1. We are seeking authenticity – last week we considered the danger of hypocrisy. How are we to be real?
2. A Bible Like Mom’s
In her book Parenting with Scripture, Kara Durbin wrote, “When I was little, I wanted a Bible just like my mom’s, and I was thrilled when I received one as a present. As I grew up, I underlined verses as I memorized them and marked ones that spoke to me about a particular topic. I loved being able to flip through, finding familiar passages with my notations in that big book. It made God’s Word feel like home to me.”
Kara went on to say that when she got to college her Bible was falling apart and had to be replaced. She painstakingly transferred every underlining and notation to her new Bible, and that’s the Bible she still uses.
Our children need to see us maintaining our own personal relationship with Christ. They can spot hypocrisy faster than anyone. But if we truly love the Lord and His Word, they will notice. Our greatest legacy is the living faith that makes others want a Bible like ours, because a Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.
Instill in your child a habit of turning to the Scripture to answer questions…it will serve as the guidebook for life. Kara Durbin
• In American homes the Bible has taken on the status of an icon with little practical value. When asked, "What book has most influenced your life?" in a recent Library of Congress survey, respondents awarded the Bible the top position. But only 34 percent of American Christians read God’s Word on their own during the week, and of that group, only 13 percent claim to read it daily.
• "Americans revere the Bible," says pollster George Gallup, Jr., "but, by and large, they don’t read it."
• Statistics say that 92 percent of all Americans have at least three Bibles in their homes. Perhaps like the South Dakota rancher, yours is secreted away in a closet. And like him, you don’t suspect that there’s a fortune hidden within its pages. Signs of the Times (October 2002)
3. Quotes: [Phil Robertson Slide
• “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and Bible.” – George Washington
• The Bible, when not read in schools, is seldom read in any subsequent period of life… [T]he Bible… should be read in our schools in preference to all other books because it contains the greatest portion of that kind of knowledge which is calculated to produce private and public happiness. –
Dr. Benjamin Rush
• "So great is my veneration for the Bible that the earlier my children begin to read it the more confident will be my hopes that they will prove useful citizens to their country and respectable members of society." – JQ Adams
• “Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face.”? Ronald Reagan
4. Psalm 19.7-9
5. How do we start if we are going to be real and authentic? We have to pick up the Book!
I. God’s Word has Transforming Power – (7a)
A. The Law of the LORD is Instructive
1. Torah = Instruction; Guidance – John 8.31-32
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
2. Point of Origin: the LORD – It’s His word!
B. The Law of the LORD is Perfecting
1. God’s Word is Complete for Us – 2 Timothy 3.16-17
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
2. Converts/Revives/Saves Souls/Lives – Hebrews 4.12; Acts 2.37
II. God’s Word is the Source of:
A. Wisdom (7b)
1. The Lord Testifies of Himself – LORD your God (Exodus 19, etc.)
2. He declares with Certainty/Reliability/Truth
Proverbs 30.5 5 Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
Hurricane of 1938
On the eve of the great 1938 New England hurricane a man living in the Stamford, Connecticut suburbs walked two miles to the Abercrombie and Fitch department store in downtown Stamford and bought a fine barometer. Delighted with his acquisition, he hurried home and proudly hung it on his living room wall. But what he saw made him very angry: the barometer reading indicated "Hurricane!" Convinced that he had been sold a defective instrument, he walked back to Abercrombie and Fitch, handed the barometer to the sales clerk, and snorted, "Fine barometer you sold me. I put it up in my house and what do you suppose it registered? Hurricane!'" To which the sales clerk replied, "No problem, sir. We'll replace it with a perfect one." Again, the man headed for home with his new barometer. When he arrived, he discovered that his house had been blown away by a hurricane! God’s word is reliable, trustworthy, perfect and unchanging.
3. Improves and empowers the “simple” – Unguarded mind – no filter “it’s on the internet, it must be true; Facebook said it; Snopes; Celebrities; etc. Acts 17.11 (Bereans)
GK Chesterton – “The problem with a lot of open minds is that they need to be closed for repairs.”
4. Biblical worldview vs. Satanic worldview
B. Joy (8a)
1. Precepts = divine principles – RIGHT
2. How do we view scripture as a delight or burden?
3. The disciples on the road to Emmaus burned in their hearts when Jesus interpreted scripture
C. Clear Sight (8b)
1. Impacts what we see and what we look for – pure or impure things? Poor in spirit see GOD
2. The Bible is not a confusing, tricky riddle that God does not want us to get – (Emma and her office riddles) The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I? (Footsteps)
3. Pointing to God – Psalm 19.1-9
D. Fear (9a)
1. Encountering God can begin with Fear – Moses and Israel; Isaiah (6); Saul of Tarsus
2. Develops proper respect and relationship (can’t live in constant fright)
Proverbs 1.7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.
3. Fear is “clean” – undiluted; full strength
E. Justice (9b)
1. Sin Trail or Do They Serve Macaroni Salad in Jail?
In 2015, the owners of a restaurant called Build-A-Burger in New York State called the sheriff’s office to report their cash register was missing. Deputies checked a nearby hiking trail and found a steady trail of macaroni salad. Hansel and Gretel didn’t leave a better trail; and within a short time, a gang of three men was captured and charged with theft. It seems that along with the register, the men had also swiped a large bowl of macaroni salad.
Whenever we sin, we leave a trail of crumbs. The Bible says, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7). Proverbs 28:13 says, “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.”
God’s justice may be delayed for now but is undeniable in the end. The entire unbelieving world will face the judgment of a righteous God one day, and there is no escape except through the grace of the Lord Jesus. Don’t try to cover your sins; let Him cover them with His precious blood.
2. Ordinances; Rulings; Declarations of God – care for the helpless; etc. is JUST
3. Micah 6.8
8 He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
4. God is true, injustice will end
Norma McCorvey, AKA, “Jane Roe” of Roe v. Wade, was the plaintiff that attorneys, Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee, used in the Texas court case that struck down all laws against abortion throughout the United States. Today, McCorvey is pro-life. “I long for the day that justice will be done and the burden from all of these deaths will be removed from my shoulders.”
1. If these things are true about God’s Word, why shouldn’t we pick it up?
2. Family Feud – “100 people were surveyed: The top 4 reasons people do not pick up their Bibles.”
Answer #4 – It’s BORING – no pictures; hard words; new ideas
Answer #3 – I Forget – Good intentions – distracted
Answer #2 – I Don’t Understand It – Thick; Complicated – “God feeds what we seek.”
Answer #1 – I’m Too Busy – Do we not do what is important to us? Can’t we find creative ways?
3. A new year – new habits – fall in love with God and His Word – Pick it up!
