Scripture Centered Living

It's always a blessing to see so many use our gifts for the Lord. And I know at the beginning I said you can tell when people do it for their glory, God's glory. I feel like this morning everybody that was up here done it for the right reasons. And that's important.

If you ever see me preaching for my glory, call me out on it. If I ever see you singing for your glory, I'm gonna call you out on it. So it's going to go both ways. That's right. Next, we're going to get back to our regular series finally. But this morning is a very, I call it a very simple sermon, a very simple topic. I have a very heavy heart about it. And that's second Timothy chapter 3. And that's the centrality of scripture in our life. We've talked about the centrality of prayer in our lives and the centrality of scripture in our lives. That seems kind of obvious, does it not? That's kind of like a no-duh, Brother Austin. We are Christian. It's what we're all about. But sometimes we need to pause and go, are we truly all about the word? Does it saturate everything that we do? Be flipping into 2 Timothy chapter 3, and we're going to start around verse 14. But scripture guides everything we do.

Let's just think about a Sunday morning. It guides everything we do. The songs we sing, why do we work, why do we worship, why do we know to worship? Because to the God of the universe that is revealed to us through the word of God. The more scripture you know, guess what? The more reasons you've got to worship and praise the Lord.

Why do we pray? Because we know the power of the God of the Bible. That's right. I think I've got it wrote down somewhere in my notes this morning, that's 650 prayers I believe throughout the Bible with over 400 examples of answered prayers in the Bible. We know how to pray. We know why to pray because of the word of God. Yeah. We're able to praise the Lord our God in prayer because we get to know him through the word. That's right. Why do we come to church? Because we know the God of the universe from the word of God. It's good.

This is why scripture is so central to what we do. Because if it was not for the God of the universe revealing himself to us, where would we be at this morning? Out on the river, sleeping in? I'd probably be sleeping in, playing a round of golf, getting a hunting camp ready.

Well, where would we be this morning? We wouldn't be here. That's right. Let's be honest. If it wasn't for the word of God, a lot of us would be in a lot of big messes, would we not? That is a messes we have avoided in our lives because we have listened to the words of the Lord. And this is why scripture should be the centerpiece of your quiet time. It's good. When you get along with the Lord, let scripture be involved. Let it be the centerpiece. It is great to listen to podcasts. I love listening to podcasts. I probably got 10 different ones on my phone. Nothing wrong with them, but they're tools, are they not? The replacement?

It is great to listen to worship music because I know sometimes that helps us focus our mind. I mean, you think about Sunday morning when we have worship, what does it do for us? It helps gets our mind prepared to meet with the Lord. It gives us a time to settle in at church. And that's why it's so important that our songs that we sing are grounded in scripture. I love how the last song we sung was scripture. So I didn't tell him what I was preaching today, but the fact the Lord already knew what I was going to be preaching when he was laying my heart and he laid the right song on Miss Mary's heart, the fact that we ended with scripture. Now, does every song we got to be, be straight from Psalms? No. But does every song we sing got to be grounded in scripture? Yes. Yes. That's the important part. But so often we get caught up in how it sounds in the enter, well yeah, in the entertainment value of it, if we just be quite blank. Yeah, we would never put it that way. But sometimes we get caught up in the arguments of what style we should sing instead of asking, is this grounded in the word of God? Easy. It's hard to listen to Kayla the measures any Christian station with me because chances are I'm going to ruin it for you. Cuz I'm like, I'm like you on that type of platform, on national stage, I'mma hold you to a high standard. Yeah. If you've been around me enough, you know some of my pet peeves. You know some of my CCM pet peeves.

But through the years, I can tell you two bands that have stuck out to me, well I'm going to go fourth, I'm going to get to the messages. One thing I love about Casting Crowns, many of you be familiar with them, when they used to make things called CDs, when you'll go through the little booklet, they would have the scriptures that inspired each song. That's a band probably y'all less familiar with, Disciple. Which Disciple is my cup of tea and some of y'all know what that means. You know who they are. They would do the same thing. Every song would have the scriptures that inspire the song. But two bands that have stuck out to me over the years, if the Lord has given you a platform, let the scriptures be made known. Yeah. Because you can go to some of these worship concerts and never hear the first scripture. It's true. But two bands throughout the years every time I've ever seen them in concert or heard them they proclaim the gospel. One is Skillet. Love me some Skillet. Whether they are on Winter Jam which is a Christian event or they touring with Theory of a Dead Man, St. Asonia which are not Christian groups, they preach the gospel. I would argue John Cooper preaches it harder when he's on tour with a band that is secular. No matter where he's at, he lets the gospel be made known. Because what they do on that stage, it's not just to make some good heavy music that's clean, but music that glorifies the Lord, that touches young people in dark places, music that helps people through valleys, but they make sure the message is clear, that it's more than the songs, but about the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Another one is For Today. For Today is really, really my cup of tea. Most of us will have to go read the lyrics to know what they're saying just because of the style of music. But when you listen to the words, they're grounded in scripture. And again, they were another band that no matter where they were, they preached the gospel with boldness. That it was more than making just again, good heavy clean music to reach kids in dark places. They left no doubt where they stood.

Do you leave no doubt where you stood? And when people look at it, are they going, "Are you just a merely good person?" Or is scripture so central in your life that when they look at you, they go, "Well, I know Miss Carol is a good person because of the Lord. I know Miss Mary is a godly lady because of the centrality of scripture, that she's not doing good just because it's good. I know Brother Har-, Brother Clyde are good men because of the Lord, not simply because they're just trying to look good." Or I said doubt in people's minds. You live the way you live. There should be no doubt. Don't leave it to our arguments. I can argue till I'm blue in the face. I can come up all kind of arguments, but they amount to nothing. They prove, even if I win my point, I win the argument. So what?

Let the words of God be heard. Yes. Let me not drown the scriptures out with my voice, with my opinions, but let scripture be prominent. And with that being said, 2 Timothy 3:14: "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." Yeah.

Let us pray. Lord, we thank you, Lord, for this opportunity, Lord, to gather in your house, Lord. Lord, let everything we do be grounded in your words, Lord, this morning. Let it not be my opinion, but let it be your truth. Let it be your wisdom. Let me not share my knowledge with folks, but Lord, let it be your wisdom. Guard my tongue. Let your hand guide me. And Lord, if I misspeak, Lord, I pray that you touch my words before they reach the eardrums of those listening.

As we saw in Acts, you're capable of doing that. When thousands were saved, Peter spoke in his own language, and out of his mouth came the languages of the earth. That's right. Rather it was, I don't know what nationalities have been there, whether they were, I don't know, Germans, Persians, whoever may have been there. They heard the gospel in your language. And that language, the language bearer did not keep the gospel for going forward, that it went forward because Peter was obedient and done what you laid on his heart and handled your word rightly. Lord, let me handle your word rightly. And Lord, if I do not take my voice, let my voice not go forward if I do not handle your word rightly. I pray you do that the same for all of us. If we ought to say something foolish that does not honor you, Lord, take our voice in that moment. Take it, and in that moment, humble us. And as our voice is taken, Lord, let us reflect and get our hearts right with you before you restore our voice. Now, let's all be willing to pray with that boldness. Lord, protect your word, protect your kingdom, protect your people, protect your glory above all else.

Let not my pursuit of glory get in the way. Oh, let me not pursue my glory, but your glory. Lord, convict, rebuke through your word. Teach me through your word. Or forgive me for the days that I neglect your word. Lord, let your word remain prominent in my life. Let it be the way I start the day, the way I end the day. Let it be with me throughout the day. Let us glorify you in all that we do. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

So first of all, going back to verse 15, 14: "But as for you, continue what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you have learned it, and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus." How do we come to salvation in Christ? Through the word. That's right.

We've said it a hundred times. How do we know about the crucifixion? The word. Yeah. Or as we've done before, how do we know so much about why we need a savior? The word. Let's walk through the Bible real quick like we've done several times, but it bears repeating because it's something we can use every week. What does Genesis teach us? It teaches us how it was meant to be, and then teaches us what went wrong. That we were meant to walk in perfect fellowship with our God, and then we messed it up. And then we see stories of people throughout Genesis who strive to walk with God then kept messing it up. We go through the Old Testament, we see story after story of people who strive to walk with God and would stumble in their sins. We think about David. Scripture describes him as a man after God's own heart.

And David falls into sin with Bathsheba. David does not go to war when he was supposed to. He was supposed to be out leading his armies in the time of year that kings done that. He was neglecting the god-given duty he was given. He got idle hands, idle eyes, and he fell into the sexual pleasures of his eyes and committed sexual sin with Bathsheba. And then it didn't stop there, did it? He went on to murder to try to cover up what he had done. But later on, this man will be called a man after God's own heart. So we know he did repent. He did turn from his sins. But he made some big uh-ohs, really big uh-oh, uh-oh that would end any of us in here in jail for life. So not what we would label small uh-oh, some pretty big ones. But even in that imperfection, the Lord used him. Yes. Because it's not about us, but about him. About his grace, about his goodness. I'm going to mess it up. I have messed up. I have stumbled. But praise the Lord, he chose to still use me. That he called me to repentance. That he convicted me through his words.

Praise the Lord for his words. Amen. The Old Testament shows us a standard that we would have to reach in order to dwell with him for all eternity. The hundreds of laws. Can any of us keep them all? I mean, the last two weeks we went through the Ten Commandments. How you do well? Did you? But it shows us we are not capable to even reach that standard. Even if we took our away hundreds of the laws and just left the ten commandments, we will all be in a lot of trouble still. Even with 10, take them all away and just leave one. Pick any of the ones, we will still all be in trouble.

I mean, you think about it, a little kid, what do they often want to do? The thing you tell them not to do. Tell them not to do something, what's the first thing they going to do? Because sometimes you attempt to use some reverse psychology on them, but then they do what you tell them to do, and then you can't get on to them because they done what they were told to do. But it's our human nature to be pulled towards what we're not supposed to do. So even if there was one law, guess what? We would all be pulled towards breaking that one rule. See how close we can stand to that one rule. Eventually, you stand on edge long enough, the edge is going to crumble, is it not? But praise the Lord, it didn't end at the Old Testament. And the Old Testament shows that a blood price has to be paid. But we see the completion of that in the Gospels, do we not? We know of what Christ, what the God of the universe done for us through the cross. And as we get to the New Testament letters, as we are today, we learn more and more about what it means to live a godly life. It helps us start making more sense of everything we've read in the Gospels, we've read in the Old Testament. It helps bring it all together.

We get to the book of Revelation. We know this world's going to get a bigger mess. That evil ain't going nowhere. That it's going to keep coming. But then one day an end will be put to it. And one day we will dwell as believers in the presence of God for all eternity in a world not corrupted by wickedness. And if we do not come to know the Lord as our savior, we also see our destination in revelation.

Of an eternal lake of fire, of facing the wrath of God for all eternity. I think it's important to remember that you will be facing the wrath of God for all eternity. You'll be wishing God was not present in any way because it'll be a lot easier on you, but you will face the wrath that you have built up this whole lifetime, and you would never be able to pay that price.

Come to the Lord as your savior.

And this passage here also reminds us of the source of scripture. These words are not just any mere man's opinion. Just wasn't somebody writing what they thought the Lord wanted them to write. No, these words were guided by the Lord himself. Because here it tells us in verse 15, 16, all scripture is breathed out by God. These are the very breath of God. It is more than ink on a page. That is why when we study the manuscripts throughout the years, we have seen how the word of God has been preserved and protected. That man has not tainted it. That man has not destroyed it. Because trust me, if man wanted to, if it wasn't for God, they could have erased it. You think about how many ancient writers, well we only got one, two copies left. So I think what, Beowulf we got not even a whole copy left of, or you think about Homer's writings. I don't think it's even a hundred of those left. But we go ancient manuscript after ancient manuscript where many of the originals, things dating close to the originals, don't even exist anymore. Most of the copies we get of scripture date closer to the originals than most of the ancient texts we study in school. And we've got thousands upon thousands of manuscripts. Like I said, I think it's Beowulf. We got one copy, but you don't see people standing around debating whether or not whoever wrote Beowulf meant what they meant in Beowulf or was it meant to be wrote that way. But upon thousands upon thousands of manuscripts of the Bible, people want to debate it every day. Does it really mean this? Does it really say this? That is what it said for the last 2,000 years. And it's what it will say for the next 2,000, the next 4,000, for the next eternity, because it is what the Lord meant.

And that's why it's vital we do not add or we do not subtract from the word of God. I mean, talk about Revelation. One of the last scriptures read in the Bible, Revelation 22 verse 18: "I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city which are described in this book." Do not tamper with the word of God. Amen. Do not let your opinion tamper with the word of God. Do not try to mold the word of God according to your opinion, according to your will. But let the word of God mold your heart. Let the word of God change your will.

Let's be honest. Sometimes our thoughts conflict with the Bible. I promise you, every time the Bible is not the one wrong, it is you. We all don't come to the word and be convicted by things, things are going to pop out and show us, hey, I don't have it right in this area. I've got sin in this area. I have believed wrong in this area my whole life. When that happens, don't make excuses. Don't try to reason with it. You listen to the word of God and let the word of God change you and stop running from it and let the Lord have his way.

But the word of the Lord is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training. That the man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work.

What does the word teach us about worship, about prayers? And that's two things we've been talking about a lot. First of all, like we said earlier, it teaches us what inspires our worship. Verse says, "The more scripture we know, the deeper our worship gets." The standard for the words we sing, the standards for the way we live, the way we live it, it teaches on prayer. How to, I mean, the Lord's prayer, I bet if I start quoting it right now, probably most of us could quote it.

And as I said earlier, there's 650 prayers throughout the Bible. And here's the, how many were answered? 450 recorded answers. So if you need to know how to pray, next time you tell me you don't know how to pray, I'm going to tell you go read your Bible. Because with 650 prayers, you going to come across one within a few pages. If you want to learn how to pray, go to the master.

Scripture reproves, or you can say rebuke. It points out a fault. That's the thing about worship. I think of the strange fire in Leviticus chapter 10, verses 1-2. If you don't know that story, go read it. They were struck down dead for the strange fire they offered. They offered a sacrifice. They offered a fire that the Lord had not asked for. Do not give the Lord what he has not asked for. Give him what he has asked for.

The word convicts of sin. When we come to church on Sunday morning, we could be in a better place where we understand God. We can worship deeper because we've been with the word. We've been convicted of what needs to be addressed in our life. We've been convicted of the friction that exists in our life because the Holy Spirit is here every Sunday. But the question is, how much friction do you bring every Sunday? The day you get saved, from the youngest to the oldest in here, you get the same amount of Holy Spirit. But the question is, how much friction you got in your life? Are you getting in the spirit's way? Are you letting the Holy Spirit mold you? Are you letting things blind you to the works of God around you? Because he's already working, but sometimes we miss it because we let our sin, we let our pride blind us to what he is doing.

When we look at scriptures, the Pharisees were praying for show. So we see how not to pray. Luke 18, we're reminded of self-glorifying prayer.

Corrects. What gets our heart in a true posture for worship? The gospel, scripture. Going back to Psalms, it's the Lord. How do we pray rightly? The gospel. Our heart posture. How does our heart get more in tune with the will of God? We get in the word of God to learn the will of God. You want to worship with a pureness, get in the word. You want to learn, want to learn how to pray, get in the word of God.

Trains. The word of God is proper for training. It trains us how to have a right heart to worship. It trains our will to the Lord.

This morning, ask yourself a few questions. Are we worshiping? Are we praying? Are we living for God, or are we just enjoying an experience?

Could I swap the worship for secular? No. Sometimes I like flipping through Sirius just to see what I could stumble across. And sometimes I'll, you know, stop on a song like, you could play this on K-LOVE and would never notice the difference. And one day, I can't remember the song, I'd done that one. I said, "This sounds like it could be a Christian song." And the longer I sat there, the more disturbed I got because I was like, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference if I didn't know the artist.

And then sometimes we wonder how rooted we were in God. If we dismiss some secular songs, but we put the right beat with it, how many of us would notice when we get caught up in the beat how we're singing it? Cuz I ain't got my phone on me. Well, it is. So I'm going to read one to you and see, could we sneak it in? Some of you may recognize the song. I thought about this one before church this morning. I ain't going to tell you the name of it.

It's a song from the 90s, but it goes, I ain't going to think, I'm going to read it. "Looks like we made it. Look how far we've come. We might took the long way. We knew we'd get there someday." They said, "I bet they'll never make it. But just look at us holding on. We're still together, still going strong. You're still the one I run to, the one that I belong to. You're still the one I want for life. You're still the one that I love." Who knows that song? What song is that?

It's a Shania Twain song from the 90s. I don't know why it popped in my head when I was thinking about secular songs that could sound like worship songs.

But how many of us could we put that to play if we didn't know who sung it, and I hadn't heard it before in the last 20 some years, and we just went to sing it because the beat sounded good? How many would pay attention to what was rooted in scripture?

And there's many other songs I could do like that. But make sure that all we do is rooted in the Lord, that we don't lose sight because of things that make us feel good or because things we like.

Another song this week that came to is a Christian song. Many of us know the song with the heart of worship. You don't know, go look it up. It's a beautiful song. But how many of y'all know the story behind that song? Anybody? So the church, he was the worship leader at the time, they started getting caught up in the music, the production. And the pastor really realized it was taking a bad direction, that they were getting more concerned on how the lights were, the smoke were, and all this stuff was taking more prominence than the scripture. And so he came in one Sunday and said, "No sound guys. Sorry guys. No sound guys, no instruments." But he said, "For the next few weeks until we truly remember what's right, there's going to be no technology." And for weeks they met, sang a cappella, didn't use any microphones. It was just the voices and the word of God. And Matt Redman was the worship leader of this church at that time. You've heard him. He's really talented. And I'm wondering in that moment if he was like, "Ouch." If the Lord was dealing with some pride in him. But after they came out of this season, he wrote this song out of a time where the music faded. Remember, that's how the song starts, "When the music fades." He was writing about a real time in his life where the music was faded to be reminded of what was true, what mattered. Hey, lights, sound, music, there's nothing wrong with it. But when it's placed in the wrong place, it becomes an idol. But praise the Lord, his scripture brings us back to where we need to be.

Are we more concerned with what we like rather than what God commands? So often I think about that with churches in America. I think the consumer nature of American culture affects how we look for a church. We approach us with what does it have that it can offer me, what products does it have that I like, not with what would God have me to serve, but what can serve me. It's about where you are called to serve, not where you're called to be served. Now, will you be served when I go to church? Yes. But how much more beautiful is when your main priority is to come to put others' needs before you? If we're all doing that, guess what? None of us are gonna leave here with our needs unmet spiritually because we all are put on one another more importantly than ourselves. So do not treat like a consumer product like finding the store you prefer to shop at or the restaurant you prefer to go to. But where God would have you to go be in a church that has the word of God central.

Love to have you here, but if you choose to go elsewhere, only thing I ask of you is to make sure it is rooted in the word of God. If you find it's not centered in the word of God, I don't care if it's in the middle of preaching, you get up and walk out the door. Do not dwell in foolishness in the name of God.

And last, I end with this question. So often I've asked, "Have you read your Bible this week?" But I want to tweak that a little. I don't want to ask you this morning, "Have you read your Bible this week?" But rather, I want to ask you, this week, has the Bible shaped the way you worship? Has it shaped the way you pray? Has the Bible shaped the way you live? Because you could have read it this week, but you could have flown through it, not meditated upon it, and not gave it the time it deserves. But have you been in the word this week? Have you meditated upon the word this week? Have you stepped out of the way and let the Lord have his way when the word convicts? Have you ran from conviction, or have you surrendered to the conviction of the spirit? Let the word change you. Don't merely just go through to put a check mark on your list. Don't just merely do it to open your YouVersion Bible app and go, "Check, check, day one complete," or you go on 365 days of your streak. Do it for more than just a streak. Do it for the glory of God. Do it to be transformed. Tomorrow when you open the word of God, when you get up, let the word change you. Take time to listen.

Let us pray. Lord, we pray, Lord, that your word stay central in all that we do. Lord, forgive me for the times where your word is not central in my life. Lord, forgive me for the times I do not hold your word in high esteem. Lord, forgive me for the times, Lord, where I lift my opinions above your word. And Lord, I thank you, Lord, for the times you humbled me when I make my opinions more lofty than your word. Lord, I thank you, Lord, for showing me the foolishness in that, of thinking my opinion is more powerful than your words, that my plans are more powerful than your plans. Forgive me, Lord, for when I think that way. I thank you for each time that you have humbled me. I pray that you do the same for all of us, that when we elevate ourselves above your word, our opinions, our gifts, that you humble us. And Lord, I truly mean it, Lord, anytime that we use our voices for a way that does not glorify you, Lord, take our voice. Let us go into a literal season of silence, whether it last a day, a week, a month. Lord, let that silence last until we listen, until we are humbled.

Our voices, we can so quickly bring you glory, and we so quickly can profane your name. Forgive me, Lord, for the times my temper takes hold, and I say things that do not honor you. Forgive me, Lord, for the times of my impatience. Take control of my tongue, and I say things that do not honor you. Lord, let me strive, Lord. Let my tongue honor you. Whether I'm here at the church, whether I'm at home, whether I'm at Marvin's, or whether I'm at the gas station, Lord, let my words honor you. Our church family is not always watching. They don't watch us most of the week, but you are. You are always with us. We are walking with you. You dwell with us everywhere we go. Let us glorify you with our words.

Let us proclaim your word. Let us not forget the powers of your words. When we don't know what to say, we ain't got to have the words to say. You've already said them. Every word we need is in your word. And our Bible says every bit of wisdom that we need. Nothing less and nothing more. It is all that we need. Let us trust in your wisdom. Move during this time of invitation, Lord. Move throughout this week because we realize this is not the only time you move. That's a special time we take to recognize how you move, but the fact of the matter is you are always moving. And Lord, that's something that needs to be made public right now. Lord, give people the boldness, Lord, to walk up here, Lord, to share what you have done in their life. Whether you have saved them, whether like last week you have convicted them, Lord, to rededicate, Lord, and to get more serious.

Let us proclaim you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.