People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Matthew 4:4 NLT
As we continue in our series on Dynamic Disciples or Dynamic Discipleship our focus this month is on The Word of God and today we are going to be thinking about Hindrances to God’s Word.
Let me start with a question: How important is the Word of God to you?
As dynamic disciples each of the should know how important it is for us to spend time daily reading the Word of God.
Think about it this way for a moment:
Could I be called a musician if I never play an instrument?
Could I be called a photographer if I never used a camera?
Could I be called a fisherman if I never go fishing?
The Bible is not an optional extra for the Christian. It is an essential part of our daily walk with God.
If we are followers of Jesus we must treat The Word of God as an essential part of our daily lives.
The scriptures were important in the life of Jesus.
He would often quote from the Old Testament books, He knew the strength and encouragement of God’s Word and we should also.
Knowing the Word of God was important in the life of Jesus. After Jesus was baptised He went into the desert, while He was in the desert Satan tried to tempt Him.
Listen to Matthew 4:1-4:
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.
During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”
But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’
God speaks to us through His Word. Our God is a living God.
He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He is the Resurrection and the Life.
He is our source of Hope and Salvation and we need to take the time to be to be connected with Him by reading His Words to us.
There are many things that can hinder us or stop us, from spending time with God, but perhaps the biggest hindrance can be ourselves.
There are so many things we can allow in our lives that distract us from spending time with our Lord.
From the moment the alarm clock goes off in the morning to when you lay your head on the pillow at night there are things that need to be done, and things we choose to do. Spending time in prayer and praise and reading the Word of God to hear God’s voice should be the highest priority of our day.
Don’t let your schedule hinder your engagement with the Word of God.
Don’t miss out on the bread of life being in your life.
We cannot live without His Word.
Each day we need fresh manna from heaven to nourish and sustain us.
Daily we need to feed on God’s Word.
There are 4 things each of us must do with the Word of God:
1. Hear it. 2. Read it. 3. Study it. 4. Memorise it
1st point Hear the Word.
Romans 10:17 says: So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.
Hearing the word of God is important, it’s one of the reasons we meet together here as Church on a Sunday morning.
Hearing a sermon can help us to know more of God’s word and also help us to apply what we hear in our own lives.
Hearing the word of God is an easy option, all we have to do is turn up at church and listen to the preacher without falling asleep.
It’s an easy option but it should not be the only thing we choose to do.
Listening to a sermon for 30-40 minutes once a week is not enough for us to be satisfied. We need daily sustenance, we need our daily bread.
Throughout the week in most churches there is an opportunity to hear more of God’s word.
In our own group of churches there are a number of Bible study and discussion groups each week. Participating in a study group can help us to know and understand more of God’s word.
At 20:20 which we run here on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month we have been thinking about the Armour of God and its importance and application in our daily lives. We don’t just listen to the Word, we discuss it, chew it over, digest it and apply it to our lives.
2nd point - Read the Word.
As the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:16 - All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realise what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
If you are a disciple of Jesus and you have a Bible you should read it.
A Bible is meant to be more than resting place for dust. It is our daily guide for life in this world and the next.
Someone created the acronym - BIBLE: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.
We should not be ignorant of what God’s Word actually says.
Over the years I have met a number of people who have been incredibly critical about the Bible.
Some have called it fairy stories, some have called it outdated, some have called it irrelevant, some have called it man made.
The thing is when challenged all of those people without exception admitted that they had never read the Bible themselves.
Some had read a limited amount in RE lessons in school, but most of their opinion was based on what other people had said or other things that they had read.
Actually I do know a few people who decided to read the Bible just so they could argue with Christians about what was actually in the Bible.
It’s a sad fact that there are many Christians who are completely ignorant of what the bible actually says about certain things.
Someone once said that ignorance is bliss - and some people like it that way.
The Bible is Gods word.
The Bible is truth.
But some people choose to be deliberately ignorant of what the Bible says because they are unwilling to really allow God to take first place in their lives.
They are content with a little bit of knowledge, just scratch the surface, maybe the bits about the love of God, the peace of God, the easy bits.
But when it comes to learning about how God expects us as disciples of Jesus to live holy lives, different lives, to be in the world but not of it.
That would cause them to examine how they live and perhaps make some difficult choices about following God’s plan, purpose and priorities for their daily lives.
How many Bibles do you have at home?
Is the number of Bible you have at home higher than the total number of times you have read the Bible from cover to cover?
There are many people in this world who would love to have a Bible of their own and many of us have never read the ones we own.
In China for example, there are many Christians who live in rural areas, who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. But for many of them their income is so low they cannot afford to purchase anything other than the basic essentials, food, clothing etc.
Because of their location and lack of monetary resources, they do not have access to Bibles. Their Bible reading is restricted to pages they have copied by hand, passages they have memorised, or tattered Bibles shared among the village.
The strange thing is the world’s largest printer of Bibles is based in East China. The Amity printing company print 1,500 Bible in a single hour.
In 2014 they printed over 13 million copies of the Bible in more than 100 different languages. In fact since they started printing the Bible they have printed more than 100 million Bibles. 60 percent of the Bibles they have printed have been distributed within China - yet there are still people who are unable to own one for themselves.
It’s sad that many people in this country who have their own Bible choose not to read it.
Somehow actually reading the Bible has lost some of it’s importance.
We might read little daily reading notes with a one or two verses for that day.
We might read commentaries, or books by famous authors about the Bible, but when it comes to having a hunger to actually read God’s Word, the actual bible, some people seem to have just lost their appetite.
The Bible is relevant for us today, God’s Word is as important for us in the 21st Century as it was when by the power of the Holy Spirit the authors of the individual books of the Bible were inspired to write them.
Friends, can I encourage all of us to actually read our Bibles more than we currently do?
Aim to read a few chapters each day not just a few verses.
Aim to read the whole of the New Testament between now and Christmas.
There are 25 weeks to Christmas.
There are 260 chapters in the New Testament.
89 chapters in the Gospels
28 chapters in Acts
87 chapters in the Paul’s Epistles
34 chapters in the Other Epistles
22 chapters in Revelation
So if you read 2 chapters a day for the next 130 days you still have about 45 days to make a start on the Old Testament.
Can I also ask you to aim to read through Old Testament next year?
At just three chapters a day you could complete it easily in less than a year.
Maybe that seems a lot of time but it only takes an average person 80 hours to read the Bible from cover to Cover.
There are 168 hours in a week, 8760 hours in a year so putting aside 80 hours to read the word of God should not be that difficult should it?
Around an hour a half a week.
Why read the New Testament first?
Simply put, understanding the Old Testament is easier if you start with the New Testament.
The New Testament is the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies and promises.
Take the plunge, make the commitment to read the word of God to feed on the Word of God!
3rd point - Study the Word
In Acts 17 The Apostle Paul is on his second missionary journey. He has Silas with him and they have just left Thessalonica and are now in a place called Berea.
Acts 17:10-12 records - When they arrived there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. As a result, many Jews believed, as did many of the prominent Greek women and men.
There is a key truth in these verses for us. It’s something seriously important,
The people of Berea didn’t just accept what they heard from the preacher they checked it against the Word of God themselves.
Don’t just accept what I or any other minister or preacher says as truth, we are just men - check it in the Word of God for yourself.
Now I’m not telling you to be sceptical of everything I say - but I am human, I am fallible, I am not perfect.
If something sounds wrong then check what the Bible actually says for yourself.
Study the Bible yourself - there is so much to discover - so much to learn - much more than a 30-40 minute sermon once a week can teach you.
What could you study in the Bible?
You could study a specific book of the Bible.
You could study a specific topic or theme, things like the Armour of God, salvation, Heaven, the teachings of Jesus, the Holy Spirit or Miracles.
You could study specific people of the Bible, Moses, Joshua, Elijah, The Apostle Paul, King David.
And as you study the word you can also memorise it too.
4th point - Memorise the Word
Psalm 119:9-11 says,
How can a person stay pure? By obeying your word.
I have tried hard to find you— don’t let me wander from your commands.
I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
Friends, memorising verses and passages of God’s Word can help to develop a healthy and mature faith.
As disciples of Christ, we need the Word of God to be living and active in our lives.
Knowing God’s Word helps us to know Him.
The Word of God can strengthen us.
The Word of God can encourage us.
The Word of God can comfort us.
The Word of God can lead us and guide us.
Hiding the word in your heart does not mean pushing it to the back of your mind and forgetting about it.
It’s about filling your heart and your mind with it so that you can live by it, be sustained by it.
Listen to the words of King David in Psalm 19:7-14
The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul.
The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living.
Reverence for the Lord is pure, lasting forever.
The laws of the Lord are true; each one is fair.
They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold.
They are sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb.
They are a warning to your servant, a great reward for those who obey them.
How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults.
Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Don’t let them control me.
Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin.
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
King David knew that the Word of God needed to be central in His life.
David was called a man after God’s own heart.
David was not perfect.
Humanly speaking he made some seriously bad choices and bad decisions in his life.
But he repented, he knew God forgave him and he attempted to follow God’s instructions, decrees and commandments.
He lived in reverence of God and sought to be the person God wanted him to be.
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I will close with this:
Ensure the Word of God has an important place in your life.
Don’t let anything hinder your engagement with God’s word.
Hear it. Read it. Study it. Memorise it
It is a vital part of our daily discipleship, a practical and beneficial part of our lives.
Each of us can draw closer to God as we read His word.
Be fed by the Word of God, be sustained by the Word of God and be nourished by the Word of God,
The Word of God can inform you but you need to let it transform you.
As you read the Word of God each day let it motivate you, let it thrill you, and let it empower you to be the dynamic disciple God has called you to be.
AMEN.
