...from the desk of
Rande Wayne Smith
D.Min., Th.M., M.Div.

Bible – 4

LIVING THE BIBLE

James 1:22-25

Do not deceive yourselves by just listening to his word; instead, put it into practice. If you listen to the word, but do not put it into practice you are like people who look in a mirror and see themselves as they are. They take a good look at themselves and then go away and at once forget what they look like. But if you look closely into the perfect law that sets people free, and keep on paying attention to it and do not simply listen and then forget it , but put it into practice – you will be blessed by God in what you do.  

May the Lord grant that we may engage in contemplating the mysteries of His Heavenly wisdom with really increasing devotion to His glory and our edification.  Amen.

Most of you know that I love to run, and used to be a very competitive runner. When I lived in Key West I would run around the Island every morning. Now I’ve told this story before … I love bananas … and there are trees in Key West that have bananas on them! I’m a country boy from PA … so I think that’s kind of amazing! Now bananas are great for runners, so I decided to get my own banana tree, and then when I finished my morning run each day I could grab a banana off my tree and eat it as I cooled down. So I bought one and planted it in my front yard. The tree was guaranteed to produce bananas within 18 months, and I babied it just like it was my own child.

Now the whole side wall of Peace Covenant Church is glass sliding doors. And my house was just down the sidewalk, so the tree was in perfect view for my congregation. But as time went on, 6 months, 12, 18, 19, 20 … there were still no bananas on it; not even a hint of a banana. So, some of my congregation began to razz me about it … “Did you put a banana on your granola this morning?” So one Saturday I went to the Winn Dixie grocery store and bought a bunch of bananas, and still with the Chiquita sticker on them, I duct taped them onto my tree. The next morning during the announcements I pointed over at the banana tree and said, “Look!”

What good is a banana tree that doesn’t grow bananas? And what good is a Bible that’s not being used? Now when I’m referring to the Bible being used … I’m not talking about reading it, or listening to a sermon about the Bible, or even studying it in one of our Bible studies.

When I talk about the Bible being used I’m talking about it being put into practice in your life. Listen to what James has to say as he tells us just how important it is to apply the Bible to our lives.

***

James is giving us an analogy. He says there are 2 ways to look in a mirror. We can either just cast a sideways glance as we’re walking by, or we can stare into a mirror. And when we stare into a mirror, most of us are going to make some adjustment. We fix our hair, adjust a tie, or make sure there’s no lettuce leaf on our teeth. There are 2 ways to look into a mirror. James says it’s the same way with the Bible. There are 2 ways to look into the Bible. We can simply give it a cursory glance … or we can look deeply into it in order to make some changes in our life. We can look at the Bible and do nothing … or we can look at the Bible and do something. James says that we ought to always do something.

***

This is the fourth and final message in this Bible series. We’ve talked about how we know the Bible is God’s Word, what the Bible story is, how to interpret it, and this morning, how to apply the Bible to our lives. What we’re going to learn today are things that you’re going to put into practice as you read the Bible on your own. I want to help you get to the place of applying the Bible, so that whenever you read it or study it or hear it taught … you’ll be ready to put it into practice. And in order to move from reading and hearing and studying to actually doing something … I’m going to suggest 3 questions to ask about the passage that you’re dealing with.

But before I do that I want to talk about some obstacles that have to be removed in order for you to be ready to apply Scripture to your life … see if you identify with any of them.

Obstacle #1 … failure to read the Bible. This is so obvious I hate to even mention it … but you can’t apply the Bible if you don’t read the Bible. It’s just that simple.

I was reading “Voice of the Martyrs” magazine last week. “Voice of the Martyrs” is a ministry that serves persecuted Christians around the world. There was a story about distributing Bibles in Pakistan; long lines of people were waiting to get their first copy ever of a Bible. (We line up for new cells phones, tickets to movie, etc.) There was an elderly man, and when his turn came he walked up, took off his sandals out of reverence, and as he took the Book, tears filled his eyes, he hugged it, and he kissed it. And he told the “Voice of the Martyrs” folks, “I’ve waited 80 years for a Bible of my own.” And the ironic thing is that the man is illiterate, he can’t read. Family members read the Bible to him. Boy, does that challenge you like it challenges me? What’s your excuse for not reading the Bible?

Here’s another obstacle that keeps us from doing Bible application … an unhealthy, preoccupation with Bible knowledge. It’s critically important to know the Bible. However, you have to move from knowledge to action. The job is not done until you reach the action stage.

I get concerned when people tell me about being in multiple Bible studies, or about certain noteworthy Bible teachers, and they’ve done 3 or 4 of her workbooks, or his studies. Or they tell me how interested they are in “deeper” Bible study. When I read James … he’s not talking deeper … he’s talking doing. He’s saying that the most important thing is putting Scripture into action. My home Pastor would say, “it’s not how much of the Bible you get through … it’s how much of the Bible gets through you.”

When I pastored a church in central PA one of the members played football on the Penn State team. One day Doug and I were talking football, and I was telling him about some of my favorite players on the Pittsburgh Steelers, and after a while it dawned on me that he wasn’t participating in the conversation. In fact, the more I talked about the N.F.L., the more I realized that Doug knew very little about the current teams. So I said to him, “you’re a football player and you don’t know anything about football.” And Doug smiled and replied, “I’d rather play it than watch it.”

My question for you is … are you content in watching the Bible (reading it)? Or are you ready to put it into play? The knowledge has got to be translated into action. Don’t settle for “watching” the Bible.

The third obstacle … no sense of urgency. You don’t sense that applying the Bible is something you’ve got to do. This one will hit home for some of you … because you just don’t believe that reading the Bible is necessary.

I’m sure that most of us have flown on an airplane. You know that before you take off the flight attendants stand in the aisle and go through all the emergency procedures. Who in the cabin (besides Kathy) listens? Nobody! But now imagine this. You’ve come to the end of the flight, and are almost at your destination, and you can tell from the sound that the pilot is trying to lower the landing gear and it’s creaking and groaning … it doesn’t sound good. And suddenly the pilot comes on the P.A. and says, “Ladies and gentlemen, we have a small problem with the landing gear. It’s not going down. But we’ve called ahead to the airport and they’re foaming the runway and we’re going to attempt an emergency landing. The flight attendants have some instructions for you, please listen.” Now who’s listening? Everybody! We’re riveted to what’s being said. God’s Word, the Bible, contains critical life instructions. We need to “listen” to it; it is a life and death matter.

I love the way Moses puts it. He’s talking to the people just before they enter the Promised Land about the importance of God’s Word in their lives. He tells them, “Be sure to obey all these commands that I have given you today. Repeat them to your children, so that they may faithfully obey all of God’s teachings. These teachings are not empty words; they are your very life.” (Deuteronomy 32:46-47) The longer you walk with Jesus, and the deeper you dig into His Word and apply it … the more you discover that these words are your very life. It gives “instruction for right living.” (2 Timothy 3:16)

Here’s another obstacle that keeps us from applying the Bible … resistance to God’s authority. Now you may never say this out loud … but some of you just don’t like God telling you what to do. You prefer to look at the Bible as a Book of suggestions … not a Book of commands. That’s how Naaman viewed God. Naaman was a military commander in the Syrian army. One day he discovered that he had leprosy, which was a horrible disease. But he also knew that Israel’s God sometimes did miraculous things. So Naaman went over to Israel and asked the prophet Elisha … “can your God heal me?”

Elisha told him, “Here is a word from God. Go and wash 7 times in the Jordan River, and you will be completely cured of the disease.” (2 Kings 5:10) Scripture says that Naaman stomped off in a rage … the Jordan River was a filthy, dirty, river. He couldn’t believe that God would “suggest” (and to Naaman it was a suggestion), something so stupid. So he refused to do it. Until one of his servants went to him and said, “What do you have to lose?” “So Naaman dipped himself in it 7 times … and he was completely cured.” (2 Kings 5:14)

Let me ask you … do you view the Bible as simply suggestions? Are there things right now that you know you’re not doing, that the Bible is saying you ought to do, but you’re not treating them as commands?

The Bible talks about sexual purity … things that we’re to do and things we’re not to do. But you say, “That’s out of date; that’s not living in the real world.”

The Bible talks about tithing, the first 10% goes to the Lord. But you say, “What kind of an idiot would give 10% of his paycheck away. That’s not sensible.”

What about when the Bible says “love your enemies”? (Matthew 5:44) “Well, yeah, generally speaking … but that can’t include my boss, my ex-spouse, or you-know-who.”

If we have this attitude that we can cherry-pick, that we can do what we want, and dismiss what we don’t like … we’ll never correctly apply the Bible to our lives.

Here’s a fifth obstacle … you just don’t know how. Nobody has ever showed you step by step how to take what you’ve read and make a personal application out of it … until today. So this is what we’re going to learn … 3 questions to ask yourself that will take you from reading the Bible to applying the Bible. Are you ready?

Question #1 … what does this passage say? Write that down … what does this passage say?

I had a professor in college, Vincent LaBarbera, who taught news journalism. The first day of class he gave each of us a picture, told us to look at it, and then write down what we saw. And we could leave when we were finished. The next time we went to class he gave us the same picture and told us to write down what we saw … and once again we could leave when we were finished. This continued on for the first 4 class sessions … until we finally caught on … he was teaching us the discipline of observation. That you look, and you look longer, and you look harder, until you see everything there is to see. This is what we’re talking about when we come to Scripture … we’re talking about observation … what does the passage say? It doesn’t do any good to fly through the Bible like we’re reading a John Grisham novel. We read Scripture carefully so we can answer that question … “what does the passage say?” So, what are some of the things we should be looking for? Let me suggest 4. Write these down, and then when you’re reading a chapter look for these 4 things.

#1 … what’s the theme? After reading a chapter of the Bible, I want you to think that if you had to sum it up with a word or 2, or a phrase, what would it be? Sometimes it’s helpful to come up with a title. “If I had to give this passage a title, what would it be?” That forces you to summarize the contents. Now when I first did this years ago, the Bible I used didn’t have titles over every section like the Good News or the N.I.V. translations do today. So if you’re using one of these Bibles you can cheat … what is the theme?

Here’s a second thing to look for … are there repeated words or phrases? If God uses the same word or phrase or topic over and over you can count on the fact that it’s something He wants you to pay attention to.

Here’s a third thing … is there something striking, something that just hits you? I don’t know how to describe this other than to say every now and then when I’m reading the Bible something just jumps off the page at me. And I’m sure if you read the Bible with any regularity it happens to you as well. When I come across something that’s unexpected I underline it. And often what jumps off the page “just happens” to speak to a problem I’m wrestling with in my life. Have you ever had that experience? You’re going through something, and right there it is. And you’re thinking … “wow, is God going through my mail or what? This is exactly what I’m dealing with.” Sometimes it’s a sin you’ve been covering up. “Okay Lord, I get the message.”

One last thing, this is God’s Book, and even if God isn’t mentioned by name in a passage, there’s always something there about Him. So ask the question … “is there a truth about God here that I can learn?” Now we’re going to implement this by looking at 3 Scripture passages:

  • The 51st Psalm
  • Matthew 22
  • Philippians 4

    • We’re going to apply what we just learned to each of these texts. So listen as I read the 51st Psalm. “Be merciful to me, O God because of your constant love. Because of your great mercy wipe away my sins! Wash away all my evil and make me clean from my sin! I recognize my faults; I am always conscious of my sins. I have sinned against you – only against you – and done what you consider evil. So you are right in judging me; you are justified in condemning me. I have been evil from the day I was born; from the time I was conceived, I have been sinful. Sincerity and truth are what you require; fill my mind with your wisdom. Remove my sin, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear the sounds of joy and gladness; and though you have crushed me and broken me, I will be happy once again. Close your eyes to my sins and wipe out all my evil. Create a pure heart in me, O God, and put a new and loyal spirit in me. Do not banish me from your presence; do not take your holy spirit away from me. Give me again the joy that comes from your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.” (The Psalms 51:1-12)

    What does the passage say? What’s the theme? … (confession of sin) If we were going to give it a title it might be something like “A Clean Slate” or “Getting Right With God.” That’s what it’s all about.

    Do you see any repeating words or phrases? … Circle them in your Bible … “transgressions”, “iniquities”, “sin”. I’m looking here and I see “sins”, “sin”, “sinned”, “sinful”, “sinners.” Do you see how many times they pop up in these verses? I think we’re onto something. Is God trying to get our attention? I think so.

    Is there anything in here that strikes you? … There are a couple of things that strike me. I’m struck by the fact that David, who wrote this Psalm, says that he was a sinner from day 1, from the moment that he was conceived. That’s about as early as you can get. He’s a veteran sinner.

    I’m also struck that when I sin it has an impact upon The Holy Spirit in my life. That’s a repercussion I don’t want to deal with. Sin does something to the presence of God’s Spirit in my life.

    What do I learn about God? … I can’t even get past the first verse … God is merciful, loving, and compassionate. And that’s just in verse 1. On the other hand, by the time I get to verse 4, I see that God judges sin … that’s a little uncomfortable. Do you see how I’m doing my Dr. LaBarbera thing?

    Let’s go to a second text … Matthew 22. This is one of Jesus’ parables. And as I read this I want you to make as many observations as you can.

    “Jesus again used parables in talking to the people. ‘The Kingdom of heaven is like this. Once there was a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son. He sent his servants to tell the invited guests to come to the feast, but they did not want to come. So he sent other servants with this message for the guests: ‘My feast is ready now; my steers and prize calves have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast!’ But the invited guests paid no attention and went about their business: one went to his farm, another to his store, while others grabbed the servants, beat them, and killed them. The king was very angry; so he sent his soldiers, who killed those murderers and burned down their city. Then he called his servants and said to them, ‘My wedding feast is ready, but the people I invited did not deserve it. Now go to the main streets and invite to the feast as many people as you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, good and bad alike; and the wedding hall was filled with people. The king went in to look at the guests and saw a man who was not wearing wedding clothes. ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ the king asked him. But the man said nothing. Then the king told the servants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot, and throw him outside in the dark. There he will cry and gnash his teeth.’ And Jesus concluded, ‘Many are invited, but few are chosen.’” (Matthew 22:1-14)

    What’s the theme of this passage? … (a parable of a wedding feast) Now you need to understand that the wedding feast is an analogy for an eternal relationship with God. God’s throwing an eternal party, and inviting you to come. That’s what this parable is all about.

    Any repeating words or phrases? … (“wedding feast,” “wedding banquet.”) How about the word “invite” or “invited”? Do you see that? Every time you see that in your Bible, circle it.

    Is there anything that strikes you from this passage? … I’m struck by the fact of how many people turned down the king’s invitation to the party. A lot of people say “no”. And I’m struck by how dramatically the king deals with their rejection. I’m also struck with the guy who gets thrown out because he’s not wearing wedding clothes. What’s going on there? We’ll come back to that one in a moment.

    What do I learn about God? … I learn that God wants everybody to come to His party. Go and invite “as many people as you can find.” God wants everybody to come … that’s His preference. But I also learn that if we reject God’s offer … bad things happen. God is going to deal severely with people who turn their backs on Him. Are you following this?

    We’re looking at 3 different kinds of literature … a Psalm, a Gospel, and now let’s go to an Epistle.

    “But it was very good of you to help me in my troubles. You Philippians know very well that when I left Macedonia in the early days of preaching the Good News, you were the only church to help me; you were the only ones who shared my profits and losses. More than once when I needed help in Thessalonica, you sent it to me. It is not that I just want to receive gifts; rather, I want to see profit added to your account. Here, then, is my receipt for everything you have given me – and it has been more than enough! I have all I need now that Epaphroditus has brought me all your gifts. They are like a sweet-smelling offering to God, a sacrifice which is acceptable and pleasing to him. And with all his abundant wealth through Christ Jesus, my God will supply all your needs.” (Philippians 4:14-19)

    What’s the theme here? … (it’s the generous giving to Paul’s ministry) If I were to give it a title it might be … “God Rewards Those Who Give.”

    Repeating words or phrases? … It’s not necessarily the same word that keeps popping up, but do you see how many times “give” and “gift” and “share” and “supplied” are there? We get the idea of what’s going on here.

    Is there anything striking in this passage? … Here’s what strikes me. Paul has just received a monetary gift from them in support of his ministry, but that’s not what he’s most concerned about. He’s not interested in them giving for his benefit … he’s interested in their giving for their benefit. Paul’s saying, “I don’t want you to miss out on the reward that God gives to those who are generous.” Paul’s concerned about people becoming givers because he knows God will reward them. That leads to the last point … what are we learning about God here? … God rewards those who are givers.

    Now when you’re reading a passage you don’t have to always look for all 4 of these things … but at least look for one or 2. In order to go from reading to applying you need to make an observation, you have to zero in on something. And I think you need to write it down. In fact, we’re going to be talking about that in a moment.

    Now to the second question … “what does the passage mean?” Now when we’re talking about what the passage means we’re talking about what it meant to the original audience. We can’t apply something from God’s Word to our lives until we understand what God intended to say when He originally said it.

    One of my pet peeves are people who, when someone is talking about something that they’re going through, that person interrupts saying, “I know exactly what you’re talking about” … and they immediately start talking about themselves. Do you know the kind of people I’m talking about? Don’t you want to get some duct tape and …? “You don’t know what I mean, and you’ll never know until you let me finish talking.” When we look at Scripture we can’t apply the Bible accurately to our own lives until we first understand what it meant to the people who initially received it.

    Now we covered this topic last week. We said the #1 rule in Bible interpretation … you must understand the _______. (context)

    We said there were 4 kinds of context. The first is the most important … the historical setting. When we’re reading a portion of the Bible we need to know who wrote it, who he was writing to, and what the situation was. Now you’re thinking, “I have to go to Seminary to know all that.” No, you just need a N.I.V. Study Bible.

    Then there’s the literary setting. The Bible is full of different kinds of literature, and each has to be interpreted according to its’ own genre. So the laws of Moses are different than the Psalms of David, which are different from the prophecies of Isaiah, which are different from the stories of Matthew, which are different from the directives of Paul’s epistles.

    We started with the O.T. laws, and we saw that some of them are civil or religious/ceremonial in nature, and apply only to ancient Israel and not to us today. Others are moral laws and they’re still in force today.

    The last time I was in Barnes & Noble I came across a book written by A.J. Jacobs, who, by his own admission is an agnostic. But he determined that for one year he was going to obey every O.T. law. Everything from “don’t curse” to “don’t shave.” He got real bushy; he’s picture was on the back cover … which got him stopped a lot at airport security. One day he was in the park and a man approached him wanting to know why he was dressed so funny. Jacobs replied that he was trying to obey all of the laws in the O.T. for a year, including how to dress, and even right up to the stoning of adulterers. At that, the other man became indigent. “What if I told you that I’m an adulterer, would you stone me?” So Jacobs reaches into his pocket and pulls out a handful of pebbles that he’s been carrying around for this very experience. But before he can do anything the other guy knocks them away and takes off. Please understand the literary setting … not all laws are meant to be applied today.

    The historical setting, the literary setting, the theological setting … study what Scripture says about a topic throughout. I told you that the best tool for interpreting the Bible is the Bible.

    And finally I said that you need to look at the immediate context. What does the verse mean in the paragraph where it appears?

    So, what does the passage mean? Well, in order to understand what it meant to its’ original audience you have to understand the context. Now let’s apply this to the 3 passages we were looking at a moment ago.

    Let’s go to the 51st Psalm … the theme of this passage was confessing sin. What did Psalm 51 mean to its’ original audience.

    Let’s start with the historical context. Who wrote it? David. And it helps to know that David wrote this after his friend Nathan confronted him about his affair with Bathsheba. And, as a result, David wrote Psalm 51. That gives us some idea about what we’re reading, right? The historical setting makes a big difference for understanding the Psalm.

    What about the literary setting. This is a poem. We said that poetry in the Bible uses figurative language; it’s very emotional.

    What about the theological setting? If this passage is all about confessing sin, then what else does the Bible have to say about confession? If I go to the Index in the back of my Bible, (N.I.V.), and I look up “confess” it will take me to 1 John 1:9. “If we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing.” That’s a great verse, and it gives us a bigger theological understanding of what confession is all about.

    Let’s jump to Matthew 22 … Jesus’ parable about the wedding feast.

    The historical setting … we want to understand what this meant to His original audience. Jesus is addressing a group that is largely made up of self-righteous religious leaders. (We know that by looking at the verses that come just before the parable.) These guys think they have an “in” with God. So keep that in mind as you read this parable … those who get invited but don’t come.

    Here’s another historical insight … the man wearing the wrong clothes … you’re wondering why he was kicked out? Does it help if you understand that in those days it was customary for the host of a wedding feast to buy clothes for all his guests to wear? So this man shows up and he has rejected the generous offer of the host … “I’ll just wear my own clothes, thank you.” That gives us a little more understanding here, doesn’t it?

    What’s the literary context? This is a story … and one of the rules we learned about stories is that we have to decide what is descriptive (describing what has happened) and what is prescriptive (God is saying that we need to respond in kind with the story). We know that this is prescriptive because it’s a parable, and Jesus’ parables always end with a moral.

    What about the theological setting? We can discuss many things about this story. There is the balance between God’s grace and God’s wrath. We see evangelism … inviting others to come to God’s party … and those who reject God’s invitation. And if we look at other passages of Scripture that deal with clothes, one of the things we’ll discover is that when a person comes to faith, the Apostle Paul describes it like “putting Jesus on, putting on new clothes, putting on forgiveness, putting on the righteousness of God.” We not only get rid of the old life, but we get new stuff as well.

    When you get invited to God’s party, and He says, “let me give you some new clothes, let me give you my righteousness, let me give you forgiveness” … and you say, “no thank you, I’ll stay in my sinful ones” … now do you see why that man got thrown out of the party?

    The immediate context … we learn from chapters 21 and 23 that Jesus is talking to religious leaders. These are men who think they have an “in” with God, but they’ve ignored His invitation to come to His party. They’ve rejected His Son who’s come with the invitation.

    Let’s go to the Philippians 4 text … about the generous support of God’s work.

    The historical setting … the Philippians who were so generous were also dirt poor. Of all the people that Paul wrote letters to, the Philippians were by far the poorest … and yet they were the most generous. What does that tell you about giving to the Lord’s work? Is it that you have to wait until your income improves and then you’ll become a generous giver? I don’t think so.

    What about the literary context? This is a N.T. letter and one of the things we learned last week is that we need to read the letter from beginning to end before we try to understand any individual passage in that letter. Letters are meant to be read from beginning to end.

    The theological setting … you might want to look at what other Scriptures say about giving to the Lord’s work. The Bible is full of teaching about giving; starting with the fact that God owns everything we have. And the first 10% ought to come back to Him. And God rewards those who give generously.

    Do you see what I’m doing here? … What does the passage say? What does the passage mean? And then, what does this passage challenge me to do?

    Here are 3 tips, and this is where the rubber meets the road. If you don’t put these tips into practice, you’ll probably never become a doer of God’s Word.

    Tip #1 … write something down. Get a notebook and start writing something down every time you read the Bible … write down an application. If God is going to speak to you, and it’s important … then write it down. The application will be foggy in your mind until you put it on paper. Besides, you won’t remember it by noon of the day you read it unless you write it down.

    Tip #2 … construct a principle. What I mean by that is, finish this sentence … “the moral of this passage is _____.” You’ve studied the passage; you’ve asked, “What does it say?” “What does it mean?” … Now put it into a moral form, a principle that you ought to apply. The moral of this passage is _____.

    So Psalm 51 about confessing sin. The moral of this passage is … “confess sin regularly.” That’s what the passage is telling us to do.

    Matthew 22, the moral of this passage about the wedding banquet is … “accept the invitation.” God’s invited you. Now some of you are thinking, “I’ve already accepted it” … then the moral of the story for you as a follower of Jesus is … “invite others to come.”

    The Philippians passage, the moral of this story is … “give generously to the Lord’s work.” That’s what Scripture is telling us to do.

    I remember a Bible teacher telling me that if I’m having trouble finding the application of a Scripture passage then I need to put on my SPECS. S-P-E-C-S is an acronym.

    S – is there a Sin in this passage that needs to be confessed?

    P – is there a Promise to claim?

    E – is there an Example to follow?

    C – is there a Command to obey?

    S – is there a Specific attribute of God to be praised?

    Put on your SPECS. So, write something down. Construct a principle. And the final tip … get personal and specific. The first 2 are easy to learn. It’s bringing it home to your own life, that’s the hard part.

    Psalm 51 … the theme is confession of sin … the principle is confess sin regularly … how do I put that into practice specifically and personally? My application may be something like this … I need to start setting aside time everyday, maybe at night before I go to bed, to get on my knees and do a 24 hour review, and ask God’s Spirit to put His finger on any sin that needs to be confessed … and then confess it. That’s the specific application. Or it might be … there’s a glaring sin in my life that I know I haven’t confessed, and now that I’ve read Psalm 51 I realize what I have to do right now.

    Matthew 22 … I’m going to take it for granted that most of you have accepted God’s invitation to His eternal party. So we’ll take the principle … invite others. How do you make this specific? You make it specific by saying that next Sunday I’m going to bring someone to church. That’s my application of Matthew 22. Or you might say, I’ve got a friend that I’ve reached out to, and they keep pushing God off, holding Him at arms length, turning down His invitation … so my application might be … I’m going to set aside a day this week where I’m going to fast, I’m going to give up my lunch and just pray for that individual; that something would happen in his or her life that will make them more open to God.

    Philippians 4 … the general principle is to give generously to the Lord’s work. My specific application might be … I’ve got to start tithing, now. Or maybe you need to have a serious conversation with your spouse about money matters, and how to honor God with your finances.

    God transforms lives … but you need to know … that happens because people apply His Book to their lives. They start living according to God’s Word. So, what are we going to do with all this? What good is your Bible if it’s not being put into practice?



    MARANA THA