When we begin a personal, vital, dynamic relationship with Christ, we need guidance.
We need kind of rules for living, right?
And one of the reasons why many Christians today are living lives that are subpar, almost
defeated Christian lives, no different than the rest of the world, morally or ethically,
is because they've never figured out the rule book, they've never figured out this love
letter from God called the Bible.
And we could talk a lot about the Bible here, I want to keep it very personal, but I can
tell you this, when I first met my wife Liz, she was at UCLA, and I was at the University
of Georgia, and we had three years of dating where we hardly ever saw each other, it was
kind of hit and miss, because she was in California, I was in Georgia, Maryland, and
then 18 months ahead of her in Japan, and we had to write letters to each other.
So that was how we communicated, and I know any of you that are probably younger than
30 don't even know what I'm talking about, about a letter, but they actually, at one
point in the history of America, you had a pen, and this little pen had ink in it, okay?
In some cases you dipped in it, it had a feather, but I'm not that old.
But we had these things called pens, or pencils, and we would write on a piece of paper that
had lines on it, okay?
And then you actually folded it three ways and stuck it in a thing called an envelope.
You thought that an envelope was just for paying your bills, it's not.
But we used to write letters to each other, and so that's how Liz learned about my heart,
and that's how I learned about her heart, and we fell in love, and we got married, we've
been married for 37 years now.
But the reality is, is that God did the same thing, God put his signature on a book, and
that signature is his identity in the book, and it's called the Bible, 66 books.
And actually, the Bible's not one book per se, it's actually a library of books.
There's 66 books within the Bible, and the only way to grow as a Christian, the only
way to grow as a Kingdom of God revolutionary, the only way to grow into the person that
God's made you to be as a Jesus follower and a Jesus disciple, is to spend inordinate amounts
of time in this book, and this is so vital, it's really important, and this is why so
many are missing out on so much in the Christian life, is they don't spend time in the Bible.
Now, I've got a lot of Bibles, and here on the table with me are some ancient Bibles.
This particular Bible here is about 75 years old, this other Bible is over 150 years old,
and then down below is actually my Bible in Japanese, the one that I used in Japan when
I would teach in Japan, I was a missionary there for 10 years.
And so, the Bible becomes the foundation for your life in growing in Christ.
It's actually the foundation of Western civilization, and you could argue that it's the foundation
of all of world modern civilizations, not sub-modern, but modern civilizations.
And it is the foundation of the language of the Western hemisphere for sure.
Thomas Aquinas, the great Catholic theologian said,
Through the Bible, the truth necessary for salvation is made known to us.
Theodore Roosevelt said, A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college
education.
Ronald Reagan said, Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all of the problems
that men and women face.
Martin Luther, the great reformer said, The Bible is the cradle where Christ is laid.
And I would say that the cradle of Christ is the very foundation of Christ for us to
discover Him in our own lives.
The Bible, in Hebrews 4.12 we read, For the word of God, meaning the Bible, is living
and powerful.
Some of your Bible's new American standards is living and active, and sharper than any
two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow,
and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
So what the writer of Hebrews is saying, is by virtue of spending time reading the Bible,
here's what happens, the Bible reads you.
So when you read the Bible.
The conviction, the power of the Holy Spirit through this holy book flows into your life
and begins to, like a sword, cut in between soul and spirit, between your flesh, between
your sinful side and your God-intentioned spiritual side, and it shows you where the
blockage is.
It's like a surgeon's knife.
So when I get up in the morning and I read a chapter or two from the Bible, I fully expect
that God's going to meet me in a powerful way.
So when I read the Bible, men and women, I have a pen in my hand.
Right now I'm going through Genesis again.
I've been through Genesis many times, but I've got a different Bible for that, more
like a study Bible.
And I was just in a hunting camp, I was up elk hunting in the Rocky Mountains, and took
a day off while the others took off, and I just went to the fire pit, and I opened up
my study Bible, and I had my pen in my hand and my journal, and I just said, God speak
to me afresh from the book of Genesis.
And the reason I'm doing that is because of what's happening in our culture.
With gender issues, gender confusion, woke ideology, Marxist ideology, all that's happening
around us right now.
I wanted to go back to the source.
I wanted to go back to the very foundations of life, and that's the Bible.
So you take that pen in your hand, and you open the word, you let the word open itself
up to you, and then God will speak to you, and he did.
And I have copious notes over the next few hours where God spoke.
Well Paul, in his last will and testament to his main disciple, a guy named Timothy,
in 2 Timothy 3.16 he writes, All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the
man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
So here's what Paul's saying, he's like, I'm not going to write you again.
I know that the Romans are going to kill me.
This is my last letter to you, Timothy.
Get this straight, all scripture is given by inspiration of God.
That literally means God breathed.
So the signature upon my letters to my future wife, identified that letter as being from
me.
God has so identified the scriptures, they have his signature upon it, they're inspired
by him.
Yes, he spoke through human beings that were different races, different backgrounds, different
economic origins.
He spoke through them, but it's God speaking through them, written with the signature of
God that we now call the scriptures, and he's saying that the scriptures are there to teach
us about doctrine, correct us where we're wrong, and then lead us into righteousness.
And man, when you go through the scriptures, you see how much God places value on right
relationships with our fellow man.
That's righteousness.
Righteousness is right relationships with people.
It's not just, I mean it is thinking right, it is having the right doctrine for sure.
But that should express itself, men and women, through right relationships.
That's why Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love God with all of your heart, soul,
mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself.
So the main expression of the Bible, the main expression of the word of God, is God bringing
correction to us, showing us rules for living, righteous living, the pathway to righteousness,
which is solid, good, forgiving, loving, kind relationships.
So wherever you see a Christian who's treating people badly, you should walk up to him and
say, can't you read your Bible?
Because that's not the way you're supposed to live.
We're supposed to out love, out forgive, out care for anybody else in our culture.
Christians should be living that way.
Well, again, I'll say it again, you know, it's because of a bereft of being in God's
word that we have Christians that don't live that way.
So the challenge in growing...
The Jesus follower, Kingdom Revolutionary, is to open your Bible and let God energize
you.
Let God energize you with His Spirit.
That's what the earlier passage means, for the Word of God is living and powerful.
That word is energeo, it means energy.
God gives you spiritual, and it's been true in my life, mental, physical energy through
God's Word.
So I want to challenge you to take time every day, to wake up in the morning.
I like the morning, some people like the evening, it doesn't matter.
God doesn't care, He's always there.
But for me, in the morning, read one chapter.
Just read one chapter a day.
If you haven't read the Bible before, don't start in Genesis, okay?
It's a good place to start, for sure.
But I would say, to understand the Jesus that you follow, that you start with the Gospel
of John.
So in the New Testament, there's Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
So fourth book of the New Testament, start reading just one chapter, and then get a journal.
Get some kind of a journal, or a spiral notebook, doesn't matter.
Put the date at the top, read one chapter, and ask God this, Lord, would you speak to
me?
Would you bring correction in my life?
Would you bring energy to my heart?
Would you bring energy to my mind?
And He will, He will.
Not every day, perfectly, in some mystical way, but you'll just have this sense that
that verse that you just read, that's for you.
And going verse by verse through John will change your life.
It'll transform you.
Just start there.
You don't have to be a great systematic theologian, you have to be a friend of God, and this is
His love letter to you.
This is me writing my wife, my wife writing me.
It's God who loves you, writing a letter to you, to help you grow.
Because He knows best, Father knows best.
He knows what's best for your life, and He's given us rules for living, He's given us guidance,
He's given us structure, and some of you out there need a little more structure in
your life, He's given us boundaries for living, well that's the Bible.
And so to discover the Bible is to discover your destiny.
And so I challenge you, in the morning, or in the evening, sit down, get away from everybody,
be alone, open the Bible in John, and just start working your way, chapter by chapter,
and verse by verse through John, go to that, take care of that, and watch what God'll do.
He's going to transform you, He's going to renew your mind, and you're going to find
yourself a healthier, more joyful, more energetic person, I promise.
So God bless you as you dive in, it's the right thing to do.