Today, there are more resources than ever to read about the Christian faith and what it is about. Just looking around the room in which I am writing this blog I see multiple devotionals written by Oswald Chambers, John Maxwell, and Henry Blackaby among others. There are books by Bill Hybels, Chuck Swindoll, and Chuck Colson. I probably have 100 books that talk about the faith and what Scripture means. There is a iPad next to me that can link to the internet and get pretty much any information that is available.

All these resources are great for helping to move people to a deeper knowledge of the Christian faith. But, in my experience, when I really am growing I am studying the words of Jesus found in the Bible. There is no replacement for this! It is when I read what He said and what those who walked with Him wrote about Him that I feel the most stirred in the deepest place of my soul.

Those other soureces are great and there is a place for them–but it has to be secondary. I think this really hit home for me when a good friend of mine in my small group–Joe Emanuel–gave everyone in the group a typed copy of Matthew chapters five through seven, which is otherwise known as the Sermon on the Mount. I had read this many times but as I read it all the way through, I realize that I don’t think I had read it like that before. He was our Savior, sitting with the people He came to save and we have a transcript of what was said! Imagine with me for a moment what it must have been like to be there when those words were first spoken? The power of those words and the authority by which they were spoken. Matthew 7:28-29 say it this way, “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.”

My challenge for you this week is to read Matthew five through seven this week. Read it all the way through first, then go back and take it topic by topic. I plan on spending the next couple weeks during my quiet time on these chapters. I want to drink in the words of Christ and be molded by them!
Won’t you join me?

More to come…
Jeremy