The Word of God, Pt. 2

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The Bible is the most popular and best-selling book of all time, with an estimated 5 to 7 billion copies sold and distributed. But how often do we open these Bibles and read The Word of God? Pastor Nick Gatzke reminds us of the remarkable power of The Word of God to transform your life.

One of the biggest choices that you are going to have to make in this life is what voice or voices will you allow to direct your path? One of the biggest choices that you’re going to have to make in this life is will you trust God and his word as supreme because of who God is? And by supreme, I mean, will you trust God and his word? Supreme over your thoughts, over your feelings, and even over your experiences. And if you do that, it will change your view on what is important in life. It will inform your decisions of how to live going forward. God’s word will address your character. He will address your marriage. He will address your job. God’s word will address your parenting. God’s word will address your money. God is the ultimate authority.

The question is, is will you follow him? When God speaks, we see a couple more dynamics. Because it is a word from God, not only is it authoritative, but it’s also eternal and unchanging. Psalm 119:89 says, forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens. Isaiah chapter 40 says, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

We also see that loving God means that you love his word. When you love something, you fixate on it. You think about it. You pursue it. And when you love someone, you think about them. You fixate on them. You pursue them. You delight when you are with the one that you love and when you’re not. You do things like replay the conversations you’ve had, look at pictures on your phone, reread an old letter. You think about the things that you would have done differently the last time you were together and the things that you hope to do the next time you are together. And the same is true in some ways with God. Psalm 119 contains 176 verses. regarding the incredible nature of God’s word. And it points to the fact that loving God means loving his word. And loving his word points you to your love for God and God’s love for you. And it’s expressed in things like Psalm 119:24: “Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors.” And verses 97 and 98: “Oh, how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies; it is ever with me.” Or verse 111: “Your testimonies are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart.” Or verse 159: “Consider how I love your precepts! Give me life according to your steadfast love.” And so throughout the Old Testament, we see again and again and again and again, if you want to know God and his love for you, then listen to, follow, and obey his word.

If you want to know God and his love for you, then listen to, follow, and obey his word. As we move from the Old Testament to the New Testament, we see that God’s word is expressed even more profoundly. Yes, God speaks. He reveals. It’s authoritative in its nature. God acts through his word. It changes our lives and our love. And we see when we get to the New Testament that Jesus is expressed as the living word of God. That might seem in some ways a little odd to us to call a person the word. But if God’s word is really the revelation of who he is, if he is revealing himself to us, then the greatest way that he can reveal himself to us is through being with us to show us his character and his plan, and it comes in the person of the Lord Jesus

Christ. John 1, verses 1 and 2, and verse 14. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, the glory as the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. So God shows us, he reveals to us his love for us as Jesus leaves the glory of heaven for us. the sinfulness of earth. God shows or reveals his love for us by this word, Jesus, as he preaches grace and truth to sinful human beings like me and you. And he calls people from all stations of life to believe in him and receive eternal life. And God reveals his plan to us and he shows his love for us. And this word, Jesus lived a perfect life, died a horrible death, rose from the dead, paid the penalty for your sins and mine so that we might be alive to God and live with him forever. This means that Jesus, the living word of God, and the gospel, the good news that he preaches for the forgiveness of sins, are part of the proclamation of who God himself is at the core. And if you want to know him, then you need to know Jesus. If you want to know him, if you want to know his love for you, then listen to and follow and obey his word. We see in the New Testament that the Bible, as it is being formed, becomes the written word of God. Jesus is the living word. The law and the prophets and the writings of the Old Testament are accepted as scripture, the written word of God, and the New Testament that is being written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. is also to be recognized as the word of God. In fact, the New Testament writers quoted the Old Testament approximately 250 times and alluded to it over 900 times. The word scripture is used 51 times in the New Testament, every time referring to the Old Testament. Two occurrences we see of the New Testament writers recognizing other New Testament works as part of Christian scripture, or the word of God. 2 Peter 3:16, Paul refers to Paul’s writings and classifies it with other scriptures, or the word of God. 1 Timothy 5:8, Paul quotes Luke 10.7, he calls it scripture or the word of God.

People everywhere are looking for God. They long for God. They desire to hear from God. I love the old story. It’s one of my favorites of the two little boys ages four and six who were excessively mischievous. And they were always getting into trouble and their parents knew that there was any problems in town. It was probably the result of their two children. The boy’s mother had heard that the local minister in town had been very successful in disciplining children. And so she asked if he would speak with her boys. Don’t get any ideas. The preacher agreed. But he asked to see them individually. And so the mother sent the four-year -old boy in the morning, and the six-year-old boy was to come later in the afternoon. And as the boy, four years old, sat down in the office of the preacher, who was a huge man with a deep, booming voice, he asked the young lad sternly, do you know where God is, son? And the boy’s mouth dropped wide open. But he made no response. And he sat there wide-eyed. And so the preacher repeated the question in an even sterner tone. Where is God? And again, the boy made no attempt to answer. And so the preacher raised his voice even more, and he shook his finger in the boy’s face, and he said, Where is God? And the boy… screamed and he jumped up out of the chair and he ran out of the office and he ran all the way down the street to his house and he threw open the front door and he ran upstairs and he dove into the back of his closet and he hid. When the older brother found him, he said, what happened? And the four-year-old gasped for breath and he replied, we’re in big trouble this time. God is missing. And they think we did it.

People want direction from God. They want to know where he is. They want to know what he says. And here, in the Bible, you have his written word. He reveals himself to you. He points you to Jesus in it. He gives you new life through it. He instills hope in you because of it. And he gives you wisdom for the rest of the days of your life. If you want to know God, if you want to know what his love is for you, then listen to, follow, and obey his word.

I want to close this morning as we do often in the messages in this series. with a series of implications or applications for you. And all of these implications are coming directly from the scripture and they can be under the category of sufficiency. That the word of God is sufficient for everything you need for life and godliness in these days. And I’ll move very quickly. The word of God is true. John 17:17, Jesus says, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” The word of God is sufficient for you to please God. Deuteronomy 29:29 says the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to your children forever. That we may do. All of the words of this law. The word of God is living and active. Hebrews 4:12 says, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of the soul and of the spirit and of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. The word of God is useful. 2 Timothy 3:16: “All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching and reproof and correction and training for righteousness so that the man of God may be complete. Nobody wants to be incomplete. You want to be complete. The word of God helps you in that regard, equipped for every good work.” The word of God brings about salvation.

Romans 10:17 says that faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. 2 Timothy 3:14-15 but as for you continue in what you’ve learned and have firmly believed knowing from whom you have learned it and how from childhood you’ve been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. The word of God shows the magnitude of God’s ways.

If you’re anything like me, you’re tempted to minimize how great the works of God really are because we live in an incredibly self-sufficient time. But Isaiah 55:9 says, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” So if you are seeking God, look to his word. If you want the ministry of the Holy Spirit of God in your life, go to his word, which the Spirit inspired. And the Spirit illumines, opens your eyes, and allows to see and experience it. If you want to see God, you need not look to a religious icon or a piece of classic art. You certainly don’t want to look in the mirror. Though you are an image bearer, you are not God. If you want to really see God, you look to the one who reveals God the Father. Jesus Christ, who is in the image of God and is one with the Father. And if you want guidance for life, you have to decide which voices you’re going to listen to because there is a pantheon of them.

If you want guidance for life, then read or listen to or access this word of God. But you need to have the right expectations. Sometimes reading the Bible or listening to it is like drinking from a fire hose. It’s all you can do to just swallow and breathe because it’s that intense. But other times, reading the word of God is like sitting in a bathtub with a slow and dripping faucet. And you might not feel like you are being cleansed immediately. But as you sit there longer, or as the rhythm or the pattern of your life accesses the Lord’s word again and again and again, you are indeed changed. If you want to know God as love for you, then listen to and follow and obey his word.

You know, words are powerful. And certain types of words can change a person. and their destiny. And certain people, and I think all of us in some way or another, want powerful words to point us to some sort of immortality. That was the title of an eBay auction from September of 2005. The title read, Let Stephen King Kill You in his upcoming book. And the auction was created by a nonprofit organization called the First Amendment Project, and it made some very big claims. Here’s your chance to be immortalized in literary history. Bid on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a character in an upcoming book by Stephen King. What could be a better gift for his ultimate fan? Be immortalized by dying in a book. The auction ended after 76 bids, with the winner agreeing to pay $25,100 for the chance to see his name printed in black and white. Other notable authors offered their services as well. One bidder paying $12,100 for a chance to appear in a John Grisham novel, and another paying $6,350 in order to be included as an utterance in Lemony Snicket’s upcoming book, the 13th. These bidders would probably be surprised to learn that another author had been offering them both immortality and inclusion in his literary masterpiece for almost 2,000 years. The author’s name is Jesus Christ. The Word made flesh. And these words really do have the power for true immortality. Because his novel is called The Book of Life. And he offers to put your name in it for free. If you want to know God, if you want to know God’s love for you, then listen to, obey, follow his word.

Let’s pray together. Father, we know that as we look to your word, there are many voices of time and culture and intellect that continue to encroach upon us. It is my most sincere prayer today that the loudest voice in the life of every person here is your voice. that you reveal to us, that you give us life through, that you give us wisdom for our days, that you give us hope for our future. Help us to know you better. We thank you for revealing yourself in your written word and in the living word, the Lord Jesus. In his name we pray, amen.

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This transcript was generated using AI transcription technology and reviewed for accuracy, but may contain errors. Please refer to the original audio for precise wording.