Finding Peace through Bible Reading: A Lesson from Luke 4

In this sermon by Reagan, the focus is on the significance of Bible reading in achieving peace by imitating Jesus Christ. Reagan elaborates on the example of Jesus reading from Isaiah in Luke 4 and outlines how Christians can incorporate daily scripture reading into their lives. He emphasizes the need to be familiar with the content of the Bible to emulate the peace that Jesus experienced. Practical steps, such as finding a quiet place and bringing the book, whether in physical or digital form, are offered to help listeners integrate Bible reading into their daily routines for spiritual growth and peace.

00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:44 Congregational Focus for 2025: Walking Like Jesus
01:35 Spiritual Disciplines: Feeding on God's Word
02:13 Jesus Reading Scripture: A Deep Dive into Luke 4
06:14 The Great Isaiah Scroll: Historical Context
10:44 Jesus' Familiarity with Scripture
15:56 The Importance of Reading Scripture
28:36 Practical Tips for Bible Reading
37:19 Conclusion: The Path to Peace

Transcript

Again, good morning. Would you take out your Bible with me please? And turn to the Gospel of Luke, the third book of our New Testament, the Gospel of Luke. And if you'll turn to chapter four, Luke Chapter four. We're gonna begin reading in verse 16 here in just a moment. Luke chapter four in verse 16, I join with those who have already expressed our gratitude for you being here this morning.

We're especially grateful for those who are visiting. We, we, we really mean that. We're glad that you're here and we hope that God is pleased with the things that we do here this morning and that you might be helped as we strive to do what his will is and to be more like his son and being more like his son is one of the primary focuses that we've had for many, many years here.

But our congregational focus for 2025 is this idea to walk like Jesus. Finding peace by imitating the prince of peace. Can we identify the way Jesus lived so that we can seek to have the same, same kind of peace that Jesus had? And as we thinking about walking like Jesus, for each of our quarters, we focused on one aspect of walking like Jesus, and tried to apply what are commonly called spiritual disciplines in order to do that.

So in quarter one, we talked about finding the quiet places. That there need to be those times and places and every day where we spend time alone with God. In the second quarter, we talked about how we fall at God's feet in those quiet places, how we go to him in prayer, how we fast to replace physical things with spiritual things.

And then in this quarter, we've talked about feeding on God's word. As we think about this idea of meditating on God's word, studying God's word, even memorizing God's word to internalize it and get it in us. And so this morning, as we're nearing the end of this quarter, talking about feeding on God's word, consuming the words of life.

I want us to think for a few minutes about feeding on God's word in Bible reading, and maybe you say, Reagan, you kinda did that order outta order. You talked about meditation and memorization and all those sorts of things. Don't we have to read God's word in order to do those things? Of course. Of course we do.

But I want us to think particularly about this idea of how Bible reading is gonna bring us peace if we practice it in a similar way as Jesus now. The way we've gone about these lessons, we've, they've all had kind of a, a similar layout. And, and so what we've thought about is what did Jesus do? Answering and a asking and answering that question as we see it in the gospels.

And then what did he teach his disciples to do? What, what was Jesus' teaching in regard to this spiritual discipline? And then finally, what should we do? An imitation of Jesus and the early disciples as we make application to our own life. So that's what we're gonna do this morning as we think about reading scripture.

It comes as no great shock that Jesus read scripture. But what may be surprising to us is that we only have one explicit occasion in the Gospels of Jesus reading the Word of God That's found there in Luke chapter four, beginning in verse 16. If you'll read that with me, Luke chapter four, beginning in verse 16.

So he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up, and as his custom was not just Jesus's custom, this was the custom of all fateful Jews at that time. He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up to read. Now, this was common practice. There would be someone in the synagogue who would be chosen.

Oftentimes it was different people on different days, maybe different rabbis, different scribes. Maybe if there was a visiting scribe or a visiting rabbi, he might be invited to read just like we might do with a visiting preacher today. And so on this occasion, Jesus is the one who stands up to read in the synagogue, verse 17, and he was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah.

It's interesting. It doesn't say whether he asked for that scroll. Hey, give me Isaiah from the, the, the stack of scrolls over there. Or if they were like, here, let's read Isaiah. That's where we are in our, our, our, our reading from week to week. But whatever the case, he's handed the scroll of Isaiah and when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written.

The spirit of the Lord is upon me. Because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

That's quotation from what we would call Isaiah 61 verses one and two. Then he closed the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on him. That's the power of a good silent pause, right? Everybody's saying, what's he gonna say about this?

And when? And he began to say to them, today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Now there's some really powerful things that we might talk about in this text, and we have talked about why he quoted from this passage, their reaction to him, uh uh, associating that with himself as the Messiah, all those sorts of things.

But I think sometimes it's helpful when we read a biblical text to ask ourself the question, how did they do that? All these things are just kind of described, you know, he opened the book, he closed the book. He found the place to read those things. How did Jesus go about finding the place in the scroll of Isaiah New King?

James says, the book of Isaiah, did they have chapters and verses like we do at this time? Gonna hear your head rattled that way or this way? No, they didn't have chapters. They didn't have verses. And what's interesting when we think about Isaiah specifically, was Isaiah a short book? No. It's one of the longest books that we have in our Bible, over 25,000 words in the book of Isaiah in Hebrew, and we actually have copies, or at least one practically whole copy of the book of Isaiah.

That was actually in existence during the time of Jesus. Now, this was one of the greatest discoveries when we think about the Dead Sea Scrolls. This is called the Great Isaiah Scroll. It dates to before the birth of Christ, and obviously it was in existence because it's believed that these scrolls were hidden sometime around the destruction of Jerusalem in 78 a D.

This scroll would've been in Israel somewhere during the time of Jesus. Isn't that kind of incredible? The one place where we see Jesus reading from a scroll. We have a a, a fully complete copy of that scroll from his time. And so we can think about Jesus reading from a scroll like this as we see here in Luke chapter four.

Now to save on very expensive writing materials. Almost every part of the page is used as you can kind of see on the screen behind me. In many cases, these scrolls were written front and back, but with some particular kinds of papyrus, some particular kinds of writing materials, it would've only been written on one side because kind of like, you know, a poster board, how there's the, the side on one side that's slick, and if you write on it with a marker, what happens?

It smudges. It smears, but there's the other side where you can write on it and it's gonna say, good with some treatment of papyrus. That's the way it was. You only wrote on one side with the great Isaiah Scroll. That's the way it is. It's only written on one side. The scroll is 24 feet long. It's made up of 17 parchment sheets sewn together.

It has 54 columns of text covering the book of Isaiah. Now, if we zoom in a little bit. We can see the place where Jesus read from. How, how well would you have to know this particular scroll to find the particular place that you're looking for? Here is where I'm gonna zoom in if you can see that there on the screen.

So if I zoom that in, that's the particular page, it's kind of sewn together there in the middle. Where Jesus would've found what we call Isaiah 61 verses one and two. Where are those lines? Those lines are right here. Now, remember, Hebrew goes what we would call backwards. So you're reading from right to left this way.

And so the line starts here and goes there, and Jesus found the place from this entire large scroll that we see right here. He found the place where it was written. He read it. And said this was fulfilled in your hearing. Maybe that's a little hard for us to see and visualize. So here's what I wanna do.

I've got two gentlemen that are gonna help me here for just a second. I have printed off, let's see if we can do this without ripping it or messing it up.

Nice to have people to help you, isn't it? All right, so I've got this scroll of Isaiah. This is in English, but it has the proper number of columns. It is the right length for this scroll of what the great Isaiah Scroll would have been. And it is found to have, keep going, Daniel. Keep going. Keep going.

Daniel, maybe go this way a little bit. Brent. This, this would've been the appropriate size in columns, in length all those sorts of things. This is what you imagine. Now I want to find a particular, what we would call verse in the scroll. How difficult would that be? Here's the real question.

How well would you have to know the content of this book in order to find the place you're looking for? Isaiah 61. There are no verses or chapters here. The place where Jesus read is right here on this great scroll. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me, so on and so forth.

Does that give you a visual representation of what we're talking about here? All right. If you guys will just lay this on the ground right here. Preferably face up so they can see the writing. We'll let anybody who wants to come up here and see this after services, what's my point in showing you all of that?

You would have to be intimately fa familiar with the content of the book in order to find a place. How familiar was Jesus with the content of Isaiah? Well. He's so familiar. He is called The word in the Gospel of John. These things came from him. No doubt. Being the one from whom these words came is an advantage, of course, but isn't our goal and our desire as Christians to imitate and be like our Lord in all things.

What if we became over the course of our life, not now, not tomorrow, but over the course of our life, what if we became so intimately familiar with the scriptures that we could be called in a lesser and limited sense, that we could be called the word? Because that word is in us that Jesus, his words, the Holy Spirit is in us to such a degree that it impacts our mind and our thinking and our activities.

Loved ones. The only way that is gonna happen is if we are diligent and consistent in reading the word of God. We want the word of Christ to dwell in us richly with all wisdom, because that is exactly the way it was with Jesus. And the second thing we see is that Jesus demanded those who would be his disciples to know the scripture.

Scripture was the common ground by which proper understanding and an application of God's word was communicated. And so Jesus used that scripture to do what Paul said Timothy was supposed to do. In two Timothy chapter four and verse two, Jesus used that scripture to convince, to rebuke, to exhort. With all long suffering and teaching.

He used the word of God in order to bring about proper understanding, proper acceptance of who he was as the Messiah, and then proper application in the way people were supposed to live. A great example of this is found in Luke chapter 10. If you want to turn over there, turn to Luke chapter 10 and verse 26.

Luke chapter 10 and verse 26. Start reading in verse 25 with me. Luke chapter 10 and verse 25, and behold, a certain lawyer so this is someone who had been an expert in the law of Moses. This is somebody who's supposed to have the word written on his heart, stood up and tested him, saying, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

He said to him, what is written in the law? What is your listen? What is your reading of it? You're the expert. You read the law all the time. You tell me what one must do in order to inherit eternal life. So he answered and said, you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your strength, with all of your mind, and your neighbor as your self.

Now those quotations came from two different sections. Well, it was, it was part of the Penit suit, but two different books in our Old Testament. One came from the book of Deuteronomy in chapter six. The other came from Leviticus chapter 19 and verse 18. And so he answered rightly Why? Because he was someone who read the law and knew it.

And so Jesus says to him, you have answered rightly. Do this and you will live. Now he tries to justify himself and Jesus must make proper application of what that looks like with this beautiful parable of He. He, he tells of the good Samaritan, but Jesus who had all authority when he is questioned points, points people back to the scriptures saying, what do the scriptures say?

And what is your reading of those scriptures? And it's interesting to me as I was going through all of the occasions of Jesus particularly talking about, Hey, what is written? What do you understand from the scriptures? You need to be reading the scriptures. And then going through the new te, the rest of the New Testament with the epistles as well.

It's interesting to me that Jesus most often used the scriptures and admonitions to read those scriptures and understand and obey them as a rebuke against those who rejected him. I've given you some examples there on the screen. Matthew 12, Matthew 1922, mark 12 and John five are all good examples where there are people coming with foolish questions and Jesus says, have you not read?

That was one of his most common questions to other people. Have you not read? What if Jesus asked that of us today? Have you not read? Then he quotes the scripture and says, Hey, this is what the scripture says. Would my answer be Yes, of course I've read that because it's in the scriptures and I am reading the scriptures daily, just as these early disciples did.

And so really this is the point for all of us. Jesus read the scripture. He demanded those who would be his disciples to know the scripture. And we should read scripture too. Now, raise your hand if you didn't know you were supposed to read the Bible to be a Christian. So why did I spend this time talking about that?

Well, I think we have to lay the foundation of how important this really is, how fundamental it is if we are going to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus. But even more, this isn't just, you know, walking like Jesus. It is imitating the prince of peace for what purpose? So that we too might have peace. If you want peace and contentment in your life, it's gonna have to include the reading of the word of God.

God's people. Old and new covenant have always been people of the book. People of the scroll, a literary people. It is not just like so many of the ancient peoples throughout time. It's not just oral tradition that is codified doctrine written down, remembered and observed, taken from the inspiration of God himself by his spirit.

We see that in the Old Testament, and I'm not gonna read all of these scriptures on the board, but let me just highlight a few of them for you. Go back to Deuteronomy chapter six. Deuteronomy chapter six. As Moses knows, he is about to pass from this earth, go the way of all the earth and death. He's giving these final instructions from God as he repeats the law.

Deuteronomy second law, and he tells them not just this is what the law says. He says, you need to learn these things. You need to know these things. How would one go about doing that? Well, Deuteronomy chapter six, beginning in verse four. Here. Oh, Israel. We might say, here, church, listen up. The Lord our God.

The Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words, which I commend you today, shall be on your shelf in your scrolls. These things will be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children. You shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand.

They shall be as frontlets between your eyes. Now the Jews took this really, really, literally, they would wear the scripture on their forehead and, and carry it around in little bracelets that would be on their arms. I, I really think what he's communicating there is what do you see and use all the time.

You use your hand and you see your hand working throughout the day, whether that's typing on a keyboard or working in other ways with your hand, and what do you definitely use every day? You use your eyes to see what's in front of you, and the word of God should be like that in your life, that you see it all the time, that you use it all the time.

Practically, you shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates. Not as some magic aliman to keep the bad spirits out, but so that you would see and read those things every single day. They were people of the book and they did these things to get those things into their hearts. And so I encourage us to try and get the word of God into our hearts to contemplate, consider, and read it daily.

It's interesting, isn't it, of all the places that the people of God could have gone into slavery, they went into Egypt where reading and writing and writing materials were more available than anywhere else by far in the ancient world, so that they might become a culture of people of the scroll. And this writing, memorizing and meditating, reading was not just for the, especially spiritual, not for the priests alone.

It was from everyone from Prince to Popper. Those who were required to lead were also required to read. They needed to apply their reading and understanding and application of the law. Every King of Israel and, and Judah was commanded in Deuteronomy seven 18 through 20 to write their own copy of the book of the law, to read that copy every day, and then make application and do it.

And so too for us. For every parent, for every father, for every person, for every leader, be that spiritual or secular. In the room this morning, if you want to impact the people over whom you have influence, read the word of God every day and do it. Every seven years, there was a National Day of reading in Deuteronomy chapter 31.

It, it details that kind of command. Every seven years you read the law as a group, you go through it together, read it in a community so that you might understand and co and apply it. But this was not just something for the people of Israel in in general. It was also something that individual people were supposed to be doing.

For example, in Joshua chapter one and verse eight, this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth. That's because they usually read out loud. Reading in your own mind without moving your lips is kind of a newer invention. They would read it out loud. It's in your mouth because you're reading it.

But you shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success. We see in Psalm one verses one and two. This was our memory verse from last month. Blessed is the man who walks not in the council of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.

His delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law, he meditates day and night. And we see throughout the rest of the Old Testament how God's word is held in high esteem and meditated on deeply by spiritually minded people. But of course, these admonitions were not always followed by everybody. It's no coincidence.

It was in those times when the book was lost that God's people were lost in their relationship with God. You take two Kings, chapter 23, for example, when they found the book of the Lord, they got back on track when they could read God's words again. Later, after the return from Babylonian captivity in Nehemiah chapter eight, verses one through eight, how do they, they have this spirit of restoration.

What was the restoration movement like for them? The first thing they had to do was bring the book to read it for all the people to know these words so that you might do these words, and that spirit of reading the words of God was not something just found in the Old Testament. Fast forward to the new.

And why was it that the Apostle Paul went to the synagogues in his travels? Because they had the common ground of the scriptures of the word of God. And Acts 13, acts 15 talks about how the law and the prophets were read in the synagogues every Sabbath day. Now not the entirety of the law and profits, but some from each.

No doubt. And I think that's a good lesson for us. I remember. I think it was Garrett Thornton came up to me before he went off to college. And he was frustrated because he was talking with someone who believed that they were personally directed by God in some way that God had spoken to them.

And he's like, how do you talk to somebody like that? And I'm like, what's difficult? But where you have to start is with the book because it provides common ground with that person. You can say to them, I don't know what God has or hasn't said to you. But I know with certainty what he has said to both of us.

It is found here in this book, and that's why the folks in Acts chapter 17, the Berean, were commended in Acts chapter 17 verses 10 through 12. These verse 11 were more. Fair-minded, noble minded, oh, king. King says fair-minded is really the idea they're giving Paul a fair chance to communicate what it is that he's communicating about the Messiah.

How do they confirm that? How do they give him a fair chance in that they receive the word with all readiness and search the scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so, therefore, many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks prominent men as well. As women. Jesus, as we read, participated in this tradition of weekly reading in the synagogues and that continued with early Christians.

Give you just three examples. One Thessalonians 5 27. I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren in the church in Thessalonica, Colossians, chapter four and verse 16. Now, when this epistle is read among you. See that it is read also in the church of the Las la Esan, and that you likewise read the epistle from ea read these holy scriptures contained within these epistles.

And one more example in the book of Revelation, revelation one and verse three. Blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it. One of the best examples is found in one Timothy chapter four. If you turn there for just a moment, one Timothy chapter four.

Now, this is written to a young evangelist, but I think these words have wider application than just to Timothy one. Timothy chapter three and verse 12. Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith and purity. Till I come give attention to three things, reading to exhortation and to doctrine.

Now he says more there, but let's stop right there. When I was a, a younger man, especially when I was a young preacher. There were certainly those who despise my youth. That's just part of the reality, and I'm trying to live the Christian life as best I can, but how can I communicate, communicate God to those people?

Well, there's something that they shouldn't despise if they're believers and that are, that is the words of God himself. And so all of us, whether young or old, should be giving attention to reading. All of us, whether young or old, should be given attention to exhortation. That is those acts of kindness and consideration that build up the encouragement that comes from living the Christian life.

And all of us should be giving attention to doctrine, teaching and learning what is true and what is right in God's word. And all three of these have their foundation in the word of God. If, if I'm reading the scriptures and the things related to scriptures every day, I'm gonna know what proper doctrine is and I'm gonna be able to exhort others based on what that truth is.

So if I were to summarize all of the things that we're talking about here this morning, tune back in, here's the summary. There is nothing more important. Now, there are things equally important. Don't, don't misunderstand me, but I, I would suggest there's nothing more important. To your continued, continued spiritual health and growth, the continued spiritual health and growth of your family, the continued spiritual health and growth of the Lord's people.

Then regularly reading the word of God. May we be people of the book just as God's people have always been, and what does that look like? Well, we do a lot of things in regard to reading. We're so incredibly blessed that we can, we can have bibles with us that we all have Bibles. People across time certainly didn't have that even today.

In many places, they don't have that. And if you don't have your own personal Bible, we'd give you one for free. We would love to do that. And we're blessed that we can have a Bible at our fingertips. A digital copy was just a few taps of our finger. What a blessing that is. So what does it look like for us to be people who are imitating Jesus, walking like Jesus in regard to feeding on God's word as it relates to reading?

Well, these are some suggestions. Four suggestions for feeding on God's word. This is a voluntary religion. We've talked about that over and over. These are my suggestions and my judgment on a couple of these things in regard to feeding on God's word. Here are the steps that I would take. This isn't earth shattering, but I promise you, I promise you, if you do these four things, you will grow closer to God.

You will know more what he would have you to be. You will be more like his son, and you will have more of the peace that he offers. Is that attractive? Number one? The first suggestion is to find a quiet place. In a world that is filled with so much noise, as we've talked about, finding that time and place to be alone with God is vitally important, but it cannot be a one-way conversation where we only speak to God in our prayers.

It needs to be a two-way conversation where we hear his words in response. Find a quiet place, and in that quiet place, bring the book. Bring the words that belong to God. What kind of book? I'm curious, who prefers a hard copy physical Bible? Who prefers a digital bible? It's funny. So many people raise their hands the first time that the digital people relate.

Yeah, that's me. I do. Which one is better? Well, I'm gonna divide you up into two groups and we're gonna debate it. No. I, I think maybe that's the wrong perspective. That one is better than the other. I think they have different purposes and we're blessed that we have both and can use them in that way.

So there are some advantages to having a physical copy, and I think there are particularly some advantages to having a physical copy as you're reading the word of God in your quiet places. One of the reasons is it keeps it a quiet place. There are not the distractions and interruptions that so often happen when you have a digital copy, endless notifications.

But I would also say for those of you who are like me and can easily get excited and distracted by something that you read, Ooh, what does that mean? You know, I've read three lines and now already I'm on this rabbit trail and I'm looking at what's the etymology of that word? What are the cross references that go with it?

All those sorts of things. Well, that's Bible study, right? We're talking about Bible reading and having a physical copy can be really helpful if you're like me to say, let's stay on task on what we're doing here. And that's getting a broader picture of what these words say. I think it provides a physical context for the book.

How long is this book? Well, I have three pages that tell me. This is how long it is. One Timothy, 1, 2, 3, 4 openings. That gives me some context of chapter one verses chapter four, how these things fit together. Where is this book located in the Bible? I remember one of the first things I learned, at least one of the first things I remember.

You wanna find the Book of Psalms, get the very middle of your Bible, open it and you'll be in the book of Psalms. It gives us that kind of physical context. And it gives us context about where this text is located in the book or chapter. I think there's also a tactile experience that education research tells us, enhances our memory and comprehension when there's something physical, tactile for us to touch.

And maybe something that's a secondary point. I think having a physical Bible provides ownership and connection to the book. This is my bible. This is the Bible that I was reading when I became a Christian, and this is the Bible that I used for about 12 years thereafter until it was basically falling apart to really grow in my faith, to become more who God has called me to be.

And this is not an icon, this is not an idol. But to me, this book means something. And the way I treated this book was with respect. Usually, sometimes I throw it in the back of my truck when I was younger, right? But with respect and with care, because this book transformed me, not, not the book itself, but the words that were in this book.

And having your own Bible is something that most people throughout history weren't able to say. And there's a connection that can be made to that physical book. And I think honestly, it provides a better visual experience. That's literally true in regard to our eyes, but what I really mean is it allows me to see the context, to Mark themes to turn quickly from chapter to chapter without breaks or a new screen.

It's laid out in front of me and it creates a visual memory for the scriptures. I can visualize on the page a meaningful place, right? This is where that passage is on the place, and now I can almost read it in my mind's eye because I'm familiar of where it was, and that's why it was so. Scary for me when I sent this off to be rebound.

This is the one that took seven years for me to get back this special Bible, but now I have it and I'm not gonna let anybody have it ever again. I think. But are there advantages to a digital copy for Bible reading? Certainly there are. It's convenient. You're saying, are we just trying to make Bible reading easy?

Yeah, that's exactly what we're trying to do as easy as possible so that we might do it. You can carry it everywhere and access it in all the quiet places that we encounter throughout the day. Now, we've talked about how quiet places aren't just something you've set aside. You're standing in line at the DMV that can become a quiet place, and you have your Bible with you that you can take out and read for the 15, 20, 30, 40.

Steven, will you do this for me? The line in the DMV, right? As you're standing there in that time, it becomes time that you spend with God. And I does. I do think it makes instant search and study easier, especially some of the apps. I can see what this word means, where it's used, how it's translated. I can quickly cross reference, but I would suggest that really falls more in the idea of Bible study.

I think one of the greatest advantages though for digital Bibles is that it allows you to follow digital plans that mark and track your progress. Some apps even allow you to share that progress with others in a community. All of those things can be helpful. Bring the book, that's the point. Whether it's this book or this book.

Bring the book and spend time reading it. Well, these are some, these are some really great points. Read a section of scripture. Find a quiet place. Bring the book. Read a section of scripture maybe aloud. That's the ancient way of doing it. Or silently to yourself, which is common practice today. And there are lots of ways that you might do that.

A new section of scripture daily. You could do it topically, you know, consecutively according to Bible order. A chapter a day is a great way to read maybe chronological reading, and that's helpful in our culture for making connections, seeing how these different books fit together in terms of the time and place in which they were written.

I'm a big fan of reading the same section of scripture for several days because that is really great for seeing connections, for hearing and applying the scripture in a new way. It's also great for memorizing when you're reading the same scr section over and over. Another ancient practice is to read a news section of scripture daily and then repeat that cycle every week or every month.

Did you know that there was a weekly psalm that was read in the temple for every day of the week? For every day of the week? At the beginning of the day of the temple and the end of the day of the temple? They would read the same psalm on Sunday. It was Psalm 24, the second day, Psalm 48, the third day, Psalm 82, the fourth day, Psalm 94, the fifth day, Psalm 81, the sixth day, Psalm 93.

And on the Sabbath day, Psalm 92. Do you think they knew those psalms as they read them over and over and over again? But the point of all of this is not just to check a box. I read my Bible. The point is that this might get into our hearts, and so as we've talked about, and this is why we started with this concept, meditate on what you read.

Read these things, bring the book, and then allow those things to penetrate your heart. You do what God would have you to do. What is our stated goal for this year? Finding peace by imitating the prince of peace. Jesus was the word. Become flesh. May we become the word that is flesh, that the word of God penetrates our heart to where we live it each and every day because nothing is capable of quieting our mind, refocusing our priorities.

Guiding our behavior quite like daily reading of the word of God. This is the path to peace, and if you have heard that word this morning, if you've read it for yourself and you know what you need to do in order to imitate Jesus and come to him, there's nothing that would make us happier. Then an imitation of his death, burial and resurrection.

You might die to sin, be buried in water and rise to walk in newness of life. And if we can help you with that, even this morning, come while together, we stand and while we sing here this.