6 Tips If You Find the Bible Hard to Read

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | - Today begins our 12th National Conference,

00:00:07.840 | and today we're here at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

00:00:10.280 | It's also our final National Conference,

00:00:12.400 | so it's pretty bittersweet.

00:00:14.020 | We've had a great response,

00:00:15.100 | and every hotel in downtown Minneapolis is filled up,

00:00:17.960 | so it should be a really wonderful weekend together.

00:00:20.560 | The conference is titled,

00:00:21.440 | "Look at the Book, Reading the Bible for Yourself."

00:00:23.480 | The fun begins this afternoon

00:00:24.980 | with seminars from Jerry Bridges, Nancy Guthrie,

00:00:27.700 | Ben Stewart, John Bloom, Jason Meyer, and others.

00:00:30.200 | And this evening, Pastor John,

00:00:31.200 | you will deliver a message titled,

00:00:33.000 | "Scripture, the Kindling of Christian Hedonism."

00:00:36.360 | And for those of you who are listening

00:00:38.200 | who can't make it to Minneapolis,

00:00:39.420 | the conference will be live-streamed as well.

00:00:41.720 | Speaking of reading the Bible for ourselves,

00:00:44.400 | we have a question from a frustrated podcast listener

00:00:47.000 | who asks, "Pastor John, I've read the Bible,

00:00:49.800 | "and a lot of it just doesn't make sense to me.

00:00:52.140 | "Why should I keep reading if I don't feel

00:00:54.520 | "like I know enough to understand it?"

00:00:56.560 | What would you say, Pastor John?

00:00:58.660 | - Well, I don't want this person

00:00:59.940 | to go on reading without understanding, so I resonate.

00:01:04.060 | I love poetry, and I buy volumes of poetry,

00:01:06.900 | and I go online and read poets.

00:01:09.380 | But if I pick up a new author that I've not read before,

00:01:13.140 | and I've done this maybe three times

00:01:14.860 | in the last six months, and I try about 10 poems,

00:01:18.380 | and none of them makes any sense to me at all,

00:01:22.220 | I'm gonna lay the book down.

00:01:23.860 | I am, I get it.

00:01:24.980 | I get this.

00:01:26.300 | I'm not gonna keep reading the book.

00:01:29.160 | You know, for poem after poem after poem,

00:01:31.460 | that is meaningless to me.

00:01:33.740 | But something else might happen, right?

00:01:36.980 | Someone who knows this author way better than I do

00:01:41.020 | might come along and say, "Oh, you read those 10?

00:01:44.420 | "Mm, don't start there.

00:01:46.640 | "Those are the most obscure,

00:01:48.200 | "the most difficult poems he ever wrote."

00:01:51.460 | There's a whole world of poems that he has written

00:01:55.700 | that are clear and really interesting and really helpful.

00:01:58.460 | Here, start here, and maybe you'll even catch on

00:02:02.700 | to the way he uses language,

00:02:03.940 | and maybe someday those poems will make sense.

00:02:08.340 | In other words, someone might rescue me

00:02:11.780 | from throwing away a great poet

00:02:14.900 | because I stepped into the deep end of the pool

00:02:18.380 | and went over my head right away.

00:02:21.580 | So what I'd like to do is help this person

00:02:25.060 | get over the hump of feeling like the Bible

00:02:28.700 | is over their head or from another planet

00:02:32.740 | or just totally irrelevant.

00:02:35.420 | And the real answer to the question

00:02:38.460 | of why press on is it's worth it.

00:02:43.040 | The Bible has so much to give,

00:02:46.660 | and what it has to give only can be found in the Bible.

00:02:51.860 | If you turn away from it, it can't be found anywhere else,

00:02:56.680 | and nothing can compare to it.

00:02:59.060 | So that Psalm 19 really is true.

00:03:03.420 | "More to be desired are they than gold,

00:03:07.260 | "even much fine gold,

00:03:09.360 | "sweeter also than honey

00:03:11.080 | "and drippings from the honeycomb.

00:03:13.360 | "Moreover, by them is your servant warned,

00:03:16.020 | "and in keeping them there is great reward."

00:03:19.580 | That's what I want for everybody who looks at the Bible

00:03:23.460 | and finds it to be too hard or confusing or irrelevant.

00:03:27.860 | That's not true.

00:03:28.900 | It is better than gold, better than silver,

00:03:31.700 | better than honey, great reward.

00:03:33.740 | And so I want people to hang in there

00:03:37.340 | because in the Bible, we find truth

00:03:40.480 | that will save us eternally.

00:03:42.040 | First Timothy 4:16,

00:03:44.060 | we find truth that liberates us from sin and satan

00:03:49.820 | we find truth that gives peace with God.

00:03:53.060 | We find truth that empowers holiness and love,

00:03:57.500 | truth that sustains in the hardest times.

00:04:00.700 | It really is the greatest book in the world

00:04:04.940 | because it's the only book inspired by God Almighty,

00:04:08.460 | the creator of the universe,

00:04:10.340 | and the only one that can make us wise

00:04:12.540 | unto everlasting life.

00:04:14.740 | So here's my encouragement.

00:04:17.100 | I want to give six simple steps

00:04:20.020 | for this discouraged Bible reader to try.

00:04:23.340 | Number one, make sure you have a modern translation

00:04:26.460 | that's readable, like the ESV or the NIV.

00:04:29.460 | Number two, make sure you are in a church

00:04:33.220 | where the pastor explains passages

00:04:35.440 | from the Bible every Sunday.

00:04:37.300 | That's what preaching is, it should be.

00:04:40.120 | If you're not in a church where the Bible is explained,

00:04:42.820 | probably need another church.

00:04:44.980 | And where you can be in a small group

00:04:47.420 | where folks talk about these things

00:04:49.260 | and you can ask all your questions about the Bible.

00:04:52.820 | Number three, get a good study Bible,

00:04:55.820 | like the ESV study Bible.

00:04:57.580 | 'Cause in a study Bible,

00:04:58.840 | there are these notes at the bottom of the page

00:05:01.220 | that answer a lot of your puzzling questions

00:05:04.500 | and give guidance for newcomers

00:05:06.460 | who aren't making sense out of it right away.

00:05:09.460 | Number four, read carefully and slowly,

00:05:13.060 | trying even maybe to write the passage.

00:05:15.900 | And I don't mean write out the long stories

00:05:17.540 | in the Old Testament.

00:05:18.380 | I mean, if you're stumbling over verses or a paragraph

00:05:21.340 | in the letters or in the gospels, try writing it down.

00:05:25.420 | Number five, a little self-advertisement here.

00:05:29.060 | Join us online at Look at the Book,

00:05:32.700 | episodes that are gonna go public

00:05:35.060 | at our national conference and be online

00:05:37.100 | at least by October 1, I'm not sure exact date.

00:05:39.780 | And there'll be there for me to help guide you

00:05:44.020 | through texts that I hope will instill habits

00:05:47.140 | of reading in you that will make the Bible live

00:05:50.300 | and make it understandable for you.

00:05:51.840 | And the last thing would be pray.

00:05:54.540 | Pray for God to give you light.

00:05:56.620 | God loves to make his son known.

00:06:00.140 | He sent him into the world at the cost of his life

00:06:03.580 | so that he could be known and loved.

00:06:05.900 | He's not interested in holding back from you

00:06:09.780 | the light that he gave with his son and gave with his word.

00:06:13.500 | Amen.

00:06:15.220 | Thank you, Pastor John.

00:06:16.040 | And watch for more information about those

00:06:17.460 | Look at the Book video lessons by following us online

00:06:20.020 | at desiringgod.org/blog.

00:06:23.180 | And if you're on your way to Minneapolis,

00:06:24.900 | we look forward to seeing you at the conference later today.

00:06:26.940 | If you can't make it, the conference will be live-streamed

00:06:29.040 | at desiringgod.org/live.

00:06:32.020 | Be sure to check out the schedule there

00:06:33.540 | to follow the conference remotely.

00:06:35.660 | Well, we have parenting questions like crazy

00:06:38.420 | piling up in our email inbox,

00:06:40.020 | and if everything works just right,

00:06:41.780 | we will welcome to the podcast a guest next week.

00:06:44.800 | The guest will be Ted Tripp.

00:06:47.080 | To answer some of your most perplexing parenting questions,

00:06:49.780 | Tripp is the author of "Shepherding a Child's Heart"

00:06:51.860 | and "Instructing a Child's Heart."

00:06:54.100 | Two wonderful books.

00:06:55.540 | In either case, we'll be back on Monday.

00:06:57.140 | Until then, I'm your host, Tony Reinke.

00:06:58.580 | Enjoy the conference.

00:06:59.840 | (upbeat music)

00:07:02.420 | (upbeat music)

00:07:05.000 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

6 Tips If You Find the Bible Hard to Read

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