Bill Johnson teaches how to hear God’s voice through Scripture. Reading the Bible is not optional as a believer; it was designed for and must become your life source. There is life on the written words in the Bible, and as you spend time in the Word you will grow in hunger for the voice of God and in understanding and recognition of His voice. Developing your history with God through reading Scripture will equip and prepare you to walk with supernatural hope and redemptive solutions into every situation you face. Bill Johnson shares how he reads the Bible whether it be Bible reading plans or reviewing favorite passages. Subscribe for weekly videos: https://bit.ly/bjmYoutube Connect with Bill Johnson Ministries: Website: http://bjm.org/ Facebook: https://bit.ly/bjmFacebook Instagram: https://bit.ly/bjmInstagram Mailing List: https://bit.ly/bjmMailingList Additional Resources: https://shop.bethel.com/collections/b… Scripture References: Matthew 4: 4 Proverbs 12: 1 Psalm 119 James 3: 15 2 Timothy 3-4 Originally shared at Bethel Church, Redding California, on September 15, 2019. Bill Johnson is a fifth-generation pastor with a rich heritage in the Holy Spirit. He is senior leader of Bethel Church in Redding, California, and is passionate about seeing Revival and God’s Kingdom established and revealed in the lives of individuals, families, communities, and nations. Bill’s teaching on the Kingdom of Heaven, hosting the Presence, and the renewed mind has helped thousands around the world to step into their true identity in Christ, God given purpose, and walk in a supernatural lifestyle displaying both purity and power. #BillJohnson #BethelChurch #Bible #Scripture #WordOfGod
keeping ourselves connected to what
God’s saying is a Life Source it is not
optional it is life itself I live
because he
talks good morning still morning yeah
still got a little bit
left a police officer pulled over a
driver informed him that because he was
wearing a seat belt he had just won
$1,000 in a safety competition
the officer asked what are you going to
do with the prize money he responded I
guess I’ll go to driving school and get
my
license at that moment his wife who was
seated next to him spoke up said officer
don’t listen to him he’s always a smart
alic when he’s
drunk this woke up the guy in the back
seat who barded it out I knew we
wouldn’t get far in the stolen
car right about that time
there was a knock from the trunk and a
voice asked are we over the Border
[Laughter]
yet I don’t know why that’s funny but it
is I read this one couple months ago but
you deserve to hear it
again this is how I learned to mind my
own
business I was walking past the mental
hospital the other day all the patients
were shouting 13 13
13 the fence was too high to see over it
but I saw a little Gap in the planks so
I looked through to see what was going
on some idiot poked me in the eye with a
stick then they started shouting 14
14 oh goodness that that is just classic
class
[Laughter]
it is one of the better ones all right
well I have the privilege today of
talking to you about the word of
God and I remember I remember as a as a
young man first of all in school I I got
good grades I keep saying I wasn’t a
good student my mom always corrects me
afterwards but she’s not here so I can
say it I wasn’t a good student I I
didn’t learn uh some of the study skills
that you should learn in school I I was
able to kind of cram before a test and
and get a good grade on the test and and
so anyway it was Creative Learning on my
part
yeah I uh so I I I didn’t read I I hated
reading I hated reading and I I hated
wrri I hated reading and I hated
writing the two things my life is spent
in right now
is is it’s like the Lord says hm Divine
humor let’s see how this works out but I
I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t enjoy reading
at all I hated it and uh and I remember
when I when I I really gave everything
about my life to Jesus everything Lock
Stock and Barrel as they say in my
commitment to Christ I remember I mean I
loved to hunting fish I honestly didn’t
care if I ever hunted or fished again I
didn’t care if I ever owned anything
besides the clothes on my back honestly
I had every ambition I had was all laid
on a put on a cross on an altar and I
just said yes to Jesus and that was my
that was my response to what he was
doing and speaking into my life and I
remember I I started reading and which
was a miracle I remember I actually read
uh seven books back to back to back in a
fairly short period of time all on the
subject of prayer for example um I just
couldn’t get enough I I’ll I’ll never
forget where I started I started reading
this book called normal Christian Life
by Watchman anybody else read that book
it’s a classic great book I remember I
my experience of reading this is I was I
was blown away by his insights and I was
reading this book thinking this what I
was thinking in my head I
thought this is all from the
Bible and while I had a hunger for
knowledge so I would read people’s books
I especially had hunger for the word of
God you can be fed with people’s books I
write them I hope people read them I
hope them to help them but they
supplements the meal is is the scripture
yeah the word of God is perfectly fit to
speak into any and every given situation
of our
lives and so when I when I said yes to
Jesus to Absolut serve with him as my
Lord and to be a true disciple I just
had this hunger for the
word and uh and I’ve I’ve never I’ve
never stopped in that pursuit of hunger
I’ve i’ I’ve had times where I’m hung
hungrier than others but one of the
things I learned in the kingdom is that
in this natural world you get hungry by
not eating but in the Kingdom you
actually get hungry by eating and so
putting yourself in a place where you
have continual exposure to what God is
saying actually creates an appetite for
the word
itself I I began to I began to read
somewhat randomly I I found that it was
helpful for me to have uh a disciplined
place of reading and so for me I I like
to read like from Genesis to Revelation
or maybe a new Testament only I’ll read
just Matthew through Revelation
sometimes fact when we moved here to
reading I I took a period of time it’s
about 10 years where my the bulk of my
reading for 10 years straight was just
the gospels in the book of Acts I just
read over and over and over and over
again I remember at at one point John
Paul Jackson was here and he spoke to us
about this uh this next wave of Revival
and what would be um what would be
involved in that and and and the Lord
had spoken something very clearly to him
that it would be all around Romans
chapter 4 so I remember in that in that
meeting I started that day I read Romans
4 every day for three years besides what
else I was reading but I made sure to
read that every day for three years with
the exception of five days because of
international flights the the point is
is to stay exposed to what God is saying
and doing and there are times I read
just the books of law sometimes just uh
the poetry books whatever the point is
is I encourage people to have what I
call recreational reading but also
discipline reading not one or the other
do
both uh recreational reading for me is I
have history with God I have history
with him where I have been in trouble
I’ve been disheartened I’ve been
discouraged I’ve been challenged in my
faith I’ve been confused not knowing
what decision to make and my habit
throughout these 40 some years is to
always go to the word of God when I’m in
one of those moments and I read
literally I read until he speaks I’ve
sat down and I’ve read 20 chapters 20
plus chapters uh just back to back to
back I will just continue to read until
he speaks to me and I find life here
literally life Jesus uh there’s this
statement in scripture man shall not
live by bread alone but by every word
that proceeds from the mouth of God I’m
alive I live because he talks I live
because he talks
and so I would I would read and still to
this day if I uh anytime uh I have a
challenging situation often times what I
do is I will actually go back to a place
where I met the Lord before for example
I’ll go to Joshua chapter 1 and I’ll
spend time there I’ll go to Isaiah 60
I’ll go to Psalms
2737 I go to these places where I have
history with God I’ve wept before God in
some of these places and the Lord has
spoken to me and he has fed me he fed my
soul
Soul he has fed my soul with his word
and has changed my life simply because
he spoke I’ve I’ve come desperate I’ve
come hungry I come with his word in
front of me and there’s just those
moments that you have in life with him
where he he breathes upon the words
that’s on the page you can’t always
explain what you just read and I love
that part of learning in the Kingdom as
he doesn’t touch my mind first he
touches my heart if I’ll come to him and
surrender he’ll impact me here where the
change begins before I understand what
he’s doing that’s a huge part of
learning that’s the way learning takes
place in the kingdom and so he would he
would speak that word to me so what I
call recreational reading is to go to a
familiar place in scripture where I’ve
been many many times before and I will
go back to those verses I I refer to
them as my cabin in the mountains you
know you want to get away you want to
have a break uh you just go up to the
cabin there’s a little Lake there you go
fishing or you can sit by the fireplace
or you can do whatever you want to do
but the point is you’re just in rest
mode uh just recuperating recovering and
I have places in the word of God where
it’s my cabin on the mountain it’s it’s
my place of personal refreshing and this
is where I have history with God this is
where I’ve taken time with God through
the years and he’s met with me over
these portions of scripture and I have
them Mark and I I know where to go I I
know because I I have history it’s like
it’s like you being married for 30 years
and you still have the Love Letters when
you were you were engaged you go back
and you read those love letters that’s
what it is it’s a love letter to
me and uh so so many people approach the
scripture so so carelessly and I I saw a
video I watched a part of it again this
week and I had seen it maybe a month or
two ago no more than two months ago
where in in China where they’re not
allowed to have Bibles in some places in
China you can’t get a
Bible in fact what these Believers will
do in these underground churches is
they’ll have one Bible and they’ll tear
individual Pages out of that Bible and
they’ll pass it around and one family
will have one page for a week or two
weeks and then they exchange with
another family so they get another
portion of scripture and in this
particular place they had somebody was
able to smuggle in bring in uh a box
full of Bibles and so here’s this home
with all these Believers and somebody
brings this box and you have all these
people video all these people standing
around then they cut open this box and
here’s a box filled with Bibles and they
just run they grab they hold it to their
chest and they just begin to weep and
weep and weep because they have the
privilege of reading
scripture and the great sobering warning
to me is famine always follows misused
abundance is to have so much liberal
access to something and you have that
thing close off in your heart where it
no longer feed you there’s this summons
there’s this invitation to come and
engage with God himself as we read that
which gives life
people will sometimes say well I I don’t
remember what I read and and I’ve I’ve
told you this before but people will say
I don’t remember what I read I well yeah
I don’t remember what I had for
breakfast last Monday either but it
still nourished me it still had its
place in me it’s it’s it’s going through
the privileged routine if you will of
going through scripture now I like the
random reading the uh the the cabin the
weekend on the cabin I love that kind of
reading but I always try to have the
disciplined reading through the
scripture maybe through the four gospels
maybe through the Old Testament whatever
it might be but the point is is what
you’ll find is you’ll be in a point of
Crisis or need or you need Clarity for
something and you will find that Jesus
actually has you in the chapter you’re
in on that given day you turn to where
your bookmarker is you open it up and
you find there’s the exact thing that I
need an answer for because he set you up
he’s big he’s Sovereign and he loves to
set you up for life and the point is is
we we do the discipline and then as The
Sovereign God he sets us up for divine
encounters the encounters we need we
just have to keep the thing
going I hear people say uh oh I read a
scripture this morning it was so deep it
just fed me all day
long
whatever I like
food I consider food to be the will of
God for my
life and I I will choose quality over
quantity I like good food I I have
favorite restaurants around the world my
favorite restaurant is down in Napa
Valley called The French Laundry I’ve
been to a number of three Michelin star
restaurants around the world and oh
goodness gracious you just almost get a
whole new release in your prayer
language eating that food I mean it’s
just encounters with Jesus at that
table and uh I I remember the first time
I ate at French Laundry we’ve been
blessed enough to go there a number of
times and I remember the first time oh
about there’s like nine courses and then
they throw in some free bees you know
and it’s all just the finest food in the
on the planet you know and U so I I
remember sitting there and they bring
out this little this little bowl with uh
caviar and oysters it’s called oysters
and Pearls uh Chef Keller is world
famous for this for this specific dish
now you need to know the inside
hate oysters and I hate
caviar all right so here here I have
this set before me that I would not
order if I had a choice but what we do
is you choose vegetarian menu which is
never going to be chosen by
me or the real people that’s not the way
to say it or the meat men so all you
vegetarians you you love me week after
week I don’t know how you do it you
endure you endure such torment for me
but so they brought out this little bowl
and it’s it’s a big plate but a little
little tiny bowl with caviar and oysters
and his sauce and I looked at beny and I
said I’m spending too much money for
this meal not to at least try it which
is not my Norm but I thought I’m going
to be bold I’m going to express great
faith and I I took a bite of the oysters
and Pearls I could not believe what was
happening in my mouth
I turned to Benny and I said I want a
chili bowl full of this
stuff I don’t know what’s in the sauce
you know what what we do is I as you
already know I’m a cookbook buyer even
though I don’t
cook and let’s say as you go to French
Laundry or some nice restaurant and you
you taste the finest thing you’ve ever
tasted and you go into the in the
reception area of the of the of the
restaurant and there they’ve got
cookbooks by Chef Keller or whoever
happens to be and you say man I want
that again and you pull off that menu
that the The cookbook and you find
oysters and pearls and you start looking
at all these
ingredients and you go you know what I I
don’t like that that’s oysters I don’t
like that caviar oh look at that spice I
never did like that oh they put that but
that’s kind of bland I don’t know why
you put that in a recipe and you go all
through this recipe and you find there’s
not very many things on there you would
ever enjoy by
itself unless of course you throw in
chocolate chips at the
end so you’ve got this recipe of bitter
tasting things fishy tasting things sour
tasting things too salty too sweet too
bland but somehow the Master Chef has
put it together in perfect balance and
it Bec the best thing you’ve ever eaten
in your
life this book has bitter things sour
things things that are so sweet things
that are so confrontive things that are
so challenging things that are so exotic
in and of themselves but when they’ve
been blended into the hole it is the
absolute finest meal you will ever eat
this is that which you were born
it’s the whole Council of God it’s not
just some people they just drive me nuts
they just go through and find just the
feel-good verses no you need to be
slapped it’s called a sword for a reason
there are things Clinging On to you that
shouldn’t be
there the Bible says the word of God is
good for correction Proverbs 12:1 says
and this is this is like in the new king
James translation this isn’t The Message
Bible it says he who hates correction is
stupid he who hates correction is just
plain stupid they’re just
dumb let me extend it he who hates to be
corrected by scripture is
stupid and I tell you what we’ve got an
option because you will be
corrected it’ll either be in private
with a sword or it’ll be in public with
the community but it will be
exposed oh just looking at your faces is
such a great joy for me right now
watching watching the squirm and
people’s
faces this this is a relational
journey I I’m so thankful I’ve got
goodness I don’t know how many bibles
and Bible programs and study materials
and books I have on my iPad I love it I
sit on the plan I go yeah what does that
word me and I look it up and touch the
word it just opens up I got all this
stuff I love it but I want to I want to
tell you do not have a relationship with
God over the scripture that is on a
screen
only have something you can write on
because this is going to be your
history I got up about 3:00 in the
morning August 2009 I think was the year
I was headed to Argentina
I went into use the restroom there was a
book sitting there by uh Kim
Clement I looked at the inside cover he
wrote a note to me he he was here wrote
a note to me wrote a scripture reference
down I looked at that reference it spoke
so deeply to me that I went to my Bible
and marked it and put the date down
because I never wanted to forget the
date so it’s on the right page in the
book of naam of my Bible the date when
go book so you want your history with
God you want to underline you want to
make cross references God speaks to you
out of the Gospel of John and you see a
similar thing back in Joshua then find
it in John then go back to Jos and write
the reference down you want to have that
Silver Thread of your Redemptive Journey
with King Jesus who is teaching you how
he thinks and how he sees you need the
confront of stuff you need the stuff
that’s harsh the Book of Judges the
things that that by themselves maybe
isn’t that pleasant but in the whole of
scripture in our journey to come to know
him and be a true disciple we find out
that these things they don’t contradict
each other as we thought they actually
complement each other this flavor that’s
bitter by itself when it’s added to this
part of the meal it enhances the flavor
of that part of the meal and this thing
is written in its entirety to minister
to who we are to bring us into our sense
of purpose and into our sense of Destiny
I want you to open your Bibles we’re
going to read two portions of scripture
and the first one is going to be in um
Psalms 119 I’m going to read the whole
Psalm to you no no I’m not
not actually yesterday I was thinking
about it I was um just flew in from New
York by the way God’s doing so many
amazing things in New York I was so
thrilled to be there New York
City right
downtown wow fun fun fun to see so many
hungry
people and I flew home yesterday and
because of the work on the runway in San
Francisco we needed to redirect our
flight and so arranged to fly at to
Sacramento then I have a couple interns
that came and picked me up brought me
home and uh on the way sitting in the
back seat I just started thinking about
Psalms 119 it’s a it’s a Psalm that is
so rich in defining the role of the word
of God in our life I I actually want to
challenge you sit down in one setting
and read the entire Psalm it doesn’t
take as long as you are
fearfully
thinking you know that we read faster
than we talk right if we read out loud
we read at a certain space if you don’t
read out loud you actually read faster
and that’s true for just about everybody
on the planet do you know how long it
takes to read this entire Bible if you
read out loud
is only 72
hours 72 hours it tells you how much we
read 72 hours for the whole thing
Genesis to
Revelation 119th Psalm take note of the
word word statutes precepts testimony
Commandments all those kinds of words
because they are all all different
angles of this one thing called word of
God and what I want to encourage you to
do is read this at some point in one
setting if you can split it up if you
have to but go into this with this
question what role is the word of God
supposed to have in my life if you go to
this book with questions you’ll find
answers otherwise you’ll find random
information Psalms 119 we’re going to
read about five or six verses
here beginning with verse 9 how can a
young man or old man cleanse his way by
taking taking heed according to your
word with my whole heart I have sought
you oh let me not Wander from your
Commandments your word I have hidden in
my heart that I might not sin against
you I can still hear my mom’s mom my
grandma quoting this verse I think she
was trying to help me she would quote
this verse for me you know how can a
young man cleanse his way and then she’d
go into this one your word I’ve hidden
my heart that I might not sin against
you let’s stop and look at that that
concept for just a moment your word I’ve
hid in my
heart that I might not sin against you
do you know what happens when you worry
you’re
actually planting a
lie into your heart until the Roots grow
down and affect your
soul they actually impact thinking
values emotions all those things come
under the influence of whatever it is
you’re worrying
about anxiety fear resentment jealousy
suspicion offense all of those things
when they’re held dear the longer you
hold it the the deeper The Roots get
that’s why repentance has to be so
deeply felt when we turn things over to
Jesus it’s not a mere you know oh by the
way forgive me sorry about that uh when
it’s a lifestyle for many years where
the roots have gone down deep and
they’ve actually affected my personality
my soul then that thing has to be deeply
dealt with I don’t mean through
self-abuse I mean just through deep deep
confession God I see the the uh the uh I
see the impact of my sin of this way of
thinking it has affected who you’ve made
me to be and it has been wrong and I’ve
held to this thing for 20 years God
please forgive me and deliver me from
this way of thinking repentance has to
be deep especially to uproot those
things that we’ve held on to so dear for
so long what happens is with offense and
jealousy is uh the Book of James
actually causes cuse jealousy
wisdom it’s one of the craziest things
you’ll ever see the Book of James calls
jealousy wisdom but it calls it inferior
wisdom that which is natural and demonic
so why call it wisdom at all because
what it’s saying is by by acknowledging
that it is wisdom jealousy is kept Alive
by
information jealousy suspicion
resentment attracts information to
reinforce the position of
offense you will attract more
information to make you feel secure in
your conclusion
but it does not exist in the heart of
Christ and that’s why we keep the word
of God in our heart why that we might
not sin against
God if our reaction is anything other
than love it will lead to
sin if our reaction leads comes from any
other place then love it will lead to
sin Jesus is very serious about having
us having him well represented in the
Earth for how we deal with the things
that come our way there’s only two
responses in life fear and
love there’s only two places from which
we speak fear or love there’s only two
places from which we act and make
decisions fear or
love and there’s a lot of Believers that
get confused in this area and they think
they’re Discerning something when they
become suspicious resentful or filled
with offense at another person and they
that offense actually attracts
information to keep them locked into
that place and so the scripture says
your word I have KD in my heart I’ve
kept it there so that I might not sin
against you it’s your word in me
releasing its spiritual nutrients if you
will that helps me to say stay Center in
an accurate and authentic represent
ation of who Jesus
is Jesus was talking to uh a crowd in
John 5 and part of that crowd was a
group of Fes and he looks at the
Pharisees and he says you don’t believe
me because my word was not in
you so think about this here’s the
Pharisees doing their routine reading
scripture studying doing all this stuff
but they never let it get into their
heart it only was in their head they had
to concept so they could debate they
could argue they could accuse but it was
never trans from their heart so Jesus
shows up here’s the Messiah he shows up
on the scene and they do not believe and
he says the reason you don’t believe is
because the word wasn’t in you you
didn’t put it in your heart so the
implication is what the word of God in
my heart sets me up to believe for
whatever he’s about to do
next verse 11 again your word I’ve
hidden in my heart that I might not sin
against you blessed are you oh Lord
teach me your statutes with my lips I
have declared all the judgments of your
mouth I have rejoiced in the way of your
testimonies as much as in all riches I
will meditate on your precepts
contemplate your ways I will Delight
myself in your statutes I will not
forget your word you can see statement
after statement after statement is to
draw our hearts into an affection for
scripture the scripture says faith comes
by hearing and hearing by what the word
of God faith comes by hearing and
hearing by the word the scriptures set
us up to hear so that we can
believe faith comes from hearing hearing
comes the capacity to hear comes from
scripture there’s two words in the New
Testament uh regarding the word of God
that would be wise for us to know the
one is the word logos and the other is
Rama some of you heard these words used
in the past logos generally refers to
the printed or written scripture Rama
generally refers to that which is
freshly spoken by God in a given moment
you may be reading for example out of
the book of Ephesians all of a sudden
this phrase just leaps out at you and it
just uh just brings uh Comfort to your
soul or direction or wisdom or Insight
or faith or whatever it might be but he
just breathes on that which is
written and uh so there’s the logos
which is printed but the Rama is that
which is freshly spoken of God in the
anointing the line between logos and
Rama
disappears It all becomes empowered to
feed us to empower us to direct us to
correct
us I return to the scriptures frequently
for so many well every day I just don’t
miss a I I miss a day 37 years ago uh
because I got kidney stones you know
those are way overrated
it wasn’t near as fun as they said it
would be I uh I middle of the night uh I
had the boys Leah wasn’t born yet so
however long ago that was 38 years ago I
guess and I was in such pain I I thought
hell had come I I was in pain it was
unbelievable I called Benny wasn’t there
she was uh at a women’s retreat and uh
and I called my doctor was a personal
friend and he said I’ll meet you at the
hospital come come down right now I said
I can’t I can’t I can’t move I was oh
goodness gracious I was so doubled over
with pain and uh and he said all right
I’ll come to your house so I called
Chris next I said Chris I need help meet
me at the hospital I need you to take my
boys because there was no one to take
them so Chris comes down he’s in the
lobby with my boys and I was there in
such pain and I I just want to give
praise to God for whoever figured out
Demerol is
magical de Demerol as far as I’m
concerned is an absolute gift from
God they gave me however many shots I
needed of that stuff until I was in la
la land and until that thing passed and
uh and the next day I was fine uh but I
didn’t read that
day I didn’t read it that
day but unless it’s something like that
I’m going to start my day I’m going to
end my day and if I have the chance I
will during the day read Wigglesworth I
think it was said of him if if he wasn’t
speaking or or in a meeting or doing
something he wouldn’t go 15 minutes
without reading the word he had a little
New Testament his back pocket he just
bring it out sit at a bus station sit on
a park bench wherever he’s at just stop
and would read keeping ourselves
connected to what God’s saying is a Life
Source it is not optional it is life
itself I live because he
talks the power of His word way back day
of creation he spoke he said let there
be light do you know that at this moment
the universes are expanding at least at
the speed of sound if not the speed of
light they are continuously being formed
and created why because he never called
his word back how powerful is his word
what he declares he enables he empowers
and he makes possible and he wants us to
Delight in the privilege of having him
speak to
us go to 1 Timothy chapter or yeah uh 2
Timothy chapter 3 and we’ll wrap it up
with this
one are you alive everybody
alive I wrote just a quick quick list
this morning of things I could recall
from the Bible what it said about the
Bible so the word instructs corrects
directs inspires empowers gives
faith heals and gives promise
if you want to know what divine Health
looks like study the Book of
Proverbs and look at every time you can
find life and health and find out how
often it’s actually connected to the
word of
God the word actually inspires Health in
the human
body it’s the gos
pill that’s bad
that was bad that was pretty stinky all
right let’s let’s hurry and get on to
the
scripture 2 Timothy chapter
3 here’s a promise for you to put on
your refrigerator verse 12 yes and all
who desire to live Godly in Christ Jesus
will suffer
persecution let me read it again this is
this is one of the tart verses that
helps the rest to be
enhanced cleanse your pallet you ready
all right here we go yes and all who
desire to live Godly in Christ Jesus
will suffer persecution evil men
imposters will grow worse and worse
deceiving and being deceived but you
must continue in the things you have
learned and been assured of knowing from
whom you have learned them and that from
childhood you have known the holy
scriptures which are able to make you
wise for salvation through faith which
is in Christ Jesus wise for salvation
interesting phrase wise for salvation
you say well Bill I’m already
saved yeah I believe that I believe when
you the moment you received Christ you
were saved you were born again but T
Paul talks about working out your
salvation daily so there’s these there’s
this three-fold dimension of Salvation I
was saved at such and such a time but I
am presently being saved and when Jesus
returns or I die and appear before him I
will be saved there’s that Triune
dimension of Salvation he’s talking here
about the word of God as being that
which enables us to work out our daily
salvation in other words we’d be more
saved today than we were
yesterday that should have excited you
much more than it did but we’ll we’ll
just we’ll just move on I’ll pretend it
was a good resp response
yeah verse 16 all scripture is given by
inspiration of God it is profitable for
Doctrine for Repro for correction for
instruction in righteousness that the
man of God may be complete or the woman
of God may be complete thoroughly
equipped for every good work here’s the
deal the word of God equips me Spirit
soul and body
intellectually
emotionally
mentally which is different than
intellectually it’s the state of my
mind
physically in the natural thoroughly
equipped for every good work in other
words any challenge that comes before me
I am ready to represent the king with
adequate adequate service to invest into
that situation so that Jesus is well
represented it’s the word of God the
word of God working in through my life
equips me to be adequate and successful
in any opportunity I have to represent
the king in a given
situation that the man of God may be
thoroughly equipped for every good work
keep reading chapter 4 we’ll wrap this
up says I charge you therefore before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ who would
judge the living and the dead at his
appearing and his kingdom preach the
word now this is everybody in the room
this is not this is not a Pulpit
it’s not an exhortation for pulpit
people every one of us should be
declares of the word of God it may be in
a small group meeting it maybe at coffee
with a friend but the point is is you’re
engaging in fellowship and there’s the
exchange of insight in life that comes
from
scripture preach the word we be ready in
season out of season in other words do
it when you feel like it do it when you
don’t convince rebuke exhort with all
longsuffering and teaching time will
come when they will not endure sound
Doctrine but according to their own
desire because they have itching ears
they will Heap for themselves
teachers they’ll turn their ears away
from truth here’s this incredible
warning in the context of the purpose
and power of
scripture there there are people right
now that are just making a mess of the
Bible because they’re pulling out any
words of judgment any words of
Correction any words that make them feel
you know insecure removing all of that
and just anchoring in the promises that
are rewarding them so that there’s
there’s absolutely no sting left in
scripture there’s supposed to be a sting
there the supposed to be it’s never from
a father who wants to destroy us it’s a
father who says I am working intently
and seriously in your life and you will
look completely like Jesus when I’m done
and to do that I need to use a sword
it’s only going to hurt for a moment and
he speaks and he cuts off that thing
that was completely unnecessary amen and
he invites us into this engagement with
scripture and sometimes it’s inspiring
and you you you you you can’t uh you
don’t want to stop reading yet you need
to get to the office or whatever it
might be and there are other times
you’re there just pushing through
because you know there’s life there I
read the
genealogies when I’m going through
scripture and it’s genealogy time that’s
the Bland part of the
recipe but it helps the
recipe it helps it helps the whole meal
to be what it is that which nourishes
challenges changes
me there are some people that are going
running around saying we don’t have to
pay attention to the teachings of Jesus
because Jesus all of his teaching was
actually in the Old Testament which is
true because the New Covenant was when
his blood was shed so all of his
teaching during his three and a half
years of ministry was actually in the
Old Testament so they say we don’t need
the teachings of Jesus well think about
this was Jesus the greatest teacher of
all time yes if God the father had him
teach at the tail end of the Old
Testament for three and a half years and
that was the only time that teaching was
worthwhile then God is the worst Steward
ever to exist to have the best at the
last tail end of several thousand years
for three and A2 years with just a few
thousand people under its influence it’s
crazy to deal with that that that the
writers of scripture knew would be
coming in the future in first John he
says anyone who comes to you that does
not have the teachings of Jesus do not
even receive them into your home it’s
that serious don’t even receive them
into your home that’s not saying your
neighbor who doesn’t know Christ it’s
saying those who are masquerading as
believers though have nothing to do with
the teachings of Jesus do not engage in
interaction with them if they refuse to
repent and they hold to those ideals
because they will infect your value of
scripture all
right people come and they say well
there’s errors in the Bible no there’s
not
but let’s just pretend there is for
discussion’s
sake there’s not as many errors in here
as there is in
you and I’m not going to let you
redefine what is valuable in here for
[Applause]
me other than that I’m quite happy all
the
time I pray that the
Lord would gift you with a Grace for the
word of God for
scripture for understanding the Bible
says knowledge comes easy to him who has
understanding if you can imagine mail
room where there’s slots for different
individuals different offices when you
have the slot you have a place to put
knowledge when you have understanding
there’s a con context for what God would
like to say but he’s not a bad Steward
and he doesn’t release Revelation
knowledge to a person that doesn’t have
a context to put it in so one of the
things that we do that we get hungry we
fully respond to what he’s spoken to us
so far we live from his word we have
history with
him and then we attract ongoing
understanding and Revelation so that we
can impact the people around us so I
want you to stand up because we’re going
to pray I going to pray for you
Jesus make it come
alive I you know what I I remember I was
probably 19 at the time the church was
in the old facility that no longer
exists there was a little Library there
I remember pulling this little tiny
white book off the shelf I remember I’m
I’m not a reader but I was just starting
to engage with reading and I pulled this
little tiny white book off the shelf and
I just opened it in the middle started
reading and I was while I was reading I
thought this is
amazing this I could feel it coming off
the page honestly I could feel it Life
coming off the page and I kept reading
kept reading kept reading reading and I
turned the page kept reading and then
there was a scripture reference and I
saw oh I was actually reading the word
and I didn’t even know it it’s why life
was coming off the page as he was
quoting a passage of scripture to prove
a point
life I live because he talks so father I
pray that you would make your word come
alive at a level that we’ve never known
before and that every person in this
room all of our our friends that are
scattered around the globe with bethl TV
that there would be this fresh fresh
gift of hunger for the reading of the
word of God for delighting in you’d
expand our wisdom expand our our
devotion to the written word I pray this
for the honor of the name Jesus amen now
I want to have the ministry team come to
the
front and I there’s been an altar called
people have already been invited to
Christ did people did Chris do that in
in he did do it during the communion
okay okay if if you could hold on a
moment really would help us thanks just
Ministry team only just come to the
front if there’s anyone here in fact let
me just ask the question is there anyone
here that would just say Bill I’ve never
been a disciple of Jesus or if I if I
was I I chose My Own Way entirely and I
want to return to him today I want to
place my faith in him and become a true
disciple of Jesus disciple means learner
when we stop learning we stop being a
disciple and you would say Bill I want
to be the learner I want to be forgiven
of sin and really healed from the inside
if that’s anybody in the room put your
hand up real quickly because I want to
make sure anybody right right over here
is one anybody else you would just
say anybody else right over here is
another one right over there’s another
one that’s so beautiful come on right
over here’s another
one that’s so cool so
cool right over here to my left are are
you guys setting that up
right over here to my left is a group of
people that we know and trust there’ll
be a little Banner there so you kind of
know where they’re at but right over
here to my left those four of you and if
there’s more I want to ask the four of
you please come quickly to this group
over here because I want them to talk
with you I want them to pray with you
just leave your seats come come to them
right now and this team is going to pray
for you cuz I I I want you to be blessed
beyond measure yeah Church bless them as
they come that’s awesome
right over here come
[Music]
on Amazing all right are you wrapping up
come and grab the mic tell everybody
what to do hold on just a second let me
get to the back and uh he’ll tell us
what to do