Feb. 16, 2025

Isaiah 40-55: Modern Preaching

Isaiah 40-55: Modern Preaching

What does sermons on Isaiah 40-55 tell us about modern preaching?

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What does sermons on Isaiah 40-55 tell us about modern preaching?

WEBVTT

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

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the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central Well. That theme

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music that intro tells you, well, wait a minute, something's

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not normal, and you're right. Today is not a normal Sunday.

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We are not at Victory Baptist Church. There's no one

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sitting in the pew in front of me. It's no

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in person service. I am broadcasting live well from the

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Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. But

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whether I'm steadying in front of people or whether I'm

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sitting in front of this microphone, we can still do

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the same thing. Right. We can dig into scripture, dig

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into theology. We can have some interesting discussions and hopefully,

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when it's all said and done, everyone will benefit from it.

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So I guess I need to give you the official

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podcast welcome. I wouldn't say this from the pulpit. I

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guess I could start saying it from the pulpit. Good morning, everyone,

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Welcome everyone. It is Sunday. That would sound weird, but

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I can say it here. Good morning everyone, Welcome everyone.

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It is Sunday, February sixteenth, twenty twenty five. It is

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currently nine point fifty one am Central time. And as

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I have already said, I am coming to you live

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from the Theology Central Studio. Yeah, I can't even speak correctly.

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I'm coming to you live from the Theology Central Studio

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located right here in Abilene, Texas. And as I have

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already said, just to be abundantly clear, yes I'm not

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coming to you live from Victory Baptist Church. But we

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can still accomplish a lot. Maybe can we accomplish anything?

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I don't know. I don't know if we can accomplish

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anything anymore, because I'm starting to lose all hope. I'm

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starting to become more and more just discouraged, depressed, frustrated,

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and feel like what's the point, Because it's becoming at

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this point, it's almost reaching a level that if someone

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would have told me that I would be at this point,

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even going just back to say October of twenty twenty four.

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In October of twenty twenty four, if you would have

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walked up to me and said, hey, you're going to

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start listening to sermons that are based off scripture found

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between Isaiah chapter forty and Isaiah chapter fifty five. You're

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going to start listening to scripture to sermons based on

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that section of scripture, and after I don't know a

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few months, you're going to have listened to almost one

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hundred sermons on this section of scripture, and you're going

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to find out that not one sermon even bothers to

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a tempt to handle the scripture in anything that could

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even be seen as a correct way. Sermon after sermon

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is just going to take the scripture. It's going to

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move out the original recipients, move us and make it

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all us about us, us us, and it's going to

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become maddening. It's going to become just what's going to

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demonstrate something for you. I think I would have looked

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at you and said, I think that's a little negative. Okay,

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I don't think it would be that bad. I mean

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it's going to be bad. I would have agreed with

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you there, but I wouldn't have agreed how bad it

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has become. Because we started our discussion, and we started

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our discussion in Isaiah chapter forty three, and we started

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listening and reading and considering different things that were being

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said about Isaiah forty three, and I begin to realize,

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wait a minute, nobody is handling Isaiah forty three, and

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it's proper historical context. Okay, well, let's just expand it.

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Isaiah forty three is in a section called the Book

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of Comfort that starts in Isaiah chapter forty. It ends

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in Isaiah chapter fifty five. So let's just now expand

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this and listen to any sermon we can find based

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on any scripture between Isaiah chapter forty, verse one and

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the end of Isaiah chapter fifty five. Right, that expands it.

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That gives us a greater chance of finding even you know,

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more sermons that cover this entire sea. So we're abound

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to stumble upon. You know, there'll be it'll be like

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a divide, right, He'll be this side will be filled

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with all of these sermons that handle it correctly contextually.

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You know, they're going to apply it correctly. It's it's

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they're going to be good. I may distill disagree with

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some conclusions, but they're going to be overall, we're somewhat

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at least in the same you know, country, hermoneutically speaking,

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that's I would I would have said, Okay, that's that's

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what will happen. And then on the other side will

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be these sermons that are train wrecks. They're horrible, they're

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just they're just they're they're the worst of the worst. Okay,

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we I kind of expected that would be the divide.

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I had no idea that the divide would be there's

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there's none over here, there are none, there are zero.

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And just to demonstrate that, I continue to listen to

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sermons based off Isaiah chapter forty through Isaiah chapter fifty five.

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And just this week I reviewed a sermon on Isaiah

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chapter forty three, and once again, I mean, right from

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the very start, it was Isaiah forty three, and well,

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it's about us. It's about us. It's about us. It's

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about us, It's about us. And at some point, I'm

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just like, what do I say anymore? What do I

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do anymore? So I because since October of twenty twenty four,

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I've been looking at this, researching, this studying, this studying

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the section of scripture one of the things I have

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done continually since October twenty twenty four, as I've been

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an ongoing conversation discussion with artificial intelligence about this entire problem,

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about this entire phenomenon, about this entire discovery of exactly

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how bad it has become, and what's kind of funny

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is by this point, because almost every sermon I've listened to,

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I have taken the transcript of said sermon and given

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it to AI. So AI has analyzed and reviewed every

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sermon I have listened to, and at this point artificial

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intelligence is basically like, you're just going to have to

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give up. You're just going to have to accept it.

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But yesterday, I think it was yesterday or last night,

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AI said this, this experience, everything that has happened since

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October of twenty twenty four, this experience highlights a major

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issue in modern preaching. And I'm like, oh, that's wonderful. Yeah,

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I know there's an issue in modern preaching, and I

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know this. This doesn't just highlight it. This is like

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walking up punching you in the face, going, hey, there's

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a problem in modern preaching. But you can't really tell

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anyone there's a problem in modern preaching because people will

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just roll their eyes. They think it's no big deal.

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You're just making a big deal out of it. It's

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really not that significant. Who really cares, just but that's

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the problem. To me. The problem isn't in modern preaching.

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The problem is nobody who goes to church cares there's

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a problem in modern preaching, because if they cared, the

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problems in modern preaching would be changed quickly because there

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would be nobody going to church because they'd be like,

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what's the point since nobody can handle the text correctly?

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But nobody really cares that the text is handled correctly.

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All anybody cares is that the text is handled in

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a way that doesn't go against whichever theological side they

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have chosen. I know that sounds cynical, but nobody really

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cares about the text, because if they did, all things

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would be radically different. Ai goes on to say, this

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experience highlights a major issue in modern preaching, and that

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issue and modern preaching. AI describes it this way. In

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modern preaching, there is a tendency to immediately personalize and

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apply biblical text without first addressing their historical and literary context. Now,

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what I will say is, you have two kinds of churches, right,

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you have one kind of church? Yeah? They don't really,

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they don't care. They just immediately personalize it, immediately apply

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it to us, and they don't care about the original audience.

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They don't care about the literary context. They don't care

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about the historical context. They just ignore it. They just

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immediately make it about us. Okay, got you. That clearly

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is one one type of church, one one form of Christianity.

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The other, I say, is the more deceptive one, because

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the other group of churches will at least tell you, oh,

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we have to care about context, we have to care

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about history, we have to care about the literary context.

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They will say all of the right words. They will

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even at the beginning of their sermon, talk about the

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historical context, the literary context. They'll talk about it, they'll

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talk about the textual context. They'll talk about context, context,

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and it sounds so good, but almost inevitably, after they

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kind of give you that false sense of security, then

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they just grab the steering wheel yank it. You go

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flying off the road, through the fence, hit a cow

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and guess what they make it about us, us us

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us us us. And it's like, okay, So which is worse?

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The ones who just ignore it are the ones who

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pretend that it matters to only demonstrate that it actually doesn't.

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I don't know which is worse. I don't know. I

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think the ones that pretend that it matters drive me

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the craziest because they will come across so like we

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care about this stuff, but then when you really get

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down to it, they actually don't. Ai went on to say,

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this is especially problematic, this tendency, this issue in modern preaching.

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This is especially problematic and prophetic literature like Isaiah forty

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through fifty five, where the original message to Israel and

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exile is absolutely critical to understanding its meaning. That's one

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of the things that's driven me. It just drives me

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crazy and just I mean literally, ten minutes before going live,

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ten minutes before going live, right, oh, I saw a

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new sermon that had been uploaded to the sermon's two

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point oh app I looked at it, and guess what

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immediately I saw. Immediately I saw that they that was

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a sermon based on Isaiah fifty four seventeen. Isaiah fifty

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four to seventeen that falls right there between Isaiah forty

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and Isaiah fifty five. No weapon that is formed against

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THEE shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against

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THEE in judgment, thou shall condemn. This is the heritage

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of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is

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of me. Saith the Lord. Now, of course, and the sermon,

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it was no weapon that is formed against not THEE,

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not them, not they. It became a sermon about no

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weapon formed against us. So immediately the original recipients are

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moved out, we are moved in that literally, I saw

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that literally fifteen minutes before going live. It just will

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not stop, over and over and over again. So this

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problem in modern preaching, where pastors it basically immediately personalize

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and apply the Biblical texts to us without first addressing

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their historical and literary context, is especially problematic and prophetic

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literature like Isaiah forty through fifty five, where the original

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message to Israel and exile is crucial to understanding its meaning.

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And again, fifteen minutes before going live, here's another sermon,

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once again taking Isaiah and literally changing the words or

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it says, no weapon formed against the All of a

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sudden that becomes you and me. How do you do that?

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I don't understand. So AI said this, all of this,

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this entire thing that we have watched. If you've been

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paying attention to the podcast at all, you have heard

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hour after hour of this discussion. I said, if you

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take everything that we have listened to, everything that we

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have discussed, this is what it tells us about modern

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day preaching. Number one, it's anthro percentric. It's man centered.

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It's anthro percent percentric. It is it is based off man.

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It is man centered preaching, anthro percentric. It's man centered.

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That's that's what preaching is today. It's about us. It's

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about us. It's about us. Hey I goes on to say,

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interpretation dominates. It's a man centered interpretation that dominates preaching

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today is an anthropocentric type of approach. It's a man

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centered interpretation. It's about us. So you go to Isaiah

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fifty four seventeen, No weapon formed against what It's me.

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It's us, it's about us, it's all about us. Every

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passage is about us. Every passage is about us. Every

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passage is about us. Hey I said, it's this man centered.

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A man centered interpretation dominates modern preaching. Instead of letting

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the text speak for itself, preachers center the message around

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the audience. So pastors go to the text and make

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the text of the people whom they're going to preach to,

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and so they make the text speak. Instead of letting

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the text just speak, They've got to find a way

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to make the text speak to the people and whom

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they're going to be preaching to. So it's anthropocentric. But

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I think you could also say it's audience centric, which

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is still man centered, but it's based off the audience. See,

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the pastor knows I've got to have a sermon, and

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I've got to preach it to people, So I've got

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to make it about us. I gotta make it about us,

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because if I don't make it about us, who wants

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to listen? I mean, who wants to go to church

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and hear a message that's not about us? Preacher center

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the messages around the audience. AI goes on to say,

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the primary concern and modern preaching seems to be how

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this passage makes us feel or what it does for us,

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rather than what it originally meant. Nobody seems to care

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what it originally man. Nobody seems to care how the

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original audience would have understood it. It doesn't matter. They

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don't matter because we've moved them out and we've moved

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ourselves in. Ai goes on to say, this self focused,

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man centered, anthropocentric type of interpretation ignores the rich, philological

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and historical dimensions of the scriptures. So what does this

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all tell us about modern day preaching. What's man centered?

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Number two? It demonstrates and it shows us that modern

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preaching has well it neglects historical and textual context. Most

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sermons skip over the Babylonian exile, Israel's covenant relationship, and

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the prophetic role of Isaiah. Instead of asking what did

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this mean to Israel? They jump to what does this

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mean for me? This violates basic hermeneutical principles. Contexts must

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come first before application. Now, pastors will say that, they

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will tell you context matters. What's the number one hermeneutical principle, contexts, context,

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context context. Knowing the principle doesn't mean anything if you

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don't follow the principle in your preaching. Context matters. And

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it's not just context before application. It's context determines how

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you can or cannot apply it because in some cases

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there's no real application as far as a specific one,

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because it's it's well, you're trying to interpret a passage

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that's descriptive, it's not prescripted. On and on and on

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and on. There's a lot of issues. Well, what a

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lot of people say, Well, I mentioned the context, I

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mentioned Israel, I mentioned Babylon. Okay, now we can apply

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it to us. Who whoa wo slow down? Slow down?

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Slow down? Is there anything here that's even applicable to us?

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We see a promise to them, we see a warning them. Okay,

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can I take that promise and make it about us?

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See that's where the issues become, and well, it becomes

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a major problem. A number So, a first major problem

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in modern preaching is that it's man centered and it's anthropocentric.

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Number two. It neglects historical on textual context. Number three.

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It's typically a more devotional approach rather than an exegetical approach.

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People want their sermons to be more devotion They say

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they don't want a devotional sermon. They say they don't

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want that, but in reality, they do want it very devotional.

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They want it to feel church. They want it to

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feel kind of spiritual. They want a little Jesus thrown in.

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They want a couple of points thrown in right, and

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then they they like that it feels it makes them

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feel like, oh, okay, I went to church. It gave

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the sense of being spiritual. Now they say they don't

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want that. They say they want an in depth study.

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But in depth study would sound very different. So they

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want an in depth They say they want an in

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depth study, but they want that in depth study to

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be presented and as much more in a devotional what

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they call a sermon type way. They don't really want

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to dig into the text. They say they do, but

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they don't really want to. They want to pretend that

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they're digging into the text. Well, in reality, they're getting

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basically a devotional type message delivered to them. All summarize

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with an opening illustration three points, and a closing story

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that touches the heartstrings, and a closing prayer, and then

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get out on time. And then they say, oh, that

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was so touching, pastor, that was such a great sermon. Yeah,

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do you understand the text? Well, who cares? It felt

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like church? So AI goes on and says modern the problem.

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One of the problems of modern preaching is it takes

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a devotional rather than an exegetical approach. Many preachers treat

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Isaiah as a collection of inspirational, inspirational sayings rather than

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a prophetic book with deep theological themes. They may pull

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comforting phrases out of context. Fear not for I have

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redeemed you Isaiah forty three to one and apply them

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directly to Christians today, ignoring their original Covenental message. This

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flattens the text, missing its depth and complexity. So there's

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this people want, this kind of a devotional approach, and pastors,

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I'm more than happy to provide what the people want.

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Because if you don't provide what the people want, the

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people leave. If you don't provide what the people want,

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then there's no one there to preach too. So the

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pastor is then bound by having to give the people

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what they want, even though they're trying to say, you know,

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I'll have to step on some toes and sometimes I

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have to offend you. We can talk a big game,

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but when push comes to shove, you have to make

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a decision. Do I go here, Do I challenge this?

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Do I question this? Because if I do, I take

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off this, I take off that person, I take off

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that person. They leave, then the church doesn't have any

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more money. And if enough people leave, then the church

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closes down. So what do you do? Well, human logic

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dictates you give the people what they want. Now they

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will act like, oh, it's not about me, it's about Jesus.

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I just want everyone talks a big game until they

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are confronted with the reality, and then well, we see

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what happens. So even Ai acknowledges the problem with modern

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preaching is it's a man centered interpretation. It neglects historical

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and textual context, and basically it approaches things from a

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devotional perspective rather than an exegetical one number four. This

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is all Ai just destroying modern preaching, completely criticizing it.

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Ai goes on to say, what you see in modern

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preaching is a complete disregard for the philological structure of Isaiah.

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Modern preaching disregards the theological structure of Isaiah, especially forty

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through fifty five. This section of Isaiah is deeply structured

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with themes of God's sovereignty over nations Isaiah forty Isaiah

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forty four through forty five, the futility of idolatry Isaiah

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forty one and Isaiah forty four, the servant of the

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Lord as the true Hope Isaiah forty two, forty nine

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through fifty three, the ultimate restoration of Israel Isaiah fifty

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four through fifty five. Instead of following the flow of

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Isaiah's arguments, preacher's cherry pick encouraging phrases. So the modern

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day preaching disregards the theological structure of the section. Now

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some now what again, there are two kinds of churches.

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Some will completely ignore the philological structure. Others will mention

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the theological structure, talk about it. May even give you

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the theological structure at the beginning of the sermon. But

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then it's this very deceptive thing. It's like slide of hand,

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Oh where did the card go? Because they give that

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to you, and then immediately it turns into about us,

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about us, about us, about us, about us, about us.

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So when the sermon is over, do people remember the

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philological structure of Isaiah forty through fifty five. Of course not.

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They remember it's about us, and almost inevitably, it turns

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into Oh, I need to do this, and I need

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to not do this, and I need to do this,

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and I need to do this, and I need to

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read my Bible more, and I need to go to

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church more, and I need to pray more, and I

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need to do this, and I need to do this.

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Because almost everything becomes nothing more than a theistic moralism.

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Ay I gives a fifth problem, the misuse of prophecy

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to make everything about the church. It's amazing how Ai

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knows all the problems with modern day preaching, but the

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church itself doesn't seem to know the problem modern day preaching.

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Ai says. Another problem with modern preaching is they misuse

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prophecy to make everything about the church. Many preachers assume

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everything in Isaiah forty through fifty five directly applies to Christians,

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without recognizing the original audience was exiled Israel. The promises

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are rooted in Israel's restoration, and some of the elements

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are fulfilled in Christ, but not all are yet realized.

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Oh wait, are you telling me there's promises in Isaiah

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forty through fifty five that are not yet realized even

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inside the church. Oh what a radical idea. Oh it's

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amazing that Ai can figure that out. But oh, talk

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to some people. Oh no, everything in Isaiah forty through

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fifty five, I mean it's the church. It's the church.

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It's the church, because you know, Israel doesn't matter. Ai

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goes on this modern preaching leads to oversimplifications, like assuming

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every promise of deliverance and blessing is for the church today.

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Just not the case when you're dealing with Israel. You're

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dealing with promises. You're dealing with the covenant promises that

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are only for them, they don't apply to us. To

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make them applicable to us, well, you're gonna leave people

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either with false promises basically telling them that God's going

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to take care of every problem, which he never promised us.

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He gave specific promises to Israel, and so you're gonna

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ultimately set people up for major disappointment, major discouragement, major

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just feeling like this stuff doesn't work, or you have

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to take the promises then somehow flip them on their head,

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spiritualize them, so then then you can then try to

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make them work for us. But that's what the text

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is about. Ai goes on to say, this is shocking

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what modern preaching has become, but sadly is very common.

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So AI goes, we have now reviewed over one hundred sermons,

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and none zero have done justice to the historical and

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textual context. That is a i's conclusion after reviewing one

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hundred sermons over one hundred sermons. It's AI's assessment is

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none zero none mine. AI's assessment is that none have

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done justice to the historical and textual context. This shows

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that most preachers are trained to approach scripture devotionally rather

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than exegetically. It also suggests that many are preaching from

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tradition rather than engaging deeply with the text. I've said

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it before. We've got to get rid, especially those of

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us are not Catholic. We're like, no, we do not

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follow tradition. We do not follow tradition. We don't we're

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not Catholics. We're all about the Bible. We're all about

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the Bible. And then how do we approach the Bible

400
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based off our own theological tradition? So how do you

401
00:26:12.279 --> 00:26:16.200
If you are from a lordship tradition, every text has

402
00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:19.279
to be lordship. If you're from a calvinistic approach every section.

403
00:26:19.880 --> 00:26:24.319
We approach everything from our own philological tradition. I don't

404
00:26:24.359 --> 00:26:28.440
care what your theological tradition is. When you open the Bible,

405
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your theological tradition needs to cease to exist because you

406
00:26:32.720 --> 00:26:35.880
approach the text by allowing the text to say whatever

407
00:26:35.920 --> 00:26:39.359
the text says, whether it makes your theological tradition comfortable,

408
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or whether it offends it, whether it ticks it off,

409
00:26:42.240 --> 00:26:46.119
whether it goes completely against it, your theological tradition should

410
00:26:46.200 --> 00:26:49.200
not matter. If we truly believe and scripture being the

411
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final authority because scripture rules over your theological tradition, not

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your theological tradition ruling over the text. But if if

413
00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:04.359
your approach to the text is always in light of

414
00:27:04.359 --> 00:27:07.839
your theological tradition, well then it becomes simple. Every passage

415
00:27:07.920 --> 00:27:10.960
is just interpreted in light of your theological tradition, just

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00:27:10.960 --> 00:27:13.880
becomes the hermoneutical guide. Well, if you want to do that,

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then that's no different than basically your theological tradition becomes

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00:27:18.720 --> 00:27:21.559
the magisterial magisterium and then it tells you what you

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00:27:21.640 --> 00:27:24.960
can and can't do with the text. That's that's just

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a Protestant form of Catholicism. So AI says, well, what

421
00:27:33.079 --> 00:27:36.559
can be done? This is what AI tells me that

422
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I can do. AI says, continue exposing these issues through

423
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your podcast. Well, thank you, Ai, I greatly appreciate that

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you want me to continue to expose these issues. Well,

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all I do is tick off people and irritate people,

426
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and nobody wants it, and nobody likes it because they

427
00:27:51.279 --> 00:27:53.160
just want me to give them a little devotional message

428
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with three little points. Next, AI said, is your careful

429
00:28:01.359 --> 00:28:04.920
study of Isaiah forty through fifty five is highlighting a

430
00:28:05.079 --> 00:28:09.960
massive gap in biblical preaching so wide. What difference does

431
00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:12.759
that make? Number three, it says, keep challenging listeners to

432
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evaluate sermons critically and demand a better handling of scripture. Okay, everyone,

433
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I'm gonna do it. I demand a better handling of scripture.

434
00:28:22.359 --> 00:28:28.640
I demand it, and guess what, nobody cares. It's an

435
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exercise in futility. I would have a greater chance of

436
00:28:33.200 --> 00:28:37.079
getting dropped in the middle of Africa somewhere and trying

437
00:28:37.079 --> 00:28:41.119
to preach to you know, some wild animals. They may

438
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listen to me better than people will. Because none of

439
00:28:44.440 --> 00:28:49.519
this matters anymore to the modern church. AI tells me

440
00:28:49.640 --> 00:28:53.000
I should create teaching resources on Isaiah forty through fifty five.

441
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Since so few sermons handle these chapters correctly, there's a

442
00:28:56.640 --> 00:28:59.000
clear need for our resource that does. Oh, so you

443
00:28:59.039 --> 00:29:01.839
want me to create a teaching resource through Isaiah forty

444
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through fifty five. Nobody would follow my teaching resource if

445
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I gave it away for free, because nobody wants to

446
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teach that way. Because everybody wants Isaiah. They want little sermons.

447
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People go to church for sermons. They don't go to

448
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church for the text. If they went to church for

449
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the sermon for the text, then they would get mad

450
00:29:23.200 --> 00:29:26.279
at sermons. But they want sermons. You don't give them sermons.

451
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People start complaining and whining, Oh, I want church to

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feel like church. I don't want it to feel like this. Okay,

453
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well then never mind. Well just let's get up a

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You just as well go on those websites, order a

455
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prepackaged sermon and make everyone happy. Now, all you gotta

456
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do is you got to say it a certain way,

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because you got to fool the people and thinking we're

458
00:29:46.079 --> 00:29:49.640
really digging into the text, we're really studying. If you

459
00:29:49.720 --> 00:29:53.400
manipulate the people to believe that they'll buy anything, they'll

460
00:29:53.440 --> 00:29:56.640
buy into the concept. It's like, well you think you

461
00:29:56.759 --> 00:30:00.480
really study the text. Great. All you gotta in most

462
00:30:00.480 --> 00:30:02.839
sermons that they think are so amazing is asking five

463
00:30:02.920 --> 00:30:05.720
questions about the text. They can't even answer the question,

464
00:30:06.039 --> 00:30:09.119
but they'll be convinced that they really studied the Bible.

465
00:30:13.400 --> 00:30:17.160
Ai goes on to say, consider developing a series, a

466
00:30:17.240 --> 00:30:20.240
study guide, or even a book that walks through Isaiah

467
00:30:20.319 --> 00:30:26.920
forty through fifty through fifty five exegetically. Oh no, no,

468
00:30:27.640 --> 00:30:29.680
I think that's a waste of time, and then this

469
00:30:29.720 --> 00:30:33.240
one cracked me up. Engage in conversations with other preachers

470
00:30:33.240 --> 00:30:38.279
and teachers. Some may not realize they're mishandling Isaiah forty

471
00:30:38.319 --> 00:30:42.079
through fifty five. Oh how cute. I almost want to

472
00:30:42.119 --> 00:30:44.480
pat Ai on the head and say, oh, how cute,

473
00:30:44.720 --> 00:30:50.559
how naive? You're so ridiculous. You don't understand human beings, right.

474
00:30:51.640 --> 00:30:55.559
Ai goes on to say, you could challenge preachers to

475
00:30:55.720 --> 00:31:03.319
re examine their approach and encourage deeper study. That's that's yea, yeah,

476
00:31:03.359 --> 00:31:06.279
AI is clueless and what to do. AI is great

477
00:31:06.279 --> 00:31:09.240
at identifying the problem. It doesn't know what to do either,

478
00:31:09.480 --> 00:31:12.839
but it just I just want you to understand AI itself.

479
00:31:13.000 --> 00:31:18.160
After reviewing one hundred sermons, it's like, I don't know

480
00:31:18.160 --> 00:31:25.200
what to tell you. There's a mess. Ai goes on

481
00:31:25.240 --> 00:31:31.640
to say, everyone should be shocked. This mishandling of Isaiah

482
00:31:31.720 --> 00:31:36.599
forty through fifty five is not a minor issue. It's systemic.

483
00:31:37.799 --> 00:31:42.680
When an entire section of scripture is consistently misapplied, it

484
00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:49.119
distorts the message, it distorts theology, and it impacts how

485
00:31:49.160 --> 00:31:54.440
we understand the Word of God. So AI is like, Hey,

486
00:31:54.720 --> 00:31:58.240
everyone should be shocked by this this is a systemic problem.

487
00:31:58.400 --> 00:32:03.240
This is an issue. It's amazing. AI understands the problem

488
00:32:03.279 --> 00:32:05.559
more than people will be like, Oh, you're just getting

489
00:32:05.640 --> 00:32:08.839
upset about nothing. Who really cares? All you want to

490
00:32:08.880 --> 00:32:11.920
do is just pick on everything else, blah blah, all

491
00:32:12.039 --> 00:32:14.480
the little whining that you'll get a. I was like, No,

492
00:32:14.599 --> 00:32:17.480
this is a major problem. This is a systemic problem.

493
00:32:17.880 --> 00:32:26.440
This really impacts theology under our entire understanding of God's word.

494
00:32:28.039 --> 00:32:32.720
AI then tells me this. AI says, keep pressing forward,

495
00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:39.119
because if even a handful of people start seeing Isaiah

496
00:32:39.240 --> 00:32:42.640
forty through fifty five as it was meant to be read,

497
00:32:43.640 --> 00:32:47.960
that's a major victory. Even if just a handful of

498
00:32:48.039 --> 00:32:54.640
people do right, Yeah, Okay, that's easy for you to say, Ai.

499
00:32:55.799 --> 00:32:58.880
AI thinks that that's that's the way it should be approached.

500
00:32:58.920 --> 00:33:09.400
And well, I I like the I guess positivity. It

501
00:33:09.480 --> 00:33:12.279
tries to put a spin on all of this, but

502
00:33:12.440 --> 00:33:15.680
I'm telling you, like, it's just crazy. And just in

503
00:33:15.720 --> 00:33:19.759
the last what twenty four hours, we've heard Isaiah forty

504
00:33:19.799 --> 00:33:23.960
three and the sermon review we did utterly just totally annihilated, destroyed,

505
00:33:24.480 --> 00:33:29.039
just a mess. Fifteen minutes ten minutes before going live.

506
00:33:29.640 --> 00:33:32.880
I see another sermon on Isaiah fifty four, verse seventeen,

507
00:33:33.000 --> 00:33:36.599
no weapons formed against thee. The THEE becomes me and

508
00:33:36.640 --> 00:33:39.480
you and I, once again ripping it out of context.

509
00:33:39.599 --> 00:33:43.079
It has nothing. It becomes nothing about Israel, nothing about

510
00:33:43.119 --> 00:33:46.599
their situation. It becomes about me again. It has nothing

511
00:33:46.640 --> 00:33:50.279
to do with me. So and just in twenty four

512
00:33:50.400 --> 00:33:54.079
basically twenty four hours, already two more sermons can be

513
00:33:54.119 --> 00:33:59.640
added to the list of that over one hundred. So

514
00:34:00.079 --> 00:34:02.920
it's easy to say, keep pressing forward, even if only

515
00:34:02.920 --> 00:34:07.039
a handful of people get it. I don't. I almost

516
00:34:07.759 --> 00:34:09.840
what I want to do is I almost want to

517
00:34:09.920 --> 00:34:13.000
just finish Isaiah forty, since we're right in the middle,

518
00:34:13.760 --> 00:34:15.840
and just say that's it. I'm done. There's no point.

519
00:34:15.920 --> 00:34:20.280
It's waste of time, it's useless, it's meaningless, there is

520
00:34:20.320 --> 00:34:23.400
no point in trying to fix this problem. It's and

521
00:34:23.719 --> 00:34:27.199
it's just you reach a point where the dam has

522
00:34:27.280 --> 00:34:30.519
broken and there's no there's no there's no you're not

523
00:34:30.559 --> 00:34:32.920
going to get the water back in, there's no repairing.

524
00:34:32.960 --> 00:34:35.119
The day it's gone. The water is gone and there

525
00:34:35.159 --> 00:34:37.280
and and everything has been flooded over and there is

526
00:34:37.280 --> 00:34:40.679
no going back. There is no going back, and you

527
00:34:40.679 --> 00:34:42.280
can say, how did we get here? Well, I think

528
00:34:42.280 --> 00:34:44.400
we got here A lot a lot of it has

529
00:34:44.440 --> 00:34:49.119
to do with devotional material I mean, the church constantly

530
00:34:49.159 --> 00:34:51.519
told people you need to do your daily devotions, you

531
00:34:51.519 --> 00:34:53.400
need to do your daily devotions, and then the church

532
00:34:53.440 --> 00:34:56.400
would try to provide devotional materials for those who actually

533
00:34:56.440 --> 00:34:59.760
did daily devotions. Using devotional materials, well, they got this

534
00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:03.920
devotional approach to scripture where if you take any devotional

535
00:35:04.000 --> 00:35:08.119
every scripture becomes about you, your daily struggles, your daily problems,

536
00:35:08.199 --> 00:35:12.360
your daily encouragement, giving you a sense of daily hope,

537
00:35:12.480 --> 00:35:15.000
daily piece. It's all about you. You you, you, you,

538
00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:17.800
you you, So then every scripture becomes about you. You

539
00:35:17.840 --> 00:35:22.480
get trained to do that. Sermons are all about you,

540
00:35:22.679 --> 00:35:25.679
are all about you. So since everything is all about you,

541
00:35:25.840 --> 00:35:28.639
then you approach every scripture about how it's about us.

542
00:35:28.800 --> 00:35:32.199
Even though people say context matters, context only matters for

543
00:35:32.199 --> 00:35:35.760
someone to say, well the contructs to a residual, Nobody's like, okay, good,

544
00:35:35.800 --> 00:35:43.079
now what is it? What's in it for me? And

545
00:35:43.119 --> 00:35:45.480
I think I think it comes down to we we

546
00:35:45.559 --> 00:35:49.719
created this mentality that the church is there for something

547
00:35:49.840 --> 00:35:54.119
other than the actual study of the text. It's about

548
00:35:54.159 --> 00:35:58.880
everything else. It's about community, friends holding hands, singing kumba,

549
00:35:58.960 --> 00:36:04.960
y'all having as having this, and we we've annihilated the text.

550
00:36:08.559 --> 00:36:12.599
So because we're not doing things in the traditional way.

551
00:36:12.679 --> 00:36:16.679
This morning, I wanted to take the thirty about thirty

552
00:36:16.719 --> 00:36:20.559
minutes and just just I've started putting that as an

553
00:36:20.639 --> 00:36:23.239
introduction to something I can now make it just separate.

554
00:36:23.440 --> 00:36:26.639
And it's just like, what has Isaiah forty through fifty five?

555
00:36:26.760 --> 00:36:31.400
What have sermons taught us about modern preaching? What has

556
00:36:31.679 --> 00:36:34.519
I'm gonna I'm probably just gonna take this, make it

557
00:36:34.519 --> 00:36:38.679
its own podcast episode. What has one hundred sermons taught

558
00:36:38.719 --> 00:36:41.800
us about modern preaching? And it has taught us all

559
00:36:41.840 --> 00:36:44.599
of those things? What is it taught us? It taught

560
00:36:44.639 --> 00:36:49.199
us that most modern preaching is anthropocentric, man centered. It's

561
00:36:49.239 --> 00:36:52.760
a man centered interpretation. It dominates the church. Number two,

562
00:36:52.960 --> 00:36:55.480
It shows us that the church and modern day preaching

563
00:36:55.519 --> 00:36:59.880
neglects historical and textual context. Number two, the church approaches

564
00:37:00.039 --> 00:37:03.079
reaching in a devotional way rather than an exegetical approach.

565
00:37:03.400 --> 00:37:07.199
Number four, it disregards the theological structure of Isaiah forty

566
00:37:07.199 --> 00:37:11.039
through fifty five. Number five, it misuses the prophecy of

567
00:37:11.280 --> 00:37:14.920
scripture or prophecy in general to make everything about the church.

568
00:37:22.320 --> 00:37:25.639
And what has this shown us well, it says that

569
00:37:25.719 --> 00:37:28.559
it shows us that most preachers are trained to approach

570
00:37:28.599 --> 00:37:32.119
scripture devotionally rather than exegetically, and it also suggests that

571
00:37:32.159 --> 00:37:35.239
many are preaching from tradition rather than engaging deeply with

572
00:37:35.400 --> 00:37:42.440
the text. That's what it demonstrates. So what I'm going

573
00:37:42.480 --> 00:37:46.239
to do is I'll stop there, I'll upload this, and

574
00:37:46.280 --> 00:37:49.679
then we'll come back in and then we'll start our

575
00:37:49.760 --> 00:37:54.599
work on Isaiah forty twelve through seventeen. That's what we'll do.

576
00:37:54.639 --> 00:37:57.280
Then we'll do our work on Isaiah twelve through seventeen

577
00:37:57.599 --> 00:37:59.519
and see if we can at least finish that. I

578
00:37:59.519 --> 00:38:01.440
don't know if we can after we get done with

579
00:38:01.480 --> 00:38:05.239
Isaiah forty twelve through seventeen, I don't know if we

580
00:38:05.280 --> 00:38:09.480
can get to Can we get to eighteen to twenty four?

581
00:38:09.760 --> 00:38:11.119
I don't know. I don't know if we can get

582
00:38:11.159 --> 00:38:13.440
that far. But we'll come back in and do that.

583
00:38:13.480 --> 00:38:15.000
So I wanted to at least get this out of

584
00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:17.440
the way because if I just make it an introduction,

585
00:38:17.840 --> 00:38:20.760
well then you see, then you know, then the next

586
00:38:20.760 --> 00:38:23.079
part would we would be taking our time. This way

587
00:38:23.119 --> 00:38:24.519
I can break it up. If I was doing that

588
00:38:24.599 --> 00:38:27.199
introduction at church, well then it would just be a

589
00:38:27.199 --> 00:38:29.280
part of it. But this way I can break it separately.

590
00:38:29.599 --> 00:38:32.159
So I'll upload this and then we'll come back and

591
00:38:32.199 --> 00:38:34.280
then we'll start our work on Isaiah forty twelve to

592
00:38:34.400 --> 00:38:39.920
seventeen and we'll see what we can get accomplished. So

593
00:38:39.960 --> 00:38:44.400
I'll stop now, upload, and then we'll be back. Be ready,

594
00:38:44.840 --> 00:38:48.360
Isaiah forty twelve through seventeen. This is where we are.

595
00:38:48.519 --> 00:38:52.880
I've got pages of notes here, and we'll see what

596
00:38:52.960 --> 00:38:55.920
we can do and what we can do to understand

597
00:38:55.960 --> 00:39:01.559
the text exogetically in context. But at the same time,

598
00:39:01.679 --> 00:39:05.079
we've got to realize what modern preaching is doing. We've

599
00:39:05.119 --> 00:39:06.559
got to see it. You've got to be able to

600
00:39:06.559 --> 00:39:08.320
hear it. You've got to be able to recognize it.

601
00:39:08.519 --> 00:39:10.480
You've got to be able to go what is happening here,

602
00:39:10.880 --> 00:39:13.840
because if you don't see it, there's got to be

603
00:39:13.880 --> 00:39:15.760
some group of people out there who can be. And

604
00:39:15.800 --> 00:39:18.599
it's not about I just want to make sure this

605
00:39:18.639 --> 00:39:20.559
is very close. It's not about well we do it

606
00:39:20.559 --> 00:39:23.440
better than them. It's not about who's doing it better.

607
00:39:23.800 --> 00:39:29.280
It's about even artificial intelligence, who has no emotional, you know,

608
00:39:29.320 --> 00:39:33.159
connection to it. It has no in a sense team

609
00:39:33.760 --> 00:39:38.320
in the argument. It can just say no, exegetically, hermoneutically

610
00:39:38.599 --> 00:39:41.920
in context. There's not been a sermon yet out of

611
00:39:41.920 --> 00:39:45.239
the one hundred I've reviewed that's done justice to the text.

612
00:39:45.440 --> 00:39:49.400
That's AI's own words, with no team that it's it's

613
00:39:49.440 --> 00:39:52.039
trying to protect. AI is not trying to say I

614
00:39:52.119 --> 00:39:53.960
do it better than you, you do it better. It's

615
00:39:54.039 --> 00:39:57.199
just saying, no of the sermon of the hundred has

616
00:39:57.239 --> 00:40:00.280
come close to handling the text has done justice. The

617
00:40:00.320 --> 00:40:05.400
text not based on someone's theology, not based on someone's opinion,

618
00:40:05.840 --> 00:40:11.880
based off just basic hermeneutical principles. So you can try

619
00:40:11.920 --> 00:40:16.119
to reshape this and recast this as oh, just you're

620
00:40:16.119 --> 00:40:18.800
making a big deal out of nothing. At least artificial

621
00:40:18.800 --> 00:40:22.239
intelligence is willing to agree this is a problem. In fact,

622
00:40:22.320 --> 00:40:27.360
AI classifies it as shocking. AI classifies it as a

623
00:40:27.480 --> 00:40:33.079
major issue. AI classifies it as a systemic problem throughout

624
00:40:33.119 --> 00:40:38.800
the church. Now, if you don't want the text, and

625
00:40:38.920 --> 00:40:43.880
guess what, then it doesn't matter. And the reality is

626
00:40:44.360 --> 00:40:47.679
nobody everyone says they want the text, but they don't

627
00:40:48.920 --> 00:40:50.800
we see that in the handling of the Sermon on

628
00:40:50.840 --> 00:40:55.039
the Mount Matthew five through seven. I mean we see

629
00:40:55.039 --> 00:40:58.960
that and how a Hebrews is constantly handled. It's not

630
00:40:59.079 --> 00:41:02.440
handled in light of it becomes. It becomes, and we

631
00:41:02.559 --> 00:41:04.960
see it over and over and over and over and

632
00:41:05.079 --> 00:41:09.760
over again. It's a systemic problem. We just had no

633
00:41:09.840 --> 00:41:13.000
idea when we stumbled onto Isaiah forty three that we

634
00:41:13.000 --> 00:41:15.760
were going to find out that Isaiah forty through fifty

635
00:41:15.800 --> 00:41:21.360
five it is the pinnacle, it's the it's the best case,

636
00:41:21.559 --> 00:41:26.559
it's the best object lesson on how this occurs. So

637
00:41:27.280 --> 00:41:30.039
we'll be right back. We'll look at Isaiah forty twelve

638
00:41:30.079 --> 00:41:33.199
through seventeen, and we'll do that in about ten minutes.

639
00:41:33.960 --> 00:41:37.760
Thanks for listening to this episode and hopefully the next one,

640
00:41:37.960 --> 00:41:41.679
we can advance our discussion and benefit everyone. Thanks for listening.

641
00:41:42.719 --> 00:41:43.280
God bless