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November 17, 2021 5:00 am
Pastor author and Bible teacher Alan Wright though this book might be misapplied, misuse misunderstood or altogether rejected, it cannot be overlooked because it is the best-selling book of all time. Alan Wright come to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I've been diverted except for you to hear the teaching today. In the series. We called saver has presented it were an older church in North Carolina are not able to stay with us throughout the entire program to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. Audio album called saver can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries either a seamy album or digital download of these audio messages so as you listen to today's messages go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at pastoralan.org that's Pastor Alan.O RG or call 877-544-4860 877-544-4860 moral all of this later in the program but now let's get started with today's teaching here is Alan Wright right.
The Bible is not so much God's gift to you for your information as it is for your formation.
It is not so much God's gift for your instruction as it is for your infilling and I want to invite you today into another facet of what it means to saver God.
The name of our series saver about being mindful of every blessing in the moment. Each moment and today the talk about savoring Scripture and there's no chapter in the Bible that speaks more beautifully eloquently about the delight in the word of God than Psalm 119 is read a portion of this Psalm 119 verse 97 is listen to the psalmists perfection for the word of God.
Oh how I love your long.
It is my meditation all the day you commandment make you wiser than my enemies for this ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the agent for I keep your precepts hold back my feet from every evil way in order to keep your word, and not turn aside from your rules, for you've taught me how sweet are your words to my taste sweeter than honey to my mouth through your precepts. I get understanding. Therefore, I hate every false way. Oh how I love your law, not law in the sense of legalistic religion, but the tour on the whole of the Scripture, love the word of God.
Father told his son that he get in the car for her 16th birthday in three conditions that someone bring his grades up. If Megan sees these as if you make all A's is that is accurately that you read your Bible every day sons of the Bibles and change your life. Vision is make a habit of reading it every day. And thirdly, if you cut that scraggly hair of yours.
Well, 16th birthday rolled around sunset. I'm here to get the card and tries that he is my report, and a hand in the report garden this year, enough all A's that smiles that I'm proud of you son and said said that I've been reading my Bible every single day and his father said, you know I've seen in there that Bible and I'm so proud of you son. That's a wonderful thing in the census on Ralph car is so about your hair still scraggly lungs ever and sunset dad read the Bible and even Jesus had long hair and a father sits on a need to read that Bible a little more closely and you'll realize that Jesus also walked everywhere. He believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God.
The only infallible rule of faith and practice. I believe it is God breathed. I believe that it has been inspired through and through it most certainly has been the inspiration for the greatest art and music in the history of civilization. It has been deemed to be so important that it has literally been etched into the columns and corridors of our nation's capital.
It is a book that has been considered important enough that both the devil and Hitler misused it. It is a book that has been so controversial that nationalities have forbade it from coming across its own borders, its translators have been martyred.
It has been burned and it has been banned. It is confusing to the proud and make sense to the little child.
It is a book so important that they hold it in the courtroom and asked people to swear by. And though this book might be misapplied, misuse misunderstood or altogether rejected, it cannot be overlooked because it is the best-selling book of all time.
Word of God, but the word of God is not just something to be studied in the sense of developing hermeneutical skills and interpretive scholarship, which is important, but the word of God is something that is full of life and so it is God's invitation to us to meditate on the Scripture. I heard Capt. chaplain Rodney Stillwell good friend in the chaplain of the five president jail ministry speak this weekend.
He was telling his testimony and how is he began to emerge out of all the trouble of his rebellious youth and began to grow spiritually that one of people helped him with his grandmother woman of God who is in the word everyday. The city never forget the time that he came and picked up her Bible expecting as he had heard of so many saints that the Bible would just be full of notes in every margin above and underlined and highlighted, they said, but instead he picked it up and looked as if there were no notes just clean from all Inc., other than the written page and he went to his grandmother said outer things that I thought you would've been taking notes over this and marking your Bible over the years and said well Ronnie there are two ways to mark one's Bible. She said one is with pen and ink. She said the other is with your tears. She said I think if you hold it to the light. You will be able to discover the places were my tears have fallen and those would be the passages that have comfort me most. Over the years and it's that I want to speak to you about today about savoring the Scripture and marking it with tears, savoring the Scripture and marking it with the delight of a soul that is comforted and strengthened and nurse and blast and I love the word of God in a want you to love the word also ever increasingly want to have affection for what God has spoken guys because in the word is the life of Jesus himself is very interesting if you just took a look at the Bible compared to other ancient text. One of the things it most people don't know is that in terms of just sheer reliability is an ancient text. It stands alone of all the ancient books is none like it. Plato wrote in 380 BC, and the earliest copy that we have of anything that Plato wrote was 900 A.D. so there was a 1300 year time span.
Well, I have seven copies of those early manuscripts of Plato and Aristotle wrote in 350 BC.
The earliest copy we have of anything he ever wrote was 1100 A.D. 1400 years pass and will have five copies of the early writings of Aristotle and nobody would ever say that they consider it dubious whether Plato wrote what he wrote. For Aristotle, we just take it as fact. But you know the New Testament was written in 60 A.D. roughly and the earliest copies we have spent around 130 A.D. and this little time span of 70 years is just it just it was still within within the memory of the saints of God, as we actually had the New Testament.
It's amazing and we have about 14,000 copies and fragments of the early, early manuscripts, evidence of very reliable book and it's really more a library of books rather than a single book. There's a unity between all the books and the Old Testament and New Testament. The New Testament references explicitly in the Old Testament, 300 times, but implicitly refers to the Old Testament 4000 times. It was interesting. Also, if you ever wondered if the Bible is very reliable.
What we have in our hands today. The Scripture was quoted in the early Christian writers that were riding between 95 and the hundred and 50 a deal and say those writers like Clements letter to the Corinthians letters of Polycarp, Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch.
All of this.
There are enough quotes of Scripture in their writings to reproduce and reconstruct the entire New Testament other than 11 verses from second and third epistles of John monks would copy every manuscript before they were printing presses they would copy every manuscript with such detail to assure that not one word was wrong, that what they would do is that they would count every word in the manuscript and then they would find the middle word in the entire manuscript of the entire Bible and they would compare it to the original.
They were copying from and make sure not only had the same number words but would have the same middle word so that would be precise, the word of God is recorded in Hebrews 412 living and active. It is something that is different from other literature according to the word of God itself. It is something that has life in it. Proverbs 420 says my son, be attentive to my words. Incline your ear to my say. Let not them escape from your site. Keep them with your heart, for they are life to those who find them and healing to all their flesh. No more. I just come to realize it just the reading of God's word is powerful, just just hearing it even if you didn't understand everything about it that you just are. It's like taking nourishment and then it gives your life. It's like taking in health, and it gives you health high cancer did go to conference this past weekend and preacher friend of mine Kenny Thacker told me a story just broke me up. He said that he has a is a grand son who's a and he said the grandson with her mother. She sometimes would have at night a custom of listening to sermons. Some of my sermons online staff as well as Kenny, her father-in-law and said that the eight-year-old and nine-year-old he began to have some trouble sleeping at night and so she recommended to him also to listen to these messages and to help him fall asleep and Kenny, you know, thought what I was just warmed his heart you know it is thought maybe it was listen to some of my messages and so Kenny went to his grandson asked him about it and so who will you listen to a set on the listen to you speaking to Kenny and to Mr. Allen and so attentive on this.
He was heart was so warm zone grandson listening to his sermons as he goes to bed at night and he sipped his grandson sit here looking to show him his iPod and he had a folder there with all of my messages in their that he can listen to in the folder was labeled real snoozer's just glad to be of service right will have more teaching in a moment to D important series so much worry about yesterday's four years cemetery getting 90 for tonight is hard to focus on matters most. Wearing seasoned coaches calling nine psychological program. Eastern religion for next living in the present life messages with your digital partnership making gift textures and levers of God's grace.
Each moment to moment every day of your life. The gospel is shared when you get right ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you get today. We will send you a special offer.
We are happy to send this to you as I thanks from Alan Wright Ministries, seven 877-544-4861 come to our website pastor at Gatwick today's teaching now.
Can you once again is what actually is happening, of course, is there is a family.
This discovered a mystery.
The word of God is living and that doesn't just speak of peace. It has peace and it you can take a man like you would take him breath and then changing in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God. John said Word was God thinking of Jesus, second person of the triune God. He was in the beginning with God in all things were made through him without him was not anything made that was made in him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. So Jesus is the logos.
John said with the Greeks thought of as the ordering rational principle of the whole cosmos and John said I've come to understand that that that the Greeks think of is the thing that holds altogether as the logos that word is Jesus. So Jesus is the word of God and that word became flesh and God gave us of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that living word in written form, the word of God is powerful, but not in the sense of magic like a witch would use an incantation is not magical in the sense of if you repeat certain phrases and do it often enough for memorizing Satan a certain way that is going to do what you wanted to do. It's not that the Bible is powerful because it is light and of itself in the same way that light always dispels darkness the word of God always dispels the deceptions of hell. Therefore, God himself in the person of Jesus falls the devil with God's own word, it is written, the Bible isn't so much an instruction book as it is one big good news story. If there's one thing that I could lead you into your understanding of the Bible. Whether you been a Christian for a long time or you're just beginning to read the Bible is the look on your Bible, not so much as an instruction book but is a wonderful story on epic story of a God who came to rescue people who had no way of rescuing themselves and save them and did so at the cost of his only begotten son, that this is a wonderful epic story and and is not just merely instructions for living and only read Psalm 119 and and is it your words are sweeter to me than honey. You know that's not the way that you talk about the instruction manual for your car in the glove compartment is the instruction manuals useful, but you don't say.
I just meditate on my my instruction grill might my gas grill instruction manual on I will with word of God is is like a love letter and it is a story no matter where you are in the Bible you're in some facet of that story. That's why there's good news on every page.
No matter what you're reading or what cataclysmic event may have happened or what are what's stirring there might've been of evil against the people of God are what even judgment. There might've comps if you understand the whole story you find yourself in the middle of the story and please read it as a big story. It's altogether.
Leviticus is part of the story chronicles as part of the story. The epistle of James part of the story. It's amazing to see were moved by story house with an advertising expert recently Australian spirit filled lady who was explaining about the power of story in advertising is an example. She was talking about the way that universities are moving towards advertising. She showed up.
An example of Western Sydney University and it was a beautiful story. It was depicted war-torn region as this little boy is a caption saying escaped as a Sudanese refugee was welcomed into Australia and is is a teenager taught himself to read and write and eventually was accepted to Western Sydney University where he studied prelaw and then he went on became a lawyer and he then according to the captions is using his legal skills to help other refugees who are in great trouble in the story just ended, and all it said was unlimited and you thought okay where you sign up for that because the story moves seriously. No listing of the curriculum or the of the rankings of the school just to call story is a story of how God has made it possible for anyone who believes in him to become a child of God, and if a child of God, then an heir and a co-heir with Christ himself such that instead of being distant from an angry God, you are able to draw close to the father who has welcomed you into the family as her story's own image.
This week is that religion says I messed up my father's not be so mad, but the gospel says I messed up better call dad that's her story will invite you into is learning to savor God's word.
It is like tasting and seeing that is good is like chewing and digesting. It's like that Dean Peterson and his wonderful book on reading the Scripture spiritually.
He said they had a dog in Montana that was sprayed around the forest in the wilds of the area and would often come home with all maybe a rib of the deceased coyote or something and he described that I know exactly what it described to let a beagle for many years and, proudly prancing around with some catch in his mouth find a big bone or something is just so delighted whole that thing up and wagged its tail. Sal Prouty was I've written. Once he showed off then he would retreat to some private place in the yard word start working on that bone. I love the way Peterson talked about watching his dog with his bone. He said he and all the bone turned it over and around licked it, worried it sometimes.
We could hear a low rumble or ground.
What an account would be a per and after a couple hours a Marriott and return to take it up again in average bone lasted about a week just chewing on turning it over licking it protecting that and growling reason Peterson share the stories because he was blessed as was I when he discovered in Isaiah 31 verse four this verse that says for thus the Lord said to me as a lion or a young lion growls over his prey.
When a band of shoppers is called out against him is not terrified by their shouting, so the Lord of hosts will come down to fight on Mount Zion and reasons a blessing is because that word for growl hero lion rather than a dog, but that work for growl in Hebrew is taiga and it is usually translated into these teaching meditate experience God's word is in our series, savor, and we get Alan in this review with us here today here just a few moments with the parting good news thought stick with this so much worry about yesterday's failures cemetery getting ready for tonight is hard to focus on the matters noticed now wearing seasoned coaches, and mindfulness psychological program for the next living in the present messages with your digital partnership making gift textures and levers of God's grace. Each moment moment every day of your life gospel is shared when you get Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.
When you get today. We will send you a special offer.
We are happy to send this to you as our banks from Alan Wright Ministries, seven 877-544-4860 877-544-4861 come to our website pastor at Gatwick alum in the studio here with us and as a parting good news thought for the day on meditate experiencing God's word just that and it really goes well with the whole theme of this teaching, savoring every word. Well, sometimes Christians get worried about the idea meditation anything is going to be somehow linked to Eastern religion or something well know meditations God's idea in it really is the idea of turning something over in your mind in order to savor it.
Something in your so and always loved what I heard Rick Warren say years ago.
He said that people wonder how to meditate.
Is this not hard to not worry, they know how to meditate. It's like what worry is, but in a positive direction. Turn the things of God.
The grace of God in the minutes, but your reading of Scripture become more like savoring a fine feast that it is wolfing something down in order to get on with your day. Today's good news message is a listener supported production Alan Wright Ministries