Episode 1: Introduction To Faith

He Brews Faith

Podcast

Resources

Notes/Highlights

  • Welcome to He Brews Faith, a podcast focusing on Biblical views for being a Christian
  • My name is Eric Hansen, founder of He Brews Ministries
  • I am currently a youth pastor at my church, Olive Branch, in Rockford, OH
  • We will be talking about faith and all areas of our lives where faith is involved
  • I hope in each episode there is something you can take away from it
  • The format of this is pretty fluid, sometimes there’ll be interviews, guests, and other times it will be just me
  • In all episodes I will start with a prayer, so if you are able to please pray with me
  • On today’s episode I wanted to talk with you about faith on a personal level, as we should be proud of the fact we want to have a relationship with God, regardless of where we are in that right now
  • I can tell you from experience there’s never a wrong time to start, and it took me about 30 years many years to figure this out
  • This journey for you, your neighbor, your significant other and even pastor, should be life long
  • The best way to look at this is that you will face joys and struggles, but the end focus should be heaven
  • One of the frequently quoted passages of the Bible comes from Paul in his writing of Ephesians 2:6-10 (NLT)
  • A picture is painted here that no matter what good deeds we do here, we need faith to spend eternity with God
  • So then why as Christians should we do good things if all we need is faith?
  • The answer is to let people know about God
  • If you want someone to know about a great business, for example, you spread the word by reviews and whatnot, right?
  • So then why should this be different with God? Why keep him a secret when he offers us the greatest of reward, eternal life?
  • But this is not achievable without faith, as we need to believe truly in God to experience Him
  • So if you’re struggling in finding your faith in God, or not even sure where to look, lets go on this journey together
  • If you’re like how I was and not even sure where to start and think it takes a PhD to have faith, it is thankfully not that difficult
  • With the help of technology, even if you’re sick or in lockdown, you can pull out your phone or get on your computer and read the Bible
  • For the phone you can use the Bible app, just search your device’s app store for “holy bible”
  • If you’re on the computer you can go to Bible.com
  • The Bible app and site both have a “read to me” option, so if you are more of an audio listener you’re covered as well
  • As for which version of the Bible to read, the key is that it should be as easy to understand for you as possible
  • NIV is popular, but can be hard to read at times, so what I recommend is to use the New Living Translation, or NLT
  • Bibles such as The Message or similar are more like cliff notes to the Bible
  • So my personal recommendation for new-comers, in order, are New Living Translation (NLT), Christian Standard Bible (CSB), New International Version (NIV)
  • One of those three should get you started pretty well, and you can explore more word-for-word Bibles later
  • Should you start with the Old Testament or New Testament?
  • There’s pros and cons for both sides, but going back to the point of the reading being as easy to understand as possible, I feel there’s a clear winner
  • Some will want you to read the Old Testament first as that’s the start of everything, while others the New Testament
  • Reading the New Testament is also my suggestion, and there are a couple of reasons for this
    1. The Old Testament is filled with a lot of genealogy and things that don’t make sense in today’s world, so you will get lost far more easily until you get to a point of studying the Bible, and the focus right now is to just read
    2. The NT will give you far deeper insight to how one should be as a Christian in today’s times, especially in reading the gospels where Jesus gives us instructions
  • Start with the book of John or Luke, then read Acts, and after that explore while reading Revelations last
  • Write down questions you have, whether from your reading or not
  • Put it in your phone, piece of paper or a napkin, anything
  • Faith requires spending time with God, and unlike the times before Jesus, our time with God now is through reading the Bible and praying
  • Some people may say you should pray before and/or after reading, and if you want to do that that’s fine
  • The more you add to a new activity though the less likely you are to gain everything you can out of planting that seed of faith in yourself
  • We don’t learn by talking we learn by listening, and by reading the Bible you’re listening to God directing you
  • I challenge you to start reading the Bible starting today
  • Don’t worry about the time it takes for you to read, nor the length of what you read, just do it
  • This is where the journey begins, looking at the map and seeing what you have to do to get there; everything you need is laid out in this book, and now you just need to get moving

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