Bible Basics on the Emunah Podcast

Jacqui: 0:14

Greetings listeners and welcome to another enlightening episode of the Bible Basics Podcast. Today we have something truly special in store for you. I recently have the honor of being featured on the Emunah Podcast, a show that explores faith and spirituality through the lens of a remarkable mother-daughter team, Dr Tamara Henry and her daughter Charisse. The podcast title is Emunah E-M-U-N-A-H, which means faith in Hebrew. Bi- weekly, they feature dynamic conversations and interviews designed to encourage you on the path of developing Christian lifestyles and fostering a closer relationship with God. I strongly recommend you follow and subscribe to the Emunah Podcast. I promise you you will be blessed. The link will be posted in the show notes, so stay tuned to this episode of the Bible Basics Podcast and the Emunah Podcast, where we focus on the importance of the Bible as an essential component of the Christian journey. Well, welcome everyone. I'm your host Jacqui Adewole, and this is the Bible Basics Podcast, where weekly, we break down the Bible into understandable, bite-sized chunks.

Dr. Henry: 1:56

Hello, hello, welcome to Emunah, the podcast for those of us developing Christian lifestyles. I'm Dr Tamara Henry and my co-host is Charisse Henry. Already in this first season, we have covered such topics as prayer, salvation, belief, how to make God a priority, how to really depend on God, service and serving others. What's missing,Charisse? The Bible duh. Yes, bible Basics. Yes, the Bible and its importance in our Christian journey. Listeners, we want to introduce you to Jacqueline Williams Adewole, the dynamic host and producer behind the captivating Bible Basics Podcast. She is also a professional sign language interpreter and a teacher of the Old Testament, sharing her wisdom at the esteemed Kingdom Building Institute. . Having earned two master's degrees, one in public administration and another in social work, she has spent more than two decades as a faithful member of the First Baptist Church of Glenarden, International. Amazing Serves in the Deaf Ministry, touching lives and making a difference. Amen, welcome, sister Adewole.

Jacqui: 3:43

Thank you so much, Dr Henry and Sister Charisse. I really appreciate this opportunity and this invitation.

Charisse: 3:51

Welcome, yes, welcome, but actually listeners. I do want to say you really got to listen to our sister, Jacqueline Williams Adewole, Her Bible Basics. You literally just google it because I kept asking how do you get to the Bible Basics? It's Bible-basics. org and it will pull it up you all. It will really bless you. I just recently listened to what's in a name. She goes through the names of God and their meaning. Just awesome. But, Tamara, you could throw out the first question, Okay.

Dr. Henry: 4:20

I just wanted to get an idea. What is your overall perspective of the Bible?

Jacqui: 4:26

I'll just tell you what the Bible means to me, what I know the Bible means to me. The Bible is the inspired Word of God, period. I believe that the words of the Bible were God-breathed, and I believe that the Bible tells us that, in Timothy, Paul is speaking to the young pastor, Timothy, and he tells them that all Scripture is God-breathed and that it's useful and beneficial for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training. And so I believe that God used the writers of the Bible to express his word. He used their own, their personalities, their experiences, their vocabularities, their style, but it was his message, and I believe that. I think that's what makes the Bible different from other books.

Dr. Henry: 5:24

Okay, okay, so teaching Bible basics is there a certain approach that you're taking, where you have episodes every week, right? Yes, is there a certain approach?

Jacqui: 5:36

Well, I'm approaching, as the title, Bible Basics implies, I'm really trying to share just the basics, the foundational aspects of the Bible, those things that a lot of Christians, particularly new Christians or even people who are just curious about God's Word, things that people don't know about the Bible. Also, I'm like let me tell you about my total objective is. The objective is to encourage people, to get people to read the Bible consistently, to get people ultimately to know God by reading the Bible.

Charisse: 6:18

Amen.

Jacqui: 6:18

And doing my research, I found there are a lot of reasons why people don't read the Bible. In fact, if you look at statistics, about 85% of American households have a Bible.

Charisse: 6:29

Wow.

Jacqui: 6:30

But in the most recent survey that the Bible Society did in 2023, only about 37% of people engage with the Bible once a week. Just don't engage with the Bible. Only 37%, that's like two out of five people. Wow, Engage with the Bible. And so the question is why? Why aren't people reading the Bible? And number one answer was because they don't have time.

Jacqui: 7:00

Of course people say that, but then there were responses like I don't know how to navigate the Bible. The terminology is complicated, it doesn't make sense. The stories don't make sense. I don't know what's going on. I just don't know what's going on. I feel lost, and so my approach is to address those basic concerns.

Jacqui: 7:27

I want to make the Bible accessible, Amen. I want to make it not be so intimidating. Have you ever? Well, of course you have Picked up a Bible. It's a big, thick book. Do we read books that size? We don't To say, but now I want you to read this. You have to kind of pave the way. So, if I can help people understand, first of all, how to even navigate through the Bible, we learned if you grew up in Sunday school, you learned how to find chapters and verses in the Bible. But, as an adult say, if you were a new Christian as an adult, where do you go to learn how to find the books of the Bible? How do you know? How do you find chapters? I mean, that's the bare basic. But in sermons, church services, Sunday school, adult education settings, those things are assumed. So I'm going after those things that are assumed but a lot of people just don't know it, just don't have, and it keeps them, it's frustrating to them, it keeps them from reading the word.

Charisse: 8:38

Amen.

Charisse: 8:39

So, that's just really powerful and it's so needed. I was thinking like you were saying. I remember those little Bibles for the baby and going to Sunday school in O'ana and you're right, they drill it into children. If they have the privilege of being introduced to the Bible early in life, they really drill it in how to find books of the Bible and everything. And, yeah, you do, you become like an expert.

Charisse: 9:04

But I need to say one thing is that, Jacqui, the thing I honestly, honestly having been in the church for 38 years I never feel honestly like an expert. I never feel like I'm beyond the basics of the Bible, because there's just so much to learn with the help of the Holy Spirit. And actually, even when I listened to the podcast I just saw you just put in a new podcast which I definitely am going to listen to, about the unlocking the Old Testament covenants and introduction to that really powerful. But yeah, I never feel like I'm beyond the basics. There's just so much. And also, I was listening to a sermon. I was telling my mom that this pastor was talking about how, every time you read the Bible, just think about it.

Charisse: 9:49

You may be in a different season. So the Bible beset is one thing to you when you're five years old. The Bible says another thing to you when you're getting ready to graduate from high school. But it's the same story. It's the same three Hebrew men throwing in a fiery furnace. Well, all of a sudden it has a different message. Because you're graduating from high school and then don't go to graduate school. The Bible I was like laid out on the Bible, Please let me pass exam and like. The same story is to speak to you more as you get older every season. It's just so many messages. So I honestly, listeners, even if you know the Bible backwards and forwards, honestly you need the basics of the Bible, you need that podcast and it helps you to be consistent. So maybe even listeners, you can log in we're like halfway through this year, right, so maybe listeners can like log in once a week and just really really go back to those basics and make sure you know it by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jacqui: 10:40

Amen Amen.

Dr. Henry: 10:42

And so that leads me to a question. Yes, yes, it's looking at the other side when I remember in the old days when church sanctuaries had pews that held copies of the Bible and church hymnals. And you don't see that in modern day churches today Are churches failing to make people realize the importance of the Bible.

Jacqui: 11:06

I would not like to put it all on churches.

Dr. Henry: 11:10

Okay.

Jacqui: 11:11

Having pews, the Bible's in the pews doesn't necessarily relate to when you get home opening up your Bible. I think we've always been a people that would go to church on Sunday, and if the Bible the Bible's, were in the pews right there when the pastor's speaking and referencing a particular scripture, we could look at it and read it right there. But now we bring our Bibles or we have the Bible app. So I believe the accessibility of the Bible during church service continues. The question, though, is do we encourage reading outside of Sunday service?

Dr. Henry: 11:47

That's a good point.

Jacqui: 11:50

And even if it is encouraged, do we do it? I noticed that we all happen to go to the same church. In October, I believe, we're going to be having a two day session on the Old Testament, and that is a power to be able to go through. Of course, you won't learn the Old Testament Charisse. We're never going to be experts in the Bible, but the Bible's not for experts, the Bible's for everybody, no matter where you are in the spectrum. Amen, how many times you, how many questions you have, it's still for all of us. The session that we're going to have in October is going to take us through the Old Testament two days.

Jacqui: 12:28

No way you can learn the Old Testament two days, but what it does is help you understand the framework, help you understand some context, for instance, the timeline of the Bible. I think that's such an important piece of being able to read the Bible, even understanding Sunday sermons. If you don't understand where we are in the history of Christianity, or the history of the church, or the history of Israel, or the history of Jesus as human on earth, it's really tough to get the most out of scripture. And that's, I think, Charisse, the kind of thing you were saying about how it strikes you differently at different stages in your life, at each stage we have a better understanding of what's happening there.

Jacqui: 13:10

To keep, the number one thing we have to do before we figure out how anything in the Bible applies to us is to understand what it meant to the people, the original recipients, what they got out of, what they heard, what the message was for them, and understand that context. Then we can figure out how to apply it to our life in that particular season of our life, and so we have a different understanding as a child versus as a college student. But going back to the church's responsibility, you know you can't force people to sign up for Bible classes. Most churches have Bible classes. Old Testament survey, new Testament survey. You can't force people to sign up for you. You can't force people to pick up that Bible every morning during their devotions. All we can do is help them understand the importance of the word and verbally encourage us. And also, help them provide resources for those who are inclined or for those who God draws and makes them inclined to do so.

Charisse: 14:16

That was excellent.

Jacqui: 14:17

The whole idea is how do you get people to read the Bible Right? Yes, the church has a role. Yes, the pastor has a role, but we also have responsibility. Another thing about it is that's the only way we're gonna really get to know who God is. Amen. If you don't read that Bible, what we hear on Sunday gives us a little oh. I have this idea, this kind of analogy about reading the Bible and knowing God. So say, you're dating. Someone tells you I have this great person for you to meet. This person is really nice Attributes about them. You should meet them. You meet the person. You go on a date. You go out to dinner. It's an hour or two dinner, really enjoyable, great exchange of information.

Charisse: 15:03

I'm liking this analogy. I'm liking it.

Jacqui: 15:05

Are you enjoying dinner? So you decide we should get married? Would you get married when all you know is what the other people told you about them? No, absolutely what you learned in what you learned in this two hour dinner.

Jacqui: 15:17

No, anything about their background, how they got there. You don't know anything about them. Imagine how it is with God. He's so big. Oh, that's deep. Imagine. And we know him because on Sunday morning a pastor drops a 30-minute that's deep information about him. And hear other people talking about how good God is. You hear that from other people, friends, on TV, and that's it. That's all you know. Wow, don't go with that.

Charisse: 15:49

I'm stealing the analogy. Listeners, I'm stealing the analogy. I'm writing it down. That was good. It's so true.

Jacqui: 15:58

We have to read that Bible because he gave us that so we can get to know him.

Dr. Henry: 16:03

Amen, amen, wow, and so I appreciate that and I appreciate that perspective, thank you. That helps me, too, to understand because, as you can see, that's one of my pet peeves. You know that when you go to church there's no Bible in the pew.

Jacqui: 16:20

N o bible in the pew.

Charisse: 16:22

That was a powerful. The Holy Spirit is really speaking through you, Jacqui, Like seriously.

Jacqui: 16:28

Thank God, I'm just thanking for that.

Dr. Henry: 16:30

So now let's look at technology though. Okay, and why does the phone seem more useful than the phone today?

Charisse: 16:42

Allow us, to make calls.

Dr. Henry: 16:44

Pay bills, pay bills find Bible, books and verses, make doctors appointment, keep track of time and location. Some phones even have bank account information True.

Charisse: 16:58

How to get directions, to get places Right and favorite Netflix shows. The weather Whether it's going to rain and the rain and the rain yes.

Dr. Henry: 17:08

Okay, so the sanctity and preeminence of the Bible is lost in this environment. I think Am I putting too much on the phone?

Jacqui: 17:20

Okay, dr Henry, at first I have to start off by saying I am a big fan of personal technology, huge fan. I'm always trying to find out what the latest and the greatest is. I'm always, you know, trying to. I use my phone for everything. I'm always trying to figure it out. Everything on your list, I probably use my phone for it. Okay, so that's just need to give you that caveat. Here's what I feel about the Bible, though I would not be able to function without my physical Bible.

Dr. Henry: 17:55

Okay.

Jacqui: 17:56

I think if anyone tried a physical Bible over time, they would feel the same way. A simple thing like the ability to highlight and write notes in your Bible Notes that five years from now, when you come to that particular scripture, you'll be able to read them Because it becomes a resource. It's like it's your own personal study Bible because it has your personal information. Just started this year doing something adding pages to my Bible. I love it. There's some people that are too into this. They call it Bible scrapbooking or Bible journaling. I'm not that far gone into it, but you know so say I hear some interesting points from a sermon. Rather than putting them in my separate journal or in my phone, I might write the three points on a, you know small three by five card and adhere that three by five card to my Bible, to a page in my Bible. Wow, I can access it later. So I mean, when I saw it, when I get to that scripture, I know that there's a note there on that and I think you can't do that with your phone. You can highlight. If you have the Bible app, you can highlight in there, but it doesn't have the same impact for me, however. So I'm telling you everyone needs in my opinion, everyone needs to have their own paper by their paper Bible. But I use my phone to quickly find a scripture you know, either searching through the Bible app or going to Google and doing a search of, say, you know, okay, like the Timothy scripture, god Breathe. I might Google God Breathe with scriptures that and click it and Google will tell me the answer. So there are benefits to it.

Jacqui: 19:41

Or if you're somewhere and you're carrying a little purse, you only can't have your Bible in there. You got your little cute little purse, so you have your phone and you can. If you need to get to your Bible, you can. If you're ministering to someone or evangelizing with someone and you need the resource, right there, you have your phone. So I think there's definitely a role for it, place for it. But if that's the only thing you're gonna read, I say read your phone, read the Bible app on your phone. I don't wanna put up any barriers to people, particularly for younger generation. If all you're gonna do is use your phone, then I'm encouraging you to do that. That's how I feel about that.

Charisse: 20:24

Okay, okay, Sister Jacqui, how much the Bible would, all those notes in it, how much does it weigh? It's probably like 20 tons.

Jacqui: 20:33

Mine. Mine isn't that big. I told you, I just started this this year, but I have seen some people who have them. Their Bible is twice the size of how it was when it's original, because they have all these pages stuffed in there. But it's your resource, it's yours. So, whatever you want, some people, crafty people, they're drawing, they're using colors, what it takes for you to open the Bible and read it.

Charisse: 21:00

Amen, sister Jacqui. It's interesting because it's like from church I've learned how to read the Bible and pray to Jesus and make that time. I'll be very honest, I'm one of those, really not boasting that brag, I'm just saying that God really put it on my heart to pray and read the Bible every day. So, over the decades praying, read the Bible. So what I learned, though and I don't know, listeners, if you have noticed this that I'll do my devotion. I'll pray, no matter how busy I am, before I leave for work, before I leave for school, before I leave for anything, and I'll go to work. I show respect to my coworkers, I excel in training, and even if you need a licensure, I'm able to get it. Long story short, I look up and the people on my job have issues with me, they have problems with me, they don't really want to associate with me, and I'm like nothing happened. I mean, I could get in trouble on my own, but I really don't have any problem with it with anyone.

Charisse: 22:02

And or listeners, you may have a child who I know, people who. They have a child in kindergarten and the kindergartner is bullied and your life is kindergarten. You haven't had enough happen in your life to be bullied at the kindergarten. I mean there's this targeted attack. Or even some people will say they have a neighbor, ever friend. Their neighbor can't stand them. Gossip gossip's about them, talks about them. Nothing ever happened between the two of them. The person is so busy. They really honestly said I don't even have time to think about him. I literally don't even have time to think about the neighbor who lives in the house next door and yet for some reason, you know he's going, he's attacking me, he's talking about me. But what I realized at that point is and I'll have you really talk about this, but listeners, that's what I realized. I need protection.

Jacqui: 22:50

I need protection.

Charisse: 22:52

And that's when I said, holy Spirit, you see what I'm doing. You see that people are picking fights with believers. And you know the difference there's just picking a fight and there's actually having history. I cannot have history with someone and then I look up and then the person picks a fight.

Charisse: 23:07

And that's when the Holy Spirit really opened my eyes to the Bible being a weapon, and not a weapon that you use against people, but it's a weapon for protection. I have that shield of faith where I believe that, with my faith in Jesus, he will help me make it through the work day. He will give me that promotion that I need. He will help my child in school, because as a parent, you can't always be with your child and watch over them. Protect your husband when you're not there with him. And so that's when I started to realize, okay, this Bible is actually also a weapon. So I just want you to speak to the listeners, not using the Bible to beat anyone over the head, but you are trying to live life and have that protection and how those Bible scriptures can help you through each day, whatever that day looks like for you listeners.

Jacqui: 23:49

Yes, I agree with you completely. As I was saying before, the Bible is God's word, so this is what he's saying to you. It's been said I haven't counted it myself that the Bible says do not fear, or words to that effect, 365 times in the Bible.

Charisse: 24:10

Wow.

Jacqui: 24:11

So that's one for every day. That tells you that God is saying. There's something that may cause other people to fear that you're going to be facing every day, or you could be facing every day, but what he also says, almost every time he says that is he is with you. My favorite scripture is Joshua 1 9, which says have I not commanded you? Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged. Be strong and courageous for the Lord, your God is with you. So God is with us and is there to protect us. And the word says it over and over and over. Not only does it just say it, it shows examples of how God was with his people. Even that one part of why it's my favorite is because God is speaking to Joshua.

Jacqui: 25:02

Joshua is now leading Israel. They are in the Promised Land. Joshua is already a mighty warrior. He has already seen God do miracles. He has already seen how God was with Moses. So you would think, what does he have to be afraid of? Who's coming after him? But God knew that he was getting ready to face enemies he couldn't even have imagined. So God gave him that, told him even before that, the verse before that he said told him do not let this book of Lord depart from your mouth, but meditate on the day and night so that you will be prosperous. But his point is that his word and at that time the word was the law, the law. But he said, he told him the law is what you need, the Bible is what you need, that you should be reading and meditating on it so you can be prosperous and successful. And, by the way, do not fear because I'm with you.

Dr. Henry: 25:56

Amen.

Jacqui: 25:57

Starts right out giving you what you need for protection. He's telling you this word this is it. This is what you need. Also, we need to think about the fact that nowhere in the Bible that it says people will love you if you're a Christian. It says we're supposed to love them, but it doesn't say that people are going to love us. In fact, there are many times where God tells us people Satan's after you. We know that Satan was after Job. God allowed Satan to go after Job. Peter, upon which the church was built was established. God told him that Satan has asked for you. Satan has asked you. So if it happens to them, we know it's going to happen to us as well, but we have something we can stand on Amen. And so what you're doing? By reading it every day, thinking about it during the day, figuring out how it applies to you, looking at the examples that God gives you of courageous people that's what it takes.

Charisse: 26:59

Amen, amen. Sister Jacqui, listeners, we told you it would get deep. We always start out real nice and smooth and then, over time, you just see the expert, the Holy Spirit-inspired Sister Jackie, just threw it down because that's awesome how we have that help through the Word of God, through the Bible. Tamra, did you have anything else? I mean, she just blew it out the water. I already knew it. I really liked that. That was powerful. Seriously, the Holy Spirit is really speaking.

Dr. Henry: 27:30

And what I really appreciate is how you provide in the basics of the Bible in a way that helps believers understand the context and the source of the Bible's power. I was thinking about that. It's like having a gun, but you need that instruction manual to know how to operate that gun and to operate it effectively. I see what your podcast is doing is providing the manual for the weapon that we are all supposed to have. Yes, now they use the weapon in a very effective way.

Charisse: 28:09

Yes.

Dr. Henry: 28:11

We are so grateful to you for your work so powerful.

Jacqui: 28:15

Thank you, thank God.

Charisse: 28:18

All right. So, listeners, this has been awesome. You take your notes. Whether you take notes in your Bible on the app, we don't care, but Sister Jacqui has been amazing. The Holy Spirit has really given you those nuggets that you need. So, listeners, read your Bible, look at Bible-basics. org, and with that we say live in victory.