God's Word Changes Everything

Good morning!

Last week we looked at the relationship between our faith and the work of God.

We read the story from Mark 9 of the father bringing his son to Jesus to have the demon cast out.

We learned that God’s work in our life requires that we trust him.

In that story, Jesus tells that father that all things are possible for those who believe.

Our faith and trust in God are what allows us to experience Him.

Our faith is given to us by the Holy Spirit and is grows as we walk with God in obedience.

The rest that we are promised is God’s activity in our life.

Today as we move forward we are going to see the second warning in Hebrews.

This word of warning comes on the heels of God’s promise of rest and a warning against disobedience.

In thinking about this passage, I am reminded of something that I have heard Tylitha says; ”you are sincere, but you are wrong.”

Now, I love this saying because it is a nice little jab, but I also love it because there is some real, honest, truth there.

No one likes to be wrong, but when we are, we don’t think we are.

We sincerely believe that we are right and in order for us to change our minds, we must see evidence to the contrary.

Last night Leah and David had the worship team and their families over for dinner and games.

We played __________.

In this game, you are given a word and you must draw a picture of that word.

You pass your drawing to the next person and they guess what the word was based on your drawing.

then the next person draws the guessed word and so on until ever person has either guessed or drawn.

Then you reveal the original word and each subsequent drawings and guesses.

The goal being that the last guess is the same as the original word.

We laughed a lot and there was a particular round that we laughed the most about.

It started with Picnic.

The first few people guessed and drew it correctly, but then someone looked at the drawing and guessed oriental meal.

Which also made since because the people in the drawing were sitting on the floor eating.

So the next drawing was of a plate of Chinese food.

Then David saw it and wrote “Tropical Garden Pallet.”

So I had to draw a tropical garden on a pallet and Lizzie guessed “Botanical Herb Garden.”

Needless to say we laughed a lot at this round because, what the heck is a tropical garden pallet?!

The party ended and We needed to run in Walmart to get a few things and this is in front of the door.

Tropical Garden Pallet

Now here we are, having made fun of David and his tropical garden pallet and we were wrong.

Apparently, it is a thing.

So David, I apologize… lol.

Isn’t it funny what a good portrayal of life this is?

How often do we find ourselves looking at a circumstance in our lives, sure of what we are seeing, responding accordingly only to find out later that we were wrong?

Now, the drawings in a game are easy to laugh at, but what about things in life that are significant.

All of us find ourselves facing challenging situations every day and there are decisions that have to be made.

Last week at the end of the message we talked about culture and how it is often following the loudest voice.

We are taught growing up that when we face decisions that we should gather as much info as we can, weigh the pros and cons, seek the advice of wise people, etc.

But, the problem is that often those sources can keep us caught in the culture loop.

At the end of the day, the goal for the church, and more specifically, for all followers of Christ, is that every person on earth would come to know Jesus.

In order for that to happen, we have to follow who? Christ.

That is going to require that we learn to trust him more than the decision-making process we learned to put our trust in.

That requires us to have faith in God.

All of us need to grow in faith and God gives us endless opportunities to trust Him and stretch our faith.

We need to grow in our faith because often what we think we see, isn‘t what we think it is.

We thought it was a picnic, but it was actually a tropical garden pallet.

We need the Holy Spirit to reveal to us what He is doing so that we can respond accordingly.

Most of us have probably heard this passage that we are about to read, but when you see it in the context of the rest of the passage, it brings it into a new light.

In the context of the encouragement in the previous verse, it is both a warning and the solution to curb our tendency for wandering.

Look at vs 12 and 13 with me.

Hebrews 4:12–13 CSB

12 For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 No creature is hidden from him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.

God’s word is active.

The same word that created the cosmos from nothing also speaks to us.

John 1:1–3 CSB

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.

The word of God holds within itself the power to create change in us just like in the universe.

When God speaks, it is with the purpose of making us like himself.

There is always the expectation of change when God’s word is revealed to you.

God’s word penetrates the depths of our lives.

He is able to cut through the superficial religious activity that we take pride in.

He penetrates down into the depths of our inner lives that we hide from the world.

He changes us from the inside out.

We are laid bare before Him.

God created us to be in a relationship with him.

That relationship has complete transparency.

When he created Adam and Eve, there was complete transparency between them.

Once sin entered the equation, we have assumed that we can hide the things we are ashamed of from God.

Remember Adam and Eve making clothes from fig leaves to hide themselves?

This passage is a reminder that God sees all and knows all.

God sees what we hide from others.

When God speaks, we must decide how we will respond.

Will we enter his rest by choosing to obey or return to the spiritual desert?

God speaks into our lives in order to give us opportunities to know Him and to become like him.

He is working us towards the goal of the perfect relationship that we were created to have.

That relationship, transparency, and trust that our hearts long for.

There is immeasurable joy in experiencing God through obedience.

Our testimonies of seeing God’s activity share this truth.

We have experienced God’s rest and this is what we testify of.

For a long time, the church has focused on what happens when we don’t follow God.

I grew up hearing all about what I could expect in hell, but no one ever talked about the goodness of knowing God while I was alive.

I can remember as a youth pastor sitting in my office, preparing for a Wednesday night bible study and asking myself how in the world I was going to convince teenagers that being a follower of Christ was a thing to be desired.

I was miserable in that church, for a lot of reasons we won‘t have time for today, but the main one was that the church was dead.

There was no life in it.

When I read of the New Testament church and looked at the one God had called me to serve in, I saw no similarities other than they were both called a church.

I know I am not alone in feeling that way.

I had countless conversations with people during that time in my life and since where they felt the same things I was feeling.

This is my educated guess, but I think the church spent so much time focusing on Hell because they had no or very few experiences with God.

There is a lack of stories because no one is willing to listen for God to speak and allow him to work in their lives.

People don’t want to change.

I thank God regularly that this has not been my experience at TGP.

When I started here, I found a community of actual followers of Christ.

They were talking with God daily, doing what he said, and sharing the stories of God’s activity in their lives.

All of the sudden, the church felt real and alive!

Jesus didn’t change.

The way people were responding to him did.

When we walk in obedience and share the stories of the God-exclusive activity in our lives, that will draw people to God.

The church has focused for so long on trying to scare people into a relationship with God and we wonder why the church is in decline.

What drew you into the relationship with Christ?

Was it fear or hope?

Let’s look for a moment at the power of testifying about God’s work in our lives.

This is a story that I think we are all familiar with.

It is the woman at the well.

You remember, Jesus having a conversation with this woman about her husbands.

Look at her response.

John 4:28–30 CSB

28 Then the woman left her water jar, went into town, and told the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They left the town and made their way to him.

I want to point out a couple of things and then we will read a little further.

Jesus, who is the word, spoke directly into her life and revealed her sin.

She didn’t feel judged or ashamed, but was excited enough to run to town and tell everyone!

The revelation and confession of her sin brought her JOY!

Look what happens next.

John 4:39–42 CSB

39 Now many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of what the woman said when she testified, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 Many more believed because of what he said. 42 And they told the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said, since we have heard for ourselves and know that this really is the Savior of the world.”

The word of God created a new life in her, people saw the change, and it drew them to Jesus.

Because of her testimony, the whole community invited Jesus to speak into their lives.

They experienced God, just like she did, were changed, and believed because of their personal experience with the Word.

When we read this passage in Hebrews, this is the kind of experience that the author is telling us is possible.

Hebrews 4:12–13 CSB

12 For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 No creature is hidden from him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.

You may read that and think that it is not at all desirable, but the Samaritan woman would tell you that you are sincere, but you are wrong!

Not only do we need it, but it brings us joy when Jesus makes us more like himself.

At the beginning of the message, I told you that this was both a warning and a solution.

Going to the word, allowing God to speak, and obeying what he says is the solution.

This is what keeps us from wandering.

This is what builds our faith.

This is what allows us to experience God's exclusive activity in our lives.

This is what gives life and vitality to the church.

This is what draws people to want to know God.

God doesn’t want us to read scripture just to learn facts, he wants to engage our hearts and souls so that He can create change in our lives.

When we set the table for God by setting aside time to read his word and engage in what it is saying, we are inviting him to change our lives just like he did the Samaritan woman.

When he does, we won’t be able to keep from telling others about it.

They will be drawn to God by the stories we are sharing.

We have then had the opportunity to show them how to hear from God.

Then they will begin to have their own experiences with God.

No longer will they only believe because of what they have seen in your life, now they have their own experiences.

God’s word changes everything and that is what our hearts long for.