How I Study The Bible

One is, I'm going to quote, I'm going to start by quoting my daughter Dede. And I'm not sure where she got it from, so I'm going to give her credit for it until she tells me otherwise. The Bible can never say what it's never said and it can never mean what it's never meant. It's not my job to use the Bible to prove my point. Right, that's, that's never a good idea. That's called, I think it's called eisegesis. And what we want is, we want exegesis, we want to get the word, we want to get knowledge from the scripture. We don't want to bring our knowledge to the Scripture. And so the scripture Bible tells us in first Timothy, it says, study to show yourself approved unto God. A workman that needeth not be ashamed. Rightly dividing the word of truth. So I have to rightly divide the word of truth. I have to divide it rightfully. So that's one thing that's really important. And a part of that is the not having an agenda. Like if you study with an agenda, I'm sure, you know, you could, you could open up your Bible and prove anything. You know, I could, I could, I could take my, I could take my Bible and have the random. I'm going to let the Spirit lead me. Methodology, right? And I open up the Bible and I just, it says, okay, I'll go right here. Oh, Judas went and hanged himself. Right? Well that can't be what God wants me to know today. Find something else. Oh, go thou and do likewise. No, this is not good. This is not good. Right? I'll find something else. What thou doest do quickly. That is not an effective method of Bible study. And unfortunately most Christians, most followers of Christ, most God fearing people don't read the Bible for themselves. They get all of the Bible they get when they go to church on Sunday or maybe when they go to synagogue on Saturday or wherever they're going, they're getting their Bible knowledge from another human being. Like, I don't want to be the person you get the Bible from. Like I want to inspire you to want to go study and find these amazing principles in scripture for yourself. And so when I first came to Christ when I was 16 years old, those same numbers are in my age right now, except they're in reverse order. I'm no longer 16, I'm 61. And I started reading the Bible. Then a friend of mine, Stan Harris, who was in high school with me, he Led me to Christ. And shortly after that he said, you need to start reading the Bible. Well, you have to understand I was horrified and I wasn't horrified by the Bible, I was horrified by reading. I was 16 years old. I had never read a book before in my life. And now the first book I'm going to read is this big thick book, right? Two columns, no pictures. This is not a comic book, right? And so I was not, I didn't think I was ready, but when I started reading it and by the way, I prefer in the English language the King James Bible.

And I'm not going to go into why, just I prefer it. I'm not fully persuaded that the NIV is even a Bible. I'm going to say that. So I'm not going to go into why right now. Maybe I'll do something on that at another time. I think there are other versions that are acceptable. But we have to all understand when we're studying the Bible, English or Spanish or Portuguese or whatever the language, French, all translation is commentary. And what I mean by that is in some languages in which the Bible was initially written, in the languages in which the Bible was initially written, there are some words that there is no modern day equivalent to. So that's why it's so important to study, study the Bible and not just read it. So if we're going to talk about studying the Bible, the first thing I'm going to say is you should read the Bible. And the reason you should read the Bible so you can become familiar with it. Like you can become familiar, you can know Abraham from Absalom, right? You can know, you should know like Solomon from Simon. And so the objective first of all is read it to become familiar with it. Now if you're reading it, you should have to understand that the Bible is a library. It is a collection of 66 different books, right? So as a collection of 66 different books, but they all relate to each other and they were written over a period of 4,000 years and by, I don't even remember how many different author, like human authors and, and yet they all tell the same story from a different perspective. They all tell the same truths, the same principles. And some people say, well, how can you believe that the Bible was written by God if it was actually written by man? Because it tells us in First Peter, it says no scriptures of any private interpretation. But holy men of God.

Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. So the Bible teaches that God inspired man to write the Bible. And I believe that. And I don't believe it just because that's what I learned. I believe it because I have been putting this book to the Test for whatever 61 minus 16 is for that many years. And I've never found it to come up wanting. And so first thing I'm going to say is read the Bible and I'm going to give you some basic foundational rules. Read the Bible. You have to understand the Bible is not written in chronological order unless you have a Rhys chronological Bible. So one of the professors at Bible College that I went to for a while, he worked on this project for over 20 years to take every verse in the Bible and put it in chronological order. So you'll find verses from Job in the book of Genesis. For instance, you'll find verses from Ephesians in the book of Acts. Right? Because it shows you where these stories. So if you want to, if you want to understand the chronology of the Bible and, and you know, the different captivity, different seasons of captivity that the children of Israel were in, and you want to see the unfolding of the New Testament in chronological order, like the Rhys chronological Bible is a really good Bible for you to do that. I'm going to show you what it looks like on my screen here. That's what it looks like. Okay. That's the Rhys chronological Bible. Okay? That is the Bible that is in chronological order. So if you want to study things and in chronological order, that's a good, that's a good place to do. That's a good resource. Okay? So read the Bible. Second thing I'm going to say is this, and we're going to get into the study part in a minute. The second thing I'm going to say is this. Memorize Bible verses. I like to memorize Bible verses categorically. What do I mean categorically versus on prayer. For instance, Jeremiah 33, 3 Call unto me and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not. Right? So that's Jeremiah 33,3. So I would memorize that verse. I might memorize.

A verse like Matthew. I think it's six.

Matthew. I don't remember the exact passage, but it says, after this manner, therefore pray. After this manner, when you pray, don't pray as the scribes and don't pray as the Pharisees, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. But after this manner, therefore, pray ye. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thou of people mistakenly think that's the Lord's Prayer. But it's not the Lord's Prayer. It's the model prayer. He said, after this manner, therefore, pray ye. Right? And so memorize verses categorically. If I want to memorize verses in the Bible about the Bible, I might memorize Joshua 1:8, right? Or I want to memorize a verse about success, right? I'm a business owner. I want to be successful. What verse do I memorize? Well, I might memorize a verse like Psalms, Chapter one. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And his law doth he meditate day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of waters that bringeth forth his fruit in the season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Okay, so I might memorize that. I might memorize Joshua, chapter 1, verse 8. This book of the law shall not depart from out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate there in day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then shalt thou make. Thou shalt make the way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Or I might memorize a verse like Isaiah, chapter 55, verses 10 through 12, where it says, as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and it watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth in bud, that it may give bread to the eater, and seed to the sower, and bread to the eater. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, and it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it. So I memorize verses categorically. So I'm going to say, read the Bible. I'm going to say, memorize the Bible. And then we're going to get into what I believe is one of the most important things you can do, and that is study the Bible. What does it mean to study the Bible? Well, it means you read verses and you look up verses. For instance, like Ephesians, chapter 5, verse number 16. I'm sure some of you are familiar with it. It says, redeeming the time because the days are evil. I think that's Ephesians 5:16. Okay. Redeeming the time because the days are evil. Hmm. Okay. So I might. I might read that and think I know what it means. Until I go into. Now this is what we used to have to do. When I first came to Christ. We used to have to use this book called the Strong's Concordance. Okay, I'm gonna show you what that looks like.

That's what. This is the Strong's Concordance, the Strong's exhaustive concordance of the Bible. So you can see. You can see that this book is really thick, right? It's really thick. And it's got three columns inside. You can see on the show on the screen again, Larry, the whiteboard. Okay. On the right side.

On the right side, you can see that it's got all these different words. I'm gonna put my glasses on so I can see what even. They. What those even say. So it says, like, it'll. It'll give me verses from Colossians, whatever. Let's say I want to look up the word throne. So if I want to look up the word redeem, I. I'm going to go into the Strong's Concordance. This is what I used to have to. I don't have to do this anymore, and neither do you. I'm showing you this so you can know how much work it used to take for just to look up one word, right? So I look up the word redeem. R comes before S. So I look up the word redeem. Get back here to R, E, R, E, E. We're getting close. We're getting closer. Redeem. Okay. R, E, D. There it is. Redeemed. Okay, so at the top of this page, Redeemed. Redeemed. Redeemed. Redeemed. That word is a bunch of times in here.

Oh, it's at the top of this page over here. Okay. Redeem. Redeem. Redeemed. Redeemed. And Ephesians. I'm going to go down to Ephesians.

Redeeming. It's not redeemed. It's redeeming. Okay, redeeming. Ephesians 5, 16. And so I go to Ephesians 5, 16. There's. And it says redeeming. Redeeming the time because the days are evil. And then it says 1805. So now I've got to go to the back of the Strong's Concordance. So I looked at that page. It looked like that. Then I got to go to the back of the strongest concordance. And I. What did I say? 1805. 1805. So I have to go to the back of the Strong's concordance, and I have to look up 1805 with all these reference numbers. I'm getting close. Okay, 16. And I have to look up.

18. 18. 1805. 1805. Oh, that's Hebrew. I need to go to the New. So it has the Greek and the Hebrew. It has Greek numbers and Hebrew numbers. So I got to go to the Greek because it's in the New Testament. Got to go to the Greek and then go to 1805. So Greek, 15. And I'm showing you this for a reason, guys. So don't, don't, don't, don't. Don't give up on me here. Because, like, this is going to be. I'm going to show you a much better way to do this here in a minute. So just hang on. Or a much faster way. So 1805. And it says to ransom, to rescue from loss, to redeem. Okay? To buy up, to improve opportunity, to rescue from loss. But did you see all that stuff I had to go through to find that? Now watch what I have to do now. I open up my Bible, my Bible software in my. And so go ahead and. Larry, show them the. Show them the whiteboard. So I open up my. And I go to. I open up my Bible software. I'll show you what software this is in a minute. And I go to New Testament, and I go to Ephesians, and I go to chapter five, and I go to verse number 16, and it says, redeeming the time because the days are evil. So all I have to do now is touch the word redeem, and it pops up, the strong concordance. What? Did y' all see how much easier that was? This is why. This is why. There's no excuse for a person who is in ministry, a pastor or evangelist or whatever, somebody who's a Bible teacher, Sunday school teacher. There's no excuse for not studying the Bible. Like, to stand up and give, you know, three points in a poem and a nursery rhyme or whatever the Bible has God, who's gonna make better content, like Dr. Seuss, can make better content than God. Seriously, Right? We want to preach from Dr. Seuss and nursery rhymes and stories and about football games and about baseball games and basketball games. And that's the main point when God has given us a guidebook from heaven to make it through.

This life, like, abundantly and blessedly. So, look, it says to buy up. That is to ransom, figuratively, to rescue from loss, to improve opportunity. So when the scripture says I'm supposed to redeem, be redeemed the time, I'm supposed to be buying it up. Huh? Buy up my Time. Wonder how I do that. I know how I do it. I do that. I buy back my time by paying somebody to cut my grass, even though I know how to cut grass. I buy back my time by paying somebody to fix my car, even though I know how to fix a car. I buy back my time by paying someone to clean my house, even though me and my wife both know how to clean a house. But I'm buying back that time. So now, instead of taking that time and. And using it for.

Some menial task, not only do I get to bless myself and my wife by us not having to do that work, but I give somebody else a blessing because I pay them to do it right. And so I buy back my time. I rescue it. I rescue it from loss. Once the time is gone, it's gone. And so what should I be doing with the time that I'm rescuing from loss? I should be improving my opportunity. Wow, that totally changes the meaning. So let's go back. Let's go back to that same verse, redeeming the time. Okay, so I'm supposed to buy back my time, rescue it from loss, and improve my opportunity. Why? Because the days are evil. Now here's what says that word. Evil is.

Paneros, which I don't speak Greek, so that doesn't mean anything to me. But it says influence or thus differing from. So this, this word is from 4192. 4190 is from 4192. If I touch 4192, it takes me there. Anguish or pain. Okay, so this is not talking about evil from the standpoint that the devil is evil. Right? He said, it says. It says the days are evil. So 40. It's a derivative of 4192, which means anguish or pain.

Properly or to influence and thus differing from 25:56. What is 25:56? That's another time, a different Greek word that's translated into the word evil, but it's different than that. And that is.

Bad. Evil, harm, ill, noisome, or wicked. So when it says the days are evil, it's not talking about the days are wicked or evil like the devil is evil. It's talking about the days are evil like they're hard and painful. So I'm supposed to buy back my time, rescue it from loss, improve my opportunity, because life is hard.

Oh, now I. Now I don't just know what it says. So I'm going around quoting a verse that I think I understand, but I Don't really understand because I don't even know the meaning of the words. And if I don't know what the words mean, I can't know what the word means. Right? I have to look. If I'm gonna study a passage of scripture, I have to look up every word in the passage for me to come to a clear.

God intended biblical understanding. I'm gonna. I'll tell you what the app is in a minute, guys. Derek, I see you're asking what app I'm using. I'm gonna show you what the app is. Okay? So. And then if I want to keep reading rather essential, which refers to rather the essential character, as well as from 4550, which 4550 says worthless. Okay? It's not. It's not like. It's not. It's not that the days are evil like they're worthless. It's not like they're evil like Satan. It's evil. They're painful and full of anguish. Oh, so if I use my money, I want you to think about this just as a principle. Before we even go any further, I want you to think about this as a principle. Is it fascinating, Isn't it, Isn't it fascinating to you that most people struggle their way through life financially.

And they think it's something they think it's because of. Maybe they're. They're a minority or because they are don't have an education or because.

But maybe it's because they're totally doing the exact opposite of what God said. Do what God say do. Buy back your time, rescue it from loss and improve your opportunity. What do we do? We do the exact opposite. We sell our time to the highest bidder. $10 an hour, $15 an hour, $20 an hour, $50 an hour. And we wonder why we can't get ahead. You're doing the exact opposite of what it says in scripture. Now some people might say, well, my Aaron, well, that's not what that means. Okay, well then you go do a word study. Please tell me what it means. I don't need it to mean that. I wasn't looking for that when I found it. I wasn't looking for it to mean that when I found it. When I was as shocked when I found it as you are if you're hearing it for the first time. Right? Because I don't bring my ideas to scripture looking to prove them. I bring my empty canvas. I bring my question mark to the scripture and I allow the scripture to be the sentence, the subject, the Verb or the subject, the predicate, and the exclamation point, right? That's like, we need to let God be God now. So as I'm studying these verses.

That'S one part of Bible study I want to, like, if I'm using a verse or something, I want to make sure I'm not using it for something for which God never intended. Because as I quoted my daughter earlier, she said, the Bible can never say what it's never said, and it can never mean what it's never meant. Now, if you really want to, like, if you really want to have an amazing experience learning the Bible, okay, here's what I'm going to tell you. Do the last thing it told you you should do. What do you mean, the last thing? I don't mean last as in final. I mean the last thing that you found out in scripture you should be doing that you weren't doing. Start doing that. Why? Now I'm going to show you something else this app can do, and then I'm going to show you what app it is. So, Larry, go ahead and pull that up. So if I want to look for something, I can do a search, right? And I can do a search for a phrase, or I can do a search for a word. I can do if any of these words are in it or if it needs to be an exact match. So if I type in.

Do, will.

No.

Doctrine.

Okay? So here's what I found. John 7, 17, right? So if I kind of know what the verse says, if I type in some of the words, it'll find the verse for me. So here's what it says in John 7, 7, 17. Here's what it says. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself. So Jesus told. He was talking to the Pharisees, but he told them, he said, if any man will do his will, he shall know the doctrine, right? So what is he saying? The way we learn.

The doctrine, the way we have a better understanding of scripture, is by doing the stuff we already understand. If I'm ignoring the last thing God said to me, he's not going to show me the next thing, right? Like the scripture builds. And it says this in Scripture. It builds line upon line, precept upon precept, right? You can't build the roof if you don't have a foundation and walls. So you have to start somewhere, right? And you say, but, Myron, the Bible is a really thick book. How am I supposed to Expect. How am I expected to get through that in my lifetime?

The objective is not to get through it. The objective is to let it get through to you. I haven't studied every word in the Bible. I haven't studied. I haven't done a word study on every passage, but I've done a word study. I've done word studies on complete books in the Bible, which is what we're going to get to next. But before I do that, I want to show, I want to show you all what app I'm using. So I'm going to close the app.

And then I'm going to show you. So I have, I have all these Bible apps in my iPad. And.

And by the way, Larry, you can do picture in picture still. You know that, right? So cool. So if I put my glasses on, it helps me see better. There we go. So, so this app that says S kjv, it's on the top right corner. See that one with the aleph and the beit? Aleph and beit are Hebrew. Aleph, Beit. It's the white one with the black letters in the top right corner of that folder. When I hit that, it opens up. That's the strong's KJV app. Okay. Now that's the one where I look up the words. Now it doesn't do every single solitary word, but it does all of the, like, the main words. It's a great way for you to start doing word studies in the Bible. Like when I hear preachers preach on passages and I've done word studies on their passages, those passages, and they say it means something. I know it didn't mean. I'm. I'm like, I'm. I already hung up the phone. I'm like, hasta la vista, baby. I'm done. I'm checked out, right?

A. A modern day.

A modern day phrase that is so anti. Biblical. It's so. It's such a. It's. It's. And some people are going to have a hard time with what I'm about to say, but that's okay. They'll be all right. It's so satanic. And you have these churches talking about that at the end of the service. They give an invitation and say, if you want to come and give your life to Jesus and be saved. That is not biblical. That's just what.

Show me that in the Bible. That's not in there. Give your life to Jesus. So now salvation is a gift that we give to Jesus. No, no. He gave his life for us. We receive the gift in Fact, it says in Romans.

Romans, chapter 3, verse 23, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. It says in Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 8 and 9. For by grace, that word grace means a gift. Are you saved through faith? And that. That faith is not even of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. So God gives us the gift of faith to receive the gift of grace. I'm going to give my life to Jesus, and now I'm saved. Hocus pocus. That's hocus pocus. That is not biblical at all. Anyway, little pet peeve of mine because. And it's a pet peeve of mine because I believe it's leading people astray and it's making people believe something that's not true, and it's giving people false hope. So, anyway, okay, back to the Bible study. So now I'm going to show you what I do.

How I. This is not how you should necessarily, but this is how the app is called Strongs kjv. That's the app I use.

So the next I'm going to show you how I study a chapter in the. I mean, a book of the Bible. So we're going to go to one that I've already done a word study on every word in the book. And it's one of my favorite books to teach from, too. It's like. It's like the Proverbs of the New Testament. Okay. It's the Book of James. Okay, so the Book of James. So James has five chapters. And when I was a senior pastor at a church in Georgia, I think it was on Wednesday nights, he started teaching through James. And it's really fascinating how God's word does the work. Like God's. Like, Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life. Like, yes, there have been many pastors who built churches on personalities, and there have been a whole lot of ministries building personalities and talent and all the rest of that. But the word of God does the ultimate work, period. Right? I don't want you all to. The reason I'm doing this, I don't want you to think you need me. People say, oh, Myron, I love how you make the Bible so simple. I don't make the Bible simple. The Bible simple. When I got here, what am I going to do to make the Bible simple? I'm going to make the Bible simple. I'm simply saying that's not possible. Right. The Bible is like.

I think the reason people mistakenly think I make it simple is because I don't confuse it. I don't try to add anything to it. I'm not trying because I don't have. Some people say, oh, you have an agenda. I don't have an agenda. I don't need it. I don't need it to say anything. When I come to this word, I'm coming looking for orders from headquarters, right? So what I do when I'm studying a book in the Bible, the first thing I do, if I'm going to do a word study, like I'm going to do a word study on an entire book, I will start with the last chapter and read the last chapter first, the next to the last chapter second the next to the chapter before that, first before that next chapter. And then I'll read it backwards, then I'll read it forward, then I'll read it backwards, then I'll read it forward again. I'm going to read it backwards and forwards several times just so I can become familiar with all the stuff that's going on. Okay? That's one of the things I do. Then I go to the first chapter and.

I start reading now. So this is James, by the way. I may have other commentaries. Like I may. So I've got these. You can't really see this. I don't know if we took pictures of this or not, but I've got an encyclopedia called all the. Like it's the all the series, all the men in the Bible, all the women in the Bible, all the children in the Bible, all the prayers in the Bible, all the parables in the Bible, right? So I might go to all the men in the Bible and I might look up who is this James character, right? I might go to there. I might go to a commentary by Warren Wiersbe or some other commentary. I just want to find out what they say about James. Now I'm not doing it because I want to know what their thoughts are on the book. I just want to know who James is because it says James like my dad's name is James. Is this about my dad? I don't think so. My brother Mike, his middle name is James. It's about my brother. I don't think it's about him either. So who's this James? Well, what I know about this James is this is James, the Lord's half brother. So this is James, the half brother of Jesus, the son of Mary and Joseph, Right. The reason I Say he's the half brother of Jesus is because God was Joseph's father. And I mean Joseph was Jesus stepfather and God was Jesus father. So. But James was Jesus half brother, right? So I want you to think about this. I want you to think about a modern day social media growth oriented individual. So he's the half brother of Jesus. He's also.

The senior pastor at the Church of Jerusalem.

He's writing a letter to the churches that have been scattered abroad by persecution. The Roman government initially and then later the Roman Catholic Church, but initially the Roman government and there wasn't really a whole lot of separation. But that's another conversation for a different day. So James, he's the half brother of Jesus and the senior pastor at the Church of Jerusalem. I don't know. That seems like a pretty good claim to fame right there. Like if I was, if I was doing a resume, right? And I'm telling people like this is who I am, I would start with James, half brother of Jesus, Senior pastor, Church of Jerusalem. Some people call me Dr. James, other people call me Reverend James, right? He didn't do that. He said, he said, james, I want you to notice this. A servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why?

So like the Bible tells us to meditate on scripture, right? So I'm going to meditate on this. Why is he saying James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ and not James, the half brother of Jesus, Senior pastor, Church of Jerusalem. Some people call me Dr. James, other people call me Reverend James. No, he didn't do that. Why? Some people call me Apostle James. No, he didn't do that. Here's what he did. He said, james, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ because he realized something that we as followers of Christ need to realize.

Our primary identifying factor in our lives doesn't need to be.

What organization we're over, who we're related to, what our alma mater, what our alma mater is. That's a hard word. Alma material, al martyr. Y' all know what I'm talking about. That thing where you're associating yourself one of their colleges, right?

It doesn't need to be that. It doesn't need to be your race. It doesn't need to be your gender. It doesn't need to be your political party. That does not need to be your primary identifying factor. Why? Because if your primary identifying factor is that you are a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, then you are going to act for from that place before you act from the place of a Democrat or a Republican or black or white or man or woman or alumni or by the Phi the Beta Kappa or whatever. CEO, COO, ABCDEFG. Like, before any of that stuff. PhD, ElementOp. All that.

Why don't we just. Why don't we just do it? I mean, he's got a much better claim to fame than I've got. And I want to tell. I'm Dr. Myron golden, bless God. You call me doctor. I don't care if you call me doctor, nurse, janitor. If I can be a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm happy. That's my primary identifying factor. Not some initials that I put behind my name, not some school that I went to. Not, I'm a black man, bless God, I'm a black man. Well, and that changes what. That's not. Yeah, I am a black man, but I'm not. That's not. I'm not that first. The first thing I am. If I am a. If I am bought by the. If I am. If I am redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, the first thing I am is a servant of God in the Lord Jesus Christ, which means every other servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ is my brother and my sister, and I am not God didn't put me here to be over them. And guess what? People who are not redeemed by the blood of the lamb, God didn't put me here to be over them either. He didn't put me here. Like the whole idea of a human ruling over another human is a Satan idea. It's not a God idea.

How about them apples? Okay, I'm gonna pump the brakes. I'm getting a little worked up. James, the servant of God, by the way, isn't that interesting that just in the first half of the first sentence of the Book of James, we find something we can apply to our lives if we're looking for something to do. So let me say this. In fact, I wrote myself. I wrote myself a note in my phone, so I'm going to read it so I don't leave anything out. Right? So a lot of people, A lot of people mistakenly think the Bible is a book about religion. It's not a book about religion. It contains religion, but it's not a book about religion. So notes, notes, notes. How do you find notes? By typing in note. Okay, there we go. Go. So recent notes. What? I hope that's what I did. Oh, no, I did. I. I didn't know. I texted it to myself. Okay. I don't know if y' all did. Y' all know you can text things to yourselves. Okay. Anyway, side note. Okay, here it is. The Bible is a book of principles.

Promises, patterns, parallels, precepts, practices, prayers and prophecies. I'm going to do it again. The Bible is a book of principles, promises, patterns, parallels, precepts, practices, prayers and prophecies that give me the ability to predict outcomes in the future. How do. Well, how does a principle. How does a print. Well, here's. I'm going to show you how principle gives you the ability to predict what's going to happen in the future. You already. What goes up must come down. Because it went up, you know, it has to come down. It's a principle, right? So if I can find a principle and I see something happening and that principle applies to it, I can know what's going to happen next. This is so good. Promises. Well, if the Bible's a book of promises and the Bible has two kinds of promises. Now, the Bible has unconditional promises and conditional promises. An unconditional promise is a promise that's just a promise because, like. Because it's a promise. A conditional promise is a promise based on you meeting a condition. Then you get this promise, okay? Then you get the benefit of that promise, okay? But here's one of my favorites. Patterns. So good. The Bible's a book of patterns. Like, I love pattern recognition. I think that's one of the reasons why I like trading options. I think that's one of the reasons why I love business. I love patterns. I love to see patterns unfold. Because if you can recognize a pattern, then it gives you the ability to know what's going to happen next. So, for instance, I know that when I begin to do something new, I know the pattern. The Genesis 1 pattern is like all creation and high achievement begins with intention, right? So it starts with intention, and then what, disruption follows intention. Because what does it say? In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. That was God's intention to create the heaven and the earth. What happened next? And the earth was without form and void. Oh, let me show you that really quickly while I'm doing it. So whilst I'm on it. So Genesis 1:1. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, right? And the earth was without form. So that word was is not the word used to be, but it's the word. It's the word not. Hold on. It's the word became. Oh, the word became without form and void. So when it says that worth earth was without form and void, it's not saying the earth, like used to be without form and void. It's saying it became without form and void and darkness upon the face of the deep. Right. So what do I learn from those two verses? Well, what I learn is that God. God himself had an intention. His intention was to create what's. And I'm. I'm recognizing a pattern. What's the next step in the pattern? Disruption always follows intention. Okay, that's pretty cool. So what happens next? Well, it says, and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Oh. So we have to find inspiration after the intention, after the disruption that follows our intention. Now, how. This is not. I am not interpreting this to mean this. I am recognizing a pattern in this. Do you understand the difference in what I'm saying? I'm recognizing a pattern. By the way, I see that pattern over and over and over and over again in scripture. I see it later in the book of Genesis. I see it in Genesis, chapter 12, when God comes to Abram and says, hey, I'm going to make your name great. I'm going to make your seed as the sands of the seashore and as the stars of heaven. And he's 75 years old. And 10 years later, he still didn't have any kids. Right? Disruption always follows intention. Another 10 years goes by, he still didn't have any kids. Like, wait a minute. I'm 95. I still don't have any children. What's up? Right? Disruption always follows intent. I can see it with Joseph. Joseph had a dream. What happened after his dream? His brothers hated him for his dream is for his words. So I'm recognizing a pattern. So what happened? They threw him in a pit. They sold him into slavery. He went down into Egypt to a foreign land. He was doing good work in Potiphar's house. Potiphar's wife lied on him. He got sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit. What am I saying? Disruption always follows intention. We can go to. We can go to the further through the Old Testament. We can find David. David gets anointed to be king. What happens? He spends the next many years of his life running from King Saul because Saul wants to killing. We see Jesus himself is baptized in Jordan, right? He gets the anointing. The heavens open. The spirit descends on him like a dove. Heaven's open. And the voice from heaven says, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. What happens after that? Go Read it yourself. That was the last verse of Matthew, chapter three. What's the first verse of Matthew, Chapter four. Then was Jesus led of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Disruption always follows intention. It's a pattern. Why is it important for us to recognize patterns so that we don't become discouraged in the middle of the pattern, we know what's going to come next so we can see it doesn't matter if it's a promise, if it's a principle, if it's a pattern, if it's a precept, if it's a parallel, if it's a prophecy.

The reason all of those things exist. Well, one of the reasons all of those things exist, I should say, is to give me the ability to make predictions about outcomes in the future so I can position myself on the path of prosperity. Buckets in hand. When I say prosperity, I'm not just talking about money. I'm talking about every aspect of my life. If I align my life according to these promises, principles, parallels, practices, et cetera, et cetera, then my life is going to be blessed. Period. In what way? Every way that I align myself with those patterns, principles. So. So. So. So, back to James. I just. I wanted to give that to you really quickly. I knew this was gonna take a long time. I didn't know it was gonna take this long. I hope this. Hope. Is this helpful? Is what I'm sharing with y' all helpful? Okay, cool. So I'm gonna go back to James because I just want to show you some. Like. Like when. When you do word studies, it's so exhilarating. Like, it'll energize like you. You don't want to do this. Too close to time to go to bed. You won't be able to sleep. I mean, there. I have never in my. I've done a lot of exciting things in my life. I've taken flying lessons. I've not jumped out of an airplane, and I don't have any intention of doing so. I have had a hole in one in golf. Right.

I've got a beautiful wife. I've got amazing children. I've got an amazing granddaughter. But, I mean, you talk about excitement, you start studying the word of God like I'm showing you. You start looking up these words, you start finding out what they mean. You're like, oh, my goodness, this is amazing. Right? So he says, james, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus christ to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad. Why did he write to the twelve tribes? Because he was the senior pastor of the church of Jerusalem.

These were all Hebrew believers. Okay, my brethren. Then he says, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations. Well, like when I read that even before I start doing a word study on it, he didn't say. He said, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations. He didn't say, count it all joy if you fall into divers temptations. So in order for me to even know what this means, I need to look up this word temptation. What's the word? Temptation. Oh, is it to be tempted to do something evil? No. Oh. By implication, it means adversity, A putting to proof, an experiment of good. In other words, when the trial comes to test your faith, count it all joy when you fall into that kind of trial, that the word. See, sometimes, sometimes that word, whatever the word is there, that word piramos is translated as temptation. Sometimes it's translated into English as trial. That's why I say all translation is commentary. You have to do word studies for yourself.

And I know some of you are probably thinking, but I wish it were easier. Easier? When has easier made something better? So I see that someone's asking me to slow down. I get that. But here's what you can do. Like when you go back and watch the video, you can actually slow down the speed and you can pause it.

If I slow down, I'm going to lose my. I'm going to lose my place. I get it. I get a little worked up. I'll pump the brakes a little. But like. But like slow down the video. Pause it if you need to. I'm the kind of person, even if I'm listening to somebody who talks fast, I have to listen to stuff at least one and a half times speed, sometimes two times speed. It's just how my brain works. So I can't teach in a different way. I would love to, but like, like, it's. It would not be helpful. Okay. For me. Which would not be helpful for you. So, so, so I'm looking at this. Okay, so count it all joy when I fall into different kind of trials. Okay, what kind of trials are different kind of trials? Maybe sickness trials. Maybe car accident trials. Maybe lose my job trials. Maybe run out of money trials. Maybe relationship trials. Maybe I should count it all joy. What does that mean? Count it all joy?

Count. It means to consider. It means to esteem. It means to govern. Huh? To rule over, to suppose. In other words, I account. I count it by accounting it as joy. Now, is that saying I'm Supposed to be all Pollyanna. No offense to you, Pollyanna. If you're out there listening and thinking.

Oh, yeah, we got praise the Lord, I got in a car wreck today. Oh, praise the Lord. I just got bad news from the doctor. No, that's not what it's saying. It's not saying pretend everything is hunky dory. That's not what it's saying. It's saying count it all joy. Count is a perspective word. In other words, assign the meaning. Assign a meaning to the trial you're going through that will bring you joy, and you're going to find out how to do that. Count it all joy when you fall into different. Diverse means different. I'm not going to look it up. Count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations. By the way, I know how to count it all joy. I'm going to teach a little secret, because over in Philippians chapter two, here's what it says. I'm sorry. Philippians, chapter four, verse number four. Here's what it says. It says, rejoice in the Lord alway. And again I say rejoice. The prefix re means to do again. So when it says rejoice, it means, again, have joy. The Lord, when always. And again I say rejoice. Or and again I say, again, have joy. Wow. Again, have joy in the Lord always. And again I say, again, have joy. To me, that sounds like a follower of Christ is supposed to live in a state of perpetual joyfulness, despite what's going on around us. How's that possible? Myron, what tells us in the next verse? Philippians chapter 4, verse number 5. Here's what it says. It says, let your moderation be known unto all men, for the Lord is at hand. In other words, let your self control. Similar word to this word count. I'm supposed to govern. Let my moderation be known unto all men, for the Lord is at hand. The Lord, the Lord. Capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. Adonai, the owner, Master Controller of the universe is at hand. Where is at hand? He's right here with me. Well, if I more aware of the fact that he is with me than I am the trial that's against me, I will have joy. How do I know I'll have joy? Because the scripture tells me in his presence is. In his presence is fullness of joy. Are y' all tracking? So. So. Now, here. Here's so. So. I'm learning something from this that I can do on a daily basis. Count it all joy. How do I count it all joy by being more aware of the presence of the Lord than I am the presence of the trial.

Oh.

Maybe that's how.

Noah.

Had enough joy to energize him to work on an Ark for 120 years. Because God said, it's going to rain. Even though he was 420 years old, 480 years old, and had never seen one raindrop.

Because he was more aware of the presence of the Lord than he was the presence of, or the lack of the presence of rain. Maybe, Maybe Joseph, when he said to his brothers, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. The reason he was aware of that, because he was more aware of what God was doing than he was of what his brothers were trying to do. Maybe David ran towards Goliath, the giant that everybody else was running from, because he was more aware of the presence of the Lord than he was the presence of the giant. Maybe Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, when they were thrown into the fiery furnace that was heated seven times hotter than was needed to be heated, and it was so hot that the men that threw them in died from the flames. It says, these three men fell down bound, in their hats and their coats and their hosen and their other garment. They fell down bound. And then Nebuchadnezzar in his haste.

Rose up and said, did not we throw three men bound into the midst of the furnace? And his men said unto him, true, O king.

Then why do I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire? And the form of the fourth is like unto the Son of God. That's an Old Testament illustration of this New Testament principle that's being taught here in James. Are y' all seeing what I'm talking about? And so what's amazing is Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were so aware of the presence of the Lord when the king threatened to kill them, he said, well, we are not careful to answer you in this matter, O king. Our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us, and he will. But if he doesn't, we're still not going to bow. Let me ask you a question. Are you aware enough of the presence of God to know that he's going to deliver you? But even if he doesn't, you're willing to go down being a faithful witness, because that's what they were. Why they were more aware of the presence of the Lord than they were the presence of the king or the furnace or the mighty men that threw them in. Okay, Count it all. Joy when you fall into diverse temptations Knowing this. So count is a perspective word. But then it says, knowing this, knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience. Okay, so knowing is not a perspective word. Knowing is a perception word. So this, these verses right here, verse, verse two and verse three are telling me something. What are they telling me? They're telling me I can only count the way I'm supposed to count. If I know what I'm supposed to know. If I don't know what I'm supposed to know, I can't count. Right? And the reason some people don't count, right, they don't count it all. Joy when they fall into diverse temptations is because they don't know what they need to know. What do they need to know? God is sovereign. There's not a maverick molecule in this entire universe. If you're going through something right now, here's what it says. Knowing this. So not just knowing, but knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience. Guess what Patience is? Persistent, consistent endurance. The trying of your faith worketh persistent, consistent endurance. So when you go through a fiery trial, it makes you stronger. Oh, now I know how to have joy. When I'm going through a trial, God is making me stronger for a work he has for me to do that's bigger than I am now. So what's really going on? When I'm going through difficulty, I'm not really having a bad day. I'm having a preparation day. Having a get ready day. I'm in the middle of a get ready situation. I'm in the middle of a prepare preparation situation. I like that preparation situation. Right?

I'm not gonna say what. I just. I think of some funny stuff. My brain, it just. It just goes, okay, stop being an energizer, buddy, little brain. Okay, so a preparation situation. So I can know when I'm going through anything, whether it be.

A relationship trial, a financial trial, a health trial, I can go through it with joy because I know that God is getting me ready for something he already has ready for me. He's got something ready for me, but I'm not ready for it yet. So I'm going through this trial to make me stronger so that when I get there, I'm strong enough to stay there.

Now I can have joy.

You see.

This is so much better than saying, I'm just having a terrible day. I'm not smart enough to know if I'm having a terrible day because I can't tell if my Day is good or bad. Looking through the windshield, I can only tell when I look at it through the rear view mirror. When I look at it through the rear view mirror, here's what I see every single time. Whether I was aware of it then or not. God was sovereign and in control and demonstrating his love in getting me ready for what he already has ready for me. My brother Mike came down here to Tampa.

Almost two weeks ago now. It'll be two weeks on Sunday. Came down, come to an event we were having with two of his sons, and he got sick, started throwing up. We thought he was going to get better, thought he was going to get better. Didn't get better, ended up having to have surgery. He's been in the hospital for probably seven days now. Why?

God knows it's difficult, but just because it's difficult doesn't mean it's bad.

Did y' all hear what I just said? Just because it's difficult doesn't mean it's bad. Let's stop going through life playing God and thinking we know the end from the beginning. Sometimes we don't even know the beginning from the beginning.

Right? So knowing this, the trying of your faith worketh, patience and every one of these words. So I've already done this in the past. I'm just showing you. I mean, just like it's. So here's what's interesting. When you study the Bible like this, you never run out of stuff to talk about. So now y' all know. Oh, where did he come up with this? I've been studying the Bible. I've been studying the Bible since I was in my 20s. I've been reading it since I was 16 years old. Like this book, when I was preaching through the book of James with five chapters, it took me a year to teach five chapters in the Bible a year. Why? Because there's so much in there I wasn't trying to. I wasn't trying to get through it. I was trying to let it get through to me and everybody else with me. So I will do. In the future, I'm gonna do a. A.

YouTube video on how I memorize Scripture. Okay. Which is pretty cool, too. And one of the reasons it's so important to memorize scripture, because I'm gonna wind this up because I've been going for almost an hour. But one of the reasons so important to memorize scripture is because it gives you a point of reference in your mind. So one of the books, one of the books that I had that I use as a study, a reference Guide is this. It's called the treasury of Scripture Knowledge. So the treasury of Scripture Knowledge, if I open this book. So mine's really old and raggedy, okay? Not like the pretty one on the picture. But if I open the treasury of Scripture Knowledge, what it does is I can go to James Chapter one in here, and.

I'm almost there. So if I go to James chapter one.

I'm almost there, y'. All, okay? So James, chapter one. So when I look at verse one, it gives me. It gives me 20 different verses to refer to that add light to James chapter one. James, chapter one, verse one. I go to verse chapter, verse two. Like James chapter one, it relates to Matthew 10, 3, Matthew 13:55, Mark 3, 18, Luke 6, 15, Acts. I'm not reading them to you because I want you to go. Because I want you to look at them right now. I'm just showing you. Like, this one verse has cross references in all of these different places. Romans 1:1, Philippians 1:1, First Kings 18:31, Ezra 6, 17, etc. And so that one verse, like, you could spend all day just studying half of those verses.

I believe that one of the reasons. One of the reasons there's so much.

Weird and wonky stuff going on within churches is because preachers don't preach the Bible. Christians don't study the Bible. We just make stuff up. Or.

We want to have a motivational session and insert some Bible verses. The Bible. How can I improve on God's content? God has the best content. That's why even as an entrepreneur, I teach business from the Bible. Now, here's what's really interesting. When you become a student of the word of God, you can study the books of the Bible. You can study a verse, you can study an entire book. Then you can study a concept. Like you say, I wonder what the Bible has to say about, for instance, business. And you study it, and then you take all the stuff you learned, and then you might come up with a book like this. I don't know if this one's on here or not, probably. Oh, it is. You might come up with a book like this. Rabbi Daniel Lapin's Thou Shalt Prosper. This is a rabbi who's just teaching biblical principles of business in a book that is 300. I'm just going for the book part now. Over 330 pages long. 340 pages long, right? Because he studied one topic. What if you studied everything that the Bible teaches about marriage, You're a marriage counselor, started teaching biblical principles of marriage. What have you learned everything the Bible teaches about health? I got a book in my office about this thick a guy wrote called God's Ultimate. God's Ultimate Plan for Health. Right? It's a big old thick book. He studied what the Bible has to say about health and he wrote a book about it. God has the best content. Now, if I'm gonna teach a book, if I'm gonna like. I can't teach what the Bible says about golf, right? I love golf and I love the Bible. But the Bible didn't talk about golf. But the Bible talks about marriage, the Bible talks about business, and the Bible talks about health. What if you became the world's leading expert on what the Bible teaches about your niche? Here's what's really good about the word of God. You don't have. You don't have to quote the chapter and verse. When it was written, there were no chapters and verses. You don't have to tell everybody that it's coming from the Bible. Here's what you know, though. You know that when, I mean, I like telling people it's coming from the Bible because I don't want people to think they need me. I'm like, I am. I am not essential to your growth. Here's what's essential. You being willing to yield to the word of God and study it. That's essential. I'm just. I'm a vet. I'm a voice and a vessel, right? But God's word is essential. And if I can inspire you to go and do what I've been doing and is it going. Is it going to happen overnight? It's not, but it's going to happen over many nights. It's going to happen in a year? No, but it'll happen after many years. You will know more about.

How to study biblical principles. You're having a problem in your relationship. Now you know how to go find out what God says about it. If you and the other person you're in a relationship with are both willing to yield to that, now you have a common denominator. You having a problem in your parenting? You go study the Bible. Oh, God. What do you know? God has something to say about rearing children. Yeah, he does. So hopefully this has been helpful.

If you get Strong's kjv, you get a Rhys Chronological Bible, Complete Jewish Bible. I don't think I showed that one. I don't know if I have it on here or not. No. Complete Jewish Bible, which is this? I'll show it to you. The complete Jewish Bible gives You a Hebrew, Like a Jewish understanding of our faith instead of just the Roman Catholic.

Perspective. The Rhys Chronological Bible. That's great. People ask me about Hebrew everyday. Hebrew, that's one of the books I have studying biblical Hebrew. I've got a lot of books. Maybe I'll do another thing on how I study Hebrew and all that stuff in the future. But, like, this is a. What I shared with y' all today is a great place to start. If you'll just start with that, it'll change your life. And you'll look in the mirror a year from now and you'll be in a totally different place. It'll blow your mind. So in the meantime, in between time, I hope this blesses you. Stay blessed by the best. One more thing I want to show y'. All. I want to recommend some videos for y' all to go and check out on our channel that I think will be a blessing to you. Oh, that's that one.

Interesting. So I need to. I need to learn how to use YouTube on my iPad. Channel my channel. Okay. So.

Like, ones that I would really recommend.

That everybody watch are. Well, two, I'm gonna. I'm gonna recommend three.

God's Original Design for Wealth, which was done. That's this one right here. God's Original Design for Wealth. Now, it's not. It's playing, so it's not gonna show you, but God's Original Design for Wealth is one I would recommend also. Why Evil People Are Rich. That one has almost 2 million views from five months ago. God's original design for wealth has 86,000 views. I just think you need to understand money from a. More from a biblical perspective. And why a rich man can't enter into heaven and why a rich man can't enter into heaven. God's Original Design for Wealth. So that is on the. Like a lot of people say, Myron, you're always talking about money, but the Bible says it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it's for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. Heaven. Okay, great. That's exactly what it says. But if you read the story in context, you will see what it's talking about. And it's not talking about what you think it's talking about. So those three videos are videos that I would recommend. Go ahead and pull those up again. Pull that up again. Larry, it stopped sharing. Okay, well, I didn't. I didn't, did I? What? No, I didn't. But it's okay. I'll stop sharing, then I'll do it again.

Okay, so maybe. Is it working now, Larry? No. Okay, so don't worry about. Anyway, guys.

Yeah, we'll. Yeah, we'll put it in the description.

Those three videos in particular will help you understand.

I don't know. Yeah, so anyway, I. I messed something up. Oh, it's sharing now. Okay, cool. Okay, cool. So, yeah, that. Those are the ones right there. God's original design for wealth or why rich man can't enter into heaven? Why evil people are rich. God's original design for wealth. Go watch those videos. You'll be glad you did. Stay blessed by the best, my peeps. I hope that helps. And go study the Bible. Become a student of God's word and let God's word do in you what only God's word can do in you. Stay blessed by the best. Peace out, Cub Scouts.