Receiving the Word of God

The speaker begins with a prayer, expressing gratitude for the opportunity to learn from the Word of God. They discuss the importance of the Bible and its role as the voice of God. They reference Psalm 119 and Joshua 1:8 to emphasize the need to meditate on and observe the Word in order to find success. They also mention the benefits of the Word, such as it being a source of life and hope. The speaker highlights the importance of delighting in the Word and meditating on it day and night. They mention Psalm 1 and 2 Timothy 3:16-17 to further emphasize the profitability and guidance of the Word. Finally, they discuss the Word as the only offensive weapon in our spiritual armor. All right, we're ready to get started. Let's begin with a word of prayer. Father God, we thank you for the privilege and opportunity to gather around your word and learn more about you and learn our place in your kingdom, in your family, in your plan, in all the things that you desire to accomplish on the earth. We thank you, Lord, that we are a part of that plan and we learn more and more about our place in your kingdom and in your plans, purposes, and pursuits. We thank you, Lord, that today your word goes forth and it will accomplish what you set it out to do. I thank you that that word will enter into our hearts and take root and grow up and become greater. That this word and the words that you have given me today will take root, Lord, and will become greater, and we can share it with others. Iron sharpens iron. We give you praise for this, Lord. We honor you. We praise you. We lift you up. We magnify and exalt you, Jesus. You are God alone, sovereign, and you love us with an everlasting love. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. So today I want to continue in the promise of the Father. But the Lord has trusted me to talk about the Word today, about the Bible. Give me a second here. Okay. So at my church we are going through a discipleship book called the Purple Book. And what we're doing, it's a book that has lessons in different aspects of the Christian life. And this particular section talks about the Word of God. So I wanted to share that today, go over a couple of scriptures that discuss the title of the chapter is The Benefits of the Word. The Bible is more than an instruction manual or rule book. It is more than a random collection of stories, poems, and letters. It is the voice of God communicating with us. That is why the Bible is often referred to as the Word of God. Psalm 119, the Israelite King David shows us how we should approach the Bible. David saw God's Word as his source of life and hope. He delighted in it. He continually meditated on it. He understood that God spoke to him through it. The bottom line is that we know the sound of God's voice in our lives when we read his Word. I want to begin in Joshua chapter 1 and verse 8. I'm reading out of the New King James Version of the Bible. And it is written, This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. But then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Now, the circumstance of this particular verse of Scripture was the children of Israel had been led out of Egypt and now were going to the Promised Land. But Moses, due to an act of disobedience, was not allowed to go into the Promised Land. So after Moses had passed away, Joshua was picked to take over and bring the children of Israel into the Promised Land. But God said to Joshua, This is what you're going to need in order to successfully lead the people. And again, verse 8 says, Now this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth. That means you will be speaking this book early and often, day in, day out. And the reason you'll be speaking this word and this book of the law is because you will meditate in it day and night. You will observe to do according to what is written in it. And it says here, all that is written in it. And by this process, this dedication, you will make your way prosperous and you will have good success. The same is true for us today as Christians. The book of the law, or the word of God, the Bible, is our anchor. It is our source. It is our method of communication with the Lord. We find God there. We find Jesus there. We find the Holy Spirit there. And we find out how they operate, what they do and don't do, their relationship to us, and our relationship to the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And by meditating in the book of the law, by meditating in the word of God, and observing to do what is written in it, and speaking it forward. He begins by saying that this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth. What he's saying is that you will internalize the book and the book will become a part of your everyday life. You will speak what you're meditating on. The things that you're reading will change you, will change how you think, will change how you act, will change how you consider things, will change some of the methods and processes of your life if you allow it to. But the bottom line here, God is saying if you want to make your way prosperous, if you want to have good success, then this is the source, the word of God. Next I want to take a look at Psalm 1, the first Psalm. And I'm going to look at verses 1 through 3. Again, I'm reading from the New King James. It is written, Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper. So again, we see that the word is highlighted here, and the meditation on that word. And not just a cursory meditation, but a full dedication to immerse yourself in the word, to meditate it early, to meditate it late, to meditate it all during the day. As a matter of fact, verse 2 says that his delight is in the law of the Lord. It's not a chore. It's something that you look forward to. It's something that you can't wait to do again. Because you have purposed that the law of the Lord, the word of God, is the way that you make your way prosperous. And verse 3 will be true for you by meditating on God's word. You will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth fruit in its season. And this is what we as Christians seek to do, to bear fruit. Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. These fruit are a result of our living, dedicating ourselves to learning more about Jesus, to walking in the knowledge that we have, to speak it forth. As Joshua says, this book of the law will not depart from your mouth. You will meditate, you will speak it forth, and you will stand and live according to what you are meditating and reading and learning and growing in. Next I want to talk about 2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 16 and 17. This is a familiar scripture to some of us. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. And is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. So scripture, the thing that stood out to me by this scripture first is that scripture is given. That God thought enough of us to give us his word, his thoughts, his methods, his modus operandi, his processes, his plans, purposes, and pursuits, and his standards. And he gave us his son as an example of how to do all of that. So all scripture is given to us. It is a gift, and we possess it. Not only do we possess the word, the scripture, but we possess the spirit of God to guide us into all truth, to reveal to us things to come, as I have discussed before. It will do that for us. It will guide us and show us how we should live, where we should go, decisions we should make. God has immersed us in his love, and nothing or no one can separate us from his love. And because we have, and especially now in this time, in this 21st century, the word available to us in many, many different ways, that we are able to use the word, to study the word, to meditate on the word, to memorize the word, and have it as a ready, have ready access to it. So all scripture is given, and all scripture is profitable. Always, when you are dealing with the word of God, reading it, meditating on it, speaking it, praying it, it is profitable. It is profitable for doctrine. If we want to know the methods of how to do things according to the word, it's there. It's for reproof. If we're off or missing it, or in need of some kind of a revelation of the fact that we're not exactly in line with God's will, then we need reproof, and scripture will reprove us. For correction, when we find out that we are missing it or off, the Bible, the word, shows us the way out. It shows us the correction. It shows us how to remedy the situation. And it provides us instruction in righteousness. We don't know how to live righteously. We need instruction. And the word is that instruction. The Holy Spirit works with the word that you read and meditate and study, and will bring it to your remembrance in perfect timing. When you need a word, when you need a word for yourself, when you need a word for someone else, the Holy Spirit is working in you and through you to bring all that is necessary to that situation. Verse 17, that the man of God, that the woman of God may be complete. Scripture allows us to become who God intended us to be before the world happened to us. When God created us, when God had the idea to create you and the perfectness of what his intent for your life, before everything else entered in, God says, you are still hidden in me. And through the word, you can find yourself, yourself can be revealed, your true self, your Jesus self, as I call it. Your true self is there and available through the word of God. Amen. And finally, I want to talk about Matthew chapter 4. The word is the only offensive weapon we have at our disposal. When we look at the scripture about the whole armor of God, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, etc., the shield of faith, all the weapons are defensive except for the sword, the sword of the spirit. That is our only offensive weapon and it is the word of God. We see here in Matthew 4, Jesus, as soon as he was baptized by John the Baptist, verse 1 says, then Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, afterwards he was hungry. Now when the tempter came to him, he said, if you are the son of God, command these stones to become bread. But he answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him up into the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, he shall give his angels charge over you, and in their hands they shall bear you up lest you dash your foot against the stone. Jesus said to him, it is written again, you shall not tempt the Lord your God. Again the devil took him up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, all these things I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said to him, away with you, Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him. One thing I want to point out about this passage of scripture is that it was the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, that led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. This was something that was done, I think, for us so that we can have a perfect example of what to do when trouble comes, when the enemy comes, when circumstances are not the way we know God would intend them to be. And we know that through his word. He fasted 40 days and 40 nights, so he was hungry. And the devil came to him with a simple temptation. You're a man, you're hungry, feed yourself. Use your power that you possess and turn these stones into bread so that you can satisfy your hunger. And this is something that the devil is asking Jesus to do that has nothing to do with God. He said, if you are the Son of God, prove it by feeding yourself. And Jesus said, no, we're not going to leave God out of the equation. Man shall not live by bread alone, but man shall live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. So first and foremost, Jesus quoted scripture. Jesus said, it is written, that is the sword of the spirit, declaring the word of God in every and any situation. And again, the devil tempted him. And again, Jesus said, it is written, you shall not tempt the Lord your God. And again, he is tempted. And again, he says, away with you, Satan. For it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. Jesus defeated the devil in this situation by speaking forth the word of God. Just like we saw in Joshua, just like we see in other passages of scripture, that the word is the offensive weapon, the sword of the spirit. And the devil left him. And Jesus was ministered to by the angels. These temptations were real temptations for Jesus. Because if they weren't, then what's the point? But Jesus did not combat them by who he was. He didn't combat them by his position. Oh, I'm a child of God. That's what we could say, I'm a child of God. But that's not the position we take. What we take is the word of God. We say, it is written. And the truth of God's word will change the circumstance or situation. So let us rely on his word. Let us spend time in his word. Let us memorize his word. Let us immerse ourselves in his word. Let us speak forth his word. The promises that God has given us. And let us walk in the victory and the overcoming that Jesus paid a heavy price for. That we can live in victory. Amen. Amen.