WEBVTT - Did You Know There's A Better Way To Read Your Bible? | David Platt 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:02.080 Yeah, it's just like taking me back. I think that 0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:05.320 was probably one of my first exposures to like reform theology. 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:10.280 So anyway, well, I know that you're you've got so 0:00:10.440 --> 0:00:13.399 much going on and you're literally going to speak at 0:00:13.400 --> 0:00:17.319 this conference at some point, and you somehow made time 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:19.600 to come back in here to the hotel room and 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:22.400 and do this podcast. So thank you, man, bro. 0:00:22.760 --> 0:00:26.920 Yes, thank you man, thank you for yeah making a slot. 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:32.519 Yeah, so I have a question for you. Yeah, how 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:33.880 could I hear God's voice? 0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:36.519 Oh? Wow? 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:39.120 All right, we're diving in, We're getting right into it. 0:00:40.400 --> 0:00:45.239 Yes, that's the beauty of the Bible, like we we 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:49.320 have like I got to wake up this morning and 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:54.880 open a book and know that I'm hearing the voice 0:00:54.880 --> 0:00:58.480 of God. That how amazing. And I don't have to 0:00:58.600 --> 0:01:05.760 like I look for some mystical sense like yes, I 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:08.080 want to be really careful even in saying that, because 0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:14.880 it's it's a spiritual, spirit led activity opening the Bible 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:18.399 in a saw one nineteen kind of way open my 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:22.160 eyes that I may see wonderful things happen and wonderful 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:26.399 things in your law. So it's it's definitely it's spiritual, 0:01:26.440 --> 0:01:30.240 but it is objective truth on a page. Every word 0:01:30.280 --> 0:01:36.280 I'm reading here is inspired by God himself to draw 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:40.200 me closer to him. Like that's so I don't I 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:42.640 don't I get to do that every morning and all 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:45.600 day long, anytime I want hear the voice of God 0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:50.760 and in a relationship with God. That's not just a 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:53.200 mechanical thing. I'm reading words on a page, but this 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:57.320 is That's why in this book I try to like 0:01:58.560 --> 0:02:02.600 put reading the Bible in the context of love relationship, 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:09.480 like this is intimacy with God through his word. So anyway, 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:13.239 that's the privilege any one of us has who has 0:02:13.360 --> 0:02:17.080 the word of God, that is to say, in our language. 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:21.600 So yeah, everybody, every single person watching listen to this 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:24.640 right now? Can hear the voice of God by opening 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:27.120 up that book and saying, God speak to me. 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:30.000 Why is that such a revolutionary idea? I mean, why 0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:32.880 why can you answer that quickly? When I say how 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:34.440 do you hear the voice of God? I mean that 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:39.600 sounds like a huge, crazy question. That's that's unanswerable. And 0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:41.520 why could how could you sit there and just quickly 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:43.040 go oh with the Bible? 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:47.720 Yeah, yeah, well, I mean that's the it's the beauty 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:50.200 of the Bible. I mean, it's unlike any other book 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:53.760 in the world. And uh, and we could talk about 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:57.240 all the reasons why we know this is not just 0:02:57.320 --> 0:02:59.360 I mean, how do we know. I mean, there's tons 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:02.360 of religious rights in the world, right, so how do 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:05.400 you know this is God's word? And I mean my 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:11.560 short answer to that would be the Bible testifies itself 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:17.000 to its supernatural authenticity. Like forty plus human authors, written 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:22.320 over the course of centuries, in different language, from different perspectives, 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:29.280 all telling one consistent story, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:34.960 and nobody nothing in the whole book contradicting that story. 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:37.120 I mean, if I were to put forty people together 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:41.840 friends of mine, to say, give me a story about 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:45.880 how we got here, what's wrong in the world, how 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:48.520 it can be made right, those people couldn't all agree 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:50.720 on that. And they're all speaking the same language at 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:53.720 the same time. In history, like all the pictures of 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:59.520 Prophecy fulfilled the historical verifiability of the Bible, the fact 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:03.400 that the more researchers dive into the details, like the 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:06.360 facts the history. This isn't just like thoughts put down 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:11.760 on paper about the world. It's it's history with facts 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:14.840 that you can determine see are they true or not? 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:18.400 And the more you dive into you see they're all true. 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:20.919 Like so you put all that together, you realize, Okay, 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:23.320 this is a supernatural book. So I got off on 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:25.120 a little bit of a tangent there, But I mean, 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:28.440 I think it's important. I don't want to just like, yeah, 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:31.159 I don't. I don't want to bank my life on 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:35.120 just what some person said, Like, I want to know 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:38.440 this is actually the word of God. But that that's 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:43.880 where I do think now, especially for followers of Jesus. 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:47.080 But this is where even I should say, for not 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:50.120 those who are not followers of Jesus. It is the 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:53.720 most like published read book in the history of the world. 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:55.800 So I think it's that we're at least worth diving 0:04:55.839 --> 0:04:58.360 into and read one time, just to see what it's 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:04.400 all about and why so many people have embraced this book. 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:07.719 And for those who do believe the Bible is the 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:11.520 word of God to realize. So second tivity three would 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:15.719 be what is driving my thoughts here? All scripture God 0:05:15.800 --> 0:05:19.800 breathes useful for teaching, correct and rebuking, training and righteousness, 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:22.440 so that the person of God, so that we might 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:25.480 be fully equipped for every good work God has for us, 0:05:25.880 --> 0:05:29.960 Like this book is unlike any other book. There's so 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:32.000 many good things we could read. I mean, I just 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:34.080 wrote a book on how to read the Bible. So 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:36.120 there's all kinds of books we could read, but there's 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:40.840 only one that is supernaturally inspired by God to help 0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:43.920 us know Him, know who he is, know who we are, 0:05:44.360 --> 0:05:48.960 and how to experience life in this world. And so man, 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:54.000 that's infinitely more important than that hours of things that 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:56.720 we might scroll through on our phones today. And so 0:05:56.800 --> 0:06:00.120 why I think that comes back to your question, why 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:02.880 do we not just like soaking this thing all the time? 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:06.480 And I think that's that's what I want to say, Yeah, 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:07.320 this thing. 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:10.240 Amen, Amen, And I want to I want to get 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:11.960 to that, and I want to I want to comment 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:16.400 briefly on contradictions in the Bible. You went quickly, you know, 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:19.880 how could these forty different authors not contradict each other? 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:23.040 But what you're not saying is you're not saying they 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:28.240 all wrote the same story because in co authorship, which 0:06:28.360 --> 0:06:31.280 which once again is something the Bible testifies of itself, 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:36.560 human authors under divine inspiration leaves room for the human 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:40.920 authors to give their version of what they're seeing. So 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:42.960 that that's why it would not be a contradiction to 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:46.880 have four different gospels that some have sometimes have a 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:50.440 story with a nuance in it because of the human authorship. 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:53.360 So you're not saying, and no one is saying that 0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:56.560 the Bible is everyone is writing the exact same thing 0:06:56.640 --> 0:06:58.240 like mechanical robots. 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:01.240 Yes, that's that's so good. I'm so glad you point 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:03.719 that out. I just did like an intensive teaching like 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:06.040 one night, like six hours through Matthew and that was 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:09.200 one of the which is one of the four Gospels 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:11.760 accounts of Jesus life and death and resurrection. And yeah, 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:14.400 that was It was so good to see because he 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:18.400 he arranges things even in a particular order, and he's 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:22.520 communicating to a particular audience, and everything that he writes 0:07:22.600 --> 0:07:25.080 is true, and at the same time, he arranges it 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:27.760 different than than Mark or Luke or John. Like Mark's 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:30.560 writing to a predominantly Gentile audience, Matthew is writing to 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:34.200 a predominantly Jewish audience. So Matthew does all this background 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:37.520 with a lot of Jewish history that Mark doesn't do 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:41.240 as much. And and so that's that's the beauty though, 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:44.040 is how and then you you kind of expand that 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:46.480 out to all these people in the Old Testament, Like 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:50.320 I'm reading Isaiah this morning, and like where I'm at 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:54.400 in Isaiah right now, it's talking about promises Isaiah chapter 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:58.040 nine of Jesus to come. Now, Isaiah had no idea 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:01.360 the full grasp of what Matthew would have realized. But 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:07.000 they don't contraed it like they totally align with each other. 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:11.920 But it's prophecy seven centuries before words that God was 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:17.120 speaking through Isaiah that came about in Matthew's day that 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:19.160 he's now writing about, and he's able to point back 0:08:19.200 --> 0:08:21.680 to what he said is right here. And it's not 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:24.600 like he organized the events of jesus life to make 0:08:24.640 --> 0:08:27.800 it fit it, just as showing this is what Isaiah 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:28.440 was talking about. 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:32.360 Incredible. So what the book you referenced earlier, It's called 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:36.679 How to Read the Bible, and this is actually this 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:41.960 is a fantastic book for all reading levels. Really, I mean, 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:45.840 you could be a seminary scholar, you could be a 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:50.079 brand new believer. This book is under one hundred pages. 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:51.440 It is. 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:59.200 Super easy to read, yet yet theologically rich. And I 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:03.040 know you did that on purpose, But I have found 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:06.440 so many things helpful. This is you kind of mentioned 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:10.240 this a little bit earlier. But when thinking about should 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:13.960 we read our Bibles every day? Like should I engage 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:16.600 with my Bible every day? I don't know. I mean, 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:18.640 right off the top of my head. I think I'm 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:21.880 just really busy. I don't know if I could actually 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:24.600 look at something like that and think about it every day. 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:27.840 I could do it on Sundays. Sure. But you say 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:32.240 something interesting, you say, we can hardly fathom this picture 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:34.959 amid everything going on in our lives today. We can't 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:37.480 imagine from the moment we rise to the moment we 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:40.040 go to bed, and in moments throughout the day spending 0:09:40.080 --> 0:09:44.160 so much time looking at well, wait a minute, we 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:47.520 can imagine this, can't we? Is this not what we 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:50.640 do with our phones? That's what we do with our 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:51.360 cell phones? 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:58.760 Yes, bro, and you we fill our mind with so much. 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:04.120 And that's one of the things. I can't remember what 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:07.080 all I talked about. You mentioned it being short, because yes, 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:09.640 I did that really intentionally. I wanted to make accessible. 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:11.880 I remember when I showed it to my wife, I 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:13.880 was like, man, it's just not as much I had 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:15.760 so much more I wanted to say. She was like, 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:18.480 I love books this side, thank you for a book 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:22.400 this side. I want books the size. So but I 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:27.560 don't think we should be surprised that many, even professing Christians, 0:10:27.600 --> 0:10:31.480 don't have like hunger to be in God's word because 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:35.720 our stomachs are so full on the stuff, the drivel 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:40.760 that we take in all day long. I use an 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:44.120 illustration oftentimes, and again I can't remember exactly if it's 0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:46.760 in the book, but when when my wife and I 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:49.280 were first dating. I grew up in a family where 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:52.440 we my dad didn't like seafood, so we never eat seafood. 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:56.680 So but my first time I went over to Heather's 0:10:56.679 --> 0:10:59.600 house for dinner, her family is making seafood and its 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:02.160 smell like horrible, Like I just hated seafood because my 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:04.959 dad did, and so but I faked it and I 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:07.360 and just just like, oh, this is amazing, thank you 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:09.559 so much for this meal. The problem is they bought it, 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:11.679 and so then they were like, oh, next time I 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:13.520 came over, They're like, ah, David's coming over, We're gonna 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:17.120 have seafood. He loves seafood. So I started every time 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:19.600 i'd go on vacation with our family. They were like, Hey, 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:22.480 let's go to the best seafood restaurants. Like, oh, that's awesome. Well, 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:24.319 the end of that story is like, now I love 0:11:24.360 --> 0:11:27.640 seafood today because I had to love it to get 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:31.080 a wife. But the whole picture is my taste budgs changed. 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:34.160 That's the point. My taste budgs changed. And if we're 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:37.640 just drinking in like literally hours of DRIVELL on our 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:39.800 phones all day, then of course our taste buds are 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:42.160 going to be for that. But once we taste something 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:45.200 that is and I don't mean this to sound dramatic 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:47.640 or overstated, but I don't think I can overstated it, 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:52.480 it's infinitely better. It is infinitely better. Then our taste 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:56.640 buds will change and we'll realize we make time for 0:11:56.720 --> 0:12:01.520 what's valuable, what we love, what's important, and we need 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:05.200 new taste buds so that we value the importance and 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:07.520 we love God's word. 0:12:07.880 --> 0:12:11.319 Now, anyone could understand that argument. An atheists could understand 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:13.439 what you're saying. And if they're thinking about changing their 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:16.600 diet and they think, man, I've even eaten fast food 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:18.800 for so long, I've been eating candy for so long, 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:20.760 and then you get off of it and you start 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:24.720 eating steak and potatoes and you have an apple in 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:28.240 the apple now tastes sweeter than any candy bar did 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:31.880 because your tasteboats have adapted to what real food is. 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:34.719 And what you're saying is we have gotten so used 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:40.920 to appetizers. Devotionals are appetizers, by the way, Yeah, which 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:41.760 is great thing. 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:45.320 There are imitation. I mean it's like my kids when 0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:47.480 especially my younger kids, some of our older kids are 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:49.520 trying to figure it out now. But when we're like, Okay, 0:12:49.520 --> 0:12:51.199 it's your birthday, you can go anywhere you want to eat, 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:54.800 and they're like, oh, McDonald's, and it's like really, like 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:57.319 I would take you anywhere. Yeah, they want like a 0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:03.160 processed patty. It's like that it's because they don't know 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:08.199 there's something better. And so yes, I think even devotionals 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:10.839 or and it's not that they're all bad, but it 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:14.640 is are are we missing out? Like on the wonder 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:18.360 like Saw one nineteen verse one sixty two, I rejoice 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:22.040 at your word, like one who finds great spoil like treasure. 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:24.679 Now you don't get the treasure, but I just kind 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:27.920 of dipping into a little bit of the ground like 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:31.079 you dig some like you spend some time and there's 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:36.160 something there that is so valuable that is worth the 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:37.480 time to get there. 0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:38.440 And uh. 0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:40.559 And so that's that's the question, Like are we willing 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:43.640 to take the time again for our good not because 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:45.199 we have to, not because we got to check off 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:48.600 a box because we're supposed to, but because we want life. 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:54.280 This word is designed for our life and uh. And 0:13:54.520 --> 0:13:57.199 it's a picture of His love for us, and it's 0:13:57.200 --> 0:14:00.079 how we grow. And I love relationship with God. I 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:02.720 think that one of the challenges greature is I think 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:05.360 many Christians whin even when they try to read the Bible, 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:08.480 they still are They're like, Okay, I'm not getting it, 0:14:08.480 --> 0:14:11.880 Like I don't. I'm not experiencing treasure like you're talking about. 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:13.720 So that's art of why I wanted to write this book, 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:16.080 is just a simple practical way to say, Hey, here's 0:14:16.080 --> 0:14:18.959 a way that I hope would be helpful for you 0:14:19.000 --> 0:14:21.200 to experience that treasure on a daily basis. 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:23.640 Yeah. Amen, And there are a lot of people listening 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:27.440 right now that that think. Amen, Brothers, I read my 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:30.560 Bible every day, and I've talked to these guys and 0:14:30.560 --> 0:14:33.080 and I say, They say, I read my Bible every day, 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:36.320 but but nothing really changes. And I say, can I 0:14:36.360 --> 0:14:40.960 ask you how you're reading it? And they'll say, uh, 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:42.920 it's it's I read it on my phone. Can you 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:44.600 show me? Can you show me what? And they'll pull 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:48.400 up a Bible app and it's a it's a suggested verse. 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:52.920 I said, brother, that's that's not reading your Bible. And 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:56.320 you have now written a book to answer that exact question. 0:14:56.520 --> 0:15:01.000 This is I know, this is true, that this reading 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:08.040 your Bible is the most foundational, fundamental spiritual discipline that 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:13.120 without it, no other spiritual discipline works. They all crumble 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:16.800 if you're not engaged with reading your Bible. 0:15:18.000 --> 0:15:22.120 Yes, yes, one hundred percent. And in fact, I would say, yeah, 0:15:22.680 --> 0:15:26.400 we cannot experience, we can't experience like faith in God 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:29.800 apart from the us, Like this is, faith comes by hearing, 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:33.480 hearing by the Word of Christ Romans ten. Like this is, 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:36.920 I mean, I love being in creation. I love seeing 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:39.320 the glory of God in creation. This part of what 0:15:39.320 --> 0:15:42.360 I love about Psalm nineteen is the picture we have 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:45.600 of God the heavens revealing the glory of God. I mean, 0:15:46.080 --> 0:15:48.640 I think just trekking through the mountains and seeing the 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:52.000 glory of God, the grandeur in a sunset or a sunrise. Yes, 0:15:52.480 --> 0:15:55.320 all of that, but then Psalm nineteen says even more 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:58.360 than that is what you see about God on the 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:02.080 pages of this book, Like it's more grander and wonder 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:05.360 and majesty than even what the Grand Canyon can show 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:07.920 you or anything else in creation. Like, that's what we 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:11.520 have here two experience. And that's why part of what 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:14.680 I try to emphasize in this book is even more 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:17.360 than like commands to read the Bible that we see 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:21.400 in scripture, it's meditate, like it's really let it soak in, 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:25.240 like linger with it. So instead of kind of going 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:27.240 back to what we were talking about earlier, instead of 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:31.720 like a fast food restaurant view Bible reading like fine dining, 0:16:32.240 --> 0:16:36.160 like this is a meal to be savored and enjoyed, 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:38.200 not just to get your quick verse for the day, 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:43.400 because that's that's not gonna it's not gonna satisfy your 0:16:43.480 --> 0:16:46.200 soul the way your soul is designed to be satisfied. 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:48.640 So let's go over you mentioned meditate. Let's go over 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:50.160 some of the things that you're that you laid out 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:52.800 in this book, because like you said earlier. If we 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:56.240 are to believe that the Bible testifies to itself that 0:16:56.320 --> 0:16:59.160 all scriptures breed that by God improfitable for teaching or 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:02.680 proof and correction, for training and righteousness, that the man 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:06.200 or woman of God may be complete, equipped for every 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:08.320 good work. If that's what we believe, and that's what 0:17:08.359 --> 0:17:11.119 it says, then why in the world would we not 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:15.679 be in it every single day? Right? That is that 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:20.040 is the most practical reasonable statement I could possibly make. 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:24.280 That that is the question, Like well, and it just shows, 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:27.800 I mean, this is our our sinful nature. We're prone 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:30.920 to do that which is not good for us. And 0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:33.960 so this is I mean, when you just mentioned second 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:37.520 Timothy three sixteen seventy like to be complete? Who doesn't 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:41.040 want to be fulfilled? Who doesn't want to be complete? 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:44.640 To experience life to the full? And obviously I want 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:47.520 to be really careful not to say that means everything 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:50.120 is going perfect in this fallen world, Like that's that's 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:51.119 not a reality in it. 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:53.960 That word doesn't mean flawless. It means mature. 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:59.359 Yes, right, who doesn't want that? Like we certainly we 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:02.520 want that. This is where it's where I even go 0:18:02.600 --> 0:18:05.440 back to old one of my favorite CS. Lewis quotes like, 0:18:05.480 --> 0:18:08.240 we're half hearted creatures, fulling about drink and sex and 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:12.359 ambition when infinite joy has offered us, Like ignorant children 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:14.879 who go on making mud pies in Islam because they 0:18:14.880 --> 0:18:17.280 cannot imagine what's meant by the offer of a holiday 0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:21.120 at the sea. We're far too easily pleased. So when 0:18:21.200 --> 0:18:23.879 we just scroll through stuff on our phones and we 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:27.240 ignore the Bible, it's not because our desires are too strong. 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:29.479 It's because our desires are too weak. It takes so 0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:33.080 little to satisfy us like we there's so much more 0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:37.600 that God is offering us, holding out for us for 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:41.800 our good again, completion, knowledge of God, relationship with God, 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:45.200 life to the full, the way that God has designed 0:18:45.240 --> 0:18:50.320 us to experience life like this book is guaranteed, guaranteed 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:54.280 to bring us those things if we'll walk through it, 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:56.800 if we'll read it correctly, meditate on it, walk through 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:58.920 these the kind of things that I talked about in 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:02.360 this week. If we'll do that, it's guaranteed to lead 0:19:02.440 --> 0:19:05.359 us to that. So, yes, for the joy set before us, 0:19:05.440 --> 0:19:05.919 Let's do this. 0:19:06.119 --> 0:19:10.119 Yes, Yes, I'm gonna, I'm gonna. I want to keep 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:12.160 on wanting to get to meditate because you said that, 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:14.320 But I want to first lay out that what what 0:19:14.359 --> 0:19:18.720 you've done here, You've You've created a system maps is 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:24.040 is the is the system here? Meditate and memorize, apply, pray, 0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:27.120 and share. Super easy to remember this, Like I said, 0:19:27.160 --> 0:19:29.680 this book is is easy to remember. But let's start 0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:32.800 with meditate. That's the that's the meditate and memorized. We're 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:36.840 not We're not talking about sitting with your your needs, 0:19:36.880 --> 0:19:40.639 you know, crossed and your watching the sunset. That's not 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:42.240 what you mean by meditate. So what do you mean 0:19:42.280 --> 0:19:42.600 by this? 0:19:42.680 --> 0:19:46.439 So what I mean by meditate is like linger over 0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:50.080 a passage and just let it, like soaking it. The 0:19:50.400 --> 0:19:54.199 illustration I used is when uh, my wife, she's the 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:58.240 first girl I ever dated, uh and uh she which 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:01.960 may sound noble, but I was just super socially awkward. 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:05.800 He provided someone who's attracting my social awkwardness. But she 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:08.439 started writing me letters. This is before like texting or 0:20:09.200 --> 0:20:10.720 anything else. So she would write me a lot. And 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:12.760 I remember the first letter I would get, first letters 0:20:12.760 --> 0:20:15.040 I would get from her, I was like, this is amazing, 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:17.879 and I would read like dear David, I go dear, 0:20:18.680 --> 0:20:22.040 that's a good start. And I'd read and she'd write, 0:20:22.040 --> 0:20:24.080 I'm praying for you, and I'd be like, I wonder 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:26.040 what she means by that, Like she prays for me, 0:20:26.160 --> 0:20:28.800 like is for anybody, or like when she's praying for 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:31.240 her future husband, maybe she thinks of me, like she 0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:33.520 put a smiley face, and be like, why smiley face? 0:20:33.640 --> 0:20:36.360 Right there? So that's what I would say is meditation. 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:40.480 It's like why this what? Because if every word is 0:20:40.560 --> 0:20:43.439 breathed out by God, then what are these words? Like 0:20:43.480 --> 0:20:45.600 how do they fit together? And so that's where I 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:47.800 try to talk in the book, just about just questions 0:20:47.840 --> 0:20:51.760 to ask to really meditate, let it soak in, even 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:54.560 even this morning, like I think about and this leads 0:20:54.560 --> 0:20:58.040 to memorize, like I was in Psalm one twelve this 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:02.359 morning and there's I think it's the first seven. Uh, 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:05.119 it's around there, but he said it's talking about just 0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:07.080 the security we have in God. And it says he 0:21:07.200 --> 0:21:11.119 is not afraid of bad news. His heart is firm, 0:21:11.200 --> 0:21:16.520 trusting in the Lord. His heart is steady, like I 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:20.360 just so I'm stopping at that point and I'm like, oh, 0:21:21.000 --> 0:21:24.359 like I just had a nightmare last night that just 0:21:24.960 --> 0:21:28.240 related to something in my family, and it was like 0:21:28.840 --> 0:21:33.280 it just revealed like a deep fear me and and 0:21:33.320 --> 0:21:36.600 it was so good just this morning read that and 0:21:36.680 --> 0:21:40.080 God just saying you have no need to be afraid 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:43.399 of bad news, like your your heart can be firm 0:21:44.160 --> 0:21:47.000 through trust in me. You can have a steady heart. 0:21:47.560 --> 0:21:50.080 Just trust in Me. And so instead of just reading 0:21:50.080 --> 0:21:52.480 that and moving on and checking off a box, I'm 0:21:52.560 --> 0:21:56.240 reading that and like soaking it in. Okay, how what's 0:21:56.320 --> 0:21:59.600 bad news that I'm I'm afraid of? And how do 0:21:59.640 --> 0:22:03.439 you a fear of bad news? Fear, worry, anxiety? How 0:22:03.440 --> 0:22:06.199 do you count that the heart that's firm? Oh? I 0:22:06.240 --> 0:22:09.800 want that? How is that possible? Trust in the Lord? Okay, God, 0:22:10.000 --> 0:22:11.639 I want this kind of faith. Got to help me 0:22:11.680 --> 0:22:14.560 to trust in You and then delay that specific even 0:22:14.640 --> 0:22:17.200 fear before him, so that that would be an example 0:22:17.200 --> 0:22:19.080 of meditation. Now that's getting into some of the other 0:22:19.800 --> 0:22:21.520 things that we're talking about with apply and pray, but 0:22:22.400 --> 0:22:26.160