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Biblical Foundation · Clay to Crown

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  Speaker 1: All right hello everybody amanda hughes here again with clay
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  Speaker 1: to crown podcast um you can find us on uh
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: all right everybody amanda hughes here with clay to crown
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  Speaker 1: podcast i am so thankful that you guys are joining
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  Speaker 1: yet again today uh and today's episode is going to
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  Speaker 1: conclude um kind of the the introductory um Vision for
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  Speaker 1: what I see for this podcast. And I told you
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  Speaker 1: at the beginning, like, the way I teach and the
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  Speaker 1: way I counsel people, you know, and just talk to
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  Speaker 1: people in general sometimes is I kind of lay... like
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  Speaker 1: three things, three things out there. And, and the first
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  Speaker 1: thing is, um, the character of God. I believe as
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  Speaker 1: a Christian that it is so important that we understand
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  Speaker 1: the character of God and that he is who he
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  Speaker 1: says he is. And if we can grasp that, if
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  Speaker 1: we can grasp that in his sovereignty, that he is
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  Speaker 1: for us and not against us, um, Even if things
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  Speaker 1: don't work out the way we in the natural think
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  Speaker 1: that they are working out, he is working them out
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  Speaker 1: in the spiritual. That's important. That's important that we can
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  Speaker 1: understand those concepts. And the other one is, so when
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  Speaker 1: things aren't working out the way that we want them to,
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  Speaker 1: how do we deal with that? And how do we
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  Speaker 1: approach God with that or each other with that or whatever?
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  Speaker 1: And that way is the biblical practice of lament. Lament
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  Speaker 1: changed my life. um, uh, I guess about seven years
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  Speaker 1: ago now, when I was going through a trial and
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  Speaker 1: I didn't understand why things were happening the way they
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  Speaker 1: were happening. Like my, my, my life was not supposed
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  Speaker 1: to be the way it was at the time. Um,
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  Speaker 1: and the Lord delivered me through that, um, with the
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  Speaker 1: biblical practice of lament and introducing me to lament. And that's,
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  Speaker 1: That's what I talked about the last episode. And then today,
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  Speaker 1: for this last kind of vision casting episode for the podcast,
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  Speaker 1: we have to know some of our foundational things, right,
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  Speaker 1: for the Christian faith. And one of those foundations is
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  Speaker 1: the Bible, that we have to understand the Bible and
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  Speaker 1: why the words inside its pages from Genesis to Revelation
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  Speaker 1: still shapes us and that it is relevant for us
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  Speaker 1: in 21st century America, even though It was written to
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  Speaker 1: an ancient audience, right? And so that's kind of the
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  Speaker 1: tension that we're in, right? We're at 21st century America.
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  Speaker 1: We're modern. You know, I'm recording this on a laptop.
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  Speaker 1: You know, the ancient people that the Bible was initially
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  Speaker 1: written for have died. has no concept of the things
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  Speaker 1: that we do, driving in cars and flying in airplanes,
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  Speaker 1: you know, and all of those things. They have no
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  Speaker 1: concept of that. And so that's the tension. It's written
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  Speaker 1: to an ancient peoples in an ancient time, yet here
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  Speaker 1: we are in a modern world. But it's still our story.
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  Speaker 1: It is still our story. And we're part of that story.
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  Speaker 1: But ultimately, to understand our story, we must understand God's story.
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  Speaker 1: We must understand the word. And so what do I
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  Speaker 1: mean by foundation, right? The foundations of the Bible, why
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  Speaker 1: Genesis to Revelation can shape us. The Bible to use... Uh, to,
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  Speaker 1: to steal a line from the Bible project, the Bible
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  Speaker 1: is a unified story that leads to Jesus. It is
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  Speaker 1: a unified story. Every page of the Bible points to God.
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  Speaker 1: Every page of the Bible is about God. It reveals
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  Speaker 1: God's character, his mission, and his design. And so when
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  Speaker 1: we're talking about the foundations of the Bible, the foundation,
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  Speaker 1: you know, ultimately, and I'm actually teaching a class on
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  Speaker 1: this right now at my local church, is really like
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  Speaker 1: Genesis 1 through 11. So you got the creation narrative,
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  Speaker 1: you got Cain and Abel, you know, then you have
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  Speaker 1: the fall narrative, and then you have Cain and Abel,
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  Speaker 1: and then you have the story of Noah and the flood.
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  Speaker 1: And then in Genesis chapter 11, it talks about the
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  Speaker 1: Tower of Babel. And all of those stories in Genesis
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  Speaker 1: 1 through 11, those are the seedbeds of the entire
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  Speaker 1: rest of the biblical story. If you understand what happened
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  Speaker 1: in Genesis 1 through 11 and you understand why they
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  Speaker 1: were written down in the first place and why those
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  Speaker 1: particular things are highlighted and you start reading the Bible
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  Speaker 1: in those contexts, they'll highlight the entire rest of the
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  Speaker 1: biblical story. like Babylon, for example, you know, the tower
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  Speaker 1: of Babel, that's Babylon. And, and Babylon is mentioned throughout
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  Speaker 1: the Bible, not just during the exile and, um, you know,
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  Speaker 1: immediately afterwards, you know, in, in the prophets or when
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  Speaker 1: we're talking about, um, second Kings or anything like in
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  Speaker 1: the historical books, but Babylon is in revelation. Babylon is
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  Speaker 1: also mentioned in the last book of the Bible. And
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  Speaker 1: so why, you know, those, those, um, you know, tracing
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  Speaker 1: those biblical theology moments, those are, those are important. And,
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  Speaker 1: and all of this matters for our modern faith because
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  Speaker 1: without those foundations, I think, I think we, our faith
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  Speaker 1: can then become preference based, right? So what do I
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  Speaker 1: mean by that? Like we can have our cultural narratives
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  Speaker 1: then compete with biblical ones. So, Oh, I like, um,
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  Speaker 1: I like this and not that, right? Or I choose
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  Speaker 1: this preference and not that preference. And so what I
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  Speaker 1: mean is, um, you know, I, I like, um, living
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  Speaker 1: with my boyfriend. That's my preference. Or I like, um,
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  Speaker 1: a same sex attractive, uh, person. That's my preference, right?
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  Speaker 1: You know, things like that. Or I choose not to
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  Speaker 1: have children. That's my preference. You know, it's not about
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  Speaker 1: worship styles being preference. It's about our culture. So then,
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  Speaker 1: you know, the things that are coming at us at culture,
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  Speaker 1: you know, like the things that I just talked about,
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  Speaker 1: social justice, you know, abortion, transgenderism, you know, all of
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  Speaker 1: those things that are happening now in today's culture, it
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  Speaker 1: And we want to be nice to people. And we
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  Speaker 1: think that we have to approve of people. You know,
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  Speaker 1: all of these things, all those cultural narratives then compete
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  Speaker 1: with what the Bible says. So we have to understand
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  Speaker 1: the foundation. Otherwise, we'll just get tossed to and fro
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  Speaker 1: to steal from Paul in Ephesians. He says to grow
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  Speaker 1: in maturity. Otherwise, you will be tossed to and fro.
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  Speaker 1: And the Bible gives us our identity. It gives us
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  Speaker 1: our purpose. And it gives us a lens for the
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  Speaker 1: reality in which we find ourselves. It gives us our identity.
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  Speaker 1: And I said this in the first episode that our
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  Speaker 1: identity is not earned. It's bestowed. And we learn that
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  Speaker 1: in the opening pages of the Bible. Our purpose is
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  Speaker 1: the same. Our purpose is to rule and reign and
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  Speaker 1: bring glory to God. It says that on the opening
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  Speaker 1: pages of the Bible. And the Bible is the only
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  Speaker 1: thing that tells us about the way things were, the
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  Speaker 1: way things are, the way things should be, and then
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  Speaker 1: the way things will be. The creation, fall, redemption, and restoration.
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  Speaker 1: the Bible is our lens from through which we see
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  Speaker 1: the reality in which we are finding ourselves. Creation is
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  Speaker 1: the way things were, the way things were, how things
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  Speaker 1: were in the beginning, you know, and then the fall
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  Speaker 1: with Adam and Eve, uh, bringing sin into the world.
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  Speaker 1: And then you have redemption, right? Um, with Jesus. And,
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  Speaker 1: you know, a lot of times too, I think we,
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  Speaker 1: we ask ourselves and, and I know I have in
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  Speaker 1: the past, um, you know, like why did God allow
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  Speaker 1: that to happen? Like, why did God allow Adam and
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  Speaker 1: Eve to eat of the fruit in the first place?
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  Speaker 1: You know, he, if he's all powerful, why didn't he
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  Speaker 1: just stop it? And recently I was doing a study
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  Speaker 1: through the book of revelation and I was reading a
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  Speaker 1: commentary and this, what this commentator said was just so
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  Speaker 1: profound to me. And it's just, it's just kind of
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  Speaker 1: changed the way I thought. Um, like I thought I
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  Speaker 1: knew God before right I considered myself pretty biblically astute
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  Speaker 1: per se but the but here's what this commentator said
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  Speaker 1: in the book of Revelation and I can't remember exactly
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  Speaker 1: what chapter I was studying at the time but essentially
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  Speaker 1: You know, and it was toward the end. I do
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  Speaker 1: know that because we were talking about, you know, it's
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  Speaker 1: about new creation, right? And Jesus coming back again and
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  Speaker 1: all of that stuff. So I know it was toward
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  Speaker 1: the end, but I don't remember exactly where, but that
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  Speaker 1: don't matter. But the commentator said that, you know, like
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  Speaker 1: essentially that Jesus, God allowed Adam and Eve and all
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  Speaker 1: of the things to happen in order for Jesus to
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  Speaker 1: come back. Because Jesus is better than Eden. And I
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  Speaker 1: was just like, whoa. And as the weeks have gone
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  Speaker 1: on and I've pondered that more and more, what that
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  Speaker 1: is saying is that Jesus coming and dying on the
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  Speaker 1: cross wasn't God's plan B. That was God's plan A.
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  Speaker 1: Because Jesus God himself in the second person of the Trinity,
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  Speaker 1: that those of us who know him and have a
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  Speaker 1: relationship with him and have the Holy Spirit guiding our lives,
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  Speaker 1: that that is better than Eden ever dreamed it could be. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: that's just an amazing thought, right? So going back to,
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  Speaker 1: I kind of got off on a tangent, but going
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  Speaker 1: back to the Bible, you know, and so that's part
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  Speaker 1: of the story, right? Jesus coming is part of the story.
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  Speaker 1: The old Testament points, uh, to Jesus and the new
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  Speaker 1: Testament points from Jesus. You know, we, we say that we, uh,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus is victory on the cross that we don't fight
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  Speaker 1: for victory, but we fight from victory. Um, And so
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  Speaker 1: the Bible is his story. It's not necessarily a rule,
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  Speaker 1: a rule book, although there are things in there that
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  Speaker 1: we should obey and do and, and make sure that we're,
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  Speaker 1: we're living in right relationship and everything like that. But
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  Speaker 1: at its, at its heart, the Bible is a story
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  Speaker 1: and it's a story about God. And so when we
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  Speaker 1: understand that story and I, it's a big fancy theological
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  Speaker 1: word called the meta narrative, right? It's a, it's a
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  Speaker 1: story about a story. So you got all these little
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  Speaker 1: stories in there, whether it's Adam and Eve or the
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  Speaker 1: story of Abraham or the story of David or the
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  Speaker 1: story of the Israelite exile and then coming back with
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  Speaker 1: Ezra and Nehemiah and all of these things, the story
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  Speaker 1: of Esther. And then as we go forward into the
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  Speaker 1: New Testament, the four gospels with Jesus and and the
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  Speaker 1: different church plants that the Apostle Paul does, you know,
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  Speaker 1: and all of those things. When we're talking about those,
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  Speaker 1: those are all individual stories, right? But those stories point
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  Speaker 1: to a big overarching story, and that story is called
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  Speaker 1: the metanarrative. And we have to understand what that metanarrative
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  Speaker 1: is in order for us to understand those individual passages,
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  Speaker 1: those individual stories. Because why is David and Goliath so important?
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  Speaker 1: Why is it obviously the story of Jesus is so important?
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  Speaker 1: But it's that story of redemption, right? That's the metanarrative.
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  Speaker 1: If I had to pick one word, Amanda Hughes in Beaufort,
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  Speaker 1: South Carolina, you know, if I had to pick one
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  Speaker 1: word about what the overarching biblical story was about, I
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  Speaker 1: would say it is about redemption. It is about redemption.
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  Speaker 1: And when we understand that, then it makes sense of
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  Speaker 1: all the other stories that Um, I, when I teach, uh,
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  Speaker 1: I teach a how to read the Bible class and,
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  Speaker 1: and one of the analogies that I use in there
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  Speaker 1: is a puzzle box lid. It's pretty darn hard to
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  Speaker 1: put a puzzle together without the box lid, right? Cause
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  Speaker 1: you don't know if this blue belongs in the sky
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  Speaker 1: or does it belong in the lake? You know, you
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  Speaker 1: don't know if this tree belongs on the right side
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  Speaker 1: or the left side, you know, all of those things.
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  Speaker 1: But when you have the box lid, When you have
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  Speaker 1: the bigger picture, it makes it much easier to understand
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  Speaker 1: where those individual pieces go. And so that's what the
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  Speaker 1: metanarrative is, the story of Jesus and the story of
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  Speaker 1: redemption and the story of why he had to come.
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  Speaker 1: That makes it easier when we get into these individual stories.
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  Speaker 1: And everything inside the story reveals God's heart, his heart
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  Speaker 1: to be in relation with us. And, you know, so
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  Speaker 1: the ancient world needs to shape our interpretation, right? I
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  Speaker 1: said that it was written to an ancient people. Um,
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  Speaker 1: it started to be written down over 3,500 years ago.
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  Speaker 1: You know, it was written over a timeframe of about 1,500 years,
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  Speaker 1: you know, um, It was written to an ancient people
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  Speaker 1: by an ancient people. So when we start interpreting of
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  Speaker 1: the Bible, we can't do it through our context. We
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  Speaker 1: have to honor the original audience and their context. Genesis
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  Speaker 1: is not necessarily a science textbook. Although I do think
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  Speaker 1: that it answers the Big Bang Theory, right? The Big
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  Speaker 1: Bang Theory says something happened and all of a sudden
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  Speaker 1: the universe started expanding. In a nutshell, I'm not a
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  Speaker 1: scientist or a physicist and I don't profess to understand
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  Speaker 1: it entirely. Well, why can't it be that at that
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  Speaker 1: moment of creation where what scientists are calling the Big Bang,
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  Speaker 1: why can't that be Creator God speaking? Let there be light. Boom.
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  Speaker 1: Of course it could. But it's not a modern science textbook, right?
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  Speaker 1: It's not written in that way. It doesn't answer every
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  Speaker 1: single question. But what it does answer is the who, God, when,
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  Speaker 1: in the beginning, how he spoke. And two, I think
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  Speaker 1: we need to understand why genre matters. In that same class,
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  Speaker 1: I tell people, you know, we have this debate in Christendom,
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  Speaker 1: you know, should I take the Bible literally? Should I
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  Speaker 1: take the Bible literally? Like, was there a literal flood?
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  Speaker 1: And was there a literal this? And, you know, again,
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  Speaker 1: I believe that there was. There's some people that believe
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  Speaker 1: that there wasn't. I'm not here to debate that today,
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  Speaker 1: but what I am here to say, I don't care
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  Speaker 1: so much if we think, if we quote unquote, read
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  Speaker 1: the Bible literally, what I want us to do for
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  Speaker 1: our own understanding is read the Bible literately. And I
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  Speaker 1: steal that from Jen Wilkin with her, how to read
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  Speaker 1: women of the word book, because that's what she says, right? Like,
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  Speaker 1: so are we reading a narrative? Are we reading a story?
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  Speaker 1: You know, are we reading poetry? Because poetry is filled
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  Speaker 1: with metaphor. Should we read poetry literally? No, because it's
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  Speaker 1: metaphor and simile because it's poetry. But it gives us
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  Speaker 1: a great word picture. You know, are we reading law?
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  Speaker 1: Because that's written in a whole different way than narrative.
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  Speaker 1: Are we reading a letter? Are we reading what's called
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  Speaker 1: prose discourse? A lot of Paul's letters are written in
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  Speaker 1: what's called prose discourse. Are we reading that and trying
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  Speaker 1: to make sense of it? We joke around and we
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  Speaker 1: say that Paul says in 50 words what he could
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  Speaker 1: have said in five. Why does he do that? Because
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: he's writing in a certain way. He's writing in a
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  Speaker 1: way to answer all your questions before you even ask them.
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  Speaker 1: Genre matters. And so why that matters to us in
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  Speaker 1: 21st century America is because we are currently living in
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  Speaker 1: a moment of biblical illiteracy. Back in the day, 50,
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  Speaker 1: 60 years ago, the Bible was taught in schools, at
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: least an overview, and it's not taught anymore. And so
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: those people who have an understanding of Christendom or the
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  Speaker 1: Bible or Jesus, are few and far between because most
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  Speaker 1: people don't under, you know, you go up to somebody
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  Speaker 1: and I say this too. Um, you go up to
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  Speaker 1: somebody and you want to talk to them about the
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  Speaker 1: gospel and you say that they're a sinner and that
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  Speaker 1: Jesus died for them. They're like, I didn't ask him
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  Speaker 1: to do that. And what are you talking about? I'm
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  Speaker 1: not a sinner. You can't judge me, you know? Well,
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  Speaker 1: that's because they have no understanding of what sin is
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  Speaker 1: and they have no understanding of the fall and Adam
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  Speaker 1: and Eve and the repercussions of that because they're not
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  Speaker 1: taught that anymore. And so biblical illiteracy is a problem.
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  Speaker 1: The hyper individualism that we have, you know, my truth
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  Speaker 1: is my truth. Your truth can be your truth, but
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  Speaker 1: my truth is mine and you do you. boo, you know,
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  Speaker 1: and all of those things. Um, that's a problem. We,
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  Speaker 1: we get lost into our social media feeds, you know,
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  Speaker 1: all of these things. We had this, this deconstruction that happens,
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  Speaker 1: but then there's no reconstruction after that because the, the
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  Speaker 1: faith of our fathers kind of deceived us sometimes, right?
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  Speaker 1: Like And especially when it comes to suffering, the faith
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  Speaker 1: that maybe the Christianity that we were taught in our
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  Speaker 1: mom and dad's church ends up not being the Christianity
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  Speaker 1: that we face, that we're trying to live out day
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  Speaker 1: to day. And so we think that God isn't right
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  Speaker 1: or that he isn't who he says he is. And well,
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  Speaker 1: that's wrong. It's just that the church taught it wrong.
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  Speaker 1: You know, so there's deconstruction without reconstruction. It's okay to
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  Speaker 1: deconstruct your faith as long as you're reconstructing it on
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  Speaker 1: the other side. And I think that's what the Bible does.
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  Speaker 1: It helps us to have those strong foundation points, those
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  Speaker 1: biblical anchors, right? that root us in a story that's
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  Speaker 1: bigger than the moment that we find ourselves. Because when
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  Speaker 1: we lose those foundations, when we lose those anchors, we
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  Speaker 1: lose the framework for meaning. Why did Adam and Eve
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  Speaker 1: have to come? We lose that framework. Why did Jesus
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  Speaker 1: have to come? We lose that framework. What does it
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  Speaker 1: mean to be a Christian? What does it mean to
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  Speaker 1: be a follower of Christ? What does it mean to
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  Speaker 1: walk out my faith with fear and trembling? What does
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  Speaker 1: it mean to grow from glory to glory? We lose
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  Speaker 1: all those meanings because we lost our foundation in the Bible.
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  Speaker 1: And so what are some practical ways to rebuild those
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  Speaker 1: biblical foundations, right? I think it's important, too, we need
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  Speaker 1: to read the whole books, right? The context matters. I
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  Speaker 1: talked about that a little bit ago. You know, we
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  Speaker 1: should read book, chapter, verse, context, right? When we go
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: at the Bible as like a feel-good grab bag, and
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: I just need to feel better about myself today, so
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to open up to the book of Philippians
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  Speaker 1: because I know that that book talks all about rejoice,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm going to read my favorite verse that says,
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  Speaker 1: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,
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  Speaker 1: not understanding the original context of Paul being in prison,
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  Speaker 1: and then he just talked about how he can be
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  Speaker 1: content in that situation. and that it is in Christ
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  Speaker 1: that he finds that contentment, then we miss it. We
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  Speaker 1: can't read isolated verses. We have to read whole books
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: and we have to trace themes throughout scripture. The theme
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: of redemption can be found throughout scripture. It's important to
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: do those things. Study in community. Some of the most
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: impactful spiritual growth I have had over my Christian walk
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: has been when I have been studying in community, whether
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: I was a student or whether I was the teacher.
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  Speaker 1: Fellowship matters. Studying the word together in community matters. Why
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: do you think Jesus went to the temple? Because that's
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: where he would find people in community. That's where he
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: would find the rabbis teaching. You know, that's why he
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: had 12 men around him and women, you know, men
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: and women surrounding him because he was teaching in community,
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: study in community. And we have to ask ourselves questions.
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  Speaker 1: Instead of asking ourselves the wrong questions, let's ask ourselves
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: the right questions. It's not, what does this passage mean
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  Speaker 1: to me? The question is more, what does it reveal
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: about God's character? Because again, once we understand God's character,
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: it's important. So what does this Bible passage reveal about
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: God's character? And now in light of that, how do
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: I respond? Do I respond in worship? Do I respond
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  Speaker 1: in repentance? Do I respond with compassion toward my fellow man?
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: Once I understand how a biblical passage reveals God's character,
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: Then how do I need to adapt myself to God?
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: A lot of times we want God to adapt to us,
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: but it's about us transforming ourselves into Christ likeness and
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: transforming ourselves into a child of God. Right. Okay. You know,
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: so in closing, you know, it's important. Biblical literacy is important. Um,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: you know, understanding the meta narrative, you know, the story
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: within the story, all of those things, all of those
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: things are important. And the Bible is not just an
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: ancient book. It is not just an ancient book. It
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: is the living word. It is the word of God
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  Speaker 1: that is living and breathing and sharper than any two
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  Speaker 1: edged sword. And it shapes everything. A faithful life today.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: It shapes a faithful life today. When we walk in obedience,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: when we understand who God is, when we understand the
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: stories within the bigger story and how we fit into it. Y'all,
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: you are not David, right? A lot of times, oh,
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: I'm going to slay my giant. I'm going to slay
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: my giant. We are not David, right? We are the
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: Israelites up on the hill watching Christ slay the giant.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: It's not our victory. It's his victory. And that puts
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: a whole different spin on how we understand our life
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: and how we understand the Bible and how we understand God.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: So our foundation, how Genesis to Revelation still shapes us,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: is so important about how we live out our Christian walk.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: It is so important with how we grow from clay
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: to crown. I hope you've enjoyed this episode. I'll see
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: you next time.