How to Read the Bible

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Good morning everyone. Pastor Gale with healing begins. Have you
ever struggled with reading the Bible? Well, today we're going
to talk about how to read your Bible. Now, a
lot of people read a lot of different books. I
go to Barnes and Nobles a lot, and I see
all kinds of people in there shopping for a good
book to read. I've done that myself. Why not read

(00:27):
the good book? Not just a good book, but the
good books. So before I talk about how to read
the Bible, I want to address some things that people
feel about the Bible. I've heard it said by a
lot of people. Well, the Bible is just a book
of stories. It's not God's word. It was written by man. Well,
it's not what the scripture said. The scripture says that

(00:47):
the men were moved by the Holy Spirit, inspired by
the Holy Spirit as they read the Bible. To me,
the Bible is the inspired, infallible, inerrant word of God.
That's what the Bible is. And the Bible is really important.
Somebody said it's final instructions before leaving earth, and the
Bible prepares us to know how to prepare for heaven.

(01:09):
The Bible has everything in it that we need for
life and godliness and for our walk with Lord. So
good morning. I hope you're all doing great. What are
you doing today? Where are you hearing me at? What
are you doing? Are you in your car, are you
in the home, are you walking down the road. Are
you listening from another country? Are you listening to this
later on podcasts or over one oh six point nine

(01:32):
wood f M. If you are, I'd like to hear
from you. My email is share at Healingbegins Radio dot com.
It's share at Healingbegins Radio dot com. I'd really love
to hear from you. It'd be great. So the Bible,
to me is a book that prepares us for heaven,

(01:53):
but it can be very challenging if you're the average
person like me. I remember when I first started to
read the Bible, it was hard to know where to start.
It's really important. So first of all, it says in
one Strengthing is two fourteen that the natural man cannot
understand the things of the Spirit because the things of

(02:14):
the Spirit are spiritually discerned. The Bible is inspired, it
is God breathed. It is a spiritual book. So to
understand it, you need the Holy Spirit's help. So the
first thing you should do before you read the Bible
is start with the prayer. Just say, Lord, help me

(02:36):
through the power of the Holy Spirit to understand what
I'm about to read. Please speak to me through your word.
And right now as I'm talking to this, I have
a thought going through my mind that there's somebody listening
right now. You're not a believer, but you're searching the
Bible for answers. The Lord just spoke that to me.

(03:00):
You're searching the Bible for answers. You are going through it,
and pray the prayer. Say God, if you're out there,
help me to understand, help me to find the answers
I'm looking for. Speak to me and God will honor you.
So if you're out there and you're looking at the Bible,
you're trying to get answers because man, maybe your life

(03:21):
has just fallen apart and you're turning to the Bible. Finally,
maybe you're listening to me in a hotel room when
you got the Gideon Bible out. I don't know where
you're at listening to me, but know this that God
knows your circumstances. He loves you, and I pray right
now that God would bring peace into the midst of
your store. I pray right now for the one searching

(03:42):
the Bible for answers. You said, Lord, if you seek me,
you will find me. You said, asking it shall be given.
Seek and you shall find knock in. The doors shall
be open to you. And I pray for those that
are searching right now. Maybe they're not believers, but you're
searching Lord, that they would have an encounter with you,

(04:03):
not just by reading the Bible. I prayed that when
they would lay down and go to sleep, they would
have dreams from heaven where you are reaching out to
them in the name of Jesus. So a step by
step guide to understanding the Bible. First of all, start
it with prayer. Pray before you open the Bible. Someone

(04:24):
nineteen verse eighteen says, open my eyes that I might
see the wondrous things from your law. Amen, hallelujah. Secondly,
I think you need to choose a good Bible translation
you can understand. Maybe not maybe the Bible that's laying
open on your grandmother's table that's the old King James

(04:46):
version of English is not the best to start with.
You want a Bible that's written in our more modern
day language. You don't want a pair phrase, you want
a translation. Some people the Passion Version of the Bible.
I don't read that one. I usually read the NIV,
the New International Version of the Bible. Some like the NLT,

(05:09):
the New Living Version translation. Some like the ESV, the
English Standard Version, some like the New American Standard Version
of the Bible. You know, there's a lot of books
stores where you can find Bibles. If you're in Grand Rampants,
you can go to Baker book House and look at
all the Bibles you want. I mean, there's a lot

(05:31):
of Bibles. I personally use an NIV Study Bible with
all the notes. I also read the King James Version
of the Bible. I like to compare versions sometimes just
to get a different perspective and understanding of what I'm reading.
I think that's healthy. Sometimes I like a Living Bible translation,

(05:54):
or a Living Bible paraphrase, or the Amplified version of
the Bible. All of those are good versions, so that
you can learn and so that you can grow in
your walk. I know I can hear it already. Well.
The Bible's been changed so much over the generations. You know,
the Bible is the one book that has survived everything.
When people it's the best seller in the whole world. Hey,

(06:18):
if you're living in China, or maybe you're in Hong
Kong or some of those places, having a Bible would
be a very dangerous proposition for you. Bibles are valuable.
They're the written word of God. Thy word have I
hid in my heart that I might not sit against these?
The Bible is amazing. I found an amazing book. Oh.
I had people say to me, Oh, you don't know.

(06:39):
You know, the Bible is full of errors and mistakes. Well,
you show me a mistake and I'll show you something
you don't understand. And so the Bible is the perfect
book to be reading discovering. Look, I've been reading it
since I think in nineteen eighty four. I become a
serious reader of Screw sure, I don't read it religiously.

(07:04):
What I mean by that is I read the Bible
to have a closer relationship with Jesus Christ. I read
the Bible to grow in my faith, to get to
know God, to know what Heaven's going to be like.
I read the Bible so that I can grow and
be prepared that when I get to heaven. I'm ready

(07:25):
for heaven. I mean, I think all of us who
are believers should want that. So I love the Bible.
I love the Bible. One of my favorite books is
the Book of Isaiah. I also like the Book of
Psalms for encouragement. I like the Book of Proverbs for wisdom.
But when I first started in the Bible, that's not
where I started. No, I'm going to give you some recommendations.

(07:51):
I started with the Book of John so that I
could get to know Jesus personally. John one one says
that in the beginning, and the Word was God, and
the Word was God. And in verse fourteen it says
the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
I read the Gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke and John

(08:11):
first before I read anything else. The reason I did
it is I wanted to get to know Jesus. I
wanted to understand his ministry. I wanted to listen to
the words of Jesus. Have you ever gone to the
Bible and that some of the older Bibles they have
the words of Jesus and read. Have you ever gone

(08:31):
to the Bible and just work and took your time
just to read the words and read you will be amazed. Also,
I like Philippians or the Book of James or the
Book of First John for practical Christian living and encouragement,
you know. And I would just really encourage you to

(08:53):
get a journal, get a notebook, have an inkpen by
your Bible, and mark in write down scriptures that I
would say. I would use the word jump off the
page at you, like you're reading the Bible and all
of a sudden you read a verse and you say, wow,
I never saw that before. Write that verse down and

(09:14):
ask God, why did you highlight for me? Why did
you show me that verse? What is it that you
want to say to me? You know they have that
soap method s scripture. Write down a verse that stands
out to you, Oh, observation, what is happening, who is speaking?
What is the context? A application? How does this apply

(09:35):
to your life right now? And p prayer? Talk to
God about what you've learned or asked for help applying it.
You might say, talk to God, what are you talking about? Well,
prayer is just simply me talking to God, like I'm
talking to you through the radio. Lord, I'm opening a
word and boy Lord, I love this, ask and it

(09:57):
shall be given. Seek and you shall find. Knock and
the door shall be opened under you. When I and
Matthew seven. When I read that verse, I think it's
Matthew seven to seven, I begin to investigate what that
verse is really saying. And in the original language, it
means keep on say, keep on seeking, keep on asking,

(10:17):
keep on knocking until the door is opened for you.
The Lord wants to speak to you. Rite where you're at.
Your Bible is important, Okay. Now everybody today uses the
Bible on the phone or the iPad. But for me,
I like a hard copy Bible. Okay, one I can

(10:38):
hold in my hands, and mine isn't so holy that
I can't mark it up. If you open my Bible today,
it is all marked up. It is highlighted. Sometimes I
write dates by the side of a scripture when the
Lord spoke to me, and write a little note in there.
I am always writing in my Bible so I can

(10:59):
remember or later the things in the places and the
spaces where God spoke to me. You might say, well,
why else do you write in your Bible? Someday after
I'm gone, someone might find my Bible and pick it up.
I'm like, wow, look at how God spoke to him
when he was alive. I did that with my grandma.
When my grandma died, I wanted her bible. I got
my grandma's Bible and I searched my Bible to see

(11:24):
where my grandma highlighted scriptures. They were important to me. Also,
I had another friend, Harold lamp and he was my
neighbor and one of my spiritual mentors. When he died,
his son put his Bible on the grod sale. You know,
I found it. I bought it. What did I do?
Once again? I went through his Bible so I could

(11:46):
find the places he highlighted things he put notes beside.
Because I was interested in that. I wanted to know
what was God saying to my neighbor, my spiritual mentor.
Number five. Set a time and a place where you're
going to be with God every day. Maybe start out

(12:07):
with ten or fifteen minutes and make it so you
can't be interrupted. But just start and sit down and say, Lord,
here I am today. I want to know you. I
want to spend time with you, and I want to
read your word. Please speak to me, so you know,
take time. I'm always cracked up when people say, Oh,

(12:29):
I'm just too busy to spend time with God. Huh.
If you're a Christian and you have Christ in your heart,
you're preparing for eternity. When we get to heaven, it'll
all be about God. It'll all be about what God
has said. And if you're not prepared, you won't be
prepared if you're not spending time. If you truly say
you have a relationship with Jesus Christ, You're going to

(12:52):
want to spend time with him. You're going to want
to be with him. Hey, if your best friend wrote
you a very personal letter, you would pick it up
and read it. Well, the Bible is a love letter
written to us by God so that we might know him,
walk with him, and live with him forever. I just

(13:12):
really encourage you to pick up your Bible to read
it to pray. Number six. You want to use helpful tools,
Get a journal or notebook, all right, Get the Bible
app on your phone. Buy a study Bible with notes
like the Life Application Bible. Buy highlighters and ink pens,

(13:35):
and sit down and make the Bible your study. I
would start with a New Testament, and I would read Matthew, Mark,
and Luke and John twice. Then I would go through
acts and romans in the letters of Paul write down
to revelation. I do that twice because why those letters
are about practical Christian living. Being practical and you walk

(13:55):
with God and you want to read the Bible, and
you want to have the two you need, maybe even
look for a good commentary or something you can use
to help you understand the scripture better. Number seven. You
want to ask questions like what does this say about God?
What does this say about me? Is there a command

(14:17):
to follow, a promise to believe? Is there something to
confess or be thankful for? You know, one of my
favorite chapters in the Bible, given to me by my
spiritual father, Harol Lampin, is Joshua chapter one. In Joshua
chapter one, he says, meditate on the Book of the

(14:38):
Law day and night, so that you can be successful
to do everything written therein. Have I not commanded you
be strong and courageous? So in Joshua one he tells
God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous, to be
very strong and courageous. So I find Joshua chapter one

(14:58):
very very very encouraging. Then number eight I would say,
reflect and respond, write your thoughts down, pray or even
create art, a poem and prayers based on what you read.
It's so important to really take the time to meditate
on God's word. If you're eating a good steak, which

(15:22):
I love, you don't eat it fast. You take your
time to enjoy the food you're eating. And also your
body gets more out of it if you chew it
and you take your time with it. So take your
time with the Bible. Don't be in a rush. You
don't have to know everything overnight. It's going to take time.

(15:44):
Find a friend who is more mature in the Lord
than you. Find a friend who has studied the Bible's
whole life. Maybe get together with a friend and study
the Bible together. Really great idea. If you want to grow,
and the thing you want to do is stay consistent,
start small. One passage at a time is okay. Don't rush.

(16:06):
It's about relationship with Jesus, not just reading. Invite a
friend to study with you, or join a Bible study group,
and be patient with yourself. Growth takes time. You know,
when you plant a seed, that seed does not grow
up overnight. It takes weeks and months for a plant

(16:29):
to grow and become the way Jesus wants it. It'll
take time for you to grow. It'll take time for
you to develop and become the believer that God wants
you to be. So the Bible is not just a book.
It's not a book of fable or parables. It is
the inspired, infallible word of God. And I challenge you

(16:52):
to read it not for religion, but for a relationship
with Jesus, to know him better, to have him speak
to you through his word. You'll be amazed what God
will say to you through the Bible. It'll just leap
right off the page at you. I mean, it is
an inspired book. And thank God we have it because

(17:16):
it helps us to know how to live. It helps
us to know what sin is. It helps us to
know how to get to heaven, how to be saved,
how to have eternal life? Oh do you have eternal life?
Are you right with Jesus? Have you invited Jesus Christ
into your heart as your Lord and savior? If you
have it, pray with me right now, say Jesus, I

(17:38):
know I'm a sinner. I asked you to forgive me
of my sins. Come into my heart, be my savior.
I want to know you, Lord, I want to walk
with you. Fill me with the Holy Spirit. In the
name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Hey, I'd like to really
hear from you. Those of you that listen out there.
They say there're seven eight hundred people let are awake

(18:00):
at one am in the morning, but maybe you listen
later by podcasts. Please share your thoughts with me. My
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(18:44):
three seven five West Green Street, Sweet one, Hastings, Michigan.
Love to hear from you. Love to have more topics.
Please give me your topics. Let me know what you're
going through. Let me know where you hear us at
and you know when you're listening, where you're listening. What
are you doing is the important program to you? Do

(19:05):
you like it? Let me know. I'd love to hear
from you, because you know, I know out there right
now there are a lot of people going through hard times.
We live in a world of chaos. We live in
a world that is insecure. Man, if you watch the
stock market, it's up one day and it's down one

(19:25):
day and up the next, and it's all around, bouncing
all around. But you know what, God's word never bounce around.
God's word is always stable. God's word will remain the same.
Heaven and earth will pass away, but Jesus said, my
words will never pass away. Aren't you glad to know

(19:49):
that the Bible and the Word of God will always
be around. It will never disappear. It is a sure
foundation in a time of trouble. Do you have a Bible?
Are you consistent in reading it? I encourage you. Hey,

(20:10):
sometimes you're going to read the Bible and you don't
feel like the God is going to he has spoken
to you for a while. It's pretty normal. I read
the Bible by faith, not by how I feel, because
I have several times when I read the Bible that
I don't feel anything. But that doesn't mean I shouldn't
read the Bible. As you keep reading the Bible, as
you keep reading scripture, the day you need it, it'll

(20:31):
be there for you. Or God will remind you of
a verse that you read in the Bible you thought
you didn't remember. And so keep putting the word of
God in. But the Bible is like water to the
human body. We need it. The Bible, Jesus said, I
am the bread of life. Wow, Jesus said, I am

(20:53):
the living water. He that comes to me will drink
some of my water will never there'st again. So I
want to pray for you right now, Heavenly Father, I
thank you for every person and that is listening, every
person that's under the sun of my voice. Lord, I
pray that you'd comfort those that are grieving I put

(21:15):
your I pray that you put your arms around those
that are hurting. I pray that you would keep those
in the palm of your hand that just feel lost. Lord.
I think I thank you that you are the good
shepherd of the sheep, Lord, that when one was lost,
you went out to find the one that was lost.

(21:35):
You found the one person and you brought them in.
So Jesus, I pray for those that feel lost, Lord,
that they know that you are with them and that
you know where they're at and you know what they're
going through. Maybe that's exactly what they needed to hear
through this program. They needed to hear Jesus say through

(21:56):
my voice, I know where you're at, I know where
you're going through. I even know where you live. I
thank you, Lord, so you are aware about us and
what we're going through each and every day. I thank
you for it in Jesus name. Hey, thank you for
joining me for Healing Begins Radio. Wow, you want to

(22:17):
tune in, you want to invite your friends to listen.
I also have a podcast channel. It's called Healing Begins
Spiritual Care. Find it on Google, Amazon, anywhere you get
your podcasts. I want to thank you for listening. May
the Lord bless you, May the Lord keep you. May
the Lord cause his face to shine upon you. May

(22:38):
he be gracious to you and give you peace. And
may the Lord reveal himself to you through the Bible
and through his word. And may you know that you
are loved and that you're a treasure. This morning, may
God richly bless you and keep you in all you do.

(24:00):
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(24:24):
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(24:47):
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