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00:11 ♪♪♪ 00:21 ♪♪♪ 00:31 ♪♪♪ 00:36 Jean Ross: Good morning, friends, and welcome to "Sabbath 00:38 School Study Hour," coming to you here from the Amazing Facts' 00:41 studio offices in Sacramento, California. 00:43 We'd like to welcome all of those joining us across the 00:46 country and around the world, part of our 00:47 extended Sabbath School class. 00:49 And a special greeting to our regular Granite Bay Church 00:52 members that usually come and attend our Sabbath school 00:55 in person, but because of the virus pandemic, 00:58 they aren't able to be here. 01:00 We know you are tuning in, and we pray that you'll be blessed 01:02 as we study our lesson together. 01:05 Now, we want to let those of you who are joining us know 01:07 about our free offer today. 01:08 And I believe this is the first time we're offering this. 01:11 This is something new to "Amazing Facts," it is a study 01:15 guide to help you in your Bible reading plan. 01:19 And we'd be happy to send this to anyone who calls and asks. 01:21 The number is 866-788-3966, and ask for offer number 872, 01:28 and we'll be happy to send this to you. 01:30 You'll receive this in the mail, and it'll actually show you what 01:33 the reading plan is for the entire year. 01:36 So, you can keep this in your Bible, you can open it up, you 01:39 can see what day you're on and what passage of the Scripture 01:41 you need to read. 01:42 And if you follow this guide, you'll read through the whole 01:44 Bible in 12 months or one year. 01:47 So, this is a great resource, and we hope you'll take 01:49 advantage of that. 01:50 Today, our lesson dealing with the Bible is lesson number 01:53 seven, and it's entitled "Language, Text, and Context," 01:57 a very important study. 01:59 But Pastor Doug, before we get to our study, 02:01 let's start with prayer. 02:03 Doug Batchelor: Amen. 02:04 Jean: Dear Father, once again, we thank You that we're 02:06 able to gather together and open up Your Word 02:08 studying about the Word. 02:10 And Father, we know there is power in the Bible. 02:12 But in order for us to correctly understand the Bible, we always 02:15 want the Holy Spirit to come and guide our minds, our hearts, 02:18 so we invite Your presence in a special way. 02:20 Be with us here in the studio and also be with those who are 02:22 joining us around the world, that You might also speak to 02:26 their hearts as we open up Your Word, for we ask this 02:28 in Jesus's name, amen. 02:30 Doug: Amen. 02:32 Jean: Well, Pastor Doug, an important and an exciting 02:34 lesson, we're talking about languages and context 02:37 when studying the Bible. 02:39 Doug: Yeah, this is--it's really so exciting to consider. 02:43 The main theme is, how do we understand the Bible? 02:47 If the Bible is the message of God to us, clearly there are 02:52 some misunderstandings out there because you've got one Bible, 02:57 the Bible says one Lord, one truth, one baptism, 03:00 there's one Jesus. 03:01 And yet you have hundreds of major denominations that say 03:06 they're Christian, they'll read the passages and they come up 03:09 with different ideas. 03:10 Why does that happen? 03:12 Jean: Well, you know, I think one of the key things that's 03:14 brought to view is context. 03:16 We need to recognize that the Bible is written in a particular 03:18 context, and we need to see what the Bible says about a 03:21 particular subject through its entirety. 03:23 We don't want to build a doctrine on just one verse. 03:26 And that sort of leads into our memory text that we're going to 03:29 be talking about, Deuteronomy chapter 31, verse 26. 03:33 And this is coming from the New King James version, it says, 03:35 "Take the book of the law and put it beside the Ark of the 03:38 Covenant of the Lord your God, that it might there be a witness 03:42 against you." 03:43 Now, a little bit of the context, this is God speaking to 03:45 Moses when Moses was instructed to build the tabernacle. 03:49 And the most holy place of the sanctuary or the tabernacle 03:53 contained the Ark of the Covenant. 03:54 And there were some things that were put in the ark, and then 03:56 there things that were put next to the ark. 03:59 The things in the ark, you got the Ten Commandments written on 04:02 two tables of stone. 04:03 We've got the rod that budded, Aaron's rod. 04:07 We've got a bowl of manna inside the ark. 04:11 But on the outside of the ark in sort of a--you might say a 04:14 little bag or a pocket of some kind was the law. 04:18 And when it talks about the law, Pastor Doug, we're not just 04:20 talking about the Ten Commandments here. 04:22 When it says, "Put the law next to the ark," what is that law? 04:27 Doug: Well, some have wondered, "Was this just the 04:29 book of Deuteronomy?" 04:30 that actually where you find this verse. 04:33 And we do have that story in where Josiah during the--Hilkiah 04:39 the priest was cleaning out the sanctuary and they found 04:42 the book of Moses, the book of the law. 04:45 They wondered, was this the book of Deuteronomy? 04:47 Did it include the whole Torah, the five books of Moses 04:50 beginning with Genesis? 04:51 It's hard to say. 04:53 In both cases, the quotes that were taken were from 04:55 Deuteronomy, and so it may have been that specifically 05:00 Deuteronomy, which was the repeating of the law, the 05:02 summary of their experience, that was to be put there as a 05:05 witness against them. 05:07 Paul refers that in Colossians too, when he said, 05:10 "There was a law that was nailed to the cross that was witnessed 05:13 against them." 05:14 And-- 05:16 Jean: I think it also--Paul says handwritten oracles. 05:18 Doug: Yeah. 05:20 Jean: So, it was handwritten, it didn't include the Ten 05:21 Commandments, which was God written. 05:23 Doug: And that was in the ark, the handwritten part that 05:24 contained the levitical laws and the ordinances was in a pocket 05:28 outside the ark. 05:30 But yeah, and so, you know, it's so important for us to 05:33 understand how to approach the Bible. 05:35 God wants the truth to be understood. 05:38 I think one reason there's so much misunderstanding is because 05:42 the truth of God's Word sets people free. 05:45 And so, if there is any document that the devil is seeking to 05:49 confuse and confound, it is the Scriptures. 05:52 And so, the devil's got so many people out there 05:55 that are wolves. 05:56 You know, Paul said, "Be careful because after my departure, 06:00 grievous wolves will come in among you." 06:03 And that they'd be teaching things to draw away disciples 06:05 after themselves. 06:07 And we've seen a lot of the misinterpretations of the Bible, 06:10 all right, they come from, you know, cultish leaders that are 06:13 trying to--they've got an agenda. 06:16 But if you read the Bible for what it's--let me throw 06:19 in a story real quick. 06:20 This helps illustrate it. 06:22 So, I'm living up in the mountains, I'm reading the 06:24 Bible, don't know much about Christianity. 06:28 I'm reading pretty much by myself. 06:30 I learned the Sabbath truth, I learned the truth about the 06:33 state of the dead, and so I haven't committed my life 06:38 to the Lord yet. 06:39 I'm wondering about these things. 06:41 I'm going to church on Sunday, but I've learned 06:43 the Sabbath truth. 06:44 But I'm convicted every Sunday, I said, "This is not the seventh 06:47 day." 06:48 While this is happening, I'm driving down the road 06:51 selling sandwiches. 06:53 I work for a company, they're out of business now, 06:56 called Darsan. 06:57 We sold premade sandwiches to the 7-Elevens. 07:00 And I'm delivering sandwiches in the desert. 07:02 There's this African-American gentleman walking down this 07:05 desert highway by himself with a bag, and it's 100 degrees out. 07:10 So, I pull over and I say, "Would you like a ride?" 07:14 He says, "Absolutely." 07:15 He hops in and he goes, "Praise the Lord," because it's an air 07:17 conditioned van. 07:19 And I said, "Are you a Christian?" 07:21 He said, "Yes." He said, "Are you?" 07:22 I said, "Yes." He said, "Praise the Lord." 07:25 And we don't drive for 60 seconds before he says, "Do you 07:30 know what day the Sabbath is?" 07:32 Well, that's an awful odd question to ask me right while 07:35 I'm driving down the road and I am convicted about keeping 07:38 the Sabbath day. 07:40 I said, "Yeah." 07:42 He said, "Well, what day do you go to church?" 07:44 I said, "Sunday." 07:45 He said, "You know what day the Sabbath is?" 07:47 I said, "Saturday." 07:49 He said, "Praise the Lord." 07:50 And I started talking to this guy, and I was so intrigued 07:53 by--he knew all the things I'd been studying. 07:57 So, I said, "Are you a Seventh Day Adventist?" 08:00 He said, "A what?" 08:02 I said, "Seventh Day Adventist." 08:04 He said, "Never heard of them." 08:06 And I stopped, we stopped and I bought him lunch, 08:08 we talked together. 08:10 He had a bag full of books that he had been reading on prophecy, 08:14 and he had been reading the same books, he'd been reading like 08:16 Daniel and the Revelation and these different things. 08:19 The Lord was leading him down the same path, but he's reading 08:21 the Bible and coming to the same conclusions. 08:24 And I got--I was really convicted and convinced that day 08:27 that if people are seeking--Jesus said if you're 08:29 seeking and you're open, He will give you the understanding. 08:33 He said, "If any man is willing to do My will, he will know of 08:36 the doctrine whether it be of God." 08:38 And so, we don't have to worry about everybody say, 08:40 "Well, you've got your truth, I've got my truth." 08:42 There is one absolute truth. 08:44 God is trying to tell us something in the Bible. 08:46 It can be understood. 08:47 Don't let the confusion in Christianity discourage you. 08:51 Jean: Amen. 08:52 Talking about that, some of those who are watching, you 08:54 might have some questions. 08:56 And we're going to try and take some live questions in our 08:58 lesson study time today. 08:59 If you have a question, just go ahead and make a comment on 09:01 Facebook, and they'll be emailing those comments to us, 09:04 and we'll try to take some of them. 09:06 Pastor Doug, we have a question that just came in, it kind of 09:08 ties in with the story that you told. 09:10 Here is somebody that is looking to know what the Bible teaches, 09:13 and Lorraine is asking, "Is there a specific time when 09:17 Sabbath begins and ends?" 09:19 Doug: Yeah, now using what we learn in this lesson, 09:22 how do you figure it out? 09:24 Do you flip a coin? 09:25 Do you do a survey of different churches? 09:27 What does the Bible say? 09:29 The Bible's very clear, it says, "From even unto even," that's 09:32 sundown to sundown, "you shall celebrate your Sabbaths," 09:34 all right? 09:36 So, that's one verse. 09:37 Then you go in the New Testament, it says, "And after 09:40 the Sabbath, after the sun had set, then they brought all the 09:44 sick to Jesus to be healed." 09:46 Because even then, they were concerned about His healing 09:49 on the Sabbath. 09:50 So, the Sabbath begins and ends not at 12 midnight, that's Roman 09:53 timing, not at sunrise. 09:57 But when the sun goes down, that was when they marked 09:59 the beginning and the end of the day. 10:01 And in Genesis, it says, "The evening and the morning." 10:05 Jean: Right, so the first--the dark part of the day 10:07 was the first part, and the light part of the day was the 10:10 second part of the 24-hour period. 10:13 Usually, we think of it the other way. 10:14 We think the light part first, but no, the day began at sunset. 10:17 So, from the Bible, the Sabbath is Friday evening at sunset, and 10:22 it goes all the way through till Saturday evening at sunset. 10:25 That would be the biblical Sabbath. 10:27 Now, in our lesson, we're talking about how 10:28 to interpret the Bible. 10:30 And it's interesting to note that there are about 6,000 10:34 languages that are in the world today. 10:37 And of these, the Bible has been translated in its entirety into 10:41 about 600 of these languages. 10:44 The New Testament has been translated into more than 10:46 2,5000 languages. 10:48 Now, when we say 6,000 languages, it doesn't mean that 10:51 that's the only language that those people understand. 10:54 Many of those who speak some of these 6,000 languages, they 10:57 might have a second language that they understand. 11:01 So the Bible, for the most part, is available in all of the main 11:04 languages that are spoken around the world. 11:06 Doug: Karen and I were in New Guinea, I think we've been 11:08 there twice now. 11:10 And of those 6,000 languages, 800 of them are in New Guinea. 11:14 All the people are divided by very steep mountains and 11:17 valleys, and they just spent generations kind of developing 11:20 their own variations. 11:22 But they understand each other by speaking 11:24 a certain pigeon English. 11:26 And so, the Scriptures are translated in a language that 11:31 most New Guineans understand. 11:34 Jean: Now, of course, we take the Bible for granted. 11:36 Today in English, I don't know how many translations and 11:38 versions there might be in the English language, but it wasn't 11:41 always the case. 11:42 Matter of fact, just less than 1,000 years ago, 600, 700 years 11:46 ago, it was difficult for the average person to find a copy 11:50 of the Bible in Europe. 11:52 But really thanks to the Reformation, the printing press, 11:55 and just the explosion of missionary activity that we see 11:58 especially in the early 1800s, the Bible now is available just 12:01 about to anyone who is wanting to discover truth, wanting to 12:05 seek the Lord through reading His Word. 12:08 And we can be grateful for that, really the Reformation had an 12:10 important part to play in the translating of the Bible in all 12:15 these different languages. 12:17 Doug: That's right. Oh, go ahead. 12:19 Jean: Yeah, just lead to our next section here, if you're 12:21 following along with your lesson, we're looking at Sunday. 12:23 And Sunday's lesson is "Understanding the Scriptures." 12:26 We have a key passage of Scripture in 2 Timothy 12:29 chapter 3, verse 16. 12:30 And it says, "All Scripture is given by the inspiration 12:33 of God." 12:35 Now, Pastor Doug, some people have asked, what does this 12:36 inspiration mean? 12:38 I think the word "inspiration" there means God-breathed. 12:40 Doug: Yeah. 12:42 Yeah, the Lord through the Spirit, He gave life to His 12:46 Word, and using human instrumentalities who might 12:50 incorporate their vocabulary and experience, but the message was 12:53 the message of God He gave through them. 12:56 Jean: It almost seems like the same breath of life that 12:59 brought life to Adam when God formed him out of the clay, that 13:02 same breath, that spirit is present in the Word of God. 13:05 That as we read, there is life found in it. 13:08 So, 2 Timothy says all Scripture is given by the inspiration of 13:10 God. 13:12 It's profitable for doctrine, that would be of teaching. 13:14 It is for reproof, telling us where we are going wrong. 13:18 Also for correction, how do we get on the right path. 13:21 And for instruction in righteousness or right doing. 13:24 And then I like verse 17, "That the man or the woman of God may 13:27 be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." 13:30 Sometimes, Pastor Doug, people say, "Well, how do you know that 13:33 everything in the Bible--maybe there's some important parts 13:36 that are missing that's not in the Bible that we really need?" 13:39 Well, this verse says everything we need spiritually to be 13:42 complete, to be a fully mature Christian, is found in the 13:46 Scripture, is found in the Bible. 13:48 Doug: Yeah, I always like to keep it simple. 13:51 And I love the Bible verses that keep it simple. 13:54 It's like in Micah, where he says, "He's shown the old man 13:57 what is good, and what does the Lord require of thee? 14:00 Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your God." 14:04 Well, there's three things, you can break it down to two things. 14:07 Love the Lord with all your heart, love your neighbor. 14:12 If we have the principles right, then everything else goes right. 14:15 But the Bible then breaks things down. 14:17 The love your God, love your neighbor, Ten Commandments. 14:20 But then you start going through the laws in Leviticus and in 14:25 Exodus, it goes into more detail about what does it mean to love 14:28 God and to love your neighbor. 14:30 And it says, "Well, if you're--even if your enemy's ox 14:32 wanders off, bring it back. 14:34 That's how you love your neighbor." 14:36 And so, it continues to get broader, wider, more detail, 14:39 more specific. 14:41 And you know, Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount, of course He goes 14:44 into beautiful detail. 14:46 And what He's really doing is Christ is expounding on the 14:50 principles of Moses's law using the principles of love. 14:54 You know, he said, "You've heard it say, you know, 14:58 you're not to kill. 15:00 So, I say don't even be angry with your brother without 15:03 a cause," you know? 15:04 Jean: Commit murder in your heart, yeah. 15:06 Doug: And so, the Scriptures just continue with the main 15:07 principle, love, God is love. 15:09 And it continues to fan out like that. 15:12 Jean: Now, we do have a question that Jean has emailed 15:15 to us, and the question is regarding the book of Job. 15:18 And she asks, "Is the book of Job literal or is it a parable?" 15:23 Doug: Well, we think the book of Job is literal because it 15:27 gives the very specific names. 15:31 These individuals lived in the area of Edom and you do find 15:35 their names appearing other times in the genealogy of Esau. 15:41 So, we have every reason--and the context of the story, 15:45 the specifics. 15:47 Now, there's incredible poetry in the way that Job is written. 15:50 Job was probably the first book that was written by Moses. 15:54 And, but it really--the whole great controversy is in the book 15:57 of Job, so I don't think it's just a parable. 16:01 There are certain allegory lessons in Job, but it's a real 16:04 story, just like there's an allegory in the experience 16:07 of Joseph. 16:09 Joseph really lived, but Joseph's life was somewhat an 16:11 allegory of Christ, sold by his brothers, yet he forgave. 16:16 The experience of Job shows the battle between Christ and Satan, 16:21 where you've got a person's heart is the battleground. 16:24 And so, it's a very real story, but there's a lot 16:27 of lessons in there. 16:28 Jean: Do we have any idea, Pastor Doug, as to the timeframe 16:31 when the story of Job might've taken place? 16:33 Doug: Based on how long Job lived, you look at Abraham's, 16:38 you know, father lived about 200 years. 16:41 And Job, he probably lived just shortly after the time of Esau 16:45 because you've got Isaac is living 185 years. 16:49 It talks about the length of their lives in the wording, 16:52 the vocabulary. 16:54 You know, probably he's living I'm guessing 100, 150 years 17:01 after Esau is pretty close. 17:04 Jean: Close to the time that Israel was or the children of 17:06 Israel were in Egypt, sometime during there. 17:08 Doug: And so, Moses may have gotten some of that story 17:10 from his father-in-law. 17:11 Jean: Yeah, yeah, very interesting. 17:13 All right, so when we're talking about the Bible, we find that 17:16 the Bible gives us three clear emphasis or guidelines. 17:19 First, it witnesses to us of God's work, what God has done 17:23 throughout human history. 17:25 It reveals to us the way of salvation. 17:27 I think that's the most important part of the Bible, 17:30 shows us how we can be saved. 17:31 It also thirdly then instructs us in the ways of righteousness. 17:35 How do we live as Christians? 17:37 How do we live a life that brings honor and glory to God? 17:39 So, these are the three main themes that you can find 17:42 throughout the Bible. 17:44 It talks about God's dealing with nations 17:45 and individuals in history. 17:47 It talks about how it can be saved and how we can live a 17:50 righteous life. 17:51 Doug: Yeah, absolutely. 17:53 One of my favorite verses in the Bible, well, if you go to 17:57 Deuteronomy chapter 32, here, you know, 18:00 Moses is at the end of his life. 18:02 He's written at this point the book of Job, Exodus, Leviticus, 18:07 Genesis, Numbers, Deuteronomy. 18:09 I got my order wrong there, but he's got--you got those six 18:11 books. 18:12 He's about to die, he's going to climb a mountain and die, 18:15 God has told him. 18:16 And he says in chapter 32, "Set your heart on all the words that 18:21 I testify among you today, that you shall command your children 18:26 to be careful to observe them, all the words of this law." 18:30 And that word there means the Torah. 18:32 "For it is not a futile thing for you because it is your life. 18:37 By these words you will prolong your days in the land you cross 18:40 over Jordan to possess." 18:42 This is a life and death issue that they understood. 18:45 You can't do them if you don't understand them. 18:47 So, understanding the teaching of the Bible, 18:49 rightly interpreting the Bible is life and death. 18:51 And then I love--and this isn't in the lesson, but it's one of 18:54 my favorite verses in the Bible, Deuteronomy 5:29. 18:58 It says, "Oh." 19:00 I like that word, "Oh." 19:02 It's kind of like John 3:16, "So, God so loved the world." 19:06 And here God says, "Oh, that they had such a heart in them 19:10 that they would fear Me and keep all of My commandments always, 19:15 that it might be well with them and their children forever." 19:19 It says, "Forever that they might love Me, keep My 19:22 commandments," not some of them, "all of them for their good and 19:26 their children." 19:27 And that's really what He said also in Deuteronomy 32. 19:29 Jean: Now, a lot of the Old Testament has to do 19:31 with the nation of Israel. 19:32 And people have wondered, well, why do we have so much about 19:35 Israel? 19:36 You got the whole Old Testament, you got the prophets speaking to 19:38 Israel primarily, and it just seems like a focus on a nation. 19:43 Well, I think Paul gives us a very good answer to this in 19:46 Romans chapter 3, verse 1 to 2. 19:48 And he's talking to the Gentile believers, but he's also talking 19:52 to some Jewish believers. 19:54 He says, "What advantage then has the Jew? 19:56 Or what profit has circumcision?" 19:58 Then he says in verse 2, Romans 3, "Much in every way, chiefly 20:03 because to them were committed the oracles of God." 20:06 So, why do we find so much emphasis on Israel 20:08 in the Old Testament? 20:09 Well, God was giving His will, his Word 20:12 through the Jewish nation. 20:14 They were to be His missionaries to take the gospel 20:16 to the whole world. 20:17 Now, of course, the New Testament times that God has a 20:20 spiritual Israel, those who believe in Christ, they become 20:23 part of spiritual Israel. 20:24 What is our mission today? 20:26 Well, similar to the mission of those living before Christ came, 20:29 that is to prepare the world now for the second coming of Jesus. 20:33 In the Old Testament, they were to prepare the world 20:35 for the first coming. 20:37 Our work now is to prepare the world for the second coming. 20:39 Doug: Jesus makes a stunning statement when He's talking 20:42 to the woman at the well. 20:44 She starts to argue with him about, "Well, you know, should 20:47 we worship on Mount Gerizim?" 20:49 And the Samaritans believed in the five books of Moses. 20:52 And Moses had said, "When you enter the Promised Land, 20:55 you're to go to Mount Gerizim and declare the blessings 20:57 and the cursings." 20:58 Mount Ebal, Mount Gerizim. 20:59 And so, they thought, "We've got Scripture for this." 21:01 And you know, Jesus of course said, "Well, it's Jerusalem." 21:05 Because in Samuel, that was the place that was chosen 21:09 for David to build the temple. 21:11 And Jesus said, "Salvation is of the Jews." 21:15 In other words, the Jewish nation, God had given to them to 21:19 be the guardians of the oracles of truth. 21:21 It didn't mean God was saving every Jew. 21:23 Certainly there was good and bad in every people. 21:26 God told Israel, "I'm not saving you because you're better 21:28 than other nations." 21:29 He said, "In fact, you're a stubborn and 21:31 a stiff-necked people." 21:32 He probably would've said that if He had saved 21:34 Scandinavians or Australians. 21:36 It doesn't matter who it was, human hearts are the same 21:39 pretty much everywhere. 21:41 But He needed to take a nation. 21:42 He chose Abraham because of his faithfulness, his descendants. 21:45 They would be the ones to be the recipients, the guardians of the 21:49 Word, and that they would then declare that Word and announce 21:54 the Messiah when he came. 21:56 And at Pentecost, really it was Jews announcing the Messiah 21:59 to Jews, who then took it to every nation. 22:01 Jean: Right. 22:03 And we have a question that came in, it's a little off the 22:04 subject, but it's kind of an interesting question, 22:06 so I'm going to ask it. 22:08 Venus is asking, "What is the significance of Aaron's walking 22:11 stick in the ark of the--in the ark of God or the Ark 22:14 of the Covenant?" 22:16 Why did God instruct Aaron to put his walking stick or Moses 22:18 to put Aaron's walking stick in the ark, 22:21 where the Ten Commandments is? 22:22 You can't think of anything more holy or sacred than the Ten 22:25 Commandments, but what is Aaron's rod doing there? 22:28 Doug: You know, the patriarch of a clan, they were the kings, 22:33 the nomads back then. 22:36 And the staff was really the authority, 22:39 it was sometimes used for discipline. 22:42 You'll remember that when Judah wanted to give a pledge to Tamar 22:46 that he was going to send the money, he gave his staff, 22:49 which was a big mistake. 22:52 And whenever they did a miracle in the days of Noah--or Moses 22:57 and Aaron, they threw down the staff. 22:59 It represented authority. 23:00 Well, one day, some leaders, I think it was Naboth and Abirim, 23:03 they were challenging the authority of Moses. 23:06 And he said, "I want the 12 leaders of Israel 23:09 to bring their staffs." 23:11 Well, these were the patriarchs of each tribe. 23:14 And God did a miracle for--they brought their staffs and put 23:18 them in the--in the tabernacle. 23:20 And overnight, the staff of Aaron, it put forth shoots, 23:27 leaves, blossoms, and bore almonds in 24 hours. 23:31 And here this dead stick came to life and bore fruit. 23:35 They all recognized that is a miracle. 23:37 And they all had unique insignias on their staff of 23:40 their tribes. 23:42 And so, it was a symbol of authority. 23:44 And that's why it says, "Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me," 23:47 Psalm 23. 23:48 So, the rod of Moses or Aaron, it's interchangeable. 23:52 Being put inside the ark, it meant that God speaks through 23:57 and he designates leadership. 23:58 Jean: Yes, and of course Aaron was the priest, 24:01 the levitical priest, it was in the family. 24:04 And that was part of the controversy that arose. 24:06 It says, "Well, why are you just the one that does the work 24:09 of the priest?" 24:10 Doug: We're also holy. Jean: We're also holy. 24:12 We're a whole nation of holy people. 24:14 And God said, "No, I've chosen the tribe of Levi to do a 24:15 special work in the priesthood." 24:17 It's also interesting that you have a dead stick that in the 24:19 sanctuary suddenly buds and brings forth fruit. 24:23 Likewise spiritually, without Christ, we're dead. 24:27 But connected to Christ, we're able to produce fruit, 24:30 and that would be the fruit of the Spirit. 24:32 Doug: Come alive, that's right. 24:33 Jean: A life that brings glory to God. 24:35 Monday, the title of the lesson there is entitled 24:37 "Words and Their Meaning." 24:39 And for us to correctly understand the words in the 24:41 Bible, it's helpful for us to study their usage in other parts 24:45 of the Bible. 24:46 Doug: Yeah, and looking where--I think it was Dr. Leslie 24:51 Harding who taught for years at the Andrews Seminary. 24:55 He said one of the best ways to understand how to interpret 24:58 a word in the Bible is look at the first time 25:01 the word is introduced. 25:02 It sort of becomes a template for other times 25:05 you find those words. 25:06 So, that's one principle. 25:08 And then compare it with other verses where the word is used. 25:10 Now, I think you've got some examples there for we're going 25:12 to look at the word "mercy" and then "shalom." 25:14 Why don't you take mercy and I'll do shalom? 25:17 Jean: Yeah, the word "mercy." 25:18 Of course, we find it throughout the Bible, but just a couple of 25:20 passages that give us a broader understanding of God's mercy, 25:24 1 Kings chapter 3, verse 6. 25:26 Solomon is praying and he said, "You show great mercy to 25:29 Your servant David, my father." 25:30 And that, of course, is at the dedication of the temple. 25:33 And you can see in the life of David how God revealed His mercy 25:37 time and time again when David would make a mistake and he'd 25:40 repent, God would show mercy. 25:42 And God used him in a mighty way to build up the nation of Israel 25:46 and to prepare for the building of the sanctuary. 25:49 You've got Psalm 66, verse 20, "Blessed be God, who has not 25:52 turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me." 25:56 You know, Pastor Doug, I think one of the most favorite phrases 25:59 or most common phrases that's found in the Psalms 26:01 is the phrase "his mercy abides forever." 26:04 His mercy abides forever. 26:06 So, God is a God of mercy, and we can see that even 26:08 in Old Testament times. 26:10 And then Micah chapter 7, verse 20, "You will give truth to 26:13 Jacob and mercy to Abraham, which He has sworn to your 26:17 fathers from days of old." 26:19 So, there we find God giving mercy to those who trust in Him, 26:23 those who follow His commandments. 26:26 Doug: Yeah, and that's I think the key that you said, 26:27 followed His commandments. 26:29 In those verses you read, 1 Kings 3:6, it says, 26:32 "Mercy in truth." 26:35 You go to Psalm 57, verse 3, it says, "He'd send His mercy 26:39 and His truth." 26:41 And then you just read another one where it talked about--it's 26:43 Micah 7, it said, "Mercy to Abraham and truth, truth to 26:47 Jacob and mercy to--" So, one way God connects His mercy 26:51 is the Word of truth. 26:53 He's showing mercy and truth. 26:55 I said I'd let you teach and I jumped in, 26:57 I couldn't help myself. 26:59 Jean: No, that's good. Doug: I'm sorry. 27:01 And then we've got a famous word. 27:02 You know, people around the word know the word "shalom." 27:06 And I heard someone say once that one of the best ways to 27:10 understand shalom for the Jew is to understand aloha 27:13 for the Hawaiian. 27:15 So, aloha was it's hello, it's goodbye, it's love. 27:20 And now shalom is a little different, of course, than that, 27:22 but it is a word that has many meanings. 27:25 When you greet someone you say shalom. 27:28 And when you say goodbye, you say shalom. 27:30 Jerusalem is named City of Peace, Jeru-Shalom. 27:36 You've got even Absalom was the son of peace. 27:41 Solomon, his name is similar also to the word "shalom." 27:45 It was--it was a greeting of blessing that was incorporated. 27:49 And when God said--and this is very famous, many people know 27:52 the levitical blessing. 27:54 You find if in Numbers 6:24 through 26, said, "This is the 27:58 blessing to put on my people. 28:00 The Lord bless you and keep you. 28:02 The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. 28:06 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace." 28:10 And it ends with that word "shalom." 28:13 And the Lord--Psalm 29:11, "The Lord will give strength 28:16 to His people. 28:18 The Lord will bless His people with peace." 28:20 Now, for the Jew who spent many years wandering, they never 28:24 could settle down it seems like, and then they were slaves 28:27 for years. 28:29 Their longing of their heart was to settle down, every man to be 28:32 under his vine and his fig tree, to have springs of water, 28:36 and to live in peace. 28:38 And so, it's a picture of heaven, but it's also a picture 28:41 of the peace. 28:43 Jesus is called the prince of peace. 28:45 And Isaiah 9:6, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. 28:51 The government will be on His shoulder. 28:52 His name will be called wonderful counselor, the mighty 28:56 God, the everlasting Father, the prince of peace." 29:01 So, Jesus is the essence, he embodies that peace. 29:05 And one more thing while we're talking about words, 29:08 when you're--you know, big word is love when 29:11 we're talking about words. 29:13 And I think just in the Greek, not even going to the Hebrew, 29:16 there are four words that are used for love. 29:20 And you've got eros, and that's more like a romantic love, 29:24 it's where we get the word "erotic." 29:26 It was a romantic love. 29:27 Phileo, and that meant a brotherly love, where you 29:31 have--you know, it was William Penn, he established 29:35 Philadelphia, he wanted it to be the city of brotherly love. 29:39 Then you have storge, that meant an unconditional or a family, a 29:43 familial love. 29:45 And then the famous one is the agape, the sacrificial, the 29:49 emphatic love, where you're feeling for another one, 29:54 a self-sacrificing love. 29:56 Now, you had the example there in John-- 29:59 Jean: Yeah, it's an amazing example that you find in John 30:01 chapter 21 of how in the original Greek, 30:05 different words are used for love. 30:07 It's a fairly well known story. 30:09 This is after the resurrection, where Jesus met with the 30:11 disciples by the sea of Galilee. 30:13 And Peter, along with all the other disciples, are there. 30:17 And after that had breakfast together, Jesus asked Peter--and 30:20 this is John chapter 21, verse 15. 30:23 Jesus said to Peter, "Simon son of Jonah, do you love Me more 30:26 than these?" 30:27 Now, you'll remember Peter had said before the crucifixion, 30:30 "Though all men shall desert Thee, I'll never leave You. 30:33 I'm ready to die for You." 30:34 Now, of course, you know what happened. 30:36 Peter did deny Jesus, so Jesus says, "Peter, do you love Me 30:39 more than these?" more than the other disciples. 30:42 Now, the word that Jesus uses here for "do you love Me?" 30:46 he uses the word "agape." 30:48 And as you say, Pastor Doug, that is the love of God. 30:50 That is this unselfish, self-sacrificing love. 30:54 Peter responds to what Jesus says and says, "Yes Lord, you 30:58 know that I love You." 30:59 But he doesn't use the word "agape," he uses the word for 31:02 brotherly love, philos. 31:04 And it's kind of interesting that each time Jesus asked, he 31:08 said, "Do you agape Me?" 31:10 Peter responded and said, "Lord, I philos Thee. 31:12 I, you know, brotherly love. 31:14 The best human love that I can have, I give to You. 31:17 But my love does not come close to Your love for me." 31:21 And Jesus asked twice, "Peter, do you agape Me?" 31:24 And Peter says, "I philos You." 31:27 And then the third time, Jesus says, "Do you philos Me?" 31:30 Peter says, "Yes Lord, I philos You." 31:31 So, it's as if Jesus is trying to draw Peter's understanding 31:35 to His love. 31:37 "And do you know how much I love you?" 31:39 is in essence what Jesus is saying. 31:40 So, you can find that by looking at the original words, and it 31:43 just brings a whole lot more meaning to the Word of God. 31:46 Doug: Yeah. 31:48 And just jump in if you get a question from someone. 31:51 In the next section, it talks about repetition, word patterns, 31:55 and meanings. 31:57 And it's very helpful to know that there was no punctuation in 32:01 the Hebrew. 32:03 So, when you're reading--as well as the Greek, actually. 32:06 And so, they had different ways of creating emphasis starting 32:09 and stopping. 32:11 There's no problem if you understand and you read Hebrew 32:12 to know what the text is saying. 32:15 But one of the ways, you know, we when we say something--and 32:18 it's interesting today where everybody texting everybody, 32:21 we've kind of created a whole new language. 32:23 But you know, instead of saying, "This is so funny, I just 32:28 couldn't help myself," you just say LOL, that means 32:31 I laughed out loud. 32:32 And so, we've got these abbreviations. 32:35 Or you just put an exclamation mark. 32:37 You might just say exclamation mark and we know 32:39 that's emphasis. 32:42 One of the ways they would emphasize something is through 32:44 the repetition of words. 32:47 And maybe you could read, for instance, Genesis 1:26, 32:50 Pastor Ross. 32:51 Jean: You know, before I read that, just you're reminding me 32:53 of something. 32:54 Today, we speak with texting and different--like you said, 32:56 different things mean different things. 32:58 LOL is supposed to be laugh out loud, but I guess a teenage girl 33:02 was texting her mother and telling her about something sad 33:05 that had occurred. 33:07 And the mother responded with LOL. 33:09 And the daughter said, "Mom, that's not the 33:10 appropriate response." 33:12 Well, the mother thought LOL was love--lots of love, thank you. 33:18 Yeah, lots of love. 33:19 And the daughter's saying laugh out loud. 33:21 So, if you don't understand the context, you can get yourself in 33:23 trouble, you can be misunderstood. 33:26 And of course, knowing the right meaning of the words 33:28 and the context in the Bible also makes a difference. 33:31 Doug: Oh yeah, big difference. 33:32 Jean: Now, in Genesis chapter 1, verse 27-- 33:35 Doug: Twenty-six and twenty-seven, yeah. 33:37 Jean: Twenty-six? 33:39 Talks about God created man in his own image. 33:40 "In the image of God created him, male and female 33:42 He created them." 33:44 Now, the word there for man is Adam. 33:47 And of course, that's the name of the first man 33:49 that was created. 33:50 But we find Adam also meaning man or mankind, as well as the 33:55 individual Adam, which is kind of interesting. 33:58 Then you also brought up about Adam being connected 34:00 to the ground or the earth. 34:02 Doug: Yeah, it's a similar word for in Hebrew Edom, where, 34:06 you know, the Edomites, it was this red porridge 34:10 that was given. 34:12 And Edom and Adam--and some people say, 34:13 "What race was Adam?" 34:16 And I heard one scholar say, well, he was Indian. 34:20 I said, "Well, how do you say that?" 34:21 He said, "Well, red, yellow, black, and white." 34:23 You know, they used to say the American Indians were red. 34:25 Well, they weren't really red, they used to put some clay on 34:27 them that made them look that way. 34:29 But the word really is red or ruddy. 34:33 And it says that about David, it says he was ruddy. 34:35 And that word there meant that he kind of had a rosy 34:39 or glowing complexion. 34:41 So, who knows? 34:43 Adam might have been kind of a magenta or I don't know. 34:48 Jean: But you have Adam meaning mankind, 34:50 also the name of an individual. 34:52 Now, that's kind of significant. 34:53 When we go to the New Testament, you read in Romans chapter 5, 34:57 verse 5, "But the free gift is not like the offense, for if by 35:00 one man's offense," that would be Adam, "many die, so much more 35:04 the grace of God and the gift by one man, Jesus Christ." 35:08 And Jesus is called the second Adam. 35:10 So, in the first Adam comes death because of sin. 35:14 In the second Adam, we have life in Jesus. 35:17 Doug: Right. 35:19 And going back and talking more about the context of how you 35:21 read those things, if you look for instance in--when it talks 35:25 in Genesis about God created man in his own image, in the image 35:29 of God created him, male and female created He them." 35:33 So, you're looking at God as making them, plural. 35:37 So the word "Adam" there means humanity, mankind. 35:42 But then it says, "This is the genealogy of Adam in the day 35:46 that God created man. 35:48 He made him in the likeness of God. 35:50 He created them male and female," so that's still talking 35:54 about Adam means humanity. 35:56 This is Genesis 5:1. 35:57 Then it says, "And Adam lived 130 years, 36:01 and he begat his first son." 36:05 Adam there, does it mean humanity? 36:07 Or well, it could be Adam and Eve because they're both the 36:09 same age, aren't they? 36:11 But then later it says that he lived 930 years and he died. 36:15 Now, it's probably talking about the individual Adam. 36:19 So, that's why it's so important to read the context. 36:23 Going back to the repetition that you emphasize things, 36:26 you'll notice that when--the verse you just read, it says God 36:30 created, created, created. 36:34 And this is back in Genesis chapter 1. 36:36 Says, "Let Us make man in our image. 36:40 And so, God created him. 36:42 In the image of God He created him, male and female 36:44 He created them." 36:46 If we ever have any doubts about the origin of humanity, 36:48 the Jew is saying God created, God created, 36:52 God created in His own image. 36:55 So, it's really an insult to Bible truth to say that, you 37:00 know, man evolved from some primordial soup because then 37:06 you're calling God, you know, a rock or primordial soup. 37:10 God in a fiat way created man, and it's very important. 37:14 Jean: Now, talking about repetition, in the original 37:17 language, they didn't have capitalized or exclamation mark. 37:20 But if they wanted to emphasize something, as you said, 37:23 Pastor Doug, they would repeat it. 37:25 Probably one of the most beautiful verses that you find 37:27 in the Old Testament is Isaiah chapter 6, verse 3. 37:31 It's talking about these angels who are in the very presence 37:33 of God. 37:35 And they have six wings. 37:37 With two wings they cover their feet, with two wings they cover 37:39 their faces, with two wings they fly. 37:41 And their constant cry is, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord of 37:45 hosts, the earth is filled with your glory." 37:47 Here are the angels saying, "Holy, holy, holy," in the very 37:50 presence of God. 37:52 Some have seen in that holy for the Father, holy for the Son, 37:55 holy for the Holy Spirit, sort of a triune holiness that we 38:00 find described in the Bible. 38:01 So, it's emphasis. 38:02 And of course, often you read Jesus saying, "Verily, verily," 38:06 if you're looking at the King James version. 38:08 Or, "Verily, verily I say unto you." 38:10 Again, it's providing emphasis by repeating. 38:13 Doug: If a child is walking down a path and the parent says, 38:18 "Be careful. Child, be careful." 38:21 But if the parent says, "Be careful, be careful," they're 38:26 going, "Oh, that repetition." 38:28 If the parent says, "Be careful, be careful, be careful," 38:33 kid's going, "Oh." 38:34 I mean, so we even understand that repetition and emphasis can 38:39 be just, you know, increasing the intensity. 38:42 So, when the angels say God is holy, but when they say He is 38:45 holy, holy, and then they say He is holy, holy, holy, the three 38:51 really was like an eternal emphasis. 38:55 That it's compete and full as it can be, the holiness of God. 39:00 Jean: Pastor Doug, we've got a question that's come 39:02 in from Nancy. 39:03 And you're talking about the importance of reading something 39:05 in its context, she's asking, "What about Mark 7, where Jesus 39:09 purged all meat? 39:11 What does this mean?" 39:13 I guess she has a friend that's saying, well, we can eat 39:15 anything now because of Mark chapter 7, where Jesus purged 39:18 all meat, where He says don't call anything unclean, or it's 39:21 not that which goes into the mouth that defiles the man. 39:25 Doug: Yeah, this is a verse that has been misunderstood, and 39:28 it's actually unfortunate that the--they're probably looking at 39:31 the New International Version. 39:34 The translators there--and one of the things we've learned as 39:36 we've been studying how to interpret the Scriptures, Bible 39:39 readers come to the Scripture with certain presuppositions, 39:43 with certain bias. 39:46 And some people have a bias, an assumption when they come to 39:49 reading the New Testament. 39:51 And they assume that, yeah, Jesus declared all foods clean. 39:54 This was what you call a parenthetical statement, where 39:58 it actually is saying when Jesus said, "It's not what goes in 40:02 your mouth that defiles you, but what comes out." 40:06 Because what goes in your mouth is eliminated in the ditch, 40:11 purging all meats. 40:13 There's a certain purging influence 40:16 of the digestive system. 40:17 Jesus is talking about if you eat food without ceremonially 40:22 washing your hands, that is not what defiles a person. 40:26 He said it's not what goes in your mouth, but what comes out 40:28 of your mouth. 40:30 And the words that you speak, reflecting what's in your heart, 40:33 that's what's defiling. 40:35 If a child eats without washing their hands, most of us have 40:38 somehow survived childhood, where that often happened. 40:42 He said that's not what defiles a heart. 40:44 So, no particular food is ever mentioned. 40:48 The NIV translators took a great liberty here, they took a 40:51 parenthetical statement, where it said, 40:53 "Thus purging all foods." 40:55 They then translate that in saying this, 40:58 Jesus declared all foods clean. 41:00 I have had friends from other denominations, they will freely 41:02 admit that is not in the Greek. 41:05 So, it's not even in the original text. 41:07 It is a very unfortunate liberty that the translators took there. 41:12 That is not found in the original text. 41:15 You don't find it in the King James, New King James, 41:17 New American Standard. 41:19 But it's confused a lot of people. 41:20 And what's the verse again? 41:22 female: It's in verse 20. 41:24 Doug: It's verse 20, yeah, 19 and 20 is where you're going to 41:25 find that in Mark chapter 7. 41:28 Jean: All right, thank you, Pastor Doug. 41:29 We have another question that somebody has sent in. 41:31 And again, we thank you for all of the questions that's come in. 41:34 This person is asking, is tithe and offering only applied 41:38 to money? 41:39 Do we pay tithes and offerings only for money? 41:42 Doug: Another good place where we can apply 41:43 the Bible hermeneutics. 41:45 When Jesus--or when Malachi says, God in his Word, in 41:51 chapter 3 of Malachi, he says, "Bring all the tithe into the 41:55 storehouse, that there may be food in my house." 41:59 But when they went to the feast, if they didn't want to carry 42:01 wagonloads of grain or sheep, it says you can convert that to 42:06 money and carry the money. 42:07 It was much easier and smaller, and pay your tithe when you come 42:10 to the feast using money. 42:12 So, it could be done using agricultural tithe, if they 42:16 would literally bring to the sanctuary or to the synagogue 42:21 where they happened to meet in their tribal area to help cover 42:23 the costs for the Levites. 42:25 Or they could go to the national feast, they would convert it 42:28 to money. 42:30 It could be either one. 42:31 Jean: Somebody asked--else is asking Pastor Doug about why is 42:34 there so many genealogies that we find in the Old Testament? 42:37 And they're speaking specifically here about 42:39 Chronicles, where it says so and so begat so and so. 42:41 Why is that so important? 42:43 Doug: I used to wonder that. 42:44 And I was reading through the Bible and I would just struggle 42:46 through saying these names. 42:47 And it was always embarrassing for me when I got into ministry 42:51 and I tried to read the names. 42:53 And I'll just give you a little tip while we're at that point. 42:57 I spent years listening to the Bible on tape, driving, going to 43:00 sleep at night, every night listening to Alexander Scourby, 43:05 who read the Bible with just perfect diction. 43:08 So, I don't know how he did it, but his pronunciation. 43:10 And there's a few other programs where they--the Bible readers 43:13 read with just extraordinary pronunciations, very accurate. 43:17 Hearing him say those names made it much easier for me to start 43:20 repeating those names in years that followed. 43:24 But I used to think, why all the chronologies? 43:27 Then as you start going through the different characters in the 43:30 Bible like we just talked about Job, reading the chronology of 43:34 Esau, I said, "Aha, some of these friends of Job appear 43:38 in this chronology." 43:39 And it helped you understand where the story took place, who 43:42 he's talking to, who their ancestors were. 43:45 And it tells about Jesus being the Messiah. 43:47 You look at the chronology in Luke that goes all the way from 43:51 Jesus back to Adam, it's one of the most extraordinary 43:54 in the Bible that Jesus is the Son of God. 43:57 And so, it tells that Jesus would be the Son of David. 44:01 You've got the chronology of Jesse and the tribe of Judah 44:04 because it says the Messiah would come through that. 44:06 So, a lot of it is so we can trace the chronology of the 44:09 Messiah when He came. 44:11 Jean: Absolutely. 44:12 Thursday's lesson talks about books and their messages. 44:15 And of course, you have 66 books in the Bible. 44:18 Divided up into different categories, you have prophetic 44:21 messages through some of the prophetic books 44:23 like Isaiah, Jeremiah. 44:26 There are some books that are described as being a 44:29 compilation, where you've got, for example, Psalms, 44:32 which is compilation of songs. 44:34 Then you got Ecclesiastes, a compilation 44:37 of different sayings. 44:39 You've got historical books like 1 and 2 Kings and Chronicles. 44:42 And then you've got letter books. 44:44 Many of the New Testament books are letters. 44:47 Paul wrote a lot of letters. 44:48 The book of Revelation is really a letter to the seven churches. 44:51 So, different categories of books, and that's helpful to 44:54 bear in mind when you're studying a particular book 44:56 in the Bible. 44:57 Doug: Yeah. 44:59 Now, Revelation is a letter that was deliberately given to be 45:01 read in many churches, so it's a little more comprehensive. 45:04 It's really for the church even today 45:06 'cause it's for many churches. 45:08 Whereas when Paul writes a letter to the 1 Corinthians and 45:12 he's giving special counsel for a particular problem, or in 2 45:17 Corinthians, he's talking about a problem in 1 Corinthians, 45:20 you then have to say, "What is the culture? 45:22 What's the historical context? 45:24 What's going on in that city? 45:26 What was the problem he's addressing?" 45:28 Then reading and understanding those teachings, it's important 45:31 to get the context of the town, the history, the culture. 45:37 Like you and I get questions all the time about 1 Corinthians 11, 45:40 where it talks about a woman not praying 45:43 unless her head is covered. 45:45 And people say, "Well, is that something we're to apply today, 45:47 that no Christian woman should pray publicly 45:50 unless her head is covered?" 45:52 Well, reading the context of what was happening in Corinth 45:54 at that time, we realize that was really more of a tradition. 45:59 And he's saying, you know, we need to be respectful of that 46:01 tradition in that context. 46:03 And even later in the own--in that same book, 46:05 I forget where in the chapter, what verse it is, he says, 46:09 "But we have no such tradition." 46:12 He uses the word "tradition." 46:14 Jean: Contentious, but we don't have such tradition. 46:16 So, dealing with the specific situation it sounds like that 46:19 was taking place at the church. 46:21 And maybe that's why we don't want to build a doctrine on just 46:23 simply one verse. 46:25 In the mouth of two or three witnesses. 46:27 And unfortunately, there are some people, pastor, that'll 46:29 take one verse and ignore the rest of the Bible as to what 46:32 it's saying, and they'll build a whole theology out of one verse. 46:35 And often, it's taken out of its context. 46:38 So, not only do you recognize that the Bible has different 46:42 books written for different audiences at different times, we 46:45 want to bear that in mind, but of course there are different 46:47 writers, about 36 at least that we know of, 36 different authors 46:52 that wrote different parts of the Bible. 46:54 This is interesting, Pastor Doug. 46:57 Some of the authorship is not given. 47:00 Sometimes, you read Paul, it states that Paul wrote the book. 47:02 Or in Revelation, John says he wrote the book. 47:05 But there are books in the Bible where we're not quite sure who 47:07 the person is that actually wrote the book. 47:10 And here are some examples. 47:12 For example, the book of Ruth, we're not quite sure 47:14 who wrote Ruth. 47:16 The book of Esther, you had an idea and I thought that was kind 47:18 of interesting. 47:19 Even though it doesn't say who wrote the book of Esther, but 47:21 you thought maybe Mordecai. 47:23 Doug: Mordecai would have been intimately acquainted with 47:25 the language and what happened in the palace on that occasion. 47:28 Jean: Right. 47:29 Doug: You wonder who in that story saw everything from all 47:31 perspectives, and he was probably--so, 47:33 we don't know, but. 47:34 Jean: The book of Job, even though it doesn't say 47:37 specifically in the book, I think there's enough tradition 47:40 and suggestions that that was probably written by Moses. 47:44 Doug: Stylistically, you look at the way Moses wrote 47:46 and it's very similar. 47:48 And he would've been acquainted with that story 47:49 being related to Jethro. 47:51 Jean: Mm-hmm, there's a connection there. 47:53 So, it's helpful to take into consideration. 47:55 And another amazing thing about that is you've got authors with 47:57 totally different backgrounds. 47:59 And God used fishermen, and scholars, and all kinds 48:03 of different people in giving us the Bible. 48:05 Doug: I'm so thankful. 48:07 When you look at the four gospels of Jesus that God used 48:10 Matthew, a tax collector. 48:12 He used Mark, who's really Peter, a fisherman. 48:15 Mark wrote it for Peter. 48:16 You've got Luke, who's a Gentile, who's writing to an 48:18 educated leader, Theophilus. 48:22 And then John, who's that beloved disciple, evidently 48:24 related somehow to the priesthood 'cause he knew the 48:26 family in the priesthood. 48:28 And so, those perspectives really help us 48:30 know Jesus better. 48:32 Why don't you tell us about the free offer again 48:33 before we run off the air? 48:35 Jean: Yes, we want to remind you if you just joined us, our 48:37 free offer today is actually a study guide that'll help you in 48:41 your reading of the Bible. 48:43 If you'd like to receive our Amazing Facts Bible reading 48:45 plan, you need to call the number 866-788-3966 and just ask 48:50 for offer number 872. 48:53 And we'll be happy to send this to you. 48:55 You can take this simple, little guide, put it in your Bible, and 48:58 it'll tell you each day the different passages you need to 49:00 read if you'd like to read all the way through the Scriptures. 49:07 announcer: Amazing facts, changed lives. 49:16 male: We were going to church every other week. 49:19 About 19 years old, things really start 49:21 to make sense for me. 49:22 I started to go to church for myself. 49:24 And the pastor wanted to study with me. 49:28 We came to the study about baptism. 49:31 And I kind of just shrugged, put my head down, 49:33 and I said, "I'm not ready." 49:34 He looked me in the eye and said, "Jason, you'll never make 49:39 yourself ready. 49:41 You know, this is something you have to do." 49:44 I put a lot of things behind me, the drinking and smoking, all 49:46 that stuff stopped. 49:48 All throughout the time when I'd been learning about God, it was 49:51 just me and God. 49:53 Comes around up to about August and I meet this girl. 49:58 About two years into the relationship, we're talking 50:00 about marriage and everything. 50:02 We didn't pray, we didn't study together, we were arguing a lot. 50:08 But we were engaged. 50:10 I started drinking again, and that was a slow downward spiral 50:14 into different things, and my devotional life started 50:16 really weaseling away. 50:18 We broke up in 2008. 50:20 It was heavy for me 'cause, again, being with somebody for 50:23 that long, it's almost like a divorce. 50:28 I started to fall back away even more. 50:31 I remember looking in the mirror, just looking at myself 50:33 and saying, "What are you doing? 50:36 How can you do this to God? 50:38 He's brought you so far." 50:41 And you know, God really heard my cry. 50:46 There was a testimony telling at my church, and there's a call, 50:51 and kids started getting up, a bunch of high school kids 50:53 started getting up for calls of baptism. 50:55 I'm back doing the PA system at this time, and I feel just like 50:58 this urge, just my heart just started ripping out of my chest. 51:02 And I just had this feeling just to go up. 51:05 I get to the front and I meet the pastor with open arms. 51:11 I realized that there's so much more to life than just living 51:13 life for myself. 51:16 And you know, falling away, it's not a necessity, but God can 51:21 work through anything in the bad to make it the good, 51:25 that's a promise He makes. 51:37 announcer: Together, we have spread the gospel much farther 51:40 than ever before. 51:42 Thank you for your support. 51:52 announcer: Amazing facts, changed lives. 52:00 female: It wasn't my choice to be a Catholic. 52:03 It was my parents' choice. 52:04 My mom, she's very, very religious. 52:09 My father, he was made the presidential trouble shooter 52:14 during the martial law. 52:17 I guess having seven kids would not be able to make my mother to 52:22 be--you know, be there for each and every one of us. 52:25 But what is really very hard for me was I was always told to be 52:30 the ugliest, to be the darkest. 52:32 You know, here in the Philippines, 52:34 you're beautiful if you're white. 52:37 But if you're brown or a little bit darker, 52:39 which I was, you're ugly. 52:43 All of us had about seven maids, one for each child. 52:48 The maids would say, "My baby," or the one she's taking care of, 52:53 "is a lot better than yours," referring to me. 52:57 I believed because I was ugly, I believed I was stupid. 53:00 I believed I was good for nothing, so I attracted all the 53:04 bad things in my life. 53:07 I had to believe that God is fair, so I said maybe that's 53:12 because I was bad in my previous lives. 53:17 So, I believe in, of course, reincarnation. 53:21 And when I was young, my mom told me 53:24 that I could really see ghosts. 53:27 I went into a lot of seance. 53:31 And there was even a time when we did a ouija board. 53:35 And then in front of me really--it really happened for 53:38 the four of us, the glass, which is a wine glass, 53:43 it just--you know, it just went up. 53:48 So, because this is my life, I do believe 53:50 that I was attracted to the wrong man. 53:53 There's anything that really happened very good was to have 53:57 my two adorable children, but I was really abused in all areas, 54:04 physically, emotionally, of course spiritually. 54:09 And you will think, "Where is God?" 54:17 I began to search, and unfortunately my church doesn't 54:20 have a Bible study. 54:22 So, I was able to go to a Baptist Bible study, and there I 54:27 had a classmate, her name is Lu. 54:30 She gave me the DVDs, and that is where I learned about Pastor 54:36 Doug and "Amazing Facts." 54:40 That Baptist church saw my eagerness, so when I started 54:45 asking for the Sabbath worship on a Saturday, they took me out. 54:54 They even got a meeting and they said that I was a stumbling 54:57 block, me and Lu, and that is how we left. 55:02 Our friends are all from the Baptist and we love them dearly, 55:07 but the truth cannot be compromised. 55:13 So, that is when we started having a Bible study, 55:18 every four o'clock at Club Filipino, 55:21 and I invite all my friends. 55:25 It pains me to think that I was really lost. 55:29 Why is it that I'd find teaching through a foreigner, 55:34 from Pastor Doug? 55:37 What if nobody gave me the message? 55:40 Because my growth happened because of the DVDs that I watch 55:48 every night, every morning. 55:52 And even my friends, who happened to have master 55:56 degree, they say, "Why are you so much better? 55:59 Maybe your teachers are good." 56:02 Yes, my teachers are from the "Amazing Facts." 56:06 I owe my salvation really to all the teachings that I've learned 56:11 from your DVDs and from your books. 56:14 ♪♪♪ 56:24 ♪♪♪ 56:31 Doug: Friends, we're out here in the Pacific Ocean, not too 56:33 far from the island of Fiji. 56:35 And we're getting ready to look at some wonders in the deep. 56:39 The Bible says God made the heaven, the earth, and the sea. 56:42 And there are things under the sea that are beautiful that many 56:44 people have never seen. 56:46 Some folks might just skim along, snorkel on the surface. 56:49 But if you want to see the real majesty of the ocean, 56:52 you've got to go deeper. 56:53 ♪♪♪ 57:03 ♪♪♪ 57:07 Doug: Because people don't have gills like fish, we have to 57:10 do something extraordinary to be able to breathe 57:13 below the surface. 57:14 And because you have to breathe all the time, we need this 57:16 special equipment. 57:20 In the same way, the Bible says a Christian needs to pray 57:23 without ceasing. 57:24 We need to always be breathing the atmosphere of heaven if 57:28 we're going to live a Christian life in this world below. 57:30 ♪♪♪ 57:40 ♪♪♪ 57:50 ♪♪♪ 57:57 Doug: Wow, what a wonderful world. 58:00 ♪♪♪ 58:09 ♪♪♪ 58:18 ♪♪♪ |
Revised 2020-05-07