Latest / How to Faith a Life Podcast with Faith Womack / My September Reads...

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My September Reads... · How to Faith a Life Podcast with Faith Womack

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you're listening to the How to Faith a Life podcast, where we wrestle with questions on how to live a life of faith, from everything from books to Bible studies, even Bible study tips, this is your place to wrestle with the hard questions and dive deep into what scripture really says for the Christian walk.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you've subscribed to this podcast and your favorite podcast streaming services, review this podcast so other people can find it, and share with other believers who want to ask the hard questions.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now, with all that said, let's begin.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to the How to Faith a Life podcast.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I look like a swollen, tired person.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: If you're watching this on video form, you'll know what I mean.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: But y'all know how people look different in the morning time when they first wake up.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's how I look right now.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm just laughing because I've tried to do a couple different things on camera this morning, and each time I see myself, I'm like, why do I look so weird?
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's it's humbling, I'll say that much.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this um episode is supposed to be my let's see, September book reviews.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: In September, I'm gonna be honest, guys, I was all over the place trying to finalize, refilm, do all these different things for my recent course launch.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: If you guys don't know, I just recently launched a course.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's called the Bible study bootcamp, and it takes you through um everything that I learned in Bible college and seminary that pertains to Bible studying and how to Bible study and take it to the next level if you're not like content with I don't know, surface level Christianity that's just like do a devotional, read a verse and think about yourself and then go back through your day.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you want more in your Bible studies, this is the course for you, and I share everything I learned in Bible college and seminary that I think all Christians should know.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I remember like vividly in both Bible college and in seminary, um, thinking to myself at many different points in the classes and lectures, um, like gee whiz, I shouldn't have to pay to learn this stuff.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: I definitely shouldn't have to get a formal degree or education to learn this stuff.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: This is stuff all Christians should know.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I really do think this is like why I'm on planet Earth is to share this kind of stuff and normalize it and explain it and things like that.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: So um, this is just like my baby.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: This course is like something that I'm so proud of, but also something that is going to be a lifetime of refining and adding to and stuff like that.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so I've gotten many questions about the content of the course, and let me just really quick plug that.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we talk about basics like hermeneutics and exegesis and defining that kind of stuff, and then also we break down how to read each type of literature because that's so critical to reading the Bible is knowing like what kind of literature am I reading this morning in my Bible reading and how am I supposed to read it and exegete it and all that kind of stuff, and then after we talk about each type of literature and how you're supposed to read it, then we talk about how to approach it and like how to Bible study.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: So, verse mapping, outlining, cross-referencing, all the different tools and skills that you hear about or that pastors use when they're like, I don't know, writing a Bible study or writing their sermon, um, and just how to do it.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: I make it as simple as possible.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: But once you purchase the course, um, you're in it like indefinitely, like you there's no you don't lose access to it.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so um my plan and hope and enjoyment is you know getting feedback on the course and refining it and continually adding to it, or even just refilming videos, and so um it's so exciting that it's out there in the world because now we're in like phase two of it of me getting to refine it and add to it or change certain things or whatever, get feedback because you know, for so long it's just been me thinking, okay, how can I best explain this or what needs to go before this video and stuff like that, and now I actually get to get feedback.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I was talking to my Patreons last night in our Tuesday night fellowship um just about how exciting it is to hear about people in it and their experiences so far because um I'm seeing a lot of my answered prayers of just praying for so long about this course and about this ministry online and how I want to do it, and you know, I even just stressed out about like do I charge for this course?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's so many studies about you know people having meat in the game, or what is it?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't think that's the phrase meat in the game.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Skin in the game, it's skin, guys.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's skin.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there's so many studies about people having skin in the game, and so um, and I've done a lot of online courses where you you know buy it from somebody that's supposed to be like an expert in their field or whatever, and you're like, wow, I'm paying this person money to learn from them.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: This is a little scary or weird or whatever.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: I really bred about it and wanted it for sure, like indefinitely, it will always be less than$50.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's just a commitment I made to the Lord myself.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there's no reason, like I feel we're just charging for it, period, but there's just no reason that anybody, I don't think anybody should have to pay.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's a lot of money to me.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think anybody should have to pay a lot of money to learn this kind of stuff, and that's why I'm like, let me just simplify it and let me break it down and make it really accessible.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I do want people to have some skin in the game.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: So right now it's 20 bucks, and it'll go up in a couple days.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: So if you do want to snag that and you haven't gotten a chance to, I'll have it linked down in the description box.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: It will always be linked everywhere though, because this is like everything that I teach boiled down into a simple course.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: So um, all that to say, um, that was like a really like that was a five-minute long rabbit trail.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: So there you go.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: You are welcome.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: But today we're talking about the books that I read in September.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: So as I already kind of started to try and say before I interrupted my own self, I I don't know, I feel like I was all over the place in the month of September, and I, to be frank with you guys, am really disappointed with what I read, what I chose to read, and how much reading I got done.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, I read less because I was doing just a lot more research on um last-minute things for the course that I put off researching, even just working more on editing and course stuff than I did just reading and reading for fun.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so this month in October, my kind of aim or personal commitment is just to slow down a little bit.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: September was mass chaos, and I know for our family, we've got something every single weekend in October.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: I think almost every single weekend in November.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: We're traveling a lot to go see family and stuff like that.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I may not even do um videos or I I I've been wrestling with I should probably take a pause on the podcast.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, that's typical.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: You you kind of have seasons or whatever of a podcast, and um, we're already like so many episodes in, and Apple Podcast has still not posted me.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so annoyed with that.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I I know I ought to take a pause.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: This might even be the last episode of the podcast for a while.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: I hope not, but I want to slow down and just take care of myself because when I run myself out ragged, then I read less.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: I I just I don't know.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: I I need to take care of myself.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: So all that to say, uh this month was a wake-up call for me because um I just noticed that I wasn't enjoying what I was reading and I was working a lot and I wasn't reading.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: And when I come home and I'm too tired to even read, that's a red flag.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, you know, you should have enough energy to read.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't, you're you're running yourself ragged.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, all that to say, um, I think this is the first book I started the month with.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: I just I have a spot on my bookshelves where I stack my books after I've read them for the month, so I can easily just grab them for the podcast.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: But I um I feel like this wasn't my first book that I read for the month.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know what episode would be.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Let me check.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: One eternity later.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I cannot believe this.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: I thought I read this like two months ago, but I didn't.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: I read this at the beginning of September.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: So the first book that I read for September is Slaves, Women and Homosexuals.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis, and it's by William J.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Webb.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: It is 270 pages.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: You guys know I dog ear my pages.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: I read something that I want to add to my Bible, and I would say, you know, there's a good number of dog ears, but right now, like it seems like I've read that so long ago.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: So this book talked a lot about our hermeneutics behind the these three different issues.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's what it is.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: So all of us, or hopefully most of us, know pretty confidently that you know, throughout the Bible there's um a seeming promotion or acceptance of slavery, um, but we know that that's not Christianly, and that that shouldn't be Christianly to promote slavery.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so there's a question of what is our hermeneutics then how do we get to that conclusion if the Bible literally just at its face value, it seems to accept and per not promote, maybe promote, maybe promote slavery at times, but definitely accept it.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so he evaluates like why do we have that standpoint, and therefore can does it apply to women in ministry or view of women, and that gets into complementarianism and egalitarianism, and how sometimes the issues that you have to look at, like does cultural line up, like is the cultural issue parallel, the way that scripture deals with the issue, the redemptive historical what's the word that he uses?
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: Redemptive movement hermeneutic is the verbiage that he uses.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: So he talks about how because of the cross there is redemptive movement, um, redeeming all things unto Christ.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so with slavery, that was something that was very cultural, very economic, but we are redeeming it.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Christ has redeemed it, and yeah, I mean, you even see in Paul's letter to Philomen, um is that right?
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Man, I need to wake up my brain.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it's Philomen.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, where he's writing about Onisimus and saying, you know, like I met this runaway slave, you're a runaway slave in prison, and he is now a believer, and you owe me, you owe me a favor, um, free him so that he can join me in these missionary journeys or whatever in the church planning in this pastoral ministry missionary work.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we see there is a redemptive movement from Old Testament to New Testament.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's a very radical view of slavery that Paul's writing about in perspective of the Old Testament.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so there seems to be a redemptive movement throughout the Bible.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so today, now 2,000 years later, after, I would say that we're, yes, we're we very much redeemed that topic, and it's all because comes back to the cross, as you see in his letter and filming.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and he addresses a lot of he's got like, I don't know, like it's like 18 issues that he reviews, and it's oh yeah, it's very repetitive.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: That is part of the issue.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: He I like to read books from like page one to the last page.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: That is like I love to just read straight through a book.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: I don't love whenever they have articles in the back of these kinds of um theology books.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's pretty popular to have like article C, article D, and it's on different topics so that they don't have to go on rabbit trails in their actual writing of the book.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: They'll just have articles in the back.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: I hate that, that annoys me.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: I still typically read in numerical order the pages of a book, but um his book, he wrote it like the first couple chapters, as if you are just gonna read it from page one to page you know 270.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: However, once you get to a point, it's like maybe chapter two or three, he writes it acknowledging that you could skip ahead or skip around if you're just reading about the issue of homosexuality and his hermeneutic on that.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so, therefore, because he expects some of his readers to jump around, he repeats himself so much, which annoys me a little bit because you you guys know, like I annotate, I tap, I um that's not called a tab, that's um, I dog ear things, I star things, I really like I'm really really present when I'm reading.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: And when someone repeats themselves a lot, it just gets a little bit annoying.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: So this is almost, it's not a reference book, but it's almost like he partially made it kind of referency because he repeated himself so much, um, and he expects you to kind of jump around.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I always agree with his hermeneutical reason um for why he would promote um egalitarianism and not Christian homosexuality um or same-sex marriage is how he would say it.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: He's very, he's very particular, which is really, really good, and he's really careful, and I so I'm gonna botch it if I try to.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: But this is a good book.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: If you just want to read someone wrestling through, why do we say slavery is bad if the Bible says that it's kind of okay, why anybody would ever say egalitarianism is appropriate if the Bible says sometimes seems to point towards complementarianism, while holding those two things.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Why, for example, William Webb wouldn't still promote same-sex relationships in a Christian context.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I think he does a really good job of wrestling through, like a lot of people will say, you know, if you jump to egalitarianism, you throw the baby out with bathwater and you throw out a lot of other big critical issues in culture like homosexuality.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: However, um, he does a good job of kind of spelling out why he doesn't and he breaks down this redemptive movement hermeneutic, and I found it just helpful.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: You guys know, like I when I recommend books, I don't, and I don't even, yeah, I'm recommending this if you like theology books, like heavy academic.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a fun read.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's very much like let me think and wrestle kind of read.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: But you guys know that when I do recommend these kinds of books, I'm not endorsing everything that they say.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: There are some parts of his argument that I found that were weak, and I can't even tell you them off the top of my head right now because it's all coming back to me as I talk about this.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: But um, there are other parts of his argument that I said, you know, that's a helpful way to wrestle.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's it, that's a that's a helpful thing that I want to consider.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's about it.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like when I'm reading books, like I just want somebody else's point, and you guys know, like a hern hermeneutics geek, like that is my life.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: How do we read the Bible?
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: How do we approach the scriptures?
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Why do we approach them this way?
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so this was just like so up my alley, and a friend recommended it to me, and so I it just been on my reading list.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: It looks really boring, but I would say he does a good job of captivating and keeping your attention other than the fact that he reads himself, repeats himself.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: So there's that book.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, do without what you like.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: Again, it's not for everybody, but if you're really wrestling with, you know, I I sense that I'm kind of more egalitarian, but I also don't know what to do with all the passages on homosexuality, and it seems like all the denominations that are egalitarian are more liberal on the topic of homosexuality.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: This is a good middle ground book that doesn't jump there, but still is egalitarian.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just found it helpful.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's just another point of view, it's just another person's opinion, um, or it's another person's hermeneutic to um consider while we wrestle through all of these really hard questions that our culture and our churches are wrestling with.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so um I just found it really helpful because right now it seems like the people on the um extreme ends of the spectrum are the loudest voices, or even the denominations or whatever, those are the loudest voices, and you don't get a lot of people in the middle saying, Well, I affirm egalitarianism, but I do not affirm her a Christian perspective on homosexual relationships or marriage, and here is why.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like you often don't find someone being able to um break that down in a in normal talk, you know, not in a super lofty academic way.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: So there's that.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: I spent way too long talking about that book, but I can't believe I read that a month ago.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: That blows my mind because it feels like that was three months ago.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: So if that says anything about my September, there we go.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: The next read, I was so excited for this to come in, and I was very disappointed about the fact that it's like a hundred pages.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: This is like the easiest read ever.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna be honest with you, I didn't um dog ear a lot of pages because it is very beginner level.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: But if you are a new believer and you're wrestling with scripture and the topic of inerrancy, meaning um the Bible is without error, or just how to view scripture and its authority in your life, this is this book is by Andrew Wilson, who I reviewed I think might have been last month or the month before last.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: He wrote God of all things, which I was like, which I am crazy about.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: That book is like my new favorite book and my Christian living list.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: Top three, top five.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so he wrote this.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: This was one of his like first books, I think, and I don't know if he maybe had his voice yet.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's a drier read.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: You you see, you don't hear his voice, it doesn't come out as strong.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's not as fun of a read, I guess, as God of all things, but it's still a really good read.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: I would definitely recommend it to new believers.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so the topic or the title is Unbreakable, and the little subtitle thing is What the Son of God Said About the Word of God.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I I feel like he hadn't found his author's voice yet in this book.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like in his most recent book, God of All Things, he's got it and he's rolling, and that's why it's such a good read, is because he has a strong voice.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: But here, maybe less so, but it's a good introductory read that's super simple and short, especially for people that aren't big readers but are wanting to think critically about scripture um its authority anderity, all of that.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: So there's that.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: Next up, I read Matthew as Story by Jack Dean Kingsbury.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: Matthew as a story is a book that I found on Joe's bookshelves um a couple months ago.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: So it's been on my reading list for a couple months.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: And come to find out, he read it for a course that he took in seminary just on Matthew.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was seminary.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: But he took a class just on Matthew and had to read this, and I was like loving it.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's like commentary, but not like a commentary.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I love reading books from like page one to the last page, just like straight through linear reading, and there are times where it repeated itself, but the especially the introduction, if you are doing a Bible study or a deep dive study on Matthew, by the way, so sorry about the train.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: I've gotten way too used to it.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how long it's been in the background making noise, if you guys can hear it, but um, I'm very used to it.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: And now I'll be like in the middle of filming and be like, oh yeah, the train.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how long has that been making noise?
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, I found the introduction incredibly helpful.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: I read it like in a week.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: I just ate it up.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: He talks a lot about the literary critical approach, and um, I really enjoyed his approach to Matthew and his point of view.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: It helped me kind of I don't know, view Matthew anew.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think we get really used to the gospels if you've been a Christian for a while, or if you've read the gospels a hundred times over.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: I used to read the gospels every summer, and so I feel like sometimes I approach them too comfortably and when things are done or things are said, or um to take like a literary critical approach, like to address like the the characters of the Pharisees in Matthew, or the characters of the crowd in Matthew.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm just used to them, like I expect them to say, crucify him, when like the original audience would have been like, What?
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, um, so it's just a helpful, it's a helpful tool, another tool for your tool belt.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: Is that right?
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: The tool belt?
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, another tool for your tool belt for approaching um one of the gospels, Matthew, um, and viewing it anew, um, just looking at it with fresh new eyes.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think this is like the best book ever on Matthew, um, but it was a helpful tool.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just uh y'all know I've been obsessed with learning about story and reading about the stories and the tools that I I just I've harped on this so many times, but like God uses story and the Bible as a story.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: And when I say story, that doesn't mean it's not um true.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's that it doesn't mean that you do that.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean it's fictional, that means that it is got a story structure to it, and that and I've as I've read and as I've studied, like God made us to respond to the story.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: There's an emotional, almost physical response that we have to stories, and so when we study how the the stories are structured in the Bible and how the Bible um we call that the literary aesthetic of the Bible, like all the beautiful aspects of it.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um when we study the stories in the Bible and their richness, that can help us see how we are created to emotionally respond to the stories in the Bible and how rich they are, and um it's just really helpful as somebody who teaches the Bible, who communicates the Bible to other people, too.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um I've just been really like geeking out on the stories in the Bible, how to break them down, understand them, and therefore then teach them better to other people.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I have been geeking out about Story.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: When I saw the title, Matthew has a story, I was like, I have to read that.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not like in-depth studying Matthew right now, but I have to read this, so I'm probably gonna be doing um more reading on Story in the future.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: I already have a book that I'm like really wanting to go read.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's on my nightstand.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: On my that's where I like keep my TBR list.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people make a to be red TBR list on like their phones or whatever.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: I for me, it's just a stack of books.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like when I want to read a book sometime in the near future, I'll put it on my nightstand.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just this long stack of books that are nearly as tall as my lamp on my nightstand, but if that tells you anything.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: But um, it's very haphazard, very unorganized, it's very much whatever I'm feeling in the moment.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to read more about Story, and I have a couple on my nightstand to read about Story.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: Next up is another Andrew Wilson book.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: Y'all know after I read God of All Things, I was like, I am going to read everything from Andrew Wilson, and that still rings true.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: I've got I know I've got a couple Andrew Wilson books on my nightstand to read.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: But um, this one is Spirit and Sacrament.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: And guys, this one, when I was reading, I was kind of just like, meh, but walking away, like after finishing this book, I've realized just how much it rocked my world.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I do I still don't feel like it's as rich as God of all things when it comes to his like author's voice and just how great a readable he is and personable with a person with a reader I guess but um it's still a really great read and man did it provoke thought um he takes a very humble approach to addressing what he calls a eucharismatic worship style in churches so he talks about the spirit and the sacraments um so um liturgical churches versus very charismatic churches and how we view those as like two extremes that never touch you know you've got the charismatic churches um and then you've got the super high church liturgical churches and they don't cross paths they don't ever worship together they are very two extremes and he calls the church to be you charismatic so be a little bit of both wrestle with the blessings of the emotions in charismatic churches and then also the theological richness of liturgical churches and how neither of them have it all you know um and that the early church doesn't fall to either one of those extremes we in our brokenness and you know 2000 years later fall to those extremes but that's not necessarily how it has to be.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: So let me read a couple quotes just to get y'all thinking when Paul brings teaching on the Lord's Supper he matter of factly uses the phrase when you come together three times as if one naturally involves the other ooh interesting furthermore for Paul communion is not just a memorial or a symbol it acts bringing the church together with Christ and with one another we are one he explains because we all share in one bread we share a loaf of unity and a cup of blessing.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: As we do so we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes we actually participate in the body and the blood of Christ.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: Consequently if we do so in an unworthy way we eat and drink judgment on ourselves.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: The logic of statements like this is that in the Lord's Supper just as the baptism Christ is presented to us not just represented to us what else um here's another one this is like so risky just flipping through the book and reading what I've underlined.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: You just never know.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: So he argues that biblical Christianity was charismatic for all the liturgical folk that are in liturgical traditions like me that want to forget or um argue that emotions and stuff aren't powerful or useful.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: He gives a really good I wrote in the margin it says great description of secondary issues and primary issues.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: So he says I have all kinds of theological beliefs and all kinds of regular practices.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: Some of them are written in pencil.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: I can articulate them and explain them but they are somewhat provisional and if at some point I had to run them out and replace them with something else it wouldn't make much of a difference.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: Some of them my position on baptism or spiritual gifts or church government are written in ink.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: These are things I believe are practice that I would put my name to and defend with some conviction admittedly I could still be wrong about them since many of my brothers and sisters disagree with me but I really don't think I am and I would probably not be able to thrive in a church that I didn't share them.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: Some of my convictions however are written in blood these things the Nicene Creed, the Ten Commandments the Lord's prayer are all things I would die for and many have they are truly important things that if you take them away turns Christianity into something else.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: On these I am one with the entire church throughout history we believe in one God we believe in the Trinity we believe Jesus died for our sins and rose again from the dead we will not worship any other gods.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: Here we stand we can do no other I found that very helpful so I wanted to make sure I read that for you guys.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah so basically he argues let's find the middle ground between charismatic and liturgical eucharistic worship and he calls it euparismatic and it really challenged me and it was really really helpful so if you are thinking about church worship and a good style for lack of a better word of church worship this might be a really good helpful easy read for you it's like less than 200 pages.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see yeah like 130 pages.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: Okay and then finally I read the introduction to this commentary it's the Pentateuch as Narrative by John H.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: Salmer and I got this I think it was like five bucks at the Bible outlet store.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um I again I love reading books from first page to the last page so it was weird reading a commentary like a just theology or Christian living book but that is really what I wanted to do with this introduction because once again I've been thinking a lot about story and how to communicate the gospel better because it's been communicated as story and just understanding how our brains work and our emotions and everything like that.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so talking about the Pentateuch as narrative really helped me um I actually like refilmed things for my Bible study boot camp course because I wanted to kind of include some of these thoughts that I learned and um yeah the introduction was just really helpful for helping me think about the Pentateuch as a whole like together Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, numbers and Deuteronomy as a story instead of Genesis as a story, Exodus as a story with stories you know with smaller stories within it but like all of them together as a story and that was really helpful.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: Not a fun read not an easy read and definitely wouldn't necessarily recommend unless you're just like that title sounds amazing I need to read it because that's the only thing that got me through it was like I I I just have to I just have to so there's that um but definitely check out um Spirit and Sacrament and Unbreakable.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: Those are my reads for September um and this month I really want to kind of slow down and read a little bit more for pleasure and a little bit less like I need to read this because I just need to read this you know and we'll see what hopefully I can get a October reads video out for you guys and podcast and all that but um if not now I probably will hopefully no promises because I do not know what the next couple months hold.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: However I pray that you guys um this blessed you and inspired you to um not only just like read more about theology and Christian living stuff but also inspired you to get into the word because ultimately like this isn't worth it if it doesn't.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: So um we can talk all day about theology we can talk all day about even Christian philosophy and you know literary critical approaches and things like that but all of it falls flat if we don't actually end up in God's word and loving and enjoying his word and surrendering our lives to him.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: So um let me close on prayer Father God um all of this falls short without you and the cross and the heart of it and so God I just pray and ask that um all of our studies our readings our everything will be glorifying to you and honoring to you.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: God we thank you for our lives for the fact that we have um air in our lungs and blood pulsing through our veins.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: God we are so undeserving and yet um you've called us to join with all of creation and to shout your praise and you've called us to um lives of service unto your kingdom and so God we gratefully and humbly say thank you Lord yes Lord God send us out into this world today um open doors for us to speak truth and to boldly speak truth to those whose ears um are hungry and thirsty to hear the truth um of the cross and of the gospel.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: God may we um be lights in this dark world that so desperately needs that truth um whether and wherever we stand on charismatic or um liturgical Eucharistic practices on um the topic of homosexuality wherever we stand on all of these like secondary issues that um aren't super clear or debated on how to deal with them now and the redemptive historical like all this stuff God it it at the end of the day we know it doesn't matter because all that matters is your blood and may we be vehicles preaching that God caught up in oh I have the right theological understanding on this or you have a better theological you know whatever.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like God, it's all about you.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's your show this is your mission and we praise you that we get to be the clay in your hands.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: God may we be just big arrows walking around in this world pointing up to you God when may when when people that don't know you see us.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: May they just see you, God.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: Lord we thank you that we are yours.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: We praise you and we thank you for the cross the redemption of our undeserving souls God and we give our lives unto you thank you that we are yours and nothing can take that away.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's in your precious name Amen.