WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.200 lives. And this morning, Connor will be preaching, and I'm just looking down at his title, or 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:11.540 you have it up there, to read or to not read from Psalm 119. So I'll just pray for Connor 00:00:11.540 --> 00:00:20.219 just before he comes up and share God's word with us. Father, we do thank you for your 00:00:20.219 --> 00:00:25.900 word. We thank you that you have given it to us. I thank you that we can trust your 00:00:25.899 --> 00:00:31.179 word, that we know that it's inspired by you. We read about it in scripture of how you 00:00:31.179 --> 00:00:36.659 caused it to be written by man, and yet it's the very words of God. We thank you that your word 00:00:36.659 --> 00:00:44.019 is inerrant, that it's sufficient for us for salvation. It is clear to us. It shows us the path 00:00:44.019 --> 00:00:50.879 of salvation. We thank you that we need not fear of further revelation, for what you have 00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:57.700 given us is what we need. We thank you that over the years you've raised up so many teachers of your 00:00:57.700 --> 00:01:04.760 word to teach us, to bring your word, to explain it, to encourage us, to discipline us, to correct us, 00:01:04.840 --> 00:01:12.400 to rebuke us. We do thank you for Connor, for his willingness to sit down, be a student under your word, 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:20.920 to actually prepare, to read, to apply it to himself. I thank you that his desire is to be 00:01:20.920 --> 00:01:27.240 a workman approved unto you, not to be ashamed, but instead to correctly handle the word of truth. 00:01:28.340 --> 00:01:35.060 I pray that as he comes up, that our hearts will be open to learning, that whatever preconceived 00:01:35.060 --> 00:01:40.240 notions or misunderstandings that we have would just fall away as we come under your word, as we 00:01:40.239 --> 00:01:46.839 hear it once again and desire to apply it, to put into practice, not to be people who merely listen 00:01:46.839 --> 00:01:54.919 to your word and not do it. For Connor, as he comes up, I pray that as he preaches, that he would himself 00:01:54.919 --> 00:02:01.819 be learning and growing, that he would be clear, allowing your spirit to work through him as he brings 00:02:01.819 --> 00:02:08.259 your word. I pray indeed that the words that come from his mouth would be acceptable to you, that the 00:02:08.259 --> 00:02:14.139 meditations of our heart would be acceptable to you, our Lord, our God, our strength, our rock. 00:02:14.579 --> 00:02:16.259 In Jesus' name. Amen. 00:02:17.099 --> 00:02:17.799 Thank you, Connor. 00:02:17.800 --> 00:02:44.480 Thanks very much, Jonathan and Alex as well, for reading from the Bible. It's great to hear the 00:02:44.479 --> 00:02:51.639 Bible, you know, every now and then in church or something. But I think we all know it isn't 00:02:51.639 --> 00:02:57.359 really relevant to our day-to-day lives. I mean, how could it be? It's thousands of years old. 00:02:58.060 --> 00:03:02.039 The people who wrote it, they've no idea what it's like to be alive in the 21st century. 00:03:02.919 --> 00:03:08.620 Also, the Lord knows how busy we are. He knows we're good people and that if we could, we would 00:03:08.620 --> 00:03:14.060 read the Bible. I know some of you have grown up in Sunday schools, Christian kids clubs, Christian 00:03:14.060 --> 00:03:19.319 camps. You know the stories. We don't need to be constantly reading them again and again. 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:24.860 I have three kids. The most important thing in my life at the moment is raising my kids right. 00:03:25.580 --> 00:03:30.300 My day is filled with work, taking care of the kids, catching up with everyone on Facebook, 00:03:30.819 --> 00:03:36.400 watching the World Cup a couple of weeks ago. The Lord understands I can't possibly read the Bible 00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:42.760 every day. He knows, just like we do, that living out the morals in the Bible is more important than 00:03:42.760 --> 00:03:50.060 actually reading it. These are just some of the excuses that we fool ourselves into believing 00:03:50.060 --> 00:03:56.540 are acceptable for not reading our Bible every day. We constantly put it off with a, 00:03:56.780 --> 00:04:02.340 I'll catch up tomorrow. While evangelicals are a bit better, the figures are still shocking. 00:04:02.340 --> 00:04:09.539 A recent study in America discovered that only 49% of evangelicals read their Bible every day. 00:04:10.180 --> 00:04:18.120 39% of regular churchgoers do the same. 36% of Protestants and only 17% of Catholics. 00:04:19.139 --> 00:04:25.639 These are all professing Christians. While these figures are American figures, I've absolutely no 00:04:25.639 --> 00:04:30.639 proof of this next statement. I'd be fairly confident that those figures are similar for Europe, 00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:38.219 similar for Ireland, similar for Carragalline. Now you may be thinking, but Connor, why are you 00:04:38.219 --> 00:04:44.019 getting so caught up in this? You're not saved by reading the Bible. Well, hopefully by the end of 00:04:44.019 --> 00:04:50.199 the sermon, maybe in three hours time or so, I'll have you so sick of me that you'll just agree with me. 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:58.000 No, no. Hopefully you'll see that in fact the Bible is what saves you. Reading the Bible is a command 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:06.480 for all believers. It's a need for all believers. It should be a love for all believers. It's a benefit 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:13.139 to all believers and it should be a response to all that God has done for all believers. 00:05:14.439 --> 00:05:18.459 Well, if you were taken in by my initial spiel disregarding the importance of the Bible, 00:05:18.819 --> 00:05:23.339 then I'm very happy to disappoint you because we are indeed going to be reading from God's Word 00:05:23.339 --> 00:05:27.639 before we go any further. And to make you all feel guilty about not reading the Bible enough, 00:05:27.939 --> 00:05:32.959 the passage we're going to read from is Psalm 119, which is the longest in the whole Bible. 00:05:34.839 --> 00:05:40.959 If you have the Red Church Bible, it's on page 621. We're only going to be looking at a few verses 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:45.599 now. We won't read it all the way through. We'll be flicking through different verses though as we go 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:54.620 along. So it's Psalm 119 and we're going to start at verse 129. And as I said, page 621 in the Red Church 00:05:54.620 --> 00:05:55.040 Bibles. 00:06:02.720 --> 00:06:08.620 Your statutes are wonderful, therefore I obey them. The unfolding of your words gives light. 00:06:08.620 --> 00:06:17.160 It gives understanding to the simple. I open my mouth and pant, longing for your commands. 00:06:18.220 --> 00:06:24.019 Turn to me and have mercy on me as you always do to those who love your name. Direct my footsteps 00:06:24.019 --> 00:06:30.519 according to your word. Let no sin rule over me. Redeem me from human oppression that I may obey 00:06:30.519 --> 00:06:38.120 your precepts. Make your face shine on your servant and teach me your decrees. Streams of tears flow from 00:06:38.120 --> 00:06:49.740 my eyes for your law is not obeyed. Firstly, we should be reading our Bible every day because 00:06:49.740 --> 00:06:55.899 it's a command and it contains God's commands. If you say it's more important to live it, how do you 00:06:55.899 --> 00:07:04.300 ensure you're living it if you don't read it? Verse 129, your statutes are wonderful, therefore I obey 00:07:04.300 --> 00:07:11.199 them. It's not a bunch of rules or commands designed to infuriate us. They're wonderful because they come 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:21.699 from a wonderful God who loves us and wants what's best for us. Verse 134, redeem me from human oppression 00:07:21.699 --> 00:07:29.220 that I may obey your precepts. What does it say? Why does the psalmist need redemption? That I may obey 00:07:29.220 --> 00:07:35.460 your precepts. A precept is something that God has appointed to be done. It's a command from the one 00:07:35.460 --> 00:07:42.980 true God. The psalmist wants relief from his enemies simply so he can continue to obey God's commands. 00:07:43.760 --> 00:07:52.320 We're commanded to read the Bible. Verse 130, the unfolding of your words gives light. It gives 00:07:52.320 --> 00:07:58.600 understanding to the simple. Now I'm not suggesting you guys are simple. I'm sure you can remember what 00:07:58.600 --> 00:08:05.360 you've read and been taught, but it's the unfolding of God's words that gives light. It's only as we 00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:13.020 read it, study it, meditate on it, and do it all over again that we will fully appreciate the glorious 00:08:13.020 --> 00:08:21.300 leading light that the words contain. Before I started preparing this sermon, I knew that Psalm 119 told of 00:08:21.300 --> 00:08:28.260 the necessity and the beauty of the word of God, but as I've studied it and meditated on it again, 00:08:28.600 --> 00:08:35.700 I've been hit with the realization that I don't love it as the psalmist does. I don't long for it like we 00:08:35.700 --> 00:08:46.899 see in the fantastic verse 131. I open my mouth and pant longing for your commands. I should be gasping 00:08:46.899 --> 00:08:53.240 for the word of God every morning after being eight hours without it. I should be longing for it more than 00:08:53.240 --> 00:09:00.519 my breakfast. As Jonathan read earlier, it says in Deuteronomy 8, man shall not live by bread alone, 00:09:00.779 --> 00:09:08.399 but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Your daily Bible intake is more important than your 00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:19.240 daily food intake. What a great verse that is. I open my mouth and pant. This is something the 00:09:19.240 --> 00:09:24.700 psalmist needs in order to get through the next few hours. Without God's commands, the psalmist will 00:09:24.700 --> 00:09:32.860 get no satisfaction. He needs it like he needs water to survive. Thankfully, we live in a society where 00:09:32.860 --> 00:09:38.560 the Bible is freely available. Alex was praying earlier, freely available in our language and many 00:09:38.560 --> 00:09:45.820 other languages. Most of us, I guess, have numerous in our homes, but sometimes that can lead to taking it 00:09:45.820 --> 00:09:56.180 for granted. Do we long for it? Do we pant when we don't read it for too long? The Bible is in need 00:09:56.180 --> 00:10:02.420 for life. It's not simply something God commands us to do because it's good for us. We need it. 00:10:03.800 --> 00:10:10.840 Fit back to verse 105. It's on the previous page, if you're looking at the church Bibles. 00:10:10.840 --> 00:10:20.540 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. The picture set in the dead of night, pitch black, 00:10:20.940 --> 00:10:26.000 not like the summer nights where we're experiencing at the moment, but the winter nights. You can't see 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:33.080 two feet in front of you. The only lights are the stars in the sky. We need God's word like we need 00:10:33.080 --> 00:10:40.340 light in that situation. Once we get our hands on some light, then we follow where it leads. We're not 00:10:40.340 --> 00:10:47.519 going to shine the light behind us and walk forwards. We shine the light where we need to go. We follow 00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:55.660 it. When we take in God's word every day, we allow it to shape our path. We allow it to direct our steps 00:10:55.660 --> 00:11:04.120 where we need to go, and we follow it. The psalmist clearly knows that he needs God's word, but why? 00:11:04.120 --> 00:11:09.539 What has led to this conviction that God's word is so important in this life, that it's actually 00:11:09.539 --> 00:11:17.980 something he needs to survive? First thing in verse 130, we read that it gives understanding. 00:11:19.259 --> 00:11:25.940 This understanding is talking about understanding of salvation and eternal life. Reading and understanding 00:11:25.940 --> 00:11:32.460 the Bible is absolutely necessary to be saved and to live forever with our loving God. 00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:40.620 We see from verse 133 as well that it's essential in order to let no sin rule over me. 00:11:41.500 --> 00:11:48.100 The only way we can be saved from the pain of this life, the only way we can be saved from eventual death, 00:11:48.100 --> 00:11:56.480 the only way we can be saved to fill the longing of our hearts is to let no sin rule over us by reading, 00:11:57.220 --> 00:12:06.440 understanding, and following God's word. The only way we can receive God's favor, the free gift of 00:12:06.440 --> 00:12:12.759 forgiveness and eternal life, is to put our faith in Jesus Christ, the God-man that's pointed to 00:12:12.759 --> 00:12:18.500 throughout the whole Bible. We can see him clearly in this psalm written a thousand years before he 00:12:18.500 --> 00:12:25.259 came to earth as a baby. The verses we're looking at are talking about God's word and commands and 00:12:25.259 --> 00:12:31.080 decrees. One of the songs we were singing earlier was, You're the Word of God the Father. That's from 00:12:31.080 --> 00:12:39.159 John chapter 1. We learn that God's word is in fact Jesus, the word who is with God and is God. 00:12:39.159 --> 00:12:47.019 Jesus is in need for forgiveness of all the wrongdoing and to fill our lives instead with 00:12:47.019 --> 00:12:54.980 perfection when God looks down on us. We find Jesus through the Bible, which is how God has revealed 00:12:54.980 --> 00:13:03.860 himself. Our very lives depend on reading God's word regularly. We need to follow what we read. We need 00:13:03.860 --> 00:13:12.139 to follow the lamp that's guiding our path. We need to be doers, yes, but in order to do, we need to read 00:13:12.139 --> 00:13:21.480 and know what to do. Up until now, it seems that, yes, we should read the Bible every day because God 00:13:21.480 --> 00:13:27.860 commands it and we need it, but maybe we do it because we have to. However, it's not a requirement that 00:13:27.860 --> 00:13:36.600 should be forced on us. Verse 131 again, I open my mouth and pant, longing for your commands. 00:13:37.720 --> 00:13:43.700 There's no reason why we shouldn't love obeying this particular command. Some of God's commands we 00:13:43.700 --> 00:13:49.320 may struggle with. Some of them I obey simply because I know it's what God wants and I know he knows what's 00:13:49.320 --> 00:13:56.560 what's best for me, but this command to read the Bible every day is a love and an enjoyable task. 00:13:57.740 --> 00:14:00.300 Back a bit from our passage in verse 127. 00:14:03.620 --> 00:14:12.440 I love your commands more than gold, more than pure gold. Do we come to God's word with the feeling that 00:14:12.440 --> 00:14:18.620 we would rather have this in our hands than all the money in the world? Do we sit down in the quietness 00:14:18.620 --> 00:14:26.560 and read it, knowing that what we have is invaluable and eternal? Do we open up its pages expecting to 00:14:26.560 --> 00:14:35.240 find something precious in the words? God is so gracious. I take his word for granted way too often. 00:14:35.700 --> 00:14:41.159 Most days I don't come to it cherishing it more than gold and knowing it's invaluable or expecting 00:14:41.159 --> 00:14:48.139 something precious. Yet when I read it, no matter how I take it for granted, the Lord will regularly 00:14:48.139 --> 00:14:55.139 bless me from its pages. Whether we accept it or not, it is God's word and we can't help but be 00:14:55.139 --> 00:15:04.580 changed by it when we read it. But think of how much more we could take from it if we came to it with 00:15:04.580 --> 00:15:11.559 the right attitude. Regularly we go chasing after the busyness of our lives. We get caught up in it all. 00:15:11.559 --> 00:15:18.219 When really our lives are dependent on the thing that we are neglecting. The most valuable possession we 00:15:18.219 --> 00:15:23.859 have, we ignore. Back a bit again in verse 97. 00:15:23.860 --> 00:15:36.960 Oh, how I love your law. You see the exclamation mark at the end? See the exclamation of pure joy at 00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:45.940 the start? Oh, how I love your law. Words aren't enough to describe the psalmist's love and joy at 00:15:45.940 --> 00:15:54.000 being able to read God's law. I recently attended a Billy Joel concert. As he hobbled on stage, there were 00:15:54.000 --> 00:16:00.720 screams and roars from close to 100,000 people. Some people were legging it up the front, completely losing 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:08.940 their minds over seeing someone they've loved for decades. It's clear human beings have passion. It's clear we 00:16:08.940 --> 00:16:16.880 feel excitement and love and joy. Do we come to God's word with that zeal, with that passion? 00:16:18.360 --> 00:16:22.280 Obviously, I'm not talking about losing our minds in the house every morning while everyone else is 00:16:22.280 --> 00:16:29.100 asleep. But we can still feel excitement. We can still get butterflies in our stomach if we come to 00:16:29.100 --> 00:16:36.740 the Bible correctly. Before we start, if we think upon how God loves us, if we think upon the sacrifice 00:16:36.740 --> 00:16:43.620 that Jesus has made for us, if we think upon the whips and the nails that he bore so that we wouldn't 00:16:43.620 --> 00:16:51.379 have to, if we think upon the amazing concerts we're going to be part of in heaven if we put our faith 00:16:51.379 --> 00:16:59.639 in Christ now, how can we not have butterflies knowing that this is the person that we're about to hear from, 00:16:59.639 --> 00:17:03.340 the person who loves us more than anyone else ever can. 00:17:05.519 --> 00:17:14.240 Oh, how I love your law. I meditate on it all day long. Meditation here, it's not a scan read over 00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:19.839 breakfast with your daily bread teaching notes. Meditation is deliberately taking time out of your 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:28.339 day to sit down with God's word and commune with him. Bask in the glory of what's being said. Work your 00:17:28.339 --> 00:17:35.119 butt off to ensure your understanding is. Talk to God about it and come up with ideas how you can put 00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:48.179 it into practice. If you put the efforts into your Bible reading, it will become an enjoyment as you 00:17:48.179 --> 00:17:53.759 learn more and more of God's love and grace. However, if you're still not convinced that daily Bible 00:17:53.759 --> 00:18:00.140 reading is the way to go, listen to the amazing benefits that the Lord promises from it. I'm just 00:18:00.140 --> 00:18:05.900 going to read through a few verses from Psalm 119. There's no need to follow along. I kind of jump 00:18:05.900 --> 00:18:15.480 around a bit, but hopefully you'll see what I mean by benefits. Verse 28, my soul is weary with sorrow. 00:18:15.480 --> 00:18:23.579 Strengthen me according to your word. When we're feeling down and weary, turn to God's word, the only 00:18:23.579 --> 00:18:30.360 source of true spiritual strength. When this life and the busyness of it is becoming too much, set aside 00:18:30.360 --> 00:18:37.299 time to read and study God's word, and all of a sudden God promises he will provide the strength to 00:18:37.299 --> 00:18:46.159 carry on. Verse 165, it speaks of the great peace that those who love the Bible have. Weariness and stress 00:18:46.159 --> 00:18:54.960 fade to the background when we're reminded of what we have in Jesus. Verse 98, your commands make me wiser 00:18:54.960 --> 00:19:01.379 than my enemies. If you're daily putting God's word into your hearts, you'll become wiser, and with those 00:19:01.380 --> 00:19:09.180 difficult decisions that we all have to make, it'll become easier to know the right path. Verse 132 in 00:19:09.180 --> 00:19:20.420 our passage that we were looking at, turn to me and have mercy on me, as you always do to those who love 00:19:20.420 --> 00:19:28.940 your name. All of us, because of our sin and wrongdoing, we deserve punishment. We deserve death. But if we love 00:19:28.940 --> 00:19:38.180 God's name, if we love reading and obeying his word, he will give us unmerited grace and mercy. Verse 173, 00:19:38.580 --> 00:19:45.519 may your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts. Because the psalmist chose to give 00:19:45.519 --> 00:19:53.980 God's word its due respect, he's confident that God's hand is always ready to help him out. If we put Jesus 00:19:53.980 --> 00:20:02.559 and his teachings first in our lives, God promises to strengthen us in our weariness, give us peace from our stress, 00:20:02.940 --> 00:20:10.960 fill us with wisdom, grant us mercy when we don't deserve it, and help us with any struggles life may present. 00:20:12.240 --> 00:20:22.819 And that's only from bits and pieces of Psalm 119. The Bible is full of amazing promises from God, if we read and obey 00:20:22.819 --> 00:20:31.960 his word. A final argument then for reading your Bible every single day is, if you were truly saved 00:20:31.960 --> 00:20:38.019 from your sin, if you truly recognize the position you were in before you accepted Jesus' sacrifice in 00:20:38.019 --> 00:20:44.519 your life, then your response should be all that we have discussed so far. We should want to obey God's 00:20:44.519 --> 00:20:53.559 commands. We should recognize our need to get God's word into our lives every day. We should love to read 00:20:53.559 --> 00:21:02.419 his precepts and we should be striving for the benefits we're promised. Verse 134, redeem me from 00:21:02.419 --> 00:21:09.519 human oppression, that I may obey your precepts. The psalmist wants those people that are traumatizing 00:21:09.519 --> 00:21:17.720 him to stop, obviously, but why? So that he may obey God's words. It's the most important thing in his 00:21:17.720 --> 00:21:24.600 life. Because he has recognized God's mercy, reading and obeying the Bible take priority in his daily 00:21:24.600 --> 00:21:31.519 life. When we truly understand our complete helplessness without Jesus, we can identify 00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:40.460 with verse 136, streams of tears flow from my eyes, for your law is not obeyed. 00:21:40.460 --> 00:21:48.180 These are obviously tears of sorrow for those that are perishing, but they're also tears of anger, 00:21:48.819 --> 00:21:56.860 anger that God's laws are not being followed, anger at the state the world is in. As a response, 00:21:56.960 --> 00:22:03.620 we should harness that righteous anger and sorrow and never take for granted the Bible which provides 00:22:03.619 --> 00:22:11.000 that salvation. The very words of God written down for all generations to be a blessing to the whole 00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:18.399 world as God promised Abraham way back. Jesus was the answer to this promise of salvation, 00:22:18.919 --> 00:22:27.459 this promise of hope. And through the Bible, we find this hope. This is how God has chosen to reveal 00:22:27.460 --> 00:22:34.840 himself and his salvation plan through his son. We need this in our lives every single day if we're 00:22:34.840 --> 00:22:40.059 going to persevere through this life to the very end. And hopefully when we meet our Savior, he'll say, 00:22:40.180 --> 00:22:42.519 well done, good and faithful servant. 00:22:46.440 --> 00:22:52.740 When I began preparing this sermon, my initial aim was to go through a whole Bible overview of the Bible, 00:22:52.740 --> 00:22:58.019 basically to encourage us all to read our Bibles every day by going through different metaphors that 00:22:58.019 --> 00:23:05.339 the Bible uses to describe itself. So we've seen one of them in Psalm 119, a light, things like a 00:23:05.339 --> 00:23:13.440 double-edged sword in Hebrews, etc, etc. But then I read through Psalm 119. That was more than enough. 00:23:14.440 --> 00:23:20.440 Please, during this week, take some time to read through the Psalm. And God promises you, 00:23:20.440 --> 00:23:26.720 you will be filled with a renewed appreciation and love for God's laws and commands. Laws and 00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:33.120 commands that provide freedom. Laws and commands that we need to survive this life and to enter into 00:23:33.120 --> 00:23:39.259 eternal life. Laws and commands that we will love if we put the effort into reading and understanding. 00:23:40.080 --> 00:23:45.759 Laws and commands that we should obey as a response to what Jesus did for us on the cross, 00:23:45.759 --> 00:23:48.920 dying and suffering the death that we deserve. 00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:57.019 I've already mentioned that I fail regularly in this. I don't love the Bible as I ought. I take 00:23:57.019 --> 00:24:04.779 God's life-giving word for granted more often than not probably. But the same grace that took away all 00:24:04.779 --> 00:24:10.359 our sin through death and suffering is the same grace that's still active in the world today 00:24:10.359 --> 00:24:18.619 through the Holy Spirit. Turn in repentance to God for not valuing his word and his sacrifice as you 00:24:18.619 --> 00:24:24.799 should. Renew your commitment or make that commitment afresh to him. And if it's genuine, 00:24:25.519 --> 00:24:29.779 he will already have forgotten it. What a God we serve. 00:24:29.779 --> 00:24:39.960 In conclusion, let me just say, if you're a reader, you have no excuse. The Bible is a really exciting 00:24:39.960 --> 00:24:47.279 book as well as the small point of holding the keys to eternal life and salvation. If you're not a 00:24:47.279 --> 00:24:55.799 reader, well then you're off the hook. No, you have no excuse. There's audio available for free online or 00:24:55.799 --> 00:25:04.559 else you can pay for it on mp3 or on a CD. The effort you put in will be worth it. Let me leave you 00:25:04.559 --> 00:25:12.079 with this verse as a challenge for the week ahead and then Jonathan will close for us. Verse 131, 00:25:12.079 --> 00:25:30.179 Father God, thank you for your word. Thank you for blessing us with it and that we can read it 00:25:30.179 --> 00:25:37.859 anytime we wish. I pray for each and every person here, myself included, that we would not take that 00:25:37.859 --> 00:25:43.959 word for granted, that we would recognize it for what it is, the very words of the one true God 00:25:43.959 --> 00:25:49.500 and that it's how you have chosen to reveal yourself, how you've chosen to reveal your salvation 00:25:49.500 --> 00:25:56.099 plan and we shouldn't go a day without it. I pray for each one of us as we go through the week ahead, 00:25:56.879 --> 00:26:02.039 whatever time we have, whether it's we start off our day right in the morning or whether we finish 00:26:02.039 --> 00:26:07.899 with it before we go to bed, but that we would be getting the word into us and that we would spend 00:26:07.899 --> 00:26:18.180 time studying it, meditating on it and then following it wherever it leads. In Jesus name, amen. 00:26:32.039 --> 00:26:37.899 Thank you, Conor. Thank you. 00:26:37.899 --> 00:26:41.839 What a challenge to us. Even day by day as we think about it.