Accept the Word of the Lord Always

We are in a sermon series called “Always.” We have seen so far that we should have faith, rejoice, witness, and be bold always. We have a God that is always there for us, and we should do our best to always have him be a part of our lives. If you missed any of these sermons, you can find them on our You Tube channel.

This weekwe turn our focus to scripture and how we should “Accept the Word of the Lord Always.” Our scripture comes from 1 Thessalonians 2:9-14 and the words will be on the screen.

9 For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. 10 You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. 11 For you know how, like a father with his children, 12 we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. 14 For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews.

Please pray with me…

It is through the reading, studying, and contemplating the meaning of scripture that we are able to receive a greater understanding of who God is and how our view of God should have an impact on our faith and our relationships with those around us.

The difficulty that we face when examining scripture is that it is a book that not only should be read but it also needs to be examined. This is because it is both human and divine. It was written by humans to a specific group of people at a specific time and place.

But we also believe that it is divine meaning it was inspired by God. God might not have directly wrote it, but he gave the writers the insights they needed to have it written as he desired. This means that it should be considered the word of God and therefore examined closely for what we can learn from its pages concerning God and the connection we should have with him.

Paul is thankful that the Christians in Thessalonica accepted what Paul and his companions said to them as the word of God. The first thing that we must do is also be willing to accept that the Bible is more than words written by humans. It is divine in that what was written was directed by God. This is the first step towards being willing to accept the word of the Lord.

We are assuming that this has been accepted by those that are hearing this message. If that is not the case for you then that can be your stumbling block towards accepting the scriptures as important enough for you to take the time to read and follow.

But, if you do believe that the Bible is the word of God, then we need to be willing to not only read it and examine it, but we are also supposed to believe what we read is from God and be willing to act on the information we receive.

The words are to be the motivation that should direct our actions. We have these 66 books of the Bible that offer us a framework from the creation to the end of what God did, is going to do, and what he desires for us to do.

What do I mean when I bring up the importance of us always accepting the word of the Lord? It means that we should desire to allow the words of God to be always at work in our lives. It should not matter the circumstances around us. The words of God should be what guides us.

Reading scripture should impact all aspects of our life if we are attempting to accept the words we read and live them out in the world. We should choose to not focus on what the world would want or expect us to do or say. Our focus should be on what God would want us to do and say based off of his word.

Accepting the word of the Lord should lead us to choose to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. The word of God should be able to show us the love that God has offered to us and lead us to desire to show that love back to him through our whole being.

This would mean that we should show our love, have our thoughts, desire to follow, and to serve God always. We should want to focus on the lessons we have learned through the scriptures and put those into action in the way we live our lives.

We show God that we love him with our whole heart by the love that we show him and to those around us. We shoulddesire to show him love because of the love that he first showed us. John 3:16becomes are reminder of this when it tells us that God so loved us that he sent his only son down to earth to die for us so that anyone who believed in him would have eternal life.

Today is the Sunday that we remember the Saints of the church. Those that we have lost in the last year. Our first reading speaks of what it is like where they now reside. They reside in a place where they will no longer face loss and that they will no longer have to deal with the struggles of this world. They live in a place of constant worship for the one who chose to save them.

They accepted the word of the Lord and lived their lives in a way which showed that they loved their God and believed that their God loved them. We are the ones missing them. We are also the ones that are left to live out the example they have set for us.

We will remember the three saints that we have lost over the last year but that does not mean we have forgotten the example of those that came before them. We have a legacy of believers in Jesus that have set an example of what it means to accept the word of the Lord.

We show the love to God and others expressed through scripture when we look at how Jesus showed love to his father and to those around him. The God that lived among should become our example of what it means to live a life pleasing to God.

We show our love of God by worshipping God. This would of course include worshipping with fellow believers which we do on Sunday, but it would also mean thanking and praising God throughout the week. We should attempt to begin each day thanking God for what he has done for us, what he is doing for us, and what he will do for us.

· By showing compassion to others

· By forgiving those around us

· We show our love to God by having our thoughts focused on God.

· We desire to know more about the one who saved us.

· We desire to develop a greater understanding of what we believe about God.

· Our faith in God allows us to not worry about the things of this world.

· We show our love for God by desiring to follow the will of God.

· We turn ourselves over to the will of the Holy Spirit.

· We trust God and are willing to go where he wants us to go and say what he wants us to say.

· We show our love for God by serving God.

· We are willing to serve those around us.

· We are willing to show the love of Jesus to all people.

The word of God and the actions we take on behalf of God become connected together when we pray to God. We find Jesus praying throughout scripture. We have story after story of prayer opening those around us to serve and through service and conversation deciding to become a follower of Jesus.

What is importantfor us to remember is that what we accomplish is not through ourselves. We will fail if we try to accept the word of the Lord and not include God in our words and actions. God has to be a part of the journey with us.

We need to be willing to let go and trust God to lead us on this journey. We need to be open to the Holy Spirit and allow the Spirit to direct us in the ways that we are to share the love of Jesus with those around us.

Throughout this series when I am using the word always, it is a desire, a goal. A goal that we will probably be unable to reach. There was only one person on earth that lived the perfect life and that was Jesus. He become the example of what it means to accept the word of the lord always.