What does Tribe teach about bible reading?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At Tribe, the teaching on Bible reading starts with the conviction that the word of God is meant to do something to you, not just inform you. Brian Hunter drew the congregation into Proverbs 4:20-22 and walked through what the Hebrew actually asks for: the kind of listening a prey animal does when it hears an unfamiliar sound, a fully stretched-out attention, and a refusal to lose sight of the words because losing sight of them leads to going crooked. The goal is not head knowledge. Brian is direct that if the word stays only in the mind, it has no capacity to change a life.
The teaching pressed further into what it means for the word to penetrate deep, using the image of a watchtower standing in a crop field to guard against animals and thieves. That image, confirmed by a congregation member who had seen those exact towers in Somalia, became the picture for what scripture does when it is genuinely held in the heart. Brian says, "This is the only book that reads you. Not just you reading it, but that book reads you." Memorization came up as one of the most concrete ways to move the word from the mind into the heart, and Brian connected it directly to Christ himself: "When you memorize God's word, you are putting Jesus deep into your heart because he's the embodiment of the word."
The teaching from Lissa Hunter and Amanda on worship added a related layer. James 1:22-25 was used to show that hearing the word is only the beginning. The passage compares listening without obeying to glancing in a mirror and then walking away and forgetting what you saw. The practical suggestion in that conversation was to write things down during a service, because the Lord may put a specific conviction on your heart and the business of the afternoon will crowd it out before anything changes. Across both messages, the consistent point is that scripture is meant to get inside a person and stay there.
Taught from Proverbs 4:20-22 · Proverbs 4:23 · James 1:22-25 · Romans 12:1-2 · Psalm 1
“This is the only book that reads you. Not just you reading it, but that book reads you.”
From What Do I Memorize？
The passage taught · 2 Peter 1:3
3 seeing that his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue;
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- May 26, 2025 What Do I Memorize？ Brian Hunter teaches from Proverbs 4 on burying God's word deep in your heart, with practical ways to memorize scripture and let it guard and transform your life.
- May 5, 2024 The Ways We Worship A Jackson Hole congregation talks honestly about what worship really means, covering singing, sitting under Scripture, and giving as three connected acts of devotion.