Why should I read my Bible daily?

Rhythms

TLK 1

Bottom Line: The Bible is God's Word given to us to intimately know its Author

Intro

Starting a new series called Rhythms… Looking at some of the things we do/should do as Christians regularly and ask why?

Have you ever thought about a family tradition or rhythm of yours and asked why?

Kids are really good at this… too good… annoying in fact

Recent move to Ohio has sparked my daughter's interest in why we are Pittsburgh sports fans (also family influence too maybe) → watching a Pirates game on TV one night→ she asked why we are Pirates fans→ so I explained it…

Wondering why helps us gain a better understanding and appreciation for things… that’s why we are diving into this series asking the why behind Rhythms of following Jesus.

This first is one that when we answer the question, it opens the door for God to rock our world…

The question is: Why should I read my Bible daily? → what is the big deal about this book… Some may hear that it is old and outdated, also may think I have read it once so I am good. But then I come to church and Kyle tells me I need to be in it every day…

To answer this question we need to answer a few more questions… all leading to an understanding of what this book really is… What you understand about this book changes the way you interact with it.

PSA: going to be jumping around the Bible alot and I will do my best to make sure you have all the references as we journey through this

Truth

What is the Bible at a high level?

Collection of 66 books, penned by 40 different men, over the span of 1500 years and it all points to one theme: God’s unfolding history of His redemptive plan to restore humanity and all creation to Himself through His only Son Jesus Christ→ Ephesians 1:7-10

Kyle’s Cliff Note Version of Bible: God creates→ pinnacle is humanity→ Genesis 3: humanity disobeys God and sin enters the world resulting in the downward spiral of creation→ history of God’s chosen people through which He will raise up a Messiah→ Spiral continues→ Noah’s family is saved→ Genesis 12: Abrahamic Covenant→ Isaac→ Jacob → Joseph → 400 years of slavery in Egypt→ Moses→ Joshua→ God gives them the promised land and eventually raises up kings to be over His people→ David→ Soloman→ Temple is built but then destroyed as God drives His people out of the land→ Brings back a remnant to rebuild the city→ All throughout this time prophets are speaking one the one who will come and set God’s people and the world free… O.T Ends with Malachi- cliffhanger… 400 years of silence… N.T starts with the silence breaking from a prophet named John… Jesus steps into history→ claims to be God incarnate, savior of the world→ crucified for those claims→ 3 days is resurrected→ ascends into heaven and the Holy Spirit comes down→ acts of the Holy Spirit→ letters written to churches and people as the gospel advances throughout the known world→ ends with a prophetic picture of past, present, and future events, promising the return of our savior… amen

The Bible is not an astronomy book, science book, self help book, get rich book… It does not contain all the answers to every question life brings

The Bible is a book from God about how humanity and the rest of creation is redeemed and restored to its Creator through Jesus

What does the Bible say about itself?

It is the actual words of God→ 2 Timothy 3:16-17→ God breathed→ the authors were not inspired in and of themselves, rather the actual words they penned were→ the Holy Spirit gave them His words→ Genesis 1 and 2 give us great insight into the power of this→ God’s words, His breath brings about life…

2 Peter 1:20-21→ carried along→ lifted from one place to another… Holy Spirit→ Ruach→ Breath, wind, spirit→ sail boat illustration

Because the Bible is the actual words of God, three realities exist

1) It is true→ John 17:17→ Absolute truth is the Bible… So many things claim to be true… we can know because we hold truth in our hands right here… we are bombarded by truth claims everywhere… we need to come to His word to see whether those claims line up with truth.

2) It is timeless→ 1 Peter 1:23-25→ Living- always prevalent, always relevant, never changing, God is true to His word about himself, humanity, and reality

3) It is transformative→ James 1:21→ Able→ has the power to, sufficient in strength to accomplish, where we get the english word dynamite… Save→ James is not saying salvation is obtained through the act of reading, rather God’s Word is the instrument through which salvation is proclaimed to the world

This leads to life transformation→ James 1:22-25

What other proof do we have? → so much can be said and presented as evidence to back up the Bible’s claims… only go through 4

1) Discovery→ historical forensics

Homer’s Odyssey- 3 copies, 2000 years from original, Caesar’s “Gallic Wars” → 10 copies, 900 years from original

New Testament→ 5500 copies, 100 years from original

Dead Sea Scrolls→ 1948 → found a copy of every book in the Hebrew Bible except for Esther… Compared Isaiah to current copy→ limited variants with no impact on the overall message.

What we have today is what they had at the beginning…

2) Unity→ the bible is so connected there can only be one author

Graph→ 63779 overt connections

If this was done by one man he would be considered a master→ Written by 40 men, 1500 years. 3 continents (Europe, Asia, Africa). 3 different languages (Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic)

There is only one explanation→ God

3) Prophecy→ Foretelling of future events in specific detail→ example

Bible Contains 2500→ 2000 done, 500 yet to be

8 Prophecies about the coming Messiah

Born in Bethlehem→ 700 years before Jesus, born of a virgin, end up in Egypt, ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, betrayed for the price of a slave, 30 pieces of silver, die by crucifixion→ 400 years before invention of it, teach in parables, and set the captives free

“The chance that any man might have ...fulfilled all eight prophecies is one in 10 to the 17th. That would be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000.” (one hundred quadrillion). If we take 10 to the 17th silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state 2 feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly... Blindfold a man and tell him he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up [that one marked silver dollar.] What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing those eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man,...providing they wrote them in their own wisdom.”- Peter Stoner

Jesus fulfilled over 300

4) Historicity of Jesus→ Jesus actual lived, actually died, actually came back to life (seen by over 500 eyewitnesses) → He affirmed the Scriptures as the very Words of God

Application

What does this mean for us?

This is God’s actual word

It was written for a specific purpose→ John 17:3

The Bible is God’s Word given to us to intimately know its Author…

Letters from my grandpa→ I didn't look at these when he died to pass some test… I looked at these to feel connected to my grandpa… I didn't want to lose that connection

There is a God… He wrote a book… this book… He tells us who created, who came as a man to take on the punishment of sin, guilt and shame, so that we can be redeemed and flourish in the way that we were created to flourish… who wrote this book so we could intimately know HIm once again

Why should we read this book daily?

Get into God’s Word so God’s Word can get into us→ We don't read the Bible, it reads us and reveals our heavenly father to us

Get into God’s word

Set a time, set a place, set a pace

BONUS: TAKE NOTES

We need a passion for this book, we need a desire, a hunger for this book

Reading plan introduction

Maybe you don't understand this book because you don't know the author yet→ 1 Corinthians 2:14→ gospel invitation

The Bible is God’s Word given to us to intimately know its Author