Why Reading the Bible Still Matters | Phil Kniesel

We all build our lives on something. Whether we realize it or not, we give authority to something that shapes how we think, choose, and live. In this message, Pastor Phil invites us to consider what we’re building on and why God’s Word matters so deeply.

As we explore Scripture together, we’re reminded that the Bible doesn’t just inform our faith, it forms our life. God’s Word sustains us, gives us direction, equips us for everyday life, and ultimately leads us to Jesus. 

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- Hey, this is Phil Kal, lead pastor at Hope City Church. Thanks for tuning into our podcast. My prayer is that this helps and encourages you, gives you some practical ways to live out your faith and ultimately fills you with hope. Enjoy the message.- Big question right outta the gate today, what are you building your life on? Because here's the truth, we all build our lives on something, meaning we give something authority to answer the bigger questions, the existential questions, the practical questions, the questions that determine what we believe about sex, about money, about marriage, God, equality, life, and the afterlife. All of that comes down to what we give authority to. And here's the thing, we're answering those questions whether we think we are or not. For Christians, our authority comes from the Bible. If you're a skeptic and you don't really believe in God or the Bible, you have a whole worldview that's been developed through your existence. And you might not look at the Bible, but you might look to culture. You might say, I just believe whatever the culture I live in believes. But that can be a problem because culture changes. How many of you know that there used to be doctors that would tell us the healthiest cigarettes to smoke, nowhere to lie. You would've commercials and magazine ads that stated this, and no one believes that anymore because culture changes. Or how many of you have listened to your grandparents and at some point said, I'm, you can't say that out loud. What was fine at one point in culture isn't anymore because culture changes. If you were born and raised in Saudi Arabia, you would most likely believe something vastly different than someone born in salmon arm. So the question is, who is right? Is it you or is it them? As a church, this is where we believe the Bible comes into the picture and says, whatever culture, whatever country, whatever area of the world you were raised, born and live in the Bible will transcend and speak to you about all those questions about truth, about life, about your soul, the afterlife, who God is, what real sex is, and what it means to be human. And at Hope City, we believe the Bible is the true and lasting word of God that transcends all cultures, all nations, and is the basis on which to form a worldview, a life view for today and for eternity. We believe, as the apostle Paul wrote all scripture is God breathed, meaning all scripture has originated from God, breathed out from God. So not human ideas or human biases, it's God's ideas. We believe the Bible is God's word given to us, and it's inspired, true, authoritative and trustworthy. If I were to ask you what are the top three things to stay physically fit, I'm pretty sure most of you would say sleep well, eat well and exercise. If I were to ask you the top three things to stay in decent spiritual shape, I'm also pretty sure most of you would say, go to church or be in some need of Christian community. Pray and read your Bible. If you grew up in church, you might remember being a kid like me and we used to sing a song that went like this. Read your bible, pray every day if you want to do you know this, grow, grow, growth, something we all need in our journey with Jesus, something we all want because a static spiritual life is nothing more than a decision to do nothing. And that's what this series has been about. Decisions we can make to truly grow, to truly go after the main thing, which is as Jesus himself said, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and the greatest commandment. And this is important because all of us have a ton of things vying for our attention every day. And we've said this through the whole series, if we don't choose our priorities, our pressures will. And so today I wanna look at building our life on scripture and why it matters. The intentional choice of reading your Bible. In the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, God was instructing the Israelite nation on the best way to go at life. And he says this line, he says, fix these words of mind into your hearts and minds. The word fix means a deep, intentional and permanent internalization of scripture. Fixing what the Bible says in your heart and mind is crucial for you to live out the main thing. It's a game changer for your spiritual life. Like you can't follow Jesus with all your heart, soul in mind if you don't, don't, don't do this. And here's why this matters. God's word doesn't just inform your faith, it forms your life. And I want you to think about that line. I'm gonna say it one more time. God's word doesn't just inform your faith, it forms your life. See, most Christians, we don't struggle to believe reading the Bible is important. It's just a struggle to prioritize it and make it a consistent habit. In a world flooded with context and we know it. There's news feeds, podcasts, reels, notifications, emails, texts, there's more. And let me tell you that stuff is real. I took a break at the beginning of this year from social media and I just logged into it this past week and my account was flooded with messages. I was like, man, this feels endless. In a world where we often feel spiritually undernourished, directionless, lacking life in our faith, and at times even worn down in a world like this, it's not always about what we're doing wrong. It becomes about what we are missing out on if we forfeit the reading of scripture. That's why each week we go to the Bible'cause we want to hear and we wanna understand what God has said. The book of Hebrews new testament book says, the word of God is alive and active. And so I want to give you five benefits of reading God's word, why it matters and why it should be a priority. I'm gonna make it very practical for you. I want to show you how God's word doesn't just inform your faith, it forms your life. Five benefits. And here's the first one. God's word sustains you in every season. Fred, I don't know what kind of season you may be in right now, but we all walk through seasons in life. And here's the thing about God's word. It doesn't matter if you're feeling dry, empty or full, whether it's a happy, difficult or easy season. God's word is like a steady drip of encouragement and nourishment. I like how Jesus said it when he was tempted by Satan after fasting. 40 days in the wilderness, he was hungry. And Satan says, if you are the son of God, tell these stones to become bread, which by the way, Jesus could have done. But instead he replies, man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Even though Jesus was hungry and tired, he was saying, our deepest hunger is not physical, it's spiritual. Our souls. They long for something that's real and lasting, something life giving. And this comes through God's word. Let me show you what I'm talking about. When life feels unstable, when you've got job stress, you got family tension, you have unexpected bad news, you pick up the Bible and you open it to the Book of Psalms and you read a verse like this, God is our refuge and strength and ever present help in trouble. And when you read that, it does something for you. It's comfort. In one sentence, God is not past help, not future help but ever present help. He's right here, right now providing strength and refuge in the chaos. God's word sustains you. Or when you're feeling emotionally drained or overwhelmed, maybe even afraid, you read scripture and it says, do not fear for I am with you. Do not be dismayed for I'm your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Or when you feel inadequate as a parent, as a leader, as a spouse, or as a Christian, you read, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. God word sustains you in every season. It's like vitamin D to your spirit. We all know if we skip meals long enough that we lose energy. If you eat poorly, you feel sluggish. But the opposite is also true. The better you eat, the better you function. Friends don't live your life as a follower of Jesus on spiritual leftovers, meaning some quote from social media or some vague memory of something. God spoke to you years ago. Embrace his word. It's solid food for spiritual maturity. You don't just eat once a week and expect to be healthy. And likewise, you don't just open the Bible occasionally and expect spiritual vitality. Make it a habit and become nourished. Realize God's word sustains you in every season. The second benefit of how God's word doesn't just inform your faith, but forms your life is God's word gives you direction. The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalm one 19. It has 176 verses, and it's an acrostic psalm broken down into 22 each with eight verses. Each verse in each stanza begins with the same letter from the Hebrew alphabet. And in summary, you can essentially say that this Psalm talks about the authority and the life giving power of God's word, showing how complete obedience leads to wisdom, stability, and a life with no regrets. And if you were to read through it, which I encourage you to do, the writer consistently uses eight words as synonyms for the scriptures of what God has said. These words are things like teachings, decrees, rules, commandments, laws, precepts, words and promises. And what's also interesting is in in all 176 verses, God is either addressed or referred to. And so this entire Psalm underscores the value of God's teachings. And in one of those psalms, we read this, your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Here the writer is talking about how God's word brings direction. Notice it's not this spotlight for an entire future. It's not like you're gonna read it and the next 10 years of choices are gonna become clear, but it will speak to your next step. It will give you enough light to move forward. And we all need direction in life. Maybe you are stuck, maybe you're overwhelmed or uncertain. Maybe you're not sure about how to face something that lies ahead or how to make a decision about something. God's word guides you. It gives you insight to next steps. And I think it's important to say this, if you're looking for God's direction regarding a certain decision for the future, I would suggest you follow God's directions for the present and it will become clearer to you. Meaning obedience in the present always precedes clarity in the future, which means then yes, God's word gives you direction for the future, but it also gives you direction for the present. It forms your values, your actions and behaviors in the present. Here's an example. Let's just say that you finally found love. You finally found the person that you wanna spend the rest of your life with. It's like amazing for you. It's the beginning of the relationship. You're living on cloud. Nine things are incredible, but suddenly something happens and then you're a little unsure about the relationship. It throws you for a loop. Well, God's word gives us some great direction on love. It says, love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonor others. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres. Friends. That's more than just good advice. That's direction on how to love. Or maybe maybe you're curious about some actions that bring life or death actions that bring spiritual life or spiritual death. And scripture is very clear on it. If you were to open your Bible up to the book of Galatians in chapter five, you would read these things that bring spiritual death. It says, the acts of the flesh are obvious. So the acts of spiritual death are obvious. Sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. I warn you as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. Those who live like this will have spiritual death. But the writer doesn't stop there'cause he goes on to say, Hey, this is what spiritual life looks like. He says, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control against such things. There is no law. God's word gives direction not only for the future, but how to live in the present for all areas of life. It helps to shape your values, your decisions, and even your responses. James, he's another New Testament writer. He says this, my dear brothers and sisters, take note of this. Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, practical guidance on how to live life in the present. God's word gives you direction. Thirdly, God's word keeps you from sin. In the same Psalm one 19, we read this verse, I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Now that sounds awesome because who here doesn't deal with sin and the temptation to sin? And by the way, sin is just missing the mark of God's intended best for us. There's this built in defense mechanism in God's word that keeps us from constantly giving into the desires of our flesh. Scripture doesn't remove temptation, but it reshapes desire. Notice the writer doesn't say, I memorized scripture so I would never be tempted. Or I read God's word. So now it automatically just removes sin. No, I have hidden your word in my heart so I won't sin against you. Temptation will come, the desires will still exist. However, God's word does something greater than willpower ever will and greater than nothing else can. It reorders the heart, it trains the conscience. It allows truth to speak over your heart, soul, and mind before temptation ever arrives. I think a lot of times our our sin doesn't start with flat out rebellion. It's usually a process and before it becomes full blown, we have the choice to take some off ramps along the way. And that's why his word matters so much. When scripture is hidden in us, when it lives in us, we can interrupt bad decisions. We can slow down impulsive reactions. We give room for the Holy Spirit to shape and to mold us to hesitate our actions long enough so that we don't walk into sin. God's word in you gives you the strength and the power to walk away from temptation. See if you know the word, you can quote it when tempted. That's what Jesus did in his temptation moment in the wilderness. But you can't quote it if you don't know it. And again, let me give you some practical examples. You're tempted with lust or sexual sin. You quote what Paul wrote to the Corinthians, you say, flee from sexual immorality. You are not your own. You've been bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. When tempted with greed and materialism, you quote the book of Hebrews, keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have. Because God has said, never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you. When tempted with wanting to lash out and use hard harsh words, you quote, a gentle answer turns away wrath. But a harsh word stirs up anger when tempted to be stressed and to worry and about a whole bunch of things. You quote the apostle Paul that says, do not be anxious about anything. But in every situation by prayer and petition and thanksgiving, present your request to God and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. God's word keeps you from sin. See, three weeks ago I spoke about the armor of God as described in the New Testament book of Ephesians. There Paul writes this, put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes meaning so that you do not fall prey to sin. And it goes on and take up the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And the sword analogy is important because it tells us we can use God's word as an active and proactive weapon against those things that spiritually want to take us out. We can use it to fight against the temptations, against the struggles and against the lies that come our way. But we can't use it if we don't know it. We can't glean from it if we aren't reading it. Knowing God's word slows down impulsive reactions. Feeding your spirit with his word allows you to have truth, presence, and truth. Active when the pressure shows up. Friends, God's word does more than inform your faith. It forms your life. And how does it do it? God's word sustains you in every season. God's word gives you direction. God's word keeps you from sin. And fourthly, God's word equips you at the beginning. I referenced the verse from second Timothy, and I wanna go back to it and continue. It says this, all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, re, re rebuking correcting and training and righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. First, notice that Jesus followers are called servants of God. A servant does what its master wants it to do. But secondly, we are equipped for every good work. And I wanna camp on that line for a bit Equipped carries this idea of being complete, of being capable and ready for action. It's being fully prepared, not barely surviving. Back in, um, college, I had one semester where I faced six exams in three consecutive days, two a day. And my strategy was not to sleep for the two nights in between those days and study all night long for the next day. Kids don't take my advice on that. Okay, bad strategy like it worked for one night. But you can imagine what happened when night two came. Nothing stuck. I couldn't remember a thing. I studied all night. I knew nothing. I wasn't prepared for my final exam. And I walked into the gym, I sat down, I looked at the paper, I stared at it for about 13 minutes. I didn't even pick up my pen and I walked out. Thankfully I had a killer mark going into the exam, so I still got the course. But being equipped is not being kind of ready or hoping for the best or even winging it spiritually with little prep and no sleep. Being equipped means scripture doesn't just inspire you, it outfits you because we all have good intentions and sincere faith, but we all need the tools to live out that faith wisely. And so as Paul says, the Bible teaches us truth. It corrects what's off in our life. It rebuilds what's broken. It trains you in godly habits. It does all that friends. But here's the thing, only if you let it do all that, it equips you for every good work. Only if you let it. If you let it, it will equip you for patience with your kids, for faithfulness in your marriage, for integrity when no one is watching for honesty at work, for fighting temptation, for responding to disappointment, for forgiving, when hurt, for loving difficult personalities, the Bible equips you for every good work. And who doesn't want all that? Who doesn't want Christ-like responses in everyday situations? Listen, friends, when the word is in you, the word shapes you and it shapes you into the kind of person who instinctively asks What honors God here. Or as some of you might remember, there was this common question that went around years ago. What would Jesus do? I've heard this line before. You can give someone a cookbook, but if they've never learned to cook, they'll still burn toast. And that's a metaphor about the difference between having information and knowing how to use it. The difference between information and transformation. You can hear the word of God, but without putting it into practice, it won't become applicable. But if you apply it over time, you don't just do good works. You become the kind of person from whom good works. Flow friends, listen, there is no situation where God's word is irrelevant. Nothing in your life will have God say, man, I didn't see that one coming. It equips you for suffering, for success, for seasons of waiting, for leadership, for loss, for responsibility, for every good work with God's word, you are spiritually prepared, morally formed and practically ready. God's word equips you. And finally, God's word reveals Jesus. Now around here we believe that following Jesus is the best decision you can make. And how you get to know Jesus best is to read scripture. Jesus himself said these words, you study the scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very scriptures that testify about me. He was saying that the scriptures reveal him, they testify about him. And at the time he was addressing the Pharisees who missed it entirely. They had the scriptures but didn't see the truth of Jesus in them. And here's something that's really amazing. Throughout the entire Bible we see Jesus. It's not just in the New Testament, in the Old Testament, we have what's called Christoph. These are pre-incarnate appearances of Jesus. We have prophecy that points to Jesus. We have foreshadowing symbolic rituals, divine titles, names and more that all speak of and point to Jesus. I mean, I could spend a whole series going through that. Friends, it's so important that we understand this. The Bible is not the finish line. Jesus is the scriptures are not the destination where our journey with God ends. They are in fact the God-given means that lead us to a living person. And the goal through all of it is that we would know Jesus. Jesus himself said the religious leaders searched the scriptures, yet they missed the very one. The scriptures were pointing to. And that can still happen today. We can become experts in the text and strangers to the Savior. In the Bible, we're meeting our redeemer. Be every command is a revelation of God's character and his rescue plan. Throughout its pages, we're watching a holy God move toward broken people, not away from them. And we are seeing, however, page whispers you cannot save yourself. But I will Abraham's near sacrifice of Isaac points to a father who would not spare his son Joseph's betrayal and exaltation, foreshadow a rejected savior who would rise to save many David's kingship hints at a greater king whose throne would last forever. And I could go on and on the Bible, it's full of real people with real failures. But their stories are not there merely to say, be like this or don't be like that. Their stories are there to show humanity that we need a hero. And God has provided us with one right from the first book of Genesis to the last book of Revelation, scripture points to humanity's need of a savior. All throughout the Bible we are introduced. We recognize and see God's promise of a savior. And Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise. And then we read how Jesus went to the cross to forgive our sins and how upon faith in who he is and belief that God raised him from the dead. You can have life both now and forever. And this truth, this reality is ultimately what the Bible reveals. Friends read it and you will meet your savior. Read it and you will meet Jesus, the one who loves you, the one who died for you, the one who wants a relationship with you. God's word doesn't just inform your faith, it forms your life in five ways. It does that God's word sustains you in every season. God's word gives you direction. God's word keeps you from sin. God's word equips you. And God's word reveals Jesus and hope city. My prayer this week has been that you would have a fresh, that you would have a renewed hunger for God's word in your life, my prayers, that you would allow it to shape you and to form you my prayers. That you would open it and and that you would read it and you would let it guide you. You would let it instruct you and that you would let it lead you to Jesus again and again and again. You know, if you were to go into any hotel room, chances are if you looked inside the nightstand, there'd be a Bible. It's put there by the Gideons. This is what they say about the Bible. And in fact, they actually have this in the index page of some of the Bibles in the hotels. It says this, the Bible contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, it's precepts are binding, its histories are true and its decisions immutable. Read it to be wise. Believe it to be safe and practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you food, to support you and comfort, to cheer you. It is the traveler's map, the pilgrim staff. The pilot's compass, the soldier sword, and the Christian's charter Here, paradise is restored, heaven open, and the gates have held, disclosed. Christ is its grand subject are good, the design and the glory of God. Its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart and guide the defeat. Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully. It is a mind of wealth, a paradise of glory and a river of pleasure it has given you in life will be opened at the judgment and will be remembered forever. What are you building your life on?'cause we all give something authority, something that helps us answer the questions. And my prayer is that you would allow God's word to do just that, to be your authority, that it wouldn't just inform your faith, but that it would form your life. I'm gonna ask you to stand if you are able to. I'm gonna pray with you. Jesus, I thank you that we live in a time where we have your word so accessible to us. I thank you that your word is alive and active. It's powerful. And so I pray that we are individuals who do not take your word for granted. I pray that you give us a fresh love, a fresh passion, a fresh desire to read your word. And I know Holy Spirit, as we do that you will speak, you will minister, you will meet my friends exactly where they're at because your word does that. And so I pray today that we may feel renewed again to say, God, let this be the authority of my life. God, let me know it inside and out. Let me follow it because I wanna live in the pattern that you have designed. I pray if someone's going through a very difficult season right now, I pray that your word may sustain them. I pray if someone's looking for direction, that your word may guide them. I pray God for those dealing with sin, that your word frees 'em. I pray that you equip us for every good word. And and, and God, we pray that your word continually and every day points us to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Because in you, Jesus, there's hope in you. Jesus, there's life in you. Jesus. There's freedom in you. Jesus. There's victory. And so may we see that as we open your word and may it just become alive to us. I pray maybe you're joining us and you don't know Jesus personally. I said he Jesus went to the cross to die for you. He rose for you. He did that to forgive your sins. And if you're saying, yeah, I want to begin a new life, fresh and whole and who he is, I'm gonna pray a prayer that will help you put into words the beginning of that prayer. And why don't you pray along with me? Jesus, today I see my need for you. And I thank you for going to the cross. Thank you for dying for my sins and rising and offering me life and hope both now and forever. And so today I put my faith in you. I put my trust in you. I desire to make you Lord and leader of my life. Help me to follow you. Help me to know what it means to be in relationship with you. Help me to know what it means to pattern my life after you. And help me to hide your word in my heart. And so God, thank you that I have this opportunity. And Lord, I pray over every individual, every couple, and every family. I pray that as they go into this week, may they just experience the goodness of God in and through every situation. I pray that they know that there is a Lord that is there to equip them, protect them, guide them, and direct them. I pray, holy Spirit, that you speak to them and through them. But I pray even later today or tomorrow, as they open your word, spirit of God, may you speak deep truths. May you speak deep encouragement. May you speak deep life into their soul and into their hearts, and it's in their minds. I pray that your word becomes alive and active over every heart and every mind this week for your glory and for your honor in the powerful and incredible name of Jesus. I ask this, amen. Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer of surrender your life to Jesus today, I wanna say way to go on making the best decision of your life, I'm gonna ask you to tap the dis on the seat back in front of you. We have a digital booklet we'd love to get inside of your hands, and we'd also love to connect with you in person to try and get to know you in a larger church. I also wanna say this for all of you. I'm gonna ask you to tap that disc and we have a book on there. It's called 30 Days to Understanding the Bible. We would love for you to purchase it and read it and just help you get to know and understand God's word a little bit more. If you don't own a Bible, we're gonna make sure that you get one. If you do not have a Bible, you can pick one up today for free at the info desk in the lobby. Hope city. Remember, God's word doesn't just inform your faith. It forms your life. This week, allow it to do just that. Know that I love you and I'm praying for you. Have an incredible week. Thank you for being in church today.