Biblical Interpretation Series

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good afternoon, everyone. It is Friday, December the twentieth, twenty twenty four. It is currently two fifty six pm Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas, Friday, December the twentieth. Now, I guess I'm supposed to be saying it's the most wonderful time of the year. But ladies and gentlemen, I say this every year. This is never the most wonderful time of the year for me. It really really isn't.

0:47 I talk about all my frustrations about this time of the year. I talk about it and just a lot of just negative feelings, bad feelings, sometimes discouragement, sometimes depress it just and maybe it's even multiplied or magnified this year for a lot of reasons. Maybe there's just a lot of reasons why. I mean, if you go back to December twenty twenty three and you listen to some of those broadcasts, I mean, I didn't even think I would still be broadcasting at this point. I mean, I mean I figured the church would be gone by December twenty twenty four. Long gone. I figured the podcast most likely would be gone by December twenty twenty four. So there's a lot of me that didn't even plan for it to be here. In a lot of ways, I just there was a part of me, at least even if I said the right words, there was at least a part of me just like, hey, this is all over.

1:42 It's all come to an end. You had a good run. It's the end. Just prepare for and you kind of prepare for it, and then you kind of look around, going, wait, weird, December of twenty twenty four. How did we went from December twenty twenty three. It's basically over to December twenty twenty four, and it's like now what now? What? Now? What? Well? I know the one thing I need to do is try to bring at least something to some kind of satisfying conclusion, right, and which is the sermon's two point zero app sermon challenge. I need to bring that to some type of satisfying conclusion. Now in my mind, once I realized, okay, I'm still going to be here at the end of December, all right, I can bring this series to a conclusion. Well, then it became a parent Well I'm not going to be able to really broadcast from like I don't know, I don't know the exact dates, but there's going to be some days leading up to basically the end of December three the last three days of December. Maybe right there at the end, I'm not going to be able to turn on the microphone and really bring it to an end on I don't know, New Year's Eve. I mean, wouldn't that be a good time to bring it to a conclusion, right, I mean, right there the last day of twenty twenty four. I mean, that makes the most sense, right that, But it's not going to work that way. Then it's like, well, now what do I do? Okay, how do I bring this to a conclusion? And how do you even bring this to a conclusion? Right? How do you really end? Hey, guys, we've spent all year, I mean, and do I really

3:12 I mean, at the same time, I've got to be very careful here, correct, I mean, come on, let's just be honest, right, this entire sermons two point oh app sermon challenge that we started in December of twenty twenty three. If you if you just go back and look at the podcast, I think we can all agree it's driven the entire podcast. It's driven the podcast. It's driven what is being preached at the church. It really took over everything. It really dominated the entire year, even though I had all kinds of other ideas for at least part of twenty twenty four. The Sermon's two point oh app sermon challenge that we started in December of twenty twenty three dominated twenty twenty four. It took over, it drove, it controlled the narrative. It I mean, it was the thing.

4:00 When you've given really that much time and effort to it, you've got to be very careful when you reach the end of twenty twenty four because if I start trying to figure out, well, I wonder how many people participated. I wonder how many people can pull out their notebook and say, look, I listened to at least one sermon every day of the entire year. And what if I discover that it may have been driving me, it may have been controlling everything I was doing, but for the majority of people, they were not even participating. I mean, do I really want that information? I probably, I probably don't. I don't. I probably don't want that information. But then ultimately doesn't matter, right, should I even worry about whether I see I mean, like you just get into all of these questions. So all of this, it's just making the end of this year very very, very complicated and difficult.

4:55 And I can this time of year, oh man, oh the story. Yeah, there's so much about this time of year that just but so what can I do? What can I do? I can sit here, I could create little episodes talking about, you know, the difficulties many people face during the holiday season. We could talk about seasonal depression. We could talk about trauma. I mean, I could do a lot of that. But that's just I mean I do that a lot anyway with the holidays because I always feel bad for people who are suffering. That doesn't really accomplish much, and that only probably just leads me deeper, deeper, deeper, deeper into the dark pit that I don't like to be in. Right, So, most likely, though it still will probably happen, probably at eleven o'clock or midnight somewhere Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, I'll probably have the microphone on talking about those exact types of things because well, I maybe it helps.

5:52 I don't know so, because I do feel bad for anyone caught in those similar situations. Who knows, who knows? I mean, there's so much we could discuss, but I do know this, I've got to do something right. So the sermons two point oh app sermon challenge, that's what we have to focus on. That's where we have to go. So here's what I want to do. First thing. And I know that was a six minute long, you know, rambling introduction, but you get the IEA. Maybe the rambling there kind of captures my own feelings right here, not really knowing exactly what to do because it is I do.

6:34 I feel a little bit kind of lost right now where to go? And I am also just contemplating. There's a lot of things I could also talk about, contemplating what was the overall lessons learned from the sermon's two point oh app sermon challenge, And I don't know if I've got any. Yeah, there's maybe some frustrating lessons, but there's also some positive ones as well, but I don't really want to get into that right now. So here's what we're going to do. We're reaching the end of the year. I want to point you to a series on the Sermon's two point oh app that could provide you lots of content between now and the end of the year, even if on those days that I can't broadcast, you could really end the year strong. So I want to point you to the series, and we're gonna review one of the messages in the series and the reason I chose it. It's only twenty three minutes long, so that's a nice easy one to try to review, and it just adds another episode into this. Well, what's been a very long series. It's taken up the entire year.

7:35 So the broadcaster and question I want to point you too. If you have the Sermon's two point oh app, you may want to open it right now. Look for Central Baptist Church of Orange Park. Central Baptist Church of Orange Park. They currently have two thousand, one hundred and eighty one sermons available all right, Central Baptist Church of Orange Part they currently have two and eighty one sermons available right there. It just gives you, you know, a lot of content to listen to. Now. The only reason I stumbled upon this is today. At numerous times I've sat here in front of this microphone, going, man, I gotta do something.

8:17 What do I do? I gotta do? I don't know what do I do? What do I do? What do I do? And just getting more frustrated. Well, I kept looking at new sermons and different things, and I found a message entitled let me see here. The message was entitled Biblical Numerology Part eight, Biblical Numerology Part eight, and I was like, oh, man, okay, wow, eight parts on biblical numerology. That I could take that apart. Now, I may get so frustrated and irritated by it, but I definitely would like to possibly hear it. So I'm like, well, I can't just start reviewing a part eight. Let me go find part one. So I went to find part one and I realized, oh, this is in a series entitled Biblical Interpretation. Biblical Interpretation, and I noticed they have thirty six sermons in this series. All right, So the broadcaster let me go back, is Central Baptist Church of Orange Park. If you find it, then just go down again to sermons two point oh. App anyone can download it Google Apple, It's free. Anyone can download it. But if you kind of swipe down, you'll see recent sermons Biblical Numerology Part eight you'll see that, but if you'll kind of go down to recent series, you'll see the series Biblical Interpretation thirty six sermons. The first sermon was

9:51 in February the fourteenth, twenty twenty four, so they've been working on this series all year, all right. And the very first message, which was how to be a Student of the Bible Part one. Then there was how to be a Student of the Bible Part two, and I thought about grabbing one of those, but I'm like, I bet you it's going to be the basic stuff. It wouldn't hurt to hear it. But you know, I want to be interested as well. I want to jump in this as well. So I just kind of looked and looked and I'm like, oh, wait, here we go, here we go. We have general Laws of Biblical Interpretation, General Laws of Biblical Interpretation, and this one was preached on March the six, twenty twenty four, and I'm like, okay, let's choose that one. So General Laws of Biblical Interpretation they have part one, Part two, Part two B, Part two C, Part two D, Part two E. All of General Laws of Biblical Interpretation now, what I would like to do is I mean, and I'm not saying I'm going to be able to pull this off, but I definitely want to listen to all of these I would like to review all of these laws of Biblical interpretation.

11:05 And for some reason, I can't You heard me kind of pause for a minute because I was looking at all these messages. Hang on, let me let me reach down here. I feel I could be wrong. Hang on, I just feel like I kind of feel like some of this may be taken from the Schofield the Scofield Reference Bible. Right now, we used some of this in our study of dispensations, and we use the Scofield Reference Bible because in the in the beginning of the Scofield Reference Bible, you have introduction, right, you have a panoramic view of the Bible, and within a lot of that, I think someone could take it and turn it into general laws of biblical interpretation. I really do. So. I could be wrong, but I'm gonna hold my scho Filled Bible here because I think that this is where it was taken from. If so, we've already covered this, but obviously it may be broken down in a different way.

12:17 Let me see, is there anything else? Hang on, let me go to the back here. Okay, no, just the beginning part. So yeah, I mean they maybe they based it a little bit on this. We'll find out. We'll find out. Just when I was looking at this, I'm like, man, because it's got, for example, it's got the law of first mention, the law of first mention. We read about that and talked about that law of first mention and our study on dispensationalism using the Schofield reference Bible, the law of progressive mention, the law of progressive mention. Well that when you have the law of first mention and the law of progressive mention, that is really the scho filled his whole reference. I think he uses the first mention.

13:07 When you look at his cross referencing system, he has the first mention of something, the last mention, and then something in the middle. So it just seems like that this is very much based off Schofield system. So yeah, I mean they got a lot here. They got the particular law. See, they got the general laws particular law of biblical interpretation. That's interesting. The dispensation principle introduction dispensation number one innocence, dispensation two, conscience, dispensation three, human government. We talked about all the dispensations. So clearly this is a church that's dispensational, and I'm going to argue most likely greatly influenced by the Scofield reference Bible. I could be wrong, but that's what I'm sensing now that I'm looking at it. So what we're going to do is we're just going to take general laws a Biblical interpretation part one and we're just going to jump in and see how far we can go. We'll just see how far we can go. And this is a part of the Sermon's two point oh app Sermon Challenge. If you haven't been a part of it in twenty twenty four, you've missed a lot. There's an entire series there. You can find the series if you'll look us up on the Sermon's two point oh app Theology Central. If you download the Church one app and look for Theology Central, you can find the entire series. I think it's a wild ride. I think it's been crazy. But what's I think what's most interesting is if you look at many of the other series that was created in twenty twenty four.

14:36 They're there as a result of the sermon's two point oh app challenge, which is kind of crazy the way it's really dominated everything, But I think this should be. I mean, look, I always want to become a better student of the Bible. You know how much I care about Hermoneutics, how much I care about biblical interpretation. So I always want to listen to anyone offer me the laws of biblical interpretation because whenever you say general laws or particular laws of biblical interpretation. Now this is nobody likes when I say this, but we have to admit this. This pastor is going to say, here are the general laws, here are the particular laws. Let me make it very clear, other churches would tell him that his laws are wrong and they would have their own laws. And if no Christians can agree on the actual laws of biblical interpretation, then there's never going to be an agreement on interpretation because we can't even agree on the laws that is supposed to govern interpretation. And even when you have Christians who say that they agree with certain laws, like you know, they'll say, well you interpret scripture with scripture. Everyone says that, and they come up with a completely different interpretation, so that law doesn't even guarantee agreement and interpretation. So it's really it's much more a free for all than anyone wants to admit. But I definitely want to hear the laws he's going to put four. We will analyze them, critique them, discuss them. Maybe we will agree, maybe we'll disagree.

16:07 If he took a lot of this from Schofield, you know, I agreed a lot with what Schofield had to say, So we will see if he did or if he did not. And we're gonna find out right now. How he first turn to Secrepedter chapter one. Secrepeter Chapter one. There's a lot of confusion today among those who name the name of Christ. Satan is using some of this confusion to keep those who were lost blind to the truth of the Gospel. There are many believers who are ignorant of the whole counsel of God, especially as it relates to Church truth, and much of the confusion that prevails today stems from faulty interpretation of the Word of God.

16:57 Okay, so his basic premise here, there's much misas understanding, much confusion, and it comes down to faulty interpretation. Of God's word. Now again, we have to just be honest about this. A Presbyterian will say that Baptists reject infant baptism because of our faulty interpretation of God's word. A Baptist will tell a Presbyterian, the reason you reject only believers baptism by immersion, and the reason you don't reject infant baptism is because of your faulty interpretation of the Scripture. A Calvinist will tell the non Calvinists, the reason you reject Calvinism is because of your faulty interpretation of the Word of God. The non Calvinist will tell the Calvinists, the reason you believe Calvinism is because of your faulty interpretation of God's work. And it goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on.

17:45 So everyone thinks that their way of interpreting the Bible is the right way, and everyone else's way who disagrees with him, is the wrong way. Do you see how maddening that is? Do you know? Only just throw your hands up and go, well, what's the answer. I don't know what the answer is, but so he's like, hey, so basically the way he's saying, is those people who misunderstand. Come on, let's be a little bit more blunt. Those people who disagree with his interpretation, they do so because of their faulty interpretation. And of course the people who disagree with him would say the reason he disagrees with them is because of his faulty interpretation.

18:27 Is there any hope? Sometimes I don't think there is, But let's find out what's going to happen. Usually it stems from people just not getting in the study in the Word of God, period. But if they are going about it the wrong way, can also cause confusion as well. So let me ask a question now here we'll get to a practical question. Do you think all of the confusion and disagreement within Christianity do you think it arises from a lack of Bible study? Or do you think it arises because people don't know how to accurately study and interpret the Bible? Is it because of Is it because of a lack of study in general, they just don't really study. Or is it because they don't have the skill and the knowledge and how to properly study and interpret the scripture? Is it because of a lack of skill and a lack of knowledge and how to study.

19:35 Or is it simply because of a lack of study. Where do you think all the problems originate? What do you think? I really want you to answer that question for yourself. If we could just get everyone to really, really study, if we could get everyone really to study, would that fix the problem? I'm going to argue that. Look, there's a part of me that would wants to say, look, the lack of well, let me stay it this way. I will, I will, I will say this, The lack of study would not be such an issue if you would take people who don't really study in any in depth way and they would stop trying to act like they're experts and they know and they can just say this or this or this or this. Look you go to any Christian website, Look at the comments, Look at the things people are saying. Their ability to handle the scripture is astoundingly bad. It's it's so foolish, it's I mean, we're not even talking about just disagreements and doctrines. The things they're saying, the way they're quoting scripture. They don't have a clue on how to handle scripture. But they all think they're experts. That's the thing. In the Protestant world.

20:46 You don't even have to study, you don't even have to even pretend to study. But you just get to go tell everyone you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong. Look at this, Look at this, look at this, and this quote any scripture without any any attempt even put it in context. Maybe we would have less confusion and division if we would have more humility and the people who go you know what, I'm not really that dedicated to study. I don't do that much study. I've never studied this. I've never studied this. I'm just gonna be I'm not gonna be so dogmatic and so aggressive and so assertive. I'm going to take a little more humble approach. I think that would go a long ways. But that's never going to happen. But to be fair, I think I used to be more on the team. The problem is nobody studies. I think I used to be much more on that side. Now I don't agree. Now I don't know if that's the case.

21:45 And here's the reason why. Because when the longer you've been a Christian, the longer you've been a Christian, and the more sermons you've listened to and the more books you've read, you begin to realize. You've got Presbyterians who spend their life studying, studying, study, studying. It's not a lack of study. Yet they think Baptists are completely wrong. You got Baptists who've spent their lives studying and studying study will say the Presbyterians that they're wrong. The Presbyterian and the Baptists will tell the Lutherans that they're wrong. The Lutherans will tell the Baptists and the Presbyterians that they're wrong. The Charismatics will tell the Presbyterian, the Baptist, and the Lutherans that they're all wrong. The Church of Christ and all of these, whether it's Church of Christ, Assemblies of God, Charismatic, Pentecostal, Baptist, whichever kind of Baptist, reform, non reform, you just name the group. You have people within all of those groups who've dedicated their lives to studying the Bible. Yet confusion and disagreement rain. It just continues to dominate and rain like it's not I don't think it's a lack of study. Now I do believe those who don't actually engage in meaningful study yet act like that they're experts. That does need to stop. I mean, that stuff drives me crazy. And that's such a Protestant thing.

23:02 It's such a non Catholic thing. Because everything everyone says, oh, I have the ability and the authority to interpret the Bible, and then they all claim that their interpretation comes from God just becomes maddening. But I think the reality is, I mean, just in twenty twenty four and one of the things we have learned from the sermon's two point oh app sermon challenge is I'm not going to sit here and say that all those pastors and all these sermons that we've reviewed is because that I disagreed so strongly with was because they did not study. That would be I may have implied it when I get frustrated, right, But the reality is they've studied, and I've studied. We just came to absolutely c one thousand percent different conclusions about the text how all of those pastors handled Isaiah forty through Isaiah fifty five that I've become so frustrated about, well they've studied. I just completely disagree with their inclusions.

24:00 And I think it comes down to it's not even a matter of studied or know how to study. It's not about a matter of study or even knowing how to interpret. I think here's the issue. It doesn't matter if you study, doesn't matter if you don't study. As long as nobody can agree on the laws of interpretation, how a tech should be interpreted, which hermaeneutical system you should or shouldn't use. Since there is no agreement on any of that, they will never be agreement. Whether you study or don't study, it's never going to matter because everyone can just interpret the scriptures anyway they want. They literally can come up with the laws of interpretation that will lead them to their conclusion. They can always make the Bible say what they wanted to say. And we saw that just yesterday and the whole loop twenty two by a sword next thing, you know, well, that means I can buy fifteen guns. How did you get from there to their rescriptive descriptive sword? Like all the problems with that, it doesn't matter, doesn't matter. So I think the issue isn't really Maybe I'm answering the question for you.

25:10 Maybe it's not a lack of study. Maybe it's not even an issue of knowing how to study, how to interpret. I think the issue is there is no agreed upon rules. There's no agreed upon law and how to approach the scriptures. Now, some people say there are agreed upon Well, if there was such agreement on how to approach, then shouldn't the agreement and interpretation be very very very close. And guess what it's not. There are many differences over doctrine that are rooted in the methods of biblical interpretation that are used, and so it's absolutely necessary to be grounded in the basic principles of correct biblical interpretation. And over a number of weeks, that's what we are intending to do here. Tonight, We're going to take a look at the general laws of biblical interpretation, will begin with it, and take a look at the part of the supreme rule. The supreme rule is interpret scripture with scripture. And I want to use this basis for this tonight. Sec Peter Chapter one, and let's pick up in verse number sixteen. Verse twenty is what we're gonna use. But let's look at verse sixteen downs just so we understand what Peter's talking about here.

26:42 Peter says, well, we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But were eye witnesses of his majesty. For he received from God, the Father, honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent Glory. This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Remember Peter. Peter and some of the other disciples were up on the mount of Transfiguration to see that, see that actually happen. And he says in verse nineteen, he says, we have also a more sure word of prophecy, where until you do well that you take heed as into a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. Knowing this first, here's our text for the night. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

27:55 Okay, if he said first Peter, and you were lost for some reason, my brain was saying, he said first Peter, but it's a number that was actually second Peter. Chapter one, verse twenty, And he's going to go that the key verse is knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation tewod Peter one twenty. I want you to write that down. Now. I've already kind of asked you a question, is the problems that we have because of a lack of study or a lack of knowing how to study? And I've kind of challenged it. I think the issue is because nobody can agree on, well, what are the rules? But that's going to be kind of my argument. But all right, you can go with whatever you want to do here.

28:47 Now we have another issue. What does it mean that no scripture is of any private interpretation? Are you guilty of private interpretation? No scripture is of any private interpretition? What does that actually? I mean, what does that actually refer to it? Because if it's not, are you guilty of offering a private interpretition? Am I guilty of offering a private interpretation? What does this mean? And remember, not everyone agrees on what this means in church history. If you think they do, you're sadly mistaken. So we'll get into that. And also he said, basically, the supreme rule of Bible studying, the supreme law is interpret scripture with scripture. Yeah, we're gonna have some questions about that as well, but let's see if he offers what it means by well of any private interpretation.

29:42 Okay, So for prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. You ever heard somebody say, well, you know, you can believe that that's what it says, but I leave it says this. Well, the thing is is what doesn't really say. It's not a matter of what you think it says, not a matter of what I think it says. It's a matter of what does it say, because what it does say is the truth, and that's what we need to be concerned with. And first, for instance two thirteen, Paul said, which things also we speak not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth comparing spiritual things with spiritual comparing spiritual things with spirituals What I want you to get we're to interpret scripture with scripture is its own best interpreter. A passage of the Bible should be interpreted by comparing it with other parts of the Bible. And that's why in the first couple of sessions, you know, I talked to you about some good tools to have on hand to be able to stay the Bible and that treasury of scripture knowledge that helps you compare scripture with scriptures.

31:08 Okay, all right, so we have so much going on here. We have so much going on here. Okay about this idea of comparing scripture with scripture and what exactly that means, and what does it what does it not mean? And in all the different issues here, I'm gonna look here, yeah, okay, Oh, we got a lot to go. We got a lot to work on here, We had a lot to work on. I'm gonna let this play out a little bit more because I already kind of want to just hijack this and jump in and go all right, well, let's look at these two passages that he's offered, because he's he's just reading these passages and then just saying, well, hey, that just means interpret scripture with scripture. Is that one of that actually even is talking about? And what does it mean? No private interpretation, He's not really articulated exactly what any of this means. There's a lot here to unpack.

32:00 Let's let him see what he does here, or let's let me state that correctly. Let us see what he does here. The best source that I know of, it's a source I have used in my full fifty years of being saved. It's just a long time been a trusted resource to help you find related passages to what you're studying. Now, let's look at, first of all, what is private interpretation of scripture. Well, a private interpretation can be one in which a scripture passage is isolated or kept private from and interpreted without any reference to the rest of scripture.

32:55 In other words, it's pulled out of context. Oh wow, Okay, so he's saying that no private interpretation means no taking a verse out of context. It's private because you're separating it from the rest of the Bible. Is that what Second Peter one twenty is about. Oh, let's just do a little bit of seeing how other sources describe this. Now, Second Peter Chapter one, verse twenty appears within a broader passage, which you could probably if you want to try to find the textual context, probably be Second Peter Chapter one, verses sixteen through twenty one, and in this section Peter seems to be defending the reliability and divine origin of scripture. Peter contrasts the eyewitness testimony of the apostles with myths. He does that in verse sixteen. He emphasizes the inspiration of the prophetic word in verse twenty one. The context is key to understanding the verse as it deals with the authority and interpretation of scripture. Okay, so there's the context, right, all right, so we got that. Now, no prophecy of scripture. Let's take if you look at first Peter one twenty knowing this first that no prophecy of the scripture? What is exactly that? And remember he just said of any private interpretation.

34:16 This just means don't take a verse and rip it out of its context. But we got to go back to it. Says before that, no prophecy of the scripture? What is it exactly referring to? Well, according to some this refers not just to predictive prophecy, but broadly all divinely inspired writings in scripture. Peter seems to affirm the unique, God breathed nature of scripture. Distinguishing it from human ideas or opinions. So if we go with this idea, no prophecy of the scripture means all the scriptures, then no scripture is of any private interpretation. Right, so, no scripture is of any private interpret What we just heard said, no scripture is to be interpreted separated or privately from the rest of scripture. That's how he's interpreting that. All right, well, now this is very important. No prophecy of scriptures. Some would interpret the next phrase, or translate the next phrase, or state the next phrase as no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. Now this phrase seems to raise some significant interpretive questions. All right, some understand this as stating that individual readers should not privately interpret scripture apart from the guidance of the Church or tradition. Now that's how many Catholics would read it, right, Many Catholics

35:47 would be like, you're right, no scripture is of any private interpretation. So hey, you Protestants, you don't have the authority and right to interpret the Bible outside of the church. It's the church's power, the church's authority, no private interpretation. The Church must interpret it not the individual, and the individual must submit to the church's interpretation. That would be very much a Catholic way of understanding this. Protestants reject that. Absolutely not. We don't need the church. I just need me the Bible now and will typically throw in and the Holy Spirit. And again, you know my issue with that. If the Holy Spirit's the one helping us interpret the Bible, then there should be complete unity and agreement, all right, So we can already throw that concept out. But Protestants say, no, no, no, no, no private interpretation. That means, well, you've already heard one option.

36:37 That means don't interpret it out of context. Is that what that means? Right? Others see this statement. Others see it as a statement about the origin of prophecy. Others see it as a statement about the origin of prophecy, meaning that prophetic writings or scripture does not arise from profit's personal ideas or understanding, but from divine revelation. So this is not in any way, shape or form talking about how you and I interpret the Bible. That what this is referring to is that the scriptures did not originate by one individual just writing his own interpretations or his own thoughts that the scriptures are not the product of man's mind, but they are the product of divine inspiration. That that's what this text is about, right, let me quote again. Others see it as a statement about the origin of prophecy, meaning that prophetic writings did not arise from the prophet's personal ideas or understanding, but from divine revelation. If you look at verse twenty one, for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy ghosts.

37:55 Verse twenty one supports this second second interpretation, not the first idea, not the one where hey, this is saying that you can only interpret scripture. You can as a person, as an individual, but only the church. Verse twenty one seems to go against that interpretation, and it seems to go with the idea that this is not speaking about you and I interpreting the Bible. This seems to be speaking about the origin of scripture, not the interpretation per se the way we would understand it. Because verse twenty one supports the idea that because Peter explains that prophecy came through the Holy Spirit, not human will. It's talking about the origin of scripture. That's what it's talking about.

38:38 It's not talking about, hey, don't rip a verse out of context. It's saying that no scripture, none of them, was produced by the prophet's own private ideas, private interpretation. It was given by divine inspiration. That is the point here, right. Verse twenty one clarifies that Peter's discussing the divine origin of prophecy. The point is not about how readers interpret scripture, but about how scripture itself was produced by the spirit, not human initiative. This is not how you interpret the Bible. How this got turned into hey, don't rip a verse out of context? That isn't firs Peter. Second Peter, Chapter one, verse twenty is not in any ways. That has nothing to do with what Second Peter one twenty is about, all right, Peter is emphasizing the divine origin of scripture.

39:36 It is not a product of human imagination, but of God's Spirit working through human authors. This underscores the authority and reliability of scripture. While the primary focus is on the origin of prophecy, the verse implicitly warns against treating scripture as a purely human document open to arbitrary interpretation. Proper interpretation must consider its divine source and intent. Like if you really want to know how to handle the Bible, but you have to handle it believing it came from God. So I can't just make it say whatever I want. If it came from God, then I've got to try to understand the intent God gave that scripture. And I can't just make it. I don't know. I can't make Isaiah forty about me. I can't make Jeremiah about me.

40:21 I have to go with what was the divine intent of the scriptures. Now, this verse has been understood historically, or at least used historically, to argue for the need for corporate discernment and interpreting scripture. While private study is valuable, interpretation should be informed by the broader community of faith. Well that's how it's been used. I just don't think that's what it's about. I know Catholics like to use it that way. I just don't think this is about It's about the origin of scripture, not about how you interpret it. I don't think that that's how it should be understood, all right, tewod Peter one point twenty emphasizes the scripture's origin is divine, not human, and its authority rest on the work of the Holy Spirit. It does not explicitly address methods of interpretation, it indirectly challenges readers to approach scripture with reverence and a recognition of its divine source. That's what this is talking about. The context demonstrates that, all right, if you go back to Second Peter, Chapter one, verse sixteen. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God, the Father, honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent Glory. This is my beloved son,

41:53 in whom I am well please. And this voice, which came from Heaven, we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount, literally eyewitnesses of the transfiguration. That is an amazing thing. We all talk about how that I would love to have been there to see that. But then it goes on to say in verse twenty, we we have also a more sure word of prophecy. We have something that's even more sure more reliable than being an eyewitness to the transfiguration. Where until you do well that you take heed as unto a light that shineth in the dark place, until the day dawn and the day star arises in your hearts. What makes this what we have, better than the transfiguration? What makes it better?

42:35 Well? What this better thing is the scriptures? Why? Because we know this first that no scripture was given, was produced because of a private interpretation. No individual just came up with these ideas and wrote the Bible. This is arguing that the Bible that we have is of divine origin verse twenty one. And then, just to make sure there's no confused usion for the prophecy, the scriptures came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy ghosts. The scriptures of divine origin. That's what this passage is about. Now, do you not see the irony in all of this? We have a series on how to interpret the Bible that just went to second Peter one twenty and misinterpret it is Oh man, I mean, does that not make you laugh just a little bit? He gave those of secretary what is private interpretation.

43:45 This means, don't rip a verse out of context, you interpret scripture with scripture has nothing to do with this, literally, not a thing it is. You just made the scripture say something that was never it never intended to say in second Peter one twenty, had nothing to do with it. While you're trying to teach people how to interpret the Bible. How can you teach people how to interpret the Bible when you're misinterpreting the very Bible. What you're teaching them how to interpret? Oh man alive. I mean when it comes he came up with like the most common interpretations. Well, this is arguing against individuals interpreting the Bible, so therefore you need the church, or this is speaking of the divine origin of scripture. And he comes along and just adds a third one. Doesn't even bother to acknowledge the history of this text and how it's been happened. No, no, no, he just dogmatically asserts what this text is teaching is you don't privately interpret one scripture apart from the rest of scripture, has not anything to do with this passage.

44:48 Passage was never intended to imply that infer that speak to that it's not what it's about. I get, well, this is what it says. Well, what is the context that is saying it in and what is the there's a context within the passages that you're reading. You're right, there's a context. The Second Peter one. You're exactly right. There's a context. Now. Okay, now I know I'm getting frustrated, but let me take a step back. All right, Obviously I'm disagreeing here, but that's okay. I still want you to listen to the entire series. I still want you to download it while you're doing things for the holiday. Go listen to this entire series. But here's what I want you to remember.

45:36 This is a very important point. You're ready. It's a very important point. You can know perfectly. You can have perfect knowledge of the proper rules of biblical interpretation. You can know them, you can have them memorized, you can recite them on a test and make a hundred and get an A plus. Doesn't mean that we always use those proper rules when we actually start handling the scriptures. He knows the rule. He just says, you've got to see the context. He went to Second Peter one, sixteen through twenty interpreted Verse twenty completely separate from the context. Well, he Jay is arguing against not doing that. If he put it in its context, he may go, well, maybe second Peter one twenty is really speaking about the origin of prophecy, not about Well, don't riperverse out of context.

46:27 There's a context within the book that you're reading, and there's a context within the whole of scripture, and you need to be concerned about all of that. Let's take a look at John Chapnember sixteen. It's the next place we want to go. John's Gospel Chapumber sixteen, and give you an example here of what we're talking about. John sixteen and verse number twenty three. Jesus is speaking here, and he says, and in that day you shall ask me nothing very rarely I say unto you. Whosoever you what's wherever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Well, that's a great promising that it's a great promises, but it can sometimes be misinterpreted of what it's not saying. Interpreting this verse privately could easily lead to a name it and claimant, which that's not what it's doing. That name it and claim it teaching whereby all Christian needs to do to receive anything he wants, it's just to ask for it in Jesus' name, just to just take that tag, that little uh in Jesus name to the end of your prayers.

47:47 And but what's yours? Lord wants you to buy me merches bins in Jesus name. Amen. That was a stupid song back whenever I was growing up, But it shows the idiocy of what I'm talking about. When we take time to compare scripture with scripture, it shows that prayer is conditional, and to ask him also shows us what asking Jesus' name means. So asking in Jesus' name is more than just putting in Jesus name on the end of your prayer. I mean, I put in Jesus' name when I pray on there, but that doesn't make it in Jesus' name. What we're talking about when we're asking Jesus' name and how are we to pray, Well, let's take a look at several places, Okay.

48:48 So he goes to John sixteen twenty three, and in that day you shall ask me nothing verly, rarely I say into you whosoever you shall, whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My name, he will give it you. Now he's gonna go, So what does it mean to pray in his name? Well, we'll slow down, slow down, slow down, tom out, tom out. Where are we even going here? The verse says, and in that day? Don't we have to identify that day? Why is he jumping here? In that day? This phrase in that day? Does it possibly refer And I'm just asking the question because I'm doing this in real time, so it's not like I've done an extensive amount of study here. Is it possible this refers to the period following jesus resurrection and ascension.

49:36 Is this referring to? Hey, there in that day? There's a day coming, all right? And it maybe it marks a transition, maybe from Jesus earthly ministry to now him being in heaven interceding. It goes on to say, in that day you will ask nothing thing of me. Now, could this be understood possibly that the disciples will no longer need to ask Jesus directly for answers or guidance. Maybe maybe their relationship with God will take on a new dimension, mediated by the spirit and grounded in jesus completed work. I mean, after jesus resurrection, many of their questions and uncertainties will be resolved they come to understand his mission, the significance of his death and resurrection. I mean, what what what? What does that mean? You will ask nothing of me? Is this the idea that now you I said, you're not going to be able to come to me directly. So now you're going to ask God in my name, but you're not going to come directly to me. So I mean, like there's a lot of there's a lot here that we have to figure out.

51:02 I mean, there's a lot more I could say here. I'm just looking at the verses a lot more. But he's just immediately going to Jesus name what we have to identify, and in that day you shall ask me nothing. I mean clearly something. This is the is the key here, This Versus demonstrating there's gonna be a transition and a change. What is that transition and change? Right? But he wants to go to other verses about praying in the name, and I guess what he wants to demonstrate here is if we just do some random cross referencing, we can figure out what this verse means. But if we're gonna do some random cross referencing, don't we have to start with I don't know, maybe the controlling phrase of the entire verse. And in that day this is talking about in that day, we got to identify exactly the win before. I mean, don't we have to do that?

51:50 Look at the first John, chapter five. We are to ask according to his will? Okay, ask according to his will? One John five, verse fourteen and fifteen says, and if we know that he hear us, whisever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. But back up the verses of fourteen I miss verse fourteen. Okay, And this is important. This is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything, look, it is according to his will. He heard us. If you're asking something that's not according to his will, don't expect to get what you're you're asking for.

52:47 Oh. I just love how Christians say some of these things and they don't ever seem to catch on to all the complications and implications. So let me just ask you a question. Is it God will that you stop sinning? Is it God's will that you be holy as he is holy? Is it God's will that you'd be perfect as your heavenly father in heaven is perfect. Is it God's will that you love God with all your heart, mind, body, and soul. Is it God's will that you love your neighbor as yourself? Is it God's will that you do all things without grumbling and complaining? Is it I can ask? I could just go from all the commands in scripture?

53:28 Are they God's will? And you would be like absolutely? Well, then just say, God, grant me the ability to keep all of your commandments perfectly? Is that God's will? Yes? Do you get it? God? I asked that I never sin again? Is that going to happen? Is it that simple? Oh? Hey, don't expect God to do it. If you're asking something against his well, well, just ask the things that would clearly be a part of his will and tell me if you get those things, you're still gonna There's still lots of complications here, but I guess we're not going to get into all the complications because Christians never want to deal with all the complications.

54:22 Also, James Chapterer One Good James, Chapter one. We're to ask in faith, I and This is specifically talking about praying for wisdom. If you lack wisdom, ask of God. Look James one, Versuber five and six. Here James one, verse five says, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that give us to all men liberally, and abraideth not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and haunts. So we're ask in faith. When we ask in faith, that's according to we're asking according to God's according to the word of God. Then look at John chapter fifteen, verse number seven. John chapter fifteen, verse number seven, we need to ask. Is one that's abiding in Christ? Jesus says here in John fifteen and verse seven, he says, if ye abide in Me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you. Well, see, the will will God for our lives is for us to abide in Christ, for Christ's words to abide in us.

55:55 And if we do that, then we'll be asking in His name. We'll be asked according to his will. So, second of all, a private interpretation can be one whereby the interpreter himself establishes the meaning of a scripture according to his own definition. Private means pertaining to self, that is, one's own by implication private or separate. And a good illustration of this is found in the Gospel of John, Chaptermber three and verse number five. John, Chaptermber three and verse number five.

56:39 Please note, so he didn't do anything with that John sixteen passage. He didn't. He just read some cross references. And I guess that's supposed to be like, oh, now we can interpret the passage. We didn't even come close to interpreting that passage. We didn't even deal with in that day. What does that even mean? We didn't deal with anything. And then he goes to first John, one of the cross references, which raises more questions than the John sixteen passage. And we didn't get any answers there, because this is what I call the shotgun approach. Right, Oh, we got a word here, Let's just look up other verses that have the similar word boom. We interpreted the Bible to shoot just kind of send out the buckshot and all of its directions. Just look and just link all of these disconnected verses together. I say, look what I did. I did Bible study. No you didn't. You just you just linked together completely separate verses that are not even in the same context, might not even be speaking about the same thing, and say say, I've come to some kind of conclusion. Now, that's like some crazy person in the basement drawing string between one news article and another news article and goes, see they're all connected.

57:45 It's a great conspiracy. No, you can't just link random verses in the Bible together. Oh, scripture with scripture. Oh that I can connect this verse to that verse to that verse. You're connecting verses in many cases, different authors, in some cases hundreds of years, separated, different purpose, different contexts, And we're like, it's linked together, it uses the same word. Does it work that way, ladies and gentlemen. And in that particular case, his cross references did not help us. In fact, the cross reference led to more questions. Yeah, okay, let's see.

58:32 In John three, in verse number five, of course, Jesus is talking to Nicodemus here, and he's informing Nicodemus that he needs to be born again. In fact, verse three, let's pick up. In verse three, Jesus answered and said unto him, very very last, saying to the except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Nagodina saith unto him. How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb be born? Jesus answered, very rarely, I say unto the except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. A lot of folks just stop reading there, okay, But the comparison of what he's saying there, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. It's given me clarification in verse number six, that which is born of the flesh, the woman's water is broken when they're when you're born of the flesh, what the you come through that broken water?

59:36 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. And so you got to be born of the water and of the spirit. Now, uh. The common private interpretation of this passage is that baptism is essential for salvation. People look at they're born of water. You've got to be baptized to be saved. That's not what it's talking about. And I love that he says a private interpretation. What he means by that, Well, it's a private interpretation because I disagree with that interpretation. And know what he's going to do is he's just going to go, oh man, this is so oh yeah, I'm okay, let's just let this finish.

1:00:28 And applying the rule of comparing scripture with scripture, you can come to understand that that's not what it's talking about. Many other scriptures clearly separate baptism from regeneration. Even the apostle paul in one Corinthians one seventeen said, for Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of non effect. The context here shows that it refers to the physical birth. John three six contrast the womb with the work of God's spirit. The symbolism of water indicates the new birth to be a work of the Spirit of God through the Word of God and a couple other passages Fesians five twenty six, so that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word.

1:01:23 No, Wait, you said the water is the fluid. When the woman's water breaks, we come through that water. Now you're going to Epesis five twenty six and saying the washing of the water is the word? So is the water the physical fluid? Or is the water the word? Which is it? And one Peter one twenty three were says being born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God. We're born again by the word, and the word is what does the washing? Amen?

1:02:04 So is the word? The water? Is the water the word? Please? You just told me the water is contrasted with being born of the flesh. Well, being born of the flesh, that doesn't anything to do with the word being water. So I don't understand. Word by the word which live within the body forever? Well, are there any exceptions to this rule? Well, quite, frankly no. I understand it, though, that there are instances where a word occurs in only one place in the Bible, and that makes it a direct comparison impossible. But understand too that all the essential doctrines of the Word of God are based upon numerous scripture references and passages. When you just pull something out and you try to make a doctrine around one verse when there are many clear versus that show that that's not what it's talking about. Say you have a problem. Some things mentioned in the Bible may not be fully understood, but these do not affect areas of doctrine, and some of these things will remain in the realm of speculation on this side of glory.

1:03:20 And an example of this is does anybody understand the urim and the thumbum of Exodus twenty eight, verse number thirty. Look at Exus twenty eight, Exodus twenty eight and verse number thirty. Well, let's back up to verse number twenty nine. Says here in Eron shall bear the names of the children of Israel, and the breastplate about the garments there of the priest. Aaron was the priest i Preacht, and he has a breastplate of judgment upon his heart. When he goes in to the holy place for a memorial before the Lord, continually excuse me, and now shall put in the breastplate of judgment, the urim and the thumbun, and they shall be upon Aaron's heart, and he shall go in before the Lord. Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually. Now all that can be determined from this reference here, and I've given you some other references that you could look up on your own. But what you

1:04:53 can tell is that they were. It was some means by which God indicated his will, the will, his will for Israel through the High Priest. Now no one can say for certain exactly what they were and how they functioned. But listen, we don't have that today. It's not a concern for us. Jesus put that in the past for us. And when you have an instance like this, you have to check the context. Often the immediate context will show what it's meant by a particular word. If the context didn't tell you what it is, check a dictionary. If the word is one of the few archaic words in the King James version, you can refer to the Oxford English Dictionary, or what I use in my office is the eighteen twenty eight American Dictionary of the English Language by Noel Webster. And if the word is a noun, a Bible dictionary may shed light on its meaning, especially as it applies to places and objects of Bible lands and then find the word in the Strong Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible and to look up the definition in the Hebrew Dictionary for the Old Testament or Greek Dictionary for the New Testament. But one of my favorite resources.

1:06:25 I mentioned this Also. It's crazy that this was preached in twenty twenty four and he's telling people to grab a Strong's Concordance for crying out loud. It's twenty twenty four. Now you may be using strong system, but nobody's going to go Who's going to grab a physical copy of STRONGS and try to do You remember how difficult that was to look up and you've got to flip back and find the number. You could just do it on the Blue Letter Bible app you just go to the anti linear and boom, there it is. And then you've got Fayres, You've got Strong's definition, you've got cross reference, You've got who would be looking it up in a STRONGS in twenty twenty four.

1:07:05 What in the name of Bubblegummy, who would be doing that? That's crazy. This reminds me like when when I first became a Christian and started learning. I mean, I used a STRONGS concordance. I carried that thing with me everywhere I went. I mean I loved the strongs concordance. By no means am I speaking negatively of a strongs concordance. Everyone should have had one, but now everyone has one on their phone. Who's gonna Yeah, just weird to me the way he's describing, like using the physical. Copy when we were talking about resource at the half. This is about manners and customs of the Bible. But even they have difficulty with this one particular thing. Okay, when you when you look in here, it does have the breastplate, and it does talk about the Urine and the Thumbe, which means lights and perfect and he tells you that in here. But he said, he said precisely what these were. No man knows. They were used as a means of consulting Jehovah in cases of doubt, and he gives them references here. How they were used cannot be now told. Some think that the twelve stones were the Urim and the Thummian, the stones themselves being the Urim or lights, and the names of the tribes engraving on them being the Thumian or the perfections, because they represented the tribes in their tribal integrity. From the fact

1:08:37 that the Urim and Thummim are said to be in the breastplate. Others again think that they were separate from the twelve stones and were put into the pocket behind them. Some supposed them to have been three precious stones which were placed in this pouch of the breastplate to be used for casting lots to decide questions of doubt, and that one of the stones was engraving with yes on and another with no, and the third without any inscription. The storm drawn out by the high priests would indicate the answer affirmative, negative, or no answer to be given.

1:09:18 And this may have been so, but there is no proof of it. When you when you come like this, the best you can say, as well, we'll find out when we get to Glory. Amen. There's some things that we don't have to know. We don't have to know that. It's not something we need to know. I mean, it's it's good to to have good resources. And this is this is one of the most excellent manners and customers books. If it's gonna have it in there, this would have had it. This is from my college days at Tennessee Temple when I first got this, so very very good resource too. But that's just an example of sometimes what we're talking about, interpreting scripture with scripture may may not help you a whole lot. Okay, a truth that the third thing here we see a truth we can draw from other truths. The Word of God is in error and infallible, and therefore no passage in the Bible will ever contradict another passage. Pal one hundred and nineteen, verse one sixty says thy word is true from the beginning, and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever. John seventeen seventeen. Jesus said he prayed to the heavenly Father.

1:10:42 He says, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Skeptics are always claiming the Bible is full of contradictions. You have heard anyboce tell you that, or try to argue, well, that'll book just full of contradiction. Well, show me one. That usually gets them because they don't know of any They just heard it all their life and they'll repeat what they've heard. But most of them about taking time to try to do a serious look at the thing. But it's also true that the application of this supreme rule will resolve most any difficult or problem texts Interping scripture with scripture, understand that some of the Bible is like milk, It's easily digested and understood. But much of the Bible is like strong meat. It requires diligence, searching and studying. Yeah, if you're going to study the Bible in a shallow way, expect to have shallow knowledge. If you're going to study the Bible deeply and to dig for the truth in the way that Proverbs chapter number two says that we're to dig for the wisdom of God, then that that will help some uh, some examples of apparent contradictions and difficulties. I've given you there, and we're gonna we're gonna stop here. Let me let me encourage

1:12:17 you to study those on your own. I'm not gonna say that we're gonna come back and finish this. Well, there you have it. The big takeaway is he took second Peter one twenty. Let me go back to it, and I still want you to listen to the entire series. I still want you to listen to the entire series. Obviously I got frustrated, but here's what I want you to see from this, right. My frustration is not me saying, hey, don't go listen to this, or it's not worth your time, or it's not beneficial. Go listen to all thirty six messages, all right, please do so my frustration is is that his whole thing at the beginning was there was so much confus usion and misunderstanding because people don't know how to interpret the Bible or they just don't study. And we talk and asked you that question. Well, what's so frustrating is what this demonstrates is new. He took knowing that this first that no prophecy of scriptures, of any private interpretation, and he did not even interpret that passage even we're remotely close to how it should be interpreted.

1:13:27 So that you know what that demonstrates, I say, he misinterpreted Secreputer one twenty. He's teaching a course on how to study the Bible properly and interpret it properly, and he would disagree with my interpretation. So that means no one can agree on how to interpret the scriptures. So it's not an issue of well, no one studies, or that no one knows how to study. We can't agree on the rules used to study. We can't agree on the rules to interpret. So I mean that that's the issue, and that's the that's never going to be resolved. You're never going to fix all the difficulties and all the confusion because Christians will never agree. Can anybody agree on how to interpret second Peter one twenty. I think there's only one way to understand it. This is not talking about interpreting it like in Bible study. This is talking about the origin of scripture. No scripture originated from someone's own private thoughts, private interpretation. All scripture originated from the inspiration of God. There were God breathe. That's what the text is about. All right, we'll stop there, so go listen to the rest of that. I want you to hear the whole series. Let me let me pull up the information again so that you can find it. The entire series is called Biblical Interpretation. There's thirty six sermons.

1:14:54 It is from Central Baptist Church of Orange Park. Go download all thirty six and then over the holiday holidays if you're busy, if you're traveling, just pull one of them up and just listen to all thirty six. But think carefully about what's being said, think about it, and just remember he did that example of cross referencing from John sixteen. Did not even come close to interpreting that verse, did not answer anything. It just in fact it he just strung together some verses that seem to be somewhat you know, casually related, and then just say, well, there we go. We did it. You didn't do anything. It didn't fix anything. That's maddening to me. The first the first John passage raises even more questions. Okay, how do we understand that? And we could go through church history and all the struggles Christians have had trying to understand, well, do we have gods? Do we break God's will down?

1:15:55 This is his this is the will he ultimately has, but this is the will. Well, well, you can get all kinds of discussions. I won't even get trying to answer all of it. We could spend hours. You know, God's perfect will, God's allowable, all all the different ways you can break it down. Why why does God not answer prayers to basically stop sinning? Like I mean, we could go all all day. There's so many issues, but of course we Christians don't want to deal with those, right, not the never ending problem. All right, Bet, I'll stop there. Thanks for listening. Everyone, have a great day. It is Friday, December the twentieth means the holiday weekend, a holiday week is well, it basically starts this evening. So have a wonderful time with your family. I hope it's a great one.

1:16:43 If you're one of those people where you're going to be lonely alone, it's it may be depressing and discouraging. You have my complete sympathy, empathy, my understanding. It can be a rough, rough time, and find things you love to do. Make the most of what you have. You can't worry about what other people have. You can't worry about what you don't have. All you can do is focus on what you do have and try to make the most of that and just let everyone else do their thing and not worry about it. All right for everyone else. If you've got a lot, if you've got family, and just be man, make the most of what you have because other people don't have that. Other people don't have what you have, so if you've got it, be grateful for it. If you don't find what you do have, whatever it is, don't compare it to what other people have and make the most of it. We can do a long discussion about that, but it is that time of year, so hey, you can grab you a Bible a notebook and spend your time listening to thirty six sermons on biblical interpretation and end the year strong with the the Sermon's two point zero app sermon challenge. You definitely can do that. So however it plays out for you, hopefully it's good. Just know this, it'll be over before we know it.

1:18:02 Right. For those who have a hard time with it, we're going to wake up and it's going to be over. The Christmas will be over. Then we'll get through New Years and then boom, we're done with all of those holidays, and then we can move on and not have to worry about it till next year. For those who enjoy it, it'll be over before you know it, so you enjoy it. For the other people who have to endure it, just endure it. It won't It will feel like an eternity, but before you know it, it will be over and you'll be on the other side, and then you can move forward. So wherever you find yourself, because you will find people in very drastically different situations. Thanks for listening. Everyone, have a great holiday, great Christmas, great New Years. God bless