[KING OF THE HILL VIDEO]
-this is it! I know it seems like we’ve been talking about this series for a long time, but this is the last week of it. Hopefully, by the end of tonight you will understand why we do what we do here at Fire & Water. If someone were to come up to you and ask you “Hey, why do you do this at your church?” you will be able to help them understand why we do it and how it helps you grow in your walk with Christ and helps us grow together.
-like the first week, we talked about why we have time to hang out and games and After Hours. To someone who knows nothing about church it may seem like filler, like we’re just babysitting you guys or something, but in reality, it’s to help you get to know each other. It’s to give you a chance to be the real you in front of the people here so you have people you can trust and rely one. It gives you a chance to have fun with each other and let your guard down and get to know each other.
-then we talked about praise and worship. Again, it may seem weird to people who don’t go to church. After all, where else do you get together with people to sing? A concert maybe? But this is more than a concert, we are sharing prayers in song with God and recognizing Him for who He is, we are telling Him how amazing He is and giving Him praise, we are singing prayers that share how devoted we are to Him. And we do it loud.
-this moment, what is happening right now was next, teaching and discussion. Every week someone comes up here and talks, a lot of the time it’s me, but not always, and we look at how we can apply the Bible to our lives. Usually at Drink Deep it’s not as verse oriented, we don’t often take a passage of Scripture and pick it apart, but we look more at topics and how the Bible can apply to our lives, how we can live it out. Then, we give you a chance to talk in small groups, asking questions to get you thinking, even giving you a chance to ask questions. I realize I don’t have the monopoly on all knowledge, you guys know a lot about God from your personal experiences (even if you haven’t thought of it in that way), and by sharing those stories you help us all get to know God a little better.
-last week we talked about equipping, or to use a less Fire & Water word, serving. You can hear about what God thinks or feels for years and years, and that’s a good thing, but when you actually live it out, when you serve, when you take part in Sunday night and help it be impacting to other people instead of just coming in and being served, it makes a huge difference in how you see God and understanding how He works, how He thinks, how He feels.
-but there’s one more ting we do here. It doesn’t happen on Sundays. It doesn’t happen at Drink Deep, well not really. It happens Wednesday nights at 7:00 right here in the Wharf, it’s Downpour, our weekly Bible Study.
-now I know what you’re thinking. I already come to church Sunday mornings. I spend more time here Sunday nights. I even volunteer some extra time to God about that. Do I really need to be here another night?
-no, you don’t. You don’t need Bible Study the same way you don’t need to workout that extra day a week, the same way you don’t need that extra night studying for school, the same way you don’t need that extra time with your friends to get to know them better. You don’t need that. But if you put in that extra effort, you’ll reap the extra rewards.
-I mean, look at these verses that talk about studying the Bible:
**Josh. 1:8 -> 8Always remember what is written in the Book of Teachings. Study it day and night to be sure to obey everything that is written there. If you do this, you will be wise and successful in everything. (NCV)
**Duet. 11:27 -> 27You will be blessed if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today. (NLT)
**Luke 11:28 -> 28Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are all who hear the Word of God and put it into practice.” (NLT)
-all sorts of great verses about reading the Bible and learning from it.
-did anyone notice the theme? God blesses those who study the Bible. He blesses those who know His Word and put it into practice. So there’s your first blank:
1. GOD WILL BLESS YOU
-God blesses those who know His Word.
-and I know what you’re thinking, that’s such a vague word, you’re blessed. What does that mean? Well, I know one way we’re blessed, we are happier if we are studying God’s Word.
**James 1:25 -> 25But the truly happy people are those who carefully study God’s perfect Law that makes people free, and they continue to study it. They do not forget what they heard, but they obey what God’s teaching says. Those who do this will be made happy. (NCV)
-I don’t know about you, but I’m okay with being happy.
-and I don’t know what it is, but it’s true. When I read the Bible regularly, I’m generally happier. Maybe it’s just that I’m reading and not watching crap on TV, but I think it’s because the Bible is like food for the soul, and I always feel happy after eating. A half-hour later, different story, but right after eating, generally happy.
-another reason
2. IT PREPARES YOU FOR WHAT GOD HAS FOR YOU
-we talked about it a few weeks ago that God has a plan for your life. So how do you get ready for that?
**Psalm 119:97-104 -> 97How I love your teachings! I think about them all day long. 98Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, because they are mine forever. 99I am wiser than all my teachers, because I think about your rules. 100I have more understanding than the elders, because I follow your orders. 101I have avoided every evil way so I could obey your word. 102I haven’t walked away from your laws, because you yourself are my teacher. 103Your promises are sweet to me, sweeter than honey in my mouth! 104Your orders give me understanding, so I hate lying ways. (NCV)
-God’s Word shapes us, it gets us ready for the tasks God has for us.
-we talked two weeks ago how one thing we should be doing is sharing our faith. Most people don’t do that because they’re not prepared. If you’re reading the Bible, you get to know God more, able to share easier, next thing you know we have lots of new people here hearing about God’s Word.
-and that’s just one aspect. Go through WATER. Worshipping, Allying, Equipping, Reaching. All those get easier when you are learning from God’s Word, when you’re in Teaching.
-even just in basics of life, whatever plan that is, the Bible can prepare you. Try it, read Proverbs. All sorts of advice on how to treat people, what friends to have, how to resolve conflicts, all sorts of great stuff.
3. IT STRENGTHEN YOU
-ever have a crappy day? Ever feel like you just don’t have the strength to go on? Ever just want to give up and don’t know where to turn to for more energy?
**Acts 20:32 -> 32Now I am putting you in the care of God and the Message about His grace. It is able to give you strength, and it will give you the blessings God has for all His holy people. (NCV)
-yes, the Bible can give you strength.
-if you ever want a good pick-me-up, read some of the Psalms. David wrote some of them when God was helping him and he felt good. But he wrote a lot of them when he was on the run, when people were trying to kill him and he wanted to give up. They almost all start with some “woe is me” type thing but turn and focus on God and how He will deliver David or save him.
-God’s Word strengthens our soul, which really gives us the strength to go on.
4. IT HELPS YOU HAVE PERFECT LOVE
-I like the idea of being perfect, at least in some way.
-but God is love, so wouldn’t it makes sense that as we get to know God we become more loving, better at showing God’s true love to others?
**I John 2:5 -> 5All those who obey His Word are people whose love for God has really been made perfect. This is how we can be sure that we are in union with God. (GNT)
-union with God, perfect love, all great things! I want to be closer to God, and studying the Bible helps that.
5. IT HELPS YOU DEEPEN YOUR FAITH
-again, let’s just go by common sense. If you are reading a book about someone all the time, won’t you know a little bit more about them? What about a book they wrote, don’t you kind of get to know the author?
**II Thess. 3:4-5 -> 4And we are confident in the Lord that you are practicing the things we commanded you, and that you always will. 5May the Lord bring you into an ever deeper understanding of the love of God and the endurance that comes from Christ. (NLT)
-studying the Bible will help us have a deeper faith, and look, strength or endurance, and better understanding of the love of God, hmm, what a good verse. Guess where I found it? The Bible!
-all those other things that seem hard, deep faith helps. Knowing God better, spending more time with Him, understanding God more, able to hear His voice, His whispers clearer.
-and again, a deep faith overflows to other things. Easier to step out in faith or do something hard when you have more faith, stronger faith.
-another one:
6. IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE
-if you really get into God’s Word and learn from it, study it, spend time in it, you will be a different person, a better person. In Hebrews, the Bible is referred to as a sword.
**Heb. 4:12 -> 12The word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It cuts all the way through, to where soul and spirit meet, to where joints and marrow come together. It judges the desires and thoughts of the heart. (GNT)
-I think some of you have heard me use this one before, but if I were to come to church and attack you with a sword, would your life be different? What about the opposite, what if I gave you a sword, taught you to use it, and you took it to school. Would your life be different?
-the Word of God cuts to where our soul and spirit meets, basically your spiritual core, to work on your heart.
-when you come to Bible Study, it’s a little different than here. It’s like a mix of right now and the small groups. There’s a lot of conversation. And it’s also less topical than right now.
-for the past five Sundays you’ve heard me talk about why we do what we do, and you’ve talked a little about it in small groups. At Downpour all this time, we’ve done a study called Courageous Leadership. We’ve been taking a look at the life of Joshua. We’ve been looking at just his life, focusing in that book. Why? Because instead of getting a nice overview like this, we can dive in and look at what we can learn about leadership and being a Godly leader from his life, both the good things and the bad.
-and we purposely do that entire time in a small group. We purposely keep it small so that everyone has a voice and everyone can be involved in learning and sharing. Even if everyone here showed up Wednesday, I’d still split us up into smaller groups. It’s how we do it.
-and yes, this will be harder than right now. It is way easier to hear people talk for a while then have a short conversation. It’s much harder to bear your soul, to share what you think, to read and really ponder what the Scripture is saying and work through that together.
-there will never be as many people at Downpour as there are here at Drink Deep. And it has nothing to do with the time or the night of the week. It has to do with the fact that Downpour is deeper. It is harder. It makes you think more.
-it’s like anything else you do in life. It will be very hard for you to find people who want to do the harder things with you. It’s hard to find someone who want to put the extra hour in the weight room with you. It’s hard to find someone who will study an extra hour with you. But for those of you who have studied for a test or trained for a game, you know how it pays off. It’s the same way here.
-I don’t know where you are with God, but I know this. If you want to put in the extra time to learn more about God, it will pay off. If you want to do what you can to learn more about what God’s Word has to say to you, He will bless you for it, it may not be apparent right away and it may not be the way you want to be blessed, but life will be better. There is nothing better than having God’s Word inside you so that you know it and you live it.
-you’re all invited. It’s not a closed class or something, anyone can be a part of Downpour. Yeah, we’re finishing up Joshua and Courageous Leadership right now, and next week is pumpkins, but the week after that we’re going to be talking about conflict and how God wants us to handle arguments and when we don’t always get along. Anyone want to know how that works?
-but it’s not going to be come hear and go home. It’s very involved, we’ll be asking what you think of conflict, how you handle it, the good and the bad, and challenging you to handle it God’s way.
-yes, this is an extra step, but it’s a great extra step, and I challenge you to try it.
