Beach Life - Life-Changing Truth

Throughout this “Beach Life” series, we will explore Jesus' mission and values and how he calls us to follow him and make his mission and values our own. Last week, we kicked off this series by discussing Beach Church's mission. Our mission is to lead people to a life-changing relationship with Jesus. Our Mission is the answer to the question of “Why we do anything around here.”

Why we gather together for worship each weekend.

Why we serve in our community.  

Why we have children’s ministry.

Why we go on mission trips. 

Why we provide stoves in the Mayan jungles.

Why we have student ministry.

Why we have LifeGroups.

Why we plan for the future.

Why we have an online presence.

The “Why” behind everything we do is answered by our Mission, “To lead people to a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ.”

We have five Guiding Values that I believe will help us fulfill our mission.

1. Life-Changing Truth

2. Transparent Living

3. Captivating Celebration

4. Uncomfortable Grace

5. Selfless Service

For the next five weeks, I encourage you to embrace these guiding values as your own. Today – we are going to talk about the first Guiding Value of Life-Changing Truth.

You might have noticed that we begin every sermon with an invitation to take a Bible home…and then say something like, “At Beach Church we believe…”

IF WE READ AND APPLY THE WORD OF GOD, GOD WILL CHANGE OUR LIVES

That is not just a cute saying.  That statement is developed from the life of Jesus in Matthew 4 when Jesus used God’s word to resist the temptation of the Devil and in Second Timothy. I have never met anybody that didn’t want to experience some level of change in their life…

They want a better marriage. 

Better relationships at work. 

Better relationships with their family members…

They want to be better off financially. 

They want to have more peace, more joy, and give more love in their lives.

And the BEST and most PRACTICAL way to experience life change is found in 2 Timothy 3:16.

2 Timothy 3:16 (NLT2) 

16  All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. In the original language, Paul used the word “inspiration,” which suggests the Bible was “breathed out” by the mouth of God.

THE BIBLE IS GOD BREATHED AND TEACHES RIGHT AND WRONG

The Bible is not merely a religious book. The Bible is not just a collection of churchy books smashed together. The Bible is a collection of 66 books. God, the Creator of the world, BREATHED out into the minds of men, who recorded His words.

For the first season of Human History, God walked and talked with His creation – until Adam and Eve – the first man and woman, rebelled against God and sinned.  They preferred living for themselves rather than living for their Creator. Then, God communicated with his creation through the Prophets, through Jesus and his Apostles. His communication and interaction with humans are recorded in this Book.

The Bible is God Breathed.  

Just like these words you are hearing right now are Joe-Breathed.  I am forcing air out of my lungs into my vocal cords; they vibrate, and you hear these words I am saying – God spoke into the minds of the Prophets and Apostles and gave us words that have endured for the past 4,000 years. God loves Human Beings enough to communicate with us. We have not been abandoned by our Creator.

 Even when we FEEL alone – our feelings are wrong.  Through the Bible, we are encouraged and comforted by the heart of God.

The Bible tells us what is right and wrong.

I love hearing an ATTABOY, and I love words of affirmation when I am doing something right. It motivates me to continue to do right, but not many people like to be told when they are living or doing something wrong… 

Today, the culture of the world EMBRACES what is WRONG and REJECTS what is RIGHT. If an athlete or a politician is a follower of Jesus and uses his platform to be a role model and point others to Jesus – he/she is ridiculed and mocked by the culture. But if an athlete or politician uses their platform to promote anti-Christian views, they are hailed as heroic status symbols. The reality is this: if you enjoy doing wrong, the Bible is going to offend you.

If you enjoy doing wrong and do not want to be corrected, sermons here at Beach Church are going to offend you. They are going to step on your toes and get all up in your business. 

I will offend you because, from time to time, I will teach something from the Bible that goes against what you value and embrace. There is RIGHT, and there is WRONG.  

I acknowledge that since the Bible is GOD BREATHED, it has authority over our lives. We can depend on it as the foundation upon which we can build our lives. I don’t preach sermons wagging my finger at you. I look in the mirror, point the truth of God’s Word at myself, and seek to apply the truth to my life before I ever preach, and I ask you to do the same.

My focus when I preach is to help YOU apply God’s Word to YOUR life. We believe that Spiritual Growth is evident when each of us individually applies God’s Word to our lives. So, how can you train yourself to apply God’s Word to your life?

In 1996, five years after I became a follower of Jesus. Five years after I understood that there was a right and wrong. Five years after I surrendered my life to Jesus, received Christ as my Savior, and became a born-again believer in Jesus…

I was taught how to READ my BIBLE and develop an application from it… If we do accept the Bible as the living and active Word of God – then we have to figure out how to read it and apply it. How do we read the Bible without falling asleep? How do we read the Bible without our minds drifting off?  It happens to all of us.  We open up the Bible to read it…and our minds drift off, and we begin to think about other things.

Today I want to give you a tool to help you be able to read God’s Word and apply God’s Word to your life: If you do not have a Letter or Book of the Bible that you are currently reading on a regular basis, I want to invite you to begin reading the shorter letters in the New Testament. The letters were written to followers of Jesus and gave instructions on how to live as followers of Jesus. How to raise their children, get along with their neighbors, and LIVE out their faith as followers of Jesus.

When I read the Bible, I typically read these shorter letters in one sitting. As I read them, I underline all the verses that make me go, “Hmmm.” Or strike me in a particular way…

That’s all I do in that first sitting. I read the letter, and when a verse stands out to me…I underline and move on. The next morning, I typed out the first verse that stood out to me, and I began to meditate on it and let it sink into my life. I ask myself, did this verse leap out to me because there is a…

SIN TO AVOID or CONFESS

Is there a sin I have been thinking about doing (robbing a bank, committing murder, overeating tacos) that I need to avoid? Or have I murdered somebody, and I need to confess it to God, admit it was wrong, and stop doing it? Mostly, I don’t struggle with temptation in those areas – but I am tempted in areas of lust, gossip, greed, selfishness, resentment, bitterness, unforgiveness…

If there is, I will write about it.  I journal about it. Then, I ask myself if this verse leaped out at me because there is a…

PROMISE TO CLAIM

Within the New Testament, God has made over 250 promises to followers of Jesus.  Here are a couple of them as examples:

Jesus promised rest in 

Matthew 11:28-30 (NLT2) 

28  Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29  Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30  For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

Jesus promised abundant life to those who follow Him 

John 10:10 (NLT2) 

10  The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. 

There are many more promises of God, and every single one of them find their ultimate fulfillment in a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. If there is a promise, I write it down and CLAIM it. I pray it into my heart and life.

Third, I ask myself…did this scripture pop out to me because there is an…

EXAMPLE TO FOLLOW

Am I supposed to follow the example of somebody I am reading about? Is there an example I am supposed to follow about somebody’s strength, faithfulness, or obedience? Does somebody inspire me to walk with God more closely?

If so, I will write about it, and I will seek to follow their example. Fourthly, I ask myself, is there a…

COMMAND TO OBEY

Is there an area of my life that I need to bring into alignment with the Word of God?  What is it?

I write about it and begin to apply it to my life. I often find commands I once obeyed that I have become relaxed about continuing to do. Am I no longer generous like I once was?

Do I love others as I once did?

Am I being patient and kind and tenderhearted with my family and friends?  Am I following Jesus like God expects me to?

Then, finally – I ask myself if the verse leaped out at me simply because it has some bit of… 

KNOWLEDGE TO GAIN

…about God or my fellow man that I need to be reminded of, tuck away, and even pass along one day.  

You will never know how much of an encouragement you can be to others by simply passing along an encouraging thought from the Bible to others. Now, I have given you solid questions you can ask yourself as you read the Bible. These things will help your mind stay focused and alert as you read God’s Word.

I want you to ask yourself,

WHAT IS MY DAILY PLAN TO READ GOD’S WORD?

Will you wake up thirty minutes earlier daily to read the Bible and pray?

Will you go to your bedroom thirty minutes earlier to read God’s Word and to pray?

Devise a plan for the next thirty days and stick with it. I guarantee you will never regret developing a plan to read and apply the Word of God.