WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:01.280 What's up, everybody? 00:00:01.439 --> 00:00:02.799 This is Justin here. 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:04.959 We're doing another episode of Crash Course. 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:08.080 We do these because we want to equip you guys to be Christians. 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:11.599 Oftentimes you become a Christian and you're like, I don't even know how to be a Christian. 00:00:11.759 --> 00:00:12.800 What does spirit mean? 00:00:13.039 --> 00:00:17.920 What is I think that impression is pretty good. 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:18.879 Yeah, yeah. 00:00:19.120 --> 00:00:20.960 I think it's a little over the top, though. 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:22.160 It's not a I mean, of course. 00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:22.960 That's what impression is. 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:24.000 Yeah, it's a little over the top. 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:26.000 Because I don't think I'm I'm not that like. 00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:28.800 Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Crash Course. 00:00:28.879 --> 00:00:29.039 Welcome. 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:33.439 Yeah, you're not like intensely like that, but you're a little bit more self-aware. 00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:39.600 I mean, everyone's really a little bit more self-aware when they're being recorded, but you're a little bit more like radio voice. 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:40.320 Am I? 00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:40.880 A little bit. 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:41.039 Yeah. 00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:41.600 Dang it. 00:00:41.679 --> 00:00:42.320 Alright, I'll work on that. 00:00:42.399 --> 00:00:47.520 Hey, um, this is Madison that you're that was pretending to be to be me. 00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:51.200 Um, Madison, go ahead and tell everyone who you are, because this is your first time on a crash course. 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:51.679 I know. 00:00:51.759 --> 00:00:52.960 This is this is me. 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:54.399 This is who I am. 00:00:55.920 --> 00:00:56.880 I am Madison. 00:00:57.280 --> 00:00:58.640 I do the youth stuff here. 00:00:58.799 --> 00:01:01.280 Student stuff, fourth grade through twelfth grade. 00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:03.679 So fourth grade through twelfth grade here at his hands. 00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:04.079 Madison. 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:06.640 Uh I've known Madison since he was a sixth grader. 00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:07.040 Yes. 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:08.560 Because I was your youth pastor. 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:09.200 You were. 00:01:09.359 --> 00:01:11.920 And now the student has become the master. 00:01:12.079 --> 00:01:15.599 And every day at work, I'm I'm waiting for you to murder me when I turn around. 00:01:16.079 --> 00:01:16.480 Far from it. 00:01:16.719 --> 00:01:19.599 I won't murder you, and I haven't become a master of anything. 00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:23.200 So uh this is Madison's very first time on Crash Course. 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:27.120 He's the youngest person we've had on Crash Course, which means that if he doesn't do a good job, he'll never be on again. 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:29.280 So this is kind of like uh Or you just won't post it. 00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:30.159 Oh, that's a good point. 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:32.159 So if you're listening to this, it means he did well. 00:01:32.319 --> 00:01:33.200 Did something like that's true? 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:36.799 I don't even have to post these, like, whoo, that was really bad, but I gotta post it. 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:39.120 I mean it was it happened. 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:39.760 That's funny. 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:40.239 Okay. 00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:42.400 Um so I don't have to do the intro. 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:43.439 Madison did fine. 00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:49.920 Um, even though you made fun of something that's actually really important and serious that people feel like they don't know what I was making fun of you. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:50.799 I wasn't making fun of it. 00:01:50.959 --> 00:01:51.439 I'm fine, we're good. 00:01:51.519 --> 00:01:51.760 We're good. 00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:52.879 It's all good. 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:53.840 You know, it's cool. 00:01:54.079 --> 00:01:59.519 You know, make make fun making fun of your boss is a great way to get ahead in any organization, including the church. 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:06.319 Um the reason I I'm I want Madison on this episode, number one, is because you're awesome, but uh I want to talk a little bit about reading the Bible. 00:02:06.400 --> 00:02:06.719 Yes. 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:15.680 And I you've been a Christian for a long time, but it's really been the last few years that you have developed a real passion for the Bible. 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:17.520 Can you talk about like how that started? 00:02:17.759 --> 00:02:23.280 Yeah, so I like reading in general, so it's just like a natural thing for me to read. 00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:25.599 Um, but I was just feeling super convicted. 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:27.439 I was like, I don't know my stuff. 00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:29.360 And you actually gave me a test. 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:34.960 It was not like a formal test, but you said put these Bible characters in order that they appear in the Bible. 00:02:35.039 --> 00:02:36.960 And it was like chronologically where they lived. 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:45.120 Oh, I'm going and I look at that and I can easily do it. 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:46.240 I could probably do it now. 00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:49.039 Um, but I was just fundamentally unable to do it. 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:54.000 And I was like, well, dang, I I say I'm a Christian and I have no idea like what the Bible is. 00:02:54.159 --> 00:03:04.319 I I know the basics of like the concepts in the Bible, but I don't know the history, I don't know the characters, I don't know what order things happened in, so I was just like, I gotta read it. 00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:07.599 And well, you know, that and a lot of that has to do with me. 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:11.120 I mean, I was your youth pastor, so apparently I didn't do a good job. 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:18.240 No, I I I look back at when you were a student here, and um my focus back then, I should have put my phone on silent. 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:21.599 Whoops, super professional. 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:32.319 Um, my my focus when you were in the youth group was more like teaching you concepts from scripture, and I would use a lot of scripture, a lot of verses, but it was a lot of like let's talk about love, and then here's some stories connected to it. 00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:34.879 But I didn't just like, hey, let's walk through the Bible. 00:03:35.439 --> 00:03:43.280 Part of that's because I grew up in the church, and so I went to Sunday school as a kid, and I probably took it for granted how that wasn't the experience of everyone. 00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:46.879 So in my mind, it's like, well, clearly everyone knows who these people are. 00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:47.919 You're in church, whatever. 00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:48.879 Not the case. 00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:53.759 Um, you've really developed, I I would say, like, a true passion for studying the word. 00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:57.759 You've even turned me on to uh like there's a great podcast called Exploring My Strange Bible. 00:03:58.000 --> 00:03:58.719 Oh, yeah, that's a good one. 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:01.360 Subscribe if you are a podcast person, put that on. 00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:04.800 I've been listening to it a ton uh by Tim Mackey, and it's fantastic. 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:05.280 Yep. 00:04:05.439 --> 00:04:11.599 Um you you probably have have you you have dived as headfirst into scripture as anyone I've ever known. 00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:12.080 Yeah. 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:30.959 Um and so I wanted to talk just really quickly with you about what what reading the Bible has done for you and maybe some ways that when you first started you know diving into it, that that you were able to do that effectively without getting lost and going, this isn't working. 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:35.199 This I mean this isn't hitting because I think a lot of a lot of people who are Christians want to read the Bible, right? 00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:38.160 Or at least they want to know the Bible, but then it's like, where do I start? 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:39.439 I'm not getting anything out of this. 00:04:39.839 --> 00:04:40.000 Help. 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:50.240 Yeah, so I think the transition is like going from like I should know this to being really interested in it and actually like understanding that even the boring parts are crazy, crazy cool. 00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:56.000 And like the amount of like interesting things that are happening in the Bible is just astounding. 00:04:56.240 --> 00:05:01.839 But um, outside of it being interesting or cool, or you should do it, is the fact that it's alive. 00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:10.000 Like it is it is a breathing thing, it is not just this thing where it's like, oh, here's the history of the Jewish people and here's the history of the early Christians. 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:12.959 It's like this is something that personally connects to you. 00:05:13.279 --> 00:05:25.040 Example, I was reading the Bible and I was going through some stuff that I was keeping secret, and God literally just showed me a verse and was like, hey, you either follow what I'm saying or you turn from me. 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:35.680 And it was like, oh my goodness, like God is speaking directly to me, or a friend betrayed me, and I was reading the Psalms, and it was like, even when your friends betray you, I am still God, I am still here. 00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:45.519 And so it's like God uses those moments where you've set aside time to say, God, I want to know you better, to show that he knows you, yeah, apart from just being like, I am God, this is cool. 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:50.720 And you learn a lot of interesting, interesting things about God, but it also says like he knows you personally. 00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:51.279 Right. 00:05:51.519 --> 00:06:10.399 Yeah, no, the the whole living-breathing thing, the the idea behind that from a like from our perspective as Christians is that the Bible is inspired by it by God and that and that the Holy Spirit used the the people who wrote the Bible to give us what we would say like is God's revelation, like God's revealed plan, what he per what he prefers, what he loves. 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:17.360 And uh that doesn't mean the people who wrote the Bible fell into a trance and like woke up and they're just like is a pen next to oh wow, wow, I look, I will wrote all this stuff. 00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:21.199 Really specific motivations for writing the specific books of the Bible. 00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:43.680 And we see the author's personalities and all that, and so we get to see a lot of humanity in it, but I think just to what you talked about, the fact that a document, or honestly, a collection of documents written by different people in different parts of history and different parts of the world, yeah could could speak so directly to our lives today, yeah, and it not just be a few things here and there. 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:46.959 Yeah, and it's not just like, oh, cool, they understand the human experience. 00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:50.959 It's like, oh, this is directly speaking to my specific experience. 00:06:51.279 --> 00:06:57.519 It's not just like some universal abstract thing, it's like a very specific and personal experience is reading the Bible. 00:06:57.600 --> 00:07:00.800 So yeah, and and you know, there's some things that the Bible says that it will do for us. 00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:05.199 Um number one, I think it's important to understand that we don't worship the Bible. 00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:05.759 Right. 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:07.600 Like it's it's not it's a book. 00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:13.839 It's a book, but it's a book that was, in our, in our opinion, it's a book that was given to us by God. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:17.439 Um, you know, and there's another episode in the podcast that really deals with what is the Bible. 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:17.680 Right. 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:19.040 Um so we don't have to get into that. 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:25.120 But as far as reading the Bible goes, uh, you know, not only will God use it to speak into specific situations you're in. 00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:30.319 I've had that same experience, by the way, where I'm in a tough spot and I just happen to be reading something and I'm like, oh my gosh, what are the odds? 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:33.360 It makes it obvious what you're supposed to do. 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:36.079 But but it's also something that's given me wisdom that I would not have. 00:07:36.240 --> 00:07:36.639 Oh yeah. 00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:40.800 You know, I am I am not I don't think I'm a naturally wise person. 00:07:40.959 --> 00:07:43.920 Um I don't know if that's even a thing, like you're just naturally wise. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:49.759 I think some people maybe are more introspective, so maybe that helps, but but the Bible for me gives me filters. 00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:53.120 When I read scripture, it give it I gain filters. 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:59.120 There's a there's a verse in Ephesians that talks about being mature as believers, and a big part of maturity is knowing the word. 00:07:59.360 --> 00:08:06.319 Yeah, you know, the Bible, David or David wrote in the Psalms, I will hide your word in my heart so that I might not sin against you. 00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:11.360 In other words, I need to know it so I can recognize when something in my life isn't right. 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:28.240 And uh in that verse I'm talking about in Ephesians, Ephesians chapter four, basically says we're gonna we're gonna press on to be mature, and it and it says that when we are mature, we'll be able to recognize the lies in our world, even the ones that are so clever, they sound like the truth. 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:35.360 Yeah, and that is like everything we see in our culture are lies so cra so well crafted that they sound good. 00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:37.759 And scripture helps you see right through that stuff. 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:38.720 It really does. 00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:45.840 Now, okay, so you started reading the Bible about two years ago pretty intensely. 00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:52.159 A lot of people begin that process, and two weeks in, three weeks in, it it just they they can't stick with it. 00:08:52.399 --> 00:08:57.039 What what helped you kind of power through that initial, like it's like going to the gym, right? 00:08:57.120 --> 00:08:58.320 Like, I want to work out, I want to get in shape. 00:08:58.480 --> 00:09:00.399 Two weeks later, maybe I don't want to as much. 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:02.559 How did you how did you deal with that? 00:09:02.720 --> 00:09:10.159 So 2017 was the first time I read through the entire Bible in a year, and I read it pretty chronologically using the Read Scripture app. 00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:19.200 So that's the app that's put out by the Bible Project, embedded in the app is like here's two chapters you need to read and a video about this entire book. 00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:30.799 So establishing that context before I jumped into it was like super helpful because there are some books of the Bible where it's like, why is it labeled numbers instead of the wilderness? 00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:40.320 Like those things, it's like this is super boring when you think about it like conceptually, but when you dive into what's happening to the people in those books, you're like, oh wow, this is actually crazy interesting. 00:09:40.639 --> 00:09:46.240 Yeah, the Bible project, if you're not familiar, we by the way, if you have the His Hands Church app, if you don't download it, it's free. 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:49.279 Um we have a link to the Bible Project's uh app. 00:09:49.440 --> 00:09:51.919 It's called their app is called Read Scripture, like you just said. 00:09:52.080 --> 00:09:58.559 We also have a link to uh in the learn section on our app to all their videos that they've done. 00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:07.440 They create these unbelievably well, well-made, well-produced, like interesting, visually interesting, really cool videos that that do a variety of things. 00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:08.799 They have videos for every book of the Bible. 00:10:08.879 --> 00:10:13.840 In fact, some books of the Bible they have multiple videos that are just constantly giving you the context, the lead up. 00:10:14.159 --> 00:10:20.000 That's like the framing of like understand what you're about to read and the entire story of what you're about to read before you read it. 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:20.399 Right. 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:24.080 So you can sort of get yourself into the mindset of the people who were the first people to read it. 00:10:24.799 --> 00:10:31.759 More often than not, the people that are reading the Bible aren't familiar with ancient Hebrew literature ancient literature in general. 00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:32.639 Like no one's reading. 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:33.519 Absolutely. 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:41.759 And when, you know, when Paul and many of the other New Testament authors would write, they kind of assumed the people they were talking to was like, you know, this stuff. 00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:47.200 So we sometimes don't, and there's a lot of stuff that that is, you know, so it helps with that. 00:10:47.360 --> 00:10:47.679 Yep. 00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:53.919 Um it's it's a daily the the Read Scripture app itself is a daily reading uh plan, basically. 00:10:54.159 --> 00:10:57.519 It gives you the it and all within the app, you can read the scripture every day. 00:10:57.600 --> 00:10:59.600 You read it all every day, you'll read the whole thing in a year. 00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:09.200 And then, like Madison said, they're gonna give you those videos that are just kind of kind of constantly grabbing your attention again and going, hey, if you feel lost, this is what this is. 00:11:09.519 --> 00:11:12.000 And it also reframes the themes of the books. 00:11:12.159 --> 00:11:17.440 So there's like in Leviticus, it's talking about uh it gives a video on the law specifically. 00:11:17.519 --> 00:11:26.639 So you're getting an an idea of how this book would be used practically and how God is using this but this book to illustrate something specific. 00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:28.879 Um but it's it's really good, really good resource. 00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:29.279 Cool. 00:11:29.440 --> 00:11:34.000 So your advice to someone who's just starting to read the Bible would be Is do it. 00:11:34.240 --> 00:11:35.600 Use the Read Scripture app. 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:36.960 Um, yeah, do it. 00:11:37.039 --> 00:11:39.519 I I tell the high school students, read your dang Bible. 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:40.799 That's like the thing. 00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:41.840 They're asking me something. 00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:44.240 I'm like, read your dang Bible, like see what God says. 00:11:44.399 --> 00:11:47.120 Um, and then feel feel the freedom to skim. 00:11:47.279 --> 00:11:59.919 Like, honestly, there are some sections of the Bible where it's listing an entire uh generational names and all of this stuff where it's like it's interesting and necessary to pro to prove like the validity of the Bible. 00:12:00.320 --> 00:12:01.200 It's been there for a reason. 00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:02.080 Absolutely. 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:05.840 But the reason wasn't like this is meant for your daily right. 00:12:06.080 --> 00:12:06.879 Yeah, that's a good point. 00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:14.720 And part of reading the Bible is understanding the purpose of those books, which again, you know, the Bible project does a great job remembering, but like because we have books like numbers, right? 00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:19.519 We actually have the ability to like check the historical accuracy. 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:20.240 Yeah. 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:22.720 And it's like God knew, it's almost like he knew what he was doing. 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:29.279 It's like God knew that 2,000 years later, 3,000 years after some of this stuff was written, that there would be a lot of people criticizing the Bible. 00:12:29.360 --> 00:12:41.120 There'd be a lot of people trying to say that it's not valid, it's it's you know, it's not reliable, and yet, oh, okay, well, then here's all this stuff included that makes it built into the text itself that proves that it's a valid resource. 00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:47.360 And it and it it is is it's there's no question that the Bible is the most reliable. 00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:50.480 I mean we we would say as Christians, like it is truth. 00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:50.879 Yeah. 00:12:51.200 --> 00:12:53.600 But even if you're someone who's who's a skeptic and you're like, I don't believe it. 00:12:53.759 --> 00:13:07.120 Well, okay, there's no ancient document in the history of the world that is as reliable and has been um checked out and and like verified with extra resource, like we would call it extra biblical, which just means things discovered outside of the Bible. 00:13:07.279 --> 00:13:08.399 I mean it's it's it's legit. 00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:09.360 So read it. 00:13:09.440 --> 00:13:12.000 Um find you said the Read Scripture app. 00:13:12.159 --> 00:13:12.720 Find a tool. 00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:14.480 I would say it doesn't have to right. 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:17.200 That was that by the way, we link to it for a reason. 00:13:17.919 --> 00:13:21.279 But find a tool that's gonna help you make sense. 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:30.879 And that tool might be a person, that might be someone in your life that you value their experience and their wisdom and saying, like, hey, I was reading this and it didn't make sense at all. 00:13:31.039 --> 00:13:31.360 Yeah. 00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:35.120 Having them clarify if they know what's going on there. 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:36.639 Yeah, and having someone that's a resource. 00:13:36.799 --> 00:13:37.840 Yeah, that's something you and I have done. 00:13:38.159 --> 00:13:39.279 And that's something I do, by the way. 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:40.159 Like, I'm a pastor. 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:44.240 I have books that are like commentaries, and there's times where I read something and I go, oh man, I don't know what this. 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:46.320 So I've got some trusted resources myself. 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:55.840 Uh the beautiful thing about where we live in history is we've had like a couple thousand years of people who have been going through the same questioning process, and the amount of information out there, it's it's unheard of. 00:13:55.919 --> 00:13:56.639 It's it's amazing. 00:13:56.799 --> 00:13:58.159 So um, you know, read it. 00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:00.559 I think a daily reading plan is a great way to start. 00:14:00.720 --> 00:14:06.159 Um, and find a resource that helps you engage with it, that makes it interesting, find some people to talk about it with. 00:14:06.320 --> 00:14:06.799 Yeah. 00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:12.240 And if you're here at his hands or any church, um you shouldn't have a hard time finding those people. 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:15.759 Join a join a home group, join a small group, a Bible study, get involved. 00:14:15.919 --> 00:14:16.480 Yeah, cool. 00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:16.799 Cool. 00:14:17.039 --> 00:14:18.320 All right, so read your dang Bible. 00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:20.559 That's the uh read your dang Bible. 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:20.960 Awesome. 00:14:21.039 --> 00:14:22.240 Thanks, Madison, for being here. 00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:25.039 Uh, thank you guys for listening, and we'll catch you all soon.