Here’s a treasure map. Happy hunting.
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This is Scripture for Students. I’m Steve Whitacre, president of Trinity College and a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. I want to help students build a daily habit for life-long Bible reading. Today is December 8, 2024 and this episode of Scripture for Students is called X Marks the Spot.
You get a gift every Sunday of the year. It’s called a sermon. This episode of Scripture for Students is about how to make the most of the moment.
When I was a little, probably about 5 years old, my grandfather and I spent an afternoon burying treasure. No, not searching for buried treasure, Pop-Pop and I buried the treasure for others to find. We took a quart sized mason jar and filled it with stuff that a five-year old would call treasure. Some brand new crayons, my favorite matchbox car, a couple baseball cards, and a G. I. Joe guy. I seem to remember insisting that we also throw in a leftover dinner roll, which was probably not a very good idea but my Pop-Pop was very accommodating. We got a shovel, buried the jar in the backyard and then spent the rest of the afternoon making a treasure map. A sketch of the back yard with the classic X-marks-the-spot somewhere between the clothesline and the corner of the fence. I honestly have no recollection at all if I ever dug it back up. For all I know that treasure is still there, a very lonely G. I. Joe guy and some early 1980s baseball cards and what by now must be a very stale dinner roll.
Let’s say we drew a treasure map of your church. You can probably picture it in your mind: yellowing, slightly charred around the edges, a big compass rose pointing north. There’s a dotted line from your family’s parking space to your favorite seats. And right there, not far away, is the x-marks-the-spot. Can you guess where it is? That’s right: up on stage, front and center, marking a music stand or a podium or a lectern—marking the spot where your pastor preaches every Sunday.
This is the spot where treasure is broadcast, not buried. As much as we love the adventure and romance of hidden treasure, we would rather have revealed truth. God is worth more to us than gold, Jesus is worth more to us than jewels.
X marks the sermon spot, where treasure is broadcast every Sunday.
This episode is a little different than what we’ve done so far. Rather than read a passage of Scripture tougher and then think about that means, I want to try to help you find the treasure in your sermon today. It’s there!
If you are listening to this before you go to church, I have a couple suggestions for you.
- Take notes. Don’t over do it. You don’t have to write down everything or even most things. Most preachers will give you a sentence with the main idea of the sermon somewhere near the beginning. Write that down, and then try to get the main points. And then, try to write down any ideas along the way that are new, significant, or memorable.
- Next, talk about the sermon with your family or some mature Christian friends. As we do—and this is important—we want to focus here more on the sermon’s significance than the preacher’s performance. It’s ok to say, I like that story he told or wow, he really got to preaching. But what really matters is the substance of the sermon. What do you learn about God? What did you learn about sin? What did you learn about salvation? What did you learn about how Jesus changes us from the inside out and helps us to obey him? Talk about that.
- And that brings us to the third thing: what does God want you to do with this sermon? Is there one thing God is showing you: something he wants you to believe? A sin he wants you to repent of? A promise he wants you to trust in? A step of obedience that he wants you to take?
Write that down and then take 30 seconds to pray and ask God to help you grow and change as a result.
A little bit of this goes a long way. Here’s what you can expect to happen.
Isaiah 55:10–11 says,
10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
When we seek the treasure that’s at that spot called the Sunday sermon, you can expect God to accomplish his purposes in your heart and in your life.
That’s all for today. If you enjoyed this episode please share it with a friend and follow us on Apple Podcasts.
This content is sponsored by Trinity College of Louisville. We shape young men and young women for Christ and for the church. Learn more at TrinityCollegeLou.com. Until next time, keep growing!