Episode #11 The Crying Stones

It's good to see you. Welcome to Bible Shorts with Bible Bob. I am standing on a pile of rocks. You can see that if you're watching our YouTube channel. And if you're listening, well, just listen for a little bit of stones flying out here.

So today we're going to take a look at chapter Luke, chapter 19 and around 37 to 40.There's a really great story. Well, let me read it to you first and then we'll talk about it because I love to talk about it. In Luke 19 and starting in verse 38 here, well, actually, let's go to 37. When he came near the place where the road goes down to the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen.

“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Well, some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. And Jesus says, I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

So I got a lot of stones here. These stones aren't crying out. But what's happening here, this crowd, these disciples, the followers, as you read in other versions. They've seen Jesus do all kinds of miracles. They've seen him do incredible things. They're sold out. They're all in. They believe that he is the Messiah, He's the Son of God, and they're following him.

The Pharisees are going around trying to find Jesus doing something wrong. They’re looking for something to trip Him up. They believe in the spiritual, but they're more into laws and physical signs, so they want to see more physical things. But you see, when Jesus says the stones will cry out, He’s talking about a spiritual event that will be evidenced through creation. It's kind of like when I go hiking, I walk through the red rocks of Sedona around here and it is phenomenal. I walk around saying, wow, God, you did all this. His creation cries out to me that He is the creator that is so uniquely unbelievable, the stuff that he makes, whether it's a scorpion or a Bob or you or a tarantula. It's just incredible, the diversity of the world.

When I asked the students, I teach 7th and 8th grade debate, public speaking and reflective thinking. at Camp Verde United Christian School. And I asked the students today if you could learn any one thing this year, what would you like a teacher to teach you? A student named Kendyl said, “I'd like to learn how to better defend my faith.” And I love that because we talk a lot about it. I think it's first Peter 315 that says you need to boldly defend your faith. And I will tell you, if you can't defend your faith, if you can't tell somebody that you believe in Jesus, I question, do you really believe?

Do you really have a faith? So if you ask me, you might be thinking, OK, Bob, you're on the spot. You're on the stones. Speak like the stones cry out. Why? How can you prove or how can you boldly proclaim? How can you say that you believe in Jesus? Go ahead, defend your faith. So as a very young man, I'm going to make this short because this is Bible short, you see. So as a very young man, I felt a calling in my life, knowing that God was real. But unfortunately some of the people that I knew in my life that were religious people weren't doing very holy things. So it kind of turned me off from organized religion. But I went on a search and I urge you to do your own search. Don't just take it from a guide that's excited about God. Do the research. I researched all the world's holy books, the Quran. I think it's Bhagavita. Forgive me if you're of that faith and I mispronounce the name. But I studied Buddhism, I studied Hinduism, I studied Muslims, and I kept coming back to the Bible as the only one I could prove to be true. I can prove it archaeologically from findings.

I can prove it physically through what we see in terms of the archaeology and people's changed lives as a physical component. I can see it spiritually. I've had visions. God has shown me things. I've seen His Word come alive. So I did the research. But then I started to look more even at nature. So when I say the stones will cry out, all of nature cries out.

Take a look at a tree, especially in Buffalo, NY, where I'm from. So the tree is green. It grows. You got beautiful boroughs of leaves. It grows. And in the fall it starts to turn color. It turns colors kind of like red and yellow. And you know, beautiful colors. And then it sheds its leaves and then it looks like it's dead. And then in the spring it buds and comes back to life again.

Look at the cross of Jesus Christ. When you look at Jesus on the cross, he bled. He cried. He was sweating. All the blood, sweat and tears went to the foot of the cross. It mixes with clay. It almost looks like the color of some of those leaves up there. But not only that, the tree shed its leaves. Jesus let go of his blood. The tree appears dead through the winter season, almost takes a Shabbat or a rest in God. And then Jesus appearing dead.

He was dead. He did die as a human being, but he came back as the Son of God. Only the Son of God can do, and he resurrected to new life, just like the tree does in the spring. Take it one step further. You look at the colors of a sunset and a sunrise. Both of those colors are blood, sweat and tears. Orange, yellows, browns, Reds, all mixed together. The sun sets. Everything is dark and bleak, looks hopeless the next day. Did you ever notice the sun never stays set?

And neither did Jesus. So those are physical representations of creation that almost scream out. God is real. Jesus is real. So that's my story for today. Hey, thanks for being here. I think my hat's gonna blow off. Jesus loves you and so do we. Thanks for your time. Go to something nice for somebody. See ya.

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THE CRYING STONES