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Hey everybody, time for a quick coffee break in the Bible.

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Today we're actually going to be doing a quick Q&A specifically about the Bible though,

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and I am going to be answering one of the most common questions, especially amongst

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new believers and those who have never read the Bible all the way through.

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And that question is, how do I start reading the Bible, or more specifically, where do

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I start reading the Bible?

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Now let's face it, the Bible can be very intimidating to some.

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It is a huge manuscript, it has a lot of books, it has a lot of information, it covers a lot

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of history, there's a lot of different things in here.

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So it is a valid question, and there are a couple trains of thought out there.

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Now if you were to put it out to social media, and the people who you know are believers

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and everything, and say, hey, where's a good place to start reading the Bible?

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The most common answer you're going to get is, go to the beginning and start with Genesis,

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and read it through.

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And it makes sense, you know, go to the beginning, read to the end, cover to cover, Genesis to

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Revelation.

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Nothing wrong with that answer, nothing at all, perfectly good answer.

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Now, if you were to come to clergy, a lot of us have a different recommendation, and

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that is to start with the Gospels.

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Start with the Gospels.

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As a matter of fact, you can include me in this group, because that is the answer I would

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give, and I will actually drag this down a little bit more to the specific answer I would

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give.

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So if you're not sure what the Gospels are, those are the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke,

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and John.

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Now why would we suggest this?

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Well, it's because these are the eyewitness accounts of Jesus' life and everything that

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He taught us during that time.

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And it's really the foundation and the core of what Christianity is and why we believe

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what we believe.

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So those four books, they all have slightly different views.

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They all cover a lot of the same things though.

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The book of Matthew is looking at the person of Jesus.

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Matthew is talking about the promised King.

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Mark, talking about Jesus, is talking about the servant of God.

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Luke is talking about Him as the Son of Man.

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And John is talking about Jesus as the Son of God.

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Now this is going to drive more to why I have a specific book here, and we'll see why here

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very quickly.

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So Matthew, his book was initially intended for the Jews.

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Mark was written for the Gentiles and the Romans.

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Luke, his book was intended for the Greeks, whereas John's was a little different.

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His book was specifically written for Christians throughout the world, especially new Christians

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and non-Christians who are searching, trying to find out what we're all about.

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And for that reason, I would actually recommend John as being the best place to start.

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Matter of fact, I could probably do a sermon on it all unto itself, but I won't, especially

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for time's sake.

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John actually starts at the beginning, goes all the way back before Genesis.

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The very first verse in there says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with

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God, and the Word was God.

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Going into verse 2, he was with God in the beginning.

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This is all the way back before the creation.

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So it is a great place to start, and it goes all the way through Jesus' life, His crucifixion,

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and His resurrection and His ascension into heaven.

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It covers the gauntlet there.

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So it is a great place to start.

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Now from there, really it's up to you.

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You can go from John to John 1, 2, 3, and kind of skip around and cherry pick your way

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through the book.

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Or you can go all the way back to the beginning and read it cover to cover.

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Or if you have trouble with the tension and you want to make sure that you're getting

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through a lot, because there is so much material in there, you don't want to be so intimidated,

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because there is a lot in the Bible.

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The other thing that you could do is go through and start reading from the shortest book all

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the way to the longest book.

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And really when it comes to the shortest books, you'll get through a lot of those really quick.

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You will start learning a lot very quickly.

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All these books, every book in there has a lot in there.

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However, like I said, the best recommendation I have, and it's just my personal choice,

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it would be to start with the Gospel of John.

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Take care.

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We'll catch you next time.

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Peace.