Pastor Cedric A. Portis Sr. Third Presbyterian Church
St. Louis, MO

Timothy II2:15 Study toshow thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Your mind is bring shaped/formed and molded by what you take into it. There is a computer adage that states garbage in, garbage out. Many people want to act different, they want to talk different, they want their walk to be different, they are tired of resembling the world…but the sad fact is that while wanting this change statistics show that the average American will read 100 newspapers, 36 magazines listen to 750 hours of radio and watch 2500 hours of television and complain the whole year about not being able to find time to read my Bible. Where is the studying of God’s Word? If we want this change that we seek, then study of the scriptures is a spiritual discipline we must have in order to effectively do the will of God.

I read of a minister who was visiting one of his members. The lady of the house was trying to impress him about how devout she was by point out the large Bible on the bookshelf and taking in a very reverential way of it as “the Word of God.”

Her young son interrupted the conversation; “well if that’s God’s book we need to send it back to him because we never read it?”

Let me tell you why we give Bibles to new members at ThirdChurch.

1. To take away the excuse of not having one.

2. For you to Study it.

3. To bring it to church with you.

Everyone should have their own Bible, and bring it, write notes in it, use it.

We must realize that evangelism is difficult without study, hearing from the Lord is difficult without study, exercising your spiritual gifts is difficult without study.

Peter I 5:8 Be sober, vigilant because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour.

If you have ever seen National Geographic or the discovery channel and observed a lion stalking attacking and killing prey, you would notice that the lion does not seek the animal that is leading the heard, but the one that is dragging behind, unaware of their surroundings until it is too late. This metaphor about Satan as a lion is speaking to those who have poor or non-existent bible study habits. When you are not armed with the Word of God, you will fall prey to the roaring lion in a time of need, in a time of desperation, or in a time of plenty.

Question – How do you recognize Satan…you must know God. IF you cannot recognize God you will never be able to recognize Satan and you will constantly find yourself in situations where you don’t know how you got there…didn’t see it coming. The Lord reveals Himself to you through His love letter to you called the Bible and it strengthens you to be able to be up with the heard and not fall prey to the roaring lion.

Romans 12:2 tells us plainly that we as people are transformed by something very specific. What transforms us? It is the renewing of our minds. Studying the Bible is not some vice or habit we should have but it is a lifestyle that transforms our lives. Study gives us a foundation for our faith. Those who attend Bible Study and Sunday school have heard me say before that it is not only important to know “what” you believe, but you must know “why” you believe it.

Someone once asked a man who was a regular church goer, “Sir what do you believe?”

I believe what my church believes.

What does your church believe?…It believes what I Believe.

And what do both of you believe…We both believe the same thing!?!

If you don’t know what your why you believe something, it will not be a lifestyle for you and you will not be able to convince someone else of what you believe if you can’t explain it.

Peter I3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

This verse expresses to us that we must be ready at all times to give answer about the joy that is in us, and answer to our faith and our hope. You know why the Bible does not come up very much in conversation…because people don’t want to be exposed about how little they know about the God they serve. They just go saying, “I believe in God”

Well so what…so does Satan…what makes you any different from Satan?

Study brings about freedom in the Christian life because Jesus says in John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Free of what…the yoke and slavery of sin. Free to do what….to abundantly live, to worship and to praise the Lord. There are things that the Lord demands of us and allowing ourselves to be shackled with sin handicaps us.

Many are confused about Jesus Christ because they are ignorant of this truth. If you don’t know about something, you won’t be successful at it, nor tell anyone else about it. And if our main job is telling then we are failing.

We live in a society where everyone is always trying to get ahead through promotions, raises etc. We have our job responsibilities from Jesus. What if Jesus were to give us that yearly review that promotions and raises are generally based. Would we be in line for the promotion we seek, would we be in line for the raise we are asking for?? Many of us go through life asking for that promotion of a spouse and family, that raise of a new car, job or home…. but I believe that we need to start weighing the request with the performance. Have we proved ourselves faithful enough with our assignment from Jesus to be blessed in this way??? Have we been faithful over a few things to become ruler over many??? I believe a sobering look at performance would curb our “Santa Claus” mentality toward Jesus…. and this reality is realized through study of the Word of God. Maybe the reason for such a lack of performance is that the garbage in was some false teaching leading you in a false direction.
Questions this morning:

Do you know contextually what is in your BIBLE?

Do you know about the life of Jesus and what He did and still does for you?

Do you know about the topics the Apostle Paul wrote about and why he wrote about them?

Do you know the history of the nation of Israel and why it is important for you and I?

Can you defend your faith and what you believe if you are challenged?

I want to encourage you this morning to commit yourself to study of the Scriptures and allow yourself to receive the benefits from it.

So what are the benefits of Study?

Gives victory over sin…. Jesus died for and bore the sin of the world

Overcome worry…. Not to take no thought for tomorrow

Confidence in sharing your faith – be ready always to share your faith

Help you in discovering God’s will for your life – show yourself approved for His work.

You will begin to find, understand and live on the promises of God and then and only then will you be able to sing with conviction, “on Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.” Some people seem to expect the Word of God to hit them like a jolt of adrenaline each time they read it. Although the jolt may hit us periodically, the Benefits of the word of God act more like vitamins. People who regularly take vitamins do so because of their long-term benefits, not because every time they swallow one of the pills they feel a new strength surging through their bodies.

They have developed a lifestyle of consistently taking vitamins because they have been told that, in the long haul, vitamin supplements are going to have a beneficial effect on their physical health, resistance to disease and general well being.

The same is true of study the bible. At times it will have a sudden and intense impact on us. However the real value lies in the cumulative effect that long-term exposure to God’s work will bring to our lives.

Let us look quickly at the four basic steps of study.

I. Repetition

Repeating anything is a sure fire way to learn and definitely affects the mind. Repeating creates ingrained habits of thought. If you repeat something to yourself, even if you don’t believe it, your subconscious mind after a while will be affected. Radio and television advertisers know this and this is how they get you to try their product even though you are not initially interested. This is how you hear a song and don’t care for it too much and then the radio will play it so much that you begin to say/think well it’s not that bad.

It is the same with Bible Study. Repetition will ingrain the way God wants you to think into your mind and soon you will realize that His yoke is easy and his burden is light. Slowly but surely you will begin to speak the word of God into situations in your life and the life of others.

If you really love your family and your friends, you need to equip yourself to speak the Word of God into their situation instead of:

1. Just listening and echoing the sentiment of the situation being bad.

2. Expressing concern when inside just happy it is not happening to you.

3. Bringing chips and dip to the pity party.

If you believe in the promises of God, if you believe in the power of prayer you need to start speaking the Word of God into these situations!!!

II. Concentration

This may seem silly but when studying you must focus on what you are doing. Concentration centers the mind and keeps you from being distracted by every little thing. We must center our attention upon Scripture and our purpose when studying. So where do you study, with the TV on or off, where is the phone are you setting aside time for you and the Lord to Communicate through His word