Your Life Is Shaped By Your Thoughs | Pr Julian Saw

You're listening to a message to go from acts church.

We hope this message will light up your tea.

So we went through some scriptures about you know how

it's important for us to win the battles in our

mind right, and you know we have this one scripture

from Proverbs for to any tree, and I'll start with this.

So from the NLT it says.

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do

flows from it. Above all else, very important, priority God,

your heart for everything you do flows from it. And

then a GNT, which is a good news translation not

very common, but you know it says this same verse

problems for to any tree. Be careful, be careful how

you think. Your life is shaped by your thoughts. Be

careful how you think, for your life is shaped by

your thoughts. Right, you went through this in quite detail

the last time, and Jason also brought us through different scriptures.

So I just want to say at the start that

above all else, be careful, very important, pay attention to

how you think. And we have this responsibility to guard

our own hearts. We have this responsibility to two watch

how we think. Right, And the next slide, you remember

we shd about this your life is shaped by your thoughts.

So how you think, how you perceive the world, what

you think is very important and priority in your life.

Will you will your life will go into that direction. Right.

The direction of your life goes in the direction of

your strong thoughts. Right. I remember Kelly's sharing with us

also a that's the win, which I was so touched

like about how we need to take captive, take control,

win the walls in our mind, win the battle in

our mind. Not to let it spiral down a whole

of anxiety of worry, but take captive of every thought

and let it be obedient to the word of God. Right.

So we've been just talking about that, and you know,

I don't discuss sort of these things with Jason, but

then somehow it sort of flows.

So I had these three points in the in all ams.

How to take captive, how to not let worries spiral right,

So the first time is man up, which what I

mean to say by that is we are not victims

in any situation. We can start out as a victim,

meaning you know, I did not want to be in

this situation. Someone has hurt me, someone has strickened me,

or I've been I have this the disease, or I've

got this workload, I've got a kid that I can't help,

you know, which can lead us down a spiraling thought

of worry and anxiety. But we should not remain as victims, right,

we need to come out because the Word of God

says we are more than conquerors. So the second number

was meditate, right, so what do you fill your mind with? Right?

We need to watch what we feel our minds with.

And the last point was most so who is most

important in your life? Right? Who is priority in your life?

So today I'm going to do something like very practical,

I hope. And it goes around the team of this

word meditate because to win the wars in our mind,

to win the battle in our mind, to take captive

of every thought, we need to fill our minds with

the word of God, with the Bible, God's word. And

and the thing about Christianity is it's not a magic religion,

right like we have this, we have this, Uh, we're

going through this season of bringing your own Bible, b yob.

But the power is not just in bringing the Bible.

Like you know, if if I'm going through, if I'm

going to a very difficult situation, and I bring my Bible,

and I'm like, who point a Bible at the problem,

Point a Bible at my kid.

Who's causing me anxiety?

Point of the Bible that you know, my my schedule,

or point the Bible at myself or my mind. It

doesn't work like that, right, There's no flow of magic

that comes out of this piece of paper or no

this we use our iPad or our phone. So so the.

Power in.

Bringing your own Bible is reading the Bible. What are

the what are the verses? What's the word of God

in our minds and our hearts? So if I have

a title today, it's just this, how to read the Bible,

how to read the Bible, and actually how to read

the Bible regularly. Okay, how to read the Bible regularly.

So so it's a bit like going back to Sunday School.

I think most of us he'll probably know most of this,

but I just one. My goal today is to help

inspire us to once again be reliant on the word

of God and take the word of God and put

into our hearts and minds. Okay, all right, running our breath.

I don't know why, Okay, So so I'll sort of

split this today's sermon or this word into a few parts.

But I want to just cover two main questions. First

number one is why is it important to read the Bible? Okay,

that's the first part. Then I'll i will cover a

little bit about what is the Bible? Okay, So about

why is it important to read the Bible? Because we

need to be convinced that this is important before we

start reading it, right, So I'll try and give you

a few reasons, and then we'll talk about, you know,

what is the Bible? And then I'll go into a

few practical tips on how we can read the Bible regularly.

And I hope after today, in the next week, the

next five days, we'll all start to, if not already,

read about Bibles regularly every day for the next week.

And I'll see you next Sunday. If we can do that,

we can close now and lit just go back. But

so that's that's the goal for today. Okay, So let

me ask this question, why is it important to read

the Bible? Why is it important to read the Bible?

Why?

Why?

I've got four reasons.

There's many reasons, but you know, four main reasons for

myself and I want to share with all of us.

And reason number one is this The word of God

is our firm foundation. We sang this song earlier. The

Word of God is our firm foundation. So let me

read this statement. I wrote, our reality, which can mean

our perspective, our identity, who we are as a person,

our thoughts, how we perceive things. Our reality can be

shaped by many things. It can be our emotions, other

people's opinions, different voices, circumstances. But the anchor of our

lives must be the Word of God. Okayh super basic,

but I think impractical, it's very important. So I'll share

a quick illustration when when I was, especially in my

campus days, when I was growing up in college, right,

I was often, I think because of my personality of

often like shaped by how I feel.

So you know, maybe if you have teenagers, then.

You know, but who you are on that day when

you wake up, who you ask a person would behaviorly

rely on how I feel that day. So like maybe

one day I woke up in the wrong side of

the bit and like, oh man, Doomsday, I'm tired, I've

got I've got a lot of pressure today, And then

your personality becomes angry and you get angsty and when

people talk to you like you know, you react. So

sometimes our our reality or who we are can can

be our emotions. Right. I know all of us you

are very matured, so you know how to take captive

of our emotions as well. Uh, and not shot at

our kids most of the time. But but you know,

or it can be from opinions. You know, someone told

me I'm like this, so am I like that? Someone

told me that I'm too nice of a person and

I don't like conflict, so I always respond that way

because that opinion was casted on my mind already. Right.

But what I want to say today that is that

who we are our reality needs to be anchored in

the Word of God because everything else will change. Your

wife might not meet your expectations tomorrow, or your husband

or your children might disappoint you one day, you know,

and that shouldn't dictate how you live. Okay, So I'll

give you one quick scripture. I know I'm giving you

reasons to read the Bible from a scripture, but it's okay.

We just look at scripture Matthew twenty four to thirty five.

Heaven and Earth will pass away, But my words will

never pass away. Heaven and earth will pass away, but

my words will never pass away.

And I love this.

You know, when when this scripture says heaven and earth

in context, it's what we understand as heaven and earth

right now, right, So for us this is earth. But

you know, one day, when Christ comes, there's going to

be a new heaven and a new earth. Right and

all throughout this our current life, the struggles we go through,

the victories that we have will one day still pass away.

It will all go, but what will remain is God's word.

So that's why it's our firm foundation. Is that a

good reason to read God's word? Yeah? Reason number two.

God's word guides how we should live. Really basically, God's

word guides how we should live. So this comes from

some one one nine, verse one O five. Your word

is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

Your word, it's a lamp for my feet, a light

on my path. And this also gives us a little

perspective of how we should use God's word because it's

not like I've read the Bible one shoe from front

to back. I did it, SPM marks already, It's got

one hundred percent in Bible knowledge. In from five, I'm done,

I've got the word I've got in me. Let's get

on with it life. Right.

So God's word is like a lamp to our feed.

Right. It sort of shows you a picture that is

like step by step, like every step you take every

day that you have, every moment in your life. God's

word is a lamp and your light your path forward. Right.

So it's not like one big bright light that shines,

but every step that you take, God's word will bring

you to So it gives us an idea of how

we should how we should read God's word. It's regularly right,

it's it's every step of the way. That's how we

should approach God's word.

Reason number three.

And again that's many reasons why we should read God's word,

but reason number three is this, it's essential when we

fight our battles.

So so we all.

We all know that, uh, we all know that. You know,

other Terrencess a couple of weeks ago, that we really

are living in the end times. We are living in

times where it's going to get difficult, and and the

word of God says we do not, we do not,

which wars the world is right. We went through certain

corners of the tenvers tree. Uh. For though we live

in the world, we do not which wars the world does.

The weapons we fight we are not weapons of the world,

not carnal, not human weapons. So what kind of weapons

are those? Right? We see this in efficients six fourteen.

So if you would, you know, just come along this

journey with me for this scripture, and the kids did

recently in X kids as well. Stand your ground, So

I took out the first few verses, you know, but

this is what the armor of God is in our lives. Okay,

So look at this, stand your ground, putting on the

belt of truth. So what is the belt of truth?

What is truth? The world of God, the world of God,

the belt of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness.

How do we know that we are right? How do

we know that we are? Said? Apart? And holy shoe

the word of God. So bell of truth, the body

arm of God's righteousness.

For shoes.

Put on the peace that comes from the good News,

the Gospel, the Word of God, so that you will

be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold

up the shield of faith. How do we have faith?

By listening to the word of God. Faith comes from

hearing and hearing the word of God. Right to stop

the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as

your helmet against Salvation comes from the word of God.

And take the sword of the Spirit, which is the

word of God. So for us to win the battles

in our mind, to win the battles that are not

of this world, for us to be strong, to be

more than conquerors, for us to overcome, we need the

word of God. And you know, the armor of God.

Really all just points towards what's in God's word. Okay,

that's reason number three, reason number four to know God's will,

to know God's will. So how many of you here

wants to know what is God's will in your life? Anyone? Yeah? Yeah,

So don't don't be like Jonah who knew God's will.

But Randia the way because.

It can happen as well.

But but this, this scripture in Romance gives us also

a perspective of what, what and how God reveals his

will to us. And often it doesn't come very direct,

Like you know, there's no chapter in here that is

the Book of Max. Right, So the book of Max,

will tell Max exactly what to do to come to

Malaysia and he's at this age and bring his whole

family here and and you know, shift everyone here and

minister to many different children. But we can find what

God's will is within the Bible and how it happens

we can see here. Don't copy the behavior and customs

of this world. But let God transform you into a

new person by changing the way you think. Okay, that

you will learn to know God's will for you, which

is good and pleasing and perfect. So how we know

and how we prove God's will is by renewing our mind,

by transforming our mind, by having God's work in us,

and that we have the mindset of what Christ is,

the mindset of how God wants us to live, that

we may prove that we may learn what is God's

will for us. Okay, reason number four again, many reasons

I'm just giving you for this morning. I hope you

are a little bit more convinced, if not already, to

read the Word of God. Okay, yep, okay, So let's go.

The next part is is a little bit like academic, right,

but I want to talk about what is the Bible

what is the Bible? What is this that we have?

So I will just go through some quick fire like

knowledge or little facts about the Bible and the first

thing for us to know. Okay, why is it important

to know what the Bible is? Because it helps us

to approach the Bible. Like if you're reading a fictional book,

you read the book as fiction, right. If you're reading

a comic book, you read the book as a comic book.

If you're reading a self help book, you know, you

read the book as a self help book because you

know what sort of genre you're going into. Right. So

the Bible is in fact a library of books. Right,

It's not just one book. It's just it's one book,

but you approach it in a way that it's a

library of different books from cover to cover. Okay. So

it's a collection of books like walking through the library

or different sections here and there.

And that's what the Bible is, Okay.

The Bible was originally written in three different languages, right,

So in Hebrew in the Old Testament, some of it

was written in Arabic, okay. Second and the third language

is in Greek, which is the New Testament. So mostly

in Hebrew and Greek. Okay, So that why you want

to know that is if you want to go a

bit deeper, sometimes we go into the true meaning of

the original language. Right, So just to know that the

Bible wasn't written in English or Bahasa or Chinese, which

is our languages of Spanish, which is our the language

that we use, you know, mostly in this country. But

the Bible is written in three languages. Is the library

of books, and it was written over a very long time. Okay.

So how long is open to I think open to

how people interpret it. But most people say about one thousand,

five hundred years. So the whole book was written, you know,

in a span of you know, fifteen hundred years or thousands,

very long timeline. But the unbelievable thing is that it

tells one unified story throughout. So it's written from page

to page as we know it, from the different chapters

over a very long time, but different authors in three

different languages. But it still has one unified team, one

unified story, which is the salvation Plan of Christ, which

is the Gospel, the good News.

In general, the Bible is.

Separated the two sections, which is the Old Testament and

the New Testament, right the Old Testament is what Jews

use the word like tanak. So there are three main

parts okay, mainly written by Moses, all the names that

you see in Old Testament okay. And the New Testament

is written by the apostles mainly okay. Yeah. All all

scripture we see this in Timothy chapter three, verse sixteen.

All scripture is God breathed. So all scripture in the

Bible and can take comfort in that is God breathed.

And it's useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in

righteousness so that the servant of God may be entirely

equipped for every good word. And lastly, why are there

so many translations in the Bible without that fall?

Like is there?

I think that's like thousands of translations And how do

we approach that? I think that's a good question, asks

you know, uh. And the main reason for that is language, right, language,

So if you if you just take away all the

English translations and you look at you look at uh,

you know, the other languages because people communicate through different languages, right,

So if I'm trying to communicate with someone who only

speaks Hindi or Demo or you know, Mandarin, then the

best way to do is to use the language that

they have, right. So that's why the Bible has been

translated from the three original languages to so many different languages,

so that the whole world can receive the Word of God,

read it, and understand it. Okay, that's the reason why

there's so many translations.

Stay in me for a while.

Why are there so many translations even in the English language.

That's a good question as all right, Like what do

I read KJV King James Version and KJV or do

I read the NLT or the ESV the different acronyms

that we have. How do you decide? And the reason

for that is language true time? Right, So KJV was

written I don't know, the teen hundreds or whatever how

long ago when they spoke English that time, it sounded

very different from how we speak English now. Okay, So

if you go and read the KJV, it might be

difficult to understand. I've got some versions here which I

tried to read last night, Like, okay, it's hard to brain.

It's in English, but it doesn't go into my head. Yeah.

So the reason why there's different English translations because true

time people sort of modify how they use English as well.

I was starting the homies last time we talked about

this is. I think one day, when you know, the

next gen comes up, like my kids or the Alphas

and the gen these what, Yeah, when the next gen

comes up and they have their own slang and their

own words that they use, like Riz and I don't know.

I think Anthony woll you should Anthony will have a

translation of the Bible for the Alphas next time that

he would understand, right, because because they identify certain words

through how they speak and and the Word of God

can also be alive for them. Right. So that's the why,

that's the reason why we have so many translations. Okay,

is that Okay, he's that good. I know it's a

bit heavy, like going to school, but I'll think it

the one one more slide which you can go to

the next slide the literary styles in the Bible. So

I took this image from the Bible Project, and you

have time go back and like YouTube or google the

Bible Project on what the Bible is. I found this

video really really good. This this slide shows you what

are the literary styles in the Bible. Okay, so stay

in me for a while to see how it applies

to us. There is a literary style is like a

style of how you write. So I don't need writers

here showing a copywriters someone who did like you know,

mas Com or whatever writing for your degree.

There are different.

Ways how people write because, like I mentioned earlier, it

helps us as the reader, approach the Word of God differently.

So there are three main styles.

The first is narrative at the bottom, which is about

forty three percent of the Bible. Okay, So narrative means

like stories like David and Goliath, so it can be

a parable as well, you know, so those are stories

that you read in the Bible. Biography it can be historical.

Narrative also means it is historically accurate, but it tells

the story. So why is this important is is because

when you read stories, it's not like God or the

Bible is asking you to become that person in the story. Right,

So like's not I said, there's no Book of Max

in the Bible. But there's different truths that you can

get from a story. So if I read about if

I read about David and Goliath, and I want to

put myself in the shoes of David, instead of Goliath.

Don't put yourself in the shoes of Goliath, because you're

an update, right, and I want to become my David.

So it doesn't mean that I have to start going

out and look for a bunch of sheep to tend

to and kill some bears and lions first, and then

God will lead me to an army that's having war

in Israel. Right, It's not really true because we approached

we all know this. We approach narratives or stories by

understanding the different journeys that they go to and picking

out the truth that we can then apply in our

own lives. Right, So that's how we approach, like a

narrative or a story or a parable. Then the other

thirty three percent comes from a style that is poetry.

So poetry like the Book of Psalms or Proverbs, songs

of Solomon, all these are like basically poetry means songs

are you know modern context, you know how writers write songs.

Now again, we can take out different truths in it,

you know, and applied in our lives. And then the

last twenty four percent, about one quarter of the Bible

is pros discourse. So this word was bewilding to me

when I read it. But this course basically means like

speeches or like an essay or a letter, and we

can think this course a bit more like what forward.

Kind of that approach la right, because it's very logical,

like you do this, you get this result, you do this,

you get this result. Right, So let's pros discourse. So

the other question is like, it's are the chapters in

the Bible written in only one style? Right? So usually

there's a main style book of Psalms is meaned poetry,

and then there's sort of other styles in it. Okay,

So I think you don't need to know all this

to read the Bible, but it's good to know and

it's interesting. So I have to share with you this

morning of what this but what this book that we're

reading is okay. And finally, the another another sort of

perspective of what the Bible is is that context matters.

Context matters. So there's a there's a figure up here.

If you're listening on a podcast, you can't see this picture,

but it's it's a picture of a very big elephant,

but split into like nine different parts, and each of

the people looking at their own part.

Has an idea of what this thing is like.

If you're the person at the bottom looking at the

two legs, then you're thinking like, this book is all

about legs and six nails that look very big and

crumbly and dirty.

It's a dirty book. What are you talking about legs

all the time? Right?

Or if you're someone looking at you know, the trunk,

then that's the only perspective. But like what I mentioned earlier,

the Bible is a book written is a collection of books,

like a library of books.

So we need to understand the context.

Okay, so let me give you a quick illustration about

contexts to keep you guys awake. A couple of weeks ago,

I was in the car alone in my son Levi okay,

and in our conversation I said to him a very

bad word that has four letters and starts with F

that we will not say in this room. Okay, Oh oh,

confession time.

Right.

You can take that picture of just that conversation within

that context, and if someone took a video of me

in the car and posted it on ig they will

be like, pass the cannet. You need to fire this guy.

He is he said a bad word to his son

the F word, which we'll not say in this room

because it's very bad. And the truth is I did.

I didn't use that word with him. Why did I

use that word? So let's talk about context. Right, So,

I haven't been fired from church, I haven't been disowned

by my family, My wife Laura is still married to me,

my son still loves me. Everything is okay. But let

me tell you why why I say that word? So, So,

it was a Sunday after church, and we are normally

holy after church, right, like feel a bit more, feel

a bit more holy and sanctified in the name of Jesus,

saturated from all my earthly cardinal self, had lunch, it's

very healthy lunch, and then I said the word in

the car.

So, so why did I say that word?

You know, it's a bad word, which which I'm going

to give you context now, Camy context. It was because

one of the ex kids teachers came up to me

and and like, hey, Julian, you know today LEVI said

this word. You know, yeah, I know what it is.

Like I was shocked, you know, I was like, what,

I've never even say that word before? And like where

did he learn it from? I don't know. Somebody told

me where he learned from, like, hope, hope you not

excuse I know, but I know, I know. It definitely

not excise. He picked it up from somewhere and he

just sort of said it while doing something and and

I was like genuinely shocked and like, okay, I need

to I need to process this with him immediately, you know.

So we got into the car and I told him, LEVI.

You said this word today and the teachers told me

that you know, he said it like he didn't mean it,

like I just say it. Okay, you say it, but

I need to address the issue, right. So so I

went in the car and I told him, LEVI, I'm

going to tell you this word once, and I say

the word. And when the word came up from my mouth,

I was like, oh yeah, it's like I don't know,

I don't say it often. I've never said it before,

so so it's weird to me. I was like, oh,

it sounds weird, like and I say, I say to him,

in our family, we don't use this word because it

doesn't mean, it doesn't mean, it doesn't have a good meaning,

and other people may use it, but we don't use

it in our family. Then he said, I understand, and

that's why I said the word to him in the

car on that day after church. Context matters, So when

we when we read the Bible, we need to understand

the intent of what that verse is saying within that context.

You know.

The reason why I sort of went down.

This rabbit hole is I was reading the Book of

Second Corinthians, and in Second Corinthians, that's very specific almost

like I wouldn't call them commandments, but very specific suggestions

or words in the Bible which kind don't sit well

with us today, like for example, women shouldn't lead and

speak in a church.

So so I'm trying to, like.

I'm trying to like figure it out, right, I don't

have the answers now, but I'm just trying to figure

it out because to understand what was said in that

you know, that letter, it was important to understand what

that church was going to. So it requires more study, right,

you know, the Word of God also says you sons

and daughters will prophesy, So this say women are able

to prophesy God's word, you know, and speak God's with

So I'm gonna keep your hanging with that I don't

have the answers for that, but my point is context

is important, right, so we need to read the word

of God in context. Okay, let's go. I'm gonna end

shortly to give you a couple of points of how

do I read the Bible regularly? How do I read

the Bible regularly? And my first point is this pattern pattern.

What I mean by pattern is is our lives, right,

are very readermic. You know, you wake up at a

certain time, you brush your teeth, you eat breakfast, you

get your kids ready, you go to school, drop them off,

go to work. Different patterns. The earth also functions with patterns.

The sun rises at a certain time, sets at a

certain time. There's different readoms that we have in life.

And I want to encourage all of us to have

that pattern in our lives to approach God's word. Okay,

so it's super simple. How do we have a pattern

reading God's word?

Number one? Just pick a time and pick a place.

Pick a time, pick a place. This is one.

This is where I'm gonna read the word of God.

This is when I'm gonna read the Word of God. Okay, Soper,

is it right?

Basic?

Pick a time, pick a place whatever that works for you.

It can be in the morning, can be at night.

It can be on your commute to work, listen to

the Bible. If you're on a train, you can read

the Bible. It can be when you're on the toilet seat. No,

trying not to do that. Yeah, but it can be

any time. But commit to picking a time and picking

a place to read the Word of God. I I

am an opinion that it is better to read the

Word of God in the morning before you do anything else,

because like you start off your day with what's priority

and what's first before approaching anything else. Yeah. So I've

got this habit where I'll just leave my phone outside

and I'll go to a room and open God's Word

and read. And the reason why I leave my phone

outside is it can be this. It can be distracting.

And I've started to read like a physical Bible over

the last i don't know, quite quite a while, because

I realized when my son Levi or Mica comes down

when I'm already awake and they see me on my phone,

I'm reading the Bible. Actually, but it can be it

can look like I'm just scrolling or whatever, and to me,

I just want them to know that I'm not scrolling

on my phone, so I'm read the Bible out. Yeah,

so that's why I do so pick a time, pick

a place.

Okay, easy.

Romans help us do the same verse we read earlier,

do not conform to the patterns of this world, because

if you're not intentional with our patterns, we will conform

to a pattern. Conform means like you're forced into that

particular shape. Like I'm shaped as a circle, but I've

been forced into a square to conform to that shape. Right.

So God's word is telling us not to conform to

how the.

World wants us to to live our lives, but to

renew our mind, to be transformed in our minds. Okay.

First P pattern, pick a time, pick a place. Second

P is plan, have a plan. So what do you

do when you have a time and a place. You

need to have a plan of what to do. Right. Uh,

So when you go and read the Word of God, like,

there's many ways to do it. Okay, I must confess

there was a time where I did this. You know,

it's called the It's called like the lucky Dippler. Just

open the Bible to any page and read that and

then uh and then just follow that for the for

the rest of the day. Okay.

Uh so let's let's try that. Take a random take

a random page right now.

It's gonna turn to the Book of Busy Hill, chapter four,

US twelve. And you shall eat as a barley cakes

and bake using fuel of human waste in their sight.

And you shall eat as a barley cake and bake

it using fuel for human waste in their sex. M Yeah,

we're having barley barley cakes. I just sort of google

the weirdest scripture and then I set that up. But

that may not be the best way to do it,

like the Lucky the method, Right, So what is the plan?

What is the plan? You?

You know, we can read the Bible from front to back.

We can read certain scriptures in the Bible or different

chapters that are following. You can go to the U

version Bible app and that's like guided plans as well.

And I I've done this for a few years, which

you can go to the your Bible app and Google

or search for Bible in a year. Right, there's one

by Nicki Gamble, the group from Alpha that she from

Alpha that has a Bible plan that goes throughout the

whole year, and that's very good for just guiding you

through all the different scriptures throughout the year.

So it can be any of that.

But just have a plan in mind before the next

day comes, so that you know what you're gonna do

in the morning. Right, any of those read the chapter Storry,

the Book of James, or the New Testament, the Gospels.

You can you can just do something. I have a

plan and set and do that plan. Okay.

And the last p.

Last p plus one is okay. The last piece is

this practice. So I think this is the most important part.

And really it's how we apply the word of God.

How you apply the Word of God. So there's again

many ways to interpret the Word of God. That's the

spec method. But I want I don't want to go

through all. I want to just help us today to

simplify it by when you read the Word of God,

any scripture, just ask yourself these two questions, what is

God saying in that particular scripture? What is God saying

in that verse? And how does it apply to me?

What is God saying? How does it apply to me?

Because this is very important. Let's look at Jane chapter one,

verses twenty two to twenty five James one, twenty to

twenty five. But don't just listen to God's word. You

must do what it says. Otherwise you are only fooling yourselves.

For if you listen to the word and don't obey,

it's just like glancing at your face in the mirror,

you see yourself walk away and forget what you look like.

But if you look carefully into the perfect law that

sets you free, and if you do what it says

and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless

you for doing it. So this is very important. Not

just reading and reading. You know, there can be reading

and really reading right, so you can just read the

scripture and nothing goes into your mind reach, which I

want to say, if it's a start, it's a start.

Just read. But the Book of James chapter one says

that we need to read, like really read the word

of God and look. Not only read, but let the

Bible read us like a mirror. Let the Bible tell

us what in our lives that offense God, you know,

let the Bible search our hearts. But if you look

carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and

if you do what it says, apply it, and don't

forget what you have heard, then God will bless you

for doing it. So the kind of like fifth point

is actually need to pray, ask the Holy Spirit to

reveal to us what that word is saying in context

to what I'm doing right now. Okay, I have one

last question, which I've been asking myself, is what to

do when I when I'm stuck, What to do when

I feel like, oh, you know, I mean this season

where I feel like I'm nothing, I'm getting nothing out

of the word. I'm just it feels so dry, it

feels so mundane, it feels like there's no power suddenly, right,

And and I would say this the next light, you

need to start chewing more okay, read less true more,

read less true more. When I was when I was

some days I would listen to the Bible in the

car as well, and you know, it's just playing law,

so it's going through my mind or maybe not even

and nothing happens. So if you really want to apply

the Word of God, you want to put into practice

like what the Book of James says, we need to

chew on scripture, true on scripture, Psalms chapter one gives

us an idea of what like I would say the

model Bible reader is write Psalm chapter one, verse two.

But they delight in the world in the law of

the Lord. They delight in the law of the Lord,

meditating on it day and night, meditating on it day

and night like trees. We love this promise.

We always claim this promise.

Right.

They're like trees planted along the river bank, bearing fruit

each season. Their leaves never witter, and they prosper in

all they do.

This is the promise.

But what was before meditating on it day and night,

chewing on it read less tru more. I remember Jason

was sharing a little bitbout this last last time day

as well, and I'm like, you know, this like confirmation

about how we really need to meditate on the world

of God in our minds. And he says here from

day to night. The moment you wake up reading that word,

knowing that this is what God is saying to me,

I'm gonna like just meditate on it. I'm gonna just

repeated it in my mind. I'm going to just ask

the Holy Spirit, what is it you're talking to me about? This?

Verse on it true, on it true on it until

you see God's Word come alive in your own life.

You invite the worship team up as we as we close.

And I want to say that.

After going through all that, after going through all that,

that the last perspective we should have with the Word

of God is this, and especially when you're feeling stuck,

is that God's Word is Christ. God's worth, God's Word

is Christ. John Chapter one was one. In the beginning,

the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and

the Word was God. The Word gave life to everything

that was created, and his life brought light to everyone.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can

never extinguish it. Then verse fourteen, So the Word became

human and made his home among us. He was full

of unfailing love and faith illness. And we have seen

his glory, the glory of the furthest one and only Son.

So as we close today, I.

Want to say that.

That we approach the Bible not intellectually, not just intellectually,

not just reading words that are in a book, but

every day, every morning or whatever time that you choose

to make an appointment with the Word of God, you're

actually making an appointment with Jesus. You are making an

appointment with the savior of the world. You're making an

appointment to meet the one that has the power to

just remove every scene and bring healing to our sickness.

The one who has paid the price, paid the cost

the greatest cause to save us.

And that is how we.

Should approach the Word of God like we're approaching a person,

and a person is Jesus Christ.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

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this week is going to be a good week, a

hit for you. God bless