What's the Deal With.... Angels?

www.rushchurch.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome everybody to another episode of Rush Hour. This is a Rush Church podcast. I'm here with Brittany and Ashley. We're here to bring you the podcast together, right?

SPEAKER_03 0:12

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 0:12

We talk about Rush Church things, talk about life, talk about the Bible, and wherever the conversation goes, sometimes we have a good time. Never know what we're going to talk about or what things. We've talked about a lot of things in the past. So we've this is our 19th episode. And let's recall some of the things we've talked about before.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Wow. Let's see.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

We've talked about cold plunges.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

The research on that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Talked about all the random things I can't remember. Accents that we've done before.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Yeah. We've talked about our Rush 1 8 ministry. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Talk about all those important things. I'm talking about like just the random kinds of things. Oh, the random things. Oh. Yeah. But anyway, we can't think of them, but you can go back and listen to any of them at any time.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

Football. And Jeff Gordon.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Oh, we talked about Sean Connery last week.

SPEAKER_03 1:05

Sean Connery. Sean Connery.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

See? You never know what topic or what subject's gonna come up while we're doing rush hour. So but we have uh we don't have that many announcements to do. There's not anything too pressing going on, but or Easter. That's pretty big.

SPEAKER_03 1:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

Right?

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

You guys know about Easter?

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Yeah, I have heard of it.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Perfect.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

Kind of why we're here.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

Right now?

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Oh, I mean like in life.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Right. Easter, Sunday is coming up, April the 5th. We have a sunrise service. That's at what time is that, Brittany? You just made a announcement thing. 7 30. 7 30.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

In the a.m.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

In the morning. Come to sunrise service. The sun will be rising.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Isn't it usually up by 7 30?

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Not now.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Well, not now, but I mean at Easter.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

Right now, sunrise is 7 53, so.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

But it still might be dark.

SPEAKER_02 2:03

How do you know that?

SPEAKER_00 2:05

My app tells me when I look at the weather. Anyway. Come to sunrise service. And afterwards, you can have breakfast.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Not served by me.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

No.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

It's still good though. It is good. Yep, the deacons prepare the breakfast.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Pancakes, sausage.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

I think they also do like casseroles, too.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Yeah, there's some, you know, come enjoy. It's all kinds of tasty things. You'll find something you like.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

Yep. Tommy always brings the donuts.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

That's true. We do have donuts. Forgot about the Easter donuts. Lots of them. So Easter's coming up. Make sure you're here. We have normal services also that day. 9 30 and 11. Be a good Sunday.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

Oh, I have an announcement. I forgot about. Perfect. The last Sunday in March, which I believe is March 28th, is my first fifth Sunday. So if you haven't been in service or heard about what that is, is I'm taking over the backyard. I give all the teachers a break that day. And then I'm going to do something like fun and exciting. I don't want to give it away, but like something fun and exciting with the kids. It's just a time for me to actually get to know these kids because I'm not back there teaching. I'm just like the coordinator basically, making sure all the teachers have everything they need and everything set up. So I'm excited. This is like an opportunity for me to actually be with the kids. And it'll be all of them, like from pre-K through sixth grade. So if they're in the backyard, Miss Ashley's taking over.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Whoa. Don't be scared.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

She's nice. I was gonna, I thought you were talking to Ashley. Don't be scared.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

I was talking to the people that are sending their kids to the backyard. She's like, Miss Ashley's taking all over.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

I'm pretty sure the one week we had like a lot of kids back there.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

70. 70 kids. Yeah, that was the same day that my husband's like, Are you sure you want to do this? And I'm like, Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

You come out and you're like covered in glitter.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

Glitter and glue and goldfish crackers, everything in your hair.

SPEAKER_02 4:03

Crying. Oh, never.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

The backyard's fun. Yeah, just send your kids there. Yeah. So those are our announcements that we have coming up. So a couple just uh conversation starters. We thought we'd just ask a few random questions to start the podcast. Do you have any?

SPEAKER_02 4:22

No. Who asked the questions?

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Thought you might have had some.

SPEAKER_02 4:25

Oh, do you have one, Ashley? No, Cody, you asked.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

Okay, fine. I'll ask him. So we do a lot of like church potlucks where we bring the food. Everybody brings their own dishes and stuff. Bring your own food to eat.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Yeah, kind of like we just had on Saturday the trivy night. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

And then we So I was gonna ask, like, if you go to a church potluck, like what are the top foods that you go to first that you don't want to miss? Like, is there like a or or you like you go somewhere to a church event with a lot of food? Like, what's the go-to food that you want to pick out first?

SPEAKER_02 5:05

Well, I'm gluten-free. So I don't get a lot of fun food.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

Well, that's sad. This was a terrible question to ask. Brittany's like, I don't need that.

SPEAKER_02 5:12

So I'm like going for something that doesn't have wheat in it, that doesn't have wheat. But if there is a gluten-free dessert, I will go get that before my food. Before anything else. That way I know I have it.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

The dessert table is always the place to go.

SPEAKER_02 5:29

It's so good. The desserts that we get in on Sunday morning, they are so good.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

Oh, what you guys have? Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

Becky made what do you even call it? I don't know. To me, it looked like little individual mini pies. I thought it looked like a little bird's nest.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

That's what I was gonna talk about. Because a couple weeks ago, you guys had those up there, and everybody was like, these look good. Even the gluten-free people were like, one of those.

SPEAKER_01 5:56

So I waited to the end because I'm, you know, I'm not gluten-free. But I was like, when I had it, I I can't, I haven't stopped thinking about it.

SPEAKER_02 6:02

It was like a cookie mixed with a pie. Because it kind of had like a sugar cookie taste. Yeah. And then it was like a blackberry filling on top, and then it had like the crumble. It was buttery and I know. Oh, I mean, I I know. It was just amazing. No, it was don't even think about it. Nobody even knows about it. I'm hiding them in the back.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

I don't know if you've ever heard Tim Hawkins describe a Krispy Kreme donut. No, but that's how I imagine it. Tim Hawkins always described a Krispy Kreme donut as like a little baby angel in his mouth with the wings coming out.

unknown 6:43

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

I don't know if that's what I imagined.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

Well, that's what I feel like this thing. It was like so good.

SPEAKER_02 6:49

It was so good. I had four.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

I only had one.

SPEAKER_00 6:53

I didn't have any of them because I didn't want to take a look at it.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

Well, I offered you a bite and you were like, no.

SPEAKER_00 6:59

No. Looks terrible. I thought it had like little marshmallows on top of it.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Oh no. So good. Okay, but if out of pot luck. So usually I would grab whatever I made first because I like what I I don't make something I don't like. So last year, Darren smoked wings. I think I was gonna do. Yeah. Those were good. Yeah. So that would be my first thing, would be the smoked wings. Somebody brings chicken wings.

SPEAKER_02 7:27

Yeah. I mean that.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

And then the second thing is which I don't, which is really weird, but I love pasta salad with like the peppers and the tomatoes and the cheese and the pepperoni. Because I never make that at home. It's too complicated. But you know someone brings that to a potluck. So that's number two on my plate. And then number three would be peanut butter pie. Because you know there's always a peanut butter pie there.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

Yes, there has to be peanut butter pie.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

Yes. Or this new s'mores pie that your wife came up with, which I still have an order in for.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

She's busy.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

I know she's busy.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

She'll get to you. Be patient. It'll be worth it. I get to sample all the stuff before it's put into the pie. So pretty good. So, what would be on your plate? I gotta get a pie. A whole pie. No, just get any. I don't know. I go to the dessert table to see what looks the best. It could be anything. Um peanut butter is a good choice. But meatballs. I go for meatballs and then some kind of potato. Oh no. I like those a lot.

SPEAKER_03 8:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:35

Oh no. Just there's always so much good stuff.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

There is.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

Alright. You ready for a couple more? Rapid fire? These are more rapid fire questions.

SPEAKER_02 8:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

What's your preference? Uh coffee or tea?

SPEAKER_02 8:48

Coffee. Coffee.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

Coffee. Oh, we all agree. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

No tea.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

I mean, I like tea, but I drink tea all the time. Pick one forever.

SPEAKER_00 8:57

You gotta pick one.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Pick one forever?

SPEAKER_00 8:59

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Okay, it's still with you coffee.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 9:03

Actually, if I have to pick one forever, I might pick tea.

SPEAKER_00 9:05

I thought so. I mean you can't hang out with us anymore, but correct. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

Okay, guys, it's been fun. See you later.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

She's a tea person. Well, why I said coffee or tea, and you pick coffee, but then I changed it to one forever.

SPEAKER_02 9:22

Well, because coffee isn't as good for me as what tea is. All right. But if I have to choose one forever, I'm gonna choose this.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

These are not logic questions. It is. If it doesn't affect your life whatsoever, what would you choose?

SPEAKER_00 9:36

That's not fair. Another one that I had that me, I I've been debating this with people for a while, the last couple weeks. If you had to pick one to keep forever and one to get rid of forever, would you pick chocolate or cheese?

SPEAKER_03 9:51

Oh my gosh. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

What do you think? Coffee or not coffee. Chocolate or cheese. Which one you keep and which one you're getting rid of forever?

SPEAKER_02 10:03

Forever.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

Yeah. It's hard. It's not that hard though.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

I think I'm gonna choose cheese. I'm gonna choose chocolate.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

I'm gonna keep cheese. Cheese.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

I'm gonna keep chocolate.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

I'm keeping cheese.

SPEAKER_02 10:15

Yes. See now, Ashley, you're out. That's okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

Now you can't be friends. No. But I can't be friends with Brittany because she's a tea person. So now we're all just on our own. But uh the reasoning, you know, cheese is everywhere. It's on everything.

SPEAKER_02 10:31

I love cheese.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

We love cheese.

SPEAKER_02 10:33

Kind of.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

You can't you can replace chocolate with something other, with some other sweet thing that's still good and like a dessert. Cheese, it's harder to replace cheese than it is chocolate.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

Right. I guess I the reason why I chose chocolate is because I think of how many things I order with cheese on it, and it's not a whole lot. Like a lot of times I'll be like, no cheese, please.

SPEAKER_02 10:53

I can't think of one thing that I order that if they offered me cheese on it, I wouldn't say yes.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

She said, No cheese, please. When I order things, I'm can you say more cheese?

SPEAKER_02 11:02

More cheese. More.

SPEAKER_00 11:03

You know how the guy comes to your table, he's shredding cheese. More. More. Tell me when to stop. You just look at him until it's all the way shredded. You're like, thank you. Yeah. So you never said stop. I know. But yeah, cheese. It's the best.

SPEAKER_03 11:18

It is.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

Let's see. Hymns or modern worship. What'd you like? Hymns or modern worship songs. This doesn't have to be forever. This can just be in general, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

I'm modern worship.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

Of course you are.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

She is.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

What about you?

SPEAKER_01 11:34

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 11:35

I'm a little undecided on that.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Do you guys know any hymns?

SPEAKER_01 11:40

Yes. I know come thou found.

SPEAKER_00 11:43

You gonna sing it?

SPEAKER_01 11:44

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

She says yes. Actually, I don't even know the words.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

Ah.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

Shouldn't have said you knew it if you were. I better not pick hymns. Come thou found of every blessing.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Good job. Good job. Um that's how it goes. That's the only part I know. But I there's some hymns that I really like. Yeah, but I'm just like, I grew up in a small little Baptist church. Uh there's about 80 people a Sunday, and I remember all the hymns that we sang. So hymn books, and sometimes I just I hear them and it takes me back. And so it's kind of a cool thing. I like some modern worship songs.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

I think it's how you grew up. I like I grew up on worship. I didn't get hymns until I moved here to Ohio. So how you brought up, I guess. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

It's true. If you didn't, if you weren't raised in church, you might not know any hymns.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

You might like know a few from like Well I was raised in church, but they didn't sing hymns.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

Maybe if you were raised in certain churches, you wouldn't know hymns.

SPEAKER_03 12:51

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

Um that makes sense, I guess, but let's see. A physical Bible or a Bible app.

SPEAKER_02 13:01

Physical Bible. Not even a close call.

SPEAKER_00 13:07

Depends on what I'm doing. I guess.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

True. It's easier to look up quickly. I can just change change translations if you need to.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

Yeah, I like that's what I like the app for. Because I'll just go usually when I don't know if I'm studying, I'll have a physical Bible. But I like the app because I can bring up all the translations and just go back and forth. So are you a note taker or a just listener?

SPEAKER_02 13:35

Note taker. Note taker.

SPEAKER_00 13:37

Good. I listen.

SPEAKER_02 13:39

I can't just listen. Yeah, I fall asleep if I just listen.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

All right.

SPEAKER_02 13:46

Well, I notice that my mind wants to go other places if I don't take notes.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

I like to like when I'm listening, I'll like draw on the margins or your doodle and things and just I don't really take notes, so to say. Sometimes I do, depends on the topic or who's speaking, but sometimes I just like to listen. That's how I passed high school. I didn't really study for tests and stuff outside of school. I just pay attention in class and I listened, and then I just made sure I remembered it, I guess. I don't know. Oh. But I never studied like for much.

SPEAKER_02 14:19

Ever?

SPEAKER_00 14:20

Not really. I would my GPA was a 3.3, so it was good enough.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

I think I'm a doodle and note. Do both.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

All right. Well, that's a little bit about us and some random information that I'm sure everybody wanted to know about. But hopefully you answered along at home and you can ask those questions and especially chocolate and cheese. Uh, we gotta know who the people are or who's right and who's wrong. Right?

SPEAKER_02 14:51

It's true.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

And the coffee and tea.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

Oh, yeah, that's easy. It's coffee.

unknown 14:56

All right.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

Do you want to know my joke now?

SPEAKER_00 14:58

Oh yes, I forgot. Ashley has a joke for us. I haven't heard this, so I do. We should take turns. We should each have a joke of a rush hour joke.

SPEAKER_02 15:07

No. Ashley can just tell the jokes.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

Fine. Ashley, you always have a joke for us and see if it makes me or Britney laugh.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

All right. Sounds good. I think I can make you laugh.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

Sorry.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

I think you can too. All right. This is a Sunday school joke. Hey, we were teaching about Adam's ribs, right? So God created everything, including Adam's being human beings. I'm gonna just use Johnny as an answer, as an example. Johnny seemed especially intent when they told him how Eve was created out of Adam's ribs. Later in the week, his mother noticed him laying down as though he were ill. And she said, Johnny, what is the matter, young boy? And little Johnny responded, I have pain in my side. I think I'm gonna have a wife.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

Oh my gosh. Okay. That was pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

I totally made you laugh.

SPEAKER_00 16:06

I like the way you told the joke. It was all in the top. Your delivery was fantastic. I was ready to laugh when you started. So just the way you told the joke. But yeah, this is gonna be fun. It's um joke time with Ashley. Joke time with Ashley. Yeah. Okay. So last week we uh discussed what's the deal with heaven. And we talked about some, I don't know, misconceptions about heaven. We talked about what it'll be like, we talked about oh, a lot of different things last week, but that was a pretty good conversation. And this week we are gonna continue our series of what's the deal with, and so today we've decided to talk about what's the deal with angels. Do you guys know about angels?

SPEAKER_02 16:52

Kind of. Kind of.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

Tell me what's the deal with them. What do you know about them? Anything?

SPEAKER_02 16:56

Wait, are we starting with what we know or just conceptions? Just or what we used to do.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

Let's just start. Like last week I asked, like, what is the random person or what does the culture think about heaven in general? Like what do if you ask a random person on the street, what do you think about what comes to mind when you first think of heaven? So we'll do the same thing with this. What comes to mind when you first think of angels? Like if you're just a just a random person?

SPEAKER_01 17:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

What do you think people think first?

SPEAKER_01 17:21

I think a random person automatically thinks about like a guardian angel.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

Okay. Guardian angels. That's a good one.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

Yeah, they think of like a guy standing there with wings and a halo.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

Halos and wings.

SPEAKER_02 17:37

Maybe a harp and a harp.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

Harps. People have people love to give angels harps for some reason. It's just pretty good. My microphone's falling off.

SPEAKER_03 17:48

Uh oh.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

I got it. I'll just hold it. Okay. It's fine. So some of the things that I have about angels, I think people think like, obviously, you think wings, you think up in heaven with God, far away, all these different things. Some people have this common misconception. You guys know the like the precious moments, little figurine things.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

I used to collect those.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

My mom has, she used to collect those too. I don't think she does anymore. She still has all of them, but like the precious moments, little little angels, the little I don't know. But the most common biblical reaction to angels, they show up and they're like, do not be afraid. And so we have this idea of little I've heard some people talk about angels as like little chubby infants with harps and wings and like little baby faced things. But the Bible paints a different kind of picture, I think. Another one is we become angels when we die. Have you ever heard that?

SPEAKER_01 18:52

I have heard that before. I don't I personally don't think it's true, but yeah, I've heard that before. Yeah, I've heard that a lot.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

Okay. So you don't think it's true?

SPEAKER_01 19:01

No.

SPEAKER_02 19:02

No.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 19:04

But I I mean, I'm sure it brings people comfort when they say it. That's why they're saying it, but unfortunately, I don't think that's what happens. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:16

Yeah, like I think I'm pretty, I feel I'm pretty sure God created angels differently. Like, let's make human in our image. Like we're we're just totally two different species.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

Yes. Humans and angels are distinct created beings. That's the kind of thing. We don't become angels one day. So I know it's said a lot. I know some people kind of think like, oh, this person's got their wings now, or or you know.

SPEAKER_02 19:40

Uh I was really looking forward to that.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

Sorry.

SPEAKER_02 19:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:47

We don't become angels. Angels are a different thing. Humans are made to rule and inhabit this physical earth, and angels are uh in the spiritual realm with God as spirit beings. So some of the things about is that not all angels have wings. In fact, we're gonna get at in a little bit of I don't think angels have wings at all and kind of where that came from and what that means, and so yeah. Do you guys have any questions about angels? Have you ever thought about like is it something that you guys think about a lot? An angels kind of thing, or like I know sometimes youth youth ministry, angels is like a topic that comes up sometimes or quite often as.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

I guess I notice when I pray a lot, like I pray for God's angels to stand guard.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:40

So that is in my terminology. So I guess it is on my thought process. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

Very good.

SPEAKER_02 20:48

Well, I do have a question. Okay talk to me about when in scripture sometimes angels are among us, but we don't recognize them.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

Yeah, that's a good one. I have that in my notes. And so Hebrews 13, 2 says, Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing so, some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

unknown 21:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

Is that what kind of what you're what you're talking about? And this kind of gives me you know, angels appear as humans, it seems like, in several different places in the Bible. You have examples of like Abraham inviting angels into his house to eat with him, and they eat with him and they hang out and they walk. Yeah. And so I I think that more often than not, angels are come off as they look like humans, look like us. Because if they didn't, Abraham wouldn't have his his first reaction when he saw them walk into his House in Genesis is I'll have guests come in and I'll wash your feet for you and I'll give you some food. He's being really hospital hospitable. Um, and if it was ten foot tall, glorious bean with wings, I don't think he would have acted that way. He'd been like, that's not my first reaction if I saw this huge winged thing come to my house, and so he just responds normally. And so you see that, and so the idea of angels looking like one of us, and Hebrews backs this up right here, where it's like you're make sure that you're showing kindness and hospitality to those around you because you don't know when you could be entertaining an angel.

SPEAKER_02 22:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

So it seems like the writer of Hebrews is saying angels are around, and they're they're present in all these different things in all these different ways. So I like that idea about angels to kind of go with the idea of they take on human form. Uh have you seen the the memes or the videos on social media where it says biblical angels? What it look really looks like, and it's like seven wings, eyeballs all over all these different things. They're like, Oh, that's really scary. Those aren't really what we call it. Is that closer? Is that closer? Yeah. So in Ezekiel, uh, he kind of describes these weird-looking things with wheels and eyes and wings and all these different things. And so those so let's go back a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 23:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:37

Angel, what does the word angel mean?

SPEAKER_02 23:41

Oh, I know those. Messenger.

SPEAKER_00 23:44

Messenger. Yes. Angel is not a species term. It's more of a title. So, like, you know, how we have titles for things, it would be like, we're all humans, but not all humans are male people or are a male, male delivery person, a maleman. You know? Like a messenger.

SPEAKER_03 24:07

Or a nurse or teacher.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

I was trying to go with like deliver the messages. We have background gender.

SPEAKER_02 24:14

No, you're fine. I'm thinking I'm following. Keep going. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:17

I'm gonna try again. So we're all okay. Think about like what did I say earlier? A courtroom?

SPEAKER_03 24:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:25

I was talking about a courtroom setting. Okay. And they're all in the courtroom, but they all have different roles. You have the bailiff, you have the prosecutor, you have the judge, you have the witness. They're all people in the courtroom, but they all have different roles. And so angels are a type of spiritual being that has a role. They are the messenger. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_03 24:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

So in heaven, and the spiritual realm is full of different things. The Bible mentions seraphim and cherubim in different places, and people think, well, that's just another name for angels, but they describe them differently. It's described really strange. This is where you get the weird uh imagery of the foreheads that look like animal heads, and the wings and the eyes all over. And you so you see that, and those are that well, for one, that's visions that Ezekiel and and Isaiah and those guys have of these spiritual creatures. I mean, and cherubims are usually described as guardians of the throne room of God, and so that's why you have two cherubim on top of what? In the Old Testament that we've been reading about. Do you know? There's two winged cherubim on top of the thing in the temple of the city.

SPEAKER_01 25:37

Oh, the the ark.

SPEAKER_00 25:38

The Ark of the Covenant has two winged cherubim on top of it, and because those are thrown throne room guardians that you would have. And Seraphim, they are seen as more serpent-like, I guess you'd say, with wings, and they hover around the throne room of God and they sing praises. And so it's very when we have this idea of angels, we think, oh, it's just God and some angels up in up in the spiritual realm. When it's a little bit more complex than that. There's spiritual beings, there's there's the idea of God and his heavenly council, and then in inside of all that in the spiritual realm, you have specific ones that are called angels, and they have the title of angel meaning messenger.

SPEAKER_01 26:20

So like the angel that appeared to Mary was that the angel of God?

SPEAKER_00 26:26

That was who was that Gabriel? Gabriel shows up? Yeah. He's a messenger. We don't see a lot of names for these messengers. Uh we see Gabriel and we see Michael. And so once in a while they give him names, but that's not really the it's the names don't really.

SPEAKER_01 26:45

So you like you think when when like the angel appeared and said, do not be afraid, do you think that was because of the way that the angel looked? Do you think that mm he was trying to describe to or say to Mary, like, don't be afraid because of what you're seeing, or do you think it's just like any like you know, Britney running into my office, don't be afraid, you know, like that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 27:05

I don't think it has to I personally don't think it has to do with appearance. Okay. Um when Michael shows up to Daniel, uh, in the book of Daniel, Michael shows up and he has a conversation with Daniel. He's like, it it some translation might say he kind of it says that he uh arrived in flight. And so they think that's where one of the misconceptions of this winged that comes from from. But it and really in the original Hebrew, when you read it, it should be like Michael arrived in like a haste, in a out-of-breath kind of way. He like rushes in, or like he's been doing a lot of things and he's in like a state of urgency, I guess you'd say. Right. And so um when angels show up, not sometimes they say, Don't be afraid. And I don't think it's because of their appearance or because they look scary or because they're you know, this other worldly look to them, but I think it's because they just kind of appear sometimes, and if you see like a random person just appear beside you, like you're like startled. Startled, or you know, and maybe it's just a common I haven't really studied that phrase that much of don't be afraid when that angel shows up. But I don't know. I don't think it's because of the appearance or they're really strange looking, especially the messenger angels that come and talk to people.

SPEAKER_03 28:22

Right.

SPEAKER_00 28:23

They come usually they look like one of us. And it's in fact, when Daniel sees Michael, he talks to him, he's like, in the and a man appeared and talked to me, and he describes him as like a man, and one in one verse later on. So they take on the look of being like one of us, and so that's why Hebrew says, You don't know when you might have entertained, been hospitable to an to an angel. So really fascinating because it's one of the topics like angels is interesting because we know enough to be curious. Scripture gives us enough talks about them. We know that they're like a thing, right? But it's not it doesn't it's not the focus of the story. The the Bible is not focused on that part of the story, it's focused on the human part of the story, the human part of God's family. But I do think he does have a spiritual family, and he has these spiritual beings, and some of them are angels, and some have different roles and different tasks. And so we talked about last week is heaven is like a set up like a kingdom, it's set up like like a there's stuff to things that gotta get done, and and you see a few examples in the old testament of God talking to his council of spiritual beings, and so uh it's pretty interesting. Angels is just one of those one of those things, and their job is to deliver messages and to minister to people. Hebrews 1 4 says, Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who inherit salvation? So the role of these angels are to come and minister, they're coming to support and do these kind of things. So I always thought that was pretty interesting.

SPEAKER_01 29:56

Is that I don't remember what question was asked now about what I said to like I just said, do do not be afraid, like was the appearance.

SPEAKER_00 30:05

Oh yeah, that's right. Um that's pretty good. I have a question.

SPEAKER_02 30:10

Yeah, so all angels are messengers.

SPEAKER_00 30:18

Okay, it's the Hebrew whenever you see the the word angel in in the Old Testament Hebrew, it's Maloch and then it's angelos in Greek in the New Testament, and they both literally translate to messenger.

SPEAKER_02 30:30

Aren't some angels like supposed to be warriors or guards and more like along those lines? Like, isn't Gabriel more of a messenger than Michael? Or is that just a misconception that I have?

SPEAKER_00 30:44

Yeah, Gabriel's more of the messenger angel, he brings messages, and Michael's the fighter. Michael is the it comes off as the warrior type, you know, soldier type archangel.

SPEAKER_02 30:55

Yeah. So he can still be a messenger, but instead of coming with a notebook, he's coming with a sword.

SPEAKER_00 31:03

Yeah, because when he comes to Dan, when he comes to Daniel, he's exactly when he comes to Daniel, he uh he is in the middle of you know, he says, I've took me three weeks to get to you because I had to deal with he was fighting off all that the he was fighting off the he said he had to fight through a prince of the prince of the prince of where did he come from? I can't remember now. Prince of Persia? Yeah. I think that's right. Oh yeah. And so this gives you a little bit of because there's there's you know, we talk about spiritual warfare and we talk about all these different things, and so it that's a glimpse into that other other world, which I say the Bible gives you glimpses of it. It gives you just enough to be like this is a real thing, but it is not concerned with it. It it seems to be, you know, this is happening, but the the story of scripture is a human story of how Jesus is coming to redeem us back to God while there's all there are things happening. There are angels, there are things happening in the spiritual realm, but that's sometimes is not our concern at the moment. So it's interesting to look at, it's interesting to talk about, but it shouldn't be it should never become like an obsession, I think. Of we gotta know about the spiritual, we gotta know about angels, we gotta know about demons, we need to know all these things. It's good to have knowledge of it, but it's never the focus. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_02 32:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:20

That's pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 32:23

Can I ask more?

SPEAKER_00 32:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:27

Okay, so God created angels, and then in his spiritual counsel or whatever. I say whatever, very casually, and then created us.

SPEAKER_00 32:42

Well, okay, so when did he create angels? When did he make these other spiritual beings that we s mention or mentioned in scripture that we see is a good question.

SPEAKER_02 32:51

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 32:52

And so we get mainly the idea of that they were around before us, is because in the book of Job it mentions the sons of God, which is their name for angelic beings or spiritual beings, and it says they shouted for joy at the creation of the world that we have now. And so we see that we don't we're not given a timeline, we're not given, like I said, the Bible is not concerned with those kind of questions, but we do get hints and we get clues, and the book of Job seems to say that he's talking to Job and he's like, You weren't around when the sons of God shouted for joy when I made the foundations of the world and I made all these things. And so we get the idea that they were there and that they were created before this world that we're in now. So that's as far as it goes, I think. Right. As far as what scripture says about it.

SPEAKER_01 33:43

Because I think the spiritual world existed prior to the physical world, right?

SPEAKER_00 33:48

Yeah. Because God is always been, he's always will be, he's eternal, and he decided to create this, but and and so Genesis 1-1, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Right? Those words are God created the land and the skies. Talking about this physical place that we have here. It doesn't it's not trying to give us a glimpse into the spiritual realm and all that stuff. It's concerned about humanity's story here and the creation that we have here. Does that help? Yeah. A little bit? Because sometimes I think you could read that and be like, God created the heavens and the earth, and that's when he made all the angels and he made the heavenly places, and talking about here and now.

SPEAKER_03 34:34

Right.

SPEAKER_00 34:34

The lands and the skies. So good questions. Thanks. Did I answer the question? I don't remember what the question was.

SPEAKER_02 34:45

You did.

SPEAKER_00 34:46

Perfect. A few other things that I had in my notes. You know, sometimes that word messenger, you have to read in context because sometimes it'll be talking about human people as messengers.

SPEAKER_02 34:58

Yeah. Can you explain that?

SPEAKER_00 35:00

Haggai in the Old Testament is referred to as an Malach or a messenger, the Lord's messenger. So specifically, we know it's a human being because it was, you know, it's a prophet. Um let's see. The name Malachi in the Old Testament literally means my messenger or my angel. And so we have these different things, and so you have to look at context of and in John the Baptist in Matthew 11. John's referred to as uh Angelos, a messenger. And so but we can tell it's a human because clearly talking about John the Baptist, and we know that he's a human person. So you have to read in context about these things. So don't get confused. Easier said, right? Don't get confused.

SPEAKER_01 35:53

You know who you're talking to, right?

unknown 35:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:56

But me and Brittany. I know.

SPEAKER_00 36:00

I'm talking to a lot of people. Yeah. I'm talking to you guys. But I just I'm trying to cover a lot of stuff. So this isn't when we talk about these kind of things on rush hour, we're not, it's not an exhaustive conversation. Right. These are just to get people thinking, to help them view things in a um in a good way, I guess. And if you have questions about more about the stuff that we talk about, you can always ask John, ask me, have a conversation with somebody at the church, research, read your Bible, and I think that'll help a lot. So don't take us having these conversations as like everything, because it's not, it's just what it is, what it is. It's me and you guys talking about things. Yeah. And sometimes we don't know the answers, and sometimes we're just, you know, talking about what we do know. And there's always stuff to be learned and stuff to go deeper on these topics. So this is just kind of a quick snapshot of angels. And it's a quick little thing about heaven last week. I did want to say that about make sure you know we're we are just having conversations about this on this podcast. You can it's always room to go deeper, there's always room to do more study. And reading your Bible for yourself is always the best place to start. And then once you're reading, you can be like, oh, what's this? Or what does he mean by that? Or, you know, and then go and dig deeper into it on your own. There's tons of resources that out there that are good for helping you guys talk about these kind of things. Let's see, what else? Did I miss anything about angels? If you have any questions about angels, because I'm sure we do still.

SPEAKER_02 37:34

But uh I mean, I think that what you're saying makes a lot of sense. I think that before reading or learning or studying, you know, I kind of I'm I can't remember what I actually pictured angels as, but I think I pictured them as just like protectors. You know, they just were like to guide us up to heaven or protect us while we're driving or, you know, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 38:06

Um guardian angel type.

SPEAKER_02 38:08

Yeah, like I only viewed them in that way, or like the greeters at the gate, you know, at the pearl gate you can get there.

SPEAKER_00 38:15

That's what I thought for a long time of like, yeah, God's in heaven, and then he's got some angels, and they're just hanging out with him. Yeah, and maybe they're like church greeters. They're like, Welcome to heaven.

SPEAKER_02 38:26

Right, yeah. This is the way down this which you're gonna have to correct me if I'm wrong, which I know you will. But so now I picture God and his spiritual realm that he has created, who was created to, and their thing is they just worship and love God. I mean, they're there, that's what they're there for. And then God came and created us and then told these already created beings that we're the top of the chain. Well, that he loves us more.

SPEAKER_00 39:07

I don't think that's what he said. He did create this this realm, this physical world for us, and gave it to us and said, This is for you. And I think there were some. This is a whole different podcast of the topic of like rebellious angels or you know, demons who didn't like that idea, I think.

SPEAKER_02 39:28

But I mean, that's I mean, we can I definitely want to go into that more, like the next time, maybe even. But essentially, we were a little higher on the I mean, we were on the food chain. On the food chain, like we were more important to him. I don't want to say important to him, I don't know exactly how to word it.

SPEAKER_00 39:48

I just think that's the way to think about it. Okay. I don't think he made us and was like, ah, much better than the angels that I made, you know.

SPEAKER_02 39:54

Well, help me word it the way that you know what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_00 39:57

God creates. Why does he create? Because he wants to. Why does he why does God have spiritual realm with created beings that he made that are spiritual, like cherubim and seraphim and angels and you know, all that stuff, because he wanted to. Does he need any of it? No, he didn't need that stuff, right? He's God. He doesn't need us, he didn't need us either. He wanted to create, he wanted to make, and so I think he did. He made a place for those, the spiritual realm. Yeah. Then he was like, I'm gonna create some more. I'm gonna make this place, I'm gonna give it to oh, humans. I made them, I created humanity. And it's not a oh, they're better, or that one's better. It's all of its creation, and they're just two different realms. He's got a spiritual family and he's got a earthly family, and where his earthly family maybe.

SPEAKER_02 40:43

I think that because like what we what you've just been reading, it seems like the angels are always trying to take care of us or help us in some way. Yeah. So it just seems like they support us.

SPEAKER_00 40:57

That's a good I guess that's a good one way to think about it because now you're like, well, like I can see where you think like God made us, and then he's like, hey, angels, go help them out.

SPEAKER_02 41:07

Go take care of them.

SPEAKER_00 41:08

Like today, why I don't think it's because he loves us more than them, though. I think it's because he's like, You guys have been around. I created you, and then I made them, so they and it's a different world, so they need help. They need a way to kind of yeah. So sometimes he uses angels, he doesn't always use angels, right? Sometimes God shows up in a burning bush or does things himself, but angels have their place and time for different things. And if you think of it as a kingdom, and we can get in this another time with with you know, Michael coming to talk to Daniel, and he's in the middle of a battle. He shows up and he's like, Hey, sorry, it took me forever to get here. I was battling this other spiritual power in Persia. It gives us a glimpse of this, it doesn't give us a whole bunch because it should it if if God let us see all the things that's happening in the spiritual realm all the time, we'd be become obsessed with it. I think it'd be take the focus off what we're supposed to do and in the here and now. So there's glimpses of it, it's part of the story, but it should never become all the story, I guess. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_02 42:11

I like that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:13

And so but yeah, I think that and and in the New Testament, Paul's writing, and he's like, Don't you know that one day you're gonna judge angels? You're going to s take the place of some of these angels.

SPEAKER_01 42:30

And so that's a whole nother thing of you know angels have to choose God just like we do?

SPEAKER_00 42:35

Yeah. I think I think angels and spiritual beings have free will. Saw that. We could talk about a whole other episode of Satan and demons, but should. We should sometime. This was a good conversation, but I think we might even have left more questions than we uh than we started with.

SPEAKER_01 42:54

Well, I think that's good sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 42:55

I don't think it's a bad thing.

SPEAKER_01 42:56

It's our minds thinking.

SPEAKER_00 42:57

I love it. Sometimes I'll dig into a topic that I've been interested in, or I'll reread and be like, whoa, what is that? And then I'll ask that question and I'll go study it, and then I'll get done and be like, well, now I've got three other questions about some stuff. And I like that. I think that's that's fun.

SPEAKER_01 43:13

I also, in a way, think God likes that. Like I think God wants us to come to him, search him, search his word, find find more answers. Like it's it's a relationship. You do it with them.

SPEAKER_00 43:24

I think that you know the Bible's written how it's written, and it's not we we have people reading it, the different interpretations, and sometimes you have to study it to really get out of it what it's trying to say, and you gotta go a little deeper instead of just reading on the surface. And Jesus, he did the same thing when he was here and he was teaching in person, he taught in parables. And sometimes people were like, What the heck is this guy talking about? And it doesn't make any sense. And then he'd have to back up and be like, Let me explain this parable to you. Or sometimes he wouldn't explain. And he'd talk to disciples and they're like, Jesus, the people don't even know what you're telling what you're talking about. You explain to him. He's like, I'm not explaining it to him. If they want to know, they're going to come back and they'll keep listening and they'll keep coming back to me and they'll keep wanting more. And I think his word, the Bible, is kind of the same way of you can't just read it once and be done. You got to keep coming back to it. And it gives more questions, and you're like, oh, what about this? And then it gets you into his word more. And I think that's the goal and the purpose is to stay close to him, stay close to his word and keep keep digging in these places. So more questions aren't bad. I think actually pretty good. Because it keeps us wanting to know more about him. But yeah. Good conversation. I think we'll leave it at that because we've talked about a lot of stuff.

SPEAKER_03 44:46

We have.

SPEAKER_00 44:48

Thank you for joining us on Rush Hour. Hopefully this conversation was beneficial to you. And maybe you learned something. Maybe you heard something that you didn't know before. My microphone fell off the table halfway through, so I'd have been holding this here the whole time. But we're getting used to the new stuff and the and recording here in Ashley's office. So we're excited to bring you more episodes in the future. And yeah, let's pray. And then we'll be done for this one. Lord, thank you so much for who you are. Thank you for your word. We thank you for being able to talk about the Bible, being able to talk about who you are and all the things that come with that. And we read, we read, and we have questions sometimes. And it's it's good to ask questions, but I pray that you always bring us back to Jesus. You always bring us back to who he is. He is the central theme. He is the purpose of your word. It's the purpose of our story. So thankful for him. I ask that you be with all those listening, whatever they're going through this week. We give you praise when you when we have things to praise you for, and we lay requests at your feet when life is hard and there's uh things going on in our lives that we can't explain sometimes. And so we uh we we trust you. We ask you to show up and let us know that you're still there with us in all these things. Jesus' name. Amen. All right. Well, that was fun, good conversation, and we'll have something else for you next time on what's the deal with, and we'll fill in the blank and pick something else to talk about. So, thanks for listening. See you next time.