The Habit of Bible Study

The Power of Spiritual Habits September 14, 2025 2 Timothy 3.16-17 Notes


Americans today have more access to the Bible than any previous generation. Most us have several copies in various versions. We even Bible apps on our phones. Yet according to recent polls the overwhelming majority do not actually read those Bibles regularly, much less study or deeply engage with the Bible.

In the apostle Paul’s second letter to Timothy, he charged him to remain faithful to the study and preaching of God’s Word that God’s people might be thoroughly equipped for every good work. We can practice the spiritual habit of Bible study that we might be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Audio

Transcript

Good morning, church. It is good seeing all of you here this morning. We are continuing our series, “The Power of Spiritual Habits,” today. This series is really a study of the Christian disciplines and practices that have been passed down from the earliest days of the church. It is a way of working out what God is working in us as believers.

I want to thank my son, Stephen, who has preached the last four Sundays. This sermon series was really his; from his heart. It was something he wanted us to preach, so I felt it appropriate to let him kick it off. I think he did a great job.

As his wife, Caroline, mentioned earlier, it is his birthday today, so, happy birthday to my firstborn son! Some have been asking, ‘What have you been doing?’ Well, we spent some time in Pachuca, Mexico with the Castros, preaching and teaching at their little church plant that they've started.

As you know, I have a heart for the nations. So, when I have an opportunity to allow you to have good preaching here from one of our teaching team, it allows me to go and visit our missionaries on the field. So that's part of what we did. We got some rest, we had a family reunion; different things like that. But know this, just understand something about our church.

We're not a personality- driven church in this sense: This is not “Gary's” church. This is Christ the Lord's church. The only personality that we want to receive glory is Jesus. A lot of you have told me, ‘Hey, I missed you.’ Well, I've missed you too. It's good to be missed,

but I want you to make sure that you know whose church it is, right? I'm no hero; I'm a sinner, saved by grace. Whatever I have to offer, the Lord Jesus has given me. We're thankful to be back.

Now, that's the first thing I wanted to tell you. Here's the second thing that I wanted to mention to you and it's this, church family. In recent days, our nation has experienced some grievous events. We've been shaken by some grievous events:

The tragic school shooting in Colorado. The brutal murder of a young Ukrainian woman on a train in Charlotte. The shocking assassination of Charlie Kirk while he was speaking to college students at Utah Valley University. These remind us that we live in a world marked by sin and violence. If you didn't already know that, you know it well now.

As a result of these events, the ugliness of humanity is really visible. If you are on any kind of social media platform, you have seen the people's reactions. Yet, as followers of Christ, we are not hopeless. We are not to respond with violence or anger. We can grieve, but we do not grieve as those who have no hope. We're not to be fearful.

God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. So, we grieve with those who grieve. We pray for those who are bereaved and who have lost loved ones.

We are to shine the light of Christ in a dark world. So, let us recommit ourselves to being peacemakers, truth tellers and lovers and bearers of hope, so that even in days of sorrow, we can pray for national revival in this country that we love. So that we can share the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ and be the light of this dark world. Let's pray and then we'll dig into this message. Lord, I pray, first of all, for those that lost loved ones this past week; for those families and for those close to those families. Lord, I pray for our nation, as we just have seen this week, what it looks like for a land for a people to be far from God.

Lord, I pray for revival and renewal in our nation. I pray that the gospel would go forth, the Good News of Jesus would be a light and that it would start with us. It would start with each of us in this church, Lord, that we would be those that are preaching Christ and that we would be those who have been reconciled to God and called to the ministry of reconciliation in this world. Now, Lord, I pray that you would use me, a sinner saved by grace, to preach your word, that you would allow us as hearers of your word, to have hearing ears and open hearts. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

We're continuing this series. Our series theme verse is in Ephesians. It says this, Ephesians 4:23-24 (NLT) 23 “Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.” The Spirit is working in us, as believers, to renew us and to make us like Jesus. But, we're to put on certain spiritual habits and disciplines to help God work out what He's already working in us.

Now, to be clear, we can't change ourselves. There's a whole section in bookstores called “Self Help,” but the problem is, we can't help ourselves. The Bible is not a “self-help” book. It's a love letter from God to a people that need rescued.

So, when we talk about spiritual habits, what we're talking about is working out what God is working in, putting on what God has put in. Let's be clear about that. Here's what Dr. Donald Whitney writes in his book, “Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life.” He says, “Spiritual disciplines are those practices found in Scripture that promote spiritual growth among believers in the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are habits of devotion, habits of experiential Christianity that have been practiced by God’s people since biblical times.”

These are habits that we've been talking about, and we're in week five of this now. They are really helping us to yield ourselves to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in us. We can't change ourselves, but God can change us as we yield our hearts, our minds, our bodies and our souls to him. Indeed, we're going to be looking at 2 Timothy today. The Apostle Paul writes this to his protégé, to his apprentice preacher, young Timothy, who he counted as a spiritual son in the Lord. He wrote to him about these disciplines.

He says in 1 Timothy 4:7 (NASB) “...discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.” He told Timothy that physical exercise, it profits a little, but spiritual disciplines profit much. He urged young Timothy to do this. Now, spiritual habits are means, not ends. Our goal is not to say,

‘I'm really good at spiritual habits, so I must be a really good Christian.’ I'm not here this morning to put more on you, to give you the burden of Okay, now I have to add this to my list.

No, it's not that. What I want to offer you is an opportunity today to allow the transforming grace to permeate your life by becoming a student of God's word. Not one who's just learning intellectually, but one who's reading and applying the “love letter” that God's written to each of us and to work out what He's working in. Spiritual habits are a way of yielding to and cooperating with the Holy Spirit, who's already at work in us, instead of resisting His work by going our own way. Spiritual habits; here's some of them that we've talked about.

We have talked about a daily quiet time, having a daily quiet time with God. That was the first week. We talked about fellowship with other believers, getting together with other believers in community. We talked about serving. Last week, we talked about the habit of rest, that there's a rhythm to our lives. That God put a rhythm of rest that we need to follow. So, looking at these habits, they are not ends, but they are means to a goal.

What's the goal? What's God up to? What's God want to do in your life? Believer, He's making you more like Jesus.

That's His goal. Jesus is the model. He's the one that God is making us like so that we're becoming more like Jesus. The biblical word or the theological word is “sanctification;” making us more like Jesus.

That's the goal of these habits. Now, today in part five, we're going to be talking about the habit of Bible study. Now, Americans today have more access to Bibles than any generation who have ever lived. It used to be back in the day, if you wanted to read a Bible for yourself, first of all, people didn't know how to read. But if you were lucky enough to be educated and

if you wanted to read a Bible, you had to be wealthy to own one. Or, you went to the church and they used to have a pulpit Bible that had a chain on it chained to the pulpit and church doors were left open and you could go in and read from the pulpit Bible. People couldn't afford bibles. But with this generation, we have bibles everywhere.

We have bible apps on our phones. You just go to your phone and you can read the bible. You can push a button and have the bible read to you. In case you're just not feeling up to reading that day, you can just listen to it. People have bibles in every kind of version, every kind of English translation.

They have them with special covers. The woman's devotional Bible; it's pink, of course. Then, we have the camouflage cover for those who like to go hunting whenever they're also having their devotions. We have all kinds of Bibles. But, there's only one problem with all these kinds of Bibles.

Many of them are just like coasters on your coffee table, collecting dust and having water rings on top. If you don't read them, you can't get it inside you. According to Barna, only 11% of Americans read the Bible daily. That's one out of 10. If you're someone who reads the Bible every day, you're one out of ten Americans that do.

Only one out of three say they read the Bible once a week. Roughly 50% say they might read it twice a year. I'm guessing I know when that is: Christmas and Easter. The place packs out at those two times of the year.

Reading it doesn't necessarily imply that you're a student. You might just be reading it to check off some box. You are just picking a passage randomly; that doesn't mean you're studying. What does it say about that?

Well, I looked at a survey by the Pew organization. They said from their study that only 45% of the respondents who said they read the bible could tell you the names of the four Gospels. Could you do that? Do you know the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.”

See, because Bible study also includes an intellectual endeavor. It certainly is, but partly only 50% could say the name of the first book of the Bible, Genesis. Only 2 out of 3 could tell you what city Jesus was born in, Bethlehem.

I could go on. Just because people read doesn't mean they are students. When it comes to you, when you think about where you're at, are you a student? I'm praying that, as the pastor of this church, we would be people of the Book, that we would be serious students of the bible, that we would be biblically literate people, that we would know the book. And more than that, we would “do” the book.

We would live and follow the word of God. That's my desire, too. Now, that was Paul's desire and he's writing this letter to his spiritual son in the Lord, Timothy. He writes two letters to Timothy.

You have to remember how this happened. Timothy was his son in the Lord, younger than Paul. He had followed Paul for many years. And Paul planted a church in Ephesus, and he was there planting that church for three years. And he built a great church.

Ephesus was the second largest city in the Roman Empire. Over 250,000 people lived in Ephesus. It was the most influential church during that day in terms of size and influence. Paul, who was a church planter, says that after three years, I got to go plant more churches. And he hands the keys to Timothy.

And Timothy's like, I can't do it. I'm too young. I'm too small. This week I was studying with my son Jonathan. And by the way, this month is the 10th year anniversary of our Rocky Mount campus.

Can you believe that? That's wonderful. Praise the Lord for that. It seems like yesterday to me, but I told him when we started this church, when we started out, we were part of an idea of planting churches. Nobody in eastern North Carolina was planting churches in those days.

And so we were way ahead of the curve. 33, almost 34 years ago. And so I didn't have anybody to talk to. There were no other pastors planting churches. And so I used to read first and second Timothy and I would rename it first and second Gary.

And I'd be like, I need somebody to talk to, Paul. Can you be my mentor? And he would be like, yeah, like I quoted this earlier. But when I was afraid he'd say, God has not given us a spirit of fear, Gary, but a spirit of love and of power and of a sound mind, I go, okay, thanks, Paul. That's good.

And he goes. And then when I would get feeling bad, you know, like I didn't feel up to the task or I didn't feel like I was, I would listen to one of my old sermon tapes because we used to record him on this thing called cassette tapes. Parents talk to the young people, explain to them what I'm talking about. But I would listen to one and I'd be like, oh, I'm terrible. And you know, I had too many ums and ahs.

And then I would read over here in second Timothy, chapter four, 1 “…I give you this charge: 2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” I'd go, yes, Paul, like that. And so he's talking to Timothy, his spiritual son in the Lord. He says, Timothy, I charge you to be a student of God's Word and to preach God's Word and to teach God's word so that the people of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

And I believe that's still true today, that we can be thoroughly equipped for every good work that God's called us to by being students of God's Word. I think that's what God's calling us to do. Church and as we look today, I think we'll see three steps on how we can be students, how we can have the habit of Bible study. Let me read two verses and then we'll unpack them together. Verse 16 and 17 of chapter 3.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV) 16 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” This is God's Word. Amen. We're looking for three steps on how to practice the habit of Bible study. Here's the first step.

1. LISTEN ––Read God’s Word as His life-transforming message to you.

Listen. Listen. Read God's Word. Listen to God's Word. Receive God's Word as his life transforming message to you.

His life transforming as his love letter to you, I want you to notice the first words we see here. All scripture is breathed out by God. All scripture, not most scripture, not pretty much all. All scripture. One of the ways that students study any book, not just the Bible, but any piece of literature, is to look at its internal evidence.

What does the book claim for itself? Well, what does the Bible claim for itself? It claims to be God breathed. It claims that all scripture, all writings from Genesis to Revelation come from God. This is an authoritative statement that it has the authority of God.

But it's not only that God breathed that, it's breathed out by God. The King James says inspired, which the word inspired from the Latin still has the idea of breath to be breathed out. We can't miss what this is really implying. You can't miss the fact that Paul probably has in mind what we see back in Genesis when it says that God fashioned Adam the first man from the dust of the earth and he formed a man and he breathed life into him and he became a living soul. That same breath of God, that same breath, that's what he breathed out through the apostle Paul when he's writing first and second Timothy.

That's where Scripture comes from. It's a really cool Greek word. You want to learn a Greek word today? It's theopneustos. It means God breathed.

All scripture is theopneustos Theo. It's the root word for theology. It means the study of God. Theo, it's the Greek word for God.

It has that silent P at the beginning, like pneumonia, which is a disease of the breath or of the lungs. Right? Neustos means breath or wind or spirit. All scripture, not most scripture. All scripture is God breathed.

It has authority and it has life giving transformational power for the believer. That's what, that's just the first few words. We just got started with this verse and that's what we can see. Why wouldn't you listen? Why wouldn't you receive such a word?

There's no other book like it. The Bible is the Greek word biblos, which just means book. So the name of it is the book. That's the name of it. It's actually 66 books written by over 40 human authors over a period of 1600 years.

There's no other book like it. It's God's book. It's God's love letter to you.

And here's what we see. Paul writing to the church at Rome in Romans 10. He says Romans 10:17 (NKJV) “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” You want to grow in faith. You want to have life, transformational faith.

It comes from hearing, listening, studying God's word. The psalmist says it like this in Psalm 119:15 (NLT) “I will study your commandments and reflect on your ways.” So when we read the Word of God, you might be thinking, well, it seems to tell me a lot about me. It seems to tell me a lot about humanity and nations and people.

What does. But the book is primarily about God. From cover to cover, if you look closely enough, you'll be learning not just what God says, but you'll learn his ways, you'll learn his character. You'll become a student of the Lord himself. I've been calling it a love letter.

It reminds me of the summer of 78. The summer of 78. I went on a mission trip with Campus Crusade for Christ. And I was part of a music trip where I played guitar and sang and gave my testimony and went around and visited different groups of college students and so forth that summer. And it was a great summer.

It was just. I picked a summer that was probably not the best summer for me because right before I went on this summer break, I asked this little girl named Robin Conner to marry me. And so, like a couple of weeks, like before I go on this mission trip, she said yes. I put a ring on her finger and went on this trip.

And boy, my little heart, boy, is just like missing her so bad. I was trying to live for Jesus and I was doing pretty good, but boy, I was missing her. And then I'd get a letter. Oh, my goodness. We had a post office box that we'd ride together.

I was staying in a house with several other men, and I would get a letter regularly. And soon as I'd open the post office box, it would have letters to all of us in there because we just had one box. And it would smell up the whole box with perfume. And the other guys would be like, oh, he got another one.

He got another letter from Robin. And I would not open it in the car because them boogers would be wanting to like, what's it say? Like, no, it's none of your business. And it would be like a thick one too, you know, and it would be like seal with a kiss on the outside with the. Where she, like, kissed it.

And I'm not even going to tell you what's in there because it's too juicy for me to tell you.

It was. For me, it was Robin kissed and Robin breathed into that thing. Man, it smelled like her. And boy, and I would just want to go back home to Virginia, where I was from at the time. I would reread them letters over and over again.

I missed her so bad. It was her love letter to me. And we talked about our future and getting married and someday having a family.

You know what I'm talking about. The God of the universe has written you a love letter. And it has the aroma of Christ on every page.

And have you ever read it? Are you a student of it? Have you allowed its life transforming God breathed power to permeate your soul?

Oh, I'm calling you to it. Have you begun a study habit of reading and allowing God's word to permeate your life? I've got some practical tips for you. One is to pray like, Gary. What should I be reading?

Well, instead of just skipping around, maybe pick a book. If you're a new believer, read the book of John, the Gospel of John. If you've been a believer for a couple of weeks and you've already read the book of John, go to the book of James. It's only five chapters. It's very practical.

I'd start with John and James. Don't start in Genesis. You'll get to Leviticus and give up. Okay, that's. You can do that later.

Start in the New Testament if you're new at it. Okay, new people say, hey, I started right at the beginning. Yeah, it's not that kind of book. Okay, so start with John, go to James and what. How much should I read?

Well, pray this, because remember, it's a letter from God. So God speak to me through your word. So pray. Pray that. And then read till he speaks.

Well, I just read one verse and I already felt. Well, okay, stop and meditate and study that verse. Well, I had to read a whole chapter. Well, good, you read a whole chapter. Now stop.

And God spoke. And so start with that rhythm. It's not like I'm trying to check off a box. I'm trying to read. No, you're reading a love letter.

And when you, when you feel the love, when you feel his presence, when the spirit begins to transform and call you to repentance and move you, then take a pause, be a student. If you've been a believer for a little while and you've never read through the whole Bible, I would offer you a trip on the Bible bus with me. It pulls out every January 1st, and we read through the whole Bible together. We call it The One Year Bible Club or One Year Bible Group. And so you can find us on Facebook.

We have a group, the One Year Bible Group. And I make daily posts on social media. I make a daily podcast on Spotify and on Apple podcasts and other places. And I've been doing this for over 20 years. Why do I do it?

Because I love the Lord and I love His Word and I want you to love him too. And I want you to go on this journey with me and knowing God's word. And so I would invite you to. That's a good way of getting through the Bible in a year if you've never done that. Okay, listen, here's number two.

Here's the second step. It starts with receiving, listening, reading. Number two.

2. LEARN ––Apply God’s Word to guide and shape how you think and act.

Notice what we've read so far. All scripture is breathed out by God. Okay, we've talked about that and now this is where we're at. Profitable. Profitable could be translated as useful, practical.

So it's not just some book that's so heavenly minded. It's no earthly good. No, you can. This book will help you live. This book will help you make good decisions.

It'll give you wisdom. It'll help you in every category of your life. This is the most important book ever written. People go to school and they get diplomas and they go to university and they never graduate from God's book. You're not truly educated till you know this book, the one who made you, wrote it.

Learn from it and apply it. It's useful. How is it useful? Well, Paul gives Timothy four ways. It's useful.

The first way, he says it's profitable for teaching. There's actually intellectual information here for you to know. The word teaching could be being taught, but it's also the idea of a doctrine or teaching to be received. So it contains teachings and it's profitable to know. It has instructions and it has doctrines and teachings for reproof.

It's profitable for reproof, which is to give evidence of or proof of. It also has the idea of rebuke to be reproved. It. It rebukes you. It calls you to repentance.

It's profitable for correction. For correction. Another cool Greek word here, epanorthōsis. Epanorthōsis. .

If you listen closely, you can hear in the middle of that word a Greek root word, ortho. Now, some of you know, a couple years ago, I got new knees. Okay, I had worn out my old knees. I got new knees. I tell people I'm 67 years old, but I got baby knees.

They're only like two and a half, three years old now. Got baby knees, just got new knees. I went to the orthopedic surgeon to get them new knees. The word ortho has the idea in the Greek to straighten out something that's broken or crooked. That's the Greek word here.

Correction means to straighten out that which is broken or crooked. And that's us. Oh my goodness, that's us. Every one of us. We've left the straight path.

We've fallen off to the crooked path. Our lives are crooked and we need the word of God and the spirit of God. Applying the word of God to us to straighten us out. It's good for that. God's word is profitable for that.

It's useful for that. And then finally training is the fourth area. And this has the idea of education. Literally has the idea from K through university, from kindergarten, university. It has the idea of bringing up to maturity.

And so it's profitable for all of this. In righteousness, in right living, in living the way God calls you to live in righteousness before God, a condition acceptable to God. Thinking about this, how might we apply God's word? Well, Paul writes to Timothy in chapter two, 2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV) “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,

rightly dividing the word of truth.” He says you should work at it. You should have a discipline. The root idea of being a disciple is discipline. They share the same root, that you should have a habit.

And this is not law, this is not legalism. This is a way of working out what he's working in, of putting on what he's putting in. It's a way of applying God's love letter. Study to show your approval that you're a workman that does not need to be ashamed. Rightly dividing the word of truth.

He uses a phrase here that literally means cut it straight. Rightly cutting straight the word of God. You got to give Paul credit. You remember his technical job. The trade he learned growing up was tent making, right?

And so he probably had Popeye arms from cutting those camel skin tents. And so he knew how to cut it straight. So he uses a verb that comes from that trade. You need to cut it straight when you study the word of God. Learn to cut it straight.

James, chapter one, we read, James 1:22 (NLT) “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.” Be doers. Memorize it. Psalms 119:11 (NIV) “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”

How do you hide God's word in your heart? You have to memorize it. In fact, Psalm 119:11 is a good theme verse for your first memory verse. If you've never memorized any verse of the Bible, that's a good starting verse. And I recommend you just get some little index cards or some little cards and write on one side the address, the reference, Psalm 119:11.

Then on the other side, write the verse. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. Psalm 119:11. Thy word I've hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. Psalm 119.

And you just go back and forth. You can learn one a week, one a month until you hide it inside of you. You memorize it. So then whenever temptation comes or a decision comes, the Holy Spirit can just reach down inside your heart, flip through the files, pull that one. That's it..

Oh, that's the one I needed for me. Oh, that's the one I needed to tell this person that's feeling beat up today or feeling discouraged today. But you got to put it in. You got to put it in. You have to put it on before he can use it.

This is not law. This is grace. This is the gift that he's calling us to. You can memorize it, you can meditate on it. Psalms 1:2-3 (NIV)

“But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” And so you can meditate on God's word.

And meditation is not, as the Eastern religions would claim, where they claim it's an emptying of the mind. But for Christians, meditation is a filling of the mind with the word of God. And so it's literally chewing on God's word, thinking it over until you,it 's almost like eating it until the point where you've chewed and gotten every morsel of it so that you've fully understood it. We use something called the hand illustration to teach this idea of this multifaceted way of studying God's word. And we kind of borrowed this from navigators.

It has the idea of saying, hear, read, study, memorize, meditate. And we kind of added another one, put it in the palm. We call it apply. And so we'll say like this, when we're teaching somebody in life on life discipleship, which is the process that we talk about in our church about raising up new disciples.

We'll say, okay, if you just do one, can you keep a grasp on your Bible and say, you know, if the devil tries to take it away from you? No. 2. No. 3.

No. 4. Almost. You did better. 5.

Okay, you're close. Apply now. That's yours. And so that's kind of a little illustration we use sometimes to help people get a grasp on your Bible. Use these different approaches to study God's word.

Don't just read the Bible. Don't just listen. Learn it, learn it. Become a serious student of God's word. And not just intellectually.

Not just so that, wow, Susie really needs to hear this. Well, Johnny needs to hear. No, Gary needs to hear it. Like, I need to apply. Here's another tip for you.

I'm trying to give you practical tips here because Paul tells Timothy, it's profitable, it's practical, it's useful. Here's another one. Do you use soap before you leave home every morning? Like, do you put some soap, like, soap up a little bit in the mornings? People around you appreciate it if you say yes.

And so what I tell people is you should use soap when you study God's word every morning. Like, you should put a rhythm in your life of scripture. Read observation, write down what you heard, application, write down how it applies to you and what you need to do about it. And then pray. S.O.A.P. Use a little soap every morning.

It's a good process. It's profitable. These are just tips. Try using that method. It's very helpful.

Here's the third step. We've said, listen and learn.

3. LIVE ––Remain in God’s Word to be equipped for every good work.

Here’s Timothy, he's like, you gave me this big church in this big city, and I'm just a little guy. I'm just little. And he says, you got all you need right here. You got all you need right here, Timothy. So preach the word in season and out of season.

And don't let people look down on you because of your youth. That used to mean a lot to me back in the day. I used to be young.

I'd be like, yeah, don't let people look down because I got God's word. Like that, you know?

Yeah. This is what he's saying here. Live in it. Live in it. Man of God.

This is every Christian man of God, woman of God, anyone who believes in the Lord. This. This is all you need, that we may be complete. The word complete could be thoroughly fitted out. Like, if you've ever been in the military.

I understand if you're in the military, they equip you. They give you boots, a uniform, helmet, a gun, things to carry in a backpack. They give you stuff. They fit you out as a soldier.

That's the language Paul's using here, that you're thoroughly equipped. God's word fits you out so that you have the complete armament in order to fully live for God. This is what he says, that you may be complete, fitted out, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Jesus said this when the evil one tempted him. He said, Matthew 4:4 (NIV) Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’

That's in Matthew 4:4. He's quoting Deuteronomy 4:4. In fact, he answers all of Satan's temptations, all three of them, by quoting Scripture. Did you know that he's quoted Scripture, the living word. Jesus is quoting the written word.

Apparently he hid God's word in his heart that he might not sin against him. He had memorized it, and of course it was helpful. Probably that he's the one who inspired it and wrote it too. That was helpful. But that's what he says.

Matthew 4:4 (NIV) Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” And so God's word is to be like food for our souls. And we're to have this habit that helps us work out what God's working in. I've been saying this. Here's what Paul told the church at Philippi in Philippians chapter two.

He says, Philippians 2:12-13 (NIV) 12 “…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” Notice a couple of things. He says we are to work out something. What are we to work out? What God is working in.

How are we going to work it out if we don't let him work it in? So we got to get it in, and then he works it out in us. And he gives us these two benefits. To will. In other words, he gives us a new willpower, right?

And to act. He gives us a new due power, a new obedience, a new heart. So, to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. To work out what he's working in. Now, when I hear the phrase work out, it reminds me of the gym working out.

And for years, I always thought when you worked out, you were building muscles. Then I found out as I read some medical science behind it, I found out that working out actually tears down your muscles. Did you know that medical science teaches us this, that working out does not actually build muscle. It breaks it down. When you lift weights, you put stress on your muscles, creating tiny tears in the fibers.

And at first the muscle is actually weaker. In fact, they tell you when you're working out to work to muscle exhaustion, so you can't lift another one. And that's how you know when you walk out of there and you can't lift your arms. You've had a good workout.

And so what builds your muscles? Well, according to the miracle of God's design for the human body, it's during rest and recovery. It's actually the body that repairs those fibers, making them thicker and stronger than before, so it can handle the stress that you apparently are going to start putting on. The body's like, okay, if you're going to do that, we're going to build up. And so I start thinking about that, that when you study God's word, it's often like that.

It often tears you down at first. It often points out the things you need to repent of and change. And sometimes we can't handle just a small dose. I got it, Lord. And we start thinking, I got it, I got it. No, you don't have to do nothing.

You got to yield it to the Lord. You got to bring it to the cross because it's during rest. It's during the time when you're allowing rest and sleep and you're allowing the nourishment of a good diet. That's what builds up your spiritual muscles. But often he has to tear down our old ways of thinking.

And so God's word is like. It's like that. It's like developing a spiritual muscle, working out what he's working in. You see, I didn't create this bicep. I was born with it.

God gave it to me freely. If I want it to grow, I have to submit myself to a discipline of working out what he worked in. That's grace, and that's what he's calling us to in God's word. The same is true spiritually. It doesn't happen instantly, but it happens over time as we become students of God's Word.

Would you make studying God's Word a lifelong pursuit?Would you become part of us as a fellowship of believers saying, we love the Lord and we love his Word. It breathes life into me. Would you become a serious student of God's Word? Maybe you're saying, I want to, but I need a personal trainer.

Well, we offer that. We call it life on life discipleship, and we'd love to have you sign up for that. And what we would do is we would assign a mentor to you, to walk you through a process of growing to maturity in Jesus. It includes study of God's Word and other practices. And so we'd love for you to be involved in that.

It's the way Jesus discipled. It's one life on another life. Just talking to you about the process of sanctification, of growing to be more like Jesus. We'd love to see you take part in that. And also we are offering, it just so happens, this coming weekend, a seminar called “How to Study and Teach the Bible.”

It's Friday night and Saturday morning, and it's not too late to sign up for that. It's profitable. God's study. It's practical, it's useful. We've given you a lot of practical tips today.

But before you leave, I want you to hear this. I'm not trying to add to your burden of, oh, I got to do one more thing. I got to become a student of God's Word so that it feels like a burden. No, I want you to remember what I said earlier. I want you to read God's love letter to you that it's God breathed and that will change your life from the inside out.

And so make it part of the transformation of your life. You can't change yourself. And even studying God's Word doesn't necessarily lead to change. Yielding yourself to God's Word and to his Spirit's work in your life, that's what changes us. Grace transforms us, not works.

And so that's the gospel, right? To allow his work to change us, to open ourselves up to it. Will you listen? Will you learn? Will you live in God's Word?

When you make Bible study a spiritual habit, you are cooperating with the Holy Spirit and becoming more like Jesus. Let's pray. Lord, I pray first of all for those that are here. They're followers of Jesus, sinners saved by grace, desiring to grow in maturity to Christ. And I just pray for us, Lord, that we would become more serious about studying your Word, reading your Word, living in your Word, not just for intellectual knowledge, but for growth and to know God better and to know the Lord Jesus better.

I pray for that grace for us, Lord. And then I pray for that one who the Bible makes no sense apart from Jesus. But today you sense that Jesus is speaking to you. You've never given your life to Jesus.

I'm praying for you right now that today you could pray with me and say, I want the Lord of the Book in me. I need Jesus in my life. Can you pray with me right now? Dear Lord Jesus, Pray like that. I'm a sinner.

I've been walking my own way, living my own life. But today I surrender my life to you. I know Lord, that and believe that you died on the cross for me. That you were raised from the grave and that you're alive today. You're risen to new life.

And I pray you'd come and live in me by your Holy Spirit. That you'd forgive me of my sin. That you'd make me a child of God, adopt me into your family. And Lord, I want to grow in you. If you're praying that prayer of faith today, we want to welcome you into the kingdom.

You've just begun the journey. And we're so thankful, Lord, thank you that we can lift these prayers up to you now. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Audio

Transcript

Alright. Good morning, church. I'm very thankful you're here today. I'm excited to be preaching. This is one of my favorite moments all week long.

I just love, I love getting to preach. I love getting to be with you. This is a wonderful opportunity to be together in community. And I just want to welcome you if you're new here. Thank you so much for coming today.

I really pray that you hear from God today, that you get to experience what is true and authentic Christian community. I really pray that that's case today. I want to begin today by just a little bit of prayer time. I don't do it this way every week, but it was kind of a difficult week in a lot of ways. And I'm sure you've, you're probably, maybe some of you are feeling almost exhausted by the week and all the media and all of that, but I just wanted to spend a few moments just praying for us and for our nation.

This was a tough week. There was a tragic shooting in Colorado. I'm sure you know about it. There was a brutal murder of this young lady, young Ukrainian lady, right in our very state, right in Charlotte. And then this shocking assassination of Charlie Kirk while he was there in Utah at a university.

There was probably umpteen other things that happened this week that you may know about. And it kind of seems this way lately. No matter what, every week there's something, there's something to consider and pray about and it may have got you worried. I don't know, you may have various feelings about it. But here's what I know.

As followers of Christ, we have hope. We have authentic hope. We have the place of real hope and truth. And we should grieve with those who grieve. But more than that, we should pray for those who are bereaving that.

We should pray for the wounded. We should shine light. That's our main responsibility, is to be a light in darkness. And there are dark times in our past, in our present, in our future. We should shine light in those moments.

And so the gospel of Christ's love and his life is made through, made known through us. And we are to be a light wherever we go. So let me just spend a few moments in prayer and then we're going to dig in. We're in a series on spiritual habits and we're going to dig right in on that. And so let's pray now.

Heavenly Father, I just ask that you would be with us this morning, help us to be at peace in our minds that we can receive a word from you. There are difficult times in our present, Lord. Stuff we're watching online and on tv. We're seeing a lot of hurt, a lot of darkness, a lot of brokenness. And it's not necessarily unusual.

It's unfortunately very common that this is what we watch. And, Lord, I just want to lift up our nation to you. Would you please just protect our nation? Would you? More than that, though, let us be a nation in revival.

That the peace of Christ would be something people would experience in every place in this country. God, would you use us as your people to represent truth and joy and what it means to be Christlike? Would you help us to represent that? Well, would you encourage us where we need encouragement? Some have come in today and they're simply just exhausted from a difficult week of work or maybe hardship in their own family.

I just pray for them right now that you would lift their spirits and help them to hear from you today. Encourage us in your word. We're here to see and get to know you better. Show up in a mighty way, Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Okay, so we're going to dig in now. We're in part five of a spiritual discipline, a spiritual habit study. If you've missed the first four weeks, it's okay, you can go back and check those out. But you haven't missed anything that's going to, like, mess you up for today because every one of these kind of stands alone and can be a deep study for you. So this morning we're digging in on this idea, this habit of Bible study.

Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, boy, this might be dry. Those of you who've attended for a while know I don't typically do dry. I don't do that well. And so you're going to be okay.

Don't worry. We're going to be talking about the spiritual discipline and habit of studying the word of God, which might be the most, one of the most important habits that you can place in your life and get to be a part of your life. And so our series theme has been Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 23, where it says, instead of let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes, put on your new nature, created to be like God, truly righteous and holy. So the goal, friends, is not that you would get everything right and do more out of your own strength, and that you're going to pick yourself up by your bootstraps and it's going to be all about you. That is not the nature of spiritual disciplines.

The nature actually is to yield to the Spirit's work in your life, to yield your time to the Lord. It's less about do, do, do, and yielding to the Spirit's power. So have a receptive heart. That verse says, let the Spirit change you, renew you. And this leads to a putting on.

Dr. Whitney, in his book Spiritual Disciplines of the Christian Life, says this. Spiritual disciplines are those practices found in Scripture that promote spiritual growth among believers in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They are habits of devotion, habits of experiential Christianity that have been practiced by God's people since biblical times. So we're talking about some stuff, some discipline, some habits, if you will, that Christians have been doing for 2000 years. And guess what?

They've been working the whole time. It works when we allow the Lord to move in our lives and we yield to his work. It works every time. It may not look the way you expect, but it works every time. And so this idea of studying God's Word so that we might be filled and understand and know God better and hear his voice is maybe one of the most important things we can do in this life.

Now, here's a couple of interesting statistics that I just wanted to throw at you. And this isn't to make you feel, like, ashamed or anything like this, because you may feel like, man, I would probably fit there, too. That's not the point of me telling you. The point of this is that you would feel an encouragement, a challenge, if you will, to be in God's word more so that you might hear his voice. And so a couple of polls that I read recently, this one's from Barna.

In a poll that he did called the state of the church that that company did, only 11% of Americans say they read the Bible daily. 11%. That's not terribly surprising to me. About 34% read the Bible at least once a week. And so around a third of our nation reads maybe once a week.

Roughly 50% of U.S. adults read the Bible fewer than two times a year, including never. So more than half of our country never reads it. Or it's maybe once or twice. Maybe those people might be the. The kinds that are reading it around Christmas or there might be times, and that might be you today.

Okay. This isn't to make you feel discouraged. I'm not gonna call you out and take some kind of registry. Oh, my goodness. I can't believe you're not reading your Bible.

That's not what we're up to today. I just want you to feel the encouragement of the Lord Jesus, that he wants to speak to you in your life, and this is his primary way of doing it. And when you make the decision, I'm not gonna phone him anymore. I'm not gonna call in. I'm not gonna hear his voice.

It's a decision that hurts you, and I don't want that for you. I want what God wants, which is the best for you. In another survey we found among those who claim Christianity, in fact only 45% could name all four Gospels. Could name all four Gospels. Only about 63% knew what the first book of the Bible was.

That's surprising to me. That one's somewhat surprising. Only about 70% knew where Jesus. Now, I tell you these things because the fact is biblical literacy is getting low. And that's all statistically on the statistical side of things.

But what really matters is, are God's people hearing God's voice. And this represents something a little bit concerning. So we're going to dig in together. What. What will happen to you if you begin starting small?

If you have no habit of scripture reading, of Bible study, what would happen and what would that look like? We're gonna dig in today in just a couple of verses. 2 Timothy, chapter 3, a very famous text here. And we're gonna see the Apostle Paul writing this letter to his Son in the Lord, Timothy. And he charged him to remain faithful, remain faithful to the study and, and the preaching and the practice of God's Word so that God's people might be thoroughly equipped.

That's the goal of this text today. It's the goal for you, too, that we can practice this habit of Bible study so that we would be equipped for. And the Bible is crazy. Here it says you would be equipped for every good work. I've come to the conclusion that this is good for everything in life.

It may not identify every single struggle you have, but there are principles here that will cover it. This thing's amazing. And the more I read it, the more I'm just baffled by how good God is and how much he has spoken. And so the text is going to give us, I think, three kind of building steps on how to practice a habit of Bible study. So let's read real quickly these two verses.

It says in 2nd Timothy, chapter 3, verse 16 and 17, it says, all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for. For correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete equipped for every good work. God bless the reading of his Word. Amen. I pray that this would really help you, encourage you, challenge you today, right where God needs you to be.

So how do we practice the habit of Bible study in a way that really moves us and changes us? The first way is listen. Wow. Hard. L. Sorry.

Listen. Read God's word as his life transforming message to you. It begins in verse 16 where Paul says all scripture is breathed out by God. That might just seem like a matter of fact kind of statement to you, but you know what that means. That means you make the decision.

I agree.

There's a decision point in your life where you have to say, yes, I agree. All scripture is the breath of God. It is his very wind voice. This word here is the word theo neustos. The Holy Spirit is called pneuma.

It's this word that means spirit, breath, wind. Here it's theo neustos that is the spirit breath of God. And this is said of the scriptures. I find this really, really amazing because at this point where he's writing to Timothy, the Old Testament, those ancient scriptures are already out there, they're in distribution and Timothy would be well aware of them. But what's beginning to be circulated are some of the gospels, some of Paul's letters.

But it's just getting started. And so what Timothy I think is, or what Paul is arguing for is of course my son Timothy. Of course the Old Testament is God's very word. This wouldn't have been surprising to Timothy, but I think he's reminding Timothy that there are writings coming out right now from the apostles that are the breath of God. And now church, great news.

We have the very voice of God. And if you want to hear it, you have to go hear. This is where it is the voice of God. So how do you listen? How do you tune in?

Hearing the word of God and growing in faith are connected. Romans, chapter 10, it says so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. The psalmist put it plainly. He was determined to study God's word and reflect. He says in Psalm 119, I will study your commandments and reflect on your ways.

Church I hear this from time to time. People come to me and they say, I wish I could know God's will. I wish I could hear his voice. I'm going to go ahead and tell you the bad news. When you come to me with that, I promise you the first couple of things I'm going to say are going to be the same every time and it might bother you.

I'm sorry, I'm not going to change because these are the two most important things I could tell you to do. Have you prayed? Have you studied His Word? I want to know what God thinks about me marrying or dating this girl. I want to know what God thinks about me taking this job.

Have you prayed? Have you read? I'm not the voice of God. You know when I get things best is when I take His Word and speak it. That's when I nail it, is when I rightly understand the Word of God and distribute it to you.

And that's all I'm trying to do as a pastor, is to just be an accurate voice of the Lord. And the way that I do that is here. But you can. You can bypass me. Do you know that?

You can just. Yeah, I like Pastor and. Oh, he's cool. Or maybe you don't think I'm cool. That's cool, too.

It's cool with me. But you can go right around me and go right to the source. I'm no mediator. Jesus is. He's your holy mediator.

The Holy Spirit of God is in you and with you, helping you discern the scriptures. Be asking, lord, I've got a big decision ahead of me. Would you help me to understand and give me wisdom? Pray that, and then study His Word and watch him begin to show up. And sometimes it looks wild.

It's not what you expected, but it is what you need now. After you've gone through that and gone through all those motions, then come and seek help. Come and see me. Come and see your brothers and sisters in the faith and say, hey, I'm praying. Hey, I'm reading.

I think the Lord is saying this because certainly Scripture also says wisdom is found in the counsel of many. So it's okay to go and seek your brothers and sisters in the faith, but don't start there. That's step three. Maybe seek the Lord there. Hear his voice.

Some of you in the room, you've not heard God's voice in so long, or maybe ever. I would challenge you, my friend. He speaks here. He speaks here. Some of you have never done this before.

I'll give you some starting points, just some ideas. Don't start in Genesis and just start trying to work your way through. You're going to fall into a pit like everybody else does. It's somewhere around Leviticus or numbers. Those are God's word.

Listen to me. Those are the breath of God. They are difficult reads and something you're going to want to read in this lifetime. I guarantee you, you're going to want to but maybe don't start there. It's kind of like when you enter kindergarten, you don't immediately get thrown a calculus book.

It doesn't mean calculus is any less true or any less important. Maybe you just don't start there. And I know what y' all are all thinking. You're thinking, man, I'm itching to just get to the end, because that book is spooky. I want to get to Revelation in that spooky book.

Don't start there. In fact, you can't rightly understand Revelation until you understand a whole lot of the Bible, maybe all of it. There's a reason it's back there because you need the prophets and you need the Gospels, and you need all of that to rightly understand what's going on there. And. And even then, there's multiplicity of what this means among scholars.

So, friend, if you don't have a habit of hearing God's voice, you don't have a habit of being in the word. Start in what we call the Gospels. Maybe start, in fact with the Gospel of John, fourth book of the New Testament. I know some of you are ocd and you're thinking, why would I start. Trust me on this.

These are 66 books inside of a larger volume. You're not messing anything up by starting there. Start in John. Feel free to start in Mark. I told some of my friends this this week.

Mark. Mark is a wonderful gospel because Mark is in a big hurry. Every couple of verses he says, and immediately, because it's like Mark feels the desire to get the gospel out, and he's just. I can see him feverishly pinning it so that people would hear this truth of Jesus. Maybe start there, my friend, if you're listening, trying to hear the voice of God, I think from time to time about my loved ones who are with Jesus now.

I don't know if that's a thing people start doing as time goes on, I think probably so. I think more and more about those who have gone on before me that I can't wait to see again there. And I do this thing that may be odd to you at times. I try to remember what their voice sounded like. And the longer that people are gone, the more difficult that seems to be.

You, like, love the opportunity to have a recording of something of them so that way you could hear it again. And so I think at times about my grandparents and my uncles and aunts and some of the people that are with Jesus now. And I think about their voice and trying to hear it this Kind of reminds me of something that I would just encourage you in God's word that there are certain conversations that come to mind when I reflect on people that are already passed on and I want to hear their voice again. I know you would feel this way too. I would give almost anything to get to see them and hear them.

Some of you may feel that. But at times I feel this way about the voice of God too. And to me that's shameful. The reason being is God's not silent. God's not dead, he's not inactive.

And so when I feel similarly like this desire, this urgency to hear his voice and yet I don't go to where he's speaking is really, really strange. But I'm just like you friends. I. I may want something but then not be willing to do the work it takes to hear it. Isn't that wild? But that's where so many of us are.

What would it look like to begin a habit of study where you set aside time every single day to hear God's voice, to read his word, to study his scripture. Maybe start with a reading plan. This can be very helpful to you. Find a good reading plan that begins to break it down into chunks so that you can hear God's voice and be in prayer as you start it. Lord, open up my ears.

Help me to hear your voice today. Speak to me through your spirit, through the word. Join the one year Bible readers. We've got a Facebook group. You can hop on there and see where we're at.

My dad, he's the pastor at our Wilson campus. Every day he posts something about his one year Bible study. You can kind of see where our church is heading. Those involved in that, pick a plan. Get into his word.

If you're desperate like I'm desperate to hear his voice. I bet you can find five minutes tomorrow. I bet you can find five minutes today. Talk to me after church. If you're like, I don't have five minutes.

Me and you are going to look at your schedule. We're gonna figure this out because this is insane. Like you can't find five minutes. And that's a good starting point, right? I bet you could find five minutes in the shower.

Even some of you are showering longer than 5. Maybe take that little device in your phone, put some scripture on. I know you were laughing. I'm praying you're showering more than five. Most of you.

But I got short hair. I can knock things out real fast. Alright, you can put that. It's amazing the power that we have at our fingertips. We can literally listen to God's word while we take a hot shower.

Wonderful. I bet your day will start different, too. This habit you have right now of starting your day with rap music or whatever else, and I'm not trying to. That's not the point of the message. Stop rap music, if you know me.

That's not my plan here. But maybe there's a better way that starts you with a day of peace rather than a day of angst, because I like that stuff too, but it makes me feel like I want to punch somebody.

And unless I'm about to put a helmet on and start playing football again, which, sadly, I'm not, only in my dreams do I get to do that anymore. And so now I start my day with the Lord Jesus, and I find that I'm a little bit more at peace. It's easier to smile. I'm just saying, begin with studying the Lord, studying His Word, and then next, the next step is learn, listen, learn, learn. Has to do with not only hearing it, absorbing it, but also applying it.

Apply God's Word to guide and to shape how you think and you act. Have y' all made the determination that what Paul says here is true? He says not only is all scripture breathed out by God, it's his very voice, but it is profitable for all good works, every good work. He says it's profitable in four specific ways. For teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training.

This is a decision point that I've made some years ago, that God's word is what is best for me. What it says is better than what I think. Sometimes I. My thoughts are not God's thoughts. Sometimes the way I want to operate, the way I think a thing should go, is not what Scripture teaches.

And I've made the decision my way is not the right way unless it aligns with God's way. I try to say often what Christ said in Gethsemane, not my will, but yours be done. When God's word says go right and I think left, I say, well, I've got to be wrong. Have you made that decision yet to learn and apply and let the word of God be profitable in your life? It is not profitable until you apply it.

It's just knowledge. The Bible says knowledge puffs up when you begin to apply it. All of a sudden, there's great profit first in teaching. This is the idea of instruction or even doctrine. This is the idea that Christians ought to get their worldview from the Bible.

I would say this is another area in life where things have really changed over the last 100 years, if you will, where what was once a pretty common thing to have a biblical worldview. That is, you look at the culture, you look at the world, you look at your marriage, you look at your parenting, you look at the way you work through the lens, the perspective of God's word. Now it seems there are many options, many ways to look, many lenses, many glasses to put on to see your world. But nothing has changed in the truth and validity of this. I've made the decision, this is my lens.

I see the world through it and make that determination. So that's first it says it's profitable for your teaching, for your doctrine. Then it's also profitable for reproof. This word is translated in some of your. If you've got an NIV or anything like that today, it's translated rebuke.

That means it's a good tool to show proof, to show evidence to the contrary.

There are times in your life where you have to help others through this lens. And this, if you come and see me for counseling of any kind, just know this is what you're going to get. I'm not particularly gifted at all the various counseling methodologies. And just so you know, there's a lot out there and I've studied some of them. People have whole degrees focused on that.

That's good. But mine is Bible first approach. And then I'll try to implement some other things that seem to align well with it. And so he says, it's good for reproof, it's good for evidence, it's good for rebuke even.

It does that first in me. Paul's telling his son in the Lord here, the one who he's led to Christ and been a part of, discipling or not led to Christ. I think Timothy came to Christ before, but he's been the main mentor to Timothy. He's telling him, he says, let the word of God rebuke you first.

This is the humbling thing about getting to preach. And I say this a lot, but it is really true. I get my toes stomped on first. Sometimes I walk out here and you're like, boy, that one kind of stung. That wasn't very nice, Jonathan.

I'm like, it hurt me worse. So I gave you a watered down version of what slapped me. It's rebuke for me first. I read it and go, I'm not hearing the voice of God either, because I'm not there. I'm not taking Enough time.

I'm so incredibly desiring to hear from God and let him lead my life. And yet I go all over the place rather than the source. I'm just like you. And it rebukes me first. And then he says, but it's useful for correction, straightening out to making something broken.

This word has the word ortho in the middle of it. Epanothorce. No, I'm normally better at this. It's got ortho in the middle. I'm not going to try it again.

Greek word with ortho. Ortho has to do with the bones, a broken bone, if you will. We've got medicine all around that. Surgeons all around. We've got some of those people in here and they correct bones, right?

That's their primary purpose. This is the idea of this word correction, to straighten out. Sometimes you show up to God's word and something is just straight up broken with you.

Those are moments where you look at it and you have to make a decision, and it's a hard one.

Yeah, but God, I like the way I've been doing this. I like the way I'm dealing with my finances. I like the way I'm dealing with my marriage. And it's comfortable for me. Yeah, but God, I yell at my kids because my parents yelled at me and their parents yelled at them.

We are a family of yellers.

And then I come to this and it says, fathers, do not exasperate your children. Okay, what does that mean? I come to these passages in scripture that say, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

Yeah, but when I get home from a long day at work, I don't want to serve anymore. When she says take out the trash, it makes me want to just. The only thing I want to do is hide somewhere.

I have good news for you, friend. I'm right there with you. You hear this, wives, you hear this. Submit to your husband. You're like, ah.

You hear? Children, obey your parents. You don't know my parents.

It comes like a broken bone. You come there with everything is out of whack and you make the decision. And I make the decision. Sometimes I'm going to go on with it. I got a limp, but who cares?

Something's way out of whack with me. But I'm just going to keep going because what God's word just told me to do, I just don't want to. So you live out of alignment, not only with God, but with your life, with your purpose. There's a better way, there's a better way and it's God's way. And you make the decision.

I'm going to let it correct me, I'm going to let it straighten me out. And then lastly it says, it's good for training in righteousness. This word here is the word paideus. We've got a whole. Some of you are teachers.

You took a class probably called pedagogy when you were in school. That's the idea of teaching children. That's the word Paul uses here, paideia, which means the education of the young, including the training of the body. So here he's saying to all believers and first to Timothy, let it train you in what righteousness. That is integrity, virtue, purity.

You want to know what right looks like, find it here. But it comes through studying of his word. So study it that you might rightly apply it. He has already said to Timothy just a few verses before this. In verse 15 he said, Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.

Rightly dividing the word of truth. You need this in your life so that when you look at life situations, you have a biblical worldview, that the first thing that comes to mind is a scripture. That when you're having a difficult time with your spouse or with your kids or with your co worker, the first thing that comes to mind is the word of God.

I promise you that is way better to come to mind than what else could be there.

When the first thing that comes to mind when I'm looking at my wife sometimes and we're not quite seeing eye to eye, the first thing that comes to mind is love her as Christ loved the church. First I want to be mad at God. I'm going to be honest. First I go, you hear her too, right?

And it's not even that she's wrong. I don't know how it's going in your house, but the confrontations aren't very often about right and wrong. Not in my house. They're more often about opinions. They're more often about this way could work, this way could work.

There's a best, there's a good way and then there's a great way. And I'm a pain, y'. All, I'm a pain because I want the great. And I have to cipher through what I'm hearing from her and go, you know what? I think you're right.

But I'm not that kind of guy to just, yes, I'm just not that tired I'm not that exhausted that I'm not gonna fight, you know, like, man, this pastor's jacked up. I'm not coming back. I don't blame you for that at all.

But when God's word comes to me, love her as I loved you, I go, okay, then God help me to hear her and not get frustrated. Calm my spirit. Y' all know I pray mid conversation all the time. I've told some of y' all this. Some of y' all really push my button sometimes.

But she does the best at it. And mid conversation, I'm like, God, help me. Give me peace. Give me wisdom to say what's right.

But that doesn't happen. Friends, if the word of God is not in you, if the voice of God is not there, and the only way to get there is to spend time in it, this is why the psalmist says in Psalm 119:11, he says, I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. I have so filled myself that when I am tempted to sin, instead, the wellspring of the word of God comes up. I begin to just be filled with it.

And you don't just listen to it, but you obey it. Tony. I know I just skipped this on you. I'm coming back to you. Brother James, Chapter one.

It says, don't just listen to God's word. Also do what it says. Otherwise you are only fooling yourselves. So guess what else? This stuff starts coming up, it comes to mind, Love your wife.

Hey, fathers, don't exasperate your kids. That means sometimes. You know what? I gotta admit, Sometimes my kids are annoying. I don't know about yours.

Yours are probably heaven on earth. I know they are, but I didn't get that. I didn't get that. Mine are difficult sometimes, and the older they get, they get easier in some ways. But then they argue more and they start actually thinking thoughts that are contrary to even anything that makes any sense.

They're trying to figure it out, and they get strong in their positions as time goes on. And I can tell you it's in those moments I really want to exasperate. It's in those moments where I'm like, okay, do y' all want to play a mental battle? I can play a mental battle.

Y' all want to argue? I can do that. I like a good debate. Debate whether the sky is blue. And that's what a kid will do.

They just want to just. They just want to annoy you sometimes. Okay, guess what? You have to do parents in the room, guess what you have to do? I hate to say it to you.

You have to be the adult in the room. You have to be the person who says, yeah, we're not. You're not gonna. You're not gonna speak to me like that because we're just talking in circles. I love you.

I've told you to do a. The response I want to hear is in my house. Yes, sir. For you, hey, however that breaks down, yes, but it better be yes even in your house. It better be yes with a pleasance, because you know the difference.

Okay, that's not it. That's not it. I'll say turn around, come back, try again. Yes, sir. I know they're still ticked inside.

I know their eyes are rolling internally somehow, but I'm not going to observe it because we're going to teach respect and honor so that this kid will grow up to respect and honor. And that's one of the most important things I can teach them. It's not just that, hey, he went and washed the dishes when I told him to do it. It's that he learned to respect honor and obedience, which he will need in this life. That is the most promotable person you will ever meet.

Someone who shows up, does the work respectfully, honorably, obediently. You think you want to know how to fast track somebody in any business, Teach them how to be an honorable person.

And then even more importantly, by teaching them that now I've taught them how to honor, obey and respect their heavenly Father, who I represent. Mothers, you represent the Lord to your kids.

So then those verses come to mind in the midst of arguments. It has to be in you to train you into righteousness. Memorize it. Meditate on it. Psalm 1, it says, his delight is in the law of the Lord and his law on his law.

He meditates day and night. He's like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and. And whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

Apparently. There are some people I've been running into people lately that do something that I find so unnerving, I don't know what to do about it. All right, just follow me for a second. There are some of you in the room like this. Just know that I love you, but I do not understand you.

You get a box or something from Ikea, or you get something like that to fix something in your house or build something in your. And there are some of you in the room that open up the box. And just start building it. And you hurt me inside. You just start going at it.

You don't lay it all out. You don't read through the instructions first and go, okay, I know where everything's going. You just start building. And there's parts left over at the end.

And we never notice when we come over because you figured out some way to jimmy rig the thing so no one ever notices. But you hurt me inside. I just want you to know that. Because you can call this obsessive compulsive, you can call it whatever you want. I'm getting everything out and laying it all out.

And step one is, do I actually have everything that I'm supposed to have here? Because guess what? They mess that up sometimes. So then I get through the instructions and go, well, I've got to bring a little bit of my own hardware here because apparently Ikea or whoever, Amazon, whoever, they forgot some stuff like, praise God, this is going to be fun. I'm reading through it and guess what else I do?

I go through the instructions where they tell me to. This isn't an opportunity for me to just decide I'm going to do it my way because I didn't invent this thing. I grew up on Legos, y'. All. I know how to do this.

I follow the instructions. And good news to y', all, hey, LEGO fans in the room. I have never been missing a piece in a Lego. Never. It's the greatest company on earth when it comes to making sure you get what you're supposed to get.

Never been missing. They send you extra. I can build other stuff with this. Lego's incredible.

Some of you are living life like this. You're going to wake up tomorrow, you're going to step out into the world and go, I'm just going to do things. I haven't read the instructions. I probably don't even have the right parts today. I'm just going to start making this crazy life piece of furniture today.

And then at the end of the day, if I'm debriefing myself, go. I'm not sure why I yelled at her today. I'm not sure why it is I had so much road rage today. I'm not sure why I didn't get along with my spouse today, why I was having difficulty with my kids today. But it would be helpful if you would look back and go, wait a minute, I just built another piece of furniture without the instructions.

Does this make sense to you? Like, that was kind of a long illustration. Alright, you're doing Life as if you're just building things and nothing else matters. As if you designed it. As if you're in charge.

My friend, I have terrible news for you today. You are not in charge. You can make decisions all day, every single hour of every day, but you have no ability to change the real reality. There is stuff happening around you every single day that you cannot affect. You can't control the weather.

You might wake up tomorrow and go, I can't wait for a sunny day. And God just says, here's some rain.

You know what? Tomorrow I'm gonna be at peace, on the way to work, I don't care what happens. And then bam. Somebody forgets to put their turn signal on. Or somebody just busts out right in front of you and decides to show you some unfriendly hand signals.

You're like, you did it, bro. Why are you mad at me? I'm gonna be at peace. Tomorrow. Good luck.

You want a piece that transcends understanding? It's here. It's here. The instruction manual is here. You want to know how to unpack?

Monday, September 15th. It's here.

Quit going through life just trying to build it without the instructions. It's insane.

Don't just read the Bible. Apply it each time you study it. Ask, what is it teaching me about God? What is it teaching me about me?

What should I start? What should I stop? What should I continue doing? Keep a journal, especially when you first get started. Because it's going to be mind blowing what God does in your life over the next year.

The more you study this, how it changes your life. I promise you.

I want to pop up a method that this is for those in the room, that maybe this idea is new to you. You're already waking up every single day I pray and using soap. Okay, again, back to the shower illustration. If you're doing five minutes and not using soap, I don't know what are you doing in there. But when it comes to scripture, this is a good way perhaps to get started.

Some of you have got great habits. You've already got a really quality devotional life. This isn't really for you necessarily, but it could be a good reminder if things get stale, if you just need some help. But for those of you who are new to the act, think of the word soap. It's an acronym.

Start with scripture and then make observations about that scripture. What is Christ saying? What is God like? What is he telling me? Who is he correcting in this?

And then apply it. Today I'm going to take What I've heard. So today, if we were doing soap just on this verse, I am going to make the decision that Scripture is the very breath of God, and I'm hungry for it. And I'm going to let it correct me where I need correction. I'm going to let it train me.

Those are applications. And then I'll move into prayer. It's simple. You can knock this out in five to 10 minutes. You have time for that?

You absolutely do.

If you don't right now, you need more margin, my friend. Way more. Don't just read it, apply it. And then lastly, and I don't know where, I had too much fun, y', all, I gotta end lastly. Live.

So listen, learn and live. Remain in God's word to be equipped for every good work. He ends this verse, verse 17, by saying that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Man of God here is designated for Christians generally. It's not some kind of.

It's not just me or some special. No, it's meant for all believers who are striving, with the Master's help, to live a life that's pleasing to God. So if that's you, my friend, I just want to walk with Jesus. If that's you, this is who this verse is for all Christians who are seeking by faith the Lord Jesus. He says that you would be complete, equipped for every good work.

The word here, complete, is the only time that this word appears in the entire Bible. There's a famous word that you see throughout the whole New Testament which has to do with completion or perfection. It's the word teleos. It's what Jesus says on the cross. It is finished Tetelestai, he says.

But that's not the word here. It's the word I expected when I was doing my study. Instead, it's the word ardios, the only time it appears in Scripture. And it means the idea of being fit, being strong enough, being complete in the sense of I have enough power to bear the weight. Paul is saying to Timothy, and now to you and I, I pray, O man of God, O woman of God, that you would so be enamored with the Word of God and be in it that you are fit for service.

He's essentially saying, some of y' all aren't working out in the word of God, and it shows. It's time to start getting in there and pressing the weight so that you're ready. What equipped for every good work. This word good is the idea of useful goodness.

We're to live on God's Word in such a way that it's exercising our faith. That's what he's speaking to. The Word Complete here isn't meant for you to go, well, at some point I'm going to be perfect. Not in this life. One day Christ will take us home and then we'll experience that in this life.

It's I'm going to keep pressing so that I'm ready for tomorrow. I'm going to keep pressing because I don't know what's happening, but I'm going to be ready because the word of God is in me thoroughly. Jesus said that we are to live on God's word. Matthew chapter four. He writes this or answers some who were questioning them.

He says, it is written that man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

That is our spiritual food is the voice of God through his Word. The habit of Bible study is a way of working out what God is working in us. In Philippians it says, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

I want to end with this thought. When you lift weights, something happens. And this is the illustration that Paul chose to share with Timothy here. So I want to keep digging on it. When you lift weights, when you do strenuous activity, what's interesting there, especially when you lift weights, is you're actually creating tiny tears in the fibers.

In a sense, when you first lift, you're actually weaker in a way. Certainly you're more tired. You feel that lactic acid sometimes. And you know, if you want to beat up a strong man, wait right after he's done an intense workout. Maybe you might have a shot.

You know, at first the muscles are actually a little bit weaker. But this is the miracle of God's design of us, in that through rest and recovery, the body repairs those fibers, making them thicker, making them stronger. It does this with a well set bone. Even if you break it and get it reset properly, the bone then will actually come back denser in that place. I'm not sure that's always a good thing, but the body is fascinating in how it repairs itself.

So guess what? The work that's being done to make you strong when you work out is actually happening when you're doing nothing. The body does this, you do the workout, sure, but the body is the one through rest and recovery that repairs. And the body adapts the same is true with you spiritually. This is why Paul, I think, uses these illustrations so often.

These gym, kind of weight training, running. These are some of his favorite illustrations. It's because when we study God's word, at first it hurts just like a hard workout. You feel weak afterwards. I don't know if you've ever done a solid leg workout.

I have walked out of the ymca. I can't say anything today. Y' all pray for me. I've walked out of the Y here in Rocky Mount like this. You ever walked out of a gym like that, you haven't had a good leg workout yet, then trust me, you get a good one in.

I'm thankful for those rails down the steps because I've literally been going down the stairs like, oh, gosh. And this is what God's word does to you. Sometimes it does it to me. Sometimes I'll read it and go, whoa, I don't know about that, Lord. I don't know if it stretches, it convicts, it tears down strongholds, it tears down wrong ways of thinking and living.

But the more we remain in it and apply it and live in it, we grow stronger. We begin to see things as God sees them. It equips us, not instantaneously, but over time, to be complete in Christ and to be ready for every good work. It's like this, friends. There are things out there that God has built you for and built you to do and is ready to prepare you to accomplish.

But you have to come. Similar to last week. You have to come to Me, all who are weary, and I'll give you rest. It's similar to that, that you have to come to him in His Word and hear and listen and apply, and then the very things he's built you for, you'll be ready to do. Will you commit then to making the habit of Bible study a lifelong daily pursuit?

Now, this isn't good news to you at all today, I imagine what I'm about to tell you, you, to do this right, should have a Bible study every day for the rest of your life. Some of you who are like, I want to retire. You don't retire from this.

You don't retire from your faith. In fact, friends, your faith only grows the more you spend time with him and the more urgency you feel for his mission. You don't retire from Bible study. So if you start it tomorrow, I have great news. I have great news.

You get to do that every day till you die. And there's gonna come a time where you realize I wouldn't want it any other way because this is where I find the truth of who God is and what he desires in me and through me. We have some opportunities coming up. I want to give you some direct application. Perhaps you need some help.

Perhaps it would be helpful to have someone as a mentor or discipler. I'm going through life on life. We call it Life on Life discipleship here at the church. Many of you have been through this. Now there are many people in the room that actually need someone to disciple.

They want to be the discipler this time. So if you're interested in learning what it means to study God's word, to apply it, and many, many more, it's a rich study and I'm going through it with three people right now. And I'm having the best fun getting to know them and doing it's meant as just a starting point towards, hey, let's figure out how to do life together and under the inspiration of God's Word and what all that means. But also you get to build a lifelong relationship that hopefully will bear much accountability and fruit. So maybe that's you today.

You're thinking, I could use to use the gym illustration again. I could use a personal trainer. I've got a lot of people in this church right now that have been through this that are itching for the opportunity to walk with you in this also this coming weekend. And this is free to everyone. I've had some people asking me about this.

This is open to everyone. We have a workshop coming up this coming weekend at our Wilson campus. Me and Pastor Gary will be teaching it Friday night and Saturday morning, the 19th and 20th, that's coming up this weekend. The study's called how to Teach. How to Study and Teach the Bible.

It'll be a blessing to everyone. And it's not only for those in the room who are looking to teach and preach. It's for anyone. So feel free to sign up for that. That's an opportunity.

Because the Bible isn't just another book. It's the very word of God. So here's the call. Here's the challenge to you today. Would you listen?

Would you take time to hear it? Would you take time to be there so that you could hear the voice of God and then begin to apply it to your life and live it out and let the inspiration of God's word bear fruit in the way that you are equipped for every good work. Let's pray now together. Church Heavenly Father, we ask that you would encourage us when we come to you in Bible study. I pray for that person today who has maybe never had a habit like this in their life.

Perhaps this is not the way they grew up. This is all fairly foreign to them.

I pray that they'll take a chance tonight before they go to bed, tomorrow, before they get their day going. The first thing they would do when they wake up tomorrow is, okay, I'm going to look, I'm going to check out John chapter one. I'm going to go somewhere and hopefully God will speak. God, I'm asking boldly right now, would you show up in a mighty way? It's up to you.

You are a good God and you love us and you're going to act according to your purpose. But I just pray boldly. Lord, would you speak in a mighty way to someone this week who's just trying to get started? I pray that they would hear your voice in a powerful way through the words on these pages, that it would move them and stir them. I pray for those faithful in the room that more and more they would let the words of God just apply in every way, that they would make the determination as you once made, Lord Jesus, not my will, but yours be done, that we would do this as a church.

We would read your word, study it and go. Whatever you say, God is where I go. Whatever you say, Lord Jesus is where I move. You tell me to change this. I change it.

God, would you give us the power to do that? Encourage us in it. Help us to see the fruit in it. Help us to be husbands and wives according to your word and not just according to the world and whatever we feel, but according to truth. Help us to parent our children in such a way that it would raise them up, as you say in your word, in the admonition of the Lord, that they would come to know you at an early age because of us and the way we parent.

Help us to teach them honor and respect and obedience to a heavenly father which we first put on display in the way we honor, respect and obey you ourselves. Help us to be lights in dark places, in the places we work, in our communities. Help us to represent you well, because we're regularly hearing your voice and moving according to your purpose.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for who you are to us that you speak to us this way. You are an active God. You didn't just put things into motion and walk away. No, you are at work in this world right now, active in my life. Amazing to me.

Who am I? One among billions. And yet you speak to me too. Thank you for who you are to us. We worship you this morning.

We're so thankful for all that you've done for us and salvation. And through your word we pray all of these things in Jesus name, amen.


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