Dena Davidson [00:00:00]:
Welcome to the Bible study Pod. This is a special episode, and I brought in B Shortt, Brannon Shortt of the Folsom campus.
Brannon Shortt [00:00:06]:
It's an honor to be here with you.
Dena Davidson [00:00:07]:
Oh, thank you.
Brannon Shortt [00:00:08]:
Talking about this, the Bible, with our audience.
Dena Davidson [00:00:11]:
With our audience.
Brannon Shortt [00:00:11]:
Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:00:12]:
Everyone watching. And by the way, we're on YouTube now, so if you're like, what does Brannon look like?
Brannon Shortt [00:00:16]:
Brannon, you can now see my face. Yeah.
Dena Davidson [00:00:20]:
Everyone has been clamoring for just imagine.
Brannon Shortt [00:00:21]:
Curt Harlow 30 years ago.
Dena Davidson [00:00:25]:
It's perfect. Exactly.
Brannon Shortt [00:00:27]:
Whatever you imagine with that, that's who I actually am.
Dena Davidson [00:00:30]:
That's what it is.
Brannon Shortt [00:00:31]:
Yeah. Yeah. Ye.
Dena Davidson [00:00:32]:
So today we're going to do a deep dive to help people study the Bible.
Brannon Shortt [00:00:36]:
Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:00:36]:
Because we model this every single episode. But if you're newer to reading scriptures or you just want to do this better, this episode is for you. So let's start here. 2 Timothy 3:16 says this. All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. Here's the deal. This is. This is where we got to start.
Dena Davidson [00:00:59]:
Brannon.
Brannon Shortt [00:01:00]:
Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:01:01]:
There is a God, and he has spoken.
Brannon Shortt [00:01:04]:
I have heard both of those statements.
Dena Davidson [00:01:06]:
Excellent. You would not be on the podcast.
Brannon Shortt [00:01:09]:
Agreed.
Dena Davidson [00:01:10]:
But I think so many people come at Christianity and they start with the whole concept of revelation. You have to back it up. You have to actually address the fact that there is a God. There's this omnipotent, omniscient. Meaning he knows everything.
Brannon Shortt [00:01:24]:
Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:01:25]:
Being that it could have been that he never chose to communicate.
Brannon Shortt [00:01:29]:
Right.
Dena Davidson [00:01:30]:
It could be.
Brannon Shortt [00:01:30]:
He could have just set it all in order and pushed play.
Dena Davidson [00:01:33]:
Exactly. And then kind of like the watchmaker, he wound it up and he walked away.
Brannon Shortt [00:01:37]:
Let it run.
Dena Davidson [00:01:38]:
A lot of people believe that because there's so many great philosophical arguments for the existence of God.
Brannon Shortt [00:01:43]:
Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:01:44]:
But there is this question, has God spoken?
Brannon Shortt [00:01:48]:
Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:01:48]:
And Christianity claims that the God of the universe has spoken. Spoken. So I know. Brannon, do you have any stories of people who are like, why? Why would you base your life on the Bible? That's absolutely crazy. Tell me about some of those conversations. What does that sound like?
Brannon Shortt [00:02:03]:
Yeah, no, that's how it sounds. I think. Especially somebody thousand years ago. Right. And especially as somebody that's lived and done ministry largely until, like, very recently, within urban core settings, homes of culture, creating philosophical conversations. And because the Bible, you. You actually have heard this before, I believe. I don't consider the Bible a book.
Brannon Shortt [00:02:29]:
I consider it a library. So God doesn't speak once and stop that. God is speaking and you've Got all of these years and all of these genres and all of these authors and we'll talk about this as well. But all of these different contexts.
Dena Davidson [00:02:43]:
Yeah.
Brannon Shortt [00:02:43]:
And so for me, the beauty of, like, my response to how could you base your life on that is because God, generationally after generation, continues to show up.
Dena Davidson [00:02:53]:
Right.
Brannon Shortt [00:02:53]:
Is not far off in the distance and is making himself known in ways that are what I would say, unmakeupable. Or as Curt, the ghost of my Christmas future 30 years from now would say is, it's so anti fable. Like, even if you're making this stuff up, you would never make up. There's donkeys talking, bushes are on fire, they just don't burn. God sends the Holy Spirit. People start speaking all these languages. It actually is working towards unity within the empires of the world. So for me, if we're good readers of story, it's not just story as in fable.
Brannon Shortt [00:03:29]:
We're good readers of the human story and God's interaction with it. So, yeah, my response to the philosophy is actually that the text gives. I think some people think if you pull that card out, the house of cards falls. Like, oh, man. If we really critically think about what the Bible is, does everything fall? And it has been my experience that asking those questions and pulling the card just showed me that the house wasn't made of cards.
Dena Davidson [00:03:52]:
Wow, that's so good. Yeah, I think it's so helpful because sometimes when we think about reading the Bible, we think about opening up our app or just pulling it off of the shelf and being like, well, I think I'm supposed to read my Bible because my pastor told me to do that a lot.
Brannon Shortt [00:04:05]:
This is a good trick.
Dena Davidson [00:04:06]:
Yeah, this seems like a really good idea to do. But I mean, it's so like, that's a crazy thought compared to the fact that the God of the universe.
Brannon Shortt [00:04:14]:
Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:04:15]:
Spoke.
Brannon Shortt [00:04:15]:
Right.
Dena Davidson [00:04:16]:
He wants us to know some things. He has interacted with humanity those interactions. And what he has said has been written down for all of us to consume and benefit from this. God is knowable. That's crazy, right? So when you're opening up your Bible, I think, or you know, opening your app, approach it with that attitude. I would say first and foremost.
Brannon Shortt [00:04:40]:
Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:04:41]:
Realize when you open God's word, say to yourself, this is the word of God. God is speaking to me today.
Brannon Shortt [00:04:47]:
Right. What does it reveal about God? Like, I think if being you're talking about origins, like the starting of study, we'll let Curt, in different times, talk about exegesis and eisegesis. But I even think through very simply and practically, if God had a journal and we read it, our first response would not be, well, what does the journal that you wrote mean about me?
Dena Davidson [00:05:11]:
Wow.
Brannon Shortt [00:05:12]:
You would never say that if I read your journal, which I wouldn't, in case you allowed me the access to it. But I'm saying if you gave me your journal, my immediate thought about this would be, what has Dena's story been? How has Dena interacted with the world? What does this mean about Dena? And I think in the Scripture, though, we have the context of a lot of other players and other people at hand. I think reading the Bible that way is saying, I'm trying to understand this from the heart of God. And then it is only going to be from there that I start saying, what does this mean timelessly about me and us?
Dena Davidson [00:05:44]:
That is so powerful. It all matter. It all stems from the questions that you ask when you open up the text. If you are like as a preacher, if you're asking the question question, what am I going to say on Sunday? That's really going to influence how you read the text?
Brannon Shortt [00:05:58]:
Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:05:59]:
You're saying, what does this say about how I should parent my child? That influences. If you're asking the word of God to speak to your current reality, that's going to influence how you read it.
Brannon Shortt [00:06:10]:
Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:06:10]:
So the right questions, before we ever get to the me questions, is, God, what does this say about you?
Brannon Shortt [00:06:17]:
Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:06:17]:
What does this reveal about your character, your plans, your will? And then I think from there, God, what does this say about the world, the basic story of history that you need me to know? And then ultimately the final question is, what does it say about me today and what you want me to do? Not on the basis of what I want you to say, but on the basis of what you have said.
Brannon Shortt [00:06:41]:
What in this is timeless? But I love that you mentioned that that's the final step. I'd be curious about your process, not just in preaching, because as you know, like, as people that communicate and get to teach the Bible. I love that some of the saints of old have said, like, beware of this, because if your relationship with God is biblical scholarship, you may not have a relationship with God. To your point, God is knowable and the text is our chief, most tool in the tool belt. I mean, I say tool belt because the spirit's inside of us as our guide and again, advocate all of these things. But I do when I'm. When I'm studying and it's study practice, it's not just me And God sitting and dwelling and abiding. It's actually deep rooted study.
Brannon Shortt [00:07:25]:
God's with me in that also. I spend my most time in context. That is where I spend most of my time. Because I remember old school Baptist theologian at the seminary I went to being like, now listen y'all, it can't never mean what it never meant. And that was, that was always the line, right?
Dena Davidson [00:07:45]:
Like, can't never mean what it never meant.
Brannon Shortt [00:07:46]:
What it never meant. Like God didn't say, listen, people of Israel, this is who I am now, Brannon. And take that how you will.
Dena Davidson [00:07:52]:
Yes.
Brannon Shortt [00:07:52]:
And make it what you want. What did it mean? What was the context? How was this being spoken? And you and I know, like there's. And many of our audience knows, but we, we can really mess up there. Like I think like the, the easy one to pick on is like the Jeremiah 29:11 stuff.
Dena Davidson [00:08:10]:
Right? The coffee cup first.
Brannon Shortt [00:08:11]:
Right, the coffee cup. I'm not going to shout out the company or the home store that has that on every picture because I fear they may sue us and they've got more power than us.
Dena Davidson [00:08:21]:
But like they make a lot of money off those cups, right?
Brannon Shortt [00:08:24]:
And like if we study it, we can really mean like, oh my gosh, God really is trying to get me this promotion next week. God is really trying to answer that one's the.
Dena Davidson [00:08:34]:
For I know the plans I have for you.
Brannon Shortt [00:08:35]:
Yes, yes, declares the Lord. Plans to all of this stuff in good and prosperous and beautiful and like distinctly important for us to remember. Like the hope in this is housed in exiled Israel in Babylon, 70 years in. And that God, from what he has always said, is going to be faithful to restore them.
Dena Davidson [00:08:58]:
That's right.
Brannon Shortt [00:08:58]:
Now is there an ethic in that? That God is restoring and he is a God of redemption and that's going to play out in our life for sure. But to take those things, just coffee mug them and be like, dawg, I'm getting that promotion next week because the Lord knows the plans he has for your boy. Maybe a little spotty biblical scholarship.
Dena Davidson [00:09:16]:
I love that. I would not add or correct anything. I think that that' great Bible study. So thank you for sharing your particular way of going about it. Yeah. Okay, so starting from the concept of Revelation. Yes, go there. So let's say people are now opening up their Bible and they have this brand new perspective.
Dena Davidson [00:09:32]:
I'm not reading this for. You know what, what God wants to say to me specifically on Tuesday before I ask the question, what has God always wanted his people to know for all time. So let's say we're starting with that viewpoint.
Brannon Shortt [00:09:44]:
Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:09:45]:
Now let's help the person who is like, this is. You referenced it. This is a library.
Brannon Shortt [00:09:50]:
Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:09:51]:
I'm trying to read the Bible, and it is 66 books long. And some of it's narrative, some of it is laws. And I'm so confused.
Brannon Shortt [00:10:00]:
Ancient Babylonian battle literature.
Dena Davidson [00:10:03]:
What is happening? And then you're like, how's everybody?
Brannon Shortt [00:10:06]:
Dead.
Dena Davidson [00:10:06]:
Wonderful. This is a really wonderful book. I am so glad God saw fit to communicate these things.
Brannon Shortt [00:10:13]:
This is the way he did it.
Dena Davidson [00:10:14]:
Yeah. So help the person who's just like, I just need to get a handle on the overall story. What do you want people to know about the basic biblical story?
Brannon Shortt [00:10:25]:
Set me up, Dena. Alley oop. What if I missed the dunk, though? What if I missed. You just threw that. Perfect.
Dena Davidson [00:10:31]:
I guess I'll set it up again.
Brannon Shortt [00:10:33]:
All right, we'll redo it. We'll redo this. Creation, fall, redemption, at least at a base narrative. Right. Like I said this in a meeting you and I were in recently with a larger group in Christian space, though we have to understand sin, concepts of original sin, different discussions around this. We rarely start to our detriment at creation because it is pretty hard to read this opening chapter in Genesis and not read it in the beginning. God created, and it was good. And it was good.
Brannon Shortt [00:11:07]:
And it was good. It was crazy. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was very good. Everything was good. And we start usually in our defense of things with like, all right, so every sin.
Brannon Shortt [00:11:18]:
And my take on that is that's actually. Forgive me, Dena Davidson and all the listeners to this. I feel like that's like. That's shoddy theology, too. Like original sin before original goodness is like missing the story.
Dena Davidson [00:11:34]:
Complete missing the story.
Brannon Shortt [00:11:36]:
There is a creation and it is good, and there is no pain. And there aren't funerals and there aren't farewell speeches. The majority of the Bible isn't Genesis 1. Sin comes into the story by mankind's choice. Being deceived the enemy. Like sin comes into the story the less than God's best, all the other ways that are contrary to the ways of God. We see thousands and thousands of thousands of thousands of written words that are consequences to sin with these beautiful moments where we see God not only showing up, stepping in and promising there's going to be redemption. To the point Lisa Terkeurst draws that beautiful picture.
Brannon Shortt [00:12:14]:
Right. She says, you live between two gardens, which is why you have to remember creation, because we're going back to where there is no crying, there is no weeping, there is no pain. So creation, fall, redemption is the base narrative of the text. But I say this a lot. I say this a lot to our students that hermeneutically. We try our hardest to read from authorial authority, intent. The hardest part is we can't know the author. Like, I don't know Paul, wish I did.
Brannon Shortt [00:12:43]:
Can't wait to get to know him. But to say, hey, listen, I read that one half of the narrative you wrote to the Corinthians. I never saw their response letter. But, like, how was that? There's some. We're trying to. So what I tell them, our students and myself, is I am looking at the text, trying to be objective and trying to hold it for what it is. But there's no way that I can erase all bias. So if there's going to be bias, I want the bias to be who God is.
Brannon Shortt [00:13:11]:
So I read almost every time I go into a deep new study, I'll hold Exodus 34, open Yahweh, Yahweh, compassionate, gracious, mercy. So that when I read the moments and Right. Holding it for a thousand generations with that word picture of a thousand generations to one, like I'm holding all of who I am for all of time. But I hold that there because there are places in the text that confuse me. Yeah, there's battle literature that if you don't understand the tenets of that genre, may look like every Canaanite died and then there's two pages later and there the Canaanites are again. But it said they were all dead.
Dena Davidson [00:13:47]:
Yep.
Brannon Shortt [00:13:48]:
But I don't think that's the error in the text.
Dena Davidson [00:13:50]:
Right.
Brannon Shortt [00:13:50]:
I see that as a pillar of the way that that genre is set up. So I think it's worth telling our people. Studying the Bible is a lifelong journey and it's not easy. I think it's actually a setup for failure to be like, well, just read it point blank. Like, it's just easy. People smarter than you and smarter than me have fervently spent their life studying it. But you don't really have to because it's just face value stuff. That's a setup.
Brannon Shortt [00:14:15]:
It is hard. It'll take a life of dedication and God is with you and the people of God are around you. And the church was a dedicated place in society where we could be a city on a hill that did it together. It's a beautiful thing.
Dena Davidson [00:14:27]:
That's so good. Something you brought up that I want to speak on touch on is this whole idea of bias. Because, you know, we live in a postmodern society. And one of the true things that a postmodern society has shown us is that it's almost, if not actually impossible to take your particular lens off and see things objectively. And I think that's something that, as Christians, we can affirm. Sinful. We have our own biases. We have our own stories, literally our own lens through which we filter things that can be discouraging for people reading the Bible.
Dena Davidson [00:15:01]:
Cause they're like, well, I'm never gonna get past my own bias. And what do I do with that? My favorite analogy for this, and I've taught on this before, is I take two pitchers, and a pitcher is full of clear water, and then another pitcher is empty, but I've actually put a little drop of food dye in it. And so I take. I'm like, this is the living word of God. And I pour the water into this empty pitcher that has a drop of food dye. And as I pour it in, it's colored. Like, it's this weird blue color. And I'm like, so what happened? Like, the living, active, wonderful, pure word of God goes inside this vessel, and it's colored by the story that we have inside of us, our bias.
Dena Davidson [00:15:44]:
So is that it? Like, are we stuck in our bias and there's no escape and so kind of give up on this project of knowing what God wants us to know? And so I say, like, no, of course not. And so I keep pouring the pitcher in.
Brannon Shortt [00:15:55]:
That's right.
Dena Davidson [00:15:56]:
And it's this beautiful image of as more water goes in, it flushes out the blue dye. So the more of God's word that you take into, if you're taking it in with the right heart and the right perspective, and you're saying, God, I want to know you, then what's happening is you're getting rid of your bias and you're replacing it with God's revelation.
Brannon Shortt [00:16:15]:
Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:16:15]:
So don't be discouraged if you're like, no, I'm never going to get past my bias.
Brannon Shortt [00:16:20]:
I use this illustration a lot. That reading the Bible to me feels like swimming in the ocean. And again, forgive the artesian soul in this. I can't help but think about it in these terms because it feels real to me that as I journey with God through my years in his Word throughout all the history of time, I feel like one. The encouraging piece is that I'll never get to the bottom of it, because it's alive and it lives and it Hits me in different places. But when I say swimming in the ocean, it's like there's all of these things to see there. There's great barrier reefs and all of these animals and there's even animals they're telling me's in the depths down there that I've never seen and nobody else has. Like, there's so much wisdom to garner from this and so much.
Brannon Shortt [00:17:10]:
And sometimes you're in a passage you've been in a million times and again, swimming in the ocean, if you've ever swam in the ocean, you know that when the water depth changes, the temperature does. And there's times I'll be hitting Ephesians or anywhere else, but I'm just thinking about this because it just happened and I'm sitting in it and I'm reading it and something hits me and I'm like, oh, wait, the temperature of the water changing. I'm in deeper water than I used to see this text to be. There is more to discover here. So I double down on your encouragement piece. I actually feel like this process of studying the word is not only a great honor, but that it is fun and I use that word on purpose. Like I have fun swimming and discovering and feeling it change and like my, my place in it changing. Not the text change.
Brannon Shortt [00:18:01]:
Like my place in it changing. Yeah. So on the double down of encouragement. Yes. I loved your dilute illustration.
Dena Davidson [00:18:08]:
And I think, I think what you're sharing is just so important is sometimes when we're reading our Bible, it's like, I have to know this or I have to get something from this, but the image that you're doing. And sometimes you're just swimming because you're not trying to get somewhere.
Brannon Shortt [00:18:23]:
No.
Dena Davidson [00:18:24]:
Sometimes you're swimming because you're swimming. Right. Like you're just enjoying the activity.
Brannon Shortt [00:18:27]:
I'm delighting.
Dena Davidson [00:18:28]:
You're delighting in it. What would it be like to open your Bible tomorrow morning or maybe even today and say, God, I'm not trying to understand everything.
Brannon Shortt [00:18:38]:
Yeah.
Dena Davidson [00:18:38]:
I'm not trying to, you know, get something out of this.
Brannon Shortt [00:18:41]:
Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:18:42]:
Today I just want to be in your word. I want to enlighten it. That is such a different approach. I love that.
Brannon Shortt [00:18:48]:
But again, I feel a little giddy as you're saying that. Right. There's like a little school kid in me. It's like, oh, no, I'm reading through Job. Job's hard. Job's a. Like Job's tough. Right.
Brannon Shortt [00:18:58]:
All of the questions. Satan's in the throne room. Pause. Wait a second. Allegorical literal, all the different, like academic debates and you could get lost forever. And yet, like, there's something to be dove into and really understand and fight for things. I was reading the other day of God, like, being relieved and watching when the mountain goat gives birth. And I'm like, wait a second.
Brannon Shortt [00:19:24]:
I was just backstroke and through the text. I serve a God who is up there, sees when an animal is going through birth, pain and delights when it's over.
Dena Davidson [00:19:34]:
Wow.
Brannon Shortt [00:19:35]:
Just keep swimming. Dory and Nemo. This thing just keeps swimming. No. I have so much fun with it.
Dena Davidson [00:19:42]:
That is so incredible.
Brannon Shortt [00:19:43]:
There's a lot of joy.
Dena Davidson [00:19:44]:
Well, I would love. Can you give us a prayer? Because I know that you are so big on not just reading the Bible, but also wrapping the spiritual disciplines around the reading of Scripture. That we be people of the book, but not just the book. Right. That we care about the presence of God and other ways that we experience Him. Right. All of it grounded in God's Word, but not solely limited to it. Because that's not the way Jesus practiced Christianity.
Dena Davidson [00:20:14]:
That's not the way Paul practiced Christianity. It's not the way the early church or really any faithful follower of Jesus. So give us, give us a prayer. What can we pray as we're opening up our Bibles tomorrow morning or whenever we're going to read it?
Brannon Shortt [00:20:33]:
Yeah. I love that you said actually no faithful follower of Christ follows that way because it's true. Right. Like, I think there is such a tension in that the text we read to know the author, and I don't just mean the human authors, I mean the breather of this. And to know that like, you are meant to abide deeply with God and to be sensitive to his spirit and that the Bible is not God. Bible is a revelation of God and a beautiful thing and meant to be authoritative in our life. The infallible message held out for all of time, all of this stuff. But I think as I study the text, it's not actually.
Brannon Shortt [00:21:17]:
Let me say this. NT Wright said recently that we were in the first time in Christian history where the church didn't pray and sing the psalms together. So I find that tangibly painful. So one of my prayers when going to Scripture is praying scripture, as has been the practice of the church, as you said, since we had scripture to pray. So one of mine is, I'll try to usually find somewhere in the wisdom literature to pray through and just to.
Dena Davidson [00:21:48]:
Hold wisdom literature being Proverbs and the Psalms.
Brannon Shortt [00:21:51]:
Yeah. In particular, that's where I usually will go to in it. But also, like to your point, I want God and I to sit and abide. So I would push further to say that if all our time with God is Bible study, I would actually say that's bad. Like sit with God in it, pray through the scripture. Yes. And then there's so many of my Sabbath days. I will go sit alone with a pen and a pad and nothing else, and I'll just sit there and say, all right, God, maybe we'll nap, but let's definitely talk.
Brannon Shortt [00:22:28]:
And when you speak to me, you use revelation, which is a beautiful way to say it. Like there's the special revelation as we in theology land call the text, and then there's the general revelation. So one of my practices is that I go where they both meet. So I go and read, study, pray fast, whatever the discipline is. I'm practicing outside.
Dena Davidson [00:22:50]:
Yeah.
Brannon Shortt [00:22:50]:
Because we're not animus pantheists. Like, I'm not saying that rock right there is God, but we were meant, I think, as we dwell with God to say that rock says something about God.
Dena Davidson [00:23:00]:
Yeah.
Brannon Shortt [00:23:00]:
That tree's not God either. That's creation. But what is that tree declaring about who God is in the root system and the way that it receives ingredients? Is there something then as I look at that tree, as I go to the word, I can study and hold. So my prayer for us is that we are not. My prayer for us is that we're not just biblical scholars, that we are deep anchored, abide in Christ, know God, hide in the shadow of his wing believers.
Dena Davidson [00:23:26]:
So you're saying there might be some people listening to the Bible study pod who are reading creation declares the glory of God.
Brannon Shortt [00:23:34]:
Yeah.
Dena Davidson [00:23:34]:
And they're reading that over and over and over again. But then they're never walking outside.
Brannon Shortt [00:23:39]:
Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:23:39]:
And looking up at the heavens and looking at the trees.
Brannon Shortt [00:23:42]:
Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:23:43]:
Majesty of creation and saying, God, this is what you're capable of.
Brannon Shortt [00:23:48]:
Oh, yeah.
Dena Davidson [00:23:48]:
This reflects your grander and your power and your majesty.
Brannon Shortt [00:23:53]:
Yeah.
Dena Davidson [00:23:53]:
And we're by only reading and then not walking out of the door and taking what we read and talking to God about that, that we're missing part of what God so wants for us.
Brannon Shortt [00:24:04]:
We were meant to be embodied, not just cerebral.
Dena Davidson [00:24:08]:
That's right.
Brannon Shortt [00:24:09]:
And I do think in the post enlightenment dualism, Western academic way of studying, there's an almost anti embodiment that comes with that of wherever my theological knowledge tank can cerebrally ascend to me to a again knowledge bank of doctrine. That is faith. And again, your mind is very important and you should give it all you've got. And I saw an inchworm the other day. This is true. Going across the sidewalk in front of my house, and I just paused, and I was like, oh, my goodness, that worm. There's been like 30 cars pass since he made it from one end of my driveway to the next, and it just doesn't seem like he's in a hurry. Wow.
Brannon Shortt [00:24:56]:
Maybe I should be still and know that God is God. That inchworm, at some level, reminded me to go back to the text. There's like, we were meant to be whole people, and God wants us to be whole people because God desires, I think, to transform the whole person so that the whole person can interact with the whole world. Like, this was always about all of us, not just our mind, though our mind. I would never deny or negate the importance of thinking well and processing thoroughly.
Dena Davidson [00:25:26]:
It's just what Jesus said. He said, love the Lord your God. I mean, he was quoting Deuteronomy, but love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, your mind.
Brannon Shortt [00:25:36]:
Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:25:36]:
And your strength.
Brannon Shortt [00:25:37]:
Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:25:37]:
So what a beautiful reminder that as we are faithful students of God's word, and that is just so much the heart of what this podcast is all about. But to not just leave it in your mind, but to take. To take it and to also love God with your heart and your soul and all of your strength.
Brannon Shortt [00:25:55]:
Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:25:55]:
Beautiful.
Brannon Shortt [00:25:56]:
Were you. What is that? I was reading the Jewish messianic Jewish rabbi recently, and he just said, right, that. That place in that Deuteronomic. And then Jesus repeating this idea of where all of you and all of God can dwell together. And I'm like, yes. Tis the goal.
Dena Davidson [00:26:16]:
Tis the goal.
Brannon Shortt [00:26:17]:
Tis the goal for where all of us are with all of God, and we live there.
Dena Davidson [00:26:23]:
I love it.
Brannon Shortt [00:26:23]:
Yeah. And the text is part of it, so good. Undeniably.
Dena Davidson [00:26:28]:
Well, this has just been an incredible conversation. I'm so grateful, Brannon, that you've showed up and you've just given us really some. I would say, some really deep things to think about that I hope, enrich our study of God's word, but also our relationship with the Lord, because that's ultimately the goal and what it is all about.
Brannon Shortt [00:26:46]:
Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:26:47]:
So we're going to hop into our regular study of acts, but just so excited that you joined us for this episode and grateful that you're following along the Bible study pod. We're all about helping you know God's word and be in better relationship with him.