Reading the Bible Daily — Keith Malcomson

Praise God. I want you to turn to Joshua chapter one. If you find Deuteronomy, Joshua comes straight after that. We're going to read from chapter one, starting at verse five here tonight. And I just want to do a few brief messages on these next three Wednesday nights, tonight and the next two Wednesday nights.

And I'm just calling this daily devotions. We're beginning a new year. We're embarking on 2023. And I just want to lay out very simply, some very basic things, things we know, things we understand, but yet the things we know best.

I'm not informing you of something new here, but I'm going to lay out what you know best that is most easy to neglect and yet it carries the greatest blessing. And so tonight, next week and the following Wednesday night, I want to deal with things that have probably been the cause of more spiritual blessing in my life than anything else that if you build into your life.

And so I've called these three messages daily devotions, very simple, very basic. And I hope I'm very clear and very simple here tonight. But here in this first message, I'm calling this reading the Bible daily.

The Biblical Command to Read and Meditate on Scripture Daily

Soon as I say that immediately, you understand the battle that's involved. It is so simple, so basic, so elementary, and yet a war rages around you daily reading the Bible. I would actually say nothing will bless you more than daily reading the Bible.

Let's read together Joshua 1 and verse five. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, I will be with thee. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee.

Be strong and have a good courage for unto this people shall thou divide foreign inheritance of land, which I swear unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses, my servant, commanded thee.

Turn not from it to the right hand nor to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein.

For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and have a good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee, withersoever thou goest.

Amen. Let's pray together. Father, we do pray, O God, that you'd, Lord God, encourage us, strengthen us, exhort us, build us up, lead us, guide us. Lord God, draw out our hearts, O God, to read the word of God daily.

Lord God, we do pray that you open our eyes, O God, that faith would enter our hearts. Lord God, to believe, O God, that the daily reading of the word of God, meditating upon it, thinking upon it, letting it become a very part of our innermost being.

Lord God, is one of the most fruitful things that we can do in a day. Now, Lord God, I do pray that your grace comes down. Lord God, that we might not be found guilty or condemned or weary or burdened down with this, but Lord God, our hearts would be lifted with desire and with faith.

O God, let your grace be ministered tonight. Lord God, that this won't be legalistic or burdensome, but Lord God, it would be a thing that we would seek after, O God, as a great blessing in our life. In Jesus' mighty name.

Amen. Amen. Look again at verse 8, where we have just read, because I believe a title of a message, the entire theme of a message, it must be absolutely biblical. It mustn't just be inferred. It must be biblical.

If I'm going to exhort you tonight that you must be faithful, that you ought to be faithful, that you have to be crazy if you're not faithful in this, then I've got to prove it by scripture. Does the Bible actually teach that you ought to read the Bible daily?

Does the Bible actually exhort you and encourage you that it is normal for a believer, a follower of God, to at least find time for the Word of God daily? Maybe you could say, well, maybe weekly, but does it really teach daily?

Does it teach that we, yes, a preacher maybe, but all of us ought to have time in the Word? I believe it does. Listen again to verse 8. This book of the law, you have it in your hands tonight, the Old Testament.

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth. It's very personal. The Word that is written is to actually be a part of your daily life. It is to be on your tongue, on your mouth. So what is written here is to be so taken into your life that then you give it out.

There's an entire flow. It's a bit like a river that is healthy or a lock or something else. You get an inlet and an outlet. That's why the Dead Sea is the Dead Sea. You get water flowing in from the Jordan, but there's no flowing out.

If there's no flowing out, you can become a stagnant pool, a place of disease, sickness, illness. And so it's not enough to merely take in the Word of God. It's got to flow through you. But you've got to spend time in the Word of God if it is going to flow through you.

But he goes further here. But thou shalt. There's not a discussion or an opinion. This is Moses speaking to Joshua. You would think this is basic. Joshua is a trained soldier, about 40 years old. He's got experience, reputation, a walk with God, maturity.

And yet Moses, one of the last things he says to him is, listen to me, son. I'm going. The Lord's going to take me. You're embarking on one of the greatest parts of your entire life. What does he say?

Thou shalt meditate therein in the Word of God, day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to it. And so you spend time in the Word of God so that you may become a doer of the Word of God, to read for head knowledge, to win arguments, to be a brain box, to have information.

You're a stagnant pool. The only reason you'd spend time in the Word of God is that what is written there can become an actual part of your life. That is the purpose of meditating in the Word of God. Notice what Moses says to Joshua.

Do this day and night, not just night, not just day, not just every other day, not just every week, not just in your youth, not just until you get a great knowledge of this. He says, you're mature. He's not telling him to do this because he doesn't know the Word of God or hasn't spent time in the Word of God.

He's speaking to a man who's been raised in the Word of God, who's saturated with the Word of God, who's been taught the Word of God rightly. And yet here is Moses saying, do not neglect to spend time in God's Word every day.

If actually because of your past knowledge or present knowledge of the Word of God, you think that you don't need to spend time in the Word. That's very dangerous. That's really dangerous in the spiritual life.

You know why? Because the Word of God is more than gathering information. It is God speaking, communicating. It is God. You're enabling out of one of the most remarkable books to say, God, speak to me today.

Deal with issues today. Instruct me, encourage me, challenge me, rebuke me, redirect me, stop me from doing something. I cannot tell you the amount of times that the Word of God has restrained me daily.

I actually believe certain people are not restrained from speaking in a certain way, acting in a certain way, thinking in a certain way because they don't spend time in the Word of God. They're not even convicted.

They're not even aware. If you spend time daily in the Word of God, little portions, you would actually be convicted of things that you say, that's fine, that's okay. Because the Word of God is alive.

It is living. It's not a book of information. This is a vital means for God to communicate. It is a thing of fellowship. In fact, I'd go as far as to say it's impossible to have fellowship with God outside the Word of God.

Oh yes, you could commune with God and not have a Bible or not quote a scripture. You could. But what I'm saying is, anyone who has a low view of scripture has a very low view of God. They may not think it.

But if you neglect this book, that's exactly what you think of God. That's your attitude towards God. There was a great preacher from last century called Smith Wigglesworth. He actually got raised in the gospel but could never read.

He couldn't read the Bible. But he always carried a little pocket Bible with him in his pocket. He couldn't read it. He couldn't write. He wasn't educated. He'd gone and, as a young boy, worked in the turnip fields, picking turnips, I think from about eight years old.

Had no schooling. He just worked and worked and worked. And he grew up and he got married. And it was his wife who taught him, began to teach him how to read. He had one desire to read, that he could read the Word of God for himself.

And for the rest of his days, he died at age 87. He said, I never, ever read any other book than the Bible, God's written scripture. You know what? He learned to read late in life. So he dare not read any other book.

And he challenged people. He said, if you ever find me without the scripture in my pocket, you'll have a hard job. He always carried the Word of God with him wherever he went. Listen to this quote from Smith Wigglesworth.

The Transforming Power and Authority of the Word of God

And this shows you his attitude about the Word of God. This is an illiterate, uneducated plumber from Bradford in England. This is what he thought about the Word of God. And it's eloquently written. The Bible is the Word of God, supernatural in origin, eternal in duration, inexpressible in value, infinite in scope, regenerative in power, infallible in authority, universal in interest, personal in application, inspired in totality.

Read it through, write it down, pray it in, work it out, then pass it on. It becomes the epistle. Sorry. Truly, it is the Word of God. It brings into man the personality of God. It changes the man until he becomes the epistle of God.

It transforms his mind, changes his character, takes him on from grace to grace, and gives him an inheritance in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. God comes in, dwells in, walks in, talks through, and supps with him, a man of the Bible.

I believe he's absolutely right. That's why he was so jealous over carrying this little book in his pocket, never neglecting it. And he constantly emphasized the importance of the Bible. No wonder that in the 20th century, he became renowned as one of the greatest healing evangelists in our world.

You know why? Because he had a biblical foundation in Scripture, saturated in the Word of God, and he warned about deception that would come. I'm going to give you a few little simple points here as we go into this.

We have a little church manual, and we don't have any left, I'm afraid. They're out of print, but we'll get more done up. It's a handbook for Limerick City Church. At the back of it, you may or may not have come across it, but it's an exhortation to daily devotion with reading the Scripture being number one in the list.

And it's there to exhort you and encourage you that as a part of this church, it's a precious thing to read the Word of God daily, however you do that. But I want to give you a few points here. You can read it in there.

It's a bit small for me to read tonight. The writing's getting smaller. It's not my eyes. But I want to give you these simple four points just to help you, encourage you, challenge you. Maybe you'll get convicted tonight.

Maybe you'll get encouraged tonight. But why not allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you from Scripture, about Scripture, and about how you should give attendance to it daily? Do not neglect the Word daily.

Tonight, if you have been, don't go down condemned. Don't become guilty. Don't start taking on a burden of going, it's too much for me. Don't do that. I'm going to deal with all of these things. But I want to help you.

I don't want to discourage you. Neither do I want the devil to condemn you. I want the Holy Spirit to convict you. What's the difference between God convicting you and the devil condemning you? The devil comes and says, see what you're doing wrong.

There's no hope. And he writes you off. The Holy Spirit is different. He comes right in. He doesn't drop hints. He's not vague. That's why if someone tells me I feel condemned, I feel guilty, I say, what about?

Because if you don't know what you're guilty about, that's probably your flesh or the devil. Because the Holy Spirit deals with something specific. Unless you're very dumb and very deaf, the Holy Spirit actually says, this is sin.

This is what you're doing. I'm convicting you. That's how you know it's the Holy Spirit. He speaks clearly most often through the Word of God. And so here's my four points. Number one, the duty of reading the Bible daily.

The Duty and Responsibility of Daily Bible Reading

I believe it's not only a blessing, it's a duty, a responsibility, a command, an expectation. It says in 1 Timothy chapter 4, 13, Paul speaking to Timothy. Don't think that Moses says this to Joshua and Paul says things like this to Timothy because they're in ministry or they're preachers.

Don't think that. You need it more than them. Do you realize that? If they had to do it when they knew this book inside out and were mature and walking close with God, don't you think you need it more?

If Christ had to get up early to pray, do you think it was because he was so great he done that and you don't need to do that? If Christ had to rise early to pray, do you not think you need to rise early to pray?

If Christ quoted the Word of God against the devil to deal with the devil's attacks, do you think you don't need to quote the devil or resist him or respond to his lies? Of course you do. Jesus did in the flesh.

He had to take the Word of God and quote and confront the devil directly. So do you. But listen, the duty of 1 Timothy 4, 13, Paul's speaking to Timothy, till I come or till I come to you, give attendance to reading, exhortation, and doctrine.

Paul states three things here that Timothy is to give attendance, real primacy to, or focus to, reading, exhortation, and doctrine. He's talking about the public gathering of the church. When you gather, read the Scriptures, exhort according to the Word of God, and teach doctrine.

Notice that the public reading of Scripture is put before exhortation and before doctrine. So before you break down and begin to teach systematically and clearly, read the Word of God. Before you stand up in the church and begin to exhort and stir people and challenge people, read the Word of God.

Some preachers think it's a tradition that I open up the Bible, read a Scripture or a chapter, and then preach from it. Oh no. You remember when Christ, 30 years old, went to the synagogue for the first time, and it was his first reading of the Scripture publicly in the synagogue.

Remember it says he took the scroll of Isaiah, and he turned to the spot, and when he found it, he read it before he preached, before he gave his first sermon. So even Christ was a textual preacher. He found the Scripture.

You know what? All my opinions mean nothing unless it's only an opening up of the text of Scripture. That's where the authority is. Now listen carefully. If Paul is telling Timothy to read the Word of God in the public gathering of God's people, do you not think it's important in our own personal time to read the Word?

Look again at Joshua chapter 1 and verse 8. Moses tells Joshua, but meditate therein, in the law, in the written Word of God, in the written Scriptures. Some of these guys that blow in and out of churches say, I hear from God directly.

That's what I meditate on. No, Moses is exhorting Joshua in the Bible, in the written Scriptures. Meditate every day. Take time in the Word of God. Some smart alecks say it's only the Word of God when the Holy Spirit moves on it.

That's a lie. This is the Word of God. Some people say it's ineffectual until the Holy Spirit moves on it. That's partially true and partially error. The Word itself is inspired by the Holy Ghost. This is not like any other book.

It is utterly, utterly unique. And so the Word of God itself, the Holy Spirit honors it. You can't handle the Word of God without the Holy Spirit being there. So to say there's no power in this book is an actual lie.

It's dynamite. It's explosive. It is dangerous. And Moses is telling Joshua every day, meditate. Take time in the Word of God. Listen to what it says in Psalm 1 verse 1. Who is this man that's so unique that keeps himself in his daily life from sinners and mockers and wicked men and those who are wrong in their lifestyle?

Who is this man who can walk through his life and he's perfectly blessed, blessed of God while all around there can be sinners? The next verse says, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. You can always tell someone who has a delight in God's Word or loves God's Word or enjoys God's Word.

Candice was such a person, I want to tell you. And I could easily tell she loved the Word of God by her actions towards the Bible. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law does he meditate day and night.

So we have it again, not only in Joshua chapter 1, but here in Psalm 1. To become a certain kind of believer, a certain kind of Christian, you're going to do certain things. Don't think that you will naturally grow as a Christian while neglecting the Bible.

You will not grow. George Mueller, the great man of faith. Do you know what he said? He said he was saved a Christian for four years. He read lots of Christian books, mission magazines, listened to best preaching.

And he said for four years, I never grew as a Christian. Do you know why? He didn't read the Bible daily. He was a real convert. He loved Jesus with all his heart. His life was changed, real repentance.

And yet he said he was dysfunctional for four years. And he said, when I learned the secret of reading the Bible daily, and in fact, reading the entire Bible through in a year, every year for the rest of his life, he'd done it about 200 times.

100 times he read the Bible on his knees. What a man. You want to wonder why George Mueller became the man he did. You can look to this. His first four years, he was saturated, surrounded by great ministry, reading all these classics of the Christian world.

He said he never grew. When did that change? When he went back to the Bible and just start daily on his knees, reading it systematically, wanting to read the entire Bible in an entire year. And so what it says here, his delight is in the law of the Lord.

And in his law, does he meditate day and night, day and night, day and night. I hope those words ring in your ears. Day and night, day and night, day and night. Well, I'll just go to bed. Day and night.

Night's a good time to read. I'm tired. Well, why not just read a verse? Why not read a verse? How long will that take? Funny, you're going to, how much time will you spend on Facebook, WhatsApp, or a load of other things just before?

Oh, I'm too tired. You're not too tired for certain things. You're tired for certain things. When you think of the Bible, I'm so tired. I can't concentrate. I don't know what I'm reading. And then you apply all of your energy to other things.

And he shall be like a tree. What is this man who meditates in the word of God, in the law of God, day and night, the written scriptures, just spends time thinking on it. No great experience of the Holy Spirit, no flash of lightning, no ream of revelation like John the Apostle.

He's just spending time in the written book of God, a book like this. Do you know what he's like? It says, he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.

His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Moses told Joshua, you'll prosper if you meditate in God's word day and night, day and night, you'll prosper. Here in Psalm 1, if you meditate in the word of God day and night, you'll prosper.

You'll have good success. Whatever you do will be blessed of God. That means when you neglect the word of God and try to live the Christian life, but you do not meditate in God's word, I assure you, you could be stunted in your growth, hindered in the blessing of God, hindered in walking in the will of God.

We are constantly throughout the Bible told to do certain things with the written scriptures. You're to receive them. You're to hide them in your heart. You're to store them up in your heart. You're to keep them or guard them or watch over them to make sure they're not endangered.

Deuteronomy 6, verse 6, it says, and these words which I command thee this day shall be in thy heart. How do they get in your heart? You have to read the word of God. You have to read or they don't get into your heart.

You're not born again filled with the word of God. You're not. The entire Bible, that's why we're exhorted from Genesis to Revelation, store it up, hide it, read it, learn it, teach it to your children.

You're not born again filled with the word of God or with a mind filled with the word of God. You are not. But God's made a commitment to fill you with his word in a very real way. Our Deuteronomy 11, verse 18, therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul.

There's a difference between heart and soul. And you're actually to store up the words written in the Bible, sentences, commands, promises. You're to store them up. You're to hide them in your heart in a very diligent and careful way.

In case someone would say that's Old Testament, let's go to the New Testament. Colossians 3 .16, Paul writing to the church of Colossae, let the words of this book dwell in you richly. In other words, in fullness, performing what they desire.

You cannot allow the word of God to dwell in you richly if you don't read it, if you don't spend time meditating, you will not be filled with the riches of God's word. Impossible. In Proverbs 3, we're told, write them upon the table of thine heart.

How do you write God's words upon your heart? You're commanded to. So notice the duty of reading is not left to your whims. I'll do it next week. Yeah, and you'll suffer. You know, a musician once said, said, if I do not practice for one day, I notice it.

If I do not practice for two days, other musical friends around me, they notice it. If I do not practice for three days, those who come to listen may begin to notice. That's all within days. That's someone with a musical instrument who's a professional.

You could say I'm a professional on a violin, a piano, or some other tambourine, whatever it is. I don't need to practice. I can turn up Sunday morning. I know how to play a guitar. I know the songs. Yeah, and it'll be obvious when you don't spend time.

Do you know those who are proficient and expert? They spend more time preparing and practicing than anyone else. You know why? They know the importance of neglect. Neglect one day, you're going to feel it.

Rush a thing. Ad lib the spiritual things of God's kingdom. Preaching, worship, evangelism. I'll just ad lib. I know it all. It's going to show. You ever met those little kids and they've got food, chocolate all over their face?

Jimmy, where's the chocolate bar? I don't know. He's not aware that it's showing up what he's doing, but it's very obvious. Do you realize in the Christian life it's very obvious when people neglect spiritual things, it shows, it manifests increasingly to such a point that there is a smell of these things.

There's no doubt about it. It says in 2 Corinthians 3 and 3 about the word of God or the law of God is not written with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not in tablets of stone, but in the fleshly tablets of the heart.

Do you know the Holy Spirit has a mission? Write God's word on your heart. It's not him doing it miraculously and you sit back. How is he going to do that? You need to be reading the word of God. You need to be there praying, saying, Lord, please write this in my heart.

When's the last time you asked God to write the word of God in your heart, to engrave it on your heart? You say, oh, but I know it. Really? It says in Proverbs 7, verse 1 to 3, my son, keep my words, lay up my commandments within thee, keep my commandments and live.

And my law shall as the apple of thine eye, bind them upon thy fingers, your works, bind the word. Don't do anything without binding God's word to your fingers. Write them upon the table of thy heart, engrave them, write them.

Do you realize as you do that, the Holy Spirit works to write the word of God upon your heart? It says in Jeremiah 31, 33, but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts and write it upon their heart.

In case you think that's Old Testament, do you see how I have to qualify everything and explain everything? Because the church world pulpits, the internet is so filled with air. I've always got to prove simple elementary things.

Hebrews chapter 10, 16, this saying the very same thing as Jeremiah. Now it's Paul speaking to the New Testament church under grace in the new covenant. This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord.

I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds while I write them. Do you realize under the new covenant, God's made a covenant with you. If you're born again, God's made a covenant to say, I'll write my laws on your heart and mind, but you've got to be involved with us.

You're commanded, read the word of God, hide the word of God, write the word of God. It says in John 14, 26, but the comforter, which is the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost whom the father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.

Do you realize one of the tasks of the Holy Spirit is to bring back the words of Jesus Christ to your mind. If you haven't read them, meditated on them, spend time in them, memorize them. How does the Holy Spirit bring that back?

I've seen this in my life. I've been in real situations, instantly scriptures I didn't even have in my mind. Instantly they rose up. It was the Holy Spirit bringing back to my mind, my natural thinking.

That's number one, the duty of reading. The entire Bible exhorts you to read it. There's no other book in the world that screams out, read me, read me, eat me, have me for breakfast and for lunch and for dinner.

Have me when you get up in the morning, have me when you go to bed at night. No book cries out, eat me, eat me, eat me, carry me with you. Think of me, meditate. All the way through this book it exhorts you to spend time with it.

Different Ways to Read, Study, and Meditate on the Bible

Number two, different ways to read the Bible. You see how Joshua was told meditate in the law day and night, day and night. The word meditate used here in Psalm 1 and in Joshua chapter 1 and elsewhere in the Psalms and other places in the Bible.

The word meditate, we've dealt with this several times before, but it's important. I'm exhorting you. I'm encouraging you for 2023 to spend time daily in the Bible. Maybe you've neglected it or grown tired or got busy.

I'm calling you back. I'm giving you a call by the Holy Spirit, by the Lord from the Bible. What's the word meditate mean? The Hebrew word means to ponder. In other words, you go over and over and over, not just that you read, but that you ponder it.

It means to utter, to speak to yourself, hold a conversation with yourself. It's the practice of remembering, pondering, considering, and reflecting on the word of God. You could have a verse in front of you, a simple verse.

How do you meditate on that? You can read it. We understand that. What is meditating on the word of God? You begin to go, what does this mean? What is God saying to me? How do I apply this? Just in a few minutes, you can eat that verse.

I would love to set you all down around the tables with a knife and fork and a Bible, and I'd love to teach you how to eat a verse. See, at school, no one taught me how to study. I went and tried to tell my teacher, I don't know how to study.

She sent me to the headmaster. I got discipline. I'm trying to ask, teach me how to study. She thought I was being silly or playing games. I'm actually asking, help me, show me. Some people go, but how do I study the Bible?

How do I meditate? How do I do this? You literally sit down like you would with a meal, and you begin probing, dissecting. Let me check that out. What's that? What's been slipped into my meal here? Poke it a bit, identify it, then eat it.

When you take one verse, do it with Psalm 1, tonight or tomorrow morning, and start going through it, and just begin to think on every verse, all the main words. Do you know that's how I preach? Do you realize how I preach is a meditation of the Word of God?

You see, on Sunday, when we dealt with Ecclesiastes 3, what was I doing? I'm just going down and making you think about a scripture. You could read that and not think those thoughts. I wasn't telling you anything profound.

For half my message, all I'd done was take a few verses, and I'm making you think about it. I'm making you look at it more closely, make it personal, begin to apply it. That's all I'm doing. Why not do that for yourself when you come to a verse?

Go to Psalm 1, verse 1 to 3, and begin spending time thinking, asking yourself questions. What does that word mean? What does that word mean? What does this mean? How does this look in my life? How do I do that?

Do you see how reading becomes meditation on a daily basis? You're actually commanded to do this on a daily basis. My point is different ways to read the Bible, different ways. You know what Smith Wigglesworth said?

He said, some people like to read the Bible in Hebrew. Others like to read the Bible in Greek. He says, I like to read the Bible in the Holy Ghost. In other words, depending. I can't read the original languages, but I want to be in such an atmosphere where when I come to the Bible, I'm dependent on the teacher.

The Holy Spirit, one of his tasks is to teach you the Word of God. Do you do that? Do you get frustrated, tired, weary, discouraged? You don't understand the Bible, and yet you've never prayed, saying, Lord, teach me by your Holy Spirit.

Do you come dependent on him saying, I cannot understand this. I cannot teach myself. I need you, God, to teach me. What a remarkable thing. Now, some people, when they come to the daily reading or meditation, they depend on daily reading books.

This is one of the best of them. Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon. It's outstanding. It's an excellent daily reading book. Some people will depend on that for their Christian life. That is their source.

Others just read a chapter of Proverbs. I've known men. All they've done was repeatedly in their life, their family men, hardworking men. So they just read Proverbs perpetually throughout decades. Literally one proverb each day of the week.

That's what they're doing. That's what some do. Others will just spend time in the Psalms saying, I understand the Psalms or the Gospel of John. I spend time there. Other men and women will just spend time in books.

Books, teaching, instruction, insight into whatever. And of course, you know that Candice gave you Streams in the Desert to the ladies last year. It is an outstanding, excellent daily reading book. Can I tell you something?

All those things are good. I love them all. To be honest, I've struggled. I've utterly neglected daily reading books my entire life. I only dip into them once in a blue moon. I find it very hard to read consistently any daily reading book.

You're not commanded to do any of those things. And I believe it's milk. It could be good milk, but you will neglect. There's nothing to replace daily reading the Word of God. It says in Psalm 119 .97, Oh, how I love thy law.

It is, it is my meditation. Not someone just exhorting you about it. Thank God for Sunday morning and you come to hear me preach and you listen to the Word of God and you love the Word of God. But that isn't sufficient.

If you think it's sufficient to be in a church that preaches the Word of God, and Keith knows what he's talking about, and he's preaching the Word of God, and we love the Word of God, and we've chosen a church where the Word of God's preached.