Thy Word is truth. Repeat, Thy Word is truth.
Let"s pray.
Father, thank you for Your Word, it"s alive, it is a 2 edged sword, it is Your light, shining in a dark world. Help us to receive it and to honor it, and to leave this place to practice it and to change humanity for the good thru it. In Jesus name we pray. And all God"s children said, Praise the Lord.
I hold in my hand the most powerful Book that has ever been written. It was authored by God Himself. God the Holy Spirit. This is not a good book. Gone with the Wind is a good book. This is the living, unchanging Word of God. The Bible is beyond other books, as a river is beyond a drop a water. It is beyond other books as the sun shining a noon day with all its brillance, is brighter than a candle.
It is greater than other books, as a mountain is greater than a grain of sand. The Bible says that this book is milk for the babes in Christ. It is meat for men. It is the pillow on which the saints of God have rested their head throughout time. It is a Light shining in a dark world.
This Book is not a mith, as many humanist are proposing.
It is a miracle written thru men. 66 books, over 2,000 years in span. Yet every word, every chapter and every verse agree in total with each other. It is a Book that will change you, heart, soul, mind and body. You can read Shakespere and Shelley, and Keat and Barron and it will inspire you. But this Book will change you. This Book has the ability to make an alcoholic put his bottle down and read this Book. This Book has the ability to make a person put down drugs and transform his life to the glorious image that is in this Book.
This Book will take the pain and the death out of dying. This Book has the gloom and the grave totally conquered in the victory of the Lord, Jesus Christ.
Truth is not what I say it is, and truth is not what you say it is. Truth is what God"s Word says it is. And it is not truth until God"s Word does say it.
This Book is a diamond mine of unlimited depth. This Book is a vien of pure gold, that leads to the unserchable riches of Christ. This Book is a book of love, and mystery and revelation, and life and poetry and prophecy and family planning and financial counciling. It is a Book whose words can conquer disease. It a Book that when you open the pages every demon in hell begins to tremble, because they know you are reading the powerful Word of God that exposes Satan and his powers and his principalities in the heavenlies.
It is a Book that when you read it it will transform your marriage, it will transform your home, it will transform every relationship that you have. This Book is the Book that has the answer. America is rotting at the core and people are looking for answers to the problems in our school systems, with aids and with homosexuality, with corruption and crime. Here is the answer. God"s Word has it. What"s wrong with morality. What"s wrong with intigrity, what"s wrong with decency, what"s wrong with honesty. The Book says, try it, you"ll like it.
Jesus says in the Book of Matthew, 4:4, "The Word of God is bread". Say that with me. "The Word of God is bread." The problem with bread is that it won"t help you if you won"t eat it. It won"t do you any good in the sack.
A Georgia sharecropper presented himself to the ordination committee, because he was seeking ordination to preach the Gospel. They said to him, "do you know the Gospel well enough to preach it?" He said, "Absolutely". They said, "What part of the Bible do you know the best?" He said, "Well, I know the Book of the Parables the best." They said, "You know the book of the parable the best?" He said, "Yes." They said, "You tell us what the book of the parables says." He said, "Alright. There was the good Smaratan going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. And he fell among thorns. And the thorns sprung up and choked him amost half to death. And he said, I will arise and he arose. And he mounted his donkey and he rode as fast as he could and he got caught in the branches of a low hanging tree by his hair. And he hung there for 40 days and 40 nights. And the raven said it. And Delila, she saw him hanging there and she came and cut his hair off and he fell on stony ground. And he said, I will arise, and he arose. And he came to a wall and Jezebell was sitting on the wall. And he said to those standing there, throw her down. And so they cast her down. And he said cast her down again. So they cast her down again. And he said, cast her down 70 times 7. And they cast her down 70 time 7. And great was the fall thereof. And of the fragments that remained, there were 12 baskets full. Very I say unto you, whose wife is she going to be on the resurrection day?
You really have to get it botched up to get it that bad. The Bible says, "Study to show yourself approved," Say that with me, "Study to show yourself approved, a workman that needith not to be ashamed. Rightly dividing the Word of God." Some people can divide it, but they can"t get it back together.
Jesus idenified the Bible as the source of spiritual life. And when you refuse to read the Word of God, you are systimatically starving yourself to death. You are committing spiritual suicide systimatically when you don"t read the Word of God.
First you become weak, then you become spiritually sick. Here are the signs if you are in spiritual starvation. You are irritated all the time. Your spouse can"t do anything right, the church is not like it use to be, the preacher doesn"t preach right, the choir doesn"t sing right, the ushers don"t usher right, the deacons don"t deacon right, you can"t trust the trustees. I mean the whole world stinks. Do you know anybody like that?
You"re like Elijah. You manage your pity party and you say Lord, I"m the only one worthy of you. I"m the last one living for you. Why don"t you just take my life. I don"t have time to read the Word of God, I"m so busy with this and that. I just don"t have time. You slip into the "I"m not appreciated mode. No one loves me. I brought colored tooth- picks to the church picnic and no one put my name in the newsletter.
I talk to people who are having a pity party and I ask them, "Are you reading the Word of God?" And they will say, "What has that got to do with how I feel?" IT HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH HOW YOU FEEL.
THIS IS BREAD. Repeat it. "This is Bread". When you don"t eat it, you get weak, and miserable, and depressed, and grouchy. Spirit filled---but grouchy none the less.
Let me ask you this question. How many of you watch television at least once a day? Let me see your hands. How many of you read the Word of God at least once a day? Let me see your hands.
Let me ask you, if you watch television at least 3 hours a day, which the average family watches 8 hours. And you read the Word of God 3 minutes a day. Which is going to have the greatest effect on you, Hollywood or the Word of God. Hollywood will. You are what you eat. Repeat. You are what you eat. It you eat lots of sugar you teeth rot and your body goes into shock. You think you"re on a high, but in fact, your body is in shock from all that sugar.
Some of you are on a sugar-stick theology. Paul called it itching ears. Tell me how I can be rich without righteousness. Tell me how I can be happy without holiness. Tell me how I can have the Crown of Life without the Cross. Tell me how I can have conquest without conflict. Tell me how I can have a testimony without a test. I"ll tell you how. It"s not possible.
Please understand that sinning is not robbing banks and beating up on grandma. Sin is simply not doing what God wants you to do. It"s not what I say it is, it"s not what you hope it"s not, it"s what God says it is.
There needs to be in America today the return to the meat & potatoes Gospel, so there can be health in the house of God. We need to read the Word of God with passion. Jesus said that we will have revival when the prayer room is as full as the supper room. We will have the power again of pentecost when fasting becomes as popular as feasting, when tithing becomes as popular as telling, when giving and witnessing come together in the house of God, we will be healthy again, because God"s Word is Truth. And we need to practice that.
David said, "Blessed is the man whose delight is in the Law of the Lord---(that"s the Bible) and in His law doth they meditate day and night." How often? How often? Not after the Johnny Carson show. Not after what ever show it might be. Not when you are so tired that your eyes won"t stay open and you close it and put it on the shelf.
Truth is not what I say it is, it is not what you think it is, it is what God"s Word says it is.
Why is it that you can read the newspaper, you can read magazines, you can read the Wall Street Journal, and nothing happens. But you can pick up the Bible, which is nourishment for the soul, and the revelation of God"s goodness to you and the phone rings and the door bell rings and the dog barks and the baby cries and falls out of the crib and you fall to sleep at 9:00 o"clock in the morning. Why? Because the prince of darkness does not want you in this Book. It exposes him. It exposes him as the father of lies.
And when you read this Book, written by the Holy Spirit, that God has given to you, that is powerful, and alive and sharper than a 2 edged sword. It can bring you life and joy and peace and the power of God to transform every inity of your life.
I"m a heir, and a joint of with Jesus Christ. This Book says so. If you are putting your trust in Wall Street, or anything similar. (Sweet Hour of Prayer) You are in big trouble baby. You should invest in the Kingdom of God. Because God the Father owns the real estate on both sides of the Jordon River and when you get on the other side, it"s all waiting on you with an interest factor of 100 fold. You can"t beat that on Wall Street. But the Word of God says it"s mine. I have eternal life, because the Bible says, "He that believeth in Me shall never die."
How many here are interested in living, let me see your hands. (There"s a few over here that are not) Some day my physical body is going to wear out. Some days I think it already has wore out. And they are going to lay me in the ground. But my eternal soul is going to fly into the arms of God the Father. They will take my body and they will cremate it, but they can put on the inscription, he"s not here, he"s with the Father, because he has eternal life, because the Lord says so.
Do I understand all that. No. I don"t understand how a black cow can eat green grass and give white milk and yellow butter. I don"t understand it, but I believe it.
I know there are a lot of people who want to be healthy. I see them at the health club, at weight watchers, out walking along the road, or riding a bicycle or walking in the Mall. I know you want to be healthy. You watch your diet. No fat, no red meat, only fish & chicken & turkey and nothing fried, only baked. You watch your blood pressure and your iron and liver. Why don"t you read the Word of God. It can make you healthy.
(Tell story of mom"s neck & mom"s cancer) Why, because the Word of God is stronger the cancer, it is stronger the a blood clot.
This is a Book of Perfect Guidance. Are you stumbling through life. Some of you are. Have you lost sight of your goals? Some of you have. Do you know where you"re going in your marriage? Some don"t. Have your plans collapsed. Have your dreams been crushed. Are you searching for new horizons, new directions? David said, "Thou Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my pathway." (repeat)
Do you want to know where to go with your life? Don"t read Jean Dixon. Read this.
The Bible plainly tells you about the future. You want to know whats going to happen in the Middle East. This Bible has had it written in there for hundreds of years. A child can understand it, if you"ll read it.
The Bible is your protection from Satan. When Satan came to Jesus in the wilderness. Jesus answered him, "It is written." "It is written". "It is written". I want you to get this, Satan didn"t look at Jesus and say, "I don"t believe that"s true." Satan did not question the Word of God. He didn"t say, "I doubt that". When Jesus gave him a scriptural answer, even the devil shut up.
The devil took Ps. 91 and twisted it, to try to destroy Jesus. Jesus properly quoted from Deut. and saved His life. Why do I say that? If the devil took scripture and tried to get Jesus to destroy Himself by twisting it, he"ll most assurdily try to destroy you by getting you to twist the scripture to get a meaning out of it that has nothing to do with the Word of God. He is a liar and the master of deception. The only way you can defeat him is to get into the Word of God and let the Holy Spirit speak to you so you will know the truth.
Let me say this in closing. This Bible is the sourse of authority on Judgment Day. When you stand before the judgment bar of God, you are not going to be judged by what you were taught in school. You"re not going to be judged by the National Council of Churches or the World Council of Churches. You"re not going to be judged by what your preacher says, or the priest says or the pope says. You"re going to be judged by what the Word of God says. Right here. (hold Bible)
Not your philosiphy. Not what some professor taught you at the University about your humanistic rights. But by what Jesus says about life and truth and integrity and character. That"s what you are going to be judged by.
There is one verse. A sweet verse. But a verse we have so many problems with. "You must be born again." If not, you will not see the Kingdom of God.
No matter what else you may think or not think, scripture says that on that day of judgment you will stand before a Holy, Mighty, Just God and the Books will be open and one of those Books is the Bible. And He will read from the Bible, "You must be born again." Is your name in the "Lambs Book of Life", the proof of you being born again. If not God will read your judgment from His Word. "You must be born again to see the Kingdom of God."
God says, "Thy Word is Truth". Say it with me. "Thy Word is Truth."
And John the 1st chapter says, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." May we this Christmas season realize what God has done for us in giving us His Word. For in His Word, you will find the living Word, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Can we stand to our feet. Bow our heads.
Father, in Jesus name, thank you for the day, and thank you for your word, and thank you for the Love of God that has made it possible for us to know redemption through Christ. Now may the Xray of the Holy Spirit fill this room and cause each of us to examine our own selves. Not the lives of those we know, but the lives of those we know best, ourselves. And give an account of our life in the presence of the Lord. In Jesus name.
Amen.
