The Bryce Crawford Podcast - How To Read The Bible (EP 38)

Episode Date: August 2, 2024

In this video, Bryce teaches how to read the Bible. Filmed By; Josh Rodriguez @whitehorse.studios MERCH👉 https://www.jesusinthestreet.com subscribe for more! Sow Into My Ministry One-Time or Monthly! Visit 👉 https://www.equipnet.org/missionaries/bcrawford (all donations are tax deductible) Download Our FREE Bible Plan https://growinfaith.readytoconnect.com/join-the-one-year-bible-challenge follow me on other platforms! Podcast Instagram 👉https://instagram.com/brycecrawfordpodcast Personal Instagram 👉 https://instagram.com/brycecrawford Merch Instagram 👉 https://instagram.com/ilovejesus Tiktok (main) 👉https://www.tiktok.com/@brycecrawford Tiktok (2nd) 👉 https://www.tiktok.com/@adventuresofbryce Snapchat https://snapchat.com/add/brycecraww Twitter 👉 https://twitter.com/ibrycecrawford #christianity #christian #Jesus #BryceCrawford #christiantiktok #christianvideos #holyspirit #Jesusheals #viral #christianvideo #venicebeach #evangelism

What's going on, guys. Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Crawford podcast. I'm Bryce. And today's episode, it's going to be fun. It's going to be interesting. By the title of the episode, I tell you how to read your Bible because I want to try to give some practical tips. I feel like a lot of people ask me, Bryce, how do I read my Bible?

How can I consistently get in the word? Things like that. And I want to be able to talk about that. But before we get into it, two very important things. First thing, guys, Josh, I's goal at the beginning of the year was to reach 300 million people with the gospel through digital ministry. We thought by the end of 2024 from January 1st to December 30th, we, or December 31st, we would reach 300 million people. Well, yesterday, we reached 308 million people with the gospel

through digital ministry. And it's because of your guys' financial support that we're able to produce the videos, we're able to afford flights, get tickets into some of these crazy events into the darkest cities, places, and talk to the darkest people on the planet. It's because of your financial support. When you guys sew into our nonprofit, it allows us to afford these things and it mobilizes us into these dark areas of America. So Josh and I created a new goal of reaching 500 million people. We believe we can reach half a billion people in a year, their digital ministry.

We think that's powerful and we believe it and firmly are confident that we can do it. But we need your guys support. We still have crazy events, crazy travels that we need to get done, crazy videos that we need to produce, but we need your guys's financial support. If you go down in the description of this YouTube video, there's going to be a link to our tax-deductible non-profit giving link. And I just ask, will you partner with us financially? Will you sew to the mission God has burning on Josh and I's heart? If you will prayerfully consider sewing a seat into our ministry, we would be greatly appreciative.

It produces the videos. it keeps Josh and I alive. It sends us into these dark places and forces. It's a force of events. Guys, we are so grateful. So will you consider partnering with us financially? And if you feel led to make a one-time donation or a monthly donation,

you can click that link in our description and you can partner with us there and get your tax deductible receipt. Second thing is, if you want to support us to, you can get the merch at jesusinth street.com. Go check it out. That's easy. All right, let's get into it.

Before I just go into like practicals about how to read your Bible. I kind of just want to give some scripture on the importance of the Word of God because I feel like in order for us to have a hunger for the Word of God, we need to be able to weigh the importance of it. So I just have a few scriptures for us this morning. The first one I want to start off with is Hebrews 412. Hebrews 412 says,

For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of the soul and of the spirit of joints and of marrow and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart the word of god will separate the soul from the spirit the soul is the way that seems right to a man your carnal mind your initial fleshly way of thinking with the spirit the way that seems right in god's eyes the things that are holy the things that are just and pure that's what the word of god does it separates your flesh from the things of god and so when we read the word of God, it's actually going to cut. It filets our heart. When you fillet a fish,

you rip all the flesh off the bones. In the same way, when we read the word of God, it's going to rip the flesh out of us. And it's going to align our values and align our motives with the pureness of God and who he is and his character. That's the importance of reading the word of God. When we read the word of God, it strips away the fleshliness of our life and actually invites the Holy Spirit in everything that we're doing. Because let's be honest. like our motives aren't always pure. Our motives are prideful. We care and selfish.

We care more about us than we do other people. We care more about what we can get. And sometimes like we view God transactional. Like God, give me, give me, give me, do this for me. I'm going to treat God like a genie, but God's not a genie. He's a good father and a friend. And we want to listen to him, not because we have to, but because we want to. And John 1, when the word is capitalized right there, it represents the Bible,

but it represents Jesus. That means that Jesus doesn't just tell us how to live. He shows us how to live it. He came on earth in human form being fully God and fully man and lived a perfect life and showed us how to live it. So when we read the Word of God, there's incentive here and like encouragement to read the word of God because it's not God being a mindless dictator trying to control us how to live.

It's God saying, hey, listen, I'm going to show you how to live. Jesus humbled himself and became a servant to show us how to serve and love others. Jesus humbled himself to show us how to love our enemies instead of just telling us how to love our enemies. And Jesus even prioritized solitude alone time with God more than he did running to people. Yes, Jesus wanted to meet people where they were at, but there are more instances in the Bible where Jesus is actually running away from the crowd to meet with God in secret than he is actually running to the crowd to get attention from them. So when we read the Word of God and we see in John 1 where it says the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. we can understand that Jesus Christ is the Word of God exemplified in human form. And that through Him, if we keep our eyes on Him, we can become more like Him and become more like the Word of God.

And Second Timothy says, all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. A lot of people got the appearance of righteousness right now, but they don't actually walk in it. And when we read the Word of God, it actually allows us to take footsteps into the path of righteousness. The path is narrow, but it's profitable, which means there is value to the Word of God for teaching, for instructing other people how to live their life holy, for reproof and correction, for correcting our lives. When we're steering off the path and we read the Word of God, it's the good shepherd tapping his staff on us, pointing us on the right path. It's Jesus saying, hey, hey friend, this. This isn't good for your heart. You shouldn't be doing this.

For correction and for training in righteousness. For being trained in the way of the righteous is by reading the word of God. It's powerful. I want to flip to Romans really quick. There's two scriptures in Romans I want to get to before we get to some practicals. I think a lot of people ask, how do I get away from sin? How do I stop sinning? Well, two pieces of advice here would be, first thing would be not to focus on stop sinning.

Because if you're trying to not sin, then it's all about what you can do without Jesus. But if you focus on him, it's what he did for you and the payment of the cross. And you're so focused on him, you're not even worried about all the temptations and sin around you. But Romans 12 says, in order to not be conformed to the world, in order to not give in to the desires of the flesh, you've got to be transformed by the renewal of your mind, changing the way you think. because every human being is born in a sin, our mind is dirty and we need to wash it with some cleaning. And there's no better cleaning device for our mind than the Word of God. The Word of God is so perfect.

There is no flaw in it and it is all breathed out by God. So everything that he says is in this word will transform our lives from living for ourselves to living for God. And a lot of people think either the Bible's not perfect or all. of these things, but when heaven and earth passes away, his word remains the same. And so many people will say, God's not speaking to me. God's not speaking to me, but they don't crack their Bible open. It's like you guys think God is quiet. Like there's this saying, there's this saying where it says the teacher is silent during the test. I don't believe that. I don't believe God goes silent during the test. I just think sometimes when tests come our way, we get insecure and don't know how to

handle things because we don't read the word of God and we don't turn into the word of God. But that's the purpose of Jesus. Jesus lived to the word, the word became flesh, and now, because we have the instruction manual here, when we go through trials, temptations, and hard times, we can turn to the word of God because it's his voice. Yes, we can hear his voice through his presence. But if we want immediate access to him, we can just flip open the Bible and hear what he asked to say. And Romans 10, 17 says faith comes from hearing and hearing the word of God. Do you want to build faith in order to build faith? You need to hear the word of God because the word of God gets written on the tablet of our heart, whether we read it verse by verse and we

remember every single word that we're reading or we're listening to the audio Bible and we might say, oh, I can't exactly remember every word that's being said to me right now in my brain, but my hearts remembering it because it's being written on my heart. And in order to build that faith and be encouraged in the faith, we read the Word of God and hear it, listen to it. There's power in it. I'm not going to lie, haven't been to the gym in a minute. But when I was going to the gym consistently, I would only listen to the audio Bible. And the first few weeks I was doing it, I was like, man, like, I don't even know if I should do this. Like, I'm not even remembering anything. I feel like. I was like, in my brain, I feel like I'm not remembering it because I'm working out and I'm so focused

on the weight that I'm pushing that I feel like I'm not remembering it in my brain. But it's not about just the brain remember. It's about writing it on your heart because out of our mouth and our actions comes the overflow of our heart. Our eyes and our ears are the windows to our soul. So whether we remember it in our brain, if we're listening to it, it's being written on the tablet of our heart and it will naturally manifest through our life because that's what we're consuming.

We're consuming spiritual goodness. That's the power and weight of the word. of God. We need the Word of God in our lives. Now, how to read our Bible. I want to give you guys a few practical tips on how to read your Bible because a lot of people struggle to do this. People ask, where do I start? How do I read my Bible? Things like that. Okay. Here's my first, the number one piece of advice on how to read your Bible is inviting the Holy Spirit to teach you and guide you through Scripture. John 14, Jesus promises the Holy Spirit that he will teach us things and help us remember them. So if we partner with the Holy Spirit when we read the Word of God, then we're not so worried about remembering

it on our own. We're just worried about knowing him. And when we're worried about knowing him, the Holy Spirit does the work. Because when we surrender our heart to Jesus and put our faith and trust in Him, the Holy Spirit becomes the seal on our heart so that we know that we know where we end in eternity. Also, the Holy Spirit is there to guide us and teach us the Word of God. But we need to invite him into that. Invite the Holy Spirit into that. The second thing I would say, people always ask me, like,

Bryce, where do I start in the Bible? Where do I read? If you're looking to discipline yourself in areas of your life or trying to figure out where to start in the Bible, you can't go wrong with the Gospels. The gospel is the good news. It's what saved us. The gospel.

and my favorite book in the Gospels is the book of John. It is simple, it is powerful, and there is meat there that people can understand. John was a fisherman. Compared to Luke, who was a doctor, you can understand John easier than you probably could Luke. He just writes simply and straightforward. Read the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John is powerful. I always hope people to start there.

If I don't know where to read in my Bible, I go back to the Gospel of John because you can't go wrong with the Gospels. did you know that God has new mercies for us every day? Hypothetically, you could read the same passage every day for the rest of your life and God would have something new for you in it because there's new mercies from God every single day. And so when you think you know it all, you don't because God is infinite and he has new stuff for you every day, even if you read the same thing. So either start off with the Gospel of John or if you're trying to just get disciplined,

if you're trying to just start the track of reading your Bible, read a proverb a day. Today is the 25th. We're filming this on the 25th of July. So I read the 25th proverb today. Tomorrow I'll read the Proverbs 26 and Proverbs 27 the day after that. And reading a proverb a day, there's 31 Proverbs and most months have 31 days. So read a proverb a day.

It is powerful. And then if there's a month that only has 30 days, read 30 and 31 on the same day. You can read the book of Proverbs in the whole month. when you get to December, did you know that if you read a chapter of Luke every day, that you will have read the entire story of Jesus by Christmas Eve? Did you know that? Like there are so many different unique things. There's free Bible plans through the U version app.

We were doing a Bible plan earlier this year. Now our website is like done. Like there are ways and tools that we can use to help us. There's also resources out there that can actually encourage you in the Bible. One of my favorite resources that I've been using since I got saved. It's called Right Now Media. Shortly after I got saved, I went on a mission trip to Florida, to Pensacola, Florida. They had a hurricane come through and do a bunch of damage, and we were helping a local church there.

And Pastor Ken believed in me so much that he bought me. He still pays for my subscription to this day to Right Now Media. And Right Now Media actually has like sermons on there, and it's many different pastors and preachers that break down books of the Bible. like Francis Chan breaks down the entire book of Mark in 12 episodes and each episode is 10 minutes long. You can read it for yourself and then follow along and get the main points. It's so powerful. He does the book of Job. You got so many different pastors and preachers that do it.

It's powerful. There's tools out there that can help you. The Psalm says the word is a lamp to my feet and a light to our path. And if we really care about what Jesus says in our actions and in our lives, we will read the Word of God to allow it to guide us to. down the path to guide us in righteousness, to guide us in this lifetime and to live for him. The last thing I would say give advice for is read with someone. Something that I started to do.

You know the reality is I struggle to read my Bible. Every human being struggles to read their Bible. But I actually started waking up in the morning and calling with my mentor and reading the proverb today with my mentor just to get a taste of something. Because there's something about sin in the world that when we, get up, we don't want to read. It's like we always say, oh, I'll read my Bible later. I'll read my Bible later.

I'll read my Bible later. And then later never comes. And so I started reading a proverb a day with my mentor on FaceTime for the first 20, 30 minutes of my day. Just to get a taste of his goodness to start my morning off with Jesus. But for discipline, when you do things with people, it holds you accountable. When you go to the gym with a friend, it holds you accountable. When you do things when you fast with a friend, it holds you accountable. And so when you read the word with people where two or more are gathered, he is there and God is in it.

And it's going to hold you accountable to read your word. If you do it with someone, if you do it with a group of friends, whether you FaceTime someone. And there's something about the word of God that just brings unity. Like when we read the word of God, we realize that we're nothing without him. And we kind of humble ourselves by reading and say, man, I'm just nothing without him. And then your friend goes, yeah, I'm really nothing without him. And you kind of humble yourself and you say, man, we just need him. And we unify around the fact that Jesus Christ is Lord, that he's king and that he needs to be sitting on the throne of our heart because we need him and we can't do it on our own.

There's power in that. Guys, the word of God is important. And I just want to pray, I just want to pray for a fresh hunger for the word of God and for encouragement and the faith that you guys will be encouraged. go read your Bible, start a proverb a day, read with a friend, go read the gospel of John. And I pray that after this podcast ends, that you guys will go make time to go meet with God in secret because it's in a secret where we were rewarded. Actually, I'm going to read you guys before we go. Something from the proverb today, Proverbs 25, I just thought was really interesting. It says, it is the glory of God to conceal things, but

the glory of kings is to search things out. It's what Proverbs 252 says. I thought that was interesting. God doesn't hide things from us, but there's something about him concealing it because he loves the pursuit and the hungry heart. Did you know that a hungry heart for God draws you closer to him? So God doesn't hide knowledge from us, but he will conceal it for his glory because the glory of those who were hungry for him will search out the things of him. God loves pursuit of him because it shows hunger and hunger draws God near to us and it draws us near to him and it's powerful and I pray that after this podcast you will make time to seek out the things of heaven because the secrets of God are accessible to those who really want to know it Jesus I thank you for anyone watching and listening to this episode

God I just pray for a fresh hunger for the word of God God I just pray that you will give people encouragement and give people wisdom on how to read their Bible Holy Spirit will you just give people divine wisdom and an instruction on how to read their Bible and teach them the things of your word. God, thank you for a fresh hunger. Thank you for the word of God. God, will you just return us back to the love of your word over a love of feelings first, God? Thank you, Jesus for who you are. We love you and it's in your name.

We pray. Amen. Guys, thank you so much for watching and listening to this episode. If you like it, subscribe to us on YouTube, follow us on Spotify, Instagram. We love you guys so much. Guys, click the link in our bio if you prayerfully consider partnering with us financially continue mobilizing our mission on reaching half a million, half a billion, sorry, half a billion people with the gospel.

Love you guys. See you guys next time.