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Some people approach scripture as a hodge-podge of stuff – morality, government, history… the list goes on and on. But the Bible taken as a whole speaks to us about God’s desire for a creation that would be in close relationship with him. Not just a people on his “good” side, but a people united with him in mission and character. The message of the Bible is more than just a mixture of voices.

Jesus’ disciples saw him do many other miraculous signs besides the ones recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life.

John 20:30-31John 20:30-31
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
Why John Wrote His Book ³⁰ Jesus worked many other miracles n miracles: See the note at . for his disciples, and not all of them are written in this book. ³¹ But these are written so that you will put your faith in Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God. If you have faith in o put your faith in ... have faith in: Some manuscripts have “keep on having faith in ... keep on having faith in.” him, you will have true life.

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This is the essential message of the Bible. We have a God who is faithful. He sent his son to give us life. Not just to “pay the price” that would put us in right standing so we could go about our business with impunity. This life is not “code” for the moment of salvation. It is life. Something we experience on an ongoing basis. And in a “hope for the future” basis.

Reading or hearing the stories of Jesus’ life and teaching, we are reminded about the authority of his voice. We are called to think about his healing touch and his love. We are shown a Jesus who is not just lovey-dovey; he is capable of emotionally charged tears, of a spirit that is jealous for what is right. He is more than a soothing voice. He is frequently direct, pointing out sin in those who try to deny it. Sometimes he uses irony and sarcasm to let the hearer dwell on his words until they realize their error. He isn’t always the “mild” character we learned about in Sunday School. And that is a good thing!

Throughout the pages of Scripture, we are shown Jesus. From the law to the prophets, far-flung history and the gospel accounts, even letters to churches with real problems, we see Jesus lifted up as God’s answer to sin and a broken world. He has come to give us life. Not to right us then send us on our way – but to be with us. Not just an inspirational figure, but the source of our strength.

So we return to Scripture again and again. What have you read or learned about the Father, Son or Spirit lately? How has reading and meditating on the message challenged what you know and understand about God’s character and activity?

We have a powerful tool in the spiritual battle before us. We have God’s word, recorded for our benefit – so that we might be the people God designed us to be:

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. It is God’s way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do.

2 Timothy 3:16-172 Timothy 3:16-17
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
16 Everything in the Scriptures is God's Word. All of it is useful for teaching and helping people and for correcting them and showing them how to live. ¹⁷ The Scriptures train God's servants to do all kinds of good deeds.

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This tool is not given in a vacuum. Our understanding of what Scripture teaches is given in community, and through the presence of the Spirit. God’s word is not a matter for “private” interpretation. There is this urge to treat the words of the Bible as a sort of divining rod – flip to a random page and point, and God will “reveal” his will. But this treatment of revelation is hollow. Often, we find the stories and messages of Scripture difficult. It isn’t all pithy sayings and one-liners. It is the hard-fought for experiences of men and women through the ages, trying to grasp who they were and who God is.

While many Christians can quote 2 Timothy 3:162 Timothy 3:16
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
16 Everything in the Scriptures is God's Word. All of it is useful for teaching and helping people and for correcting them and showing them how to live.

WP-Bible plugin, maybe even 17, it is easy to overlook the context. We can reduce these verse to a comforting declaration of God’s provision of a clear message. But when we look in context, we find something much richer; something that in no way weakens our confidence, but rather sets it in perspective.

If we look at what leads Paul to make this statement about the worth of Scripture, we see him telling Timothy the following:

• you know what I teach and how I live
• you have seen how those who follow God suffer persecution
• you know evil impostors will flourish, deceiving who they may
• you must remain faithful to what you have been taught, with confidence based on who it is who taught you

Scripture was something that would be learned in community! If all you have at your disposal is your own understanding and mental agility, then you will find the Bible something hard as rock. It requires humility and patience. It demands us learn together, gaining from the insights each is provided through the Spirit, but also from the insights of those who have come before us.

What book of the Bible poses the most difficulty in understanding and applying it to your life? What resources have you sought out in order to better understand God’s message in that book? Whose insight have you sought? How could the experiences of others shape your understanding of this book?

We don’t do it very often anymore, but there was a time when my children were younger when they often asked if we could play a game of “Hide and Seek.”  There was just something exciting about finding a place somewhere in the house, or even the yard, to take cover and try to remain hidden from the “seeker.”  Truth be told, I actually always enjoyed playing the game myself, even as an adult.  There is something inherently exciting about finding just the right spot to conceal yourself to evade discovery for as long as possible.   I remember once when my children were very young that one of them was the “seeker” and myself and the other child were the “hiders.”  I had found the perfect spot for my little child to hide to evade his sibling…the dryer! (Don’t call child services, I didn’t close the door or turn on the machine!)  I helped him inside and closed the door just far enough that it was still ajar, but not obviously wide open.  When we heard the “ready or not, here I come,” we knew this would be a hard one!  His brother searched and searched all over the house for him, all the while he was remaining completely silent, cozy inside the dryer.  Finally, the seeking came to an end as his brother said, “Come out wherever you are, I give up!”  When my youngest child emerged from the dryer, my oldest child stood in disbelief!  He had walked by the dryer several times and never thought to look inside.  It was the perfect hiding spot!

When it comes to Bible intake, the perfect hiding spot for Scripture is in our hearts!  Psalm 119:9-11Psalm 119:9-11
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
9 Young people can live a clean life by obeying your word. ¹⁰ I worship you with all my heart. Don't let me walk away from your commands. ¹¹ I treasure your word above all else; it keeps me from sinning against you.

WP-Bible plugin says, “How can a young man cleanse his way?  By taking heed according to Your word.  With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!  Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.”

So powerful is the Word of God that it can actually keep us from sinning, if we employ it!  When believers hide Scripture in their hearts by hearing, reading, studying, memorizing, and applying it to their lives, they are insulating themselves against the pressures of temptation and discouragement.  Often, people give into the lure of temptation or fear or doubt because their hearts and minds are not focused on God and His revelation of Himself through His Word.  Believers should know in their hearts what the Bible says so that they can stand up to temptation and not sin against God.

Being tempted is not a sin, but giving in to temptation is.  In Matthew 4, after being in the wilderness for forty days, Jesus was physically weakened and hungry.  At that point, Satan came and suggested that Jesus turn stones into bread.  Under most circumstances, eating bread would be fine, but for Jesus to have followed Satan’s directive by using His power for such a self-serving purpose would have been sinful.  Jesus resisted Satan’s temptations with the Word of God.  While Satan was twisting Scripture in order to justify sin, Jesus was using Scripture correctly in order to resist Satan and sin.  God’s Word, correctly interpreted and hidden in our hearts, is our best weapon against Satan’s craftiest schemes.

Why not take a few moments right now to memorize a little more of God’s Word, to add to your arsenal against Satan?  Psalm 119:9-11Psalm 119:9-11
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
9 Young people can live a clean life by obeying your word. ¹⁰ I worship you with all my heart. Don't let me walk away from your commands. ¹¹ I treasure your word above all else; it keeps me from sinning against you.

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Have you ever gotten so caught up in the minutia that you missed the “main thing”? If so, you’re not alone. I know I can easily fall into this, and I know many others the same way. And the passage we are going to look at today suffers greatly from this sort of thing.

Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again. Tie them to your hands as a reminder, and wear them on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9Deuteronomy 6:4-9
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
4 . Listen, Israel! The Lord our God is the only true God! x The Lord... true God: Or “Only the Lord is our God.” ⁵ ; ; . So love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength. ⁶ . Memorize his laws ⁷ and tell them to your children over and over again. Talk about them all the time, whether you're at home or walking along the road or going to bed at night, or getting up in the morning. ⁸ Write down copies and tie them to your wrists and foreheads to help you obey them. ⁹ Write these laws on the door frames of your homes and on your town gates.

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Most people know verse 4, though they likely know it from Jesus’ use of it in the gospels, and not its place in Israel’s law. They can quote it – heart, soul, mind, strength, etc. But fewer continue on till the end of verse 9, and those who do often get caught stuck in the weeds at verses 8 and 9 which suggest that those who worship God should even bind his instructions to the hands and foreheads!

But we need not fall into this trap. We come to this passage and recognize how important God’s commands are to the life of a believer. God’s words, handed down through time, are so important that we should be repeating them to our children at every opportunity. Whether at home doing the normal routine, or on a trip which breaks the routine, and to open and close the day. They are to be stuck to us like glue, ever present in and on our person and our homes.

The Scriptures have been given to us as a means of experiencing who God is, and knowing who we are. We need to scour them, to meditate on them, to share them with one another. We need to take them as our own. They help us to know what is pure and acceptable in God’s eyes. They remind us of the consequences of sin, and the hope we have from a God of promises. They teach us wisdom and connect us with generations who have stood humbly before God and endured the shame of the cross.

We must drink in God’s word at every stop, whether it comes through oral or written means. We cannot produce fruit without the word planted and growing. And we cannot just pick a few verses, a few books, that we really enjoy and continually focus on them. We must lay all of God’s word before us that we might know him more fully. That means going beyond the “Love chapter” or John 3:16John 3:16
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
16 God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die.

WP-Bible plugin -  inspiring and powerful as they are – and digging into the overlooked and sometimes even maligned bits, such as the hard sayings of the law, the imprecatory prayers of the psalms, and even the spectacular symbolism of apocalypse. But if we will dig deep, and allow the Spirit to speak through the words, we will know our deliverer like never before; know him, not just about him.

Be prepared  to experience God as he is, and not as you’d like him to be!

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ But he answered,”

Matthew 4:1-4Matthew 4:1-4
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
Jesus and the Devil ^{4 1} . The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert, so that the devil could test him. ² After Jesus had gone without eating l without eating: The Jewish people sometimes went without eating to show their love for God or to show sorrow for their sins. for forty days and nights, he was very hungry. ³ Then the devil came to him and said, “If you are God's Son, tell these stones to turn into bread.” ⁴ . Jesus answered, “The Scriptures say: ‘No one can live only on food. People need every word that God has spoken.’ ”

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You are probably familiar with this passage to some degree and you might know that Jesus didn’t fall to the temptations that Satan presented. Yes, this passage is the biblical stories of fulfillment of prophesy of the spotless lamb sacrificed. But the application for us in this passage comes in the first few words in Jesus’ response to Satan.

“He answered, ‘It is written,’”

Matthew 4:4Matthew 4:4
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
4 . Jesus answered, “The Scriptures say: ‘No one can live only on food. People need every word that God has spoken.’ ”

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Jesus is the Son of God; he has existed from before time. He, in just a short while from this point, will teach authoritatively on the provision of God (Matthew 6:25-34Matthew 6:25-34
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
Worry ²⁵ I tell you not to worry about your life. Don't worry about having something to eat, drink, or wear. Isn't life more than food or clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds in the sky! They don't plant or harvest. They don't even store grain in barns. Yet your Father in heaven takes care of them. Aren't you worth more than birds? ²⁷ Can worry make you live longer? f live longer: Or “grow taller.” ²⁸ Why worry about clothes? Look how the wild flowers grow. They don't work hard to make their clothes. ²⁹ But I tell you that Solomon with all his wealth g Solomon with all his wealth: The Jewish people thought that Solomon was the richest person who had ever lived. wasn't as well clothed as one of them. ³⁰ God gives such beauty to everything that grows in the fields, even though it is here today and thrown into a fire tomorrow. He will surely do even more for you! Why do you have such little faith? ³¹ Don't worry and ask yourselves, “Will we have anything to eat? Will we have anything to drink? Will we have any clothes to wear?” ³² Only people who don't know God are always worrying about such things. Your Father in heaven knows that you need all of these. ³³ But more than anything else, put God's work first and do what he wants. Then the other things will be yours as well. ³⁴ Don't worry about tomorrow. It will take care of itself. You have enough to worry about today.

WP-Bible plugin). Jesus would have no problem responding to Satan’s proposition with just his understanding of who God is and his experience with God providing for him up to this moment in time. Jesus didn’t need to argue with Satan. Both Jesus and Satan know that the scriptures are Truth and Satan was trying to distract Jesus from his fasting that was helping Jesus focus and depend on God. There was no refuting when Jesus responded with scripture. The best Satan had was to try a different temptation.

“(Satan) said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you,” and “On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

Matthew 4:6Matthew 4:6
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
6 The devil said, “If you are God's Son, jump off. The Scriptures say: ‘God will give his angels orders about you. They will catch you in their arms, and you won't hurt your feet on the stones.’ ”

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Satan believes fully that the Word of God is Truth. Satan will quote it as he did to Jesus. It was through understanding and study of the scriptures that Jesus knew that Satan was misleading him. The bible isn’t an instruction book; it is more like a map to the heart of God. Jesus knows the heart of God and was not fooled when Satan was using as a tool to cause him to stumble. Jesus is aware that testing God isn’t to his glory, but trusting God is to God’s glory. Jesus didn’t make this argument; again he quoted God’s written scripture. Jesus quoted it because it is Truth and it is final. Again when exposed to the light of God’s written Truth Satan’s lies lose all strength.

It is also worth mentioning what is not in the passage. It does not say that Jesus unrolled the parchment and showed Satan where it was written. Jesus didn’t say “I think it says…” Jesus quoted the scripture. He has it memorized.

Just like Jesus we are tempted, and usually in our weakness. I am usually tempted when I’m not sitting with my bible open in front of me. It is with the Word of God dripping off our tongue that we are able to use it as a sword to fend off temptations. Our swords are useless on our bookshelves at home or in the trunk of our car when we are being tempted to gossip around the water cooler at work or respond in anger to the driver who just cut us off. Resisting Satan’s lies when God’s Truth is in our mouth and in our heart becomes significantly easier and ultimately is glorifying to God.