Pursuing Scripture

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:4-9


Today, I was reminded of these famous words of Moses known as the Sh'ma Yisrael. I was encouraged that I need to be pursuing knowledge from the Holy Scriptures. For anyone in youth ministry this passage highlights the need to put Scripture above all else in our personal lives and in ministry. In fact I know of a retired pastor who has started a Bible study of students from his neighborhood. He's too old to run events and programs, but his passion for Scripture is contagious enough that the students look past the age gap to attend the Bible study.

Simply Bible

As a kid growing up I always wondered why preachers spent what seemed like hours delivering a speech about some Bible verse. I could never figure out how a pastor could take a couple of verses and turn them into a forty-five minute or longer speech. In typical kid fashion sometimes I would arrive at church hoping that it was communion Sunday, or that there was a baptism or maybe even a baby dedication; anything to make the preaching shorter.

As I have grown up and now see ministry from a new perspective I understand that pastors are students. Their main job is to study God's word and with the guiding of the Holy Spirit learn His truth to pass on to the church. Some pastors use historical facts, life stories, jokes, and examples from real life to engage the congregation. As a kid I did not know why these men spent so much time talking about the Bible. As an adult I know that these men spend so much time talking about the Bible because the sad truth is that there are too many people sitting in church who do not read the Bible.

One time I was listening to a radio station that played back-to-back sermons from different preachers. On this one occasion the pastor simply read the book of Jeremiah. He would sometimes explain a word or tell the background of someone if their name came up, but other than that there was no serious exposition and I do not recall a life application lesson. Now I could see how some people would say how boring that would be to have the Bible read to them without all the explanation, jokes or application. But I sat there completely satisfied by hearing the word of God read aloud.

"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16-17


If we really want to hear from God we have to simply start with the Bible.