• If I could describe the best life there could be, a life of peace, serenity, security, and joy – it would be the Word Filled Life!
• If I could describe the most joy-filled marriage you could ever dream of – it would be the Word Filled Marriage!
• If I could describe the most harmonious and loving family possible – it would be the Word Filled Family!
• If I could describe the most satisfying, purposeful, and rewarding employment in the job world for your entire lifetime -- it would be the Word Filled Work Life!
• If I could describe a childhood, youth, and college years filled with confidence, purpose, direction, and hope -- it would be the Word Filled Days of Youth!
• And finally, if I could describe to you how to walk through the long valley from Earth to Heaven that is filled with aches, pains, fears, trials, troubles, loneliness, insecurities, unknowns, and death triumphantly -- it would be the Word Filled Life!

Transcription

This is the new year, and as we face the new year, we need the challenge to what God wants us to do in that new year.

And I immediately thought about our Lord Jesus Christ's first words after He was baptized, after he was in His first public role, and that baptism by His own cousin, John the Baptist.

What's the first thing that Jesus said? He said, the words you all know so well that man shall not live by what?

Bread alone, but by every word of God. What He's saying is that the sustenance of our life, what keeps us going, what nourishes us, what continuously gives us life is not just bread. It's not just keeping the physical body alive. It's the Word of God which truly lets us live. So, think about that.

If I were to describe to you the ultimate life on Earth, a life of joy and serenity and peace and security and confidence, it would be the life that's full of God's Word, the Word filled life.

If I could describe for you a marriage, the way God designed marriage to be, a marriage where you are absolutely fulfilled in every dimension and you are serving one another and the marriage that, as people would say, is made in Heaven. That would be a Word filled marriage.

If I described for you a work life where it didn't matter whether your employer was relocating or whether they were upsizing or downsizing or resizing, and it wouldn't matter whether you were with the most obnoxious people in the world are the most wonderful that you could have the greatest and most profitable work life. It would be a Word filled work life.

How about a family? If I could describe for you a family where every member of the family was harmoniously related to the other members of the family where you were fulfilling your godly calling in that family, whether it be as a child to your parent or as a parent to your child, or as a husband and wife. If I was to describe for you the ultimate family, it would be a Word filled family.

If I was to describe for you the greatest way to be a young person, a youth, a college student. A time where you didn't have insecurity, where you weren't constantly worried and wondering what you're going to be and what you're going to do and if you're going to make it, and all the squashing of all the peers around you. If I was to describe to you the most confident and assured and fruitful and powerful, youthful, college age, young person life, it would be a youth with a Word filled life.

And how about the ending? If I was to describe for you the ultimate way to finish out here on Earth, to finish out life fruitful and faithful and secure, in spite of the pain and the hardship and all the physical limitations, and all the unknowns, and all the insecurities and all the fears of death and everything else, do you know what it would be? We're reading the books and one of the titles of these books we're reading to our kids is these happy golden years. It's a Laura Ingalls Wilder deal. Most people don't think of old age as happy and golden years. I know they call it that, but it's not. But you know how it can be if it's. A happy golden Word filled years.

You see, Jesus said, and if you want to turn there with me, look at Matthew 4:4, His first words after His baptism describe the best life there could be. A life of peace, a life of serenity, a life of security, a life of joy, a life that is beyond anything we could dream of. A life that is harmonious and a loving family. A life that is a satisfying, purposeful, and rewarding employment. A life that is a childhood and a youth and a college year filled with confidence and purpose, direction and hope, and a life that is fruitful and faithful to the end of our earthly pilgrimage. A life that in spite of aches and pains, and fears, and trials, and troubles, and loneliness, and insecurities and unknowns. And even death ends triumphantly, and that's a Word filled life.

And Jesus answered and said in His temptation, His first recorded words after His baptism, man, my creations, my creatures shall not live just by physical food, bread alone, but only what He's saying. He doesn't list anything else. But exclusively, He only gives one option by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Now I have my props up here this morning. This reminds me back when I used to be a youth pastor, and when I was a children's pastor, I always used to bring my props, and I have my props here this morning.

That's an iPod, and that's a one-year Bible, and this is our deal out of the tape library because look back at Matthew 4:4. It says, look at verse four, man should not live by bread alone, but by, what's the next word? Every.

Now, two weeks ago when I was up in Maine, I really shocked him. You know how stodgy and refined they are up there, and they don't smile. They don't talk and they don't respond. I know I pastored them for many years, and I said, okay, I'm going to challenge all of you this morning. All of you that have read the whole Bible all the way through, raise your hand right now.

Oh man, you could have heard a pin drop. Everyone gasped. They looked around, they didn't know what to do, and I said, I'm serious. And so, finally, the deacons started raising their hands, and then the Sunday school teachers started. But you know what most people never think about? Look at verse four.

Jesus Christ's first words in His public ministry after He was introduced as the Lamb of God. And after His baptism, His first recorded words are, hey, you My creatures, you can't live, you cannot be what I want you to be unless every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. You are eating now, are you? I am.

Are you eating every word of God? Are you systematically progressing through God's word? Have you heard his voice? That's what we should think about every year. It's what I think about every year.

Because no matter who we are, no matter what our past, no matter what place we are in life, no matter what age we are, God has described His plan.

The Lord of Heaven and Earth has much to say about what He's designed for each one of us as believers. He says He wants us to love and glorify and obey Him as men, as husbands, and as dads.

God says He wants us to lead and to model and to love as women, as wives, and as moms. God says He wants us to follow.

He wants us to model godliness and love as young men, as brothers and as sons.

God says we are to obey and to honor and to love.

And as young women and sisters and daughters, God says we are to obey and honor and love.

And what are the details of obeying and honoring and loving? It starts right here in chapter four, verse four, and I want to take you through just for a few moments, a challenge, John, getting in every Word of God.

And it doesn't matter if you're young and high tech, it doesn't matter if you are used to the familiar or it doesn't matter if it's electronic and you have to listen to it in the car. It doesn't matter the vehicle that the Word of God comes to you through. It’s you living a Word filled life and not just your favorite parts of the Word, and not just the ones you like and not just the ones you understand, and not just the ones that you're used to, but every Word of God.

Starting in Matthew 4:4. The Word filled life, I like to remind myself as I start through the Word of God afresh, why I read the Bible. I know Jesus said to read it, but why? Okay. And I just want to give you a few reasons and then challenge you and let you think about what you're going to do in this new year.

Number one, I read the Bible because the Word filled life is the way that we get our messages from God. Now, I don't know about you, but I love up to date news, especially if we're going to fly. You want to know if the plane's leaving or if you're going somewhere you want to check the weather or if someone you know is out of state, you want to check, there's nothing like what we have at our fingertips, being online, actually seeing the California fires as they burn, actually seeing things as they happen. That's what it says.

Matthew 4:4, why go through life without freshness? Every time we prayerfully open God's Word, it's like going online and downloading a fresh, new personal message. But the message is from God Himself. That's what's unbelievable when I open this Book and prayerfully engage my heart in reading, and when I read, I'm listening to God.

Remember, prayer is me talking and reading is me listening to Him. Every time I open this prayerfully I am downloading a message to my soul, not from a mortgage company, not from, all the bizarre, weird, dumb, and awful things that come through email, but you and I are downloading a message directly from God and it is fresh and it is new, and it is up to date, and it is super naturally changing our lives from the inside out. Just think about this with me, how encouraging it is to hear from God.

Do you hear from Him regularly? As often as we download a message from Him, we just open our heart prayerfully before His Word and like a wireless device, our soul will start getting downloads from Heaven. Now, I don't understand all this, but there's this little, tiny thing this big that sticks into my laptop and when I am sitting at staff meeting or at the board meeting or wherever I am inside this building. It's just, my computer's making noises, it's getting messages and everything else, and that just shocks and amazes, and I don't understand it, that little protrusion connects me to everything. But you know what, that is nothing compared to what you and I can have wherever we are.

Whatever we're doing, and you don't have to have a protrusion. It's constant. All we have to do is open our heart to the Lord and allow His Word to fill our lives, to fill our minds. Whether it's something we're listening to, whether it's something we read in the morning, whether we're driving through the car and listening to a tape or a CD, we fill our lives so he can communicate by his word to our lives.

There's nothing as boring as an old email when you want a fresh new update from someone you love. So read the Word of God each day, prayerfully, because it's like an online download. Jesus answered, verse four, and said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone.

Most of us will eat sometime today. Even those of you on the Akins diet, you're going to eat something, might not taste any good, you know what I mean? But you're going to eat something. Most of us eat every day, and the Lord says, just like you eat every day, you should be, verse four, eating every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Why do we do that?

Turn over to John 6. Go to the right in your Bible. You're in Matthew, the first book of the New Testament. Go to the right to the fourth book, John 6. The second reason that we need to have a word filled life is it's the only way to get our battery charged. John 6:63 says this, it is a Spirit who gives life the flesh profits nothing.

Verse 63 ends with these very pointed words, the words that I speak to you are Spirit and they are life. The concept there is that they are Spirit and thus they are life giving. They are life producing. They are life bringing into your lives.

I have a custom. The only way I can keep in touch with my family, my out of state family, is that every Sunday night. I call and it's just, then we know they're there and all of you probably that have relatives far and spread around. Have your times, you call I call on Sunday nights and sometimes if I don't have anyone in my car going home, I actually call from the car. And I remember a while back that I was leaving the parking lot, and I was so excited to talk to my dad. He's 89 and every time I see him, he always reminds me it might be my last time talking to him. And so, I really enjoy every time and it's just so sweet to have him ready to step into Heaven at any time.

So, I'm there and I'm sharing, and I was so excited. And first he always, he keeps his list because he tells me he's forgetful and he has his little list whenever the phone rings. He just says, hi John. And he starts into his list. 'cause he doesn't want to forget. He says, I'll forget to tell you this. So, he goes through it. And so, I was listening to his list and commenting and rejoicing with him and answering his questions. And then he said, tell me what you're so excited about. And I said, dad, and all of a sudden it got real quiet and I said daddy.

And I looked, and I had run out of battery and I thought, and he didn't understand, he told me for a half hour he was still talking at home. He just, he thought that I asked him to say some more. And so, he was off the list. I called him from home. His phone was busy for over a half an hour and he said. Didn't I already tell you that? And I said, no, daddy, my battery ran out. He says I didn't even know. He says, I can't tell you again. And he never told me all those good things.

But the Word filled life is the way we get our battery charged. We go through life expending our strength and the battle of just plain old life SAPs us. And so, if we aren't careful, we can be going through life, and it goes dead because we haven't recharged. How do we recharge?

Jesus said it right here. He says, I want to let my word, if you'll stop in, it quicken you. I want to give you life. I want to give you power through my spirit. Why go through life with a dead spiritual battery?

That's why if you are a user of devices, you have to have these plugin places where you just by habit, plug in the phone. You just by habit, plug in this and I dock my laptop. Every time I dock it, it recharges it. So, it's always charged up. Have you got a. Plan to dock your soul, to recharge your battery because Jesus said in John 6:63, it's the Spirit.

That's the only thing that will energize us and give us life. Our flesh profits us nothing. And what he means by that is when you operate in the power of the flesh, it comes to zero. Everything we do in self-strength ministry. For the Lord in the strength of our flesh amounts to nothing. The flesh, verse 63, profits nothing but the words that I speak to you.

This book, whether an old traditional 1000-page Bible like I have, or countless tapes and CDs or cut up read through the Bible program or an electronic edition. Those words, our spirit, He said, and look at verse 63, and they are life.

And what do they do for us? We'll keep going to the right. Look at Romans 15, and I would encourage you if you're new at this, to mark some of these, because it'll remind you why you should read the Bible.

You should read it because that's the way you get a message from God. Matthew 4:4, that's the way you get your life recharged. John 6:63 and 15:4 of Romans. It's also the Word filled life is the way we get our hope.

We're living in an increasingly hope-less world. Many people are hopeless that they'll ever get their debts paid off. A lot of people are hopeless that they'll ever get their sins forgiven. They're hoping in the afterlife that something will happen or that someone will bail 'em out with whatever. But they don't even know that their sins are possible forgiven, and a lot of people are hopeless, even that they'll have a job or a life or a partner or whatever.

But what does the Scripture say? Romans 15:4, the Word filled life is the way we live in hope. It says in the 15:4, for everything that was written in the past. Now Paul wrote Romans in, in the mid 50's, there weren't a lot of New Testament books at that time. Isn't that interesting?

Think, if we want to be precisely literal to show how important your whole Bible is, Paul said, for everything that was written in the past, was written to teach us so that through endurance and the encouragement of Scripture. We might have hope.

Why? Because God used such a bunch of losers in the past, people that failed, people that had bad families, people that had bad marriages, people that had bad work records, people that had bad moral records, people that had bad spiritual records, and God used them.

Now they all had a common denominator. They repented; they turned in faith to Him. Every time they failed, they came back, but they didn't have very good records.

And what he's saying is, look back at what Paul's saying. He's writing to a group of people that were buffeted with the flesh and the world and the devil and they needed a fresh, new beginning.

And that's what the Christian Life is a series of new beginnings. And he says, look at your Scriptures because these were written to teach you. What to do and what not to do what to avoid and what not to avoid that through endurance and encouragement of the Scripture.

You want to encourage someone? A lot of young people if they don't, if they're aimless and don't know what to do, what do they do? They go rent a DVD, and they watch that get their mind off of everything. You want to really have a profitable time encouraging someone that, that, that needs encouragement. Don't rent a DVD that erases spiritual benefit. Encourage them through the Scriptures. Can you imagine how much money you'd save if you didn't rent a DVD and all of you just brought your Bibles and read them? I know it's at the beginning, it sounds dumb, and you all feel uncomfortable, but boy, after a little while, when everyone's heart starts warming up.

All of a sudden, the Scripture begins to encourage and look at the result at the end of verse four, that we might have hope. Entertainment will distract us. The scriptures encourage and give us. Enduring hope.

Here's another one. Keep going to the right because it says in Ephesians five, so keep going. Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians. Galatians, Ephesians, chapter five, that the fourth reason we should read the Bible is that the word filled life is the way we take a hot shower. You see what you mean by that? Life is dirty and gritty. Life is hot and sweaty, and before the day starts and after the day ends are two great times to take a shower for people that work and get dirty in life. You come home. I remember my dad used to come home from General Motors and he had oil sprayed on him and the first thing, he just went right into the shower. 46 years he worked there. Boom. He went in there and he had to get cleaned off so that he wouldn't get the couch dirty.

Is it any less for a believer? Jesus reminds the disciples when He washed their feet. We get our feet dirty as we walk through life. It's the Word that washes us, so we can come to the table of fellowship with God cleansed. Ephesians 5:26 says this, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word.

Now in the context, the her is the wife, and is also in the wider context the church. By Christ, but in the personal context, what it's saying is the Word of God cleanses us.

In fact, another verse just to think of is 1 Peter 1 22, and it says that you have purified your souls in obeying the truth. When we are in this book, it is like taking a hot shower. It's the way we get cleansed from the grit and the grime and the dirt and the sweat of this world. It's the way we come into God's presence, clean. And pure. We're sanctified. We're cleansed by the word. Did you know? You and I can do that every day, all day long.

In fact, it's not just the mechanical reading of the Bible, it's also the allowing the Bible to fill our lives and it's constantly cleansing us. It's like putting in that there used to be some oil that they said when you put in your car, it was always cleaning inside of your engine. I don't know if that's true, but that was a good selling point. And that's true though about the Bible. It does purify, 1 Peter 1: 22, our souls.

While you're in Ephesians, look at 6:16. Another reason I read the Bible is the word filled life. Being in the Word every day is the way we get our weapons to win the war. Starting in verse 16 of Ephesians 6, it says, take the shield of faith by which you'll be able to quench the fiery darts of the wick of one. Now look at verse 17 of chapter six and take the helmet of salvation. Now, here it is, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

The Word filled life is the way we get our weapons to win. If the devil tempts you, or if your flesh tempts you somewhere. The only offensive weapon. The only attack at our flesh. The only attack at the world around us. The only attack at the habits in the chains that bind us is the sword wielded by the Holy Spirit of the Word of God inside of us. It doesn't work if it's sitting on the shelf. It doesn't work if it's just a tape out there, if it's a plan, if it's an electronic device, what has to happen is ask him into our lives and God. We'll use it and unleash it.

Look at the book of Hebrews with me. You're in Ephesians. Colossians, 1, 2 Thessalonians, 1, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews. And we'll get to 5:14 because this is another thing I noticed. I was driving down 61st street, and boy, the health clubs are packed. The one right up here next door to us. That's what always happens right after New Year's. It's kind of like the Goodwill that's packed with all of last year's stuff. Everyone's dumped off there and the health clubs are packed with people. They're all there on those bicycles and they're just going wild. They won't be there in February; I can assure you. There'll be lots of parking spaces.

We all think about that momentarily but Look what it says in Hebrews 5:14. Solid food belongs to those who are a full age. That is those who by reason of use have their senses exercise to discern both good and evil.

What's he saying there? You got to exercise your spiritual life. You got to use this Book. And the Word filled life is the way we get our exercise. We have to be engaging and eating this, and it exercises our senses.

I was thinking of all the things that I could mention that would show your senses would come up. I could talk about different periods of antiques, and some of you, if I named some of those periods you would just come alive because that's what you could spot those a mile away. If I talked about in glassware, the difference between press glass and depression glass and the idea in porcelains of occupied Japanese, or, there's so many people that study these things. In stamps, the imperforate and the certain, the Farley issues. If we went into, I, when I go to a rummage sale, I just, without even thinking about it, I turn over each piece of silver and I looked for sterling, because I remember when I used to go to rummy seals with my mother, I had the good eyes and I had to turn over each piece of silver and find the ones marked Sterling silver, because I had my senses exercised to discern the ones that were valuable.

Another thing I used to do, I hate to confess, confessions good for the soul, but did you know that a real pearl is rough? And fake pearls are not, and so do you know how, you know a real pearl necklace? When nobody's looking at the rummage sale, if it's not too dirty, you take the necklace and you rub it on your tooth. If it scrapes, it's a real pearl. Do you know how many people are selling real pearl necklaces from their grandmother at a rummage sale for a quarter? Man, my mom always made me go. She had unreal teeth and so it didn't work on those. So, I was looking for the sterling and scraping the pearls on my teeth, and people used to think I was trying to eat. They'd say, that isn't a candy necklace. I go, I know it's not. It's pearl. My mom say, shh. Don't tell 'em I'm trying to buy it for a quarter, but see, you get your senses exercise.

Some of you can spot a good real estate deal because that's all you think about. Some of you can spot a good business deal, a good financial deal, you know an antique. When you see it, you can spot an incredibly valuable piece of furniture that nobody knows is good. Why? Because you've exercised your senses that you can see the sterling, the pearls, or the lake country era or whatever it is you collect. You know that because you exercise that, it says in Hebrews 5, you got to exercise your soul by reason of use in the Word of God, you exercise your senses, okay? That's why we read the Word of God.

Now, let me ask you now, you know all the reasons, and I could give you a lot more, you know that I have a lot more. Let me summarize this right in the middle of your Bible, turn right to the middle, to the Book of Psalms, the 16th Psalm is one of my favorite verses to share, especially in a discipleship setting.

I share this at birthday parties with teenagers. I share this with beginning when couples are getting married. I share this when I have small groups. I love the last verse of Psalm 16 because I think it distills down everything that God wants us to get out of his word into one verse. Okay?

So let me share it with you because Psalm 16:11, I have found that in my life, all of the challenges of the Word filled life are distilled down into one verse in God's Word, and that's Psalm 16:11, and this is what it says, You'll show me the path of life. Now you know what I have written in my Bible next to that lead me. God says, I want to show you the path of life. Do you know what I say? Back to Him? By the way, when I'm reading the Bible, I'm talking the Lord. I stop and I look up and I say, I read that line won't show me the path of life.

You know what? I stop and I just say, lead me. Lead me. God says, I want to show you the path of life I want to follow. Lead me. The next line in Your presence is fullness of joy. You know what I pray after that fill me. I want to be full of Your presence. I want to be full with Your joy. I want to be filled with the awareness. I want to feel Your presence. Lead me because you want to show me the path of life in your presence is fullness of joy. Fill me with that.

And then the last line of it at Your right hand are pleasures, forevermore, keep me. You know what that is, at Your right hand? What that means is that if I stay under His authority, the right hand was always the place of authority and the right-hand man, and the place of authority was right there.

And He says, at thy right hand, there are pleasures forevermore. And what He's saying is, if you stay under My authority, if you obey My Word and keep it, then you'll have indescribable pleasures. In your home, in your marriage, in your life, in your job, in your family, in everything, you'll have indescribable pleasure if you will keep under my right hand.

And you know what I say the Lord when I read that. When? When I read at Your right hand or pleasures for more, you know what I say to Him? Keep me there. So, I say, Lord, thou will show me the path of life. Lead me in Your presence. This fullness of joy. Fill me. At Your right hand, are pleasures for more. Keep me there at Your right hand.

Did you know that's what I do when I read this book? I'm starting over just like you. The way I read is this Bible has a thousand pages. I just divide by how soon I want to get through it into a thousand pages, and so I want to get through it once a year. I just read three pages a day, twice a year. I read six four times a year. I read 12 pages a day. It doesn't matter what you want, you can have, if you want to have someone design, this is one I've used for years. In fact, I have some of my children reading this. The one-year Bible, it has an Old Testament, a New Testament, a Psalm, a proverb, all written out with the date.

So, on May 28th, you know exactly what you're supposed to read, and it follows through. That's a great way, the one-year Bible. Or you can just have what we have multiple copies of right out here in our safe center. That is a dramatized or non-dramatized Bible, and you can have a bazillion tapes, and you can be bouncing around changing those tapes.

Did you know it only takes 13 minutes a day listening to listen to the whole Bible in a year, three minutes a day to listen to the New Testament through in a year? It takes just 13 minutes to listen to the whole Bible to go through it in one year. So just add that up. If you're in the car, turn the news off, turn off the commentators, listen to God's voice.

When you play those tapes in your car, a CD, they have CDs too available, when you listen to that, you're hearing God's voice. Now, this is what's fascinating in here. Not only do I have the King James and the New King James, but I have the NIV. I have every version of the Bible you can think of, and it's all inside of here, and you can just listen to it just amazingly how they compress it in and there, and that takes up a very small part.

And did you know you can get the Bible on mp3 for free online? There are many download sites where you can get mp3 versions of the Bible, and if you get them an mp3 form you can have 'em on your computer. You can have 'em on your little PDA. You can have 'em on your iPod if you like that, you can have 'em anywhere you want. You can be listening to anything you want at all times and letting God's word fill your life.

Lead me. If you listen to the Lord, speak to you through the Word, He'll lead you. If you listen to the Lord, speak to you through His Word, He'll fill you. If you listen to the Lord through His Word, He'll keep you.

And the Scriptures, whether it's an average Bible, three pages a day, a one-year Bible, three and a half pages a day, a CD, or tape, 13 minutes a day. God says, I want you to live by every Word.

We can never have a Word filled life without reading the Scriptures regularly. We cannot be deeply influenced by what we don't know. When we are filled with God's Word, our life can then be informed and directed by God. Our families, our marriages, our child-rearing our career, our decisions, our interior life is all influenced by God.

Have you said to the Lord, lead me. Lord, fill me with Your Word so I can feel your presence all through my day. Lord, keep me. Keep me at Your right hand. I want Your family. I want Your marriage. I want Your career. I want Your life. I want Your ending for my life. Lord, I want You to fill and lead and keep me.