Episode 16- Rooted in the Bible

Pastor Dan and Director of Outreach Extraordinaire Kellie Bibler talk about the Bible and how to dive into God's Word. 

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Hey everybody, welcome to another Sermon Prep Podcast. I'm Dan Metzgrim, the pastor at St. Mark's United Methodist Church here in Finley. And with me today is none other than our director of Outreach Extraordinaire, Kelly Bibler. Oh, hello. Extraordinaire. I like that. I added a little bit to your title. I appreciate that. I would like to Outreach Extraordinaire. I would like to keep that in the title from here on out. Okay, got it. Okay. I was trying to think of what that acronym if it spells anything. I don't know. It doesn't spell anything. Okay. We'll never get back. Great, great start today. We are starting a new series at St. Mark's. It's called Rooted. And uh, you know, this last this last few weeks we've been talking about ways that we can reach out in a broad way to the world through uh Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria to the ends of the earth, what that looks like for us. Now we're gonna be talking a little bit more about what it means to root ourselves deep. And the analogy that I'm gonna kind of use to start off, so this is your uh this is your teaser if you're listening to this before Sunday. The analogy I'm gonna use to start off is this idea of how if you think of a plant and how a plant roots itself, some plants do a really good job of creating a large root structure that holds them very firm. Other plants don't do quite as well. And so when a storm might come or uh or they're trying to uh be able to produce a lot of fruit or something like that. Uh if they don't have a strong root structure, they can sometimes get blown over. They can they're they're not as successful as they should be. You can't grow super tall without deep roots, you can only grow so big. And uh on the opposite side, some plants, like a carrot, for instance, or an onion, or pick your favorite root vegetable. I don't know, do you have a favorite root vegetable? I guess I've never thought about it. Potatoes, potatoes are potatoes, potatoes, yes. We'll go potatoes. Yeah. They uh you you've probably some of those you've never seen those get blown over in a storm because uh they spend so much of their energy on their root system that that there's not a whole lot above the surface. Um and as Christians, I think what we're supposed to do is we're supposed to have a little bit of the best of both worlds. We root ourselves deep so that we can spend a lot of energy reaching wide and and and spreading the the kingdom of God and spreading the gospel. So uh my question for you is when you think of yourself, I because I don't think I think it's very rare for us to be perfectly in balance with this, where we have just a perfect uh rootedness and and our and so our outreach is also perfect. I think a lot of times we tend to lean one way or the other. Uh when you think of your your own life, where do you where do you sometimes lean? Do you lean towards um rootedness or towards spending more of your energy spreading outward? Well, I would say at this point in my life, I am more rooted for a couple of reasons. First of all, I'm 4'11. So I I think I definitely identify with more roots on the ground as opposed to growing tall and fair falling. There's a physical aspect. Yeah, there's a physical aspect, but but second of all, I just feel like when I think about being rooted, I think about somebody that is fairly strong, can withstand things, can um what do I want to say, like is able to move from thing to thing and um just not really go with the flow, but you know what I mean? Like someone that's able to sort of just go in different ways and and support different people and different things. So I feel like at this point in my life, I'm definitely rooted. I don't feel like I was always that way. I feel like it took me a little bit of time to get here. Like I feel like when I was younger, I was probably more concerned with being taller and spreading out and you know, trying to go in different directions and do different things and be different things. But I think now that I've gotten older, I'm just I'm more rooted. I think it's different at different stages of life. Yeah. Um, I definitely have had periods of my life that I've been focusing, especially when I think of my Christian faith, uh, where I've focused more on rooting myself, on spiritual disciplines, on I'm gonna read scripture, I'm gonna pray, I'm gonna be very much kind of focusing on myself, on my own personal spiritual faith and and making sure I'm grounded in the faith. There's been times when I've done that, and then there's been other times where I felt like I'm um maybe neglecting that um for outreach and for kingdom impact, and I'm gonna go out and make fruit, and I I ain't got time to read the Bible, I ain't got time to pray, I got I got stuff to do. Right, yeah, and that's also not great. Um, because and it it it's both things are are good things, obviously. It's obviously good to root yourself, and it's obviously good to uh to to bear fruit. That's a part of what Jesus calls us to do, is to go out and bear fruit. But there's there's gotta be this give and take, it can't be all one or the other. I think we all know people who are exclusively one way or the other. Uh I know people that I've met my life who they know more about the Bible than I will ever know in my entire life. They know more about uh about this stuff than anyone, and I'm like, that's so cool, and I envy that to an extent. But then I can also sometimes look and be like, but is there fruit from it? Are you doing it? Like James, one of the passages of scripture we're gonna read on Sunday, is one where he tells us not to just be hearers but doers of the word, that we're supposed to take it out and do something with all of this. Um and then I also know people who are very much like I've got, you know, and I've been in these places in my life, I've got things I've got to go do, I've got projects and programs, and um and but you see that their sh their faith is very, very shallow. Yeah. And when something hard comes up against them, they sometimes will will tend to crumble. Um, and and so I think that our goal is to be uh both rooted and wide-reaching. So you've gotta you've gotta have a little bit of both. Well, I mean, if you take that analogy and you apply it to like food, like so nutritionists teach us that we need to have a balance plate. Like that's what helps us to eat, to eat well, right? So if you look at that same analogy with what you're saying, you can't have all avocado. Right. You need to have some avocado and you need to have some broccoli and you need to have some onions and you need to have some potatoes and some carrots. Like it all goes for a balance, balance plate. It doesn't mean at some point in time you're not gonna have more of one than the other. It's two in the afternoon when we are recording this. I have so far eaten a granola bar today. Sorry, I'm talking food. There's a lot of food talk. I was trying to talk about this. Yes, there's a lot of food. Now I'm hungry. So all the analogies may go back to food. I don't, I don't know. Pastor Dan's tummy may grumble. It's okay. If you hear that's the third guest on our podcast today, is uh my grumbling stomach. So um so this week we're we're gonna specifically one of the ways we're gonna talk. So we're gonna spend four weeks talking about how we root ourselves and what that means for us and what that looks like. Uh this week we're gonna start with scripture, which is I think a good place to start. Always a good place. Um and so uh I thought something very exciting to do on today's podcast would be to read a section of the United Methodist Book of Discipline. Yes. I know I was hoping that you would say that. Both of our listeners just turned it off, turned off the podcast, I think. Both of our listeners please come back. Yeah. Um but I just I I think that this is I think sometimes what people will ask a question like, do you go to a Bible-believing church? And I know what they mean to an extent. Um, usually what they mean is, do you think the way that I think? Um but um yeah, do we does the United Methodist Church take the Bible seriously? As this is just this is straight out of our book of discipline that we use to kind of govern the life of our church. It says United Methodists share with other Christians the conviction that Scripture is the primary source and criteria for Christian doctrine. Through Scripture, the living Christ meets us in the experience of redeeming grace. We are convinced that Jesus Christ is a living word of God in our midst, whom we trust in life and death. And then it says the Bible is the source of all that is necessary and sufficient for salvation and is to be received through the Holy Spirit as the true rule and guide for faith and practice. So a period. End of discussion. What all that means is we really like the Bible a lot. It is our it is our number one. Um it is uh and I'm gonna very briefly also this is this is really exciting stuff that I know everybody's everybody's gonna tune in for. This is stuff I get excited about. Um, but we're also gonna talk Sunday a little bit about the Wesleyan quadrilateral, which is I know your eyes just light up. Seriously? Yeah, I'm serious. Uh the Wesleyan quadrilateral, which is it's basically what do we use to inform our faith in our in our life. And so we say uh it's so it's four things quadrilateral. Uh and number one is scripture. It's scripture, tradition, reason, and experience. But scripture is the primary thing. It's like the it's it's the way that we come to understand our faith. And then we also understand that tradition and then our own human reason and our experiences in life also help to inform our faith, but our primary thing is scripture, and we take it very, very seriously. I mean, really, if you look at anything that you do in life, like you've got to have some sort of set of regulations or rules or standards or whatever you call it. Some way, some way that you order your life. Right. And they're we're no different as Christians. Right. And and so I think I think it's no mystery that Christians think the Bible is important and United Methodists are no different, and we hear at St. Mark's are no different. Uh, the Bible is a primary thing. If you've ever been to one of my Bible studies that I do on Wednesday nights, you know I geek out about this stuff. A thousand percent. I I love I love me some Bible and uh and I and some maps. Oh, I love maps. I do love maps in the Bible. I'm probably like one of the only kids that asked for a globe for Christmas one year when I was very young. I just I love maps. Um they tell us a lot. Um, but anyway, and you're laughing at me. But I do I'm laughing with you. Yeah. I I so all that to say, we really hold the Bible to the highest of esteem. And yes, uh, so to that end, is there are there any uh scriptures or uh whether it's a book of the Bible or just a passage of scripture that has been especially important in your life? So I have a couple, and I have one that's been like the study constant probably since I was in my 20s, and that's 1 Corinthians 4 through 8. So if you've been to a wedding, you've most likely heard this. It was part of our wedding, and it's just always been something that we've is a foundation of Rex and I as a couple, but it also I think just says everything that you need to know. And love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it's not proud, it does not shame others, it's not self-seeking, it's not easily angered, and it goes on and on and on. But I think really it it talks about like we can say that we love each other, but are we really how are we loving each other and what is love supposed to mean? Yeah. And I think that's one, and you know, obviously I do a lot of weddings. I've got one coming up in a couple of weeks, and that passage of scripture gets read a lot. And one of the things that I always say after I read it is, you know, all the stuff about love, and I say, and the two of you are gonna totally mess this up. Oh, yeah, you're gonna get it wrong so many times, and that's where grace comes in, right? So it tells us a lot about love, but I think it also teaches us a lot about grace. That's great. The the other one right now, um, and I kind of I think we're gonna talk a little bit about reading the Bible, but right now I'm sort of reading, talking about like being patient. Like that's kind of something I feel like I need in my life. So um, first uh Romans 12, 12 says, Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and be constant in prayer and praying. So I I think that just like that's all you need right there. And sometimes I just keep it simple. Yeah, I like that both of your scriptures talk about patience. There's probably a reason for that. Not gonna lie. Um I was thinking about this, uh uh a scripture that's been important to me ever since I was young is uh from 2 Timothy, it's 2 Timothy 1.7, and it says that God did not give us a spirit of timidity or a spirit of being timid, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. And I've just I've always appreciated that. I know that Timothy was a young man, and like so. When I was a young man, um I used to be young, and uh like though that was important to me. Like, don't be timid. Yeah, but he's given you a spirit, the the spirit gives you power, he helps you to love, and he gives you a sound mind. And like those are like I feel like if I can live into those three things through the help of the Holy Spirit, then I'm gonna be doing okay. So there's nothing I need to be timid about. I can I can be bold in my faith, I can be bold in what I do if I've got that power from the spirit, if I'm loving others well, and if I'm relying on the wisdom that God has given me and that the spirit gives me, and that I read about through the scriptures, those are that's really important to me. Yeah. Another one for me, and I've I've probably shared it on here before. I know I've shared it at church before, um, but there was a psalm that when I was uh that when I was growing up, um it's it's one of the first ones that I memorized. It was Psalm 13. And I won't do the whole thing, but it's it's not that long. It's like I think it's like six verses long. But it basically starts off with um, how long, oh Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? And I'll have to wrestle with my thoughts every day and have sorrow in my heart. Like if you've ever been in one of those really bad, dark, hard times, yeah. Like you you get those words, and David is saying those words, but then he ends the psalms, that psalm with, but I trust in your unfailing love, and my heart rejoices in your salvation, and I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me. And so it's kind of this it's when I realize that you could be real with God and you could say, God, I'm mad at you. Uh, I feel like you're not paying attention to me, I feel like you're letting me down. Yeah, I feel like my life is a mess. I think we've all been in those places before. And then even in the midst of that, like his stuff wasn't fixed when he wrote that last verse where he said, But I trust in your love, your unfailing love, and my heart rejoices in your salvation, and I'm gonna sing because you have been good to me. It's like being able to sing to God in the midst of your hardest things. Uh so all of that was very, very important to me and and has just kind of stuck with me. And I've been able to share that scripture with people who are going through really difficult things uh a lot of times. And so those have been ones that have been really important to me. So what does for you, what does Bible reading look like on a on a more regular basis? Is that something that I know a lot of us uh and me included, I'll just say that, struggle with like a devotional reading of the Bible or whatever, but like what's it look like for you? Are there different tools that you use? Yeah, so I that was on my vision board this year was to read the Bible. Uh-huh. So it's probably on your vision, like it's on somebody's vision board every year, right? So um I I've been through several different reincarnations of what this looks like for me because I started out like, let's just start with Genesis and let's read our way through the Bible, and that wasn't working for me. And so I've purchased several different books to help. So finally, what I settled on was it's topical for me, right? So, what is it that I really need to know about? A lot of times for me, it's patience. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. There's a lot, there's a lot about patience, but there's also just whatever it is topic that I feel like I need in my life or God's calling me, or um things that I've heard in the sermon, or things that you know that you are teaching us. Like I want to delve a little bit more into that subject and see what the Bible says about it. So a couple years ago for Christmas, I got a Bible that's more, I mean, it's still laid out like the Bible, but it's more topical, and there's a lot of extra, extra things in it. Um, not just about what the period of of time was and things happening in the Bible, but also like how that can relate to modern day. Yeah. And so that I I'm still a huge work in progress with this, but that's what I found worked for me. That's really good. Um, I yeah, I love those topical kinds of things. One thing that I've that I've recently discovered, and and again, don't turn the podcast off once I say this. Um, but one thing that I've recently discovered that I have found to be helpful sometimes as a tool to do topical Bible studies is Chat GPT. It you can yeah, you can go in and say uh to some AI bot or whatever and say, hey, I'm really struggling with a work decision or whatever it might be, whatever the topic might be for you. I'm struggling with grief right now, or I want to know more about faithfulness or something like that, and you can say, can you give me a seven-day reading plan about grief? And it will generate one. Now, I will I will say this um don't let that be the only source that you that you go to. Please feel free to ask your pastor um or somebody else, or you know, find find a different resource. But I've actually found that to sometimes be uh a helpful way to do some topical kind of stuff sometimes. I mean, it's definitely a way to get started. Oh, yeah. When you don't know, like it's there's so much out there it can be overwhelming. Yeah. And that's why I said like it took me a while to to land into what worked for me. No, I think that's really good. I I mean, a part of my struggle is that uh, and and I know this is probably a unique struggle uh that maybe not everybody listening um has a has a problem with, but like for me, the Bible is also my job. Right. And so like I have a specific passage of scripture that I'm gonna be studying every week, usually a few that I'm gonna be studying every week that I do for work, and it's which is great, and sometimes that just feeds right into my own personal life, and because a lot of my sermons are very, very much about um the kind of stuff going on in my life, it it very often will line up. Uh, but what I don't always do a great job of is also doing my own personal, just this is just for me over here kind of thing. It tends to sometimes be this is what I'm doing with everyone, uh, which is not bad. I mean, uh Wesley said there's no holiness but social holiness, and so I guess that there's there's some aspect to that, but but I also feel like you know, there's there's times where it's like, you know what, I just need to be reading this right now or or doing that, and this is just for me. But even when I do that, a lot of times it ends up getting snuck into a sermon because it's it's what impacts my life, and so I work it in there. So it's just finding that balance. I just just being honest, I I sometimes struggle uh with that. But um I would also say that one of the one of the benefits that we have in the 21st century is all of us have access to a Bible, uh, all of us have access to commentaries and other people's thoughts and podcasts and all these things, and those are all great tools, but I there's also just something about your own personal study of scripture that um that I think is so important for growing your relationship with Jesus, not just your knowledge about Jesus, but it's it's just that that conversation with Jesus, that ability to um because it's all about relationship. The point of Bible study is not to be able to pass a Bible quiz when you go to heaven, right? Right, it's it's to know about the love of Jesus. Well, we're all struggling, sure, right? And so it kind of helps us work work through that. Yeah. So all that say, I I hope that you find a way to uh to get into the scripture a little bit this week. It's what we're gonna be talking about on Sunday, but want you to uh we give you the Faith Five, we give you all sorts of tools. Um uh uh Mandy Stevens, our director of discipleship, always happy to give you some tools on how to read the Bible more. Um don't forget about the growth tab on the web. The growth tab on the website is there to help. It's got the Faith Five scriptures on it. Uh, there's lots of different ways that we'll put stuff out there. Uh, but I I just hope that you find a way to get in the scripture a little bit more, um, learn a little bit more, not just for your own head knowledge, but because it is it is the main way that Jesus reveals himself to us. And that's that's what it's all about, is getting to know Jesus. So I think that's it. All right. Great. Great. Well, thanks for being here, Kelly. Thanks for asking me to get it. Of course. And uh hope that you all have a great weekend, and thanks for being a part of another Sermon Prep podcast.