How to Study the Bible - Step 1: Getting Prepared, Getting Excited - Skip Heitzig

today is a special day for me it's my anniversary in fact it's my 15th anniversary I love you 15 years ago today my wife and I met down an aisle it wasn't in a church we got married in a golf course it was a beautiful Southern California day actually it was a heatwave it was in the hundreds but it was an awesome day I'll never forget it this morning as I got up and I thought about these 15 years I wrote a love note to my wife I'm not gonna read it to you it's private and as I wrote it I thought of the other love notes that we had written to each other through the years and especially the letters that we wrote each other before we were married most of them we have kept we saved them in a file and from time to time I like to dig them out and read them the correspondence that sort of nourished our relationship until we finally got together in marriage I remember when I would get a letter from my wife when she wasn't my wife she lived in Kona Hawaii and I lived in Huntington Beach California and I would write her and she would write me and we would usually write because you know you can't go out on a date Friday night it's a long-distance drive and the phone calls were expensive so we would write most of the time when I would read her letter I would read it I'd read it again I'd come home after dinner late at night after work I'd read it again I would look at phrases and sentences and kind of imagine her writing it and I would hang on every word because they were love letters do you remember if you're a husband or wife being a newlywed and how awesome it was to spend time together was like the ultimate you couldn't wait to get off work to spend time with that date or that spouse that newlywed time is so wonderful do you remember being a newly saved when you first came to Jesus Christ and the ultimate experience of spending intimate time and you opened up this book and you thought wow God is talking to me in it I'm understanding some of these wonderful things you hung on every word it was wonderful you didn't always know what it meant but you were just jazzed that God was speaking to you in that book Paul the Apostle writes to the Corinthian church in his second letter to them and he says oh that you would bear with me in a little folly and indeed you do bear with me for I am jealous for you with godly jealousy for I have betrothed you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ but I fear lest somehow as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ when you came to church tonight you brought something with you most likely most of you did you brought a Bible right lift your Bible up if you brought it tonight let's have a show of oh wow look at all those leather-bound books we could start a Bible store now why'd you bring it because you love it you've grown to love it it's the Word of God it's not just a history book you never carried your history book around like that in high school you never took it wherever you would go and just kind of secretly open it up every morning and underline it memorize it it's something more to you than just a moral guide or a book of poetry or old stories or a literature book it's a love letter to you and as you've grown more in love with the author whom you've come to know God himself the book becomes more precious to you as the years go on it's a love letter God speaks to you encouragement guidance sometimes rebuke but always done in love isn't it now in psalm 119 which I've asked you to turn to it's a long chapter notice turned the pages till you get to the end a hundred and seventy six verses that's a long chapter it's the longest in the Bible it is an alphabetic acrostic Psalm notice that each heading begins with the letter of the Hebrew alphabet the Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters so there's 22 stanzas with eight lines in it 22 sections with eight stanzas or lines that are written in it you know what the theme is the theme is I love the Bible the love of David for the word of God for the precepts of God for the law of God he talks about it in so many different ways there are some people who see the Bible as this outdated antiquated book it's sort of not relevant but there are some moral precepts that do have value for our time that's not how David saw it David loved it because God spoke to a minute he opens up by saying blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord blessed or happy are those who keep his testimonies who seek him with the whole heart one of David's most distinguishing characteristics is that he loved for the word of God and thus a love for the god of the word now in psalm 119 he sort of mixes terms he uses eight different terms or titles for the word of God or for the law of God 25 times he speaks of the law and it's the Hebrew word Torah generally it's all of God's revelation narrowly it means the first five books of Moses he could have meant both he also uses the term word your word and that's the Hebrew word debar it means any word that comes from the lips of God is precious to him a third word he uses the word laws which is the Hebrew mish pot team which means literally get this legal issues case studies Oh Lord how I love your case studies these were the legal studies because the law came from God to govern the nation it was not a democratic nation it was not a Republican nation it was a theocratic nation God gave the law he was the judge and because those laws were given to govern the land they were precious he uses the term statutes which is the Hebrew word edict which means a witness or a testimony because God and I have a covenant a fifth term is the word commands neasha vote any command that God gives any time God tells you to do something because he loves you this word comes into play the sixth word he uses is the word decrees the Hebrew who came the root means to engrave or inscribe something it's when God and scribes his laws in nature or in our hearts David will use this term then he uses the term precepts P Kadeem which is synonymous with a covenant or an agreement that I make with God and finally the eighth word is the word promise in ROM sometimes translated word it means anything God says or commands or promises he uses this word now he uses all of these in this song and we're not going to read it all because it's just too long but let's read a portion of it beginning in verse 2 since we read verse 1 blessed are those who keep his testimonies who seek him with the whole heart they also do no iniquity they walk in his ways you have commanded us to keep your precepts diligently oh that my ways were directed to keep your statutes then I would not be ashamed when I look into all your commandments I will praise you with uprightness of heart when I learn your righteous judgments I will keep your statutes oh do not forsake me utterly how can a young man cleanse his way by taking heed according to your word with my whole heart I have sought you O let me not wander from your Commandments your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you blessed are you O Lord teach me your statutes with my lips I have declared all the judgments of your mouth I have joist in the way of your testimony's as much as in all riches I will meditate under precepts and contemplate your ways I will delight myself in your statutes I will not forget your word deal bountifully with your servant that I may live and keep your word open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from your law that is a scripture that I pray every morning when I have my quiet time I am a stranger in the earth do not hide your Commandments from me my soul breaks with longing for your judgments at all times you rebuke the proud the cursed who stray from your Commandments remove from me reproach and contempt for I have kept your testimonies Prince's also sit and speak against me but your servant meditates on your statutes your testimonies also are my delight and my counselors would you turn now over to verse 97 oh how I love your law it is my meditation all the day you through your Commandments make me wiser than my enemies for they are ever with me I have more understanding than all my teachers for your testimonies are my meditation I understand more than the ancients because I keep your precepts I have restrained my feet from every evil way that I may keep your word I have not departed from your judgments for you yourself have taught me how sweet are your words to my taste sweeter than honey to my mouth through your precepts I get understanding therefore I hate every false way your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path I have sworn and confirmed that I will keep your righteous judgments I am afflicted very much revive me O Lord according to your word except I pray the free will offerings of my mouth o Lord teach me your judgments my life is continually in my hand yet I do not forget your law the wicked have latest snared for me yet I have not straight from your precepts your testimonies I have taken as a heritage forever for they are the rejoicing of my heart I have inclined my heart to perform your statutes forever to the very end thus goes the entire song and the theme that David harps on over and over and over again as I love the Bible I read it I understand it and I dig it or I enjoy it I'm really into it thank you Lord for your precepts for your judgment when I was first a believer I was 18 years old when I gave my heart fully and surrender to Jesus Christ I was again brought up in a religious home went to church every week did my little church thing but I didn't know God once I did I carried a Bible to church now this is a church that they didn't read out of the Bible so I walked into the foyer of the church that day with this big honkin Bible I come walk in and you know what everybody noticed me they looked at me like what are you doing with that thing in fact one person said well why did you bring that thing in here for can you imagine hearing that question in a church why did you bring this thing in here for this is a church I don't know I guess I thought you're supposed to bring a Bible to church what do you bring a coloring book they thought I was an extra extraterrestrial because I brought a Bible to the church but I started reading it I had a real love for it this series I'm calling how to study your Bible and enjoy it again it's something I've done years ago in sort of a simplified fashion recently word for today has published a book on it we're kind of revamping it on our own to get it out what I want to do in the next few weeks is talk about how you yourself can feel confident whenever you open this book in virtually any place some basic rules for understanding the Bible we're going to talk about tools for a Bible study in terms of commentaries in terms of dictionaries or computer software versions of the Bible which are good which are not what use therefore how to observe the Bible and observe a text to find out what it's saying how to interpret the text to find out what it means how to look at figurative language in parables and then finally how to apply it personally to your life after you've extracted that information I'm doing that because I have a hunch that I'm pretty sure about my hunch is that you really like David are learning to love this book like you've loved no other book because it is to you the very word of God and yet like all of us we struggle with certain parts of it we have trouble with certain parts of the Bible sometimes it's tough but exposure to the Bible a consistent exposure to the Bible and I would add on a daily basis with the consistent desire to obey it will do more for you than any other thing that I can think of in your Christian walk it will teach you everything that pertains to life and godliness because it says it comes through the knowledge of him who called us so as we know God's Word we'll get in touch with the author of the book himself and it will make us strong and wise and equipped last century in London England there was a guy by the name of George Muller who founded an orphanage the Bristol orphanage now here was a guy a simple man who read the Bible and because he read the Bible he saw that boy a lot of times God does miraculous things in the Bible and every time I read of somebody in the scripture they're always trusting this unseen God I wonder if I could do that and so we began trusting God for provision of all of these orphans he had taken in London and he has incredible stories in his autobiography if you can find it get it about how God moved miraculously times when they all sat down to the table for food and there was no food to be served but he put plates and he puts silverware in napkins and he said lord thank you for this food that you have provided there was no food on the table no food in the house in Jesus name he has so many stories of when he would close prayer or during the prayer he'd be interrupted there might be a knock on the door where a milk truck had stopped the milk would spoil so that he would give it all to the orphanage or somebody would have donated food or a food truck would break down all sorts of wild stories of fate this is what he said quote the vigor of our spirits alight will be an exact proportion to the place held by the Bible in our life and in our thoughts I solemnly state this from experience of 54 years the first three years after my conversion I neglected the Word of God since I began to search it diligently the blessing has been wonderful great has been the blessing from consecutive diligent daily study I look upon it as a lost day when I have not had a good time over the Word of God tonight I just kind of want to introduce some thoughts to us first of all the possibility of Bible study in other words you can do it all of you can study the Bible and understand it and enjoy it it's a book for the common person for every Christian not just for the scholar let's say you have a friend I'm not supposing that you don't and I'm sure you do but let's say your friend writes you a letter you see who it's from you're familiar with this friend you open it up anxiously finding out what the deal is and the letter opens up dear friend and all of a sudden after dear friend is sort of cryptic language as it was a jazz OWASA surface Murphy scholar X flex you look at that you go hmmm now what could this mean a it's a joke it means nothing B it's some kind of cryptic code I have to kind of maybe it's Pig Latin or or it's something I've got to break the code see my friend has learned a new language either away it's gibberish to you unless somebody who's enlightened comes in and interprets it to you you need someone to tell you what it means a lot of people look at the Bible just like that it's some secret code it's some mystical language from heaven from God to man we don't know what it is we need an expert to crack the code to decipher it for us we can't on our own learn what it is and if we ever want to know what God is saying we have to go far away to some school some university some foreign study place or we have to get a course on how to study it's for the expert it's not for the common person that's hogwash it is written for every single person of every time period in fact here in psalm 119 look at verse 27 david says make me understand the way of your precepts so shall i meditate on your wondrous works in verse 100 he says very confidently I understand I understand more than the ancients because I keep your precepts the word understand in the Hebrew word means to separate or to differentiate I can distinguish what this is and what that is and what this means I can perceive it and thus I can gain wisdom because of it that's what it means I understand I really get it as I read it the next few weeks we want to give you some basic tools as we've said so that you can feel at home in any portion of the Bible you don't have to be afraid of the Bible oh but it was written so long ago but the real author is the Holy Spirit and guess where he lives inside of you and because the Holy Spirit is the author and because he lives inside of you the Bible is not for some elite group of scholars it's for the infant or that is the infant Christian the baby Christian to the full mature Christian from every age Deuteronomy 29:29 is actually one of my favorite scriptures it says those things which are hidden belonged to the Lord our God but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever that we may do all the words of this law there are certain things that God can keep to himself but what things God has revealed are for all of us and for our children forever and ever that we might keep the Word of God you might have heard the story of Sir Walter Scott that British statesman when he was dying he had his secretary and his own group around him as he was on his deathbed he had an incredible library and as he was dying he turned to his secretary and he said bring me the book and his secretary said sir Scott with all respect you have such a vast library with thousands of volumes which book shall I bring you and he looked at him directly in the eye and he said bring me the book the Bible the only book for a dying man he was right the Bible indeed is the only book for a dying man because of the hopes and promises but it's also a book for the living man the living woman the living child whether you're past retirement age or you're a young person there's a number of reasons for this I'm just going to cover a couple the language in the Bible is simple it's earthy the people who wrote it were simple people the illustrations are simple illustrations Peter was a fisherman from Galilee Luke was a doctor of the Gentiles Amos was a herdsman from Tekoa Nehemiah was a cup bearer in the court of a Persian king these were just people from various walks of life and they wrote very simply for the most part for the most part they wrote about simple subjects they wrote about water sources they wrote about farming sowing and reaping they wrote about the city gates all of the things that the common person would be familiar with David himself who wrote psalm 119 and most of the Psalms was a simple Shepherd who became a musician who became a warrior who became the king of Israel but he writes very simply in his language in fact in verse three you noticed that he speaks of following God as walking in his ways the idea is simply walking along a path but I'm walking in God's path in verse nine he speaks of living morally pure life as having his way cleansed in verse 25 he speaks of depression as my soul clinging to the dust very picturesque but very simple in verse 61 he speaks of being harassed by his enemies as the cords of the wicked have bound me verse 70 describes one who is insensitive and indifferent to truth as their heart is as fat as grease they would have all understood that to express being withered by sorrow and burned out by life in psalm in verse 83 for I have become like a wineskin in smoke as it would get drier and drier in song same song but verse 103 speaks of the delight of studying the Bible and we already read it how sweet are your words to my taste sweeter than honey to my mouth simple stuff analogies words that the commoner would understand then we get to the New Testament and the New Testament is written in Greek and of course we understand that if you've gone to any Bible study for very long usually people who teach you will say now in the Greek it says we get the ideas oh man the Greek what a lofty language that is I it's it's it's the scholars language well that's where you're wrong because the New Testament language is called Koine Greek where we get our word common we get the word Koinonia which means fellowship in the New Testament from the word Koine it's common marketplace Street stuff peddlers would use it housewives would use it common simple Greek not classical Greek not primitive Greek not Byzantine Greek not modern Greek but it was Koine Greek from the time of Alexander the Great - about 500 years after him now that doesn't mean as I say that that the Bible is always a breeze to understand that doesn't mean no great it's written in simple language I can just pick it up and figure it all out quickly I think you can understand it but it doesn't mean every part of it is that simple it's not always breezy there are difficult parts there's a lot of times I don't understand the Bible read commentaries I'll pray I'll do word studies and I'll come out of it I'll go I don't know and many times people ask me well what does this mean and I'll say I don't know I said well I already had that answer I thought you'd have a better one than that well the Bible says we know in part and when that which is perfect Jesus Christ comes we're gonna have fullness of knowledge but until then I'm waiting for that time I have a little file I've created in my mind I hope you have it too waiting for further information file do you have one of those it's a good file to keep and there's a lot of open files in there waiting for further information and every now and then I'll pick up a tidbit of truth and I remember that fits right overcome with that verse and that with this first there's a lot I don't know that's alright there's a lot I do know there's the story of a clergyman years ago riding a train on the East Coast from New Jersey to New York as he was in the train across from him was an agnostic who noticed that the clergyman was a clergyman because he had a little white collar and he had a big black book next to him as they served up lunch which was New England cod fish one of the preachers favorites filled with bones however he was eating at picking the bones throwing off to the side the agnostic kind of smiled and said I'm gonna have fun with this guy he said hey preacher got a Bible you got next to you Peter said respectfully well you sir yes it is yeah do you believe everything in it yes I do I believe it's the Word of God infallible and inerrant the agnostic kind of smiled and said really well have you ever found any difficulties in the Bible and he started to name a few he said oh yes there are many difficulties in the Bible then the agnostic that all great I got him now he said okay you say it's the Word of God but there's all of these difficulties that discovered that you've discovered that are in that Bible what do you do when you come up to all these difficulties does it rattle your faith a little bit the preacher turned to him confidently and he said well it's sort of like this fish here that I'm eating I just eat it and I leave the bones for some other fool to choke on and if you want to choke on them fine but I'm just gonna eat this fish and be nourished by it I think the lesson behind what he was saying is this never give up what you know for sure for things you don't know for sure it's not worth it there's a lot of things I don't know for sure there's a lot of problems in life I know in part and if I could know everything I'd be God and if you could know everything you'd be God and there comes a point where yes God condescends to meet us by writing it in our language but yet God is transcendent above mankind as God told Isaiah the prophet and Isaiah 55 my ways are not your ways my thoughts are not your thoughts they're higher than your thoughts as the heavens are above the earth so far are my ways above your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts Mark Twain said this most people are bothered by those passages in the scripture which they cannot understand the scripture which troubles me the most is the scripture I do understand can you relate with that listen there's a lot you can't understand but what about all of those convicting scriptures that just penetrate your heart hello Mark Twain said those are the ones that really bug me they trouble me now it brings up a question that people often ask me what about human teachers if I can understand the Bible on my own and if God wants to by his Spirit reveal it to me he's written in it in a very condescending way so that I can understand it with very basic idioms by basic people and a basic language why do we need human teachers in fact look at verse 99 David says I have more understanding than all my teachers for your testimonies are my meditation well if that's the case and why do we even need teachers why do we need guys like me why do we need churches where somebody will teach people the Bible if we don't need them or John wrote this in first John chapter 2 verse 27 but the anointing which you have received from him abides in you and you do not need that any one should teach you but the same anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie just as it has taught you you will abide in him so John said you don't need anybody to teach you so you say wow if David said I know more than all my teachers and John said you got the same anointing you don't need anybody to teach you does that eliminate human teachers not at all what John is getting at let's tackle that first is the group of that he was writing to were up against a group of teachers called Gnostic teachers who said we have a special knowledge and you can't really know God like you should unless you come through us with our special anointing and our special teacher and John says that's a bunch of baloney you've got the Holy Spirit living in you you don't need to go to any of these special anointed gnostic teachers who think they know more than anybody else the Holy Spirit can reveal to you what is truth and what is Error that was his whole point now the Gnostics were guilty of that at times I got to admit the Church of Jesus Christ has been as guilty as the Gnostic teachers we have said well you can't really understand it until you take a course in Greek or Hebrew or Aramaic well you can't really understand it unless you go through this method of Bible teaching or unless you listen to me and do this in my way it's unfortunate when Wickliffe made his English translation or the Bible into English the church opposed him they didn't want the Bible written in English they thought no this is for the clergymen to tell you what the Bible says you can't discover it on your own who knows what might happen and when Wickliffe presented his an English Bible so that the average layman English person could understand it the church this by this translations the Scriptures have become vulgar and they are now more available to delay even to women who can read then they were to learn scholars who have a high intelligence so the pearl of the gospel is scattered and trodden under foot by swine these were church leaders who said that wit cliff said this in reply Englishman learns Christ law best in English Moses heard God's law in his own tongue and so did Christ's apostles and so he gave them an English translation of the Bible so God gives teachers to people that's what Paul said Paul says that God in Ephesians chapter four gave some to be apostles some prophets some evangelists some pastors teachers for the equipping of the Saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ God gives us teachers so that we can be equipped to do God's service I have about 220 linear feet of books in my library I want to find out where others have plowed before me I'm not arrogant enough to think I'm the only one God speaks so I don't need to read what God has told anybody else does it mean what God has told them is right but I want to compare what God has shown me in the word and I want to read and I want to study to find out what God has given to others since God has given teachers to the church every now and then somebody will say well you know you really don't need to think you know God isn't interested in your brain just your heart there was a pastor who visited a little country church way out in the sticks and after he gave his message and it was a well crafted message it had depth as well as a spirit of conviction and real life to it afterwards a simple little countryman came up to him and said brother God can get along without all your learning and the preacher very humbly said well you're actually right God can sir what I would say also that he can get along without your ignorance as well there's nothing wrong with applying your mind you're to love the Lord your God with all your heart mind soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself you don't have to check your brains at the door when you become a Christian think with them the Bible actually commands us to do that so we can learn from others but when we open the Bible on our own the Holy Spirit can teach us the truths of Scripture and this is really what I'm getting at in this series because sometimes folks and you know it's true we can get a little bit conditioned to being spoon-fed the Bible it's easy we're spoon-fed or we listen to tapes or we'll just listen to somebody teach it to us but not do the same by reading it on our own or we'll just buy a Bible with all the notes it tells us what it says at the bottom nothing wrong with that but we can just rely upon the notes or upon the tape or upon the radio teacher or upon the pastor after all it's great to sit under somebody who's well versed in the scripture and just soak it in you know he does all the work he does all the teaching we do all the sitting and the soaking it's kind of nice but the rewards come when you open it up on your own and the Holy Spirit reveals something fresh to your heart you'll never forget it have you ever had that experience you've read the Bible you've read a passage maybe five six times suddenly you read it again it's like new you've read it before but now it's like the fog rolls away the Sun comes in it's clear you get a full cogent clearer understanding and picture of what it means so there's a balance between listening to those who teach us and studying on our own you be open to what people share you be open to what those teachers teach you but you search on your own you know what I've scripture I'm about to share maybe you can kind of see it coming there's a group in the New Testament who had the perfect balance they were called Bereans they're found in Acts chapter 17 verse 11 and Paul was traveling to church to church to church and he came to Berea and he said those in Berea excuse me those in Berea were more noble or fair-minded than those in Thessalonica in that they received the Word of God with all readiness of mind but they searched the Scriptures daily to see if those things were so I love that they didn't walk around and say well you know this guy on the radio said this so it's got to be true they would listen to Paul the Apostle Paul the Apostle and then they would scrutinize it they would say now I'm gonna go home and I'm gonna read the Bible or I'm gonna look up the texts that are in the local synagogue or that are in the local church I'm gonna find out if this Paul was right on or right off I'll see if these things are really so so there's a balance between receiving and searching now tell you what this means practically to us it means that we ought to be reading the Bible every day you know why because the Bible is taught all over the place it really is from the local church to the local cult group people will knock on your door and they'll have magazines in one hand and a Bible in the other and they'll start telling you what the Bible says and if you don't really know what it says you can accept a counterfeit so the more you read the real thing like a teller in the bank who studies a $20 bill the real thing and can spot a counterfeit because he or she has studied the real thing for long enough when you know the real item and somebody passes a counterfeit doctor in your way you can go timeout pal that's wrong because of this scripture in this scripture and the only way I know to do that is to read the Bible all the way through you say all the way through can I just get a couple Psalms and and maybe a little Matthew and a little John at night you know and maybe a midnight proverb but all the way through that'll take forever won't it no it won't take you about 12 minutes a day you can read the Bible in a year if you read the Bible at what is called pulpit speed slow enough to be read out loud it takes you 70 or 71 hours it is thought 365 days a year 12 minutes or so a day depending on how fast you read it would take you 52 hours to read the Old Testament 18 hours for the New Testament the longest portion in the Old Testament like Isaiah or Psalms about four and a half hours the Gospel of Luke less than three hours sail that's a long time not in a year think of what you do all year long think of how much time we spend making a living 40 hours a week it's about 2,000 hours a year or sleeping about 3,000 hours a year or eating it's about 550 hours a year just eating food for some it's a lot more than that the average person will spend 1,500 hours watching television and for some people it's a lot more than that you see perspective is everything we spend our lives doing lots of things but in perspective of eternity and what is really important we need to be reading the Bible every single day and I've quoted this before but I love what Charles Spurgeon used to say about the Bible he said a Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn't that doesn't you know how to take my Bible now start really working it over to look like I spend a lot of time in it but you can see that a tattered Bible is because somebody opens it a lot by the way don't stick pins in it it'll just trash it and if you put too much pieces of paper in it it separates the binding I will leave that for another time but you can really thrash a Bible but you do want to use it now let's just kind of end with this thought the power of the Bible and probably what our appetite for the future studies to come the power of Bible study when Paul wrote a letter to the Thessalonians he wrote a letter to a young church who listened to the Word of God as Paul put it the Word of God which also effectively works in you who believe have you found that the Word of God works effectively in you as you read it daily the read that verse to you and first Thessalonians in the Amplified Bible the Word of God exercising its superhuman power in those who adhere to and trust in and rely on it superhuman power one of the most powerful claims of the Bible is that it changes lives it's effective it brings results this is what God said through the prophet Isaiah for as the rain comes down and snow from heaven and do not return there but water the earth and make it bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth it shall not return to me void it shall accomplish what I please it shall prosper in the thing for which I have sent it you know for me one of the greatest joys I have when I stand up in a pulpit or a podium when I speak here I speak anywhere else in the world one of the greatest joys I have is knowing that my product will work for lack of a better term I know that when I deliver the goods it'll work it's not going to return void it's a product that is guaranteed to have incredible results it changes lives when people listen and are open you may have heard of the vacuum cleaner salesman that went way out in the country to that lady's house you know vacuum cleaner salesman if you're any here tonight I'm not trying to pick on you but I have had my share of them he went out to the country selling a vacuum and you know this guy was bless his heart he just he was open he was aggressive he knocked on the door little lady in the country opened the door and he did all the talking now lady I want you to know this vacuum cleaner is the best vacuum cleaner beats all of the RIKEN cleaners and just went on and on with the spiel Watts weaseled his way inside the living room and he said now madam this thing is so powerful it would suck up your carpet if I didn't control it really you just got it you just got to trust me on this madam then he walks over to her fireplace takes dust ashes throws it on her carpet goes outside takes dust from the garden throws it down kind of rubs it in with his feet and she's just standing there a gasps she didn't even give him permission to walk in the door he said I know what you're thinking but believe me if this vacuum cleaner won't suck up every bit of this dirt I promise you I'll eat it all with the spoon she looked at him and smiled and said Sonny you better start eatin we ain't got no electricity out here what could be more frustrating than having a product that has no power no power to deliver the goods to be caught in a situation where it can't produce the Word of God does produce it does have power it brings salvation second Timothy chapter 3 Paul said from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures Timothy which are able to make you wise for salvation not only that it prepares you for service a couple verses down he says all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for reproof correction instruction righteousness that the man of God may be complete thoroughly equipped prepared for every good work it'll prepare you for life you can go to college there's nothing wrong with that and they'll prepare you in their coursework and curricula for a vocation but the Bible will prepare you to live the way God wants you to live for all of light it'll also give you growth in your life 1st Peter chapter 2 verse 2 he said as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby get off junk food get off a bent or a perspective of a human being doctrinal trends and winds that sweep through the church that are not founded upon the scripture they blow through all the time there's some new deaths and some new that that people come up with some new truth stick with the word you'll grow it'll give you a direction for life psalm 119 verse 105 your word is a lamp to my feet it's a light to my path you know it's amazing you read the Bible you know where you're going in life I have found personally when I have questions in my life even before oftentimes I'll have the chance to discuss them with another counselor that God will answer my questions in his word David said your precepts are my counselors I find that the need for counseling diminishes as the appetite for the Word of God is on the rise it'll bring joy to your life David said blessed is the man Psalm 1 and here verse 1 of psalm 119 who meditates in the scripture verse 162 in psalm 119 I rejoice at your word as one who finds great treasure David said in Psalm 19 the statutes of the Lord are right and they rejoiced the heart it'll also bring you victory in your life you want that don't you you fight battles you find the enemy coming against you tempting you telling you things you don't want to hear pressuring you well Paul called the Bible the sword of the Spirit and it's like when there are certain times in your life where you're being assailed by the enemy you can whip out that particular truth from the Bible particular scripture verse or set of verses that can poke the enemy's stronghold and do damage and you can get victory in your life when Satan attacked Jesus Christ what did Jesus do did he say I bind you Satan no he said it is written he said it over and over again till Satan left he quoted the word of God so when you see the possibilities that you can understand it and you experience the power the changes of the word of God as you receive it you're going to enjoy studying the Bible and I think truly you'll enjoy life as a whole it's my personal conviction that the joys of life are doubled in the Christian life we enjoy all the same air and beauty that unbelievers enjoy but in our enjoyment we see God which increases our joy the unbelievers joy there's a hollowness about it where does it all lead what's it all about in the end therefore it's decreased the Christian doubles his joy because he God and everything the Bible says God has given us all things richly to enjoy so in the end it's not how many times you read the Bible it's not how many times you go through the Bible it's how many times the Bible goes through you and you live it out and it becomes the joy and the rejoicing of your heart remember what the - on the road to Emmaus said when Jesus left them and spoke the Scriptures what they say did not our hearts burn within us as he spoke to us along the way what did Jesus speak to them he spoke to them Moses Psalms and the rest of the Old Testament the scripture tells us he told them all about what they already knew the Bible but it burned in their hearts as they understood it it brought them joy let's pray father we thank you that we have the opportunity to own this book and we realize that there are many brothers and sisters worldwide that do not have a copy of the scriptures though they would give anything that they possess to own one people in China people in Soviet bloc countries other parts of Asia South America Africa where they share the Bible one for a whole congregation it's a joy to them may it be a joy to us for too much is given much is required help us Lord not only to know the word but to know that God of the word

Channel: Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig

Views: 15,144

Rating: 4.8110237 out of 5

Keywords: How to Study the Bible, Bible Study, Calvary, Albuquerque, Skip, Heitzig, Sermon, Acts, Calvary Church, Getting Prepared, Getting Excited, Bible, Scripture, Word of God, Bible study, in-depth Bible study, power of the Bible, benefits of Bible study

Id: PejuJOtT4Ro

Length: 48min 18sec (2898 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 03 2018