10 What Paul said about Rewards in Heaven (1 Corinthians 3:10-17)

Krisan Marotta: Thank you for joining me today for the Wednesday in the Word podcast. I'm Krisan Marotta, and this is the podcast where we explain not only what Scripture means but how we figure it out. Today we're going to be studying 1 Corinthians 3, verses 10 through 17. This is the tenth talk in our series on the book of 1 Corinthians, and this will be the first of two talks on the topic of rewards in heaven. You can reach the lecture notes for today's talk on the link below the podcast, or you can find them on my website. Just go to wednesdayintheword.com slash 1 Corinthians 10. That's 10. And while you're there, take a moment to check out the website. It is completely free of advertisements and filled instead with Bible study resources. Thank you for downloading the podcast. Let's get started. She would claim to be religious when the opportunity suited her, and every now and then for no apparent reason, she would haul us kids off to the Mormon church. On one of those compulsory Sunday visits, I remember being taught that there were seven levels of heaven and that those who did good works in their earthly lives could attain to the highest level of heaven. But those who built with bad works or mediocre works in their earthly lives, well they'd still get to heaven, but only at the lowest level. That Sunday school scared me to death because I figured my works were pretty mediocre at best. But thankfully God used that experience to start me on a journey that would eventually lead to coming to real faith in Jesus. You've probably heard some version of this kind of teaching taught before. If I build with bad works and different people define bad works differently, then I will not receive the extra rewards of heaven. I might still be saved, but just barely, and throughout eternity I'll be living in, say, a shack or a hovel on those golden streets while my more godly and accomplished friends, well, they will be in mansions. Those people who lead principled, disciplined lives and did lots of good works, they'll get the first class level of heaven. While the rest of us, we're gonna come in with the plain vanilla economy package. Now nobody uses that kind of language. I am exaggerating, but you get the idea, and that kind of thinking does get taught. So where does this idea come from? Well, one of the places it comes from is our passage today, 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 10 through 17. Often people will use this passage to teach the basic idea that you need to do something to add to your faith. The idea is what are you doing with the salvation you've been given? And rewards or lack thereof will be determined by your answer. Now this is one of those passages where context matters, and one of those passages that you can go terribly wrong in if you take it out of context. Now, if what I said in the last podcast about the flow of thought in Paul's argument is correct, then it seems to me that it is virtually impossible for Paul to be teaching that view of rewards here. It just makes absolutely no sense in the flow of thought leading up to this point. So you'll remember we're in a section where Paul is challenging the Corinthians on their view of wisdom. Some in the Corinthian church have dismissed Paul and have rejected his authority because he doesn't speak with wisdom as they define it. And Paul has been arguing back to them, saying the fact that you Corinthians are choosing sides between Apollos and myself shows that you Corinthians don't have the right perspective on wisdom or on Apollos and me, Paul. And he argued in the last section that Apollos and I, Paul, are both servants of God. We are teaching the same gospel, and it is the content of the gospel that's important, not how sophisticated and rhetorical and how much flair and eloquence we have in our delivery. And he used these two metaphors to explain his point. The first metaphor he compares the Corinthian church to a field, and he says that he Paul sowed the seed and Apollos watered the seed, and in the second metaphor he compares the Corinthian church to a building. He says that as the master builder, he Paul laid a foundation, and then Apollos came after him and built on that foundation. And both analogies have the same idea that the Corinthian church is God's project, it's God's field, God's building, and God chose at least two servants to work on that project. He chose Paul who laid the foundation or sowed the initial seed, and Apollos who came later and built on that work. So Paul did the initial work of proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ and gathering together those who responded to the gospel in faith as a church. Then Apollos and others came later after Paul left and continued to encourage and instruct the Corinthian church. And as we go into this discussion of rewards for how you build on the foundation, remember the topic under discussion is not how each Christian builds on the foundation of his faith with either good or bad works in order to gain rewards in heaven. Rather, the topic we've been discussing up till now is building a church. The topic is how Apollos and others who came after Paul are building on the foundation that Paul laid in Corinth. Paul was the first to preach the gospel in Corinth. Apollos and others are continuing that work. So as Paul comes into this discussion and these verses we're going to look at today about how you build on the foundation and whether you're building with good materials or bad materials, remember the question on the table is how have others continued his work in the Corinthian church after he left? The topic on the table is not how is each individual building on the gospel they received or their salvation he or she received. So the question we're discussing is is Apollos using good materials as he's building on the foundation Paul laid or not? And as we'll see, it's not just Apollos. Paul is going to issue a general warning about how all leaders and teachers build on the foundation that he laid. Now for some of you, this may be a disappointment. If you're hearing this for the first time and you've never studied the context before, you're probably saying, Rats, I thought I was going to get a really interesting passage because it was going to tell me how to get rewards in heaven, and that's something I really need to know. And now you're telling me it's about how teachers two thousand years ago taught a church that is long gone? Well, this has ceased to be interesting to me. If you're thinking like that, bear with me. What we want to do is figure out what Paul was saying to the Corinthians and then decide what's relevant to us. And I'm gonna argue that what Paul says here is in fact very relevant to us today, but it's just not the topic you might have thought it was. Paul has just said that he's an apostle. He is one of those who has the authority to speak for and about Jesus and to authoritatively declare this is what Jesus was all about. That's the foundation he laid the gospel of Christ crucified, as he said. Now he goes on in verse ten. According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder, I laid a foundation and another is building on it, but each man must be careful how he builds on it. At this point in his argument, Paul stops calling out Apollos by name, but I think he still has Apollos in mind, even though he's not using his name. I think he stops using Apollos' name because he wants to now generalize the warning. His purpose here is not to reprimand Apollos. Yes, Apollos, like everybody else, would need to think about how he's building on the foundation, but anyone who teaches needs to think about that. So while Paul still has Apollos in mind, he just mentioned him in the metaphors of building and watering, I think at this point he wants to make a more general point. The warning gets broader because Apollos is not the only one building on the foundation. And let me remind you, I don't think Paul and Apollos set out to create divisions in the Corinthian church. Some are aligning themselves with Paul, some are aligning themselves with Apollos, and some with Peter, you'll remember from chapter one. But that's not a situation that Paul or Apollos wanted to create. I have argued that Paul wasn't looking for followers to follow him, rather, he was calling people to follow Jesus, and that the evidence we have suggests Apollos was not looking for followers either, that he was trying to call people to Christ. And we'll see as we go through the letter that others in the church have assumed positions of leadership and influence, and they are influencing these divisions and are partly to blame for the strife in the church. And they are now building on Paul's foundation, and I think Paul's words here are more generally directed at all of those now in leadership in the Corinthian church. So he's saying, look, all of you who have decided that I, Paul, am not wise and not worth listening to, pay attention. In reality, the situation is very different than the way you picture it. The reality is I, Paul, am the wise master builder who laid down a foundation that you leaders and teachers are now building on. And you need to be careful how you build. This nonsense about we don't follow Paul, we're with Apollos is very serious stuff, and I want to warn you about it. You have presumed to come into a church and build on the foundation I laid, and you're presuming to tell people how to live out their lives of faith, and you need to take that responsibility very seriously. Let's look at 311. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Paul's saying, Look, I already laid the foundation. I was the first to preach the gospel in Corinth. I proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ and taught you the basic message that this church has gathered around. So I laid the foundation, which is that Jesus is the Christ. That's how I translate that last phrase. That Jesus is the Christ. The truth, that Jesus of Nazareth is the long awaited Messiah. So this man Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah who will inherit the throne of David and establish righteousness and God's justice on earth. That's the foundational belief that brought you together as a community and as a church. You all came to believe that Jesus is the Christ. While it's true that Paul was first chronologically, I think he's also speaking here of his authority as an apostle. He was the wise master builder. He laid down the right foundation. As an apostle, he is one of a handful of men who were chosen to be given clear, accurate understanding and the authority to speak for and about Jesus. So what he taught them is the authentic, authoritative gospel of Jesus. It's the truth, and no one can come along and change it. No one can come along and knock that foundation down and start building over. And that's the point he's making in 311. You folks coming after me are building on the foundation that I, Paul, laid. It is not your job to knock it down and start over. As an apostle, I have laid down the right foundation. Not because I'm anything great, but because God chose to reveal his message to me and I have faithfully proclaimed it to you. So let's all make sure you understand your job. None of you should be seeking to lay a new foundation. That's not your calling. Your calling is to build on the foundation that I, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God laid down. The question then is how are you doing that? How are you building? Are you building well or are you building poorly? Let's look at the next few verses three, twelve and thirteen. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident, for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. Now if you just looked at those verses out of context, it would be easy to conclude that they're talking about how an individual believer builds on the foundation of their faith with good works. But that's not the context. The context is teachers and leaders in Corinthian church building on the foundation that Paul laid when he was there with them. Paul then asks, What kind of material are you working with here? And the list he gives divides into two parts. And I think he's discontinuing the metaphor he started earlier. The building is going to catch on fire, and when it does, the fire will test the quality of the building materials. The parts that were built with wood and hay and straw will burn up in the fire, while the parts that were built with gold and silver and precious stones will last. They won't be consumed. So it's our job as Bible students to unpack this metaphor. What's the corresponding reality? Paul doesn't really tell us anywhere. He doesn't specifically say what he means by these materials, so we have to figure it out based on the historical situation he's writing into and the flow of thought in his letter so far. Certainly he's talking about speaking truth. He doesn't want someone to come along and build on his foundation with lies and a false gospel. But think about the divisions that have developed in Corinth and how Apollos contributed to those divisions even though he didn't seek to create them as far as we know. The evidence we have suggests that Apollos did not intend to become the ringleader of an anti Paul cult. But somehow in this process a group of people have rallied around Apollos and rejected Paul. A group of people in the Corinthian church are focused enough on worldly values and questions like being an impressive, sophisticated speaker and appealing to the sophisticated elite of the town, and they think Apollos fits that standard better. Instead of the question how faithful have you been to the gospel of Jesus Christ, they are focused on how eloquent and articulate are you in delivering your message. In some way, Apollos' actions contributed to this situation even if that wasn't his intent. I think Paul has more in mind than have you said true things, because I think Apollos did say true things, and to the extent that Apollos spoke the truth and encouraged them to live out the implications of their faith, his words were gold and silver. But some of what Apollos did in Corinth helped create this problem of strife and divisions, and that part is wood, hay, and stubble. Apollos and all the leaders of the church need to be careful in the content of their message and ensuring that it is in fact the truth, but they also need to be mindful of how they promote that message such that it doesn't lead to strife and division. And that takes a measure of wisdom, humility, and being alert to what's going on in your listeners. It takes more than asking, am I teaching the truth? You also have to ask, am I promoting faith, wisdom, and maturity in my listeners? Or am I pandering to them? Am I telling them only what they want to hear? Or am I telling them in a way that feeds the wrong ambitions in them? Am I challenging them where they need to be challenged or overlooking those challenges so that they will like me better? I think Paul has something like that in mind. Let me read three twelve and thirteen again. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay straw, each man's work will become evident, for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. You can see how taking these two verses as standalone verses, it would be easy to conclude that Paul is talking about judgment day and the way each individual believer has lived his or her life. And he could be saying then something like each person will walk through the metaphorical fire of judgment, and some will have more left over than others. But these aren't standalone verses. We have a context in Corinthians and the New Testament as a whole. So if you look at fire and how fire is used as a metaphor in the New Testament, you'll find that fire is used as a metaphor to talk about judgment day. But when the context is judgment day, those who fail God's judgment are thrown into the fire and consumed and destroyed. That's the reality of the judgment. There's nothing left over, everything is destroyed. The fires of judgment day are not a test, they're a rejection. Those who fail to escape God's wrath through the blood of Jesus Christ are rejected and thrown into the fire. The wheat will be separated from the tares and the tares will be destroyed. So when fire is used as a metaphor for judgment, it is not testing, it is rejection. When fire is used as a metaphor of testing, like in first Peter one, what's being tested is faith. That kind of metaphorical fire does not happen when Jesus comes back. That metaphorical fire happens now in the trials, tragedies, and circumstances of this life. Our faith goes through this metaphorical fire now and it is refined and matured. Then when Jesus comes back, having a faith that has been tested by fire and found to be genuine faith results in praise and glory and honor. So that testing fire is the testing of our faith now in trials and difficult circumstances. So we see these two ways that fire is used as a metaphor in the New Testament, and it is possible that Paul is creating a new and different kind of metaphor here, but given the context, it seems most likely to me that he's talking about the kind of testing fire of this life. This word for testing in 313 is a very common word in the New Testament, and I'm not aware of any place where it is used to talk about testing on judgment day. I might have missed a place, but every place I looked it up, the context was being tested in this life. Now all of that makes me conclude that when Paul talks about fires testing the quality of the building, he's talking about the situation right now in Corinth. What is the outcome of those who have been building on the foundation? Well, right now we're seeing strife, division, and jealousy. The trials are revealing what kind of building has been happening in the Corinthian church and how well the next generation of leaders is building on the foundation. And it seems to me given the context and the way fire is used as a metaphor elsewhere in the New Testament, it just makes a lot more sense to see Paul is saying the fires are now, the testing is now. The Corinthians are in the midst of them now, and the in question is what will remain? What is surviving? So I think Paul is looking at the situation in the church they are in as he writes, and he's warning them, you need to stop and look at what's going on and consider the implications of your own leadership in the church, because right now it doesn't look so good. When he talks about the day making it clear, well he may have a mind judgment day, but I think it's more likely he just means time will tell. If you stop and consider the situation in your church, you can see the likely result of your labors. Look at what's going on now. You're experiencing strife, jealousy, discord, and divisions. That ought to tell you something about how you're building. Now let me stop for a moment and reflect on this. As a teacher, studying this kind of makes Me panic. Is Paul saying that we Bible teachers are going to be judged based on how well our listeners respond? That I, as a Bible teacher and other Bible teachers, will pay some kind of price based on whether all of you listening are faithful in your response? Well that's terrifying. We know from other scriptures that each of us is responsible for the choices we make. We aren't going to be able to blame our mothers, our upbringing, our social status, our spouses, or anyone else. We aren't going to be able to stand before God like Adam in the garden and say, Well, the woman you gave me, she made me do it. It didn't work for Adam and it's not going to work for us. You aren't going to be able to say, but Lord, my pastor said X, Y, Z. Each and every one of us will answer for the decisions we make and whether we had a heart open to following God or not. That said, I think we teachers and leaders are going to be answerable for what we taught and how we led. When it comes to judging you listeners, the issue is going to be you. But when it comes to judging me as a teacher, the issue of what I said and what I taught is going to be very relevant. God can't legitimately say, what did you say to those people? If I'm primarily concerned with my own reputation or gaining some kind of rock star status or being the most loved and liked member of the flock such that I pander to you and tell you only what you want to hear and skip anything you might find hard or difficult, or I lack the courage to say what needs to be said, then I do think I will answer to God for that. And before that day comes, the testing fires of this life should warn me and give me a heads up that maybe I'm not doing so well. Those testing fires ought to help make it obvious to me and maybe to you too, that the pink fluffy stuff message I'm giving you lacks substance and lacks the things you need to get you through the storms of life. That testing should alert both of us that a cotton candy message is not helping anyone. On the other hand, if I encourage you to reflect on and discover the deep and difficult truths of the gospel, then that can give you an anchor to hang on to when the storms hit, and when the storms hit, we should see that anchor and that should encourage both of us. I think that's the kind of thing Paul's getting at. If what I'm teaching and the way I'm leading doesn't survive the testing fires of this life, then it says something about the nature of the way I'm building right now, and I would do well to repent and seek God's wisdom. So I don't think he means that I as a teacher or leader am responsible to turn you listeners into believers. We know from scripture that is not our job. The results are up to God, that's the work of the Holy Spirit. But I can tell something about the path I'm on and may be taking you on by what's going on in our lives and whether or not I'm teaching anything that has some substance and depth to it. Life gives us feedback on how well we are promoting the truth and encouraging each other to persevere in the faith. People teaching the truth are going to attract the elect. People teaching worldly wisdom are going to attract the world. It will become clear through the testing fires of life which I was and what I was teaching and who I was attracting. The elect will be attracted to the truth because God is giving them the eyes to see and the ears to hear. Now is that scary? Absolutely. I find it terrifying. This is a responsibility I take very, very seriously, and it just drives me crazy when I hear pastors joking about how they started writing their sermons at nine PM on Saturday night. I pray that they're just joking and exaggerating, because presuming to tell someone else what the word of God means is a responsibility everyone should take very seriously. Okay, let's go on three fourteen and fifteen. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Now remember, we're still in the midst of this metaphor Paul has been using. Your Bible probably translates this word as reward, which is fine, that's legitimate, but I think we should see it more as a wage. So what's Paul talking about? I would argue that this is not a technical theological term that means eternal rewards in heaven or stars in your crown or something like that. This is just a word that means your pay, your wages, your paycheck, what you get for what you did. Paul has painted a picture for the Corinthians. He said you should think of Apollos and I as construction workers. We are servants of God working on his building. I, Paul, laid the foundation, and Apollos built the next story. And you guys have been judging us as to how wise we are in the way you define wisdom and you like Apollos better, but I'm telling you both of us are servants of God. There is a judgment that's going to be made, but it's not your judgment to make, it's God's judgment. We are going to receive our wages for what we did. There is a certain reward or a wage for being a faithful, good worker. Paul used this language earlier in three eight. He said, Now he who plants and he who waters are one, but each will receive his own reward according to his labor. Again, I think that's the same idea. He's already made this statement. He's talking about himself and Apollos and how God will give each one his wage based on how he worked in the field or built on the building, and he's come back to that idea. If we built was shoddy materials and the building comes down in a storm, then we weren't good builders and we will forfeit our pay. Okay, so what pay is he talking about? He doesn't spell it out for us. It is possible that Paul means some kind of tangible reward on judgment day or some kind of levels of heaven, but I think the context suggests otherwise. The issue in this section has been the praise or the rejection of the Corinthians. The issue has been that the Corinthians are judging Paul and Apollos, and they find Apollos excellent, and they find Paul lacking, and they have taken it upon themselves to use a worldly criteria to judge Paul and Apollos and judge who is worthy to be followed. Paul's turning the tables on them and saying Apollos and I are both servants of God in proclaiming the gospel, and it's not your job to judge us and decide who's worthy of pay. Our pay comes from the guy who hired us. What we're looking for is not praise from men, but praise from God. We didn't do what we did to get you to praise us. We're looking for praise from God. We want to faithfully do what He has called us to do. Paul makes a similar point in his letter to the Thessalonians. This is first Thessalonians two, nineteen and twenty. For who is our hope, our joy, our crown of exaltation? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming? For you are our glory and joy. Okay, in this context, Paul is saying, When Jesus comes back, what's going to be my glory or my reward? What's going to bring my joy? You Thessalonians are my glory, because I have faithfully proclaimed the gospel to you. I have been a faithful instrument in God's hands on your journey to faith and maturity. When you and I are standing there on Judgment Day, it will be a joy and glory to me to see you there. Not because I'm such hot stuff, because the opportunity to teach at all is a gift of God, and the opportunity to teach well is a gift of God. But to have been given the opportunity to teach and encourage you and have you there on judgment day with a mature faith and have you say, Thanks for sending us Paul. He was such a big help. That's going to be my joy, that's my glory, that's the reward I'm looking for. Paul is saying, that's going to be a great thing to delight in. That's my crown of exaltation. And I think it's the same idea in Corinthians. Remember, he just said earlier in this chapter, it is God who causes the growth. Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth. God gave Paul a role to play, but all of this is God's field, God's building, and God's doing. And Paul is rejoicing that he got a role to play. So given what he writes in Thessalonians, and then the context of who is judging who and on what basis, it just makes more sense to me that Paul is saying, Apollos and I will get our pay in the end, we work for God, and faithfully serving him is our pay. We're looking for that, not your earthly praise. Now I admit it is hard to be definitive here because Paul doesn't say what he has in mind by pay, but I think that idea fits the context best and fits what he says in other passages. Okay, let's go on. I'm going to read three fourteen through seventeen. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward, but if any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so is through fire. Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are. Okay, again we have to remember the context here. It is very tempting to connect these words with the language Paul uses later in Corinthians, where he talks about the body as a temple of God. And in that section, he's talking about sexual morality, and he's talking about the work of the Spirit of God in each individual believer. Chapter 3 has a different context. The issue here is the Corinthian church. He's been using a building metaphor in the immediate context, and I think it just makes much more sense to see this as you, the Corinthian church, are a temple of God. This building that is being built here that Apollos and I are building on, it's a temple of God. This church, this gathering of believers, is God's building. His spirit is at work among you, and you are like a temple of God because his spirit is at work in your midst. Therefore, if any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him. So I think destroying the temple of God in this context is tearing down the foundation of the gospel upon which this church was built. Not just building foolishly, but actually tearing down the foundation the apostle laid, deliberately distorting the gospel, teaching lies, seeking to undo what Paul has done. If you do that, if you destroy the truth of the gospel, which is the foundation of this church building, then God will destroy you. Okay, let's review how all this fits together. If the teachers and leaders in Corinth build with good materials such that they promote wisdom and maturity and faith in their flock, they will receive praise from God. If the teachers in Corinth build foolishly such that they create a lot of strife and division and other problems in the church, then they will suffer the consequences of that even though they are still saved. But if the teachers in Corinth try to actively rip up the foundation of the gospel and undo the work Paul has done, then God will destroy them. In that case, they will have set themselves up as an enemy of God and it will be to their own destruction. So the warning here is you can be a wise and faithful worker and receive the satisfaction of doing a job well, or you can be a foolish and immature worker and have the dis that disappointment in the end that you didn't accomplish much that will last, but you're still saved, or you can be an enemy of God and God will destroy you. So to wrap this up, I think this passage is a really great example of paying attention to the context. If we pull a few verses out of context here or there, we can build an entire theology that doesn't really exist. It rests in thin air rather than on the foundation of Scripture. And I think this warning that Paul gives applies to all of us, whether we're teachers or leaders or not, because we all have places where we influence other people's lives. We have friends, we have family, we have co-workers, we're parents, we're teachers in the classroom. We all have places where we encourage and exhort, and we should take that very seriously. Because in the end, I think God has given every one of us a field to water and every one of us a building to build on, and we have to be wise and mature workers. We want to be workers who build something that lasts and not something that will burn up in testing. And Paul is very concerned that we promote the truth of the gospel and encourage each other to believe what is true and not pursue worldly goals, but he wants us to pay attention to how we do that. So as individuals, as a church, I think we ought to take this passage to heart. Some are very quick to run to it to try to figure out how to get stars in our crowns in heaven, but I think this is really a sober warning. God has given us all a role to play in building his kingdom, and there are three ways we can handle it. We can be wise and faithful and receive the well done faithful servant reward. We can be foolish and immature and receive the temporary disappointment of not having accomplished much of lasting value, or we can be God's enemy and tear down the foundation he laid, in which case, woe to us. Now you're probably panicking and asking, Oh my gosh, how do I become a wise and mature builder? Well remember, the good news is God causes the growth. God is the one who prepares the good works for us to walk in, as Paul says in Ephesians. All we have to do is ask him. Seek Him, seek His wisdom, seek His grace, His mercy. Throw yourself on His grace and loving kindness and trust that He who begin a good work in you will perfect it. Just because we have these warnings doesn't mean we've switched to a kind of sanctification by works. As Paul has said, this is God's field, this is God's building, we are his servants. Now this passage is one of the key passages people use to build a doctrine of rewards in heaven. So I thought it would be fun and profitable to take advantage of this podcast platform and take a week off and look at some of the other passages people use to talk about rewards in heaven. So if this passage, as I've argued, does not teach rewards in heaven, are there other passages that do? So that's the question we're gonna look at next week, and then we'll come back to Corinthians and finish chapter three. You've been listening to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. My mission is to apply serious Bible study to real life and help you learn how to study. If you haven't visited my website, I encourage you to stop by. Rather than being covered with advertisements, my website contains a wealth of Bible study materials designed to help you improve your skills and understanding, and it is all free. I don't take any advertising and I don't ask for any donations. If you want to thank me, join the mailing list, subscribe to the podcast, and most important, tell a friend what you've learned. Our theme music is graciously provided by Reggie Coates. You can find his music on heartfeltmusic.org. Thank you for listening today. I'm Krisan Marotta, and I hope you'll join me next week for Wednesday in the Word.