Dale Partridge - Real Christianity #52： Why Christians Must Study Their Bible and Not Just Read It

00:00:00.000 Welcome to Real Christianity. Today we are talking about why Christians should study their Bible and not just read it.

00:00:08.120 So, cool conversation I'm excited about today. The other thing is that this is episode number 52.

00:00:15.700 One year, guys.

00:00:16.920 One year, and the worst part about it is that we already recorded this episode once.

00:00:21.520 The worst part about it.

00:00:22.680 And I actually deleted it on accident. Oh my goodness, I was frustrated.

00:00:29.160 I legitimately cried.

00:00:30.920 She did.

00:00:31.440 I was already having a hard day, and I was a little overwhelmed.

00:00:34.160 And then he told me, and I just started crying.

00:00:35.840 I was like, I really need a nap.

00:00:37.700 She took a nap.

00:00:38.420 I took a nap, and I feel so much better now, guys.

00:00:40.660 So the cool thing is you guys probably noticed, if you saw on Instagram,

00:00:46.540 you follow us on Instagram, that we passed 1 million downloads.

00:00:51.620 So pretty much approximately 52 episodes and 1 million downloads,

00:00:55.720 3,000 plus reviews. Guys, we are super blessed. I think this is actually a good lesson to share

00:01:05.300 here. It's a lesson that I learned in my years as an entrepreneur in the business world.

00:01:10.500 What if we didn't? What if we didn't start this podcast? You know, tens of thousands of people,

00:01:17.980 of Christians, wouldn't have been encouraged if we had chosen to not start this podcast.

00:01:23.880 And what about you?

00:01:25.920 Has the Lord put a ministry on your heart to accomplish?

00:01:30.420 Have you allowed fear to prevent that calling to occur or ministry to go about?

00:01:37.700 Now, there's only two reasons that should prevent you from starting a ministry that the Lord has put on your heart.

00:01:42.820 The first is that it's your idea and it's not God's call.

00:01:47.060 So that's the first one.

00:01:48.420 And too many people in the church today, I think, are over-called.

00:01:51.880 They think they're called.

00:01:53.720 In reality, they're disguising their own desires as God's call on their life,

00:02:00.080 especially with all these kind of purpose conferences and stuff that are happening in the church today.

00:02:06.500 The second reason is that you're not qualified or trained or ready or prepared, I should say.

00:02:14.200 David was told that he was going to be king at a young—he was a young man.

00:02:18.420 We don't know his specific age, but he was a young man.

00:02:20.140 It wasn't until he was 30 that he actually sat in that seat of being king.

00:02:26.420 Jesus was impressing the Pharisees at 12, but he didn't walk into his ministry until the age of 30 as well.

00:02:33.280 Moses was chosen as a baby, but he didn't start his ministry until he was 80 after spending 40 years in Minia.

00:02:40.880 So my point is, God's yes doesn't always mean God's go.

00:02:47.000 I want you guys just to remember that one.

00:02:48.660 God's yes doesn't mean God's go. Many people get themselves in a bind when they run ahead of God's plan.

00:02:55.960 They're zealous, but they're unprepared, and that's a dangerous place to be in.

00:03:01.740 Or they're called into an area that they have little authority, and this is pretty common as well. 0.88

00:03:06.280 A marriage ministry started by newlyweds. A parenting ministry started by parents of young children.

00:03:12.480 A pastor who maybe isn't even married yet, and he wants to shepherd a church.

00:03:17.340 an addiction ministry from someone who just got clean these are examples of that you know we have

00:03:24.040 to believe that God has far more to do in us than through us so yes we are called to start what God

00:03:32.220 has put on our hearts and laid upon our hearts that is also aligned with scripture but to also

00:03:38.100 do it in God's timing yeah I think that's a great point that you make Dale and it's I at least I

00:03:43.440 know that it's true for our story um I know that we in our past have ran ahead and ended up paying

00:03:50.440 the price for it um but I think that this podcast actually seems to be an example of how fruitful

00:03:56.440 something can be when it's done in God's timing um and to be honest guys when Dale brought up the

00:04:03.300 idea of starting this podcast I was pretty hesitant I was not really excited to go and

00:04:09.420 jump on this project uh and start this show together it's an introvert's dream yes i am

00:04:16.640 the total introvert over here i was not comfortable with talking on controversial topics uh because

00:04:24.260 it basically kind of puts a target on your back yeah but it was kind of one of those um submit to

00:04:30.220 your husband moments that paid off it was good and and i've learned uh to enjoy the experience

00:04:36.180 as we've gone through it for the last you know 52 weeks um and i love seeing the fruit in other

00:04:41.760 people's lives who um listen to our show or watched on youtube or whatever it is and so

00:04:47.000 just to hear the testimonials and the things that people share with us um the fruit that has

00:04:53.760 you know been developed in their lives just by listening to the podcast is really humbling and

00:05:00.740 praise god that he's given us this knowledge to share with other people um so thank you guys so

00:05:07.820 much for your support and for listening to the show um thank you guys for uh those who have

00:05:12.760 given donations to keep this ministry up and running and going um it's it's not um you know

00:05:20.840 it doesn't go unnoticed it's definitely a huge blessing and we're very grateful for that um

00:05:26.200 And also thank you to all of you guys who have left reviews.

00:05:30.340 Those really keep us going.

00:05:31.840 I know we have a lot of reviews on iTunes.

00:05:35.360 You know, the algorithm with Apple, iTunes Store makes it easier for people to find the show.

00:05:40.560 Yeah, if you search Christianity and iTunes in the podcast section, we come up like in the top one or two or three podcasts.

00:05:48.500 So that's really cool.

00:05:49.320 It's because of those reviews.

00:05:50.460 So thank you.

00:05:50.980 But on that note, since it is our one-year episode, I thought it'd be good to do a short review on some of the most popular topics that we've covered, most listened to episodes, within the last year.

00:06:05.780 And then we'll go ahead and hit the topic titled, Why Christians Must Study Their Bible and Not Just Read It.

00:06:11.520 So this is like a long introduction.

00:06:12.820 yeah so um let's look at the past year's most popular episodes and then what we believe is the

00:06:20.640 most important episodes from our perspectives um so the first most listened to episode is should

00:06:28.220 women wear a head covering while they pray or prophesy and that is going to be episode number

00:06:32.480 33 which we never expected to be the most popular episode but hey oh we actually totally expected to

00:06:38.360 get a lot of flack for that episode and a lot of um negative comments on it and i we did not receive

00:06:45.120 a single one no everybody loved it and i actually got a ton of questions of people asking me what

00:06:51.080 they what i use to cover my head or whatever it is um and there was one comment that i received

00:06:57.300 and i wasn't sure if it was like a like compliment or negative statement so i just responded thank

00:07:05.000 you um she's like uh in response to listening to that podcast because i just listened to your

00:07:11.920 podcast wow veronica i'll be praying for you and i'm like i don't know what tone she's saying

00:07:16.540 i don't know if that's like i'm praying for you like in a good way or in a bad way yeah like i'm 0.98

00:07:22.700 praying for you because you're an idiot thank you yeah um anyway that was a crazy popular episode 0.99

00:07:27.480 that's episode number 33 if you want to go search for it on our website um episode number two was 1.00

00:07:32.860 what is a biblical woman part one and two episode number 36 and 37 number three was how to create

00:07:40.400 or find biblical community and that is number 27 what is a biblical man part one and two number

00:07:47.740 38 and 39 and the last one uh number five out of the most listened to episodes is five sensitive

00:07:55.460 questions most couples have never answered and that is episode number 10 so dale if you could

00:08:01.300 list off one episode that you would recommend for people to listen to what would it be i mean you

00:08:06.780 guys know my heart is for the church uh you know so i i just naturally gravitate towards the church

00:08:12.060 uh stuff but i'm trying to be unbiased and what i think is really the most fruitful

00:08:16.700 for like practical marriage and family and faith and i think the episode that we did is titled

00:08:23.340 three rules for creating an affair proof marriage it's episode number 16

00:08:27.980 that one is it's just super practical it's what lessons we've learned to protect our marriage and

00:08:34.240 so if you haven't listened to that one it's back under the name ultimate marriage we started the

00:08:38.000 first 30 episodes under the name ultimate marriage and then we moved it to real christianity episode

00:08:42.580 31 so yeah so if you guys want marriage content the first 30 episodes are really on marriage and

00:08:48.960 family or on marriage and family yeah so anyway um i would say i think that my

00:08:54.640 favorite episode uh that i'd recommend is the role of a biblical woman in the church um which

00:09:02.580 was one of those oh no that was that's a different one oh okay yeah got it this is the role of the

00:09:10.780 woman in the church yes and that's episode number 42 yeah that one was really important just i think

00:09:16.600 a lot of women are trying to figure out, can we be pastors? Can we teach? What's the role

00:09:21.400 according to the Bible that we hit that hard in that episode? So it's been just an incredible

00:09:27.820 year, and we're super humbled just to have you guys on the journey with us. But let's jump into

00:09:33.420 the topic today so that we can just talk about the difference between studying and reading. I

00:09:39.620 think it's important. I don't think the church talks about it much. Votie Bauckham once said,

00:09:43.720 if we don't know the Bible, if we don't know doctrine, if we don't know theology,

00:09:48.040 it's virtually impossible to identify false teachers or false prophets.

00:09:54.480 The enemy is taking advantage of this generation right now because of our biblical ignorance

00:10:01.060 and our biblical illiteracy. You know, we're so preoccupied with the American dream

00:10:06.480 that we've kind of forgotten the Christian call. And I'm assuming that there, you know,

00:10:13.420 has not been more of a theologically illiterate church 0.78

00:10:17.400 than the Western church of today. 0.56

00:10:20.860 I think we are so confused and lost.

00:10:24.400 We have forgotten what normal biblical Christianity is at large.

00:10:30.000 And we're not only illiterate in this generation,

00:10:34.060 we're also, in many senses,

00:10:35.760 I've seen the church be vandalists to the scripture and to theology.

00:10:40.740 You know, we don't just ignore the word of God,

00:10:42.100 We actually try to alter it to fit our emotional experience or our emotional desires.

00:10:50.820 Jeremiah 9, 23 through 24 says,

00:10:55.400 Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom.

00:10:58.760 Let not the mighty man glory in his might.

00:11:01.280 Nor let the rich man glory in his riches.

00:11:03.640 But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me.

00:11:09.280 So I want to point out the difference in this episode.

00:11:12.100 Between knowing God and understanding God.

00:11:15.360 They're two different things.

00:11:17.480 It says, let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me.

00:11:22.360 And I relate it to reading and studying.

00:11:26.840 You know, when we read God's word, we know him.

00:11:30.800 When I pore over the scriptures and just read them, I feel like I'm getting in a relationship knowing God.

00:11:37.360 When we study God's word in meditation, understand the deeper meaning.

00:11:42.100 you know, we get in prayer, we start to understand him.

00:11:46.840 That reminds me of a quote that I hear you say often, which is,

00:11:49.840 it's not how many years you know God, it's how many hours.

00:11:54.220 And the same goes for, I think, even relationships with other people.

00:11:57.440 You know, you can be a parent and know your child,

00:12:02.540 but not understand them because you don't take the time and the effort

00:12:05.320 to get to know them and understand them and spend the time with them

00:12:09.100 and know how they think and feel about certain things

00:12:11.600 and not just your child but friendships it kind of goes around with all relationships yeah ponder

00:12:18.460 after about them like trying to understand who god is and his heart you know putting those things

00:12:27.120 together are really important so many christians know god but i think less christians understand

00:12:34.540 him and that's what we want to talk about today yeah and this was me for many years i think that

00:12:39.680 um, the church today is just so focused on getting people to just pick up their Bibles

00:12:44.740 and just read them, do it, you know, barely just get into it, read something, read a verse

00:12:49.220 a day, you know, uh, that they, I don't say all churches, but a lot of churches just don't

00:12:54.800 bother, um, teaching people how to study it.

00:12:57.860 I, I actually, um, and the reason why I say I don't want to say all churches, because

00:13:02.020 a church that I became a Christian and actually had like a class that you can go to and walk

00:13:07.220 you through for like a six week class on learning how to study your Bible. But a lot of churches

00:13:11.480 don't offer that. Um, and I always believe that the studying part for a long time, I

00:13:16.740 believe that was, was just for the pastors and to the teachers because they're the ones

00:13:20.960 that need you to know that information. Um, but as I've grown closer to the Lord over

00:13:27.280 the years and gained some maturity, a little bit more maturity, um, I become comfortable

00:13:34.960 with my study Bible um I know how to use it and I've become comfortable with looking up commentaries

00:13:40.520 either hard copy commentaries that we have here at home or looking things up on blueletterbible.com

00:13:45.660 and it's helped me to realize that um the Bible is more than the gospel the Bible and everything

00:13:51.800 in the Bible anticipates the gospel and Jesus is a central focus of the Bible but you can't

00:13:58.720 fully understand the gospel unless you start to understand the rest of the story yeah that's

00:14:05.560 totally true it's yeah the more you understand the old testament the better you understand the

00:14:08.940 new testament the more you understand the new testament the more you understand you see so

00:14:11.800 many cross-referencing all throughout both the old testament new testament you know new testament

00:14:17.200 it's constantly referring back to the old testament yeah and then the old testament's like

00:14:22.000 pointing towards pointing towards the new testament it's so good and so yeah i want to be

00:14:28.240 clear studying scripture um is not our idea it's not like something that we're just like saying oh

00:14:33.880 yeah dale veronica i think you should study scripture um bible's been around for a long

00:14:38.220 time guys yeah it's god's command to study scripture uh second timothy 2 15 it's a scripture

00:14:42.740 i want you guys to memorize um i have it memorized it's one of my favorite scriptures um i just tried

00:14:48.780 going over the scripture with the kids yeah i think it's a little bit wordy for them it is

00:14:52.440 they're getting it it's be diligent to present yourself approved to god a worker who does not

00:14:57.280 need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. And, um, I want to break this down a bit

00:15:02.880 for you guys. Again, I'm going to, I'll just read it one more time. Be diligent to present yourself

00:15:07.020 approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

00:15:15.040 So, um, it's saying be diligent to present yourself approved. That's the first thing it says.

00:15:18.620 Uh, this is talking about holy, wise, biblical living. You know, I think, I think of someone

00:15:25.680 like that's bowing down um like before the lord presenting themselves like uh just like this is me

00:15:33.820 lord like presenting yourself approved um now we know that the gospel we're only approved through

00:15:40.060 christ but um it's telling us to be diligent to present ourselves approved to god it's talking

00:15:44.920 about something else um it says to be diligent in doing so so that's another point i want to

00:15:50.460 talk about this be diligent to do this be purposeful yeah you cannot know what is approved

00:15:56.040 behavior and how to live if you don't know god and his word and you don't know it well

00:16:02.380 a worker who does not need to be ashamed um we are each workers in his kingdom so i want to

00:16:09.940 remind you guys of that you're not like you're not just like a nobody you're a worker in the

00:16:16.120 kingdom and you have work to be done and um if you're a stay-at-home mom yeah with little kids

00:16:22.520 at your feet folding laundry and mopping floors and doing the dishes that is your ministry right

00:16:27.940 now that is kingdom work yeah raising up the next generation discipling your children

00:16:32.560 yeah this is great commission home yeah would god look at you in the state that you're in

00:16:41.260 and see your work that you've presented to him

00:16:45.400 in your own life and be proud.

00:16:48.940 Well done, good and faithful servant.

00:16:52.700 You know, I'm not saying again

00:16:53.880 that your works validate you before the Lord.

00:16:56.140 That's not what I'm saying.

00:16:56.940 I don't think that's what the scripture is teaching.

00:16:58.840 But faith without works is dead.

00:17:01.140 That's, we hear that in the book of James.

00:17:02.980 I'm going to talk about that more.

00:17:04.960 That means that good works are the evidence of your faith.

00:17:09.220 And if you don't have good works,

00:17:10.740 then you don't likely have faith that's what that's passages saying just go hand in hand

00:17:16.600 yeah when you have the message of the gospel and it uh has you know causes true transformation in

00:17:23.040 your heart and your mind you desire to have a holy life good works and so it's it comes

00:17:30.240 naturally it goes hand in hand yeah so when you when someone doesn't have good works

00:17:33.900 gives you good reason to go well maybe they don't have faith um and but again to be clear yeah we're

00:17:41.660 not resting about resting in what you do we're resting in what's been done and so you got to

00:17:46.760 balance that out um so that said are you guys working to know him and understand him are you

00:17:53.020 hoping to be used by him are you seeking his kingdom first those are important questions should

00:17:57.080 be kind of asking yourself and when you do this when you know him and his word you're able to

00:18:03.560 fulfill the last piece of this passage which we're going to reread here in a second it's rightly

00:18:06.980 dividing the word of truth and i believe uh this this means a few things um first it's a call to

00:18:16.540 know the difference between true and false doctrine you got to know what's right and wrong

00:18:23.560 wisdom as god says to solomon is understanding the difference between right and wrong and so

00:18:31.020 can you pick out and see false doctrine that's being taught because you know the word so well

00:18:39.940 and secondly and probably more centrally it means properly interpreting god's doctrine

00:18:48.400 which is kind of hand in hand with the first one which is where we actually get false doctrine is

00:18:52.940 false interpretations they're not like adding stuff as much as they're just like interpreting

00:18:57.540 it incorrectly and so as a call to proper interpretation and that that art of interpretation

00:19:04.100 is called hermeneutics big word all it means is the science and art of interpreting the bible

00:19:10.260 but we should be looking and longing to understand that third it could also mean

00:19:16.700 i like this principle but i don't know it's a good principle regardless but it could mean

00:19:24.220 rightly divide the truth to others, meaning that you know the word so well, and you're such a good

00:19:32.240 worker, that you can divide the truth, the gospel to the lost, milk to the young or to the babies,

00:19:40.660 meat to the mature. You know how to sparse out the truth well to others, rightly dividing it up.

00:19:49.220 And so I've heard some commentaries on that that I've actually really appreciated. But

00:19:53.060 um but again regardless none of it can occur unless you know the word and you know it well

00:19:59.520 and you can't know the bible by simply allowing other people to tell you what's in it

00:20:06.100 so i remember what month are we in jim i remember back in january uh you and our friend aaron

00:20:16.620 smith over at marriage after god um hosted a bible study here at her house

00:20:20.760 um i don't know was it like six weeks eight weeks study um and you guys would trade off every week

00:20:25.960 who was teaching um and i remember you guys are going through first john and one week aaron brought

00:20:31.880 a teaching on the trinity uh and then he actually opened up with the definition of the of the

00:20:39.480 trinity from the mormon church um and he shared that to see if anyone would catch the false

00:20:45.840 doctrine in it yeah um and a few of the men in the group did but you know most of them didn't

00:20:53.180 and flew right over their head yeah they would have just kept on listening so i thought that

00:20:58.160 was really interesting um to see it like played out in front of your eyes yeah yeah if you don't

00:21:04.620 know um man you could be your tricky situation i'm gonna actually read you a quick passage as

00:21:10.220 an example from the Book of Mormon. It's Moroni 1032. It says, you come unto Christ and be perfected

00:21:20.600 in him and deny yourselves of all ungodliness. You go, okay, this is good. This is like, sounds

00:21:26.560 like it's right. And it does, that's so far. And then it says, and if you shall deny yourselves

00:21:32.840 of all ungodliness and love god with all your might mind and strength then is his grace sufficient

00:21:41.580 for you that by his grace you may be perfect in christ most people would just miss this um this

00:21:50.200 opportunity and um what he's saying here is uh in this verse right here he says you come unto christ

00:21:58.420 to be perfected in him and deny yourselves of all ungodliness this is a thing to do

00:22:01.520 and if you if you deny yourselves of all ungodliness and if you love your god with all

00:22:11.680 your might minded strength then is his grace sufficient for you it means it's not sufficient

00:22:17.980 for you if you don't do those things which is false doctrine according to scripture small things

00:22:24.620 yeah small things really small um so i think what we're getting at the lesson is this the only reason

00:22:32.360 pastors can even offer an incorrect teaching is just because the congregation doesn't know

00:22:38.160 what correct teaching is because they're not reading the word yeah they don't know yeah and

00:22:42.360 and so um guys don't just read your bible study your bible know it inside and out

00:22:50.280 um memorize scripture study theology um get a book on hermeneutics there's a book that i like

00:22:59.260 um titled for the love of god's word um it's a good book um i'll put a link in the um

00:23:05.700 the show notes for that um so here's our challenge to you buy a study bible an esv or new king james

00:23:13.100 um or nasb study bible or king james version of your king james reader

00:23:18.120 um and if you go to the show notes for this episode which again are at relearnchurch.org

00:23:23.640 forward slash listen look for this episode um i'll actually put a few trusted study bibles and

00:23:31.040 maybe study resources there for you guys because we want you guys to start studying i'm actually

00:23:36.240 we're working on something to work with some publishers to start offering what we call real

00:23:40.560 christianity resources so it's coming later um to start offering some like books that we recommend

00:23:47.380 you guys to read resources commentaries things like that so we really want to help you guys in

00:23:52.180 that really quick before i close out the show do you want to um kind of explain what your study

00:23:56.940 time looks like and yeah for me and dale it's different because dale works full-time and i'm

00:24:04.440 a stay-at-home mom and i have my work is in the home um but like i would use the morning as my

00:24:11.860 study time dale would you'll watch the kids for 30 minutes however you know 30 minutes to an hour

00:24:17.280 and i go in my little closet that he'll put he built a desk in there for me and i study my bible

00:24:25.180 then um and then at night generally before i go to bed is just my reading time i just read and go to

00:24:31.560 bed yeah and for me um i read every day um but i study usually two to three times a week fridays

00:24:41.760 are usually my day i do like five to eight hours of studying yeah fridays are long study day and

00:24:46.960 it's my favorite time to be able to just go in and like study a passage of

00:24:52.640 scripture deeply.

00:24:53.780 I use lots of commentaries to study.

00:24:57.480 I read theology books.

00:24:59.860 I just read a book on covenant theology from Thomas Schreiner.

00:25:03.440 It's like a hundred pages.

00:25:04.760 It's called like covenants or something like that.

00:25:06.820 It's really good.

00:25:08.420 But it really does help me fill in the gaps and help me understand God more.

00:25:13.920 well and when you and your spouse are both reading and studying the word it that's you know it creates

00:25:21.120 a biblical culture in your home because you guys are just talking about it yeah time and i'm asking

00:25:26.080 you questions about what something means and you know if i didn't understand it or sharing what i

00:25:31.320 learned and vice versa you you often will share what you've learned and teach me something that

00:25:36.220 i didn't know totally totally so guys we're going to offer those resources for you guys just go to

00:25:40.720 relearnchurch.org forward slash listen.

00:25:43.500 Last thing is, if you guys haven't yet

00:25:45.760 and you're a regular listener to the show,

00:25:47.240 would you leave a review?

00:25:48.120 Just go to iTunes, just tap the stars.

00:25:50.320 You don't even need to write anything.

00:25:51.960 But if you do write something, we'll read it.

00:25:53.360 We like it.

00:25:55.000 And also, if you guys want to start a Bible plan,

00:25:59.260 just to start going through the Bible,

00:26:01.240 we have offered a free PDF Bible plan download.

00:26:05.380 You just go to relearnchurch.org forward slash Bible.

00:26:08.740 on that note guys

00:26:10.760 thanks for listening we're excited for

00:26:13.460 the next 52 episodes

00:26:15.520 of Real Christianity

00:26:16.400 and we'll see you guys next week

00:26:18.560 see ya

Dale Partridge - July 03, 2019

Real Christianity #52： Why Christians Must Study Their Bible and Not Just Read It

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