When you think of the Psalms, who's the first person that comes to mind? Probably David. After all, he wrote more than 70 chapters or songs. But did you know that the Psalms actually point to Christ? What if we could learn to read this biblical collection with fresh eyes? What if we really learned the art of treasuring the Psalms? Well, that's your invitation as you join us now for the land and the book. Our host is the always reading,
always learning. Doctor Charlie Dyer, a noted Old Testament scholar and Middle East expert. I'm John Geiger, and, you know, a lot of us hear about reaching out to the Jewish people, but never think about the fact that they really do need Jesus. It's important to remember that they, like everybody else, need to hear the good news.
That's right. And that's why life in Messiah, which is a ministry that's been in existence for over 135 years, is devoted to sharing the gospel with Jewish people around the world. And now they're offering a gift to moody listeners. This free e-book, Reaching Jewish People for Messiah, highlights the need for the gospel among the Jewish people. It will equip you with practical ways to share the good News
with them. Now, to receive this free e-book, visit Life in Messiah org and click on the Moody Radio logo there. Sign up today to get your copy. That's life in Messiah.
And now let's swing our focus toward current events in the Middle East. President Trump is traveling to the Middle East this coming week for meetings with Arab leaders. Is there any connection between this upcoming visit and the recent Houthi missile strike against Ben Gurion Airport? And could the meeting impact the nuclear talks with Iran, or perhaps the conflict between Israel and Hamas?
Well, the events do appear to be indirectly linked. Now, here's what I mean. The Houthis fired that missile and it managed to hit inside Ben-Gurion airport's perimeter. Israel was able to detect and track the missile, but they experienced a technical failure with the interceptor, which is what enabled that missile to get through. Israel and the US then responded by launching a new wave of attacks on Yemen. Israel destroyed the airport in Yemen's capital, as well as
several power stations and a cement plant. Following these attacks, and apparently pressed by Iran to help in their negotiations with the US, the Houthis agreed to stop firing on ships in the Red sea. In response, President Trump said the US would stop its bombing campaign. Now, that announcement blindsided Israeli officials who weren't told in advance. And then the Houthis clarified that the cease fire agreement didn't include Israel.
So does this mean the US has just thrown Israel under the bus, so to speak, leaving them to face
the Houthis alone? Right now, the answer isn't clear. President Trump also said, somewhat cryptically, that he would be making a very big announcement in connection with his upcoming trip, but he didn't elaborate, leading to speculation that it could involve a plan to provide entry of aid to Gaza, perhaps in connection with a cease fire plan between Hamas and Israel, or possibly an expansion of the Abraham Accords,
or even something else totally unexpected. President Trump's visit to the different Gulf states could also focus on the status of nuclear negotiations with Iran, which continue to inch forward. What's amazing, though, is that the visit to the Gulf states doesn't include a stop off in Israel. So on the eve of President Trump's impending visit, the major questions are these. Is the president looking to forge some sort of grand bargain to tie together Saudi Arabia and other
Gulf states and maybe Israel? Or is he working to secure the release of the hostages by Hamas? Or is he trying to make multiple deals to promote trade while also eliminating Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons? And in the midst of all the negotiations, will the genuine concerns of Israel be taken into account or are they being ignored? And right now we don't have the answers. But the coming weeks should reveal what's been going on behind the scenes.
Very complex story there. Two weeks ago, Israel was devastated by two days of wildfires. What caused all the blazes and what was the impact on the country?
Yeah, well, three major factors came together to cause the devastation. Heat, holidays and Hamas. The weather pattern that came through, bringing with it high temperatures, low humidity and very strong winds. The weather patterns called a sharav in Hebrew or Khamsin in Arabic. It usually lasts for a few days before a cold front, then sweeps through, lowering temperatures and often bringing rain. The Hamsin arrived just in time for Israel's
two national holidays, Memorial Day and Independence Day. Many Israelis celebrate with gatherings, picnics and outdoor barbecues and hiking in the parks and nature reserves, while burning embers discarded, cigarettes landing in bone dry brush provided the ignition source, and the blowing winds whipped up small fires into large infernos in a matter of minutes. Though in addition to the heat and the holidays, the third H in this combination was Hamas. They quickly took to social media, calling on
followers to deliberately set fires inside Israel. Over 100 fires were reported. Many were contained early, but several exploded into massive blazes, especially in hills near the highway that connects Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. In terms of impact, the good news is that there was no loss of life. Though a number of people were trapped in cars on the highways. Fires are a fact of life in Israel during the summer months, but this outbreak made the news because of
its size and severity. Now, unfortunately, another impact in this case was the rain that followed the khamsin. It didn't cause any major flooding in the areas hit by fire, but it did cause problems in the wilderness. A flash flood roared through the nature reserve by the Dead Sea as nearly an inch and a half of rain fell on that area in a very short period of time. The wall of water washed out hiking trails, handrails and signage.
Other desert areas from the Dead Sea down to a lot also experienced sudden flooding, causing the temporary closure of roads from fire to water. God's fearsome power was on display in Israel.
From Moody Radio. This is the land and the book I'm John Gager. We're looking at current events from the Middle East this past week. In a poem, The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost wrote, two roads diverged in a wood, and I I took the one less traveled by. And it has made all the difference. But as Yuval Levy recently wrote in The Jerusalem Post, the road less traveled apparently doesn't exist anymore in Israel. Charlie, what did she mean? And what are the transportation problems facing Israel?
Yeah. Robert Frost never was in Israel when he wrote that poem, because travel in Israel, right? Today is a mess. You know, it used to take an hour to drive between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Now it takes an hour and a half to two hours. Driving across Jerusalem from the Old City over to the Israel Museum used to take 15 or 20 minutes. It can now take 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the time of day. Now,
there are multiple reasons for all the traffic snarls. This country of 10 million people now has 4 million cars, with hundreds of thousands more being added to the road every year. A second major problem is geography. In places like Jerusalem, the hills, the valleys and the old homes crowded against the roadways limit the width of those roads. In spite of adding a light rail line and underground tunnels at some junctures, driving around the walled old city
can still be painfully slow. Now Israel has added new highways, but they're quickly clogged by all the additional drivers. And once you get off the main roads and into the cities and towns, the roads again become a nightmare along with parking. Now you might think public transportation would be the solution. Unfortunately, it's used mostly by older people, students, children, and those who don't have a car. Now, I do
have some good news for tourists. Most tourists avoid the greater Tel Aviv area, which has relatively little biblical significance, and apart from Jerusalem, most of the biblical sites are in less dense traffic areas. So there are still some roads that are less traveled, but you do need to know where they are and the time of day when they're open. And that's why it's so good to have a guide and a driver in Israel when you're there.
Boy, that's for sure. Hey, what do fake online profiles on social media and abnormal protein activity in the human body have in common? Well, scientists at Ben-Gurion University have come up with the answer in another remarkable discovery from amazing Israel.
Yeah, I found this one truly fascinating, John. A cybersecurity researcher at Ben-Gurion University who analyzes fraud on social networks, joined forces with a team of biologists from the same university to develop a machine learning system that can recognize abnormal activity in protein networks inside the human body. The cybersecurity researcher had developed an algorithm that uncovers suspicious behavior
in social networks. It goes beyond what you would normally expect. Well, he connected with this other researcher who focuses on computational approaches in network biology, and they decided to apply his algorithm to discover atypical behavior in the networks of proteins. They detected anomalous proteins in human tissue. Using weighted graph anomalous mode detection. How's that for a mouthful? Yeah. The research was recently published in Gigascience, a journal that's part
of Oxford University Press's academic research platform. The algorithm that was developed is open source, allowing other researchers to build upon it to solve other types of problems. Using a tool developed to find fake profiles in social media, to discover abnormal protein reactions in the human body, and then sharing the process with other researchers around the world to
solve still other problems. That's just the kind of collaborative innovation we've come to expect from the scientists and the researchers in amazing Israel.
And that's a look at current events from the Middle East. If you have yet to check out our podcast, we want to encourage you to do that not only for your own benefit, but for the benefit of others who don't live near a radio station that carries the land and the book. You'll find us at the land and the books, the land and the book org. I should
also share our email address upfront. If you've ever got a question about the Middle East prophecy scripture, you're welcome to send that to us at The Land and the book at Moody dot the land and the book at Moody. Coming up on the land and the book a conversation about treasuring the Psalms. They all point to Christ. You'll be amazed at what you hear coming up right here. When you think of the Psalms, who's the first person that comes to mind? Probably David. After all, he wrote
more than 70 chapters or songs. But did you know that the Psalms actually point to Christ? How can we learn to read this collection with fresh eyes? Coming up, your invitation to join us in treasuring the Psalms. Hey, we're glad you've joined us for segment two of The Land and the book. I'm John Gager, and before we explore what it means to treasure the Psalms, let's consider what it means to treasure our unsaved Jewish friends by sharing the love of Christ with them. Here's an idea.
You know we can't really be friends with a Jewish friend if we don't take into account their celebrations like the Passover. What is that all about? And and what's the connection with Easter? And why are they sometimes on the same weekend? But not always. Let's ask Eva Rydell. Nick, what do you say?
Well, Passover and Easter actually originated in the same celebration. Passover is the celebration of God's deliverance of the Jewish people from Egypt, bringing them back into the Promised Land. And that is the memorial that Jesus, our Messiah, used to institute the Last Supper and the New Covenant.
Okay, so how do I, as I'm getting to know my Jewish friend better, how do I leverage that in a conversation or in some sort of an event?
You know, I think it's interesting to say that Jewish friends understand that. We understand that the beginning of the basis of the Easter celebration is Passover, and the name Easter really has nothing to do with the biblical event that that was a name that was brought on quite a bit later after the Bible was finished.
So you're really saying, let's celebrate our common ground for goodness sake.
Exactly. The common ground of redemption. Jewish people are celebrating the redemption from Egypt. We are celebrating our redemption from sin. And Jesus used that at the Last Supper to say, okay, that was a big event that we were remembering. This is an even bigger event that you're going to remember forever.
I love that phrasing. Thanks for sharing that. Eva Reidel Nick here on the land and the book. Doctor Ian J. Vaillancourt is a professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Ontario's Heritage Theological Seminary. He's an ordained pastor with more than 14 years of church experience, both in his writing and his teaching. Doctor Vaillancourt seeks to exalt Christ from the Old Testament. Our conversation today is based on his book,
Treasuring the Psalms. And with that we say welcome to the land and the book, Ian.
Thanks. Great to be here, John.
Well, let's clear away a misconception or two. Some people are under the misguided information that David wrote. All the Psalms correct that misnomer.
He did not. We have titles on the Psalms. Um, sometimes called them Superscriptions. Sometimes call them titles. And David's name appears in 73 of them, I believe.
Okay. So there are other authors, including Moses, right?
Yeah. Moses wrote Psalm 90. Solomon is listed. Um, the sons of Korah are prominent, and others as well. So when we read those titles, we we find out who the author of the psalm is.
Okay. Well, you've suggested that the Psalms are often layered in their meaning, which says there's more to them than a cursory reading might suggest. Elaborate. An example, perhaps.
If we're reading Psalm three and David is crying out to God in his distress, we remember that Jesus is a greater Son of David. So that's one way we can kind of look at how did Jesus fulfill this Psalm? He was the greater Son of David to come. So how much more were the cries of Jesus for us kind of thing? Maybe that's one one example.
Well, let's focus for a minute on a subset known as the Messianic Psalms. Which are we referring to here? And what makes a psalm a messianic psalm by definition?
Well, it's my position that all the Psalms in some way or another point to Christ. And so some people might just say, okay, some of the Psalms are messianic, some aren't. But I would say, you know, in part two of my book, I talk about how all 150 Psalms in some way, and I believe every chapter of the Bible of the Old Testament points in some way to Jesus. We need to think about Jesus as fulfilling it in some way.
Yeah, it feels like in many ways, many of our churches have sort of de-emphasized the Old Testament. We are really cheating ourselves out of a rich, rich texture, out of a lot of informative scripture that does point to Jesus your thoughts.
It's just incredible. That's one of the big reasons I, after pastoring for so many years, did a PhD in Old Testament and now teach because I started as when I was pastoring, it was such a challenge to preach Christ from the Old Testament. And, you know, biblical theology was my favorite biblical theology, Hebrew. I love studying those. Biblical theology is how the Bible fits together. So when I was in seminary, I loved studying those things, but
in the nitty gritty, it was challenging. And I found there weren't as many resources for Old Testament as there were for new, for how to preach, how to study in my Bible study, how in my devotions to read the Old Testament and be led to Christ for worship. Yeah. So it is a challenge. And I think that's one reason Christians neglect the Old Testament, is they've had poor modeling for how to read the Old Testament.
Treasuring the Psalms. That's today's adventure on the land and the book. I'm John Gager, joined by Doctor Ian Vaillancourt, professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Ontario's Heritage Theological Seminary. All right. Let's let's go to some of those that are considered classically, you know, messianic Psalms, maybe Psalm 22 or or number 4041. My question is, why do they they seem to weave in and out of, quote, regular content. If I could be so juvenile and then sprinkle in
something of a truly obviously messianic nature. What's with that weaving in and out?
Yeah, that's the one that begins. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from me, so far from the words of my groaning? And it goes on. And it seems as though David is writing that from a real personal life experience he
was going through in hand-to-hand combat. And so, on the one hand, yes, it is David speaking about himself, but it seems as though there are times in Psalm 22 where David intentionally overstates it because in Psalm 110 David calls this one Lord, the Lord said to my Lord, so my Lord, my master, that's who this one he's
talking about is. Psalm 22 is is a good test case where David, in the midst of his suffering, in the midst of recording about his suffering, says things in Psalm 22 that are more than his life experience, but ultimately pointing to us to a coming Messiah.
Yeah.
So like that opening line, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Or they pierce my hands and my feet. Those are just some examples.
Yes. What is your personal favorite? Jesus in the Psalms moment? A passage where the heart of Christ is just so very brightly illuminated.
Well, on the one hand, there are so many. Psalm 22 is absolutely beautiful because I think Spurgeon called it the Psalm of the cross. Jesus quoted it from the cross. But probably my I'm going to go two favorites. John is Psalm 110 and 118, and they are the most quoted psalms in the New Testament. I did my own PhD dissertation on those two psalms from an Old Testament perspective. How it points to a coming Savior. And I just love the way they, in so many different ways, point
us to Jesus. So 110 and 118.
Okay. All right. What's the best way for a listener who would say, hey, I'm a beginner here? How do they begin to learn to appreciate the Psalms like this? Finding Christ in the Psalms.
Well, there's two ways. One is read like one is why not read a Psalm every morning and ask God to help you see Jesus? And secondly, God has given people with different spiritual gifts for the church. And one
of those spiritual gifts is teaching. And so whether it's your pastor, whether it's a book that helps you sometimes kind of getting the lay of the land a little bit and getting some instruction, whether it's adult education class at your church or reading a book that kind of gives you the lay of the land, sometimes that's a burden in my writing. I want people to read my book and be equipped to put my book away and
read the book. The Bible. Yes, with more understanding and just immerse themselves in God's precious word more effectively and more skillfully for the rest of their lives. So just finding accessible, understandable teachers in person and through their writings or podcasts and all these things that are available to us today, that some instruction, I think the church has been given teachers, and we ought not to neglect that blessing from God.
Well, I love that passion. That's great. If you're joining us midstream, this is the land and the book. I'm John Gager, our guest, Doctor Ian Vaillancourt, who has written the book Treasuring the Psalms. You suggest that the Book of Psalms is a work that is truly greater than the sum of its parts. What do you mean?
I mean that the Psalms were individual poems written by individual authors, but they were compiled into a book, intentionally and purposefully, that it isn't like a hymn book. That's kind of a hodgepodge. You know, you don't usually read a hymn book from front to back. They might be arranged topically in your hymn book, but you know what
I mean. They're not kind of purposely arranged, but the Psalms, it seems as though we can see, you know, there's five different books, and we can see broad themes emerging. When we read the overall shape of the book. We read the book from start to finish and see kind of a beginning theme, and it kind of develops. And then there's an end theme. That's kind of what I mean.
Okay, well, you know, there's a difference between understanding the Psalms and treasuring the Psalms. The title of your book, how do we move from mere head knowledge and sort of, uh, technical exploration to, to really loving the Psalms?
Yeah, I think that's with every portion of scripture that this isn't just an academic exercise. If the Word of God, Old Testament and New Testament is living and effective, sharper than any two edged sword, and if it's breathed out by God, all Scripture is breathed out by God. Then when we approach Scripture, if we approach Scripture and kind of come away with a bunch of information, but we're not closer to God, the problem's not with the Bible.
The problems with my heart. Yeah, sometimes it's with my head. I you know, we need to understand what we read right and get some instruction. But it's both a head and a heart exercise.
Yes.
And I just always want to approach the Bible in a context of worship. You know, doing my personal devotions. I'm reading the Psalms right now in my personal devotions, and I just go over whatever section I'm in that day a couple times, and then I sit back in my desk chair, and I pray through that psalm and, and just let the words of the Psalms become my own words and worship, and then move on to praying
for my day ahead. Yeah, but church involvement, being a committed part of a local church that's committed to God's Word, like we could say a lot of different things pursuing personal holiness. Nothing dries up a soul like sin, right? And nothing like dampens our palette, our ability to taste and see that God is good. Like tolerating any sin in our lives. There's there's so much we could say, but those are some things that come to mind.
You know, even as I ask that question, it strikes me that, you know, Jesus calls himself the Living Word. Well, when we spend time with the Bible, you know, too often we think of it as a a leather bound book on the shelf like those other leather bound books, but this one sort of special. No, we are spending time with a person when we're spending time in the word. And that's how you get to to truly love someone is spending time with them. I mean, there's that dynamic to it seems, right?
Yeah. Well, we open the Bible, we hear the voice of God. Like, if someone says to you, if I could say to you, just come here and listen and you will hear a word from God for you, I'd want to go. Yeah. Will we have that in the Bible every time we open it? This is God's word for us, and it's according to Peter. It's all that we need for life and godliness is in this book. Yeah, he's given it to us. And the whole Bible is an absolute treasure. But the books on the psalm. So
we're just treasuring the Psalms in the book. Yeah.
One last question. I want to squeeze in here, and it's a little off the path to me, the presence of so much brute honesty, particularly in many of David's Psalms, where he admits to feeling terror or anger or even thirst for revenge. This feels like permission for me to come before God with my concerns and my emotions as well. Your reaction?
Yeah. My reaction is two pronged. The first one is the lament. Psalms are massively neglected in favor of kind of happy clappy worship all the time. And yes, victory in Jesus. Yes. As New Testament saints, we look back to Jesus fulfilling the Old Testament and absolutely to joy as a bedrock of the Christian life. But the Apostle Paul could be sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, right? And there's
a both and. And the lament Psalms help us to emote, even give us words to emote in worship and move us away from getting out of ourselves to the God in whom we ought to hope in the midst of that lament. So it helps us with the brutal honesty, but then moves us to. And here is who God is for me in this situation. Now that is amazing.
Yeah. You are amazing. To doctor Ian Vaillancourt. Thank you for your insights here. If you want to dig deeper, if you want to really understand the Psalms as the treasure that they represent, this is a resource for you. Treasuring the Psalms. A link at our website. The land and the book org. Doctor Vaillancourt, thank you so much for your time.
Thank you so much for having me, John.
And we'll dig further into Scripture along the lines of your questions on our next segment. Plenty of answers here on the land and the book. This is the land and the book from Moody Radio. It's segment three. I'm John Gager, seated across from the one, the only doctor, Gerald Peterman. He's at our Moody Bible Institute faculty, a really good guy. He loves the word. He loves your questions. And we love having him here. Good to see you, sir.
Well, thankfully, there's only one of me. I'm not quite sure the world could handle two of this guy.
All right, before we, uh, dig into our first question, here's something to think about. Did you think about the fact that most Jewish people have never heard the gospel? Each week you hear us talking about Israel and the Jewish people, and it's important to remember that they, like everyone else, need to hear the good news.
Life and Messiah. A ministry in existence for over 135 years is devoted to sharing the gospel with Jewish people around the world. Now they're offering a gift to listeners. This free e-book, Reaching Jewish People for Messiah, highlights the need for the gospel among the Jewish people, and will equip you with the practical ways to share the Good News with them. To receive this free e-book, visit Life in Messiah. Click on the Moody Radio logo and sign up today to get your copy.
That's life in Messiah. And look for that moody radio button. Thank you so much for that. All right. You ready for our first question? This one happens to be from Todd, who asks, how does Deuteronomy 15 four relate to Deuteronomy 15, verse 11?
Oh, thanks, Todd. The importance of the question becomes clear when we read the two verses side by side. Deuteronomy 15 four says, but there will be no poor among you, for the Lord will bless you in the land, that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess. And then we read Deuteronomy 1511, for there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you. You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy, and to the poor. Now
this sounds like a contradiction. So we've got to keep reading. We see the solution if we read chapter 15, four and five together. But there will be no poor among you, for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance. Verse five if only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God. Well, now read the rest of your Old Testament. I'm laughing, or else I'm going to cry because you read the rest of your Old Testament,
and it's a story of Israel's disobedience. So they could have had a thriving community with generosity and no poor. But it didn't happen because of their disobedience. The poor were always there and often neglected.
A question from Jim. Who wants to know how did God inspire the writing of the Old Testament and New Testament? It wasn't telepathy, and I know it wasn't just dropped out of the sky as dictation, like the Muslims suggest about the Quran. I know God used the writer's distinct personalities, but how did God actually put his thoughts into those writer's? Your thoughts?
Well, thanks so much for the question. I've pondered this and sort of say the exact how is not told to us. Now, we do know from Second Peter chapter one that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man. But men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. So, as you mentioned, their personalities
were engaged, but they were carried by the spirit. We come later, say, into John 20 and John lets us know that he has a lot of stuff he's not telling. He says Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not included in this book, but these are written so you might believe. So John has decided to select certain things to say. So the spirit works, the author works, and somehow they work together. Exactly. I do not know.
That's Doctor Gerald Peterman. Appreciate your honesty there. Let's not speak where Scripture doesn't write. You can email your question to us at the land and the book at the land and the book at Bret says, I have a sister in law who's not a believer. She's a psychologist, and she says that when Paul talks about rejoicing in the Lord always, that's a kind of toxic positivity. I wasn't sure what to say. What do you think?
Toxic positivity. That's an interesting way of talking about it. I don't think that that's what Paul has in mind in Philippians four. I do think what Paul comes into Philippians for he means joy, joy we get from God. Joy we get from the spirit should be our typical perspective, should be our typical heart and mind. Oh wait, no, there can be evil joy. Pay close attention during football season. You'll know what I'm talking about, right? But should must
joy be our experience? 24 over seven 365 I think the answer is no. Here's why. Because Paul himself tells us we should rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Notice what the passage doesn't say. It doesn't say. Rejoice with those who rejoice and tell those who weep why they shouldn't.
Yeah. No.
You weep with them. So as Christians, guided by the spirit, there will be times we have painful. Or you might call them negative emotions. And they're just the emotions of love. So I don't think Paul is urging us to a toxic positivity. No, not at all.
Positively not.
Yeah. Well done. Yes. Well done.
Go on to Dan's question. Now. He wants to know what is the difference between soul and spirit. You see that in Scripture. What can we know here?
Well, whole books are written about this question, and it's a really good one. Here's my perspective. Soul and spirit are two aspects of us, not two parts of us. Let me illustrate this. I mean, it's something like you have emotions and you have thoughts. I mean, if you're like most people, you have emotions and you have thoughts. And how are they related? Well, they're not exactly the same, but they're intimately related. One relates to the other and
the other relates to the one. So I take it that soul is more like the personality of us, and spirit is more like the animation of us. But I don't take it that they're exactly the same, nor do I take it they were made up of composite pieces, as if we have body, soul and spirit. And you put the three pieces together. Now you've got human. Hopefully that's helpful.
Yeah. Typical question, as you say, in entire books written about it. Here's a question I'd like to ask. What is a a reliable grid we can use to make sure our worship and church is authentic, not just emotional? And I ask that because, you know, I'm in church and I'm showing my age here. I was not raised that we raise our hands and so on, though I sometimes do that I do. And there are others who that's their home base and some really appear to be, quote,
getting into it. And I ask myself, am I somehow less spiritual because I'm not as demonstrative. And the flip side of this, if I could, is some of these same people who seem the most joyous, the most worshipful man. You catch them in a conversation and they're using language I don't think is appropriate. And, you know, so I don't want to be judging them. But there's all of that part of the puzzle to help me make sense of it all.
Mhm. Well, I hope I can make sense of it in just a couple of minutes. That is one thing that I do that I shouldn't do is I compare myself to other people. Right. Sometimes I look down on myself when I compare myself. Right. Sometimes I look down on them when I compare myself. Let's not do either one. Okay. Let's not judge the way our brother or sister worships. Secondly, in worship, am I thinking and feeling? Am I hearing what's being said and pondering it? And am I enjoying it?
When I sing these words? Am I having pleasure in having a voice that I can sing these words? And how will that emotion? How will those thoughts be seen? I'd say show them your way. You don't have to show them anyone else's way. Um.
Sometimes I wonder that we're enjoying the familiar tune and loving the excellence of the band more than processing the content of the lyric.
That could well be. That could well be. And I have to ask myself that question. Sometimes I say, Jerry, like, what's going on? Yeah. Why are you doing what you're doing? Why are you feeling what you're feeling? This is a question that God asks us. Outside the garden came. Why are you angry? Right outside Nineveh. Jonah, why are you angry? After Peter sinks into the sea, Jesus asks Peter, why did you doubt? So it's a good thing for us to ask these questions about our emotions. Why are we
having them? Why are we not having them? But here's a typical characteristic. A typical characteristic is that those who might be more silent, more withdrawn, a little bit more thoughtful, perhaps, or maybe less given to a dramatic show of emotion and worship. But on the other hand, if that show in worship would be helpful, one thing they do have is self-control, and they're likely to get slow to be angry, right, in a conversation. But perhaps others of our brothers and
sisters who are feel comfortable showing emotion and worship. Perhaps they have a little trouble sometimes controlling emotion outside of worship. And now I'm not judging either person, right? I'm just saying God made different personalities and that's okay.
Takes me to Colossians three and over all these things put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Right, right. And again, love will include appreciation for all the good things that our brother and sister does. And the love would also mean that maybe sometimes we offer some correction based on what our brother or sister does.
Lots of ground covered today. Maybe you'd like to hear it all again. The good news is you can do that. We've got a podcast that you can enjoy yourself or hopefully even share with a friend. Where do you get it? At our website. The land and the book org. That's the land and the book.org and look for the podcast
there also. Your question is welcome. We've gone through a bunch of them today, but if you'd like to get one to Doctor Peterman, you can do that when you email us at The land and the book at Moody's. That's the land and the book at Moody's. One more segment to go and you don't want to miss it. It's Charlie Dyer's devotional coming up next right here on Moody Radio's The Land and the book. Who was Erastus in Scripture? And if he's important to us today, why
do we hear so little about him? Bet you didn't see those questions coming, did you? I'm John Yeager. This is the land and the book. And we're about to continue Charlie Dyer's devotional series, inscriptions to the Bible. And Charlie, I assume, will get some answers to those questions. Eh?
Uh, we will, John.
All right. I'm looking forward to that. First, though, this personal reaction to a trip to Israel. Listen to this.
Hi, my name is Gina. I'm in Brandon, Florida. I just wanted to say that I've been to Israel twice. I just want to say that for anyone who is considering going, who had a dream all their life to go to Israel to do it, it is truly an investment in the land, the people and your spiritual development. You'll never, ever be the same. There is an impartation that happens when you're there, and God's Holy Spirit comes down in a way like you've never felt it before.
And when you come back, you're never the same. So I just want to encourage you to go the book. The Bible comes alive. You see, you smell. You feel. The Word of God is just so real. And then you're just changed when you come home. So I just want to encourage everyone to make that investment because it's an investment you can never, ever put a price tag on.
All right, let's get right to our devotional segment. Now, Charlie, you're up.
We've reached the end of our 11 week series on 11 inscriptions to the Bible. Now, most of the inscriptions we've explored are housed in museums in Jerusalem, London, Istanbul or Chicago. But today's inscription remains in the very spot where it was first discovered back in 1929. Our destination is the site of ancient Corinth. We were here back in January to visit the Bema Seat. Today's visit actually takes us outside the main archaeological site, just below the entrance,
near the remains of the ancient theater. Today's discovery. At first glance might not look that impressive, But I've saved it for last because I think it's one of the most revealing of these ancient inscriptions, giving us great insight into an otherwise obscure friend of the Apostle Paul. And I'm getting ahead of myself. So join me on a short trek to a spot seldom seen by most visitors to Corinth. On my first visit here, I had to hack my way through chest high weeds to search for
this inscription. I'd read an article on it, which is how I knew about it. Using a diagram of the site from that article, I managed to work my way down a somewhat steep incline to reach the general location, and then I had to push my way through more weeds to actually find it. The inscriptions a bit easier to find today, as more visitors to the site help
keep the weeds at bay and the pathway more defined. Okay, I suspect by now you're getting impatient with me and are ready to shout out, so what's this inscription you're so excited about? Well, here it is in front of us. So let me help you read it. Carved into the stone block. One of the paving stones for this walkway are 22 seven inch high letters, forming six words in
the economy of the time. Three of the words are abbreviations, but it says in my poor Latin Erastus pro dilatata sua pecunia struvite, or in English Erastus, for his aedileship, laid the pavement at his own expense. The letters of the inscription would originally have been filled with bronze of the metals gone, but the inscription is still very legible even after 2000 years. The office of aedile might be compared to that either of a city treasurer or public
works commissioner. Today they maintain public buildings, regulated public festivals, and even had the power to enforce public order. But what makes this inscription so special? Most date the inscription to around A.D. 50, during the reign of Emperor Claudius. This city official named Erastus authorized the laying of the pavement in the theater area, but he also personally paid
for the pavement to be laid. This generous donation suggests that Erastus was not only an important leader in the government of Corinth, but that he was also a man of some financial means to be able to cover the cost personally. But I've still not answered your question. What makes this inscription so special? To answer that, let's visit
Corinth about that time. We know from acts 1811 that Paul spent 18 months in Corinth during his second missionary journey, and the next verse says he was there when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia. That's right around A.D. 51 to 52. The Erastus who laid the pavement in Corinth would likely have been a prominent official in Corinth about the same
time in acts 20. On his third missionary journey, Paul spent an additional three months in Greece, most likely in Corinth, and it was during this visit to Corinth when Paul wrote his letter to the church in Rome. At the end of that letter, Paul includes a series of greetings, first to friends in Rome and then from individuals with him in Greece. And it's one of those individuals who now steps onto the pages of Bible history. In Romans 16, Paul sends the church in Rome a greeting from Erastus,
the city treasurer. Other translations identify him as the director of public works. In describing Erastus, Paul used the Greek word oikonomos, from which we get the word economy. The word has a general idea of stewardship, and was used of individuals who managed the households or estates of others used in reference to a city. It helps describe someone who handled the finances and affairs of that city, or, to use the Latin expression, he was the aedile at Corinth.
The odds of two different men named Erastus holding the same position in Corinth at about the same time seems pretty unlikely. The Erastus being referred to by Paul is almost certainly the same one who laid the pavement outside the theater in Corinth at his own expense. This inscription is fascinating. If all it tells us is that a highly placed public figure in Corinth was a friend of Paul, but Erastus appears two additional times in the Bible. In
acts 19, Paul was in Ephesus. He planned to eventually travel to Jerusalem after taking up a collection for the saints there from the churches in Asia, Macedonia and Greece, while Paul finished his work in Ephesus. Verse 22 says that he sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia. It would seem that in addition to his public service in Corinth, Erastus also found time to travel
with Paul. Perhaps his expertise in financial matters made him a logical choice to help organize the collection for the saints. But in this verse, Luke uses the verb diacono to stress that both Timothy and Erastus were serving or ministering to Paul. Erastus took on the role of one willing to serve another to help Paul. The final time Erastus appears in the Bible is in Second Timothy four. As Paul writes from prison in Rome, he ends with an
appeal to Timothy to come as soon as possible. Paul records the names of those who had abandoned him in his time of trouble, but he also gives Timothy a list of those who were not currently with him. By separating the groups, it seems Paul is helping Timothy know where to find these individuals who were still faithful and who might not even know Paul's current circumstances. And in verse 20, Paul simply notes, Erastus stayed in Corinth, and I left Trophimus sick in Miletus as Paul went along
on his journey. Following his first imprisonment in Rome, he traveled through Corinth, allowing Erastus to once again return to family, friends, and church. It's a parting note from Paul regarding someone Timothy could visit should his journey to Rome bring him through Corinth. Well, it's time to hike back up to the parking lot and say goodbye to Corinth and this inscription from Erastus. But before we go, let me ask one key question. What does this inscription have to do
with us today? Actually, I see two applications that seem appropriate. First, Erastus was able to serve as a believer in government, even in a government that was often opposed to Christians. Much like Daniel serving in Babylon, Erastus was able to be a beacon of light in an arena often antagonistic to the God of the Bible. That took courage and conviction. And second, Erastus might have been an important government official, but he also used his gifts and abilities to serve
the people of God. He traveled with Timothy and ministered to Paul. We're not told what he did, but in the historical context, he likely used his administrative and financial skills to help the church collect and handle the funds being gathered for the saints in Judea, to make sure everything was done decently and in order. Being too important or being too busy. Weren't excuses used by Erastus to
keep from serving the larger body of Christ? Now, if you want to see the inscription, head to our land. In the book Facebook page where I posted my most recent photo of it, the high weeds are gone and the letters are quite visible, and you'll be able to make out the words Erastus, Pro and Struvite even if you don't know Latin. All right.
We'll look for that weed free visit there at our Facebook page. Thank you Charlie. And we want to encourage you to visit our website as well. It's the land and the book where you'll find our podcast that you can enjoy for yourself or share with any friend. Again, you'll find us at the land and the book for our time is gone. But as always, we thank our producer, Dan Anderson, who keeps us all on track. Our host, Charlie Dyer. I'm John Gager. Thanks to this station for
carving out airtime for the land and the book. A production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.