Rooted // Scripture

Big Idea:

We can trust that we have been invited to engage the story of God in scripture and be a continuation of that story today.

Scriptures:

Luke 24:25-27

2 Timothy 3:10-4:4

Lifegroup Questions:

1. The sermon opens by talking about the importance of good information in everyday decisions (buying a car, writing a paper, witnessing an accident). How do you seek to gather information personally? Do you rely more on reviews from people you know, online research, personal experience, etc.?
2. Sunday's sermon describes the Bible as a unified, forward-leaning story. How does viewing Scripture as one big story (creation, fall, promise, redemption) change how we read individual passages?
3. Read Luke 24:25–27 together. Imagine being there as Jesus unpacked the story of Scripture as they walked along the road together. What part(s) of the story would you most want Jesus to explain?
4. Cleopas and his wife were discouraged because they misunderstood the story they were in. Have you experienced something like this before? Is there a time when you felt confused or discouraged, only later to reinterpret that period after seeing what God was doing in the midst of it? 
5. In 2 Timothy 3:14–17, Paul says Scripture is “God-breathed” and useful. Which of the four functions—teaching, rebuking, correcting, training—stands out most to you right now, and why?
6. How do you personally respond to rebuke or correction? What makes it easier—or harder—to receive it as kindness rather than criticism?
7. Paul tells Timothy to “preach the word… correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience.” Why is encouragement just as important as correction in spiritual growth?
8. The phrase “thoroughly equipped for every good work” suggests preparation. What might it look like for Scripture to actively equip you for your current season of life?
9. Sunday's sermon encouraged developing a regular rhythm of Scripture engagement and keeping it “simple, real, and up." What has helped you stay consistent in reading or listening to the Bible? If you lack a regular rhythm, what has hindered you from developing one? How can the group support you in cultivating the discipline of scripture engagement in your life? 
10. “We can trust that we have been invited to engage the story of God in Scripture and be a continuation of that story today.” What does it practically look like to see yourself as part of God’s ongoing story this week?

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome to the Refinery Church Sermon Podcast. We're so glad you've joined us today. Our prayer is that this message will help you grow in your pursuit to love and follow Jesus for life. If you'd like to learn more about the refinery, find ways to get connected, share a prayer request, or explore resources to help you grow deeper in your walk with Christ. Visit us online at refineryohio.com. Now let's dive into today's message.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

Practices really do matter. What we practice shapes who we're becoming. One of the things we do here at Refinery is every single month we have an outreach emphasis. And so we love to partner with organizations in our community that are just really doing good work. And sometimes those are explicitly Christian organizations, and sometimes we just want to bless our community because God has called us to love our neighbors well. And so during the month of May, for the past, I think, five years now, we've done this. We put together care packages that go to local firehouses and police stations. And it's just a way for us to tell them, hey, thank you for the work that you're doing. We, to follow Jay's science-based approach, we have scientifically studied what firefighters and police officers want by asking those that attend our church. And we filled those little containers with beef jerky and snacks and energy drinks and all that kind of stuff. And so what we do is we deliver those throughout the month. And here's how you can help us. We don't need you to bring anything, gather anything, anything like that. We need you to take a minute and go back and just sign your name or write a note. So that way we can send it with a card as well, expressing what it's about. And it's just a simple way that we can just kind of love on the police officers and the firefighters in our community, first responders that are doing really important work. We have a number that attend this church as well. And so we're grateful. One of my favorite things for this time, a gentleman in the church reached out and said, Hey, do you have all the places yet picked that you're going to deliver them? I said, I'm not sure. Let me check. Jay runs that. And he goes, if not, he said, I'd love to deliver one. It's a spot where close to where he works. And I, or he said, I'd love for them to get one. I said, Yeah, do you mind to deliver it? He goes, No, we'd love to do that. And so we just love that way to just make an investment. For those that are already believers there, it's just a simple way to encourage them in what they're already doing. For those that don't know Christ, it's just a way to just tell you, hey, listen, the church sees the work you're doing, it matters. And so I'd love if you'd help me out that way. The other thing I would say is this as you see uh police officers, firefighters uh responding to things, or just you see their cars on the road this month, man, just maybe take an extra effort to just pray for them, the work they do, uh, the ways they serve our community. Uh in particular, if you notice a police car right behind you and they've stopped you to, you know, ask you what you're praying about in your life, you can say, hey, listen, before you say anything, I want you to know I've been praying for you specifically ever since about 30 seconds ago. It might help, it might not, I don't know. Um, but if not, it'd be a good thing regardless. Um it matters that we have good information in our lives. Uh, good information leads to good outcomes, typically. Um, whereas if we have bad information, we might get lucky sometimes and make a wise decision. But it's there's a lot more uncertainty. Uh, it can just be a struggle in general. Um, do you guys remember in Indiana, the kind of capstone project when you were graduating high school, we had to write a term paper in English. Anybody else have to write a term paper back in the day? Yeah, like 10, 12 pages, something like that. You had to do a work cited and a bibliography, which was just an excuse for them to mark points off. Because whether you have to do APA, MLA, Terabian, Chicago style, I'm like, get your heads together, figure out one version, please. But I remember writing this term paper, and it was this big deal all semester, you're trying to find your sources, and you got to cite like 10 sources, which I didn't even know there were 10 books in the world at that time, bless my heart. And you say you didn't read that much, I didn't. And I remember just kind of having to do in this term paper, and I just like, what is the point of the work cited? Like it doesn't matter. And if if you're saying, Land, I don't know what a work cited versus a bibliography is, and it's like, well, I can teach you that. I chat GPT'd it an hour ago. Um, because I'm always preparing well in advance, okay? Well in advance. So the work cited is when you're actually saying something you cited in the paper or the work itself, whereas the bibliography is anything you consulted in that kind of conversation or dialogue, and now you care and don't care and can move on. But I remember I was it was in my first grad program, and like I'd done a lot of papers throughout undergrad and all that kind of stuff, and we were working on this and it was talking about the importance of work-sided bibliographies, and I'm like, I don't believe this, you know, and I was rebuking him, you know, quietly in my mind. And then he started to explain why it mattered. He said, the reason we do this work-sided this bibliography, and the reason it's so important to get it precise, is because essentially when you're writing a paper, when you're submitting some type of work, you're joining a conversation, you're joining a dialogue that's been unfolding for some time. And essentially, let's say somebody wants to check your work or check your research, they can go back and follow through that work-sided of bibliography, and you can do the same thing. Maybe you've read a book before and somebody throws out a you know a statistic or something like that, you're like, where did they get that from? And then you can go back and check the footnote or the back of the book somewhere, the end note, and kind of see where it came from. You can be like, oh, they made that up, never mind. Or it was legit. Now, in academic circles, that all makes perfect sense, and you get that and you understand, but it matters just in practical life, too. So if you've ever thought about moving to a new area, so Drew and Alyssa, our new youth pastor and his wife, are moving to the area soon, and uh, in part of that process, they're trying to figure out where they want to live, and so I gave them some connections here at the church. Hey, you might call them, find out where they live, and see if that would maybe be a good fit. If you've ever thought about buying a home, right, you you typically don't just look for it and then go buy, you want to drive the neighborhood, see what it's close to, see what things look like. You ever tried to buy a car and uh you go to a dealership, you check the reviews on the dealership, right? I mean, if it gets one star on Yelp out of 3,000 reviews, one, how did they sell 3,000 cars? But but two, you're not going to that dealership. The story matters. If you're trying to hire a plumber, you're trying to find a new doctor, whatever it looks like, it really helps to get a review, something to know the story of what that looks like. If you've thought about going into a vocation, hey, what do you actually do? What's this job look like? What's this work look like? You want to know the story because if you get better information, you can make better decisions. I can make better decisions. Imagine this week you're driving along and you see a car accident. And you pull over as you should, and you check on folks, hey, are you okay? Anything you need? You call, you know, um first responders, hey, I've just witnessed a car accident, you know, this is what's going on, and they'll send out police and fire to check things out. And imagine the police officer comes to you and says, Hey, can you tell me what happened here? And you look at them and you're like, there was a car accident. Okay, I gotta go. That's not a good telling of events, right? Well, what are they wanting to know? Like what happened? It's like, well, the red truck was speeding through and the light was red and they went anyway, and then they hit the car that was coming. That's a different story. It's a fuller story. Because if you just say it was a car accident, they don't know who's at fault. What do we do? How do we process this? You need a fuller story. Um, I have three sons. Anybody have multiple children in the room? Anyone grow up with multiple siblings? Anyone grow up uh around cousins or friends in school? Anyone not yet raise your hand? Okay. If you haven't, let's set up a meeting and talk. Um, so my sons, you'll be shocked to find, have at times had conflict in their lives. Um, the Lord hasn't fully sanctified them yet. And so every now and again I've walked into an environment where they are aggressively trying to sort things out. And when they were smaller, it's not as big, but as they get larger, there's a chance that things get broken, and we just don't want that to happen, so I step in more quickly. And I do what you do. I say, hey, what happened here? And what happens when you ask three boys or three girls or three participants of anything where there's a conflict going on? All three start speaking at once. And I do what you should do: stop, be quiet. And I look at the oldest one, I say, Hey, tell me what happened here. So the oldest one recounts what happened in the story, and I say, Hey, thank you so much. I appreciate your accurate portrayal of all the events that unfolded to lead us to this place. And then I dole out punishment and move about my day. Now, if you're an older sibling in the room, you're like, yeah, that's the way it should go. If you're a middle or a younger child, you realize the older child definitely lied, and you should get fuller accounts. Why? Because knowing the story helps you make better decisions. It matters if we know the story. There's practical application for consideration. In a major purchase of a home, uh neighborhood area, it matters. The story matters. If you're trying to buy a vehicle, you're thinking about investing in a company, the story matters of is this a place I can trust? If you're looking to hire someone to do work for you, the story matters. Yeah, they worked on my house before, they did a great job, or I've worked with them before, I had a friend who worked with them. It matters. When we're trying to make decisions in our families, our personal lives, our careers, we want to get as accurate a story as possible so that we can make the best decision possible. This morning, we're coming to this idea, continuing this idea of the series rooted in how we root our lives in the presence of God. And how we root our lives in the presence of God is to practice the disciplines, to continue to cultivate the practices, the spiritual disciplines in our lives. Because we can trust God fully, and if we put our trust in Him, then we'll practice those things that lead us into a fuller relationship with Him. The Bible is a library of sorts. It's not just a book, it's actually a collection of books. It's 39 books in the Old Testament, 27 in the new, 66 in their entirety, written across hundreds and hundreds of years by dozens and dozens of authors from different social situations, cultural situations, economic situations. And so when we read the Bible, what we see is we find this unified story amidst the diversity of the authors and amidst the diversity of their settings, we find this unified story that tells of God's love for his people, his desire to be with his people, to be known by his people. And if a story matters when making a purchase, writing a paper, sorting out an accident, navigating some kind of conflict between kids, how much more does our story matter when we consider life as a whole? And so this morning I want us to look together to the story of Scripture, to understand how scripture and the story of Scripture should be influential and shaping in our lives. I want you to look with me to Luke chapter 24, verses 25 through 27, but I'll set it up here. Jesus has been crucified, he's dead, and he's buried. And it's a few days after this event, and we find Cleopas and his wife, most likely, it's not identified as her in the text, but that's the way it most likely reads if you consider the scholars, walking home. They've been in Jerusalem for the Passover. This is a massive gathering of the Jewish people. And they're heading home and they're dejected, they're frustrated. Life isn't working out the way they'd anticipated. And to make it more confusing, there's stories that Jesus wasn't in the tomb, that actually Jesus has even been resurrected, which there's simply no paradigm for that in their world to try and understand what that could mean. And it's in the midst of all this that Jesus walks up alongside them and asks them, like, what is it that you're talking about? What is it that you're navigating presently? And they don't recognize him. And whether they don't recognize him just because, again, there's literally no frame of reference for recognizing someone that's dead and now they're with you, or they're just literally dejected and don't even bother looking up at him because they're just watching their shoes as they walk along. This is how it plays out. It says this, Luke chapter 24, verses 25 through 27. He said to them, How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all the prophets have spoken. They're dejected, they're frustrated, they're scared, they're confused. How foolish you are. Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? It says, And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, Moses, the first five books, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, the Pentateuch. In our 21 days of prayer right now, we're walking through some of that. Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, the major prophets, the minor prophets, the whole arc of scripture, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself. The story would go on that they arrive at their destination and Jesus basically decided, I'm just gonna keep moving on, and Cleopatra and his wife are like, no, no, please, like come in, like have a meal, stay the night, like rest yourself and then head out when it's daytime again tomorrow. Uh travel at night would have been even more dangerous back then. And in that part of the world, hospitality, as we've mentioned time and time again, is so incredibly important. And so after their insistence, Jesus comes in and they prepare some food and they set it down, and it's when Jesus breaks the bread that all of a sudden their eyes are open and they can recognize who Jesus is, and he vanishes from their sight, and they're stunned in that moment. And then they head back to the tell the disciples what's happened. They make the journey back. It's this powerful story. But what I want to focus on is what Jesus said to them. It says, in beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself. Cleopas and his wife, they're visibly upset. Life hasn't unfolded the way they'd anticipated. The story of humanity has seemingly taken a tragic turn for the worse. There was always this hope of a Messiah one day coming, and they thought like Jesus has to be him. The things he does, the things he teaches, like this has never been done before, this has never been taught in this way before. And the state kills him, like that's just the way that it works, and so they're just thinking everything has fallen apart. The world is seemingly more dangerous than it was just a few days before. It's seemingly more uncertain than it was just a few days before. It's seemingly more uncertain than it was just a few days before. And so everything seems off, and Jesus, though, then corrects their misunderstanding of the story. He does this by walking them through the scriptures. He doesn't quote every chapter and verse. He doesn't walk them through Genesis all the way to the book of Malachi, chapter and verse, verse by verse. Of course, verses were later additions. But he tells them the arc of the story. He talks to them about the creation and that it's where God takes that which is chaotic and gives it shape. He takes that which is empty and he fills it with that which is good. He talks to them about the calling of Abraham and how God says, Listen, I'm going to raise you up and I'm going to bless you, and then you're going to literally bless the entire world. Like that's the way this thing works. He talks about them in captivity and he talks about the Exodus event. Jesus teaches them all these types of things, the sacrificial system, the kingship of David, the suffering servant in Isaiah. He talks to them about the hope that is proclaimed in Jeremiah, the weeping prophet. He tells them the story of the text that it all has been leading to this moment. The story isn't messed up. The story hasn't gone askew. The story is playing out as God intended it to play out. You see, the Old Testament isn't just background, it's this forward-leaning story. And Jesus shows how all these moments were converging into this one common thread, a story of redemption that God has been telling. The story of God hasn't been thrown off course all of a sudden, rather, it's been building to this very moment. But because Cleopus and his wife don't have a good understanding of the story, they misunderstand everything else that's going on around them. Because when we have bad information, we make bad decisions. When we're in the dark on the story, we don't fully understand what all is playing out in our world. Because they don't understand what's going on, they can't take their place in the story. And so it is with us. We need to know the story of God if we're to know how we're to take our place in the story of God. There's no substitute. If we don't know the story, it's really hard, if not impossible, to live the story. We need the most full and complete picture of the story so that we can take our place in the story and how God has called us to live in and how he wants to work through us. So if Jesus anchored confused disciples in the scriptures, what's that mean for us? If he roots them in the scripture, what does it look like for us? When the world's confusing, when we're not sure what to do, when there seems to be uncertainty, when there seems to be doubt, when it seems like everything's just gone amiss, how do we get ourselves rooted well? And so that's exactly what Paul would tell Timothy, just as Jesus on the road to Amazus roots his confused disciples in the story of Scripture, so Paul is going to do that for Timothy. So I'd invite you to turn with me a little bit further back in the New Testament. You'll get through the Pauline letters. If you get to Hebrews or the John's or Revelation, gone a little bit far, but 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 3, picking up in verse 10, it reads this way: 10, 11, and then I'll jump around a little bit. You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecution, suffering. Paul's saying, listen, Timothy, uh, Timothy's a student of Paul's. He says, Listen, you know my life, you've seen my life, you know how everything's unfolded to this point. Skip down to verse 14. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of. Paul's saying, I'm not debating with you, I'm not, you've studied this stuff, you've looked into this stuff yourself, you became convinced of it. I'm telling you, stay faithful. Because you know those from whom you learned it. Timothy had a mother named Eunice, Timothy had a grandmother named Lois. They had studied the scriptures and they shared the scriptures with Jesus. A little sidebar here, by the way. Sometimes in the church, people have talked about uh the number of like kids and teens, like once they get into the college years, how they leave the church, and you know, the percentages, depending on when you've heard it, you've heard probably somewhere between 60 and 70 percent. Those numbers aren't really right. Pew Research did a study years ago. I've not looked up recent data, but it was so compelling at the time that it's been helpful for how I've um witnessed and then anecdotally what I've seen through my own 22 years in pastoral ministry. But Pew Research did this study to try and figure out what is the percentage of kids that actually walk away from faith. When kids are raised in a home where mom and dad are active in the faith, they talk about the faith, they prioritize the gathering together with believers and scripture and prayer, like where it's not one of those things like, hey, if you want to do this, you can be a part. But when they actively convey it, the percentage of kids that remain in the church or even if they step aside for a time and return is like 80%. Like it's a staggering number, 80, 85%. But when kids are raised where church is kind of an optional thing, like you gotta pick your own path, you gotta choose what you want. Uh my kids like play sports. If we sign them up for a sport, they're gonna finish the season. Um, my kids go to school. You'd be shocked to hear this. Uh, every now and again, they don't want to go to school. You know what I make them do? I make them go twice as long. No, I'm just kidding, I'm not allowed to do that. But I would. And it's we do this, we understand this. But in the church, sometimes what people do, like, oh, I don't want to burn them out on God, so I I just make it very optional, it becomes very wishy-washy. The percentage of kids that leave the faith then is somewhere around like 75%. So it's the exact opposite. Those that are raised in where faith is honestly model where the home is rooted in the faith, very unlikely to leave. Those where faith is kind of an optional thing and it sometimes happens, very likely to leave, very unlikely to stay. Timothy was raised in a home. His mother knew the scriptures, his grandmother knew the scriptures. Paul says, Listen, this isn't anything new to you. He says, From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures in verse 15, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Wisdom is from God, God alone. He writes this: All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness or right relationship with God, right relationship with one another. So that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Skip down, I believe, to verse two, three, and then part of four. Preach the word. Be prepared in season and out of season. Be prepared. That means there's work that's been done beforehand. I wasn't ready. The reason I wasn't ready is because I didn't get ready. I've read it said multiple times, uh, when your moment of opportunity comes, it's too late to prepare. Be prepared in season and out of season. Correct, rebuke, and encourage. Correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. They will turn their ears away from the truth. Paul writes to Timothy, like, you know me. You've seen how I live my life, you know what I teach, you know what I do, you know the good things I've been a part of, you know the bad things that I've had to endure, or my own mistakes and failures. Failures. Stay faithful to know what you've come to know to be true. Like you've searched it out in the scriptures yourself. You saw the scriptures as they were evidenced in the life of your mother. You saw the scriptures as they were evidenced in the life of your grandmother. But at some point you had to make the decision for yourself because there is no just inherited faith. And you made that choice. You made that decision that Christ is the way, that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Stay faithful in that. Paul's instruction echoes what Jesus himself modeled. In the midst of confusing and at times trying, difficult circumstances in our world. Root yourself in the story of Scripture. Amidst all the stories being told throughout the world, listen for the one that is God breathed. There's so many stories. So many stories being shouted, so many scary stories, so many stories rooted in fear and doubt and confusion, so many stories rooted in greed. Listen for the story that is God breathed. There's only one story that is God breathed. All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be fully equipped, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Root yourself in the story. Engaging in Scripture forms us. Scripture can teach us what's right and what's wrong, what's life-giving and what brings death. How to navigate challenging circumstances, how to love people well, how to endure hardship, how to steward blessing. Scripture teaches us. Each and every one of us need to be taught. Scripture is needed at times to rebuke us. If I hold to broken ideas or broken thoughts or broken patterns, I end up a broken person. And so sometimes I need a rebuke because I was doing the wrong thing. I was saying the wrong thing. I was living in the wrong way. I was causing harm to myself. I was causing harm to others. If you openly see myself wounding myself and you don't rebuke me, there is no love there. And so scripture will rebuke us. If you spend time in the scripture, God will upset you. Well, I have some thoughts and ideas on how the world works, and God says, Let me tell you mine. Well, God, those don't always work with mine. So are you okay if I pick and choose? God says I'm not. Scripture can correct and train us. I remember what a coach said years ago. I was playing a sport as a teenager, I don't remember what one. And I remember a coach said one time, he said, Listen, hey, don't be concerned if I yell at you. Like if I'm yelling, if I'm hollering, like don't be concerned. Where you want to be concerned is when I stop yelling. He said, the idea was basically when I'm yelling at you, I see something in you that I can correct. I see something in you that I can train. Right? I can make you better in what you do. I can fix a broken behavior, I can fix bad form, I can fix a confused pattern or a misunderstanding of what we're trying to approach. When I stop yelling, I don't see anything there anymore. Now, God doesn't yell us that way. But God sees so much potential, so much value, God sees an image of Himself in us, and He's like, Oh, I can work with this, I can form this, I can train this. You and I are called to be image bearers of God. And it's a big work. And we need to be thoroughly equipped and trained for that work. Look once more to the last couple of verses from that passage in 2 Timothy. Paul gives three simple instructions. When I was ordained in our tradition, just like any kind of certifications or anything else like you go through in your professional life, this is what they speak over us as we head into our work. It says, preach the word, be prepared in season and out of season, correct, rebuke, and encourage. With great patience and careful instruction. Aren't you glad that part was left on there? For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Have you ever not wanted to hear somebody's advice and you knew it was good advice? I mean, don't put your hand up. You ever had a situation unfolding in your life and you needed some counsel but you knew who not to ask because they would tell you what you didn't want to hear? You were looking for an easy answer? You were looking for an easy solution? You wanted to be told you were right or you were justified. We've all done this before. God says, there will be a time when people don't put up with sound doctrine. They don't put up with that which is right, that which is true, that which is holy, that which is pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy. Think on these things. There will be a time when people don't put up with that, and it's we've all experienced in our own lives where we haven't done it ourselves. They will turn their ears away from the truth. Sometimes I just want to hear what I want to hear. Correct, rebuke, and courage. Correct, rebuke, encourage. Disordered thinking leads to disordered living. When we live, when we correct disordered thinking, we correct disordered living. When we correct the way, somebody sees the world, when we correct the way somebody sees themselves, when we correct the way somebody sees God, when we correct some, it changes things. The people are walking along on the road to Emmaus, they're discouraged, they're defeated, everything's fallen apart. I thought God was going to do something, I don't understand. Jesus comes along. Here, let me explain it to you throughout the entirety of the scriptures. God has been working all along, nothing's been thrown off course. What do they do after they realize it? They say, We're not our hearts burning within us as he opened the scriptures to us. I didn't read that part, you can go check it out. And they run back and tell their friends, like, hey, things are good, circumstances haven't changed, but their understanding of the story has shifted. Correct? Rebuke. We can be passionate about something and still be wrong. We need to be rebuked at times. The word translated rebuke from the Greek is epitomeo. It carries this idea of a serious, weighty warning. It's more than just a reproof. It's more than just a check. It's like, hey, listen, there's a cost here to doing what you're doing. It's this recognition of there's no shame, but hey, this is going to lead you to a broken way. You are spiritually adrift right now. You are in danger in getting into some choppy waters. And so we need rebuke in our lives. We don't like rebuke, but we need it. And finally, we're to encourage. When someone's getting something right, like we should be cheering them on. Or even when they're just trying to make things right, we should be cheering them on in the process. The other day, my kid was running in a race, and in that time, like we're just standing in the stands just cheering, go, come on, you know, blah, blah, blah, doing all this kind of stuff. It wasn't the time to be like, hey, make sure you're getting your knee at this particular angle, right? And also, I don't know if that has any bearing on track running whatsoever. But it was a time of encouragement. Sometimes you'll find this in life. Somebody comes to the end of themselves, they realize they're in a broken place and they don't know what to do, but man, they're seeking God and they don't need further rebuke at that point. They need to be encouraged. Hey, God loves you. God will give you the wisdom you need for today. Sometimes life is just going well, and you know, we don't need to tear down somebody, like, hey, let's just celebrate with them. Yeah, keep going. Like, give God the glory. Correct when it's needed, rebuke when it's needed, encourage when it's needed. Timothy needed to know the story of God so that he might take his place in that story. Cleopus and Mary needed to know the story of God so that they might take their place in that story. You and I need to know the story of God, and there is no substitution for spending time and rooting yourself in the Word. We need to know the story of God so that we can take our place in the story. We could trust that we've been invited to engage the story of God in Scripture and be a continuation of that story today. So a little bit of simple step. Last week we encouraged you with prayer, be a part of the 21 Days of Prayer. If you've not done that, I'd really encourage you to be a part. Jay can help get you set up if you're not sure how. We've got more paper copies back as well. Or if you've had any issue with the texting, let him know. We'd love to know that. I'd love, we've had a few folks join the prayer watch. I'd be interested to, if you're interested in that, let me know. Simple step for prayer. For scripture, um, something Jay said in for years now in Growth Track, which it's our membership step. Basically, somebody says, Yeah, I'm planting my flag. This is where I want to be counted on by this church, and I want to know I can count on this church. When we talk about the cultivation of the spiritual disciplines, he talks about keep it simple, keep it real, and keep it up. Keep it simple. If you say, Yeah, I gotta get into the Bible, I've not been a good Bible reader, I'm gonna sign up for Greek courses. I'm doing it, I'm taking the plunge, getting into Greek and Hebrew, here we go. That's that's an avenue you could choose. But maybe the better thing would just be, why don't you just start with a chapter a day in English? And just say, God, I know the scripture is inspired by the work of the Spirit. Would you inspire with that same spirit the reading of the scripture today? And trust that he's able. Just keep it simple. What's a phrase, what's an idea, what's a concept? God, where am I at? Start working my way through the text. We've got a resource we're gonna unfold to you soon. I've been negligent in getting that to you as another resource. If you run into something you don't know, ask a friend, hey, what do you see when you read this? What do you hear? Keep it simple. Keep it real, be honest. If you read through a chapter of scripture, you're like, I have no idea what that meant. Don't just pretend. Be honest. Like, who are you, group of you people, that you're talking about scripture with? Like, I don't really have a group of people. Get a group. I don't know a group yet. J just told you what way to sign up. Pickleball, probably not the way to do it. Although actually there's some really great people that are leading that, and just be like, hey, I signed up for pickleball, but I'm gonna need you to help me with scriptures too. They'll be game. Get your people. Study the scripture. Keep it real. Keep it simple, keep it real. Keep it up. When we talk about serving, um, oftentimes there's different ways you can serve. You can kind of serve as a one-off. Your friend's moving, or there's a situation, you know, storm came through, branches down. You serve as a one-off to help. Uh there's also just spontaneous. You didn't realize somebody, you know, you pull over, somebody's changing the tire on the car on the side of the road, and you realize they don't probably know what they're doing, and you pull over to help them out. Um it's spontaneous. The best form of serving, in my opinion, both of those are helpful things. But if you don't have a consistent way in which you're serving, I really think it's a miss. Um the other two are when they're convenient or when the need presents itself enough. The consistent form of serving really is transformative. Well, same thing with scripture. Don't just, I'm gonna, this week I'm reading for an hour and a half every single day. You won't keep that up, I promise you. Just keep it simple, keep it real, keep it up. Chapter a day, chapter a day. Oh man, I missed two days. That's all right. Okay, I'll read two chapters, catch up. No, you don't have to catch up, just keep it up. God will be faithful to form you through that. God will be faithful to show up and to change and to move and to teach, to correct, to rebuke, to encourage all these. God will be faithful. We just have to keep it up. This morning, would you stand with me? Um, I'd love just a few simple instructions as you go. One, if you'd sign those cards, uh, and you might say, I signed one. We have several because we send a card with each care package to each of the firehouses, each of the police stations. Um, I'm not gonna say this happens for sure, but if you don't sign the card, you might get pulled over this week. Could happen. Could happen. I don't know. Could happen. If you get pulled over, don't you come complaining to me. Now, if you sign the card and still got pulled over, I'm just gonna ask how fast you were going. Um but no, honestly, I'd love for you to sign the cards if you don't mind. Second thing I'd love to do, if if uh your dietician allows it, grab a donut. If not, just stand in line, make some connection, and then just connect with people. Root yourself in the word. I don't get it all. I don't get it all, and I've had degrees in this stuff. Root yourself in the word. Because when we root ourselves in the word, when we root ourselves in prayer, and as we look at next week, when we root ourselves in fasting and generosity, we root ourselves in the presence of God, and the presence of God changes everything. Let me pray. Father, we thank you for this day. Your love, your grace, your kindness, your mercy. Help us to root ourselves in your presence through prayer and through scripture. Lord, we know the Spirit inspired the writing of the Scripture, dozens of authors across hundreds of years, across so many different settings, culturally, economically, geographically, socially. And so we know your same spirit can meet with us today in the variety of settings in which we find ourselves. Help us to be students of the Scripture. When it confronts us, Lord, let us ask questions, let us push, let us challenge. But in the end, might we root ourselves in you. Lord, as we go from this place, Lord, I pray a blessing over the firehouses and police stations that I received, just these kind gifts that we want to just show a just a token of our love and appreciation for what they do. Lord, I thank you for a chance to just gather around donuts, uh, just a chance to be together. I pray for the new groups that are forming up. Lord, maybe somebody will take that step. They've been kind of putting it off for a while. And today they'll go ahead and make that step to just root themselves more and more in who you are and who you're calling them to be. In the name of Jesus, we always pray. Amen. Thank you so much for being here today.

SPEAKER_00 35:52

Thank you so much for listening to today's podcast. If you're ready to take a next step in your faith, please reach out to us through our website, refineryohio.com, or you can email us at office at refineryohio.com. We hope you have a blessed day.