WEBVTT 00:00:01.600 --> 00:00:04.080 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:08.960 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:10.720 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:11.439 --> 00:00:13.359 We're starting a new series today, Church. 00:00:13.439 --> 00:00:21.679 If we haven't met yet, my name's Chris, and to start this brand new series, I'm gonna show you a picture of my cute son, because you know, I've got the mic and the moment here. 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:23.280 So let's show this picture of Jude. 00:00:23.359 --> 00:00:25.440 This is Jude, he's a little over a year now. 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:26.160 We love him. 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:27.519 This is him eating. 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:29.760 Uh, and that's what we're doing with him now, right? 00:00:29.839 --> 00:00:32.960 He's eating solid food if you've had a child or babies had a child. 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:38.560 He starts to introduce solid food and they start to stop drinking milk as their primary sustenance. 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:41.840 And, you know, feeding this little guy for how cute he is. 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:52.320 He can be a little bit of a sneaky monster where he's just totally eating everything or throwing it all on the floor or a mixture of both. 00:00:52.560 --> 00:00:55.520 This is how you eat when you're 15 months old. 00:00:55.679 --> 00:01:00.880 And it's interesting because, you know, he has no idea what's good for him or what's bad for him. 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:03.280 He just knows kind of what he likes in that moment. 00:01:03.439 --> 00:01:07.519 He's just arbitrarily feeding himself and shoving food in his mouth. 00:01:07.599 --> 00:01:11.359 And we, as the parents, are trying to give him the most balanced diet, right? 00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:13.680 We're trying to give him like the what the food pyramid. 00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:14.799 You remember the food pyramid? 00:01:14.879 --> 00:01:22.480 It's like, you know, a balanced diet, little sugar, not much sugar, a lot of like fruits and vegetables and good meat and things like that, right? 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:26.640 And that's what we're trying to introduce to him, but he doesn't really care or know. 00:01:26.959 --> 00:01:36.640 And, you know, I'm telling you this because it's actually similar to um how you and I think about information that we take in. 00:01:36.799 --> 00:01:39.040 Okay, so you might have dietary restrictions. 00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:46.239 You might have certain things as an adult that you've grown up liking and disliking, trying to take in certain things, trying to reject certain things. 00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:51.599 Have you ever thought about that for how you take in information or how you take in wisdom? 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:56.799 How you take in what it is that your phone is screaming at you for all the time? 00:01:57.040 --> 00:02:02.799 All of us have different technology pieces in our lives that are assaulting us with information. 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:07.519 Do you have, like a food pyramid, a wisdom pyramid? 00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:09.759 This is what my friend Brett McCracken says. 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:11.280 He's got this wisdom pyramid. 00:02:11.439 --> 00:02:19.599 And he says that we have to think about how we take in information, just like how we think about how we take in food or teach our children to take in food. 00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:24.800 And his suggestion, he's got this new book coming out called The Wisdom Pyramid, that I'm excited to read. 00:02:25.039 --> 00:02:29.520 But in this, he says, really, the Bible should be our primary diet. 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:33.520 We should be consuming more of the Bible than everything else. 00:02:33.599 --> 00:02:48.319 He's got things like local church tradition, wise people in your life, nature and beauty taking in what God has created to let that speak to us, um, good books, then the internet and social media should kind of be the sugar, right? 00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:51.360 The just like minimal intake of those things. 00:02:51.520 --> 00:03:06.400 And you know, I think in this time we're in right now, where like a lot of Christians and non-Christians are like falling into things like conspiracy theories or misinformation, it's it's important to revisit this, just like it's important to revisit our diet in the new year, right? 00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:09.520 Some of you are doing that, going whole 30 or something like that. 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:13.520 Have you thought about do you have a wisdom pyramid? 00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:23.360 And would you maybe agree with my friend Brett here, who suggests that the Bible should be your primary source of nutrients when thinking about wisdom? 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:26.400 That's why we're starting this new series. 00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:52.879 We're calling this new series Eat This Book, because the Bible actually talks about God's word and talks about itself a lot as food for similar reasons as what I'm talking about with this wisdom pyramid and the dietary pyramid or the new uh the pyramid uh of food, is that we don't often think that we should be finding our main sustenance from scripture. 00:03:53.120 --> 00:04:04.479 Just like you and I eat three times a day or multiple times a day to sustain our bodies, we should be feasting on God's word to sustain our minds and our souls. 00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:11.360 Our heart for this series is that you and I would eat this book, that we would feast on the word of God. 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:16.560 And over the course of the next three weeks, um, we're gonna talk about why is the Bible important? 00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:23.279 And Christina, our campus pastor, is gonna talk about how and why we should get into God's word and feast on it every day. 00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:27.040 And finally, Felicia is gonna talk about reading the Bible in community. 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:31.199 We're excited to take three weeks to really figure out why it is important? 00:04:31.519 --> 00:04:33.279 Why is the Bible essential? 00:04:33.519 --> 00:04:36.480 Why should it be at the bottom of the pyramid? 00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:44.000 Well, let me show you a couple of examples of scripture talking about eating this book because it's common in scripture. 00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:46.959 Okay, one of the oldest examples is from Deuteronomy 8.3. 00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:57.920 Deuteronomy is a set of sermons that uh Moses delivered to really make sure before the people of Israel go into the promised land that they understand what the Lord was teaching them through those many years. 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:13.759 So he gives these sermons, and one of the things he says in one of his sermons is this profound line: Man or mankind, human beings, they don't live on bread alone, but on the very words of the mouth of the Lord. 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:17.120 The words that come from the mouth of the Lord, that's what you live on. 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:19.360 More than bread, more than food. 00:05:19.519 --> 00:05:23.040 That's the importance Moses gave to God's word. 00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:25.199 That's one of the oldest examples. 00:05:25.360 --> 00:05:29.120 Um, the psalmist later says, or sorry, not the psalmist, but Jeremiah. 00:05:29.199 --> 00:05:33.600 He was a prophet, uh, maybe a thousand plus years after Moses. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:35.279 He was a prophet to Israel. 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:37.600 He received God's word and he spoke it to the people. 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:43.839 This is how uh Jeremiah thought about God's word, particularly the Old Testament. 00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:48.959 He said this, Your words were found and I ate them. 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:57.040 Your words became to me a joy and a delight of my heart, for I am called by your name. 00:05:57.519 --> 00:06:10.000 Have you ever considered that just as much as you should focus on eating every day, you wake up, you're like, I'm hungry, that your soul and your mind should wake up and think, I'm hungry for something real. 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:24.959 We settle too often for sugary substances of social media and news algorithms that assault us with daily headlines without considering is what I'm eating for my mind and my soul good for me? 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:28.000 Why should the Bible be at the bottom of the pyramid? 00:06:28.240 --> 00:06:31.040 Why should the Bible be our ultimate source of sustenance? 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:37.040 Let me just show you a few more examples in scripture of how the Bible talks about the Bible, right? 00:06:37.279 --> 00:06:41.439 Because if the Bible was like, eh, God's word is like pretty good, you should kind of listen to it. 00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:42.639 That'd be one thing. 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:43.680 We should listen to that. 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:48.959 But what if the biblical writers talk about other biblical writers with weight and importance? 00:06:49.120 --> 00:06:50.399 See, that's exactly what they do. 00:06:50.560 --> 00:06:53.360 Look at what the psalmist says in Psalm 1830. 00:06:53.519 --> 00:06:57.680 It says, This God, he's perfect, his way is perfect. 00:06:57.920 --> 00:07:00.079 The word of the Lord proves true. 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:02.720 He is a shield for those who take refuge. 00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:09.759 So just like God's nature and character is perfect, that means the words that come from his mouth prove true. 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:12.639 That's how important the psalmist thought of God's word. 00:07:12.959 --> 00:07:14.480 How about New Testament? 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:23.680 Paul, one of the great biblical scholars of all time, he was a Jewish scholar who became a Christian, a religious teacher. 00:07:23.839 --> 00:07:25.519 He says this about the Old Testament. 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:43.920 He says, All scripture, and what he's referring to, because he's currently writing the New Testament, he's referring to the Old Testament, saying the scriptures, they're God breathed, and all of them are useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:49.040 All scripture, it's breathed out by God, and it's very useful. 00:07:49.519 --> 00:07:56.480 But where we should actually go is to the greatest biblical scholar of all time, Jesus of Nazareth. 00:07:56.720 --> 00:08:07.199 Have you ever thought that Jesus Christ, being God and being a rabbi, is what Dallas Willard called him the smartest man who has ever lived? 00:08:07.519 --> 00:08:11.279 You know, we think about Jesus as being good, we think about Jesus as being kind and compassionate. 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:14.319 Have you ever thought about Jesus being the smartest person to have ever lived? 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:29.839 When you take his divine nature into consideration, and on top of that, the fact that he trained as a rabbi until the age of 30, going through various schools and linguistic schools and theological education, that this man with his divine and human nature is the smartest person to ever exist. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:35.440 Don't you think his thoughts on what the Bible really is and how important it is, don't you think we should listen to those? 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:42.080 Especially as Christians, this is our God, this is our king, this is our teacher, this is our Lord, our master. 00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:45.039 What he says about Scripture should be of utmost importance. 00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:51.679 And when he rose from the dead, he had this moment where he's interacting with those who witnessed the resurrection. 00:08:52.000 --> 00:09:01.200 A couple of disciples who were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus, and in Luke 24, he actually rebukes them when they're like, they're trying to figure out the resurrection. 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:03.039 They go, We don't know what it means. 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:11.120 He says, This, you're foolish, oh foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. 00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:16.000 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:27.600 And look at this, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, that's a way of saying all the Old Testament, Moses, the first five books of the Bible, the prophets, the writings that came after that. 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:37.840 Beginning with those writings, he, Jesus, interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. 00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:49.919 When the early disciples were wrestling with the meaning of the resurrection and who Jesus was, Jesus didn't point them to anything but scripture. 00:09:50.320 --> 00:09:59.840 He said, You would not be confused and you would not be foolish if you were reading and properly interpreting your Bible, your Old Testament. 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:03.279 That puts a ton of weight on scripture. 00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:05.919 I mean, here's Jesus in the resurrected body. 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:09.120 You'd think he'd say, uh, you need understanding, just look at me. 00:10:09.200 --> 00:10:10.559 I just got up from the grave. 00:10:10.799 --> 00:10:15.519 But he actually goes, if you need understanding, let me let me give you a Bible study. 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:30.159 And Jesus takes them through a Bible study and he interprets the whole Old Testament man to be there, to be there sitting at Jesus' feet as he interprets the scriptures and says, This was all the plan all along, if you would just see. 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:35.440 Um you see, Jesus was pointing out something important about the Bible. 00:10:35.759 --> 00:10:41.600 It's that the Bible is not the point of faith, actually, but it points to the point. 00:10:42.240 --> 00:10:45.840 The Bible is not the point, it points to the point. 00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:46.879 What do we mean? 00:10:47.039 --> 00:10:53.360 See, Jesus said, You're foolish because you're not believing the point, me, the Messiah. 00:10:53.759 --> 00:10:56.399 But let me show you what would point to the point. 00:10:56.879 --> 00:10:59.360 You see, we don't worship the Bible, okay? 00:10:59.519 --> 00:11:05.919 As Christians, we don't think it's this magical, remarkable book that we bow down to and sing about. 00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:06.639 No. 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:11.759 We bow down, worship, adore, acknowledge Jesus. 00:11:12.080 --> 00:11:15.039 But it's the Bible that points us to that, right? 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:21.120 And it's the Bible that leads us to Jesus and the Bible that points us to the true revelation. 00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:25.519 So taking all of this into consideration, why is the Bible important? 00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:37.919 The Bible is important because it is a unified, definitive story with unmatched wisdom that reveals Jesus Christ as savior of the world. 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:39.360 Let me say that again. 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:48.639 The Bible is important because it's a unified, definitive story with unmatched wisdom that all reveals Jesus Christ as Savior of the world. 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:55.519 The unmatched wisdom, the beautiful story that Scripture tells is all to show us Jesus. 00:11:55.679 --> 00:11:57.279 The Bible's not the point. 00:11:57.440 --> 00:11:59.120 The Bible points to the point. 00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:04.799 And if you want to know more about the Bible and if you want to dive deeper, this series is going to be great for you. 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:07.039 But there's going to be a lot that's left on the table. 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:11.759 So we have exciting opportunities through our school of faith that I want you to be a part of. 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:14.720 If you want to know more about the Bible, how is it constructed? 00:12:14.879 --> 00:12:16.159 How do I study it? 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:19.840 How, how, how was it constructed and how can I trust it? 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:23.200 And what about like the things in the Bible that are weird? 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:24.799 How do I interpret those? 00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:29.279 I want you to come to our one of our core classes or a couple of our core classes coming up. 00:12:29.360 --> 00:12:32.240 You can go to the website here on the screen and sign up for those. 00:12:32.320 --> 00:12:36.320 And I also want you to join a Bible reading plan that's rolling out February 1st. 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:40.320 We also have one for kids that our awesome kids ministry is developing. 00:12:40.559 --> 00:12:50.960 We want you to get in the Word through the School of Faith events and through the Bible reading plan so that you can know the unmatched wisdom and the unified story that comes through scripture. 00:12:51.279 --> 00:12:56.960 So let's look closely at this sentence I just gave you about the Bible and its importance. 00:12:57.279 --> 00:13:01.919 The first piece of that sentence is the Bible tells the definitive story of life. 00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:05.919 I said that the Bible is a unified, definitive story. 00:13:06.080 --> 00:13:07.039 It's a story. 00:13:07.279 --> 00:13:10.399 You know, your Bible actually, it's not one book. 00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:12.799 This is a library. 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:20.960 The word Bible, which is right here on my Bible, that word, you know that literally means little books. 00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:26.720 And your Bible's just a compilation of 66 smallish books. 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:29.120 It's not its own volume. 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:30.480 It has many volumes. 00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:33.600 But these many volumes, they tell an overarching story. 00:13:33.679 --> 00:13:41.279 And every summer here at Awakening, we host a class called the Biblical Narrative, where we walk through the story in scripture from Genesis to Revelation. 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:43.519 And would encourage you to take that this summer. 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:50.080 But this by the Bible's story, this library, the Bible story, it's universally accessible. 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:51.679 What do I mean by that? 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:57.519 I mean that the story the Bible tells is about a particular people, the people of Israel. 00:13:57.759 --> 00:14:05.039 But it's strange how this particular story has shaped most of the known world. 00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:07.120 Okay, here's what I mean. 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:19.840 Did you know that Christianity is the most diverse, worldwide, and popular religion, and that this book is the most translated, sold, and read library of books that has ever existed? 00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:30.159 More people have read this book in more countries and more languages across multiple histories and time zones and continents than any other book in all of human history. 00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:35.120 You see, this unified story that the Bible tells is actually accessible to all cultures. 00:14:35.279 --> 00:14:39.039 I remember I've had so many profound experiences with this. 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:50.399 I remember I was at a prayer meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, and I heard the pastor read Philippians 2 in Turkish over this prayer meeting. 00:14:50.639 --> 00:15:01.679 And I didn't understand a word of it, but I saw the power that it held for these Turkish people, of which the population is probably 1% of Turkish population is Christian. 00:15:01.840 --> 00:15:04.080 They're holding tightly to God's word in that moment. 00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:13.840 I can remember being in Nicaragua with a group of students, and we were partnering with an organization that was rescuing young girls out of trafficking in Central America. 00:15:14.159 --> 00:15:31.120 And at a prayer meeting there, these young girls recited the Lord's Prayer from Matthew 6 in Spanish, some of them weeping and crying because the word of God in their own language was shaping their cultural experience to redemption. 00:15:31.679 --> 00:15:37.200 I can remember being in China a number of years ago, and I was meeting this artist. 00:15:37.440 --> 00:15:53.279 He had this incredible work put out on the street, and he gave me his business card, and below, in Chinese signatory in the Chinese language, and in parentheses in English, there was a small citation of a Bible verse. 00:15:53.919 --> 00:16:12.080 This young artist from China somehow God's word was shaping his life to the point that on his business card, in the country that is not famous for promoting Christianity, he needed his patrons to know that the most important thing to him was this verse. 00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:17.519 That God's word was shaping cultures from all these separate spaces. 00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:19.519 There's a great example of this. 00:16:20.320 --> 00:16:25.600 Tim Mackey, who runs the Bible project, I was fortunate to be in seminary and learn from him. 00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:31.600 He's this great mind, and he he told this story about going to this church in Nazareth. 00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:33.600 Nazareth is where Jesus is from. 00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:36.159 And there's a church there called the Church of the Annunciation. 00:16:36.240 --> 00:16:44.159 It's a Roman Catholic church, and he says that in the courtyard there, uh, there's all these paintings of Mary and Jesus. 00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:48.879 And they're all in different interpretations and cultures. 00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:50.320 It's fascinating. 00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:52.320 You see Vietnam and Thailand. 00:16:52.720 --> 00:16:58.480 You see, the Church of the Annunciation is marking the moment where the angel told Mary that she would be pregnant with Jesus. 00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:03.919 And all these different paintings, uh, the Roman Catholic Church commissioned all these cultures. 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:23.279 Look at this, Ethiopia, France, Bulgaria, all these different cultures to interpret the Madonna and child, which is Mary and Jesus, in their own uh cultural artistic expression, but also uh through their own skin and fashion. 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:29.599 And you can walk through the Church of the Annunciation and see literally every culture represented. 00:17:29.759 --> 00:17:32.000 I mean, it's fantastic, it's crazy. 00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:35.599 You know, I haven't been there, but Tim Mackey was telling us about this. 00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:45.680 And it makes you think that for all of the ways we might think there's cultural appropriation of Jesus, which there is. 00:17:46.319 --> 00:17:52.319 There is the white Jesus that is on the felt boards or in every church in America. 00:17:53.119 --> 00:17:57.839 But you have to realize as you travel that it also works the opposite way. 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:06.160 It's not just that we appropriate our culture onto Jesus, which usually yields not very great results sometimes. 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:09.279 It might be that the reverse is true. 00:18:09.599 --> 00:18:18.319 That Jesus' story has actually appropriated itself onto many cultures throughout many times, many places and many continents. 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:26.640 When you see the Word of God having this unified story, you realize that this is not just a European religion. 00:18:27.119 --> 00:18:30.799 And the Bible is not a book that was originally written in English. 00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:35.440 That actually we are the recipients of this movement of God's story. 00:18:35.599 --> 00:18:41.200 And the Bible's importance is essential because it reflects the reality you and I experience. 00:18:41.440 --> 00:19:01.039 And people in Vietnam and Korea and Central America, Brazil, and Italy, and Eastern Europe and the Middle East and cultures all over the world have seen the story of Jesus and said, this reflects the reality of my experience. 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:10.000 This story, this story of one particular culture has transformed many, many cultures across the world. 00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:19.599 And it might be the Bible's story, it might be because the Bible's story includes deep darkness and unyielding beautiful light. 00:19:19.759 --> 00:19:36.720 And the Bible's story includes unimaginable pain of murder and uh sexual immorality and corrupt leadership and political misgivings and kingdoms rising and falling, unimaginable pain, sickness and disease, and yet unbelievable hope. 00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:41.519 God's power, God's grace, God's love, it does reflect the reality we experience. 00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:44.640 We live in a beautiful and a broken world. 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:48.720 And the Bible's important because it shows us the world we live in. 00:19:48.880 --> 00:19:54.559 But it's also because the Bible gives a transcendent message to humanity. 00:19:55.359 --> 00:20:08.960 So not only does the Bible reflect the reality we experience, and not only does it tell the definitive story of humankind, but it also gives a message to us as human beings. 00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:16.240 You know, I often say that the Bible puts the majesty of God into understandable language. 00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:18.880 Puts the majesty of God into understandable language. 00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:21.440 I've sometimes called the Bible God for dummies. 00:20:21.680 --> 00:20:26.559 What do I mean by that is that when we actually meet God, we're gonna be blown away. 00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:30.240 Everybody who meets God in this book is thrown to the ground. 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:40.240 However, God has chosen to use understandable language to communicate his incommunicable attributes to us in understandable language. 00:20:40.480 --> 00:21:08.799 And he shows us that through stories, through songs like the psalms, through short bits of wisdom like the Proverbs, narratives like the book of Job or Ruth, through historical uh reportage like the gospel narratives, through correspondence and letters like the epistles of Paul to the Romans and the Thessalonica Church, all these different places and spaces and genres are revealing a transcendent message. 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:11.119 It's transcendent in two ways. 00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:14.319 One is the Bible gives us transcendent wisdom. 00:21:14.480 --> 00:21:15.839 So why is the Bible important? 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:17.440 Again, back to the food pyramid. 00:21:17.599 --> 00:21:19.759 Why should it be on the bottom of the food pyramid? 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:31.039 Well, it gives you transcendent wisdom, it gives you a path for wise living in books like Proverbs, Psalms, Ecclesiastes, the Sermon on the Mount gives just beautiful wisdom about forgiveness. 00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:40.720 And, you know, you'll have this experience when you read your Bible where you'll be wrestling with a problem and you'll realize the Bible already figured it out. 00:21:41.440 --> 00:21:46.960 Like you'll be stressed about political situations in this country. 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:54.960 And then you'll read about political situations here, and you'll be like, oh, okay, the Bible knows this. 00:21:55.519 --> 00:21:56.880 I just didn't know it. 00:21:57.039 --> 00:22:02.480 Or you'll be struggling with a relationship and Becoming embittered towards someone. 00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:06.079 And then you'll read about the Bible's wisdom of forgiveness. 00:22:06.640 --> 00:22:10.480 And you'll be like, oh, the Bible's, yeah, they've already figured this out. 00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:12.079 You see, it's transcendent in wisdom. 00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:21.359 And this is where I've got to tell you, just as your pastor, that you need to have a primary relationship with this book. 00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:24.960 A lot of us have a secondary relationship with the Bible. 00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:34.720 You maybe are in this space where your predominant understanding of scripture comes through podcasts, blog posts, uh, sermons like this one. 00:22:34.880 --> 00:22:36.000 Okay, I love sermons. 00:22:36.079 --> 00:22:37.599 I'm giving a sermon right now. 00:22:37.759 --> 00:22:59.680 But at some level, this me telling you about God's word is nothing compared to having the primary relationship of reading this for yourself, of opening it up and learning to interpret and learning to study, coming to our class about what is the Bible and joining the Bible reading plan, that brings you into a primary relationship with scripture. 00:22:59.920 --> 00:23:05.359 And so long as you have a secondary relationship with scripture, you won't see its transcendent wisdom. 00:23:05.519 --> 00:23:14.079 Because right now, in a secondary relationship of reading something or listening to a podcast, listening to a sermon, it gets you a step closer to scripture. 00:23:14.240 --> 00:23:17.279 But nothing will be like you engaging with scripture. 00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:21.440 So I have to ask you, do you have a primary relationship with scripture? 00:23:21.680 --> 00:23:25.680 Or is it secondary through books and podcasts and articles? 00:23:26.079 --> 00:23:33.440 Because it's time to develop a diet for yourself that is a primary experience with scripture. 00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:35.279 It's transcendent in wisdom. 00:23:35.359 --> 00:23:38.400 And the only way you'll know that is through a primary relationship with scripture. 00:23:38.480 --> 00:23:42.640 But it's also transcendent in revelation, in that it reveals something. 00:23:42.880 --> 00:23:48.720 You see, the Bible, it's not so much like a lens that we look through. 00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:51.119 There's a lot of talk about a biblical worldview. 00:23:51.440 --> 00:24:02.240 The Bible sort of sort of works as a lens, but much better, the Bible is a mirror because the Bible predominantly reflects and reveals two things. 00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:08.799 It reveals who you are, who I am, and it reveals Jesus. 00:24:09.119 --> 00:24:10.960 It's revealing in two ways. 00:24:11.119 --> 00:24:19.200 You see, the Bible gives us this remarkable wisdom for how to live, but it also reveals to us that we don't always walk in that wisdom. 00:24:19.759 --> 00:24:27.279 And then, even better, it reveals that God loves us when we don't walk in the wise ways that the Bible tells us to. 00:24:27.599 --> 00:24:30.240 Bible gives us wisdom, we don't follow it. 00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:37.440 The Bible also shows us how God loves us when we fail at living the wise life it's told us to live. 00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:40.640 You see how good and important that is in your life? 00:24:40.880 --> 00:24:51.359 This is why you need to have a primary relationship with scripture so that you are revealed your own folly and your own foolishness and sin and misthinking. 00:24:52.079 --> 00:24:58.160 But also you need to be seeing and being revealed the goodness of who Jesus Christ is to you. 00:24:58.319 --> 00:25:02.960 You see, your Bible, best thing about it, it talks back to you. 00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:07.200 It even assaults you in some ways. 00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:12.079 It preaches to you things that you don't believe. 00:25:12.400 --> 00:25:15.759 It will show you the majesty of believing it. 00:25:15.839 --> 00:25:21.680 It'll say things like, Nothing can separate you from the love of Christ, not even death. 00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:24.079 That's a that'll preach. 00:25:24.640 --> 00:25:34.079 When you open that and read that, it's a transcendent revelation because you and I naturally, earthly, believe that the only way God would love us is if we perform for him. 00:25:34.480 --> 00:25:40.720 But scripture tells the story that God has loved us not because of what you perform for him, but what he has performed for you in Christ. 00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:43.200 That's a revelation only scripture gives. 00:25:43.359 --> 00:25:47.039 That's a revelation you will only get if you spend time in the Word. 00:25:47.200 --> 00:25:53.599 This is why one of the earliest followers of Jesus made this remarkable statement, 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 16. 00:25:53.759 --> 00:25:56.079 This is Peter, one of the closest disciples of Jesus. 00:25:56.160 --> 00:26:00.160 He says this we did not follow cleverly devised myths. 00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:04.319 We didn't follow myths, we weren't following random stories. 00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:12.000 When we told you about the coming of the Lord Jesus in power, but we were eyewitnesses, we saw his majesty. 00:26:12.240 --> 00:26:13.200 But look at what he says. 00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:14.400 This is crazy. 00:26:14.640 --> 00:26:18.480 And we have something more sure. 00:26:19.359 --> 00:26:25.759 The prophetic word to which we will do well to pay attention as a lamp shining in a dark place. 00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:28.240 This is unbelievable. 00:26:28.480 --> 00:26:33.839 He's equating seeing Jesus with the prophetic word, being more sure. 00:26:34.079 --> 00:26:38.240 The prophetic word is more sure than seeing Jesus. 00:26:38.319 --> 00:26:39.519 This is the same thing Jesus did. 00:26:39.599 --> 00:26:41.759 I told you the story of the people going to Emmaus. 00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:45.279 When they saw him and they were questioning what was going on, what did they say? 00:26:45.440 --> 00:26:46.400 What did Jesus say? 00:26:46.559 --> 00:26:48.400 He didn't say, look at my body. 00:26:48.640 --> 00:26:50.079 He said, Look at my word. 00:26:50.960 --> 00:26:56.000 Because Peter's argument here is the thing that will be revealed is Jesus to you. 00:26:56.160 --> 00:26:59.200 When you open this, you will see Jesus. 00:26:59.519 --> 00:27:04.240 The Bible offers a word announced to humanity. 00:27:04.480 --> 00:27:07.920 The Bible is not a nice book with advice. 00:27:08.160 --> 00:27:09.839 It doesn't have good ideas. 00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:15.599 It is not in the uh it doesn't have good ideas in the sense of like good ideas to just think about and consider. 00:27:15.759 --> 00:27:18.240 It's not in the genre of religious literature. 00:27:18.400 --> 00:27:20.240 It is an authoritative word. 00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:21.359 It is news. 00:27:21.519 --> 00:27:23.200 It is the announcement of this. 00:27:23.440 --> 00:27:24.400 God is good. 00:27:24.720 --> 00:27:28.640 God is here, God has come in Christ to save us. 00:27:28.799 --> 00:27:35.039 The Bible you and I open every morning is above the landscape of human ideas. 00:27:35.200 --> 00:27:42.079 It is not considerate of editorial pages and social media algorithms, financial markets, or trending topics on Twitter. 00:27:42.240 --> 00:27:45.519 It does not offer you ideas to be considered. 00:27:45.759 --> 00:27:47.039 It invades you. 00:27:47.200 --> 00:27:59.200 It even assaults you with a gospel of grace that tells you God is here, God loves you, and the transcendence of that revelation is something you and I need to have most in our diet right now. 00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:01.599 We do not need more articles. 00:28:01.759 --> 00:28:03.519 We do not need more podcasts. 00:28:03.680 --> 00:28:07.519 We do not need more uh videos to stream and watch. 00:28:07.759 --> 00:28:08.880 We need a word. 00:28:09.200 --> 00:28:10.559 We need an announcement. 00:28:10.799 --> 00:28:19.599 We need something to be coming from heaven to tell us the way life is and who we are and who God has become for us in Jesus. 00:28:19.759 --> 00:28:24.240 You see, you don't open your Bible to get good thoughts or good vibes. 00:28:24.480 --> 00:28:30.079 You open your Bible to hear what is true, what has been told to you. 00:28:30.160 --> 00:28:32.160 You're hearing a transcendent message. 00:28:32.240 --> 00:28:37.519 And don't get me wrong, this is not something that happens every time you open the Bible. 00:28:37.759 --> 00:28:42.000 You don't open the Bible and a light comes from heaven and everything is revealed. 00:28:42.160 --> 00:28:48.079 No, it's a slow process, which is why you need to start the habit of daily getting into scripture. 00:28:48.319 --> 00:28:56.160 Because slowly over time, you will read this book and slowly the revelation I just talked about will come true in your life. 00:28:56.480 --> 00:29:08.319 And sometimes, sometimes that moment might happen, but the Bible reading we take every day, it can be a slow revelation. 00:29:09.119 --> 00:29:15.440 And that slow revelation is exactly the Bible's profound purpose. 00:29:16.079 --> 00:29:25.839 And the reason you need the Bible as your primary dietary intake for your mind and soul is to be reminded of this exact fact. 00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:30.960 The Bible is important because it shows us we need saving. 00:29:31.279 --> 00:29:39.359 I want to go back to that scripture I actually started with where Jesus is on the road to Emmaus, Luke 24, 27. 00:29:39.519 --> 00:29:47.839 Remember, he says, it says, in the beginning, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:50.960 Remember the Bible study that I was talking about? 00:29:51.920 --> 00:29:55.359 He interpreted all the things concerning himself. 00:29:55.519 --> 00:29:57.359 They had this incredible Bible study. 00:29:57.519 --> 00:30:04.720 Well, Jesus leaves after that moment, and the disciples have this private moment together where they're talking. 00:30:04.960 --> 00:30:09.039 And in their conversation, it says this, this is five verses later. 00:30:09.200 --> 00:30:20.400 They said to each other, Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened us the scriptures? 00:30:21.920 --> 00:30:26.079 Did not our hearts burn when he opened the scriptures to us? 00:30:27.680 --> 00:30:31.519 I think this is my experience with scripture. 00:30:31.839 --> 00:30:45.519 That when properly interpreted, and that's an important caveat, when properly understood, when properly interpreted, like Jesus properly interpreted it and properly read it, your heart starts to burn. 00:30:46.319 --> 00:30:51.039 You start to realize you need something more than you. 00:30:52.079 --> 00:31:03.920 That you need something more than good advice, that you need something more than helpful suggestions, you need something more than an inspirational moment or song. 00:31:04.480 --> 00:31:05.680 You need a God. 00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:13.200 And this craving that the disciples have is the craving I hope we can have together. 00:31:13.839 --> 00:31:20.480 Our hearts burn within us when we open this book, not again because this book has some magic power. 00:31:21.359 --> 00:31:26.400 Our hearts burn within it because when we open these pages, we see Jesus. 00:31:27.279 --> 00:31:30.720 And we actually meet Jesus in these pages. 00:31:31.119 --> 00:31:38.960 We start to understand who he is, reading stories about him, prophecies about him, reading about the creation of the world in Genesis. 00:31:39.519 --> 00:31:44.240 As we read scripture, our heart starts to burn for God Himself. 00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:52.880 The Bible is important because sitting before you here is an encounter with the true and living Word of God. 00:31:53.039 --> 00:31:53.680 Did you know this? 00:31:53.920 --> 00:31:57.920 Jesus was called the Word, the living word. 00:31:58.640 --> 00:32:06.720 It's like the pages of the Bible became enacted through the human life of Jesus while he was on earth. 00:32:07.279 --> 00:32:16.960 It's like everything you read about here and everything that this book speaks to, it speaks to the word that was made flesh of Jesus. 00:32:18.960 --> 00:32:24.000 And so why do Christians today fall into foolishness? 00:32:24.720 --> 00:32:42.880 Why maybe have Christians fallen into conspiracy theories and misinformation, obsession with political events and right speaking and who should say what, developing a kind of cancel culture against a certain assortment of people? 00:32:43.920 --> 00:32:51.599 It's because their wisdom pyramid maybe has been flipped and they have taken in more internet than Bible. 00:32:51.920 --> 00:32:57.839 They've taken in more political rhetoric than scriptural announcements. 00:32:58.960 --> 00:33:05.440 And for us today, Awakening, the call is to eat this book. 00:33:05.759 --> 00:33:15.920 The call is to not be like my son in a toddler seat, kind of arbitrarily picking and choosing food as he pleases and throwing it on the floor. 00:33:16.160 --> 00:33:33.519 The call is to become adults who have proper restrictions to their wisdom diet so that we can meet God and know God and so that our hearts might burn within us as we come to know him through scripture. 00:33:34.319 --> 00:33:35.599 Let me pray for you. 00:33:48.079 --> 00:33:57.440 God, I pray that for us at Awakening, we would be people whose dominant dietary intake would be your word. 00:33:58.640 --> 00:34:04.079 And that as we take in that, you would transform us into your likeness. 00:34:04.400 --> 00:34:07.759 As we know you and follow you in Christ's name. 00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:08.639 Amen. 00:34:09.679 --> 00:34:12.000 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:34:12.320 --> 00:34:17.199 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:34:17.440 --> 00:34:19.679 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:34:19.920 --> 00:34:25.679 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.comslash card.