© 2009 Cross Creek Community Church
370 Carverton Road, Trucksville, PA 18708
(570) 696-0399
370 Carverton Road, Trucksville, PA 18708
(570) 696-0399
Service Times
Sunday Worship and Bible Studies @ 9am & 10:45am
Wednesday Family Night @ 6:30pm
Tuesday Night Celebrate Recovery @ 6:30pm
Small Groups meet at various times
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“Getting Control of God’s Word”
‘Building My Life’ series part 5 of 10
Read about a Sunday School teacher who was describing how Lot's wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. Little Johnny was really interested. "My mother looked back once while she was driving," he explained, "and—and—and—she turned into a telephone pole."
· George Barna survey says 42% of Americans believe the Bible is the literal Word of God. · Yet almost ½ Americans believe the Bible is too hard for them to understand… so very few actually read it. · There’s a disconnect between what we say we believe and actually what we do. We obey what we believe! · A “Bible” is a collection of books regarded as the authority on any given subject… Gardening Bible, Hunting Bible, The Automotive Bible… The Christian faith has the authority of the Christian Bible.
Bible…
· Times have changed today… we must spell out our position very carefully – We believe the Bible is “Plenary (fully), verbally (every word), infallible (incapable of error), inspired (God breathed), and inerrant (w/o error) in the original manuscripts the Word of God”
God’s Word… Ø Is Relevant for our Lives 2 Timothy 3:16-17 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Ø Communicates God’s Message to Us 2 Peter 1:20-21 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Mark Twain once commented that what bothered him about the Bible was not the things he did not understand, but the things he did.
Ø Is our Truth Standard John 17:17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
Ø Changes Lives
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
There is Great Peril… to ignore God’s Word… Judgment
Amos 8:11 "The days are coming," declares the Sovereign LORD, "when I will send a famine through the land-- not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.
“Every man has a basis of authority on which he thinks and acts” What part does the Bible play in your life?
Six Steps to Get Control of God’s Word in My Life (Read Psalm 119) Be Positioned to… (Continuing choices we make) 1. Hear God’s Word Romans 10:17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. 1 Thessalonians 2:13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe. (Neh 8:3)
2. Read God’s Word
Revelation 1:3 Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
1 Timothy 4:13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. (Deut 17:19)
Moody found that his best hours to study were the early ones. And so he made a habit of getting up at dawn in order to be alone with God—and the Bible. Also, he felt that the Bible should be used, and he never hesitated to write in it.
3. Study God’s Word
Acts 17:11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
2 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
"If there be anything in my style or thoughts to be commended, the credit is due to my kind parents for instilling into my mind an early love for the Scriptures. From the time that, at my mother's feet or on my father's knee, I learned to lisp verses from the Sacred Writings they have been my daily study. "The older I grow and the more I read the Holy Scriptures, the more reverence I have for them and the more I am convinced that they are not only the best guide for the conduct of this life, but the foundation of all hope respecting the future state. "If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering. But if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity." —Daniel Webster
4. Memorize God’s Word
Psalms 119:11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
Job 22:22 Accept instruction from his mouth and lay up his words in your heart. (Prov 7:2-3)
5. Meditate on God’s Word
Joshua 1:8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
Psalms 119:97 Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. (Psalms 119:97)
6. Apply God’s Word
James 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
Matthew 5:19b ”…but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 7:24, Rom 2:13)
· Get a handle on your Bible = HEAR – READ – STUDY – MEMORIZE – MEDIATATE – APPLY
· As you apply these disciplines… Watch your life change!
· Be Praying and Participating in “Piercing the Darkness” Feb 29th. |