Panting for God's Word

Well, let's move right into this message. I'd like to share a story with you. I love to tell stories, and this is one of my favorites to tell. That's why I tell it every so often. Maybe we're about five or six years. So you've forgotten hearing about this story before, okay? We've mesmerized you. We go blink and forgotten what the story is. But it's a powerful point that'll lead us to what the message is going to be about. There was a young man, and he asked an old minister if he would consider baptizing him. And he said, sure, son, you follow me down by the riverside. And so once there, they waded into the deep, into the water, and the minister asked the young man, he said, son, are you ready? And the young man thought, well, this is going to be my big moment. And it was, but it wasn't how he expected it. So he just answered back to the old man. And he said, sure, I'm ready. And before the young man knew it, the minister grabbed him and thrust him down under the water and held him there. And bubbles were coming up to the surface. Finally, the young man was pulled up. And the young man just exclaimed, well, what did you do that for? He said, that's your first lesson.

When you want to truly experience God as much as you want to breathe, it's only then that I can be your guide. Come back and we'll have another lesson.

This story, while somewhat humorous, highlights a very important contrast that I want to share with you and build upon. And we'll build upon the fine foundation that Chris left us with. And it is the contrast—stay with me, please—it is the contrast between duty versus desire before our God. The difference between duty and desire. The difference between simply going through the motions of expected religious routine and fervently desiring to experience God at every level of our existence. Now, let's take a breath, just like the young man for a moment. Let's take a breath. And let's consider God's message to us on this day regarding desire versus the needfulness towards his words, as illustrated over in the book of Psalms. Join me if you would for a moment. Let's go to Psalms. Let's open up our Bibles. That's why we're here. Psalms 42. Let's pick up the thought. Let's pick up the thought in verse 1. To the chief musician, contemplation of the sons of Korah. It says, As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for you, O God, my soul thirst for God, for the living God. And when shall I come? Here's the question. When shall I come? And when might I appear before God? It's interesting here that it speaks and describes the panting of a creature out in the wilderness. Let's talk about this for a moment. Let's define the word pant. What does it mean to pant? Some definitions of pant is to, are you with me? To long eagerly. It is to yearn. Have you ever had a yearning? Have you ever had an ache? Have you ever had an itch?

That's seemingly, that as much as you scratch, it can never be fulfilled. There's a yearning, there's an itch, there's a throb, there's a a hankering that you desire it so much. It's interesting that the words here say, so pants my soul for you. The direction is towards God and nothing else. So pants. I hunger, I thirst, I hanker, I yearn, I long for you, O God. Now, it's interesting when you look at the character that is involved here is a deer. And we have deer right over here and right, right beyond us, behind us here. Of course, even in the Verdugo Hills, much less the San Gabriel's and on and on. A deer can, when you think about it, have almost everything. It can have a soft meadow. How often have some of us been to Yosemite? And remember those beautiful meadows? And you're doing that circular drive around Yosemite, around and around. All of a sudden, you know, where the Merced River goes right to the middle, and all of a sudden, about evening fall, a pop's a deer. They're in the meadow. A deer can have meadow. A deer can have a forest shade. But if it has no water, ultimately it has nothing. And especially other than today, of all days when it's raining, we are still in a drought, and how that has affected our wildlife. So we recognize how you can sense that when it has not rained for such a long, long time, then all of a sudden the streams begin to fill and begin to fill, or those little ponds begin to develop. What it means to nature, and what it means to a deer. Let's look at this again. As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for you. Oh, God. Today, the title of my message is simply this. Panting for God's word. Panting for God's word. Now, I recognize, I'm talking to an audience. Let's be real. Let's be frank. I'm talking to an audience. Some of you have been reading the Word of God for 50 or 60 years.

Some of you come to church, and perhaps you are not reading the Word of God at all. You grew up in the church. You grew up in this way of life. You're kind of like in a rhythm. It's the seventh day. I better be with the people of God, and you come. And even when we ask you to turn to the Scripture, you don't open to the Bible. You're not reading the Word of God.

Some of you want to read the Word of God. You have a resolution. And the one thing you learn, especially in the month of January, is you make a resolution. Not to make any resolutions, because you never follow through on your resolutions. But that's why I want to talk to you as the people of God and those that are listening today, how important it is to pant after God's Word. Some of you recognize that perhaps you have not been thirsty for God's Word for a long, long time. You've forgotten what it tastes like to drink in of God's Word. So I hope that this message will be for everybody. How important is the concept of panting for God's Word? Allow me to be frank and please hear me. Your spiritual life depends upon it. And your ability to glorify God and thought and word and deed and to be a blessing to other people and to be a light as you and I have been called to be is dependent, dependent on panting for the Word of God. Before going any further, let's understand not the world that we desire, but the world that we exist in. Let's be real. Let's understand that world. Our world and the prevalent culture is incredibly demanding as the world shrinks to the size of a smartphone.

Now again, I am not anti-technology, but this is the world that we're in. It's interesting, I was watching the news the other night that even those that are in the Bay Area, that are some of the tech giants, those that actually founded a lot of this industry with their own children, are putting on restrictions, asking them to take a breath, to take a break, and to stop the world coming at them so quickly and so rapidly, which falls into what Chris was talking about. Today, there is more information on the smartphone that you have in your briefcase or that you're using right now. There's more information on them than in the ancient libraries of Pergamum, in Asia Minor, and Alexandria. And let's throw in, are you with me, the Library of Congress? I think all Americans know how big and how great the Library of Congress is, and that is all stored alone on your smartphone. And not only that, but with the connection with the outside world and people continually knocking on your door with messages, with text, with phone calls, knocking on your door, knocking on your door, taking your time, and also also looking into the windows of your life. The windows of your life. There are more people, are you with me? There are more people that are knocking on your door, on any given day. You choose Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, Tuesday and Thursday in between. There are more people that are knocking on your door today, connecting with you, and are looking into the windows of your life through Facebook than your parents or your grandparents probably encountered in a year or two when they were growing up in the Midwest or down South, or maybe up here in the Central Valley. Interesting. Interesting. And here's what I want to share with you. Even with the Christian community, it has done something to us. The culture is changing and molding and shaping us and thwarting us from panting like that deer for God's Word and allowing him not only to knock on the door of our heart, but to entertain the information that he has from this Holy Word. I'd like to share a story with you to make a point on this. It's from a book entitled Learn to Breathe, and it's by a gentleman named Jim Mindling, and I'd like to quote from pages 80 and 81 from Learning How to Breathe. Stay with me for a moment. The story is short, just a couple paragraphs. This is Jim speaking in a meeting that he had been called to. Several years ago, I was in an intense meeting that required—and you think about some of the meetings that you have—that required no interruption. As we were getting started, the leader asked us all to turn off our mobile phones. We all complied except for one, a sharp business executive in her four days. She began to gently protest that she needed that phone on, but would keep it on vibrate.

An interesting power struggle ensued. As we all watched with growing interest, the leader insisted that she turn it off. She said, you've got to be kidding me. She pleaded, her eyes nervous, and her eyes researching. I always have it on. Please, this is in a business meeting. Please, just let me put it on vibrate. The passion and the panic in her voice was startling. You would have thought he had asked her to just own her firstborn.

Maybe she was. And it didn't just have to be a she. We could turn this story around to a he.

Mind you, this wasn't a teenage drama queen. She was an accomplished, seasoned professional. But everybody has their weak spot. Middling says here for me, it's ice cream. For her, it was her mobile phone. She was completely flustered at the thought of being unconnected. She's not alone. Smartphones have become the umbilical and connecting us to society.

Most people can't imagine life without a mobile phone. You may not be obsessive about having it on all the time, but you want to have it nearby available. The reason why is because that's your connection with your family or your job with your world. Because of our mobile phones, we can stay connected in a 24-7 world. Now, before we go any further, so often we talk about this 24-7 world. Are you with me? But we're going to be dealing with another 24-7 world that God has invited us to.

Let's understand here for a moment. Let's understand this for a moment. There's nothing wrong with being in a 24-7 world. The big question, the choices that you make when you slow down to win the race at a step before us, is which one do you want to be in? Which 24-7 world do we want to be simply in this natural man-made, man-wrought 24-7 world? Or do we want to be involved in the 24-7 world that God has invited us into? That God has invited us into? And to have that desire that the the baptizer, the old man, told the young man about. Until then, I can't be your guide. I want to be your guide today, brethren.

You're our brethren, and we're family. And so we're talking honestly about the polls that are honest today in this man-made 24-7 world, this addiction that has set upon the world over the last 20 or 25 years. Again, technology, are you with me? Technology of and by itself is not bad. It's a tool, or it's an instrument, but an instrument can either be used as a tool, or it can be used against as a weapon.

The difficulty that we have today that actually the people that are up in Puget Sound and those in the Bay Area that are involved with this, we now know that that some of the individuals that were involved in the design of it have purposely made it addictive.

It is addictive, and it draws us and takes our time from the 24-7 world that God has called us to. Staying connected is an incredible idea. In fact, I want to share with you today, staying connected.

We use that term today, staying connected. I'm connected. Staying connected is an incredible idea. In fact, it's God's idea, and it's his personal invitation to us. And I want to talk today, you know, we use this term about apps. Apps, I'm not talking about my lack of muscles, but we're talking apps. This is an app. You want to be tied into eternity. You want to be tied into experience God the Father and Jesus Christ and the indwelling of their Holy Spirit, literally, literally in us.

This is an app. This is an app. This is the connection. And there should not be a time that we push the off button on this app. Now, most of us in church, before we start, the song leader will say, will you please turn off your instrument? And we dutifully do that. But God always wants us to be connected to him. He always wants us to utilize this app that he has given us. And that's what I want to go on. Now, why, and we do a lot of why, where, when, and how here. Why is it so important?

Why is it so important that we make a choice about God's 24-7 world? Why is it important that we make a choice to keep this app open and on and available and connected to it? And where is the challenge? Jesus spoke to that. Join me, if you would, in John 17. In John 17, let's take a look here here. In John 17, Jesus specifically designed the spot to where the Father's work would be in us and where he would help us. In John 17 verse 14, let's notice.

So it says, I have noticed given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I would suggest that one of the reasons why they, these disciples then, and speaking to us today, because these words come down to us today, is specifically because of that app, because of God's Word that Jesus did give us. I don't pray that you should take them out of the world. What? What? It would be so much easier. Beam me up, Scotty.

Up with what is reserved for us and is coming back down to this earth. It'd be so much easier to be beamed up. And yet, here's the Master, and he's saying, I'm not telling you to take them out of the world. Not at all. I don't pray that way, but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Then notice verse 17, sanctify, that's kind of a fancy Greek word. Set them apart. Fortify them. Embrace them by your truth.

Your word is truth.

Truth is a meager, meager commodity today in this world. Just watch the evening news. Just watch the evening news, and all of a sudden what you think is truth changes to something else the next day. Because people are not slowing down, as Chris has encouraged us to on this day. They jump. They make decisions. And they're too rapid. Here's what I want to share with you today. And I'm going to really encourage some of you to think about this and to pray about it and to yearn for it. The ultimate solution is replacing one twenty-two thousand people one twenty-four seven world for another and spiritually staying online. Think of it the Bible this way of staying online with God and Jesus Christ. Staying online with the kingdom experience. Staying online about learning about His righteousness. We're going to talk about that a little bit more. Now, an app or an application app is a small version of a software program that's designed to perform a specific function for the user. So let's understand for a moment with the Word of God, this app, why the function? Why has God given it to those that He is working with today? Join me if you would in Ephesians 5. In Ephesians 5, which normally we think about marriage and Christ being the head of the family, the role of the man, the role of the woman, but there's something I want to kind of touch upon in the middle of all this. Ephesians 5, in picking up the thought in verse 25. Stay with me. Husbands, love your wives. Stay with me. Just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her. So there's a typology here.

But then notice verse 26. This is what I'd like to center on. That He might sanctify, or again, set apart and cleanse her with the washing of the water by the Word.

The washing, not washed past tense, washing as if it's an ongoing, needful experience to clean us and to prepare us to be a holy people. That He might present... what is this washing of the water produced? That He, speaking of God and His purposes in us, that He might present her to Himself. A glorious church. That's what the washing of the water, using this application, staying connected, moving into, staying in this 24-7 world, not having spot, neither wrinkle, or any such thing, but that she, being the church, being the ecclesia, being the elect, should be holy and without blemish. The washing of the water by the Word. I loved Chris's message, and then he says that we have to slow down to win the race. So we're going to slow down right now by going to Susan's mother's favorite verse. Join me if you would in Psalms 46 and verse 10.

We're going to slow down in this 24-7 world that Jesus said, keep them down there, so that we can understand how to transfer our loyalties, our time, and our energy to the 24-7 world that God's called us to. Psalms 46. Let's take a look. Verse 10. Here we go. Be still and know that I am God, and I will be exalted among the nations, and I will be exalted in the earth.

The Lord of hosts is with us. He desires to be connected. He wants to stay in touch.

He wants to continually be coming at us through the Spirit. The God of Jacob is our refuge.

With that stated, let's be still and notice the example of the head of the body, the head of the church, the Lord of our life, the one that the Father sent to this earth, so that we as human beings might come to understand what God would be like and what God would do if he were in human flesh. I'm going to ask you to think a little bit with me. Stay with me, okay, for a moment. We're going to think. Consider for a moment. Pause. Jesus himself lived a 24-7 existence with God by continually imbibing of his word. It literally nourished him. Now, I'm going to turn to a phrase in a few minutes that we're very familiar with, but first of all, would you join me in the most ancient literature that we have in Scripture in the book of Job, right in front of the book of Psalms. Join me, if you would, in Job 2312, thinking that this was written probably about 3800 to 3900 years ago in Job 23. And let's notice verse 12. I have not departed from the commandments of his lips. Job never pushed the off button. I have not departed from the commandments of his lips. I have treasured the words of his mouth. And it's more than my necessary food. I don't know if you've ever seen this Scripture, and we're going to build upon it in a moment. You'll notice the New Testament adaptation. But notice it says, he treasured. It was like that deer that panted after the water. It's like the young man that the old guy was trying to say, until, until you want this as much as you want to breathe, I can't work with you.

And we're going to talk about how to get there by the end of this message. Now, with that spoken, join me, if you would, in the Gospel of Matthew. In the Gospel of Matthew, and let's go to Matthew 4. Are you with me? In Matthew 4, let's notice what it says here.

Jesus speaking, and this is in the midst of the wilderness trauma. But he answered and said, it is written. And that's very important. We're going to build on that in a moment. It is written. How did he know what it was written? Because you read it. He was connected. And he said, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Bread is great. Had some this morning.

Boy, did I make a good fried egg sandwich this morning. You can ask Susan. Love bread, love eggs, and everything in between the bread and the eggs that I put in there. It's the only thing I can cook other than spreading peanut butter. I'm a real whiz in the kitchen.

Bread is great. Food is great. Bread alone feeds the body. But if you are just eating bread alone and keeping both feet in this 24-7 world and not taking up the invitation of our father above to be a part of his kingdom experience, that same bread without opening up the bread of life, without opening up the word of God, starves the soul. It starves the soul. These words, these words that are before us, I can walk here a little bit if I fall. It's my knee. These words that you and I are reading today that were originally in Aramaic and Hebrew and later Greek were transcribed and transformed under the pain of death, of being burned at the stake and strangled at the stake. How important is that? That God used people like a tin-bale who gave his life, who gave his life, that these words can be between these two covers. The very heart and the very mind of God in a 24-7 world that is without end.

That is eternity. And God invites us into that 24-7 world of eternity, and yet we get stuck with our 24-7 world here because we don't slow down. How important is this, the word of God?

He spoke it. Jesus spoke it. I want to share a thought with you. The words of God were Jesus' first tongue. They were his first language. Yes, we are a nation of immigrants, and oftentimes when people come, they begin by speaking their language of their parents or their grandparents when they come, going back to the Dutch, going back to the Irish, going back, you name it, for 400 years. And oftentimes it's interesting that your first language, even though you might move into, like we say, English, which is the predominant language of America, your, your, your, the way that you speak is formed at a very early, your first language tends to form the way that you speak. There tends to, tends to most of the time, be an accent because your life and your jaw and your face has moved around by the way that you're expressing yourself and you're expressing that language. Think about this for a moment. Jesus' first language were the words of God. It was His accent on life. You knew it when you ran into Him by not only what He spoke, but how He phrased it, how He spoke it. It, it poured out of Him. When Jesus either conversed or taught people, it was normally through the Scripture. Let me share a few thoughts for you. A quick tally would show that in Matthew's account, the first gospel, three out of the first four times that Jesus addresses people, He's quoting, are you with me? Scripture, the Word. He's connected. In Luke's account, the third gospel, the first three times He speaks, He was quoting Scripture, and the fourth time He was reading it, that's probably the sermon in Nazareth, and then He sat down and immediately quoted another one and alluded to others.

Christ never faced a challenge in which He didn't answer, it is written. And or haven't you read the Scriptures? As a matter of fact, the very last words of our Savior on the cross, quoting the Psalms out of Psalms 31, into your hands I commit my Spirit. It was His first language. It's how His life was structured. It's what came out of it. We might say this, if we're bold enough, we might say that, and allow me to be blunt, He was saturated, and He was overflowing with the Word of God as being God the Father's representative of that 24-7 world that He pioneered for you and me. But He was tied to this app, tied to this connection, and He never turned it off because He realized then that His umbilical cord to the Father, if we want to use human terms, would be cut off. Let's take it a step further. Can we go a little bit further here and talk about slowing down? Do you remember what Chris spoke about? This is where I want to build. Once again, this is more than ever a challenge for Spirit-led folks.

In traveling and what? I'm going to throw out a terminology. You might want to jot this down. The speed of walk. The speed of walk. That is traveling. You might want to jot this down. Jonathan, are you jotting it down? Get ready. S-O-C. The speed of walk is synonymous with the Spirit of Christ and the speed of Christ. The speed of walk. Think about this for a moment. I'm going to stretch your mind and bring you back to this earth. Jesus, the Word, as revealed in John 1, the one that God the Father allowed to create all things, creating the speed of light, which is, we all learned, if we can remember, the speed of light is 186,000 miles per second. That means seven times around the globe, like that. That's what the Word did. But I want to challenge you to think about this for a moment. In his own lifetime as Jesus, the Son of Man, and yet the Son of God, in this 24-7 world that he represented and stayed in, never walked more than four miles per hour. Four miles per hour. Is that slowing down enough, Chris? Four miles per hour.

And Christ walked everywhere that he went. I want to share with you for a moment. It might be a little hard on our psyches. You've got to be kidding me. I'm not telling you to abandon your cars. Okay, let's be real. But imagine traveling at the speed of Christ, as he existed in that 24-7 world with the Father. He never tweeted. He never texted. He never listened to the GPS guide chatting away. He didn't have everybody knocking on the door of his mind. He didn't have everybody looking into the window of his life. But, oh my, what a world was his that gave him a peace that passeth understanding. Join me if you would in Matthew 6, 25. In Matthew 6 and verse 25, and these are words that we know, but this was the speed of Christ. Sometimes when we tell people, we want to give them a chill pill. That doesn't cost anything. We say, go out and smell the roses. So this is kind of the, go out and smell the roses. Notice verse 25. Everybody today in society that is overtaxed with information and communication, that we have more worry today than has ever existed in humanity. And you didn't even know that you needed to worry until you got a tweet, until you got something over your Facebook, or something over your smartphone, or this or that. So we're taking on the whole worry of the world that our fathers and our grandfathers and great-grandfathers and grandmothers never had to take. But notice what is spoken here. In this world in which there is more abundance, incredible technology. I'm not saying it's not incredible, but are people happier today? Why is the suicide rate up in middle America? Are people happier because of what they have in their hand in this 24-7 world? And Jesus says, therefore I say to you, do not worry. What? Don't worry about your life. What you will eat, or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.

Is not life more than food? That's what Jesus said in Matthew 4.4. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Take a look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father, well, He feeds them.

Are you not of more value than they? That's a question, but in the Jewish manner presenting it, the answer is in the question. Of course, because we're made in God's image. But we forget that if we put both feet into a 24-7 world, that's going to pass away. Which of you, by worrying, can add one cupid to a statue? So, why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field. Oh, mine, about a month and a half or two months. Susan and I were just talking about the other day. We are either going to go up to Lancaster or we're going down to Anza-Berego. They may not have lilies, but it's going to be a great year for... I shouldn't tell you that because you'll all be there and it'll be a crowd. But anyway, we're going to go out and we're going to see the spring wildflowers. We're going to have a good year. And Jesus says, enjoy it, understand it, because it's not an in in itself, it's a means of showing that there's a Father, there's a loving Father, there's a God.

We are not an accident. We are by design. There is a purpose, there is a calling, there is a world that He bids us enter. Look how they grow. They neither toil or spin and we worry.

Now if God so close the grass to the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Thus, of verse 31, therefore don't worry, saying, what are we going to eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear?

This is a super pill.

This is the anti-worry vaccine. We read God's word to know that we are not alone, that this life is not an end in itself, and not to worry. Worry is a responsibility that God never gave a human being. It is earthbound. It is homegrown. And yet, when we read the word of God, just this little bit that I've shared, we begin to have a solace. We begin to have a peace. We begin to have a comfort. We begin to know that God plus me equals majority, and there's a future.

Jesus had time to focus and measure His life before God. I want to share a thought with you, may I? Walking with Christ, as did the disciples for three and a half years, and having Christ walk inside you are two different modes of traveling. Do you hear me? We know the disciples traveled down the dusty roads of the Galilee in Samaria with Jesus. They walked beside Him, but there is a difference between walking beside Christ, walking before God, and allowing their spirits to dwell in us. Because when we... it's two different worlds, and those two different worlds bring out two different outcomes, and that's very important to recognize. Back then, 2,000 years ago, they may not have had smartphones, but they had smart farmers. And I want to have you turn to John 15 for a moment. John 15. John 15.

I'm going to work you towards something, so you've got to stay with me for about five minutes here.

This is like a stage play. I like really simple stage plays, where they're only like three or four players, okay? Small theater. So you know how to stay with me. Number one, there's the true vine. Are you with me? That's Christ. There is the farmer. That's God the Father. There are the branches. Oh, we're on stage two. That's us. Those that have been invited into God's 24-7 world. And there is the fruit, which is to be Christ-like. So we've got the stage that I've given you the program. Now we enter. Jesus speaking, I am the true vine. And my father is the vine dresser. He's the farmer. He's the ultimate producer. He's seeking an outcome. He has expectations. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit. We're not here just to twiddle our thumbs and to be like a hamster on a hamster wheel. God expects. He has expectations to bear fruit. A couple of months from now, early spring, Susan's going to plant some tomatoes in our rear yard. We're not expecting just to look at green vines. We're doing it for a reason. We want those maters. We want some tomatoes. At least Susan does. It's not my favorite fruit. Kind of like broccoli. You know? So anyway, but Susan wants fruit. She's not just doing it to look at the vines. Fruit. He prunes. Okay, he prunes. That it may bear more fruit. More fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to. The word that I've spoken to you. Now, notice what it says. Abide in me. That means remain. Stay connected. Be surrounded in me and I in you. First, abide. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides. Stays connected in the 24-7 world that I offer. Neither can you unless, oh, unless you abide.

You don't push the off button to the Word of God. You open it up. You open your heart. You ask God to guide and to lead and direct and to comfort you. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains stays connected in me. Me, having come out of that 24-7 world that you might one day enter it. And I in you bears much fruit for without me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me or remain in me, he's cast out as a branch and is withered and they gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in me, this is abide number six, and my words, oh, that's what I want to lead you to, and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. Now let's look at verse seven again. We're all going to take a deep breath and we're going to look at it. If you abide in me, okay, how do we abide in part? And of course there's the Spirit and there are other keys of abiding, but we're focusing on drinking in and becoming saturated with the Word of God. If you abide, it says, and in my words, where are those words found? Do we have to get a butterfly net and go find them and catch them? This is the PowerPoint you want to look up for a moment? Right here. These are where the, this is the big godly butterfly net all wrapped together and put nicely for us that you and I might abide in the love and the wisdom and the hope of eternity. So how does this work? Let's understand you don't work your way up to Christ's likeness on your time demands or needs when it seems all right for you and or you have time.

You remain in the vine. We can't have god life without remaining in the vine and the Spirit of God in Christ, the Christ life flowing in us, but that's only if you stay connected to this application. I want to share a thought with you for a moment here. We're going to tie a few verses together. Go to Psalms. We'll wrap this up. In 1 Corinthians 15 45, join me real quickly. 1 Corinthians 15 45. Let's notice something. Let's talk about life. Let's talk about life. In verse 45 it says, and so it is written, the first man Adam became a living being. He was living, but he died. The last Adam, that is Jesus Christ, there's a type and an anti-type here, became a life-giving spirit. Adam couldn't give life to others in that sense. That would remain.

But Jesus says that he is a life-giving spirit. This is incredible. John 6 63. Join me. Let's, we're just going to connect these verses together for a moment. Notice John 6 63. In John 6 63 it says, it is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. Notice the words, Jesus speaking. The words I speak to you are spirit. And notice, and they are life. Now you say, well, Robin, why are you getting so excited up here today? Because I am excited.

I'm excited that God has invited you and me by His grace and by the life of His Son, that life-giving spirit into a 24-7 world. We have an invitation. We have an invitation. And yet we can get so busy down here in this 24-7 world that He's trying to pull us out of that we're like that lady that was in the business meeting. But it's vibrating. We can't get distracted, brethren, from the calling that He's given us. And this GPS, this heavenly GPS that God has given us keeps us on track. John 8, 31. John 8, 31. Just a few verses over. In John 8 and verse 31, let's notice what it says here. Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed in Him, if you abide, if you stay connected, if you don't push the off button, if you abide, if you drink in, if you get saturated with the words that I have given down to the ages, then you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth. And notice, and the truth shall make you free. But notice what the continuance is in. If you continue in my word, if you abide, that is, if you remain, if you dwell deeply, if you are desirous, if you stay connected in that life-giving way. It's interesting, William Barkley, Scottish commentator, put it this way. What does it mean to, as Jesus, to believe in Him? Discipleship begins with belief. It begins the moment a man accepts the words of God, these words, pertaining to his inexhaustible love, the detrimental nature of sin, and the meaning of this physical life now towards eternity with him. Such belief turns to trust so much so, hear me please, so much so that you can make no decision without first considering the Word of God. You can't win the race unless you slow down. So often what Christians do, and I get in that mix as well, being one of us, is we want to make God a priority. We're going to make God our number one priority. Should we go like this? Are you with me? I'm a good Christian. I'm going to push you. You're going to be number one. God wants to be in the middle of our entire list, and the way that we track to see that He remains in the middle of our entire list, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, is to read the Word of God. A challenge that I see sometimes with the people of God over almost 45 years of ministry is simply this. The disciple that pants after God's Word is one that does not handle God's Word simply to obtain mental stimulation or intellectual satisfaction. That's what they were doing back in Galatia. That was a continual battle of Paul with the Church of Antiquity. The true disciple that abides in the words of Christ is seeking to serve and to honor God by seeking His will what to do. I'm going to wrap this up. I'm going to throw out a page and we're going to go right to the end, okay? Because it's always the last five minutes that the speaker always wants you to get. In John 7, verse 37. Join me here, please. John 7, 37. Remember the deer panting for the water? In John 7, verse 37, on that last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood. Oh my, he was bold. He stood. And you can see him above the audience. He stood and he cried out. He didn't say, I hope that you will. I hope everybody will listen. I'm over here. No, he cried out.

If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink. And he who believes in me, as the Scripture is said out of his heart, will flow rivers of living water. Let's understand the Word of God for a moment. You might want to jot this down if you're a note taker. Here we go. Let's understand, first of all, there is the Living Word. The Living Word who came to this earth, lived in Nazareth. His name was Yeshua, Jesus. But before that, he was uncreated. He was with God. He was God. He emptied himself. He is the Living Word. Number two, then, he came and he gave words, as well as what he inspired out of the Old Testament to the prophets. There is the Living Word. There is the Spoken Word. Then there is the Written Word. There is the Living Word, the Spoken Word that he gave, my words, and then there is the Written Word that is before us. But to what end? To what end? To what end for you or for me, as we think about and are invited into this 24-7 existence, if we don't complete it? And I want to share this with you. Then, join me then in Psalms 119. In Psalms 119.

And let's pick up the thought if we could in verse 9.

This is the answer to that man's question at the beginning, the old guy talking to the young man about being baptized. In Psalms 119 verse 9, how can a young man cleanse his way by taking heed according to your word with my whole heart? Not duty, not because we have to, but out of desire, out of longing, out of hankering, out of just itching to do so with my whole heart I have sought you. Oh, let me not wander from your commandments. Notice in verse 11, your words I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you, that I might remain in this 24-7 world you've invited me to. This is the fourth key. Here we go. Are you ready? Want to jot this down? There is the living Word who came to this earth, gave the spoken Word, that later on became the written Word, but it is of no effect unless we slow down to win the race. And notice what it says here, to embed it inside of us. It is hidden in our heart. Well, how do you hide it in your heart if you don't open up the Word of God, read it to where we can then mimic the rabbi, mimic our master, mimic our teacher, mimic the Son of God, and be able to say, don't you know, it is written. And it's written in our hearts, but it can't be written in our hearts if we don't open our Bibles. A Bible that remains closed might as well be a Bible that is lost. A Bible that remains closed might as well be lost.

Blessed are you, O Lord, teach me your statutes. With my lips I have declared all the judgments of your mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies. As much as in all the riches, I will meditate. That's what Chris brought out. I will meditate on your precepts. I will contemplate. But sometimes that means that we have to live at the speed of Christ, at the speed of walk, to stop, to slow down. And if, you know, we say, well, if you can't stop the world, get off of it. Just stop the world and take time to anchor into the Word of God. Join me then. I'm going to conclude with this, verse 33. Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes, and I shall keep it to the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law. Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me walk in the paths of your commandments, for I delight in it. That's what the old guy was looking for in the beginning story. Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to covenousness. Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things.

Have you ever turned on the television on Saturday night trying to find something decent to watch? Just one thing. Click, click, click, click. I mean, I think you could click till kingdom come.

Just click and click. It's mindless. It's banal. I'm just being blunt.

But you're spending time clicking, you know. It's kind of like coming over to Vegas, thinking the next quarter end is going to be the jackpot, and nothing comes up.

It's like in the old days going to Blockbuster. Remember going to Blockbuster and trying to find a film? You go down aisle after aisle after aisle. Or are we the only ones? Maybe we're very selective in what we watch. Now aisle after aisle after aisle.

God hasn't called us to walk down after aisle after aisle after aisle after baneless things. He's called us to be kingdom citizens. Revive me in your way and establish your word to your servant.

And, brethren, sometimes Christianity is not just a straight line. We have to be revived.

We have to ask. We have to seek. We have to knock. Say, God, I know, and it's not in it by myself. I know you have called me to your 24-7 world. I know that I'm listening to Weber, and he's talking about slowing down a little bit and walking the speed of Christ. I know this. I know, but, but, but, but, but can I just keep it on vibrate?

You ask God to give you a sense of urgency. I'm very serious, brethren. The times ahead are not going to be less. There are going to be more. We're going to need to be anchored into God's word. Are you with me? Ask God to come back with that first love and that awe of God's word. It's ageless. God's word is eternal, and when it is given out, Isaiah says that it will not return void.

Establish your word to your servant. Who is devoted to fearing you? Turn away my reproach, which I dread, for your judgments are good. Behold, I long for your precepts. Revive me. Revive me in your righteousness. Brethren, there is never any shame as a Christian and as a citizen of the kingdom to ask for revival in our lives, to revive God's spirit, to revive our love and our awe and our desire to debase our lives on every word of God. There's nothing wrong with that.

Going towards the kingdom is not always a straight line going upward.

There's going to be bins. There's going to be detours. There's going to be timeouts. The only difference is that when you get back on the road, you're with the same Savior, the same Savior who said, it is written, who gave us His words, who as the word inspired the prophets and the writers of old to write out the Old Testament. This story, this story from one cover to the other, one story, not two stories, not two different stories, not the bad story in the Old Testament, the New Testament, the New Testament, the good story, but one continuing story of liberty and freedom and incredible potential that lies beyond modern man in this 24-7 world.

It's the story of the Exodus. Visit it again and again. It's the story of freedom. It's the story of moving from the Gulf of from the shore of slavery to the shore of freedom. It's the story of God going before us. It's the story of God not leaving us in the dark but allowing us by His word that gives us a lamp unto our feet. You know, in Psalms 1 of... what was that? 1 of 4? Your word is a lamp unto my feet. We lose that today because back then when the lights were out, the lights were out. The world was a dark world. We lose that contrast since Mr. Edison... I like Mr. Edison. I want to go home and turn on the lights tonight. But we lose the contrast. If there was not a lamp, have you ever been out in the wilderness and it's completely dark? Where is the flashlight? Well, we've got a... oh, there's no battery. Oh, great! Where's the bear? Okay, so what I'm saying is that contrast. Your word is a lamp unto my feet. It is the GPS that God has given you and given me down to eternity. Brethren, as we move through this gate of the year, let us be resolved to thank our Father for His Word.

But the truest action of our thanksgiving will be that we more than ever desire to drink in and become saturated and devote the time. We can't afford not to. You say, I can't do that. Well, I'm going to tell you something. It's like the Sabbath. There are certain people say, well, I can't... I can't keep the Sabbath. I can't give God that time. I believe that when people observe that Sabbath, God's going to make up the time. People say, well, I can't put my nose. I can't put my heart in the Bible. I don't have the time. I believe that God will more than make up the time. You say, I can't give God 15 minutes. I say, God will give you at hours to your existence and good hours that glorify Him and are a blessing to other people by the 15 minutes of that be yet to look into His Word to be as we go out in the day to be connected. So I leave you with this.

Are we just going to leave it to the deer to pant? And or are we, are we the beloved of God, going to pant after God's Word? To yearn for it, to itch for it, to honor, to honor the living Word. To remember that He was the spoken Word, that men gave their lives and women gave their lives that we can have the written Word, the mind, the heart of God before us. And that most importantly, then, that we embed that Word and take it everywhere we go and stay connected. As Chris said earlier, life is a matter of choices. Which 24-7 world will you choose?