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Speaker: we are keeping up our series
in questions that Jesus asked, and

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we are gonna be looking at Jesus'
most commonly asked question, the

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question Jesus asked people the most.

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Um, and we're gonna be in Matthew 19.

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And the question's right
there: Have you not read?

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That's the question Jesus
asked the most often.

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Um, but while you're turning there,
uh, today I was thinking about…

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So recently, I had to help my aunt
set up her Bluetooth headphones.

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Um, as the youngest cousin in my family,
um, it's my job to do that, you know?

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They're like, "You're young, you can…

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You know stuff about technology."

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So, um, but it made me realize there's
things that, like, every generation thinks

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are, like, basic life skills, right?

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Maybe you're the person that your
parents always ask, "Oh, can you,

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you know, cast my phone to the TV?"

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And they're like, "You're young.

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You should be able to do that."

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I asked, I asked Pastor Rod
what his generation thinks, you

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know, as, like, general things.

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I was like, "Is it using a phone book?

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Like, what is that?"

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He said it's like changing a
tire, doing an oil change, right?

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Something way more important.

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Um, but even a few, like a few decades
ago, everyone knew how to drive stick

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rather than automatic transmission because
all the cars were, were stick shift.

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You had the clutch and everything.

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200 years ago, it was
riding a horse, right?

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Everyone had to know how
to ride a horse to survive.

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Um, so there's a lot of basic skills
that you, that people think, oh, wow.

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I don't know if you've ever talked
to someone who's maybe either a lot

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older than you and they're like,
"Wait, you don't know how to do this?"

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And then you're talking to them
and like, "You don't know how to

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connect your speaker to your phone?"

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Like, there's, there's, like,
basic life skills, right?

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And you're, you're like shocked
when people don't realize that Oh,

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most people know how to do that?

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So made me think about this passage
because Jesus treats the people

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he's asking this question to, when
he asks them, "Have you not read?"

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He- it's almost like he's surprised.

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Like, "You don't get this?"

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He's assuming that this is a
basic thing, a basic thing that

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every person, um, should know.

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He's like, "Don't- haven't you read
in the Bible where it says this?"

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Or, "Don't you remember
when it says this?"

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So Jesus is operating with the
assumption that you know your Bible.

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He's operating under the assumption
that you've read your Bible, that

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you understand what it's saying, and
that you remember it, and that you

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th- it has relevance for your life.

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And I don't think most
of us operate that way.

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I think a lot of people your age don't
think that's a basic assumption, that

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you can understand what the Bible says.

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That when you open up your Bible, you
should be able to know what it's saying,

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you should be able to remember what
it's saying, and you should be able

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to use it to answer your questions, to
solve problems, and to live your life.

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I think most people your age would say,
"Oh, reading the Bible is too hard," or,

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"Reading the Bible takes too long," or,
"It's not relevant," or, "It doesn't help.

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It doesn't matter," right?

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But Jesus would say differently,
and so that's our question we're,

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we're asking tonight is Jesus is
gonna ask us, "Haven't you read?"

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Jesus thinks you should be
able to understand your Bible.

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So we're gonna be in the
Gospel of Matthew again.

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Um, I've just picked
Matthew for a lot of these.

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They're in most of the Gospels.

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But, um, we're gonna be in Matthew 19.

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So if you're not already there,
turn there in your Bibles.

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And, um, we're gonna kinda talk about the
whole story that's happening here, okay?

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So in Matthew 19, uh,
the Pharisees, right?

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These are kinda, like, the
Jewish religious leaders, right?

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The Pharisees, these are the people
who, they would teach the Jewish nation.

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They knew their Bibles
really well, actually.

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The Pharisees, they would memorize
entire books of the Bible.

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So these guys had all your favorite
books of the Bible memorized, right?

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Like Leviticus and
Numbers and Deuteronomy.

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They had all those books
memorized, and, and they studied.

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This was their job,
was to study the Bible.

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And so they don't like Jesus.

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They think Jesus is a false teacher.

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They think Jesus is not doing things
the way they're supposed to do them.

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And so they come up to
him, and they test him.

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And they ask him, 'cause what
they're trying to do is they're

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trying to get Jesus to say
something controversial, right?

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They're trying to get Jesus to say
something that people are gonna be like,

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"Oh, I don't like that," and so that
people will get mad at Jesus, right?

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They're trying to trap
Jesus with his words.

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So they come up to him, and
they say, "Hey, is it lawful to

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divorce your wife for any reason?"

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And we're not gonna get
into the whole, uh…

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We're gonna focus more on what Jesus
assumes rather than explaining all this.

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But basically, they're saying,
"Hey, am I- are we allowed

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to divorce if we're married?"

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Right?

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"Should I be able to say, 'Oh, I don't
wanna be married to this person anymore.

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See ya'?"

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And he says He answers a, he
asks them a question, and you'll

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find this a lot in the Gospels.

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Jesus loves to ask people questions
when they ask him a question.

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Um, I had a small group leader
who did that to me a lot, and

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it was really frustrating,
but it was really good for me.

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I'd ask him a question, and he
would ask me, "What do you think?"

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Or, "What about this?"

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And it was really good for me.

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Jesus says that a lot.

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He says, "Haven't you read that He, God,
who created them from the beginning,

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made them male and female and said,
'Therefore, a man shall leave his father

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and mother and hold fast to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.'"

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So they're saying, "Hey, shouldn't…

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What do you think?

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Should we be able to divorce
who, if we're married?"

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And he says, basically, "What
does the Bible say about that?"

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Well, he goes to Genesis 2:24
And he says, "Don't you know

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that this is what God says?

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'In the beginning, he made them
male and female, and therefore

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a man shall leave his father
and mother and hold fast to…'"

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He even quotes it word for word.

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"'And the two shall become one flesh.'"

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So verse six, his c- answer to their
question is, "Well, you shouldn't

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because God joined them together,
so you shouldn't break it up."

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Right?

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God made the marriage a thing, and
so you shouldn't decide you want

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out of it just for any reason.

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That's what Jesus is saying essentially.

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And we, y- if you have questions about
that, we can talk about that another time.

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But what I want you to see here is
that Jesus expects the Pharisees,

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and I think he would expect us to do
the same thing, to know, well, what

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does the Bible say about marriage?

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Right?

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They have a question, right?

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They're, they're, they're not sure
about something or maybe they do know

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and they're just trying to trick Jesus.

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They've got a question.

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He says, "Okay.

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Well, you should be able to know
what the Bible says about it.

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You should be able to understand
it, and you should be able to draw

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a conclusion based off of it."

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And maybe for you you're
like, "That's crazy.

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I shouldn't be able to do that.

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That's like for pastors, right?

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Isn't that your job, right?

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Isn't that what you're supposed to do?

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You're supposed to go to, go to seminary
and take all these classes and study the

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Bible and learn all this stuff, and that's
your, that's, that's the pastor's job."

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Or, "Oh, well, that's like the
really religious people's job, right?

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Maybe the like super
spiritual people you know.

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That's their job."

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Or, or maybe, "Oh, that's the, that's only
the like varsity Christians' job is to be

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able to know the Bible and understand it."

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What Jesus, I think, is saying is that
everyone should be able to do this.

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This is a basic life skill.

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Just like you would say, "Oh
yeah, basic life skill, connecting

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your Bluetooth headphones.

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Basic life skill, learning
how to drive a car," right?

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Basic life skill, being able to, um,
in this case understand the Bible and

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come to a conclusion about what it says.

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Jesus is saying this
is a basic life skill.

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He expects you to be able to know, to, to
read the Bible and to make sense of it.

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That's a basic thing.

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And it doesn't mean
it's always easy, right?

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But for all of us that's something
that we can all, we are able to do

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and that we all should be doing.

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So our first point tonight,
they're all gonna be things

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about knowing your Bible, right?

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Our, our main idea is that Jesus
expects you to know your Bible, but

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our first point here is that knowing
your Bible is your responsibility.

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It's your job to know your Bible.

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No one else can do it for you.

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Maybe you've never thought
about it like that.

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But

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When Jesus asked the Pharisees this
question, they're not like, "Oh,

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well, let me go ask my pastor," right?

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Or, "Let me go ask my small group leader,"
or, "Let me go ask my parents," right?

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If, if you're…

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If someone asks you a question about
the Bible, right, it's okay if you

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don't know the answer, but you have the
capability of reading it and understanding

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it, and you have to do it, right?

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Your parents can't
understand the Bible for you.

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They can explain it to you, but you have
to be the one that actually gets it.

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Your small group leader or me or Pastor
PJ, we can't understand the Bible for you.

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God's given you His Word, and it's
your job to make sense of it, right?

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We're gonna, we're gonna teach it to
you, we're gonna explain it to you,

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but you have to receive it, right?

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You have to catch it.

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Just think, maybe you think about it this
way, like, um, football season's starting.

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You can have the best quarterback, and
he can put the ball in all the right

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places, but if the receiver doesn't
catch it, doesn't matter, right?

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You could have the best quarterback.

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He has the best throws.

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He, he never misses.

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He always hits them r- in the right spot,
always hits them in the numbers, whatever.

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But if the receiver doesn't
catch it, doesn't matter.

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You're not gonna gain any yards, right?

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You can have the best parents.

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You can have the best preaching.

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You can have the best explanations.

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You can have the coolest study Bible.

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You can have the best kids
ministry teachers, right?

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You can have the smartest brain, right?

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You could have…

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I don't know if this is even true, but you
could have the most brain cells, right?

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Or the most wrinkles on your brain.

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But if you don't catch the
ball, right, if you don't

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understand the Bible for yourself

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I- that's your fault.

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It's not that it's too hard.

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It's not that God didn't give
you the Bible in your language.

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It's not that you're not smart enough.

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You have a responsibility to know
God's word and understand it.

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God's given you His word

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And on our next point, we'll
tackle … Or actually, we'll do

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that actually here pretty soon.

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But you have to do it, right?

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People can set you up for success.

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And, and honestly, you, you are set
up very well for success, right?

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You've got a lot of privileges and
advantages that a lot of people don't

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have to understanding the Bible, right?

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You have 2,000 years of people's
thoughts about the Bible, right?

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The church has worked to help you
understand the Bible for thousands

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of years, and they've given you
commentaries and study Bibles

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and preaching and sermons, right?

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Um, you have a church that works
really hard to teach the Bible

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really well and really clearly.

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But ultimately, it's your responsibility
to, to really understand it, right?

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To catch the ball, to think about
it, to remember it, and to use it.

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And here's the thing.

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Maybe you're like, "Well,
whatever, I don't want to,"

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and, and we can get to that.

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But we … None of us
can do it for you, right?

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You have to do it for yourself.

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Doesn't matter if your small group as a
whole understands the Bible if you don't.

229
00:11:23,458 --> 00:11:26,517
It doesn't matter if your family
understands the Bible if you don't.

230
00:11:27,737 --> 00:11:32,127
Doesn't matter if you know the books of
the Bible if you don't know the Bible.

231
00:11:33,548 --> 00:11:37,308
Uh, you have a responsibility, and I just,
I just want you to take ownership of it.

232
00:11:38,158 --> 00:11:41,107
I want you, e- like when you read
your Bible, to think, "This is my

233
00:11:41,108 --> 00:11:44,537
job to make sense of these words,
these sentences, these paragraphs."

234
00:11:45,578 --> 00:11:45,808
Right?

235
00:11:45,808 --> 00:11:49,277
God's given me the Bible, and
he said, "Here, get to know me.

236
00:11:50,588 --> 00:11:52,617
I, I love you, and I, I
want you to get to know me."

237
00:11:53,328 --> 00:11:56,548
And it's your job to, to say,
"Okay, yeah, I, I'll do that."

238
00:11:57,758 --> 00:11:59,827
And that's your, that's
our responsibility.

239
00:11:59,828 --> 00:12:05,867
We've been given, we've been given it,
right, God's Word, to get to know him.

240
00:12:06,508 --> 00:12:07,627
And you're not just

241
00:12:07,637 --> 00:12:10,397
I don't want you just to do it
because your parents tell you to.

242
00:12:10,508 --> 00:12:13,277
I don't want you just to do it
because you hear a sermon about it.

243
00:12:13,298 --> 00:12:14,998
I don't want you just to do it
because your leaders want you to.

244
00:12:14,998 --> 00:12:17,727
I want, I want you to do it because
you say, "Yeah, it's God's Word.

245
00:12:17,737 --> 00:12:18,567
I wanna understand it."

246
00:12:18,688 --> 00:12:19,868
And you have to do it for yourself

247
00:12:22,164 --> 00:12:30,114
But Jesus expects us to be able to read
it and understand it and apply it, and

248
00:12:30,684 --> 00:12:34,634
there's a lot of excuses that we all
give, right, for not being able to do it.

249
00:12:35,064 --> 00:12:37,184
And the easy one is, "I
don't have time," right?

250
00:12:37,484 --> 00:12:39,114
Well, I don't have time
to understand the Bible.

251
00:12:39,234 --> 00:12:40,404
I didn't, I didn't get…

252
00:12:40,414 --> 00:12:43,764
You know, I don't get to be Pastor
PJ and spend, you know, my work

253
00:12:43,784 --> 00:12:45,754
day studying the Bible, right?

254
00:12:45,754 --> 00:12:47,514
And you, you're like, "Well, I have
to learn all these other things.

255
00:12:47,514 --> 00:12:50,464
I have to learn algebra, and I have
to learn literature, and I have to

256
00:12:50,464 --> 00:12:55,554
learn AP Gov, and I have to learn
chemistry, I have to learn bio, and

257
00:12:55,554 --> 00:12:57,424
I have to learn all this stuff."

258
00:12:57,734 --> 00:12:59,114
And so you're like,
"Well, I don't have time

259
00:13:01,318 --> 00:13:02,658
I just want you to think
about this for a second.

260
00:13:03,658 --> 00:13:08,458
You have the same amount of time
as every single other person.

261
00:13:10,188 --> 00:13:11,108
You have the same amount of time.

262
00:13:12,048 --> 00:13:14,088
We all have the same
amount of time in our day.

263
00:13:15,638 --> 00:13:21,908
In, in your day, you have the same
24 hours that Elon Musk has, that

264
00:13:21,978 --> 00:13:28,198
Patrick Mahomes has, that Cooper
Flagg has, that everyone has.

265
00:13:29,048 --> 00:13:30,608
Everyone has the same 24 hours

266
00:13:33,812 --> 00:13:36,082
It, you just decide what
to do with them, right?

267
00:13:36,082 --> 00:13:38,102
My mom, whenever I said I don't have
time for something, my mom would always

268
00:13:38,102 --> 00:13:40,272
tell me, "You need to make time."

269
00:13:40,972 --> 00:13:41,002
Right?

270
00:13:41,072 --> 00:13:46,032
Time is, is a choice on how you spend it.

271
00:13:47,122 --> 00:13:48,522
And so if you're saying, "Well,
I don't have time to read the

272
00:13:48,522 --> 00:13:50,732
Bible," I would just ask you,
"Well, what do you have time for?"

273
00:13:51,742 --> 00:13:53,082
You have time for a lot of other stuff.

274
00:13:53,902 --> 00:13:54,592
So then go to…

275
00:13:54,622 --> 00:13:56,242
think about what, how do I spend my time?

276
00:13:57,182 --> 00:14:00,312
And then say, "Okay, well, clearly
these things are currently more

277
00:14:00,312 --> 00:14:04,692
important to me than understanding
the Bible," because you're choosing

278
00:14:04,692 --> 00:14:08,782
to spend your time on those things and
not understanding the Bible, right?

279
00:14:08,792 --> 00:14:12,612
I- if, if you say, "I wouldn't have
time to read my Bible today," well,

280
00:14:12,942 --> 00:14:18,632
you chose to do 24 hours worth of
things besides read and understand your

281
00:14:18,632 --> 00:14:22,512
Bible, and other people didn't do that.

282
00:14:23,922 --> 00:14:29,902
Other people that read their Bible
chose to spend one less hour or 30 less

283
00:14:29,902 --> 00:14:34,062
minutes or 15 less minutes on whatever
you chose to spend your time on, right?

284
00:14:35,342 --> 00:14:35,792
They spent…

285
00:14:35,832 --> 00:14:39,472
They sh- decided to spend 15
less minutes sleeping and 15 more

286
00:14:39,472 --> 00:14:41,001
minutes reading their Bible, right?

287
00:14:41,202 --> 00:14:46,652
Or 30 less minutes on Instagram or YouTube
and 30 more minutes reading their Bible.

288
00:14:47,942 --> 00:14:50,832
It's really not that hard,
if that makes sense, right?

289
00:14:50,982 --> 00:14:52,222
We all have the same 24 hours, right?

290
00:14:52,352 --> 00:14:55,531
So saying, "I don't have enough time,"
is really just saying, "I'm choosing

291
00:14:55,532 --> 00:14:57,521
to spend my time differently," right?

292
00:14:57,521 --> 00:14:59,711
And I just want you to, to recognize that.

293
00:15:01,012 --> 00:15:02,102
Don't say, "I don't have time."

294
00:15:02,662 --> 00:15:05,682
Be honest and say, "I'm choosing
to spend my time differently."

295
00:15:06,962 --> 00:15:07,112
Right?

296
00:15:07,112 --> 00:15:11,461
If, if you don't know God's Word
very well, just be honest and

297
00:15:11,462 --> 00:15:14,451
say, "It's because I'm choosing
to spend my time differently.

298
00:15:15,622 --> 00:15:19,732
I'm choosing to spend my time on other
things besides understanding God's Word."

299
00:15:21,342 --> 00:15:23,011
'Cause if, if all you say is,
"I don't have time," you're

300
00:15:23,012 --> 00:15:24,271
never gonna get anywhere, right?

301
00:15:24,832 --> 00:15:28,301
You have to give up the excuses and
start with actually being honest.

302
00:15:30,352 --> 00:15:31,641
Maybe you say, "I'm not that smart.

303
00:15:31,882 --> 00:15:32,842
I'm not that good at reading."

304
00:15:33,692 --> 00:15:34,012
Right?

305
00:15:35,251 --> 00:15:37,252
You don't have to be good at
reading to understand the Bible.

306
00:15:38,262 --> 00:15:43,402
Um, we're reading Proverbs, right, in our
daily Bible reading right now, and one

307
00:15:43,402 --> 00:15:47,802
of the things that we talked about this
summer in True North in Proverbs is that

308
00:15:48,282 --> 00:15:53,382
your brain power isn't the most important
thing with understanding God's Word.

309
00:15:54,290 --> 00:15:56,011
What does Proverbs 1:7 say?

310
00:15:56,381 --> 00:15:59,282
"The fear of the Lord is
the beginning of knowledge."

311
00:16:00,441 --> 00:16:00,731
Right?

312
00:16:00,901 --> 00:16:01,901
The fear of the Lord.

313
00:16:01,911 --> 00:16:05,211
So your relationship with God
is not about how smart you are.

314
00:16:06,122 --> 00:16:08,682
It's about whether you think
He's really God or not.

315
00:16:10,041 --> 00:16:10,071
Right?

316
00:16:10,081 --> 00:16:14,022
You don't have to be a super smart
person to read and understand the Bible.

317
00:16:14,922 --> 00:16:14,952
Right?

318
00:16:15,142 --> 00:16:18,462
And there's, there's ways you can
maybe even grow in your ability to

319
00:16:18,462 --> 00:16:19,561
read, your ability to understand.

320
00:16:19,911 --> 00:16:21,022
There's maybe things you could…

321
00:16:21,202 --> 00:16:23,982
There's maybe skills you can
learn and, and things you can do.

322
00:16:24,711 --> 00:16:30,111
But you don't need to be really
smart to know God's Word really well.

323
00:16:32,084 --> 00:16:33,554
'Cause it, it's not
about your brain power.

324
00:16:33,574 --> 00:16:34,864
We're gonna see this in 1 Corinthians.

325
00:16:35,204 --> 00:16:36,934
God didn't save all the smart people.

326
00:16:37,644 --> 00:16:37,794
Right?

327
00:16:37,794 --> 00:16:39,604
Christianity isn't a
religion for smart people.

328
00:16:40,614 --> 00:16:45,024
Christianity is a religion for
anyone who says, "I wanna follow

329
00:16:45,024 --> 00:16:47,934
Jesus, and I'm actually not…

330
00:16:48,254 --> 00:16:49,434
I don't have it all figured out.

331
00:16:50,324 --> 00:16:51,984
I need God's wisdom, not my own

332
00:16:54,584 --> 00:16:54,614
Right?

333
00:16:54,624 --> 00:16:59,424
There, there's not a qualification
of, of smartness or IQ or reading

334
00:16:59,424 --> 00:17:01,904
level to understanding the Bible.

335
00:17:02,044 --> 00:17:04,194
So maybe that's
encouraging for you, right?

336
00:17:04,194 --> 00:17:06,214
If, if you're-- if you say,
"I just can't understand.

337
00:17:06,214 --> 00:17:09,464
It doesn't make sense to me," you can…

338
00:17:09,554 --> 00:17:10,594
You really can, right?

339
00:17:10,594 --> 00:17:12,554
And maybe you just need to, maybe
you need to find a different Bible

340
00:17:12,554 --> 00:17:15,044
translation, or maybe you just
need, need to use a study Bible.

341
00:17:15,044 --> 00:17:16,523
Maybe you just need to
ask questions, right?

342
00:17:17,074 --> 00:17:20,194
But if you, if you don't know what's
happening, that's okay, right?

343
00:17:20,194 --> 00:17:22,584
You, you ask the questions, and
that's how you learn, right?

344
00:17:23,374 --> 00:17:26,854
You don't start out reading the
Bible and, and knowing how to, to

345
00:17:26,854 --> 00:17:28,223
make sense of everything right away.

346
00:17:30,924 --> 00:17:34,594
Um, which similarly, right, another
excuse we use is it's too hard, right?

347
00:17:34,594 --> 00:17:35,384
I tried already.

348
00:17:35,394 --> 00:17:35,904
It didn't work

349
00:17:38,482 --> 00:17:45,382
And, um, I, when I, uh, first started
playing Mario Kart, I was terrible at it.

350
00:17:46,192 --> 00:17:46,752
I was horrible.

351
00:17:47,602 --> 00:17:56,002
Um, like I was-- my most used items were
like Bullet Bill, star, golden mushroom.

352
00:17:56,212 --> 00:17:59,402
So if you know anything about Mario
Kart, you know I'm not very good.

353
00:17:59,742 --> 00:18:04,172
But, um, you can ask Lucas, I got better.

354
00:18:04,572 --> 00:18:09,512
Um, Lucas isn't here, but I did recently
play Mario Kart with Lucas and, uh,

355
00:18:11,162 --> 00:18:12,672
Lucas knows I got better at Mario Kart.

356
00:18:12,712 --> 00:18:13,292
I'll just tell him that.

357
00:18:13,742 --> 00:18:14,062
Right?

358
00:18:14,462 --> 00:18:18,172
Um, how did I get better at Mario Kart?

359
00:18:19,372 --> 00:18:20,562
I played a ton.

360
00:18:21,452 --> 00:18:23,092
Probably more than I should've, right?

361
00:18:23,292 --> 00:18:26,512
I didn't play as much as Hudson, 'cause
Hudson is insanely good at Mario Kart.

362
00:18:27,012 --> 00:18:31,152
Um, but I played more, right?

363
00:18:31,202 --> 00:18:36,092
And I, I fell off the edges and the, the
cloud dude pulled me up and I, I played

364
00:18:36,092 --> 00:18:39,342
enough where I started learning the
courses and I, I knew, oh, you're, you

365
00:18:39,482 --> 00:18:43,071
know you should drift at this time, and
oh, there's a shortcut over here and, you

366
00:18:43,072 --> 00:18:46,662
know, this is, this cart does this and
this cart does that and that character

367
00:18:46,662 --> 00:18:48,342
does this, and you learn the stuff.

368
00:18:48,342 --> 00:18:51,531
You just play and you make mistakes and
you fall off the edge and you finish

369
00:18:51,911 --> 00:18:54,982
12th and then you keep playing, right?

370
00:18:56,012 --> 00:18:58,902
If, if the Bible, if reading the Bible
is hard for you, it's okay, right?

371
00:18:58,902 --> 00:19:02,102
You're, you're not good at
stuff you don't do very much.

372
00:19:03,072 --> 00:19:03,232
Right?

373
00:19:03,232 --> 00:19:05,752
You don't just pick up your Bible
once every six months and be

374
00:19:05,752 --> 00:19:07,062
like, "Oh wow, this is so easy.

375
00:19:07,062 --> 00:19:08,052
I lo- this is great."

376
00:19:08,981 --> 00:19:09,161
Right?

377
00:19:09,161 --> 00:19:13,782
You just, you keep doing it and you
take ownership of God's given me His

378
00:19:13,782 --> 00:19:15,531
word, I wanna get better at reading it.

379
00:19:15,801 --> 00:19:16,882
I wanna get better at understanding it.

380
00:19:16,882 --> 00:19:21,692
And you do it 15 minutes a day, 10
minutes a day, and you get better

381
00:19:22,271 --> 00:19:25,262
and it makes more sense and the more
you read, the more it makes sense

382
00:19:25,262 --> 00:19:26,582
and, and you keep going from there.

383
00:19:26,672 --> 00:19:28,292
But it's okay that it's
hard at first, right?

384
00:19:28,962 --> 00:19:32,641
It's okay that you're, you're
finishing 10th place and using

385
00:19:32,642 --> 00:19:33,642
golden mushrooms all the time.

386
00:19:35,062 --> 00:19:36,591
You just-- But you keep playing, right?

387
00:19:36,591 --> 00:19:38,552
You, you, you, you,
that's how you get better.

388
00:19:38,682 --> 00:19:38,992
So

389
00:19:42,212 --> 00:19:44,982
But I think the main excuse, and
this is really gets closer to the

390
00:19:44,982 --> 00:19:48,412
main reason we don't read our Bibles
often, is something along these lines.

391
00:19:48,412 --> 00:19:51,012
It's boring, right?

392
00:19:51,152 --> 00:19:52,662
It, it, it's useless.

393
00:19:52,812 --> 00:19:53,492
Doesn't matter

394
00:19:55,644 --> 00:19:57,524
And this is when we're
really starting to be honest.

395
00:19:58,424 --> 00:20:02,784
Because really, the, the
problem is you don't want to.

396
00:20:04,204 --> 00:20:05,494
You don't think it's important enough.

397
00:20:06,644 --> 00:20:09,834
When we don't wanna read our Bibles,
it's usually not because we don't

398
00:20:09,834 --> 00:20:12,714
have time, it's usually not because
we're too tired, and it's usually

399
00:20:12,714 --> 00:20:14,284
not because we're not smart enough.

400
00:20:14,284 --> 00:20:15,394
It's usually just 'cause we don't want to.

401
00:20:17,104 --> 00:20:21,064
Because we don't think that God's
Word is really what He says it is.

402
00:20:22,304 --> 00:20:24,134
That's usually the problem.

403
00:20:24,134 --> 00:20:27,984
I had a pastor, whenever I would
tell him, "Oh, I, I sh- I wanna do

404
00:20:27,984 --> 00:20:33,014
that, but I just can't," he would
go, "If you wanted to, you would."

405
00:20:34,384 --> 00:20:38,444
Which is not, like, the most
encouraging advice, but it's true.

406
00:20:38,823 --> 00:20:43,184
If you really wanna do something,
you make it happen, right?

407
00:20:43,204 --> 00:20:45,354
Like, with your … Whether
it's your sport or your

408
00:20:45,354 --> 00:20:46,764
grades, right, or, or anything.

409
00:20:46,884 --> 00:20:49,294
If you really care about something,
you will figure out how to

410
00:20:49,294 --> 00:20:50,863
do it and, and get it done.

411
00:20:51,654 --> 00:20:54,674
If, if you really care about passing
your class, you will do the homework.

412
00:20:54,704 --> 00:20:59,104
You'll stay up late, you'll pull
an all-nighter, you'll figure

413
00:20:59,104 --> 00:21:00,334
out something to do it, right?

414
00:21:00,334 --> 00:21:03,074
If you really wanna be good at your
sport, you will figure out how to do it.

415
00:21:03,464 --> 00:21:05,823
You'll miss things for it, you'll, you'll
tell your parents, "Hey, I need to be

416
00:21:05,824 --> 00:21:08,914
here at this time," and you suddenly get
really responsible all of a sudden, and

417
00:21:09,013 --> 00:21:11,773
you start knowing, "Oh, I need to do this,
I need to do this," and all this stuff.

418
00:21:12,013 --> 00:21:15,224
If you wanna get really good at a
video game, you put hours into doing

419
00:21:15,224 --> 00:21:16,154
it, and you're like, "Oh, I'm gonna

420
00:21:16,384 --> 00:21:18,944
Oh, maybe I'll watch, you know,
someone play it, and I'll see how

421
00:21:18,944 --> 00:21:21,873
they g- " Like, if you really wanna do
something, you, you, you're gonna do it.

422
00:21:22,854 --> 00:21:23,984
And this is usually the problem, right?

423
00:21:23,994 --> 00:21:27,624
Is we don't believe that God's
Word really is what He says it is.

424
00:21:28,664 --> 00:21:30,343
And that's usually our biggest problem.

425
00:21:31,644 --> 00:21:33,423
It's not that we don't have time,
it's not that we're not smart

426
00:21:33,424 --> 00:21:34,864
enough, it's that we just w- it's

427
00:21:34,973 --> 00:21:35,733
I don't trust God.

428
00:21:36,903 --> 00:21:39,833
I don't think that this 30 minutes
of reading His Word and thinking

429
00:21:39,833 --> 00:21:41,814
about it is gonna be worth it.

430
00:21:42,384 --> 00:21:44,284
That's usually our root problem.

431
00:21:45,774 --> 00:21:49,874
And so maybe what you need to do
before you read your Bible is talk

432
00:21:49,874 --> 00:21:51,154
yourself into reading your Bible.

433
00:21:51,473 --> 00:21:55,503
Maybe what you need to do is
maybe you turn to Psalm 119.

434
00:21:55,524 --> 00:21:57,584
You, and you take one of those
verses, and you think about it.

435
00:21:57,584 --> 00:22:02,534
You say, "Wow, uh, the psalmist in
verse 36 says, 'Incline my heart to your

436
00:22:02,534 --> 00:22:04,064
testimonies and not to selfish gain.'"

437
00:22:04,283 --> 00:22:08,264
And so what you do is you say, "God, right
now, I really feel like being selfish.

438
00:22:08,443 --> 00:22:09,553
I really don't wanna do this.

439
00:22:09,613 --> 00:22:10,573
This seems boring to me.

440
00:22:11,533 --> 00:22:16,554
But I know that you are
smarter than me," right?

441
00:22:16,923 --> 00:22:21,024
And the next verse says, "Turn
my eyes from worthless things,

442
00:22:21,483 --> 00:22:25,233
and give me life according to
your wo- to your Word," right?

443
00:22:25,434 --> 00:22:26,933
And you say, "God, I need
you to do this for me.

444
00:22:26,964 --> 00:22:31,773
That these things, I need you to convince
me that the extra 15 minutes of scrolling

445
00:22:31,783 --> 00:22:35,373
in the morning is worthless, and I
wanna put my attention on your Word."

446
00:22:35,373 --> 00:22:37,604
And you ask God to do it, and then
you start reading, and you see,

447
00:22:37,604 --> 00:22:40,893
oh, wow, God really is worth it.

448
00:22:41,453 --> 00:22:43,924
There really are things in
His Word that are good for me.

449
00:22:45,154 --> 00:22:46,214
So maybe that's what you need to do.

450
00:22:46,253 --> 00:22:49,153
Maybe you need to, before you read,
talk yourself into reading, right?

451
00:22:51,014 --> 00:22:54,464
Anyway, you are responsible
to do it, right?

452
00:22:54,464 --> 00:22:58,454
And we just talked about that, you
know, kind of a list of excuses, and

453
00:22:59,004 --> 00:23:02,994
maybe you need to stop hiding behind
your excuses and, and really just face

454
00:23:02,994 --> 00:23:05,984
the facts that I don't wanna do this.

455
00:23:06,964 --> 00:23:10,794
And maybe that shows you that there's a
problem with your relationship with God

456
00:23:13,012 --> 00:23:17,462
And or maybe what it shows you is,
it, it maybe motivates you to say,

457
00:23:17,462 --> 00:23:22,322
you know, "God, I, I want to show you
that I love you by listening to you

458
00:23:22,392 --> 00:23:24,532
and hearing what you have to say."

459
00:23:26,322 --> 00:23:31,302
But can we just all agree
to, to abandon our excuses?

460
00:23:32,212 --> 00:23:34,392
'Cause that's not gonna
help anyone, right?

461
00:23:34,392 --> 00:23:38,142
The I don't have times, and the I'm
not smart enough, it doesn't help

462
00:23:38,142 --> 00:23:39,702
you, and it doesn't help anyone else.

463
00:23:41,932 --> 00:23:46,962
Also, God forgives sins,
not excuses, right?

464
00:23:48,412 --> 00:23:51,662
God doesn't forgive the, "Oh, sorry,
I don't have time to read the Bible."

465
00:23:52,972 --> 00:23:57,652
God forgives the, "God, I've been
valuing entertainment more than

466
00:23:57,652 --> 00:24:02,562
I've been valuing you, and I confess
my sin, and then I turn from it.

467
00:24:03,642 --> 00:24:07,502
And I say, 'God, you're better, so
I'm gonna spend time with you.'"

468
00:24:11,220 --> 00:24:12,850
So we all need to take responsibility.

469
00:24:12,850 --> 00:24:17,900
I, this is something I can do, and this
is something that, that I need to do.

470
00:24:18,570 --> 00:24:25,250
But the encouraging part is I think
what Jesus shows us here in our chapters

471
00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:29,750
is he expects us to be able to make
conclusions from what we read, right?

472
00:24:29,750 --> 00:24:30,740
He says, "Haven't you read?"

473
00:24:30,740 --> 00:24:33,100
And he explains the verse,
and then he says, "So…"

474
00:24:33,890 --> 00:24:37,830
And that word's really important
because Jesus expects these people,

475
00:24:37,830 --> 00:24:42,300
and he expects us, to be able to read
something in the Bible and then see

476
00:24:42,300 --> 00:24:45,150
how it relates to real life, right?

477
00:24:45,150 --> 00:24:46,140
It's not just words on a page.

478
00:24:46,140 --> 00:24:48,120
It's not just old things
someone wrote in a book.

479
00:24:48,450 --> 00:24:50,650
But these things really
matter for real life.

480
00:24:51,220 --> 00:24:52,560
And you can do this.

481
00:24:53,100 --> 00:24:54,170
I don't know if you've
ever thought about this.

482
00:24:54,460 --> 00:24:56,110
Jesus had to learn how to read.

483
00:24:57,780 --> 00:24:59,630
Jesus had to learn the Bible.

484
00:25:00,660 --> 00:25:06,420
Jesus didn't just show up at
age one knowing the Bible.

485
00:25:07,380 --> 00:25:11,270
Jesus had to learn, oh, this
is what Genesis 2:24 means.

486
00:25:12,910 --> 00:25:15,489
It's like Jesus went to the
synagogue, heard someone teach

487
00:25:15,490 --> 00:25:17,769
about this, and learned it.

488
00:25:19,470 --> 00:25:23,950
Or he spent time hearing God's word read
and made the connection in his head.

489
00:25:23,950 --> 00:25:26,420
This is, this is doable, right?

490
00:25:26,420 --> 00:25:29,209
Jesus didn't just wake up knowing this.

491
00:25:30,740 --> 00:25:35,139
Jesus studied and learned,
and you can too, right?

492
00:25:35,140 --> 00:25:39,510
Jesus lived a real human life,
and you and I can do the same.

493
00:25:39,979 --> 00:25:43,040
So point two, knowing your
Bible is completely doable.

494
00:25:43,949 --> 00:25:46,219
Doable is one of those
words that looks wrong

495
00:25:48,468 --> 00:25:52,598
Like, it looks like Doble or…

496
00:25:53,288 --> 00:25:55,398
But I didn't, I don't
think it has a hyphen.

497
00:25:56,688 --> 00:25:59,558
I'm pretty sure, 'cause it
didn't get underlined in red.

498
00:26:00,648 --> 00:26:01,138
I don't know.

499
00:26:01,398 --> 00:26:02,678
I didn't bother checking.

500
00:26:03,698 --> 00:26:03,778
It's correct.

501
00:26:04,038 --> 00:26:04,608
It's correct?

502
00:26:04,778 --> 00:26:06,028
Yeah, doesn't it look wrong though?

503
00:26:07,318 --> 00:26:07,628
I don't know.

504
00:26:07,628 --> 00:26:08,118
It looks weird.

505
00:26:08,118 --> 00:26:09,398
It looks like it should
be hyphenated or…

506
00:26:09,458 --> 00:26:11,588
'Cause when I read this,
I don't see doable.

507
00:26:11,768 --> 00:26:12,378
I see- Doble.

508
00:26:13,318 --> 00:26:15,638
Yeah, I see Doble, like Barnes & Doble.

509
00:26:16,298 --> 00:26:18,228
Um, anyway.

510
00:26:21,852 --> 00:26:25,182
We have everything we need to
understand God's word, right?

511
00:26:25,182 --> 00:26:32,412
You, today, right now, have everything
you need to do what Jesus did, in the

512
00:26:32,412 --> 00:26:37,572
sense of you can take a Bible verse,
understand what it means, and come to a

513
00:26:37,572 --> 00:26:40,132
conclusion that changes your life, right?

514
00:26:40,152 --> 00:26:41,782
And impacts the way you live.

515
00:26:41,782 --> 00:26:45,842
You are capable of doing that,
whether you think you are or not.

516
00:26:46,042 --> 00:26:50,552
You have the ability, you have
the brainpower, you have the, just

517
00:26:50,552 --> 00:26:52,562
the self-discipline to do that.

518
00:26:52,572 --> 00:26:53,142
You can.

519
00:26:53,752 --> 00:26:54,812
You're capable of it.

520
00:26:54,832 --> 00:27:00,292
And maybe you don't believe that, and
that's might be one of your biggest

521
00:27:00,302 --> 00:27:02,752
obstacles to reading the Bible, but
you have everything you need, right?

522
00:27:02,752 --> 00:27:03,252
We already talked about it.

523
00:27:03,252 --> 00:27:06,532
You have enough time, you have enough
energy, you have the capability

524
00:27:06,532 --> 00:27:07,962
of reading and understanding.

525
00:27:08,632 --> 00:27:11,392
You have … Also, you
have people to help you.

526
00:27:12,362 --> 00:27:15,512
You have people who want to help
you understand God's word, right?

527
00:27:15,512 --> 00:27:19,322
You have parents, you have leaders,
you have friends who want you to be

528
00:27:19,322 --> 00:27:23,462
able to, to, to get something out
of your time in God's word, right?

529
00:27:23,462 --> 00:27:26,722
We don't want it to be
frustrating and, "Oh my goodness,

530
00:27:26,722 --> 00:27:27,632
I have to do this," right?

531
00:27:27,632 --> 00:27:29,282
We don't want it to be eating
your vegetables, right?

532
00:27:29,282 --> 00:27:30,572
We want it to be eating dessert.

533
00:27:31,751 --> 00:27:32,412
It's good.

534
00:27:33,262 --> 00:27:34,031
It's enjoyable.

535
00:27:34,861 --> 00:27:38,162
It doesn't have to be painful, right?

536
00:27:38,162 --> 00:27:41,832
You can, you can do this,
and you can get better at it.

537
00:27:42,892 --> 00:27:44,982
Also, I don't know if you've
thought about this before, but

538
00:27:44,992 --> 00:27:46,671
God really wants to help you.

539
00:27:48,181 --> 00:27:51,422
God doesn't want you to just
be like, "Well, I give up.

540
00:27:51,882 --> 00:27:52,622
This stinks.

541
00:27:52,632 --> 00:27:53,572
This is so boring."

542
00:27:55,212 --> 00:28:00,312
Hopefully, from this summer, with
Pastor PJ, you've seen, in Psalm 119,

543
00:28:01,092 --> 00:28:04,892
all of the times the psalmist asks
for help to understand God's word.

544
00:28:06,111 --> 00:28:09,742
And that was something I never really
thought about until very recently, but

545
00:28:10,052 --> 00:28:13,601
usually when I read Psalm 119, in the
past, I was like, "This is the most

546
00:28:13,632 --> 00:28:15,412
unrelatable chapter in the whole Bible."

547
00:28:15,412 --> 00:28:19,122
This dude loves the Bible, and he thinks
it's the most amazing thing ever, and

548
00:28:19,122 --> 00:28:21,422
he's always excited about it, and I
was like, "I don't feel that way."

549
00:28:21,832 --> 00:28:25,002
I'm not always like, "Oh yeah, I
get to read Leviticus today, yes."

550
00:28:25,162 --> 00:28:25,452
Right?

551
00:28:26,762 --> 00:28:30,911
But what I realized is this
guy, who's writing Psalm 119,

552
00:28:30,922 --> 00:28:32,352
he's asking God for help.

553
00:28:33,862 --> 00:28:34,062
Right?

554
00:28:34,101 --> 00:28:38,232
"Open my eyes, that I might behold
wondrous things from your law."

555
00:28:40,318 --> 00:28:44,358
He's asking that because he, that
doesn't come naturally for him.

556
00:28:45,928 --> 00:28:49,258
He's asking, "God, open my eyes,"
because he's like, "I'm not seeing it.

557
00:28:49,838 --> 00:28:51,118
God, I need you to help me."

558
00:28:52,328 --> 00:28:55,268
Or when he says, "Incline my heart
to your testimonies," or in Psalm

559
00:28:55,268 --> 00:28:56,948
86 where he says, "Unite my heart."

560
00:28:56,948 --> 00:28:57,888
We sing that song, right?

561
00:28:58,138 --> 00:28:58,878
Undivided heart.

562
00:29:00,688 --> 00:29:04,008
The reason he's asking God is
because he's saying, "I need help.

563
00:29:05,058 --> 00:29:09,888
God, I need you to help me understand
your word, to make sense of it, and

564
00:29:09,888 --> 00:29:11,508
to feel differently because of it."

565
00:29:12,698 --> 00:29:16,958
And God is ready and willing and available
to help you understand the Bible.

566
00:29:18,058 --> 00:29:20,248
Jesus says that he's
given us the Holy Spirit.

567
00:29:20,638 --> 00:29:25,788
He tells his disciples in, um,
the upper room, John 13 to 17,

568
00:29:25,788 --> 00:29:30,328
he says, "I'll give you a helper,
and he'll help you understand and

569
00:29:30,328 --> 00:29:31,898
remember what I'm telling you."

570
00:29:33,058 --> 00:29:33,458
So

571
00:29:35,488 --> 00:29:37,108
God wants to help you, right?

572
00:29:37,108 --> 00:29:39,028
A- and maybe what you need
to do is just ask him.

573
00:29:39,468 --> 00:29:43,468
Maybe none- maybe what you do is you just
open up your Bible and start reading, and

574
00:29:43,468 --> 00:29:47,648
you don't ask God to help you, and maybe
that's why your Bible reading's so hard.

575
00:29:49,497 --> 00:29:52,118
But you have everything you need to do it.

576
00:29:52,118 --> 00:29:53,108
You have all the resources.

577
00:29:53,118 --> 00:29:55,468
You, that you can get great
study Bibles to help you.

578
00:29:55,978 --> 00:29:56,918
Maybe that's what you need to do.

579
00:29:56,927 --> 00:29:59,818
Maybe you need to get a study Bible so
you read the verse and, and you're like,

580
00:29:59,818 --> 00:30:00,678
"Oh, I don't know what that means."

581
00:30:00,678 --> 00:30:02,558
And you go down, and you look
at the bottom of the page, and

582
00:30:02,558 --> 00:30:06,068
it says, "Oh, here, this is
what chapter 19, verse 4 means."

583
00:30:07,217 --> 00:30:09,468
Or maybe what you do is when you
read the Bible and you're really

584
00:30:09,468 --> 00:30:12,658
confused, you write down a question
or two, and you text your leader.

585
00:30:12,698 --> 00:30:14,377
And you say, "I'm confused.

586
00:30:14,618 --> 00:30:15,418
What does this mean?"

587
00:30:17,137 --> 00:30:17,847
That's great.

588
00:30:18,198 --> 00:30:19,508
That's a great place to start

589
00:30:21,524 --> 00:30:24,204
But if you just say, "I'm
confused," and you give up,

590
00:30:25,404 --> 00:30:26,494
that's not gonna get you anywhere.

591
00:30:28,324 --> 00:30:29,834
But it's okay to be confused, right?

592
00:30:29,834 --> 00:30:30,394
That's how you learn.

593
00:30:30,414 --> 00:30:35,964
You know, you realize that learning
is being confused and then asking

594
00:30:35,964 --> 00:30:37,954
questions and getting answers, right?

595
00:30:38,174 --> 00:30:39,524
Learning involves confusion.

596
00:30:40,084 --> 00:30:41,964
You wouldn't learn if you
weren't confused, 'cause then

597
00:30:41,964 --> 00:30:42,874
you'd already know it, right?

598
00:30:43,514 --> 00:30:48,584
Learning starts with I don't know
it, and then I get to know it, right?

599
00:30:48,804 --> 00:30:50,934
So it's okay if it's confusing, it's
okay if it's new, it's okay if it doesn't

600
00:30:50,934 --> 00:30:53,944
make sense, but it's not okay to just be
like, "Oh, well, whatever, I don't care

601
00:30:56,148 --> 00:31:00,258
Because then you're not taking
responsibility to get to know what

602
00:31:00,258 --> 00:31:02,478
God has to say and who God is.

603
00:31:02,488 --> 00:31:05,838
So knowing your Bible
is completely doable.

604
00:31:07,108 --> 00:31:08,768
And maybe you just need the
right expectations, right?

605
00:31:08,768 --> 00:31:13,658
Maybe you've never thought about reading
the Bible as something that should take

606
00:31:13,658 --> 00:31:19,188
effort, even though everything else
that you wanna do takes effort, right?

607
00:31:19,198 --> 00:31:22,808
Even, like, getting good at Mario Kart,
right, took effort from me, right?

608
00:31:22,808 --> 00:31:25,748
I had to actually play a lot
to get good at it, right?

609
00:31:26,408 --> 00:31:27,948
Or your sport, right?

610
00:31:28,018 --> 00:31:30,598
Or your instrument, or school.

611
00:31:30,918 --> 00:31:32,778
To get good at it, you had to practice.

612
00:31:32,818 --> 00:31:33,538
You had to do things.

613
00:31:35,488 --> 00:31:38,238
And so maybe you just need to
realize, oh, reading the Bible is

614
00:31:38,238 --> 00:31:40,418
gonna take practice, and that's okay.

615
00:31:42,068 --> 00:31:45,638
And you don't have to get crazy
good at it in two days, right?

616
00:31:46,108 --> 00:31:48,588
You practice little by little,
and you get better as you read

617
00:31:50,708 --> 00:31:52,268
And that's how change happens too, right?

618
00:31:52,268 --> 00:31:54,098
Maybe you say, "Oh, I read
my Bible and nothing happens

619
00:31:56,732 --> 00:32:02,232
Most of the time, the way people
grow isn't like all at once

620
00:32:05,140 --> 00:32:06,570
You grow gradually.

621
00:32:07,830 --> 00:32:09,590
It's kinda like, you know,
like the way your hair grows.

622
00:32:11,270 --> 00:32:11,590
You don't…

623
00:32:11,620 --> 00:32:12,980
Or the way your nails grow, right?

624
00:32:12,980 --> 00:32:17,020
You're like, "I, I don't
see them growing," but…

625
00:32:17,610 --> 00:32:19,600
And every day you look yourself
in the mirror and you're like…

626
00:32:19,670 --> 00:32:22,270
You're not like, "Oh, wow, my hair's
so much longer than it was yesterday."

627
00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:26,480
But after a month you're like,
"Oh, my hair grew," right?

628
00:32:27,450 --> 00:32:29,960
That's often how God grows us spiritually.

629
00:32:30,970 --> 00:32:35,650
You don't notice it, but then a year
from now or six months from now or

630
00:32:35,650 --> 00:32:39,290
even a month from now, you're like,
"Wow, I, I actually do trust God more."

631
00:32:40,190 --> 00:32:45,200
Or, "Oh, wow, I actually do
want to love His people more."

632
00:32:46,020 --> 00:32:48,220
Or, "I actually do care
more about His church."

633
00:32:49,860 --> 00:32:52,330
But also sin happens the same way, right?

634
00:32:52,340 --> 00:32:55,740
Sometimes we don't notice, "Oh, wow, I did
get really lazy over the past six months."

635
00:32:56,660 --> 00:32:58,370
And that happens little by little too.

636
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:01,560
But growth usually happens that way too.

637
00:33:01,560 --> 00:33:03,990
So maybe you just need to calibrate your
expectations and say, "You know what?

638
00:33:04,330 --> 00:33:04,550
I…

639
00:33:04,650 --> 00:33:08,160
Reading the Bible might not radically
change my life in two days."

640
00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:09,030
It could.

641
00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:14,529
God could do that, but it most likely
will be gradual, a little bit at a time.

642
00:33:16,350 --> 00:33:18,680
But I think the main thing for us
that we need to take away from it is

643
00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:21,439
that Bible reading is personal, right?

644
00:33:21,439 --> 00:33:24,440
Bible reading is not like
reading a history book.

645
00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:29,679
Bible reading is getting
to know God, right?

646
00:33:29,689 --> 00:33:31,400
Bible reading's not for your
brain, it's for your heart

647
00:33:37,332 --> 00:33:40,612
If all you do is just read and
try to understand with your head,

648
00:33:41,612 --> 00:33:45,052
but nothing happens with your
heart, you're not doing what God

649
00:33:45,052 --> 00:33:46,932
intends you to do with your Bible.

650
00:33:48,222 --> 00:33:52,362
Th- what God, His purpose for the
Bible is, is to show you Himself.

651
00:33:53,562 --> 00:33:58,602
Just like the reason, one of the reasons
that Jesus came in human flesh was

652
00:33:58,602 --> 00:34:00,892
so we could get to know God, right?

653
00:34:00,892 --> 00:34:02,972
We get to see God as a person, right?

654
00:34:02,972 --> 00:34:07,142
We get to see, see God with arms
and legs and bones and muscles.

655
00:34:08,802 --> 00:34:16,172
What God has done is rather than taking
on flesh, He's taken on sentences, right?

656
00:34:16,592 --> 00:34:22,302
God's said, "Here I am," but instead of
putting on flesh and bones and muscles and

657
00:34:22,302 --> 00:34:31,212
hair, He's put on sentences and paragraphs
and words, and He says, "Here I am.

658
00:34:31,902 --> 00:34:32,581
Get to know me."

659
00:34:34,581 --> 00:34:36,552
And that's why we read
our Bible is for God.

660
00:34:36,742 --> 00:34:38,482
You get to know God by reading your Bible.

661
00:34:38,512 --> 00:34:42,512
He's just, instead of wearing,
you know, a tunic and sandals,

662
00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:48,792
He's wearing a really long run-on
sentence in Ephesians 1, right?

663
00:34:48,891 --> 00:34:56,891
Or He's wearing parables, or He's wearing
narrative stories, or He's wearing a

664
00:34:56,891 --> 00:34:59,932
list of laws, and He says, "Here I am.

665
00:34:59,951 --> 00:35:00,692
Get to know me

666
00:35:05,298 --> 00:35:10,028
And so our third point is that knowing
your Bible is how you know God.

667
00:35:10,058 --> 00:35:10,928
And that's really what it's about.

668
00:35:12,148 --> 00:35:14,718
That's why we care so much about
you reading your Bible, is we

669
00:35:14,718 --> 00:35:15,518
want you to get to know God.

670
00:35:16,378 --> 00:35:20,088
You're reading your Bible for a
person, not facts, not information,

671
00:35:20,978 --> 00:35:25,008
not theories, not rules.

672
00:35:25,678 --> 00:35:26,448
You're reading for a person.

673
00:35:26,668 --> 00:35:28,718
You're reading to get to know God

674
00:35:35,828 --> 00:35:38,788
There's another place where Jesus
asks this question of have you not

675
00:35:38,788 --> 00:35:44,538
read in Matthew 12, and basically
what's happening is he's eating

676
00:35:45,418 --> 00:35:48,438
on the Sabbath, and you weren't
supposed to do that back in the day.

677
00:35:48,988 --> 00:35:50,028
You weren't supposed
to eat on the Sabbath.

678
00:35:50,278 --> 00:35:53,798
And so the Pharisees, again,
are like, "What are you doing?

679
00:35:54,048 --> 00:35:55,058
You're breaking the law."

680
00:35:55,708 --> 00:35:58,188
And Jesus says, "Haven't you read?"

681
00:35:58,758 --> 00:35:58,958
Right?

682
00:35:58,958 --> 00:35:59,588
Same question.

683
00:35:59,658 --> 00:36:03,328
Have you not read what David did, or
haven't you read in the law how…

684
00:36:03,348 --> 00:36:03,558
Right?

685
00:36:03,558 --> 00:36:04,548
So he asked them, "Don't…

686
00:36:04,578 --> 00:36:05,388
You should know this."

687
00:36:05,418 --> 00:36:05,608
Right?

688
00:36:05,608 --> 00:36:06,888
So you see that expectation again.

689
00:36:06,918 --> 00:36:08,458
You sh- you sh- you guys should know this.

690
00:36:08,898 --> 00:36:09,528
This is in the Bible.

691
00:36:09,528 --> 00:36:11,078
You, you should know what it says.

692
00:36:12,648 --> 00:36:16,118
They're missing something that Jesus
says you could find that in the Bible.

693
00:36:17,248 --> 00:36:20,468
They, they're upset at Jesus about
something, and he says, "You've,

694
00:36:20,518 --> 00:36:22,088
you've got something wrong here."

695
00:36:23,498 --> 00:36:24,598
And here's what he says.

696
00:36:24,598 --> 00:36:28,078
He says, uh, "Actually, something
greater than the temple is here.

697
00:36:28,088 --> 00:36:29,228
You guys are worried about the temple.

698
00:36:29,228 --> 00:36:30,148
You guys are worried about the Sabbath.

699
00:36:30,148 --> 00:36:30,938
You're worried about the law.

700
00:36:31,178 --> 00:36:31,998
You're missing the point.

701
00:36:32,008 --> 00:36:33,408
The point of all that is me.

702
00:36:33,958 --> 00:36:35,948
The Son of Man is the
Lord of the Sabbath."

703
00:36:35,948 --> 00:36:36,098
Right?

704
00:36:36,098 --> 00:36:37,088
Son of Man, that's Jesus.

705
00:36:38,418 --> 00:36:41,088
Jesus is saying, "You guys
totally misunderstood the Bible,

706
00:36:41,088 --> 00:36:42,527
and so you don't recognize me."

707
00:36:43,958 --> 00:36:44,178
Right?

708
00:36:44,248 --> 00:36:48,337
The God they've been reading about in the
Bible is standing in front of them, and

709
00:36:48,338 --> 00:36:50,448
they're just, like, getting mad at him.

710
00:36:51,858 --> 00:36:53,248
They don't get it, right?

711
00:36:53,398 --> 00:36:54,807
They've read the Bible wrong.

712
00:36:56,358 --> 00:37:00,617
So just because they spend a lot of time
in the Bible doesn't mean they really

713
00:37:00,618 --> 00:37:04,148
understood the Bible because the point of
the Bible is to get to know God, right?

714
00:37:04,148 --> 00:37:07,248
And it's really ironic that these
people, these Pharisees, memorized

715
00:37:07,248 --> 00:37:11,467
books of the Bible and, uh, about God,
and then when God came in human flesh,

716
00:37:11,468 --> 00:37:13,858
they were like, "Let's kill him."

717
00:37:16,020 --> 00:37:18,510
So you, maybe you're really
familiar with the Bible.

718
00:37:18,510 --> 00:37:20,430
Maybe this sermon, you're like, "What?

719
00:37:20,460 --> 00:37:21,130
I got this.

720
00:37:21,410 --> 00:37:22,730
I, I read the Bible every day.

721
00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:23,810
I listen to the podcast.

722
00:37:23,840 --> 00:37:24,790
I got a study Bible.

723
00:37:24,810 --> 00:37:25,800
I'm doing this great."

724
00:37:27,310 --> 00:37:32,830
Maybe, this might not be true, but
maybe you've become so familiar with

725
00:37:32,830 --> 00:37:36,050
the Bible and spent so much time in
the Bible that you don't know God.

726
00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:40,720
Maybe you know all the Bible stories,
you know all the Bible verses, but you,

727
00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:44,670
you have zero relationship with God, or
maybe a very poor relationship with God.

728
00:37:45,410 --> 00:37:48,000
You're not very close with God,
but you know a lot of stuff.

729
00:37:49,500 --> 00:37:51,890
The point of the Bible is
to get to know God, right?

730
00:37:51,890 --> 00:37:54,750
I don't want you to be like the
Pharisees and know all this stuff about

731
00:37:54,750 --> 00:37:57,570
the Bible, and then when God shows
up, you're like, "I don't want it.

732
00:37:57,930 --> 00:37:58,600
Not my God

733
00:38:01,236 --> 00:38:04,206
So the point of the Bible
is to get to know God.

734
00:38:04,926 --> 00:38:09,386
All right, you cannot have a
close relationship with God if

735
00:38:09,406 --> 00:38:11,136
you are not taking in His Word.

736
00:38:11,966 --> 00:38:14,246
All right, maybe you think you have
a close relationship with God because

737
00:38:14,246 --> 00:38:16,056
you have certain feelings about God

738
00:38:18,932 --> 00:38:22,352
But if you're not taking in God's
word, you're not getting to know God.

739
00:38:23,002 --> 00:38:24,342
You're just getting to know your feelings

740
00:38:30,438 --> 00:38:30,518
Right?

741
00:38:30,518 --> 00:38:34,238
It'd be like dating someone and
all you do is watch movies with

742
00:38:34,238 --> 00:38:35,098
them, you never talk to them.

743
00:38:36,598 --> 00:38:40,478
That's why if you're gonna take someone
on a date, don't take them to the movies,

744
00:38:40,738 --> 00:38:42,688
'cause you don't get to know them.

745
00:38:42,688 --> 00:38:43,508
You don't get to talk to them, right?

746
00:38:47,956 --> 00:38:50,146
That's how you get to know God
is, is you spend time in His Word.

747
00:38:51,146 --> 00:38:55,826
A- and so maybe you think
you're close with God a- and

748
00:38:55,826 --> 00:38:56,976
you don't ever hear from Him.

749
00:38:57,536 --> 00:38:58,736
You don't listen to anything He says.

750
00:38:59,856 --> 00:39:03,176
So reading the Bible isn't just
because people are forcing you

751
00:39:03,176 --> 00:39:06,576
to or because you're supposed to,
it's because you want to know God

752
00:39:10,110 --> 00:39:13,660
And that's what Jesus ends up telling
the Pharisees in John chapter 5.

753
00:39:13,850 --> 00:39:15,940
He says, "You're searching the
scriptures," right, the Bible,

754
00:39:15,940 --> 00:39:18,930
"because you think that in the
Bible you can find eternal life.

755
00:39:20,330 --> 00:39:23,050
But it's the scriptures
that tell you about me."

756
00:39:24,530 --> 00:39:24,680
Right?

757
00:39:24,680 --> 00:39:25,860
The Bible's about a person.

758
00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:32,500
The Bible's not about rules or facts or
lifestyle or anything else but a person.

759
00:39:33,270 --> 00:39:36,870
All of the stuff in the Bible is
supposed to show you this is Jesus

760
00:39:39,996 --> 00:39:43,796
And so when you read the Bible,
it's, it's about a person, right?

761
00:39:43,796 --> 00:39:47,886
You're, you're getting to know a person,
and that's the point of the whole thing

762
00:39:52,224 --> 00:39:56,384
So if you say, "Yeah, I, I love the
Bible, I love reading the Bible," I

763
00:39:56,384 --> 00:39:59,774
just wanna encourage you, remember,
you're reading the Bible for a person.

764
00:40:00,544 --> 00:40:00,574
Right?

765
00:40:00,584 --> 00:40:02,574
You're not reading the Bible
to make your life better.

766
00:40:03,194 --> 00:40:05,894
You're not reading the Bible just so
you can get rid of sin in your life.

767
00:40:07,444 --> 00:40:11,294
Maybe that's one reason you read the
Bible, but you-- the reason you're

768
00:40:11,294 --> 00:40:14,074
getting rid of the sin in your life is
because you want more of God, right?

769
00:40:14,404 --> 00:40:16,554
It's not so you feel better about
yourself when you don't feel as bad

770
00:40:16,554 --> 00:40:17,774
anymore, it's 'cause you want more of God.

771
00:40:18,824 --> 00:40:21,964
Or maybe reading the Bible is hard for
you, it doesn't make sense sometimes.

772
00:40:21,964 --> 00:40:22,554
It's okay.

773
00:40:23,524 --> 00:40:26,144
But just remember,
you're doing it for God.

774
00:40:26,584 --> 00:40:27,744
You're doing it because you love Him.

775
00:40:28,764 --> 00:40:28,904
Right?

776
00:40:28,904 --> 00:40:30,334
You're not doing it because
your parents tell you to.

777
00:40:30,334 --> 00:40:32,784
You're not doing it because
I preached a sermon about it.

778
00:40:32,784 --> 00:40:34,244
You're doing it for God.

779
00:40:34,274 --> 00:40:35,044
And it's worth it, right?

780
00:40:35,044 --> 00:40:37,064
If you love God, and you're
not a good reader, guess what?

781
00:40:37,064 --> 00:40:42,444
You're gonna say, "I, I love God, and
I'm gonna do my best to get to know

782
00:40:42,444 --> 00:40:44,654
Him the way He's shown Himself to me."

783
00:40:45,534 --> 00:40:49,224
So let's pray, and you guys can talk
about that more in your small groups.

784
00:40:53,788 --> 00:40:57,228
God, we are grateful that you
have made yourself known to us.

785
00:40:57,298 --> 00:40:59,788
You've given us Bibles in our language.

786
00:41:00,018 --> 00:41:03,028
You've given us even a country
that teaches us how to read.

787
00:41:03,028 --> 00:41:05,998
For a lot of history, people didn't know
how to read, and so we're grateful for

788
00:41:05,998 --> 00:41:07,298
this privilege and this opportunity.

789
00:41:07,888 --> 00:41:12,358
I pray that you protect us
from neglecting this priority.

790
00:41:12,608 --> 00:41:17,048
I pray that we wouldn't just
think that hearing about you

791
00:41:17,048 --> 00:41:18,208
from other people is enough.

792
00:41:18,228 --> 00:41:21,058
I pray that we get to know you
for ourselves in your work.

793
00:41:21,158 --> 00:41:26,238
I pray that we wouldn't shy away from
effort and discipline and hard work to

794
00:41:26,258 --> 00:41:31,478
understand your work, but rather we would
see those things as a way of worship, a

795
00:41:31,478 --> 00:41:36,088
way of showing you that you're valuable,
you are important, and that we love you.

796
00:41:37,028 --> 00:41:38,118
We pray this all in Jesus' name.

797
00:41:38,828 --> 00:41:39,278
Amen