How Do I Read The Bible? | Pastor John Tardonia

[Music] well good morning would you please stand this morning we're focusing on the importance of reading our bibles i know my bible is my weapon when i fight my spiritual battles we're about to think about that right now [Music] you see my big tree [Music] when all i see is the mountain you see a mountain moved and as i walk through the shadows your love surrounds me [Music] and there's nothing to fear now for i'm safe with you [Music] belongs to you [Music] belongs to you [Music] and if you are for me who can be against me [Music] for jesus [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] me [Applause] [Music] nothing can stand against the power of our god you shine in the shadows you win every battle nothing can stand against the power of our god foreign [Applause] [Applause] with [Music] me [Music] [Music] [Music] with then from north to south and east to west we'd hear christ be made [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the mountaintops [Music] [Music] christ came back [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] bring back [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] you [Music] i'll stand strong and worship you and if it puts me in the fire i'll rejoice cause you're [Music] brings transformation then i'll be crucified with you [Music] my heart will still be singing my songs [Music] [Applause] me [Applause] [Music] me [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] christmas [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] it's time for the sleeper to wake it's time for the old winds to change i hear the spirit say it's time [Music] it's time for the dead man to rise it's time for the great light to shine i hear the spirit say it's time fleeing let the king of glory come right on your people's praise [Music] [Music] let's proclaim this together it's time for the sleeper [Music] it's time it's time for the dead man to rise [Music] it's time [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] heaven [Music] people's praise let the king above you [Music] [Music] but [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] let it oh [Music] [Applause] all right the key [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] i've seen [Music] is here now can you feel it now let it cover you let the spirit rise up and breathe [Music] [Music] crash through the windows [Music] hold it down [Music] let it [Applause] colors through the windows [Music] [Applause] [Music] through the windows [Music] fear has no choice but to bow chains have no choice but to break shame has no choice but to live in your presence fear has no choice but you down chief have no choice but to pray she has no choice but to leave in your presence [Music] she has no choice but to leave windows [Music] doors [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] amen you can have a seat for a moment i was trying to figure out what to call this time it's like a little mini family family time family moment i'm michelle it's so good to have you guys here today this is tony in case you don't know him personally he's awesome he is um he is i don't have a brother and if and he is the brother that i have never had we have known each other since about 1999 we have worked many many years um out in the world and mainly in the recording studio we've probably done thousands of of hours together in recording studios and have become um each other's advocates support in a turbulent career path that we've chosen in the music world and he has been through a lot over the last couple of months you haven't seen him here but um i would love um i'd invited him to just share a little bit of what he's been through um hoping it might be an encouragement to you and um so take it away thanks michelle hi everybody hey that was pretty good that's awesome it's always great when the you get the first question hi everybody and you get a good rousing high back that's a wonderful thing it means we're ready to go and have a great worship time and being here together as michelle said she and i've known each other for a whole lot of years and because of that connection i started serving here in northland on the worship team this awesome worship team in 2006 and have been off and on but been back since the fall and it's been just wonderful to be with her and my good friend marsh hall who i've also known for 20 years as well and i got to tell you all just because you know michelle's been here at northland for so long and and pastor marsh now pastor marsh uh sorry i know him as marsh sorry but uh but uh knowing the two of them for as long as i have and know them how they have positively affected this congregation you'd be really proud of the people that they are away from here they are the real deal they are the real deal and so is everyone on this on this worship team just amazing souls and spirits who not only give so much of their time but they're using their talents in a way to glorify god and we love being able to worship corporately with all of you on sunday mornings and saturday nights it's just probably the best thing in our week i assume certainly is in mine well as michelle said uh the last couple of months have been a little turbulent for me and my family actually and at this point it's uh probably not that big of a different story than we've been hearing for quite a while but coveted finally kind of wreaked havoc on my family thankfully and my family had a chance to to serve here and and worship last december so you might remember i'm married jody and my two kids joseph and sophia and uh the end of july uh the the covid coronavirus got a hold of our family thankfully the kids were able to uh weather the storm pretty well with some minor symptoms but mom and dad were a little different my wife jody was thankfully able to handle the illness at home but it landed me in the hospital for 11 days with covet pneumonia and for a singer and for anybody but for a singer to not be able to breathe was really really foreign to me and being in a hospital was even more foreign to me because thankfully i've had really great health all of my life amidst what you might see in front of you um i'm very thankful to have had very good health and i've other than some outpatient stuff i've never had any stay at a hospital let alone 11 days of fun without being able to really function and in a lot of cases not being able to breathe very much i was on 90 oxygen uh for the first i think five days that i was there and again um while you're going through that um it was pretty scary pretty fearful days of just wondering if not only am i going to recover at all but am i going to be able to recover with what i love being able to do so much when she's being able to use the talents that god's given me to be able to sing his praises and be able to share music with people um that being said was that fear has no place in bowel right we just sang about that right and it was amazing how amidst the uh those days where i was wondering what's going to be next and and uh how things are going to be going um god showed up every single day god showed up every single day exactly where i was and in every single way so marsh talked about that last week right that's what our worship is supposed to be he was right there with me literally in spirit but also from um amazing encouraging words from people on this team and other communities i'm in texts emails phone calls you know last week we hopefully all of you text into 97 000 and i don't know about you but this week has been just amazing as i've received random texts with scripture reminding me of god's promises and god's faithfulness and it was the exact same thing all 11 days that i was in the hospital not from 97 000 but from amazing people in my life who were the hands and feet of christ and my lifeline to hope and belief that everything was going gonna be okay no matter what everything was gonna be okay my family was gonna be okay i was gonna be okay no matter what happened with all of that and so first of all i'm thrilled to be able to be back and sing this weekend i'm taking a few extra breaths i'm taking a few extra breaths here and there and that's probably going to continue because i have some some leftover fun to recoup from with my lungs but i'm so thankful for the lord's faithfulness and i'm just as thankful for that as i am for the people who represent his spirit and who were faithful through my trial so i want to encourage you this morning let's not let opportunities as members of the body to go by without letting people know that we're thinking about them you just never ever know how you're going to impact and encourage someone with a loving word my caregivers come on they prayed with me my nurses prayed with me and came in and i would just ask them and they just without fail every single person that i asked to pray for me or with me did it in a heartbeat they'll never know how much that meant to me and as followers of christ that's who we're supposed to be we're going to be learning a lot today about how to get into the bible and his word and us sharing that word with people is so important so first step if someone comes to your heart let them know don't hold on to it because you never know how you're going to encourage them second step continue doing it and let's continue to do that in worship right now would you please stand as we sing a wonderful song about god's promises singing praises let's join in singing praises to our faithful father skye lead us [Music] god of abraham you're the god of covenant and our faithful promises [Music] time and time again you have proven you'll do just what you said though the storms may come and the winds may blow i will remain steadfast and let my heart [Music] is your faithfulness [Music] to me we sing great is your faithfulness to me from the rising sun to the setting same i will praise your name great is your faithfulness to me [Music] you keep your promises [Music] there's nothing you can't do you're faithful is true [Music] [Applause] [Music] to me [Music] will is [Music] i put my faith in jesus my anchor to the ground [Music] he'll never let me down foundation [Music] [Applause] he's [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] faith in jesus [Music] my [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] the lord bless you and keep you the lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you the lord turn his face toward you and give you peace lord bless you and keep you make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you the lord turn his face leave your peace [Music] faced [Music] my [Music] lord bless and keep you make his face shine upon be gracious [Music] say [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] be please you and a thousand generations and your family and your children and their children and their children may his favor be upon you and a thousand generations and your family and your children and their children and their children and his favorite [Music] the children makes faith [Music] and your family and your children and the children the children and his presence [Applause] [Music] is is [Music] [Applause] me [Music] 1000 [Applause] [Music] his presence [Music] he is [Music] he's [Music] would you pray with me lord thank you so much for your promises for your goodness for your faithfulness thank you lord for your word a word filled with stories of love and of joy and of healing and of hope i pray that we leave today seeing the bible with new eyes and i pray for pastor john as he comes to speak on your word lord i just pray that you would just fill us with your presence as he equips us to go and proclaim his name your name lord to generations to come in jesus name we pray amen would you please be seated what shall we build a career a family an education health our faith a reputation a team a marriage a life a church in the beginning god built he created the heavens and the earth and filled them with life god made two human beings in his own image directed them to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over every living thing but the first humans believed a lie and they disobeyed god the result was separation and three curses but also a promised redeemer who would claim victory over sin and death today as god's image bearers christians build we follow christ the rock who is the foundation and cornerstone of the church we build and sometimes we rebuild while we do our job is to stay connected to our creator and receive our direction from him as we worship pray and read the bible by the holy spirit northan and each of us can respond to god for the benefit of others and join god in building his kingdom on earth [Music] well the bible's a book but it encompasses a library of 66 books written by about 40 people over a period of about 1500 years now you would think anything written by that many people over that period of time there wouldn't be much agreement from the early documents to to the later ones in the bible there's a unique harmony throughout the scriptures i saw a graph one time showing all the chapters in the bible and then arcs the connecting verses from the old testament to the new and the old to the old and author this illustration showed that there's more than about 64 000 connections one verse to another throughout the bible there's a unique harmony to the scriptures that you don't find in anything else if you were to read textbooks written over that period of time by that many people on medicine there wouldn't be much agreement in the bible there's total agreement there and and the reason for that is as paul tells us all scripture is inspired by god yes it was written by men but it was inspired by god uh peter says god spoke men wrote as they were carried along by the holy spirit the word that he used would be like wind filling up a sailboat and powering a sail that's what it's that's what god didn't grab a hold of their hand and move it on on the parchment or the animal skin or something like that god spoke men wrote his words what he wanted them to write god's word is living and active i've experienced that in my life i've seen it happen in in other people's life northland is a place i've always heard northland described as a place where grassroots ministries start it doesn't come from from the top people in the church see a need and and and just get together with some others and and fill the need that's how bible boot camp really got started a friend of mine said to me one time why doesn't northland have a course like it would take maybe a year long where you can go through the whole bible and i knew some other guys and we started talking about this and somebody came up with the name bible boot camp and let's we need somebody to teach that and i volunteered to teach that became a co-ed of study of the entire scriptures over 40 weeks that seemed like a good number started in january into thanksgiving before the holiday season started and and it's been like that this is our seventh year for many people the bible makes a nice display on a coffee table someplace it collects a lot of dust there but you put flowers and and things a christian who neglects the bible will end up [Music] running around looking for teachers that will teach them what as paul describes their itching ears want to hear paul says they will end up rejecting the truth and following myths a church that rejects the bible will be utterly inept [Music] and fundamentally inadequate to make a dent for the kingdom in this world j.i packer said once the bible is not a book for i think i can quote him the speculative thinker the scientific investigator or the literary critic instead it's for the individual who having discovered something of god from nature around him and from within his own heart now seeks to know god and to find salvation that's what the bible is that's what it provides that's who it's for and anyone who finds himself in that case and wants to know god and wants to find salvation read your bible [Laughter] amen so love that guy john small i'll tell you he loves the bible and you just you just poke him in out comes bible it's unbelievable uh so grateful for his ministry i don't know about you but man just in those moments of worship i just sense the the windows of heaven opening and the favor of god coming on this church family i hope you sense that folks i hope you sense that well good morning and uh so glad you're here seeing your faces those of you are here and those of you that are online so good to see you or at least know you're there with us and we're together so this morning um we realize i think you realize that we're still living in some and continue to live in some really challenging times right things like confusion conflict mistrust really fill our lives around us i've heard a lot of statements lately and maybe you can you've heard these statements too statements like i don't know what to believe anymore but they're not telling us everything how can you be 100 sure of that how can you be certain about anything and who can you trust have you heard those statements lately maybe you've said them to yourself right well we're wrapping up this series called build and you know when you build something the most important thing is the foundation that you build on right that's solid and trustworthy and so we've talked about worship how important that is focusing on god for who he is and what he's done on prayer the importance of prayer and then wrapping up this part of build with the bible the word of god the word of god that we is solid and that we can trust well the american bible society has been around for a long time since 1812 believe it or not and they do tons of research about people reading the bible and engaging in the bible and they have made a link that the and they just recently came of the study called the state of the bible and they made a link that the state of the nation a nation in the state of the bible are in separately linked together and that's true you might find it interesting with all that we've been going through especially with covid and all kinds of things of unrest that's going on in the world that 181 million americans have turned to the bible that's in a 7.1 increase since 2020. that's pretty encouraging people realize that when things are falling apart they need to get into the word of god the american bible society society has done a lot of work with trauma and people that have gone through a lot of suffering and they have discovered that the bible has become the primary resource of people finding healing and getting better and finding comfort and stability they found that the people who engage in daily bible reading flourish and have a greater sense of well-being they have a greater sense of security more satisfaction out of life greater mental health and physical health they have a life of meaning and purpose they have closer relationships and find that they have greater even financial stability that's pretty amazing so you know david discovered the same thing king david we studied him several months back right david loved the word of god he wrote psalm 119 which is the largest chapter in the bible and it's all about the bible well psalm 19 also is a description of david's love and sense of the bible and so i think for us to stand up together has become our tradition as we read the scriptures together if you're able to stand and let's read these verses together from psalm 19. the law of the lord is perfect reviving the soul the testimony of the lord is sure making wise the simple the precepts of the lord are right rejoicing the heart the commandment of the lord is pure enlightening the eyes the fear of the lord is clean enduring forever the rules of the lord are true and righteous all together more to be desired are they than gold even much fine gold sweeter also than honey and drippings from the honeycomb moreover by them is your servant warned and in keeping them there is great reward would you pray with me father we are so grateful that you have spoken you want us to have a relationship with us so you you spoke we thank you that you've given us not only your word but you've preserved it through thousands of years you've given it to us as a great gift we pray right now father that as we look at your word that you would increase our desire in longing to be in your word for our lives to be changed in jesus name amen you can have a seat so what i'd like for us to talk about this morning is why read the bible there are some reasons to read the bible the first reason i'd like to draw to your attention is to build trust to build trust in romans chapter 10 verse 17 it says so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god what that simply says is by hearing the word of god there's trust that's built within us that really trusts god trust is the foundation for every relationship right don't you agree i mean you don't have trust you don't have a close relationship and what builds trust more than anything is promises that are kept right that's what builds trust you make a promise you keep a promise that builds trust that's surely what god has done for us and i'm going to take a look at one of the very first promises of scripture this takes place right after the fall it's in genesis chapter 3 verse 15. and some of you were somebody asked what were those three curses that was talked about in that video well the three curses of the curse to satan to the woman and then to man in case you were asking so here's the curse to the to the serpent the lord said to the serpent because you have done this cursed are you above all the livestock and above all the beasts of the field on your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your life i will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel this is one of the very first indications after the fall that god was going to bring about redemption there's a picture i'd love to show you that not only describes this verse but really tells us the picture of the bible it's by sister grace remington this painting notice in this painting you know you see the serpent with its tail wrapped around eve's leg you know the temptation that she fell for and the apple in her hand that she'd eaten from the fruit that god had said not to eat from you see your head bowed in shame but you also see this woman reaching out in grace and eve putting her hand on the womb of this woman you also notice that woman's foot is on the head of that serpent that's essentially what this verse is talking about this was a prediction of the coming messiah who would be born a virgin into the world and he would come and crush satan's head and that's exactly what jesus did he kept that promise he fulfilled that promise that day when he died on the cross he crushed satan's head god keeps his promises larry crabb who's been a great mentor of mine an author that i've enjoyed who's actually in heaven now he wrote a book called 66 love letters and in the early part of that book he's describing his daddy when he was little how much his dad just loved reading scripture even when the family was watching red skeleton skeleton his dad would read all the way through leviticus like who does that right my goodness but here's what his dad told larry about the bible [Music] he said the bible is a love story that begins with a divorce everything from the third chapter of genesis through the end of revelation is the story of a betrayed lover wooing us back into his arms so we can enjoy the love of family forever i love that description because that really describes the story of the bible but the point we're making here is god keeps his promises and that's what builds trust think about the story of abraham and sarah god comes to abraham says i'm going to make you a great nation and from you your seed will be like the sand of the s of the earth and the stars of the sky you're going to have lots of kids only one problem right sarah wasn't able to have babies she was infertile that's a problem but god made a promise and he keeps his promises so years go by sarah gets older and older and by this time it's like you know that ship sailed could you imagine just imagine with me for a minute sarah's up in years she gets up one morning and you know something she's not feeling real good having some morning sickness goes to abraham abraham you're not going to believe this but i think i'm pregnant could you imagine that moment just imagine abraham and sarah going are you serious oh my god god made a promise and he kept it that builds trust gang it really builds trust or think of um gosh all the promises and all the predictions leading up to jesus getting here over 300 some odd prophecies about jesus coming and guess what he came and he fulfilled every single one even when he was here and getting close to his death he promised that he would rise again he was talking to a bunch of people he says 46 years it took to build this temple in three days i'll raise it up i'll knock it down and raise it up they go what it took 46 years to build this temple but he says no i'm speaking about my body he was speaking about his death he would die he would be buried but three days later he would rise again from the dead he promised that and he kept that promise through his resurrection a while back my dad had a gathering around christmas time family all getting together and he invited a few friends and one of the friends was a lawyer and the lawyer came up to me and said hey you know i hear your pastor and you know i'm not so sure about the bible thing you know all the discrepancies and this and that he was very skeptical but in a moment of honesty he he said you know as a lawyer you know you examine all the evidence and when it's beyond the shadow of a doubt you you make your determination he says i have to be honest i studied the resurrection i studied it historically what people said about it and i have to tell you in all honesty i cannot deny the fact that jesus christ rose again from the dead i mean and there are many reasons and that's a whole nother subject of why the bible can be trusted from history from archaeology oh my gosh if you're a skeptic man at least do some investigating you will be blown away by how much and how many reasons we can trust the bible a second reason to read the bible is to overcome temptation in psalm 119 11 david says i have stored up your word in my heart that i might not sin against you stored up your word in my heart that i might not sin against you when paul wrote to the corinthians he was concerned for them he says as the serpent beguiled eve through his subtlety so your minds would go astray your minds ever go astray yeah for sure and so temptation is a real thing and what happens in temptation well let's go back to the original temptation let's go back to that genesis 3. what happened god said something very clear to adam and eve you can have anything you want on the menu you can eat of any tree in this garden it's all yours open buffet there's one tree though you eat that tree and you will die god said that fast forward in comes satan and the first thing he does is say did god really say that that's the first part of temptation is questioning whether god said something and then he followed it with a lie oh you can have that you won't die you won't die and we know the rest of the story right and it's true isn't it that all our temptation kind of starts that way you know when you're sensing you're crossing a line there's the sense of you know it'll be okay it'll be all right don't don't worry about it in fact you've been so stressed out lately you deserve a break today right and and that's how temptations start we question the word of god so how do we deal with that how do you deal with temptation how did jesus deal with temptation if you remember john the baptist just baptized jesus and jesus hears from heaven the truth from his father a voice from heaven says this is my son who i am well pleased 40 years into the in the desert 40 days in the desert jesus fasts and at the end of that 40 days here he comes satan and the first thing he says if you're the son of god right what's he doing questioning what the father said you're the son of god i'm well pleased satan tries to trip jesus up in questioning his identity what does jesus come back with it is written man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes out of the mouth of god so that's how we deal with temptation it is written in the book of first john john describes the areas where we get tempted he said all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life those are the three areas of vulnerability i don't know what your area of vulnerability is is it is a flesh is this something physically that maybe it's an addiction that you just find yourself tempted or maybe it's simply uh the lust of the eyes you know you've got to have this you've got to have that to make you feel whole or maybe it's pride you know you always got to be right whatever it is this is the time for us to hide god's word in our heart so that we don't sin against him thursday morning i get up and i'm having some squirrely thoughts and they're not going in a good place they are taking me away for sure from loyalty to jesus no doubt about that and then this thought came to my mind okay oh there's got to be a scripture here so the holy spirit brings this scripture to my mind james chapter 4 verse 7 submit therefore to god resist the devil and he will flee from you draw near to god and he will draw near to you well i i recalled that scripture because it was hidden in my heart i had memorized it somewhere down the line and and in that moment i really felt a sense of clarity and whatever was tempting me just kind of faded and it's almost like the devil said ah guys let's get out of here we're not going to get in there with this guy he's quoting scripture it is written it is written so whatever your area of vulnerability gather some scripture around that vulnerability memorize them and when you feel tempted you quote those scriptures dig them out another reason to read the bible is to bring about transformation and pastor marsh beautifully last week talked about worship and part of our worship is using our mind right you got to use our mind and this is the verse that he was referring to do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of god what is good and acceptable and perfect so how do we renew our mind we renew our mind with the word of god right timothy young timothy paul writes to him and by the way young timothy knew some scripture but you know when he learned it from he learned it from his mama and his grandma that's right lois and eunice from a little boy from a young lad they read scripture to him and here's what it says paul says to him in ii timothy from childhood you've been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in christ jesus all scripture is breathed out by god profitable for teaching for reproof for correction and for training in righteousness that the man of god may be complete and equipped for every good work so the word of god transforms our lives it reproves us corrects us uh shows us where we need improvement if you will another passage in hebrews is the writer is concerned about um his listeners hearts becoming kind of hard and callous to god's word in hebrews chapter 4 [Music] he says let us therefore strive to enter that rest so that no one may fall short of it by disobedience for the word of god is living active sharper than any two-edged sword piercing and dividing of soul and spirit of joints and marrow and discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart no creature is hidden from his sight but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him with whom we must give an account and so the word of god often can become like a scalpel to do surgery in our life to to make us healthier to make us literally more like jesus christ god spoke through jeremiah in jeremiah 23 with some pictures of the word of god he says god says through jeremiah is not my word like a fire saith the lord you know fire what does fire do it purifies doesn't it right then he goes on to say it's not my word like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces i don't know about you but i get hard-headed sometimes you know i need to be whacked numerous times from scriptures for me to finally get it god's word is like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces and james talks about the word and uses uses the image of a mirror right when you look in the mirror what do you see you see what you see right you see the real thing so the word of god opens us up but also instructs us in what it's like to be more like jesus so our lives get transformed in the process next reason to read the bible next reason to read the bible and that is to provide comfort comfort psalm 119 that largest chapter in the bible about the bible this is my comfort in my affliction that your promise give me life it is good for me that i was afflicted that i might learn your statutes let your steadfast love comfort me according to your promise to your servant some of you know what this is talking about some of you have been through some really tough times and you've turned to the bible and it's brought a lot of comfort to you i remember in 2010 this thought came to me this week when the earthquakes happened in in haiti remember that well as a bunch of us went down there for the relief efforts and i remember us going to this compound with thousands of people that were camped under bed sheets it was awful they were afraid to go back in their homes for fear of another earthquake and so they were camped up on under under bed sheets and i remember going to this one family under bed sheets and sticks holding them up and kind of saying hello and i have this vivid memory of this mother with young children clutched in her hand is a tattered copy of a new testament and as we visited this family i was amazed as they kind of radiated they said we're so thankful that god spared our life and and there was kind of a peace in this family under bed sheets it blew me away that surely had something to do with that tattered new testament in her hand trust me for sure so so a couple of weeks ago we had a funeral here a relatively young man passed away and as he had one daughter and the daughter described his passing his dad was getting ready to go and she started reading the psalms to him started from the beginning it kept reading psalm after psalm got to psalm 40 and as she was reading that psalm he passed away but what she described to me she says pastor john i don't know what it was about that moment i was sad i was deeply grave of losing my father we were really close but there was a peace that i just i can't even describe to you that i had in those moments it's because of the word of god tony described in his darkest hours how the bible brought comfort some of you been getting those texts you know with scriptures right we heard a story this week of a guy who had just went through and got a covid test and he's sitting in his car waiting for the results he's pretty anxious very concerned boom here comes the text while he's sitting there philippians 4 6 be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made note unto god and the peace of god which passes our understanding will guard your heart how does that happen right so the word of god can really bring us comfort i don't know what you might be going through right now might be really hard you know maybe some relational issues some health issues financial issues and you're just kind of feeling pretty buried underneath all of that you know psalm 23 is still in the bible the lord is my shepherd i shall not want he walks through with me through the valley of the shadow of death surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life you know those scriptures can bring so much relief so much comfort and stability grounding us in god's faithfulness last of all last but not least the bible helps us establish hope romans 15 verse 4 for whatever is written in former days was written for our instruction that through endurance and through encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope hope life without hope is like running a race without a finish line you ever been there you ever been to a place where you're buried by so many of the circumstances of life that you can't see a better day coming ever been there you just can't even imagine life getting better or a better day coming that's the loss of hope and so and so we have stories we have stories in scripture that are there for our learning as we read them as we listen to them that bring hope to us example crossing of the red sea that was a pretty rough situation right got a million people running away from egypt with pharaoh and his armies chasing them and they hit the red sea i mean you talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place right we know what happened god opened up the sea for them to walk on dry land and pharaoh's army gets totally destroyed when they bring god brings the water back over them man that turned out pretty good right think about joseph the story of joseph right you know his brothers throw him in the pit he gets sold into slavery in egypt that's pretty rough right he spends time in prison fast forward though right you know what happens brothers finally come god raises him up high in the kingdom he looks back and says you guys meant that for evil but god meant it for good something that was so tragic that looked hopeless god did something amazing job good night you talk about troubles and yet god in the end restored everything there's so many stories of scripture that bring us hope but there are direct promises of scripture direct promises that speak to us in our hopelessness when we can't see a better day coming and maybe that's you today maybe today you're just buried in grief heartache struggle and you can't seem to have any endurance because there just doesn't seem to be hope in your life if that's you i want you to just calm your soul down for a moment right i want you just to listen to god's word just listen open yourself up to it and listen to these words these were words that were spoken to some troubled disciples just before jesus died and and where everything was falling apart everything was closing in hey they had hopes that jesus was going to set up the kingdom and things going to be great everything is going down they're losing hope here's what jesus says don't let your hearts be troubled believe in god believe also in me because in my father's house there are many mansions if it weren't so i wouldn't have told you i'm going to go and prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come again and receive you to myself that where i am there you will be also peter wrote to some suffering believers in first peter he writes this blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ according to his great mercy he's caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of jesus christ from the dead and to inheritance that is imperishable undefiled unfading kept in heaven for you maybe today you're grieving you're grieving a loss a loss of job loss of loved one loss of something and you're grieving maybe you've lost a pet that's hard too listen to these words from revelation 21 verse 4 he will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more for the former things have passed away and he who was seated on the throne said behold i am making all things new and he who was seated on the throne said behold i'm making all things new and then he said catch this write this down for these words are trustworthy and they are true do you love that they're trustworthy words god's word is trustworthy so so maybe you're new to reading the bible if you go you know i i read a couple verses here and there but you know i kind of knew this so where do you start well the first place to start you'll never understand the written word of god until you have a relationship with the living word of god and that would be jesus and john 1 says in the beginning was the word the word was with god and the word was god and the word became flesh and he dwelt among us and as many as received him to them gave you the right to become the children of god jesus is a living word and he spoke the truth in fact when he spoke the truth he kind of doubled up and said many times truly truly like this is true truly truly i say to you in john 6 47 truly truly i say to you he that believes in me has everlasting life has everlasting life my question to you here and online do you have the assurance of everlasting life that if you were to press your dying pillow today that you would wake up in heaven if you don't you need to hear what jesus said but more importantly you need to trust in what he said he said if you believe in me you not might not have it no it says you will have everlasting life he kept his promises folks he'll keep that promise to you if today you need to do that do that put your faith in jesus christ his words are true you got to start there and when you become a child of god not only do you become his forever and have a the hope of heaven but he gives us the holy spirit who helps us understand this book because we can't understand it without the spirit of god and that's his role and so so the spirit of god helps us understand it and so as you approach the bible think of three things approach the bible humbly kind of with an open heart god show me as david would say open down my eyes that i may behold wondrous things out of your law secondly approach the bible expectantly expect that when you open the bible it won't be just a bunch of information but the holy spirit would use god's word to bring about transformation expect that god would do that for you but last of all approach the bible consistently that would mean every day you know the children of israel when they were out wandering in the desert god brought manna from heaven remember that every single day this manna came down like dew from heaven and the folks would go pick it up and they would be sustained by it but they had to get out of their tent and they had to go pick it up right i remember a little book i read years ago called manna in the morning right starting your day not with cnn but in the word of god i got a thing the other day you know you pick up your phone and see and hey you want to start your day and then it gives five terrible things that are happening in the world i'm thinking why would i want to start my day like that so let's put the phone down and let's put the bible first to start our days but you gotta you gotta you gotta open it up and then this challenge and this challenge goes to all of us as a church folks during the days of josiah he was a good king of israel but israel was in really really bad shape they had gone after other gods things were terrible but god rose up this king named josiah this young guy who had a heart for god and he started cleaning house started tearing down all the idols and in the process of cleaning house guess what they discovered the torah the the bible of their day right and somebody read it to josiah and he tore his garments like oh my gosh no wonder we're a mess we forgot this book and it began to change the direction of that nation so my challenge to to us is northland church that we get into the word of god so our lives get changed and we get to change the world that's going on around us amen so before we go well let me pray on that and then i've got a couple more things father man we're just grateful that you spoke really an indicator that you really want us to know you which you really like that you really love us we thank you that you've given us your word that you've preserved your word we have access to it we'd ask that you would give us a deep hunger to feast on to be nourished by your word that we would be humble uh expectant and consistent so father we look to you we look to what you're going to do through us as your word speaks to us in jesus name amen a couple things though before we go you're probably wondering you know well you know how i'm kind of new at the bible and if you are man there's so many good helps out there so many good things in our digging deeper in the worship guide the digging deeper go there you'll find a whole bunch of resources there there's a great article there um by dr theresa mesquez i can never say her last name muskaskul yes teresa's done a great job there and she uses an approach to the bible called a word study yes you could take a bible a word from the bible and study it throughout the bible she took the word pestilence and made a correlation between that and coven you've got to check it out you've got to check it out and then there's bible boot camp you know you definitely want to get involved with that but there's just tons of resources that you can find on that digging deeper page and by the way there's a bookstore over there with some amazing ladies that would be glad to help you with bible commentaries and they really know their stuff to really help you dig deep in god's word okay so let's stand together for this benediction i'm going to repeat what we sang earlier may the lord bless you and keep you may the lord make his face to shine upon you be gracious to you may the lord turn his face towards you and give you peace amen go read your bible all right you

Channel: Northland Church

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Length: 84min 45sec (5085 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 19 2021