Dr. Jessica Peck is prescribing Hope for Healthy Families on American Family Radio
Hello, and welcome to the Dr. Nurse Mama show, prescribing Hope for Healthy Families here on American Family Radio. Here's your host, professor, pediatric nurse practitioner and mom of four, Dr. Jessica Peck.
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, hey there, friends, and welcome to my favorite time of day, getting to spend time with you, prescribing Hope for Healthy Families. And as always, I've been saying this every day, and it just continues to be true. We need doses of hope. It is so hard, I think, just living in this broken world and we see news coming to us so fast and so furious and so much of it is so depressing. We need a light. We need hope. And we are here to give that to you. I told you at the beginning of this year that I would be doing a series called Worldview Wednesday, and I'm very grateful to have Dr. Josh Mulvihill joining me today because we're here to talk in the midst. Honestly, this sounds my husband tells me I have a flair for the melodramatic. It is true, I do have a little bit of Anna Green Gables living inside of me. But it is not dramatic to say that there is a battle raging today, not in politics or on news like you think there is. The real battle is taking place in the hearts and minds of our children and our own hearts as well. And as culture goes louder, how can parents and teachers and church leaders offer a clearer, stronger voice of truth? That is what we're going to talk about today.
Dr. Josh Mulvihill is author of the book Biblical Worldview
We're joined again by Dr. Josh Mulvihill executive director of church and Family ministry at Renewanation He's a longtime pastor. He is author of the book Biblical Worldview. He's got a PhD in family ministry. He is a dad. He is a husband. Just celebrating a big anniversary. I know. And we're here to walk through his book. We are actually in part two in chapter six about how halfway through. Let me catch you up. Since we're halfway through, we have introduced you to a biblical worldview and talked about why it matters. We've talked about what it is, what is. What is a biblical worldview? We all use that term loosely, but do we really believe it? We talked about who shapes a child's worldview. We talked about helping children develop a love for the Bible. And last time, we talked about understanding the authority of scripture and really building a case for the trustworthiness of the Bible. But today we're talking about trusting the sufficiency of scripture learning to apply God's truth to life. This may seem like the most straightforward, but it can Be difficult. It's much easier said than done. And that's why we need some hope and some help along the way. Dr. Mulvihill. Josh, welcome back. Thank you so much for joining us again.
>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Yeah, good to be back. And happy summer, everyone.
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Happy Summer. You and I were just talking about how much we both love summer. We both have a lot of kids at home, but it is so great. I love being able to spend time with them. And it's great because my kids are a little older and they can actually go to the grocery store. Oh, what a blessing. It's wonderful. Go get something to eat. It is a great stage of life, for sure.
>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Agree. Yes. And yeah, the topic today on, on the sufficiency of scripture. Your introduction was fantastic. And I'll just add, developing a biblical worldview. Of course it sounds really, obvious to state it, but it's built on the bedrock of the Bible and it's only possible through, saturating our hearts and our minds and then living out, applying, those truths to life. And sometimes the conversational worldview is thought about as a bit of an academic one, and it's way more than that. Of course it shapes our beliefs, but it's got to drive our behavior. If we don't get to that second part. It's all in our mind and it hasn't shaped our hearts and our lives. That's really what we're after. Our real worldview is how we live. That's really a good test. And so this is going to help us with the, with that side of kind of living it out today.
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Absolutely. And you know, Josh, what I see is kids who are looking for something that is certain every, the only thing that seems certain in this world is uncertainty. Because I think even going through Covid, you and I have talked about this before and that, my daughter coming to me, you know, who was a senior in high school at the time, and telling me, you know, everything you've told me about how this stage of my life is going to go, it's not true. None of this is happening. There is no standardized testing. There may be no college, there's no graduation. You know, all of these things. And it just seems like the world is unsafe. And we have, of course, millennials, being the, the generation born post 9 11, Gen Z being the first generation born post 9 11. And they just view the world as unsafe. And what I have seen is the rise of the self help industry. And we see tens of billions of dollars even thinking, you know, from my own publishing experience, that's where the demand is. People want self help books, they want personal coaching, they want online courses, they want mobile self improvement apps, they want mindfulness, they want meditation, they want wellness retreats. And we see all of these, these things where people are just looking for help. And Josh, I do not need help for myself. Myself gets me into trouble every time. And we need to turn, to the suffic of the Bible and know that everything that we need is there. So where do we even start to course correct here and to direct our families and our own minds and hearts back to the sufficiency of Scripture. What does it even, what does it even mean?
>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: That's a great question. That's a big word, sufficiency. You hear that? You think, oh, it sounds like it's important, but what does it mean? Well, I think of it here in its most simple terms. It's the how to side of life. So how do we live? Where do we look for our guidance? it would be considered as the application of the Bible in our own life. So when we have decisions, when we need direction, when we're looking for wisdom, a simple test is where do I go for those answers? And you know, most of us would say, I think we believe in the authority of the Bible, that it is authoritative to tell us what is right and true and good and how to live. but even in saying that, sometimes then we kind of set the Bible aside and we look to other sources to direct our spirit. And so, it's almost like we're not living according to which we say we believe. So that's kind of it in a nutshell. If you want to get the really like, specific answer. This is not a new or novel idea in the Christian world. we could look back into the Westminster confession and almost 400 years ago they, they put down a very specific kind of definition, that may be helpful to read just to get a really kind of, granular and specific perspective on. Actually I'll do that. Since I mentioned it, here's what the Westminster Confession said. This is from 1647. It says the whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for God's own glory, man's salvation, faith and life is either expressly set down in Scripture or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture unto which nothing at any time is added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit or traditions of men. So whatever we need for salvation, faith and life is either explicit or deduced in the Bible. That's the, that's kind of the idea.
Jessica: We have seen the rise of Internet search, specifically Google
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, you know, when I look again, seeing how culture has shifted, and especially in the lifetime of our children, you, you and me, Josh, we have seen the rise of Internet search, specifically Google. Most people use Google. And I, I looked up, I did use a search engine to look up, some of the statistics on how people use Internet searching. And I found some statistics that were pretty, pretty earth shaking here, really. Not surprising, but still sobering nonetheless. They, from what I could find, Google processes about 8.5 billion searches per day. It's about 100,000 searches per second. And the average person, looks up something on Google about three to four times per day. And it is often the first place that people turn for answers, even before they ask a first friend, they ask someone they trust, they ask a professional something that they might feel too embarrassed to ask or just that they want to see a quick answer. And I think it's driven by the need for instant gratification. I just want an easy answer formatted to me right here. But one of the things that's, concerning to me is how life decisions are being driven by Google. Because 53% of online shoppers say they research something before they make a purchase. Or 72% of people, of course, have. I can attest that the other quarter of people are lying. They look up their health problems on the Internet because usually they've looked those up before they come to see me. But likewise, Josh, in your book you said that Lifeway did a study of 2,000 parents and they found that only 14% of parents are familiar with what the Bible says about parenting and believe it is a useful tool. And you said also, according to this study, Christians look to the following sources for parenting advice. 91% look to their own experience, 65% to their parents, 62% to their friends, 58% to their spouse, 46% to the Bible, and 43% to the church. Where is the disconnect here and why? We're not going to the Bible to even begin to look at, to answer the how tos, as you put it.
>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: So I think it comes. Those are shocking statistics, aren't they? but I think it comes back to what we believe about the Bible and what we understand it's to be used for on one hand. And the other is sometimes we just don't know our Bible well enough in order to apply it to the certain areas of life that we encounter. and I like, I'll Give you an example from my own life. I, you know, I live in Minnesota and all the riots, racial riots and George Floyd that was like 20 minutes from my house, that happened a few years ago. And then all this justice language started popping up all over our culture. and it's been around now for quite a while. But I remember thinking a couple years ago, like, wow, I don't have a great enough clarity around this subject to know if I'm even understanding it properly. And, if I'm living in a just kind of way, you know, I'm hearing all these kinds of ways we're supposed to be interacting with other individuals. so I had to go pick up my Bible and just do a study on what does the Bible say about justice. I didn't have great enough clarity on that topic simply to apply it, not only to test what I was hearing, but to apply it then in all kinds of ways of living. And we could replicate that for all kinds of subject matters. I will give you another. I've done a lot on the topic of grandparenting and one of the things that I've learned is that most Christian grandparents don't have a biblical understanding of their role. And so they can't live it out. They simply cannot apply it to how they interact on a day to day basis with their grandchildren. and so sometimes it's as simple as that is we simply don't know what the Bible is. I love your examples, Jessica, about self help. man, those that you listed are all over the place. And they are, man, they are, they sound good sometimes. And we kind of, you know, we adopt these things and we think, well, this is helpful only to bring us down a path that truly at the end of the day is not many times. and so it comes back to do we know God's word or do we know how to learn God's word? to apply it to certain areas of our life when we come to a crossroad and need that guidance.
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: You know, it's interesting to me because we're seeing, we're constantly, I feel like seeing cultural reckonings and things that don't age well. And something that, you know, I've been seeing a lot of lately is even the show Ellen, you know, that was on before and that was so popular and it was kind of the, the joke of the time, like you had really made it if you were on that show. And then now all of these clips are coming up and saying, ooh, that did not age well, and there's plenty of other shows. I don't mean to, to pick on a particular show. I'm just saying that when we look at culture and when we look at two people who are humans, who are fallible, and we trust them and we really elevate them to a godlike status, and I think that's where we're wandering into dangerous territory. And I think that's what is partially contributing to anxiety that we see in this generation, this kind of underlying anxiety that they don't know what is true, what is going to change. And we know, of course, Josh, the only thing that doesn't change is the word of God. And we have so much more to talk about. We're already at our first break, but when we come back, we'll lay out some specific guidelines that you have put in here for how we do that. We'll start in second Timothy. But listen, there is so much more to talk about. How do we apply scripture to our lives? And we'll give you six ways that the Bible is sufficient for life that Josh has outlined in his book. We'll be right back with more from Dr. Josh Mulvihill on Worldview Wednesday. See you after this break.
Last year Preborn helped to rescue over 67,000 babies from abortion
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Because of listeners like you, PreBorn helped to rescue over 67,000 babies. Your $28 to sponsor one ultrasound doubled a baby's chance at life. Your tax- deductible gift saves lives. Please join us in this life saving mission. To donate go to preborn.com/AFR. will you take a moment and celebrate life with me? Last year, PreBorn helped to rescue over 67,000 babies from abortion. Hi, this is Jessica Peck, host of the Dr. Nurse Mama Show. And I want to thank you for your partnership. Think about what you did. 67,000 babies are taking their first breath now because of you. Your $28 sponsored one ultrasound that was given to a woman as she was deciding about the of her child. Once she saw her precious baby for the first time and heard their sweet heartbeat, her baby's chance at life doubled. But preborn's mission is not only to rescue babies lives, but also to lead women to Christ. Last year PreBorn network clinic saw 8,900 women receive salvation. Your help is crucial to continue their life saving work. Your caring tax- deductible donation saves lives. So please be generous. to donate go to preborn.com/AFR, that's preborn.com/AFR, or dial pound 250 and say the keyword baby. That's pound 250 baby your love can save a life. Preborn's whole mission is to rescue babies from abortion and lead their families to Christ. Last year, Preborn's network of clinics saw 8,900 mothers come to Christ. Please join us in this life saving mission. To donate, go to preborn.com/AFR.
>> Mighty to Save by Michael W. Smith: Everyone needs compassion. Love that's never failing. Let mercy fall on me. Everyone needs forgiveness. The kindness of, the Savior, the hope of nations Yay. Everyone. Savior he can move the mountains. Our God is mighty to save. He is mighty to save forever Author of salvation He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave.
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. Hey, that's an oldie but a goodie. That's Michael W. Smith. Mighty to save. And you know, if you listen on a regular basis, I am such a fan of playing music that is based on scripture. And if you. If you didn't know that song is based on Zephaniah, chapter three, verse 17. Let me read it to you. The Lord your God is in your midst. A mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you by his love. He will exalt over you with loud singing. That's so encouraging to me. And in a world where we're getting so many conflicting cultural messages. It is. What we're talking about today is going back to the Bible to answer the questions that we have about how do we live our life. The questions that our kids are asking, like, who am I? What went wrong? Where can I find hope? What is going to happen next? These aren't just big questions. These are worldview defining questions. And today we're diving into how to help the next generation answer them through the lens of Scripture.
Dr. Josh Mulvihill is the author of Biblical Worldview
Our guest here on WorldView Wednesday, Dr. Josh Mulvihill. He spent over two decades helping families and churches disciple kids for lifelong faith. He's the author and editor of many books, including Biblical Grandparenting and Preparing Children for Marriage. And he works at Renewanation And we're talking about his book today, Biblical Worldview. So, Josh, right before the break, we were talking about going to scripture. And you have some thoughts for us on second Timothy on how scripture can be instructive and applied to life. So where do we even start with that?
>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: 2Nd Timothy, 3:15 through 17, if you would say, what's the most critical passage in the New Testament on the sufficiency of scripture. That's it. And so we can kind of talk through some of that a little bit. but I do want to ask a question Kind of going up to the 30,000 foot level. Before we jump into that, if all you had was the Bible, would it be enough for you to give you guidance on what you need to live? I think we ask that question. We go, wow, is it enough? That's a question many of us maybe wrestle with in our heart. And what God's word claims is that yes, it is. And what 2 Timothy 3 does is says God actually shows us the ways in which God's Word applies to different areas in our life. So that doesn't mean that other resources. I've got a room here with bookshelves of books on them and I'm very grateful for them. I've written some as well. you've heard. And those are, those are valuable, but they're far secondary and supplemental to God's Word. And in fact if none of those existed, we still would have what we need from God to live as, as we need. And so that's a pretty, that's a pretty big claim. And second Timothy three backs it up.
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: It's so hard though, because even before we dive into that.
Dr. Josh Mulvihill: How do we interpret the Bible accurately in today's world
And I want to talk about the four purposes that you outline here in your book. You know, one of the things that I see, Josh, is that when we have disagreement in the public square within the Christian community, it's almost like on social media now you see this scripture war where people throw scriptures at each other and there's misapplication and there's misunderstanding and there's, you know, use. And people will say, no, you're wrong in the way you're using scripture. No, you're wrong in the way you're using scripture. No, the scripture is telling us to live this way. No, the Scripture is telling us to live that way. And I know I'm asking you to solve world peace and tell me when Christ is coming back and asking you this question, but how do we begin to navigate that? Because we can look at the sufficiency of Scripture in these four purposes. But that's the reality of the world that we're living in. I am not trained, I'm not a trained theologian. I went to school to become a healthcare professional. I'm a devoted Christian. I study, I read, I listen to people who I feel like has have wisdom. I asked the Lord to give me wisdom and discernment and reading the Scriptures, but that's the reality of what we're living in. So do you have any words of advice for heading out into that kind of world?
>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Yeah, I'll give two. So we're getting into the realm of how do we interpret the Bible accurately? And I'll give you two, helpful things in this arena. One is that context is king. And so to understand a verse we have to understand of course the section it's in, the chapter, the whole book, that dictates the meaning of that verse. and Scripture always interprets scripture. So that's the best interpretive tool. So we need to look at, when we're looking at a specific subject, we want to take that and look across the whole spectrum of the Bible. And if our understanding of a specific subject doesn't match with what the Bible is saying about that subject in a different area of the Bible, we know we're not reading it correctly or interpreting it correctly. And then of course there are all kinds of, this is where secondary resources actually become helpful. There are commentary scholars that have spent years understanding the Bible and put it down in commentaries for us that we can actually check and see. M. Am I reading this, like other people are reading it, conservative, orthodox, kind of historical understandings, or am I way out in left field here? those are helpful principles.
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Those are really helpful. And as we're looking to guide our families, I think this is just another point why it's so important to be in a church that teaches scripture, that is a, you know, a Bible believing church and that you're with spiritual mentors and leaders who you can walk these things through with and talk these things through with and not be in isolation. And sometimes that's where I see a lot of times danger can come just pulling one scripture out in isolation and using it to fit the narrative at the moment. You know, we've got to be prepared for the moment, but before it comes. And that's why reading the Bible is so important. Before we encounter all of these, all of these problems that we have. And going back to second Timothy, Josh, you talk about the Bible being profitable for four purposes. Let's talk about the first one that we teach with it. We teach with what is true. So what does that mean?
>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Yeah, so when the Bible says profitable, it means it's useful, it's applicable for our life. And so you just mentioned the first one, applicable for teaching and specifically what is true. So we can, you know, we want to understand what's true. So our culture is talking about all kinds of subjects with what's the meaning of marriage and what's the meaning of love. I mentioned justice already. You know, we Hear phrases like love is love. Don't, judge, you know, on a specific topic like love that's not compassionate or Christ, like, well, we can know what is true by the Bible. It gives us the meaning of those and all kinds of other things. And it's useful as we think about helping children develop a biblical worldview. God has given us the Bible for the explicit purpose to educate a child in truth.
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: And then the second one is conviction or for reproof when there is sin. And I always see culture, a pendulum, you know, And I think about when people who are grandparents, people raised, you know, in the first half of the 20th century, really, when they think about church, you're thinking the preachers, you know, preaching brimstone, right? Like it's, it's kind of fear based and, and you're really convicted. There's a focus on sin. And I've seen that pendulum shift. And we see trends like gentle parenting and that, you know, children are inherently good and, and we don't want to, you know, crush their souls and things like that. But there is balance in there in convicting us when we are sinful. Because when we sin, we really cause so much destruction in our souls and our physical life and our hearts. How do we use the Bible for reproof?
>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Conviction is absolutely essential because without it, there simply is no repentance and there's no change without it. So it's actually God's grace. He's given us the Bible, for the purpose of exposing our sin, exposing our children's sin, raising the awareness that we don't live up to God's righteous standard. And we actually need a savior, of course, Jesus Christ. And so, you know, one of our core purposes as parents, as grandparents as well, is that we want to help nurture a child, to help them live in conformity to Christ, his character, his ways. And God's given us the scripture, to help a child accomplish that outcome. So I like to think about, convicting with the Bible as if the Bible is a prosecuting attorney. And so we understand. Wow, I have, I've not lived up to God's standard of righteousness. I need. And its purpose is to bring us to Jesus Christ. That's the end goal. And the Bible accomplishes that. for everybody who reads it now.
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: I've got visions of Perry Mason in my head. I have to be honest. I used to watch that show with my grandmother and, and now, I'm seeing, you know, like, yes, you know, when, when you're in the courtroom, that kind of thing. But that can be so scary. And just like I talked about, I think when we look back at just these shifts in culture, I think a lot of people feel defeated by that. They feel like, okay, I, I am a sinner, I'm never going to measure up. And then how do I do that? How do I ever be good enough? But then when we talk about, go through second Timothy, we talk about teaching, rebuking, correcting, and I think that's the issue there. There is so much freedom and correction. There is freedom in repentance, there is a path to grace. God knows every part of us. He knows that we are sinful creatures and he gives us that path to correction. He gave it all the way through the Old Testament and then in the New Testament even, you know, making that right. So how do we, how do we use the Bible not as just a instrument, ah, of justice, not just as the prosecuting attorney, but also the path for restitution and making it right.
>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Yeah. So the Bible is literally the great physician. It puts us into contact with the great physician, Jesus Christ. But that's its purpose. It's to correct, to make right. It literally means, to straighten up what is wrong and reform. So God's given us the Bible as a tool with our children to address those behaviors, those attitudes, those actions. We've all come into contact with them. We've had them ourselves as parents. So think about all of the things you're dealing with, kind of emotions, behaviors in your home, with your kids.
Josh: Whatever challenge we're dealing with as parents, God's word addresses
I just literally like an hour ago, One of my 10 year old came to me in tears because her older brother, 12 year old was not being the kindest to her. that's not outside of God's word. As I come and talk with John and talk with Emily about how do we navigate that. Whatever challenge we're dealing with as parents, whether it's selfishness in the child, whether it's sibling rivalry, whether it's anxiety, those things are addressed in God's word. He's literally given us the Bible to bring about healing, to bring about health, to bring about hope. Of course that comes through Jesus Christ. and so that's the purpose. And if we, you know, this is the, temptation sometimes as we operate outside of God's word in order to address these kinds of challenges that we have in our home with our children.
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, what happens when you start to do that? And by the way, Josh, I have to say how refreshing it is to hear you say, as a Pastor. Oh, my goodness. Your family is not perfect. Are you kidding? Because I think in this day and age, we have such a hard time sharing our weaknesses because of what social media does and, and that expectation of comparison. And we see everyone's highlight reel and it's really hard. We, I think we can get a lot more easily discouraged and than other generations did. You know, I remember talking with my granny one day, I would, we, we would just. That was one of the greatest gifts she had, by the way. When I would go over there, it was like the world stopped because I felt like the Queen of England, you know, had come to visit. She put everything down. She would sit at the table and she would talk with me and she would tell me about how it was different when people were raising their kids and, and they raised their kids in a much more communal way. You know, they had the freedom to discipline each other's kids, and there was no shame in calling it out and saying, hey, your kid did this today. I took care of it. You know, we're all good. And I see such a different culture in parenting today. We see where our kids mess up or our kids do something. And our immediate response is, oh, I don't want anybody to know about this, because number one, they'll know that I didn't do a good job as a mom. And number two, I don't want them to see my kid is anything less than perfect. And I think just having some of this transparency around the fact that, hey, no family is perfect. The only perfect person who ever lived was Jesus. And knowing that it is God has given us a path to confess our sin and to restore it and to make it right. And so looking again at these principles that you've outlined for us from second Timothy, all scripture for is useful for teaching, convicting, correcting, and training in righteousness. That is what we are trying to do. And, and we are, that's why we need family discipleship. And I know Josh, that is so much of the heartbeat of your ministry is calling families to discipleship. And what happens when you start to disciple your families is that your kids start to disciple you back. Because I will have a moment where I maybe speak unkindly to my husband. And I hear my kids saying, be kind and tender hearted. Forgive him, just as Christ forgave you. And that is definitely deeply convicting. When we come back, we will talk some more about how the Bible is sufficient for life. We're going to talk about six ways that Josh gives us it's sufficient for life. Don't go away. We'll be right back.
Everything that you teach in the church has to be rooted in Scripture
>> Pastor Erwin Lutzer: Pastor Erwin Lutzer from the American Family Studios documentary the God who Speaks. When Paul said to Timothy, preach the word, what Paul was saying is, everything that you teach in the church has to be rooted in Scripture. Now, I believe very strongly that it has to be rooted in Scripture. It has to be applied to each generation. So the applications may change, but the basic doctrines the teachings have to be the foundation of everything that we preach. So it's not a matter of human ideas. It is actually a matter of being committed to the integrity of scripture, studying it in context so that we can say with authority that what we are teaching is based on God's word, not our ideas, nor our word. Visit thegodwhospeaks.org.
>> Jesus, Son of God by Brandon Heath: You came down from heaven's throne. This earth you formed was not your home. A love like this the world had never known. A crown of thorns to mark your name. Forgiveness fell upon your face. A love like this the world had never. On the altar of our praise. Let there be no higher name. Jesus, son of God, you lay down your perfect life. You are the sacrifice. Jesus, son of God. You are Jesus, son of God.
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That is Jesus, son of God, by Brandon Heath. And that's what we're talking about today, is the message and the hope that is found in Jesus Christ, that is found in the word of God. And, as parents, many of our deepest fears that our kids are going to walk away from their faith. And it's rarely a sudden decision. It is often the result of a shaky, foundation, something that happens over time. So how do we build strong spiritual roots that stand the test of time? And our guest today here on WorldView Wednesday, Dr. Josh Mulvihill, is bringing us just the resources to answer that. And by the way, next week, I know some. This is a very controversial topic for our listeners, but next week we're having Christmas in July. I know some of you think, no, not until after Thanksgiving. I love Christmas. And, you know, I think about women in mission and how we used to have Christmas in August. Why can't we have Christmas in July? We're going to have that. We will actually be giving away a few copies of Dr. Mulvihill Hill's book, along with a ton of other goodies. We are going to have a great Christmas party next week, so be watching for that and for those giveaways. But, Josh, I'm so grateful that you're here.
Back today, we're talking about specifically the sufficiency of Scripture
Back today, we're talking about specifically the sufficiency of Scripture. And before we go through these six, the six ways that you see the Bible is sufficient for life, I want to ask you, as you said earlier, kind of overarching question, let's take it up 30,000ft. And I think about myself, I think about, I am a nurse practitioner. I did not study scripture when I went to school. And there's a lot of people like me who are in different trades and we think we're trying to guide our kids, we're trying to disciple our kids. But we think maybe I'm not a pastor, I'm not, you know, I didn't go to seminary. And we kind of down talk ourselves a little bit and then we look to other people. Those people disappoint us. Maybe, you know, you're looking at a scripture as somebody who is teaching your scripture. Maybe they're a news flash, not human. And we see in the news a lot of, you know, the so called moral failings of spiritual leaders. How would you speak to the sufficiency of scripture? Just to the everyday mom and dad who's thinking, I am doing my best to disciple my kids. And you asked earlier, Josh, if you only had the Bible, is that enough? Can you speak to those parents to give them some encouragement about how does the sufficiency of scripture work for us?
>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Well, when I need guidance and encouragement, I'll tell you if, I'm reading God's Word, I know my day, tends to be a lot better, when I start in God's Word. And sometimes when I have those rocky days and I'm with my kids and my patience is tested or my anger flares up and lashes out, I can look back and realize, you know what, I didn't spend any time or sufficient time in God's Word today to allow God to be doing his work in my heart, to allow me to just live out not only in my relationships, impact that area, but also you're talking in the field of science and in those other areas, God's Word is not a textbook in those ways. But it does give us, an understanding of what science is. How do we understand it? Science simply is. It's God's world. It's how we understand God's world. And actually the section we'll look at here in the Efficiency of Scripture addresses that very specific subject, that God's Word is sufficient over science itself. It helps us to understand it, it helps us to interpret it, it helps us to apply it. And God's kind of given us Essentially two books to read. He's given us the the Word and he's given us the world. And they're both important and helpful, in our, in our daily living. And you live in the, you know, in the sphere of science. And that's a, that's a wonderful, wonderful place to live. And the Bible helps us to understand that correctly. You know, man, I could, we could go down that rabbit hole for a long time, but we could just think about, yeah, just think about the human body and even the value of a child. We can't understand that correctly. That's the Bible that gives us that footing, that understanding. And we could go to so many different examples. But, yeah, the Bible is our foundation in all those areas.
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: It's so true. And I often think of Hebrews 4:12, For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of soul, spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intention of the heart. And there's so many times, Josh, where I have reached for my Bible and God has just met me in that moment and I feel like it's a book that I go to and I've read. Believe me, look at how many degrees and letters I have after my name. All of my credentials clearly spell. I need a new hobby. I am a nerd. I like to read. But I can go to the Bible over and over again. And I always learn something new. I always, always see something that's applicable to my life. And I find that praying before I read the Bible and just asking God to reveal things to me, to give me wisdom, it does. And it is living and active and it is sufficient for us.
Six ways that you say the Bible is sufficient
And so let's dive into those six ways that you say it's sufficient. Number one, Scripture is perfect. Restoring the soul.
>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Would it be all right, Jessica, if I read this from Psalm or. Yeah. Psalm 19, verse 7 and 9. That just kind of give the context. This comes out of Psalm 19. It's just three verses. And I want you just to let the, the beauty and the impact of these verses kind of settle on you. And hopefully it gives you just an elevated view and a, value of God's word. So it says this. The law of the Lord is perfect. Reviving this, the testimony of the Lord is sure. Making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right. Rejoicing the heart, the command of the Lord is pure. Enlightening the eyes, the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring Forever. The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. Now that's a, there's a lot in there. And you just asked about the first one. Scripture is perfect, restoring the soul. That means it's not deficient in any way. It's not flawed, it's not imperfect. it's comprehensive in that the Bible lacks nothing that we need. So the idea of restore means the Bible is fully sufficient to convert, transform, refresh us. and it deals with all forms of rebellion and it can convert the soul. That's kind of what God's word is saying right there.
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: And then it goes on. That's such a beautiful scripture. I mean, I think if I could accomplish just that in my life, you know, those things that you outlined, I mean that's what we all aspire for. And, and then the second one is Scripture is trustworthy, making the simple wise.
The Bible is what gives us direction for life decisions, Josh says
Tell us about that one.
>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: So the biblical word for simple is the idea that we're kind of like an open door and a simple person, allows every idea to come in. The idea of being open minded, undiscerning, ignorant. But God's word is what makes us wise. It's what gives us direction for life decisions. It helps us apply God's truth and teaching to life situations. That I think, man, that is such a beautiful promise that God gives us right there, not only to test and to understand what is good, but also for the direction we need. And it can be trusted. The Bible, literally, we can trust it with our life for all of the decisions and directions that we will be making.
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: It's so true. And I think about, you know, there I say this quote all the time, Josh. I heard it when I was a teenager, but it's so true. And I don't even know who to attribute it to. But the quote goes, if God was small enough to be understood, he wouldn't be big enough to be worshiped. And there's some things that we just don't understand. And as you talked about earlier, I'm in a science profession. I am surrounded by people trying to understand and explain everything. And it's amazing to me, I look at how long have humans been in existence on the planet and yet we didn't have scientists who could map DNA until about 20 years ago, by the way. It was after I graduated from school. I graduated with my master's degree before the human genome was even mapped. And so looking at the chase for that, you know, all of the Bible is sufficient. And looking at, I, Loved what you said earlier. Just about science and scripture and there's so many other things, not just science. There are life problems that we have. There are relationship problems that we have. And knowing that God can make the simple wise is really encouraging. Principle three is Scripture is right causing joy. And I don't know what it is, Josh, but all of a sudden God has just given me a bunch of guests who are all talking about joy. And I think that this is, to me, this is a conviction from the Lord because the world is so dour and so down and so bad news. But we have to remember that the Scripture gives us joy. So talk to us about that. All right? While we get him back, let me tell you what he said. Because scripture does cause joy. That word right in scripture means straight rather than crooked, and it is connected to righteousness. And the psalmist is telling us that the Bible teaches us to walk in a straight path.
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: And the result of that is true joy. Because God is not there to tell us what to do just to be an overlord. He is giving us a path, all the guidance that we need to make good and godly decisions, as well as to guide us to live in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord. Because those who follow the teachings of the Bible, we're not left to wander around and be confused by human opinion. The Bible is sufficient to train us to walk in obedience to God. It's sufficient to give us life direction and guide us in right living. Principle four, as outlined here by Dr. Mulvihil is scripture is pure enlightening the eyes. The Bible gives off light that makes vision possible. The Bible illuminates the right path which enables us to walk without stumbling in the dark. Who wants to do that? And some days in the darkness of this world. And let me tell you, I know about the darkness of this world. The primary work I do as a professor is in an anti human trafficking advocacy and an advocacy against human trafficking. And that is, let me tell you, if you want to see the depravity of the world, that will introduce it to you really quick. But the Bible gives us light. And so I think we have Dr. Mulvihil back. So, Dr. Mulvihill, we were just Joshua talking about scriptures, right? Causing joy and enlighten eyes. And I'll let you take it from there.
>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: You did a great job.
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: I was just using your book.
>> Dr. Josh Mulvihill: That's great. Gives us light for our path. I'll jump in the last two since we're closing in on the end of time here. But Scripture is clean. It endures forever, meaning clean. it is without defect. It doesn't have any error. and it is flawless. It never changes. It lasts forever. And then the last one we have here from this psalm is Scripture's true and righteous altogether. the Bible warns us against sin. It protects us from lies that we're going to be exposed to. we need the Bible because we're prone to error. We're prone to, adopt these views that the culture has. That's not true. And it's the Bible that helps us stand against deception. And so, we are blessed as we know God's word and live God's word in all these six areas that we just applied. Or just think of the comprehensiveness. I mean, it was just literally like a couple of sentences here in this psalm. But the comprehensiveness by which God gives us the Bible to use for all of life is just astounding. And that's such a blessing for us when we know it and live it.
>> Dr. Jessica Peck: It's so true. And you remind me of the lyrics of one of my favorite hymns, Come thou fount of every blessing. And I think about this one line in that song. Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it Prone to leave the God I love Take here's my heart, Lord Take and seal it for thy courts above and I that is my prayer all the time. Because as human, we are prone to wander. We are prone to wander from the truth, from the joy that is provided to, us through the sufficiency of Scripture. Listen, if you want to know more, I encourage you to get a copy of Dr. Mulvihill's book if you want to disciple your family. It's called Biblical Worldview. What it Is, why it matters, and how to shape the worldview of the next generation. And when we come back on the Next Worldview Wednesday, we'll talk about six ways to help children live according to God's Word. Training our kids to read and study God's Word Word while we read and study along with them. And as you're reading and studying or walking along the road or whatever you're doing, may the Lord bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you and give you peace. And I'll see you right back here tomorrow.
>> Jeff Chamblee: The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
