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Open Your Heart: Application
Skip Heitzig

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How to Study the Bible and Enjoy It

You can read the Bible, observe what it says, and interpret it accurately, but if you stop there, you've missed the best part. You must take the next step: apply it personally to your life and live out what it says. In this message, Skip Heitzig encourages you to open your heart to the Scriptures and practice its truths, so you can stand firm on the solid foundation of the Word.

How can you effectively study the Bible? This is a great series for anyone wishing to gain more insight into personal Bible study.

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Transcript

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Let's pray, Lord, we ask that you would settle us tonight. Put us in a frame of mind where our hearts would be open and ready, to not only receive, and not only internalize truth, but then to act upon it. For every word of God is inspired. It is God-breathed, and you have given it to us for our edification. Lord, thank you for the weeks that we've been able to be together and study this topic, of how to study the greatest story ever told.

And I pray, Lord, that it would become more and more alive to us than ever before. Help us, Lord, in our appetites of Scripture, and also to create in others an appetite for your Word.

Lord, what we really are after is the same experience that your disciples got on the road to Emmaus. They had been raised with Bible truths. But it was when You revealed them to their hearts for a particular occasion that their hearts burned within them as you spoke to them. That's what we want, Lord. We want that freshness as we apply ourselves, in Jesus' name. Amen.

How many of you brought a Bible tonight? Let me see a show of hands. Good thinking, because it is a Bible study. But if you were to ask that question to the church that I was raised in, oh let's say on a Sunday in August, 1973, there would only be one hand raised. That would have been mine.

The Bible was really excluded from church service, if you can imagine that. It is estimated that on an average day, Christian bookstores sell 34,932 bibles. That's a lot. Almost 35,000 bibles are sold on a daily basis by Christian bookstores. Question: what difference do they make in the world in which we live? Well I guess that depends on what you do once you buy it.

Couple hours ago, I was on an airplane, flying back from Dallas, Texas. And as I was boarding the airplane, walking to find my seat, I noticed that a businessman was reading this book that was an NIV Bible. It was basically verses of the Bible, put in a format that would aid him in business ethics. That's what it looked like to me, as I was kind of glancing it, as I was trying to find my seat. I didn't have a chance to have a lengthy conversation with a line behind me. But I noticed, just by seeing that here's a guy who must travel a lot and has a real avid hunger to apply God's word in his business, in his daily life. He wants it to make a difference.

There was once an agnostic professor, a college professor who visited the Fiji Islands. It was a business trip for him, and he was conversing with the tribal chiefs. It was more up to date tribe. It was a little more civilized than what he anticipated. And he remarked to the chief after finding out a little bit about this tribe, he said, "You're a great leader. But it's a pity that you have been taken by those foreign missionaries they only want to get rich through you. No one believes the Bible anymore. People are tired of the threadbare story of Jesus Christ dying on a cross for the sins of mankind. They know better now. I'm sorry that you've been so foolish as to accept their story."

Now, an old man, who was one of the leaders of the tribe, said, "You see that big rock over there? On it, we Smashed the heads of our victims. And notice the furnace next to it. In that oven, we formerly roasted the bodies of our enemies if it hadn't been for those good missionaries and the love of Jesus Christ that changed us from cannibals into Christians, you would never leave this place alive. You'd better thank the Lord for the Gospel. Otherwise, we'd already be feasting on you. If it weren't for the Bible, you'd now be our supper

I'll tell you, when he heard that, I'm sure that agnostic professor was not only thrilled that they read the Bible, but that they personally applied it to their lives, especially at meal times. All of a sudden, like a flash, it's like, I'm glad somebody believes that book. Even though he himself didn't believe it.

We've already seen the importance of Bible study. We've talked about that at the beginning. We've talked about observation, how to look at the Bible and notice certain things, and then take those elements and make an interpretation to find out what it says. But if we stop there, we have failed. If we find out how it's put together, and then find out what it means, and if that's all we do, we have failed unless we take it to the next, most important step. And that is, make a personal application to our lives.

I once heard a believer say to me, this was years ago, when I lived in California and I was going to church, and this guy came up and he said, "You know, I want to go to a place where there's the meat of the Word. I don't want this fluff. I want the meat." He kept talking about the meat, the meat, the meat of the Word.

And I remember a saying that Jesus said. He said, "My meat is to do the will of my Father, who sent me to complete it." Not just to read the Bible, but to do the will of God. If you want the meat, it's in doing what Jesus said.

And I've had you turn to John chapter 13 because Jesus, we've already gone through this on many occasions, but Jesus washes the disciples' feet. And it's emblematic of being a servant. In verse 12, "When He washed their feet taken His garments and sat down, He said to them, "Do you know what. I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord and you say well for so I am. If I then, your Lord and your teacher, have. washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed," or happy is the idea, compound happiness. "Blessed are you if you do them.

That's where the meat of the Word is. As somebody once put it, if you want the meat. It's in the street it's where you take the Bible truths, and you put shoe leather on them. It's where the rubber meets the road. You do what Jesus said.

So. Observation must lead to interpretation, which must lead to application. And this is the last study we're going to do on how to study your Bible and enjoy it, I've called it, "Open your heart. And this is where, after opening your mind, and opening your eyes, and opening your senses to figurative language, we now open our heart to obey it.

You remember the story Jesus told, when he gave one of his most famous sermons, the Sermon on the Mount? And at the end of it. After going through so many different life-changing truths, He talked about two guys who built houses. And he compared them. He said, "There's a guy who built his house on the rock, and there's a guy who built his house on the sand." You remember that? And the guy that built his house on the sand, Jesus said, are the kind of people who listen to My Word. They hear what I say. They read the Bible, you might say. They buy one, they might even underline it. But they don't do it. They hear it. They read it. But they don't do it. They don't practice it. Jesus said they have a faulty foundation.

But there's the guy who builds his house on bedrock. Solid rock. Can you imagine building a house and leaving out the foundation? Of all the places to scrimp. I mean, you might scrimp on carpet, or on the kind of roof, but not the foundation. Now even in Southern California, every year, there's houses that have foundations that are lost as they slide down hills into oceans. Because even under that foundation, there is nothing solid. The soil is soft. And if it gets wet enough, it will give way. There's no good foundation, in some cases. Jesus said, "The one who hears My Word and puts it into practice is like the one who builds his house on a solid foundation. Jesus said, "When the rains come, and the storms beat on that house, it will stand firm, simply because it has a solid foundation.

Well, there's a difference between studying the Bible and applying the Bible in daily life. I know people who get intoxicated with Bible knowledge. It's like they're drunk on the Bible. What I mean by that is, it's easy to get puffed up, intoxicated with any kind of knowledge, especially Bible knowledge. It's kind of like, "I know a little more than you do. I'm a little more sophisticated and smarter. Pseudo-intellectuals love this. They might have a degree after their name, and so they give you the third degree, because they're little higher and smarter than you are.

And people do that sometimes with Bible texts. They amass knowledge, but they don't practice it. But they'll use it against each other. I call these Bible nerds. it's kind of the Poindexter Bible person. He's got all of this knowledge. Theodore Theologian. But it's never really practical in his daily life. And it's [? tracked-- ?] J. I. Packer, who wrote a book called Knowing God, said, "If we pursue theological knowledge for its own sake, it is bound to go bad on us. It will make us proud and conceited."

I think the Pharisees fell into this trap. Don't you? You know there's some times where the Pharisees were kind of using their knowledge against people. And there was the man who was born blind. You remember the story, in John 9? They're walking into the gate, and they see a guy who is in a condition from his birth, and they say, "Jesus, who sinned? Was it his parents or him that caused him to be born blind? Jesus said, "It's not really the issue. He's blind, that the works of God, the glory of God might be manifested in him.

He healed the man. And then the man who was blind went around, and everybody could see that he was healed. And the Pharisees came to him, and they started interrogating him. They said, "Who healed you?" And he goes, "I don't know who healed me. I couldn't find him. I couldn't see him, first of all. And then he healed me. and he was gone." And so they said, "You made this up. You never really were blind, right? it's a fake-amony. it's not really a testimony. It's fake. You made it up.

And so they got his parents, and they asked the same questions. And finally, he said, "Look. All I know is, I was blind, and now I see." And he tried to explain his way out of it, and they said to him, "You were completely born in sin, and you're teaching us?" It says, "They cast him out of the synagogue." Some people become experts in the Scriptures, but their lives are unchanged.

I had a friend who went to seminary. I am not saying all seminaries are bad, because some of them are good, and some can have a good experience as well as a bad experience. I had a good experience, but he had a bad one. And I remember meeting with him, and he was really impressing me with his knowledge. He was telling me things he'd read, and what he knew, and I was going, "Wow, wow, wow."

But after a couple hours, he kind of sadly said, "You know, Skip, I don't even know if I know God anymore." I said, "What?" He goes, "Yeah, I'm not really sure I know God." You see, he started telling me what they were teaching him, and it was an emphasis on head knowledge, but not on knowing God, and prayer, and intercession, and loving one another, and all the real stuff that Christianity is made up of. Just what you stick in your head.

Well, knowledge for the sake of knowledge leads to emptiness. I know so many empty-headed people. As Paul said, they are always learning, but never coming to the knowledge of the truth. Paul said to the Corinthians, "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up or edifies."

One of my favorite stories is about a guy named Crowfoot, who was the chief of the Blackfoot nation in Canada. And when the Canadian Pacific Railroad wanted to lay track between the cities of Alberta and Medicine Head, Calgary and Medicine Head in Alberta, they got his permission to lay the track, being Indian land. He gave them permission, "Go ahead. Lay your track. In exchange for permission to put the railroad track down, they gave this Indian chief a lifetime pass. He could ride on the railroad whenever he wanted. All of the rights and privileges were spelled out, written down.

He took it, and he put it in his leather pouch that he hung around his neck and rode his horse with, and never once used it. When I heard that, I thought, how picturesque of many Christians, who have promises in the Bible. And it's simply a decoration. " have a Bible, you know. Listen to this verse." And they'll quote off a few, but you never really see a trust, a leaning heart in those truths in their lives. I say, turn the Bible loose. That's really where the joy is, in application.

Well tonight, we want to look at just a couple of things, and we're going to skirt them and then close the series. We're going to look at the prerequisites to applying the Bible. The prerequisites to applying the Bible. And then, second of all, the practice of appropriating the Bible. How to do it. How do I apply this book in my life.

Well there are prerequisites, first of all, Before you can apply the Bible, there are some prerequisites. Number one, you have to be His. You have to belong to Jesus Christ. I've had people say, "You know, I've read the Bible and it makes no sense to me. I don't understand anything in it." Well, you know, that could be a clue that they're not a believer. Because you can't have a spiritual appetite unless you're spiritually alive. If you're spiritually dead, you're not hungry. Just like if you're physically dead, you're not hungry. Corpses don't say, "Can have a Big Mac?" They're dead they're insensate.

If you have a spiritual appetite, it shows that you have spiritual life. Paul put it this way. "The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness to him, neither can they know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

There was one time in my experience where this was vividly demonstrated to me. I don't think this has ever been duplicated, at least in my experience. But this one occasion, I was witnessing. I was just went out street witnessing. Got a bunch of tracts, put them in my pockets, Bible in my hand, hit the streets. And I was trying to train a young lady on how to share her faith. And she says, "Don't ask me to say anything tonight. I'm not into this thing." I said, "I'm not asking you. Just follow me and pray for me, and I'll do it."

Now, by the end of the night, she was doing all the talking. She was so excited at the results. But we were on the Huntington Beach Pier, and we had gone from the pier to the parking lot. And it was about o'clock in the morning. And there was one girl that was sitting over by our car. And I started talking to her. And she had a lot of questions about the Bible. I understood that, and she said, "Look. I really have a hunch that what you're telling me is right and true. I'll tell you what. I'll make a deal with you. If you can answer questions that I have, then I will give my heart to Jesus." So I thought, her heart is already soft. So I said, "Tell you what. I'll counter to that offer. You have a hunch that the Gospel is right. I'm going to ask you to commit your life to Jesus Christ now, since it's pretty late. 1 o'clock in the morning. Let's make peace with God right now first. Let's settle that issue. Why don't you, by faith, receive Him as your Lord and Savior. Tomorrow night, here's my number. I'll meet you back here if you'd like. Write the questions out. We'll go over them one by one.

She said, "Deal." She started weeping right in front of me on that pier parking lot, and she asked Jesus to be our Lord and Savior. I talked to her, and as I started talking to her and mentioning that we should get together the next night and go through these issues, she put up her hand. She goes, "Never mind. A lot of those questions, I feel, are being answered right now. I think that God will tell me the rest. I don't think we really need to meet. There was an awakening in her life and lights went off. She was born again.

Secondly, there is another prerequisite. You first of all have to be His. Secondly, you have to be hungry. Even If you are born again, you have to hunger and thirst, as Jesus said, after righteousness. "They shall be filled." God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him, not those who casually snack after him. You have to be hungry. This is how Peter put it. "As newborn babes"- now, get the picture, the imagery, especially if you are a mother. "As newborn babies, crave the pure, sincere milk of the Word, that you may grow by it." You ever seen a hungry baby? They let you know they're hungry. They crave that milk. "Pure, spiritual milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby." And if you don't have that appetite, ask God for it. Ask God to give it to you.

This last week, the reason I was on the airplane coming back today from Dallas is, I was in North Carolina Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for some meetings, and then last night hit the World Series game in Atlanta, and then flew back today. But at the meeting that we had in North Carolina, we were talking about the future of the Billy Graham headquarters at the cove, and what kind of sessions we would plan for the next several years. There were several of us from around the country, and one of Billy Graham and Ruth Graham's daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, who's going to be here at our church in a few weeks. She was talking about the trial that she had in her life as a young mother. She said, "I had a couple of kids. They were young. I didn't have as much time for quiet time, and reading and studying the Bible. And frankly, I was becoming dry. And I didn't think I could even study the Bible with two and three children in the house. It was difficult for me, and I felt alienated from God. Where would I get the time? How would I study my Bible?"

She said, "Then I started thinking back to how I was raised. You know, my dad was gone most of the time, being the world's most famous evangelist. I was raised by my mother, mostly, and my mother taught me the great truths of Scripture. Daddy did too, but mom was there almost single-handedly raising five children." She said, "I remember mama," as she calls it, "always got up earlier than everybody else, and she had her Bible opened up, and she had about 11 different translations of the Bible all laid out on her desk. And she would begin her day by reading them, and studying, and praying. Then the kids would get up, and she'd have to change diapers, get others off to school. But periodically, through the day, she'd always retreat back to that desk, and always maybe get a Scripture, have it in her mind, meditate on it, go back to it. She did that for years."

She said, "Probably every night of the week, I remember, even as a teenager, when I would turn my light out at night, which was pretty late as a teenager, mama's light was always on. And every now and then I'd sneak down, and I'd look, and there she'd be by her bed kneeling with her Bible open. And she'd be praying.

Of course, Ruth kind of jokes it off. She was really always sleeping. But I think we know better. She was praying over the Scriptures for her children. And so Ann said, "I saw my mom always looked for every possible opportunity. She had such a hungry heart. She wanted to apply those truths to her life." So there's a prerequisite. You have to belong to Him and be born again. Secondly, you have to have a hungry heart.

Third, or you have to be humble You have to be humble. I think the best way of reading the Bible is like, well, Samuel put it this way: "Speak, Lord. Your servant hears." That's the idea. As a servant who would listen to the dictates and the instruction of his master. In the old days, servants would watch their master's hand, and if the hand was raised a certain way, it was a certain thing, a command they had to perform. So you'd watch, and as the master would speak, you'd be ready to do it. It's a humble heart.

God told Joshua to take the Bible and meditate on a day and night, that he might do it, and then everything that he would do would be prosperous. And did you know that the kings of Israel, once they were anointed as King and they're monarch over the entire nation, had to have their own Bible by the throne? And did you know that they had to write it themselves? Says that in the Scriptures. They had to hand-copy the first five books of Moses themselves, writing it by hand. And then they would study it.

That's humbling when you're a king. Because kings would usually say, "Bring in the scribe. Take the word processor. Do this for me, would you? No, no, no, king. You must, in silence, get down and start writing it, line upon line, precept upon precept. That was one of the secrets for their guiding. Wouldn't that be great if politicians had to do that today? OK. You want to be president? Get the Bible, and write it by hand, and then live it. That's the way it was in Israel.

I read that Harvard University, the astronomers, have dialed outer space, and they're waiting for an answer. They're sending out signals, and they have an 85 foot in diameter receiving dish near Boston, Massachusetts, listening to outer space. It's a USA Today article that says this endeavor is the most extensive search ever conducted for intelligent life in outer space, as if there's not intelligent life here.

But the project is using a sophisticated computerized radio receiver that allows the scientists to listen and analyze 128,000 frequencies at once, 24 hours a day for four years. Think if we were as determined to listen to the voice of God as they are at Harvard University. Signals up. What's God saying in this situation, IN this conversation, in this feeling that I have, in this text that I am reading? So those are the prerequisites for applying ourselves to Bible study, applying the Bible. We have to be His, we have to be hungry, we have to be humble.

Secondly tonight, I want to talk about the practice of appropriating the Bible. How do I do it? We've talked all about how important it is, how to observe it, how to interpret it. All of the little rules and laws. OK. Now it gets down to doing it on a daily basis. Let me give you an acronym, and I'll attach the truth to that so you can remember it. The acronym is BOLD. B-O-L-D. The B stands for: Believe God's declared truths. The O, in the acronym for BOLD, the O stands for: Obey specific commandments that you read. Obey specific commandments. The L stands for: Learn from examples, good and bad. And the D stands for: Declare God's promises for your own. Now I'll go through them one at a time.

B in BOLD. And that's how we want to approach it. Baldly. The B stands for: Believe God's statements of truth. In the Bible, there are some blanket statements. There's nothing really attached to them. It's a premise. They're foundational truths. And when we read them, there's no promise. There is no negative attached to it. There is no qualification. No condition. Just, here's a premise. When we read those premises, those foundational truths. It is incumbent upon God's children not to argue with it, but to say, "I stand on that. I believe that as a declared premise, and I'm going to base my life on it. For instance, it says in 1 John, God is love. There is no argument. There is no precondition. There's no qualification. God is love. Then there are some premises, declarations of truth, and there is something attached to it. The premise is stated, and it's like there's a qualifying therefore. For example, Jesus said, "God is Spirit." That's the premise. And then he said, "And those who worship Him, must worship Him in spirit and in truth. In other words, here is a foundational truth. Therefore, if you're going to worship God, who is Spirit, He's not material. He is not the earth. He is not part of the earth. He's Spirit. You must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.

Another one in Psalm 19, we find this blanket statement of the nature of God and his sovereignty. It says, "The heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament shows his handiwork. Day onto day, they utter their speech. Night unto night, they reveal their knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world."

When we read statements about God's nature, these declared truths, that's where we stand upon them and say, "It's God's Word. I'm going to believe it." Some of those are going to fly in the face of what the world says, what the humanists say, what others would say. Let it. Let it. Don't let that worry you. Don't think you have to be God's lawyer, and see that you have to defend that all the time. You know, when you have a lion, you don't have to defend a lion. You just let it loose. There's power in God's revealed truth. And we see that in the Bible.

I think of Billy Graham What an example. He came to a crisis of faith. Early on in his ministry, there were things he read in the Bible that he didn't understand. We all do that, right? There's a lot that we don't understand. If it's God's revelation, you'd expect that which is infinite to somehow transcend that which is finite. And he came to grips with that, or he tried to. And he wrestled with it, till one night, in northern California, outside of a conference center, by a rock, he knelt down, and he prayed, and he said, "I'm going to believe this book. I don't care what happens to my life. I'm going to live my life based on this book." That was the beginning of a worldwide ministry for Billy Graham, as God honored that commitment to His Word.

Here's an example of how it can fly in the face of modern philosophy. The world would say, everybody is basically good. Romans 3, the Bible says, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Boy, that's a radical departure from what this world says. The world would say, "There is no hell. There is no need to be concerned." Jesus said that we should fear him who has the power both to destroy and to throw into hell. Luke chapter 12, verse 5. Some would say heaven is not a real place. Jesus said, "In my Father's house are many mansions. I'm going to prepare a place for you."

Another example. Some people would say there's no such thing as life after death. You live, and it's over. Or you live, and then you die, and then you live again. And you die, and you live again. And you die. And the Bible says, in Hebrews 9:27, "Man is destined to die once, and after that comes the judgment." And the world would say that we can't be sure of our salvation. I was taught that growing up. You never know till you die. I always thought, too late to find out you were wrong. The Bible tells us in 1 John, these things are written that you may know that you have eternal life. These are declarations of truth that can free us. They are foundational as we believe them. So that's the B, Believe the declarations of truth.

Secondly, the O in BOLD stands for: Obey specific commands. Now, you've all read through the Bible, where you've come up with a commandment, to do something, or to not do something. A negative commandment, to avoid something. Jesus said, as a command, "You must be born again." That's pretty strong, isn't it? He didn't say, "Well, you know, can I make a suggestion here? Now you don't have to if you don't want to. This is optional. There are many other ways. If you'd like to be born again, that is one possibility, but you don't have to." No, He said, "You must be born again." Moreover, there were consequences of not obeying that command. "If you're not born again, Nicodemus, you will not see the Kingdom of God" was given as attached to that commandment. Another example is the idea that we must repent of our sins. It says in Mark Chapter 1, "The time is fulfilled. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel. I remember praying with somebody, and they said, "Lord, forgive me of all of my hangups. You know what? God isn't in the business of forgiving hangups, but of forgiving sin. Until we realize it's sin that I must confess and turn from, as the Bible says, will we ever find forgiveness and solace.

Okay, now here's a secret when we come to the commandments. Look for the core principle of the commandment, because there are some commandments that aren't written to everybody as a whole, but they are given to a specific person or group at a specific time. But when you look at that specific command, there still is a core principle that could be applied to everyone. As an example, in Matthew chapter 19, let's turn over there. Matthew, the 19th chapter. Jesus speaks to a rich young ruler and tells him specifically some things to do. Some commands. Verse 16. "Behold, one came and said to Him, 'Good teacher, what good thing so I do, that I may have eternal life?' And He said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good but one. That is God.' But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. He said to Him, 'Which ones?' Jesus said, "You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. Honor your Father and your mother. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.' The young man said to him, 'All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack? Jesus said to him, "If you want to be complete, perfect,' teleios is the word used, "Go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come and follow me.' But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. And Jesus said to his disciples, 'Assuredly, I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.'"

Now Jesus told this guy to sell everything, and to give it to the poor, and that he would have treasure in heaven. His possessions kept him, hindered him from a relationship with God. What Jesus was doing was touching the very idol in his life, which was his position, his possessions, his wealth. Not everybody has the problem of the rich young man. There are some people that wish they had the problem of the rich young ruler. They're broke, however. I owe, I owe, so off to work I Go They're piling up the debt in their lives. So they would look at this and they say, "Oh, this doesn't apply to me." You're right. Specifically, that command may not apply. But there's a core principle.

The idea is, if anything is hindering, is standing in the way between you and a full relationship with God through Jesus Christ, get rid of it, whether it's your wealth, whether it's a position that you have, or a relationship that you might have. Get rid of it. There's still a core idea behind the commandment.

Now, the L in the BOLD, B-O-L-D. The L in the acronym stands for Learn by scriptural examples. Learn by scriptural examples. Remember, the writer of Hebrews said that we're surrounded with a great cloud of witnesses. And these are examples, the apostle Paul told us. One thing that's great about the Bible is that we see truth fleshed out. Here's real men and real women, in real situations, who really had problems and did certain things. And some of them were good things, and we should do what they did. And some of them really were rotten things we shouldn't do. There's positive and there's negative examples.

One of the things that I appreciate about this book is that it doesn't hide the truth about its heroes it doesn't say, "Now let me tell you about King David. What a perfect person he was. Never sined." No, it says that David was a man after God's own heart, though he was an adulterer, a terrorist, a murderer. He was a sinner. Yet he always came back to a place of worship and humility in his life. Eventually, not always immediately. But in Psalm 27, listen to what David wrote. "The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? One thing I have desired of the Lord, and that will I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple."

In other words, "I have one wish. One desire. One pursuit. And that is, I want to be in God's house, and know Him intimately." Now, David didn't always act like that. But he would repent, and he would come back. A couple of verses later, in the same Psalm, listen to how responsive David was to the Lord, "Lord when you said, 'Seek My face,' my heart responded, and said, 'Your face, Lord, will I seek.' When my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take care of me."

So David was a flawed vessel, but he always would return to the Lord, in prayer and in worship. Okay. Look at David, Let that encourage you if you have failed. If you have failed. Since we have failed, we look at the life of David, and we think, "I take courage in this guy," because he was called a man after God's own heart." Why? Because he was perfect? No. Because the one thing he wanted is the one thing God wanted, fellowship. Intimacy. And God always provided a way.

Then there are negative examples David is one of them, but, he's also a positive example. But there are stark negative examples. So my dad used to always tell me, "Learn from that, son. Look at that character. Don't do that." Or if I would do something wrong, he would say, "Don't do that again."

An example is the children of Israel. They were good at doing things the wrong way. And Paul used them as an example. 1 Corinthians Chapter 10, verses 6 through 11, quote, "Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted, and do not become idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, 'The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.' Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day 23,000 fell. Nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents. Nor complain, as some of them complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. All of these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the age have come."

So here's a bunch of guys who were bad examples. Don't do what they did. As the old axiom goes, whoever does not learn from history is doomed to relive it. God has given us positive examples, negative examples. Here we should follow. Here we should avoid. So learn by scriptural examples, when you read a biographical portion of the scripture.

Fourthly and finally, the D in the BOLD stands for: Declare God's promises, God's truths, for your own. In other words, you find a promise, make it your own. Claim it as your own. Back in 1956 there was an article in Time magazine, not that I could read back then or have this article. But I found this later on. A schoolteacher named Everet Storms of Kitchener, Canada. After reading through the Bible, it was his 27th time, decided to, by hand, tally up all the promises in the Bible. And he came up with 7,487 promises that were made by God to man. That should keep us busy for a while. 7,487. Now what should we do with those promises? We should claim them.

When I say claim them, it just doesn't mean you read and go, "I claim it. Amen." There's more to it than that. You have to be receptive, open hearted to that promise, willing to accept whatever. Because you know, there are some promises that give you assurances of blessing, and other promises that assure you of judgment. It's not like you can pick and choose. I like that promise. Forget that one. Negative promise. I'm sorry. It's all part of it. It's all there.

There's two kinds of promises in the Bible. We should know what they are. There's a conditional promise, and there's an unconditional promise. There are some times God made a promise, and basically said, "I'm going to do this, and nothing you do will alter what I'm going to do." It is unconditional. There's no strings attached. Even if you fail to the max, this is what I'm going to do. It's a declaration of sovereign God toward imperfect man, unrelated to imperfect man. That's an unconditional promise.

God made a covenant with Noah, an unconditional promise. He said, in Genesis 9, "This is the sign of the covenant that I will make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations. I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. It will be that when I bring a cloud over the earth, the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud, and I will remember my covenant, which is between Me and you, and every living creature of all flesh. The waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh That's a declaration. It's an unconditional promise.

Another one is what God said to Abram, when he called him out of Ur of the Chaldees, and said, "You're going to inhabit a new land." and this is what God said he would do. Genesis 12. "I will make you a great nation. I will bless you. I will make your name great. You shall be a blessing, and I will bless those who bless you. I will curse those who curse you, and in all the families of the earth will be blessed." I will, I will, I will. Not, now Abraham, if you do this, then I will do that. Just, this is what I am going to do, Abe. "In you, all the nations of the earth will be blessed." Ultimately, that's a promise fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who would come from the loins of Abraham. No strings attached to that. Unconditional.

There are other promises, however, that are conditional promises. There are strings attached. There is the word if in it. If you do this, then you can expect this. And when there are conditional promises, we don't have the right to skip past the condition, and just say, "I claim this on my own, without keeping the condition. "You will find me," said God, "if you seek after me with all of your heart." "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." There is conditions to them.

One is in Philippians chapter 4:19. Want to hear a glorious promise? Listen to this one. "And my God shall supply all of your needs, according to his riches in glory, by Christ Jesus." What a great promise. But when we memorize scripture verses out of context, we might think there is not a condition attached to it. If we were to read that chapter, especially five verses before that, Paul is basically saying, since you Philippians sacrificially gave and supported my missionary endeavor in these parts of the world so that the Gospel could be preached, since you thought of getting the work of God done so unselfishly, you don't have to worry about your needs. My god shall supply all your needs. That's who the promise was written to, those type of people. But there was a precondition to be fulfilled.

Deuteronomy 28 is another one. I can't go through it all. It would take 20 minutes. But God says, "I'm bringing you into a land. If you obey these commands, and if you keep them, and if you listen to My voice, and if you do it, then I will bless you in your feeding troughs. I'll bless you when you go out. I'll bless you when you come in. I'll bless you when you have kids. I'll bless your cows, your sheep." And He went on and on. A whole, litany of what He'd do.

Said, "But, when I bring you into the land, if you do not obey Me, and if you go after other gods, then I will curse you. In your kneading trough, in your going out, in your coming in. your enemies will pursue you. There was a whole chapter filled with a conditional promise. So we can't just underline a part of it and say, I like that verse but, forget that. And a lot of people do that. They play spiritual smorgasbord with the Bible. It's like they go through the line and go, "Good. Good. Not good. Not good. Not good. Rip that section out. But I like this."

You don't have the right to do that. "All scripture is God-breathed, inspired by God, is profitable for instruction, reproof, correction, and righteousness, that the man of God may be complete."

William Penn, who was the founder of Pennsylvania, it was named after him, the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, was in his day popular with the Native Americans, the Indians of his territory. And one evening, they were talking, and they kind of challenged him. They said, "We will give you as much land as you can encompass by foot in a single day." They didn't think he would actually do it.

He got up early the next morning and walked and walked, and came home that night and gave them a map of his survey. They were a little bit surprised that he did this, but they gave him the land, and it is today called Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Here's a man who put feet on the promises that were given, and walked through the territory, and claimed it as his own, and appropriated a promise. And he was given that promise. How many promises of God are left untapped by the children of God because we don't encompass them and make them our own?

In the next couple of minutes, I'm going to give you a list of questions to ask. These are questions that I like to ask when I have my devotional time. I set my heart before God. I've met the conditions. I belong to Him. I am hungry, and I'm humble, because I want to do what He says. I'm willing to look at the commandments, to obey them. I'm going to believe declared truths about Him. I'm going to learn from examples. I'm going to claim promises.

Picture the scene here. It's early morning. Now, this is maybe idealistic for some of you, who maybe get up at 10:00 or 11:00. And third service is like, "Gosh, I got to get up early. It starts at 11:15." There's morning people and night people, I suppose. But let's say it's early morning. The kids are asleep, or you have a solid block of time, an hour all to yourself. You open up your Bible. You have your notebook ready. Your heart has been prepared. You're prayed up. You've got your double cappuccino, low fat milk, latte mocha, or whatever it is, and you're ready to study the Word.

When I read a section of the Bible, there's a few questions that I like to go over in my mind. One question, let me just read them to you. How does this apply to my life? And I make the necessary observation, interpretation. How does this apply to my life, my job, my nation, my family today? Then it's not hypothetical any more. I'm in it. What does this have to do with Skip now, today, as I read it? That's the first question I like to ask.

Secondly as I read this, and truth is being revealed, what changes do I need to make? If I'm confronted with truth, my presupposition is I'm not always doing that. But I find something that I must do. How must I change? What changes must I make based upon what I am reading?

Number three, how will I carry out those changes, today, if possible? Not, what changes? That's still theoretical. Now, how will I carry out those changes? Implement them in my life.?

Number four, what will my personal prayer be based on what I just read? I think that we should always respond to God's truth, first of all, in prayer. We respond. What will my prayer be? I kind of see what needs to be prayed for as well as implement.

Number five, what verse in this section should I memorize? This is what I mean by that. When you read a chapter, two chapters, or a paragraph, there is probably one or two kernel thoughts that are like key Scriptures, that if you memorize them, sort of give you the general thrust of what you just read. Memorize it. Commit it to memory. Write it down on a little card. Or if you're good at memorizing it, right there, go over it several times. And then you can roll that around in your gray matter in the next few hours of the morning. Bounce it around on the walls of your skull all day, hoping that it will seep into the heart and be transformed into your life as you walk it. So memorize the Scripture David said, "Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You."

Number six and some are into this, and some are not. But I find it helpful on some occasions. What illustration can you come up with to remember that truth? You know, I don't have the time, really, but in this book, we've kind of given an example. We take a section of Scripture as if we're using that as our quiet time, and we ask all of these questions, and show how we can isolate a scripture, come up with a picture that we can remember or write down next to our Bible, and we can remember what truth God sunk into our lives. So maybe you can come up with a picture or an illustration.

But here's the truth. As you determine to not only read, but live out these truths, here's a guarantee: your life will be transformed. It will be. And reading the Bible will become so joyful, It'll be like, "What is God going to tell me today?" But there's not much joy if you just want to observe and interpret without applying and making it really personal. When you do. However, there will be joy. As the prophet Jeremiah said, "Your word was found, and I did eat it, and it was the joy and the rejoicing of my heart."

There is no book that comes even close to this book. This book towers above all others, in terms of the effect it has had on this planet and can have in your life. Let me close with, I always like to close with these little things that sort of capsulize the moment. I don't know who wrote this. It's anonymous. But he's right on, or she is right on, who wrote this. The author said, "This book is the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy. Its precepts are binding. Its histories are true. Its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise. Believe it to be safe. Practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler's map. It is the pilgrim's staff. It is the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword, and the Christian's character. Here is paradise restored, heaven opened, the gates of hell disclosed. Christ is its grand subject, our good its design, and the glory of God it's end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently, prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure. Follow its precepts, and it will lead you to Calvary. To the empty tomb. To a resurrected life in Christ.

Additional Messages in this Series

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Date Title   Watch Listen Notes Share Save Buy
6/13/1996
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Getting Prepared, Getting Excited
Skip Heitzig
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Message Summary
God speaks to us through His Word—giving us encouragement, guidance, and sometimes rebuke, but always in love. We struggle with parts of it, but consistent exposure to the Bible along with a consistent desire to obey it will do more for your Christian walk than anything else. In this message, Skip Heitzig explains that the Bible is not just for an elite group of scholars—it's for everyone.
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6/20/1996
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Having the Right Tools
Skip Heitzig
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Any person performing a job needs to have the right tools, whether an artist, builder, or surgeon. It's no different when you study the Bible, but it can be overwhelming trying to find the right tools. In this message, Skip Heitzig shares how you can find the right Bible for you and gives you insight on resources like Bible concordances, dictionaries, and commentaries.
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7/18/1996
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Taking the Right Approach
Skip Heitzig
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Message Summary
How should you study the Bible? Some might study it mystically, looking for hidden meanings, or academically, like it's just another piece of literature. But the Bible is unlike any other book, so we should approach it differently. In this message, Skip Heitzig explains how to study God's Word so you can extract the richness of the text and apply it to your life.
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8/15/1996
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Open Your Eyes: Observation
Skip Heitzig
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The Bible is the best-selling book of all time, with millions of Bibles sold every year. But that doesn't mean there is a corresponding growth in Bible knowledge. You can own a Bible but fail to observe and absorb what's in it, so it becomes part of you. In this message, Skip Heitzig shares a few ways you can observe the Bible in order to enhance your reading and enjoyment of God's Word.
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8/29/1996
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Open Your Mind: Interpretation
Skip Heitzig
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Message Summary
When it comes to interpreting the Bible, many people have a relative approach: they have their interpretation, and you have yours. But it's important to have the right interpretation, because from the Bible, you make decisions on how to live your life. In this message, Skip Heitzig gives you some helpful rules and methods you can follow to correctly and accurately interpret the Bible.
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9/12/1996
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Open Your Senses: How to Study Figurative Language - Part 1
Skip Heitzig
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Message Summary
The Bible isn't a volume of systematic theology; it's full of stories, poetry, and vivid language that appeals to our senses. God wants to capture our attention through His Word, so His truths will saturate our minds and fill our hearts. In this message, Skip Heitzig shares some helpful tips on interpreting the figurative language found in the Bible.
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10/17/1996
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Open Your Senses: How to Study Figurative Language - Part 2
Skip Heitzig
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Message Summary
We often use figures of speech to express something in a way that's not literal. The Bible is full of figurative language, expressing truth in dramatic and vivid ways to unlock the mind and heart to receive that truth. In this message, Skip Heitzig looks at four creative ways that truth is communicated in the Bible, showing you how to read and interpret this type of language.
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There are 7 additional messages in this series.
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