Well, here we are at the start of, whoa, I'm booming, a new year.
And the new year is often the time that we look back on how we've lived
and we think about how we want to change in the year ahead
and maybe some new habits that we want to incorporate into our lives.
And if you haven't already done that, I want to encourage you to set aside some time this week
for prayer, for meditation, for reflection on this past year.
And I want to encourage you to set some worthy goals for this year ahead.
It's not a Bible quote, but it's one of my favorites.
If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time.
So let's live with purpose in this year ahead.
What do you hope to accomplish in 2023?
How do you hope to grow in this year ahead?
A few weeks back, I encouraged all of us to spend countless hours in God's Word in 2023,
reading and meditating on what He said in the Bible.
And I shared with you five benefits that come into our lives through God's Word.
Just a quick recap.
I talked about how God's Word is at the heart of our relationship with Him.
We talked about how the Bible is the place where our faith grows.
Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.
We talked about how it's where we find everything we need for life and godliness.
We talked about how God's Word is full of very great and precious promises.
And we talked about how it's full of the instructions that we need to stand firm in this year ahead,
but also for the rest of our lives.
And at the end of that message on December 11th,
I encourage you all to take a Bible reading plan from the table at the back.
We now have those Bible reading plans on the mailbox table if you haven't got one yet.
And I encourage you to resolve to read through God's Word this year.
Or if that's a big commitment, then to even just read through the New Testament,
whatever fits where you're at in your faith journey.
This morning is going to be kind of a part two to that message.
That message is kind of the motivating message.
Why should we do this?
What's the benefit to reading God's Word?
But this morning, I want to just get really practical and talk about how we do this.
Maybe some of you haven't read through the Bible in its entirety before.
Or maybe you've tried, but then kind of lost your drive getting into some of those difficult books of the Bible.
Leviticus or Numbers or some of the genealogies.
And it could be just that maybe reading is not your thing.
Maybe you struggle with reading and it's just not something that you really enjoy doing.
So this morning's message, I hope, will be very practical.
I'm not going to be explaining a passage of Scripture.
But I'll be sharing with you a few of the helpful things that I've learned over the years.
Just about getting the most out of your time in God's Word.
So let's start by talking about frequency.
Making a daily habit of spending time in God's Word is key.
And it's important for two reasons.
First, the Bible is a big book.
And if you just look at that whole book or how much you're able to read in one day,
you might think, man, I'm never going to make it through this thing.
Reading the Bible is almost like eating an elephant.
And as the saying goes, the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.
But don't let the size of this book deter you.
To get through this book in a year, you'll need to break it down into little pieces.
And so a daily habit will do the trick.
But there's another reason to make daily Bible reading a habit.
You want to get through the Bible.
You want to achieve that goal of reading through it.
But even more important than that,
every time you open the Bible and read,
you're engaging in relationship with God.
You're putting yourself into the place where He speaks to you.
Where you hear from Him.
And if spending time in God's Word is about relationship with God,
then this is a good thing to do daily.
Not just once in a while.
The more often that you take time to slow down
and listen to God in His Word, the better.
The more your relationship with Him will grow.
One author refers to Bible reading as a habit of grace.
Along with prayer, it's one of those habits through which God gives to us.
So how often do you want to receive from God?
Do you want to open yourself up to His grace every day?
Then I want to encourage you to just make it a daily habit.
One of your core things that you do every day throughout the year.
I think of Jesus and the time that He was tempted in the wilderness by the devil.
How did He answer that first temptation of the devil?
When the devil tempted Him to turn stones into bread for His hungry stomach.
Matthew 4 verse 4.
He said,
I often think about this.
Jesus hadn't eaten in 40 days.
Just imagine that feeling in your stomach.
And here He is telling the devil that more important than food for His hungry stomach
is food for His soul.
The sustenance that comes from above.
God's Word.
If you think back to that prayer that Jesus taught us to pray,
He encouraged us to ask the Father for our daily bread.
And there I think just a general reference to provision and even to food.
But how much more should we seek the words that come from the mouth of God on a daily basis
if we need them even more than we need food?
Another author likened Bible reading and prayer to spiritual breathing.
And I've always liked kind of his thoughts on this.
He said,
reading God's Word is like breathing in.
And prayer is like breathing out.
It's like taking air into your lungs and all the benefit and life that you get from doing that.
For your body, reading the Bible is like that for your soul.
It's at the heart of our spiritual life and it's something that we need to do constantly.
As a matter of habit again and again.
Just to be spiritually healthy and to enjoy the spiritual life and relationship that God has for us.
So make it a daily habit to just take time to read your Bible.
Now most of us have probably heard that before.
What happens though if you miss a day?
Or two?
Or three?
Or even more?
Or inevitably life happens and each day is somewhat unpredictable.
If you live with your family you will find yourself interrupted.
Or if you're traveling somewhere you'll get off your routine and maybe you'll get sick or something.
I had a number of days last year where my first waking moment was a parenting moment.
And before I knew it there I was laying my head down after going from one urgent responsibility to the next.
The day was over and I had missed my time with God and the word.
That happens because life is dynamic.
It's full of surprises.
It's unpredictable.
I want to encourage you not to beat yourself up over missing a daily habit.
This kind of thing happens.
Don't be discouraged.
Just do what you can to get back at it tomorrow.
The best thing we can do is just to press on with it.
Sometimes if we've missed quite a number of days.
We might look at the Bible reading plan and see that we've fallen behind.
But don't worry about it.
Just press on.
Keep going.
The devil would love to discourage you here.
He'd love to say,
See?
You're not a good Christian.
You've fallen behind.
You can't even read your Bible every day like you're supposed to.
So might as well give up altogether and stop reading it altogether.
You'll never make it through to the end.
But don't listen to the devil.
Don't give in to that doubt and discouragement in your own heart.
This is the time to remember why you're trying to read the Bible each day in the first place.
It's not just about checking off boxes from the Bible reading plan.
It's about connecting with God each day.
It's about opening yourself up to His grace and to His power.
Last year, one of my goals from the start of the year was to read through a very challenging book.
Not the Bible, but a book to help me read the Bible better.
And it was a struggle.
And I fell behind in my plan.
And things got busy on more than one occasion.
And because it wasn't the core, most important habit like reading my Bible is,
I had to let it go for a couple weeks here and there.
And then eventually I got to November and I just felt like I can't keep going on this.
And so I let it go for the rest of the last year.
I just kind of gave up on it.
But I always have had the intention to get back.
I'm going to finish that book in this new year.
My goal was to read the whole thing.
And I only managed to get through three quarters of it.
But just because I didn't finish it doesn't mean that I didn't benefit from all that I did read in it all the way through.
And reading the Bible is like that.
There's such great benefit in it every time you do it.
So even if you miss some days, the best thing you can do is just keep going with it.
Keep at it.
Every time you spend time with God and His Word is a chance to grow.
It's a chance to be strengthened.
It's a chance to hear wisdom from God.
Now, there are some ways that you can catch up if you fall behind in your Bible reading plan.
And in one sense, you can't make up for those times that you chose poorly to, you know, scroll through some kind of online feed instead of reading your Bible.
But you can catch up in the plan and continue to hear the things that you've missed.
This is where smartphones are such a helpful thing.
There are all kinds of free apps, which some of you may have.
If you don't have any, you can just go onto your app store.
You can type in Bible or Audio Bible.
And the Audio Bible is a great way to catch up on the plan.
You can listen to longer portions of Scripture all at once while you're driving on the highway.
Or while you're doing some kind of a task that just doesn't involve a lot of concentration.
And I use this probably almost every year to catch up or to make progress if I've fallen behind in a certain book.
One of my favorite ways to use it is when I get to some of those chapters that are full of names that are difficult to pronounce.
Why do all the hard work of having to figure each one out when you can just have somebody read it to you and listen to it?
So that's one of the things I like to do.
And you can get all kinds of these Audio Bibles.
My personal favorite is a dramatized one that's kind of almost voice acted.
You can find these apps or you can download an Audible audiobook app and pick whatever one you like,
whatever translation you want to listen to.
While we're on the topic of smartphones, let's talk about reading the Bible on your phone.
I don't know how many of you do this or have thought of doing this or where you're at with this,
but I always discourage people from using their phones to read their Bibles and to spend time with God.
Unless you find yourself in a situation where it's all you've got,
choose a paper copy of the Bible over your smartphone.
The reasons are many.
Smartphones are full of distractions.
They give us all kinds of notifications.
Ding, ding, ding.
All day long.
And that's the last thing that we need when we're trying to focus on what God is saying
and hear from Him in His Word.
I don't know about you, but many times I just open it up
and I see all this glow and all these little red thingy, badges,
saying, click here, press here.
And before you know it, I forget why I even pulled the phone out in the first place
because I'm off doing something else.
These apps are designed to get your attention and to draw you in.
And so I would encourage you to use a paper copy of the Bible if possible.
You might think about spending time with God each day like pruning a tree.
And you need to do some sawing on a good-sized branch.
Are you going to choose the saw blade from this massive Swiss Army knife?
That's kind of what your smartphone is.
It's a multi-tool.
It does a lot of things.
Or are you going to choose the tool that's made just to do what you need to do?
Which one's going to be more effective?
Which one's going to help you make real progress and really do what you want to do?
Smartphones are like this Swiss Army knife.
You just turn it on and you get so taken in with all the different options and choices
before you know it, you don't even know why you're in there anymore.
So I'll encourage you to use your paper Bibles.
Why bring that unnecessary distraction into your time alone with God?
Others may try and read their Bibles while watching TV.
I don't know if any of you are in that spot.
I would encourage you, don't do that.
Inevitably, you end up watching more TV than you do listening to what God has to say.
This is a bad idea.
Think about it.
How would you feel if you were trying to talk to someone and they're there just staring at the TV,
watching it, and kind of every now and then looking back at you to kind of give you the sense that they're listening.
But really, they're more tuned into the TV.
And that's kind of how it is when we try to multitask and do these other things while listening to God,
while reading our Bibles.
So try to eliminate distractions.
Try to get focused just on God and His Word.
And use a paper Bible.
I want to just encourage you with that.
While we're on the subject of focus and being undistracted,
let's talk about what kind of paper Bible you should use in your time reading God's Word.
I want to strongly encourage you not to read your Bible for your daily time with God from a study Bible.
Now, this might sound a little weird,
but you guys probably have experienced what I'm about to tell you about here.
If you have a study Bible, I brought one.
And it's a wonderful tool.
There's so many good things in here.
But just look on the page.
How much of this is the Word of God?
And how much of this is the Word of man?
This little piece right here,
I've seen somewhere, it's just a teeny little, almost two sentences at the top,
and the rest is all just comments.
It's just this little bit up here,
and the rest is all just commentary.
Now, commentaries are good.
They're helpful.
Cross-references can be helpful.
But oftentimes, they are a form of distraction too.
I mean, you think about it.
Who wrote these comments?
Well, some scholar.
Some Bible scholar, and they're good things.
I have a single volume commentary here on the letters of John.
First, second, third John.
This was written by a man named Colin Cruz.
But if you think about it, I mean,
is that how you want to read God's Word?
I mean, you're there to hear from Him,
to listen to His heart.
And sometimes we get into that trap where we, you know,
spend 60 seconds reading two or three verses of what He has said,
but then we spend 59 minutes reading all the stuff that Colin Cruz has to say
at the bottom of the page.
And instead of meditating on what God has said,
we're spending more time thinking Colin Cruz's thoughts about what God has said.
Now, there is a place for study and commentaries,
but oftentimes these things distract us.
And so I would encourage you to just use a plain old Bible
that just has the text of God's Word in it.
Just read it.
And maybe after you're kind of through that time
and you spend some time in prayer,
if you've got questions or things you don't know,
pull out a good commentary and look in there,
or the Bible atlas and look in there.
But don't let the thoughts of other people short-circuit
your chance to hear from God each day.
When I read my Bible, I like a copy that has just God's words in it,
maybe a few translators' notes at the bottom.
And I save the commentaries and the study Bibles
and the Bible atlas for at the end,
if I've got some extra time to delve into some questions
or I'm confused about something.
So get yourself a copy of the Word of God
without all the extras and the notes.
And, you know, I'm going to just tell you something.
This is a statistic I'm just making up out of thin air
right off my feelings, so don't take it too seriously.
But most of the time, isn't it true
that the commentary in the study Bible
just tells you what you already know
or what you could already have figured out
just by reading the passage?
Or if you have a question,
you read in those little comments in there,
and it doesn't really answer your question.
It tells you about all sorts of other things,
but it just doesn't have the answer
to the question you have.
I feel like for me that's like 85% of the time.
So, you know, get yourself a good commentary
and a good atlas,
but save those for times of study.
Let's talk about translations for a minute here.
I'm not going to go into great detail here
about the strengths and weaknesses
of various Bible translations.
I did that in my sermon on March 7th, 2021.
That was the big,
why are there verses missing in my Bible conversation?
So if you want to know about that
or be reminded of that,
you can go on the website and look that sermon up.
But I will say that the best translation
for everyday Bible reading
is one that you can understand
and read with relative ease.
I know some of you prefer the translation
that you've grown up with
or use for many years,
but if you have to stop and look up words
in the dictionary every other verse,
then you're probably not making a lot of progress.
Or you're just,
it makes it more difficult
to get to the meaning of the Word of God.
I'm guessing most of you that are in that boat
simply would skip over those words anyway
or just guess at what they mean from the context.
But choose a modern translation
that's easy to read and understand,
one that doesn't turn your time of prayer
and meditation
into a study of English vocab and grammar.
This is a time for relating with God.
It's about listening to His heart.
And there's tremendous value
when you come to that point
where you want to do some study
to comparing translations,
using some of those more word-for-word translations.
But I always save that for deeper study on a passage
when I'm looking for specific answers
to specific questions.
Here's a simple test that you can do
to evaluate whether the translation
you're reading from is easy
and readable enough for you.
Try just reading through a chapter
of the Bible aloud.
And if you can read through a chapter smoothly
and you're not getting hung up
on where to put the pauses
and where to take the breaths
and how to pronounce those words
that you just don't see very often,
then you're probably good to go
and have got a good one in front of you.
Some of those older ones
or some of the word-for-word ones
are just better for study.
One of the challenges that we often face
with daily Bible reading is consistency.
I think we all know that it's a worthwhile habit,
but the busyness of life
often ends up just choking out
our time with God and His Word.
So how can we make this a daily habit
when everything else in life
is crowding in,
trying to swallow up that time and space?
Well, here's what I've learned
when it comes to daily habits.
The most important daily habits in life
have to be guarded.
We have to put in effort
to protect the time
and the place
and the space
for them each day.
This means blocking out time for them.
It means refusing to schedule things
at that time
when you plan to meet with God
or do other important habits.
If the best time for you
to read your Bible
is in the morning
and you're constantly battling fatigue
and you can't keep your eyes open,
it probably means
that you need to start
consistently setting yourself
an earlier bedtime
and getting to bed earlier.
That's a way of guarding the habit.
Another way we guard this habit
is by seeking
undistracted solitude.
Finding a consistent place
where we can just be alone
to read and pray.
I was just reading this morning
in Mark chapter 1.
Jesus did this.
He went out
and he got alone
so that he could focus,
so that he could pray,
so that he wasn't constantly
being interrupted
by the crowds.
And so we should
seek solitude as well.
This may take some careful thought
and planning
and even continual effort.
I kind of have it easy
because I can just kind of
come to the church here
and before I start my work
I can have that quiet space
right here in the office
at the church.
But I didn't always have that.
When I lived in Edmonton
and worked for FedEx,
I didn't have any space.
We had this tiny little basement suite
and so I would get up
and get to work
an hour before work started
and I would sit there
in my Shev Malibu
with the windows rolled up
and in the winter
with it going a little bit
to keep myself warm
and that's where I had
my time with the Lord.
It was the most private place
that I could find consistently.
It was always there.
And I got the odd
funny look from a co-worker
but then I noticed
there were some other co-workers
who were showing up early
just to listen to music
before work started too.
So I mean it wasn't
all that weird to them.
But these kind of habits
they need to be guarded.
And so I just want to encourage you
and ask you
what do you need to do
to guard your time
with God and His Word?
Is it about the place?
Is it about the time of day?
Are there other habits
that need to kind of
come together with it
such as going to bed earlier
or just getting out of the house
for that time?
Are there things you need
to do to your space
to make it less distracting?
Are there too much stuff
in the place where you meet
with God that every time
you go there you just
oh man I got to work
on this thing here?
Another thing that's helpful
when establishing new habits
this is not a biblical thing
but it's just something
that I've learned from experience
and from others who
have studied these things
you can incorporate your senses.
And these things
are not necessary
but they can be really helpful.
They can be very powerful.
Whenever I need to reset
my Bible reading habits
after vacation
I like to do two things.
I get here to the office
I light a candle
that I like the fragrance of
and I put a pot of coffee on
or in my case Keurig
and I can't explain why
but these things
that bring in our other senses
they just often help
with establishing habits.
They become part of our routine
and there's just something
pleasing about those things
that appeal to my subconscious.
The moment I open my office door
I see the candle
and I'm just
yes let's light that up
let's get the coffee going
and let's open the word
and have that time with the Lord.
So maybe there's some
of those things
that you can incorporate
as well into your time
with the Lord.
All of these things
are helpful things
but there's one thing
that's been more helpful
to me than anything else
and it's I believe
one of the great keys
to having intimacy
with God
in his word.
And I learned this practice
from Psalm 119
119 verse 18.
It's a prayer
to God
most likely from David
and it's simply this
open my eyes
that I may see
wonderful things
in your law.
I believe this is
one of the greatest secrets
to having rich
and meaningful time
with God
while you read
his Bible.
A simple prayer
that you pray
before you start.
how do you begin
your Bible
reading time
when you read?
Do you look at
the reading plan
and then look at the clock
and then look at the passage
and decide whether or not
you want to read it
and what kind of passage
this is?
Or do you just start
with a moment of quiet
and prayer
and pray something
like this
open my eyes
that I may see
wonderful things
in your law?
One day as I was reading
through Psalm 119
it struck me
that this is a model prayer.
It's not just a prayer
for super spiritual people
like King David.
The reason it's in the Bible
is to teach us
how we too
should approach
the word of God.
And what do we see here
in this
just this simple
request?
There's a deep humility.
It's like the psalmist
is admitting
his own inability
even to connect with
and see
and feel
the wonderful things
in God's law.
It's like he's saying
my eyes are closed
to those things
and I can't see them
God
without your help.
Would you open my eyes
to see them?
There's also a childlike
faith here.
The psalmist is trusting
and believing
that there are
wonderful things
in there
in the law
in those things
that God has spoken.
I may not be able
to see them right now
I feel cold
I feel unawake
to them at the moment
but I know
that they're there
not just helpful things
not just true things
but wonderful things.
And let's remember
that the psalmist
is talking about the law
like this is the first
five books of the Bible.
I think we need
to come to God's word
with this same faith
every time we open
the Bible.
We may not be feeling it
we may feel cold
unstirred
our hearts might not
be in it
but if we come
with that faith
there are wonderful
things in there
that my soul needs.
I think that's the way.
And finally
there's a request here
it's just a humble
and sincere admission
that God
unless you do
something in my heart
I won't see it.
I won't hear
those wonderful things
that you have to say
to me.
I'll just read it
and I'll be cool
I'll be unstirred
and so
it's like he's crying out
God do that work
of grace in me
open my eyes
that I might see
those wonderful things
in your word.
I pray this
or something similar
to this every time
I sit down
to read God's word
and I believe
that it almost
I believe that
every insight
and all the wisdom
that I've received
from my time
in God's word
every truth
I've come to believe
has come in response
to this simple prayer
that I pray every day.
What was it
that Jesus said
time and time again
to the crowds
to the people
that he taught
to his disciples
he who has ears
to hear
let him hear.
Now why did he
say that so much?
What response
was he looking for
from the people?
He was looking
for people to listen
and not just to listen
but to really listen
to really hear
the word of God
that he was speaking
and at the same time
he was pointing out
that not everyone
has this ability
by default.
There's a certain blindness
there's a certain deafness
there's a certain
distractedness
that we are all prone to
because of the sinfulness
of our hearts
because of the world
that we live in
because of our
sometimes the stubbornness
of our hearts
and so we must come
humbly to God
and pray
open my eyes
that I may see
wonderful things
in your word
give me ears
to hear
that I may hear
what you're saying
to me
that it won't just
kind of hit me
and just go in
and out the other side
help me to really hear it
and if there's nothing else
you adopt
from this morning's message
I hope it's this simple prayer
that you learn
to pray this
afresh
from your heart
each day
before you open
God's word
and I promise
this prayer
will change your life
it will change
every time
you come to
God's word
it will transform
the way that you
see the Bible
over time
you'll see it
come alive to you
more and more
and God
will answer it
he will do that
he will give you
the eyes to see
what's in there
that you need
a couple
final practical ways
to get the most
out of your
countless hours
with God
in his word
this year
and these are
two things to try
maybe new
to some of you
the first is something
that very few of us do
read out loud
this may seem strange
but if you can find
a good quiet place
where you're alone
and not waking
somebody else up
in your house
I want to encourage
you to read your Bible
out loud
as much as possible
read it with your
full voice
if it's narrative
read it like you're
the one telling the story
if it's dialogue
read it the way
that you imagine
the words would have
been spoken
in that moment
by that person
this has been
another hugely
helpful practice
it forces you
to read properly
it forces you
to think through
the words
it forces you
to slow down
it forces you
to think about
what's the emphasis
in the way
that this was said
this question
this statement
it involves
more of you
in the reading
of God's word
it's not just
you seeing
and thinking
about it
on the page
but it's you seeing
thinking
speaking
and hearing
all at the same time
and
you know
what tone of voice
was used
when he said that
there's all kinds
of dimensions
that come alive
when you read it
out loud
and on top of all that
it makes you
a better reader
so I would encourage
you to try it
don't worry about
what the people
in that other room
over there are thinking
just go for it
it'll bless their heart
to hear you
reading God's word
out loud
and maybe
they'll start
doing it too
one final practice
this is one
that I've found
tremendously helpful
in the past
I still use it
occasionally
but I don't do
I don't do it
every day
but many people
have found it
helpful to journal
as they read
through God's word
to take time
to just write out
their thoughts
about what they're
reading
or their prayers
just straight to God
as they're
as they're reading
it's a wonderful
and helpful practice
for spending time
with God
especially if you
find it difficult
to focus
sometimes I'm
just so tired
I got a bad
sleep last night
and I can barely
think two straight
thoughts in a row
and I'm off
into la la land
over thinking
about this
this is a way
that helps me
focus
I just open up
the page
and I start writing
and if I get lost
in thought
I look back
at the page
and oh
that's where I was
and I can just
keep going
and eventually
I do get into
that zone
where I'm focused
and I'm concentrated
and I'm connecting
with the Lord
in prayer
and thinking about
the things that
he has said
so that's a good
thing to try too
if you haven't done
that or if you've
let it go by the
wayside
I encourage you
to think about
journaling
there's another way
to do this
that's really helpful
too
sometimes you can
find these
series of questions
that help bring out
the meaning of the
passage
some people like
to take three or
four of those
questions
and just the same
questions every day
and just write out
the answers to those
questions
what does this
passage mean
what is God saying
about himself
what does it reveal
about who he is
what does he want me
to do in response
to this
and sometimes
just taking the time
to slow down
and write out
some of those
thoughts
as you're reading
God's word
can make all the
difference
in just unlocking
the treasures
that are there
so those are
a few things
that I wanted
to just share
with you
today on the
first day of the
year
and I want
to encourage
you
let's go to
the word
as a church
and let's feed
let's feast
let's grow
I'm really looking
forward to it
and I hope that
you are too
let's pray
Father in heaven
thank you that you
have given us
your word
what a privilege
it is
and I pray
that we would
be stirred
again and again
this year
as we go to
the Bible
I ask that you
would transform
every one of our
lives
so that we are
markedly different
people by the end
of this year
than we were
at the start
more like Jesus
full of love
full of grace
full of truth
and full of the
wisdom that we need
we just commit
this year
and this habit
to you
and ask for your
help with it
in Jesus name
amen