Excuse me… How do you read the Bible?

Excuse me…how do you read the Bible?
Have you ever opened the Bible and wondered where do I begin, and how do I read it? Is what I am reading literal, or is it metaphorical? This week we’ll learn some techniques and equip ourselves with some tools to learn from the Bible and apply it to our lives.

Handout   |  PowerPoint   |  Transcript   |  StudyGuide

Let’s pray. Father in heaven, Lord, as we now dive into an important topic today to learn how to read the Bible, be with us in Jesus’ name.

I’d like to start today off with a little bit of a survey. How honest do you think we are with each other? Some of you are chuckling kind of nervously. Let’s do a little experiment. OK, I don’t have any cards for you today to provide your answer. So we’re just going to. If you agree, if you are going to say yes to this, OK, just kind of like keep your hand open. Like raise your hand. Yes. If you disagree, I want you to close your fist. OK, and if you’re unsure, just wave like the people on the Rose Parade. Just you know how they’re like this. Just wave like this. I’m not sure.

All right. Number one. Question number one. I know everything there is to know about the Bible. I don’t need to read anymore. OK, I have a few no’s. All right. Number two. If there were a Bible competition, I would dominate and destroy everybody sitting next to me. Nobody honest there. OK, kind of…  Thank you Ben your honesty then. I might be able to beat a handful of people. OK, now let’s be a little more serious. OK, number three. The Bible is a literal and inerrant word of God. OK. All right. OK, number four. I’m sure many of you will probably be a little more comfortable answering this. There are still many lessons from the Bible that I have not learned yet. OK. And the last one. Bible informs my values and my decision-making. Okay. All right.

Well, today I want to revisit a topic. I know we’ve talked about this a little bit, but it’s always a good reminder, especially as we’re going to be going into our next series starting next Sabbath on the book of Daniel. Okay, now let’s not lie to ourselves. Daniel is a very important book in our heritage as Adventist. Amen. So I want you, I’m imploring and encouraging you, you have one week. I want you to read the book of Daniel. Okay. And with the tools that we’re going to give you today, I want you to apply these tools. And if we can, if we have time, I hope and pray because I got eight pages of notes normally have four to five, but I have eight, so we’re going to be here all day. All right. I want to go through a couple of examples of how to use these tools. to help read the Bible. Is that fair? Okay. So if you can’t read all of Daniel for next week, at least read the first chapter. Okay. By the way, we also have a week, a daily Bible reading schedule. So if you have not gotten that yet, please see Bill or myself. We’ll get you connected to that. All right.

So we’re going to just basically skim through the first three or four pages of my notes and we’ll try to, hopefully I want to focus on actually applying these lessons. Now, when it comes to reading the Bible and the importance of scripture, here are some Bible verses that I want you to, if they’re either on your handout, I’ll note them. If you’re online, either screenshot or a press pause to write them down. These are a handful of verses that can help you to better understand of why scripture is important and to get a better understanding. Okay. When you think of the Bible, what comes to mind? One of the favorite quotes that I have from a professor of mine is that the Bible is God’s love letter to us. It helps us to understand where we come from, the fall, God’s work of redemption. And finally, how do we move forward?

And within the Bible, there are several genres. We see poetry, we see wisdom, we see parables, we see stories, and we see characters that even though they are flawed, God still uses them to advance God’s work. Amen. So there is still hope for us for those who are deeply flawed. But I also recently, you know, I’m reminded of a book that we recently went through was John, the book of John. And in verse 14, it points out the word became flesh and had made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only son who came from the full of grace and truth. So Jesus is the embodiment and character of God. If you want to know God, study Jesus. And where can you find that in the gospels, right? God points out Jesus is the best representation of who God is. When we look to God, you can see how he related to humanity, how he related throughout his whole life with love, grace, and compassion, and care. And it wasn’t just how he responded to people, but what he also spoke. He was charismatic, he drew people in, he cared for them, he spoke with authority. Now the Bible is also inspired by God, written by people who were instruments of God. One of the verses that I pointed out earlier is 2 Peter 1, verses 20 and 21, where it says, above all, you must understand that no prophecy of scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. The writers of the Bible just didn’t come up and start writing stuff down. They were inspired by who? The Holy Spirit, okay? For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. And so I wanna help us to understand too that God did. speak to and use the prophets, the writers of the Bible, to pass on to the people. Some of them literally wrote down word for word what God wanted them to say. And others, they were impressed by God and they wrote it.

But we also have to remember, when did they write it? Many thousands of years ago today, most notably in a language and customs and used ideas that were relatable to them. And we have to remember, we have to take principles from what they’re saying and we can apply to us. Because unfortunately, the Bible doesn’t speak to every single situation that we have today in 2024. But we have to take the principles of what is scripture trying to tell us.

Also, you know, it was written in a different language. Most of the Bible obviously was written in Greek, in Hebrew or Aramaic. Now, is it important to remember scripture? Why? Well, we wanna know God. As we’re driving along, have you ever driven along and you remember the scripture and that bring you comfort? Whatever scripture it could be. John 3 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. That’s a beautiful promise. Have you ever been attacked by the devil though? Have you ever felt, I don’t know how to respond. Was Jesus ever attacked by the devil? Early on in his ministry, Matthew 4 talks about how the devil tries to trick him to turn stones into what? To bread or to fall off and catch what? Himself, right? Or if he just acknowledges the devil. And how did Jesus respond to every attempt? It is written meaning he went where? He went back to scripture. Primary. the Old Testament. Okay. And I think that’s a good life lesson for us as well. So not only should we remember scripture to be able to help inform and our faith and to take confidence, but also what if you know, what if there’s a time where you’re not going to be able to have scripture, maybe you’re driving along and you forgot your Bible and you can’t easily look up and maybe your phone breaks and you just can’t look it up. Okay. All right. That is also an opportunity to take comfort and you don’t just have to look, but you can remember.

Now, when we look at scripture, there are a couple things that we can look at. By the way, a lot of the notes that we have, even if it’s in your slide, we’re going to go more in detail online. So if you go to our website, okay, go to the Downey Seventh-day Adventist Church website, click under sermons. Not only will you have the same notes, but we’ll actually have a handout that will have a lot of the information that I’m talking about. but goes more in-depth, OK? So don’t try to write everything down. And I’m going quickly with this with intention, OK? But when you look at Scripture, the first three things that you should ask are, what am I reading? What kind of content am I reading? But also, as you’re reading, what is the context? What’s happening here? And as you read the Bible, perhaps what you’re reading about may actually have verses that support or, for instance, believe it or not, the New Testament, guess what? They quote the Old Testament quite a bit. Jesus quotes the Old Testament regularly. And sometimes maybe when you open your Bible and you look at maybe there’s like a little letter, like a small lowercase, ABC, and you look at the bottom, there will be a note. Hey, check out Isaiah 61. We talked about Luke 4 last week where Jesus quotes Isaiah 61. And if you look back, you can see that it was already mentioned. OK, and some Bibles, if you have a good study Bible, it helps you to find those other verses.

So looking deeper at the context as well. What kind of genre am I reading? Is it narrative? Is it story? Is it poetry or song like the Psalms? Is there wisdom literature like the Proverbs or Song of Solomon? Is it prophetic like Daniel and Revelation or Matthew 24? The gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John? Or are they letters like Paul wrote? Finally, is it apocalyptic? And then when you’re you’re reading, are you asking yourselves the questions of who is in this passage? What’s happening? Where is it taking place? When is it taking place? And why? Why is this important? I should have also added another, I should have ordered the how, and the how part is to how does this apply to my life. So you need to see what’s happening. It’s important who’s in the story. Look at their perspective. What would they be saying? What would they be thinking, asking yourself, hmm, I wonder, what are they thinking? It could be important as to where they’re taking, where it’s taking place. When Jesus said something, it had more gravitas if it was in Jerusalem versus being outside of maybe being in a non-Jewish area, okay.

Now another question that maybe you’re wondering, what about the translations? We talked about this last, I think last year. Are translations important? I’m going to point this out. The challenge is that in a translation, there is no perfect translation. Why? Because the Bible was written in what? Greek and Hebrew. Any of you who have learned where English is not your first language, you grew up speaking Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Chinese, whatever, does everything easily translate to another language? Does everything easily especially translate into English? Learning English, I know, for many people is frustrating because sometimes grammatically, you just don’t make sense. Right? The grammar is different. And not only that, I love the fact that we have many translations. Any of you ever witnessed a car accident? Let’s say there were five other people. They all look at the same accident, but they’re looking from different angles. Are they going to tell the police officer when they report the same story? No, because you see it all from different angles. They have perspective that maybe you did not see. That’s why we have four gospels. Although they’re very similar, they’re also a little varied. And that’s the beauty, because they’re able to reach out to multiple different people. Likewise, translations as well. There are some translations that are very easy to read, like the CEV, the contemporary English version, which is really written in a way for kids. And then you have the very serious academic literal translations of the NRSV and the NASV, OK? And then you have the NIV, which technically, it’s written for basically a ninth grade reading level, OK? You have the ESV, the NET. And I think it’s good to be able to read different versions to get different perspective.

Now, I know there’s some of you who are either sitting here or watching and saying, but pastor, the King James version is the only version we should be reading. Yes, I went there. Listen, I love the King James version. I truly do. But what is one of the challenges with the King James version? And I’m not even talking about arguments of it has the right theology and this and that. Okay, we’ll get to that in a second. Somebody who’s never been in a church or somebody who English is not their first language, and they’re starting to read, and he’s spaketh, and thou, and you, there’s certain language that is beautiful. Amen? The King James Version is a beautifully written version, but it doesn’t easily translate. And I’m more interested that people understand what the content of what Scripture is trying to say than reading poetry. Is that a fair argument? Okay. Secondly, you know, there are some of our brothers and sisters who believe that King James Version and King James Version only because it’s authorized. Authorized by who? King James. Think about that. It was written, it was commissioned in 1604 and finally published in 1611. Does everybody, does the king have good intent? What was King James trying to do? He was trying to ratify it. I think he meant well. But to only say that we have one version and one version only, time has come by. Things change. Language changes. Plus, we also have better understanding. The manuscripts that the King James version was based on initially at that time, we’ve since found older manuscripts that help better support an understanding. So I’m not saying that King James version is bad. I still personally, I love it. But when it comes to actually understanding scripture, I want to use a version that people can easily understand and get to the heart of what is being said here. So please look at a different variety of versions.

Now some of you also may be asking, well, where do we begin? I would, of course, say the Gospels. Get to know Jesus because Jesus is our ultimate example. Amen? Let’s learn from him. I would also go to the book of Psalms for maybe inspiration. If you’re trying to get some wisdom, go to Proverbs. Now if you also just even do a simple Google search, you can find a Bible reading plan. We literally have a Bible reading plan that we’re doing. We’re reading through all of the New Testament this year. And of course, next week, we’re starting Daniel. Hint, hint, all right? So take these principles. Look at the content, the context. Look at different passages. What does it say about this? Look at the five W’s, who, what, where, when, and why. Ask questions about the scripture. Now ultimately, what does scripture supposed to do? It informs our faith, but should it not move us to action? Shouldn’t it provoke us to make changes in our lives? to make us question, well, what do I truly believe? How do I apply this to my life? So, maybe today or tomorrow, when you open your Bible, here are some questions that you can ask. Read the passage several times, not just ask questions, but how you can practically start. Read the passage several times, okay? Are there any new insights that you discovered? For instance, if you’re reading a parable that you think you know, then maybe there was a detail or two that, huh, I didn’t realize I was there, or I forgot about that. Ask some questions about it. I wonder. And then, put yourself in the place of the Bible characters, the disciples, Jesus, the Pharisees, the leper. How also is the character of God being revealed? Is God being gracious? Is God being kind? Is God being loving? Is God being just? And finally, bringing it to 2024, how does that translate to today?

Now, Bill and I were talking about this. And of course, I love and also frustrated by Bill because he asks really great questions. You ever have somebody in your life where they have a really great point with their great question and you don’t want to acknowledge it because you know they’re right? Bill’s like that for me. And that’s why I really appreciate about him because he’s helped save me some trouble in the past, okay? Now, I’d like to ask Bill to come on up. He asked some questions that maybe some of you, we’re gonna make this a little interactive. We’re gonna apply these principles. And we have five minutes left. We’ll try to do as many as we can. I had three, I intended to do a three. Maybe we’ll get to one or two for sure. All right, so Bill, what is the first question?

So, you know, I’ve been reading my Bible. Okay. Have you read it? It’s a good book. I should read it, it’s my job. All right. But I was reading in Matthew, chapter five, verse 48. Okay. And Jesus says we should be perfect. Now, you know, some of us are close to perfection, but you know, none of us get really all the way there. Okay. So, you know, what’s Jesus telling us there? You know, how do we get to perfection?

Okay. Listen, I am perfect and everyone else is wrong. Just kidding. My wife, she’s looking at me, she says, no. I’m kidding. So Jesus will sometimes say some things that it’s like, that doesn’t make sense because, and if you have read the Bible for any time, you know perfection is unattainable until God comes back. Amen. So why is Jesus saying something that’s so far out of left field? that doesn’t make sense. Well, again, let’s look at the context. Where is this taking place in the middle of what? The Sermon on the Mount. And the first, chapter five, what is it dealing with? And I can’t even realize, I’ve read this passage so many times and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Jesus is dealing with relationships in Matthew chapter five. Now he starts off with the beatitudes of what our perspective of life should be. And he also talks about the fact that I have not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it, right? And ultimately, what is the law? What is law? The law of God and also to our fellow men, okay? And in a nutshell, at least when it comes to the Ten Commandments. And then he talks about how we shouldn’t murder other people. That’s dealing with the relationships. Being salt and light, being able to share the gospel requires relationships. He talks about adultery and divorce, yes. No, I’ve heard some people say that, you know, when you don’t murder somebody that I can murder them without actually getting out a gun and murdering them. And my thoughts, okay. I do not have time to read that, thank you. If you read Matthew five, Jesus doesn’t say, you don’t necessarily have to murder somebody, but just even thinking about it is the same. So Jesus takes something and actually makes, he adds, he doesn’t make it more difficult, but the implications are even tougher, okay. Just go read Matthew five. I’m on a time crunch. So he talks about our adultery and divorce, okay. He talks about oaths and commitments. When you make an oath to somebody, you should honor it, okay. So be very careful in your dealings, otherwise it could go bad. And then he talks about how you shouldn’t have an eye for an eye. And then he talks about loving your enemies, okay. Matthew five, let’s go to verse 43. Let’s go to Matthew chapter five. And I want to actually start at verse 43. This will help us to better understand what Jesus is talking about. Okay. So we’re talking about murder, remember that. Verse 43, you have heard it was said, love your and hate your, but I tell you love your and pray for those who, okay, that you may be children of the father in heaven. He causes his son to rise on the evil and good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what will your reward get? Are not even tax collectors doing that? Aren’t even the unbelievers is what Jesus is saying is doing that. And if you greet only your own people, who are you better than others? Do you not eat, do not even the pagans do that? And then Jesus says, be perfect. Therefore as your heavenly father is perfect. Okay. So for the first five verses, he’s talking about who? and what, how you should love your enemies. And when we hear the term perfect, what automatically comes to mind? Sinlessness, what you should and should not do, right? Okay, but does Jesus have something else in mind? What’s the context? Jesus is talking about something very prior and specific. Now, in Luke’s account, chapter six, he says basically the same thing, but instead of saying perfect, he actually says be merciful just as your father is merciful. So if you read the Bible long enough, you realize there’s nobody perfect except Jesus. Paul writes about for all of sin and fallen, short of the glory of God. Paul, let’s say, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. John 3 16, we all know that passage. In second Corinthians chapter five, he talks about we are a new creation. We’re called to be ambassadors. Okay, and a long wordy response is this. Perfect the Greek word for perfect here is teleos Which you could translate it as perfect But really to a deeper meaning of this is teleos means something which has fulfilled its purpose or achieved the goal for what it was made now who is the source of everything God and God God is teleos because God is the You have to share this So Jesus he actually uses the same word teleos in Matthew 19 20 through 20 21 where he says if you want to be perfect Go and sell your possessions and give to the poor and the treasure in heaven now. Come follow me again. Same thing another way of saying this is that You are maturing and when you look at the context of dealing with your enemies, Jesus is telling you to love them Be mature be the mature one Okay, not being well, I am perfect. I don’t need anybody else. I don’t need God. No, we’re talking about completeness Does that make sense? Okay, let’s try to at least get one more question in.

Okay, so in Luke 14:26 and in Matthew 10:37 are kind of the same Jesus says we’re supposed to hate our family and there’s times now…  just kidding. Just kidding. Just kidding. But you know Moses says in the commandments Right honor your father and mother that your days may be long the only commandment with a promise. We all know that so how do you get those to work together?

Okay so again What’s the overall context because this is just one verse by the way, I have to I have to exhort you all Please don’t take just one verse and say this is all you have to look at the overall passage Not just that particular verse, but maybe what does it say before and after like this case? What is the whole chapter saying or even what’s the purpose of what this book is trying to achieve? Okay, let’s go to Luke chapter 14 verse 25 Luke chapter 14 verse 25. We’re gonna go to the verse before Okay, so let’s apply this the five W’s Five okay large crowds were traveling with Jesus. So we know who’s traveling with him a large crowd Okay, and also I think it points. Well, yeah, let’s just stick to that and then Jesus Turning to them says he just kind of throws us at him if anyone comes to me and does not hate their father -mother wife and children, brothers and sisters. Yes, even their own life. Such a person cannot be my what disciple and whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be what Okay. Now the key to this particular verse, this passage is verse 27. One of the things that we have to remember is, oh, I mentioned this, but just keep reading. Okay.

Now, is it possible? Is it possible? Jesus is using a form of hyperbole. Ya’ll know what that is? Kids, have your parents ever said to you when you forgot to take the trash out again, I’ve told you a million times to take the trash out. Do you really believe when they say it’s a million times? No, because they have not told you a million times. What’s the point of your mom and dad telling you, go take out the trash, right? They’re frustrated. And maybe exaggeration is not the right word, but is it possible? Jesus is trying to use hyperbole to get their attention. Okay. Now, as Bill pointed out, Moses, sorry, in the fifth commandment, honor who? Honor your parents that it might be well with you. You know, it doesn’t make sense. We find in first Timothy five verse eight, Paul, Paul warned anyone who does not provide for their relatives and especially their own household has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. Pretty cold, right? So again, what is Jesus trying to say? Our parents, our family to be a good Jewish person, you knew the lineage all the way back. If you could trace it back to Abraham, you were in rarefied nobility because then you could call out, well, you don’t know how far you go back. They use their lineage against each other. Okay. Politically. So part of this, I think is Jesus definitely making a statement. Okay. But again, let’s look at the context. If you keep reading, what does it say? Jesus, Jesus is up to something. So, um, I didn’t open my Bible. I should open my Bible. Okay. So then he talks about in verse 28, he says, suppose one of you who wants to build a tower, a building, won’t you sit down first and estimate how much it’s going to cost? How many of you have built the house? Okay. None of his. Okay. How many of you have ever spent a lot of money on something? Did you not do your research beforehand? to figure out how much it would cost. Okay. When you bought your house, did you check to see where is the land? How much is going to cost? How much is property taxes going to cost insurance? Does it have an HOA? You have to keep those things in mind. Also, after that, he says, verse 31, or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first down and consider whether he’s even able with 10,000 men to oppose the one coming against him with 20,000? If he’s not able to, will he send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace? In the same way, those of you who did not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. What is Jesus trying to say here? He’s telling them counting the cost. What is this going to cost you? Now family should not that be the most important thing aside from your relationship with God, your relationship to your spouse, your relationship to your kids. Should that not also be important? Is it possible? Jesus is saying, I have to be first. Perspective. Now, obviously Jesus is not saying you have to literally hate your family. What he’s saying is that before everyone else, I have to be first.

And I’m adding on, but if you put me first, everything else moving forward, if God is first in your life, will your marriage be better? If you put the work, if you love your spouse, does it relationships? How many of you know our relationship’s easy? No. Do couples fight? They absolutely. fight. My wife and I are no different than anybody else. We fight. But if you truly love your spouse and by the grace of God and with compassion and love, you’ll be able to move forward together. Amen? Okay. Now, parents, do your kids upset you? If you have siblings, okay, I have three other siblings and did we fight? Absolutely. But you don’t ever dare let anybody else let them fight. Don’t let anybody else pick on them. All right. That’s my sibling. I get to do that. You don’t get to do that. How many of you had that experience? All right. You defend. So ultimately, what is Jesus ultimately trying to say is I count the costs. Discipleship is going to require everything. So be mindful of when you make a decision when you follow me. It’s going to take everything. Does that make sense?

All right. It’s 12 .10. OK, I can’t do it quick. This one could take a while, but we’re going to do it quick. All right, we’ll come back to it.

You know, Linda and I got married a long time ago. There were still puddles around from the ice melting during the ice age. And back then, she worked for the conference. And the conference had a rule that you couldn’t wear wedding rings. And regardless of my personal feeling for that rule, that was the rule. And I know Paul talks about not adorning yourself and jewelry and things like that. But now, everybody’s allowed to wear a wedding ring. So what changed? Is other jewelry OK too? How do we go about dealing with this?

You really put me on the pedestal. So just to be transparent, what am I wearing? I’m wearing a wedding band. But for disclosure, do you know where I bought this? Or actually, Lisa bought this? At the swampy. Now, OK, so it doesn’t say, to my knowledge, it doesn’t say in Scripture you can’t wear a wedding band. We have to look at the principles and, again, the context, OK? So let’s be clear as well. An actual just a piece of jewelry, a piece of metal, and a rock on it. Is that inherently evil? is the value that you place on it. Now, I want to go to, let’s go to First Timothy, chapter two. Okay. And it’s here we’re dealing with First Timothy chapter two, and I think it’s verse nine. And here, Paul is writing some guidance to Timothy, who needs some help and encouragement, because he’s dealing with some people who are literally trying to bring in false teaching and is harassing people and making life difficult for him. And there’s a lot of, let’s just say hot button issues in this, literally this passage. Okay. And if I, we will address these things one at a time in the future. But again, looking at context, so who’s he talking to? Paul is writing to Timothy, he’s having to deal with people. And in verse two, it says, I also want women to dress modestly. with decency and propriety adorning themselves not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes but with good deeds appropriate for women who profess to worship God. Now I’m going to say something that is just for Paul to actually even be acknowledging them is progressive. Because in the time of Paul, unfortunately, women were not as women and children were not valued like they we believe today. Equality was not something that was considered back then. And so for Paul to be acknowledging something is important.

But let’s look at the context. So we talked about who talked about when where it was most likely in Ephesus. And why is this important? Now he says, I want you to dress with modesty and decency and propriety adorning themselves not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes. The real issue here was that there were individuals who had wealth who had means who were coming into church and going overboard with how they were dressing. So let me let me put it this way. Actually, and at the time to people in Ephesus or other non -Christian writers were saying this is ridiculous. You know, all these people who are trying to over assert their wealth as authority over people. And this is nonsense. Okay, we are equal. Now, hairstyles back then I’m, I don’t know hairstyles. But what I know in reading this is that commentary say that women would actually put gold and silver in their hair, and then walk around and pray themselves essentially, not intentionally, but you know, let people know that I come from means. And why is is it in church when somebody has money that all of a sudden they should be a leader without looking first at the character and content of their heart? Okay, I know we’re not supposed to judge, but look at the fruit. Just because somebody has money and maybe some authority in their profession, should we automatically make them a leader? I’m going to say no. Okay. Because if we don’t see Jesus in you, if we don’t see love in your heart, I don’t want you as a leader. You have to be humble. So with this, okay. And then he says modesty. Now, does modesty mean frumpy, frumpy and plain? No, it doesn’t. What is your attachment to wedding bands or to jewelry? Is it to parade yourself? Or is it this wedding band? I got this in Hawaii at the Hawaii swap meet market. Okay. on several years ago, and let’s see if I can take it off. This ring has a little bit of coa and it’s not a super expensive ring, but I value and treasure this ring, not for flashing around, but because of obviously my love for my wife, right? It’s a reminder of a symbolism of we’re two combined as one. And I also write wear it because to let other people know, I’m spoking for, I’m happily spoken for, okay? I don’t want another partner. I only want my wife, amen? So the same principles apply, even though it says, doesn’t say wedding bands, but what is it that you’re attributing to? If you’re wearing a wedding band, is it because you want to show off and let people know that you’re awesome, but you’re really not? When people profess their wealth, honestly, I know this is crass, but it makes them stink. You don’t want to be around them. They stink of pride. I know that sounds harsh, but do you want to be around somebody who is always gloating their wealth?

Now here’s the other thing too. So let’s be real, an Adventism. We’ve taken the wedding band or somebody who’s a new believer who comes into church and we say, you’re not dressed appropriately. Oh, that angers me so much. They’re here, amen? They are here. And you know what’s funny when people who do that, who sometimes tend to do that? Somebody, I can’t remember if this happened to me in real life or I’ve heard this. I’ve had a pastor for so long, I forget, but there was somebody who drove a very nice, luxury car. I was just saying Mercedes, and they had to go all the same. sales tell somebody that you shouldn’t be wearing a wedding band and yet what was the person driving Mercedes-Benz how much does a Mercedes-Benz cost now more than a wedding band way more let’s just say 50, 60, a hundred thousand dollars okay or better yet a Tesla how much of those costs a lot you can go to Walmart and get a wedding band I’m not saying you should do that guys this is a lesson I learned put some thought into it. Oh she is saying yes. I am sorry okay.

So my friends the principles of this what is the principle that Paul is trying to say don’t gloat don’t throw your wealth around and if you’re a follower of Jesus what did Jesus exemplify humility. Okay. If you want to wear, and then, okay, just real quick. I’m sorry. We’re getting closing. The transition to wearing a wedding band came from the fact that other people from different countries where it was customary and even required, if you were married, you needed to wear a wedding band. And then when they come to the States, or even when you go to a different country, if a woman is not wearing a wedding band and she shows up to work and a guy hits on her or being flirty. And then she’s like, no, I’m not interested. But he doesn’t see a ring. What does that signify in that culture? Okay. Now, really, if he’s being a good guy, he just would be polite and mannerly. But some guys, it takes a little longer to learn. Okay. So it’s in this case, we don’t wear wedding bands to profess our faith or wealth. We wear it because we signify the love of our partner. Amen. Okay. All right.

I think it’s time to end. Thank you, everyone. Please take these principles, content, context, cross reference, cross reference, look at the who, what, where, when, and why. And if you’ve forgotten all these things, go to our website. All of this information is online, downloaded next week, next week, get ready for diving into Daniel. Amen. Let’s pray.

Father in heaven, thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to look at different ways that we can study scripture, Lord. This is just one way. And I pray that you will bless the reading of everybody as they read the Bible with new eyes, bring new observations and Lord, to be able to apply it to our lives. We love you and thank you. Be with us until we meet again next time in Jesus name. Amen.