The last nite of Fall_Camp_09 found you (teens) hearing the greatest study challenge I have ever given you. Ever...
Can we really open up our own Bibles everyday, on our own time, and have personal time with God? Yep...
Can we really establish a routine in our lives that always puts God first? Yep...
Can we keep at it without burning out or fading into the sunset? Yep...
I've NEVER been as excited about stepping into a new school year as I am for 09-10, because if you actually do step up to the challenge and complete September's DAILY DEVOTE BLOG...and be consistent every week with THE GOOD BOOK CLUB, you will be the first GROUP of teenagers in the history of SCC to ever collectively dive into the Bible with this kind of abandon! So we are on pace to make serious history!!!
This is already shaping up to be an EPIC year!!!!
Okay, now on to my notes used for Fall_Camp_09 Message #4 (Thursday night) entitled "RYB"...
TEXT
RYB!
(Read Your Bible)
None of us ever ignore a text or a letter, yet our tendency is to ignore the most important TEXT we’ve ever received…the one from our heavenly Father.
As much as we want God to do things for us, there are times when He needs to say something to us. Through the ages, Christians have discovered the Bible to be the primary way God speaks to us. In fact, the Bible is ALWAYS the measure or standard we use to know what God says (prayer, preaching, prophecy…it all has to line up to what the Bible says, or it’s false!).
This message is about some simple, practical things you can do to get the most out of your listening time.
God can speak to you whenever and wherever He wishes. So we are NOT putting God in a box. We are just talking about prioritizing our lives around listening.
(PAUSE FOR SILENCE!)
The things I’m going to suggest posture us to listen. They develop a listening heart.
Isaiah 26:9 (NKJV) – With my soul I have desired You in the night, yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early.
This Psalm was when David was in the wilderness…The deserts of California, Nevada, and New Mexico are considered mild compared to the Negev Desert where David was hiding. David was under tremendous pressure and hiding. He was hiding because his son Absalom was trying to usurp his throne…yet this Psalm asks God for nothing.
Psalm 63:1 (NKJV) - O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water.
David claims to know God…as his very own. What an incredibly personal statement!
I know about Leeland (I know what his music sounds like, what his parents do, who his brother is)…but I don’t know Leeland. But even under the old covenant, David could still know God.
- Choose a time and place.
- Everybody I know that reads the Scriptures on a regular basis does it at a specific time and in a specific place.
- Jesus commented on this and modeled it as it relates to prayer. He was constantly pulling away and going to a private place. He said that when you pray go to your room and close the door. (Matthew 6:6)
- Choose a time :: Schedule it. Think of this as your appointment with God.
We always schedule what’s most important.
Morning is best…and here’s why:
- It is a practical way of “seeking first the kingdom of God”. (Matthew 6:33)
- It serves to mentally and morally reboot your conscience and perspective; it clears out confusion.
- It ensures that nothing will interrupt it…it is first.
- I know you are not a morning person, but you do something first every morning.
- Choose a place where that’s all you do there. In an ideal world, you just need a room with a chair.
- Get a plan
You absolutely need a plan, and there are many.
- Topical study (all you need is a brain and a concordance. Biblegateway.com is a free on-line resource that I recommend). Faith / Health / Prosperity / Friends / Dating / Emotions / Parents / Patience / Mercy / Joy / Peace / Hope / Love / Work Ethic / Your Language / Anger / Thoughts / etc…….
- Character study (zero in on your Bible character of choice and read all about them).
The goal is open up the Bible on your own everyday!!!
TEST: Find me the Scripture that says “God moves in mysterious ways His wonders to perform”.
You can’t find it because it’s not in the Bible.
That is just a religious statement that was made famous by a hymn written in the 1700’s.
Now, Isaiah 55:8-9 says “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.
But it is God’s desire for us to think His thoughts. If Christ is IN us, we have that ability!
Did you know that less than 10% of all Christians have actually read the whole Bible?
How can we expect to reach out and “win the world for Jesus” if we haven’t even read the Book? No wonder we struggle getting excited about it. Most of us are Biblically illiterate!
You cannot get excited about something you don’t know about.
So here are my 2 plans I’m challenging you with:::
- Daily Devote Blog (It will start on September 2nd, which is the first day of school…and it will go until September 30th…EVERYDAY). This will be a “topical devotion blog”. My challenge is that you actually log in everyday (to our church website blog), have your devotions from it…and post a meaningful comment that relates to the devotion, using your real name, and on the actual day of the devotion. Everyone that makes it through the whole month will have an exclusive ALL NITE EXELERATE PARTY!!!
- The Good Book Club (It will start on October 1st! This club is all about reading the ENTIRE Bible in 40 weeks.). You will be given a plan on the first day of October. You’ll read chapters from the Bible from Monday-Friday until the first week of June! Every Monday, you will submit a form with your parents’ signature indicating that you have read the required passages from the last week. We will have periodic Good Book Club pizza lunches for those who stay on track. And if you actually finish, you will be rewarded a new Bible, and are invited to an exclusive party at Pastor Johnson’s house!!!!!!
Don’t get intimidated by this.
The dramatized NIV audio-Bible is 76 hours long!!! That’s it.
There are 1189 chapters in the Bible…so our plan will divide things up for us. We’ll usually read some from the Old and New Testament everyday.
It actually takes the average reader about 90 hours of total reading time to read the whole Bible.
We spend 5 years (1,827 days) of our life on the phone (283,126 calls)…so surely we can devote 90 hours (3.75 days) to reading the Bible!
Interact with your Bible (a. Highlight the things that stand out. Write in the margins. Date things. Circle. Underline. Personalize. b. Journal the things I want to learn. c. Memorize Scripture…maybe jot it down on a 3x5 card and keep in inside your Bible. d. Pray through it.).
Hebrews 4:12 (NKJV) - For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
TEXT saved my life when I, like David, made it my own.
Posted on
Fri, August 28, 2009
by Garrett Johnson