The Bible is a book that speaks to your everyday life. George Mueller, who was known for his strong faith, confided. “The first three years after conversion, I neglected the Word of God. Since I began to search it diligently, the blessing has been wonderful. I have read the Bible through one hundred times and always with increasing delight!” ¹ Reading the Bible is the preliminary to strong, active faith. But, it’s only the beginning. You can’t just read it. You have to put what Bible you have read to use in your everyday life. The secret to a healthy spiritual life is in the using. The power of God is in the using. The growth is in the using. In today’s post, we take a look at why you should consider the Bible as an everyday resource for your life, one that you don’t just hear but act on.

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What Is Your Testimony of Jesus?

[Tweet “Many of us were not raised to put the Word of God to use. We’ve had to learn that.”]

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You can view a basic transcript of this podcast at the bottom of this section.

Accept the Challenge

Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put into operation.
This week’s call is:

Jesus told us the person who does the Word is like one who built his house on a rock. Make a quality commitment to do what you see and hear in God’s Word.

Join the Conversation

Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony. Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11).
This week’s question is:

Question: How have you made it a point to put God’s Word to use in your everyday life? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Episode Resources:

You can find additional information on The Word of God in the resources listed below.

1. Bible Reading Plan
2. How to Study a Book of the Bible
3. Study Tools 
4. How Meditating in the Word of God Makes You Sharp in the Things of God
5. The Infallible Word of God
6. Be A Doer of the Word
7. Time in the Word so Rivers Can Flow

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 40 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 35 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate it on Stitcher Radio and leave a review. If you have a suggestion for a Bible topic you would like to see taught, or if you have a question, please e-mail me at emery@emeryhorvath.com

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Podcast Notes

The Bible is a Book of ‘Doing the Word of God’

• The Bible is not just a book of sermon material.
• God moved supernaturally to cause the Bible to come into existence.
• He didn’t do it just so your Pastor would have something to say on Sunday morning.
• Neither did God move on anointed men prophetically and have those same words captured for some software developer to create an app so you can get your devotions done quick and painless.
• No, God gave you His Word so you can have access to His wisdom.
• Accessing His wisdom and putting His ‘common sense’ to use in your everyday life are two different things.
• The Word of God is a book of doing.
• It is not just a book of hearing.
• It is not a Book meant to generate ideological discussion just for the sake of it.
• One Columbia University Professor said the following:

Jewish thinkers don’t talk all that much about love. All too often we leave that to Christian theologians.²

Raised to Do the Word of God

• The reason why they don’t talk it is that they lived it.
• They were raised to live it.

2 Timothy 3:15 (ESV) — 15 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.

• And, then in Romans Paul adds.

Romans 3:1–2 (ESV) — 1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.

Gentiles Must Learn to Do

• Many of us who are Gentiles were not raised to put the Word of God to use from childhood.
• We have had to learn to engage the fine art of putting into the Word into operation.
• Often for us, Gentiles, hearing and doing are separate tasks.
• But, you won’t find that as much in the Hebrew language.
• Some of the words used for hearing in the Bible have a ‘doing’ component attached to its definition.
• In many cases in the Old Testament, to hear is to do.
• If you’re not ‘doing the Word’, that is obeying its precepts, that is putting God’s Word into use in your everyday life, then you haven’t really heard it.
• That’s according to the Bible now.
• Scriptural hearing is not the sound waves of sermons hitting your inner ear canal.
• Hearing is doing and doing is hearing.
• You didn’t hear the Word on Sunday from your Pastor; you heard it when you used what he or she taught you on Monday.
• That’s when you really heard it.
• Everything else is sound waves doing their informational thing.
• So, if you are continuing to have pre-marital sex, for example, after you say you’ve heard God’s Word on the matter, then the real truth is you never heard it in the first place.
• When you really hear it, you really do it.

Why Are Doers Blessed?

Luke 11:27–28 (ESV) — 27 As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” 28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

• Why are the doers blessed?
• Well first, they receive the reward of their faith, which is the thing they believed God for.
• So, for example, if you stood on the Word with patience for a family member to come to Jesus, when they do come to know Him, that is the reward of your faith.
• But, you receive an additional blessing because you’re building into your consciousness a lifestyle of acting on the Word.
• You don’t visit this area once in a while.
• You abide in this area of doing all the time.
• So, you can see from Jesus’ testimony that hearing and keeping God’s Word is a union God has joined together.
• There should never be a divorce between the two.

Old Testament Doers of the Word of God

David

Psalm 1:1–2 (ESV) — 1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

• Did you hear the phrase, ‘His delight is in the law of the Lord?’
• Hone in on the word ‘Law’ for just a moment.
• When you hear that term, think the Hebrew word ‘Torah’ because that’s the word used for ‘Law’ here.
• Torah means instruction.
• It means direction or teaching.

Doing the Word Is Our Joy

• So, what should our delight be, delight, meaning joy or pleasure?
• Our joy should be in the instruction of the Lord.
• We should be happy to know His teaching; ecstatic to know His direction.
• Cart-wheel flips come to mind as you think about the priceless-ness of His will.
• What Word of God are you thinking of throughout the day?
• Are your meditations on God’s instructions a source of satisfaction to you?
• Do His teachings make you happy?
• The scripture says God loves a cheerful giver.
• Wouldn’t it be fair to say that God loves a ‘cheerful doer’ of His Word?
• So, when you see the word ‘Law’ in the Bible, don’t just think the Ten Commandments.
• Don’t think of the other 613 some odd ‘shall and shall not’s in the Law of Moses.
• Think instead, God’s direction, instruction, and teaching.
• Make it a habit to sub these words out for ‘Law’ when you read the Word of God.

Ezra

Ezra 7:10 (ESV) — 10 For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.

• Can you see a trinity of progressions in this passage?
• You have the word study, followed by the word doing what you studied, followed by the word teaching what you have studied and done.
• Ezra had it right.
• He had good order where God’s Word is concerned: study – do – and teach.
• Let’s look at some of these terms.
• The Hebrew word ‘study’ means to seek; you have to seek God’s Word.
• It also means to follow.
• To study God’s Word, you must follow God’s Word.
• If you are not willing to follow what you studied, then what have you really accomplished?
• Did you really ‘study’ per the Hebrew definition?

Joshua

Joshua 1:8 (ESV) — 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

• Once more, Joshua echoes the same theme we have looked at.
• Joshua says, meditate the Word.
• Why? – so that you may be careful to do it.
• You do not meditate to hear.
• You meditate to do.
• And, did you notice the scripture says ‘that you may be careful’ to do it.
• The Hebrew word ‘careful’ means to observe or to conform one’s action or practice to.
• You follow the word ‘careful’ with the Hebrew word ‘to do’ and carries the meaning of to carry out or perform an action or course of action.
• So, the phrase ‘careful to do’ in the Hebrew is like a double dose of ‘doing.’
• Be careful to do means be sure you do it.
• So David speaks to the issue, Ezra speaks to the point, and Joshua speaks to it.
• And that’s just three witnesses.
• There are many more.

The Shema and ‘Doing the Word of God’

• So as we continue to look at the essential nature of ‘doing the Word’, let’s make a pit stop at the Shema.
• The Shema is Israel’s loyalty prayer pledge unto God.

Deuteronomy 6:4–6 (ESV) — 4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

• The prayer is taken from three sections of the Old Testament.
  • Deuteronomy 6:4–9
  • Deuteronomy 11:13–21
  • Numbers 15:37–41
• Jewish people recite this prayer, woven from these scriptures, twice per day.
• But, the Shema starts out with the word ‘hear.’
• The Hebrew word ‘hear’ is spelled ‘šm’ in Hebrew, and it means to listen, hear, or pay close attention to and usually, respond in conformity.³
• So, there is a ‘doing’ part for this ‘hearing’ Hebrew word.

Joshua 1:17 (ESV) — 17 Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you, as he was with Moses!

Hearing and Doing in Judges

• Here’s another ‘Shema’ verse on hearing and doing the Word in the book of Judges.

Judges 2:1–2 (ESV) — 1 Now the angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done?

• ‘You have not obeyed,’ that word ‘obeyed’ is the Hebrew word ‘shema.’
• What’s the Lord saying?
• He is saying, ‘you have disobeyed me,’ that means, ‘you have not heard my Word and acted on it.’
• Again, ‘hearing and doing’ is wrapped up in the same word.

Take God’s Word to Heart and Obey

• Lois Tverberg, in her book ‘Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus,’ says the following.

Jesus often concluded his teaching with the words, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear” (e.g., Mark 4:9). What he really meant was, “You have heard my teaching, now take it to heart and obey it!” He wants us to be doers of his words, not hearers only (James 1:22).⁴

• She goes on to say that ‘Hebrew verbs stress action and effect rather than just mental activity.’ ⁵
• What western society has done is separate ‘hearing’ from ‘doing.’
• In Hebrew, they are the same.

The KJV and the Word ‘Hearken’

• Now let’s look in the King James Version of the Bible, the Hebrew word ‘shema’ is translated as ‘hearken.’

Genesis 3:17 (ESV) — 17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

• But, the concept is still the same, no matter how one translates the word.
• Shema or ‘hearing’ or ‘hearken’ means to hear and do.
• In the King James, the word ‘hearken’ occurs 226x.
• Look at another example in the book of beginnings.

Genesis 3:17 (KJV) — 17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

• The Word ‘listened’ is Shema.
• And so, Adam listened to his wife, but he didn’t just hear his wife; he hearkened to her and did what she suggested.

Asking God to Hear Prayer

• Now, let’s visit the prayer side of our lives, that is, God hearing our prayer.
• At times when we experience life’s trials and difficulties, we reach our hearts up into heaven, and we ask the Lord to hear us.
• Let’s listen in on the Psalmist as he implores the Lord.

Psalm 17:1 (ESV) — 1 Hear a just cause, O LORD; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!

• The Hebrew for ‘hear’ is again this same word ‘shema.’
• So, David is not asking to listen to him as he states his case.
• He is asking the Lord to do something about his case.
• It works that way because hearing and doing are the same to God.

Young Samuel and Doing the Word

• Here it is again with the young Samuel.

1 Samuel 3:9 (ESV) — 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant hears.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

• Do you see it?
• Samuel said, ‘Speak Lord, your servant ‘shema’ or hears.’
• What is Samuel saying?
• He is telling the Lord, ‘you just talk to me, and I will be sure to do what you tell me.’
• It is wisdom that before you ask the Lord to do anything for you that you make a dedication to do whatever He tells you to do.
• Do you think God would give you the wisdom you need if He knew by His foreknowledge that you were not going to do what He tells you to do?
• Doing the Word is an area where we need to commit.

Genesis 17:20 (ESV) — 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.

• God says to Ismael, I have heard you.
• If the Lord ever says that to you, it’s good news and a time for rejoicing because that means your answer is on the way.

Three Decisions of Quality that Will Set Your Life on Fire

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