Essential Ingredient #1: Infused with God’s Word

Share via:

I recently posted a list of 10 key ingredients for life-change.  Are these the only 10?  Probably not.  But I can tell you this…I really do believe there are essential ingredients if you want life-change to occur and you’d be off target if you thought these were optional ingredients.

Is there an order of priority?  Is there a recipe or a mix (like 10% this and 13% that)?  I don’t know.  But I do know this.  You’re not ending up with life-change if you omit the Bible.  You’re not ending up with life-change if your meetings aren’t infused with God’s word.

The Bible as an essential ingredient:

I’m sure of that.  There is no doubt in my mind that the Bible is an essential ingredient.

Does that mean that groups that use only the Bible (no study guide or DVD) have a lock on infusion?  No.  Your meetings can be just as infused if you’re using a flavor of the month DVD-driven study with scripture built-in.  By the way, the fact that you’re working your way through a book of the Bible shouldn’t necessarily be confused with a meeting that is infused with God’s word.  In my mind, infusion means that when you leave the study you’re stepping in the direction of being more like Jesus (as opposed to simply knowing more about Jesus).

Does that mean that groups that only meet to share a meal and fellowship can’t be infused with God’s word?  Nope.  A wise and skillful leader can easily integrate plenty of biblical references, principles, encouragement and challenge, all in the middle of a meal.

Is there value in reading a book together (perhaps the latest Francis Chan or Matt Chandler or Craig Groeschel)?  Sure.  But what produces life-change is when biblical truth moves from the print on the page to the daily life of the member.  Life-change happens when biblical truth moves from information to transformation.

What do you think?  Have a question?  Want to argue?  You can click here to jump into the conversation.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email