Transcription
2 Kings chapter 22:8 it says this. Then Hilka, the high priest, said to Chaffon the scribe, "I have found the book of the law." Somebody said they found a Bible. Can we pause for a second? If you find your Bible, it means you didn't have your Bible. It's not good to find your Bible. But Israel, they found the Bible in the house of the Lord. And Hilkaya gave the book to Chiffon, and he read it.
So Chiffon the scribe went to the king, bringing the king's word, saying, "Your servants have gathered the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of those who do the work, who oversee the house of the Lord." So the king had given instruction. The temple had come into disrepair, and he said, "Get the money that the people are already to the kingdom of God and start using it to build the temple back." And while they were building the temple back, they discovered the Bible that had been neglected for decades and have delivered in the hand and oversee the house of.
Then Chiffon the scribe showed the king, saying, "Hilkaya the priest has given me a book." And Chiffon read it before the king. Now it happened when the king heard the words of the book of the law that he tore his clothes.
Let's pray. Father God, we are so grateful. We're thankful for your grace, for your mercy. God, we are grateful that you are here, moving in a way that is above and beyond all that we could ever ask, think, or imagine. On this new year, God, we dedicate it to you. We say, let your favor go before us, so your angels guard behind us, that you would do what only you can do. And Father God, we'll be ever so careful to give you all the glory, all the honor, and all the praise in the matchless name of Jesus, we pray.
Come on, somebody shout amen and amen and amen. Y'all might be nervous. You're like, "Hold on, Pastor Dan. Pray for the Ravens on the most important football day of the year." It's a new year, y'all. And the Bible says to pray without ceasing. So, I've decided instead of praying before the message, I'm simply going to keep them close to my heart and pray constantly. That's for you.
ANY. WE'RE KICKING OFF A BRAND NEW SERIES today called When the Word Walks. Somebody say When the Word Walks. John 1:14 says this. And the word became, read it with me, the. Oh, that was so weak. Come on, let's not do this in 2026. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And the word became flesh. It is good to read your Bible. Somebody say, "Amen." It is good to memorize your Bible. Somebody say, "Amen." It is the word of God that cancels negative thoughts from the enemy in your life. And if you don't have scripture memorized when those negative thoughts come, you have nothing to cancel the lies of the enemy. It's good to read the word. It is good to memorize the word. But I truly believe that you have not walked in the word. Watch this. Not only read it or memorized it, but experienced it. It says the word became flesh. Your life as a believer completely changes when you're not telling somebody what the Bible says. You're showing them what the Bible did in your life. It is one thing to say, "My God is a healer." It is a completely different story to say, "My loved one was in that hospital room, and I walked in and laid hands on their shoulder and began to pray in tongues." And when I tell you, in 24 hours, this situation was reversed. I'm not telling you he's a healer. I've seen him heal. It changes your walk with Christ completely.
Over the next four weeks, we're going to talk about how do we take the word of God out of this book and make it an experience in our lives and see his word come to pass. Today, I want to unpack first and foremost that we've got to have God's word in authority over our lives, not as a suggestion, not as a commentary, not as an advisor, but as the authority in our life.
In 2 Kings chapter 22, we come across a very interesting passage. And one of the things that I find when we read scriptures, we'll read about an individual or a character or whatever, and we will almost see them as some fairy tale character instead of a real human being. 2 Kings chapter 22, we come across a king by the name of Josiah. Somebody say Josiah. Josiah was one of the most unique kings of Israel. One of the reasons why he was the most unique king of Israel is because he became king at the age of 8 years old. Now, I've got a seven-year-old in my house, and I would not let that boy rule his Lego sets. Yet, here is Josiah at the age of 8 years old becoming king of an entire nation in Judah. And it wasn't one of those kings where his mother really ruled, but he only wore the throne. No, he was actually leading and governing Judah at the age of 8 years old. And what is so interesting is not only did he lead, but the Bible says by 16, he began to passionately pursue the things of God. This chapter in chapter 22, we find him at the age of 16 where he gives the decree. It is time to rebuild the temple of God.
You see, the people had been tithing. The people had been giving, and all the money that the people had given was just being stacked in chests and put in a corner and was not being used for what it was designed for, and that was to keep the temple of God alive and vibrant for a place of worship. The temple had gone into disrepair. And Josiah said, "There's no way that we can be the people of God and have his house in disrepair." So he said, "Go get all that tithe money that's been stacked away for years and begin to give it to the workers to build up the house of God."
Now watch this. As they began to build the house of God, they found the word of God. That's a message in itself. I won't really care about the word of God if I don't care about the house of God. But as soon as I have a heart for God's house, all of a sudden, his word begins to matter to me. And it says from 16 to 20, he built the temple of God. At 20 years old, he began to tear down all the foreign idols and began to turn Judah back to the things of God.
And as I'm reading this, I I you you guys know me by now. I ask my Bible questions and I'm like, what is it that would make an 8-year-old, not not an 80-year-old, not a 28-year-old, an 8-year-old have a passion for the things of God? What is it that would make a 16-year-old stand up and say, "We will build the house of God"? And when I found the answer, it blew my mind. You know what turned an eight-year-old to the things of God? Tragedy. Why was he king at 8 years old? Because his father was assassinated after two years. He was never supposed to be king at all. But his father, who was king of Israel, was a wicked king that did not honor God, that sacrificed his own children to idols through fire flames and all this other kind of stuff. And because he had turned his back on God, his own people turned on him and assassinated him after only two years. His dad was supposed to reign for 30 years, but he only reigned for two. And here it is. Josiah saying, "I am in a position that I am not prepared for and I am not supposed to be in because those that came before me turned their back on God. Maybe if I turn my face towards God, that my end will be different than my father and my grandfather." Sometimes it's tragedy that turns you to the word of God. Sometimes it's difficulty. Sometimes it takes looking at things and say, "This is not working."
One of the things that Israel constantly wrestled with is they were surrounded by idolatry and surrounded by pagan worship and they were constantly, you know, tic-tac. What is what's the little little game? What's that? Hopscotch. That's not tic-tac-toe. Hopscotch. You better help me preach. I appreciate it. They were constantly playing hopscotch between following God and fitting in with the pagan idolatry around them. "Today I worship God, today I don't. Today I worship God, today I don't." And what happened is it happened so much that Israel and Judah split into two different nations. Israel eventually got taken off, and Judah was the only one left. And king after king was not honoring God. And finally Josiah said, "It has gotten so bad." That doing it our way is not working. We've got to turn back to the word. How bad does America have to get before we figure out it's not working? We've got to turn back to the word of God.
And what happens is, as believers, we complain about the state of culture, but that complaining rarely turns into a passionate pursuit of the things of God. There's nothing spiritual about complaining. It only becomes spiritual when we say, "No, no, we're going to seek God." As a result of how bad, how bad does your life have to get? How overwhelmed do you have to become before you realize it is the word of God that. Here's the problem that happened to Israel, and here's the problem that happens so many to us believers, and why we end up rejecting the truth of God's word without even realizing it, because we live in a culture that calls dysfunction normal. So, we look at dysfunctional situations, and because everyone we know is in that dysfunctional situation, we don't even know that that's not normal. And we begin to call normal what God says, "I've got so much better than that." Go. No, no, no, no. That that does not have to be the reality. But we are so indoctrinated with culture that we now call dysfunctional. We now call foolishness fun. We are now in. I'm not going to go too far with this, but there's entire entertainment channels on Instagram and you that people are literally entertained by people destroying their life, and we can't wait for the next episode or the next post to watch somebody do that. If what you they are doing, your kid did, you'd kill your kid. Come on now. But you're streaming them because you don't know them. You all right? You doing good? Calling it entertainment when it's dysfunction.
That's why the Bible said, "Come out of among them." In World War I, there was this British intelligence officer that was sent into enemy territory. And he was sent there basically to befriend sympathizers in that enemy country to get them to side with Britain in World War I. Well, in order to not have his cover blown, he went into this country and he began to dress like the people of the country. He began to talk like the people of the country. He began to learn how they engaged in war. He he he he he he he he ingratiated himself into their culture for the goal of understanding their culture so that he could win them over to UK's side. You already know where this story is going. He ate like them so much, he dressed like them so much, he talked like them so much, he learned their culture so much that soon he became them. And it was only a matter of time until he turned sides, became a double agent, and was actually working against the kingdom that had sent him to defend what he once called the enemy, but now called his community. Could it be that we have been in this culture so long that we've eat like them and dress like them and talk like them and gossip like them and cuss like them and backstab like them and and try to leverage like them, and we forget that we're not from here. We are ambassadors of heaven. We are just visiting. And we were sent here for a purpose. And by the way, the purpose we were sent here for was not to retire by 40. It was not to put my name in lights or have my name on a building or a billboard. We were sent to be an example of the kingdom of almighty God. To be a city on a hill, a light in the darkness, saying there is still hope, and it's only found in Jesus Christ.
So, I have three quick three quick questions. Three quick questions for you to ask yourself. WE GOING TO START WE GOING TO start 2026 with violence. Is that okay? IS THAT OKAY? THREE QUESTION TO ASK YOURSELF. If I was about to say, "Am I a traitor?" But I won't say that. Uh, whose culture do I embody? Do do I walk in the culture of the kingdom, the culture of the world, or have I stepped into a culture of worldliness and not even realize? First, let's just write this down. Am I trapped in a broken culture? We we we've got to ask ourselves, am I trapped in a broken culture? When when it comes to culture, unbelievers' view of God's word, they they've got a view that is antichrist, that is opposite to the word of God. Where if you ask a believer, "Is this a godly worldview or is this your worldview?" We would all say, "Absolutely not." And not even realize how much that worldview has crept into our psyche. Couple worldviews that the world has about the word of God. The first one is this. My truth is the truth. If I hear one more person say, "My truth," I'm going to lay hands on them. And it ain't going to be the Holy Spirit. This is this idea, "My truth is the truth." Who are you to tell me what the truth is? My truth is the truth. Now, here's the problem with that. When someone says, "My truth is the truth," usually they are either talking about one or two major things. They either believe in another religion, or they're speaking about sexuality. And a lot of believers are uncomfortable saying, "No, your truth is not the truth. You don't get to dictate what truth is because you are created, not creator. Creator dictates the purpose of creation. Created does not have that right nor authority because it is not creator." Let me give you an example. It's like being a football player and saying, "I don't agree with the rules. I don't think I should have to get both of my feet in bounds for it to be considered a clutch." Now, if you're a Baltimore Ravens fan, this is a little bit too close to home because he definitely got three feet in. But that's a different story for a different day. Come on now. You you've seen it happen on the field where a player will argue with the ref and say, "I don't agree." And the ref will simply say, "This is the rule." And then at some point, the coach will say, "I disagree. I'm throwing a red flag so we can watch the instant replay to figure." So the ref goes over, and he puts a headset on, and he begins to look at it. Do you know what is not happening on that headset? On that headset, the ref is not calling Pennsylvania Avenue, New York City, NFL headquarters, and saying, "What y'all think about this? How y'all feeling? What truth do y'all want to just?" No, no. Here's the only thing going on that headset. What does the rule book say? It don't matter. It's Well, they cheat. It doesn't. It's not supposed to matter what the score is. It's not supposed to matter what city we're in. It's not supposed to matter who we want to win. All that is supposed to matter is hearing what the rules say. Are they inside the rules or are they out? Why? Because you are a player on the field. You are not the creator of the sport. What we have is a lot of players on the field that want to tell the creator, "I don't agree with your rule." Now, here we we try to do this foolishness as believers where we say, "It's not my problem. I'm not in it. Well, if you want to believe another religion, that's if you want to define sexuality however you want. I got no your truth. I I believe I believe in Jesus." But you have no idea how that apathy has crept into your view, worldview, where you think that your truth is the truth. Can I can I get up in your grill just for a for example? Some of you are offended, and you think that's true. They said amen in Colombia. They did not say no. No, no. You think you have the right to be offended? You you you you if you knew what they did to me, I will never forgive them. Well, the Bible says you don't have the right not to forgive. The Bible says that you are to forgive as Christ has forgiven you. I I I don't know what they did to you, but whatever they did to you, it didn't send you to a cross. And what you did to him sent him to a cross. So until what they did to you puts you on a cross, you have no right to harbor unforgiveness. But you think you have the right to harbor unforgiveness because you think your truth is your truth. Oh no. No. That's why the Bible says, "Take care of this the plank in your own eye before you point out the speck." And it's so easy to find somebody else who's living in delusion and miss the own delusional worldview that we have. By truth, here's the second worldview that the world has. We're if I don't know what the Bible says, I can't be held accountable. The the the world has this. Well, I don't read the Bible. I don't know what the Bible says. So, how's God going to hold me accountable for something that I don't know? Here's what the Bible says in Hosea 4:6. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being my priest for me. Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children." Can I just blow up? If I don't know what the Bible says, I can't be held accountable. God says, "You don't have to read the Bible to know what it says." Here's what you need to know. If I'm lacking fulfillment, if I'm seeing destruction in my life, I'm missing the word of God. Come on now. Because the Bible says that Jesus, who is the word, came to give you life and life more abundantly. So if there's an area of my life that is not abundant life, there is something in scripture I am missing. Why do Christians settle for misery in their life? Why do Christians look at an area of their life that they know is not fulfilling, but they say, "It is what it is, and I'll move on to something else." It is the same thing as saying, "If I don't know about it, I can't be held accountable for it." And God says, "The lack of peace in your spirit in that area of your life is enough knowledge to know I'm missing something from God's word."
Here's a third worldview. The standard of the Bible is impossible. So hopefully there will be leniency. God can't really expect me to wait for marriage. I mean, come on. Have you been in college? God God can't really expect me to forgive this person. God God's his standards are so impossible. There there there's got to be leniency. Here's the last worldview. I don't care what truth is. I will suffer the consequences in the end. Now, some people are bold enough to say, "I'm going to live my life. I'm going to do whatever I want to do and I'll deal with God when I get." The only reason people would say that is you've got no comprehension of what the consequences are.
Romans 12:2 says this, "Don't copy the behaviors and customs of this world, but be a new and a different." But let's just pause there. Can you say that you are a different person with a fresh newness? Watch this. In all you do and in all in all, not just on Sunday, being new doesn't mean you started going to church, but the rest of your week looks the same. It says, "In all you do and think, then you will learn." Watch this. From your own. I want to experience the world. You'll learn from your own experience how God's ways will really satisfy you.
Second thought is just write this down. Have I stepped into kingdom culture? Now, there's one thing to have a worldly mindset or worldly view. There's another thing to step into the mindset and the kingdom of God. And what happens for a lot of believers is they're stuck in the middle where I'm no longer anti-God, but I'm not fully buying into this "all I need is King Jesus" stuff. And the the these are always fresh in my mind because our family, between Christmas and New Year's, we took a road trip, which I don't know who possessed us to put three children in a vehicle and a drive longer than 30 minutes. We took a three and a half hour drive went up in Pennsylvania and all that other good stuff. And you know, if you're driving and you, God forsake, you don't use ways, you're unbeliever, so you use Apple Maps or Google Maps or one of those heathen apps or whatever it may be, and you're running a traffic, especially when you're supposed to be there 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 45, and the traffic is 20 minutes long, and it you you see your deadline getting further, and you're inching, you are inching forward on a road that you're supposed to be driving 65 miles on. Nothing will cause you to have to call on the Holy Spirit more than being stuck in traffic. And it's worse when the other side of the road is zipping by going, and you're just. That finally you see the accident or whatever it is. If you're a real Christian, you'll pray over the accident as you drive by. God bless him. Save him. Cover them. I got to go. And when you finally break through and you floor it, it's almost like when you floor it, you giggle. And I know real men don't giggle, but there's a giggle that comes out of all of us when there's a joy of "I was trapped. I was held back. I was not able to move at the speed of my vision." And somebody preach this with me. And now I've stepped into breakthrough and I can move at the speed that I've always in. Can I tell you something? You have not stepped into kingdom culture until you don't just read the Bible or believe the Bible. You get excited about it. There's a joy in it because you know it accelerates my life beyond the crawl that I've been at.
Look at Psalms chapter 1 verse one, talking about the glory of the Bible. It says this, "Oh, the joy." Somebody say, "Joy." I don't know why I'm so cranky, but that's every Sunday. I wish believers would stop complaining about the word of God. Stop complaining about the promises of God. Complain. No. No. There should be a joy. The joy of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked. Oh, yeah. I can't go to the club at night. You know, I'm a believer. No, no, I ain't gonna go. I ain't gonna go. I'm good. I ain't trying to go out there. Ruin my life. Take too many drinks that impair my decision. Got me making one-night decisions that ruin my life for the next 20 years. No, I'm good. I'm going to keep my tail at home. Matter of fact, I'm going to Catalyst. I'm not even going to be at home. The joy of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked or stand around with sinners or joining with them, but they delight in the word of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. There should be a delight, a joy. The world says, "My truth is the truth." The kingdom culture says, "The truth of God's word brings life." It's not just that my truth is not the truth. It is that God's truth is the only way to experience life.
John chapter 14 verse 6, Jesus said to them, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." So you all right? You good? We good? So that means I don't forgive with clenched teeth. That means when I submit my life to the word of God, I don't do it with a bad attitude. I do it with joy and excitement. Why? Not because I want to do it, but because I know that there's a miracle connected to my obedience, and that God is going to do something on the other side of this. So, when you forgive ratchet people, you should be excited to forgive them. Not because they're great people, but when I tell you what God blesses me for forgiving your nasty self, I tell you right now, I'm so excited for what I forgive you because what God is going to do in my life because I've released you. I can't wait. There should be an excitement about obeying the word of God because obedience brings life. The problem is we think obedience brings restriction. Oh, if I forgive them, they'll get away with it. No, you should get excited. And this ain't good. Why? I'mma preach it anyway. Cuz the Bible says vengeance is mine, says the Lord. So when I forgive you, that means you about to get yours. I can't wait. I'mma sit here with some popcorn. No, that's not biblical. The Bible says don't celebrate over their destruction. No, I'm excited that my truth is not the truth. Because when I submit to his truth, I'm not being subservient. I'm positioning myself for the miracles of God. And when I live in opposition to his truth, I am canceling the great life that he has for me.
That's what the Bible says. They say if I don't know what the Bible says, I can't be held accountable. The kingdom mindset says the more of God's word I know and activate, the more fulfillment I will experience. I don't want to be biblically illiterate. I don't want to be biblically ignorant. I want to know as much of God's word as I possibly can. Psalm 1:3, "They are like trees." People who know the word of God, they are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit in every season. What tree do you know that bears fruit in every season? Let me help you out. None. Every tree needs a season off. Every tree needs a season. Not the believer, not the person who is built on the word of God. In winter, summer, spring, and fall, you're going to see joy coming out my life. You're going to see abundance coming out of my life. You're going to see favor coming out of my life. You're going to see open doors coming out of my life. Not because I'm better than you, but because I'm planted on the word of God. "Their leaves never wither and they prosper in all they do." I got to preach the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It didn't say that that tree is not going to go through storms. It didn't say that winds are not going to blow. It did not say that there's not going to be hurricanes around. Here's what it said: that none of that's going to uproot you and none of that is going to change your harvest. I don't care what the interest rate is. It's my season. I don't care what the employment results are. It's my season. It doesn't matter who walked out of my life, who's ignored me, who don't like me, who's talking about me, who's tweeting about me, who's Instagramming about me, who's emailing about me. It ain't got nothing to do with me because I'm planted on the word of God. And when I'm planted on the word of God, it's never not my season. So I don't want to not know the word. I want to know the word.
Do you know that there is a miracle, a promise connected to every revelation in scripture? Every time I find a revelation in scripture, hear me, there is a miracle that I am entitled to connected to that promise in God's word. So when God vindicated Joseph after they had lied about him and thrown him in prison and God still elevated. If God did it for Joseph, the Bible says he is the same God yesterday, today, and forever. So if he vindicated Joseph, it is a promise to me that God will vindicate me as well. If he took Moses, an outcast, a stutterer, a murderer, and used him to be a great leader to lead a nation out of captivity, it don't matter if I stutter. God God can still use me. It does not matter what sin is in my past. God has washed my past and given me hope for the future. And he can still use you. When I look at Israel in captivity, outnumbered, literally in slavery and bondage, and they're crying out to God, and what seems like God's silence is God set up to send a deliverer and bring people out of captivity. It is a promise that I can hold on to. So, if I am captive to sickness, if I'm captive to poverty, if I'm captive to addiction, if I'm captive to generational curses, all I've got to do is cry out to Almighty God. And don't get caught up if his response is silence. Because often times, silence is him working on my way out. Every revelation in the word of God is a promise that God has made to me. Why would I want to be ignorant of his promises? I want to know every story. So old folks, I want to know every jot and tit. I don't know what a tit is, but I want to know every one of them in scripture cuz every tit has a promise connected to it.
We going to end on time. It's 2026. Somebody say the standard of the Bible is impossible. So hopefully there's leniency is the mindset of the world. The mindset of the kingdom is, watch this, the Bible reveals my desperate need for a savior and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. The standards of the Bible are not designed to discourage you. They're designed to let you know you can do it. Come on now. If you read the Bible and you said, "Oh, I could do that. I could forgive my enemies. I could love those who curse me. Oh, I can live holy." Why would you need God? If all you needed for life and godliness, you could do without God. The standards of God's word are not to give you an impossible standard. The standards of God's word is to let you know I need God. I tell you right now, if I had God, I'd be ratcheted as the rest of y'all. I tell you right now, cut me off on the highway. See what I do without God. Paul, the greatest apostle, he said, "I don't really understand myself." He first said, "Well, for what I want to do, what I want to do, right?" He said, "But I don't do it." He said, "Instead, I do what I hate." If the greatest apostle couldn't in his own strength live up to God's standard, why are you even trying? But he didn't leave it there. Verse two of Romans 8. "And because you belong to him." Stop preaching holiness to unbelievers. They can't do it. Stop asking people who don't have God to live godly. Instead of give them God and let them know you can't do it without him. It says, "Because you belong to him, the power of the lifegiving spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death."
Last thing, I don't care what truth is. I will suffer the consequences in the end. It's a worldview. Kingdom view, it is. I will live my life of gratitude for Christ purchasing my freedom and bearing my punishment. The kingdom view is there are no consequences because my savior has already taken my punishment on his back and he has already paid the price for all of my sin. Isaiah 53:5, "But he was wounded and bruised for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was lashed and we were healed. We, everyone of us have strayed away like sheep. We who left God's path to follow our own. Yet God laid on him the guilt and sins of every one of us." Unbelievers don't really believe that there's consequences for sin because if so, they turn to Jesus. A lot of believers don't really believe that there's consequences for sin because if we did, we'd be more grateful. You mean I was supposed to spend an eternity separated from God in a lake of fire, but yet he saw fit to take off his divinity to put on humanity to come and be stripped naked and embarrassed and ashamed and beaten and destroyed and hung on a cross so that I can walk free as if I've never done anything wrong in my life when you and I both know I've done a lot. Done. You mean he paid the price for my. The least I can do is live a life that points to him and constantly says, "Thank you for your mercy. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for your favor. Thank you for seeing me. Thank you." My life should shout, "Thank you."
Last thing, write this down. We're done. Will I expand kingdom culture? What's culture? Union church and our leadership talks and all that. We define culture as culture is what we do. It's why we do it. Here's a big and how excited we are about. When I tell you there's few moments that makes me feel like the greatest pastor on the planet. When I say we're about to starve for 21 days and the whole church says, "Yeah." I'm like, "We're getting it. We're getting it. We are excited about craziness. Let's go." Have I committed to expanding kingdom culture? First thing is this. I won't really do it with faith if I don't know why I'm doing it. So to know why I'm doing it, I got to dive into God's word. Here's a challenge. What if 2026 was the year that you were in your Bible more than you've ever been before? Can can we make it practical? Step number one, you need a Bible. You understand? Some of y'all got your grandma's Bible. First of all, you need a forklift just to get it off of the coffee table. Got your little edge dust. You found the Bible that was in the temple in Second Kings. If you open your Bible and it says, "Thus says the Lord," close that thing. Go in the lobby at every location, grab you one of them Bibles, grab you an NIV, grab you an NLT, get you something that you can understand. You're not spiritual because you're confused. Some people feel like the more confused I am, the more godly I am. I just read that thing for 15 minutes. I got no idea what God must be pleased. No, he's not. He's looking at you like, "Stop. No one's impressed. Get you a Bible. You understand?" Watch this. Get you an appointment with God. Let's make this real practical. If you can. Let's. It is better to read your Bible every day than to read your Bible for four hours once a month. Give us this day our daily bread. Here's my challenge. If you don't read your Bible at all, commit to me five minutes a day. I'm going to get a Bible. I understand. Start in the book of John. It'll take you about four minutes to read chapter one of the book of John and about 60 seconds just to think maybe right on your phone, what did that say to me? There's your five minutes. Next day, John chapter 2. Next day, well, I'm I'm I I want to know why I'm doing what I'm doing.
Final verse is this. Psalm 34:8. "Oh, taste and see." Just I know the Bible says to meditate on the word. I know it says to keep it close to your heart, but let's just sit here for a second. This doesn't say, "Oh, memorize and see." It it it doesn't say, "Oh, read and see." The goal is not to read and the goal is not to memorize. The goal is I've tasted for myself that the joy of the Lord is my strength. I've tasted for myself that it is better to give than to receive. I've tasted for myself that my gifts will make room for me and bring me before greatness. I have tasted for myself that if God before me, it doesn't matter who's against. "Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in him."
Father God, we're grateful that your word became flesh. Father God, now we're asking that it would walk among. 2026 would be the year that we see your promises come to pass in our lives like never before. Right? When you're sitting here with your eyes closed and your head bowed, if you could pray this prayer with me, say, "Holy Spirit, what are you saying to me?" And just give God a moment to make this time to make this message personal to you. The truth is all of us have an area of our lives where we've accepted our truth over the truth of God's word. Maybe it's offense. Maybe it's unforgiveness. Maybe it's selfishness. Whatever it is, just take this moment to say, "God, I give your word authority in my life. God, I even lay down how I feel. How I feel I've been wronged or done wrong or God, I I exalt your word in my life." What a better way to start your year than starting fresh with Jesus. Maybe you're in here or watching online, if you'd be on as pastor, I I had one of those world I I thought my truth was a truth. I was hoping that God wouldn't hold me accountable for what I didn't know. I just said I'll deal with the consequences later. Well, here's the truth. He's already dealt with the consequences for you. But you can't have his grace without having him. And having him doesn't mean you believe in him. It means you belong to him. So wherever you find yourself sitting in the room watching online, if you just be honest, I don't belong to Jesus. I belong to myself, my own decisions, my own way. The horrible truth is right now, you are outside of the forgiveness and grace of God. Today's the day that you take one step towards Jesus. Wherever you're sitting, if that's you, pastor, I need Jesus right where you're sitting. Pray this prayer. Say, "Lord Jesus. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for seeing me. I believe that your death on the cross, your blood that was shed was my consequences for my sin. And I receive your forgiveness. In response, I give you my life. Be my Lord. Be my Savior. Use me for your glory in Jesus name. Amen. And amen." Come on. Can you celebrate for every single person that just made the greatest decision ever?