Welcome to Day 1484 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to WisdomBible Study – Five Minutes and A Sermon – Meditation MondayWisdom - the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is Day 1484 of our Trek, and it is time for Meditation Monday. Taking time to relax, refocus, and reprioritize our lives is crucial in order to create a living legacy. For you, it may just be time alone for quiet reflection. You may utilize structured meditation practices. In my life, Meditation includes reading and reflecting on God’s Word and in prayer. It is a time to renew my mind, refocus on what is most important, and making sure that I am nurturing my soul, mind, and body. As you come along with me on our trek each Meditation Monday, it is my hope and prayer that you, too, will experience a time for reflection and renewing of your mind. 
We are continuing our series this week on Meditation Monday as we focus on Mastering Bible Study through a series of brief insights from Hebrew Scholar, Dr. Michael S. Heiser. Our current insights are focusing on study habits to build a strong foundation. Today let us meditate on:
Bible Study – Five Minutes and A Sermon·      Insight Twenty-Three: Five Minutes Is A Long Time
Let’s start this segment with another story from Dr. Heiser that focuses on how important it is to invest in each moment we have. Here is his story: Growing up, no one taught me the Bible. My first exposure to the Bible that I can remember happened when I was about ten years old. My best friend’s mom had a devotional time with her kids. If I was there, I was invited to stay. I was amazed that kids my age and younger knew the names of Bible characters and stories. About all I knew was Adam, Eve, and Jesus (at least the names).
There were times I’d sit in that little Bible study feeling like the dumbest person in the room. I guess I was when it came to the Bible. I wanted to know more, but it felt like an impossible task. Today, I’m a Bible scholar with advanced degrees who studies Scripture in the original languages. I’m light-years from where I started.
Trust me; it didn’t happen overnight. What I know now is the cumulative result of thousands of incremental sessions of studying Scripture and hundreds of resources related to it. It had to be that way, since I worked full time through fifteen years of graduate school, and most of my time in college before that.

One of the most helpful things I’ve ever heard was something a professor told us during freshman orientation at college. One of our orientation sessions was about time management. The professor looked out over the auditorium and then changed my life when she said five minutes is a long time. If you’ve ever had to wait five minutes for something (a favorite show, an appointment, the bathroom!), you know it’s true.
I took her advice to heart. If I had five minutes to read or review something, I took it. It’s incredible how much data can pile up in your brain in small bits. I got through college and graduate school and did well. I still can’t stand to be idle. I’m always trying to learn about something.
I understand what it means to be pressed for time. Making time for Bible study is a legitimate challenge, especially if you’re an adult with a job, kids, and a string of responsibilities. If you only have five minutes for careful Bible study, take it. It will add up. I’m living proof that it works.
·      Insight Twenty-Four: Listening to a Sermon Is...