Why Reading the Bible Out Loud Changes Everything | Season 03, Episode 02 | Simple Truth Podcast

Have you ever finished reading the Bible and barely remembered what you just read? You checked the box. You did your devotion, but nothing really changed. You're not alone. In a world full of scrolling and noise and constant distraction, many Christians struggle to engage deeply with God's word. And yet, scripture was never meant to be skimmed quickly or treated casually. God designed it to be spoken, to be heard, to change you from the inside out. In this episode, we break down the first of five biblical principles. We will show you how reading the Bible out loud changes everything. If you want more than just a religious routine, if you want real transformation in your life, this topic is for you. Let's get into it in this episode of The Simple Truth. Welcome to the Simple Truth podcast, where we open the Bible to uncover simple, biblical, and essential truths that can transform your life. And now, here's your host, Ted Ross. Hi, my name is Ted Ross and this is the Simple Truth Podcast, your home for biblical truth clearly taught and freely given. Welcome to season 3, episode two, where we talk about the first of five key disciplines. Why reading the Bible out loud changes everything. Let's get into it. Why does this episode matter? Well, first of all, building and maintaining a close relationship with God is essential to growing as a Christian and having success in your life. We discussed this in great detail back in episode 1. The five disciplines help you build a close relationship with God. The first of these disciplines, also known as habits, is reading the Bible out loud. Reading the Bible is essential to learning not just about God, which is extremely important, but even learning about yourself, your role, your purpose, where you fit in all of this. Also, think about this. The Bible was written across 1,500 years. Each of these books, it was written across 40 different authors, but it tells a scarily unified, God-directed story of redemption over across all this time with all these different authors. And as you're reading it, you see this consistent thread all the way through it. It's even confirmed by over 2,000 fulfilled prophecies. And if you don't have to take my word for it, there's millions of people whose lives have been transformed by reading the Bible. and by having a relationship with God. It contains tremendous insight and power. You and I just need to read it. However, we're in a world where Christians own Bibles and apps, but we often rarely use them. We're also in a world of constant distraction and fewer people are even reading. There's so much forms of entertainment. There's so many things we can do with our phones, so many things we could do through television and tablets and radio and computers and you name it that people are constantly distracted. And the fact is that most people are reading less now than they've read before. So God's word is designed to be both heard and believed, not ignored. In this episode, you'll see why reading the Bible out loud, it really, really matters. It reveals who you are. It reveals who God is. It gives you clarity and direction in a noisy, confusing world. And take my word for this, folks. This isn't something that came naturally to me at first. This is something I had to learn over years. And here I am talking about as a testimonial just from me, just how important reading the Bible is. And it should be done out loud on a daily basis. The Bible also provides strength and confidence in every season of life. If things are going well, read your scriptures. Give God thanks. If things are tough, read your scriptures. You need that strength. You name the season, you name the day. There is so many benefits from reading the Bible daily. That I of course, as you can tell, feel passionate about this specific topic. Which leads us to our first simple truth of this episode. You should read the word of God aloud daily. Let's get into it. All Bible verses are from New King James Version. So, feel free to follow along. And we're going to be going into 1 Timothy 4:13. And before we read this verse, remember the Bible instructs Christians to prioritize reading God's word. So 1 Timothy 4:13 quote till I come give attention to reading to exhortation to doctrine. This is Paul writing to Timothy. So he says give attention. That means pay close attention to devote yourself. To devote is to be intentional. It's to be consistent. It's to persist. So for Paul to tell Timothy give attention. He's telling him pay close attention to this. devote yourself to this. And by devoting yourself, be consistent with it. Be persistent with it. And be intentional as you do it. This is not a light word. This is an important instruction to Timothy and to us. He says, "Give attention to reading." Reading means reading aloud, whether it's as an individual or through a group. This is something we're going to discuss a little bit later, but reading was not done silently in the Old or New Testament. We'll talk a little more about that. He says also give attention to exhortation. To exhort is to urge someone forward. It's to encourage them. So Paul says to Timothy, you should give attention to reading the scriptures. You should give attention to urging people forward to encourage them and also to doctrine. That is to teaching. That is to authoritative instruction. Uh it's to instruct people on what they should be doing, where they should be doing, how to be successful, what God's word means. um what is the direction, the purposes of their life? There's so much in the Bible. There's so much always to talk about. Um but this is of course what it comes down to where Paul is insisting Timothy to do till he arrives. Christians should clearly pay close attention to and devote themselves to reading God's word out loud. Let's take a look at Second Timothy 3 16 and 17. In these verses, we're going to see that the Bible, it's God's word, and it's very useful for growing as a Christian. And I understand that that's a term that can get thrown around in churches sometime. Well, that's God's word. That's scripture, etc. Think about what we're saying, folks. It's God's word. It's God's instruction to us. It's God's revelation to us. That's not a light expression. That's something we should take very seriously or as Paul said to Timothy in that last verse something we should devote ourselves to something we should pay close attention to. So second Timothy 3:1 16 says all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness. all scripture. That word scripture in the Greek means sacred writings specifically of both the new and the old testament right we consider the term bible right it's a collection of these books of these sacred writings that many people spent a lot of time evaluating and examining and saying is this god's word or not and quite clearly and I know my heart bears witness and many classic scholars and many qualified experts have looked and examined and said this is clearly God's word. So these sacred writings of both the New and the Old Testament, all of it is given by inspiration of God. That word inspiration means God breathed. It's given by divine inspiration. These weren't men winging it. These weren't people who just had some thoughts or wrote a few things down. These were people who were moved by God's Holy Spirit. And they wrote letters that were instructions that are clearly God breathed. They're clearly touched. They're clearly inspired by God. And they are given by his inspiration and they're useful for the things Paul's about to describe. It says, "And is profitable for doctrine." To be profitable is to be useful, to be beneficial. It means it produces good results. When we talk about how Christians grow in this season or what it means to be a successful Christian, I don't know about you, but I'm looking for good results. And it says here that scripture is useful, beneficial. It produces good results. It says it's profitable for doctrine. Doctrine is teaching or instruction. It's also useful for reproof. Paul said reproof is to expose issues. I don't know about you, but that's always useful in me. Yes, thank God for being taught and instructed, but also thank God for exposing issues in my life, not to judge a person, but to overcome those issues, to work through those issues, to get out of those issues, so that you could be walking and conforming into the image of Christ, which is what God wants us to do. It's useful for correction, which is improvement or straightening. When you are correcting someone or something, you're straightening it out. It's bent and crooked. I don't know about you, but many times in my life, I have felt like I'd been bent or crooked. And I can't say at first I appreciated God straightening me out. It always felt tough at the time, but I sincerely thank God now for all the times that he has improved me and straightened me out. And it says it's also useful for instruction in righteousness. instruction is training and righteousness is right behavior. If you want to be blessed in this life, you repent, you change your mind, you have another mind, you believe the gospel and you start walking in right behavior. You start walking in righteousness and scripture is useful for all these things including instruction or training in right behavior. We learn who God is through the scripture and we learn who we are through the scripture. Let's take a look at 2 Timothy 3:17. And here we're going to see how God's word prepares and trains us to do good actions like Jesus. So 2 Timothy 3:1 17, quote, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Love that. that the man, the woman of God, that you and I could be complete. That means perfect, qualified, fully prepared, right? Not perfect in the sense that we're just such great people. There's nothing we could ever do wrong and that, you know, God just loves us because we're just so much more excellent than everybody else. That's never what these verses mean. It means that we're to be complete. That means God has perfected us, qualified us, and prepared us for what he has us to do, for our purpose. Equipped, right? To be thoroughly equipped. That means to be provisioned, furnished, trained. I often think of a soldier when I think of it. And if you're going to send a soldier to war, they're going to be given a weapon. They're going to be trained in how to use that weapon. They may be given armor, like a helmet. They're going to be given training and tactics. They're going to be working together as a unit with others. So God has thoroughly equipped us through these scriptures, through this God inspired, God breathed scriptures. He's equipping us. He's provisioning. He's furnishing. He's training us for every good work. That means a beneficial action. Honestly, it means fulfilling God's purpose. What God calls you to do and leads you to do is beneficial. It's beneficial for you. It's beneficial for the people you're doing it for. God's word, it shapes us and it empowers us to act right. So, we should read it daily. Right? Amen. Let's take a look at Romans 10:17. In this verse, we're going to see how hearing God's word spoken builds faith, confidence, and conviction in us. Romans 10:17. So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. This is one of those famous verses that people often memorize and learn in churches. It says, "So then faith. What do we mean by faith?" Well, we can spend a whole episode talking about faith. And we will have a later season of simple truth coming up in a little bit where we're going to be examining faith. But faith means belief, confidence. Faith is the conviction to trust God. That means when God says it, you convicted to trust in rely on it. So it says, so then faith, this belief, this confidence, this conviction to trust God. It comes by hearing. Hearing is literally the physical sense of hearing, right? That's really what hearing means. It means that this faith comes by hearing through your ears and hearing by the word of God's sayings, God's statements, God's commands. So faith comes by hearing God's sayings, God's statements, God's commands. And I don't know about you, but one great way to hear God's sayings, his statements, his commands, and to hear them is to read God's word. To read this God breathed, God divinely inspired scriptures. To read it out loud and to hear it, to then minister faith to yourself. The Bible contains thousands of God sayings. And it has essential insight into again who God is and what he wants from you and me from us. When you read scripture, you are literally reminding yourself of who you are, your previous experiences with God, and what your purpose is in this life. That is the most important investment of time I would argue you could do every single day. reading the Bible aloud, it builds faith in you. And what do I mean by that? It's building confidence and it's building conviction. So, let's take a moment. Reading the Bible out loud daily causes you to see, to speak, and to hear the word of God. Okay? I purposefully say out loud because out loud provides maximum impact that engages several of your senses. It's focused too. It's focused on the most important scriptures for Christians specifically the New Testament. I mean the book of John through revelation and the book of Psalms. So, the books of the New Testament between John and Revelation and the book of Psalms, those are specifically the most important scriptures for Christians. We'll talk about that in a second. And daily for best results. I don't know about you, but I often find myself thinking about something and when I go to sleep, when I wake up, sometimes it's like a reset button. There's things maybe I knew the day before or things I was thinking about that maybe slip my mind or I find myself in a completely different place. And so it's really important every day to go ahead and read through the scriptures to remind yourself and to continue down this path. You may also remember that Paul instructed Timothy and told him to devote himself that it should be persistent and be consistent. And I don't know about you, but when I think about reading God's scripture, I think about being consistent with it. I think daily is really the right time frame for that. So, why read the Bible out loud specifically? Well, there's going to be some things I think you might find interesting. First of all, listening to the Bible recordings that many of us do, they're useful. I do it. I like to listen to the Bible, but it has a limited effect on me. Okay? Listening is a passive activity. So, sometimes while we're listening, we actually zone out, which means we're not listening anymore. I do not have to actively listen. In fact, quite often we're told to be active listeners because listening is naturally a passive activity. So again, sometimes we could zone out while we're listening, which means we're no longer listening to the Bible recording. Listening also only engages one sense, the sense of hearing. Okay. A flexible option. Yes. So listening to the Bible is very flexible. I could do it maybe if I'm at the gym or I could do it while I'm driving, right? So, there are things I could do at the same time and there is a benefit to that. But while listening to the Bible is flexible, it's also less effective versus reading the Bible out loud. Reading the Bible quietly. It's more active, right? But it only uses your sense of sight. So, you have to actively read. It's probably harder to zone out while you're reading, although your mind of course can still wander. But reading the Bible, it only uses another sense, and that's the sense of sight. Reading the Bible out loud actually engages three pathways at once. First of all, it engages your eyes, so you see the word of God. Secondly, it engages your mouth. You actually speak the word of God. And honestly, if you're speaking it in faith, it becomes prayer. So as you're reading let's say the book of Psalms, you're reading a book of prayers, even when you're reading other books in the New Testament, reading it out loud effectively becomes prayer for you. So your eyes see the word, your mouth speaks the word, and your ears hear the word. That's three different pathways. Reading the Bible aloud is the most effective way to engage scripture. Reading out loud was also the common practice in the Old and New Testament. So the Hebrew and the Greek languages are actually written without spaces or punctuation. So from everything that I've researched, reading Hebrew or Greek languages silently is actually difficult. So it makes silent reading difficult if you don't have spaces or punctuation to kind of effectively get through the topics. Silent reading also if you look historically feel free to Google this and research this yourself you'll see that silent reading was rare in Greek and Roman society before 250 AD. So over 200 years after the time of Christ on earth only then did people start to look at silent reading. So reading was very commonly done out loud. It was spoken. Whether you did it individually or whether you did it as a group, reading was something done that was spoken out loud that you or others could hear. The Greek words for reading literally imply reading aloud. They are not to be read silently. So the words themselves mean out loud reading. So, when we think about Bible comprehension methods, and again, I think it's really important that if you're going to read your Bible, that you're going to comprehend it, listening to the Bible audio allows you to hear God's word. Reading the Bible quietly allows you to see God's word, but reading the Bible out loud allows you to see, speak, and hear God's word. It is the most effective method of comprehending scripture. So you can read or listen to the Bible, but reading aloud has the greatest impact on you. And again, when you look at those scriptures that Paul wrote to Timothy, the idea that these are scriptures and words, God's word that's divinely inspired, that is there to be beneficial to you. I think you and I want to make the most out of it daily. So why focus on the New Testament and the Psalms? You may remember that I mentioned that specifically there's a focus around the books of the New Testament. That's between John and Revelation as well as the book of Psalms. Well, the Old Testament has some use for the modern-day Christian. It does teach about God's character. It does show God's promises, etc. But it also requires revelation to understand how that Old Testament verse applies to today. And honestly, not everyone has that revelation. So there's quite a few people who as they're reading the Old Testament, they really do zone out or they don't even understand what it is that they're reading or what's the context of it for living life as a modern Christian, a Christian who is living after the time of Christ on earth, who's awaiting the second coming, who's born again, filled with the spirit. There's a lot of revelation that occurs in the New Testament that may be something harder for you to understand in the Old. The New Testament and the Psalms is full of current instructions for Christians. It's a slam dunk, so to speak. You don't have to interpret as much or try to understand a revelation or what did this type or this shadow, what this meaning, you know, what happened then that means this now. No, no, no. In the New Testament, it's much more clear and much more tangible for the average person. So, the Old Testament is actually revealed in fulfilled in the New Testament. So you often see quotes from the Old Testament and you see them specifically in the form of our Lord Jesus Christ. There's many Old Testament verses that are super important and they're already quoted for you in the New Testament. Uh there's so many different times that they're quoted, but the entire book of Hebrews is full of references and quotes from the Old Testament. But Revelation that if you were reading the Old Testament on your own, you may not pick up. uh the writer of the book of Hebrews does a fantastic job. Again, a God inspired, divinely inspired, God breathed job of interpreting and understanding so many important aspects of the Old Testament, how they apply to Jesus Christ, how they apply to the Old Covenant, and how we have a great high priest and our Lord who's an advocate for us. There's so many powerful things. And that's just Hebrews. It shows up in many other books, too. The New Testament, it contains the gospel. It talks about the death, burial, and resurrection and the new covenant. And you may remember in Mark chapter 1 that we discussed in the Why Am I a Christian episode back in season 1 of the Simple Truth podcast. You may remember that Jesus came and his first message was the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel. It was a very clear statement of the time has come. It is time for you to change your mind, have another mind, and believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a very definitive statement that tells us quite clearly that there's many aspects in the Old Testament that if you don't have revelation, they're not going to be as beneficial for you as they should be. So, I'll always continue to focus on the idea that Christians gain tremendous benefit out of the New Testament and the Psalms. Again, there's a lot that could be taken out of the Old Testament. There's a lot of benefit there, but for most of us, focusing in on God's word in the New Testament and Psalms will give us the maximum benefit. The Psalms is full of spirit-filled prayers and revelation of that gospel. And why daily? Well, Bible reading daily keeps you aligned with God. You'll find that as you're reading the scripture, you're not only learning about God, but you're finding it getting inside of you. Next episode, we're going to talk about meditating and its effect inside and internalizing God's scripture. And you see that daily Bible reading, it aligns you with God. Remember, we were talking before about God straightening us. We require straightening quite often, folks. And reading it daily is the best way to do that. In a world full of distractions and competing voices, daily reading keeps God's voice louder than the world's voice. Which brings us to our next simple truth. Reading God's word purifies your heart and it gives direction. Let's take a look in Jeremiah. Before we read in Jeremiah chapter 23, we're going to talk about this idea that God's word is like a fire and a hammer. It refineses us and it makes us better. Jeremiah 23:29 is not my word, God says, like a fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rocks in pieces. Again, strong terms. God says it's not my word. That word in Hebrew, it's God's instruction, God's commands, God's spoken word. Are not God's instructions and commands and what he speaks like a fire? Fire is literally flame. God's word is like a flame. And when we think about a flame, we think about a refining fire. It's something that removes impurities and strengthens us. When you take fire to metal, for example, you're melting it and you're removing impurities from the metal. And then when you cool that metal off, it's stronger and in a stronger form. This is how the most sophisticated forms of metals or steels are made by applying fire to it. So God's word refineses us, removes impurities from us and strengthens us. God also said that his word is like a hammer. A hammer is a mallet. You use it to destroy, to force, or to shape. So, it's not just breaking you down. It's shaping you. God's word breaks down our hardened heart. It breaks down our stubborn strongholds, our false beliefs. And God does it not to humiliate us or shame us or embarrass us or judge us or or point us out or laugh at us. God does it to renew us, to transform us. Remember where we were looking in last season, how often we saw that God would work in us to conform us to the image of his son. God didn't just send Jesus to say great things. God sent Jesus to die, be buried, and rise again for us. God sent Jesus so that we could become like Jesus. That we could start walking like Jesus. That we could take up that yoke and walk alongside Jesus to go the direction he's going. Go at the speed he's going. Reading God's word aloud daily. It will refine and it will transform you. So what comes to mind when you think of a fire and a hammer together? I don't know about you, but I think of a blacksmith. For those watching YouTube, you can see a visual on your screen. Here we've got a blacksmith. He's got his forge behind him. In intense heat, he's taken fire out of that forge and he is pounding it with his hammer and he is bending it into shape. God takes us. He puts us into the fire to discipline us, to scourge us, to purge us of all these impurities that we've picked up in all sorts of things that we were doing in our former lives, all sorts of bad thoughts and false beliefs and things that try to rebel against God. He takes it and he starts burning these things out of us. And then he starts pounding with his spiritual hammer. He breaks a hard heart into pieces and he starts shaping us. Shaping us into goodness, shaping us into godliness, shaping us into righteousness. And you and I don't deserve the credit. God deserves the credit. He's doing it by his spirit. And he's doing it to conform us. And I'll tell you what, as he burns those impurities out of your heart and my heart, and as he starts shaping and forming us into the image of Christ to do our purpose in our lives, as he's doing that, we have peace, we have joy, we have comfort, we can laugh, we can sleep, we can have rest because those impurities are robbing you of your peace. Those short-term impurities, those things we chase after where we think we're getting away with something, they don't help you. They just hurt you. I get it. I understand why we would chase them. Those comforts are not benefiting us. They're just short-term comforts. They're just short-term pleasures that are just working in us to kind of satisfy some fact of our flesh. It's not benefiting us, folks. It harms us. There is a way that seems right to a person. That's what it says in the scripture. And to the end of it is destruction. We don't need to do what we thinking is right and going towards destruction. We need to let God put us into the fire. I know it's hard. I know it hurts. We let God bang with that spiritual hammer because he starts shaping us and forming us. And reading the scripture out loud is a powerful way to do that. Let's take a look at Psalm 119. And in this psalm, we're going to see a verse that talks about how, and it's a famous verse, reading God's word out loud daily keeps God's truth shaping our behavior and lighting our next steps. Right? So, it doesn't just sit on a page, God's word. It actually shapes us and lights where we're going to go. So, Psalm 119 verse 105, quote, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." famous verse in the Bible. Your word, remember in Hebrew, that's God's instruction. God's commands, God's spoken word. So God's commands to us, his instruction to us, the word he speaks to you. It's a lamp. When we're talking about a lamp in Hebrew, in the Old Testament, we're talking about a small clay lantern, right? This little lantern, and it implies spiritual illumination. God's word illuminates, right? It's a lamp to our feet. That's our feet, our legs. It really implies our steps. So God's word illuminates our steps, our journey, our behavior. When you think about your journey and your steps, it implies where you're going, what you're doing, why you're going there. So God's word illuminates our steps, our journey, our path, and our behavior. And it's a light. It's illuminating guidance to our path. When it talks about a path, it's it's a worn path, right? It implies more than just some path that you've done for the first time. It's really implying a pattern in your life, right? It's talking about your daily behavior, your life's direction, your habits over time. So God's word, it illuminates our journey, our behavior, and it also provides an illuminating guidance to the patterns of our life, what we do every day, and the direction that we're going. So it's a very deep verse when you think about it of what it ends up meaning. And really the reality is reading God's word, reading the Bible daily, it shapes our steps today as well as the path that our life is forming. So it's both a daily benefit and it's a long-term benefit because honestly the steps you take every day, they actually have an impact on where your life goes long term. I never really understood this revelation until I was researching this verse more. And as I was looking at it and studying and meditating on it, it's very powerful the idea that God's word shapes both what we do today in the now and it affects where our life ends up going. So what does a light to our path look like? Well, let's see. Imagine looking in front of you and everything is black. That's how too many people feel in life. Many people walk through life feeling like they're completely in the dark, just like your screen right now if you're watching this episode on YouTube. We want to be successful, but we don't know which way to go. We make our best guess using our intellect, maybe past experiences or our instincts, but we are guessing. Sometimes we do okay and sometimes we fail miserably. We're feeling around in the dark, saying, "I wish I knew what path to take." And in desperation, we often look to other people to guide us through the darkness. But with time, we often find that they're in the dark, just like we are, and they're just guessing, too. We then begin to feel hopeless. Now, imagine how things change with even just a little light in front of you. A light to show you what's ahead of you. and how to avoid dangers and traps. That light comes when we commit ourselves to reading God's word. Remember simple truth number eight in season 2 episode 4 when we talked about finding your way out of the wilderness. We said that God will give you a path that you must take. This is how you find that path. Psalm 110 says that God's word will light your path so you could find it and follow it. So commit yourself to the five disciplines and read God's word aloud daily. So let's take a moment. The Bible reveals truth about God and about us. But obedience turns that truth into transformation. So reading the Bible teaches you about God and it teaches you about yourself. Reading the scriptures exposes your heart and what you need. But it's obeying God's word that converts the insight that you get, what you learn reading the scriptures into transformation in your life. Which leads us to our next simple truth. God's word is meant to be lived and not just learned. We're going to talk about how God commands us to strip off sin, to receive God's word humbly, and to let it transform us. James 1 verses 21-2. Quote, "Therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls." Right. James 1:21, James says, "Lay aside, take off those dirty thoughts and the dirty behaviors." That scripture, that verse is really describing dirty clothes, right? The Greek word is like dirty clothes. Take off your dirty thoughts and your dirty behaviors the same you would take off dirty clothes and overflow of wickedness and instead receive with meekness. weakness is gentleness or inner strength. The implanted word, the implanted word means God's word planted in your heart. So when you hear God's word and you receive God's word, and we're going to talk about the parable of the sewer in an upcoming simple truth season, then the seed of God's word, it grows and it produces transformation. Right? So we hear God's word, we receive God's word and then it's planted in our heart and it grows and produces the byproduct or the fruit of God's word which is conversion and sanctification or also known as transformation. And it says this word this implanted word is able to save your souls. When we talk about saving your souls, God's word has saving power. That means it's not just initial salvation. It's not just when you're born again, but it's an ongoing spiritual rescue and conversion. And that, my friends, is the sanctification process. As we get into a season, I have all these things. We have all these seasons where I'm like, just wait. We're going to get to that season. We absolutely will. But we're going to talk about the blood of Jesus Christ. And one of the four effects it had is sanctification, which involves the conversion of you. reading aloud God's word and letting it take root that has the power to change you. James 1 vers22, we're going to talk here about how God's word, it isn't just to be admired from afar. It's meant to be obeyed. So James 1:22, but be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. So James instructs us, God by the spirit instructs us to be a doer. That is a performer. Someone who performs it to bring the word into reality. When God reveals something to you, you should be doing it. You should be bringing it into reality in your life. To be a doer of the word. The word again in Greek is the message, the instruction, the revealed truth. And not a hearer only. A hearer is just a listener. So God instructs us to be a doer, to bring into reality that message, that instruction, that truth that has been revealed to us, and not just to be someone who listens to it. Because doing that means you're deceiving yourselves. You're deluding yourself. You're misleading yourself. It really involves with that Greek word twisted logic. Your logic is twisted. And so you delude yourself. You mislead yourself. You basically convince yourself out of doing what God is asking you to do or instructing you to do, which means you don't get the benefit of it. Reading the Bible out loud, it changes everything because it moves God's word from passive information that's in a book or on your app into an active confrontation with you. That's what you and I want. You and I want to read out loud. And we're going to talk in next episode. We're also going to want to meditate and internalize it. But we want to read the Bible out loud because it goes from being passive information that's embedded in a book in the Bible or embedded on your app. And it turns it into an active confrontation with our own hearts, with our own false beliefs, with our own fears. And that's exactly where we want to be with it. But then you must decide, will I live this? When God confronts you, when you hear his word, when the word is looking to plant in your heart, you will be asked the question, will I live this? Hearing is not the finish line. Obedience is hearing is not the end of the road. Just listening. Here James is saying, don't be a hearer, a listener only, but be a doer of God's word. James 1:23. And here we're going to talk about how reading God's word out loud, it puts a mirror in front of us. James 1:23, for if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror. A lot of us have read this before. Let's get into it and let's see if we start to bring some insight maybe you haven't seen before. It says, "For if anyone is a hearer, that's a listener of the word," that's God's message, instructions, or revealed truth, and not a doer, that's a performer, someone who brings it into reality. That's like a person who observes, they look closely, they examine, they study carefully their face in the mirror. Isn't that fascinating? When you read scripture out loud, you're holding a mirror up to your life. You're actually looking closely at your life. You're examining your life. You are studying your life carefully. But if you close the Bible and don't do any of the steps to change, if you just examine yourself and then walk away, then nothing is gained. A person who examines themself closely in the mirror and instead they’re just a listener. They're not a doer. So that truth that's been revealed, that message, that instruction, it becomes lost on them. It does not allow it to be implanted. In James 1:24, we're going to talk about the idea that God's word is meant to be heard and lived. James 1:24, for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. Notice the progression. James writes, "This person observes themself. They look in the mirror of God's word. They closely examine themselves, but then they go away and then they immediately forget what they observed and learned and closely examined about themselves." That's what James describes as being a listener and not a doer of God's word. And this word forget, it doesn't mean memory loss. This word in Greek is really a failure to act on what's been revealed to you when you were looking in the mirror. So when you read and you hear in the Bible God's word, when truth becomes revealed to you and all you do is just listen to it, but you do nothing with it, then you forget. You fail to act on what God revealed to you. And you become like that person who closely examines themselves in the mirror, goes away and forgets everything that they learned when they examine themselves and look closely in that mirror. This is like looking in a mirror. And so, so let's break this down. Let's make this Ted, make it plain, right? This is like you or me looking in the mirror, seeing a giant spot of jam or jelly all over our face. We see, oh my gosh, I've got raspberry jam on my face. Then we walk away and we do nothing about it. So what does that look like? Here it is, folks. If you are this man and you see this jelly, this jam. For those of you watching this on YouTube, you see it. For those of you who are listening to this on the audio, imagine a man in a nice suit, well-dressed, looks like he's ready to go to work or wherever it is that he's going to go. He's got four or five inches of jam all over his face. If you see this in the mirror, and you do not wipe it off, what kind of person are you? Looking at the Bible, reading the Bible out loud, God revealing his truth to you, and you do nothing about it, that you're just a listener and you're not a doer. You do not do something with what God has revealed to you. You're just like this person looking at themself in the mirror. You walk away and do nothing about it, and you're going to spend the rest of the day with everybody looking like you are crazy. In James 1:25, we're going to see that those who read and obey God's word, they live in freedom and success. Remember, this season is all about how Christians grow, right? And reading the Bible out loud is fundamental. That's why it's discipline number one and how Christians grow. James 1:25, "But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does." So he who looks into so but right so he's creating this transition and creating a contrast. He a person who looks into they stoop down they examine closely into the perfect law of liberty. Notice that God's word is called the perfect law of liberty. It's called perfect because it's complete. God's word lacks nothing. Right? It's called the law because it's instructive. It's authoritative. So it's complete. It lacks nothing. And it instructs you and me. It's authoritative. We could build our life on God's word of liberty. That means it frees and it liberates you. It doesn't enslave you. Reading the Bible out loud is meant because it's complete. It's instructive and it's liberating. It's empowering. We often look at sin like somehow we're getting away with something. That we're going to try to do something that we know in our heart is not right. And that somehow we're getting away and that we have some form of freedom when we sin. You don't have freedom when you sin, folks. You're being enslaved when you sin. You're being snared. You're being trapped. That's why we often see people who get into these habits, these terrible habits, these terrible situations, whether it's pornography or drug addiction or alcoholism or sex. There's quite a few things that people do that when they do it once, they feel the need to do it again and do it again and do it again. And for too many people, their life spirals way out of control. That is not God's word. God's word is complete. God's word lacks nothing. God's word is instructive and authoritative. And God's word frees you and liberates you. And that's what you want more of. That's why every day you and I should read it out loud because it's the perfect law of liberty and it will set us free. So it says this person who looks into they stoop down they they examine closely God's word and continues in it. That means to remain in it to stay close to it. That means that when you read and you look in that mirror you don't look away. You keep looking. It's tough. You examine closely and you're going to see things. God's going to show you things and it's not going to be good things, right? You're going to see things and you're going to repent from them. And it's not going to be easy. And you're not always going to find support or assistance. You may not find, you know, maybe your boyfriend or girlfriend won't be there for you. Your family may not be there for you. But do what's right in your heart. Keep looking. Examine closely. Remain in it. Stay close to it. James is saying and be a doer of the work. Obedience isn't passive. Obedience, obeying God's word. It takes actions. So, whatever that thing is that God is convincing you of, showing you, whatever you're seeing in the mirror as you're reading God's word out loud, take action. Start moving on it. Say, "Father, I thank you for revealing this to me. And I know it's not going to be easy. Continue to give me strength. Jesus died for this thing and you have given me power to overcome it. That is why we believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because the same power that the father worked in Jesus when he raised him from the dead, he works in you. When you see, when you look in the mirror and you see that thing, when God exposes that thing through God's word to you and you take action, that is the power that God is working in you. Thank God. It says this person will be blessed in what he does. To be blessed is to be happy, to be well off, to flourish, to be successful. Reading God's word aloud, obeying it, and watching it transform your life. That is what a Christian does. That's why this is number one in the five disciplines. Let's take a moment. Reading the Bible out loud changes everything, right? That's been the name of the title of this whole episode. The Bible, especially the New Testament and the Psalms, is full of insight and wisdom for your life. But reading it out loud is the best way to engage it. To use your sight, to use your speech, and to use your hearing. Reading out loud was the historical norm for a reason. There's a reason why people up until about 250 AD, they made it the common practice to read out loud, whether by themself or whether in a group. When read God's word, as we saw in the book of Jeremiah, it acts like a refining fire and like a hammer that breaks down our bad habits. But you should take action when you see yourself in the mirror, when you see yourself in God's word, right? We saw that in the book of James. And if you do, you will be closer to God. You will find God's favor and have success as a Christian. If reading God's word out loud bends you into shape, as we saw in the book of Jeremiah, then meditating on God's word holds you in the right shape. Join us for next episode as we talk about discipline number two and we discuss how meditating on God's word transforms your life. Thank you for joining me for this episode of the simple truth. God's word is not ordinary. It's living. It's powerful. And when you read it and speak it, something begins to change inside of you. Reading the Bible out loud may seem like a simple concept, but often it is simple obedience that unlocks real transformation. When reading the Bible out loud, God isn't just informing you, he's forming you. So, here's my challenge to you. For the next seven days, read the New Testament or Psalms out loud for at least 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes at night. twice a day. Just 15 minutes or more each time. No rushing, no multitasking, just you and God's word spoken out loud and heard by you. Give God your voice for just one week. Let his word fill your ears and watch what begins to shift in your faith, in your clarity, and in your confidence. If this episode encouraged you, please like, subscribe, and share it with someone else who wants to grow stronger in their walk with God. It has been a real pleasure talking about the Bible with you. I pray God bless you and keep you and strengthen you through his word. Until next time. Thank you for listening to the Simple Truth Podcast. For additional episodes, visit us at www.simpletruth.org