 I'm just waiting for the record. OK, good morning, everyone. Welcome to BC 106, our course on interpreting scripture. Thank you for joining us. And those who will be joining us online. All right, good morning, everyone, those of you in class. Welcome. So our course on interpreting scripture is a very important course in the first year course. Now, the lecture notes, I'm putting it as PDFs in Google Classroom. OK, I will maybe get it printed and give it to you. But the thing is, I want to keep modifying the lessons as we go along. So I update the content, even though we've been teaching the course for several years now, I will update the content. So that's why I'm giving it class by class. So you can download it and then get it printed here upstairs if you want to print it. Or you can just use the PDFs. So let's get an overview of what we're going to do in this course. Just introduction, get an overview. And then we'll get started. So what we will do in this course, first of all, is we will emphasize the importance of the word of God in the life of the believer. So we start with that. Why our word of God is very important for you in the life of the believer. So we start with that. And then we will talk about a very important way by which we can get God's word to work in our lives. So that's basically what we will be doing through this book. That through meditation, how to meditate in the word of God. So we start with that by talking about meditation in God's word. After we do that, then we will talk about the importance of correctly interpreting the word of God, the importance. Why it is important to correctly interpret the scriptures. So we're reading the scriptures, but we must understand it correctly. Only then we can apply it correctly. Otherwise, we read the scriptures. If we misunderstand it, we don't understand it correctly. We may go and do something wrong. You may think I'm following the Bible, but hey, you have not understood it correctly. So then we go and do something wrong. And then we get into trouble. But then God is not responsible for that. Because we didn't understand correctly what he was saying. So it's important for us to understand the scriptures, interpret the scriptures correctly. The same thing happens when we are teaching other people. So when we're teaching other people, what are we doing? We're reading the Bible. We're interpreting it for ourselves. Then we are interpreting it for the people. So that means our interpretation will influence so many people, hundreds, thousands. And so if the person who is ministering the word interprets it incorrectly, then all those people who are listening will understand the word of God incorrectly. And sometimes the consequences can be very serious. Sometimes small things, OK, it doesn't matter. Sometimes consequences can be very serious. So interpreting the word of God is very, very important for ourselves and also especially when we are ministering to people. Because you can affect lives of so many hundreds, thousands of people by how we interpret the scriptures. So the goal in this course is to learn some of the rules or the guidelines that we must follow on how to understand scripture correctly. So after we emphasize the importance, then we talk about tools, tools and methods. I'll share with you some of the tools that we could use to study the scriptures. Now in a typical Bible college, they will make you learn a little bit of Hebrew and a little bit of Greek. But generally that's not of much use because you're not actually learning the language. You're just learning a little bit, but it's not enough to read, actually read. And also these days, we don't need that. You don't need to learn Hebrew and Greek because we have tools. I will show you. You have many software packages and one that I use. I've been using it for more than 20 years now. It gives you all the Hebrew and the Greek words. And all you have to do is put your mouse over and you can see the Hebrew and the Greek word and it'll give you all the meanings. And so there are a lot of tools. So I don't have to learn or we don't have to learn Hebrew and Greek. We have the tools. And if you know how to use the tools, you can actually study the scriptures from Hebrew and Greek. Now, of course, if somebody wants to spend 10, 20 years or 10 years learning the language and then becoming a master. Okay, there are some people who would do that, but our goal is not to master Hebrew and Greek. Our goal is to learn how to interpret the Bible correctly. And we have the tools that will help us go back to the Hebrew and the Greek and get the correct meaning and then be applied. So I will share with you some tools and methods. How to study the Bible. And I'll share with you. Then we start going over the guidelines. These are the guidelines you must follow when you are interpreting the scriptures. So there are about 10 or so guidelines. We will, I will explain each. So you understand, okay, this is how I must keep this in mind when I'm reading the scriptures to interpret it, okay? And then we will, towards the end, we will pick up a few difficult topics. Yeah, difficult passages, all right? So we will purposely go to some difficult passages in the scriptures and say, okay, how do we interpret this? And how do we interpret that? So we will do that. So this is a very important course because we are going to learn how to interpret scripture and we must follow this for the rest of your life, rest of your ministry, okay? I'm going to share this with you. It may seem very simple one semester course, but actually it's very important because you must follow this for your future, especially when you're ministering to other people, when you're serving other people. You have to be very careful. Make sure that the script, how we interpret scripture and therefore how we preach to people or speak to people is correct, right? And as we will see, when there are misunderstanding, misinterpretation of scripture, it can get people into trouble. People get into difficulties because of that, right? So this is a simple course, meaning it's a one semester course, but it is very important for personal and for ministry application, right? So today, we're just going to do the first, the initial part of the course, which is just to remind ourselves. And I think many of us know God's word is very important for us, okay? But just we want to begin this course by reminding ourselves on the importance of the word of God, right? And for that, we will just for the first few lectures, maybe I think about four lectures or four to six lectures, we will use this APC book, God's Word, The Miracle Seed, okay? So you've got the printed version, yeah, I'm throwing it to the people there on the camera. Here you can take that. We will use this book and I will also put the PDF online. So whatever you want to use, you want to use the PDF or you want to use the printed book, that is fine. It's a very simple book, but it has a very important truth, which we'll be talking about, which is on meditating in God's Word and how to sow the seed of God's Word into our lives, right? So if that's something you and I can practice, we will see the word of God at work in our lives, okay? So this is, we're going to start off the course with talking about the importance of God's Word and how to receive the word of God into our lives so that the word of God can actually bring about change, so understand that the purpose of reading the Bible is not just to get information. Oh, I know what the Bible says, no. We are reading the word of God so that the word of God can change us. Yeah, you can change our lives. By the word of God, our lives are changed. By the word of God, we are built, okay? So while it is important to interpret the word of God correctly, that is, you use your mind to correctly understand the word. We shouldn't stop there, right? The word must go from our understanding into our heart. It should go inside us and it should work in our lives. So that's what we'll be covering in this book. So you could follow with me in the book or I'm actually using the PDF. And so the page numbers may be a little different but that's okay, right? We will go chapter by chapter. For those of you who are on the online class, if you want a printed copy of the book, just send an email to bookrequestatapcw.org and send your address and request for the book and they will post it to you. They will code it to you. Those of you are here, of course, you already have it, okay? So let's get started. We'll go through this book. I'll go through it quickly. You can read in detail the content that is in the book. So in the introduction, what I want to emphasize in the introduction is this. All of us want to see God work in our lives. So God, I want you to work in my life. So it may be different things. Sometimes we say, God, I want you to change me in some area of my life. Example, maybe I could be a very angry person. I may be losing my temper very quickly. Then I say, God, I don't like that. I don't want to be an angry person. I want to be a person who's gentle, who's patient. I want to change. So God, please change me. That may be my prayer or somebody else may have some other thing. So we want God to work in us. Or sometimes, maybe God, I want you to give me wisdom or God, I want you to use me to help other people. So many things. God, work in me, something, you know. It's a good prayer. But how is God going to work in you and me? One of the most important ways by which God works in you and me is through His word. It's through His word. We say, God, work in me. Okay, God wants to work in you and me, but we must understand. He works in us through His word. So if I don't give His word place in my life, I can pray, God, work in me, God, work in me, God, work in me, but God is saying, I want to work in you, but I work in you through my word. The other way, of course, is through His Holy Spirit. A third way is through other people. So people can, God works in us through other people, you know. So that's why He put us part of the body. But the two most important ways God works in us is by His word, by His Spirit. His word and His Holy Spirit, two most important ways. People, good, but that comes after. Most important, His word and His Holy Spirit. So I'm saying, God, I am ready. I want to get rid of this bad temper. I want to get rid of being angry. I want to be patient. I want to be gentle. Oh, God, change me. Okay, God says I want to change you, but I will do it through my, so what must I do? I must give place to the word of God. I must read the Bible, especially in that area, but I want God to work in me. I go to the Bible, I read in the word of God, what God says about anger, you know. So example, James chapter one, He says, you know, be slow to speak, slow to speak, quick to listen, because the wrath of man or the anger, I'll just paraphrase it, the anger of man does not do the will of God. The wrath of man does not do the will of God. So I read that. When I read that verse, or, you know, Proverbs has several scriptures, you know, for example, it says, don't go along with an angry man, lest you learn his ways. Another scripture, he who has control over his own spirit is better than him who conquers a city. So when I read scriptures like this, that word goes into me and it begins to change me. That word, it's not just some nice verse that we are reading. No, if we let those, like I just mentioned three verses, if we let those scriptures get into us, it will change us because God's power is in his word. We know the scripture. The word of God is alive and powerful. God's word is alive and powerful. It's a living thing. So even though this word was written, you know, thousands, thousands plus years ago, that word is alive and full of power. So God, that word, those scriptures will go into me and change me. It will set me free from being an angry person, losing my temper, and it will create in me self-control and gentleness and the good qualities, the virtues of God. So just one example, meaning we pray and say, God work in me. Of course God will work in us, but he works in us through his word. That's how we must give place to the word of God in our lives. Okay. So that's basically what I was mentioning in the introduction. Now one important way by which, so how do I take the word from the pages of the Bible and how do I put it into my heart where it can work? How do I cause the power that's in the word to come out in my life? It is through the process of meditation. Meditation. So that is one of the things we've learned in the very beginning through this book. The book is explained through meditation in the Bible, in the word of God. We take the scriptures from the pages of the Bible into our heart where it can release its power. That's why in the Bible, God says, meditate in my word, meditate in my words. Why? Because that is the way we take the scriptures from the pages of the Bible and it goes into us that it can release its power. But if I don't meditate, then I may have many copies of the Bible. I may have different versions of the Bible. Bible in different languages. Wonderful. But it's not changing me because I need to meditate in the word of God. Okay. So we're going to learn how to do that. So that's in the introduction. Now, chapter one, I'm just following. You can follow me in the book. God's word is a foundation of our faith. So that is very important. I think all of us will agree. Any questions? Well, I'm talking any questions from our online class. Everybody is with me so far. Anybody? Any questions? Okay. That's fine. Okay. So you can follow along with me in the book. Those of you online, the PDF has been posted. And if you want to print a copy, just send an email to bookrequest. And they will bookrequest at apcw.org. They'll send it to you. So chapter one, the God's word is a foundation of our faith. So everything that we believe and we live, we live by the word of God. Right? Now, I want you to think about this. The eternal word, the incarnate word, the written word. Jesus Christ is, he became the incarnate words. The word became flesh. Now, before he became the incarnate word, we would refer to him as the eternal word. That means he was always there in the beginning was the word. The word was with God. So he's referred, you know, he's, he's the eternal word. He became the incarnate words. But what is so amazing is that even Jesus Christ, when he walked on the earth, he lived by the written word. That is something amazing to think about. That God would live by the written word. When he, when he walked on the earth as a man, you know, so when Jesus was on the earth, he, as a man, he studied the Scriptures. He read the Scriptures. So Isaiah 50 verse 4 says, he awakens me morning by morning. So Isaiah is prophesying about Jesus. He wakes me morning by morning. He opens my ear to hear as the learned. You know, so Jesus grew in wisdom, in stature. He was sitting and asking questions in the temple. He resisted the devil with the written word. Devil came and tempted. Jesus didn't say, I am God. How can you tempt me? He didn't say like that. He said, it is written three times, three times. It is written. And in his preaching, in his ministry, he quoted the Old Testament. So even in his preaching, he was preaching from the Old Testament. So that was the Scriptures that was available, the Old Testament. He was basically, he was, you know, he was always referring to when later on, and I've given all these Scriptures there after his, so even when he began his ministry, like he said, you know, he read from Isaiah 61. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He read from Isaiah 61. And he said, this Scripture is fulfilled in your years today. So even in the beginning of his ministry, he's quoting from the Old Testament, Isaiah 61, and he's saying the Scripture is being fulfilled. So he's walking, aligned to the Scriptures. And after his death and resurrection, when he is walking with his disciples, he, the Bible says, you know, look 24, he starts from the Old Testament, right? From the prophets and all the way through David and the, you know, and he speaks, he shows how the Scriptures were speaking of himself. That means Jesus knew the Old Testament Scriptures. And he was using the Old Testament Scriptures to explain to his disciples about himself. So think about this. If the eternal Word who became the Incarnate Words, if he lived by the written Word, how much more you and I should follow the written Word? Yeah, just his amazing thought. Think about it. Jesus lived by the Scriptures. Whatever was there at that time, he lived by that. So we must, you know, just remind ourselves of that. Keep that in mind. Through the, the other thing that I want to emphasize is that through the fullness of the message that is preached, God wants people, you know, to come to believe. I mean, as we preach the Scriptures, you know, God brings people to the faith, right? So that's another way. That's another important thing to keep in mind that God wants us to communicate his Scriptures. All Scripture is God breathed. Second Timothy chapter three was 15 and 16. We are familiar with these things. I'll just move through it quickly. Second Timothy three, 15, 16, you know, the Apostle Paul is writing to Timothy. And he says, Timothy, you've learned, you know, the Holy Scriptures. Now remember when Paul was writing at that time, when he referred to the Holy Scriptures, the only thing they had at that time was the Old Testament, right? They didn't have the New Testament yet. It was being written. Paul was writing. So when Paul is referring to the Holy Scriptures, he's referring to the Old Testament, Genesis to Malachi, what we know. So he's referring to that. And saying, Timothy, you know the Holy Scriptures. And he says, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. So when he says all Scripture at that point when he was writing, it was all of the Old Testament Scriptures. Okay. So now we will discuss this a little later. But a big problem. And actually, even recently, maybe a few weeks back, somebody had sent me an email. The essence of that was why should we New Testament people read Old Testament? So this question keeps coming up many times. People keep asking. We are New Testament believers. Why should we read Old Testament? But we will come to that question a little later. But I want you to think about this. All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God, including the Old Testament. Old Testament was given by inspiration of God. So we must look at the Old Testament with reverence. Not just, I don't need it. I'm a New Testament believer. Why I need Old Testament? No, no, no. All Scripture, all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God. So I must hold even the Old Testament with reverence. Now we'll come back to this question. We'll explain it in more depth to help us understand why we New Testament believers must still study the Old Testament. What is it? We will come to that. Okay, but I'm just leaving you this thought. All Scripture, including Old Testament is given by the inspiration of God. So I cannot just discard it, ignore it, no, or treat it less important. No, it is important. Yes, New Testament, we are living in the New Testament period. But don't disregard the Old Testament. It's very rich. It's the Word of God. The Scriptures are window into God. Next point here. Psalm 119 verse 18. Now the psalmist spread, open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from your law. If that's a prayer, we can always pray, God, I'm going to read your Bible. Please open my eyes. Please help me understand. Even this morning when I was reading the Bible, I was saying, God, please help me understand. Please help me understand. I may have read that same passage many times before, but again, I'm reading same prayer. God, please help me understand. Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things from your word. And it is the Word of God that is our window into God. Meaning, if we want to know God, understand God, see God, one of the most important ways is through His Word. Now I say one because second is, I mean, connected to it is the revelation from the Holy Spirit. Okay. So, but we're not talking about the Holy Spirit now. We're just speaking about the Word of God. So, but without the Holy Spirit, we cannot understand God. We cannot understand God. We cannot understand God. We cannot understand God. We're just speaking about the Word of God. So, but without the Holy Spirit, we cannot see God. So we need the personal, the Holy Spirit to open our eyes. And then, of course, we can also see God in nature. You know, but we have to be careful. No, not everything you see is God. No, we see the glory of God in nature, but that is, I would say, secondary. We leave it aside. Yes, it is true. You know, the heavens declare the glory of God and all of that. It is true. But most important, the Word of God with the help of the Holy Spirit. That's how we see God. That's how we get to know Him who He is. The Word of God is our window to God. So if our revelation of God is through the Word, we know it's correct. It's correct because it's through the Word. So if you want to know God through His Word, with the help of the Holy Spirit, of course, the revelation, the Holy Spirit helps us. Also, next point, the Scriptures are our standard, our pattern. So Psalm 119, 133, the Psalmist said, Direct my steps by your Word. And let no iniquity have dominion over me. Direct my steps by your Word. That means I am going to live by your Word. Direct my steps by your Word. If it's not in the Word, I won't follow it. If it's in the Word, I will follow it. Direct my steps by your Word. That means how I live, how I walk is going to be directed by the Word of God. Direct my steps by your Word. So the Bible becomes our standard and our pattern for life. Next point, the Scriptures are our final authority. That means if it's in the Bible, I will submit to it. I submit to what the Word of God says. It's authority over my life. So Psalm 119, 101, I've restrained my feet from every evil way that I may keep your words. I'm not going to do anything wrong because I want to keep your word. I want to submit myself to your Word. God's Word is authority over our... We submit ourselves to the Word of God. So this is how we must approach the Word of God and honor the Word of God. So the next point here in this chapter for introduction chapter here. Let the Word dwell in you richly. So Paul writes Colossians 3, 16. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, meaning in abundance. Let the Word dwell in us richly. Now, very interesting. The Word must dwell in us. That means it's like now I have the printed Bible or the written by Scriptures. But this Word must live inside me. It's not enough for the Scriptures to be there written on the pages of a book. It must go from there to be alive inside me. So Jesus, and you can see the same thought. Jesus said it like this in John 15. He said, if you abide in me and my words abide in you. My word must be in you. All the same. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, in fullness. So that must be the desire of our heart. God, I want your Word to be in me. Let it fill me. Let it fill me. So then in all wisdom, we can teach, we can admonish one another. We can sing songs, everything. All that will happen. All that will come. But first I should have the Word dwelling in me richly. So that's our goal. Now, chapter 2, I'm going through this quickly because we are familiar with this. Any questions? Let me see. Any questions online? Okay. Online students, feel free. Any questions? Any questions? Anyone here? Simple so far? Okay. Let's go. So chapter 2, we also understand the purity and power of the Word of God. That means this word is pure. Pure means it is truth. This word is pure. And this word is powerful. Two simple things, but very important. The Word of God is pure. The Word of God is powerful. The Word of God is truth. The Word of God is power. It's truth. It means I can believe it 100%. I can put my whole life on it. It's pure. It's truth. Okay. And it's powerful. It means I believe it can work in me. It can work in my situations. It will overcome anything. So two things we must have confidence in the Word, in God's Word. God's Word is truth. I just use the word pure. God's Word is truth. And God's Word is power. God's Word is truth. So I can count on it completely. God's Word is power. So I can depend on it to work. It will produce. It will produce. It will, it is more powerful than anything else. It will produce. So two things that I can be very confident about the Word of God. That's the purpose of this chapter. So we just start off by looking Romans 11-33, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, his judgments, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways beyond past finding or beyond our understanding. So Romans 11-23, on the one hand, we know that God is infinite in wisdom. He's infinite in knowledge. And we cannot understand everything. His ways are beyond our understanding. We recognize that. And yet this same God has given us a portion of his wisdom, his knowledge and his understanding in the Scriptures. So these Scriptures are a portion, meaning a part of God's infinite wisdom, knowledge, understanding and his ways. That is infinite. But in the Scriptures, he's saying, Okay, I'm giving you something which I know you can understand. He is infinite in wisdom, infinite in knowledge and his ways are beyond our understanding. But in the Scriptures, he's given us a portion of his wisdom, of his understanding and of his ways. So this is enough for you. You understand this? You live by this. This is what you need. And that portion that he's given us in the Bible, we can fully depend on it. And it will work in our lives. This truth, it is power. So next point, understand Psalm 138 verse 2. Again, this is a very amazing thought. Psalm 138 verse 2, the Psalmist said, I will worship toward your holy temple, praise your name for your loving kindness and your truth. For you have magnified your words above all your name. And think about that. You have magnified your words above your name. If you want to put it in simple language, God is saying my word is more important than my name. You have magnified your word above your name. Why is that? Because if that word is not good, then the name will not be held with honor and respect. My God, sometimes he says something, he doesn't know what he says. I don't know whether I can believe it or not. Then you don't respect the name. But for God, he magnifies his word. He exalts his word. He puts his word even higher than his own name. Because his name is only as good as his word. So think about that. You have magnified your word above your name. How important is God's word to God? To God, his word is more important than his own name. We don't tend to think about that. We exalt the name of Jesus. And of course we must, I'm not saying that. We don't want us to understand from God's perspective. From God's perspective. He says my word is more important than my own name. That's how highly he holds his word. If he has spoken it, he will keep it. Even above his own name. God's word, mixed point. His word is as strong as his character. God's word is as strong as his character. So in Hebrews chapter 6 verses 11 to 18, which we have quoted here. The writer of Hebrews is saying something. He says that God made a promise to Abraham. He couldn't swear by anything else or anyone else. Nobody greater than him. So he swore by himself verse 16. For men, when they swear, they swear by something greater and they make a oath by something greater. But when God gave a promise, there was nobody greater. So what did he do? He said surely, surely I will bless you. I mean, he swore by himself. And so that's what he says in verse 18. Because it is impossible for God to lie. It is impossible for God to lie. That's why his word, when he gave his word, he said surely I will bless you and I will multiply you. So he's swearing by himself. And Jesus was speaking. He said, verily, verily, I say unto you. It's like, I myself am behind these words. So think about this. God's word is as strong as his character, his nature. Who is God? He's God who cannot lie. He's God who cannot lie. So his word is like that. It is truth. It is pure. He's holy. His word is holy. He is truth. His word is truth. He is pure. His word is pure. Everything God is, he can say about his word. Because he's saying, I am standing behind this word. So when we take the promises of God, keep that in mind. This word, this promise is as strong as God's character. It's pure. It's holy. It's true. God himself is behind this word. Okay. So let's pause here. We will take this forward after our break. Let me just see any questions from our online class. All right. There is a question here. Just a moment. I will just read it and there's another question. Judge and Joel says, we don't understand a particular thought of God from his word. Is it okay to keep walking the revelation that I have received till now? How should I take some excuses? I really don't understand, but I want to know the exact meaning. So just keep praying and waiting for Holy Spirit to reveal it to me. Okay. Good question. So, so just asking a question. Suppose I read something and I don't understand it. What do we do with it? Right. So one, the two things, and of course, Judge has kind of answered his own question because he's correctly says, you know, we continue walking in the revelation that we have till now. Whatever you understand, you live by that. And then the things we don't understand, we must keep searching. Jesus said, search the scriptures. He told the people, search the scriptures. So you got to keep searching. And that means you continue studying, praying about and saying, God, help me understand and you study the scriptures. The things we are going to learn in this course will help us how to study even difficult passages. And as we are studying, God will give us the elimination. So we do our part of studying and applying the rules of how to interpret the scripture. So we apply the rules. We use the tools. We do our part. And as you do it prayerfully, the Holy Spirit will give us revelation. Yeah. And he will begin to understand. He'll give us. We will begin to understand. He'll give us the understanding. So even though there will be passages we run into, we don't understand it immediately. Okay. Keep living by what you do understand, what you do know. Things you don't understand. Keep studying. Keep praying. Ask the Holy Spirit for revelation and he will give it to us. It'll come eventually as we keep studying. Okay. So that's how I would respond to you, Justin. And I think you've kind of answered your own question there in what you've written. Good. Okay. Let's go for a break. We'll be back in 10 minutes. Thank you.