The Power Of God's Word by Zac Poonen

today we want to look at the importance of the Word of God in our Christian life right from the very first chapter of the Bible you find the importance of God's Word God's spoken word in his purposes for man what do we see in Genesis chapter one again and again and again we read these words and God said that is the Word of God God's spoken word it was created when he said there was light let there be light there was light immediately and God said let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters and the heavens were created he said let the waters be gathered together let the dry land appear the dry land appeared and like that you find this earth that had been ruined by sin before Genesis 1 in Genesis chapter 2 in verses 1 & 2 because of Satan's fall was remade by God in Genesis 1 and this remaking was done through his spoken word and through the operation of the Holy Spirit that we read in verse 2 so right from the first chapter of the Bible you find the power of God's spoken word and that's why it's so important for us to open our beings to God's spoken word which we have in the Bible when you come to the last chapter of the Bible in the book of Revelation again you find a tremendous importance given to the Word of God in the last paragraph of the Bible in revelation 22 verse 18 and 19 it speaks about our attic you to the words of this book particularly referring to revelation but it applies to the whole Bible as well that God would if you we are not supposed to add to God's Word or subtract from it that's what he says there if you add to it then you'll get the plagues that God spoken off in this book and if you subtract from it then God will take away your part from the tree of life so in the first chapter and the last chapter you find this tremendous importance given to God's Word and in the earthly Ministry of Jesus Christ we find one of the earliest instances in his life is that described in Luke chapter 2 when he was 12 years old and he was in the temple sitting and talking with all the scholars at the age of 12 and he was discussing the Word of God with them it says in Luke chapter 2 that he was sitting there in the midst of all the teachers of the law in verse 46 listening to them and asking them questions from God's Word so you find that right from the beginning the very first picture you have of Jesus as a young boy is centered around the Word of God discussing God's Word questioning and perhaps explaining as well and it says all those who heard him were amazed at his understanding of the word and the answers he gave so Jesus Christ from his childhood was a very careful student of the Bible which was just the Old Testament in those days and remember he never had he never had a written Bible like this bound and easy to read in his home there were very few copies of the Old Testament available and they were all hand written by on parchments and very expensive to own and it's usually just the synagogue's that had them so in the synagogue's the children would be taught in the schools and there they would have an opportunity to hear the Word of God and that's all the opportunity Jesus had in all those 12 years and he listened carefully absorbed it and knew the Scriptures and no doubt he continued that practice all through his life and so when he was thirty years old and he began his ministry again we see as soon as he enters his ministry the importance he gives to God's Word as soon as his baptism is over he goes into the wilderness to fast and pray for forty days and at the end of that period the devil comes to temptin this is part of God's plan for his son on earth and the devil comes with a certain temptation and Jesus replies to the devil coating the Word of God he just says it is written that's the answer for me you tempt me to turn the stones into bread because I'm hungry and I haven't eaten before today's but I live by God's Word and he quoted that scripture from Deuteronomy chapter 8 which says man shall not live by bread alone this is in Luke chapter four and verse four but man shall live by every word that proceeds from God's mouth we find the fuller statement of that in Matthew 4 and verse 4 and this is a quotation from the autonomy chapter 8 verse 3 how his men supposed to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God these are the first spoken words of Jesus recorded in the Bible after he began his ministry after his baptism man shall not live by bread alone and we could say all the other things necessary for life they're not for physical life that's not enough man must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God in other words if I miss some thing of what God is spoken for me in that measure I'm not going to have the fullness of life that God wants me to have I believe this is the reason why many many Christians their lives are so shallow they don't know that that privileges as Christians they live in fear they live in insecurity they have they're defeated by sin what is the reason for all these things why is there so much confusion in their homes why is it so many children children of so many believers are going astray the answer to all of this is found in this one reason many many Christians do not take the study of God's Word and receiving his word regularly from God seriously and then they can't live in fact Jesus compared it with food man shall not live by bread alone we all know that we need food in order to be strong we need food in order for our life to continue on this earth and Jesus compared to the Word of God to that exactly like you need food on this earth here is something more important than food to receive God's Word and the second time when the devil came to him and tempted him quoting God's Word you see when the devil saw that Jesus was a person who would caught God's word he also quoted God's Word to lead jesus astray as it were saying why don't he jump down from the temple because it is written that he will give his angels charge concerning you Matthew chapter 4 verse 6 and then Jesus said but it is also written on the other hand that you shall not tempt the Lord your God and so we learned something else about God's word from Jesus reply there and that is the devil may use a verse of scripture by taking it out of its context and Christendom is full of examples in two thousand years of cults and groups who produced all types of strange teach through taking a verse out of context and building a doctrine around it and building a denomination around that doctrine and they don't realize is the devil who's coding that verse to them it is written so what we learn from here is that the whole truth of God is not found in the phrase it is written but it is written and it is also written in other words we've got to compare Scripture with Scripture in order to understand the whole mind of God and that is why it's very important if you want to really make progress in your Christian life to study scripture carefully the Bible says in 2nd Timothy and chapter 3 that all scripture verse 16 is inspired by God breathed by God in other words there's something special about this book called the Bible these 66 books that comprise the Bible God's Word God's breath is in these words these are not just words the meaning here is inspired by God means God breathed God has breathed into this book into something like you know when God made Adam he took some mud and made a mint the shape of a man the hands eyes head legs everything was there but it wasn't a man then it says God breathed into that man and suddenly he became a lion he was a living soul so God's Word is exactly like that just like Adam got the breath of God in him and just like when Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection it says he breathed on them and said receive the Holy Spirit second Timothy 3:16 says that God's Word is also something he has breathed into there is life in these words just like there was life an item just like the holy spirit came in to those disciples when John whom Jesus breathed so these words in Scripture are not just stories they're not just empty words if there is a promise in God's Word God's breath is in that promise there is a power in that word the tremendous power in the Word of God in fact in Hebrews and four it says here the Word of God is living and powerful active Hebrews 4:12 and it's able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart God's Word is like a searchlight it's active and powerful searching into the depths of our hearts so it's like a scam you know we have so many scans now that can search into our body and show us things that are wrong inside us and how useful those cans are for medical purposes God's Word is something like that that goes right into the depths of our hearts and shows the areas where we are wrong so a man who constantly exposes himself to the light of God's Word he's going to discover a whole lot of things in his life that he needs to set right and God will help them in that area 2nd Timothy 3 goes on to say that all this which is inspired by God is profitable for teaching for reproof for correction for training in righteousness God uses his word to correct us to teach us to train us to lead us in the paths of righteousness with the ultimate goal that we as men and women of God will be perfectly equipped for everything that God wants us to do we'll be adequate we'll be strong capable God's Word is like food God's Word is also like a sword in our conflict with Satan the greatest example is of course Jesus himself and the three temptations described in Matthew chapter 4 we find he used no other weapon except the written word of God and if we know the written word of God we can drive Satan away every time he comes to us with any temptation if you don't know the written word of God you're helpless and in Ephesians chapter 6 we are told that God's Word is the sword of the Spirit verse 17 regions 6:17 says the sword of the Spirit with which we can fight Satan he uses a military illustration of those days you know soldier would ever go to battle in those days without a sword it was one of the most important parts of equipment for him to attack all the other things described here are weapons for defense you know the breastplate and the helmet and the shoes and all these things are for defense in Ephesians 6 verse 13 to 17 but there's one weapon in that list of the armor of God which is for offense where we can fight the enemy and that is the sword of the Spirit God's Word is a sword with which we can drive Satan away and if Satan is causing problems for you you can drive him away with God's Word if you know which word to quote to him Jesus had a particular word for each temptation how did he get that it was not supernaturally because he was God remember that when Jesus came to earth he gave up voluntarily the abilities he had of God he was still God in his personality of course he was sinless and still gotten his personality but in his person but he gave up access to the resources God has you know almighty power and all-knowing wisdom he gave up all that in order to be a man like us otherwise he couldn't be an example for us so when he came to earth and he came as a little baby there was nothing in his mind of God's Word just like every baby in ball into the world doesn't have any data of God's Word in its mind it acquires that baby acquires knowledge by reading or hearing and so Jesus filled his mind with God's Word through the years when he grew up on earth and from that database of many many verses that he had stored in his mind the Holy Spirit could pick out one which is appropriate for the first temptation and another one which is appropriate for the second temptation and another one which is appropriate for the third temptation now this is exactly what the Holy Spirit wants to do for us - in every circumstance we face and I have experienced this for 47 years now more than 47 years as a Christian is a born-again Christian I found in so many different situations complicated situations trials difficulties I found that the Holy Spirit picks out a scripture and gives it to me but where does he pick it out from from the Bible which I have stored in my mind as I've read it through the years I built up a database of Scripture but because our memory is not so perfect we need to read it again and again not only to refresh our memory but from the very same verse God may give us some new life I found this many many times reading the same verse for the 20th or 50th time I see something new there because God's Word is like that it's not like man's words it's not like a chemistry book where you study something and then you got it and then you move on to a higher standard it's not like arithmetic where once you studied addition you move on to subtraction God's Word is like that God's word is God it's like an unending well a spring of water that never ceases you go into it do you maybe you're going to read that verse for the hundredth time and you get something new in it over there and so the Holy Spirit if we keep meditating on God's Word that's why it's important to meditate on it if we meditate on it the Holy Spirit will take at the appropriate time the right word from all that we have stored in our mind and give it to us and it will be exactly suited for our need in that situation now many Christians never experienced this in their whole life because they don't study God's Word carefully let me show you this version someone which is a very well known passage among many Christians in the first Psalm David writes how blessed is the man who meditates whose delight verse 2 is in the law of the Lord and those days that was just the Old Testament Scriptures you know the law of Moses five books and a few other books that were before David's time there's a very small portion of the Old Testament that is all that David had a scripture and he says it's blessed the man who meditates on this is so blessed if his delight is in it not just he reads it to ease his conscience but his delight is to in this law and in that law he meditates day and night he reads it maybe just a little while in the synagogue's they would listen to it and then he meditates on it he didn't have a Bible at home as I said they didn't have Bibles those days but they had that the parchment in the synagogue where David could hear it and then he would meditate on it throughout the day he said such a man will be like a tree planted by the streams of water which always yields fruit in its season and whose leaf never Withers and whatever he does will prosper what a beautiful picture of a tree that is never dry always green that is the picture that describes a man who meditates on God's Word all the time it's a picture of freshness a tree that is always green is a picture of freshness and this verse teaches us that the weight of freshness is by meditating on Scripture and I found that through the years the more I meditate on God's Word my life is fresh I never need be dry and God gives me a word not only to face for me to face temptation like Jesus faced it but he also gives me a word to give to other people when they face trial in temptation and it's not just because I'm a preacher God can give you that word you may not be able to stand up in the pulpit and speak for some length of time but that's a gift but he may give you a word to speak to somebody who's in need just one sentence perhaps from Scripture or to write a verse of scripture to someone who is facing a particular problem the Holy Spirit can pick out a word from all that you stored in your database pick out the right word not only for yourself but for other people as well what a tremendous thing this is not only being fresh yourself but giving fruit it says he will yield its fruit in its season that means fruit comes out from the branch of the tree and you know that a tree does not produce fruit for itself every tree produces fruit to bless other people who pluck the fruit and eat it so here it says speaks about a man who meditates on God's Word and he's fresh himself his leaves are always green 365 days of the year he's fresh and he produces fruit in season means whenever needed and other people can come and take of it and be refreshed it's a wonderful thing it's a wonderful way to live that is the way God wants us to live to open our being to read God's Word meditate on it to fight the devil as a sword to feed on it as our spiritual food and to drink of it like the tree sucks in the sack sucks in the water from the river and is always fresh the river here is a picture of God's Word and here God's Word is picture like the water that flows into this tree through the roots and keeps that tree fresh all the time and produces fruit through the SAP in its branches so that other people can be blessed all of this comes through God's Word coming into our system there's something else we read also in djenne in Jeremiah and chapter 23 that God's Word is like a hammer and a fire Jeremiah 23 he speaks about his word having this power Jeremiah and chapter 23 he's speaking about various types of false prophets and he says here I have not sent these prophets he says they have spoken words but those words have not produced any results but he says if they had given them my word that would have produced results I have not spoken to these people my word he says in verse 29 finally is like a hammer that can break the shadow the rock it's like a fire you know God's Word can destroy the rocks in front of us that hinder our progress God's Word is like a fire that keeps us burning in our devotion to Jesus Christ there are many pictures like this used of God's word in the Bible to show us its tremendous power to refresh us to feed us to give us the ability to fight Satan to produce fruit through us to bless other people and also to keep us on fire in our devotion to Christ and also to be used as a hammer to break every Rock that stands in our way in a mountain so that we can go through to fulfill God's purpose for our lives God's will is that you fulfill his plan for your life and for that you need the Word of God god bless you

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Keywords: Revival, Character Of God, Free Sermons, Video Sermons, Jesus Christ, What Is The Gospel, SermonIndex, What Is The Truth, Zac Poonen

Id: FffaZxZPZ3k

Length: 25min 19sec (1519 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 11 2017