Good morning, my name is Leigh Ann Friesman and this is Restoring Word.
I'm talking about studying the Word of God and the importance of studying your Bible.
I want to reflect on a scripture that I used last time out of Acts 17 verse 11.
The Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica,
for they had received the message with great eagerness and examined the scriptures every
day to see if what Paul was saying was true. All right, so what's going on here?
Well, you've got Paul the Apostle, he's preaching the Gospels,
and he is going back and quoting the Old Testament.
Okay, so what are these people doing? Well, they're going back
in the synagogues and they're opening up their scrolls and they're going back and they're seeing
if what was prophesied about the coming Messiah regarding Jesus was true, and they were seeing it
in scripture. They were listening to what they were hearing and then they were going back into
their Bibles and studying it for themselves. And that's something that I want to encourage
every listener and every believer and honestly every non-believer to do.
Get into your Bible and see what your Bible says for yourself.
This is from 1 John 4 and verse 1. Dear friends, do not believe every spirit,
but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets
have gone out into the world. You know, the one thing I've always
dreaded or I just never ever wanted to be called a false teacher. I know those scriptures in there
that talk about false teachers and about false preachers, and I'm a teacher, okay. I love teaching
the Word, but I know that without a good spiritual mentor in my life to help inform me, to tell me
what's really going on in the body of Christ, how to expose maybe my blind spots and my weaknesses
and the things that I might be listening to because it feeds my flesh and,
Leanne, you need to make adjustments here and you need to make adjustments there.
If you don't have a good teacher that can help you divide the Word of Truth,
you're going to get off into stuff that's false, okay. And we're seeing an explosion of this right
now. And you know why so many people are getting off? And you know why? It's just really simple
because it's all about money. They want to be accepted. They want to be liked. And you know,
I'm guilty of it too. I mean, at the end of this video today, what am I going to ask you to do?
I'm going to ask you to like and subscribe, okay. Of course, you want people to like what you're
saying, but honestly, a lot of what's in the Bible isn't really likable and it isn't really
comfortable. I'm so thankful for the people early in my walk with Christ who said,
if you're going to church that doesn't make you uncomfortable, you're probably not going to the
right church. Why? Because if you're sitting under a good teacher and a good pastor, a good shepherd,
your flesh is going to be uncomfortable, okay. It's going to make you go home and examine your
life. And that's wisdom. Because if you're examining your life, if you're judging yourself,
if you're pulling the plank out of your own eye, then you're not going to miss it. You're going to
walk in repentance. I'm telling you, we can all miss it. I don't care how long you've walked with
God. If you go through something that's heartbreaking and you get hurt, listen, you're
going to have to deal with bitterness and unforgiveness. And you need people in your life to tell
you, hey, you're off. Get with it. And that's a good thing. You know what? When you study the Word
of God, it is going to help you be a better Christian and a better servant of Christ. This
is from 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17. Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for
teaching and for reproof and for instruction and for training in righteousness. Okay, scripture is
not going to train you to walk in sin. It's going to train you to walk in righteousness.
That the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work. Listen, I'm
telling you, serving Jesus and walking in the kingdom is not fun unless you're walking in some
semblance of spiritual authority and you're hearing from heaven. Well, how do you get spiritual
authority? You consecrate your life and you walk in a level of holiness. Okay, and then when you're
able to walk victoriously in a world that's full of darkness, then serving Jesus is fun.
All right, 2 Timothy 2, verse 15. Be diligent to present yourself
to God as a workman who doesn't need to be ashamed accurately handling the word
with truth okay is it possible to handle this scripture and not be in truth yes
okay always look at what's coming before the scripture what's coming after the
scripture you might even have to go back and look at the original language I'm
not a Hebrew or a Greek scholar by any means but I've got some pretty good
software out there and there's some great stuff that's out there on the web
that's free that will help you really look at what does the Bible say all
right it's also gonna help you answer questions anybody ever kind of challenged
you about what you believe I always loved it when I had a kid challenge me
it was like oh you're thinking I love you this is great okay challenges don't
make me insecure challenges actually keep me on my toes I love it when
someone says where is that in the Bible mrs. Friesman I'll go I don't know but
let's find it okay second Timothy 2 to what you have
heard from me though many witness witnesses and trust to faithful people
who will be able to teach others as well okay we are trusted with the Word of God
and we want to hear from people who are empowering us so that we can share the
Word of God as well I love it when I sit under somebody that when I go home
and I get in my car my head is spinning oh my gosh I love that
first Peter 315 but sanctify Christ as the Lord in your hearts always being
ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you and to give an account for the
hope that is in you to give an account for the hope that is in you first Peter
315 yet yet with gentleness and reverence okay that doesn't mean that
we're cocky or that we're arrogant or we get an attitude about it no we just want
truth in love okay I'm gonna tell you the truth because truth is love I'm
gonna tell you the truth because if I don't tell you the truth you could end
up messing up your life I'm gonna tell you the truth that the occult and the
demonic will destroy you if you play with it long enough I'm not telling you
that because I'm a legalistic mean-spirited arrogant Christian no I'm
telling you that because I watched a lot of other people mess with it and their
lives are destroyed okay I mean I just love you enough to tell you the truth so
that you don't you know mess yourself up we're supposed to live by the Word of
God okay and we're supposed to be led by his spirit and by peace and that peace
comes from being in his presence Matthew 4 4 but he answered it is written man
doesn't live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God
okay so we're not supposed to just you know walk in the world we're supposed to
live by it you know that God will talk to you when you're in this I use the
example of the brazen altar the brazen altar is the place in the tabernacle of
Moses where the priests would go to wash themselves before they offered a
sacrifice you know when I'm in my Bible my Bible deals with Leanne who has a
tendency to have a lot of flesh I do okay but when I get in there what
happens is I see myself in the word and I realize what I have to wash myself I
have to get myself right that's one of the blessings of being in there so this
is Isaiah 55 verse 11 my word that comes from my mouth will not return to me
empty but it will accomplish what I please and it will prosper in what I
have sent it to do Luke 1 37 no word from God will ever fail this word is
alive it will deal with your heart it will go forth and it will accomplish
what it's supposed to and you know what guys when you pray the Word of God or
you sing it in praise and worship that's where the real anointing kicks in that's
where his presence comes that's where people begin to hear you know my pastor
always used to say Leanne don't get upset about having to go to word
explosion and sitting in on all these meetings for a week when you're worried
about your classroom and your lesson plans and how you're gonna run your
classroom just sit under the Word of God let the Holy Spirit talk to you let him
adjust what needs to be adjust and I can promise you you'll have a better school
if you do it man he was always right and my class
room always worked out fine and my decorations always got up and my lesson
plans always got done but I was in such a hurry I just can't believe I'm sitting
here and I'm listening to this preacher and what a bad attitude right okay this
is out of Colossians 3 17 you know we are to honor the Lord and express our
love for him and one of the ways that you show your love for God is just by
spending time in the word I don't have enough time to be in the word I'll be
honest with you Colossians 3 17 and whatever you do whether in word or deed
do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through
him so if you're in the word be thankful that you're able to do it be thankful
that you have that time in it I have the dream job I get to teach and if I have a
kid that doesn't show or if I if I'm in a situation where I've got to drive to a
different location I can put on worship in my car or I can listen to someone
preaching on the radio I love to listen to the word I run to the word the Word
of God is a strong tower and the righteous run there and they're safe
that's your safe place it's where I manage stress and anxiety and fear why I
just if I'm in his presence I'm gonna be okay Psalms 119 96 verses 96 through 98
oh how I love your law I meditate on it all day long your commandments are
always with me and make me wiser than my enemies if you really want revelation
on how to walk in victory if you've got stuff going on in your job if you've got
people that are trying to take your job or somebody that's trying to do things
that are wrong or unethical and you just need the Holy Spirit to expose those
things pray talk to Jesus he'll help you anyway we're at a walk victorious in
this life and the only way we can do that is with the Word of God thank you
and have an outstanding day please like and subscribe yes I am going to ask you
to like and subscribe because that helps me grow the channel thank you for
listening