Welcome to 721 Live. I'm Sam Hunter and I am glad that you're with us today. We are in a new series that I don't know what to call it other than I want you to start reading your Bibles more. That's the thrust of my men's meetings this semester. I want you to start reading your Bibles more. and we started it last week so we'll continue that this week and we'll get to that in just a moment we'll tease it out let me remind you that 721 live is the arm radio arm of 721 ministries and if you just put us in your search engine 721 ministries you'll find our websites you'll find our podcasts our putting greens that we put out each week We got a lot of things going on and the website has a lot of information, 721ministries.org. Look us up and you'll find a lot of things that I think will be helpful as well as enjoyable. So how much are you reading your Bibles? Now, let me say this is not a discipline in the sense of a checklist. I'm not trying to get you to read more. In the way of just quantity, I'm encouraging more quality reading. So anyone that I'm talking to, as you listen to me today, the men that I deal with during the week at the various 721 meetings throughout the state, everyone's at a different place in how much and how deeply they are reading the scriptures. I would have some men that do not read the scriptures each day. They mean to, probably. They meant to, but they don't get around to it. So they're not reading the Bible every day. And then I have some that are getting up every morning and reading the Bible. And so to the ones who aren't reading, and if you're listening today, and if you've drifted away from that, that you were doing it and you just kind of got busy or distracted and some other things have come up, or you're not as consistent as you'd like to be, my encouragement If it would take browbeating, I would browbeat you with a smile on my face if I can convict you. But the encouragement is, start reading again. And we'll talk about why, the richness that awaits you, the joy that awaits you. We'll talk about those things. But start reading again. And if you are reading each morning, then my challenge, my encouragement would be, how can you bump the trajectory of what you're already doing? How can you go deeper in your reading of your scripture? Again, not a quantitative, but a quality thing. A qualitative, deeper, richer reading. Now, I would tell you why I am pushing this semester and why this is my thrust. I know of no better way to get to know your Heavenly Father, to get to know Jesus, than reading the Scriptures. There are other ways, of course, but I know of no better way. And how important is it that we grow in our knowledge and depth of understanding of our Heavenly Father and of Jesus? John 17 3, which the very first time I read this 25 years ago, it jumped out at me in that moment. This is Jesus's high priestly prayer. And he's talking, he's praying, he's talking to his heavenly father and he says, I want these disciples, these brothers of mine to have eternal life. And then he says in 17 3, now this is eternal life. And so you have a colon and then the definition of eternal life follows and Jesus gives it to us. Now, this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, his son, that they may know you. That's eternal life with a capital L. That's life to the full. That is the life that is truly life that they may know you. I have read 2 Peter recently and it jumped out at me at the very beginning. Verse 2. The Holy Spirit through Peter says, grace and peace be yours in abundance. Now, let me just stop. Would you like grace and peace and abundance? I would. You would. I know. Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ, our Lord. The deeper the knowledge, the more grace and peace, the more abundance of grace and peace is what the Holy Spirit is telling us through Peter. Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge, through knowing God and Jesus our Lord. And then he goes on. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life. Now, does that sound attractive to you? His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life. And here comes through again, through our knowledge of him. So it's very clear that the more we know him, the deeper we go in that relationship, the more the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, that we're all searching, we're all want, we're seeking it. that there's an abundance awaiting us. The Holy Spirit through Paul in Ephesians 1. 18, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you. In verse 17, he says, I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know Him better. So how do we know Him better? We dive into the scriptures. We go deeper. And my whole approach over this last week, this week, and the next two or three weeks is to shift your perspective as to how you think about the scriptures. so that it becomes more real to you and more rich. So let me just start with this question. I did this with the men. I think it's an interesting exercise. We got up on the whiteboard, and I had said, okay, here's one column, and at the top of that column is the world. And then the next column, the top of the column, is what I call churchians. And then the third column is born again believers. So we've got the world, people who don't go to church, they don't read their Bible, they don't care about any of this. They're totally checked out. So that's the first column under the world. The second column is people who go to church on Sundays and that's pretty much it. They are what I call churchians because they follow church, not Christ, not Jesus. So if we started with those first two columns, What words do you think come to these folks' minds when they hear the word Bible? Or they hear the word Scriptures? But when they hear the word Bible, what words would come to mind for people that are living out there in the world and not paying any attention? And what words would come to mind with people that are showing up on Sundays to check it off the list? but not really investing. So I asked the men, and we put some words up on the whiteboard. Maybe you'd like to think about that, too. One of the first words was a book. And I asked the men, well, is that under the World column or the Church Union's column? And they said, well, clearly under the World, but probably under a lot of the Church Union's column, too. How about rules? And I can imagine that's under both columns. A fable. Or myths. And that probably stays under the world column, but there'd be some of that slipping over. Doesn't apply. Fanatic. How about this one? Outdated. Crutch. The word stupid came up, as in you'd have to be stupid to read it and believe it. Ancient. Narrow-minded. Too many translations on translations. The word they threw in there was, it's changed too much. But you know, the misconception out there is that they took one translation, and then they translated on that translation, and then they translated on that translation. It's sort of like telling a secret and passing it around the room, and by the time it gets back, it's not even the same thing you started with. Of course, that's a fallacy. Bigoted. Too hard to understand. Another man, which I think goes with book, literature, ancient manuscripts. These are all things that the world would say about the scriptures, as well as a lot of people who just show up and go to church. They're not going to read it because they don't believe it or they don't think it would really apply to their lives. But what about the words that would come to mind of a born-again believer? You know, it's interesting, I was having lunch with a man who is a dean at one of the Christian colleges. It is a Bible college. And he was asking me what we do with 721, and I was just giving stories about what we do with various men and businessmen and that sort of thing. And he said, well, I'm curious, Sam. Do you have any markers that you look for when you're dealing with a man to see where he is in his spiritual journey or if he's even on a spiritual journey? Is he born again or is he just whatever? And I said, well, one of the consistent One of the consistent things that we see change in a man or a woman when they are born again is they have a newfound hunger for Scripture. It's consistent. It's always present, a newfound hunger for Scripture. So having said that, what words should someone who is a born-again believer, what are the words that would come to their minds when they hear the word Bible? Not the world of churchians, Born-again believers. Well, the first that comes up instead of rules, relationship, truth, instructions for living, teachings, guidance, freedom. That came up in all four of the men's groups, freedom. And so I said, well, what do you mean by freedom? Because I can promise you that no one out in the world associates the word freedom with the Bible, and probably there's a bunch of churchians who don't associate freedom with the Bible. And I guess as we talked it through, it frees you from the deceptions of this culture, the illusions of this culture, the non-truths that you see out in this culture. Clarity was a word, redemption, revelation, love. Instead of bigoted and narrow-minded, inclusive, exposes us. Another man said peace. And then I sat down with the men and I said, does the word richness come to mind? Do you think of a warmth and a richness when you think of the scriptures? Because my friend, if you're not seeing that richness, then I want you to change the way you're reading scripture or start reading scripture again. Because there is a richness there. How about alive and breathing? Would that be words that would come to your mind when you think of the scriptures? Alive and breathing. coming off the page at times. And then the last one that I had, it was good news because it is good news. And I've often thought that if you read something in scripture and it doesn't appear to you to be good news, well, that's really on us, isn't it? That's really on us because it is good news. It is your heavenly Father reaching out to you to speak to you, to you now, as you listen to me. He wants to talk to you. He wants to communicate with you. And you will find this as you dive into the scripture. So last week I asked a few questions. Let me just recap them quickly. If I asked you what are the most important things in your life at this point in your life, And if you were honest and you said career, health, my children, my marriage, let's just start with those. Career, your health, your children, your marriage. Do you believe that the more you immerse yourself in scripture, the richer it becomes to you? the more that you absorb it, do you believe that that will enhance those areas of your life? If we phrase that question in this way, what do you hope five to 10 years from now you'll be able to look back at this point in your life and what do you hope will have taken place that you will have been able to accomplish or what will have taken place in your life or in your wife or husband's life or your children's life? 10 years, your career, your health, Well, if you've got children, let's just say you've got a 12 and a 14 year old, 10 years is 22 and 24. And that goes by in a heartbeat. Do you think that the scriptures will enable you to realize the things that you're hoping for over these next five to 10 years? Because I can tell you that immersing yourself in the scripture will enhance these areas of your life. And so you may ask the question, well, how will it? Or why would it? Well, the more you immerse yourself in the scriptures and the more you know God as your heavenly father and Jesus as your savior and your Lord and as your best friend, the more clarity you'll have. A shift in your perspective on what's important, your priorities will shift. You'll be more humble. You'll have more peace. You'll have more patience. You'll learn how to die to self. You'll see things as they are more clearly, and that will enhance your business. It'll enhance your marriage. It'll enhance the way you raise your children. It'll even enhance your health, because we all know that stress kills, number one, and you'll have more peace in your life, but you'll also have a different perspective on life. You'll have more clarity. All these things will open up to you as you get to know God as your Father and Jesus as you immerse yourself in the scriptures. And then the last question that I think really digs into the details, into the core, is do you believe that each time you pick up the scriptures, that your Heavenly Father wants to and can and is speaking to you personally? That He wants to communicate to you personally? and that he wants to get into the details of your life. Because if you do believe this, you will go into the Scriptures with that anticipation and that expectation. But if you don't, it's probably one of the reasons why you're not reading the Scripture, or you're not reading it with the depth that's there waiting for you. Because you really don't believe that there's that much waiting for you as you read the scriptures. That it might be nice to understand the Bible a little more, and it might be nice to have some more facts and some more information, but it's not going to really change your life. And I, and millions of others, will attest and affirm that it will change your life. That just immersing yourself in scripture will change your life. So let me just pause for a moment and say, let's just say you're reading the scriptures now. You're getting up most mornings. You've got a pretty good pattern on a quiet time. How can you bump that trajectory? Well, there's a lot of ways. And, of course, if you've got the study Bibles, which so many people have today, there are all kind of footnotes, but there are also all these little footnotes that attach the scripture you're reading to other scripture. So, for instance, you may read something in the New Testament, there'll be a little footnote, and it'll take you back to the Old Testament. and you'll find scripture that's saying the same thing, or almost the same thing, or maybe the exact same thing, or maybe you're in the Old Testament and you'll see that same footnote, I encourage you to slow down and actually follow, trace through those footnotes. That'll enhance your reading. Get good commentaries and read those. Memorize scripture. With each men's group that I've ever done in my life, if scripture memory comes up, I will say, who in here, raise your hand if you are really good at memorizing scripture? And if I've done it for 500 to 1,000 men, I've had two hands go up. I then like to say, who in here is good at remembering people's names? Well, I'll have a few more hands go up. Not a lot, but a few. And I'll say, well, what is the difference between this man who's good at remembering names and the rest of you that aren't? And you know what it is? Effort. That's it. It's important to him. And it's the same way with memorizing scripture. Nobody thinks they're good at it. I actually am pretty good at memorizing scripture. It's just the way my brain works. There's other things that if I don't write it down, I'll forget to do it. As a matter of fact, I walked into the room the other day to write down on a yellow pad something that I had on my mind. By the time I got to the yellow pad, I forgot what it was I wanted to write down. So I'm no smarter than you. I just happen to be pretty good at memorizing scripture. But it it takes your scripture reading into the rest of your day and it makes all the difference in the world. So I encourage you to try it. It is a choice that we make the expectations that we carry with us into reading scripture. It is a choice. If you decide, if you decide to take the position that you're Heavenly Father, that the Holy Spirit, that Jesus is going to meet you as you open the scriptures, then your expectations will lead you towards Jesus actually meeting you. you make the choice. Because if you go into it not expecting it, well, he certainly can meet you and oftentimes does, but the richness won't be there. Now, as I talk about memorizing, not memorizing scripture, reading scripture, Let me give you a caveat that Jesus gives the Pharisees, who I can assure you knew a whole lot more about scripture than you and I will ever know. He said, you diligently study the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. These, he says, are the very scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. That's John 5, verses 39 through 40. You diligently study the scriptures because you think that you'll find eternal life in them, but yet it's me that you're not actually coming to. So as you go into the scripture, please understand You're looking to meet Jesus there. Yes, it'll be great if you learn more about the Bible and you learn more about the context, you learn more about the history and the culture and all those things. And if you just know more information, that's always a good thing, know more information, but that will not bring eternal life, nor will it bring the life that is truly life. It's meeting Jesus in the scriptures is what will change your life. So I will keep repeating, this is not a checklist. It may feel like a discipline at first to get back up in the morning and start reading your scriptures, or to do a little deeper studying. That may feel like a discipline at first, but what we all know is it will become very natural. It will move from a discipline, from a, I have to do this, or I gotta do this, to I can't wait to do this, I love to do this. I want to ask you as we move on in talking about Scripture, I want to read what may be familiar to some of you. 2 Timothy 3.15, Paul is writing to Timothy and he says, And how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. all scriptures God breathed, inspired through the Holy Spirit, and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. Now, it's useful to teach, rebuke, correct, and train you, not for you to take the Bible and knock somebody over the head with it. But when you hear this, it's useful for training in righteousness. I wanna read another passage. The more you read scripture, the more these things will jump out at you. And I want you to listen for two repeated words from what I've just read you. This is Hebrews 12, 11, talking about discipline. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Do you see the two common words? Training and righteousness. The Holy Spirit through Paul is writing to Timothy and saying, reading your scripture, digging into your scripture, going deep in your scripture will train you in righteousness. However, on the opposite side, discipline. If it's necessary, your Heavenly Father will use discipline to train you in righteousness. Which one do you want to take? Do you want to be trained in righteousness by reading more scripture, or do you want to set yourself up to have to be disciplined by a loving Heavenly Father who is intent on training you in righteousness, on creating the righteousness of His Son in you? And I say it sort of tongue-in-cheek. I think I'll take the choice of studying the scripture to be trained in righteousness versus having to go through discipline. Might and you? Hebrews 4.12. For the Word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joint and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. The Word of God is living and active. Is it for you, would be my question. Is it alive? Does it feel like it comes off the page at times? And when it doesn't, and if it doesn't, I promise you it's you and not the scriptures. Full confession, there are times when I read the scriptures and I might as well have read the newspaper. I walk away with nothing. Now, is that on the scripture or is that on me? Well, it's on me, of course. And why is that the case? I was distracted. I had other things on my mind. I wasn't digging in. I wasn't slowing down. I wasn't preparing myself. I didn't step. Most often I step into the scriptures and I'll pause and I'll say, Jesus, I'm here. I want to meet you. Show me, Holy Spirit, whatever it is you want to show me. For the Word of God is alive and active, it's living and breathing, sharper than any double-edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges, and the better word there is exposes. It exposes the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. So I ask you, my friend, is the Bible or the Scriptures living and breathing for you? Are they good news? Is there a richness to be found there for you? Is there a joy and a peace and a clarity as your perspective on life? Does it shift as you read the scriptures? Does it take you deeper as you read the scriptures? Because that is what the scriptures will do. That is what God's word will do in your heart. I'm going to finish with this passage, a very familiar passage, but I want to tease out something that jumped out at me just recently. John 8, 31, Jesus. To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, if you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. And then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Which begs the question, then, if you don't hold to his teachings, then are you not a disciple? Jesus seems to be making a distinction, just as in Luke 14, 24, 25, when he says, if you want to be a disciple, you'll have to pick up your cross and carry it daily. You'll have to die to self. So my question as we conclude today is, is there a difference between a follower of Jesus and a disciple of Jesus? And let's go ahead and state for this conversation, a follower is a born-again believer. So is there a difference between a follower and a disciple? And I will tell you, yes, there is. And the difference is the distance. A follower is following Jesus at some distance. A disciple is right up with him. trying to become one with him. So if you drew a diagram, you'd have you and a distance and then Jesus. If you're a disciple, there's Jesus and there you are right beside him. And there's no better way than digging into your scriptures. So my friend, we'll continue this next week, but please, may you yearn to go deeper in your relationship with Jesus by reading his love letter to you, to you, my friend, intended for you and your heart in the details of your life. I'm Sam Hunter and this is 721 Live. So long, God's peace to you. I hope to see you next Friday.