Latest / How to Faith a Life Podcast with Faith Womack / The Metanarrative of the Bible, Discipleship & Commentaries with Courtney Doctor

Transcript

The Metanarrative of the Bible, Discipleship & Commentaries with Courtney Doctor · How to Faith a Life Podcast with Faith Womack

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: If you're listening to the How to Faith Alive podcast, where we wrestle with questions on how to live a life of faith, from everything from books to Bible studies, even Bible study tips, this is your place to wrestle with the hard questions and dive deep into what scripture really says for the Christian walk.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: Make sure you've subscribed to this podcast and your favorite podcast streaming services.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: Review this podcast so other people can find it, and share with other believers who want to ask the hard questions.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: Now, with all that said, let's begin.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: Hi friends, welcome back to the How to Faith a Life podcast, a ministry of Bible Nerd Ministries.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: Today we have a special guest.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: Courtney Doctor has been such a blessing in my own life, and I know you guys are gonna fall in love with her.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Courtney Doctor is an author, a Bible teacher, conference speaker, and the director of women's initiatives for the Gospel Coalition.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: She holds an MDiv from Covenant Theological Seminary, and her published works are things like From Garden to Glory, which y'all probably have heard of, Steadfast in View of God's Mercy.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: And this year she just came out with Titus.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: I met Courtney Doctor because she is the mother of someone that I was actually RA of at Covenant College.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: And so I really fell in love with her influence.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: I believe she spoke at Chapel a couple times and have really enjoyed learning from her for really the last 10 plus years.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: Courtney really does a good job of living out her rich conviction for the Word of God and faithfulness to the Word of God while also being like a mom, a grandmother, a teacher, a speaker.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm so excited to introduce to you guys Courtney Doctor.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Courtney, welcome to the podcast.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for having me.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: This is so fun to get to see grown-up faith.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Different from the uh hallway of the dorm in which we first met.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's running shorts, and yeah, you're just so cute.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not very good at first impressions, let's be real.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Oh no, I was definitely impressed.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: I thought, I thought this girl's got it going on.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: Courtney, I'd really love to start off asking you, you because you've done a lot of good biblical ministry and teaching um in the church.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: What originally sparked your love for God's word and led you to start teaching it?
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: Hmm.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I really I didn't, I I received Christ.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's a complicated testimony.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: I received Christ in middle school, junior high, and really didn't do anything with my faith for the next eight years.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: So it was really my early 20s that I started following Christ and really falling in love with him.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I look back, and one of the very first things that he gave me, and I see it just as a grace, but I also see it as part of what he was calling me to do, was he gave me this like insatiable hunger to know his word because I just didn't know him.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know his word, I just didn't have a strong foundation.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: And like you and I have talked about, I had my first two pretty young, and they're in the backseat in their car seats asking me questions, you know, who is God?
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Where is heaven?
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I don't know, but I'm gonna find out.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so they really drove me to the word and just this hunger.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so, so that was really where it started.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then and then it was really, I say I started teaching sooner than I should have.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: But really by my late 20s, I, a pastor invited me to teach a Wednesday night class and then a Sunday morning class, and it just kind of kind of kept going from there until I was in my 30s teaching weekly women's Bible studies and some retreats and stuff like that.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so that was really how it started.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: But I I definitely it was first the calling to be a student.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Always that's the first calling, right?
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Is to be a student before we're called to teach anything.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: You've done so much good work and had so much influence in women's ministries and women's teachings that I think it's always cool to hear about what originally started at.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: And it sounds like everyday life.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: Your kids asking questions, you know, interest and love and even just like the worship of God is like, well, who is this God I'm worshiping?
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know?
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: That's so cool.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: So, what's been the most surprising or even stretching moments in your ministry journey as a Bible teacher?
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think growing in my understanding of how insufficient I really am, because the world's narratives are, you know, you've got the shook.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: I had a poster in my room growing up that said, anything boys can do, girls can do better and look better doing it.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that was my like that, those were the cultural waters in which I swam.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: I have a necklace, it says it on there.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like she thought it, so she did it, right?
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's this, I can do this thing.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so being confronted over and over again with my insufficiency in all things was surprising, which it shouldn't have been, but it was surprising and humbling because that just wasn't how it wasn't what I believed.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: I thought, oh, I can, I can do this.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so I laughed.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: My confidence, my confidence was much greater than my competence.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so the Lord in his mercy shifted, you know, pulled that confidence out, and I I needed him to.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so to realize no matter what it is, it's not, you know, my words aren't going to actually, you know, it's the the word of God that's the power of salvation.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's not, it's not me.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's me in prayer, it's me being faithful to teach, but it is the word of God that is always going to do the work in me and in other people.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so knowing that I'm insufficient, but his word is all sufficient was definitely one of the first things I needed, I needed to learn.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: You do a good job of really emphasizing the sufficiency of Christ and of the word.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: It makes me think of your book from um Garden to Glory.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: You really help readers, you help me um see how the Bible's one grand unified story.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: Why do you think so many people kind of miss that and break up the Bible or miss depths, like depth of truth in the Bible because they're kind of breaking it up?
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think most of us that's just how we've been taught to read the Bible.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: I do think, you know, this this area called biblical theology, where you where you read the Bible as one cohesive story, is has grown in the last 15 years.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think more and more of us are learning to read the Bible like that.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: But most of us were taught, and it's the way we approach it, we don't approach it as really a piece of literature that it is, because there is one author over the entire thing.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: And when you read it like that and you see how the pieces hold together and you see how he starts things in the beginning and then they culminate and they finish so beautifully at the end.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's just it's amazing.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: But I I think that a lot of us we just look at the Bible and we think, you know, okay, so what is like what is this thing?
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: And we think, well, maybe it's uh a list of rules, maybe it's uh a list of do's and don'ts, maybe it's uh just some like a random collection of short stories that that are meant to show us, you know, how to live, how not to live.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: It contains those things, doesn't it?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like it contains stories and where to glean things from those stories.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: It contains things that are like you should do this, you shouldn't do this, thou shall, thou shall not do these things.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: It contains doctrine in it, but that is not primarily what it is.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I just think most of us haven't taken the time and we haven't been taught how to look at the cohesiveness and the connectedness of this beautiful story of redemption.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: I really encourage anyone listening that struggles with just understanding biblical theology or the Bible as a whole, definitely check out From Garden of Glory from Courtney Doctor.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: I highly, highly recommend.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: Hiya friends, I'm gonna interrupt this podcast really quickly because I wanted to make sure you don't miss out.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: You see, most Christians say they want to go deeper in their Bible, but here's the hard truth.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Most of us are studying it completely wrong, and that's why we can't go any deeper.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: But my new book, published by Zondervin, comes out November 18th, and it's titled No More Boring Bible Study.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: I wrote it because I'm tired of watching Christians settle for shallow devotionals and misused Bible verses that just end up robbing the word of its power.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: This book gives you the tools you were never taught, the stuff pastors learn in seminary, but most Christians never even hear.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: We're talking how to actually handle different types of biblical literature, how to stop twisting scripture to fit into your life, and how to finally hear God's word in truth.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: If you believe the Bible is true, you cannot afford to keep skimming it or even not understanding it.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: If it really is true, let's treat it like it is and feast on it.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: If you care about being faithful to God's word, this is the book you're going to want to pre-order.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: So here's my challenge: pause this podcast right now, go to Amazon and pre-order No More Boring Bible Study.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's also on all the other websites that you get books.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: But don't wait until you forget.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: This is your moment to choose.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: Do you want shallow, flimsy faith or deeper, richer study of the Bible that will actually change your life?
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's No More Boring Bible Study by me, Faith Womack, and you can pre-order today so that as soon as it's out, it's on your doorstep, reminding you, oh yeah, this is what matters.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: Let's read this.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: Don't miss out and forget because if we really believe the Bible's true, we're gonna prioritize it.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: Now let's get back to the podcast.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: What is the one part of the biblical sort story that still stirs your affections for Christ every time you teach it?
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: I'm really curious.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: That is such a great question.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Do I have to pick just one?
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because it really, there are okay, if I had to pick just one, it would be the intricacies of God's faithfulness.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: So the the way that as you read it and you start seeing how these themes are just build and culminate.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then when you get to the end, like this the fulfillment of all things, not only Christ is the fulfillment, but then how they're going to be fulfilled at the end of time.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's just it's astounding to me.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: And and I think, you know, there's a there's a phrase that I say runs underneath the entire storyline, and you hear it throughout scripture, but it is the thing that that holds the entire story together and answers the question, why is God doing this?
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: Why is God redeeming all things?
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: And the phrase is, I will be your God, you will be my people, and I will dwell with you again.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's it's said in a couple different ways, but you find it all the way through, and then you find it again in Revelation 21.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: So in the garden, they God dwelt with his people, and they lost that in Genesis 3.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so he tells them all throughout, like, I'm gonna be your God, you're gonna be my people, and I will dwell with you.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then he does come and dwell with them in the person of Christ, when Christ took on flesh and dwelt among us.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: But when you get to the very end and you you turn the page to Revelation 21, it t it's talking about the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven to earth.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it says that there was a loud voice from the throne.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I love that that it's a loud voice from the throne, and God says, now, it's like this is the day.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: And do you know what it is that there is this loud voice proclaiming now it has happened?
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I will be your God, and you will be my people, and I will dwell with you.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's like the completion of the heart of our father, that that is actually why he's redeeming us.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: That he I mean, it's just it's astounding to me, Faith, and it never stops being astounding to me that that is the heart of what moves our father to to send his one and only son, to redeem us.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was so costly, but but he wants to be our God, he wants us to be his people, and he wants to dwell with us again.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just a beautiful, beautiful story.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, so good.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: You've also written a really good study on Titus.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: What about that short book of the Bible really made you want to spend more time there?
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think so many of us, we read through it and we're like, we conquered it, we're done, you know, and you really sat there and you found so much richness there.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, so I co-authored it with a friend, Hunter Vilas, who is exactly 20 years younger than me.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: And when she first reached out, we had agreed to do a project together.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: And she reached out and she said, Do you want to write a Bible study on the book of Titus?
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, uh, no, I don't.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think like Titus II has been so overdone in women's ministry, you know, it's like we're gonna be Titus II women, and we're gonna and it's like, and then you look at the list and you think, well, is that is that a complete comprehensive list of what we're to be teaching?
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't know what I'm talking about, go read Titus II, and you're gonna be like, Whoa, is there more to being a godly woman that's than just is what in this is in this list?
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: And the and the short answer is yes, there is more to being a godly woman.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I kind of was like, no, I don't want to do this.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: And Hunter said, Well, what if we think more about the fact that Paul and Titus, he was an older man, uh Paul's an older man, Titus is a younger man, and they were partners in ministry.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, ooh, now you have intrigued me.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so that was as we set out to unpack all that Paul had for Titus in this book, it was so fun to do it in a way that we got to think a lot about Paul and Titus's relationship and what it looks like to be intergenerational partners in ministry and to proclaim the gospel to each other and to work for the proclamation of the word and the spread of the kingdom.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so it was just really a a beautiful, fun uh project to do in that particular way.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: You said somewhere actually in one of the interviews that you've done about the book, there's multiple summaries of the gospel in that book.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then one of those things that, like, I didn't learn that in seminary, I didn't learn that in underground, nobody talks about that.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: But it's such a rich book, if only we'll slow down and actually see what's going on in the relational aspect behind the scenes of Paul.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, anyway.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: So accounting for the context, right?
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: And and that it's the context in Titus is huge because you know, there's all this emphasis on on church leaders and the local church, and it is the establishment of the church.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: So, of course, there's a focus on grounding the church in the gospel of grace.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so the fact that there are these two incredibly beautiful summaries in the book, and and they're so helpful.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: We memorized together one of them, and it was just it's just so helpful.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: It keeps resonating with me.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like these are the essentials of the gospel that we believe.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so I commend reading them at at bare minimum and memorizing them at best.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: Titus 2 gives us a beautiful picture of generational discipleship, like you said.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: What does that look like in the local church today, like even just for you, and how can women practically step into it, whether they're younger or older?
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think intergenerational discipleship or this life-on-life proclamation of the gospel to each other is essential.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: I look back, and this is not uh blame shifting or anything, but I I sort of referenced that I became a believer in junior high and then and then did not walk with the Lord in high school and college.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: My family had really stopped going to church on a regular basis, and there was zero discipleship.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: We need each other to pull each other further into knowledge of the truth and how it lit how we live it out.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so this idea that we have people who usually are people that have just lived longer than us and walked with the Lord longer than us.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not always an age thing.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: I do think it's how long you've walked with the Lord and the way you've experienced him and how his word has sustained you in different seasons.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's what we're offering each other, but but we're learning from from each other.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so it is necessary in the life of a believer to have other people that that aren't just offering good advice, that aren't just, you know, trying to create people in their image, but are saying, like, here's how the gospel impacts that question you have about your marriage, or that question you have about your work, or that question you have about your parents, whatever it is, the discipleship is asking that question.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: How does the gospel impact that?
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: How does it change who you are in the situation?
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: How does it change the way you feel and act and react in the situation?
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: Because, you know, we hear it catchphrases.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, how many churches have the tagline, the gospel changes everything?
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: But it does.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: It does.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: The gospel changes everything.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so discipleship is helping to press that into just our real life questions, our real life scenarios and circumstances.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's so needed, but we kind of overlook it.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: You've seen a lot of women approach the Bible with both hunger and also hesitation.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, what encouragement would you give to the woman who feels unequipped to study scripture but wants to?
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's a, you know, I'd say praise God that you want to, because we all we all know women and we've all gone through those phases where we don't want to.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so that if you're wanting to and you just don't know where to start, start by praising God that he's given you that hunger, he's given you that desire.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: And even to back up a step, if you don't have that, ask him for it.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: I ask him all the time, give me an insatiable hunger for your word, and then meet me there.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: And he's so faithful to that.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think that and I would also say one other thing to that woman, if you are not desiring the word of God, go meditate on Psalm 119.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: It just extols the virtues of the word of God and all that it does in our life.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so that that's one that I've returned to over and over through the years to sort of stoke this hunger in me again.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: If you're wanting to and you don't know where to start, I would say, you know, there are there are so many good resources right now.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, you've been so kind to recommend from Garden to Glory.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think getting an overview of the Bible's story is really helpful so that you know how to read the parts in light of the whole.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think learning to ask it questions of the text, um, a lot of times just in my kind of morning reading, I will finish the reading and then I usually ask, okay, what does this tell me about God?
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: What does this tell me about my need for salvation?
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: And what does this tell me about his provision of salvation?
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so usually there's something in there that I can, I can cling to and I can meditate on throughout the day.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so sometimes it's just being diligent to to read the word daily and ask good questions of it.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: Good study tools, the inductive method is one that we would both um really commend.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: So it's easy.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's just where you observe the text first, and so you just are asking what you know, what do I see?
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: What questions do I have?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then we seek to say what does it mean?
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: So we're interpreting the text.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: And we can grow in our skills of interpretation.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: So you can you can learn things like how to account for the context, how to account for the original audience, how to I mean, there's so many tools you can glean and and we can put, you know, resources in the show notes for sure.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: And then application, what does it mean for me?
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's not the first question we ask, but it's a valid question to ask after we've spent time doing doing the other work.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you're wanting to be a more faithful student of the Bible, those are those are some good places to start.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: I you make a really good point.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: I think so many people open up the Bible and we're like, okay, what does this mean for me today?
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: instead of what does this show me about God?
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know?
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: Bible's about him.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we're not the main character, but we would love to think we are.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: I had a seminary professor say one time, Faith, he said, the Bible was not written to you.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Ugh, what did you just say?
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I mean, I'm like, no, no, no, no.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: I've been taught it's like a love letter from God to me.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's this personal little and he was like really shaking my foundation.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how you might feel even hearing me say that.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: But then what he clarified was he said the Bible was written for you, but it wasn't written to you.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: Paul was not writing Courtney Doctor.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Paul was writing Titus.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: Moses was writing the the newly freed slaves.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's an accounting for that original audience is how we actually start understanding what the meaning, because the meaning for us has to first be what the meaning for them was.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people, whenever I say that, they say, Well, how do you know what the original meaning was for the first audiences or of the author?
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: What would you tell them as like, this is how I know what the original meaning was?
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think you start by by doing a little bit of work on, okay, when was this written?
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: By whom was it written?
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: So there's there's three types of context.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to get into the do you want to get in the weeds here?
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: We can get in the weeds a little bit.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go, Courtney.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna love this.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, you know I love this.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: So there's three types of context: there's literary context, historical context, and redemptive historical context.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: So literary context is you're just paying attention to what's written before and what's written after.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes that really matters.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it doesn't, but sometimes it really matters.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: For instance, it matters that in Mark, ooh, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna botch it.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's Mark 8, where it is the healing of the blind man, the two-stage healing, right?
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: That read the whole chapter because the whole chapter is about seeing.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: He's asking the disciples, do you not see?
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: He accuses the Pharisees of having hard hearts and not seeing.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then he accused then he has this really weird two-stage healing of the blind man, where it's like, I see partially and now I see fully.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then right after that, you have Peter confessing that Jesus is the Christ.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: And he sees fully for a minute, or but then we learn it's only partial because then he's like, But you're not going to Jerusalem to die.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is like, your confession is right.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: Get behind me because you don't understand my mission yet.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like, understand like you have to pay attention to what's written around it.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: So that's literary context.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: Historical context is understanding what was happening in the world around.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: So people will say that literary context is understanding the words around a text, and historical context is understanding the world around a text.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like, especially when you're reading the Old Testament, like what was going on in Babylon?
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: What was going on in Assyria?
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: Those things matter.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a good study Bible will tell you those things.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then redemptive historical context is where you're saying, what where is this text falling in the story of redemption?
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's why you and I are talking so much about understanding the whole story.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it's really what helped me in writing the book, writing the Bible study on the book of Titus is understanding what a crucial moment that was in redemptive history.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: That Paul is he's getting ready to die, and he is passing the baton on.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: To Titus to say you have to establish sound churches that teach sound doctrine because that is going to be the preservation of the passing on of the gospel.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so like understanding where it falls, where any book falls in redemptive historical context is key.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: So those are your three types of context.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: That is one place to start as you're wanting to kind of dive in and say, how can I, how can I uncover the original meaning first?
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so then just constantly remind yourself what it meant to them then has got to be what it means to me now.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now you will have to contextualize it.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: You'll have to bring it forward.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: But so for instance, when Paul wrote, greet one another with a holy kiss, okay, the command is to greet.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: That we're we can pull that forward.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: The holy kiss was a historically contextualized way of doing that.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: We don't do that.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: We usually fist bump or handshake or side hug or whatever we do.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: But pulling that forward, we're still to greet one another.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: I am clearly rabbit trailing here, but I love the question of understanding, better understanding how to ask.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like what is the original meaning so that we can then better understand and more faithfully interpret the meaning for us now.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: If we believe it's true, we're gonna want to be faithful to it.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: You won't want to misuse it.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you mentioned study Bibles.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: I often send them to good commentaries and multiple of them.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: What else do you use for context?
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: Are there any of your favorite tools?
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: Gosh, I mean, I I think those would be my first go-tos, would be a good study Bible.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I my favorite is the ESV study bible.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um just got great notes in it, and I really appreciate the work that they did.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then commentaries will just vary from passage to passage or or book to book.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I'm sure that you are resourcing them well.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: But those would be my first um two.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: I also I love like if you're getting ready to teach or you just want to better understand a book of the Bible, Nancy Guthrie's Help Me Teach the Bible is phenomenal.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: Phenomenal.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's a podcast.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: You can look up any book in the Bible.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: I I work, you said I work for the Gospel Coalition.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: We have a ton of good resources on any book of the Bible on our website.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, there are there are a multitude of ways to dive in.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: Almost all the good seminaries have online courses that we can take.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot of ways to become a better student of God's word.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and what an act of worship, you know, what an enjoyment like an adjourney, an adventure.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: I know we went on a rabbit trail, and I apologize for that.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: But can I ask you one more rabbit traily question?
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: What were your favorite commentaries to reference with Titus?
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_02: Ooh.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, my favorite two were um first and second Timothy and Titus.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of times people will, you know, group those together because they're called the pastoral epistles.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: This one is David Platt, Danny Aiken, and Tony Merida, and I just loved it.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's very accessible, very practical, and it's written so that we can all understand it.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then this one, John Stott, it's first Timothy and Titus.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, it's just so devotional because he, John Stott, had just such a brilliant mind, but such a love of the Lord.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then there are this one's very technical, and so this one's mounts, and it's excellent.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: This whole series is excellent, but I would say it's a it's pretty, it's pretty technical.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: So those were probably my favorite three go-to's.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: I've recently become obsessed also.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: Have you checked out the new ESB expository series?
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: They're kind of expensive.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: They're black.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: I but I don't own the volume in that one.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: So I was curious to see if you used it.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: I have it in some other things, but I don't know.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm obsessed with I say it every time I really like that series.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like they did a good job.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's hard to find ones that does.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of landing the plane.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you want to be able to trust them theologically, but you want them to land the plane and be helpful.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I agree.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: There's a book, John Evans, maybe, who wrote and he's written a second edition on like best commentaries.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: And he goes through, it's so good.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: And he just goes through and he tells you, you know, this one's very technical.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: You'll need original languages to be able to use this one or this one.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, it's a good resource.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: If anybody needs one.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: One of the elders at our church is like obsessed with that and has it like memorized basically.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: So like, yeah, he'll be like, oh yeah, that's the one that and like, yeah, actually, it's crazy.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's we have some cool elders.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: But I love having I love having like a resource that tells me which resources are trusted.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of having to do all of that.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, some names and people you know, but other times it's like, oh, do I trust this one?
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes they are a good resource for just one aspect, but like they're, you know, more liberal theology or whatever, I'll throw it to the side.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: But oh, you made a good point about the literary elements or whatever it is.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: And that can be hard for me to communicate online because some people are like, well, you said you like this commentary.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, uh-huh.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: Well, yes, but they're a feminist liberal theologian.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: I don't actually agree with everything.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm actually gonna put their name in the show notes, is what I'm not absolutely gonna do.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: So it it's tricky, but I love that you mentioned those commentaries.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: So on that note, what are some tools or practices that have helped you grow in studying the Bible deeply?
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that that that question that we were rabbit trailing on earlier is probably the thing that's helped me more than anything is understanding the original audience and and really asking, like, what was the original meaning of the text?
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: And it's hard because even when I was in seminary and I was learning it, I would find myself in my Bible reading and having to almost reread each verse, reminding myself that this was not written to Courtney Doctor.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was so ingrained in me that it's I find myself and and less and less, praise God, but but it took a long time for me to kind of untether myself from reading the Bible like that.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like, like this is the verse that God has for me right now, today.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: He does speak through his living active word, and it's a beautiful thing, but we can't just pull, you know, pull one verse out.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so again, context matters.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: We can't just pull it directly from the original author to us because the original author doesn't actually know us.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's like we have to remember those things as we're reading the Bible, and yet it is living and active, and the Lord is using it for my salvation, for my sanctification, for your salvation, your sanctification.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's so he's at work in it.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's this incredibly mysterious process and and supernatural in in so many ways because the word is living and active, the Lord is living and active, his spirit is living and active, he's at work in us.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, I think just keeping all of those things together changed my Bible reading more than more than anything.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: What would you say to the woman listening to this?
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: And she's like, Well, Courtney, I'm on the way to work right now.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_01: I've got two kids screaming when I get home, and I'm gonna do my Bible study tonight.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that's it sounds exhausting.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: That sounds like too much work.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even know where to begin.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have degrees like you do.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: What would you say to her?
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: There are two ways I would approach that.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: There's the compassionate word that I would say, I get it.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there are seasons of life that are really hard.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: And finding a way, and maybe that is using a really good devotional.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and there are really good devotionals.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: There there are.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: Paul Tripp has written some.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: Alistair Begg, I'm looking over at my table.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: Alistair Begg has written some.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there are some real Daily Light is excellent.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's a verse, and then they talk about it.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: There are multiple good devotionals, and there might be seasons that that is what you need.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I know you produce a lot of resources that help women dig into the word.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so use the resources, use help, and we need each other to understand the word.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: So that's my that's my compassionate word.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then my challenging word is when you look at your day, is there really nothing that you can give up?
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: Because all of us are scrolling.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: I hate getting my weekly update on how much time I'm on my phone.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it tells me, you know, you averaged two hours and forty-five minutes a day.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: Two hours and four, three hours, five, whatever it is.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: My Netflix at night, I love it.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I've started, I do.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: I like I at the end of the day, I'm tired and I'm like, oh, I just want to watch a show.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: But what I've started doing is challenging myself to read for 30 minutes before I before I kind of shut down and you know, and then enjoy a show.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: But the question is, is there really not 30 minutes in your day that because I I think we actually all have it.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: I think we're incredibly distracted and we allow those things to distract us.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so to remind yourself that you actually need the word of God so much more than you need your scrolling or your Netflix or your whatever it is, you need the word of God more than you need anything.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: You made it sound so simple, but it truly is like the golden calf in our lives, where we're like, but the shiny, intriguing phone with all the songs and the music and the cute videos.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, but the truth is that is not something worth worshiping and not worth our time and not worth our attention, but we get distracted with it.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I love that idea.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: Just 30 minutes before that.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: 12 minutes.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: Just 30 minutes.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: And and I remember talking to somebody, it might have even been Jen, you know, this idea of like get a babysitter for two hours a week one day and do your Bible study then.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like just work, like ask somebody in the church to come watch it, switch with her.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: You take Tuesday afternoons of watching her kids, she takes Thursday afternoon, and that's when you do your Bible study.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: I like it.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: But to prioritize it and to get creative with how you're going to study God's word because it is your life.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's how Moses ended Deuteronomy.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: These are not mere words, they are your very life.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: And to to believe it and to live like that's true, because it is.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we'll always come up with an excuse to not do it.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: We need excuses to do it.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_01: Hey friends, I'm gonna interrupt this podcast real quick because what if I told you your Bible study could actually change someone's life half a world away?
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: Not just your life, but their life too.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: In Kalingwari, Kenya, families wake up every day with zero access to clean water.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: But for$50, we can step in not only with a water filter that lasts 20 years, but with three discipleship visits, gospel conversations by local missionaries, and a connection to a solid local church.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: This isn't charity that replaces the church, it strengthens it.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: And the best part, it's not Americans flying in to save the day, it's local Kenyans, neighbors discipling neighbors in their own community.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: I went myself to check it all out.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: I paid my own way, it's not like they asked me to come out, but I can tell you, this ministry is the real deal.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_01: And they're doing kingdom work.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why I want us Bible nerds to be a part of it.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: Joe and I already gave$5,000, which is 100 water filters with the discipleship and the missionaries coming to the homes and all of that.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm asking the Bible nerd community to join me to do something bigger.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_01: Let's fund 2,000 filters together.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's 2,000 families with clean water in the living water.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: Please don't assume someone else will cover it.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_01: If you're hearing this, the need is still real.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_01: There's something so valuable in the worshipful response of saying, yes, Lord, use me, even with my couple of bucks.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_01: So before you keep listening to this awesome podcast, pull up the show notes.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: You'll see there a link to give as a Bible nerd, and even the map of where you can track the impact of our Bible nerd community in Kawangwari.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: You can see their faces, their names, some of the families I even got to meet who now have water because of you guys.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_01: Let's stop just reading the word and start living it out in our lives, even where it hurts, even in our wallets.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: Will you join me?
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_01: Open the show notes now as we get back to this podcast.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_01: How do you define biblical worship and how can we avoid the temptation to just make it about music or emotion?
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like you've talked about this in so many different ways, but you do a good job of talking about it.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: Gosh, I mean that's something that, you know, is so challenging and convicting to me because the Lord talks about this wholehearted worship that he desires.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: You know, my people worship me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I confess it to him all the time.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like I am here worshiping you with my lips, whether that's I'm I keep pointing over here, this is where I have my quiet time, whether it's just me with the Lord or whether it's at church or in my car or whatever.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, worshiping him with my lips, but my heart is so distracted.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: And to know that he hates that and to know that he longs for this, this wholeheartedness, you know, the whole Old Testament, like especially the the book of first and second Kings, it's all about divided hearts, right?
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's a divided kingdom, but all the kings' hearts are divided.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: And and he just longs for our hearts to not be divided.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: Now they will never be perfectly whole, this side of glory.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: That is something we look forward to.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: But that's what I ask him.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, invade more and more and more of my heart so that, you know, maybe it's going from half-hearted to two-thirds to three-quarters, so that my worship is moving towards a whole-hearted worship.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's the movement of spiritual growth as we worship, is that we are And the minute we because we all do it, the minute we notice that we're worshiping with our lips and not our hearts, confess it.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: Just confess it.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like he's so he's so pleased to forgive that and to move us towards wholeheartedness.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he doesn't condemn us for it.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like he understands, but to confess it and to move towards like I I want to be less distracted and I want more of my heart to be captivated by you.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like so many of us were like, no, I I'm I'm rushing him with all, you know, and we're in denial.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_01: And so just confession, just confess it.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_01: Watch that he changes.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I try to pay attention to it.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't want my hands raised when my heart is distracted.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, ooh, that's hypocrisy.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like that, you know, and so just even being self-aware of what you're thinking and feeling and doing as you're in worship and not doing it for approval or man's praise or whatever it is, but but to just be before the Lord.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_01: Amen, man.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'll preach.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_01: When you hit spiritual dry spells, what do you do to renew your love for God's word?
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love music.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm not musical, which is so it's kind of ironic.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I can't sing, can't hit a note.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know my daughter who's like, you know, got the voice of a little angel, but but no, I can't sing to save my life.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: I don't play any instruments, but I love music and it moves me.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so I will I will purposefully um gravitate back towards listening to songs that stir my affections for the Lord.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then even what I said earlier, I will go back and I will read Psalm 119 to to be reminded of the beauty of his word and all that it does in us.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: And and then I meet with other people.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I think even confessing, like my heart is cold right now to one another that to let them speak truth back to you is a beautiful thing.
• 37:04
  unknown: Yeah.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so, and also to know, like the seasons come and go, like it's cyclical.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: You're not always going to be in a dry space, and you're not always going to feel like you're on the top of a mountain with fruit trees everywhere, you know.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: But but it it's cyclical, and that's part of the journey with the Lord on this side of Gory.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_01: What is your favorite music to turn to?
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_01: Because I know everyone's wondering it hearing you say that.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: Ooh.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: And what's not going to be cool or current or anything like that is just not.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I have friends that send me good Spotify playlists, and they are cool.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm not trying to say that who I'm about to say is not cool.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so maybe I do have cool names to drop in here.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: I do love Shane and Shane.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_00: I do love City of Light.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_00: I love Sandra McCracken.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: They move me and and it's a beautiful thing.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um Shane and Shane's the top of my list as well.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_01: Love them.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: Look how cool I am, and I didn't know it.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_01: Look at that.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_01: How have you seen Deep Bible study affect your daily life?
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like not just what you know, but how you live?
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it has to be, right?
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_00: If it's not, we're just going through the motions.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: If it all I'm doing is acquiring more knowledge about the Bible, because I it is it is possible, and it is even probable, because I've seen it happen more and more, and I beg the Lord for it not to be true of me.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_00: But for women to be in Bible study for 40 years, week after week after week after week, this is what they do.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_00: And yet their lives are no more aligned with the nature and character of God or on his mission than they were when they first started.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_00: So if all you see happening, no, our so it's sanctification, right?
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: Growth in godliness.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_00: And it is it is not a straight line, it will never be complete in this life, but you should be able to periodically look back over three year periods, five year periods, ten year periods, and you should say, Wow, he has changed me.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: I do see Christ reflected more in the way I answer when I'm upset, the way I, you know, how I respond when I'm cut off in traffic.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: That has yet to be sanctified in me.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm that's what he's working on right now.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, whatever it is, like that he's changing us, but not just our personal holiness, but our alignment with his mission.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_00: How missional are we?
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: How committed are we to seeking and saving the lost around us, to be used by God in that purpose?
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_00: How missional are we in reaching out to our unbelieving neighbors and coworkers and family members?
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_00: How missional are we in discipling people towards maturity in Christ?
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because if not, then we are literally just going through the motions.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so, so it has to be pressed into our daily lives.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: It cannot be just an intellectual exercise.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_00: Amen, man.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_01: Oh I love that.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_01: So, what do you hope readers walk away with after going through from garden to glory or even from Titus?
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: From garden to glory, I I hope they walk away with what I walked away with.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that is just this greater love of and trust in God.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because when I saw his faithfulness from beginning to end, and when I really started understanding like this thing that holds it all together is his love and his desire to be with us, my ability to trust him just grew exponentially.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_00: And my love of him and of his word, like they just they grew.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so I hope that happens.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_00: I want people to love his word more, but I want people to love him more and in loving him more, trusting him more.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I would say that for Titus, I would say like a greater love of the local church and the outworkings of the gospel in your life.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so to understand the necessity of being deeply embedded in a healthy local church and to do life with those people and then to see the outworkings that we were just talking about, like this growth in godliness, but but also missional alignment, you would see that in the book of Titus, the necessity of those things.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, so I think that's what I would want people to walk away with.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: Where can listeners connect with you and your work other than those books?
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm on Instagram and not very good at it, but I'm there.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I, if you want to contact me, I have a website, just my name, Courtney Doctor, and then you know Melissa Kruger and I just started a fun podcast.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_00: We're having a ton of fun with it called The Deep Dish.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_00: And that's been a fun way to even interact and engage.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: We've had some fun interactions, whether online or people sending in questions and us getting to to address them.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_00: But those would be the three three best places.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_01: And everything like women's ministry at TGC, I feel like you have a hand in, right?
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_01: I mean I hear the dress.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: I get to serve with a very capable, talented staff for sure and team.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_00: I love my teammates, but yeah, it's a privilege to just get to think about ways to proclaim the gospel in local churches for women globally.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's a it's a huge privilege.
• 42:00
  unknown: Yeah.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_00: Praise the Lord for that.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then come to our conference.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_00: They can come to our conference.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_00: That would be have you been, Faith?
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_00: No, I have.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna get you there.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_00: We gotta get you there.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_00: Put it on your calendar, June 11th through 13th, 2026, Indianapolis, Indiana.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_00: And it's fun.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_00: 10,000 women worshiping God.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_00: Starting on the 11th of June?
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_00: Starting on the 11th of June.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_00: I can remember that.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: Starts at noon, but there's some workshops ahead of time.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: Some really good workshops, like three-hour workshops on how to write curriculum, how to teach the Bible, all sorts of good things.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_00: Very cool.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you so much for joining us here on the podcast today, Courtney.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me, Faith.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_01: If you're listening to the How to Faith a Life Podcast, where we wrestle with questions on how to live a life of faith, from everything from books to Bible studies, even Bible study tips.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_01: This is your place to wrestle with the hard questions and dive deep into what scripture really says for the Christian walk.
• 42:53
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• 42:58
  SPEAKER_01: Review this podcast so other people can find it, and share with other believers who want to ask the hard questions.