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Speaker 1: Welcome to Christian Parent Crazy World, the podcast that tackles tough topics to help you be a godly parent in an ungodly world. I am your host, Katherine Segers, and in today's episode, we are going to tackle a very honest and vulnerable question.
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Speaker 2: How can we teach our.
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Speaker 1: Kids to study the Bible when we don't feel confident studying it ourselves? Yeah, you know, as parents, We want our kids to know God's Word. We want them to be able to turn to Scripture when they're struggling and making decisions. But what if we really don't know how to study the Bible ourselves? Maybe you spent years listening to sermons, going to Bible studies, and reading your Bible, but no one ever really taught you how to study Scripture for yourself. And now you want your kids to know God's Word, not just hear it in church, but actually know how to open the Bible and discover truth for themselves. But where do you even begin? Do you have to be a Bible expert first? Well, today my guest is going to give us a simple, practical way to slow down, dig into Scripture, and learn how to study God's Word. And then we can help our kids do the same. That's the plan for this episode of Christian Parent Crazy World. So, moms and dads, why is it that so many of us have been in church for much, if not all of our lives, and yet we rarely hear someone actually teach us how to study the Bible? Like, why is that? You know, we're told this book is the foundation of our faith, and we're encouraged to read it and to memorize it and to meditate on it, to build our lives around it. But somehow, we can spend years in Christian circles reading without ever really learning the basic skills for digging into scripture and understanding what we're reading. You know, it's kind of like being handed a map and being told this will guide you where you need to go, but no one ever really shows you how to read the map.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 1: I think that this may be one of the most important skills we are failing to teach our kids. Maybe we never learned it ourselves to not only know what the Bible says, but how to open it, to explore it, and to discover what God is saying to us through his word. That is where today's guest comes in. Angie Bauman is a Bible teacher, and she is the founder of SteadyOn Ministries. She created this method that I think personally is brilliant. It's called the Step-by-Step Bible Study Method. It's a very simple approach to help us understand the Word of God. And Angie is passionate about helping parents give their kids practical tools to explore God's Word for themselves. So how do we actually study the Bible and then teach our kids to do the same? Yeah, that's what we're going to talk about today. So with that said, I will take you to my conversation. with Angie Bauman. Angie, welcome to Christian Parent Crazy World. I am so excited to have this conversation with you today.
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Speaker 2: Katherine, I can't wait to dig in. Thank you for having me.
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Speaker 1: This is so awesome. I cannot wait for you to share with my audience because I've been enjoying your step-by-step method.
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Speaker 2: It makes me so happy.
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Speaker 1: It's been producing just these wonderful conversations with God and the Lord's just unpacking so much for me. But before we get into all of that, why don't you just tell us a little bit about yourself, tell us about Study on Ministries and what led you to create the step-by-step Bible study method.
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Speaker 2: Absolutely. So I am Angie Bauman, and I live in Southern Illinois, and I've been married to Matt for 28 years. And we have two kiddos. Alex is our older. He is 22 and is in graduate school right now and coaches men's basketball at the university level. And then my younger son, Josh, is 16, almost 17, and he's a junior in high school. And we're actually, I'm on the road right now. I'm in a hotel room, but we're making this work because he's actually, he's a huge golfer. And we are in Bloomington, Illinois right now for the Illinois High School Association State Golf Tournament. He's made it to the state level. So we're super proud of Josh and all that he's doing in golf. And Study on Ministries is about nine years old. I've been in ministry almost all my adult life. And the Lord called me about nine years ago to start Steady On. Steady On is anchored in Psalm 40 verse 2, which says, He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. And it is a ministry that is dedicated to creating content to help people get in and stay in their Bibles. And we do that from a lot of different ways. We have a podcast and we write Bible studies. We have an online community and we do in-person events and But this step-by-step method that we're going to talk about is just the heartbeat of all of it.
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Speaker 1: Ah, I love that.
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Speaker 2: I love that.
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Speaker 1: So why do you think that so many Christians, especially moms and women, feel a little insecure about studying the Bible for themselves?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think a couple of things, Catherine. I think that's just such a beautiful place to start. I think part of it is because we lack mentors. I think a lot of us lack mentors sometimes. I think we're lonely and hungry for Christian mentorship and connection. I think that's a variety of reasons. I think there's a lot of distraction and there's a lot of busyness. And I think older women are not reaching down to younger women, but also younger women are not reaching up to older women to really spend time in listening to someone who has been journeying with Jesus longer than us and studying the Bible longer than us and just to take the time to help help teach us that. I think that's part of it. I also think doing anything new is just kind of vulnerable. And we tend to resist that, you know? I mean, I don't know why we're quicker to give ourselves grace. Like if we want to learn an instrument or a language, or we want to advance our cooking skills or something like that, like we do some research and we we watch YouTube videos, or we get a teacher, or we find a class or something, and we figure out, we're like, okay. But even going that first time, especially if you're trying to do something on your own, it's just that vulnerable feeling of, I don't want to look stupid. Everybody's already going to know more than me, all those kind of feelings that come. And somehow we bring that into our relationship with the Lord too, and our relationship with Bible study. I should probably already know this, or If I go to Bible study and ask a question, they're going to be like, I can't.
00:06:51
Speaker 1: Believe you don't know that.
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Speaker 2: And you know, all the things. So I think that's, there's probably more reasons, but I see, those are the things that I see most often and hear most often.
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Speaker 1: Oh, that breaks my heart too, to think.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
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Speaker 1: Of something. And I get it. We, we don't want to look insecure. We don't want to, to look stupid. I can remember. Oh, you just, you just brought to mind, um, an encounter I had early on. It was years ago. I was in a Sunday school class and there was this young woman who was a beautiful young woman. Her name was Tracy and she was in the class and she never really spoke much. And honestly, this is kind of my wheelhouse. I went to, you know, I've got, you know, I went to a school that I minored in Bible and I love conversations. And then I went on to graduate school where at some graduate level, theology classes and then Christian apologetics I started studying in graduate school. And so I love this and I love to converse, but not everybody feels comfortable with that. Like my husband on the other end of the spectrum, he's like, please don't. He's not really into all of those deep, heavy, meaty conversations all the time and sometimes may feel some of that insecurity. So there we are in this class. Tracy rarely spoke up. And She started to say something one day. And so we're all tuning in. Tracy never really speaks. And she stumbled over words. And then she tried to speak again. And she stumbled. And she tried to speak again. It was like three times. And we were trying to get enough out of her just to try to help her along. And then it just got so quiet. And she just looked at us and she said, I'm not like you, all of you. I don't understand all the things you're talking about. all the time. And I don't, I can't make my words come out right. And I'm like, my heart broke. And I think maybe a lot of women in the audience feel that way when it comes to some of these, they don't know the terminology. Like just before the episode, you and I've studied a lot and we're talking about terms that they may not know. Another instance, I can remember I was in a women's Bible study. One of the women in the Bible study literally was an editor at Thomas Nelson, and it edited my Bible, like the Life Application Bible. Like, we were all trying to keep up with her. But we're like, we would bandy about Bible references and just, well, you know, Romans 8, 28, and, you know, John 14, 6, and all. And this one woman came up to me afterwards, and she's like, can I get together with you sometime and have coffee? Because I don't know what you're talking about. So what you said about the older women... is so important because we need to slow down. Yeah. We need to slow down so that women can feel like there's an on-ramp. And those, like the Tracys of the world, wow, did she ever teach me something that not everybody is approaching it the same way. And there are those insecurities out there. And you know what? I am positive. a hundred percent positive that Tracy had things that we could all learn from her perspective and her coming to the scripture with her fresh eyes and that she, you know, she felt that insecurity. So thank you for leaning into that. And just, I'm personally convicted by that, that we need to make sure that everybody's got an on-ramp and mamas out there, women out there, and the husbands too, if you feel insecure in this, you've got something very important and powerful to offer from your fresh perspective of the word that we need.
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Speaker 2: I think that's one of the reasons that the Lord invited me to create a method because I think there's some safety in the method. And once you're comfortable in doing a method, you have just like maybe a little bit of a safety net to where you aren't so overwhelmed by the Bible's a big book, you know? And yeah. And so I think that's one of the things that helps us if we just have something like that to follow. But one of the things that I try really hard with the method is to do, it's about independent Bible studies. So You don't have really very many answers that someone else has found. It's a way to go into the Bible and find answers that the Holy Spirit or find discoveries that the Holy Spirit is bringing to you. Because I always say pastors and Bible teachers are wonderful. Wonderful. I'm so grateful for them. They have taught me so much about the Bible and about Jesus. But pastors and Bible teachers have a limitation because they can go into the scripture and they can tell us what the Holy Spirit said to them when they studied. but they cannot tell us what the Holy Spirit says to us when we study, right? And that's why it's so important for us to have the skills to go into the word on our own. And if you don't mind me telling a story when you were talking about intimidation. So, and when I was probably, I was early married. So I was going to say I was in my early twenties and I was invited for the very first time to a precept class. And I was in precept, shout out to precept. I was a precept student and then a teacher for years and years and years. And the very first class that I went to, we were going to study Joshua. And I knew that, that you had to take colored pencils and stuff and mark up the book of the Bible that we were in. But I didn't know they would give it to you on the first day. And so I didn't want to look stupid. And so I began to type out on my word processor at the time, dating myself, my word processor, I began to type out the book of Joshua. So I would have what I needed on the first day of class. And I would not look behind from the other ladies. And I got it through, I got through like, you know, eight chapters or something. I'm like, I'm never going to get all this done. And so I went to class, of course, they hand you all the things that you need, but I didn't know that. But I just say that because I think that's why I have a heart. for the women that are kind of like, I just don't know if I can do this, or I don't know if I'll be accepted there or whatever. I'm like, you do it, honey. You just keep taking one step at a time because day after day after day, the Lord will begin to teach you. And down the road, you'll have a wealth of knowledge. And nothing replaces the time that we will give him to teach us little things at a time, right?
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Speaker 1: I love that. Yeah, so we can learn from what the Holy Spirit teaches other people, but man, there's nothing like when the Holy Spirit teaches you something that you need for that season of your life. That's one of the reasons I love Tuesdays so much because we teach, I teach online and everybody that's done the step-by-step verse of the week in the study on community that wants to comes in and we study the step-by-step verse. And it's so wonderful to have all these different boxes filled with faces that have studied the verse and none of us are, receiving exactly the same thing, right? So as we go through the steps and we begin to share, what did you find? Or what did you find?
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Speaker 2: And we find, you know, and then pop up here and pop up here. And we're all like, we all learned so much when we studied it. But then we also learned so much by seeing how God is speaking to us individually as well.
00:14:04
Speaker 1: I love that. Before we actually get into the method, though, I'm very curious. Why do you think it is that.
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Speaker 1: I've been in church all of my life. I've been to, you know, undergraduate and graduate school. And yet there is very, very little teaching on how to study scripture. They just launch into actually studying scripture, but not really helping people learn that on-ramp. How do we... This book is thousands of years old, you know, and we... Why do you think it is? I liken it to, I homeschool my kids, and whether your kids are in public school or private school or homeschool, they're learning trigonometry and advanced math and calculus and physics, and yet... Many of them, if you're not careful, can get out into the world with really not knowing how to budget well. And the important things to do with numbers are the things that we do every day, like comparison shopping and understanding about interest rates and compound interest and these things that actually affect my life on a day-to-day basis and affect my bank account. We do a very poor job of teaching, but we understand maybe some of these advanced subjects. I think sometimes that's the way it is in the church. It's like we're teaching these advanced lessons, you know, from these sections of scripture that maybe people can unpack, but just understanding how to actually approach the scripture and have a very simple method that we can apply. Why do you think that seems to get overlooked?
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Speaker 2: I think it does get overlooked. And I have some of the same questions, quite honestly, Catherine. I have wondered that myself. I do know when both of my boys were learning to drive, I figured out really quickly that I am a good driver, but I'm not a good driving teacher, right? And so I think just because you have the skill doesn't mean that you have the skill to teach the skill. And I think there are probably people who are called to teach the Bible maybe that aren't, or teaching how to study the Bible, like you're saying, that maybe aren't. Or I also find that sometimes it's very hard in the church to, and I want to be careful here, I'm so supportive of pastors and churchers and Bible studies and all that, but sometimes people in the church are a little bit suspicious or, what is the word that I want to say leery, maybe leery of someone other than the pastor or those upper administration people teaching the Bible. And a lot of times those people who are, their job is to go to the scriptures and tell us what the Holy Spirit is saying to them and teaching us about that aren't the same people who are teaching us how to study for ourselves. It's a hypothesis, but yes, one that I'm holding and watching.
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Speaker 1: I think it's a good question, and I definitely think we need more people in the body that are teaching the method. I think we have whetted the appetite of our audience enough. Like, what is this method?
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Speaker 2: I love it, yes.
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Speaker 1: So let's get into this. Why don't you break it down? You have a really simple five-step method, and what I love about it, I have been studying the Bible for as long as I can remember. nearly a half a century, because I started studying at a pretty young age, of studying the Bible. And so I think it applies to people who are very advanced, but it also is going to apply to the person who just showed up, just got baptized, green as they can come, don't know about all the, you know, the different Bible references and stories that that those have been with the faith longer would know it applies to everyone. So how do we do this five step method?
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Speaker 2: I love it. Yes. I'm so glad that you said that I do. I don't know everyone who's using the method for sure, but I do know that there's a young girl who's six years old who's doing it with her mom. And I do know there's a woman in her mid eighties that's doing it in a different class. And so, And lots of people in between are enjoying it.
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Speaker 1: So yeah.
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Speaker 2: So first thing we do is we choose a verse of scripture. And a lot of times people are like, okay, how do I choose the verse of scripture? You have verses of scripture, a verse of the day on your app. You have a devotional lying around. You have something, right? You choose a verse of scripture. And then we focus on one word in that verse of scripture to find life application. And so step one is to choose the word in our verse of scripture. We look at the definition and the synonyms and antonyms just to begin to get a better understanding of what this word in English means. That's step one. Step two is called investigate, and we divide that up into four parts. And part one is to compare the word in other translations. I don't know how old I was when I understood the Bible wasn't written in English, but I was a.
00:18:53
Speaker 1: Little bit older.
00:18:54
Speaker 2: So the Bible was largely written in Hebrew in the Old Testament and Greek in the New. And so we go into those original words. And I always say I love this part so much where we compare translations. I'm sorry, we do that first. because the Bible, as you were saying, somebody was editing your Bible, right? And so the Bible translation teams that happen, they go into the original language, Hebrew and Greek primarily, and then they tell us what they see in there based on what they understand about that original language. I actually go to a bilingual church right now, and I teach about every six weeks or so, and we have this group of interpreters that work with me so that the Spanish-speaking people in our church can understand what I'm saying. And I've learned over time that The way that one of them will listen to me say something in English and then say it in Spanish isn't the same way another one will listen to me say it in English and then say it in Spanish. And that's the same with our translation. So part one of that is... to go into the other translations and see what they say there. And then part two is to research the original word. And I always say that the original word may not mean something different than you think it means, but it almost always means something more. And I love that part of going into that original language because there's such depth and beauty and poetry and symbolism as you research that original word. And then part three is to read some commentary. And if you download this kit and you get the masterclass videos, we use three apps on our phone for simplicity. And the commentator that I send, the app that I use for that is called the Enduring Word Commentary. And I really like it a lot because it's very lay-friendly English. but also he brings in some other commentators. And so it's not just one voice too. So if you're new to Bible commentary, that part can be kind of intimidating, but we work really hard to break that down for you so you know where to go. And then part four is to rewrite the verse in our own words. And so that's step one to choose our word and look at that definition, synonyms, antonyms. Step two, investigate, which is kind of the academic part of it. Like what's going on around this? That's what the commentary helps us do. What does the original word tell us? all that kind of good stuff, which is super fun. I love to use this example, if I can just pause right here. Psalm 34, 5 is a really beautiful verse of scripture that says, those who look to him are radiant. Their faces will never be covered with shame. And I teach on that verse with some frequency because the word radiant in Hebrew means to sparkle. And we talk about it so much. That's just one of those things that you learn as you go through there. Those who look to him, their faces will sparkle. And that as you dig a little bit deeper, the Hebrew word talks about the sun bouncing off the sheen of a running river or running brook or something like that, like that sparkle on the water as it's moving past and the sun dancing off of it. And I just love that, right? That's the kind of stuff that I did not know until I started digging deeper into some words and in some verses. And so I always think, yes, Those who look to the Lord will sparkle like that. So anyway, that's step one and step two. And then step three, we talk about the characteristics of God. And we use prompts from scripture, like things like the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5, things to think on in Philippians 4, some of the words that are used to describe God in the Psalms, like refuge and strong tower. And we just talk about what are we learning about God's character as we're studying and And then step four is called to identify the lie of the enemy. And scripture tells us that the enemy is the father of lies and he works in half truths. And so often the enemy's lie has something to do with our fear. Be afraid, right? Be afraid that this doesn't apply to you anymore because of what you did. Or be afraid that God is good, but actually in this circumstance, he's not going to show up for you, right? And what might the enemy be whispering to us that's making what we're studying studying either hard to believe or hard to live out. And that's the step of the study that usually gets the most curiosity maybe, or people will say, I've never thought about this part before when I studied the Bible. Like what might the enemy be saying to me? What might the enemy be trying to whisper to me that encourages me to align with a half-truth and not believe? That God is who he says he is in all of this. And then when we get to step five, we're simply just making note of a key takeaway. We call step five, so what? So what are we going to do with all this, right? So we're making note of a key takeaway, a nugget of truth that we want to remember and take with us as we move forward.
00:23:32
Speaker 1: Yeah. I love this. I think it's so awesome. I love what you said about radiant too.
00:23:37
Speaker 2: Isn't that great? I love that too.
00:23:39
Speaker 1: It is because where we moved here in Tennessee, we're not far from a lake and we're driving past it all the time. And I see the light dancing on the lake. And that's what I love about this method. So you study that word and the next time you're driving by the lake, you see that light dancing on it, which we drive by it a lot.
00:23:55
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:23:56
Speaker 1: And suddenly your mind goes back to the word, to the word, to the word. To the word.
00:24:00
Speaker 2: It calls you back to the word. And a heart that might be somewhat sad or discouraged or something, you see the light shining off that water and you think, that's what happens when I look to the Lord. Yes.
00:24:12
Speaker 1: That's what happens.
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Speaker 2: That happens inside me and it happens on my face, right? And it happens to be the way also that people will see Jesus in me.
00:24:21
Speaker 1: And Yes.
00:24:22
Speaker 2: So that's a beautiful example, Catherine, of just how when we study these words and when we study these scriptures, especially, I don't do very many things fast. Obviously, I don't study the word of God fast, one word at a time. But as you study and sit with these scriptures, they do really make an imprint on your heart. And God will call them back to mind to you as you learn them. Mm-hmm.
00:24:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, throughout the day. That's what I'm seeing happening with this is like throughout the day, that word keeps coming back. That word keeps coming back. And I've done a lot of Bible studies, and they're wonderful. But sometimes you get to the end of the Bible study, you're like, it doesn't really sit with you and come back to you all day long. This, like, it just keeps feeding me all day long. It's like you feast on it in the morning, and then it It comes back, you know, a few minutes later and throughout the day. And then you're driving by the lake and you see the radiance of it. So I didn't tell you I was going to do this, but I really want to do this. I think this will be super fun. I took a verse and did your method with it. And I want to walk through it with you.
00:25:25
Speaker 2: Okay. I would love this.
00:25:27
Speaker 1: I'm so excited. Yes.
00:25:28
Speaker 2: Teach me.
00:25:29
Speaker 1: Tell me what you learned. I can't wait.
00:25:31
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:25:37
Speaker 1: Hey friends, it's Katherine here. If you're trying to be a godly parent in this wild and wacky world, you need all the help you can get, and I've got you covered. When you subscribe to my website, you'll get instant access to tons of free resources made just for Christian parents. You'll get my prodigal bundle, which is packed with every podcast, article, and scripture list I've created for parents walking the that tough prodigal road. You'll also get my free ebook, Beyond the Lies, uncovering five myths the culture spreads to mothers. Plus, powerful scripture lists to pray over your kids and even scripture songs to help your family hide God's word in your hearts without even trying. And of course, I'll keep you encouraged with my weekly newsletter full of faith-filled pep talks and outlines of what we're tackling each week on the show. So don't miss out. Head over to kathrynseegers.com That's kathrynseegers.com and subscribe today because Christian parenting may be crazy, but you don't have to do it alone. So I'm imagining this was what happens in your Bible studies that do this, but okay. So I was praying about what word to use and on your website, you already mentioned your theme verse from Psalm 40.
00:26:54
Speaker 2: 40 verse two. Yes. Yeah.
00:26:56
Speaker 1: That portion of scripture from Psalm 40. It's deeply personal to me too.
00:27:01
Speaker 2: Oh, amen.
00:27:04
Speaker 1: I've talked about it on my show before. I struggled with anxiety and depression for many years. And that was a portion of scripture that I clung to like a life raft when God was helping to heal and deliver me from a lot of deep wounds that fed that depression and anxiety for so many years, 17 years. you know, psychiatrists, psychologists, they all wanted to do the medical route. And then, you know, there were, there were deep spirit, a deep spiritual work that God wanted to do in my life. And this portion of scripture. So I'm going to read the portion of scripture. I'm just going to read a couple of verses.
00:27:40
Speaker 2: Here, and then we're going to dig into it. Okay.
00:27:43
Speaker 1: So Psalm 40, this is, I want, I want to read one through three. I waited patiently for the Lord. He turned to me and heard my cry. It lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire. He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. I love that. And so on your website, you've got Psalm 40 verse 2. Your whole theme for your whole ministry is out of here. And you have the NLT version.
00:28:20
Speaker 2: It's NLT because it uses steadied. Yes, exactly. He set my feet on solid rock and steadied me as I walked along. Yeah, that's from the NLT, which is one of those things about comparing translations.
00:28:30
Speaker 1: I know.
00:28:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I love it.
00:28:32
Speaker 1: So the word I picked out of this, I was praying about it, and I just kept coming back to the word rock.
00:28:39
Speaker 2: Rock. What does that mean? I'm so excited. I can hardly hold it in. I'm sorry.
00:28:45
Speaker 1: I'm like, I've got chills all over.
00:28:47
Speaker 2: Okay, I'll be quiet.
00:28:49
Speaker 1: No, no, this is awesome.
00:28:50
Speaker 2: I'm excited too.
00:28:51
Speaker 1: So like I said, in the NIV, it was he lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire. He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. The NLT, the New Living Translation, which is on your website, he lifted me out of the pit of despair. I love that. Out of the mud and mire, he set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. Love both of those versions. They give us such a wonderful representation of what God can and will do. Because I did feel, I felt hopeless. I felt despair. And I was constantly slipping and I wanted something to stand on, right? So I went and looked up the word, what is a rock? Merriam-Webster says it's a rock. a large, massive stone forming a cliff, promontory, or peak. It's a foundation or a support. But I love this definition. It gets to a refuge. A refuge.
00:29:55
Speaker 2: Synonyms.
00:29:56
Speaker 1: Synonyms, stone, boulder, cliff, mainstay, stalwart, tower of strength. It's giving some of those antonyms. Soft, liquid, fragile. And the verse itself gives us some antonyms. It's contrasted with the mud and mire.
00:30:14
Speaker 2: Mirey pit, yes, right.
00:30:15
Speaker 1: Mirey clay. And that's exactly what I felt like. I was constantly wet and I was slipping. I was slipping all the time. So those antonyms and synonyms are very important. Very helpful there. And I looked at other versions. I looked at the NIV, ESV, KJV, NKJV, New King James Version, and they all used rock. But the NLT, which you have, which is the theme of your ministry, calls it solid ground.
00:30:41
Speaker 2: Solid ground.
00:30:42
Speaker 1: Solid ground. And that's what you're looking for. You're looking for some solid ground when you're constantly slipping and you don't have any hope. So I went, one of the websites I've always enjoyed using is BibleHub.com. And I went to, because everything's kind of at your fingertip there. Check it out. You can click on very quickly and find the, of course, this is Old Testament, so it's Hebrew. I went to find the original Hebrew word. And that word is Sela, S-E-L-A, Sela. Strong's Hebrew. It's the reference is five, five, five, three. They, they reference, they put numbers on all of the words so you can identify them. And once you click on them, they'll show you everything.
00:31:24
Speaker 2: All kinds of things. Yes. And I'll just say, if you're like, I don't know how to do that. If you get the, my free resource, it shows you how. So I just plug that right now because yes, don't get, don't get discouraged. If you are like, I don't know what she's talking about. Yes.
00:31:37
Speaker 1: Yes. They will help you find all of that. And so I just click on that. So what is Sela? Do you know if I'm pronouncing it Sela?
00:31:47
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't. But also, yes, we have fun with that because we're like, I don't know exactly. And then we'll look it up because there's lots of places that'll read it to you.
00:31:57
Speaker 1: Yeah. You can just Google it and they'll read it to you. So it's a craggy rock, literally or figuratively. And then it says a fortress. Okay. So that's what I love because you just said, So when you say you go back to the original word, it doesn't mean something different, but it almost always means something more.
00:32:17
Speaker 2: Yes. And I know what a rock is.
00:32:19
Speaker 1: Yes. Yes. But a fortress.
00:32:22
Speaker 2: Yes. But you look there and you're like, it's a fortress. You set your feet on a fortress.
00:32:27
Speaker 1: That's not the same thing as a rock or even just solid ground. Because, OK, I was thinking about this. If I have a bear chasing me. like and a bear is chasing me yes a rock might be nice yes i could stand on it i'm not gonna slip while the bear attacks me right right but it's not just a solid ground or just a rock yeah it's a fortress now a fortress is something different so i looked up that word a fortress is a fortified place it's a stronghold it's a large and permanent fortification so and it's um It says a strong building or group of buildings that is heavily protected and get this designed to defend against enemy attacks.
00:33:10
Speaker 2: So I know if I'm running.
00:33:12
Speaker 1: Away from a bear, I don't just want the rock or the solid ground. What the original word is referring to here is a fortress. That is what he's going to provide for us. He is going to defend us from the enemy.
00:33:28
Speaker 2: From our enemy. Yeah.
00:33:30
Speaker 1: I never knew that about this verse that I've known for so long and clung to as the Lord did provide a fortress. But think about that. What are your thoughts on that, Angie?
00:33:41
Speaker 2: It's just gorgeous. I have done this verse before, but not with that word. And I'm learning something new because you did that word, which just makes me so happy. But when you think about even in your own situation of anxiety and depression and These verses came into my life after a very serious car accident and I was in months and months of rehab. And so I was in a place of brokenness, different than you, but a place of brokenness, right? But in both of our situations of brokenness, we are vulnerable to the enemy. We're vulnerable to the enemy. But he says, no, I will lift you from that place and I will put you on solid ground, which is a protection place. From the bear, yes, but from the lion, right? In 1 Peter 5, you know, looking for someone to devour in her vulnerability. And he says, no, no, no, no, no. And so, yeah, I love how you've done this because you're already beginning to see and to demonstrate how you're like, wait a second, this verse was important to me and it is important to me, but the Lord is taking me to a place where his promises are like so intimate. Like I see you in that place. And I will pick you up and put you on a place of protection from that which threatens to take you down. I love it.
00:34:54
Speaker 1: I love it.
00:34:55
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:34:55
Speaker 1: I love it. Because this verse that I've always loved, that actually it's a verse I pray over my daughter who struggled and my oldest has gone through a bit of a, she went through an agnostic season and She's now believing God. And this is one of the verses that I put in my prodigal bundle of verses to pray over children who are struggling in their faith. We pray this over my daughter every day because this is my prayers that God would put her in this place. And so I pray it every day. But now this verse has become so much richer. I'm going to read that. We're going to finish out this process really quickly.
00:35:32
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:35:32
Speaker 1: So the commentary on it, God, it's talking about, this is a psalm of David. God did not merely remove David from danger. He established him in a place of safety. Exactly what we were talking about when I really got into this definition of the word rock. It's not just a rock, solid ground. It's a fortress. So he delivered him into a place of safety throughout scripture. The Lord said, is the rock and refuge of his people. Christ is the sure foundation and cornerstone upon whom believers stand. So not only is he delivering us to a fortress, he is.
00:36:15
Speaker 2: He is the fortress.
00:36:17
Speaker 1: He is the fortress.
00:36:18
Speaker 2: Yes. I place you firmly back in my protection. Yes.
00:36:22
Speaker 1: You're here. You are over there and you're mine. Yes. And I am taking you out of that pit. of despair, and I'm putting you in. I am the refuge and the fortress, which tells us about his character, right? We lean in that the other step, we lean into his character. What is that telling me about my God? He is strong. He is able. He's a deliverer. He has a plan. He has a plan. I don't know what the plan is, but he has a plan to take me from there and to put me here. So I did my version. Of the verse, I said, God took me from a place where I was constantly sinking and losing my footing on some slippery clay to a place where I'm stable and secure on solid ground, completely protected in God from the enemy.
00:37:17
Speaker 2: So that's beautiful.
00:37:19
Speaker 1: That's my personal version of what the Lord and he did. He did all of that. So step four, what is the lie of the enemy? Well, I can remember that lie so well. Things are never going to change. They are never going to get better. You will be in this pit forever. Right.
00:37:35
Speaker 2: But Joshua 1, 5, we can cover that with scripture, right? Who says, I will never leave you nor forsake you or something, right? Like it's so good to like be able to say what actually is true because I am tempted to believe this. And so what do I pull? I mean, just the verse, that's kind of the enemy's lies, like the antonym of the verse we're studying almost when you go back to that, right? But the truth is, no, God has placed me in the protection of himself and I'm not in any danger when God himself is my protection.
00:38:02
Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. And I can remember having walked through all of this. And if there's anyone in the listening audience who's really struggling, you feel like you're in a pit and you are hopeless and you think there's no way out. I just want to tell you, God has a plan. He has a plan. It requires some courage on your part. You don't have to do anything other than just trust in him and obey what he tells you to do. What he tells you to do is, is necessary for your deliverance and your healing. He will lead you. He will bring you out of that pit. Just trust and obey.
00:38:41
Speaker 2: Trust and obey.
00:38:42
Speaker 1: What the Lord leads you to do. The final step you have, what are your key takeaways? And my key takeaways from this verse now are that there will be times in life when we feel lost, when we may feel hopeless, when we feel distraught or in despair. And the enemy will try to convince us.
00:39:01
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:39:02
Speaker 1: That we will be there forever.
00:39:04
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:39:05
Speaker 1: But God has a plan to deliver us from that pit and put us in a fortress that is him himself. He is the fortress. And he will protect us. He will protect me from what once ailed me. That was my key takeaway. I love that.
00:39:21
Speaker 2: Yeah. And for those who are struggling, this is a process of we are lifted from the pit and placed on the fortress or in the fortress, the care of the fortress, as often as we call on the Lord. So if we're really in a difficult season, it can be moment by moment that this is happening. And then as we get stronger and we see him more and we trust his faithfulness more, then we will realize that that season of struggle is somewhat distant or it's lesser, and it's more in our past than it was. But this is a process that the more you study the Bible and the more you connect with the faithful promises of a loving God, you will be able to say, Lord, in this moment of despair or in this moment of discouragement or in this moment of sadness, oh, it makes me cry, I trust you. And that alone is how we move from the pit to the fortress. I trust you. I believe you.
00:40:28
Speaker 1: That is so good. Leaning into his character. And that's what the enemy will always have as doubt, right? He wants us to doubt. He wants us to doubt who our God is and what he has done and will do on our behalf.
00:40:46
Speaker 2: That's what he started with Eve. Is it not in the garden? He's not really sharing with you everything you need. You need this wisdom too, right? You better try to take care of yourself a little bit because he's not completely trustworthy to be the one to take care of you. It's the same song, different verse. I know.
00:41:04
Speaker 1: He's been singing that song forever.
00:41:06
Speaker 2: And he doesn't get tired. No. And we have to have knowledge and we get that knowledge. We can say when that voice comes back into our head, into our heart, we can say, wait a second, I know what this is. The voice of the Lord doesn't talk to me like this. The voice of the Lord isn't shaming. The voice of the Lord isn't mean. And so no, in the name of Jesus, I call upon the God that is faithful. In the name of the Jesus, I call upon the God that is faithful. Jesus died so that I can live in freedom from this. And I choose freedom today.
00:41:37
Speaker 1: Yes.
00:41:38
Speaker 2: Amen.
00:41:38
Speaker 1: Amen. And we can respond as Jesus did. As Jesus did when he said, it is written.
00:41:45
Speaker 2: Yes. Yes.
00:41:45
Speaker 1: It is written.
00:41:46
Speaker 2: Yes. That he will live.
00:41:53
Speaker 1: Put my feet on a rock, which is him himself. And he is the fortress. So this enables me to respond with passion and, To the enemy when he comes, just as Jesus did to say, no, this is what the, oh, and by the way, here's the Hebrew word. And this is what it means. It's Stella. It means that he has become my fortress and he is going to protect me from you. And this is what he has said. It is written.
00:42:23
Speaker 2: I love it.
00:42:23
Speaker 1: I love it.
00:42:24
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:42:25
Speaker 1: So for the mom who may feel overwhelmed with all her motherhood responsibility, and she's like, I can't think, I can't do one more thing. Let me just first add that this might've taken me 15, 20 minutes to do this because it's like, once you show where all of these resources is, it doesn't take that long. It really doesn't.
00:42:47
Speaker 2: Our aim is to make it simple and repeatable. We've tried very hard to get this into a process that it can't, I mean, if you want to sit with it an hour and chase rabbits and go down, you know, and read more stuff, you sure can, but you can get the kind of, Revelation that Catherine is talking about right here in a few minutes, really.
00:43:04
Speaker 1: Right. The kind of revelation that just continues to feed you like all day. I can't tell you how much I've feasted on that idea of the rock. And I did this several days ago, and I just keep feasting on the rock. What does that mean, God, that you are my fortress? And you just keep feeding on it. But the cool thing about it, too, is you go back to the same verse and just pick a different word now.
00:43:25
Speaker 2: Pick a different word. Yes, exactly.
00:43:28
Speaker 1: I love that. So when we're heavy or broken and overwhelmed, the Bible, really, it becomes our comfort in those moments. And I know that There are those in the listening audience that may feel a little intimidated, but talk a little bit about how your method then becomes our comfort. It's not Everest. We're just taking the next step. It's not that steep. It's really quite easy and refreshing, isn't it?
00:43:58
Speaker 2: It is. It's comfort and it's nourishment. And I just want to encourage the mom too that it's for you. What Catherine has learned by studying this verse that's so personal to her is for Catherine, but it's also for her other people, right? There's a different lightness and a different patience and a different kindness that we have for the people that are closest to us when we are connected with these promises of God. And so I encourage you to do it for yourself, but I also encourage you to do it for your people. And I do just want to say, if you download, it's free. If you download the starter kit that I know Catherine's going to put in the show notes here, it has. two videos that take about 20 minutes to watch that teach you how to put these apps on your phone. The three apps that we're talking about to get started. It has a blank study sheet. It has all the steps on another sheet. It also has a study guide that has suggested verses. If you don't know where to start, the study guide goes along with the understand your Bible podcast that uses the verses that are in the study guide. So you can pick the, verse of the week, and then listen in if you want to on what I learned as I was studying the verse. Or you can start, like I said earlier, with your devotion. It has a verse of scripture in it, the verse of the day. You can use a Bible study, like Catherine was saying, that probably has some anchor verses in there that you just want to go dig deeper. Maybe if you're regularly in church, you want to take the passage of scripture that your pastor used on Sunday and pick one of those verses and go a little deeper into what they said and So you have the, probably you have what you need and you don't have to buy anything and you don't have to go anywhere and you can just start.
00:45:34
Speaker 1: Ah, that's awesome. I wanted to talk in our few remaining moments, how to apply this with our kids. For those of us who still have children in the home that we're doing active Bible studies with. So my three older kids, I've got two that I've empty nested recently. I miss them very much.
00:45:50
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:45:51
Speaker 1: But, um, so, and then I've got one who's 16 and she's doing her own Bible study. And by the way, I'm very excited to share this method with all of them to encourage them to go and do it on their own. I even have visions of my son being an, um, he's majoring in biblical studies at MCU, like just doing this, how cool would it be that you're in your Bible class? And oh, by the way, I studied that verse this morning. And this word means that, you know, Selah means rock, you know, I'm like, well, that can't hurt. You know, it's just a wonderful way to go about studying. And I think it really adds a lot of depth and richness and vocabulary to you in your future studies as well. Who knows, some of our kids may be going into biblical studies like my son is. But I do have two younger ones. I have a nine and 11 year old. So I was thinking, hey, they could pick a verse or we could get to a verse and we could trade off. Okay, Weston today, why don't you pick one word that jumps out to you in this and kind of just go through the process with them. And let's like, let's. Show them. This is such a great, see, that's what I love. I'm so excited to do this with them because I can say, okay, here we're going to dig in. This was the verse that you guys chose and here's the word that Weston wants to look into today. And so we're going to really dig in. What is that Greek word? What does it mean? What lie could be attached to this? And going through all the steps with him and then either take the same verse the next day and let my daughter pick a word.
00:47:16
Speaker 2: Right.
00:47:17
Speaker 1: And we can go through it that way. But this seems so user-friendly that I could really use this with my kids, can't I?
00:47:24
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Yeah. So if you go to my website under the free resources tab, you can find the step-by-step starter kit. That's what we've been talking about. But there's also a family kit, which includes everything in the starter kit, but it also adds a study sheet for kiddos. And then it has a planning sheet as well. So if you'd like to study the verse ahead of time, maybe use it in your homeschool curriculum or for family devotion, something like that, and you want a little head start on the kiddos, you can do it that way as well. But yes, absolutely. It works. It's been used. This method has been used in curriculum for Christian schools, in homeschool co-ops. It's actually being used. I'm very honored. It's being used in a juvenile detention center in Albuquerque, New Mexico by someone who loves the method. And she goes in and she teaches those who are incarcerated, the teenagers there. And so, yeah, it's very effective for younger people as well.
00:48:11
Speaker 1: You know, I'm currently doing community Bible study. We're studying the book of Acts with a group of ladies. And the cool thing about that Bible study, I really like it because it's not overwhelming. It probably the whole week takes maybe, I don't know, hour or an hour and a half that you divide up into your days. But that leaves a lot of extra time. So I can go in with the other Bible study I'm already doing and OK, I'm going to dig into this verse and this word in this verse and do that to really bring a lot of richness and depth to the other Bible study I'm already doing. Or you could do it all on its own just by itself, you know. And I am very excited to try that with the kids because I want them to learn how to dig into the word. Yes.
00:48:58
Speaker 2: Let us teach our kids how to study the word. Yeah. Right.
00:49:01
Speaker 1: Get a taste and see that the Lord is good and help them to understand how this very rich method, I think, really gets deep in there and can provide a source of just comfort and nutrition, spiritual nutrition, that is, all day long.
00:49:17
Speaker 2: So that's awesome.
00:49:18
Speaker 1: Any final thoughts you have? that you'd like to share with us? Anything we missed that we didn't get to cover? Anything you.
00:49:26
Speaker 2: I don't know what I expected today, but I did not expect to have this much fun studying with you, which is just, it just was super, it was just a blast. So whoever's listening, this was just organic and true and fun. And this is the kind of joy, it's truthfully the kind of joy that comes when we open the Word and have the tools to study it and give God the space to speak truth, His truth over our life and circumstances. It brings the kind of this joy and peace that we've had today as we've studied. So Catherine, thank you for studying with me. This was really fun.
00:50:02
Speaker 1: It was. I can just imagine groups of men and women doing this, you know, in small groups, just getting together, picking a verse, going. And everybody comes back, like you said, with your groups. Just I studied this word. This is what the Lord showed me here. And just. Doing exactly what we've done today. I think we just kind of fleshed it out for everybody. We did.
00:50:23
Speaker 2: This is it. This is what happens. I know.
00:50:25
Speaker 1: That's why I was so excited. I always tell people I'm excited to talk to you today because obviously you have to say that to your guests. You don't want to be like, well, glad you're here. You know, I've always, I, of course, I don't have people on my show that I don't want, you know, I'm not excited to talk to you, but I was super excited to talk to you because I've really been enjoying doing this so much.
00:50:46
Speaker 2: I mean, it is an honor. It really is. I'm honored. And it's just, it's, it makes me so happy to know that something that was already really meaningful has taken on even new meaning and depth.
00:50:56
Speaker 1: It really has. I see myself just incorporating this into my personal Bible study this time. Just going forward from now and just really sinking my teeth into these original words and meanings. And that was one of the biggest takeaways for me because I loved what you said. I had already listened to you talk about the method and you'd said that that original word, it doesn't mean something different, but it almost always means something more.
00:51:22
Speaker 2: Right.
00:51:22
Speaker 1: And that is exactly what I found when I went back to that root word. And that has been feeding me.
00:51:29
Speaker 2: Yay.
00:51:30
Speaker 1: So yay. And before the show, we talked about some other things that, hey, we got to get back together. We've just had too much fun. Yes. We're going to have to get back together sometime and find another topic to talk about because this was awesome. Thank you.
00:51:42
Speaker 2: I would love that.
00:51:43
Speaker 1: One more time, tell our listeners where to go to find out all about you and your ministry and the step-by-step method.
00:51:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, just the website. Yeah, the website is livestedyon.com, livestedyon.com. And you can find the tab for the podcast if that interests you. You can find the tab for the Bible studies, but also make sure those free resources if that's where, that's just the best place to start. Awesome.
00:52:05
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us today, Angie. I can't wait for our next conversation, whatever it will be.
00:52:10
Speaker 2: I'm for it. Thank you, Catherine.
00:52:13
Speaker 1: I think you could hear how excited I was to really dig into the Word with Angie. That was an absolute blast. If I had to rate all of my podcasts for fun level, the funnest I've had in a podcast episode, I think this might. Definitely top five, if not really close to the top. Thank you. I'm so grateful for Angie joining me today. I hope that that fun that we had in studying the Word of God is... really transformative for you, that you can have that much fun too, studying the Word of God and sharing with your family, with your husband, with your wife, with your kids, what God has taught you. That is what we're here to do today, is to learn how to dig into the Word and have these kinds of encounters with the Word, transforming us and changing us into His likeness, helping us to know who God is and make Him known to I think Angie's method is brilliant, and I'm so excited to be using it myself and with my kids. I know this sounds like, I'm sorry, I don't want this to sound like a commercial. She did not pay to come on the show. I just love it that much.
00:53:24
Speaker 2: So I hope.
00:53:24
Speaker 1: You enjoyed the conversation we had as much as I did. And as always, remember, God gave you your kids, your specific kids for a reason. That's because you hold the key to unlocking who God created them to be. We'll see you next time. Christian Parent Crazy World is a production of Life Audio and Salem Media.
00:53:54
Speaker 2: If you liked what you heard today, please take a second to rate and review this podcast in your favorite podcast app so that more listeners like you can find the show.
00:54:03
Speaker 1: For more faith-filled, inspirational podcasts, visit us at lifeaudio.com.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Christian Parent Crazy World, the podcast that tackles tough topics to help you be a godly parent in an ungodly world. I am your host, Katherine Segers, and in today's episode, we are going to tackle a very honest and vulnerable question.
00:00:22
Speaker 2: How can we teach our.
00:00:23
Speaker 1: Kids to study the Bible when we don't feel confident studying it ourselves? Yeah, you know, as parents, We want our kids to know God's Word. We want them to be able to turn to Scripture when they're struggling and making decisions. But what if we really don't know how to study the Bible ourselves? Maybe you spent years listening to sermons, going to Bible studies, and reading your Bible, but no one ever really taught you how to study Scripture for yourself. And now you want your kids to know God's Word, not just hear it in church, but actually know how to open the Bible and discover truth for themselves. But where do you even begin? Do you have to be a Bible expert first? Well, today my guest is going to give us a simple, practical way to slow down, dig into Scripture, and learn how to study God's Word. And then we can help our kids do the same. That's the plan for this episode of Christian Parent Crazy World. So, moms and dads, why is it that so many of us have been in church for much, if not all of our lives, and yet we rarely hear someone actually teach us how to study the Bible? Like, why is that? You know, we're told this book is the foundation of our faith, and we're encouraged to read it and to memorize it and to meditate on it, to build our lives around it. But somehow, we can spend years in Christian circles reading without ever really learning the basic skills for digging into scripture and understanding what we're reading. You know, it's kind of like being handed a map and being told this will guide you where you need to go, but no one ever really shows you how to read the map.
00:02:17
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:02:18
Speaker 1: I think that this may be one of the most important skills we are failing to teach our kids. Maybe we never learned it ourselves to not only know what the Bible says, but how to open it, to explore it, and to discover what God is saying to us through his word. That is where today's guest comes in. Angie Bauman is a Bible teacher, and she is the founder of SteadyOn Ministries. She created this method that I think personally is brilliant. It's called the Step-by-Step Bible Study Method. It's a very simple approach to help us understand the Word of God. And Angie is passionate about helping parents give their kids practical tools to explore God's Word for themselves. So how do we actually study the Bible and then teach our kids to do the same? Yeah, that's what we're going to talk about today. So with that said, I will take you to my conversation. with Angie Bauman. Angie, welcome to Christian Parent Crazy World. I am so excited to have this conversation with you today.
00:03:21
Speaker 2: Katherine, I can't wait to dig in. Thank you for having me.
00:03:25
Speaker 1: This is so awesome. I cannot wait for you to share with my audience because I've been enjoying your step-by-step method.
00:03:32
Speaker 2: It makes me so happy.
00:03:33
Speaker 1: It's been producing just these wonderful conversations with God and the Lord's just unpacking so much for me. But before we get into all of that, why don't you just tell us a little bit about yourself, tell us about Study on Ministries and what led you to create the step-by-step Bible study method.
00:03:51
Speaker 2: Absolutely. So I am Angie Bauman, and I live in Southern Illinois, and I've been married to Matt for 28 years. And we have two kiddos. Alex is our older. He is 22 and is in graduate school right now and coaches men's basketball at the university level. And then my younger son, Josh, is 16, almost 17, and he's a junior in high school. And we're actually, I'm on the road right now. I'm in a hotel room, but we're making this work because he's actually, he's a huge golfer. And we are in Bloomington, Illinois right now for the Illinois High School Association State Golf Tournament. He's made it to the state level. So we're super proud of Josh and all that he's doing in golf. And Study on Ministries is about nine years old. I've been in ministry almost all my adult life. And the Lord called me about nine years ago to start Steady On. Steady On is anchored in Psalm 40 verse 2, which says, He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. And it is a ministry that is dedicated to creating content to help people get in and stay in their Bibles. And we do that from a lot of different ways. We have a podcast and we write Bible studies. We have an online community and we do in-person events and But this step-by-step method that we're going to talk about is just the heartbeat of all of it.
00:05:11
Speaker 1: Ah, I love that.
00:05:12
Speaker 2: I love that.
00:05:12
Speaker 1: So why do you think that so many Christians, especially moms and women, feel a little insecure about studying the Bible for themselves?
00:05:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think a couple of things, Catherine. I think that's just such a beautiful place to start. I think part of it is because we lack mentors. I think a lot of us lack mentors sometimes. I think we're lonely and hungry for Christian mentorship and connection. I think that's a variety of reasons. I think there's a lot of distraction and there's a lot of busyness. And I think older women are not reaching down to younger women, but also younger women are not reaching up to older women to really spend time in listening to someone who has been journeying with Jesus longer than us and studying the Bible longer than us and just to take the time to help help teach us that. I think that's part of it. I also think doing anything new is just kind of vulnerable. And we tend to resist that, you know? I mean, I don't know why we're quicker to give ourselves grace. Like if we want to learn an instrument or a language, or we want to advance our cooking skills or something like that, like we do some research and we we watch YouTube videos, or we get a teacher, or we find a class or something, and we figure out, we're like, okay. But even going that first time, especially if you're trying to do something on your own, it's just that vulnerable feeling of, I don't want to look stupid. Everybody's already going to know more than me, all those kind of feelings that come. And somehow we bring that into our relationship with the Lord too, and our relationship with Bible study. I should probably already know this, or If I go to Bible study and ask a question, they're going to be like, I can't.
00:06:51
Speaker 1: Believe you don't know that.
00:06:53
Speaker 2: And you know, all the things. So I think that's, there's probably more reasons, but I see, those are the things that I see most often and hear most often.
00:07:02
Speaker 1: Oh, that breaks my heart too, to think.
00:07:05
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
00:07:06
Speaker 1: Of something. And I get it. We, we don't want to look insecure. We don't want to, to look stupid. I can remember. Oh, you just, you just brought to mind, um, an encounter I had early on. It was years ago. I was in a Sunday school class and there was this young woman who was a beautiful young woman. Her name was Tracy and she was in the class and she never really spoke much. And honestly, this is kind of my wheelhouse. I went to, you know, I've got, you know, I went to a school that I minored in Bible and I love conversations. And then I went on to graduate school where at some graduate level, theology classes and then Christian apologetics I started studying in graduate school. And so I love this and I love to converse, but not everybody feels comfortable with that. Like my husband on the other end of the spectrum, he's like, please don't. He's not really into all of those deep, heavy, meaty conversations all the time and sometimes may feel some of that insecurity. So there we are in this class. Tracy rarely spoke up. And She started to say something one day. And so we're all tuning in. Tracy never really speaks. And she stumbled over words. And then she tried to speak again. And she stumbled. And she tried to speak again. It was like three times. And we were trying to get enough out of her just to try to help her along. And then it just got so quiet. And she just looked at us and she said, I'm not like you, all of you. I don't understand all the things you're talking about. all the time. And I don't, I can't make my words come out right. And I'm like, my heart broke. And I think maybe a lot of women in the audience feel that way when it comes to some of these, they don't know the terminology. Like just before the episode, you and I've studied a lot and we're talking about terms that they may not know. Another instance, I can remember I was in a women's Bible study. One of the women in the Bible study literally was an editor at Thomas Nelson, and it edited my Bible, like the Life Application Bible. Like, we were all trying to keep up with her. But we're like, we would bandy about Bible references and just, well, you know, Romans 8, 28, and, you know, John 14, 6, and all. And this one woman came up to me afterwards, and she's like, can I get together with you sometime and have coffee? Because I don't know what you're talking about. So what you said about the older women... is so important because we need to slow down. Yeah. We need to slow down so that women can feel like there's an on-ramp. And those, like the Tracys of the world, wow, did she ever teach me something that not everybody is approaching it the same way. And there are those insecurities out there. And you know what? I am positive. a hundred percent positive that Tracy had things that we could all learn from her perspective and her coming to the scripture with her fresh eyes and that she, you know, she felt that insecurity. So thank you for leaning into that. And just, I'm personally convicted by that, that we need to make sure that everybody's got an on-ramp and mamas out there, women out there, and the husbands too, if you feel insecure in this, you've got something very important and powerful to offer from your fresh perspective of the word that we need.
00:10:39
Speaker 2: I think that's one of the reasons that the Lord invited me to create a method because I think there's some safety in the method. And once you're comfortable in doing a method, you have just like maybe a little bit of a safety net to where you aren't so overwhelmed by the Bible's a big book, you know? And yeah. And so I think that's one of the things that helps us if we just have something like that to follow. But one of the things that I try really hard with the method is to do, it's about independent Bible studies. So You don't have really very many answers that someone else has found. It's a way to go into the Bible and find answers that the Holy Spirit or find discoveries that the Holy Spirit is bringing to you. Because I always say pastors and Bible teachers are wonderful. Wonderful. I'm so grateful for them. They have taught me so much about the Bible and about Jesus. But pastors and Bible teachers have a limitation because they can go into the scripture and they can tell us what the Holy Spirit said to them when they studied. but they cannot tell us what the Holy Spirit says to us when we study, right? And that's why it's so important for us to have the skills to go into the word on our own. And if you don't mind me telling a story when you were talking about intimidation. So, and when I was probably, I was early married. So I was going to say I was in my early twenties and I was invited for the very first time to a precept class. And I was in precept, shout out to precept. I was a precept student and then a teacher for years and years and years. And the very first class that I went to, we were going to study Joshua. And I knew that, that you had to take colored pencils and stuff and mark up the book of the Bible that we were in. But I didn't know they would give it to you on the first day. And so I didn't want to look stupid. And so I began to type out on my word processor at the time, dating myself, my word processor, I began to type out the book of Joshua. So I would have what I needed on the first day of class. And I would not look behind from the other ladies. And I got it through, I got through like, you know, eight chapters or something. I'm like, I'm never going to get all this done. And so I went to class, of course, they hand you all the things that you need, but I didn't know that. But I just say that because I think that's why I have a heart. for the women that are kind of like, I just don't know if I can do this, or I don't know if I'll be accepted there or whatever. I'm like, you do it, honey. You just keep taking one step at a time because day after day after day, the Lord will begin to teach you. And down the road, you'll have a wealth of knowledge. And nothing replaces the time that we will give him to teach us little things at a time, right?
00:13:17
Speaker 1: I love that. Yeah, so we can learn from what the Holy Spirit teaches other people, but man, there's nothing like when the Holy Spirit teaches you something that you need for that season of your life. That's one of the reasons I love Tuesdays so much because we teach, I teach online and everybody that's done the step-by-step verse of the week in the study on community that wants to comes in and we study the step-by-step verse. And it's so wonderful to have all these different boxes filled with faces that have studied the verse and none of us are, receiving exactly the same thing, right? So as we go through the steps and we begin to share, what did you find? Or what did you find?
00:13:54
Speaker 2: And we find, you know, and then pop up here and pop up here. And we're all like, we all learned so much when we studied it. But then we also learned so much by seeing how God is speaking to us individually as well.
00:14:04
Speaker 1: I love that. Before we actually get into the method, though, I'm very curious. Why do you think it is that.
00:14:12
Speaker 1: I've been in church all of my life. I've been to, you know, undergraduate and graduate school. And yet there is very, very little teaching on how to study scripture. They just launch into actually studying scripture, but not really helping people learn that on-ramp. How do we... This book is thousands of years old, you know, and we... Why do you think it is? I liken it to, I homeschool my kids, and whether your kids are in public school or private school or homeschool, they're learning trigonometry and advanced math and calculus and physics, and yet... Many of them, if you're not careful, can get out into the world with really not knowing how to budget well. And the important things to do with numbers are the things that we do every day, like comparison shopping and understanding about interest rates and compound interest and these things that actually affect my life on a day-to-day basis and affect my bank account. We do a very poor job of teaching, but we understand maybe some of these advanced subjects. I think sometimes that's the way it is in the church. It's like we're teaching these advanced lessons, you know, from these sections of scripture that maybe people can unpack, but just understanding how to actually approach the scripture and have a very simple method that we can apply. Why do you think that seems to get overlooked?
00:15:45
Speaker 2: I think it does get overlooked. And I have some of the same questions, quite honestly, Catherine. I have wondered that myself. I do know when both of my boys were learning to drive, I figured out really quickly that I am a good driver, but I'm not a good driving teacher, right? And so I think just because you have the skill doesn't mean that you have the skill to teach the skill. And I think there are probably people who are called to teach the Bible maybe that aren't, or teaching how to study the Bible, like you're saying, that maybe aren't. Or I also find that sometimes it's very hard in the church to, and I want to be careful here, I'm so supportive of pastors and churchers and Bible studies and all that, but sometimes people in the church are a little bit suspicious or, what is the word that I want to say leery, maybe leery of someone other than the pastor or those upper administration people teaching the Bible. And a lot of times those people who are, their job is to go to the scriptures and tell us what the Holy Spirit is saying to them and teaching us about that aren't the same people who are teaching us how to study for ourselves. It's a hypothesis, but yes, one that I'm holding and watching.
00:17:02
Speaker 1: I think it's a good question, and I definitely think we need more people in the body that are teaching the method. I think we have whetted the appetite of our audience enough. Like, what is this method?
00:17:14
Speaker 2: I love it, yes.
00:17:15
Speaker 1: So let's get into this. Why don't you break it down? You have a really simple five-step method, and what I love about it, I have been studying the Bible for as long as I can remember. nearly a half a century, because I started studying at a pretty young age, of studying the Bible. And so I think it applies to people who are very advanced, but it also is going to apply to the person who just showed up, just got baptized, green as they can come, don't know about all the, you know, the different Bible references and stories that that those have been with the faith longer would know it applies to everyone. So how do we do this five step method?
00:17:54
Speaker 2: I love it. Yes. I'm so glad that you said that I do. I don't know everyone who's using the method for sure, but I do know that there's a young girl who's six years old who's doing it with her mom. And I do know there's a woman in her mid eighties that's doing it in a different class. And so, And lots of people in between are enjoying it.
00:18:10
Speaker 1: So yeah.
00:18:11
Speaker 2: So first thing we do is we choose a verse of scripture. And a lot of times people are like, okay, how do I choose the verse of scripture? You have verses of scripture, a verse of the day on your app. You have a devotional lying around. You have something, right? You choose a verse of scripture. And then we focus on one word in that verse of scripture to find life application. And so step one is to choose the word in our verse of scripture. We look at the definition and the synonyms and antonyms just to begin to get a better understanding of what this word in English means. That's step one. Step two is called investigate, and we divide that up into four parts. And part one is to compare the word in other translations. I don't know how old I was when I understood the Bible wasn't written in English, but I was a.
00:18:53
Speaker 1: Little bit older.
00:18:54
Speaker 2: So the Bible was largely written in Hebrew in the Old Testament and Greek in the New. And so we go into those original words. And I always say I love this part so much where we compare translations. I'm sorry, we do that first. because the Bible, as you were saying, somebody was editing your Bible, right? And so the Bible translation teams that happen, they go into the original language, Hebrew and Greek primarily, and then they tell us what they see in there based on what they understand about that original language. I actually go to a bilingual church right now, and I teach about every six weeks or so, and we have this group of interpreters that work with me so that the Spanish-speaking people in our church can understand what I'm saying. And I've learned over time that The way that one of them will listen to me say something in English and then say it in Spanish isn't the same way another one will listen to me say it in English and then say it in Spanish. And that's the same with our translation. So part one of that is... to go into the other translations and see what they say there. And then part two is to research the original word. And I always say that the original word may not mean something different than you think it means, but it almost always means something more. And I love that part of going into that original language because there's such depth and beauty and poetry and symbolism as you research that original word. And then part three is to read some commentary. And if you download this kit and you get the masterclass videos, we use three apps on our phone for simplicity. And the commentator that I send, the app that I use for that is called the Enduring Word Commentary. And I really like it a lot because it's very lay-friendly English. but also he brings in some other commentators. And so it's not just one voice too. So if you're new to Bible commentary, that part can be kind of intimidating, but we work really hard to break that down for you so you know where to go. And then part four is to rewrite the verse in our own words. And so that's step one to choose our word and look at that definition, synonyms, antonyms. Step two, investigate, which is kind of the academic part of it. Like what's going on around this? That's what the commentary helps us do. What does the original word tell us? all that kind of good stuff, which is super fun. I love to use this example, if I can just pause right here. Psalm 34, 5 is a really beautiful verse of scripture that says, those who look to him are radiant. Their faces will never be covered with shame. And I teach on that verse with some frequency because the word radiant in Hebrew means to sparkle. And we talk about it so much. That's just one of those things that you learn as you go through there. Those who look to him, their faces will sparkle. And that as you dig a little bit deeper, the Hebrew word talks about the sun bouncing off the sheen of a running river or running brook or something like that, like that sparkle on the water as it's moving past and the sun dancing off of it. And I just love that, right? That's the kind of stuff that I did not know until I started digging deeper into some words and in some verses. And so I always think, yes, Those who look to the Lord will sparkle like that. So anyway, that's step one and step two. And then step three, we talk about the characteristics of God. And we use prompts from scripture, like things like the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5, things to think on in Philippians 4, some of the words that are used to describe God in the Psalms, like refuge and strong tower. And we just talk about what are we learning about God's character as we're studying and And then step four is called to identify the lie of the enemy. And scripture tells us that the enemy is the father of lies and he works in half truths. And so often the enemy's lie has something to do with our fear. Be afraid, right? Be afraid that this doesn't apply to you anymore because of what you did. Or be afraid that God is good, but actually in this circumstance, he's not going to show up for you, right? And what might the enemy be whispering to us that's making what we're studying studying either hard to believe or hard to live out. And that's the step of the study that usually gets the most curiosity maybe, or people will say, I've never thought about this part before when I studied the Bible. Like what might the enemy be saying to me? What might the enemy be trying to whisper to me that encourages me to align with a half-truth and not believe? That God is who he says he is in all of this. And then when we get to step five, we're simply just making note of a key takeaway. We call step five, so what? So what are we going to do with all this, right? So we're making note of a key takeaway, a nugget of truth that we want to remember and take with us as we move forward.
00:23:32
Speaker 1: Yeah. I love this. I think it's so awesome. I love what you said about radiant too.
00:23:37
Speaker 2: Isn't that great? I love that too.
00:23:39
Speaker 1: It is because where we moved here in Tennessee, we're not far from a lake and we're driving past it all the time. And I see the light dancing on the lake. And that's what I love about this method. So you study that word and the next time you're driving by the lake, you see that light dancing on it, which we drive by it a lot.
00:23:55
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:23:56
Speaker 1: And suddenly your mind goes back to the word, to the word, to the word. To the word.
00:24:00
Speaker 2: It calls you back to the word. And a heart that might be somewhat sad or discouraged or something, you see the light shining off that water and you think, that's what happens when I look to the Lord. Yes.
00:24:12
Speaker 1: That's what happens.
00:24:13
Speaker 2: That happens inside me and it happens on my face, right? And it happens to be the way also that people will see Jesus in me.
00:24:21
Speaker 1: And Yes.
00:24:22
Speaker 2: So that's a beautiful example, Catherine, of just how when we study these words and when we study these scriptures, especially, I don't do very many things fast. Obviously, I don't study the word of God fast, one word at a time. But as you study and sit with these scriptures, they do really make an imprint on your heart. And God will call them back to mind to you as you learn them. Mm-hmm.
00:24:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, throughout the day. That's what I'm seeing happening with this is like throughout the day, that word keeps coming back. That word keeps coming back. And I've done a lot of Bible studies, and they're wonderful. But sometimes you get to the end of the Bible study, you're like, it doesn't really sit with you and come back to you all day long. This, like, it just keeps feeding me all day long. It's like you feast on it in the morning, and then it It comes back, you know, a few minutes later and throughout the day. And then you're driving by the lake and you see the radiance of it. So I didn't tell you I was going to do this, but I really want to do this. I think this will be super fun. I took a verse and did your method with it. And I want to walk through it with you.
00:25:25
Speaker 2: Okay. I would love this.
00:25:27
Speaker 1: I'm so excited. Yes.
00:25:28
Speaker 2: Teach me.
00:25:29
Speaker 1: Tell me what you learned. I can't wait.
00:25:31
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:25:37
Speaker 1: Hey friends, it's Katherine here. If you're trying to be a godly parent in this wild and wacky world, you need all the help you can get, and I've got you covered. When you subscribe to my website, you'll get instant access to tons of free resources made just for Christian parents. You'll get my prodigal bundle, which is packed with every podcast, article, and scripture list I've created for parents walking the that tough prodigal road. You'll also get my free ebook, Beyond the Lies, uncovering five myths the culture spreads to mothers. Plus, powerful scripture lists to pray over your kids and even scripture songs to help your family hide God's word in your hearts without even trying. And of course, I'll keep you encouraged with my weekly newsletter full of faith-filled pep talks and outlines of what we're tackling each week on the show. So don't miss out. Head over to kathrynseegers.com That's kathrynseegers.com and subscribe today because Christian parenting may be crazy, but you don't have to do it alone. So I'm imagining this was what happens in your Bible studies that do this, but okay. So I was praying about what word to use and on your website, you already mentioned your theme verse from Psalm 40.
00:26:54
Speaker 2: 40 verse two. Yes. Yeah.
00:26:56
Speaker 1: That portion of scripture from Psalm 40. It's deeply personal to me too.
00:27:01
Speaker 2: Oh, amen.
00:27:04
Speaker 1: I've talked about it on my show before. I struggled with anxiety and depression for many years. And that was a portion of scripture that I clung to like a life raft when God was helping to heal and deliver me from a lot of deep wounds that fed that depression and anxiety for so many years, 17 years. you know, psychiatrists, psychologists, they all wanted to do the medical route. And then, you know, there were, there were deep spirit, a deep spiritual work that God wanted to do in my life. And this portion of scripture. So I'm going to read the portion of scripture. I'm just going to read a couple of verses.
00:27:40
Speaker 2: Here, and then we're going to dig into it. Okay.
00:27:43
Speaker 1: So Psalm 40, this is, I want, I want to read one through three. I waited patiently for the Lord. He turned to me and heard my cry. It lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire. He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. I love that. And so on your website, you've got Psalm 40 verse 2. Your whole theme for your whole ministry is out of here. And you have the NLT version.
00:28:20
Speaker 2: It's NLT because it uses steadied. Yes, exactly. He set my feet on solid rock and steadied me as I walked along. Yeah, that's from the NLT, which is one of those things about comparing translations.
00:28:30
Speaker 1: I know.
00:28:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I love it.
00:28:32
Speaker 1: So the word I picked out of this, I was praying about it, and I just kept coming back to the word rock.
00:28:39
Speaker 2: Rock. What does that mean? I'm so excited. I can hardly hold it in. I'm sorry.
00:28:45
Speaker 1: I'm like, I've got chills all over.
00:28:47
Speaker 2: Okay, I'll be quiet.
00:28:49
Speaker 1: No, no, this is awesome.
00:28:50
Speaker 2: I'm excited too.
00:28:51
Speaker 1: So like I said, in the NIV, it was he lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire. He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. The NLT, the New Living Translation, which is on your website, he lifted me out of the pit of despair. I love that. Out of the mud and mire, he set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. Love both of those versions. They give us such a wonderful representation of what God can and will do. Because I did feel, I felt hopeless. I felt despair. And I was constantly slipping and I wanted something to stand on, right? So I went and looked up the word, what is a rock? Merriam-Webster says it's a rock. a large, massive stone forming a cliff, promontory, or peak. It's a foundation or a support. But I love this definition. It gets to a refuge. A refuge.
00:29:55
Speaker 2: Synonyms.
00:29:56
Speaker 1: Synonyms, stone, boulder, cliff, mainstay, stalwart, tower of strength. It's giving some of those antonyms. Soft, liquid, fragile. And the verse itself gives us some antonyms. It's contrasted with the mud and mire.
00:30:14
Speaker 2: Mirey pit, yes, right.
00:30:15
Speaker 1: Mirey clay. And that's exactly what I felt like. I was constantly wet and I was slipping. I was slipping all the time. So those antonyms and synonyms are very important. Very helpful there. And I looked at other versions. I looked at the NIV, ESV, KJV, NKJV, New King James Version, and they all used rock. But the NLT, which you have, which is the theme of your ministry, calls it solid ground.
00:30:41
Speaker 2: Solid ground.
00:30:42
Speaker 1: Solid ground. And that's what you're looking for. You're looking for some solid ground when you're constantly slipping and you don't have any hope. So I went, one of the websites I've always enjoyed using is BibleHub.com. And I went to, because everything's kind of at your fingertip there. Check it out. You can click on very quickly and find the, of course, this is Old Testament, so it's Hebrew. I went to find the original Hebrew word. And that word is Sela, S-E-L-A, Sela. Strong's Hebrew. It's the reference is five, five, five, three. They, they reference, they put numbers on all of the words so you can identify them. And once you click on them, they'll show you everything.
00:31:24
Speaker 2: All kinds of things. Yes. And I'll just say, if you're like, I don't know how to do that. If you get the, my free resource, it shows you how. So I just plug that right now because yes, don't get, don't get discouraged. If you are like, I don't know what she's talking about. Yes.
00:31:37
Speaker 1: Yes. They will help you find all of that. And so I just click on that. So what is Sela? Do you know if I'm pronouncing it Sela?
00:31:47
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't. But also, yes, we have fun with that because we're like, I don't know exactly. And then we'll look it up because there's lots of places that'll read it to you.
00:31:57
Speaker 1: Yeah. You can just Google it and they'll read it to you. So it's a craggy rock, literally or figuratively. And then it says a fortress. Okay. So that's what I love because you just said, So when you say you go back to the original word, it doesn't mean something different, but it almost always means something more.
00:32:17
Speaker 2: Yes. And I know what a rock is.
00:32:19
Speaker 1: Yes. Yes. But a fortress.
00:32:22
Speaker 2: Yes. But you look there and you're like, it's a fortress. You set your feet on a fortress.
00:32:27
Speaker 1: That's not the same thing as a rock or even just solid ground. Because, OK, I was thinking about this. If I have a bear chasing me. like and a bear is chasing me yes a rock might be nice yes i could stand on it i'm not gonna slip while the bear attacks me right right but it's not just a solid ground or just a rock yeah it's a fortress now a fortress is something different so i looked up that word a fortress is a fortified place it's a stronghold it's a large and permanent fortification so and it's um It says a strong building or group of buildings that is heavily protected and get this designed to defend against enemy attacks.
00:33:10
Speaker 2: So I know if I'm running.
00:33:12
Speaker 1: Away from a bear, I don't just want the rock or the solid ground. What the original word is referring to here is a fortress. That is what he's going to provide for us. He is going to defend us from the enemy.
00:33:28
Speaker 2: From our enemy. Yeah.
00:33:30
Speaker 1: I never knew that about this verse that I've known for so long and clung to as the Lord did provide a fortress. But think about that. What are your thoughts on that, Angie?
00:33:41
Speaker 2: It's just gorgeous. I have done this verse before, but not with that word. And I'm learning something new because you did that word, which just makes me so happy. But when you think about even in your own situation of anxiety and depression and These verses came into my life after a very serious car accident and I was in months and months of rehab. And so I was in a place of brokenness, different than you, but a place of brokenness, right? But in both of our situations of brokenness, we are vulnerable to the enemy. We're vulnerable to the enemy. But he says, no, I will lift you from that place and I will put you on solid ground, which is a protection place. From the bear, yes, but from the lion, right? In 1 Peter 5, you know, looking for someone to devour in her vulnerability. And he says, no, no, no, no, no. And so, yeah, I love how you've done this because you're already beginning to see and to demonstrate how you're like, wait a second, this verse was important to me and it is important to me, but the Lord is taking me to a place where his promises are like so intimate. Like I see you in that place. And I will pick you up and put you on a place of protection from that which threatens to take you down. I love it.
00:34:54
Speaker 1: I love it.
00:34:55
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:34:55
Speaker 1: I love it. Because this verse that I've always loved, that actually it's a verse I pray over my daughter who struggled and my oldest has gone through a bit of a, she went through an agnostic season and She's now believing God. And this is one of the verses that I put in my prodigal bundle of verses to pray over children who are struggling in their faith. We pray this over my daughter every day because this is my prayers that God would put her in this place. And so I pray it every day. But now this verse has become so much richer. I'm going to read that. We're going to finish out this process really quickly.
00:35:32
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:35:32
Speaker 1: So the commentary on it, God, it's talking about, this is a psalm of David. God did not merely remove David from danger. He established him in a place of safety. Exactly what we were talking about when I really got into this definition of the word rock. It's not just a rock, solid ground. It's a fortress. So he delivered him into a place of safety throughout scripture. The Lord said, is the rock and refuge of his people. Christ is the sure foundation and cornerstone upon whom believers stand. So not only is he delivering us to a fortress, he is.
00:36:15
Speaker 2: He is the fortress.
00:36:17
Speaker 1: He is the fortress.
00:36:18
Speaker 2: Yes. I place you firmly back in my protection. Yes.
00:36:22
Speaker 1: You're here. You are over there and you're mine. Yes. And I am taking you out of that pit. of despair, and I'm putting you in. I am the refuge and the fortress, which tells us about his character, right? We lean in that the other step, we lean into his character. What is that telling me about my God? He is strong. He is able. He's a deliverer. He has a plan. He has a plan. I don't know what the plan is, but he has a plan to take me from there and to put me here. So I did my version. Of the verse, I said, God took me from a place where I was constantly sinking and losing my footing on some slippery clay to a place where I'm stable and secure on solid ground, completely protected in God from the enemy.
00:37:17
Speaker 2: So that's beautiful.
00:37:19
Speaker 1: That's my personal version of what the Lord and he did. He did all of that. So step four, what is the lie of the enemy? Well, I can remember that lie so well. Things are never going to change. They are never going to get better. You will be in this pit forever. Right.
00:37:35
Speaker 2: But Joshua 1, 5, we can cover that with scripture, right? Who says, I will never leave you nor forsake you or something, right? Like it's so good to like be able to say what actually is true because I am tempted to believe this. And so what do I pull? I mean, just the verse, that's kind of the enemy's lies, like the antonym of the verse we're studying almost when you go back to that, right? But the truth is, no, God has placed me in the protection of himself and I'm not in any danger when God himself is my protection.
00:38:02
Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. And I can remember having walked through all of this. And if there's anyone in the listening audience who's really struggling, you feel like you're in a pit and you are hopeless and you think there's no way out. I just want to tell you, God has a plan. He has a plan. It requires some courage on your part. You don't have to do anything other than just trust in him and obey what he tells you to do. What he tells you to do is, is necessary for your deliverance and your healing. He will lead you. He will bring you out of that pit. Just trust and obey.
00:38:41
Speaker 2: Trust and obey.
00:38:42
Speaker 1: What the Lord leads you to do. The final step you have, what are your key takeaways? And my key takeaways from this verse now are that there will be times in life when we feel lost, when we may feel hopeless, when we feel distraught or in despair. And the enemy will try to convince us.
00:39:01
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:39:02
Speaker 1: That we will be there forever.
00:39:04
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:39:05
Speaker 1: But God has a plan to deliver us from that pit and put us in a fortress that is him himself. He is the fortress. And he will protect us. He will protect me from what once ailed me. That was my key takeaway. I love that.
00:39:21
Speaker 2: Yeah. And for those who are struggling, this is a process of we are lifted from the pit and placed on the fortress or in the fortress, the care of the fortress, as often as we call on the Lord. So if we're really in a difficult season, it can be moment by moment that this is happening. And then as we get stronger and we see him more and we trust his faithfulness more, then we will realize that that season of struggle is somewhat distant or it's lesser, and it's more in our past than it was. But this is a process that the more you study the Bible and the more you connect with the faithful promises of a loving God, you will be able to say, Lord, in this moment of despair or in this moment of discouragement or in this moment of sadness, oh, it makes me cry, I trust you. And that alone is how we move from the pit to the fortress. I trust you. I believe you.
00:40:28
Speaker 1: That is so good. Leaning into his character. And that's what the enemy will always have as doubt, right? He wants us to doubt. He wants us to doubt who our God is and what he has done and will do on our behalf.
00:40:46
Speaker 2: That's what he started with Eve. Is it not in the garden? He's not really sharing with you everything you need. You need this wisdom too, right? You better try to take care of yourself a little bit because he's not completely trustworthy to be the one to take care of you. It's the same song, different verse. I know.
00:41:04
Speaker 1: He's been singing that song forever.
00:41:06
Speaker 2: And he doesn't get tired. No. And we have to have knowledge and we get that knowledge. We can say when that voice comes back into our head, into our heart, we can say, wait a second, I know what this is. The voice of the Lord doesn't talk to me like this. The voice of the Lord isn't shaming. The voice of the Lord isn't mean. And so no, in the name of Jesus, I call upon the God that is faithful. In the name of the Jesus, I call upon the God that is faithful. Jesus died so that I can live in freedom from this. And I choose freedom today.
00:41:37
Speaker 1: Yes.
00:41:38
Speaker 2: Amen.
00:41:38
Speaker 1: Amen. And we can respond as Jesus did. As Jesus did when he said, it is written.
00:41:45
Speaker 2: Yes. Yes.
00:41:45
Speaker 1: It is written.
00:41:46
Speaker 2: Yes. That he will live.
00:41:53
Speaker 1: Put my feet on a rock, which is him himself. And he is the fortress. So this enables me to respond with passion and, To the enemy when he comes, just as Jesus did to say, no, this is what the, oh, and by the way, here's the Hebrew word. And this is what it means. It's Stella. It means that he has become my fortress and he is going to protect me from you. And this is what he has said. It is written.
00:42:23
Speaker 2: I love it.
00:42:23
Speaker 1: I love it.
00:42:24
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:42:25
Speaker 1: So for the mom who may feel overwhelmed with all her motherhood responsibility, and she's like, I can't think, I can't do one more thing. Let me just first add that this might've taken me 15, 20 minutes to do this because it's like, once you show where all of these resources is, it doesn't take that long. It really doesn't.
00:42:47
Speaker 2: Our aim is to make it simple and repeatable. We've tried very hard to get this into a process that it can't, I mean, if you want to sit with it an hour and chase rabbits and go down, you know, and read more stuff, you sure can, but you can get the kind of, Revelation that Catherine is talking about right here in a few minutes, really.
00:43:04
Speaker 1: Right. The kind of revelation that just continues to feed you like all day. I can't tell you how much I've feasted on that idea of the rock. And I did this several days ago, and I just keep feasting on the rock. What does that mean, God, that you are my fortress? And you just keep feeding on it. But the cool thing about it, too, is you go back to the same verse and just pick a different word now.
00:43:25
Speaker 2: Pick a different word. Yes, exactly.
00:43:28
Speaker 1: I love that. So when we're heavy or broken and overwhelmed, the Bible, really, it becomes our comfort in those moments. And I know that There are those in the listening audience that may feel a little intimidated, but talk a little bit about how your method then becomes our comfort. It's not Everest. We're just taking the next step. It's not that steep. It's really quite easy and refreshing, isn't it?
00:43:58
Speaker 2: It is. It's comfort and it's nourishment. And I just want to encourage the mom too that it's for you. What Catherine has learned by studying this verse that's so personal to her is for Catherine, but it's also for her other people, right? There's a different lightness and a different patience and a different kindness that we have for the people that are closest to us when we are connected with these promises of God. And so I encourage you to do it for yourself, but I also encourage you to do it for your people. And I do just want to say, if you download, it's free. If you download the starter kit that I know Catherine's going to put in the show notes here, it has. two videos that take about 20 minutes to watch that teach you how to put these apps on your phone. The three apps that we're talking about to get started. It has a blank study sheet. It has all the steps on another sheet. It also has a study guide that has suggested verses. If you don't know where to start, the study guide goes along with the understand your Bible podcast that uses the verses that are in the study guide. So you can pick the, verse of the week, and then listen in if you want to on what I learned as I was studying the verse. Or you can start, like I said earlier, with your devotion. It has a verse of scripture in it, the verse of the day. You can use a Bible study, like Catherine was saying, that probably has some anchor verses in there that you just want to go dig deeper. Maybe if you're regularly in church, you want to take the passage of scripture that your pastor used on Sunday and pick one of those verses and go a little deeper into what they said and So you have the, probably you have what you need and you don't have to buy anything and you don't have to go anywhere and you can just start.
00:45:34
Speaker 1: Ah, that's awesome. I wanted to talk in our few remaining moments, how to apply this with our kids. For those of us who still have children in the home that we're doing active Bible studies with. So my three older kids, I've got two that I've empty nested recently. I miss them very much.
00:45:50
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:45:51
Speaker 1: But, um, so, and then I've got one who's 16 and she's doing her own Bible study. And by the way, I'm very excited to share this method with all of them to encourage them to go and do it on their own. I even have visions of my son being an, um, he's majoring in biblical studies at MCU, like just doing this, how cool would it be that you're in your Bible class? And oh, by the way, I studied that verse this morning. And this word means that, you know, Selah means rock, you know, I'm like, well, that can't hurt. You know, it's just a wonderful way to go about studying. And I think it really adds a lot of depth and richness and vocabulary to you in your future studies as well. Who knows, some of our kids may be going into biblical studies like my son is. But I do have two younger ones. I have a nine and 11 year old. So I was thinking, hey, they could pick a verse or we could get to a verse and we could trade off. Okay, Weston today, why don't you pick one word that jumps out to you in this and kind of just go through the process with them. And let's like, let's. Show them. This is such a great, see, that's what I love. I'm so excited to do this with them because I can say, okay, here we're going to dig in. This was the verse that you guys chose and here's the word that Weston wants to look into today. And so we're going to really dig in. What is that Greek word? What does it mean? What lie could be attached to this? And going through all the steps with him and then either take the same verse the next day and let my daughter pick a word.
00:47:16
Speaker 2: Right.
00:47:17
Speaker 1: And we can go through it that way. But this seems so user-friendly that I could really use this with my kids, can't I?
00:47:24
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Yeah. So if you go to my website under the free resources tab, you can find the step-by-step starter kit. That's what we've been talking about. But there's also a family kit, which includes everything in the starter kit, but it also adds a study sheet for kiddos. And then it has a planning sheet as well. So if you'd like to study the verse ahead of time, maybe use it in your homeschool curriculum or for family devotion, something like that, and you want a little head start on the kiddos, you can do it that way as well. But yes, absolutely. It works. It's been used. This method has been used in curriculum for Christian schools, in homeschool co-ops. It's actually being used. I'm very honored. It's being used in a juvenile detention center in Albuquerque, New Mexico by someone who loves the method. And she goes in and she teaches those who are incarcerated, the teenagers there. And so, yeah, it's very effective for younger people as well.
00:48:11
Speaker 1: You know, I'm currently doing community Bible study. We're studying the book of Acts with a group of ladies. And the cool thing about that Bible study, I really like it because it's not overwhelming. It probably the whole week takes maybe, I don't know, hour or an hour and a half that you divide up into your days. But that leaves a lot of extra time. So I can go in with the other Bible study I'm already doing and OK, I'm going to dig into this verse and this word in this verse and do that to really bring a lot of richness and depth to the other Bible study I'm already doing. Or you could do it all on its own just by itself, you know. And I am very excited to try that with the kids because I want them to learn how to dig into the word. Yes.
00:48:58
Speaker 2: Let us teach our kids how to study the word. Yeah. Right.
00:49:01
Speaker 1: Get a taste and see that the Lord is good and help them to understand how this very rich method, I think, really gets deep in there and can provide a source of just comfort and nutrition, spiritual nutrition, that is, all day long.
00:49:17
Speaker 2: So that's awesome.
00:49:18
Speaker 1: Any final thoughts you have? that you'd like to share with us? Anything we missed that we didn't get to cover? Anything you.
00:49:26
Speaker 2: I don't know what I expected today, but I did not expect to have this much fun studying with you, which is just, it just was super, it was just a blast. So whoever's listening, this was just organic and true and fun. And this is the kind of joy, it's truthfully the kind of joy that comes when we open the Word and have the tools to study it and give God the space to speak truth, His truth over our life and circumstances. It brings the kind of this joy and peace that we've had today as we've studied. So Catherine, thank you for studying with me. This was really fun.
00:50:02
Speaker 1: It was. I can just imagine groups of men and women doing this, you know, in small groups, just getting together, picking a verse, going. And everybody comes back, like you said, with your groups. Just I studied this word. This is what the Lord showed me here. And just. Doing exactly what we've done today. I think we just kind of fleshed it out for everybody. We did.
00:50:23
Speaker 2: This is it. This is what happens. I know.
00:50:25
Speaker 1: That's why I was so excited. I always tell people I'm excited to talk to you today because obviously you have to say that to your guests. You don't want to be like, well, glad you're here. You know, I've always, I, of course, I don't have people on my show that I don't want, you know, I'm not excited to talk to you, but I was super excited to talk to you because I've really been enjoying doing this so much.
00:50:46
Speaker 2: I mean, it is an honor. It really is. I'm honored. And it's just, it's, it makes me so happy to know that something that was already really meaningful has taken on even new meaning and depth.
00:50:56
Speaker 1: It really has. I see myself just incorporating this into my personal Bible study this time. Just going forward from now and just really sinking my teeth into these original words and meanings. And that was one of the biggest takeaways for me because I loved what you said. I had already listened to you talk about the method and you'd said that that original word, it doesn't mean something different, but it almost always means something more.
00:51:22
Speaker 2: Right.
00:51:22
Speaker 1: And that is exactly what I found when I went back to that root word. And that has been feeding me.
00:51:29
Speaker 2: Yay.
00:51:30
Speaker 1: So yay. And before the show, we talked about some other things that, hey, we got to get back together. We've just had too much fun. Yes. We're going to have to get back together sometime and find another topic to talk about because this was awesome. Thank you.
00:51:42
Speaker 2: I would love that.
00:51:43
Speaker 1: One more time, tell our listeners where to go to find out all about you and your ministry and the step-by-step method.
00:51:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, just the website. Yeah, the website is livestedyon.com, livestedyon.com. And you can find the tab for the podcast if that interests you. You can find the tab for the Bible studies, but also make sure those free resources if that's where, that's just the best place to start. Awesome.
00:52:05
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us today, Angie. I can't wait for our next conversation, whatever it will be.
00:52:10
Speaker 2: I'm for it. Thank you, Catherine.
00:52:13
Speaker 1: I think you could hear how excited I was to really dig into the Word with Angie. That was an absolute blast. If I had to rate all of my podcasts for fun level, the funnest I've had in a podcast episode, I think this might. Definitely top five, if not really close to the top. Thank you. I'm so grateful for Angie joining me today. I hope that that fun that we had in studying the Word of God is... really transformative for you, that you can have that much fun too, studying the Word of God and sharing with your family, with your husband, with your wife, with your kids, what God has taught you. That is what we're here to do today, is to learn how to dig into the Word and have these kinds of encounters with the Word, transforming us and changing us into His likeness, helping us to know who God is and make Him known to I think Angie's method is brilliant, and I'm so excited to be using it myself and with my kids. I know this sounds like, I'm sorry, I don't want this to sound like a commercial. She did not pay to come on the show. I just love it that much.
00:53:24
Speaker 2: So I hope.
00:53:24
Speaker 1: You enjoyed the conversation we had as much as I did. And as always, remember, God gave you your kids, your specific kids for a reason. That's because you hold the key to unlocking who God created them to be. We'll see you next time. Christian Parent Crazy World is a production of Life Audio and Salem Media.
00:53:54
Speaker 2: If you liked what you heard today, please take a second to rate and review this podcast in your favorite podcast app so that more listeners like you can find the show.
00:54:03
Speaker 1: For more faith-filled, inspirational podcasts, visit us at lifeaudio.com.
