We can expand what we understand, because knowledge comes to those who apply what God has given them already, so I need to receive it as a friend. Take your Bible - this is my friend! It can help me. Bring the word of God near into your heart. Take hold of it, see?
Now here's the problem with Western thinking, it goes something like this: to believe something, I believe it. So what I mean when I say: I believe it - yeah, I read that verse, and I agreed with it. That's what we think. That is Western thinking, and it's informational or cognitive based, and we think: because I know it, that I know it; because our Western thinking is: if I've heard that story before, then I know it.
So if someone stands up and reads a passage - well I know that. Someone tries to share with you about something - I know that. Isn't it great? Good for you. You know so much - but not Biblically. From a Western point of view, we've got heaps of information. In fact, there's so much information, you can overload.
The problem is, what to do with what you have; and in the kingdom of God - little is best - a little, because you get a little, and put it into practise, you get more. But if you have a lot of information, and don't do anything with it, you end up in a bad place; because you believe you actually are in a great place with God, when you're not.
That's why the core of the Bible says: if I don't do the word of God, if I don't apply into my life, what God's saying to me, actually I end up quite deceived; because I think I'm doing real well, because I measure doing real well by the information I know - and I've got three folders worth of Bible notes. I've been to Bible school - I've got a whole folder full of notes - and the CD!
But you know what? In in the end, none of this, until it's applied, changes my life. So the Hebrew way of thinking is very simply this; what you are doing, is what you know. What you're doing, is what you really believe.
So we can say we believe all kinds of things. In James 2, it says: well the demons believe in God [brrrrr!] They really do believe, you know, but it doesn't save them. So knowing about God, and even believing the things about Him, that's one thing; but actually to apply it into your life is where - that's where energy comes. That's where traction comes. That's where real change comes, the day you start to do something you weren't doing before. That's when the change takes place.
There's so much knowledge. You get on the internet today, and on the tv, just there's so many messages; but you know what I'm interested in? I'm not interested in all those messages. I'm interested in what God is saying to us here. Because all those messages may be great, and many of them apply to what God is saying in other parts of the world; but what is God saying to us here in Hastings, and Napier, and Hawkes Bay, and New Zealand? That's what's important. That's what you want to be tuned into. What is God saying to us as a community? What is God speaking to us; and more important, am I hearing it, and am I responding? That's what really counts.
Oh, getting all very quiet; and so we saw in Hebrews 4:2 - the word didn't do them any good; and I've seen people come into church and be totally transformed. Others come in, been here for years, didn't seem to do them any good at all, because of response.
Have a look with me in Numbers 14. You can always tell whether the word's impacting people. There's actually evidence of it. There's evidence. Would you believe there's evidence to show, if someone's in the word, and the word is living in them?