Closer – How Do I Read God’s Word?

This podcast is presented to you by Pastor Jason Burns and Access Church in Lakeland, Florida.

For more information, visit Access.tv.

It's gonna be good up in here, but we're finishing off today a series entitled Closer.

And what we've been saying in this series is that you can be as close to Jesus as you choose to be.

So in my mind, I've interpreted it as okay, if I don't like where I am in my relationship with Jesus, the ball really is on my core.

And so I gotta do something with it.

But it's just been an incredible series.

And I would say this if you haven't seen our previous messages, definitely go back and check those out because it's been an incredible series.

But today I just want to talk to you, only for about three hours.

I'm just kidding.

But I just want to talk to you about the word of God.

Somebody say the word of God.

The word of God.

Now, to kick this off, I gotta walk you through my everyday essentials.

You may have some of the same, you may have some different ones, but I want to walk you through mine.

I want to let you know this is not a paid promotion, this is not a sponsor ad.

I'm not getting anything from doing this other than I just want to take you into my world for a second.

Okay, so every morning, every morning, this is the deodorant that I use.

I like the Dove Man Plus Care.

It feels good, it smells good.

So this is what I use right here.

Now, if you haven't already noticed, my skin color is chocolate.

And so, me, I need to use lotion.

And so this is the lotion that I use on my arms and elbows and stuff like that.

And so I need, for me, I need the this stuff.

This is the thick stuff.

This is what I need.

I need that greasy stuff.

Miss me with all the weak lotions that just go on.

It's like, no, no, no.

I need the this is just me.

It's okay, you can laugh in church.

It's gonna be a good day.

So I use this, I love it, it gets me right every single day.

Now, my teeth are big.

I know that.

I own that.

They've been this size since I was like four.

And so I do know that.

So this is this is how I do it.

You know, obviously every day you gotta brush your teeth.

Let me ask you this question.

Raise your hand if you use an electric toothbrush.

Anybody electric?

All right, I can vibe with that.

Sometimes I get there, sometimes you know I use this.

So that's what I use right here.

Now, this, some of you are saying, How old is this dude?

I'm 30 years old.

I know I look like I'm like 12, but I'm 30, okay?

Um, but part of the reason why I think is because I use this stuff.

It's just a face moisturizer.

And so if you want to look young, you know what I'm saying?

Like just use any some of this.

You hit this right after the shower, oh man, you're good to go.

So this is what I use here.

Last but not least, for me, like I'm chocolate, so hair is a big deal, okay?

Let me just say it, all right?

And so I use hair grease, so that's here, and then I use a double-sided brush.

One side is soft, one side is hard, it just gets the waves right, okay?

And then at nighttime, I use my my wave cap.

This is different than a do-rag, don't mess them up.

The do-rag has tails, this one doesn't.

This looks like I'm about to rob a bank.

All right, that's what I need.

Anyone else like me?

Anybody else like me?

No, no, I'm the only one.

Great.

But these are my everyday essentials, ladies and gentlemen.

And I tell you this just to tell you, you know, we all have stuff like that.

You know, for me, when I use these, I feel clean, I feel um fresh, I feel ready for the day.

I have confidence that I can stand up in front of people and be okay with the way that I look.

And so these work for me.

I can tell you right now, without any or all of these, I would look different.

You may not sense it, but in I would sense it.

I would definitely like feel different.

I feel like my confidence would be a little bit off.

Ultimately, I wouldn't be where I feel like I could be.

That's just me.

And I say that to say, so it is with God's word.

Like, God's word is essential to us.

You don't have to read the Bible, but I guarantee you, without it, man, like you would think differently.

You'll act differently, you'll talk differently.

Ultimately, you won't be who you could be without the word of God.

Can I hear a good amen?

That that's what I want to bring to you this morning.

So, my whole sermon in one sentence, it's in your notes online.

If you're with us, it's right there.

The word of God is, what's this word?

Essential to my closeness with God.

It's essential to my closeness with God.

It really is.

Um, so Paul is an apostle in the Bible, and he writes to a young pastor, a co-worker in the in the faith, um, to and he writes to me, his name is Timothy, and in 2 Timothy, we'll go there right now.

He says this that all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God, some translations here say that the man of God, but NIV says that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

So let's hold right here.

What we learn from this is that all scripture is God breathed.

How much scripture?

All scripture is God breathed.

In other words, all scripture is breathed out by God through the men that actually wrote the text, but it comes from God.

There are some versions of the Bible that say that all scripture is God inspired or inspired of God.

The point is that God did the talking, men did the writing.

Does that make sense?

And so it's he says it's useful for a few things.

He said it's useful for teaching.

In other words, when I come to the word of God, I'm able to look and see what God commands and how he wants me to live my life, and he teaches me what is right.

Then there's another word here, it's rebuking, and some translations say reproving.

What this is, this is like a sharp or pointed criticism, usually against a sinful behavior.

So, so when I come to the word of God, it's essential.

I know that in my mind, and it's essential for teaching me what is right, but then rebuking me like when I'm doing something that's that's not right.

Then a step further is this word correction.

And so it's it's useful for correcting.

In other words, I know what's right from the Bible, I can be correct, I know what's wrong from the Bible, but then it corrects me.

In other words, it kind of shifts me back to what is right.

And then the last one here is training.

In other words, the longer I go with the Bible, the longer I get, the longer I get into God's word, man, I'm trained over time into what is right in the sight of God.

So if I didn't preach anything else, if we stopped right there, prayed, played the piano, and left, we know that the word of God is essential to our closeness with God.

Can I hear a good amen?

All right, so what are some of those, what are some of those things that that maybe put um a hindrance or maybe they're obstacles or roadblocks between myself and the word of God?

The first one, and it's in your notes online, it's it's right there.

It's a lack of understanding.

A lack of understanding.

It's crazy because tell me if you're like me, raise your hand.

Like, have you ever read the Bible?

And then you're like, man, I don't even know what that means.

Like you feel so lost.

Okay, yes, every hand.

Somebody in their living room right now is like, yeah, me too.

And that's happened to me too.

Um, but the Bible's it's a big book.

We have to acknowledge that.

There are 1,189 chapters in your Bible.

That's a big Bible.

It's a big book.

And so I think that poses a problem sometimes when we come to God's word, because we read it and we say, you know what, I don't fully get everything, or I don't understand everything.

And so one of two things happen.

Either you say, I don't get it, I don't understand it, so forget it, I'm done.

Or sometimes it's I don't understand that, but I want to go deeper.

Are you with me?

So so this is this is one of the problems.

I think another obstacle that we face is this, what I'm calling optional thinking.

It's when we think that the Bible is optional to read.

It's like when we we we say, yes, I am a Christ follower, I'm a Christian, I've oriented my life around Christ, but then we kind of think that, oh, I don't actually need to read my Bible.

So it's man, I'm giving, I'm serving, I'm going to church, I'm doing all this stuff, but when it comes to my private time with the Lord, I'm all right.

Or we fall into like what I'll call like the Google gospel.

Like you'll see something on Google, it's a well-written, inspiring article, and and you'll read it and you're like, oh man, I feel good, I feel uplifted.

It had a scripture in there, so I must be good, and we just kind of blaze on.

Sometimes, even in this age, you know, with with social media, it's like we'll see something posted.

And no doubt it's it's probably awesome.

It's probably well written.

I mean, it probably has a lot of likes on it.

Like, but we think, oh man, I'm good now for the day.

I don't need God's word, so it's it's optional thinking.

I just want to say that the word of God was never meant to be a substitute.

Like, like, or I'm sorry, any of that stuff.

Social media or Google, those are great.

I'm not trying to belittle those, but I'm saying those were not meant to be a substitute to God's word.

Like God's word was meant to be essential, it's meant to be read and understood, and from it we should grow, but I think that's one of the obstacles that we face.

Another one is simply sin.

Now, what is sin?

You know, we talk about sin and we hear it.

Sin is really like any thought, any word, any action that maybe, not maybe, that goes against uh God and maybe his commands and things that he has said.

That's what sin is.

Sin separates us from God.

And so I think that there are times in our life, I know it's happened to me, there are times in my life where I've said, man, I I don't feel worthy.

I don't feel good enough.

I feel like I've messed up, I feel like I've done something wrong.

And so I'm like, man, I want to put some distance between myself and and this and this thing that we call the word of God.

And that's that's incorrect, but but we do that.

It is an obstacle that we face.

The last one I would say is this it's it's fear.

Yeah, it's fear.

It's fear of, okay, if I read the Bible and it says something different than what I know or what I understand or what someone taught me, but now I'm responsible for what I know and now I gotta change.

Or it's fear that it may say something that I don't like or I don't agree with.

I think that this happens to us.

But I believe that we should get over these obstacles.

I want to get around these roadblocks so that we can truly discover God's word for what it truly is.

So for today, here's what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna encourage you to do three things.

Everybody say three things.

Just three things.

I'm not gonna give you 40 things, I'm gonna give you three things.

I'm gonna encourage you to mark God's word, to memorize God's word, and to meditate on God's word.

Does that sound good?

Come on, let's roll.

Number one is this mark God's word.

Later, toward your Bible, if you had a physical Bible, and you go towards the end, you'll hit a book called Hebrews.

And the writer of Hebrews says this that for the word of God is alive.

One more time for people in the back.

The word of God is it's alive and not just alive, but it is it is active, sharper than any double-edged sword.

It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow.

It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Now leave this here for me.

I think at first glance you might just zoom past this.

I know I've read this a thousand times, and and it felt like over the past couple weeks this kind of leapt off of the pages.

But when you really look at this, we learn that the Bible is a very powerful thing.

It's it's alive and active, it can penetrate, it can divide things, and uh, and this book has a lot of power in it.

Now, I'm human, so I make a lot of mistakes.

Okay, if my wife's in this service, I don't see her, but she'll tell you I make a lot of mistakes.

While I'm not new to the pastoral game, I still don't have, I don't have like 50 years of pastoral knowledge to lean on, so I make a lot of mistakes.

So don't say, amen.

If you're an access youth student, do not tell your parents, yeah, he does.

I see him on Wednesday.

Don't do that.

It's not the time for that.

But I make a lot of mistakes, and I think one of the mistakes over some of the years that I've made is kind of saying, Man, I need to make the Bible come alive.

Like whoever I'm presenting to, whoever I'm preaching in front of, I need to make this thing come alive.

And I realize from reading this that I was sincere, but I was sincerely wrong.

Because the Bible already is alive, church.

It's already alive.

I don't need to do it, the Bible don't need my help.

I may think I'm cool, I may think I'm I'm up to date and I can do this, but really the Bible doesn't need my help.

It's already alive.

In fact, I don't make the come the Bible come alive, the Bible makes me come alive.

From these verses, what we read is that as I read scripture, it opens me up.

Let me ask you a question.

Have you ever read the Bible?

And it's like, uh oh, that's weird.

That's applying to me right now in this moment.

Raise your hand if you're with me.

Okay.

Because the Bible is alive.

So I don't need to make it come alive.

It comes, it makes me come alive.

And it shows me who I am.

And before it, man, all of who I am is exposed, and I can grow closer to the Lord.

This is good right here.

So let's break it down.

It says all these phrases really like they build on one another.

When you see it, you'll love it, but it's it's alive.

And because it's alive, it's active.

And then it says it's sharper than any double-edged sword.

That's great, but what does that mean?

It means that it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints, and marrow.

In other words, it has more than laser-like precision.

It can go into the places of your life and it knows how to cut, it knows what to reveal, at what time to reveal, because the Bible is, it's alive, and it's God's word breathed out.

And so it says that it also says this that it judges the thoughts and the attitudes of the heart.

I can't make a judgment call on what's in your heart or what's your attitude like, but God's word can.

Because basically, what the writer of Hebrews is saying is that the word of God is so powerful, it has more than laser-like precision, it can go into your life and judge what is invisible to others.

So the Bible is this amazing, amazing thing.

What I'm trying to tell you is this that God's word is to be marked in the highest regard.

Yes.

God's word is to be marked in the highest regard.

It's funny, um, I was raised, and I you tell me if you were raised like this, but the way I was raised is when you meet an adult and they're older than you and you don't know them like that, you can't just walk up to them and say, hey, bro, no, no, no, no.

It is yes, sir, no, sir, yes, man.

Anybody raise your hand if you're with me.

Okay, as many of that's the way I was raised.

And if you mess it up, my parents had this amazing ability to just appear and grab you by the ear and take you right back to that person and apologize because that's how they raise us.

You know, that that's authority, and you you just you don't talk like that.

And so that's just how it was.

It was funny, a couple weeks ago, uh, a guy was um sending me a message, and the message started with, hey bro, no, I'm just kidding.

I mean pastor, I'm so sorry.

I feel so bad, I was raised better than that.

And it was just like, oh wow, it's all good, man.

Like, I wasn't offended, but you know, what I what I thought is, you know, somebody has taught him along the way, like some manners, you know what I'm saying?

Like they were just he knew how to address people.

And what I think about when I think about that is we address people in the highest regard.

We respect environments and situations in the highest regard, but do we do that with God's word?

Like we'll have that respect for a person, but do we do that with God's holy word?

I'm trying to encourage you that man, we it's to be marked in the highest regard.

When you go to that book, it is alive, it is breathing, it is active, and so it deserves all of our attention and it deserves the highest regard in our book.

If we can do that for a person, we can do that for the word of God.

Somebody said, Amen.

We can do this.

Second thing is this I want to encourage you to memorize God's word.

I want to take you to now to the longest chapter in your Bible.

It's the longest Psalm.

It's Psalm 119, 11.

Says this.

It says, I have hidden your word in my, what's this word?

Heart.

I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

David here is writing, and I want you to note two things.

Number one, I want you to know the place in which God's word is hidden.

It's hidden in his heart.

Why your heart, David?

Why not your head?

It's your heart because Proverbs 4.23 tells us that we're to guard our heart above all else, because out of it flows everything that we do.

And so there's this there's this thing you have to catch, is that God's word needs to be hidden in your heart.

But then also note not just the place, but the purpose.

It's so that he might not sin against God, or I might not sin against you.

That is that's the purpose of it.

When I was um younger, I don't know if you're like me, but um they used to make us put our hand on the Bible and say, Um, I pledge allegiance to the Bible, God's holy word.

I will make it a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, I will hide its words in my heart that I might not sin against God.

What David is saying, church family, is this that his highest defense against sin and the enemy and things that would cause separation between him and God is the hidden word of God in his heart.

That's what he's saying.

Like that there's no higher defense than having God's word hidden in your heart.

I think that when we're younger, we're taught this, and we think it's just to kill time in Sunday school or in kids' ministry, but it's not for that.

It's for the days in your life that you really need to recall God's word.

It's for a bigger purpose.

And so what I'll say to you is this that God's word is to be memorized in our head, but hidden in our heart.

Yeah, you need your head.

You got everything mentally has to be functioning for you to memorize something, but then it needs to take that journey from head to heart.

And we have to hide it in our hearts.

Man, I I love the words of a pastor in Durham, North Carolina.

He said that the more that I swim in the words of God, the more vivid the invisible Christ becomes.

I thought when I read that that that was so applicable to this, that the more we get into God's word, we get into the things that he said and why he said what he said, the more we get into that.

It's like Christ comes more alive in our life.

You do know that if you're a believer in here, the highest goal for you is to become like Jesus.

If you're not a believer in here, I hope that you'll make that decision today.

But but the highest goal, the highest priority of anybody that calls themselves a Christ follower is to become more and more like Christ.

God sent his son to be our example, to be our satisfying sacrifice that would give his life for our sins in turn that we would live our lives to become more like Jesus Christ.

Is this good news or what?

So, so all of us, we have to do that.

Make no mistake about it.

Life will come to you.

There'll be bad moments in life, there'll be good moments in life, there'll be in-between moments of life, but we need to have God's word hidden in our heart.

When you're dealing with physical ailments, you'll need to know the end of Isaiah 53.5, which says, By his wounds or by his stripes I am healed.

Amen.

Like when you're feeling guilty or shameful and you did something wrong, you'll need to remember 2 Corinthians 5.17 that says, Therefore there is now no condemnation.

Not a, not a little, there's none for those that are in Christ Jesus.

Behold, the old is passed away and the new has come.

Is that good news for us?

You'll need to remember when you struggle with your identity, Ephesians 2 and 10 says that we are God's handiwork.

We are his masterpiece created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which he prepared in advance to do.

Come on, somebody, this is why you need to know the word.

When bad times come, you need to remember Romans 8.28 that says all things, not just some things, but all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose.

You'll need to remember, even in the good times of life, Psalms 136.1 says that, oh give thanks to the Lord, porque él es bueno.

I mean, because he is good and his mercy endures for.

Am I talking to anybody today that just you just need to know God's word.

It has to be hidden in your heart.

Should I do some more?

I don't have no more, so I don't even have.

That's all I got.

But we need to have these in our heart because tests and trials come.

The wind and the waves of life will come to you, and you'll need to reflect on what's in your heart.

Why?

Because Proverbs 4:23 is true.

Proverbs 4:23

Everything that you do flows from your heart.

Not your head, but your heart.

So you'll have to have God's word hidden.

You memorize it up here, but then you take that and you place it in your heart.

Am I helping anybody this morning?

Am I just helping my?

I mean, I might be helping myself, and that's okay.

Here's number three.

We don't just mark God's word, we don't just memorize it, but we meditate on God's word.

We meditate on God's word.

Psalm says this in chapter one, verse one.

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditates on the law day and night.

So, verse one, we hear what a blessed man, or some versions say, like a righteous man, what they don't do.

But then verse two is this that they do two things.

They delight in the law of the Lord and they meditate on it day and night.

Simply put, what I'm trying to tell you is God's word is to be meditated on day and night.

Yeah, so when you come to the Bible, you should be reading.

I should be reading and then saying, Okay, God, what are you trying to teach me through this?

Like, like, let me reflect on this, let me ponder this, let me write about this.

Like, don't just read it fast and just okay, I read it, I'm good.

Like, like read it, but then meditate on it day.

And I think about it, ponder it, reflect on it, let it sit with you.

In the morning, read it.

Then on your lunch break, say, All right, let me read a little bit more.

And then maybe at nighttime.

What was that verse I read this morning?

Oh yeah, it was this one.

Let it go with you day and night.

Now we're now we're not just memorizing, now it's sitting with us, and it's just it's cooking up in there.

And it'll be ready when you need it because it's alive and it's active.

But but we're taking that step to just say, okay, okay, I want to live with this thing.

I just don't want to read it in the morning.

Man, I want it to go with me every single day.

All right, so let's get practical.

Let's put some handles on this for you so that when you hit those doors, you're better than when we came in, came in.

Number one, here's what we're gonna do.

We're gonna read God's word.

Everyone say that.

Yeah, we're gonna read God's word.

Somebody said, when do I read God's word?

And I'm like, whenever's best for you.

Whenever you're best able to receive it.

If your schedule works out and you can do the morning time, great, do it in the morning.

I know some very strong believers.

They end every night by prayer, meditating of God's word, journaling, and then they go to bed.

You know, they read the word, they go to bed.

So whenever's best for you, you know, is I kind of liken it to like going to the gym because like I sometimes, like there's a few times I went to the gym at like 5 30, and dudes are coming out in a full sweat.

And I'm like, what time did you come here?

Like, but that was what was good for them.

There's times I've walked in at 10 o'clock, I'm leaving at like 11, 11:15, and guys are just coming in pumped up.

Let's go.

And I'm like, what?

It's 11 o'clock.

But here's the thing, it doesn't matter when you work out, it's that you're working out.

Can I just tell you and relieve some pressure?

It's not when you're reading the Bible, it's that you're reading the Bible.

Because some of us we have we have different lives, different schedules, and things like that.

It's the fact that we're daily taking time to get in God's word and letting it speak to us.

Okay?

So when do you read it?

That's when you read it.

What book do you start?

If you're like, man, I don't even know where to start, pick the book of John.

I've always been taught growing up that that's a great first book because it'll cover Jesus' life and his ministry and and some great teachings in there.

So do that.

How do you read it?

You read it slow.

Everybody say slow.

Slow.

Slow enough that the words can just leap off the page and into your heart.

Slow enough that you can say, God, talk to me through this.

What are you trying to communicate to my life?

Not only so that I can get better and become more like Jesus, but that I can be a blessing to somebody else.

So that's how we read God's word.

I want you to do that this week.

I want us all to do that as a church family.

Read God's word.

Number two is this.

Memorize how many scriptures this week?

Just one.

It's not about 50 scriptures, it's not about 500, it's not about four or five.

This week, just do one.

It's not about how much Bible that you read, it's about how much Bible that you live.

What good is it if you know so many, but you're not living like it?

Hail.

It's about how much that we're living out.

So memorize one this week.

Maybe it's a scripture that you say, you know what?

I kind of remember that from when I was little.

There's like maybe a couple verses in there that I kind of remember, or a couple words, and so I'm gonna finish.

Do it this week.

Maybe one that sticks out to you.

Maybe one that you're like, man, you know, I saw this on Instagram, so I want to take this into my life.

It's it's fine.

Do that.

Get one scripture this week and memorize it, figure it out and just let it go with you.

Memorize it.

Like you can do this, like there are apps that you can download to just help you with scripture memorization.

I mean, if you're a writer, write it.

If you're a dancer, like get down to it, dance to it.

Like if you're a singer, sing it.

If you're whatever, like if you're a runner, run with it.

Put on the YouTube audio Bible and just take off, run.

Let God's word go.

Are you feeling what I'm saying, church?

So all this is to help us get closer to Jesus.

Number three is this let God's word be in your everyday life.

Let God's word be in your everyday life.

Our executive pastor here is Pastor Ryan Jordan.

And a few weeks ago we were catching up just for lunch, just to talk life and ministry, family, all that good stuff.

And he said, Isaiah, what's God talking to you?

And so uh speaking to you, and I began to talk to him about that.

And then I said, Oh, well, what about you?

And and he said this that that fits so well.

He said, You know, like, you know, here's what I'm reading.

And he's like, I'll be honest, man, there's sometimes I read one or two verses, and there's so much there that I'm just like, man, like I can take this, I can apply this to my life.

And he's like, Man, sometimes I'll take just one scripture throughout the day with me.

And I just thought that was a perfect picture of how we ought to be.

It's like, even if it's just one, take that with you.

Again, because God's word deserves it.

We put it in the highest priority.

Make God's word a don't miss appointment.

I'll tell you right now, and this may seem silly to you, but for me, I never, I don't think I've ever missed a haircut appointment.

Okay, you can laugh at me if you want, but I that's just it's important to me.

But I think to myself, is even as I'm preparing, how much more God's word.

If I wouldn't miss an appointment at the barbershop, why would I miss a day in God's word?

Can you say amen?

Not trying to belittle the things of life at all or disrespect us, but I'm just saying that we gotta put it where it belongs.

It should be in our lives every single day.

So I'll end like this.

There was a grandpa, he he lived with his grandson.

His grandson was younger, but but you know, they they lived together, and and so the grandpa one day was like just doing his normal thing.

Every morning he would he would get up, grab his Bible, grab his coffee, and go to work.

And and his grandson is younger, he said, I want to be like him, so I'll do that.

He began to do that every single day.

His grandson one day got the Bible, slammed it shut, said, Grandpa, I don't even get this.

This is useless.

He's like, you know what?

I read the Bible and I can't even understand anything.

And what I do understand, as soon as I close the book, I forget everything.

Right next to them, they had like a dirty coal basket that they had used to bring coal back and forth.

And he said, You know what?

Go down the stream, fill, give me a basket of water.

So the grandson goes and he he does what he's supposed to do.

He comes back, and you guessed that all the water had drained out.

Grandpa said, Oh, you know what, you didn't go fast enough.

You you didn't you didn't get back here fast.

Go do it again.

And he said, How about I get you get you a bucket?

He's like, No, I don't want a bucket, I want a basket of water.

So he goes back, he does it a second time, this time running back.

Now he's sweating.

And no, he's like, Grandpa, all the water came out again.

Grandpa said, Do it one more time.

By this time, the boy knew that this was an impossible task, but he did it anyway, and he came back and he said, This is useless, and he threw it on the ground.

His grandpa said, It's not useless, check out that basket.

And the once dirty basket was now all clean because of his trips to the stream.

He said, You know what, son?

It's like reading the Bible.

You may not remember everything, and you may not be able to understand everything, but if you let it and you keep at it, it will wash you from the inside out.

You'll be clean.

Church family, what I'm trying to tell you this morning is it's not about how much Bible that you can cleverly recall or remember, but what it is about is letting the word every day clean you and wash you and make you new to become more like Jesus Christ.

Are you feeling me this morning?

All over all across this room.

Let's bow our heads.

Yeah, God is good.

Dios says, Bueno, amen.

Let's bow our heads, Lord.

We love you.

Thank you for your word.

In a very dark world, it's your world, it's your word that brings us light.

Lord, I'm asking for your help for myself, but for our church family, that we would do these things today, this week.

We wouldn't wait, we wouldn't delay, we do it this week.

That we would mark your word as important.

Spiritually, it's important.

Physically, that we would mark it, that we would underline stuff and circle stuff, and that you would drop um words and thoughts, ideas into our heart, and we would mark your word, that we would memorize it, that it would take the journey from our head to our heart, that we'd meditate on it every single day.

When we get up, it's there.

Throughout our day, it's there.

When we lay our head down to sleep, it is there.

That's our prayer.

That's my prayer for this church family today that God, you would help us in that.

Help us to fall more and more in love with you.

And in turn, you'll do the amazing work of transforming us to be like your Son, Jesus Christ.