Latest / Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago / How to Study the Bible | Session 1 | Rooted Conference | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (1 of 2)

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How to Study the Bible | Session 1 | Rooted Conference | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (1 of 2) · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  What an exciting turn out to see so many people here on a
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  Saturday morning to learn how to study the Bible.
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  Now, here's a conviction behind this one day conference.
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  And I don't want to be too long winded here because I want to
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  get straight to the material. But really our desire is as a
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  church, as a leadership, not just to present sermons and to
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  provide teachings, but to really equip people and for you to be
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  able to understand that what you hear on a Friday night or a
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  Sunday afternoon is achievable. And what I mean by that is not
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  everybody may have the gift of teaching or preaching, but the
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  insights and the interpretations and the applications are
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  something that you can arrive to as well.
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  And that's a joyful thing, right?
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  Nobody has a monopoly on those things.
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  It's in fact supposed to be shared.
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  And this is going to bring me to my main point now, because for
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  the subject of studying God's Word, you have many, many
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  incentives in Scripture. You have many ambitions behind
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  that goal, but for the sake of time and brevity, I want to just
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  present one thought and that is from the perspective of the
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  Great Commission and let's read this.
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  We know these words very well. And this is new for me.
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  By the way, I don't use slides. So this is not a sermon because
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  I have my reasons why I believe that a sermon should be as much
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  just preaching oratory delivery than visual presentation.
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  But this isn't a teaching conference.
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  This is a Bible study conference.
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  So let's look at this. Go there for and make disciples
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  of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
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  the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all
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  that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you always to
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  the end of the age. Now there are many ideas of what
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  discipleship is. There are many clever books that
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  have been written. There are conferences on
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  discipleship, but if we just go with Jesus's teaching here, we
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  know exactly what the primary goal of discipleship looks like.
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  Besides preaching the gospel, besides baptizing those who do
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  come to faith in Christ, which is oftentimes what the Great
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  Commission is limited to. We understand what ongoing
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  discipleship looks like, and it's what verse 20, teaching
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  them to observe all that I have commanded you.
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  So teaching is the primary practice of discipleship?
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  It's not. Discipleship is not spending
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  extra time with somebody to do life together.
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  I heard that when I first came to faith that discipleship looks
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  like life on life. Now there's not.
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  It's not necessarily wrong, but what are you guys doing life on
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  life about? What's that?
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  Going to hang out, going to the gym together, eating at
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  restaurants? What do you mean life on life?
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  And discipleship also looks like more than just meeting with
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  somebody on a weekly basis to talk about your, you know, your
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  struggle with sin and your, your marriage and your financial
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  integrity. It's not, it's more than just
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  accountability. Discipleship is about the
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  transmission of truth. And here's how that looks like
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  practically. If if you want to know you're
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  being discipled by somebody, somebody who knows more than you
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  is going to be teaching you something about the Word of God,
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  about Christ, about the gospel. So being discipled is to submit
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  myself under somebody who knows more than me and receiving their
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  instruction and their guidance and their wisdom.
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  And on the flip side, to disciple somebody is to dispense
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  and to provide and to share truths that I know that somebody
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  else may not know. That's all discipleship looks
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  like. And so week by week here at
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  Maranatha Bible Church or whatever church you represent,
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  you are being discipled if that pastor, if those elders are
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  faithfully expounding the word of God, you know, you're
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  discipling your children if you regularly and conversationally
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  expound the word of God to them. So it's much more simple, isn't
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  it? Like what a relief Discipleship
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  isn't this big, robust, complicated program.
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  It's not about all these strange techniques and mechanisms.
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  It's so pure, it's so simple, and every single one of us are
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  called to it. In fact, how do we know here
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  that Jesus's instructions are not just for his apostles?
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  Oh, by the way, this is a classroom.
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  So if you want to answer, just lift your hand and I'll point
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  you out. If I don't point you out, it's
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  because we have to move forward with the material, OK?
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  And I know sometimes it's tempting to take advantage of
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  that opportunity to go on teaching or explaining
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  something, you know, but we have to reserve as much time as
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  possible. But I'll ask you this, based on
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  this Scripture, how do we know that what Jesus is saying to the
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  apostles are not just to the apostles?
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  Any idea exactly? Do you notice the last part to
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  the end of the age implying what?
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  That this mission outlives the apostles, that this mission is
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  to be continued through the fruit and the offspring, the
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  spiritual offspring of these men of God, the church.
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  And it's to be honored and practiced until the very return
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  of Jesus Christ. So we're here today to be
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  equipped for the Great Commission.
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  This is just one way of looking at why this is valuable for us.
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  But more than that, I want us to understand that we're not
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  learning how to teach, we're learning how to dig.
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  So this is not a session about how to explain the truth.
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  This is not about how to give a homily or a sermon or a Bible
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  study. That's for another conference.
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  This is to set the foundation. So in Colossians 316, you know
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  this verse very well. The beginning of it says, let
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  the word of Christ dwell in you. How richly dwell is a word that
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  speaks about living and abiding. Let the word of Christ make its
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  home in your heart. And what comes immediately after
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  that, though teaching and admonishing one another?
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  You can't teach effectively unless Christ's word dwells in
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  you richly. You can't.
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  How can you admonish anybody unless you have created and you
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  have built a storehouse of truth in your own heart?
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  The word of Christ's dwelling richly precedes any hope of
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  fruitful teaching. And today you and I will be
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  receiving the tools by God's grace of how we can grow in the
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  word of God dwelling richly in US.
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  Originally, if you saw the registration, I'd put 10 tools
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  for deeper study. I, I brought it down to 8, not
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  because of not enough time or anything like that, but because
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  I, I condensed some things. And if you really wanted to, you
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  can you can expound on each of these points and you can make
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  this a A20 set tool belt, but just for the sake because
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  sometimes we can be overwhelmed with some of these things.
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  So I want to make it as concise as possible.
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  And we're going to consider at least eight tools.
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  Here's the format for today. We're going to look at the first
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  few, the first set in the first part, we're going to have lunch.
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  And then we're going to examine the last part part together
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  before we close. And in between, if you have
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  questions, feel free to lift your hand.
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  I want to be of service to you and I want to I want to help
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  you. And I hope that this will be
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  accomplished today. Let's pray one more time.
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  Lord, we thank you for this time.
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  Lord, at the end of the gospel, Luke, it says that you open the
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  minds of the disciples that they would understand the scriptures.
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  Apart from your enabling, we cannot know what you want us to
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  say you. We cannot know what you want us
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  to know. We cannot know what you want us
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  to to obey. So help us in this moment, guide
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  this session, and may we sense your presence every step in
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  Jesus name, Amen. Some of these things, if you
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  come here to NBC, you probably heard me say these things from
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  the pulpit as a side point or as a clarifying point.
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  There will be new things here, but there will be things maybe
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  that you've heard before and hopefully it'll be fresh to you
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  or it will be able to just compound in your convictions why
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  it is important before we talk about anything to do with
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  studying or how to pick a part of verse.
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  This is foundational and I will always, always, always share
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  this and preach this and stand by this.
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  You need to read through the Bible.
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  You need to read through the Bible.
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  One verse that comes to mind is Ephesians 3-4 where Paul tells
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  Ephesians, when you read this, you can perceive my insight into
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  the mystery of Christ. The mystery of Christ in this
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  context is not something you have to decode or break apart or
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  only a select few Saints understand.
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  The mystery simply means something that was once veiled
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  is now unveiled. And in this context, the mystery
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  speaks about the inclusion of the Gentiles into the
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  Commonwealth of Israel. It speaks about how the gospel
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  now creates a new man, that this wall of separation has come down
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  through the cross and now there is this new entity in redemptive
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  history. But notice what Paul says here.
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  I mean, we can miss this so easily.
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  He says when you read this, you will perceive my insight.
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  The medium by which we understand insight, the medium
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  by which we discover mysteries and treasures, is through
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  reading. Reading Christians are readers
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  now. Before I became a follower of
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  Christ, you couldn't pay me to read.
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  You couldn't. I would never read books in
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  English class. I did terrible with reports you
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  it was just it took so much for me to be able to focus.
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  I was more of an athlete, not that athletes don't read, but
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  this one didn't OK. And I just it was not attractive
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  to me. It was it was more it was it was
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  a chore. It was almost like punishment.
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  But when I came to Christ, one of the things that changed about
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  me was I want to know what God has to say.
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  You know, when I was working in advertising, there was a another
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  individual there who was part time and advertising of people
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  come in and out. It's in and out.
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  It's a very transient kind of industry.
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  And I got to know one of these part time art directors, A
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  freelancer, and I began to witness them.
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  And one of the things he said to me, I don't remember what led up
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  to the conversation, but he, he asked why didn't God reveal
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  himself through a website? Why didn't he provide videos?
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  Why didn't he provide? You know, he was being a little
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  cheeky and and sarcastic there and I didn't have all the
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  answers at the time and I'm not going to explain it now.
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  But one thing I do know, according to the Bible, God has
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  always ruled and revealed himself through a book.
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  I mean that that goes back as early as the book of
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  Deuteronomy. When you read this, you will
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  perceive my insight. Here's Jesus's own words in Mark
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  1314 and speaking about the last days.
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  But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he
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  ought not to be, and in parentheses it says, let the
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  reader understand, then let those who are in Judea flee to
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  the mountains. So Jesus now not only expects us
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  to read, this is Jesus, the Lord Jesus, He expects us to
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  understand what we're reading. You know, I did a little bit of
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  research into Islam a few years ago.
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  I had some basic understanding, but I really want to delve
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  deeper into their philosophy, their theology.
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  And one thing I discovered about Islam is that there is virtually
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  no emphasis about understanding the Quran.
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  The emphasis is on memorizing it.
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  And there's actually reward for memorizing it.
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  If you memorize the 99 names of Allah, you have a closer chance
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  to heaven, all these different promises.
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  And that's fascinating because I've met many Muslims when I
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  asked them about their book, many of them even know how to
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  recite it in Arabic. They don't know Arabic and they
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  don't even understand what the book says.
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  And that's why sometimes when especially apologists point out
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  some of the hadiths and some of the Islamic doctrine to Muslims,
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  they accuse you of lying because they've never heard such things.
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  And one of the reasons for that is because they've been taught
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  there there isn't much value in understanding it.
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  Just memorize it. Just have a surface level
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  understanding of it. Don't question it.
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  We're not like that as Christians, our Lord says, and
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  He expects us to understand what we are reading.
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  Now I want to tell you that there are three ways that we can
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  read it. Well, the first ways to read it
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  systematically. And what that means is read from
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  the start to the finish of any book.
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  The Bible is indeed one book. It's a miraculous book, but it's
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  a library. It's 66 books.
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  And you and I are charged to know all of it as much as
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  possible, at least to become familiar with the themes, the
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  storylines, the characters, the context of every book of the
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  Bible. So you know what?
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  One example that came to mind was the short epistle in Jude,
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  what Jude put together for the believers.
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  And look at this. In Jude 11, there are no
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  chapters in this one verse. Consider something woe to them.
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  He's speaking about the false teachers, for they walked in the
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  way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain
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  to Balaam's error and perished and Cora's rebellion.
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  In one verse you have 3 references to three separate Old
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  Testament characters. And what does Jude expect of you
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  and me? To know exactly what he's
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  talking about? To have a general understanding
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  of the profile of Cain? What is Balaam's error?
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  What is Cora's rebellion? Well, left to yourself, it can
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  be hundreds of different things. But look at this.
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  In order for me to understand how a false teacher operates in
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  the New Covenant, I have to know something about Cain, I have to
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  know something about Balaam, I have to know something about
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  Cora. So this is just one example of
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  how systematic reading is so crucial.
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  And This is why as a church, we preach expositionally, meaning
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  we take a book and we go through it chapter by chapter, verse by
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  verse. Now, many people enjoy topical
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  sermons where you look at a topic and then you do a survey
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  throughout the Scriptures to see what the Bible as a as a whole
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  says about this one thing. But there are many, there are
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  many holes in that approach. There are many things you're
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  going to miss. What systematic reading means is
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  you're going to cover everything.
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  At least you're going to expose yourself to everything.
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  I gave this example to a group of students 2 two days ago where
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  I I was on a flight and I I don't watch movies personally,
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  not regularly at least. And when I get on flights I try
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  to use that time to sleep or to do some reading or studying.
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  But on this particular flight I forget which one it was.
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  It was it was very long and I had my screen in front of me.
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  But then I looked over at what caught my attention was the
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  person in front of me watching his screen, not because of what
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  he was watching, but how he was watching it.
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  So as I'm sitting there looking at him, he's watching, you know,
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  like anybody would. And then he would stop the
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  movie, close it, go back to the menu and start another one.
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  And then 15 minutes in, he did the same thing.
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  He stopped the movie, closed it, and then he started another one.
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  And then 20 minutes in, he stopped at close it.
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  He did it like four or five times within the span of an
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  hour. And I thought, look, I don't
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  watch movies, but I know that's not how you're supposed to do
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  it. That's one thing I know that's
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  not how you're supposed to do it.
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  And then it hit me, that's how people read their Bibles.
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  They start in John and then they read 6 chapters and they got,
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  let me go to Psalms and they read 4 chapters in the Psalms,
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  Let me go to Ephesians and they barely make it through
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  Ephesians. They go to Leviticus, they read
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  the first chapter. Like I'm stopping here, right?
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  And what you're doing there is, is essentially you're cheapening
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  your experience because with every book you have to
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  understand, with every book, there is an authorial intent
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  that the the author has, he has structure and he he's giving you
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  clues in the beginning for you to understand things later.
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  And you rob yourself of those discoveries and you rob yourself
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  of revelation when you treat it like a you version verse of the
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  day. And so the Bible is not meant to
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  be plucked in such a manner where then you create your own
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  kind of tapestry of sayings or commands or promises.
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  It's grounded in context. It's grounded in the narrative.
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  It's grounded with other things that need to be recognized in
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  order for you to know the depth of that one thing.
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  So you have to read it systematically.
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  Now there are many reading plans.
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  The one that I uphold, the one that I practice and have been
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  since I first came to Christ is very simple Genesis to
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  Revelation. You read Genesis and and you
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  just stay there. Now that doesn't mean that you
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  can't pause in your daily reading to look at a different
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  portion of Scripture and that doesn't mean other reading plans
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  are wrong. I'm just telling you what has
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  helped me to read it systematically, but not just
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  read it systematically. I mean, here's more points to
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  consider. Look what Jesus says to the two
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  disciples on the road to Emmaus and Luke 24 verse 25.
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  And he said to them, all foolish ones and slow of heart to
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  believe all that the prophets have spoken all What was the
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  problem of these two? They were despondent.
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  They were discouraged because their hope and Messiah in Christ
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  were dashed and Jesus rebukes them lovingly.
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  Why? Because he highlights the core
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  problem to their sadness. You only focus on some of what
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  the prophets have said. You magnetize yourself towards
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  the promises of the Son of David being a ruling, conquering king
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  politician. So Jesus provides the remedy all
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  that the prophets have spoken, and beginning with Moses and all
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  the prophets, he entered into all, all the Scriptures, the
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  things concerning himself, All, all, all, all, all.
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  If you want to protect yourself from even what we find here,
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  anxiety, fear, and doubt, one way to do it is to look at all
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  of the Bible. Don't be selective, don't be
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  lazy #2 read it slowly. The Bible is not meant to be
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  glanced at, it's meant to be enjoyably absorbed.
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  What did Paul say to the Corinthians and 2nd Corinthians
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  318? And we all with unveiled face,
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  beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the
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  same image from 1° of glory to another.
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  For this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
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  Notice the word beholding there in the original actually means
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  to stare at, to investigate, to contemplate, and this is how we
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  should treat the glory of the Lord as revealed in the
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  Scriptures. And how that looks practically
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  is it's not a race. People sometimes ask how many
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  times have you read through the Bible?
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  And I tell them gladly, I don't know and I don't want to know
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  because what, what does that do for me to know how many times I
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  read the Bible? I knew somebody when I first got
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  saved who entered into this program where they wanted their
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  students to know the Bible. And one of the approaches that
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  they had was you have to read the Bible.
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  I think it was like 7-8 times in six months.
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  And when I asked them how he benefited from that, he just
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  looked at me and he went, oh, so you can leave.
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  They're saying, I read the Bible 7-8 times.
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  What did you get out of it? How did it speak to you?
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  Did you understand it? As Jesus said, let the reader
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  understand. And so we're beholding.
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  Read it slowly. If you are reading through
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  Matthew, for example, and you're in the genealogy in chapter 1
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  and things stand out to you, just if you feel like you're
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  gaining traction, stay there. It's not a race, it's not a
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  rush. If you feel like you're not
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  gaining traction in one particular chapter and you and
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  you feel like I have more time and I have, I have a hunger for
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  more chapters, read two or three more.
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  So read it slowly. You're beholding, you're asking
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  out to open your eyes to see things.
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  And, and this can only come when we discipline ourselves to
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  understand that you've had this experience.
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  I'm sure you're reading something and then you're you,
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  you think yourself, what did I just read?
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  And then you read it again and then laundry list come to mind.
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  And then I'll have to send this e-mail.
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  And so don't just check off the box.
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  Ensure that you at least are familiar with if somebody were
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  to ask you what you read, you can say I, I don't know what it
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  means, but this is what I read. Read it slowly, read it
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  meditatively. So reading think of it this way
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  gives the bite you open your mouth and you bite into you sink
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  your teeth into something, but meditation does the chewing.
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  Now Eastern meditation pushes for emptying your mind, right?
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  Empty your mind, empty your mind.
• 21:13
  That's not what the Bible says about meditation.
• 21:15
  It's the opposite actually. It's fill your mind, fill your
• 21:18
  mind. I love this command that Paul
• 21:20
  gives to Timothy. He gives 3 rapid fire analogies
• 21:24
  of what the Christian life is like.
• 21:26
  He speaks about being like a farmer, like a soldier, like an
• 21:30
  athlete, right? That's the context of of this
• 21:32
  portion of Scripture. But he doesn't explain what
• 21:35
  those analogies mean. Instead, he gives this charge in
• 21:38
  verse seven of Second Timothy 2. Think over what I say, and
• 21:43
  here's the promise for the Lord will give you understanding and
• 21:45
  everything. When I first stumbled upon this
• 21:50
  and studied it, I realized something.
• 21:52
  Revelation from God does not just come to readers.
• 21:54
  It comes to thinkers. Thinkers, So what does that mean
• 22:00
  for me that again, I'm not just reading something in the morning
• 22:03
  or at night and then once I finish, I close my Bible and I
• 22:06
  go on with my day. There has to be an element of me
• 22:09
  meditating on what I read. And meditation looks like
• 22:12
  different things. It looks like you musing over it
• 22:14
  in your thoughts. It can look like you talking
• 22:17
  about it with somebody. It can look like you making it a
• 22:19
  subject of prayer. Lord, I need to understand this.
• 22:21
  I'm not sure how this applies. I'm not sure how this fits into
• 22:24
  this portion of Scripture. Think over what I say and the
• 22:30
  Lord will give you understanding and everything.
• 22:31
  Now notice Paul didn't promise when the Lord would reveal it.
• 22:35
  We want it to be revealed right away, right?
• 22:38
  We're not told when, but we're just told it will happen
• 22:42
  eventually, and God has many ways of revealing it.
• 22:45
  Can He just illumine your mind? Absolutely.
• 22:47
  I've experienced that. I'm sure you have as well.
• 22:49
  Other times you're going to be coming to a Bible believing
• 22:51
  church, Bible preaching church, and there's the pastor going
• 22:54
  through a certain book and he's preaching on something.
• 22:56
  That's exactly what you needed answers for.
• 22:59
  It can come through a council with a friend.
• 23:01
  You're going out for a cup of coffee and they bring out a
• 23:02
  verse that for the longest time seemed to be veiled and then
• 23:05
  they applied or they interpreted in such a way.
• 23:07
  We're like, I've never seen it that way and God is giving you
• 23:09
  understanding. So read it meditatively, enjoy
• 23:15
  it. As one pastor said it, take a
• 23:18
  scripture and throw it in your mouth like a spiritual lozenge
• 23:22
  and just let it sit there and let the juices flow, right.
• 23:25
  Our reward is not just in reading and saying, I read it,
• 23:28
  we want to be able to meditate on it.
• 23:31
  And that's where true reward will come.
• 23:35
  Nobody's in trouble. So my brother, he's a police
• 23:39
  officer and he's been to a few departments now.
• 23:46
  And when whenever he goes to a new department, he has to do
• 23:49
  field training. And one of the things that stood
• 23:53
  out to me was part of his training as as you approach
• 23:56
  actually patrolling and being sent off, you know, to the roads
• 24:00
  is that you need to get in your squad car at one point.
• 24:04
  And you need to drive around a certain county or you need to
• 24:08
  drive around a certain city. And you need to make a mental
• 24:11
  map of the streets, of the major intersections, of ways to get to
• 24:17
  a certain key regions faster. Why?
• 24:20
  What's the practical reason? Because when 911 is called, you
• 24:23
  don't have time to pull out Google Maps.
• 24:28
  You can't afford to call somebody for directions.
• 24:31
  There should be something in you that instinctively knows this is
• 24:34
  where I'm supposed to be, or generally have an idea of a
• 24:37
  reference of where I'm supposed to go and hear this.
• 24:41
  You can't begin doing what you're called to do here
• 24:45
  effectively unless you can pass this part, unless you can prove
• 24:51
  that, yes, I have a general understanding of the area that
• 24:54
  I'm supposed to be patrolling. And that's what I want to say
• 24:57
  about reading through the Bible. You can't know any of these
• 25:02
  other tools that we're about to explore unless you set this
• 25:04
  foundation. Reading through the Bible is
• 25:07
  what creates the mental map for you to be able to make the
• 25:11
  necessary connections and for you to arrive at the right
• 25:13
  points when necessary. So read through the Bible tool
• 25:18
  #2 Ask the task text questions. Now, for the first time, that
• 25:25
  clock is not working, so I got to keep my eye here with this
• 25:31
  Ask the text questions. NBC members and visitors, you've
• 25:36
  heard me say this before. Allow me to say it one more
• 25:38
  time. If you want the Bible to speak
• 25:39
  to you, what do you have to do? You have to speak to the Bible.
• 25:44
  You have to ask the Bible some questions.
• 25:46
  And here's some questions that I ask.
• 25:49
  There are 8 of them. Number one, who wrote it?
• 25:53
  Who wrote it? Who received it?
• 25:58
  Why was it written? Now, some books are more clear
• 26:02
  than others with these objectives and these answers.
• 26:06
  But here's a general rule. And This is why it's important
• 26:09
  when it comes to scripture and interpreting, interpreting the
• 26:12
  scripture, there is always one interpretation, right?
• 26:14
  There's one intended meeting and goal from the author.
• 26:17
  Though there can be many applications.
• 26:20
  People get this wrong. People have the idea that there
• 26:22
  are many interpretations, and though there are some areas that
• 26:25
  are not clear, generally the rule is there's one
• 26:28
  interpretation and you can make many applications from it.
• 26:33
  And what will keep you grounded in the correct interpretation
• 26:37
  are those first questions. Who wrote it?
• 26:39
  Who received it? Why was it written?
• 26:42
  Sometimes the the author will tell you, This is why I'm
• 26:45
  writing to you, right? We see that in First John.
• 26:46
  We see that even with Jude, sometimes it's not so clear.
• 26:50
  And there are codes and there are clues that we have to
• 26:53
  discover and put together to understand what this author may
• 26:56
  be reaching for #2 what was said before or after the text I'm
• 27:02
  interpreting. This is massively important.
• 27:05
  This is huge. Where people get into so many
• 27:09
  errors is because of that lack of discipline, stumbling upon a
• 27:14
  verse and failing to understand the surrounding content that
• 27:18
  informs what that verse is trying to say.
• 27:21
  So I'm always asking the question, especially when it's a
• 27:24
  complicated verse, what came before it, what came after, what
• 27:29
  comes after it? And we'll look at some of these
• 27:31
  examples in a moment #3 what does this text reveal about God?
• 27:36
  If you ask that question you can get an answer in virtually any
• 27:39
  part of the Bible, even Leviticus.
• 27:43
  If you constantly ask what is this to reveal about God, it can
• 27:46
  be simple answers. One of the first things I
• 27:49
  learned about God through Leviticus when I first started
• 27:51
  reading it was God is very specific.
• 27:54
  God is very precise. God cares about the details and
• 27:58
  evidently he cares something much more about this system of
• 28:02
  worship than creation because there are multiple chapters on
• 28:06
  the the Tabernacle and like 2 on creation of the universe.
• 28:10
  So he wants me to know something about this and what does it say
• 28:14
  about him? He's specific.
• 28:16
  Another thing to learn about Leviticus just from a
• 28:18
  preliminary level is he cannot be approached lightly.
• 28:24
  There are protocols. He is holy, I'm not.
• 28:28
  And this is something that we can explore more later #4 what
• 28:32
  does this text reveal about man? What does it reveal about me in
• 28:37
  Christ? What does it reveal about my
• 28:40
  fellow man outside of Christ? What does it reveal about
• 28:42
  sinners? What does it reveal about the
• 28:44
  righteous? You can also find many answers
• 28:47
  if you ask that question #5 what biblical principles does this
• 28:52
  text inform or illustrate? Worship, sin, relationships,
• 28:59
  etcetera. So what this means essentially
• 29:01
  is there are patterns in the Bible principles.
• 29:05
  There are general instructions that you find from old to new,
• 29:08
  and what you want to ask is how does this part that I'm reading
• 29:11
  out inform that principle, or how does it illustrate that
• 29:14
  principle? So when you come to Genesis 22,
• 29:19
  for example, and it's the first time that you are encountering
• 29:25
  the word love, Genesis 22 has to do with what Abraham sacrificing
• 29:29
  his son. Maybe there's a connection there
• 29:31
  between love and sacrifice. That's just an example.
• 29:36
  Number six, how can this be applied in light of the new
• 29:39
  covenant? We are new covenant people, and
• 29:41
  this is especially important when we go through the Hebrew
• 29:44
  Scriptures. The new covenant is your lens.
• 29:47
  The new covenant is is your protection, the guardrails that
• 29:51
  help you interpret and apply the things that you see in the old.
• 29:54
  So we're always asking this, what New Testament truth can
• 29:58
  shed light on this? Number seven, what does this
• 30:01
  text point to? Or does this text rather point
• 30:03
  to Christ in any way? So in Matthew 1113, there's a
• 30:09
  fascinating statement that Jesus makes as he is paying homage to
• 30:12
  John the Baptist. He says for the prophets and the
• 30:17
  law have prophesied until John. Now I understand prophets
• 30:23
  prophesying, right? I didn't know the law
• 30:26
  prophesied, but Jesus said it does.
• 30:29
  So there's even something about the law that foreshadows
• 30:32
  something about the law that predicts something about the law
• 30:35
  that's pointing. Jesus himself said that the law
• 30:37
  prophecies. So how does it point to Christ?
• 30:42
  And #8 is there another text that sheds light on this one?
• 30:46
  And we're going to expound on that in a moment.
• 30:50
  So let's, let's use some of these questions and, and explore
• 30:54
  with some examples. Now I'm going to actually ask
• 30:56
  this. Luke 638 says give and it will
• 30:58
  be given to you. Good measure, pressed down,
• 31:01
  shaken together, running over what we put into your lap for
• 31:04
  the measure used. It'll be measured back to you.
• 31:06
  Luke 638. Here's the question as an
• 31:08
  example. What was said before or after
• 31:11
  this text that I'm interpreting? Now, before we answer that, can
• 31:14
  I ask you how have you heard this text taught?
• 31:17
  Anybody have an idea? Yes, prosperity teaching,
• 31:23
  tithing. I've heard this text reference
• 31:26
  more at the offering time than anything else, right?
• 31:29
  If you give, it'll be given to you.
• 31:31
  Good measure. Press down, shake it together.
• 31:34
  Right. Are we all in agreement here?
• 31:37
  Does anybody know what comes before this verse?
• 31:43
  Judge not, and you will not be judged.
• 31:47
  Condemn not, and you will not be condemned.
• 31:50
  Forgive and you'll be forgiven. Give and it will be given to
• 31:54
  you. Oh, so it's not about an
• 31:55
  offering at the church? What is it about the judgement
• 32:00
  you give to people, how you criticize, how you assess, how
• 32:08
  you confront? So what is Jesus teaching here?
• 32:12
  The way you judge, the way you determine somebody's innocence,
• 32:16
  the way you determine somebody's guilt.
• 32:18
  Listen, that standard will be used against you.
• 32:21
  You see, all I had to do was read before that.
• 32:27
  Here's another example. Oh, this is a good one.
• 32:31
  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
• 32:38
  What do you think this means? Again, I'm not trying to
• 32:42
  embarrass anybody or trick anybody genuinely.
• 32:45
  When you just read this verse in isolation, what comes to mind?
• 32:48
  I'll tell you what comes to mind.
• 32:50
  The reliability of Christ or he's consistent.
• 32:53
  Any other ideas? He's faithful is love will never
• 33:01
  change. But what does it really mean?
• 33:07
  Let's consider what is said after Jesus Christ is the same
• 33:12
  yesterday and today and forever. Do not be LED away by diverse
• 33:15
  and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be
• 33:18
  strengthened by grace, not by foods which have not benefited
• 33:21
  those devoted to them. So Jesus being the same is
• 33:27
  included in the context of false teaching.
• 33:34
  Christ doesn't change. So beware of these new ideas or
• 33:38
  extra revelation or teachings that are pulling you away from
• 33:43
  what you have known about Christ.
• 33:45
  What has been made known about him remains the faith delivered
• 33:50
  once and for all to the Saints. And so we understand that this
• 33:54
  primarily means that if anything is being introduced to us that
• 33:57
  contradicts who Christ has made himself known to be, then we
• 34:01
  should be careful. This verse is really interesting
• 34:05
  because what comes before it is when the author says, remember
• 34:08
  your leaders, those who have taught you the word of God,
• 34:10
  imitate their faith, right? And so this is a transitional
• 34:15
  verse in some way, though you can't even say that verse 8
• 34:18
  inform something back in verse 7.
• 34:20
  Remembering your leaders. What does that have to do with
• 34:21
  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
• 34:23
  At least one point you can consider is leaders come and go,
• 34:26
  but Christ remains. Even those pastors who've
• 34:30
  inspired you and bless you, Yes, they may go on, but one thing
• 34:34
  remains true. Christ is still here.
• 34:37
  See how beautiful it is when you consider what's before or after
• 34:40
  it? Matthew 18/19/20.
• 34:46
  This one is dangerous. Let's look at it again.
• 34:50
  I say to you, if 2 of you agree on earth about anything they
• 34:54
  ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.
• 34:58
  For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am
• 35:02
  among them. When is verse 20 usually quoted
• 35:07
  prayer meetings? Because usually two or three
• 35:10
  only show up right where two or three are gathered to encourage
• 35:14
  us, and there is encouragement there.
• 35:18
  But is that what Jesus is really conveying?
• 35:20
  What's the context here in Matthew 18?
• 35:22
  Who knows? Let's look at a couple of verses
• 35:25
  back verse 15 and 16. If your brother sins against
• 35:28
  you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
• 35:33
  If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.
• 35:35
  But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with
• 35:37
  you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of
• 35:40
  two or three witnesses. Church discipline.
• 35:47
  So when Jesus says in verse 20 for where two or three are
• 35:50
  gathered in my name, there I am among them.
• 35:52
  He wants to let you know that when a church takes church
• 35:56
  discipline seriously, I'm there. And when a church is going to
• 36:00
  make a decision upon someone's salvation, if it's genuine, if
• 36:03
  it's not based on their repentance, I am behind that
• 36:06
  decision. I'm authorizing it, I'm backing
• 36:11
  it up. And, and the same context speaks
• 36:12
  about binding and losing. Have you heard of that?
• 36:15
  How do people apply that? Let's we're going to bind Satan.
• 36:17
  That has nothing to do with Satan.
• 36:19
  We're going to loose this blessing on the earth.
• 36:21
  That's nothing. It's speaking about who is able
• 36:24
  to remain in the church and who has to go.
• 36:27
  That's binding and losing. So This is why I'm staying on
• 36:31
  this. I mean, this is just one of the
• 36:32
  eight questions. And the reason why I am I'm
• 36:35
  emphasizing is because it's it's the most important one.
• 36:38
  Really. This is what's going to protect
• 36:41
  you and I when it comes to our understanding of the Scriptures.
• 36:43
  But let's consider another question.
• 36:46
  What biblical principles does this text inform or illustrate?
• 36:50
  And this is something you can see in any book of the Bible.
• 36:52
  You can get answers from any passage of Scripture.
• 36:54
  This is one that comes to mind in Exodus 2113, giving
• 36:58
  instructions about what 1 is to do if they commit involuntary
• 37:02
  manslaughter or those who commit intentional murder.
• 37:07
  We read here in verse 12, Whoever strikes of Exodus 21 a
• 37:10
  man so that he dies shall be put to death.
• 37:13
  But if he did not lie and wait for him, but God let him fall
• 37:15
  into his hand, then I will point for you a place to which he may
• 37:18
  flee. And I highlight the part that I
• 37:20
  think is so important. So I'm looking at this text.
• 37:23
  I'm looking at this list of rules for a covenant that is not
• 37:26
  binding on me. But again, I'm asking the
• 37:28
  question, what does this text illustrate?
• 37:30
  What does it inform? And here's what I discovered.
• 37:32
  God let him fall into his hand. What does it say about God?
• 37:37
  Any ideas? Somebody's saying he's
• 37:41
  sovereign, that in the context of accidental death, we're
• 37:48
  reminded that God was aware of it, that God allowed it.
• 37:56
  He's sovereign. And see, see what's happening
• 37:58
  now I'm reading through Exodus and I'm, I'm, I'm stirred to
• 38:01
  worship like God Let him fall into his hand.
• 38:07
  So keep those questions in mind and the more you train yourself,
• 38:11
  the more they'll be automatic and it will revolutionize your
• 38:14
  reading of the scripture. Let's come to tool #3 cross
• 38:21
  referencing. This is commonly known as the
• 38:24
  compatibility principle. And essentially what it says is
• 38:28
  the Bible interprets the Bible. It is the best commentary for
• 38:33
  itself. Now, the compatibility principle
• 38:36
  is based on this conviction that God does not contradict Himself.
• 38:40
  God doesn't make errors. Therefore, you can expect for
• 38:46
  there to be a consistent flow of teaching from beginning to end.
• 38:53
  And this encourages us to find more witnesses than the one that
• 38:56
  we are facing concerning any truth.
• 38:58
  And I want to ask you this question, does the Bible itself
• 39:01
  promote this principle? I gave you a hint.
• 39:07
  Do we see anything in the Bible that shows us the practice of
• 39:11
  using the Bible to interpret the Bible?
• 39:16
  Test his word? Yeah, sure, the Bible does tell
• 39:18
  us to test the word to examine. But think to Jesus wilderness
• 39:27
  experience, when Satan tempted him, what does Satan do?
• 39:33
  Yeah, he he said it is written. It is written and he quotes
• 39:36
  which passage, Psalm 91, to get Jesus to fling himself off the
• 39:40
  temple so that he can prove that there is divine protection on
• 39:44
  his behalf. And what does Jesus do in
• 39:45
  response to that? Again, it is written.
• 39:48
  And then he quotes Deuteronomy in order to counter this
• 39:53
  misapplication of Psalm 91. So I bring this up to show that
• 39:58
  the Bible itself uses this principle.
• 40:01
  That we counter Scripture with Scripture.
• 40:03
  That we look at the totality of God's Word and mine on a matter
• 40:07
  before we arrive at a doctrine or conclusion.
• 40:10
  Jesus himself did this. Now, there are a couple rules to
• 40:13
  keep in mind with the compatibility principle #1 clear
• 40:17
  passages must interpret unclear ones, and there are unclear
• 40:23
  passages at least at face value. And if you're not careful, you
• 40:27
  can make dangerous assumptions with those unclear passages.
• 40:32
  And I gave one as an example. In first Corinthians 1529, Paul
• 40:36
  is speaking about the resurrection.
• 40:39
  You had the Corinthian believers beginning to not believe in this
• 40:43
  thing called the resurrection. And at some point he he mentions
• 40:47
  this. Otherwise, what do people mean
• 40:50
  by being baptized on behalf of the dead?
• 40:53
  If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on
• 40:57
  their behalf? Baptized on behalf of the dead?
• 41:04
  So this is how this has caused many people to scratch their
• 41:07
  heads wondering what does Paul mean by this?
• 41:11
  You know what the Mormons did with this?
• 41:14
  They actually baptized on behalf of the dead.
• 41:18
  So if you had a relative that didn't profess faith and you can
• 41:21
  stand in proxy and you can go through the ritual of baptism on
• 41:25
  their behalf so that they can be saved.
• 41:28
  And what do they quote to back up that practice?
• 41:30
  First Corinthians 1529. Now what does the compatibility
• 41:35
  principle teach us? Well, when, when something seems
• 41:38
  unclear, zoom out and see what else Scripture has to say.
• 41:44
  For example, with baptism, this is there any other place in the
• 41:49
  Bible that suggests that you can be baptized on somebody's
• 41:51
  behalf? No, especially if they're dead,
• 41:55
  even if they're alive. So one thing we know for
• 41:58
  certain, Paul's not advocating for this kind of thing.
• 42:02
  So then what is he saying? Just in case you're curious.
• 42:05
  Well, look at his language very carefully.
• 42:06
  Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of
• 42:12
  the dead? He didn't say, what do we mean?
• 42:17
  So he's looking at an outside practice, a Pagan one actually.
• 42:21
  And what he's trying to convey to these stubborn Corinthians
• 42:24
  is, hey, if you have such a hard time believing in this concept
• 42:27
  of the resurrection of the dead, don't you understand that there
• 42:29
  are others out there who are being baptized on behalf of the
• 42:32
  dead? So if pagans have a have a grip
• 42:38
  on the resurrection, that there are things that take place after
• 42:41
  we die, why do you have so much trouble believing it?
• 42:44
  You see, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the
• 42:47
  dead? And so clear passages always
• 42:50
  have to interpret and inform unclear ones.
• 42:53
  Rule #2 don't ignore parallel passages.
• 42:59
  The amount of times this happens and the reason why we don't do
• 43:04
  this is not just so you know, we miss out on clarification, but
• 43:09
  also to complement a unique text or an independent text.
• 43:13
  So I want to use the example of Mary of Bethany breaking open
• 43:16
  the alabaster flask. If you're reading it from John's
• 43:19
  perspective, notice what he highlights in verse 4 of John
• 43:22
  chapter 12. But Judas Iscariot, one of his
• 43:26
  disciples, he who was about to betray him, said, why was this
• 43:30
  ointment not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor?
• 43:34
  Now here's the here's the temptation.
• 43:35
  You go through Mark, you go through Matthew and you come to
• 43:39
  the same account and you, I've read this before and you just
• 43:42
  glance over it. And what this principle says is,
• 43:46
  hold on. If this is mentioned elsewhere,
• 43:50
  believe every single time that it is there in order to
• 43:55
  complement what you are reading. So then again, if we look at it
• 43:59
  at math in Matthew, notice what Matthew says in Matthew 26,
• 44:02
  eight and nine. And when the disciples saw it,
• 44:06
  they were indignant, saying why this waste?
• 44:09
  For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the
• 44:11
  poor. So wait, John said, now do you
• 44:13
  see now how my morning devotion is becoming exciting?
• 44:18
  I'm reading John. I'm thinking, I wonder what
• 44:21
  Matthew has to say about this. John says Judas, one of his
• 44:24
  disciples, he complained. Matthew says the disciples saw
• 44:29
  it and they were indignant, indignant, saying, I wonder what
• 44:33
  Mark has to say. Mark 14 verse four.
• 44:36
  There were some who said to themselves in Dingly, what was
• 44:42
  the ointment wasted like that? So now I'm collecting these
• 44:45
  things together. Judas said it, then the
• 44:48
  disciples. And not only did they see it and
• 44:50
  say it, but they said it to themselves.
• 44:54
  What truths stand out to you from this?
• 44:56
  What applications come to mind? Here's one started with Judas,
• 45:01
  perhaps. Then the disciples agreed and
• 45:05
  they began to say it. One thing that comes to mind is
• 45:07
  complaining is contagious, right?
• 45:12
  Started with one and the others caught the bug and they all
• 45:17
  began to voice their concerns, supposed righteous concern.
• 45:22
  But Mark adds another layer. They were saying it to
• 45:24
  themselves and in Jesus and every time responds to this
• 45:28
  right. But the fact that they said it
• 45:30
  to themselves means that perhaps it was internal to begin with.
• 45:34
  And Mark highlights that it was more internal.
• 45:36
  It was more confined and then it became public.
• 45:39
  But if I'm going to go with that, the danger of murmuring
• 45:43
  and complaining, well, Jesus know, even when I'm complaining
• 45:46
  to myself, even if nobody else hears it, even if it's in my
• 45:50
  heart, even if it's underneath my own breath, Christ is aware
• 45:54
  of it. Do you see how things begin to
• 45:56
  now pop and light bulbs begin to to go off?
• 46:01
  Don't ignore parallel passages. They were designed to give you a
• 46:07
  tapestry of 1 scene. So everything that we've covered
• 46:13
  up to this point is from the bird's eye view.
• 46:16
  Now we're going to the worm's eye view.
• 46:18
  These are just general kind of structural ideas and
• 46:22
  observations, but as we come to tool #4, this is where it gets
• 46:27
  really exciting. Pay attention to the details.
• 46:35
  Pay attention to the details, and there are 4 details that I'm
• 46:38
  highlighting here. I'm sure there are many others,
• 46:41
  but these cover most of them. Locations.
• 46:46
  Things such as cities, regions, physical landmarks like
• 46:49
  mountains. Time markers.
• 46:54
  Is there a year being presented in this text?
• 46:56
  Is there a month? Is there a feast?
• 46:58
  Remember, so much orbits around feasts in the Old Covenant.
• 47:02
  What about even the time of the day?
• 47:05
  Is this in the morning? Is this in the afternoon?
• 47:07
  Is this at night? Time markers?
• 47:10
  Keep an eye out for those objects, items, clothing,
• 47:16
  materials like gold, silver, bronze #4 numbers, amount
• 47:22
  measurements, numerical patterns.
• 47:25
  So you want to be looking for these things, right?
• 47:28
  Sometimes we want to go straight to somebody's speech and what
• 47:32
  they say, or we want to look at somebody's actions, which are
• 47:37
  wonderful, but there are other things included in there and the
• 47:40
  Bible wastes no real estate. Whatever is included has a
• 47:45
  purpose. However, however, there's a
• 47:48
  warning and I'm going to read this.
• 47:49
  I put this up there. I know it's a lot of words for
• 47:51
  for a PowerPoint, but allow me to read this.
• 47:53
  This is so crucial. There are times these details
• 47:57
  are included simply to situate the account in the historical
• 48:00
  context without necessarily caring literary or theological
• 48:05
  implications. So you and I have to be cautious
• 48:08
  with that, right? Because there are those who take
• 48:10
  this principle and they think that there is a deep meaning
• 48:13
  behind every single detail that's found in the scriptures,
• 48:16
  and that's where you get into strange ideas and practices.
• 48:20
  Readers should be cautious not to over spiritualize the setting
• 48:24
  or infer meanings that aren't clearly supported.
• 48:28
  Avoid attributing symbolic significance unless there's
• 48:31
  strong evidence that the author intended it so.
• 48:36
  This is especially prevalent with numbers.
• 48:40
  Are there clear numerical patterns?
• 48:42
  Absolutely. But there's some instances where
• 48:45
  it's just showing you that the author was there or that this is
• 48:50
  historically accurate. So one example that comes to
• 48:52
  mind is when Jesus appears on the shore of the sea of Tiberius
• 48:57
  and Peter and the other disciples are there with him
• 48:59
  fishing. And then we see that heart
• 49:02
  moment, warming moment where he tells him to cast the the net to
• 49:05
  the other side and they catch this huge amount of fish.
• 49:09
  And then we read that Peter brings the net over, it's filled
• 49:13
  with large fish. And then we're told the number
• 49:15
  of fish, 153. Now 153 is not a common number
• 49:20
  in the Bible, but that hasn't stopped some people of looking
• 49:23
  at some deep meaning behind it. And it, it, it just doesn't feel
• 49:28
  right. And there's no ring to it.
• 49:31
  It's just forced. And it's it's imposed and it's
• 49:35
  personal and it's wild. And maybe you know something
• 49:40
  about the 153 number that I don't.
• 49:42
  But up to this point, what I know is John wants to tell us he
• 49:45
  was there. We counted them.
• 49:48
  There was 153. Another thing to learn was Peter
• 49:51
  was strong because Pete, it says Peter hauled that net over.
• 49:56
  And that says something about Peter, I'm sure.
• 49:58
  And, and you can maybe expound on that, right?
• 50:00
  He was a strong man. So be careful, be very careful,
• 50:04
  be very cautious. Some people think they're deep,
• 50:08
  but they're really drowning and nonsense.
• 50:15
  So let's look at a couple of examples, shall we?
• 50:18
  Time markers. So this is a wonderful example
• 50:22
  to look at Genesis 28, verse 10 to 11.
• 50:28
  Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran, and he came to a
• 50:32
  certain place and stayed there at night because the sun had
• 50:36
  set. Taking one of the stones of the
• 50:38
  place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to
• 50:42
  sleep. Now example, this is an example
• 50:46
  of a time marker. So what time marker stands out
• 50:47
  from this passage? You got it because the sun had
• 50:53
  set right? Meaning what it's getting night
• 50:55
  time, it's getting dark. So he pauses and he finds a
• 50:59
  stone as a pillow to lay his weary head.
• 51:02
  Now Jacob is on his way to his uncle Laban's right.
• 51:05
  He was sent by his mom. Esau wanted to kill his brother
• 51:08
  for for robbing of his blessing and so he makes his way towards
• 51:14
  Laban. Does anybody know how long Jacob
• 51:18
  was with his uncle for Genesis 3138.
• 51:28
  These 20 years I've been with you, he's confronting his uncle.
• 51:34
  Laban was more of a trickster than Jacob was.
• 51:38
  Your yous and your female goats have not miscarried and I have
• 51:40
  not eaten the Rams of your flocks.
• 51:42
  Here's my question. How many times do you think over
• 51:44
  20 years that the sunset and rise?
• 51:47
  I'm not asking for the actual number, I'm just trying to get
• 51:50
  you to think a lot, right? A lot.
• 51:54
  And between 28 to 31. We see some mention of mornings
• 52:00
  and evenings, but the language of the sun setting only appears
• 52:07
  one other time in Jacob's narrative.
• 52:09
  Does anybody know when good. He's making his way back?
• 52:18
  He hears that he's about to meet Esau or Esau's about to meet
• 52:21
  him. And in that wonderful account
• 52:23
  where he wrestles with God. What do we read after that?
• 52:26
  Genesis 32, verse 30 to 31. So Jacob called the name of the
• 52:30
  place Peniel, saying, For I've seen God face to face, and yet
• 52:33
  my life has been delivered. The sun rose upon him as he
• 52:39
  passed Pennue, limping because of his hip.
• 52:44
  So the action of the sun here is only mentioned.
• 52:47
  And all of this account when he walks toward and makes his way
• 52:51
  towards Laban. Was that a fun period for
• 52:53
  Jacob's life? It's very difficult, wasn't it?
• 52:58
  He got a taste of his own medicine.
• 53:00
  He was deceived, he was tricked, he was being humbled.
• 53:05
  He was being LED into a dark season of his life.
• 53:07
  And it lasted a long time, 20 years.
• 53:10
  And then he has an encounter with God.
• 53:13
  And when he has an encounter with God, he receives a new
• 53:15
  name. He has a chance to actually give
• 53:18
  his true identity. When he was asked, what is your
• 53:20
  name and what happens? Look at the artistry of the
• 53:23
  Bible. The sun rose upon him.
• 53:26
  It's a new day for Jacob. It's a new day for a new man.
• 53:32
  Now, you could have made that conclusion just on the fact that
• 53:34
  Jacob encounters God, but it goes deeper than that.
• 53:38
  The sun had set as he walked into a very unfortunate time
• 53:44
  where he would be disciplined and he would be chastised and he
• 53:48
  would be, he would be humbled. But when he encounters God, oh,
• 53:52
  it's a new day for this man. And he has a different walk,
• 53:55
  doesn't he? He's limping too.
• 53:59
  When you encounter God, you're going to walk differently.
• 54:04
  Time markers. What about objects?
• 54:07
  Here's an example from the New Testament.
• 54:09
  I mentioned John earlier, John 1818.
• 54:13
  Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire because
• 54:16
  it was cold and they were standing and warming themselves.
• 54:19
  Peter also with them standing and warming himself.
• 54:21
  What's Peter about to do in the scene?
• 54:24
  The night Christ. Now if you had just read John 18
• 54:31
  and you finished it and thought, OK, I'm done with John, I'm
• 54:34
  going to go to Colossians, you might have missed the only other
• 54:39
  place in the book of John where charcoal fire is mentioned.
• 54:44
  John 21, when Jesus encounters the disciples fishing again, and
• 54:51
  not only that, he prepared breakfast.
• 54:52
  Can you imagine that? The Son of God preparing
• 54:54
  breakfast barbecue and it says here in John 21/9 when they got
• 55:03
  out on land they saw a charcoal fire in place with fish laid out
• 55:08
  on it and bread. Jesus said to them, bring some
• 55:10
  of the fish that you have just got.
• 55:13
  Only two times in all the book of John is a charcoal fire
• 55:16
  mentioned when Peter denied Christ severely and when Jesus
• 55:23
  was about to restore Peter. So what does that tell me?
• 55:29
  I mean, now I'm thinking there's a symbol now with this charcoal
• 55:32
  fire. This is more than just a detail
• 55:35
  for the scenery. There's something attached to
• 55:38
  this. There are two significant
• 55:40
  moments now that are married to the charcoal fire.
• 55:43
  And here's one thought that comes to mind.
• 55:45
  Christ is prepared to meet us at the most egregious and
• 55:48
  embarrassing moment of our unfaithfulness in order to
• 55:50
  restore us. See, when we sin, Christ doesn't
• 55:55
  want us to hide our sin. I wonder what the smell of the
• 55:59
  charcoal fire was like for Peter at that time.
• 56:02
  I wonder what the crackling of those embers triggered in Peter.
• 56:10
  But Jesus wants to talk about his failure.
• 56:13
  He wants to confront it, but look how gentle he is.
• 56:15
  He wants to have a meal around it.
• 56:18
  He's not going to take one of those coals and put it in his
• 56:20
  shirt. Even though he disrobed himself,
• 56:23
  I guess when he jumped out of the boat, he didn't want to hurt
• 56:25
  Peter. He didn't want to brand Peter.
• 56:29
  He want he wants to deal with it, but in gentleness, in
• 56:34
  meekness, in conversation. And this chocolate flower for
• 56:40
  Peter, I mean, this signifies the greatest failure of his
• 56:44
  life. He failed a lot.
• 56:46
  But the one thing you commit where Jesus said if you deny me
• 56:48
  before men, I will deny you before my Father and his angels.
• 56:53
  Talk about regret. Talk about shame.
• 56:58
  Yeah. Jesus builds a charcoal fire and
• 57:01
  he restores Peter around it. You see?
• 57:05
  I mean you. You see this everywhere.
• 57:08
  You see it with Jacob. If I can use Jacob again, what
• 57:12
  animal did Jacob use to deceive his father to get Esau's
• 57:15
  blessing and birthright? A goat, Right?
• 57:19
  What kind of blood did Joseph's brothers use to convince Jacob
• 57:24
  that Joseph was mauled by an animal?
• 57:27
  Goat's blood. So Jacob deceived using a goat.
• 57:32
  Now he's being deceived through a goat.
• 57:34
  Goats are not good. You look at Genesis 38 and
• 57:39
  another goat appears with Judah when he accidentally sleeps with
• 57:43
  his daughter-in-law, Tamar, right?
• 57:47
  So you see this motif, you see this motif, you see this
• 57:51
  underlying principle, and it invites us to make these
• 57:54
  wonderful connections. So pay attention to the details.
• 57:57
  Tool #5 repetition, repetition, repetition.
• 58:05
  Yes, Rather, yeah, yes.
• 58:26
  Yeah, I would say so. Why those items?
• 58:29
  The Scripture has anything else to say about them?
• 58:31
  What's interesting is when you look at a prophecy in in Isaiah,
• 58:37
  you have gold and frankincense mentioned as what kings will
• 58:41
  bring to Messiah. Right, But but myrrh is
• 58:46
  exempted. It's not mentioned, it's
• 58:48
  omitted. So there's even undertones of
• 58:51
  Jesus's baby boy being Messiah. But in Isaiah it speaks about
• 58:56
  his millennial reign, what kings will do when they come to
• 58:59
  Jerusalem and bring these items. Whereas what we see with the
• 59:02
  kings in Jesus day at his birth is that they added one thing.
• 59:06
  And and if you look at what myrrh signifies, what does it
• 59:08
  signify? Yes, it signifies death.
• 59:12
  So there is this prophetic connection between the other
• 59:15
  elements, right? The prophet spoke about some of
• 59:18
  the things that they will bring to Messiah, but then why did
• 59:21
  they add the myrrh in Jesus account?
• 59:23
  Because in his first coming he was going to die.
• 59:26
  But in Isaiah's prophecy speaks about his second coming, he's
• 59:29
  not going to die anymore. Does that make sense a little
• 59:33
  bit, maybe come see me afterwards.
• 59:35
  Yeah, I would say look at those materials.
• 59:37
  Why these gifts? Is there anything in the Old
• 59:39
  Testament that would that would maybe shed light on why these,
• 59:42
  these rulers of some sort, these significant individuals are
• 59:46
  approaching the Messiah in this way?
• 59:48
  Great question. Repetition, repetition,
• 59:51
  repetition. Just in case anybody didn't know
• 59:54
  what repetition meant, Repetition in the Bible takes a
• 59:58
  takes place when the same word or phrase or sentence or picture
• 1:00:02
  or idea appears more than once within a defined context, right.
• 1:00:06
  A definite space. Here's the thing about
• 1:00:09
  repetition. Modern readers perceive
• 1:00:11
  repetition as poor authorship, right?
• 1:00:14
  Get it? Expand your vocabulary.
• 1:00:18
  Use synonyms. But ancient authors didn't see
• 1:00:21
  repetition in that way. Repetition, the way I like to
• 1:00:24
  describe it, is the Bible's internal highlighter.
• 1:00:29
  So it seeks to get the attention of the reader to recognize a
• 1:00:32
  deeper message within within the text or more than one
• 1:00:39
  application in that text. So here's an example of how that
• 1:00:43
  looks in a single verse. Let's go to Revelation 22, verse
• 1:00:46
  17. Near the end of the entire
• 1:00:48
  Bible, we read the Spirit and the Bride say come and let the
• 1:00:53
  one who hears say come and let the one who is thirsty come.
• 1:00:58
  Are the one who desires to take the water of life without price.
• 1:01:01
  What word is repeated there? Yeah.
• 1:01:05
  What does that signify to you? Could any of just said it once?
• 1:01:09
  It's important. What else?
• 1:01:12
  It's urgent if I say something more than once.
• 1:01:16
  I'm trying to get you to understand how important this
• 1:01:18
  is. I'm trying to convince you.
• 1:01:20
  I'm trying to persuade you. I'm, I'm trying to have you
• 1:01:23
  understand just how imperative this decision is.
• 1:01:25
  So come, come. Not just once.
• 1:01:27
  Come. What else?
• 1:01:31
  It's responsive, right? So there's a there's something
• 1:01:34
  that you have to answer to with this invitation.
• 1:01:36
  Sure. Somebody had their hand up.
• 1:01:38
  Yes, yeah, sure. So we had the Verily, verily
• 1:01:43
  concept where something is emphasized to repetition.
• 1:01:45
  It's saying, hey, what I'm about to say is very important.
• 1:01:48
  But within this one verse, is there anything that stands out?
• 1:01:51
  Say that certain, Sure. But look at the tool, the
• 1:01:55
  repetition tool. Let the one.
• 1:02:01
  Did you notice that the spirit of the bride say come and let
• 1:02:04
  the one who hears say come and let the one who is thirsty come.
• 1:02:08
  Let the One who desires to take the water of life without price,
• 1:02:12
  let the one, Couldn't he have said let all?
• 1:02:15
  Why are you saying let the One? Yeah, OK, maybe very few will do
• 1:02:22
  it. Sure.
• 1:02:24
  Individualistic. The invitation is personal you
• 1:02:29
  personal you I'm God is thinking about you.
• 1:02:32
  He's not thinking about humanity just as a whole.
• 1:02:34
  He's looking at you as an individual and he's saying, let
• 1:02:36
  the one you if you hear the invitation of the spirit and the
• 1:02:38
  bride, come, come, come. I want to know you personally.
• 1:02:42
  I'm inviting you personally. Do you see the beauty of this?
• 1:02:45
  Do you see how the Bible repeats as an internal highlighter?
• 1:02:49
  Let's look at an entire chapter. I mean, we went to Revelation.
• 1:02:51
  Let's go to the opposite side. In Genesis, Genesis 1, three and
• 1:02:57
  four, we read and God said, let there be light and there was
• 1:02:59
  light, and God saw that the light was good.
• 1:03:03
  And then you read on and what do you discover?
• 1:03:05
  Verse 10 And God saw that it was good. 12 God saw that it was
• 1:03:09
  good. 18 God saw that it was good. 21 God saw that it was
• 1:03:12
  good. 25 God saw that it was good.
• 1:03:17
  So whatever God is seeing, it's good.
• 1:03:18
  And the Holy Spirit wants us to know.
• 1:03:21
  And these are comments for different days of creation.
• 1:03:25
  And then it climaxes at this point, verse 31.
• 1:03:29
  And God saw everything that he made, he had made, and behold,
• 1:03:33
  it was very good. So what does it tell you that
• 1:03:39
  the Spirit of God in the very opening of Scripture wants to
• 1:03:42
  show us that when God was creating, He was over and over
• 1:03:46
  celebrating what He was doing. Well, just that God doesn't just
• 1:03:52
  commend and rejoice when something is completed.
• 1:03:57
  He rejoices over the progress. He celebrates as it unfolds, as
• 1:04:04
  it develops, as it matures. So.
• 1:04:10
  So God is a God who rejoices over the process.
• 1:04:14
  And now I begin to think when God is working on my life and
• 1:04:20
  I'm not where I want to be, my sanctification is not complete.
• 1:04:25
  I can be assured though, that he, he celebrates what the
• 1:04:29
  Spirit of God has is doing in me and, and how because of my, my
• 1:04:32
  heart, I want to yield and be conformed to him.
• 1:04:35
  I can be assured that he's not looking at me with crossed arms
• 1:04:38
  and a frown. But when I'm introduced to God,
• 1:04:42
  I see that he celebrates the progress.
• 1:04:46
  And that's, that's a word for many of us who are frustrated
• 1:04:48
  with our progress. As long as we're making our way
• 1:04:52
  forward and even if we fall, we fall forward.
• 1:04:55
  We know that there's a God who smiles over us.
• 1:04:58
  Did you notice something else? The word good appears 7 times
• 1:05:04
  and then the 7th time being very good.
• 1:05:07
  So there is an element too of, of a rejoicing at completion.
• 1:05:14
  You know, I read a quote the other day which I'm going to get
• 1:05:16
  to near the end of this whole session.
• 1:05:20
  Someone made the observation that if God rejoices over one
• 1:05:26
  man's repentance, the start of our journey, what will we be
• 1:05:29
  like at the end when we meet him face to face?
• 1:05:33
  It's a wonderful thought, right? So an entire chapter we find
• 1:05:38
  repetition, repetition, repetition.
• 1:05:40
  Now here's a note to keep in mind.
• 1:05:41
  Sometimes when a scene or speech is repeated, it's the
• 1:05:44
  differences that send a message. So it's not the similarities,
• 1:05:48
  it's not the echoing necessarily.
• 1:05:50
  It's what stands out. Now some of you may remember
• 1:05:53
  this from the Book of First Kings when Rehoboam was seeking
• 1:05:57
  guidance and wisdom of how to deal with the request of the
• 1:05:59
  people to be treated better than how his father treated them.
• 1:06:03
  Notice his wording to the older advisors in First Kings 12 verse
• 1:06:08
  6. Then King Rehoboam took counsel
• 1:06:12
  with the old men who had stood before Solomon his father, while
• 1:06:15
  he was yet alive, saying, how do you advise me to answer this
• 1:06:18
  people? Now you read that plainly.
• 1:06:20
  You think, OK, that's a legitimate question.
• 1:06:23
  Does he take the advice of the old men?
• 1:06:25
  No, he takes the advice of who? The young men who grew up with
• 1:06:29
  him. And I want you to notice how he
• 1:06:30
  addresses them in First Kings 12/9.
• 1:06:34
  And he said to them, what do you advise that?
• 1:06:37
  Not you. We.
• 1:06:40
  What do you advise that we answer this?
• 1:06:41
  People who have said to me, lighten the yoke that your
• 1:06:43
  father put on us. What does that show about
• 1:06:47
  Rehoboam? He already identified with the
• 1:06:50
  younger man. Down deep inside, he wasn't
• 1:06:53
  really looking for fresh insight.
• 1:06:56
  He was looking for people that would agree with him.
• 1:06:59
  And do we have the tendency of doing that?
• 1:07:01
  When we see counsel, we may even present ourselves as somebody
• 1:07:05
  who's looking for genuine advice or instruction, even though it
• 1:07:09
  may not agree with us. But down deep inside, we're
• 1:07:12
  fishing for yes men. We want somebody to agree with
• 1:07:16
  us so we can we can have some kind of assurance or confidence
• 1:07:19
  that this is the approach that we should take.
• 1:07:21
  So even if, I mean, he's asking a similar situation, a similar
• 1:07:25
  circumstance, a similar question, but it's worded
• 1:07:27
  differently. And sometimes it's the
• 1:07:29
  differences that send the message, not the similarities.
• 1:07:32
  So repetition is so important. Are you guys ready to do some
• 1:07:35
  homework right now? Ready or not?
• 1:07:40
  How are we doing on time? Lunch is in 30 minutes.
• 1:07:46
  Yes. Good.
• 1:07:48
  I was hoping so. Here's what we're going to do in
• 1:07:51
  the next. Let's give it 10 minutes.
• 1:07:55
  Maybe by yourself, if you want to do with the people you came
• 1:07:57
  with, maybe just one other person.
• 1:07:59
  You're going to open up Genesis chapter 18 and you're going to
• 1:08:02
  read the first 8 verses and you're going to apply whatever
• 1:08:05
  we learned thus far. Remember, we are looking for
• 1:08:12
  repetition. We are looking for details.
• 1:08:15
  Details like location, time markers, objects, numbers, cross
• 1:08:20
  references might be hard at this point, but we're looking for
• 1:08:23
  questions to to be answered. Questions like what does this
• 1:08:29
  text reveal about God? What does it reveal about man?
• 1:08:32
  What kind of principle does an informer illustrate?
• 1:08:35
  How can this be applied in light of the New Covenant?
• 1:08:40
  And though not every question applies with what you heard thus
• 1:08:45
  far, get with your group and I will signal to you when we're
• 1:08:49
  going to reconvene together. Genesis 18 one to 8.
• 1:09:08
  Do we need more time? We're OK.
• 1:09:12
  All right. Let's gather together again.
• 1:09:18
  How was it? Interesting.
• 1:09:22
  Hopefully. That's a good Interesting.
• 1:09:25
  All right. Whoever wants to contribute?
• 1:09:27
  Any ideas, any observations, maybe even questions?
• 1:09:32
  Yes, brother. Yeah.
• 1:09:37
  So the Lord appears to him after that.
• 1:09:39
  So you're asking the question, what came before this?
• 1:09:41
  Very good observation. And there are wonderful
• 1:09:45
  instructions from that point, Yes.
• 1:09:47
  Anything else? Yes, the Lord appears with him
• 1:09:49
  in three. Men.
• 1:09:53
  Yes, he. Recognized that it was the.
• 1:09:55
  Lord Yeah 3. Is symbolically the Trinity.
• 1:09:59
  Yes. So some people do believe it's a
• 1:10:00
  Trinity. The clarification, however, is
• 1:10:02
  when you come next in Genesis 19 where you have two angels who
• 1:10:07
  went to Lot in Sodom. So many who who do think it's a
• 1:10:11
  Trinity have to consider that it seems to be that the Lord
• 1:10:14
  appears as one person, one individual, and the two others
• 1:10:17
  who accompany were actually angels.
• 1:10:19
  But you're not the only one who's made that initial
• 1:10:22
  observation. I would just encourage to
• 1:10:23
  consider the next chapter to see who those members are exactly.
• 1:10:36
  For by doing so, some people that entertain angels.
• 1:10:39
  Without beautiful brother, did you hear the cross reference to
• 1:10:42
  a principle in Hebrews chapter 13 about really hospitality?
• 1:10:46
  Is there a lot to learn about hospitality in the verses we
• 1:10:48
  read? Yes.
• 1:10:49
  Good, great. Thank you brother.
• 1:10:50
  Did you have your hand up as well?
• 1:10:51
  Yeah, there is the oaks of memory.
• 1:11:01
  They appear more than once in Genesis, especially with
• 1:11:05
  Abraham, but I would say that's a great thing that you're
• 1:11:08
  highlighting there. We don't have time to explore
• 1:11:10
  what that means exactly, but you are on to something very good.
• 1:11:12
  Yes, yes, and because of. That his.
• 1:11:20
  Actions corresponds to. God, we're going to quickly.
• 1:11:25
  There's no. Delay.
• 1:11:26
  There's no hesitation. Yes, very good.
• 1:11:28
  Did you notice that that Abraham recognizes and even identifies
• 1:11:32
  himself as a serpent? Now, let me ask you this.
• 1:11:34
  Learning about Abraham up to this point, did we already
• 1:11:37
  discover that he was a wealthy man?
• 1:11:39
  Not just wealthy, very wealthy, right?
• 1:11:42
  Did he have servants? Could he have just asked his
• 1:11:44
  servants to prepare a meal for the Lord and the 2 angels?
• 1:11:47
  Well, what does he do? He puts the apron on, right?
• 1:11:51
  What's that? Yes, exactly.
• 1:11:56
  So he does. He does include others, but he
• 1:11:59
  is also waiting on them. And we'll get to that in a
• 1:12:01
  moment. Yes, Jonah.
• 1:12:02
  I see. A image.
• 1:12:13
  Oh now you're getting deep yes yes, yes we're going to have fun
• 1:12:21
  at lunch we did there is a deeper meaning here our brother
• 1:12:26
  Yona has it. I know it, yes, but those are a
• 1:12:28
  great that's a great point. There is there is a consistency
• 1:12:31
  here. There is a parallel that you can
• 1:12:32
  make between how Abraham treats the Lord under this tree and how
• 1:12:37
  there is another instance where idols are dealt with underneath
• 1:12:40
  the tree. That's a great point too.
• 1:12:41
  That's that's very deep. Yes.
• 1:12:45
  Yeah. They they he wasn't expecting
• 1:12:47
  them when they arrived, right. He was, he seems to be
• 1:12:48
  surprised. Sure, yes, very good.
• 1:12:58
  He is. Do you see that he can move for
• 1:13:02
  a 99 year old, right. Because in verse 14, the Lord's
• 1:13:06
  going to tell them one year from now Sarah's going to have a
• 1:13:09
  child. So how old did he give?
• 1:13:12
  What? How old was Abraham when he had
• 1:13:13
  Isaac? He was 100.
• 1:13:15
  Meaning what? How old is he here?
• 1:13:16
  99? Yes, yes, right here, Brianna.
• 1:13:19
  We'll get to you, brother. That's a great point too.
• 1:13:35
  I mean, you have this, this man who inflicts pain upon himself
• 1:13:38
  in order to obey God, and yet his posture of service is so
• 1:13:42
  strong immediately after, contextually speaking, Yes.
• 1:13:46
  Yes, brother. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,
• 1:14:06
  absolutely. And a couple of people already
• 1:14:08
  made that point. It's true.
• 1:14:09
  There's something about the timing.
• 1:14:10
  There's something about the timing.
• 1:14:11
  Abraham and his house will being circumcised and the Lord making
• 1:14:13
  himself known to Abraham. Yes, somebody had their hand up
• 1:14:16
  here. Yes, Grace.
• 1:14:23
  The quality, Yeah. He, he brought a quality meat
• 1:14:28
  before his guest. Sure.
• 1:14:30
  Yes. Right.
• 1:14:37
  Yeah, sure. I mean, there's this mirroring
• 1:14:39
  picture of humbling yourself. And that's probably one of the
• 1:14:41
  most humbling things you can do is to wash somebody else's feet
• 1:14:44
  at that time. Absolutely.
• 1:14:45
  Right. Yes.
• 1:15:00
  Yeah, yeah.
• 1:15:19
  So now you're sure. So now you're wondering and
• 1:15:24
  questioning and examining. This is good.
• 1:15:26
  Yes, over here and over here. And then we'll look at it
• 1:15:28
  together more. Very.
• 1:15:30
  Good. Did you notice?
• 1:15:31
  That outside, which means he was in a very uncomfortable position
• 1:15:33
  and. Sometimes.
• 1:15:39
  Hospitality can be very uncomfortable and costly, and he
• 1:15:43
  was just sitting out there in that heat in his elderly age,
• 1:15:46
  waiting on God to bring that operation.
• 1:15:48
  Excellent point. Did you notice the time marker?
• 1:15:50
  It was in the heat of the day. We're talking about Middle
• 1:15:53
  Eastern heat. This is hot, right?
• 1:15:57
  OK, we're going to go, I mean, somebody else here, then Joey.
• 1:15:59
  And then Joey, we're going to end with you before we move on.
• 1:16:02
  Yes, So there's many repeated words here.
• 1:16:05
  Yes. And we're going to explore more
• 1:16:06
  of those. Very good, Joey.
• 1:16:08
  I noticed that before he actually served, he was
• 1:16:12
  worshipped. Reminded me back to Mary and
• 1:16:15
  Mark when they were separated here.
• 1:16:17
  And Abraham did it. He worshipped and He provided.
• 1:16:21
  Hospital yes, so there's devotion in the heart and
• 1:16:23
  practical service here. Absolutely you, you all did a
• 1:16:26
  wonderful job. Let's look at some of these
• 1:16:28
  things you already mentioned some of them.
• 1:16:30
  Verse one tells us that it was in the heat of the day.
• 1:16:32
  He meant this is just surface level.
• 1:16:34
  We're not even getting deeper deeper here, just preliminary in
• 1:16:37
  the 10-15 minutes we had. So there's the heat of the day.
• 1:16:41
  So as our sister alluded to already mentioned that this was
• 1:16:43
  probably very uncomfortable for Abraham, right?
• 1:16:46
  It was not a very convenient time, but it was in the heat of
• 1:16:49
  the day. That says something.
• 1:16:50
  He ran. Did you notice that twice we
• 1:16:53
  read that he ran the word quick appears three times quickly,
• 1:16:59
  quick, quickly, quickly, right. So the Lord deserves immediate
• 1:17:02
  obedience. There shouldn't be hesitation
• 1:17:04
  and obedience there should be, there shouldn't be hesitation in
• 1:17:06
  our worship and our sacrifice. Did you notice this in verse 4?
• 1:17:10
  What did He initially offer them in verse four?
• 1:17:12
  Look at it again, I'll read it. He says let a little water be
• 1:17:15
  brought. Notice little water, let a
• 1:17:17
  little water be brought and wash your feet and rest yourselves
• 1:17:20
  under the tree while I bring a morsel of bread that you may
• 1:17:24
  refresh yourselves and after that you may pass on since you
• 1:17:27
  have come to your servants. So what does He offer them as a
• 1:17:29
  meal? Just take a snack, a morsel of
• 1:17:32
  bread, right? What does he offer them?
• 1:17:34
  A cow. So what is what is that milk?
• 1:17:39
  And it's a whole feast. So maybe you've experienced this
• 1:17:42
  where somebody knows you're driving by town and they text or
• 1:17:45
  you texted me, say, come over, just come over for a cup of tea,
• 1:17:47
  right? This is especially known among
• 1:17:50
  Middle Easterners, right? It's not just going to be tea.
• 1:17:53
  You know, it's not leftovers. And there's going to be a whole.
• 1:17:57
  It's going to be like Thanksgiving, right?
• 1:17:59
  And you thought you were just coming for tea.
• 1:18:00
  So is Abraham lying here? No, it's not.
• 1:18:02
  He's not lying, but it's showing just he's willing to go above
• 1:18:06
  and beyond for the Lord, right? And so he's trying to convince
• 1:18:10
  them like, look, it seems like you're on your way.
• 1:18:11
  Here's just a morsel of bread. But in reality, once you got him
• 1:18:14
  seated, he says get the best cow we have, right?
• 1:18:17
  And that really brings us to the next point.
• 1:18:19
  It was tender and good. He didn't look for a weekly
• 1:18:21
  sickly animal. He found the best that he can
• 1:18:24
  offer to the Lord. And brother, do you want to get
• 1:18:26
  something before we move on? Doing what was strange, I will
• 1:18:31
  point out that 3 is a a a gimmel which is a symbol of a camel and
• 1:18:37
  helping board a door in the Hebrew letter of the valid and
• 1:18:41
  there's a whole bunch of message in a camel symbolically.
• 1:18:46
  So I think the the scripture is pointing us to the meaning of a
• 1:18:49
  letter. OK, which is?
• 1:18:51
  The letter that is the #3. Yeah, see, this is where this is
• 1:18:54
  beyond my expertise with Hebrew, and this is something we'll talk
• 1:18:57
  about after the lunch break. But this is something worthy of
• 1:18:59
  discussion. Absolutely.
• 1:19:00
  There's something to consider about some of these original
• 1:19:02
  terms and symbols. Notice in verse 8, just because
• 1:19:05
  of the sake of time, we read that at the end of the whole
• 1:19:08
  scene, what's Abraham's posture? Does he sit with them?
• 1:19:13
  What is standing symbolize? Yeah, he's, I served you up to
• 1:19:19
  this point, but I'm ready. If you call me, I will do
• 1:19:21
  anything else. I'm still in the active position
• 1:19:24
  of serving. You know, some people, they
• 1:19:26
  serve, and then I want to take a break from serving the Lord.
• 1:19:30
  You know, that's not Abraham. Abraham, I'm ready to serve
• 1:19:32
  again. And that's even more impressive
• 1:19:34
  when you consider his age. He's 99 at this point.
• 1:19:38
  And more than that, this is something that stood out to me.
• 1:19:41
  What about his attitude? He's 99.
• 1:19:44
  Sure. And what hasn't come yet?
• 1:19:47
  The promise he's going to find out after this that it's going
• 1:19:50
  to be a year from then that Isaac would be realized.
• 1:19:53
  But look at his attitude while he waits on God.
• 1:19:57
  Is he bitter? Does he drag his feet?
• 1:20:00
  Is he huff and puff? Oh, it's the Lord.
• 1:20:02
  The same one that promised me 25 years ago that I was going to
• 1:20:05
  have his son, and that is that. Is that Abraham's attitude?
• 1:20:07
  No, while he waits on God, he is serving with his whole heart.
• 1:20:12
  Are you doing the same? Am I doing the same?
• 1:20:16
  He's a model of faith according to the New Testament, not just
• 1:20:18
  in justifying faith, but in practical faith.
• 1:20:22
  He's waiting on the Lord. And while he's waiting, he's
• 1:20:24
  giving everything he has to the Lord because he loves God, not
• 1:20:27
  just for the promise, but the promise, Sir, who he is, As we
• 1:20:32
  already mentioned, our brother mentioned that one New Testament
• 1:20:35
  application, according to Hebrews 13, is we should, we
• 1:20:37
  should be as people of God, hospitable.
• 1:20:41
  And we have a wonderful model in Abraham.
• 1:20:43
  Yes, brother, you had something else.
• 1:20:44
  While he was serving it at the end, he got provided the tree
• 1:20:48
  for the coolness versus. The sun, Sure.
• 1:20:51
  Yes, yes. Otherwise it would have been
• 1:20:54
  really. Hot, it would have been exactly.
• 1:20:55
  Yes, absolutely. This is just one sample of how
• 1:21:01
  when we do what we just learned, when we ask these questions and
• 1:21:05
  when we we zoom in and we meditate, things begin to
• 1:21:09
  glisten in our Bibles. And this is just the surface.
• 1:21:13
  We haven't even really brought in it.
• 1:21:15
  We could have compared Abraham's hospitality in Genesis 18 to
• 1:21:18
  Lot's hospitality in Genesis 19, right?
• 1:21:21
  There's so many other things that we can explore, but for
• 1:21:24
  now, we're going to eat. We're going to eat just like we
• 1:21:28
  learned here. We're going to have a meal.
• 1:21:30
  Allow me to pray for us and it will return at 1:30.
• 1:21:35
  Lord, we do thank you for this first part.
• 1:21:38
  We thank you for the tangible excitement and the contagious
• 1:21:43
  spirit for the things of God and the Word of God.
• 1:21:47
  We pray now that as we feast together that the spirit of
• 1:21:51
  hospitality would be obvious. We thank you for the hospitality
• 1:21:54
  team that throughout the week have been preparing for this
• 1:21:57
  time. We thank you for the the meal
• 1:22:00
  that we're we're going to enjoy. May it only facilitate the
• 1:22:02
  fellowship that you call us to have.
• 1:22:05
  And Lord, may the rest of this afternoon be to your glory.
• 1:22:08
  In Jesus name we pray, Amen and Amen.
• 1:22:11
  We'll see you back in here at 1:30.
• 1:22:13
  Just make your way downstairs. There's Chick-fil-A and other
• 1:22:16
  snacks waiting for you. God bless you.
• 1:22:18
  We'll see you soon.