Faith leads us to surrender our weakness for God’s strength and our ignorance for His wisdom.

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InVerse, 4th Quarter 2020: Education

Justin Kim

Israel Ramos

Jonathan Walter

Callie Williams

01 Acquaint Yourself with God

Whether it's your doctorate, your master's, your bachelor's, or high school diploma, or even your kindergarten diploma, what is the point of being educated?

Coming to you from Silver Spring, Maryland, welcome to Inverse, a Bible-based conversation on life principles, contemporary issues, and thought-provoking perspectives.

Now here's your host, Justin Kim, with Inverse.

Function of education has been around for centuries, But what's the point of it?

There are some who think God needs to be at the center of it and there's others that say God does not have anything to Do with education Welcome friends.

We are watching you're watching We are on inverse and we're so happy that you decided to spend the next 30 minutes with us We have in the studio my friends and another friend from very far, very far away, but she's streaming in, so happy to see her.

And we are in this new topic, new arc on the topic of education.

And before you were like, oh, that's so weird, I don't wanna, I don't like school.

We're not talking about education in terms of curricula and homework and degrees, but what's the point of it all and taking a deeper look on education, especially from the perspective of the Bible.

So we're gonna have a prayer by Callie, If you can pray for us and we'll get into the Bible.

Father in heaven, we thank you for the privilege it is to study your word together.

As we look at different scripture, as we discuss, I pray that your Holy Spirit would guide us and we would walk away with a practical understanding of what the true goal of all education is.

We ask and pray all this in Christ's name.

Israel, can we, let's go to Job, Job chapter 22, chapter 22, verse 21 to, well, let's just read to 24.

It says, Now acquaint yourself with Him and be at peace.

Receive, please, instruction from his mouth and lay up his words in your heart.

If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up.

You will remove iniquity far from your tents.

Then you will lay your gold in the dust, and your gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks.

All right, so Shonathan, let me ask you, so we are in this, the book of Job.

Give us kind of an introduction, maybe some people don't know anything about this book.

It's pronounced Job, it's not job, right?

So it's not about jobs and education, but we're just looking at, what's, give us some background.

Job was a man, lived a long time ago, who had a very, very brutal experience of losing everything he owned and really almost everyone he loved.

And so in this experience of not knowing why this happened, because he could not see the background of the situation in which Satan was trying to get Job to go away from God.

And so some of his friends came, they talked to him, they tried to give him advice, some of the advice was not so good, some of the advice was good and Job is responding and it's going back and forth and this whole book is really about trying to understand why is there suffering?

What does our connection with God have to do with all of this?

And so this is just in the middle of the book, almost the exact middle of the book here, where we receive this really good advice about acquainting ourselves with God.

Yeah, this is 1 of those wisdom books that in the form of a dialogue, and it kind of addresses what's the point of life?

Especially as you said, brutal experiences that Job has.

Like what's the point and different perspectives.

But as you said, in the middle of it, you have some good advice.

Well, as Jonathan was already mentioning, in the middle of Job's experience with God, he's suffering.

And his friends actually, they think that he's suffering because of his sin.

And the crazy thing is that Job's friend is giving him great advice, but for the wrong reason, which goes to show that there are sometimes, it's important for us as Christians, not only to not always focus on the source of the advice, but focus on the advice itself.

Is the advice that I'm receiving, even though it might be intended for bad, for evil, is it good advice?

And the bottom line point that Job's friend is making here is it's critical to know God.

And how this ties into education is when we talk about education, the purpose of education around the world is to make better citizens.

Thinking that if we make better citizens, if we educate people, if we build people up from the time that they're little, that ultimately these will be the answers for the success of nations, for peace in the world, for...

And if you look at verse 21 onward with a critical eye, you'll notice there that what we look for in society doesn't come so much from education, but it comes from an acquaintance with God, which is ultimately from the Bible's perspective God's own way of educating.

The Bible says, acquaint yourself with Him, and then Israel has brought this in with education.

Has that been your motivation for education?

Is that the reason why you got your bachelor's, master's, doctorate, postdoc, fellowship, and you know, honoree?

I mean, this is the society that we're living in.

Yeah, We're always wanting to have those letters after our names and even my son.

I mean hey, let's get it and education is great.

But how does that line up with your spiritual experience?

I think at the definitely not all of my, I don't have all the degrees first of all, but the degrees I do have, and even just in high school and middle school and going back to kindergarten, like you said earlier, my motivation at those times were not, I want to know Jesus more or I want to become more like Christ.

It was, well, part of it's kind of just like, that's what you do, right?

You go to school, you get degrees, you're supposed to do well.

But also the emphasis that I experienced was more, this is to make you independent, this is to make you self-sufficient.

And so it actually downplayed any kind of idea of dependence on God.

And sadly I'd say that was even my experience in the Christian education that I had.

I went to Adventist schools up through high school and not that people you know didn't talk about God but it wasn't like yeah we need to learn so we can like serve Him more.

It was kind of like okay you take your science classes and you take your Bible classes and they're separate and there's no like overlap.

There's no overarching coming to know Christ in all of the classes.

So yeah just that big push on independence versus any kind of dependence on God was what I experienced.

That's a very profound point that in the systems of education that we are in, it's not just the knowledge that we learn, but you're mentioning that there is some character impact that it's making.

And in your case, it's made your character to be more independent.

Whether that's good or bad, that's not assessed.

It is impacting, it's shaping who we are.

And this is where we're talking about in the book of education, on the topic of education, that this is more than the courses that we're taking, yeah?

Looking at the philosophy of education and how that interplays with the Bible.

You know, you pointed out earlier that the text here talks about, or was it Israel, that the things that the world wants, God is offering, but we have to understand that, you know, Kell is saying education, and we all have experienced, you know, public education, it makes you more independent and self-sufficient and all these things.

And you have skills and whatever you get from it in order to have a stable life, in order to build yourself up and to have freedom.

And so the desires of the human heart are for peace and freedom and for stability.

So the desires are not necessarily wrong.

It's just where do we find the fulfillment for those desires?

And so we do know that as humans, if we focus on humanity alone, we will fail because we are sinful.

But God is offering, hey, I have the true path, the real path, the path that will fulfill you and uplift you.

Sebastien Braxton

Sikhu Daco

02 Knowing God as Creator

What happened in the first moments of humanity's creation?

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and this is how the Bible starts off with.

What are the implications for us today, and what does that have to do with young adults living in Earth's last chapter of history.

We are looking at this topic of education and how that impacts us and what that has to do with life.

And in the studio we have our friends from far and from near and from all colors of the rainbow and I'm so excited on this topic of education.

We want to establish that this topic of education is not about education.

It's not about going to school and getting your PhD and becoming all edumacated.

It's about redemption and looking at the biblical definition of what it means to be educated.

So Jonathan, thanks for being here and Siku, how's it going?

And Siku, if you can pray for us, we'd appreciate that.

Loving Father, we thank you for the opportunity that we have to come to your word.

We ask that you would teach us now, would give us the Holy Spirit as a gift to aid our understanding so that we may draw from this, not just what we ought to do, but power in order to do it as well.

And if you can read Jonathan for us, verse, where should we start?

Genesis 1, 24, Then God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind, cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind.

And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind.

Then God said, let us make man in our image, according to our likeness.

Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, over all the earth, and of every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

In the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them.

Then God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.

Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

What are some elements that you see in creation that really feed into our, that will feed into our topic on education?

Well, I think 1 of the first things is that God is introduced in Scripture by what He does, which is the fact that He is a Creator.

And so, we see that as we're coming here to the end of the week, we're seeing something that God has been doing the previous 6 days, which is somehow using His Word and able to bring about living things.

He's able to shape the world, the atmosphere, the planet, and now we're coming here to the very creation of humanity.

And that God does something unique when He creates man.

Everything else He kind of created of its own kind of image and sense.

But when it comes to the creation of man, God looks at Himself.

And He says, oh, well, let us make man in our image.

And so this understanding of humanity, which is at the root of really true education and redemption, we have to know our Creator in order to truly know ourselves because we were designed to be a reflection of Him.

Yeah, we're seeing in this entire Chapter 1 and we all know the days of creation and what's, We may get mixed up with 1 day or 2 because sometimes we get so nervous and whatnot.

But all the living things make after themselves.

And at least in the New King James, it's the word according to.

So you have trees make more trees, grass makes more grass, according to its grass, according to its kind.

You got eucalyptus leaves making more eucalyptus leaves, trees I should say.

So living things make more, so you don't see the sky making more sky, or the earth making more earth, or the sun making more sun, because these are inanimate objects.

We have living things making more of this kind.

So verse 24, as someone read for us, you have living creatures, this is like the pattern, yeah, and this is kind of motif, making more things, making more things, making more, and in the apex of that in verse 26, and then God says, let us make man in our image, according to our likeness.

So, question is, what is according to our likeness?

And then later on, it's rephrased again in verse 27.

This is probably 1 of the most profound statements in creation account, but also in Scripture.

The Bible confronts us right from the beginning with the reality that we have been created in the image, in a reflection of who God is.

It says that we are similar in appearance, in the way we exist to God.

We are not God, and we're not gods, you know, lowercase.

But this is powerful because this speaks especially in these last days They were living in where we are told, you know, we are animals We have evolved speaks completely against it and says no you are an intentionally Intentionally created and desired and loved being and not just an animal you are in the image of God that means you you bear Resemblance to the creator you in a kind of sense though.

More gods not gods in the supernatural sense or gods in the poly poly Theistic sense and but he is making a little Ver and I don't I don't know what it is, but little versions of him?

So in that sense, he makes little versions of him because we are, you know, later on we're told we're ambassadors, we're representatives of Christ.

And so in that sense, we are a copy but not a copy.

We are creations and not the creator in that respect.

I want to say just in the context of education, just to put this contextually, you know, anytime that you're coming to, let's say you're writing a lesson plan for instance, or you're trying to teach something, there's the goal of where you're trying to bring someone to, right?

You're teaching them so that they can learn how to multiply or how to add.

And there's the ultimate goal that you have in mind.

And what this is bringing out is the ultimate goal for humanity is that likeness to God, right?

So, humanity in its fullest expression is like God.

It's not like, you know, this is where we're headed to.

And in reality, the world in a lot of senses doesn't, when we don't have this picture, we're kind of groping in darkness.

And so we try to recreate Einstein, or we're looking for something to aim to, to strive to, but the Bible presents God as what we're striving to, which in fact becomes this infinite pursuit of an ever-increasing growth in all spheres of our lives, because God is eternal, right?

So this presents a path of continual progress for any person who accepts this, that I am in the image of God.

So my life experience is always drawing closer to who God is and this is gonna be for eternity.

So I mean this is, we've read this so many times, Genesis 1.

They're like, all right, we're made in God's image And we shouldn't have that reaction, right?

We should kind of pause and be like, we were made in God's image.

This was the original destiny, the original blueprint, if you will, the original, this is why humanity was made.

And we look at humanity now, we are not where God intended.

And it could it be that this whole entire salvation process isn't just so that we can go to heaven and live forever and ever, but at least be restored to that which original purpose that God had intended.

It kind of goes back to our discipleship quarter, discipleship season, where disciples make more disciples.

03 Knowing God as Redeemer

We hear the cliche all the time, I've been saved, I've been saved, I was saved on November whatever, whatever.

What are we saved from and who are we saved to on this episode of Inverse?

In this topic of education, we've been looking at different aspects of education.

Not education in the book sense, not education in the curriculum sense, not education in the school sense, but education in the spiritual sense.

Thanks so much for joining us on this episode of Inverse.

We are in this arc of education and we have our friends in the studio and we want to welcome you to take a deeper look at education, whether you're educated or not, whether you have a degree or not.

And this is a topic that's kind of abstract and we've been kind of floating around, but so far, I think the last 2 episodes have been very, very, very good.

And I've been very, very blessed by them.

We're going to have a prayer by Brother Sebastian.

And that sounds different in a different way.

Anyway, let's, please pray for us because we need it right now.

Our Father, we thank You so much for Your Word.

And we especially want to thank you for being our Redeemer.

And we ask that you may guide us in this discussion and we pray with David that you would open our eyes that we may behold wondrous things.

So, we're looking at this topic of God, knowing God as Redeemer, Redeemer.

And some themes are going to be repeated, but I think that's good because some of these things are kind of up there and we don't want to be just kind of waxing eloquently and living in ivory towers, but repetition is good for the soul.

Let's go to Genesis 3, Genesis 3 chapter 3 verses 1 through 15, and then Callie, if you can read that for us, That'd be great.

Starting in verse 1, Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.

And he said to the woman, Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.

Then the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die, For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make 1 wise, she took of its fruit and ate.

She also gave to her husband with her and he ate.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, Where are you?

So he said, I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself.

And he said, who told you that you were naked?

Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?

Then the woman said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.

And the Lord God said to the woman, what is this you have done?

The woman said, the serpent deceived me, and I ate.

So the Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field.

On your belly you shall go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life and I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed.

He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.

That was a long passage, but I think this was very foundational to what we're trying to do or trying to talk about here, especially that last verse, verse 15.

So for those of you who are reading along with us, and if you may have zonked out or if you are paying attention to your phone, we want you to go back to the text and read it over because it's good to get this in your mind.

So Siku, maybe we can rewind a little bit and in the last 2 episodes, what are some things, what are some points that you remember or kind of fly over and catch us up to speed on this episode?

Okay, well, like you said, we've talked about being acquainted with God as the foundational thing in our education, an acquaintance with God, and then in the next episode, we're talking with being acquainted with Him as Creator, because this gives us insight into who God is and the way that Who he is impacts our education?

Him as a creator and Coming to now so we were Genesis chapter 1 and chapter 2 he creates everything He creates humanity and He creates us in His image.

I'll call the beginning, especially the beginning verses in chapter 3, the fall of man, the miseducation of humanity.

We always want to make sure that that is established because there are some people out there, oh, it was just the man that fell on her.

But I just, I don't know, the narrative does point out that the woman was the first to be tempted.

Yes, and yet it was Adam's fall that plunged us into all this.

This conversation must take place in every church, in every youth group.

For Thousands of years after this this is Adam and Eve has cut yeah So the fall of humanity, okay, the fall of humanity out of nothing out term the miseducation of humanity because you have, I mean, you have right there the serpent saying, did God say this?

But God said this because He's trying to withhold knowledge from you.

And so there's this element of God is trying to withhold some kind of knowledge or information from you that can be granted to you outside of the confines of His will.

So, and that's how we fall into this whole mess.

Yeah, that was a very, very profound point, brought up a couple episodes, I don't know which episode, but that there is...

I mean these individuals had unadulterated contact with God.

They had access to all infinity, everything, And the temptation wasn't for them to like, hey, follow me, or, I mean, there was all those components too, but the main thing was, hey, there's some information that's being withheld from you.

There is some knowledge, there's some education, if you will, that's outside the purview and that will make you better, more, or whatever, you know, we read the text.

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Series

InVerse, 4th Quarter 2020: Education

08 Education and Faith

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Parts

01 Acquaint Yourself with God

27m

02 Knowing God as Creator

27m

03 Knowing God as Redeemer

28m

04 Higher than the Highest

28m

05 Unselfishness and True Development

28m

06 Adventist Education

27m

07 Education and Character

27m

08 Education and Faith

27m

09 Education and Sabbath

27m

10 The School of the Sanctuary

27m

11 The Schools of the Prophets

28m

12 The School of Life

27m

13 The Revolution of Jesus Christ

28m

Sound Doctrine