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Welcome to the Monday Morning Men podcast. My name is Josh Swart. I'm here with Thomas Dillinger. The man with a plan, the man with the word this morning. Our goal with this podcast is to give men practical advice, scripture-based, for them to walk out their faith on a Monday morning. It's very easy for us to go to church on Sunday, hear a great message, and not have practical tools to walk out our faith and scripture uh during the week. And so our goal is to give you that. If you've got questions, prayer

The Problem: Christians Aren’t Reading Scripture

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requests, or want to hear about a certain topic, you can email us at info at mondaymorningmen.com. And with that, our topic today, which is quite honestly one of my favorites. It should be your favorite too. Right. But uh daily reading of scripture. Yeah. Um very important for our walk as men uh who love Jesus. Thomas, what do you got for us this morning?

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Yeah, if you if you heard that and you are reading the scriptures every single day, I applaud you. I commend you. This is super important. Um, this is uh vital, actually. Uh but before you just maybe pause this or or shut this off and you're like, while I'm doing that, uh, give us a chance because we'll talk about a couple of different things in here that hopefully encourage you, motivate you, or or even challenge you, even if you're doing those things. So just I I think Charles Spurgeon said it best. Nobody ever outgrows scripture. The book widens and deepens with our years. So just because you're doing these things, like let it challenge

Why Daily Bible Reading Is Essential

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you, maybe re-motivate you or kind of align yourself and some things that you need to grow in. Uh, but yeah, daily reading of scripture, this is a lost art in the Christian world. I mean, it's just not even a thing anymore. Um, it's mind-blowing. I'll never forget. I think it was Ray Comfort that did a he did like this, he was at a huge church um in Georgia, and he just stopped people coming out of the church and he interviewed them and said, Do you read the Bible every day? And unbelievable, but I don't think, if I remember correctly, I don't think a single person did.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

And it was just pouring out of the church. And we wonder why we're so easily, we have we lack discernment. We wonder why people are walking away from the faith, or we wonder why we're not growing. It's like this crazy. I'm like, well, if this is, I mean, scripture, Matthew 4, 4 says, man shall not live by bread alone, right? But every word that comes out of the mouth of God,

“Man Shall Not Live by Bread Alone”

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if we view the scriptures in that light, how are we not relying on it every single day? Yeah. You know, we've talked about a lot of different things. You know, we're coming off of humility or uh unity and humility. Even that, like you, you know, we had talked about what's a test for pride. Are you reading the scriptures? If you're not, that's a great way of saying, I don't need this, I've got it, right? That's another way you can view it. Yeah, the scripture reading is so important to our lives. And and we'll get into a little bit more, but it is absolutely vital to everything. And if you ask yourself, well, it's not directly a command. First of all, if you're looking to get out of reading daily scripture, we're also gonna have a conversation, but I don't know what you know, man shall not live by bread alone. I don't know how many days you're trying to go without eating. This is not a common or normal thing we should be doing.

Scripture as Your Guide (The Snow Path Analogy)

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Psalms one, two, and three, it says, Blessed, right, are those who delight in the law of the Lord and who meditate on his law day and night. This person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit and season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever they do prospers. If we are trying to walk as biblical Christian men Monday, Tuesday, throughout the week, and we're wanting to apply this, this is everything. This is our course correction. This is what teaches us everything we need to know. Yeah. I'm glad you're listening to podcasts like this, or I hope you're listening to other things that are edifying you. But if for whatever reason, if this even starts to creep in and overtake your daily reading of scripture, shut it off. There is nothing that's going to replace the word of God. It is, it is everything to us. I mean, ultimately remember this. It is, this is become the word became flesh, right? If Jesus is the way and the truth and the life, right? The word became flesh, John 1.1. This is something that we should be consuming all the time. Randy Alcorn says this the time I spend with God. So just, hey, I'm not reading scripture right now. I'm just kind of, I read my one verse on my Bible app every single day. And I'm not dissing that. You should read a verse. But if you're not daily, and it doesn't have to be an hour, like this is all relative, right? Yeah. But he says it's the time I spend with God determines both the direction and the quality of time I spend elsewhere. If you're not doing this, I bet you're replacing this time with something else. Scrolling, uh, media, whatever you're doing, I assure you, it's not as life-giving as this.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

The thing that we have to remember, too, if we genuinely believe what the scripture says that

The Word = Truth (Why It Matters)

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it is, is that we need this in every aspect of our life. It is scripture is our guide. It's our guide to everything. Uh, we recently had a phenomenal snowfall in the Greater Charlotte area. Super grateful for that. But there are, I have a bunch of sidewalks around my house. And so many sidewalks. I have so many sidewalks. It's a whole nother conversation. I have so many sidewalks. And uh who wants to spray round up in their flower beds or their paths? Not me. I'm just gonna concrete them. But I so we got like over a foot of snow. And it was funny because I watched my kids, even though they could walk anywhere and they're walking on top of snow, they tried to stay on the sidewalks. And I watched my kids walk on a path that they thought was the sidewalks. They, I mean, the sidewalks had been there forever. They have a general idea of where they are. I mean, they walk them every single day, right? So you may go to church on Sunday, you may have a general idea of scripture, you may have gone to Sunday school, I wanna, or whatever. You may read a verse here or there or listen to a YouTube, right? But I watched my kids and there were sometimes they were on the sidewalks, but I looked the other day and my kids were just walking right through the flower bed. Like they don't even think that they're, they think they're on the sidewalks. They're they're three feet off course. Yeah. If we realize that Psalms 105 says that the word is a lamp unto our feet to actually see where we're walking, then this idea that you think you're on the path, or I think I'm doing good, or these kinds, this will let you know. This will reflect exactly where you're at. Daily

Scripture Helps You Defeat Sin

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reading of scripture is so important. George Mueller, he's one of our favorites, right? He says the vigor of our spiritual life will be in exact proportion to the place held by the Bible in our life and thoughts. Not that just reading scripture, I'm talking about valuing it, right? The disposition, you'll hear me say that a lot because it's not just about doing, right? I've talked about it. We have to do it out of our love for Jesus, full humility. If our disposition of valuing this word is so much, it will result in a much more spiritual life.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Not only just reading, but it's in its application. Remember this. I just said this. We get asked a lot. I feel like I get asked a lot, or I see comments, especially if I've engaged or I'm witnessing or something. What is truth? This is a normal question. I've even heard Christians say that. What is truth? Something to remember. Truth is not an it, it's a person. It's the person of Jesus Christ. I am the way and the truth and the life. And if we remember again that I mentioned before, John 1-1 and the word became flesh, you want to know the truth and a world that is hungry for the truth. We want to know everything about everybody. We want to know what's happening. We're all conspiracy theorists, we're all in a rabbit hole on YouTube or Twitter or whatever it is. But if we want to know the absolute truth, it is found in scripture. The word became flesh. Another thought that just to have, especially if you're struggling and you're listening to this and maybe you're struggling with some sin, it provides victory in our walk with the Lord. If we're wanting to grow and we're wanting to walk just as Jesus walked, we got to get rid of some sin, right? First John uh two says this I write to you, young men, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. How much of this does it abide in you? This is convicting for

Why You Don’t Know the Word (Consumption Problem)

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me. I may read it, but how much do I does it abide in me, right? Jesus, when tempted with Satan, actually quoted scripture back to him.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

Now, granted, he's the living, walking scripture. But but there's something beautiful about that moment. I always tell people the most spiritual men I know, the men that I want to emulate, the scripture that flows off. And I'm talking, they know it. Like I've got to up my memory game a lot. Yeah. But they it just flows from who they are. You ask them something and they reference it and they give it to you. Those are the men that I want to be like. That's what I want. When we talk about Monday morning men, I pray that all of us, the scripture just flows out of us in every single conversation. We can't wait to talk about it. I wouldn't forget, uh, I had this epiphany. I struggle with memorization. Everybody does, probably a little bit because of our quick dopamine shots that we're taking all the time and all the all the stuff that's going around with us. But I'll never forget. I remember my brothers and I were huge hockey fans and we were talking about it. And I can like recall stats or uh I recall a play that happened, or I remember a game. Why? Because I consume that content.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

And I always find that if you ever find a guy and you bring up one thing, there's always something they're passionate about, you know, if it's politics or their sports team or hunting or whatever it is. And it's like they can talk about it for hours. They can. It's because it's it's a passion of theirs. What if this became our passion? If the moment, like, I can't wait to talk to you about scripture. Like this is that important to me. I mean, think about how beautiful that would be, especially as men walking. I mean, this would change everything. Um, so I've got a couple applications. Today's not a super long one podcast because I'll ultimately I shouldn't have to prove to you why this

How to Start Reading Daily (Practical Tips)

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is important, right? This is something I think you have the idea, and we can discuss, have some dialogue here in a second. But a couple things before we wrap up that you can apply right now. Let's say you're not currently reading it, right? Okay, you've been convicted. I need to read the scriptures. It's absolutely vital, it's found in scripture. Couple of ideas. Um, one of my buddies always says that his dad made him read it before he ate. He's like, if you're good before you feed your physical body, feed your spiritual body. So if you're like, I'm struggling to do it, nothing will motivate you faster than food. So I'm like, if you're like, even if you're not a breakfast guy for whatever reason, you're like, I'm not gonna eat lunch before I read it, I'm gonna feed my soul. This is a real practical way. Another way I I love reading, uh, some people have hot takes, like you should only read. I think listening to it, even if you're listening to it in your car, I mean, you're talking about scripture, it's living, it's active and breathing. To be quite frank with you, that's how it was transferred back in the old testament. For thousands of years. Most people weren't writing or reading it. It was actually only, you know, they had to, it was all audible. So for you to listen to it, that I'm I'm a pro or uh, you know, pro for that. So listen to it. Just get it in you. It doesn't have to be crazy, you don't have to have this crazy revelation just to initially start, right? It's whatever that quote says, you know, duty leads to discipline, which leads to delight. Maybe you're you realize you have a Christian duty to listen to to read this, set the discipline, and then eventually it'll start to like to the point where you're like, I need this in everything. Um, but maybe you're listening to this and you're like, hey, it's all good. I don't disagree with you. Um, but I'm already reading every single day. Again, I applaud you. That excites me, that gives me some hope. Uh, a couple of challenges, then, right? Like we're trying to stretch ourselves and grow. Memorize it. Like, start with scripture memory. Like, I'm I I've actually convicted my wife does a phenomenal job with it. She makes our kids memorize every day. And my mom did too growing up. And there's a lot of even scripture references I remember now, not from my current reading, but just memorization as a teenager, that I wish that I was able to do a lot more. And and so challenge

Next Level: Memorization & Going Deeper

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yourself to do that. Consume that content just as like to just make you feel bad for a second, if I can. We're reading this book as a family called 10 P's in a pot. It's an absolutely phenomenal book. And this uh dad, and I'm I'm I'm not condoning necessarily all this, but I it's amazing. He would take his kids, and I think it was local bars he would even go into, and he would take his like older son, and they would read scripture every day as a family multiple times, and they had most of the scripture memor memorized. And this was back in the 60s, and they wouldn't even know, like, like one time they couldn't read their Bibles because it was just everybody would get nauseous and they couldn't read it. So the entire family would quote Psalms one through eight, chapters one through eight, and they just did it. Then they quoted chapters one through nine in Romans just to give them their daily bread because it was on their. I mean, that's a bar that I pray to God I could just even sniff. Yeah, but this is what we should be trying to achieve is memorization. And so he would take his son there and they would witness, and these guys would play a bar game where they would open up the scriptures, all these drunks, and they would find a verse, start it, and see if he could finish it, any of them in the New Testament. And he could. Wow, right? And then they would give the gospel. Wait, what a great opportunity. You don't have to go do that, but I am saying memorization is a beautiful and amazing thing. And then this don't just read it, but search out the truth, right? This is not something you can just simply read and go, I'm just gonna, you know, blaze through it, check off the box. Denzel Washington reads the Bible three times a year. And as far as I know, the man's unsaved, right? There are lots of men. Tim Allen is reading the Bible right now, unsaved. Lord willing, they'll both come to Jesus. But the reality is you can read this as a scientific book or just a great piece of literature. That's not the goal. Find something that you've even had questions about and answer it.

SPEAKER_00 14:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

Or things that you want to be able to explain. Approach this as a conversation with God, but make your scripture reading a lot more deeper than it currently is if you're already reading it. And you can do some things. Here's a final thought from Jim Elliott. Uh yeah, I think this is gonna be my thing where I just quote somebody else that's a lot smarter than me. Jim Elliott obviously gave his life on the mission field, but this is what he said, and this, I mean, this is a butt kicker. Those whimpering stateside young people will wake up on the day of judgment, condemned to worse fate than those demon-fearing Indians, because having a Bible, they were bored with it. While these never have heard of such a thing as this writing. Imagine that. We're bored with it. I mean, think about those are some intense words. May we never be bored with the word of God. And we just hunger and we thirst for righteousness and we get into it every single day.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Yeah, it's good stuff. Memorizing scripture is definitely one of those things that's undervalued.

SPEAKER_01 15:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:41

And there's so many times in my life that I can think back where having a thought of a verse has really shifted my perspective on an issue, whether it be dealing with fear and anxiety or something that is going on, like going back to that and being able to recount on specific verses has totally changed my perspective in that situation. So it's if if you're really struggling with uh you know fear, depression, uh, anxiety, or uh something in your life that you feel like there's a roadblock, like memorizing scripture about that specific issue and then constantly reminding yourself what does God's word say about that thing will completely change the way that you view it.

SPEAKER_01 16:24

That's good.

SPEAKER_00 16:24

Yeah. I have no thoughts. I just agree. Awesome. Well, good stuff. I mean, this is this is something that everybody should be doing. Everybody, everybody, everybody right now, guys. No excuses. None. Yeah, none. Um, and it doesn't have to be perfect, but you don't have to be the one who's like Philippians 4, 6 through 7. You know, even if it's you know, uh we do want to strive for that, but even if you can recount and you can uh remember certain aspects of scripture and it points you back towards the word to to dive into it more, like that's a great starting point.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

Don't be overwhelmed. Yeah, just start. View this as life, right? Like you don't have to read for an hour. Uh get on a Bible reading plan is a great way to do certain things. There's tons of them on apps. That's also a great way you can do things. But yeah, just start. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

And and it's so intimidating too because it's such a big book. It is a big book, but like think five years, ten years down the road when you've spent a decade of your life like washing yourself with the water of the word every morning. Yeah. Like it will stick in. It will stick in. More than time spent scrolling on your phone or whatever it is that is your vice. Like, this book is so good.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

Amen. It's the best. All right. With that, we'll close out. Thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. If you think somebody would be blessed by this podcast, please share it to somebody who you know who does not read the word. Every time we say that, it's it's a little convicting.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

Really smart with your sharing.

SPEAKER_00 17:57

Yeah, be smart with your sharing. But, anyways, uh, if you got, like I said before, if you got a prayer request, have a topic that you want us to cover, or if you got questions, email us at infotmondaymorningmen.com, and we will see you next week.