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Intro to Built on the Bible

In the coming weeks, I am going to start a series where I bring an exposition of passages that show the importance of God’s Word in its different facets. It is my belief that this endeavor is extremely important in showing exactly why I have only released full episodes that teach a passage in the Bible to date. I adamantly believe in the necessity of building one’s life on God’s Word, so here begins the series.

Introduction

I am writing about the Bible because I know it well. After reading that sentence, you might wonder where I got my Ph.D.s, whether I majored in Linguistics or Hermeneutics, or why I would brag about all my years in seminary. But in reality, I don’t have any degrees from a seminary. I don’t have any college degrees at all. I haven’t even graduated high school! You may be wondering where I get grounds to base my claim that I know the Bible well. The answer to your query is, necessity.

My Experience with the Bible

I need the Bible to live. Because of it, I have eternal life. Because of it, I saw my own hopelessness on April 11, 2011. And not only did I see my hopelessness, but I saw a Savior who died for me. While my parents were the ones to lead me to Christ, they would have had no gospel to share if it hadn’t been for God’s Word. Thanks to this glorious gospel, I believed in Jesus, because I saw “the radiance of the glory of God” (Hebrews 1:3) in the face of Christ Jesus through the gospel.

My need for the Bible was shown after my conversion because I had limited growth as a believer. Why was my growth stunted? I had limited my intake of God’s Word. I was too busy pouring hours into the Wii and Minecraft to see my need for the Bible. Then in late-sixth or early-seventh-grade I fell into the sin of lust on the internet. I was not abiding in the light, Jesus Christ (see 1 John 2:28).

But then something changed. My dad and I started a Bible reading plan for the year 2018. Aside from putting my faith in Jesus Christ, it was the best decision that I had ever made. I started a Bible reading plan called the “F260” reading plan. It was only two or three chapters a day, five days a week, so it wasn’t overwhelming. This decision changed my life almost instantly.

I was able to stop looking at illicit internet pictures online. Not only did I stop sinning, but I had more joy each day, and I grew in maturity. Why, you may ask? Because I started seriously looking at God through His Word everyday. I found solid truth, and I saw my Savior Jesus as more beautiful than I ever had before. Jesus didn’t simply turn off my desires to remain in lustful sin; He showed Himself to me through His Word, making me love and want Him more.

The more and more that I’ve spent time in the Bible, the more I’ve come to enjoy Christ. I am not perfect. I am still a sinner who must kill the flesh daily. But I know that I always have a light in this world, God’s absolutely true Bible. I now have the ability to look at hardship that I am going through and remember that “for those who love God all things work together for good” (Rom. 8:28). I also know that I have value because I am made in the image of God (Gen. 1:27, 9:6). Not only do I know that God is working for my good since I love Him by His strength, and that I have value because I am made in God’s image, but I also know that I have purpose, and that purpose is found in the Bible. As a believer and a child of God, Isaiah 43:7 applies to me: “ . . . everyone who is called by my [God’s] name, whom I created for my glory” (Isa. 43:7). I am created for God’s glory, and I glorify Him by enjoying communion with Him.

Conclusion

So back to my claim that I know the Bible well. As hopefully I have demonstrated effectively, I learned a lot about the Bible by leaning on it continually, and learning from when I haven’t leaned on it. While I have lots more to learn about the Bile, I have learned that I need it everyday. I need it for my joy. I need it for guidance. Frankly, I need it to keep my sanity! But I’m not the only one who needs God’s Word. If you have not put your faith in Jesus Christ, you need “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16), the glorious and life-giving gospel, to help you see the glory of Jesus Christ and your need of Him to pay for your infinite sins.

If you do know Christ, I hope that you too will keep reading the articles that will follow. I want you to keep reading so that you see the beauty, truth, and necessity of the Bible for yourself. It’s my prayer that you depend on God’s Word like it’s oxygen. I want you to see that the Bible is how you better know, obey, and enjoy God.

In these articles, we are going to do a few things. First, we are going to try and find out more about the Bible. Then, we are going to look at why we must daily read God’s Word. Finally, we will look at how we should read the Bible. I hope that after reading this series, and even now, a thirst for God’s Word would be implanted in you.

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Why Truth and Love are Interconnected

As we have been studying through 1 John, you’ve hopefully noticed two key themes that have arisen. The first of those is truth. I named the series “Truth” because of how significant it is. Love is also a crucial aspect to the message of 1 John. While these seem like disconnected ideas, they are in reality like two pieces of a puzzle. Yes, we can separate truth and love, but they only find fulfillment when we use them together.

Truth

Truth is the first topic that we will look at today. This is a controversial subject today. Many people think that there is no truth, that truth is relative. However, we know that biblically that is simply not true. Crucial to our worldview and our epistemology (the study of knowing) is realizing that the Bible is the only standard of absolute truth that we have. How do we know that we exist? Well let’s ask, does that fit into a biblical worldview? The answer to that, obviously, is yes. Thus, we know it’s true because of our infallible standard, God’s Word.

As with all beliefs, believing in God’s Word as the only standard of absolute truth takes faith. But so does believing that there is no truth. Faith must be exercised at some point because we as humans cannot know everything. When we realize that God’s Word is the absolute standard for truth, then and only then can we start effectively loving people.

Love

Love is one of the most interesting topics in Scripture. The Bible never gives us a pure definition, rather it describes it for us.. To find out what love means, we have to look at how the Bible describes love. One of the most famous descriptions of love is found in 1 Corinthians 13. I would encourage reading that chapter, but for the sake of space I’m not going to list it here.

Love is something that requires action. While it is nice to talk about love, John in his letter demands that we use love and show it to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Love in the biblical sense makes sacrifices. And most important to our understanding of love is that it stems from God. 1 John 4:7 says that “love is from God” (ESV). We absolutely cannot love apart from God. Love apart from God is not true love.

Truth and Love

Now let’s look at how these two go together. We cannot love rightly if we do not know how to biblically love. As we study God’s Word, we understand more and more the world around us and the people around us. We see how God wants us to interact with the people in our lives. Then, knowing who God is, we are motivated to serve Him and to love Him.

We cannot love rightly if we do not know how to biblically love.

As believers, we must not separate truth and love. We must seek to understand how we are to love others, and then act it out! Theology is often scary to people, but when we invest in the Scriptures and spend time reading wise people, we find motivation to love! On the flip side, love can be scary to people, but when we invest in others and reflect to them Christ’s love, then and only then do we give our theology purpose.

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Tools for Bible Study

Reading and studying the Bible is one of the most important things that one can do in a day. However, so often there are excuses made, like, “I don’t understand it,” or, “This doesn’t apply to me so I don’t need to read it.” Yet both of those statements need not be said. When it comes to understanding, yes, there will be difficult passages. However, that is no reason to skip over them. And as for application, ALL of the Bible is useful for you. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16 ESV)

In this article, I’d like to give some tools that have helped me to know and study the Bible better. Before I continue, I’d like to give the most important aid in studying the Bible, the Holy Spirit. Before we study a passage, we must pray that the Holy Spirit would open our eyes to understand a text. There is no study tool that can help you if the Holy Spirit doesn’t guide your study of God’s Word. He inspired the whole thing after all. However, I would like to give some resources that are beneficial in study below.

Study Bibles

Study Bibles are probably the most convenient and versatile study tools you can buy. They are also the most affordable study tool available, since they include many features. A good study Bible includes study notes, cross-references, book introductions, and illustrations. These are helpful when reading and studying a passage, especially when it comes to answering questions. It is important, however, to not rely on the notes while reading or studying. The notes simply explain the text, they aren’t the text itself. When you read through a passage, always spend more time on the passage itself than on the notes. Some good study Bibles that I’ve used are the ESV Study Bible and the CSB Study Bible.

Commentaries

Commentaries are the grandfather of study Bibles. These are, in a nutshell, the notes from a study Bible, but on a bigger scale. Commentaries can range from single books to massive sets. Really, there are two types of commentaries you should have: (1) whole-Bible commentaries and (2) book-specific commentaries. For the first category, I would recommend a commentary like the Bible Knowledge Commentary or Matthew Henry’s Commentary. I have used both of those and they are excellent and pretty affordable.

The second category is a little more tricky. I would only recommend purchasing one of these commentaries if you plan on spending a month or more in a specific book. I did this for Isaiah, because (spoiler alert) ABP is taking a trip to Isaiah after we finish our sojourn in 1 John. One of the best commentary series is the Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Since it is split into 12 volumes, simply pick the volume that has the book you plan to study. Another great commentary series is the Christ-Centered Exposition. It is generally inexpensive when you only purchase one book at a time.

Textbooks

This is a slightly different resource. Textbooks give you the answer to the question, “What does the Bible say on (whatever topic you’re studying)?” My favorite author of textbooks is Wayne Grudem. He has books on theology, ethics, and politics. Oftentimes I will find a doctrine taught in a passage I plan to teach on, and I will have a feeling that the Bible teaches about it somewhere. That’s when I whip out Systematic Theology, by Wayne Grudem! Rather than trying to be the Bible and make his own points, Grudem does a great job of pointing out the Bible.

Bible Software

I considered adding a section on concordances, but Bible software has largely made concordances obsolete. Some great Bible software are the Bible by Life.Church and Logos Bible Software. One of my favorite features of both of those software is the search engines they provide. A lot of times I’ll have a verse come to my mind, but I won’t remember the reference. However, look it up in Logos or the Bible app and I’ll quickly find what I’m looking for. Logos in particular is a phenomenal when looking to study a passage, as it is loaded with helpful tools and guides for studying.

Hopefully this article will help you study God’s Word more deeply. Again, please do not rely on these tools. They are just that: tools. They need a competent user, and you and I can only ever be a competent user if we prayerfully seek God to bless our study and open our eyes to His Word. Before and after you study, pray, pray, pray!

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Why Christians Win Every Election

Unless you live under a rock, you probably have heard about the current United States election. You might have even seen news about the election as you went to read this article! This is election is a big deal. While it’s not nearly as big a deal as many make it out to be, it will shape the future of our country, as every election does.

Based on the demographics of this podcast, there is a good probability that you voted for Donald Trump. At this rate, it looks like he will not win re-election. The goal of this article isn’t to show why that’s a good or bad thing. Rather, I want to show you why your candidate did win the election, as he has every year. That means that if Donald Trump wins, you win. That also means if Joe Biden wins, you win. Who is that candidate?

I’m assuming you’ve guessed where I’m going with this. The answer to the question is, of course, God. While this might sound cliché, I want to show you why this fact is true and why it’s a glorious and hope-giving truth. To do this we are going to take a bit of a history tour, looking at God’s rule and sovereignty over nations.

God’s Rule Over Israel

The most prominent nation in the Bible is Israel, especially so in the Old Testament, so we are going to take a look at God’s rule over Israel, starting with Moses. By the time of the Mosaic Covenant (God’s covenant with Israel at the time of Moses), Israel was a very large nation, probably over one million people.

God made a special covenant with His people Israel. He offered to be their King. He would rule over them through the prophets and judges, who would tell Israel God’s instructions. This is known as a theocracy. Here we see that God has first-hand experience in ruling a nation. God also guided Israel when they demanded a king, sending them prophets to tell them what to do.

God’s Control Over Babylon

To get a good idea of God’s control over Gentile nations, we are going to take a look at Babylon. Babylon is one of the most referenced non-Israelite nations in the Old Testament, and the Bible gives us a lot of information on how God used them.

God used Babylon to serve His purposes. Now you might think that this means that they were a godly nation. The opposite is true. Ezekiel 30:11 (ESV) calls Babylon “the most ruthless of all nations.” So how did God use Babylon? God used Babylon to judge other wicked nations. As you read through the prophetic books, you see how that is the case. Isaiah likens another world power, Assyria, to God’s “axe. (Isa. 10:15 ESV)” God used Babylon and other world powers for the good of his people Israel, to discipline them, and to show His justice to all the nations.

God’s Continued Control

God’s control over nations didn’t stop with the Old Testament. God controls every nation to this day. King Solomon said that “the king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will. (Proverbs 21:1 ESV)” This means that no decision that a king makes happens without God’s approval. That means good decisions and bad decisions alike. Nothing, not even kings, is outside of God’s control.

This truth is reason for rejoicing. Regardless of who wins the 2020 election, we can know that God will use them for His glory. We probably won’t know how He did it. But we do know that He will accomplish it. We know that God is always working for His glory and for the good of believers, so we can rest in Him. Now it’s up to us. Will our neighbors and those around us see the peace of God inside of us, even if our candidate doesn’t win? Will they be curious and ask about the peace we have? Will we tell them that the God we serve is ALWAYS working for His glory and our good, even through flawed leaders?

Christ’s Eternal Reign

God’s present sovereignty isn’t even the best of it. We find that in Christ. As we read Revelation, we see our glorious Savior clothed in majesty, ruling for all of eternity. Jesus truly is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and we will spend all of eternity worshipping Him.

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Geocentric Vs. Heliocentric Preaching

If you grew up as a Christian in a doctrinally sound church, you’ve likely heard that the entire Bible points to Christ. Hopefully, all believers, and especially teachers and preachers, would affirm that statement. Christ is evident from Genesis 1 as Creator to Revelation 22 as Eternal King.

Yet this is much harder to put into practice than it is to say. Especially with teachers and preachers, but with all believers as well, we must see and show Christ in the Scriptures. In this article, I will address teachers and preachers, but please keep reading if you are not one of the above. These principles apply to you as you read and study the Bible, and you should have a serious conversation with your pastor or stop listening to a teacher if he is failing to preach Christ in all of the Bible.

Geocentric Preaching

I have used the terms “Geocentric Preaching” and “Heliocentric Preaching” because of their references to views of our galaxy. Up until the sixteenth century, most astronomers believed that our galaxy revolved around the earth. In preaching and teaching, we can sometimes see this view in action. Preachers, rather than having their sermon revolve around the Son (get the pun?) have their sermon revolve around earthly wisdom.

Now, is earthly wisdom inherently bad? Yes and no. Yes, in that it comes from people, and people are inherently sinful. No, in that we can still get good things from it since people are made in the image of God, and so while that image is twisted, we can still be like Him in certain ways.

“What is earthly wisdom,” you might ask. Earthly wisdom is wisdom that keeps its focus on things in this world, with no focus on eternity or on Christ. Now, you may object and say, “My pastor has a call for salvation at the end of every sermon. Surely he can’t be teaching worldly wisdom!” However, sermons of substance don’t save the Jesus for the last two minutes. Earthly sermons give advice on how to live, but they don’t really get past a TED Talk.

Earthly sermons can even include Jesus throughout the whole sermon, but fail to show Him faithfully. I’ve heard this once in a sermon: “Your relationship with Jesus must be the most important thing in your life.” This is patently wrong! Your relationship with Jesus is your life, not one part of it! “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked . . . but God . . . made us alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:1-2, 4-5 ESV).” Jesus doesn’t make your life better. He becomes your life.

Heliocentric Preaching

So that leaves us with Heliocentric Preaching, preaching and teaching focused on the Son. This preaching focuses on Christ, the Christ revealed to us in the Bible. Heliocentric Preaching faithfully shows the glory and beauty of Jesus, and how He is sovereign over us. Heliocentric Preaching shows that Jesus is our life, and that we must be willing to hate everything else in the world to keep Christ (see Luke 14:26).

Sometimes, Heliocentric sermons may never even mention Jesus. Think of sermons going through Isaiah. A faithful preacher shows the depravity of Israel on their own, and he shows their inability to worship rightly without faith. In doing this, he is laying the groundwork for a proper view of Christ, who enables us to worship rightly and frees us from our sin.

As you read and study through God’s Word, don’t come away from it viewing it as a book of good morals. God’s Word does shows us how to live, but we can only rightly live in Christ and Christ alone. Today, open God’s Word and see Christ, from Genesis to Revelation.

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My Five Favorite Books

If you don’t know me well, you might not know that I am a book nerd. I enjoy reading books greatly, and I believe that most books are very valuable. These books in particular that have changed my life or changed the way I think. In this list, I am not including the Bible. Obviously, the Bible is the most important book anyone can ever read. However, the title “My Five Favorite Non-biblical Books” just doesn’t have the same ring to it. So please, don’t read these books before you read the Bible. The Bible is infinitely more important than any of these books, even despite the greatness of the books below. That should tell you something about God’s Word. But without further ado, here are my five favorite books.

1. Desiring God, John Piper

This book is probably the most influential on the way I view my relationship with God. Rather than the way I glorify God being tied to a checklist of obedience, I glorify God by enjoying Him! One of the best quotes of the book is on our purpose: “The chief of end man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.” I give Jesus the glory He deserves when I enjoy Him and treasure Him as He is, as the God of the Universe.

2. Knowing God, J. I. Packer

Knowing God is one of the best books on God ever written. Few if any men outside of the Bible have put so much truth into so few words as J. I. Packer has done in this excellent book. Packer shows the glory of God in who He is, and how He relates to us. His chapter on adoption is probably the single greatest chapter in a book ever written, and it is the reason for the “A” in ABP!

3. Perelandra, C. S. Lewis

The first two books I listed were nonfiction books, but this book is fictional. However, it might be one of the most profound teachings on sin that I’ve ever read. Lewis in this second book of The Space Trilogy basically recreates Adam and Eve in the garden, and he focuses on Eve’s temptation. Rarely do we think about complete human innocence, but Lewis shows this beautifully. This book is thrilling from both a fictional and theological perspective.

4. Systematic Theology, Wayne Grudem

This is the first traditional reference book in this list. I have not fully read this book (it’s more than one thousand pages, give me a break!), but I have used it more than any other. It is almost like a theological Google. It is very useful in finding out what the Bible says on a given topic. He is fair in his evaluation of doctrines and I think reasonably gives views that come from an opposing camp. Systematic Theology is also good to simply read through. Even though I use the index more than I use the index more than simply reading it straight through, it does read very well. I would encourage every Christian to have a copy of this work in his home.

5. The Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien

Contrary to popular belief, The Lord of the Rings is actually one work, composed of six books, so it’s not a traditional trilogy. It was released in three separate volumes. This book is simply one of the best fictional books created, end of statement. Tolkien writes with a homely yet adventurous style. From the epic Aragorn to the lovable Sam Gamgee, Tolkien shows his mastery in creating immersive and three-dimensional characters.