Sept. 3, 2024

How To Read and Study Pt 1

How To Read and Study Pt 1

A look at an article about how to read and study the bible

Spreaker Apple Podcasts Spotify PocketCasts Amazon Music Overcast Audible Castro iHeartRadio Castbox Podchaser TuneIn Deezer Pandora RadioPublic Podcast Addict RSS Feed YouTube Fountain PlayerFM Goodpods Podverse Podyssey Breaker Podurama Audacy JioSaavn
Spreaker podcast player icon Spreaker Spreaker Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Apple Podcasts Apple Podcasts Spotify podcast player icon Spotify Spotify PocketCasts podcast player icon PocketCasts PocketCasts Amazon Music podcast player icon Amazon Music Amazon Music Overcast podcast player icon Overcast Overcast Audible podcast player icon Audible Audible Castro podcast player icon Castro Castro iHeartRadio podcast player icon iHeartRadio iHeartRadio Castbox podcast player icon Castbox Castbox Podchaser podcast player icon Podchaser Podchaser TuneIn podcast player icon TuneIn TuneIn Deezer podcast player icon Deezer Deezer Pandora podcast player icon Pandora Pandora RadioPublic podcast player icon RadioPublic RadioPublic Podcast Addict podcast player icon Podcast Addict Podcast Addict RSS Feed podcast player icon RSS Feed RSS Feed YouTube podcast player icon YouTube YouTube Fountain podcast player icon Fountain Fountain PlayerFM podcast player icon PlayerFM PlayerFM Goodpods podcast player icon Goodpods Goodpods Podverse podcast player icon Podverse Podverse Podyssey podcast player icon Podyssey Podyssey Breaker podcast player icon Breaker Breaker Podurama podcast player icon Podurama Podurama Audacy podcast player icon Audacy Audacy JioSaavn podcast player icon JioSaavn JioSaavn

A look at an article about how to read and study the bible

WEBVTT

1
00:00:02.319 --> 00:00:06.080
Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

2
00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:13.400
the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good afternoon everyone.

3
00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:17.800
It is Tuesday, September third, twenty twenty four. It is

4
00:00:17.879 --> 00:00:21.440
currently two thirty three pm Central Time, and I am

5
00:00:21.480 --> 00:00:25.879
coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located

6
00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:32.240
right here in Abilene, Texas. Now what I'm going to

7
00:00:32.280 --> 00:00:34.920
ask you this, I would challenge you write down what

8
00:00:35.079 --> 00:00:39.640
are your I know, three biggest pet peeves. Three things

9
00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:43.799
that just absolutely irritate you, It drives you crazy, It

10
00:00:43.880 --> 00:00:46.359
drives you. Man. Three things that are just like, that's

11
00:00:46.399 --> 00:00:49.479
my pet peeve that irritates me, That drives me crazy.

12
00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:52.359
I can't stand that. What are your three big ones,

13
00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:56.039
the three big pet peeves in your life? Just everyone knows,

14
00:00:56.119 --> 00:01:00.280
Oh man, that will that'll drive that person crazy. I

15
00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:03.560
have a few. One is people who show up late

16
00:01:03.640 --> 00:01:07.719
to anything. That will drive me insane, Like like, no,

17
00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:10.680
if we're good, we're supposed to go here, Like I like,

18
00:01:11.799 --> 00:01:13.799
let's say we're going to a concert, it doesn't matter,

19
00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:15.840
or to a sporting of it, whatever, we're leaving it

20
00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:18.319
this time. We're not leaving one second late. We're not

21
00:01:18.439 --> 00:01:21.319
leaving two seconds late. We're leaving right on time, and

22
00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:23.680
if you're not there, I don't care. If you're family,

23
00:01:23.959 --> 00:01:28.000
I don't care if I'm leaving you because beyond time,

24
00:01:28.079 --> 00:01:30.640
because when you're not on time, you're demonstrating disrespect to

25
00:01:30.680 --> 00:01:32.799
everyone else and you think the world revolves around you

26
00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:36.760
and it doesn't. Okay, right, So yeah, late people being late.

27
00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:40.359
That's a pet peeve that usually drives me crazy. Wow,

28
00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:44.920
I probably have some others. Oh, here's one. This is

29
00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:47.359
a pet peeve with me, all right, So I love

30
00:01:48.599 --> 00:01:51.599
now because we're in twenty twenty four and well probably

31
00:01:51.599 --> 00:01:54.640
for over the last one. When did the kindle come out?

32
00:01:54.680 --> 00:01:57.959
I don't remember, but before the kindle, because as soon

33
00:01:57.959 --> 00:02:00.200
as the kindle came out, I purchased one. You know,

34
00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:02.439
buying books on the kindle. It's a little different, right,

35
00:02:02.480 --> 00:02:05.480
because they're on your kindle, they're in your library. You

36
00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:07.920
may see them, but they're just not all around you.

37
00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:10.599
But I've always had this, really, this is a big

38
00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:13.840
pet peeve when it comes to books, because it's typically

39
00:02:13.879 --> 00:02:17.680
I've seen this happen. I can't speak for Christian women,

40
00:02:17.719 --> 00:02:21.639
but for Christian men who say they love books. I've

41
00:02:21.639 --> 00:02:24.120
seen too many Christian men who like, oh, they bought

42
00:02:24.120 --> 00:02:25.719
this book, and they bought this book, and they bought

43
00:02:25.719 --> 00:02:28.360
this book, and I'd be like, so what did you read. Well,

44
00:02:28.360 --> 00:02:30.400
I haven't read all of that book. I read some

45
00:02:30.479 --> 00:02:32.240
of that, and now I'm reading this one. Okay, so

46
00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:34.400
you didn't really read the whole book, Like, so what

47
00:02:34.439 --> 00:02:36.159
did you do with the book? Did you take any notes?

48
00:02:36.520 --> 00:02:38.439
And it's like sometimes I felt like they just bought

49
00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:41.080
books to buy books, but they really didn't do much

50
00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:45.560
with the books. And that always bothers me, especially not

51
00:02:45.960 --> 00:02:48.240
so much when other people do that. I'm just like, Okay, well,

52
00:02:48.280 --> 00:02:49.680
I guess if you want to keep buying books and

53
00:02:49.719 --> 00:02:51.800
you're not actually doing anything with the books you're buying,

54
00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:53.919
I guess it's great to have a bookshelf full of

55
00:02:53.960 --> 00:02:56.599
them doing that with Sometimes when I would walk into

56
00:02:56.639 --> 00:02:59.759
a pastor's study and I'd be like, oh, you got

57
00:02:59.759 --> 00:03:01.719
this book, and well what about this and what about that?

58
00:03:01.800 --> 00:03:03.120
And I'm like, well, I haven't finished that, or I

59
00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:04.919
didn't read all of that, or I didn't really read it. Well,

60
00:03:04.960 --> 00:03:06.680
then why do you own them? I'm like, Okay, it

61
00:03:06.719 --> 00:03:10.360
just drives me crazy. But when it comes to me personally,

62
00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:16.280
I used to buy lots of physical books, lots of them.

63
00:03:16.360 --> 00:03:18.919
In fact, I have a garage full of them. I

64
00:03:18.960 --> 00:03:20.479
probably need to get rid of them. But I have

65
00:03:20.599 --> 00:03:24.120
books everywhere, right, And what would drive me crazy if

66
00:03:24.120 --> 00:03:27.719
I would look on my bookshelf and that would be like, Man,

67
00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:31.240
I bought that book four months ago, six months ago,

68
00:03:31.400 --> 00:03:33.280
or a year ago, and I would look at it

69
00:03:33.319 --> 00:03:36.240
and be like, what have I done with that book?

70
00:03:36.879 --> 00:03:40.520
Did I take extensive notes on it? Did I turn it?

71
00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:43.520
Did I utilize it for any teaching? Did I use

72
00:03:43.560 --> 00:03:46.199
it for a Bible study? What did I really do

73
00:03:46.360 --> 00:03:48.680
with that book? I mean, maybe I read some of it,

74
00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:50.680
maybe I read all of it, But what did I

75
00:03:50.759 --> 00:03:53.520
really do with it? And if anyone's been a long

76
00:03:53.560 --> 00:03:56.439
time listener, you know that can bother me. Remember there

77
00:03:56.520 --> 00:03:59.400
was a Charles Stanley book that I'm like, I've never

78
00:03:59.439 --> 00:04:01.520
really done anything with this book. So we turned it

79
00:04:01.560 --> 00:04:04.199
into a series, right, We turned it into a series,

80
00:04:04.599 --> 00:04:08.159
and we went through basically the entire book and tried

81
00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:10.000
to get something out of it. Because it was just

82
00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:12.240
like the book always haunted me. I would pick it up,

83
00:04:12.280 --> 00:04:14.800
read a little bit and then just kind of be like, well,

84
00:04:15.319 --> 00:04:17.079
I never mind, And then I would pick it up,

85
00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:19.920
read it, but I never did anything with it. So

86
00:04:19.959 --> 00:04:23.040
we turned it into a series, and I think we

87
00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:24.759
we had a little bit of fun with it, and

88
00:04:24.839 --> 00:04:27.680
I think maybe we got something out of it. So

89
00:04:27.800 --> 00:04:31.040
if I see a book laying around and if I'm like, well,

90
00:04:31.079 --> 00:04:33.879
what see did I what did I do with that?

91
00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:36.839
Did I do much with that? If I don't feel

92
00:04:36.879 --> 00:04:40.399
like I really got every you know, I got every

93
00:04:40.600 --> 00:04:44.439
cent worth of that book. Like when I purchase something,

94
00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:46.839
I want to utilize it. I want to get every

95
00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:50.199
cent worth I can out of it, right because you know,

96
00:04:51.199 --> 00:04:53.240
things cost money, so I want to make sure I

97
00:04:53.319 --> 00:04:55.720
use them. I'm the same way with whatever I purchase.

98
00:04:55.800 --> 00:04:57.399
I'm going to use it and use it and use it.

99
00:04:57.439 --> 00:04:59.800
Because if I'm not going to use it, why did

100
00:04:59.839 --> 00:05:02.439
I by it? Then I get really irritated. So the

101
00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:06.160
other day I was looking around because I got a

102
00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:08.879
new Bible and I still have a kind of a

103
00:05:08.920 --> 00:05:12.000
recent Bible, so I was kind of looking at them

104
00:05:12.079 --> 00:05:15.560
and I looked down and I'm like, wait, I brought

105
00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:18.800
that Bible home from church because they'd been sitting at

106
00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:21.319
the church being kind of in the church library, and

107
00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:23.839
I just brought it home recently, and I saw it

108
00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:25.639
laying there, and I'm like, you know, I haven't really

109
00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:28.839
used that bible. I don't even know where I got it.

110
00:05:28.920 --> 00:05:31.560
I don't know how much it costs me. But I

111
00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:33.360
got to do something with it. So I picked it

112
00:05:33.439 --> 00:05:36.519
up and I put it down here on the table. Now.

113
00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:40.519
It's really nice. It's a KJV study Bible from Hallman.

114
00:05:40.839 --> 00:05:44.519
It's very nice. I love the cover of it. It's huge.

115
00:05:44.600 --> 00:05:47.560
I mean, the thing is gigantic. Probably I got it

116
00:05:47.600 --> 00:05:50.759
and maybe not realize how big it was because it's like,

117
00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:53.120
it's really too big for the way I preach, because

118
00:05:53.160 --> 00:05:55.199
I like to walk and talk when I preach, and

119
00:05:55.240 --> 00:05:57.639
this thing is too big to carry around. This is

120
00:05:57.680 --> 00:05:59.199
one that you would just leave on the top of

121
00:05:59.240 --> 00:06:01.680
the pulpit, and I like to kind of when I

122
00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:04.680
do lots of walking when I'm teaching. So I'm like,

123
00:06:04.839 --> 00:06:07.160
so I never used it for that. I think maybe

124
00:06:07.160 --> 00:06:09.560
when I was doing all of my broadcasting at the church,

125
00:06:09.639 --> 00:06:12.639
especially during the pandemic, I may have had it there

126
00:06:12.759 --> 00:06:15.600
thinking I was going to use it more. And because

127
00:06:15.639 --> 00:06:17.920
it's a study Bible, I'll typically use that as a reference.

128
00:06:17.959 --> 00:06:19.759
So I'm like, well, I haven't really used it. So

129
00:06:20.079 --> 00:06:23.920
I picked up the Bible. I opened it, Sorry, knocking

130
00:06:23.920 --> 00:06:26.639
the microphone across the room. Okay, you open it up.

131
00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:29.399
It has King James version of the Bible, the Holman

132
00:06:29.639 --> 00:06:34.360
Holman KJV Study Bible. Okay, that looks nice. All right.

133
00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:38.160
Then you have the table of contents. All right, very good.

134
00:06:38.879 --> 00:06:41.480
You have you have a little bit of there. You

135
00:06:41.480 --> 00:06:45.720
have introduction to the Hallman KJV Study Bible. Features of

136
00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:52.120
the Hallman KJV Study Bible, cross reference, study notes, photos, maps, charts, illustrations, introductions, timelines,

137
00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:56.639
and essays. Okay, that looks good. They have some you know,

138
00:06:56.759 --> 00:06:58.800
kind of some pictures of things in the Bible where

139
00:06:58.839 --> 00:07:00.519
they tell you where to find this or where to

140
00:07:00.519 --> 00:07:03.279
find that. Okay, all right, great. They have the contributors.

141
00:07:03.319 --> 00:07:07.639
They have the general editors, the associate general editor, associate editors. Okay,

142
00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:11.600
study note contributors, those who put together the study notes.

143
00:07:11.639 --> 00:07:16.240
It gives the names of the individual and their educational accomplishments. Okay, great,

144
00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:22.759
essay contributors, great list of maps, illustrations and charts. That's

145
00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:27.199
really good. Right then I come to okay. Abbreviations used

146
00:07:27.199 --> 00:07:31.639
in the KGV Study Bible. God's Plan for Salvation okay, great,

147
00:07:32.439 --> 00:07:35.360
then they have steps to a classic, right kind of

148
00:07:35.399 --> 00:07:38.720
basically how we ended up getting the KJV version. The

149
00:07:38.759 --> 00:07:42.399
epistle dedication and translators to the reader. Now, this is

150
00:07:42.439 --> 00:07:46.519
what the translators had written down to the readers of

151
00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:49.199
the KJV translation. I think it's very good to read

152
00:07:49.199 --> 00:07:52.720
what the translators actually said, because a lot of times,

153
00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:56.959
especially in some certain elements of the KJV only movement,

154
00:07:57.160 --> 00:08:01.360
they sometimes make claims about the k that the translators

155
00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:04.560
themselves did not make. But okay, so that's to the translators,

156
00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:08.240
translators to the readers. Right, that's a good article. And

157
00:08:08.279 --> 00:08:12.959
then I turn the page. Finally, finally I get to

158
00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:18.360
a page and I'm like, oh, what is this. Here's

159
00:08:18.399 --> 00:08:21.560
an essay. This is before I even get to Genesis.

160
00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:24.480
There's all these, you know, these different things before you

161
00:08:24.519 --> 00:08:28.959
actually get to the text. And it is entitled how

162
00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:34.679
to Read and Study the Bible. And I'm like, oh, okay,

163
00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:38.559
this has my attention. How to read and study the Bible?

164
00:08:38.600 --> 00:08:41.399
Now why does it have my attention? Well, one, it

165
00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:45.600
has my attention because oh, this is something in this Bible.

166
00:08:45.720 --> 00:08:48.519
I haven't done much with this. I could utilize this

167
00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:51.840
because I can get every cent worth of I can

168
00:08:52.039 --> 00:08:54.600
out of this Bible. I'm like, okay, I could, I

169
00:08:54.600 --> 00:08:57.000
could turn on the microphone and do something with it. Okay, great.

170
00:08:57.240 --> 00:08:59.960
Two I just like so number one, I can get

171
00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:03.519
something from it. Number two. I just anytime I see

172
00:09:03.559 --> 00:09:06.759
anything about how to read and how to study, anything

173
00:09:06.759 --> 00:09:10.879
about hermeneutics, biblical interpretation, anything like that, I read, read it,

174
00:09:10.960 --> 00:09:12.480
read it and reread it, and read it and read

175
00:09:12.519 --> 00:09:14.879
it because I want to be the best Bible student

176
00:09:15.120 --> 00:09:18.559
I can possibly be. And I've been that way since

177
00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:21.879
what two three weeks after my conversion. I tell the

178
00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:25.399
story all the time. I find myself on Butternut Street, Abilene, Texas.

179
00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:28.279
There's the Bible Bookstore. It no longer exists, that sad

180
00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:32.000
moment of silence. Okay, right, but it's the first, you know,

181
00:09:32.120 --> 00:09:34.720
Christian bookstore I ever walked into. I walked into it

182
00:09:35.159 --> 00:09:37.919
and I was, you know, looking around. I always tell

183
00:09:37.919 --> 00:09:41.039
the story the older gentleman, I'm glad he didn't see

184
00:09:41.039 --> 00:09:44.159
a teenager. He saw a new convert. He didn't worry

185
00:09:44.200 --> 00:09:46.679
about my age. And he's like, well, you know, let

186
00:09:46.679 --> 00:09:48.559
me get you a book. Don't don't go to the

187
00:09:48.559 --> 00:09:50.720
youth department. You don't need any of that. And he

188
00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:53.879
handed me The Foundations of the Christian Life by James

189
00:09:53.919 --> 00:09:58.120
Montgomery Boys, tenth Presbyterian Church, basically a systematic theology. And

190
00:09:58.120 --> 00:10:01.159
that's the book he placed in my hands. And I

191
00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:04.360
years later, years like what, ten years, fifteen years later,

192
00:10:04.399 --> 00:10:06.039
twenty years later, I even know what it was. I

193
00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:07.679
got to meet I got to meet the man who

194
00:10:07.720 --> 00:10:10.120
headed me that book again, and I got to thank

195
00:10:10.200 --> 00:10:14.039
him for how transformative that book was in my life,

196
00:10:14.039 --> 00:10:16.679
because it set me on a path of well all

197
00:10:16.720 --> 00:10:20.720
of my pursuing degree of degree in philological studies, because

198
00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:24.039
systematic theology became a love. So I love that. But

199
00:10:24.200 --> 00:10:27.240
there was something else in that bookstore. There was a

200
00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:31.120
bargain bin. They were selling books at that time for

201
00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:34.080
like twenty five cents, fifty cents. They were like giving

202
00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:37.360
these books away because nobody wanted them. And so I'm

203
00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:39.759
going through, I'm a broke teenager. I'm like, you know,

204
00:10:39.799 --> 00:10:43.159
twenty five to fifty cents, okay, I can afford this,

205
00:10:43.279 --> 00:10:50.159
And I'm like, wait, twelve methods of Bible study. Now,

206
00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:52.960
I had been asking already, well, how do you study

207
00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:55.960
the Bible? Hi? And I would get like nonsensical things

208
00:10:56.039 --> 00:10:59.960
like well, you read it, you highlight it, you're right down,

209
00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:02.080
and what God is speaking to you? Just this like

210
00:11:02.600 --> 00:11:09.320
vague like subjective, touchy feely nonsense. I'm like, what is this.

211
00:11:09.960 --> 00:11:14.919
It's a it's a book, it has words there. How

212
00:11:14.919 --> 00:11:18.440
come you guys approach studying the Bible or so differently

213
00:11:18.440 --> 00:11:20.679
than how I would study any other book? Right? Like

214
00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:25.759
aren't there rules of like grammar, punctuation, context, syntex history?

215
00:11:25.879 --> 00:11:28.559
Like like I was thinking what is wrong with Christians?

216
00:11:28.600 --> 00:11:32.240
Because it was always this touchy, philly pray and hear

217
00:11:32.279 --> 00:11:34.320
a voice and I'm like what And this was in

218
00:11:34.360 --> 00:11:36.360
a Southern Baptist church and I'm like what is wrong

219
00:11:36.399 --> 00:11:39.159
with this? So I'm like, Okay, I gave up asking

220
00:11:39.240 --> 00:11:41.200
Christians how to study the Bible. I really did. I

221
00:11:41.200 --> 00:11:44.799
got I got tired of asking the pastor deacons, Christian men.

222
00:11:45.120 --> 00:11:47.480
I'm like, you people are nuts because it was some

223
00:11:47.559 --> 00:11:51.039
like mystical nonsense, like nobody could give me some tangible,

224
00:11:51.080 --> 00:11:54.799
like give me a method. So I'm like twelve methods.

225
00:11:55.039 --> 00:11:57.600
I felt like I had discovered, like, you know, some

226
00:11:57.919 --> 00:12:01.120
secret and I'm like WHOA. So I came home and

227
00:12:01.159 --> 00:12:05.200
I'm like I started studying those twelve methods. I memorized

228
00:12:05.240 --> 00:12:08.360
those twelve methods, and I started utilizing those twelve methods

229
00:12:09.399 --> 00:12:12.639
every way possible. And then I started teaching those twelve methods.

230
00:12:12.639 --> 00:12:16.080
I've taught those twelve methods of Bible study from Texas

231
00:12:16.120 --> 00:12:19.720
to Nebraska and anywhere else I can. I've done so

232
00:12:19.840 --> 00:12:23.440
on Christian radio. I've done so on Christian podcasts. I've

233
00:12:23.480 --> 00:12:29.080
done and preaching, teaching and Sunday school wherever I could. Now,

234
00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:31.759
the thing is, what I've found so frustrating is you

235
00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:34.120
try to teach people the twelve methods of Bible study,

236
00:12:34.240 --> 00:12:37.320
you can't get anyone to actually do the twelve methods.

237
00:12:37.519 --> 00:12:39.279
Because I know this is going to come as a shock.

238
00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:43.039
It requires lots of hard work, Okay, but I love

239
00:12:43.159 --> 00:12:45.399
so from that moment on, I love anytime I see

240
00:12:45.399 --> 00:12:47.559
it ooh, how to read and how to study, I'm like,

241
00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:51.559
I'm drawn to it because here's my way of thinking.

242
00:12:51.960 --> 00:12:54.759
No matter how many methods I've learned, no matter how

243
00:12:54.799 --> 00:12:57.759
many classes I've taken in hermoneutics, it doesn't matter how

244
00:12:57.759 --> 00:13:00.240
many books I've read on it. It doesn't matter all

245
00:13:00.279 --> 00:13:02.919
the all the degrees I've tried to obtain and trying

246
00:13:02.919 --> 00:13:07.240
to learn and biblical studies, religious education, thiological, whatever the

247
00:13:07.279 --> 00:13:10.440
case may be. I know that I'm never yet, I

248
00:13:10.600 --> 00:13:14.600
will never master the subject on this side of Heaven

249
00:13:14.840 --> 00:13:17.840
because I'm a sinner, and because I'm a sinner in

250
00:13:18.039 --> 00:13:21.799
some ways, we always handle the scriptures well, and we

251
00:13:21.879 --> 00:13:24.159
twist them and we turn them, and we don't interpret

252
00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:26.320
them correctly, and there's so many things that we're never

253
00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:28.080
going to do right. So I just need to constantly

254
00:13:28.120 --> 00:13:31.840
be learning how to be a better Bible student. Now.

255
00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:36.799
Sometimes if I'm being painfully honest here and painfully transparent,

256
00:13:37.519 --> 00:13:40.240
I get very very very very very very very very

257
00:13:40.360 --> 00:13:44.399
very very very very frustrated with most things that are

258
00:13:44.440 --> 00:13:46.600
written about how to read and study the Bible, because

259
00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:50.639
sometimes I feel like, what does that It's so generic,

260
00:13:50.759 --> 00:13:53.639
or what does that mean? Or I just don't agree,

261
00:13:53.799 --> 00:13:56.639
like I think things need to be tangible. Here is

262
00:13:56.679 --> 00:14:00.440
the Bible study method, here are the steps you utilize,

263
00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:02.360
and here's the things you need to get out of

264
00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:05.840
your Bible study, because it leads to misinterpretation and it

265
00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:08.120
turns it into this mystical thing and all of the

266
00:14:08.200 --> 00:14:11.639
other problems. So I'm always interested to read so this

267
00:14:11.799 --> 00:14:14.080
caught my attention. Number one just because oh it's about

268
00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:17.480
how to read and study the Bible. It caught my attention.

269
00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:19.840
I know these are not in direct order as I

270
00:14:19.960 --> 00:14:22.320
originally gave them, but because I want to get the

271
00:14:22.360 --> 00:14:24.639
most out of this Bible. So number two and number

272
00:14:24.679 --> 00:14:28.000
three it speaks well because I have I'm much of

273
00:14:28.039 --> 00:14:30.360
a critic of what I read about how to read

274
00:14:30.360 --> 00:14:32.840
and study the Bible, So I'm going to offer some criticism.

275
00:14:32.960 --> 00:14:35.399
I'm going to offer some analysis. I'm going to offer

276
00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:38.440
some critique as we work through this, and this will

277
00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:41.679
be probably a mini series because you know how many

278
00:14:41.679 --> 00:14:42.320
pages is.

279
00:14:42.279 --> 00:14:53.759
This one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, nine,

280
00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:56.159
nine pages, So it's going to take us a long

281
00:14:56.200 --> 00:14:58.639
time to work through this, but you'll be able to

282
00:14:58.679 --> 00:15:01.080
hear me check challenge.

283
00:15:01.399 --> 00:15:04.399
Kind of probably a common approach. So when I saw

284
00:15:04.440 --> 00:15:08.759
this how to Read and Study the Bible George H. Guthrie,

285
00:15:10.480 --> 00:15:14.559
I'm like, well, what are the chances that George H.

286
00:15:14.759 --> 00:15:19.080
Guthrie has written a book about how to read and

287
00:15:19.080 --> 00:15:23.000
study the Bible? And this essay is simply an edited

288
00:15:23.399 --> 00:15:26.960
or kind of summarized version of the book. So I'm like, well,

289
00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:31.919
let me look so I grabbed my iPad. I grabbed

290
00:15:31.960 --> 00:15:34.799
my iPad and I started looking, and I'm like, oh,

291
00:15:34.919 --> 00:15:39.519
here it is. It's on Amazon, how to Read Your

292
00:15:39.559 --> 00:15:45.080
Bible by George Guthrie. How to Read Your Bible by

293
00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:48.600
George Guthrie. You can currently purchase it for twelve dollars

294
00:15:48.600 --> 00:15:50.919
and ninety five cents. And I'm like, well, maybe at

295
00:15:50.919 --> 00:15:55.080
some point I will. Oh. And they also are selling

296
00:15:55.159 --> 00:15:58.240
A Short Guide to Reading the Bible Better by George

297
00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:02.679
eighth George H. Guthree. And I'm like, well, wait a minute,

298
00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:06.679
that one looks familiar. So I started looking. All right,

299
00:16:06.840 --> 00:16:15.799
I'm going to reach behind me, ladies and gentlemen, A

300
00:16:15.960 --> 00:16:20.399
Short Guide to Reading the Bible Better by George H. Guthrie.

301
00:16:20.799 --> 00:16:24.600
I already have a book here about this. And I'm like, okay,

302
00:16:24.840 --> 00:16:26.799
so I've got a book by him, I got an

303
00:16:26.879 --> 00:16:29.639
article here. He's got another book called how to Read So,

304
00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:31.600
he's got a book called how to Read Your Bible.

305
00:16:31.720 --> 00:16:34.639
He's got a book called a Short Guide to Reading

306
00:16:34.679 --> 00:16:39.480
the Bible Better, Okay, and he's got a essay in

307
00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:43.799
the Holman KJV Study Bible. I'm like, so this man

308
00:16:43.879 --> 00:16:47.360
has obviously spent a lot of time on this subject. Now,

309
00:16:47.399 --> 00:16:49.559
I think we have done a little bit of work

310
00:16:49.639 --> 00:16:53.480
in the podcast from this book, because once again, these

311
00:16:53.480 --> 00:16:54.879
are one of those books and I'm like, I've got

312
00:16:54.919 --> 00:16:56.360
to find a way to use this. I got to

313
00:16:56.360 --> 00:16:57.879
find a way. And the only reason I think I

314
00:16:57.919 --> 00:16:59.840
have this book, I think the only reason I have

315
00:16:59.879 --> 00:17:01.879
this This book is one of those situations where I

316
00:17:01.879 --> 00:17:04.559
got ready to order a book and then it was like, hey,

317
00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:07.440
if you'll combine it with these four other books, you

318
00:17:07.480 --> 00:17:10.480
can basically get four books for the price of one. Well,

319
00:17:10.519 --> 00:17:12.559
then of course, give me all of them. I don't

320
00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:15.759
care what they are. So I've already been dealing with

321
00:17:15.799 --> 00:17:19.240
this a little bit. But now we're gonna I'm gonna

322
00:17:19.240 --> 00:17:22.160
try not to open this one. I'm just gonna use

323
00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:24.880
the essay in the Bible, and we're going to see

324
00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:28.279
how George H. Guthrie wants us to learn how to

325
00:17:28.359 --> 00:17:32.359
read and study the Bible. So that's what we're going

326
00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:35.519
to do right now. My pet peeve is a book

327
00:17:35.720 --> 00:17:39.039
that I haven't done anything with, and this study Bible,

328
00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:41.559
I don't think I've done enough with it yet, So

329
00:17:41.599 --> 00:17:44.079
I'm gonna get the most out of this. At the

330
00:17:44.200 --> 00:17:46.640
same time, the subject is very interesting to me. At

331
00:17:46.640 --> 00:17:49.640
the same time, I'm much a critic of it because

332
00:17:49.960 --> 00:17:53.359
I feel like a lot of times, even in churches,

333
00:17:53.359 --> 00:17:55.680
they'll be doing like they're doing a series on how

334
00:17:55.680 --> 00:17:57.519
to study the Bible, and I'm like, ooh, I'm going

335
00:17:57.599 --> 00:18:00.079
to listen to the series, and after about four episodes in,

336
00:18:00.200 --> 00:18:04.519
I'm like, you're not giving anyone anything tangible. Give them

337
00:18:04.519 --> 00:18:08.079
a Bible study method for crying out loud. Teach him

338
00:18:08.079 --> 00:18:11.880
to do a chapter summary method, a chapter analysis method,

339
00:18:12.079 --> 00:18:15.119
a topical method, a thematic method, a word study, a

340
00:18:15.160 --> 00:18:18.880
book background, a book survey. Tell it. Teach him how

341
00:18:18.920 --> 00:18:21.640
to do an actual method for crying out loud. The

342
00:18:21.720 --> 00:18:26.839
people are just getting these general, vague principles. Read highlight,

343
00:18:27.200 --> 00:18:31.000
look for repeated words. It's just like very basic general things.

344
00:18:31.240 --> 00:18:34.079
And I know people who use those basic general principles

345
00:18:34.200 --> 00:18:37.640
and they usually make an absolute mess out of interpreting things.

346
00:18:37.799 --> 00:18:40.119
They're cross referencing. Is like, we're going to put this

347
00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:41.799
verse with this verse, and you're like, why are you

348
00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:46.079
putting those two verses together? What is your justification for that?

349
00:18:46.200 --> 00:18:50.240
They draw weird conclusions because they don't actually know how

350
00:18:50.279 --> 00:18:53.799
to study. So I'm curious of which direction he's going

351
00:18:53.839 --> 00:19:01.400
to go and we're going to find out now. Is

352
00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:05.000
that a dramatic enough introduction? Is that that gets you ready?

353
00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:06.640
Are you ready? All right? So here we go. So

354
00:19:06.680 --> 00:19:08.880
if you want to look, if you want his actual book,

355
00:19:09.200 --> 00:19:12.839
look for how to Read Your Bible by George Guthrie.

356
00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:15.400
You can find it on Amazon. If you want a

357
00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:19.759
more condensed version, A Short Guide to Reading the Bible

358
00:19:19.799 --> 00:19:23.160
Better by George H. H. Guth Three. Right, this is

359
00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:26.240
a little small U. It's weird, the little short book.

360
00:19:27.640 --> 00:19:31.119
The condensed version is fourteen dollars and the other book

361
00:19:31.200 --> 00:19:34.200
is twelve dollars. Are they the same pages? Like? See

362
00:19:34.279 --> 00:19:37.000
this one is sixty eight pages? How many pages is

363
00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:43.079
in this one? Oh? Wow? Okay the small one actually

364
00:19:43.079 --> 00:19:45.880
has more pages. So I don't I don't know. I

365
00:19:45.880 --> 00:19:51.079
don't understand that. Okay, So yeah, but they've got they've

366
00:19:51.119 --> 00:19:52.759
got two of them, so you can pick which one

367
00:19:52.799 --> 00:19:54.599
you want. If you want one, or if you have

368
00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:58.000
a KJV Study Bible put together by Hallman, you just

369
00:19:58.039 --> 00:19:59.960
open it up and you'll find the article and how

370
00:20:00.200 --> 00:20:05.200
to read and study the Bible? Are you ready? Now?

371
00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:07.559
What I would challenge you to do? I always give

372
00:20:07.599 --> 00:20:10.400
people challenges. Nobody takes me up on it. Nobody takes

373
00:20:10.440 --> 00:20:12.799
me up on it. But I always give people a challenge.

374
00:20:12.839 --> 00:20:15.519
Go to church and ask the people in your church

375
00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:20.640
this question or this question or this question or this question. Now,

376
00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:22.680
sometimes I will get an email and people say, hey,

377
00:20:22.680 --> 00:20:25.279
I did ask my pastors this, and I do appreciate

378
00:20:25.359 --> 00:20:27.400
when people do that. But most of the time I

379
00:20:27.440 --> 00:20:31.680
think everyone ignores me. But it's Tuesday. If you have

380
00:20:31.799 --> 00:20:33.559
church Wednesday night, you can do it. You can't, and

381
00:20:33.640 --> 00:20:35.680
you might have to wait till Sunday. You should just

382
00:20:36.039 --> 00:20:39.079
go by and ask people, hey, give me the five

383
00:20:39.160 --> 00:20:42.039
steps to study the Bible? How do you study the Bible?

384
00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:44.079
And see if they begin to act. Well, don't even

385
00:20:44.119 --> 00:20:46.759
say steps, just say how do you study your Bible?

386
00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:50.000
Tell me what you do to study your Bible, and

387
00:20:50.119 --> 00:20:54.960
listen to see if they give you an actual, definable method,

388
00:20:55.200 --> 00:20:58.400
an actual Bible study method, or if it's just these

389
00:20:58.559 --> 00:21:02.839
general platitudes right kind of like just little cliches, little

390
00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:07.240
like bumper sticker slogans. Right, I read, I pray, I

391
00:21:07.400 --> 00:21:10.119
highlight like you know, it's like, well, no, what do

392
00:21:10.160 --> 00:21:13.000
you actually do? What do you actually do? As one

393
00:21:13.640 --> 00:21:16.799
one of the things that drives me crazy about churches.

394
00:21:17.319 --> 00:21:20.200
They're like, we're doing a Bible study and it'll be

395
00:21:20.359 --> 00:21:22.920
like it'll be a women's Bible study or a men's

396
00:21:22.920 --> 00:21:25.640
Bible study. And guess what they always have. They like,

397
00:21:25.880 --> 00:21:30.039
there's some book. You've got to have some book. You've

398
00:21:30.039 --> 00:21:32.599
got to have some book. We're using Kay Arthur, or

399
00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:35.079
we're using Beth Moore. I know now she's not you

400
00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:37.400
know no longer you know the end thing anymore. But

401
00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:40.160
whoever it may be, and where the men are using.

402
00:21:40.200 --> 00:21:42.680
And I'm like, I how about you just show up

403
00:21:42.759 --> 00:21:46.000
at the Bible study and you pull out your Bibles

404
00:21:46.160 --> 00:21:50.480
and study the Bible using a Bible study method instead

405
00:21:50.480 --> 00:21:53.839
of you don't need a book. How about just use

406
00:21:53.839 --> 00:21:56.960
a Bible study method. Now you can mix in the books.

407
00:21:57.000 --> 00:21:59.000
But even if you're but because in some caidses what

408
00:21:59.039 --> 00:22:01.319
you're doing you're not actually ud the Bible. You're studying

409
00:22:01.319 --> 00:22:03.880
what someone is said about the Bible. You're not studying

410
00:22:03.960 --> 00:22:06.279
the text. And you walk away thinking you actually know

411
00:22:06.359 --> 00:22:08.400
the text, you know what someone's said about the text.

412
00:22:08.440 --> 00:22:12.920
So I wish churches would almost prohibit that. No, no, no,

413
00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:15.039
you're not. No, you want your we're gonna have a

414
00:22:15.039 --> 00:22:18.279
Bible study. You're going to study the Bible. He said, Well,

415
00:22:18.279 --> 00:22:20.160
nobody knows to actually how to do that. Then why

416
00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:22.400
do you have that class. If you don't have a

417
00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:24.640
teacher who actually knows how to study the Bible, then

418
00:22:24.680 --> 00:22:27.039
you don't you don't need the class. Get rid of

419
00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:30.720
the class, have everyone come to the sanctuary. So, yeah,

420
00:22:30.759 --> 00:22:34.079
that stuff drives me crazy. But let's see what they're

421
00:22:34.079 --> 00:22:37.640
gonna what George where George H. Guthrie is going to

422
00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:40.000
take us? Are you ready? It's on the name of

423
00:22:40.039 --> 00:22:43.920
the article, how to Read and Study the Bible, George

424
00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:52.359
George H. Guthrie. He begins this way. The Bible is

425
00:22:52.599 --> 00:22:58.440
unique among the books of the world. Its release date

426
00:22:58.640 --> 00:23:04.400
is centuries old, yet it still dominates the best seller lists.

427
00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:08.640
Now let me stop right here. You hear preachers say

428
00:23:08.680 --> 00:23:11.960
that all the time. And then because I've heard that

429
00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:14.400
so many times, countless times, and so I'll go look

430
00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:18.039
up the bestseller list. I'm like, okay, since the Bible dominates,

431
00:23:18.039 --> 00:23:20.319
it up and I'll look. I'm like, well, it's not

432
00:23:20.400 --> 00:23:22.519
on the New York Times bestseller list, it's not on

433
00:23:22.559 --> 00:23:26.200
the Amazon bestseller list, it's not on this bestseller list.

434
00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:29.599
Where is it on the best seller list? Where is it?

435
00:23:29.680 --> 00:23:33.680
Like Christians constantly say this, You do realize, pastors and

436
00:23:33.720 --> 00:23:38.240
teachers that when you say that without any qualification, someone's

437
00:23:38.279 --> 00:23:40.279
gonna go look up the best seller list and be

438
00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:42.640
like where is it? Like you walk into a you

439
00:23:42.680 --> 00:23:45.119
walk into a bookstore, and it'll be like best sellers,

440
00:23:45.160 --> 00:23:47.279
And I'm like, where's the Bible? I hear it's number

441
00:23:47.279 --> 00:23:50.079
one every year? Wait where is it? Why is it

442
00:23:50.160 --> 00:23:52.319
in number one? Why is it in number one? Why

443
00:23:52.400 --> 00:23:54.799
is in number one? And nobody can ever really offer

444
00:23:54.880 --> 00:23:58.400
me an explanation. So I'm like, well, since this article

445
00:23:58.440 --> 00:24:02.200
begins with making a claim again, just listen to it.

446
00:24:02.200 --> 00:24:05.319
It dominates the bestseller list. I mean it states it

447
00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:09.000
in a dogmatic, assertive way. Well, if you look up

448
00:24:09.000 --> 00:24:13.200
a little information, here's what we know, all right. The

449
00:24:13.200 --> 00:24:18.440
Bible itself, I quote does not typically appear on the

450
00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:21.599
mainstream bestsellers lists, such as those published by the New

451
00:24:21.680 --> 00:24:27.160
York Times or Amazon. Like what exactly? Now? They go

452
00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:30.160
through a number of reasons why that doesn't occur. There's

453
00:24:30.279 --> 00:24:34.200
there's the Bible's consistently one of the most sold books globally,

454
00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:36.599
but its sales are often so steady and widespread that

455
00:24:36.640 --> 00:24:39.519
it doesn't appear on lists designed to capture short term

456
00:24:39.559 --> 00:24:42.920
trends or spikes some popularity. So in some cases that

457
00:24:43.200 --> 00:24:46.039
charts are not really designed to capture a book like

458
00:24:46.079 --> 00:24:49.519
the Bible that does have lots of demand, and you

459
00:24:49.559 --> 00:24:52.240
know people are buying, you know, new editions or just

460
00:24:52.279 --> 00:24:56.359
replacing their Bibles, So to say it's on the bestseller

461
00:24:56.359 --> 00:24:59.240
list would not actually be an accurate thing. To say.

462
00:24:59.559 --> 00:25:04.279
Different tracking sometimes cells of the Bible are often trackted

463
00:25:04.319 --> 00:25:08.880
separately by publishers or religious organizations and Bible societies rather

464
00:25:08.920 --> 00:25:12.720
than mainstream commercial commercial outfits. Well, then how do you

465
00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:16.039
know it's on the bestseller list? If you're it's not

466
00:25:16.079 --> 00:25:23.599
going to appear on those lists. So I was continuing

467
00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:26.680
to look up information and I found this. It would

468
00:25:26.720 --> 00:25:29.880
not be accurate to write that the Bible still dominates

469
00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:35.319
the bestseller list in a book and because it just doesn't. So,

470
00:25:35.400 --> 00:25:37.000
in other words, it would not be accurate to write

471
00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:41.119
that the Bible still dominates the bestseller list. While the

472
00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:45.519
Bible maybe one of the most consistently sold books worldwide,

473
00:25:45.640 --> 00:25:48.440
it does not regularly appear on mainstream bestseller lists. For

474
00:25:48.519 --> 00:25:50.720
the reasons mentioned earlier, as I've already went through some

475
00:25:50.799 --> 00:25:53.319
of them. A more accurate statement may be something like,

476
00:25:53.559 --> 00:25:56.000
the Bible remains one of the best selling books of

477
00:25:56.000 --> 00:25:59.599
all time, which reflects it's enduring popularity without implying that

478
00:25:59.640 --> 00:26:05.039
it freaks top's contemporary bestseller list. So it's not accurate

479
00:26:05.079 --> 00:26:09.240
to say, again and I quote, it still dominates the

480
00:26:09.279 --> 00:26:16.839
best seller list. It doesn't, doesn't, all right, So we

481
00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:20.039
can start there, start there now next, So I'm going

482
00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:22.799
to read this whole thing again. The Bible is unique

483
00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:25.640
among the books of the world is its release date

484
00:26:25.799 --> 00:26:29.000
is centuries old, yet it still dominates the bestseller list,

485
00:26:29.359 --> 00:26:36.519
confronting modern moderns with mess with messages as fresh as

486
00:26:36.559 --> 00:26:44.480
today's news headlines. Okay. Church loves to say that when

487
00:26:44.480 --> 00:26:47.160
they're preaching to people, Hey, you want to study the

488
00:26:47.160 --> 00:26:51.319
Bible because it's just as fresh as today's news headlines.

489
00:26:51.519 --> 00:26:53.839
It's just as relevant. I understand. We try to sell

490
00:26:53.839 --> 00:26:57.079
it that way. Okay, we could go back and forth

491
00:26:57.119 --> 00:26:59.920
on that definitely has things that are just as relevant

492
00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:03.279
as today's news headlines. Again, maybe that's better. It goes

493
00:27:03.279 --> 00:27:07.039
on to say at times, the Bible is so crystal

494
00:27:07.119 --> 00:27:11.200
clear that a child can understand it, and yet it's

495
00:27:11.240 --> 00:27:17.279
difficulties can humble the most learned of scholars. Now I

496
00:27:17.359 --> 00:27:19.839
struggle with that a little bit, because everyone says, well,

497
00:27:19.839 --> 00:27:21.799
the Bible at times is so crystal clear that a

498
00:27:21.880 --> 00:27:28.599
child can understand it. Which parts are crystal clear? Please

499
00:27:28.640 --> 00:27:31.200
give me all the passages that are crystal clear, and

500
00:27:31.240 --> 00:27:34.400
then let's go look at commentaries and see how many

501
00:27:34.480 --> 00:27:39.160
people actually agree on the passages that are supposedly crystal clear.

502
00:27:42.960 --> 00:27:46.720
Because the history of Christianity demonstrates that whatever is supposedly

503
00:27:46.720 --> 00:27:50.359
crystal clear to one, someone else will say it's crystal clear,

504
00:27:50.359 --> 00:27:54.240
but come up with a completely opposite interpretation. But okay,

505
00:27:55.079 --> 00:27:58.960
it is. It's difficulties should humble the most learned of scholars.

506
00:27:59.160 --> 00:28:02.960
The Bible should humble all of us. Sadly, Christians tend

507
00:28:03.000 --> 00:28:06.240
to be very arrogant about their understanding of it, which

508
00:28:06.759 --> 00:28:11.680
drives me absolutely crazy. Right, it goes on to say

509
00:28:12.160 --> 00:28:16.880
diverse in theme and literary genres. I think that's very true.

510
00:28:16.920 --> 00:28:20.519
It's diverse in its themes and its literary genres. It

511
00:28:20.559 --> 00:28:24.240
conveys a unified story, a message that climaxes in the

512
00:28:24.279 --> 00:28:27.519
person and work of Jesus Christ, it was delivered through

513
00:28:27.880 --> 00:28:31.440
human writers. It is truly God's word. The Bible can

514
00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:34.160
seem as familiar as a walk next door, or as

515
00:28:34.279 --> 00:28:38.720
foreign as a distant country. This article aims to help

516
00:28:38.799 --> 00:28:44.559
you hear from God through daily interaction with the Bible. Now,

517
00:28:44.599 --> 00:28:50.240
I'm going to stop right here. This article aims this

518
00:28:50.359 --> 00:28:53.799
is important to help you hear from God through daily

519
00:28:54.079 --> 00:28:56.799
interaction with the Bible. Now, when you say hear from

520
00:28:56.799 --> 00:29:00.839
God through daily interaction with the Bible, what do you

521
00:29:01.079 --> 00:29:05.599
mean by that? Because see, what makes me nervous is

522
00:29:05.640 --> 00:29:11.119
this sets up to me already a false philosophy that

523
00:29:11.160 --> 00:29:14.079
will lead to a mishandling of God's word. I don't

524
00:29:14.119 --> 00:29:16.519
come to now if you're gonna say I'm gonna help

525
00:29:16.559 --> 00:29:18.880
you're gonna help me hear from God. I Now, on

526
00:29:18.880 --> 00:29:21.400
one hand, I'm gonna hear from God simply because it's

527
00:29:21.400 --> 00:29:24.200
God's word, the end. But if you're saying, I'm gonna

528
00:29:24.200 --> 00:29:26.839
come to the Bible and I'm gonna hear fort from

529
00:29:26.880 --> 00:29:31.960
God somehow directly speaking to me directly about what I'm reading,

530
00:29:32.119 --> 00:29:35.319
as if it's applicable to me, Because in some cases

531
00:29:35.359 --> 00:29:38.640
what we're reading is not applicable to us. It's its

532
00:29:38.680 --> 00:29:41.519
application is for the original recipients, and we got to

533
00:29:41.519 --> 00:29:44.559
be very careful to reach in there and grab and go. Well,

534
00:29:44.559 --> 00:29:47.880
this is saying this to me. That is a problem,

535
00:29:47.920 --> 00:29:50.960
and too many Christians think that way they open the Bible,

536
00:29:51.000 --> 00:29:54.160
they're reading, Well, God today said this to me. God

537
00:29:54.240 --> 00:29:57.240
did not say that to you. God said that to Abram,

538
00:29:57.240 --> 00:29:59.559
he said that to Sarah, he said that to Joseph.

539
00:29:59.640 --> 00:30:03.200
He did can not say it to you. Now, what

540
00:30:03.359 --> 00:30:06.400
can you learn from it? That's a different question. Don't

541
00:30:06.480 --> 00:30:09.880
act like God is speaking directly to you and some

542
00:30:09.960 --> 00:30:12.799
of these passages, because it's not. Again, I've told the

543
00:30:12.839 --> 00:30:16.079
story countless times how a woman I worked with could

544
00:30:16.119 --> 00:30:18.279
not have a baby. Her and her husband kept praying

545
00:30:18.319 --> 00:30:20.680
that she would get pregnant, praying and praying, and then

546
00:30:20.680 --> 00:30:23.400
one morning for her devotion, she read God's promise that

547
00:30:23.400 --> 00:30:26.400
Sarah would have a child, and God spoke to her

548
00:30:26.519 --> 00:30:28.519
and she's going to have a baby. And I was like,

549
00:30:29.119 --> 00:30:32.440
your name is not Sarah, your husband's name is not Abram.

550
00:30:32.839 --> 00:30:35.680
That promise was not to you, not intended for you.

551
00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:39.319
It's not so stop looking to that promise for you.

552
00:30:39.720 --> 00:30:42.880
That's the problem. When you have kind of this mentality that, Oh,

553
00:30:42.920 --> 00:30:45.680
God's gonna speak, you gotta be careful how you handle that.

554
00:30:46.039 --> 00:30:50.599
But what do they go on to say? The article

555
00:30:50.759 --> 00:30:54.359
aims to help you hear from God through daily interaction

556
00:30:54.519 --> 00:30:57.599
with the Bible. Hearing God in the pages of the

557
00:30:57.599 --> 00:31:04.400
Bible takes time effort. Spiritual listening is a skill that

558
00:31:04.440 --> 00:31:08.319
we continue to develop all of our lives. Now, what

559
00:31:08.359 --> 00:31:14.359
do you mean about hearing God in the pages? I

560
00:31:14.400 --> 00:31:16.680
hear God in the pages because all scripture is given

561
00:31:16.680 --> 00:31:21.240
by inspiration of God. It is profitable for teaching doctrine,

562
00:31:21.240 --> 00:31:24.400
reproved correction, instruction, and righteousness. That's the Man of God,

563
00:31:24.440 --> 00:31:26.759
maybe thoroughly furnished into every good work. But what do

564
00:31:26.799 --> 00:31:29.160
I so? I hear from God in a sense that

565
00:31:29.240 --> 00:31:32.279
it's his word. But what do you mean? It takes

566
00:31:32.400 --> 00:31:34.839
time and effort to hear God in the pages. See

567
00:31:34.880 --> 00:31:38.400
that's see You're turning it into something mystical. Now, okay,

568
00:31:38.519 --> 00:31:41.039
I'm going to read the Bible, but I gotta hear

569
00:31:41.119 --> 00:31:44.759
God in the pages. I gotta hear God in the pages.

570
00:31:45.599 --> 00:31:50.480
Is that like a wind that comes through the I

571
00:31:50.599 --> 00:31:55.160
heard God? See that turns it into a mystical almost

572
00:31:55.200 --> 00:31:59.559
a superstitious action. No, I open the Bible. It's God's word.

573
00:31:59.720 --> 00:32:02.720
I read it and then I interpret it like any

574
00:32:02.839 --> 00:32:08.559
other written piece of literature. There's words, there's definitions, there's

575
00:32:08.640 --> 00:32:12.720
context there, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And what

576
00:32:12.720 --> 00:32:15.720
does it mean? It takes to hear God in the pages,

577
00:32:16.079 --> 00:32:19.480
takes time and effort. Spiritual listening is a skill that

578
00:32:19.519 --> 00:32:22.839
we continue to develop all our lives. What do you

579
00:32:22.880 --> 00:32:31.720
mean spiritual listening? Spiritual listening? Again? Is it something mysterious myth?

580
00:32:32.079 --> 00:32:36.200
Or is it? Just open the Bible? Figure out basic context.

581
00:32:36.559 --> 00:32:39.480
Who is speak, who is writing, who is speaking? Who

582
00:32:39.519 --> 00:32:42.119
is it being written and spoken to? What was the

583
00:32:42.119 --> 00:32:45.599
original context? What was their original purpose? How did their

584
00:32:45.920 --> 00:32:50.920
original recipients understand it? Okay, so we want to do observation.

585
00:32:51.119 --> 00:32:54.039
We want to observe exactly what is going on, and

586
00:32:54.079 --> 00:32:56.440
we want to observe the who, what, where, when, how?

587
00:32:56.559 --> 00:32:59.759
Everything perfectly. Then once we do the observation, then we

588
00:32:59.839 --> 00:33:02.440
can and then interpret it based on what it said

589
00:33:02.480 --> 00:33:05.920
and based on its context. This is how we understand it. Now,

590
00:33:06.319 --> 00:33:09.480
what lessons could possibly be drawn from it that could

591
00:33:09.480 --> 00:33:12.039
be applicable to us? And let's be very careful to

592
00:33:12.119 --> 00:33:16.079
recognize some passages are simply descriptive and it's not prescribing

593
00:33:16.119 --> 00:33:18.599
anything those see that's just like a basic What is

594
00:33:18.599 --> 00:33:24.599
this spiritual? I got to develop its words again, I

595
00:33:24.720 --> 00:33:29.359
have to It takes time and effort to develop. Spiritual

596
00:33:29.480 --> 00:33:32.039
listening is a skill that we continue to develop in

597
00:33:32.079 --> 00:33:38.000
all of our lives. What do you mean spiritual listening? Now,

598
00:33:38.000 --> 00:33:39.960
it doesn't explain it. It just goes on to say,

599
00:33:40.359 --> 00:33:44.680
hearing someone well can be challenging when we move across

600
00:33:44.720 --> 00:33:47.039
cultural lines, and in fact, reading the Bible is very

601
00:33:47.119 --> 00:33:51.279
much across cultural conversation. Since God gave his word in places,

602
00:33:51.359 --> 00:33:54.920
times and circumstances very much removed from our own. Yes,

603
00:33:55.079 --> 00:33:59.000
he gave his word and situations and centuries very much

604
00:33:59.039 --> 00:34:01.960
removed from our own. And we got to remember sometimes

605
00:34:01.960 --> 00:34:06.200
those words have no direct they're not speaking to us.

606
00:34:06.799 --> 00:34:10.039
It's descriptive. Now we can say, well, is there a lesson?

607
00:34:10.519 --> 00:34:13.840
But that's very different. Oh, this morning, and my devotional

608
00:34:14.119 --> 00:34:17.719
God was saying this to me now, and you're devotional

609
00:34:17.960 --> 00:34:22.519
God was saying that to Abram, not to you. Now,

610
00:34:22.519 --> 00:34:27.800
what can you learn from it? See that you've got

611
00:34:27.800 --> 00:34:30.960
to make that distinction or you turn the Bible into

612
00:34:30.960 --> 00:34:35.760
this just weird like ooh, I'm hearing from God kind

613
00:34:35.800 --> 00:34:42.159
of thing, and it's it. I can't stand that. So

614
00:34:43.159 --> 00:34:48.000
that's the first really major paragraph. That's the first major paragraph,

615
00:34:48.480 --> 00:34:52.000
and it's just about hearing God, hearing from God, hearing

616
00:34:52.079 --> 00:34:55.519
from God. Again. Here's the thing. I hear from God

617
00:34:55.679 --> 00:35:00.400
in a general sense, because it's God's word times, what

618
00:35:00.440 --> 00:35:03.719
I'm hearing is God speaking to others about their circumstances,

619
00:35:03.880 --> 00:35:07.280
their situation. He's directing them or prescribing to them a

620
00:35:07.320 --> 00:35:10.199
behavior that is not being directed or prescribed to me.

621
00:35:12.079 --> 00:35:14.760
Now when I hear it, what I need to do

622
00:35:14.840 --> 00:35:17.800
is understand who who actually is being spoken to and

623
00:35:17.920 --> 00:35:21.800
of and then like, okay, what can I what is

624
00:35:21.840 --> 00:35:27.679
applicable to me without doing any damage to the scriptures

625
00:35:27.880 --> 00:35:38.320
maintaining the correct context. All right, Now, so there's the

626
00:35:38.320 --> 00:35:42.599
there's the first part. I'm I I. So I'm just

627
00:35:42.639 --> 00:35:46.079
gonna say it. I challenge the whole hearing from God concept.

628
00:35:46.199 --> 00:35:48.519
So let's make it and again, and I'm gonna go

629
00:35:48.519 --> 00:35:51.159
ahead and just deal with this here. It is common

630
00:35:51.199 --> 00:35:54.320
for Christians to say, all right, when you read the Bible,

631
00:35:54.559 --> 00:35:56.760
then you listen to God and God's going to speak

632
00:35:56.800 --> 00:35:59.320
to you. If God is speaking to me outside of

633
00:35:59.360 --> 00:36:02.360
the pages of Scripture, than the pages of Scripture are

634
00:36:02.400 --> 00:36:05.480
no longer the final authority whatever God is saying to

635
00:36:05.519 --> 00:36:08.199
me about the scriptures. And if God is speaking to

636
00:36:08.280 --> 00:36:11.400
Christians outside of the Bible about the Bible, then all

637
00:36:11.480 --> 00:36:14.519
Christians should come to the same conclusion since it's God

638
00:36:14.639 --> 00:36:17.280
talking to us outside of the Bible about the Bible.

639
00:36:17.519 --> 00:36:20.239
God is not talking to you about the Bible outside

640
00:36:20.239 --> 00:36:22.480
of the Bible, because if so, we would all have

641
00:36:22.519 --> 00:36:25.440
the same interpretation. And not only that, If you're saying

642
00:36:25.480 --> 00:36:27.639
that God is telling you what it means outside of

643
00:36:27.719 --> 00:36:30.960
the Bible, because He's speaking directly to you, then your belief,

644
00:36:31.159 --> 00:36:35.079
your belief would be your interpretation is authoritative. You're making

645
00:36:35.119 --> 00:36:39.960
yourself an infallible poe with an infallible interpretation. Because God

646
00:36:40.039 --> 00:36:44.679
gave you the interpretation. That is nonsense, that is crazy talk.

647
00:36:47.599 --> 00:36:51.280
God gave us his word and written form. Our job

648
00:36:51.320 --> 00:36:53.519
is now to read it and interpret it like we

649
00:36:53.599 --> 00:36:57.480
do any other piece of literature, following the basic rules

650
00:36:57.519 --> 00:37:04.239
of reading, comprehension and reading interpreting. God spoke to me.

651
00:37:04.760 --> 00:37:09.920
God said this to me. That just turns it into Well,

652
00:37:09.960 --> 00:37:13.400
it's very charismatic, is what it becomes. And it leads

653
00:37:13.400 --> 00:37:19.039
to utter spiritual anarchy and chaos. All right, God speaks

654
00:37:19.039 --> 00:37:21.559
to me through the Bible because it is his word.

655
00:37:22.719 --> 00:37:29.119
But in it there's context, there's original recipients, original hearers,

656
00:37:29.559 --> 00:37:38.719
original historical situational context. I will go with at least

657
00:37:38.719 --> 00:37:41.159
one more, at least the next section here. So the

658
00:37:41.199 --> 00:37:43.840
first section is just really the introduction the Bibles. You

659
00:37:43.920 --> 00:37:47.840
need everyone. It's been sold and bought so many different times.

660
00:37:48.280 --> 00:37:51.039
But hey, hey, hey, hey, here's the thing we want

661
00:37:51.039 --> 00:37:56.440
to hear from God in it. And he doesn't elaborate

662
00:37:56.559 --> 00:37:59.519
on that, but I already have some issues now in

663
00:37:59.559 --> 00:38:07.360
his other book here reading the Bible better. Yeah, I

664
00:38:07.360 --> 00:38:11.360
don't know if he goes Yeah, he may, he may

665
00:38:11.440 --> 00:38:14.840
go there. I don't. I'm not. I was gonna start

666
00:38:14.840 --> 00:38:17.079
looking for for it. But I'm not going to do that.

667
00:38:17.440 --> 00:38:18.920
I am. I am going to see here because he

668
00:38:19.000 --> 00:38:29.480
have a table contents here. Yeah, hear the words, page

669
00:38:29.519 --> 00:38:32.559
forty seven. Hear the words now again? Is that hearing

670
00:38:32.559 --> 00:38:35.000
the words of scripture or is that hearing God outside

671
00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:38.280
of scripture? Now? We do hear words when we read

672
00:38:38.280 --> 00:38:40.119
the Bible. I will agree with that. All right, But

673
00:38:40.239 --> 00:38:42.360
the next part here in the article, in the essay,

674
00:38:42.920 --> 00:38:46.360
it's called this section is entitled why spend time in

675
00:38:46.400 --> 00:38:49.440
the Bible? All right, let's see what's the motivation here.

676
00:38:50.280 --> 00:38:56.320
Perhaps this is how this section begins. Perhaps your past

677
00:38:57.000 --> 00:39:00.559
has been marked by starts and stops and reading the Bible.

678
00:39:01.360 --> 00:39:04.800
You are you, and you are wondering whether you have

679
00:39:04.880 --> 00:39:09.320
the discipline to engage in the Bible consistently well join

680
00:39:09.480 --> 00:39:12.519
the club. Most of us have struggled with the discipline

681
00:39:12.559 --> 00:39:15.480
of Bible reading and study, so it is worth giving

682
00:39:15.519 --> 00:39:21.840
consistent So it is worth giving consistent Bible reading and

683
00:39:22.159 --> 00:39:26.079
study another try, or even a first try. Most believers

684
00:39:26.239 --> 00:39:29.760
know it intuitively that this is the case. So let's

685
00:39:30.119 --> 00:39:33.400
read this again. So perhaps you're one of those people

686
00:39:33.639 --> 00:39:36.599
who've that your life has been marked by starts and

687
00:39:36.679 --> 00:39:42.360
stops and reading the Bible. Now I would raise this question,

688
00:39:42.400 --> 00:39:47.719
why is it seemingly so common and Christendom from one

689
00:39:47.960 --> 00:39:49.719
end of the country to the other end of the

690
00:39:49.719 --> 00:39:53.920
country and around the club that Christians, by large, by

691
00:39:54.559 --> 00:39:58.000
by every statistical analysis that we can come up with,

692
00:39:58.400 --> 00:40:03.480
they don't spend conc distant time reading their Bibles. Some will,

693
00:40:03.760 --> 00:40:06.360
some don't, and typically what you find is the ones

694
00:40:06.440 --> 00:40:10.079
more consistent, not always are people who typically love to

695
00:40:10.119 --> 00:40:13.079
read anyway, So it's not even a spiritual thing, it's

696
00:40:13.159 --> 00:40:15.920
just their normal. They love to read. But why is

697
00:40:16.000 --> 00:40:17.920
it that you think if you were to look at

698
00:40:18.000 --> 00:40:21.079
your church, what would you think would be the statistical

699
00:40:21.440 --> 00:40:27.280
breakdown that people read and people read and study their

700
00:40:27.280 --> 00:40:31.679
Bible on a consistent basis, read and study on a

701
00:40:31.719 --> 00:40:34.639
consistent base. They're actually using a study method and they're

702
00:40:34.639 --> 00:40:36.920
actually reading on a consistent basis. What do you think

703
00:40:36.960 --> 00:40:41.079
that number would be? Do you think that percentage over

704
00:40:41.159 --> 00:40:44.880
fifty percent? I think it would be probably well under

705
00:40:44.880 --> 00:40:50.320
twenty percent, And you would be shocked. These people sound godly.

706
00:40:50.760 --> 00:40:54.199
They may they may condemn a lot of other sins,

707
00:40:54.239 --> 00:40:56.480
and they may try to live again, but they don't

708
00:40:56.519 --> 00:41:01.039
really engage in any meaningful consistent read and study. There

709
00:41:01.039 --> 00:41:04.280
may start, but then they'll stop. Now it goes on

710
00:41:04.320 --> 00:41:07.079
to say that you may be wondering whether you have

711
00:41:07.119 --> 00:41:12.199
the discipline to engage to engage the Bible consistently. Now see,

712
00:41:12.280 --> 00:41:16.159
now this comes down to it's discipline. Now, this is

713
00:41:16.199 --> 00:41:19.480
where I struggle because that's the reality of Christianity. That's

714
00:41:19.480 --> 00:41:22.320
the reality is most Christians don't read and study on

715
00:41:22.360 --> 00:41:27.119
a consistent basis. They just don't. So then the issue is, well,

716
00:41:27.119 --> 00:41:29.880
wait a minute, because you've got some people from their

717
00:41:29.880 --> 00:41:32.880
theological background will say, if you don't love the word

718
00:41:32.920 --> 00:41:35.639
of God, desire the word of God, and feed upon

719
00:41:35.679 --> 00:41:37.960
the Word of God on a consistent basis, this is

720
00:41:38.039 --> 00:41:40.199
proof you were never saved. Well, now you're about to

721
00:41:40.199 --> 00:41:51.320
throw out about eighty percent of Christianity. Now, I think

722
00:41:51.360 --> 00:41:53.360
we all agree we should love the word of God,

723
00:41:53.559 --> 00:41:55.719
we should desire the word of God. But I think

724
00:41:55.760 --> 00:41:58.199
we all know some people just don't like to read

725
00:41:58.280 --> 00:42:04.519
or study. So it is a struggle, and I think

726
00:42:04.559 --> 00:42:06.840
it does come down to just you've got to have

727
00:42:06.880 --> 00:42:11.199
the discipline. You've got to have the discipline, it says,

728
00:42:11.239 --> 00:42:14.719
we will join the club. So even he acknowledges that

729
00:42:14.880 --> 00:42:17.119
most of us have struggled with the discipline of Bible

730
00:42:17.159 --> 00:42:20.039
reading and study. So it is worth giving consistent Bible

731
00:42:20.119 --> 00:42:22.639
reading and study another try, or a first try. Most

732
00:42:22.679 --> 00:42:28.079
believers know intuitively that it is so everyone we know

733
00:42:28.159 --> 00:42:30.880
we should do it, he says, intuitively, we kind of

734
00:42:30.920 --> 00:42:38.039
know it, but it's most people struggle with it. Next,

735
00:42:39.119 --> 00:42:45.400
this is God's word, the word God, the God who

736
00:42:45.480 --> 00:42:48.519
spoke the world into being, has spoken his truth about

737
00:42:48.559 --> 00:42:51.760
life through the Bible, so that we might know what

738
00:42:51.880 --> 00:42:54.480
he intends for the world and how we might live

739
00:42:54.599 --> 00:42:58.880
for his fame. He calls us to be word people,

740
00:42:59.159 --> 00:43:03.000
people who are cultural and the ways we approach life. Thus,

741
00:43:03.039 --> 00:43:07.280
the Bible serves as the foundation for the understanding who

742
00:43:07.320 --> 00:43:10.719
we are and what we should be doing in this world.

743
00:43:10.880 --> 00:43:13.559
So his argument is, why should you be spending time

744
00:43:13.599 --> 00:43:16.760
in the Bible? It is God's word, The God who

745
00:43:16.840 --> 00:43:20.159
created everything has given us his word, so we should

746
00:43:20.199 --> 00:43:22.599
want to know it. We should desire it because it's

747
00:43:22.599 --> 00:43:24.880
the word that tells us how to live, how to think.

748
00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:27.480
It helps us understand the world around us. So we

749
00:43:27.559 --> 00:43:30.679
should be countercultural, and we should be approaching the scripture,

750
00:43:30.760 --> 00:43:33.840
loving the scriptures, and desiring the scriptures. Now everyone says

751
00:43:33.880 --> 00:43:38.159
we should, but everyone all the statistical studies say Christians

752
00:43:38.159 --> 00:43:40.400
at large don't, And nobody ever seems to have a

753
00:43:40.400 --> 00:43:43.559
good explanation to the reason why, other than to say, well,

754
00:43:43.760 --> 00:43:46.320
they're probably not saved and then throw out basically everyone

755
00:43:46.320 --> 00:43:52.159
from the Kingdom of God, which I completely rejected that approach. Now,

756
00:43:52.199 --> 00:43:54.199
it goes on to say in the next few pages

757
00:43:54.760 --> 00:43:57.639
that the author says, here, I will offer number of

758
00:43:57.639 --> 00:44:01.039
suggestions that you can start applying daily and less time

759
00:44:01.039 --> 00:44:05.159
than it takes to watch a sit calm on TV. Hey, hey, look, look,

760
00:44:06.159 --> 00:44:08.079
you need to read because it's God's word. But I'm

761
00:44:08.119 --> 00:44:09.519
going to try to give you some things that you

762
00:44:09.559 --> 00:44:13.159
can put into effect in less time than it takes

763
00:44:13.159 --> 00:44:15.760
to watch a sitcom on TV. Now, the thing is,

764
00:44:16.079 --> 00:44:21.960
it's I find it almost fundamentally contradictory in some ways

765
00:44:22.079 --> 00:44:24.239
that on one hand, Christians are like, it's the word

766
00:44:24.280 --> 00:44:27.079
of God, it's what we need, we must have it.

767
00:44:27.119 --> 00:44:28.599
On the other hand, we're like, Okay, we got to

768
00:44:28.599 --> 00:44:30.599
find a way to do this so that it'll be quick,

769
00:44:30.760 --> 00:44:33.239
because we got to make it quick, because well, if

770
00:44:33.239 --> 00:44:35.679
we don't make it quick quick, Christians won't engage. So

771
00:44:35.719 --> 00:44:37.840
guess what Christians have been trying to do, you know,

772
00:44:38.119 --> 00:44:42.400
the five minute you know, five minute devotional, one minute devotional,

773
00:44:42.400 --> 00:44:45.440
ten minute devotional, fifteen minutes in God's work. And we've

774
00:44:45.440 --> 00:44:47.199
tried to do everything we can to reduce it and

775
00:44:47.239 --> 00:44:49.000
reduce it and reduce it so that we can get

776
00:44:49.000 --> 00:44:51.960
people to participate but in every little trick to try

777
00:44:51.960 --> 00:44:56.679
to get people to participate, for the majority, there's always

778
00:44:56.679 --> 00:44:59.960
the exception. But for the majority, it doesn't move them

779
00:45:00.119 --> 00:45:06.760
to do anything. Now, I will argue that usually the

780
00:45:06.840 --> 00:45:10.280
distinguishing part is not and this is not always the case.

781
00:45:10.559 --> 00:45:12.920
It's people who typically love to read, and people who

782
00:45:12.920 --> 00:45:16.760
typically love to study, and people who typically have notebooks

783
00:45:16.800 --> 00:45:20.280
and take notes on what they read, and they may

784
00:45:20.360 --> 00:45:24.440
even enjoyed school. Those kinds of people are typically the

785
00:45:24.519 --> 00:45:27.719
Christians who read, have a notebook, take notes, and do

786
00:45:27.760 --> 00:45:30.559
all that stuff. Anyway, it's just kind of the fleshly thing.

787
00:45:30.760 --> 00:45:34.880
It's nothing spiritual. And those who don't ever really like

788
00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:37.360
to read, they don't ever, they don't They're not going

789
00:45:37.400 --> 00:45:39.599
to have a notebook, they're not going to write anything down,

790
00:45:39.760 --> 00:45:42.360
they're not going to do anything along those lines. People

791
00:45:42.400 --> 00:45:45.760
who typically have that mentality are people who probably when

792
00:45:45.800 --> 00:45:47.519
they become a Christian are not going to do much

793
00:45:47.519 --> 00:45:55.280
reading and studying anyway. Now that the reason I bring

794
00:45:55.360 --> 00:45:57.400
that up is it means a lot of times the

795
00:45:57.440 --> 00:46:00.239
way you live out your Christian Christian life a lot

796
00:46:00.239 --> 00:46:03.719
of times it's more based just off your fleshly personality

797
00:46:03.960 --> 00:46:06.760
than it does some spiritual thing. Right, you have some

798
00:46:06.800 --> 00:46:08.480
people who are like, well, I don't do this, and

799
00:46:08.519 --> 00:46:10.079
I don't do this, and you wouldn't be doing that

800
00:46:10.119 --> 00:46:12.199
even if you weren't a Christian. Well, I do this

801
00:46:12.280 --> 00:46:14.639
and I do this, yeah, because that's what you would

802
00:46:14.639 --> 00:46:18.480
do even as a non Christian. Like sometimes, so much

803
00:46:18.519 --> 00:46:22.840
of our Christian life is just our normal, fleshly self

804
00:46:23.199 --> 00:46:27.639
just living itself out within the context of Christianity. Well,

805
00:46:27.639 --> 00:46:30.559
I don't listen to that worldly music, and you didn't

806
00:46:30.639 --> 00:46:33.719
like the worldly music before you were saved. Okay. Now

807
00:46:33.760 --> 00:46:36.840
sometimes they will claim they were, I really was into

808
00:46:36.880 --> 00:46:38.760
this music. You start talking to them like, I don't

809
00:46:38.760 --> 00:46:40.679
think you're really much of a fan because you don't

810
00:46:40.679 --> 00:46:43.000
seem to have a clue what you're talking about. Okay, So,

811
00:46:43.159 --> 00:46:46.320
but the point is reality is a lot of times

812
00:46:46.360 --> 00:46:49.199
our Christian life is simply just our own fleshly self

813
00:46:49.280 --> 00:46:51.880
just being lived out in the context of Christianity. And

814
00:46:51.920 --> 00:46:55.400
sometimes we assign like I know I used to do it.

815
00:46:55.639 --> 00:46:58.320
I could as signed. Look, look, I know that I

816
00:46:58.400 --> 00:47:00.880
love God and I'm saved because a look at how

817
00:47:00.960 --> 00:47:03.519
much I read, look at how much I study. But

818
00:47:03.559 --> 00:47:07.440
that I don't think that was a proof of anything spiritual.

819
00:47:07.519 --> 00:47:10.880
That's my normal self. Give me books, give me notebooks,

820
00:47:11.199 --> 00:47:18.400
give me pencils. Life is good doesn't mean I'm spiritual.

821
00:47:22.239 --> 00:47:25.079
I took great spiritual pride in that fact, but it

822
00:47:25.119 --> 00:47:27.840
was more of a fleshly thing than a spiritual thing.

823
00:47:32.880 --> 00:47:40.719
So what can we take from this introduction? The Church

824
00:47:40.760 --> 00:47:43.239
at large, I think has done a very poor job

825
00:47:43.239 --> 00:47:47.719
in really training people and instructing people on how to

826
00:47:47.760 --> 00:47:50.360
actually study. I think there's been Christians, have been Christians

827
00:47:50.360 --> 00:47:51.880
for ten fifteen years. They couldn't tell you how to

828
00:47:51.880 --> 00:47:54.159
study the Bible. Their life depended upon it, and they've

829
00:47:54.199 --> 00:47:56.079
been going to church and going to church. They don't

830
00:47:56.119 --> 00:47:59.079
know a Bible study method. They would know a thematic

831
00:47:59.119 --> 00:48:01.880
method from a topical method, a word study. They would

832
00:48:02.039 --> 00:48:05.280
know chapter analysis from a chapter summary. They don't know

833
00:48:05.360 --> 00:48:07.679
these methods. They don't know how to do these methods.

834
00:48:07.800 --> 00:48:10.239
They have no clue. They're basic. They can give you

835
00:48:10.360 --> 00:48:13.159
is very just. They can throw out a lot of

836
00:48:13.840 --> 00:48:17.760
cliches about Bible study, but they don't really have a method.

837
00:48:17.960 --> 00:48:19.920
They don't And when you look at it, like what

838
00:48:19.920 --> 00:48:21.800
do you what do you? What is that? What are

839
00:48:21.840 --> 00:48:25.039
you doing? Like? What what method are you utilizing. They

840
00:48:25.039 --> 00:48:27.920
don't have a method they and and so that is

841
00:48:28.039 --> 00:48:32.800
that that's a problem. The Church has felled people there horribly,

842
00:48:33.400 --> 00:48:36.559
and in many cases the church would won't take responsibilities.

843
00:48:36.840 --> 00:48:38.639
But we did a course on how to study the Bible,

844
00:48:39.000 --> 00:48:42.239
go listen to it. You didn't give them anything tangible.

845
00:48:42.920 --> 00:48:46.719
You didn't give them anything they need tangible steps tangible

846
00:48:46.800 --> 00:48:49.280
because if you it's like a recipe, right, you can

847
00:48:49.320 --> 00:48:53.599
talk in general about cooking, you can talk in general principles,

848
00:48:53.840 --> 00:48:56.159
but at some point someone's gonna need a recipe. What

849
00:48:56.360 --> 00:48:59.199
ingredients do I need? What steps do I take? How

850
00:48:59.199 --> 00:49:02.840
do I mix it? Watch the temperature? And with Bible

851
00:49:02.880 --> 00:49:06.400
study you can give them general principles. There's a stove,

852
00:49:07.639 --> 00:49:10.079
there's different ingredients that go in food, and you mix

853
00:49:10.119 --> 00:49:12.440
it together and then you get a mill. Okay, Well

854
00:49:12.480 --> 00:49:14.360
that doesn't tell you how to make a mill, right,

855
00:49:14.719 --> 00:49:17.079
So at some point you got to have the specific steps.

856
00:49:17.280 --> 00:49:20.559
So sometimes these how to study I think are problematic.

857
00:49:20.719 --> 00:49:22.639
So I think the Church has felled people, and when

858
00:49:22.679 --> 00:49:24.719
they do try to train them, I think they don't

859
00:49:24.760 --> 00:49:29.239
train them in an adequate way, right. But I think

860
00:49:29.280 --> 00:49:34.199
there's also a fundamentally flawed precept or philosophy that when

861
00:49:34.199 --> 00:49:36.280
I read the Bible, God is speaking directly to me,

862
00:49:38.119 --> 00:49:40.639
not in a general sense that all the Bible is

863
00:49:40.679 --> 00:49:43.480
God's word, so therefore it is God's speaking. But like

864
00:49:43.559 --> 00:49:46.840
he's speaking directly to me, he's given. God is not

865
00:49:46.880 --> 00:49:50.239
speaking to you outside of scripture, even about scripture. God

866
00:49:50.280 --> 00:49:53.280
speaks to us through scripture alone. If he's speaking to

867
00:49:53.360 --> 00:49:55.960
you about the Bible outside of the Bible, then you

868
00:49:56.039 --> 00:49:58.440
have a separate authority. You don't have just the Bible.

869
00:49:58.519 --> 00:50:00.920
And if God is the one telling you to understand it,

870
00:50:01.119 --> 00:50:02.960
then what you're claiming, even if you don't want to,

871
00:50:03.320 --> 00:50:06.079
is that you have an infallible interpretation because it supposedly

872
00:50:06.079 --> 00:50:11.159
came from God. Well that's problematic, all right. So this

873
00:50:11.199 --> 00:50:15.199
whole hearing from God. We hear from God generally when

874
00:50:15.239 --> 00:50:17.599
we open the Bible, and sometimes we are hearing him

875
00:50:17.599 --> 00:50:21.719
speak to other people and specific historical context and it's

876
00:50:21.760 --> 00:50:24.800
not directly applicable to us or maybe lessons in it,

877
00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:28.400
but it's not directly applicable to us. Why spend time

878
00:50:28.440 --> 00:50:33.679
in the Bible, Well, because it's God's word. But there's

879
00:50:33.719 --> 00:50:37.239
a problem. Christians don't Why don't they Nobody seems to

880
00:50:37.320 --> 00:50:39.079
have a good answer. I think what we have to

881
00:50:39.079 --> 00:50:41.840
be careful of is the idea that I think sometimes

882
00:50:41.880 --> 00:50:45.840
it's our fleshly pursuit that we make ourselves convinced that

883
00:50:45.880 --> 00:50:48.119
it's a spiritual pursuit, but it's just something we would

884
00:50:48.159 --> 00:50:51.159
fleshly do. We need to develop a discipline and a

885
00:50:51.159 --> 00:50:53.519
love and a desire for God's word. We need to

886
00:50:53.599 --> 00:50:57.559
figure it out now. I wanted to get to the

887
00:50:57.599 --> 00:51:02.320
next section. Next section is begin with the Heart, and

888
00:51:02.400 --> 00:51:06.199
I'm going to really challenge this a little bit, all right,

889
00:51:06.599 --> 00:51:12.360
but there you have it. We will work our way

890
00:51:12.360 --> 00:51:14.280
through this over the next I don't know, a couple

891
00:51:14.280 --> 00:51:18.800
of days, and hopefully we can benefit greatly from it.

892
00:51:19.320 --> 00:51:21.920
And the meantime, if you want those books again, the

893
00:51:21.960 --> 00:51:25.280
first one is reading A Short Guide to Reading the

894
00:51:25.719 --> 00:51:29.159
Bible Better by George H. Guthrie. George H. Guthrie. As

895
00:51:29.159 --> 00:51:31.039
you can see, I'm probably going to disagree with a

896
00:51:31.079 --> 00:51:35.480
lot here and then or you can look up the book.

897
00:51:35.920 --> 00:51:39.639
Hang on, let me find it How to Read Your

898
00:51:39.679 --> 00:51:44.559
Bible by George Guthrie, and both are available on Amazon

899
00:51:44.840 --> 00:51:47.639
or wherever you probably get your Christian books. I know

900
00:51:47.679 --> 00:51:51.320
it would be at Christian Book distributors. I think LifeWay

901
00:51:51.360 --> 00:51:53.519
is the one I got the small one at I

902
00:51:53.519 --> 00:51:59.599
think maybe I can't remember, but yeah, we'll see. Now,

903
00:51:59.639 --> 00:52:04.119
since I've already challenged some of the basic concepts, well

904
00:52:04.159 --> 00:52:06.000
you can tell me what you think if you so desire.

905
00:52:06.039 --> 00:52:11.079
All right, everyone, have a great day. That's the school bus,

906
00:52:11.079 --> 00:52:14.800
I think. I think that's the school bus dropping some

907
00:52:14.880 --> 00:52:17.159
kids off. All right, it was loud in the background.

908
00:52:17.199 --> 00:52:19.079
All Right, thank you everyone, have a great day. God

909
00:52:19.119 --> 00:52:19.400
bless