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When we begin a personal, vital, dynamic relationship with Christ, we need guidance.

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We need kind of rules for living, right?

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And one of the reasons why many Christians today are living lives that are subpar, almost

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defeated Christian lives, no different than the rest of the world, morally or ethically,

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is because they've never figured out the rule book, they've never figured out this love

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letter from God called the Bible.

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And we could talk a lot about the Bible here, I want to keep it very personal, but I can

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tell you this, when I first met my wife Liz, she was at UCLA, and I was at the University

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of Georgia, and we had three years of dating where we hardly ever saw each other, it was

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kind of hit and miss, because she was in California, I was in Georgia, Maryland, and

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then 18 months ahead of her in Japan, and we had to write letters to each other.

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So that was how we communicated, and I know any of you that are probably younger than

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30 don't even know what I'm talking about, about a letter, but they actually, at one

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point in the history of America, you had a pen, and this little pen had ink in it, okay?

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In some cases you dipped in it, it had a feather, but I'm not that old.

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But we had these things called pens, or pencils, and we would write on a piece of paper that

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had lines on it, okay?

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And then you actually folded it three ways and stuck it in a thing called an envelope.

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You thought that an envelope was just for paying your bills, it's not.

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But we used to write letters to each other, and so that's how Liz learned about my heart,

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and that's how I learned about her heart, and we fell in love, and we got married, we've

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been married for 37 years now.

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But the reality is, is that God did the same thing, God put his signature on a book, and

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that signature is his identity in the book, and it's called the Bible, 66 books.

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And actually, the Bible's not one book per se, it's actually a library of books.

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There's 66 books within the Bible, and the only way to grow as a Christian, the only

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way to grow as a Kingdom of God revolutionary, the only way to grow into the person that

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God's made you to be as a Jesus follower and a Jesus disciple, is to spend inordinate amounts

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of time in this book, and this is so vital, it's really important, and this is why so

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many are missing out on so much in the Christian life, is they don't spend time in the Bible.

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Now, I've got a lot of Bibles, and here on the table with me are some ancient Bibles.

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This particular Bible here is about 75 years old, this other Bible is over 150 years old,

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and then down below is actually my Bible in Japanese, the one that I used in Japan when

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I would teach in Japan, I was a missionary there for 10 years.

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And so, the Bible becomes the foundation for your life in growing in Christ.

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It's actually the foundation of Western civilization, and you could argue that it's the foundation

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of all of world modern civilizations, not sub-modern, but modern civilizations.

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And it is the foundation of the language of the Western hemisphere for sure.

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Thomas Aquinas, the great Catholic theologian said,

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Through the Bible, the truth necessary for salvation is made known to us.

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Theodore Roosevelt said, A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college

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education.

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Ronald Reagan said, Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all of the problems

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that men and women face.

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Martin Luther, the great reformer said, The Bible is the cradle where Christ is laid.

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And I would say that the cradle of Christ is the very foundation of Christ for us to

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discover Him in our own lives.

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The Bible, in Hebrews 4.12 we read, For the word of God, meaning the Bible, is living

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and powerful.

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Some of your Bible's new American standards is living and active, and sharper than any

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two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow,

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and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

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So what the writer of Hebrews is saying, is by virtue of spending time reading the Bible,

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here's what happens, the Bible reads you.

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So when you read the Bible.

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The conviction, the power of the Holy Spirit through this holy book flows into your life

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and begins to, like a sword, cut in between soul and spirit, between your flesh, between

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your sinful side and your God-intentioned spiritual side, and it shows you where the

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blockage is.

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It's like a surgeon's knife.

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So when I get up in the morning and I read a chapter or two from the Bible, I fully expect

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that God's going to meet me in a powerful way.

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So when I read the Bible, men and women, I have a pen in my hand.

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Right now I'm going through Genesis again.

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I've been through Genesis many times, but I've got a different Bible for that, more

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like a study Bible.

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And I was just in a hunting camp, I was up elk hunting in the Rocky Mountains, and took

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a day off while the others took off, and I just went to the fire pit, and I opened up

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my study Bible, and I had my pen in my hand and my journal, and I just said, God speak

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to me afresh from the book of Genesis.

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And the reason I'm doing that is because of what's happening in our culture.

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With gender issues, gender confusion, woke ideology, Marxist ideology, all that's happening

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around us right now.

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I wanted to go back to the source.

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I wanted to go back to the very foundations of life, and that's the Bible.

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So you take that pen in your hand, and you open the word, you let the word open itself

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up to you, and then God will speak to you, and he did.

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And I have copious notes over the next few hours where God spoke.

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Well Paul, in his last will and testament to his main disciple, a guy named Timothy,

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in 2 Timothy 3.16 he writes, All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable

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for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the

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man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

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So here's what Paul's saying, he's like, I'm not going to write you again.

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I know that the Romans are going to kill me.

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This is my last letter to you, Timothy.

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Get this straight, all scripture is given by inspiration of God.

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That literally means God breathed.

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So the signature upon my letters to my future wife, identified that letter as being from

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me.

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God has so identified the scriptures, they have his signature upon it, they're inspired

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by him.

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Yes, he spoke through human beings that were different races, different backgrounds, different

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economic origins.

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He spoke through them, but it's God speaking through them, written with the signature of

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God that we now call the scriptures, and he's saying that the scriptures are there to teach

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us about doctrine, correct us where we're wrong, and then lead us into righteousness.

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And man, when you go through the scriptures, you see how much God places value on right

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relationships with our fellow man.

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That's righteousness.

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Righteousness is right relationships with people.

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It's not just, I mean it is thinking right, it is having the right doctrine for sure.

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But that should express itself, men and women, through right relationships.

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That's why Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love God with all of your heart, soul,

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mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself.

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So the main expression of the Bible, the main expression of the word of God, is God bringing

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correction to us, showing us rules for living, righteous living, the pathway to righteousness,

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which is solid, good, forgiving, loving, kind relationships.

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So wherever you see a Christian who's treating people badly, you should walk up to him and

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say, can't you read your Bible?

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Because that's not the way you're supposed to live.

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We're supposed to out love, out forgive, out care for anybody else in our culture.

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Christians should be living that way.

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Well, again, I'll say it again, you know, it's because of a bereft of being in God's

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word that we have Christians that don't live that way.

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So the challenge in growing...

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The Jesus follower, Kingdom Revolutionary, is to open your Bible and let God energize

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you.

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Let God energize you with His Spirit.

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That's what the earlier passage means, for the Word of God is living and powerful.

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That word is energeo, it means energy.

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God gives you spiritual, and it's been true in my life, mental, physical energy through

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God's Word.

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So I want to challenge you to take time every day, to wake up in the morning.

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I like the morning, some people like the evening, it doesn't matter.

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God doesn't care, He's always there.

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But for me, in the morning, read one chapter.

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Just read one chapter a day.

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If you haven't read the Bible before, don't start in Genesis, okay?

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It's a good place to start, for sure.

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But I would say, to understand the Jesus that you follow, that you start with the Gospel

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of John.

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So in the New Testament, there's Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

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So fourth book of the New Testament, start reading just one chapter, and then get a journal.

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Get some kind of a journal, or a spiral notebook, doesn't matter.

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Put the date at the top, read one chapter, and ask God this, Lord, would you speak to

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me?

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Would you bring correction in my life?

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Would you bring energy to my heart?

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Would you bring energy to my mind?

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And He will, He will.

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Not every day, perfectly, in some mystical way, but you'll just have this sense that

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that verse that you just read, that's for you.

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And going verse by verse through John will change your life.

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It'll transform you.

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Just start there.

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You don't have to be a great systematic theologian, you have to be a friend of God, and this is

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His love letter to you.

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This is me writing my wife, my wife writing me.

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It's God who loves you, writing a letter to you, to help you grow.

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Because He knows best, Father knows best.

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He knows what's best for your life, and He's given us rules for living, He's given us guidance,

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He's given us structure, and some of you out there need a little more structure in

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your life, He's given us boundaries for living, well that's the Bible.

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And so to discover the Bible is to discover your destiny.

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And so I challenge you, in the morning, or in the evening, sit down, get away from everybody,

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be alone, open the Bible in John, and just start working your way, chapter by chapter,

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and verse by verse through John, go to that, take care of that, and watch what God'll do.

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He's going to transform you, He's going to renew your mind, and you're going to find

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yourself a healthier, more joyful, more energetic person, I promise.

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So God bless you as you dive in, it's the right thing to do.