Sunday message · A Long Obedience series
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Message Summary
In the second message of the series A Long Obedience, Pastor Phillip Santillan turns to Romans 12:1–2 and the discipline of engaging God’s word. Borrowing Eugene Peterson’s description of discipleship as a long obedience in the same direction, he explains that spiritual disciplines are practices that place us in the path of God’s transforming grace, habits of devotion that, as Donald Whitney writes, God’s people have practiced since biblical times. Phil’s short list includes Scripture reading and memorization, prayer and fasting, worship, evangelism, service and stewardship, many of which Jesus himself practiced.
Phil compares Scripture engagement to the way trails are formed. Paths in the woods, across a lawn or along a Boundary Waters portage are made by walking the same route again and again, and a trail left unused soon closes in. The Bible has shaped our culture, from the good Samaritan to the writing on the wall, yet many who follow Jesus own Bibles without regularly walking that trail.
Romans 12 begins with God’s mercies, not our efforts, and calls us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices and to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. When God saves us, he makes us new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17), but Phil admits that his mind needed time to catch up with his new identity. Scripture is how God renews our thinking. As D.L. Moody put it, the Scriptures were given not for our information but for our transformation. In Ezra 7:10, the word for study, darash, means to tread or trample, like wearing a groove in the ground through repeated travel.
God’s word also exposes our hearts (Hebrews 4:12). Citing Christopher Wright’s Life Through God’s Word, Phil notes that the more Scripture fills us, the harder it becomes to sin comfortably. That conviction is not meant to crush us but to drive us to Christ, who forgives and cleanses. Better still, Scripture reveals God’s heart, showing us his glory in the face of Jesus, the one the Scriptures testify about. The goal is not simply knowing more but doing what it says.
Phil offers three practical steps. First, engage Scripture personally, with whatever method works, including listening or watching, since the key is consistency, not quantity. Start small, perhaps with Mark, and set a specific time and place. The goal is not to get through Scripture but to “let the scripture get through you.” Second, memorize Scripture, as the psalmist stored God’s word in his heart (Psalm 119:9–11). Phil once carried verses on index cards; a memorized word is available when no Bible is at hand.
Third, engage Scripture in community. Citing Larry Osborne, Phil notes that most believers in history learned God’s word by hearing it read and taught together, and community protects us from our own blind spots, as Paul urged believers to teach and counsel one another. Long obedience needs both personal and shared engagement. The discipline is about persistence, not perfection: each return to God’s word forges the trail a little deeper. He closes by inviting everyone to commit to getting into God’s word.