Read the Bible Regularly
Good Morning and welcome to Grace River Church Online at home!
My name is Jacob, and I am the next generation pastor here at Grace River!
It’s 2022! How crazy is that!
With the start of the new year that means fresh starts and new goals!
Today we are kicking off a new series called Holy Habits!
My hope for you as we go through this series is that you would take the next step in
your spiritual journey!
We all have habits in our life! Some good, some bad, and some silly!
For me, I’m a little too extreme on having a clean car! I’m one of those people who
will pull over at a gas station to empty my car of trash every day so that it doesn’t stay
in my car! I just always want a clean car!
Growing up, I would always say that if I ever became president, I’d make car washes
free to everyone! I just want everyone to experience the satisfaction of having a clean
car!
But I’m not the only one with extremely silly habits!
Some of you moms out there love to hoard tupperware. You probably have an
entire cabinet like this in your house! And you know good and well, you’ll never need
that much tupperware, ever!
Some of you guys out there love to leave the toilet seats up! I am guilty of this,
and your wife is probably nodding her head in agreement right now! It’s a bad habit
that seems IMPOSSIBLE to fix!
We all have habits though! Some good, some bad, and some silly!
But I wonder what it would look like for us in this new year to create habits that
would help us shift our focus to God unlike ever before!
There is a story in Luke 10 of Jesus visiting Martha and Mary in their home. In this
story, Martha is so concerned about preparing the big dinner that she was making,
while her sister Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet listening to everything that he has
taught!
Martha comes to Jesus and says, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister
just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”
In the very next verse, in verse 41, it says, “But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha,
you are worried and upset over all these details. There is only one thing worth being
concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken from her.”
What if for the new year, we decided that we were going to take the position of Mary
and sit at the feet of Jesus. Putting aside all the distractions of life, anxiety, worry,
stress, fear, and focused on God.
One way that we can do that is through reading the Bible!
Let’s be honest though, sometimes reading the Bible can be a drag.
Reading Scripture is one of the most foundational and essential habits that should
be a part of a Christians life.
I want you to know that as a pastor and a Bible college graduate, I even struggle
reading scripture! It’s hard when the first thing I want to do in the morning is get on
Social Media!
You don’t even want to know my screen time! Last I checked I was averaging 4 hours
a day on my phone. Most of which came from social media!
So today I want to answer 3 different questions for everyone watching this today!
1. Why do I need to read the Bible regularly?
2. Where should I start?
3. What am I supposed to do with it?
1. Why do I need to read the Bible regularly?
What you watch, read, or listen to impacts you. Think about how you feel when you
watch the news, or read a book, or how you feel when you listen to certain music!
It’s important that we allow Scripture to impact us as we read the Bible! It has
tons of benefits, but to list a few:
First, the Bible shows us God’s character and who he is! We see that God’s
character is holy, unchanging, faithful, gracious, and loving! And the list can go on!
Scripture teaches us about who God is!
Second, it teaches us what we are to do! The two greatest commands, not
suggestions, but commands that God gives us can be found in Matthew 22.
37 “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your
mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally
important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Everything that we do boils down to a love for God and a love for people!
Third, it teaches us to know the path we are to walk.
Psalms 110:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and light for my path.”
You may be in complete darkness right now. Wondering how in the world you got
where you got, and where to go next.
I want you to know today that God’s word is a light for the path that God wants you
to walk!
2. Where should I start?
Then you may ask yourself, where in the world do I start reading? Do I just flip my
Bible open to a random book of the Bible and start reading? Let me tell you from
experience that’s a lot harder than it seems!
I would say that there is no BAD place to read the Bible, but depending on where
you are on your spiritual journey, there are some places that may be easier to
understand than others. Again, NO BAD PLACE TO START THOUGH!
2 Timothy 3:16, ““All Scripture is inspired 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.”
There is no bad place to start but if you are new to faith in Jesus, you probably
shouldn’t start in Leviticus because it may be really confusing!
I would encourage anyone watching this, no matter where you are on your spiritual
journey, to start in one of the 4 gospels!
The Bible is divided into 2 Sections, 66 book, Old and New Testament, and the first
four books of the New Testament make up what we call the gospels.
In these books of the Bible you will learn more about who God is and what he has
done for you! Check them out! Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John! You can’t go wrong
with any of them! Once you read one, read another one!
YouVersion is a great app. If you don’t have it, download it! On the app, you can pick
a devotion to walk you through a specific topic or struggle going on in your life or
you can read straight from the Bible. I prefer the NLT, and would refer that to anyone
wondering what version they should read.
I would say start somewhere and stick to it, and watch how God can and will
change your life!
As a church, we are going to walk through the New Testament in 90 days on
YouVersion! If you would like to be a part of that, let us know in the comments! This is
a great way to make reading the Bible a habit in your life! We will start that
tomorrow!
3. What am I supposed to do with it?
It’s one thing to have knowledge, but what’s the point of knowing, if we don’t
apply it!
(Have a dumbbell) I could know every workout that you could do with a dumbbell,
and tell people everything they need to know.
But until I physically pick up the dumbbell and apply what I know, it’s worthless.
So in your spiritual journey, knowing God’s Word is important, but applying
God’s Word is even more important!
Use knowledge of God’s Word as your stepping stone into applying God’s Word!
You can’t apply what you don’t know!\
I’m not saying you have to be a PHD level Christian to apply God’s Word to your life!
Start by applying what you read during that day directly to your life!
When you do this watch how God will grow you more than you would’ve ever
expected!
Next steps:
1. Recognize the need to read God’s Word.
a. What you take in, impacts you! Allow this new year to be a year of
taking in God’s Word because it will change your life!
2. Start reading God’s Word!
a. Start somewhere! Again, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are great
places to start!
b. If you want to join our 90-day reading challenge in the NT, let us know in
the comments!
3. Apply God’s Word!
- a. What good is knowledge, if we don’t apply it!
My hope is that you were able to take the next step in your spiritual journey as a
result of today!
Make sure you join us here next week as we talk about prayer! Have a great week!