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Biblical Literacy and Why It’s Important to Learn Who God Is · Your Hope-Filled Perspective with Dr. Michelle Bengtson podcast

0:02
Speaker 1: Life audio.
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Speaker 2: Christians often think theology is only for scholars or maybe
0:09
Speaker 2: the spiritual elite, but that just simply isn't true. While
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Speaker 2: theology is in one sense an academic discipline, it can
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Speaker 2: also be understood as really the art of knowing our creator.
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Speaker 2: God invites us to know Him as we are fully
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Speaker 2: known by Him, So theology goes beyond the study of
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Speaker 2: just the character of God and into the art of
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Speaker 2: knowing the one who already knows and intimately loves us
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Speaker 2: his believers. Theology is important for everyone, but if it's
0:39
Speaker 2: too dense, it can be hard to digest. So today
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Speaker 2: we're going to be talking about biblical literacy and why
0:46
Speaker 2: it's important to learn who God is. Welcome back to
0:55
Speaker 2: another episode of your Hope Field Perspective, where it's always
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Speaker 2: our goal to restore hope and empower listeners to live
1:02
Speaker 2: in your God given identity. I'm your host, doctor Michelle Bankson,
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Speaker 2: and I'm so glad you've chosen to spend a few
1:08
Speaker 2: minutes of your week with us. Today we're going to
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Speaker 2: be talking about biblical literacy and why it's important to
1:14
Speaker 2: learn who God is. So to start off this episode,
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Speaker 2: I want to remind you of verse out of numbers
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Speaker 2: numbers twenty three, verse nineteen that says God is not
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Speaker 2: a man that he should lie, or a son of
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Speaker 2: man that he should change his mind? Has he said
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Speaker 2: and will he not do it? Or has he spoken
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Speaker 2: and will he not fulfill it? God has made so
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Speaker 2: many promises in his word, but it's up to us
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Speaker 2: to know what he has said. I'm excited about today's
1:41
Speaker 2: conversation because you get to meet my friend Jenny Randall,
1:44
Speaker 2: who's an Emmy Award winning editor who went on a
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Speaker 2: journey to discover what it really means to live on
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Speaker 2: purpose from a career in the heart of Hollywood to
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Speaker 2: a Bible teacher. Her voice and work have been featured
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Speaker 2: in hundreds of notable films, print and media outlets, and
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Speaker 2: she's joining us today. Last year, in twenty twenty four,
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Speaker 2: Jenny formed the Holy Spirit Ministry Center. You may know
2:07
Speaker 2: her as the author of Courageous, Creative, Getting to Know
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Speaker 2: God's Voice, Dream Come True and her newest book, Flash Theology.
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Speaker 2: Jenny received her Masters in Theology at Asbury Theological Seminary,
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Speaker 2: and she and her husband Matt live on an island.
2:23
Speaker 2: You heard that right in northern Florida with their two kids.
2:26
Speaker 2: Welcome to the program, Jenny.
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Speaker 1: Hi, Michelle, thanks so much for having me on.
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Speaker 2: Today's such an important conversation, because what I've found with
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Speaker 2: so many that I talked to is that even growing
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Speaker 2: up in the church, often we haven't learned who God is,
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Speaker 2: so we develop misperceptions. Can I say so? In your
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Speaker 2: book Flash Theology, A Biblical Guide to Knowing and Enjoying
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Speaker 2: God More, I'm curious what led you to write that.
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Speaker 3: I always start off every Bible study that I ever
3:02
Speaker 3: teach that we all carry a theological bias. So we
3:05
Speaker 3: all enter into a variety of conversations and our own
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Speaker 3: circumstances within our life carrying a bias towards who we
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Speaker 3: think God is. And that is based on a whole
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Speaker 3: bunch of different things. How we are raised, different things
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Speaker 3: you hear over time, the media you consume, the church
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Speaker 3: you attend. All these different facets of how we view
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Speaker 3: God and the way we absorb information can help us
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Speaker 3: view God biblically or not biblically at all. As I
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Speaker 3: stepped into writing and authoring the first three books I wrote,
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Speaker 3: I would hire my brother in law, Branden Brookshire, who
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Speaker 3: is a pastor, academic scholar, and he was always kind
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Speaker 3: of my theological eyes on the projects to make sure
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Speaker 3: I actually was doing things properly and biblical. And we
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Speaker 3: had so much fun, and we would always almost get
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Speaker 3: in trouble at family parties, like my husban would be like,
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Speaker 3: can we talk about something else other than theology because
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Speaker 3: we just be like the Bible nerds in the corner,
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Speaker 3: wanting to talk about all the things. And we dreamed
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Speaker 3: into doing a project together and this is kind of
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Speaker 3: the best of both of our brains, a creative adventure
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Speaker 3: into who God is and the theology that helps shape
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Speaker 3: us to be better Christ followers and walk for Christ.
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Speaker 3: So this was this is the project that came from
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Speaker 3: all of our dreaming into how can we use our
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Speaker 3: brains for the good? And that's that's flash theology.
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Speaker 2: Why are so many Christians overwhelmed with this big word theology.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, it almost seems like a cuss word for it
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Speaker 3: suffs like no, I think, because oftentimes that word is
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Speaker 3: as as you already mentioned, is associated with academics and scholars,
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Speaker 3: so there is kind of a hefty price tag to it.
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Speaker 1: But theology is simply the study of God.
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Speaker 3: So if we are just es that easy definition, then
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Speaker 3: if you open up the Bible, you.
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Speaker 1: Are studying the Christian God.
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Speaker 3: So it really everybody that opens up the Bible is
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Speaker 3: a theologian. Of course, there are the academic theologians, but
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Speaker 3: I like to say we're all We're all theologians, and
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Speaker 3: we should take ownership of that because that helps us
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Speaker 3: realize it is a worthy pursuit to understand God and
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Speaker 3: his text.
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Speaker 2: So then what are Christians missing out on when we
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Speaker 2: leave theology to the pastors and scholars because it is
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Speaker 2: such a heady word that we think, oh, I don't
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Speaker 2: have enough education, right, So what do we miss out on?
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Speaker 1: Then we miss out on.
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Speaker 3: So much because we're leaving it to those that are
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Speaker 3: called to lead us. Right, we're saying, okay, which is good,
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Speaker 3: we should trust our leaders, but we should also be hey,
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Speaker 3: is that actually biblically accurate? I love if I go
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Speaker 3: to teach the Bible somewhere. I love when people do
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Speaker 3: their digging afterwards and make sure that I actually taught
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Speaker 3: the text properly. I think we should do that every
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Speaker 3: Sunday's permit that we have because people are people, and
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Speaker 3: I'm not saying if your pastor gets it wrong, leave
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Speaker 3: the church. But we should have a hunger and an
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Speaker 3: understanding to pursue a depth.
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Speaker 1: Of who God is.
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Speaker 3: And that's not always going to be accurate in the
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Speaker 3: different areas of consumption, like those twenty second reels on
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Speaker 3: social media that we come across. You are worthy, You're
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Speaker 3: so worth it. How many times have we heard these
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Speaker 3: false messages almost disguised as the truth of what something
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Speaker 3: God would say, but it's a little twisted out of context,
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Speaker 3: and then there's deception there. So yes, we are worthy
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Speaker 3: because Christ himself died on the cross of our sins, right,
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Speaker 3: so there's that sanctification. But if we so Yeah, Anyways,
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Speaker 3: I could go on a tangent on a lot of
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Speaker 3: half truths, but I will. I'll say, what's that conversation
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Speaker 3: for later? But I think it's important for us to
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Speaker 3: dig in so we can battle the deception and so
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Speaker 3: we can actually know who was worthy of our worship,
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Speaker 3: and that is Christ and Christ alone.
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Speaker 2: I think it's really important, just as you said after
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Speaker 2: the Sunday sermon, that we're going home and digging in
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Speaker 2: for ourselves because we've seen too many times where the
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Speaker 2: church has been lulled into complacency, leave what is spoken
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Speaker 2: without questioning it to go back for ourselves. Just a
7:12
Speaker 2: couple of weekends ago, we were visiting a church and
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Speaker 2: a pastor had us repeat a prayer after him, and
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Speaker 2: it was all well and good until he got to
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Speaker 2: like a three word phrase and I just bolted up, like,
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Speaker 2: uh uh no, no, no, that's not biblical. And I
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Speaker 2: wrote it down so that I could go and investigate
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Speaker 2: it later. But had I not had that Holy Spirit
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Speaker 2: kind of nudge, it would have been easy just to
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Speaker 2: recite what he said, because he's the pastor, he's supposed
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Speaker 2: to know better. But the problem is we're finding that
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Speaker 2: in too many churches, the Bible is not being preached,
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Speaker 2: some perception of the Bible is being preached. Part of
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Speaker 2: what I think is difficult is sometimes we get to
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Speaker 2: passages in scripture and we don't understand we don't understand
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Speaker 2: the cultural norms, we don't understand phrases and what they
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Speaker 2: meant back then. But share how in Flash Theology, one
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Speaker 2: of your goals was to actually make scripture accessible to
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Speaker 2: the reader.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, so we First of all, I love what you
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Speaker 3: shared about your church experience and how you brought up
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Speaker 3: how the Holy Spirit kind of helped you discern that's
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Speaker 3: not okay. And then you didn't stop there, you took
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Speaker 3: it a step further. We were like, let's dig in and
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Speaker 3: find the relevance here. I think that those are two
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Speaker 3: good things people, your listeners can take away from this
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Speaker 3: conversation alone. But yeah, we tried to make a flash
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Speaker 3: theology easy to digest. So it's very visual. It's a
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Speaker 3: visual guide, so there's a lot of graphics. It's graphically driven,
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Speaker 3: just talking about when you're talking about the culture, culture
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Speaker 3: norm and like there are things in scripture called the
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Speaker 3: meta narrative of the Bible. This is just one example
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Speaker 3: of how we try to make this conversation accessible.
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Speaker 1: Through Genesis to Revelation, there's.
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Speaker 3: A storyline of scripture that's happening, and it is revealing Christ.
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Speaker 1: All throughout scripture, who Christ is is being.
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Speaker 3: Revealed, And oftentimes if we don't understand the overarching theme
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Speaker 3: of scripture, we won't understand the importance of the Old
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Speaker 3: Testament and how it connects to the New Testament and
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Speaker 3: who the Messiah is is being walked out right before
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Speaker 3: our fairy eyes. So just one example of making Scripture
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Speaker 3: accessible is showing that mena narrative throughout the scripture and
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Speaker 3: showing it visually, and that's like one of the first chapters.
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Speaker 3: So you can understand, Okay, this is we are to
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Speaker 3: always look for Jesus and see where he is in
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Speaker 3: the storyline, and then that'll help us continue to understand
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Speaker 3: who he is and what that means for us.
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Speaker 2: Love it, friends. We're going to put all the information
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Speaker 2: about Jenny and her ministry and all of our books
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Speaker 2: in the show notes that you can find at doctor
9:45
Speaker 2: Michelle b dot com. We're going to take our real
9:48
Speaker 2: quick break, but I want you to stick with us
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Speaker 2: because when we return from this break, we're going to
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Speaker 2: continue this conversation about the importance of biblical literacy and
9:56
Speaker 2: why it's important to learn who God is. We'll be
9:59
Speaker 2: right back. Welcome back to your Hope Field perspective, where
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Speaker 2: my guest today is my friend Jenny Randall, who's written
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Speaker 2: this book, co written a book called Flash Theology, and
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Speaker 2: we'll put all the information about where you can find
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Speaker 2: that in the show notes. Jenny, what happens when we're
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Speaker 2: fully known by God?
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Speaker 3: Yeah, so this is totally a trick question because God
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Speaker 3: knows us already, right, So it's really this question of
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Speaker 3: do we embrace the fact that He fully knows us?
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Speaker 3: Do we understand the depth of his love? And I
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Speaker 3: can only imagine that it's a consistently we're walking out
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Speaker 3: understanding the depths of his love until we're face to
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Speaker 3: face with Jesus. So because I mean, even in Luke
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Speaker 3: twelve seven it says he knows the number of hairs
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Speaker 3: on our head, which is which is wild.
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Speaker 1: Because I don't. I'm like constantly having hair fall out
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Speaker 1: of my ada. I'm like, do you know him number now?
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Speaker 3: Lord? But he does, which is crazy. When we can
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Speaker 3: embrace the truth that we are fully known by a
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Speaker 3: God who loves us, by a God that is for us,
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Speaker 3: by God that knows the beginning from the end, it
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Speaker 3: creates this stabilizing truth in our life that will carry
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Speaker 3: us when our circumstances are out of control, when the
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Speaker 3: world feels like it's mass chaos, when something comes at us,
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Speaker 3: when we're not prepared, like there is a stabilizing truth
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Speaker 3: that God is good, he is sovereign, He is my
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Speaker 3: savior for those that declare Christ as their Lord and savior,
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Speaker 3: and that stabilizing truth in itself is something that will
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Speaker 3: help you continue to move.
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Speaker 1: Forward until we are again face to face with Jesus.
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Speaker 2: When we start to really understand what that means. Like
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Speaker 2: you said, God has always fully known us, And when
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Speaker 2: we can really start to accept that and receive that,
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Speaker 2: I think that's when we really start to live in
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Speaker 2: the abundant life that Jesus came to give, when we
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Speaker 2: realize the depths of his love, his grace, his mercy,
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Speaker 2: his forgiveness, and that he does know every time we
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Speaker 2: lose a hair or an eyelash. He knows the numbers
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Speaker 2: like who else knows us that intimately nobody, but yet
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Speaker 2: who else loves us despite knowing our every fault? Nobody
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Speaker 2: but God. I think that's really the stepping stone to
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Speaker 2: walk into that abundant life that Jesus came to give. Jenny,
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Speaker 2: what skepticisms or challenges do you see that people often
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Speaker 2: experience when it comes to theology.
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Speaker 3: The greatest skepticism I see within women, and I would
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Speaker 3: love to hear your thought as well. Michelle on this,
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Speaker 3: The biggest wrestling match I've seen in ministry is people,
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Speaker 3: maybe people in general, but understanding God is Father. So
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Speaker 3: in flash theology, we share a whole bunch. There's thirty
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Speaker 3: one truths about who God is inherently holy, he is relational,
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Speaker 3: He's savior, He's our friend, our protector, our healer. And
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Speaker 3: then chapter eight, God is our Father. And that is
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Speaker 3: a hard one, Like we're talking about the depth understanding
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Speaker 3: the depth of who God is. That's been a hard
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Speaker 3: one for a lot of people to fully embrace, especially
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Speaker 3: people that have had a father figure or lack of
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Speaker 3: a father figure that has been unhealthy. So a lot
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Speaker 3: of the truths of who God is, some we've already mentioned,
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Speaker 3: some we're talking about now. It's almost like this wrestling
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Speaker 3: match with the Holy Spirit has to happen to be
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Speaker 3: able to fully embrace almost the fullness of what that means,
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Speaker 3: to understand God as Father. And I think we're human, right,
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Speaker 3: So there's layers of unraveling that are constantly happening. But
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Speaker 3: I found that that the hardest truth that I've seen
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Speaker 3: is God as Father. Do you have anything to expand
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Speaker 3: on that or have you seen something different in your
13:54
Speaker 3: ministry efforts?
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Speaker 2: So often our view of God as Father is directly
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Speaker 2: impacted by our relationship with the parental figures that we're
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Speaker 2: in our life, and the problem with that is that
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Speaker 2: we're relating to a perfect God using a flawed metric.
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Speaker 2: But the thing that has been most helpful in working
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Speaker 2: with patients is helping them explore the fact that even
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Speaker 2: if they were abandoned by their earthly father or their
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Speaker 2: earthly father was not a kind person, God as father,
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Speaker 2: specifically chose us, made the loving choice that he wanted
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Speaker 2: us to be a child. And so when we can
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Speaker 2: get past looking at our earthly parents and projecting those
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Speaker 2: traits on God and recognize that God was so sovereign
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Speaker 2: that he chose us from the very beginning. But one
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Speaker 2: of the things that people struggle with is but if
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Speaker 2: God really loved me, then why did he let that
15:00
Speaker 2: that happened? And we could never exhaust the conversation on
15:05
Speaker 2: that because we live in a fallen world and there
15:08
Speaker 2: are consequences going back thousands and thousands of years from
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Speaker 2: our previous ancestors. Yet God is still good, He still
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Speaker 2: loves us. He sent his son to die for us
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Speaker 2: to prove his love. And when we don't accept that,
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Speaker 2: it's like saying, Jesus, what you did on that cross,
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Speaker 2: it didn't matter. It wasn't enough, and that was something
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Speaker 2: I had to wrestle with, like, was Jesus's death for
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Speaker 2: me enough? And I got to the place where I
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Speaker 2: said yes, but that's part of that wrestle that I
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Speaker 2: think has to happen for us to look at God
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Speaker 2: more accurately.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, And it's the most worthy wrestling match we can
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Speaker 3: half because I remember so for me, I became a
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Speaker 3: Christian at the age of eighteen and I was invited to.
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Speaker 1: A church play.
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Speaker 3: Was I was raised in the Catholic church, so this
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Speaker 3: this was a Pentecostal, wild and crazy church.
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Speaker 1: So they invited me to church play and I became
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Speaker 1: a Christian. I understood who Jesus was.
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Speaker 3: June fourth, the year two thousand and I remember walking
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Speaker 3: out those doors and being like, God chose to make
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Speaker 3: the grass green.
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Speaker 1: This is amazing.
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Speaker 3: Like just the lens from which I viewed the world
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Speaker 3: just one hundred percent was totally different night and day.
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Speaker 3: And I know that for some it's not always that
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Speaker 3: pinpoint of oh, that's when I became a Christian. For
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Speaker 3: some they're raised with the truth of who God is
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Speaker 3: and it's just kind of ingrained in them and then.
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Speaker 1: They realized, oh, I have been following Jesus or something
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Speaker 1: like that. But like I said, we all have this
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Speaker 1: theological bias.
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Speaker 3: We all have these different thoughts about God and even Denominationally,
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Speaker 3: there are some things that are shaping us that might
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Speaker 3: not be true that we have to hold up to
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Speaker 3: the truth of scripture, like healing. The topic of healing,
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Speaker 3: for example, has been a wrestling match in a lot
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Speaker 3: of people's lives.
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Speaker 1: There's been really bad theology on that.
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Speaker 3: And if there's a listener or somebody that is battling
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Speaker 3: an illness, it's like, if you don't have the proper
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Speaker 3: theology of God is Healer, then you're going to be
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Speaker 3: walking out some really hard times, also missing out that
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Speaker 3: God is kind, God is loving. God puts people in
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Speaker 3: our path to help us and support, you know, just
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Speaker 3: all these different facets of who God is and how
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Speaker 3: He wants to come alongside us and walk with us
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Speaker 3: through these harder things in life, and he wants to
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Speaker 3: use us to walk alongside others in these harder things
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Speaker 3: of life too.
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Speaker 1: But like you mentioned, I'm going on a tangent.
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Speaker 3: But like you mentioned, it does start with understanding God
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Speaker 3: as savior, as Christ as Savior, and from there we're
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Speaker 3: able to walk out our own narrative of what it
17:47
Speaker 3: means to be a follower of Christ.
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Speaker 2: You've led a really interesting life, and so as a
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Speaker 2: former Hollywood Emmy Award winning editor, what led you to
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Speaker 2: become a Bible teacher of all things?
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Speaker 1: Oh?
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Speaker 3: I ignored the calling for a really long time. So
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Speaker 3: you know how when you feel God kind of awakening
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Speaker 3: something in you and it's terrifying and it makes you
18:09
Speaker 3: want to run away crying. That was me for ten years.
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Speaker 3: So I felt as if the Holy Spirit when I
18:15
Speaker 3: was working in the entertainment industry, I felt as if
18:17
Speaker 3: he said, I've called you to be a speaker. And
18:21
Speaker 3: at that time I didn't really know what that meant.
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Speaker 3: I was at a church where there was a woman preaching,
18:26
Speaker 3: which is rare, so that was kind of exciting. And
18:29
Speaker 3: I remember I told one friend I feel called to
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Speaker 3: be a speaker, and that friend said, well, why would
18:33
Speaker 3: you do that? Just like that, just an innocent why
18:36
Speaker 3: would you do that? And I for ten years I
18:38
Speaker 3: twisted those words too. You're not worthy, you're dumb, you're stupid,
18:43
Speaker 3: you can't even tell a story and land a plane
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Speaker 3: on it, like just everything, And I would see other
18:49
Speaker 3: people do what I felt called to do, and there
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Speaker 3: was something in my soul that would be like connect
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Speaker 3: with it and be like, oh, maybe I could do this.
18:56
Speaker 3: And eventually I remember I was driving around one day
18:59
Speaker 3: in Hollywood, and you know, it's just it's so it's
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Speaker 3: such a fun city because everyone, almost everyone there is
19:05
Speaker 3: like dreamers. They moved to Hollywood because they have a
19:07
Speaker 3: big dream to pursue. So I'm driving around listening to
19:10
Speaker 3: worship music just I'm in love with the city, and
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Speaker 3: I felt this deep conviction from God where he was like.
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Speaker 1: You've been making this calling. You've been making this all
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Speaker 1: about yourself.
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Speaker 3: And it was that like gut punch of like oh gosh,
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Speaker 3: I better pay attention. And what I felt him saying
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Speaker 3: in my spirit was, you've been making this all about you.
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Speaker 1: This really has nothing to do with you.
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Speaker 3: Do you trust that I can fill the spaces between
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Speaker 3: you and this dream that I've called you to pursue.
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Speaker 3: So of course I ugly cried. I repented. I said,
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Speaker 3: I'm so I'm so sorry God, And I've tried to
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Speaker 3: be faithful with what He's asked me to do up
19:45
Speaker 3: until this point, but I just had to have that
19:47
Speaker 3: turning point of realizing this isn't about me, that this
19:50
Speaker 3: is like the simple question of will I do what
19:52
Speaker 3: God asked me to do?
19:53
Speaker 1: Simply because He asked me to do it?
19:55
Speaker 2: Is that enough?
19:56
Speaker 1: And my answer, of course should have been yes, let's go.
19:59
Speaker 1: I'm ready, But.
19:59
Speaker 3: I've I made it all about me, and I think
20:01
Speaker 3: that's when we start to get in trouble. And I
20:03
Speaker 3: think even with biblical, biblical literacy, we always make it
20:07
Speaker 3: about ourselves. And that's also when we get into trouble.
20:09
Speaker 3: So it's kind of a kind of a twofold one
20:11
Speaker 3: two punch to my heart. But here I am years
20:14
Speaker 3: later walking it out. It's not easy, but we're doing it.
20:17
Speaker 2: It isn't that how the enemy works. The enemy makes
20:22
Speaker 2: it all about us because he doesn't want it to
20:26
Speaker 2: be all about God. And your story underscores the power
20:32
Speaker 2: of our words because you had this unction, and yet
20:37
Speaker 2: a friend says, why would you do that? Your friend
20:41
Speaker 2: listening to the enemy and speaking to you made you
20:45
Speaker 2: doubt you when that wasn't what God asked. God wanted
20:50
Speaker 2: to use you, but he wanted to do it through you.
20:53
Speaker 2: But the enemy always makes it about us, and when
20:56
Speaker 2: he can get that doubt in our mind one half.
21:00
Speaker 1: The battle right there. Yeah, it's the.
21:02
Speaker 2: Same thing that he did in Genesis. Did God really
21:05
Speaker 2: say that? It's kind of like that friend said, Jenny,
21:08
Speaker 2: did God really say that to you? It comes back
21:10
Speaker 2: to that same mo o and it just makes me
21:14
Speaker 2: mad because I wonder how many people are listening today
21:17
Speaker 2: who have felt the unction of God calling them into
21:20
Speaker 2: something and self doubt has interfered. Frenzy. If that is you,
21:25
Speaker 2: If God is calling you into something, He's gonna equip you.
21:28
Speaker 2: He's gonna walk with you, he's going to train you,
21:30
Speaker 2: he's going to bring along mentors, he's going to provide
21:33
Speaker 2: the finances. Listen to Jenny's story. It's not all about you,
21:37
Speaker 2: It's about him. Okay, and of Brant.
21:40
Speaker 1: Friends, we're gonna have good. But when we come.
21:42
Speaker 2: Back, we'll wrap up this conversation with Jenny about why
21:45
Speaker 2: it's so important to learn who God is. We'll be
21:48
Speaker 2: right back. Welcome back, Jenny. Today we're talking about why
21:56
Speaker 2: it's important to learn who God is. And before we
21:58
Speaker 2: were before the break, we were talking about God's call
22:02
Speaker 2: to bring you as a Bible teacher, and how you
22:06
Speaker 2: even questioned who were you to do that.
22:09
Speaker 1: What if a.
22:09
Speaker 2: Listener is having those same questions today, What if they're thinking,
22:14
Speaker 2: I don't understand the Bible. I didn't study Greek, I
22:18
Speaker 2: didn't study Hebrew. I don't know more than what is
22:23
Speaker 2: written plainly on the page. What would you say to them?
22:26
Speaker 1: I would say, join a Bible study.
22:28
Speaker 3: There's so many, so many valuable resources that can teach
22:32
Speaker 3: you how to do inductive Bible study, how to understand
22:36
Speaker 3: the cultural context of the passage you're reading, how to
22:39
Speaker 3: observe the text, and then how to apply to our lives.
22:41
Speaker 3: Oftentimes this well, when I first became a Christian, I
22:44
Speaker 3: would just open up the text and be like, yes, Lord, okay.
22:47
Speaker 1: That's what we want to learn today. And I had
22:49
Speaker 1: there was no method to my madness. It's almost embarrassing.
22:53
Speaker 3: But I've since learned how to study the Bible and
22:55
Speaker 3: how to sit with it, because we can read it,
22:56
Speaker 3: but it's something different when we sit with the text
22:59
Speaker 3: and at say, make it come alive to me, Lord.
23:01
Speaker 3: And there's a lot of different ways we can do that.
23:03
Speaker 3: So if one is feeling like they don't know where
23:06
Speaker 3: to start, they could start reading the Gospels. They could
23:09
Speaker 3: watch go to the Bible Project, great resource. They share
23:13
Speaker 3: the overarching theme of each book of the Bible. So
23:17
Speaker 3: you could say you're going to read the Book of Matthew.
23:19
Speaker 3: You can watch the Bible Project Overview of Matthew, so
23:22
Speaker 3: now you have more of a context of what was
23:24
Speaker 3: happening within the text that you're reading. And then just
23:27
Speaker 3: slowly start to sit and wrestle with the scriptures and
23:30
Speaker 3: ask your pastor if you have questions. My hope is
23:33
Speaker 3: that churches, the local churches are discipling you to be
23:36
Speaker 3: followers of Christ. And then just get resourced up and
23:40
Speaker 3: just slow, slowly, slowly, and Charlie, start to dig in.
23:43
Speaker 3: And also invite the Holy Spirit into your reading process,
23:48
Speaker 3: because like I said, we can read or listen to
23:51
Speaker 3: the text, but it's one thing to say, like, Holy Spirit,
23:54
Speaker 3: make this come alive and show me how to apply
23:56
Speaker 3: this to my life as well.
23:58
Speaker 2: I love that last recommend because when Jesus left and
24:02
Speaker 2: he said I'm going to send one to remind you
24:06
Speaker 2: of all truth, I was talking about the Holy Spirit.
24:08
Speaker 2: But the Holy Spirit can't remind us of truth that
24:11
Speaker 2: we haven't already taken in. So when you were reading
24:14
Speaker 2: the Word, do just as Jenny says, and invite the
24:16
Speaker 2: Holy Spirit to teach you truth and those words are
24:20
Speaker 2: going to come alive off the page, Jenny. As we
24:23
Speaker 2: wrap up this episode, if a listener is resonating with
24:26
Speaker 2: our conversation today, what hope filled perspective do you want
24:29
Speaker 2: to leave them with?
24:31
Speaker 3: The greatest hope I have is the remembrance of a
24:35
Speaker 3: couple of things, and it's about the character of God,
24:37
Speaker 3: and it shaped my theology beyond. I don't know any
24:40
Speaker 3: self help thing we could find, and it's not. God
24:43
Speaker 3: is good, he is.
24:44
Speaker 1: Sovereign, and He's worthy of my worship.
24:46
Speaker 3: So at the end of the day, whatever circumstances, I'm
24:49
Speaker 3: facing my greatest successes. If I remember God is good,
24:53
Speaker 3: he is sovereign, He's worthy of my worship, then I'm
24:55
Speaker 3: going to be okay. So I prayerfully impart that to
24:58
Speaker 3: your listeners as well. When we have that has the
25:00
Speaker 3: foundation within our relationship of Christ, I believe we will
25:03
Speaker 3: be able to continue to walk faithfully in obedience towards
25:06
Speaker 3: all the things He asks of us.
25:08
Speaker 2: Thank you for sharing out of your experience your wisdom. Listeners,
25:12
Speaker 2: you're going to want to pick up a copy of
25:14
Speaker 2: flash theology. As we close this episode today, I just
25:17
Speaker 2: want to remind you of the scripture that comes out
25:19
Speaker 2: of Hebrews four twelve that says, for the Word of
25:22
Speaker 2: God is a live and active sharper than any double
25:26
Speaker 2: edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit,
25:31
Speaker 2: joints and marrow, and it judges the thoughts and attitudes
25:35
Speaker 2: of the heart. Friends, I hope that you will use
25:38
Speaker 2: the encouragement from my conversation with Jenny today to get
25:42
Speaker 2: into the Word, to study the Word, to learn who
25:46
Speaker 2: God is and who He wants to be for you. Friends,
25:50
Speaker 2: if you're going through a difficult time, that's your resource.
25:54
Speaker 2: Above all, be in the Word of God, because he
25:58
Speaker 2: tells us in his Word that his Word gives us
26:02
Speaker 2: everything we need for life and godliness. So make that
26:06
Speaker 2: your plumbline. It's been a delight to be with you
26:08
Speaker 2: on this episode of your Hope Field Perspective. I look
26:10
Speaker 2: forward to having another conversation with you next week, but
26:13
Speaker 2: until we meet them, it's my preyer for you that
26:16
Speaker 2: you have a hope filled week.
26:19
Speaker 4: Thank you for joining doctor Banks and for your Hope
26:22
Speaker 4: Build perspective. We hope you were encouraged by her authenticity, vulnerability,
26:27
Speaker 4: and biblical truths. If you enjoy today's conversation, when you
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27:01
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Speaker 4: Please visit doctor Mishelbe dot com. Until next time, may
27:09
Speaker 4: you have a hope filled week.
27:13
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