Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. We all know the dangers of junk food, don't we?
So if you don't have an appetite for the word of God, Here is my diagnosis. you're taking in too much. Junkford. There's a spiritual Disease. A spiritual disease, something going on in your life, perhaps you're taking in the wrong stuff.
Welcome to the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. How often do you read the Bible? Not a book about the Bible, but the Bible itself. Spending time alone in the Word of God is critically important, but many people struggle. Where do you start?
And what do you do when there's a difficult passage? Today, John shares key steps that will help us as we read Scripture on our own.
So let's get started. Here's Pastor John Monroe. Last time we saw that our spiritual life begins with the Word of God. Paul said to Timothy that from a child he had known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make him wise unto salvation through faith. In Jesus Christ.
While we can know much about God from creation, we learn about the way of salvation through Holy Scripture. God has made it clear in His Word that He gave His only begotten Son. That whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. We're surrounded by deception, lies, half-truths, distortions, and political spin. How refreshing to open our Bibles and know?
that this is the pure word of God. May it be your delight every day, the very food for your soul. I want to say five things about studying the Word of God very quickly this morning. First of all, Focus on the text of Scripture. When studying the Bible, Focus on the text.
First of all, read the Word of God and humbly hear the Word of God. You're at home now and you open your Bible. Do you realize that God speaks to you in His word? When the Bible speaks, God speaks. Are you listening?
Are you focused? Are you concentrating? When I practice law and we Someone died. And we brought out the will, and the relatives were there. We always said, where there was a will, there was a relative.
And so, as we got out, As we got out of the will, I never once had to say, to the greedy relatives.
Now listen. Listen to what dad said in his will, or listen to what granddad said. No, they're listening. They're listening for their name. You don't have to say to them, concentrate.
No, they're there. Why they're expecting something. That's part of our problem is we don't expect God to speak to us. We don't expect a blessing. We don't expect that promise that we need so desperately for that day.
Now let me say something very very important I'm talking about studying the Bible. I'm asking you to focus on the text of Scripture. Devotional Bible study guides, study guides, videos, and all of that have their place. I have a huge library, so I'm not against books. I'm not against study guides.
But I'm going to say this to you. Nothing. Nothing. can substitute You The Bible and the Holy Spirit. Can you not just read the Bible?
We say, well, I've got the study guide, fill in the blanks. I mean, who cares about filling in the blanks of the study guide? It has a place, I understand it. But You know, you can study the study guide. You can read the book about the Bible.
You can read what someone says about the Bible, but there is nothing like. You? The Holy Spirit. And the word of God. That should be one of the most delightful.
joyful things. that you do on any day. Be a self- Feeder, read the Bible, not just what someone says about it. Read it and reread it and reread it, focused on the text of the Bible. Several times in the Gospels, Jesus says, have you not read the scripture?
Oh, they had read it, but they didn't. penetrate, they didn't understand. You say, John, No, you're a pastor, and we actually pay you to study the Bible, and that's what you do up in your office all day, obviously. That's a dream. You know?
That I would just have time upstairs to study my Bible all day must be great. My life is busy. Your life is busy.
Now supposing You can only spend 15 minutes a day. Do you know how many minutes there are in a day? 1440 minutes, 24 hours. Do you say, well, I sleep, yeah?
Well, you can sleep, sleep as long as you like. But 15 minutes. Is there anyone here?
So busy. Doing God's will, doing God's work, that they don't have time to spend 15 minutes in this book? Don't tell me you're too busy. You're too busy for God. You've got other priorities.
You'll think nothing of spending several hours watching a video, watching a game. Working out at the gym, whatever it is. Yeah. Quieten yourself. Get into a quiet place.
and open this book. Start, say, with the book of Philippians. It only has four chapters. You can read it in one sitting, just a few minutes. Don't just read a verse.
Read it. You say, What did I do the next day? Read it again. The third day, read it again. The fourth day, read it again.
The fifth day, read it again. The sixth day, read it again. And now you're beginning to understand it. Philippines to you is not just taking a verse, Philippians 4, verse 13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. You're understanding the context in which Paul says that.
You're now beginning to understand Philippines. You're getting away from our habit to take some isolated text and make it say anything you want and to ignore the context. Read the Bible. And unnatural. Wait.
Much of the Bible is not difficult to understand. Yes, there are difficult parts. But don't allow what you don't understand to take away what you do understand. Focusing on the text of scripture requires concentration. Listening to preaching takes concentration, but it is essential.
that you focus when reading and studying the Bible. I asked myself, why is it? That some television preachers and other preachers who spend no time in a serious exposition of the Word of God attract thousands of people. You ever ask yourself that? I do.
Because they claim that God is speaking directly to them. They say they're going to share their hearts. To me that's always a little dangerous, isn't it? Sharing my heart. Jeremiah says, Your heart's deceitful and desperately wicked.
Do you really want to share your heart? I don't know if I want to hear your heart, I want to hear from God. But they say they're sharing their hearts, sharing their vision, sharing their agenda, sharing their dreams, sharing their journey. That requires no study and there's no way of evaluating what they're saying is true or just a scam to get you to send money to their ministry. Today we're awash in emotionalism, we're awash in subjectivism.
Would I wash in people saying, God told me to tell you. If I followed What I have been told over the years of what somebody told God to tell me, I would be going in a thousand directions. I want to hear from God myself. I don't need you to tell me what God told you to tell me. If it's in the Word of God, give me the Scripture.
Focus on scripture. Not your own ideas. Not some impression, something which is absolute truth. It is only God's word. Which is absolute truth.
First. Focus on the text. Secondly, write it down. Write some key things you observe from the text. Why is Paul writing?
Who's he writing to? What's the theme of Philippians? What are some things that particularly apply to me? What questions do I have? How am I to respond to this that Paul is saying?
Does this apply to me? He's telling two women to behave themselves in the church and to stop arguing. Would that apply to any of us? He's telling us not to worry in chapter four. What am I worrying about?
Don't be afraid to underline your Bible. Don't be afraid to write in the margin. Don't be afraid to write a date next to a particular verse which impacted you spiritually. What are you doing when you're writing? You're slowing down the process.
You're focusing. On what the text of Scripture is saying. You're observing the text. And often if you don't write it down, As the Spirit of God gives you understanding, you may forget. what you have learned.
Remember Sherlock Holmes? Saying to Dr. Watson. You see, but you do not observe. That's many of us, isn't it?
We're reading. but we're not observing. Israel was told, remember in Deuteronomy 6, in the great Shema, hero Israel. The Lord our God is one and so on. And he tells the fathers and he tells the mothers to write the word of God on the very doorposts of their house and on their gates so that the word of God would be on their hand, on their foreheads, that wherever they went, whether they got up in the morning, when you go for a walk with your children, you are constantly being reminded of the living and powerful word of God.
My mother went into a nursing home. bit of dementia, some physical problems and So my brothers and I Uh very much against my mother's wishes. Um Have said, Mom, you know, you can't stay in your own home. You're falling down, and so on. And so the house is being sold.
It's very sad. Those of you who have gone through that, it's very difficult, isn't it? And um this house has been in our family for for many years And um So my brothers were calling me and said, John, is there anything you want?
Well, you know, can't take an armchair over the Atlantic.
So I said, not really. I said, well, you know, Dad, Dad had a few books that mom has. You know, if you're going to throw them away, I wait till I come and I'd like to see them. But I said, there's a couple of things I do want. Uh my parents had a couple of texts in one of in their bedroom.
With scenes of the Scottish Highlands and verses of scripture. Because in that generation Just about all followers of Jesus Christ had texts in their homes. We we still see that from time to time now, but perhaps not as much As a previous generation. It was a reminder, wasn't it, that in our homes, The word of God. was to be prominent.
We are writing down the Word of God.
So first, focus on the text. Secondly, write it down. Third, pray over it. This is a spiritual exercise. You need the help of the Holy Spirit.
Psalm 119, verse 18, the psalmist says, Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. We sang, open the eyes of my heart. That's Paul's prayer to the Ephesians in Ephesians 1:18. He prays that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, because it's possible I come and I'm not listening and I don't see what God wants me to see. Isn't it wonderful?
That God helps us to understand His Word. Isn't that a great delight? You're reading your Bible. And you've read a verse that you've maybe known all of your life. Or if you're a new follower of Jesus, you're reading it for the first time and That verse just comes alive, doesn't it?
And I look and I say, why didn't I see that before? This is magnificent. What's happening? The wonderful ministry of the Holy Spirit, illumination turning on the light. Or I'm convicted.
Or I say, oh, I don't know if I like that verse. No, because it's got your name on it, John. This is for you. This is for you. This is how God sees you, and you must change.
Or here is a verse when you've had a very difficult and discouraging day, and you open your Bible, and there's this glorious promise. The point you to Christ And you realize that I have this God with me, and He's never going to leave me. And that Christ never asked me to go where He Himself first has not already gone. We pray over it and we meditate on it. The psalmist says that: I delight in it.
I meditate on your word day and night. We just chew it over. Meditation is like preaching to yourself.
So you've you've read the word. You focus on it and you're praying. On it, and as you're driving, or as you're on your treadmill, or you're going for a walk, or Or going around your business, this verse. is in your mind and your thinking about it, ginger, meditating on it. Perhaps you write it down on a three by five card.
to have in your pocket that you can take it out and Remind yourself and say, Lord, I want to understand this. I want to claim this promise. Keeping it central. in our minds. And that, of course, shoves out, doesn't it, the junk food.
Because the more I'm engaged in Scripture, And the more I'm praying about it, and the more I'm understanding it, there is this tremendous cleansing effect going on in my life.
So when the garbage comes, The filth of it is exposed against the purity. of the word of God. Pray over it. Fourth, live it. This is a big problem for us, isn't it?
Many of us know the Bible. We can answer the question. an adult life group, we can impress people by our Bible knowledge. But we're not living it. It's not just for our head, is it?
It's for our hearts. for every area of our life. As I said in the statement about Charlotte, isn't this what our city needs? Not just our words. A demonstration.
Of Christ lived out in our lives.
So we're taking the Word of God and we're living it out in our homes, in our marriages, in our families, at work, in the neighborhood, and how we conduct our business, and certainly in the church. And we're living it out. I was officiating at a a wedding yesterday and You know, people love weddings. And I suppose I do as well, but You know, you have to talk about love in a wedding. And you know what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13?
Love is What's the first thing? Patient. I wish you hadn't started with that one. I mean, I would like to rewrite that one, Paul. Uh that's the first one.
Kindness, I understand. Love is patient, love is kindness. I get the kindness, Paul, but why would you start with patience? Ah, that's a struggle for me. But that's what the text says, isn't it?
I'm to live that out. If I'm a loving person, I'm I'm p I'm to be patient. And so we read the Word of God and we pray it and we say, Lord, I need your help with this one. Because I'm impatient sometimes. I'm impatient with those who are close to me.
I get frustrated something. Oh, it's a lamp to our feet, it's a light to our path. We're to claim the promises, we're to live by faith. One of the greatest joys I have as a pastor, and I think all of you can understand this as well, is when I see the word of God having an impact on someone. Oh, I love to hear testimonies.
but I love to know about lives being changed. Talk is easy, isn't it? That impacts you, doesn't it? When you see Jesus in someone's Life. When there's a change in the person's habits.
Here is a man who has a very dirty mouth. And he curses and he He swears and he tells dirty jokes. Ah, but now he's confronted with the word of God. And he's convicted. And a man who once had a dirty mouth is now a man of praise.
and a man of kindness. A man who gives healing. Here is a husband who is very harsh with his wife. He's mean with her. He may even push it around sometimes.
He reads the word of God: Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church, and he's convicted, and under the power of the Spirit, his life is being changed. Here's a young man who's steeped in pornography. He realizes that this cleansing of his life. comes from the word of God. And he now pursues a path of holiness.
Here's a businessman. or a businesswoman. All she was concerned about was making money. Abbot now is a follower of Jesus, reading the Word of God. She or he is now concerned about how they care for their employees.
Here is a very selfish individual. It was all about them and their friends and family. No, do you know the kind of individual it's all about me? That includes a lot of us, doesn't it? Selfishness.
But here is an individual now who starts giving generously. to the church and to Christian. Ministries. Here is an individual who is very prejudiced. And who makes comments about those of different races and ethnicities, and now he understands, she understands that every single one is made in the image of God.
And so before there were harsh comments. and over generalisations now There is kindness. What is happening? They're living out the Word of God. Finally, we must share it.
We must share it. As we read the Word of God and it transforms our life, we want to tell others about it, don't we? You know the great joy if you teach, if you teach Sunday school, if you teach an adult life group, you lead a Bible study, the joy of sharing the Word of God is incredible, isn't it? Provided it's coming first. to yourself.
We have to preach and teach to our hearts first. And then to others. Parents, you have the great joy, don't you? of teaching Your sons and your daughters, the living word of God, what? What a joy.
Not just words on a page. But now lived out in your life. Communicating the word of God to your friends. A word in Season. Jesus said, Blessed.
Are those who hear the Word of God and Keep it. Much could be said. We'll move on. Hearing. The word of God.
While rehearsing Beethoven's ninth symphony, the musicians responded with particular sensitivity to Toscanini's every wish and desire. And what resulted was a performance that moved the orchestra to a spontaneous ovation. Then they stood and wildly applauded this little man, their conductor, who had given them such insights into the music. And desperately, Tuscanini stood and tried to get them to sit down. And when they finally sat down and the cheering stopped, he said in a broken voice, It isn't me, it's Beethoven.
And when the word of God speaks to us. We realize This is not the words of John Monroe. This is not the words of any man. This Is the voice Do you hear the w the voice of God? Do we understand how privileged we are to have in our own language this book, the Bible?
Most of us have many copies of it. that we can take it. and open it. And say, Lord, speak to me. For your servant hears.
And one. of the great great ways, I think. When we know that the word of God is getting hold of us, and it's not just in our heads, it's not just to answer an exam, it's not just to impress people. But when the word of God is lived out in our lives. This is the verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe.
There's still more to hear when John returns in just a moment, so stay with us. From matters of truth and identity, to the subjects of love and grace, our world seems more confused than ever. but to find truth and certainty about who we are and find peace, we must turn our attention away from the world and look to the Word of God. To help you do that, John wrote a booklet titled Eternal Security, Finding Certainty in a Chaotic World. Through this special resource, John shares his personal testimony, along with a careful examination of Scripture, to offer us clarity on matters of eternity.
Get your copy today by visiting our website at theverdict.org. While you're there, consider making an investment in this Bible teaching ministry. Whether it's $5, $50, or more, your gift today helps cover the cost of sharing these gospel messages to listeners around the world. And if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe to the Verdict Podcast, featuring John's weekly podcast exclusive called Avizandam. It's available wherever you get your podcasts, or simply go to our website.
Again, that's theverdict.org. The verdict is a ministry of Calvary Church in South Charlotte. We're located on the corner of Highway 51 and Ray Road. If you've been looking for a church home or a community to help you grow in your walk with Christ, We invite you to join us for our Sunday services. For more details about Calvary and our service times, visit theverdict.org.
Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? Are you a diligent student of Scripture? You may be a beginner, but all of us have to begin somewhere. Come to Scripture humbly. Come praying to God to help you to understand.
The psalmist prayed, Teach me your statutes. as God. The teacher. Day after day after day, you'll be surprised. at what God reveals to you if you come with a humble heart.
desire not only to understand God's word, but to obey it.
Next time in this series, the next steps in following Jesus, our subject is loving God. Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
