Saturated

[0:00] I trust this all to you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Children, you may be excused. If you would open up your Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 3, we're going to be focusing on verses 16 and 17.

[0:15] But just to let you know, last week we started a series called 21st Century Disciple. And what it's geared to do is to help us understand what it means to be a follower of Jesus at this time and in this place.

[0:28] And so last week we started with those two words, follow me. Me being Jesus. Jesus is God in the flesh, lived a perfect life, crucified on the cross, raised from the dead, ascended on high, reigning next to the Father, is going to come back and clean up shop.

[0:44] That is who the me is. And then he calls us to follow him. If you want to follow me, if anyone would come after me, deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.

[0:55] And so when you become a follower of Jesus, yes, you're forgiven of all your sins, but God radically reorients you off yourself and onto Jesus.

[1:08] A 21st Century follower of Jesus is someone who is living for Jesus intentionally. And so this morning, I want to argue for something.

[1:19] I want to convince you of something. And my aim this morning, through God's word, is to show you, if you are going to intentionally live for Jesus Christ, you must learn how to reorient yourself according to this word.

[1:34] This is a compass for you. This gives you direction. It reveals God to you. If you want to follow Jesus, you need this book. You can't live without it. It's absolutely vital to a follower of Jesus in their pursuit of the Lord Jesus.

[1:52] And so this morning, I'm going to make a case. I'm going to point you to a place in the scripture and show you three reasons why you must be prioritizing this book. If you're in 2 Timothy chapter 3, I'm going to start in verse 10.

[2:05] I'm going to read all the way through verse 17. You, Timothy, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra, which persecutions I endured, yet from them all the Lord rescued me.

[2:29] And all, indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, Timothy, continue what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, the Old Testament, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

[2:56] All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

[3:16] Tomorrow morning, when you're leaving the house, my guess is, maybe it's an apartment, maybe it's a tent, but my guess is, somewhere in the place you live, there's a Bible.

[3:30] Maybe you're going to come home after church today, you're going to put your Bible on your kitchen table, and you're going to forget to put it away, and tomorrow morning, as you're starting the day, you're going to see that Bible on your kitchen table.

[3:41] What are you going to do? What are you going to do? That Bible, your Bible, is God-breathed.

[3:53] It's God's power. It's not just God's power. It's profitable. It is also purposed. And so this morning, I want to show you the power of God's Word, the profitability of God's Word, and the purpose of God's Word, so that you would live for Jesus.

[4:17] You ready to dig in? The power of Scripture. Do you want to learn a Greek word? It's in verse 16.

[4:31] All Scripture is breathed out by God. The Apostle Paul coined a new word here. Theopneustos.

[4:43] You ready? Let's try it together. Theopneustos. It's kind of a weird word. God-breathed. All Scripture, God-breathed.

[4:58] So here's the claim of the Bible. Every word of H of the 66 books from Genesis to Revelation originated in the mind of God Himself.

[5:13] God-breathed. God-breathed. I've told you this before. I am a fan of the Antiques Roadshow. And I like it when there's this kind of person who finds this silver goblet up in the anchor, up in the attic, and they bring it to the Antiques Roadshow, and the professional flips it over, and you know what they're looking for?

[5:37] The hallmark. And the hallmark says what that thing is made of, who made it, and when it was made. Theopneustos is the hallmark on this book.

[5:49] It's from God. Every word is from Him. And it originated in His mind, and He revealed it progressively over the ages.

[6:05] Do you know what a Bunsen burner is? Maybe you remember back in school, you would take some kind of element, and you put it under a Bunsen burner, and it would show up in a special kind of light, and you'd look it up in your book, and you're like, oh, that's what this element is.

[6:20] If you took the original writings of each book of the Bible, and from those original manuscripts, you took them out, and you put them in a Bunsen burner, you know what? You know what it would show?

[6:32] Theopneustos. Every word is God's word. It's a huge claim. So right now, do you know what you're holding in your hands?

[6:46] The very words of God. Do you know how many people shed their blood and died for that book? So people in their own languages could have it?

[7:00] It originates in God's mind. And because it originates in God's mind, it has intrinsic power that the very words of God, Do you remember in Genesis chapter 1, God spoke and stuff happened.

[7:15] And so we read, and God said, and it was so. And God said, and it was so. And God said, and it was so. God said, let there be light, and there was light.

[7:28] That is the effectual power of God's word. And you fast forward into the New Testament to the God man. Jesus on a boat in the Sea of Galilee.

[7:39] Disciples freaking out. Jesus, save us, save us. He stands up, and he says, peace, be still. And it was so. He's standing outside the grave of Lazarus in John 11, 43.

[7:55] It says, Lazarus, come out. Four days after he died. And it was so. The power of God's word.

[8:10] You may remember Hebrews 4, 12. God's word is living and active. And it penetrates like nothing else all the way down into the thoughts and hearts of men and women.

[8:29] Because this book, every word of it, is God's spoken. It's power, and it has innate and final authority.

[8:41] Because all scriptures originate in God's mind, and God never lies, we can be confident that whatever this book addresses, it addresses truly and accurately.

[8:54] We can stand on this book. We can build our lives on it. This book claims to be the very words of God.

[9:07] So tomorrow morning when you're leaving the house and you see your Bible on your table, you know what you're looking at? God's speaking to you. God's very words.

[9:20] This book is absolutely essential for you, follower of Jesus, to live for Christ in every area of your life. He has set you up for success.

[9:32] He's given you his word. So we've looked at the power of scripture. It's theopneustos. God's breathed word. Every one of them. And now let's talk about the profitability of scripture.

[9:46] We see that in the very next two words. It says, all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable.

[9:57] All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable. Now when you hear that word profit, you may be thinking, you mean making a buck off the Bible? Not that kind of profit.

[10:10] Profitable in the sense of usefulness. Effectiveness. All scriptures breathe out by God. It's powerful. It's true. It's our final authority.

[10:22] And it is effectual. It makes stuff happen. If you look at the next four little clauses you read, it's profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

[10:45] What is God's word useful at doing? Teaching, reproving, correcting, training in righteousness.

[10:56] And let's ask the question, what do those mean? God's word, the Bible, these very words, sentences, paragraphs, and chapters all together from beginning to end.

[11:08] It's all one book and it is designed to instruct you, to teach you, to show you what's true. It's the content of biblical truth and elsewhere in your Bible it's described as doctrine.

[11:25] Biblical teaching is doctrine. And so when you turn in your Bible to Titus 2.1 and we read that Titus, a young pastor then was to teach the sound doctrine of the scriptures.

[11:40] He's talking about healthy truth from the Bible. The Bible does the body good. It's healthy for us.

[11:51] it helps us to see what's true. True about God. He reveals himself. Think about this book as the triune God's selfie helping you to see who he is.

[12:05] It tells us about ourselves. It holds a mirror up to us and says this is who you truly are. It tells us about the world. It tells us about how we are unable to make ourselves right with God and how God in Christ offers salvation to all mankind.

[12:23] It's in this book. It teaches us these things. The Bible does the body good. But it does more than that.

[12:35] It reproves. Also known as rebukes. And the idea behind that is the Bible sheds a light onto false thinking and false living.

[12:49] It exposes falsehood. It teaches truth and exposes falsehood. It points out the false teaching that doesn't do the body good.

[13:01] It does damage to the body. And so these first two ways that the Bible is profitable have to do with doctrine.

[13:13] Have to do with truth. Have to do with creed. And the last two have to do with conduct. Have to do with duty.

[13:26] Have to do with lifestyle. So it's not just what you think. It's how you live. The Bible addresses it all. And it seeks to make the connection for us. Because this is true.

[13:37] We live this way. And so we look at for correction. correction. It means to make something straight. I was in college and I was playing pickup football with some friends and one of my friends broke his forearm.

[13:55] So we rushed him to the emergency room and I got to sit and watch the emergency room doctor kind of work his forearm and you could hear the splintered bones kind of rubbing against each other.

[14:08] and then it clicked. He set the brake. He made it straight. It fixed the problem. And so what the Bible is able to do according to the apostle Paul to Timothy, the words of this book because they're God's word and they're so profitable, they can correct men and women who are not believing truth and are living lives that are destructive and damaging.

[14:35] This book is able to say no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not good for you. Here is what's good for you. Let's correct that. It's good for training in righteousness.

[14:51] Think of the training in righteousness as the path of godliness. This word training shows up in Ephesians 6, 4 where fathers are instructed to teach and train their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord.

[15:03] So fathers are to be training their children in this book. But if you flip back to the book of Hebrews chapter 13, Hebrews, excuse me, chapter 12, the apostle Paul is talking about discipline and no discipline feels good at the time.

[15:27] It's the same word as training here in 2 Timothy 3. what we read is this. For the moment, all training, discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who've been trained by it, to those who've been corrected and directed by God's word.

[15:51] You live it out and it produces this fruit of righteousness, a harvest of righteousness. Same word what Paul is talking about here. Train us in righteousness. So we've got to ask the question, what does he mean by righteousness?

[16:05] Well, it's right there in the text. If you look up just a little further in verse 12, we see indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus.

[16:16] That's what he's talking about. If you want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus, you need this book to tell you what's true, to help you understand when you're mistaken, to correct you when you veer off, and to train you in righteousness in the way of Jesus over and over and over again.

[16:32] You need the book. Last couple days when I was thinking about preaching this, I found myself saying, man, I want to bring this home a little bit more.

[16:46] It sounds great. Scripture's profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and training in righteousness. Let me show you how. In our culture, there are a lot of different voices on sexuality right now.

[17:01] A lot of different voices. What does God's word say? Let me direct you to that. What is the truth?

[17:13] What is the teaching of scripture? What does God say to be true of our sexuality? Let me see if I can find my notes.

[17:24] God's word for the people. What does God say to be true? What does God say to be true? Well, it teaches us the truth. In Genesis 1, 27, God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created them.

[17:37] Male and female, he created them. Biologically gendered. Male and female, he created them. And in Genesis 2, 24, therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh.

[17:54] The teaching of the Bible is, if you want to be sexually active, it's between one man and one woman in a lifelong covenant of marriage. That's what the Bible teaches. So we read Hebrews 13, 4, let marriage be held in honor among all and let the marriage bed be undefiled.

[18:11] Don't go outside of that. For God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. So the Bible is very clear in what it teaches on our sexuality and how that sexuality gets exercised for the glory of God and the good of people.

[18:27] But then there's the rebuke. There are rebukes throughout the Bible for people who are following God and who are sexually sinning against him and against others.

[18:41] The temptation to sexual sin, it's a common temptation to man. And it's amazing how much your Bible addresses it. God knows how we're wired.

[18:54] And so we read in Ephesians 5, but sexual immorality, any going outside of the marriage bed, in all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you as is proper among saints.

[19:12] Don't do that. Don't buy the lie that just because Jesus forgave you, you can sow your wild oats of sexuality. The Bible doesn't condone that.

[19:23] That's false teaching. It's wrong. 1 Thessalonians 4, 3-8, for this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality.

[19:35] Don't do it. No one is to transgress and wrong his brother or sister in this matter. That's the rebuke. Don't do that. Stop. You know, you're going the wrong way.

[19:49] And then there's the correction. Ephesians 4, 22, put off your old self which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires and be renewed in the spirit of your minds.

[20:01] Remember what God says is true of you and put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. The way to correct this is to remember what God has done for you in Jesus.

[20:17] And so right now if you're sleeping around, if you're looking at places on the internet you shouldn't be looking at, God says no, no, don't do that. But the way you go is to repent and turn from that.

[20:29] God's commandments are not burdensome, 1 John 5, 3. When he says no, it is for your good, brother and sister. Don't go there.

[20:40] Turn from there. Let him correct you. Set that right. Back to 1 Thessalonians 4, that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor.

[20:53] Not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God. That's what we're called to do. We're to say no to sexual immorality and we are to govern the passions of our flesh in a way that pleases God.

[21:04] That's the correction. And then the training in righteousness. I urge you, brothers, walk in a manner worthy the calling to which you've been called. Walk it out.

[21:15] Keep on going. Live holy lives pleasing to God. So if you're not married, you're called to abstinence. But if you are married, God calls you to enjoy your spouse that he has given you.

[21:31] You see how that works? Do you see how profitable God's word is? It speaks clearly into our culture.

[21:43] Clearly into our culture. Okay. There's another profound prophet to the scriptures.

[21:53] scriptures. And it's found the verse before verse 16. In verse 15, the apostle Paul is talking to this pastoral protege.

[22:07] How from childhood you've been acquainted with the Old Testament, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Do you see the prophet there? This book, even the Old Testament, points us to Jesus Christ.

[22:23] The one who would die for us and the one who calls us to live for him. It's not only just the wisdom of how to get saved, it's the wisdom of how to live out your salvation day to day.

[22:36] This book is able to do it. It profits us. It reveals salvation to sinners and how sinners who become saints live for the Savior.

[22:47] Savior. These God-breathed words in your hand right now, they originated from God's mind, and they are powerful, they're all authoritative, they're true, and they profit us.

[23:08] They teach us, they rebuke us, correct us, train us to live for him. Isn't God kind? And now let's turn to the purpose.

[23:21] You need this book. If you're going to follow Jesus, you need this book. The purpose. We're in verse 17 now. 16, again, all scriptures breed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

[23:42] You know what? When you're reading your Bible, you can just skip over a very important word. And a word like that seems to be kind of like, you kind of yawn when you read it. It's like, oh, there's a that.

[23:53] But that, that is a very important that. It carries this sense of purpose.

[24:04] It's pregnant with purpose. That, that is a purposeful that. All scriptures breathe out by God and profitable unto what?

[24:18] For this purpose, that the man of God may be complete. Again, Paul is talking to this young pastor, Timothy. He's saying, Paul, or, Timothy, I got there.

[24:31] Timothy. Remember. I got there. Remember. Remember. The very words of this book are from God's, God's very being. It originated in him.

[24:42] Get it out there. It's so profitable for the church. It will mature the church. You're going to be able to present her to Christ someday. And then he says, so that the man of God may be complete.

[24:59] The man of God is a reference back to Old Testament prophets. The man of God. Complete. That word in the original language means to be ready for anything.

[25:13] There are a couple TV shows I like watching. One of them is Bear Grylls. If I got dropped into Siberia and I could choose anyone in the world who would have come with me, it would be the man named Bear.

[25:33] Bear Grylls was trained by European special forces. He is trained to be able to tackle, overcome anything in the wilderness.

[25:47] Anything. So if I got dropped into Siberia, I'm like, Bear, you're coming with me. He's like, sure, mate. And he comes down with me. He is the complete survivalist.

[26:00] There's nothing that he could not overcome. Weather, terrain, obstacle, injury. He's the guy you want. You know what the Bible's teaching here? We're in another survival mode.

[26:14] We're another wilderness. And God's word makes us ready for anything. Anything. It's known as the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture.

[26:28] It gives us everything we need for life and godliness. It's better than Bear Grylls to get through this life. The phrase that follows, equipped for every good work, gives further explanation to what Paul means by complete.

[26:46] Complete in the sense that Timothy is ready to take on any good work that comes his way as a pastor. Any good work.

[26:58] That word equipped described boats and wagons that were outfitted for a long journey. They got everything they need. They're complete. They're equipped.

[27:08] They will get through. Think about it this way. Let's say all of us fly out to the west and we're going to backpack the Sawtooth Mountains together.

[27:19] And we go to an outfitter and he gives us a backpack and he drops in there everything we need for surviving two weeks in the Sawtooth Mountains.

[27:32] You've been equipped. Do you know what God has given you to carry with you through life? This book. Everything you need for life and godliness.

[27:46] God offers you through this book. So you've got to open up. You've got to see what's in there. It's sufficient for you. I know what you might be thinking right now.

[28:01] Because I would be thinking it. Something like this. I could be wrong. But Mike, you're a professional pastor.

[28:15] You're pulpit guy. Of course you're equipped in the word. I mean, Paul is talking to Timothy, another pastor. Pastors need to get equipped with God's word.

[28:28] Pastors need that. Pastors need kind of backpacks in order to be equipped to lead God's people into following Jesus. That is absolutely true.

[28:44] But what about the people in the pew? Do you know what's in that every good work that Timothy needs to be equipped for?

[28:55] Flip back in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 4, 11, and 12. And God gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, teachers, the pastors, to do what?

[29:13] Purpose clause. To equip the saints for the work of ministry. That word equip has the same root as the word equipped here in 2 Timothy 3.

[29:26] And it's got the same root as being made complete just a phrase before. Here's what this means. God in his design of things says, pastors, leaders in the church, you need to be equipped with God's word so that you can equip God's people to do the good works of ministry I've given them to do.

[29:51] So my equipping means your equipping. And your equipping means goodness to everybody. God's goodness.

[30:04] So deacons need to be equipped. Sunday school, life group leaders, king's place. Spouses, husbands, you need to be equipped in loving your wife as Christ loved the church.

[30:17] Wives, you need to be equipped in submitting to your husbands as the church submitted to Christ. These are good things God has for you. Parents, you need to be equipped in how to train up your children in the fear and the admonition of the Lord.

[30:31] You need God's Bible. You need to know how to use that when it comes to teaching and reproving and for correcting and for training your children. If you called one of the pastors from our church in every time you had a teaching moment with your children, we'd have a problem.

[30:50] But you are able to do that. Employees, you need to be equipped with God's word in knowing how to live for Jesus in the marketplace.

[31:05] As citizens of Kenosha, Wisconsin, the United States, we need to be equipped with God's word in order how to navigate being citizens in the culture we're in.

[31:16] This book gives us everything we need for life and godliness. It produces it.

[31:29] That's its aim. It matures us. It's what presents us mature. Okay. We so far have looked at the power of the scriptures.

[31:41] Theopneustos. It's God breathed. We've looked at the profitability of scripture. It gets stuff done. Good stuff done. And now we've looked at the purpose of it. It's designed to equip pastors and saints in order to do the good works God has called us to do.

[31:57] And now I want to close by talking about our posture and pursuit of the very words of God.

[32:10] Seven things. I'll be quick. Tomorrow morning when you're walking by your kitchen table and you see God's word on the table, don't walk away from it.

[32:26] Draw near to it. Prioritize the Bible. You want to hear how Jesus prioritized it? Remember Matthew 4 is being tempted by the devil.

[32:36] Jesus is able. He lived the life that none of us could. The devil's tempting him and Jesus says, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

[32:51] You need it. You need it. If you want to follow Jesus, you need the book. You need his words functioning in your life to help you follow him.

[33:05] Here's what this means. Here's what it means for me. I'm an early riser. I'm getting earlier as I get older. I call it old man disease. My dad's got it. But here's what this means for me.

[33:18] When I wake up, I'm making a beeline to my Bible. I don't eat anything. I don't get my paper. I don't check my smartphone.

[33:31] I'm beelining to my Bible. I've got to prioritize it. It's going to give me something more important than my yogurt with all that good stuff for my gut.

[33:41] It's better than that. I'm going to get in my Bible before I go to the YMCA and exercise my muscles. Do you know why? Physical training is of some value. But this book gives godliness that is effective in all areas.

[33:56] This is the stuff that sets us apart. You know what happens when Kenosha wakes up in the morning? Everybody says, time to go to work.

[34:06] It's time to do this. Time to do this. And what happens if there's 200 of us that were saying, oh man, I'm making a beeline to my Bible. I'm making a beeline to my Bible because this matters more than anything.

[34:19] It's God speaking to me. And so draw near to it. You've got to prioritize it. Time, place, plan. I'll come back to that in a second. The second thing is when you approach your Bible, don't come over it.

[34:35] Don't pull a Thomas Jefferson who snipped out half of the Greek New Testament to make it fit what he wanted to fit. We don't stand over the Bible and tell it what we want us to believe, what we want to believe.

[34:46] We come under the Bible. We say, God, you say what we need to hear and we'll trust it. There is this.

[35:00] It's one of my favorite verses in the Bible. Isaiah 66, 2b, the second half of it. Listen. This is God speaking.

[35:14] But this is the one to whom I'll look. This is God speaking. This is the one that catches my attention. This is the one that stands out. This is the one that I see and move towards.

[35:29] But this is the one to whom I'll look. He who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

[35:42] God opposes the proud. God, boy, does he give grace to the humble. When you move to him, move to his word, you come under his word.

[35:53] And you're like, oh, God, I am here to meet with you. Speak to me. Incline my heart to your testimonies and not to selfish gain. Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things from your law.

[36:05] Unite my heart to fear your name. Satisfy me this morning with your book, God. You come humble. You come asking. You come desperate and dependent.

[36:16] That's how you approach the word. You know what happens in a Christian's life when they approach the word like that day after day, week after week, month after month? You know what God does?

[36:27] He forms Christ in them. He produces godliness. You're the kind of person that when you come, they're like, you're kind of like glowing.

[36:40] Bible glow. Draw near. Come under. Three. Take it in. Take it in. Like a tree planted by streams of water, you suck up the streams of God's word.

[36:54] You savor it and meditate on it. You listen to it preached. You read it. You meditate. You memorize it. You even sing it. You get it in you. However you can get it in, get it in you.

[37:05] You want to saturate yourself with the Bible. It's like a saturated sponge that if you squeeze it, all this Bible comes out. That's what you want. You want to be saturating your life with God's word.

[37:18] And when you take it in, it goes down deep. Let it do its work. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

[37:35] There are going to be times when you open up your Bible and you're going to read something. Fathers, do not exasperate your children. And you're like, oh, man. I just ripped my daughter.

[37:47] I got angry with her. And that is so convicting. God is doing a work through his word in you. You're moving towards it. That's good. Or maybe you're kind of reading the scriptures and you're going through a hard time in life.

[38:04] And you come across a psalm that is like Psalm 62 or Psalm 121. And it is a balm to your soul.

[38:16] It is just what God had for you. He comforts you. Or maybe there is this other situation where you're taking in God's word and you've got a meeting that day.

[38:29] Or you have a hard conversation with someone you care about. Or there's something that's scaring you and you're afraid of it. And you read something in God's word that says, do not be afraid.

[38:39] I'm with you. Be not dismayed. I'm your God, Mike. You go. And he puts courage in your heart. So you take it in.

[38:52] You draw near. You come under. You take it in. And then when you take it in. And he convicts you. And he comforts you. And he encourages you. You go to your God.

[39:04] You commune with him. Oh God, I am so sorry for yelling at my kid again. Will you forgive me? And would you make me right? Would you correct me and train me in the way that you want me to go?

[39:17] Oh God, thank you for this comforting word. It was just water to my dry soul. God, thank you for the word of encouragement. Now I can press in in faith.

[39:28] Draw near to me. And I'll draw near to you. Communion with your God. That's number four.

[39:39] Number five, build your life on it. Build your life on it. When you encounter the truth of God's word, don't ignore it.

[39:51] Build your life on it. Do you remember in Matthew chapter 7, Jesus, after the Sermon on the Mount, he wraps it up by saying, everyone then who hears these words of mine, the Sermon on the Mount, and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock, a sure foundation.

[40:09] And when things go crazy, the house stands. But if you don't take Jesus' words to heart, you don't build your life on them, you're going to build your life on something still, and it's going to be sand. And when the storms come, it will level your life.

[40:24] You build on these words. That's five. Six. You live it out. You build on it, and then you live it out.

[40:38] Remember Matthew 28? He said, Go make disciples of the nations, teaching them to observe all that I commanded. He teaches us, gives us truth, so that we put it in play.

[40:54] James says it, But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourself. Do the word. Psalm 119 says it this way, When I think on my ways, I turn my feet to your testimonies.

[41:05] I hasten and do not delay to keep your commandments. Do you feel the impulse there? 1 John 5, 3. For this is the love of God, that one keeps his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.

[41:19] Do you know how we love God? By obeying his word. Oh, Lord Jesus, I'm going to do this because I love you. I'm going to follow you. Live it out.

[41:30] Live it out. Live it out in community. Live it out in your life groups. Live it out in your family. Take and give. Number seven.

[41:40] Last one. Take and give. You take it in. You will benefit. You will sense God reviving your soul, having you affect, giving you strength, showing you the way to walk.

[41:54] Take it and give it. Take it. Give it. Don't just hold on to it. Don't encourage other people with it. We see this at work in Colossians 3.16.

[42:05] Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, church, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your heart to God. Could you imagine our life groups where brothers and sisters are coming together and, oh, man, here's how God encouraged me this morning.

[42:23] Here's how God convicted me this morning. Here's how God comforted me this morning. Here's what's going to happen. There will be times when you're going to get a word from God in the morning from the Psalms and you're like, man, I don't know who this is for.

[42:34] You go to your life group that night. You have a brother or sister who comes in need and you're like, this was for them. This was for them. Brother, here's Psalm 62. I'm so sorry you're in this heart, but here is God's kindness to you.

[42:48] God gave me this for you. Take it and give. Ephesians 6.4. Fathers, take in God's word so you can give it to your children.

[43:02] I am an advocate of the King Penguin approach to family devotions. I take in God's Bible, I digest it, and then I regurgitate it on my family.

[43:13] That's what I do. It's effective for me. I'm not sure in my family. It's like, one of my favorite things to say to my kids is, do you know what I read this morning in my Bible?

[43:28] I love telling them that. This is what your daddy read in the Bible. Your daddy's taking, you're coming under the word, taking it in, and he's got goodness for you. And of course, 2 Timothy 4.2, Paul says to Timothy, hey, all scripture's breathed out by God.

[43:45] It's powerful. It's profitable. It will produce a man of God equipped for every good work. So Timothy, preach the word, 2 Timothy 4.2.

[43:57] Make it known. Declare it. Declare the life-giving truth of God's word. I'm going to wrap this up, but I can imagine some of you are in here, you're asking the question, okay, you made the case.

[44:14] God's word is powerful, profitable, profitable, and it produces maturity and being equipped. I want in, but you don't know where to start. Come on down afterwards. I'd love to talk to you about that.

[44:26] I can show you how to do that. I'd love to equip you that way. There are other pastors and elders who would love to equip you in that. God's word is powerful. I want to do that. This morning we've looked at the God-breathed words, powerful words of the Bible.

[44:40] They're profitable. They're purposed. If you want to intentionally live for Jesus, don't walk by your Bibles. Get into your Bibles.

[44:54] Let's pray. God in heaven, we are so thankful for this book in our own language, and many of us have like 12. God, would you press the words, your words, into the depths of our being, and would you make us like Jesus, and would you compel us to live for him individually and as a church.

[45:23] God, reform us, your people, with your word and revive us, your people, with your spirit. God, would you do a work for the glory of your name in and through us. In Jesus' name, amen.