How Long Should I Read My Bible?

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How long should I read it?

You ever had somebody ask you, “Well, how long should I read my Bible?”

So in college, I heard this answer, “Read it till your heart burns.”

I'd like to ponder on that and improve it maybe possibly a little bit.

I agree, of course, you should read the words of God until your heart burns, but I do not believe that the Word of God is a one-way reception.

I believe that the words are designed in such a manner that they cannot be contained in the Spirit-filled soul, but that they must be dispersed abroad.

So let's say it this way.

How long should I read the Word of God?

Read it until the

burning boils over, until the pressure rises, until your spirit is so filled with His Spirit that certainly the volcano must be released; read it until there's a bursting forth of the spirit; read it until the whole world knows; read it until ya can’t sit still; read it until it makes you get out of your chair. Read it until it moves you into motion. Read it until you and God gotta just get up and walk around the room, ‘cause you’re happy.

I'd say read the Bible, in fact, listen to it.

See now, we work a lot, us Americans, we're just way too industrious.

So you push the button and you listen to somebody.

Read the Bible to you.

It's the best podcast going.

It's the broadcast that will outlast every other podcast, right?

So you push the button, you listen to John chapter 4.

It's the woman at the well.

And then you hit rewind.

You just push the button again and you listen to the whole chapter again.

And if nothing jumps out, if you don't think there's anything funny,

or worthy of sharing, and if the spirit inside of you doesn't resonate with anything that God said in John chapter 4, I highly recommend you back it up a third time and listen to it through all the way.

And if that conversation between Christ, who is God in the flesh, and that human who was confused about who is this coming Messiah?

And when he says, Woman, I that speak unto thee … Am He!

If that doesn't make your little something go boom, I suggest to you, you might not ever met God.

Maybe He's met you.

Maybe you just haven't met Him.

I don't know.

Then listen to John 4, 5, and 6.

Let it roll.

Let it roll with Jesus talks to the Pharisees, who's a picture of the world, who gets really close to God.

They like to investigate God.

They like to do a little study on God.

They like to do some scientific events.

But they [Pharisees] don’t want to know Him.

Jesus says to the Pharisees, [essentially] “You’re acting like your father.”

And they’re like, “Well you … your Father!” Not yo Mama jokes; its your father jokes.

And Jesus replied, “I do always the works of My Father. You do the works of your father.”

They’re like, “We're not born of fornication.

We know our father.”

Jesus goes, “Who's your father?”

Jesus says, “If you knew My Father, you would worship Me because I came forth from My Father and I behave like My Father.

I'm the same Spirit as My Father.

You don't know My Father because you don't like Me.

You don't know Me.

It's just a face-to-face, a confused religious darkness versus the light of the world.

It's just awesome.

You should read the Bible until your tear ducts know that you've been reading the Bible.

You should read the Bible until you laugh.

If there's nothing humorous about the exchange back and forth,

Between the blind man and the Pharisees, “… by what means are you, can you now see?”

The blind man's finally like, “Dude, I told you three times, you're asking me again the same question.

There's nowhere else for me to go.

I'm backed in the corner.

I'm going to come out blazing with sarcasm and I'm going to say, ‘Will ye also …

So, how is it that you ask me, again, a third time, how did He make me see?

I told you He made clay.

So, here's what I'm going to answer the third time.

Since you want to know more, I'm going to ask you, "‘Will you also be His disciples?

Do you want to hear it a third time because you want to know more about Him like I do?

Are you really curious about this Person?’”

and they're like … the pharisees are like, “No you're His disciple; we're Abraham's disciple.” And then he said, “As for this fellow [said the pharisees] we know no not from whence He is.” And then this Spirit-filled brand new kid just got his eyes cleaned out he's like, “Well herein is a

Curious thing, a marvelous thing that this Man

is able to bring sight to … never in the history of the world has a man born blind received sight and herein is a marvelous thing that you guys [Pharisees] can't figure out where He's from!” “You don't know His origin. You don't know His source of power. You don't know how He's performing these miracles, and you have zero curiosity to figure out where He got all this power.”

Because the implication is he's doing miracles by God.

And you can't prove it wrong.

And it's a marvelous thing.

If you don't smell the tension in the air between the Pharisees and this guy.

Then they kick him out.

Oh, let's kick him out of the... You get out of the club.

You kick him out of the temple.

And he gets freshly kicked out.

Jesus meets him and he said, “Do you believe on the Son of God?”

He says, “Well who is He Lord that I might believe on Him?”

And Jesus again says [essentially], “I that speak unto thee am He.”

It's like asking someone, I wonder who made me?

I wonder who the Maker is?

And Jesus meets you and says, well I …

I'm your Maker.”

You know, I learned a fun perception when they got back and forth at the end of the argument with the Pharisees.

Oh, Moses.

Jesus said, Moses rejoiced to see my day.

Moses saw my day, or my time on earth, my little burst here in the sun, and was glad.

To which the Pharisees are like, “Thou art not yet 50 years old, and has Thou seen Abraham?

Then Jesus comes out with a declarative statement. Now let’s back up and say that the Hebrews knew the primary name for GOD is I AM THAT I AM. YHWH Jehovah is a verb tense of to be. State of being.

He is the one that is self-existence.

He's the all-being.

He's the no outside source, all inside source, the giver of life, the source of all.

He's the I am that I am.

He's the all-being one, right?

Before Abraham was, all caps, I AM!

which is the name for God.

And they're like, “Stones, stones, please give me a stone.

Somebody got a stone.

Kill this guy.

Obviously this is blasphemy.

He's saying he's God.”

They understood it.

One hundo clarity.

His declaration of deity-ship.

And they instantly went to grab rocks.

And Jesus is like, I'm going to walk right through the middle of you guys.

I'm going to go right through the crowd.

Impervious.

I'm unstonable.

I like the word ‘yet’.

Let's read it.

Let's back it up.

Where are we?

We're right here.

The blind man, Pharisees.

No, no, no.

This is the next one.

Go wash in the pool of Siloam.

Come on.

We're in John.

Back it up.

John 9.

I think, I don't like to misquote God, buT sorry; preaching is giving you the essence of what God said.

It's not exact, but I want to get it right.

He pretty much just, you know, my time has not ‘yet’ come.

Then the Pharisees got so mad they sent deputies, soldiers, authorities, constables.

They sent the police.

Go get that guy.

Go get him.

Go get him.

We can't touch him.

You go get him.

Our hands are clean.

Anyway, they came to Jesus, they interrogated him a little bit out on the street, and they're like, man, we can't touch this guy.

He's super innocent, and he claims to be God.

He might hurt us.

They come back and report to the Pharisees, “Where is he?

Did you catch him?

Did you throw him in prison?”

Ah, never man spake like this man.

Oh, don't listen to him.

He's going to trap you with his words.

You're supposed to arrest him.

Without any interrogation, just because we told you to.

And then Nicodemus says, “Doth our law charge any man before it hear him?

Do we arrest an innocent man, pretty much?”

And Jesus said to the officers who were sent to arrest him this first time,

He says, ah, my time, you know, I'm going to be with you for “yet” a little while.

In other words, it's not really time for me to go to prison yet.

Just a little while longer, I'll gladly yield.

You know, when's the right time?

Right now, I got a little more space, a little more time.

Oh, no, by the way, he didn't say this out loud, but he probably thought it internally.

I developed time.

I live outside of time.

I'm here gracing you with My presence for a moment inside of time, but I'm kind of the Time Giver, Time Maker.

In fact, I'm timeless.

Anybody here got the time?

I am the Time.

You know, he's got the declarative, “I am the Bread of Life.

I am that bread that came down from heaven.”

Oh man, hilarious.

Read the Bible until you have to tell somebody what the Bible said to you.

It's a broadcast bulletin book.

It's oxygen in, carbon dioxide out; neither of which are bad, right?

Neither of which are bad.

Bible in, preaching out.

Bible in, teaching out.

Why are, you know, …

I just marvel at people who can read and hear so much truth and then it doesn't flow out from them.

Was it properly processed?

Did you digest it?

Did you understand it?

Did you enjoy it?

Did you and God have a good understanding?

Then tell the world!

Right?

Tell somebody.

Anyway, just get enough Bible in your belly that some of it spits out somewhere.

Amen.