Motivation for Reading Scripture

 “Formed by our reading of Scripture, we become better readers of Scripture. This is not because we become better skilled at applying biblical principles. The practice of reading Scripture is not about learning how to mold the biblical message to contemporary lives and modern needs. Rather, the Scriptures yearn to reshape how we comprehend our lives and identify our greatest needs. We find in Scripture who we are and what we might become, so that we come to share its assessment of our situation, encounter its promise of restoration, and hear its challenge to serve God’s good news.”  New Testament Scholar Joel B. Green.  

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. Psalm 1

I love the details of the text and can get lost in them and miss the big picture. The last time I preached this psalm, I did it over three or four weeks! One thing I have learned over the past year that has helped my preaching is to look for the one big idea of a passage of Scripture. So the next time I preach Psalm 1, I probably will do so in one sermon.
I used to think that this psalm was about two ways of living but really the subject is about godly living and the contrast of the wicked is only to highlight and reinforce the godly life. The big idea of Psalm one is something like, "What the godly person looks like."
What struck me this morning in my reading of this psalm is that the primary means of fruitfulness in the life of the godly is the word of God. Too often we look for other means, ways, to gain fruitfulness apart from God's word but that is futile. Spend time in his word

The Purpose of the Book of Revelation

All Scripture, including Revelation, has practical value for exhortation, comfort, and training in righteousness.  Paul underlines this point in 2 Tim 4:1-5 by drawing a contrast between solid teaching of the gospel and people's desire to have teachers who "say what their itching ears want to hear" (4:3)".  God gave us Revelation not to tickle our fancy, but to strengthen our hearts.  Vern Poythress, The Returning of the King, p. 11