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Now, here's today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig. The Bible is God's testimony. Ever heard a person give their testimony? Yeah, this is who I am. This is what happened in my life.
This is how I came to Christ. The Bible is God's testimony. It's God's revelation to humanity. It will tell you about Himself. And that testimony, notice the word is sure.
means firm, certain. means trustworthy, reliable. In fact, the word for sure in Hebrew is the word Aman, where we get the word amen. Amen is a word. When we say it, it's a word of verbal agreement.
It means it is so. I am in agreement with that. Amen.
Well, we should learn to say that more. Amen.
Amen.
It'll make wise, notice. Make wise the simple. That's what it will do. It'll make wise the simple. You know what a simple person is?
When you think of a simple person, you might think of a naive person.
Sort of clueless, maybe. Easily led, very impressionable.
Well If you have that sort of a person and expose that person to the scriptures, it will challenge his or her mind, educate that person, and make them wise. The simplest person can be wise. But the idea here isn't just naive. The idea here of this word simple is open-minded, open to instruction. Are you?
Are you open-minded? To instruction. Do you come to church? Kind of with this posture of heart. or with this posture of heart.
Are you open? Open-minded. Open-hearted.
Now, some people reject the Bible. They are not open-minded to it, but I've made a little discovery over the years. Because I was also in this camp at one time, that people don't reject the Bible because it contradicts itself. They reject the Bible because it contradicts them.
Now that's a good place for an amen right there. Let's try that again. You ready? Ready? Ready for this?
Let's try it again. People don't reject the Bible because it contradicts itself, but because it contradicts them. Amen.
It'll challenge the mind. Mark Twain used to say, the things that bother me the most in the Bible aren't the things I don't understand. It's all the things I do understand. That bother me. It'll transform your life.
It'll challenge your mind. Here's the third benefit: it will delight your heart. Verse 8 begins: The statutes of the Lord are right. Rejoicing the heart. It brings joy.
Statutes could be translated commandments. Mandates. Principles or rules. That turns people off. As soon as people hear rules or commandments, they go, oh.
I don't like rules. I don't like commandments. Really? You don't really? Because I'm thinking you do.
Would you like it if there were no traffic laws?
Some of you might drive like there are no traffic laws. But would you like it if everybody else around you on the road did not abide by any traffic laws at all. Or what about property laws? Or Theft laws. Like, don't steal people's stuff.
See, we need laws for a stable society.
So, the commandments, the statutes, the mandates, the divine principles, the rules. Of the Lord are right. Rejoicing the heart. Brings joy to the heart. The psalmist of Psalm 19 is David.
David also wrote Psalm 1, where he said, Blessed is the man who doesn't. Stand in the way of sinners. Walk. Sit, etc., but his delight is in the law of the Lord. In his law he will meditate day and night.
He also wrote Psalm 119, where he said, I rejoice at your word as one who finds great treasure. And one of my all-time favorite verses, I read it just this week, is Jeremiah 15, 16. Your words were found, and I did eat them. And your word was to me the joy and the rejoicing. of my heart.
Joy to the heart.
Now, I want to be fair here.
Sometimes you read the Bible, and it doesn't bring joy. Because it confronts you. Ever read a text of scripture and you go, ouch. Oh, what does that mean exactly? Maybe it means something different than I just thought it meant.
It messes with you. It confronts you. And it hurts sometimes. But listen, listen. Don't shy away from it.
Camp on it. Learn it. Because The results will be delightful. It'll bring delight. Remember when Jesus was on the road to Emmaus with Two of his disciples, they didn't know it was Jesus.
He just cruised up next to him and started talking, and they didn't know it was him. And it says this. Beginning at Moses. And all the prophets. He expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
Remember that? What was he doing? He was giving them a Bible study. Through the scriptures. What I love about that is a lot of people say, well, you know, if I could just have like 20 minutes alone with Jesus, like we could have coffee together and I ask him questions.
That's cool. That'd be awesome too. But if you do that. Bring a Bible with you. Because he's going to tell you to turn in your Bible too.
Like he did with the disciples. Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And what was the result of that conversation with Jesus? Joy, delight. They said, Did not our hearts burn within us as he spoke to us.
Along the road.
So it'll transform your life, challenge your mind, it will delight your heart. Number four. It will clarify your vision. It will help you see. Scripture gives you light to see the path.
Second part of verse eight: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. A better translation is this. The commandment of the Lord shines clear and gives light to the eyes. Do you know that the Bible helps you navigate Through a dark world. Put it another way.
You can see in the dark. When you know your Bible. You can navigate through all the dark alleyways of our culture. You can see the path clearly, and you can navigate clearly. It'll clarify your vision.
Again, Psalm 119. I keep referring to that psalm. He said, your word is a lamp to my feet, a light unto my path. The Bible will throw light. on politics.
It'll throw light on dating and marriage and money management, and you name it. Won't tell you how to change the oil in your car, but everything that is important to your soul. It has something to say about that. I'm amazed at how the scriptures help me make decisions and forge a decision. because of the principles that are written in it.
By the way, you should know this. God is happy with his word. He wrote a book. It's called the Bible. He's happy with it.
There were no second editions from heaven. No edits. Nobody's up in heaven saying, you know, I think we should have written more about that. Or maybe we should have made this a little clearer. No, it's clear.
It's pure. And it will enlighten the eyes. If you want to see clearly in life, expose yourself to the scriptures consistently. Let me give you a sift. Benefit.
It will stabilize your future. Look at verse 9. The fear of the Lord is clean. How long will it endure? Forever, enduring.
Forever. That's your future. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.
Now remember I said there's six titles of the scripture? Law makes sense. Testimony makes sense. Statutes makes sense. These are all synonyms for the scripture, the Bible.
Commandment makes sense. But the next one does not make sense. The fear of the Lord. He's using the term fear as a synonym for Scripture. Because He is describing the effect.
that it will produce. This is a literary device. often employed where the effect is substituted for the cause. The scripture, which is the cause, Produces the fear of the Lord, which is the effect.
So he just reverses it and calls it the fear of the Lord. What is the fear of the Lord? The fear of the Lord, this is how I've described it, this is my definition: the fear of the Lord is a reverential awe. A reverential awe that produces humble submission. To a loving God.
Reverential awe that produces humble submission. To a loving God. Why is it called fear? Because fear is a good thing. There is an element of being afraid.
You know, people say, well, fear is such a bad emotion. I disagree. It's one of the best things you could have. If you get stuck in your car on the railroad tracks and you see that engine heading your way, I hope you have fear. Because it'll save your life.
You want to be in right relationship to that object coming at you. This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Your support helps reach people every day with biblical truth that speaks into real life. And this month, we'd love to thank you for your gift with a meaningful resource designed to encourage restoration and connection in your home and family relationships. When you give today, you'll receive Reconnecting with Family, a powerful book from Pastor Skip that addresses the pressures families face today and offers practical, scripture-based guidance for navigating life together with grace, wisdom, and hope.
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Now, here's more from Pastor Skip. One of the first emotions a child should learn is to fear mom and dad. What do you mean, fear, mom and dad? Yeah.
So that when they're crossing the street, And they're in danger, and you shout, stop! They respect and regard your word enough. To obey. It'll save their life. They fear your word.
So the fear of the Lord, it's a synonym for scripture. God's truth, therefore, is clean truth. Clean truth. The fear of the Lord is clean, verse 9 tells us. Because it's clean, that is, without air, without deficiency, it will endure forever.
It'll be there in the future. It'll last forever. The grass withers, Isaiah wrote, the flower fades. The word of our God stands forever. Jesus said, Assuredly, I say unto you, heaven and earth will pass away, but my word.
will never pass away.
So What that means is this. The truth that got you through yesterday is the truth that will be available for you tomorrow. It's another good place for an amen, by the way. The truth that got you through yesterday will be available for you tomorrow.
Sorry to have to cue you in on this. All of that to say, the Bible will stabilize your future. Especially if you memorize certain verses. I've been in situations where It's grave, it's intense. I have an incredible need, and suddenly a burst pops into mind.
Oh, yes. I'm glad I memorized that. I can pull it out and use it. When the phone rings in the middle of the night, And you get a bad report on the other end. When you go to the doctor and you get a bad diagnosis, when you lose your job, What stabilizes you is God's truth.
It'll stabilize your future.
So it'll transform your life. It'll challenge your mind, delight your heart, clarify your vision, and stabilize your future. I'm going to give you one more, and then I'm going to. give you a few tips. It'll guard your steps.
It'll guard your steps. End of verse 9. The judgments. A synonym for scripture. Of the Lord are true and righteous all together.
Then he explains himself more to be desired are they than gold. Imagine that. Yea, then much fine gold, sweeter also than honey in the honeycomb. Moreover, by them your servant is warned. And in keeping them, there is great reward.
What are we warned of?
Well, we're warned of the harmful effects of sin, for one. By the way, that's something the world lies to you about. The world will not tell you the truth. The world will say, go ahead and do this, have that. It'll make you feel better.
It lies to you, just like Satan lied to Eve in the garden and said, You will not surely die. And they did die. It'll warn you from the harmful effects of sin. John Bunyan put it this way: this book will keep you from sin. Or Sin will keep you from this book.
Your word I have hidden in my heart, wrote David, Psalm 119 again. that I might not sin against you. All of these benefits is why David treasured it. All of these benefits is why David said, More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold. He treasured it.
You know, there is a difference. Between hearing, reading, Receiving There's a difference between that and treasuring something. Uh when you get your mail And there's junk mail. What do you do? Do you treasure it?
You save it. Do you all the bills you get? Do you just look at them and go, oh, I love these? I've been waiting all week for that. Gas company bill to come.
Hallelujah. I love it. You don't treasure it, you pay it, and then you throw it away. But when you get cards of appreciation, I have several cards that I have kept over the years. The love letters that my wife and I wrote before we were married, I have kept.
I treasure those. Very different than just receiving them. Jesus said, Where a man's treasure is, there his heart will be also. You say, Okay, I get all this, I agree with all this, it's perfect, it's good, it's right, it's clean, and it'll do all these things. I still have trouble doing it, Skip.
Help. Help. Help! Let me give you three or a few helpful hints. Number one.
Pray. I know that's a, you think that's a cop-out. That's what a pastor is going to say. as your first step. But this is what I mean.
You might not feel like reading the Bible. I get that. But just pray this, God, give me a desire. Give me a desire to read your word. The Bible says God will give you the desires of your heart.
Ask Him to give you a desire. In your heart. to read his word. And then pray when you find something confusing, and you'll find it very quickly. Old cultural elements, words used.
poetry employed. And when you don't understand it, pray again. Help me understand what I'm reading. That's where you begin. Again, David did that, Psalm 119.
Open my eyes, he said, that I might behold wondrous things from your word. That's a prayer I pray every week, every time I open the book. Open my eyes.
So pray. Number one, pray. Number two. Just begin. Just start somewhere.
You say, it's hard to read the Bible when I don't feel like it.
Well, welcome to life on Earth. You go to work and you don't feel like it. You change diapers when you don't feel like it. There's a lot of things you do that you don't feel like doing, like paying bills, going to a dentist, doing paperwork, doing laundry, doing your taxes. That's life on Earth.
So just begin. Let me give you three quick words. Discipline, desire, delight. Discipline, desire, delight. Begin with discipline.
Just do it. Just do it. Do it again, do it again, do it again. Athletes do it all the time. Eventually, it becomes so locked into your spiritual muscle memory that you desire it.
And eventually you can't live without it. You'll delight in it. One gal wrote this: I had no desire to read the Bible. I did desire to know and love God more. Deep down, I didn't even know who God was.
I was basing my beliefs, listen to this, basing my beliefs entirely on what people had told me about him. And she said, when I realized that, it terrified me. I didn't read it. I didn't know what it said. I just listened to what others said it said.
So she's having a conversation with her brother. Her brother said, You ought to read your Bible. She goes, I can't, I don't want to. It didn't feel right. And she goes, he said, it's not about you.
Do you love God? I love him. Then Do it because you love him. And you want to obey him.
So she wrote this. I opened it out of love. and obedience instead of obligation. I opened it with the determination And most importantly, I opened it with God's help. It took me 30 years and a little soul searching to finally wake up and realize.
that what I was searching for was right in front of me. My life and relationship with Christ has been completely transformed. As a result, I can say that I am, without a doubt, a true Christian disciple of Christ. Because I choose to be. End quote.
That's good stuff. That can be your experience. Pray Just begin. Number three, have a plan. Get a plan.
You say, well, why don't you give us a Bible reading plan? Go on the internet. There will be 20,000 that will come up like that. They're all over the place. Find one that looks best for you and get.
A plan. It'll give you a road map. It helps you engage consistently in the scripture. Jesus had a routine, didn't he? He got up early in the morning, a great while before the day, and he spent time communing with his father.
You might not be a morning person. But have a plan. Number four. This is real basic. Ready f ready for how basic this is?
Get a Bible.
So I have a Bible, it's on my phone. No, get a Bible. Get a Bible so you know if it's on the left. Page or the right page when you find something. At the top or at the bottom, I can underline it, I can write a note in it.
It can be a little one, it can be a big one. If you're older like me, you might need a big one with big print. But get a Bible, get one that you understand. There are so many versions. People ask me which version should I get.
Open three or four of them and read a section that you know in each one and see which speaks to your heart. Get it. Um Fifth and finally. Read it with someone else. Let me explain now.
Read and discuss the Bible in community. In groups. Quiet time is awesome. We should all have one, our own personal private time. Special time to commune with the Lord.
But I will tell you this, you will grow exponentially when you discuss. the scripture with someone else. Here's why. In a group You are hearing how other people apply it. Or Misapply it.
Either way, you'll grow through that. It you'll exponentially grow when you discuss it.
So if you found it hard to read the Bible on your own, Don't do it on your own. Do it with somebody else. By the way, let me just throw this in. If you have a hard time reading, and some people do these days, It could be for Medical reasons, or age reasons, or whatever, even if you're just a non-reader. There are apps you can get where the Bible will be narrated to you.
And I have gone through the Bible that way before and found it very enjoyable. Uh before the printing press Before there were personal apps. And before there was YouTube and All the stuff that we have. Christians would get together. There would be one scroll.
or one book And it was read by one person and the people listened to it. And you listen to it.
So Pray. Just begin, have a plan. He had a Bible. Discuss it in groups. Let me throw this out.
What if we were to treat Our Bibles. Like we treat our phones. I'm not trying to Cast shade on you. Not trying to make you feel guilty, but just what if? What if when we got up in the morning, this is what we looked at first?
When we went to bed at night, instead of scrolling through different pages we we looked at this What if during the day several times we pick this up? What if We left home without it and we panicked. I gotta go back and get my Bible. What if What if we opened it? to get text.
The text of scripture. God's sending me a text. We're so glad you joined us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before you go, here's a reminder. When you give at least $50 this month, we'll send you Reconnecting with Family as our thanks.
It's a powerful new resource from Pastor Skip that offers biblical wisdom and encouragement for navigating real-life family challenges with faith and grace. Your support helps keep this Bible teaching ministry on the air, connecting more people and families to God's Word. Give today at connectwithskift.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your April resource. See you next time on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection!
Make a connection. I shouldn't have a foot of the crossing. Castle burning. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of connection communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
