Most books, you read. This book reads you.

The 2026 American Worldview Inventory found that only 4% of U.S. adults hold a consistently biblical worldview. Among Gen Z adults — 1%. Many believers have been hearing the Word for years and still never let it shape the lens they look through.

This message is Part 2 of a two-week series on engaging Scripture. Last week: the Bible was meant to change you. This week: the Bible is alive — so let it shape how you see, live, and decide.

Pastor Ryan Faison | Christ Church Lodi Pastor

"For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." — Hebrews 4:12

This single verse gives us three things the living Word does — and three ways to let it into your life:

• SEE Life Through the Word — Before the Word can shape your choices, it has to shape your lens. Hebrews 4:12 uses the Greek word kritikos — the root of "critic" — to describe how Scripture judges our thoughts and attitudes. We critique the Bible. The Word flips it. It critiques us. Don't let your feelings evaluate God's Word. Let God's Word evaluate your thinking. As C.S. Lewis said, "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."

• LIVE Life by the Word — The Word is not just alive — it is "active," the Greek word for energy. The same God who breathed life into Adam breathed life into Scripture. But the Bible can't change what it can't enter. Most of us don't struggle with unbelief as much as we struggle with compartments. Jesus didn't come to be a side dish. He came to be Lord of the whole plate.

• DECIDE With the Word — Every decision is a dividing line. The sharp, precise sword of Scripture doesn't just help you decide what to do — it shows you why you want to do it. Five questions before every decision: Is it biblical? Is it wise? Does it honor God? Have I sought counsel? Have I prayed?

The Air New Zealand Flight 901 disaster in 1979 — where a crew flying in whiteout conditions trusted instruments with a wrong reference point and flew into a mountain — illustrates what happens when our worldview's fixed point is off.

Don't just hear it. Mix it with your life.

Key scriptures: Hebrews 4:12 | Hebrews 4:2 | 2 Timothy 3:16-17 | Colossians 2:8

You can own a Bible and never open it. You can open it and never understand it. You can understand it and never obey it.

Having access to the Bible is not the same thing as being changed by it.

YouVersion — the Bible app on millions of phones — passed one billion installs in 2025. But how many Bibles we have is not nearly as important as how much Bible has us.

In this message drawn from Joshua 1:8, we answer the question that matters most: How do I read the Bible for life change?

Marlinda Ireland, D. MIN | Worship & Women's Ministry Pastor | Christ Church

God's word to Joshua at one of the most pivotal moments of his life gives us a three-step movement that is still the pathway to transformation:

"Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it." — Joshua 1:8

• READ IT FOR INFORMATION — Before you ask "what does this mean to me?", ask "what did this actually mean?" The Bible cannot mean something to you today that it never meant in the first place. Become a Bible detective: who is speaking, to whom, when, where, and why? Context is everything. Don't pull a verse out of its setting and make it say what you want it to say.

• READ IT FOR MEDITATION — Understanding the Word is not enough. You have to let it get inside you. As Tim Keller described it: "Meditation is where information begins becoming formation. It's staying with the Word until the Word starts staying with you." Don't rush through chapters. Sometimes one verse carried all day will do more in you than ten chapters rushed through in ten minutes.

• READ IT FOR TRANSFORMATION — The Word has done its deepest work when it changes what you actually do. James 1:22 says, "Do not merely listen to the word — do what it says." You can know all twelve tribes of Israel and still be mean to everyone you live with. The deeper question is not "how much Bible do I know?" It's "how much of what I know am I actually living?"

After you read, ask: What will I do about this today? Because delayed obedience has a way of becoming disobedience.

Read it for information. Read it for meditation. Read it for transformation. Read it until it changes you.

Key scriptures: Joshua 1:8 | James 1:22 | Romans 12:2 | Isaiah 26:3 | Psalm 23:1

Many people construct their spirituality the way they build a playlist — keeping what comforts them, skipping what confronts them, and combining family traditions, popular philosophy, and personal preferences until something feels right. The problem? A god who never disagrees with you can affirm you. But that god can never transform you.

In this message, we go to Luke 9:23 — one of the most demanding invitations Jesus ever issued: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me."

Jesus did not offer Himself as one spiritual option among many. He called for the surrender of self-rule. And that raises the deepest question of the Christian life: What am I becoming?

David D. Ireland, Ph.D. | Lead Pastor | Christ Church

In this message, we work through three questions every disciple must honestly face:

• Who Is in CONTROL? — Jesus's command to deny ourselves is not about giving up an occasional pleasure. It means relinquishing self-rule. Where have you told Jesus, "You can't touch that"? We follow the story of Scott Harrison — who spent a decade promoting nightclubs in New York, accumulated everything he wanted, and hated the person looking back at him. He surrendered his life to Christ, and the abilities he once used to gather crowds for parties became the foundation of charity: water, which has now served millions of people with clean water globally.

• What Will I SACRIFICE? — In Jesus's world, the cross meant execution, shame, and rejection. Taking it up meant remaining faithful even when obedience threatened comfort, reputation, or life. Arthur Blessitt took that literally — and walked more than 43,340 miles through 324 nations carrying a twelve-foot wooden cross until his death in January 2025 at age 84. The cross he carried on his back was a reflection of the cross he carried in his heart.

• Whose EXAMPLE Will I Follow? — Jesus chose twelve and wanted them "to be with him." Discipleship is a relationship before it is a list of practices. We become like Jesus by sustained companionship — hearing His teaching, observing His conduct, receiving His correction. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, "Cheap grace is grace without discipleship."

What does it look like for you to carry your cross today?

Key scriptures: Luke 9:23–24 | Matthew 16:24 | Mark 3:14