The Importance of Bible Study

the spiritual life. If you have a question and you'd like to call the phone number, here is (877) 548-3675. I think it's good to write that down. So let me give that to you again. Write it down. (877) 548-3675. And I'll give you the little secret that I've been trying to tell people the last few weeks that people say they can't get through. The best way to get through is to call at the at the top of the hour, because we've got a whole bunch of lines open right now,

so you can fill them up. Uh, and get your question in sitting in the producer's chair today, we've got two chairs, Tricia McMillan and and Lisa. He's helping her out. Uh, Omar is our tech guy, as always. Rihanna's answering the phones. Appreciate the whole team working here. Uh, to make this program available to you. Again, the phone number (877) 548-3675. Time to get yourself a cup of coffee. Open your Bibles. We're going to study the scriptures together. People are terrified

of public speaking. Jerry Seinfeld often talks about that 90% of all people are terrified of public speaking. And so, he says, they actually fear public speaking more than they fear death. And so he says at a funeral, the person giving the eulogy is probably more scared than the person in the casket. But people are fearful of sharing their faith because they don't know how. And as a result, I think it'd be really good for us to get

a little clue from the Apostle Paul. I've been reading in the book of acts, and there are some lessons to be learned about how we can share our faith. From the Apostle Paul. And I want to talk today about three keys to effective faith sharing. And I've been I've been taking a look at the defenses that the Apostle Paul made when he was on trial. And I think that there are three key lessons that we can learn. So let me give them to you. First of all, when we share our faith, we need to tell our

faith story. We just need to tell our story. If you read Paul's defenses, you'll see that when he was before the crowd in acts 22, he tells his faith story how he came to know the Lord when he's before the Sanhedrin. In acts 23, he tells his faith story how he came to know the Lord in acts 26. When he's before Agrippa, he tells his faith story the way he came to know the Lord. It's it's really a great model for us. Why is it so important to learn how to share our faith story, how to

tell how we came to know the Lord? Well, people can dispute all sorts of facts and figures. They can dispute interpretations of the Bible. They can argue about the existence of God. Whether Jesus is the Redeemer, they can argue all sorts of facts. What they can't argue with is our experience. So what we do is we tell our faith story so we can share our own personal experiences. I think that's why it's so important. So we need to learn how to tell our story in a factual,

compelling way that points people to the Lord Jesus. So we need to tell our story. Here's a second lesson. We need to communicate according to culture. Why is this so important? Well, we see it in the Apostle Paul when he is before Jewish people. He whenever he's giving his defense, he emphasizes what they need to hear, which is that he's a Pharisee, that he is faithful to the pharisaic teaching of the resurrection. He talks about in

these defenses the messianic hope. He's always talking about the Messiah. In fact, what he says is I stand. This is what he says to Agrippa I in acts 26, verses 23 and 24. Uh, uh, I'll start with verse 22 to this very day of I have obtained help that comes from God, and I stand and testify to both small and great, saying nothing else than what the prophets and Moses said would take place. Verse 23, that the Messiah would suffer, and that at first he would rise

from the dead. He would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles. He is summarizing the message of the messianic hope from the Hebrew Bible. He's talking about messianic prophecy. So when he talks to Jews, he talks about what Jewish people need to hear. But when he talks to Romans like Felix and Festus and others, he always emphasizes what they need to hear, which is that he's law abiding, and he frequently mentions the resurrection for hope,

so he is giving a message to them. So for example, in acts 25 eight, when he is before a Roman official, he says this. Uh, neither against the Jewish law, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I sinned at all. He's trying to emphasize that he is law abiding, because what did the Romans care about? Keeping the law. Having everything in order? No problems. So here's the point. Paul never changed his message. It was always about Jesus that he died and rose again. But he adapted how he

communicated that message to the culture. Uh, now, why is that so crucial? Because we are living in a time when people really need to understand the culture. We need to communicate to people in a way that they need to hear the gospel. We never change the message, but we become students of culture and then we communicate that message. We adapt the communication of the message to our cultural framework. So we need to tell our story. We need to

communicate according to our culture. And then thirdly, and I think this is crucial, we need to keep the main thing, the main thing. That's one of my favorite expressions that Doctor George Sweeting, former president of Moody, now with the Lord. He used to always say, keep the main thing, the main thing. Paul always included the essentials, like the verse I just mentioned in acts 2623. What is the most essential message? The essential message is this that Messiah must suffer. That, uh.

And that as the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light to the to our people and to the Gentiles. What is he talking about? Messiah, suffering and death. Jesus died for our sins, and that he was the first to rise from the dead. He was. He was raised from the dead. He was resurrected. What is the good news? That Jesus died for our sins and was raised for our vindication? That is the message of the gospel. Paul always kept the main thing, the

main thing. This is really crucial since we're learning how to tell our story. When we tell our faith story, sometimes it becomes about us. But really, when we tell our faith story, what we have to talk about is what Jesus did for us. It's about him, not about us. Keep the main thing, the main thing. You know, sometimes we'll have an opportunity to talk about our faith with a cab driver or a, uh, a driver for one of the services, uh, that, uh, that you can get

to pick you up from the car with the car. Right? Uh, you can Uber it. And when you're in an Uber, you can talk about your faith. It's a one time thing. Uh, maybe with a store clerk or something like that. Other times we have long term friendships and, you know, we build up to the opportunity where we raise the flag from time to time, talk about what God's doing in our life. And then people, we love people until they

ask us why. But all the time, no matter what, we need to be able to do these things, tell our story. We need to communicate in a way that they can understand it according to their culture. And we need to keep the main thing, the main thing. I had a great opportunity, a friend I've made about 15 years, and I've raised the flag from time to time in these 15 years. And just about a month ago, he and his wife were visiting our home. And he said, you know, I never understood why it is that you.

This is a Jewish man, an Israeli. He says, why you believe that Jesus is the Messiah. How did you come to this? I'm like, oh, it's glad you asked. And we spent a good hour talking all about that, and I was able to communicate with him, my faith story, communicate the good news that Jesus died for our sins and was raised from the dead. And we talked all about it from the messianic hope in the Hebrew Bible,

because that's the cultural background that he needed. I felt like this is an opportunity right from the Lord that I had been praying for. God's going to give us all those opportunities. We just need to seize them no matter what. We need to tell our story in a culturally sensitive way, always keeping the good news at the center. I hope that will encourage all of us to keep talking about our Lord. Uh, our Messiah to others. And also, we'll be talking about some other principles of how to

communicate in weeks to come. Now, I do want to tell you about our current resource. It is a terrific book. It is something that that I really appreciate because it was written by, uh, my former professor, Doctor Howard Hendricks, one of the greatest teachers ever. And it's called Teaching to Change Lives. He was a master teacher. Uh, Prof. Hendricks, he's now with the Lord, and he was my teacher

in seminary. And what he does in this book is he relates seven practical laws, laws that will transform our approach to teaching. Why is this so important? We're all teachers. We all teach someone, maybe a home group, maybe a Sunday school class. It may be just talking with with a friend. Uh, but we all are teaching our children. We all teach. And so we need to know how

to teach to change lives. And if you'd like a copy of Teaching to Change Lives, the way to to get a copy is one way is to give a gift of any size to open line and we will say thank you. And we so appreciate those gifts by sending you a copy of Teaching to Change Lives by master Teacher Howard Hendricks. If you'd like to give, call (888) 644-7122 or go to open Line radio.org. Um. We're going to talk to Barbara in Ohio. Uh, and, uh, I don't know what station she's listening on, but welcome to

the program, Barbara. How can how can I help you today?

and I went up to pray. And as I was kneeling, praying, uh, two ladies came and prayed behind me and I could understand what they were saying. And then another lady came behind me and she prayed in tongues. And that just scared me. So I've never heard that. And I'm 75 or 76 years old and I've never heard that before, and I didn't. I don't know what to do. So what do I. Is that not? That's when I look it up. It tells me it's demonic and then it tells me, oh, it's okay if somebody interprets it. I,

I didn't know that anybody was interpreting it. I didn't I didn't know anything. I just got completely upset. So what can you tell me about that?

sort of, uh, ecstatic utterances. And there's lots of different explanations, explanations for that. But I don't think it was demonic. Uh, here's the only thing. The advice I would give you is what Paul says in First Corinthians. He says, how can someone say Amen if they don't know what you're praying? And so if someone came up to me and wanted to pray in tongues for me, I would say, you know, I can't understand what you're praying. I can't say amen

to that. So please don't do that. And that's the simple explanation for what I would do. Thanks for wanting to pray for me. Please pray in a language I can understand and and I would leave it at that.

We'll be right back. So stay with us. Welcome back to Open Line. So glad you're listening today. I really appreciate it. Uh, well, we were just talking. Did we lose our our caller, Omar? Oh, there we go. Uh, Barbara listening in Ohio. Hey, Barbara. Welcome back. Uh, you were asking. Let's see if I understand your question. We talked about you wanted to know if when someone prayed over you. Surprisingly, when they prayed in tongues. Was that demonic? Yes. Uh,

and I said no. And then you want to know? Well, why would she do it? Let me again reiterate. I think the best thing to do is just as I'm trying to find the verse in first Corinthians where Paul says that we can't say Amen if we don't understand what a person is saying. And I know I was having trouble finding it because I was looking in the book of Romans, even though I was really supposed to be looking in Corinthians. Uh uh. It says, uh, that

it's not expected that we understand it. Uh, that, uh, the person who prophesies is greater than the person who speaks in tongues or languages, unless he interprets so that the church may be built up. Uh, uh, it says, uh, it keeps emphasizing the need for understanding, uh, unless you use your tongue for intelligible speech. How? Well, what is spoken be known. Um. and, uh, I think that's, uh, important. It says, uh, that the person who speaks in another

language should pray that he can interpret. For if I pray in another language, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful, then first Corinthians 1416. Otherwise, if you prays with the spirit, how will the uninformed person or the person who doesn't understand say Amen at your giving of thanks, since he since he doesn't know what you're saying? Uh, I think that's a key for this. So that's why based on that, since there was no interpretation, I don't

think there could be interpretation. Uh, the best thing to do when someone prays, if someone came up and wanted to pray for me in tongues. This is a true story. I was walking in the aisles many years ago in a grocery store, and I ran into a person that turned out they were believers and they said, can I pray in tongues for you. I said, no, uh, you can pray in English for me. I'm happy for that. Uh,

or pray in other language. You know, I said, if you know Yiddish, I understand that pray in Yiddish, but, uh, pray in Hebrew. But don't pray in a language I don't understand. Well, they couldn't pray in any of those languages, so they prayed in English. I would say that's the best thing. If someone started praying in tongues, uh, that, uh, I would just ask them to pray in a language I understand. What is this? Why are they doing this? That's what you wanted to know, right? Barbara? Uh, tongues

in in the Bible are real languages. They're not just mere ecstatic utterances. Now, one of the things that I have seen, and this is proven in a variety of ways, uh, is that when we disconnect our thoughts from our speech, Beach. It comes out and it sounds exactly like tongues and it's interesting. Back in the day, when people were praying for me to receive the gift of tongues, they kept telling me not to think anything, to empty my mind and just let the sounds that are in my mouth

come out. And I think that can happen. I don't think it's wicked. I don't think it's demonic. It's just sort of an ecstatic utterance separating thought from speech. And that's how it comes out. Doesn't show any sign of true language, according to linguists. Now, the only danger I can see there is a woman in my very first congregation who prayed in this ecstatic utterance so much she couldn't pray in her own language, English. She couldn't pray.

She just couldn't do it. And the only way that she could be helped be helped was to write out her prayers. And that's how she disciplined herself to learn how to pray. prayer. Pray so I wouldn't be afraid of it. I would just ask someone not to pray over me in tongues. Uh, now I'm going to say one last thing, Barbara. There may be people here just falling off their chairs because they get so upset because

they are really committed to tongues, I understand that. I just want to say this is my opinion as I understand it from the scriptures. And, uh, I love these people who might disagree with me about this. I know you do too. We just, uh. I'm just trying to say this is my opinion. This is the advice I'm giving you. And if you if a person out there is disagreeing with me, well, that's that's fine. We can disagree without being disagreeable. Okay?

It talks about Hebrews, I believe was written to people in Jerusalem, Jewish people in Jerusalem in the early 60s, and it talks in the book of Hebrews about sacrifices still being offered.

of kind of Facebook followers and things. And we're both artists, so we share that. And that's how I know her. Um, but she has become increasingly expressive and passionate about Jewish affairs, especially with regard to this kind of, um, overwhelming anti-Semitism worldwide and nationally. Um, so that's that's I guess that's how I describe the challenges or I don't I'm at a loss because I don't know what it's like not to have spiritual desire.

example of a Gentile that doesn't hate Jewish people. That your friend's going to say, Steven, why are you so different? And then you can talk about your faith. Uh, live your life in such a way that it creates her. It gives you an opportunity because she will ask you the questions. Okay. We'll be back in just a moment, so stay with us. This is open line with Michael Radonich. And we're back. This is open line with Michael Ray. And joining me right now for the Febc mailbag is

Tricia McMillan. We're so grateful that Far Eastern Broadcasting Company is part of the Open Line team. Uh, they they partner with us to bring you the weekly Febc mailbag. Febc is a wonderful organization that brings the good news to people via media and personal engagement. I think that's crucial. They have people, not just radio waves going out there with message, but people who follow up. I think that's a wonderful group. Uh, check out Febc by going to Febc.

Org and you can also check out their uh, podcast called Until All Have Heard by going to your favorite, uh, local, uh, wherever you get your favorite podcasts or go to their website. Uh. Now, joining me as I said, is Tricia McMillan. She's the, uh, the queen of the questions here. Uh, I'm so grateful, Tricia, that you're still part of our team.

That's right. So, uh, anyway, uh, I appreciate all the members of the team, all the listeners and also the people who are part of the team by being our kitchen table partners. And what they do is they give monthly so we can be on the air weekly. And one of the things we do for our kitchen table partners is we give them a we send them a Bible study moment every other week. And that Bible study moment is a little brief Bible study about eight minutes long,

7 or 8 minutes, sometimes ten minutes. We've been doing something. Have you did have you been listening to these Bible study moments lately?

the way, we really, really do appreciate it. It really is very, very meaningful to us and we're grateful.

seen these. Check your spam folder first. But but if you don't see them, um, send us an email at openline at or through the contact form on our website, which is Openline radio, and just let me know and I will forward that to who needs to see that to, to make sure that if you are already a kitchen table partner, that you are getting those because we want you to.

And that's in first Corinthians 15. I'm trying to find the exact verse, Uh, but, uh, that's where it is. And it's, it's crucial to know that that's what it's talking about. I also believe in Matthew 24. Now, a lot of people who believe in the pre-tribulational rapture, as I do, don't agree with me about this, but I think we're in Matthew 24 where it talks about two people, two men in a field, one is taken or um, uh, that that's a reference to the rapture as well. So.

And that was something like wrapped. And then what happened was when they wrote about the rapture, they took it from the Latin, Latin translation. But actually it's the word harpazo in first Thessalonians 417, we who are still alive will be caught up or snatched together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we'll always be with the Lord. And so that word snatch, uh, or caught up, that is the word that's, uh, becomes the rapture.

You made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign on the earth. All that's saying is that the Lord Jesus redeemed people and they're celebrating this. They're worshipping him for this, because what they're saying is he redeemed the people from the whole world. And that's true already true. It doesn't mean he's redeemed every person from every tribe and every tongue and nation. It's just saying that he has redeemed some from every tribe and

tongue and nation all around the world. And, uh, every doesn't mean every last one any more than it means that everyone was going out to to hear John preach. It says that in John one, I believe everyone was going out to hear John the Baptist preach. Well, not everyone. It meant a lot. Most, uh, and so when it says every tribe and tongue and nation. It's only saying that the whole world there are going to be people saved.

It doesn't mean that if there isn't someone from some tribe in the Amazon that never heard the gospel, that that that's not true.

what Romans 120 says. For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. And as a result, people are without excuse. So everyone has general revelation that is sufficient to cause people to wonder why. If they respond to that, that's when God sends the missionaries.

helped bring Open Line to you. And, uh, they want to encourage you to share the good news of the Messiah with your Jewish friends. And one of the most important ways to to do that is to understand and explain Isaiah 53 to people. Isaiah 53. It's actually 5213 through 5312. And that passage is the most crucial aspect of talking about the Messiah in the Old Testament, because it not only reveals that Jesus is the Messiah, the suffering servant, but that he died for us as a

substitution and was raised again. That's all in that wonderful passage, but people have a hard time understanding it, and so they are offering a free book. It's called interpreting or explaining Isaiah 53. And that passage is so crucial for us. And what they what that does in this little booklet is it goes through it verse by verse and explains what it means. It's one that you can read for yourself, so you can know better how to tell your Jewish friend about Isaiah 53. Or, uh, it's one that you

can just pass on to your Jewish friend. It's written in a very sensitive, loving way, and that's helpful too. So if you'd like a copy of explaining Isaiah 53, uh, the best way to do that is just go to our website, openline radio.org. Scroll down until you see the link that says A free gift from Chosen People Ministries. Click on that and you'll be taken to a page where you can sign up for your own copy of

this wonderful book about Isaiah 53. Uh, now we're going to talk to Mary Lynn in Seville, Ohio, listening on the app. Welcome to Open Line. Mary Lynn. How can I help you today?

the remnant in Israel so much more. I have two daughters that have fallen into this belief of the all millennialism, and I have been trying to, when I have talked to the one, um, tried to go from the Old Testament, uh, just because the promises so that it's not a metaphor in revelation or whatever else or whatever else they want to make it. But Zechariah 823, where ten men will grab Ahold of the cloak of a Jew. It distinguishes

the Jew from the Gentile in the Millennial Kingdom. Zechariah 1210 tribulation pour out on David and all in Jerusalem, distinguishing between Israel And the Gentiles. And instead of having a replacement theology, uh, and millennial, uh, Isaiah 6520, where it's into the millennial kingdom for longer life, but there's still a curse of death. And those that don't make it to 100 are cursed. I'm trying to find out am I going the wrong direction? And am I misinterpreting these verses?

The reason, the difference, I think, between people who are millennial and those of us who believe in an actual, literal earthly kingdom with Israel at the center. Uh, well, that has to do with how we read the Bible. I believe that we should read progressively. So we start in the Old Testament, and we allow the Old Testament to inform our understanding of the New Testament. People who are a millennial. What they do is they take the New Testament and they read it back into the old.

So they see the church in the New Testament, and then they see Israel in the old and say, the church is Israel. Uh, so, uh, it's the direction that they're reading. What you're doing is you're reading the Old Testament, taking it at face value as it was understood by those who wrote it, uh, and those who heard it originally. And now when you come to the New Testament, that informs your reading and it explains what different passages mean in the New Testament. So I think that's the right

direction to read it. You're doing fine, Craig. Just make sure that you keep loving those girls, okay? Don't, uh, don't give up on them. Uh, be grateful they know the Lord. And, wow, that's the first hour. It's gone so fast. So glad that you are, uh, here, but stick around for the second hour. Uh, it's on most of these stations. If your station doesn't carry it, you can always listen online. Or you can check out the Moody Radio app or even catch the podcast afterwards during

the break. Check out our website, openlibrary.org. It's got all the links you're looking for, whether it's how to become a kitchen table partner, how to give a gift so you can get our current resource, or the Chosen People resource. The Bible study across America will continue in the second hour, so stay with us. Open line with Doctor Michael Melnick is a production of Moody Radio ministry of Moody Bible Institute. We'll be right back.