Spring Life
Part 4- Be Devoted
Pastor Ryan Akers
Video- Bible Facts- (Sermon Spice)
OWU- Kids lack of desire to learn what they were called to do.- I didn’t begin really digging into the bible until college. When I did I learned just how powerful the words inside these pages are.
It is a timeless book, relevant for all ages. The culture was different, but the problems were all the same. Sin, greed, lust, prostitution, bad marriages, depression, all manners of temptation. Eccl says there is nothing new under the sun and that is why this book is so timeless because the teachings and stories that are brought forth from this book were designed by God to be timeless from creation to final judgment day. And all of it was designed to bring out our hope of redemption through our savior, Jesus Christ.
Written over 1,500 years by 40 authors in 3 languages yet has no contradictions.
World’s first printed book and despite the world’s continuing desires to discredit and destroy this book it continues today to be the best selling book of all time.
Secular scholars love to argue that there is no way this book could be accurate today because it has been copied so many times and because there are no original manuscripts available that it could not possibly be reliable. The undeniable fact is that the scribes who copied the Old Testament over hundreds of years were professionals. They dedicated their lives to accurately copying the original manuscripts.
Scholars have been able to test that accuracy when they discovered the Dead Sea scrolls which contained a complete copy of the book of Isaiah written about 125 years before Christ. That book was 95% word for word identical with today’s Modern Hebrew Bible. The other 5% were spelling changes and clerical errors.
Compared to other ancient manuscripts the bible has over 5,000 complete copies of the New Testament available and over 20,000 partial books available some written within 100 years of the original manuscripts.
In comparison the Iliad comes in 2nd with only 643 manuscripts available and the best of those is 500 years newer than the original text.
Archeological discoveries made today have done nothing but support what the bible claims. Famous archaeologist Nelson Glueck discovered 1,500 ancient sites by simply using the bible as his guide.
Here’s the point, it’s easy to believe that the Bible is just a great work of literature, great history book or even a book of spiritual significance. Jesus believed the Old Testament was God’s Word and the Christian church from it’s earliest years believed the OT and NT were God inspired and all this information leads us to the same conclusion that mankind needs a savior, that savior is found in Jesus the Christ and we, as believers, are to live out our days fulfilling God’s created purpose for us which is to be like Jesus.
This means we must become Disciples of Christ. Disciple literally means “learner”. We are to be devoted to the teachings of Jesus and to God’s Word. Acts 2:42, I John 2:3-6. We are students, God is the teacher, and Jesus is the goal. How can you know how to be a follower of Christ if you never read the Word of God? Being a disciple doesn’t happen overnight. Just like you didn’t graduate high school after attending one day of kindergarten. It takes a lifetime of learning. It takes a lifetime of dedicated study, prayer, failures and victories. It takes a lifetime of listening to God, listening to others who have been there, done that. The learning never ends until we die and we enter into our glorified bodies in Heaven. And really the learning is the fun part.
Many look at reading the bible as a chore. It’s something you just have to do but you don’t want to but you feel guilty if you don’t. So read might read here or there and normally what happens is you read and then when your done you don’t even remember what you just read.
If you want God’s word to have a profound impact on your life then you have to have a total shift in your thinking. There must be a renewing of your mind so that when you do your devotions it no longer is a chore but it becomes more important than air. The bible will become fun to read. As you dig into this book you will discover teachings that will have a profound impact on who you are and who you will become as a person and as a child of God. The more you read and pray the more you will discover the awesome power that is contained in this book. It literally has the words of life. We can’t just say we want to be a good Christian you have to back it up with action. That action is taken when we take the word of God seriously in our daily lives. When it becomes the guide to how we live. Where every time we are struggling in life our first thought becomes, “what does the bible say.”
Get This: Remember the Manual
We should never leave home without our instruction book on how to live in the world but not be of the world. Every time you read this book with a pure heart desire to learn from it and change you will discover something new.
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism spent his entire life studying and learning from this book. In his final years of life, after preaching thousands and thousands of sermons and reading through the bible hundreds of times and after spending his final years spending an average of 8-10 hours a day in study of God’s word he made the statement that he still felt he had not even scratched the surface of the wisdom that is contained in this book.
You will never know everything there is to know. There is never going to come a day where you can close the final page of Revelation, put your pen down and say, “done. I now know absolutely everything there is to know about the Bible.” It is impossible, because we can never fully grasp God we will never fully understand everything he has placed in his book. That is what makes it so much fun. The book is timeless and everyday there is a scripture that you have read many times but will finally come to life because it fits with your current situation. It will be exactly what you needed at that moment to help you overcome. It’s truly powerful and mystical. No other book has that kind of power. How we ever believe that the reading of God’s word is a tiresome chore goes way beyond my understanding.
To say that reading God’s word is a tiresome chore to me is like saying God himself is tiresome and boring. I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t have the guts to tell God, the one who sacrificed his son for me so I could be in Heaven, He is tiresome and boring.
I believe the whole purpose of reading this book. The history, stories, wars, spiritual battles, rise and fall of governments and rulers all shows our need for a savior and it all shows how history led up to the birth of that savior. From there we are taught how to accept that savior and instructed on how to live like that savior until one day that savior will return. In short the bible is ALL ABOUT JESUS.
We read this (Bible) to know how to be like him(Jesus). When you learn to approach God’s Word the right way, not as a boring chore, but the right way then you will see how much fun it is to dig, read, to grow, and to be challenged.
If you want to be more like Jesus you need a driving enthusiasm for God’s Truth. You need to be internally motivated. If you are internally motivated you are going to engage more thoughtfully. Meaning you aren’t going to read for reading sake. You are going to read because you have a thirst to know and grow. You will not read a chapter just to say you read a chapter but you will dissect a word, scripture a chapter. You will want to get all your senses involved in what you are reading. You don’t just read words, you use your imagination to take you to where Jesus was. You picture yourself sitting in the house and watching Jesus heal the man that was just lowered through the roof or sitting at the table taking communion with the apostles at the last supper. You use all your senses when you are engaged. What are the sounds you hear, what can you smell, what does the food taste like, what are the textures around you. It sounds crazy, I know but the word comes alive when you allow yourself to get fully engage into what you are reading. Don’t just read about the sick and those sitting on the hillside listening to Jesus. Close your eyes and imagine yourself being that sick person that is healed or that bystander listening to the savior preach.
The reason we get burnt out on the bible is because we always approach it in the same boring ways, we get out of the habit, we allow sin to creep in our lives, or we feel pressure to live up to a certain standard. We need a fresh internal motivation, a fresh enthusiasm to become like Jesus. A fresh way to approach the reading of God’s Word. That internal motivation will come from our experience of his love and grace, our desire to please him and our hope of heaven. Find your driving enthusiasm.
If you want to be like Jesus you can’t just have enthusiasm you also need to maximize your exposure to God’s truth. Let’s let God’s Word speak for itself here… Matthew 4:4, Abosrbing God’s Truth is a key to spiritual growth. In order to solidify the faith of the believers at Corinth…, Acts 18:11, The amount of time we invest in learning God’s Truth does matter…Psalm 1:1-3, Believing the right thing is crucial, because we will become what we believe. II Timothy 4:2-4 (health, wealth, prosperity gospel- if we don’t know God’s Truth how can we be sure that His Truth is being preached accurately?)
You will become more like Jesus if you are enthusiastic for God’s Truth, if you are maximize your exposure to God’s Truth and finally if you fully embrace God’s Truth.
A true disciple of Jesus, a true learner of Jesus not only knows what their master would do, they do it. James 1:22-24. If you already know what Jesus would do then you won’t need to worry about wearing the bracelet. You are already know because you live out what he would do.
Our obedience or how much we have embraced God’s Truth is measured by how well live out his commands. Take this message full circle back to I John 2:3-6.
How well are you assimilating God’s Truth into your life? (SCALE 1-10)
Amos Wells Poem
I supposed I knew my Bible, Reading peacemeal, hit or miss, Now a bit of John or Matthew, Now a snatch of Genesis, Certain chapters of Isaiah, Certain Psalms (the twenty-third), Twelfth of Romans, first of Proverbs -- Yes, I thought I knew the Word! But I found that thorough reading Was a different thing to do, And the way was unfamiliar When I read the Bible through. You who like to play at Bible, Dip and dabble, here and there, Just before you kneel, aweary, And yawn through a hurried prayer; You who treat the Crown of Writings As you treat no other book, Just a paragraph, disjointed, Just a crude, impatient look, Try a worthier procedure, Try a broad and steady view; You will kneel in very rapture When you read the Bible through.
REMEMBER THE MANUAL
