Adding To Your Faith
Adding to Your Faith is all about helping you understand biblical principals and workshop biblical practices in a way that shapes and forms us into the image of Jesus Christ.
Adding To Your Faith
Method 2: Their Home To Our Home
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How would you prepare yourself to visit a completely different culture in a completely different part of the world? How would you observe and understand their ways? How would you relate their lived experiences to more universal realities and truths? How might you be permanently changed by the experience? These are the questions and concepts behind our next Bible study method that Matt and Rachael will teach and discuss in this episode: "From Their Home to Our Home." Learn the four principles you can apply daily - and how those repeatable steps can be used to draw you into deeper intimacy with your Heavenly Father.
Click Here for week three homework sheet
AFTER this episode: Complete DAY ONE homework (Ephesians 1:1-10)
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
While it is important to know that you have everything you need to engage with God's Word if you simply have a Bible and the indwelling Holy Spirit, a few additional resources could be helpful in providing you clearer understanding of the spiritual and cultural context of the book of Ephesians. Click the links below if you'd like to explore these additional tools:
Promise Of A Fruitful Life
SPEAKER_00Do you ever feel like your life just isn't as productive or effective as it should be? As followers of Jesus, we want our short time on earth to have eternal impact, but often we feel like we're falling short. The good news is that Scripture gives us a promise, a life that's never ineffective or unproductive in knowing Jesus Christ. In 2 Peter 1, we're told to build on our faith, adding goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection, and love. As these qualities grow, they keep us fruitful and effective for God's kingdom. I'm Matt Morrow, and my wife Rachel and I have spent nearly 20 years teaching God's word and walking with people in every stage of faith. Our passion is to see lives permanently and radically transformed by Scripture applied. Adding to your faith is here to help you understand biblical truth, practice it daily, and grow to look more like Jesus. We're glad you're
Meet Matt And Rachel
SPEAKER_00here. Let's walk this journey together.
SPEAKER_01Hi,
Podcast Purpose And Approach
SPEAKER_01welcome. I'm Rachel, and I'm here with Matt, and we are starting on our third week of the deep dive into how to study the Bible. And today we're going to introduce the second method that we're going to use through this study. And it um is called From From Their Home to Our Home. And it's kind of based, it's a resource that we got from Dr. David Platt, who was our pastor for a time. And it is really based on almost like taking a mission trip. And so he did a secret church that also follows the same process, which is a great resource, but it's like taking a mission trip. So when you go back into another culture, another time to kind of take those same tools that you would go if you were traveling. And so we're going to walk through that method today. We're going to practice it together, and then there will be homework for you to do throughout the week that applies this method and hopefully will get you used to using it so that you can use it in your own Bible study. So this is our second method. We had a method that we introduced last week. If you didn't join us last week, it is fine to jump in with this method and move forward. But that is the process that we'll use. I just want to remind you if you are new to this podcast,
Why Methods Serve Spiritual Growth
SPEAKER_01that this is a working podcast. What we mean by that is this is not something that is designed for you to just listen to and see what you can get out of it. Our prayer for this is that you will really do the homework for yourself and that this podcast will just be something that you use as a supplement to what the Lord is showing you, maybe kind of help you think through some things that are already stirring in your heart. But you doing the work and spending time in the word is really the point of all of this. And so this is a method that we're going to introduce that is designed to get you into the word. And we do that because God's purposes for us to be in his word are very clear. He wants us to know him, he wants us to see his glory, he wants us to grow in Christ-likeness. And so, as we are reading, all of these methods are just tools to help us to that, to help us to see the glory of God, to help us to see how we can become more like Christ, either by noting things that are wrong in the scripture, sins that people are committing, or ways that it reflects human nature as opposed to God's nature. But it's all about how do I grow in Christ-likeness and then responding to that. So asking the Lord, how can I apply this to my life to be changed? And so that is really the end goal. And these are just tools to try to help us to get there. So so we're gonna kind of dive in. Matt, if you would like to maybe pray before we begin our time together, and we'll introduce this new method.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, we'll do.
Pray To Begin The Study
SPEAKER_00Let's pray. Let's go to the Lord. Lord, thank you so much for your word. First and foremost, thank you for loving us enough to give us your word so that we can know you better, so that we can know our Father well. Lord, that's our prayer as we enter into this next method of of Bible study and we learn together how to how to apply this process to just learn to know you better. Lord, I pray that you will reveal your spirit to us, that your spirit will lead us through your word, so that as we as we search for ways to know you better, we will learn to respond to and recognize your voice, the voice of your spirit, moving through your word in a way that's powerful and life-changing. Uh, Lord, we ask these things in the name of your Son Jesus. Amen.
SPEAKER_01Amen.
Method Overview: Their Home To Our Home
SPEAKER_00So we're really excited about this method. I I enjoyed, of course, we just finished the last method, the first one that we tried, which was very straightforward. It was two questions and a statement, and I hope that you got a lot out of that as well. I did. It was my first time really spending a full extended period of time doing that. And so I was learning quite a bit about this. This one's a little one that I'm a little bit more familiar with, and it'll take a little longer. It's a there's there are a few more steps to it, but again, it's not, it's never about the method. It's always just about using this approach to really hear and respond to the Holy Spirit of God working through his word. So don't get hung up on the method, but it is really kind of a you'll find different tools are more useful for different kinds of literature in the Bible, for different moments, maybe things even you're going through uh personally or whatever else. So as we look at this one, which is the their home to our home method, again, Rachel mentioned that our our pastor, uh David Platt from when we lived in Birmingham years ago, really introduced us to this, but this is I don't know whether he whether he created that or whether he picked it up somewhere else. I can tell you none of the methods that we're introducing to you are are anything that we invented. We didn't come up with them. We just borrow from different places, and I think they're borrowed and then passed on and borrowed and passed on. So so what we're looking for here is is this reminder that we would approach God's word as if we were going on a mission trip. So there are steps that you would take as you venture out on a mission trip to prepare your heart and to try to equip yourself to really be effective in the in the hands of God in that in that assignment. So so just quick overview, and then we'll go through each of these principles. But but if you were going on a mission trip, you would observe the home of the of the people you're visiting. So you'd start with what do I see? And then you would, and then you'd try to understand their home. That's the second step, uh the second principle. What does it mean? In other words, what I what did I observe? But then what does that mean? What is the meaning of it? And then third, you'd want to bring it back home, which is how does it relate? So what is it that I'm seeing on this trip that is that is relatable
Step One: Observe Their Home
SPEAKER_00back where I might be or might be relatable anywhere? It's not unique to the place where it is. And then finally, apply it in your home, which is what do I do? When you come back from the mission trip, how is your life changed by what you've experienced there? And what will you do differently? How will you live differently as a result of that experience? And so if you take those principles and you start applying them to God's word, there's a way to do that that really just draws us deeper into scripture. And so, um, Rachel, when we say observe their home, what do I see? We say that in the context of Bible study, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_01Observing is just the way that it sounds. It's it's noting the things that that you see in scripture. And so it's looking at a passage and asking the the questions, right? Who was this book written to?
SPEAKER_00What who wrote it?
SPEAKER_01Who wrote this book? Who was the audience for the book? What was happening at the time? Historically, what was happening? What was what's the context of, if it's a letter, what was the context of the letter? Is there something that that's being addressed? Like why was this written? How was it written? How was it delivered? So some of those things are are just the things that you note. And there are a lot of good resources for that. Usually in your Bible, when a book opens, there is some kind of historical context for it, especially if you have any kind of study Bible. It will give you a date of the writing, it will tell you the author, it will give you some historical context for the book and what was happening at that time. Read that before you begin, especially a new book or kind of a new study. Go back and and read that introduction and see what you can learn about it.
SPEAKER_00Don't don't guess. Don't guess. Try to just you know, do do the homework.
SPEAKER_01And then, you know, as you're reading it, just pay attention to the words. What words are used? Are there words that are repeating in the passage? Are things being compared or things being contrasted? You know, is it saying it's like this but not like this, or it is similar to this, especially in the New Testament? A lot of times they do call, like the writer will give a callback to something that happened in the Old Testament or a character in the Old Testament. And so that's a good time, maybe if you're not familiar with what it's referring to, to stop. And again, if you have a good study Bible, a lot of times there will be kind of little letters or numbers or references that will send you to another passage of scripture. Sometimes those are really helpful to read because that will tell you either what that passage is referring to, or it will tell you like where else that word maybe was used. So sometimes those are helpful as you're just observing things to go back. But just look for those things. Are there things that they're connecting? Are there things that are repeating? What are they communicating? What's the author trying to say to this audience? And so really it's just kind of taking a pen and a paper and and making note of some of those things that that you notice in the passage.
SPEAKER_00I think of this step of observing their home. What do I see? Almost think of yourself almost as like a forensic detective or a or an investigative reporter that's just looking for the facts. All the facts. Let's just accumulate all the facts first before we evaluate them, before we do anything else, just accumulate the facts. The old the old journalism questions are who, what, why, where, when, how. You start marking those up in your in your Bible or in your journal as you go along. You're going to observe a lot and you're just going to collect facts. That's observed. The second part is is to understand their home.
Step Two: Understand Their Home
SPEAKER_00So that's where you start turning from what do I see to what does it mean? And that's where we really begin taking into account some of the some of the literary or historical or cultural or theological contexts of what we're reading. And and, you know, you have to remember that every book of the Bible was written, they were all written in different times and in different places and by different different hands, you know, along the way. One author, but many writers. And so I think that's one of the things that's really important as you start to understand, well, what does this mean? You really have to get a sense of some of the context within which it was written. And a good study Bible can help you with a lot of that too. Some of the same things that Rachel was just describing in terms of the introductions that happen in a good study Bible, many of these of these contextual points will be will be pointed out to you so that you'll have a sense of that. There are also great resources online for this kind of thing. I mean, I I use enduring word as one that I use quite a bit, and there are others that are just readily available, but but the point is you want to get all the context that you can so that you can identify in one or two sentences what the primary meaning of the text is for its original readers. So really important to remember it happened in a context, it happened in a time and a place, and so if we can if we can drill it down, distill it down to one or two sentences that describes what it meant to its original readers, we'll have a pretty good sense of understanding their home. What did it mean?
SPEAKER_01And I think an important thing to remember about that is that it's not going to mean something that it didn't mean to the original readers.
SPEAKER_00Really important.
SPEAKER_01So we may have a deeper and more robust understanding of what it meant, uh especially like in light of the gospel or the New Testament or or the more complete story of Jesus, but it's not going to mean something different than it means now.
SPEAKER_00So you can't really get to it unless you really apply some context. Yes. It's basically what you're saying. I I can't read this as if I can't read a letter uh by written by Paul to the Corinthian church as if it's a a letter written to me in 2025, Springfield, Missouri.
SPEAKER_01Right. And I think that's really important because often when people make mistakes, I think that's the mistake that they make is that they don't they don't understand the context in which it was written, or they don't understand culturally what is happening, and then they draw a lot of incorrect conclusions because they're importing a modern context or a modern mindset into an ancient world. And that will lead you to error every time.
SPEAKER_00And that's not to say that there's not direct, relevant, personal application to your life today and now, but that comes a little bit later. You can't build on a bad foundation to get there. So you have to start with the accurate, accurate context for the time and place where it was was written.
SPEAKER_01And that can often take some time. You know, I to me this this process is one of the the more in-depth ones to use because it it really does take some time to to do the the background and the homework and to ask those questions. So, you know, if something's happening, why is that happening and and culturally, what is that like what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00And I will tell you usually means you have to do a little research.
SPEAKER_01You have to do a little bit of research. And but often when you do that, it becomes so like a lot of those passages become so beautiful.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Or even just start to make sense. I mean, there are times where there are there are passages, especially I'm thinking of some in the Old Testament. I don't want to spend too much time on this because I know we've got some ground to cover, but there are passages in the Old Testament that that I read and I'm like, I don't even know, that doesn't make any sense to me at all until you start to better understand the time and the place and the context and the context and the culture and all the things around it. You go, oh, I get why they would say that now. That they would say that because here's what they're trying to express, or here's what they're trying to get across. And that actually does have application back to the here and now, but you have to you can't get there until you first better understand that context.
Step Three: Bring It Back Home
SPEAKER_00Okay, so that's observe their home, what do I see, and then understand their home. What does it mean? Those are the first two principles. The third one, Rachel, talk to us about this one. Bring it back home. How does it relate? And we talk all the time about timeless truths, so tell us what we're talking about here.
SPEAKER_01That is the point when you've made your observations and then you have taken kind of into account all of those contexts and culture, and you're asking the question, what did what was happening from their viewpoint? Like what is God saying to them? What does this mean to them? Then that is the point at which you take it then and apply it to a modern context. That that's where you can say, All right, if this was happening, what is still true about that? What what does that mean in terms of the character of God or his purposes or his plans or what he says is true about himself or about man or about the nature of man? So in that sense, that's where you're saying, okay, these are the things that transcend time and place and culture. These are the things that that are true about what God says is true. And those are the things then that you can start to build on in terms of then what do I do with that? What do I apply?
SPEAKER_00So we've talked about this from the very beginning of this of this study of this series, is that we're always searching for that timeless truth, the thing that's just as true today and always will be as it was then. And and then from that we we move on to application, which is how do I respond to that timeless truth? So so this is the part, bring it back home. How does it relate when you're really trying to drill down on what is it about this story or about this passage of scripture that's that's eternally true, that's always true no matter what, and it's not open to interpretation, it's not true for you and not true for me. It's just always true. And if, and here's an important point too, especially if you're picking up on these timeless truths from the old testament, make sure we're always filtering through those through the full canon of scripture. So there are times where you'll see something, a principle in the Old Testament, and that principle is essentially signaling or or type or shadow of something that's completed in the New Testament. And so your your timeless truth has to take that into account also. It can't just be isolated without the rest of scripture around it. It's it's very relevant, it's absolutely essential. Nothing that happened in the Old Testament is is obsolete because of the New Testament, it's just completed in it. So when you're searching for timeless truths, make sure that you're filtering it through the new covenant as well. Right? Okay. So bring it back home. Observe their home. What do I see? Understand their home, what does it mean? Bring it back home. How does it relate? That's your timeless truth.
Step Four: Apply It In Your Home
SPEAKER_00And then finally, finally, here at the end, apply it in your home. What do I do? How will I respond to this timeless truth? What's going to be different about my life? Identify parallel situations in your own life with that biblical context. There are things that these people thousands of years ago experienced and and went through and did and their behaviors that are very relatable to us. And so drawing those parallels and then making those specific applications of that timeless truth that you identified in that third principle to my life today and asking some questions. And that's really where we start to really let the word shape us and form us from our old sinful image into the image that's that's God's character, right? And so what kinds of questions, Rachel, do we ask if we want to really drill down on application?
SPEAKER_01I mean we begin by just Asking if that is like right, if you have the the timeless truth. So you say if that is true, then who should I be? How does that change who I am? Then you ask, so if that is true, then do I need to change my thinking? What should I be thinking about? How should I consider this? What where where can I stand firm? So does this need to change or challenge or transform my thinking? Does it need to to challenge my actions? So what should I do with this? Is this a call to action to do something that I'm not doing now? Is it calling me to go somewhere to get up and get out? And so, you know, asking those questions, or is there somebody that I I need to be teaching this truth to? And so you ask those questions. How does this need to shape who I am? How does it change how I think? How should it change my actions? How does it change what I do with my time and where I go and what I do? And then how does it change how I speak to others? If that's formally teaching, if there are people that I'm responsible for, if it's parenting, or if it's just in conversation as I, you know, encounter people talking about things, how do I change what I'm saying and how I'm teaching and communicating based on these truths?
SPEAKER_00Okay, so we're going to demonstrate this because we we know that this is probably an a new approach for many of you who maybe haven't done this before. And so before we send you off into homework for the week, this is the one day out of seven where you don't have to come to this podcast having already done homework. You're just getting the overview of this new method, and we're gonna we're gonna walk through a demonstration with you. So we'd ask you to take your Bibles and open
Demonstration Passage Announced
SPEAKER_00up with us to the book of 2 Corinthians, because while you didn't have homework, we would like you to follow along with us. So 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 7 is where we'll start, and we'll go all the way through chapter 4, verse 6. Okay, so again, 2 Corinthians 3, 7 through 2 Corinthians 4, 6. And I'll read the text to us first, and then what we're gonna do is we're gonna we're gonna quickly kind of run down an illustration of how we will walk through these four principles and then get to a place where after we've done that, how do we move our reading to prayer? Like what can we praise or what supplication can we offer as we see this passage? And then moving reading to meditation and memorization. Is there a particular verse that stands out you want to meditate on or apply? One that you want to commit to memory. So those are the next steps as you as you work through these four principles. So join us now, 2 Corinthians 3. I'm gonna read the whole section
Reading 2 Corinthians 3:7–4:6
SPEAKER_00of scripture for us and then we'll we'll go back through it. Now, if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze on Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will that will that will what is permanent have glory. Sorry about that. Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face, so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways, we refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would can commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ is Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Observations From The Text
SPEAKER_00So there's a lot there. What do we observe? Let's start with that. What do we observe in this text about about the uh what do I see? Who, what, why, where, when, the investigative journalism part. Anything that you could quickly kind of run through here, Rachel?
SPEAKER_01Well, I think first we ask who wrote this passage and who did they write it to?
SPEAKER_00Okay, so we know that this is we know from from the context of our Bible and the study Bibles we have that Paul is the writer of this and he's writing to the church at Corinth. We also know this is not his first letter to the church at Corinth, right? We we don't know necessarily how many total letters he wrote, but there are two of them in the Bible, and this is the second one. So we know that. We know that there is a focus here on contrasting former glory with present glory. We know that he references the story of Moses' face being veiled to hide to hide the glory that came from when he encountered God. There's a lot going on in this in this text to observe.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, we know that he wrote this letter because there were conflicts that were happening in the Corinthian church, and some of them were personally directed at him. There were kind of other teachers that were coming in, and so that there were kind of these super apostles, and so Paul was being kind of challenged and questioned in some ways, and he was wanting to encourage the saints, and so I think understanding that backdrop is important to understanding what's happening here as well.
Understanding: Law Versus Spirit
SPEAKER_01That you know, it if you kind of read what what's headed into this, that that you see a little bit of that, and and he's contrasting those two things, right? The the ministry of the law, which which Paul actually calls the ministry of death in in this section, and and he's comparing that to the ministry that the Spirit of God brings. And so it you can see kind of a compare and contrast going on in this passage.
SPEAKER_00So once we have identified what the the basic uh observations are there, we observe, then we move to understand, which is what do these things that we observe mean? So what are some things that jump out to you, Rachel, in terms of just understanding the text? What are some things that that you see are are evident here?
SPEAKER_01I mean, I would say that when you read it, that there are two things that that stood out to me. One, Paul is comparing the glory of the covenant of the law with the glory of the covenant of Christ. And he is concluding that the glory of the covenant of Christ is exceedingly superior to the covenant of the law because it doesn't fade, it's eternal, it gives freedom, and it allows us to look directly at the glory of God and be transformed into God's image.
SPEAKER_00So these are some deep meanings here, right? Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But he that's his argument is that that you are actually allowed in Christ to look at the glory of God with an unveiled face and be transformed into that image.
SPEAKER_00And that the glory the veil has been removed, that glory is available for all to see. That's light chasing away darkness, that's the imagery that's used here in our hearts. Yeah, there's a lot of rich meaning here.
Timeless Truths Identified
SPEAKER_01And and in that context, he's he's doing that. He's comparing the glory of the covenant of the law and the glory of the covenant of uh of Christ in through the spirit. And then secondly, he's arguing that those under the law then are perishing and have veiled hearts. And so those who are uh under the new covenant, under the spirit covenant, they have a ministry to live a godly life and proclaim the gospel of Christ as servants of of this covenant. And because we've been saved, right? Because I mean, he ends by saying that we because that light has been given to us, then we can we can proclaim it to others. And so it's a call to action that we are then this, we have this ministry that that we don't have to be underhanded or manipulate. We we don't have to be worried about the outcomes because they belong to God. We just proclaim this gospel and let that shine in our hearts through us to others.
SPEAKER_00So that's a great picture of what it means to first to observe the text, to just try to document everything that's going on here, and then start drawing meaning out of it to just to understand what does it mean? What are the what are the principles here? And then we're gonna move that step further toward timeless truths in that bring it back home section. So what are those things that are that are eternally true that we're seeing? And you, you know, a lot of times what when you go through the first the the I guess the second step, which is understand, you're gonna naturally lead into some timeless truths. So some of what you're gonna just uh observe when you're saying, well, what does this mean? Some of what the text will mean is eternally true, right? So you're so you're you know, you're you're naturally moving into this next. I've written down things like our our gospel is veiled to those who are perishing. The Holy Spirit brings understanding. That's what that means, right? That's that's a timeless truth that's that's
Application: Boldness And Integrity
SPEAKER_00illustrated here in the text, or or the that we that we don't lose heart and we are very bold because the glory of the gospel encourages us and emboldens us when we experience it, right? That's a timeless truth that comes from the text. What are a couple of timeless truths that you saw here, Rachel?
SPEAKER_01I had similar ones I would probably add to yours that that that hardness of heart and veil can only be removed by Christ.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's a work of the spirit that's clear, I think, in the passage.
SPEAKER_00There's no amount of work or law that can do it.
SPEAKER_01Or or manipulating or pleading or cunning.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And that was that we that because it is a work of Christ, we don't have to be tempted to to be cunning or to tamper with God's word, that we can proclaim the glory of the Lord. I had a timeless truth that the glory of Jesus will not fade. It is eternal and transformative.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, I I put that the spirit of the Lord equals freedom. That's another one in here that's timeless. And and I and I couldn't help it. What we proclaim is not ourselves, which means that that we need to approach his word with humility. This work that we do is God-centered. It's not man-centered. The gospel is about God, fundamentally above all else. I mean, these are just timeless truths that scream out from the text, right? Okay. So once we have those in place, and we're moving really fast on this, I know. When you when you get a chance to do this this week, I I just encourage you to take your time, spend plenty of time here, carve out the time to do it, because the more time you can give to it, the better you're going to find value. We just want to demonstrate some of this. So once you have this, these timeless truths, and we have a bunch of them in this text, what about application? How will I respond to that timeless truth? So when we apply it in our home, what kinds of things do we do we do? What kinds of questions do we ask about about so that we can apply it? What do you have by way of application, Rachel?
SPEAKER_01I think
Prayer, Praise, And Meditation
SPEAKER_01one of the things that was challenging just to me through this is do I proclaim the gospel without consideration of outcome? Do I truly believe that this is all the work of the Lord, or do I take some kind of responsibility for those outcomes? And what would it look like if I just focus on the call to proclaim? And because, you know, I think a lot of times we see we've seen probably, and and probably a lot of us could think of some examples of this where we have been tempted in the sharing of the gospel to try to be what Paul would call cunning or to tamper with God's word, where we try to make it feel more palatable to people. And so we don't proclaim the truth, we we change it or we soften it soften it in ways that that are not then that make it no longer God's truth. And you can see that temptation. I've seen that temptation in my own heart where somebody's maybe saying something, and I'm tempted to not share truth with them because it's not very, it maybe doesn't seem very palatable.
SPEAKER_00And you and you think you know what come what what will or won't happen next, what will and and we just can't know those things. So so trusting him in that and and proclaiming with with boldness and not losing heart. So what you just described is in terms of of sharing the gospel and and knowing that it doesn't depend on you, that also helps you not lose heart when it doesn't go. If it doesn't get an an outcome that you're hoping for, there's no reason to lose heart. You can still proclaim boldly. This is part of the text here. It's what we can what we can trust the Lord.
SPEAKER_01Proclaiming Jesus for the sake of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00Right. Not for any not for anything for me or any outcome that I sort of feel like I have a hand in
Memorization Focus And Takeaways
SPEAKER_00or anything like that. It's just for the sake of Jesus. Okay. Good. So I I mean I also put to rest in the freedom that comes with the Spirit of God. So sometimes, and I think that's related to what you're describing, we can we can boldly proclaim and take heart and rest because we have freedom that comes with the Spirit of God. We should, we should, in everything that we're proclaiming, as we proclaim boldly and don't lose heart, I I want to be sure that I'm God-centered in my messaging and not man-centered. So, so the work of the gospel is fundamentally about the glory of God. And of course, it's good for me and it's good for you, and it's good for whoever I'm sharing that with, but it is not fundamentally about any of us. It's fundamentally God-centered, and it's just important to me to not lose sight of that when I'm sharing the good news of Jesus Christ is that this is fundamentally about the glory of God, and that glory of God is good for you and me. It's good for us.
SPEAKER_01And so I think you asked those questions, right? So then how should I think?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah. So that that shapes it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Does that shape how how I think about lostness? Does it shape how I think even about myself? I love that that it's like, don't lose heart. Think of God's mercy. Right. So if our focus is on God's mercy, then we're not going to get discouraged. Of course. Like if he was merciful to me, he will be merciful to others.
SPEAKER_00And what a God-centered thought that is. Right. It's not, it's about him and his characteristic, his nature, which is merciful. Yeah. So when when we've done this, you've kind of worked, and again, I encourage you to take all the time you want each day with this. But once you've kind of worked through those, those steps, those principles, where you've observed their home, what do I see? Understand their home, what does it mean? Bring it back to home. How does it relate? Those are the timeless truths, and apply it in your home. What do I do? How will I be changed? How will I respond to that timeless truth and be shaped into the character of
Homework In Ephesians Explained
SPEAKER_00God? Once you've done all of that, we encourage you to take a moment with the text again and to say, is there any part of this, of this reading today that I want to just really focus on in my prayer life? Is there something that causes me to respond in praise, worship, or supplication to the Lord as a direct result of what I've seen in this passage? Is there, is there anything that jumps out to us that way? And and Rachel, I wrote down a couple that I that I would just say in response to that is in light of this truth, praise God for the light that we can see without a veil. And that and that it that his light chases away all darkness. Praise God for that. And praise God for the freedom that comes with his spirit and just and just see his glory in all of that and cry out and worship, right? That's a that's a good response and an and a right response to this text.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. And just the the glory of it, right? The glory that the spirit of God brings, that we have, we have the spirit of God, which is so superior to the law and the sacrificial system. Like we have the spirit of God that is transforming us, right? Degree by degree, little by little, it the more that is also the promise. Which is the promise of the text that the more that we focus on, the more we put our eyes on the glory of God, the more we are going to be changed into his likeness.
SPEAKER_00And it says, it says right here at the end of chapter three, with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of the Lord, we are being transformed into the same
Closing Prayer And Encouragement
SPEAKER_00image from one degree of glory to another. This comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. That's that's the beautiful testimony you just shared.
SPEAKER_01And that's what we live from. I mean, if we really believe that's true, that should change everything about how we approach others. We didn't earn that. We didn't follow the rules in the right way. We didn't we didn't do anything to deserve that. And so then when you go into a lost world, you're reminded that that this is all a work of the Lord. And so you're praying that God will will unveil faces, that he'll soften hearts, that he's the one who's going to move in that way. And all we are are proclaimers of of the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00So I want to encourage you as you as you apply this methodology this week and you're and you're learning how to how to work through these these principles and steps of you know observe their home, understand, relate, and then and then apply, as you're doing that, when you complete it, take a moment to just respond in praise in the praise, worship, and supplication that comes from recognizing the truths in that text. Let it let it drive you to relate directly to our glorious Father with prayer and supplication. And then think about is there out of all that text, are there you know one or two verses or a small part of it that you would like to just write down on an index card and carry with you this week and meditate on it through the week? Or maybe commit to memory that that verse or a couple of verses uh as well. Were there any were there any that jumped out to you, Rachel? I don't want to put you on the spot. I I noted a couple that jumped out to me, but but what about for you? Anything that jumped out?
SPEAKER_01The thing that really jumped out to me was this uh the phrase tamper with God's word. And to just think about what does that look like to tamper with God's word and in sharing the gospel and sharing what it means to be a Christ follower, am I really being true to to grace, or do I tend to kind of mix in this ministry of death? Do I tend to kind of mix in the law when when I even think about salvation or what that means or what God has done in my life? And so I think just kind of thinking through what that what that might look like and my approach to scripture and my approach to others and and how I'm living before them.
SPEAKER_00That's that's I think that's a great takeaway. And the and the for me, the couple that really stood out that I would that I would take away and try to meditate on this week, uh, one is about the God-centeredness of the gospel, and the other is about boldness in my response. And so, so like 2 Corinthians 4, 5 and 6 says, For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That is a beautiful, glorious, God-centered gospel. And then how do we respond? Second Corinthians 3 12 says, Since we have such a hope, we are very bold. So that's I mean, that's great, that's direct application for me. Since I have this hope, be very bold. So those are, I mean, that's again, just examples of how you might how you might approach the the scripture and the text using this method is when you get to the end of it, if you can find something that you can take hold of to say this causes me to praise, worship, supplication with the Lord, just draw nearer to Him, that's intimacy with the Lord, and then is there some part of this word that I would like to just really focus on meditating on in the days ahead? Anything, Rachel, that you'd like to add before we I know this is a little bit longer than typical for us, but we want to make sure that we really walk through that methodology so people have it in the show notes. You'll have you'll see the homework and you can take that homework and it'll walk you through. There's actually a worksheet that you can just print for each day that you're doing this homework, and you'll be in Ephesians this week to do that. But anything you'd like to add before we turn them loose uh for this, Rachel?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I don't think so. I you know, to me this one is is can be one of one of the harder ones to work through. So just kind of take take the time with it to kind of think about your observations, connect that, you know, and then kind of when you go to understanding, connect that to what you know. If if you don't know much about the book or who wrote it or why they wrote it, there's some really great, great resources. So, you know, we'll be in the book of Ephesians. So maybe, you know, read a little bit about Ephesians and who wrote it and why it was written and the context of it, so that as you're reading through it, you have kind of that baseline understanding it might be a good place to start.
SPEAKER_00We'll put a couple of resources in the show notes for this week, too, because I think that especially can be helpful when it comes to context. So whether it's some where you can find some commentary online or maybe Bible project or some things like that that can just help maybe give a little bit of that of that support to you as well. That'll be in the show notes too. But this week we will be you'll be in Ephesians, and so uh six days of homework. So starting before you come back to the podcast tomorrow, we're gonna want you to try to apply this method to Ephesians 1, 1 through 10. Again, we'll we'll you the show notes has all of the the homework and the and the worksheet, and it walks through what's each of these six days, what your focus is. But for tomorrow, Ephesians 1, 1 through 10 is where your focus is.
SPEAKER_01Yep. And I will say, I do what I do love about this is it does tether us to the understanding that that God's word was written in a specific place and a specific time to a specific people. And it does, like as we learn how to do that and think that way, it does prevent us, I think sometimes from taking those leaps and making those kind of common mistakes that people make when they read the word or try to understand the word. You know, if you're doing this, it's really hard to say, well, what does this just mean to me? Or what does this mean to what I want to do? And you know, you can't you can't really do that if you're treating the word carefully.
SPEAKER_00So an approach like this really protects us from ourselves in the word. And we need that. Yes. We need that.
SPEAKER_01It keeps us from tampering with God's word.
SPEAKER_00That's right, which is the text today, right? So okay. Well, we again we've gone a little bit longer than normal on this, but I hope you understand why we want to make sure that you you understand well what this method looks like, how to do it, uh, and then and then want you to to take your your first steps to try it. It may be, it may be a little bit clumsy or or clunky at first, just like any of these methods are. I'm just encourage you to go ahead and see it through, even if even if you're struggling with it a little bit, come back here tomorrow and we'll walk through our own walk in that same text, and you can kind of compare notes and see what uh what might be helpful to you along that way. Rachel, would you pray for those who are listening and those who are studying alongside us as we approach this God's word with this new method this week?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. The covenant that gives freedom, the covenant that allows us to look at your glory with an unveiled face because we can see Jesus. And so, Father, we are so thankful for all that you have done for us. And Father, because you have shown your light in our hearts, because you have given us your spirit, we we can be bold. Father, we can share for Christ's sake this gospel of truth and we and we can do it in a way that that is bold and knows that it relies on the power of God, not on us, that this is your gospel, that this is your story. And so, Father, I pray for those who are studying this week that you will just open the eyes of their heart so that they can see your truth, that they can see, see your heart, that they can see your character and see themselves rightly, Father, as they see you more rightly. I pray that you will go ahead of them and behind them. I pray, Father, that you'll protect their time in the word, that you will allow them to proclaim your just just proclaim your mercies all day long. And Father, I pray that you'll help us to just put our eyes on you and on the mercy that you have extended to us and that we will just be reminded that we are just servants, Father, that we are just servants who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ. And so I just pray for this time that it will be transformative. That as they as they and as I and as Matt look at your glory this week, that you will transform us just degree by degree, little by little, into the image of your Son. And we ask that in Jesus' precious name. Amen.
SPEAKER_00Amen. Great riches await you in God's Word this week. We're looking forward to uh taking this walk with you, and we'll see you again here tomorrow with the next episode.