Lee McDerment
Appearances
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
The gospel is all, is threaded through, all the way through the scriptures because it's a part of, you know, who God is, you know?
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
Yeah, so, you know, honestly, two main reasons come to mind initially. Number one, there's a promise in Scripture, Romans chapter 10, I think verse 17, it says, faith comes from hearing and hearing the words of Christ. The idea there is that And this is Wayne Grudem's definition about the words of Scripture. He basically says, all the words of Scripture are God's words.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
And then a brief stint as our creative arts director, which is over, you know, worship and production, all the rest of that stuff. And most recently, I've been the Greenville campus pastor for New Spring Church for a little over a year now in my beloved city of Greenville. I've been married to my wife, Allie, for a little over seven years. And we have two kids.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
Therefore, to disbelieve or disobey any of the words of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God. So I take all those words of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation as Jesus' own words.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
And so connecting that to the promise in Romans 10, 17, what I feel like happens is regardless of what page I'm on, if my eyes are hitting the page, then faith is being created and increased in my heart in one way or another. And so that I feel like is such a motivator for me because I need more faith every single minute of the day.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
And so I want to have the whole Bible and all the faith that it generates for me. I want it. And so that's one encouragement that I would say to people. Another one is, you know, there are, of course, so many.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
But another one is, you know, when you read the entirety of the Scriptures, what you're doing is engaging with the promise that Jesus made to his disciples about the Holy Spirit in John 14, I think it's verse 26, where he says part of the Holy Spirit's job is to bring to your remembrance all the things that I have told you.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
And if all the words of Scripture are Jesus' very words, what you're doing is partnering with the Holy Spirit, because when you read the Scriptures, all of that stuff, all those words are getting inside your head, and they're available for the Holy Spirit to bring to your mind at any time. So if you think about this, and I know, Terrilee, this happens to you literally all the time.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
Anytime you're having a conversation with somebody or something like that, you've just been talking to them and boom, a scripture that you haven't read in a couple of years, maybe, or a year. I know you read through the Bible every year, but like a scripture you haven't read in months pops into your head. You can't even remember the reference or anything, but because you've read it all,
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
the Holy Spirit is now able to access that and bring it to your mind for the encouragement of other people, for your own encouragement.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
And that's why I say it's so important to read the entirety of it. Another reason, honestly, and this one is just important too, reading through the whole Bible keeps you from going to unnecessary extremes. You know, when you just think like, you know, cults and stuff like that have started based on one or two scriptures taken way out of context, right?
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
And the Bible is a book full of some pretty amazing paradoxes because it is not a human invention. It is the very word of God, not the invention of any man. And so from that perspective, reading the whole thing gives you the ability to kind of stay in the middle of those mysteries and hold them and steward them well. instead of going too dangerously off to one extreme or another.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
And I think lastly, God loves each and every one of us who are his so volcanically and so dramatically. These are his revealed word to us. I mean, I'm kind of like, if you knew how much God loves you, why wouldn't you want to get all these words inside of you? I mean, this is the expression of the most beautiful, mysterious, powerful being in the universe.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
I mean, you know, he's right there in those pages. And, you know, so that's my big encouragement to everybody is that there is treasure on every page of for someone. So just, you know, such great encouragement to really persevere and to find every page of the scriptures valuable.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
Gray, our son, who's three, and Lucy, who is our daughter, who's a little over one. And they are awesome. So, you know, it's an honor to jump on this thing to talk about my favorite book in the whole wide world with you. I know that's how you feel about it, too. And just honored to get to share with you today.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
Yeah. You know, the thing that I would say is. To anybody who is listening to this podcast, reading through the scriptures, but maybe you're just kicking the tires on the Jesus thing or whatever, I just want to say welcome and wow, you have no idea how much God loves you.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
And the fact that you would even want to look at some of his words is an exciting signal to me that he is up to something really beautiful in your life. And, uh, so the thing that I would say is, you know, if you, if you're, you know, if you don't have a relationship with God, but you're reading the Bible and you bump into something that you're just like, yep, I knew it. He's, it's not worth it.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
You can't understand it. The thing I would just as well, like pause. And before you give up, keep going, keep going, keep going. And just open yourself up. Ask God this question. Just say this in your heart or out loud somewhere like, God, if you're real, would you speak to me through this book?
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
And I feel like that's just a good prayer for somebody who who wants to know if God is real and who is looking in the scriptures to kind of go on a treasure hunt to some degree. Just ask him to reveal himself to you and and through those pages, because he's he's not looking to hide from you. And so I just so much encouragement to keep going and.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
Just a statement that I'd love to make to anybody who is in that place. Wow, God loves you so much. Something wonderful is right around the corner in your life.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
Yeah. I could, I could agree more with that. I think one of the things, especially for somebody who is a believer who might've grown up in church, When you take a spin through the Bible, through reading the whole thing, what you may find, what you may bump into is that you have been taught some things about God that might not line up with what you're reading on the page.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
And that can be emotionally difficult. There can be some grief attached to that. It can be a tough thing. And so I completely agree with you. The best advice for anybody is just keep going. One of the things that Adrian told me a long time ago in that first encounter was, he was like, here's the deal. The Bible is its own best commentary. It answers most of its own questions.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
So as you go through, don't get hung up on any one. Put a question mark beside it as you as you're going through. Highlight, underline, put a star beside, put a question mark beside and just keep going. And sure enough, like if you have a question that arises in Leviticus, you may find that God answers it in Hebrews later on.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
And so, you know, that's just that's a good thing to help everybody understand is like persevere. Keep going. Yeah, you're definitely you. You got it right.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
Absolutely. Me too. Me too. But, you know, I just speak a blessing over you, Terri Lee, and all the things that you guys are doing, both through this podcast and through DGroup and for anybody who's on this journey. I just, you know, I bless you in Jesus' name. And I hope you experience truly the fullness of just a wild journey in this and a revelation of the mystery of God.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
Well, you know, I think growing up, you know, I grew up in a believing family, in a Christian family. So I was around the scriptures a good bit, you know, growing up, but it never really kind of taking a spin through it on my own. And it wasn't until after I'd called into ministry and finished up my music degree, I'd actually been leading worship at our church for a couple of years.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
It wasn't until I had this encounter at a camp that I was leading worship at with an evangelist there. And he posed a question to me that just, I mean, it spun my world around. I will never forget this. But he basically said, hey, what if God's going to hold you more accountable for what you say from the stage than me? And that shook me up in that moment because, you know, he was the evangelist.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
He's preaching. I'm just leading worship and, you know, kind of leading people through songs, just guiding them by saying a few things in between one song and another. So the idea of being held more accountable for what I say than the preacher was kind of staggering for me. But this is how he explained it.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
He basically said, look, when I'm preaching, people are seated, their minds are closed, they're weighing every word I say, like maybe I don't believe what you're saying. He said, when you say something from the stage, music is playing, people's hearts are wide open, their emotions are engaged. They're just, everything you say is kind of just falling right into their head. into their heart.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
Are you comfortable with what you're telling them about God speaking for God? You know what I mean? And that, and, and he was like, how much of the Bible have you read? And I admitted to him there, you know, I've, I've read most of it, but there's, you know, some sections of the minor prophet or of the prophets that I hadn't really dug into.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
There's other sections I'd only read like once in my entire life. And he said, maybe, maybe you should consider limiting what you say. Maybe only saying like, you know, welcome, stand and sing, and then you may be seated. Maybe consider only saying that stuff until you've actually read the whole Bible.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
And it really, you know, it just, I was so wonderfully convicted in that moment to dive more into the scriptures. You know, he kind of brought the whole thing down to size for me by basically saying, look, the Bible is not some mountain that's beyond you, that's too difficult for you. It takes about 40 hours to read from cover to cover.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
Why don't you just do it as fast as you can so that you have the whole scriptures inside your brain. The Holy Spirit can use them at any time. And that way, you know that, you know, you're really giving the most accurate picture of God to other people as humanly possible.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
So later on, you know, after that camp was over with, I just got a little pocket Bible, put it in my back pocket and would read it at stoplights. And, you know, just here and there, just tried to get through it as fast as I possibly could. Took me about four or five months to do it at first. And I was transformed after that first reading. I mean, it truly was a life-changing experience.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
God did things in me then that I just didn't think were possible at the time. So that's my real first encounter with reading the entirety of the scriptures. After that, I just got hooked. My appetite increased for it like crazy, and I just never looked back. I mean, it's just been such a source of faith and inspiration, and it's just been amazing.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
Well, Adrian Dupree, if you're listening, then thank you. Thank you, homeboy, because you've done it for all of us. So, yeah.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
Yeah.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
Yeah, it was, you know, I think obviously the first time it was primarily an intellectual challenge at the very beginning, really just more of a mental capacity challenge because I think that I've never tried to read
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
um a book like that that fast before um and and obviously you know the scriptures themselves it's a book of books it's a library in and to itself and and for me reading at that cliff i mean it was kind of like mental crossfit to some degree i mean it was it was it was challenging for my intellect just to take in that much um in that in that span of time um
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
And to be able to comprehend it and, you know, all the rest of that stuff. So there really was a stretching of my mental capacities as I read it the first time, especially through some of the more obscure passages of Scripture that, you know, there's genealogies and repetitive laws and prophecies about, you know, the things that I had no historical context for.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
Those things were the most, you know, they were drier for me. And from an intellectual standpoint, it was just, it was tougher to get through the first time around just because I hadn't seen that stuff before. What I realized was happening, you know, there's a promise in Psalm 19 that says, the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. That promise certainly was fulfilled in my life at that particular point in time. Reading through the scriptures, it was making me smart, you know what I mean, in one way or another.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
The idea of the power of the scriptures themselves, that they have the ability to make a simple person wise, that was happening to me all the way along in that first round. I don't know that I necessarily struggled with
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
you know, there are some difficult and hard to understand passages in the Old Testament and even in the New about, you know, sometimes the severity of God's judgment or, you know, there's just questions about his character or why would he allow this or that or the other. These laws seem harsh or strange or exclusive or whatever.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
Those things, I didn't encounter that as much on the first time because I was so overwhelmed with the consistency of God's character from front to back. I mean, the You know, so I don't know that I had struggles of faith. Honestly, the biggest benefit to me in that first run all the way through was so many of my doubts completely perished in my first reading through the Bible.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
Just because I'm like, you know, I would wonder, you know, very often before I did this reading through the scriptures, like, is God real? Is this all just kind of a man-made joke? You know, honestly, when I got to the end, I just found that there was this ground for peace and faith inside my heart that I didn't even know was possible.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
I mean, there were doubts that I just never, ever struggled with again after reading through the Bible in its entirety. I know that's not everybody's story, but that was certainly the case for me. The struggles for me were way more on the just mental capacity side, the staying committed to it, staying disciplined in it, more so than...
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
Yeah. One of the things, Terrilee, I love that you said that. I know you can probably resonate with this. Reading through the scriptures is a fundamentally humbling experience, right? Because in many ways, you are coming face to face with your own kind of rational limitations because the Bible is the revealing of the mystery of mysteries.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
The most wonderful person in the universe who is so mysterious that someone who has a massive intellect, who's someone who's very, very smart, very, very sharp like you are, I mean, you come face to face with things that you just simply cannot comprehend. They seem to just kind of war against everything that's on the inside.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
And what you find is that the faith that the Bible creates, the awakening, the challenge that's in there, it does something humbling to you. And the promise that's revealed in the scriptures is that God lifts up the humble. I mean, he exalts the humble. And so anyone who's willing to yield to that process, like any of the listeners who are like, you know what, I just feel like I need to do this.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
I need to dive in every single day for this year and read through the scriptures. You know, there's a war inside your soul, you know, humility versus pride in some way, shape or form.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
Well, first of all, what an honor. And Tara Lee, I'm just so grateful for you. You and I have been friends for so long. I think, you know, just, you know, to introduce myself to your listeners, I've been on staff at New Spring Church for a little over 18 years. And I was for 15 years, I was the worship pastor.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
And what happens is if you can just suspend your own disbelief long enough to let those words wash over you, what you find is that God is in the process of lifting you up to be where he is and to draw you in closer to himself, which is, I mean, that's the treasure. He is the best of all his gifts, of all the things God could possibly give us. He's the best of all those gifts.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
And the Bible is, I think, honestly, the primary vehicle for that in the continuing life of a believer. So for anybody who's listening, I'm just over here with big pom-poms cheering you on because God is wanting to bless. He's wanting to give you more of himself. And it's just such an amazing and wonderful journey.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
One of the things that I picked up in my reading through it, that's hard to understand places, and the thing that I've encouraged other people who are really having a hard time with some of those things. I may have even said this to you a long time ago. Yeah.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
When you bump into something that makes you feel like you can't trust God because of something you read in the Scripture, like something just sits sideways, you get twisted up in your soul after something that you read, the thing that I've encouraged folks to do is to go back to Exodus 34, verse 6 through 8, And remember what God's eternal name that he revealed to Moses is.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
He is the Lord, the Lord, compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin. But who does not leave the guilty unpunished? He is a God who is unbelievably merciful and who is just and righteous. And he poured all that out on Jesus at the cross.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
If you can hold that, hold that truth about that's God's character, that's his revealed character.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
If you can hold that in your heart while you read these difficult passages all the way through, what you begin to find is that God is far larger and grander and more mysterious and more loving and more gracious, but also more pure and holy and perfect than whatever your little box was that you had him in, you know, in all your thought processes previous to that. So, yeah.
The Bible Recap
Prep Episode 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (Interview with Lee McDerment)
You know, that's the thing I'd encourage people with. It's like, go back to Ezekiel 34, and when you have a hard passage that you are finding difficult to understand, remember, God is compassionate. He's grace. He's slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. He forgives. He just, and ultimately, all wrongdoing gets poured out on Jesus at the cross.