SA: Living and Loving God

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Living and Loving God

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Living and Loving God’s Word
Psalm 119:89 NKJV
89 Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven.
89 Forever, O LORD,
Your word is settled in heaven.
The New King James Version. (1982). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
If you do not know, love, understand, practice, and obey the Word of God, I can say without apology, you are not a victorious Christian.
We want to learn today how to make the Bible come alive and create a flame in your hand.
Whether it be in the business realm, in athletics, or in theology… knowledge is power.
If you have knowledge in good things, you'll do good and if you have knowledge in bad things…
You’ll be a wicked person and do bad things
So what we want to do today is learn how to get the right knowledge from God’s Word.
Let me read a prayer from someone in Kenya.
Lord, from the cowardice that bears not face new truth, from the laziness that is contented with apathy, from the arrogance which thinks it has all truth, good Lord, deliver me, Amen.
Now I hope that you'll not have cowardice this morning and be afraid of truth,
That you won’t be lazy and accept half-truth,
And I pray that you will not have arrogance and think that you need no truth.
Folks, it is knowledge and truth that transforms.
A sign on a business said, We are not what we think we are; what we think… we are.
Meaning… you are what you think.
If that is true, we need to be molded, motivated, and managed by the Word of God.
And yet for many, the Bible remains a closed and mysterious book which they give lip service to and really do not understand.
Now there's no cheap, lazy or magical way to understand the Bible, but CAN be understood!
As a matter of fact, I am thrilled to talk to you today about how to understand God’s Word.
Now , is by far the longest psalm in the Bible and it is what we call an acrostic.
Now an acrostic is something that starts with an arrangement of letters.
is an acrostic on the Hebrew Bible and it is divided up into sections.
There are 22 stanzas, and each stanza, starts successively with a Hebrew alphabet letter..
And each line or verse of the 22 sections starts with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
That’s your Hebrew lesson for this week and I know that's a great blessing to you.
And… this entire acrostic Psalm is about helping us to know and understand God’s
Now I want to tell you three things and there'll be some subsets under these things
But I've prayed over this, I've thought over this—if you will do these three things…
I can promise you that the Bible will burst aflame in your heart, mind, and in your life.
1. Appreciate the Virtues of God’s Word
If you don't appreciate the virtues of the Bible, you’ll have no desire to learn or know it.
Why should you appreciate the Word of God?
Number one, because it is a timeless book.
Put that in your notes, a timeless book.
Look at our verse today again. (Read)
The Bible is not the book of the month
The Bible is the book of ages.
Look if you will in verse 152 (READ)
God says it is done, it's settled forever in heaven.
Look if you will in verse 160 (READ)
You see, folks, other books come and go.
The Bible is here to stay; it is founded in heaven.
The Bible is timeless, the Bible is ultimate, the Bible is indestructible.
It's a timeless book.
Second… it is a truthful book.
Look if you will in verse 142 (READ)
Look if you will in 151 (READ)
Look if you will in verse 160(READ)
In a world with no appreciation for truth, I can say without any stutter, stammer, or hesitation at all… that the Bible is absolute truth.
Now there are some theological experts today who think they ought to reexamine the Bible.
I believe we ought to reexamine them.
The truth of the Bible is under a full fledged frontal attack by theological liberalism today.
AND… there's an attack from the rear which is perhaps even more insidious.
They don’t directly dismiss the Bible but say, “I think it means this… or I “feel” that.”
Which coincides with what THEY want.
Listen to me a moment church. The Bible…
Says what it says. Nothing more; nothing less.
Paul had to deal with some of these folks in Corinth and wrote this…
SCREEN … Some believers had gotten into charismatic hocus pocus in Corinth … gone wild…
Oh… Brother Paul, what a spiritual man I am.
Oh… Brother Paul, I have the gift of prophecy.
Paul says, If you think you're a prophet,
If you think you're spiritual, then you will acknowledge what I say is the Word of God
Then he says something almost humorous.
He said, If any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant… this is just a shrug of his shoulders.
Evidently he'd met some of these people that you and I meet around churches these days.
Listen folks… there’s a frontal against the Bible by those who rail against it and deny it,
There's an attack from the rear by those who want to substitute feelings for God’s Word
And there's an attack from the flank…
These are they who don't necessarily deny the Bible, but they kind of want to replace it..
What I call “Bible plus” (Example Mormonism)
As if the Bible itself is not good enough.
But, church, the Bible is true and if you're looking for truth, you can find it in the Bible.
And why is this? SCREEN (ALL!)
That word inspiration is used once in the Bible
What a magnificent word it is, theopneustis,
It literally means “God breathed. “
“Theo”…God; Pneustis…”the breath”
theopneustis … “God-Breathed”
Now listen to this a moment… (BREATHE OUT)
What you just heard was the breath of Larry.
Now… look down at your Bibles…
ALL scripture… is the very breath of God
THAT is what you are holding in your hands!
THAT is WHY I ask you to hold UP your Bibles!
The Bible is a timeless book… one for the ages
And that Bible you are holding right now is a truthful book… and very breath of God
Therefore the Bible should be a treasured book.
Look at 119:72 (READ)
I wonder if that is true of you. Listen to me…
God is listening to me right now. And He knows… That is absolutely true of me.
I completely treasure the Word of God.
If you piled gold on one side of this platform
And said “You can have one or the other… This treasure for the rest of your life…
Or God’s Word for the rest of your life…”
I would not have to hesitate…
Without hesitation I choose God’s Word
Believers throughout history have comforted themselves walked through the Valley of the Shadow of Death with the Word of God.
The early church, they loved the Word of God,
They preached it, they proclaimed it, they pronounced it, they poured it out to the world
They loved it, they lived it, they practiced it, they trusted it, they obeyed it, and claimed it
Do you know why the Bible is treasured?
It is the simplest thing that maybe you’ve forgotten… ready? “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
And you will never have a victorious Christian life if you do not love this book.
Question… if you knew there were a treasure buried in your back yard would you dig it up?
Folks, I am declaring to you today that this Bible… Is a timeless book, it is a truthful book,
And yes… this is God's treasure book.
2. Assimilate the Vitality of God’s Word
Vitality means alive and the Bible is a living book.
says "The word of God is living and powerful."
“Living” is where we get our word energy from.
God’s word is living and energetic.
SCREEN
So appreciate God’s Word! And Assimilate it!
Take your pen, write these first things down.
Number one, write down pray over it.
Ask God to teach you! Look at verse 18 (READ)
When you pray over it, your eyes will be open
And THEN your heart will be stirred!
And then, folks, when your eyes are open
And your heart is stirred… then
Your mind is going to be enlightened.
Look if you will in verse 73 (READ)
I can’t tell you how many times in each sermon I’m struggling to understand
And so I stop typing… I put my head down and I pray! “Lord! Help me to understand this.
God, give me understanding. “ And He does!
So pray over it and then
Number 2 … You ponder it.
Look if you will in verse 15 (READ)
Look at verse 147 (READ)
Now look at verse 148 (READ)
Pastor? That means??? You see, it takes time.
If you have to rise an hour early, do it.
If you have to stay up an hour late, do it.
That you might ponder … the Word of God.
And after you've prayed and pondered it
Number 3…you preserve it. How preacher?
When you read the Bible, use your sanctified common sense and have a pen handy.
Don't just jump into the middle of a passage!
Have a plan… and ask these 6 questions… about what you just read… to preserve it
#1… Is there a promise to claim?
#2… is there a lesson to learn?
#3… is there a blessing to enjoy?
#4… is there a command to obey?
#5…, is there a sin to avoid?
#6… is there a new thought to carry with me?
I need to move on… Pray, Ponder, Preserve,…
Fourth… ready?… you must practice it.
Look at the first 4 verses of this Psalm (READ)
You practice the Word of God by calling on the God of the Word!
So you Pray, Ponder, Preserve, Practice…
And no finally…. you must proclaim it.
God didn’t give you His word just for you!
Look at verse 13 (READ)
Look at verse 27 (READ)
Look at verse 46 (READ)
Now look at verse 172 (READ)
God’s Word is to be constantly in your mouth.
Stow it in your heart, show it in your life,
Sow it in the world. Be ready for a harvest!
The more the Word of God you give away
The more the Word of God will stick to you.
Now here I've got to move to the final thing.
3. Appropriate the Values of God’s Word
I'm just gonna give you one a final outline
Write this down… if you appropriate it’s values
Number one, it'll be a source of victory,
READ verse 45.
Number two, It will be a source of growth,
READ verse 32.
You begin as baby Christians… I know… And babies need milk to be healthy
But after a while it’s time to get off the milk
And get into the meat and potatoes of the Word of God with some serious study.
And that doesn’t happen by just showing up on Sunday morning! You need more!
Sunday or Wednesday evening
Sunday school and Bible Studies
And a personal time with God’s Word daily!
Number 2 … It's a source of guidance.
Read verse 105
Folks! Do you want joy, power, victory, and do you want to be able to overcome?
You can appropriate them… but you can only appropriate them after you assimilate them,
And you can only assimilate them if you appreciate them. But if you’ll do that…
It will be transformational in your life.
Now could we just sum up the Bible right now?
If you’re not a Christian may I just give you the Bible in shorthand version real quick? Listen…
The Bible addresses 1 problem
And that problem is sin.
The Bible has 1 villain, and that villain is Satan
The Bible has 1 hero and His name is Jesus.
The Bible has 1 purpose… the glory of God.
My question today is this…
Do you know Jesus? Do you know Him?
You see, this book is a two-edged sword.
It will either cut to heal you or cut to slay you.
It's a saber of life unto life or death unto death.
And God wants me to tell you something today that's gonna come right out of this book.
SCREEN .
“Whosoever” means anybody… that’s you.
“Believe in Him means to put your trust in Jesus… And if you do… you will not “perish.”
Just in case you didn’t know this… the place where you perish has a name… Lake of Fire
And it is … listen friends… it is… forever…
But what God wants to do is to give you one way trip to heaven when this life is over.
Before we pray, listen to me carefully.
Don't disturb this service by leaving early.
People are contemplating about the most important thing they will ever decide on
Church… be in a spirit of prayer.
Pray for those round about you.
Pray for those watching this service on our broadcast around the world.
We don’t want to get to heaven… and there be a face missing that we never prayed for.
So please… be in a spirit of prayer… and let the Holy Spirit of God work in hearts today.
(Transition to invitation)
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