What happens when people start reading God’s Word themselves? Not learning first off on literature, or human explanations, or clever analogies, or good sermons?

“Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes,
And I shall keep it to the end.
Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law;
Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
Make me walk in the path of Your commandments,
For I delight in it...”
David, Psalm 119.33-35

That is what happens. So that afterwards, we are able to relate with life, literature, and the like, and see it all, not with personal preference, but with the foundation of Scripture. Living the Word, we continue to find, is a totally different world. Now we cannot just agree, store in the head, affiliate with. But KNOW! Live. Experience. Be in awe of. Be in tears at. To see the hand of the Almighty at work! Truly and unmistakably. Doors in our minds opening. Disputes and arguments become gas. All of God’s Word, as alive and experienced. Knowledge as life. That Double-Edged Sword that cuts asunder. The pain and subsequent cleansing that only truth can bring.

When we were starting out on this journey as a fellowship, battered and bruised from church history, many were hesitant to help, slightly afraid to care, weary and wary of love. For several years, loving was on the shoulders of very few. “Let's see how far you can bear it,” appeared to be the attitude of some. So there were always sore spots that never seemed to heal.
But then, as more began to will to learn from our True Shepherd, the Lord, Jesus Christ, rising above faults, hurt, lack, we started to bear fruit in a field that was bare.
There are many principles in the Bible which we say we believe. Here, there is no recourse but to OBEY. There is the Word. Do it. Just us and the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. No human structures to tidy up or do damage control or simulate shortcuts. And indeed, we can “Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.” Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added. Apply Matthew 18. Go to your brother. Bridle the tongue. Do everything to glorify God. Work out your own salvation. Pray that you be healed.
And so on. As we continue to encounter both troubles and trials in our relationships, work and family, we also experience forgiveness, starting over, restoration, love, the unmistakable bringing to light of truth. Daily, we overcome. Daily, we die. It is truly humbling. And when once again, we come into awe of the Almighty God, then everything else is unessential. All of this we learn, and continue to learn. Never stopping. As we look forward to the city whose builder and maker is God.
Come and see, then.