0:02
um but they were different types of genre and and so we need to look at the Bible um and determine is it a particular type of literature U but I want to start this morning with a discussion on what the
0:14
Bible is Bible is not because frankly I think one of the major problems in Western especially
0:24
American evangelicalism is the church is trying to make the Bible do what it was never intended to do and then standing on the promise of Isaiah that the word will not go forth
0:35
void without accomplishing the purpose purpose but if we read on we read it it was the purpose for which the Lord intended not the purpose for which the
0:45
preacher intended okay so what is what the Bible is
1:01
not um it's not a textbook I've I've mentioned the um the problem of systematic theology that I think is perhaps one of the major
1:13
issues within reformed churches is that it treats the Bible as a textbook as something that we can we can take a a u an issue like
1:25
justification by faith and we can go through the Bible as if there's a chapter on that topic and of course that chapter is going to be something like Romans 4 or the book of Galatians that's
1:38
a chapter on justification um no no it's not it really isn't uh to be used that way so it's it's not a
1:57
textbook it is not a pile of lumber from which We Gather to build our theology that does that make sense okay but it's often used that way which is
2:08
one of the reason why our Christian subdivision has so many different houses because the the boards aren't labeled they're not we we're putting them together in vastly different ways
2:20
and and I I think to some extent this explains denominationalism is that we're approaching the Bible differently and we're making it do what we wanted to do
2:30
um again this is one of my issues with confessionalism okay um now please understand that you know you don't you
2:40
don't usually hear this but when when folks visit Fellowship Bible Church and visit for several weeks and they seem to be getting plugged in and then they're gone um there was a hot button it just
2:52
took a few weeks for us to push it okay and and not not on purpose it just didn't you don't even realize you said anything um but but I learned a week or two ago that uh one young couple was no
3:05
longer coming because we're not confessionals that is an issue I want you to understand that that's an issue in in the modern Evangelical setting that um there are those who believe that
3:16
in the light of modern postmodernism and liberalism within the church and whatnot that our our Bastion against falsehood is confessions well but confessions were
3:27
built from particular piles of lumber to serve particular purposes and they went to the Bible to solve a problem that they were facing in their day but I
3:40
I'm maintaining that that's not what the Bible is for that we go there to find a solution to wokeism you know or to whatever cultural social issue we're facing that's not what the Bible is so
3:52
it's not a theology textbook okay and and this is
4:04
contrary to the Seminary I attended and Mark attended biblical theology is more important than Systematic Theology it's the the big picture or the
4:15
forest is more important than the trees because if we go into the uh Forest just looking at the trees we we essentially become Lumberjacks we cut down what we want and
4:26
we leave standing what we want but when we step back and we look at the forest we realize no there's a whole bunch of different types of trees in there okay so biblical theology is greater than
4:50
for anybody want to develop a conspiracy theory this is it right here fresh out of the box there's no black in the world anymore okay you work on that you work on that blog post um it's also as we you
5:02
know I think we understand it's not a science textbook either now don't get me wrong this is not in any way a defense of
5:13
evolution but evolution isn't science evolution is Faith evolution is philosophy no one's ever performed evolution in the laboratory or observed it either okay we've hybridized we've
5:26
cloned but that's not evolution in fact that's closure to Creation than it is evolution because there's somebody doing it so don't don't misunderstand me but we don't go to the Bible to prove that
5:37
the the the ancient origins of the universe that's not what it's there for um and and in fact the Bible contains as much science as exists in
5:51
God's created universe but it doesn't break it down into molecules and atoms and electrons and quarks right it's not a science textbook um but the the point
6:02
of this the whole picture is that we don't approach it as a textbook okay we're we're not we're not being assigned readings chapter by
6:13
chapter knowing that we're going to get a test at the end a final exam you know when we when we enter Heaven that's not how it works so it's not a textbook does anybody have a comment or question in
6:26
terms of the Bible as a textbook that's where we get theology understand
6:38
science well does is it where we get our understanding of science or is it where we get our philosophy of
7:00
yeah right so it it forms a paradigm by which we do science or by which we do theology so that's what I'm saying it's not actually where we get our science and it's not actually where we get our
7:10
theology it provides us with the truth through which we do our Theology and our science does that make sense so yeah I think that's I I think we're on the same
7:21
page there because we've talked about that before um so we're not um we're not dismissing the Bible from either theology or science but that's not how
7:34
we approach the Bible that's what we're talking about here we don't we don't go to the Bible to look up answers we should not really go to the Bible just to look up answers on particular theological questions now we certainly
7:45
shouldn't go anywhere else because the truth is contained in God's word God's word is truth but it's also a look
8:00
scripture it's not like say it's not a history textbook yeah that's a good point too there is a
8:16
right place yeah it's that's a good point I should have put history up there it's not a history textbook um back in the 1800s 18th century and then into the 19th century there was a great deal of
8:29
denial uh among liberal Christians professing Christians of the historical accuracy of scripture um it was denied that that for
8:39
example the Hittites were ever a people much less an Empire then in about the middle of the 1800s that discovered the hittite Empire um you know so the Bible
8:49
has never been proven historically incorrect but that doesn't make it a history textbook it's told the history that is told is not told from the point of History it's told from the point of
9:02
the Redemptive plan of God through a particular people the Israelites so that's a good point Thank you Bob um it's also
9:17
not and and this is this is a document that was very popular in the early church uh it doesn't go by the same name
9:30
enidan this is essentially a manual of living a life manual okay how to live life okay
9:44
um what's that never heard that in kedian uh yeah they were they were written very commonly in the first centuries Augustine wrote One um we have one at home it's called hug at hug at Teddy it's only about that big put some
9:58
bacon on it put some bacon on put some BAC uh what do you do you mean yeah hardening of the arteries um but often times now especially in
10:09
today's kind of therapeutic World um the Bible is used essentially as a life manual how to deal with your difficulties and your struggles and um
10:20
you go to you go to different scriptures and that's what scripture Memory verses and scripture art um you know it's it's kind of to help you get through or make you feel better um but that's not what
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the Bible's for there are definitely many verses that are intended to make you feel worse okay um especially if you happen to you know if the shoe fits
10:44
that's more on the scientific on theistic side it's not a spell well yes that's yeah that I should have remembered that from the days in in
10:55
um the charismatic movement okay so so it's not
11:05
um a book of therapy I shouldn't have index back of what verse to turn to if your feeling does anybody have that in their Bibles many many modern printings of the Bible will have um in the back some some index
11:19
of are you feeling sad are you bereaved did you lose your job do you have an ingrown toenail you know and there will be verses all from J PA in job
11:31
like nobody has that in their Bibles I'm sure he oh James does James a GU okay James James is set for life all right so it's it's not a book
11:44
of therapy but this is something um Jenny mentioned it it's not a book of spells um you you'll hear especially within the
11:55
charismatic movement you'll hear people using verses using verses um aggressively you know they're speaking the truth against whatever it is they're
12:06
is they're facing life verse a life verse mine is that which you do do quickly so much to do um hey Dad
12:18
yes for us in the United States I think that's very true people are caught up in that what do you think about other where there's
12:30
a there's an opposing culture to Christianity of Christianity of Witchcraft it's common in Catholic Cur is oh in the word to confront okay
12:43
that's a good point is that evil perceived but not real I don't think so I think it
12:55
mayure yeah I think it's very real that's a very good point in in cultures where um where um where wickedness and darkness is more public than it is here it's just as
13:05
present here it's just taken a different form a form that is actually more successful because it brings us to a point where we deny its existence but in cultures where Witchcraft and sorcery
13:17
and necromancy and whatnot are still prevalent does the word have any power against that and I would say yes and no um the Bible is not a talisman
13:29
it's not a it's not a rabbit's foot there's no there's no power in just saying the words I open to yeah chonicles um you know the there's no
13:40
magic in that the power is in the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is the executor of God's will which is his word so in that sense yes there is power in
13:52
our culture as well as cultures that are not industrialized not postmodern we we could call them maybe even pre-modern um but it's not simply this
14:05
the saying so you know an unbeliever is not going to pull out a cross you know and and say well we see it in Acts you know by the god of Paul uh you know and
14:16
that those men got whooped by the uh by the demons when Jesus was temped by Satan responses not could accurately
14:28
something from the Old Testament but that he understood the scriptures and was able to apply it to what right right Jesus's uh his his Encounter With the
14:39
Devil the Temptation in the wilderness the power wasn't in just the the words the power was in the spirit and in the the uh the awareness the knowledge the
14:50
communion um that was represented by the words so yes the power is there um and and so it's it's very analog us to what we were saying about Science and History
15:01
the science is there the history is there the theology is there okay the the the power is there but that's not what the Bible is Aaron and then and to add
15:13
it's also there for us not the Dem or for us not the Academia that is putting pressure on I'm not sure I see a real
15:24
difference culture i me if you assume one culture or another heavily a culture heavily into mysticism and ours heavily into all things Academia that's the kind
15:36
of pressure we see put on us and throwing verses at Academia isn't any more naturally effective than throwing verses at demonic powers that are more
15:46
obvious but the word is for us it's it's not for them it it's it we draw strength from it because we have the Holy Spirit right I mean and the Lord Drew strength
15:58
from because it was for him not because it would do something against the temp is that not I I think the the primary in
16:09
the primary purpose of the word it is for us but even for us we see the evidence in the life of Jesus of Paul Peter and and of Christians throughout
16:21
the Millennia that it has enabled them to counter the darkness to um to stop
16:31
the the path of of the devil and his forces and and the word can do that but it's doing it it's doing it in accordance with the will of God through the people of God and I would say
16:43
fundamentally yes the word is for us it is not for the unbeliever or or even the demon um but I I and the the discussion of different cultures in our Thursday
16:55
night study of Paul I think hopefully it's been very established that Paul understood that the same forces are behind whatever manifestation
17:06
we may have to we may see so the sad thing about Western evangelicalism and and I think that um uh Lewis's screw tape letters brings this out very
17:18
brilliantly and that is that we have been lulled into a sense that the Demonic doesn't exist because we have become postmodern we have become enlightened and scientific and we
17:29
understand that there are no such things as demons that these are Cancers or storms or you know natural natural events well Paul understood natural events as well as anybody but he also
17:41
understood the powers and principalities that ruled in the this present Darkness so I I agree with Aaron that distinctions between mysticism and scientism are are
17:54
only differences between the the outer shell of of the same WS of the devil and and so the word is primarily and I think we see this in Ephesians where we're to
18:06
you know put on the full armor and he talks about the sword of the spirit which is the word of God and it talks about righteousness and what not well what are we supposed to do with all that
18:16
well having done all stand okay the word is that which anchors us to the truth of God in Jesus Christ no matter what comes at us whether it's science Phil
18:28
philosophy mysticism philosophy mysticism sorcery the believer stands so um but the purpose of the Bible is not I I think this is very well
18:40
you know it's not to make us feel better to help us get us through trials and you'll see this when you drive around town and you read the mares on these churches you'll see that they basically
18:51
become therapy centers you know and this week we're addressing this particular social ill or family problem um and and so they're just they're therapy centers
19:03
I is a witness God's word witness to the world worldes it or not it is a wit to the world maybe us have understand the
19:13
spirit it is a witness but the witness the witness of the word and I think this comes out in the Old Testament prophets the witness of the word is not
19:26
the word itself it's the word word through the people of God so I think what you're both saying is you would both agree you know that the that the witness of the word is through what it
19:39
does in and through the people of God so Israel was supposed to be a witness to the world around it what it became was the source of Blas the blasphemy my name
19:51
is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you why because they were consistently disobedient to the word so they their our living according to
20:02
the word is absolutely our witness um the word itself is is not a witness where it is not where it doesn't exist the Bible um
20:16
you might say it exists everywhere but it it it doesn't exist everywhere and I would say that you know a a Bible sitting on a table in a hotel is not the
20:26
intended witness of God to his word it's the church that is the witness of God okay
20:37
El you have a i i when you were talking about the uh spell book I'm sitting there thinking The Gideons and generally speaking the Gideon Bible is where
20:48
you're going to find one of these list of are going this trouble you know these verses and I believe you know I mean I I
20:58
hope there a sincere there's sincerity in that and there and it's getting people into the word of God and you know andan their
21:08
their mission is to get a Bible there for somebody who would not normally be in a situation where he has a Bible you know the word of God to somebody and
21:19
speak got motel room right I I don't I think there probably been many people who've been positively influenced by a Gideon Bible I don't want be misunderstood that there should be no
21:29
Gideon Bibles I'd certainly rather have a Gideon Bible than a Gideon Quran um you know but that's what we're talking about what is the purpose of the Bible we're not denying that it has
21:41
influence in all these other areas okay because it is God's word it's a revelation of God himself so it it is a witness it it does speak to history science theology it is therapeutic as
21:54
well as condemning it does give power against demonic forces okay I I'm not denying any of that I'm trying to get at how do we approach the
22:04
Bible do we approach the Bible in order to get spells against the demons do we approach the Bible in order to find comfort in in our latest depression or struggle that what is the Bible how do
22:15
we study it how do we learn it could it not be described as instead of saying it's not these things it all of these things well in a sense it will contain all of these things yes um and that's a
22:27
very important point and I guess that's what I'm trying to say is yes these things you see them in the scriptures you see the casting out of demons you you see the word being used against the
22:38
powers of Darkness as well as as Abe is pointing out in the presence of the unbelieving world okay and so it is a witness it is all of these things um it it is also another but I
22:52
want to establish the what it's not primarily because during the course of church history and often presently the church and Believers are
23:03
using the Bible in one of these ways this is not just an academic exercise this is what people do with their Bibles but don't they do it at different points
23:16
in their so when I first started to really look at the Bible use the Bible maybe I was using it as ay book but I got over that it's almost
23:27
like you grow through these things you wish you like to think that wouldn't
23:37
you theology because I was in Christian school so I was heing a lot of buz words that I didn't know and so I used it as a theology book I have used it as a science book we had our whole kimam days I mean and I loved it I loved kimam I
23:49
still like kimam and I think you can use the Bible as these things at different times I would say um that is what happens but it's not
24:01
what is intended to happen Okay um and it's not what happens for most American Christians okay there there are whole denominations and
24:13
movements and Par Church organizations that are built around the Bible as one of these things and the people that are involved in those can be involved in
24:24
those for decades and they're not growing Beyond that's a concern okay that um that they're they're you know you are right I had the same
24:37
experience many of us had the same experience but I would maintain that we're having that experience because especially in America the church has lost its con its true concept of what
24:48
the Bible is so as the holy spirit is growing us he is taking us through these phases but these phases themselves are not in and of themselves
25:01
healthy okay that that's what I'm trying to yeah you know we're not going to be get hopefully get locked into any one of these phases but I would maintain that many many Believers are locked in to one
25:30
ax screwdriver for and you might hurt yourself well they you know i' I've read statistics that the most dangerous weapon in a workshop is a screwdriver not fatal of course unless you intend for it to be it can be um but it it's
25:41
the most Co the the most frequent cause of injury because it's the tool that's most frequently misused used for what it was not intended for and I think the Bible could be uh maybe the most
25:52
dangerous book because it is most frequently misused it's also not and and this not doesn't really impact us it's not a book of myths and
26:07
legends I would say I have across that as a as almost an underlying sensibility this yes I there was a good decade there where I kept hearing the Lord of the Rings as servant illustration and I
26:20
don't really think that that is a far step from the scures as that's where your head then you really hav't put the scripture
26:40
in well I I I hope to touch probably this I think we'll get to it um there's a reason why when we encounter things like Lord of the Rings our mind goes to scripture those
26:53
analogies are made for there there's a there's a reason but the the reason I mention myths and legends is not because anybody here would think that the Bible is a myth or
27:05
that King David was a legend but this was the prevalent notion of liberalism in the 19th century uh from the enlightenment on through the 19th into the 20th century
27:16
and like and like Evolution it is debated hotly for a while and then the debate cools down and
27:27
Evol ution becomes the substratum of all our academic work and and so any any book outside of a Christian School that you
27:39
find on on geology on biology or what it's going to be based on the The evolutionary philosophy okay well the same is true sadly within much of
27:51
Christian literature and and the things like the documentary hypothesis for the pentat took the the uh multiple authors of Isaiah the actual historical dynasty of
28:04
of the family of David these are all brought into doubt and what is rather taught is that um these these including
28:14
the church we we go all the way not so much in Evangelical but it's it's getting there the notion that the resurrection was a Doctrine or a
28:26
legend that was developed by the early Church in order to sustain itself and establish itself myths and legends can be shown to be um a a nation's
28:42
self-created self-identity okay and and so what we do is we say well that's what the Jews did you know they were just a people that wandered in from Egypt they didn't really have an identity so they created
28:53
an Abraham you know and and a covenant and well they're not the only ones that have done that to to back uh to to how is it retrospectively write your history
29:07
okay we do this as Americans a lot of the stuff you read in your uh you know Elementary Middle School and even high school history textbook is is not historically accurate
29:17
it is it is Legend you know that these things didn't really happen cherry trees cherry trees well that's that hopefully is a rather obvious one but um it it's part of our
29:30
social nature as human beings to create a community that has its has its history okay so but we're saying no that
29:40
the Bible isn't that it's not a book of myths and myths and legends then
29:53
you Tak religions and show I don't know how accurately that these pth come from the from the Tor like
30:06
Tor like conne Jacob yeah um that trying to show that the Bible predates or or is the The Source somehow of pagan religions um and
30:18
yeah that I don't I don't see that we need to do that as a church I don't this this is also all of what I'm talking about here um this whole idea of what
30:28
the Bible is this also falls into that aspect of of Christian interface with society called society called apologetics um and and the the system of
30:41
apologetics is often where we will find the Bible being used as a textbook um or or as um not as a myth or a legend but but trying to disprove
30:52
Through the Bible the myths and legends of other cultures um what I'm trying to say is as Believers that that's not how we approach the Bible we're we're not looking at it um I've often said that
31:05
you know you cannot logically scientifically prove that the Bible is the word of God okay you you can't we can't even prove the
31:16
authorship of many of the books of the Bible actually any of the books of the Bible now we believe them to be but it is as the writer of Hebrew says it is by faith we know these things and and so
31:29
when we approach the Bible it is clearly to us a different type of book than any other book we own it may not even be our
31:40
favorite book there may be other books that we enjoy reading more than we enjoy reading the Bible uh that may sound horrible um but it's it's often actually true when
31:52
we come to the Bible then we find that it is a book of multiple different styles not only multiple different authors but many
32:04
different styles of writing so when we get to the book
32:21
itself now that phrase the Bible as literature might make some of you cringe a little bit because it's it's been taken up within modern evangelicalism as if that's all the Bible is it's it's a book of literature
32:34
it's it's not inherent it's not inspired it's a book of literature um I don't mean it that way and I I hope to to um avoid the knee-jerk reaction when
32:46
somebody takes a word like literature and then misapplies it and misuses it what we do in response is we throw that word out of our vocabulary we refuse to refer to the
32:57
Bible as Bible as literature because we reject the the position that it's only literature well the fact is it is literature um in fact it's it's
33:08
literature because it's written document so it it's a form of literature but what's important about the Bible as literature as we approach it that way is
33:20
the multiple different genre that we encounter there and when we're talking about how to study the Bible what it is you're reading is an important aspect of how you're reading
33:32
it you do not read poetry like you read Pros Shakespeare's sonnets his comedies his tragedies were all you approach them
33:44
differently and so when we look at the Bible we do have
33:57
multiple genre styles of of literature styles of writing now in the hermeneutics class we take and unpack each one of these we don't have time to do that in Sunday school um but most of
34:08
the Bible in terms of the number of words consists of historical
34:31
that in itself is very significant that that in itself is one of the most powerful arguments against the Bible as a textbook we accept the scriptures as the revelation of God and then we are
34:44
presented with what is essentially the history of a people and not just the Israelites because we also have the gospels and the book of Acts so even into the New
34:56
Testament the the majority of the words written are historical narrative these things happened okay so the the um the
35:07
takeaway from this types of genre is just that these
35:21
happened now the the the thing about history is when you're reading books you're not necessarily given the interpretation of the things that are
35:32
happening you're just given the things that are that are happening and so the interpretation has to come from someplace else so if God intended for intended for
35:44
his word to be a Systematic Theology this is not how he would have given it to us this this is a one of the strongest arguments again against making
35:54
Systematic Theology too much of a paradigm within the church but with along with historical narratives and within and I'm going to put this as a
36:12
subset we don't do Chronicles anymore some of you may we call them diaries now okay um or they might be business calendars um Chronicles present a unique challenge
36:24
to the to the historian because Chronicles are in a sense a shorthand form of historical narrative they're they're not intended
36:34
to flesh out they're just simply the the court chroniclers often were the priests they would basically write down what happened that day and this is this has
36:46
been a a treasure Trove for historians in the a for the of the ancient world finding the the amarna letters and finding the The Chronicles of Nineveh
36:56
and whatnot these like wow this is like but now you have to interpret them because there's no context and there's no elaboration and that is very much true of the Chronicles in the Bible and
37:08
that would include um the book of Chronicles of course but also the book of Kings which is as I mentioned the other day 1 and 2 Samuel 1 and 2 Kings
37:20
which are first second third and fourth kings in the Hebrew Bible so they're they're not quite the same as a historical narrative and so they they
37:30
there's a lot of blanks to fill in okay um also
37:52
prophecy uh often prophecy is given in a form of form of ecstatic poem and and makes it some like Ezekiel Ezekiel is actually a different type that I'm going to put up there next um well not quite next
38:16
letters the letters of Paul for example are called are called occasional which for us means every now and then he wrote a letter that's not what the word meant it means was written because of an occasion
38:28
there was an issue that he was dealing with and so one of the things that we have to determine or try to determine when we're reading the letter uh to the Ephesians is what was the occasion of
38:38
this letter in Corinthians Paul actually mentions in several places having heard from Khloe's people or having received a letter so he mentions the occasion
38:50
although he doesn't tell us what Khloe's people said or what the letter said so there's something you know you know and and getting to that context as best we
39:01
can is necessary for us to understand Paul's letter back okay and then finally there's a form of writing
39:21
that the apocalypse or the apocalyptic um we have a number of apocalyptic portions oft scripture Daniel Ezekiel um parts of Zechariah Revelation
39:33
okay the these are this was a common genre of the ancient world especially second Temple Israel there are many non-canonical
39:43
books that books that are uh apocalyptic fourth Ezra for example would you put La as separ well that's that's a good point I'll put that up
39:58
there yeah that one almost would put under um historical narrative and Chronicles because it's usually but law code that that's that's a good um a law code isn't
40:08
things that happen supp to yes law codes are legislation they they are um that is a form of literature and it's definitely a Biblical one thank you um but the
40:19
apocalypse is a style of writing that we don't the closest thing we would have today would be the the dystopian writing the dystopian novels okay or the
40:30
um fantasy um they're they're they're written in like word pictures very graphic um they're intended to um arouse
40:42
emotion the emotions of of fear but also of Hope um so so these this these are different types and these are all together in one
40:54
book The Bible and so um we go to scripture and we're we're not at Liberty to choose the one that we
41:05
that we prefer the entirety of the Council of God is comprised in these various different forms of literature which again is an awful weird
41:18
way to write a theology textbook okay it it's a very unusual way it in fact it's it's far different I don't know if you've read any of the
41:28
Quran or any of the Book of Mormon they are not like the Bible at all they are very on task they are
41:38
essentially this is how you do Islam okay um and and that's not what the Bible is and we we're often frustrated as Believers that we have a
41:49
hard time going to the Bible to tell us how to do what we're supposed to do and when we do that we don't always come up with the same conclusions do
42:00
conclusions do we what the B is not I don't know man not morality yeah that's
42:23
handbook does does it contain morality yes does it contain morals and eth absolutely but we we don't go to it as a morality handbook to look up our different issues so all these things put
42:35
together form the Bible and as I said we're not at Liberty to Simply pick and choose the law code because that's how our mind we we're you know we're very logical and black and white and we we
42:47
focus on the law code well that tends to lead to legalism okay or we go to the poetry because that's how you know we're more um what is that left side right side
42:59
whatever side of the brain it is but that can lead more to mysticism and pism and we focus on the the more mystical writings or the apocalyptic well that's very popular within the the prophecy
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councils and and uh conferences is that we focus on the on trying to connect the Vivid images of apocalyptic literature in the Bible with events and people and
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weapons and whatnot in our modern world okay that now that's that's not that's not the way God intended he intended as Paul said in in Acts 20 to the elders at
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Ephesus I I held back nothing from you of the whole Council of scripture which means all of this if you put this all together
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recognizing that the predominant this is the predominant genre okay does everybody agree with that
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mostly we're looking at a span of human history that runs from creation to the resurrection of Jesus
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Christ and then prpic forward to the end of the age and the consummation of the ages okay this is a a huge narrative in
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which we find apocalyptic we find prophecy we find one ring to control them all I mean what are we talking
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about here we're talking about the Epic are we not this is why everybody thinks Tolkien had the Bible in mind or this is why people make connections between Star
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Wars it's not because they're modeling their novels off the Bible it's because God has placed within us this epic story this is how we tell the story story of
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humanity an epic format with heroes and villains and and defeat and then from that defeat Victory right and ultimately
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truth wins that's an epic that's the Bible only it's the Epic from God okay not from Peter Jackson uh it it it's really
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um if we taught this first with young believers we would take them through all those different those different phases but without losing the big picture Okay most of us are like and you
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know the Epic this is why again tolken what is Israel but the Shire I mean the least of all the people right okay the Shire people I mean it's like okay Hobbits you know how you going
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to do all this God you got your elves you got your dwarves you know you got your Mighty Men you know I'm going to use Hobbits I'm going to use Israelites I don't that's not anti-semitic don't
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don't miss I'm not saying that Jews are our Hobbits um but it's epic you had go ahead I just thinking these different things in this
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unless is to world we don't see what we see because telling us that's right yeah the world looks at it it's foolishness yes to them it's nothing more than an epic myth okay
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because they do not have the Holy Spirit within them but what I'm what I'm saying is we can turn that around where did you get your get your epics you know do you really think you came from your own
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imagination no and why are all your epics the epics the same they they really are um and the better ones are the ones that contain the Fuller amount of all of
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this but at the at the end of the best epics everything is made right by what appears to
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appears to be a counterintuitive illogical and illogical and inconsequential act by a
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hero right like dying on a cross okay um I I would say that Tolkien didn't as he said take him
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at his own word he did not self-consciously intend to create a story that mimicked tokki and himself I believe was a practicing Catholic don't know if he
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ever got it right but he practiced um subconsciously he could not have written a different story and even who who wrote um Star
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Wars George Lucas okay he's not as far as I know practicing anything um but being a human being he could hardly write a different story so even if we're
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here if if we're in Middle Earth or the galaxies it's once again our story the story that God started by creating us
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the story that God has given us in his word and it is it is an it is an epic of epic proportions and when we approach it that way what the important thing about an
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epic is you can never lose sight of the big picture all of these other things that the Bible the Bible contains when they become the
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focus they take our vision off of the big picture and and we can't do that okay so um this this awareness that when we
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approach the Bible we're approaching God's epic will keep us from getting bogged down in any of the individual genre or of any of the benefits that the Bible
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contains well we're at the end of our time so we'll close in prayer father we do thank you that you have given us such an interesting and wonderful revelation of yourself and we
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pray that as we pick it up that we would honor it that we would value it but that we would also understand the scope and the
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magnitude of its contents that it is in indeed the the story of the universe and we ask father that by your spirit you would teach us how to read it
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and to understand what we're reading more and more each time we read it we ask this father for our edification individually and as a body that we would
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indeed be as we are called by the Muslims people of the book that that would be a true descript deson of everyone here we
