Saturated

I trust this all to you in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. Children, you may be excused.

If you would open up your Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 3,

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

we're going to be focusing on verses 16 and 17.

But just to let you know, last week we started a series called 21st Century Disciple.

And what it's geared to do is to help us understand

what it means to be a follower of Jesus at this time and in this place.

And so last week we started with those two words, follow me.

Me being Jesus.

Jesus is God in the flesh, lived a perfect life, crucified on the cross,

raised from the dead, ascended on high, reigning next to the Father,

is going to come back and clean up shop.

That is who the me is.

And then he calls us to follow him.

If you want to follow me, if anyone would come after me,

deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.

And so when you become a follower of Jesus,

yes, you're forgiven of all your sins,

but God radically reorients you off yourself and onto Jesus.

A 21st Century follower of Jesus is someone who is living for Jesus intentionally.

And so this morning, I want to argue for something.

I want to convince you of something.

And my aim this morning, through God's word,

is to show you, if you are going to intentionally live for Jesus Christ,

you must learn how to reorient yourself according to this word.

This is a compass for you.

This gives you direction.

It reveals God to you.

If you want to follow Jesus, you need this book.

You can't live without it.

It's absolutely vital to a follower of Jesus in their pursuit of the Lord Jesus.

And so this morning, I'm going to make a case.

I'm going to point you to a place in the scripture and show you three reasons why you must be prioritizing this book.

If you're in 2 Timothy chapter 3, I'm going to start in verse 10.

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

I'm going to read all the way through verse 17.

You, Timothy, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness,

my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra,

which persecutions I endured, yet from them all the Lord rescued me.

And all, indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

while evil people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

But as for you, Timothy, continue what you have learned and have firmly believed,

knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings,

the Old Testament, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

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.

Tomorrow morning, when you're leaving the house, my guess is, maybe it's an apartment,

maybe it's a tent, but my guess is,

somewhere in the place you live, there's a Bible.

Maybe you're going to come home after church today,

you're going to put your Bible on your kitchen table,

and you're going to forget to put it away,

and tomorrow morning, as you're starting the day,

you're going to see that Bible on your kitchen table.

What are you going to do?

What are you going to do?

That Bible, your Bible, is God-breathed.

It's God's power.

It's not just God's power.

It's profitable.

It is also purposed.

And so this morning, I want to show you the power of God's Word,

the profitability of God's Word,

and the purpose of God's Word,

so that you would live for Jesus.

You ready to dig in?

The power of Scripture.

Do you want to learn a Greek word?

It's in verse 16.

All Scripture is breathed out by God.

The Apostle Paul coined a new word here.

Theopneustos.

You ready?

Let's try it together.

Theopneustos.

It's kind of a weird word.

God-breathed.

All Scripture, God-breathed.

So here's the claim of the Bible.

Every word of H of the 66 books from Genesis to Revelation

originated in the mind of God Himself.

God-breathed.

God-breathed.

I've told you this before.

I am a fan of the Antiques Roadshow.

And I like it when there's this kind of person

who finds this silver goblet up in the anchor,

up in the attic,

and they bring it to the Antiques Roadshow,

and the professional flips it over,

and you know what they're looking for?

The hallmark.

And the hallmark says what that thing is made of,

who made it,

and when it was made.

Theopneustos is the hallmark on this book.

It's from God.

Every word is from Him.

And it originated in His mind,

and He revealed it progressively over the ages.

Do you know what a Bunsen burner is?

Maybe you remember back in school,

you would take some kind of element,

and you put it under a Bunsen burner,

and it would show up in a special kind of light,

and you'd look it up in your book,

and you're like,

oh, that's what this element is.

If you took the original writings

of each book of the Bible,

and from those original manuscripts,

you took them out,

and you put them in a Bunsen burner,

you know what?

You know what it would show?

Theopneustos.

Every word is God's word.

It's a huge claim.

So right now,

do you know what you're holding in your hands?

The very words of God.

Do you know how many people

shed their blood and died for that book?

So people in their own languages

could have it?

It originates in God's mind.

And because it originates in God's mind,

it has intrinsic power

that the very words of God,

Do you remember in Genesis chapter 1,

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

God spoke and stuff happened.

And so we read,

and God said,

and it was so.

And God said,

and it was so.

And God said,

and it was so.

God said,

let there be light,

and there was light.

That is the effectual power

of God's word.

And you fast forward

into the New Testament

to the God man.

Jesus on a boat

in the Sea of Galilee.

Disciples freaking out.

Jesus, save us, save us.

He stands up,

and he says,

peace, be still.

And it was so.

He's standing outside

the grave of Lazarus

in John 11, 43.

It says,

Lazarus, come out.

Four days after he died.

And it was so.

The power of God's word.

You may remember Hebrews 4, 12.

God's word is living and active.

And it penetrates

like nothing else

all the way down

into the thoughts

and hearts of men and women.

Because this book,

every word of it,

is God's spoken.

It's power,

and it has innate

and final authority.

Because all scriptures

originate in God's mind,

and God never lies,

we can be confident

that whatever

this book addresses,

it addresses

truly and accurately.

We can stand

on this book.

We can build

our lives on it.

This book

claims to be

the very words of God.

So tomorrow morning

when you're leaving

the house

and you see your Bible

on your table,

you know what you're looking at?

God's speaking to you.

God's very words.

This book

is absolutely essential

for you,

follower of Jesus,

to live for Christ

in every area

of your life.

He has set you up

for success.

He's given you

his word.

So we've looked

at the power of scripture.

It's theopneustos.

God's breathed word.

Every one of them.

And now let's talk

about the profitability

of scripture.

We see that

in the very next

two words.

It says,

all scripture

is breathed out

by God

and profitable.

All scripture

is breathed out

by God

and profitable.

Now when you hear

that word profit,

you may be thinking,

you mean making a buck

off the Bible?

Not that kind of profit.

Profitable in the sense

of usefulness.

Effectiveness.

All scriptures

breathe out

by God.

It's powerful.

It's true.

It's our final authority.

And it is

effectual.

It makes stuff happen.

If you look

at the next

four little clauses

you read,

it's profitable

for teaching,

for reproof,

for correction,

and for training

in righteousness.

What is God's word

useful at doing?

Teaching,

reproving,

correcting,

training in righteousness.

And let's ask

the question,

what do those mean?

God's word,

the Bible,

these very words,

sentences,

paragraphs,

and chapters

all together

from beginning

to end.

It's all one book

and it is designed

to instruct you,

to teach you,

to show you

what's true.

It's the content

of biblical truth

and elsewhere

in your Bible

it's described

as doctrine.

Biblical teaching

is doctrine.

And so when you

turn in your Bible

to Titus 2.1

and we read

that Titus,

a young pastor

then was to

teach the sound

doctrine

of the scriptures.

He's talking

about healthy

truth from

the Bible.

The Bible

does the body

good.

It's healthy

for us.

it helps us

to see

what's true.

True about God.

He reveals

himself.

Think about

this book

as the triune

God's selfie

helping you

to see

who he is.

It tells us

about ourselves.

It holds a mirror

up to us

and says

this is who

you truly are.

It tells us

about the world.

It tells us

about how we

are unable

to make ourselves

right with God

and how God

in Christ

offers salvation

to all mankind.

It's in this book.

It teaches us

these things.

The Bible

does the body

good.

But it does

more than that.

It reproves.

Also known

as rebukes.

And the idea

behind that

is the Bible

sheds

a light

onto false

thinking

and false

living.

It exposes

falsehood.

It teaches

truth

and exposes

falsehood.

It points out

the false

teaching

that doesn't

do the body

good.

It does

damage to

the body.

And so

these first

two

ways

that the

Bible

is profitable

have to do

with doctrine.

Have to do

with truth.

Have to do

with creed.

And the last

two

have to do

with conduct.

Have to do

with duty.

Have to do

with lifestyle.

So it's not

just what you

think.

It's how you

live.

The Bible

addresses it

all.

And it seeks

to make the

connection for

us.

Because this

is true.

We live

this way.

And so we

look at

for correction.

correction.

It means to

make something

straight.

I was in

college and I

was playing

pickup football

with some

friends and

one of my

friends broke

his forearm.

So we rushed

him to the

emergency room

and I got to

sit and watch

the emergency

room doctor

kind of work

his forearm

and you could

hear the

splintered bones

kind of rubbing

against each

other.

and then

it clicked.

He set the

brake.

He made it

straight.

It fixed

the problem.

And so what

the Bible is

able to do

according to

the apostle

Paul to

Timothy,

the words of

this book

because they're

God's word

and they're so

profitable,

they can

correct men

and women

who are not

believing truth

and are living

lives that are

destructive and

damaging.

This book is

able to say

no, no, no, no,

no, no, no.

That's not good

for you.

Here is what's

good for you.

Let's correct

that.

It's good for

training in

righteousness.

Think of the

training in

righteousness as

the path of

godliness.

This word

training shows

up in Ephesians

6, 4 where

fathers are

instructed to

teach and

train their

children in the

fear and

admonition of

the Lord.

So fathers are

to be training

their children

in this book.

But if you

flip back to

the book of

Hebrews chapter

Hebrews 13 · chapter mention

13, Hebrews,

excuse me,

chapter 12,

the apostle Paul

is talking about

discipline and

no discipline

feels good at

the time.

It's the same

word as training

here in 2

Timothy 3.

what we read

is this.

For the

moment, all

training,

discipline seems

painful rather

than pleasant,

but later it

yields the

peaceful fruit

of righteousness

to those who've

been trained by

it, to those

who've been

corrected and

directed by

God's word.

You live it

out and it

produces this

fruit of

righteousness, a

harvest of

righteousness.

Same word

what Paul is

talking about

here.

Train us in

righteousness.

So we've got to

ask the question,

what does he

mean by

righteousness?

Well, it's

right there in

the text.

If you look up

just a little

further in

verse 12, we

see indeed all

who desire to

live a godly

life in Christ

Jesus.

That's what he's

talking about.

If you want to

live a godly

life in Christ

Jesus, you need

this book to

tell you what's

true, to help

you understand

when you're

mistaken, to

correct you when

you veer off,

and to train you

in righteousness

in the way of

Jesus over

and over

and over

again.

You need

the book.

Last couple

days when I

was thinking

about preaching

this, I

found myself

saying, man, I

want to bring

this home a

little bit

more.

It sounds

great.

Scripture's

profitable for

teaching, for

reproof, for

correction and

training in

righteousness.

Let me show

you how.

In our

culture, there

are a lot of

different voices on

sexuality right

now.

A lot of

different voices.

What does

God's word

say?

Let me direct

you to that.

What is the

truth?

What is the

teaching of

scripture?

What does God

say to be true

of our

sexuality?

Let me see if I

can find my

notes.

God's word

for the

people.

What does God

say to be true?

What does God

say to be true?

Well, it teaches

us the truth.

In Genesis 1, 27,

God created man in

his own image.

In the image of

God, he created

them.

Male and female,

he created them.

Biologically

gendered.

Male and female,

he created them.

And in Genesis 2,

24,

therefore, a man

shall leave his

father and his

mother and hold

fast to his wife

and they shall

become one

flesh.

The teaching of

the Bible is,

if you want to be

sexually active,

it's between one

man and one

woman in a

lifelong covenant

of marriage.

That's what the

Bible teaches.

So we read

Hebrews 13, 4,

let marriage be

held in honor

among all and

let the marriage

bed be undefiled.

Don't go outside

of that.

For God will

judge the

sexually immoral

and adulterous.

So the Bible is

very clear in what

it teaches on our

sexuality and how

that sexuality

gets exercised for

the glory of God

and the good of

people.

But then there's

the rebuke.

There are rebukes

throughout the

Bible for people

who are following

God and who

are sexually

sinning against

him and against

others.

The temptation

to sexual sin,

it's a common

temptation to man.

And it's amazing

how much your

Bible addresses it.

God knows how

we're wired.

And so we read

in Ephesians 5,

but sexual

immorality,

any going

outside of the

marriage bed,

in all impurity

or covetousness

must not even

be named

among you

as is proper

among saints.

Don't do that.

Don't buy

the lie

that just because

Jesus forgave you,

you can sow

your wild oats

of sexuality.

The Bible

doesn't condone

that.

That's false

teaching.

It's wrong.

1 Thessalonians

4, 3-8,

for this is the

will of God,

your sanctification,

that you abstain

from sexual

immorality.

Don't do it.

No one is to

transgress and wrong

his brother or

sister in this

matter.

That's the rebuke.

Don't do that.

Stop.

You know,

you're going

the wrong way.

And then there's

the correction.

Ephesians 4, 22,

put off your old

self which belongs

to your former

manner of life

and is corrupt

through deceitful

desires and be

renewed in the

spirit of your

minds.

Remember what God

says is true of

you and put on

the new self

created after the

likeness of God

in true righteousness

and holiness.

The way to

correct this is to

remember what God

has done for you

in Jesus.

And so right now

if you're sleeping

around, if you're

looking at places

on the internet

you shouldn't be

looking at, God

says no, no,

don't do that.

But the way you

go is to repent

and turn from

that.

God's commandments

are not burdensome,

1 John 5, 3.

When he says no,

it is for your

good, brother and

sister.

Don't go there.

Turn from there.

Let him correct you.

Set that right.

Back to 1 Thessalonians

4, that each one

of you know how to

control his own

body in holiness

and honor.

Not in the passion

of lust like the

Gentiles who do not

know God.

That's what we're

called to do.

We're to say no to

sexual immorality and

we are to govern the

passions of our flesh

in a way that pleases

God.

That's the correction.

And then the training

in righteousness.

I urge you,

brothers, walk in a

manner worthy the

calling to which you've

been called.

Walk it out.

Keep on going.

Live holy lives

pleasing to God.

So if you're not

married, you're called

to abstinence.

But if you are

married, God calls you

to enjoy your spouse

that he has given you.

You see how that works?

Do you see how profitable

God's word is?

It speaks clearly into our

culture.

Clearly into our culture.

Okay.

There's another profound

prophet to the scriptures.

scriptures.

And it's found the verse

before verse 16.

In verse 15, the

apostle Paul is talking

to this pastoral

protege.

How from childhood you've

been acquainted with the

Old Testament, which are

able to make you wise for

salvation through faith in

Christ Jesus.

Do you see the prophet

there?

This book, even the Old

Testament, points us to

Jesus Christ.

The one who would die

for us and the one who

calls us to live for him.

It's not only just the

wisdom of how to get

saved, it's the wisdom of

how to live out your

salvation day to day.

This book is able to do

it.

It profits us.

It reveals salvation to

sinners and how sinners

who become saints live for

the Savior.

Savior.

These God-breathed words in

your hand right now, they

originated from God's mind,

and they are powerful, they're

all authoritative, they're

true, and they profit us.

They teach us, they rebuke us,

correct us, train us to live

for him.

Isn't God kind?

And now let's turn to the

purpose.

You need this book.

If you're going to follow

Jesus, you need this book.

The purpose.

We're in verse 17 now.

16, again, all scriptures

breed out by God and

profitable for teaching, for

reproof, correction, and for

training in righteousness, that

the man of God may be

complete, equipped for every

good work.

You know what?

When you're reading your

Bible, you can just skip over a

very important word.

And a word like that seems to

be kind of like, you kind of

yawn when you read it.

It's like, oh, there's a that.

But that, that is a very

important that.

It carries this sense of

purpose.

It's pregnant with purpose.

That, that is a purposeful that.

All scriptures breathe out by God

and profitable unto what?

For this purpose, that the man of

God may be complete.

Again, Paul is talking to this

young pastor, Timothy.

He's saying, Paul, or, Timothy, I

got there.

Timothy.

Remember.

I got there.

Remember.

Remember.

The very words of this book are

from God's, God's very being.

It originated in him.

Get it out there.

It's so profitable for the

church.

It will mature the church.

You're going to be able to

present her to Christ someday.

And then he says, so that the man

of God may be complete.

The man of God is a reference back

to Old Testament prophets.

The man of God.

Complete.

That word in the original language

means to be ready for anything.

There are a couple TV shows I like

watching.

One of them is Bear Grylls.

If I got dropped into Siberia and I

could choose anyone in the world who

would have come with me, it would be

the man named Bear.

Bear Grylls was trained by European

special forces.

He is trained to be able to tackle,

overcome anything in the wilderness.

Anything.

So if I got dropped into Siberia, I'm

like, Bear, you're coming with me.

He's like, sure, mate.

And he comes down with me.

He is the complete survivalist.

There's nothing that he could not

overcome.

Weather, terrain, obstacle, injury.

He's the guy you want.

You know what the Bible's teaching

here?

We're in another survival mode.

We're another wilderness.

And God's word makes us ready for

anything.

Anything.

It's known as the doctrine of the

sufficiency of Scripture.

It gives us everything we need for

life and godliness.

It's better than Bear Grylls to get

through this life.

The phrase that follows, equipped for

every good work, gives further

explanation to what Paul means by

complete.

Complete in the sense that Timothy is

ready to take on any good work that

comes his way as a pastor.

Any good work.

That word equipped described boats and

wagons that were outfitted for a long

journey.

They got everything they need.

They're complete.

They're equipped.

They will get through.

Think about it this way.

Let's say all of us fly out to the west and

we're going to backpack the Sawtooth

Mountains together.

And we go to an outfitter and he gives us a

backpack and he drops in there everything we

need for surviving two weeks in the Sawtooth

Mountains.

You've been equipped.

Do you know what God has given you to carry with you

through life?

This book.

Everything you need for life and godliness.

God offers you through this book.

So you've got to open up.

You've got to see what's in there.

It's sufficient for you.

I know what you might be thinking right now.

Because I would be thinking it.

Something like this.

I could be wrong.

But Mike, you're a professional pastor.

You're pulpit guy.

Of course you're equipped in the word.

I mean, Paul is talking to Timothy, another pastor.

Pastors need to get equipped with God's word.

Pastors need that.

Pastors need kind of backpacks in order to be

equipped to lead God's people into following Jesus.

That is absolutely true.

But what about the people in the pew?

Do you know what's in that every good work that

Timothy needs to be equipped for?

Flip back in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 4, 11, and 12.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

And God gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, teachers, the pastors,

to do what?

Purpose clause.

To equip the saints for the work of ministry.

That word equip has the same root as the word equipped here in 2 Timothy 3.

And it's got the same root as being made complete just a phrase before.

Here's what this means.

God in his design of things says,

pastors, leaders in the church, you need to be equipped with God's word so that you can equip God's people to do the good works of ministry I've given them to do.

So my equipping means your equipping.

And your equipping means goodness to everybody.

God's goodness.

So deacons need to be equipped.

Sunday school, life group leaders, king's place.

Spouses, husbands, you need to be equipped in loving your wife as Christ loved the church.

Wives, you need to be equipped in submitting to your husbands as the church submitted to Christ.

These are good things God has for you.

Parents, you need to be equipped in how to train up your children in the fear and the admonition of the Lord.

You need God's Bible.

You need to know how to use that when it comes to teaching and reproving and for correcting and for training your children.

If you called one of the pastors from our church in every time you had a teaching moment with your children,

we'd have a problem.

But you are able to do that.

Employees, you need to be equipped with God's word in knowing how to live for Jesus in the marketplace.

As citizens of Kenosha, Wisconsin, the United States,

we need to be equipped with God's word in order how to navigate being citizens in the culture we're in.

This book gives us everything we need for life and godliness.

It produces it.

That's its aim.

It matures us.

It's what presents us mature.

Okay.

We so far have looked at the power of the scriptures.

Theopneustos.

It's God breathed.

We've looked at the profitability of scripture.

It gets stuff done.

Good stuff done.

And now we've looked at the purpose of it.

It's designed to equip pastors and saints in order to do the good works God has called us to do.

And now I want to close by talking about our posture and pursuit of the very words of God.

Seven things.

I'll be quick.

Tomorrow morning when you're walking by your kitchen table and you see God's word on the table,

don't walk away from it.

Draw near to it.

Prioritize the Bible.

You want to hear how Jesus prioritized it?

Remember Matthew 4 is being tempted by the devil.

Jesus is able.

He lived the life that none of us could.

The devil's tempting him and Jesus says,

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

You need it.

You need it.

If you want to follow Jesus, you need the book.

You need his words functioning in your life to help you follow him.

Here's what this means.

Here's what it means for me.

I'm an early riser.

I'm getting earlier as I get older.

I call it old man disease.

My dad's got it.

But here's what this means for me.

When I wake up, I'm making a beeline to my Bible.

I don't eat anything.

I don't get my paper.

I don't check my smartphone.

I'm beelining to my Bible.

I've got to prioritize it.

It's going to give me something more important than my yogurt with all that good stuff for my gut.

It's better than that.

I'm going to get in my Bible before I go to the YMCA and exercise my muscles.

Do you know why?

Physical training is of some value.

But this book gives godliness that is effective in all areas.

This is the stuff that sets us apart.

You know what happens when Kenosha wakes up in the morning?

Everybody says, time to go to work.

It's time to do this.

Time to do this.

And what happens if there's 200 of us that were saying, oh man, I'm making a beeline to my Bible.

I'm making a beeline to my Bible because this matters more than anything.

It's God speaking to me.

And so draw near to it.

You've got to prioritize it.

Time, place, plan.

I'll come back to that in a second.

The second thing is when you approach your Bible, don't come over it.

Don't pull a Thomas Jefferson who snipped out half of the Greek New Testament to make it fit what he wanted to fit.

We don't stand over the Bible and tell it what we want us to believe, what we want to believe.

We come under the Bible.

We say, God, you say what we need to hear and we'll trust it.

There is this.

It's one of my favorite verses in the Bible.

Isaiah 66, 2b, the second half of it.

Listen.

This is God speaking.

But this is the one to whom I'll look.

This is God speaking.

This is the one that catches my attention.

This is the one that stands out.

This is the one that I see and move towards.

But this is the one to whom I'll look.

He who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

God opposes the proud.

God, boy, does he give grace to the humble.

When you move to him, move to his word, you come under his word.

And you're like, oh, God, I am here to meet with you.

Speak to me.

Incline my heart to your testimonies and not to selfish gain.

Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things from your law.

Unite my heart to fear your name.

Satisfy me this morning with your book, God.

You come humble.

You come asking.

You come desperate and dependent.

That's how you approach the word.

You know what happens in a Christian's life when they approach the word like that day after day, week after week, month after month?

You know what God does?

He forms Christ in them.

He produces godliness.

You're the kind of person that when you come, they're like, you're kind of like glowing.

Bible glow.

Draw near.

Come under.

Three.

Take it in.

Take it in.

Like a tree planted by streams of water, you suck up the streams of God's word.

You savor it and meditate on it.

You listen to it preached.

You read it.

You meditate.

You memorize it.

You even sing it.

You get it in you.

However you can get it in, get it in you.

You want to saturate yourself with the Bible.

It's like a saturated sponge that if you squeeze it, all this Bible comes out.

That's what you want.

You want to be saturating your life with God's word.

And when you take it in, it goes down deep.

Let it do its work.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

There are going to be times when you open up your Bible and you're going to read something.

Fathers, do not exasperate your children.

And you're like, oh, man.

I just ripped my daughter.

I got angry with her.

And that is so convicting.

God is doing a work through his word in you.

You're moving towards it.

That's good.

Or maybe you're kind of reading the scriptures and you're going through a hard time in life.

And you come across a psalm that is like Psalm 62 or Psalm 121.

And it is a balm to your soul.

It is just what God had for you.

He comforts you.

Or maybe there is this other situation where you're taking in God's word and you've got a meeting that day.

Or you have a hard conversation with someone you care about.

Or there's something that's scaring you and you're afraid of it.

And you read something in God's word that says, do not be afraid.

I'm with you.

Be not dismayed.

I'm your God, Mike.

You go.

And he puts courage in your heart.

So you take it in.

You draw near.

You come under.

You take it in.

And then when you take it in.

And he convicts you.

And he comforts you.

And he encourages you.

You go to your God.

You commune with him.

Oh God, I am so sorry for yelling at my kid again.

Will you forgive me?

And would you make me right?

Would you correct me and train me in the way that you want me to go?

Oh God, thank you for this comforting word.

It was just water to my dry soul.

God, thank you for the word of encouragement.

Now I can press in in faith.

Draw near to me.

And I'll draw near to you.

Communion with your God.

That's number four.

Number five, build your life on it.

Build your life on it.

When you encounter the truth of God's word,

don't ignore it.

Build your life on it.

Do you remember in Matthew chapter 7,

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

Jesus, after the Sermon on the Mount,

he wraps it up by saying,

everyone then who hears these words of mine,

the Sermon on the Mount,

and does them will be like a wise man

who built his house on the rock,

a sure foundation.

And when things go crazy, the house stands.

But if you don't take Jesus' words to heart,

you don't build your life on them,

you're going to build your life on something still,

and it's going to be sand.

And when the storms come,

it will level your life.

You build on these words.

That's five.

Six.

You live it out.

You build on it,

and then you live it out.

Remember Matthew 28?

He said,

Go make disciples of the nations,

teaching them to observe all that I commanded.

He teaches us,

gives us truth,

so that we put it in play.

James says it,

But be doers of the word,

and not hearers only,

deceiving yourself.

Do the word.

Psalm 119 says it this way,

When I think on my ways,

I turn my feet to your testimonies.

I hasten and do not delay

to keep your commandments.

Do you feel the impulse there?

1 John 5, 3.

For this is the love of God,

that one keeps his commandments,

and his commandments are not burdensome.

Do you know how we love God?

By obeying his word.

Oh, Lord Jesus, I'm going to do this

because I love you.

I'm going to follow you.

Live it out.

Live it out.

Live it out in community.

Live it out in your life groups.

Live it out in your family.

Take and give.

Number seven.

Last one.

Take and give.

You take it in.

You will benefit.

You will sense God reviving your soul,

having you affect,

giving you strength,

showing you the way to walk.

Take it and give it.

Take it.

Give it.

Don't just hold on to it.

Don't encourage other people with it.

We see this at work in Colossians 3.16.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, church,

teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom,

singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs

with thankfulness in your heart to God.

Could you imagine our life groups

where brothers and sisters are coming together

and, oh, man,

here's how God encouraged me this morning.

Here's how God convicted me this morning.

Here's how God comforted me this morning.

Here's what's going to happen.

There will be times

when you're going to get a word from God in the morning

from the Psalms

and you're like, man,

I don't know who this is for.

You go to your life group that night.

You have a brother or sister who comes in need

and you're like, this was for them.

This was for them.

Brother, here's Psalm 62.

I'm so sorry you're in this heart,

but here is God's kindness to you.

God gave me this for you.

Take it and give.

Ephesians 6.4.

Fathers, take in God's word

so you can give it to your children.

I am an advocate of the King Penguin approach

to family devotions.

I take in God's Bible,

I digest it,

and then I regurgitate it on my family.

That's what I do.

It's effective for me.

I'm not sure in my family.

It's like,

one of my favorite things to say to my kids is,

do you know what I read this morning in my Bible?

I love telling them that.

This is what your daddy read in the Bible.

Your daddy's taking,

you're coming under the word,

taking it in,

and he's got goodness for you.

And of course, 2 Timothy 4.2,

Paul says to Timothy,

hey, all scripture's breathed out by God.

It's powerful.

It's profitable.

It will produce a man of God

equipped for every good work.

So Timothy,

preach the word,

2 Timothy 4.2.

Make it known.

Declare it.

Declare the life-giving truth of God's word.

I'm going to wrap this up,

but I can imagine some of you are in here,

you're asking the question,

okay,

you made the case.

God's word is powerful,

profitable,

profitable,

and it produces maturity

and being equipped.

I want in,

but you don't know where to start.

Come on down afterwards.

I'd love to talk to you about that.

I can show you how to do that.

I'd love to equip you that way.

There are other pastors and elders

who would love to equip you in that.

God's word is powerful.

I want to do that.

This morning we've looked at

the God-breathed words,

powerful words of the Bible.

They're profitable.

They're purposed.

If you want to intentionally live for Jesus,

don't walk by your Bibles.

Get into your Bibles.

Let's pray.

God in heaven,

we are so thankful for this book

in our own language,

and many of us have like 12.

God, would you press the words,

your words,

into the depths of our being,

and would you make us like Jesus,

and would you compel us

to live for him individually

and as a church.

God, reform us,

your people, with your word

and revive us,

your people, with your spirit.

God, would you do a work

for the glory of your name

in and through us.

In Jesus' name, amen.