“God’s Word” 

Pastor David Moore 

Old Testament reading: Isaiah 40:1-8 

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. 

A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” 

A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” 

“All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” 

Theme today is God’s Word. 

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 

“And the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times.” Psalm 12:6 

Matthew 5:17-20

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of the commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. 

“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord God, “That I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it. Amos 8:11-12 

When men stop believing in God they don’t believe in nothing; they believe in anything. ~G.K. Chesterton

1. The Bible is _____________. 

2. The Bible is about _____________. 

3. The point of the Bible is not just to be believed and enjoyed, but to come into ____________. 

Luke 24:25ff

He said to them, ‘How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’ Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself. 

The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of Man’s history…. There is no tale ever told that men would rather find was true, and none which so many skeptical men have accepted as true on its own merits. For the Art of it has the supremely convincing tone of Primary Art, that is, of Creation. To reject it leads either to sadness or to wrath. ~J.R.R. Tolkien, On Fairy-stories 

Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the Lord. Lamentations 3:40 

The Bible has to have functional authority in our lives. It is no good to believe in the Bible as a good book for others to read. It is for you and me to read to find out who we are in its wisdom — sinners but forgiven, guilty but freed, lost but found. The Bible tells us who we are if we let it. It refines us if we let it. It refreshes us if we let it. It challenges us if we let it. Its promises are ours if we let it promise to us. The Bible has the power to convict us, transform us, give us a new understanding of who we are. Gives us a new identity based on what we have received rather than achieved. ~D. Moore 

This week find time for the Bible and let the words nurture you and grow you. 

Have a great week. God bless.