The Benefits of Treasuring God's Word
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Good Morning, its good to be in the house of the Lord this morning. What a tremendous time we had at the men’s conference this weekend I was so blessed to see the men of our church turn out the way they did to hear the teaching of God’s word.
I’m telling you that multiple times on the phone the lady behind the desk as I was registering our men said wow this is a very big group! 1st Baptist Church in Chipley is a very large church but she was very surprised and impressed as I was with the number of men we were able to take this year.
I say all of that to say that what we have here is special the number of men plugging in to these small group studies with me, and the number of men who are waiting to start is truly a refreshing sight.
Many churches don’t have what we have right here at Union Hill, Johnny Hunt said MEN ARE THE UNTAPPED POTENTIAL OF THE CHURCH.
By in large when men step up in spiritual things the Bible is clear and so is the research families change, culture changes and the church becomes more powerful. My prayer is that our men would continue to seek the Lord because good things happen when the men of God pursue God.
(Let’s pray)
One afternoon I was leaving out of the office behind my house had just finished with a time of praying and study and as i shut the door I noticed something crazy looking.
In my yard there are flower beds that were there when we got there and they are filled with rocks, you know the nice looking rocks, somebody paid alot of money at one time for these rocks and it wasn’t me thank the Lord because there are tons of them.
But this morning I want to dive into a study of the book of 1 Corinthians, the Bible teaches us that faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. So we are going to break it down and preach through it.
Anyway I walk out and I look and there are these huge vacant spots in the flower bed thousands of rock as were gone it looked pathetic looking looked like the flower bed had leprosy just these big black spots all around.
I thought what in the world happened to all of those rocks and thats when I saw them.
One of the things you have to do when you study a book is set a foundation to build on and understand the book. This morning were going to be looking at the first three verses.
Next to the rock bed was two little boys dump trucks, and a red wagon filled to the gills with the rocks from the rock bed. My two boys looked up hesitently and I said Chandler Gage what in the world are yall doing?
Raised your hand in this room if you have trusted in Christ as your Lord and Savior....
I began to tell them that they had better get all them rocks and put them back in the rock bed because i didn’t have the money to replace them....
if you look at the first chapter Paul is really dealing with the Benefits of being a saint. When we here the word saint its hard not to think of something referring to catholics.... but that is never the Biblical meaning of the word.
That’s when it happened Chandler interrupts me and says but daddy these arent rocks they are treasure. I said you dog gone right there treasure because itll take a fortune to buy some more now put them back.
In Catholicism if you are ensrhined into sainthood its because you have done something great or you are special in regards to your moral standards or actions.
It was amazing yall it had to have taken them hours diggin up those rocks they had that wagon slam full of those rocks. I began to think about all of the time and effort it had to take them picking those things up one by one and loading their dump trucks and then dumping them into the wagon over and over and over again, they had to have been at it most of the day.
SAINT is defined right in the second verse of this book Paul says
That’s dedication, that’s determination. All because they thought they were rich, all because they thought they had found something that was treasure.
To God’s church at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus and called as saints, with all those in every place who call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord—both their Lord and ours.
You know when you find something valuable you don’t have to find time for it, there’s plenty of time when something is valuable. For example when you were dating your spouse you didn’t have to find time to call her, aw naw you were planning on it.
Paul is clear that Saints are those who are sanctified in Christ who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Anyone who is saved who is calling upon His name, anyone who is a true believer is a saint.
You have a divine right to that title so the next time you introduce yourself make sure you introduce yourself as saint. According to the Bible I have been declared holy I have been
You didn’t have to make time to go watch you child being born, nothing was going to stop you from seeing your child be born. When some of us played sports, we didnt have to force ourselves to make time to practice.
If you loved the game everything you did was practice. Why?
Because tit was valuable to you.
This morning I want to speak with you about the Blessings of treasuring the Word of God. What benefits do we receive from studying the word of God?
Turn with me in your copy of God’s word to .
My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
Proverbs
Notice the King Solomon the wisest man in the world begins with the word if. This is a conditional statement, this is a “if” “then” promise.
If you put on your seat belt then you will be safer than if you do not put it on. Or the one I use on my kids all the time, if you stay on your best behavior then daddy will reward you.
But here Solomon begins by saying,
IF YOU ACCEPT MY WORDS AND STORE UP MY COMMANDS WITHIN YOU
He says if you accept my words well what does the word accept mean exactly? It means to receive with pleasure it speaks of receiving someone or something with joy. So for example when you have a family member that you havent seen in awhile and you find out they are coming to visit you are excited you are joyful you run to and fro excited to see them and spend time with them.
So basically Solomon is telling us that when it comes to our relationship with the Word of God we should receive his word with joy and excitement.
That we should long to hear a word from the Lord not just in a sermon but in our daily time of spending it with God and His word.
Do you know when you spend time in gods word you are spending time with God himself. This is where God speaks to us and we can respond. This is why we talk about the Lord wanting to have a relationship with us.
Like someone who can’t wait to see an old friend like someone who cannot contain the excitment is this the way we approach God’s word?
I can assure you that when we are right with the Lord this is exactly how we feel, we just cannot wait to spend time with Him, we can’t wait to learn from Him. BUT WHEN WE ARE DISORIENTED AND AS ADRIAN RODGERS PUT IT
WHEN WE ARE WALKING AT A GUILTY DISTANCE NOT REALLY PRESSING INTO THE LORD AND WHAT HE WANTS FOR OUR LIVES THERE IS VERY LITTLE EXCITMENT AND THERE IS VERY LITTLE TIME SPENT WITH HIM.
WE SHOULD TREASURE OUR TIME WITH THE LORD.
So a better way to phrase that might be if you treasure and recieve with joy my words and do what with them?
STORE THEM UP WITHIN YOU
THY WORD HAVE I HID IN MY HEART THAT I MIGHT NOT SIN AGAINST THEE
When you store God’s word in your heart then something begins to happen… there are benefits to spending time in Gods word!
We will get to those blessings in a minute.
So God tells us that we are to
Receive Gods word with joy
Store Gods commands within us
But notice what He tells us to do with gods word next
furthermore, if you call out to insight
and lift your voice to understanding,
So let’s get real have you ever sat down to read the Bible and thought to yourself man this is hard to understand. But you read it anyway, but you didn’t really get anything out of it.
Anybody ever felt this way?
Let me ask you a question did you cry out to God in prayer and ask Him to help you understand it?
Too many times we decide were going to do a better job of reading God’s word only to feel that way and never asking the writer of the Bible for understanding. do you realize that you have the Holy Spirit living within you and He guides us into all truth?
He longs for you to ask Him what something means, He longs for you in the same way a Father longs to spend time with His kids He longs to reveal Himself to you and help you understand His word!
What kind of Father would God be if His children asked Him for help and He did nothing? Not very loving at all
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
If you wanna know God and you want to understand His Word He isn’t just going to let you sit there watching you struggle and do nothing, He longs to give good gifts to those who ask...
So we are to receive God’s word with Joy, we are to store up God’s commands within us, we are to listen closely to wisdom....
So we are to receive God’s word with Joy, we are to store up God’s commands within us, we are to listen closely to wisdom....
Quick question how much listening do you do when you have your quiet time with the Lord. One of the most helpful things I have found in my time with God has come from being silent. So for example I’ll read a Bible passage and I’ll pray about it.
I’ll ask God to speak to my heart and then I’ll just sit there and wait and listen. YOU’LL BE AMAZED AT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU SHUT YOU’RE PHONE OFF AND SIT IN SILENCE FOR A FEW MINUTES, MEDITATING ON GOD’S WORD!
Psalm
How happy is the man
who does not follow the advice of the wicked
or take the path of sinners
or join a group of mockers!
Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction,
and he meditates on it day and night.
Sit still meditate, think about what you just read and then wait for the Holy Spirit to speak to you! Listen closely, be attentive! You don’t know what will happen if you will sit down in faith believing God will speak to you, and then wait expectantly for Him to do just that!
I SERVE A RISEN SAVIOR HE’S IN THE WORLD TODAY
I KNOW THAT HE IS LIVING WHATEVER MEN MAY SAY
I SEE HIS HAND OF MERCY, I HEAR HIS VOICE OF CHEER
AND JUST THE TIME I NEED HIM HE IS ALWAYS NEAR
HE LIVES, HE LIVES, CHRIST JESUS LIVES TODAY
HE WALKS WITH ME, AND TALKS WITH ME ALONG LIFE’S NARROW WAY
HE LIVES HE LIVES SALVATION TO IMPART
YOU ASK ME HOW I KNOW HE LIVES HE LIVES WITHIN MY HEART
DONT YOU EVER THINK THAT GOD IS NOT ONE PRAYER AWAY, HE WILL SPEAK, HE STILL SPEAKS AND IF YOU CALL ON HIM HE WILL ANSWER YOU!
Receive God’s word with joy
Store God’s Word up within you
Take time to listen to what God might wanna say to you
If you don’t understand ask
What else are we to do with God’s Word?
Proverbs
if you seek it like silver
and search for it like hidden treasure,
We are to search for it like hidden treasure, like silver! I am telling you trying to search for silver and treasure in these days was very difficult. It took time and resources, but for the ones who searched for it, the pay off was greater than the sacrifice.
For Gage and Chandler to have spent all of that time i mean hours picking those rocks up to create such a mess, to them it seemed like no time at all, WHY? They were getting rich!
Most of you don’t have the relationship that you want with the Lord because you have stopped seeking God’s word like it was actually treasure.
When something is valuable 5 hours can seem like 5 minutes, but when something seems pointless and its not valuable to us, then 5 minutes can feel like 5 hours.
Could it be that the reason why you don’t enjoy your time spent with God, or the reason why you have stopped spending time in God’s word is because you don’t realize the benefits that come as a result of it? Because you have forgotten the benefits that come from it it has begun to lose it’s meaning and value?
I think so, so let’s listen to Solomon tell us what the benefits of treasuring God’s word are:
IF you:
- Receive God’s Word Joyfully
- Store up God’s Word within you
- Listen Closely for the Lord to give wisdom and understanding
- Call on Him when you don’t understand
- Search for Truth like treasure
THEN GOD GIVES YOU SOMETHING IN RETURN
Deeper Knowledge of God
Deeper Knowledge of God
How many of you want to know God better?
Listen to what He says here
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and discover the knowledge of God.
Proverbs
You will understand the fear of the Lord
The Bible tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
No single English word can convey the meaning of the word for fear here in this verse. It refers to worshipful submission, reverential awe, and obedient respect to God Himself.
If you spend time in God’s word you will know something that will change your life. You will begin to understand why you should fear the Lord.
(disciples in the storm)
the last phrase they say while they are on the ship WHO THEN IS THIS THAT EVEN THE WINDS AND THE WAVES OBEY HIM.
The storm was sent by God so that they would realize that it wasn’t the storm they needed to fear but the One who could speak to the storm and the storm obey.
Think about it this way, if I am living with fear of losing my job then everything I do will be driven by fear and I wont get good results in the process, but if I fear the One who gave me the job then I will do everything in my power to please Him!
When I honor God first then He takes care of the rest of the stuff that I might have concern over. If I find out I have cancer then that fear can drive the decisions I make, but if I choose to keep my eyes fixed on the One who can heal the cancer it will transform how I handle it.
fearing the Lord is the best thing we can do in life, it keeps us humble all of a sudden we realize that were not the master of our own destiny we are not the captian of our fate. But there is someone higher someone who is more powerful than we could ever be and we will have to give an account to Him for what we do or dont do in this life.
However notice that He doesn’t just say that we will begin to understand the fear of the Lord, but also that we will discover the knowledge of God.
We wont just just fear the true and living god we will know Him and we will also know what He knows. How many of you have ever said well if I just knew what God wanted me to do....
Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
You want to know what God wants you to do with your life, then TREASURE THE WORD OF GOD, RECEIVE IT WITH JOY, STORE IT UP INSIDE OF YOU, LISTEN CLOSELY, CALL OUT TO GOD FOR UNDERSTANDING, SEARCH THE TRUTH OF GOD LIKE TREASURE!
As you begin to do that your mind will begin to transform, as the light of the living word of God flows over your mind, and begins to wash the trash out and replace the devils lies with the truth about who God is and what He has planned for this old Earth. As your mind changes all of a sudden the illuminating Spirit of God will shine light on His specific will for your life and you will be able to discern what is the good an perfect and pleasing will of God for your life!
All of this centers arond God’s word you dont need an entertaining preacher you need to be reminded to be in your Bibles!
EVERY MIRACLE GOD PERFORMS STARTS WITH A SEED
IF ONLY A FEW SEEDS ARE BEING SCATTERED ON SUNDAY MORNING THATS GREAT BUT IF NONE ARE GOING IN DURING THE WEEK THEN THE HARVEST IS GOING TO BE WEAK!
YOU HAVE TO DO THE HARD THINGS TO REAP THE BENEFITS
The Lord Will Speak Into Your Life
The Lord Will Speak Into Your Life
For the Lord gives wisdom;
from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
FORM HIS MOUTH
I dont know about you but there are many times in my life when I need a word from Heaven and GOD SAYS I HAVE ALREADY GIVEN YOU THE WORD FROM HEAVEN!
But more than that God will speak directly into your situation, nothing is more needed in your life today than for God to speak into your situations.
When GOD SPEAKS GALAXIES ARE FORMED, WHEN GOD SPEAKS STORMS STOP THEIR RAGING, WHEN GOD SPEAKS DEAF MEN HEAR, WHEN GOD SPEAKS JUDGMENTAL PEOPLE WALK AWAY WITH NOTHING TO SAY, WHEN GOD SPEAKS MOUNTAINS MOVE, WHEN GOD SPEAKS MEANING AND PURPOSE FLOW INTO YOUR LIFE, WHEN GOD SPEAKS DEAD MAN GET UP FROM THE GRAVE!!!
I’m telling you nothing could be more important in your life than for God to speak to you!
FROM HIS MOUTH COMES KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
Have you ever said I just dont understand what God is doing?
THE POWER OF ONE HOUR
IM TELLING YOU UNDERSTANDING OF WHO GOD IS AND HOW HE WORKS CAN TRANSFORM HOW YOU GO THROUGH DIFFICULTY IN LIFE.
WHEN YOU DEDICATE YOURSELF TO GIVING THE FIRST HOUR OF YOUR DAY TO THE LORD AND BEING IN PRAYER AND IN HIS WORD HE WILL SPEAK AND THINGS YOU NEVER UNDERSTOOD YOU WILL BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND BECAUSE GOD IS NOT THE GOD OF CONFUSION HE IS THE GOD WITH ALL THE ANSWERS!
HE WILL GIVE YOU SUCCESS
HE WILL GIVE YOU SUCCESS
That’s right the promise here is the God will give you success! God desires for you to succeed in life. HE wants to give you life right here on Earth and give it more abundantly.
(7) HE STORES UP SUCCESS
This is good, so you are getting up morning after morning, and there are some good days in the Bible and there are some days that you just arent feeling the Lord. Those days do come, but let me tell you something that will help you keep going on those days when your not really feeling it.
HE IS STORING UP SUCCESS
THink about that everytime you sit down with Him every time you decide to approach your day and live to honor the Lord He is just storing up success, day in and day out its building the success is building.
You are being faithful to Him and He is just storing up success for you. Now you say well Kyle I dont feel successful right now thats right because when God gives often times He gives in bunches.
He pours it out.
Bring the full tenth into the storehouse so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this way,” says the Lord of Hosts. “See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.
OPEN THE FLOODGATES OF HEAVEN AND POUR OUT A BLESSING FOR YOU WITHOUT MEASURE!
Now in context he is talking about people bringing in the tithe to the storehouse of God, the principle is here in this text as well, He is saying be faithful to me first and then I WILL POUR OUT BLESSING
So everytime you get alone with God morning after morning, God’s just storing up success for you and one day He is just going to open up the floodgates of HEaven and dump it all over you and you dont wanna miss that!
HE stores up success for the UPRIGHT
Those who are walking in righteousness, those who are walking in faithfulness.
So when you treasure Gods word:
You will receive in return
- The deeper knowledge of God
- The voice of the Lord speaking into your situations
- Stored up success that will be poured out as you walk in uprightness of heart
HE IS
HE IS
Protection
Protection
Isn’t it nice to know that he Lord promises to be a shield keeping his children safe from the dangers of the world. That’s what a good father does.
HE IS A SHIELD FOR THOSE WHO LIVE WITH INTEGRITY
So for example there was a time not long ago when I was helping a young man, who received government assistance because he has a disability.
I helped him get a house of his own, helped him learn how to shop for groceries, helped him learn how to handle hard situations. But since he had no immediate family who was able to be in charge of his money, his grandmother asked me if I would do it.
She was in bad health, so I agreed.
Not too long after there was some people who began to say things that were just not true things like the preacher is stealing this boys money.
There are many bad things I have done but even as a lost person stealing was just not one of them. I stood there as she said those things about me right to my face.
The boy got mad and said Kyle arent you going to say something?
We cant let her say those things.
I calmed him down and told him that the righteous stand in their integrity and their enemies are put to open shame. Why tel you that story?
I DONT HAVE TO DEFEND MYSELF HEN IVE DONE NOTHING WRONG! GOD IS A SHEILD FOR THOSE WHO ARE HONEST AND UPRIGHT!
so that He may guard the paths of justice
and protect the way of His loyal followers.
YOU WILL KNOW THE RIGHT PATH TO WALK DOWN
YOU WILL KNOW THE RIGHT PATH TO WALK DOWN
Then you will understand righteousness, justice,
and integrity—every good path.
For wisdom will enter your mind,
and knowledge will delight your heart.
Discretion will watch over you,
and understanding will guard you,
rescuing you from the way of evil—
from the one who says perverse things,
from those who abandon the right paths
to walk in ways of darkness,
from those who enjoy doing evil
and celebrate perversion,
whose paths are crooked,
and whose ways are devious.
Satan will send people into your life and they might be related to you or they might just be friends, good friends but as people who honor God and spend time with him, our allegiance is to God and not to them.
We seek to honor God with our life not man.
We were in Bible college and we were all cramming for a test that was coming, it was tough, and one of my best freinds came to me it was the year he was graduating and he asked me something very simple, listen after you get done taking the test just tell me whats on it so I can make sure I study the right thing.
It doesnt sound too bad He didnt ask me for the answers but, at the same time, this was a final examination which meant ANYTHING from the first day of class until now could have been on there.
I told him ok no problem.
But as the day went on I began to feel convicted was what I doing cheating?
I prayed and came to the realization that it was cheating and I refused to cheat in Bible college.
I called my friend on the phone and told him that God would not allow me to do that for him, I got called everything from a holy roller to boy scout.
BUT THE LORD PROTECTS THOSE WHO WALK IN INTEGRITY
I made a B on that final
The others tried to cheat made up sheets and passed them around to cram. Each one of them failed.
EACH OF YOU HAVE CHOICES IN LIFE YOU CAN CHEAT OR YOU CAN TRUST GOD
I CHOOSE TO STAY ON GODS SIDE
So follow the way of good people,
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
For the upright will inhabit the land,
and those of integrity will remain in it;
but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the treacherous uprooted from it.
Too often we try to do whats right in the eyes of men, but if we focus our lives on doing what is right in the eyes of God then He will guide us protect us speak into our lives, give us wisdom in hard circumstances, store up success for us, and show us the deeper things about who He is.
If you dont think this type of relationship is important to God....
(The Cross)