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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A 21st Century follower of Jesus is someone who is living for Jesus intentionally.
And so this morning, I want to argue for something.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
What are you going to do?
That Bible, your Bible, is God-breathed.
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.
You ready to dig in?
The power of Scripture.
Do you want to learn a Greek word?
It's in verse 16.
All Scripture is breathed out by God.
The Apostle Paul coined a new word here.
Theopneustos.
You ready?
Let's try it together.
Theopneustos.
It's kind of a weird word.
God-breathed.
All Scripture, God-breathed.
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.
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?
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.
It's from God.
Every word is from Him.
And it originated in His mind,
and He revealed it progressively over the ages.
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.
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?
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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
It says,
Lazarus, come out.
Four days after he died.
And it was so.
The power of God's word.
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.
Because this book,
every word of it,
is God's spoken.
It's power,
and it has innate
and final authority.
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.
We can stand
on this book.
We can build
our lives on it.
This book
claims to be
the very words of God.
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.
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.
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.
We see that
in the very next
two words.
It says,
all scripture
is breathed out
by God
and profitable.
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.
Profitable in the sense
of usefulness.
Effectiveness.
All scriptures
breathe out
by God.
It's powerful.
It's true.
It's our final authority.
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.
What is God's word
useful at doing?
Teaching,
reproving,
correcting,
training in righteousness.
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.
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.
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.
He's talking
about healthy
truth from
the Bible.
The Bible
does the body
good.
It's healthy
for us.
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.
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.
It's in this book.
It teaches us
these things.
The Bible
does the body
good.
But it does
more than that.
It reproves.
Also known
as rebukes.
And the idea
behind that
is the Bible
sheds
a light
onto false
thinking
and false
living.
It exposes
falsehood.
It teaches
truth
and exposes
falsehood.
It points out
the false
teaching
that doesn't
do the body
good.
It does
damage to
the body.
And so
these first
two
ways
that the
Bible
is profitable
have to do
with doctrine.
Have to do
with truth.
Have to do
with creed.
And the last
two
have to do
with conduct.
Have to do
with duty.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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
again.
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.
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.
A lot of
different voices.
What does
God's word
say?
Let me direct
you to that.
What is the
truth?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
You see how that works?
Do you see how profitable
God's word is?
It speaks clearly into our
culture.
Clearly into our culture.
Okay.
There's another profound
prophet to the scriptures.
scriptures.
And it's found the verse
before verse 16.
In verse 15, the
apostle Paul is talking
to this pastoral
protege.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
But that, that is a very
important that.
It carries this sense of
purpose.
It's pregnant with purpose.
That, that is a purposeful that.
All scriptures breathe out by God
and profitable unto what?
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.
Timothy.
Remember.
I got there.
Remember.
The very words of this book are
from God's, God's very being.
It originated in him.
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.
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.
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.
Bear Grylls was trained by European
special forces.
He is trained to be able to tackle,
overcome anything in the wilderness.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Complete in the sense that Timothy is
ready to take on any good work that
comes his way as a pastor.
Any good work.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Because I would be thinking it.
Something like this.
I could be wrong.
But Mike, you're a professional pastor.
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.
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.
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?
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?
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.
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.
So my equipping means your equipping.
And your equipping means goodness to everybody.
God's goodness.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This book gives us everything we need for life and godliness.
It produces it.
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.
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.
And now I want to close by talking about our posture and pursuit of the very words of God.
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.
Draw near to it.
Prioritize the Bible.
You want to hear how Jesus prioritized it?
Remember Matthew 4 is being tempted by the devil.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
We come under the Bible.
We say, God, you say what we need to hear and we'll trust it.
There is this.
It's one of my favorite verses in the Bible.
Isaiah 66, 2b, the second half of it.
Listen.
This is God speaking.
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.
But this is the one to whom I'll look.
He who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
Bible glow.
Draw near.
Come under.
Three.
Take it in.
Like a tree planted by streams of water, you suck up the streams of God's word.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
And you come across a psalm that is like Psalm 62 or Psalm 121.
And it is a balm to your soul.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
Draw near to me.
And I'll draw near to you.
Communion with your God.
That's number four.
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.
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.
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.
You build on these words.
That's five.
Six.
You live it out.
You build on it,
and then you live it out.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Live it out in community.
Live it out in your life groups.
Live it out in your family.
Take and give.
Number seven.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
God's word is powerful,
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.
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.
They're profitable.
They're purposed.
If you want to intentionally live for Jesus,
don't walk by your Bibles.
Get into your Bibles.
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.
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.