Every morning, I find myself sipping coffee and uncovering the wisdom nestled within the pages of ancient scripture. Our latest episode delves into the transformational impact of weaving spiritual discipline, specifically daily Bible reading, into your routine. Dr. Posey and I share our personal journeys through the verses of both the Old and New Testaments, and we discuss the rich tapestry of translations available, from the poetic King James to the accessible NIV and the conversational Message. Discover how these sacred texts can speak to you in different voices and how incorporating them into your life can be as revitalizing as your morning brew.
Picture a group gathered early in the dawn, breaking bread and sharing insights gleaned from the Holy Book – this is where we find the collective joy of scripture. We unpack the nuances of engaging with the Bible both in solitude and in the camaraderie of study groups, such as the men's breakfast Dr. Posey attended. The art of annotating and marking your Bible becomes a testament to your spiritual voyage, and we navigate the initial challenges of making this practice a treasured facet of your day. Whether you're a seasoned reader or opening the Good Book for the first time, this episode provides guidance for every step of the way.
Through the lens of Dr,. Posey's trials in triathlon training, we draw parallels between athletic discipline and spiritual development, recognizing the incremental steps that lead to profound change. Richard Foster's "Celebration of Discipline" offers a framework for understanding these practices' vital role in shaping our inner and outer lives. In sharing the evolution of spiritual disciplines from obligation to desire, I offer tips to ease into these life-shaping habits and the courage to embrace your unique spiritual path. Join us for a conversation that promises to embolden your faith and inspire transformation in your daily walk.
Every morning, I find myself sipping coffee and uncovering the wisdom nestled within the pages of ancient scripture. Our latest episode delves into the transformational impact of weaving spiritual discipline, specifically daily Bible reading, into your routine. Dr. Posey and I share our personal journeys through the verses of both the Old and New Testaments, and we discuss the rich tapestry of translations available, from the poetic King James to the accessible NIV and the conversational Message. Discover how these sacred texts can speak to you in different voices and how incorporating them into your life can be as revitalizing as your morning brew.
Picture a group gathered early in the dawn, breaking bread and sharing insights gleaned from the Holy Book – this is where we find the collective joy of scripture. We unpack the nuances of engaging with the Bible both in solitude and in the camaraderie of study groups, such as the men's breakfast Dr. Posey attended. The art of annotating and marking your Bible becomes a testament to your spiritual voyage, and we navigate the initial challenges of making this practice a treasured facet of your day. Whether you're a seasoned reader or opening the Good Book for the first time, this episode provides guidance for every step of the way.
Through the lens of Dr,. Posey's trials in triathlon training, we draw parallels between athletic discipline and spiritual development, recognizing the incremental steps that lead to profound change. Richard Foster's "Celebration of Discipline" offers a framework for understanding these practices' vital role in shaping our inner and outer lives. In sharing the evolution of spiritual disciplines from obligation to desire, I offer tips to ease into these life-shaping habits and the courage to embrace your unique spiritual path. Join us for a conversation that promises to embolden your faith and inspire transformation in your daily walk.
Speaker 1:
uh-huh, now, yeah, uh-huh, yeah, yeah, come on, come on, welcome. Oh, you got it, go ahead welcome, welcome, welcome, tim.
Speaker 2:
How you doing, brother wonderful.
Speaker 1:
I was just telling dr posey that I was sort of tired today and he's like I got it, I got it, let's do it, let's got it, you just need coffee. Yeah, I had tons it. Let's got it, you just need coffee. Yeah, I had tons of coffee already this morning.
Speaker 2:
Just hasn't kicked in.
Speaker 1:
No, no, just got back from travel. I'm off on time zones and lack of sleep last night.
Speaker 2:
But you were with your family, I was. It was good. That's awesome.
Speaker 1:
But we're here, we're in studio, we're kicking this thing.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, exactly right. So we're doing good, we're going to have a great time. We're talking about spiritual discipline today.
Speaker 1:
Spiritual discipline right.
Speaker 2:
Yes, spiritual discipline Great topic. It's been around for a couple thousand years, so it's a great topic.
Speaker 1:
It's been around a year or two.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it's been around, so we're going to focus on that. But we're talking about coffee. Sometimes we need coffee, yeah.
Speaker 1:
I know right, Exactly.
Speaker 2:
You know, probably the number one spiritual discipline that helps consistently people grow in their faith more than any other is reading their Bible every day. That has been proven time and time again. So blending that with coffee. You know, sometimes our life is so busy our schedule is busy. You know, coming here to the studio this morning the traffic was crazy and people are going to work and some people, you know, they might work four tens. It's hard to, you know, read that during the day you might have to maybe get up 30 minutes early. Well, make yourself some coffee, but it's simple discipline to start out, and I'm going to read something that just came out this morning.
Speaker 1:
And it's just one of those things that came out. And you know, even on Audible now they have like the Holy Bible you know that you can listen every morning. So I mean, if you're not a big reader, sit down there and drink your coffee, put your headphones in and make it happen.
Speaker 2:
Yes, and so my practice for years. Unless we're doing like a read through the Bible in 90 days or read through the Bible in a year, which is like five chapters a day. I read this morning one chapter in the Old Testament, one chapter in the New Testament and I just keep track of that. I write down what I read and used to journal a lot. I don't journal too much, hardly at all anymore.
Speaker 1:
Let me ask you the question on the Bibles. I mean, I know where our background is, but any Bibles that you recommend, what versions and all that stuff. I mean because there's been a lot of discussions. I've heard that over the years. Which Bible do you read, and are there big differences, little differences?
Speaker 2:
Let's educate some people Now the one that's been used the most by around the world for 400 years King James Version of the Bible. However, the King James Version is at a 12th grade reading level. So if you're not, you know something that challenging in this old English. Sometimes that's hard, so maybe you want the new King James. That's a modern language, but I read the NIV version, which is about a 9th or 10th grade reading level. There's some that are even at 7th, 8th grade reading level. So really, find a Bible that you like. Now there's one that was coming out a couple years ago called the Message. It's not a literal translation but it's a fantastic version.
Speaker 2:
And if you don't have a Bible, or if you have a Bible that's got just dust on it and you haven't used it for a while, just go to the store, go to a Bible store, go somewhere and just leaf through the Bibles and find something that just sounds good, that you can read. And what I like to do and tell people is okay, open up the Bible to the beginning, the very beginning Genesis, chapter 1, and just read the first two chapters. Or open it up to Matthew, chapter 1, or John, chapter 1, and just read a couple of you know like a chapter. Does it flow with you, does it just fit you? And so that, to me, is the advice.
Speaker 2:
There are so many good versions of the Bible and then the question is do you want just a Bible for reading? Do you want one with study notes? There's some fantastic study Bibles out there and the scholarship is just phenomenal anymore. So somebody that has time might get a study Bible like the ESV Study Bible or NIV Study Bible. So while you're reading, there's lots of footnotes, there might be some introductions, like the Bible. I have the NIV Study Bible. It'll have two or three pages of introduction before each chapter or before each book, so you can get a little history behind that. The other thing I want to recommend a phenomenal podcast that some people might not know about. It's called the Bible Recap and it's based here in Dallas and yeah, Terri Lee.
Speaker 2:
Cobble, just phenomenal. Lady just felt called by God to you know, read the Bible and then do like an eight-minute podcast, and so she recaps what you read and you read through the Bible in a year, in a chronological order. If you never have read through the Bible, you can start any day. She has a Bible reading plan. She has an app. It's just incredible what God's doing through her and it's a great discipline to get into it's structured discipline to get into it's structured. She's a phenomenal teacher. She's funny, and so you can read the Bible and then you can listen to her recap in your car on the way to work and I've done that. My wife's done it a couple of times. We did the whole church did it. One year I preached through the Bible. So there's lots of resources out there if you want to get into Bible reading. But let's get back before we get into more of that, let's just talk about the whole topic of spiritual discipline.
Speaker 1:
Well, before we get into that, because I was sitting here, as I do when you talk, I go down rabbit holes and stuff, and he knows, because I'm over here looking at my phone, looking around, I can multitask. I'm a great multitasker so I listen to everything. But there's a couple of them that stood out because I was looking at Bibles on Audible and some of the audio books out there and we got one that James Earl Jones reads the Bible, the King James Version.
Speaker 2:
Oh, he's got a great voice.
Speaker 1:
And then this one sort of came up, Johnny Cash reading the complete New Testament.
Speaker 2:
Yes.
Speaker 1:
I did not know that.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so you've got some of that.
Speaker 1:
I was just sort of surprised when I saw it and just sort of shocked when I saw some of the ones that were out there.
Speaker 2:
And here is the let's just say the hesitancy because you could get in a hurry. I think part of the discipline of reading the Bible is doing it either by yourself or with a group, but your focus is on the Bible. Like this morning church we go to there's a men's Bible study breakfast, and so guys get there at 6 a men's Bible study breakfast, and so guys get there at 6.30, they make breakfast. I get there and other guys get there at 7.30. We eat breakfast, which is always great, and then we go through the Bible. This morning we went through some chapters in 1 Chronicles and we're just reading the Bible and talking about it. It is really good.
Speaker 2:
Here's the thing If you think the Audible is great and it is a great tool, but the whole point of reading the Bible is doing it and you're focused on the Bible. If you're listening to the Bible Audible while you're driving your car, then you can listen, but your focus is hopefully on driving, okay, and so you might not get everything that the Bible is saying, and so, yes, it's better than nothing, but the hope would be that you would have the discipline to maybe get up a little earlier and read the Bible and then maybe listen to it again on your way to work. So you're actually getting a double version, you know, and trying to get it again. But let's just go back to the whole word spiritual discipline.
Speaker 1:
Okay, no, I can't let you do that, because I got one more question for you. You ask.
Speaker 2:
So here's the thing, here's the thing.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and this is another question, and I love it because I have you all to myself and I can ask you these questions, but I have a lot of people that Wait, wait.
Speaker 2:
Someone's coming into the studio right now. Come on in here.
Speaker 1:
I get one-on-one biblical lessons from Dr Posey. I see people all the time.
Speaker 2:
They lessons from.
Speaker 1:
Dr Posey, I see people all the time they mark in their Bible, they highlight the thing and everything. But then I know a lot of people that are like I can't write in that Bible right, and it's very weird. I don't know if you see all this from your thing, but I get that all the time. I'm like because I see people, man, they've got notes and this and that those pages are all wore out. There's so much ink on there and I think it's great. You know mine's pretty clean, you know because I read it and I don't mark on it.
Speaker 1:
But one of those things there's not any reason, you know, as far as that. It's just. I see people that really do a deep dive and I feel that they're probably doing a deeper dive than some of us are just reading through the verses, because they're going through underlining words, highlighting things. So any thoughts on that for the good people.
Speaker 2:
So I really was hesitant to write in my Bible before I was in college. It is a sacred book. It's the most read book, published book in entire human history. Nothing else even comes close. But I was hesitant to write in my Bible. But then during college, one of the sermons, the pastor was encouraging us if this verse speaks to you and you're learning something from it, then underline it and then write down either the date or what insight are you getting from the Scripture on that particular moment. So I started doing that and as I read through my Bible and I have a Bible that I use for my devotionals in the morning, as I read through it, there'll be dates there, there'll be comments on that I'm thinking, oh yeah, that's when this happened or this is when I had that insight about this particular issue. And for me it's a testimony of God's faithfulness, because as I read through the Scripture and okay, so you've read through the Bible once I'd say just keep reading, reading, because you're at a different point in your life.
Speaker 2:
You have different things going on in your life, excuse me, and there might be the same exact scripture, because you're at a different point in your life now, will say something different to you now than it did five years ago when you read it before. So I encourage people to just never stop reading the Bible. There's always something new that's going to happen and I always pray before I read. God, open my eyes and my heart so that I can hear what you're saying to me today. I believe it's God's message to us, his love letter to humankind, and so he's always wanting us to learn more about him and his son Jesus, as we read through the scripture. So I would just say, however, that works for you, find a way that works for you and make that happen.
Speaker 1:
And I think that's great advice, because I mean, so many times you read a book and you read it again and again from corporate leadership, the Bible, all that and it just depends on where you're at at the time, and I've never heard the put a date on there. I think that's a brilliant, brilliant idea.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so you can just put a date like whatever date that was or you know, whatever, but when you put the date down, write down what happened on that day so that you can you know it could be a kid's birthday, it could be you know something special and just write it down. So when you read that again you'll think oh yeah, this is when this happened, yeah. All right, one more question before we get to this, before we actually get to the topic. Before we actually get to the topic. This is great.
Speaker 1:
I know this is good, because I mean, if read through what those verses mean, or just pick up the Bible and reading it and then interpret it the way they are supposed to.
Speaker 2:
I would say, if you're just reading the Bible for the first time, you might not want to get a study Bible and you might, but that's your personal choice. A study Bible is thicker, it's obviously heavier because there's lots of notes On some pages there's more notes than Scripture and it just might be overwhelming. So if you just want to read, to read, which is a great book then I would just say go find a Bible that's not a study Bible and read it. And then if you read it, maybe the second time through you'll say oh, I want to learn more about this and you can get a study Bible. There's so many tools out there books that you can get at the Bible bookstore or something like that that will help you understand Bible study things so much online that you know resources.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, you can get daily verses. Yeah, you can get daily verses. You can get everything emails and all that stuff.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, you can, and there's so many tools out there for that. The question is are we going to discipline ourself to do it? And so I would say don't overwhelm yourself. Get a Bible that's not a study Bible, just a simple Bible, and get in the practice of reading. Once you've got the practice down, then you can get something that has a little bit more content in it, and it's also a matter of time. So if you're going to get a study Bible and read the study notes, then it's like, okay, that's going to take more time than just reading the Bible. So you really have to think, okay, do I have time to do this, do I want to do that? And I always think it's good to get to a study Bible because you can learn so much more about the historical, the archaeological issues, those kind of stuff that support the Scripture.
Speaker 1:
That's awesome, yeah, oh, great great discussion here. I like it, so let me just so what are we talking about today?
Speaker 2:
Well, we're going to talk about this one, but I just want to read something that literally just came out today from Christianity Report and this is from the United Kingdom, okay, and this just came out this morning. So it says Revival of Faith Among Generation Z a Growing Spiritual Awakening. A recent study indicates a resurgence of faith and spiritual inquiry among Generation Z, conducted by the Institute for the Impact of Faith in Life. The research reveals that young adults age 18 to 24 in the United Kingdom display higher levels of religiosity I had a hard time saying that and spiritual engagement compared to older generations.
Speaker 1:
Listen to this.
Speaker 2:
Say it three times Older generations Listen to this. A significant 72% of respondents in this age group reported that their faith helps them find purpose in life, a stark contrast to 47% among those over 65. I thought, wow, that is phenomenal news. And also because it says it helps them find purpose in life, and I think that's one of the biggest questions that people have what's my purpose? Why am I on this planet? Why am I breathing? And I think spiritual disciplines in fact, I know spiritual disciplines are a way to help you process that, to find out, first of all, that there is a God, a loving God, who created you for a purpose, and one of those purposes is to love him back and to find out about that love through his son Jesus. And so the question is let's get to the topic spiritual discipline.
Speaker 2:
And so let's just erase, let's just take the first word and just set it aside for a while, okay, and just talk about discipline. Sometimes we think discipline is a negative term, and it could be if we think about it that way. But it can actually be a positive term. Let's say, for example let's take anything other than spirituality, let's just take a sport. We want to get better at a sport, so we're going to raise that in our priorities. We have a list of things to do. It might be number one or two on our list of things to do. We're going to go out and practice shooting hoops and we're going to do that for an hour a day. Or we want to be a better swimmer. We're going to be in the pool more often. We want to be a better piano player. We're going to be at the keyboard. We're going to be a better chef. We're going to be in the kitchen more. So we're going to exchange one thing of sitting on the couch or reading or watching TV for time in the gym, or time on the golf course, or time on the tennis court or time in the kitchen. We're going to discipline ourself so that we can get better at one thing and we're exchanging one thing for another. So we're exchanging time on the couch, or we're exchanging sleep, or we're exchanging something to discipline ourself, to get better at a topic. That's how I look at spiritual disciplines.
Speaker 2:
For some reason, sometimes when we talk about spiritual disciplines it's a negative term. Now, if we think about sporting disciplines, you know we want to get better at skeet shooting Well, we're going to prioritize that so that. Want to get better at skeet shooting? Well, we're going to prioritize that so that we can get better at it. So the same concept is true with spiritual disciplines. Now, if that word is hard for you, your process, just think of spiritual practices. And so we're exchanging one thing that we have been doing for growing in our spiritual life, and so we're exchanging maybe 30 minutes of sleep in the morning for reading our Bible. We're exchanging leisure time on Saturday to go and serve at the community food bank pantry. We're exchanging maybe laying around in the house on Sunday morning to going to worship.
Speaker 2:
So we're asking ourselves how important is my faith and how important is growing in my faith? And am I going to elevate those things that help me grow in my faith to higher priority in my life? And so to me it's the same concept as anything else. The question is what priority does our spiritual life get in our life? And that's just a question for everybody to ask their own selves. For some it has no priority, for others it's a high priority. But let me just throw out that years ago, when I first started seminary, there was an incredible man by the name of Richard Foster who wrote a book called Celebration of Discipline. Now, these disciplines—he came up with 12 disciplines—they were not new to him, but it was a new way of writing about it, and it's a classic book. If you've never heard of Richard Foster or the book Celebration of the Discipline, I just encourage you to look that up. You can actually probably download it or get it on Google, I mean on Amazon or whatever.
Speaker 1:
Audible and I'm looking it up right now. Yeah, on Audible.
Speaker 2:
And he talks about three categories of disciplines. One is inward discipline, like meditation, prayer, fasting and study. One is an outward discipline simplicity, solitude, submission and service. And the other is a corporate discipline of confession, worship, guidance and celebration. So he goes into each one of those, the historical context of each of that, how to practice that in today's life, and it's hard to maybe do all of them. But the question is, if you start out with one, just start out with one, like study, just read the Bible.
Speaker 1:
Right.
Speaker 2:
Okay, now.
Speaker 1:
That goes a long ways right.
Speaker 2:
It goes a long way, and here's the thing, it's baby steps.
Speaker 1:
What I teach in corporate. You know if you want to make a habit change, you got to take baby steps. You don't go to the gym and try to work out for three hours every day. When you very first start back the next, you get your healthy eating right. You won't be there for another week. Exactly right, yeah.
Speaker 2:
Yeah. So you know, for the last year and a half or so I've been involved in the sport of triathlon, multi-sport. I just had a triathlon two days ago, on Sunday. It was phenomenal, my first open water swim triathlon. But that did not come overnight. You know I had to.
Speaker 1:
I have never been a good swimmer, so I just had to get in the pool and learn to get my stroke and then get on the bike and get back there, and he researched this a lot because we used to and you listen to the early shows, we talk about all the stuff that he went through on the swimming techniques and coaching and all kinds of stuff that you've done on that, because I'm more of a sinker than a swimmer, so we talked about that. I'm a slow swimmer, but it's practice over time.
Speaker 2:
So over the year and a half that I've been doing that, I was a little nervous getting in the open water for the first time in a triathlon, you know.
Speaker 1:
That's crazy, with all the people and no lines, and you know.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it's different than swimming in a pool, because you can't see the bottom and you can't see the lines and you can't see the end. I mean, you see a big buoy out there that you swim to and around and come back. But it was the discipline. I wanted to do better at that, so I had to make that more of a priority, and that's really what we're talking about. As far as spiritual disciplines is, how big a priority is it going to be in your life? And so let me just say this In the Bible, in the book of 1 John 5, verse 3, we read these words For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments and His commandments are not burdensome.
Speaker 2:
Now let's just take that same concept and put it towards spiritual disciplines. At the beginning of doing a spiritual discipline, like reading the Bible or prayer or something like that meditation, it might be a challenge and it's like I don't really want to do this, but I want to do it and you're a little conflicted. It might not be consistent every day and so don't beat yourself up, it's a big book.
Speaker 1:
It scares you, right? Yeah, it does it can.
Speaker 2:
If you've never done it or you've never done it by yourself or someone else, you've gone to church or something and you don't understand it and you sit down. I'd say, don't start with the book of Genesis, start with the New Testament. Okay, just start with the New Testament, because once you get past Genesis and Exodus and then you get to Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, you're going to get bogged down. A lot of people just stop reading and so that's why, like, the Bible recap really helps people get through that.
Speaker 2:
But the whole point is at the beginning it might be burdensome, it might be a challenge, it might be. I don't really want to do this, but yes, I need to do it and I want to do it. And as you grow into that discipline, then it's something you look forward to doing. It's not something that's a burden anymore, and I think that's really what God has desired for each of us is that we get into the disciplines and we want to do them. We don't feel that we have to do them, but we want to do them because we want to grow in our spiritual life. So that would be true with any sport, any other discipline.
Speaker 1:
Going to the gym, running. Going to the gym yes, you start seeing results, you get excited, you get excited and then you want to do it right, you want to do it and so sometimes the spiritual disciplines.
Speaker 2:
It takes longer to see results. But I just encourage people just keep after it. Just spend that five, 10 minutes a day at the beginning. Just get up 10 minutes early, 15 minutes early, get your coffee, make your coffee, sit down with your Bible, read a chapter in the Old Testament chapter or just read a chapter in the New Testament, get ready and go to work, listen to it on Audible on your way to work, and just get in the discipline, the habit of doing it every day and over time and I can't predict how long it'll be for you over time you'll think I really want to do this.
Speaker 2:
I'm really beginning to comprehend in my mind, in my spirit, that there is a God who loves me, who loves me right where I am, just the way I am, and has forgiven me and given me new life through His Son Jesus, and I want to learn more about that. I want to live that kind of life and to me that just takes time to get to that point and for some it's going to be a quick time and others are going to take a longer time. But the whole point is, like you said baby steps, one step at a time. One step at a time, and then you look back a year from now and you go wow, I've really learned a lot.
Speaker 2:
I've started getting involved in a church, or I'm in a Sunday school class, or I'm a home Bible study or I'm listening to this podcast now and I'm just really growing in my faith. I'm finding more purpose and meaning to my life. I'm less anger, I'm more forgiving now, I'm more patient with people and you see the fruit of that in your life.
Speaker 1:
And my hunch is other people are going to see it too, and that's a really good thing, yeah, and sometimes it catches on too, because people ask what are you doing, how are you doing. When you get into it and, as far as working out, what kind of routine are you?
Speaker 2:
doing what?
Speaker 1:
are you eating and all that. It's sort of a similar thing as it catches on.
Speaker 2:
Yeah. So let's just compare that to the gym, because you know, I go to the gym a couple of days a week to swim and I can look at these guys and these women who are phenomenal in bodybuilding I mean they're you know. That's like wow, that's not my goal, you know. My goal is to be a better triathlete. My goal is to not be Mr Universe or Mr Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Speaker 1:
By December. That's going to be me, that's going to be you. I'm training hard right now. We've got to update your picture on the website. Yeah, we should take it now. We should take it in December.
Speaker 2:
But the thing about it is that's not my goal, and so you don't want to compare yourself with others as far as your spiritual growth. You don't want to compare yourself with others as far as your working at the gym or anything like that. You don't want to compare yourself with others as far as your spiritual growth is because when we compare ourselves with others, we normally look at ourselves as the loser, as the one that doesn't do good, the one that doesn't measure up, and you don't know their story. They could have been doing this for 20 years.
Speaker 1:
Right, you know It'd be like me sitting down trying to have a biblical discussion, you know, and trying to outdo you you know, You've got 40 years plus on me, right, and I'm like, well, okay, I got him, you know and you don't want to do that. I mean you know and you don't want to do that. I mean you can't ever compare, you know, and when you're reading the verses, find something that resonates with you. Not everything's going to resonate with you that you read in the Bible and in any books you know corporate or whatever and just find that one thing that resonates and then key on that and do something with the information. How does it make you?
Speaker 2:
better. That is so true. And so the question is just start, yeah you know. And the best day to start, if you don't start today, the best day to start is tomorrow. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1:
Well, today or today, because tomorrow will be today. Yeah, exactly, and tomorrow never really comes. That's right In theory, right.
Speaker 2:
So just take that first step and just say I'm going to make that happen. Now it's like I can't do that before work because I have to get up at four. Okay, then, maybe on your lunch break you know, go into the break room, go into your car, something, get your Bible. I have my Bible on my phone. Yeah, you know, there's so many options now for doing that and you can just have your phone.
Speaker 1:
You can just sit there at your desk, read a chapter in the Bible, eat your sandwich, you know, and then go back to work and even if you're feeling weird, I know a lot of people and I know you grew up walking around with a Bible. There's a lot of people that feel weird having a Bible with them.
Speaker 1:
You know the questions it might have. That's the beautiful thing. We have it on our phones now. You have Audible. You have all this information available to you on your iPad, whatever you might do. So it's not you know, and I remember when I first started, you know reading the Bible, it's like you know, or carrying the Bible, just the church, right. I felt awkward that first time. You know carrying the Bible to church every time and you know, even though you're going to church, it still feels weird for some people. You know, and just you can do everything from this little phone here and it's. It's amazing how far we've come and and if, if, if, if you know discreteness or whatever you want to call it there, there's so much stuff that you can do.
Speaker 2:
It's just start do something with it Correct, and so one of the things I think is important is, if you want to grow in your spiritual life, reading the Bible is so important.
Speaker 2:
But, here's the thing it's important that you read the Bible, not that you go to church and have the pastor read the Bible to you and that might be the only time you hear the Bible. No, you want to read the Bible yourself and ask God what can I learn about you today as I read this passage? Teach me something about you today, and if you're open to that, if that's your filter as you read, you'll be amazed. And that's why I think it's important if you feel comfortable writing down those things that you learn in the Bible, so that as you learn them and then next time you read that particular chapter and verse, you'll be reminded of what you've learned, and it's just a great tool.
Speaker 1:
Man, I think that date thing is just pretty much awesome. So you know there's a lot of stuff that I'm working on right now. I told you before the show meditation. I used to meditate all the time. That's on my short list in the next week to really get back into where I used to be, maybe, and I think meditation is probably one of the biggest things to clear your mind and all that and read the Bible and there's a lot going on in the world right now a lot and we need to just be in prayer for other people.
Speaker 2:
And prayer is not just asking God to do stuff for me. That might be 10%. Maybe the first 90% is just thanking God for loving you and thank Him for His Word.
Speaker 1:
Gratitude.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, gratitude and pray for other people you know, your family, your friends, your co-workers, your neighbors. There's a lot of people that need prayer and then, at the end, pray for yourself. So that's it. So praying, reading the Bible and praying two good spiritual disciplines to start. There's a lot more to do if you want to like worship and corporate worship and those kind of things, but reading your Bible and prayer great place to start.
Speaker 1:
I like it.
Speaker 2:
All right?
Speaker 1:
Well, we're pushing in our time here. Dr Posey, and we went the whole show without any dad jokes, and I know that you're just jonesing over there.
Speaker 2:
I have so many dad jokes. You have so many dad jokes, but I just didn't feel comfortable having a dad joke when we're talking about the Bible. But I'm going to anyway.
Speaker 1:
It does throw little things off a little bit.
Speaker 2:
Yes, and so here it is. It's probably one that you've heard, and maybe some of our listeners have heard this, but here we go. Why do people who live in Greece hate waking up at dawn?
Speaker 1:
I know the correlation, I don't know the punchline.
Speaker 2:
Now, Because dawn is tough on.
Speaker 1:
Greece. There you go, there we go. I knew it was something around there. We're talking about dawn getting up reading your Bible, I understand.
Speaker 2:
So that's about as best as I can do today. What?
Speaker 1:
do you got? Let's see. Why don't oysters donate to the church?
Speaker 2:
Why don't oysters donate to the church? Yes, I don't know.
Speaker 1:
Because they're shellfish.
Speaker 2:
They're shellfish. Oh, that was a good one. I know I haven't pulled out a good one for weeks and weeks now Maybe this whole show.
Speaker 1:
I've had one, so I sort of like that one. It was pretty good.
Speaker 2:
That was really good. You got one more. No, all right, fair enough, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:
No, I don't have anything. We're going to move on today, not worth saying this is almost like a real show where we don't throw a bunch of dad jokes in. So hey, check us out Biblical Leadership Show. Send us some good dad jokes Please. Please, you know, we'll just keep going, you know and you know. Thank you for listening. Check us out, Send us your prayer requests, anything you might have, Biblicalleadershipshowcom and Dr. Posey, take us out with Make it a great day. Make it a great day. Thank you guys. Bye.
