HBS & DwJ Podcast

The Bible It's one of the most influential books in human history.

It explores the big questions of why we exist.

It's inspired many people to do amazing things and confuse many others.

And you probably got one sitting around somewhere.

So what is the Bible actually?

Well the Bible is a small library of books that all emerged out of the history of the people of Ancient Israel.

And in one sense they were just like any other ancient civilization.

But among them were a long line of individuals called prophets.

And they viewed Israel's story as anything but ordinary.

They saw it as a central part what God was doing for all of humanity.

And these prophets were literary geniuses.

They expertly crafted the Hebrew language to write epic narratives, very sophisticated poetry.

They were masters of metaphor and storytelling and they leveraged all this to explore life's most complicated questions about death and life and the human struggle.

So there's a lot of different authors writing this book.

And these texts were produced over a thousand year period, starting with Israel's origins in Egypt.

Then leading up to their kingdom with their first temple.

But eventually they were conquered by the Babylonians who took them away into exile.

Then, at a crucial moment in their history, many Israelites returned to their land.

They built a second temple, they reformed their identity.

And this is when the Jewish scriptures begin to be formed into the shape that we have them today.

Okay, the Jewish Bible.

What's in it?

Well I'm glad you asked.

Well in Hebrew, it's called by an acronym Ta Nak

The T stands for TORAH, sometimes called the law, that's Israel's five books foundation story.

The N stands for NEVI'IM, The Hebrew word for profits.

And this actually consists of the historical books that tell Israel's story from the prophets point of view then you get the poetic books of the prophets themselves.

The K stands for KETUVIM, the Hebrew word for writings.

This is a diverse collection of poetic books, wisdom books, and more narrative.

And the Jewish people believe that through all of these literary works God speaks to people.

Now, there are other Jewish writings being produced during this Second Temple period as well.

A really diverse group of text, and these too were highly valued in Jewish communities.

And there was debate from ancient times about whether or not some of these should be considered part of their scriptures.

This is a lot of different writings over a long period of time.


Why did they put them all together like this?


Well I'm glad you asked.

Well altogether these texts tell an epic story about how God is working through these people to bring order and beauty out of the chaos of our world.

And it all builds up to a hope for a new leader who would come and renew all creation and then that's not conclude, and this leader never comes.

So it's an expertly crafted work but it's missing an ending.

That's exactly right, what you heard is what I just said.

Now, a few centuries later, a Jewish prophet comes on to the scene, named Jesus of Nazareth.

He claimed he was carrying the Ta Nak story forward.

Yeah, so Jesus, did a bunch of cool stuff and He was killed.

But his followers claimed he was alive from the dead.

Yeah they said that Jesus was that long awaited leader who would restore the world.

And so these earliest followers called Apostles, they composed new literary works about the story of Jesus, they call these good news or the gospel.

They formed an account called Acts about the spread of the Jesus movement outside of Israel.

And then they circulated letters to different Jesus communities all around the ancient world.

And they saw these writings as part of the scripture.

The apostles wrote all of this as a fulfillment of that epic story found in the Ta NaK.

And they were continuing the literary genius of the Jewish tradition.

They also believe that God was speaking to His people through these texts alongside the scriptures of Israel.

So that's the old and new testament.

But what did the early Christians think of the other second temple literature?

Great question.

Well different groups had different views about some of these books but we know they read them and valued these texts because they passed them along with the Jewish Scriptures.

Okay so we've got the Ta NaK, the Jewish Scriptures.

We got these other second temple period works.

Then the writing of the Apostles about Jesus.

And that's a lot of literature.

So what's in my Bible?

So, the Christian movement has taken different forms over 2000 years, and from the beginning all Christians recognized the Ta NaK and the New Testament as scripture.

And for centuries much of the Second Temple literature was read as part of the Biblical tradition.

The Catholic Church eventually made it official, and called some of the books from this collection the Deutero-canonical Books.

Some orthodox churches used even more books from this second temple literature.

And then in the 1500s during the reformation, Protestant Christians wanted to go back to the oldest writings of the prophets and apostles so they accepted only the old and new testamentals.



All right get those phone lines buzzing by the mighty dozens and let us know what you think of today's episode.

📱(704) 471-8526

To GOD Goes The Glory
The Glory
Glory👃🏾

Throughout this discussion we will cover:

Have you inventoried your life lately?

Have you ever been accused of being a Christian?

Can they find enough evidence to convict you?

Do you want a better relationship with GOD?

When was the last time you told GOD you love Him?


Let's start with talking about:

Have you inventoried your life lately?

Jerry's story

Howard's story


Next let's talk about:

Have you ever been accused of being a Christian?

Tell my story about trying to belong to crowds that I wasn't made for.

Howard's story


Now let's talk about:

Can they find enough evidence to convict you?

Talk about the pressure required to do GOD'S Will


Now it's time to talk about:

Do you want a better relationship with GOD?

Talk about requirements for a better relationship with God


Finally, we will get into:

When was the last time you told GOD you love Him?

How do you open and close your day?

Jerry?

Howard?


Summary:

Talk about things in life we go through that allows us to see that God exist.

Talk about quick Solutions about going through struggles because we have already been through them.

Wealthy - vs - The Less Fortunate

Have you inventoried your life lately?

Have you ever been accused of being a Christian?

Can they find enough evidence to convict you?

Do you want a better relationship with GOD?

When was the last time you told GOD you love Him?



First of all, the fact of GOD’s existence is so conspicuous, both through creation and through man’s conscience, for this reason, the Bible calls the atheist a “fool”(Psalm 14:1).

Next, the Bible never attempts to prove the existence of GOD; rather, it assumes His existence from the very beginning(Genesis 1:1).

However, the Bible does reveal the nature, character, and work of GOD.


Who is GOD? - The Definition

Now, thinking correctly about GOD is of utmost importance because a false idea about GOD is idolatry. In Psalm 50:21, GOD reproves the wicked man with this accusation: “You thought I was altogether like you.”

In the first place, a good summary definition of GOD is “the Supreme Being; the Creator and Ruler of all that is; the Self-existent One who is perfect in power, goodness, and wisdom.”


Who is GOD? - His Nature

Here, we know certain things to be true of GOD for one reason: in His mercy He has shown actions of superiority to reveal some of His qualities to us.

GOD is spirit, by nature intangible (John 4:24).

GOD is One, but He exists as three Persons—GOD the Father, GOD the Son, and GOD the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:16-17).

GOD is infinite (1 Timothy 1:17), incomparable (2 Samuel 7:22), and unchanging (Malachi 3:6).

GOD exists everywhere (Psalm 139:7-12), knows everything (Psalm 147:5; Isaiah 40:28), and has all power and authority (Ephesians 1;Revelation 19:6).


Who is GOD? - His Character

So, here are some of GOD’s characteristics as revealed in the Bible:

GOD is just (Acts 17:31),

Loving (Ephesians 2:4-5),

Truthful (John 14:6),

Holy (1 John 1:5).

GOD shows compassion (2 Corinthians 1:3),

Mercy (Romans 9:15),

Grace (Romans 5:17).

GOD judges sin (Psalm 5:5)

GOD also offers forgiveness (Psalm 130:4).


Who is GOD? - His Work

Additionally, we cannot understand GOD apart from His works, because what GOD does flows from who He is.

Also, here is an abbreviated list of GOD’s works, past, present, and future:

GOD created the world (Genesis 1:1;Isaiah 42:5);

He actively sustains the world (Colossians 1:17);

He is executing His eternal plan (Ephesians 1:11) which involves the redemption of man from the curse of sin and death (Galatians 3:13-14);

He draws people to Christ (John 6:44);

He disciplines His children (Hebrews 12:6);

And He will judge the world (Revelation 20:11-15).


Who is GOD? - A Relationship with Him

In the Person of the Son, GOD became incarnate (John 1:14). The Son of GOD became the Son of Man and is therefore the “bridge” between GOD and man (John 14:6;1 Timothy 2:5).

However, It is only through the Son that we can have forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 1:7), reconciliation with GOD (John 15:15; Romans 5:10), and eternal salvation (2 Timothy 2:10).

Additionally, In Jesus Christ “all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9). So, to really know who GOD is, all we have to do is look at Jesus.


GOD's Revelation about Himself

However, we can ask what GOD has revealed about Himself in His Word and in creation that “the reverent reason” can grasp.

When Moses was directed by GOD to go to the Egyptian Pharaoh and demand the release of the Israelites, Moses asked GOD, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The GOD of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” (Exodus 3:13).


The answer GOD gave Moses

As a result, God's answer to Moses was simple, yet very revealing: “GOD said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM’; and He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, “I AM has sent me to you”’” (Exodus 3:14). The Hebrew text in verse 14 literally says, “I be that I be.”

Furthermore, this name speaks to the fact that GOD is pure existence, or what some call pure actuality. Pure actuality is that which IS with no possibility to not exist. Put another way, many things can have existence (e.g., human beings, animals, plants), but only one thing can be existence. Other things have “being” but only God is Being.

Finally, the fact that GOD alone is Being leads to at least five truths about what GOD is – what type of being GOD is.


First of All

GOD alone is a self-existent being and the first cause of everything else that exists.
Next, John 5:26 simply says, “The Father has life in Himself.”

Then, Paul preached, “He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else” (Acts 17:25).


Second

Nevertheless, GOD is a necessary being. A necessary being is one whose nonexistence is impossible. Only GOD is a necessary being; all other things are contingent beings, meaning they could not exist. However, if GOD did not exist, then neither would anything else.

Still, He alone is the necessary being by which everything else currently exists – in addition, a fact that Job states: “If He should determine to do so, If He should gather to Himself His spirit and His breath, All flesh would perish together, And man would return to dust” (Job 34:14–15).


Third

Equally important, GOD is a personal being. The word personal in this context does not describe personality (e.g., funny, outgoing, etc.); rather, it means “having intent.”

For this reason, GOD is a purposeful being who has a will, creates, and directs events to suit Him.

Furthermore, the prophet Isaiah wrote, “I am GOD, and there is no other; I am GOD, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’” (Isaiah 46:9–10).


Fourth

In fact, GOD is a triune being. This truth is a mystery, yet the whole of Scripture and life in general speaks to this fact.
Of course, the Bible clearly articulates that there is but one GOD: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our GOD, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). But the Bible also declares that there is a plurality to God.

Therefore, before Jesus ascended to heaven, He commanded His disciples: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).

To illustrate, notice the singular “name” in the verse; it does not say “names,” which would convey three gods. There is one name belonging to the three Persons who make up the Godhead.


Father GOD, Jesus GOD, The Holy Spirit GOD

However, Scripture in various places clearly calls the Father GOD, Jesus GOD, and the Holy Spirit GOD.

For example, the fact that Jesus possesses self-existence and is the first cause of everything is stated in the first verses of John: “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life” (John 1:3–4).
Also, the Bible says that Jesus is a necessary being: “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17).


Fifth

Also, GOD is a loving being. In the same way that many things can exist but only one thing can be existence, people and other living things can possess and experience love, but only one thing can be love.

And, First John 4:8 makes the simple ontological statement, “GOD is love.”


The Only Necessary Being

Therefore, GOD is the only one who can say, “I be that I be.” GOD is pure existence, self-existent, and the source of everything else that possesses existence. He is the only necessary being, is purposeful/personal, and possesses both unity and diversity.

Additionally, GOD is also love. He invites you to seek Him and discover the love He has for you in His Word and in the life of His Son Jesus Christ, the one who died for your sins and made a way for you to live with Him for eternity.



All right get those phone lines buzzing by the mighty dozens and let us know what you think of today's episode.

📱(704) 471-8526

To GOD Goes The Glory
The Glory
Glory👃🏾