Rhythm of the Word
Notes
Transcript
Introduction: What’s your story? (30min)
This is how I like to start conversations.
How would you answer this? The importance of finding our story in the larger story.
Reading/studying the Bible can be seen as 1) following a rule book or 2) finding your story. How do you view it?
If 1), then I would want to learn it less If 2), then I would want to learn it more
It is the story of:
Everything God - his nature, his ways
Us - our identity, meaning, purpose
Nature and reliability of the Bible is a topic for another time and would love to discuss it, but we can be confident:
- It is God’s Word given to and poured through the circumstances and personalities of men inspired by Holy Spirit, who also has preserved the Scriptures and (as an active agent in the life of a Christian) illuminates its truth to those who study it.
FOUNDATIONAL TRUTHS:
FOUNDATIONAL TRUTHS:
God Speaks (28min)
God Speaks (28min)
A few things can be said about this truth:
1.It is an act of amazing grace.
God isn’t obligated to speak to us. The very fact that he has chosen to speak to us is evidence of his grace and has nothing to do with our ability.
2. It sets God apart as the Living God.
1 Kings 18:26–27 (ESV)
26 And they took the bull that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made. 27 And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.”
But Yahweh, He lights it up!
3. It reveals God’s desire for relationship.
Communication is key to a relationship.
God doesn’t just speak. He speaks to PEOPLE.
We're told that he speaks to Adam, to Cain, to Noah, and to Abraham, both directly and in a vision. He speaks to Lot though angels, to Rebekah, to Isaac, to Jacob in a dream and then to Jacob in person. He speaks to Joseph in dreams. He speaks to Moses from the burning bush, and later face-to-face on a regular basis. He speaks the Ten Commandments to all the people from the top of Mount Sinai. He speaks to Balaam through a donkey and an angel, and he speaks through Balaam to Balak - and we've only reached the fourth book of the Bible!
God uses OUR language. He didn’t demand that we learn how to communicate with him (as if somehow we could); instead, he used (uses) our language and the best methods to communicate with us that we might respond.
4. When God speaks things happen.
You cannot separate God’s word from his action.
The first thing God did was speak. Oh, all right, the first thing he did was to create the universe, but how did he do it? By Speaking! Genesis 1, verse 3 And God said; verse 6 And God said; verse 9 And God said; verse 11 Then God said; verse 14 And God said; verse 20 And God said; verse 24 And God said; verse 26 Then God said; and so on.
God’s words rarely simply describe something. Instead, when God speaks, things happen: the future is told and people are moved, mountains shake and armies tremble, the universe is created and nature obeys, history is shaped and the dead are raised to life!
Because, when God speaks, things happen!
You’re here today and you don’t need to hear about God, you need to hear God speak, because you need God to act in your life. LISTEN! God is speaking.
You listen to either the world or the Word. (22min)
You listen to either the world or the Word. (22min)
There is no neutral.
Unless the two are the saying the same things - you are shaped by one or the other.
There is no “truth inside you.”
Failing to be influenced by God’s Word led to the very first separation from God and from a blessed life:
Genesis 3:1–6 (ESV)
He [the serpent] said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
The fist sin was initiated by a question of God’s Word.
“Did God actually say”
you need to be generous with all of your money?
sex before marriage is wrong?
marriage can ONLY be defined with one man and one woman
More often than not, the issue is not a lack of understanding of God’s Word but a misunderstanding of God’s Word.
What should Eve have done? Go back to God’s Word — God himself.
Instead, she was influenced by the number one influencer of the day — the serpent.
ILLUST - Top “Influencers”
According to company who works to create and promote influencers, they ranked influencers on IG.
Comedian from Brazil
Make up artist
Model / Singer
Saltbae - famous for throwing salt on food
lavish yacht parties
magician
video gamer
You listen to either the world or the Word.
When you listen and are influenced by the one or the other, it means you submit either to the world or the Word
What is your top influencer?
People you work with
People you go to school with.
Social media
Do they tell you what is good, how to be happy, what the good life is?
Why listen to an influencer with 50+ million followers, when you can hear from One with billions of followers?
PRACTICAL TOOLS
PRACTICAL TOOLS
I am a creature of a day. I am a spirit come from God, and returning to God. I want to know one thing: the way to heaven. God himself has condescended to teach me the way. He has written it down in a book. Oh, give me that book! At any price give me the book of God. Let me be a man of one book.
-- John Wesley
Our Method For Listening
ILLUST - I always enjoy watching time travel shows
- they need to be prepared by thinking what things will be like
- When they arrive, they need to observe all they can
- When they return, they find it has altered their lives.
LOOK (Observe - What do you SEE?)
LISTEN (Understand - What does it MEAN?)
LEARN (Compare - How does it RELATE?)
LIVE (Apply - What must I DO?)
LOOK
LOOK
(Observe - What do you SEE?)
Ask Who, What, Where, When, Why?
Look carefully
Are there conjunctions?
Are there comparisons / contrasts?
Are there words / phrases you don’t know?
Look with your imagination
Look again, and again, and again
LISTEN
LISTEN
(Understand - What does it MEAN?)
When you arrive at a place and something looks different, you begin to listen to reasons why it is so that you can understand it.
Interpretation
Best way to interpret Scripture is with Scripture itself.
Read before and after
Check cross-references
Context, Context, Context.
See things as the author sees to understand what he was trying to communicate
Understand their history / culture
We are trying to find out what it means, not what it means to YOU.
LEARN
LEARN
(Compare - How does it RELATE?)
What is the timeless truth?
What does it say about man?
What does it say about God, His character, and His ways?
LIVE
LIVE
(Apply - What must I DO?)
How do I practically apply and live out the timeless truth?
PASSAGE FOR TODAY (15 min)
PASSAGE FOR TODAY (15 min)
*PRAY*
LOOK
LISTEN
LEARN
LIVE