Discipleship Vol 1 #4 How to Study the Bible

Transcript

Speaker: um So today we will be looking at the fourth part in the discipleship program. And this one will be on studying the Bible.

Speaker: i absolutely love the Bible. it is oh my passion. I've got a few great loves in my life. The Bible is number one.

Speaker: And so When I say things like God's word or the word, just talk about the Bible. God speaks in lots of ways. But um the 66 books of the Bible are just such a phenomenal one. And the way speaks most often um to his children.

Speaker: If any of you that have any questions throughout, feel free to ask. Otherwise, there will be time for questions and comments at the end anyway, okay?

Speaker: So first, we're going to look at why only reading the Word of God can bring limitations. Yes, it's a book, um but today we're talking about studying the Bible, not just reading it. There is a difference.

Speaker: um Some strategies for studying the Bible that I have found have worked for me.

Speaker: And why should we study the Bible? Why is it important? Why not just read it?

Speaker: Okay, so for example, if you look at this image here on the screen,

Speaker: what do you see? You can unmute and just tell me different things you see.

Speaker: Spider-man. Yeah, great, yeah, the black suit Spider-man, yeah. Possibly my favorite costume.

Speaker: Great, what else? Crown. Lovely jubbly. and

Speaker: one One blue thing is out of place. Okay, yeah, good, yeah, one looks shorter than the others, alright, cool. What about now?

Speaker: Pyramid Lion

Speaker: Bible or book Yeah Quite random but Very random, very very random Yeah Okay, compare it to this one What do you see now?

Speaker: Jesus. Yeah. Zebra. Right.

Speaker: Monkey. Sure.

Speaker: Music. Mm-hmm. the The blue blocks again. Yes, again, yeah. Mm-hmm. more shapes in Spider-Man.

Speaker: You can tell who my favorite superhero is, can't you? Yeah. Alright, and I put them all together, and this is the total image that you saw.

Speaker: When we read the Bible, a verse in the Bible, a chapter in the Bible, a book in the Bible... Very often, the first time you read it, you might see Spider-Man, The Steps, The Crying of Feudal Shapes.

Speaker: But if you read it again, and maybe you're feeling different, you have different emotions, or you've grown emotionally, or mentally, or spiritually,

Speaker: Maybe then you start to see the more abstract arts the strains are parts, parts, the weirder, more random details.

Speaker: If you read it five years later, when something big and different has happened in the world or in your life, you start to see Jesus popping up in different stories, or you start seeing um the steps, but from a different perspective.

Speaker: Only God sees the whole picture. But if you only read the stories, it's a lot like maybe just seeing one part.

Speaker: But when you start to study it, you see the different layers, the depth, just how rich the word of God actually is. And God just loves to reveal the more secret details, the complexities, how rich, how vibrant it is.

Speaker: and ah and he gets excited when we see these things. It's like he's playing peekaboo with the baby. he's like, peekaboo, oh, it's there. And we get excited. and he's excited because we're excited.

Speaker: Okay, so why you study the words? What are the actual benefits?

Speaker: i Deuteronomy 4.6 tells us that studying the word, learning the words, and applying the it shows your wisdom and your understanding in front of other people. Now it says here peoples, that means nations.

Speaker: that when you read the word and you study the word and you apply the word, you take it seriously, nations are going to see the wisdom and the understanding you have.

Speaker: That's not to make us look good. It makes Jesus look good. We get to make Jesus famous on the earth. And with wisdom,

Speaker: Knowledge is knowing one thing is right, one thing is wrong. Wisdom is how you apply that knowledge. It helps you to make good, thriving, prosperous decisions for your life and others' lives.

Speaker: Our Deuteronomy 440 tells us that taking the word of God seriously means that you and your children prosper and that you may live long.

Speaker: That's a promise from God. Reading the word, studying the word, living the word gives you a long life.

Speaker: One of my favorite Bible verses, I think I say that every single session, it's all my favorite. I love it all, but I do love this one in particular. Deuteronomy 32, 47.

Speaker: These are not just idle, futile, empty, foolish, worthless words. They are your life.

Speaker: By them, you will live long and you will achieve your destiny.

Speaker: Proverbs 3 verses 1 2. Again, it promises for the third time that the word of God will prolong your life, extend your life, and it will bring you peace and prosperity.

Speaker: Now, Proverbs was originally w written in the Hebrew language. Peace and prosperity mean you'll be complete. It will give you welfare.

Speaker: safety, you will have healing in your body, health, prosperity, a quiet heart, a tranquil, peaceful, content heart, and friendship with the people and God.

Speaker: And we can see that even on this chat, the word of God gives you automatically the spiritual family. And even with people who don't yet know Jesus or hate Jesus, when you read the word of God, it will help you to love them better.

Speaker: Proverbs 3, 13 to 18 has tons of benefits. It gives you wisdom, understanding,

Speaker: says the word of God is more profitable than silver. You know, i love money. i do. Money's great. I am a an absolute capitalist. But money comes and goes.

Speaker: But the word of God lasts forever. And money, friends, jobs, reputations, you have them and then you don't have them.

Speaker: But the word of God has the ability to bless every part of your life inside and out. It even yields better to returns than gold.

Speaker: It's not saying money is a bad thing. It's not saying that. But it's saying money is here and the word of God, infinitely better.

Speaker: Long life is again promised. And it says that the Bible's ways are pleasant for your life, designed that you would walk in peace.

Speaker: And it's a tree of a life. And if you're steady in walking in the word of God, you will be so blessed.

Speaker: And who does not want to be blessed? Am I right?

Speaker: A few verses later, it says that it will preserve sound judgment and discretion. We live in worlds today when everyone has an opinion and everyone everyone wants to speak it and everyone wants to tweet this and post this and say this and oh this is my opinion and I agree and I disagree.

Speaker: But actually, the word of God will help you to have the right opinions. Not to be an idiot, not to be foolish. There'll be life for you. It promises you safety.

Speaker: You won't stumble, you won't trip and fall. But actually the stumbling blocks in your life will become stepping stones to your destiny.

Speaker: You won't be afraid.

Speaker: Sweet sleep is your portion. It's been promised to you that you would go to bed at night, you would sleep and you would find rest, deep rest, so that you can do all the things God has for you the next day.

Speaker: and it will keep your foot from being snared, all the traps that the enemy has for you, the devil, demons, wicked people, um you'll be able to avoid all of those and not spend years and years trapped in depression or addiction or bondage, but actually you overcome those things.

Speaker: Romans 10.17 says that faith comes through hearing and hearing the word of Christ. So even as you join these discipleship courses, and I appreciate you all so much, I do.

Speaker: i love making these, I love sharing them, I love that you're you're coming and you're growing. But even as you just sit there and just listen, your faith increases. It builds you up on the inside, makes you bigger and larger on the inside.

Speaker: 1 Timothy 4.13 says that the word of God is good for exhortation. That means that you deliver God's verdict.

Speaker: um It's like God's evidence, whatever the situation is. and It's also good for teaching.

Speaker: It helps you to know what is true, and we live in the days of the big lie between bigoted politicians and mainstream media that hate their own nations.

Speaker: um It's good to know what truth is, God's opinion on things. It helps you to know what's wrong.

Speaker: It helps you to do what is right. And yes, in ways that impact you, but in ways that impact your family, that impact those you love, that impact those you hate. Not that anyone here hates anybody, of course, but it helps you to to bless those who are difficult to love or to know what to do in difficult situations with difficult people.

Speaker: So the Bible is absolutely full of promises that if you read, study, and are rooted in ground and grounded in God's word, the blessings that you'll have, they're just some of them.

Speaker: But how do we actually study the Bible? Well, I've done it many, many different ways over the years. um I've always known ah Jesus, or at least known about Jesus. um So over the last 30 years, there have been different ways that I've encountered the Word of God.

Speaker: You might hear some of them and think, no, I will not be doing that. And that's fine. That's okay. You're not me. And there might be some of them you hear and think, yeah, yeah, I think I could give that one a try.

Speaker: um And there'll be some of them that when you're not working outside the home, you can do But when you have a full-time job, you can't do. you just It's just not possible.

Speaker: So here I've collected different strategies that I think will help you no matter what area of life you're in Okay? You just pick and choose what works for you.

Speaker: And what works for you now... and not work for you later, and that's fine, that's okay. It's different season.

Speaker: Okay, so one of the things that I've done um is, like any book, starting from page one, and just reading it through to the very end,

Speaker: um I would say it's, the Bible has been ordered a very particular way, So um that's definitely um one good way of doing it.

Speaker: But the thing is you have different Bible books which happen at the same time as each other. So if you don't really have a good study guide, it can be a little bit complicated.

Speaker: But some people think it's a classic way of reading a book, so I'm okay with it personally.

Speaker: What a lot of people suggest is starting in the New Testament. Starting, you know, with a the birth of John the Baptist and the birth of his cousin Jesus.

Speaker: And then looking at Jesus' childhood, Jesus as an adult, the cross, and the early days of the church.

Speaker: If that suits you, you can start at the book of Matthew. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John talk about Jesus' earthly life.

Speaker: Acts looks at Jesus' disciples in the nation of Israel first, and then how it spread, hey the message of Jesus spread all around the world.

Speaker: And then you've got different epistles. One is by a man called Paul, who used to actually persecute Christians. He arrested and killed them. ah And he just had an incredible, miraculous encounter with Jesus. And then he actually wrote one third of the ah New Testament.

Speaker: Just a complete life change.

Speaker: Then you have other epistles, other letters, which Jesus' Jewish friends wrote to the Jews of the ancient world.

Speaker: And then the Book of Revelation is the very last book in the Bible that looks at the future, which has not happened yet.

Speaker: Something that I normally encourage people to do, especially if I if i do deliverance on them, and or they're very, very new to the faith, but maybe have me a bit of basic understanding, as I sometimes just tell them to start the Books of Paul um the best teaching on the cross and the grace of the forgiveness of Jesus and the power of Jesus' crucifixion to change our lives um are written in Paul's letters.

Speaker: um They're just the most phenomenal. I think there is no better picture of God's love than what you find in these. They're written into the body of Christ,

Speaker: which which is us, it's the church. um So I think it's um i so it's a very wonderful place to start. And even if you don't start there, i still think it's a wonderful collection of books to study the whole way through, least once in the year, every year.

Speaker: You'll find in these teachings, a lot of what I will refer to will come from Paul's letters.

Speaker: Now, this image on the screen might look crazy, and that's because it is crazy. You can buy Bibles, which are written in chronological order.

Speaker: Because the Bible is one book, but the book has 66 smaller books within it. And I used to read the Bible thinking that every single story was uniquely different. And I thought, oh my goodness, is the world like 10,000 years old, 12,000, 20,000, 100,000? What is happening here? And i and sometimes I would read i thought, oh, I thought he died like 60 pages ago.

Speaker: Or, my goodness, all these people have the same name. but And it was embarrassingly late into my journey with Jesus.

Speaker: But I realized, no, they're actually, yes, you have unique stories, but some of the stories actually are retellings of each other. They just have some extra details that you don't see before.

Speaker: Or sometimes you read a story that's happening in the country of Israel, but then you might have another story which looks at what's happening in the Empire of Babylon at the same time.

Speaker: um Or in Genesis, for example, would start the very beginning of the world um and then right up until the nation of Israel, which had like 70 people at the time, entered Egypt.

Speaker: um But the story of Job, Job was a very rich man who had a wife, a lot of kids, a great job, big reputation, and a lot of money.

Speaker: The devil came and he lost it all. And he just had the absolute worst friends in the world who said, oh, you know, you must have offended God. It's obviously your fault, Job. um And in the end, the Lord comes and sets the record straight and blesses Job, um makes the devil pay and gives Job more than he'd ever had to begin with.

Speaker: and But the story of Job happens probably about the same time as Abraham um in the book of Genesis. So there are some Bibles where the writers of the Bible knew that it could be quite difficult to understand the story in a logical order. So there are chronological Bibles as well, which might also help some of you.

Speaker: um i e Actually, think three, four, five years ago, I actually decided to make a chronological Bible myself. And then I shared the idea with somebody and they told me it already existed.

Speaker: I thought I was going become a like a millionaire. And I said, OK, screw it. I won't. I'll do something else.

Speaker: One of my favourite ways to read the Bible and to study the Bible, and be honest, this was one of the first things I ever did, actually, was watching movies and TV shows.

Speaker: about the Bible, and then go and read the chapters in the Bible to see what they changed for the production, what was true. um For example, Joseph King of Dreams is an animated movie, but ah it's a feel-good movie. He had a horrible life, but it's a feel-good movie. Or The Chosen, classic.

Speaker: um Season 5 will be coming out quite soon, i think. which looks at the lives of Jesus' disciples. And it gives them the most wonderful backstories.

Speaker: um And it's part Bible, part imagination, but it's a wonderful blend of both.

Speaker: The Passion of the Christ, an amazing movie. If you only have five to ten minutes to spare, the Bible Project on YouTube is great. They have videos on stories and on concepts.

Speaker: um Like, you know, righteousness, salvation, sanctification, demons, Christianese, things that Christians kind of assume everybody knows.

Speaker: and don't often explain, but they do a very good job actually on making things very clear in a short space of time.

Speaker: Superbook is great for children, um but actually they have some very good resources if you and get the paid version. You can watch for free on YouTube, but get the paid version, it also gives you some interesting historical details that are quite fascinating for adult adults as well.

Speaker: The Prince of Egypt, quite possibly the greatest animated movie ever made. It's just stunning. um Or if you want fancy day of the theatre, Joseph and the amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Speaker: It's like Joseph King of Dreams, but with more songs. um And then what you can do afterwards is then watch it and then read the Bible chapters on which it was based.

Speaker: and and see, okay, you know, what did I learn from the movie or the TV show or the YouTube clip? um What parts did they change? Because it's the story, like, they have to. They don't have a limited runtime.

Speaker: um But what details did they include that actually make the story more realistic and richer? So The Prince of Egypt is one of the first movies I ever saw in cinema. It is a very, very deep place in my heart. And it's um there are certain elements of it which are just phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal.

Speaker: And they really do show the absolute love that God has for his people and how much he hates evil, which I think in the days we're living in, is very good to know.

Speaker: Or another thing you can do Especially if you're incredibly busy, you've got a full time job or young kids. Or, you know, you're you're in ministry and people are calling you every minute of the day.

Speaker: Read one line of the Bible, just one verse. Just one.

Speaker: But focus on a different part of the verse throughout the day. For example, the first sentence says, i Love you.

Speaker: That might seem like a very obvious sentence, but it isn't. If I stress the word I, a love you. Your husband doesn't love you. Your kids think you're crap. It's me. I'm the one who's obsessed with you.

Speaker: Right?

Speaker: Or love you. I don't like you. i don't like like you. i don't want to be your friend. You are the object of my desire.

Speaker: Or I love you. Not my church. Not my wife. Definitely not my job It's you. Three words. But it is a completely different sentence depending on where you put the stress. Right?

Speaker: And you can do that... With the Bible as well. and just like Sean said the chat box, he's correct. You're getting, you're stressing different words, you're getting different perspective on all of this um it. Because each word was chosen by Holy Spirit specifically.

Speaker: So it's good for us to know why that word specifically.

Speaker: Even think of here, Psalm 23, 1.

Speaker: um This is a song. The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. Okay, well, who is the Lord? Jesus.

Speaker: What do we think of when we think of Jesus? He's God. He's the son of God. We're celebrating his birthday 20 odd days.

Speaker: um or thirty days whatever it is um He created reality. He died for us on the cross. He is the master.

Speaker: The Lord is my shepherd. Sometimes when we read the Bible, especially the Old Testament where Psalm 23 comes from, sometimes we can think, ah, that's irrelevant. That was a long time ago. But no, is, in grammar,

Speaker: I know of this sounds like a nerd, but I'm a grammar teacher. This is what I do for a living. for My day job. The present simple. It is true. Yesterday, today, and forever. it is your daily routine. it is always true. And he is always true. He is always good. He is always your Lord.

Speaker: The Lord is my shepherd. shepherd

Speaker: We often think of church, you know, you you're part of a group, you're part of a family, or if someone is richer, o God loves them, oh, God's blessing them. But he loves you just as much as everybody else.

Speaker: Sometimes we look at what we don't have, we look at what we lack or think we lack, and we feel inadequate, or we feel so small.

Speaker: But more numerous are God's thoughts for you than sand on the seashore. God has thoughts, hopes, and plans for you.

Speaker: Every day of the earth, every day you're in heaven, and every day you're in the remade earth when he remakes reality, which is forever, which is endless.

Speaker: He only has good plans for you. Perfect, pleasing plans for you. not to harm you, not to kill you, not to destroy you, to give you hope and a future.

Speaker: The Lord is my shepherd. But what does a shepherd do? The shepherd leads his sheep. A shepherd has a staff and a crook. He defends his sheep when he needs to, from lions, from bears and from wolves.

Speaker: The Lord is my shepherd, i lack nothing. Because God is everything. Christ is all in all, and he has blessed us with every good thing.

Speaker: That's just one line. The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. But depending what you focus on, it reads very differently. And that's something you can do, again, especially if you have a very busy schedule. Just pick one line.

Speaker: and then focus on a bit by bit by bit by bit throughout the day. And you don't have to do it all at once. Take the time to meditate on it little by little, and Holy Spirit will just start unraveling the layers within it.

Speaker: Now Psalm 23 such a beautiful song, um and that's another way you can study the Bible. Sing it. um There's an animated TV show, think it's got four episodes, called Young David, where it looks at the hero of the David and Goliath story. um And it kind of looks at before his, while you read in the Bible, when he's just very, very young.

Speaker: ah you know, when he creates a slingshot, sort first begins becoming a shepherd, And he has to protect his sheep from wild animals. Or his older brother doesn't like him.

Speaker: And in one episode, um you can look up you can copy and paste the link on YouTube later on. or type in young David, Sam 23.

Speaker: He tries to protect one of his sheep from a flood. He falls into a gorge and gets badly injured and knocked up. but he knows that God is good.

Speaker: And he sings Psalm 23 to a tune to music. And that's such a wonderful way to study the word of God and to memorize it. Singing God's word back to him.

Speaker: Singing God's opinions back to him. And then it goes deep into our hearts as well.

Speaker: Another thing that I started doing when I was about seven years old, I don't even know if they still exist, but there was a Baptist church here in Ireland who wrote what are called postal Bible studies, where they would make Bible studies um appropriate for children, adolescents, teenagers, and I assume adults,

Speaker: ah And if you were very young, it might have like, don't know, two to four pages where you would read a bit of the Bible, draw pictures, colour them in When you're a little bit older, you'd have to do a bit more research in the Bible yourself and then write down um the Bible verses with pen and paper.

Speaker: When you're older, it would get more complicated and you'd have to study the Bible more again. so each time you got older, there was more and more onus on you to read the words yourself.

Speaker: um And I have to say, it was a wonderful, wonderful way of for me as a child to become biblically literate at a very young age.

Speaker: And stories that I read then, i still remember them now. Um... So here I've even chosen 20 the most popular stories in the Bible.

Speaker: Adam and Eve, classic. We looked at that in their first session together. Cain and Abel were Adam and Eve's sons. Spoiler alert, one of them became the first ever murderer, and one of them the first ever man murdered.

Speaker: Noah and the Great Flood. We will look at that later on in the series to an extent. The Tower of Babel, again, we'll look at that later. i Not today, but in a few months time or a few weeks time.

Speaker: Abraham and Isaac. Abraham was an old man who really wanted a son. um And God told him, you're old and your wife is barren, but I will bless you with a child.

Speaker: um because Abraham was rich, and if he had died, his servant was going to get everything, but he wanted to keep the wealth and the family, and God was just so good to him.

Speaker: Joseph the Dreamer. After Jesus, Joseph is my favorite person in the Bible. um He's just... ah He had such a horrible, horrible life that he did not deserve, but he's great.

Speaker: ah Moses. The Prince of Egypt. Yeah, just a phenomenal, phenomenal man, a phenomenal wife. Very, very dramatic chapters of the Bible.

Speaker: Balaam and the donkey. Balaam had a supernatural ability to hear from God. He was called a prophet, but he was not a very nice one. he was wicked. and So the Lord decided to reprimand him.

Speaker: Through a donkey, giving a donkey a human voice to speak. Just a wonderful, mad story in the Bible.

Speaker: Then there's a great one called Samson. Samson was like the Hercules of the Bible. he had long hair, he was very, very strong, but he chose not to control his libido and his romantic relationships that absolutely destroyed him.

Speaker: A real tragic hero in the Bible.

Speaker: David and Goliath, just absolutely super. I eat teach the Bible multiple times a week, and I think I've taught David and Goliath probably every day of last month. It's just... There's always something new in it.

Speaker: You might think that after David saved the day and saved the kingdom, people would have appreciated him. Well, the king didn't, and then tried to kill him. Um...

Speaker: David would later have a son called and Samson. Sorry, it's not Samson, sorry, Solomon.

Speaker: um And Solomon was confronted by two women. They said, this is my baby! now it's my baby! And he had a very interesting solution to find whose baby it was.

Speaker: um Then there was an evil empire called the Persian Mediz Empire, and a man very close to the emperor wanted to eradicate all the Jews. So God used a woman to stop them.

Speaker: There was an empire called the Babylonian Empire, and everyone in the kingdom was told to worship an idol made of gold. Three men said no.

Speaker: In the same empire, um praying to God was made illegal. a guy called Daniel said he was still going to do it, and he was thrown into the lion's den.

Speaker: Another famous animal story is Jonah and the whale.

Speaker: you can't really do a Bible study without looking at the life of Jesus, and then looking at his disciples in Israel. and then around the Gentile world, and then ultimately how Jesus saves the day at the end of time and rescues us from the forces of darkness once and for all.

Speaker: So if you're looking to get into the Bible and you don't really study it or read it very much right now, or you just think it's very dense or very heavy or intimidating, i get that.

Speaker: I think here you've got 20 classic stories that are well worth the read. And as you read them, kind of begin to think about them, to ponder them.

Speaker: and And I think um where the more you continue to read the Bible, it'll be less intimidating. Because you'll be like, oh, I know this. Oh, I know who that is. Oh, I recognize that name. Because sometimes the names are pretty scary. They're all from different countries and we can't pronounce them. And we think, what the...

Speaker: But i just look for small ways to familiarise yourself. um And actually, spoiler alert, I will be working with a few others to create a syllabus to help you to study the Bible over the next number of months.

Speaker: I do not know when it will be ready, but I've said it, it will happen. And we'll look for different ways to make it, to make the Bible more accessible to you.

Speaker: Okay?

Speaker: Another thing that I do quite frequently actually, is if your life is just insane and you just need to know God's opinion on something, go on Google and and just type in Bible verses on hope, for example, and it will give you a very, very long list.

Speaker: And you know what? Sit down, have a cup of tea, And just read those Bible verses and then write them down with pen and paper. It's ah the best way to remember them is write them down and then to start speaking them and thinking about them.

Speaker: So for instance, Jeremiah 29 11. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you.

Speaker: Plans to give you hope and a future.

Speaker: Or Romans 15, 13, May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace as you trust in him, that you may overflow with hope for the power of the

Speaker: Holy Spirit. Or 40, 31, But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and grow, sorry, not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint.

Speaker: Why was an eagle chosen? Because eagles will often fly to the top of a mountain and make a nest. And then their beaks will fall off and their talons and they'll plume all their feathers. All their feathers will fall off. And it looks ugly and it looks like there is lack and loss and pain.

Speaker: But then, in that lonely place up that mountain, a stronger beak emerges, stronger talons, more beautiful feathers.

Speaker: And when you're going through a time when it feels like you're losing everything, family, friends, your job, especially in these days of the economic turmoil,

Speaker: Last week, a lot of my colleagues lost their job. By the grace of God, I kept mine. um But there are times when you feel like you're losing everything. It's just disappearing. Everyone's walking away from you.

Speaker: But to know God's giving you a better beak. He's given you stronger talons, more beautiful feathers, and you will fly even higher than before. Because with God, you lack nothing.

Speaker: Things might be stripped from you temporarily, but he always repays in full, because he's a good, good God. And there's no poverty in heaven, so that you only get the Lord's best. Amen.

Speaker: ah Here's a wonderful website that I use probably every week, even multiple times a week, and it's called Bible Hub.

Speaker: And what you could do here is type in a Bible verse. Maybe you read one in the Bible and you think, oh my goodness, what the hell kind of religion is this that I agreed to? Type it into the search bar.

Speaker: And then it gives you different options. Parallel. Parallel will give you different translations because yes the Bible is great, but it wasn't originally written in English.

Speaker: are in dus Or in or in or in Czech, etc. um It was written in Hebrew but the Old Testament, or a Greek for the New Testament.

Speaker: So some translations are more accurate than others. Some translations give you a better picture of what's happening than others.

Speaker: So when you read the parallel, you'll see what it looks like in different translations, and it helps you find the more accurate one.

Speaker: Or you could click on Hebrew, and it will literally give you the Bible translated, the Bible verse, translated line by line or word by word in Hebrew or in Greek.

Speaker: And again, it just helps you to get that fuller, richer, more experience of the word. see Jeanette in the chat box. I use Bible Hub a lot. It's a phenomenal resource. I love it.

Speaker: um For example, I was doing a teaching with some of you actually in Ireland there on Sunday. And these two Bible verses came up.

Speaker: Isaiah 14, 13 to 14. thirteen to fourteen You said in your heart, I will ascend to the heavens, will raise my throne above the stars of God.

Speaker: I will sit enthroned on the Mount of Assembly, on the utmost height of Mount Zatham. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds, and make myself with most light. Right.

Speaker: ah I read that, and I said to myself,

Speaker: how do I explain this to people? How do I break this down?

Speaker: So I went on BibleHub I looked at Isaiah 14, 13, word for word, line by line, concept by concept. And the same for Isaiah 14, 14.

Speaker: This is how it reads in the Hebrew. It's very interesting.

Speaker: It's the Lord talking about Lucifer, Satan. The devil. This is the first ever dark prophecy that the devil said.

Speaker: You said in your heart. Heart in Hebrew. You said in the seat of your appetite and passions.

Speaker: Now look, there are good passions. Breathe the devil. This bad passion.

Speaker: I will ascend. In the Hebrew, i will lift myself into a superior position.

Speaker: I will raise my throne, in Hebrew. i will magnify myself in a wormy, like an insect, rotten way.

Speaker: Above the stars of God, in Hebrew, above God's omniscience. Omniscience means to know everything. And God knows everything.

Speaker: He's omniscient. He knows everything. He's omnipotent. He's all-powerful. ah He's omnipresent. He's everywhere all at once.

Speaker: But the devil said, I'm going to make myself so superior, even God will be surprised. Now, obviously, that didn't happen because, you know, he's God. But this is what the devil said.

Speaker: I will sit enthroned on the Mount of Assembly. That means I will give myself a position at an appointed time and place.

Speaker: On the utmost heights of Mount Zephon means I'll give myself a central position, so everyone will be like, yes, Satan. A peripheral position, so on the margins,

Speaker: And in hidden places. That's how so many people get deceived and attacked and they don't even know what's happening. Because he is a master of illusion, secrecy and deception.

Speaker: I will ascend to the tops of the clouds, to the place of worship. I will make myself like the Most High. Most High is the name for Jesus.

Speaker: Only one creature on earth, or in creation, is like the Most High, in the image of the Most High. Humans. God made Adam and Eve in his image.

Speaker: So the devil will said, I will make myself a human body. What do you call a human body that the devil is inside? The Antichrist.

Speaker: So this is the first ever dark prophecy Lucifer ever spoke, and he literally prophesied but he would make an Antichrist. A human that people would look at and say, wow, he's amazing, the best, but actually devil's inside of him.

Speaker: um Now when you get the Book of Revelation, and the last book in the Bible, you get to see when all this happens. um But that's something that when you just read it, you don't necessarily understand.

Speaker: You might understand a bit of it, but not the whole picture. But when you study it, it's much, much clearer, much more a dynamic, much more dramatic.

Speaker: And also, you just listen... Our where God lives and he speaks, and he is always speaking. You know, one of the names for Jesus is the Word of God.

Speaker: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So he's always talking. and I am very, very fortunate and blessed. I live five minutes away from Liedl.

Speaker: It's a blessing and a curse, because I also love ice cream, and I think I've spent... easily a thousand euros on ice cream to the lockdown. It's quite disgusting, actually. The reason I teach the Bible so much is to stop me from going to Lidl and buying ice cream and sugar. um Actually, I might treat myself after this. We'll see.

Speaker: But one day i was in Lidl in the fruit and vegetable aisle. i was probably going to buy ice cream, but I hadn't gotten to the fridges yet. And I just heard as clear as a bell.

Speaker: Revelation 12.9, the dragon is a seer. And I was like, yeah

Speaker: Revelation 12.9, the dragon is a seer. And I was like, what is this nonsense? So I thought, Revelation 12. And i knew I knew the chapter was about the devil. I knew that.

Speaker: I said, the dragon is a seer. The dragon is a prophet. The dragon... and used to hear from God. and mean he's the devil. well He doesn't hear from God anymore, but he he used to.

Speaker: and I said, just maybe. So I probably bought ice cream. yeah And I came back home. at About 15 or 20 minutes later, I turned to Bible Hub.

Speaker: And sure enough, this is what it says in black. The great dragon... And just in case you don't know who that is, it tells you. The ancient serpent called the devil or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world, was thrown down to earth with all his angels.

Speaker: And I said, so dark angels, demons. And I said, okay, yeah, sure. So on BibleHub, I looked at the word dragon, and in Greek, it's drakoun, which means to see.

Speaker: a seer, the seeing one, exercising his subtle, his secret, indirect impact on heathen pagan governments to have incredible insight, to be able to spot prey victims in any hiding place, and a fabulous animal which causes fascination.

Speaker: So basically the devil, ah least when he was an angel, a cherub, was able to see the future. he had a prophetic gift. But now he uses that subtlety, that secrecy, to manipulate evil governments.

Speaker: And what had Holy Spirit told me while shopping in Lidl? Revelation 12.9, the dragon is a seer. I was not expecting Holy Spirit to speak to me.

Speaker: But sometimes you'll have a picture in your head, or you'll think of somebody out of nowhere, or you'll think of a Bible verse. Write them down. If you don't have a pen and paper, leave yourself a voice message on your phone or type something into your phone.

Speaker: People will think you're having a conversation. it's It's fine. It doesn't actually look as weird as you might think. And then go home, do some research, And you'll be surprised how often Holy Spirit has spoken to you throughout the day.

Speaker: And if you read a Bible verse and you just don't know what it means, pray. Just say, Holy Spirit, please reveal to me what this means.

Speaker: For example, in Matthew 15, Jesus said that he had come for Israel specifically. But we know that he's Lord of the Earth.

Speaker: Or Matthew 24 is a prophecy about the apocalypse, and it mentions something called the abomination of desolation. Try saying that 10 times fast.

Speaker: Or in Romans 9, it says that God hated somebody And you think, God loves everybody though, right? For God so loved the world that he gave his only son.

Speaker: Or Romans 13 talks about Christians submitting to the government.

Speaker: Hebrews 6, if you're a Christian, can you stop being a Christian?

Speaker: Hebrews 13 talks about people letting angels into their house and giving angels dinner without knowing that they're angels.

Speaker: I'm not going to give you these answers. I know the answers. chose these ones specifically. I'm not going to give you these answers today. Because the wonderful thing is, um when you just say, Holy Spirit, what is this?

Speaker: what is this well What's happening? What's happening? um What does this mean? Is that actually true? Does that mean something different in the Hebrew or the Greek?

Speaker: You'll be very, very surprised with how quickly he answers you and the amazing rich answers that he gives. um That's okay, Jeanette. No worries whatsoever, okay? We'll catch you another time, all right? Have a good night.

Speaker: And other times, you'll find yourself in a certain situation and you just don't know what to do. Again, God loves you.

Speaker: He wants you to prosper. just pray, Holy Spirit, reveal to me what I'm supposed to do. i was once in a situation at a church where I was on, I don't know, 10 different ministries maybe.

Speaker: Ten different capacities to help people, to bless people, serve people, support people. And I was beginning to feel worn out.

Speaker: And I felt unappreciated in a lot of areas. um i felt like there was a lot of control and manipulation. People didn't want me to show up and show Christ because they wanted to do it.

Speaker: They wanted all the glory for themselves. So I just, this was years ago. So I just prayed, okay, God,

Speaker: what am I supposed to do here? I don't know. And again, i just felt Holy Spirit say Matthew 12. And I said, okay.

Speaker: um Some people love all the Bible. Some people have have their favorites. I do like Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but my least favorite is Matthew. And I was like, really, God, this book, are you So I opened Matthew 12, and I read it.

Speaker: And effectively, the story is that Jesus and his friends were walking through a field. There were men, were always hungry, so they began eating heads of grain. Ow, ow, ow.

Speaker: But next thing, the Pharisees solve them. The Pharisees were religious leaders who absolutely despised their own people.

Speaker: and They tried to make a relationship with God as difficult as possible. They used their own oral traditions and lies manipulation and fear to control people, to oppress people, to be a burden to people.

Speaker: And they said, you're not allowed to eat food on the Sabbath. It's a Saturday. day You can't do that. You're taking heads of grain. That's work. That's illegal. That's against the law. Absolute nonsense.

Speaker: But this is what they said.

Speaker: And Jesus just looked at them and said, OK, but weren't there times in the Old Testament when people broke the law to save human life?

Speaker: If your animals were drowning, wouldn't you break your law to save the animals? And literally, these religious people cared more about animals than people.

Speaker: And the Pharisees felt very, very embarrassed. but So then Jesus just really wanted to annoy them. So he walked over to a man with a shriveled hand.

Speaker: And Jesus went... And the man's hand was restored miraculously to perfection.

Speaker: Well, I read this story and I said, Jesus, why? How did that speak into my situation? So you know what? I read it again. And he showed me five things.

Speaker: Jesus was walking with his friends. And he said, Brendan, are you walking with your friends? Or are these people your enemies?

Speaker: Do they even like you? And I said, yes, yes, a little bit. No, no, no, no, no. no Yes, a little bit. And he said, if you said no, leave us Walk away. Or in the story, the disciples were eating the heads of grain they were having their dinner.

Speaker: And Holy Spirit said, Brendan, are you actually feeding people something of value? Or are they feeding you something of value? And I said, yes, a little bit. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. Yes, a little bit. no Nope, nope, nope, nope.

Speaker: Holy Spirit said, leave it.

Speaker: It happened on the Sabbath. Now, the Sabbath was something that Jesus created in the Old Testament. It was a day where you didn't have to do work because they had been slaves.

Speaker: Their identity had been workwork work, work, work, work. But this was designed to free them, to liberate them, to give them time with God and family time. The structure was good.

Speaker: The Pharisees made it a stricture, a box, It wasn't to free you into your relationship with God. It was to control you and every area of your life.

Speaker: And he asked me, are you doing things with a structure or are you doing things that are repressive and oppressive to you? Leave them.

Speaker: Jesus spoke about times in the Old Testament when heroes broke the law to save human life. And he asked me, Brendan, is there compassion in what you're doing? yes Are you doing things where the love of God is obvious as evidence?

Speaker: And I said, yes, yes, little bit. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. He said, leave it.

Speaker: Or in last instance, he healed the guy with a shriveled hand. And he asked me, Brendan, can you do my work in those situations?

Speaker: And I said, yes, no, no, no, no no yes, no, no, no. And he said, walk away.

Speaker: When i first read Matthew 12, it made no sense to me. I understood the words. But not the application, not how it was relevant.

Speaker: But as I reread it, I realized why he had told me to read that one in particular. for those five tools, those five strategies, those five techniques.

Speaker: Okay, just a few more different tips and strategies, then I'll hear from you guys.

Speaker: Another way you can read the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, which is very long and very heavy and sometimes very scary, is to read the stories And look for pictures of Jesus.

Speaker: Look for metaphors of Jesus in the story.

Speaker: For example, Joseph, an amazing technicolor dream coach, the king of dreams, he was living in Egypt as a prime minister. His name was changed to Zaphoneth Paneah, God lives and God speaks.

Speaker: His brothers, who had betrayed him, they threw had thrown him down a well and faked his death, came to Egypt. Now, they didn't recognize him. He was older. He looked Egyptian. He had a new name.

Speaker: But he gave them food to survive a famine.

Speaker: That's like Jesus. Jesus came to the nation of Israel, and his own people hated him.

Speaker: But he was God. And they said, nah, you're just a carpenter. Nah, you're just a... The Virgin Mary's son, you know, she probably cheated on Joseph. um you're You were born from adultery or whatever they said about him.

Speaker: He didn't look the way they expected. But on the cross, he died to save their lives. That's like a picture how Joseph and Jesus are similar.

Speaker: Or in the book of Exodus, a great plague was coming to Egypt. And God told Moses, take a lamb, perfect lamb, kill the lamb and put its blood over your wooden doorpost.

Speaker: If you do this, you will not be killed by the plague.

Speaker: And in the New Testament, John the Baptist called Jesus the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, and Jesus died on like on the cross, like the wooden doorpost.

Speaker: Pictures.

Speaker: Or in Egypt, that plague killed the firstborn son. of every Egyptian family. The Egyptians were slave drivers, incredibly evil, very oppressive.

Speaker: So the firstborn son died, ah next thing, the slaves were set free.

Speaker: And for us, we were slaves to sin, but then God's firstborn son was killed, Jesus. And now we can go free.

Speaker: or in 2 Samuel 11, 12. It's a very, very, very sad story. David from David and Goliath is one of the best heroes in the Bible. In fact, after Jesus, David is probably the most common name in the Bible.

Speaker: He was such a superhero. But on one occasion, he made a very bad decision. He should have been at war leading his men,

Speaker: But instead, he decided to be lazy and stay at home. And the devil um makes idle hands very, very busy. And David ended up committing adultery with a married woman.

Speaker: She got pregnant, and David thought, oh man, what's this? What have I done? So after failing to get her to sleep with her husband,

Speaker: to trick her husband into thinking he was a father, David murdered her husband. And then married her. The whole story is mad. Very, very disappointing.

Speaker: But next thing, the baby got sick.

Speaker: And fasted. He went without eating. He didn't change his clothes. His beard and hair grew long. And he was like, can't save my baby. I'm so sorry. though And the baby still died. And then David stood up and he said, I can't go where my baby is yet, but someday I will see my baby again.

Speaker: he shaved, he washed, he changed his clothes. And you know, at the end of that story, he is leading his men on the battlefield. He's where he needs to be.

Speaker: And for us, We've all committed spiritual adultery. We've all done things we should not have done. We've hurt people. We've broken God's laws, his commands.

Speaker: But what happened? In David's story, it was the death of an innocent baby. For us, it was the death of the innocent Jesus. But David, at the end of the story, is where he needs to be.

Speaker: And we are in Christ. We are now where we need to be. But it came through the death of one who was innocent and had done no wrong.

Speaker: It's a scary story. It's a heartbreaking story. It's a messed up story. But it's a true story. But when we read it, we say, Holy Spirit, why is that in there?

Speaker: And he shows us the picture of Jesus.

Speaker: Or another great strategy we can do in reading the Bible is ask questions. Why? When? Which? Who? Where? How?

Speaker: For example, here's a very common story. Just by looking at the pictures, you don't have to read the chapter. Just by looking at the pictures. Does anyone know what this story is? If you do, please unmute and just summarize the story. That'd be great.

Speaker: I can't tell, but I don't know if that is correctly in English. This is in Luke.

Speaker: um This man is... Is it paralyzed? Paralyzed?

Speaker: Yeah, paralyzed. Good. Yeah, thank you.

Speaker: And...

Speaker: Okay. The thing is, I have seen the chosen, as you have seen. So I can't remember, was it in the Bible, ah yeah in the Bible also, or was it just in the chosen? Okay. But this man who is very sick, ah his friends put him down yeah from the roof.

Speaker: Mm-hmm. um But first, at his friends were trying to take him to Jesus another way, but that wasn't possible because there was so much crowd.

Speaker: Is that correct? Yeah. um So they put him down from that roof. And...

Speaker: Jesus said, your sins are forgiven. Yeah, amen. And Pharisees were thinking in their mind, who thinks this man is?

Speaker: Only God can forgive sins. And Jesus was like, I know what you are thinking. And then he is asking,

Speaker: Pharisees, that this one is better to say to a man, your son's and way your sins are forgiven.

Speaker: oh And now he is speaking to this man. Your sins are forgiven. Get up and take your mouth. Something like that. Amen. Okay.

Speaker: ah

Speaker: Very good. That's excellent. and Thanks, Anita. Precisely. And the man, yeah, he got up, took his mouth, and he walked out the door. Amen. Amen.

Speaker: Okay, yeah, so you got all the main points of the story there. Great. But when we're studying the Bible, we can ask ourselves some questions.

Speaker: Why when? Which who? Where how?

Speaker: And a big question is why lower him through the roof? Well, it tells us here, one day Jesus was teaching and the Pharisees, who hated Jesus, and the teachers of the law, who hated Jesus, were sitting there.

Speaker: They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. The reason... they had to lower the man from the roof, was because the sick people couldn't get through the front door.

Speaker: The poor people couldn't get through the front door. The house was full of religious people who were rich and who hated Jesus. And who hated the poor people. bolts but So the people who needed help couldn't get in.

Speaker: So therefore the men had to get creative. They had to get strategic.

Speaker: Or the order of what Jesus did is very significant. You know, first he told the poor man, the sick man, the paralyzed man, friends, your sins are forgiven.

Speaker: First, he dealt the problem on the inside. Then he said, get up, take your mat and go home. A lot of us want experiential Christianity. We want God to fix everything for us in the physical.

Speaker: And he wants to. He does.

Speaker: But the most important thing to the Lord is that the inside gets dealt with first.

Speaker: And sometimes he'll do it the opposite way because he knows every person's needs. He's God. He can do it whatever he wants. But forgiving your sins, saving you,

Speaker: is always more important than what he does in the physical world.

Speaker: Or who? Or is that a witch man? a lot of people think, oh, you know, the the friends brought him or his brothers brought him or neighbors brought him.

Speaker: We actually don't know. it says some men came carrying a paralyzed man Maybe they were strangers. Maybe they were sick people who Jesus had healed.

Speaker: We don't know. So when you're reading the story, you can start to think, wow, if I just saw someone lying on the ground, would I have taken them to Jesus? What would I do?

Speaker: Like, for example, today i left work early. ah Maybe I shouldn't admit that because this is going on YouTube, but I did. I'd worked during my lunch break. It's okay.

Speaker: um And my intention was to get home an hour or two early just to make any final edits to this presentation, to this teaching.

Speaker: That did not happen um because when I was on my way to the bus stop, I saw a woman lying on the ground in O'Connell Street, which Dublin city centre.

Speaker: And she wasn't moving. She properly looked dead. She'd obviously wet herself. She'd peed her pants. And a few of us stopped. you know We took out our phones. We called an ambulance.

Speaker: um The guy who took out the phone was from the Netherlands. So i he quickly realised he couldn't understand the Irish accent. So he put me on the phone.

Speaker: and And then other Dubliners came along as well. and They said, we went to the guard station, was what we call the police, the guardee. But they're not helping. They're not doing anything. They don't have a defibrillator. They're not helping us at all.

Speaker: um So it was our job then, two guys from the Netherlands, two ladies from the streets of Dublin, two random people, I don't know where they'd come from, and myself, to look after this woman who was just lying on the ground.

Speaker: We had not expected it. We had not anticipated it. I did not leave early to help this woman who was probably on 10 kinds of drugs. I left early so I could teach you guys.

Speaker: ah But God knew what was happening to that woman. he knew what was happening in that moment. He knew she was on my way to the bus.

Speaker: So I had to be inconvenienced, getting home late, to help her. Maybe that was their story. We don't know. But if you just read the story line by line by line, you might kind of miss that.

Speaker: But if you read it slowly, you could be those four men.

Speaker: Who? Who does this chapter tell us Jesus is? It says the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick.

Speaker: Amen. So when you're feeling poorly, when you're feeling unwell, you know that Jesus has the power to save you and he wants to, to heal and restore you?

Speaker: When Jesus spoke to the paralyzed man, he called him friend. Do you know you're a friend of God? And he is the best friend you'll ever have.

Speaker: And he's the son of man who has authority on earth to forgive sins, to wash it all away, to make you cleaner than clean can be.

Speaker: Where? Where did this story happen? It happened in an area called Capernaum. Capernaum, two different pronunciations, whichever one sounds better, go with that one.

Speaker: It probably had a population of about 1,500 people. And we can tell from archaeological excavations that the houses were mainly reinforced with stone and mud for the walls.

Speaker: And the houses were just wooden beams. I used to read this story like the four men had a saw and damaged the people's roof, creating like a leak.

Speaker: but And again, I'm capitalist, destroy my property and going problems. But it wasn't. If the roof was just rows of wood, all they actually had to do was move the wood and lower the man.

Speaker: So I used to think that these four guys were like, the villains of the story. ah Actually, putting the roof back in place was very easy.

Speaker: um And for the Pharisees, we're told they came from every village from Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. So the house was full of Jesus' enemies.

Speaker: I remember when I first began teaching the Bible at university. but but My university friends were great. Not all of my congregation were my friends.

Speaker: I probably taught my enemies long before I ever just taught friends. And my enemies would sit in the front row scowling at me really, really angrily. I think when my first teachings, I said that God loves women and God makes women pastors and women teachers. And the women were angry. The women were like, no he doesn't. There has never been a female teacher. Women can't teach the Bible. And I was like, what is this?

Speaker: but but but So I know what it's like teaching hostile rooms.

Speaker: And then with Jesus... We're told that he he told the man the paralyzed man, you know, you're pick up your mask, walk, <unk> go home.

Speaker: But we're told that he knew what the Pharisees were thinking. The Pharisees were livid, angry, furious. But it doesn't tell us that they spoke.

Speaker: They didn't send mean tweets about Jesus or you know post pictures of Instagram on him. like the you know he He takes off his shoes. or He's barefoot. He's so uncivilized. Look at that hair. oh no It says he knew what they were thinking.

Speaker: Did you know Jesus can read your mind? Hello. but but Not to spiritually blackmail anybody, but if you're thinking about things you should not be thinking about, Jesus knows.

Speaker: Okay, one of the last strategies for today, actually this might be the last one, um is in Matthew 16, verses 13 to 20.

Speaker: It's a story where Jesus takes his 12 disciples to the region of Caesarea Philippi. Now, Jesus lived in the days is of Roman Empire, so Emperor Caesar, Caesarea.

Speaker: And King Herod. There were a lot of Herods, but one of them had a cousin called Philip, so Philippi. And Jesus asked, who do people say the Son of Man is? And some say it's Elijah, John the Baptist, Jeremiah, someone from the Old Testament.

Speaker: And Peter says, you're the Messiah. You are God's son. And Jesus says something very curious to him.

Speaker: He says, on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of Hades or the gates of hell will not overcome it. Very strange comments to make.

Speaker: So when you're reading the Bible, something that I do a lot, because I love history, it's one of big passions, is I will look up the history or the social, political, cultural, in some cases even the sexual, history of that region.

Speaker: um Look into the shrine prostitutes, the gods, the goddesses, what they believed, their cultures, their customs. And in Caesarea Philippi, it's a very, very interesting place.

Speaker: This was a site where there was a massive wall And in the wall, there were grooves.

Speaker: In the grooves, the people of Caesarea Philippi would put statues of a god, a demon, who was half man, half goat, and whose name was and It's how we get the word pandemic.

Speaker: Oh, okay.

Speaker: They believed that a god called Pan lived inside this cliff, this mountain, and they called that wall that rock, the Gates of Hades.

Speaker: These people wanted the demon to come out of the Gates of Hades. Why? you don't know. People are crazy. They always have been.

Speaker: So to make him come out... They would get goats and throw the goats into the river.

Speaker: If that did not work, they would get their babies and drown their babies in the river.

Speaker: If that did not work, as you can see from the picture in the corner, they would mate with the goats. They would have sex with animals.

Speaker: to try to make this demon come out of the wall. So when Jesus stood in Caesarea Philippi and asked his disciples, who do people say i am? You're the Messiah!

Speaker: On this rock, I'll build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. No demon from that gate, from that dimension, from that wall will stop what I'm doing on the earth.

Speaker: They were killing goats, killing children, and having sex with animals while Jesus was standing there. ah It's insane.

Speaker: We normally think of Jesus today, and we think of the Pharisees, and everyone wore brown and black because color didn't exist, and they're all sad with gold beaches, blue skies, and always sunshine. no, no, no, no.

Speaker: They're literally aborting children. To a demon. While Jesus is like 10 meters away. This was happening while he was on the earth. In his country. In his region.

Speaker: So people would go to Caesarea Philippi. And they would see the animal sacrifices. The baby sacrifices. The bestiality.

Speaker: And they said. This is pandemonium. Because the demon was called. Pan, half man, half goat. And in the, I hate the expression, but church of Satan, where they now have the sculpture of the half man, half goat, Pan is the inspiration for that.

Speaker: Okay, and then we're on the home stretch, almost done.

Speaker: Why is studying the Bible important? Well, look, I've already looked at different Bible verses as to how we get blessed through it. But the reality is, if you don't study the Bible, sometimes the stories just don't make sense.

Speaker: Let's be honest.

Speaker: For example, if you read the book of Judges, I read this last year or the very start of this year, and I was very, very confused.

Speaker: I've started with Judges chapter one. And I read down to the end. And by the time I got to the end, I said, hang on a second. Moses' grandson is alive at the end of the Book of Judges.

Speaker: And I said, but this happened 40 years. This happened seven years. This happened 20 years. How is his grandson alive? And then I realized but the Book of Judges is not written in chronological order.

Speaker: The first couple chapters talk about inexcusable compromise. Not from God, but from people.

Speaker: Then you have stories about people doing things that are just not worth mentioning. They're shameful to mention.

Speaker: And the last few chapters are grouped together. They talk about inevitable, incredible, religious murderous and anti-women corruption.

Speaker: Where these people said, we don't need God, we are God. And they just devastated their their population, their country, their women, their young.

Speaker: it was just vile. So the stories in Judges are grouped thematically, not chronologically. But when we study the Bible, we see, ah, okay, so this happened first, then this, then this, then this.

Speaker: Otherwise, it doesn't make sense. You can still enjoy the experience of reading, but you won't really deeply understand it.

Speaker: so Or another one. is there are two books in the Bible called Chronicles, 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles, and there are two books called Kings, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, very original titles, I know.

Speaker: They deal with the same people and the same stories, but they give you different insights, different details. Some talk about more flattering moments in their history, some look at only the bad,

Speaker: But the thing is, when you're reading it, it can be a little bit complicated to understand. For instance, it might say in First Kings, when this king was in his first year as king, this happened.

Speaker: In Chronicles, it might talk about the same king, but it says the thing happened in his second year. And you're like, wait, first or second? What is this?

Speaker: But that's because where the books were written is important. In one country, the first year was the first 365 days that he was king.

Speaker: In the other country, let's say for Chronicles, for instance, the first year was, let's say, 2024.

Speaker: But as soon as it's 2025, that's his second year. Not 365 days, just the actual year on the calendar. So these are things that they look like contradictions when you read them.

Speaker: But when you know where the story was written, it makes a lot more sense. Now, you would have to be a real Bible nerd or theologian to actually read the Bible in that much detail.

Speaker: but But it's good to have general knowledge.

Speaker: And then second last point. Then there are certain things that they just don't really make a lot of sense to you unless you understand the culture of history. For example, in Matthew 5, 28, this is Jesus talking.

Speaker: Anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. When Jesus says this, he's not blaming women.

Speaker: He's blaming lustful men. You might think, okay, why? well see, when Jesus was on the earth, the Pharisees always blamed women for sexual sin.

Speaker: Think of the story when the woman was caught in adultery and the Pharisees were going to stone her to death.

Speaker: If she's caught in adultery, that means the man was also seen. But they were gonna kill her, man was going to be set free. And then Jesus stunned away, and he almost created like a force field to protect her, and then they walked away. um This is showing the love that Jesus has for women when the culture he lived in was anti-women.

Speaker: So he put the pressure on men to get their act together.

Speaker: Or in Matthew 5, 41, I used to think this was so strange. Jesus says, if anyone forces you to go one mile, go two miles. I said to myself, God, who's going to tell to walk a mile? That's nonsense.

Speaker: But actually, Israel was under the Roman Empire, and the Roman guards would say, hey, Jew, get over here. And they would make Jews drop their own belongings,

Speaker: isn pick up the Roman soldiers' helmets and weapons and armor, and they had to walk a mile with them. So Jesus was saying, if they mistreat you, don't just walk like, I hate you, I want a revolution, I want you to get out of my country.

Speaker: Jesus said... love them twice as much as they deserve. Our Matthew 11, 28, come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I'll give you rest.

Speaker: The word burdened there actually refers to a religious burden because the Pharisees were not teaching people how to get good with God.

Speaker: They told people, God hates you. God thinks you're scum. Do this this this, this, this, this. And then he might like you. But it was never good enough. It was always impossible.

Speaker: So Jesus specifically said, come to me if you're burnt out on religion. If you feel like you're not good enough. And I'll look after you. I'll give you that deep peace on the inside. Or in Matthew 23, 5. Everything they do is done for people to see.

Speaker: talking about the religious people. They make their phylacteries wide and their tassel and their garments long. I did not know what a phylactery was until a couple of days ago.

Speaker: phylactery was actually, you would strap a box onto your shoulder, onto your arm, And you could put copies of the Bible, of the Torah in it.

Speaker: So when you're walking along, you literally have the Bible on your arm all the time. Today, it's like having your mobile phone with you as a Bible app. um So back then, the Pharisees were intentionally making theirs super big, really prominent, oh, look at me, I read the Bible all the time.

Speaker: But they didn't know the heart of God. So Jesus was just insulting them for hypocrites.

Speaker: and And the last point as to why it's important to read the Bible, this is a specifically Christmas one because December is just around the corner.

Speaker: In Genesis 25, we're told that twin baby boys were born. One of them was called Jacob, but he was later renamed Israel.

Speaker: And one of them was called Esau, which means red because he had red hair. But he was later to renamed Edom.

Speaker: The twin brothers were not very close. They had a very bad relationship. um Jacob, let's just say if you played poker with him, you have lost your house.

Speaker: he was ah He was very deceptive, very crafty, very cunning. He also cheated a blind man ah whose name was Isaac, which I think is very inappropriate because he was blind. Isaac.

Speaker: um And Esau just got so angry at Jacob one day, he said, I'm going to kill him. So Jacob ran away.

Speaker: But their descendants... would inherit plots of land.

Speaker: Jacob's descendants inherited Israel to the north. Esau's descendants inherited Edom to the south. So Jacob's people were called the Israelites.

Speaker: Esau's people were called the Edomites. But the two communities had a very difficult relationship over the centuries. For example, when Moses led Israel out of slavery in Egypt, Edom did not let Israel through.

Speaker: But then the fear of God fell on them, so they changed their minds.

Speaker: But the Lord still wanted the two communities to live in harmony. So he said to Moses, the Edomites are your brothers. Let them live among you.

Speaker: After a few generations, give them citizenship. You're one family, you're brothers. i want unity here.

Speaker: But when the empire of Babylon invaded Israel and they burned the temple of God to the ground, the Edomites' reaction is in Psalm 137.7. They're like, burn it down, burn it down.

Speaker: The Babylonians got the Israeli babies and they smashed them against the rocks until their brains compar their skulls. And the Edomites thought this was great.

Speaker: And it all started with twin brothers who'd had an argument. And the argument, the tension, the divisions continued for a millennium and a half.

Speaker: At least 1,500 years. and then

Speaker: Very close for Christmas story. In 40 BC, 40 years before Jesus was born, there was a man called Herod the Edomite.

Speaker: So Herod was a descendant of Esau, of Edom.

Speaker: This guy knew Cleopatra, the Greek queen who became queen of Egypt, He knew Julius Caesar. He knew Mark Antony, all the big Roman history names. He knew these people.

Speaker: And they said, okay, Herod, we're going to have our Roman Empire. We own Israel. But you can be like our puppet king.

Speaker: We'll put you in there and you can run things on a local level. So Israel was under the Roman Empire. But Herod the Edomite, Esau's descendant, would run it on the ground.

Speaker: So this division began in the book of Genesis 25. And for the rest of the Old Testament, Edom wanted the land of Israel.

Speaker: And suddenly, Herod the Edomite got it.

Speaker: At that time, there were two young people, a man and woman. The man's name was Joseph. He was a descendant of Jacob.

Speaker: And Mary was also a descendant from that royal line. So basically, he should have been the real king of Israel. And she should have been the queen of Israel.

Speaker: And the thing is, Israelites knew their ancestry very, very well. They knew that they were the rightful king and queen. But they were probably afraid of King Herod.

Speaker: So they hid in Nazareth. Nazareth is a part of the country that no one associated with good things. Like, what good comes from that area? It's nonsense.

Speaker: So they were hiding there. But they were betrothed, they were engaged, they were married. and next thing, Mary miraculously got pregnant to the baby Jesus.

Speaker: The wise men saw a star in the sky, and they were like, but the king of Israel has been born. So they thought, okay, well, where are kings born? The palace.

Speaker: So they walked to Herod's palace and they said, hey, you have a new son. Congratulations. And Herod said, I don't think I do. but Herod was a very bad husband and a very bad father. Herod had killed as a his own children.

Speaker: And the wise men said, oh, really? This is awkward.

Speaker: So Herod said, go find that baby. Yeah. And then tell me where he is. um And then Herod consulted his magicians and he found out that the baby was going to be the actual king of Israel.

Speaker: So the division, the tension began in Genesis 25. For centuries, the Edomites wanted the land of Israel.

Speaker: Finally, Herod had the land. So when he found out that Jesus had been born, he said, go to Bethlehem and kill all the baby boys.

Speaker: But God warned Mary and Joseph, so they escaped to Egypt as refugees. And they hid there until Jesus was older and Herod had died.

Speaker: Because normally when we think of the Christmas story, Herod is like, there's a baby, kill the baby. But no one knows why. It's like, gosh, he had a bad attitude. But if you actually realize that these tensions and divisions started one by 1,500 years earlier, you see, okay, wow. For generations and generations, the Edomites hated Israel.

Speaker: So therefore, Herod decided try to kill Jesus. But he failed. And that is why we celebrate Christmas next month.

Speaker: So hopefully after this study um today, you've seen different styles of studying the Bible you hadn't considered before and learned some new things.

Speaker: um If you have any questions, comments or concerns, feel free to share them. Or alternatively, if there are any other ways that you study the Bible that aren't on this list, you can share them.

Speaker: Or if there are any ways God has spoken to you through the Bible, you can share that now too, okay? So I know it's um almost 10 o'clock, so we won't go on for too much longer. But i just want to give you guys the space now to share any thoughts, comments, or observations you have, okay? Okay.

Speaker: Thanks, John, for the encouraging comments the chat box. Much appreciated. Brendan. Just for um clarity yeah but for for everyone. Sure.

Speaker: So because I had that question today, and I just want to hear your opinion on it. Sure. ah So if somebody is studying text yeah in a Bible,

Speaker: What would you recommend that they have to hand? And how would you recommend that they go around understanding text they simply cannot somehow figure out?

Speaker: Sure. ah Great question. What I personally would do most regularly with that is probably use Bible Hub.

Speaker: um Because sometimes... To be honest, it's just your translation of the Bible, which makes it a bit unclear. um Whereas even if, let's say, you read the parallel, there's so much we'll give it in a way that's just more crystal clear, where you read it and you go, yeah, why you know why doesn't every Bible translate it like that? That just makes so much more sense.

Speaker: Or there'll be times when... um probably because I'm a teacher by profession and I i teach languages. um For me, it's always important to make sure I'm giving the best translation of a word. So if it's, again, if it's the Old Testament, even click the Hebrew or if it's New Testament, the Greek, and it just can give a much bigger, a more vibrant and truer picture what exactly is happening. Some people might think that seems very heavy or very dense, but the reality is so long as it's revealing the heart of God, why wouldn't you want to know it?

Speaker: So i would usually say if you read something and that verse in particular is just a bit strange, a bit weird, I'd go on BibleHub and just make sure um that what I'm understanding is actually what it says. because some translations are better than others.

Speaker: Thank you. no one ah Another question, and I did not quite, I had of one example, but maybe other people use different things.

Speaker: what What does everybody, like do you have do you have a study Bible and which study Bible would you recommend? Yep, that one to everybody or to me? Or me and everybody?

Speaker: Everybody, because I think that everybody might have a different scenario, so let's just compare to what we're using. Sure.

Speaker: If other people have one, by all means, feel free to share and I'll show you mine.

Speaker: but Mine is called the Coleman Bible Handbook. um What I like about this one is you've got um short summaries on all the chapters of the Bible, but it also has photographs showing you what the places looked like.

Speaker: um Let's say that historians or archaeologists have taken, or if the place no longer exists, They'll show you photographs from the excavation. Or if any and artifacts have been seen, and they'll show you what the artifacts look like.

Speaker: So you can see exactly what these people believed, how they worshipped, what their technology was like as good maps. So I think it just really makes it come to life.

Speaker: ah Phil, go for it.

Speaker: Oh, yeah, now we've got study Bibles. Grace. sure Very good, obviously, because you get the passage and then Bendita explains, you know, what but the tradition was in those days, or yeah like you say, what the word actually means in Hebrew or Greek, and yeah, you read one line one day, think, that doesn't make any sense.

Speaker: But you read the bottom of it, Nick. Oh, it's also got pieces on the actual page. Sharon's here as well. is there Yeah, so you've got a load of stuff. ah yeah There's a lot of stuff at the bottom that tells you... um and more about what it's meaning, et cetera. But then actually on the ah dotted around the pages, yeah you also have like these boxes um that may tell you about the culture at that time.

Speaker: So it may not make sense, but actually it does because of the culture. um It just has all sorts of bits of information. And then even in the paragraphs, not the paragraphs, in the bits in the middle, it has loads of, in small writing, cross-references all the way through that you can see cross-references in loads of other books and cross-references to Old Testament and all this kind of stuff.

Speaker: But we've got a ah New King James and a King James because that tends to be... yeah i'm more accurate. for studying, we we still tend to use the King James for um trying to remember things and memorize. We use more than New King James, but we've also got probably about, I don't know, six other a versions yeah that we also pull out. So if ah like if I was really studying or if I was um preparing a teaching thing, then I may have many of them out that I'm looking at all of them.

Speaker: Right. Because then you get a rounded, because it's true, some of the version, especially some of the maybe more modern versions, can literally have whole verses missing. The commas can be in different places that changes what it means. um You know, some of them are just not the best, in my opinion, anyway. um ah So, yeah. So if I was really trying to sit and study, I would have lots of different versions out there.

Speaker: and um be cross-referencing all the different versions, um as well as a, I've got a like a Strong's Concordance. Brilliant. And a Zondervan Concordance. And they're obviously also really good for, I guess, more more advanced. But it's all those kind of ways that I personally use when I'm preparing or if I'm studying, et cetera.

Speaker: Awesome observations. So, yeah. Yeah, even like about the... um The comma, I mean, it seems like such a small thing. But even if you consider these two sentences here.

Speaker: If you say, let's eat, comma, grandma, it means granny, I'm hungry, you're hungry, well let's have dinner. Let's eat grandma. But in the second sentence, no comma.

Speaker: Let's eat grandma. That's like cannibalism. It's like, let's eat your grandmother. She is your dinner. um but Just a comma. Changed the sentence entirely.

Speaker: but Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember I was reading a commentary about um the the verse where Jesus' brothers kind of like ask if he's going to, can't remember which one it was on top of my head, but one of the... fact festivals yeah that would have been important so Jesus would have gone. But in one of the, um in fact, in two versions where they've put the comma, literally, it means Jesus is a liar.

Speaker: Oh, gosh. Which is not a liar. Yeah. le But because of where they had put the comma, because of his answer where the comma was, you have no alternative to believe that Jesus is lying. man. Because he just told them he wasn't going. And it was like, well, he clearly was and did. And just because of where they've put the comma. So some of these things can be.

Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. No, it's it's so true. You do. Yeah. yeah one I'm just going to go back off mute and hand you to Phil, because I'm in the middle of doing something as well, which is why Phil's at the phone.

Speaker: that's like But I am listening. I am listening. Multitasking. Multitasking. I am multitasking all evening. Lady

Speaker: Woman of God. No, but it's so true. I was reading even the version of Genesis 2 once, and it was about, you know, the Lord creating everything, obviously.

Speaker: Um, but...

Speaker: Basically, it was supposed to say the Lord had made. That would mean he made something first. And then the Lord made would be the thing he made second. And again, it's a real grammatician kind of thing.

Speaker: But instead, it just said God made, God made. It didn't actually specify which one he had made first. I was reading this thinking... huh it's absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Speaker: But you do need to have a certain level of grammatical awareness when you're translating at a job, especially when it's the Bible. Because what seem like small things, maybe in spoken English, can become very, very confusing when you're reading a book. So yeah, especially God's word, we just have to be so, so careful.

Speaker: and

Speaker: I'm at reading the Bible. o Not today, but yesterday and the other day.

Speaker: and I was first reading in English. No, no, no, no, no. Finnish, of course. I read Finnish Bible.

Speaker: But then I want to know what it is saying. I want to understand. So I pick up my phone. And I have this Bible app, you know?

Speaker: Great. And of course, there is message. There is ah Amplify. There is NLT.

Speaker: enty Is that? Yeah, the New Living Translations. Beautiful. Yeah, and there are so many. And I was reading the same thing English with Amplify.

Speaker: And I was like, what? i don't I still don't understand. i was And part of the thing is because I didn't understand because I have very bad dysflexia.

Speaker: okay And I was still trying, but, but I, no, no, no, but my mind, my brain just cool on, you know? And that I was like, mom,

Speaker: every time, well, whatever this, it is always mom.

Speaker: So I did ask, mom, please. It's good. Yeah, ask someone. It's good. Could you tell me what this means?

Speaker: And once she told me what it means, I was like, oh, thank you. Now it makes sense. yeah So I do learn much more easier.

Speaker: Then, um of course, it depends on who is who the person is who explaining to me. Sharon is using so

Speaker: English. So I am not usually...

Speaker: So I understand her when she is trying to explain what this and that means, what the Bible says. But also... What is the thing like thissa this visible?

Speaker: Like, let's say you are trying are you are ah you are trying to the Bible. Let's say Saron is with you in the same room with you right now. Okay. okay So, you take Saron and say, she is the...

Speaker: Let's say it is bad example, but let's say Sharon stole your car. See? She stole your car, let's say.

Speaker: OK.

Speaker: And then you are making it visible. um Is it visible? Can you say that that word in that context? Visible. and Finish the the thought, and then I'll tell you if you use it correctly.

Speaker: and So you are not just saying, oh, she stole my car. You are showing me. Okay. She stole your... livestream Okay.

Speaker: I'm exposing her. So when I see things, or is that like if you show me what happened exactly in the Bible, I tend to understand.

Speaker: then But if I just read, I'm like, sure oh Sometimes it's so frustrating because I can't perceive things.

Speaker: So even when um I can't remember, Sharon was teaching me some English words and I was like, what?

Speaker: And she tried and tried and tried. Could you please write that? And once she write that, I was like, oh, thank you. Now I understand. See, she had to make it visible to me.

Speaker: So do you have... good huh No, it's it's a good point. And it's one of the reasons, to be honest, that I'll include a lot of pictures, let's say, from Google Images, because sometimes you just need the picture word association.

Speaker: mean Because if it's words words, words, words, it can be very heavy. And sometimes it doesn't make a lot of sense in your first language, but especially your second. But if you look at the picture, it's like, ah, now I get it.

Speaker: um And that's why Jesus came to reveal the father, because father God was invisible. But Jesus is God visible. God. Yeah, exactly. yeah beats So absolutely. It's a wonderful way um to actually help understand the Bible story is actually to see the picture.

Speaker: um And even in this picture here, you see had the roof was made of wood. So to go with my example, they weren't damaging anyone's property with a thaw.

Speaker: they just took off the wood and lowered the man. So you might picture the story one way reading it, when you look at the picture or a photograph, you can understand it completely differently and more accurately.

Speaker: So yeah, it's good. The word picture association, it's important. Yes. And when you were saying that when you watch a movie,

Speaker: and then read the Bible. yeah So I did exactly that. good I have this serious movie, The Bible,

Speaker: and but ah there are Noah, there are Abraham, Moses, and many other men of the Bible. And it was about...

Speaker: This man, Joshua, how do you pronounce his name? Joshua. Yeah, Joshua. Yeah, thank you. yeah um It was about him and this angel,

Speaker: this leader and leader angel, leading the army when they were taking the land, Israelis. Yeah.

Speaker: so It was a little bit different telling in that serious than it was in the Bible. But because I saw, it had it was helping me to understand there a little bit more.

Speaker: I can't say I do understand the Bible as you do or my mom. No way. But I do a little bit. At this point. it's It's all a journey. And God will reveal to you what he needs you to know.

Speaker: And you just continue to have a humble heart and he will reveal the best of the best to you. Everything you need and the people in your world need to know.

Speaker: And is it like I think that the Lord has their own time? Because sometimes I'm like, oh, please help me to understand this.

Speaker: I just don't understand. i understand like I don't understand. Please help me to understand. And I still, I can't hear Like, we sometimes i I can't hear the voice at the moment telling me what it means.

Speaker: And sometimes um I can't remember when this happened, but the Holy Spirit told me, Janita, it's not your time to understand it now. Sure.

Speaker: And i was like, okay. Yeah, but don't feel ah rejected in those moments. Think of in a human relationship.

Speaker: um i it's For example, I teach um English. So if I'm teaching beginner students who have been in Ireland for one week, I will teach them Phone.

Speaker: Phone.

Speaker: Paper. Paper. Because that's all they can handle. But when they're advanced students, I can't say,

Speaker: Boom. Watch. Watch. No, because they' they're advanced. They're a higher level. um So what they need to know is different depending on their progress, their class, where they are.

Speaker: Or with parents and their children. Parents will not teach five-year-old children about taxes or romantic relationships. um But when your child's a teenager, yeah, there's a certain amount of exposure that's necessary.

Speaker: When they're an adult and they start working or going to college or leaving home, there's more exposure required. And God is a good, good father.

Speaker: So he knows what you need. when you need it and you just have to be um patient with yourself and trust him for the best.

Speaker: Because he doesn't want it to damage you, you know? That is very challenging to be patient with me. It's not easy, but it's necessary. like You would be patient with other people.

Speaker: But you also have to be patient with yourself. I think sometimes it's easier to be patient and generous and compassionate to others. but um no, the book the Bible says you love God first and you love others as yourself.

Speaker: So God is love himself. So get to know him first. Love yourself from that relationship. And then from that full place, you can pour into other people's lives.

Speaker: Amen? Amen. Okay.

Speaker: Okay, that's awesome, Lara. Thanks million.

Speaker: all right, guys, any other... comments, thoughts, observations? Or are we all ready for bed?

Speaker: Or in my case, another cup of tea.

Speaker: This ran out 16 minutes ago. i don't know how I'm still on my feet. All

Speaker: all right, guys. We'll end it there for tonight then, okay? Thank you so, so much for logging on today. Thanks so much for your contributions. Thank you, Brendan. Have a peaceful night with a sweet sleep. And have a prosperous rest of your week, okay? And we'll see you again soon.

Speaker: Good night. Good night, everybody.