Bible Intake: Hearing & Reading

will trickle in, which is fine.

Thanks.

Yeah, so if you didn't get one, there's a handout over there.

And you can pick it up as you go out.

That would be fine, too.

You don't need to be looking at it while I'm talking.

Today's class is going to be on Bible intake.

This is the first part of Bible intake,

and we're going to talk about hearing and reading.

So let me just open us in prayer.

Heavenly Father, we are so grateful to be here

and to be in your house and to be with your people.

Lord, on this foggy morning,

would you defog our brains and our hearts?

Lord, incline our hearts to your testimonies.

Open our eyes to see beautiful things in your word.

Unite our hearts to fear your name above all things.

And satisfy us with your steadfast love.

Lord, this is what we long for.

Lord, as we talk about some nuts and bolts,

we pray that it wouldn't just be

a kind of laundry list of stuff to do, Lord,

but you would be giving us tools to draw nearer to you.

That's our goal.

And we pray that you would work that goal out in our lives.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen.

So,

the Bible is God's word.

I once had the pleasure of co-teaching

or assisting a woman who taught the two-year-olds

in a previous church,

and I was a fairly young mom.

I had a two-year-old in the class,

but she was my oldest and only at the time.

So I had a lot to learn,

and I had a lot to learn about children,

and I hadn't grown up in a Christian home,

so I was learning about how you teach these things to children,

the truths of scripture.

And my teacher, her name was Linda,

she had one basic goal for these two-year-olds,

that they would come out of her class in a year or so

knowing that the Bible is the word of God.

And that was her main goal.

She taught lots of stories.

She engaged them in many different ways.

But every day, we sang the B-I-B-L-E song.

And she just reinforced in every possible way

that the Bible is the word of God.

And what they understood at that age,

I don't know, you know.

But they got a message, right?

And it's a message I think most of us have gotten,

perhaps from the age of two,

perhaps much more recently.

But we know that this is where God has revealed himself,

where he reveals our own hearts to us,

where he unveils his plan for the restoration of humanity to himself.

And in it are all we need for life and godliness.

Second Peter says,

His divine power has granted to us all things

that pertain to life and godliness,

through the knowledge of him who called us

to his own glory and excellence,

by which he has granted to us his precious

and very great promises,

so that through them you may become partakers

of the divine nature,

having escaped from the corruption

that is in the world because of sinful desire.

There's a lot in these two verses.

I'm not going to, you know,

I'm not going to, yeah.

But through the knowledge of him who called us

and through his precious and great promises,

and there are other things that he gives us.

These aren't the only things,

but this foundational knowledge

and knowing and trusting in his promises,

we get that to a great extent from his word.

So hearing is the first thing I want to talk about.

So this is the lowest bar, right,

on Bible intake for most of us.

We can hear the words of scripture.

Romans 10,

how then will they call on him

in whom they have not believed?

And how are they to believe in him

of whom they have never heard?

And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

And then the next thing I have up there

in 1 Timothy,

until I come,

devote yourself to the public reading of scripture,

to exhortation and to teachings,

as Paul speaking to his mentee, Timothy.

We have a practice in our church,

as many churches do,

not enough churches in my opinion,

but that's of the public reading of scripture,

even apart from the sermon itself.

We always have this first scripture reading,

which whoever's preaching chooses that

to complement in some way

the passage that they'll be preaching on.

And we have this early in the service,

as you've, you know,

in most cases.

We sing a couple of songs,

and then we have someone who reads the scripture.

And,

yeah, I just want to,

I want to ask,

and you can respond,

at some times we're going to walk around with the mic.

I think right now we probably don't need to.

I just want to,

maybe a,

just a shout out,

or just a raising of hands.

How many of you find it difficult

to concentrate during that

first scripture reading?

Anybody?

Yeah, it can be,

it can be challenging, right?

Like,

it's almost like,

well,

we've sung these songs,

and we have that ringing in our head,

and then we sit down,

and we're like,

you know,

if it's like me,

you know,

I'm trying to rearrange,

oh, my Bible's over here,

okay, I'm all set.

And meanwhile,

someone has gotten up

and started reading the scriptures,

and I'm not always really keyed in.

So,

so this is something,

like,

how do we,

how do we do that well?

And I don't think it's,

this isn't really complicated.

Some of the things,

I think,

are how we

prepare for church

beforehand,

how early we get

and sit down

and do all that

arranging of the coat

and the Bible

or purse

or whatever,

children,

which are

almost inevitable

distraction.

You know,

how do,

how do we do that?

Do we,

do we prepare

and come in

in such a way

as we're ready

to really hear

the scriptures

and listen?

It's just one thing

to hear it,

right?

It's another thing

to listen,

right?

The scriptures

are,

are usually

on the screen

behind the reader

and it's also

announced

before the reader

reads.

I find it really

helpful to follow along.

Other people don't

and that's fine

but that's something

that's really helpful

for me.

It gives me something

to,

and I usually do it

in my Bible

because I'm old-fashioned

and that's,

that's,

that's helpful

for me

to see the page.

But,

whatever helps

you to focus,

you want to kind

of think about that

and I think,

I think when we

don't listen,

sometimes it's,

there may be

legit distractions

around us

like children

or whatever,

how we came

into church,

how we,

there are all

kinds of things

but we use

that time

of singing

and worshiping

God to begin

to settle

our hearts

and be ready

then to hear

the scripture read.

For us,

it is,

it should be

no surprise

each,

each Sunday service

that that's

what's coming next.

Right?

Another thing

I'll just throw

out there

is that the,

so in the days

when we had

paper bulletins,

I would take

my bulletin,

I would go sit

down and I would

look that scripture

up and stick

my bulletin in there

so I was ready

to follow along.

We don't have

the paper bulletins,

we don't necessarily

have the warning

but the order

of service

is on the website

by Friday afternoon.

So if you go

to the website,

you can,

you can look

at the order

of service

and you can see

what that scripture

is.

So if you're,

if you're extra

motivated,

I would encourage

that.

I usually know

it because I put

the order of service

on the website

as part of my job

but I find it helpful

and I assume

others might as well.

So it's always there

by Friday afternoon

unless,

unless I forget

which case

it's not there.

But,

so those are just some,

just some things

to,

to think about

and I think,

I don't know,

for me it's mostly

I just need to think

about it.

I need to go,

oh,

this is the public

reading of scripture.

This is important.

This is God's word

for us.

This matters.

So there's other,

other ways to listen.

Many Bible apps

on your phone

or your laptop

or whatever

will read the scripture

to you.

I know the ESV Bible app

does.

I think,

a number of them do.

There's,

there's more out there

than I'm aware of

or have heard

or have used.

Some of them,

you know,

you're able to read along

while the voice

reads to you.

There's an app

for the iPhone

and Android

called Dwell.

And Dwell,

I put the link

in your handout.

Dwell is a really

nicely done website

that allows you

to listen to scripture

but it's more than just

like an audio Bible

as you might be able

to still get on CDs

or something.

It's more than that

because they have

different voices

you can choose from.

They have a number

of different translations.

They have different ways

to assemble a playlist.

They have,

I'm going to mention it later,

62 reading plans

or listening plans

that you can go through.

You can click a button

to read along

and it will move this,

moves its little screen

so that you can be reading

on your screen

as you're listening.

and it's just,

it's a great little app.

It's attractive.

It's really handy

and they continue

to upgrade it.

Our church has purchased

a number of subscriptions

for that.

I think last I checked

there were 10 left

so if you don't have it,

it is a paid,

you can download it for free

and sort of check it out

but it is a paid subscription

but if you go through

the link that I've provided

in the handout

and it's been,

it's been in like

weekly emails and things,

not every week I don't think

but,

and if you have any trouble,

you know,

getting to a link,

just let me know

or email the church office.

We can send that

right out to you

and then you,

then you're covered.

You're,

you have a,

you have a subscription

and you can take advantage

of all that it has to offer.

What are some times,

some of you probably

listen to scripture already,

what are some times

that you find that handy?

Yep.

Driving.

Driving.

Yep.

Yep.

Exercising.

Exercising.

Very good.

Anything else?

Can you imagine?

Down in the studio,

working all day long.

Yep.

Yep.

Sure.

A lot of us have mindless tasks

we need to be doing.

We can have the scripture going.

My husband

downloaded Dwell

in the summer

and began listening

to the entire Bible,

straight through in order,

I think,

and he would,

he works sort of

late into the,

he works until eight

because his,

his job,

it's remote,

but it's in California,

so their hours are different.

He works until eight

and then he would come home,

he would come home,

come down the stairs

and fix himself some supper

and,

and then he would just

lie on the couch

and plug in the Bible

and he would listen to

for about an hour

and he has completed

the entire Bible that way.

I have had times

when I just,

just really wanted to soak

in scripture

but I wasn't,

I didn't want to sit there

and read.

I remember one time

when I,

I went to the beach

because I just,

I was emotionally

going through a lot of stuff

and I just wanted to sort of,

sort of process

but not process

and it was spring

but it was a warm sunny day

and I just,

so the beach was nearly empty

but I lay on the beach,

I plugged in

the Gospel of John

and I just lay there

and listen to the whole thing.

that brings up a question though.

What if I,

my attention wanders

while I'm listening.

My attention does that

all the time.

Okay,

I,

unless I'm looking,

it's really hard for me

to concentrate.

Driving I can

but even then,

you know,

I'm sort of in and out.

So is it not worth it

if we can't really focus

all the time

or if we don't really focus?

I'm going to say

it's still worth it.

I'm going to say

don't stress about it

because as long as

this isn't your only

place of Bible intake,

you're getting more

than you would

not listening,

right?

And things are going

to catch your ear

and who knows

what goes on

in your subconscious.

I don't even know.

Like,

you know,

if it gets in

when you're not paying attention

in some way,

you know,

we don't want to rely on that.

My husband,

would frequently

doze off

while he was reading,

while he was listening

to the scriptures

during that season.

But he was reading

the Bible other times.

He,

you know,

has read the Bible

at number,

so he missed things.

And when I lay on the beach

in the sun

listening to the Gospel of John,

I dozed off.

And it was a blessing

in that time

to be that relaxed

and to just rest.

And then,

you know,

when I came back to,

I was listening

to the Word of God.

And,

you know,

this isn't the,

we don't want to take lightly

that it's the Word of God,

but at the same time,

I don't think we need

to beat ourselves up

if we're listening

and we lose concentration.

I think the same goes

for reading,

and I'm going to talk

a little bit about that

in a little bit.

But for me,

listening is far more

difficult to hold

my attention.

And I know for other people

it's not,

it's,

yeah,

for some people,

listening is really easier

than reading.

But that's what I would say

about listening.

So we want to listen

with attention

during the public reading

of Scripture

and our worship services.

We want to listen

in other ways

when we have time,

when we have space,

a little bit of brain space

to hear God's Word.

And then another way

is we can,

when we're reading Scripture,

we can read it out loud.

You know,

for centuries

that's how reading was done.

You just read out loud.

And what happens there

is you're looking at it,

so it's coming in

through your eyes,

into your brain, right?

As you read it,

you're hearing it as well.

And all,

the more gateways we have

for information coming in,

the better.

And if it's the Word of God,

how much better,

how much, you know,

like,

and, you know,

this is one of the reasons,

like, you know,

YouTube or TikTok

or Instagram,

all that stuff

has exploded,

and we know,

movies and television,

because of the,

it draws us,

because it's not just our ears

or just our eyes.

and so reading aloud

can be really great, too.

It can be, like,

you know,

you may feel self-conscious

at first,

but you're just reading aloud.

It's, you know.

So,

so,

so,

the more gateways,

the more retention,

I would suggest.

So,

any questions about listening,

about hearing the Word of God?

I know for some people,

reading is just plain hard.

A lot of people struggle to read,

and we make,

in our Western world,

such a big deal about reading,

as, you know,

I think I make a big deal of reading,

but we need to remember,

there were centuries

when people did not read,

and they were no less godly

as long as they had some access

to the Word of God, right?

And most of it was oral.

It was mostly coming in their ears.

And we're a more visual society,

I think,

but,

but reading can be challenging.

And,

that doesn't mean,

you know,

that you're doomed to be

a second-class Christian

if you struggle with reading.

It's just not the case.

It's interesting to be,

now,

Ambrose of Milan

was one of the first

that reads silent.

Because it was all acoustic.

And he became a tourist attraction.

Yes!

When they would come to the church,

they would just stand and watch him,

because they could see his eyes

moving across,

and they couldn't hear anything.

It's like,

Matthew was really strange

that it was a tourist attraction.

So,

in that sense,

it's wonderful

because illiteracy,

we often look at that,

oh,

look at how many,

look at the high percentage

of illiterates

in that society.

But,

it wasn't

as much of a barrier

for precisely what you said,

because the reading

was acoustic.

Something would be

pinned up,

somebody would come

and read it out loud

for a little crowd.

So,

you still had access

because it was acoustic,

this is on you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Tom?

I just wanted to,

I discovered

the Bible Lab Bible Gateway

that I listen to,

and what I love about it

is I use

different Bible translations

that I don't normally read.

Mm-hmm.

And I also,

I actually really like

the original KJV

to listen to.

And the reason why

is because I think

in my line of work

I'm always studying

and it's hard for me

to get out of that mindset

of like reading.

So,

I'm trying to think

like what's the context

to writing this,

when,

where,

why,

how,

instead of just

listening to the eternal words

of the timeless nature

of the scripture.

And when I listen,

I get out of that mindset.

Yeah.

I just listen to it

as

God's spoken word to us

and it's been,

it's been immensely helpful for me.

And it's ironic

because I'm a reader,

that's what I do,

but listening is,

I feel,

for me,

it's been better.

Mm-hmm.

In terms of

taking God's word.

Yeah,

and there's total sense.

Because,

and it is,

it's a different experience,

right?

It's different.

Josh.

I,

I remember

when I was teaching

poetry to,

uh,

high school students,

we would go through this poem,

I forget the name of the poet,

but he,

it was a poem about teaching poetry

and at the end of it is,

uh,

he,

it's,

he's explaining how he feels

when,

when students ask him questions

about poetry,

they,

they want to tie it to a chair

and interrogate it.

They want to strangle a meaning out of it.

And I feel like,

I feel that way sometimes.

When I come

to my Bible reading times,

um,

I'm,

I feel pressured

to be a real student,

a real,

very studious,

you know,

um,

interpreter of the Bible.

And it's like,

well,

or you could listen to what God,

like,

like you were saying,

the,

the word of God

is just beautiful.

Yeah.

You know,

in and of itself.

Yeah.

And we should study.

We need to,

we need to do that.

but when it becomes a burden,

sometimes it's helpful to get rid of that burden.

Yeah.

No,

absolutely.

I think we need to take advantage

of all the different ways that we have.

And,

you know,

we,

we live in a society

where we have so many different ways,

um,

you know,

to take in the scriptures.

Um,

I think we should take advantage of that

and,

um,

and not just,

not just do one thing.

Um,

so,

uh,

what does the next slide say?

Oh,

did that.

Okay.

So we're going to turn to reading now.

Um,

and reading is,

is how we're mostly accustomed,

uh,

to approaching the scriptures,

um,

aside from in public worship.

Um,

I want to think a little bit about how we approach our Bible reading.

Um,

I learned this some years ago in a book by John Piper,

and I've heard him speak of it,

you know,

on recorded sermons.

And,

um,

and it's a,

it's a little mnemonic,

um,

I O U S that I have found really helpful,

um,

to use when approaching scripture.

And what it is,

is it just a,

they're just prayers from the Bible to ask the Lord,

to,

um,

ask,

ask the Lord to be with us,

to help us,

to open our eyes,

these kinds of things.

Um,

I went through them as I prayed to open the class this morning.

So the first one,

the I is for incline my heart to your testimonies and not to selfish gain.

From Psalm 119,

36,

the next verse is turn my eyes from looking at worthless things and give me life in your ways.

And I find them together to be really,

really helpful.

How many worthless things are before my eyes,

uh,

all day long.

Um,

but as I come to the scriptures,

I want the Lord to incline,

you know,

lean,

lean my heart into it,

um,

to help me.

Because I need help.

I get up in the morning and like,

I don't necessarily,

I'm not leaning into scripture from the time my eyeballs,

you know,

see the light.

That's not happening.

Um,

and without the Lord,

we really,

we need his help.

It's his book.

We have his Holy Spirit dwelling within us who has promised to help us as we read.

And,

um,

I just think it just makes total sense to pray before we approach the scriptures,

um,

rather than just flip right to the,

right to the passage or whatever it is.

So incline my heart to your testimonies.

The O is for open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.

Also from Psalm 119.

Um,

I've heard John Piper talk about this and say,

he sometimes prays,

open my eyes that I may see Jesus in your word,

right?

That's the most wondrous thing we could see in the scriptures.

Um,

and we need,

we need our eyes open.

The eyes of our heart need to be open as we come to the scriptures.

Um,

not just our physical eyes.

Um,

so the eyes as a,

as a gateway,

uh,

to our heart.

The U is for unite my heart to fear your name from Psalm 86.

So we come to our time of Bible reading.

Um,

even if we do it first thing in the morning,

we're coming out of dreams and,

you know,

maybe an accident with the coffee maker or,

you know,

a little interchange with a,

someone who lives in our house with us.

Um,

and if we read later in the day,

um,

there's a whole day's worth of distractions building up and different things.

And our hearts,

our minds are like scattered all over.

Um,

and we ask the Lord to unite,

unite our,

you know,

to,

I think of it as,

as focus,

focus my heart,

uh,

that I might do what's really,

really important,

which is to fear the name of God.

Um,

the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

So we want to come to the scriptures with that fear of the Lord in our hearts.

And we need help.

We need help.

So we pray,

unite my heart,

uh,

to fear your name.

And as we come in fear,

this respect and awe and honoring God,

uh,

in our hearts,

we're more able than to hear his word when it rebukes us or corrects us.

We need to come with an attitude of submission.

This is God's word.

And I sit under it.

This is,

this is,

this is the God of the universe who created me,

who made me.

And this isn't just,

you know,

a self-help book off the,

off the shelf at Barnes and Noble.

This is the word of God.

So to,

to be aware of that,

to make ourselves aware,

to ask the Lord to make us aware.

And finally,

the S I've just,

the brackets are just because in the,

in the Bible,

you'll find it in the plural,

which is,

um,

which is great.

But when I pray it,

I,

uh,

you know,

on my own like this,

satisfy me in the morning with your steadfast love,

that I may rejoice and be glad.

Uh,

my heart is frequently,

uh,

running after things to satisfy it.

And they are not always God.

They are not always where true satisfaction lies.

And I want to come to scriptures and be satisfied,

to be filled that I,

so that then I don't run all over the place,

trying to fill it with other things,

with,

you know,

good reputation,

with success,

with,

uh,

yeah,

yeah,

being known or being well liked or,

or buying stuff or watching YouTube videos or whatever.

Right.

Um,

we're always trying to satisfy our hearts,

but it's God in him is our satisfaction.

And,

and why not ask,

Lord,

satisfy me,

uh,

satisfy me with your steadfast love.

So that's a,

that's just a little mnemonic.

You can,

um,

you can memorize it.

You can,

uh,

I have a,

I have a little ring of verses.

Now this is way more than,

than those four.

Uh,

but it started with those four.

Um,

and,

um,

I just,

I did this in Photoshop,

so it's a little fancy,

but you can just use three by five cards,

you know?

Um,

and I have this right near the table where I usually read the word and I pick it up and,

uh,

you know,

I,

you know,

I might go through these.

I might,

I have some other ones.

I have a verse here,

um,

from Psalm 10,

which is a promise of satisfaction for he satisfies the longing soul and the hungry soul.

He fills with good things.

So I'm,

I'm grabbing hold of that promise.

Um,

and asking the Lord to fulfill it in me,

to keep his promise to me,

to satisfy me,

to fill me with good things.

Um,

and these,

these verses aren't all like necessarily prayers,

but,

um,

another that I use is send out your light and your truth.

Let them lead me.

Let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling.

That's from Psalm 43.

Send out your light and your truth.

I'm about to open the book.

Here is light and truth.

Send it out.

And let it lead me to you,

right?

To your dwelling place,

your holy hill.

Let the word lead me.

Not,

not just,

don't let me stop here on the words on the page,

but let it lead me into the presence of God.

That's what,

that's what's going to satisfy.

Right?

It's a very special one here is that's where Yale got its motto from Psalm 43.

All right.

It's a very fast line and truth.

That was their prayer.

Thank you.

Excellent.

Yeah.

So anyway,

I've done this with different verses that have,

that have grabbed hold of me.

Um,

and that I thought I need to pray that regularly.

And so I,

I have done this.

Um,

you can do something like that again,

three by five cards or whatever that helps you to remember.

Um,

um,

yeah.

So that's just the beginning,

right?

That's,

that's how we come.

We come with prayer,

asking for help because we need that help,

right?

We need it to focus.

We need it to,

to understand.

We need it to be led into the presence of God by his word.

Okay.

Reading now,

the reading,

um,

so we're going to talk a little bit about,

so I'm going to go through,

uh,

we're going to talk about some advantages and disadvantages to using a plan.

Then we're going to talk about a bunch of plans.

Um,

and then I'm going to talk about reading fast and reading slow.

So that's where we're going for the rest of this.

Um,

so reading plans,

reading plans have been very helpful for me.

I haven't always used one.

Uh,

and I don't,

I don't always use one right now in my Bible reading.

I'm not using a plan.

So it's not like I do it all the time.

Um,

but it has been really helpful to kind of,

then I just know what the next thing is.

And I might,

other times I might just choose a book of the Bible and say,

okay,

this is what I'm going to be reading,

you know,

until I'm done.

Um,

and just go through it at whatever pace the Lord leads me.

We're going to talk about pace in a little bit.

Um,

if you've never read the whole Bible all the way through,

not necessarily Genesis to Revelation straight,

but the whole Bible,

uh,

I think that's a great goal.

I would challenge you to do that.

Um,

it is accessible for most of us.

Um,

I think Whitney in his book,

uh,

spiritual disciplines of the Christian life says,

and I haven't,

I haven't verified this,

but most,

um,

like,

uh,

recordings of the Bible.

It's about,

it's something like 70 hours.

So when you think about that,

70 hours in a year,

how many hours do you actually have in a year?

Um,

it's not really a lot of time.

So,

uh,

so yeah,

unless you have a real challenge with reading,

which I totally get,

um,

I think it's a worthy goal.

Uh,

but I don't do it every year.

And as I said,

some years I've done it very fast.

Some years I've done it more slowly.

In some years I haven't actually done it at all.

Um,

so there,

you know,

there's no,

um,

there's no right way to do it.

Um,

disadvantages to a plan.

You know,

there are going to be times when you don't have time on a given day.

That's certainly going to be the case at some point.

You don't take the time or you're sick or you're traveling and it just doesn't work in or whatever.

And then you feel yourself falling behind.

Um,

as a homeschooler,

uh,

I often,

uh,

coached,

uh,

younger moms who are homeschooling.

And they would say,

but what I'm falling behind.

And I would say,

behind who?

It's not a race.

It's not a race.

And it's the same thing for your Bible reading.

You're not racing anyone.

You're not behind.

Um,

one of the disadvantages for a Bible plan,

some Bible plans are dated and some are not.

So some are designed to start January 1st and they,

they tell you each day.

So then you really feel it,

right?

If you start on January 1st and by the 10th,

you're on the day eight reading,

you know,

you're,

you're very aware of it and it,

and it can stress you out.

Um,

I'd encourage you to try to ignore that.

But if that's a problem,

find an undated one,

um,

with an undated one,

you know,

start whenever.

And you can do that with a dated one too.

If you just ignore the dates,

um,

which I often do.

Um,

so,

so plans can have that effect or they can get you reading,

but not really paying attention because you have to do your reading today.

Um,

again,

I'll say that's not the worst thing in the world,

right?

You're going to read the whole Bible.

You're going to do it again someday.

You know,

you're going to do it again.

It's going to come by again.

And if you miss something,

you miss something,

but we're all going to miss something.

Anytime we're,

we're reading anything.

So I have a daughter who reads the Bible straight through Genesis to Revelation.

It works for her.

That's what she does.

I don't know if she keeps it strict to a year or anything.

I think she just goes and goes back to Revelation,

which hits the end of,

goes back to Genesis when she hits the end of Revelation.

Works for her.

Uh,

for others,

uh,

it's really challenging when you get in.

First,

one challenging thing is you don't really get to the New Testament until,

you know,

pretty late in the year.

Um,

and some of us want a little more New Testament in our,

in our,

uh,

regular,

regular reading.

Um,

uh,

yeah,

another disadvantage is,

um,

you can,

it's not hard to get bogged down in,

in areas which are just less accessible or less,

you know,

immediately interesting.

Um,

and those areas will vary for different ones of us,

right?

My husband,

um,

really struggles with all the poetry.

Um,

whereas I am a word person and I love that part,

right?

But I struggle with the laws,

you know,

so we have different,

you know,

we all have different places where we struggle.

Or apocalyptic literature,

you know,

and you get into the prophets and there's these wild scenes and,

and it just,

you just kind of go,

I have no idea what's going on here.

Um,

so,

so,

so those are pluses and minuses to that kind of plan,

but there are a lot of different plans.

Um,

so some of them,

uh,

read from a number of different books at one time so that on any given day,

you might be reading from four different places in scripture or three different places,

or there's one plan out there that has you reading from 10 different places in scripture.

Um,

and it takes you through,

it,

it's a fascinating plan because as you go,

some,

their books are repeated at different,

um,

at different paces.

Like,

so,

so some plans you're always going to read Genesis one and Matthew one on the same day.

If you're following the plan,

right?

And then you'll read Genesis two and Matthew two,

right?

And,

and other plans will mix that up.

So you might be reading Genesis one and Psalm one and Daniel four and acts 14 or so.

And that's the fun of that is the different kind of intersections you notice.

And it's amazing.

The Bible is amazing in the ways that all the different parts speak to one another.

And you're not going to find that like every single day.

You're not going to go,

go,

wow,

this is just like that.

But you are going to,

you're going to see it.

And,

and it's a wonderful thing.

Um,

you can just read,

you know,

book by book as the Lord leads.

Um,

I'm,

I'm,

that's kind of what I've been doing,

uh,

in recent months.

Um,

I started the Pentateuch,

not as part of,

I'm going to read the whole,

whole Bible in a year,

but just,

this is what I'm going to do.

And I have a book,

uh,

that I came across that has been really helpful.

It's a,

it's a,

basically a commentary or introduction to the Pentateuch.

And it's been really,

really helpful.

So I read basically a chapter and I see what's in the,

it's in the commentary and,

um,

it's not,

it doesn't have like,

it's not super lengthy,

but,

um,

I found that really helpful.

And when I reached the end of the Pentateuch,

which is coming up,

I may do something different.

I may just keep going,

uh,

in Joshua,

but,

um,

but you can just choose some,

sometimes I've just read,

you know,

I've read Ephesians and I thought,

no,

I need Matthew now.

And no,

I need,

you know,

so,

but you can also get a chart where you can just check off what you've read and it's not in order.

You're just checking off and it'll lay out all the chapters,

um,

just as a way to keep track.

And then to,

and to,

you know,

you can look at it,

you finish a book,

you look at it and you go,

well,

I,

gee,

I haven't read any Old Testament in a while.

I better do some of that or not.

I'd better,

but that sounds like a good,

a good idea.

Um,

so,

I mean,

I'm a person,

who likes check boxes and,

um,

and I benefit from that.

And not everyone does.

Like it's just,

for some,

it just becomes a chore,

um,

and a task to be completed.

and the heart kind of,

kind of goes out of it.

Um,

I will say that the first time I read through the Bible in a year,

um,

I used a plan and it was a task.

Um,

it was,

I don't know,

sometimes it was definitely a chore.

I always said,

no,

certainly not all the time,

uh,

but sometimes it was a chore.

Um,

but what I found as I continued to do that,

and,

in fact,

as I mentioned before,

I picked up the pace.

Um,

I found it got easier and easier and easier and less of a chore,

uh,

less of a task to be done and more of a delight.

And I would,

I would just,

you know,

that,

I didn't discover that until I was in my forties or fifties.

You know,

I,

I,

I just thought,

ah,

this isn't for me.

I can't do this.

Um,

which is,

which is the temptation,

right?

You start doing something like that and you realize you,

you fall behind,

right?

And you just weighed down and you feel like you're just reading to check the box.

And we don't want to do that,

right?

We don't want to do that.

But sometimes just gutting through,

that kind of discipline,

disciplining ourselves and continuing to pray,

ask the Lord to illuminate his word,

ask the Lord to help you,

ask the Lord to make it less of a chore,

ask the Lord to reveal yourself.

These are prayers he loves to answer.

Um,

and as we continue to do that,

we find,

I found,

uh,

it got easier and easier and easier.

And I found that with particular books.

Um,

I think I mentioned last week,

I,

Ezekiel was the last book to actually conquer,

which is what it felt like.

It felt like this is a mountain.

I'm going to conquer it.

Um,

and there was a lot I didn't understand,

uh,

that first time through,

but the more I read it,

the more I understood.

and the more I liked it and enjoyed it.

And now it's like not on the bottom of the list at all.

Like it's,

it's right up there.

And many of those books that I slogged through,

you know,

have gotten easier.

They've made much more sense and they've become much more friendly to me.

Um,

so your experience may vary,

you know,

mostly I'm really just sharing my experiences,

but I,

these were things I hadn't been told.

No one told me,

you know,

if you start and it's hard,

it might just get better.

And it might not be for another year that it gets better,

like really better,

but it really might.

And that's exciting.

And it was just like such a thrill to me as I realized that the more I read,

the more I was getting,

the more I understood,

the more I came to places and thought,

Oh yeah,

I remember this part.

And,

and understood a little more than I did the time before.

So I have in your handout,

I have some sample plans linked.

Um,

I have some of those printed out just so you can look at them.

I wouldn't,

these are just printed on regular copy paper.

Um,

and I would personally,

I print them out on a cardstock.

Uh,

these are front and back.

Many of them are designed to be printed like that.

So you can then,

then you have a booklet,

um,

and you go one,

two,

three,

anyway.

So I have some samples.

If you just want to look at a couple that I've really enjoyed,

um,

the navigators,

uh,

have put out,

uh,

three different kinds of,

uh,

Bible reading plans for a number of years.

And this is where I started.

And,

um,

they have,

uh,

yeah,

they have different,

different approaches to each one.

Um,

so,

you know,

you're felt,

you're free to look at these,

um,

after people have had a chance to look at them,

you're free to take one with you.

Um,

but there's just one copy each.

Um,

some of them,

um,

some of them call for five days of reading in a week.

So that's kind of nice because it gives you a little leeway.

Right?

So,

you know,

and maybe your practice is not to,

not to spend a lot of time in private Bible reading before church on a Sunday.

Maybe,

maybe that's your,

you know,

and I did that for a long time.

And,

and this gives you that breathing space.

Right?

Um,

so anyway,

there's tons and tons and tons of different plans.

And I mean,

just Google Bible reading plans and you'll be overwhelmed.

So some of those,

uh,

some of those sites are there and you'll find people talking about which ones they like better.

It's a whole,

it's a whole world.

Um,

so let me just talk a little bit about pace.

Reading fast,

reading slow,

really reading slowly.

Uh,

many of us have a bent,

uh,

toward,

toward a certain pace.

Um,

many of us,

yeah,

I think,

I think often we might have a bent or we might feel like we should read at a certain pace.

Or we just struggle to get,

it passed,

you know,

you're in a verse and Kim Newgast was talking to me.

She's just like,

there's all these rabbit trails and you could follow all these rabbit trails and you find cool things and it's exciting and it's fun.

And,

and that's great.

Right?

Um,

on the other hand,

you're going to struggle with a plan for instance,

or struggle with reading a certain amount in a year,

things like that,

which is not,

it's not God's law that we follow that or we read a certain time.

Pace is not,

you know,

part of the picture,

as far as I can see in scripture.

Oh,

plans.

Um,

so I did mention last week,

there was a time in my life when I read through the Bible and I read through the entire Bible three times.

And that made,

that meant six times through the New Testament and six times through Psalms,

I think,

because the plan did that.

Some of the plans will repeat the New Testament,

um,

or the Psalms or other,

or the Psalms or other,

other books.

Um,

so that was a lot of reading every day.

I read morning,

I read evening,

so I didn't do it all at once.

Um,

and what I found,

and it's not for everyone.

I'm not,

you know,

I,

but it was great.

It was so good for me because first I had to decide no rabbit trails.

None of that,

right?

I had to decide.

I get something I don't understand.

You know what?

I'm just going on by.

Doesn't mean I can't stop and think about it at all and see if I can make sense of it.

But basically,

I just read.

It's kind of like what Tom was saying about his experience listening to scripture.

He's not analyzing.

He's not dissecting it.

He's not.

And reading that way,

um,

I found really,

really profitable.

For one thing,

it gets you through the hard books,

whatever they are for you.

Um,

the books you tend to get bogged down in.

It gets you through those much more quickly.

If you're,

you're reading them faster and you're reading,

you know,

you're,

you get them through before you know it.

You know,

it's the end of Leviticus and it's only been four days,

you know.

Um,

and that kind of pace,

it seems like,

well,

you're not getting anything out of it.

But what I found is I got a much broader sense of,

of the scope of scripture.

And as plans I was following,

the plan I followed,

uh,

I think it was the book at a time one that Navigators does,

um,

you know,

had me reading from different places.

And you see those intersections more.

Um,

and just the quantity I was reading,

the hard books got easier.

They just got easier because I was more familiar with them.

I knew where Ezekiel was going.

I knew,

you know,

I had a sense of familiarity and,

you know,

when you approach something that's familiar,

you're better able to get a,

get a handle on it,

right?

To get a hold of it,

to have it make sense.

And every time,

even if you're not,

you're not reading a commentary,

you're not,

you may not,

you know,

be reading the notes in your study Bible,

you may not be using a study Bible,

or you may,

you know,

whatever,

you're going to learn.

You're going to learn.

And again,

it's,

you know,

I'm not going to say like everyone must do this.

Um,

but it was just so profitable for me.

And again,

I don't do it all the time now.

Um,

but I did it,

you know,

for several years,

I read the whole Bible plus some repeated stuff several times a year.

I think only did it three times once,

but,

um,

and the,

and the,

and I used a plan,

but I just,

you know,

I just did two days at a time or something.

I forget how I,

how exactly I did it,

but I just,

um,

yeah,

to do it twice,

you just do two days every day.

Um,

so,

so I just want to throw that out as an option that people often say,

no,

you should slow down when you're reading the Bible.

And,

and I'm not going to say you shouldn't like,

that's the next thing reading slowly,

but,

but people don't usually say,

oh,

just speed up,

just read it,

get a handle on it.

Right.

Uh,

I know that in the academic world,

I know people often will skim through a whole book before they go back and start at the beginning.

Right.

They'll get through,

get a sense of where it's going,

read the table of contents,

get a feel for the whole flow.

If you're really reading a book that you want to retain,

that's a great thing to do.

Well,

it's great for the Bible to,

um,

to,

to just whip through it,

honestly.

And again,

you have to be okay with,

I don't get that.

Okay.

Moving on.

You have to,

you have to train yourself,

especially if you're,

you're prone to following all those rabbit trails.

Um,

and you have to be okay with,

wow.

I just like ran my eyes over the pages and I didn't get anything.

Like I just,

I just learned to be okay with that.

It's just like listening to be okay with mind wandering or dozing off.

It's for a season and it's not the only thing you're doing.

Right.

And it's not for always.

You don't always want to read the scripture,

just running our eyes over the words.

And I'm not,

that's not what I'm encouraging here.

I'm encouraging actually reading it,

but,

but there are going to be days when that's what you do.

That's certainly days when that's what I do,

um,

or have done.

And I just said to myself,

okay,

tomorrow I'll try to pay better attention.

And,

you know,

the next time through,

I may have been really paying attention.

And when I was doing it more than once a year,

that was,

it was six months later,

I was reading the same thing and,

uh,

it was a better day,

you know,

and I was reading it.

Um,

so it's a little radical,

I think,

but,

uh,

but I found it really helpful.

So I just want to put that out there.

Uh,

many of us know how to,

uh,

read more slowly,

uh,

for quality I have there.

I think there's quality also in the,

quantity approach of reading fast,

as I,

I think I've made clear.

Um,

but there's a certainly a time for that.

There's a time for really slowing down and seeking what the Lord would have for me today.

And this verse,

you know,

it might be just verse by verse.

Um,

there's a time for reading,

like I'm reading right now with this commentary,

uh,

through pen,

the Pentateuch.

It's really helpful,

you know,

so I'll read a chapter.

I'll look and see what it has to say.

I'll think about that.

Um,

I'll do other things as we'll get to in other classes.

I write stuff down as another,

uh,

really helpful thing,

especially if I'm reading slowly.

Um,

I write a lot down that the Lord shows me.

Um,

I'll copy out verses that really strike me.

Um,

so I have a,

I always,

uh,

have a journal there,

uh,

right there.

Um,

you can do as,

uh,

as Kim was talking about,

follow those rabbit trails and see where the Lord leads and see where the scriptures lead.

Um,

yeah.

And then the,

the last thing I put there as different,

um,

but similar is studying.

And I think studying is,

you know,

for me,

that's,

it's more methodical,

um,

than just following a rabbit trail or just reading the footnotes or even what I'm doing in the Pentateuch where I'm just,

you know,

every few days I open the commentary and read through and see what,

you know,

um,

but I'm not really,

uh,

kind of studying,

but not really studying.

Um,

so there's study and I'm not going to talk about study.

That's a whole,

that's a whole thing.

Right.

Um,

and there are,

there are a lot of,

um,

there are a lot of resources out there.

I,

I don't think I put them on the handout.

I think I meant to,

I meant to come up with someone for the handout and I did not,

but we have a book in the book stall called,

um,

women of the word.

It's addressed to women,

obviously written by a woman,

Jen Wilkin,

but she is a,

she knows her stuff and men.