INTEGRATING GOD’S WORD INTO MY LIFE 40 Days … GOD’S WORD INTO MY ... is like a wise man who...

INTEGRATING GOD’S WORD INTO MY LIFE

40 Days In The Word – Part 6

Rick Warren

The purpose of the message today, week 6, is how do we maintain a heart

for God’s Word? How do we integrate God’s Word into every area of our

lives?

Integrate: the act of combining or adding parts to make a unified

whole…The opposite of segregation.

Segregation means to separate into groups. When we segment our

lives we live a segregated life. When we say, this is my personal

life and this is my church life, and this is my business life, and this

is my home life, and here’s my sex life, and here’s my social life,

and we segment our lives, then we live a segregated life.

We don’t have an integrated life; which means we lack integrity

(wholeness, perfect condition). Integrity comes from that same word. To

have integrity means to live our lives integrated, as a whole. We don’t act

one way with a group of people over here and another way with a group

over there. We don’t act different at home than we do at church or the way

we act at church is different from the way we act at work. To act the same

in all areas of life is an integrated life or a life of integrity. God wants us

to live as a man of the Word or a woman of the Word.



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SLIDE: The first verse on your outline today is out of Psalms 119 verse 20

the Contemporary English Version says this: “What I want most of all [in

other words the number one priority in my life, what I want most of all]

and at all times [that means it’s integrated. It’s not just at church time, but

at all times] is to honour your laws.” David is saying here I want to be a

man of the Word.

God wants our lives to be led and guided and directed by the Word of God.

How do we do this? In six easy steps…. The steps are actually in the six

Bible verses we’ve been memorizing in our small groups for the last six

weeks. Let’s look at these six verses.

SLIDE:

1. The first thing I’m going to do if I’m going to become a man of

the Word or a woman of the Word is I must build on it.

In other words I make the Bible the foundation for my life.

SLIDE: This is what Jesus talks about in Matthew 7. At the end of his

very famous Sermon on the Mount he says this “Everyone who hears these

words of mine, and puts them into practice, is like a wise man who built his

house on the rock.” Matthew 7:24. It’s one of our memory verses.



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He’s saying we can build our life on sand that will drift away, and slip

away or we can build our life on the solid rock of God’s Word.

When the storms of life come, when the trials and the troubles and

temptations and all those tough times inevitably come into our lives, we’re

not blown away. We’re built on a solid foundation, built on the rock.

On the other hand if we build on the shifting sands of just opinion or

whatever happens to be popular then we’re going to be on shifting sands.

The foundation will crumble and the foundation will crumble. There are

four common unreliable foundations we don’t want to build our lives on.

SLIDE: POPULAR CULTURE- Truth by Popularity: If it’s popular I do

it and if it’s not I don’t do it.” “Everyone is doing it!”

But God says:

SLIDE: EX. 23:2 “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong.”

He says don’t build your life on a shifting sand of popular culture.

The second thing you don’t want to build on is tradition

SLIDE: TRADITION- “We’ve always done it that way!”

In other words I do it because I’ve always done it. Or my parents have

always done or my grandparents have done. We’ve always done it that

way! Tradition isn’t bad. Truth lasts forever but no tradition lasts forever. Even Jesus says this in SLIDE: MARK 7:8Jesus “You have let go of

the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men!"

Putting tradition before truth will get us in to trouble.



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A third thing you don’t want to build your life on is reason.

SLIDE: REASON– Rely on my own intellect. “It sound logical!

“I’ve always thought” What seems reasonable is often wrong!

SLIDE:`PR. 16:25 “There is a way that seems right to a man,

but in the end it leads to death.”

We all need reason. Reason is reasonable. In fact, God gives us the ability

to reason. But some times what we think is reasonable is not actually right.

When we rely on our own intellect, when we do what we’re always

thought, what seems reasonable to us often ends up being a mistake.

Reason is a good thing but it’s not infallible.

Another unreliable foundation that we don’t want to build our lives on is :

.

SLIDE: EMOTION “Feels right, so must be right”“I do what I feel”

Problem: Feelings LIE! You can be fooled by feelings!

Some people build their lives simply on emotion. They build their lives on

a feeling. If it feels right, I do it. If it feels wrong, I don’t do it. In other

words I do what I feel like doing.

I feel like doing it and it feels right so it must be right. There’s a problem

with that – feelings lie. If you live by your feelings you will spend your

life manipulated by your moods.

Most of what gets accomplished in the world today is done by people who

don’t always feel like doing it when they did it. If you only do what you

feel like doing more than likely you’ll stay in bed most days of the week.



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SLIDE: JUDGES 21:25 (Mes) “At that time there was no king in

Israel. People did whatever they felt like doing.”

Building life simply on emotions, well there’s a word for that: immaturity.

Maturity and wisdom is when we act according to our values, according to

our convictions and according to what’s right rather than what we feel like

doing.

We want to build our life on the Word of God. It is our final authority for

life.

SLIDE:2. After we start building on it, the second thing we have to do

is we have to feed on it.

The Bible tells us that the word of God is spiritual food, in fact it uses

several pictures. The Bible describes itself as the water, the milk, the

bread, and the meat of the spiritual life. So that’s everything that we’re

going to need for sustenance.

Because just like we need physical food for physical strength, we’ve got to

have spiritual food for spiritual strength.

SLIDE:There’s a verse we looked at in our small group session a couple of

weeks ago. Colossian 3:16. The Bible says “Let the word of Christ dwell

in your richly.” Let it dwell in you. Let it move into you. Let it inhabit

you, take up residence, in a rich, profound and life-giving way.



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I want to show you a picture of what it can look like to let the Word of

Christ dwell in you richly.

I have here a cup of water and a tea bag. The cup represents our soul. And

the tea bag is the Scripture.

If we receive the Word of God with just our ears, by just listening to

scripture on a Sunday, it’s like dipping the tea bag in one time only. It

doesn’t really do very much to the water does it? But if we come back and

we begin to read it with our eyes and we begin to research it, to study it, to

take notes, to write down things about it, to start to talk to other people

about what the Word of God says. Then we start to reflect on it. We

meditate on the Word. We read it over and over and over. Putting

ourselves in the story. Emphasizing different words in different ways.

Asking it questions, probing it with questions, paraphrasing it, putting it in

our own words. Lord, we heard you saying,….. is this what you’re trying

to say in your Word?

Memorizing it, remembering it, coming back to it over and over again.

Something starts to happen to our soul just like something is now

happening in this water.

The water is absorbing the colour and the flavour and the aroma and the

character of the tea.



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That’s what it’s like to let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. Not

poorly, but richly. We begin to absorb what it really is saying when you do

these things.

Not only are we to build on it, and feed on it; we integrate the Word into

our lives when we live by it.

SLIDE:

3. We’ve got to live by the Word of God.

The Word of God is not only food for our soul, the Word of God is our

standard of living. It’s the standard by which we make decisions for the

things we are facing in life. It comes when we allow the Word of God to

become the standard by which we live.

The Bible says in Psalm 1, “Blessed is the one [the man, the woman] who

doesn’t walk in the counsel of the ungodly, but who meditates on the word

of God.”

What does that mean? It means if we want our life to be blessed we don’t

build our life on the counsel of the world, on the way the world thinks. The

counsel of the ungodly, that’s the stuff we hear all the time – on television,

in movies, in print media.



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It’s the talk that goes on around the world around us. It’s the values of the

world. And the Bible says if we want our life to be blessed we don’t build

our life by that kind of counsel; but live our life, build our life, feed our

life, on the Word of God.

SLIDE:Psalm 119:11 says “I’ve hidden your word in my heart so that I

might not sin against you.” David says this is the reason I’ve hidden your

word. So I will not sin against you. This is what memorizing the Bible is

about. Taking it into our heart. He says I’ve hidden your word in my heart

so I will not sin against you.

Remember in Matthew 4 when Jesus was tempted? There were three times

the devil came and tempted him. And all three times Jesus only used one

weapon to defend himself. Scripture. He said “It’s written…” When the

devil would tempt him again he says, “Yeah, but it’s written.” It is

written.” It is the only weapon he used to defend himself. Scripture ;

Deuteronomy and Psalm 91. Jesus used The Word of God which he knew

to defend himself.

That’s why God wants us to remember the Word with our hearts, to

memorize it, and then to let that be the standard by which we live our lives.

By which we build our lives and fight the good fight of faith.



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I want to bring us back to this picture of this tea one more time. You see

what’s happened in just the last couple of minutes…. This water has

absorbed the colour and the flavour and the aroma and the character of the

tea.

But also - It’s taken on a whole new identity. Because we no longer call

this a glass of water. We now call it a glass of tea.

When we let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly we absorb the nature of

Christ, the flavour and the aroma of Christ. We take on a whole new

identity and we begin to become the man or the woman of God that he has

always wanted us to become. Not only do we know what the Word of God

says, we begin to become more and more like the author.

The fourth thing we do is we make it the seed that we grow through. This is

the fourth metaphor. How do I integrate God’s Word?

SLIDE:

4. I grow through it.

A couple of weeks ago we mentioned that the Bible is often referred to as a

seed. It’s planted in our heart. When the truth is planted in our heart, if it

finds good soil, it grows and it produces fruit.



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God wants us to be fruitful in our lives. In order to have that - we’ve got to

have an open heart. We’ve got to have a receptive heart.

SLIDE:The fourth verse that we looked at that we memorized earlier this

month is Psalms 119:18 “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in

your law.”

There are lots of wonderful things in the Bible but we can’t see them unless

God opens our eyes. That means being receptive. We’ve got to be open to

the Word of God. So if I’m going to become a woman of the Word or a

man of the Word I’ve got to be open to it. That means, even when I don’t

like it. I’m open to it. I’m going to listen to it.

Jesus told a whole story about this. It’s in Luke 8 it’s called the parable of

the soils. He says, a famer goes out and sows seed and it falls on four

different kinds of soil and it gets four different kinds of results. This

represents four different attitudes that we can have toward the Bible.

SLIDE:

1. The first is the hardened soil.



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The hardened soil can represent a closed mind. Sometimes we don’t even

give God a chance to talk to us. Our minds are made up, our hearts are

hardened. We’re not willing to listen. We don’t want our minds made up.

So the first action is we must cultivate an open mind. If we’re going to let

God’s truth really change our lives we have to be open to it. We have to

cultivate an open mind.

SLIDE:

2. Then Jesus said the second kind of soil that the farmer throws seed

on is the shallow soil.

That represents the superficial mind. Sometimes we react superficially to

the Bible. We go to church and say that was a good sermon. (hopefully

occasionally you say that!) We really liked that That was good. But

we’ve forgotten it by the time we get to the car. we don’t really let it take

the time to sink in. It never really penetrates the bedrock of our personality

or character.

So what is the action step if we don’t want to be superficial? How do we

get some spiritual maturity in our lives?

Here’s the second action step: I must make time for God’s Word.



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If we just do a quick little glance at the Word of God, we don’t gaze at it,

we don’t give it any time, then we can’t build any roots. Roots take time to

develop. And Rick Warren always says…no roots, no fruits. Busyness is a

major barrier that keeps us from being a man of the Word or a woman of

the Word.

SLIDE:

3. A third soil is a soil with weeds.

The soil with weeds represents a preoccupied mind. In other words the

seed God gives is the truth and he plants it in our mind and our heart and

we go, ok! And we let it sit there and it starts growing. But then we let

other things choke it out of our life – worry and busyness and money and

our job and all these other things. All the circuits are busy in our life. And

that’s why we can’t hear God.

What’s the action step? I must eliminate the distractions.

One of the big sins of Christians in this day and age, is not drug addiction,

it’s not immorality, it’s not some evil, wicked, mean, bad and nasty thing.

The big sin of you and me is we’re too busy.

We fill our lives with many things that aren’t that important. Then we

really don’t have time for what’s most important – God’s business.



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Most people are trying to do too much, too quickly and our lives are

crammed. If we’re burning the candle at both ends we’re not as bright as

we think we are. We walk around tired all the time because we’re trying to

do things that God never expected us to do. Our mind is preoccupied. It’s

like, God, we want to hear from you but we’ve only got thirty seconds

because we’ve got to go to the next appointment.

That isn’t going to work. That’s the soil with weeds. Preoccupied.We

need to eliminate the distractions.

SLIDE:

4. Then finally Jesus says there’s a fourth kind of soil. A willing mind.

That’s the good soil where the seed of truth gets planted in our brain, in our

heart and it is allowed to grow and develop.

It gets roots and then it gets fruit. A willing mind says, God, I’m willing

to learn. I’m teachable. I’m humble. I don’t think I know it all, so God,

teach me.

The action step is to cooperate with what God says.



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That leads us to the fifth way we can integrate God’s Word into our

lives…. If I want to be a woman of the Word, if I want to be a man of the

Word, I’ve got to build on it, I’ve got to feed on it, I’ve got to live by it,

I’ve got to grow through it and number five.

SLIDE:

5. I’ve got to act on it.

SLIDE:The fifth Bible verse that we memorized during these six weeks

together is James 1:22. “Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive

yourselves. Do what it says.”

If we go to church and it’s going in one ear and out the other and we don’t

listen to it, we’re living a life of self-deception. We think because we’ve

written notes down, or actually turned up at church we’ve got it. No. We

don’t have it. We have to listen to the Word of God, and also actually do

what it says!!

Finally there’s one last thing we need to do with the Word of God if we’re

going to become that person integrates the Word into our lives in every

area:

SLIDE:

6. I must trust in it.



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I build on it, I feed on it, I live by it, I grow through it, I act on it, and I then

live it out by trusting in it.

Why can we trust the Bible? God is never going to guide us in the wrong

direction. Other people will. Even well-meaning people. But God will

never do that. We can always trust him. If he tells us to go that way, we’d

better go that way! Because it’s always going to be the right way. It’s

going to be the best way.

SLIDE:

Psalm 119:105 is our memory verse for this week “Your word is a lamp to

my feet and a light for my path.”

Are you ever in the dark? Some of us are maybe saying, “I don’t have the

slightest idea of what I’m supposed to do about this relationship I’m in

right now… I haven’t the slightest idea whether I should accept this job

offer… I haven’t the slightest idea where I should invest next … What I

should do with the next five years of my life. I’m confused.”

What do we do when we’re in the dark? We turn on the light. We need to

remember this verse, because it’s a promise from God.



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The next time we’re in the dark and we’re confused and we don’t know

which way to turn, and we don’t know what to do and where to go we just

say, “God, you’ve said in Psalm 119:105 ‘Your word is a light to my feet

and a lamp for my path.’ God, keep your promise. I’m going to start

reading your word. Show me what you want me to do.”

And you start reading, and you start meditating and you start doing those

six things that we have talked about today. If you go to the Word and you

say, “Lord, I’m trusting that your Word will be a lamp to my feet and a

light for my path, in other words you’re going to show me the path to walk

on, you’re going to lead me in the dark. When I’m confused and I don’t

know what to do about this relationship, but you promised and I am going

to trust in your Word,” you will see amazing things happen.

On your handout there is a short listing of the six Bible Meditation methods

we have looked at in our small groups over the last few weeks. For those

not in a small group, I thought it was important just to touch on these today.

Go through list…. SLIDE: x 3

This is our last 40 days in the word sermon, and I want to challenge you as

we get into the last week of 40 Days in the Word to make a commitment to

keep on doing what you’ve been doing – not to stop.



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I want to challenge you to keep on being in a small group and I want to

challenge you to keep on reading the Bible every day, having a daily quiet

time, a daily devotion.

Change groups if you want to…even start a whole new group, that’s fine.

But I encourage you to keep the habit of a group study and keep the habit

of personal study so that you can continue becoming men and women of

the Word. There are covenant cards available, for those who would like to

commit to living a life transformed by God’s Word, and covenanting with

God that you will do so. You can sign your name there and any of the

church leaders, or your small group leader can sign where it says ‘pastor’.

Put the church and the date. Then put that in a spot to remind you to

continue integrating the Word of God into your life.

Let’s pray

Father, I want to thank you for the Word of God. I thank you that it calms

our fears. It enlightens our mind. It strengthens our will. It grows our

maturity in Christ. I thank you Lord that it can calm our worries and it

leads the way in the dark. It sustains us during the storms, and troubles that

may come. It lifts us up during the times of grief and hardship.



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It gives us joy as we contemplate the blessings that come through reading

your Word and living the lives that you have purposed us for.

We thank you Lord, for being in our lives, we thank you that you bless us

constantly with your presence.

We love you for making the supreme sacrifice by giving your life on the

cross for each one of us here, so that we may share in the glory of eternal

life with you in heaven. Praise you Jesus, thank you Jesus.

There may be those who have never accepted Jesus into their hearts, or

those who want to recommit their lives, they realize they are not living

totally in the will of God, that a part of their lives is kept segregated and

separate from life lived in the will of God.

Maybe you are living life listening to the voices of the world, and they are

leading you in the wrong direction.

You may like to ……kneel at the foot of the cross.

If you’ve never invited Jesus Christ into your heart, or want to recommit

your life today, say Jesus Christ, I don’t understand it all but I open my

life to you. I want to start that journey.

I want to get to know you and I want to know your purpose for my life. In

your name I pray. Amen.

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