An Introduction to Christian Doctrine Bible Study

0:00 I want to pause for a moment. We prayed at the 1130 service and Kane Hope Felder, professor of biblical studies at Howard University, has passed and gone home to be with the Lord. Some of you may remember Dr. Felder when I first came, very shortly after my first coming here, our Saturday Bible studies in January on the African presence in the Bible. Dr. Felder came and led us for all three of those. He is a renowned voice and force that opened the door in biblical studies and new ways that students have been blessed for. There are hundreds of seminarians who are better in their handling of the word of God because of Cain Hope Felder. He broke down doors of institutional and scholarly racism with his study of blacks in the Bible and liberation theology. And so I'm going to pause for a moment and just ask that you would bow with me as we thank the Lord for the life of the Reverend Dr. Cain Hope Felder.

1:08 Lord, I thank you for one whose life you use to touch hundreds of other lives, including myself, who did it not primarily from the pulpit, but with pen and paper. As he taught in classrooms and broadened minds and understanding. Lord, I thank you for the life of Dr. Cain Hope Felder and the legacy that he leaves. I pray for his family and all those who knew him personally and mourn and grieve at this moment. Would you comfort them as they walk through the valley of the shadow of death? And may his scholarship live long after his life has ended. In Jesus' name we do pray. Amen. Thank you, Mom. Is that the small one? Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it.

2:00 We're good. We're good. All right, well, welcome, everyone. We are getting ready to embark on what I believe is going to be a powerful and prayerfully productive journey over the next few weeks from now, probably all the way up until Thanksgiving, where then we'll make a little shift to get into the holiday season, depending on where we are in this series. As I was in prayer and as Dr. Judy and I were discussing, we try to balance out our Bible studies from some relevant life issues to some more fun-loving to study of character or books. And now we're entering a season to deal with Christian doctrine. So for the next two Tuesdays, we're going to spend some time kind of laying a foundation tonight and next Tuesday about exactly what we mean by Christian doctrine, why this study is important, why I hope and pray it will be a blessing to you. And then we'll get into some actual subject matter that I pray will lead to some great discussion and opportunity to learn and to grow.

3:05 So I'll begin with the question. When you hear the term doctrine, what comes to mind? And please feel free to just speak loudly. For those who are watching online, I'll try to repeat so that you can hear as well. When you hear the word doctrine, what jumps up into your mind? Whether it's something you've heard, whether you're understanding. Anyone at all? Information.

3:29 Precepts. Influencing. Influencing. Okay. Anyone else, when you hear the word doctrine, anything come to mind? Principles. Rules. Governing. Rituals. Culture. Okay.

3:52 Huh? Guidelines. Yeah. Doctrine, so whatever we're hearing, there's this commonality around something that restrains, right? That everyone has said something that's almost discipline, ritual, guideline, governing. The teaching, the concept is something that encloses and keeps us in the right line, doctrine. I was watching television early one Sunday morning. My ritual routine is to get up about 4.30 on Sundays to get ready to come to church. and was watching a broadcast of a church, I think down in the Lynchburg area, and the advertisement for the church was, we are a doctrine-less church. If you're looking for a church without doctrine, this is the church you're looking for.

4:48 And I said to myself then why this was so necessary, because if they think that's a good thing, they're highly misled. To say that we are a church without doctrine is very dangerous. Now, the reason they said that, though I understand, is that doctrine has some real negative associations with it. When you hear the word doctrine, you shouted out a term. What was it? Influencing. So when some people hear doctrine, it's sometimes connected to brainwashing. This influencing. Anyone else can tell me why you think doctrine has negative associations? Or have you heard the term doctrine used in a negative light, either in conversation with others or in your own understanding? Why does doctrine have some negativity attached to it? It implies rigid, right? Yeah, like this set, again, this idea of constraining.

5:45 Yeah. It also excludes. It excludes. It has the association of being exclusionary. Because when we get to the core of it, we're going to see it doesn't at all. But the term seems to be exclude, brainwashing, rigid, and, you know, traditional, old, right? And this church is one of those contemporary churches that very different kind of set up, no white collars, no communion table, no choir. So if you're looking for something doctrineless, i.e. not old, not rigid, we're flexible in here. The Holy Spirit just kind of guides us. Then this is the kind of church for you. Anyone else why doctrine is negative? Say again? Goes against popular rules, right? Sometimes it's associated with the removal of free will.

6:45 And that's that battle with influencing and brainwashing. I'm a free individual. I ought to be able to think as I want to think and believe as I want to believe, not be told what I ought to believe and what I ought to think. So I'm prayerful that at the end of these few weeks of us studying together that we will have a very different understanding of what doctrine really is and how one goes about establishing doctrine and the limitations of it as well. So prayerfully, we'll make that journey. Well, let's begin with that question, what is doctrine? This is where we begin our journey. For those who are new with us, please know that the Bible study slides are always put up online on tomorrow. So if there's something you don't catch, don't feel like you've got to write it down. This isn't a class or a course. There's no exam at the end. You don't have to take notes.

7:37 is more about understanding. Unless, of course, you're at MIT, then you've got to memorize this because you're going to be quizzed. What is doctrine? Well, let's start with the root of the word, right? Doctrine has a Latin root from the verb docere, which you know means to teach. A cognate of that word is the word doctor, which in Latin literally means teacher. That in Latin, doctor is not physician, doctor is teacher, which is why when you get your PhD, D, the D is for doctorate. You know, I'm on that thing, Antonio. That you're now a doctor, philosophy, you're a teacher, not necessarily a physician. And a cognitive course of that is doctrina, which means teachings. So the root of the word is the verb to teach, which is connected to the word teacher, which of course is connected to teachings. That whatever doctrine is at its core, it has something to do with teachings.

8:34 If you were to look it up in English for a definition, you'd probably find out, and someone said this earlier about a system of teachings, that the doctrine is a body or system of teachings relating to a particular subject. That's all it is. A set body of teachings that are around a general subject. So you can have mathematical doctrine around geometry. You can have philosophical doctrine. You can have doctrines around any subject matter. You can have a doctrine around football. We don't use that term, but if all we're talking about is a system of teachings relating to a particular subject, then any subject you have, you can define the teaching of it around the word doctrine. But when we hear the word doctrine, more often than not, it's never around any other subject matter than religion. Right?

9:29 Doctrine is almost exclusively used for religious subject matter. But technically, it can refer to any subject at all, what one teaches about it. So I'm teaching my son right now, both of my boys, what it means to be a man. Proper, what I think principles about being a man. Proper principles about being a man. How to look someone in the eye when you shake their hand. Don't put your head down. That's not what a man does. teaching them proper things by going to the bathroom. You never stand next to another man at a urinal. Ladies, you don't know that, but that's man teaching. You wait. We don't stand next to each other. I'm teaching them. So those are all doctrines around manhood, right, that I'm teaching them. Technically, I'm giving them teachings about manhood. For us, though, more often we put a God concept to it, a religion, of theological definition.

10:27 And in that concept and in that vein, doctrine are statements of the most fundamental beliefs of Christianity regarding the nature of God and God's relationship with humanity. We're going to lay that as a foundation upon which we build our definition, that fundamental statements of belief about Christianity that involve the nature of God and God's relationship with humanity. Let's break that down for a little bit. One, the term doctrine is almost exclusively used with Christian language and Christian religion and faith. You don't find too many uses of the word doctrine when you get into Islam or Judaism or Buddhism or other world religions. Doctrine almost always has a connotation of being Christian. It has something to do with our beliefs, which is why I think there's oftentimes some pushback, because you don't get to tell me what to believe.

11:23 We live in a time in 2019 where most people ascribe to the freedom to you to believe whatever you want to believe. As opposed to saying, here's a set of beliefs that you have to accept. Many of us walk with the understanding that I get to choose what I believe and no one gets to force that on me. That forcing belief is influencing and brainwashing. And because we believe in personal freedom, that's part of the jail Christian work ethic, that's part of what we think are the founding principles of American society, we believe in the choice. And so there is that pushback with free will when one deals with this because it's about belief. It's really about the nature of God and God's relationship with humanity. And so when we start laying the foundation for doctrine, I want you to know that the study of doctrine is secondly called theology.

12:20 That's what theology is. It's the study of the set of beliefs that are fundamental to Christianity about God and God's relationship with humanity. Theology, of course, is the study of God. Therefore, doctrine deals ultimately with truths about God. That when we start using the word doctrine, we're delving into the realm of what are truths about God. Does anyone see a problem already with that last part? Truths about God. What should be problematic about that? Say again. It implies that some things could be false about God. That's correct. Some things could. Who's defining what the truths are? There's the rub.

13:18 Right? The question is, and this is a philosophical question that becomes theological, but the philosophical question that we have to wrestle with at all stages is, what is truth and who gets to define that? So remember when Jesus is in conversation with Pilate, right before his crucifixion, Jesus argued for truth, and Pilate's response to Jesus is, what is truth? It's an age-old question that humanity has always wrestled with, especially those in authority. He looks at Jesus, well, what is truth? Because truth seems to fluctuate from generation and culture and time. What's true for some may not be true for others, and who gets determined? And most ethical and most, I want to use the most ethical, not political, most ethical and moral divides around what you define as truth and what I define as truth, right? So I may say that my truth is that women are equal to men, and there's some on the other side who said that's not true. For them, there's a hierarchy established by God himself in the establishment and creation of humanity, and so that's not truth, and there's going to be a divide there, and sometimes those divides turn into conflict because the core of most conflict is that we have a different understanding of what's true and what we hold to be true.

14:45 So if we're going to start talking about dealing with truth of God, there's some scriptures we need to look up. It's about to turn into Bible study, right? You're going to need a Bible right now. I'm giving you heads up. You're going to need a Bible. We've got a lot of Bible to go through. Just as we begin to wrestle with understanding truth about God, what I want to do is go through these passages, not give too much commentary, but then at the end ask you what commonality did you hear? Does that make sense? So we're just going to read a bunch of passages. I'm going to ask you to listen for anything common you hear, even if you only hear between two passages. I'm not saying there's something common in all seven or eight, but there are some common themes I hope you catch up on, and I want us to look at those.

15:37 So let's start with Job. Job chapter 11. Verse 7 through 9. In way of context, you know that the bulk of the book of Job is Job having an argument with three people, right? Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. And their argument, make sure you catch this, their argument is about the nature of God. because we know Job opens with Job struggling, suffering, and losing everything. His friends come. Now, make sure you see this. This is real important about Job. His friends come, and their argument to Job is the only reason God would allow you to suffer like that is that you've done something because God is too just.

16:39 God would not allow the righteous to suffer, even though Job swears he's innocent. So for the bulk of the book of Job, Job is wrestling with three people who think they know the truth of God more than Job does. And Paul, let me tell you, you've got to be careful of wasting chapters of your life wrestling with people who really don't understand what God's doing with you. 40 chapters of his life are wasted with folk who really don't know what God is up to. So watch what Zophar says to him. Just listen at the argument.

17:20 Verse 7. Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than heavens. What can you do? Deeper than Sheol. What can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth and broader than the seas.

17:44 Hang out there for a moment. Let's tie that in with Isaiah. To the right a little bit, Isaiah 55. passage that some of you may be familiar with. I wrote down 8 and 9, but I actually want to begin in 6. Isaiah 55, I want to begin in verse 6. We're talking about trying to discover and discern truth about God.

18:55 Amos. To the right a little bit more. Chapter three. Amos chapter 3, verse 7. Surely the Lord does nothing unless he reveals his secret to his servants, the prophets. Surely the Lord does nothing unless he reveals his secret to his servant, the prophets.

19:39 Matthew. Chapter 13. Matthew 13, 10 and 11.

20:39 Let's stay chronological. Let's go to Romans, which will be the next one. Romans 11. Romans 11, 33 through 36. Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become his counselor? Or who has first given to him? And it shall be repaid to him. For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen.

21:38 First Corinthians. Chapter 4. Verse 1. Let a man so consider us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. We are servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

22:17 Colossians chapter 1. I'm actually going to start in verse 24, if that's okay, just because the sentence begins there. First, Colossians chapter 1, verse 24.

23:35 We've read a lot of passages, and some of them may have been very easy to discern. Some may just have a few words. What words do you continue to hear, or did you hear repeatedly, or what struck out to you? Mysteries. Let's write that down, right? We saw that a whole bunch. When we deal with God, we're dealing with what? Mysteries. Any other words pop out? Stewards. Stewards. Secrets. Earl, what does it mean to be a steward of something? To be a caretaker. A steward's a manager, right? In a 2019 translation, stewards are managers. So we are managers of mystery.

24:19 Anything else pop out as a common theme, thought, word? Unsearchable. Unsearchable. Just hand up here. Yes, my sister. There's some people who believe they had a direct understanding of God's nature, God's thought, God's will, and others were not. There's this division, seemingly, between knowing and not knowing. All right. Yep. Yes. Yes. We cannot put God in a box. Now, I totally agree with you. Based upon what we read, what made you say that? What did you hear that made you say that?

25:03 I don't think you're wrong. I just want to push you why. Because I think sometimes we think we know what we want based on what we believe. So sometimes we think we know based on what we believe, but is it possible for us to be wrong? Definitely. Have you ever had an experience where you talk to someone who was dead convicted about a truth of God that you could not receive?

25:28 That you said to yourself, she wrong. Right? And I know she believe it. You know, I don't know where she got that, who she heard that from. but that ain't how God works. Right? Division of truth. All right. Okay. Any other common themes pop out? Hmm? Some of the scriptures show the promise of God. He reveals himself to us individually. There was a key word that I was hoping someone picked up, self-revelation. Remember this, it has been given to you. You didn't earn it, you didn't find it, you didn't discover it. It was given to know these mysteries. So one of the things I want to put up about knowing truth about God that's important for Howard John, and I haven't always been this way. You know, I grew up old school Baptist.

26:32 Everything I was told to believe, I believed. I memorized the BTU manual. You know, I learned, you know, having been led as we believe by the Spirit of God to see Lord Jesus Christ our Savior and our profession of our faith, we do now in the presence of angels and assemble this solemnly in the covenant of one another as one body in Christ. Y'all remember that old Baptist government that was written on the wall? And you remember that part that said we abstained from the sale and use of intoxicating drinks and beverage? And a whole lot of folk got quiet right there. Wait, wait, wait, wait. I swallowed the whole kit and caboodle.

27:06 And as I have grown in personhood and in discipleship, there's some things that I've landed on that are truth for me. Not necessarily pushing this on you. One is that God is not human. And although we would love God to be human and we love Israel Houghton, I am a friend of God, he calls me friend. God is not human. What we do see is that God is mystery, but not a mystery that can't be known.

27:40 God has mysterious ways that can be known, but they can only be known through God's own self-revelation. That God chooses to allow certain parts of God's self to be known to us. God chooses to allow God's will for your life to be known to you. You cannot force any understanding of God. You can't force a knowledge of God. You don't find things out about God, right? This whole, I found the Lord, you didn't find the Lord. The Lord chose to make himself known to you, right? And the only way the Bible's clear, and I think even life has proven, that there are things of God that can be known, but only because God decides to allow us to know them. Because his ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are unsearchable. He is a mystery. That is repeatedly shown to us in scripture.

28:35 That God is mystery. Another thing that has become truth for me is that God's fullness always outweighs humanity's comprehension. that the fullness of God can never be comprehended in humanity.

28:56 God, by definition, has to be bigger than your ability to understand. Otherwise, God is a subject. God is not a book you can read and master. God is so much bigger than our mind can ever comprehend. I get in a whole lot of trouble when I say God is bigger than a religion.

29:27 God's definitely bigger than the church. God's definitely bigger than the preacher. But sometimes our trouble is when we put God in boxes, including ones we label Baptist and Christian. And if you think some of the world's greatest tensions are by people who don't like you trying to put God in a box that's different than theirs. So for me, one of the most dangerous but yet silent and repeated sins of the church is not allowing for there to be any mystery with God. to me the problem with Job's friends, I'll get to that in a minute, I'll get to that in a minute.

30:22 Not allowing there to be any mystery that we have to have certainty all the time. And certainty is not walking by faith. Faith by definition is the choice to believe when I don't fully understand. When I don't fully know that we ascribe these categories to God without any flexibility or even allowing for the possibility for God to be bigger than the box you put God in. That discipline, that thought, that theology. It may be true, but it can't be all that God is. Because if all that God is fits in what you understand, that's not God. Amen. Hear me. This is Howard John. You have the right to disagree at any other Bible study you go to.

31:17 God has to be bigger than all that I can understand. Has to be. God has to be bigger than my language to describe. My language has to fail. There's some things about God I can't even begin to describe with human language. God's got to be bigger. And to me, one of the greatest sins of the church is to convince us that we can have absolute certainty about everything that deals with God. God is not a subject that can be mastered. God is a love and a power and a reign and a rule that can be known but never mastered. You never get a PhD in God. Right?

32:10 Never. Turn with me real quick, Job 42. So remember what I told you Job was about, right? Everybody remember what we said Job was about in the beginning of this? Job is about this argument between Job and his friends over who's right about God. I want to read Job 42 for you. It's the last chapter. Job 42, beginning in verse 1.

33:17 Job has come to the place of saying to the Lord, because remember, here's what happens. Everybody lies up to me. Here's what happens. Job is arguing with his friends. His friends are dead set that he's done something wrong. He's dead set that he hasn't. And he allows his friends to turn him into them. Watch me. The friends think they're absolutely certain about God only punishes the wicked. Job is absolutely certain that's not the case. God also punishes the righteous. And so Job demands to come to God to basically have God stand on his side and show his friends he was right. The same way the friends were trying to do with Job, Job does with God. God, show up and give an account for yourself because you're not acting as I believe you should act.

34:09 And now Job is repenting at the end because the Lord showed up. And remember, this is so beautiful, you all. When the Lord shows up and Job is demanding an answer, God says, I will answer your question if you answer 77 of mine.

34:32 The Lord asks Job 77 questions that Job cannot answer. Now, if you've got any biblical sense, you should know that number 77 has some real significance. Right? It's meant to show how much you really don't know. So God steps back, says, Job, you want to know why this happened to you? Answer this from me. How did the sun get up there? When's the weather going to change? What direction is the wind blowing in? What time is the sun going to rise tomorrow? Ask them all these questions to prove one thing. I am bigger than your ability to understand. So Job comes back in this whole first few verses is Job repenting and says, You showed me things too wonderful for me. Things I could not understand. I don't understand everything about you, God. So now that God has dealt with Job, watch what happens in verse number seven. You got it?

35:27 It gets real good. And so it was, after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken of me what is right as my servant Job has. You've not spoken of me. Now, remember the friends were dead set that they said that God would never punish the righteous. And God comes back and says, my problem is with y'all because you haven't said what was right. What did they say that wasn't right? I want to see if you've been listening to me. What did the friends say about God that wasn't right? He only punishes the wicked. No. what they said that was not right was that God can only do this that we are certain we know this about God and the same way God has just dealt with Job and Job has repented for believing that he knew everything about God now God turns to the friends and said what you didn't say that was right was that I'm bigger than your ability to understand you put me in a box and that was wrong.

36:43 God's issue in Job with Job and his friends is that I want all y'all to know, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and Job, you can't figure me out. I'm too big. Now, contextual, since this is Bible study, I need you to understand something about the book of Job. Because a lot of times we read it and people get really wrapped up in the issues that go on in Job and this issue of theodicy. We'll talk about it in a minute, why bad things happen to good people. You need to know the timing of the writing of the book of Job. Israel goes into exile. They're conquered by the Babylonians. The southern kingdom is destroyed. For those who went to Israel with us or have been, you can still see the ruins of that destruction.

37:37 The city's destroyed. The cream of the crop from Israel is sent into Babylon. They live there in exile. And what is possibly on their mind? Why? Why would God let this happen to us? As a matter of fact, it bothers them so much, the psalmist in Psalm 139 was writing and said that they began to write a new song, and the song said, how can we sing to God over here? How can we sing praises of God after God let this happen to us? so that's what they're dealing with now what was the only answer the children of israel got while they're in exile as to why god let this happen there were prophets who told them why this happened what was the step back from what did the prophets of god tell the people of israel who were wondering why god would let something like this happen to the righteous what answer did they hear from the prophets because you messed up.

38:47 It's real simple. Read Jeremiah. Jeremiah is real clear. The Lord said, y'all going to pay for this, right? I'm about tired of y'all, right? I've given you chance after chance. I'm done, right? I'm giving you a warning. So Israel comes out of exile, and the only thing in their mind is that we have a God who punishes the unrighteous. and that's when the book of Job is written. The book of Job, scholars argue, is written to combat everything the prophets said because the prophets left the people with an understanding of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, that the only reason this happened to you is because you disobeyed God, and so Job's whole struggle is meant to teach the whole nation that you can't figure God out like that, that God is bigger.

39:46 So watch this. Whether you accept or deny the reality of Job, here's the bottom line. There's a man who goes through a struggle whose whole life is meant to teach a whole nation something about God they didn't understand. God uses one man's life to teach a whole nation. are you willing to be a Job?

40:09 Are you willing to allow the Lord to take you through personal struggle and strain so that someone else can learn something about God? Ken. Like, Lord, no. Yeah, Ken. Are we saying that the prophets are wrong? And if we are, what do we do with Moses in Deuteronomy? He says, hey, this is going to happen to you if you do these things. So one, no, we're not saying the prophets are wrong. It's this whole thing. you can know pieces of God and you can be right. The problem is putting a hard stop and saying, and that's the only thing. So the whole experience is meant to show the prophets were right. You do pay for disobeying God, but that's not all that God is. Because they said that's the only way it could.

41:06 So the danger for me in religion is that we want to set these hard lines and say this is the only way God can be. And not be open to the fact that God might be doing something absolutely different than what you said. As much as you hate that, as much as it may contradict what your preacher said, as much as it may contradict how you read your Bible, God may be bigger.

41:28 And most of the times we don't like that. I like a God who stays in the box I put him in. So when we're dealing with these truths about God, a couple questions. How do we know what we say we know to be true about God, and how certain can we be that we are correct? I want to wrestle with the question for a little bit. So seminarians, and Marcia is working on her D-man. So are you at the writing stage yet? You're going to find this out. So with the D-man, the doctor of ministry, and you get the degree, here's the fundamental question you're going to be asked in your defense. How do you know what you say you know? So in your D-man, you're going to write, and here's going to be your thesis. and you're going to say, this is what I believe, and they're going to ask you fundamentally, how do you know that to be true?

42:26 How do you know what you say, which is why the D-men requires so much statistics and interviews and analysis because you're going to have data to prove it. It's different than the PhD. You've got to prove that you have a right to say what you just said. How do we have the right to say what we say about God? How do we know what we say about God is true and how certain are we that we can be correct? hopefully by now, if I ask you, do you believe you can say something with 100% assurance about God, then maybe only one of two of you will raise your hand. I hope I've left some of you in the 98%. Like, I'm about 98% sure, but I'm going to give God 2% space to be bigger, right? Like, if I can just get you off of 100, I've done my job tonight, right? All right. All right. Maybe.

43:17 Maybe. The Lord's bigger. Now, I will say this before I get emails and before people watch me online, because I start getting crucified on social media these days. The one thing I'm going to say for certain that I'm going to stand on 100% with is that Christ was God who died on the cross and rose again. Right? Now, I'm going to say that. And if I'm wrong on that, then I'm just going to go to hell voluntarily. Right? But I'm standing on that. That is the core. And Earl, there's some who would say, and after that, all bets are off. Right? If we can agree there, then we're fine. And after that, all bets are off.

44:02 Now, we don't like that. That's not comfortable. We like more assurance than that. Like, we want 100% assurance is great. But we don't get that. We don't get that in too much. Now, if you'll be honest about it. So if we're asking how do we know, so the question they're going to ask you in a minute is show us the data, show us the source that backs up your claim. What are the sources of God's self-revelation to humanity? Because remember, God chooses. So one of the questions we've got to ask is, well, if you can only know truth that God seeks to reveal of God's own self, which ways or how does God reveal God's self? How do I know God? How can I say that I believe this to be true because I believe this is how God revealed God's self?

44:57 In what ways does God choose to reveal God's self? And for many of us, that could be a whole plethora of different answers. You could say God reveals himself to you through young and the restless. I mean, you know, it... In what ways? So what I want to share with you are some of the most common. Then I'll see if there are others you want to add to the list. And we're going to close with a huge question that I need you to answer. What are some of the ways? Well, let's start. All right? These are some of the most commonly accepted theological ways that God reveals God's self that is also backed up in Scripture. Let's start.

45:47 Obviously, in Jesus Christ. If you didn't see this one coming and this ain't at the top of your list, you may not be as Christian as you think. Laughable, but I'm dead serious. Because you know what some people put as the first answer? Bible. Some people's first answer to how you know the will of God, how you know God, is scripture and not Jesus Christ. And that is fundamentally flawed. because guess what? You, Howard John Wesley, Howard John Wesley does not believe you can understand Scripture correctly without Christ in your heart. So before I get into biblical debates, I need to know, have you received him as your personal Lord and Savior?

46:47 And if we're not clear on that and your answer to that is no, there ain't no need for us to debate Job 13. I'm going to throw out anything you receive anyway because you don't know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. You're still in sin. I love Hebrews chapter 1. Who's got a good old King James version? I mean, one of them King, oh, you ain't supposed to have King James in here, but anybody got one? Anybody got a King? Is that King James? Girl, raise your Bible proud. That is your Bible. Don't let no preacher stand up here and talk about your King James. We were raised on that. Let me tell you all a funny story real quick. It's first day of seminary, 1994 in the fall. I stepped in the Hebrew Bible. Hebrew Bible at Boston University. I had that big Thompson Chain reference King James Bible. You know, don't even fit in your backpack. You just got to carry it so folk know you born again.

47:40 This is the Baptist Bible. Man, I'm teaching you, the teacher walked in. You got to know in the academy, they want you on New Revised Standard. And so she was asking, what kind of Bibles do you have? And I held up my Thompson Chain reference. This is my King James version of the Bible. I kid you not. my Hebrew Bible professor came and took my Bible, slammed it on the ground, and stood on it. He said, this is what we're going to do to King James this semester. And my response is, you're about to get up off my Bible. That's what you're about to do.

48:10 Before I show you what we're going to do to you this semester. Ain't no wrong with that King James Bible. I need someone to pull up on your phone. King James. Let's go King James. In King James Version, Hebrews 1. Some things just sound better in King James. Right? Like you can't really read Psalm 23 in the message translation. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. Dang on this Bible that locked up on me. I need it. Hebrews 1 and King James. That's New King James. You got King James? Let me read King James. I love this one. I love this. Y'all ready?

49:27 You know it's good, King James. We don't know what the heck it just said, right? That's a good King James translation. Here's basically Hebrews 1. God used to speak to us through the prophets, but God made a decision in the fullness of time that God would finally speak through Jesus Christ, his son, who came down and was the revealed person of Christ so that now he is higher than anything else. that if you really want to know what you can know about God, it starts by looking at the life of Jesus Christ. Because John 1 tells us, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Nothing was made that was not made by the Word. In verse number 14, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father, that in Christ we get the clearest glimpse of God you will ever see.

50:28 not in sermon, not in scripture, not in your Holy Ghost inspiration. The clearest image of God you will ever see is in the person, the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's where God says, you know what? Let me go on and break y'all off a real clear picture. Here I am. And so for me, it begins with Jesus Christ. So it was a cliche, but it was really true when we asked the question, what would Jesus do? What did Jesus say about it? I know what Paul said about it. But we make Paul equal to Jesus because Paul's in Bible. And that means you just lifted Bible above Jesus.

51:17 So what do we do when Paul speaks a lot about something that Jesus didn't mention a word about? Does that matter to us? Does that matter at all that Jesus never addressed that? But Paul lived on it every day. Do you put more faith in what Moses wrote or how Jesus lived? So, listen, I'm not saying throw out Paul, and I'm not saying get rid of Moses. What I am saying is start with Jesus and then read into Paul and then understand Moses.

51:55 Because how I see Christ affects how I read Moses. I'm not going to let Paul shape how I see Jesus. I'm going to let Jesus shape how I see Paul. So there's an old saying, you start at the cross and then read. Because if you don't get that right you're going to mess up Leviticus. If you don't get the cross right Romans is going to throw you off. It starts with Jesus. Now, since you're Baptist, I'm going to give you the Bible next. We'll put the Bible up. I know some of y'all are already offended.

52:34 Of course, we believe that God reveals God's self through Scripture. If you, by the way, this is, and I know you don't like this term because politically we've changed it so much. if this is above Jesus for you, and now you won't say it, but if you walked in before I made my argument and I still haven't persuaded you, and you say that the primary way God reveals God's self is Scripture, you may not like this, but you know what you are? You're evangelical. Now, we don't like the term evangelical in most settings because we associate it with extreme right-wing politics. But technically, evangelical starts with Bible, that you are the 2 Timothy 3 person. All scripture is given by inspiration of God.

53:28 Every word of God, that's what we live on. That's where we start. That's how we know the Lord. And, you know, I've said this before, and I live by it. It doesn't necessarily be for you. We don't worship the Bible. Right? We worship Christ. And Valerie Bridgman said it, and I live by it. I'm coming to you. Valerie Bridgman said, I live by it. If God isn't bigger than your Bible, then your Bible is God. Right? My brother, my sister, you want to say something? Mm-hmm? Okay. So your question was. My question was. If Jesus is silent, do we value what Paul... I just said, do we value. How do I interpret or use what Paul said if Christ was silent? So if Christ is silent...

54:22 Of course we use the way he works as a foundation for how... His living, his example, yeah. Okay. value, we still find value in, and we find lessons in what Paul and John. Definitely. So what I said, just remember, what I did say, and this is where people, if I don't repeat and we don't hear clearly, you're going to walk out with a misunderstanding of me. And I'm glad we don't throw Paul out. We don't throw Moses out. We read them through Christ.

54:52 That's my position. There is a lot of value in Paul. And there are a lot of problems with Paul. right right the lessons but most people aren't willing to acknowledge a problematic paul right because because second timothy three okay this all scripts are given by inspiration to god if it made it in the bible and paul wrote it they put it on the same plane as the life and love of jesus christ a whole lot of people do but they it's not that they think that they do it's how they actually put it in a practice that shows that they do right and i'm not i'm not here to cast judgment on that, I'm here to let you know what Howard John Wesley would not do, right? That I need to start, that I'm going to put Paul in conversation with Jesus.

55:36 Now, for those who remember this term, it's big, theonoustos. Everyone say theonoustos. Theonoustos. Now put together, theonoustos. Theonoustos, term you got to know. This is huge for people who put that Bible way, way up here.

55:58 Theonoustos is the term used in 2 Timothy 3 about all scriptures given by inspiration of God. The literal translation is that all scriptures, theonoustos. You ought to see two words in there, at least two roots. Theo, when you see T-H-E-O, what do you think? God, right? Theology, right? Pneu, P-N-E-U is the word for, it's where you get, what's it called? No, when you're sick. Pneumonia. That's where you get pneumonia. It's about breathing. That's the root of pneumonia. As a matter of fact, the Holy Spirit in Scripture is hagios pneuma. Pneuma means spirit. So theonoustos literally means God spirited, God breathed. And there are those who honestly, and God, thank you, Holy Spirit, and we're going to have to stop here. But now I know what I want to do.

56:52 there are those who literally believe that what you have in your hand in your Bible is this. Came right out of the mouth of God. Right? Literally. That it, that, that was God's revealing himself by saying, you know what? Here's 66 books. Right. The Bible is made for man, not man for the Bible. I don't quite understand what you mean by that. It says that when Christ left us, we're not going to call the Spirit. He doesn't appear to be a man no more. So Moses is not around no more. So the Bible, what's the truth of Moses? Like the first deal that we read, it's a story. Did it actually happen? We're just reading the story. So now we go back to your first thing. You said, knowing God, you said God is mystery. Genesis 1, 27 tells us God made man. God is mystery.

57:45 And we have mission. you and I should talk offline a little bit because I'm not connecting what you're saying to the argument I'm making right now. Here it is. The Theonoustos. I don't want you to miss the importance of 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17. Because for a lot of Christians, they don't really unravel what that means. But in their mind, it is that all 66 books you have were literally birthed by God. and put in your hands. And there may be elements of that that are true, but it removes the fact that Scripture also has a human element. Someone had to write it. And they're literally those, their view of Scripture, and I'm not saying that Scripture doesn't have God in it. Do not distort what I'm saying. But what I am saying is that God did not take biblical writers, put them up into heaven, write it for them, send them back down to earth, and they were perfect people without sin who wrote and everything they wrote is exactly right because that's God.

58:54 To do that is naive. It's naive of how any writing comes into be and how people write with it. God is able to use us above our flawedness, but God never removes our flawedness to use us. Can I say that again? God can work through our flaws, but God never removed our flaws in order to use us. To say this is almost naive as if you don't understand how certain books of the Bible came to be selected. there's a whole lot that didn't get in. Without knowing the history of canonization, how these are selected, you're saying there was no humanity involved in Bible at all, and history has proven that is not true. There were tons of different versions of the Bible before the 66 you got. Books accepted, books thrown out, letters left in, letters left out.

59:50 We know for certain that certain books were written by other authors. Paul didn't write them all. We know Paul did not write them all. We know most of these letters to Timothy were not Paul. I'll give you an example, prime example in Greek. So let's say, okay, here it is.

1:00:14 What do I call you? What do I call you? Every time I call you, what do I call you? No, I don't call you Marcia. No, I don't. That's not the name I use for you. 90% of the time when I call you, what name do I use? Norfleet. Right? I call you Norfleet. Half time I see you, right? Norfleet. And where's Holly? I always call you Holly. I don't call you drains. I use her last name, but I don't use yours. Now, if all of a sudden, so Holly, Holly, Holly, Holly, Holly, and then I just call you drains, and be like, that's not what you call me. Norfleet, Norfleet, Norfleet, Norfleet, and then all of a sudden I call you Marcia, He's like, that's not what you call me. So you know something's off if a different name is used or a different term. We know how Paul wrote the letters that he did write, and then there are letters that all of a sudden he's not using the same language, not calling the same names.

1:01:15 So Scott's like, that's off. Why all of a sudden is the name Marcia used when the authentic letters of Paul always said Norfleet, Norfleet, Norfleet, Norfleet, Norfleet, and there's one that says Marcia? So it caused the scholars to go, that's probably not Paul writing. And we knew pseudoepigriography was real back then, that students of teachers wrote in the names of teachers, and it was not plagiarism to pass it off as Paul. Anyway, my point is this. There's a human process involved in Scripture that too many people deny. It doesn't mean the Scripture doesn't bring us anything. It doesn't mean it's not valid. It doesn't mean that there's some inspiration in it. It doesn't mean that there's not some lessons learned. It doesn't mean that there's not some God revealed. But let's not say that's what it was. God just gave you a gift with no human touch in it at all. Sister, you're not about to leave us.

1:02:07 Certainly. Isn't everything that we preach and all the doctrine that we learn from the Word of God, even the story of Jesus? Okay. Isn't all that we teach and all that we preach, the doctrine, isn't it from the Word of God? No, it is not. It is not. Unfortunately, the doctrine of the Trinity is not biblical. It was created through the church, and it has biblical foundation to support it, but you're never going to find God saying, I'm three. Okay? So just here, I can point out probably about seven other things that you can loosely tie to Scripture, but you're not going to say there's a Scripture that wrote that down and that's where it came from. Okay.

1:02:53 Okay. not what I'm saying, but what I'm asking is how can we preach and study from the word of God and not believe that it's invaluable? I never said, see, and here it is. It's the story. I never said the Bible was invaluable. Never. And this is where I get crucified because people, no, no, no, I'm not saying, I just want to, let me click because I have been crucified external from those who because of their theonoustos refuse to hear what I'm saying when I clearly said I've never thrown the Bible out. I'm not saying that there's no value. I'm saying let's acknowledge what it is and is not and the human element and still love it. But let's love it in honesty and not naivety, right? Like true love to me says I'm going to love you even though I know where you're flawed. I'm not going to love this perception of you.

1:03:46 I'm going to love the real you. So I'm not in love with the perception of the Bible. I'm in love with the true word of God knowing the human flaws in it. Right? You come to Alfred Street, many of you, believing for some reason, and I thank God for some reason, that when I stand and preach, God is speaking to you. That you heard something. That ain't just Howard John Wesley. The Lord spoke to you, and I'm as jacked up as anybody in this church. I got more flaws than you, I promise. Right? But you don't throw it out. And I'm saying we should throw the Bible out. But let's acknowledge and be honest that there are human hands involved in this. That doesn't make it less true. That doesn't make it less valuable. That doesn't mean we shouldn't preach it. That's where we get. God does reveal through Scripture. My only point is that I'm elevating Christ above that so that how I read Scripture starts with my understanding of Jesus and not just reading Scripture and applying it without comparing it to the life of Christ and the ministry and the message of Jesus, that's important to me.

1:04:49 And I have trouble hearing interpretation of Scripture that doesn't align itself with the life of Christ. For me, because it was said to me once, and I believe it, quoting the book doesn't mean you know the author. Right? And I believe that. And simply having Bible and quoting Scripture does not mean what you're preaching and teaching is in line with Christ.

1:05:16 And if we're not, we're not Bibli-ishans, we're Christians. Right? We're not, you hear what I'm saying? I'm a Christian, not a Bibli-ishan. I'm not molding myself in the life of the book I'm molding myself in the life of Christ and the book just helps me mold my life in his image but that's what I'm going to be judged on not how I interpreted Leviticus 18 how I lived like Christ we were never called to line our lives up with 66 books we were called to line our lives up with one person Jesus Christ and I'm done So I want to make sure I say this. I want you online to hear it. I am not saying throw the Bible out. I believe in the Word of God. I believe that God's Word reveals God.

1:06:11 I believe that we encounter God through God's Word. I believe that we should teach and preach the Word of God in line with the life of Jesus Christ. That's all I'm saying, all right? So do me a favor. Don't let folk crucify your pastor, please. I'm so tired of fighting this fight. I have been, okay, we're leaving now. Let's wrap up Bibles. I have been kicked out of Baptist conventions, not formally, but I've been uninvited from standing appointments because of this position right here. It has cost me with colleagues. It has cost me with convention. But I won't relent from the fact that we got to start with Jesus. and anyone who's truly Christian and hears that shouldn't have any problem with what I just said, at least in my mind. I mean, you may disagree on certain points, but is this worthwhile?

1:07:05 Okay, should I get kicked out? Dang, go. All right, let's close in prayer before it gets personal. We're going to pick up here next week. Thank you, Jesus. We always like to whisper the names of someone or anyone that we know is facing medical procedures or testing or surgeries or as in the doctor's care. If you know anyone in that category, I want you to whisper their name aloud right now, please. Okay. Let's pray. Lord, I want to begin by lifting up the names that were just lifted to you. Because at the end of the day, our theological debates and our differences,

1:08:00 none of that matters as much as our care for our brothers and sisters. Our interceding for those who need you most. So Lord, we pray for them tonight and ask that your hand would touch them right now. Lord, may we speak to them and they say, you know, something just got better at 809. We're praying for them, Lord. Lord, I thank you that your word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. In your word, we learn about you. In your word, we hear the promises that we stand on. That your word has held us together in moments when life was trying to pull us apart. but that the greatest gift of your word is it reveals Jesus Christ to us. and Lord, I know him in my heart, not just because of scripture, but because I feel him and know he's real.

1:08:58 We thank you for the gift of Christ and your word, and I thank you for the gift of a brother and sister today whose hand I'm holding right now. I squeeze your hand that you know that I love you, and we're never going to agree on everything, but that will never stop me from loving you. Lord, may that be the truest sign of our faith, because Jesus declared, by this will people know you are my disciples. Not by your theonoustos, not by your quoting scripture, but by your love one for another. Lord, teach us to love in the midst of difference. Teach us to be kind in the midst of disagreement. Teach us to be compassionate in the midst of misunderstanding.

1:09:47 Lord, teach me to give my sister and my brother the benefit of the doubt and to forgive and to be humble enough to ask for forgiveness. Thank you, O Lord, for Bible study. Keep us together till we gather again. And Lord, if I have offended any, I sincerely apologize. If, Lord, anything has been said tonight that is not for my sister or not for my brother, teach them how to eat the fish and spit the bones out. Amen. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Have a blessed night, everybody.