Knowing God Through His Word: Session 6

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Explore how you can be fully alive, becoming the man God intended. This is On Target with Vince Dacchioli. Hello men! How are you doing? It is so good to be with you.

Welcome to Our Men On Target. This is session 6. You may recall in our last section it was kind of an intro to this whole idea of getting to know God. We talked about the importance of trusting God. In this session is the beginning of three sessions where we're talking about the three things we need to know in order for us to really draw close to God and get intimate with Him.

In this session we're talking about reading the Word. So the title is Knowing God, the Word. We also talked in our last session, and this is something we really need to remember, that the secret to really getting close to God is remembering that we need to spend time. That's that four letter word. Time alone with God.

And we need to be careful not to allow our times of meeting together in corporate settings to substitute for my personal alone time with God. I've been guilty of that. I've gone to church services and I get home and I say, well you know what, I did my God thing today. Well, that's not your God thing. God really wants you to spend time alone with Him because you cannot develop intimacy in a crowd.

It's just like when you were dating, guys. Remember when you were dating? If you really liked that girl, and every time you went out, you went out on double or triple dates, pretty soon you would say, hey, you know what, honey, let's go out just the two of us because you cannot develop the kind of intimate relationship that maybe you'd like to have in a crowd. Now, let's talk about reading the Word. Let's go into the Bible and see what the Bible has to say about reading the Word.

Let's start in Joshua 1.8. In Joshua 1.8 it says this, do not let this book of the law depart from your mouth. Meditate on it day and night. Why? So that you may be careful to do everything written in it.

Then, I love it when then shows up in the Bible. It's like a transitional word. It means if you obey everything before the Word then, then the promise after the Word then is for you. But it also means, guys, if you're not doing this, then this promise is not for you. Then if you're reading the Word, you will be prosperous and successful.

You have Cadillacs and Lexuses and BMWs in your garage. Well, of course that's not what it means. It means prosperity and success in spiritual terms. That's important for us to remember. Look at 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17.

Paul says, all scripture. How much scripture? All scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. Why? So that the man of God, you and me, may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Look at Matthew 22-29. Jesus said, you are in error because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God. And then in Romans 15-4, it says, for everything that was written in the past was written to teach us so that we, through endurance and the encouragement of the scriptures, might have hope. And then Paul says in Timothy, until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to preaching and to teaching. I like to use this example.

Years ago, I remember years ago when I would go out and buy software. Of course, I'm kind of old and in those days they had big, huge software manuals that came with the software. You would take the disc and put it in your computer, but the guy who programmed the software, these software writers are geniuses. I don't know how they do it, but they would write the code, okay, and then you'd burn it onto a disc, you'd take it home, put it in your computer, and typically that software came with a manual. This is a software manual.

Look at this thing. I mean, it's huge. I don't know about you, but here's what I would do. When I would get the manual, I would look at this manual and say, oh man, this is ridiculous. I know how the program works because when you put the disc in, most of the time it's pretty intuitive.

It just kind of loads itself, and I know how to get by the first 5, 10% of the program, so I load it in and off I go. Where's this? It's up in the shelf in my office next to my Bible. They're having a relationship. So, off I go using the software, and all of a sudden I hit a button, and what's this?

Blue screens, fatal error 947 bombs going off depending upon your operating system, you know? And so I look at the computer and I'm Italian, so I slap the screen a couple of times. My wife says, hey, what's going on in there? I said, don't worry about it, honey, but I'm human. This program's a piece of junk, but what do I do?

The first thing I do is I call the technical support department. You know, that's the department you call, the 800 number, you wait on the phone for three hours listening to the music, and then you get the guy in India that's trying to help you. And I talk to the guy and he says, can I help you with the Dachiole? I said, yeah, you can help me. This program's a piece of junk.

He says, well, what's it doing? And I say, well, I do this, and I do ABC, and it does this. And he says, really? I say, yeah. He says, do you have your manual?

I say, well, hang on a second. So I go into my office and I grab the manual off the shelf, and I take it down, dust it off. I say, OK, I got it. What do you want me to do? He says, I want you to turn to page 964.

So I say, OK, I'm going there. He says, are you there yet? No, hang on a second. I'm almost there. 964, 964.

Yep. OK, are you there? Yes, I'm there. He says, now, do you see that diagram at the bottom of the page? I say, yeah, I see that.

He says, now, I want you to read what it says right above it. So I read it. And so I say, OK, I got it. He says, do you understand what that said? I say, yeah, I understand.

He said, if you do that, that won't happen. Huh? Well, thank you very much, Mr. Computer Person. And so I thanked the guy, and he says something like, no problem, Mr.

Dacchioli. We're just here at ABC Computer Company to help you. You call us any time you have a problem. You go now and have a nice day. And so I hang up.

Now, I don't think that's what that guy really wanted to say. You know what I mean? You have been manufactured. Somebody wrote your code, and he plopped you down on planet Earth, knowing full well that you would not know how every part of your program is supposed to work. So he sent a manual.

Yep, this is the manual. But I don't know about you, but look at this thing. I mean, this thing is huge. And as long as I know how to operate the first 5%, 10% of my life program, I know the things that'll kind of get me by. So where's this?

You know where it is. It's up on the shelf with my software manual. So off I go in life. And all of a sudden, life ain't working the way I thought it should. There is no way God could have given me that woman.

There had to be a mistake. So what's the first thing you do? Well, usually when I'm doing this in a live audience, I ask the pastors to raise their hand because they're the technical support department or the counselor in my church. You call, hopefully it's not an 800 number and you listen to the church music for hours, but you finally get ahold of the pastor and the pastor says, well, how can I help you? Well, this ain't working.

And he says, okay, well, I'll tell you what, come on into my office and let's sit down and go over it and bring your manual. Oh, okay. So I go get my manual dusted off and I go into the pastor's office and we're sitting down. He says, okay, you got your manual. He says, yeah, I say, yeah, I got my manual.

I want you to turn to Ephesians, the fifth chapter. And so I go, okay, Ephesians, Ephesians, is that in the Old Testament or the New Testament? It's in the New Testament. You might want to get thumb indexes in your Bible next time. So I finally get to Ephesians, the fifth chapter and he says, okay, now let's read this together.

So we read Ephesians and we go through it and he stops me and he says, do you understand what you just read? And I said, yes, sir, I do. And then we go a little bit further. He says, okay, now do you understand that part? Yes, I do.

Finally, we get all done. The pastor says, now do you understand what we just went through and what we just read? Yes, sir, I do. So the pastor says, if you do that, that won't happen. So I say, well, thank you very much, Mr.

Pastor. This has been very helpful. And now I think I understand what to do. And the pastor says, no problem. We're just here to help you.

Then anytime you get in any kind of trouble, you become, be sure and come and see me and we'll help you. And he sends me off and says, have a nice day. Now that is not what that guy really wanted to say. Come on guys, you know what I'm talking about. Okay, these are important things for us to remember.

Last time I talked to you about how do you do this? I really encourage you guys to get a one-year Bible and begin to really read through it. Get a devotional and maybe Oswald Chambers. I've been reading Oswald Chambers for years and years and years. I just love it.

Load these programs maybe onto your cell phone or your electronic equipment, you know, and you'll have them there. That's what I do. I'm in the Word every single day. Next session we're going to be talking about the importance of prayer. But right now, focus on reading God's Word.

And so listen, the Bible says that God's Word is so important that the Bible is like a lamp to my feet, a light unto my path, and a lamp to my feet. What does that mean? There's really two promises here. Number one, it'll be a light, a lamp unto my feet, which means it'll illuminate my daily steps. But here's even the greater promises.

I'm in the Word. It'll also be a light unto my path. In other words, I'll be able to see God's great purpose for my life, where he's leading me in the future. But you're not going to have those promises unless you are in the Word. Now, in keeping with our promise, I want to explore these last two things again.

Life implication. What are the life implications of not doing this and life application? Let's talk about life implication. If I am not reading the Word, listen guys, I will never understand God's nature, who he is, and his nature, and discover ultimately his plan for my life. That's just the way it is.

I've got to be in the Word if I want to have that revealed to me. You'll never experience God's presence, and you'll never experience God's perspective unless you are in the Word. And now, life application. Here's the good part, guys. Here's where you're going to meet now around your tabletop discussion time with your guys.

Number one, do you struggle finding time to read God's Word every day? I don't know about you, but that is one of the toughest things for me. I think I mentioned this maybe in the last session, because here's what happens. I get up in the morning, I don't maybe get up early enough as I should, and I recommend that if you don't have time, get up a half an hour or an hour earlier every single day. Force yourself to get that discipline, because if you don't do that, you're going to end up planning your day and doing it your way, and you're going to get into trouble.

I have to really struggle with this. I have to force myself to get up every day and make sure that I'm reading God's Word. Number two, what are some practical things that I can do to be more consistent? I want to give you a couple of them, getting the electronic versions, putting them on your devices, getting the devotionals in front of you, finding a place where you can go every day and read God's Word, very, very important stuff. Then number three, am I willing to be held accountable by the men in our group to do this, so that you ask the men in your group, say, would you hold me accountable?

I give you permission every week when I come back to ask me, how did I do this week in the area of reading God's Word? Very important that you give permission to do that. So I pray that God blesses you in your discussion time, and until next time, as always, remember, don't forget about it.