This is a short devotional podcast/video (day 55 of a 66-day Summer of Scripture series) featuring Dave Willis and a co-speaker reflecting on 2 Timothy 3:16. They read the verse, affirm the authority and usefulness of Scripture for guiding marriage and life, encourage memorization and teaching of the Bible to children (e.g., Superbook, Good News Club), recommend trying different translations (NLT, NIV, ESV, The Message) and online tools (Bible Gateway, OpenBible.com), and preview the next episode (day 56 in Titus).
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Welcome to Summer of Scripture on the Naked marriage podcast. For 66 days in a row, we are releasing a daily devotional episode for your marriage. And over these 66 days, we're going to pull out one scripture from each of the 66 books of the Bible and talk about how it applies to your marriage. So if you listen to every single one of these episodes, you're going to have a comprehensive understanding of God's plan for your marriage. We encourage you to listen to everyone. Let's dive into today's scripture.
Hello there, and welcome back to the Summer of Scripture on the Naked Marriage Podcast. We are just in day 55. I can't even believe it. We're in second Timothy, chapter three, verse 16. It says this. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. And I love this. Again, this is very simple, but it's saying, like, basically, you can trust God's word to go to find out how to live, but also to stay away from the places we need to stay away from.
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. And it's really a reminder of why we're doing this in the first place. The 66 days of scripture is because all scripture, every word of the Bible, every word of God's text message to you from Genesis through Revelation, it's alive, it's active, it's breathing, it is relevant, it's powerful. And the more of it you put into your heart and your life, like, the more you're gonna be not only close to God, but the more you're gonna be able to stay on the right path. Psalm 119:11 says, God, I've hidden your word in my heart that I would not sin against you. So when we put God's word within us, it's something that nobody can take away.
Right?
And I think of all the brain space I've got dedicated to, like, worthless stuff, like trivia, song lyrics, comedy. Yeah, Just sports statistics. Just stuff that will not help anybody ever. And I think, man, if I could turn all that into more memorized scripture.
Now, let me brag on you for a minute, though, like, you guys know this. Cause we've shared it on the podcast before. But he was part of a Bible trivia team back in the day. And in fact, if you want to grow in your Bible trivia, one of the sponsors of the podcast is the Bible trivia app. Definitely go look that up, because it is a fun way to grow in your Bible knowledge. But Dave actually was on a team at his church, I guess.
Yeah, I think it was called JBQ Junior Bible Quiz.
Yes.
And it was, it was the, it was as nerdy as you can imagine.
I thought I had the big thick.
Glasses, I had this little buzzer, I'd get all ready and I would just like, you know, push on it as soon as. Yeah, I mean, I was good.
Well, because you said that was like, honestly, when I'm like, gosh, how did you just pull that verse out of nowhere? And you're like, junior Bible Trivia team or whatever you. And it's just, it's so cool because, you know, later on you didn't know at that time you were going to become a pastor probably or a speaker in ministry, but it really helped you.
Well, giving kids a foundation of scripture I think is the best thing you can do for them. It really is. So with our kids, you know, they're not. I don't know of any Junior Bible quiz. I wish there was, but we have them watch a show called Superbook.
They're part of the good news club.
Yeah. There's an after school club at school that does. Which is really cool. At a public school.
Every school should have. It's awesome.
It is really awesome. But Superbook, I highly recommend. It's free on Amazon prime and it's a CBN Christian Broadcasting Network production, but you can get it free on Amazon prime and probably some other places.
It's awesome.
And it's very well produced cartoons that tell stories from the Bible. And our kids know, they know so many of these Bible stories because they've watched it.
They do. Well, even Cooper was like, he's 18 now. And I was like, oh, you remember that story? And he goes, yeah, like I watched him several times on, you know, Superbook or whatever. And I'm like, oh, it wasn't from your dad preaching about it.
Like, they don't listen to my sermons.
No, they do.
They don't pay attention. But if it's on Superbook, they'll remember watching that when they were seven and they remember the story.
Yeah.
So it's funny and it's humbling. It shows me how irrelevant my preaching is apparently.
But children don't want to give you the satisfaction of knowing it was because of you. One day. They will one day. And like, when they have kids, that's when we tend to appreciate parents.
I know, lame.
But in all seriousness, guys, we need to trust that God's word is true, and that it tells us what's what, what is right and wrong. And we've gotten kind of away from that. And even shy, I think. I think as Christians, we're like, can we even with authority, say that something is true or that something is right or that something is wrong? And it's like we're attacked if we even even say that. Unless we're, like, in our believer circles. But you guys there, I mean, you can just look around and see, like, how the world works and know, okay, yes, there is truth.
The world says there's not. But Jesus said it was his life mission statement. He said in the gospels, I was born and I came into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.
That's right. I'm the way, the truth and the life.
Yeah. So, guys, Jesus is the truth. He's the embodiment. He's the Word made flesh. In first part of the Gospel of John, in the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word was God. Jesus is the Word. I mean, made flesh. He is truth. We've got to live by his truth. In a world that has become so confused, because without any truth, of course you'd be confused. So what this means for us, practically as believers is any time in your life where your feelings are in conflict to scripture, it's your feelings that are wrong. The world says, no, your feelings are your truth, and they're always right. Know your feelings. My feelings are off all the time. So the scripture has to be the final authority for your marriage, for your life, and you've got to submit to it. You've got to say, all right, God, I'm submitting to you. You've been clear about this. And so if I don't do that, I am knowingly rebelling, sinning against you by not doing that. And I'm stepping out from under your authority and inviting all the chaos that that brings. But instead, I want to submit my whole life into your hands and live by your truth. And so just be open to letting scripture guide you and even convict you. I mean, I get convicted a lot when I'm reading scripture. I'm like, oh, man, I'm doing that wrong. Or, I need to change this, and it's for our good that God puts that stuff.
Absolutely. And sometimes it's hard. Like, sometimes reading scripture is hard to swallow. I would encourage you as well. If you are reading your Bible and maybe it's in a translation that has words that you're Like I don't even know what that means. Get a different translation. There are so many, many translations out there where it makes more sense, it's more in our vernacular, our day to day language, you know, make sure it's in, in your primary language. I mean there's so many. Again, it's in every kind of language. They're still working today to even find, you know, even for like people across the world in small little tribes, they're trying to make sure they have a Bible in their language. Like there's whole charitable organizations that do this and I just think praise God for their efforts because you know, we want to make sure that it's in every tribe and tongue like, like everybody has access to the Bible. You know, for most of you listening and watching to this, there's a Bible in your language and even in your language there's a translation that makes more sense to you and where you're from and how you talk and you can understand these stories and these concepts so much better. And I know for me, like for what we read, I like the nlt, the New Living translation. I really like that. I tend to go to that. I like the niv. I know not everybody loves that. But sometimes in my studies in seminary I'll use the English Standard Version. Sometimes I've used the Message version. I mean I've honestly throughout my research papers I've gone through, there's an awesome openbible.com you can go and actually put a verse in there and you see every different translation. And sometimes I like looking at that because it gives me a better, a wider perspective of what it's actually saying. Bible Gateway is a great website as well. You can even go into a concordance and see some of the different, deeper things behind the meanings of these things and concepts and trying to understand them. We have today in our world every way to have a better understanding of the Bible, probably more than any other.
Time in history and what a great tool at our fingertips. So let's not let it go to waste. Guys, people, Christian martyrs through the centuries have given their lives, literally given their lives so that we can have the Bible accessible in our language. And so read it. It'll change your life. Thanks so much guys for listening today, help and encourage you. Join us tomorrow. Day 56. This will be in the book of Titus.
