Summary:

It’s through being born again, reading the Bible, allowing the Holy Spirit to come along- side as our helper, and using the measure of faith that God has given, that we are able to grow, become mature in the Lord and find our significance in the Body of Christ. For most of us, it’s not being religious about reading the word, but it’s about enjoying what we are reading that makes us reach in for more.

Show Notes:

• Andy talks about the first book that he wrote, Reading Your Bible For All It’s Worth.

• Most people prefer to read books with shorter chapters so they can feel some sense of finality without having to read 25 to 35 pages to get there.

• Most of us really want to hear from God, and one of the key ways is through reading the Bible.

• To be able to understand the Bible, it’s very important that you be born again.

• The Holy Spirit is our teacher and starts to give us the mind of Christ, because the Spirit of God lives in us. He’s always there to help and comes along side of us.

• We all have been given the same measure of faith, the same measure of faith that Billy Graham has. It’s whatever you do with that faith that dictates whether it grows, or whether it lays there dormant. You have to use it or it has no effect in your life.

Quotes:

• God’s gifted all of us in certain ways. One of the ways God has gifted me is to take some pretty complex scriptural issues and make them really, really simple. So that’s what I’ve done in the book.

• So my book, Reading Your Bible For All It’s Worth, has no chapter more than three to four pages, so you can pick it up anywhere, thumb through it and find a tip that will help you.

• People are not going to read their Bible if they don’t enjoy it.

• If we are going to find our significance and find our place where we can function in the Kingdom of God, we have to get into the word until the word gets into us.

• When we get this awareness brought on by the Holy Spirit that we need to be born again, then it’s a simple matter of just receiving it.

• Most people have a spot in their life where they really felt like God drew them. No man comes to the Father, unless He draws him. It’s not our doing, it is the Father’s doing through Jesus with the help of the Spirit. All we have to do is just cooperate with the plan of God.

References:

Romans 12:3

Romans 10:17

Take Away:

“Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). It’s only by us enjoying God’s word and desiring to grow and become what it says, are we going to mature and find our place to function in the Body of Christ.