WEBVTT 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:13.919 Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church. 00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:19.359 You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers. 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:21.280 Thank you for listening. 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:29.600 Well, today we're going to continue our series on the goodness of God. 00:00:29.839 --> 00:00:32.240 And today we're going to talk about this. 00:00:32.479 --> 00:00:35.359 It is one of my favorite things to preach about. 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:39.759 I will preach about it often and a lot, and that is this. 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:45.039 The goodness of God means that he has given us the gift of Scripture. 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:53.439 Remember, we talked about, began the series in James 1, where we talked about every good gift and perfect gift is from our Heavenly Father. 00:00:53.679 --> 00:01:01.679 And so one of the greatest gifts that He has given us as believers is the gift of His Word. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:27.920 Now, one of the things that I that one of the many reasons that I'm blessed to be here and honored to be here, and it's humbling to be here, is when you look back through the heritage of this church, its foundational belief and stance on the Word of God, and the incredible men of God who have been preaching that scripture from the pulpits of this church. 00:01:28.079 --> 00:01:40.799 It is incredible when you begin to see the heritage of the foundation of the people who started the church and then the men of God who have stood in and preached the Word of God. 00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:51.840 In fact, this week I've been doing a little bit of history research of the church because it's really fun and it's fascinating to see the heritage that we have. 00:01:52.079 --> 00:01:56.560 And when the church was founded, it was founded by a group of people. 00:01:56.799 --> 00:02:01.200 Their first meeting was in someone's home, December 1, 1857. 00:02:01.519 --> 00:02:09.360 We don't know what the menu was, but I'm sure there was food involved because they started a Baptist church, right? 00:02:09.919 --> 00:02:20.319 And as they got together and started the church and they put together their founding documents, here's their first principle that they built on. 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:26.400 And I'm reading directly from their handwritten documents in which they established the church. 00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:43.199 First, we believe the scriptures constituting the Old and New Testament to be the Word of God and acknowledge them to be the only rule of our faith and practice. 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:48.400 That's who we've always been as a church. 00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:51.599 In fact, I thought it was kind of cool as I read that and was looking at that. 00:02:51.680 --> 00:03:00.639 I went onto our website, and when you go there and it says, What we believe, listen to how closely these are still aligned. 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:06.080 It says, the Bible is God's perfect holy word. 00:03:06.719 --> 00:03:12.800 It has no errors and is the authority for life. 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:16.719 We started that way and we continue that way today. 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:18.000 Isn't that incredible? 00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:21.840 I mean, that heritage has been faithful through our church. 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:33.199 There are a number of ways and times that you, if we started sharing testimonies about how God's word has been integral to the flow and the growth of our church and all of that. 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:38.560 But one of the stories, I want to share one of the stories many of you know, but it I just found it incredibly fascinating. 00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:44.400 Last week for holiday weekend, we had some of our longest-term friends from Memphis with us. 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:48.400 I mean, we've been through life together, college, got married, raised babies together, all that. 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:49.360 Just great folks. 00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:49.919 We love them. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:04:03.520 So I'm standing shaking hands, you know, all that kind of deal, and they're standing out in front of the library, and I walk up there, and my buddy is looking, he's standing in front of the quilt out there, you know, in front of the library deal, and he says, Okay, I know this has got to be a story. 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:09.439 He said, Tell me why there's a Bible over a stack of firewood. 00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:14.240 And if you go look at it, you know, with someone who doesn't know and understand. 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:16.399 And I said, Boy, I'm glad you're here. 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:18.399 I actually know that story. 00:04:19.199 --> 00:04:39.680 In 1898, in what is a moment that is renowned in Arkansas history, on January 11th, 1898, an incredible tornado started across the border in Oklahoma and swept into Fort Smith. 00:04:40.480 --> 00:05:00.079 At that time, uh, after that occurred, it was the largest and most devastating tornado in Arkansas history, and today still remains the second most fatal event or disaster in the history of our state. 00:05:00.399 --> 00:05:09.279 As that tornado came through, they estimate very clearly from eyewitnesses that it was a cat four, what we would call a category four tornado. 00:05:09.439 --> 00:05:12.879 Eyewitnesses said there was no funnel cloud. 00:05:13.600 --> 00:05:21.600 It ranged between a hundred feet and two hundred feet wide as it swept through our community. 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:31.439 It started and entered into the city at where the National Cemetery is, and it blew through downtown and swept through the community. 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:41.040 There were, by the time it was over, 55 deaths and over a hundred people with hospitalization level injuries. 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:47.279 As it swept through downtown, First Baptist Fort Smith was in its path. 00:05:47.519 --> 00:05:57.279 I found a blog that was describing this moment on the Arkansas State Archives website, and here's what it says. 00:06:17.199 --> 00:06:22.639 Somebody asked me, says, that this morning, we were talking about that story, and they said, Is that why we don't have a bell? 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:24.000 And I said, Yeah, they couldn't find it. 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:25.360 It blew it away. 00:06:27.920 --> 00:06:29.839 You can imagine the devastation. 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:41.439 You can imagine the experience of the church, and that pile of rubble on that quilt represents that the church was literally raised to the ground with nothing left. 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:46.639 And as they sorted through the rubble, here's the one thing that survived that they found. 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:48.560 It is the Word of God. 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:52.240 It is a Bible that was historic to the church. 00:06:52.399 --> 00:06:53.759 You see the outside of it. 00:06:53.839 --> 00:06:56.000 It's one of those about that thick and huge. 00:06:56.079 --> 00:07:05.040 And as we flipped through a couple of pages this week, uh through the years, a number of pastors have actually preached from that Bible in key moments. 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:10.560 And uh and it's it's kind of old, you know, 1898, and I didn't want to be the one that tore it apart. 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:12.079 So we just took pictures of it. 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:21.120 But you can see it's beautiful, it has some breathtaking uh pictures and all of that in it, and it has testimonies and different sheets and flyers in it. 00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:27.439 And so it has been one of those things through the years that First Baptist people have told that story. 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:37.040 God's word has been the foundation of our church, and regardless of what happens to our church, we will stand on the word of God and preach and teach the word of God. 00:07:37.360 --> 00:07:45.680 One of those incredible stories, isn't it, about that you just see as God takes these moments and puts his thumbprints on circumstances. 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:55.199 Well, what I want to teach you about today from 2 Peter chapter 1 is that God's word is a gift. 00:07:55.759 --> 00:07:57.920 It is his gift to us. 00:07:58.160 --> 00:08:03.680 A lot of people say things about Scripture, a lot of people believe things about Scripture. 00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:20.399 We have a lot of people who validate the existence of Scripture, and they are proud of strong theological statements about Scripture, but in their personal lives are they invested in the Word of God on a daily basis? 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:34.159 They tell us that Charles Haddon-Spurgeon once said, it is easier to find a hundred men who will die for the Bible as true than to find ten that will read it every day. 00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:44.480 And so what we, what I want to do is stir in your heart and encourage you today a new love for Scripture as an individual. 00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:53.919 You see, we cannot be a people of the Bible collectively if we're not people in the Bible individually. 00:08:55.440 --> 00:09:04.240 In fact, as I was preparing this morning and as I was praying for you as we started the service, this became my prayer that God laid on my heart for us today. 00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:08.879 Today, here's what I just wrote down my prayer for you this morning, preparing for church. 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:20.080 I pray God stirs a view of Scripture from Scripture that stirs your desire to invest your life in Scripture. 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:22.000 Let me share that with you again. 00:09:22.159 --> 00:09:27.200 I pray that God stirs a view of Scripture from Scripture. 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:34.639 Not something I say, but from Scripture that stirs your desire to invest your life in Scripture. 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:36.320 I chose this passage. 00:09:36.399 --> 00:09:41.440 There are a lot of great passages about the Bible itself in the Bible, so we'll understand what it is. 00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:56.960 But this one I chose because it grabs that view of Scripture that should stir our hearts as individuals, that it is God's gift, and it is given out of his goodness, and it encourages us to be in it and to stand in it and live through it as individuals. 00:09:57.200 --> 00:10:02.399 Here's, as we read, I want to remind you of our central truth about the goodness of God. 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:04.399 What is our definition of the goodness of God? 00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:10.080 And as we read through here, I want you to see and reflect on that as it's shown in this passage. 00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:18.639 God's attributes, his attitudes, and his actions are driven by both his holy righteousness and his benevolent grace. 00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:22.799 His holy righteousness, God is good. 00:10:23.759 --> 00:10:27.840 And his benevolent grace, God is good. 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:31.200 Now look and see how Peter describes that. 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:32.639 Verse 3. 00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:40.159 God's divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness. 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:48.799 Now I want you to take a minute right there, just stop in your Bible, and I want you to look and see, is there an asterisk in your Bible that drops a footnote right there? 00:10:49.039 --> 00:10:51.600 Is there an asterisk on the word everything? 00:10:52.080 --> 00:11:02.080 I'm just wondering, is there some footnote that says, except for when life's hard, or accept for when you need an answer and can't find one, or accept for when you're in this? 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:04.960 There's no asterisk there. 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:08.000 This wraps up everything that you can need. 00:11:08.159 --> 00:11:12.320 The word everything properly translated is the word everything. 00:11:12.639 --> 00:11:19.039 His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness. 00:11:19.679 --> 00:11:32.159 He teaches us then that happens, that life and godliness and his power works through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 00:11:33.519 --> 00:11:42.159 By these, his own glory and goodness, by God's glory and goodness, he has given us very great and precious promises. 00:11:42.559 --> 00:11:48.879 And that's the view from Scripture that I want you to see that encourages you into Scripture. 00:11:49.039 --> 00:11:59.840 That by his very goodness and the glory of who he is as God, he has given us not a rule book, not a legislative act, not a law book. 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:08.159 He has given us not an instruction manual, but he has given us great and precious promises. 00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:14.960 Promises that he's given us everything we need for life and for godliness. 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:17.679 They are precious promises. 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:18.879 Look what he says. 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:22.720 We get everything we need through the knowledge of him who called us. 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:26.639 And so what these promises do, or they call us into a relationship. 00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:29.279 They connect us with the giver of the promises. 00:12:29.679 --> 00:12:33.440 They are his personal promises to us as his people. 00:12:33.679 --> 00:12:36.159 If you will call on my name, I will save you. 00:12:36.399 --> 00:12:37.919 Let not your heart be troubled. 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:42.159 If you believe in God, believe also in men, and I am going to heaven to prepare a place for you. 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:46.320 And if I'm going to do that, I'm sure gonna come back and receive you to myself. 00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:58.799 All throughout Scripture, we see now that this is God's promise to us that empowers us and gives us life and godliness and guides and protects. 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:01.759 They are promises that draw us into a relationship. 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:17.600 If someone makes a promise to you and you receive that promise, you're now in a relationship built on trust and responsibility and obligation that draws you together to completion to what was promised. 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:20.240 Look how Peter goes on. 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:29.679 Now he's gonna tell us if that's true, and God's word is that much of a gift to us, then we have to do something with it. 00:13:29.919 --> 00:13:33.120 He says in verse 5, for this very reason. 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:34.559 What reason? 00:13:34.879 --> 00:14:02.159 The reason that God has drawn us into relationship through great and precious promises given through his goodness and his glory that change our lives because of that, because of that view and understanding of Scripture, for this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 00:14:02.559 --> 00:14:14.320 For if these qualities are yours and they are increasing in your life, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus. 00:14:14.639 --> 00:14:24.480 The person who lacks these things is blind and short-sighted and has forgotten cleansing from his past. 00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:33.200 When we're not in God's word and allowing it to transform our lives, we have forgotten what we were saved from and saved to. 00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:43.759 Therefore, brothers, make every effort to confirm your calling and election because if you do these things, you will never stumble. 00:14:44.000 --> 00:15:04.639 For in this way, in this process of standing on these promises and them transforming our lives and turning us into usefulness to the kingdom and fruitful in our walk, for in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be richly supplied to you. 00:15:05.039 --> 00:15:13.360 It is an incredible truth that Peter is trying to teach folks and to grasp onto and understand. 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:14.960 Let's break it down this way. 00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:17.519 Here's the first truth that I want you to get. 00:15:17.679 --> 00:15:26.639 Again, my prayer is that you have a new view of Scripture, a deeper view of Scripture from Scripture, and see how He has described it. 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:32.960 By these, by His glory and goodness, God has given us great and precious promises. 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:39.360 God's word was written to us from the very heart of the goodness of God. 00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:44.240 I mean, just soak in that for a minute. 00:15:44.879 --> 00:16:07.919 Our Heavenly Father, who is good to us in every way, who has given us every good gift and every perfect gift and all of those things that He's done for us, what He has done is given us a way to understand how much He loves us and desires a relationship with us, the faithfulness to save us and to carry us and to prepare a place for us in heaven. 00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:15.759 He has done all of that by giving promises that activate, change, transform, and build our lives. 00:16:17.120 --> 00:16:20.480 This verse says, because of his goodness, he saved you. 00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:24.000 Through his goodness and glory, he's called you into a relationship. 00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:32.000 And then through that goodness and glory, he's given you everything that you need for every part of life. 00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:34.720 That's what the word of God is for us. 00:16:36.240 --> 00:16:54.559 That's how we come to Scripture in the morning when you sit down and that first cup of coffee is percolating, and you're trying to prop your eyes open, and you're thinking, Do I have the energy or the time this morning to get out God's word and to have a quiet time? 00:16:56.480 --> 00:16:58.480 That should answer the question for us. 00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:02.879 It is the beauty of God's word in our lives. 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:05.279 It is the promises that He's given us. 00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:10.880 Listen, Jesus is not going to save you because I stood up here and told you Jesus will save you. 00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:15.279 Jesus is going to save you because of exactly what he said. 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:24.400 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whosoever believes in him will never perish, but have everlasting life. 00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:26.000 Jesus said that. 00:17:26.400 --> 00:17:34.640 It is recorded in the scriptures so we would understand the promise of salvation for us. 00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:45.440 Even in the very beginning, in Genesis chapter 3, as we looked at in the very first week, Satan is trying to lie to us and tell us that God is not good. 00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:47.680 His word is not good. 00:17:48.240 --> 00:18:00.640 If you go back and think, and that's why I love to preach in these series and layer these sermons and the length of these so we soak in this time, it begins to really do some things for us spiritually when we understand. 00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:03.839 Here's the lie that Satan told in the Garden of Eden. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:07.119 He told Adam and Eve, God is holding out on you. 00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:08.960 God's character is not good. 00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:11.359 He does not love you as much as he said he did. 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:12.799 But how did he do that? 00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:16.880 He did that by attacking the words of God. 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:25.200 He took the rule and tried to turn it into some kind of rule or club that God was preventing them. 00:18:25.359 --> 00:18:34.240 When the Bible says, don't do this, Satan wants us to believe that God is holding out on us and there's something good we need and want that God didn't want us to have. 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:36.640 That's the lie in the Garden of Eden. 00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:39.519 No, that is never what God's word is. 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:52.079 When God makes a promise to us, like he did to Adam and Eve in the garden, he said, Look, all of these trees, the abundance that's available here, all of this is yours, and I've created all of this for you. 00:18:52.559 --> 00:19:00.720 We begin from the perception and the perspective that God's word is a reflection of his goodness. 00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:06.240 And what he calls us to, he has blessings and abundance for us. 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:14.960 And what he tells us not to do, we believe, protects us from what Satan and sin would harm us. 00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:22.960 That God's word is rich in relationship, that it is the promise from his heart to ours. 00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:34.960 And that he wants us to trust him and walk with him because he's given us everything we need for life in that process. 00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:44.079 God's gift to us is what God's word does in our lives and our hearts. 00:19:44.400 --> 00:19:46.160 And so that's that new view. 00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:47.519 I want us to begin to look. 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:48.799 It's kind of amazing. 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:54.559 When I go to somebody and I start asking them, hey, God laid you on my heart, teach Sunday school. 00:19:54.720 --> 00:19:56.880 What's the first answer that you get? 00:19:58.079 --> 00:19:59.519 I can't do that. 00:20:00.160 --> 00:20:10.160 I mean, I've been asking people to teach Sunday school since I was like a layman in the church, whatever, trying to help people teach, help me teach Sunday school when I was teaching Sunday school. 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:14.720 And 80% of the people that I've talked to, they all say, I can't do that. 00:20:14.960 --> 00:20:16.079 Why would we say that? 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:17.279 I can't do that. 00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:20.559 Because that's a false impression of scripture that we look at. 00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:26.240 It's some big, deep, complicated, hard to read, I don't understand it. 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:29.680 There's all this stuff in it, and I'm going to mess it up and all that kind of. 00:20:30.319 --> 00:20:32.960 That's the only reason that you would answer that way. 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:41.440 Because you've not begun with the perspective of, man, these are just promises to share with people because God is good. 00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:51.839 Even if I've never taught before, if that's my perspective, I want to learn how to teach so other people get what I got. 00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:54.000 And other people hear and see. 00:20:54.160 --> 00:20:57.839 When I talk to people having a quiet time, I hear this all the time. 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:00.319 Well, Pastor, I just don't know how to read my Bible. 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:01.440 I just know how to do that. 00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:10.640 Well, because you started with the fundamental presupposition that somehow God is holding out on you and wrote it so complicated that you can't understand it. 00:21:10.880 --> 00:21:19.200 Listen, I'm standing here preaching a sermon this morning, and I'm the most untrained person to be a pastor in the entire Southern Baptist Convention. 00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:25.039 I am here as God's sort of laughing excuse that you've got no excuse. 00:21:25.759 --> 00:21:30.400 If he can use me to do this, you can do anything he asks you to do. 00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:31.920 Why? 00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:40.960 Because he has given you all you need to teach people and to share Jesus when he gave you this promise. 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:43.119 It all begins with that first perspective. 00:21:43.279 --> 00:21:46.799 Now let's take a minute and just think about what that gift does in our life? 00:21:46.960 --> 00:21:52.480 Truth number two is this Scripture now comes into our lives for a purpose. 00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:55.839 It is integral to our spiritual transformation. 00:21:56.160 --> 00:21:59.519 God has given us his word to change us, it is a cat. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.440 Catalyst that grows us. 00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:05.519 The Bible says faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:08.480 It is what it does in our lives. 00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:13.519 Scripture says about itself, it is living and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword. 00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:18.720 It divides apart the soul and the spirit, the bones and the marrow. 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:22.880 It is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:33.039 God can literally, through a Bible verse, penetrate into what we're thinking, what we're feeling, and speak directly to us the message that He wants us to get. 00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:35.680 Here is the promise that you need in this moment. 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:36.559 I love you. 00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:38.160 I've given you this promise. 00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:39.599 Stand on this promise. 00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:44.079 And then we step out in faith and we stand on that promise. 00:22:45.039 --> 00:22:50.559 You see, it's the catalyst of how the transformation process works. 00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:51.839 Look at what he says. 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:57.440 He says, we have everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of him. 00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:03.279 He is teaching us about who he is and who Jesus is and what he's done in our lives. 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:06.160 And so that's how he draws us into this process. 00:23:06.319 --> 00:23:08.720 Look how he ends this again in verse 8. 00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:22.000 For if these qualities are yours and keep increasing, the transformation process of growing to be like Jesus, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:29.920 The whole Christian life is a process of God comes into my life through faith, Bible study, and choices of faith. 00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:31.920 Prayer, Bible study, and choices of faith. 00:23:32.079 --> 00:23:33.920 Prayer, Bible study, and choices of faith. 00:23:34.079 --> 00:23:43.440 You will hear me say that until the day Jesus comes back, or I die on I-40 driving home to go visit my mom in all that chaos and traffic, right? 00:23:44.240 --> 00:23:46.319 Prayer, Bible study, choices of faith. 00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:50.880 What happens is we come to the Lord, we're praying, we're listening, we're investing in his word. 00:23:51.119 --> 00:23:54.240 He speaks to us through his word, he calls us to a choice of faith. 00:23:54.319 --> 00:23:57.039 We step out in faith, we see that he's faithful to his promise. 00:23:57.279 --> 00:23:58.799 He teaches us about who he is. 00:23:58.880 --> 00:24:01.039 We get up the next morning, we do the same thing again. 00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:02.799 That's what the Christian life is. 00:24:02.960 --> 00:24:05.039 Look at how he describes it here. 00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:07.599 Sometimes people misunderstand some of this. 00:24:07.920 --> 00:24:14.000 You start with faith, you add goodness, then goodness, you add knowledge, then knowledge, you add self-control. 00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:16.960 That's not a sequential, orderly kind of thing. 00:24:17.119 --> 00:24:18.960 This is a literary device. 00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:23.039 You get a key to it when he says right here, make every effort. 00:24:23.279 --> 00:24:24.400 Make every effort. 00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:26.400 This is an effort on our part. 00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:28.240 We are stepping out in faith. 00:24:28.480 --> 00:24:35.200 James in chapter one, where we started, said, be doers of the word and not hearers only. 00:24:35.759 --> 00:24:42.559 God's word and promises should activate us to act and step out on those promises. 00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:48.319 So he says, you take that faith that you've given, that you invested when you trusted Jesus as your Savior. 00:24:48.480 --> 00:24:50.960 And now what I want you to do is add to that. 00:24:51.119 --> 00:24:58.240 I want you to make the effort to step out and learn by standing on those promises and see what happens. 00:24:58.400 --> 00:24:59.279 Look what he says. 00:24:59.440 --> 00:25:05.599 So now he gives this list that is designed to teach us that we've never graduated. 00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:08.160 We're always working. 00:25:08.640 --> 00:25:11.279 We're always being transformed. 00:25:11.920 --> 00:25:15.279 Because we now view Scripture as the promise of God. 00:25:15.440 --> 00:25:21.279 What that should tell us is God is always working in our lives. 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:23.519 And so he says, add this to this. 00:25:23.599 --> 00:25:24.799 And when you got that, add this. 00:25:24.960 --> 00:25:25.839 When you get this, add this. 00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:26.799 When you get this, add this. 00:25:26.880 --> 00:25:29.039 When you get this, add this, when you get this, add this. 00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:30.000 Keep going. 00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:31.200 Don't stop. 00:25:31.519 --> 00:25:32.319 Step out. 00:25:32.559 --> 00:25:33.680 Grab a verse. 00:25:33.920 --> 00:25:35.039 Step out in faith. 00:25:35.200 --> 00:25:37.039 Learn what it teaches you about Jesus. 00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:38.880 Learn what it teaches you about yourself. 00:25:39.039 --> 00:25:42.720 Learn what it teaches you about the promises of God activate in your life. 00:25:42.799 --> 00:25:46.000 And when you've got that one, then get the next one and go to the next one. 00:25:46.240 --> 00:25:49.920 It is a process that goes on and on and on. 00:25:50.240 --> 00:26:00.960 There is never a day in your life as a believer that you should not be invested in what's the next promise and what's the topic that God is working on in my life and how is he shaping me? 00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:02.400 And what am I learning about him? 00:26:02.640 --> 00:26:04.559 And what am I learning about myself? 00:26:04.720 --> 00:26:06.960 And what am I learning about the promises of God? 00:26:07.119 --> 00:26:10.799 And then praise the Lord, we got that lesson, and then we go to the next one. 00:26:11.680 --> 00:26:15.920 Because our life is built on prayer, Bible study, choices of faith. 00:26:16.079 --> 00:26:18.160 Prayer, Bible study, choices of faith. 00:26:18.319 --> 00:26:20.240 Those things are always connected. 00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:22.319 They never are unconnected. 00:26:22.480 --> 00:26:26.000 They are always working together in our lives. 00:26:26.640 --> 00:26:28.799 Just take one example right here from Scripture. 00:26:28.880 --> 00:26:29.599 Here's what he says. 00:26:29.839 --> 00:26:34.000 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness. 00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:36.480 See, here's, think about this. 00:26:37.039 --> 00:26:41.359 By his goodness and glory, he created salvation. 00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:49.119 By his goodness and glory, when we come to know Jesus as our Savior, he saves us and begins the transformation process. 00:26:49.359 --> 00:26:50.720 When we go, what now? 00:26:50.880 --> 00:26:52.160 I got saved, what now? 00:26:52.400 --> 00:27:01.039 By the same goodness, he gives us promises in our lives that grow us in that transformation process and draw us to Jesus. 00:27:01.279 --> 00:27:21.039 And so if God is good, if he loves us from his goodness, if he has saved us through his goodness, if he has given us scripture through his goodness, and now we're adding to an understanding of scripture in our lives, why wouldn't goodness that reflects the person of God be part of what we're asking, we're we're learning in our lives? 00:27:21.359 --> 00:27:29.519 In fact, in the book of Galatians, passage this famous for if you've been in church for a long time, we call it sometimes the fruits of the Spirit. 00:27:29.680 --> 00:27:34.000 He says, if you are walking by the Spirit and you're surrendered in the Spirit, how do you do that? 00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:36.319 Prayer, Bible study, choices of faith. 00:27:36.480 --> 00:27:38.240 That's how you surrender yourself to the Holy Spirit. 00:27:38.400 --> 00:27:42.720 The Holy Spirit's working in your life, and he starts to bear fruit love, joy. 00:27:45.599 --> 00:27:46.640 Keep going. 00:27:47.279 --> 00:27:49.920 About four or five in, we hit what? 00:27:50.720 --> 00:27:51.599 Goodness. 00:27:53.119 --> 00:27:55.440 Goodness is a fruit of the Spirit. 00:27:55.759 --> 00:28:10.240 If our God is good and our salvation comes from his goodness, and he's given us his word as our goodness, and we start to step out and we are being transformed, we are going to be transformed into the image of the goodness of God. 00:28:11.680 --> 00:28:19.839 That means when the Bible calls us to holiness through Scripture or godliness or self-control. 00:28:20.079 --> 00:28:28.880 When he calls us to those things, when he's working on that in your life, it's not God being mean or ugly or trying to keep you from something else you want to do or any of that other stuff. 00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:33.200 It is his promise to transform us into his goodness. 00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:35.279 God is good. 00:28:36.160 --> 00:28:39.440 He is holy, and he calls us to holiness. 00:28:39.680 --> 00:28:41.200 Again, look what he says here. 00:28:41.359 --> 00:28:50.160 The person who lacks these things in verse 9 is blind and short-sighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins. 00:28:51.039 --> 00:28:58.559 It is when God transforms us and he calls us to holiness that he's taking us from who I was before I got saved to who I am now. 00:28:59.039 --> 00:29:00.319 Look what he also says. 00:29:00.480 --> 00:29:03.039 We're adding to that brotherly affection. 00:29:03.279 --> 00:29:05.440 And brotherly affection with love. 00:29:05.759 --> 00:29:07.039 God is good. 00:29:08.880 --> 00:29:14.559 And we should be good the way God is good. 00:29:16.079 --> 00:29:21.359 I used to tell folks in Cabinet all the time, man, you gave up your right to be a jerk when you got saved. 00:29:26.960 --> 00:29:29.359 We must reflect the goodness of God. 00:29:29.440 --> 00:29:31.839 That'll be a whole sermon in a few weeks. 00:29:34.160 --> 00:29:36.640 You see the transformation process, finally, truth three. 00:29:36.720 --> 00:29:38.559 Then how do I do that, Pastor? 00:29:38.799 --> 00:29:49.920 One of the issues that we have in church life is that pastors, we have not spent enough time equipping people to just the technical use of scripture. 00:29:50.160 --> 00:29:56.319 When the Bible says, for this very reason, invest your life in Scripture. 00:29:56.480 --> 00:30:06.400 For this very reason, because it comes as a gift from the goodness of God, because it is the process of how we're transformed in the image of Jesus. 00:30:06.559 --> 00:30:09.359 For this reason, invest your life in Scripture. 00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:19.279 Make every effort to supplement to your faith in Jesus, a walk by faith that engages this transformation process. 00:30:19.519 --> 00:30:22.319 It is the basic building block of the Christian life. 00:30:22.480 --> 00:30:27.839 It is the passion that my wife and I both in all of our various ministries and all the things that we do. 00:30:28.480 --> 00:30:38.720 It always comes back to one of the fundamental principles of challenging, encouraging, and equipping people to have a quiet time with the Lord, a time where they get alone and they're invested in Scripture. 00:30:38.960 --> 00:30:42.160 I'm going to talk about that in a little more practical detail next week. 00:30:42.240 --> 00:30:47.599 But let me just give you three principles to kind of give you a takeaway from this. 00:30:47.839 --> 00:30:49.440 First is consistency. 00:30:49.599 --> 00:30:52.400 I don't know how you do it, but you just got to be in it. 00:30:52.880 --> 00:30:55.920 You just got to get with it and you got to stick with it. 00:30:57.359 --> 00:31:02.960 There's a whole lot of spiritual stuff that gets resolved if you just commit to be in the Word every day. 00:31:05.440 --> 00:31:07.519 Don't worry about what you don't understand. 00:31:07.680 --> 00:31:11.279 If you keep plowing, you're going to understand more than you ever imagined. 00:31:12.079 --> 00:31:16.559 There is so much about inertia that is involved in the Christian life. 00:31:16.720 --> 00:31:19.279 Jesus used examples from the physical world all the time. 00:31:19.440 --> 00:31:20.559 Inertia is one of those. 00:31:20.720 --> 00:31:24.799 Objects at rest tend to stay at rest, and objects in motion tend to stay in motion. 00:31:24.960 --> 00:31:28.480 And if you're in motion with Scripture, your consistency is going to carry you through. 00:31:28.559 --> 00:31:32.240 And if you're not, it takes a lot to get started and to get in it. 00:31:32.480 --> 00:31:37.680 And so I just want to encourage you, if you're not meeting with the Lord every day, you just get your Bible out and read something. 00:31:37.839 --> 00:31:42.160 I don't care where you read, I don't care what you read, it's not that big a deal. 00:31:42.319 --> 00:31:48.000 The most spiritual foundational truth you need to understand from that is you just need to read it every day, whatever it is. 00:31:48.079 --> 00:31:49.039 It doesn't matter. 00:31:49.359 --> 00:31:52.000 God can't steer a ship until it's moving. 00:31:52.480 --> 00:31:58.640 You may be moving in the wrong direction, but once you're moving, he can take the rudder of your life and take you exactly where he wants you to go. 00:31:59.759 --> 00:32:01.279 So just get busy with it. 00:32:01.440 --> 00:32:02.880 Just get in it every day. 00:32:03.039 --> 00:32:03.440 Next. 00:32:03.599 --> 00:32:04.160 A plan. 00:32:04.240 --> 00:32:05.440 It helps to have a plan. 00:32:05.599 --> 00:32:06.720 It helps to have a plan. 00:32:06.799 --> 00:32:09.039 Now here's the great thing about being involved in the church family. 00:32:09.200 --> 00:32:10.000 Plans are easy. 00:32:10.160 --> 00:32:15.839 Take the scripture that we did in the sermon and just reread it every day and just spend a little time with it that week. 00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:20.559 We have great, hear me, great Sunday school teachers in our church. 00:32:20.799 --> 00:32:25.839 I walked around this morning, interrupted about four Bible lessons, and it was awesome. 00:32:26.079 --> 00:32:28.400 Y'all almost didn't get me back to the sanctuary. 00:32:28.480 --> 00:32:29.519 I wanted to just stay. 00:32:29.599 --> 00:32:30.400 I mean, it was great. 00:32:30.559 --> 00:32:32.000 They're teaching the Word of God. 00:32:32.160 --> 00:32:34.000 Do the same thing with your Sunday school class. 00:32:34.079 --> 00:32:37.920 Take the lesson that you had on Sunday and reread that every day. 00:32:38.160 --> 00:32:39.920 It's great to have a plan. 00:32:41.839 --> 00:32:44.160 Just for a second, sort of work with me. 00:32:44.480 --> 00:32:46.720 Our daily bread is not a plan. 00:32:47.279 --> 00:32:48.000 Nothing wrong with it. 00:32:48.079 --> 00:32:49.359 It's fine, right? 00:32:50.640 --> 00:32:55.039 You're supposed to be reading Scripture, not what somebody else thinks about Scripture. 00:32:56.319 --> 00:32:59.279 It helps for a plan, and I love devotional guides. 00:32:59.359 --> 00:33:03.599 In fact, I'm trying to write one, and I can't ever get enough time to get it finished. 00:33:03.759 --> 00:33:04.160 I love it. 00:33:04.240 --> 00:33:07.200 But here's the deal: those are tools to get you in the word. 00:33:07.519 --> 00:33:10.799 It's a plan to be in the word, it's not the plan itself. 00:33:11.119 --> 00:33:12.880 So if you're using them, great, use it. 00:33:12.960 --> 00:33:13.440 It's fine. 00:33:13.599 --> 00:33:14.880 Understand what I'm saying. 00:33:15.039 --> 00:33:23.920 But what I'm saying is, when it gives you that Bible verse, you put aside what that is saying about it, and you figure out what God wants to say to you through his word about it. 00:33:24.799 --> 00:33:28.960 And spend a little time, take some of those things and just work through them. 00:33:29.200 --> 00:33:30.559 And finally, here's a little thing. 00:33:30.640 --> 00:33:32.640 I'll teach you a little bit more next week. 00:33:32.960 --> 00:33:33.440 Brew. 00:33:33.599 --> 00:33:34.480 That's what I use. 00:33:34.640 --> 00:33:35.039 Brew. 00:33:35.279 --> 00:33:35.680 Brew. 00:33:35.759 --> 00:33:39.599 I like that word because people who love Jesus drink coffee. 00:33:43.519 --> 00:33:45.200 Baptists drink coffee. 00:33:45.440 --> 00:33:53.359 And if you're someone who doesn't know Jesus, in a moment I'm going to give an invitation, and you can come and give your life to Christ, and then I'll take you out for your first cup of coffee. 00:33:55.599 --> 00:33:57.920 I like it because that's what I do in the morning. 00:33:58.000 --> 00:33:59.759 I have what I call coffee with Jesus. 00:33:59.920 --> 00:34:01.440 I just go have coffee with Jesus. 00:34:01.519 --> 00:34:04.480 And a lot of times this is what I do, which is where that stirred for me. 00:34:04.720 --> 00:34:06.480 Brew made sense to me, it helps it work. 00:34:06.559 --> 00:34:07.200 Here's what it is. 00:34:07.440 --> 00:34:09.519 You believe that God has something to say to you. 00:34:09.760 --> 00:34:18.800 You always come to God's word first by saying a prayer, saying, Lord, I know that you have given me very great and precious promises and you have something to tell me. 00:34:19.039 --> 00:34:20.719 That's how you begin your quiet time. 00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:24.000 And if you skip that step, you may miss something. 00:34:24.480 --> 00:34:25.199 Believe. 00:34:25.440 --> 00:34:27.199 Stop and state that belief. 00:34:27.360 --> 00:34:29.199 God, I believe that you have something to say. 00:34:29.360 --> 00:34:37.920 And then when you get that verse, like if you want to take verses three and four and brew those this week, if you don't have a plan for a quiet time, that's what I'm going to ask you to do. 00:34:38.079 --> 00:34:39.360 Just brew those this week. 00:34:39.519 --> 00:34:43.599 My little midweek devotion on Facebook, I'm going to do some more about brew, but here's what you do. 00:34:43.760 --> 00:34:48.079 Just say, Lord, I believe you got something to teach for me there, and then you read and repeat it over and over. 00:34:48.400 --> 00:34:50.719 Read and repeat, read and repeat, read and repeat. 00:34:50.880 --> 00:34:52.719 Those same three verses over and over and over. 00:34:52.800 --> 00:34:55.840