Reading Your Bible

Episode Transcript

(00:19):
Good morning everyone, Pastor Gale here, Welcome to Healing Begins today. I
want to talk about a real simplesubject, the Bible. The reason I
want to talk about it as Iwork in spiritual care and we meet with
clients all day long, and manyof them come out of churches, I

(00:41):
begin to realize how many of themdon't really know their Bible. People say
to me, I get my verseof the day. That's what I do.
I get my verse of the daysent to me. Well, I
think having a verse of the dayis good. But when I was growing
up, they put a Bible inmy hand. Now, I did not
have a cell phone when I wasgrowing up. I'm sixty three, going

(01:03):
to be sixty four, and Idid not have a cell phone growing up,
and so they gave me a Bibleand I had to learn to read
my Bible. And I don't knowwhy that's such a big thing nowadays,
and people really struggle with reading theirBible. You know, I grew up
with the old song. I know, I like this sing once in a

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while, the b I b lE. That's the book for me.
I stand alone on the word ofGod. The b I b l E.
No if you're older like me,You know that song because you grew
up with that in church. Igrew up with that in CYC. And
when we had different programs in thechurch that we would be involved with,

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and they would teach us the Biblelike the Armor of God and different scriptures.
But today people don't know their wordlike they should. When I ask
you, how many times have youread through your Bible? Now, this
is not to make anyone feel guilty. I know a lot of people right
now are thinking, man, Ihaven't even read through the New Testament.
Well, in nineteen eighty four,I made a decision when I came back

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to the Lord. I had readthe Bible a lot before that, but
never read the Bible through. ButI had made a decision that if I
was going to be in the ministry, the one thing I wanted to get
to know was the Bible. Andso I sat on a course to know
my Bible. And now it's beena number of years since nineteen eighty four,

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and here we are. The yearright now is twenty and twenty four,
and I've read through the Bible.I think I'm on my twenty third
time through the whole Bible now.The New Testament itself. I've probably read
about over thirty times. And Iwill tell you how much I don't know
and how much I don't understand.The Bible is a deep book. Somebody

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called it instructions before leaving Earth.And so you want to get to know
your Bible. And the Bible saysthat we are to study to show ourselves
approved, and the God rightly dividingthe word of truth a workman that needeth
not be ashamed. And so ifI'm going to rightly divide the word of

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truth, I got to understand theBible. I got to understand scripture.
I got to understand contact the scriptureswritten in. So many times people come
to me and they wonder about whata certain scripture reads. Well, what
a certain scripture means? Now whenI read a scripture, read a scripture

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in light of the chapter it's writtenin, and in light of the book
that it's written in, And Iinterpret a scripture in light of the whole
Bible what the whole Bible teaches.Now, it takes time to learn to
do that. But life is ajourney where what are we preparing for?

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We are preparing for Heaven. That'swhat we're prepared for one day you and
I are going to die, andif we know the Lord as our Lord
and savior, we're going to goto heaven. Now, we're either going
to go to heaven mature, orwe're going to go to heaven as a
baby, like a baby Christian.And I don't want to enter heaven as
a baby Christian. I want toknow my Bible. I want to study

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it. I want to understand it. People say, oh, you don't
understand. I'm so busy. Idon't have time to read the Bible.
Do you have time to play videogames? Do you have time to watch
your TV? You see, thethings that we make a priority are the
things that we take time for.And so in my own life, I'm
really busy too. I have longdays of work, long hours I do.

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I write books. Yes, Ihave three books out, The Unexpected,
Call God, Moments, and Jesusin the Mountains. You can find
them all on Amazon dot com.There are stories about my life. Just
put my name into Amazon, GailG. A. L. E.
Croc Krgt, and you will pullup my books and there's stories about what

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God has done in my life.And so what you prioritize, you take
time for If you think something's importantin your life, you take time for
it. Well, if the Bibleis final instructions before leaving earth, if
it's vital for me to know howto get to Heaven, to know how

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to train my children, then Ineed to know how to read it.
I need to understand it, andI need to comprehend it. And it's
going to take time. And weall are busy. Some people are young
moms. You get young children runningaround. Many of you have jobs.
Maybe you work first shift. Ifyou're listening to this on wood radio,
maybe you just got off of secondshift or third shift, and you're on

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the way home and you're out runningaround in your car doing errands. And
so I in my life have madesure that I I have dedicated time every
day where I get up without disruptionsand read my Bible and pray. Now
for me, that time is aboutfour thirty in the morning, four p

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fifteen, four thirty am in themorning, and then I pray till about
six and then I go to work. And then on the weekends sometimes I
can have longer periods of time tobe with the Lord. Getting to know
your Bible takes time. You've gotto make it a priority. And there's
many different programs. I have aprogram. If you write the radio show,

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I'll send you one of these programs. I have a program, or
it's not really a program, it'sa I'm old school, so I have
a hard copy Bible. Right,I have a cell phone, but I
use my Bible. I have apiece of paper on the back. In
the front it has every book ofthe Bible, how many chapters are in
each book, and then when youread a chapter, you can mark that

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chapter off. I would try toread the Bible through it a year and
always fail at that. Right,I fail because I start getting behind,
and the more I got behind,I got behind even more so. In
the method I use, if Iread a chapter in the Book of John,
I can mark that chapter off.If I read a chapter in Exodus,

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I can mark that chapter off.So I can get through the Bible
at my own pace, at myown speed. I kind of like that.
But I'm not just reading the Biblefor intellectual knowledge. I'm reading the
Bible to understand and know the heartbeatof the Father. I'm reading the Bible

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that God might speak to my heartand reveal himself to me and give me
a word to get me through theday. That's why I read my Bible.
It'side of an intimate relationship with JesusChrist. And when you approach the
Word, you ought to pray,Holy Spirit, reveal the Word of God
to me, speak to me asI read the Word, and then open

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your Bible. And if you're ayoung believer, I would not start by
reading the Old Testament. That's alot of work to get through that Old
Testament. If you're a young believer, I would read the first. I
would read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I would read those
books first, and I would understandthe life of Christ in the ministry of

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Jesus. Okay, I would readthe Gospels two or three times before I
branched off into the Old Testament.And then I would read like the Letter.
I would read the Book of Actsabout the early Church, and Romans
and Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians,Philippians, Colossians first second and third,

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John first second, Peter, Imean the Letters of Paul. There's so
many things in there that pertain tolife and godliness, and so I wouldn't
start I just reading the Old Testament. I want to start with the Book
of Genesis and say I'm going toread it from front to back. I
don't do that myself now because I'veread the Bible so much. I'll be

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reading in three to four different placesin the Bible at one time. So
in my morning devotions, if I'mstarting from the very very beginning, i've
just finished the whole Bible, I'llread a chapter or two in Genesis,
I'll read a chapter or two inJoshua, and then I'll read and I'll

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start reading a chapter or two inthe Book of Matthew, and I'll continue
to read in each one of thoseplaces. I'll probably read four or five
chapters a day and then spend timein the presence of the Lord in pray
until I finished the entire Bible.Sometimes it takes me a year. Sometimes
it takes seventeen months, sometimes eighteenmonths. It just depends on the speed

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that I'm reading. And I'm notreading for intellectual knowledge. I'm reading that
God would give me a revelation,that he would speak to me and show
me his heart, that I wouldlearn and grow in my walk with the
Lord. And it just takes time. You know, you start with the
milk of the word, and thenyou graduate to the meat of the Word.
And then as you're reading your Bibleand you're praying and you're seeking the

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Lord. Then one day you goto church and the pastor speaks on the
very thing that you've been reading inyour Bible, and you say, wow,
that's cool. The Holy Spirit's reallyactive and working in my life.
So go back to the Bible.E Yes, that's the book for me.
I know, it's great to haveyour cell phone. You don't have

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to bring your church your bible tochurch. You can just open your cell
phone. But I like my hardcopy Bible. If you're to see my
Bible, let me try to explainit to you. I've had it.
I think I've had this Bible sincenineteen and the back Bible cover is all
duct taped to keep it together,and I have it in a Bible cover.

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And if you look at the pagesof my Bible, they are all
marked up, highlighted. No,it's why when God says to me something
will I will write down it.I will mark it in my Bible and
sometimes I date it and then downthe road I might be reading through the
same area and God says something tome about that scripture, but he speaks

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to me in a different way.So the Bible doesn't have to be intimidating.
Don't try to read it all atonce. It's not like reading a
normal book. The Bible is inspired, in h and infallible word of the
living God, and it takes timeto get to know the Bible. That's

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why it's great to listen to agood pastor or a good teacher, or
your your pastor at the church thatyou attend. You can learn from him
too. You can learn, butstart to read your Bible. Maybe you're
a young parent, let your childrensee you read the Bible so that they
will follow your example. Or maybeyou're at the dinner table. Well,

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now, for me, growing up, my mom and dad, before we
left the dinner table, they wouldhave like, what the daily Bread?
You all probably know what that is, right, and they would read a
story from the Daily Bread, reada scripture, and then my mom and
dad made us all a kneel aroundthe dinner table and we would all have

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to say a prayer before we leftthe dinner table. We did this all
the time growing up, while wewere young and even till when we become
teenagers, and so it was justa natural thing that we did. And
mom and dad took us to churchthree times a week, Sunday morning,
Sunday night, Wednesday night, andyes, three times a week. And

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a lot of churches don't have Sundaynight service no more. I just have
Sunday morning service. But we gotto go three times a week. And
then if there was evangelist in town, or we were having a special speaker
doing a week of meetings, wehad to be there for every single service.
I'll tell you, I swear Icut my teeth on a church pew.

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And then once a year we hadfamily camp and we would go there
for a week. My mom anddad would put us in camp, so
we would stay in the dorms andwe'd have to go to all the sessions,
all the meetings, listen to allthe preachers. That we carried our
bibles, not a cell phone,but our Bibles. So I guess I

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kind of took it for granted growingup that that's what we did. But
I'm telling you that's how I gotto know my Bible, That's how I
got to know the Word. Andreally that's really what life is all about?
What is it going to be?What would it be like if we
get to heaven? But we reallydon't know our Bible. We haven't really
taken the time to know it.We really have to take in the time

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to read it to understand it.But we got there because we put our
faith in Jesus Christ and we acceptedthe Lord. But we never read.
We never really read our Bible.What would that be like? Wow,
you know what I want to know? My word? I want to know
what heaven's like. You know howyou know what heaven's like? Read the
Bible. I know I want toknow about Hell? Well as hell real,

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you better believe it is. Whatis it like? Read your Bible?
The Bible talks all about hell.You want to know what God has
to say about healing. Read theBible. You know what you have to
say about faith and raising your family. Get into the scriptures. The Bible
has everything we need pertaining to lifein Godliness. So get into the Word,

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Get into the Bible, get intoprayer, start seeking the Lord on
your day to day life. Andthen someday when you get to be in
my age, I know I'm nottoo old I'm only sixty three, but
someday i'll be sixty four, andGod willing, i'll be seventy and seventy
five and eighty. I don't knowhow long my life will be, but
I know this. I want tobe prepared to meet Jesus. And there's

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only one way to be prepared.It's by knowing your Bible. Here's why
it's so important. This whole lifethat we're living in is to prepare us
for the next life. How preparedare you? Do you know your word?
Do you even attend church? Maybeyou don't. Well. God is

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calling you. God is calling youto find a church. God is calling
you to know him. He wantsyou to know him. You might say,
oh, pastor, I don't know. My life is so messed up.
Hey, it's all right. Jesusloves it when people come to him
whose lives are messed up because hecan help them get their life straight,

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get their life on the solid rock. Jesus can help them. So maybe
your life is messed up. Prayafter me. Pray this prayer. Say
Jesus, I need your help.Lord, I've messed up by life.
Forgive me of my sins. Comeinto my heart, be my savior.
I believe, Lord, that youare God who came in the flesh,

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the Way, the Truth, andthe Life, and that you died for
me so that I could have eternallife. Come into my heart and be
my savior, and fill me withthe Holy Spirit. In the name of
Jesus. Amen, Lord. Ipray for those that have prayed that prayer
this morning, that you had strengthenedthem, that you would comfort them.
I thank you Lord that when weconfess our sins, you are faithful.

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You are just to forgive us ofour sins and decleanse Us from all unrighteousness.
Thank you Lord. The only wayto get prepared for the next life
is to read your Bible, pray, seek the Lord, because you know
what eternity is coming. Jesus iscoming. We will meet Jesus one way

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or another. Either he will comein the clouds and we will go to
meet him, or we will meethim in death, one way or another.
Once again, I want to beprepared. We can either walk with
the devil and walk right into theflames of hell, or we can walk
with Jesus Christ walk into eternal lifeand the beauty of heaven. But the
only way is through Christ John fourteensix. Jesus said, I am the

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way, the truth in the life. No man comes on to the Father
except through me. He is theway, so you can't get lost.
He is the truth, so youcan't be deceived. He is the life,
so the devil can't kill you.Lord loves you so much, So

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I invite you. You might say, well, I'm older, Gail pastor
Gail, I'm old. I haven'tprepared any I haven't lived for the Lord
life. You know what, todayis a great day to start. Today
is the great day to start livingfor Jesus. Today is a great day
to open the Bible, the bibl E. Then you might say,

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what version of the Bible should Iread? Well? Some people read the
New International Version. Some people whoread the New American Standard, you know,
some people read the King James Versionof the Bible. Them are good
versions of the Bible to read.If you have a hard time reading,
you might want the Living Bible,the Living Translation, But I usually generally
read the NIV or the King JamesVersion of the Bible. Both are good.

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But I want to invite you tostart seeking the Lord. I want
to invite you to become a studentof the bi b l e. The
Bible, and maybe get yourself involvedwith a Bible study in your church,
a small group. That's a goodway to learn and grow. Maybe you
have a friend a family member thatwe might want to study the Bible with

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you. Maybe you can find afriend that wants to read and pray with
you. And most of all,find a good church. If you're listening
on wood radio, there's a lotof good churches around the Grand Rapids area,
and under the sound of my voice, there's a lot of good churches.
Find a good church to attend,read the Bible privately, go to
Bible studies, find a good churchto attend, and you'll be surprised how

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you will begin to grow spiritually andyou begin to mature. The Bible says
that Jesus grew in wisdom, inhis stature, and in favor with God.
And man, guess where I learnedthat. I learned that in Sunday
School. We had to memorize thatverse. We had to memorize put on

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the full armor of God so youcan take your stand against the devil's schemes.
We had to memorize that too.They made us memorize scripture in church?
Can you believe it? Memorizing scripture? Then later in my life I
didn't. I think I can memorizethe thing. I worked with a friend
named Ed, and we wind upwe wound up memorizing sixty some different patches
of the Bible when I thought Icouldn't memorize one. So you know what.

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Reading the Bible can bring peace toyour mind. It also can renew
your mind and help you with yourway of thinking, and so get to
know your word. I hope you'veenjoyed this program. I'd like to hear
from you. You can send mea letter. You can email me at
Gail g A l E at Spiritualcareconsultantsdot com. Or you can write me

(20:37):
a letter Spiritual Care Consultants, Caroof Pastor Gael g A L E.
Kroc k r h g T.You can mail it to one three seven
five West Green Street, Sweet one, Hastings, Michigan, four nine O
five eight. And if you're interestedin any of the books that I have

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published, put my name into Amazondot com. Put my name Gail g
A L E. Kroc k RGTand you will find the unexpected call my
trip to nine to eleven. Ijust told the story of what I saw,
what I did, and who I'mat. Then you got God moments,
amazing stories of the divine and everydaylife. And it's a book of

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stories of all my encounters with Jesus, Demons, God, angels and others
and Jesus in the mountains that justcame out is stories of where we see
Jesus move on the mission field.Now, I'd like to pray for you,
Heavenly Father. I pray for allthose that are under the sound of
my voice. Lord, I praythat you would bring comfort and peace to

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those that are struggling. For thosethat desire to read the Bible, but
they find the Bible very intimidating,I pray that you would give them peace.
I pray that as they open theBible, you would bring revelation,
that you would speak to their heart, that you would owe them the heart
of the Father. Help people tofind a good Bible, study, a
good church where they can learn andgrow in the Word. And Lord,

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I pray that you would let peopleknow how much you love them. Lord,
as they're out there listening, Ijust pray that they would know that
they are loved and they are caredfor, and that you love them more
than anything in the world, andthat you died so they could have eternal
life. Lord, I thank youfor it all in the name of Jesus.

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So in the name of Jesus,right now we ask us all.
We ask for healing for those thatare sick. We pray for peace for
those that are mentally tormented. InJesus' name. Amen, May the Lord
bless you. May the Lord keepyou made, the Lord cause his face
to shine upon you. May theLord be gracious to you and give you

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his peace. Remember, he lovesyou. You're valuable to him. He
cares about you more than all themoney in the world. And if you're
lonely and you're lost, he knowswhere you're at. Just call upon his
name and he will answer you andbe there for you. God bless and
have a good morning. We livein a world of worries, stress and

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fear, and many times people don'thave a very good support system. I
would like to hear from you.I would like to know how you like
the program, any prairie question mighthave, or any future subjects that you
would like me to address on futureprograms. My email is share at Healing

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Begins Radio dot com. Again thatshare at Healing Begins Radio dot com.
Healing Begins is brought to you bySpiritual Care Consultants located in Hastings, Michigan.
At the Healing Center, we seechildren and adults at no costs.

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We do virtual and in person sessions. We invite you to learn more about
us by going to www dot Spiritualcareconsultantsdot com. We also value your feedback
and would like to hear from you. You can email me at Gail G.
A. L e. At Spiritualcareconsultantsdot com. We would like to

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invite you and your family and friendsto go and listen to the past programs
by going to Wood Radio dot comthen click on podcasts, then look for
Healing Begins and click on that.Thank you so much for being a faithful
supporter. May God bless you,keep you, cause us face to shine

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upon you and give you peace.Thank you for listening.