Scriptures: Psalm 119, Hosea 8:12, Matthew 24:35, John 5:39, Luke 24:27, Deuteronomy 17:18-19, James 1:22

If we really want to listen to God, then we must be in His Word, and know His Word accurately. Despite the fact more Bibles are in print than ever before, 82% of people who own a Bible think the idea that "God helps those who help themselves" is taken directly from Scripture. 63% of Bible owners could not name the four Gospels. 58% could not name at least half of the Ten Commandments. 58% did not know the Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount. In this message, Dr. Merritt talks about how to develop an appreciation of the Bible, and open our hearts as God speaks into our lives every time we open it and read it.

The message resources with this sermon include a one-year Bible reading plan for your congregation.

"You should memorize key verses that speak to your heart. They are verses that you know you need to keep in your memory bank. You can do it. We memorize a lot of things: our social security number, other people’s birthdays, stories, jokes, and you can also memorize scripture. There are all kinds of ways to do it. The best way I’ve learned is to get a card, write it down, put it before you and go over it every week until you have it. Why is it important to memorize scripture? You can then take the Bible with you wherever you go even when you don’t have a Bible. God can bring to mind to you certain scriptures that you need to hear at certain points when you need to hear them." --Dr. Merritt

Keywords: God's will, Word, Bible, Psalm 119, lamp, light, focus, Scripture, direction, reading, memorization, verses, Testaments, covenant, Angola, food, feeding, morality, emotion, lighthouse, value, nutrition