Set Apart By The Word

Jesus is real. He's real. That's important for us to really be reminded of. And I'll be honest with you. There are times in Western Christianity where we forget that and Jesus becomes more like a mascot of a religion that we call Christianity, as opposed to the living son of God. Almost becomes like Billy Buffalo for the Bills, right? You know, we like like him to be around. We like seeing him occasionally on the big screen to get a cheer but we're not really interested in him coming home with us or really interested in what he has to say or do outside the game. Sometimes that's how people get with Jesus. That was more like a mascot. We like to sing about him a little bit. But we'd like to keep it on Sundays. Don't really like him coming home with us impacting every part of who we are and what we do. But he's real. He is the second person of the Trinitarian Godhead. God the father, God the son, God the spirit. He's the word made flesh. He's Emmanuel, who is God with us. This is who Jesus is. He's real. He lived in a real place at a real time among real people. This isn't a fantasy or a figment of our imagination. I've walked the streets where he was born. I've walked the streets where he grew up. I've walked the streets where he ministered. I've been to where he died, where he rose. I've been to these places. Jesus is real. It's almost like sometimes in those places you would almost feel like he would come up to you and say, hello. It felt that real. In fact, I'm curious, what would you do if he did that? If he just showed up and said, hello. Like today, for instance. You're driving home and there is in the backseat or you're going to Wegmans with the rest of Western New York or Tops with the West rest of Western New York preparing for the ball game this evening, right. And you run into Jesus. He says, Hey, how are you? You're like you tell me, right. He knocks on your door tonight. Open the door, there's Jesus. What would you do if he said to you, Hey, I just wanna let you know, I'm praying for you. I'm praying for you. How would you respond to that? Thank you maybe, right? Thank you two times. How would you feel? How would you respond with something inside of you be going off saying, I wonder what he's praying for me? Would you want to know that? Wouldn't it be something you'd be interested in knowing, like, what is he praying for me? You don't have to wonder that much because I know in part what he would be praying for you. It's exactly what he prayed for you and for his disciples before he left the earth. You see Jesus was now nearing the time of his death. And he knew this and he met with his disciples in an upper room that was on the Southwestern part of the city of Jerusalem. And after completing that Passover meal and sharing a time with his disciples, they left and they were making their way toward Gethsemane. So he would have been walking and leading them Northeast to Gethsemane. And in so doing, during that timeframe he was teaching them. My guess is even though it looks different now but my guess is where he would have walked to get to Gethsemane from the upper room. He likely would have passed through some vineyards. The reason for that is because his teaching as we read about in John 15 and John 16 and elsewhere Jesus often took things that were there, trees and farms and birds, and he taught from them. And he's teaching his disciples about what it means to abide in him, like a vine and branches, right? And so I'm sure he's illustrating that to them, but in some time before he gets to Gethsemane, he's praying it's what scholars call the high priestly prayer of Jesus. He's making intercession for his disciples but he's not just praying for his disciples because he prays specifically for them and then says and I'm not only praying for them, but I'm praying for those who would believe in me that are yet to come. You know, me and you, that he was praying, listen to this. Jesus was praying for his disciples and for us in this prayer. And I want you to hear what he had to say because the application of what he was praying kind of went both directions. It was for his disciples, but also aimed at us or that which was aimed at us was also true of his disciples And listened to his words in John 17, beginning in verse 14, Jesus said, I've given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am none of it. Sanctified them by the truth, your word is truth. If you wanna know what Jesus is praying for you, it's for you to be sanctified. Now we talked about what sanctification is the idea of being set apart to God, set apart from sin, set apart so that we can fulfill the purposes that God has for us. That this is what sanctification really is. It's our cooperation as I've defined before, our cooperation with the Holy spirit to be shaped into the image of Jesus so that we can be useful for the purposes of God. This is what sanctification is. And Jesus is praying that for his disciples and for those who would believe you and me. Sanctify them and then Jesus clarifies how that will happen, sanctify them by your truth. And then he clarifies it even further. Your word is truth. So this is the prayer of Jesus. Sanctify them by your truth, your word is truth. Now what we know is that at the time that Jesus was praying this there was no new Testament as we know it. So when we talk about the word, right it's a little different here but what Jesus was referring to was the revelation of God in and through himself, Jesus is the word made flesh. Jesus is the vocabulary of God. He's the word made flesh. And so Jesus is now praying this prayer and his disciples are hearing this to say that their sanctification they're being set apart from God is going to come in their embracing of the truth. What's the truth? Jesus is. He said it very clearly to his disciples. I'm the way the truth and the life No one comes to the father except through me. And so his disciples knew that believing in who Jesus was who Jesus says God is what Jesus taught and helping people understand what Jesus did and what that means for the sake of the kingdom of God and the salvation of humanity. This was for them, the revelation of God. This was the truth. What we know is that Jesus prayer for his disciples the apostles was an effectual prayer because history teaches us that his apostles were in fact set apart for the truth to testify to it. And that they preach this gospel all over the place, even to the points of their deaths in places outside of where they thought that they would maybe end up being because there was a great persecution and they were all spread out from Jerusalem and they were going out to all different points in places around the known world at that time. But you know what the apostles did under the inspiration of the spirit, they didn't just talk about the truth. They wrote it down. This was led by the spirit of God because they recognized I believe that they recognize there need to be a deposit of truth given to people. Why? Because people would be sanctified by the truth And his word is truth. And so under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit the apostles wrote, and we get an entire New Testament that's written by the hand of an apostle or the associate of an apostle. And now we have what is called a Canon of scripture a measuring line for us to be able to go back to not only know what is true, but what is the truth about who God is and how God has revealed him in the person of Jesus Christ written by those who lived with him who followed after him, who witnessed his death and resurrection and who witnessed his ascension to the father. This is what we now have. So we now have the privilege of being sanctified by the truth. The word is truth. Now I tell you all of those things because, what's important for us to remember is that in sanctification, Jesus is the goal and the word of God is the means. I don't want you to get those two things confused because while we are listen, what the goal of sanctification is that our cooperation with the spirit to be shaped in to the image of Jesus. That's the goal. The goal is likeness to Christ, allowing the work of God in our lives in such a way that we are like Jesus in an ever-increasing way. That's what sanctification is. That's the goal. And the means to get to that goal Jesus prayed, sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. See, this is what we have to be able to embrace and remember, because our cooperation with the spirit is our willingness to allow him to use his word, to shape our lives into the image of the son of God. That's what sanctification actually looks like. And this idea of letting the word of God shape us, is one that we need to pause and reflect on for a few moments because the word of God itself actually testifies to the manner in which it does this shaping. Interestingly enough, the scripture says about itself God saying and through other people saying, in various word pictures and or metaphors it gives us these lovely pictures about how the word of God works to sanctify us in our lives into the image of Jesus. So, what does the word of God look like? Well first thing I could point out is precipitation. Some of you are going, thank you, Mr. Meteorologists. That is not what I saw coming. I did not think that I was gonna show up and hear the word precipitation you know, outside of a meteorological broadcast. Well the reason that I say it is because here's what God says through Isaiah, listen to this in Isaiah 55, "As the rain and the snow come "down from heaven and do not return to it without watering "the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields "seed for the sower and bread for the eater. "So is my word that goes out from my mouth. "It will not return to me empty "but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose "for which I sent it." Just like the rain and the snow, so is my word. That's what God says. And what he's saying is this just like the rain and the snow are divine messengers sent to a weary land that is in need of refreshment so to my word, when it goes from my mouth will accomplish what I have sent it to do. Now obviously God is talking about the wholeness of his revelation, the revelation of God in Christ that this revelation is going to accomplish all that God desires for it to accomplish. Nothing will stand in the way of it. What God has spoken forth is going to happen. History will come to a climax. Evil will be defeated. Jesus will return again. New creation will come all by God's own design and all by God's own revelation. His word that came from his mouth will not return void. But what God wants to do in our lives individually is be able to speak to us in such a way that the beautiful flood waters of the word of God, rush over our dry hearts and actually prepare the soil for fruitfulness. What does fruitfulness look like? Jesus. That's what it looks like. See that's the goal, right? Fruitfulness looks like Jesus. And what the word of God does is it pours down upon us preparing the heart that was dry. Now you've got to remember in the ancient world rain was the difference between life and death. These weren't people that, you know, just ordered everything on Amazon and had whatever they didn't have to, you know. It was like, if it didn't rain, we don't grow things we don't eat, we die. That's what happened, right? We can't feed our animals if we don't have this, we can't grow our crops if we don't have this, we're talking about an agrarian culture. And so this was the difference, right? The difference was between famine and fruitfulness. And if anybody thinks that they can experience fruitfulness in the life of God, without the word of God, you're mistaken because this is like precipitation for our soul. This is a divine messenger of God to accomplish his purpose in watering this dry, dry land inside of us. But the Bible also talks about itself as seed not just precipitation, but seed. There's a few places that I could go, but I'm gonna go to Peter's first letter. And here's what Peter said in 1 Peter 1 he said, "For you have been born again, not of perishable seed "but of imperishable through the living "and enduring word of God." Now, you know what he says here, that not only is the word of God imperishable, but it's also invincible because it's enduring. Now the interesting thing about seed that's perishable, seed that's perishable can only produce one time after its own kind. That's what perishable seed does, but imperishable seed can keep on reproducing the life of God in us. The word of God is called seed because when it falls into our heart, prayerfully a heart that has been watered deeply by the word, then what happens is this, is that God can continue to reproduce his own life in us because the seed is imperishable and invincible it endures. The scripture also talks about God's word as light. A number of places that we could talk about there. But Psalm 119 is a good one. Psalm 119:105 says, "Your word is a lamp for my feet "and a light on my path." Now the interesting thing about this is that you've got two words here lamp and light and sometimes in Hebrew parallelism, what you see is you see, basically the same Hebrew word repeated a couple of times to give emphasis. That's not the case in this verse. The word for lamp is different than the word for light. Lamp to my feet is indicative of a candle or a little oil flask kind of thing, right? Which basically gave you enough to take a step or two. But isn't that a perfect reminder to us that life is supposed to be meant to be lived by faith. Without faith it's impossible to please God, right? That's what the book of Hebrews teaches us. We are to be people of faith. What better way than for God, instead of revealing everything for us, one step at a time as he reveals himself in his word, we can step into that truth in obedience. And then we can step into this truth and obedience because you know what we live in? A really spiritually dark world. Everybody clued into that? We're all on the same boat there? We live in a spiritually dark world. And so we need the lamp of the word of God because what we're doing is we're learning to trust in Jesus. How do we trust in Jesus? By obedience to what he's revealed. The obedience of the word of God. That's what we're doing. And we take a step and do you know what happens when we keep taking steps of faith with this lamp that is the word of God? Then he says, it will be a light to your path different word. That word actually means a really bright light, such as morning. Think about it this way. We walk with the word of God by faith. And we are trusting him and we're listening and we're hearing and we're obeying and we're taking step by step that we can see because of the word of God and eventually we are led to a well lit path. Because we are now people who understand how to live in the midst of darkness. We understand how to deal with all of those things. If anybody should know how to live and walk and talk and think in the midst of darkness, it's believers, why? Because we've the light of the word of God. This is what enables us to be able to do that. The scripture is also referred to as milk. Peter says it this way, going back to chapter one, he says "and like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word "so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation." The pure milk of the word. He said like newborn babies. So he's giving us this picture, right, of infants, a healthy infant desires milk. You could say that their priority thirst is for milk. And ultimately what this picture is telling us Peter's giving us a picture and he's saying, if you are a healthy in being born into the family of God, then you are going to have as your priority thirst the word of God so that you can know the God who wrote it. That's the whole point, right? The point is Jesus. He's the goal. The word of God is the means, but that we should have a longing for the pure milk of the word. You realize don't you, that we will not young infants babies children, they don't develop past their intake of milk. In other words, they need that for their development. So do we. We need exactly the same thing. And if we have a thirst problem for the word of God Let me tell you what you can do to solve that. Talk to Jesus and ask him to change your want tos. You're going, wait a minute, that sounds too easy. Yeah, you know why? He's real. He'll do it. Sometimes we just fail to remember those things, we're looking for tricks and formulas and all this stuff. And then people will, I just don't know what I'm gonna. I got a quick one for you. Talk to God because he's real. And if you lay yourself before him and say, you know what? I need a thirst for your word. I need a thirst for you that I just don't have. He'll give it to you. If you ask from an honest heart, he'll give it to you. The Bible also kind of records that it's the idea of bread. That's another picture that we have. Many places again that we could turn to but one that maybe is familiar to us is when Jesus is facing temptation in the wilderness. In Matthew 4 it says, "Jesus was led by the spirit "into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. "After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. "The tempter came to him and said, 'If you're the son of God "tell these stones to become bread.' "And Jesus answered, It is written, "'Man shall not live on bread alone "but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" You see what we have to remember is that for the ancient world, bread was a staple. Everybody eats bread. Some of you are going not in my 2021 diet I'm not. Listen, that's fine. If it was good enough for Jesus, but whatever. I'm just tired of hearing people like kind of tell me, you know, the wider, the bread the quicker your dead. And I'm like, Hey, let's not get morbid. How about not doing that? I like bread. I've been all over the world and everywhere I go, bread is a staple. It was a staple in the time of Jesus of course. They didn't get to eat like we eat. We like Kings. We eat like ancient Kings. Go anywhere. Giving me this. Waitress, bring me some of that. Like this was only things that Kings did in the ancient world. And here we are, you know we go over to Carrabba's we're like, bring me some chicken Parmesan. And they do. Bread though, everywhere in the world. It's a staple. It's foundational. And what Jesus is saying is that every word that comes from the mouth of God is a staple to us. It's foundational to us. It's what we need. Jesus was comparing bread with the word and even saying that the word that comes out of the mouth of God is more important even than the staple of physical bread. There was a time where Jesus failed to eat lunch because he was ministering to a woman and his disciples came up and said, you got to eat. And he said, I've got food that you know nothing about. The word of God. It's a staple for us. It's foundational for us. The Bible also pictures itself as a mirror You like, how many of these do you have Jerry? I'm like a 10th of the way done. Got a mirror. It's a joke. A mirror. Listen to what James says. Here's how he words it in James 1, "Do not merely listen "to the word, and so deceive yourselves, do what it says. "Anyone who listens to the word, but does not do what it "says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror "and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately "forgets what he looks like. "But whoever looks intently into the perfect law "that gives freedom and continues in it. "Not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it, "they will be blessed in what they do." You see, listen to this. Here's what the word of God does. And remember, we're tying all of this to the fact that Jesus said, sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth. Why is the word like a mirror for us? Because it not only shows us who we are it shows us who we're not. And it also shows us who we can be. That's the beauty of the word. It's a mirror for us. Have any of you ever walked out into public forgetting to check yourself before you left? And then you're maybe at a restaurant or a dinner meeting or you're out with friends doing whatever you're doing and it's been a couple of hours. And then eventually you go to the restroom and you're washing your hands and you look up and there's something unsightly on your face. Am I the only one that's ever happened to? Or has that happened to everyone at some point in your life, right? Where you look and you're like, how long has this vine been swinging from between my teeth? How long has that been happening? Has that been going on for hours? And then you start going back in your mind who have I been talking to? What has been going on? Why did my wife tell me that there was this thing hanging out of my teeth? Why didn't that happened, right? You ask all of these questions because when you finally look in the mirror you actually see things that don't belong. You see, God uses his word to be able to do that. There are unsightly things that occur in our lives that he reveals by his spirit, through his word and says to us, you probably need to take that off, but he does the inverse too by the way. He also uses his word as a mirror to encourage. I always love seeing those stories where people have made an effort, maybe mobile hairstylists or stylists of some type to go to some folks who may be found themselves in a very difficult time. And maybe they're without a place to live right now, living on the street. Now seeing some of these folks go into the streets and say, Hey I want you to come here I'm gonna cLean you up and give you some clothes and all that, right? And so maybe it was a gentleman who had shaggy hair and they cut his hair all beautifully. And then they shaved him and then they put some new clothes on him and he still has yet to look in a mirror. And then when he finally does, he's just overwhelmed Because you know what? Maybe he sees what he's always known, except it got away. This is who he actually is, but it got away. And as a result, he's encouraged by that. You see, God uses his word sometimes in our lives to do the very same thing to be able to say to us, I know you're kind of in a difficult spot right here but I want to remind you of what I'm making you. I want you to be able to see what I think of you. Even in the midst of this I actually know you. I know the real you and I love you. This is what the word of God can do. It can be an encouragement. It's a mirror. But what we can't do is we can't see this revelation of who God is and see who we're supposed to be. And then just walk away from it, forgetting. That's crazy, right? We don't do that. We don't walk away from a mirror and forget what we look like. I mean, we're mirrors of one another aren't we? We remember one another. I know you, you know me, we see each other. We say hello, why? 'Cause we don't forget that. I was just in a store yesterday. This happens all the time. And I was in the store yesterday and I was looking down at some items or whatever. And I heard, Hey, and I looked up and it was pastor Leroy. And he says to me, "I'd recognize that forehead anywhere." What kind of friendship Leroy, pull it together brother. The funny thing is I didn't tell him this, my wife doesn't call it a forehead, she calls it a fivehead cause I've got so much of it. Not cool, not cool at all ED. She says I've got a fivehead. Anyway, we don't forget what each other looks like, right? This is what we're told about the word of God. Don't walk away from this forgetting what I've said to you about who I am or about who you are, but instead embrace it and live it and do it.
The word of God is also called fire. We have this picture of it being fire. Here's what Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 23. It's the Lord speaking in the book of Jeremiah. "'Is not my word like fire,' declares the Lord." Now the context of this is that God is standing in opposition to the false prophets of their day. And he speaking very clearly about them. He's saying they prophesied falsely in my name. He's also saying that they prophesied from a mind that is diluted and delusional. They're also doing this in a manner where they're talking just about their dreams instead of being faithful to talk about the word. This is in Jeremiah, you can read it in Jeremiah 23. And then he says, is not my word like fire. In other words, his word will consume all that stands in opposition to it. And we'll refine and purify that which is true. This is the reminder, you know, what's true about fire? It's always looking to consume, always. You light a fire, it's looking that there's a reason you put rocks around the exterior. It's looking to consume and continue to burn. That's what the word of God is like. It is like a consuming fire. Interestingly enough, the word of God is actually the sword of the who? The spirit, right? The sword of the spirit and the spirit is also identified with fire. That there's a consuming that happens where our hearts become consumed where the things that don't belong there get burned up and burned away. And that which does belong, becomes refined. This is the beauty of the picture here. But in that same verse, by the way, God says this, he calls it a hammer. Same verse he says, it's fire, the word is a fire and it's also like a hammer. Listen to the verse in verse 29, "Is not my word "like fire declares the Lord, and like a hammer "that breaks a rock in pieces?" But you understand what's being said when you hear about the word of God as a hammer that it has the capacity to break down hardened hearts. You know, I remember what that's like, by the way. I don't know if you do, I sure hope you do. I hope you never forget what it was like to be lost. I hope you never forget it. Because there are people wondering around us all the time that that's all they know. All they know is spiritual darkness. All they know is lostness from God. And we need to remember that we too lived in that space. But I remember in the summer of 1989, standing in the middle of the street with a young lady named Kay, and for three hours, she's talking to me about the word of God. And it is like a hammer to my hard heart, just breaking it into pieces, so that I could then turn my face toward God and receive all that he's promised. To receive the joy of the salvation that he's offered in Jesus Christ. I'm so grateful to God that even now in the vocation that God has called me into, that what I do is I get up and plagiarize God every single week. I just get up and tell you, here's what God said. This is a life lessons with Jerry. This is us together saying, here's what God said. So I'm putting it up here. It's why I'm telling you to look at it. So I'm telling you to read. We want it all there for us because now you can have, listen here's the beauty, you can take somebody weak like me who gets up here and has this in hand and this makes Thor's look like it is a child's toy because this hammer used by the word used by the spirit of God, can break away all the rock formations that gather around and harden our hearts. I thank God for that. Listen, there is no heart that God can't break through. This hammer can do the job. It's not just called a hammer though. It's also referred to as a sword. Listen to how the writer of Hebrews says it. Hebrews 4, "For the word of God is alive "and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. "It penetrates even to dividing soul "and spirit joints and marrow "and it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. "Everything is uncovered and laid bare "before the eyes of him to whom we must give account." Like we talked about last week, undragoning takes deep cuts and that's why the word of God is called a sword. The word of God is not pictured as a feather that tickles, it's pictured as a sword that pierces. Sometimes we want to make the word of God ticklish. We just want to, Hey, let's all. When sometimes the word of God is not. Sometimes it is piercing. It's piercing us. It's dividing everything. It's dividing everything up in here and it is laying us bare before the one to whom we must give account. The reason that that's a beautiful thing is because it allows us to be sanctified, separated from our sin and separated to God so that we can be more fully human, more fully alive, more in the image of Jesus as opposed to less so. That's why when we think about this one to whom we must give account the Lord Jesus. We remember that the one that we must give an account to is actually going to show back up. He's coming again. And by the way, the swords coming with him. If you haven't read the book of Revelation upon the return of Jesus as it's described in revelation 19, listen to what it says. "I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white "horse whose rider is called faithful and true. "With justice he judges and wages war. "His eyes are like blazing fire "and on his head are many crowns. "He has a name written on him that no one knows "but he himself. "He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood "and his name is the word of God. "The armies of heaven were following him "riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen "white and clean. "Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword "with which to strike down the nations." Swords don't belong in mouths do they? Swords belong in hands? They are usually on a side where you would pick up a sword and you would wield it not so here. The imagery of Jesus in his return is the sword of his own mouth. The very word of God. The truth is all he needs. This sword will do its work in our lives. And by the way, in every life everywhere because everyone must give an account to the one who's returning. You see when Jesus prays Sanctify them by the truth, your word is truth. There's a lot to that. There's a lot for us to be able to understand about the work of the word of God in our own lives. And see if we want to cooperate with the spirit what that will mean is is that we surrender ourselves to the truth of the word of God and let it pour over us let it wash over us, let it seed our lives. Let it pierce like a sword. Let it be bread for us. Let it be light for us. All of these pictures is what will happen because it will shape us into the image of Jesus. Now that said, you've kind of picked up on the importance of what Jesus prayed, sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth. So what are some action steps we need to take as a result of that, to cooperate with the effectual prayer of Jesus for our lives. Oh, here's the first, set a time. In other words, your time in the word of God doesn't need to be a, set of time. It's that important. 'Cause you know you don't do that with food. Noon. I'm eating. Right? That's what you do. We need to set a time if it really matters. When I first came to Faith in Jesus at 19 years old, I ended up connected to a church in Woodstock, Georgia just kind of on the North side of Atlanta. And while I was there, one of the pastors that was on the staff team there, his name is Steve. And he took me in a couple of my other Hoodline buddies that had come to Faith in Christ. And every Saturday morning for a period of time every Saturday morning we would meet him early. We didn't like the early part, but that was his deal. And we would meet him early at the prayer room of the church. Now he was only like five six still is only five or six years older than me. But I felt like he's full grown man. And I was still a college student, right. I'm still a college student trying to figure out life. He's married, multiple kids. I think he had like 80. I can't remember exactly what the number was but it was a lot, right. He had all these kids he's married and all that stuff. So he just felt like a full grown adult with like real life and real responsibilities. And I'm a college student. And so me and my buddies would meet with him and he would teach us how to read the word and how to pray. It was just a beautiful opportunity and we were just fired up Like we were on fire. And I remember him saying to me, you know, like Jerry like when do you read the word? And I was like well, you know, like whenever. Different times, you know. And he's like, he said mostly though, like. I was like, well you know a lot of times when I go to bed at night, you know or whatever, it gives me an opportunity to do that. And he's like, great. He was a super encouraging. He's like, man, that's awesome. But let me ask you a question. "When do you fight your battles during the day?" I was like, like all day, like from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed, all day. He's like, "do you have battles in your life?" And I was like, yes, I do. I got battles. He's like do you think it would make more sense to maybe get ready in the morning for the battles that are awaiting you or to lick your wounds at night before you go to sleep when you're not fighting a battle? I was like that's a good point. I'm going to do that. And I've done it ever since. I just set aside a time in the morning to spend time with God. By the way if you spend time with God before you go to bed at night also great. Better than nothing, for sure that's awesome. But I'd encourage you to think about when you fight your battles and when you need that strength from God, set a time. But secondly, have a plan, okay. This is super simple, set a time, have a plan. You're like, what do you mean have a plan? I mean, this isn't just random, right? It's not just today, 'cause you might just end up with and Judas hung himself, right? And then you're kind of like that's not really what I was looking for today, you know? No, have a plan. Like whatever that plan looks like. It could be a read through the Bible in a year plan if you wanna do that. It could be a read through a book of the Bible kind of thing. It could be each day of the month you're reading a proverb of the day that corresponds to the day of the month. There's loads of different options. And we're gonna resource you with some of those as we conclude here in just a moment, okay. But have a plan. And then lastly, know the point. See you understand why you're doing this. You're not doing it to check a box. You're not doing it to say, I read through the entire Bible. Listen, I'm encouraging people to read through the entire Bible. I think that's fantastic. Particularly if you've never done that before like you want to understand the whole sweep of scripture but just because you've read through the entire Bible does not mean that you've obeyed the entire Bible. This isn't about just knowledge. Knowledge can puff up, but love builds up. Love is the practical application in obedience to the word. This is what love looks like. So like for me, sometimes I'm reading sometimes this just in my life now. Sometimes I'm reading the same passage of scripture multiple days in a row just to sit with it. I'm not reading it to teach it. I'm reading it to embrace it. We've got to know the point. You see the point isn't brownie points for us, checking boxes so God likes us more. That's not the point. You know what the point is, to know him. That's why Jesus had to rebuked the Pharisees when he said, you know, you read the scripture because in them you think you have eternal life but the scriptures testify about me and you've not come to me to have eternal life. See, that's why I'm trying to remind you and helping you to remember what I said earlier. And it's this. In sanctification Jesus is the goal and the word is the means to get to the goal. That's why I told you that from the outset. Jesus is the goal, being like him is the goal, knowing him is the goal and the word it's the means to that goal. So what does that look like for us? What does that look like for us? I hope it looks like action on your part to press in to knowing God through the vehicle that he gave us because what we'll do is we'll work consistently in cooperation with the effectual prayer of Jesus, sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. Let's bow our heads together. They will be gone in just a moment. It's possible that you may be here either in this place, watching online listening on a radio, watching on television, it's possible that you may have never come to a place of surrendering your life to Jesus. The beautiful news of the Bible is that God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him would not perish, but would have everlasting life. You see the Bible tells us that we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God and that the wages or the payment for that sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. And if you've never said no to yourself and said no to your sin and said no to living your own way and trying to control your own destiny and saying by faith, yes, to what God has done through Jesus who lived who died in our place to satisfy the justice of God for sin and who rose from the dead. In other words, he's made a way for you that you couldn't make for yourself. That is a loving God but you must by faith receive the gift. That's why the Bible says to as many as received Jesus he gave the right to become children of God to those who believe on his name. And if you've never come to a place of receiving Jesus, I hope you will today. You'll hear in just a moment how you can follow up and we can help you in that decision to trust Jesus. Father I pray as well for those of us who embrace your truth and recognize the work that it has and does in us. And I pray for us as your people that we would be a people who would receive the water of your word so that it would saturate the ground of our souls so that the imperishable seed can reproduce your life in us. And that people around us can be impacted that they can see us walking in the light as you are in the light, because your word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. That we'd be careful that when we look into the word that it's the only book that when we read it, it reads us because it's a mirror shows us who we are and who we're not and who we are destined to become. I pray you'd allow us to be surrendered to let the work of the sword of your spirit, do its work in laying us bare in revealing what doesn't belong, the fire that will consume all that doesn't belong and will purify what does. The bread that becomes a foundation and a staple for our very living that we can eat food and exist but we're never really living until we are embracing the words that come from the mouth of God. And the hammer that allows the hard places in our souls to be broken apart so that we can be truly human and truly alive. I pray that your prayer Lord Jesus would just pour over us and that you would do your good pleasure in our hearts sanctify us by your truth. Your word is truth. We thank you for that now in Jesus name. Amen.