yes. you.

I'm not going to mince words today.

I'm tired, and my heart is heavy, and there's something I need to say.

You need to know the Bible.

Yes. You.

And I don't mean you need to memorize verses or know the children's flannelgraph stories - though those might be good things - I mean you need to know it. KNOW it, like you know the back of your own hand.

Know how to read it effectively.

Know how to study it for yourself.

Know how to identify false teaching.

Know how to refute flawed theology.

Know how to teach the truth to someone else.

Know how to know the character and person of God better using the tool He put on your bedside table.

This is not just the work of pastors and Sunday school teachers. It kills me to think that this myth prevails in our churches today - that "ordinary" people can't or shouldn't or won't ever understand the Word of God and how to study and teach it.

That you would have to enter a prohibitively expensive seminary program to do so.

That Sunday morning sermons are enough, and that it's normal and acceptable for you to get significantly more out of them than you ever get out of your personal reading and time with God.

You need to know the Bible - AND YOU CAN.

Yes. You.

I'll never forget sitting in my classroom at Great Commission Bible Institute the day this truth sank in for me. I was listening to my teacher give an overview of the story of the Bible, and it suddenly hit me: I can know the Bible. I was made to know the Bible. God intended for me to know how to study His Word for myself.

That's why I'm so excited to be reading through the Bible in 180 days this 2017, hopefully with a lot of truth-hungry people by my side (you can join me here!). Because we all need to know the Bible - not so we can be "better" Christians (although it does play a huge role in our sanctification - John 17:17), but so that we're prepared to go to war.

The day may come when seminaries can no longer be trusted to teach the truth to the next generation of church leaders (it's already happening in some). Many pastors in America no longer feel that God's Word is the final authority on truth, and have started teaching a lighter, more socially palatable version instead. And who is to say that we will always be free even to meet on Sundays and learn? If that is the extent of our study, if that is the only source of our knowledge, we will be lost when it's taken away.

This spiritual war has defined all of human history, and will impact your life and your eternity whether you realize it or not. You've got just one weapon to take with you into battle, and it's called the Sword of the Spirit - the Word of God. You need to know how to use it.

Yes. You.

Here's a quick video I already posted in the Bible Experience 180 reading group. It was recorded directly from my classroom at GCBI, at the same class that opened my mind and heart to the reality that I could know the Bible for myself. I want to invite you to open your mind and heart to the same.