'd be singing

this man. Stuff was hard, we had tears in our eyes,

and God restored us right, and all these things. The

other thing I think is really interesting is, hey, God

provides for us. There's this clear idea that God, he says,

you know, restore our fortunes. The author rights, but it's

interesting it says, where did it talked about wheat? Remember

that wheat? Yes, the finest week. Oh yeah, he sends

peace across our nation and satisfies your hunger with the

finest wheat. It's interesting they didn't have an expectation that

God just snapped his fingers and do miracles. They saw

his deliverance as the miracle. But the only way you

get wheat is you till ground, you plant seed, you cultivate,

and then you harvest. Right, And so they're not saying, hey,

look at this miracle that happened and all we have

everything we always wanted. They're saying, God gave us the

opportunity to seize the moment, and that's the miracle we

were looking for. And then they went and were willing

to do the work to make it happen. Right.

Oh, yeah, there's a sermon in there, it yeah, and

it says who can stand against the cold? His commanded

all melts when he sends his winds the ice thoss.

He also says he takes no pleasure in the strength

of a horse or human might know, the Lord's delight

is in those who fear him. Isn't that great? Yeah?

So God's not impressed, right with our own efforts and

our own strength. God's impressed with those who fear him

and put their hope in Him and his unfailing love.

So once again it's just a reminder that God's God's

not going to be like, you know, the way we

think we think it's you know, we think the most

thing that impresses God is you know the things we

can do or you know the strength by our own hand.

And it's like, no, the only thing that matters to

God is that we love him, we trust in his

unfailing love, and we fear Him in the healthy way.

Right.

Yeah, And by the way, that's true today. Right, that's

just as applicable to today, is it ever?

Was?

Right? So, the fear of the Lord is the beginning

of all wisdom.

Right.

You know.

One of the things I love about how clear the

Bible is, Like in verse seven, it says, sing out

your thanks to the Lord only on Sundays. Don't don't

you like that? Isn't it amazing?

It's so clear?

Yeah, yeah, it's amazing to me how many Christians only

praise the Lord and song on Sunday, right, Like for

that twenty five minutes on a Sunday morning we sing

a few worship songs and the rest of the week

the song of their heart is pretty fleshly yeah, right,

And there is something to that that, Hey, you know

what your heart art reflects our heart. And so he's

always saying sing to the Lord, sing thanks to the Lord,

saying praise the Lord, be grateful to the Lord, sing

praises to the Lord, and in this one. Yeah, so

I was being silly.

Yeah. So do you play music when you're in the

shower at all?

Yeah? Sometimes I do.

So I do this thing where I work out of

the church because we have a gym at our church, right,

a fitness center, ye, and then there's a shower there,

and so I always get my phone and I always

play songs. And I would say about half the time

I choose Christian music. Half the time I'll choose like

country or you know, these other things, depends on what

I'm in the mood for. But oftentimes, probably most of

the time, it's it's Christian music and I'll have it playing.

And one of our employees that you know who works

on our sets, came in and he goes, dude, he goes,

I always know what you because you play music when

you're in the shower. He goes, Nobody that I know

does that. And I said, what it? So, what are

you talking about?

Not always, but often yeah, because you know, it's like,

it's great, it's great to just fill your heart just

like you said, with music. Yeah, right, driving down the road, whatever,

spend the time. My wife. She always as we have

a couple different speakers throughout the house, and she's always

going around and telling the speakers to play different worship

music or whatever, you know, So when you walk through

the house, it's just instead of it being a quiet house,

there's always this worship going on.

And now here's a question for you. This is just fun.

When you leave the house, does your wife insist on

leaving worship music play in your house?

No? Sometimes we leave and it's just going. But we

we but.

Not intentionally, not on purpose. So my wife wants the

music to permeate the house while we're gone because she

feels better about the house.

Spiritually, spiritually and the name of Jesus is driving away

all the mad stuff. Hey yeah, hey, that's not a bit.

And then when you walk back in the house, there

it is there, it is going.

So so lot. Oftentimes what happens is we get ready

to leave and I'll say, Alexa, you know, pause the

music or turn off the music, and she'll walk over

and she goes, no, she goes, I want it on

while we're gone. Liza' will be gone for a full day.

That's the point, she says, I want it to be

playing while we're gone. We'll be going for a whole

day and she'll let Alexa play for the cats.

Yeah, yeah, but it's.

It's not for the cats though.

It's the name of Jesus, the name of Jesus over the.

House, which is which is? It's just amuses me and

both inspires me at the same time.

I love the fact that the one six they recognize

the fact one. Just the joy of the first two

verses when the Lord brought back his exiles to Jerusalem

was like a dream. We were filled with laughter and

we sang for joy. I love just what that is.

But then they acknowledge, Hey, you know what our joy

is a testimony to the other nations, where the other

nations are like, what amazing things the Lord has done

for them? Right, And so the kind of joy in

our hearts other people are watching us, the kind of

response we have about our faith, the way we're living

it out. Their joy was very clear in the fact

that it was God who brought them back. Then it

was that joy and that direct response that God did

this for us is what caught the attention to the

other nations to go, Wow, You've got a good God.

So your worship is a testimony to others, so others

cannot People who don't know Jesus can't worship Jesus, right,

they can watch us worship and then desire what we have,

And that's what you're seeing here in Ps. One twenty six.

Well, hey, that is a great ending and that is

about our time. So hopefully we will see you tomorrow

on the Bible, Gosh,