back to indexBerean Community Church Wednesday Bible Study 2/19/25
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expressing the kind of attitude and the heart 00:04:48.100 |
that we wanna have as we approach each Bible study. 00:04:52.100 |
The scripture is in Psalm 19, verse 33, says, 00:04:59.560 |
"Give me understanding that I may observe your law 00:05:04.560 |
"Make me walk in the path of your commandments, 00:05:32.940 |
"May your lovingkindness also come to me, O Lord, 00:05:39.340 |
Heavenly Father, when we take time to study the Bible, 00:06:08.500 |
and again, we lift our voices to you in praise. 00:06:56.400 |
♪ That the light of Christ might be seen today ♪ 00:07:01.400 |
♪ In our acts of love and our deeds of faith ♪ 00:07:59.220 |
♪ Cause our faith to rise, cause our eyes to see ♪ 00:08:43.140 |
♪ Help us grasp the heights of your plans for us ♪ 00:09:04.040 |
♪ And by grace we'll stand on your promises ♪ 00:09:11.160 |
♪ And by faith we'll walk as you walk with us ♪ 00:09:42.220 |
♪ Father of kindness, you have poured out grace ♪ 00:10:06.600 |
♪ And giver of mercy, you're my help in time of need ♪ 00:11:04.560 |
♪ And beautiful Savior, you have brought me near ♪ 00:11:18.300 |
♪ Blessed Redeemer, you've set this captive free ♪ 00:15:21.660 |
Lord, we thank you that you have given us your word, 00:15:36.480 |
Lord, we thank you that your word became flesh 00:15:46.080 |
and the gift of being redeemed through Christ. 00:15:50.940 |
I pray, Lord, as we sing, we pray, we discuss your word. 00:15:58.520 |
so that when it goes forth to each and one of us, 00:16:03.400 |
May it apply deep and root deep in our hearts 00:16:09.940 |
May it result in praise and worship and honor to you. 00:16:20.400 |
Well, I do wanna highlight a few announcements 00:16:28.300 |
This Saturday, there is a Q&A on autism spectrum disorder 00:16:42.520 |
about how to minister to loved ones, et cetera, 00:16:47.760 |
and it's gonna take place this Saturday, 10 a.m. 00:16:51.740 |
Also, please note that there is a child safety training 00:17:02.840 |
For anybody who is a member but would like to help out 00:17:11.380 |
or for the summer events like BBS or even retreat, et cetera, 00:17:16.380 |
at any time you are ministering to the children in that way, 00:17:26.420 |
For all of you guys who are really new to the church, 00:17:32.300 |
on Sunday, March 2nd at 1 p.m. in the Youth Group Chapel, okay? 00:17:49.100 |
FAM 245, again, for those who are recently married, 00:17:56.320 |
there is a hike and a time to learn on biblical manhood, 00:18:05.160 |
So please make sure that you sign up for this. 00:18:13.080 |
also Saturday, March 15th from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. 00:18:18.040 |
There's actually gonna be two full sessions of teaching 00:18:28.740 |
not just like the singles ministry, et cetera, 00:18:34.540 |
just more about the topic, how to counsel people, 00:18:40.820 |
We would wanna make sure that we have a proper headcount. 00:18:48.800 |
or the website looking at the upcoming events. 00:19:02.440 |
I do realize I'm giving you a pretty large chunk. 00:19:04.400 |
So you guys may have felt like, wow, that was a lot, okay? 00:19:10.500 |
But please make sure that when you are discussing, 00:19:13.600 |
don't just discuss the observations and questions you have, 00:19:23.620 |
can you draw from this New Testament passage, okay? 00:19:30.100 |
can you draw from this very important gospel passage, okay? 00:58:31.300 |
and obviously I'm not gonna be able to cover everything. 00:58:43.300 |
and also the good common practice of Bible study, right? 00:58:47.300 |
And I hope that by going over some of these things, 00:58:50.300 |
you guys are continuing to practice, you know, 00:58:59.300 |
or in preparation for the discussions in your small groups, okay? 00:59:07.300 |
I apologize, I should have actually done this before. 00:59:20.300 |
ideally there could have been a time for Q&A, 00:59:35.300 |
Some of you guys know I am horrendous at email. 00:59:43.300 |
But text-wise, I try to reply by the end of the day, okay? 00:59:48.300 |
So if you have questions, please know that you can text me, 00:59:53.300 |
I may not be able to cover it within the session, 00:59:56.300 |
but on the following week, I may have a quick follow-up 00:59:58.300 |
or even post some of the answers to your questions, okay? 01:00:12.300 |
and we're asking, Lord, that your Spirit would minister to us, 01:00:19.300 |
Lord, I may definitely fumble in trying to articulate 01:00:29.300 |
of saturating our minds with your word, let it be fruitful. 01:00:33.300 |
Help us, Father God, to truly make wise and keen observations 01:00:46.300 |
remember that it's so important for us to understand 01:00:52.300 |
Like, we're going to say that till we're blue in the face, okay? 01:00:56.300 |
There are so many ways by which we jump to conclusions, 01:01:04.300 |
whether it's by something we read, et cetera, 01:01:10.300 |
I want to arrive at the author's intended meaning, 01:01:18.300 |
And one of the first ways we do that is to make sure 01:01:20.300 |
that we understand the genre and the flow of thought. 01:01:25.300 |
we have this huge chunk of the New Testament Scriptures, 01:01:31.300 |
all the way through to the Book of Acts, okay? 01:01:35.300 |
The Book of Acts reads essentially like the Gospels 01:01:41.300 |
"This is an official account," so to speak, right? 01:01:47.300 |
And so what's really interesting about the Gospels 01:01:50.300 |
and the Book of Acts is that, in the most simplest sense, 01:02:00.300 |
from either Jesus Christ, the apostles, et cetera. 01:02:03.300 |
And the thing about it is, you guys have probably felt it. 01:02:10.300 |
Let's say you're stuck in, like, Matthew 5 through 7, 01:02:12.300 |
and you forget the fact that this is actually a story, 01:02:21.300 |
is to remember that this is complementary testimony, okay? 01:02:36.300 |
It's because sometimes when people look at the Gospels, 01:02:40.300 |
they come at it with different expectations, right? 01:02:46.300 |
you just wish that Jesus said more in His sermon 01:02:53.300 |
to give us more about all this kind of stuff. 01:03:08.300 |
is to expect the Gospels to be like courtroom testimony. 01:03:14.300 |
You guys have heard of, like, oh, the Gospels, 01:03:23.300 |
And it's like, no, we're saying that these are more like, 01:03:32.300 |
Because the Gospels primarily are giving the story of Christ 01:03:37.300 |
as the good news of the Gospel to all, right? 01:04:01.300 |
How come the Gospels don't hold to chronology? 01:04:11.300 |
I wouldn't read the Gospels like that either. 01:04:14.300 |
Because you thought you could be the prosecutor 01:04:24.300 |
a focused thematic presentation of the good news. 01:04:34.300 |
the genre of a text is because there are people 01:04:48.300 |
we're gonna do a little bit of introduction, okay? 01:04:51.300 |
So if you take a class on New Testament introduction, 01:04:58.300 |
what are some of the ways the author is speaking, et cetera, 01:05:10.300 |
sometimes, let's say you're doing your devotions 01:05:12.300 |
and you do your devotions where it's kind of like 01:05:16.300 |
of the Old Testament, one chapter of the New, 01:05:20.300 |
that's great because you're getting through the Bible. 01:05:23.300 |
But at certain moments, you actually wanna sit 01:05:33.300 |
He wants you to actually come to a certain conclusion 01:05:38.300 |
Sometimes he wants you to feel the movement of the story 01:05:47.300 |
it moves really fast into the early portions of his life, 01:05:57.300 |
and it goes slow through the last week of his suffering. 01:06:05.300 |
the author is highlighting Jesus as the Messiah 01:06:20.300 |
The author, actually, a lot of people believe 01:06:22.300 |
that it's primarily written to a Jewish audience, 01:06:24.300 |
in a sense, because there are so many references 01:06:27.300 |
to Old Testament names, Old Testament prophecies, 01:06:38.300 |
this is the fulfillment of the Messianic promise. 01:06:44.300 |
the stuff that we just like blow past really fast, 01:07:08.300 |
But those of you guys who have studied Matthew, 01:07:12.300 |
by way of the discourse, the teachings of Christ, 01:07:17.300 |
For example, the huge chunk at the early onset, 01:07:29.300 |
So here, the reason why I'm saying this stuff 01:07:33.300 |
is because when we want to appreciate our text, 01:08:15.300 |
But then, actually, you look at every other guess 01:08:38.300 |
So again, knowing that this book has this kind 01:08:58.300 |
And you will see that when you do full read-throughs, 01:09:05.300 |
And again, as just kind of an encouragement to you, 01:09:16.300 |
and you're reading the entirety of the gospel 01:09:18.300 |
in one sitting, sometimes you get to Jesus' crucifixion 01:09:27.300 |
But imagine if you're just reading one chapter a day, 01:09:32.300 |
you just chop that up, and then you all of a sudden 01:09:46.300 |
all the things that you know of good stories, 01:10:24.300 |
He looks to His disciples, and He has a teaching dialogue. 01:10:30.300 |
And then from that, we have various teachings, 01:10:38.300 |
but also good practice, which is we have to learn 01:10:42.300 |
to draw biblical principles from narrative texts. 01:10:56.300 |
If you guys are frantically trying to take this down, 01:10:59.300 |
reminder, we're gonna send the PowerPoint to you, 01:11:03.300 |
It's kind of repetitive, but keep this in mind 01:11:10.300 |
how did the original audience take this, okay? 01:11:26.300 |
And when Apostle Peter says, "You're the Christ," 01:11:31.300 |
we have to be thinking of from the perspective 01:11:36.300 |
Because for them, they have been in such a tradition. 01:11:43.300 |
and we recognize in one part how it should be, 01:11:47.300 |
is they should be elated if Apostle Peter says, 01:12:07.300 |
And it helps us appreciate the text so much more. 01:12:15.300 |
And there's gotta be some interesting thought 01:12:42.300 |
Number three, what are the theological principles 01:12:48.300 |
there is typically an emphatic point from the author. 01:12:56.300 |
And then, how should individual Christians today 01:13:09.300 |
So, I just walked through this with you guys, 01:13:15.300 |
Here's my encouragement to you for your Bible study. 01:13:25.300 |
you do that passage for devotions the whole week, 01:13:32.300 |
You read the small portion of Jesus' question, 01:13:42.300 |
You sing it every time you come to church, right? 01:13:54.300 |
And then you start thinking through the response 01:14:16.300 |
All right, so let's get into some of the nitty-gritties 01:14:23.300 |
In thinking about drawing theological principles, 01:14:36.300 |
when the Bible has implied biblical principles, 01:14:40.300 |
they are valid insofar as the rest of Scripture affirms it. 01:14:46.300 |
So that's why we're gonna do drawing biblical principles 01:14:52.300 |
and then confirming it with cross-referencing 01:15:01.300 |
"Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, 01:15:07.300 |
"And they said, 'Well, some say John the Baptist 01:15:10.300 |
"'and others Elijah, but still others Jeremiah 01:15:48.300 |
by way of this kind of questioning and prying. 01:15:59.300 |
from comparing and contrasting the two questions. 01:16:06.300 |
that at first, He wants to know what people are saying 01:16:12.300 |
And then in the second question, in verse 15, 01:16:18.300 |
Okay, I hope that you guys made that observation, right? 01:16:37.300 |
And then later, He says, "But who do you say I am?" 01:16:43.300 |
that Jesus is already giving us a theological equation. 01:17:09.300 |
And then, within the final comparison I want to make, 01:17:13.300 |
it is the comparing and contrast between the answers. 01:17:23.300 |
Again, I hope you guys ask the question, "Why? 01:17:28.300 |
You know, "Why did the disciples guess these prophets?" 01:17:34.300 |
remember, Jesus was, if you kind of picture the scene, 01:17:45.300 |
"You're the Christ, the Son of the living God," right? 01:17:51.300 |
I picture it as quite the dramatic scene, okay? 01:17:56.300 |
Jesus revealing Himself, revealing His powers. 01:17:59.300 |
And as you know, as you walk through the Gospel, 01:18:06.300 |
And when He meets, like, the woman at the well, 01:18:15.300 |
And then Jesus is like, "Blessed are you, Peter!" 01:18:37.300 |
because Jesus is using it clearly as a teaching moment. 01:18:51.300 |
principles of our practice, principles of doctrine. 01:18:55.300 |
And when Jesus asks, "What do you people say?" 01:19:13.300 |
And we've been saying it so long here at Brain, 01:19:17.300 |
who have convictions you have to have your own? 01:19:24.300 |
"Stop having so much confidence in your heritage 01:19:29.300 |
"because you're part of this Jewish sect," right? 01:20:08.300 |
And that's so important for us to understand. 01:20:15.300 |
This conviction is the conviction of good news. 01:20:17.300 |
The focus on the identity of Christ is huge here. 01:20:22.300 |
The emphatic point of this story is the confession, right? 01:20:34.300 |
I can't think of any more off the top of my head. 01:20:41.300 |
They've been waiting for this Messiah all their lives, 01:20:52.300 |
So to them, the objective identity of Jesus Christ, 01:21:04.300 |
There's nothing that's gonna even come close. 01:21:07.300 |
I mean, you have various theological doctrines 01:21:24.300 |
And the previous week, we talked about spiritual gifts. 01:21:29.300 |
to this highest doctrine, who is Jesus Christ, okay? 01:21:48.300 |
we recognize that to Jesus, if somebody were to say, 01:22:07.300 |
but all of them combined are inferior to Christ. 01:22:13.300 |
And there's this question and point for us to take. 01:22:18.300 |
that it's definitive that he is the anointed one, 01:22:23.300 |
That he is the Messiah, and he's the exclusive Messiah. 01:23:05.300 |
for us, we've been learning that in good exegesis, 01:23:18.300 |
Then we're gonna look at the book's context as a whole 01:23:25.300 |
We're gonna look at the sentence and its structure. 01:23:40.300 |
I remember a long time ago listening to a sermon. 01:23:58.300 |
He was preaching the gospel and he was looking so seriously. 01:24:20.300 |
He said, "All you have to do is change one word." 01:24:44.300 |
that I surrender to and you need to too, right? 01:24:51.300 |
and all of a sudden the whole world is your enemy. 01:25:11.300 |
and I put myself underneath him, you have to too 01:25:17.300 |
The exclusivity of this statement is quite profound. 01:25:24.300 |
that when I build my sermon, this is what I do. 01:25:33.300 |
and is Jesus, what is he doing with his questions 01:25:43.300 |
And then it's like the revelation of God is this. 01:25:48.300 |
And once I've come to some of those conclusions, 01:25:59.300 |
because great sermons come with three points. 01:26:03.300 |
have you made the objective confession about Christ? 01:26:09.300 |
There is no subjective, like, who is Jesus to me? 01:26:13.300 |
and you want to say something different and profound, 01:26:17.300 |
there's just one objective identity of the Son of Man. 01:26:20.300 |
But what's more, have you made a personal confession 01:26:27.300 |
have you made such a loyal, exclusive confession? 01:26:44.300 |
Yes, even if your parents worship ancestors, they're wrong. 01:26:57.300 |
because you have made the exclusive confession 01:27:22.300 |
"for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. 01:27:43.300 |
which means set him apart completely as holy. 01:28:15.300 |
I mean, just as a quick meditation thought for you, 01:28:17.300 |
if one of our youth group students came over to you 01:28:19.300 |
and was like, "Dude, we use that term all the time." 01:28:42.300 |
who is the yes and the amen to the promises of old. 01:28:51.300 |
Sorry, I'm doing stuff a little out of order here. 01:29:11.300 |
"and a kingdom that all the peoples and nations, 01:29:21.300 |
"And His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed." 01:29:32.300 |
"And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, 01:29:40.300 |
"And He will send forth His angels with the great trumpet, 01:29:43.300 |
"and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, 01:29:53.300 |
That title is so packed with meaning, you know? 01:30:13.300 |
I apologize, to go through the rest of the text, 01:30:26.300 |
and then blessing Peter, giving him authority. 01:30:29.300 |
And then it moves to Peter getting rocked, okay? 01:30:41.300 |
Peter getting like, "But you're my bro, you know? 01:30:56.300 |
And the interpretive difficulty that is really, really common, 01:31:00.300 |
is that there are a lot of people within that middle portion. 01:31:09.300 |
when Jesus says, "I say to you that you are Peter," 01:31:18.300 |
And then Jesus is like, "And you're Peter," you know? 01:31:28.300 |
like I read in between the lines and imagine the scene, 01:31:35.300 |
"And upon this rock I'll build my church," okay? 01:31:39.300 |
So, if you guys either looked at a study Bible, 01:31:45.300 |
or you guys just looked at your, like, reference columns, 01:31:48.300 |
for those of you guys who have references in there, 01:31:50.300 |
they'll probably have a number, and it'll say, 01:32:01.300 |
and the good student of the Bible is asking, "What?" 01:32:03.300 |
I'm not gonna be able to expound on it for you today, 01:32:11.300 |
That was his original name, Simon, son of Jonah, okay? 01:32:15.300 |
But it was Jesus in John, I believe, like 114, 01:32:30.300 |
And then it says, "Upon this rock, I'll build my church." 01:32:33.300 |
And so now we have an interpretive difficulty, 01:32:36.300 |
where a lot of people believe that Peter has the blessing 01:32:39.300 |
of being the foundation, or at least the bedrock, 01:32:44.300 |
And then the extreme version of that is the Pope, okay? 01:32:49.300 |
Catholics believe this is an evidence of the fact that 01:32:56.300 |
was the first Pope and was given the undue authority 01:33:01.300 |
in which he is going to be the person who is delineating 01:33:06.300 |
where to draw the lines of truth and falsehood, 01:33:09.300 |
and where to draw the lines of salvation, okay? 01:33:12.300 |
So the interpretive conclusions are pretty simple 01:33:20.300 |
And yes, he says, "Upon the rock, Jesus will build," 01:33:25.300 |
And the other question is, does this text support the idea 01:33:28.300 |
that Jesus will use Peter to build his church 01:33:35.300 |
It's not incorrect to be like, "Wait a minute. 01:33:39.300 |
"I remember reading that the church is founded 01:33:53.300 |
So going back here, remember the hermeneutical rule 01:33:59.300 |
and before we look at other pastors' sermons, 01:34:04.300 |
we have to allow Scripture to interpret Scripture. 01:34:06.300 |
Scripture is the best interpretation of Scripture, 01:34:09.300 |
and because Scripture was meant to complement, 01:34:12.300 |
we're gonna find that the Scriptures actually do 01:34:17.300 |
tend to clarify for us these interpretive difficulties. 01:34:23.300 |
in 1 Corinthians chapter three, verse 10 and 11, 01:34:28.300 |
"According to the grace of God which is given to me 01:34:30.300 |
"like a wise master builder, I laid a foundation, 01:34:36.300 |
"But each man must be careful how he builds on it, 01:34:39.300 |
"for no man can lay a foundation other than the one 01:34:42.300 |
"which is laid, which is Jesus Christ," okay? 01:34:47.300 |
So Scripture is like ridiculously clear in this passage, 01:34:51.300 |
and Apostle Paul is explaining the very thing 01:35:03.300 |
we know that Christ is everything in the church. 01:35:07.300 |
"He put all things in subjection under His feet 01:35:09.300 |
"and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 01:35:24.300 |
He is, okay, He is going to be the sustainer, 01:35:34.300 |
Christ is the pinnacle foundation of the church. 01:35:43.300 |
Well, just by reading of it, it's very interesting 01:35:47.300 |
He says, "You are Peter," which, yes, He is blessed 01:35:50.300 |
because He's been given the grace of revelation. 01:35:53.300 |
And then, in the Greek, He says, "You are Peter," 01:36:17.300 |
"and the identity that you have now confessed," 01:36:20.300 |
or He can straight be pointing to Himself, right? 01:36:24.300 |
But it would be kind of essentially one and the same thing. 01:36:36.300 |
is going to purely be the identity of Christ. 01:36:45.300 |
have tried to make the church something else. 01:37:14.300 |
People have tried to use the church for political movement. 01:37:26.300 |
of whatever it may be is on the agenda of our heart. 01:37:35.300 |
And praise God, it's none of those other things 01:37:37.300 |
which are our agenda, but our hope for unity, 01:37:44.300 |
is the foundation and He never changes, amen? 01:37:56.300 |
In moments like this when You're teaching Your disciples, 01:38:04.300 |
And we know from Scripture, Lord, You have said 01:38:11.300 |
and You show them just how important it is for us 01:38:26.300 |
So we thank You and I pray that that would impact us. 01:38:29.300 |
It would cause us to appreciate You more and more 01:38:34.300 |
God, we again want to thank You for this Bible study 01:38:40.300 |
Okay, so next week the study is going to be parables 01:38:52.300 |
And one of the most commonly misinterpreted genres 01:38:59.300 |
So please study Luke chapter 12, verse 13 through 21. 01:39:09.300 |
is called The Sufficiency and Clarity of Scripture 01:39:12.300 |
and it's just a one-pager, one article, okay? 01:39:23.300 |
Please go ahead and have your discussion now.