How to Study the Bible | Session 1 | Rooted Conference | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

What an exciting turnout to see so many people here on a Saturday morning to learn how to study the Bible. Now here's the conviction behind this one day conference, and I don't wanna be too long winded here because I wanna get straight to the material. But really, our desire is as a church, as a leadership, not just to present sermons and to provide teachings, but to really equip people and for you to be able to understand that what you hear on a Friday night or a Sunday afternoon is achievable. And what I mean by that is not everybody may have the gift of teaching or preaching, but the insights and the interpretations and the applications are something that you can arrive to as well. And that's a joyful thing.

Right? Nobody has a monopoly on those things. It's, in fact, supposed to be shared. And this is gonna bring me to my main point now because for, the subject of studying God's word, you have many, many incentives in scripture. You have many ambitions behind that goal.

But for the sake of time and brevity, I want to just present one thought, and that is from the perspective of the Great Commission. Let's read this. We know these words very well. And this is new for me, by the way. I don't use slides.

So this is not a sermon, because, I have my reasons why I believe that a sermon, should be, as much just preaching oratory delivery than visual presentation, but this isn't a teaching conference. This is a Bible study conference. So let's look at this. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. Now there are many ideas of what discipleship is.

There are many clever books that have been written. There are conferences on discipleship. But But if we just go with Jesus's teaching here, we know exactly what the primary goal of discipleship looks like. Besides preaching the gospel, besides baptizing those who do come to faith in Christ, which is oftentimes what the great commission is limited to, we understand what ongoing discipleship looks like. And it's what?

Verse 20, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. So teaching is the primary practice of discipleship. It's not Discipleship is not, spending extra time with somebody to do life together. I heard that when I first came to faith that discipleship looks like life on life. Now there's not it's not necessarily wrong, but what are you guys doing life on life about?

What's that? Going to hang out? Going to the gym together? Eating at restaurants? What do you mean life on life?

And discipleship also looks like more than just meeting with somebody on a weekly basis to talk about your, you know, your struggle with sin and, your your marriage and your financial integrity. It's not it's more than just accountability. Discipleship is about the transmission of truth. And here's how that looks like practically. If if you wanna know you're being discipled by somebody, somebody who knows more than you is gonna be teaching you something about the word of God, about Christ, about the gospel.

So being discipled is to submit myself under somebody who knows more than me and receiving their instruction and their guidance and their wisdom. And on the flip side, to disciple somebody is to dispense and to provide and to share truths that I know that somebody else may not know. That's all discipleship looks like. And so week by week here at Maranatha Bible Church or whatever church you represent, you are being discipled if that pastor, if those elders are faithfully expounding the word of God. You know you're discipling your children if you regularly and conversationally expound the word of God to them.

So it's much more simple, isn't it? Like, what a relief. Discipleship isn't this big, robust, complicated program. It's not about, all these strange techniques and mechanisms. It's so pure.

It's so simple, and every single one of us are called to it. In fact, how do we know here that Jesus' instructions are not just for his apostles? Oh, by the way, this is a classroom. So if you want to answer, just lift your hand and I'll point you out. If I don't, point you out, it's because we have to move forward with the material.

Okay? And I know sometimes it's tempting to take advantage of that opportunity to go on teaching or explaining something you know, but we have to reserve as much time as possible. But I'll ask you this. Based on this scripture, how do we know that what Jesus is saying to the apostles are not just to the apostles? Any idea?

Exactly. Do You notice the last part? To the end of the age. Implying what? That this mission outlives the apostles.

That this mission is to be continued through the fruit and the offspring, the spiritual offspring of these men of God, the church, and it's to be honored and practiced until the very return of Jesus Christ. So we're here today to be equipped for the Great Commission. This is just one way of looking at why this is valuable for us. But more than that, I want us to understand that we're not learning how to teach, we're learning how to dig. So this is not a session about how to explain the truth.

This is not about how to give a homily or a sermon or a bible study. That's for another conference. This is to set the foundation. So So in Colossians three sixteen, you know this verse very well. The beginning of it says, let the word of Christ dwell in you how?

Richly. Dwell is a word that speaks about living and abiding. Let the word of Christ make its home in your heart. And what comes immediately after that though? Teaching and admonishing one another.

You can't teach effectively unless Christ's word dwells in you richly. You can't how can you admonish anybody unless you have created and you have built a storehouse of truth in your own heart? The word of Christ dwelling richly precedes any hope of fruitful teaching. And today, you and I will be receiving the tools by God's grace of how we can grow in the word of God dwelling richly in us. Originally, if you saw the registration, I had put 10 tools for deeper study.

I I brought it down to eight, not because of, not enough time or anything like that, but because I I condensed some things. And if you really wanted to, you can you can expound on each of these points, and you can make this a a 20 set tool belt. But just for the sake because sometimes we can be overwhelmed with some of these things, so I wanna make it as concise as possible, and we're going to consider at least eight tools. Here's the format for today. We're going to look at the first few, the first set.

In the first part, we're gonna have lunch, and then we're gonna examine the last part part together before we close. And in between, if you have questions, feel free to lift your hand. I wanna be of service to you, and I wanna I wanna help you, and I hope that this, will be accomplished today. Let's pray one more time. Lord, we thank you for this time.

Lord, at the end of the gospel of Luke, it says that you open the minds of the disciples that they would understand the scriptures. Apart from your enabling, we cannot know what you want us to say. We cannot know what you want us to know. We cannot know what you want us to to obey. So help us in this moment.

Guide this session, and may we sense your presence every step. In Jesus' name. Amen. Some of these things, if you, come here to MVC, you probably heard me say these things from the pulpit as a side point or as a clarifying point. There will be new things here, but there will be things maybe that you've heard before, and, hopefully, it'll be fresh to you or it will be able to, just compound in your convictions why it is important.

Before we talk about anything to do with studying or how to pick apart a verse, this is foundational. And I will always, always, always share this and preach this and stand by this. You need to read through the Bible. You need to read through the Bible. One verse that comes to mind is Ephesians three four where Paul tells Ephesians, when you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ.

The mystery of Christ in this context is not something you have to decode or break apart or only a select few saints understand. The mystery simply means something that was once veiled is now unveiled. And in this context, the mystery speaks about the inclusion of the Gentiles into the commonwealth of Israel. It speaks about how the gospel now creates a new man that this wall of separation has come down through the cross and now there is this new entity in redemptive history. But notice what Paul says here.

I mean, we can miss this so easily. He says, when you read this, you will perceive my insight. The medium by which we understand insight, the medium by which we discover mysteries and treasures is through reading. Reading. Christians are readers.

Now before I I became a follower of Christ, you couldn't pay me to read. You couldn't. I would never read books in English class. I I did terrible with reports. You I it would just it took so much for me to be able to focus.

I was more of an athlete. Not that athletes don't read, but this one didn't. Okay? And I I just it was not attractive to me. It it was it was more it was it was a chore.

It was almost like punishment. But when I came to Christ, one one of the things that changed about me was, I wanna know what God has to say. You know, when I was working in advertising, there was a another individual there who was part time. And advertising people come in and out, in and out. It's a very transient kinda industry.

And I got to know one of these, part time, art directors, a freelancer. And I began to witness them and one of the things he said to me, I don't remember what led up to the conversation but he he asked, why didn't God reveal himself through a website? Why didn't he provide videos? Why didn't he provide you know, and he was being a little cheeky and and sarcastic there. And I didn't have all the answers at the time, and I'm not gonna explain it now.

But one thing I do know according to the Bible, God has always ruled and revealed himself through a book. I mean, that that goes back as early as the book of Deuteronomy. When you read this, you will perceive my insight. Here's Jesus' own words in Mark thirteen fourteen. And speaking about the last days, but when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be, and in parenthesis, it says, let the reader understand.

Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. So Jesus now not only expects us to read this is Jesus, the lord Jesus. He expects us to understand what we're reading. You know, I did a little bit of research into Islam a few years ago. I had some basic understanding, but I really wanted to delve deeper into their philosophy, their theology.

And one thing I discovered about Islam is that there is virtually no emphasis about understanding the Quran. The emphasis is on memorizing it. And there's actually reward for memorizing it. If you memorize the 99 names of Allah, you have a closer chance to heaven, all these different promises. And that's fascinating because I've met many Muslims when I asked them about their book, many of them even know how to recite it in Arabic.

They don't know Arabic. And they don't even understand what the book says. And that's why sometimes when, especially, apologist point out some of the Hadiths and some of the Islamic doctrine to Muslims, they accuse you of lying because they've never heard such things. And one of the reasons for that is because they've been taught there there isn't much value in understanding it. Just memorize it.

Just have a surface level understanding of it. Don't question it. We're not like that as Christians. Our lord says, and he expects us to understand what we are reading. Now I wanna tell you that there are three ways that we can read it well.

The first way is to read it systematically. And what that means is read from the start to the finish of any book. The Bible is indeed one book. It's a miraculous book, but it's a library. It's 66 books.

And you and I are charged to know all of it as much as possible, at least to become familiar with the themes, the storylines, the characters, the context of every book of the Bible. So you know what? One example that came to mind was the short epistle in Jude, what Jude put together for the believers. And look at this in Jude 11. There are no chapters.

In this one verse, consider something. Woe to them. He's speaking about the false teachers. For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion. In one verse, you have three references to three separate old testament characters.

And what does Jude expect of you and me? To know exactly what he's talking about. To have a general understanding of the profile of Cain. What is Balaam's error? What is Korah's rebellion?

Well, left to yourself, it can be hundreds of different things. But look at this. In order for me to understand how a false teacher operates in the new covenant, I have to know something about Cain. I have to know something about Balaam. I have to know something about Korah.

So this is just one example of how systematic reading is so crucial. And this is why as a church, we preach expositionally. Meaning, we take a book and we go through it chapter by chapter, verse by verse. Now many people enjoy topical sermons where you look at a topic and then you do a survey throughout the scriptures to see what the Bible as a as a whole says about this one thing. But there are many there are many holes in that approach.

There are many things you're gonna miss. What systematic reading means is you're gonna cover everything. At least you're gonna expose yourself to everything. I gave this example to a group of students two day two days ago where I I was on a flight and I I don't watch movies personally, not regularly at least. And when I get on flights, I try to use that time to sleep or to do some reading or studying.

But on this particular flight, I forget which one it was. It was it was very long and I had my screen in front of me but then I looked over and what caught my attention was the person in front of me watching his screen. Not because of what he was watching, but how he was watching it. So as I'm sitting there looking at him, he's watching, you know, like anybody would, and then he would stop the movie, close it, go back to the menu and start another one. And then fifteen minutes in, he did the same thing.

He stopped the movie, closed it and then he started another one. And then twenty minutes in, he stopped it, closed it. He did it like four or five times within the span of an hour. And I thought, look, I don't watch movies but I know that's not how you're supposed to do it. That's one thing I know.

That's not how you're supposed to do it. And then it hit me. That's how people read their bibles. They start in John and then they read six chapters and they go, let me go to Psalms. And they read four chapters in the Psalms, ah, let me go to Ephesians.

And they barely make it through Ephesians. They go to Leviticus, they read the first chapter like, I'm stopping here. Right? And what you're doing there is is essentially you're cheapening your experience. Because with every book, you have to understand with every book, there is an authorial intent.

The the the author has, he has structure and he he's giving you clues in the beginning for you to understand things later and you rob yourself of those discoveries and you rob yourself of revelation when you treat it like a YouVersion verse of the day. And so the Bible is not meant to be plucked in such a manner where then you create your own kind of tapestry of sayings or commands or promises. It's grounded in context. It's grounded in the narrative. It's grounded with other things that need to be recognized in order for you to know the depth of that one thing.

So you have to read it systematically. Now there are many reading plans. The one that I uphold, the one that I practice and have been since I first came to Christ is very simple. Genesis to Revelation. You read Genesis and and you just stay there.

Now that doesn't mean that you can't pause in your daily reading to look at a different portion of scripture and that doesn't mean other reading plans are wrong. I'm just telling you what has helped me to read it systematically. But not just read it systematically. I mean, here's more points to consider. Look what Jesus says to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24 verse 25.

And he said to them, oh, foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. All. What was the problem of these two? They were despondent. They were discouraged because their hope in Messiah in Christ were dashed.

And Jesus rebukes them lovingly. Why? Because he highlights the core problem to their sadness. You only focus on some of what the prophets have said. You magnetize yourself towards the promises of the son of David being a ruling conquering king, politician.

So Jesus provides a remedy. All that the prophets have spoken. And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he entered them to all all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. All all all all all. If you wanna protect yourself from even what we find here, anxiety, fear, and doubt, one way to do it is to look at all of the Bible.

Don't be selective. Don't be lazy. Number two, read it slowly. The Bible is not meant to be glanced at. It's meant to be enjoyably absorbed.

What did Paul say to the Corinthians in second Corinthians three eighteen? And we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord who is the spirit. Notice the word beholding there in the original actually means to stare at, to investigate, to contemplate. And this is how we should treat the glory of the Lord as revealed in the scriptures. And how that looks practically is it's not a race.

People sometimes ask, how many times have you read through the Bible? And I tell them, gladly, I don't know and I don't wanna know. Because what what does that do for me to know how many times I read the Bible? I knew somebody when I first got saved who entered into this program where they wanted their students to know the Bible and one of the approaches that they had was you have to read the Bible, I think it was like seven, eight times in six months. And when I asked him how he benefited from that, he just looked at me and he went Oh, so you can leave there saying, I read the Bible seven, eight times.

What did you get out of it? How did it speak to you? Did you understand it? As Jesus said, let the reader understand. And so we're beholding.

Read it slowly. If you are reading through Matthew, for example, and you're in the genealogy in chapter one and things stand out to you, just if you feel like you're gaining traction, stay there. It's not a race. It's not a rush. If you feel like you're not gaining traction in one particular chapter and you and you feel like I have more time and I have I have a hunger for more chapters, read two or three more.

So read it slowly. You're beholding. You're asking God to open your eyes to see things. And and this can only come when we discipline ourselves to understand it. You've had this experience.

I'm sure you're reading something and then you're you you think to yourself, what did I just read? And then you read it again, and then laundry list come to mind. And then, I have to send this email. And so don't just check off the box. Ensure that you at least are familiar with if somebody were to ask you what you read, you can say, I I don't know what it means, but this is what I read.

Read it slowly. Read it meditatively. So reading, think of it this way, gives the bite. You open your mouth and you bite into you sink your teeth into something, but meditation does the chewing. Now eastern meditation, pushes for emptying your mind.

Right? Empty your mind. Empty your mind. That's not what the Bible says about meditation. It's the opposite actually.

It's fill your mind. Fill your mind. I love this command that Paul gives to Timothy. He gives three rapid fire analogies of what the Christian life is like. He speaks about being like a farmer, like a soldier, like an athlete.

Right? That's the context of of this portion of scripture. But he doesn't explain what those analogies mean. Instead, he gives this charge in verse seven of second Timothy two, think over what I say. And here's the promise, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

When I first stumbled upon this and studied it, I realized something. Revelation from God does not just come to readers, it comes to thinkers. Thinkers. So what does that mean for me? That again, I'm not just reading something in the morning or at night and then once I finish I close my bible and I go on with my day.

There has to be an element of me meditating on what I read. And meditation looks like different things. It looks like you musing over it in your thoughts. It can look like you talking about it with somebody. It can look like you making it a subject of prayer.

Lord, I need to understand this. I'm not sure how this applies. I'm not sure how this fits into this portion of scripture. Think over what I say. And the Lord will give you understanding and everything.

Now notice, Paul didn't promise when the Lord would reveal it. We want it to be revealed right away. Right? We're not told when, but we're just told it will happen eventually. And God has many ways of revealing it.

Can he just illuminate your mind? Absolutely. I've experienced that. I'm sure you have as well. Other times you're gonna be coming to a Bible believing church, Bible preaching church, and there's the pastor going through a certain book and he's preaching us something that's exactly what you needed answers for.

It could come through a council with a friend. You're going out for a cup of coffee and they bring out a verse that for the longest time seemed to be veiled. And then they applied or they interpreted in such a way where, like, I've never seen it that way and God is giving you understanding. So read it meditatively. Enjoy it.

As one pastor said it, take a scripture and throw it in your mouth like a spiritual lozenge. And just let it sit there and let the juices flow. Right? Our reward is not just in reading and saying I read it. We wanna be able to meditate on it and that's where true reward will come.

Nobody's in trouble. So my brother, he's a police officer and he's been to a few departments now. And when whenever he goes to a new department, he has to do field training. And one of the things that stood out to me was part of his training as as you approach actually patrolling and being sent off, you know, to the roads, is that you need to get in your squad car at one point. And you need to drive around a certain county or you need to drive around a certain city and you need to make a mental map of the streets, of the major intersections, of ways to get to a certain key regions faster.

Why? What's the practical reason? Because when 911 is called, you don't have time to pull up Google Maps. You can't afford to call somebody for directions. There should be something in you that instinctively knows this is where I'm supposed to be or generally have an idea of a reference of where I'm supposed to go.

And hear hear this, you can't begin doing what you're called to do here effectively unless you can pass this part. Unless you can prove that, yes, I have a general understanding of the area that I'm supposed to be patrolling. And that's what I wanna say about reading through the Bible. You can't know any of these other tools that we're about to explore unless you set this foundation. Reading through the Bible is what creates the mental map for for you to be able to make the necessary connections and for you to arrive at the right points when necessary.

So read through the Bible. Tool number two, ask the test text questions. Now for the first time, that clock is not working, so I gotta keep my eye here with this. Ask the text questions. NBC members and visitors, you've heard me say this before.

Allow me to say it one more time. If you want the Bible to speak to you, what do you have to do? You have to speak to the Bible. You have to ask the Bible some questions. And here are some questions that I ask.

There are eight of them. Number one, who wrote it? Who wrote it? Who received it? Why was it written?

Now some books are more clear than others with these objectives and these answers. But here's a general rule and this is why it's important. When it comes to scripture and interpreting interpreting the scripture, there is always one interpretation. Right? There's one intended meaning and goal from the author, though there can be many applications.

People get this wrong. People have the idea that there are many interpretations. And though there are some areas that are not clear, generally, the rule is there's one interpretation and you can make many applications from it. And what what will keep you grounded in the correct interpretation are those first questions. Who wrote it?

Who received it? Why was it written? Sometimes the the author will tell you, this is why I'm writing to you. Right? We see that in first John.

We see that even with Jude. Sometimes it's not so clear. And there are codes and there are clues that we have to, discover and put together to understand what this author may be, reaching for. Number two, what was said before or after the text I'm interpreting? This is massively important.

This is huge. Where people get into so many errors is because of that lack of discipline, stumbling upon a verse and failing to understand the surrounding content that informs what that verse is trying to say. So I'm always asking the question, especially when it's a complicated verse, what came before it? What came after? What comes after it?

And we'll look at some of these examples in a moment. Number three, what does this text reveal about God? If you ask that question, you can get an answer in virtually any part of the Bible. Even Leviticus. If you constantly ask, what does this reveal about God?

It can be simple answers. One of the first things I learned about God through Leviticus when I first started reading it was God is very specific. God is very precise. God cares about the details. And evidently, he cares something much more about this system of worship than creation because there are multiple chapters on the the tabernacle and like two on creation of the universe.

So he wants me to know something about this. And what does it say about him? He's specific. Another thing to learn about Leviticus, just from a preliminary level is, he cannot be approached lightly. There are protocols.

He is holy. I am not. And this is something that we can explore more later. Number four, what does this text reveal about man? What does it reveal about me in Christ?

What does it reveal about my fellow man outside of Christ? What does it reveal about sinners? What does it reveal about the righteous? You can also find many answers if you ask that question. Number five.

What biblical principles does this text inform or illustrate? Worship, sin, relationships, etcetera. So what this means essentially is there are patterns in the Bible, principles. There are general instructions that you find from old to new. And what you wanna ask is, how does this part that I'm reading now inform that principle?

Or how does it illustrate that principle? So when you come to Genesis 22, for example, and it's the first time that you are encountering the word love, Genesis 22 has to do with what? Abraham sacrificing his son. Maybe there's a connection there between love and sacrifice. That's just an example.

Number six, how can this be applied in light of the new covenant? We are new covenant people. And this is especially important when we go through the Hebrew scriptures. The new covenant is your lens. The new covenant is is your protection.

The guardrails that help you interpret and apply the things that you see in the old. So we're always asking this, what New Testament truth can shed light on this? Number seven, what does this text point to or does this text rather point to Christ in any way? So in Matthew eleven thirteen, there's a fascinating statement that Jesus makes as he is paying homage to John the Baptist. He says, for the prophets and the law have prophesied until John.

Now I understand prophets prophesying. Right? I didn't know the law prophesies. But Jesus said it does. So there's even something about the law that foreshadows, something about the law that predicts, something about the law that's pointing.

Jesus himself said that the law prophesies. So how does it point to Christ? And number eight, is there another text that sheds light on this one? And we're gonna expound on that in a moment. So let's let's use some of these questions and, and explore with some examples.

Now I'm gonna actually ask this. Luke six thirty eight says, give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over will be put into your lap. For the measure used, it will be measured back to you. Luke six thirty eight.

Here's the question, as an example. What was said before or after this text that I'm interpreting? Now before we answer that, can I ask you how have you heard this text taught? Anybody have an idea? Yes?

Prosperity. Prosperity teaching. Tithing. I've heard this text reference more at the offering time than anything else. Right?

If you give, it'll be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together. Right? Are we all in agreement here? Does anybody know what comes before this verse?

Judge not and you will not be judged. Condemn not and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and it will be given to you. Oh, so it's not about an offering at the church.

What is it about? The judgment you give to people. How you criticize, how you assess, how you confront. So what is Jesus teaching here? The way you judge, the way you determine somebody's innocence, the way you determine somebody's guilt, listen.

That standard will be used against you. Do you see? All I had to do was read before that. Here's another example. Oh, this is a good one.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. What do you think this means? Again, I'm not trying to embarrass anybody or trick anybody. Genuinely, when you just read this verse in isolation, what comes to mind? I'll tell you what comes to mind, the reliability of Christ.

Alright, he's consistent. Any other ideas? He's faithful. His love will never change. But what does it really mean?

Let's consider what is said after. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings. For it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods which have not benefited those devoted to them. So Jesus being the same is included in a context of false teaching.

Christ doesn't change. So beware of these new ideas or extra revelation or teachings that are pulling you away from what you have known about Christ. What has been made known about him remains. The faith delivered once and for all to the saints. And so we understand that this primarily means that if anything is being introduced to us that contradicts who Christ has made himself known to be, then we should be careful.

This verse is really interesting because what comes before it is when the author says, remember your leaders, those who have taught you the word of God, imitate their faith. Right? And so this is a transitional verse in some way, though you can't even say that verse eight informs something back in verse seven. Remembering your leaders, what does that have to do with Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. At least one point you can consider is leaders come and go but Christ remains.

Even those pastors who've inspired you and blessed you, yes, they may go on, but one thing remains true, Christ is still here. See how beautiful it is when you consider what's before or after it? Matthew eighteen nineteen and twenty. This one is dangerous. Let's look at it.

Again, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them. When is verse 20 usually quoted? Prayer meetings? Because usually two or three only show up.

Right? Where two or three are gathered to encourage us and there is encouragement there. But is that what Jesus is really conveying? What's the context here in Matthew 18? Who knows?

Let's look a couple of verses back. Verse fifteen and sixteen. If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

Church discipline. So when Jesus says in verse 20, for where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them. He wants to let you know that when a church takes church discipline seriously, I'm there. And when a church is going to make a decision upon someone's salvation, if it's genuine, if it's not based on their repentance, I am behind that decision. I'm authorizing it.

I'm backing it up. And and the same context speaks about binding and loosing. Have you heard of that? How do people apply that? Let's we're gonna bind Satan.

That has nothing to do with Satan. We're gonna loose this blessing on the earth. That has nothing. It's speaking about who is able to remain in the church and who has to go. That's binding and loosing.

So this is why I'm staying on this. I mean, this is just one of the eight questions. And the reason why I am I'm emphasizing is because it's it's the most important one, really. This is what's gonna protect you and I when it comes to our understanding of the scriptures. But let's consider another question.

What biblical principles does this text inform or illustrate? And this is something you can see in any book of the Bible. You can get answers from any passage of scripture. This is one that comes to mind in Exodus twenty one thirteen, giving instructions about what one is to do if they commit involuntary manslaughter or those who commit intentional murder. We read here in verse 12, whoever strikes of Exodus 21, a man so that he dies shall be put to death.

But if he did not lie and wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee. And And I highlight the part that I think is so important. So I'm looking at this text. I'm looking at this list of rules for a covenant that is not binding on me, but again I'm asking the question, what does this text illustrate? What does it inform?

And here's what I discovered. God, let him fall into his hand? What does it say about God? Any ideas? Somebody is saying he's sovereign.

That in the context of accidental death, we're reminded that God was aware of it, that God allowed it. He's sovereign. And see see what's happening now? I'm reading through Exodus and I'm I'm I'm stirred to worship. Like, God, let him fall into his hand?

So keep those questions in mind. And the more you train yourself, the more they'll be automatic and it will revolutionize your reading of the scripture. Let's come to tool number three. Cross referencing. This is commonly known as the compatibility principle.

And essentially, what it says is the Bible interprets the Bible. It is the best commentary for itself. Now the compatibility principle is based on this conviction that god does not contradict himself. God doesn't make errors. Therefore, you can expect for there to be a consistent flow of teaching from beginning to end.

And this encourages us to find more witnesses than the one that we are facing concerning any truth. And I I wanna ask you this question. Does the Bible itself promote this principle? I gave you a hint. Do we see anything in the Bible that shows us the practice of using the Bible to interpret the Bible?

Test his word? Yeah. Sure. The Bible does tell us to test the word. To examine.

But think to Jesus' wilderness experience when Satan tempted him. What does Satan do? Yeah. He he said, it is written. It is written.

And he quotes which passage? Psalm 91 to get Jesus to fling himself off the temple so that he can prove that there is divine protection on his behalf. And what does Jesus do in response to that? Again, it is written. And then he quotes Deuteronomy in order to counter this misapplication of Psalm 91.

So I bring this up to show that the Bible itself uses this principle That we counter scripture with scripture, that we look at the totality of God's word and mind on a matter before we arrive at a doctrine or conclusion. Jesus himself did this. Now there are a couple rules to keep in mind with the compatibility principle. Number one, clear passages must interpret unclear ones. And there are unclear passages at least at face value.

And if you're not careful, you can make dangerous assumptions with those unclear passages. And I gave one as an example. In first Corinthians fifteen twenty nine, Paul is speaking about the resurrection. You had the Corinthian believers beginning to not believe in this thing called the resurrection. And at some point, he he mentions this.

Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? Baptized on behalf of the dead? So this is how this has caused many people to scratch their heads wondering, what does Paul mean by this? And you know what the Mormons did with this?

They actually baptized on behalf of the dead. So if you had a relative that didn't profess faith, then you can stand in proxy and you can go through the ritual of baptism on their behalf so that they can be saved. And what did they quote to back up that practice? First Corinthians fifteen twenty nine. Now what does the compatibility principle teach us?

Well, when when something seems unclear, zoom out and see what else scripture has to say, for example, with baptism. Does it does does does is there any other place in the Bible that suggests that you can be baptized on somebody's behalf? No. Especially if they're dead, even if they're alive. So one thing we know for certain, Paul is not advocating for this kind of thing.

So then what is he saying? Just in case you're curious. Well, look look at his language very carefully. Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? He didn't say, what do we mean?

So he's looking at an outside practice, a pagan one actually. And what he's trying to convey to these stubborn Corinthians is, hey, if you have such a hard time believing in this concept of the resurrection of the dead, don't you understand that there are others out there who are being baptized on behalf of the dead? So if pagans have a have a grip on the resurrection that there are things that take place after we die, why do you have so much trouble believing it? Do you see? What do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead?

And so clear passages always have to interpret and inform unclear ones. Rule number two, don't ignore parallel passages. The amount of times this happens. And the reason why we don't do this is not just so, you know, we miss out on clarification, but also to compliment a unique text or an independent text. So I wanna use the example of Mary of Bethany breaking open the alabaster flask.

If you're reading it from John's perspective, notice what he highlights in verse four of John chapter 12. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, he who was about to betray him said, why was this ointment not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor? Now here's the here's the temptation. You go through Mark, you go through Matthew, and you come to the same account, and you I've read this before. And you just glance over it.

And what this principle says is, hold on. If this is mentioned elsewhere, believe every single time that it is there in order to complement what you are reading. So then again, if we look at it in math in Matthew, notice what Matthew says in Matthew twenty six eight and nine. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant saying, why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.

So wait. John said now do you see now how my morning devotion is becoming exciting? I'm reading John. I'm thinking, I wonder what Matthew has to say about this. John says, Judas, one of his disciples, he complained.

Matthew says, the disciples saw it and they were saying. I wonder what Mark has to say. Mark 14 verse four. There were some who said to themselves, and then in Italy, what was the ointment wasted like that? So now I'm collecting these things together.

Judas said it, then the disciples, and not only did they see it and say it, but they said it to themselves. What truths stand out to you from this? What applications come to mind? Here's one. Started with Judas perhaps, then the disciples agreed and they begin to say it.

One thing that comes to mind is complaining is contagious. Right? Started with one, the others caught the bug, and they all began to voice their concerns, supposed righteous concern. But Mark adds another layer. They were saying it to themselves.

And then Jesus in every time responds to this. Right? But the fact that they said it to themselves means that perhaps it was internal to begin with. And Mark highlights that it was more internal. It was more confined and then it became public.

But if I'm gonna go with that, the danger of murmuring and complaining, well Jesus know even when I'm complaining to myself, even if nobody else hears it, even if it's in my heart, even if it's underneath my own breath, Christ is aware of it. Do you see how things begin to now pop and light bulbs begin to to go off? Don't ignore parallel passages. They were designed to give you a tapestry of one scene. So everything that we've covered up to this point is from the bird's eye view.

Now we're going to the worm's eye view. These are just general kind of structural, ideas and observations. But as we come to tool number four, this is where it gets really exciting. Pay attention to the details. Pay attention to the details.

And there are four details that I'm highlighting here. I'm sure there are many others, but these cover most of them. Locations, things such as cities, regions, physical landmarks like mountains, Time markers. Is there a year being presented in this text? Is there a month?

Is there a feast? Remember, so much orbits around feasts in the old covenant. What about even the time of the day? Is this in the morning? Is this in the afternoon?

Is this at night? Time markers. Keep an eye out for those. Objects. Items.

Clothing. Materials like gold, silver, bronze. Number four, numbers, amount, measurements, numerical patterns. So you you wanna be looking for these things. Right?

Sometimes we wanna go straight to somebody's speech and what they say. Or we wanna look at somebody's actions, which which are wonderful, but there are other things included in there and the bible wastes no real estate. Whatever is included has a purpose. However, however, there's a warning. And I'm gonna read this.

I put this up there. I know it's a lot of words for for a PowerPoint, but allow me to read this. This is so crucial. There are times these details are included simply to situate the account in the historical context without necessarily carrying literary or theological implications. So you and I have to be cautious with that.

Right? Because there are those who take this principle and they think that there is a deep meaning behind every single detail that's found in the scriptures. And that's where you get into strange ideas and practices. Readers should be cautious not to over spiritualize the setting or infer meanings that aren't clearly supported. Avoid attributing symbolic significance unless there's strong evidence that the author intended it.

So this is especially prevalent with numbers. Are there clear numerical patterns? Absolutely. But there are some instances where it's just showing you that the author was there or that this is historically accurate. So one example that comes to mind is when Jesus appears on the shore of the Sea Of Tiberias and Peter and the other disciples are there with him fishing And then, we see that heart moment warming moment where he tells him to cast the the net to the other side, and they catch this huge amount of fish.

And then we read that Peter brings the net over. It's filled with large fish. And then, we're told the number of fish, a 153. Now a 153 is not a common number in the Bible, but that hasn't stopped some people of looking at some deep meaning behind it and it it it just doesn't feel right. And there's no ring to it.

It's just forced and it's it's imposed and it's personal and it's wild. And maybe you know something about the 153, number that I don't, but up to this point, what I know is John wants to tell us he was there. We counted him. There was a 153. Another thing to learn was Peter was strong.

Because Pete it says, Peter hauled that net over. And that says something about Peter, I'm sure and and you can maybe expound on that. Right? He was a strong man. So be careful.

Be very careful. Be very cautious. Some people think they're deep but they're really drowning in nonsense. So let's look at a couple of examples, shall we? Time markers.

So this is a wonderful example to look at. Genesis 28 verse 10 to 11. Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he came to a certain place and stayed there at night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep.

Now example this is an example of a time marker. So what time marker stands out from this passage? You got it. Because the sun had set. Right?

It's meaning what? It's getting night time. It's getting dark. So he pauses, and he finds a stone as a pillow to lay his weary head. Now Jacob is on his way to his uncle Laban's.

Right? He was sent by his mom. Esau wanted to kill his brother for for robbing of his blessing. And so he makes his way towards Laban. Does anybody know how long Jacob was with his uncle for?

Genesis thirty one thirty eight. These twenty years I have been with you. He's confronting his uncle. Laban was more of a trickster than than Jacob was. Your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks.

Here's my question. How many times do you think over twenty years that the sun set and rise? I'm not asking for the actual number. I'm just trying to get you to think a lot. Right?

A lot. And between twenty eight to thirty one, we see some mention of mornings and evenings, but the language of the sun setting only appears one at a time in Jacob's narrative. Does anybody know when? Good. He's making his way back.

He hears that he's about to meet Esau or Esau's about to meet him. And in that wonderful account where he wrestles with God, what do we read after that? Genesis 32 verse 30 to 31. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, for I've seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered. The sun rose upon him.

As he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. So the action of the son here is only mentioned in in all of this account when he walks toward and makes his way towards Laban. Was that a a fun period for Jacob's life? It's very difficult, wasn't it? He got a taste of his own medicine.

He was deceived. He was tricked. He was being humbled. He was being led into a dark season of his life and it lasted a long time, twenty years. And then he has an encounter with God.

And when he has an encounter with God, he receives a new name. He has a chance to actually give his true identity when he was asked, what is your name? And what happens? Look at the artistry of the Bible. The sun rose upon him.

It's a new day for Jacob. It's a new day for a new man. Now you could have made that conclusion just on the fact that Jacob encounters God, but it goes deeper than that. The sun had set as he walked into a very, unfortunate time where he would be disciplined and he would be chastised and he would be he would be humbled. But when he encounters God, oh, it's a new day for this man.

And he has a different walk, doesn't he? He's limping too. When you encounter God, you're gonna walk differently. Time markers. What about objects?

Here's an example from the New Testament. I mentioned John earlier. John eighteen eighteen, now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire because it was cold. And they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also with them standing and warming himself.

What's Peter about to do in this scene? Deny Christ. Now if you had just read John 18 and you finished it and thought, okay. I'm done with John. I'm gonna go to Colossians.

You might have missed the only other place in the book of John where charcoal fire is mentioned. John 21, when Jesus encounters the disciples fishing again, And not only that, he prepared breakfast. Can you imagine that? The son of God preparing breakfast? Barbecue.

And it says here in John twenty one nine, when they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place with fish laid out on it and bread. Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish that you have just caught. Only two times in all the book of John is a charcoal fire mentioned. When Peter denied Christ severely and when Jesus was about to restore Peter. So what does that tell me?

I mean, now I'm thinking. There's a symbol now with this charcoal fire. This is more than just a detail for the scenery. There's something attached to this. There are two significant moments now that are married to the charcoal fire.

And here's one thought that comes to mind. Christ is prepared to meet us at the most egregious and embarrassing moment of our unfaithfulness in order to restore us. See, when we sin, Christ doesn't want us to hide our sin. I wonder what the smell of the charcoal fire was like for Peter at that time. I wonder what the crackling of those embers triggered in Peter.

But Jesus wants to talk about his failure. He wants to confront it. But look how gentle he is. He wants to have a meal around it. He's not gonna take one of those coals and put it in his shirt, even though he disrobed himself, I guess, when he jumped out of the boat.

He didn't wanna hurt Peter. He didn't wanna brand Peter. He want he wants to deal with it, but in gentleness, in meekness, in conversation. And this chunk of fire for Peter, I mean, this signifies the greatest failure of his life. He failed a lot.

But the one sin you commit where Jesus said, if you deny me before men, I will deny you before my father and his angels. Talk about regret. Talk about shame. Yet Jesus builds a charcoal fire and he restores Peter around it. You see?

I mean, you you see this everywhere. You see it with Jacob. If I can use Jacob again. What animal did Jacob use to deceive his father to get Esau's blessing and birthright? A goat, right?

What kind of blood did Joseph's brothers use to convince Jacob that Joseph was mauled by an animal? Goat's blood. So Jacob deceived using a goat, now he's being deceived through a goat. Goats are not good. You look at Genesis 38 and another goat appears with Judah when he accidentally sleeps with his daughter-in-law, Tamar.

Right? So you see this motif. You see this motif. You you see this underlying principle and it invites us to make these wonderful connections. So pay attention to the details.

Tool number five. Repetition, repetition, repetition. Yes, brother? Yeah. Yes.

Yeah. I would say so. Why those items? The scripture has anything else to say about them. What's interesting is when you look at a prophecy in in Isaiah, you have gold and frankincense mentioned as what kings will bring to messiah.

Right? But but myrrh is exempted. It's not mentioned. It's omitted. So there's even undertones of Jesus' baby boy being messiah.

But in Isaiah, it speaks about his millennial reign, what kings will do when they come to Jerusalem and bring these items. Whereas what we see with the kings in Jesus' day at his birth is that they added one thing and and if you look at what myrrh signifies, what does it signify? It it signifies death. So there is this prophetic connection between the other elements. Right?

The the prophets spoke about some of the things that they will bring to Messiah, but then why did they add the myrrh in Jesus' account? Because in his first coming, he was gonna die. But in Isaiah's prophecy, he speaks about his second coming. He's not gonna die anymore. Does that make sense?

A little bit maybe? Come see me afterwards. Yeah. I would say look at those materials. Why these gifts?

Is there anything in the Old Testament that would that would maybe shed light on why these these rulers of some sort, these significant individuals are approaching the Messiah in this way. Great question. Repetition, repetition, repetition. Just in case anybody didn't know what repetition meant, repetition in the Bible takes a takes place when the same word or phrase or sentence or picture or idea appears more than once within a defined context. Right?

A definite space. Here's the thing about repetition. Modern readers perceive repetition as poor authorship. Right? Get it expand your vocabulary.

Use synonyms. But ancient authors didn't see repetition in that way. Repetition, the way I like to describe it, is the Bible's internal highlighter. So it seeks to get the attention of the reader to recognize a deeper message within within the text or more than one application in that text. So here's an example of how that looks in a single verse.

Let's go to Revelation 22 verse 17. Near the end of the entire bible, we read, the spirit and the bride say, come. Let the one who hears say, come. Let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires to take the water of life without price.

What word is repeated there? Yeah. What does that signify to you? Could any of you have just said it once? It's important.

What else? It's urgent. If I say something more than once, I'm trying to get you to understand how important this is. I'm trying to convince you. I'm trying to persuade you.

I'm I'm trying to have you understand just how imperative this decision is. So come. Come. Not just once, come. What else?

It's responsive. Right? So there's a there's something that you have to answer to with this invitation. Sure. Somebody had their hand up.

Yes. Yeah. Sure. So we have the verily, verily concept where something is emphasized through repetition. It's saying, hey, what I'm about to say is very important.

But within this one verse, is there anything that stands out? Say that. Certain. Sure. But look at the tool, the repetition tool.

Let the one. Did you notice that? The spirit of the bride say come and let the one who hears say come. And let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires to take the water of life without price.

Let the one. Couldn't he have said let all? Why is he saying let the one? Yeah, okay. Maybe very few will do it.

Sure. Individualistic. The invitation is personal. You, personal. You, I'm God is thinking about you.

He's not thinking about humanity just as a whole. He's He's looking at you as an individual and he's saying, let the one you. If you hear the invitation of the spirit and the bride, come. Come. Come.

I wanna know you personally. I'm inviting you personally. Do you see the beauty of this? Do you see how the Bible repeats as an internal highlighter? Let's look at an entire chapter.

I mean, we went to Revelation. Let's go to the opposite side in Genesis. Genesis one three and four, we read, and God said, let there be light and there was light and God saw that the light was good. And then you read on and what do you discover? Verse 10, God saw that it was good.

12, God saw that it was good. 18, God saw that it was good. 21, God saw that it was good. 25, God saw that it was good. So whatever God is seeing, it's good and the Holy Spirit wants us to know.

And these are comments for different days of creation and then it climaxes at this point. Verse 31, and God saw everything that he made he had made and behold it was very good. So what does it tell you that the spirit of God in the very opening of scripture wants to show us that when God was creating, he was over and over celebrating what he was doing. Well just that. God doesn't just commend and rejoice when something is completed.

He rejoices over the progress. He celebrates as it unfolds, as it develops, as it matures. So so God is a God who rejoices over the process. And now I begin to think. When God is working on my life and I'm not where I want to be, my sanctification is not complete.

I can be assured though that he he celebrates what the spirit of God has is doing in me and and how because of my my heart I wanna yield and be conformed to him. I can be assured that he's not looking at me with crossed arms and a frown. But when I'm introduced to God, I see that he celebrates the progress. And that's that's a word for many of us who are frustrated with our progress. As long as we're making our way forward and even if we fall, we fall forward.

We know that there's a God who smiles over us. Did you notice something else? The word good appears seven times. And then the seventh time being very good. So there is an element too of of a rejoicing at completion.

You know, I read a quote the other day, which I'm gonna get to near the end of this whole session. Someone made the observation that if God rejoices over one man's repentance, the start of our journey, what will we be like at the end when we meet him face to face? It's a wonderful thought. Right? So an entire chapter we find repetition, repetition, repetition.

Now here's a note to keep in mind. Sometimes when a scene or speech is repeated, it's the differences that send a message. So it's not the similarities. It's not the echoing necessarily. It's what stands out.

Now some of you may remember this from the book of first Kings. When Rehoboam was seeking guidance and wisdom of how to deal with the request of the people to be treated better than how his father treated them, notice his wording to the older advisers in first Kings 12 verse six. Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive saying, how do you advise me to answer this people? Now you read that plainly, you think, okay, that's a legitimate question. Does he take the advice of the old men?

No. He takes the advice of who? The young men who grew up with him, and I want you to notice how he addresses them in first Kings twelve nine. And he said to them, what do you advise that not you. We.

What do you advise that we answer these people who have said to me, lighten the yoke that your father put on us. What does that show about Rehoboam? He already identified with the younger man. Down deep inside, he wasn't really looking for fresh insight. He was looking for people that would agree with him.

And do we have the tendency of doing that when we seek counsel? We may even present ourselves as somebody who's looking for genuine advice or instruction even though it may not agree with us, but down deep inside, we're fishing for yes men. We want somebody to agree with us so we can we can have some kind of assurance or confidence that this is the approach that we should take. So even in I mean, he's asking a similar situation, a similar circumstance, a similar question, but it's worded differently. And sometimes it's the differences that send the message, not the similarities.

So repetition is so important. Are you guys ready to do some homework right now? Ready or not? How are we doing on time? Lunches in thirty minutes?

Yes? Good. I was hoping so. Here's what we're gonna do. In the next let's give it ten minutes.

Maybe by yourself if you wanna do with the people you came with, maybe just one other person, you're gonna open up Genesis chapter 18 and you're gonna read the first eight verses. And you're gonna apply whatever we learned thus far. Remember, we are looking for repetition. We are looking for details. Details like location, time markers, objects, numbers.

Cross reference cross references might be hard at this point, but we're looking for questions to to be answered. Questions like, what does this text reveal about god? What does it reveal about man? What kind of principle does it inform or illustrate? How can this be applied in light of the new covenant?

And though not every question applies, with what you heard thus far, get with your group, and I will signal to you when we're gonna reconvene together. Genesis eighteen one to eight. Do we need more time? We're okay? Alright.

Let's gather together again. How was it? Interesting? Hopefully, that's a good interesting. Alright.

Whoever wants to contribute, any ideas, any observations, maybe even questions? Yes, brother? The Lord appears to him after he circumcised himself in a house. Yeah. So the Lord appears to him after he circumcised himself in the house.

Yeah. So the Lord appears to him after that. So you're asking the question, what came before this? Very good observation. And there are wonderful instructions from that point.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Do you recognize that it was the Lord?

Yeah. Three is symbolically the Trinity? Yes. So some people do believe it's a Trinity. The clarification, however, is when you come next in Genesis 19 where you have two angels who went to Lot in Sodom.

So many who who do think it's a trinity have to consider that it seems to be that the Lord appears as one person, one individual, and the two others who accompany him were actually angels. But you're not the only one who's made that initial observation. I would just encourage to consider the next chapter to see who those, members are exactly. Beautiful, brother. Did you hear that cross reference to a principle in Hebrews chapter 13 about really hospitality?

Is there a lot to learn about hospitality in the verses we read? Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if there's a deeper There is. The oaks of Mamre.

They appear more than once in Genesis, especially with, Abraham. But I would say that's a great thing that you're highlighting there. We don't have time to explore what that means exactly, but you are on to something. Very good. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Very good. Did you notice that? That Abraham recognizes and even identifies himself as a serpent.

Now let me ask you this. Learning about Abraham up to this point, did we already discover that he was a wealthy man? Not just wealthy, very wealthy. Right? Did he have servants?

Could he have just asked his servants to prepare a meal for the Lord and the two angels? Well, what does he do? He puts the apron on. Right? What's that?

Yes. Exactly. So he does. He does include others, but he is also waiting on them. We'll get to that in a moment.

Yes, Jonah. Now you're getting deep. Yes. Yes. Tree?

Yes. Okay. We have a connection with the idols. We're gonna have fun at lunch. We do.

There's a deeper meaning here. Our brother Yonah has it. I know it. Yes. But those are great that's a great point.

There is there is a consistency here. There is a parallel that you can make between how Abraham treats the Lord under this tree and how there is another instance where idols are dealt with underneath the tree. That's a great point too. That's that's very deep. Yes.

They arrived when he was expecting. Yeah. They they he wasn't expecting them when they arrived. Right? He was he seems to be surprised.

Sure. Yes. He was a lot older than yours. I think about Ishmael was born a couple years ago. Very good.

99 at this point. He is. Do you see that? He can move for a 99 year old. Right?

Because in verse 14, the Lord's gonna tell him, one year from now, Sarah's gonna have a child. So how old did he give, what how old was Abraham when he had Isaac? He was 100. Meaning what? How old is he here?

99. 99. Yes. Yes. Right here, Brianna.

We'll get to you, Brianna. That's a great point too. I mean, you have this, this man who inflicts pain upon himself in order to obey God, and yet his posture of service is so strong, immediately after, contextually speaking. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. And a couple of people already made that point.

It's true. There's something about the timing. There's something about the timing. Abraham and his household being circumcised and the Lord making himself known to Abraham. Yes.

Somebody had their hand up here. Yes. The quality. Yeah. He brought a quality meat before his guests.

Sure. Yes, Ryan. Yes. But when I keep watching your feet, I can't help. Yeah.

Sure. I mean, there's this mirroring picture of humbling yourself, and that's probably one of the most humbling things you can do, is to wash somebody else's feet at that time. Absolutely. To wash somebody else's feet at that time. Absolutely.

Right? Yeah. Mhmm. Yeah. So now you're that but it's a little counterintuitive.

Sure. So now you're wondering and questioning and examining. This is good. Yes. Over here and then over here, and then we'll look at it together more.

Which is saying the time of day because it says that he Very good. Did you notice that? Outside, which means he was in a very uncomfortable position. And sometimes, you know, hospitality can be very uncomfortable and costly, and sometimes, you know, hospitality can be very uncomfortable and costly, and sometimes, Excellent point. Did you notice the time marker?

It was in the heat of the day. We're talking about Middle Eastern heat. This is hot. Right? Okay.

We're gonna go and with somebody else here, then Joey, and then Joe, we're gonna end with you before we move on. Yes. So there's many repeated words here. Yes. And we're gonna explore more of those.

Very good. Joey? Yes. So there's devotion in the heart and practical service here. Absolutely.

You you all did a wonderful job. Let's look at some of these things. You already mentioned some of them. Verse one tells us that it was in the heat of the day, amen. This is just surface level.

We're not even getting deeper, deeper here. Just preliminary in in the ten, fifteen minutes we had. So there's the heat of the day. So as our sister alluded to already and mentioned that this was probably very uncomfortable for Abraham. Right?

It was not a very convenient time, but it was in the heat of the day. That says something. He ran. Did you notice that? Twice we read that he ran.

The word quick appears three times. Quickly, quick, quickly, quickly. Right? So the Lord deserves immediate obedience. There shouldn't be hesitation in our obedience.

There should be there shouldn't be hesitation in our worship and our sacrifice. Did you notice this in verse four? What did he initially offer them in verse four? Look at it again. I'll read it.

He says, let a little water be brought. Notice little water. Let a little water be brought and wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree while I bring a morsel of bread that you may refresh yourselves. And after that, you may pass on since you have come to your servants. So what does he offer them as a meal?

Just take a snack. A morsel of bread. Right? What does he offer them? A cow.

So what is what is that? Milk and it's a whole feast. So maybe you've experienced this where somebody knows you're driving by town and they text or you text them, you say, come over. Just come over for a cup of tea. Right?

This is especially known among Middle Easterners. Right? It's not just gonna be tea. You know it's not. Leftovers and there's gonna be a whole it's gonna be like Thanksgiving.

Right? And you thought you were just coming for tea. So is Abraham lying here? No. It's not he's not lying.

But it's showing just he's willing to go above and beyond for the Lord. Right? And so he's trying to convince them like, look, it seems like you're on your way. Here's just a morsel of bread. But in reality, once he got him seeded, he says, get the best cow we have.

Right? And that really brings us to the next point. It was tender and good. He didn't look for a weakly sickly animal. He found the best that he can offer to the Lord.

And brother, do you wanna add something before we move on? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. See, this is where this is beyond my expertise with, Hebrew, and this is something that we'll talk about after the lunch break, but this is something worthy of discussion.

Absolutely. There's something to consider about some of these original terms and symbols. Notice in verse eight, just because of the sake of time, we read that the end of the whole scene, what's Abraham's posture? Does he sit with them? What does standing symbolize?

Yeah. He's I I served you up to this point, but I'm ready. If you call me, I will do anything else. I'm I'm still in the active position of serving, you know. Some people they serve and then the, I wanna take a break from serving the Lord, you know.

That's not Abraham. Abraham is, I'm ready to serve again. And that's even more impressive when you consider his age. He's 99 at this point. And more than that, this is something that stood out to me.

What about his attitude? He's 99 sure, and what hasn't come yet? The promise. He's gonna find out after this that it's gonna be a year from then that Isaac would be realized. But look at his attitude while he waits on God.

Is he bitter? Does he drag his feet? Does he huff and puff out to the Lord? The same one that promised me twenty five years ago that I was gonna have a son. And that is that is that Abraham's attitude?

No. While he waits on God, he is serving with his whole heart. Are you doing the same? Am I doing the same? He's a model of faith according to the New Testament, not just in justifying faith, but in practical faith.

He's waiting on the Lord and while he's waiting, he's giving everything he has to the Lord. Because he loves God not just for the promise, but the promiser, who he is. And as we already mentioned, our brother mentioned that that one New Testament application according to Hebrews 13 is we should we should be as people of God hospitable, and we have a wonderful model in Abraham. Yes, brother. You had something else.

The whole model he was serving, and end to end, he got provided the tree for the coolness versus the sun. Sure. Yes. Yes. It would have been exactly.

Yes. Absolutely. This is just one sample of how when we do what we just learned, when we ask these questions and when we we zoom in and we meditate, things begin to glisten in our bibles. And this is just the surface. We haven't even really broadened it.

We could have compared Abraham's hospitality in Genesis 18 to Lot's hospitality in Genesis 19. Right? There's so many other things that we can explore, but for now, we're gonna eat. We're gonna eat. Just like we learned here, we're gonna have a meal.

Allow me to pray for us, and it will return at 01:30. Lord, we do thank you for this first part. We thank you for the tangible excitement and the contagious spirit for the things of God and the word of God. We pray now that as we feast together, that the spirit of hospitality would be obvious. We thank you for the hospitality team that throughout the week have been preparing for this time.

We thank you for the the meal that we're we're going to enjoy. May it only facilitate the fellowship that you call us to have. And Lord, may the rest of this afternoon noon be to your glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen.

We'll see you back in here at 01:30. Just make your way downstairs. There's Chick fil A and other snacks waiting for you. God bless you. We'll see you soon.