Scott Moore: Welcome to the "Building Faith and Family" podcast with Steve Demme.  I'm your host, Scott Moore. Thanks for joining us today. Good morning, Steve. How  are you today? 

Steve: I'm OK. I'm recovering. How are you? 

Scott: I'm recovering a little myself. What are you recovering from? Steve: Well, I found some water in my office, and I was vacuuming it out yesterday  with a rug shampooer. I got a workout. Which was good. 

Scott: Been there, done that, not fun. 

Steve: It was rugged. 

Scott: I took a wheel off my car and put it back on, to no avail. 

Steve: Oh, I'm sorry. 

Scott: Now everything is sore on me because I'm too old to be doing this. Steve: I did that last weekend with that little donut tire that is in the back of the car. I  put on it and everything. Then I had to go to the auto parts store and watch some  videos, and I plugged the hole myself. 

Scott: That's good. Wow. 

Steve: Yeah. I put about 600 miles on it, so I think it's working. 

Scott: I was trying to fix a broken lug nut stud, but the Internet lied to me, basically. It was more difficult than I thought it was going to be, and so I ended up putting the  wheel back on. There's a lot of hammering involved to try and get the caliper back in  place. I was exhausted by the end, and I still have to get the thing fixed. Steve: I think you should say you weren't exhausted. You were tired. Scott: OK. Ha‑ha‑ha. 

Steve: Yeah, and you missed the one I said a minute ago when I said it was rugged. Scott: I did. I'm not very sharp this morning. Sorry. 

Steve: That's OK. We're going to do part two today on why we read our Bibles. I  realize I have enough information for about three podcasts, but we'll see what we can  cover today. 

Father, help us again, not to hear Steve and Scott talking, but to hear Your Spirit  talking. I pray that You would talk to us in such a way that, as the disciples said, when  Jesus talked to them, "Didn't our hearts burn within us while He opened to us the  scriptures?" 

Give us ears to hear, give us soft hearts so that they're susceptible to the burning that  we sense when God is talking to us. In Jesus' name, amen. 

Scott: Amen. 

Steve: The words of Christ are a source of faith. You don't have to read much of the  New Testament to see how important it is to believe. "Faith comes from hearing,  hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17) We're justified by faith, so we  need to have faith.  

1 John 5:14-15, which is my favorite prayer verse, says, "This is the confidence that  we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if  we know that He hears us, and whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests  that we have asked of Him." 

Jesus said, "When you pray, believe" and I think the more we saturate ourselves in  scripture, the more faith we have, the more we know what is His will. John 15:7, "If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and  it will be done for you." Abiding in God, letting His words abide in us, creates a  perfect storm. It creates faith, it teaches us what His will is, and it helps us to get our  prayers answered. 

The truth sets us free.  

John 8:32, "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." My best example  of this is when I discovered, with the help of the Spirit, that God not only loves the  world, but He likes us. I use that word because I think we overuse the word love  sometimes, and lose the impact of it. 

When I read in John 15:9, "As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you," that truth  set me free from trying to earn God's love. I realized that, in Christ, I have been  completely, fully loved. I had to do more work and explore the Gospel. I had to study  what it means to be washed in the blood of Jesus, to be clothed in his righteousness. The more I studied this, the more I realized I've been adopted, I've been loved, I've  been clothed, I've been forgiven, and these truths set me free. Pretty sweet. I got an email this morning from someone that listened to the podcast we did on 38  years in the wilderness, where I talked about this period in my life. "For 38 years, I  was ever trying, but never feeling like I'd arrived at being pleasing and adopted and  loved and liked by God." The email said, "Best one yet." That was pretty special. Scott: Nice. 

Steve: Another encouragement to read the Bible would be looking at the life of David.  If you read the Bible, you'll find out that there's hardly anybody, maybe nobody, that  loved God more than David. But David not only loved God, he also loved His word. All  of Psalm 119 is an appreciative psalm talking about how much he loves the Bible. In verse 97, "Oh, how I love Your law. It is my meditation all the day."  Verse 105, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."  

All the way through the 176 verses of Psalm 119, you get an appreciation for David  and his attitude towards God and His word. To him, they were inseparable. Psalm 1:1-3, "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor  stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the  law of Jehovah, and on His law he meditates day and night. 

"He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its  leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers." I believe David lived that.  Everywhere he set his hand, God prospered him. 

For Our Instruction 

This next one is something that I don't think we talk enough about, but it says in  Romans 15:4, "Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction,  that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures we might  have hope." Now this is Paul writing. 

What was written in former days, to me, is the Old Testament. It's pre‑New  Testament, and it was written for our instruction. It was penned so that we might  have hope, because the scriptures encourage us. 

I'll give you one example. When you study the nation of Israel under the reign of  Manasseh, it's said the streets ran with blood. I think that describes the world today  with abortion. Let alone the widespread persecution of believers, etc. The streets ran  with blood. 

We've been murdering babies for two generations now. It's heinous. It's an  abomination. It's awful. Yet God restored Israel. There were kings that followed  Manasseh, that were righteous and godly. Even after those horrific days, they turned  around. There was hope. I believe that our country receives encouragement from the  scriptures to have hope when you look at that historically. 

Reading the scriptures affects us.  

Jesus prayed in John 17:17, "Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth." Sanctify  means to make holy, to set us apart. When you embrace the word of God, and you  imbibe it, and you let the word of God dwell in you richly, as Paul says, you're going  to be different. It's going to make us holy as we embrace the holy words of God. 

The Scripture transforms our thinking.  

It says in Proverbs, "As a man thinks in his heart, so he is," so we have to think well.  Romans 12:2, "Be transformed by the renewal of your mind."  

I had to go through a season of trying to figure out who God was. Because I had done  some reflection and realized that in my mind, God was a lot like my dad, which was  not a bad thing ‑‑ I had a pretty good dad ‑‑ but it wasn't a biblical thing. I went through scripture, and I began studying the character and the attributes of God  the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, and I received a different picture. The more I  knew Him, the more I loved Him, which is the first and greatest commandment. We have to be transformed by the renewal of our mind. Reading scripture, believing  scripture. Studying scripture renews our mind. The rest of that verse says that "by  testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, and acceptable, and  perfect." 

I know you used to work with young people. When I used to serve young believers, it  was painful to work with those who were dating nonbelievers. I said, "Have you read  what the Bible has to say about this?" Paul, in 2 Corinthians 6:14-15, “Do not be  unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with  lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with  Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?” 

Paul makes it as clear as anybody can make it. You have to marry someone of like,  precious faith. But if people don't read and obey the Book, they will marry poorly, and  bear sad fruit. 

The Word of God reveals our heart.  

We don't know our own heart. Hebrews 4:12, "The word of God is living and active,  sharper than any two‑edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of  joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." I remember years ago going through a season where I sensed I was off, and I didn't  know why. I kept seeking God, and I kept reading my Bible, and I found this word in  scripture about presumptuous sins. 

I don't want to go into all the details, but I realized that I was being presumptuous in  my attitude towards men of God that I was serving with, and I had to apologize. It was  the word of God, though, that was sharper than any sword, and it discerned the  thoughts and intentions of my heart, which I didn't see myself. 

Building on that, Ephesians 6:17, "Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the  Spirit, which is the word of God." I have listed a handful of passages where Jesus  fought with the sword of the Spirit. He used the sword of the Spirit. I have listed  several passages in a section entitled "Sword Fighting with Jesus ‑ Not a Good Idea."  In the beginning of the Gospels, we see that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist,  and His Father was there after which the Spirit led Him into the wilderness where He  was tempted by the devil. 

When He was tempted, the devil was misquoting scripture. Jesus responded, "It is  written." He set the record straight because He knew the word of God. He knew how  to apply it. 

The religious leaders tried sword fighting with Jesus. In Matthew 19, "The Pharisees  came up to Him and tested Him by asking, 'Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any  cause?’ "He answered, 'Have you not read that He who created them from the  beginning made them male and female, and said, "Therefore shall a man leave his  father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh"?  So they are no longer two but one flesh, but therefore God has joined together, let  not man separate." 

That's a powerful passage. They were testing him and He responded with scripture! By  the way, He also declared that He made us male and female. Boom. Two genders.  Period. Then He also said that when the two are married before God, they become one  flesh. Powerful stuff. 

Another time in Matthew 22:41‑45, "The Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus  asked them a question, saying, 'What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is  He?' They said to him, 'The son of David.' 

"He said to them, 'How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls Him Lord, saying, "The  Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at My right hand until I put Your enemies under Your feet'? If  then David calls Him "Lord," how is He his son?" 

Now, we read that, and we know because Jesus is from the tribe of David, and was  also God, so David calls Him Lord. Makes sense to us, but the Pharisees had no  response. 

They were trying to put Jesus in a corner, and they were trying to twist the scriptures,  you might say, and Jesus turned the tables on them and responded with scripture. In  that case, He asked them a question which they couldn't answer. 

Scripture has an impact in our salvation.  

I'm going to read you a couple of passages. The first one is 2 Timothy 3, which is one  of the most oft‑quoted scriptures talking about scripture. Now, we usually start in the  16th verse, but I'm going to start in the 15th verse. 

Paul's talking to Timothy, "From childhood, you have known the sacred writings which  are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ  Jesus." 

He goes on to say, "All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for  reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be  adequate, equipped for every good work." 

While many of us have memorized verses 16 and 17, it's interesting that he tells  Timothy it was the sacred writings which prompted him and led him to salvation  through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. Only Christ Jesus saves us, but it was the  scriptures that led to that. 

1 Peter 1:23‑25, "You have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of  imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God. For all flesh is like grass,  and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, the flower falls, but the  word of the Lord remains forever. This word is the good news that was preached to  you.” We are impacted by the living and abiding Word of God.  

Be Doers of the Word 

James 1:21‑22, "Receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save  your souls. Be doers of the word and not hearers only.” Don't just listen to it, apply it. Matthew 7:24‑25, "Everyone, therefore, who hears these words of Mine and does  them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and  the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall  because it had been founded on the rock." 

I think we're going to go through some very difficult times. We're going to have winds  and rain and floods beating on our houses, spiritually perhaps, maybe even literally, I  don't know. 

The best thing we can do to prepare is to read God's word, and apply God's word, and  obey God's word, and then we'll have a house that's built on the rock. I have  dominated this first part. What do you think about this? 

Scott: I think you covered all the verses I know off the top of my head about the word.  I don't think there's any more verses I can pull out right away, but I would just  encourage people, you don't have to memorize scripture, but it sure doesn't hurt. The  more verses that you know that are at the top of your mind, the Holy Spirit can recall  them to you that quickly and readily in the moment that you need them. I've had that happen on multiple occasions, where even something I hadn't  memorized, but something that was familiar because I'd read it enough times that it  comes to mind in a conversation, where, like, "That wasn't me. That's, clearly, the  Holy Spirit bringing it to mind." 

Steve: Amen. You had a bank full of them. 

Scott: Yes. 

Steve: We read it in the first podcast, this passage that says, "No prophecy was ever  produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by  the Holy Spirit." Scripture is a work of the Holy Spirit. He's not only the author, He's the interpreter. It says, "When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the  truth," John 16:13. 

This is the language of the Spirit. The Spirit knows the scriptures. He inspired them.  That's what it means, inspirited. 

Let me give a closing exhortation, if I may. I heard this the other day, that oftentimes,  when people say "someday I'll do such and such," it really ought to be, "I will never do  that. It's way out there." 

"Someday, I will go to Alaska and watch the northern lights." Or, "Someday, I will buy  tickets to see the Cincinnati Reds play in the World Series." 

Scott: Someday. :-) 

Steve: The point is, I know people have said, someday I would like to read the Bible all  the way through. Someday is today. It says in 2 Corinthians 6:2, "Behold, now is the  favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation." If the Spirit has quickened you  and the Spirit has prompted you and put seeds in your heart, and you would like to  read the Bible from Genesis to Malachi, let's do it together. 

I think that's what we need to do. I don't think we need to be all out there by  ourselves with our little Bible reading charts huddled up in our little caves, reading  the Bible and getting discouraged and stopping. Let's help each other. Let's  encourage one another. 

I had some contests years ago with an online app where we had races, and every time  you read a few chapters of scripture, they would move you that many miles on a map.  I had a lot of men, especially, tell me that was the best thing because they were so  competitive. Not that I was. 

Steve: My wife looked over one night, and I had the light on, and I was reading the  Bible. She said, "What are you doing?" I said, "Someone just passed me." It is helpful to know that you're not alone, that we're a part of a team, that we're all  going to read through the Old Testament together. If you would like to, we do have a  New Testament and Psalms that corresponds, which follows a calendar. I'm going to add these links where you can find these Bible reading charts. I'm going  to put them as PDFs, but they're on the Building Faith Families website. If you get  down to the bottom of the page, it says "Bible Resources." Click on the Bible  Resources, you'll find four different PDFs. 

One of them is what I used as the basis for these two podcasts, "25 benefits from  reading scripture," although we covered. Then I have an Old Testament reading  schedule, which will be the primary source for the continuing podcast. There is also a New Testament and Psalms reading schedule, which you could read at  the same time as that, if you'd like, then you'll have read the whole Bible in a year. I  also have a simple Old Testament reading schedule for young people that perhaps have read the New Testament, and they want to get a taste of the Old Testament, but  they really are not going to be able to do three chapters a day of the Old Testament.  It's one chapter a day of the Old Testament, which covers the historical books. It  doesn't cover a lot of the prophets. It doesn't cover Leviticus. 

Steve: I think I have two chapters from Leviticus to give them a flavor. It's a simplified  Old Testament reading schedule, but maybe some adults would want to do that too.  It's still a really good overview. 

Anytime you read the scripture, it's helpful. I find that if I don't have a schedule, I  won't stick to it. I'll start reading in chunks, and then I'll miss a couple of days. If I  have a schedule, it helps me to stay on task and complete it. I've been doing this now  since the '70s, and I found that it works. Any final words? 

Scott: Just don't beat yourself up. If this is the first time you're doing it and you fall  behind or something, don't worry about it. Pick up where you were and keep going. Steve: Amen. 

Scott: It's not a problem. You'll get there eventually. If you don't do it all in one  calendar year, it's not the end of the world. You're still reading it. 

Steve: Amen. They can go back and listen to the podcast when they get to it. They'll  be recorded. 

Scott: Exactly. 

Steve: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was  God." "The law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."  "Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it." Finally, "Let the word of  Christ dwell in you richly." 

Father, give us an appetite. Give us some divine chutzpah. Help us to take the steps  necessary so that we do something that we wanted to do someday. Help us to do it  this day. Encourage us and help us. 

Help us, help Scott and I, as we do the podcast. I pray that together, this year of  2026, will be the best ever as we spend more time in Your word. Let Your words dwell  on us richly. In Jesus' name, amen. 

Scott: Amen. That's our show for this week, folks. Thanks for joining us for the  Building Faith and Family podcast with Steve Demme. If you have a question for the  show, email Steve at spdemme@Gmail.com. Thanks for joining us. Have a great week.