How To Read and Study Pt 1

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good afternoon everyone. It is Tuesday, September third, twenty twenty four. It is currently two thirty three pm Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now what I'm going to ask you this, I would challenge you write down what are your I know, three biggest pet peeves. Three things that just absolutely irritate you, It drives you crazy, It drives you. Man. Three things that are just like, that's my pet peeve that irritates me, That drives me crazy.

0:49 I can't stand that. What are your three big ones, the three big pet peeves in your life? Just everyone knows, Oh man, that will that'll drive that person crazy. I have a few. One is people who show up late to anything. That will drive me insane, Like like, no, if we're good, we're supposed to go here, Like I like, let's say we're going to a concert, it doesn't matter, or to a sporting of it, whatever, we're leaving it this time. We're not leaving one second late. We're not leaving two seconds late. We're leaving right on time, and if you're not there, I don't care. If you're family, I don't care if I'm leaving you because beyond time, because when you're not on time, you're demonstrating disrespect to everyone else and you think the world revolves around you and it doesn't. Okay, right, So yeah, late people being late.

1:37 That's a pet peeve that usually drives me crazy. Wow, I probably have some others. Oh, here's one. This is a pet peeve with me, all right, So I love now because we're in twenty twenty four and well probably for over the last one. When did the kindle come out? I don't remember, but before the kindle, because as soon as the kindle came out, I purchased one. You know, buying books on the kindle. It's a little different, right, because they're on your kindle, they're in your library. You may see them, but they're just not all around you. But I've always had this, really, this is a big pet peeve when it comes to books, because it's typically I've seen this happen. I can't speak for Christian women, but for Christian men who say they love books. I've seen too many Christian men who like, oh, they bought this book, and they bought this book, and they bought this book, and I'd be like, so what did you read. Well, I haven't read all of that book. I read some of that, and now I'm reading this one. Okay, so you didn't really read the whole book, Like, so what did you do with the book? Did you take any notes?

2:36 And it's like sometimes I felt like they just bought books to buy books, but they really didn't do much with the books. And that always bothers me, especially not so much when other people do that. I'm just like, Okay, well, I guess if you want to keep buying books and you're not actually doing anything with the books you're buying, I guess it's great to have a bookshelf full of them doing that with Sometimes when I would walk into a pastor's study and I'd be like, oh, you got this book, and well what about this and what about that? And I'm like, well, I haven't finished that, or I didn't read all of that, or I didn't really read it. Well, then why do you own them? I'm like, Okay, it just drives me crazy. But when it comes to me personally, I used to buy lots of physical books, lots of them. In fact, I have a garage full of them. I probably need to get rid of them. But I have books everywhere, right, And what would drive me crazy if I would look on my bookshelf and that would be like, Man, I bought that book four months ago, six months ago, or a year ago, and I would look at it and be like, what have I done with that book?

3:36 Did I take extensive notes on it? Did I turn it? Did I utilize it for any teaching? Did I use it for a Bible study? What did I really do with that book? I mean, maybe I read some of it, maybe I read all of it, But what did I really do with it? And if anyone's been a long time listener, you know that can bother me. Remember there was a Charles Stanley book that I'm like, I've never really done anything with this book. So we turned it into a series, right, We turned it into a series, and we went through basically the entire book and tried to get something out of it. Because it was just like the book always haunted me. I would pick it up, read a little bit and then just kind of be like, well, I never mind, And then I would pick it up, read it, but I never did anything with it. So we turned it into a series, and I think we we had a little bit of fun with it, and I think maybe we got something out of it. So if I see a book laying around and if I'm like, well, what see did I what did I do with that?

4:34 Did I do much with that? If I don't feel like I really got every you know, I got every cent worth of that book. Like when I purchase something, I want to utilize it. I want to get every cent worth I can out of it, right because you know, things cost money, so I want to make sure I use them. I'm the same way with whatever I purchase. I'm going to use it and use it and use it. Because if I'm not going to use it, why did I by it? Then I get really irritated. So the other day I was looking around because I got a new Bible and I still have a kind of a recent Bible, so I was kind of looking at them and I looked down and I'm like, wait, I brought that Bible home from church because they'd been sitting at the church being kind of in the church library, and I just brought it home recently, and I saw it laying there, and I'm like, you know, I haven't really used that bible. I don't even know where I got it.

5:28 I don't know how much it costs me. But I got to do something with it. So I picked it up and I put it down here on the table. Now. It's really nice. It's a KJV study Bible from Hallman. It's very nice. I love the cover of it. It's huge. I mean, the thing is gigantic. Probably I got it and maybe not realize how big it was because it's like, it's really too big for the way I preach, because I like to walk and talk when I preach, and this thing is too big to carry around. This is one that you would just leave on the top of the pulpit, and I like to kind of when I do lots of walking when I'm teaching. So I'm like, so I never used it for that. I think maybe when I was doing all of my broadcasting at the church, especially during the pandemic, I may have had it there thinking I was going to use it more. And because it's a study Bible, I'll typically use that as a reference.

6:17 So I'm like, well, I haven't really used it. So I picked up the Bible. I opened it, Sorry, knocking the microphone across the room. Okay, you open it up. It has King James version of the Bible, the Holman Holman KJV Study Bible. Okay, that looks nice. All right. Then you have the table of contents. All right, very good. You have you have a little bit of there. You have introduction to the Hallman KJV Study Bible. Features of the Hallman KJV Study Bible, cross reference, study notes, photos, maps, charts, illustrations, introductions, timelines, and essays. Okay, that looks good. They have some you know, kind of some pictures of things in the Bible where they tell you where to find this or where to find that. Okay, all right, great. They have the contributors.

7:03 They have the general editors, the associate general editor, associate editors. Okay, study note contributors, those who put together the study notes. It gives the names of the individual and their educational accomplishments. Okay, great, essay contributors, great list of maps, illustrations and charts. That's really good. Right then I come to okay. Abbreviations used in the KGV Study Bible. God's Plan for Salvation okay, great, then they have steps to a classic, right kind of basically how we ended up getting the KJV version. The epistle dedication and translators to the reader. Now, this is what the translators had written down to the readers of the KJV translation. I think it's very good to read what the translators actually said, because a lot of times, especially in some certain elements of the KJV only movement, they sometimes make claims about the k that the translators themselves did not make. But okay, so that's to the translators, translators to the readers. Right, that's a good article. And then I turn the page. Finally, finally I get to a page and I'm like, oh, what is this. Here's an essay. This is before I even get to Genesis.

8:21 There's all these, you know, these different things before you actually get to the text. And it is entitled how to Read and Study the Bible. And I'm like, oh, okay, this has my attention. How to read and study the Bible? Now why does it have my attention? Well, one, it has my attention because oh, this is something in this Bible. I haven't done much with this. I could utilize this because I can get every cent worth of I can out of this Bible. I'm like, okay, I could, I could turn on the microphone and do something with it. Okay, great. Two I just like so number one, I can get something from it. Number two. I just anytime I see anything about how to read and how to study, anything about hermeneutics, biblical interpretation, anything like that, I read, read it, read it and reread it, and read it and read it because I want to be the best Bible student I can possibly be. And I've been that way since what two three weeks after my conversion. I tell the story all the time. I find myself on Butternut Street, Abilene, Texas.

9:25 There's the Bible Bookstore. It no longer exists, that sad moment of silence. Okay, right, but it's the first, you know, Christian bookstore I ever walked into. I walked into it and I was, you know, looking around. I always tell the story the older gentleman, I'm glad he didn't see a teenager. He saw a new convert. He didn't worry about my age. And he's like, well, you know, let me get you a book. Don't don't go to the youth department. You don't need any of that. And he handed me The Foundations of the Christian Life by James Montgomery Boys, tenth Presbyterian Church, basically a systematic theology. And that's the book he placed in my hands. And I years later, years like what, ten years, fifteen years later, twenty years later, I even know what it was. I got to meet I got to meet the man who headed me that book again, and I got to thank him for how transformative that book was in my life, because it set me on a path of well all of my pursuing degree of degree in philological studies, because systematic theology became a love. So I love that. But there was something else in that bookstore. There was a bargain bin. They were selling books at that time for like twenty five cents, fifty cents. They were like giving these books away because nobody wanted them. And so I'm going through, I'm a broke teenager. I'm like, you know, twenty five to fifty cents, okay, I can afford this, And I'm like, wait, twelve methods of Bible study. Now, I had been asking already, well, how do you study the Bible? Hi? And I would get like nonsensical things

10:56 like well, you read it, you highlight it, you're right down, and what God is speaking to you? Just this like vague like subjective, touchy feely nonsense. I'm like, what is this. It's a it's a book, it has words there. How come you guys approach studying the Bible or so differently than how I would study any other book? Right? Like aren't there rules of like grammar, punctuation, context, syntex history? Like like I was thinking what is wrong with Christians? Because it was always this touchy, philly pray and hear a voice and I'm like what And this was in a Southern Baptist church and I'm like what is wrong with this? So I'm like, Okay, I gave up asking Christians how to study the Bible. I really did. I got I got tired of asking the pastor deacons, Christian men.

11:45 I'm like, you people are nuts because it was some like mystical nonsense, like nobody could give me some tangible, like give me a method. So I'm like twelve methods. I felt like I had discovered, like, you know, some secret and I'm like WHOA. So I came home and I'm like I started studying those twelve methods. I memorized those twelve methods, and I started utilizing those twelve methods every way possible. And then I started teaching those twelve methods. I've taught those twelve methods of Bible study from Texas to Nebraska and anywhere else I can. I've done so on Christian radio. I've done so on Christian podcasts. I've done and preaching, teaching and Sunday school wherever I could. Now, the thing is, what I've found so frustrating is you try to teach people the twelve methods of Bible study, you can't get anyone to actually do the twelve methods.

12:37 Because I know this is going to come as a shock. It requires lots of hard work, Okay, but I love so from that moment on, I love anytime I see it ooh, how to read and how to study, I'm like, I'm drawn to it because here's my way of thinking. No matter how many methods I've learned, no matter how many classes I've taken in hermoneutics, it doesn't matter how many books I've read on it. It doesn't matter all the all the degrees I've tried to obtain and trying to learn and biblical studies, religious education, thiological, whatever the case may be. I know that I'm never yet, I will never master the subject on this side of Heaven because I'm a sinner, and because I'm a sinner in some ways, we always handle the scriptures well, and we twist them and we turn them, and we don't interpret them correctly, and there's so many things that we're never going to do right. So I just need to constantly be learning how to be a better Bible student. Now.

13:32 Sometimes if I'm being painfully honest here and painfully transparent, I get very very very very very very very very very very very very frustrated with most things that are written about how to read and study the Bible, because sometimes I feel like, what does that It's so generic, or what does that mean? Or I just don't agree, like I think things need to be tangible. Here is the Bible study method, here are the steps you utilize, and here's the things you need to get out of your Bible study, because it leads to misinterpretation and it turns it into this mystical thing and all of the other problems. So I'm always interested to read so this caught my attention. Number one just because oh it's about how to read and study the Bible. It caught my attention.

14:18 I know these are not in direct order as I originally gave them, but because I want to get the most out of this Bible. So number two and number three it speaks well because I have I'm much of a critic of what I read about how to read and study the Bible, So I'm going to offer some criticism. I'm going to offer some analysis. I'm going to offer some critique as we work through this, and this will be probably a mini series because you know how many pages is. This one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, nine, nine pages, So it's going to take us a long time to work through this, but you'll be able to hear me check challenge.

15:01 Kind of probably a common approach. So when I saw this how to Read and Study the Bible George H. Guthrie, I'm like, well, what are the chances that George H. Guthrie has written a book about how to read and study the Bible? And this essay is simply an edited or kind of summarized version of the book. So I'm like, well, let me look so I grabbed my iPad. I grabbed my iPad and I started looking, and I'm like, oh, here it is. It's on Amazon, how to Read Your Bible by George Guthrie. How to Read Your Bible by George Guthrie. You can currently purchase it for twelve dollars and ninety five cents. And I'm like, well, maybe at some point I will. Oh. And they also are selling A Short Guide to Reading the Bible Better by George eighth George H. Guthree. And I'm like, well, wait a minute, that one looks familiar. So I started looking. All right, I'm going to reach behind me, ladies and gentlemen, A Short Guide to Reading the Bible Better by George H. Guthrie.

16:20 I already have a book here about this. And I'm like, okay, so I've got a book by him, I got an article here. He's got another book called how to Read So, he's got a book called how to Read Your Bible. He's got a book called a Short Guide to Reading the Bible Better, Okay, and he's got a essay in the Holman KJV Study Bible. I'm like, so this man has obviously spent a lot of time on this subject. Now, I think we have done a little bit of work in the podcast from this book, because once again, these are one of those books and I'm like, I've got to find a way to use this. I got to find a way. And the only reason I think I have this book, I think the only reason I have this This book is one of those situations where I got ready to order a book and then it was like, hey, if you'll combine it with these four other books, you can basically get four books for the price of one. Well, then of course, give me all of them. I don't care what they are. So I've already been dealing with this a little bit. But now we're gonna I'm gonna try not to open this one. I'm just gonna use the essay in the Bible, and we're going to see how George H. Guthrie wants us to learn how to read and study the Bible. So that's what we're going to do right now. My pet peeve is a book that I haven't done anything with, and this study Bible, I don't think I've done enough with it yet, So I'm gonna get the most out of this. At the same time, the subject is very interesting to me. At the same time, I'm much a critic of it because I feel like a lot of times, even in churches,

17:53 they'll be doing like they're doing a series on how to study the Bible, and I'm like, ooh, I'm going to listen to the series, and after about four episodes in, I'm like, you're not giving anyone anything tangible. Give them a Bible study method for crying out loud. Teach him to do a chapter summary method, a chapter analysis method, a topical method, a thematic method, a word study, a book background, a book survey. Tell it. Teach him how to do an actual method for crying out loud. The people are just getting these general, vague principles. Read highlight, look for repeated words. It's just like very basic general things. And I know people who use those basic general principles and they usually make an absolute mess out of interpreting things.

18:37 They're cross referencing. Is like, we're going to put this verse with this verse, and you're like, why are you putting those two verses together? What is your justification for that? They draw weird conclusions because they don't actually know how to study. So I'm curious of which direction he's going to go and we're going to find out now. Is that a dramatic enough introduction? Is that that gets you ready? Are you ready? All right? So here we go. So if you want to look, if you want his actual book, look for how to Read Your Bible by George Guthrie. You can find it on Amazon. If you want a more condensed version, A Short Guide to Reading the Bible Better by George H. H. Guth Three. Right, this is a little small U. It's weird, the little short book.

19:27 The condensed version is fourteen dollars and the other book is twelve dollars. Are they the same pages? Like? See this one is sixty eight pages? How many pages is in this one? Oh? Wow? Okay the small one actually has more pages. So I don't I don't know. I don't understand that. Okay, So yeah, but they've got they've got two of them, so you can pick which one you want. If you want one, or if you have a KJV Study Bible put together by Hallman, you just open it up and you'll find the article and how to read and study the Bible? Are you ready? Now? What I would challenge you to do? I always give people challenges. Nobody takes me up on it. Nobody takes me up on it. But I always give people a challenge.

20:12 Go to church and ask the people in your church this question or this question or this question or this question. Now, sometimes I will get an email and people say, hey, I did ask my pastors this, and I do appreciate when people do that. But most of the time I think everyone ignores me. But it's Tuesday. If you have church Wednesday night, you can do it. You can't, and you might have to wait till Sunday. You should just go by and ask people, hey, give me the five steps to study the Bible? How do you study the Bible? And see if they begin to act. Well, don't even say steps, just say how do you study your Bible? Tell me what you do to study your Bible, and listen to see if they give you an actual, definable method, an actual Bible study method, or if it's just these general platitudes right kind of like just little cliches, little like bumper sticker slogans. Right, I read, I pray, I highlight like you know, it's like, well, no, what do you actually do? What do you actually do? As one one of the things that drives me crazy about churches.

21:17 They're like, we're doing a Bible study and it'll be like it'll be a women's Bible study or a men's Bible study. And guess what they always have. They like, there's some book. You've got to have some book. You've got to have some book. We're using Kay Arthur, or we're using Beth Moore. I know now she's not you know no longer you know the end thing anymore. But whoever it may be, and where the men are using. And I'm like, I how about you just show up at the Bible study and you pull out your Bibles and study the Bible using a Bible study method instead of you don't need a book. How about just use a Bible study method. Now you can mix in the books. But even if you're but because in some caidses what you're doing you're not actually ud the Bible. You're studying what someone is said about the Bible. You're not studying the text. And you walk away thinking you actually know the text, you know what someone's said about the text.

22:08 So I wish churches would almost prohibit that. No, no, no, you're not. No, you want your we're gonna have a Bible study. You're going to study the Bible. He said, Well, nobody knows to actually how to do that. Then why do you have that class. If you don't have a teacher who actually knows how to study the Bible, then you don't you don't need the class. Get rid of the class, have everyone come to the sanctuary. So, yeah, that stuff drives me crazy. But let's see what they're gonna what George where George H. Guthrie is going to take us? Are you ready? It's on the name of the article, how to Read and Study the Bible, George George H. Guthrie. He begins this way. The Bible is unique among the books of the world. Its release date is centuries old, yet it still dominates the best seller lists.

23:04 Now let me stop right here. You hear preachers say that all the time. And then because I've heard that so many times, countless times, and so I'll go look up the bestseller list. I'm like, okay, since the Bible dominates, it up and I'll look. I'm like, well, it's not on the New York Times bestseller list, it's not on the Amazon bestseller list, it's not on this bestseller list. Where is it on the best seller list? Where is it? Like Christians constantly say this, You do realize, pastors and teachers that when you say that without any qualification, someone's gonna go look up the best seller list and be like where is it? Like you walk into a you walk into a bookstore, and it'll be like best sellers, And I'm like, where's the Bible? I hear it's number one every year? Wait where is it? Why is it in number one? Why is it in number one? Why is in number one? And nobody can ever really offer me an explanation. So I'm like, well, since this article begins with making a claim again, just listen to it.

24:02 It dominates the bestseller list. I mean it states it in a dogmatic, assertive way. Well, if you look up a little information, here's what we know, all right. The Bible itself, I quote does not typically appear on the mainstream bestsellers lists, such as those published by the New York Times or Amazon. Like what exactly? Now? They go through a number of reasons why that doesn't occur. There's there's the Bible's consistently one of the most sold books globally, but its sales are often so steady and widespread that it doesn't appear on lists designed to capture short term trends or spikes some popularity. So in some cases that charts are not really designed to capture a book like the Bible that does have lots of demand, and you know people are buying, you know, new editions or just replacing their Bibles, So to say it's on the bestseller list would not actually be an accurate thing. To say.

24:59 Different tracking sometimes cells of the Bible are often trackted separately by publishers or religious organizations and Bible societies rather than mainstream commercial commercial outfits. Well, then how do you know it's on the bestseller list? If you're it's not going to appear on those lists. So I was continuing to look up information and I found this. It would not be accurate to write that the Bible still dominates the bestseller list in a book and because it just doesn't. So, in other words, it would not be accurate to write that the Bible still dominates the bestseller list. While the Bible maybe one of the most consistently sold books worldwide, it does not regularly appear on mainstream bestseller lists. For the reasons mentioned earlier, as I've already went through some of them. A more accurate statement may be something like, the Bible remains one of the best selling books of all time, which reflects it's enduring popularity without implying that it freaks top's contemporary bestseller list. So it's not accurate to say, again and I quote, it still dominates the best seller list. It doesn't, doesn't, all right, So we can start there, start there now next, So I'm going to read this whole thing again. The Bible is unique among the books of the world is its release date is centuries old, yet it still dominates the bestseller list, confronting modern moderns with mess with messages as fresh as

26:36 today's news headlines. Okay. Church loves to say that when they're preaching to people, Hey, you want to study the Bible because it's just as fresh as today's news headlines. It's just as relevant. I understand. We try to sell it that way. Okay, we could go back and forth on that definitely has things that are just as relevant as today's news headlines. Again, maybe that's better. It goes on to say at times, the Bible is so crystal clear that a child can understand it, and yet it's difficulties can humble the most learned of scholars. Now I struggle with that a little bit, because everyone says, well, the Bible at times is so crystal clear that a child can understand it. Which parts are crystal clear? Please give me all the passages that are crystal clear, and then let's go look at commentaries and see how many people actually agree on the passages that are supposedly crystal clear.

27:42 Because the history of Christianity demonstrates that whatever is supposedly crystal clear to one, someone else will say it's crystal clear, but come up with a completely opposite interpretation. But okay, it is. It's difficulties should humble the most learned of scholars. The Bible should humble all of us. Sadly, Christians tend to be very arrogant about their understanding of it, which drives me absolutely crazy. Right, it goes on to say diverse in theme and literary genres. I think that's very true. It's diverse in its themes and its literary genres. It conveys a unified story, a message that climaxes in the person and work of Jesus Christ, it was delivered through human writers. It is truly God's word. The Bible can seem as familiar as a walk next door, or as foreign as a distant country. This article aims to help you hear from God through daily interaction with the Bible. Now, I'm going to stop right here. This article aims this is important to help you hear from God through daily interaction with the Bible. Now, when you say hear from God through daily interaction with the Bible, what do you mean by that? Because see, what makes me nervous is this sets up to me already a false philosophy that will lead to a mishandling of God's word. I don't

29:14 come to now if you're gonna say I'm gonna help you're gonna help me hear from God. I Now, on one hand, I'm gonna hear from God simply because it's God's word, the end. But if you're saying, I'm gonna come to the Bible and I'm gonna hear fort from God somehow directly speaking to me directly about what I'm reading, as if it's applicable to me, Because in some cases what we're reading is not applicable to us. It's its application is for the original recipients, and we got to be very careful to reach in there and grab and go. Well, this is saying this to me. That is a problem, and too many Christians think that way they open the Bible, they're reading, Well, God today said this to me. God did not say that to you. God said that to Abram, he said that to Sarah, he said that to Joseph.

29:59 He did can not say it to you. Now, what can you learn from it? That's a different question. Don't act like God is speaking directly to you and some of these passages, because it's not. Again, I've told the story countless times how a woman I worked with could not have a baby. Her and her husband kept praying that she would get pregnant, praying and praying, and then one morning for her devotion, she read God's promise that Sarah would have a child, and God spoke to her and she's going to have a baby. And I was like, your name is not Sarah, your husband's name is not Abram. That promise was not to you, not intended for you. It's not so stop looking to that promise for you.

30:39 That's the problem. When you have kind of this mentality that, Oh, God's gonna speak, you gotta be careful how you handle that. But what do they go on to say? The article aims to help you hear from God through daily interaction with the Bible. Hearing God in the pages of the Bible takes time effort. Spiritual listening is a skill that we continue to develop all of our lives. Now, what do you mean about hearing God in the pages? I hear God in the pages because all scripture is given by inspiration of God. It is profitable for teaching doctrine, reproved correction, instruction, and righteousness. That's the Man of God, maybe thoroughly furnished into every good work. But what do I so? I hear from God in a sense that it's his word. But what do you mean? It takes time and effort to hear God in the pages. See that's see You're turning it into something mystical. Now, okay, I'm going to read the Bible, but I gotta hear God in the pages. I gotta hear God in the pages.

31:45 Is that like a wind that comes through the I heard God? See that turns it into a mystical almost a superstitious action. No, I open the Bible. It's God's word. I read it and then I interpret it like any other written piece of literature. There's words, there's definitions, there's context there, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And what does it mean? It takes to hear God in the pages, takes time and effort. Spiritual listening is a skill that we continue to develop all our lives. What do you mean spiritual listening? Spiritual listening? Again? Is it something mysterious myth?

32:32 Or is it? Just open the Bible? Figure out basic context. Who is speak, who is writing, who is speaking? Who is it being written and spoken to? What was the original context? What was their original purpose? How did their original recipients understand it? Okay, so we want to do observation. We want to observe exactly what is going on, and we want to observe the who, what, where, when, how? Everything perfectly. Then once we do the observation, then we can and then interpret it based on what it said and based on its context. This is how we understand it. Now, what lessons could possibly be drawn from it that could be applicable to us? And let's be very careful to recognize some passages are simply descriptive and it's not prescribing anything those see that's just like a basic What is this spiritual? I got to develop its words again, I have to It takes time and effort to develop. Spiritual listening is a skill that we continue to develop in all of our lives. What do you mean spiritual listening? Now, it doesn't explain it. It just goes on to say, hearing someone well can be challenging when we move across cultural lines, and in fact, reading the Bible is very much across cultural conversation. Since God gave his word in places, times and circumstances very much removed from our own. Yes, he gave his word and situations and centuries very much removed from our own. And we got to remember sometimes those words have no direct they're not speaking to us.

34:06 It's descriptive. Now we can say, well, is there a lesson? But that's very different. Oh, this morning, and my devotional God was saying this to me now, and you're devotional God was saying that to Abram, not to you. Now, what can you learn from it? See that you've got to make that distinction or you turn the Bible into this just weird like ooh, I'm hearing from God kind of thing, and it's it. I can't stand that. So that's the first really major paragraph. That's the first major paragraph, and it's just about hearing God, hearing from God, hearing from God. Again. Here's the thing. I hear from God in a general sense, because it's God's word times, what I'm hearing is God speaking to others about their circumstances, their situation. He's directing them or prescribing to them a behavior that is not being directed or prescribed to me.

35:12 Now when I hear it, what I need to do is understand who who actually is being spoken to and of and then like, okay, what can I what is applicable to me without doing any damage to the scriptures maintaining the correct context. All right, Now, so there's the there's the first part. I'm I I. So I'm just gonna say it. I challenge the whole hearing from God concept. So let's make it and again, and I'm gonna go ahead and just deal with this here. It is common for Christians to say, all right, when you read the Bible, then you listen to God and God's going to speak to you. If God is speaking to me outside of the pages of Scripture, than the pages of Scripture are no longer the final authority whatever God is saying to me about the scriptures. And if God is speaking to Christians outside of the Bible about the Bible, then all Christians should come to the same conclusion since it's God talking to us outside of the Bible about the Bible.

36:17 God is not talking to you about the Bible outside of the Bible, because if so, we would all have the same interpretation. And not only that, If you're saying that God is telling you what it means outside of the Bible, because He's speaking directly to you, then your belief, your belief would be your interpretation is authoritative. You're making yourself an infallible poe with an infallible interpretation. Because God gave you the interpretation. That is nonsense, that is crazy talk. God gave us his word and written form. Our job is now to read it and interpret it like we do any other piece of literature, following the basic rules of reading, comprehension and reading interpreting. God spoke to me.

37:04 God said this to me. That just turns it into Well, it's very charismatic, is what it becomes. And it leads to utter spiritual anarchy and chaos. All right, God speaks to me through the Bible because it is his word. But in it there's context, there's original recipients, original hearers, original historical situational context. I will go with at least one more, at least the next section here. So the first section is just really the introduction the Bibles. You need everyone. It's been sold and bought so many different times.

37:48 But hey, hey, hey, hey, here's the thing we want to hear from God in it. And he doesn't elaborate on that, but I already have some issues now in his other book here reading the Bible better. Yeah, I don't know if he goes Yeah, he may, he may go there. I don't. I'm not. I was gonna start looking for for it. But I'm not going to do that. I am. I am going to see here because he have a table contents here. Yeah, hear the words, page forty seven. Hear the words now again? Is that hearing the words of scripture or is that hearing God outside of scripture? Now? We do hear words when we read the Bible. I will agree with that. All right, But the next part here in the article, in the essay, it's called this section is entitled why spend time in the Bible? All right, let's see what's the motivation here.

38:50 Perhaps this is how this section begins. Perhaps your past has been marked by starts and stops and reading the Bible. You are you, and you are wondering whether you have the discipline to engage in the Bible consistently well join the club. Most of us have struggled with the discipline of Bible reading and study, so it is worth giving consistent So it is worth giving consistent Bible reading and study another try, or even a first try. Most believers know it intuitively that this is the case. So let's read this again. So perhaps you're one of those people who've that your life has been marked by starts and stops and reading the Bible. Now I would raise this question, why is it seemingly so common and Christendom from one end of the country to the other end of the country and around the club that Christians, by large, by by every statistical analysis that we can come up with, they don't spend conc distant time reading their Bibles. Some will, some don't, and typically what you find is the ones more consistent, not always are people who typically love to read anyway, So it's not even a spiritual thing, it's just their normal. They love to read. But why is it that you think if you were to look at your church, what would you think would be the statistical

40:21 breakdown that people read and people read and study their Bible on a consistent basis, read and study on a consistent base. They're actually using a study method and they're actually reading on a consistent basis. What do you think that number would be? Do you think that percentage over fifty percent? I think it would be probably well under twenty percent, And you would be shocked. These people sound godly. They may they may condemn a lot of other sins, and they may try to live again, but they don't really engage in any meaningful consistent read and study. There may start, but then they'll stop. Now it goes on to say that you may be wondering whether you have the discipline to engage to engage the Bible consistently. Now see, now this comes down to it's discipline. Now, this is where I struggle because that's the reality of Christianity. That's the reality is most Christians don't read and study on a consistent basis. They just don't. So then the issue is, well, wait a minute, because you've got some people from their theological background will say, if you don't love the word of God, desire the word of God, and feed upon the Word of God on a consistent basis, this is proof you were never saved. Well, now you're about to throw out about eighty percent of Christianity. Now, I think we all agree we should love the word of God,

41:53 we should desire the word of God. But I think we all know some people just don't like to read or study. So it is a struggle, and I think it does come down to just you've got to have the discipline. You've got to have the discipline, it says, we will join the club. So even he acknowledges that most of us have struggled with the discipline of Bible reading and study. So it is worth giving consistent Bible reading and study another try, or a first try. Most believers know intuitively that it is so everyone we know we should do it, he says, intuitively, we kind of know it, but it's most people struggle with it. Next, this is God's word, the word God, the God who spoke the world into being, has spoken his truth about life through the Bible, so that we might know what he intends for the world and how we might live for his fame. He calls us to be word people, people who are cultural and the ways we approach life. Thus, the Bible serves as the foundation for the understanding who we are and what we should be doing in this world.

43:10 So his argument is, why should you be spending time in the Bible? It is God's word, The God who created everything has given us his word, so we should want to know it. We should desire it because it's the word that tells us how to live, how to think. It helps us understand the world around us. So we should be countercultural, and we should be approaching the scripture, loving the scriptures, and desiring the scriptures. Now everyone says we should, but everyone all the statistical studies say Christians at large don't, And nobody ever seems to have a good explanation to the reason why, other than to say, well, they're probably not saved and then throw out basically everyone from the Kingdom of God, which I completely rejected that approach. Now, it goes on to say in the next few pages that the author says, here, I will offer number of suggestions that you can start applying daily and less time than it takes to watch a sit calm on TV. Hey, hey, look, look, you need to read because it's God's word. But I'm going to try to give you some things that you can put into effect in less time than it takes to watch a sitcom on TV. Now, the thing is, it's I find it almost fundamentally contradictory in some ways that on one hand, Christians are like, it's the word of God, it's what we need, we must have it.

44:27 On the other hand, we're like, Okay, we got to find a way to do this so that it'll be quick, because we got to make it quick, because well, if we don't make it quick quick, Christians won't engage. So guess what Christians have been trying to do, you know, the five minute you know, five minute devotional, one minute devotional, ten minute devotional, fifteen minutes in God's work. And we've tried to do everything we can to reduce it and reduce it and reduce it so that we can get people to participate but in every little trick to try to get people to participate, for the majority, there's always the exception. But for the majority, it doesn't move them to do anything. Now, I will argue that usually the distinguishing part is not and this is not always the case.

45:10 It's people who typically love to read, and people who typically love to study, and people who typically have notebooks and take notes on what they read, and they may even enjoyed school. Those kinds of people are typically the Christians who read, have a notebook, take notes, and do all that stuff. Anyway, it's just kind of the fleshly thing. It's nothing spiritual. And those who don't ever really like to read, they don't ever, they don't They're not going to have a notebook, they're not going to write anything down, they're not going to do anything along those lines. People who typically have that mentality are people who probably when they become a Christian are not going to do much reading and studying anyway. Now that the reason I bring that up is it means a lot of times the way you live out your Christian Christian life a lot of times it's more based just off your fleshly personality than it does some spiritual thing. Right, you have some people who are like, well, I don't do this, and I don't do this, and you wouldn't be doing that even if you weren't a Christian. Well, I do this and I do this, yeah, because that's what you would do even as a non Christian. Like sometimes, so much of our Christian life is just our normal, fleshly self just living itself out within the context of Christianity. Well, I don't listen to that worldly music, and you didn't like the worldly music before you were saved. Okay. Now sometimes they will claim they were, I really was into this music. You start talking to them like, I don't think you're really much of a fan because you don't

46:40 seem to have a clue what you're talking about. Okay, So, but the point is reality is a lot of times our Christian life is simply just our own fleshly self just being lived out in the context of Christianity. And sometimes we assign like I know I used to do it. I could as signed. Look, look, I know that I love God and I'm saved because a look at how much I read, look at how much I study. But that I don't think that was a proof of anything spiritual. That's my normal self. Give me books, give me notebooks, give me pencils. Life is good doesn't mean I'm spiritual.

47:22 I took great spiritual pride in that fact, but it was more of a fleshly thing than a spiritual thing. So what can we take from this introduction? The Church at large, I think has done a very poor job in really training people and instructing people on how to actually study. I think there's been Christians, have been Christians for ten fifteen years. They couldn't tell you how to study the Bible. Their life depended upon it, and they've been going to church and going to church. They don't know a Bible study method. They would know a thematic method from a topical method, a word study. They would know chapter analysis from a chapter summary. They don't know these methods. They don't know how to do these methods.

48:07 They have no clue. They're basic. They can give you is very just. They can throw out a lot of cliches about Bible study, but they don't really have a method. They don't And when you look at it, like what do you what do you? What is that? What are you doing? Like? What what method are you utilizing. They don't have a method they and and so that is that that's a problem. The Church has felled people there horribly, and in many cases the church would won't take responsibilities. But we did a course on how to study the Bible, go listen to it. You didn't give them anything tangible. You didn't give them anything they need tangible steps tangible because if you it's like a recipe, right, you can talk in general about cooking, you can talk in general principles, but at some point someone's gonna need a recipe. What ingredients do I need? What steps do I take? How do I mix it? Watch the temperature? And with Bible study you can give them general principles. There's a stove, there's different ingredients that go in food, and you mix it together and then you get a mill. Okay, Well that doesn't tell you how to make a mill, right, So at some point you got to have the specific steps.

49:17 So sometimes these how to study I think are problematic. So I think the Church has felled people, and when they do try to train them, I think they don't train them in an adequate way, right. But I think there's also a fundamentally flawed precept or philosophy that when I read the Bible, God is speaking directly to me, not in a general sense that all the Bible is God's word, so therefore it is God's speaking. But like he's speaking directly to me, he's given. God is not speaking to you outside of scripture, even about scripture. God speaks to us through scripture alone. If he's speaking to you about the Bible outside of the Bible, then you have a separate authority. You don't have just the Bible.

49:58 And if God is the one telling you to understand it, then what you're claiming, even if you don't want to, is that you have an infallible interpretation because it supposedly came from God. Well that's problematic, all right. So this whole hearing from God. We hear from God generally when we open the Bible, and sometimes we are hearing him speak to other people and specific historical context and it's not directly applicable to us or maybe lessons in it, but it's not directly applicable to us. Why spend time in the Bible, Well, because it's God's word. But there's a problem. Christians don't Why don't they Nobody seems to have a good answer. I think what we have to be careful of is the idea that I think sometimes it's our fleshly pursuit that we make ourselves convinced that it's a spiritual pursuit, but it's just something we would fleshly do. We need to develop a discipline and a love and a desire for God's word. We need to figure it out now. I wanted to get to the next section. Next section is begin with the Heart, and I'm going to really challenge this a little bit, all right, but there you have it. We will work our way through this over the next I don't know, a couple of days, and hopefully we can benefit greatly from it.

51:19 And the meantime, if you want those books again, the first one is reading A Short Guide to Reading the Bible Better by George H. Guthrie. George H. Guthrie. As you can see, I'm probably going to disagree with a lot here and then or you can look up the book. Hang on, let me find it How to Read Your Bible by George Guthrie, and both are available on Amazon or wherever you probably get your Christian books. I know it would be at Christian Book distributors. I think LifeWay is the one I got the small one at I think maybe I can't remember, but yeah, we'll see. Now, since I've already challenged some of the basic concepts, well you can tell me what you think if you so desire.

52:06 All right, everyone, have a great day. That's the school bus, I think. I think that's the school bus dropping some kids off. All right, it was loud in the background. All Right, thank you everyone, have a great day. God bless