Welcome to Everyday Radical, a podcast where we help the everyday Christian follow Jesus and make him known everywhere. We pray that today's episode encourages you to do just that. So let's dive right in.
SPEAKER_02Thank you for being a part of this conversation. And just thank you. I I praise God for his grace in your life. We were praying right before we started this. And as I'm praying, Nehemiah just immediately came to my mind, just the picture of God's people with his word, like delighting in his word, and people helping them understand it in a way that led to like confession and weeping, in a way that led to joy, rejoicing. So uh I praise God for how God is using you, the Bible recap, to uh create understanding around his word, love for his word in the hearts of multitudes of people.
SPEAKER_04So it's my favorite thing in the world. Like, doesn't it just bring you so much joy to help other people fall in love with God's word? Like when you say something or teach something and somebody's like, What? I never knew that. I never understood that. Like, I understand God in a new way. It just that's my favorite thing.
SPEAKER_02And the beauty, we were we were just talking about how so our life first, John 3 30, your life first, my life. That was like since I was a teenager. Um, what about you? Like, when did that when did that begin?
SPEAKER_04I think probably around the time I was a teenager as well.
SPEAKER_02Okay, yeah. Uh, but that's part of what the word does, right? Because you can't take credit for anything, like all this thing that is just have this person's joy, what they're experiencing through the word. It's like, oh, I I didn't, I didn't create it. I just like to see what was there.
SPEAKER_04There's a uh poet, I don't recommend his poetry, but I love this line from his poetry. Uh Khalil Jabron said, I am a hole in the flute that the Christ's breath moves through.
SPEAKER_02Right?
SPEAKER_04Just so good.
SPEAKER_02A hole in the flute. Whoa, okay, yeah. Like I'm just a hole in the flute that the Christ's breath moves through. Wow, like we've got chills. Yeah. Yes. He must become greater, we must become less. The word does that. Okay, so when when would you say? Uh a lot of people know kind of some of your story, but like when would you say you first fell in love with the author of the Bible?
SPEAKER_04That would be, I I remember it. Um, it wasn't that long ago. I I've known the Lord, I have no memories of my life that don't that that Jesus is not a part of.
SPEAKER_02You grew up in the church. Right, yes.
SPEAKER_04Earliest memory is saying John 3 16 with my mom. Um, but it wasn't until my second time reading through the Bible that I fell in love with God.
SPEAKER_02Reading through the whole Bible. You read through the whole Bible one time and very intentionally.
SPEAKER_04Didn't like him. Didn't like him. And um, there's a pastor named Lee McDermott in South Carolina who had walked through that journey with me, and I'd answered he'd answered my questions along the way. So the first time through, I'm reading it, and he and I had always tried and given up several times to read the Bible, like most Christians. And he said, You need to read it all, you can read it in 12 minutes a day, and I'll answer your questions along the way. So that kept me going. So end of the first trip through, I go back to Lee and I'm like, I don't know what to do because I know this is true. I believe all this is true. And I don't like him. And Lee said, Okay, well, I've walked through scripture with you for a year. I know the lens that you're reading scripture through. I know the kinds of questions you've asked, so I know what you're looking for. So I have a new challenge for you. I want you to read it again and stop looking for yourself. Start looking for God. What does he love? What does he hate? What motivates him to do what he does? Because this book isn't about you. It's for you, but it's not about you. And so he gave me some questions to ask myself as I'm reading, like, what does God say or do in this passage? Again, what does God love or hate in this passage? Um, what does it reveal about his character? What attributes of God are named here? And I was about halfway through the Old Testament in the prophets, uh, which is not where you expect to fall in love with God.
SPEAKER_02And were you reading just like straight through?
SPEAKER_04Chronologically.
SPEAKER_02Okay, you're reading chronologically through. Obviously, what yeah.
SPEAKER_04So I'm I was reading chronologically. It's the plan we do with the Bible recap now. Um, and it was uh built out by Blue Letter Bible originally. Okay. And so I was doing that plan for my second time through, and I had been reading the same book for about a year and a half, but with this new lens, it changed everything. The lens through which I read scripture with the lens to look for God. So that that's something that it doesn't come naturally to us. Like that whole he must increase, I must decrease. I had always come to scripture and had mostly heard scripture taught to me as what are the application points? Like, how do I go and be a good moral Christian? How do I please God with my life? And if I'm honest, the reason I wanted to do that was because I wanted him to give me what I wanted. So it's very much still about me. So that he must increase, I must decrease. That is a regular rhythm that I get to practice when I look for God in scripture and not myself.
SPEAKER_02Do you remember what where were you in the prophets? Like I think I was in Isaiah. Okay. Yeah. Just seeing this grand picture of God and his holiness. Yeah. Um, but but yeah, even wow, because there are there are yeah, some challenging things about God's character, at least challenging to us. Yeah. Uh, and a lot of those prophets as well.
SPEAKER_04For me, one of the things that was most shocking as I was reading like commentaries and things about the character of God was I always thought that like things like God's wrath were just things we kind of tolerated because he had so many other good perks, you know, like we can put up with his wrath because he's really loving, you know? And to discover that even God's wrath is a praiseworthy element that it should induce awe and delight in us is I mean, that blew my hair back. I was just like, what? What?
SPEAKER_02Yes. I mean when I was thinking about I was actually having a conversation earlier uh today with somebody uh just talking about like in heaven, we're not gonna be like questioning God's justice, we're gonna be praising God for his justice and all and all the ways that's playing out in the whole narrative of heaven. All right, so you you fell in love with the author of the Bible. So uh does that mean that reading the Bible from that point on was just easy and uh without challenge or cost or anything in your life?
SPEAKER_04Absolutely.
unknownYep.
SPEAKER_02Is that that easy from that point on? And so every Christian should expect Yeah, and I fully understand it now.
SPEAKER_04Yes, just like that. And remember it all.
SPEAKER_02No, okay. So what when when you think about like, yeah, how what what are challenges or costs that you've experienced like when it comes to reading the Bible?
SPEAKER_04I think there, I mean, there have been m multiple, it's a sometimes it's a discipline, right? You know, I've made it pretty much a habit so that often when you start out with something new and you're introducing it into your life, it's a discipline. And until that discipline becomes a habit, that can still be a struggle. And so there would be days when I would wake up and I would be like, I don't want to read the Bible today, or the passage I read yesterday was really dry. I think that's what I'm in again. I think I'm still in, you know, genealogies again today. So uh you just kind of have to get over that. You get into the habit of it. Um, sometimes it's been a misunderstanding. I think for me, um, I have found a lot of places in scripture where I've had the same Bible since my first trip through the Bible. And I've read, you know, a couple times a year.
SPEAKER_02Today you're using the same one.
SPEAKER_04Same one. And so throughout my journeys through my first trips through, I would make some notes in the margin. I I like to make a note make a note in the margin when I feel like I've learned something new or uncovered something that's exciting for me. And there are numerous places, if I had it right now, we could easily flip to find a place where I've marked through a note that I had previously taken.
SPEAKER_02Really? I'm like, oh no, that's not right.
SPEAKER_04And like God's patience with me to continue teaching me by himself. And so I'm still, I'm still on a journey learning. It still can be a challenge sometimes. Um, I I used to not like Isaiah, and then I I really didn't like Isaiah my first time through. Second time through is where that changed. Um, currently don't love Ezekiel. You know, I'm I trust that someday there's gonna be a day when I read the Bible and I'm like, man, Ezekiel really hit this year. Like this is good stuff.
SPEAKER_02Well, there's there's parts like the beginning, it's uh well, well, just wait, there's a lot we could talk about there. I I I do think about though, as you're talking, I think about uh Genesis three. I think about the first like temptation attack of the adversary in the world really was on the relationship between God and his people and his word. Did God really say uh we shouldn't be surprised that there when there's an adversary who doesn't want us to experience intimacy with God around his word, trusting his word, believing his word. So there that there's never, I really would you agree with us that there's never gonna be a point where like Bible reading, meditation, obeying, memorizing is going to be without struggle, at least in this world, in this fallen world.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I don't think so. Um as long as we're in these fleshly bodies and we have an enemy of our souls who, you know, he's super predictable, Satan. He's just he has that that one thing over and over. It's like God can't be trusted, God can't be trusted, God can't be trusted. And so to make us want to doubt what God says um from the beginning, um, even you know, when he's warring with Jesus in the wilderness, we always talk about Jesus fights back with scripture, but Satan's tool with scripture too, just twisted scripture.
SPEAKER_02That's good. You know? I mean, not good, but yes, yes, yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_04And uh he just uh he's a he's a one-hit wonder.
SPEAKER_02Yes, yeah. What what are some misunderstandings do you think people have when it comes to just reading the Bible, understanding the Bible, how to approach the Bible? I mean, you talked about the uh kind of man-centered or self-centered lens. Yeah, the lens. Yeah, what are some of the things that come to your mind?
SPEAKER_04I think um for me, one of the things that I have tried to do really, it's really been important to me as we built the Bible recap is I don't want to scream where scripture whispers and I don't want to whisper where scripture screams. And so there are places in scripture where um it's okay if I don't have a fully formed theology around these secondary and tertiary ideas. And so I think for some people, they feel like when they read the Bible the whole time, they should understand it all and they should like have a position on everything. And um, there are very few hills that I will die on. Um, and so I just was having a conversation a couple of days ago with my team about our perspectives on revelation and the different views on on the book of Revelation, different views on our different eschatological positions. And I was like, I per I don't think it's wrong to have an opinion, and I don't think it's wrong to not have an opinion. I personally hold it all with an open hand. I don't feel like, even as a like a person whose job is to study the word and talk about it, I think it's okay to not like put my foot down on some of those those secondary and tertiary issues.
SPEAKER_02And it's as you're talking about that, I'm thinking about uh Tom Shriner, New Testament theologian, uh has written yeah, multiple commentaries books, but uh he was he was preaching through Revelation. I'm not gonna get this exactly right. So don't I'm not representing Tom Shriner's position, but he was preaching through Revelation. He had one viewpoint at the beginning, and then he got to Revelation 20 and he switched. Like he he was like, you know what? Studying this text, I'm I've changed my mind. Yeah, I don't think that was the and and so but then he would I love I I listened to him explain that and he was like, it's not like you're gonna have a lot of confidence in me right now, like, but this is where we need to see, yes, I love that humility that are super clear, that are clear and direct in scripture that are yes, cle yeah, non-negotiable. We stake our lives on, right? But there are other things where it's okay to hold it with an open hand. Uh, but that doesn't mean we don't even that's part of what I love about Romans 14 when Paul's like be firm in what like have have a conviction about whether or not to eat this meat or celebrate this holiday, uh so and operate out of the overflow of that, but don't like uh promote disunity in the church over that, where it's uh yeah, anyway, there's a skill there to be learned.
SPEAKER_04Threading the needle on that is so important because it's not like who knows? It doesn't really matter. Like, why do we even need to study these things? Like, that's not that's not my perspective on it. Um I think it's important to study these things, but there are things God hasn't revealed, and there are things that can be complicated and complex to unwind. And um, I love the humility that he presented in that. And I've heard I heard uh John Piper preach a sermon where he um rebuked a former sermon he had preached. He was like, here's what I've learned in the past 20 years.
SPEAKER_02And I was like, that's I love that. I love that. Yeah, or even I love that when you talk about uh these notes you've got in your Bible, like, okay, never, never mind. Like, but the beauty is that's us regressing through this with our finite minds. And we're here, we have this word that is true, that is timeless, that is, and but it's uh yeah, and we just we need to approach it humbly.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it never lets us feel like we've arrived, which I think is great. Yeah, one of the things I love about scripture, being living and active, is that there is always something new for me to discover in it. And I'm a different person when I come back to that passage six months later or a year later. And so there's something new in me that it can connect to that the Holy Spirit can uh engage and ignite in me.
SPEAKER_02Well, and not even just uh I need to, well, I need to learn new things for sure. But I just think about my time in Psalm 77 this morning. Uh, there are just some things that are really heavy on my heart, and uh uh the first verse, I cry aloud to God. I cry aloud to God. It says it twice, and then it says, and he will hear me. And uh sorry, um, I just uh that's that's not new. And like I I cry aloud to God all the time, and uh I know he hears me, but I needed that verse to open up uh the very beginning of my time in the Lord this morning. So um it's it's the beauty of uh communion with God to um to to hear him speak that word to me in that moment. It was something I really needed. So anyway, praise God for the uh privilege of hearing his voice like that. Yeah, absolutely. Um yeah, sorry, okay. Um, this is not about me and what I'm walking through right now. Um, but even uh I'm gonna stay there for just a second, actually.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, because it is actually, it is about you and what you're walking through right now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he's in all those spaces, yes, for sure, you know? And what was so good is I get further down in Psalm 77, and uh and he's uh the psalmist there is just really struggling. Like, God, where are you? What's going on? Why is this happening? Uh, but then he says that this I will call to remind. I'll remember the years of the Lord Most High, and and he just starts talking about he's the God who does wonders, and he starts recounting the wonders he's done. And it was so good because that's where um, isn't this why daily Bible reading is so necessary, so that when we get to that moment where our faith is attacked, or just we're walking through the trial, we need a reservoir to be able to stop. Like, I can I'm recalling the years of the Lord and and his faithfulness and all he's done, certainly in my life, but I all these things I've seen him do in his word, he will be faithful to me today. Um yeah, like I mean, you spend your life helping people read the Bible every day. Why is it so important for people to read the Bible every day?
SPEAKER_04I'm not married, but I hear that it's pretty important to have regular communication with your spouse.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_04Um and that that's how intimacy happens. You know that not every conversation is a deep, rich quality conversation. You come away with this but like complete new depth of intimacy, but you don't get those moments unless you have regularity. And it's called daily bread, right? Daily bread. And um so that is something that I have found that is true in my life, because you know, you just used a phrase something about like when our faith is attacked, and I just had the thought in my head, nobody attacks my faith more than I do. No nobody attacks my faith more than I do. No, no worldly circumstance, no lie of the enemy. I lie to me more than anybody lies to me, you know? And so I just was like, oh, I'm the chief attacker of my own faith. And so I need a voice that can speak at a higher volume with a bolder density, uh, in a bigger font than my own lies. And so I've got to store up, I've got to, in that reservoir, uh just pack it with the truth of God because I know the world's about to lie to me, the enemy's about to lie to me, my flesh is about to lie to me, and I need a louder voice in there.
SPEAKER_02Yes, yes, that's when when I say, uh, because I I really don't mean it trying, I cannot live without that time with the Lord in his word in the morning. Like I mean it because of that. Because if I don't have that time, I uh I'm just susceptible to all those lies. Um yeah, all day long. Like I will be conformed to the pattern of this world if I'm not transformed intentionally by the renewing of my mind. Why why do you think that's important to do in community? I so not just uh in our own time alone with the Lord, but to walk through the Bible together.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I love that so.
SPEAKER_02I love it.
SPEAKER_04Whole kids' division now, like the Bible recap for kids. Oh, that's so good. Like I love it so much. Yeah. Like these kids are gonna have read the by the time they're 18, some of them will have read the Bible 10, 15 times.
SPEAKER_02Oh can you imagine that? Yes.
SPEAKER_04So anyway, doing it in doing it with the family, doing it with the church, doing it in community, first of all, you're more likely to stick to it like any habit, you know, especially when that's hard for you in the beginning. But then also just to have a space where you can confess those lies you tell yourself, confess the things you're struggling with to other people. Who James 5, 16 like says, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another. Yes. That you might be healed, that that those things we struggle with might be unlocked by the power of the church coming together. Um, and so I, you know, we we talked before we started here today, like you're going through some stuff, I'm going through some stuff. And my assistant and I were just in the bathroom, like touching the hair and my the makeup up before we came on camera, and she was like, I'm just gonna pray. And it was exactly what needed to happen, like in the midst of the chaos to just like center on the God of the universe who works all things together for the good of those who love him, for those who are called according to his purpose. And that sets my heart at ease when when you're waiting to find out what's gonna happen, when you're waiting on the call from the doctor, when you're waiting on uh the the resolution of a disagreement, when all of those things are at play and it's just like the faithfulness of God, the faithfulness of God. Like I will cry to the Lord and He will hear me.
SPEAKER_02You will hear me. And to have people in your life who are speaking that into you. And that though I always think about uh like in Deuteronomy, this whole picture of when you talk, when you walk along the road, when you sit down, when you lie down, when you rise, like for the word to just saturate your conversations. Like, and I've found when uh Heather and I, and then our kids join in like uh as they have gotten older, have been using the same Bible reading plan. Uh, just we've not used the exact same plan, but reading the same portions of the Bible every day together. It transformed our relationship, it transformed our family worship time around uh you know the house. It transformed just the on-the-go conversations as we in our church family do the same thing, all those churches, all those kids, like they're and even the other day, Heather sometimes jokes. She's like, uh, that I'll come like with something that I've seen. And she's like, Well, I totally missed that. But that that the other day, I love that. I she was like, Didn't you love the word this morning? And I was like, Yeah. What did you love about it? Because I wanted it, but but she had seen something. That was super encouraging that I had kind of totally not kind of I'd totally missed. Um, like we need that in each other. And for that to be the foundation of our relationship is just our and our and say relationship, not just with in family, but in the body of Christ. Yes.
SPEAKER_04So it's so good. It has so many more benefits than we can even conceive, kind of like what you just talked about with Heather and how we sort of each see and learn different things in scripture. But um, I know uh there's a there's the first church that I know of that ever did the Bible recap as a whole church. It's a multi-site, like 16, 17 campuses. And um they've never done anything like this before. And they were most excited about how it would bless their congregation because it was a lot of um new believers in their congregation. And the one of the pastors said to me after their first year of doing it, he said, We're gonna do it again. And he said, I was most excited for how it would bless our people. What I didn't expect was to walk into the office and the fact that we're all reading the same thing every day. I never walk into the office that I don't hear. Staff members encouraging each other with what they've read in the word that day.
SPEAKER_02Yes, yes, yes.
SPEAKER_04And just that community aspect, wherever it happens, in a home, in a church, in a small group, at a job site, yes, with your pickleball team, you know, like pickleball team, whatever, your pickleball crew. Um, however, it happens, being in the word with people changes things. And that's how scripture was originally received for the most part, you know?
SPEAKER_02Yes. Like it's read in this hearing of this congregation, like this letter to this church is like they had to be, that's so good. They had to be like that, it had to be the topic of conversation uh in Bessel and Ika for a while. Like, what this did you hear what he said? He said this, like, yeah, that's so good. For that to be the center of our and uh talk to me about the importance that you see of that across generations. Like you mentioned the kids, but from for generations to do that together, I mean, you see that playing out in uh through the Bible recap. Like, what what encourages you when you see that?
SPEAKER_04One of the cool things that happens when families read together, it you know, the kids doing the kids' version, often the family will like play the audio Bible reading, and then the kid will do the Bible recap for kids and the adults will do the Bible recap regular version. And um the parents will often say that things happen to them like what happened with you and Heather, where they will have totally missed something and their kid will point out.
SPEAKER_02Oh, that's so good.
SPEAKER_04Right? How encouraging do you think that is for the parent to be like, look what my kid just discovered in scripture? He's six.
SPEAKER_02Uh-huh. Yes. Yes.
SPEAKER_04Like I cannot wait to see that. I'm so excited for future generations because something is happening in the church right now. With Gen Z is starting to like really uh come back to church, more men than women. It what's happening? I don't know, but it's it's I'm so excited. I have so much hope for the church.
SPEAKER_02That's good. I uh I was talking actually earlier today about a uh uh uh it was it like 18 to 20 year olds uh group that I was speaking to, and it they were not like arms crossed, like sitting back, like, what do you got for me? It was like edge of their seat. At one point, like some were standing on their seat, like saying amen. Like it was like near my age, it was so good. But I I I there, yeah, there was a real hunger, and that's where you know, one other thing I think about is I'm listening to you say that about the six-year-old. Like, we really do need each other across generations. Like, uh, yes, uh younger generation needs spiritual mothers and spiritual fathers pouring into them, but we need the next generation, we need to see scriptures through the eyes of a six-year-old as well, and to learn from what God is doing in teenagers uh as they were walking to the word together.
SPEAKER_04Uh there's the wisdom of the aged and there's this zeal that I'm that the the the young people often have. And I think the church needs both of those. And the way Gen Z is like some of my friends are Gen Z, and they're the most evangelical people, like they just are evangelizing everywhere we go. And I'm like, I this is so inspiring and convicting.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and like, okay, wait a minute, I need to get on to join with you guys here. Yes. Right? You're showing this. It makes me before, you're setting an example for me.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's good. What what uh okay, for I say, I was about to say for anybody listening to this, I know there are many people listening to this, watching this, who I mean, we we could talk for hours just about the joy of being in the word, who are uh just don't feel that joy when they think about the Bible, um, feel intimidated, feel uh even discouraged that they don't have more desire. So what do you say to that person who's yeah, who's struggling to get in the word, struggling with motivation to get into God's word, and their experience of God's word is just not what we've been talking about?
SPEAKER_04Well, I would say I find that wildly relatable because that's how I felt for a year and a half of every day picking up my Bible and going, either I don't want to be here in this, or I'm here and I don't like him. And it was so I get it. I get it. I there I have no condemnation for that person. What I have for that person is an invitation. And it is exactly why I built the Bible recap was to help people read scripture with a new lens to understand it. I don't just want to help people read it. I want to help them understand it, and I want to help them love it. That's what we say. We want to help people read, understand, and love the Bible and the God who wrote it.
SPEAKER_03I love it.
SPEAKER_04And so everything is geared toward that. And every day we end with something we call the God shot, which is the snapshot of God and his character from that day. It's not an application point. If you come to scripture with like, what am I supposed to do? And you read it and you're like, okay, I need to be nicer to Heather this week. I need to be nicer to Heather this. That's what I'm taking away. Well, that's a that's not a God shot, that's a me shot, right? Uh a God shot would be God is kind to those who are rebellious, God is patient with those who who fail, like um seeing his character. Uh and so the difference would be if you read that I'm supposed to be nicer to Heather and you go away and you like are short with Heather, then you feel like a failure and you don't want to come back and read scripture the next day. It's this burden of if you read it with a lens to look for God and you go and you're unkind to Heather, and then you're like, okay, God is patient, God is kind to me. I can then then that kindness begins to show up in your character because you become what you behold. The Holy Spirit who has imparted that wisdom of God to you lives it out through you in your subsequent responses. And so then you start to have a a bit of a lift, a bit of a, oh, like repentance brings this delight and joy. Like I just had to I called and apologized to my physician's assistant that I was short with on the phone yesterday. Had to call her. I was like, hey, we're on the same team here. I don't like how I talk to you. Like I'm a I'm a believer, that is, I I follow Jesus, and that is not, he just really convicted me last night about like the shortness in my tone. And and it was a lift to my day. And so if a person is coming to scripture and they have that weight and they don't have that joy, I would say there's probably a good chance they're reading it with the lens that I always read it with. So I have a new lens that I would love, I would love to invite you to join me with the Bible recap. If it's not for you, that's fine. You might learn a few tools that are helpful for you. But I I think another thing that's important to remember is no matter what reading plan you use, you're probably going to do it imperfectly. And if you have set a standard of perfection for yourself, you're going to be really disappointed because you can't live up to that. And so I would just encourage that person to remember that every day that they're in God's word, they're right on time. There's no such thing as being behind when you're reading scripture.
SPEAKER_02That's good. That's a great word. Now, uh a lot of this has implied, I I don't want to miss anybody who doesn't know all about the Bible recap. Tell just where they can find the Bible recap, what the Bible recap is. Uh so yeah, why, what it's made for. Yeah, go for it.
SPEAKER_04Oh, yeah. Uh the Bible recap.com.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_04And it's uh a guide to help people read, understand, and love God's word. Basically, we we have a New Testament reading plan that's about three months. We have a whole Bible reading plan that's a year, but it might take you two years, three years, however long it takes, is how long it takes. And basically you go and read scripture, and that day's part of the chronological reading plan, about three-ish chapters, 12-ish minutes of reading. And then you come to the Bible recap either in book form or we have a podcast and a YouTube, and the podcast and the YouTube are free. And um I explain what you just read in about eight minutes, and I point to the character of God and the joy of the Lord. Um, every day we end with uh saying he's where the joy is. And that's that's sort of the the the to me, one of the things I really want to teach people about scripture is the fear of the Lord consists primarily of delight and awe. Like delight and awe. The way people feel about the Grand Canyon, you know, like uh just it it's beauty and um delight. And so I I feel like because my pastor walked me through scripture two years in a row and trained me how to read it, he imparted to me a gift that I now want to impart to anyone who struggles to read scripture, understand it, love it, like I have. Um, I want to impart that gift to everybody. And we found that it's just contagious. Um, so many people want to then have their have their husband do it, have their kids do it, have their church do it, have their and um we just launched uh the Bible recap Bible. Yeah, I was gonna ask you about that. Yes.
SPEAKER_03So tell me about that.
SPEAKER_04Two in one book. It's got the the daily chronological reading followed by the recap. The next day's chronological reading followed by the recap. You have four versions of that. So great. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So basically, the Bible with alongside it, this guide to understanding it as you read through it chronologically. Right. Yeah. Like that's what I meant. So I'm I'm I'm just gonna in just a second, I'm gonna ask you just one other thing you would share it. So I know that's not fair, but just one other thing. But that's what I meant when I was talking about Nehemiah 8. Like, for yeah, go read Nehemiah 8 as you're uh as we're talking about this. But this picture of God's word, everybody's like in awe, they're lifting their hands, they're bowing down with their faces to the ground just when the Bible's opened up, right? All they did was open the book and everybody went nuts. But then, uh, as it was being read for hours, uh, there were leaders who were there to help people understand the word, and it led to fear and joy. It led to fear and joy. Uh, and so I'm just so thankful for that. That's happening just daily through, and that's possible for us. I just think of all the different ways I pray God uses the conversation we've just had. Um, I I'm I pray for pastors to have confidence walking through the word, like uh uh Tim McDermott. Lee McDermott, sorry, uh did with you. Like, yeah, just don't underestimate as a pastor what walking through God's word with people will do in their hearts. Right. For those who are feel discouraged when it comes to Bible reading, like I'm talking to Terry Lee Cobble who does the Bible recap, and she's like, Yep, I was there. So uh just there's uh don't be discouraged, don't in that. Like there's uh whole journey and then everywhere in between. All right, so one parting thought you would give at the end of this whole conversation. One parting thought. Yeah, yeah, just anything. I don't want to even let's whatever the spirit leads you to encourage you.
SPEAKER_04Can I tell you what's been on my heart lately? Yeah, um I I need the gospel. I need the gospel, and here's what I mean. Um and we I we all need the gospel every day. And I think often the messages that I hear um from pulpits do great work of telling me how to live a good, godly life. And I need that. We need that, we need the law, but but but I don't want to forget that the law is not the gospel, that the gospel of Jesus Christ is that none of us can earn or maintain our own salvation through our works, that we are saved by works, but they are Christ's finished works, not our own, that we are saved by believing in him and his finished work. And I think I I see um a commingling of that in the church that scares me. I sat in a church a year ago where the pastor said, the gospel is that you should die to self and serve others. And I was like, that's not the gospel. That's a response to the gospel. That's not the gospel. The gospel is it is finished. And if I don't remember that it is finished, my flesh every day is gonna tell me to go finish it. Every day my flesh wants to tell me that I need to add something to my salvation. And Paul in Galatians, when the Galatians were wrestling with like, is this required for people to be true believers? And Paul said, You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by works. Severed, not adjacent to Christ, severed from Christ. And so any gospel that tells you you have to do something to earn or maintain your salvation, apart from belief in Jesus, is a false gospel. And I need the gospel.
SPEAKER_02Yes. And we all need the gospel. Yeah, that this is by grace through faith in Jesus alone. Now and forever. And and really to see that on the pages of on all the pages of scripture, to see it all pointing us to the gospel and God's sufficiency for our salvation, God's love for us, not based on our performance for Him, but based on Jesus' performance for us. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And I tr I bet there's somebody out there listening or watching right now who fears that they have um fallen from grace in a way that is irreparable. But when Paul used that term, fall fall from grace, you have fallen from grace, it's an accusation against those who are trying to attain their own righteousness. It's not a reference to those who've fallen into sin. It's a reference to those who've fallen into self-righteousness.
SPEAKER_02Oh, wow. That's that's really strong.
SPEAKER_04So if there's somebody out there listening that feels that they are beyond God's grasp, I assure you that is what the blood of Jesus is for. It reaches far enough for you.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Yes, receive that.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So good. Can I can I ask you to pray? I would love that. I would love, I would love for you to pray over everybody listening to watching this.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Father, I love that I get to call you father. Because of your son's finished work on the cross, I get to call you father. We are indwelt by your spirit, and we thank you for those gifts. We thank you for the gift of your word. I thank you for the zeal and passion of your servant David. I thank you for the ministries that he leads. I pray for his church. I pray for Heather. I pray for their children. I pray a breast, play a, pray a blessing over them. I pray a blessing over every person listening and watching right now. That something that we said in this conversation would embolden them to draw near to you, that they would come back to your word if they've been away from your word, and that they would have that zeal and the joy and the fear of Nehemiah 8, of the people who, when your word was read aloud, they received it with joy and delight and fear. And the right kind of fear. The fear that draws them toward you, not repels them from you. And Lord, I am so encouraged by this conversation because I can't count the number of scriptures that David has dropped in this conversation. And I am challenged all the more to infuse my conversation with your word. I'm challenged by his posture of referencing your word in conversation. Just um, it's so beautiful and so inspiring. And so I pray a blessing over him and his ministries and his church and his family, and I pray a blessing over everybody listening. Uh, be glorified, Father. We love you too.
SPEAKER_01Amen. Amen. Thanks so much for joining us today on Everyday Radical. We pray that this conversation stirred your heart and strengthened your faith. There's so much more ahead, so go back and catch any episodes you might have missed and subscribe so you don't miss what's ahead. Let's keep making handstone everywhere. Until next time.