Sermon Reources available here...

                      

Sermon Reources available here...

                      

The Guiding Light We have been talking the last several weeks about the need for people to live with. We all need people we can live with, some people we can count on in our lives.

This week we’re going to begin to look at a second essential of living as a Christ follower. We also need some principles that we can live by. I not only need people I can count on but truth I can stand on. In this world where there are so many ideas about what the truth is, there are so many ideas about what to stand on, I need something that I can build a solid foundation on in life. Where are you going to find that in this world?

2 Timothy 3:16 “The whole Bible was given to us by inspiration from God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and helps us do what is right.”

I need that. I need something that shows me what is true in this world where everybody says “this” is true or there is no truth. I need something that is honest enough with me to say, “You’re heading in the wrong direction.” It straightens me out and helps me do what is right and gives me the strength and the power to do the right thing that I want to do.

Circle “the whole Bible.” The Bible says all of it was given to us to help us do these very things. We talk about this book every week. Every week in church we look at verses from this book. But there is a question we need to address. How do you know that it’s true? Maybe you’ve been thinking about this? Maybe you’ve asked, “How do you know the Bible is true?” and they’ve answered you, “Because it says it’s true.” Sometimes that is just not a good enough answer.

Three evidences behind the truth of the Bible that support our faith.

    1. There’s the evidence of history. It’s a book that’s rooted in history. It’s not about made up people and made up places. The Bible has real people and real places and real things that really happened. Again and again people have tried to say that the things that happened in the Bible didn’t really happen but it’s proved itself true.

Early in this decade in 1990 a book came out saying that David and Solomon that lived in the Old Testament weren’t really people. They were nice stories but they never really lived. It was an unfortunate time for that book to come out because three years later some archeologists digging in the capital city of an ancient place called Dan unearthed a stone from 831 B.C. that talked about the House of David of Israel. The people who said David never really existed said, “No, that word doesn’t mean ‘David’. That word should be translated, ‘Dawd’, a false god that lived in that day.” They said this until a year later when they unearthed some more of that stone and it proved that it was talking about David the person that lived in the Old Testament. In fact, upon further examination what was proven was that it wasn’t David who didn’t exist but Dawd who never existed. He wasn’t a real person. It was a made up name.

Again and again the Bible has shown itself to be rooted in history. We count our history by it. Every time you write down a date, you write down the date from Jesus’ appearance on this earth. So it is a book that’s rooted in history.

    2. The evidence of consistency throughout the Bible. Not only do you have external evidence but you have internal evidence. As you read through this book, you find what a unique book it is.

When you pick up the Bible you’re looking at a book that was written over about a 1500 year span by about 40 different authors. These authors ranged from kings to peasants. These authors ranged from shepherds to tent makers. Yet all these authors who wrote on three different continents wrote with agreement on what are some of the most controversial subjects in our world today. How do you get forty people in a room to agree on anything? Yet they agreed on these things?

They wrote one story from beginning to end. The Bible is one story, God’s love for us and how He wants to call us back to Himself. No human being could have sat down and planned such a book. The themes that go all the way from the book of Genesis in the beginning to Revelation in the end are incredible.

    3. The evidence of changed lives. I have said it many times before. We could go around this room today and hear literally hundreds of stories about how this book, the Bible has changed somebody’s life. The fact that the Bible has the power to make a difference in my life is one of the proofs along with its consistency and history.

We could talk about this all morning – the proofs of this. I’d like to focus this morning not on the fact that you know it’s true but, “So what that it’s true? What does that mean to my life? How am I going to take the truth that is in the Bible and build it into my life?

Jesus said in Matthew 7:24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Jesus says, “You want a foundation for life? You want something you can stand on when the tough times come? My words to you are like that.” You might circle the words “hears these words” and “puts them into practice”. How can I hear what God has to say and put it into practice so it makes a difference in my life?

Today, some of you may be curious about this book. Maybe it’s your first time in church in a long time. Or you may be someone who respects this book. Or you may be a person who believes this book or even loves this book. But what I’ve discovered, whatever category you fall into, for many of us, no one has ever taken the time to show us how to use this book. How do you use it as a guidebook for life? I have asked a member of this church to help me this morning with this message. Bill Gee is a graduate of Mt. Vernon Nazarene University and Dallas Theological Seminary. He has a passion for God and for teaching others about the Word of God. He will be teaching a part of this message.

Let’s look at six facts that relate to us and the Bible.

1. I NEED TO HEAR GOD’S WORD

There’s lots of ways to hear God’s word. You can hear it in messages in church. You can hear it in small groups or Bible studies. You can hear it on the radio, tapes and CD’s. When you hear God’s word, the Bible says in Romans 10:17 “So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” Every time you hear God’s word it raises your faith, it enables and empowers your faith. That’s incredibly good news.

But I’ve got some bad news for you too. The problem is, we tend to forget about 95% of what we hear after about 72 hours. That depresses me. To think that after all the work we do to make services happen in this church. From the planning of the music to video illustrations, to metaphors that are built on the platform, and graphic slides that visually enable you to follow the theme, all of this is done to help you remember. After two services and after three days you’re going to forget 95% of it!

How do you do more than just hear it because hearing it isn’t enough? To grow in the way that God intends for us to grow spiritually we must make the Bible a priority in our lives.

We have to do more than just hear the word of God. Bill talk to us about how to take our relationship with the Bible to a new level.

2. I NEED TO READ GOD’S WORD

“Happy is the one who reads God’s message ...” Revelation 1:3 (NCV)“(The Scriptures) shall be his constant companion. He must read from it every day of his life so that he will learn to respect the Lord his God by obeying all of His commands.” Deuteronomy 17:19 (LB)

Read any good books lately? How about magazines or newspaper articles, professional journals, or even a good comic book? Comic books were my “choice reading” growing up. My dad had subscriptions to GI Joe, X-Men, Dr. Strange, and, Hulk. And every month when the flimsy paperbacks would arrive, I’d snag them before my father even knew we had them, crawl back into the back corner of my closest and read and reread and reread again. Why did I spend hours reading those comic books? I enjoyed the stories; I loved the characters; I wanted the heroes to win and the bad guys to get beat up.

Read this book lately [Bible]? That ‘s literally what the word “Bible” means, “book.” In fact it’s the best selling and most circulated “book” in all of human history. So how do you read any other “book?” I know we read for a number of reasons every day [Circle “every day” in Deut. 17:19]; job memos, emails, directions to get somewhere—including street signs on the way there, letters from loved ones, how to correctly wire a DVD home entertainment systems. But ultimately, we read to understand what we’re reading and the “best” reading is what we read for enjoyment—we enjoy those emails or letters from friends or family; we enjoy a good suspense novel, and perhaps some of you might actually enjoy reading those DVD wiring instructions—you guys should start your own small group, you know, get connected.

So it’s official, read the Bible for understanding and enjoyment. I mean forget what you think you know when you open “the Book”—get caught up in the story—especially in the Old Testament! God didn’t simply publish a list of principles, the Bible’s not written in outline format. It’s stories about people God has worked with throughout history. What did they do? Where they right? Where they wrong? Who are the good guys? Who are the bad guys? Who wins in the end? There are hundreds of stories in here that have inspired countless books and movies and poetry. There are parts where you root for the bad guys and parts that little Jewish boys were not even allowed to read until they were “old enough.” It’s got love and sacrifice and vengeful brothers and angels and heroes and giants and greedy dictators and sex and murder and talking animals and wise teaching and epic battles and amazing settings and breathtaking miracles and dead men getting out of their graves and walking around; honestly, Lord of the Rings pales in comparison! Simply put, it’s the most amazing and important book ever written.

Now if you’re going to read for enjoyment, here are a couple of necessities:

One, don’t skip around. Stick with a book of the Bible from start to finish. Would you read the last two pages of chapter 12 in a novel, pick up a magazine and flip to page 21 and read just the third paragraph and then, oh, randomly select Section Three from that DVD instruction manual to finish up with? Of course not! Just the same way, each book of the Bible is a whole story. Don’t lose your understanding by piecing together a story that looks like one of the ransom letters with each word or letter clipped out of a different magazine or newspaper article. Feel free to read the books in any order though.

And two, read a translation you understand. (Like the scene from Finding Nemo where the fish talk Dentist-speak.) Intelligence is not the issue here—comfortable language is. Like an old chair that has been broken in and perfectly contours with your body’s shape; that’s how comfortable you should be with the translation you choose—eventually, at least. It may not be very natural at first, getting comfortable with it is like learning the game Cricket.

Cricket is huge in island-country of Trinidad. I watched part of a cricket match once with a friend of mine from that country, Terry. I still don’t have even the foggiest idea why those men were doing what they were doing. They wear weird uniforms and call themselves “rabbits” and “ferrets,” which, coming from an American football perspective, doesn’t sound very intimidating—or even really that masculine—to me at all. Anyway, this guy holds this little ball and runs toward another guy, throwing the ball at a peg in the ground and as the ball bounces on the ground the other guy check-swings this fat little bat, barely hits the ball and it dribbles out into the outfield. Then runs from one peg to another peg and the fans—including Terry—go wild. They have a play called a “maiden-over,” and call things “out for a duck” and “wicket.” And Terry really enjoys this game and I’m sitting there in a daze, thinking, “Wasn't there a ‘wicket’ in Stars Wars somewhere?” (Of course, on the flip side, Terry fails to appreciate the subtleties and nuances of American football.)

But give me a little time to watch and teach me some basic concepts of the game, and I’m sure I could get very comfortable with and really enjoy a good Cricket match. So it goes with reading the Bible. A little time, building on some basic concepts, and sticking with it leads to understanding and enjoying it. Howard Hendricks would tell us in class, “The Bible is a gold mine, but it doesn’t yield its treasure to the lazy.” Stick with the reading, get into the stories, fall in love with the characters, root for your favorite teams and as you read your favorite translation, book by book, don’t miss the God who the stories revolve around. Invest the time into these stories so you begin to understand the patterns and motives of God. Find out about this God who gives us joy and hope and the promise of an amazing future. This is where you cross from just reading the Bible to actually studying it; when you begin to be a student of God—that’s what we mean when we say “disciple,” it literally means “student.” And we all need to get to the point where we study God’s Word.

3. I NEED TO STUDY GOD’S WORD

“...They accepted the message eagerly and studied the Scriptures every day...” Acts 17:11 (Ph)

“Know what His Word says and means.” 2 Timothy 2:15 (TLB)

For my wife and I this phase of “studying” the Bible really began when I entered seminary in the fall of 1998. Sure we read the Bible and were familiar with many of the stories in it (like a Photomosiac picture with only a few random pictures showing). We agreed, when we were told we should read it every day, and knew we should read it more often than we did. We filled in the sermon blanks with the Biblical principles we were learning. But the unconnected stories were just that, unconnected. And the random Biblical principles were great ideas and helped us understand what we should be doing in our lives, but rarely got us moving and actually doing anything differently.

And then something wonderful happened. At seminary I began to get a glimpse of the God behind the stories and the principles in the Bible—and I’d go straight home and tell Tasha all about Him. I began to see that all these individual stories and characters and places and events in the Bible were specifically written and crafted to reveal the God who wrote them. And the more stories I understood, the clearer and more defined a picture of God became (like a Photomosaic where the pictures appear a few at a time until “the King” is seen).

You see, this is the difference between reading and studying, when you are reading you’re trying to understand the stories, when you are studying you’re reading the stories to find out about the God who wrote them. You are in fact, learning about the ultimate Author through His characters and interactions with humankind throughout history. The big picture here is that the whole Bible reveals to us: who God is and therefore, who we are as His children!

Let me step back for a moment:

You know what, I love my wife . . . and I really enjoy being married to her. It took me years to get Tasha to agree to marry me—her ring has five diamonds in it, one for every year she made me chase her. And in that time and in the time since we have been married, our relationship has gotten better and deeper as we have gotten to know each other and ourselves. Because I love her, I want to know her more, and the more I get to know her, the more I love her. And the more she get to know me the more the more I realize who I am as well, she lets me know what I’m really like. And it’s a beautiful thing, to know and to be known!

So since Tasha and I began to think differently about this book. Studying it isn’t just a good idea so we can make good decisions or do good deeds. We don’t read it and learn it to know Bible trivia or to pass some test to get accepted by God or this church (I have an actual, official degree in Biblical Studies now and I’m still not all that good at recalling specific facts). But to know and to be know, “warts and all,” by God, truly accepted and truly loved, and adopted by Him as His own children! Now that’s worth knowing and feeling and living out everyday I live!

But don’t let your relationship with God fly by you without capturing it somehow! In any relationship past experiences and memories fade and future plans grow fuzzy over time. (Scrapbookers know the value of cherishing memories and saving experiences all too well—in fact, maybe you should scrapbook about your relationship with God? Hmm.) When you find out where the stories you know fit into God’s story write it down! Somehow, take notes on what you think, feel, and find out about God in His Word!

Rick Warren, Pastor of Saddleback Community Church, believes that reading becomes studying when you begin to “take notes” on what you’re reading. Actually, real quick, take your pen or pencil and, if you’ve got one with you, open your Bible anywhere and just make a stray mark somewhere in the margin of the page. How did that feel? For some of you it was easy, for others, you didn’t actually do it, yet. Come on just a tiny little mark—be creative, make it a smiley-face or a check mark or an “x,” or any symbol. If you were brave enough to make a mark, there, now your Bible’s simply ruined; you might as well mark the whole thing up! Where you find God in these pages, write it down! When God teaches you something, or answers your questions or a prayer with scripture, write it down! When you realize something amazing about God and suddenly find yourself in awe, write it down!

And develop those thoughts; express them in music, poetry, art, articles, sculpture, personal conversations, how you do your job, group discussions, independent films, whatever media can use! Share them with others in your family (your kids), in your small group, at work, with anyone who will listen. Tell people who don’t know about this God and the plans he has made for his children! Get the Word out! This book in its entirety is about this God who pursues people. Read it! Study it! Find out what this relationship with God looks like, smells like, sounds like, etc. And then tell others! What he pours in us through His Word must make its way out so that others benefit! All people matter to God! He has chased us down for millennia and discovering Him in and through His Word has to lead us to share him with others! The words of this book lead us to Him and He leads us to reach out and connect with others.

Number four in the list of facts about our relationship with the Bible is this. . .

4. I NEED TO MEMORIZE GOD’S WORD

Some of you right away are thinking, “That’s the one I'm not doing,” because the last time you memorized something that you can remember was when you were in third grade and you didn’t do very well even then. I’ve talked to many people who say, “I just can’t memorize.”

The truth is we can memorize one category of things. As you talk with somebody about whether they can memorize and start to go down the list you find out they remember phone numbers. They may have 20-30 phone numbers memorized of people who are their friends. Stock quotes, business plans – they’ve got all that memorized. I’ve talked to guys who say they can’t memorize anything but they’ve got every baseball, basketball and football statistic memorized for the last twenty years.

What’s the category of things that we can memorize? We memorize what’s important to us. The Bible says in Proverbs 7:2-3 “Guard My words as your most precious possession. Write them down and also keep them deep within your heart.” I'm not talking about just a mental exercise of memorizing God’s word. I'm talking about getting a better grip on life, on truth, to build a stronger foundation for life.

Psalm 119:11 “I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You.” When temptation hits you, where does it hit you? Sometimes it doesn’t come conveniently when you have a Bible and can look up a verse. So if you put a verse in your mind it helps you when temptation comes. The more verses you memorize the more help God can give during tough times, when you’re facing a decision, facing a time of depression or stress. God can pop a verse into our minds to help us to make it through. For most of us, all we’ve ever memorized is John 3:16. (Not the verse. Just the reference!) We haven’t given God a lot to work with. The more you give Him to work with, the more He can encourage you in tough times. During tough times I don’t tend to run straight to a Bible. But if I put His word in my mind it helps me to make it through.

Once you’ve decided to do this, to take this challenge, how are you going to do it? A few tips:

1. Always pick a verse to memorize that means something to you. Don’t go off a list of verses that mean something to somebody else because we memorize what’s important to us. Find a verse that really speaks to you and means something to you.

2. Decide when you’re going to memorize. This is the toughest part. Some people chose first thing in the morning before they get started on the day. Some people memorize the verse by singing the verse. Some people memorize verses while they’re exercising. You get on the treadmill, get a verse and put it right in front of you. Like 1 Timothy 4:8 “Physical exercise is of some value but spiritual exercise is much more important.” Some people memorize while they’re going to sleep.

Write the verse down and carry it with you. The only thing that keeps us from memorizing God’s word is our own lack of interest. Let’s take it a step forward.

5. I NEED TO MEDITATE ON GOD’S WORD

When you hear the word “meditate” you probably think something. Our idea of meditation and the Bible’s idea is very different. When you and I hear the word “meditate” we think loose your mind to the universe. And there’s a sound that comes to mind – “Hmmmmmm”. That is the exact opposite to the Bible’s idea of meditation.

The Bible’s idea of meditation is focusing your mind on a Bible verse so you can see how the truth fits in your life. Look at a Bible verse and think:

    How does that truth fit into the way I talk with my kids?     How does that truth fit in the way I'm managing my business?     How does that truth fit in the kind of attitudes I have today?     How does that truth fit into my marriage.

That's what meditation on a Bible verse means.

Look at the benefit. Psalms 1:2-3 says, “They love the Lord’s teachings and they think about those teachings day and night. So they are strong like a tree planted by a river. Everything they do will succeed.” The Bible says when you meditate on His word, it’s like planting yourself in rich soil where true success can come into your life.

Why is this so important, thinking about, meditating on God’s word? Proverbs 4:23 “ Your life is shaped by your thoughts.” What I'm thinking about today is what I'm going to become tomorrow. That’s why this is so vital, so important. So you focus on God’s word. Focus your thoughts. May I just stop and preach here for a second? We are what we read and we are what we watch and listen to. I don’t have time this morning to deal with it in depth but I want you to start thinking about it. The things that you take in through your eyes will become a part of who you are. Make sure you are spending time thinking about the word.

That takes a little bit of work. There’s lots of ways to do it. A lot of times I’ll read through a passage and not get anything; I need to focus my thoughts. You can focus your thoughts by picturing the Bible verse. When Psalm 23 says, “The Lord is my shepherd,” you can picture what it’s like for God to be a shepherd and you His sheep. You can focus your thoughts by just reading the verse out loud. There’s a lot of ways to focus your thoughts. You can focus your thoughts by asking questions of the verse. What does this mean to me? How does this fit into my family? What does this mean about some struggles I'm facing? You can focus your thoughts by thinking about praying the verse back to God and talking to Him about what you’ve just read.

Many Christians have either heard or sung, “Lord, I Lift Your Name on High.” It was written by Rick Founds in 1989 and has since become one of the best-known and well-loved praise songs in the world. This beautiful chorus provides a clear summary of the gospel and offers a natural response of adoration for what God has done. Although Founds has written nearly five hundred praise songs, this song has one of the most interesting stories. He developed a unique habit of playing his guitar while reading the Bible. He just plunks along a tune that seems to go along with whatever he’s reading. On this particular morning he was marveling at God’s love for rebellious, fallen humanity. Suddenly, the now famous chorus emerged: “You came from heaven to earth to show the way . . . From the earth to the cross my debt to pay ... From the cross to the grave ... From the grave to the sky ...” Now people around the world give musical expression to their love for God because a guy who does research and development at a fiber optics company took the time to let God’s Word become living and active. Worship Leader, March/April 1998, p. 18

All of this is good and hopefully helpful but none of it will do any good unless we pay attention to the this last fact about us and our relationship with the Bible The final point is…

6. I NEED TO DO GOD’S WORD

James 1:22 “Do not fool yourselves into just listening to the word. Instead, put it into practice.” You can fool yourself.

You can hear a lot of Bible studies or come hear sermons and hear people talk about the Bible and you can fool yourself into thinking that you’re growing spiritually, that great things are happening in your relationship with God when all that’s really happening is you’re listening to other people talk about it. James said don’t fool yourself.

If we all went to a big weight room and you were all there working out and I walked in and got my lawn chair and set it up to watch you work out, I’ve got my bag of Doritos and I open it up and eat the whole bag while I watch you, I crumple it up, throw it away, pick my chair up and say, “Wow! Wasn’t that a great work out!” would you think I was a little strange? What’s it worth watching somebody else work out? I’ve got to do it myself. Many times you can fool yourself by listening to somebody else talk about it but not doing anything about it.

The question is, What will you do about what we’ve talked about today? One of the ways to decide I'm going to do something is to write a sentence on a Bible study or message that you hear. Each week you can write down, “I will do….”

And, by the way, the word “I” is very important. Have you noticed how easy it is to figure out what other people should do about the Bible? Like “I wish ‘so and so’ were here to hear this today.” It’s so easy to figure out what other people should do because they’ve got to do it. I hate it when I’ve got to do it.

What are you going to do about God’s word? The value of doing His word is that it builds a foundation that lasts for the rest of your life.

This book, the Bible, is so easy to get today. It’s even at the checkout stand in the supermarket. But I don't want to ever loose sight of its value. I don’t want to ever loose sight of the price that it took for me to be able to hold this book and read this book and let it impact my life. For the first 1500 years of Christianity only the elite few were allowed to hold the Bible for themselves. And then they had to learn Latin to even read it. In the early 1500’s William Tyndale decided to translate the Bible for the first time into the English language from the Greek so that everyone would have the chance to read it. For that crime alone he was burned at the stake because people said everybody shouldn’t have a Bible, just a few people could understand the Bible. You and I get to live in a day we can all hold this book and read it and let it impact our lives. I don't ever want to loose sight of the price it took for me to hold on to this book. I don’t ever want to waste the opportunity that I have to read this book. And I don’t ever want to take that for granted. I don’t want you to loose sight of the cost and I don’t want you to take it for granted and waste the opportunity. So the question is, what will you and I do about what this book says?

Matthew 5:19 says “Whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Not only do them myself but help someone else to learn how to do them. What are you going to do? What are you going to do about what we talked about today? John 13:17 “Now that you know these things, do them. That is the path of blessing.”

The International Baptist Lay Academy serves as a training ground for church leaders in Eastern Europe. This Hungary-based ministry has trained numerous believers who have known oppression and persecution. In one particular class, a professor suddenly stopped his lecture after realizing he had taught into the break time. He apologized for holding them over into the break, but was interrupted by a student who said, “Professor, don’t stop. We’ve had forty years of break.” Oh, that all of us would have a similar hunger for God’s Word. Commission, July 1996, p. 31

Prayer:.

Father, as we make these commitments to You, I pray more than anything that we’d make them out of a sense of anticipation and not guilt. Lord, I know a lot of people who feel guilt about the Bible. Guilt about what they haven’t done. I pray today that You give us the gift instead of feeling guilt, we would feel invited by You. We’d feel the opportunity of the future. As we make these commitments to You, we’d feel the joy of the fact that You want to have a relationship with us, that You want to build a foundation in our lives that gets us through the tough times. So, God, we bring these commitments to You with a sense of joy and we say to You, “Help us to live them out. Help us to get to know You better. Help us to find in You the foundation that we really need.” We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

This sermon was adapted from a sermon originally preached by Rick Warren. Used by permission. It was delivered by Senior Pastor Wes Humble and Bill Gee.

2004/02/08