Sermons - Matt Chandler - Biblically Serious

hi pastor Matt here thank you so much for either streaming or downloading this sermon I pray that every week you're challenged by the Word of God you're built up in his love the Word of God kind of gets in you and rearranges things and draws your affections of to the person and work of Jesus Christ I want to remind you as always that although men I'm I'm so glad that that you want to hear what what I've got to say this week or we've got to say this week that this is never meant to substitute God's good plan for you to be in a community of faith where the Word of God has preached and proclaimed and so I want to encourage you to use this like a vitamin not like a meal so that you belong to a community of faith where you're being shaped by being known by using your gifts by receiving the word but partaking in the sacraments and by walking faithfully in accordance with the scriptures and then this is something men you're listening to while you run or you're watching when you have a few minutes and so just want to make sure we we frame what this is and what it should not be now but with that said one of the things that the village church wants to do is the things that are created here by the grace of God man we want to give those away that's podcasts and podcast that's family discipleship curriculum that's Bible study curriculum like what we've tried to do for over a decade is just whatever we create here we want to give away and so to do that though we rely on the donations and generosity of those who believe in what we're doing and who have benefited from the things that have been created here and so here before you dive into what I'm sure is gonna be a 4550 minute sermon I just wanted to encourage you if you have grown if you have benefited from our resources would you consider being a part of the team that helps this engine continue to produce and create biblical creative and practical discipleship curriculum for men and women of all ages and all stations and so man if you'd pray about that and consider that that would that would be amazing thank you so much enjoy the Word of God proclaimed a good afternoon if you have your Bibles go ahead and grab those we're going to be second Timothy chapter three and then we'll bounce over to Hebrews here in a little bit but I'll put that on the screen just for our time if you could just grab that and get there to second Timothy you don't have a Bible it should be a hardback black one somewhere around you you can see that I'm not making any of this up there and so a there is a lot of change going on in our church and I don't know how much for that you're picking up on it's actually happening all over the place so let me give you some illustrations of that the village church plano on easter sunday actually hung up new signs that said citizens church because they have voted to roll off they have been doing live preaching and then our Dallas campus the village church Dallas is actually North Way Church now and then we've got four church plants that have gone out and we have like this thing that God put in our hearts a couple of years ago it's happening and it's happening quickly and one of the things that's happening in the middle of Bath is the village church Flower Mound here where you and I are we're dreaming about the future we're believing some things about the future and and that means there are a lot of things that are in the air many of you know we actually voted to purchase land we'll have an update on that tonight at member meeting but man we've got some things that are changing here and in that season as I've considered all that we're thinking about and working on it became apparent to me that no matter what changes there'll be some things that can't change because they're so woven to Who I am but as long as I'm the lead teaching pastor that these things will have to be points of emphasis because I can't be here if they're not and that's never been like a threat it's just the reality of I burned for these things and I'm the one with the face mask or face mic sometimes face masks but that's the hey it's been a it's been a full weekend and we've still got more tonight with encounter and member meeting but in the middle of all of that if I'm up here the most consistently these are things that just come out of me I just can't help but get fired up about them and get excited about them so there's there's a few buckets that I've already communicated but the one that I want to talk about today is that the village church for whatever form and function is in our future will be a place that's serious about the Word of God right it's not just that it's kind of like a an add-on or a caveat we're gonna be a biblically serious people and and I like I just get so fired up about it that I'm surprised I still have a voice like I breathe I love the Word of God I love the God of the Bible and I'm convinced but I'm not trying to convince you about a book today but I'm trying to invite you into the very heart of God it's blown my did you know that Avengers in game has made 2 billion dollars the last nine days and all the uber geeks just celebrated out of their mind now here's what's fascinating 21 movies that is telling one story now you don't have to watch all 21 to kind of get the point but that's what they did right over the course of the last 10 years 21 movies are telling the same story and it all kind of culminates in in game now here's the reality I don't know how many of you actually know this do you know that the Bible is there were 40 authors that wrote the Bible actually one the Holy Spirit but 40 men pinned the Word of God on three continents over the course of 2,000 years and it's just one story did you know that there's one story in the Bible in that and I love you enough to say this it ain't about you all right the point that the Bible is not some kind of self-help book it's not a book of advice it's not a roadmap of life it is God's self disclosure of himself the Bible is about Jesus Genesis Jesus Exodus Jesus Leviticus Jesus numbers Jesus Deuteronomy Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus it's God redeeming and saving from the ends of the earth of those who are far from him because of sin and redeeming them and ransoming them from death this is the point of the book it was written by priests and farmers and prisoners and the MAL just go through the list and fisherman's and a military generals and a cup bear and a priest and shepherds they wrote this and gave it to us via the Holy Spirit that we might come alive now let me I'm not trying to convince you that this is a good book you ought to get into if you want to know a good book I'll give you a couple shoo dog it's an amazing book about Nike Phil Knight his memoir about how he started Nike it's got father-and-son stuff it's got entrepreneurial acts it's got risk it's got business it's got leadership father-son dynamics amazing book gates of fire write a historical fiction about the Battle of Thermopylae amazing books I'm not inviting you into a book I'm inviting you into the heart of God for us right that that's what this is so if you leave here today and you're like oh man the Bible sounds like a cool book you're missing it it's 66 books telling one story and it's an invitation into life and you can reject this and you can go by your gut or you can surrender to it and find your way into life so like I think that the book I don't think the Bible answers all of the questions right not some of them all of them and and if you think I well really all like what should I have for lunch after that that's not I'm talking about kind of those those questions that lie at the real heart of every human being like what's real what is ultimate where do we come from what's the matter with humankind and then what hope is there for us the Bible is the only one that answers all of those questions right and so what I want to do is just kind of dive in and here's kind of the flow what is the Bible all right what does it do and then how does it work that that's my plan all right there we go so with that said let's look at this second Timothy starting and verse 16 of chapter 3 I still can't believe I said facemask scout it out of my system here we go starting in verse 16 all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching for reproof for correction and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete equipped for every good work so I want to stop that like all Scripture or all of it is breathed out by God it is God's self disclosure of himself that means our Creator has not left us in the dark trying to figure things out we are not people in a dark universe groping for what might be true groping for what God might be like trying to figure out what this is all about God has revealed himself to us he has shown us who he is and who we are and how he's designed the universe to work God we are not deists we don't believe that God fired this thing off and then he just doesn't care we believe that he's right in the midst and that he has designed and he has built and he has invited into life and that's one of the things going on in the Bible and I would also like to say it's not one of many of God's revelations look at me it is his revelation period now I am NOT saying and I want you to hear me say that God does not still prompt and speak because I believe that he does I'm saying all of that then is filtered by and defined by the very word of God so so here like and we're weird about this we're so weird about this if like like I've got a friend he's actually in this room and he was doing some evangelism among some Muslim refugees and any man a man from Syria he sat down he just wants to talk to about Jesus and this man had had a dream since he was a little of Jesus coming to him and Jesus kind of saying it yeah I'm real all right what you're being taught that's not really you need to come to me and it's just it's been a dream that's haunted him his whole life now how easy is evangelism if that's how it works hey I want to talk to about Jesus oh my lord like I've had a dream I've had a dream of that guy well that guy was from Syria and then a couple of days later he sits down with another guy my rack same drink same Jesus wearing the same thing making the same invitation now if you approach that with well where's that verse in the Bible you strangle life out of what we're meant like you strangle the life out of what it means to be children of God he prompts he speaks he motivates he encourages he gives word to the the Bible defines it so here's what I would say like if you came to me and you said hey I had a dream and Jesus was wearing the same thing he was wearing in those Muslim thinks and here's what he said he said to me man you need to get as high as you want and beat your wife here's what I'm gonna do yeah that's a demonic wicked evil dream you need to repent of that and you need to get some counseling how do I know well because the book said your dream wasn't legit but someone who says Jesus has beckoned me into life that dreams legit how do we know that because of the Bible because of the Bible right so that the Word of God is the revelation of God and we get quirky about that specifically in the West all right so kids so like we like when missionaries give these kind of things that are going on globally I just see so many of you like that is in credits amazing but like if your neighbor was like man I feel like I got this word from the Lord you like oh the wait did you read the word or do you have a word that now said it's not cool now let's edit needs to be squashed so what is that what is it in us that meant if it's happened in Iraq if it's happening in some country that meant god help them because they're being killed for their faith man we can just embrace it and celebrate it rally around to get so pumped about it but if it's that crazy lady in our small group that weird guy right that that guy that always feels like he wants to bless us or he's got like oil in his pocket he's just waiting to pounce on somebody and demand healing in the name of Jesus now we've got we've got some struggles with that but we don't have struggles with it as long as it's far from us that's more indicted on us than it is on them like if your mindset is well once they have the full counsel of God then they don't need those things anymore you're strangling the life out of what the Holy Spirit has brought to us but the Word of God is his revelation to humankind period and then he prompts and he speaks and the Word of God filters and it informs and it shapes I love this quote this from Graham Cole he's actually summarizing BB Warfield if you're a theology nerd he that dude's got cred all right and here's what he says about war fields chapter that he called Christian supernaturalism he says once supernaturalism is allowed to slip Christianity becomes yet another example of the human search for transcendence rather than a response to the divine search for us I love this idea I want to clarify what I'm saying and what I'm not saying and what Warfield saying and what Cole is saying he's not just saying that if you don't believe in the sign gifts and you don't get Christianity he's saying understanding the Bible it's supernatural that you don't understand the Bible without the Holy Spirit doing illumination if you don't believe me get on Netflix and watch the Gospel of John see what happens when blind scholarship approaches the Bible without the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit they can't see the story they think a book stands alone they don't get that it's actually 66 books telling one story they don't get it they can't see it you've got to have the Holy Spirit do the work of illumination to get the Word of God in your guts and this means all sorts of things but but let's get to what this self revealed Word of God does for us let's look at it it teaches um let's let's have a chat this should not be controversial and yet it is look right at me truth is not inside of you and it is not fluid did you hear me truth is not inside of you and it's not fluid truth is outside of you and it's fixed god help us if truth isn't fixed but it's fluid how are you going to navigate if the touchdown always moves how are you supposed to navigate life if truth is whatever you feel like it is and you trust your feelings 20 19 30 35 I'm about to be 45 I don't trust my feelings my compulsions most frequently are not towards the Lord but against him after 20 years of faithfully following him I've still got compulsions in me that are counter to God's revealed word I bow before those in submission not rail against them like my truth is my truth you don't have any truth all you have is lies the truth is fixed and it's not inside of you going exploring inside of yourself it's not gonna look at me it's not gonna lead you to life it's gonna enslave you and I'm saying we can't learn some things about broken places but we're asking the Holy Spirit to bring the Word of God to bear on those places so I'm not saying there's not a critical journey of looking at wounds and broken places and things that are in history I'm saying the Holy Spirit uses the word of God to illuminate and heal those places are you are we together on this or you are you tracking with me I know you're confused cuz you're like well it's Bible but it scares mad thought those words yeah it just kind of wigs us out let's keep going it teaches us now I love this it reproves and corrects now it's important that both of those are held in the same light if you know Greek and listen you you if you knew Greek like no you don't care about this is like such preachers have all the word here in Greek it's these two are tied together in a significant way and here's what it means that God is the best player coach ever he's a player's coach so he reproofs no not that way and then he corrects more like this way so the Word of God via the Holy Spirit is reproving he say no no no not like that but he doesn't stop there he then corrects he comes along Sciences more like this he reproved but it doesn't stop it reproof he reproofs and corrects and praise God that we don't just have a reproving god but a correcting god it's not just no that's not the way to life it's no that's not the way to life this is the way to life like praise God that he fills in that gap that he doesn't leave us grasping because there's a way that seems right to man and in the end it leads to what death right he knows and then I want to I want more time today I don't have it he the Word of God trains us in righteousness let's I want to chat about this here's what I've seen not it's funny because if you read studies and articles they always like to you know like pick on a degeneration whatever the next generation is they're always the one that's going to destroy the earth Gen Xers remember when and we were gonna be it we were the ones they're gonna destroy Christianity and the church was gonna fold because these Gen Xers are lazy and self-absorbed and tech obsessed say be like like thank God for the Millennials right because we were just gonna destroy everything before they showed up and now it's not even the Millennial now it's Jens II know it's like the next generation is almost like the worst thing that ever happened to humanity and but regardless of what generation is responsible here's the reality of our day across the generations we are very idealistic with an extremely low pain threshold we're to change the world as long as it doesn't hurt well I want to say this to you virtue is forged righteousness is created look at me in pain it happens in pain not in comfort and what we want is the faith where there's no sacrifice there's no self-sacrifice there's no pain involved there's just spirit sprinkle happiness and that's not how virtue is formed gosh I was on the phone with a guy even earlier today who's in a dark season and I'm like hey I love you get up God's up to something apologize to your wife get back in the game God has blessed you with this spirit you can do this you're becoming a man this is what it looks like to become a man it hurts it's not a cakewalk into manhood it's not a cakewalk into womanhood get up you can do this because the Holy Spirit's inside of you and his word is shaping you you're being formed that's what James means when he writes consider it pure joy when you face trials of various kinds like he says look when life stinks consider that pure joy why because God's up to something he does not waste our sorrow he never wastes our pain ever and if you've got some crazy absurd notion that you can use Jesus for a life without pain you you you just you got the wrong guy and and here's just newsflash there isn't anyone out there that can give you that especially your own inner compulsions about what you think is gonna satisfy you yeah to to get into this require self-denial which is there any greater sin in 2019 than self-denial how could we ever be happy with self-denial well I mean I don't have a lot of time but praise God in the first seven years of my marriage was absolutely awful like lay in bed oh my god is it's the rest of my life awful praise God that we leaned in the Covenant because these have been some of the best years of our lives that wouldn't happen if at year six worn down exhausted no idea how we're ever gonna get out of this I was like forget it I'm punting forget what the Word of God says forget the covenant promise I made I'm out no no I we stayed and I'm so grateful because I would just get home she would be there gosh I'm still kind of grateful for that is she gonna be home when I get home home yay alright it it's it's being formed by fire listen if you're in it right now like listen I'm telling you I'm on the phone today with a guy who's in it I love him and I want him to make and I want him to push it but but self-pity in pain numbing in pain running in but no no no no God's at work he's not wasting that he's calling you up and into something he's doing something you haven't been abandoned you're being worked on and I'm not trying to lack empathy that that can be dark and difficult and painful and that's why we need the Saints and that's why you need to belong to a church and not go to once why you need to be know that's why you need to know the Word of God the Bible is so grimy gosh if they made a movie like a legit straight-on movie oh you would not let your teenage children see it it is more grotesque and crazy than anything out there the Bible is grimy and it's filled with just primal emotion from its writers I mean rage from its riders despair from its riders desperation from its riders loneliness from its riders he's forming virtue in us and then I want to redeem this word I want to take it out of the world of crazy theology and establish that this last sentence here where he says that the man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work he's saying that the Word of God working via the Holy Spirit in our souls is actually forming us for our destiny right so that that's that word I'm trying to redeem I just feel like there's so much quirky wild theology out there that uses the word destiny in a wrong way here's what I'm saying you the Bible is clear you have been uniquely designed by God you've been uniquely placed by God not the fake you that projected our you know I know struggle daily I'm the best mother on earth not the Instagram version of you you weak confused broken angry struggling you like God has a destiny for you good works things that he's calling you into and it's beyond your imagine it's just beyond what you think you're capable of this is what God is up to this is what the word does so that that's what the word is that's what the word does now let's talk about how it works let's look at Hebrews 4:12 2:13 I'll put it on the screen for the word of God is living and active it's sharper than any two-edged sword piercing to the division of soul and a spirit of joints and of marrow and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart and no creature is hidden from his sight but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account now it's important to note what's going on in the book of Hebrews we don't want to pull out three or four verses and make it say something it's not or take away from what it's saying so starting in Hebrews three the writer of Hebrews is reminding the Church of God's deliverance of the people of Israel out of bondage in Egypt so God shows up in Egypt introduces himself I am Who I am and with great power he delivers his people from some of the most harsh oppression ever and he leads him right up leads him through the Red Sea gets right to the cusp of the promised land and then the people of God stopped listening to his voice and a generation then walked in the desert and died out so that their children might inherit it and then in the midst of that warning we have this passage for the word of God is living and it's active sharper than any sword let's talk about this what does it mean to be living and active well it means it's not just living but it's providing life also so maybe maybe this would help I think everybody's had this experience if you if you get into the Bible the the Bible is living and active and that means it's not static which means you don't memorize a verse and move on like you don't need that verse anymore yeah I got it right check you know I've read the Bible in a year I'm done you don't move on from the Bible because the Holy Spirit's gonna continue to do the work of illumination in the Bible meeting you where you are so I'll give two illustrations I met with a longtime faithful member of our congregation 86 years old was married to her husband for 60 years 60 plus years 63 years husband died a year ago and she came into my office this week the meetings was really sweet and she was just like hey I was reading in first Corinthians this morning and you know everybody's told me you know if you know won't you know I'm gonna meet TIFF in heaven I just outed her I'm gonna meet TIFF in heaven but I was reading first Corinthians and if Jesus Terri's TIF actual he's gonna meet me down here in a remade heaven and earth and I just I knew that passage I just never seen that before and what happened she's she's in a season of life where the Word of God that that same text that she's known for 40 or she it's just like the the diamond turned and now she's seen another aspect of it so so how many of you let's just mutually encourage one another if it's true it's not true don't worry about if if you have known a verse for forever and maybe forever for you you're a new Christian and I'm just talking bout three months but maybe you've been in this game long you known a Bible verse for 20-30 years and you stumble across it and one day it like jumps off the page to you in a unique way anybody had that you know what that is that's the living active word and that's why you don't memorize the text or read a text and move on right because God it's living it's active it's gonna meet you where you are it's gonna punch you in the face it's gonna chisel off your rough edges it's gonna lift up your spirits you don't move on from the Bible you route yourself in it you keep going back to it you keep going back to it you keep going back to it you let it build into you life we also I love this look at this he it says that it penetrates the deepest parts of us look at he says soul and spirit that this sword of the the word of God it penetrates soul and spirit well this is talking about that in material part of us that animates us our soul our spirit the word of God's doing work at that level but then it's listen what he'd elect it's crazy he also says joints and marrow so that the Word of God actually look at me it affects us physically wait what you can read the Bible and that has physical benefits yeah so how would that work I love the great question it's actually what I had next to in my notes here like stop and imagine if if internally you feel like this right do you know what saying is that resonate when they know just like oh my gosh marriage kids family work bills summertime how am I gonna keep them off their devices so I'm gonna move them right if you feel that way internally what's it like just to go you are you hiding secrets in feel guilt and shame what would it be like to step into the light do you know the Bible says that those who trust in the Lord sleep and King David said when I kept quiet about my sense my bones wasted away there's something to be said about the Peace of being fully known there's something to be said about the Peace of being honest with others about what's really going on inside of us there's something that actually happens to you physically when the stress of trying to be your own God trying to manage your own world is surrendered into the sovereign hands of God I'm not not saying that's always easy I'm not saying that won't be a fight for many of us type heirs first foreigners huh for the rest of your life I'm saying you learn to trust but the God of the Bible is for you and not against you and you learn that by knowing his word in difficult seasons now the other thing that I see here is that there's this connection between God and His Word and I think it's staggering here here's what the text says there at the end of this remember the part where it says and no creature is hidden from a sight but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account he that I have said for men as long as I've been pastor here that that church is a really dangerous hobby sometimes I use the word lame I just think this is a dangerous thing to do if you have no real intention of loving Lord following the Lord being a doer of the word rather than a hearer of the word why because the Bible says when you hear it whether it's sung or read or preached you immediately become accountable for what you've heard see what happened that you are now naked in the sight of God because he knows you know this is why being a doer of the word and not just a hearer of the word needs to be the natural progression of the Christian to be a hearer of the in fact here's here's something that I've noticed that it really is heartbreaking that I have found that people who view the Bible as like maybe shoe dog just want to read a good story you want to find some some bumper sticker theology you know some little proof tax and increases them one of the ways that you can find out whether not so many really knows or Baba list is how terribly they'll use some scriptures like there's this great Old Testament passage that says behold I'm gonna do something in your day that even if you were told about it you wouldn't believe it and I've seen like people like love that verse you know that verses about the destruction of Israel it's like God's doing a new thing in our day and even if somebody were to tell us about women let's how awesome it's gonna be no he's talking about judgment and destruction and death she keep reading like there's something about knowing what's happening in the text that roots us in His goodness and grace and this is saying to hear the word of God is then to be held accountable for the word now let's chat because here's here's what I know my dad dropped out of high school I think in the ninth grade or so and joined the military my dad is a hard-working blue-collar old-school American and I have never seen him read a book I know he can read but I haven't he is not a reader my father would not describe himself as an intellect he is powerfully emotive but but again he nobody who knows my dad and I'm not dogging I love he he worked his tail off to get us out of a lot of muck and mire and by the grace of God broke some bonds that go back hundreds of years in our bloodline so I'm not dogging my daddy I'm saying my daddy's not reading Calvin a lot but look right at me God has not given the deep things to the smartest people he's given the deep things to the eager people did you hear me God has not given the deep things to the smartest people he has given them to the most eager people if you're like I I'm just I'm not a good reader I'm not a good listen there's so many tools available to you rut right now to just saturate and soak in the Word of God one of my favorites are so tempted to even put my phone in the pocket so I could let you listen to it but I downloaded about three or four months ago and an app called dwell and dwell is a Bible app it's really beautiful to look at it's aesthetically pleasing but but it it just reads the Bible and and I have Felix there's four voices you I've got Felix Felix's African and so he's got this African dialect and then you can choose what kind of music you want in the background or no music so I don't know if you're picking up but I'm emotive myself and so I've got ambient music to an african reading the songs I'm ready to punch the devil in the face I'm ready for whatever is coming for me that day right and so listen that's not me at 5:00 in the morning kind of exegete in great phases this is me in my truck with Felix the African reading the Psalms - ambient music in the background and I'm ready let's go there's a connection of the Lord I feel just by having the Word of God read over me listen you can do this this isn't school this is life this does not know this information to pass there's this gaze upon the beauty of God that's the command my favorite testimony coming out of our classes and the training program is not oh my gosh I have answers to questions now it's I love God more than I thought possible when I joined this thing I came into this with great trepidation I was not a good student I I don't feel like I have a lot of margin in my life and there's these there's these hundreds of people now that have gone signed up for the training program we got into women's Bible study men's Bible study and there's been this trepidation can I do this do I have space for this and they've all come out now going and I'm so glad I understand the exegetical nuances of first and second Samuel they've come on and gone guys so much bigger more beautiful than ever fathomed has anybody told me about this why why am I just now learning about this I want to like the Bible invite you into God's self-disclosure of himself not for your exegetical promise I know something like I don't know what that word means you have to worry about that but just say you might know the God who created you who loves you who's for you who has created you with the destiny in mind in fact we're gonna cover that at length next week cuz it look like for you to grow into how God designed you and what he has for you what does it look like for your whole life to be formed around this story you can know the God of the Bible read it slowly if you've got a Bible reading plans got you reading like 40 chapters a day that's probably not helpful but here's the thing I don't know if you notice we're grabbing it's just like not a race that create like it's just not a race at all volume doesn't equal blessing are you tracking with me God's not going oh man this guy read the whole Bible in a year uber blessings this guy just read four chapters I'm gonna be a little stingy with blessings in fact I think you can plumb the depths of two paragraphs in a way that's transformative in a way of just blindly reading through the entire Bible as fast as you can will never bring so let's just breathe like just just get in the book listen to it in your car read a little bit of it in the morning but read it slowly and deliberately and what does it look like to apply it get into men's Bible study or women's Bible study when space is opening here's this I love you you really are hungry for this we actually I don't know if you know this but we had a training program on Wednesday night we just can't so we just added another one for the fall on Tuesday so Tuesday wasn't and then that one Sola and then we've got I've got these waiting lists for a nine-month cohort-based theological study program that actually it's given seminary creditable DTS and southern like you want to know the word I'm just so pleased with that so excited about the fruit that that's gonna bear in season but like right now my like okay in a year and a half when it opens up sign up so for now get him in smile straight get in women smile so get in the book yourself guess you know this right ahead min just given to me you know I'm going I'm just reading the Bible to you and talking about it to read the Bible take notes and what you're seeing pray through it wrestle with it I love the way Luther was preaching on the book of Romans and any wrote and in his commentary that that he laid hold of Paul and beat him til he submitted I love that idea of reading the Bible like that what does this mean get to know now I'm gonna figure it out I love that right you're like it's made available to you I just think if you think the treasures of scripture have been given to guys like me who do this for a living you're only robbing yourself a pleasure and joy you're only robbing yourself of the life that's found in the Word of God illuminated by the Holy Spirit in the deepest part of us move towards I don't know what that means I don't know what you're doing right now just move towards saturate your life in the book and the Word of God you can do that like this is not beyond your grasp well I got a GED okay look at who Jesus picked as his disciples do they come across as readers or competent it's how God champions his glory by giving you insight and wisdom into the deepest most ultimate reality in the universe I loved in game no spoilers it was a fun it was a fun 6 7 hour movie I don't know it just kept going thought okay it's over no okay no it's over okay no no it's over okay no golly I've got it right but 21 movies over the course of a decade telling one story is nothing compared to 40 different 66 different books all telling one story about ultimate reality not make-believe reality alright so Marvel Universe is fun but but it's make-believe but the reason we need those stories is because we're rejecting the supernatural story we're caught up in and I think if you would embrace that via the Word of God what might be unleashed among us and through us and with us let me pray for his father we lift you high we thank you spirit living God that you have revealed to us you're trying nature we we thank you for Jesus we praise you for the word we ask that you would give us a hunger and a desire for it father remind our hearts that every renewal movement in Christian history started with a move back to your word back to loving and treasuring and and and feasting on your word we thank you that it is the fuel that we were meant to run on draw us back to it spirit do the work of illumination captivate our heart and it's for your beautiful name I pray amen

Channel: The Village Church Resources

Views: 52,650

Rating: 4.864831 out of 5

Keywords: Matt Chandler, The Village Church, Biblically Serious, Stand Alone Sermon

Id: RhVw-PRB4v8

Length: 40min 12sec (2412 seconds)

Published: Mon May 06 2019