WEBVTT 00:00:02.130 --> 00:00:04.910 Tim: You've got to have discipline. 00:00:04.910 --> 00:00:07.763 If you're going to get up and read the Bible 00:00:07.763 --> 00:00:09.633 at 5 a.m. every morning 00:00:09.633 --> 00:00:11.655 or at 6 a.m. every morning, 00:00:11.655 --> 00:00:14.920 you've got to have discipline. 00:00:14.920 --> 00:00:17.465 Brethren, I am here today 00:00:17.465 --> 00:00:19.951 to talk to you about reading your Bible. 00:00:19.951 --> 00:00:23.605 And it is sloppy Christian life 00:00:23.605 --> 00:00:25.429 if you are not reading your Bible 00:00:25.429 --> 00:00:27.426 every single day. 00:00:27.426 --> 00:00:29.175 Lay it down. 00:00:29.175 --> 00:00:31.711 This is the food for the soul. 00:00:31.711 --> 00:00:33.944 This is our life. This is our health. 00:00:33.944 --> 00:00:35.659 This is where we see Christ. 00:00:35.659 --> 00:00:37.464 This is the Word of God. 00:00:37.464 --> 00:00:39.161 This is where God talks to us 00:00:39.161 --> 00:00:40.703 and shows us Himself. 00:00:40.703 --> 00:00:43.214 If you are not reading your Bible every day, 00:00:43.214 --> 00:00:46.178 that is sloppy and there is no excuse for it. 00:00:46.178 --> 00:00:49.037 Because if you're not reading your Bible every day, 00:00:49.037 --> 00:00:51.284 you're doing other things every day - 00:00:51.284 --> 00:00:53.225 thing that are not near as important 00:00:53.225 --> 00:00:55.512 and you know it's true. 00:00:55.512 --> 00:00:58.638 Brethren, this is where the Christian life - 00:00:58.638 --> 00:01:02.656 healthy Christian life - this is where it starts. 00:01:02.656 --> 00:01:05.118 If you're not in the Word of God every single day, 00:01:05.118 --> 00:01:07.299 there is no excuse for it. 00:01:07.299 --> 00:01:08.718 No excuse. 00:01:08.718 --> 00:01:12.199 And the discipline of the Christian life has to start here. 00:01:12.199 --> 00:01:15.627 We talked last week about Bible memorization. 00:01:15.627 --> 00:01:18.536 And I wanted to start there because of how important it is 00:01:18.536 --> 00:01:19.960 for the health of the church. 00:01:19.960 --> 00:01:23.524 But now we're stepping back a step. 00:01:23.524 --> 00:01:26.088 We're talking just about getting in the Word. 00:01:26.088 --> 00:01:29.108 And I'm not talking about reading 00:01:29.108 --> 00:01:30.961 four chapters every day. 00:01:30.961 --> 00:01:35.751 Listen, you should be working towards something like that. 00:01:35.751 --> 00:01:38.421 I'm not even talking about reading a whole chapter. 00:01:38.421 --> 00:01:40.366 And not all of us are cut out the same. 00:01:40.366 --> 00:01:45.542 Not all of us read as well. 00:01:45.542 --> 00:01:48.939 Not all of us like to read as much. 00:01:48.939 --> 00:01:51.346 For some it's more difficult. 00:01:51.346 --> 00:01:56.238 For some, our vocabulary is greater or lesser. 00:01:56.238 --> 00:01:59.138 Some of us are just more wired readers. 00:01:59.138 --> 00:02:01.366 Some love to read. 00:02:01.366 --> 00:02:04.004 I recognize we're all over the place. 00:02:04.004 --> 00:02:07.509 But brethren, this is our food. 00:02:07.509 --> 00:02:11.469 This is the food of the Christian life. 00:02:11.469 --> 00:02:14.277 And if there's any discipline you've got to nail down, 00:02:14.277 --> 00:02:17.119 even above getting to Sunday School on time, 00:02:17.119 --> 00:02:18.447 it is this. 00:02:18.447 --> 00:02:21.686 You've got to be disciplined 00:02:21.686 --> 00:02:24.259 in reading the Bible. 00:02:24.259 --> 00:02:26.939 You've got to. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:26.939 --> 00:02:29.498 When you walk into a church, 00:02:29.498 --> 00:02:31.773 and you see people who spiritually 00:02:31.773 --> 00:02:35.144 stand head and shoulders above the rest, 00:02:35.144 --> 00:02:39.645 when you look throughout history, 00:02:39.645 --> 00:02:43.779 they were not Scriptural lightweights. 00:02:43.779 --> 00:02:45.628 When you come across William Carey's 00:02:45.628 --> 00:02:48.092 and Hudson Taylor's and John G. Paton's, 00:02:48.092 --> 00:02:53.416 Adoniram Judson's, Amy Carmichael's, 00:02:53.416 --> 00:02:58.157 Andy and Rebecca's, 00:02:58.157 --> 00:03:02.172 if you look at their saved life 00:03:02.172 --> 00:03:06.379 and their relationship to the Word of God, 00:03:06.379 --> 00:03:08.779 they weren't lightweights. 00:03:08.779 --> 00:03:11.389 They lived in that book. 00:03:11.389 --> 00:03:15.762 If you think that you're going to run - 00:03:15.762 --> 00:03:18.779 have some incredible spiritual life 00:03:18.779 --> 00:03:20.039 and fruitfulness 00:03:20.039 --> 00:03:22.562 and be a vessel fit for the Master's use 00:03:22.562 --> 00:03:25.990 and you've got a shoddy approach to Scripture, 00:03:25.990 --> 00:03:28.204 you're sadly mistaken. 00:03:28.204 --> 00:03:33.054 You will never excel 00:03:33.054 --> 00:03:36.259 until you have excelled in the Word. 00:03:36.259 --> 00:03:39.006 I guarantee it. 00:03:39.006 --> 00:03:41.012 Why? 00:03:41.012 --> 00:03:44.063 Because that's where you draw the life. 00:03:44.063 --> 00:03:45.846 That's where you draw the power. 00:03:45.846 --> 00:03:47.641 That's where you see the Christ. 00:03:47.641 --> 00:03:53.506 It is sanctification by Your Word - 00:03:53.506 --> 00:03:55.312 that's what Christ said. 00:03:55.312 --> 00:03:59.005 Sanctification is growth in the Christian life. 00:03:59.005 --> 00:04:01.041 It is maturing. 00:04:01.041 --> 00:04:04.979 It is being separated further and further. 00:04:04.979 --> 00:04:07.264 It is achieving holiness. 00:04:07.264 --> 00:04:08.663 It is coming more and more 00:04:08.663 --> 00:04:11.458 to the image of Christ. 00:04:11.458 --> 00:04:12.987 And it comes through that Word 00:04:12.987 --> 00:04:19.264 and there is so substitute. 00:04:19.264 --> 00:04:21.562 So how do we do it? 00:04:21.562 --> 00:04:24.586 (incomplete thought) 00:04:24.586 --> 00:04:29.235 We've got the discipline. 00:04:29.235 --> 00:04:31.147 We need to have this delight 00:04:31.147 --> 00:04:35.129 and this desire and this trembling 00:04:35.129 --> 00:04:38.064 from the Lord. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:38.064 --> 00:04:46.633 So you're up at 6 o'clock. 00:04:46.633 --> 00:04:49.578 You've got your cup of coffee. 00:04:49.578 --> 00:04:53.534 And you've got to factor these things in. 00:04:53.534 --> 00:04:55.658 Listen, whatever it takes to be wide awake 00:04:55.658 --> 00:04:57.042 when you're in God's Word - 00:04:57.042 --> 00:04:59.081 you don't want to do it in a shoddy way. 00:04:59.081 --> 00:05:00.787 If you've got to drink tea, 00:05:00.787 --> 00:05:03.619 you've got to drink coffee, 00:05:03.619 --> 00:05:06.085 look, it might just require you 00:05:06.085 --> 00:05:08.545 to get enough exercise in your life 00:05:08.545 --> 00:05:12.327 so that you're wide awake at 6 o'clock. 00:05:12.327 --> 00:05:17.336 It may require that you don't eat after 6 p.m. 00:05:17.336 --> 00:05:20.530 Look, you've got to do what you've got to do to make this work. 00:05:20.530 --> 00:05:22.182 This is really important. 00:05:22.182 --> 00:05:23.692 Discipline. 00:05:23.692 --> 00:05:26.726 If you know that eating at 10 o'clock - 00:05:26.726 --> 00:05:28.157 I know every once in a while, 00:05:28.157 --> 00:05:29.566 we'll leave a prayer meeting 00:05:29.566 --> 00:05:32.011 and a bunch of us will go down to Denny's. 00:05:32.011 --> 00:05:34.612 Look, if you can't get up the next morning 00:05:34.612 --> 00:05:36.753 after you do that, don't do that. 00:05:36.753 --> 00:05:39.346 Just pure and simple. 00:05:39.346 --> 00:05:41.044 You say, well, other people do it. 00:05:41.044 --> 00:05:42.770 Well, so what what other people do. 00:05:42.770 --> 00:05:45.026 If you can't get up to get in the Word 00:05:45.026 --> 00:05:47.645 if you do that, don't do it. 00:05:47.645 --> 00:05:49.712 That's what discipline is. 00:05:49.712 --> 00:05:53.747 Discipline is not always doing what the crowd does. 00:05:53.747 --> 00:05:57.792 Listen, typically the crowd 00:05:57.792 --> 00:05:59.583 even in good churches 00:05:59.583 --> 00:06:02.383 are not spiritually where they need to be. 00:06:02.383 --> 00:06:05.166 And so just doing something because the crowd does it, 00:06:05.166 --> 00:06:07.756 I guarantee, Hudson Taylor got to where he was 00:06:07.756 --> 00:06:14.397 because he was doing exactly what the crowd wasn't doing. 00:06:14.397 --> 00:06:16.314 So there you are. 00:06:16.314 --> 00:06:19.103 You've got your Bible in front of you. 00:06:19.103 --> 00:06:21.462 Now what do you do? NOTE Paragraph 00:06:21.462 --> 00:06:25.685 Look, once you make your first pass 00:06:25.685 --> 00:06:28.247 through the whole Bible, 00:06:28.247 --> 00:06:31.189 you'll get an idea that there's some places 00:06:31.189 --> 00:06:35.041 that are more exciting. 00:06:35.041 --> 00:06:38.567 Usually, Joshua, Judges... 00:06:38.567 --> 00:06:40.163 they read pretty well, right? 00:06:40.163 --> 00:06:41.606 Numbers. 00:06:41.606 --> 00:06:44.324 That first chunk of 2 Chronicles. 00:06:44.324 --> 00:06:48.305 Those things can be difficult. 00:06:48.305 --> 00:06:54.479 Leviticus can be rather difficult. 00:06:54.479 --> 00:06:57.833 (incomplete thought) 00:06:57.833 --> 00:07:00.466 I can remember as a new Christian 00:07:00.466 --> 00:07:02.093 just starting to get out there 00:07:02.093 --> 00:07:04.767 into certain parts of Isaiah, 00:07:04.767 --> 00:07:07.196 certain parts of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, 00:07:07.196 --> 00:07:09.933 and it was just judgment, judgment, judgment, judgment. 00:07:09.933 --> 00:07:14.237 It was just kind of wearing me out. 00:07:14.237 --> 00:07:19.832 But God gives it to us for a reason. 00:07:19.832 --> 00:07:24.235 Remember, He that is absolutely perfect 00:07:24.235 --> 00:07:27.733 designed this book perfectly. 00:07:27.733 --> 00:07:30.402 He put what truth in it 00:07:30.402 --> 00:07:33.244 to the degree that He wanted it in there, 00:07:33.244 --> 00:07:36.618 He designed it. 00:07:36.618 --> 00:07:42.934 And look, Tawfiq is saying 00:07:42.934 --> 00:07:44.356 you need to read all of it. 00:07:44.356 --> 00:07:46.461 Yes, you need to read all of it. 00:07:46.461 --> 00:07:49.653 All of it is the Word of God. 00:07:49.653 --> 00:07:53.078 All of it is profitable for doctrine and reproof, 00:07:53.078 --> 00:07:55.143 for correction, for instruction. 00:07:55.143 --> 00:07:56.623 It definitely is. 00:07:56.623 --> 00:07:58.145 It's all inspired. 00:07:58.145 --> 00:08:00.156 I mean, if somebody just told me right now 00:08:00.156 --> 00:08:02.982 there was a whole book of the Bible that I had never read, 00:08:02.982 --> 00:08:06.751 I would go home right now and devour it. 00:08:06.751 --> 00:08:09.243 The Word of God thrills my soul. 00:08:09.243 --> 00:08:12.338 I want to be in it. 00:08:12.338 --> 00:08:14.510 But I know that there are some parts 00:08:14.510 --> 00:08:16.745 that are more difficult to go through. 00:08:16.745 --> 00:08:19.182 And so what you need to figure out is this: 00:08:19.182 --> 00:08:21.666 how to get through all of it 00:08:21.666 --> 00:08:23.168 and actually make it through 00:08:23.168 --> 00:08:25.038 without wearing yourself out. 00:08:25.038 --> 00:08:27.051 Look, I know this, 00:08:27.051 --> 00:08:30.735 that just what Hudson Taylor knew, 00:08:30.735 --> 00:08:33.036 there are certain parts of Scripture 00:08:33.036 --> 00:08:35.813 that can tend to be drier than other parts. 00:08:35.813 --> 00:08:40.824 Or at least that we have less expectation going in 00:08:40.824 --> 00:08:42.486 that it's going to be helpful, 00:08:42.486 --> 00:08:44.876 even though God can come like He did to Taylor 00:08:44.876 --> 00:08:48.064 there in Numbers 7. 00:08:48.064 --> 00:08:50.061 So it's very important that you pray, 00:08:50.061 --> 00:08:52.806 but look, the reality is, there's some parts of Scripture 00:08:52.806 --> 00:08:55.426 that are going to thrill your soul more than others. 00:08:55.426 --> 00:08:58.419 And you've got to figure out how to get through the hard parts. 00:08:58.419 --> 00:09:02.337 And typically, if you're wired this way, 00:09:02.337 --> 00:09:04.058 and you can start at Genesis 1:1 00:09:04.058 --> 00:09:07.454 and go all the way through, do it. 00:09:07.454 --> 00:09:09.544 Do it. 00:09:09.544 --> 00:09:13.137 You've got to do that sometimes. 00:09:13.137 --> 00:09:14.685 I mean, try that. 00:09:14.685 --> 00:09:17.911 You don't have to, but I recommend 00:09:17.911 --> 00:09:20.125 that you at least try to do that once. 00:09:20.125 --> 00:09:23.665 And look, if you're reading it at a fairly average clip, 00:09:23.665 --> 00:09:28.730 you ought to be able to go through the whole Bible in a year. 00:09:28.730 --> 00:09:34.305 Disciplined people set goals. 00:09:34.305 --> 00:09:36.950 Set a goal for when you're going to get up. 00:09:36.950 --> 00:09:41.124 Be goal-driven. 00:09:41.124 --> 00:09:45.178 Set a goal for how far you want to get. 00:09:45.178 --> 00:09:46.451 I mean, make the goal. 00:09:46.451 --> 00:09:51.129 I want to read through the Bible once this year. 00:09:51.129 --> 00:09:54.732 2013 is almost at hand. 00:09:54.732 --> 00:09:56.176 Sometimes there's a place 00:09:56.176 --> 00:09:58.664 wherever you are just to stop. 00:09:58.664 --> 00:10:04.400 Pick up the McCheyne Bible reading program 00:10:04.400 --> 00:10:07.557 and just go through the whole Bible. 00:10:07.557 --> 00:10:09.347 I think that one actually takes you 00:10:09.347 --> 00:10:10.793 through the Old Testament once 00:10:10.793 --> 00:10:13.264 and the New Testament twice in one year. 00:10:13.264 --> 00:10:15.445 And it has you reading four different places 00:10:15.445 --> 00:10:16.896 in the Bible all the time. 00:10:16.896 --> 00:10:19.961 So the day you have to read Numbers 7, 00:10:19.961 --> 00:10:22.742 you also get to read several other places 00:10:22.742 --> 00:10:24.294 on the same day. 00:10:24.294 --> 00:10:25.896 And you can kind of mix it up. 00:10:25.896 --> 00:10:32.284 And when you read the McCheyne Bible reading schedule 00:10:32.284 --> 00:10:36.388 you're always in one of the Gospels I believe. 00:10:36.388 --> 00:10:41.997 I've gone through that a number of years. 00:10:41.997 --> 00:10:45.814 Please, brethren, don't just open your Bible randomly 00:10:45.814 --> 00:10:48.849 and read wherever. 00:10:48.849 --> 00:10:50.233 Read with a purpose. 00:10:50.233 --> 00:10:51.560 Read with a goal. 00:10:51.560 --> 00:10:53.547 Read to get through the Scriptures. 00:10:53.547 --> 00:10:56.565 Read to accomplish reading 00:10:56.565 --> 00:11:00.258 everything that God has written to you. 00:11:00.258 --> 00:11:02.413 (incomplete thought) 00:11:02.413 --> 00:11:03.636 When I was first saved, 00:11:03.636 --> 00:11:05.426 I heard John MacArthur say 00:11:05.426 --> 00:11:07.084 that he recommended 00:11:07.084 --> 00:11:09.998 pick a book and read it through. 00:11:09.998 --> 00:11:12.313 Like 1 John. 00:11:12.313 --> 00:11:17.377 All the way through every day for 30 days. 00:11:17.377 --> 00:11:19.632 That's a great way too. 00:11:19.632 --> 00:11:23.135 Sometimes it's good to mix it up like that. 00:11:23.135 --> 00:11:26.779 You don't have to do it the same all the time. 00:11:26.779 --> 00:11:28.635 But be goal oriented. 00:11:28.635 --> 00:11:30.125 Give yourself a plan. 00:11:30.125 --> 00:11:32.676 Be disciplined and knock it out. 00:11:32.676 --> 00:11:35.190 If you've never read through the whole Bible 00:11:35.190 --> 00:11:37.600 in one year, do it. 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:39.436 If there's a certain book of the Bible 00:11:39.436 --> 00:11:41.366 that you want to become familiar with, 00:11:41.366 --> 00:11:43.725 do it, read Galatians once a day 00:11:43.725 --> 00:11:45.338 every day for 30 days. 00:11:45.338 --> 00:11:49.306 That will be immensely profitable to you. 00:11:49.306 --> 00:11:51.749 If it's a bigger book like Isaiah, 00:11:51.749 --> 00:11:54.105 you might want to break that up 00:11:54.105 --> 00:11:56.137 into quarters. 00:11:56.137 --> 00:11:58.371 And try to a quarter of it a day, 00:11:58.371 --> 00:12:00.987 or you might structure it so that you 00:12:00.987 --> 00:12:03.816 read through Isaiah once a week 00:12:03.816 --> 00:12:05.710 for four weeks. 00:12:05.710 --> 00:12:07.745 You do it four times. 00:12:07.745 --> 00:12:09.656 Something like that. 00:12:09.656 --> 00:12:12.002 The McCheyne - McCheyne's not the only one. 00:12:12.002 --> 00:12:13.084 I just bring him up 00:12:13.084 --> 00:12:15.943 because that's the one that I've been familiar with. 00:12:15.943 --> 00:12:20.924 Lots of people have created Bible reading schedules. 00:12:20.924 --> 00:12:22.541 Get you one. 00:12:22.541 --> 00:12:24.365 Do it with purpose. 00:12:24.365 --> 00:12:26.293 Give yourself to it. 00:12:26.293 --> 00:12:31.751 Go through like that. 00:12:31.751 --> 00:12:33.461 Brethren, every day. 00:12:33.461 --> 00:12:36.428 Every day, make it a practice, 00:12:36.428 --> 00:12:40.734 and unless you have some fluke schedule, 00:12:40.734 --> 00:12:42.669 start your day. 00:12:42.669 --> 00:12:45.446 Wake up. Get your coffee. Get your tea. 00:12:45.446 --> 00:12:47.064 Brush your teeth. Wash your face. 00:12:47.064 --> 00:12:48.440 Take your shower. 00:12:48.440 --> 00:12:50.243 And then get in the Word. 00:12:50.243 --> 00:12:54.308 And brethren, I'll tell you one thing that kills it 00:12:54.308 --> 00:12:57.087 is when you try to bite off more than you can chew 00:12:57.087 --> 00:12:58.504 and then you get discouraged 00:12:58.504 --> 00:13:00.327 and you drop out. 00:13:00.327 --> 00:13:01.562 Don't do that. 00:13:01.562 --> 00:13:05.448 You're better off starting out 00:13:05.448 --> 00:13:07.625 with ten minutes 00:13:07.625 --> 00:13:10.447 and doing it faithfully every single day 00:13:10.447 --> 00:13:11.839 and continue to do it 00:13:11.839 --> 00:13:15.426 and then broaden to 15 or to 20. 00:13:15.426 --> 00:13:17.183 Or start with 20 minutes. 00:13:17.183 --> 00:13:18.662 If you suddenly start - 00:13:18.662 --> 00:13:20.706 I'm going to do it two hours. 00:13:20.706 --> 00:13:23.486 I'm going to read 8 chapters. 00:13:23.486 --> 00:13:27.303 There was a year when I tried to read 00:13:27.303 --> 00:13:30.217 a minimum of 8 chapters a day. 00:13:30.217 --> 00:13:36.515 I wanted to go through the Bible really fast. 00:13:36.515 --> 00:13:39.341 I just wanted the feel of that. 00:13:39.341 --> 00:13:41.246 I wanted to get lots of it quick. 00:13:41.246 --> 00:13:43.170 Not that I was going to stay anywhere 00:13:43.170 --> 00:13:44.502 real long and meditate, 00:13:44.502 --> 00:13:47.377 but I wanted the overall view of the whole Scripture, 00:13:47.377 --> 00:13:50.884 and I was trying to nail down at least 00:13:50.884 --> 00:13:53.306 8 - 10 chapters a day. 00:13:53.306 --> 00:13:54.745 But you know what? 00:13:54.745 --> 00:13:56.686 That's the kind of thing you know, 00:13:56.686 --> 00:13:59.123 you hear George Mueller prayed a certain amount 00:13:59.123 --> 00:14:01.072 or you come across Leonard Ravenhill 00:14:01.072 --> 00:14:03.344 and he said if you don't pray two hours a day, 00:14:03.344 --> 00:14:05.608 you're just basically sub par or something. 00:14:05.608 --> 00:14:07.896 Listen, if you get wrapped up 00:14:07.896 --> 00:14:09.275 in that kind of thing, 00:14:09.275 --> 00:14:12.289 and you're trying to measure up to somebody else, 00:14:12.289 --> 00:14:13.826 that's not the way to do it. 00:14:13.826 --> 00:14:16.412 The way to do it is, yeah, 00:14:16.412 --> 00:14:20.341 2013's going to start in two months, 00:14:20.341 --> 00:14:23.622 and I want to go through the whole Bible. 00:14:23.622 --> 00:14:27.206 And you can create your own Bible schedule 00:14:27.206 --> 00:14:28.816 or you can look at some of these. 00:14:28.816 --> 00:14:30.947 McCheyne's a good one. 00:14:30.947 --> 00:14:34.446 Doesn't it have you in four places at once? 00:14:34.446 --> 00:14:35.705 Yeah. 00:14:35.705 --> 00:14:38.612 You can be somewhere in the Pentateuch; 00:14:38.612 --> 00:14:40.746 you can be somewhere in the minor prophets; 00:14:40.746 --> 00:14:42.368 you can be somewhere in the epistles; 00:14:42.368 --> 00:14:44.070 and somewhere in one of the Gospel's. 00:14:44.070 --> 00:14:46.112 Tremendous way to read the Scriptures. 00:14:46.112 --> 00:14:48.946 That's four chapters a day. 00:14:48.946 --> 00:14:52.036 That's healthy. 00:14:52.036 --> 00:14:54.850 Go at half speed. 00:14:54.850 --> 00:14:56.664 Read half of each of those chapters. 00:14:56.664 --> 00:14:58.344 Or two of them. 00:14:58.344 --> 00:14:59.905 And flip flop back and forth 00:14:59.905 --> 00:15:02.369 and read the whole Bible in two years. 00:15:02.369 --> 00:15:04.606 Some are wired more for one than the other, 00:15:04.606 --> 00:15:07.782 but brethren, do it. 00:15:07.782 --> 00:15:10.879 And if you feel like, no, I want to read repetitiously; 00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:13.407 if you feel like I want to read John till I know it, 00:15:13.407 --> 00:15:14.777 do it. 00:15:14.777 --> 00:15:17.163 The most important thing is that you're doing it. 00:15:17.163 --> 00:15:19.168 That every day you're getting in there. 00:15:19.168 --> 00:15:21.315 Every day you're getting in there. 00:15:21.315 --> 00:15:26.342 Brethren, read to understand. 00:15:26.342 --> 00:15:29.097 (incomplete thought) 00:15:29.097 --> 00:15:30.553 Listen, every one of us 00:15:30.553 --> 00:15:33.725 that have been saved for any amount of time, 00:15:33.725 --> 00:15:35.844 we know what it's like to be trying to read 00:15:35.844 --> 00:15:39.816 in Leviticus, and you're like (nodding off). 00:15:39.816 --> 00:15:43.398 And you have to go back and read the last chapter over again. 00:15:43.398 --> 00:15:47.624 Then you're like, falling out on the thing. 00:15:47.624 --> 00:15:49.653 Anybody been there? Where you've tried 00:15:49.653 --> 00:15:51.938 to read the same paragraph like 10 times? 00:15:51.938 --> 00:15:54.959 Finally, you just give up. 00:15:54.959 --> 00:15:57.999 Brethren, if you're falling off to sleep at night, 00:15:57.999 --> 00:15:59.853 that might be an acceptable way, 00:15:59.853 --> 00:16:02.110 but that is not acceptable in the morning. 00:16:02.110 --> 00:16:04.898 That is not acceptable if it's happening to you every day. 00:16:04.898 --> 00:16:06.189 If it's happening to you, 00:16:06.189 --> 00:16:10.465 you're not getting to bed on time. 00:16:10.465 --> 00:16:13.559 And you know, I'm recommending that you do it 00:16:13.559 --> 00:16:16.687 before you launch out into your family, 00:16:16.687 --> 00:16:18.640 your work, your school, 00:16:18.640 --> 00:16:20.635 interacting with others, 00:16:20.635 --> 00:16:22.464 but give the Lord your best. 00:16:22.464 --> 00:16:24.096 If you're just wired where 00:16:24.096 --> 00:16:26.688 you've got a chunk in the middle of your day 00:16:26.688 --> 00:16:27.727 and you're a student 00:16:27.727 --> 00:16:30.526 and you've got three hours between classes 00:16:30.526 --> 00:16:33.016 and you can sit down and you're wide awake 00:16:33.016 --> 00:16:34.302 at that time of the day, 00:16:34.302 --> 00:16:36.042 I'm certainly not going to discourage you. 00:16:36.042 --> 00:16:37.755 If you come in here and tell me that, 00:16:37.755 --> 00:16:39.336 I'm not going to call you a godless wretch 00:16:39.336 --> 00:16:41.677 because you didn't get up at 5 a.m. and do it. 00:16:41.677 --> 00:16:43.365 Brethren, the most important thing is 00:16:43.365 --> 00:16:44.945 you're getting that Word of God 00:16:44.945 --> 00:16:48.653 into your eyeballs and into your brain 00:16:48.653 --> 00:16:50.304 and into your thinking 00:16:50.304 --> 00:16:52.406 and renewing your mind with it. 00:16:52.406 --> 00:16:54.662 That's critical. 00:16:54.662 --> 00:16:56.825 Read to understand. 00:16:56.825 --> 00:16:58.398 Don't read when you're drowsy. 00:16:58.398 --> 00:17:02.087 Don't read when there's distractions. 00:17:02.087 --> 00:17:05.392 Brethren, it's no good if you're over at the table 00:17:05.392 --> 00:17:07.313 and somebody's trying to watch TV 00:17:07.313 --> 00:17:09.214 and you've got one eye over there 00:17:09.214 --> 00:17:11.362 and one eye in the book. 00:17:11.362 --> 00:17:12.940 You need to read this book 00:17:12.940 --> 00:17:15.401 with your whole-hearted devotion 00:17:15.401 --> 00:17:17.531 and attention. 00:17:17.531 --> 00:17:20.905 Don't read it where there's distraction. 00:17:20.905 --> 00:17:22.717 Sometimes you can read - 00:17:22.717 --> 00:17:25.451 I find I can sit at a Starbucks 00:17:25.451 --> 00:17:27.802 with music on, people talking, 00:17:27.802 --> 00:17:32.298 and I can lose myself in the white noise of it 00:17:32.298 --> 00:17:35.636 and be far less distracted than if I'm at home 00:17:35.636 --> 00:17:36.914 sitting in my office 00:17:36.914 --> 00:17:38.404 where when I'm trying to read, 00:17:38.404 --> 00:17:44.109 I keep noticing other things that I have to do. 00:17:44.109 --> 00:17:46.027 Wherever, brethren. 00:17:46.027 --> 00:17:48.918 Typically I do most of my reading 00:17:48.918 --> 00:17:52.171 before we have family devotions. 00:17:52.171 --> 00:17:55.214 I try between 6 and 7. 00:17:55.214 --> 00:17:57.972 From 7 till 7:30, I'm trying to study 00:17:57.972 --> 00:17:59.330 for my family devotions, 00:17:59.330 --> 00:18:03.091 but from 6 to 7 is that allotted hour 00:18:03.091 --> 00:18:05.026 that I want to give myself to my own 00:18:05.026 --> 00:18:07.969 personal and devotional Bible reading. 00:18:07.969 --> 00:18:09.810 When I go out praying, I may take 00:18:09.810 --> 00:18:12.427 my small testament for Bible memorization 00:18:12.427 --> 00:18:15.391 or if while I'm praying, a verse comes to mind, 00:18:15.391 --> 00:18:17.609 and I take a small, tiny little Bible with me. 00:18:17.609 --> 00:18:21.775 But the big one comes out in the morning. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:21.775 --> 00:18:23.932 Tawfiq: Can I say something 00:18:23.932 --> 00:18:26.611 to being careful of the distractions? 00:18:26.611 --> 00:18:29.779 I know a lot of us have Bibles on our phones 00:18:29.779 --> 00:18:31.335 and that can be a good thing, 00:18:31.335 --> 00:18:32.753 (incomplete thought), 00:18:32.753 --> 00:18:34.511 because if you're reading your Bible 00:18:34.511 --> 00:18:36.566 and you get a text message, 00:18:36.566 --> 00:18:38.992 it can easily distract you. 00:18:38.992 --> 00:18:41.301 So like Pastor Tim said, 00:18:41.301 --> 00:18:42.952 you have to know yourself. 00:18:42.952 --> 00:18:46.545 You have to know your limitations. 00:18:46.545 --> 00:18:49.420 It's really good to have that paper 00:18:49.420 --> 00:18:52.650 if that digital screen would distract you. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:52.650 --> 00:18:55.610 Tim: Yeah, I have a sleep function on my Mac 00:18:55.610 --> 00:18:58.252 and you know what? That's good to kick that in. 00:18:58.252 --> 00:19:02.302 I don't need to have a computer screen on 00:19:02.302 --> 00:19:05.122 right in front of my Bible 00:19:05.122 --> 00:19:06.801 if it's going to be a distraction. 00:19:06.801 --> 00:19:08.416 You guys know what distracts you. 00:19:08.416 --> 00:19:09.551 Be honest. 00:19:09.551 --> 00:19:13.212 If your phone is distracting you, turn it off. 00:19:13.212 --> 00:19:15.099 If your computer is distracting to you, 00:19:15.099 --> 00:19:16.125 turn it off. 00:19:16.125 --> 00:19:19.561 If there's any distractions, turn them off. 00:19:19.561 --> 00:19:20.726 Brethren, pray. 00:19:20.726 --> 00:19:21.869 George Whitefield. 00:19:21.869 --> 00:19:23.100 Many of you know this. 00:19:23.100 --> 00:19:24.809 "Above all, my mind being now 00:19:24.809 --> 00:19:26.236 more opened and enlarged, 00:19:26.236 --> 00:19:28.369 I began to read the Holy Scriptures 00:19:28.369 --> 00:19:30.392 upon my knees, 00:19:30.392 --> 00:19:33.334 laying aside all other books 00:19:33.334 --> 00:19:34.908 and praying over, if possible, 00:19:34.908 --> 00:19:38.446 every line and word. 00:19:38.446 --> 00:19:39.998 I got more true knowledge 00:19:39.998 --> 00:19:42.319 from reading the book of God in one month 00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:43.831 than I could ever have acquired 00:19:43.831 --> 00:19:48.390 from all the writings of men." NOTE Paragraph 00:19:48.390 --> 00:19:55.025 I strongly recommend that you do not have study bibles 00:19:55.025 --> 00:20:00.052 if you are prone to go look at the notes all the time. 00:20:00.052 --> 00:20:02.576 Let God speak to you through His Word 00:20:02.576 --> 00:20:06.555 without John MacArthur's interpretation. 00:20:06.555 --> 00:20:10.465 You do not need that. 00:20:10.465 --> 00:20:13.573 If you don't have discipline to read God's Word 00:20:13.573 --> 00:20:15.167 and to hear God's voice 00:20:15.167 --> 00:20:17.070 and meditate on His Word 00:20:17.070 --> 00:20:19.912 before you run to the commentary on it, 00:20:19.912 --> 00:20:25.105 don't get a study Bible. 00:20:25.105 --> 00:20:26.494 Whitefield is right. 00:20:26.494 --> 00:20:30.471 The Word of God is pure. 00:20:30.471 --> 00:20:33.465 John MacArthur's interpretation of that Word 00:20:33.465 --> 00:20:36.245 is not always. 00:20:36.245 --> 00:20:43.729 The best men have wrong interpretations. NOTE Paragraph 00:20:43.729 --> 00:20:47.006 And I would just say this, 00:20:47.006 --> 00:20:49.078 if you're going to read to profit, 00:20:49.078 --> 00:20:53.137 ask questions of the text. 00:20:53.137 --> 00:20:55.590 I mean, come to God's Word, 00:20:55.590 --> 00:20:59.347 like I just read to you. 00:20:59.347 --> 00:21:03.866 Here is Asa. 00:21:03.866 --> 00:21:05.639 Ask yourself questions. 00:21:05.639 --> 00:21:11.650 Asa is clearly - something about his life 00:21:11.650 --> 00:21:15.968 is being pinpointed as not being good. 00:21:15.968 --> 00:21:20.707 He sought doctors first. 00:21:20.707 --> 00:21:22.001 You ask yourself this - 00:21:22.001 --> 00:21:23.565 ask questions of the text. 00:21:23.565 --> 00:21:30.588 Is Asa a godly example or an ungodly example? 00:21:30.588 --> 00:21:32.666 So you have to know your Bibles somewhat. 00:21:32.666 --> 00:21:34.331 You need to be reading your Bible. 00:21:34.331 --> 00:21:36.046 You need to know the context. 00:21:36.046 --> 00:21:41.375 Is he a good guy or a bad guy? 00:21:41.375 --> 00:21:44.600 What do you say? 00:21:44.600 --> 00:21:45.978 What's that? 00:21:45.978 --> 00:21:49.084 Yeah, he's one of the good kings. 00:21:49.084 --> 00:21:50.679 He was one of the good kings. 00:21:50.679 --> 00:21:54.224 And you would want to compare this to 2 Kings. 00:21:54.224 --> 00:21:57.095 Because when you get these synonymous accounts 00:21:57.095 --> 00:21:58.408 you can compare them. 00:21:58.408 --> 00:22:01.229 Just like in the synoptic Gospels, 00:22:01.229 --> 00:22:03.193 you can compare these accounts. 00:22:03.193 --> 00:22:08.431 So he's a good king, but he did a bad thing. 00:22:08.431 --> 00:22:11.062 I mean, you're asking yourself questions. 00:22:11.062 --> 00:22:12.097 Is he a good king? 00:22:12.097 --> 00:22:13.799 Is this something I should imitate? 00:22:13.799 --> 00:22:16.018 No, he's a good king, but this is something 00:22:16.018 --> 00:22:16.980 I shouldn't imitate. 00:22:16.980 --> 00:22:19.375 It's kind of like Lot. 00:22:19.375 --> 00:22:20.704 Is he righteous? Yes. 00:22:20.704 --> 00:22:23.296 Scripture tells us "righteous Lot." 00:22:23.296 --> 00:22:24.898 We brought it up the other day. 00:22:24.898 --> 00:22:26.738 When he offered his daughters 00:22:26.738 --> 00:22:29.262 to the homosexuals, the Sodomites, 00:22:29.262 --> 00:22:31.682 was that a good thing? 00:22:31.682 --> 00:22:34.386 So you have to be asking questions of the text. 00:22:34.386 --> 00:22:36.753 (incomplete thought) 00:22:36.753 --> 00:22:39.000 When God finds fault with Asa 00:22:39.000 --> 00:22:41.501 for not pursuing Him before the doctors, 00:22:41.501 --> 00:22:46.913 what does that teach me about God? 00:22:46.913 --> 00:22:51.065 Oh brethren, theology proper. 00:22:51.065 --> 00:22:53.458 The theology of God. 00:22:53.458 --> 00:22:55.464 If there's anything we want to find out 00:22:55.464 --> 00:22:56.725 when we go to God's Word, 00:22:56.725 --> 00:22:58.371 it is who our God is. 00:22:58.371 --> 00:23:00.024 What does it teach us about God 00:23:00.024 --> 00:23:02.661 when you find God finding fault with Asa 00:23:02.661 --> 00:23:06.115 for seeking doctors before he sought God? 00:23:06.115 --> 00:23:09.275 What does that teach you about God? 00:23:09.275 --> 00:23:10.679 He wants to be sought first. 00:23:10.679 --> 00:23:11.832 He wants to be trusted. 00:23:11.832 --> 00:23:13.352 He wants to be looked to. 00:23:13.352 --> 00:23:16.183 You read that text in the Old Testament. 00:23:16.183 --> 00:23:18.244 If you're asking questions of the text - 00:23:18.244 --> 00:23:19.856 I just threw down some questions 00:23:19.856 --> 00:23:22.466 that I think are very relevant for asking yourself. 00:23:22.466 --> 00:23:24.249 This will help you. 00:23:24.249 --> 00:23:26.653 Don't just read blindly. 00:23:26.653 --> 00:23:27.888 Ask. Ask. 00:23:27.888 --> 00:23:30.390 What is this teaching me about God? 00:23:30.390 --> 00:23:32.753 What does this teach me or reveal to me 00:23:32.753 --> 00:23:35.093 that I need to believe about God? 00:23:35.093 --> 00:23:39.792 Does it reveal something I need to thank God for? 00:23:39.792 --> 00:23:43.773 Should something I'm reading here produce praise? 00:23:43.773 --> 00:23:47.029 Does it reveal something I need to repent of? 00:23:47.029 --> 00:23:49.732 Does it reveal sin in my life? 00:23:49.732 --> 00:23:51.426 Does it reveal something 00:23:51.426 --> 00:23:54.850 that should influence the way I pray? 00:23:54.850 --> 00:23:56.940 (incomplete thought) 00:23:56.940 --> 00:23:59.003 This influences me to pray. 00:23:59.003 --> 00:24:04.067 Brethren, if all of a sudden I get sick, 00:24:04.067 --> 00:24:05.460 or I get a headache, 00:24:05.460 --> 00:24:07.160 or my child is ill, 00:24:07.160 --> 00:24:10.267 or they get a disease... 00:24:10.267 --> 00:24:13.473 Father, You find fault with Asa 00:24:13.473 --> 00:24:15.445 for running straight to the doctor. 00:24:15.445 --> 00:24:18.154 I'm coming to You, but Lord, 00:24:18.154 --> 00:24:21.102 if You don't rise up and intervene 00:24:21.102 --> 00:24:23.809 when Your people are coming, 00:24:23.809 --> 00:24:25.318 then what good is it? 00:24:25.318 --> 00:24:28.023 Lord, why would You tell us to come to You first 00:24:28.023 --> 00:24:31.906 if You never help us? 00:24:31.906 --> 00:24:33.984 If when we come to You, You don't help us 00:24:33.984 --> 00:24:36.257 and we have to go to the doctor then, 00:24:36.257 --> 00:24:38.838 what good is it for You to tell us in Your Word 00:24:38.838 --> 00:24:41.819 that we should come to You first? 00:24:41.819 --> 00:24:43.451 Father, why would You tell us that 00:24:43.451 --> 00:24:47.117 unless You are going to do what the doctors can't do? 00:24:47.117 --> 00:24:49.911 And if we time and time and time again go to You first 00:24:49.911 --> 00:24:52.237 and You're not doing what the doctor's can't do 00:24:52.237 --> 00:24:54.968 and we have to go to the doctors to get any help at all, 00:24:54.968 --> 00:24:59.204 why would You tell us that in Your Word? 00:24:59.204 --> 00:25:02.234 Do you think there's a place to pray that way? I do. 00:25:02.234 --> 00:25:04.618 I think there's a way to pray definitely that way. 00:25:04.618 --> 00:25:06.179 Father, You told us. 00:25:06.179 --> 00:25:10.860 This is given to us, brethren, for our doctrine, 00:25:10.860 --> 00:25:16.427 for our teaching, for correction. 00:25:16.427 --> 00:25:17.944 You know what correction is. 00:25:17.944 --> 00:25:19.919 I'm going in a wrong way. 00:25:19.919 --> 00:25:21.725 Correction is God's Word moves me 00:25:21.725 --> 00:25:22.887 to the right way. 00:25:22.887 --> 00:25:25.392 And so if I'm going to the doctor without praying, 00:25:25.392 --> 00:25:27.351 this is good for correction. 00:25:27.351 --> 00:25:30.599 It moves me into the right way. 00:25:30.599 --> 00:25:32.280 For instruction in righteousness. 00:25:32.280 --> 00:25:34.612 This shows me how to live a righteous life. 00:25:34.612 --> 00:25:38.818 A righteous life is living by faith. 00:25:38.818 --> 00:25:40.770 And God is telling us to live by faith. 00:25:40.770 --> 00:25:42.281 Don't just run to the doctors 00:25:42.281 --> 00:25:43.840 and don't just run to the nurses 00:25:43.840 --> 00:25:47.304 and don't run to the medical authorities. 00:25:47.304 --> 00:25:51.586 Don't just go to Texas Med Clinic 00:25:51.586 --> 00:25:55.490 until you get on your face. 00:25:55.490 --> 00:26:01.163 You've got a problem in your family? Get the whole family on their knees. 00:26:01.163 --> 00:26:03.942 My daughter had a serious problem. 00:26:03.942 --> 00:26:06.858 We anointed her with oil and we prayed over her. 00:26:06.858 --> 00:26:08.601 And God wasn't pleased to heal her 00:26:08.601 --> 00:26:13.073 and we took her to the hospital. 00:26:13.073 --> 00:26:15.186 (incomplete thought) 00:26:15.186 --> 00:26:18.541 There's some people who will never take their kids to the hospital. 00:26:18.541 --> 00:26:20.777 I'm not saying that. 00:26:20.777 --> 00:26:24.088 That may be the way that the Lord's going to deal with it. 00:26:24.088 --> 00:26:25.789 But don't start there. 00:26:25.789 --> 00:26:32.857 Start by running to the Lord. Lord, what would You have me to do? NOTE Paragraph 00:26:32.857 --> 00:26:35.329 Ask these questions. 00:26:35.329 --> 00:26:37.729 Does it reveal something 00:26:37.729 --> 00:26:40.144 I need to change my thinking about? 00:26:40.144 --> 00:26:43.409 Brethren, think with me here, 00:26:43.409 --> 00:26:47.550 every single encounter with Scripture 00:26:47.550 --> 00:26:50.606 ought to confront something about you, 00:26:50.606 --> 00:26:51.869 about your sin, 00:26:51.869 --> 00:26:53.382 about the way you think of God, 00:26:53.382 --> 00:26:55.922 about your faith - everything. 00:26:55.922 --> 00:26:58.028 Every encounter with Scripture 00:26:58.028 --> 00:27:00.127 ought to be correcting. 00:27:00.127 --> 00:27:02.915 It ought to be instilling something. 00:27:02.915 --> 00:27:05.054 It ought to be showing you truth. 00:27:05.054 --> 00:27:06.850 It ought to be causing you 00:27:06.850 --> 00:27:08.614 to refine your thinking. 00:27:08.614 --> 00:27:11.490 Something. 00:27:11.490 --> 00:27:15.091 Scripture demands a response from us. 00:27:15.091 --> 00:27:16.885 It is God's voice. 00:27:16.885 --> 00:27:20.697 He's looking to us to respond to His Word 00:27:20.697 --> 00:27:27.738 in praise, in awe, in repentance, in faith. 00:27:27.738 --> 00:27:29.087 Remember that. 00:27:29.087 --> 00:27:30.595 I need to go to God's Word 00:27:30.595 --> 00:27:33.014 and God is expecting response. 00:27:33.014 --> 00:27:34.404 Trembling. 00:27:34.404 --> 00:27:35.741 To this man will I look. 00:27:35.741 --> 00:27:39.040 Trembling at His Word is a response. 00:27:39.040 --> 00:27:41.661 Believing His Word is a response. 00:27:41.661 --> 00:27:42.828 When you walk away 00:27:42.828 --> 00:27:45.090 feeling a thrill in your soul, 00:27:45.090 --> 00:27:47.763 brethren, I find that thrilling to my soul 00:27:47.763 --> 00:27:50.518 that God doesn't want us going to the doctors first. 00:27:50.518 --> 00:27:52.532 Don't you? 00:27:52.532 --> 00:27:58.508 I mean, I find that something to rejoice over. 00:27:58.508 --> 00:28:00.319 I find that something that my faith 00:28:00.319 --> 00:28:04.459 can lay its teeth into. 00:28:04.459 --> 00:28:07.544 I love that! 00:28:07.544 --> 00:28:13.567 God doesn't want us to go there first. 00:28:13.567 --> 00:28:15.693 But some response. 00:28:15.693 --> 00:28:21.706 As Donald Whitney in his Spiritual Disciplines, 00:28:21.706 --> 00:28:25.966 he says if you can just come away 00:28:25.966 --> 00:28:31.288 from Scripture with one thing; 00:28:31.288 --> 00:28:33.631 (incomplete thought) 00:28:33.631 --> 00:28:38.317 I have a feeling that if we really looked at it exactly, 00:28:38.317 --> 00:28:42.328 how many an hour after they've read their Bible, 00:28:42.328 --> 00:28:44.102 don't remember anything they've read. 00:28:44.102 --> 00:28:45.648 It doesn't come into their mind. 00:28:45.648 --> 00:28:46.982 And they go through the day 00:28:46.982 --> 00:28:48.609 not thinking about what they read. 00:28:48.609 --> 00:28:50.903 But if you can shut your Bible 00:28:50.903 --> 00:28:53.488 and remember one thing; 00:28:53.488 --> 00:28:56.314 if you can key in on one thought, 00:28:56.314 --> 00:28:58.481 let it really register in your mind 00:28:58.481 --> 00:29:02.935 and give enough time on that thought, 00:29:02.935 --> 00:29:06.652 meditate sufficiently on it, 00:29:06.652 --> 00:29:11.129 and sometimes it may be 2 or 3 things, 00:29:11.129 --> 00:29:13.888 but if you can lay a marker down - 00:29:13.888 --> 00:29:15.401 a mental marker - 00:29:15.401 --> 00:29:19.380 one thing, one reality, one truth, 00:29:19.380 --> 00:29:24.004 if you can remember at least that one thing, 00:29:24.004 --> 00:29:28.189 you'll typically be miles ahead of what most people 00:29:28.189 --> 00:29:30.552 leave their Bible reading with. 00:29:30.552 --> 00:29:32.835 And brethren, if you just do that 00:29:32.835 --> 00:29:36.301 365 times out of the year, 00:29:36.301 --> 00:29:38.669 you come away from your Bible reading 00:29:38.669 --> 00:29:41.038 with one thing that you're able to carry with you 00:29:41.038 --> 00:29:44.394 into the day several hours or through the whole day, 00:29:44.394 --> 00:29:46.257 brethren, do you know what that does 00:29:46.257 --> 00:29:49.921 in a lifetime? 00:29:49.921 --> 00:29:53.093 Massively profitable. 00:29:53.093 --> 00:29:56.074 And I think it will really help if you're asking questions. 00:29:56.074 --> 00:29:57.408 If you're asking questions: 00:29:57.408 --> 00:29:59.293 What does this teach me about God? 00:29:59.293 --> 00:30:00.621 You ask those questions. 00:30:00.621 --> 00:30:02.928 Those little markers are going to come. 00:30:02.928 --> 00:30:05.857 Because as you're answering those questions, 00:30:05.857 --> 00:30:08.175 as you're saying what does this teach me about God? 00:30:08.175 --> 00:30:09.664 What does this teach me about me? 00:30:09.664 --> 00:30:11.489 What does this teach me about the devil? 00:30:11.489 --> 00:30:13.707 What does this teach me about my world I live in? 00:30:13.707 --> 00:30:16.617 What does this teach me about the way man is? 00:30:16.617 --> 00:30:19.039 What does this teach me about sin? 00:30:19.039 --> 00:30:21.608 What does this teach me I ought to be repenting of? 00:30:21.608 --> 00:30:23.788 How does this teach me how to fight 00:30:23.788 --> 00:30:25.128 this good fight of faith? 00:30:25.128 --> 00:30:28.189 What does this teach me about Christ? 00:30:28.189 --> 00:30:29.578 What does this teach me 00:30:29.578 --> 00:30:33.233 about how I ought to relate to Christ? 00:30:33.233 --> 00:30:35.488 You're just asking all these questions. 00:30:35.488 --> 00:30:38.883 How does my encounter with Scripture, 00:30:38.883 --> 00:30:42.709 what sort of response is demanded from me? 00:30:42.709 --> 00:30:44.972 You're asking that kind of question. 00:30:44.972 --> 00:30:46.289 It will be so helpful. 00:30:46.289 --> 00:30:48.557 And then you take one of those things 00:30:48.557 --> 00:30:50.293 that seem significant to you 00:30:50.293 --> 00:30:52.983 and you just try to make a mental marker of it. 00:30:52.983 --> 00:30:55.029 You give enough time to thinking about it 00:30:55.029 --> 00:30:56.498 right there at that moment 00:30:56.498 --> 00:30:58.783 that when you walk away and you're driving to work 00:30:58.783 --> 00:31:01.440 or you're walking to work or you're going somewhere, 00:31:01.440 --> 00:31:04.354 you're on your way to church, 00:31:04.354 --> 00:31:06.622 it comes back to you. 00:31:06.622 --> 00:31:09.151 Wow! God taught me this morning 00:31:09.151 --> 00:31:14.123 He doesn't want me looking to doctors first. 00:31:14.123 --> 00:31:23.167 That's huge! NOTE Paragraph 00:31:23.167 --> 00:31:26.369 Tawfiq: Something I find extremely profitable 00:31:26.369 --> 00:31:28.727 right on the heels of what he was just saying, 00:31:28.727 --> 00:31:31.454 because after we read, 00:31:31.454 --> 00:31:33.232 there is a tendency to pray 00:31:33.232 --> 00:31:36.535 before and after you read, 00:31:36.535 --> 00:31:38.540 because if you don't think 00:31:38.540 --> 00:31:40.897 that the enemy of your soul 00:31:40.897 --> 00:31:44.829 is crouching at the door ready to grab 00:31:44.829 --> 00:31:47.278 the very things that you just read, 00:31:47.278 --> 00:31:50.699 desiring to distract you with everything else, 00:31:50.699 --> 00:31:53.110 then you've forgotten that this is a war. 00:31:53.110 --> 00:31:56.785 So highly, highly encourage to pray 00:31:56.785 --> 00:32:00.399 before, even during - 00:32:00.399 --> 00:32:03.111 you read something, praying that the Lord 00:32:03.111 --> 00:32:08.046 would help you to, the Bible says, to hold fast 00:32:08.046 --> 00:32:13.917 to the Word with patience and endurance.