Like Honey on My Lips

"(00:00) Okay, good morning. I've determined that the people on this side really don't like the people on this side. They've let the just right on the outside edge, but that's okay. That's all right. Maybe by the time we're done, we can show each other a little brotherly love here or something. So, I am glad that you're here. (00:21) I want to start our time before we jump into our series here on Life Unlocked. I want to take a few minutes um just to give us a chance to contemplate a little bit a bout what we have seen happen and unfold this week. Um it is it's been seems like it's been one tragedy after another for quite some time. (00:44) And in many ways, um, with the two significant events that happened this week with the woman on the train and and with Charlie Kirk with what unfolded with him, I think it would be wise for us as followers of Christ to make sure that we have one, the assurance of the hope that we have in Jesus, in a relationship with him. I hope that you um in the mid st of all of this and the sadness or however it struck you that you are are uh approaching that and considering all of that through your relationship with Christ. (01:18) Um I personally and I'll just say a personal note here. I believe we have hit a um a very low point in our culture and as a society, as a nation. I also believe that uh maybe out of this God will turn back to him and that is really my prayer. I see it happening. I pray that it really will. (01:46) I pray that it will break down these hard uh cast barriers that we put between each other and the way that lens by which we view each other. um and based on ideas determines value uh rather than simply value as a human being and uh before God and then from that uh listening and learning together. Uh I am praying that there is good that can come out of this. (02:12) Uh but I'm praying and I hope you are doing the same. We have to pray together. We have to seek God. Our only hope is and I've said this many times. We have no ho pe in any political leader. We have no hope in a government. We have been given a gift of a government that was founded upon principles that allowed for us to seek and know God. (02:34) And it is on those principles we uh that we need to return. And as those of us who say we follow Christ, if it doesn't start with us, it's not going to start anywhere. And so I'm just encouraging you in light of what you have seen unfold. However it hit you and affected you this week, pray first. (02:54) We've be en going through in this series, we got to live by worshiping God. We've got to that worship him through prayer. We're building upon that. We'll look at that further today. But if we are not those who seek God for those who have yet to know him, then there is uh we're letting the hope of Jesus be wasted on the world. And uh so my encouragement to us is to be those who pray and surrender to God. (03:17) And out of that as Jesus says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and st rength and love your neighbor as yourself." This is not a time for angry rhetoric or striking out toward someone else uh in somehow retribution. It is a time to love our neighbors as we love God and to offer the hope of Jesus. (03:40) So I hope you will join me in that and that in that mindset. I have been very pleased at what has followed since uh the assassination of Charlie Kirk. I I appreciate the fact that instead of filling the streets, there has been the filling of churches and synagogues and stadiums to praise God, to seek him, and to worship him. (04:04) And I pray that that will be what continues until we return on our knees to our savior. So, I just want to give you an opportunity to seek God in prayer. Just a moment of silence. Give you a chance to do that. Then I will close us in prayer. Father, you have called us, those that know you, to be transformed by the renew renewing of our mind. (05:10) And I just pray this morning if um political ideology has been the first thoug ht that comes into our minds and the thing that determines how we view value in other people or uh how we speak to others or those that we're willing to accept and those we won't accept. Lord, put it on our heart to repent. We are called to love you first and love people because of our love for you. (05:38) There's no room for that in a life that is seeking you. I pray for our nation. May what has transpired this week get through to the hearts of our leaders that they put aside the things they f ought for and over and start to just seek you first and then to express value of other people in the way they speak, in the way they act, the values they put forth. Lord, I pray for a revival across our nation that we will return to you. (06:14) I pray that maybe this was a breaking point for our arrogance, a breaking point for self-s served service and self-pursuit. I pray that this might silence voices that do nothing but proclaim desire for self over desire for you. Lord, help each of us to t hink before we speak. (06:44) As you have said, be slow to speak, quick to hear, and slow to speak. Give us the ability to hear and to listen and to value. move in our nation, move in our community, move in our cities, and move in this church because we can live upon the hope that we have in Jesus. For those who we saw tragically lose their lives this week, I pray for their families. (07:16) those who are this morning in pain, suffering emotionally, great loss that is they are experiencing. I pr ay for your peace for them. May your mercy be felt in words, kindness and gestures and just silence as those who love them gather around them. May they lift them before you. May you be found in their midst. (07:47) We ask for your peace and your healing. Father, we need you to move your spirit to move in this nation like never before. And we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. We're going to jump back into our series. And I think there is a great relationship to what we I was just talking about to re ally how we live because what we're talking about in this series. (08:19) We've gone through 10 weeks of foundational beliefs of the Christian faith. And now we are looking at how do we live in light of those beliefs. Because it's one thing to say we believe something, but belief does not become truly belief until it determines and directs your life. (08:39) I can say that it's extremely important that I work out But as I eat my doughnut and lay on the sofa, what do I really believe? I don't bel I bring it down to you and I sitting here this morning as we're going to walk through a next step in expression of of our belief. How do we express what needs to be seen in our lives to really show that we understand and live by what we say we believe? We said the first step in that was to worship. (10:12) If we are not worshiping God out of a belief in his existence, his personal nature and interest in me and the fact that Jesus has come to uh give me life with in a relationship with God, he's ished the universe and gave you life which came to uh sent his son to give you bring you back in relationship. a relationship we and our with our ancestors rejected (11:42) but desires for us to come back in relationship with him and there really isn't room to say I believe in Jesus and live as I want to live so that's why we move into this second part of this series we can say know what the foundational beliefs are how should they express themselves we said worship and now we're trying to defin eauty that we see the thankfulness for the rain that is falling the changing of the seasons. The way that God has uh provided again at a any given moment God is there and provides how he is personally interested in every aspect of our lives that I can turn to him and talk to him about anything I face and ask for wisdom as James tells us. And God will freely us. (13:31) We need to be those who find life based in relationship of what has been God has revealed about himself and allow what we say we ell you what. Why don't you see how you do with that? See how it works out for you." You see, if we say we're in relationship with God through Jesus, God did something for us we couldn't do for ourselves. Therefore, we need to come to God from that attitude. You provided the grace and mercy that I needed. (15:03) So, in grace and mercy, I come to you asking that you give me wisdom in this situation. You give me understanding in this situation. You give me patience in this situation. That you giv . I'm not going to read all of that this morning, but I will read verses 97 to 104. And it starts out this way. Oh, how I love your instructions. This is the Psalmist speaking to God. (16:27) I think about them all day long. Your commands make me uh wiser than my enemies. for they am my constant guide. Yes, I have more insight than my teachers, for I am always thinking of your laws. I am even wiser than my elders, for I have kept your commandments. I've refused to walk uh on any evil path so tha rn to surrender to me and in that surrender discover a joy that I've always intended for you see it walks through look at what some of the things he says how I love your instruction your commandments make me wiser than my enemies do you see the picture here is for me to see that this person is has learned to walk closely with God. And that close nature of that relationship comes from what God has revealed about (18:35) himself in his word. He goes on, what does he say? I have more insights than rned away from your regulations. The the word uh regulations are another way of looking at them is God gives uh a road map, a pathway, guard rails to where life is and I see those guardrails and I stick within them and and knowing you allows me to see life and so I stuck to them. How sweet your words. Now, I want you to catch what he says here. How sweet your words uh taste to me. They are sweeter than honey. (20:28) Because by the time we get down this far, it can start to sound like reading th tal misconception of God. God has set up regulations that says, "Stay within this boundary. Oh, I I plead with you. Stay within the boundary. on the other side. I know what's there. I don't want you to discover what's there. Stay away from it. Oh, but God, I need to go check it out. (21:57) You see, that's been our ancestral problem from the very beginning. Adam and Eve decided that there was something on the other side of the barrier that they needed to check out. Could they check it out? Yes, lled the Bible. This is God's word for life for you. It literally can set you on a path of freedom that keeps you from harm. Will take the worst of circumstances and turn them into a place where you can sing with joy. (23:23) It will take the greatest of loss and turn it into the greatest of gain. It is the loving, merciful expression of the existence and character and actions of God toward those who are created in his image. This is how you worship God. Many of us think we read the Bible becaus dn't include the New Testament and even didn't include much of the Old Testament. It included what we refer to or would be referred to as the Torah. First five books of the Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, the author of which was Moses. (25:10) And he says to Joshua, you take this which Moses has recorded for you because he has recorded for you what I have given him, the instructions I have given him. And he says, "Study these book this book of instruction continu t talking here about how much money you make or even how you make it. He's talking about life. You have been given existence. (26:49) And that existence requires breathing and walking and eating and relating and doing. And he's saying if you want to succeed in all of those things, even breathing, I can take you to the psalmist where he says that I need to learn to breathe in because of you and exhale because of your mercies to me. We need to learn to truly exist in the presence of God. (27:15) A this study. It's been it was the most broad and extensive uh study on the Bible that has been done to date. (28:34) And in that they wanted to just basically see people's uh attitudes toward the Bible, how often they read it, uh and impact that it had. One of the side um things that really actually came out of this study was to actually see what I'm going to tell you now. (28:54) They discovered they were one of the things they asked if you read your Bible, how often do you read your Bible? They et me just give you some of these things. (30:10) The feelings of loneliness dropped 30%. Anger issues dropped 32%. Bitterness in relationships dropped 40%. Alcoholism dropped 57%. Sex outside of marriage dropped 68. Feeling spiritually stagnant dropped 60%. viewing pornography dropped 61%. Sharing their faith jumped 200%. (30:47) Uh being in a discipling relationship jumped 230%. You see, this book will change your life, but you have to surrender yourself and submit yourself day and night. You' teresting. (32:16) He had a PhD in theology and after having PhD theology in teaching it one day he picked it up and said I think I need to read my Bible. You see I can have all kinds of knowledge but he came to the realization that I've got to know the God within the pages not just know about the God who's given the Bible. And it radically transformed his life to the point that he lived constantly being sought his life. Uh they they were want he was arrested. He was thrown in prison. (32:49) Bu the heart. (34:14) The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold. They are sweeter than honey in the honeycomb. By them your servant is warned. In keeping of them there is great reward. (34:42) Did you catch in that as it unfolded as he talks about what uh the richness of God's word? Did you see where he brought i re, maybe, huh? But the psalmist just told us it's better than gold, than much fine gold. they would begin uh before they started doing anything with the with the children, what they would do is they would teach them the riches and the sweetness of the word of God. And there was what was known as in in as you move up in history a little more toward the medieval times uh what was known as the honey slate uh ceremony. Any of you heard of that before? Just curious. (36:42) Okay. It started way back made himself known. Who has sustained us as a nation and we know the things he has done. (38:12) He never forgot us in captivity. He walked us for forth with the word given by Moses. He led us through the life of Joshua. He's given us the promised land. He would talk about how precious was the word of God. And then he would call up each student and over the letter or the word he would drizzle that honey and he would say, "Lick it off. (38:45) " Because he wanted each of those students to know ho ool, isn't it? I sometimes don't think we have that kind of appreciation for the word of God. (40:14) So, just in a small way, we're going to see if we can't make a connection here this morning. I'm going to give you a moment. There's honey sitting on the table right there in little cups. And there's a cracker. You can take it. I want to make sure you can get some. You want to use your finger? Go ahead. (40:26) You want to lick it out with your tongue? That's fine. But I want everybody to get up you. The more you know it, the more you will know him. The more you saturate yourself with him, the more he will be with you. The more you have seen what he has done and tasted of his goodness, the more you will know that he will never abandon you, leave you, or forsake you. (43:16) No problem that you will face will ever be greater than him. He is the God who delivers. He's the God who provides. He's the God who cares for. He's the God that lifts up. He binds up the the heart of the wounded an ho we are. We are founded in, upon, and through God's word. Not our interpretation, not what we think we should do, not this book and not that book. (45:03) We surrender to the authority of God because it is pure and righteous and it sets the it sets life for us. I want us to be a church that so enjoys the word of God. We long for it to be on our lips to saturate our minds to be that which look that sets everything that is seen in our lives. That's why we on Sunday morning we don't just pick a g e's a lot of things to do. (46:41) But I just recently uh was really looking at my own life and going, am I doing I'm in God's word every day. I I am. I'm not saying that from a bragging standpoint. Let me uh continue here. I'm in it every day. Absolutely every day. (46:59) What I wanted to make sure and one of the things I've been praying to God about was may I come at it with a more of a humble attitude of not just trying to determine the next sermon or what has to happen, what I need to know . (48:20) And I I don't mean this in a disrespectful way, but I pity you when it's this close. You could be alive and you're still wearing the grave clothes. Stop it. Surrender. Open it. Live by it. Love it. Take nothing as a substitute. Cling to the word of God. 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us this. All scripture is God breathed. (49:00) And is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. Oh, you maybe go, "Well, I don't like those words. I don't want to be rebuked, correct t's right here. I'm calling you. Repent. Ask for forgiveness. Put your arrogance before God and say, "God, I want to humbly open these pages again and taste your honey. on my lips. Many of you have heard me mention before a guy by the name of uh Dave Adamson or he goes by Azie Dave and I really appreciate him and his insights. And so I want to read something to you and he he asks this question. (50:59) So what do we pray before we open our Bible? What is a prayer that we can pray that puts our h e. (52:23) You see, when we approach God's word knowing he's waiting to speak, everything changes. I want to read that line again because I want to make sure you caught it. When we approach God's word knowing he's waiting to speak, it changes everything. We become children eager to hear from our father, not scholars hunting for information. So listen to these words and pray them with me. (52:49) In fact, let's bow our heads as I read these words. Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the univer we've spent and lived with you. Time with you. (54:38) Give us ears that hear not just to our mind but to our heart. and give us soft enough hearts that we will hear and respond to what you have said. Pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Today we took honey and we tasted it as a reminder and maybe a first thought that God's word is sweet and good and restorative and healthy. And now I invite you to another table. (55:14) It's a table that Jesus set for you and invited you to as well. It's a table tha recognition and remembrance of what God has done. And the remembrance means that I continue to live it forward. I live because of it. So we take the cup for that. The bread represents the broken body of Christ in obedience. He set the model for what it is to live in relationship with him. (56:46) We live in humility. We surrender ourselves. We're going to be talking about that in a few weeks. Worship can't happen till there's total surrender or we're letting everything else get in the way. But w union today, remembering what you have done, so we're reminded to walk with you. And may it remind us to be ever close to you as we are in your word. (58:21) And we pray this in Jesus name. Amen."