00;00;02;16 - 00;00;23;18
Brenton
This is further a weekly show for the people of Harmony Bible Church, where we seek to revisit and expand on Sunday sermons with the goal of growing deeper in biblical truth that transforms our lives. Welcome back to Further and Brittany Grimm. today we're back to just the two of us. How's it going, Chris?

00;00;23;20 - 00;00;25;28
Chris
I'm good. Looking forward to this discussion.

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Brenton
Yeah, it's it's going to be a, I think, a good series. so look through the book of Esther. one and one note here. We're in a different location, which is interesting.

00;00;36;17 - 00;00;37;21
Chris
Yeah. It is.

00;00;37;21 - 00;00;48;21
Brenton
We, we're moving offices over to the Burlington campus, so we're upstairs, in his office. And so we're going to see how long this last. I kind of like our old situation better, but.

00;00;48;21 - 00;00;50;01
Chris
Yeah, see how it works.

00;00;50;01 - 00;01;04;14
Brenton
Yeah. But anyway, so, I wanted to start with just, a recap of the generous series. So how do you think that went? What kind of response have you seen from that? I know we've covered it a little bit with the reverse offering, but. But what are your thoughts coming out of it?

00;01;04;20 - 00;01;31;24
Chris
Yeah. I'm really thankful, for how, the church responded. I mentioned this on Sunday, but just truly grateful for the positive response and the way that it seems like most everybody was leaning in and willing to listen to what God's Word had to say, and, to take it not as as my word, but as what it really is, the word of God.

00;01;31;25 - 00;01;53;02
Chris
And, I just hope everybody is, going to continue to, to lean in and not just simply to to move past that and to move on, but to continue to, you know, work on our hearts, dig into the gospel, make a plan or stick to a plan and, and then, follow through because, yeah, maybe one more time.

00;01;53;02 - 00;02;09;12
Chris
This is, has serious, repercussions. Both for, for us, and for others and the gospel and the glory of God. And, it's just a huge issue of discipleship, a really a central issue of discipleship and what it means to follow Jesus. Yeah.

00;02;09;14 - 00;02;30;16
Brenton
Yeah, it's, that's helpful. I think that, you know, just speaking from my experience, I know it's not a, it's not something that's on my mind all the time. So I want, coming out of this. I want this to be more central in, in my life. And I, I know that I still have a plan to make, but, yeah, I got a got to get to it.

00;02;30;23 - 00;03;00;08
Chris
Yeah. Well, I mean, just one final thought, on the whole series is, you know, money just affects literally our day to day life. Like, I mean, every day we're, you know, involved in transactions that have to do with money. And so for it to be something that we don't really think about, we put it aside or we, we don't bring, Jesus into to that.

00;03;00;10 - 00;03;06;19
Chris
we're almost assuredly going to go sideways. and it's going to impact us negatively.

00;03;06;22 - 00;03;12;17
Brenton
Yeah. Well, yeah. And it's not that I don't think about money, it's that I, I think about it selfishly.

00;03;12;20 - 00;03;43;07
Chris
Right. Yeah. Well, then that's our natural tendency. That's that's not just true for you. It's true for me. It's true for for everybody is like our hearts are not just naturally going to be bent towards stewarding our money well in a way that God would intend this to do. And so unless we're intentional and in, really redirecting our hearts, and that's really what the issue is, redirecting our hearts towards, him and towards what his priorities would be with the resources he's given us.

00;03;43;07 - 00;03;44;18
Chris
That's where we're going to end up.

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Brenton
Yeah. All right. So transitioning to Esther, why did you pick this book? What, what are you hoping to communicate through the series?

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Chris
Yeah, I get that question. Why? Why, Esther? And maybe it's, linked to a bigger question is, is how do we choose what, you know, books we're going to we're going to preach from. And so kind of the rubric that I use, is I just want to make sure we have a healthy balance of really three portions of the Bible.

00;04;14;18 - 00;04;50;28
Chris
That would be, the Old Testament and the New Testament broadly. But I would put the Gospels in there as well. So what we're going to find, generally is that, we're going to alternate between, some portion of the Old Testament, some, of the New Testament letters, epistles, and then the Gospels. And so just as an example, this year, we're going to we've already been in Romans, after, this summer, in the fall, we're going to begin the gospel of John.

00;04;51;01 - 00;05;09;25
Chris
And that leaves us then, in the meantime, here in Esther and then after Esther, we're going to do a short summer series in the Psalms. And so we're, we're just trying to to, to make sure that we're preaching through the whole council of God. and we're not, you know, leaning too heavily on one part, or the other.

00;05;09;27 - 00;05;37;26
Chris
another reason for Esther, is it is a narrative. And, we just came out of a long, you know, year plus study of, a New Testament letter, epistle teaching. And so, it's it's it's good to have, you know, some, some different variety. and then, an additional reason would be Esther is one of two books and in the Bible that, the primary character is a is a woman.

00;05;37;29 - 00;05;59;22
Chris
I think that that's going to be helpful, for us. have some unique things probably to say to us. and, then I just would add that the final thing and I've already talked about this, and we'll continue to talk about it, you know, it's it's a unique book in that, you know, God's not mentioned even one single time.

00;05;59;22 - 00;06;24;23
Chris
There's no religion in it. And so it can be uniquely helpful. And like, God's not showing up, in a burning bush or a mount Sinai, or Jesus is not here doing miracles. And, the apostles are not, you know, doing miracles. The prophets aren't getting these revelations from God. It's like God is not, like, physically present. And yet we can see him.

00;06;24;25 - 00;06;46;17
Chris
orchestrating the various events for the salvation of his people. And that's very applicable to us today is because, you know, I don't know about you, but, you know, I'm not on a regular basis maybe ever experiencing, like, these big no miracles. Are you you are. Okay, well, maybe we need to have a focus on that then. and so we could easily look and like, go where?

00;06;46;18 - 00;07;10;23
Chris
Where is God? You know what? Why doesn't he show up like he did? in the, in the Bible very often. And Esther is here to say, you know, there's a period of time here for the people of Israel where God seems to not be showing up, and yet he was showing up and in really big ways, just not in, the ways we might expect him.

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Brenton
Yeah, yeah. And I mean, even outside of this book. Right? They've been in exile for how many years? 100, 100 hundred years. And so, I mean, you you kind of a we don't have account of it, but you assume that, you know, all of that is still according to this providence.

00;07;27;05 - 00;07;58;19
Chris
Yeah. And and the people, the Jewish people, Esther is, very, very significant for the for the Jewish people, the biggest celebration of the year we'll get into this later is Purim, where they celebrate the deliverance, that God brought for the Jewish people, in the story of Esther. And they, they really elevate this book almost on the same level as the Torah.

00;07;58;21 - 00;08;16;18
Chris
and, they, they see it as a kind of a prom, a fulfillment, and then a promise of God's salvation and deliverance of his, of his people. and, yeah, it's very, very special, unique for the Jewish people. And I think hopefully it's going to become that for us as well.

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Brenton
Yeah. Good. yeah. So speaking of of this book kind of broadly, you you mentioned that this, this book is full of irony and satire, and yet in many cases, it's it hasn't been treated that way. It's been treated more authoritative in a way that, sometimes produces unhelpful, results. And so can you first kind of discuss broadly how we should read and understand different types of Scripture?

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Brenton
I know I it seems like we've had this conversation a little bit, but, you know, we're we're going to interpret Romans very differently than, than Song of Solomon. Right. So, so could you just kind of speak broadly on that?

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Chris
It's a hard topic to speak just broadly on especially succinctly.

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Brenton
But there specifically if you'd like to.

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Chris
Yeah. Well, there are different types of literature. in the Bible there are, you know, obviously there's there's stories, there's narrative. much of the Old Testament is that, but there's also, you know, we have prophecy. we have the wisdom literature, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. then we have the Gospels, which, which is narrative in many ways, but also includes teaching.

00;09;35;27 - 00;09;59;09
Chris
You got parables. and then you have the New Testament epistles, and then you also have ax, which is, is is historical, a narrative of what was going on in the church with teaching in all of that. And then we've got the, you know, apocalyptic literature, of revelation and then some in the, the Old Testament, like Daniel's, a mixture.

00;09;59;12 - 00;10;26;27
Chris
And, you know, we can have this discussion about what do we interpret, you know, we want to interpret the Bible literally, but interpreting the Bible literally does not necessarily mean that we it we take it in a way that we literally take. What it means is that that's how we're to necessarily walk away from it and to to interpret the Bible literally is to interpret it according to the general, you know, the intent of that type of literature.

00;10;27;00 - 00;10;53;16
Chris
and so a key, point here, overarching point in it comes from Luke 24, where after he's resurrected, Jesus tells his disciples that everything in the scriptures says, you know, the law, Moses, the prophets, it's all about him. It's all pointing to him. So, you know, if you want to look broadly, everything is about him. But that doesn't mean it's about him.

00;10;53;16 - 00;11;25;03
Chris
And in the same way. Yeah. So, the, the narratives, the stories, throughout the Old Testament are meant to put us, to him. So on Sunday, I, you know, I contrasted King Xerxes with King Jesus. And so obviously Jesus is not mentioned in Esther. and, and yet, Jesus tells us again, Luke 24 that it's about him.

00;11;25;03 - 00;11;56;03
Chris
And, and so we're meant to always be looking for Jesus, that we can see Jesus simply in the in the contrast between King Xerxes and what the New Testament tells us about what King Jesus, is like. Now, you go to, you know, the wisdom literature. Wisdom literature is meant to, you know, well, and there are different, even types of wisdom which like, like proverbs is meant to, to to show us what a wise life looks like.

00;11;56;03 - 00;12;32;09
Chris
It's not it's they're not promises. They're. But but what a what a Christlike life looks like. Psalms is the songs of the of the Jewish people. The people of Israel. And they lead us in worship and lament and they show us how to worship Jesus. we might call them the songs of Jesus, and the prophecies are meant to, you know, point us to to Jesus and points to his kingdom and and what that is going to look like, when he came and then when he comes again.

00;12;32;11 - 00;12;39;01
Chris
and so, yeah, I mean, we could go on and on here, but, that's kind of a broad overview can.

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Brenton
So I'd like to follow that a little bit. You know, there are there are people and I'll hear people say either, you know, I, I don't take the Bible literally. I take it metaphorically or, you know, on the other side of that, that I take the Bible literally. What are what are the dangers on both sides of that?

00;12;57;28 - 00;13;08;00
Brenton
to try to take everything literally or to take everything metaphorically. And what do you think is kind of behind people saying that?

00;13;08;03 - 00;13;30;16
Chris
Well, I think what's behind people kind of saying that is, is that, you know, that's just kind of a way that they've been taught or they just kind of naturally approach it. I don't think it's in many cases intentional, like I'm going to, you know, just be, someone who tempers everything literally or everything or most everything metaphorically.

00;13;30;16 - 00;14;00;09
Chris
And it it really my answer to that is, is like, well, we it's really clear, you know, I think if we're being honest, like when Jesus, you know, even some of his parables, he's not speaking literally. He's he's speaking metaphorically. and it takes some, you know, take some work wisdom, maybe some some strain and teaching to discern what is metaphorical and what is, literal.

00;14;00;11 - 00;14;10;15
Chris
What is literal. But that's where even though the type of literature can can help us, the Apocrypha. impactful.

00;14;10;17 - 00;14;10;28
Brenton
Not that.

00;14;10;28 - 00;14;46;14
Chris
One. Yeah. The apocalyptic, literature. in Revelation and Daniel and a few other places is not meant to be taken absolutely literal. It's meant to to point is to something else. And we can get in real trouble when we you just try to make, the, you know, metaphorical. Literal. Yeah. Now we can we can also get in trouble when we just try to kind of, you know, take the things that should be literal.

00;14;46;14 - 00;14;52;19
Chris
And we want to make them metaphorical and they don't really mean anything, so to speak. So there's that danger.

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Brenton
Yeah. Well, from that side of thing, you, you have a big pushback from what what people would just say the scientific community or whatever, where like we look at the the creation account or, or the, you know, Noah's Ark as well. It couldn't have happened. So that I'm going to put that in the metaphorical category.

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Chris
Well, a lot of times this is due to, to, you know, explain away the miraculous, anything we can explain, we're going to make to be a metaphor. Yeah. And, and, you know, the biggest place, where this happens is with the resurrection. and liberal theologians, pastors will just say, you know, the resurrection is just a metaphor for real.

00;15;33;17 - 00;15;54;29
Chris
Jesus has risen. He in my heart, he's alive in my my heart. He he was alive in the hearts of his, you know, his followers. And they just kind of made up this because they wanted to keep the memory of Jesus alive. And obviously, that's problematic. Paul says, you know, if he's not raised from the dead, where we are still dead in our sins, and we're to be more pity than all men.

00;15;55;02 - 00;16;23;13
Brenton
Yeah, yeah. And I think that's more than anything. And just a plug for doing study in the scripture we're reading, because it's not I don't think we can expect it to be, apparently clear. Like what? What we're supposed to take out of everything that we read, especially as we kind of, you know, go back into the Old Testament of a context where so unaware of, yeah, we need to be able to, to understand those things.

00;16;23;13 - 00;16;23;27
Brenton
Yeah.

00;16;23;29 - 00;16;44;24
Chris
And, and I would just add one more thing, that I originally had in my manuscript, but for time's sake, I pulled out, when we read these Old Testament stories, one of the dangers is, is it? We could think it. And most of us actually grew up being taught this is that, you know, dare to be a Daniel.

00;16;44;26 - 00;17;01;13
Chris
Like the the point is, is like, you should be like Daniel. You know, this is literally a song that I was taught where we taught that I don't dare to be a Daniel. Dare to stand alone, Dan, dare to have a purpose firm. Yeah, they get them. Okay. Anyway, yeah, I it's actually a pretty get you to

00;17;01;16 - 00;17;27;20
Chris
Or, you know, we go to Esther aspire to be an Esther or to, you know, make yourself like Mordecai. and it's not to say that there aren't things that we can learn from them, but the point of these Old Testament stories is not to be like Daniel. It's not to be like Esther. It's not to be like Mordecai, you know, name any of the other heroes of the faith.

00;17;27;23 - 00;17;45;03
Chris
It is to look to Jesus. And the reality is, is that I, I, I'm not Daniel, I'm not Esther, I'm not Mordecai. And if I, if I try to be, I'm going to probably going to fail. And that's why we need Jesus.

00;17;45;06 - 00;18;06;26
Brenton
Yeah, yeah. So. Okay. more more specifically then what are some things that we should keep in mind? You know, I don't know that satire is the first thing we think of when we think of the Bible. So as we read this, what are some things to kind of keep in mind to keep us grounded in the author's intent?

00;18;06;29 - 00;18;34;17
Chris
Yeah. I think it is. Again, to keep the big picture in mind, I begin the message by. Here's the main point. Okay. And I said that this is our North Star, so we need to keep going back to this is the main point is how despite crisis and compromise, God is delivering his people through his providence. So we got to kind of keep that in mind.

00;18;34;17 - 00;18;58;10
Chris
That's why I spent a fair amount of time doing the background, information on this. We've got to continually look in the text and say, Where is Jesus here? What's what's this? What's this point in us to, to go a little bit further with that? you know, the contrast between the kingdoms of this world and God's kingdom, and we live in we live in those two kingdoms.

00;18;58;13 - 00;19;26;01
Chris
We're two kingdom people. and so what what is this showing us about the kingdoms of the world? And contrast that with what the rest of Scripture tells us about the kingdom of God. And then, where where is where does this fit in the big story of what God is doing? You know, there's one. The Bible is one story from Genesis to Revelation.

00;19;26;04 - 00;19;57;13
Chris
and, it's a story of how God is, has called out and saved a people for himself. Sin came in and, ruined a relationship with the Lord. and then, almost immediately, God puts into place a plan. We see this in Genesis three, where he is going to reverse the curse, and he's going to bring a people, back to to himself and restore them to the, effectively, the Garden State.

00;19;57;20 - 00;20;19;26
Chris
So the the Bible begins in a garden and it ends. And then in a garden. and so in between, we've got to ask, how does this part of Scripture fit into into that story? And Esther has a very significant place in this. this is a little bit of a spoiler alert. But, you know, at the heart of this are story is like the annihilation of the Jews.

00;20;19;26 - 00;20;41;28
Chris
That's what they're facing. And what's at stake there is if the the Jews are annihilated, then God's promise to bring a messiah, the Savior, through the Jewish people is is undone. I, God, will not have been faithful to his promise. So this is a huge, huge, huge deal, not only for the Jewish people, but obviously for us.

00;20;42;00 - 00;20;52;19
Chris
And so just how how does I think that's a really good way to, to to frame it is like, how does this fit into the big story of what God is doing in this world?

00;20;52;23 - 00;21;17;17
Brenton
Yeah. Okay. So this should probably be a quick one. But we're we're going to use the term God's providence along this series. and you gave a definition, of the word which was, which was helpful, but another word that we sometimes use interchangeably is God's sovereignty. So is there a difference between these two terms?

00;21;17;19 - 00;21;27;15
Chris
Here, turn that back on. And you, you you've, maybe been thinking about this a little bit more than me. What do you what do you say to that?

00;21;27;17 - 00;22;08;24
Brenton
yeah. So I think it's it's semantics. Right. But the the idea of God's sovereignty is, is really speaking about his right to do what he wants in his creation. and so that's more of a, an abstract concept of God created. and so he has the right to do what he wants. whereas God's providence and which you mentioned on Sunday was that's how he actually works out his, his sovereignty is he, he providentially, will work things out to, to where he wants it to be.

00;22;08;24 - 00;22;22;18
Brenton
And so when we look at a book like Esther, we see his providence happening, and we see even through all the different acts of these, of these people, God's, God's plan is still being carried out. Yeah, that makes sense.

00;22;22;21 - 00;22;57;03
Chris
Yeah. No, I think it's a fantastic way, to explain. And I would just add, I think that sovereignty is kind of the, the passive aspect and, providence is the, the active aspect, and they work together. But but sovereignty is like I'm like you said, I'm sovereign over. I'm in control of everything that happens. And his providence is maybe how his sovereignty actually is worked out in the day to day of of, I mean really moment to moment of our of our lives.

00;22;57;07 - 00;22;58;10
Chris
Yeah.

00;22;58;12 - 00;23;25;16
Brenton
Okay. Yeah. That's a good one. okay. So one of, one of your main points is that we shouldn't take earthly powers too seriously. and you gave a few examples of that, not only, you know, government, but things that were involved in, what are what are some examples of of that earthly power and, and what are examples of taking them too seriously?

00;23;25;18 - 00;24;12;07
Chris
Well, I think the obvious one is various governments, were it, would be ours or some other governments around the world. I have to think of our brothers and sisters in Russia who were under, you know, a regime that is obviously, evil, and, even brutal or, you know, I think of China, you think of North Korea, and, and I think it would be really easy if you're living under those regimes to think like they have total control and, and they can do whatever they want to do, and there's no stopping them.

00;24;12;10 - 00;24;37;17
Chris
And, I think this can be a helpful reminder is that they're the they're fallen. They're human. They're they're not as powerful as they think. They don't have it all together. And that those, regimes will eventually crumble and fall. And we can even look at that in the Soviet Union. I mean, like, it happened there, and it will one day happen in China, will one day happen in North Korea.

00;24;37;17 - 00;25;05;19
Chris
Psalm two is, by the way, a great place to to to go. Here it talks about how the Lord laughs at them like they they, the nations rage against him, but he he just kind of laughs and holds them in derision and, and obviously, you know, we come up need to come at it from a different perspective. But I think that that there, that, that we can see God's kind of the way he views people who think that they have ultimate power and cannot be stopped.

00;25;05;21 - 00;25;27;09
Chris
if you look at our own government, you know, there's a lot of obvious ineptitude. There's a lot of waste. at times there's even quite a bit of evil. And it's easy for us, I think, to just kind of throw our hands up and, and say, we're just at the, at the mercy of these inept, evil people.

00;25;27;11 - 00;25;57;16
Chris
And just to be able to say and look back in, be able to, to to laugh a little bit and just be able to say, you know, look how foolish and ridiculous this is. And that actually, you know, if you talk about the Jewish people, one of the the sources I read said, you know, it was really in exile that the Jewish people learn to laugh is because, you know, they had to laugh so they wouldn't weep and they won't cry.

00;25;57;19 - 00;26;31;10
Chris
and, and so, I think we we actually should do both. We should we should cry and we should laugh. and, I yeah. So. Yeah, I mean, I think we can take it too seriously when we, we, we just think, like, okay, these, these people are just completely in control. Everything that that that goes on and, and, you know, our, our government, they, they take themselves many of them take themselves too seriously.

00;26;31;10 - 00;27;04;20
Chris
They think they're too important. That's really what we're talking about here. and you could extend that to, you know, the politicians, the media, the talking heads, the power, the rich and the powerful and all that. A lot of times they take themselves too seriously. I think they're too important. They think they're indestructible. And, I think it's helpful for us to, to to to find some, some humor, in their, their follies because it can, can just it helps us to see that there's somebody else who actually is, is in control.

00;27;04;22 - 00;27;32;04
Brenton
yeah. I think on the one hand, you know, it's easy for us to, to say that because we're not sitting in a jail cell somewhere. but but on the other hand, I think that, you know, if if God had, had sovereignty over Xerxes, then he has sovereignty over Joe Biden. And and I think that, you know, we can it really points to where our hope lies.

00;27;32;04 - 00;27;53;25
Brenton
If if this is all that we're concerned about is what our government is doing and not that those things aren't important, they absolutely are. Sure. And, there's a lot of atrocities going on around the world that we just don't have to be a part of in a lot of ways. and so, yeah, we, but I think it, it comes back to where our hope is.

00;27;53;25 - 00;28;03;06
Brenton
And I think we see, at least in some of the people in the story, the, the Jewish people's hope was still in, in a messiah coming. Right.

00;28;03;08 - 00;28;04;02
Chris
Some of them.

00;28;04;02 - 00;28;04;14
Brenton
Some of.

00;28;04;14 - 00;28;46;03
Chris
Them. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And I do want to say this, this is not, meant to in any way give us license to disrespect our government authorities or to, rebel against the rightful authority that God has given them. so, you know, the New Testament is really clear. We're called to submit to our governing authorities. But that doesn't mean that we need to to to not be able to see the, the foolishness and the, the fact that they actually are submissive to, to a higher authority and that, that that one day their authority and power is, is going to come to an end.

00;28;46;03 - 00;29;10;10
Chris
And I think this a maybe the two can be really helpful during this election cycle is like every election cycle. Now it's like this is the most important election of our lifetime, like in the American history is at stake. But but where does that come from? And I think this is this is important. Like we we we've got to not be deceived by that mentality.

00;29;10;12 - 00;29;35;02
Chris
It's like everything rises and falls on this election. Now, is this election important? Sure it absolutely is. But the reality is, is whoever is elected this this fall will at the most be president for the for four more years. Okay. And so, and those four years, by the way, will go by very quickly.

00;29;35;04 - 00;29;58;07
Brenton
Yeah, yeah. Good word. okay. Just want to end with this quickly. as we're going through this book, I mean, likely it's unfamiliar to a lot of us. is there any content you would suggest, whether whether books or other media that you found helpful? just kind of as a companion for for our listeners here.

00;29;58;09 - 00;30;33;12
Chris
Sure. I can point you to a variety of resources and some is, you know, going to be more academic than others. but I really, like Karen Job's commentary. It's the NIV commentary. and I quoted her a couple of times. I found her to be really, really helpful. there is a book by Mike Cosper, who people might know from the Mars Hill podcast.

00;30;33;14 - 00;31;01;22
Chris
how dare you? But he he wrote a book before that called Faith Among the Faithless. On on. Esther. It's very accessible and it's really helpful, I think, helping us to apply it to today. Then there is a book by a, Israeli American philosopher, Bible scholar. he's Jewish. his name is, your home. Hazen.

00;31;01;25 - 00;31;29;29
Chris
And, the title of the book is Gospel and Politics and Esther. And it's not a Christian book, but it's I found it fascinating and and really, really helpful. If you're really into politics, you might find it interesting. it's a little bit of a tougher read. and if you go to the Gospel Coalition's website, they have a whole page dedicated to Esther resources that you can kind of go through on that.

00;31;29;29 - 00;31;48;17
Chris
But, yeah, I mean, if you really want to dive in, Karen Jobs, if you want to more of a, you know, kind of a popular easier read would be the cost per book. And then if you are, you know, like kind of a die hard, and you want to dive into the ozone e-book. yeah.

00;31;48;21 - 00;31;53;01
Chris
You would, you would actually find those on his book really interesting.

00;31;53;03 - 00;31;59;12
Brenton
I was, I was typing out all these things as you said them, and I just stopped typing when you said his name. So.

00;31;59;14 - 00;32;06;23
Chris
Yeah, it's not an easy name to say, but I told, Clay Baker about this, and he ordered the book on the spot.

00;32;06;23 - 00;32;08;13
Brenton
So maybe you can.

00;32;08;15 - 00;32;10;28
Chris
You can dive in, to to him a.

00;32;10;28 - 00;32;33;24
Brenton
Little bit. I'll give just a really easy one for you. I, I, I ended up watching the Bible Project's video on Easter yesterday, and it they're always good at laying out kind of the structure of the book and kind of being able to see bigger themes there. So I found that one helpful. It's about a ten minute video too, and I was good school reading the book, so it's good.

00;32;33;27 - 00;32;50;19
Chris
you know, you probably watched the VeggieTales. short episode too, right? Actually, that would be something I would say to not look to, you're going to get more of the moralistic, a kind of approach to, to, the story than a Christ centered one.

00;32;50;19 - 00;32;53;00
Brenton
Yep. All right. And then on.

00;32;53;00 - 00;33;19;24
Chris
VeggieTales. Yeah, I'm sure I've just made everybody happy with that statement. But, anyway, it's going to be a great, great study. There's there's so much the challenge, you know, is going to be, not, you know, finding enough material to talk about, but, like, what do we talk about this week? And it's really interesting. I when I was laying this out, I was like, do we really want to go kind of chapter by chapter?

00;33;19;24 - 00;33;34;04
Chris
Is there going to be enough? And then I get into the first message and I've got enough for 2 or 3, 2 or 3 weeks just from the first chapter. So yeah, but I'll try not to get longer, but yeah, well, trying to do overwhelmingly.

00;33;34;06 - 00;33;44;05
Brenton
All right, guys, yeah. If you have any questions to start the series or as we continue to go through it, ask at further podcast.com. I appreciate your listening and.

00;33;44;05 - 00;33;44;29
Unknown
We'll talk to you next week.