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[0:00] The following message is given by Walt Alexander, lead pastor of Trinity Grace Church in Athens, Tennessee.! For more information about Trinity Grace, please visit us at TrinityGraceAthens.com.

[0:12] We're going to pause our return to Acts. We will return to Acts next week, right where we left on, Acts 8-4.

[0:22] But this week, with the new year, we're going to talk about the Word, the Word of God. So, Psalm 19, probably a psalm you know very well, and I'm excited for us to dive into it.

[0:39] Psalm 19, verse 1. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.

[0:50] Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.

[1:06] Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them He has set, God has set, a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and like a strong man runs its course with joy.

[1:28] Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them. And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

[1:39] Verse 7. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

[1:50] The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.

[2:01] The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey, and drippings from the honeycomb.

[2:19] Verse 11. Moreover, by them is your servant warned. In keeping them there is great reward.

[2:30] Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins.

[2:44] Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression. Verse 14.

[2:55] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in your sight. O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

[3:09] It's the word of God. Incredible. Have you ever been lost? Lost? I mean, really lost.

[3:23] Men, when we're really lost, this would be the time we're so lost we ask for directions, which is the first no-no in the man's guide to life. But have you ever been so lost that there was no one to even ask directions of?

[3:38] Nowhere to turn. Nowhere to look. There is perhaps no worse feeling in my humble opinion. Or you could argue on that.

[3:49] But I hate losing things. And more than that, I hate being lost myself. Well, that's the feeling dominating the main character of a book I just began reading this week.

[4:00] She is blind. This individual, this lady Marie is her name. She's blind. She's living at the top floor in an apartment building in Paris during World War II. If you know about Paris, Paris was invaded by Nazi Germany.

[4:13] And that's what's going on. So she's blind living in the top floor of this apartment building. The city's being invaded and bombed by Nazi Germany. She lives there with her father.

[4:24] But he has gone out to check on a few things. He was supposed to return last night, but has not returned.

[4:36] And this is why I want to go back to reading today, you know. But he has not returned. She's desperate to hear his voice. And know how things are going. She only hears the bombs.

[4:48] Then she begins to hear some commotion downstairs in the lower floors of the apartment building. She doesn't know what to do. She runs.

[4:59] She hides underneath the bed, left only to the sounds in her ears. She's lost. She doesn't know what to do.

[5:11] She doesn't know where to go. She doesn't know how to go. Can you imagine how much she longs to hear her father's footsteps in his voice? To hear what's going on in the city.

[5:22] To hear that things are going to be okay. To hear of the way of escape. Can you imagine how she longs to see? To no longer need a guiding hand. Or her father's strung around ropes around the apartment so she could guide herself.

[5:35] To be able to run free through the maze of Paris' streets to the safety of the countryside. She would be overjoyed. And she would be ecstatic.

[5:47] In a similar way. We're lost without the word of God. Now we don't feel the blinders on our eyes.

[5:57] But we are literally blind to accurate knowledge of ourselves, of God, of the way of salvation. We're out of touch with everything that matters. Without the word of God.

[6:08] We're without true wisdom. And this book, this book for which men fought, bled, and died for to bring us in this form, so rich a form that we can just give it out.

[6:20] Which is amazing. It has all that we need to see. It gives us all that our eyes need to see. It gives us sight. And it gives us all that we need to see.

[6:32] It's a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. That's what the psalmist said. It possesses all that we need for life and godliness. That's what 2 Peter 1 said. It invites us to fellowship with God.

[6:42] That's what 1 John, 1 John 1 said. And as we step into 2020, I want to challenge us to take it up and read it. Where we're going in a word today is read, meditate, and treasure the God of all grace revealed in the words of the Bible.

[6:59] Words matter to the Lord. And that's what this psalm is about. But read, meditate, and treasure the God of all grace revealed in the words of the Bible. So we're going to break this out in three points.

[7:09] First is creation is spectacular, but not plain enough. Creation is spectacular, but not plain enough. You know, if you know anything about the psalms, the psalmist begins very abruptly here.

[7:21] There's no introduction, no opening cry. No, this is a psalm of, well, it does say a psalm of David in the subscription there. But there's no introduction from David, no context that we have.

[7:33] He turns immediately to creation so that we can hear his cry. As the heavens declare the glory of God, the sky above proclaim his handiwork. When he begins to talk about what the heavens and the skies are doing, showing is not enough.

[7:48] Displaying is not enough. He is saying the heavens and the skies are speaking. They're declaring. They're proclaiming. Now, obviously, we know stars don't speak.

[7:58] And so the idea is that he's personifying the stars and the heavens to emphasize the abundant evidence of the glory of God throughout creation. Day to day.

[8:12] Night to night. One day should be enough to convince us for life. But because our minds and memories are leaky, the creation continues day after day and night after night and day after day and night after night.

[8:27] It never stops proclaiming. Its goal is so that all the earth might know the glory of the Lord. And you see that right there in verse 4. Look down there with me. He says, I love the way it describes the sun in here.

[9:03] Don't you just love that? Look in verse 4, kind of the end of it. In them, in the heavens, he set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber.

[9:16] That's interesting. Or like a strong man runs its course with joy. The idea is it's just beaming with delight. That's what the sun is doing. It's personified. Not as a grumpy old thing in the sky, but as a beaming with delight, a bridegroom rejoicing over his bride, a man running his course with joy.

[9:34] And I think about Eric Liddell, you know, in that movie. You know, I run because he loves me or whatever that line is. He's pleased with me. I totally messed that up. But, you know, the point is the sun is testifying.

[9:46] It rises on one end and travels all the way through the sky and sets on the other end so that nothing is hidden from its heat and nothing is hidden from its light.

[9:59] The Lord is glorious. What's it saying? It's speaking about his glory. Now, that's one of those big Bible words that is not usually readily accessible to us.

[10:12] John Piper says it this way, which may or may not help us. The glory of God is the holiness of God put on display. The glory of God is the holiness of God put on display.

[10:23] The idea is that the holiness of God is his separateness. Now, we think about that. You're too pure to look on evil. That he's holy. He's separate. So the glory of God or the holiness of God is his separateness, his completeness, his self-sufficiency.

[10:38] He's not dependent on anything in creation. He has no crutches. He dwells in the heavens. He does what he pleases. And creation displays his glory by directing our attention away from it up to the Lord, to his unmatched power and infinite wisdom.

[10:55] That's what Piper's saying. It's his separateness, his greatness, his majesty put on display. And creation displays it in its power. I mean, littered through this psalm are references to Genesis 1.

[11:08] I mean, it reminds us of it, right? The heavens, the expanse, the sky. I mean, the day followed by night. The sun to rule. The day all of creation is his handiwork.

[11:20] He spoke in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and all of it displays his power. I love the way the psalmist says it in Psalm 119. Forever, Lord, O Lord, your word is fixed in the heavens.

[11:31] Your faithfulness endures all generations. You have established the earth. It stands fast. By your appointment, they stand. This day for all things are your servants. You want to serve the Lord?

[11:42] Everything serves him. God is separate from creation, does not need creation, and yet upholds creation by the word of his power.

[11:55] That's what the heavens are saying. There's a few things I like more than getting out of cell phone range. Surrounded by the wonder of creation.

[12:07] One of my favorite hikes in the Great Smoky Mountains, my favorite national park, is Charlie's Bunyan, a ridgeline hike that starts around Newfound Gap.

[12:18] A ridgeline hike four miles to this massive rock that perches you in the middle of this expanse. I've recited this psalm there.

[12:30] The heavens declare the glory of God. Creation displays his power. Creation displays his wisdom. He orders it. You see the order behind it.

[12:42] He sets the sun. It rises on one side. It sets in the other. He directs its course. It runs its course with joy. And it runs its course because it's the course the Lord has set for us.

[12:52] He creates humankind with all of our intricacies created in a womb which grows so slowly with eyelashes to protect our eyeballs and taste buds.

[13:04] To enjoy the deliciousness of the creation that he has given. And all creation bears the marks of his careful, wise design. John Calvin says it like this.

[13:14] Wherever you cast your eyes, there's no spot in the universe wherein you cannot discern at least some sparks of his glory. Just open your eyes.

[13:25] That's his glory. Calvin popularly said creation is a theater of his glory. The Lord knows how glorious he is.

[13:37] He doesn't need our help. But he creates a theater of glory so that we not be just enticed by the rise of Skywalker, but by the wonder of the glory of God found and screamed throughout all the world.

[13:54] But it's not as if all that we see is all that there is. God's holiness and great greatness is displayed in creation, but it's far greater than we can see.

[14:04] Job, I think, has it exactly right. The creation is just the outskirts of his ways. Now think about that. It's just a whisper. All this.

[14:16] Just a whisper. I think that's what David means by it's his handiwork. It's what his hands formed. It didn't take long to work on.

[14:27] He just formed it. It's the work of his fingers. It doesn't begin to approach the depths of his divine wisdom, glory, and power. The sun is set in a tent.

[14:39] This galaxy, this universe, which contains some 100 billion stars, is just a tent. It's a pup tent in comparison with the Lord.

[14:54] That's incredible, isn't it? God's far bigger than what we see and more magnificent than where we've been.

[15:05] And yet, with all that creation displays, it contains no words. Look in verse 3.

[15:18] There is no speech, nor are there words. Creation is a wonderful picture, but it doesn't speak. It reveals the glory of God.

[15:30] It convinces every person that there is a God and we're accountable to him. And it is what theologians and maybe what your teachers have told you. It's general revelation. It's revelation that goes out through all the earth to every person.

[15:43] There is no person on planet earth that does not know there is a God. Because creation makes it plain. Yet it does not tell us who this God is.

[15:58] The Lord stays in mystery. It doesn't tell us what we must do to be right with him, does it? I mean, you don't go to Charlie's Bunyan. Tell me about the miracles of Calvary.

[16:12] It keeps God at a distance. It's incomplete. It's not plain enough. Point two, the Bible plainly reveals all we need to know God.

[16:28] The Bible plainly reveals all we need to know God. David's song makes a clear transition in verse 7. He turns from the wonder of creation to the word of God.

[16:40] He turns from the created word to the written word, to the attributes of this word. And one thing we should immediately see from here and from these verses is God is a talker. He's not the quiet guy in the corner at the party that does not talk.

[16:55] He's a talker. He likes to say things. He wants to get some things off his chest, so to speak. And it doesn't have to be that way. He's the creator. We're the creature.

[17:06] He's the potter. We're the clay. He's holy and we're sinners. The idea is we're doubly undeserving of any word from the Lord. But God has spoken to us to befriend us.

[17:18] To make friends with us. Now all people can really know about you, really know about you, is about what you think and what you feel is through your words.

[17:34] That's why we have community groups. So we can be honest with one another and invite one another into the troubles of our life. It's the same thing with God.

[17:45] He can set the creation. It can display his glory. Yet we need words to know him. And unless he speaks, we can only speculate.

[17:56] But as one author says, God forfeits his right to personal privacy to become your friend. That's what these verses are about.

[18:07] The Bible is all you need to know God and to walk in friendship with him. And David can't wait to tell us about it. I mean, he's just fired up. Verses 7 through 11, he unpacks these characteristics of the word.

[18:18] He uses six different words for the word. The law, the testimony, the precepts, commandment, fear, and rules. They reveal at least four things about the word of God that you hold in your hand and you have in your house.

[18:30] And much more, but we're going to take four. First is it gives salvation. It gives salvation. Look down at verse 7. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.

[18:43] The law is God's instruction about all of life. And so it's God's instruction. It's perfect and complete. It's comprehensive. And most wonderfully, it instructs the soul about salvation.

[18:54] It revives the soul. The idea is that we're creatures of the word. Now, we're obviously creatures of the creative hand of God and being born again and created in our parents' womb.

[19:06] But we're creatures of the word when we're born again by the word. That's why Romans 1, 16 said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

[19:17] It's the word. It's the word of the gospel that brings salvation. What would you know about the Lord, about your greatest problem, about his remedy without the word?

[19:31] Nothing. But the word tells us all we need to know. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ, Romans 10 says. And so the gospel is a word that saves.

[19:45] It's the day of salvation to anybody that believes the word of salvation. I don't know where you're at with the Lord, but the gospel of free grace is that you, God is holy.

[19:55] He is separate. He does not need you at all, and yet you have sinned against him. You have strayed as a creature and then as a sinner. You've rebelled. You've demanded your own way.

[20:07] The scriptures say, just like me, you have rebelled against him. But God, in his abundant grace, has sent Jesus Christ to not merely be a good person, be a nice baby, you know, that we can sing about or something like that.

[20:23] But as the mediator, to stand in the gap, to hang between heaven and hell for your sins and mine, so that we might walk in newness of life and in forgiveness.

[20:38] It's the word. Isaac Watts, the great hymn writer, says, The heavens declare thy glory, Lord, and every star thy wisdom shines. But when our eyes behold thy word, we read thy name in fairer lines.

[20:53] Fairer is just better, for lack of a better way to say it. It's better line. The idea is don't make the mistake. Climb Charlie's bunion. But don't go there to find out what the Lord's like.

[21:07] That's why Christian meditation is not about emptying our mind, but about filling it with the word of God. Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, is all about the word and the mind being filled with it.

[21:25] Similarly, in verse 8, look down there with me. It says, The commandment of the Lord enlightens the eyes. It gives new life. New eyes, a new heart, a new emotion.

[21:37] The idea is that the word comes from the outside, but it changes everything on the inside. It's amazing. You can be in a context where the word's being preached, and one person can be born again, and one cannot.

[21:49] The same sun that melts the ice hardens the clay, and it may melt one into, I need a savior, and it may harden one into, there is no God. But it changes everything.

[22:03] I'll never forget when I became a Christian. I gave my testimony the other night, and my kids had never heard some of the parts of it.

[22:14] So they're fascinated in asking questions about some of those darker, messier details. But it was immediate change, not just in my mind, but in my heart, in my emotions.

[22:26] I'd go flip on a movie I'd watched a hundred times, and there was an emotional opposition to it that I can't place in there.

[22:37] Like, this one does not fit, you know, family-approved guidelines. That wasn't in my mind. I didn't know that. I was like, it was gray days, you know. I was just barely born again, but there were things I could not do any longer because of the word.

[22:53] That's what it does. It supplies unshakable wisdom. Look in verse 7. Well, the Lord is the witness, and His word is the witness about all that we need to know for life so that we can walk with wisdom.

[23:20] His first-hand account, His eyewitness account of all of reality so that He can hold your hand and give you the true story behind it all.

[23:32] That's what the word is. It supplies true, unshakable wisdom for choosing between better and best and suffering well and loving well. Our mistake is not that we think it's difficult to understand or it's too difficult or something like that.

[23:45] Our mistake is that we give up on it. Wisdom doesn't come with age or IQ or upbringing or any of those things.

[23:55] Wisdom comes by the word of God. That's what's true. I've met plenty of old men that are not wise and young ones that are. It's available to all.

[24:06] It makes wise the simple. Literally, that means the stupid. Now, I know that's a word my mom told me not to say and probably you told your kids not to say, but that's what it means. The undiscerning, the uninformed, the unwise, the fool.

[24:21] That's good news for us. I'm a fool. I'm an idiot. I need the word. I need His testimony. It reveals the will of God.

[24:33] Look at verse 8a. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The precepts of the Lord refer to His guidelines. So we talked about His wisdom behind all things. But these are the guidelines.

[24:44] They direct us to the right path, the right way to walk, the right way to live. They unveil the will of God. They are right and they rejoice the heart. There's no more laying out fleeces.

[24:56] No more rolling the dice. No more flipping coins. No need to wait on a hunch or a dream or a vision or a word. The Lord speaks plainly in His word. You want to hear what God has to say.

[25:08] Take it up. That's what He's trying to say. All we need to know about God and about the will of God comes through these precepts. Now you throw out the will of God among some 20-year-olds and we get tripped up real fast.

[25:21] But the word makes it plain. That's the idea. It's the will of God that you be content and give thanks in all circumstances. It's the will of God that you obey His command. It's the will of God that you resist sexual immorality.

[25:32] It's the will of God that you refuse bitterness. It's the will of God that you become more holy. It's the will of God if you're married to do right by your wife or your husband. It's the will of God if you're under your parents' roof to obey them, honor them, respect them.

[25:46] This is the will of God. Knowing it gives life. I mean, when I first became a Christian, I was opening this book. It just gave joy to me because it made clear what was not clear.

[26:00] It's His precepts. It gives the will of God. It solves the riddle.

[26:13] It commands right worship. It commands right worship. Look in 9a. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The fear of the Lord refers to the reverence of God.

[26:25] Now, why would the word of God be called the fear of the Lord? I think the idea is the word reveals how we are to fear Him. Now, this side of Calvary, we don't fear Him in dread, but we do fear Him in appropriate awe and reverence because of who He is and who we are.

[26:41] And the only reason we can approach Him is through Jesus. But we fear Him and worship Him rightly. Our lives are worship. We worship not merely with our lips, but with our lives, our lives, our sacrifices of worship.

[26:59] And the friendship of the Lord is with those who fear Him, those who walk in His way. And the fear of the Lord is clean in the sense that it contains no impurities or contamination.

[27:12] It's been tested by fire. And it's the same way our lives are worshiped, be defined by turning from sin and impurity, wickedness, evil to the Lord.

[27:27] There should be a growing cleanness in our life. I mean, this is not, hey, you must do these three things to be right with God.

[27:39] That's not the gospel, and that's not what I'm saying. But there should be a progressive cleanness in our life. There should be less and less areas where we hide from others.

[27:53] Our life should be clean because of the Word. The rules of the Lord. Look in verse 9b. The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

[28:04] The idea is the rules of the Lord are His precept. I mean, His judgments and decrees. The Word of God reveals what He loves and hates, what He commands and forbids, what He promises to reward, what He promises to judge, and so on.

[28:18] It commands how we are to think, feel, and act. If you read this Word, if you really read this Word, it is clear and challenging. Mark Twain said, It's not the things I do not understand in the Bible which trouble me.

[28:31] It's the things I do. I think He gets it right. Because the Word of God commands right worship. And in this Word, we find that it's true and righteous altogether.

[28:43] Let no man pass judgment on the Word of God. What's the point? What's David's point?

[28:54] The point is, all we need to know God and to walk in friendship with Him is in the Word. And they said, Amen. They're with me. All we need to know God and to walk in friendship with Him.

[29:07] It's no wonder that David erupts in delight. Look in verse 10. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and drippings from the honeycomb. There's nothing of more value in that culture, and perhaps in ours too, than gold.

[29:20] The thing of highest value. But the Word is better. Or, Jonathan Edwards said in the midst of the Second Great Awakening, that if there were gold bars on the street, people would step over them to get to their Bibles.

[29:32] That's a revival. Not when the church has gold in its heart, but when the Word is in there. It's sweeter than honey. Honey is the sweetest natural sweetener.

[29:45] But the Word brings more joy and contentment than anything else could. It's vital. It's all we need. I mean, does that delight still resonate with us?

[30:07] More to be desired than this prayer answered. More to be desired than this door opening. It's the Word.

[30:18] It's the Word. Are we bored with it? Or do we delight it? Do we treat the Word as something we'll get to if we have time?

[30:31] You know, one of the most common responses to why people don't read the Bible is, I don't have time. If they're giving out gold bars on Madison Avenue today, you would find some time.

[30:47] I guess what Dave would say to us. It's not something, I don't mean that in a condemning sort of way.

[31:00] It's not something we just get to if we have time. It's as vital as strapping on a shirt. Or eating.

[31:16] It's that transformative. It's the Word. It's everything you need. Please don't put it off, is what he would say. What about parenting? You know, I mean, there's nothing more important in parenting than our example.

[31:30] And what's our example saying about our love for the Word? What does our life of reading the Word say to how vital it is to the next generation that sits around our table?

[31:49] John Piper says very convictingly, The greatest stumbling block for a child in worship is a parent who doesn't. You could say the same thing about the Word. The greatest stumbling block for a child taking up their Bible as a parent who never takes it up.

[32:11] Thirdly, the only appropriate response is humility and treasuring God in every word. The only appropriate response is humility and treasuring God in every word.

[32:22] David takes another turn in this song. He's sung of creation. He's sung of the preciousness of the Word of God. He responds in prayer. You know, just wonderfully humble verses.

[32:37] In humility. Look in verse 11. He says, Moreover by them your servant is warned. Verse 12. Who can discern his errors?

[32:50] The mounting effect of the Word of God is, Lord, how can I know all my faults? You're the witness. You know everything. You search out everything. How can I know all of my sins?

[33:00] How can I turn from these things? David is experiencing Hebrews 4. That's what David's experiencing.

[33:27] The Word. He's celebrated, but now it's searching him. God does not want a word for you to search up answers in. He wants to search you by the Word. David realized that the Word's not about him.

[33:41] It's not about his plans. It's not about the will of God for his life merely. It's not about anything. It's about God. It's about who he is. It's about what he's like, what he loves, and what he hates. Now we need to be reconciled to him six times in these verses.

[33:53] He refers to all these things as the Word of the Lord, the law of the Lord, the testimony of the Lord, the priesthood of the Lord, the commandment of the Lord, the fear of the Lord, the rules of the Lord. He's trying to make a point.

[34:04] It's not about your life. It's about the Lord. All of creation is about the Lord, and so to his Word. And so David humbles himself before the Lord. Verse 12b says, Declare me innocent.

[34:21] Keep back your servant from sins. Let them not have dominion over me. He realizes that in the presence of this one, he must run to grace alone.

[34:34] We must humble ourselves, too, for the Word. The way you approach the Bible makes all the difference.

[34:47] Great teams lose when they overlook an opponent. And I don't think that's what happened to Oklahoma last night. Runners fall behind when they aren't alert at the starting line, and readers grow dissatisfied with the Word of God because of the way we approach it.

[35:07] We don't come to this Word to master it. We don't come to rip through it in 2020. We come because we want this Word to master us.

[35:22] Bunyan said he wanted to bleed bib line. We want it to reshape everything inside of us, all the ways we think and feel, everything we do. So we cry out to the Lord.

[35:36] We treasure every word. Now, this psalm ends wonderfully with this benediction-like prayer that you know. Verse 14, Let the words of my heart, the meditation of my heart, the words of my mouth, the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

[35:55] It's a desire that everything in his life would be pleasing to the Lord, but it's also a prayer. It's a desire that he would treasure the Lord in everything in his life.

[36:08] Oh, Lord, shape me. Such that the words of my mouth, the meditation of my heart, which no man sees but you see, be acceptable, be pleasing to you.

[36:29] It's right here. It's right here.

[36:47] It's everything you need. I want you to take it and read it. I have one application.

[37:03] I want you to consider doing this reading plan, not to make me feel good or something like that, because of the word. It'll do it.

[37:14] It'll move the furniture around in your heart. It'll change the way you view your husband or your wife. It'll change what you think should be coming out of your life. It'll change everything.

[37:26] It'll reshape it. It's the word of God that has power. I mean, all that we do, everything this meeting, all that we are as a church, it's built on the authority of the word of God. I just want to commend this to you.

[37:36] 2020 reading plan. My hope is to get you through it. When I first became a Christian, I began reading through the New Testament, and my life was completely changed.

[37:49] I don't think that's overstatement. I'm not towing the party line or something like that. It's the word of God. And I encourage you to take it up and read it. So we've got it laid out to where you read one chapter of the New Testament for 25 days a month.

[38:03] That means that gives you five to six days a month to play hooky. Or sleep in. It's not too burdensome. You can catch up and read it. It does take you through the Psalms four times.

[38:15] That may be because it's my favorite book of the Bible. It is. But it's just spectacular. I think the idea is to read Matthew and pray the Psalms. Read Luke, pray the Psalms. Let these things shape your heart so that we can be a people.

[38:29] Because we're not a people that are gathered because of a common socioeconomic bracket or a common race or a common way of doing business or common preferences about movies and what's allowed and what's not allowed or something like that.

[38:47] We're a people that are gathered around Jesus Christ and on what the word says about him. We're a people built on the word of God. Let's read it.

[38:57] Let's meditate on it. Let's treasure the God of all grace revealed in the words of the Bible. Let me pray for us. Father in heaven, we do cast ourselves before you.

[39:08] Like David, God, you search us and know us. We do pray that you would find any unclean way in us and lead us in the way of everlasting. You have made known to us the path of life and your presence is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.

[39:27] Lord, we want our lives to be more and more clean, more and more defined by what is pleasing to you, more and more marked by the gratefulness that should be our response to all that you've given us in Jesus and we pray for it.

[39:43] Lord, we cast 2020 upon you. It can be a burden. A year can be a burden, but we cast the burden to you. Lord, our desire for reading the Bible is not more knowledge but more friendship.

[39:58] Our desire for reading the Bible is not merely more wisdom but more communion with you. We want to know you and be found in you.

[40:11] We want to delight in you. Whom have we in heaven but you? And there's nothing, Lord, there's nothing on earth we desire besides you.

[40:23] Oh, Lord, would you help us? Pour out your spirit on us. Direct our hearts into the steadfast love of God in Christ and keep us.

[40:35] Keep us in your word, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You've been listening to a message given by Walt Alexander, lead pastor of Trinity Grace Church in Athens, Tennessee.

[40:46]  For more information about Trinity Grace, please visit us at TrinityGraceAthens.com Trinity Grace Church For more information about Trinity Grace, please visit us at TrinityGraceAthens.com