{"id":314,"date":"2026-04-07T12:21:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T12:21:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/?p=314"},"modified":"2026-04-07T12:21:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T12:21:46","slug":"give-attention-to-reading-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/07\/give-attention-to-reading-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Give Attention to Reading"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Each Sunday morning we have a Scripture reading near the beginning of the assembly. This is not merely to prepare you for the sermon. Paul exhorted Timothy to \u201cgive attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine\u201d (1 Timothy 4:13). Just as exhortation and doctrine (teaching) are done publicly, so \u201creading\u201d refers to the public reading of the Scriptures.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Please follow along in your Bible as the Scriptures are read. You will increase your comprehension and retain more. Remember, the Bible is inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16). When the Scriptures are read, it is just as though Jesus were standing there speaking directly to you. Each of us ought to listen carefully and reverently.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Let us imitate Israel\u2019s good attitude back in Ezra\u2019s time. As he was publicly reading the Scriptures, \u201cthe ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the Law\u201d (Nehemiah 8:3). To show their respect, when Ezra opened the book, \u201call the people stood up\u201d (8:5). By the way, this wasn\u2019t just reading a couple of verses; Ezra started early in the morning and read until noon! (Nehemiah 8:3).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 John the apostle pronounced a blessing upon those who read the Scriptures publicly. \u201cBlessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it\u201d (Revelation 1:3a). Not that \u201che who reads\u201d is singular, while \u201cthose who hear\u201d and those who \u201ckeep those things\u201d are plural. John is writing about the public reading of God\u2019s word, especially the book of Revelation (though the application extends to all of the Bible).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Publicly reading the Bible is both a profound privilege and a solemn duty. The same goes for hearing and keeping (doing) what is written. In all that we do, let us strive to honor our God!<\/span><\/p>\n

–Joe Slater<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Each Sunday morning we have a Scripture reading near the beginning of the assembly. This is not merely to prepare you for the sermon. Paul exhorted Timothy to \u201cgive attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine\u201d (1 Timothy 4:13). Just as exhortation and doctrine…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading… Give Attention to Reading<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":315,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314\/revisions\/315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}