Philippians 4:10-13 John 10:14-21

Crisis after crisis. Need after need. We seek answers from the living God. He provides those through His sacred word, the Holy Bible. How appropriate. One theologian said, “If God loves us so much that He would send His son to be incarnate, here on our planet Earth, wouldn't it make sense that He would have an on-going conversation with us? Wouldn't it make sense that He would continue to communicate with us?” There are many ways that He does that but the primary way He communicates for all of the Christian community is through the Bible. That is why it is so important to read the Bible, to learn the Bible, and to memorize some of the verses of the Bible.

The reason so many of us don't read the Bible is that we get caught up in the first several books like Leviticus and Numbers which quite frankly are very boring, filled with lists, descriptions of ceremonies that seem no longer relevant to us in any way. So I would encourage you not to start at the beginning of the Bible and try to read straight through it. Rather pick up the Gospels first and read them. Maybe you could start with the Gospel of John because that is a very personal Gospel. It contains more of the sayings of Jesus than any of the other Gospels and the sayings are intimate instruction so it is easy to connect with Christ as you read the Gospel of John. Then get into the epistles and finally go back in to the Old Testament. Pick and choose books of the Old Testament that you want to read. Read summaries of them first in commentaries that talk about the Bible so you know which one you would like to read. As you are advanced in your understanding, you can then read those difficult and boring books&because you will want to. The Bible, once we get into it that way, serves us in any circumstance.

Here is another tip in reading the Bible. As you read the Bible, get into the characters. People would read the Bible a whole lot more if they register that the characters in the Bible were people just like us. Frequently when we read it, we think, “Oh, these people were extraordinary. These people were certainly chosen by God and are especially separated out and blessed, not like us. But the reality is, they all were human beings just like us. So as you read the Bible, put yourself in their place and ask yourself, “If I were that person, what would my reactions be in this circumstance?”

When I was in the hospital, I did that with a few of the characters themselves. On my worst night, Jan asked if me if I would like to have the Bible read to me and I said, “Would you read the Gospel of Luke because Luke was a physician and he records a number of healing stories.” I thought if I heard the healing stories that it would help me to heal. I could put myself in the place of some of those characters who were healed by Jesus and experience His loving touch. I must have passed out then because I don't have much memory of what followed. I do remember Jan reading but I can't remember what she read. I'm sure it was what I requested. Consider for example the story of the paralytic who had friends who brought him to Jesus and discovered that there was such a crowd around Him that there was no way that they were going to get their friend to Jesus except to climb up on the roof of the house, cut a hole in the roof and lower him so that Jesus could touch him with His healing touch. Now put yourself in that place for a moment. If you were one of the friends, would you have thought of that? Would you have cared so much about your friend who was the paralytic that you would climb up on the roof, pull his body up, tear a hole in the roof and lower your friend so he could be seen and touched by Jesus? What if you were the paralytic? How would you feel about your friends who thought that much of you that they would pull you up, take care of you in that method, lower you so that you could meet Jesus? And if you were that paralytic being lowered and suddenly you saw the face of Jesus and knew at that moment&remember you are human. You are infirmed. You haven't walked since birth. You might be cured. But now all of a sudden, this man is going to touch you. How would you feel? You've heard the stories of His power& The first thing He does is forgive your sins. The next thing He is going to do, you are hoping beyond hope, is say to you, “Walk” and you will be able to walk. Imagine then the feelings and emotions that you would have as strength filled your body and suddenly you were able to walk! So that is the way to read the Bible. We are to put ourselves in the place of the characters and ask ourselves, “If I were in that situation, how would I respond?” When you do that, you can hardly put the Bible down. It becomes extremely easy to read and extremely relevant to us. Take the example of the woman who had the hemorrhage for years and years of her life. She was constantly bleeding and again, there are similar circumstances. She tries to get to Jesus. She just knows that He has the power to heal her if she can only touch him or have Him touch her. She pushes her way through the crowd. Would you have done that? Would you have been determined, “I'm going to get there. I'm going to get to Jesus. I'm going to some how reach out&” And the Bible said she only managed to touch the hem of his cloak and instantly, she was healed. Then Jesus turned around and said, “Who touched me?” There were so many people standing around him. How would you feel? Do you like to be singled out? Would you feel kind of sheepish? Maybe guilty? Would you raise your hand and say, “Lord, it was me”? Or would you not raise your hand and say, “There are about 700 people here. It had to be someone else. Take your pick.” How would you have reacted? What would you say? So put yourself in the place of these characters.

The Centurion came to Jesus. A centurion was a soldier of the Roman army who was in charge of about 100 men. He was a gutsy person. It takes courage for a Roman soldier, the enemy of the Jews, to come to Jesus. He told Jesus, “I have a servant and it is a servant I care a whole lot about. My servant is deathly sick. In fact, I am afraid at this moment at my house, this servant is dying. But only say the word and my servant will be healed.” What if you were that Centurion? Would you have that kind of faith in Jesus? Would you respond the way he did? Would you have the courage to look foolish in front of your buddies, maybe the 100 or so that you led who probably were in the vicinity? Or maybe there were other centurions around there as well. Would you have thought about what they thought? Would you have experienced enough love of a servant that you wanted the servant healed? Put yourself in the place of the servant. You are sick. You are dying. All of a sudden, you are instantly healed in the hour that your master asked for help for you from Jesus Christ. Imagine what he thought. “How did this happen? I am OK now. What is going on here? Who did this to me?” Then the Centurion comes back and tells you about this person named Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior. These were ordinary people just like you. Just like me. They had ordinary feelings like you and like me. That is a great way to read the Bible. When we read the Bible that way, it comes alive and it is not such a hard book to read . So I dare you. Put yourself in the place of the characters.

When there is a crisis, when there is a need and you are the one in crisis and the one in need, if you have been reading the Bible faithfully, then verses will come to your mind that comfort you, that sustain you in the midst of your crisis. It takes only fifteen minutes a day of reading and you can go through the whole Bible in a year.

I remember a black belt karate expert who came to me for counseling after a horrible divorce that he had been through. He simply needed the comfort of God to get through this situation that he was in. So I shared with him some Bible verses, some of my favorite that came to my mind. These were also my favorites that came to my mind while I was in the hospital and they sustained me as well. They seemed to help him. I will share them with you right now.

Matthew 11:28  “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gentle and humble at heart. And you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Isn't that a wonderful sustaining Biblical quote? Can't you use that quote in many many circumstances? In the hospital, that quote came to me on more than one occasion. “Come to me all you who are heavily burdened and I will give you rest.” And God did give me rest in the midst of some horrible circumstances.

Romans 8:38 - “I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor demons, nor the present, nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I know I didn't remember all those parts, but as I laid there in the hospital, I did remember that nothing could separate us from the love of Christ, the love of God in Christ Jesus, the Lord. Isn't that a wonderful sustaining message? Can't you see how that helps a person, to recall a message like that? Knowing God loves me enabled me to have confidence in my healing.

How about this one? This one I use in all kinds of circumstances. In fact, I frequently use it before I preach a sermon. I John 4:18 - “There is no fear in love. Perfect love drives out fear.” They say that the most fearful thing for people to do is public speak. People who take surveys rate that even scarier than dying  public speaking to some is that scary. I've never found that is the case with me because I love to speak in public and I love to get in the pulpit. But sometimes I am nervous and sometimes when I turn around and face the altar, I'll say to myself, “Love casts out fear.” Then when I turn around here, I usually don't have any fear, knowing that I'm looking out at a loving audience and having confidence in the Lord's love. I know His Holy Spirit will help me.

Make your own list of sustaining words. Write them down. Know how much God cares about you. Know that in times of crisis and times of need, God can sustain you. This book is given to you for that. Get into it. Read it. Meditate on it. You don't have to be a super Christian and spend hours in the book. Fifteen minutes a day and you will find things like those passages I just read to you. Then as you read them repeatedly, they will come to you at times of need.

There is one more favorite of mine that came to me frequently while in the hospital.. I've shared it with you before. I say it every time I go to preach a sermon. I said it in the hospital a whole lot. Joanie read it this morning. It is my very favorite passage. Philippians 4:13 - “I can do all things in him who strengthens me.” I can survive this illness. I can get well. I can minister to you. I can do all things in him who strengthens me. I can change myself. I can change my flaws. I can do all things in Him who strengthens me. Isn't that a marvelous quote? And it is true. It is the Word of God.

We stand before the author this morning and as we do so, we lift up our minds and hearts to Him. We do this every Sunday. It can become easy and we pray by rote. We depend on the readers to read the Bible to us. And so often we don't even crack the book during the week. But someday, God may ask you, “What books have you read? Have you read my book?” Will your answer be “Yes”?