66 books, 1189 chapters, 31,103 verses

--------------------------------------------------How are you doing with your New Years resolutions? If you are like ____ of the
population, you made one. I normally do, but didnt this year. Though Im still thinking about
it.
If youre like ____ of the population you wont be keeping your New Years resolutions
by the end of January
If youre like eight percent of the population you wont have kept your New Years
resolution by the end of the year.
Though I have great confidence in the people of Chain of Lakes, so I believe our
percentages would be higher. When you set your mind to something you are successful.
But for those of us who want to keep growing, there has to be a better way than to make a
New Years resolution. And there is a better way. We can keep growing on our journey of faith
as we become the person God wants us to be.
With hopes for more long-lasting growth than New Years resolutions Im sharing a three
week sermon series called Identity. This series is driven by one question, who am I becoming?
I want to encourage all of usno matter what our ageto reflect on this question. Whether we
like it or not we are always evolving as people. My hope is we like who we are becoming. How
often have we heard a friend say or weve said, Im becoming so like my own mother or father.
And I vowed that I would never do that. Or we keep getting tripped up on certain behaviors
that we inevitably do. We look in the mirror some day and we wonderwho is that person?
Who am I becoming?

In this series Im sharing three spiritual practices that can help us like who we are
becoming. These practices can have more impact on our lives than a treadmill or a yoga mat.
Last week we looked at the spiritual practice of worship. When we worship regularly we affirm
and re-affirm our allegiance to God. When we consistently worship we grow in our own love for
God and for our neighbor.
Today Im going to look at the spiritual practice of Bible reading.
With that introduction I want to encourage you to get out the bulletin. On the left hand
side of the bulletin is a place for you to take notes. Im going to give you a method today of
reading the Bible that I believe can help you understand the Bible. Id like you to write it down
and put it in your Bible.
The main question Im going to address in this sermon is this:
How can the Bible help me in determining who I am becoming?
Let me start out with this question How do I look at the Bible?
Last week I shared a story about my Grandmother Harriswho is 100 years old. To be fair let
me share a story about my other Grandmother. Her name was Dorothy Moore. She passed away
15 years ago. My Grandmother had a big Bible. It was like this. We might call it a coffee table
Bible. Its a Bible that you would put on the coffee table. Everyone would see it when they
came to your house.
How easy are coffee table Bibles to read. They arent. They are meant to share a
symbol.
Unfortunately the Bible often is more of a symbol to us than something that would help
us in our personal growth.

In my experience of talking about the Bible with people Ive found many people that look
at the Bible as a book that tells me what I cant doit restricts the way I want to life
Some people look at the Bible as confusing and difficult to understand.
Some people look at the Bible as having been terribly misused by the church. The Bible
has been used to justify war and sexism and homophobia and racism and the slaughter of people.
Some people look at the Bible like they do their green vegetables. They know that the
Bible is good for them, but they really dont want to taste it.
And its alarming what we dont know about the Bible
Stats about the BibleAdam,
I have to admit that the church has done a very poor job of teaching people the storyline
of the Bible and how to use the Bible as a treasure.
For me personally the Bible is the most important book in my life. I own about eight
Bibles. I read it every morning. I have the privilege of teaching from the Bible. I get paid to
study the Bible and share sermons from the Bible. I love my job partly because I have the
privilege of spending so much time reading, studying and teaching about the Bible.
But its important for you to know something. I wasnt born loving the Bible. I didnt
come out of my mothers womb with a gene that predisposed me to want to read the Bible every
day. In fact I didnt really grow in my love for the Bible until I was in my early 20s.
In a way this is astonishing as I went to church every Sunday when I was growing up, but
I didnt have a love for the Bible. This has a lot to say about the church. They didnt teach me
to love the Bible; they didnt give me opportunities to grow in my understanding of the
Scriptures; they didnt ________________.

It pains me to say this because I love the church where I grew up. Its just Bible reading
wasnt a significant part of the church.
I hope this never describes Chain of Lakes Church. I hope that we teach you the storyline
of the Bible; I hope that everyone who comes here has opportunities to learn about the Bible; I
hope that we see the Bible not as a scary book that we cant penetrate in our understanding, but
instead as a treasure that can help each of us to unlock the secrets of life. I hope over time that
no one ever shares that the Bible is confusing.
I understand that were not there yet. But we certainly can dream cant we.
Though the Bible is the most purchased and owned book in the United States, the level of
knowledge is still low
According to a USA Today survey in 2007 60 percent of Americans cant name five of the ten
commandments. If you want to review the 10 commandments go to Exodus 20 and
Deuteronomy 5
50% of high school seniors think that Sodom and Gomorrah were married. They werent.
Sodom and Gomorrah were two villages in Genesis that were destroyed
A recent survey showed that some people believe Joan of Arc was Noahs wife. She wasnt.
Noahs wife was _____
A large number of Americans believe that the statement God helps those who help themselves
is in the Bible. Its not. The statement came from Benjamin Franklin.
If I can do anything in this sermon, I want to stir up in you a realization that there is
something in this book that we call the Bible that you want to access. There is something there.
As I said I didnt realize this until I was about 20. I was attending Carleton college. I
was going to church, and I was participating in an Intervarsity group on Wednesday nights. One
weekend we went on a retreat. I was given a free devotional book. I was either a sophomore or
junior in college. One of the first devotionals I read was Psalm 1. I had never read Psalm 1 in

my life. When I read it I read the Revised Standard Version which does not include Inclusive
language.
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. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in
its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. 4 The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff which the wind drives away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the
judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; 6 for the LORD knows the way of the
righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
What grabbed me so much is verse three. He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
that yields its fruit in its season, and its lead does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
I grew up with trees. I was the beneficiary of the pioneers who planted trees into the
southwestern Minnesota prairie. I understood the harsh conditions that these trees lived. And I
understood that trees that have a deep root system can live. Trees go into seasons where they
dont grow, but trees that go deeper into the soil will prosper.
This metaphor of a tree with deep roots spoke to me. I understood at a deep level that the
deeper I can place my roots into God the more that I will prosper in my life. This prosperity has
nothing to do with financial prosperity. It has everything to do with my relationship with God.
Sure I will have a seasons where my own leaf will not develop and in fact will wither. But if I
stay rooted I will prosper as a person.
This is just eight verses. IN the Bible that has ____ verses. I realized at that time that
there is something there in there. I wanted to learn the Bible.
You might think that I read the Bible every day because I am a pastorand that is
partially true. But on a deeper level I read the Bible because I cant imagine living my life
without the wisdom of the Scriptures.

I want you to have a love affair with the Bible too. I want you to read it not only for
information, but I want you to read it because you can find answers to the question, who am I
becoming? You can develop your sense of identity when you read the Bible.
Jesus loved the Scriptures too. He didnt have the same Bible that you and I have. He
had portions of the Scriptures that we know of as the Old Testament. In the reading that Heather
shared Jesus was attending a synagogue worship service in his hometown of Nazareth. He did it
often. He stood up to read the Scripture for the day. Someone gave him a scroll. In Jesus day
the Bible was not a book. Instead the ancient words (use language of the song Kristel chose) was
on a scroll. He unrolled the scroll and read what we know of as Isaiah 61
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
Because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free.
Jesus rolled up the scroll and gave it to the attendant (what was the name of the attendant) Then
Jesus sat down. The person who spoke at synagogue would sit down when they spoke.
Everyones eyes were on Jesus. Jesus grew up in Nazareth so it was like everyone in the small
town who had watched Jesus grow up were looking at him. We dont know if this is the first
time that Jesus every spoke at the synagogue, but its possible.
He said something revolutionary. Do you know what he said. Its important what he
said.
Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.
Id like to paraphrase what Jesus said.
These (((ancient words))) describe my identity.
Jesus did the same thing that Im encouraging us to do. He answered the question who
am I becoming based on Scripture. Jesus was the one who Isaiah had predicted about 500 years

earlier who would come. Jesus could proclaim his identity based on his reading of the Bible.
Its a profound move that Jesus made. Its relevant for you and I who live almost 2,000 years
later. What Jesus did in that small synagogue in the village of Nazareth affects us who worship
in a suburb called Blaine. The city of Blaine couldnt be more different than the village of
Nazareth, but the function of Scripture has a timeless truth.
I realize that you and I just cant open up the Bible and have an answer through our
reading of the Bible. But rememberthe point of this sermon is to increase your interest in the
Bible. If know at a deep level that there is something there in there than you can open up the
Scriptures yourself. Perhaps you wont come up with an answer right away to the question,
who am I becoming. But if you read the Scriptures every day I can promiseand I dont
make many promisesbut I can promise that you at some point will have a revelation from God.
And you will have an answer to the question, who am I becoming. And this answer will last
longer than a New Years Resolution. And this answer will probably be something you didnt
anticipate. And this answer will help you go deeper with God. And this answer is so way cool
that its worth reading the Bible every day in anticipation that you will find it. And( and there
are more ands)Ill just leave it there.
Let me get practical. Let me share a simple method for going deeper into the Bible. This
method is not mine. I dont even know where it came from. There are many good methods for
reading the Bible for understanding. This method works for me.
The method is this. When you read a passage from the Bible ask yourself five questions
What does this passage teach me about God?
What does this passage teach me about myself?
What does this passage teach me about humanity?
What does this passage teach me about the church?
How does this passage teach me to love deeper?

Not every story or group of passages in the Bible will answer all five questions. But
every story or group of passages in the Bible will have an answer to at least one of these
questions. e questions. But every passage in the Bible will help us with at least one of these
questions.
I have a challenge for you. I want to encourage all of us to read one chapter of the gospel
of Mark for the next 16 days. Have you ever read through a gospel? This is your opportunity.
Read a gospel from cover to cover. In your bulletin is a place that has the chapters of the book
along with one of the give questions that Ive given to you. You can start practicing yourself at
being skilled in knowing and interpreting the Bible. The gospel of Mark is the shortest gospel; it
was the first gospel that was written; it doesnt say anything about Jesus as a baby; and it has a
tremendous urgency to it. There was a lot at stake for Mark as he wrote his gospel.
How does my Bible reading help me answer the question, who am I becoming? when
we get in the habit of reading the Bible we find ourselves. And we can see ourselves in a way
that we never saw ourselves before. Last Sunday we looked at the story of the Magi. They went
looking for Jesus and when they found him they worshipped him. This was a significant part of
their journey. You and I are like the Magi (look back at sermon). Were constantly looking for
Jesus. We desperately want to worship him. When we find him, we often are willing to bow
down to worship him.
Reading the Bible can give us such a deeper understanding of ourselves. Our view of the
world is different. Our view of ourselves is different. When we come to the conclusion that God
loves us deeply we have a fresh perspective on ourselves. We might not be as quick to criticize
ourselves in our own mind; we might be able to accept ourselves at a deeper level; we can be
more secure in who we are.

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The beauty of reading the Bible is we come into contact with God.