Spiritual Disciplines - SCRIPTURE

Good Morning Church! If you have a Bible with you, turn to the book of Hebrews chapter 12!

We are starting a brand new sermon series this morning walking through the Spiritual Disciplines of the Christian walk.

At River Valley, we usually preach expository, pick a book of the Bible and go to town, but during the summer I wanted to take a break from that and focus on NINE topics.

Each one of these topics will cover various spiritual disciplines of the faith. We will be all over the Bible this morning, but lets look at the main text for this entire series.

Hebrews 12:11 (ESV)

11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

PREACH!

Our first discipline this morning is Scripture reading.

Donald Whitney wrote a book titles Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, he writes, and I quote,

No spiritual discipline is more important than the intake of God’s Word. Nothing can substitute for it. There is simply no healthy Christian life apart from diet of the milk and meat of Scripture.

Whitney continues,

‘If every Christian in America would open the cover of their Bibles all at the same time it would generate the greatest dust storm the world has ever seen.’Lifeway conducted a research in regards to scripture reading. Listen, some of these answers may surprise you.

Almost nine out of 10 households (87 percent) own a Bible, according to the American Bible Society, and the average household has three. But Bible reading remains spotty.

Lifeway Research surveyed 1,000 Americans about their views of the Bible and found significant splits in how familiar they are with the Christian scripture. One in five Americans, Lifeway Research found, has read through the Bible at least once. That includes 11 percent who’ve read the entire Bible once, and 9 percent who’ve read it through multiple times. Another 12 percent say they have read almost all of the Bible, while 15 percent have read at least half.

About half of Americans (53 percent) have read relatively little of the Bible. One in 10 has read none of it, while 13 percent have read a few sentences. Thirty percent say they have read several passages or stories.

Americans also differ in how they approach reading the Bible. Twenty-two percent read a little bit each day, in a systematic approach. A third (35 percent) never pick it up at all, while 30 percent look up things in the Bible when they need to. Nineteen percent re-read their favorite parts, while 17 percent flip open the Bible and read a passage at random. A quarter (27 percent) read sections suggested by others, while 16 percent say they look things up to help others.

Those with evangelical beliefs are more likely (49 percent) to read a little bit each day than those without evangelical beliefs (16 percent). Protestants (36 percent) are more likely to read every day than Catholics (17 percent).

The more often Americans attend church, the more likely they are to read the Bible daily. Thirty-nine percent of those who attend worship services at least once a month read a bit every day, while only 13 percent of those who attend services less than once month pick up a Bible daily.

Men are more likely to skip Bible reading than women. Thirty-nine percent of men say they do not read the Bible on their own, compared to 31 percent of women.

I’ve got 4 things I want you to do when it comes to the spiritual discipline of Bible intake

Love the Word

Study the Word

Hide the Word

Do the Word

LOVE THE WORD

You won’t have a desire to READ the Word until you have a LOVE for the Word.

Alli’s love note illustration

Psalm 119:47–48 (ESV)

47 for I find my delight in your commandments,

which I love.

48 I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love,

and I will meditate on your statutes.

Psalm 119:97 (ESV)

97 Oh how I love your law!

It is my meditation all the day.

Psalm 119:127 (ESV)

127 Therefore I love your commandments

above gold, above fine gold.

2 Timothy 4:13 (ESV)

13 When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.

STUDY THE WORD

2 Timothy 2:15 (ESV)

15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

HIDE THE WORD

Psalm 119:11 (KJV)

11 Thy word have I hid in my heart

that I might not sin against you.

DO THE WORD

James 1:22–23 (ESV)

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.

WHY ARENT WE DISCIPLINED? LAZINESS

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