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WORD The Meeting Place With God Keith Roberson College Park April 11, 2012

Themes from 2 Timothy. II TIMOTHY 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. But the problem is that the core reasons we go to the bible are so skewed and so marred with humanistic, religious thinking. EX. My wife. She does the grocery shopping. When it comes to groceries, shes the authority. I go to the grocery store. It takes me three hours and I come back with two carrots sticks and a bag of ice and I somehow spent $87. What just happened? We think that because the Scripture has or contains instruction that that is the purpose of the Scriptures. EMPTY MOTIVES TO ENGAGE THE BIBLE. 1. Make God Happy. a. Performance trap if religion. b. God already is happy! 2. Make Me Better a. Reading the bible doesnt make you better or elite. b. It tells you about who God is. 3. Figure Out The Rules a. Never meant to be a handbook. So then, what is reading the word about? Most Christians through history have believed that since the original writings of the Bible in Greek and Hebrew have been faithfully preserved, and the translation faithfully rendered, we hold in our hands the very word of God. That should be to us a breathtaking affirmation, and an infinitely important reality.

So let me say it again, we hold in our hands, and are able to read, what the Creator and Ruler of the universe wants us to know. The Bible puts us in touch with Gods thoughts about everything that the Bible addresses. SO the point of the Scriptures is to know God. Meet him. To have Him. Perceive Him. Understand Him. Worship Him. Delight in Him. Revelation of the nature, power, character, and ultimate glory of God in all redemptive History. Every story from Genesis to Revelation is the expounding of the personality of God, the Wodsom of God! All other attempts to make this book about dos and donts, or looking for a map or a game plan or a to sound really spiritual in your LG is just empty. PROBLEM: We often miss the heart of God because in our frailty we wont press pass the threshold. EX. Luke, baseball. 3 Core Promises of Scripture When We Come to Find God & Press Past The Threshold

Power
Power to overcome the enemy and every attack against you. The devil is real and terrible. He is much stronger than we are, and he aims to deceive and destroy. JOHN 8:44 He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him But he cannot stand before the word of God. Jesus always triumphed with his word. And now we do the same. I write to you, young men, John said, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one (1 John 2:14).

The word of God is the power that overcomes the devil. So it was with Jesus in the wilderness. To every temptation thrown at him by the devil, he quoted Scripture (Matt. 4:4, 7, 10). When the powers of darkness are arrayed against you, and aim to destroy your joy forever, it is infinitely precious to have the word of God ready for the battle. Jesus Loved the Word a. Jesus loved the Scriptures. He knew them and lived by them. i. In almost all cases of adversity, Jesus used the Scriptures 1. Temptation of Jesus a. TURN STONE TO BREAD - Man does not live by bread alone (Duet 8) b. THROW SELF DOWN TO INVOKE ANGELS - Satan distorts the Word i. How hilarious that Satan distorts the Word of God in front of the Word of God incarnate ii. We must KNOW THE WORD to combat the abuses of the Word iii. Do not put the Lord to the test (Duet 6:16) c. BOW DOWN AND WORSHIP SATAN Worship God Alone (Duet 6:13) 2. Pharisees and Scribes Trying to Trap Jesus a. Try to trap him on the issue of divorce; Jesus quotes Genesis, man and woman become one flesh. b. Try to trap him on healing on the Sabbath; Jesus quotes Exodus and Deuteronomy about helping a brother whose ox has fallen down. c. Ask him why his disciples dont wash ceremonially as the elders do, he quotes Isaiah, about how men honor God with their lips but their hearts are far from him. d. When they ask him what the greatest commandment is, he quotes Duet 6, the lord your god is one, love with all heart soul mind strength. e. When they try to trap him because His disciples plucked the heads of the grain on the Sabbath, He references I Samuel 21 JOHN 8:32 31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

TRUTH sets you free. Good feelings dont make us free. Ecstatic experiences dont make us free. Getting our Camp High, crazy loud worship service goose bumps dont make us free. Without a knowledge of the truth, well never be free. But the promise is JOHN 8:32, You will know the truth and the truth will set you free. STUDY OF IT. To Engage it, treasure it. Beat the hound out of it. Give it up! Give me the mysteries! You may genuinely long to be a great worshipper of God longing to obey, you pray in the spirit, live obediently, receive divine revelations and yet your life is unchanged. We come to the Scriptures to be changed. Not to get information. We want life transforming truth, not just warm-fuzzies. Willing to press past the mundaneness until the meaning of Gods word becomes clear. 2 PETER 3:15, 16 15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand

JOY
Psalm 19:8, 10 8 the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; 10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. The words of the Lord Jesus: These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full (John 15:11).

 These are breathtaking words. He has spoken so that his joy may be in us. His joy. The joy of Jesus is the joy of the Son of God. And this book was written that this joy might be in us. Therefore, the word of God that we hold in our hand has infinite worth.

HOPE
ROMANS 15:4 4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. We have not begun to know all the ways it is possible to get hope from the Bible. There are a thousand ways that God has designed to give us hope. Yet how often we murmur that the few ways we are used to getting hope are missing! Everything written in this book from cover to cover is written to give hope to Gods elect. How do we find hope? Ever run shamelessly from the Lord. Hidden from him. Ever felt stubborn in your resistance to God. The entire OT is a story of a stubborn people who have seen and tasted the goodness of God whore themselves out to other God and created things. Only to have God in mercy discipline them so that they might return. If youve ever run from God stubbornly in sin, the Scriptures are screaming that there is a God who wants you to return and hes committed to it. And story after story and page after page are full of Gods relentless pursuit of His people. The word gives hope to the sorriest Christian and the unrepentant sinner. There is still time. The world has insatiable appetites for Power, Hope & Joy. And we have it in the palm of our hands! Its time to take off the training wheels and stop waiting on the preacher man to tell you how to live, and begin experiencing it for yourself! EX. Story from Chinese Pastor