Jesus Loves Me - For the Bible Tells Me So, Part 2

Did you know, according to Jesus, that your relationship with God's Word determines your relationship with the Lord?

So here's the question. What is your current relationship with God's Word? Today we'll discover if you need guidance, protection, and direction, it's critical to know God's Word.

Stay with me. Thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Chip's our Bible teacher for this daily discipleship program, Motivating Christians to Live Like Christians. In just a minute, we'll wrap up our series, Jesus Loves Me, Essentials of the Christian Faith, taught by our guest teacher, John Dickerson.

But before we get started, if you missed any program in this new series, you can catch up anytime at livingontheedge.org or through the Chip Ingram app. We'll turn in your Bibles now to 2 Timothy 3, as we join John for part two of his message for The Bible Tells Me So. The same scriptures that led me to salvation, those scriptures will continue reshaping me and guiding me as I follow Jesus the Christ.

So let's look at where this comes from in our text. And here's really, again, Paul's talking to Timothy as a young leader, but these verses just capture so much my heart for you as a brother in Christ and as a pastor and a shepherd. Look at verse 14 where it says this, but as for you, you know, when your world shifts and shakes, God sees it and he's compassionate and he understands life is hard.

And when your world shifts and shakes, it's hard. And he says, when that happens, continue in what you've learned. Continue in what you've become convinced of. You've known these holy scriptures in a way that led you to salvation.

So now keep knowing them. And then look at verse 16, it says this, all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for a number of things here. You know, God describes in another passage scripture as a meal that we actually eat. And God talks about this, that when each of us first place our faith in Christ, we're like a spiritual newborn baby. And just like a baby is very hungry, we need to start eating right away, but babies can't eat steak, can they?

Babies have to start because they don't have teeth yet with milk. And there are parts of scripture that are like the milk, they're just rich and they're full of life and we start there. And every time you gather here, we're feeding you the word of God. And what we're learning today is that as you keep gathering here and then throughout the week, as you start to feed yourself, you will grow stronger and stronger in this new way of life.

And a few things will happen. One, it's practical for teaching. Teaching is really about knowing the basics, kind of like we're doing in this series. When someone says, well, who's Jesus?

You kind of know, well, I don't remember all the words, but I know he's God and man, and he had to be that to be the Messiah. Teaching is knowing the basics. And there's teaching when it comes to being a spouse in a healthy way, forgiving the people around you, living a life of love, overcoming your past shame and guilt and bitterness.

There's basic teaching for all these different areas of our lives. The word of God, we're told, also can rebuke us. That's not a really popular word these days, rebuke. What's the idea of that? Is that a negative thing? It's actually a very positive thing.

I'll give you an example of what rebuking is, okay? Do you guys know what Costco is? Any of you know how busy and crazy Costco parking lots can get? Well, one time we were at Costco, and this was when our kids were pretty little. We were getting them out of the car, and we had one kid who was kind of a runner, and so we always try to hold that child's hand. Have you guys ever seen those families who put a leash on their kid?

We never actually did that just out of sheer embarrassment, but I think if I could go back in time, I might have just gone with a leash. Anyhow, great kid. We love this child, amazing child, future leader, but a lot of energy and sometimes a runner.

And so we were at the Costco parking lot, and we're getting out of the car, and this kid just takes off right out in front of traffic. So as a parent in that moment, what is the loving thing to do? Is it to sing a gentle song?

Is it to read a book? No, I mean, the most loving thing to do in that moment is to raise your voice and to grab that child with a very strong hand and yank them out of the way of the Chevy Tahoe that's about to run them over. And that might not feel like love in that moment to that child, but that is an expression of love, and that's what a rebuke is. A rebuke is not a popular thing in our society or in this day and age, but very often a rebuke is an expression of love. There's actually a passage in the book of Proverbs that says this, wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses. Maybe lately you've had a good friend come to you and they told you something you didn't want to hear about yourself, they rebuked you, and you've got this decision. Because people who don't love you will never tell you the hard things about you because they don't want to deal with the conflict of working through it. But sometimes a person who really loves you will rebuke you. And what this looks like in our lives is, you know, you might be in your workplace and there's someone you're very attracted to at your workplace, but you're married.

And there's that just emotional connection, that kind of magnetic draw to that coworker. And there will come a time where either a Christian brother or sister or the Word of God will speak to you and say, that is dangerous. If you keep going down that road, it will kill your marriage. It will destroy your legacy.

It will cause pain for your kids that will live with them for decades and decades. And so you may need a rebuke at times in your life. I need a rebuke at times in my life. And the Word of God, as we read it, it teaches us the basics. But it also, as we're going through life, there's times where the Word of God grabs us with a strong arm and yanks us and raises its voice and says, don't do that. That will hurt you. That will harm you. That will hurt others. And so it's not always comfortable, but it is good. And it leads to life. It's also the idea of correcting.

And then it says the Word of God can train us in righteousness or right living. And that word training is actually an athletic term for when someone's training, like training for a marathon. We've got the mini marathon crew here at our Sports and Fitness Center who, God bless them, they will be out running when it's like 20 degrees out.

That is not me, okay? I'm not going to be outside running when it's 20 degrees. But anyone who's trained for a marathon or really any physical activity, you learn that at first you might think, oh, I could never run five miles. But you train and you do, you know, one mile and then two and then three. And eventually you can do it. Same with lifting weights. Same with even other areas of life, like saving money and other things.

You train and you build up. And the idea is this, as you keep feeding on the Word of God, it teaches you the basics, it corrects you and keeps you out of trouble, and then it trains you. And eventually you will come up to a difficulty or a challenge in life and you'll realize, you know what, three years ago that challenge would have taken me out. Either that temptation or that difficulty, I wouldn't have been able to make it through that. But now I've been training in the Word of God, and it doesn't mean it's easy, but I was able to kind of jump over that hurdle.

I was able to do that. And so just like the physical body can be trained and strengthened, your spiritual disciplines, your soul, your spiritual muscles can be trained. And the Word of God is a guidebook to train you in your thoughts and in your decisions and even in your emotions and your relationships. Just as the restoration of a classic car is a process, learning this new life in Christ being refurbished in every area of our lives, it's a process. But if we'll stay submitted to the Word of God, to the repair manual, it keeps us in that restoration process.

And all this works together so that every domain, every dimension of your life gets restored one at a time. Well, many of you know I grew up in Michigan, and I love walking outside, especially by creeks, by rivers, by lakes, just something about the water. And there's something I've noticed when I do that. I've noticed that there are often really big trees right at the edge of the water. Here's a picture of one such big tree.

What does it take for a tree to get huge and healthy like this? Well, we know it takes sunlight. That's why the branches are reaching up to the sky, and the leaves are doing their thing of absorbing the sunlight. We know it takes sunlight, but if you go to the desert where there's a lot of sunlight, you won't find these big trees.

Why not? Because it takes a second ingredient, and that is water. And I love this picture because you can see the roots of this tree. They're almost like reaching down, drinking that water, and that's why this tree is so strong and so big is because it's in a place where it's getting sunlight and it's getting water. There's a verse in Psalm chapter one, it says, blessed is the person who delights in the law of the Lord, or the Bible. The person who says, whenever I have a decision, this is where I'm gonna look. God says that person will be blessed, and God says that person, their leaves will be green in life.

Doesn't mean they won't go through storms, but their leaves will be green. And God says that person who delights in the law of the Lord, they will bear fruit in their season. And it's so interesting to me, I mentioned that this book we're reading, 2 Timothy today, was written by Paul the Apostle. Now Paul started out as a skeptic, which I love because I started out as a skeptic. His name was Saul and he hated Christians. He knew Jesus had lived, but he didn't believe Jesus was God. And then God appeared to him and he had this dramatic moment and he became a Christian and then he actually became a servant of the church.

And Paul started churches all over the ancient world. But this 2 Timothy, what we read today, it's his very final letter, written to kind of his favorite spiritual son, Timothy, a protege. And he says, Timothy, I'm about to go to heaven. My race is nearly done. God's about to call me home. My body's gonna wear out and I'm gonna go be with God for eternity. And Timothy, here's my final advice.

Here's the most important things for you to know. And within those most important things, Paul more or less says, when life gets crazy, when people around you discourage you, look to the word of God. It will nourish you. It will be water to your soul.

It will keep your leaves green. It will allow you to bear fruit even in the storms of life. And so with that in mind, I'll share with you this second thing. When I choose to submit to it, when I choose to look to it and say, God, you tell me what to do in my marriage. I don't feel like loving my wife right now, but you tell me what to do and that's what I'll do. God, I don't know what to do in this dating relationship.

I'm really attracted to this person, but they don't seem to care about you at all. You tell me what to do in that situation and I will obey you whether I feel like it or not. When we follow the word of God, it protects us from evil. It guides us into life. It transforms us for the better.

Any area of life where you submit that area of your life to the word of God, you will grow to be a better version of yourself. And it restores us to be what God desires. It restores us to be what God desires. I showed you that picture of the car repair manual.

And to me, it was such an interesting idea because when you restore a car, you have to take off the old part, restore it and then put on the new part. And there are actually passages of scripture where God says that. He'll say, take off lying, take off sexual immorality, take off greed, take off drunkenness and put on love, compassion, gentleness, patience, self-control.

He tells us what to take off and what to put on so that we can be restored and be refurbished. Basically the way that you stay engaged with God's word so that it keeps restoring you, first and foremost, you keep gathering here like this. And secondly, when you get a copy of God's word for yourself, you can start feeding yourself meals throughout the week. And you can start, whether it's, if you're a night owl, you can do this at nighttime before you go to bed.

If you're a morning person, you can do this with your coffee. If you're neither, if you're neither a night owl or a morning person, I guess you could read it on your lunch break, okay? But the point is this, you can start to feed yourself the word of God. This is called the Life Application Study Bible.

And for me, the reason that I love this particular layout of scripture is there's a topical index in the back, meaning you can look up any topic. So if you're wondering, what do I do with my shame? What do I do with my lust? What do I do with my money? What do I do with my marriage?

What do I do with my pain? You can look up that word alphabetically in the back, and then it'll take you to passages where God speaks about that. And then you can choose to apply what we're learning today. If you feel like, man, that is such a big old book, I'm really intimidated by it, know that I felt that way for a long time too. One of the reasons the book is so big is there's actually 66 books in there.

They're just all compiled in one place. And I remember when I first started really trying to read the Bible for myself, I kind of choked on it because I started with the stake area and I didn't have my spiritual teeth yet. And I got a little discouraged. And maybe you've done that before. Maybe you've tried to read the Bible and you kind of choked on it.

And so if that has been you, I want to give you a little guidance of where to start. I'd encourage you to start with the Gospel of John. And I'm biased toward that because it's my name, John.

But there's actually a strategic reason for it as well. The Gospel of John is just a great summary of Jesus' life. And Jesus is really, when you're restoring a car, you put a picture up on the wall of what it'll look like when it's done. And Jesus is that picture. He shows us here's what it looks like to be completely free from sin, free from shame, free from guilt, to find all of your identity and your relationship with God.

Jesus models that and his words are so full of life. So I'd encourage you to just get one of these if you don't have one yet. Start in the Gospel of John. And the other thing that really helped me is a friend told me, you don't have to read a whole chapter. You don't have to read a whole bunch.

Just read until something makes sense. In my case, because I like to write, I got a little spiral-bound journal at like a Walmart and I just put it with my Bible and I would just write the date and I'd write John 1 and I would read until something made sense and then I'd write that verse down and I'd just pray a short little prayer in writing, you know, God help me to do this today. And then the next day I'd pick up, for me I'm kind of a night owl, so I love to do this right before I go to bed at night. Again, if you're a morning person, have it with your coffee.

It doesn't matter when you do it, but if you'll do it consistently, you'll find yourself growing. Well, here's the third thing I want to share with you and the final thing. Because we love our God, we love His words to us. You know, a lot of us, we associate the Bible with this like, you know, ancient, harsh, just kind of list of rules, doesn't really affect our lives. But where I want to encourage you is as a follower of Jesus, if you will look to the Word of God as a love letter that guides you.

I mean, Jesus said after He died on the cross, He rose from the grave. He told His followers, I'm going to prepare a place for you and I'm going to give you everything you need to continue my work on earth. And really the primary things we need are each other who keep us encouraged, His Word, which is our guide, and His Spirit, which lives in us and gives us power. And with those three things, you have everything you need to follow Jesus. And so look to it as a love letter.

Love it because it expresses the heart of God. So three very simple applications. I've kind of covered them, but just think, I'll list them here. Which one could you commit to? Application one, keep doing what you did today. Wake up on Sunday and come to church or on Saturday night, join us.

Keep doing what you did today. That is the easiest, simplest application. Second application, when you get a copy of God's Word for yourself, you can start feeding yourself meals throughout the week. There's a great app called the You Version Bible, which has reading plans.

You can listen to it on audio. It's a great way to read scripture as well. And I'll give you a third application and that is getting around other believers like you're doing today, but throughout the week and other times. For example, I love working on old Toyota Land Cruisers. That's like a four by four Jeep kind of SUV thing. And there's this forum online for Land Cruiser enthusiasts. And so there've been times in the past where I was stuck on a repair.

I didn't know how to get that part off. And so I would go onto the forum and have my laptop out there in the garage and I'd figure out what I needed to do based on the experience of other people who had the same passion. And that's what our small groups are about here is you get in a small group with some other believers and you say, I'm a little stuck.

I'm trying to follow Jesus, but I don't know what to do with this area. You get in a small group and they say, oh yeah, we've been there, man. We've been there. And here's the passages of scripture that helped us. Here's the practical things that helped us. Another way you can get around a community of believers is by starting to serve. And when you do that, you get on a team with those other enthusiasts who will walk with you and say, here's what I did when I was facing that difficulty.

Well, I just want to close by encouraging you guys. I could tell you so many stories of my life after I found Jesus, or I should say he found me, that the Word of God met me when I was in a moment of crisis, a fork in the road where I needed help and direction and the Word of God was there for me. I mean, I can go back and it's just story after story in my career, in dating relationships before I was married, in finding my purpose, in finding my identity, in dealing with injustice and what other people had done wrong to me, in my marriage once I got married, in my parenting when I realized parenting is really hard and I have no idea what to do, in my wounds from other broken people, when I've been in the hospital with health struggles, all these different crises and forks in the road and moments of decision, the Word of God has guided me and it's never led me wrong. It always leads me to be a better version of myself. So that's my heart for you. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.

It's a lamp to our feet and a light to our path even when the world shakes and shifts around. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. John Dickerson has been our guest teacher for this program for The Bible Tells Me So from his series Jesus Loves Me.

He and Chip will be back in studio shortly to share their application for this message. Let me ask you, do you know the core beliefs of Christianity? Forget what churches, denominations or notable pastors say for a second. What do God and His Word actually state are the essential truths of the Christian faith? Well, in this series, author and pastor John Dickerson has helped us discover what those are. By using the simple children's song, Jesus Loves Me, John's revealed what these lyrics tell us about God, His love for us and the reliability of the Bible. So if you missed how these foundational truths are vital to you and me today, go back and listen to this entire series.

You can do that at livingonthedge.org or through the Chip Ingram app. Well Chip's with me in studio now and Chip, before we go on, the goal of this ministry and the series like the one we've been hearing from John is to encourage Christians to be more authentic with their faith. So take a minute, if you would, and explain why that's so important. I'd be glad to, Dave. Can you imagine what it would be like to live in a world where Christians really live like Christians?

I mean, when you meet a Christian, they would actually be a person of integrity and live the holy life, not perfect but holy and loved and cared about people. I mean, a whole world like that. Well, let me back off. Well, how about just your community? No, not even your community. How about just everybody in your church?

No, no, no, no. How about just you and your family and a handful of friends and you really followed Christ with all your heart and even with your struggles and ups and downs, your authentic life? Can you imagine the impact in your home, your neighborhood, your work?

I mean, the entire network of just you, your family, and a handful of friends. Well, 20 years ago, God put something on my heart to call and to equip Christians to actually live like Christians. And you know, it started as something really small and then it's grown like crazy. And you know what?

It can start really small with you and then grow like crazy as well. So if Living on the Edge has had an impact in your life, if it's blessed you, if it's helped you, or it's helped someone else, I'm asking you, would you partner with us financially? Would you get on the team and help Christians live like Christians here and all around the world?

Thanks, Chip. Well, if partnering with Living on the Edge is an idea that makes sense to you, we'd love to have you join us. Helping Christians live like Christians will change the world we live in. To give a gift, call us at 888-333-6003. That's 888-333-6003. Or if you prefer to give online, go to livingontheedge.org. That's livingontheedge.org.

App listeners, tap donate. We appreciate your generosity. Well, with that, here again is Chip and guest teacher John Dickerson to share a few final thoughts to wrap up this series. Thanks so much, Dave.

Well, John, God has spoken to me personally and privately, not only from this verbal teaching, but from the book by the same title. So first of all, thanks for being with us. And you know, when we get to talk like this and when I get to have a special guest like you, it super encourages me because, you know, I have grandkids that are the age of your children. And one of the things here at Living on the Edge is we are passionate about reaching and discipling the next generation. And what I know is that I have a role in that. And I think it's very important, but you're living in it.

You're a young parent. You face these things day in and day out. And I think this entire series and the book that goes with it, in fact, the small group that you created, it all helps us understand that this simple little song is filled with theology and truth that is really at the heart of being a Christian who lives like a Christian. And so I just want to give you one last shot, if you will, that as we kind of sit here together, if you wanted to wrap this up and you wanted our listeners to remember maybe one or two things out of that song, you know, Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. What would you say to them?

Yeah, Chip, that's such a great question. I would say this, that little phrase in the song, Jesus Loves Me, quote, this I know. If you're a parent or a grandparent, do you know for sure that your kids and grandkids know their salvation? Do you know for sure that they've believed in Jesus according to Jesus? And if you don't know that for sure, this little study is designed as a gift to help you ensure their salvation.

This I know. And then what's the most important thing we can teach to our kids, our grandkids, as well as our spiritual kids, those people who are maybe in our small group or someone we're discipling at church, is that final phrase for the Bible tells me so. I was driving the other day with my son who's around sixth grade, and I was telling him, Jack, the most important thing I can teach you is to look to the Bible, because someday I'm not going to be around. But if you've learned to look to the Bible to solve your problems in life, then it will guide you even when I'm long gone. And so I would say to everyone listening, for yourself and for the people you love, do you know for sure that salvation has been received?

And then do you know for sure for the people you love that they've chosen to make the Bible the standard for everything they do and believe? That was really my heart in putting together this entire series, the small group curriculum, the book, all of it is to make sure that followers of Jesus know what they believe and have chosen to make the Bible the standard for every decision they're going to make in life. Thanks, John. And to learn more about his book or the online small group study that goes with it, go to livingontheedge.org. As John said, these resources are geared to deepen your understanding of the Christian faith and give you the tools to encourage others to follow Jesus. So to get your copy of John's book, Jesus Loves Me, or to sign up for the online small group study, visit livingontheedge.org. And for your benefit, we've bundled these resources together at a special discounted price. So take advantage today. Well, until next time, this is Dave Drouie thanking you for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge.