1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:04,560 So with that, I want to introduce how to read the Bible. 2 00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:07,200 So that's what we're going to talk about today. 3 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:09,280 We're not going to have a a typical sermon. 4 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:13,880 Normally we have a a text and we expose God's word verse by 5 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:15,760 verse. Today we're going to bounce 6 00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:19,240 around a little bit, but in asking you to read the 7 00:00:19,240 --> 00:00:23,040 Scriptures together, I want to give you some handles on how to 8 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:26,600 do that. So have maybe you've started 9 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:30,680 reading the Bible and you get from Genesis into a list of 10 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:33,200 names and you think, man, I'm toast now I'm good. 11 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:34,880 I don't, I don't know where to go. 12 00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:37,480 I don't know what to do. You get lost in the laws and the 13 00:00:37,480 --> 00:00:40,400 sacrifices and you're like, I really don't understand what's 14 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:42,480 happening. Or even in the New Testament 15 00:00:42,480 --> 00:00:44,640 that the Bible's not a chronological book. 16 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:48,800 Maybe you find yourself just not understanding what is going on. 17 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:50,240 Who wrote this? Where am I? 18 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:54,600 I was meeting with someone recently and I said, turn to the 19 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:57,480 gospel of Luke. And he said, who's Luke? 20 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:02,080 So if that's you, that's OK. You don't have to be intimidated 21 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:04,840 by the Bible. You just have to start reading 22 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:05,840 it. That's how you learn. 23 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:08,880 Anything else. You just have to pursue it and 24 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:12,040 you can do that. It's not as scary as it sounds. 25 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:15,800 So today I want to give you some handles on how to do that for 26 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:17,880 yourself. If you have the notes, there may 27 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:21,400 be some cross references that I don't hit, so you can take those 28 00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:23,720 home, maybe stuff it in your Bible. 29 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:26,440 If you ever do get stuck, bring that back out and it might help 30 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:30,040 you. My plan is Lord willing next 31 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:35,520 week to do this same thing, but to do how to study the Bible, 32 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:38,600 because that's a different thing than how to read the Bible. 33 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:42,600 So in our Bible studies, we'll be exercising some of those 34 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:45,360 principles. Here's how we come to terms with 35 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:47,560 what God said and what we do with it in our life. 36 00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:50,680 But first, we just begin with reading. 37 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:54,080 So you don't have to know what it all means. 38 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:58,440 If your first question is what does the Bible mean, you're 39 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:02,160 asking the wrong question. The first question, as we'll see 40 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:03,760 in a moment, is what does it say? 41 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:07,400 And in order to discover that, you just have to read it first. 42 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:10,240 So let me take a moment and pray. 43 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:12,560 I know we've already prayed, but I want to settle our hearts 44 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:14,120 because we will be in the Scriptures. 45 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,760 I want to give you just one minute, maybe 60 seconds of 46 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:22,440 silence and on your own, would you just settle your heart and 47 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:24,800 ask the Lord to speak to you? And then I'll lead us in a 48 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:25,840 prayer. So let's pray. 49 00:03:03,050 --> 00:03:07,450 God, as we come before Your Word, we need Your help to 50 00:03:07,450 --> 00:03:11,250 understand it. I pray that you'd open our 51 00:03:11,250 --> 00:03:13,490 hearts even for myself, knowing what I'm going to say. 52 00:03:13,490 --> 00:03:17,250 Your Word has this uncanny ability to speak to me even 53 00:03:17,250 --> 00:03:23,050 while I'm talking about it. I pray God for open hearts and 54 00:03:23,050 --> 00:03:25,850 not just for this moment, but that the rest of this year would 55 00:03:25,850 --> 00:03:30,000 be impacted by how we learn to read and study your word. 56 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:34,960 I pray in Christ's name, Amen. All right, we'll have a 5 fold 57 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:41,120 plan for you, a process, if you will, for how to read the Bible. 58 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:44,520 And so before you even read it, there's something you need to 59 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:46,960 do. This is this is not some 60 00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:49,440 legalistic thing, by the way. These are all just rigged. 61 00:03:49,880 --> 00:03:54,160 I think good principles for you. The best thing that you can do 62 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:56,560 before you ever read the Bible is not Google it. 63 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:06,080 It's the prey. If we truly want to understand 64 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:11,560 what it says, if we we truly want to hear from the author of 65 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:17,040 the book, then we need to consider him because this book 66 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:19,480 is claimed to be authored by God. 67 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:22,560 What do you believe that or not? That's what the Bible claims. 68 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:24,880 Second Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16. 69 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:29,800 All scripture is given by inspiration of God. 70 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:32,880 That word inspiration is to breathe life into something. 71 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:37,280 God inspired the scriptures. It's profitable for doctrine, 72 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:42,080 reproof, etcetera. Peter says it this way, knowing 73 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:45,920 this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private 74 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:50,120 interpretation, meaning you don't just get to make it say 75 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:53,960 whatever you want it to say, but in verse 21. 76 00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:58,080 For the prophecy came not an old time by the will of man, but 77 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:02,760 holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 78 00:05:03,840 --> 00:05:06,880 This is what the Bible claims. The men that wrote the Bible 79 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:10,240 were moved by the Spirit of God to write it down. 80 00:05:11,840 --> 00:05:15,960 So we ought to consider the author of the book before we 81 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:19,760 even read it. The book of James tells us that 82 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:24,720 God resists the proud. There's a few things that God 83 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:25,760 hates. Did you know that? 84 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:28,520 The book of Proverbs tells us there's several things that God 85 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:33,720 hates, uses the word hate and he hates pride to be 86 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:36,480 self-righteous, to say I have it all figured out. 87 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:39,360 I don't need you. I'm better than you God. 88 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:42,600 I have my own way. He says I hate that. 89 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:46,600 That's gross. I resist like face palm. 90 00:05:47,280 --> 00:05:52,200 I resist pride. So if you approach this book 91 00:05:52,840 --> 00:05:55,920 already thinking it's wrong, already thinking that God 92 00:05:55,920 --> 00:06:00,880 doesn't exist, you're likely not really to get anything out of 93 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:06,680 it. The Bible is likened unto a 94 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:11,200 mirror. The book of James tells tells it 95 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:13,760 this way. He says for if any be a I'm 96 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:16,560 sorry I'm I'm missing messing up on my notes. 97 00:06:16,840 --> 00:06:20,480 Having an open heart will protect you from confirmation 98 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:22,840 bias. I'll explain that in a minute. 99 00:06:22,840 --> 00:06:25,560 I was going to say that out of order. 100 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:28,960 I did some of this on an airplane on the way here. 101 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:32,600 I don't know what time zone I was in, so hopefully it's all in 102 00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:36,200 there somewhere, but maybe. Do you know what confirmation 103 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:39,680 bias is? When you already have an idea 104 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:43,160 and you go to an experiment or to a thing and you just come to 105 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:46,720 the same conclusion you already have, You don't allow any 106 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:49,000 outside information. Sometimes it's called an echo 107 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:52,120 chamber. All of your friends and all of 108 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:55,320 your sources and all of your things all say the same thing 109 00:06:55,320 --> 00:06:58,760 and you're not able to actually get any clarity or any truth 110 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:01,720 because you already have a preconceived idea. 111 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:05,280 This is true. I had AI work in an office 112 00:07:05,280 --> 00:07:09,400 environment in the city and I had a, an honest liberal just 113 00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:13,120 say, hey, I'm I'm very liberal and I only consider liberal 114 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:14,920 things. And I do think it's dangerous, 115 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:16,720 he admitted. I think it's dangerous. 116 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:20,440 We only listen to ourselves. That's many of us. 117 00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:23,320 This is how cults are formed and all kinds of things are formed. 118 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:27,640 We don't have an open heart and an honest assessment of what is 119 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:30,760 true. The book of James tells us, if 120 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:36,320 any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a 121 00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:39,840 man beholding his natural face in a glass. 122 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:42,720 I'm sorry I got the wrong verse up there. 123 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:44,000 My goodness, I don't know what I'm doing. 124 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:49,480 Well, James 123 to 24, those references are probably in your 125 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:53,080 notes, but he says the person that looks into this glass in 126 00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:57,200 verse 24, he beholdeth himself and goeth his way. 127 00:07:57,760 --> 00:08:01,080 And that's many people. We look into the book and we 128 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:04,960 say, wow, I'm ugly, I'm messed up, I'm a Sinner, I need Jesus, 129 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:06,320 but I don't really want to do that. 130 00:08:06,320 --> 00:08:11,640 I want to go do something else. And that is sad. 131 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:16,600 It would be like you looking in the mirror and realizing you're 132 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:21,560 a mess but still going out and to do some public kind of thing. 133 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:23,840 You'd have to have no self esteem to be able to do that. 134 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:25,840 Or maybe you're just from Portland. 135 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:27,240 There's several people you could play. 136 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:30,120 I work in the city, you could play the game in the city 137 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:33,320 homeless or from Portland. And I mean that with all due 138 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:36,200 respect because it is a fashion, but it's kind of edgy. 139 00:08:36,200 --> 00:08:38,480 You just kind of quite can never tell. 140 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:42,840 But this confirmation bias is spoken of by the prophet 141 00:08:42,840 --> 00:08:45,080 Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 6. 142 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:49,160 Israel was a people that did not want to hear from God and the 143 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:53,960 nation was going to be destroyed because they rejected God and 144 00:08:53,960 --> 00:08:57,120 this is how they were described. He says, To whom shall I speak 145 00:08:57,680 --> 00:08:59,160 and give warning that they may hear? 146 00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:02,960 Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot 147 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:05,840 hearken. Behold, the word of the Lord is 148 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:10,480 unto them a reproach. They have no delight in it. 149 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:14,040 For the ear to be uncircumcised, that means it can't hear. 150 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:17,920 It's not sensitive. And that can be many of us as we 151 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:22,600 approach the Bible without considering the author, We're 152 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:27,800 not able to hear. Jeremiah says in chapter 5, 153 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:30,280 there were these false prophets in Israel. 154 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:34,840 Jeremiah's job was to tell Israel, hey, judgment is coming, 155 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:37,960 you need to repent. But there was another group of 156 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:41,920 prophets and and the Bible says they prophecy falsely. 157 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:45,080 And even the priests bear rule by their means. 158 00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:52,640 And my people love to have it. So this is what's really sad is 159 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:54,680 that when we hear false teaching, when we have a 160 00:09:54,680 --> 00:10:00,480 preconceived idea, we really love it because it doesn't 161 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:03,240 correct us. It doesn't tell us we're 162 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:08,240 sinners, it doesn't tell us that God is holy, it doesn't tell us 163 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:12,720 there's another way. We just want to hear what we 164 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:16,080 want to hear. So today that's why I had us 165 00:10:16,080 --> 00:10:20,480 pray, and I think that's the best way to approach the 166 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:22,600 scriptures. I gave you a couple of examples 167 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:25,640 of prayers. I put them in your notes because 168 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:27,920 they don't have to be complicated prayers. 169 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:32,440 Prayers aren't magic words. OK, God is not trying to trick 170 00:10:32,440 --> 00:10:33,880 you all. You didn't say it just right. 171 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:39,000 I didn't hear it, so I put it 2 prayers, an example of a prayer 172 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:41,240 from an unbeliever. If you're a skeptic and you 173 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:44,360 would say I'm not really sure, I don't know if God is real. 174 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:48,960 Begin with that, the honesty of your heart that says OK God, if 175 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:51,840 you're real, I want to hear show me. 176 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:59,840 But for many Christians, my regular prayer is God, show me 177 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:03,600 what I need to see. Help me to put everything else 178 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:05,760 aside. Speak to me. 179 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:09,880 I regularly tell the Lord, correct me. 180 00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:14,520 I I want to be right. I want to be right with you. 181 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:20,680 I'm terrified of my own pride, my own decisions. 182 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:23,760 But God's not trying to trip you up. 183 00:11:24,600 --> 00:11:29,000 In John chapter 1, the Bible says that he lights every man 184 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:32,840 that comes into the world. You see, it's God's desire that 185 00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:37,320 all the world would be saved. Every person would be drawn to 186 00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:40,240 Christ and born again through faith in the gospel. 187 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:42,560 God is trying to reach every person. 188 00:11:42,560 --> 00:11:45,720 So when you open the Scriptures, if you do it with an honest 189 00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:48,520 heart, you will hear from the Lord. 190 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:52,760 So the the first one is to pray. That's the way we start. 191 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:59,960 The second one, it's to read. That should make a lot of sense, 192 00:11:59,960 --> 00:12:04,560 right? But many times, and now today in 193 00:12:04,560 --> 00:12:08,880 the age of AI, we don't actually read anything anymore. 194 00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:14,320 It's TLDR, right? Maybe just Sheila, give me the 195 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:17,200 summary Or not. Sheila, Alexa, Siri, somebody. 196 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:18,440 Yeah. Tell me, what does the Bible 197 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:19,440 say? Can you summarize it? 198 00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:20,680 Summarize it even make it shorter? 199 00:12:20,680 --> 00:12:22,960 Make it give me one sentence. OK. 200 00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:27,840 That was my devotions. Or maybe you're the the random 201 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:30,640 Bible verse person. I used to be a youth pastor and 202 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:33,400 kids would have these random Bible verse generators on their 203 00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:36,080 phone and they would just hit it and they would get a random one 204 00:12:36,080 --> 00:12:37,760 and be like, all right, that was it for today. 205 00:12:39,560 --> 00:12:43,840 Like, man, how sad that we're that shallow that we're 206 00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:47,080 satisfied with just playing the lottery of the Bible. 207 00:12:49,560 --> 00:12:51,840 If we're going to read the Bible, we actually have to spend 208 00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:55,520 time reading it. There's no short cutting, 209 00:12:56,000 --> 00:12:59,320 learning things. You don't have to understand 210 00:12:59,320 --> 00:13:01,480 everything. We'll get there in a moment, but 211 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:05,040 you just have to start reading. This is why we have a plan and 212 00:13:05,040 --> 00:13:07,720 we do it as a church. There's some camaraderie around, 213 00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:10,440 hey man, would you read this week or how's it going or let's 214 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:12,040 get caught up or something like that. 215 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:16,040 So I have a few helpful things for you in your notes. 216 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:20,920 First is set a time to read. If you're going to actually set 217 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:24,480 out a goal and say, I want to read the New Testament, I want 218 00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:26,440 to read the Bible, I've never done it before, I want to 219 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:30,320 complete it, or maybe you just want to spend the rest of your 220 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:32,080 life reading it over and over again. 221 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:39,560 You've got to find a time where you can get undistracted and 222 00:13:39,560 --> 00:13:44,240 truly engage with what it says. Now, I think maybe there are a 223 00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:47,200 limited number of people on the planet that can do two things at 224 00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:49,680 once. There are a lot of studies that 225 00:13:49,680 --> 00:13:52,240 show that we really don't multitask very well like we 226 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:55,920 think we do. So we've got an earbud in and 227 00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:58,280 we're watching ATV show and we're trying to do this. 228 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:03,120 And it's you really cannot get what you need out of it without 229 00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:07,000 quieting yourself before it undistracted. 230 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:12,560 And for this length of time is not as important as time at 231 00:14:12,560 --> 00:14:15,720 attention. So you this doesn't mean you 232 00:14:15,720 --> 00:14:20,560 have to read for two hours a day if you can give 15 or 20 minutes 233 00:14:20,760 --> 00:14:24,360 solid, open heart, undistracted. God teach me what do I need 234 00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:26,640 today? That'll be like infinitely 235 00:14:26,640 --> 00:14:31,920 better than your multitasking attempt to think you're pleasing 236 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:35,440 God in some way by doing everything else at the same 237 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:37,720 time. But if it's if it's not on your 238 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:42,800 calendar, it may not happen. This doesn't mean you need to 239 00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:46,400 put it in Google Calendar, but you say that it's important. 240 00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:50,760 Or if you would say that it's important, it needs to have a 241 00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:56,720 space in your life somewhere in the morning and the evening. 242 00:14:57,200 --> 00:15:00,000 On your lunch break, you need to have a place. 243 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:06,080 Carve it off. And next is to read it again. 244 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:15,680 So you set time to read, but maybe you're like me, you read 245 00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:19,560 in the morning, your coffee still kicking in and your eyes 246 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:22,840 sometimes go cross eyed and you you're starting to think about 247 00:15:22,840 --> 00:15:24,880 other things that need to happen later in the day. 248 00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:27,280 And then you're like, I don't know what did I just read? 249 00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:28,960 I don't, I don't know that anything worked. 250 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:32,680 I don't remember what happened. That's when you need to read it 251 00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:34,560 again. It's OK. 252 00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:38,480 Let your coffee kick in. Let your mind settle down. 253 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:41,120 Sometimes we just have to fight the flesh that wants to be 254 00:15:41,120 --> 00:15:44,440 distracted, that wants to think about other things and take time 255 00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:46,400 and focus. OK, no, God is important. 256 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:49,560 I I just want to focus. Maybe I just need to try again. 257 00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:53,200 Let me let me back up to where I I got, I know I was here. 258 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:56,760 I got that and I'll start from there and keep going. 259 00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:00,320 But don't don't get discouraged if you need to go back and read 260 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:04,920 something again. Just looking at words doesn't 261 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:06,880 really help you if you're not understanding what you're 262 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:09,160 reading. So we're not doing this just to 263 00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:13,040 be religious. Make sure you understand it, but 264 00:16:13,040 --> 00:16:15,200 there will be things that you won't understand. 265 00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:17,480 So there is a time that you need to move on. 266 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:24,120 Instead of getting stuck trying to figure out what some word 267 00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:28,200 means or who a person is or what's going on in the context 268 00:16:28,880 --> 00:16:32,400 and not actually getting much of anything or just feeling 269 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:35,560 confused. There is a time to say, you know 270 00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:38,400 what? Maybe, maybe that's for later. 271 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:42,040 I need to keep going. Maybe if I keep reading, I'll 272 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:45,680 get the answer to that question. Frequently, just like reading 273 00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:49,640 books, we learn the context of things by continuing to read, 274 00:16:50,240 --> 00:16:51,640 right? You can do that with a word. 275 00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:55,160 You can discern the context of a word and what it means just by 276 00:16:55,160 --> 00:16:57,360 reading it around the other words. 277 00:16:57,360 --> 00:16:59,560 So you may just need to continue. 278 00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:05,640 But since the Bible is a spiritual book, it's not written 279 00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:09,520 by a computer. And the Bible tells us to the 280 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:13,720 the Holy Spirit is the one that instructs us in the word of God. 281 00:17:15,599 --> 00:17:18,480 There are some things that the Holy Spirit just doesn't want 282 00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:22,680 you to know yet. So Jesus told his disciples of 283 00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:27,359 all people, Jesus and his disciples, Jesus told his 284 00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:29,840 disciples him getting ready to go be crucified. 285 00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:33,920 And I got some stuff that I want to tell you, but right now I 286 00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:35,520 can't share that with you. You need to. 287 00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:39,960 You're going to need to catch that later in John chapter 16. 288 00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:43,880 I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear 289 00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:49,560 them now. Even the disciples did not learn 290 00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:53,360 everything all at once. You're not going to learn the 291 00:17:53,360 --> 00:17:57,240 Bible all at once. And it may take several times 292 00:17:57,240 --> 00:18:00,000 through the Scriptures for you to start to connect the dots 293 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:02,360 again. It's not in chronological order. 294 00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:04,880 They're different authors. There's a lot of things going 295 00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:10,800 on, so just keep reading and let the Lord teach you over time. 296 00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:15,800 It is, by the way, the Holy Spirit's job to teach you. 297 00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:20,560 Jesus, says the Comforter, when He comes, He'll teach you all 298 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:24,240 things and bring all things to remembrance. 299 00:18:25,120 --> 00:18:28,640 So if you're a Christian, you need to be attentive to what the 300 00:18:28,640 --> 00:18:31,400 Holy Spirit is teaching you while you're engaging with the 301 00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:36,720 Scriptures, not trying to force your own version of whatever you 302 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:39,600 want to see. And when you reach a place to 303 00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:41,800 where you really don't understand something, and you 304 00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:49,120 will, you just need to trust it. You've got to trust it anyway. 305 00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:58,160 The Bible is the most credible book on the planet. 306 00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:02,640 There are more. There is more manuscript 307 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:05,600 evidence for the Bible than any other book on the planet. 308 00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:09,320 There's more archaeological evidence and historical evidence 309 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:15,240 and eyewitness accounts. It would be kind of ridiculous, 310 00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:18,360 honestly, to say that it's not true if you if you really 311 00:19:18,360 --> 00:19:22,000 investigate it. So I put it to you this way, the 312 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:24,640 Bible is true whether you understand it or not. 313 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:33,480 You see, sometimes we in our pride, that thing that God 314 00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:39,200 hates, in our pride, we say something can't be true unless I 315 00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:43,480 understand it. And that's just not possible, 316 00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:45,600 right? Do you? 317 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:49,560 Do you understand how whenever you send messages and watch 318 00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:53,360 videos on your phone that packets of data transmit back 319 00:19:53,360 --> 00:19:56,040 and forth between cell phone towers and somehow it ends up 320 00:19:56,400 --> 00:19:58,440 being some show that you're watching on your phone? 321 00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:03,760 Do you know how Wi-Fi works? I mean, I read about it. 322 00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:08,160 I still don't understand it. I have, I have a degree in 323 00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:09,320 computer engineering. Things. 324 00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:12,000 I still don't get it. How about electricity? 325 00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:17,160 There's so many things that we don't fully understand and yet 326 00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:18,640 we're like, Yep, it's there. It's a thing. 327 00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:19,560 I don't know. It's a thing. 328 00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:24,000 But yet when we come to the scriptures and we reach a thing 329 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:26,120 where we say, I don't know, that doesn't make sense. 330 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:30,480 We, we, we have some different standard for God to where if I 331 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:34,160 don't get it ain't right. And that's just called pride. 332 00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:37,000 It really is. I'm not saying you can't do your 333 00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:39,280 homework. You're allowed to do the math on 334 00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:41,240 the Bible. Go go do the math It's fine. 335 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:43,680 It's it's been around for a long time. 336 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:45,760 You go ahead and try to shoot holes in it. 337 00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:52,200 But Psalm 119 says thy word is true from the beginning. 338 00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:58,000 And if you will come to the place where you just say God, I 339 00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:00,320 don't understand it, but I believe it's true. 340 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:03,560 And I just want you to teach me. And you're going to have a great 341 00:21:03,560 --> 00:21:06,560 quiet time when you open the book. 342 00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:09,520 You're going to hear your shepherd's voice. 343 00:21:11,840 --> 00:21:14,360 And the shepherd, by the way, Jesus, this is what he said. 344 00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:19,680 Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. 345 00:21:21,360 --> 00:21:26,840 The word of God is truth. That's a word that our our 346 00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:29,960 culture doesn't really like. We try to make truth into some 347 00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:34,800 relative concept, but truth is right and wrong and black and 348 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:38,800 white and absolute. And Jesus would say the word of 349 00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:44,360 God is true. That's the kind of heart that 350 00:21:44,360 --> 00:21:50,040 when you read it, you will hear. Thirdly is to write it down. 351 00:21:52,360 --> 00:21:56,640 So we started first with prayer. Then we actually got to just sit 352 00:21:56,640 --> 00:22:00,120 down and read. And let's say you read and you 353 00:22:00,120 --> 00:22:01,600 think, ma'am, well, that was pretty cool. 354 00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:04,160 Or that's interesting. Or I feel like God is speaking 355 00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:08,280 to me in some way. I this is where I want to 356 00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:14,000 encourage you to find a journal. And as a man, this feels kind of 357 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:15,560 weird. I feel like I've got some Dear 358 00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:19,360 Diary, Polly Pocket Pink kind of book where I'm writing all my 359 00:22:19,360 --> 00:22:22,960 feelings down, but that's not exactly what we're talking 360 00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:26,440 about, OK? I've been keeping a journal, not 361 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:29,040 necessarily even on purpose, just trying to record things 362 00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:32,080 that God is showing me for many years now. 363 00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:35,120 I want to encourage you to do the same. 364 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:40,200 There's a sense in which digital journaling is helpful. 365 00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:43,040 I do both. I have, I write note cards. 366 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:46,320 I have physical books that I sometimes lose that I write 367 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:50,240 things in, but I also have a Bible app that I take notes in 368 00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:54,320 and a notes app that I put Bible copy and paste things in. 369 00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:56,600 So whatever your approach is is fine. 370 00:22:56,600 --> 00:22:59,240 Also, I have like programs on the computer that are searchable 371 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:02,640 when I put stuff in. So do whatever works for you. 372 00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:04,280 OK? There is no standard that the 373 00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:07,000 Bible says thou shalt use Apple or Android. 374 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:11,120 Like just write it down. Whatever you whatever you learn. 375 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:14,680 And the digital, I think the digital is helpful. 376 00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:18,440 There's a time stamp, there's a search. 377 00:23:19,120 --> 00:23:22,000 And in this last year, I, I just preached at this missions 378 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:25,320 conference lessons that we learned as a church over the 379 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:28,320 last year. And I literally just went to my 380 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:30,480 journal and said, God, what have you been showing me? 381 00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:33,480 Some of the things immediately come to the surface. 382 00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:35,080 Oh, OK. I remember when I saw that. 383 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:35,800 Yeah. OK. 384 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:39,240 And I just started throwing some of those into a document to 385 00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:41,240 share with the churches that we visited. 386 00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:44,480 But you can only do that if you write it down. 387 00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:49,600 Now this is where I would suggest that digital's good. 388 00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:55,360 But there's something about physically writing the words of 389 00:23:55,360 --> 00:23:59,160 God. I don't fully understand it 390 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:02,360 other than I got a scripture for you that I want to share and a 391 00:24:02,360 --> 00:24:07,160 reason why. But Deuteronomy chapter 17, it's 392 00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:12,720 really small on the screen, but God told the King of Israel, 393 00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:15,800 this is what he was supposed to do whenever Israel would get a 394 00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:18,840 king. It says, And it shall be when he 395 00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:22,840 sitteth on the throne of his Kingdom, that he shall write him 396 00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:27,720 a copy of this law in a book, and out of that which is before 397 00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:31,280 the priests, the Levites, And it shall be with him, and he shall 398 00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:35,800 read therein all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear 399 00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:39,600 the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and the 400 00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:44,240 statutes to do them, that his heart be not lifted up above his 401 00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:47,360 brethren. See, even the King of Israel 402 00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:53,880 needed God's grace and mercy, and that he turned not aside 403 00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:57,640 from the commandment to the right-handed to the left, to the 404 00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:01,360 end that he may prolong his days and his Kingdom, He and his 405 00:25:01,360 --> 00:25:09,080 children in the midst of Israel. It seems like Jesus is John. 17 406 00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:11,640 words. Sanctify them through thy truth 407 00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:15,360 would be true for the king if he would write it down and read 408 00:25:15,360 --> 00:25:18,040 from it every day. It would sanctify and it would 409 00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:22,240 protect him from going to the left or going to the right from 410 00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:26,680 turning aside from being lifted up in pride to say I'm better 411 00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:32,960 because I'm the king. So I want to encourage you write 412 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:36,760 scripture. I do this for almost every when 413 00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:39,840 I have a main text, almost every sermon that I have, I write out 414 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:45,160 by hand slowly the main text and it helps me see patterns and 415 00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:47,600 words and circle and scribble on stuff. 416 00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:50,760 I I write verses and put them in my pocket. 417 00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:55,240 So I think that's super helpful. All right, next is apply. 418 00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:01,800 So, so far we have begin with prayer. 419 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:06,120 Then you got to just read. When you find something 420 00:26:06,120 --> 00:26:10,720 interesting, write it down, document it, and then you need 421 00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:14,080 to apply. There's something you need to do 422 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:17,560 lest you be like the person that James mentioned that looks into 423 00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:21,080 the mirror and then walks away unchanged. 424 00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:25,400 That is a temptation for us because sometimes we don't love 425 00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:29,680 the things that we read. The Scriptures reveal our heart, 426 00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:33,760 right? That's what Hebrews 4 says, that 427 00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:40,280 the Word of God. It's alive, it's quick, it 428 00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:46,040 pierces to the dividing asunder all the way down to be a 429 00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:49,440 discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 430 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:55,920 And This is why I think it's important to have quiet, 431 00:26:56,000 --> 00:26:59,960 undistracted time before the book because it's going to 432 00:26:59,960 --> 00:27:02,800 penetrate further into you than just your brain. 433 00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:06,160 It's going to get into the intentions of your heart. 434 00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:08,600 Like what is my motivation for doing something? 435 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:11,680 What do I really want to do? Am I doing this for the Lord? 436 00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:16,040 Am I doing this for myself? So you should expect to have 437 00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:22,080 some thoughts that as you expose your heart to the Word of God, 438 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:25,840 you will be thinking things that you were not thinking before. 439 00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:29,120 We we could call this enlightenment in a biblical 440 00:27:29,120 --> 00:27:33,200 sense that God's word is shining light on my thoughts, on my 441 00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:37,440 heart and I'm, I'm exposed and I'm now processing my thoughts 442 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:41,720 with God. That's the privilege of the 443 00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:46,080 Christian with the Holy Spirit, with the heart in tune to the 444 00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:50,800 word of God. The only way to really tune your 445 00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:57,200 heart is to get with God's word. Isaiah 55 My thoughts. 446 00:27:57,200 --> 00:28:01,000 This is God speaking. My thoughts are not your 447 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:06,280 thoughts. You're talking about an 448 00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:14,880 omnipotent, timeless, all powerful, all knowing being a 449 00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:21,080 perfectly holy God. Of course, our thoughts are not 450 00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:25,000 His thoughts. I don't know what it's like to 451 00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:27,640 know what every person on the planet is thinking all at once. 452 00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:32,360 I don't know what it's like to see all time in history, however 453 00:28:32,360 --> 00:28:38,080 I want to see it. God is so far beyond the human 454 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:41,800 mind, and the human mind is wonderful and powerful, but He 455 00:28:41,800 --> 00:28:46,640 is so far beyond it. And then we also have our sinful 456 00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:51,360 condition that our natural inclination is not holiness and 457 00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:55,200 worship. We need salvation to be redeemed 458 00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:59,920 and walk with God. And even after we're saved, we 459 00:28:59,920 --> 00:29:03,040 continue in the the sinful nature that needs to be 460 00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:05,840 constantly renewed in the Word of God. 461 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:11,000 But as you're looking for application, there's a reason 462 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:15,480 why this isn't first. Many times we're looking for an 463 00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:20,200 answer and we go to the book and we go, aha, I see, now I can 464 00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:22,320 marry that person. Now I can get that job. 465 00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:24,320 Look, now I can do whatever I want. 466 00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:27,760 I've done this before. Have you ever done this? 467 00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:33,320 I mean, maybe I'm just, I'm speaking so I'll be honest for 468 00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:37,720 you in the moment. When I got saved, I brought a 469 00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:39,480 lot of baggage into my Christian life. 470 00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:43,440 I brought substance abuse and all kinds of other things. 471 00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:47,400 And I had this thing called marijuana that I really enjoyed. 472 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:49,880 I thought it was just great. It was. 473 00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:52,080 I was going to take it to the rest of my life like, hey man, 474 00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:53,720 it's all good. It's all natural and stuff. 475 00:29:55,040 --> 00:29:57,720 I was getting discipled and I had someone leading me in the 476 00:29:57,720 --> 00:29:59,560 Bible. We were meeting every week and 477 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:01,480 he would always ask, hey, what are you reading and what's God 478 00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:03,880 teaching you? And we had lessons that we would 479 00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:06,760 go through. And I remember starting to get a 480 00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:09,640 handle on this book and saying, OK, I believe it's true. 481 00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:15,000 And since it's true, and since marijuana feels so good, I'm 482 00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:17,960 sure there's a place in here that God said it's totally fine 483 00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:20,800 to smoke weed. I'm telling you, I did this. 484 00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:25,600 So I went back to Genesis one. Look, every herb bearing seed 485 00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:27,000 shall be for your meat. Aha. 486 00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:34,160 But I honestly in the honesty of my heart with the Holy Spirit 487 00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:37,400 could not say that's what the Bible teaches. 488 00:30:39,520 --> 00:30:42,200 Adam and Eve, they only ate vegetables, they didn't eat 489 00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:47,080 flesh. We go to a pre sin fall place 490 00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:51,120 and try to take a something out of context and apply it to 491 00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:53,240 another place. By the way, the New Testament 492 00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:57,440 says be sober, be vigilant for your adversary, the devil, 493 00:30:57,440 --> 00:31:00,840 etcetera. So we we can easily go to this 494 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:05,560 book and find something and distort it and try to accomplish 495 00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:08,720 our will. But if you have the right heart 496 00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:11,960 and you want to apply the word of God, you're asking for 497 00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:15,640 direction. Lord, show me that is the right 498 00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:17,880 part. I want to show you now three 499 00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:21,320 applications of the Bible and the way that you can protect 500 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:24,840 yourself from doing what I was foolishly trying to do. 501 00:31:25,320 --> 00:31:28,560 There are three applications to the Scriptures. 502 00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:35,720 The first is historical. This is why I said an 503 00:31:35,720 --> 00:31:40,000 introduction. You just the first question is 504 00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:43,280 what does it say? Not what does it mean. 505 00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:51,680 What is the Bible saying? Because most of the Bible is not 506 00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:56,600 written to you. All of the Old Testament is not 507 00:31:56,600 --> 00:32:00,560 written to any person in the church, to any Christian that 508 00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:04,640 believed in the resurrection. It's all written to national 509 00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:08,400 Israel or even people before Israel was a nation. 510 00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:10,960 Now we'll get there. There's room to apply all the 511 00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:14,720 Bible to your life. But first we must look at what 512 00:32:14,720 --> 00:32:17,040 does it say? For example, Jesus says in 513 00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:21,840 Matthew 5 that he came to fulfill the law. 514 00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:26,080 So when we look at the Old Testament, the first five books 515 00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:27,760 of the Bible, we call that the law. 516 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:30,800 Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, write the 517 00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:34,000 books of Moses. Jesus said that he fulfilled 518 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:36,680 them. Those are the books where we get 519 00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:40,360 things about garments and fringes and dietary restrictions 520 00:32:40,360 --> 00:32:46,040 and Sabbath and animal sacrifice and washings and leprosy and all 521 00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:48,960 kinds of interesting stuff where you get stuck right in your 522 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:52,200 reading. We're not going to apply that 523 00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:55,080 because that was not written to us. 524 00:32:56,320 --> 00:33:00,240 The book of Galatians says that we're not justified by the works 525 00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:05,280 of the law. Praise God, we're justified by 526 00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:08,960 the faith of Christ. The thing that makes us 527 00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:12,280 Christians is not adherence to a standard. 528 00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:19,400 It's faith in the standard, faith in the death, burial and 529 00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:22,880 resurrection of someone else that died in our place. 530 00:33:22,880 --> 00:33:27,320 That's the thing that saves us. But the whole Bible is still 531 00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:30,280 there. So let's look next at the 532 00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:33,720 doctrinal, these three applications. 533 00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:35,640 First is history. What does it say? 534 00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:40,440 Second is doctrine. And this is what the Bible is 535 00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:44,120 teaching. What is it teaching us? 536 00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:49,320 And this is where many people get messed up. 537 00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:54,680 They take their doctrine for how a church should function out of 538 00:33:54,680 --> 00:33:56,680 a place that wasn't built for the church. 539 00:33:57,640 --> 00:34:01,480 There is no priesthood. There is no Pope OK there there 540 00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:05,280 is no there are so many things that get whacked by pulling 541 00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:07,360 scriptures out of the wrong places. 542 00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:12,400 So second Timothy chapter 2 tells us to rightly divide the 543 00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:15,639 word of truth. We're called to study it. 544 00:34:15,639 --> 00:34:18,600 We'll see that next week and divide it. 545 00:34:19,199 --> 00:34:22,719 There are divisions in the book. There are divisions in time and 546 00:34:22,719 --> 00:34:27,840 history and how God worked with man and and one of the 547 00:34:27,840 --> 00:34:31,280 preeminent things about the scriptures is that it's 548 00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:36,080 profitable for doctrine. Now doctrine, the word just 549 00:34:36,080 --> 00:34:41,040 means teach teaching. What does this tell me about who 550 00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:44,080 God is? What does this tell me about 551 00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:47,000 creation? What does this tell me about the 552 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:50,080 future? That's doctrine. 553 00:34:50,440 --> 00:34:52,560 How should a church function, etcetera. 554 00:34:53,360 --> 00:35:00,200 And lastly is the personal, this is the one you really want, 555 00:35:00,200 --> 00:35:02,960 right? It's it's good to learn like 556 00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:08,120 some information about God and some history, but you're going 557 00:35:08,120 --> 00:35:11,280 to the book looking for direction, a lamp to your feet, 558 00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:19,440 a light to your path so you can read the whole Bible and hear 559 00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:25,440 from God as long as you let the first two win. 560 00:35:26,720 --> 00:35:31,400 OK, you cannot violate what it's historically saying this is 561 00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:32,640 written to me. No, it's not. 562 00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:35,160 You cannot violate the doctrinal teaching. 563 00:35:35,160 --> 00:35:39,520 What does the Bible say? So as long as you do those 564 00:35:39,520 --> 00:35:44,960 things, God can direct you with all kinds of places in the 565 00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:48,040 Scriptures. Romans chapter 15, the apostle 566 00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:52,520 Paul writes whatsoever things were written a four time were 567 00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:54,720 written for our learning. Now this, he's talking about the 568 00:35:54,720 --> 00:35:58,920 Old Testament that we through the patience and comfort of the 569 00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:04,760 Scriptures, might have hope. So 1st century Christianity did 570 00:36:04,760 --> 00:36:08,280 not have a completed Bible. It took some time for the 571 00:36:08,280 --> 00:36:11,960 apostles to write scriptures and combine them, collect them, and 572 00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:14,240 they still had the Old Testament law. 573 00:36:14,240 --> 00:36:18,240 And he said that those things are written for our learning. 574 00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:23,880 He says in another place in 1st Corinthians 10 that these things 575 00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:28,880 were our examples, and you can go look at 1st Corinthians 10, 576 00:36:28,880 --> 00:36:31,240 you can see some of the examples that he's talking about. 577 00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:34,600 He says here to the intent that we should not lust after evil 578 00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:38,360 things as they also lusted. And he looks back to Israel 579 00:36:38,600 --> 00:36:41,040 making a poor decision in the Old Testament and says it's 580 00:36:41,040 --> 00:36:44,400 probably good, you know, just don't do that, right? 581 00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:48,160 You're not national Israel. But definitely don't seek after 582 00:36:48,160 --> 00:36:49,880 the things God says not to seek after. 583 00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:52,920 That's really what's going down. Don't murmur and complain in the 584 00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:56,200 wilderness. So as long as you keep those 585 00:36:56,200 --> 00:37:00,760 three things safe or in line, you'll be just fine. 586 00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:03,120 And you can read anywhere. You can be inspired by King 587 00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:08,720 David, and Samson somehow sometimes makes good decisions, 588 00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:11,720 right? You can read all kinds of things 589 00:37:11,720 --> 00:37:13,200 and get some direction for your life. 590 00:37:14,440 --> 00:37:16,880 And the last thing for you today is to meditate. 591 00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:27,120 So we're going to read the Bible work. 592 00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:31,240 We're going to pray First we got to just spend some time reading 593 00:37:31,240 --> 00:37:34,120 it. I'm going to write down some 594 00:37:34,120 --> 00:37:35,640 things that I thought were interesting. 595 00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:40,000 I'm going to look for something to apply to be directed in my 596 00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:43,640 life in some way. And then you need to spend some 597 00:37:43,640 --> 00:37:52,480 time in meditation. If the God of the Bible is 598 00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:57,720 infinitely more complex than human beings, it might take us 599 00:37:57,720 --> 00:38:01,720 some time to catch up to what God's got going on. 600 00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:07,960 You may not get everything you need from the plain reading of 601 00:38:07,960 --> 00:38:10,960 the Bible. And I don't mean you need to 602 00:38:10,960 --> 00:38:13,200 like Da Vinci Code. Try to do some math and 603 00:38:13,200 --> 00:38:17,760 calculate some weirdness. But meditation is often thought 604 00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:22,200 of in in this Eastern yoga kind of sense, as an emptying. 605 00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:26,320 But biblical meditation is actually quite the opposite. 606 00:38:26,320 --> 00:38:30,320 It is a filling. It is to take the Word of God 607 00:38:30,320 --> 00:38:34,440 and place it into your heart and mind and Mull it around and 608 00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:39,680 process it and think about it. And you'll really never do that 609 00:38:39,680 --> 00:38:43,400 on accident. You probably meditate on other 610 00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:46,680 things on accident, like and how much you love somebody or what 611 00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:49,000 you want to do when you get off of work or what you were like. 612 00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:52,680 Always think we're using our brains in a power down back of 613 00:38:52,680 --> 00:38:57,080 the mind kind of sense, right? And we need to engage that mode 614 00:38:58,000 --> 00:39:02,360 with what we read. Bring it back to memory later. 615 00:39:02,360 --> 00:39:06,680 While you're doing the dishes, while you're sweeping the floor 616 00:39:06,720 --> 00:39:11,000 or working out, while you're driving, turn the radio off. 617 00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:16,040 Maybe before you're driving, get out your journal and say, God, 618 00:39:16,040 --> 00:39:17,520 what did you show me this morning? 619 00:39:18,400 --> 00:39:20,800 And then get on the road and process that. 620 00:39:20,800 --> 00:39:22,320 Pray about that for a little bit. 621 00:39:22,320 --> 00:39:26,360 This is biblical meditation. I'm going to give you a few 622 00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:28,280 verses and we'll be done. Joshua 18. 623 00:39:29,600 --> 00:39:33,360 Actually, does anyone have Joshua 18 memorized? 624 00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:39,880 It's the summer camp verse, This Book of the Law. 625 00:39:41,560 --> 00:39:44,760 No, this was AK at verse. Jay. 626 00:39:46,240 --> 00:39:47,640 I put Jay on display. I'm sorry. 627 00:39:47,640 --> 00:39:49,200 I just put Jay on the spot right now. 628 00:39:49,200 --> 00:39:50,320 My bad. All right. 629 00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:51,600 Jay did great. You did it. 630 00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:54,840 I know you know it. This book of the law shall not 631 00:39:54,840 --> 00:39:59,280 depart out of thy mouth. But thou shalt meditate therein 632 00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:03,680 day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all 633 00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:06,720 that is written therein. For then shalt thou make thy way 634 00:40:06,720 --> 00:40:09,960 prosperous, and then shalt thou have good success. 635 00:40:12,240 --> 00:40:17,960 This book of the law, sometimes it doesn't even need to come out 636 00:40:17,960 --> 00:40:22,440 of your mouth. It needs to stay within meditate 637 00:40:22,440 --> 00:40:28,280 therein day and night and check this out the very last word in 638 00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:29,760 this verse, the King James Bible. 639 00:40:29,760 --> 00:40:36,000 It's the only time it uses the word success in English is to 640 00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:40,320 meditate and observe, to do what you read. 641 00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:45,200 Maybe you know Psalm chapter one, verse one. 642 00:40:46,400 --> 00:40:50,680 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the 643 00:40:50,680 --> 00:40:56,200 ungodly, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his 644 00:40:56,200 --> 00:41:00,360 law doth he meditate day and night. 645 00:41:01,760 --> 00:41:03,840 Psalm one is real short. You can go home and read that. 646 00:41:03,840 --> 00:41:06,520 You'll see he's like a tree planted by the river. 647 00:41:06,520 --> 00:41:09,120 His leaf won't wither. He's going to be fruitful even 648 00:41:09,120 --> 00:41:13,120 when the heat comes because he has this meditation, this walk 649 00:41:13,120 --> 00:41:15,640 with God that says, I'm always just think. 650 00:41:15,640 --> 00:41:23,240 I'm just so amazed at how wow. According to Psalm 19, 651 00:41:23,240 --> 00:41:25,000 meditation can be in your hearts. 652 00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:28,920 According to Psalm 63, meditation can be upon your bed 653 00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:36,480 in the night. The psalmist says it is my 654 00:41:36,480 --> 00:41:45,480 meditation all the day. So as you read, if you truly 655 00:41:45,480 --> 00:41:50,440 want to hear, you've got to write it down and process it. 656 00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:53,520 Think about it, bring it back to mind. 657 00:41:54,440 --> 00:41:58,960 Don't leave unchanged. Take your thoughts with you. 658 00:42:01,720 --> 00:42:07,560 How about you? Maybe you're already reading the 659 00:42:07,560 --> 00:42:12,560 Bible and there's one of those things that sticks out to you 660 00:42:12,560 --> 00:42:15,400 more. Maybe you're inconsistent with 661 00:42:15,400 --> 00:42:20,360 the time you spent. Maybe you haven't been recording 662 00:42:20,360 --> 00:42:25,400 what God's been teaching you. Maybe you read it and you walk 663 00:42:25,400 --> 00:42:28,080 away just like totally forgot what you read later. 664 00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:33,640 This isn't like let's all get super self-righteous and how 665 00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:37,680 much we do Bible things. But I think if we're just 666 00:42:37,680 --> 00:42:41,560 looking to teach people how to read the Scriptures, these five 667 00:42:41,560 --> 00:42:44,520 things are going to be really helpful to give them some 668 00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:49,480 boundaries to be able to hear from God and to be changed. 669 00:42:52,480 --> 00:43:00,800 Perhaps most importantly, the Bible will only take you so far 670 00:43:00,800 --> 00:43:05,320 if you aren't saved. First Corinthians chapter 2 671 00:43:05,520 --> 00:43:09,000 tells us that the natural man cannot discern the things of the 672 00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:13,320 Spirit of God. We need God's Holy Spirit in us. 673 00:43:14,360 --> 00:43:17,760 So instead of trying to figure the whole book out, the most 674 00:43:17,760 --> 00:43:21,920 important question to ask is what about Jesus? 675 00:43:22,800 --> 00:43:24,600 What about the cross and the resurrection? 676 00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:28,680 What about my sin? Have I reconciled with this God 677 00:43:29,760 --> 00:43:33,280 based on his Son? And if you have the Holy Spirit 678 00:43:33,280 --> 00:43:35,040 man, God will teach you incredible things. 679 00:43:35,440 --> 00:43:38,880 There's a couple other ways that yeah, there's just the process. 680 00:43:38,880 --> 00:43:41,240 Summarize, pray, read, write, apply, meditate. 681 00:43:42,640 --> 00:43:45,800 There's a couple other ways that you can read and understand the 682 00:43:45,800 --> 00:43:47,400 Bible. Right as you're reading, you can 683 00:43:47,400 --> 00:43:50,080 come to Bible study and engage with other Christians. 684 00:43:50,320 --> 00:43:52,960 Hey, look, I'm, I'm talking about Bible things over here. 685 00:43:52,960 --> 00:43:55,000 And then you go home and you read Bible things over there. 686 00:43:55,840 --> 00:43:58,280 We also have the plan. Go to our website, 687 00:43:58,520 --> 00:44:01,320 portlandgospel.org. It's laid out for you. 688 00:44:01,960 --> 00:44:04,360 It should be on the pieces of paper that you have today. 689 00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:07,960 We would love to help you. We exist to help you live the 690 00:44:07,960 --> 00:44:10,880 word of God. So we want to help you do that. 691 00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:14,280 Yeah, that's it. Let me pray for us. 692 00:44:14,280 --> 00:44:15,600 And then we have another song, right? 693 00:44:16,120 --> 00:44:22,080 Sweet. Let's pray, Lord, as we set out 694 00:44:22,080 --> 00:44:26,880 for this year. Got to pray for the people in 695 00:44:26,880 --> 00:44:33,360 this room, myself included. If we'll spend the time with 696 00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:35,400 you, You're going to teach us new things this year. 697 00:44:37,400 --> 00:44:40,920 You're going to open our eyes to behold wondrous things out of 698 00:44:40,920 --> 00:44:45,400 your law. Got to pray as a church that You 699 00:44:45,400 --> 00:44:50,200 would always keep us focused in the book, that we'd hear your 700 00:44:50,200 --> 00:44:54,920 voice even in our mind's eye, that we'd see your face. 701 00:44:57,440 --> 00:45:00,680 God, that we use our time and our day to process and pray. 702 00:45:03,320 --> 00:45:08,160 Would you direct our path? Would you sanctify us from sin? 703 00:45:11,080 --> 00:45:13,480 Be pleased in us, be pleased in our church. 704 00:45:13,560 --> 00:45:16,200 God, would you bring people our way, People that want to open 705 00:45:16,200 --> 00:45:18,520 the book, that want to study, that want to grow, that want to 706 00:45:18,520 --> 00:45:21,000 know. You bring them to us. 707 00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:23,120 We want to be a blessing to them. 708 00:45:25,600 --> 00:45:28,000 I pray in Jesus name, Amen.