Spiritual Discipline: Bible Study

I cannot claim all the responsibility for these thoughts on the spiritual discipline of Bible Study. My pastor who is much more scholarly than me delivered the sermon on the subject. I am simply passing along the message. I hope you find these sermon notes inspiring.

Ephesians 1:13

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the Word of Truth, the gospel of your salvation.

1 Peter 1:23

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring Word of God.

1 Peter 2:8b

They stumble because they disobey the message which is also what they were destined for.

Sunday morning alone isn't enough. We will spiritually die of malnutrition without a steady diet of the Word of God.

2 Timothy 3:14-15

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith Christ Jesus.

The Bible teaches us, rebukes us, and trains us for discipline is designed to lead us to holiness.

A Profound Thought: Ask not, "What is God's will for my life?" Rather ask this, "What is God's will and am I willing to adjust my life to it?"

James 1:22

Do not merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it, he will be blessed in what he does.

We should hide the Word of God in our hearts so as not to sin against God.

What does it mean to "hide" God's Word?

God's Word is precious, valuable, and special.

The book, The Word of God, will keep us from sin or sin will keep us form the Word of God.

Jeremiah 23:29

Is not my Word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? 

Hebrews 4:12

For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword.  It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Matthew 4

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.

Jesus answered, "It is written: Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."

Use God's Word in defense of temptations. Use it as ammunition, a weapon against Satan.

Two Examples:

I Corinthians 6:18

Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.

Ephesians 5:18

Do not get drunk on wine which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.

To defeat Satan and spiritual battles, our only defense is the Word of God.

II Corinthians 10:3

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.