What Now Part 2 - The Bible

Intro Story

I’m currently finishing up my Master’s degree

‌I have become all to familiar with college and how to make my way through the educational journey.

‌In every class I’ve ever taken you are handed a syllabus.

‌The syllabus tells you the expected outcomes of the class

‌It tells you what the least you can do to earn a passing grade is

‌And it tells you when everything is due.

‌BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT ITEM ON THE SYLLABUS IS THE TEXTBOOKS THAT YOU WILL HAVE TO HAVE.

‌(Art Appreciation Fail) “This was a poem”

‌To have the right answers you have to read the right book.

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Relativism cannot coexist with absolute truth

We live in a society that believes in the concept of relativism

That being the case…anything absolute is seen as a threat

OUR SOCIETY SEES GOD’S WORD AS A THREAT

(As it should…the Word of God is a threat to comfort, complacency, and errant thinking.)

The Word of God is the defense to a complete collapse of morality.

A brazen example of this is the idea gender is fluid

(Gender is factual but beliefs are fluid.)

This teaching needs to discredit the Word of God.

The LGBTQIA+ agenda gets a lot of focus in regards to this thought process.

But it is the lack of willingness to accept moral guardrails of any kind that gives power to this...

Our culture is about discrediting the Word of God because a worldview built on fluidity cannot tolerate a constitution that is absolute.

TR: It is not just secularists who are threatening the validity and relatability of the Word of God.

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The Bible is under attack

There are popular “Christian” Pastors who have written books about the fact that the Old Testament is pretty much irrelevant.

George Barna did a survey and found that 54% of Christians do not believe in absolute truth.

YOU CANNOT WALK IN DISCIPLESHIP (A commited student) IF YOU QUESTION THE TEACHING OF THE TEACHER...

This book is not fictional…it is not simply a history book…IT IS THE LIVING WORD OF GOD!

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I am not God

Our problem with the Word of God is the fact that we didn’t write it…(HUMANISM ELEVATES HUMANITY TO THE PLACE OF DEITY.)

We have arrived at the place we have societally because humanism has elevated us in our minds to the place of deity.

We believe we have the right to determine if scripture is authentic and accurate.

I am not the authority of scripture…Scripture is the authority of me…(I don’t interpret the Bible, the Bible interprets me.)

One of the greatest ways to progress in your faith journey is to become a person of the Word!

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Primary arguments against scripture - It’s scientifically impossible

The liberal agenda looks at scripture and tries to say because there are inconsistencies that the document is inaccurate.

The inconsistencies cannot be proven

Things like - it’s scientifically impossible for a man to live in the belly of a whale for three days

OK...

It’s scientifically impossible for a 90 some odd year old woman to have her first child

It’s scientifically impossible for the sea to become two walls

It’s scientifically impossible for a dead man named Lazarus to be alive and a blind man named Bartimeus tell you the color of your shoes

It’s scientifically impossible for a virgin to conceive

It’s scientifically impossible for one man to fulfill hundreds of prophecies, die on a cross and get up out of the grave three days later…BUT IT HAPPENED

Scientific impossibilities are not proof of Biblical inaccuracy but instead they are proof of the miraculous nature of our God!

Science is subject to God it is not the other way around.

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The Word of God is the bread of the believer

The Word of God is a primary ingredient in your discipleship process…why?

Because we gotta eat!

2022 We launched the church in January

For the last decade or so we have always done an extended fast in January to start the year.

The last several years I have done an absolute fast with only liquids

2021 and again in 2023

We had our first practice service in January of 2022 the week we started the fast.

I started rolling out carts…setting up chairs…hanging curtains…

All with no food in my system for six days

I decided that fasting was not on the docket for that year...

When you don’t partake of food…your body gets weak

Things that you normally have strength in abundance to accomplish…you find yourself incapable of doing - Because FOOD IS NECESSARY TO PRODUCTIVITY AND GROWTH

Jesus himself shows us in a verse we will look at shortly…that to the Christian…the scriptures are parallel to physical bread.

The Word of God is bread for the believer!

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1. We Need A Daily Dose

Exodus 16:4 NKJV

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not.

Matthew 6:11 NKJV

Give us this day our daily bread.

We will see several places that God refers to and makes parallels between the Word of God and bread.

You have the benefit of having found a Bible Believing, Bible preaching church.

You are going to get a dose of God’s Word every Sunday when you show up here...

But how many of you are going to go the restaurant after service…order a big meal…enjoy it…and then be done eating until next Sunday when you go back to the restaurant?

In order to maintain proper nutrients we have to partake of food every day.

In order to stay Spiritually healthy, we have to consume God’s Word every day!

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Sometimes we wonder what the best way to conquer temptation is?

You can’t fight very well when you’re weak!

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Don’t settle for weekly enjoyment when you can have daily blessings...

Psalm 68:19 NKJV

Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits, The God of our salvation! Selah

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Practical help - What kind of Bible do I read

That’s a cool principle but what BIble do I need to read?

There are three types of Bible categories you will most commonly find.

Exact Equivalency = Word for Word

KJV, NKJV, NASB, ESV

Dynamic Equivalency = Thought for Thought

NLT, CSB, HCSB, CEB, GNB

Paraphrase = It contextualizes english translations into modern vernacular

The Living Bible, CEV,

What Bible should I read? - The one you will read.

I would recommend Word for Word and commonly using Greek and Hebrew study helps to know exactly what was being said.

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2. We can’t live without it

Matthew 4:3–4 NKJV

Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”

Deuteronomy 8:3 NKJV

So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.

This verse is unique because it is a marriage between the natural and the spiritual.

God speaks to His people and says I allowed a physical problem (hunger)…to reveal a Spiritual problem (pride)…and through a spiritual solution (the word of God) met a physical need (manna from heaven).

As you face physical issues…ask yourself, is there a spiritual problem trying to be revealed.

The Word of God is our primary need meeting source.

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Time, it’s a resource

Yet we spend so little time pursuing it...

Isaiah 55:2 NKJV

Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance.

We see money as a resource....but miss out on the truth that money is not the most limited resource...

Time is the only resource that we do not have the capacity to make more of.

Yet we spend our resources on everything but what can actually sustain our lives!

The most common cause of spiritual death in the modern Christian culture is not compromise…it is malnutrition

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Reading Scripture has benefits

Joshua 1:8 NKJV

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

I can’t read scripture as much as I would like because I have too much work to do.

I run a successful business

I have too many family things

I am trying to start my company

I need to prove myself to my boss.

You remember last week that I said that going public with your faith had a direct reward attached to it - Jesus confesses up in front of His Father

Reading God’s Word has a reward attached as well

WHEN YOU READ IT

Then you will make your way prosperous

Then you will have good success

Not just success, but good success…being a person of the Word will give you the wisdom to know which wins to pursue (GOOD SUCCESS)!

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Look at the benefits

I’m not stating theories to you about the effects of lives that are built on reading the Bible.

Lifeway Research released a study that found these effects in the life of a person who read the Bible four times a week.

Feeling lonely drops 30%

Anger issues drop 32%

Bitterness in relationships drops 40%

Alcoholism drops 57%

Sex outside of marriage drops 68%

Feeling spiritually stagnant drops 60%

Viewing pornography drops 61%

Sharing your faith jumps 200%

Discipling others jumps 230%

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3. We need to know who it’s all about - It’s all about Jesus

John 6:31–35 NKJV

Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

John 6:48–51 NKJV

I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”

As we talk about the necessity of the BIble…as we talk about the importance of spending time within it’s pages!

We must understand the purpose

THIS BOOK IS JUST A BOOK APART FROM THE REALITY OF JESUS!

We read the book to know the Son

As a disciple I am a student of the exclusive teacher…my teacher is Jesus…The Bible is the tool He uses to teach me!

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Don’t worry about getting all the answers right

John 5:39 NKJV

You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.

John 1:1 NKJV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14 NKJV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

I want to take the pressure off of the Bible and tell you..there’s not a quiz

JBQ was a thing when I was a kid or Bible Bowl

We would have to know Bible trivia - Kid who always buzzes in and says “Jesus” because Jesus is the answer to everything.

As we study God’s Word…We are simply finding the truths that better paint the story of redemption.

Leviticus is extra…but it’s just a reminder that Jesus fulfilled a lot of things when He fulfilled the law

Job is rough…but it’s just a reminder that God is faithful even when life falls apart.

Solomon was a little bit crazy…but God can use even the most illogically impure people to bring about world changing wisdom and prosperity.

Judgement is a part of scripture but it is not the theme…redemption is the theme!

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If you don’t have a BIble…We have one for you

You can download the Youversion app and have access to literally hundreds of thousands of reading plans.