Psalm 119

Intro

Story of the mormon missionaries coming to my door

I invite them in

They tell me I can’t speak to God

I tell them story

They leave I follow

I begin to tell them more stories

They stop me and ask “are you one of them pentecostals?”

I say don’t worry about it I’m just a person like you who reads the bible, believes it and prays to the God of it

She says “well that’s your problem” “you need one of our teachers to teach you what it says you can’t read it for yourself

And I said “see that's your problem” “you don’t trust the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth”

It so easy to be down on them, but honestly how many of you read your bibles everyday?

Yes, sermons are great and there are great speakers out there, but that should never replace our need for the word

I have one goal today.

I simply want to convince you to read the bible for yourself.

I know that seems simple and probably rudimentary, but if we were honest how many of us actually read it everyday?

“The Bible is the cradle where Christ is laid” - Martin Luther

Statistically less than 20% of church goers read the Bible daily

Do you know what the most popular “bible verse” in America is

“God helps those who help themselves” - it's not even in the Bible…..

Read passage

Pray

We need to realize our need for the word

We need to hunger for and thirst for the word

Story of me in bible college as a recent convert knowing more bible than the vast majority raised in church

I got to drive a speaker to the airport after a conference and asked him how he does his devotions and he said he only reads the Bible to prepare messages….

You may think this a sad anomaly, but statically only 35% of pastors read their bible strictly for devotions (most admit they only read it for sermon prep)

Psalm 119:20

Psalm 119:81

Amos 8:11

Psalm 119:105

This requires humility

Be okay knowing we aren’t right

Be okay admitting we aren’t perfect

The word is the filter we need for our heart

Not emotions

Emotions aren’t good or bad, but just a response

We need to place our foundation on God’s word not how we feel or think

Proverbs 3:5-6

Proverbs 16:32

Philippians 4:7

Colossians 3:2

Romans 8:6

We need to seek the word

Whole heart

Our spiritual maturity will never exceed our knowledge of the Bible

We can stray

Now a days there are so many people just looking for churches with the most entertaining speakers and have no idea if they are lying to them or not

1 kings 13

1 kings 22

Paul celebrates the church for double checking his preaching

I played devil’s advocate to the students on portland trip cause I don’t want them just telling me what they’ve heard me or someone else teach

Now don’t get me wrong I am so thankful for guys that know more about the bible than me that I can learn from, but I get scared because there are so many of us who just trust what someone says because they’re a “scholar” when the bible tells over and over to watch our doctrine and to judge people’s teaching by their life and faith.

Do they remind you of Jesus?

But you won’t even know what Jesus looks like if you haven’t read this book

Knowing the word protects us

From wrong doctrine

I get worried so many people reject the word

They remind me of the king from 1 kings chapter 22

“He never says what I want to hear”

1 Timothy 4:1-4

Nowadays with enough patience we can find a way to make the bible say whatever we want. We can find a book at the christian bookstore that will teach we can divorce our spouse, live a safe life, hoard all our money, etc etc

From Satan

Satan did this to the corinthian church. They would take drugs and hear things from spirits telling them that God is cool with whatever

He even did it to Jesus in His temptation.

Telling out of context scripture to get Him to sin

From Sin

Psalm 119:11

Story of me working on my changing my speech

James 1:26

We need to store the word

Means we need to memorize it

Psalms 119:11

James 2:19

The temptation of Jesus

Journaling helps

I can look back at what God has said, promised and done

Means we need to do what it says

James 1:22

It doesn't matter how much we read, but how much we take and apply each day

Not about reading 10 chapters a day, but maybe applying one verse

Conclusion

Poll

How many of you would say it’s more important to know the bible?

How many would say it’s more important to do what the bible says?

We need to both know and do the word

Surfing illustration

Will you follow Jesus by learning and obeying the bible?