How do you actually read the Bible? Not just own one, not just quote a verse now and then, but sit down with it and let it change your life? Dr. Dennis Episcopo says almost every American owns a Bible and almost none of them read it, and he offers the simplest framework we have ever heard him teach for changing that.

This sermon continues an August teaching series at Alliance Church on how to read the Bible well. He opens with a story about G.K. Chesterton, who was famously asked what one book he would want if stranded on a desert island. Everyone assumed he would say the Bible. He said no. He would take a shipbuilding manual, because he wanted a book that would actually get him home. Then he makes the turn. The Bible is that book. God gave it to us so that we would all come home spiritually.

He walks through 2 Timothy 3:16 and 17, unpacking the benefits of Scripture that most Christians have heard but rarely take seriously. It is inspired, breathed out by God through real human personalities. It teaches us, giving a body of truth for the good life. It corrects us, functioning like the warning light on the dashboard of the soul when something is off. And it equips us for every good work we will ever be called to do.

Then Dr. Episcopo shares a piece of his own story that hits different. He grew up Roman Catholic, was a lector on Sundays, a fourth degree Knight of Columbus. He did not open a Bible until March of 1980, at age 24. And when he did, everything changed. He had to choose between what he had been taught and what he was reading. He chose the book.

The heart of this teaching is the framework Dr. Episcopo lives by. The four Rs.

Read it. Every day. He gets up at 5am and opens the Bible before he looks at scores, emails, or news.

Research it. Ask what a passage means, then use commentaries, apps, or Bible studies to dig deeper.

Remember it. Psalm 119:11 says hide it in your heart. He memorized one verse a week using the Navigators Topical Memory System, and it changed how he handles anxiety, temptation, and fear.

Relate it. James 1 warns us not to be the person who looks in the mirror and forgets what they saw. Take one thing from what you read and connect it to the real life you are actually living.

If you have owned a Bible for years and never really opened it, or if you have opened it and could not figure out where to start, this teaching from Dr. Dennis Episcopo is a really practical place to begin.