¶ The Importance of Reading the Bible
Hey , George Sound Baptist Church . I'm Maverick and I'm Jake , Dr Jake Edwards . I haven't said that in the past couple of podcasts , but we're saying it . I have happily noticed that he is a doctor , believe it or not .
But I'm not the kind of doctor that if something bad is happening to you I can help . I can pray for you and try to lead you to Jesus , but that's probably something I could have done before I got the doctor . God's not dead man .
That's what happens at the end of the movie .
I need to text my brother that you need to text your brother .
So anyways , like you said , this is a podcast for our church members and for people who are checking out our church and want to get to know me or Jake , and just get to know what we're talking about , what we're passionate about , and it's just been really great .
Y'all's questions have been just fantastic and also I'll just shout out the text of encouragement has been really , really nice . It's just been awesome to hear just your feedback . So please keep that coming . We really enjoy it and maybe , if we get so , everyone will read some questions and stuff out on a podcast in a future episode .
So this week's question for Pastor Jake we actually get to drill you with a question this week , so I'm happy about it . Jake , pastor , dr Jake , how do we read our Bibles ?
Well , I think the question is really you know , how do I deal with the challenge of reading my Bible ? You know it's it's a discipline , it's a spiritual discipline and a lot of people are like you have you lost me at discipline ? You know , we're all kind of there . You know , currently I'm trying to prepare to run a long race in December and I did that .
I did that five years ago and my body is not cooperating like I did five years ago and I'm needing to discipline myself more to get my body back into a comfortable position to be able to run . So I'll let you know in December how that went . But it's no different with scripture .
I remember being six years old , learning who Jesus is getting saved , placing my faith in him and sitting down with my Bible and starting at Genesis , one one , and going . You know what I'm going to read from beginning to end , and y'all , if it was easy , everybody would do it .
And getting through Genesis Exodus , you know there's really good narrative in Genesis Exodus . Then you get to Leviticus and you start getting caught up in all the laws . There's over 600 Levitical laws .
And then you get into , you know numbers and there's there's a lot of numbers and you just begin to realize that the Bible is a very old book and there are there's language that's used , even with brand new translation . There are languages that are used that are difficult to understand and you have to develop a true discipline to get into the Word of God .
But , friends , take encouragement in this that you are not wasting your time , even when it's challenging . Yes , I have two memory verses on the word . One is Joshua , one eight . And God tells Joshua that this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth , but you shall meditate on it day and night and do everything according to what's written in it .
Then your way will be prosperous , then you will have success . I mean God is literally telling Joshua that if you will take my word seriously and you will study it and make it a part of your life , I'm going to show you the way . I'm going to give you help through your life . So this isn't something you're reading to check a box , that you did it .
This isn't something you're reading so people can think that you're a good Christian . It is the ability to learn God's purposes , God's way and to be able to live your life that way . And Timothy three , 16 and 17, . You know I had a student a few weeks ago say how can I be sure that the Bible is true ?
Well , those verses say that all scripture is inspired by God , profitable for teaching , for reproof , for correction , for training and righteousness , so that the man of God may be adequate and a good for every good work . The point of it is everything you read in the Bible . We have faith that God wrote it .
God put the words into the author's quills and they wrote that on manuscripts . And we are reading a living , breathing document . John one one , jesus Christ is called the word . So everything about Jesus is about God's word . So I'm telling you all these things to tell you this is a good book .
It's a challenging book , but it's a good book and it's not going to waste your time . It's only going to enhance your life and make it better . So I don't know if I really answered your question on how to read it but I'm telling you , it is . There is so much purpose in it .
Well , one , if we know how important it really is , then we'll make time for it . You know , I kind of said that in our discipleship deal . Anything that's important you will make time for . You want your kid to make your game on time . Guess what he's going to make the game on time . You want him to go to school Guess what they're going to go to school .
Like anything that's important you are going to make time for . My hobbies are really important to me . Guess what I make time for them , because that's one way how I get rest . Like the Bible is , you hit on one of the most crucial parts . It's , it's literally the living word of God .
It's important , but but here's the problem A lot of you listening know that . You know that , but guess what Life gets in the way . So , man , how do we read our Bibles ? Well , I can tell you how I read mine . So I , my schedule is sporadic .
The joke in our house is hey , once we get through this busy season , we'll rest , and my wife always lasts , because the falls of the busy season , the springs of the busy season , the summers of the busy season , like the winter is , every season is busy .
So it's just , it's just a joke in our house and we don't even have a kid , so it's just going to get worse . But how I read my Bible through sporadic is I don't read Genesis , one , one to revelations , and if you're a type A and you want to scheduled and structured man , I'll tell you probably do that .
But if you're anything like me , I pick a book out of the Bible and I read it . I pick , I pick one book . Um , right now I'm in , uh , jeremiah , I'm in the prophet of Jeremiah , and after I finished Jeremiah I'll probably go to a New Testament book . I'll flip flock .
Um , this past summer I read first and second Samuel and then I read Mark , and it's because two weeks before that I read first and second Kings and I read Matthew . So I just kind of flip-flopped from Old Testament New Testament . But I stick with one book and I meditate on it .
So some days I'm reading a chapter , some days I'm reading five chapters , just depending on the time . But I'm making sure I'm underlining things and I'm making sure I'm thinking about it . Um , as my day goes on , uh , I try to read my Bible in the morning .
Uh , so , instead of , you know , waking up when my alarm goes off , I said , I alarm 30 minutes earlier than when I need to get ready , so I have time to read my Bible before I even have to get ready , or I'll get ready and then read my Bible .
Um , another thing that helps me personally is I I put in my headphones and I listen to , uh , some worship pads , because that just means there's something going on and and I really I just focus on reading God's word . Um , because , guess what ? There's 66 books in there and they're all important Absolutely .
And I think you're hitting on a strong point that you know . I think the goal is I want to read the whole Bible .
Yeah .
I think everybody would say that , um , but you can't . You can't go wrong as long as you're committing to the scriptures . I tell people all the time , especially brand new Christians .
If you are not accustomed to the Bible , I would encourage you to read Matthew , mark , luke and John the first four books of the New Testament and just rest in those passages for for a period of time , as long as it needs to be , and understanding that as you grow , as you develop a stronger discipline , you're going to be able to branch out a little bit more
. But if that's not where the phase , if that's not the phase that you're in right now , don't try to put yourself in a place where you might fail . Put yourself in an opportunity to succeed . Utilize the people around you that do read the Bible . Pull up podcasts about reading the Bible . There's YouTube videos that you can look up .
There are books , there are methods you know . I'm one of those that I do really well with structure . I I need um , and it's not just with Bible reading , it's just anything I do well if there is a plan .
And uh , I learned about a resource called the Bible recap by Tara Lee Cobble and uh , she , uh , she just has a Bible reading plan in place that you can use to be able to study and um , and it's connected to the Bible app and it starts as it's really .
It's a chronological reading plan through the Bible that you start on January 1st and then the last day of the year you finished the entire Bible . But it doesn't just give you the Bible reading , it gives you a five to seven minute podcast on each reading , each day that explains what you just read .
So if you are a very novice Bible reader and you're going , that might be a good way for me to start . I would encourage you to utilize that
¶ Developing a Discipline of Bible Reading
structure . But not everybody functions well in structure , yeah , and some people , they just need to get into the word . And you know , I definitely think it's good to have a plan . You know , in our discipleship class we teach on week two .
We , we do it's called inductive Bible study and it's just a method that you can study the Bible and be able to retain what you read more . But we , we just really believe that you've got to develop that habit . But Any discipline will put you in a place of shame .
So my daughter , she's in junior high workouts right now and she came home from school and said , dad , I did bench press today . And I said , well , how much did you put on the bar ? And she said I lifted the bar .
Well , it's her very first day in the weight room and the bar is 45 pounds and , honestly , for a girl her age , that's a very adequate place to start because her muscles are not in any position where she's ever had to do bench press and I think that's a great place for her to start .
But let's say she , for the next two or three months , lifts the bar and she sees some of her friends that start putting 10 pounds on each side to make it 65 pounds . She can fall into this way of thinking . Well , you know what I should be lifting 65 pounds , I don't know why I'm still in 45 pounds .
And as students get older and as you get into the weight room more , you start comparing yourself to other people . Yes , comparison is an evil game , friends , and when you look at the Bible , don't compare your reading with another person's reading . Where are you today ? Quit , focusing on what you should be doing . Focus on what you need to be doing .
So if you need to open up the book of Proverbs and read Proverbs and read one chapter a day , there's 31 chapters and Proverbs , so most months , that's the perfect amount of Bible reading is just read one chapter a day . If it's 10 verses a day in a book , do that , be faithful with that and commit yourself to it .
In other words , how do I read the Bible ? It's simple . You got to read it , but put yourself in a place where you can understand . There are numerous translations that you can read . I encourage you if you really struggle with the old school language of the King James Bible , then go buy a translation .
There are hundreds of them and you can find them all on the Bible app . Find a translation that you can understand better . So , Maverick , what translations would you subscribe to that ?
you personally read . So I'm an ESV guy . I am that is , if you go into the chapel you'll see a bunch of blue Bibles and they're ESV . And I do that for two reasons kind of a little side topic . So if anyone doesn't bring their Bible , they can grab a blue Bible and I can be like , hey , go to Matthew , chapter 14 .
And Nolan Prestigard I'll call him out he always flips the Bible open and he'll be like , hey , it's on page so , and so he always grabs a blue Bible and it helps someone who doesn't know where Matthew is and they can just go right on the page . It also helps the fact that whatever I'm reading , they're seen , so they're just following right along .
So it's super easy for someone who's never read the Bible to follow along with what I'm reading .
Because if I'm reading ESV and the Bible translations in IV , well then , some of the why the scripture is still there , and I'm not saying NIV is not great , but there will be changes of words and so the youth won't know where to go if they've never read the Bible . So I subscribe to the ESV and the reason why ?
Just for the why , is I like a closer translation to the Hebrew and Greek Bible and it's all on a spectrum and ESV is just closer . It's not perfect Because , guess what ? We don't speak Hebrew or Greek , we speak English , and English is broken as I'll get out , and so it's just a closer spectrum .
So I follow that and then I will say in my walk when I do really really well , this is a side topic . This is to talk about the discipline side of it . Is you got to ? I'll use your weightlifting method if you're trying to put weight on the bar , you never lifted before . Would you do it by yourself , absolutely .
It's a good word .
Absolutely not . Okay , I was saying , if it hit , absolutely not you want it . Because if you , you don't want to be embarrassed and you lift it up and you can't get it back up , and then you got to do the weird shimmy where you get the bar off the break .
If you can't live 45 pounds , I'm not spotting the bar .
I do . I do 35 pound bar . So my best friend , one of my best friends , he is a weightlifting Machine , like he is , and he always wants me to get working out with him . And guess what ? I feel very disappointed Every time I work out with him . But he loves it and , man , he spots me , he helps me . Well , guess what we do out of the weight room .
We spot each other in our Bible reading . We did something this past summer where we went through a proverb a day like what you're talking about and guess what . We did it together and so I knew when he read it and he was keeping me accountable when I read it .
Like , we spot each other because life happens and we struggle and , like you said , it's a , it's a discipline and it's not easy . So I read my Bible more sporadic , more Not structured , where I just pick a book and I just may not study that chapter .
But what really helps me in the discipline side of it is having that spotter , having that person there to keep me accountable . And so when I fall short , like let's say , I read my Bible in three days or a week , guess what they have and they're like , hey , you need to get back on it .
Sure , and if you're listening to this and we've had people tell us this , they say I don't know the Bible , and it's almost like this feeling of shame , embarrassment , fear . You know , even if you're in your 60s , 70s .
I've had people tell me that there are some really cool tools out there and this might sound weird , but there is a book it's a children's book called the Jesus storybook Bible . Mm-hmm and it is a incredible depiction of all the way from Genesis to Revelation , of the stories of Scripture and how they connect to Jesus .
I have encouraged multiple people to buy that book and read them , because it gets you acquainted with the stories of the Bible . It helps you understand a little bit of how things work and and then we can begin to put you into the scriptures . But you bring up a good point Don't do this by yourself . There are people that will help you .
You don't have to try to figure out how to do this on your own . We will stand there and we will help you along the way . But the word of God is so very important , friends , and it's something that we don't have to neglect . John Piper he's been around a long time , incredible pastor .
He said this like 15 years ago , so it has to be updated a little bit . But he said you know , facebook and Twitter and all the social media outlets are proof that we have time to read the Bible . And the point of it is is if we have time to be in these places .
You know , the update now is Netflix and Peacock and and you know , hulu Subscriptions are our proof that we have time to be in the Bible . So let's not make an excuse and say , well , I just never have time to open up the word of God . No , make time , friends , it's beneficial , it's . It's .
The Bible is more beneficial to us than air , than water , than food , than warmth . Then you know air conditioning , and even more than the Dallas Cowboys .
You know the Bible is such a helpful tool , and Don't be afraid to walk through the struggle of the discipline , because if you'll commit to it , one day you'll wake up and you will be able to make a stride you couldn't make yesterday . Just put little days of faithfulness together and it might surprise you how much the Lord will show you and guide you .
¶ The Importance of Seeking God's Understanding
You know a verse that I subscribe to often Jeremiah 29 , 13 if you seek me , you will find me . If you search for me with all your heart I think that's true of Scripture if we seek the Lord and his understanding , he will develop the tools within us that we didn't know were there to study that word .
Yeah , it's a wise man once said you don't get buffed by one four hour workout in a day . You get buffed by 30 minute workouts over a course of a year . You know it's , it's just , it's a , it's a slow burn , it's a discipline , but yeah , like I said , don't do it alone . If you need extra help , come find us .
We can either help you or we will partner you with someone who can keep you accountable . There's a . There's a girl in our college ministry who I'm calling the best accountability partner in the world , because she tells you Exactly where you're slacking and exactly where you need to get better . So I didn't know . My wife was in the college ministry .
So , anyways , that's how you read your Bible . We , like I said , do not do it alone . We can help you , but anyways , we love you guys . If you have any more questions about that , please , please , please , come find us and we'll see you soon . Bye , guys .