Value 2: The Word [Jon’s notes]

Last time

Worship – Living our lives with Jesus at the centre or ‘all that I am responding to all that God is.’

This time

Living our lives with Jesus at the centre means aligning my life with his word in the bible.
It is impossible to live in our world with Jesus at the centre of our lives without consistent interaction with God’s word.

Need to know:

The Bible is the word of God

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,” 2 Timothy 3:16 NIVUK

All scripture is the word of God. It teaches us, it rebukes us, corrects us and trains us.

The Word of God is eternal

“The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” Isaiah 40:8 NIVUK

Think how many words have been spoken with authority in the past but have not endured. Careful what you listen to. Grass is good and flowers are beautiful.

The Word is necessary for personal development God’s way

“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; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 NIVUK

Without daily bible reading and application we will never achieve all that God has for us because our days will be filled with the misinformation that a fallen world naturally bombards us with.

The Word of God is a sword

“Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

Ephesians 6:17 NIVUK

Jesus used the sword of God’s word when tempted in the desert. Shouldn’t we? Notice that he didn’t have a scroll with him. He had it memorised already.

For us:

We are not impervious to the values that surround us.
The values that surround us are frequently inconsistent with biblical principles
Weekly attendance at a church gathering is not enough to combat this
The only antidote is daily devotion to God’s word along with constant communion throughout the day.

Facebook Question: what is the significance of the bible in your everyday life?

Allan Thomson

Scripture helps undo the damage social media and the ‘news’ does to my brain. 🙂

Danny Levy

My honest answer is I don’t know but i know I feel better when I’ve read some of the scripture. If I am feeling low it’s my go to and it reminds me of how great things can be.

Claire Harbron

To me the Bible is a firm, consistent, dependable, stable rock to stand on. It shows me the difference between good and evil, right and wrong, truth and lies… as opposed to the constantly shifting sands of public opinion and the deteriorating standards of a society that calls good- evil and evil-good.

Thelmarie Curtis Horton

The Bible is definitely a “road-map” for my life. If I pay attention to the map, I’ll avoid all kinds of trouble and heartache, and I also will be shown things along the way that are beautiful, inspiring, and may even encounter the supernatural a few times. I know this – every time I look closely at my “road-map” I see new things that I didn’t see or know about before. The destination I’m heading for is too important not to look at the map along the way to make sure I’m on the right road.

Craig Clarkstone

I find I always have lots of distractions to keep me from reading it. I find discipline helps, and worship helps break the spiritual resistance. then It is much easier to study and read. I find www.bibleproject.com helps a lot. When I enter into bible study I go in with a mindset of how can I understand God more. I notice when I really drill down and put the Lord first at the beginning of each day, everything else is much easier, and I feel more able to face the struggles of the world.

Need to do:

Sylvia Northcott

If I ask Holy Spirit He gives me a new meaning or understanding of my reading for the day even if it’s a verse or chapter I’ve read loads of times before. Just need to give Him the time to show me!! It’s supernatural.

Recognise the power of a habit – our habits shape who we are
Identify your existing habitual behaviours
Create a habit, perhaps linking it to or replacing an existing habit
Try a bible reading plan
Don’t try too hard
Ask God to help you build the habit
Ask God to speak to you as you read his word – word and prayer together
Don’t treat it as academic or for head knowledge. Be intellectually inquisitive by all means but the point is to feed your soul not your brain and to build your relationship with God not just your bible knowledge.
When struggling with life’s difficulties, hold on to a verse of scripture. Seek God for answers in his word as a first port of call, looking for a ‘word in season’, or a ‘now word.’
When doing well, memorise. Harvest, store up grain.

Values

Worship -> Word -> He Works in and us and shows us the work he as for us to do.

Then we find oneness falls into place as we are all aligned to his principles (word) and direction (work).

Prayer

It starts with an encounter of Jesus and giving him our lives (worship). Will you start there today and give him your whole life?

If you have, will you devote some time and renewed energy to the word, daily?