Latest / Crossway Radio / Living a Legacy - 2026-10-31 Series: The DNA of the Church: A Regular Diet of God's Word Part 2

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Living a Legacy - 2026-10-31 Series: The DNA of the Church: A Regular Diet of God's Word Part 2 · Crossway Radio

0:01
S1: Stay in the word. Now there's all kind of reading
0:05
S1: programs and that kind of thing. But I have learned
0:08
S1: in all these years that I've been a follower of Jesus,
0:10
S1: that no reading program in and of itself will replace
0:14
S1: the will to do it. I've got to make a
0:17
S1: decision to do it myself.
0:23
S2: Hello and welcome to Living a Legacy with pastor and
0:26
S2: author Doctor Crawford. Lawrence Crawford served as senior pastor of
0:31
S2: Fellowship Bible Church in Roswell, Georgia. Well, when it comes
0:34
S2: to the Bible, how much time do we spend with it?
0:36
S2: Do we hold it in high regard? After all, it's
0:39
S2: the very voice of God. That's what Crawford talked about
0:42
S2: last week in the first part of his message. A
0:44
S2: regular diet of God's Word. In a few moments, we'll
0:48
S2: head back to John chapter 17, verse 17 for the
0:51
S2: second half of this message. It's all part of a
0:53
S2: series on the DNA of the church. And Crawford originally
0:57
S2: gave this series at Fellowship Bible Church as part of
0:59
S2: a refocusing of the mission of that local assembly. But
1:03
S2: these biblical principles have application for all of us. Today,
1:06
S2: we're continuing our look at four primary relationships we have
1:10
S2: to the Bible. And last week, Crawford mentioned how we're
1:13
S2: to love God's Word. Let's pick it up with a
1:15
S2: second point. We're to learn the Word of God as well. Again,
1:19
S2: our text, John chapter 17, verse 17. Here's Crawford on
1:24
S2: living a legacy.
1:26
S1: Now listen. Listen to me. I'm all in favor of
1:30
S1: good emotions and raising our hands and good, warm feelings
1:34
S1: and sensing God's presence. But learning is what Christians do.
1:39
S1: Learning God's word is what Christians do. There. There is
1:43
S1: no Christianity apart from education. There is no discipleship apart
1:48
S1: from learning. There is no walking with God apart from
1:53
S1: burying ourselves and understanding this book. And so we need
1:58
S1: to learn it. We need to learn it. And you,
2:02
S1: you know, you you can't you can't exhaust this book.
2:06
S1: It's inexhaustible. You never arrive at a time in which
2:09
S1: you totally know it. You know, you you never arrive
2:12
S1: at a time in which you totally master it. It's
2:15
S1: just absolutely remarkable. I'm at a stage in my life
2:19
S1: where these young guys that are starting in their preaching
2:22
S1: and this kind of thing, they say, I'm running out
2:24
S1: of things to preach. Really? Really. You run out of
2:30
S1: things that. It's inexhaustible. Stand up and read it, man.
2:34
S1: If you don't know what to read it. It's inexhaustible.
2:38
S1: I've been at this thing. I've been reading the Bible
2:40
S1: for 50 years now, and a good portion of those
2:44
S1: years I've been a real serious student of the Word
2:46
S1: of God. You know something I can't I can't tell you. I,
2:51
S1: I've read passages that I've preached and taught and go
2:54
S1: back to them. And there's more and more and more
2:57
S1: and more and more and more. It's inexhaustible. You kidding me?
3:05
S1: And listen to what Paul tells Timothy in second Timothy
3:07
S1: chapter three. Now, most of us, you know, you say, oh, Crawford,
3:12
S1: how does this relate to me? I'm a layman. Well,
3:14
S1: you know, uh, Timothy was a young man. He was
3:16
S1: a new pastor at this church at Ephesus. And he
3:19
S1: was getting, he was getting he was getting the wind
3:21
S1: knocked out of him. I mean, these folks were like
3:23
S1: beating him up big time. Paul writes in this kind
3:26
S1: of like, get his courage back in line. But then
3:28
S1: he talks about the Bible. And he calls Timothy back
3:33
S1: to his childhood, beginning in verse 14. Second Timothy 314 says,
3:37
S1: but as for you, continue in what you have learned
3:40
S1: and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it
3:44
S1: and how. From childhood you have been acquainted with the
3:47
S1: sacred writings which are able to make you wise for
3:50
S1: salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed
3:54
S1: out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction,
3:58
S1: and for training in righteousness, that the man of God
4:00
S1: may be competent, equipped for every good work. And let
4:05
S1: me just summarize the two big points that I think
4:07
S1: that Paul's making to Timothy about learning the book, learning
4:11
S1: the book. Now he's in ministry, but Paul says, you
4:13
S1: never stop learning the book. You get it. You never
4:18
S1: stop learning it. The he's saying, number one is that
4:20
S1: I want you to remember its power and influence in
4:24
S1: your life. And what does he do? He calls him back.
4:27
S1: Timothy learned the Word of God from two primary human
4:30
S1: sources from his family. He didn't have a dad in
4:34
S1: the home, so he learned it from his grandmother and
4:37
S1: his mother. And he learned it from Paul. Paul became
4:41
S1: like a father figure to Timothy, and he's saying to Timothy, wait, wait, buddy,
4:45
S1: I need you to understand something. Don't you let your
4:47
S1: moment in history get you confused. You have learned the
4:53
S1: Word of God and it has served as your foundation.
4:56
S1: Don't wander from that foundation. Remember the strength of your grandmother.
5:02
S1: Remember the strength of your mother. And remember me. I'm
5:05
S1: in jail writing you. And we've staked our lives on this.
5:08
S1: And so there's an emotional motivation for learning. Don't you
5:13
S1: forget this. And then he reaches out and he addresses, secondly,
5:21
S1: his moment in history. He says, I want you to
5:23
S1: stay in it. The word continue. Don't forsake what you know.
5:29
S1: Stay in the word, stay in the word. Now there's
5:35
S1: all kind of reading programs and that kind of thing.
5:37
S1: But I have learned, I've learned in all these years
5:40
S1: that I've been a follower of Jesus, that no reading
5:43
S1: program in and of itself will replace the will to
5:46
S1: do it. That the prerequisite to making any of these
5:51
S1: reading programs in any of these strategies to to make
5:54
S1: the Word of God accessible and for us to continue
5:57
S1: to learn it, I've got to make a decision to
6:00
S1: do it myself. I've got to do this thing. I've
6:03
S1: got to continue with it. I believe it was Charles
6:08
S1: Haddon Spurgeon that says. That if you see a Bible
6:13
S1: that's falling apart, it probably belongs to somebody who isn't.
6:24
S1: And that's the practical implications of learning, learning this, this book.
6:31
S1: We love it. We learn it. But number three, we
6:35
S1: live it. We live the book. God doesn't want us
6:43
S1: to just listen to his word, but to do what
6:46
S1: it says. Deuteronomy chapter, chapter six. You see, understanding the
6:56
S1: scriptures may not be as difficult as we make it.
7:02
S1: What is clear doesn't need an explanation. It needs a response.
7:09
S1: And one of the problems that we have for those
7:11
S1: of us who frequent Bible studies and this kind of thing,
7:13
S1: and by the way, there are many wonderful opportunities here
7:16
S1: at the church to learn God's Word as their women's ministry. And, um,
7:21
S1: there's the men's stuff that's going on on with the
7:25
S1: Men's Fraternity and Fellowship Institute and our communities that meet
7:29
S1: on Sunday mornings. And not to mention are just the
7:32
S1: scores and scores of small groups that are taking place
7:35
S1: here and all kinds of stuff that I don't even
7:37
S1: know about that it's doing a great job. That is absolutely,
7:41
S1: absolutely wonderful. But that stuff doesn't make any any difference
7:45
S1: if we don't do this stuff. You see, what God
7:49
S1: is looking for is not people who will agree with
7:51
S1: what he says. God's not looking for a bunch of
7:55
S1: Christians who agree with what he says that go like
7:58
S1: this and understand the content. He's not looking for agreement.
8:02
S1: What God is looking for is for our obedience, not agreement.
8:08
S1: He's looking for our obedience. In this text, Deuteronomy chapter six,
8:14
S1: verses one through three, I believe that there are three
8:17
S1: primary motivations for our obedience. Uh, let me read the
8:21
S1: text here. It says, now this is the commandment, the
8:23
S1: statutes and the rules that the Lord your God commanded
8:25
S1: me to teach you, that you may do them in
8:28
S1: the land to which you are going over to possess it,
8:33
S1: that you may fear the Lord your God, you and
8:35
S1: your son and your son's son, by keeping all his
8:38
S1: statutes and his commandments, which I command you all the
8:41
S1: days of your life, that your days may be long.
8:44
S1: Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them,
8:48
S1: that it may go well with you, and that you
8:50
S1: may multiply greatly as the Lord, the God of your
8:53
S1: fathers has promised you in all. In the land flowing
8:57
S1: with milk and honey, God is repeating, and I want
9:00
S1: you to do it. I want you to do it.
9:02
S1: I want you to do it. I want you to
9:03
S1: do it. I want you to do it. I want
9:05
S1: you to do it. I want you to talk about it.
9:08
S1: I want you to keep considering it. I want you
9:13
S1: to do it. I want you to do it. Number one,
9:17
S1: the first motivation for obedience is that we represent God.
9:21
S1: This is found in the context God is saying, look, look,
9:24
S1: you know, overarching we exist to glorify God. But he's saying,
9:27
S1: the people, the children of Israel, you're going into this
9:29
S1: land and you are my people. And the reason why
9:32
S1: I want you to obey is because you represent me.
9:35
S1: You've heard me say this a number of times here
9:37
S1: in the you know, there's no such thing as a
9:38
S1: privatized Christianity. We all represent the interests and the cause
9:43
S1: of Christ. We are members of the body of Christ.
9:46
S1: And God says to us, look, Crawford, I want you
9:49
S1: to obey me because this is not about you. This
9:53
S1: is about me, and you represent me. And your life
9:58
S1: needs to tell the truth about who I am. So
10:02
S1: that's the first motivation. The second motivation also in this
10:05
S1: text is that we want to honor God. It comes
10:09
S1: from the first one, I suppose. But we want to
10:13
S1: reverence and honor and glorify him. I want to do that.
10:20
S1: You see, to worship God means to obey God. There's
10:23
S1: no such thing as worship apart from obedience. Many of
10:29
S1: us think we have worshiped because we have felt something. And, uh,
10:33
S1: we've sensed God's presence. And don't get me wrong, that's
10:35
S1: part of it. But ultimately, and I know this sounds
10:40
S1: so terribly transactional, but ultimately worship is obedience. If, if,
10:49
S1: if it doesn't cause me to respond by behavior that's
10:56
S1: consistent with the God that I worship, then I haven't worshiped.
11:00
S1: Are you looking at me? Strange? But if you're a parent,
11:02
S1: you know exactly what I'm talking about. The way I
11:05
S1: know that my children honor me or respect me is
11:10
S1: not that they agree with, you know, certain things, or
11:12
S1: they say nice things about me the way that I
11:15
S1: know that my children honor me and respect me is
11:18
S1: if when they're little, they they obey me. Oh, daddy,
11:23
S1: thank you for paying all the bills, dad. Thanks for
11:25
S1: the car that you bought me. Oh, dad, thanks for
11:27
S1: the tuition that you paid. Oh, dad. Thanks for this.
11:29
S1: Or though, dad, thanks for the vacation. Oh, dad. Thanks
11:31
S1: for the new clothes. Oh, dad. Thanks for this. Oh, dad,
11:33
S1: thanks for that. And you say, well, sweetheart, that's wonderful,
11:35
S1: but when you. You need to be home at 11:00
11:37
S1: on Friday nights, you come to the house at 2:00. Oh, dad.
11:40
S1: But I love you, and I thank you. No no
11:42
S1: no no no no, don't tell me, love. That's sort
11:47
S1: of a silly illustration, but that's just the way we
11:49
S1: are now. And God says, look, look, look, you if
11:53
S1: you want to reference me. You do. Do what I say.
12:02
S1: You'll do what I say. God has not given his
12:04
S1: word to us to accommodate our choices, but so that
12:08
S1: we would understand and do his will. It's a very
12:11
S1: important distinction. This book has been given to us not
12:16
S1: to accommodate where Crawford wants to go in life. I
12:20
S1: don't use this Bible to get what I want to
12:23
S1: get out of life. The Bible, in truth, is not
12:28
S1: given for accommodation. It's given to disclose God's will and
12:34
S1: his plan, and to bring my life in line with
12:39
S1: that will and with his plan. And there's another motivation,
12:42
S1: and that is that we want to experience God's pleasure.
12:47
S1: That's what verse three is all about. Hear therefore Israel,
12:51
S1: and be careful to do them, that it may go
12:53
S1: well with you. There is there is a certain pragmatism here.
12:59
S1: You know, God says, hey, you, you want to you
13:01
S1: want to know blessing. You want to know favor. Well
13:08
S1: obey me. Part of my part of my big frustration
13:14
S1: sometimes as a pastor and in talking with people, I, yeah,
13:21
S1: I talk to people who compartmentalize. Now I can tell
13:25
S1: you I have I have that if you follow Jesus,
13:28
S1: you're human. I got that temptation too. I haven't literally
13:33
S1: talked to people who are living in all kinds of
13:36
S1: sinful mess. You know, they're lying. They're they're abusive to
13:41
S1: their partner in marriage, their husband or wife. They're irresponsible.
13:49
S1: They're lazy. They're not paying their bills. They have a
13:55
S1: hidden life where they're addicted to porn. They're doing all
13:59
S1: kinds of stuff. and then they'll sit in your office
14:03
S1: and they start crying because, you know, I can't seem
14:08
S1: to hold a job and things are not working out
14:10
S1: for me. You go, yo, dude. There might be a relationship.
14:18
S1: And I don't mean to sound crass or silly. But
14:24
S1: sometimes things are not going well because we ain't going well.
14:31
S1: So God says you. You want to be in a
14:33
S1: place of blessing. You want to be in a place
14:36
S1: of blessing. And I want to shower you with blessing.
14:40
S1: We will. You will you obey me? Will you live it?
14:45
S1: Don't talk so much about just. Will you live it? Finally,
14:51
S1: the fourth relationship is that we're to love it. We're
14:55
S1: to learn it. We're to live it. But we're also
15:01
S1: to share it. You see, God is all about multiplication
15:05
S1: with everything that we do. I don't know who said
15:10
S1: it in our teaching meeting. We have a wonderful meeting
15:12
S1: on Tuesday morning. Worship team meeting. I don't know who
15:14
S1: said it. Uh, so many people in there, but somebody
15:16
S1: said this, quoted someone as saying, look, truth that is
15:20
S1: not shared is stolen. There's a lot of truth to that.
15:26
S1: Everything in the Christian life has a reproductive multiplying component
15:30
S1: to it. You don't just learn the Bible to keep
15:34
S1: it to yourself. Everything that that happens to us, it
15:38
S1: is really a part of the incarnation. It is a part.
15:42
S1: This is heavy theology that I'm walking into right now.
15:44
S1: I want to get sidetracked here, but Jesus modeled in
15:47
S1: the incarnation and crucifixion and victory of the resurrection, the
15:52
S1: cycle of discipleship. We come to him, we receive from him,
15:59
S1: and we give out to others. And the vision is
16:04
S1: in everything that we do. We're to replicate and multiply.
16:10
S1: And I don't mean to offend anybody, but listen to me.
16:12
S1: Listen to me. There are just too many Christians who
16:14
S1: are who are Bible study groupies. I mean, they they
16:19
S1: go to every Bible study. Imagine I've run into these folks.
16:23
S1: They've gone. They're they're gone to this study on this
16:26
S1: morning and that study on the next morning and this
16:28
S1: small group study on this thing and this kind of
16:30
S1: thing on that. And they're not sharing or teaching anybody.
16:34
S1: But God has called all of us to minister and
16:37
S1: to share his word, to use what we learn, to
16:41
S1: encourage somebody else to teach somebody else, and maybe take
16:45
S1: a little bit of a break or a hiatus from
16:48
S1: 1 or 2 of the Bible studies that you're going to,
16:50
S1: and learning and teach one yourself in order to pour
16:53
S1: into somebody else's life. And we think that being more
16:57
S1: correct and being more right and learning more and learning more,
17:00
S1: learning more. We pour it all on ourselves and then
17:02
S1: we don't give it out. And it's in the giving
17:07
S1: out that causes us to be authentic, authentic, and not
17:10
S1: be hypocrites. Because when you gotta share this stuff, it
17:14
S1: puts the pressure on living this stuff. Said Crawford, you're
17:21
S1: ranting today. Look. And these words I command you today.
17:28
S1: Now listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen shall be
17:32
S1: on your heart. When your heart, God's word, is a
17:37
S1: part of who we are and it is what we
17:41
S1: live for. That's what he's saying here. He's saying, I'm not.
17:44
S1: I'm not talking about some legalistic stuff. But my voice
17:49
S1: has got to be right here. It's got to be
17:53
S1: right here. It's got to be on you. It's got
17:55
S1: to be on your heart. Crawford. Come on man, you know,
17:59
S1: typically what we're passionate about is obvious. We're possessed by it,
18:03
S1: and we live for it, and other people know about it.
18:06
S1: And that's what God is saying to the children of Israel.
18:09
S1: This truth, this truth, is the most important thing in
18:12
S1: the world. That's when sometimes when I preach and it
18:17
S1: gets good to me, there's history there. Share it with passion.
18:25
S1: Tell these young preachers all the time, if you. If
18:27
S1: you stand up boring people to death, sit down and
18:30
S1: shut up. If you don't believe this, if it doesn't
18:36
S1: light a fire in your bosom, don't ever open your Bible.
18:40
S1: You gotta share it naturally and passionately. Number two share
18:45
S1: it faithfully. Uh. Second Timothy, chapter four. Chapter four. The
18:49
S1: chapter divisions are not in the Bible. So Paul is
18:52
S1: like giving him a little bit over in chapter three,
18:55
S1: he said, Timothy, here's the foundation of what you believe. Buddy.
18:58
S1: Come on man. Come on, come on. Don't let these
19:00
S1: people beat you up, man. You know. Don't, don't don't
19:03
S1: let them tell you what to think. Don't let them
19:05
S1: control you. Don't tell. Don't let them tell you how
19:07
S1: to preach or what to share. And so he says
19:10
S1: to him after he makes this incredible statement in verse
19:13
S1: 16 and 17 about the Word of God, he says
19:15
S1: in verse one of chapter four, I charge you in
19:17
S1: the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is
19:20
S1: the judge, the living, and the dead, and by his
19:23
S1: appearance and his kingdom. Timothy, I ain't messing with you, man.
19:26
S1: Listen to me. Preach the word. Be ready in season
19:31
S1: and out of season. Reprove, rebuke and exhort with complete
19:34
S1: patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people
19:38
S1: will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they
19:42
S1: will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,
19:46
S1: and will turn away from listening to the truth and
19:48
S1: wander off into myths. Preach this passage at my youngest
19:54
S1: son's ordination some years ago. I looked him in the
20:01
S1: eye and said, boy, this ain't no game. You're not
20:06
S1: called to be a communicator. You're not called to be
20:08
S1: a speech maker. You're not called to communicate or to
20:11
S1: entertain people. You're called to stand on this book. And
20:16
S1: whether there are 5000 people listening to you or you
20:20
S1: only have one person in the audience you don't ever
20:23
S1: fool with, tamper with, or mess with the content of
20:26
S1: what God said. And Paul was telling Timothy, which is
20:31
S1: a good word for us today, very, very good word
20:36
S1: for us today. That there will be people who won't
20:41
S1: like what you say that don't change what people, what
20:45
S1: God said in order to please people. Now I want
20:47
S1: to balance what I just said there. I don't mean
20:49
S1: this as some excuse. Sometimes we do need to say
20:51
S1: things differently. Sometimes our culture hears things differently. Sometimes we
20:55
S1: need to have wonderful inviting strategies. I don't mean that
20:59
S1: the house may change all around and we need to
21:02
S1: do creative, wonderful things, but the what may must never
21:05
S1: be messed with. Must never be messed with. You share it.
21:12
S1: You share it. You share it. I also think that
21:16
S1: what Paul was saying is that you share it compassionately.
21:20
S1: I don't think he was just saying be bombastic about this.
21:22
S1: He was saying Timothy, in the words of Steve Jobs,
21:25
S1: by the way, you know, Steve Jobs said something that
21:31
S1: he didn't believe in focus groups and this kind of thing.
21:34
S1: And they would ask him, well, how do you know
21:36
S1: what people want? And you know what he said? He
21:40
S1: was being more biblical than he intended to be. Trust me. Uh,
21:45
S1: he said people don't know what they want. Until you
21:50
S1: show them. And that's what Paul was saying to Timothy. No, no,
21:59
S1: don't don't give in to what they ask for. Because
22:01
S1: what they ask for is what they think they want,
22:03
S1: but not what they really want. Give them what they
22:07
S1: really want. Although initially they might give you pushback. Do
22:13
S1: it compassionately. I long for a church and we're getting there.
22:19
S1: We're getting there. We're getting ain't there yet. But I
22:21
S1: long for a church where the people are appropriately humble
22:25
S1: about the truth that God gives them, and they realize
22:28
S1: that that truth is alive and it's real. And you
22:33
S1: cannot separate what God says from who he is. Let's
22:37
S1: quote this together. I exist to glorify God by making
22:44
S1: disciples of Jesus who love God passionately and love others unconditionally. God,
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S1: may it be so. In Jesus name. Amen.
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S2: A regular diet of God's Word. The title of today's
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S2: Living a Legacy message with Doctor Crawford Lawrence. This is
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S2: all part of Crawford's series on the DNA of the church,
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S2: which was originally delivered at Fellowship Bible Church in Roswell, Georgia.
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S2: Community is a word that's become part of our church
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S2: vocabulary in recent years, and we're encouraged to seek community
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S2: as a way of becoming better connected, better supported, and
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S2: a way of becoming better disciples of Christ. But there
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S2: are some warnings that we need to be aware of.
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S2: Crawford talks about biblical community. Next week. Hope you can
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S2: be right back here with us. If you weren't able
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S2: to hear all of today's message, go to living a
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S2: legacy.org and click on today's program. Other messages are also available,
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S2: as well as CDs and MP3 downloads. Thanks for your emails.
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S2: Connect with us through our website. Living a legacy.org. For
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S2: Crawford Lawrence, I'm Bill Davis. Thanks for listening. Living a
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S2: legacy is a production of Moody Radio.