Written by: Amanda Teo (Photo by: Charmaine Foo)

A sermon podcast or the Bible — which would you pick?

The Bible: boring Christian literature, a sleep-inducer, an irrelevant book. This was how I would describe the Word of God. Reading the bible was always deemed as a need rather than a want, a chore rather than a gift. But everything changed on 10th January 2013.

It was a morning session of my Discipleship Training School programme with Youth With a Mission (YWAM), Brisbane. The pastor was speaking on Philippians 2, and something within me burst forth. He talked about Jesus coming to Earth as flesh, yet this simple truth quickened my spirit like never before. It might seem mundane to most people given that it has been preached countless of times, but I felt such a deep sense of intimacy and awe when this truth connected with my spirit.

There was an insatiable hunger that erupted in my soul from that day. I desperately needed and wanted to know all about Jesus. I wanted to know what He did, what He said, and why He did what he did. It was as if an emergency alarm was blaring in my spirit, igniting a deep desire to know and understand every single word written in the Bible.

This meant that I stopped listening to sermon podcasts on my phone, closed helpful Christian books, and opened the very Word of God. Don’t get me wrong: podcasts, sermons, and Christian books are all good and God-given tools for us to grow in the knowledge of who He is and who we are in Him. Yet the Word of God should never be replaced with such tools, because the Bible is the tool that God has directly given to us. Every other tool is an interpretation of the Bible, or a personal revelation of a pastor or author that has been chewed, digested, and repackaged for us. The Bible is the raw truth, ever ready to discovered by us and able to grant us fresh, first-hand revelation.

There is a joy and satisfaction that bubbles forth like a new can of 100-Plus whenever I uncover golden nuggets whilst reading the Bible. 1 Timothy 4:12, Psalm 86:11, John 4:23 — these verses contain secrets which God deposited into my heart in times of need and weakness. These very words came from the mouth of God and were personally bestowed to me! How precious and irreplaceable is such an act of intimacy. But so often it is replaced.

Think about it…How often have we lazily resorted to the convenience of downloading every word the preacher says, instead of reading the Bible and seeking God for ourselves?

Have you ever wondered: What if something said over the pulpit has strayed off biblical principles? I struggled with such a question a couple of years back, as I pondered on whether I would be discerning enough to pick out a biblically unsound comment masked by the speaker’s fluency and charisma. For sure, a statement like “Jesus is not God” would easily be identified as blasphemous. But what if it’s a subtle mistake? Maybe instead of saying 5 barley loaves and 2 fishes, he said 5 unleavened bread and 2 fishes. Well, you might say, “that’s just a small difference or mistake, it doesn’t matter!”

Does it really not matter?

Paul said this in 2 Corinthians 11:4, “For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.”

Have you been putting up with it easily enough?

Truth is, pastors and leaders are significant instruments in the sharpening of our faith. They have been called by God to teach and disciple us effectively based on the Word of God. Yet, God has made it clear in the Bible that that we need to work out our own salvation (Philippians 2:12). We need to know the God whom we say we love, we need to know Who we are worshipping. God did not say “Ps. Tan shall be your direct link to Me”, instead He beseeches us to “draw near to [Him]” (James 4:8)! God yearns for a personal relationship with you, and surely does not like your pastor playing the third wheel when you two are communing.

We are called to build our house on the rock, to build our relationship with God upon His Word and God Himself (Matthew 7:24). However, many of us have chosen to abandon our barren, semi-built, barely stable houses, and taken refuge in our pastor’s fully-furnished, two-storey, air-conditioned semi-detached house to enjoy the sunset from. We have sought comfort and convenience, which has left us complacent, apathetic, and restless in developing our personal walk with God.

Have we lost sight of delving deep into the Word of God ourselves? Have we lost the wonder of a first-hand rhema word? In Hebrews 4:12 (NLT), it reveals that the word of God is “alive and powerful”, yet its full power has often been refracted through the glass of others.

This is what I think of the Bible today: a treasure chest of potential fresh revelation, a source for power and life, and a channel for God’s love and destiny.