Transcript
Speaker: Welcome back to our Grove Hill podcast. Glad to have you guys here with us today as we continue our conversations about...
Speaker: Really important issues for those who are walking a life of faith, following after Christ Jesus. The one today I think is pretty good. In fact, we were talking online about maybe breaking this one up into a couple parts because it's got some really good meat to it. um It's this question about how do you read your Bible? And so I wanted to ask these guys, what what are some of the things you hear from people who say, hey, I've got this obstacle. I just can't seem to get into the Word. or or comprehend the word. What are some of the...
Speaker: Yeah, we wait we wait a whole lot of things, and whenever especially when I talk to new believers. Uh, the, they almost are trying to gauge okay what important pieces of scripture we say scripture is important all of it in in the whole But... what do I do whenever I start out? Where do I start? And and so I think that's one of the first obstacles is saying, Hey,
Speaker: uh... it Any place is a good place, but there are some that are more advantageous for the new believer. yeah yeah And a major deterrent or obstacle is starting in the absolute wrong place. Yes. yeah Because even as a seasoned believer, you might...
Speaker: read portions of scripture and not quite grasp it. Well, if you don't understand something, you're probably just going to put it away and be like, that's too elevated for me. yeah So starting in a good location where you can understand things to begin with yeah is a good spot. yeah ah Another one that I hear a lot is, I just...
Speaker: i mean and It's true of our culture. I just don't read a lot. It's hard for me to... follow to did not get distracted uh we live in a very attention deficit
Speaker: culture right now and so trying to read the scripture but um and that's that's hard i was that person yeah i'm that same way with my prayer life i mean a lot of times i pray i'll just and i'm chasing and chasing rabbits so you have to do some stuff uh one we hear a lot from people i just don't have the time Yeah, somehow they got cheated out of the same $160 we got.
Speaker: So let's let's start by talking about this first. We want to help you. We do. All three of us will tell you we believe that the Bible is a life -changing book. It's that important that you read it. So um let's let's just start by talking about what is the Bible. Mm hmm. What do we believe and profess is the Bible? Yeah.
Speaker: it's not it's It's not a ah book of just good proverbs, of good ways to live life. yeah ah This is the the centrality, like the central point. of our faith. in it outlines all the things that God says he is and the things that he desires us to follow in.
Speaker: ah That makes sense of life. Yeah, so I think Big big ah definition down into a couple sentences. I would say that's a little piece of what scripture is. Yeah, growing up as a kid, I think growing up in the church, just hearing Bible stories from the Bible, um I started to see it as a storybook. Right. Well, you put storybook on.
Speaker: the title of the bible and you're kind of you're cutting it short yeah by big time yeah and so as i've uh gotten older i start to look at it as the most important history book there is on the planet because the things that are in here actually happened. They're archaeologically proven that they happened. And there's just so much truth in it. And so shifting my focus from
Speaker: Hey, it's just a collection of stories of, like you said, good proverbs. and No, this is history, and this happened. On top of that, you have scriptures that you know tell you that it's God -breathed and it's alive and active, and so a lot of cool things wrapped up in this book. no For the novice who is approaching the Bible the first time, one of the things they may not get is this... this idea that
Speaker: While the Bible is more than a book, it's no less than a book. That's right. And that means you read it like a book. But the way it's very unique and different is that it's actually 66 books within a book that somehow we know by the inspiration of the Spirit is divinely inspired to be read like one big story. Right.
Speaker: And so while you're jumping from history books to... poetry to narrative. Just all kinds of different genres of of reading as you're reading it through. If you're reading it straight through, you're hitting all kinds of different subjects, yeah but it's all one story that's being written by God. right And when you say that, it kind of makes it sound...
Speaker: Could make it sound chaotic right 66 different books piled in one book and you're like how am i supposed to even approach that yeah um but once you start to understand the whole of it. it's incredible it's incredible that these 66 books match up in a way that no one could have ever dreamed of no human brain could have ever put together and that's why you have to be I think very careful as you read it to comprehend it like a good
Speaker: um I dare i say news article without diminishing the scripture. But you want to ask questions like who wrote this particular part? yeah Who do they write it to? What was the point of it? What was the goal of this? You know, those kinds of things. um So I think the second important thing is that we need to encourage you as you're reading it, don't take verses out of their context.
Speaker: Read Scripture in its context. Why is that important, John? It is so important because if I go and read one scripture, and first of all, I put it in light of my 21st century thought process of how i've grown up i'll say uh how my parents taught me and and i just go look at it like well This is the English language of what I'm seeing here. What we miss is the cultural context of how things were perceived in that day. ah We miss a lot of...
Speaker: ah the backstory of... where there might be a literary reference or maybe it's a figurative reference so i think we've got to take all those things and all those pieces into the equation of what is the whole of the text maybe it's a chapter maybe it's a a shorter passage maybe it's a whole book yeah and we have to take those things into uh question not just the little bits and pieces
Speaker: so Yeah, if you take anything out of context, it's dangerous, right? And so if I told you that John Ballard pushed a woman to the ground, right? You already start thinking, dang, John's questionably a good guy, right? Like, where's he going with this? But then if I told you there was a train track. There's a train coming and John Ballard saved this woman by pushing her out of the way.
Speaker: context, right? yeah And so anything with just a snippet of something, your mind wanders. And so when it comes to scripture, we take that verse and we look where it's placed in the chapter, where it's placed in the book, and then where it's placed in accordance to God's word. And so once you do that...
Speaker: you clarify a lot of issues that people have people love to take a verse and go see God thinks slavery is great, right? Yeah, but if we look at
Speaker: the structure of it, and how he designed it, his love for people, we realize there's a context to everything. And that that... point that you just made about you know the danger of it because what and i would say this is why people try to pick those things out is because they're trying to erode the character of god they're trying to erode the process of salvation you name it whatever god speaks for the world will try to speak against and they'll do it by just pulling snippets but not the whole picture i had a friend in college who was a very strong christian she was a
Speaker: couple years I think ahead of me in school but she was ah in the biology department and she used to tell people in in Bible studies this illustration she said you got to approach it like a microscope If you started with a microscope, zoomed in and looked at a cell,
Speaker: You can look at that cell and make all kinds of assumptions about that cell. This is from the inside of a human cheek. This is the back of a frog's leg. I mean, any number of things. So that's why you don't start zoomed in. You back up with the large picture first and then begin to zoom in to get the idea of what's going on. yeah So you know you start off by going, okay, first we're looking at an animal. Okay, were what kind of animal? What part of the animal? And you keep zooming in until you get to what you're trying to look at.
Speaker: When you're reading the Bible, you start by going, okay, this is a holy book inspired by a holy God. Okay, now we're going to read from the New Testament or the Old Testament. Okay, what's going on in this part of the story? Okay, here's the book. And you just keep zooming in, zooming in until you get to that place where you're reading.
Speaker: um just the The important thing is never read a verse or even a couple of verses out of the context of where they are in the Scriptures. um All right, so some basic questions you should ask when you're reading. These are basic observation questions that you would ask.
Speaker: At any point when you're reading a book or or anything like that. First of all, you're going to make an observation. What does the Bible say? I mean that sounds very simple and basic, right but you have to pay close attention to that. Typically that means that you can't zip through a passage of Scripture.
Speaker: you have to take time to notice the names of people who are involved you need to notice promises that are made from Scripture, commands that are made. You need to... you need to But based on the context, be able to go, OK, this is a command that was made to that person versus this is a command that's made for all people, yeah because sometimes in scripture we we confuse the two, for instance.
Speaker: Jeremiah, the prophet, Jeremiah 29, 11. This is a verse that everybody has cross -stitched on their helicopter. Graduation time. yeah All that kind of stuff. um You know, the Lord's going to prosper you. Well, that was a promise that was made to people who had been 70 years in in captivity in Babylon. It's not made to the average college student trying to get through their biology exam. so Be careful why how you do those kinds of things. So what does it say? What does it mean? That's the interpretation part of this. Now that I've read it, now that I've picked apart some cool things.
Speaker: um the bible The Bible may mean one thing. 2000 years ago in the context of where it was, it may mean something different to you and I to today when we begin to apply those things and take what's been written. um And then the third thing is application and this is the most important part that I think most people live out.
Speaker: So. why is it Why is the application so important? What should I do with what I've just read? Um... Why would you practice anything without actually putting it into practice? So, you know the the basketball team they practice they work on their skills in order to put it into play or apply it.
Speaker: um everything you do in life you do for a reason yeah and so um to to study scriptures one there's you know there's some people that come at it from a critic's view and they study scriptures just to see and but as a christian We're studying scriptures to see what the commands of God as are. so that we can obey them. Otherwise,
Speaker: We'll call it what I call it a fat Christian. If you're always consuming and you're never... putting it into play, you're... you're exactly what I just said. And so the the whole idea is that we learn, study.
Speaker: and then we actually apply it. in in obedience ah to what god's word says because god's word says to not just be a hearer of the word, but to be a doer. Mm hmm. He just looked at me when he said fat Christian. I thought he was looking at me. as a spiritual thing It's a spiritual thing. i' I've heard this the last few years and I love the... the way that it's phrased, but...
Speaker: prescriptive versus descriptive there are some areas and we kind of alluded to that earlier but We have taken some of these areas where things have happened 2 000 years ago three and four thousand years ago and we attribute them as God said to do that now. yeah No, God was telling...
Speaker: uh, a Certain character to do this. This does not give us the prescription to go do these things This is what he told that individual person Your point about Jeremiah. God said,
Speaker: This is... for your time and your people and your person as a prophet. to relay these things. And I think sometimes we have a lot of wacky theology.
Speaker: because people have taken everything to the prescription and not just a description. Because some of the the scriptures are narrative. right ah they're They're reading stories. and And by the way, it's not always about your circumstance. So whenever you read scripture, it's not always about, oh, okay, we're going to speak this somehow and squeeze it into my life. No, God's just saying, this is how I was to those people. This is how I was faithful.
Speaker: And this is how I'm describing myself. So we we really have to take a look at that, not always in the light of our circumstance. So I'm not supposed to go to Nineveh? No? You know, there's this this story, it's kind of obscure in the Old Testament, but I remember the first time I ever read it got my attention.
Speaker: Um, speaking to descriptive versus prescriptive. the story where this guy comes in and you know his daughter's been violated by somebody and so he cuts it but baby girl up into 12 pieces and sends one piece to every one of the 12 tribes of Israel to get them outraged to go fight the enemy on this kind of stuff. And I thought surely nobody reads that and goes, this is how I'll handle a my next tough situation with my children.
Speaker: That's a bizarre example, but the same kind of thing happens, like you said, in so many instances where we read this and go, oh, this must be how God wants me to handle this. And it's not even remotely pertaining to you. It's a description of what happened. Yeah, right. Which kind of leads a great segue into this next thing. um Read the Bible looking for God.
Speaker: before you're looking for yourself. I think a lot of us have a tendency to make ourselves the main character of the story. 100%. yeah so oh i can really say little side i want to be david right yeah um we read every story like the oh i would never be a nebuchadnezzar right oh but i'd be a daniel or a you know and so we associate with the characters and we try to align ourselves to say How am I comparing to that character? Well, you're comparing yourself with a flawed human being. Yeah.
Speaker: When we read the story, when we study the story, we should say, what is God's character in this story? yeah And that's what I'm trying to be like. And so it is... Perfectly okay to say, man, David was a man after God's own heart. I want to i want to be that. I want to be recognizing God's sight as that.
Speaker: But what was the standard by which that was judged by? that comes from the character of God. And so um whenever you're looking at a story, there's this banner of God's character that goes through the whole Bible. And that's really what our focus should be. It's okay to look at a character and say, for sure, I don't want to be like that. or Man, that's a good... role model.
Speaker: but really we should be looking at the character of God. Yeah. You know, one of the other dangers I see too is taking examples of stories like what you're talking about and saying this is where God acted and then trying to make it this umbrella application to all events in life. This is how God always handles these things. For instance, one of the ones that just kind of gets really abused to me is David.
Speaker: This young shepherd kills a giant, and now suddenly we're all supposed to take on our giants. Everybody's supposed to be giants. What's your giant in your life? yeah and You read 66 books of Scripture?
Speaker: Nobody else fought a giant. Right, yeah. Nobody else. um So I think you have to be really careful that when you're pulling things out that you are pulling out What is the character of God? Not is this the MO for God? Is this how he always operates in these particular situations?
Speaker: Last time I read 66 books, only one time did a donkey talk to anybody. That's right. He didn't apply it to every other opportunity, right? I've been trying to train my dog into that. It's not responding well. Yeah, so we have to be real real careful. I think the appropriate question is, as you're reading stories and proverbs and psalms, is what is this revealed to me about the character of the God I serve? It's really important. um Where does this passage fit into God's story? That's another important question. yeah so
Speaker: track Track the stages of the story of God, the metanarrative of God. We start with creation. What comes next? of The fall. Right. ah So... We get real quick into that. We messed up real quick. Made it a whole two chapters. And I do. We we have talked, to I've talked with other guys about this, about how God, I had a question actually posed to me. Like, why did God create us? You know, because he could have just, you know.
Speaker: let us have relation with him right away. But... the only good answer that I had to that was God desired this modes to be the best way to reveal himself to us. And that was by creating the world. And, and then this, in this meta narrative where we see after God showing a little bit of who he was in is in creation, we have the fall, but then God didn't leave us in the fall. Uh, although Here's another thing. God is outside of space and time. So where we see a lot of window and we're like, man, there's been hundreds, thousands of years. And where are you, God?
Speaker: God knew there was going to be a time where he would send his son. So from the fall, you have an answer. You have ah God filling in the gap and giving us a way to have a bridge to eternal life.
Speaker: And then that. We have the opportunity now before his return. to answer. to to say ah yes to Jesus. And so if you're looking at the metanarrative,
Speaker: God gave himself. uh a very strong evidence in creation we messed it up and then he is giving us a bridge back to a relationship with him now so you trace the bible creation to fall to redemption story to restoration of the kingdom. ah Very simply put, the Bible is a story of God taking us from one garden and leading us to the next. so And that's what the beauty of the whole story is about. um
Speaker: The encouragement that we would give you is that the Bible was written for you not about you. It's written about God, and Jesus is the hero all the way through the story. All the way through the story. So, um yeah, I think we want to come back next week. I think we're about halfway through. I think next week we need to come back and really jump into some real.
Speaker: application okay um for the young teenager that's sitting there or the the college student who's going you know what i'm back at school and i realize i'm missing my faith for the mother who's looking for a way to find time to get engaged with the word because she's very very busy i think there's some practical things that we can give you to help you start in a
Speaker: an achievable place, if that makes sense. you know So that you don't read three chapters and go, okay, I'm done. okay ah Don't look at your Bible and go, numbers, that sounds interesting because that's not where you want to pick up the Bible. Don't start there. I think it would be good for you all to come back and join us. Let's pick this back up next week. It will be a great conversation. This is the most important time you'll spend every day. yeah This is how you really get to know Jesus because this is His story all the way through and through from beginning to end. and The more you... know this book, the more you know Jesus, the easier it is to turn your back on the sin that tries to entangle us. You got something you want to read? Yeah, you said that and it sparked up a verse. It says in Job 23 in verse 12, it says, I have not departed from the commands of his lips. I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread. Just for the consistency aspect of it of how important it is to be dwelling on the word of the Lord. yep
Speaker: Good stuff. Thanks, guys, as always for bringing your wisdom to the table. Hope you will come back next time and pick up on some of the practical applications we want to give you to help you get in the word. In the meantime, if there are things you would like to talk about, if you have questions, we'll talk about this next week. But if you have questions where you can't comprehend what you're reading in the Bible.
Speaker: I encourage you, pick up the phone or type an email to your your pastor, your local church staff, some mature Christian that you know in your life. Do not Google it. Do not go to Jesus is us or whatever. Make sure you're you're going to great sources and asking for assistance on that because this is an important thing. You need to get it right. And unfortunately, in our world, we're seeing a lot of people who don't. that's right If you are looking for a good online resource, though. Got questions. Yes.
Speaker: GotQuestions is an incredible place yeah to punch in your questions. Fantastic. and And next week maybe we'll bring back some other apps too because right now, especially for those who are... And that attention deficit kind of... mode. um It might be helpful you know for for people to have it read to them or whatever. So we'll come back. We'll give you some great tips. In the meantime, we'd love for you to join us, 8, 9, 30, and 11, this Sunday at our churches. We're continuing to walk through the book of James. We would love to have you come and join us. We're going to pray our way out of here. and
Speaker: Hopefully we'll we'll hear you next week. Let me pray for us. Father God, we thank you for this word. um it It is a precious gift to us. and Lord, i I confess that even many times as a pastor I take for granted that it's there.
Speaker: And so, Lord, I pray for all of us that we would. dive into your word, that we would immerse ourselves in its treasures, Lord, and we would find there not only answers for life, but also commands for how life can be more fruitful, more of a blessing for us and bring you greater honor.
Speaker: So Lord, I pray for the man or woman who's out there listening to this right now. Thank you for their willingness to sit and listen to three guys talk about the book. And I pray that today would be an encouragement for them to pick up that book and begin to read it for themselves. If there's somebody who has never read the word, that maybe today is a day that their interest has peaked just enough to begin that journey.
Speaker: Lord, for those who have tried and tried and tried and keep falling down, Lord, give them the strength to get up one more time. and to continue to move forward and to look to this word for hope. And again, we thank you for this word because you have worked to preserve it for us for 2000 years. And today its meaning is no less important than it was then.
Speaker: For those who are listening, I pray you give them a blessed day. Bring them back next week to be with us. And I pray in the meantime they'll find their place for worship so that they and their families can be blessed and they can be encouraged in their walk with you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We look forward to seeing you next week.
Speaker: Bye.
