Don’t Just Take My Word for It

11/05/2026

I wonder how many Christians go to church on Sunday, listen to the message, maybe even take a few notes, and then never open their Bible again until the following Sunday. They love God. They enjoy church. They appreciate the teaching. But somewhere along the way, they’ve become comfortable letting someone else do most of their studying for them. And I think we’re missing something wonderful when we do that.

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.“
- 2 Timothy 2:15 ESV

When Paul wrote these words to Timothy, he was writing to a young pastor who had been entrusted with teaching God’s Word. Timothy had a calling on his life, but that calling didn’t excuse him from doing the work. Paul wanted him to be careful, diligent, and faithful in how he handled Scripture.

I take that responsibility seriously. When I stand before our church on Sunday morning, I want to know that I’ve spent time seeking God, studying His Word, and doing my very best to communicate what He wants His people to hear.

Am I going to get everything right every time? I certainly hope so, but I’m also smart enough to know that I’m just a man. I can misunderstand something. I can miss an important detail. And sometimes I may look at a passage from a perspective that needs a little more examination.

That’s why I want to tell you something that might surprise you.

Don’t just take my word for it.

Seriously.

When I read Scripture on Sunday morning, those are God’s words. When I begin explaining what we’ve read, those are my words as I understand what God is teaching us. There’s a difference, and I never want you to forget that.

Go home and read the passage for yourself. Read what comes before it and what follows. Ask God to help you understand it. Look at other passages that address the same subject. And if you come across something that raises a question about what I taught, ask me! I’d love to have that conversation.

You see, I’m not interested in having a congregation that simply knows what Pastor Jeff believes. I want a congregation that knows what God’s Word says and understands why they believe it.

There’s a great example of this in Acts 17:11. When Paul preached to the Bereans, they didn’t simply accept everything he said because he was an apostle. They examined the Scriptures daily to see whether his teaching was true.

Think about that for a minute. They were checking the apostle Paul against Scripture!

And Scripture commends them for doing it.

If they were willing to examine Paul’s teaching, you certainly ought to be willing to examine mine.

But I think there’s another problem we need to address.

We have more access to the Bible today than at any other time in history. We can carry dozens of translations on our phones. We have study guides, commentaries, podcasts, videos, and even artificial intelligence that can help us research passages in a fraction of the time it once took.

I remember when studying meant having concordances, different Bible translations, and reference books spread across my desk. Today, I can find much of that information in seconds.

And I appreciate that. Believe me!

But I wonder whether having Scripture so readily available has caused some of us to stop making the effort to actually know it.

There’s a big difference between being familiar with Scripture and having Scripture stored in your heart.

Psalm 119:11 tells us that hiding God’s Word in our hearts helps keep us from sinning against Him. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, He answered Satan with Scripture. He knew the Word, and He knew how to apply it.

That’s why memorizing Scripture matters. It’s not about winning a Bible trivia contest or impressing someone with how many verses you can quote. It’s about being prepared.

When temptation comes, when fear starts creeping in, when the enemy begins whispering lies, you need to know what God has said.

And while having a Bible app on your phone is wonderful, there are times when you need God’s Word in your heart before you ever reach for your phone.

Now, let me come back to something I mentioned earlier.

I believe church ought to make you hungry for more of God.

I love Sunday mornings. I love worshiping together, opening Scripture, and watching people begin to understand something they may never have considered before. But I never want Sunday morning to be the only time you’re being fed spiritually.

In Hebrews 5, the writer challenges believers who should have been growing in their understanding but were still dependent on the basics. He uses the picture of milk and solid food to describe the difference between spiritual immaturity and maturity.

There’s nothing wrong with milk when you’re a baby. But eventually, you’ve got to grow.

And spiritual growth requires more than listening to someone else talk about God.

You need to spend time with Him yourself.

Read His Word when nobody is watching. Think about what you’ve read. Pray about the things you don’t understand. Ask Him to show you where your life needs to change. And when He shows you something, do something with it.

Because studying Scripture isn’t simply about collecting information. It’s about allowing God’s truth to shape the way we live.

And that’s where Paul’s instruction to Timothy comes back into focus.

He wasn’t telling Timothy to become a better public speaker or to impress people with his biblical knowledge. He was telling him to be a faithful worker, someone who could stand before God knowing he had handled the truth carefully.

I want that to be true of my life. I want God’s approval more than I want people’s applause.

God has shown me more grace than I could ever deserve, and I want to share that grace with others faithfully. Not by changing His Word to make people comfortable, and certainly not by pretending I have all the answers, but by pointing people to the One who does.

And I want the same thing for you.

You may never stand behind a pulpit. You may never teach a Bible study. But you still have a responsibility to know God’s Word and handle it faithfully.

Your children may need to hear it. A friend may ask you a difficult question. Someone you work with may be struggling. Or you may find yourself in a battle where the only thing standing between you and giving up is the truth God has already placed in your heart.

Don’t wait until that moment to begin learning what He has said.

And please, don’t settle for knowing what your pastor believes.

Get into God’s Word and discover what God is saying to you.

I’ll do my best to help you understand it on Sunday. But I hope you’re still reading it on Monday.

Action Steps

1. Read beyond the verse. Go back and read all of 2 Timothy 2 today. Pay attention to what Paul tells Timothy about faithfulness, endurance, and handling God’s Word. Ask yourself how those instructions apply to your own life.

2. Start putting Scripture in your heart. Choose one verse this week and commit it to memory. Don’t just memorize the words. Learn what they mean and when you might need to apply them. Start with 2 Timothy 2:15 if you’d like.

3. Don’t leave your Bible at church. Set aside ten minutes each day to read Scripture for yourself. Before you read, ask God to help you understand what He’s saying. And when something stands out, write it down, pray about it, and look for an opportunity to live it out.

Challenge for the Day

Before today is over, open your Bible and read 2 Timothy 2:14–19 for yourself. Don’t look for someone else’s explanation first. Pray, read, and ask God what He wants you to understand. Then write down one thing you learned and one way you can put it into practice.

Prayer

Father, thank You for giving us Your Word. Forgive us for the times we’ve been content to let someone else study it for us. Give us a hunger to know You more deeply and the discipline to spend time in Scripture. Help those of us who teach Your Word to handle it carefully, remembering that we’re accountable to You for what we say. And help all of us become more than hearers. Teach us to live what we learn. Lord, I don’t want to simply know more about You. I want to know You better. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Pastor Jeff

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