Sermon Notes - Calvary Chapel of Chandler
Contents
1. See the Bible speaks to us It is alive Hebrews 4 12 says The Word of God us full of living power It is sharper than the sharpest knife cutting deep into the innermost thoughts and desires It exposes us for what we really are The Bible reveals who we really are and that may be might be one of the reasons why some people don t like to read it They don t like what it says about them Martin Luther once said and quote The Bible is C And that is why need this Word in my life because success or failure in the Christian life depends on how much the Word of God you get into your life on a daily basis and how obedient you are to it i You show me a Christian who is failing You show me someone who is backsliding You show me someone who is not growing spiritually and will show you someone that is not in the Word of God We neglect this at our own peril One of the ways that a doctor can find out how you are doing is by your appetite Because he knows that a healthy person is a hungry person That is how know am healthy right now am looking forward to lunch In the same way if you neglect God s Word and you find yourself sort of weak spiritually and you are and you are Page 10 of 20 find your mood is changing and your outlook is changing because you have a deficiency of God s Word in your life You need to get it in your life again D The Bible is the Word of God If you want to grow spiritually2. you need it in your life This is the user s manual you have been searching for The very word Bible says it all Bible B I B L E Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth So start reading it and see what it has to say for you Il That brings us now to Psalm 19 7 11 Psalm 19 is about the Word of God Psalms 19 7 11 7 The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul The testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple 8 The statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart The commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes 9 The fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether 10 More to be desired are they than gold Yea than much fine gold Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb 11 Moreover by them Your servant is warned And in keeping them there is great reward NKJV Ok It tells us five important things we need to know about the Bible Things that will help you in your spiritual growth A No 1 The Word Of God Is Perfect 1 This phrase The law of the Lord is a Hebrew term used to define Scripture So it is not limited to the law Page 11 of 20 alone It is really speaking of all of God s Word So we could say the Word of God or even the Bible is perfect That is what we need to know right off That is in direct contrast to the flawed imperfect reasonings of humanity today We don t need to flow with the winds of change You can
3. Scripture as well Psalm 119 11 says Thy Word have hid in my heart that might sin against You And when was a young Christian hid my Bible in the bushes No hide the Word of God in my heart C Itis not just enough to hold the Bible or talk about the Bible You need to internalize the Word of God in your life Colossians 3 16 says Let the Word of God dwell in you richly Or another translation would say Let the Word of God be perfectly at home in you D God wants His Word to permeate every area of your life No exceptions He wants it to be a part of your business ethic He wants it to be a part of the way you live as a married man or a married woman or as a Single man or a single woman He wants it to guide you in the way that you raise your children He wants it to instruct you in the way that you live your life He wants it to show you what your priorities in life ought to be Page 19 of 20 And you are only going to find it by studying it and learning it and internalizing it and memorizing it In closing the Bible is the book that tells us how to know God and how to get to heaven It is the roadmap to heaven It is the Bible that tells us that we are separated from God by our sin It is the Bible that tells us that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us It is the Bible that tells us that Jesus both died and rose again from the dead And it is the Bible that tells us that Jesus stands at
4. on a regular basis This is not something you outgrow It was Spurgeon that said and I quote Nobody deepens with out years That is true a You don t outgrow your need to study the Bible anymore than you outgrow your need to eat food Yeah used to be in the whole eating thing Every Page 6 of 20 day Three times a day Sometimes even with snacks would eat But now you know don t need that anymore have moved beyond that Come on Oh yeah used to breathe with the best of them Inhale Exhale Inhale Exhale am not into breathing anymore Listen If you are not into breathing you are not going to be into living And in the same way if you are not into the regular study of the Bible you are going to find yourself crashing spiritually It is not enough to just go to church on Sunday and Wednesday and read good Christian books and listen to great Christian radio broadcasts Those things are all wonderful and have their place But nothing will ever take the place of you opening up your Bible and reading it every single day am telling you the truth God will soeak to you through the Bible His word will not return void never really read at all But as began to open up God s Word it began to change my life And was amazed at how it resonated with truth How it spoke to me How it related to what was facing as an 18 year old young man back And you know what It will still resonate
5. stand on the firm foundation of God s Perfect Word lt is perfect for every season mean where are you going to turn in a time of crisis When tragedy hits When disaster strikes When you need something that will give you strength and direction in your time of need That will come from the Word of God One writer said and quote One gem from that ocean is worth all of the pebbles from earthly streams And that is so true Just a pebble from the ocean of God s Word can make all the difference in the world How many in their affliction have found comfort from Scripture One person wrote He who rejects the Bible has And can tell you from personal experience have put the Word of God to the test have trusted in what it has said and it has sustained and given me direction and hope and comfort when needed it Page 12 of 20 7 The Word of God is perfect That could be translated It is whole It is complete It is sufficient The Bible is sufficient don t need to add to it don t need to take away from it B Noi The Word Of God Transforms Us Psalm 19 7 The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul This phrase converting could be translated It revives us It restores us It reboots us It transforms us You see when you read God s Word it will revive you It will restore you It will change you 1 Now if you don t need to be changed then maybe you don t nee
6. the door of our life and He knocks and if we will hear His voice and open the door He will come in You don t have to go through life trying to figure it out it is already written for you The path is perfect and complete Just open up the manual Page 20 of 20
7. wants it to be fulfilled The happiness doesn t end when you are living as a follower of Jesus Christ it truly begins read the story of an old hermit who lived deep in the mountains of Colorado He died And some of his distant relatives who really didn t know him all that well came to collect his valuables Upon arriving they found this old miner s shack with an outhouse behind it Inside the shack there was the rock fireplace an old cooking pot some mining equipment a cracked table with a three legged chair by a tiny window And there was an old kerosene lamp as the centerpiece of the table So these distant relatives gathered up the possessions of this old miner and loaded them up in the truck and they were driving off As they were they were making their way out an old friend of the miner was walking in He called out to them and says y all mind if take what is left in that old shack They said oh no we don t mind Take it We have got all the valuable stuff You can have whatever is still there He said thanks a lot and off they went And that old friend of the miner walked in looked around a little bit and knew where to look specifically He reached under the table found one of the floorboards He lifted it up and he proceeded to take out Page 17 of 20 all of the gold his friend had discovered in the past 53 years There was millions of dollars of gold there Apparently the old loner had died with only hi
8. with anyone today But if you are like me you just don t like to read manuals Whenever get anything electronic hate to read directions will just start pushing buttons and see Page 7 of 20 what happens And then something bad happens and open the manual and the first page says all caps Whatever you do don t do this first And just did that We need to learned to read the manual and warning labels Why are those Warning labels there Because someone somewhere probably filed a lawsuit and won and therefore there is this stupid warning label mean some make sense But some are weird On a cardboard windshield sunshade Warning Do not drive with sunshield in place Some dummy thought well this will shield me from the sun How about this one on a hair dryer can t believe this Do not use while sleeping On an electric rotary tool This one kind of freaks me out a little bit right now This product not intended for use as a dental drill That means somewhere some guy thought got this sore tooth Drill noise On the manual for a microwave oven Do not use for drying pets On a children s cough medicine bottle Do not drive car or operate machinery after using this Yeah Kind of hoping the 3 year old will not be using the forklift today This one is scary On a child size Superman costume Warning Wearing of this garment does not enable you to fly There is a hurt kid out there somewhere Page
9. 01 Thrive The Word of God Psalm 19 7 11 INTRODUCTION Today we begin our new series entitled THRIVE A short series in which we will look at the Essentials of Spiritual Growth and Success Things that every Christian should know that is if they want to have a thriving Christian experience Thrive to prosper be fortunate or successful To grow or develop vigorously flourish So let me begin with a question how many of you want to be thriving Spiritually Raise up your hand Ok See how cool it is when God just leads something and it s what we need Now we all know people who have received Christ and have gone on to serve the Lord with great effect There have been dramatic changes in their lives and they are thriving in their Christian walk But we also all know people who have had a difficult time spiritually maturing Maybe even some of you listening right now would say You know don t feel that am really doing all that well know others that have just taken off in their relationship with Jesus but still am struggling and staggering helplessly and have never been able to really get this together You know on my computer have a tendency to open a lot of programs at once might have my Word documents opened my Bible programs a Web browser and a few other things And what happens is when got this multitasking going on my whole system begins to slow down And realize it is time for a reboot ne
10. 8 of 20 On a shipment of hammers This one is weird Maybe harmful if swallowed What On a bottle of Nytol A brand of sleeping pills Warning May cause drowsiness was kind of hoping for that How about this on a box of rat poison Warning This has been found to cause cancer in laboratory mice Good But was hoping for something that would kill them more quickly On the sign of the railway railroad station Beware to touch these wires is instant death and anyone found doing so will be prosecuted Huh am dead See what concerns me about all of these things the people found out the hard way but they could have avoided it had they read the manual or warning labels Man how much better our lives would be if we read the warning labels If we read the admonitions If we read the teachings of Scripture that tell us how to live It happens spiritual too Warning going to the bar doesn t keep you sober porn doesn t make you pure Money doesn t make you happy Sin will find you Warning you can t take your toys with you Similar examples God gives us everything we need in this book 2 Timothy 3 16 says All Scripture is inspired by God and it is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives It straightens us out It teaches us to do what is right It is God s Page 9 of 20 way of preparing us in every way fully equipped for every good thing that God wants us to do
11. God by the power of the Spirit has given you everything you need to live the Christian life 2 Peter 1 3 says It was Alexander McLaren who said He that has the Holy Spirit It is sort of like you have all of the horsepower under the hood and you just need to put the key in the ignition and hit the gas and watch Page 3 of 20 what happens when you are full throttle It is all there but you have to step out and start applying it But this introduces us to another issue See we live in an instant society A culture where you get everything fast and everything is easy And then we come to the Bible and we read words we are not all that comfortable with Words like discipline obedience and self control We read about being still and knowing that He is God And we read about trusting God And we don t want to do that We want to get on that fast track spiritually We want to know the easy way to do it For instance if you want to lose weight what is that one diet that will do it overnight while you sleep Or how about that ab machine Remember the one that you would wrap it around your waist and turn it on and it would do all the work for you You wake up in the morning with a six pack We live in an instant society and we want everything now remember in the old days when we wanted to get music we bought something called records Nowadays you want music you just download it And you know there was a time when people used
12. aying that at all But am saying there are some things that only God can do and there are some things only can do For instance Philippians 2 12 says work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling That doesn t say Work for your Page 2 of 20 own Salvation because that is already a gift given to us by God It says Work out your own salvation What does that mean Another translation would say Carry to the goal and fully complete your own Salvation with self distrust And then it continues on and says for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for So there you have the whole picture laid out for you am to carry it to the goal with self distrust and live this Christian life But it is God giving me the strength to live the life He has called me to live Listen Only God can do certain things and only can do certain things Only God can convict me of my sin Only God can forgive me of my sin Only God can convert me Only God can save me However only can repent of my sin Only can make that choice to follow Jesus Christ you see Only I can believe So there is a part that God wants to do and there is a part that need to do God says I set before you death and life blessings and curses Choose life that you might live Deut 30 19 So it comes down to my willingness Do want to succeed You have a choice in the matter But the good news is that
13. d the Bible If you have got it all together and you don t have any questions and you don t have any conflicts and you feel your life is perfect then guess you don t need the Bible But if you are like the rest of us and you are aware of your weakness and you are aware of your inadequacy and you are aware of your need for God then you will be thankful to know that the Word of God is perfect and the Word of God can transform you and help you to be the person God has called you to be But it is not just enough to read and study God s Word We must do it James 1 22 says It is a message to obey and if you don t obey you are only fooling yourself You are like a person who looks at their reflection in a mirror and doesn t do anything about it Page 13 of 20 a Itis sort of like you know you think you are looking pretty good and you notice people are laughing at you Why are they laughing You didn t say anything funny And you go into the restroom and you check yourself in the mirror and you go Oh there is a noodle there from your spaghetti just stuck to your cheek So you pull it off Good b Now what if you went in and saw this problem Oh wow Look at that That is something Yeah And you just walk out That is crazy c Inthe same way come to the Word of God It says something It exposes an error in my life It shows me something need to do And see it If don t do it am like a fool w
14. e Bible has set out the right path for us to follow We don t have to lose our bearings in the fog of human opinion Or in the craziness of circumstances and events We don t have to let our fickle emotions lead us about We have a more sure foundation The Word of God 1 That is why it is important to read through books of the Bible verse by verse chapter by chapter And as read these verses ask myself questions like Page 15 of 20 E Knowing the Word of God is right Sometimes people will ask the question Well what do you do if you come to a verse in the Bible you don t agree with Change your opinion because you are wrong It is simple We are told in Romans 12 that we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds And the problem we have today is people are trying to change God s Word to their lifestyle or change God s Word to the things they have decided they want to do It doesn t work that way The Word of God is right And if you are not in alignment with it you are wrong So you need to change That s right 8 The statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart There is a sense of joy in His ways i Luke 11 28 says Happy are those that hear the a Did you know you can have a happy life without sin A happy life without sex outside of marriage Page 16 of 20 A happy life without drugs and alcohol A happy life without selfishness b God is not out to ruin your life He
15. ed to start it up again to reboot and refresh Then everything runs smoothly Page 1 of 20 In the same way some of us might ourselves getting sluggish Spiritually soeaking And maybe we need a reboot or a refresh Or we need to just say Lord want to start again And believe if you will apply some of these principles that am going to be sharing with you over the next few weeks you can see changes in your life So here is what it comes down to Christianity will work for every man and every woman because simplified Christianity is Christ If a person says l tried the whole Christian thing and it didn t work for me reject that outright because Jesus will change any man or woman who comes to Him in genuine faith and on His terms It was GUIKNCHESISHBA who said and quote CHFSHSRIVINES HG See for many that is the problem is not that tried and it didn t work but it s more like Well as looked at what it really meant to be a Christian decided didn t really want to do that So why do some succeed spiritually and others seem to fail The short answer is that many of those who struggle chose this path Because if you have a real desire to know God believe that you will by God s grace do just that if you search with your whole heart Now someone might protest and say Pastor Rudy it sounds like you are implying that our Christian walk is a result of human effort am not s
16. ho looks at his reflection in a mirror but doesn t heed what see And the same is true when I hear the Word of God and don t apply it in my life You must process it And then you must obey it You must do what it says C No 3 The Word Of God Gives Incredible Wisdom The testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple It is an interesting thing this Hebrew word that is translated to the English word simple comes from a root that means an open door It is the idea of a person who has a mind like an open door Everything comes in and everything goes out But it goes in one ear and goes out the other Page 14 of 20 It is the kind of person that would say Hey you know believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God am good with that think that is true And then they will also say And I also believe in UFOs and am certain that Elvis is still alive You know they are just sort of open to everything But the Word of God can make a person like that a simple minded person into someone who is wise And thus they can develop a biblical world view So will see this world and culture as God wants me to see it That is why it is so important to understand what it says So what have we learned so far 1 God s Word is perfect 2 God s Word transforms us 3 God s Word makes us wise NOH The Word Of God Is Right The statutes of the Lord are right In Hebrew this means that th
17. s true friend knowing his actual worth And as the friend looked out the little window and watched the cloud of dust behind the relatives car disappear he said You should have got to know him better And in the same way our friend Jesus Christ wants to make Himself Known to us But sometimes we are like a distant relative But if we will get to know Him better we would discover the true riches that He has for us And where are they They are in His Word He says Lo in the volume of the book come It is written of Me As you study aS you memorize as you read and obey the Word of God your life will be transformed and you will be a successful Christian Psalm 1 pulls our first essential all together for us turn there Ps 1 1 3 1 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly Nor stands in the path of sinners Nor sits in the seat of the scornful 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord And in His law he meditates day and night 3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water That Page 18 of 20 brings forth its fruit in its season Whose leaf also shall not wither And whatever he does shall prosper NKJV A So Ihave a choice can follow God s Word and live a happy and fulfilled life Or can disobey it and reap the consequences of it If you want to thrive and be successful spiritually you must love and study the Word of God B And not only that but you must memorize
18. to actually write letters Did you know that Now we call it snail mail But now we will just shoot off a quick email But even emails seem slow now You have to wait so long So we just text one another Next we are going to just read each other s minds But my point is simply this In a culture in a society where we get news on demand music on demand movies on demand we ask Ok what is the fast way to do this And we have a hard time with Page 4 of 20 discipline obedience and applying ourselves to these truths We need to change our way of thinking So what am saying is if you want to thrive and grow spiritually and be successful as a follower of Jesus Christ it is going to take discipline And you must apply these disciplines in your life These are things that must be in play in your life as a follower of Jesus on a regular and even a daily basis These are non negotiables they are essentials They are disciplines of the Christian life The first essential is found throughout the entire bible but we will focus our attention on what Psalm 19 has to say about it our first essential today So please turn in your Bibles to Psalm 19 Principle number She If you want to be a successful Christian you must read study and love the Word of God Let me repeat that If you want to be a successful Christian you must read study and love the Word of God A Joshua 1 8 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from yo
19. ur mouth but you shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success 1 You are holding in your hand God s revelation to mankind The user s manual of life Everything that you need to know about God is found in this book the Bible You must learn to love it You must learn to study it Page 5 of 20 You must learn to memorize it And if you don t do it you are not going to succeed spiritually Years ago a young man named Billy Sunday received Christ into his life An older believer gave him some advice he never forgot He said William there are three simple rules wish you would practice and if you do no one will ever write the word backslider after your name Number one Take 15 minutes every day to let God talk to you Number 2 Take 15 minutes every day to talk to God And thirdly Take 15 minutes every day talking to someone else about the Lord That is good advice Because if you take 15 minutes to let God talk to you it will probably become 20 and 30 and 40 minutes If you take 15 minutes each day as a discipline suggest it will take more time If you take 15 minutes to tell others about the Lord think you will find yourself doing it more Psalm 119 says I love Your commandments All Your words are true All Your laws will stand forever It is an application to God s Word
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