EP9: Why is Reading the Bible a Discipleship Issue?

Well, Happy New Year and welcome back to the grace church members

podcast. I'm one of your host, Chris

rivers. And in this episode, I'm joined

with Scott Mozingo, and Matt Williams to discuss a biblically

oriented strategy for the year. If you're a first-time listener,

we're excited that you joined us.

The goal of this resource is to address discipleship issues and

the life of Grace Church and discuss.

How to be more fully devoted to God conforming Our Lives to

biblical truth they buy. Today, and letting the

scriptures feed. Our souls is something that many

of us struggle to apply. There is this important role of

the scriptures as a long-term investment and as a means of

feeding our souls. And so the question is, how

should we as members of Grace Church?

Think about this? I am really grateful for this

interview with Matt and Scott. It's filled with lots of

practical information on how we can win with God's word.

It was endearing and I'm just very grateful that you're going

to get a chance to jump into this conversation.

With us. So consider sharing this episode

with someone and discussing these ideas with them and be

sure to check out our podcast page located in the show.

Notes on this page you can access past episodes a summary

of this episode with Matt and additional resources to help you

move towards discipleship. Okay let's jump into our episode

on a biblically oriented strategy for the year.

Matt Williams, good to see you today.

Good to see you. Chris.

Yes. Scott always fun to be a part of

this with you. Hello.

Chris. It's a new year and many of our

members have goals of reading the Bible daily and so as a

leader of our church, if you could sit down with grace church

members and share with them the importance of reading the

scriptures, what one or two things would you want to share?

I want to start with the deeper, why?

So one of the things that happened to me when I was in my

30s I had my thought. Would blew up and was hyper and

they had to destroy it. So then it went low.

And now I'm on medicine called Synthroid.

Many, many women in our church our own Center would.

So it's like three or four hundred women and me all take

synthroid. I gave a woman some of the other

day because she had run out. The thing about Synthroid is

that it it builds up, it takes a long time to build up in your

system and it lasts for a long time.

If you take synthroid today, if you're low, you take synthroid

today, you don't feel. The effects from it.

And when I travel out of town, I'm a I'm going to be gone one

night. I may not even take it with me,

but it is the kind of thing that you do need.

If you don't take it, you won't live.

It'll take a while for you to die, but you will not make it.

And so you have to be disciplined.

There's a sense in which you have to be disciplined every

morning to take it. Take it at a certain time and it

builds up in your system and it gives you life and I could go

the next year or so without taking it, but I would not be

here. Here to play with my

grandchildren in 20 years if I didn't take it.

And so one of the things about studying the scriptures and

investing in your spiritual growth, in your walk, and

through the word of God, is that you are making a long-term

investment something that builds up in your system and stays with

you for a long, long time. And so, I want to tell people

this needs to be a part of your life because it had it does have

a benefit for today but it also has lots of long term.

The fit and blessing for you to be connected to God for a long

time because it takes a while to understand, here's the message,

he's trying to communicate to you through his word and it's

not all about me, but it is all about him and my life needs to

be all about him and it takes a while and there needs to be

there in some process that. So there's this discipline

piece, that it's very important for today in the future.

But the other part is, is that I have to identify emotionally and

spiritually with the part of me that is starving.

And I cannot assume that I am sufficient in and of myself to

feed myself and to care for my soul.

On my own, I need something from outside to feed my soul to feed

my heart and even if I am motivated and very positive and

Overcomer and Life to go in my way.

And everything, that's really not what it's about.

There's still a part of me that is famished that God has spoken

through his word, to be able to feed my soul.

And I there's some work that that was Scott Mozingo would do.

That would be different than what I would do.

There's a part of Scott that could get in touch with where

his soul is and realize that he's famished in a way that may

be similar, but may be very different than me and I am and

so I need to be in touch with that, so there's this discipline

piece but there's also this emotional and spiritual peace

where I need to get in touch with the fact that I'm starving

and you go, we always jump to what to do this plan that plant

us. That's fine.

But what I need to start with is where am I famished?

Where do I, where am I starving? And I need the god of the

universe that created a speak to me and poor life into me.

And I think that when I'm sitting with someone that is

what I say, you know and we talk through how are you starving?

And that may be foreign language to us but it may take a minute

to get there, but it's important.

So Matt is that why? It's important?

To have personal time because I was thinking about this, you've

been teaching the Bible for probably more than half your

adult life now so it's kind of crazy think of that way.

It's true. It's a you're a very good

professional Bible teacher so why don't I just listened to

you? Why do I need to be disciplined

and go do it myself. What am I lacking?

If I'm I'm just because there's a lot of good teachers out there

there's a lot of good resources but how does That what we're

doing on the weekends, how does that compliment my personal

study and not take the place of it?

Yeah, I mean, I think we have to be honest about that.

That there's a bunch of Truth here that ought to be pulled

apart. And so, if I'm thinking about

actually a guy that I know that I know from the gym who's just

started coming to our church, he doesn't really know God.

And so, I would say that our services or somebody that he

might see on YouTube, Uber, another Pastor another preacher,

whatever. He's in a place where actually

that corporate communication is very important, right?

Is what he's got. So I don't want to minimize that

because I used to, I used to be like, that's not important.

What I'm doing the weekends and I'm not important preachers have

a role to play. I would be kind of downplay all

that and I think there is a role there and I think there's a role

when we're all together. Here in the word together

responding together. I think that's very, very

important. But the thing about what we

believe Within Vanity. Is there something about it?

That's very personal that the Holy Spirit wants to speak to

you and move you in a way that he does not want to move me and

carving out the space and the time for y'all to commune for

you to commune with the spirit. And let's be honest, there are

days. When you you talk, and you don't

feel anything, you don't hear anything.

So that's part of it too. You know, you see that in a

marriage. There's days when your spouse

tells you something that does not resonate, you know, make any

sense to you, but, but I do think we believe in a very

personal God that wants to speak to you, that wants to lead you

that wants to connect you and your walk is very unique for

mine, and I think that a lot of us don't believe that and that's

why we're not investing the time in it.

Yeah, they got that. There's an expectation that God

has something for me and it's doing something and I need to

participate in that. And I think in a fast-paced

culture, it's easy to drop that. That it's easy to forget that.

Yeah. Now, going back to the first

question. The long-term investment you

talked about the discipline and the emotional like, when did you

first recognize you were starving?

Did, did someone inspire you? Was that?

What kicked it off for you? My dad was a Bible, dude, he

loved the Bible. And so I saw it from a distance.

I mean, I was closed up but I saw it.

I watched him, he would say things and I would always think

It's interesting to me how important the Bible is to him.

It's not important to me like that, but it is interesting to

me that it's that important to him.

So I thought that was, that was always in the back of my head,

back of my mind. By the time, I got to college, I

was very perplexed at what we now, call organized religion,

how it was going in church, and how it felt dead to me, and I

was perplexed at the world. Some of the things I started

seeing a good friend of mines, mom committed.

Suicide, she died by Suicide, another friend of my mom's died

in a tragic accident. And then, my freshman year in

college, my dad got brain tumor almost died.

So, all that happened within, like two years and the, the

world was kind of creeping in and was very confusing to me.

I was like, whoa, this place is really dark and really broken

and really bad things happen. So, I started having questions

and so I started it just, it seemed intuitive to me that the

scriptures had answers and I was reading them.

In the Bible and I wouldn't really make any sense of it,

some parts but a lot of I could not make sense of it.

I was perplexed by the end of college.

I ran into some guys who started discipling me and teaching me

and they weren't they were saying it.

They were saying that the scriptures had answers but I was

watching them when I would ask a question, they would quote

scripture to me not in a shallow or superficial way.

I would call Tom Nelson in Texas and he would take my phone

calls. I was a college student is with

so weird. He would just pick up the phone,

like, I'd remind him who I was, and he's kind of a big deal and

I was nobody to know me and he would he would just quote, he

built. Well, the first Timothy says

this, and I was meeting with a guy named foad Ferris, who was

on staff with Fellowship of Christian athletes, and we would

meet at McDonald's and he would teach me through the book of

Ephesians, but I would ask him a question about marriage or life

or money, or sex or whatever. And he would take me to go will

turn to turn to John. Turn the gospel.

John, let me say something chapter 9, J this.

You know, I'm Genesis 2 turns. Is to and whole thing would just

tell me. Just tell me what you think.

Hmm. And his point was I mean they're

really matter what I think she would go.

I'll tell you what, I think about what God says, I'll try to

help you understand it. And so, I was realizing that the

world because of some things that happened the world.

I was no match for the world. It was bigger than I was, and I

didn't have all these answers, but some of the guys that God

brought into my life, they did have some answers but they were

not just telling you what they thought they were going back to

the scriptures and pointing to it and saying, hey well let's

look at this. Let's talk about this.

Let's think about this. That was real meaningful to me

that people. That looked very smart to me.

They look very talented, were leaning on the scriptures and

way that I had never never considered, you know, what

strikes me is that we want to know what other people think.

But now we want to know what other people think.

So we can evaluate what we think of what other people think.

And I don't know if it's always been that way, but it seems like

what strikes me in your stories you had there was a high view of

scripture and so how do we help Elevate that view so that when

we're leading people? And we're pointing people to

scripture that they know that it's doesn't matter what I think

they can go read it for themselves and they have to

contend with God on that. How do we help them have a

little higher view I guess? And that's a good question.

And I think, I don't know. I mean, I think that the example

and I'll even Jump Ahead even after we started the church, I

would be in a conversation with Tom Fowler and he was the year

after we started our church, he had been an elder up, north

loves the Bible, and we would be talking about something and I

would be in the middle of explaining.

This says I'm 26, 27 years old I've explained so he goes mad as

a great idea because but is that what the Bible says?

Hmm. And you know about well I mean I

don't know the bible really address it because I think it

does look here and he would turn and I do caution actually does

and there's Freedom around all things that the moment an

address but he's a look at this and it really does but I think I

was just impressed with people that were actually leaning on it

and I think that that spoke volumes to me, I don't know how

to make that case for someone else other than to invite them

to try to experience it for me. Be humble and say it doesn't

matter what I think. I mean, not just for my kids.

I mean I'll tell my kids this right.

All right, look, I'm way smarter than you are relatively speaking

from experience but I don't I think we got to lean.

I could we go to look at this, this is what God says.

We probably you're going to want to do this God's way.

So it's a good question. I don't know that I have a great

answer to it but I know for me it was compelling to see people

do it. People people think that way

Harry Stevenson. And a man has been our church

for a long time and he's very biblical guy and I would ask him

a question. He would always think because

he's older than I was. Everybody was older.

I was that Tom, but he would always just be able to say

about. Here's here's what I think the

scriptures teach on this or here's what I think that he

wasn't thinking. Here's, here's my opinion.

Here's what I want to tell you. It was like there was there was

some Bible thinking and some Bible reference to it.

Here's where I think we can go to find legitimate Transcendent

information on this idea. Yeah.

And maybe it's that we've developed some.

Some It's in our church and in our personal lives just because

we're so acquainted. When we've been in the

downstream of the blessings of so much good Biblical teaching,

not just this church but just culturally, you know, it's like

we've just had a Awakening to Bible teaching that we can have

a lot of wisdom but we don't always necessarily tell people

exactly where it comes from or lead them and and have them.

Go find it themselves. Yeah.

On over the conviction for me over the last couple years is I

got to re-calibrate my mind on to think differently.

So I like how you were inspired by people that just hey this is

what the Bible says. Why don't you think on that

first? Now did you have to develop some

new habits? Yeah.

Or some new disciplines will had to change as you really began to

grow in this area of being biblically oriented.

You know, when I got involved with the fellowship of Christian

athletes in Clemson, the the talk was have a quiet time, you

know? Have a quiet time in the, you go

in these Retreats out. Quite that was OK.

That kind of makes sense. It wasn't a foreign idea but

they were, they had language for it.

And I know for the guys involved with crew and Navigators, they

had basically the same language, but everybody had language, they

were, they were bringing in a position to do and expecting you

to, you know, engage the scriptures that way, that was

real helpful for me, it was, it made sense to me, I'm a morning

person was all it was born that way and so I went as my days,

got busy. And I remember when I started,

Student teaching as a senior in college and then I was coaching

in the afternoons. It was the first time I remember

having to get super disciplined about it.

So I was having to get up extra early to have a quiet time

before I went to school because then I'm in school all day and

then I'm coaching track and the afternoon.

And so then I just get up extra early and I was reading a

passage and I was memorizing. First, Timothy and I be for my

life, see a Bible and I was like it's after the first the first

few days. I was getting more and more

versus built up. So I had to get a little more

time sounds like this, get harder.

I thought it's going to be pretty simple.

This is actually harder than I thought it would.

But for me it fell into neatly into morning.

I'm wide awake, I'm going to get up.

I'm going to study them and memorize.

This verse, I'm going to pray. The praying thing was super hard

for me because I'm activator and I was like um, I'm actually

solving these problems that our brain about them.

You know, it was I was real complicated for me early on but

the study of the scriptures that made sense, get up early go

after it. And I ran into a guy that was in

the student Ministry next to me and he was talking about, he was

just randomly someone asked about as quiet time, and he

goes. Yeah.

I mean, it's the last thing I do because once everybody else is

in bed on my schoolwork's done, you know, you guys it might be

11:30. It might be 12:30 at night, you

guys. And I'm having my quiet time

because I cannot concentrate on this and meditate and think

about God until everything else is done and I thought, oh God

makes them all different as first time I'd ever, I didn't

know night. That existed I thought everybody

was was like me so I mean he was he was doing the same thing, he

was trying to build that structure in at the end of his

day because it felt complete for me.

It was early in the morning and the more I got pushed with the

time then the more I just moved it to earlier and I go back to

the original thing. I'm not saying it's all about

discipline, but you do have to create the space.

I did have to create the time, you know, You've been 12 though

to really talk about obedience and if you know a little versus

know a lot that's fine because you still have something to do

talk a little bit about the balance between knowledge and

obedience. Yeah.

Now here's I'll fully acknowledge that some of this

does play to my personality, you know.

Sure to do to want to do to want to see something happen, but I

don't even with that being true, I don't think it negates the

reality of this idea. I mean, Jesus is real clear,

Mark for is a perfect example. Jesus, teaches all day.

He uses Parables, we don't really know why.

At first, we don't really care because parables are part of our

lingo But for those folks, then it happened to is weird.

He's using these stories that don't totally make sense.

Apparently, a bunch of people were listening at the end of the

day everybody goes home that night around the fire.

The disciples look at Jesus some of them and say hey man that was

great today but I don't know what you're talking about and

you guys oh I'll explain it to you because you asked, I'll

explain it to you. I make this part up.

I assume there was a dude who went home after hearing Jesus,

teach all day. Day and his wife said, hey did

you hear the new Rabbi teacher today?

And he's like, yeah, it's very compelling, it's what he's

saying because actually I don't know he's a good speaker but he

said a bunch of stories that I don't understand and I don't

know what to do with. So it was interesting but I

don't know. Well, that guy didn't get

anything and these other guys who ask for, more got more.

And so they, they heard something they understood a

little bit of it, but not all of it, but it doesn't matter

because they took action. And I think there's a bunch of

Examples of that in the scripture and it would match the

more, the Walk of faith is that for whatever you learn, if you

will take action on it, you will learn more.

And that Jesus says to he, who has more will be given you has

little, even what he has will be taken away.

It's in the context of obedience around a number of things.

And so, I still think that's true.

I think it's not important, and I Think Jesus thinks it's not

important to tell me everything on day one.

I think he says, hey, here's Here's where you might be in sin

or here's something I want you to act on but he doesn't feel

compelled to tell me now in six months.

Here's what it's going to look like.

And I think that's the beautiful part because now you can look

back over the last year and see if I had known that following

God on this issue, was going to get me to here.

I might not have done it. I can tell you for sure that's

true at Grace Church. If you I came here for 18

months, that was my deal. I really felt compelled.

We need to start a church in Greenville, but I thought this

is a 18 to 24 months. Deal for me.

If someone had said, Matt in 27 years, you're going to be

sitting in a room talking into a microphone doing something

called a podcast. I'd be like I'm telling you.

Now I'm out. Tell me I'm not doing that.

There's just no way and that's okay, you're right that we it's

very okay that we don't know the whole deal from the beginning,

but that when I learned something, having a quiet time,

praying, whatever. And I and it gets clear to me

that I ought to go apologize to my wife.

Or I need to text one of my kids and encourage them or exhort

them around something. I just need to do that right

then. And that may lead to something

else that I can see or it may not lead to anything else.

It doesn't see irrelevant. It's just that following and

obeying then puts you in a position to learn new things,

understand new things in a deeper way and I hate to say it

like that because then it sounds like oh the elite deeper people,

but there is a depth, there is a growth that comes when you see

something in the the scriptures, you hear something from God and

you act on it and then it takes you to a different place.

And I think some people are stagnant in their faith because

they might be in a real Bible teaching church.

And they may be learning a lot about the Bible and they may be

learning a lot about God, but they never really act on it.

They never really obey and live it out.

So then they just wind up accumulating information.

But then they don't have the experience of Walking with God

and experiencing some of the interesting things that he wants

to do in you and through you. Because they didn't really I

follow out. Yeah, and they may not be in

this big rebellious thing. Right?

I hate God, they're going to be doing that but they're just not

following in the little things and so the adventure is just not

there. Matt, this idea of acting on

what you learn following in a bang.

Now that you've been doing this for a season, how have you grown

in this area and what have you discovered about yourself?

What have you discovered about the Creator?

Okay, let's acknowledge my life's a little complicated

because I teach the Bible. So, you know, I'll get up in the

morning and I might have a quiet time first.

And then, I'll study for three hours for a sermon.

Or I might just feel compelled to get started.

Studying some, I start studying and then I might have acquired

time a little bit later. So, I mean I'm involved in the

scriptures all the time, so it's real complicated.

So as I was thinking about this earlier, I will like if I am I

am and I'm just setting the stage for you if I'm teaching in

the New Testament. And I'm having quite times in

the Old Testament. If I'm teaching the Old

Testament, I haven't quite done. I'm trying to get as far away

from what I'm doing from what I'm doing.

Professionally, I want to get as far away from that, so I can

hear I teach in the NLT. So my quiet times are in Ni b or

ESV. I spend, and I am getting to

your and soon as I can, I spend a certain portion of time

reading the scriptures, but that's the least.

Mount. I spend more time listening

auditorily because I'm auditory learner, but I still do read but

I spend more time probably listening and then I discipline

myself to listen to some other people.

Teach the Bible not like for saruman's week I mean just look

mainly snippet, devotional kind of stuff and then people that

are writing in a devotional way I will read some of that so I am

trying to to get as far away from my professional voice as

possible and that Complicates the question for so with.

Here's the reason I do all that I've spent the last ten years

trying to be introspective and go, what is my heart longing for

And that is not always an easy question.

If I can discover what my heart is craving and hungry for then

reading studying the scriptures becomes much less of a

discipline, it becomes more of an opportunity.

I'm hungry and I want to eat but used to I just had this rule

structure discipline. I'm reading through this book

and taking these notes and journaling this and then I'm

going to do this book and it was just a decision.

That I made without a lot of reflection.

And so then I'm just working out of discipline all the time and

what I have learned and how I have grown is, it's much more

meaningful. If I can identify a part of me

that is, that is starving, that is longing for something this

Desiring something. Now here's the problem with that

is that can become super self-indulgent.

You know, it just can wear if I'm not feeling it, I'm not

doing it. I mean, there are days when I

don't feel it's still do it right.

But I do think. Think I've had to learn, you

know, where have you grown in this area?

Where I've grown is trying to be a little self aware of what

God's trying to teach me, and where I'm hungry, because he has

his thoughts. For me, just like he does for

you, he has things undiscovered, feelings, things that lie

dormant inside of you that when you read the scriptures, like I

feel the same way she does. When I'm reading I'm reading

that or I'm she looks afraid. Esther looks afraid.

I'd be way more afraid than that, but Identify with this

story with this character to spend some time thinking, what

is it that I need? Right now?

How much mystery do I want? How much tension do I?

What am I, where am I living? So that these scriptures makes

sense to me? And I think not getting locked

into one way of receiving the scriptures and being somewhat

flexible, I think's real helpful.

Yeah, that's a good answer. Just thinking about putting

yourself in the scriptures. Not at the The center because

it's not about you. It's about God.

But you have to know yourself to be able to put yourself in the

story. And so you have to be honest.

This is why you need other people, why you need to read

scripture with other people so that your blind spots, get

exposed, you can now yourself. You can you can feel, I mean,

it's okay to feel right? You need to feel when you're

reading the Bible, you know, one time its class that I teach one

of the emphasis is just That God knows exactly where we are.

And one of the things we read is like Psalm 88 you've ever read

Psalm 88. It's like incredibly depressing

and there's no happy ending. It just ends just ends with this

idea. That darkness is my only friend.

You do your preached on very much and and the point of using,

that is an example to say, Do you believe that you can go to

God in all kinds of mom? We know we can go to God when

we're happy and we're celebrating and one more joyful.

But do you believe you can go to God at any time?

And that he knows how to meet you there.

And so being real as real with God as we would be with each

other but we it starts with understanding ourselves being

real with other people being real with God.

And then I love the intentionality of knowing where

you would drift know some of us are always going to drift to the

gospels. Some of us are always going to

drift to Paul's letters and it's like okay well let's

intentionally build a path to go to something that God might have

foreseen the Psalms or in the in the Old Testament law or in the

prophets or whatever. You know, I mean, understanding

the entirety of scripture and understanding the story, and

there's some learning along the way to make it all make sense,

but so if you could kind of package all this up, go back to

Young, Matt and say, all right, what's the advice, what's the

advice? You're going to give young?

Matt? What advice have you given your

kids about how All of this works itself out over time.

I mean, the main thing I would say is in Des go back to the

Synthroid, illustration is that this is going to work, this is

going to pay off. I was talking to a guy not too

long ago, one of our campuses and he was just, he was just

explaining how busy and complicated life is and

relationship with his kids and and we're talking about biggest

fears. And what's your most we met

concerned about what would be the worst case scenario?

Because worst case scenario, be like that I died and was up here

to be with my family and my children.

I said it's really not. I said there.

What's the worst is? I said if you died kind of a

difficult thing to say, well I'll leave you die.

Demand, they think you're a hero.

You'd be immortalized. I'm like, but really A

worst-case scenario for you is in two years, your children are

sitting around the dinner at the dinner table with you and you're

completely irrelevant, because you spend all your time,

thinking about work and your powerful at work, but you're not

powerful in your home and your girls, they don't look up to you

because you don't know the latest Taylor Swift song.

You don't really know what's going on.

Here's I'm telling you don't need another latest Taylor so

it's long. It's a great album, it just drop

but you don't really need to. You don't have to know all that

to be. Relevant to your children and

the things that make you powerful and influential with

the most important people in your life, come from a depth of

your own soul. Regardless of how we're aware,

you are of any cultural shift or change and spending time,

learning who you are with the Creator, what?

What he thinks about you, what? He's created you to do and to be

and how you relate to him, that's the kind of thing.

In the provides a real answers for people and really

encouragement for people and real correction when they

needed, but it gives you to overuse the word gives you a

sense of Gravitas, which none of us, even knows what that is.

But when we talk about it, then we're like, yeah, I know what

that is, but no one can tell you what it is.

And I believe, if someone, if I could just say to me, say Matt,

you're going to want to cut some corners and you hate the wisdom

literature, but you got to hang in there.

You can't just do the Epistles and narrative.

As you love it, stay with the plan, stay with the program.

Think about what you're craving. Think about what you want to

know, think about what you want to learn be disciplined, but

just keep working. It is going to work.

In 20 years, you are going to acquire a base of knowledge and

thought and even feeling about who God is this going to be real

meaningful to you and going to be meaningful to your family and

be around you. And so, I wish I had been more

fair. I wish I had I wish I had not

gotten so Purged at times, you know.

And like I said, I would just hide from the wisdom literature.

Only cares about this, their poems could never say that back

then. Right?

I would hear this one Pastor talked about wisdom literature

and I would think he's having a completely different experience

with it than I am and it's meaningful to him and I just

don't give up because you it's small, small incremental

Investments and there's a great payoff at some point it just

takes time. Matt, this has been great.

Thanks for just sharing some of these ideas and just land the

plane. What would be some practical

tips for us? You know, where should we start?

Just commissioned us even if you're been in the scriptures a

long time, I mean make sure that you have a good study Bible.

There's no I don't think there's a better tool.

Would you agree - yeah, 100%, I mean a good stuff.

NLT Study Bible the ESB Study Bible, I mean those are all just

great tools because you have some good Notes in there to kind

of clarify, because there are little things that have little

bit of context, little bit of culture, little bit of History

to it, it's just clears all that up so fast and so, a good study

Bible, I made a deal with myself.

I don't ever if I get in the car for more than 30 minutes, I am

going to listen I'm going to put a book on audio book of the

Bible and I'm going to listen to two.

Four eight ten chapters. Am I going to remember all that

going from Genesis? I just went to see my mom last

week going from Genesis 18 to 32.

Am I keeping up with all that know?

But that is flowing into my brain, right?

I'm being reminded of what God thinks how we respond.

These people are not more sinful than I am.

I was just upset. I'm just that simple.

And I want to be just a faithful to.

And so I just made a deal with myself.

I'm in the car for any length of time, part of that time will be

given over to just listening to the Bible audio.

And I will, you know, I look at YouTube and I think the number

of resources like what in the world, I would find someone that

does devotions that you resonate with because then you're getting

to hear. How someone else that wouldn't

be my full diet. I'm just saying to be able to

hear how someone else processes the scriptures and how

meaningful it is to them. There's just something that's

kind of unique about that and since it doesn't take, but one

minute on the way to work, hit it and while you're driving,

just listen, that's great, you know.

And I would find the time of day when you can focus, when you can

concert to have your time. And I would Journal my thoughts

that study Bible, listen read, I would Journal my thoughts.

You don't have to go back and read all your thoughts, it just

helps. You think it?

Just pulls things out of you from a deeper level?

I would do all of it. Is that how you talk about

praying and reading? Sometimes we use those two words

together is that is that kind of how you're praying meditating

talking to God, are you, are you doing that as you're writing and

you're studying, or are you? I used to ride a Right, I write

a lot less now I ride in fragments, I write in just

sentences. I used to write the paragraph

and I could, you know, I can but and then I have a white board in

my office with names on it. A people that I'm praying for

that, I'm keeping up with, I don't have to write out

everything they're going through.

I just kind of know those names this, he's got cancer, this is a

difficult marriage. And so I have that in front of

me, so that this time with God is not always just about me.

Me you know and then also the scriptures in the point of

suffering and in the point of interceding and caring for other

people and serving other people, the scriptures tend to make a

lot more sense to when it's all about me.

There's lots of scriptures that just don't make any sense.

So when you're actually living trying to live a Christian Life,

the scriptures do make a lot more sense in that moment.

So I mean that's why it's not this suit definitely has to be a

super organized formula for everybody.

I think you need to find your time of the day.

You need a Bible, some kind of devotion.

I think the Along with that. But I just would not miss the

opportunity to listen to the scriptures because we can you

know, back in the day you got when you got a set of tapes,

right? You're riding down the road.

You like this amazing? Now we have weight was hunting a

couple weeks ago in a deer walked out.

I had to stop my phone. I was like, it's so loud in my

ears. Listen to something in, Psalms

had to stop it. So I could entertain this deer

in front. It says, you can take it

anywhere and you got it with you all the time.

Um, yeah, I love that idea of just redeeming redeeming time.

That's great. We waste a lot of time so that's

helpful. Well Matt, thank you very much

for sharing some thoughts and giving us a strategy to be

biblically oriented this been great.

Yeah, man. Thanks for the opportunity and I

just feel like the simpler. You can keep all this and the

more personal that you make it, the more sustainable, more

meaningful. It is.

It does not need to be a big complicated thing in your life.

And you should be the most simple basic part of your life

that it is. Integrated deep into who you are

and what you're doing on a daily and weekly basis.

Yeah. Well thanks again for joining

us, man. Thank you.

Thanks Chris. Well, as we wrap up today's

conversation, we want to thank you for joining us.

We realize that listening to a podcast episode can be an

individual experience which we believe is only enhanced by

talking through it and applying it to life.

And this is something that we believe lots of people don't

naturally seek out or have built into their lives.

So we want to encourage you to share this episode with someone

else. And ask them to share with you

any takeaways. They receive from listening and

I would say be prepared to do the same and approach their

feedback with a posture to learn and apply and this is a great

way to move towards this discipleship issue.

If you have questions or want access to any additional

resources to help you, dive deeper into this subject, be

sure to check out our podcast page located in the show notes

and if we can help you answer any questions about this episode

or want us to discuss something in a future episode, email us at

why discipleship at Grace Church, Church SC dot org and

we'll get back to you. Thanks for joining us today and

we look forward to joining you on the next episode.