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Welcome to the Willow Ridge Sermons podcast.

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This is where you can find audio from Sunday morning messages and more.

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Make sure you're subscribed so that you don't miss future episodes.

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And thanks for listening.

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Good morning.

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You've got your Bible or if you're using electronic device, turn to Psalms 119.

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That's where we're going to be this morning and we're going to be pulling some truths from God's word about God's word in Psalms 119.

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Before we get there though, just want to highlight a few things for you.

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There's a couple of handouts in the seat there with you.

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One is our second session of our Fall Discipleship studies.

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Got another great lineup for you so please take a look at those items there.

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You can scan the QR code on the back and sign up for whichever one gravitates your attention and so be sure to sign up for those.

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Those start in a couple of weeks again, so you'll want to be sure to sign up for those.

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Also, the other card in the seat is the ladies favorite thing.

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This has become an annual thing for our women's ministry.

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They really get excited about it.

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I've tried to somehow work my way in there by even saying it loudly that I want to come but nobody invites me.

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But ladies, it really is a fantastic event.

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So scan that QR code as well so you can register.

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You don't want to miss that.

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You also want to bring some friends with you as well because it is an exciting event that our ladies do in December.

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So we're going to be looking at Psalms 119 this morning, but I want to tell you a little story from my life.

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Between the ages of ten and 15, I enjoyed building models, cars, airplanes, ships, even to the degree that the model wore airplanes that I would build.

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I would take fishing line and hang them from my ceiling.

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I probably had like ten in my bedroom.

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Bedroom was probably only ten x ten.

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So as you could see, it was crowded with warplanes in my bedroom, model cars and whatnot on the walls is something that I enjoyed doing.

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Along with that, I enjoyed doing Legos.

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Nothing like what the students and even some adults do with Legos these days.

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When you get 2000 pieces in a box, that's a little overwhelming.

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Mine were more like 20 pieces so there wasn't really very difficult.

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But one thing I do recall was the fact that I always followed the instructions.

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I don't know if anybody in here has ever built a model, but when you open up a box and you see all those plastic pieces fit together on these little squares or rectangles whatever size the box is, it's overwhelming.

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And if you attempt to build a model just by looking at it and going, I think this fits this and this fits that, you're going to have a very long and tough time trying to get that model together.

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That's why they put these nice little instructions in the box that goes step by step on how to arrive at whatever the picture is on the box.

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Same thing with Legos.

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You get a manual, a little instruction manual to figure out how to build that Lego.

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As I started thinking about that and thinking about Psalms 119, it just kind of struck me god has given you and I His Word.

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And in the same manner, it is our instruction for life.

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There's more to it than just simply saying it that way.

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But as you think about your life, and I think about my life and the life that we live from birth to death, there's a lot of things that happen in between.

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But God has given you and I his word to guide us.

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And so that's what I want us to look at.

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The concept is true in our relationship with God that you and I need something to help us to know how to relate to God and to help us to know how to relate to one another.

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Not only that, but also help us to guide and walk through this life that God has given us.

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Over the last several months, I've had a few conversations just out of the blue, not intentional, about Christians and their approach to God's Word.

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How often I'll have conversations with people and as if they're not allowing God's Word to work in and through their life and they're a believer.

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And you just start to scratch your head and go, why aren't you in God's Word?

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Knowing what you're going through, knowing that you're a believer, why aren't you in God's Word?

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And that's not what I voiced to them.

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That's what's voicing in my head.

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And I've had that conversation, as I said, with a couple of other people, just kind of going, why is that the case?

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No real strong evidence there other than what I will share with you.

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In a little bit about what we see from a study that was recently done, in Hebrews four, chapter four, verse twelve, we get a description of the word of God and how God uses it in the Christian's life.

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Hebrews 412 says this for the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

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As I hit that point of where it says, sharper than a two edged sword.

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Hope not going to about to gross anybody out.

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Hope you don't have a weak stomach.

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I remember that when I was five years old, I snuck a box cutter out of my dad's drawer at his office.

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And right beside my dad's office was a warehouse where boxes and all that kind of stuff were stored.

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And I was like, I'm just going to have a little fun with this.

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And so I went to the little warehouse next door, got the box cutter out, and I began to cut on the box.

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I've learned now older in life, you always point the blade away from yourself when you cut, right?

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But at five years old, you don't know that.

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And so I was cutting towards myself until this day, 52 years later, I still have a nice scar on my finger, very precise, very straight.

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And so when I read the Scripture, it talks about the word of God being sharper than a two edged sword.

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Takes on a new meaning for me.

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But look at what it says at the very beginning.

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It says it's living and active.

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Today, right now, on October 22, 2023, god's Word is still active.

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It is still alive.

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It is evidence to us of God's work in and through our life.

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Look at it says it's not old, it's not inactive, it's not out of date, it's not out of touch with our times.

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Sharper than any two edged sword.

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Not only do I recall the accident that I had when I was five, but I think about a scalpel in a surgeon's hands and how a surgeon can take that scalpel and he can cut right through getting at whatever it is that he needs to get at for whatever purpose that surgery is about.

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And even says to us the writer of Hebrews goes on to say, piercing to the division of soul and spirit separating those two and you and me.

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But not only that, but it also gives us the picture of the joints that have marrow just cutting deep into us wherever those things in our lives that God does not desire for us to have.

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The writer of Hebrews says God uses his word to perform surgery in you and me.

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He goes on to say there about the discerning of the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

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God's Word goes that deep into your heart, into your mind, to know what it is that you're thinking, to know what your emotions are, to know what your desires are.

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And that word there for you and I basically says God is helping us deal with what is right and what is wrong with our life.

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Hebrews 412 has been a strong verse for me when it comes to God's Word.

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But what role does the Bible play in your life and in my life?

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What role does God's Word play in your life and in my life?

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For the past 13 years, the American Bible Society has conducted a study called The State of the Bible, asking American people their opinion and practices relating to the Bible.

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Such questions as do people consider the Bible God's word?

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If so, what does that mean to them?

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Does the Bible shape their daily decisions?

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In what ways?

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How does Scripture impact their relationship with God or their spiritual growth?

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And how often do they read the Bible?

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And how do they choose what to read?

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I just want to give you a snapshot of that study.

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That study is 188 pages long.

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It is very fascinating the insight that you can gather from that.

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They start at the beginning of the year, and then each month from April through December, they release a portion of that study until they collectively have that study complete.

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Despite the downturn in Bible use, we can still say that about 63 million American adults 24% use the Bible on their own outside of a church service at least once a week.

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Bible users and by their definition, a Bible user is somebody that uses it at least three times a year were given seven options to complete the sentence I use the Bible because they had to choose only one.

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Far and away, the most popular response, 47% was It brings me closer to God.

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Others said they need wisdom for making life decisions that was 20%.

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Or they need comfort.

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That was 15%.

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They also asked everyone in the survey, which of the following would you say are your top two most significant frustrations when it comes to reading the Bible on your own?

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They then provided multiple options.

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Four.

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The options were chosen by at least one 10th of the respondents, with more than a quarter choosing not enough time.

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Fewer than one in five Americans, 18% are Scripture engaged.

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People in this category scored high on frequency of Bible use, scripture's impact on a person's relationship with God and others, as well as its centrality in daily decision making.

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In one part of the study, the question was asked how often do you use the Bible on your own, not including times when you are at church service?

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This was really disheartening.

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Every day 9% Four or more times a week 4% Several times a week 6% Once a week 6% Once a month 6% Three or four times a year 8% One or twice a year 9% Less than once a year 15% Never 38% american Bible Society found a very strong correlation between spiritual vitality with spiritual engagement.

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This was no surprise.

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It serves to verify the importance of the Bible in spiritual health.

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Spiritual healthy people engage with Scripture on a consistent basis.

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So I ask again, what role does the Bible play in your life?

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How many times did you pick up your Bible this week to allow God to use His Word to speak into your life?

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Did you go to your Bible in the last month to seek direction from God on a decision you were faced with?

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Did you go to your Bible in the last month to seek guidance from God on a situation you were dealing with?

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This message is not to make us feel guilty, by no means.

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But I think what you and I will discover in Psalms 119 the love that God has for us is shown in how much God's Word impacts our life and how much he wants to impact us through His Word.

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First and foremost, the Bible reveals our need for God.

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That's the top priority, our need for Him as our Savior and Lord.

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It reveals how we are to relate to God and how we're to relate to our fellow man.

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It reveals how we are to navigate and manage all areas of our life.

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The amazing thing is, tucked away in the middle of your Bible, you discover a chapter in Psalms that gives wonderful insight into the effectiveness of God's Word in our lives.

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It is found in Psalms 119.

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If you've already turned there, you might be overwhelmed by the fact that Psalms 119 has 176 verses.

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So I'll begin to read those right now.

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One of the things that I did enjoy in preparation, in preparing for this message was read it over and over and over again, all 176 verses, to get a grasp of what the psalmist is trying to say.

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The students in here, you probably don't know what this is.

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I think you might have a different version of this.

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It's probably computerized, I'm sure.

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But back in my day, we had things called Cliff Notes.

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Now, you would never do this, but if you didn't want to read your book in preparation for a test in your English class, you got Cliff Notes.

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That gave you the synopsis of what that book is about and you could maybe make your way through it.

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Well, I want to give you the Cliff Note versions of Psalms 119 that the psalmist shares with you and I.

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The amazing thing is, you think about the psalmist who wrote this.

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We don't really know based on you read the commentaries and the theologians, they can't really pinpoint who wrote Psalms 119.

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But the amazing thing is that they point out is that probably he only had the first five books of the Old Testament.

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When he writes about his relationship and how much he gets out of the word of God and knowing how that impacts his life, to me, that was pretty important to hear that, because you and I have the Old and the New Testament.

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Pastor Bo's been walking us through a wonderful journey of Genesis and we've been able to see how God interacts with his people, with individuals.

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And so here, this psalmist only has that portion.

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But again, you and I have the Old and the New Testament to look at.

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So in Psalms 119, it shows you and I the role of the Bible for your life.

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Over and over again, the psalmist uses the same words over and over again.

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He says, it represents the mouth of God, his words.

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It is the law of God, it is the testimony of God.

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It displays the ways, the precepts, the statues, the commandments and the rules of God.

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It conveys God's promises.

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It is true over and over again in 176 verses.

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The majority of those verses he uses one of those words to describe the word of God.

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It is everything God needs and uses to lead you and me in our relationship with Him and with others and give us direction and guidance.

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Psalm 119 also shows you how to approach the Bible for your life.

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So when you think, what type of impact does the Bible have on my life?

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How can I draw anything out of God's Word for my life?

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This psalmist goes over and over and over again, multiple times, expressing the impact of God's Word in his life.

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He says, keep and store up the word of God.

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The psalmist uses the word keep more than any other word throughout those 176 verses.

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He also says, meditate on, think of, seek, observe, sit before you consider the Word of God.

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Now hear those words.

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It's not like just passing through God's Word and say, I need to check this off my list, so I'm just going to read God's Word until I get to that point.

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I can check it off.

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He uses words within the 176 verses that draws us to really camp on what God's Word says, to stay in God's Word and to soak it in, to allow it to overcome our mind and our heart, what it is that God wants to say to us.

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One of my favorite phrases in Scripture, he also puts there, it says, Fix your eyes on the Word of God.

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There's other times you see in Scripture where we're asked to fix our eyes on God and he says, Fix your eyes on the Word of God.

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And then he uses these words as well, says love, delight, rejoice, sing, lift up your hands, stand in awe of the Word of God.

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Do not forget, nor forsake, nor swerve, nor stray, nor turn aside from the Word of God.

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Trust in, believe in, cling, to, and long for the Word of God.

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All these words he continues to use over and over and over again, just driving home all those thoughts that the Lord gave him through his understanding of what he had about a relationship with God and God's word in his life.

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Then one other thing that he says is to choose and do and speak the word of God.

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He, like covers it all to enforce in you and I as believers today how important the Word of God is for our life.

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It's not something we just have on a shelf or on our desk or on a table in the hallway as you enter in like I did growing up, but it's something that's supposed to be a part of who you are as a follower of Christ.

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He goes on to say in this psalm that it also shows the effect the Bible will have on your life.

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God's Word will teach you the things of God.

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God's Word will give you understanding, knowledge, wisdom, good judgment will open your eyes.

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It will answer you.

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It will lead you in the ways of God.

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God's Word will be your counselor.

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It will strengthen you, it will comfort you, it will be great peace, it will help you, it will deliver you, it will give you life and it will give you hope.

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God's Word will guard your life from sin.

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The psalmist uses phrases like turn my eyes from looking at worthless things.

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No iniquity get dominion over me, hold back my feet from every evil way, keep steady my steps, nothing can make them stumble, my heart be blameless.

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And God's Word will lead you to experience his grace, his mercy, his faithfulness and his joy.

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Again, the psalmist is just consumed with the impact of God's Word on his life and he shares that with you and I.

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And as I think about the things that I've gone on in my life, as I think about the stories that I've listened to from others and the things that they have dealt with and walked through and knowing that each one of us in here has something going on today that we're walking through.

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God's word come alongside and can guide us through whatever that is.

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Here are just a few verses from Psalms 119 that shows God work in our lives through His Word.

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Psalms 119, verse eleven.

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Here you and I understand the Bible helps you battle sin.

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If you say, man, I am struggling with some sin in my life, god's Word will help you.

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He says, in 1911, I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

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There was a squirrel explosion in my neighborhood this past season.

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I mean, I counted one time 20 squirrels and I'm like, how in the world can I get rid of these things?

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Thankfully, the Lord sent two hawks that kind of stayed around the neighborhood and feasted on the squirrels.

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But one thing I've learned about squirrels, because I got a lot of oak trees, they like acorns and like to bury them, like to bury them in my yard.

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And they will get no matter if I rake those acorns in one massive pile, they seem to go get them everywhere else.

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I got them right here for you.

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Come and feast.

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But they'll take those acorns and they will take their little noses and they will dig that perfect little hole and they'll stick that acorn in there.

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And when it's time for them to come back to feed, they find the acorn that they hid.

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See, the whole picture of storing up God's Word in our heart is storing up those verses of Scripture that maybe during our time of life we've placed them there.

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Or when we're studying God's Word on a continuous basis, we store those words in our heart.

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And that when we face those times in our life, the Holy Spirit calls that verse up and says, this is what you need for this moment.

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Store up your Word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

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That Word comes forth, and God says, you don't need to follow that temptation into sin the Bible gives you, and I counsel you.

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Ever thought about that?

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God's word is a counselor for you throughout his word.

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Verse 24 says, your testimonies mean your Word.

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God are my delight.

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They are my counselors.

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There is guidance in God's word.

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There is truth there to guide you through whatever it is you're going through.

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Always used to wonder, God, can you really answer all the things that people go through?

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I used to go, and now I'm like, yeah, you do, Lord, because when you and I continually read God's Word over and over again, it doesn't matter if you've read the 23rd Psalm 23 times, 33 times, god will always speak through that psalm.

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It doesn't matter if you've read Genesis, that first book of God's Word, over and over and over again.

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When you go back to it 15 years later, god will speak through that book.

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God does that anytime you approach His Word and engage in His Word, god will always speak to you where you are.

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He says that he is our counselor, and he has given His Word as our counselor.

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The Bible confronts you through the heart.

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I'm sorry.

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It does confront the Bible, comforts you through the hard times.

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The Psalmist in this 119 actually shares quite often some difficulties that he's going through.

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And in verse 28, he says, my soul melts away, for sorrow strengthen me according to your Word.

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Then in verse 50, he says, this is my comfort in my affliction that your promises give me life.

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The Bible covers all aspects of your life.

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If you think there's something in your life that God's Word doesn't speak on, it does.

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You just haven't come across it yet.

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It's there.

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Verse 96 I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad.

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Your commandment is exceedingly broad.

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It covers all the things that you and I face in this life yesterday, today, and whatever comes down the road ahead.

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The Bible guides your life.

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Verse 105, your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

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Now, that's one of those verses that I learned as a kid.

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But a few days ago, it took on new meaning.

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Trish and I and our boys, we went up to Mills River, which is a little town outside of Brevard, just to get away together.

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We've found it where we like to go up there, and we like to go hiking.

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So Pizza National Forest is right there.

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Well, the boys had already gone home to school and to work, and so Trisha and I just had a day to ourselves.

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So we went back into Pisgah National Forest and we went into the ranger station and we said, what other waterfalls are there that we can see?

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And she started naming off some said, well, we've seen those.

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She said, well, there's another part of the park that just opened back up.

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Said a lot of it was destroyed by the hurricane, but we've opened it back up.

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Go down the paved road, then when you get to the dirt road, you just keep going on till you come to the end.

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Well, that kind of had a bad sound in my mind.

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Go down a dirt road till you come to an end.

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We did.

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We went down the dirt road and we found the waterfall.

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Only took us 20 minutes, but I said, let's go to the top of the waterfall.

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Let's see where the water is coming from.

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And so we found a path.

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We got on that path, we walked that path, came up to haunt a man and his dog.

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How much further?

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You probably got maybe an hour, hour and a half.

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Appreciate it.

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We finally find the water source, which he laughed when I said, Is there a water source there?

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He goes, yeah, kind of.

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And it was, it was part of the stream.

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But we get there and I'm like, I want to see where this water begins.

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Trish likes adventure.

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And she even said, I like adventure, so let's do it.

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So we did, and we kept going and we kept going.

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And this path, you can tell there hadn't been too many people walking on us.

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It was all broken rock all over the place.

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And because folks had traveled it quite often, at some point the roots were exposed.

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And just when we thought we were getting to the top, we realized, no, we just got to a flat place because I guess the Lord knew we need to catch our breath before we need to go up a little further.

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We kept going.

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We kept going and we kept going.

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And by that time it was getting about 334 o'clock.

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And if you've ever been on a trail in the woods, on a mountain, you know it gets a little bit darker than everything else.

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So in Tricia's mind, separate from my mind, we were both thinking the same thing, we going to make it out of here.

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We were not wise hikers on the trail that day.

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We didn't take any water with us because we didn't think we were only going 20 minutes, not 4 hours.

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And that's how long it took us.

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We finally came on upon a lady that had a dog.

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First time ever seen this on the trail.

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Had a dog and three goats.

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I'm not lying.

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Trish will testify.

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It was wonderful.

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Trish even said to her, this is cute.

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I had my hat off because it was hot.

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The goat started coming towards my hat.

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I put it back on like, that goat's not going to eat my hat.

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And the lady said, and I'm telling you, we'd already been in on this thing.

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It felt like forever, 2 hours.

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But she said, you still got two and a half hours to go.

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At that point, it's like, well, we're not turning back going that way, because we don't know how far that is.

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We did make it out.

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As you can tell, I'm standing here before you.

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We didn't pass out on the trail, but as we were walking on the trail, I knew that I'd be preaching on Psalms 119.

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And that verse just kept coming back and forth to my brain.

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My word is your lamp to your feet and a light to your path.

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You think about where you are in life and you look down, that lamp illuminates your feet.

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It shows you where you are in that moment.

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And one of the things we couldn't enjoy towards the end of the trail is looking at all the beauty of the water cascading down this river that ran alongside, because I didn't want to fall and crack my head wide open or twist an ankle and nobody was going to come get us because nobody knew we were there.

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But the thought of that the Lord lights illuminates our path.

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But it also says that the Lord gives us light to be able to shine in the direction that we're going.

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See, God's Word is a lamp to your feet where you're standing.

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And whatever you're standing in at this very moment, god's Word illuminates that.

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That helps you get understanding.

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But God's Word also gives you a light to point in the direction that you need to go.

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The Bible keeps sin from controlling you.

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In verse 133, it says, keep steady my steps according to your promise and let no iniquity get dominion over me.

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The Bible is absolute truth.

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Verse 160, it says, the sum of your word is truth and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.

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I believe as Christians, we miss the effectiveness of God's Word in our lives because we don't read it and therefore we don't know it.

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And when we don't know it, we don't know the heart of God.

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One of the amazing things is about Psalms 119 is the psalmist actually starts off saying it's a blessing to read God's word.

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And I wanted to leave on that note that God provides a blessing for your life and my life when we engage with His Word.

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In Psalms 119, the first four verses there, it says, blessed are those whose ways is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord.

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The law again is talking about the word of God.

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Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, again, the word of God, who seek Him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways, again, his ways, the Word of God.

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You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently.

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You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently.

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God desires for you and I to diligently keep His Word so that he can develop in you and.

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Me that person that has become a lifelong student of God's Word.

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As you walk in God's ways with your whole heart, you will see God work in your life and through your life.

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We benefit from living our life according to God's Word.

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We not only benefit, but we also are able, by the Holy Spirit, to help others along the way.

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If the Bible is more absent than active in your life, it is never too late to change that habit.

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This might be one of the easiest behaviors to correct in your life and my life.

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The simple act of reading God's Word will draw you closer to God.

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It will transform your thoughts, your habits and your behaviors.

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It will empower you to love and to forgive beyond your natural capacity.

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It will do more than you can imagine or think that God's Word will do.

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Earlier I mentioned that the American Bible Society said that the top reason for why people don't read their Bible is because of not enough time that can be fixed.

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But you don't understand my schedule.

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You're right, I don't.

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But I do know we only get 24 hours in a day, right?

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And a lot of that's with sleep, so there's still a good bit.

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There is always wasted time in our schedule.

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God's Word will do more for you than any other activity that consumes that extra time you have.

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Will you make it a priority if you struggle with reading your Bible at all during the week?

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Let me suggest just a simple plan, very simple plan.

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First, find a good study Bible that is easy for you to read and to understand.

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Next, set a consistent time and place to read your Bible.

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I remember as a college intern in the church that I grew up, I interned in the student ministry there.

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And back in that time, you didn't have the wonderful thing of your phone with a calendar and all that stuff on it.

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Back then you had this thing called a daytimer, like an organizer.

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And every day he had written in his organizer in his daytimer time spent with God.

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He made it a point to write it in his daytimer that he would spend time with God.

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I just took away with that meaning that if it's important enough to put it there, it's important enough to do it in life.

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Set a consistent time in place to read your Bible.

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If you spend a good time, a bit of time on the road, if your commute is ten minutes, 15 minutes, get a good Bible app, play it.

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Let whoever's voice that is on your Bible app, let it read God's Word to you.

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You're soaking it in.

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Play it back, listen to it again.

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Set a goal for the amount of time you will read during that time and place that you've picked.

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But set that goal that you can achieve if you go in and say, man, I'm going to sit down every day and I'm going to read for an hour.

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I will celebrate with you if you accomplish that.

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But if you set a goal for ten or 15 minutes to create that habit in you, that's achievable, and I would encourage you to do that and build upon that.

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Map out a plan for where you want to start reading.

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Maybe you start in the Gospel of John, maybe the Book of James, maybe proverbs there's not a greater I'm speaking on behalf of all our staff.

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There's probably not a greater joy than it is for us to have our members, regular, tenders, come in and say, hey, can you help me figure out a plan on how to read God's Word?

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So if you're stuck and you need that direction, we would love to sit down and have that conversation and walk with you and come alongside you in that, because we know what God's Word will do in your life when you engage in it.

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Then finally just read.

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Read.

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One of the practices that I have found very helpful for me is to read something over and over and over and over again, even if it's just five verses, the more I read it over and over and over again, god just continues to speak out of those moments of reading it over and over again.

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Maybe you take one of Paul's letters that's only four or five chapters long.

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You read that, circle back and read it again.

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However you want to.

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Break that down.

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As you and I engage in God's Word, god shows Himself faithful to speak to you and to guide you through His Word.

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My encouragement for you would actually encourage you to go back and read Psalms 119.

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Sit down and read all of it if you want to, all 176 verses or slowly navigate through it, allowing God to speak to you.

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Want to close with a verse I read to you earlier?

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Hebrews 412 for the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

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Father, we just thank you for the opportunity that we've had to worship you to be in Your presence today, Lord, for the conversations that we had earlier in our discipleship studies and the conversations that we had around our fellowship, time Lord, and the opportunity that we've had just to sing praises to you and to Lord, to open up your word and allow you to speak to us.

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Lord, help us to become students of Your Word.

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Father.

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We know through that practice how much you engage in our life and how much you expose to us the truths of your word and how you just lead us and guide us through the good times and through the hard times of life, how you draw us into relationship with you and how over and over again, you give us a clearer understanding of your word and what it means to us and how you want us to live out your word.

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Lord, thank you for that.

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Thank you for loving us enough that you put the Bible together for us to have, for us to read, for us to study, and for us to obey and to live by.

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Lord, we thank you and we ask this prayer in Your Word and in Your name.

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Amen.

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You.

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Thanks again for listening, and be sure to check back next week for another episode.

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In the meantime, you can visit us@willowridgechurch.org or by searching for Willow Ridge Church on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.