24th May II The God story II Libby Woodward

Do take a seat. We're going to worship again

later on in the service. A special welcome to you for

your new your visiting today is Pentecost Sunday.

And for those of you that don't know what that is, it's when the

Spirit of God was poured out on Jesus disciples for the first

time in power and the church was launched.

So it's like the church's birthday, the church worldwide.

So like we had our 15th birthday last last week, today is like

the global church's birthday. And it also marks the beginning

of our new series, The God Story.

So for those of you that might not know, we're starting a new

series today where we're going to be exploring the Bible, the

God Story. We're going to be looking at it

not as disconnected stories or around a list of random rules,

but one big story, the God Story that we find our part to play in

that we find ourselves within. And we're going to finish this

series at our weekend away. So quick plug, if you haven't

booked for the church weekend away, you need to come.

OK, First weekend in July, Bookings close next weekend.

Well, in theory, if you make a decision the following week,

we're not going to turn you away.

But that's like my little advert break done.

OK. The story of the Bible, the God

story, it begins with creation. It climaxes in Jesus and invites

every single one of us to play our part in all that God is

doing in the world around us. So it's a book.

It's a book. I bought a few visual aids this

morning. It is an all in service.

Well done. If you're here and you're in

primary school, you are bringing it this morning, my star pupils.

So I've got a few books here to help us dig into the Bible a

little bit. And does anyone know what this

is? A photo album?

Why do we have photo albums? Memories to remind us of things,

the things that we have done, seen, taken part in.

This is this is one of our our COVID photo albums.

OK, well, what's this book? Can you see?

It's called The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe?

What sort of book is it? Fiction, A story?

It's a novel. It's a story.

If you haven't read it, it's really worth reading it.

It's a story. What about this one?

The Dodoyne and Dodoyne and the Lot Travel Guide?

It's a, it's a guidebook, tells you all about the different

places that we might have been to or I just looked at the

pictures before we went. So what's this one?

Canoe and kayak? The clue is in the title

handbook. If you're interested in a canoe

and kayak handbook, we have 1 you could borrow.

There you go. This one, a map, the a, a road

map of 2018. It's probably a bit out of date

now of Great Britain and Ireland.

We might use that in the summer. We're planning to go to

Scotland, so that helps you find the way, doesn't it?

The Bible, the map, this one, who uses one of these these

days? I love that.

I bought this when I was at university.

I think that was probably the last time I used it because then

Google was invented, right? A dictionary.

It helps us work out what mean it, what words mean.

I would say how to spell them. It doesn't help a dyslexic

person to spell them because most English words aren't

written as you say them, are they?

So. But helpful to find meanings and

understanding. This one, a recipe book.

A recipe book which I've never used, but I'm sure it has some

lovely tasty recipes in it. And then I bought a few.

My children will tell you. In fact, one of my children sent

me a thing, a meme. Is it called on social media of

someone having a bad day and their family cheered them up by

buying them a new Bible? And they sent me that meme

because, you know, I've got a number of Bibles and then I've

got, so I've bought 4-5 in today.

A Bible is, you could say all of those books in one.

OK, this is quite a serious 1, isn't It's got a black cover.

This one. If you haven't read the Jesus

Storybook Bible, it's absolutely brilliant.

If you want to get to grips with the overarching story of the of

the God story, then this is one of the best books that you can

buy. And if you want to borrow it and

you promise to return it, I'll lend it to you.

I was bought this book for my birthday a few years ago.

The infographic Bible if you like pictures and graphs and

beautifulness, then feel free to have a look at this at the end.

This this was one this was before you had the Bible app and

you're the whole Bible was in your pocket, right.

I had one of these and I got given it in July 1990.

So quite a long time ago, some of you were not born.

And now, like, if you look at it like you need a, for me, I need

a magnifying glass to see it. But this was my pocket Bible

that I had when I was a teenager because I wanted to carry the

Bible around with me. This is my current favorite

because it's my favorite colour. And guess what?

It's the exact opposite of that one.

It's in giant print, OK? There's so many different

Bibles. I feel like I could be a Bible

salesperson, right? For those of you that don't know

me, I love the Bible. I have studied it for years and

years and years. I love it.

It's useful. It's a guidebook.

It's a reminder, like a photograph album of where we

have come from, of the story that we are part of.

It's a dictionary. It explains things that we might

not understand. It's a map.

It's all of the things. It's probably even recipe book.

I mean it talks about making like Raisin cakes and not that I

ever have, but the Bible is just such a great book.

It is not just one book. It is a library.

It is 66 books. It's written by over 40 authors

across about 1500 years in more than one language, so the fact

that it is a unified story that leads to Jesus is utterly mind

blowing because of how these scriptures have been pulled

together. So if you don't have a Bible,

then we want to give, we, I know we say this all the time, but we

want to give you 1. If you who live with people that

don't have Bibles and they would like one, please take one.

If you don't bring your Bible to church on a Sunday, bring it.

There's nothing better than thumbing through the pages,

working out like where we are in the God story, where we're at,

looking at it in your pages and writing on it.

I know that there's some people that don't like writing in books

in our church, but highlighting it like if you look at mine, you

can, I mean, I got this last year.

You can tell books I've read because there's highlighting in

them. So I'm working my way through it

this year. Bring your Bible to church.

I, I, yes, do it. So it's a library.

It's all these books together. It's also a story.

Every story has a shape. I held up the line, The Witch

and the wardrobe. It's a story.

OK, so that's fictional. I don't think the Bible is

fictional, but it has an overarching story.

Every story has a shape, So let's look at a couple of these.

You're going to have to help me out with these.

I think there might be. OK.

So this is a story. Anyone know the story?

Frozen. Well done.

Well done. Diane.

Who's the hero? Elsa, What's the problem?

It's called OK. Well, OK.

Frozen Heart. Frozen Heart Hands is evil.

Maybe slightly confused. How is it resolved?

Sisterly Love. Love's true Kiss.

I don't. It's a long time since I watched

it. But it has a story, doesn't it?

There's a hero. There's a problem.

There's a resolution. What about the next one?

The Lion King? Who's the hero?

Simba. What's the problem?

Scar and the hyenas have taken over the Pride Land.

How is it resolved? Simba's.

Simba works out his identity, doesn't he?

He realises that he is. He's the king.

Death to Scar, did you say? Oh, yeah.

Yeah. OK.

OK. Next one, This one.

You're going to have to help me out with Star Wars.

Any Mandalorian and Grogu fans in the room?

OK, so who's the hero of Star Wars?

I couldn't answer this question because I've only watched a

couple of Star Wars films and I know there's hundreds, but

there's heroes. Is there?

Is Luke Skywalker one of them? OK, that's the one that I knew

of. Jake knows.

Oh, Nikki's dubbing you in. What's the problem?

I like. That's a really good summary.

The Empire has been taken over by the Galaxy and it's really

bad. OK, that's about my level of

understanding of Star Wars. For those of you that are avid

fans, I'm sorry that I am ruining this for you.

And how is it resolved with lightsabers overpowering the

Empire? OK, I love that.

I need to watch more Star Wars. Sacrifice.

There you go. It's resolved by sacrifice.

Thanks, Russ. That ties nicely into the God

story, doesn't it? Yeah.

OK. Next one.

Oh, that's a bit of a rubbish picture.

Some of you are like what? It's a rubbish picture.

Apologies. High School Musical.

Like High School Musical. There we go.

The hips broke out in song. I'm surprised Russ didn't join

in. I have seen Russ sing along to

High School Musical. OK, so who's the hero?

Let's go with the first film, shall we?

Troy and Gabriella. OK, What's the what's the

problem? The soundtrack.

The soundtrack. Shar, Pei and Ryan.

What is the problem? Also that jealousy.

Yeah, they don't know who they are.

They're struggling with their identity, as you can tell.

As we've gone on, I know more about some of these films than

these stories than others. And how is it resolved singing

something along those lines? They work out who they are.

They become confident in who they're made to be and what they

love. I love it.

OK, OK. I think that's the last one,

that if they all have an overarching, they all have a

story. There's a, there's a hero,

there's a problem, there's a resolution.

And the Bible is the same too. OK, it has, it has an

overarching storyline. So I'm going to need some

volunteers. Can I have 6 volunteers?

You just have to hold up a piece of card.

Brilliant, you go. Brilliant.

A a can you come and stand here? You're holding creation.

Creation happens. This is when God created the

world. Let's pretend that a is God and

she's creating the world. Unfortunately, who's going to be

the fool then? Unfortunately, man decides, I'm

going to go into more of this in a minute.

Man decides to do their own thing.

Humans decide, God says, I'm going to rescue you with a

family called Israel that has its ups and downs.

And and so God sends Jesus the ultimate he is going to rescue

all of us. And he does that through the

church, which we read about in the book of Acts.

And no, should I just hold it? And then we have the new

creation, the climax when Jesus comes again.

So this is the overarching story of the Bible and we're going to

look at it in a bit more detail in a minute.

Well done team. Can you all smile and take a

bow? Is hiding behind a piece of

paper brilliant? Just put the bits of paper on

the floor. That would be amazing.

And you can take your seats. Thank you very much.

The Bible has this overarching story.

And then we're going to look at it in a bit more detail in a

minute. Have you got time to do

announcements? We're going to have some

announcements and a short break and then I will be back.

Pip, don't trip on the bits of paper.

Like technical issues. So the music only came on at the

end. OK, so if while I'm talking you

want to do something with your fingers or hands, we've got a

few activity books. Activity books, activity sheets,

colouring, bookmark making. This isn't just for children.

If you like colouring and you like being busy.

Also over here. Just a quick poll.

Does anybody know all the books of the Bible off by heart?

OK, half anyone? Can anyone know more than half?

OK, so this is your challenge. OK, so it might be that you want

to take a coloring sheet. You don't need to color it, but

you could have it at home. Or if you've got your Bibles,

you can look at the contents page.

Or if you've got your Bible course book, which we're doing

in small groups. If you're not in a small group,

then do get into a small group. They're going to be, we're going

to be looking at this in our small groups.

But do take If you don't have a book, take one.

They're outside on the information table.

That'll give you a list. Over here is some Jenga blocks

that I have graffitied with the books of the Bible.

So if you want to build a tower in the correct order, then feel

free to do that while I'm talking.

That's absolutely fine if you want to do that.

You might need to take a list with you if you don't know it,

or if you can sing the song in your head or out loud if you

want to. So we've looked at the fact that

the Bible is a library. The Bible is a story.

No, it's not cheating if you don't know it.

Maybe the 1st 1st for you, you can try it.

OK, I've totally lost my train of thought.

The Bible is also so the Bible is a library.

It's a story. It's also the word of God.

Paul who wrote a lot of the New Testament, he once he decided to

follow Jesus, he was an all round legend.

And he was writing to his friend Timothy who was younger than him

and was overseeing the church plant in Ephesus.

And Paul writes to Timothy in Two Timothy 3, Two Timothy 316

to 17. All scripture is inspired by

God. Some translations say Breathed

by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us

realize what is wrong in our lives.

It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is

right. God uses it to prepare and equip

his people to do every good work.

The the words of the Bible are inspired by God.

They're his breath. He used the authors to write

what they wrote. It is alive and active,

Scripture says. And for those of you that know,

just after Jesus rose from the dead, he joined his friends

walking to the town of Emmaus. And they didn't realize that it

was Jesus. And this stranger that they were

walking with started unpacking the scriptures, unpacking what

we call the Old Testament. And when they realized it was

Jesus, they said, did not his words burn within us?

The Word of God is alive and active.

It is important. That's why it's important for us

to read it and to understand it, to apply it.

There's history, there's stories, there's law, there's

wisdom, there's different accounts of occasions.

The reason we need to know it, to read it, to understand it, is

so that we can find our place within this God story.

We can play our part. So we had a brief look at the

overarching narrative of Scripture.

And so I'm going to look at that in a little bit more detail.

So we started with creation in the beginning.

God created the world. Human beings are made to live in

relationship with God, to have our identity in him, to be made

in his image. I'm not going to go off my notes

because I'm also talking on this next week.

So come back next week for the story begins Genesis.

God created and it was good. It was very good and he created

us to live in harmony and relationship.

Unfortunately, human beings chose autonomy over trust.

Adam and Eve, God's first human beings, he created.

God did something that God had expressly told them not to, and

the consequences were and are far reaching.

Autonomy over trust. That is the root of why we find

it so hard to trust people. And Adam and Eve's response to

realizing that they had not trusted God was to hide.

They sin is what the Bible calls when we do things that are not

God's way. And sin fractured everything.

It fractured their relationship with God, their relationship

with each other, their relationship with creation.

Their response was to hide. And and God walked in the garden

and said, where are you? I wonder how many of us hide

from God and each other? Ashamed of who we really are,

Fearful, embarrassed, unsure. And God asks us the same

question, Where are you? Even though God is all knowing

and he knows who we are, He knows where we are, where he

knows where we're hiding, He still gives us the choice.

And he says, where are you? Sin messes everything up.

So we have creation, we have fall, then we have Israel.

God chooses a family, Abraham's family, to bless the nations.

He makes a promise with him, a covenant, a covenant

relationship where he says, if you do this, I will do this, I

will look after you. You will be my people and you

will be a blessing to the whole world.

And in this big chunk in the Old Testament, that's where we read

about the law and the prophets and all of the different judges

and kings. The people of Israel, this

family that God chose, wanted to replace God with a judge and

then a king. They wanted a human being to

lead them because they kind of lost touch with God.

And it says over and over again, if you read any of those books

in the Old Testament, Israel chose to do their own thing.

For another 40 years, Israel chose to ignore God.

How familiar does that sound to life today?

We as a people, as a nation, as a as a world, we choose to

ignore God. But that wasn't where the story

ended. Because God loves us.

God created us as human beings to be in relationship with him.

He made us in his image and so he was never going to just leave

it like that. He sent Jesus.

He himself, the triune God came to earth.

He was no side note, Jesus wasn't a Plan B Jesus actually

is the climax of the story. This the whole of the Bible is

to, to quote the Bible project, a unified story that leads to

Jesus. Jesus comes to do what no one

else can do. He's God, He's perfect, and he's

fully human. He lives, he dies, he rises

again to restore what is broken, and he promises to come again.

You know, the covenant that God made with Abraham back in the

book of Genesis. God used what Abraham would have

understood in his culture and context.

The covenant is called the Souser and vassal treaty.

And they made a promise, and I'm not going to go into the details

because it's a bit gory, but there was some animals that were

killed. There was a promise that was

made. Abraham and the presence of God

in a cloud walk through these dead animals.

And the promise is, is that if we do so, if we break this

agreement, what has happened to these animals will happen to one

of us. And if you know anything of the,

of the Bible, you'll know that the, the, the covenant was

broken, The promise was broken. The people chose to do what they

wanted to do, their relationship with God.

They ignored him. But rather than God killing

humanity and what happening to humanity, what happened to those

animals? God came as himself in Jesus,

and he was sacrificed so that we could have relationship with

him. Israel broke the promise over

and over again, and Jesus came to pay the price for that broken

covenant to make the sacrifice. The whole Bible points to Jesus.

After Jesus rises and ascends to heaven, the story is not over

because then we have the church, a really important part of the

God story. That's us, that's our part.

This is where we play our role, where we play our part, and that

began at Pentecost. If you read the book of Acts,

it's the story of how the church began, the global church began.

In fact, I'm going to read it now.

So if you've got your Bible, find Acts.

It's if you go to the middle and go towards the back a little

bit, it goes Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts.

If you're in the New Testament, unfortunately it's not quite

halfway because there's more Old Testament books and there are

New Testament books. Acts 2, I'm going to read.

On the day of Pentecost, all the believers were meeting together

in one place. Suddenly there was a sound from

heaven, like a roaring of a mighty windstorm.

It filled the house where they were sitting.

Then what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and

settled on each of them, and everyone present was filled with

the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages as

the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.

At the time there were devout Jews from all from every nation

living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise,

everyone came running and they were bewildered to hear their

own languages being spoken by the believers.

They were completely amazed. How can this be?

They exclaimed. These people are all from

Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our own native

languages. Here we are Parthians, Medes,

Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia,

Pontus and the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt and

the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both

Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretians and Arabs.

And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages

about the wonderful things God has done.

They stood there amazed and perplexed.

What can this mean? They asked each other, but

others in the crowd ridiculed them, saying they're they're

just drunk, that's all. And then Peter stands up and he

says they're not drunk. This is the Holy Spirit.

And he goes on to preach the gospel.

And it says 5000 people joined the church that day, 5000 people

plus probably became believers. The church is so significant.

The same Spirit that inspired Scripture is now here with us to

help us understand Scripture. The Spirit that lives in us to

comfort us, to help us, help us become more like Jesus, is the

same helper. If you look at the Hebrew that

is used to describe Eve, when Eve is created to help Adam.

The Holy Spirit was sent to us to help us become more like

Jesus. And then we have the climax in

the new creation. If you read Revelation it can

twist your head a little bit. Come and talk to me if you want

to know more. The climax is Jesus return.

One day He will come again. He says he will.

And we know that we can trust what God says, and he will make

a new heaven and a new earth. There will be no more sin, no

more sickness, no more death, no more dying.

The old order of things will pass away.

The order of things that we know and understand and live in will

pass away. And His Kingdom will be here in

full. This is the God story that we

find ourselves in, the God story that is contained in the Bible.

It's history, it's present, it's hope for the future, and it's

the story that we can get immersed in, we can live our

lives within. It's the story I've given my

life to that I get excited about, that I try and immerse

myself in every day. And This is why knowing it,

reading it, understanding it is so important.

You know, the ancient practice of reading scriptures is more

important today in a distracted world, I think, than ever

before. And This is why we're doing this

series on the God story. This is why in small groups we

are going through the Bible course.

You know, research is showing that in our culture now, people

are more open to Jesus than ever, well, than in our living

memory, You know, this. Lots of research has been done,

and in similar research that's been done about the openness of

people in our current culture and climate, there's also

research that has been done to say that the people of God feel

less confident about the Bible than ever.

People don't feel confident talking to their friends or

reading it themselves or understanding where they fit.

So that's on us, the church on, on leaders not not teaching it

well enough. So that's why I'm passionate

about this, because I want us to be a community of people that

has total confidence in the Bible.

That is is Bible literate that understands how it all fits

together. You know, we don't have to go

and do a theology degree for this.

We don't have to go and do biblical studies.

We just need to understand how the story fits together.

Because when we're confident in the Bible, when we understand

how it all fits together, it's not just information, it leads

to transformation. And that's what we're about,

right? Becoming more like Jesus.

You know, UK Bible sales have more than doubled since 2019.

Physical Bible sales rose from 192,000 to 396,000 last year

alone. You know, in a world where there

is endless content in the palm of our hands, people are

searching for truth, meaning and hope.

Where secularism has sold the lie, sold us a lie and made us

sick, people are now turning to ancient truth to find meaning,

freedom and purpose. So the Bible is not less

relevant. The Bible is more relevant, or

as relevant as it has always been, but people are

rediscovering it. I heard two stories in the last

couple of weeks at which I'm going to share.

Jacob was in the room, Anna was in the room.

Anna, who is a friend of ours, Rust and Pip's eldest daughter.

She was going to Birmingham on the train a couple of weeks ago

after the Vineyard leaders gathering.

And she was sitting on the train, headphones in, and a guy

came and sat opposite her, and he signalled for her to take her

earbuds out. And she doesn't know how or why,

but he started to ask her questions about the Bible.

It turns out he's a scientist. He's looking for truth.

And he just picked up a Bible and started reading it.

And I think the conversation started because she had a

wristband on from the conference.

And he said, oh, where's your wristband from?

So I think she said, oh, I've just been at a conference at my

church. And so he said, oh, can I ask

you some questions about the Bible?

Isn't that amazing? So she got out of her Bible.

They did a little bit of a she taught him a little bit about

the Bible, did a bit of a Bible study, found out he lives in

reading. She Googled some churches.

Oh, I know someone at this church.

You should try this church, which she doesn't know.

But what an incredible conversation.

Jake's, we're going to pray for him at the end because he's

moving back up to Nottingham. But he went in to speak to his

boss to tell him that he was leaving.

They had a work conversation, you can find out the details

afterwards and then it LED on to a whole conversation.

His boss talking about the fact that he'd started reading the

Bible and he probably needed to find a church.

Like mind blowing, right? There are like people in our

people that we are connected to are probably searching more than

you realize. And so for you, I heard someone

say recently, you know, maybe at work, you might have kept your

Bible in your bag or in your desk drawer.

Now's the time to put it on your desk so that people see that

you've got a Bible because they may well ask you the questions.

You know, to do the Bible course if you like.

If you pick it up and you don't manage to make small group, you

can work through it on your own. There's videos online.

You can become more confident in the Bible.

It's worth it. You don't have to.

You don't have to know it all. You don't have to know anything.

If you find the Bible confusing, if you're not quite sure, or

even if you've been in church your whole life and you feel

fairly confident, I guarantee you'll learn something new

because there's so much to learn.

You know, we can trust the Bible.

It's rooted in history. Secular historians will tell you

what a historically rooted book this is.

It's been carefully preserved. You can still see manuscripts in

different places of original writings, and it has stand stood

the test of time. Lives have been transformed

across generations. The Bible can be trusted.

We can also trust it because it asks.

It asks hard questions and it points us to the answer.

We trust it because the Bible has stood up to the hard

questions that has been asked. OK, we before we worship again,

we're going to have a little bit of an interview panel.

So please put your hands together for Betty, Angela and

Graham. Going to channel my inner

Claudia Winkelman. I was going to say like Wogan,

but most of you don't know who he is, probably intimidate.

Don't be intimidated. I thought it would be really

good to hear other people's story, perspective, ideas, not

just mine. So I've got a few questions.

So firstly, brilliant. No, that's fine.

We'll start with you, Angela. How did you first started

reading the Bible and why do you still read it now?

I, I first started, I think when I was little, I had a Bible

stories book that had great hero stories in it.

You know, like Adam and Eve and then Joseph and his amazing

Technicolor Dreamcoat and Noah and all the Bible heroes, Daniel

and King David and whatever. And I remember having that when

I was little and my mom and dad reading it to me, and then a

point where I could read the stories myself, probably just

remembered them. But that, I guess, was my first

kind of encounter with reading the Bible until I was about, I

think, 11, I guess at the point where you would leave in your

kids and go into youth. And I was given a Bible and it

was a King James Version. And show me an 11 year old

that's ever going to read that. So yeah.

Lots of these thousands. Absolutely.

Yeah, OK. And what have have you carried

on reading it throughout your life?

Full disclosure, I'm a bit rubbish.

I'm not disciplined. I'm not one of these people that

gets up at 6:00 every morning, sits for an hour and studies my

Bible. I regularly try to be more

disciplined, but I do, I like to use the Bible app because I just

find it easier. It prompts me on a verse that I

can read, ponder, and then maybe ask God right what you're trying

to say to me and that. So rather than sit and read a

whole chunk, I like to read little bits.

And because I do, I'll prefer to use maybe a study plan.

I find that easier to be more disciplined.

And one thing that I really love in our small group, a few times

we've done the Advent and the Lent Bible plans.

And I find that really great because if other people are

doing it, I tend then to say, all right, I've got to, you

know, I've got a bit to read today.

I wonder what's going to happen next.

And I especially love the fact that God speaks to all of us in

a different way when we do that. I've noticed that when we write

our notes, you know, after we've read it and listened to the bit

for the day, often what someone else says, Oh yeah, God said

this to me or I felt this, I think, Oh yeah, I hadn't, I

hadn't seen it like that. I'd seen it in a different way.

So I find that really encouraging.

That's brilliant. Thank you.

Angela. Betty, how about you?

How did you first start reading the Bible?

And do you? Why do you still do it?

Well, I, I grew up in church, so a lot of my first kind of

experience of the Bible was through kid church and like kind

of Sunday school stuff and like learning those stories and

having them read to me. And yeah, so I think that's kind

of like where I was first introduced to it.

And then I think I was bought a Bible.

Well, I kind of demanded that I was bought like a like an adult

Bible at like 9, which then meant little 9 year old Betty

tried to read the entire Bible and didn't get very far past the

first bit of Genesis. So yeah, Fast forward and then I

think probably about three years ago, I think I just started God

was like, yeah, let's let we need to do this.

So I kind of started being more intentional with Bible time and

like specifically in the last year I've tried to tried because

I found it tricky, but try to read a bit every day.

But yeah. And what about you?

When did you first start reading the Bible and why do you still

read it? OK, so yeah, again, we grew up

in, I grew up in the church, my family of Christians, and we

went to Sunday school on a Sunday morning.

So once a week at least I'll be exposed to the Bible.

I'd say the first time consistently reading the Bible

is when, when we were little, I suppose from the age of eight,

we went on summer camps. And on summer camps they would

have a Bible study period each day where you'd have small

groups. And on each of those camps you'd

spend every day just reading a little bit of the Bible and

talking about it. It might connect to evening

talks and things, but generally that was the sort of first

exposure of reading it consistently for a week,

although those actually were two weeks.

So two weeks I was successful at consistently reading the Bible

every day. So that was my first sort of

exposure of sort of picking it up and reading it.

Following those. They encourage you to like

little booklets that gave you a Bible reading every day and they

would work through the year and mum used to buy us those and

give us those to read. My success rate is fairly hit

and miss. Anyone that knows me, I am the

most scatterbrained approach to life.

Libs will give me a job. I will do the first thing on the

job and then the next 5 things get totally forgotten.

So when reading the Bible is at the top of my list, I pick it up

and I'm good. As soon as something else pops

into my brain then it drops down.

So I have to keep working at keeping the Bible going to the

top of the list because the way I function is it drops.

So it's a real struggle for me just because of the way I'm not

diagnosed ADHD, but I wouldn't be surprised if I was because I

do fire all over the place when it comes to jobs and tasks.

So yeah, from, from consistently when I'm in a place of

structure, my Bible reading is good.

When I'm left to my own devices, it goes up and down.

And so the invention of the Bible app, like Andrew was

saying, was really good. And at times when I'm struggling

with something, there's often little devotional series that

can look at grief, stress, anxiety, and I tend to gravitate

towards one of those. And then I can really read

passages that can really speak into how I'm feeling.

And then God can just feed into to where I'm at and help me

through those stages. So that becomes really helpful

as well. I've just, I constantly try to

be better. But definitely I'm better

probably when I need God more than when I'm sort of floating

along busy, if that makes sense. Yeah.

That's great. So you've mentioned the Bible

app and some Bible reading notes when you were little, Angela

mentioned the Bible app. Betty, do you find, do you have

anything that helps you structure what you read or do

you just start in Genesis and you're just plowing your way

through? Well, like Angela was saying

that she's like the structure of Bible plan.

I'm the complete opposite. Like if we're in a group and

we're doing a Bible plan, you bet I'll do the first two days

and then like that's it. All bets are off really.

So I think I've still got one from about two years ago that

I'm on a group of people and I probably do need to finish that

one, but I use a variety of things.

So I'm very much a mix and matcher, like a bit of a picker

mix approach to how I want to read the Bible.

I think I used to just like flick open a page and be like

Lord Jesus speak to me, which was I mean, God can so speak to

you through that. But I also think there's

something so-called about the intentionality of like, I'm

going to read a bit of New Testament today.

I'm going to read a bit of Old Testament today because I think

otherwise 12 year old me just like was there just reading the

instructions of the Tabernacle, which you know, not every 12

year old wants to read, but so I I have a devotional that I

really try to read every morning, which is called Jesus

calling really love it. It's devotional where kind of

has a creative written piece as if Jesus was speaking to you

based on like two or three verses of the Bible.

So that's how I get like my daily like little injection of

the Bible there and then I use a variety of other I've like to

study you Bible books and plans, and I use a lot of stuff from

there is something more is a cool brand that has a lot of

good resources for Bible stuff. Use the Bible project.

If I'm ever stuck on something, I also just talk to someone.

If I'm stuck on something like there's nothing worse than just

reading it and going, Oh, that doesn't sit right with me.

And then like just letting it chill, like go and talk to

someone who maybe is a bit more ahead of you in the race, that

step ahead, who looks like they might have read it and be like,

oh, what's this about? It's not quite sitting right

with me. Because I find when I've gone to

chat to someone about that, suddenly I'm aware of different

bits of context that I was not aware of before.

And suddenly it all starts to click and I'm like, OK, I get

it. So I think those are the things

I can't appease really. I love it.

And my next question was going to be when you don't understand

something, what, what do you do? So you don't know?

I love that. So Angela, what?

Like if you if you read something and you don't

understand it or like find it hard, like what?

What would you do with that? I'd come and ask you now.

I think I one of the things I love about the Bible.

I'm not plugging the Bible up. It's amazing.

And if you don't have it, it's free.

It's got the whole Bible on. It's got all these plans that

these guys are talking about. It's worth having on your phone

because most of us don't have little pocket.

But Bibles, do we? But you can get the Bible up.

There you go. Yeah, I think you can.

You can choose different translations of the Bible as

well. So I tend to stick to the same

one all the time. But sometimes I might flip to

like, the message is quite good for putting it in a bit of a

kind of different way, and that helps.

Or like Betty says, I would, you know, maybe chat to somebody

else. Yeah.

Brilliant. What about you, Graham?

Because you have loads of books if I do want to look something

up. So I'd probably pick up anything

in the New Testament, lots of Tom Wright's books.

So Tom Wright's the theologian who's really clever and well

read and can often put things in a way that I can understand.

So if I'm struggling with something that I can just pick

up one of those and find that passage and then read what Tom

has written about it because he, yeah, he's really smart.

I can ask clips as well. I, I sometimes do use Google,

but then I need to think where am I?

Where is the source? So I look for names that I

recognize of credible people like CS Lewis or Tom Wright or

so I can make sure that the facts that I'm reading are

sounded in good theology. Because, you know, the Internet,

anyone can put stuff up. It's an open source environment,

so you have to be a bit careful about just pulling random

websites up and reading because it might not necessarily be

particularly well grounded. So yeah, that's often what I do.

I think like on that note, with the invention of AI, love it or

hate it, like you could ask it a question and it could tell you

anything from anywhere. So if you if you know people, if

you like, if you've heard of people like NT Wright or CS

Lewis or Scott McKnight, different theologians that you

think or you've heard us quote, I'm just trying to work out.

You could always ask chat, chat TPT, for example, what does Tom

Wright say about this verse or this chapter?

And then you know that hopefully I don't understand all about AI,

but you would hope that it's drawing from sources that are

credible and that we trust as being orthodox Christianity.

So that's a really good shout. And what do you do when you find

bits hard in the Bible that you read?

You understand it, but you think, oh, that's not very nice,

or I don't like that, or that's really challenging.

I'm asking and ask all three of you that question.

Yeah, that is, that is kind of hard and usually just pray about

it. Or talk to you.

Yeah, I'm second that. Yeah, definitely pray about it

and just sit with Jesus about it because there's like the Bible

is written for us to look at it now, but it was also written for

a specific context and a specific audience of the time.

And so I find sometimes diving into that context is really

helpful. I'm not very good at trying to

find the sort, the correct sources of the context.

So I ask people, people who have studied that context and know

that context. I also find just in times of

usually just when you meditate on it and you just ask the Holy

Spirit to speak to you through it.

Like he reveals different things through different sources to

you. Like, I was reading Leviticus

and like some bits of Leviticus and was like, these are just

like rules and rules and instructions and like, what's

going on? And then like, my Bible plan was

like, but isn't that so cool? Because it shows that God cares

about even the tiniest details in your life?

Like, and I was like, oh, right, OK.

And it kind of gives you a fresh perspective for like, a new lens

to look at it through. But yeah, would really encourage

just to talk to people. Like the Bible was meant to be.

It was created to be like read in community and disgusting

community, and so we have a community.

Let's do it kind of would be what I'd say.

And like I also, I misinterpreted the question a

little bit when you said what's hard, because then I also was

just like, I find reading my Bible consistently really hard.

But something I saw the other a few months back was like the

Bible was like having dinner. It's like you're not going to it

nourishes you, fills you up. You're not going to remember

every meal you've ever had, but the Bible still nourishes you.

So that's a great. Picture I was like, when I heard

that, I was like, yes, OK, I get it now.

So I think I keep going back to that a lot.

If you read a bit and you're like, oh, move on, that's OK

because it's nourished to you even if you don't feel it.

Brilliant. Do you want to add anything?

I think the bit that helps me is I tend to think if I, if I hit

something that I really struggle with and I don't understand, I

have to, I think I go back to the overarching story.

So knowing that actually all things are pointing to Jesus.

And yes, there are bits in the Bible that I don't really

understand, especially around some of the Old Testament stuff.

How does this really work? How can you know on one hand

you, you read 1 bit and you think, oh, that seems really

harsh. But I have to have, I have a

confidence and faith in the overarching story that there is

redemption and there is his Kingdom is yet to come.

And I think I can, I have to remind myself sometimes we sit

in that place of not understanding everything and

that if God was understandable fully, he wouldn't be much for

God, would he? It's like if my little brain

could wrap its head around creation in its entirety and how

God has weaved this incredible story from creation through to

Jesus and to what's to come, then actually that's, you know,

a bit crazy, isn't it? That my poor little brain can

understand that. And if I can sit in, so I sit in

a space sometime of actually I'm OK, I don't get it.

And sometimes I just have to say, I don't know or that is

really harsh, but I know God has got it, that I know all that I

have read and I've understood and how God has spoken to me

personally through the Bible, through prayer, through

prophecy, actually he's a true and living God.

And actually that overcomes some of the uncertainty, the

ambiguity and the the not knowing.

Sometimes there's this, this desire in the world.

We have to have answers all the time.

We have to know clarity, full clarity.

And science is always saying there's always an answer, but

actually, I'm not sure there is in this lifetime.

I'm sure when we when we get to meet God and, and his Kingdom is

fully here, then all will be revealed.

And, and he can answer all those questions that I've had if I

remember them by then, but I might not care because God's

come and he's, you know, we'll be living in an unbroken world

and actually all of that will be irrelevant.

But in the space of loss and grief, there is no answer.

Sometimes to pain there is there is no reconciling that, but

being able to sit in that space healthily is really important.

So I do look to answers in context, etcetera.

It's really helpful to try and understand some of it.

And that can be really, really helpful when looking at the Old

Testament and and how Jesus has come and and putting those

pieces together in the overarching story.

But there are still times where there are no answers and

actually be able to sit comfortably in.

That is really helpful for me anyway, thank you.

That's cool. I think you've all answered that

question in both ways in that I think the reality is, is that

reading the Bible is hard sometimes, isn't it, just

because of carving out space? It is a discipline, you know,

sometimes you like. What was the point in that?

But it's worth pushing on and trying to do it.

And, but also when it is hard, it's OK to read the Bible and be

like, oh, I don't understand this bit or this bit doesn't sit

right. Rather than throwing it all out

and going, well, this bit's hard there for all of it's rubbish.

It's like, no, no, no, this bit's hard.

But that's OK. We can sit with that and we can

still have faith and we can still think it's important, even

if we don't always fully understand it.

So I think you've all answered it beautifully.

Any this wasn't on my list sorry, but any top tips to

encourage us all to or something that you have found helpful that

you would be like that? If you're going to do one thing,

do this. I think if he's like, if you've

never really picked up the Bible before or you're like, oh, why

do I even start? My encouragement would be with

the Gospels to start with looking the life of Jesus and

the story of Jesus and then applying that to sometimes how

you look at the Old Testament of like.

We look at it through the perspective of what Jesus has

done for us now and what that means for us now as the church

and who that means like God is and has always been.

But that would be my encouragement.

If you're like, where on earth do I start?

It's a big book. 66 books. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

would be my advice. Thank you.

Angela, do you have anything? The only thing I was, yeah, I

think I, well, I know I definitely benefit from when I

do carve out time to read my Bible because it also makes me

carve out time to sit with Jesus in what I've read.

But I'm also very aware that there are seasons in life when

that's not always so easy. And I'm thinking back to when,

like, my kids were little and life was like a bit crazy and

never seemed enough time. And I one of my favorite Bible

stories is in First Kings, I think chapter 19, when Elijah is

absolutely at the end of himself and God basically tells them to

have a snack and take a nap. And I just cling to that.

And I just think like when times when you've have the best

intentions, but you just don't always get there, God's in you

with, in that with you. And I think God knows my, he

knows my physical and spiritual needs, but he also knows my

human limitations. And he meets me where I'm at.

So, so long as I'm striving and I'm always walking towards him,

I think that's OK, I'm enough. Yes, yeah.

Brilliant. So good.

Thank you, Angela. How'd you say?

Do you think that's achievable? So when you set a goal, don't

set I'm going if you're not a big reader and you're not

brilliantly disciplined, don't set out on 1st of January and

say I'm going to read the Bible every day and then get through

the whole lot in a year. That might be, it might be for

one of you, but it also might be if I could just read a couple of

verses a day as a target or you know, if you're with little

kids, it could be, well, let's pick up a kids Bible and read

the kids stories. So you've got that overarching

story feeding into your family and things like that.

So just making it achievable so that it doesn't become a guilt

thing. We want to do this because we

want to be in relationship with Jesus, not out of guilt or out

of fear or, you know, so if we can do things that are

achievable for us in our season, whatever that looks like,

whatever time you can carve out, then that's I'd say just pick

your goals wisely. Brilliant.

Thank you very much. OK, Hopefully that was useful.

Interesting. We're going to, why don't you

give these 3A big round of applause.

Thank you. We're going to worship a little

bit more and then we're going to pray.

So as the worship team come up, I will just move some furniture.