Plug in to God's "Rhema" Word Power | Sermon by Shelley Quinn

[Music] hello i'm shelley quinn and we welcome you to 3abn worship hour we're so glad that you are joining us and today i'm excited because we are going to talk about plugging into god's power source so that we can become partakers of his divine nature did you know that's what god wants he wants you to share in his divine nature and the way we do that is by plugging into rhema word power in ii peter 1 4 the bible says that god has bestowed upon us his precious and exceedingly great promises so that for this purpose so that by these by the promises you may become partakers of his divine nature i don't know about you but i want that i know that's why god created us he created us in his image to be partakers of his divine nature let's pray heavenly father we come in the name of jesus lord my mind is scattered i just ask in the name of jesus for your anointing on this presentation help me to be surrendered to you help me o lord to just speak the truth of your word but with the power of the holy spirit and i pray for myself and for all that you will give us ears to hear what the holy spirit has to say we praise you o lord we thank you for the gift of salvation by grace we thank you for the gift of your spirit and we thank you for the gift of your word oh lord when we understand these great gifts of grace we will understand the effects of grace so now father send your spirit holy spirit we welcome you come and teach us in the name of jesus amen when my husband and i lived in texas our kitchen had an area a corner area that was dreary it was the overhead lights just cast shadows there the sun streaming through the open windows didn't reach that area it was depressing so i'd had my eye on a particular little tiffany lamp that was at sam's it was too expensive but one day as i was walking through sam's it was on a clearance as a floor model at an unbelievable price so i bought it and i ran home and i plugged it in and it was such a joy because that area lit up and it was just beautiful what happened was it became the focal point of the kitchen i left it on all day long because it just brought me joy to see the yellows and the reds and the blues and it just lit everything up well one day as i was passing through in the afternoon i noticed that it was dark so i went and i got a light bulb changed the light bulb and it was still dark and just before i bent over this thought impressed me and the thought was what do you see what i saw was just the leaded kind of outline design that the creator had intended so as i leaned over i noticed that it was unplugged and when i plugged it back into the power source it lit up again as i stood up another thought impressed me now what do you see what i saw was luminescent beauty vibrant colors the creation that the artist had intended came to life with light let me tell you something you and i are like that lamp we were created in god's image we were created as mysterious and marvelously complicated human beings but unless we are plugged into god's power source we are dark and lifeless the bible says the entrance of his word brings life and boy king david knew where his source of life was he said in ii samuel 22 you o lord are my lamp the lord lightens my darkness do you want god to lighten your darkness do you want to become all that he created you to be well we are going to learn today how to partake of his divine nature by plugging in to the rhema word power if you've been a christian for long you are familiar with these two terms lagos some people say logos i used to learn lagos is correct but the lagos word of god and the rhema r-h-e-m-a rhema word of god now there is a difference i've researched this greatly the lagos is the power of god's reasoning the lagos is the sum of his thoughts the expression of his will the lagos is basically god's purpose now jesus was always called the lagos the word of god in the beginning was the word the word was with god and the word was god that's the lagos and jesus called the entire bible the lagos when you look at john 17 17 he said oh lord sanctify them by this truth your word is truth your lagos word so this entire bible is the lagos word of god now it's interesting the bible says in hebrews 4 12 that the word of god and this is the lagos all of this word is living and active and in first peter 1 23 it says that you and i are born again by the lagos word but now let's consider what is the rhema word of god the rhema word is a specific word that is spoken by god with an applied purpose the rhema word has an immediate application for the recipient listen to hebrews 11 3. it says by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word the rhema word of god so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible so the rhema word of god framed the world the rhema word he said to the oceans you can come this far and no further and they have to obey his rhema word the word framed i thought this was so interesting in the greek it means to be equipped to be perfected in a right ordering a right arrangement to be completed now i want to submit to you the problem in christianity is similar today as it was in the days of the pharisees in jesus time the pharisees memorized the logos word of god but they never made it rhema they didn't truly apply god's purpose in their life and to plug into god's power source we have to turn the lagos into rhema today we're going to let i'm going to give you eight scriptures that talk about rhema this isn't all of them but i think these eight will help us define what the rhema word is and it will give us a practical way of entering into this light of god by plugging into his power source let me just briefly list them the rhema word is the sword of the spirit the rhema word the bible says increases our faith the rhema word is our spiritual nutrition the rhema word sustains and upholds it it washes away the influences of the world it increases the effectiveness of prayer no rhema word is impossible of fulfillment and the final point we're going to make today we will look at one scripture that talks about rhema and lagos in the same scripture and these are jesus words and what his warning to us is it is dangerous to reject the rhema word so let's get to going on this the rhema word is a sword of the spirit you know i used to say and you hear many christians say this is the sword of the spirit as they hold up their bible no it's the sheaf that holds the sword in ephesians 6 17 it says the sword of the spirit which is the rhema in the greek the rhema word of god so the bible is the sheath that holds the sword of the spirit you know when you think about this how did jesus fend off the attacks of the devil how did jesus basically destroy the devil's strategies when jesus was in the wilderness satan came to him with three great temptations and each time what jesus did is he took out the sword of the spirit and he responded to satan with a scripture each three scriptures comes from deuteronomy and when satan would tempt him he'd say no no no satan it is written and that's what you and i have to do you know i've told this story before but it bears repeating many of you are old enough to remember a movie called zorro and in this zorro was the hero of the day he wore this little mask and he would go around saving the peasants saving everybody but every time that zorro had completed his victory he would pull out his sword and with three bold swipes he would leave a z on the gate or the house whatever it was to let people know this is my victory well you and i need to be a spiritual sorrow we need to pull out the scripture the individual scripture promises of god and we need to apply them and we need to pull them out and go it is written with three bold swipes and as we do we're declaring the victory of god over the enemy so when the enemy comes at us with guilt and condemnation when he is trying to take us down we need to pull out our sword and say uh uh it is written i am a new creation in christ jesus the old is gone and the new has come that's second corinthians 5 17. we need to pull it out and say it is written god works in me to will and to do his good pleasure that's philippians 2 13. and then we need to pull it out and say it is written god will complete the good work that he has begun in me philippians 1 6 see the word of god is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword in the greek two edged is the stoneman and you know what it literally means double-mouthed now i want to share with you something the lord gave me i took this from hebrews 4 12 isaiah 55 9 through 11 and 13 jeremiah 1 12 luke 1 20 and habakkuk 2 verse 3. but here's how he gave it to me this is me drawing out my sword to say he has given me the authority and eternal power of his word his word is alive and active immovable unshakable his word is a two-edged sword the first edge struck when he spoke it the second edge strikes when i speak it as i speak the word i hear the voice of the lord i am returning his word to him and his word does not return void but it accomplishes every purpose for which he sent it he actively watches over his word to make certain it is fulfilled at the perfect time which he has appointed do you see how to wield the sword of the spirit it is the scripture promises that we can pull out and speak over our lives and put into practice which brings us to our second point confession and i'm going to say rhema confession confession of the word which makes it rhema increases our faith if you have your bibles turn to romans chapter 10 and this will be verses 8 and 10 and then we'll look at verse 17. romans chapter 10 verses 8 through 10 says this now i'm going to supply the greek in here paul writes but what does it say the word is near you and in the greek it says the rhema word is near you it is in your mouth and in your heart that is the rhema word of faith which we preach so the word of faith has to be in our mouth and in our heart he said that if you confess with your mouth the lord jesus and believe in your heart that god has raised him from the dead you will be saved for with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation so then as we go on to verse 17 he says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god this doesn't mean that you're listening just to what someone else says he just got through telling us the rhema word is the word that's in our mouth the word that we are confessing and i guarantee you when we bring out a single verse we pray it back to god we speak it over our life there is power in the utterance of hearing our living voice speaking god's promises and it increases our faith you know paul was here in romans 8 he is actually quoting from deuteronomy 30 and verse 14. in deuteronomy 30. and verse 14. the bible says the word is near you very near you in your mouth and in your heart why so that you may do it so when we think of the rhema word this is the word we're confessing i want to encourage you if you're a parent or grandparent confess the word of god speak the word of god into your children's lives speak the word of god into your own life confess this word and do it you know romans 8 29 the bible says for those whom god foreknew he predestined to be conformed to the image of jesus all right i just told you what the logos word says how do you feel are you going see if i speak it it's one thing but if you take that verse and you make it a rhema utterance an affirmation if you speak and you're praying to god and you say thank you lord that i am predestined to be conformed to the image of jesus guess what that will renew your mind it's something about when the word is in our mouth and we're confessing it that faith springs eternal in our hearts and we begin to believe god's promises hearing our living living voices declare the wonders of his truth increases our faith and you know this is beyond just claiming a promise this is this is a confession a word of faith that says i agree with what god has said like paul said in second corinthians 4 13 we believe and therefore we speak what are you speaking what is your conversation like what do you talk about when you get into the word of god and you speak it over your life in the morning that you pray it back to the lord with thanksgiving it will renew your mind because it causes his way of thinking to become our way of thinking and we exalt god's word over our own opinion all right number three the rhema word is our spiritual nutrition matthew 4 4 says jesus answered and said it is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every rhema word that proceeds from the mouth of god see think of this bible the lagos as a smorgasbord oh you can come and look at all of these you know the bible says taste and see the lord is good we can look through all of these promises and go oh this is a beautiful story oh this is a wonderful plan that god has but you're going to die of spiritual malnutrition if you don't take something from the smorgasbord and digest it yourself you have to take god's promises and enter apply them to your life enter into the promise and practice the word of god physical food relieves a temporary physical hunger but spiritual food will relieve your spiritual hunger it will feed you for eternity the rhema word is our spiritual nutrition so as we take this rhema word or the logos word and make it really rhema to us what will happen is your spiritual vitality that you have will shoot through the roof this this depends on the amount of promises that you're actually digesting that you're in taking in in revelation 3 20 jesus invites us to dine with him in fact he says i'm knocking at the door let me in and i will dine with you in jeremiah 3 15 and verse 16 jeremiah 15 and verse 16. here is a man who learned that god's logos word became his spiritual nutrition when it became his rhema word he says your words were found and i ate them and your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart for i am called by your name o lord of hosts is that your attitude as you approach bible study is the word of god the joy and rejoicing of your heart if it's not it's because you're not accepting it as rhema you know job said in job 23 12. [Music] he said i have not departed from the commandment of his lips i have treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food isn't that precious is that how you feel i remember kenneth cox told me that when he was first and if you don't know who kenneth cox is he's resting in peace but he was a great adventist christian evangelist he spent his entire life bringing people to god but i remember he told me he said shelley when i first became involved in ministry i was so busy preparing word studies preparing the message for my evangelism series i would go and visit with people and he said i was so busy that i wasn't taking time to be in the word to feed my own soul you know it's one thing anybody can do a bible study and put a lesson together but every minister has to have that personal devotional time where they're taking god's word and digesting it and he said i came to this job 23 12 where job said i have treasured the words of your mouth more than my necessary food and he said i thought about it and i thought well i sure make it makes certain that i eat every day a couple of times a day and he said so i decided if the word of god was more important than my necessary physical food that i wasn't going to eat physical food till i'd been in bible i think that's precious isn't that precious he said his life changed jesus said this in mark 4 26-28 because some of you are going i don't understand why speaking the word of god would increase my faith i don't understand how that helps me to put his word into practice but here's what jesus said the kingdom of god is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground you know in the parable of the sower he said the seed is the word of god so the kingdom of god is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground and should sleep by night and rise by day okay he scattered the seed now he's in his bed sleeping he gets up and it says the seed would sprout and grow and he himself does not know how it's kind of like all i did was scatter seed and now it's growing and he said for the earth yields crops by itself first the blade then the head and after that the full grain in the head this is what it's like when you plant god's promises in your heart as you speak god's word as you pray god's word back to him what's happening is you are scattering the seed in your heart and it begins to grow and first one day you just notice there's this little blade that's popped up and pretty soon it's growing and you see the head and then the full kernels in the head 100 fold it's beautiful how the word of god is alive and active if i have a handful of corn and i plant corn over here and i have a handful of wheat and i plant wheat to the right what am i going to get on the left where i planted the corn corn what am i going to get on the right where i planted the wheat wheat why oh it's so simple listen carefully to what i'm about to say the potential of the harvest is wrapped inside the seed did you hear me the potential of the harvest is wrapped inside the seed jesus is called the seed of the everlasting covenant the living word jesus christ is the promised seed from genesis 3 15 throughout the bible jesus called the written word the seed of god now listen to what i'm saying all of your potential is wrapped inside the word of god it is all about having a relationship with the living word and a relationship with the written word the seed of scripture as we plant god's precious and exceedingly great promises this is how we begin to partake of this divine nature it has miracle working power to transform us and i love what james says in james 1 21 the apostle james says therefore lay aside all filthiness and the overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness receive with humility the implanted word which is able to save your souls receive with the humility of mind when the bible says in second corinthians 5 17 you are a new creation the old is gone the new is come you may not feel like that but when you receive that and say lord this is how you see me i am going to receive with meekness and plant that word in my heart and what happens as you confess it over your life as you pray it back to the lord here's a little blade that pops up pretty soon the head then the full kernel in the head and you begin to understand your identity in christ okay the rhema word sustains and upholds us hebrews 1 3 i'm going to read this to you from the amplified version hebrews 1 3 speaking of jesus says he is the sole expression of the glory of god he is the light being the outrange or radiance of the divine and he is the perfect imprint and very image of god's nature see jesus is god he doesn't just reflect god's glory he radiates god's glory but here's our point it says he upholds and maintains maintains and guides and propels the universe by his mighty rhema word of power it isn't the lagos it's the rhema you want to be maintained sustained upheld learn to make god's word rhema let me give you an example in isaiah 26 verse 3. the bible says you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you i have a confession i woke up this past sunday and i was in great pain still recovering from my surgeries i didn't get into my prayer time in my study right away because i received a phone call i was ministering to a dear friend who just lost her precious daughter and she was like a daughter to me as well then i had a couple of more phone calls people who i was ministering to you know in the last nine months we've lost 12 friends and my husband's brother i want to tell you something darkness is all around us and suddenly here i woke up sunday feeling badly getting into the word i meant i didn't get into the word but i'm ministering to others and i began to feel as close to feeling depressed as i ever want to feel i was coming off of the spiritual high and i think i was having an elijah experience it was i tried to pray and i couldn't it was just kind of like help lord what's wrong with me i wasn't motivated to do anything all day long i didn't discuss it with my husband i didn't feel like talking about it yes i could still minister to others from the reservoir that was in me of the word of god and the compassion and empathy but i was feeling their pain so much in my physical pain that truthfully i got my eyes off the lord and you know what's funny just the day before i was saying thank you father that you keep me in perfect peace because you keep my eyes focused on you and i trust in you well that's making the word rhema but see we have to hold on to that confession of faith without wavering hebrews 10 23 says that let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful i guarantee you when i realized that my eyes were on the sorrow of the world that my heart was heavy that i was even feeling a little sorry for myself will i ever be without pain again i realized i was focused inwardly and on the temporal my eyes weren't focused on the lord i lost my peace so once again i said lord thank you that you are turning my eyes back to you and because i trust in you you will restore that perfect peace and he did in hebrews 6 17-19 it says that god gave us his promises with an oath and it's impossible for him to lie so we have this hope in the greek the word hope is eager expectation so god gave us his promises with an oath so that we can eagerly expect them and this hope the bible says is an anchor for our soul firm and secure what does an anchor do think about it an anchor holds you fast in a position it keeps you from drifting and it is only as we find our hope in the word in god's promises that we will have that hope as an anchor for our soul but you can't hope in what you don't know and what you haven't personally digested you've got to get into the word confess it over your life as a word of faith believe god's testimony of who he says you are in christ jesus hold fast to his promises and don't waver all right here's the fifth benefit of the rhema word rhema washes away the influences of the world in ephesians 5 and verse 25 it says christ also this is first ephesians 5 25 through 27. christ also loved the church and he gave himself for her that he might sanctify her that means set her apart from evil and cleanse her with the washing of water by the rhema word did you get that he would cleanse her with the washing of water by the rhema word that he might present her the church to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that she should be holy and without blemish so the rhema word washes away the influences of the world let me share a story when i was first married my husband and i lived in dallas his family farm was a couple hundred miles away we would go down two or three times a month actually we'd make a quick trip to the farm to see his folks well about a certain point there was a certain point in the journey where my husband always pulled over for fuel and it was a truck stop when he did i usually found it necessary to to run into the necessary room and i had long blonde fear of faucet hair and i would zip into that bathroom zip back out and you know what we'd get in the car and be going down the road and my hair would smell like smoke it's not something a new bride wants to go meet her see her mother-in-law smelling like smoke so at that time we didn't know how bad second-hand smoke was but i want to tell you second-hand sin has the same effect we live in a world that is filled with the smoke of sin you're driving down the freeway and a man looks up and he sees women on the billboards that are scantily clad and you might divert your eyes and say oh lord don't let that thought rest in my mind don't let it make a nest in my mind or you turn on the tv thinking i'm going to look for something just for some short entertainment and what happens is you turn on something that is poking fun at sin second hand sin has the same effects on your spiritual life as secondhand smoke has on the physical life in psalm 119 and verse 9 [Music] the psalmist says how can a young man cleanse his way by taking heed according to your word and then just two verses later in psalm 119 and verse 11 he says your word i have hidden in my heart so that i might not sin against you see the beautiful thing about rhema is it washes away all that influence of the world when someone's telling a dirty joke you no longer laugh at it the rhema word comes bubbling up in you to wash it away and you just leave the water cooler so you don't have to listen okay the rhema word this is our sixth point increases the effectiveness of prayer in john 15 7 jesus says these words john 15 and verse 7. if you abide in me that means to dwell in me take up residence in me and my rhema words not the lagos word but the rhema word abides in you you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you well let's unpack this in psalm 37 verse 4 it says delight yourself in the lord and he will give you the desires of your heart does that mean or did jesus mean when the rhema's in us ask what you desire i want a million bucks lord i want uh maserati lord i want uh to be able to win the olympics does that mean when jesus says if the rhema words abiding in you you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you well see when you look at this delight yourself in the lord and it he'll give you the desires of your heart here's what happens as you find your delight in the lord that means you're going to find your delight in spiritual things you're going to find you're going to be like uh ezekiel said oh your words were found and i ate them they are the treasure of my heart they i found them with joy in rejoicing so what happens as you delight yourself in the lord he begins to line your will up with his will and if it is the rhema word as jesus says that is abiding in us guess what's going to happen you're going to ask according to his will this is the revealed will of god in the bible and when those bible promises are in you then you are going to ask according to his will first john 5 14 and 15 says this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us and if we know that he hears us whatever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we've asked of him but see we're asking according to his will how by the rhema word we're praying the promises back god's own promise is back to him you know isaiah 62 verses 6 and 7. i want to read this from the amplified because this helps bring out the meaning this is god speaking i have set watchmen upon your walls of jerusalem who will never hold their peace day or night you who are his servants and by your prayers put the lord in remembrance of his promises keep not silence give him no rest until he establishes jerusalem and makes her a praise in the earth what does the song or what does isaiah mean here put god in remembrance of his prayer of his promises by your prayers do you think god who gave his promises with an oath forgets them no he doesn't forget his promises in the bible exodus 4 god god is hearing or the beginning of ex god is hearing all the cries of his people and it says god remembered his covenant with abraham isaac and jacob had god forgotten his covenant no when god remembers something it means he is about to take action on it if he forgets something like it says he forgets our sins he's not taking action on it so what isaiah is saying is put the lord in remembrance of his promises bring the promises before the lord and and remind him oh lord thank you that you said you will complete the good work in me thank you that you are faithful and you will make me spotless at the coming of our lord jesus and know that god will bring it to pass now here is one of my favorites no rhema word is impossible of fulfillment i'm going to have to read to you from two different bible translations to get close to the greek in luke let me set this up first what happened a young teenager had signed a marriage contract her name was mary she had already signed the marriage contract covenant agreement with joseph they were considered their betrothal was actually a marriage but they weren't together and that was the idea of the times often they would sign the marriage contract and it would be maybe a year before they came together and in that time the women of the village would kind of train up the young woman how to take care of the husband the husband went off generally speaking he built a room for them on his father's house and you see that in israel today it's interesting you'll see multiple levels of buildings and then they've got the whatever those iron rods are called that they they put up because they're leaving room for the next generation but anyway mary and joseph were betrothed now the angel of the lord or not the angel of the lord gabriel an angel of the lord came to mary and says to her hey you're going to have a child and this child will be called the holy one of god and she's going how can that be i've never been with a man and he says the holy spirit will come upon you and the one that you give birth to shall be called the son of god now you know what mary could have said you've got to be kidding me god would choose me to be the mother of the messiah i'm not worthy oh no i'm not worthy she could have said no i don't think so the whole village will be clucking with gossip and criticism she could have turned the angel away and said not me but she didn't and and listen what the angel says to her and and i have to tell you if she had turned the angel away her history would have been completely different but god would have found someone who would receive that mission but in luke 1 37 i'll read it to you from the amplified because this brings out the greek the angel said to her with god nothing is ever impossible now that's where the new king james just stops but in the greek it's talking about the fulfillment of the rhema word so he says with in the amplified luke 1 37 with god nothing is ever impossible and no rhema word from god shall be without power or impossible of fulfillment now i'm going to have to switch back for the next verse to the new king james because it captures it better than the amplified luke 1 38 mary said behold the handmaiden of the lord let it be done to me according to your rhema word what faith it gives me goosebumps and then luke goes on to record the words of elizabeth who says to mary when mary comes to visit her blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of the things that were spoken to her from the lord no rhema word is impossible of fulfillment all right i promised you a that uses lagos and rhema in the same scripture and it's jesus words john 12 48. he says he who rejects me and does not receive my rhema word that's the word that we are the sword of the spirit the word that increases our faith that is our spiritual nutrition that sustains us and upholds us and increases the effectiveness of our prayer washes away the influences of the world and it's not impossible of fulfillment he says he who does not receive my rhema words has that which judges him and what is it the lagos word the logo's word that i have spoken will judge him in that day what is jesus saying he's saying you've got to take this logos word and receive it in your heart have it in your mouth confess it over your life pray it back to the lord and that's how you really get into your heart and he says you've got to obey you know he said in john i'm trying to remember 13 verse 17. he said blessed are those who hear and practice my word we're not just supposed to be hearers only we have to be doers of the word i want you to know something a loving savior wants you to receive all that he has for you he has a plan for your life he will work in you to willing to do his good pleasure he is we've got to be totally dependent upon him but having said that we've got to consider this our conduct reveals our attitude toward christ and the word of god if we receive refuse to receive his word and put it into practice at the point that we reject the word of god we're at that same point rejecting christ have you been rejecting the word of god i pray that the holy spirit is bringing you to godly sorrow and repentance i pray that he will keep you from having being overwhelmed with condemnation because the bible says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin i pray that you will remember god blots out your sins with the blood of jesus but more than anything i pray you will make god's lagos word your rhema word [Music] you

Channel: Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN)

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Keywords: Bible, Three Angels Broadcasting Network, yt:quality=high, 3ABN, shelley quinn, Sermon, bible, live church, god, seventh day adventist, worship hour, the bible, sda, hope, rhema

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Length: 58min 0sec (3480 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 03 2021