Applying God’s Word to Your Everyday Life

By Bryan Rollins

 (This blog post on grow is the third in a series about LCC’s five core purposes: worship, connect, grow, serve and reach.)

“So we continue to preach Christ to each person, using all wisdom to warn and to teach everyone, in order to bring each one into God’s presence as a mature person in Christ.” – Colossians 1:28

I heard a story recently about a pastor who went to teach at a conference for pastors of underground churches in a country where Christianity is illegal. He had been told to come ready to teach through the Book of Romans. 

These underground church pastors had to take off of work without pay, leave their families and sneak to this assembly. If they had been caught, they would have been imprisoned without trial, maybe even executed. Once they gathered, these pastors didn’t want to take breaks or stop to eat a meal. They wanted to continue to study throughout the night. They were so incredibly hungry to learn that they finished the Book of Romans and went straight into 1 Corinthians and kept going until they had studied through three more books of the New Testament. Talk about devotion!

Much like these underground church pastors, members of the first church were also committed to learning more about their newfound faith in Jesus Christ: Luke writes in Acts 2:42,  “All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.”

We should also be devoted to learning and growing in our faith because we were created to become like Christ. How do you do that? The wisdom literature of the Old Testament urges us to focus and apply God’s Word in everyday life just like the members of the first church in Jerusalem. The psalmist writes in Psalm 1, “Blessed is the one who delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night.” Also, in Deuteronomy 6, Moses instructs parents to teach the Word of God to their children: “ … when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.”

I already hear your hesitations. I hear you asking, “How, Bryan, am I supposed to navigate this old, big book alone?” My answer is that you don’t have to. 

Through LCC, you have access to RightNow Media, which is a huge streaming library of videos that has often been referred to as “the Netflix for Christian Bible study.” Also, on LCC’s website, you have access to study materials and questions based on each week’s messages.

Another way to grow in your faith and connect with other people is by taking one of LCC’s Bible study classes and joining a group. LCC offers a wide variety of classes in the spring and fall which will help you live a healthier, vibrant and God-honoring life. LCC also offers groups for every stage and age of life. This is a great way to gain more understanding and knowledge of God’s Word while becoming a part of a community of believers who will help you grow into spiritually mature disciples of Jesus.

Bryan Rollins lives in Bluffton with his wife Erica and their two dogs, Mia and Gracie. He serves on LCC’s middle school team as a 6th grade group leader and on the Sunday morning greeting team.

Did you miss the previous post in this blog series about “connect”?