3 Intro

Barb introduces herself as the host of the Biblically Wired podcast. She is a Bible enthusiast and shares her passion for studying the Bible. She talks about her interest in writing a book called "Biblical Gems" but felt called to start a podcast instead. Barb emphasizes the importance of understanding the Old Testament and its connection to Jesus Christ. She discusses her goals for the podcast, which include gaining a true understanding of who God is, exploring the presence and impact of the Holy Spirit, and learning about Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. She also shares a tidbit about what Jesus may have worn in the New Testament based on Jewish culture at the time. Overall, Barb encourages Christians to deepen their knowledge of the Bible and be ready to defend their beliefs. Hey, hey, my name is Barb and welcome to the Biblically Wired podcast introduction. I'm going to be your host. I'm out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. I have been married to my husband for a long, long time. We have six children and three grandkids. So a couple of years ago, I graduated with my Master's of Divinity from Liberty University. And currently, I teach the Bible Genesis to Revelations every year at a ministry or school here in Minneapolis called the Village Schools of the Bible. So I find myself very Bible-obsessed. I've been that way since I was born again. I have an insatiable appetite for the Word. I honestly thought that that would be filled with my Master's of Divinity, but no, I'm only more hungry. So I thought about writing a book called Biblical Gems because with my research and my questions, I'm a very curious Christian. I'm a Bible detective of sorts. I use a lot of extra biblical resources, and I like to make sure that my teaching is sound. And I think it's exciting to get to the root of things and to picture exactly possibly the best interpretation of a certain part of Scripture. So in the process, I run into all these biblical gems. And I thought about writing a book about it, but felt called to start a podcast. So here I am. So this is going to be a short introduction, but at the end, I am going to include a biblical gem I think is kind of cool right now. In my world, there is no tidbit that is too small for me to uncover as I want to discover so much about the Trinity, humanity, and everything else that shines a powerful light on the cross and the work of Jesus Christ. For instance, I read in the Old Testament that Jesus is under a myrtle tree, and angels are coming on horseback from the four corners of the earth to give a report. That is such an amazing scene. I had to pause and sit in it a while. And then of course, I couldn't move forward until I figured out what a myrtle tree was. So if you're a curious Christian like myself, the myrtle tree is a very popular tree in the Middle East. According to their folklore, they associate the myrtle tree to romance, devotion, beauty, and love. They flower a few times a year. And interesting to me, they have kind of willowy branches that the people would have used at the feast of Tabernacles. That's what was going on when Jesus rode into Jerusalem. That's the reason they had palm branches. They also would have had myrtle branches, as they were perfect for building their tabernacle. It's definitely a tree that did a lot for the people of Israel. What's fascinating about God and the Holy Spirit that has so much to do with creation is that God looked forward and supplied us an earth that supplies and gives us everything needed to follow his word and to live an abundant life. So creation in itself is incredible. Biblically Wired came to me as I was speaking out to the Lord and kind of crying out for what this title should be. There are so many great titles taken in the Christian community. And I, out of frustration, said to the Lord, Oh my gosh, I'm so Biblically Wired. And it reminded me that when God created us, he created us to be in relationship with him. We are all Biblically Wired. We have everything needed to take in the Bible, even a small child, that they are Biblically Wired. This is a foundational part of being a human being. We need to come to the Bible and figure out what we need for guidance. So right now we live in the most Biblically illiterate America ever. And we ourselves are so distracted by the many types of entertainment that can give us instant fulfillment. We are not dusting off our Bibles and giving it a go. Let's turn the tide on that. The motivating verse I've always had, and I still struggle with knowing if I could defend many parts of my beliefs, is 1 Peter 3, verse 15 to 17, Always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you to account for the hope and confidence that is within you. And you read that verse and you think to yourself, Oh my gosh, if a stranger came up to me on the street, can I verify what I believe in Scripture? Can I point them through the Bible? And I find Jesus in the Old Testament and prophecies that lead to Jesus Christ. So the Old Testament has enough in it for someone to be born again. The entire gospel is in the Old Testament. Isaiah is called the fifth gospel. And I will be doing a teaching on Isaiah 53, one of the most incredible chapters of the Old Testament. So now the goals I have written out for this podcast. One, I think we need to gain a true picture of who God is. He was here on earth. What did he reveal about himself to the people of Israel, to Moses directly, through prophets, etc. We have so much to learn about God. Those will draw out new epiphanies about Jesus's life, death, or resurrection. Like I said, Jesus is all over the Old Testament, all over the New. The reason that I think we need to have a firm foundation in the Old Testament is that, to me, going directly to the New Testament, which is a great place to send somebody who wants to know about the life of Jesus. But for someone who's been a Christian a while, it behooves us to understand the Old Testament. Just knowing the New Testament is like going to a five-part sequel movie and only in the fifth seat. That missing out on the Old Testament is limiting the peace you have in God. I have much to be healed from, and I have every belief that God could do it, but I wondered like, why wouldn't he do it? Why is he leaving me this way? Well, studying the Old Testament gives us a lot of answers to our valleys in life. The Old Testament also is our goal to introduce and enjoy the presence of the Holy Spirit and its impact on our very being. The Holy Spirit's, one of the Holy Spirit's main jobs is to create and to help recreate or make new. So the Holy Spirit in us is helping to transform us into a more Christ-like being so we can be the light and salt needed for the world. So let's go in and talk about this little tidbit I learned, and you'll probably think, why does it matter? But when you get to the end, it's actually quite massive. So in our studies recently, we went over the intertestamental period, which is fascinating, and I came upon the question in a lot of my research of what did Jesus wear in the New Testament? So we know he was a rabbi, we know he was a teacher, we know he was Jewish. So what did he wear? Well, in this time in the Jewish culture and in the city of Jerusalem, everybody wore who they are. Like, it would be like us going to a hockey game right now, and the fireman was in his uniform, the doctor was in his uniform, and that kind of thing. Back in this time period, you wore the tunic of who you are. So when Jesus was looking out to the crowd and the disciples were looking and everybody else, they would have seen the common people, the farmer, the vineyard guy, I don't know what to call him, the fisherman, the craftsman. These people would have worn the lower-class society tunic, which would have been tanned, brown, and the inside dress shirt would have been creamy, kind of off-color white, and they would have dressed the same. A lot of the lower-class Romans or Gentiles might have worn a little bit different sandals to signify themselves as a Roman citizen. So also, we've got the Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, and Lawyers. So this was the religious group of that time. So the Pharisees and Sadducees were kind of like two rabbinical schools. They were very divided. There were other sects of religious rabbis, so to speak. So if you go to Jerusalem today, the disciples of a certain rabbi wear a certain hat. When I was in Jerusalem, I could not believe how creative these hats were. It is amazing. In Jesus' day, these rabbis and their disciples would be dressed similar. The rabbi with more expensive covering over his head or whatever, but you would have known they're from the religious sect. Now, Scribes, they were the people that rewrote the law for others and wrote on scrolls, wrote teaching from the Pharisees and Sadducees they wanted to pass on or spread about the kingdom. They were also very much tutored in the law. So they would be used sometimes in the Jewish council when they were trying to decide what to do with somebody who broke the Jewish law or whether they did or not. Now we have Lawyers. Lawyers is kind of a good English word, but it doesn't totally describe what these lawyers were doing. The lawyers were not hired to defend the client. The lawyers were present so that they could quote the law of the Jewish people. This is partly Moses' law, but even more so, the Scribal law. So these are the laws that were passed down by the Pharisees, Sadducees, and the rabbis of the day. They were written on things called Targums and other books like this. And they basically took Moses' Mosaic law and they gave commentary or more rules for the people so that they would follow it correctly. So for instance, the Sabbath. The Sabbath, God said to keep holy. The Targums and the Pharisees and Sadducees had written Scribal laws regarding how to keep it holy. This could include how far you can walk during the day, whether you can light a candle. The key place where this takes place is when Jesus was in the tomb and the women stayed back because it was the Sabbath. You see, it was too far to walk to the tomb on the Sabbath according to the Scribal laws. So Jesus would have been able to tell, as he's speaking to a crowd, who is the scribe, who is the lawyer, who is the tax collector, who is the Roman, who is the layperson, and that sort of thing. Now there was another religious group called the Essenes. They are not described in the New Testament very well, but they were very much around during the New Testament. They were spending a lot of time in Jerusalem. They were in the markets. And they, guess what? They wore all white. If anyone wore all white, they were saying they're of the Essenes, a religious sect that was very in belief about who the Messiah was going to be. They also had one portion of their belief system was they did not believe in marriage. They were celibate. They adopted children. They had very severe rules. So what did Jesus wear? Jesus wore the same tunic of a commoner. Yes, he was a rabbi, which mainly means teacher. He did not go to a rabbinical school. So he did not choose Pharisee or Sadducee or any other rabbi in the area to follow. Why this is so important and powerful is when you see Jesus in the New Testament talking to a crowd, you're going to hear some of the common folks saying, who is this man? And the reason that they're saying this is what is going on? It's like the world is upside down. This common man is speaking like a great prophet. He has way more wisdom than the religious. The religious are looking all tongue-tied standing in front of him. And Jesus is laser focused on me. I can feel it in my heart and spirit. He is a common man, but somehow he feels like God. This kind of stuff just blows my mind. And it gives so much emphasis, knowing that the disciples would have known every single person in the crowd. Everyone's in the know about who people are. It's a very interesting thing that we don't see in our Western culture. So I hope you enjoyed that little teeny tidbit and biblical gem. I want to thank you so much for hanging out to the end of this introduction to Biblically Wired. I hope you will tune in for the next teaching. I plan to start in Genesis, and we'll get some foundational truth about God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Satan, and humans, all the main characters. I'm going to check off here in Minnesota, and I pray that all of you out there in the universe. It's a weird thing to do a podcast, but I hope all of you are feeling the strength of God in your spirits, that you are peaceful and hopeful, and that you keep your chin up in Jesus' name.