Sermon - Things We Need... Excitement - Littleby Baptist Church - October 4, 2020

How many remember the Excitement they had when you first accepted Jesus as your Savior? That Excitement that drove us to learn everything we could about who Jesus is and what He did for us. Some of us may wonder what happened to that person who had a hunger and thirst for God’s Word.

Hunger and thirst for the Word of God is a wonderful thing, as it emphasizes the need we have for God’s Word. No matter how long we have been a believer or how many times we have read the Bible, we cannot know all there is to know about our God. As we hunger and thirst for food and water to survive, we should hunger and thirst for the Word of God.

Hunger and thirst define needs… for example, I need to eat, and a turkey sandwich will satisfy that need and a glass of water will quench my thirst. To be honest though, neither of those will really get me excited. Make it a fresh hickory smoked prime-rib and a tall glass of sweet tea and my hunger and thirst turn to Excitement. It turns from what I need to keep going to something that gets me moving. The Thing We Need… Excitement goes beyond the need and takes it to a level of enthusiasm, desire, delight, and eagerness to do something.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

“¹⁶ All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

In the Christian Standard Bible, it says that ‘Scripture is inspired by God’, other versions might say it was ‘God-breathed’. Either way it means that the Old and New Testaments were written by the guiding hand of the Holy Spirit. When originally written each word was exactly what God intended. The Jewish people firmly believe this regarding the Old Testament, and it is blasphemy to say otherwise. As we believe that the letters that make up the New Testament are also inspired by God, they are included in what Paul is writing here.

The Bible is not just some story we should read a couple of times and see if we glean anything from it.

When we hunger and thirst for the Bible we see that it is there to teach us about who our God is, what He has done for those who walked this earth before us, the promises that He has given, and what the future has in store. If we study God’s Word, we will see that He has a master plan that is driven out of Love. He created everything out of Love, He prepared the ultimate sacrifice out of that Love, He will spend an eternity with His followers out of Love, and that His desire is for all to choose Him. The Bible teaches us everything we need to know.

The more we study the Bible, we will see that it is also the ultimate measuring stick on what is Godly behavior and what is worldly. Without it we would not know what sin is. We would not know what behaviors we need to turn from. Without the teachings of Jesus and those found in Paul’s letters we would not know how to correct our brother or sister in hope of helping them walk in righteousness.

Paul is also telling Timothy that the Word of God is there to train us in how we are to live our lives. It is the tool that equips us to live, as humanly possible, holy or righteous lives. Without God’s Word in our hands we would not know any of these things.

Therefore, we need to hunger and thirst for the Word of God, but the Thing We Need… Excitement goes beyond that and takes the Need to the next level.

We Need to be eager to spend time in Bible. We need to enthusiastically study the Word of God and see how the different books and chapters are weaved together. We need to desire to spend more time reading it today than we did yesterday. We need to delight in what we find in it. We Need to be Excited about God’s Word.

If Scripture is inspired by God, it is worth every minute of our time and is something we should be Excited to read.

1 Peter 2:1-3

“2 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander. ² Like newborn infants, desire the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow up into your salvation, ³ if you have tasted that the Lord is good.”

Just before these verses Peter writes about how the grass withers and the flower falls away, ‘but the word of the Lord endures forever.’ (1 Peter 1:25a). The grass and flower are representative of the world we live in and the Word of God is everlasting. It is the one and only truth that will endure the test of time. It is the one and only truth that we need to put our trust in.

In these verses Peter is saying, since God’s Word endures forever, we need to get rid of the junk in our lives. Do not let malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander be a part of who you are what people see. Instead, be like a newborn baby who is hungry. Desire the Word of God.

When you think of a young baby during her first couple of days or weeks outside of the womb, when she is hungry you know it. As we grow older, we understand that we need to eat and can easily act at the first sign of being hungry. A newborn baby is not able to let you know that she is starting to get hungry and she obviously cannot go make herself a bottle. When the hunger pain hits there is a sense of urgency behind it. When the newborn baby is hungry, she lets us know and drives a level of Excitement for mom and dad until she gets her bottle. Then when she gets that bottle, there is some Excitement on her part as she starts chugging as fast as she can. 

We are to ‘desire’ the Word of God as the newborn baby desires her milk. The Things We Need… Excitement should be like the newborn baby wanting that milk so much that everyone knows and then the excitement that she showed drinking it.

If we are Excited for the Word of God people should see it. It should be obvious to our family and friends that we desire God’s Word and as we get into, we should be eager to learn more. Reading our Bible should not be a chore that we struggle to fit in our day. Instead we should be filled with the Things We Need… Excitement to see how God will talk to us today as we read His Word.

Psalm 1:1-3

“¹ How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! ² Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. ³ He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”

A person is happy or blessed when they do not follow the ways of the world. They get their ‘delight’ by following our Lord and by spending time in the Word of God. If someone is delighted when they do something, there is a level of Excitement in it. If they are spending time night and day doing something, they are obviously not board or indifferent to what they are doing. These are signs of someone who is interested in, enthusiastic, and Excited about God’s Word. We should all be filled with the Things We Need… Excitement when it comes to The Word of God.

If we read verse three again.

Psalm 1:3

“³ He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”

The person who ‘desires’ the Word of God is like a tree that never runs out of water, is healthy, and bears fruit. As the Holy Spirit works in us, guides us, molds us, shapes us, as the Word of God speaks to us, we grow. The more time we spend in the Word of God the healthier we are and when our season comes the needed fruit will grow. Meaning when the Holy Spirit guides us to a person, a need, or a task we will be equipped to help that person, meet that need, or accomplish that task.

The Thing We Need… Excitement leads us to growth as followers of Jesus and prepares us to serve when called upon.

Psalm 119:9-16

^"9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping your word. ¹⁰ I have sought you with all my heart; don’t let me wander from your commands. ¹¹ I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you. ¹² Lord, may you be blessed; teach me your statutes. ¹³ With my lips I proclaim all the judgments from your mouth. ¹⁴ I rejoice in the way revealed by your decrees as much as in all riches. ¹⁵ I will meditate on your precepts and think about your ways. ¹⁶ I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.”

Here the Psalmist is talking about seeking God, treasuring His Word, being taught His statues, rejoicing in what is revealed by the Word of God, meditating on the Word, taking delight in the Word, and never forgetting it.

Sounds like someone who understands the Things We Need… Excitement. They see value in the Word of God. They understand that they need to learn what it means, so that they can stay true to the course laid before them, resist sin, and spread the message found in God’s Word.

Excitement for the Word of God will help us be who God created us to be.

There are two things that should be part of our days. The first is talking to our God. Prayer is a fundamental need. It is how we communicate with our God. We need to Pray Constantly as it says in 1 Thessalonians.

The second thing that needs to be part of our daily to do list is Getting into God’s Word. We hear about God being preached on Sunday morning, we study a little deeper in Sunday School or a group study, but it is not enough. Studying God’s Word for ourselves is critical for us to truly learn and understand what God wants from us. As a Pastor I probably include 60% of what I study in Sunday’s message and most people probably retain less than half of that. I on the other hand learn that full 100% from my time studying the scriptures. I wish there was a way to share every bit of information and inspiration I get with everyone on Sunday, but it is just not possible. The only way for someone to learn each bit and be inspired like that is by studying the Word of God for themselves. The Things We Need… Excitement will help us make studying God’s Word a priority.  

The struggle that we all face is, how do we get and keep that Excitement?

There is no one answer to this question. For some the thrill of learning something new builds that Excitement. There are others who journal about what they are reading as it helps them connect the dots better, which increases their desire to read more. Another thing that may help build that Excitement would be to spend time reading the Bible with a friend or family member and then discussing what it means to each of you. Taking time looking at each cross reference (the verses listed next to what you are reading to guide you to another place) to see what verses are interweaved with the ones you are reading can be Exciting. 

Embracing the Things We Need… Excitement can open up your understanding of Scripture and increase its impact on your life. I encourage you to figure out what will trigger that Excitement for you and run with it!

God Bless,

Robert