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FDTC 170 -- How To Read Your Bible
17 Plays9 days ago
The Bible is the most fascinating, stunning, excellent, insightful, challenging, and controversial book on Earth. It contains stories, commands, poems, songs, dreams, visons, prophecies, letters, and more; and is so rich in detail... yet this denseness causes a lot of people to fear it's inaccessible or futile to even try understanding it. Why study the Bible? What are its benefits? And how do we go about it? Join Brendan's live recording of his discipleship course to find out more!
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Recommended
Transcript
Unusual Summer in Ireland
00:00:00
Speaker
you don't want be get with the Hello and welcome to From Dublin to Cleveland. i am Logan Howard and I am joined once again by Brendan Thomas Merritt. Brendan, it's been a while.
00:00:12
Speaker
How are you today? I'm great. Always great. a It is summer here, and when I say that, i don't mean it's like the month of July. i mean, we're actually properly having ah summer.
00:00:28
Speaker
I don't know if it's that clear on the screen, but my skin is golden. Gone are are the pale and stale days. have been sun-kissed, and my goodness, it's amazing. We're getting upwards of...
00:00:43
Speaker
24, 25, 26 degrees Celsius, which I know in most countries is incredibly cold and would even be frightened upon. but my goodness, in Ireland, that is quasi-miraculous.
00:00:54
Speaker
but Yes. and are you allowed to use Are you allowed to use your AC in Ireland? I know apparently there's been quite the uproar in France that you're not allowed to use it on the lower seven levels of your of your house.
Air Conditioning in Ireland
00:01:08
Speaker
But those top few levels where all the executives are, they're allowed AC. So I'm just wondering, how does that work turkey in Ireland?
00:01:15
Speaker
um Well, we have some problems in Ireland, but we're not at the point where our leader is married to a man in a dress who is twice his age and molested him when he was 14. So we're not quite that bad. But I would also say...
00:01:36
Speaker
Air conditioning isn't overly common in Ireland. And if you're in Ireland looking to this and you have air conditioning and you're like, du I'm delighted for you. Praise Jesus.
00:01:47
Speaker
But a it's not that common. I know buildings in other countries were made to cool the people down. Ireland, buildings were constructed to keep heat in.
00:02:02
Speaker
So, ah yeah, getting the heat out of the building isn't really... on most people's minds, in my old workplace, we wouldn't open doors and windows or turn on air conditioning on a hot day. you would literally just teach the students outside and a park.
00:02:19
Speaker
but but but but And that was your fresh air. Your fresh air, or your way of cooling down, was going into the sunshine.
America's AC Usage & Political Commentary
00:02:28
Speaker
thy see.
00:02:30
Speaker
Not really a thing here. I see. So whenever he does make it over here to America, folks, yeah and it's in the middle of summertime and he feels the effects of air conditioning, he might never go back, folks. So that's why that's why he doesn't come.
00:02:46
Speaker
that that's That's the facts right there. He's worried about regard about staying in America. To have a president slash leader of your country who actually cares about what you're what you care about? Wow.
00:03:01
Speaker
I mean, I don't think he'd leave. so Well, what might possibly be the one appeal. but He just needs to get back on that ah exposing the Epstein track. He got a little bit... He's little bit to the wayside.
00:03:16
Speaker
I think after he got shot in the head, I think someone paid him a very nasty visit and said that they would shoot
Podcast Viewership Growth
00:03:23
Speaker
him a second time, wouldn't miss. and So I think they said, you know, zip your mouth and be quiet or else just needs to...
00:03:32
Speaker
yeah get gotta Get on track with the people and actually expose the predators and deal with them. But ah overall, I still like the guy. Yes. Well, also, while we've been gone, we've had a bunch of people view our our podcast, which is crazy. Crazy awesome. um And it has been mind-blowing.
Bible Basics Focus
00:03:54
Speaker
We had, I want to say, upwards of like, there was a couple days that there was there was like a day that we had 5,000, 7,000, and then a 2,000, and then like a 1,000. It was crazy. um We have a total. So when I go on Zencaster, we have a total of 32,000 views in the entire existence of Zencaster being a thing.
00:04:20
Speaker
And we had like 15,000 over the past 30 days. So literally doubled what we had had before. So, How crazy is that? How awesome is that? So what we wanted to do as we saw all this was we wanted to start to think about what is what is we want to what do we want to work on going forward? And what is it that people are actually watching? so that we can continue that.
00:04:40
Speaker
And so that's what today's episode is. We're going to be talking about the Bible basics. As we've looked at some of the stuff that we had previously and some of the stuff that we have on our extras, all of it points to the Bible and talking about
Bible Knowledge Game Introduction
00:04:54
Speaker
the Bible. So we're going to talking about that later on. Before that, we are going to have our entertainment moment. And by entertainment, it's really just going to prove how much ah Logan doesn't know about the Bible because there's some, there's some, that there's,
00:05:08
Speaker
gems dude gems i i don't know my biblical gems i'm sorry i just don't um so it's going to be interesting but i'll explain here how this game is going work so this game is going work like this we are going to have 12 categories and we're going to be working through them and our goal in each category is to make sure that we don't say the same thing So for instance, let's say that we, uh, our category is disciples, right? So if our category is disciple and we say three, two, one, and Brendan goes Thomas, I so was gonna say i go John, which is what I would say.
00:05:47
Speaker
of We'd be good because we didn't match, right? We didn't say the same thing. Good job. But both were correct, which is the more important, presumably. And both are correct, yes. um That is awesome.
00:06:02
Speaker
Yes. um However, if he had said Thomas and I had said Thomas, oop, that's a fail, we said the same thing. So the goal of this game is not to think like each other. It's actually...
00:06:12
Speaker
trying to not pick the same thing that the other person's picking. So you got to think a little bit instead of saying the first thing maybe that comes to your mind, you got to think a little bit more because Maybe it's the second thing because they might say the first thing. So we'll see how it goes. Anyway, so let me pull up our chat here and it will show our list here.
00:06:34
Speaker
um And Brendan, if you want to show the list to the people, you can show the list to the people. I will show the list to the people. don't You don't need to see the list. They will probably learn quickly what I have on my Computer screen. i have dis engage And my tablet.
00:06:52
Speaker
Logan, how dare you have a Discord, you horrible person. You're not a real Christian. Or some worse worse would be, can I have your Discord so I can message you all of my health and wellness gospel? You know I just got to message it to you, pete somebody, and it could be yo.
00:07:10
Speaker
If you think that is like the worst case scenario of what someone's tabs could be, you live a very clean life. That's all I'll say. Hey. Which is not a problem. it's not a bad thing. Not a bad thing. No, no, no, no. That's the wrong one. Yes.
00:07:24
Speaker
and but ah but Whoopsies. People are like, who the heck is Richard?
00:07:33
Speaker
but it's Oh, well. gone but Right. Let's try this again.
00:07:41
Speaker
All right. So we have 12 categories that we're gonna be working through. So we're going to see if we can get all 12. If we get all 12, we are geniuses. We know. This is a disaster. Absolutely everything.
00:07:56
Speaker
As this might be, we'll have to add it in post-edit. You know, that might be what this is supposed to be. but but but This video's gonna require a lot of cutting. Yeah.
00:08:07
Speaker
It's not showing up. Oh, well. I can do this. I can do this. I'll just put, I'll copy it and I'll stick on something else. There you got kind a powerpoint that that could be That could be a solution. So, like I said, we're going to be going through a category and we're gonna be trying to get stuff that is different. um However, there could be some really hard categories. For instance, we could have a category that is, um you know, Sons of Isaac. And there's literally two.
00:08:35
Speaker
Jacob and Esau. And we have to guess which one... I was going to start naming the Sons of Jacob. would got that wrong.
Playing the Bible Game
00:08:44
Speaker
yeah All I can think of Joseph and the amazing technical or dream quote is I start saying, Reuben was the oldest of the children with Israel, with Simeon and Levi, Max and... I just start thinking about it. Oh, man.
00:09:00
Speaker
ah Let's also say that there might be some things on here, like the cities of Judah, which ah we might have to have a fact check after, and that could go poorly.
00:09:14
Speaker
um So, yay. um ah We'll have different you know women in the Bible. We'll have some miracles. We'll have some things found around God's throne.
00:09:30
Speaker
We'll have some rivers. We'll have weapons found in the Bible. ah We're going to have gems and precious stones and blessings. So we're going have quite quite a list here. So we're going to be working through to see if we can get this. All right, so Brendan, are you ready for this or you do you still like need a moment?
00:09:55
Speaker
ah I was born ready for this. Oh, he's born ready. All right, yeah here we go. by So first one is profits. Our goal is not to say the same profit. So think about a profit.
00:10:09
Speaker
Think about a profit. And once you've got your profit, yeah okay, I've got mine. Yep. Three, two, one, Hosea. Nice.
00:10:20
Speaker
Beautiful. That's one point. We've got it correct. We did not cross paths. We're good. All right. Number two. Now this is the category of numbers. Now I want to explain for those of you at home.
00:10:33
Speaker
You could be playing along with us. You can also try to name a number. It's a just a number in the Bible. So for instance, Balaam's donkey would be incorrect. Balaam's donkey would be an incorrect answer. We would not get a point for that. However, if you say a number that is definitely in the Bible, even if it's like 144,000. That what I was going to say.
00:10:59
Speaker
Or something like that. Alright, you gotta pick a different number. Don't over explain! ah um So, you gotta to pick one of those numbers. So, i I have a different number. I am ready. Well, I have to change my number. Okay.
00:11:15
Speaker
Alright. 3, 2, 1, 3. but but but but but but one gave the number of God, one gave the number of the beast.
00:11:28
Speaker
What did that say about us? but Well, if I was thinking I should have said seven, seven, seven, that's what I should have done. was also about to say a seven after you already said my first example, 124,000. Oh, yes. So there was there was a smaller number of group of numbers there. Now we're going to move to cities in Judah.
00:11:47
Speaker
I am terrified about this one, by the way. I i don't know if I don't I don't know what's going to happen. We'll Google it afterwards if we need to. Oh, um, and Google it now if you have to.
00:12:01
Speaker
Google it now if you have to. No. That's cheating. That's cheating. Uh, all right. It better to get it wrong because we say the same thing than to get it wrong because your answer is just not applicable.
00:12:14
Speaker
Exactly. Exactly. All right. I am ready. I have an, I have a city. Yeah. All right. Three, two, one, Jerusalem.
00:12:27
Speaker
Huh? Nice. There we go. There we go. And then I can already feel the typing below. Well, technically that wasn't the city. And Beersheba wasn't actually in there. something like that.
00:12:41
Speaker
You know, none of you would ever do that to us. yeah Nobody would ever send us a nasty gram saying we got something wrong. Our fans are amazing. They are. They're great. Anyway, moving on to the next one. you feel validated, listeners? you Send us an email from double to from do to cleveland at at gmail.com. Email us your gratitude. but
00:13:08
Speaker
All right, number four, occasions for anointing with oil. Okay, I'm not going to go through any examples for this. Yeah, so you do, you're going to say the example I have in my head. You've done that. Exactly, exactly. Because we are a rubric match, and we've got to think differently for this time. I saw rubrics cube today by accident in my drawer just over there.
00:13:28
Speaker
you You solved one by accident? No, no. Hopefully didn't me for us. enough in my life. I thought saw one. It's solved,
00:13:40
Speaker
Ah, you just saw one. It was already right because it was in the box. which Alrighty, all alright. So, occasions for anointing with oil. Are you are you ready? I think... Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:13:52
Speaker
I've got one. I've got one. Alright. 3, 2, 1. Crown a king. That was my second guess. Oof. Oof.
00:14:03
Speaker
Yeah. I almost changed at the last second, but then... i Oof. Yeah. Alright. I think we should be okay on number five. Books in the New Testament. I think i think we'll be alright.
00:14:14
Speaker
think we'll be alright. You would think so. Let's hope so. There's, what, 20... 20-some? 29? Something like that. I don't know. Alright.
00:14:25
Speaker
I'm ready. As am I. Alright. Three... two one james that was dangerously close that was way too close that's why that was way too close back in your box oh goodness oh boy that was way too close folks oh no All right. ah woof I about had a heart attack there. Anyway, number six. so We've got five points so far far. Number six, women who disobeyed God.
00:15:04
Speaker
And Brendan, say your joke.
00:15:09
Speaker
yeah All of them have a joke to do. They're going to marry the mother of Jesus, people. All have sinned and fallen short the glory of God. But at Logan's looking for a specific woman.
00:15:22
Speaker
Who doesn't pay a cost. With a specific infamous example recorded in scripture. Okay. i I originally had a name. I've changed it.
00:15:34
Speaker
I hope it doesn't cost me. Oh no, because I had a name and now I'm thinking about changing mine. I hope you changing yours is what does not cost either of us.
00:15:45
Speaker
Yes, let's hope not. Alright, I am ready. Three, two, one. Sapphira.
00:15:58
Speaker
Oh. Ananias and Sapphira. She's never by herself. It's always Ananias and Sapphira.
00:16:10
Speaker
The fact that you didn't say your husband's name through me. i was picturing... yeah I was picturing Moses' wife. I was like, what did she ever do to you? And
00:16:25
Speaker
I was like, no, hang on. There's something wrong with this. That's Zipporah.
00:16:31
Speaker
What did you call it? Did you call it Sapphira? Sapphira. Sapphira. um ah For whatever reason, I heard Zephora. And I was thinking, that's a very strange way he pronounced the letter P. Because I can see what Zephora is spelled. And i'm like, why pronounced the P's as F's?
00:16:51
Speaker
Yeah, okay. Okay. Right. All right. All right. So my Miriam example is is, of course, when she spoke ill of Moses' second marriage and got leprosy.
00:17:04
Speaker
yes yes that's true that was that was good i i was on board with that yeah yeah um all right next one is miracles performed by jesus all miracles performed by jesus i had one in mind but i'm changing us okay i'm just gonna stick with my original one and that's what it's okay all right ready yep three two one water into money in the fish
00:17:35
Speaker
Money and the fish. Yeah, that's good. That's good. Yeah, we'll have wine equally good. yeah What was your original one that you had? My first one was Jesus spitting in someone's face to kill him of blindness.
00:17:55
Speaker
My first one. One of the first ones I thought of was like bringing Lazarus back from the dead. But I was like, might be he might just go for that one. So I can't do it. Lazarus genuinely had not crossed my mind once.
00:18:10
Speaker
Alright. Alright, next round here is Things Found Around God's Throne. Oh my goodness, I literally taught on this on Sunday at church. I have so many answers.
00:18:24
Speaker
And I keep changing it every couple of seconds. Okay, I've i've picked one. ah I am going to go... i think I've got one. Yep.
00:18:35
Speaker
Does things include humans and creatures, or just things? Yeah, that's what I was going to go with.
00:18:45
Speaker
Yeah, okay. okay All right, ready?
00:18:51
Speaker
Three, two, Serafim. Crystal Thieves. That was what I was going to go with first. Because I was thinking, well, they fly over the throne rather than around the throne. that's So I said, ha he's too much of a technicality kind of guy. He's never going with the Seraphine, the flying, fiery winged snakes.
00:19:14
Speaker
And then I thinking the elders, because they're sitting on thrones, because which is a thing. um And then I just said, you know what? Screw it. Go with heaven's number one tourist destination.
00:19:27
Speaker
the yeah The tourist destination spoken most frequently of in the Bible. a ah Apart from all the throne rooms. That crystal sea. And I, for one, cannot wait to get in there and steal some crystals and take them back to my property.
00:19:41
Speaker
But yeah, that would have been a that would have been a boo-boo. Yes, that that was almost bad. This one i'm I'm pretty afraid of because I... Oh, no, I've got one now.
00:19:55
Speaker
yeah Got one. Do not be afraid. Just believe. Alright, I've got one. Alright, are you ready? It depends if we have the same answer or not, but I think I'm ready.
00:20:07
Speaker
I think I've chosen one that you won't. Three, two, one, you've... Denial. i thought of that one originally. o And then I thought the Jordan.
00:20:20
Speaker
And then I tried to think of one of the headwaters from River Eden, and I couldn't. And then I just said, I'm going to with Exodus. All right. Next one are they wild this is weapons. We've got
Concluding the Game & Audience Engagement
00:20:34
Speaker
a perfect list so far.
00:20:37
Speaker
Perfect list so far.
00:20:43
Speaker
I've got one. I think it's obscure enough that you're not going to say it. i'm I'm picking an obscure one too so I'm a bit worried now mine is so obscure most people would not even categorize it in this but it does belong okay ah I'm just gonna stick with mine and if it's a match we're in trouble but alright are you ready consequences yep consequences three two one jawbone destruction what did you say
00:21:17
Speaker
A jawbone. Samson. From Samson. Very good. Nice one. Yeah, that's what I was worried. I was a bit worried there for a second because I was like, well, so what was yours? That was obscure. The broom of destruction.
00:21:32
Speaker
Broom of destruction. Okay. It's mentioned in Jeremiah. It's literally like God has a sweeping brush and just sweeps away his enemies. Oh, right. is that like um Is that like in that section where there's a verse that talks about just like a man washes the washes a dish so God will wipe out his people or something like that? And that's that's so that men have to do dishes. I feel like that I've seen women say that men have to do dishes because it's just like book as God is saying that just like a man washes a dish.
00:22:04
Speaker
So the men have to do the dishes. That's what I've heard. I've had people use that against me. Okay. Isaiah. Not Jeremiah. Isaiah 4. Okay. Wrong area.
00:22:16
Speaker
I will sir not necessari but hold on i would turn her into a place for owls and into swampland. I will sweep her with the broom of destruction, declares the Lord Almighty. Okay.
00:22:35
Speaker
And then just have this huge, big, long chunk of text, which has nothing to do with the bro. All right. Order this. Huh. Nothing there. And... Okay, Jeremiah, nothing there.
00:22:50
Speaker
was convinced was in Jeremiah. Let me see.
00:22:55
Speaker
What, you thought the bro of destruction was in Jeremiah? I was convinced. And when I typed it in there, Four Bible verses appeared, but no, it is only Isaiah 14. It's just that one verse.
00:23:07
Speaker
Yeah. So basically, people behaved very naughtily, and God said, adios, amigo. There you go. Yep, that's a good weapon. That's that.
00:23:19
Speaker
All right. Now comes my most dreaded category, Gems. Gems. Precious gems. I have two in mind. I have a favorite one, but I'm concerned you might say it, so maybe I won't say that one.
00:23:34
Speaker
I have one that's in my head that I think I'm going to go with. I had another one. There's one that i can't I can't remember the name for it. That's the problem.
00:23:46
Speaker
Then it would be very hard to say yes in a guessing game. a I will not say my favorite. I will say a different one.
00:23:57
Speaker
Alright, I'm ready. Okay, as am I.
Teaching the Bible Effectively
00:24:00
Speaker
Three, two, one. Sapphires. What is it with you and Sapphire, Sapphira? Yeah.
00:24:12
Speaker
Red. This is... Yeah, barrels a good, good, good shot. Barrel's a good shot. happy guys There's one, there's one that's in there in that precious gems that ah like nobody knows what it looks like. Like there's no, like they don't know what it looks like. It's one of the colors because it's just the the way they named it. And so that one I want to see. I want to see one of those.
00:24:37
Speaker
I forget which one it is, but well i have to I'll have to look that up here when I get a second. um All right. Our number 12 is Blessings. Now, feel like we need to discuss this for a second. buts let them what how do what do you how are you How are we interpreting this when it says Blessings?
00:24:59
Speaker
I'll be honest you. kind hoping you would say. know this was your idea for a game. I was interpreting it as Spiritual Blessing. Okay. That's not why he was interpreting Do you think this is like the Beatitudes kind of thing? So you would say like one of those blessings, like one of them that's blessed or or like specifically just a blessing that God gives you that's a spiritual blessing that's definitely in the Bible?
00:25:28
Speaker
Given that this was a Bible game, I would have figured everything had to
00:25:35
Speaker
well Sorry, sorry. it was i was I was attempting a joke there because, you know. Oh, I'm sorry. Blessing. Good one. Blessing. You know, you you were just talking about how you were mad about somebody who was saying thank you for the birds and the the trees and the leaves. and Oh, yeah, yeah. Getting about 530 for prayer meetings. And yeah, those are blessings, but.
00:25:58
Speaker
Not one or three people in to a one hour prayer meeting and it's already 6.27am and all we have done is thank God for trees and for birds.
00:26:12
Speaker
I got a shovel and I went outside and I struck a bird and I hit branches off one of the trees in my garden. They just turned me off. The natural realm.
00:26:23
Speaker
Yep. okay yep I was thinking more spiritual blessings, even if that means doing so in the abstract.
00:26:37
Speaker
Okay. um As opposed, like, this is my lived experience. Not that your lived experience is anything to be ashamed of, friends. Okay. I've got one. Yep, it is. Okay-dokie.
00:26:49
Speaker
i've got i've got one um it is okay doy All right. Three, two, one. Sealed by Holy Spirit. with God.
00:27:00
Speaker
Peace with God. Nice one. 12 for 12. 12 for 12. Man, that was good. That was good. Has that ever happened before? ah I don't know. i don't know. There is... All winners.
00:27:15
Speaker
we are all winners there. There is a list. There's, there's like 14 more lists that you can go through. So maybe in the future, we'll pull them up. But happy days. ah Hopefully you enjoyed the game. And maybe if you were playing along, maybe you also didn't name anything that we named. Maybe you named a third category. And so maybe you also got 12 points, but you're brilliant. You're a amazing.
00:27:38
Speaker
Maybe you did. I don't know. if You'll have to let us know if you did. So you can send us an email from DublinTheCleveland at gmail.com. And if you were guessing the same as we were, with which of us did your guesses align the most?
00:27:55
Speaker
Good point. Good point. That's a good comment. you a secret Loganite or a secret Brendanite? Yes. Good. Good. Good. good our those names Yes, we should. We should even have shirts, you know, which you can buy a shirt at the From Dublin to Cleveland ah shirt store, which is in the links below. So go buy a shirt and maybe we'll have a Loganite and a Brendanite shirts because that would be hilarious. love it already. We're already scraping the bottom of the barrel. Love it already.
00:28:26
Speaker
We haven't even done. FDTC shirts yet. And we're already going, let's make a brand. But a good stuff. Good stuff. All right. So for the rest of our time, we're going going into Bible basics. And what we mean by that is how do we.
00:28:47
Speaker
use the Bible in different aspects of our lives is kind of what we're looking at. So we're going to go through a couple of questions. I think we ended up with ah six, the number of imperfection. Oh, well, now well it'll be fine.
00:29:02
Speaker
So but let's get started with the first one. How do you read to teach, Brendan? What is your way of reading the Bible or studying the Bible that helps you then teach it to people?
00:29:16
Speaker
hundreds of other people that you teach because at this point it's it's hundreds I'm sure. Yeah, wow. a You read the Bible very differently to teach it as opposed to for any of your own purposes or uses.
00:29:34
Speaker
And I suppose how I do it is might be a bit different others. I assume little different from Dublin to Cleveland. It's more conversational style.
00:29:49
Speaker
But when it's exclusively me-led, and I assume people know nothing. I... that sounds so insulting. I mean, in a teacherly You fools! You fool the toke! Idiots! Immetals! You foolish cucks. You know nothing. ah Because i hate sitting under someone's teaching.
00:30:21
Speaker
When they are bouncing around the Bible from one verse to another verse, one concept to another concept.
00:30:28
Speaker
And they're missing very important links. um And I look around the room and I just see people looking confused. Or looking concerned.
00:30:40
Speaker
Or looking stressed. Or I can see the cogs turning in people's heads. And I know... They don't have a bull's notion. What's going on. Because... The teacher... Is taking them where they... Want the people to be.
00:31:00
Speaker
Or the teacher is taking the people... Where the teacher wants them to be. Or thinks they should arrive at. But actually...
Bible Study Tools
00:31:08
Speaker
It is a teacher's job to get them there.
00:31:11
Speaker
You can't just skip steps. You can't teach children a B, C, D, E, F, G. Now I know my A, B, C. You're missing a heck of lot of letters in there in the middle.
00:31:24
Speaker
It's the same as the word of God. You have to plot the points A to Z. And if it takes 26 steps, that's okay.
00:31:35
Speaker
It takes multiple sessions. That's okay. But how I read the words is God will tell me usually months in advance, I want you to teach on this.
00:31:46
Speaker
And I'll say, okay, God, but I know this one has not actually read the Bible cover. cover I know this one is new to the faith. I know those ones have superb knowledge, but not on this.
00:32:01
Speaker
I know that that one is going to have her eyes wide open and our head blown is going to have 50 questions. I know this one has come from that background and they're going to challenge everything I say because they've only ever heard of the opposite.
00:32:15
Speaker
So when I read the Bible to teach, I say, okay, God, I know where you want people to arrive, but I have to plot and plan this to take every step with them.
00:32:30
Speaker
To dot every i to cross every T, and that makes it thorough. It can make it long. It can make progress slow, if I slow down over a period of teachings, period of weeks, period of months.
00:32:46
Speaker
But i read I read it thinking, okay, with my people in mind, they plot God has entrusted to me. where are they at how do i help them get to the conclusion god wants them to arrive at and cover all your bases and anticipate the question that they're going to have um i don't just teach something that i'm interested in or that i want to teach in fact the teachings i give are often things that aren't on my radar god does tell me to teach them um and then i read the bible thinking okay
00:33:23
Speaker
if I were coming at this with total utter cluelessness, how would I arrive with inclusion? God, won think that what about yourself? Yeah. Um, I think it, like you said, it's, it's a different way of doing it. It's a more in depth way of
Teaching with Humility
00:33:40
Speaker
doing it. Um, because you're, it's not necessarily that you're going to go into every, um,
00:33:48
Speaker
Like, you're you're you're trying to get every detail of what this is, what it means, what it's pointed towards, and then you condense it or push it into the form that will best be understood by the people you're talking about. And that'll differ from Latin to Latin.
00:34:06
Speaker
It will. It'll differ differ from lesson to lesson. It'll differ from group to group, even if it's groups within your church. So if you're teaching Sunday school if you're versus teaching on Sunday mornings, it's completely different. When you're teaching, at least for my church, when i'm teaching on Sunday mornings and preaching, it is you are dialoguing all of it. You're speaking through the passage and you're talking through the passage and you're explaining and pointing out definitions or Greek words.
00:34:35
Speaker
versions of the word you are speaking there's nobody else talking versus when you're teaching maybe a small group or you're teaching a like sunday school class you are teaching it as a discussion and so you're saying here's here's the bible verse what do you think about this what is your observations that you pull out of this um and so it's a little bit different in terms of those so it it almost depends on where you're teaching as to how you're teaching it um I think one of the the best tools that I've used is it's called Blue Letter Bible. And what it does is it really helps to give you an idea of the passage. I really like using um Matthew Henry and some of his commentaries on stuff because they have his entire collection of commentaries on the whole Bible. And so every single chapter that you come into or your section you're reading, he has thoughts and opinions that I
00:35:28
Speaker
I'm blown away every time I read anything that he has. um Another person I really enjoy is Spurgeon on there. He has some really good stuff that will pull out to explain um to explain passages, and he he goes a lot deeper than most people today would.
00:35:46
Speaker
So he does a really good job. So between both of them, they usually give a good idea of what is the passage actually saying, what is the actual message of this. I will say one of the things they have on there is like, what does the Bible say is a ah people who do things and they always seem to get it completely wrong with whatever, like every single time I've read what they have, I completely disagree with. So don't use them. um But it's a free source. So you know what, there's also messages you can listen and to get points about like, you can actually listen to messages, not only just read the messages, So that's pretty handy as well. Um, so I use that pretty heavily in terms of, I read through the passage first and then use that to say, okay, so what are the things that here's some observations I made and there's some observations they made. Let me mold those together. Cause I didn't see that. Like I didn't catch that or maybe I, maybe I did catch it and they didn't cover that. So why is that? And so going through some of those questions, but like Brendan said, the goal of your teaching is to make it easily understood.
00:36:48
Speaker
Um, You almost want to, in some cases, boil it down to what is the big idea? What is the big idea for this passage? Because truthfully, there are some people out there who can like listen to a message and pull out 32 things that they're like, wow, this was really awesome. This is really good. But for the most majority of people, it's one thing that they get out of it. And you want to make sure that you're clear you're clearly explaining what that one thing is.
00:37:17
Speaker
And if you can do that, that's a successful teaching because they got away what you were trying to explain. um So that's kind of my way of doing it is you bring in some of those extra commentaries because I don't want it ever to be, well, this is Logan's interpretation on things because it's the Bible. It's God's word speaks. And then I just am here to help clarify some of what God's saying. And it's not even me most of the time It's what others have said before who are much wiser, smarter, and have studied more than me.
00:37:50
Speaker
So that's my my flow of how to do this is is basically pulling together some of those commentaries, some of those thoughts, and some of the things that God has impressed on my heart to focus out.
00:38:02
Speaker
And there's humility in that too. and Because you're sitting under other people's and teaching. um And then, yeah, listen, there are times where Spirit just unpacks something for you in a way that you never could have discerned, which is amazing as well.
00:38:17
Speaker
Yes. But yeah, the the sense of it's not just whipping over the Bible and saying, this is what I take from it, but actually having the humility to say, to be a good teacher, you have to be a good learner.
00:38:34
Speaker
And that does not stop When someone gives you a title, it does not stop. If you're payroll, it does not stop. If you're over a church yourself or a ministry or demographic yourself, you continually have to be a good learner.
00:38:50
Speaker
A lifeless learner. a And just as you want people to glean from you, gleaning from others. Yeah, very important. it's Great.
00:39:03
Speaker
yeah the best the best The best learners are the best teachers. People who can learn well will teach well. that's It has to be that way, otherwise it won't ah it won't won't be as good. It will be you putting yourself into the situation or the story or the teaching. and It's very clear you're sitting under a teacher or a pastor or a preacher or whatever the title they want to give themselves who you can tell has tagged out on learning.
00:39:30
Speaker
They're very okay with yesterday's revelation or yesterday's bread, however authentic or inauthentic it was to begin with. Yeah.
00:39:42
Speaker
It's cringely embarrassing. Yes. yeah Yeah. I mean, there's people who have 25 to 50, maybe 100 sermons that they have and they just rotate them and then they get to the end of the sermons and they go, well, I got to move to a different church because I've run out of sermons. Yeah. Yeah.
00:40:00
Speaker
That's a problem. You should be should be doing it every single time. if If anything, you get into it again and you actually sit down and you study it. You don't just pull up stuff that you've done before.
00:40:13
Speaker
Yeah, because there's always new things. He'll show you new things. He will tweak areas where maybe you were wrong before or there was a level of depth didn't goce into before. and then there are times, do I sometimes like,
00:40:27
Speaker
teach the same thing I've told before to different
Reading the Bible for Spiritual Growth
00:40:30
Speaker
demographics or the same demographics. Yeah. But there'll be something in it that is unique for each group where there's no point sitting around, you know, giving in ah and an example for seven minutes on marriage in a dog until, you know, 12 and 13 year olds.
00:40:49
Speaker
Like, that's just... There are... a there are an infinite number of Bible verses more app appropriate rather than your seven minutes on talk about marriage.
00:41:03
Speaker
um So, yeah, there are different ways of of tweaking it, of learning about it. a And, you know, it says, give us this day our daily bread.
00:41:13
Speaker
There is something in the Word of God for every day of eternity. yeah Especially every day of time and space. And, um...
00:41:24
Speaker
yeah You're dealing with different people, different meanings, different hearts. And the open to that as well. Not becoming a one-trick pony. a And letting but God surprise you. Letting God stretch your creativity in terms of delivery.
00:41:39
Speaker
yeah name so i yeah So it looks different. yeah well And I'm sure you've felt this before. i I have felt this definitely. Where you go and you like come up with this message that you're like, you know, this is going to work. And then you get into the message and the Holy Spirit's like, yeah, don't say this. Or yeah let's focus on this because this is what actually needs to be said like in the moment. like The Holy Spirit and just takes over sometimes. And if you have just only stuck to a script, the Holy Spirit is never going to actually work in your your script. the freedom to move
00:42:13
Speaker
Yeah, it's true. because there And some people would say, well, then you must not have been praying before you put the teaching together. The Holy Spirit would said, no. All of God's word is good.
00:42:26
Speaker
but Not all of God's word is relevant all at once to every person. putting on us And with a teaching, there are things God needs the teacher to know.
00:42:39
Speaker
But he does not need the teacher to relay. at least not all at once. There are things God needs you to know. But then you'll get into a certain Holy Spirit flow.
00:42:51
Speaker
and Some of it will just be irrelevant. You'll just say, know what? I don't need to go there. I don't need to there. I don't need to get i don't know go there. And either God will get that word to them himself if they really need to need up to know it.
00:43:05
Speaker
Or like Logan said, some teachings might have a conversation or discussion element throughout or after. If you have a Q&A time, and I always make space for comments, questions, queries, criticisms, um because what you say, and what someone hears can be worlds apart.
00:43:22
Speaker
It could be in the Q&A section. where they ask a question and you had it prepared, but Holy Spirit told you not to go there because it would have broken the flow originally. But then you'll have that chance to relay the revelation of the information.
00:43:37
Speaker
But yeah, there are times Holy Spirit just takes over, which is what you want. a Because maybe the teaching you put together would have been absolutely phenomenal if more people had commented on it.
00:43:52
Speaker
But... They chose to go to work instead and make money that Sunday morning. Or they chose to stay in bed because they had worked two days in the previous seven days and were absolutely wrecked. God love them.
00:44:08
Speaker
Or they just weren't feeling it. Or there was footy on the TV in the afternoon and they couldn't possibly miss the start of the game. Whatever reason, excuse, 20s.
00:44:21
Speaker
And then Holy Spirit might say, okay, well, the people who... would have benefited from what you had to say, aren't here. So therefore, and your 35 notes, we only have to look at 12 of them today.
00:44:36
Speaker
For the 12, for the group who were in attendance. So, yeah. Being Holy Spirit led and letting him screw up your plans, letting him mess with you, at letting him hack what you're going to pieces,
00:44:54
Speaker
And sometimes just putting your notes to one side and just freestyling going to the Holy Spirit flow and as he leads. It's amazing. It is.
00:45:06
Speaker
We have a lot of trust in him, but he's got you. Yeah. Yeah. The Holy Spirit's in charge of it. He takes over. um All right. Moving to the next one. How do you read to grow in intimacy with God? So how do you read the Bible? Yeah.
00:45:23
Speaker
to grow in intimacy with him. Yeah. What is intimacy? Into me see.
00:45:36
Speaker
Stop thinking of it as I'm reading the Bible. Start thinking of it as the Bible is reading me.
00:45:50
Speaker
And scandalous. Yeah. Oh, it is. When you're reading the word and God starts showing you certain things in your heart that you have made space for, that you've convinced yourself were okay.
00:46:04
Speaker
Asher, what is it, Asher? Asher, who cares? Asher, God doesn't have a problem with that. And you're like, oh. and Let the Bible read you.
00:46:17
Speaker
How do you do that? Bravery and humility. And it means praying beforehand. Oh God, I'm meaning it, friends.
00:46:29
Speaker
Search my heart and know me. Know all my inmost thoughts and reveal to me anything hate.
00:46:40
Speaker
Reveal to me anything I tolerate that you've got a big problem with. Reveal to me good things I have chosen not to walk in.
00:46:57
Speaker
Reveal to me lies i have chosen to believe and truth I have chosen to reject.
00:47:07
Speaker
And reading the word, letting God show you those things, and responding accordingly, quickly.
00:47:20
Speaker
That is how you read the words to grow in intimacy. Into me see.
00:47:30
Speaker
i no whiskey Yeah. um I think one of the things that I've found lately that has worked really well is praying beforehand, Lord, what do you want me to read today?
00:47:43
Speaker
What is it that you want me to see that I need, whether it's good thing or whether I need to hear that I'm i'm messing up in. what What do you want to teach me today?
00:47:55
Speaker
And so then you take that minute of waiting and you're seeing what is God giving you. Sometimes i get and I'll get numbers. I'll just get like 53. And I'm like 53. Okay. And then it'll be Psalms 53.
00:48:11
Speaker
So then go to Psalms 53 and look in it and you're all of a sudden like, wow. That verse has to do with what I but i needed to hear that today. um So it's it's one of these learning to ah converse with God, learning to ask him questions and wait for him to answer. um And so honestly, a lot of times he ends up taking me to Psalms, taking me to some Proverbs, and I'm able to, like, there's been verses that just point out that was like something about a fool. And I'm like, yeah, I'm i'm in a situation where I'm
00:48:47
Speaker
Have somebody who I can say, yes, they are acting foolishly. I shouldn't get so upset about it. oh i need to point out, though, you're acting like a fool. Like getting the verse that's a fool returns to his returns to his foolishness just like ah like a dog returns to his vomit.
00:49:06
Speaker
Oof. o at so then that even has it not only of what else is going on in my life but even looking back to myself going am i just being a fool in this situation am i just acting foolishly and so that leads then to your prayer of lord what is it that you're revealing here what is it that you're showing me um and yeah it has been amazing of going to passages in ephesians going to passages in psalms going to passages in philippians that i
00:49:38
Speaker
I know that they were there, but when you go there and you feel that God is leading you there, you're like, whoa, whoa, that is affects that affects my life today.
00:49:50
Speaker
And so it's a building of a relationship with God. It's because we we talk about this all the time. We say it at church. We say it all the time. We say, it's not a religion. It's a relationship. But nobody ever says, how do you actually build a relationship with God? We just go, figure it out Have fun. See you next Sunday.
00:50:09
Speaker
And so that's really what it is. It's you're actually talking to God. You're you're conversing with him. And then he's giving you stuff to go and read. So that's kind of how I've been working on it It's been working really well of just asking God, what do you want me to study today?
00:50:24
Speaker
And I go there. It's not a I'm just opening my Bible and flipping through. It's not that. It's i'm waiting for God to say, here's what I want you to study today. And I will get a number in my head as I'm it just will come up and I'll get a passage and I will go there.
Bible for Spiritual Warfare
00:50:38
Speaker
And the amount of times that it has been beneficial is too much to be just a random circumstance. Yeah. Very good.
00:50:50
Speaker
All right. So if we're reading, we've talked about teaching, we've talked about intimacy, but how do we read for prayer? What did you do, Brendan? Yeah. ah Good question.
00:51:03
Speaker
Something i've been doing recently. Well, I haven't been doing it. I did it recently. was I want to get more militaristic in my prayers.
00:51:14
Speaker
You know, we are living in a world at war. And that war began before we were sent. That war will continue to rage after you and I in everyone and everyone on the sentence of our voice are dead and gone.
00:51:30
Speaker
um But we have to fight that war while we're here. And scoured through the word for references to spiritual weapons.
00:51:42
Speaker
You know a lot of people like, we have the sword of the spirit, the word of God. Well, that's great. But Genesis chapter three, fiery, the flaming cherubim swords.
00:51:55
Speaker
Earlier, the room of destruction.
00:52:00
Speaker
Chains and feathers. The acts of God. The hammer. Oh, God. And when was the last time you heard someone pray for that? i Fiery colds.
00:52:14
Speaker
Falling on top of the demons around you. So, there'll be times when I'll think of whatever my need is to escape with spiritual warfare.
00:52:25
Speaker
yeah And I just said, okay, God, let's get a little bit more creative here. and Demons have all manner of weapons against us. Let's stop pretending we only have one against the darkness when your word clearly discusses dozens. um Then one day i just got the word siege.
00:52:47
Speaker
The body of Christ is under siege from the darkness. So I read the story of when the city I think it was in Hezekiah's day, was under siege from the Assyrians.
00:53:04
Speaker
think it's in 2 Kings, and it's again and in Isaiah. um So when you kind of read the two to together, you get a fuller picture. And then looking at, you know what, Isaiah the prophet was praying concerning this.
00:53:19
Speaker
um And then said, okay, I'm going to take this god, and then, you know, tweak it to what's actually going on, the thing you're actually speaking to me about. And whether it's like, you know, it's a national emergency, whether it's a spiritual emergency, whether it's your family or your church family, whatever it is, um take the word and use the word and apply the word to that situation.
00:53:45
Speaker
Yeah. Then there are some prayers that are in the Bible that are just there to be handpicked. Psalm 91, being a classic example. So, yeah, sometimes they're they're okay as is.
00:53:58
Speaker
Sometimes you tweak them. But sam I would pray, okay, God, what is, what am i going through? And give me the words from word.
00:54:11
Speaker
Give me the words from the word of God that apply to this situation. And then, yeah of course, you have to apply faith um it's not a spell book it's magic book um it's a book of god's promises to act that you have to activate by faith to appropriate in your time and yeah that's how to go about that yeah like with the words but with the spiritual weapons available to us um but you have to activate it by speaking it out in faith
00:54:45
Speaker
Yeah. um Honestly, i think you can pray through through almost any Bible passage of praying through what's going on in that story or what's going on in that part of scripture and pray that it would affect your life or that it would be a part of your life or these elements would be a part of your life or that God would remove those bad elements or sin that you have, you know, all of those Bible passages you can pray through. One of the ones that I found very, um,
00:55:13
Speaker
really really cool to read is Jesus' prayer for his disciples in John 17.
00:55:20
Speaker
And then he prays for all the believers and that he prays that we would, that just as Jesus was in God, that we would be in Christ, that we would have such a close relationship with him.
00:55:34
Speaker
um And I don't know, like I've i've heard probably upwards of 10 to 15 different sermons on that passage alone. But just reading that and then praying through that was mind blowing because the fact that we can have that oneness with Christ literally right now is life changing.
00:55:59
Speaker
That's crazy. The fact that we can be at one with Christ and do the things that he wants us to do, it all comes back to, we have to be unified with Christ. If we're, One of the reasons we have such a problem in our day and age with Christians who are just living worldly and living terribly is because they're not at one with Christ.
00:56:18
Speaker
They don't know how to do it. They don't even know how what that even looks like. And here it is in John 17 where God is praying that that would be true, that we can also pray.
00:56:29
Speaker
And God answers that prayer. He does. Um, so honestly, it's, it's, we can use any of those passages and just pray through them, uh, and pray that those things would be true in our day and age, the things that are true, the things that are bad or people struggled with that we pray that those would be removed from our churches, from our families, from our lives, all of that is stuff that we can pray through. So, um, the Bible is, is there for us to talk to God and, um, and pray through some of the things that are in there.
Finding Comfort in the Bible
00:57:02
Speaker
Um, Amen. So then the next question is, how do we read the Bible when we're going through hard times? When the worst thing has just happened, somebody's died from cancer or we just got cancer. how do we How do we handle that? What is what is your go-to, Brendan?
00:57:24
Speaker
Yeah. um
00:57:29
Speaker
but when was younger, i would have just turned to the Bible Concordance page. You know it tends to be at the end of most Bibles nowadays. And you know you look up keywords and it tends to direct, you know, Bible verse for depression, Bible verses for alcoholism, Bible verses on anger, whatever it was.
00:57:49
Speaker
um I suppose my most prolific example, and in at least in my life, was when I was 15. And by that stage I was...
00:58:04
Speaker
I'd been really, really, really messed up. Unborn, very definitely. um I was severely lonely, abnormally so. and I'd had lifelong rejection issues and had never anything to resolve that issue because I didn't know where to begin.
00:58:30
Speaker
Or even, don't even know if looking for help even crossed my mind to be honest. I just figured it was just who I was. It was just my abortion, my lot in life. um
00:58:43
Speaker
The rejection and loneliness together
00:58:51
Speaker
literally had me in a place where I was having like mass hallucinations. I was literally hallucinating having friends. a I would spend, let's say, an hour whatever in the backyard, like, you know, having a ah call on the phone with whoever it was, talk about, you know, anything and everything. and then afterwards, oh my goodness, forgot to mention something.
00:59:13
Speaker
I'd look in my call log. There'd be no call to call back because the conversation had never happened. It was jacked up. And very very suicidal as well. Really, really dark and twisty.
00:59:29
Speaker
And then there was one night I was sitting in, well, was standing in my room. And
00:59:40
Speaker
I had this picture. I'm not saying it it was a vision from God. and It wasn't. it It was just where my mind was at. And I pictured a jewelry box. And I imagine God plucking people from all around the world.
00:59:54
Speaker
They became the Christians. I'm putting them in his jewelry box and then would close the lid. And they just kind of lived in darkness until they died.
01:00:11
Speaker
And then voila. Heaven. I thought, oh wow, God, is that actually what life is supposed to be? You just live in darkness until you die.
01:00:25
Speaker
then suddenly it was all worthwhile. And I said, God, I can't live like this. I mean, how I'd cope that long, I didn't know. i definitely could not have imagined and being 32 and a half and still having breath in my lungs in the state I was in, not a chance.
01:00:43
Speaker
So had a conversation with God that day. And despite all the things I'd done to hurt and harm myself, this was the first night.
01:00:55
Speaker
I would describe this as probably the darkest night my life up to that point. This was the night I was actually willing to walk away from him. Forget walking away from life.
01:01:06
Speaker
i I wasn't in a good place. I would have gone to heaven. Hands down, I know I would have. This was the night... when Jesus was in my bad boobs.
01:01:19
Speaker
And I said,
01:01:23
Speaker
i am dying every single day. I can't do this. So I picked up my Bible, this big mammoth of a 2,200 pages, massive font, great for growing muscle.
01:01:40
Speaker
And I said, i believe You created it all of reality in six days.
01:01:49
Speaker
I said, I know you're real. I've heard the miraculous healings. I've seen you answer prayers of mine before. Where biologically, physiologically,
01:02:07
Speaker
circumstantially, statistically, these things would just never have happened otherwise. It had to be you. I said, I know you're real.
01:02:18
Speaker
But I said, I can't live like this because this is not the thing. So I said, I am going to open this Bible and the very first line on the very first page I look at, you have to speak straight into my situation.
01:02:37
Speaker
This is not a prayer I would recommend for everyone, okay? Some people pray like that, give it up. Judas went and hanged himself on a tree. This is not saying tacky, this was hard desperation.
01:02:53
Speaker
The prophet said, will sacrifice the first thing that walks out of my house. His daughter walked out. He did as he had... No! No! This is not putting God to the test so you can have a cheeky laugh.
01:03:08
Speaker
This was a heart in despair. A heart. The abs end of its tower. The end road. And I opened it up and it was it was in red, which is a good sign.
01:03:21
Speaker
And it was John 14, 14.
01:03:25
Speaker
You may ask anything in my name and I will do it. Well, I slammed that sucker shut. I flung it across the room. I was convinced I was... i was convinced I'd hallucinated. us I was convinced that it was a fluke.
01:03:41
Speaker
It hadn't really happened. I opened it up again, but I couldn't remember what the Bible verse was. And I didn't know you could Google Bible verses back then.
01:03:53
Speaker
um I knew it was John and I knew it was the same number twice. So I thought it was John 1616. So when opened that up, that was not the first line on the first page I looked at. So I said, okay, God, thanks. You just totally screwed me over.
01:04:10
Speaker
And then I said, no, hang on. It wasn't. It was 14. Turned back literally one page and there it was still there. And next thing... It was the first vision I ever had.
01:04:21
Speaker
i didn't know what was happening. It freaked to me out. But eyeballs appeared all around my bedroom looking at me. I did not know the eyes of the Lord roam to and fro looking for the righteous the time of need. I did not know about the Ofan gyroscope interlocking whirling wheels covering eyeballs. I did not know about the cherubim or the living creatures. I knew none of this.
01:04:50
Speaker
but I did have a distinct revelation that heaven's eyes were on me, that heaven was watching me That's how I phrased it. Heaven is watching me.
01:05:03
Speaker
And I gave God a good long list of all things I needed. There is literally one thing That is yet to be completed. um Maybe it's in the early stages even now.
01:05:15
Speaker
But ask everything else I gave him. To be honest, the one thing he didn't do, he he was right not to. I would have screwed it up and screwed someone else up too. Everything else he did with supernatural efficiency.
01:05:31
Speaker
And I had never known why people are praying in Jesus' name. Okay, the Catholics are praying in everyone's name and to everyone. But...
01:05:39
Speaker
Catholics listening, we love you. Please keep coming. You're great. You need But every other place I've gone to, it was in Jesus' name, in Jesus' powerful name, in Jesus' the amazing name, in Jesus' mighty name. I never knew why. i just figured it was Christian.
01:06:00
Speaker
I didn't realize it was a biblical command. That when they sang, there is power, power, one new wicked power, It was real. I figured it was just happy, clappy, Christian-y, Christianity.
01:06:15
Speaker
um And suddenly I said, okay, wow. So that was a moment of hardship and desperation where i
01:06:29
Speaker
adopted approach an approach I probably have not done since um because I never wanted to manufacture it. I always wanted to be that authentic. And then there are moments when I'll just say, okay, God, give like like you said earlier, give me a chapter, give me a verse.
01:06:44
Speaker
And I might just in my mind's eye see Psalm 26 and I'll open it up and I'll say, right, God, i we got a prayer meeting starting in 10 minutes. This is what I'll bring. If it resonates with people, great. If it doesn't, it's still the word of God.
01:07:00
Speaker
And that many times when maybe the nation is going through something. And I'll just say, okay, God, give me a word for my nation.
01:07:11
Speaker
Ecclesiastes 3 says, you know, there's nothing new under the sun. and God called the past to account and repeats itself. i
01:07:22
Speaker
Things happen in in cycles. and That puts a limit on the devil's power. It gives Christians the ability to see what God did in the past so we can see what he's going to do in our present.
01:07:35
Speaker
That's why communists try to erase history and rewrite history because they do not want you to know the cycle that you're in, the prophetic narrative you're in.
01:07:46
Speaker
So about a year ago, i just said, God, what is happening to Ireland right now? And he led me to 1 Samuel 6, I believe it is, maybe spills into chapter 7, which is when the Philistines have stolen the Ark of the Covenant.
01:08:03
Speaker
And They get cursed with rats and tumors. And then they you just pass it on to the next Philistine city-state and next Philistine city-state.
01:08:17
Speaker
um And think in total there were five of them. I'm reading that thinking, how do they get questions?
01:08:29
Speaker
But the reality is... um the Irish government have gone above and beyond to try to make Ireland as unchristian as possible i with a certain degree of success. There's no point in saying otherwise.
01:08:46
Speaker
um And then God said, well, you had, you there were five Philistine kings and you had five kings in the COVID era. I was thinking, did we?
01:08:59
Speaker
Well, the COVID government was three coalition parties coming predominantly coming together. And one left and was replaced by another in his party.
01:09:10
Speaker
One left was replaced another in his party. and then there was another one from his party. And so in total it was, and and some of them were even swapping roles who they had had the headship and it was not. um So we had five kings, the five Philistine rulers,
01:09:26
Speaker
And then God began to show me that because of what the wickedness they'd done, he just said, a number of your politicians are going to get cancer. I'm not saying God's giving people cancer. Don't mishear me.
01:09:39
Speaker
But if you live in rebellion,
01:09:43
Speaker
you are stepping out from the protective favor of God. You are more susceptible to things of the enemy of the darkness. And I said, oh, really God, that's interesting. And the next thing it was announced on the news, like a week or two later, maybe that one of them had just been diagnosed with cancer. And I said, okay, there are probably more to come.
01:10:05
Speaker
And then their building had an infestation of rats. There were rats running down the corridors, rats in their offices, rats in the chambers. They literally had to move to their building.
01:10:17
Speaker
um And it was in the front page of the newspapers and that that had this massive rat infestation because they themselves were rats, were ratty behavior.
01:10:31
Speaker
So it depends if it's personal, if it's for corporate prayer sessions, if it's for a national scale, whatever the problem is or the danger is. you have to adapt your strategy accordingly.
01:10:43
Speaker
Yeah, I would agree with that. I think one of the things that could work really well is maybe even a keyword search. Sure. Being able to look up. This is where, again, Blue Letter Bible is pretty handy, that you can just type in certain words of, you know, I went through friend who...
01:11:06
Speaker
had a terrible fire and probably wasn't going to make it. And I remember hearing about it and, ah yeah, just falling on my knees and praying. And what was the passage that I ended up going to, uh, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fredic fiery furnace. And, you know, he's, he's doing well now today. He's alive and well. And what a,
01:11:30
Speaker
What a blessing. Wow. But prophetic narratives again. Yeah. Yeah. A Bible story that applies to the person's life. Yeah. Definitely. So there's, there's so many things where you can look up those words of, you know, fire or, water or any of the things that are affecting you, you know, lust or any of the sins that we are struggling with goes up.
01:11:55
Speaker
And there are verses on it that will point it out and bring it to our attention and to our hearts. So um when we're going through hard times, we have to, again, we have to go build that intimacy with God. It's important that we're going to the Bible in our hard times, but it's also important when we're going to him when it's not hard times, because God wants us on both the good times and the bad times. right So you can go to those passages like Psalms 23 that point out how much God cares for you and loves you and um wants to will protect you and lead you. Those are beautiful passages to go to for, through when you, we've got hard times and, um,
01:12:41
Speaker
You know, it's who knows what happens for us. I don't know what everybody's going through today. I don't know what everybody's struggling through, but that is a passage, Psalms 23, that can help you through that to see where where and how God protects and helps us.
01:13:00
Speaker
I remember being at camp and being absolutely terrified that I was going to be a cabin leader and I was going to have between 10 to 12 boys in my cabin and I was going to have to lead them.
Understanding Bible Themes
01:13:12
Speaker
And I was like, nope, I'm not going to be able to do this, Lord. Somebody's going to get cut and they're going to be bleeding everywhere and I'm going to pass out. you know All the things that your brain goes to when you're worried.
01:13:27
Speaker
And I remember going to Psalms 23 and what does it say? Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. So the first thing I did is I went and I got myself a walking stick. And it went out in front of me.
01:13:39
Speaker
And so when I remembered... When I went to go get my campers, I reminded myself continually over and over again, God goes before me. God's already in control of this cabin. It's not me.
01:13:52
Speaker
I'm not the one who's going to you know have to answer for everything. God's in control of this cabin, and we're going to follow God. And so I'm going to lead them. As I as as i follow God, I'm going to help them follow God.
01:14:04
Speaker
And um it worked. God got me through. So and when we're able to read those passages, they definitely help.
01:14:15
Speaker
So um how about reading for comprehension of themes or topics? How would you go about trying to understand the overarching theme of what is the Bible about?
01:14:27
Speaker
what would you what What would you recommend to somebody, Brendan? Yeah, sure. So I suppose... that's how Let's go with the example you just gave of Psalm 23.
01:14:43
Speaker
and get like It depends on your demographic, course it does. But if you're teaching adults who have been around the Christian road for a while, they will, especially if the teacher is younger than them, in our case, yeah there can be An element of checking out.
01:15:08
Speaker
I know this already. Why are you talking about something so generic? um There can be. There's a reason Paul wrote to Timothy. Don't let them despise you.
01:15:21
Speaker
Congregants can despise teachers and preachers. And sometimes I get it. Because I've been to congregants. yeah And sometimes... Sidebar. but And sometimes they despise you because we're younger than they are.
01:15:39
Speaker
I've had that too. i am I'm one of the first Bible studies I ever led. and Someone one stopping me repeatedly while talking mid-sentence.
01:15:52
Speaker
um And even trying to challenge me in Hebrew. Little did he realize that my Hebrew surpassed his own. um And I could tell it was rooted in arrogance because of my age.
01:16:06
Speaker
I would have been a very early... Well... I better say I would have been about early 20s. I was no older than 20. Maybe I was a teenager.
01:16:18
Speaker
and But I could tell that the attack was coming because of my age. So that's also something and keep in mind.
01:16:30
Speaker
But I suppose... And you know what? it couldt It could even be teaching kids church. And they're the children that you know come from Bible reading families.
01:16:43
Speaker
The kids who you know come from the families where the parents are reading word. Check out. Oh, I know this already. I've watched Superbook, the original one and the three-dimensional one with the robot gizmo and the time machine.
01:16:55
Speaker
and I already know this. Teacher! Jesus healed him in the end! Thanks for... Spoiling the story, Lucas. a You will en encounter all sorts when teaching.
01:17:11
Speaker
So it's about adjusting your reading style and or presentation style. So let's say it's Psalm 23 and people, no matter what denomination they come from, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want to really Take the rug under your feet, I lack nothing. Same difference.
01:17:36
Speaker
He makes me lie down beside, yadda yadda yadda. Just read the Lord and stop. Who is the Lord?
01:17:48
Speaker
What does the Lord mean? They're the same person. That's not what it means.
01:18:02
Speaker
Lord Grantham from Danks and Abbey! Okay, we got a few thousand years gap there. Not no not right I'm thinking of. What does my lord mean?
01:18:13
Speaker
Most Christians in the West, world I would wager, would not answer that question you put on the spot.
01:18:21
Speaker
Is. The Lord Is
01:18:28
Speaker
is is present simple. That means daily routine. When you are good and when you are bad, you're bad sheep.
01:18:40
Speaker
When you are on fire Jesus and when you're on the other kind of fire for the other guy,
01:18:48
Speaker
the Lord is mine.
01:18:52
Speaker
You are his and he is yours. What did that level of intimacy look like? that level of possessive intimacy and relational closeness look like.
01:19:06
Speaker
Really? Because last week you told me you felt very disconnected from him because of your sin. You said that you hadn't read the Bible lot so you felt distant from Jesus and maybe he didn't like you anymore.
01:19:18
Speaker
This says he is my.
01:19:22
Speaker
they're like, wow, he still loves me. Yeah, he does. Shepard. Well, look at the word shepherd. What are your word associations? What picture is going to your head? Yada, yada, yada.
01:19:35
Speaker
So that's one way of doing it. Take a verse, even a verse, is especially a verse that people think they know or that they rhyme off by thinking, but actually break it down.
01:19:46
Speaker
And again, you can do this personally. you can do it when you're teaching other people. other One of the ones that I would do a lot, especially with groups, when I'm teaching groups is look at a story in a way that no one else has ever done it before.
01:20:04
Speaker
Again, you could not teach a kids group class about Jesus healing the paralyzed man lower down from the roof without someone beating you to the end. Teacher, I know this already!
01:20:17
Speaker
Start with the beginning of that story. Pharisees came from here, here, here, here here here here at places don't even know where they yeah Well where were those places?
01:20:31
Speaker
Looked them up on map How far did those Pharisees have to travel to get there? yeah Was it within walking distance? Had they traveled overnight?
01:20:42
Speaker
Had they likely traveled weeks? To see Jesus? What was their response?
01:20:51
Speaker
Bull crap This guy is full of it Listen to what he's saying. Have you ever heard such bunkum in all your life?
01:21:01
Speaker
Had they traveled only five minutes down the road or had they traveled five hours or five miles to hear someone they despised?
01:21:15
Speaker
How many cities are mentioned? How many Pharisees came from those cities? How big was the house they were in? If you picture small rooms in your house and a lot of men, that house was full.
01:21:31
Speaker
Then you read, okay, who wanted to see Jesus? Well, the poor wanted to hear him, the sick wanted to hear him. Why were they outside? the roof.
01:21:47
Speaker
The house was full of people hated Christ. They traveled however long they traveled just so they could give them the middle finger.
01:21:56
Speaker
Well, what does it mean that he came through the roof? Oh, they got a soul and they damaged someone's private property. I'm a capitalist. I hate when I hear people say that. I'm like, really? Well, let's do a little Google search on what a house looked like in Jesus' day.
01:22:10
Speaker
In the Middle East. Did they just have like an open panel? while theyre like it yeah Was it a bathroof? Did all they actually did was move something and it was fine? Did they damage the property? When the kids who come from the Bible reading families interrupt you
01:22:28
Speaker
Biblically untrue. The Bible never once tells you that they were friends, says four men. The guy probably, because if they were friends, the Bible could very easily told us they were, said men.
01:22:43
Speaker
Maybe the guy was just lying on the side of the road. yeah And one guy said, okay. Well, how did he convince the other three to help?
01:22:55
Speaker
Who were they? Where were they going? So read it like it's actually real. Read it like it's actually happening. Read it like these were real people in a real place and a real time. When people read Bible stories, they picture a yellow sandy beach with no versatility in the sand color, a blue sky with no clouds,
01:23:19
Speaker
Every Bible story happens in the very same place. Jesus wears white, made with different colored sash. everyone Everyone else wears brown tunics down to their thighs and the same sandals because there's no versatility because original sandals didn't exist until the decade when you were born in the late 20th, early 21st century.
01:23:39
Speaker
Nonsense. This was a real world. Great to like it. Yep. And don't be afraid to read other people's opinions, to Google, to research, use Google Images, study history, because these people died thousands of years ago, and life was as real for them as it is for us.
01:24:04
Speaker
Do them the honor of treating them like the real people. Yes. yes Indeed. but That's a long answer third to something that really frustrates me.
01:24:15
Speaker
Well, it's almost like he deals with that on a regular basis. right
01:24:22
Speaker
It's almost is like that. Very um almost like that. Good thing it isn't. just almost Good thing. and Knock on wood. ah Yeah. um that that That was, that yeah. Read it like it's real. that That is definitely a very important, because it is. I mean, that it just is. um I think ah with the comprehension, right, of themes, I think One of the things that really helps is getting like a study Bible, a Bible that is able to or even a Bible that has other references to go to. So that you can be like, here's here's how it ties in, because one of the things that ah is really cool, if you look at um there's there's a picture, i I don't have it with me at the moment, but I might be able to send it to Brendan later where it connects all the
Connecting Genesis to Revelations
01:25:11
Speaker
Bible information.
01:25:11
Speaker
and how it's connected like genesis connects to revelations and it's just like this almost like a rainbow looking picture of how they all connect together um and that's really the idea of all of these themes connect together things that you see in genesis of that the that you know that jesus is going to crush satan's head are themes that you see all the way in the end in revelations um You see ah humanity in our struggle and our sin. You see that all the way through, um especially if you get to Judges. You see that pretty heavily in Judges. You're just seeing all of this these themes continue to come back, that we're sinners, that we need somebody to ah to forgive us and heal us of our sins. um one of the the One of my most favorite stories, I've shared it, I'm sure, on here at
Dramatizing Bible Stories
01:26:05
Speaker
some point. One of my favorite stories of a missionary was when they got to a new a new town, a new village that they were sharing a gospel with these people, and they learned their tongue, and they decided they were going to show the people ah how the Bible story.
01:26:20
Speaker
They were going to show them using – they were going to, I guess, do with like a dramatization of it, right? And so they do this, start the dramatization. They start at the beginning and the people in the crowd already know that, that Eve is going to eat the apple and they're trying to stop her because as it's set up, you know, they've got, she's got the apple in her hand and they're, they're literally trying to hold her arm to go, no, don't do it. Yeah. They're trying to stop them. And then, odds dear.
01:26:54
Speaker
they They go, but there's hope, right? There's hope that this will be made right, that there will be somebody who will come who will fix it. And ah the first – the next person in the story, of course, is Seth.
01:27:09
Speaker
And, um well, I guess before that you have Abel. And they're like, Abel, is this the one? Is he the one who's going to fix it? Nope. It's not Abel.
01:27:21
Speaker
Seth comes along, you know, a Cain comes along. Is this the one? Is this the one you get to Moses? Is this the one you get to David?
01:27:31
Speaker
is Is this the one? Is he is he going to finally be the one to make this right? Nope. It's not David. Keep going. Get to John the Baptist, right?
01:27:42
Speaker
They're like, is this the one? And they go, no But he's going to introduce the next one. They're like, forget about this guy. Get to the next one. We don't care about John the Baptist. We want the guy who's going to fix this.
01:27:54
Speaker
That's the idea of how this is all connected, that all of those characters and all of the story was pointing to our need of a savior to come to this earth, to die on a cross, and then to rise again. And so as they walked through it, all of these people were always saying, is he the one?
01:28:13
Speaker
Is this it? Is this our guy? Because he seems pretty good. You know, Joseph, pretty good guy. David, pretty good guy. Moses, you know, he yelled at some people. He's a good guy.
01:28:24
Speaker
All these guys, are they the one? Nope. Nope. Nope. Gets to Jesus. And they are like jumping up and down. Yeah, we got him.
01:28:35
Speaker
It's the guy. And then they were really shocked when he died. What? You killed the guy! no But how much joy did they then have when he rose again?
01:28:51
Speaker
And that's the gospel. is It shows its way out as we go through all of time. as All of those people that came along were people who continued the path to get to Jesus.
01:29:03
Speaker
Continued the lineage. And um then you have Jesus come along and he makes things right. He makes all of the law and All of the things that we couldn't hold up uphold, he comes and he goes, yeah, I can uphold them. And also I'm going to take all of your sins for the world.
01:29:21
Speaker
And I'm going to die on a cross. And then I'm going to rise again because guess what? I'm better than them. I'm better than the devil, better than death. I conquer that so that you can conquer it too. How awesome is that? So ah that's just – the comprehension, the the having those kind of Bible and tools to help us to be able to get to that point where we can just be like, wow, I am blown away by what God's word says.
01:29:47
Speaker
What is amazing of it. And so that really ties even with our next question here, which is how do we read for the overall understanding of God's salvation plan? What is, a I mean, we've gone through so many things, but if there's anything else that you have, how would you recommend somebody to go through that,
Finding Jesus in Every Story
01:30:05
Speaker
Brendan?
01:30:05
Speaker
Wow. Yeah, great. I suppose a number of years ago, I had the realization, and some people might say, you're supposed to know this already. You can't be expected to know something you haven't been told.
01:30:18
Speaker
For me, this was like a real lightbulb moment just a number of years ago. And someone said the whole Bible is about Jesus. was like, it? So i began to read through it and go, okay, well, where is Jesus in this story?
01:30:35
Speaker
It could be the pre-incarnate Christ, literally Jesus. It could be Jesus when he's bit more obvious in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, early Acts. a Revelation.
01:30:49
Speaker
And then, you know, pictures of the cross. All throughout Bible. Prophecies about Jesus. in You might say most prophecies are about him defeating all evil and bringing him into the kingdom.
01:31:04
Speaker
But there are prophecies about the cross and things as well. So, and yeah, we have to read the Bible and say, okay, where where is Jesus? Two words.
01:31:15
Speaker
Where's Jesus? and And say, okay, show Holy Spirit, because he is the best teacher there is. Holy Spirit, show me Jesus in this story. Especially the stories I hate.
01:31:28
Speaker
David is my second favorite person in the Bible after old Testament Joseph. New Testament Joseph is great, but Old Testament Joseph's story, it's longer, it's more dramatic, whatever. Um...
01:31:41
Speaker
David would be my top dog, but for that incident with Shiva. And that is totally what knocked him off my first place and had him move down a run on the ladder.
01:31:57
Speaker
want to say I just said, God, I despise that story. nafi i would I won't say what was say. i'll use PG language. Biblically knew her.
01:32:09
Speaker
um But then everything he did her husband, I was like, I just said Jesus. oh If the whole Bible is about Jesus, the show me Jesus.
01:32:25
Speaker
And you know what? Holy Spirit did.
01:32:29
Speaker
Because much as I hate the only thing that David did, and And the thing is, it shows us not to be complacent. It shows that that of the potential is within the godliest of men.
01:32:41
Speaker
And if you see yourself as the godliest of men on God's green earth, that potential of wickedness is in you too. It's in us. um The thing I hate most is God's enactment of judgment.
01:32:55
Speaker
Killing that baby. That disturbs me. I even hate teaching. that two parts, because it spills across two chapters. I hate teaching on it because if someone asks, but what we would God? I'm like, I don't know. and And then Holy Spirit showed me. And I said, well, why do you hate the story so much? And I said, because
01:33:21
Speaker
it was a time of year when kings went to war. he was supposed to do it because he was. you have an icky, icky middle to the story.
01:33:37
Speaker
Yep. The Lord judges David by striking that baby. That was not the devil. It's not God allowed it to happen. This was God. We're told that clearly.
01:33:51
Speaker
And then the following year, following year, and Kings go off to war on David's battlefield. And my spirit said, well, that baby was innocent. and I said, well, that's my problem. Holy Spirit said that baby had done nothing wrong.
01:34:05
Speaker
I said, you and I both. Hey Jess, we're in agreement so far. Holy Spirit said that child was punished for what other people had done. And I said, hence why I find this a very disturbing story and would personally have not included the Bible, even if it's true.
01:34:30
Speaker
And Holy Spirit said that baby represents Jesus.
01:34:38
Speaker
Microphone dropping moment.
01:34:42
Speaker
It was the time of year when kings go off to war. All of God's kids, every human God ever made, had a job to do. Yes, to be over the things that fly and the things that are on the earth and the fish in the sea.
01:35:00
Speaker
Every human was given a job. Also, to take dominion over the creeping things. What do you think those creeping things are, people? We're talking demons here.
01:35:11
Speaker
We all had a job. The lie that Adam and Eve did nothing of apart from sit on grass, have sex all day, and maybe go for a swim in the river Eden, that is such a...
01:35:23
Speaker
such an overly simplistic view on what their lives were. We're talking about people whose brain spirits were operating 100%. They knew the world was under siege by the darkness, and they were called to put it back in its place in the absolute peripheries and under defeat. To defeat the enemy to put the enemy under defeat of the righteous. That was their job from the very beginning.
01:35:50
Speaker
Yet God's man chose not to be there. Chose an act of his will not to be in the fight. What happens? If the enemy's not under your feet, you're probably under his thumb.
01:36:06
Speaker
And that's true for all of us. And therefore, someone who is innocent, someone who is not at fault, someone who is not to blame, had to bear the full punishment for all of us.
01:36:20
Speaker
And his name is Jesus Christ, just like that baby.
Bible's Narrative Complexity
01:36:25
Speaker
And how did that story end? It was a time of year when kings go off to war. And David was about Father God's business. And that's what our life is supposed to be.
01:36:38
Speaker
You have that revelation of the sacrifice on a God. And you get your act together. And you join the right side of the heavenly war that's going on around us. And you are about the Father's business.
01:36:52
Speaker
And So yeah, that's what I started to do. Especially with stories I hate. Especially with stories don't like. Stories that I find uninteresting. Stories when people are just being cruel to each other.
01:37:05
Speaker
I say, show me Christ. Show me Jesus. And Holy Spirit will just start connecting with you. So yeah, my strategy for that is prayer.
01:37:18
Speaker
um You pray and Holy Spirit reveals it. And think it's
01:37:26
Speaker
Another way you can read the Bible and just try to follow the seed of life. You mentioned
01:37:33
Speaker
someone a few minutes ago. You mentioned a lot of someones.
01:37:38
Speaker
Spurgeon, Matthew Henry. No, you mentioned Abel. Ah, beautiful. Follow the seed of life.
01:37:49
Speaker
Comes walking around in the garden of Eden and says, alright kids, you're kind of Screwed that up for everybody. So someone's gonna come, is gonna be the hero and save the day.
01:38:00
Speaker
Well, they had two sons. Well, I'm sure they had many, many sons and daughters, but two of them are mentioned in chapter four, Cain and Abel. So ask yourself, and which of them had the seed of life in them?
01:38:12
Speaker
One of them grew food and was like, you know, ta-da, look at my fruit salad. Here's my seed of life. I think amazing, God. Okay, well, Cain invented religion. Okay. He had Abel, who was a shepherd, who knew what the instruction was. He sacrificed an animal. He sacrificed the best the best, had faith in Lord.
01:38:37
Speaker
You might say he was a good shepherd. Obviously, the seed of life was in him. And then Satan provoked Cain to kill him.
01:38:50
Speaker
So you actually have a big chunk of years on the earth when literally the salvation narrative of the human race was stolen. When there was a good shepherd who had the seed of life in him and the devil successfully killed him.
01:39:08
Speaker
And for a time, there is no one with that seed of life through whom Jesus could have could have come. And then Adam and Eve get have sex again, and Lord blesses them with a plan B. Seth.
01:39:26
Speaker
And you see that Seth actually takes up the mantle of the righteous son. I don't know if all their other kids lived in horrific rebellion. I hope not. But I would not be surprised if they did.
01:39:40
Speaker
But Seth, something, God saw something in Seth, faith-wise, where he would carry the mantle. I believe Abel should have been in Jesus' family tree, but he was his life was not short. um Operation aborted.
01:39:58
Speaker
But God had plan B since that.
Reading Strategy: Seed of Life
01:40:01
Speaker
I intend to read the Bible and just follow the seed of life. How close the enemy came to stealing each time. Look at those individuals.
01:40:11
Speaker
And just see what did they say that sounds like Christ? What did they go through that sounds like Christ? What did they experience that Christ would experience? How are they a picture him, foreshadow the for a shadow of him So there there are two ways I'd read the Bible. One is looking for Jesus, the actual Jesus or picture of him.
01:40:30
Speaker
And one I've done more recently, as of this year, is actually follow, plot the seed of life. And what did the world look like when not there? Yeah.
01:40:42
Speaker
Yeah. yeah I mean, you end up in, ah you know, Boaz and Ruth, which was quite a story. Yeah. That continued on. I mean, the fact that David has Solomon by Bathsheba is pretty crazy.
01:40:56
Speaker
Yeah. yeah The relationship is illegitimate to begin with. but god so but Even as you were talking about Cain and Abel, um I think for Satan, his thinking was, you know what?
01:41:08
Speaker
I've got the oldest, and I'm going to murder off his younger good brother, and there you go. Look at that, God. You failed. these These guys are all, look at all these humans. They're they're failures. Look at them. Every single one of them. Failure.
01:41:22
Speaker
And then Seth comes along, and that's where the line continues. um Because really, when you even look at the way Satan...
Satan's Jealousy and Lucifer's Aspirations
01:41:32
Speaker
fell from heaven, his whole thinking was, yes, he thought he was as good as God, but at the same time, he's like, why are you putting these humans on a pedestal?
01:41:42
Speaker
Who are they that they get to that they get to experience all of these things that we don't? So we're going to do everything we can to take that from them and take it from you, God.
01:41:54
Speaker
So that's that's his motivation. Why he does what he does is because he doesn't understand why God would put up with us? Why would God love us? And why would God make things like angels, but not give them what he gave to us, which is both a body and a spirit, um not just spirit.
01:42:16
Speaker
So that's part of his hatred of us is simply because God loves us and he doesn't He doesn't even understand that. He doesn't even think that's real.
01:42:28
Speaker
That God doesn't actually love us. That it's a fake. Yeah. yeah cause Isaiah 14. Because yeah. like What you said there was was Sam 8. um And we know. That that was.
01:42:43
Speaker
Satan. Well Lucifer slash Satan's. Sam. Because Hebrews 2 tells us. that an angel actually wants that.
01:42:54
Speaker
um And in the Greek, it says an angel earnestly protested. What's a man that you're mindful of them?
01:43:06
Speaker
What's a human that you're so obsessed with them that they're on your mind at all times the day? So, yeah you read sam made it very differently.
01:43:17
Speaker
You read it like a protest.
01:43:21
Speaker
that but whatever then yeah addda and then you kind of get to that but hang on a second I have something to say here um and even the words for human being for man in those verses it means bloody because demons don't understand blood they're obsessed with blood they don't understand it it means
01:43:43
Speaker
frail melancholy incurably sick like things. and A sense of commiseration, like we are something we pitied, even though he kind of wants to be like us.
01:43:58
Speaker
um And then when you line Sam 8 up with Isaiah 14, you see that Lucifer would then take the prophecy of the coming of the man and put it on himself. i I will ascend the dark scud clouds in heaven.
01:44:19
Speaker
um I will, in in the Hebrew, I translate that, I will take over the hidden places, the central places, and the positions on the peripheries.
01:44:35
Speaker
Where everyone is, where people but don't want to think about it, and where the people you can't see are heightened. That's how it translates in Hebrew. I'm going to take over it all. I will be like God.
01:44:48
Speaker
Not I will be God, I will be like God. There's only one creature sure that was ever made to be like God in the image of God. He's saying, i will be a man. I will create a physical vessel for myself.
01:45:02
Speaker
In which case, I can rule the earth. He has this knowledge. And he's always had it. You had to be, just like you said, a physical being. In a physical 3D body.
01:45:15
Speaker
in order to actually totally conquer planet Earth. He's always known that. And in Genesis 1 verse 2, when it said that Holy Spirit hovered over the waters, waters, because by this stage we can infer the first heavenly rebellion that happened.
01:45:32
Speaker
Water it translates as primordial water. Urine, because whatever demons touch turns to crap, literally. are And it also translates as semen.
01:45:47
Speaker
So as soon as he hit the earth, he got working. He failed. But he got working on a plan to try to create a human vessel.
01:45:58
Speaker
It's always been the plan. People think the Antichrist is Satan's plan Z. And he just hasn't figured out wish that's his plan yet. It's always been his plan. A physical vessel he rules with him.
01:46:11
Speaker
um And that's another way of reading the Bible. You want to understand the salvation plan of God? Study the plan of the enemy. Which is always trying to subvert the plans God.
01:46:27
Speaker
a Look at the two of them running concurrently alongside each other. and Yeah, there an infinite number of ways to read the word and appreciate the word and all it actually does.
01:46:39
Speaker
is blow your mind more and more, and make you fall more and more off of Jesus. Indeed. Do I sometimes think, God, would you not have just made this so simple for just having a chapter called Fall, The Salvation Plan, and thematically just broken this up in a way to make sense? Of course you could have.
01:46:59
Speaker
Why is it so confusing? Why are we looking forward and backwards? Because if you are in a morantic relationship with someone, or you want to be,
01:47:13
Speaker
they're not going to sit down with you unless they are severely mentally, and and I mean this medically, unfulfittingly, retarded, say, the moment of my conception and work their way up until their 32nd birthday.
01:47:31
Speaker
I hope. Unless you have a very big cup of tea. yeah They'll share a bit about themselves on the first date, the coffee date.
01:47:43
Speaker
They'll share a little bit more on the way to the cinema when you first take them to the movies. They'll share a little bit more when you're having your dinner. They'll share a little bit more six years in when you're facing a really horrific family crisis.
01:48:01
Speaker
They'll share a little bit more on a games night with all the extended relatives and you'll be like, wait, you were in Sound of Music and you played the Nazi who sang 16 and on 17. Why?
01:48:12
Speaker
You learn more and more as you go along and it's this zigzagging dot connecting diagram and that's what it's like with the Lord.
Deep Bible Exploration
01:48:20
Speaker
It's that we're humans because that's what it's like with the Lord. You're supposed to ask questions.
01:48:26
Speaker
You're supposed to interrogate in scriptures. You're supposed to be flicking forward and backwards. You're supposed to say, God, I don't understand. Holy Spirit, make it clear. Because
01:48:40
Speaker
rather than him just telling you, he says, not going to answer. Rather than him just telling you everything, he wants to be pursued.
01:48:51
Speaker
He's a lover looking to be loved. He's a father who wants his children to actually come to him and send his knee and say
01:49:02
Speaker
say, so yeah. Come to with questions. Don't be afraid. It's okay to have questions. It's okay to read the word the Bible in different ways. It's okay to have a certain strategy. It's okay to have reached a certain conclusion at one point and for God to completely do a U-turn on you six years later.
01:49:25
Speaker
invite that, be open that, accept that. It's just him taking you deeper and deeper and deeper into it.
01:49:34
Speaker
Amen. It is a book that is is unlike any other book because you can read the passage for the 85th time and something will stick out that you never saw before.
01:49:48
Speaker
That's the beauty of it. It is not like any other book that you read and eventually you don't want to read anymore because you get sick of it. You can't get sick of the Bible because there's always something that you can go, well, I can learn that.
01:50:00
Speaker
Oh, need that. Oh, there's a tool that I didn't know I could be using. oh there's a, there's a blessing that I didn't know i could have. There's a, there's a sin that, Oh, commit that sin. and I got to fix that.
01:50:14
Speaker
yeah um So many things about the the Bible that you're never going to run out of things that you could learn or study. There's no end to it. So,
01:50:25
Speaker
um Well, let me close us in prayer and I will send us on our way. ah Thank you for listening to us. Thank you for giving us the time. This is 170 episodes. Wow. Wow. Wow. wow um wow wow wow wow ah We're thankful for you sticking with us. I know we aren't the most faithful group.
01:50:45
Speaker
We make our mistakes and we ah get busy with all the other things that God has put on our plates. But this is still something that is very special to me. I know it's special to Brendan. um that we get to talk to each other from across the pond, and we get to talk to you guys about God's word, and we get to talk to who have fun and be silly and all those stuff. So let me close some prayer, and then we'll send us on our way.
Podcast Journey & Blessings
01:51:09
Speaker
Jesus, thank for this day. I'm thankful for all that you do for us. I'm thankful for ah for Brendan, for his is heart in being willing to to do this crazy thing called a podcast. Um, as it's been 170 times that we've done this, uh, I can't, can't put it into words how blessed that we are to be able to have done that Lord for a thing that we thought was just something silly and fun. And, uh, we have continued to do it in spite of our, um, our failures at times and our frustrations and all the things that we've gone through over the past five years. Um,
01:51:47
Speaker
We're so thankful that you have given us an opportunity to do this. Lord, I just pray that you continue to bless this ministry, bless this podcast, not for our sakes, but for yours and your kingdom. I pray for each of those who listen, that you would be blessing them, that you'd be able to help them to see that Bible reading and um being in God's word is extremely important, especially in our day and age, and that there's so much there for them to find and to to mine. It is a treasure trove of wisdom, a treasure trove of of your heart that you have gritten and given to us.
01:52:23
Speaker
Help us to be able to seek that out on a daily basis and that you would show us the things that you'd have us for for us today. Lord, I pray that you'd continue to bless us, continue to again bless this for however long you want us to continue to do this um and that you would give us a good rest day today. In Jesus' name, amen.
01:52:45
Speaker
Amen. All right. Anything you want to say to close us out, Brendan? Anything you want to shout out or any anything you got? Be happy. Be free.
01:52:56
Speaker
Be in the words. And always remember, friends, G-I-A-G. God is absolutely good. Amen. God is absolutely good.
01:53:09
Speaker
All righty. Well, see you all next time. Bye, friends. Bye, Jeff.