SPEAKER_02 0:00

Amen. Amen. All right. Well, uh, yeah, we got a few minutes. We would love to, well, I would love to answer any questions that I can. I don't I don't know everything, but I might know a few things. And so uh we got a few mics. Anybody got questions? Anyone got questions? Uh could you share?

SPEAKER_04 0:18

Um, I know obviously a lot of this has to do with preference, how we go about our time in reading and how we go about it, but could you share how you go about your dedicated time to read and maybe what that structure may look like for those that are maybe new into reading their Bible or maybe looking for a new way to study?

SPEAKER_02 0:38

For sure. Yeah, great question. Um, one, I would say it's it's seasonal, um, and so I am not uh I'm not boxed into uh I don't feel any guilt by God for it to look the same way every time. Because once again, this is a relationship. This is God's like we can be in relationship as little, as much as you want. And so depending on what the season looks like, the week looks like, the day looks like, I will adjust accordingly. Umsu I'm trying to be in a specific book consistently. Uh, right now I'm in Proverbs. Um, actually, I'm part of this uh a few other guys. Um we're doing basically a chapter a day in Proverbs in a group chat. And so I'll read through Proverbs and then uh in our group chat, we've all committed to identifying a verse that resonates with us, and we'll put that in the group chat and maybe share an additional thought in that group chat. Um and then I currently am bouncing between uh Proverbs and Colossians, which once again we're about to start a uh sermon series on uh starting this week. We're gonna be as a church walking through Colossians, but um yeah, I mean roughly 30 minutes usually is what I have dedicated, but then this is the part about being in God's word um that 30 minutes is extended throughout the day, and so I'll read dedicated 30 minutes, and then usually, once again, depending on time, and depending on if your boy wakes up, sometimes your boy doesn't wake up, pray for me, got kids. Um I might before I read get into 45 minutes to an hour of prayer. Then I'll get into my reading, but then what I read on the drive to work, I might meditate on. Maybe at work, I might be meditating on that. Maybe in the bathroom break, I might be meditating on that. Maybe when I get home and my kids start tripping, I gotta go back to that word and start meditating on that. Right? And so it's not just okay, I've read read my what my word for X amount of time, it's okay, am I living in that word? Right? Am I in relationship to that word? I'm not just reading it for that moment, I'm reading it for for my life. Right? So I don't know if that answered the question.

SPEAKER_07 3:02

For beginner readers, where would you where would you suggest to start? Just beginning in the Bible, just you yeah, like who are beginning their walk and don't know where to start, where would you suggest is because when I was beginning, I literally read Genesis over and over and over and over because I didn't know and I couldn't get past it. I was like, I didn't know where to go after that. So what for those who are beginning their walk, what would you say to start?

SPEAKER_02 3:30

Yeah, first of all, Genesis is lit. Genesis is there's a lot going on in Genesis. That's like the first real reality TV show. And uh there's just like a lot of like it's it's deep. Like it so I would actually not suggest somebody start in Genesis if you're just trying to get into the Bible. I would suggest any of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, uh, specifically because that that is where we we learn the most about who Jesus is, the life of Jesus. Once again, the focus is Jesus. And a like brief Bible hack is everything is centered around Jesus. So the Old Testament is pointing to him, and the the New Testament is pointing back at him. And so, if I could give you one piece of advice about reading the Bible, is look for Jesus. Like, like literally, you might be in Leviticus, and you're like, I don't know what's happening, they're sacrificing all kinds of animals, and there's all kinds of laws, and it's like, what where is Jesus in all of this? So when I talked about diligence, that would be an act of diligence. I'm I don't see him right now because there's a lot of stuff I don't understand, but I I gotta fight and I gotta press in to find where is Jesus in this? Oh, there's a lot of sacrifices happening. Man, that sounds exhausting to keep having to sacrifice over and over. Every time I sin, I gotta kill an animal. Wouldn't it be great if there was like one sacrifice? Oh, there's Jesus. Right? So, like, but to answer the question, uh, I would say the gospels, because we're trying to find Jesus.

SPEAKER_03 5:08

Hey, Pastor, um how do I know when I'm learning?

SPEAKER_02 5:12

What was that?

SPEAKER_03 5:13

How do I know when I'm learning? How do you know when you're learning? I can expand on the question if you need. But yeah, keep going. Kind of like the context of it is I read the Bible, I feel like I'm memorizing the word. I know the word by heart, but how do I truly know that I'm not only learning the word, but also learning to breathe that word? My God.

SPEAKER_02 5:33

That's a great, that's a great question. Um I think we know when we're learning is when we can apply it. Um when I get into a situation and a circumstance, and maybe not even a real time, but after the fact, can I see how I would used to respond to that situation? And then am I different now before Christ and after Christ? Or am I different 30 days ago than I am now? Am I different a year ago than I am now? Am I different in Christ in year 10 than I was in year five? And so I think learning and application are directly connected, is my initial thought there. I I don't know if I'm getting at what you're asking, but me personally, I would be assessing is the way I'm responding changing. Because it's not enough to know things intellectually, but I gotta get it once again to a relational level, and it's gotta be a love thing. And oftentimes when we get into places where I want to change something or something wants to be different, it it has to be am I tired of hurting God? Do I love God enough to just stop hurting him? Is this a love? Am I learning to love God? That might I I don't know if that's if I'm missing you there, but but I would try to draw the thread between learning and love. Am I loving God more? Might be the most concise way to put that.

SPEAKER_06 7:17

How are you doing, brother? Um okay. The second question is um how can I make time with God feel intentional instead of a routine? What are your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_02 7:29

Great question. Great question. I think um getting creative and I think not feeling once again like boxed in, uh, once again, like personal preference. Uh you might be a person or creature of habit, and so you might default into man, I'm comfortable doing it this way every time, all the time. And so you might have to fight extra hard to get out of that comfort zone and explore some things. Like, uh, I'm not a nature guy. Uh there's nothing about me that desires to be out in any kind of wilderness ever in life. Um come on, we're preaching. Um but but there was a season where I was like, man, I'm I'm I'm I'm too comfortable. Let me let me start going on prayer walks. Let me let me get outside. And just the change of environment and the change of scenery opened me up to God in a way that I had gotten comfortable just in a in another context. And so I would just say be encouraged to try something new. I think even getting around other people and hearing what they do and exposing yourself, the ministry of exposure. Sometimes you're just in your own little bubble and you you you don't know what you don't know. And so as you get into different contexts and you hear, oh, you do that? Okay, you you worship God, jumping out of a plane, parachuting. I'm probably not gonna do that, but okay, maybe that gives me some ideas. Um, but yeah, just not feeling like it has to look the same every time. I guess I would also say this like it doesn't always have to feel super spiritual. Right? You don't have to have like this encounter every time, right? It it could be a car drive, it could be an intentional conversation with somebody that I don't normally talk to, and I just start. Can you tell me about your story? Man, I would just love to just love to hear your story. It could it could be a moment where like you just respond to the nudge of obedience and you're you're an H E B and you're shopping and the Holy Spirit was like, hey, go pray for that person. Say what now, Jesus? Right? Like, what if God would much rather you do that than spend an hour in his presence, but you didn't get anything out of his presence? Right? So I I would say even just being open to it not feeling like, oh, that the heavens opened up, and man, I got the encounter, and I'm crying, and the the the the right worship music is playing, it can look a lot of different ways. God can show up in a lot of different ways. And so just being comfortable, being uncomfortable, it not looking the same way, or having this expectation that has to be like a super holy moment, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

So what are your thoughts on utilizing notes like the note section or a Bible study? Um is it still feeding yourself if you're reading the helpful notes that may be at the bottom of your Bible?

SPEAKER_02 10:21

A hundred percent. Yeah, I would I would um so part of that like diligence idea that uh I didn't have time to like go into is learning how to get nudged out of God's word into study, and so like as you're reading, I would encourage you to like read with curiosity and not just read just to like check the box. And so as you're reading, you might hit a word or an idea or a statement, and you're just like, ah, this is I don't I don't really understand this. Don't stop there. Can you find a Bible commentary? Can you Google something? Like, you know, can you use other resources to help you go a little bit deeper until you feel like man, something clicked here, not just being satisfied with I just read it even though I didn't understand it. Um, and so yeah, notes in the Bible. Um, and I think we have some resources. Were we gonna put that on the screen, or what was that gonna look like? Okay, yeah, I mean, I would just yeah, throw them up here too, also. Um, I think we have some resources here that we're going to. Yeah, okay, so like enduring word is an incredible uh resource. Enduring word literally has uh scripture for uh it takes entire Bible and unpacks every verse and gives you context and commentary under every verse. And so if you're reading something, no matter what you're reading in scripture, you could literally go to you know John chapter 3, verse 5, and say, okay, well, what is what does this actually mean? And so just I would definitely exhaust as many resources as you're reading God's word and not be so prideful that you think you can just read it and just God's gonna talk to you and it's just gonna happen like that. Diligence.

SPEAKER_05 12:11

Uh how do you decipher between two-part question. How do you decipher between different Bible translations? And do you have a preference uh for Bible translation?

SPEAKER_02 12:24

Yeah, great question. Um, so there are some translations that are more paraphrases, um, and then there's some translations that are as literal, I guess, as you can get. Um, ESV and NLT would get you as close to like word-for-word translation, and so I usually stay in the ESV or NLT. Um, if I I want to get outside of my box and outside of my norm, I might jump into like the message version to give me different context. And so I would like parallel the word for word with other translations to kind of get even more of like a full picture, if you will. Um, so I would almost encourage you to think about translations as like coming from a little bit of a different angle. And if you're reading the same thing in a few different versions, it gives you maybe more of a whole picture, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 13:17

So I have a question. So every time I read the Bible, I could read a Bible one season of my life in a different season of my life, and I can pick up something completely different. So does that come from like a perspective shift, or like is that the Holy Spirit? Like, how does that how does that come about?

SPEAKER_02 13:31

Yeah, I would say both, uh, and is as concise as I can I can say this. Uh yeah, you could read the same verse in a different season and get a different thing because you become a different person in a different season. Um, and so the Holy Spirit, God's word, is is faithful to address you in that season. You know, if if you read it at 14 and you read it at 40, God's word is gonna meet you at the level that you're at. Get what I'm saying? And so God is not gonna be like, man, I hope you figure this out. I'm gonna you're gonna have to wait till 40 to get this revelation, right? Like, God's gonna give the give you the revelation or make the revelation available so if you choose to access that revelation at 14, it's gonna fit that part of your life. He's not gonna give you a revelation for 40 at 14 because you wouldn't know what to do with it. So God's word will meet you where you're at, basically.