The Word - Part 1 - Pastor Raymond Woodward

[Music] well tonight we begin a series a midweek series on the word and this series is based on psalm 119 which just happens to be the longest chapter in the bible it clocks in at 176 verses so this will obviously not be a verse by verse study studying one one verse a week would take us a little more than three years even studying one section a week would take us a little more than five months so in this series which isn't all that long we're just going to take a a bird's eye view of psalm 119 but if you begin today and you read eight verses which is one section of this psalm and you read eight verses every day you will finish on the day that we finish this midweek series and i guarantee and promise it will be a blessing to you if you do that it is a common misconception that david wrote the entire book of psalms he didn't write the entire book of psalms but he did write half of these poetic songs david is specifically noted as the author of 73 of the psalms in their titles in your bible and the new testament mentions him as the author of two more uh acts 4 mentions him as the author of psalm 2. hebrews 4 mentions him as the author of psalm 94 so that gives us a grand total of 75 psalms or exactly half of this book that were penned by david 13 of his psalms shared details about when they were written what was going on in his life and they share that in their titles so it's quite a collection but the other half of this book was written by other people two psalms are attributed to solomon one to moses one to heman one to ethan the ezra height eleven to the sons of korah which is quite a story in itself and twelve to the family of asaph who was the choir director during the reign of david with the exception of moses and solomon most of these additional authors were either priests or levites who were responsible to provide music for worship in the sanctuary during david's reign and that's why many of the psalms have musical directions in their titles it will say something you'll see in your bible it'll say to the chief musician or something similar and that's why the psalms has always been referred to as the hymn book the prayer book the praise book of ancient israel the earliest psalm that we can figure out is this psalm written by moses it's psalm 90 it would be the earliest psalm in the collection and the last one added to the collection is most likely psalm 137 which was a song of lament written long after david's lifetime when the jews were captives in babylon and most of you can quote at least the first verse because of a song you heard that starts by the rivers of babylon and you can at least quote one verse and so that's the book of psalms it was written over a thousand years over a millennia and it was assembled mostly by david who when he died he was referred to as the sweet psalmist of israel but almost one-third of the psalms 47 of them were penned by anonymous individuals and psalm 119 the longest chapter in your bible the longest psalm in the collection it's one of these anonymous songs but that doesn't stop us from appreciating its beauty and its power the only thing you really need to know about psalm 119 is that it's in the word and it's part of the word and if it's the word it has power and anointing and authority and blessing and instruction now whoever this author was he's a good example for us to follow because this man who wrote this psalm whoever he was and whenever he wrote he has a profound appreciation and a passionate desire for the word of god he addresses his words all throughout 176 verses he addresses his words directly to the lord in a combination of praise and prayer and when he gets frustrated he speaks about the proud arrogant people who disdain him who persecute him because they don't love the word of god they don't obey the word of god but he does and he's so thankful for the word even the structure of this psalm is absolutely amazing due to the organization of the author and the inspiration of god you've probably noticed this in your bible if you've got a king james bible and a few of the other translations do the same thing um this psalm is written like an acrostic poem it has eight lines or we would say eight verses in each of the 22 sections of this psalm the hebrew alphabet has 22 letters and the 22 sections of this psalm of psalm 119 it's 22 sections follow the pattern of the hebrew alphabet each of the eight lines in each section begin with the same letter of the alphabet so verses one to eight they begin with the first letter of the hebrew alphabet aleph the next eight verses begin with bet the next eight with gimel and then dalit and then uh hey and vav and so on for 22 sections 22 letters each of the verses or each of the lines in this beautiful psalm begin with that letter it's it's really quite an impressive structure it's beautiful just to look at and so i copied this psalm in english and in hebrew into a little bit of a spreadsheet and made a little video for you to see now remember that english reads from your left to your right but hebrew reads from right to left and these letters so you'll see in the middle you'll see the first letter of each of these lines each of these verses it begins with the same letter there's little vowel markings under hebrew letters but it's the same letter and it's really quite beautiful to see so on the screen if you would just keep your eye on the yellow line that you'll see appear and that's going to trace the hebrew letters and you'll see that each one of these sections there's the first letter aleph and then you go to bet and gimel and on and every one of the the verses in that section begins with that letter it's really quite a remarkable structure there's probably 20 similar pieces in the word of god the book of lamentations is similar it's got a structure where the first letters of of verses begin with letters in order but this is the longest and to me this is the most beautiful it it's the hebrew alphabet the language that first revealed the plan of god to man and it's just laid out beautifully 22 sections 22 letters and i think that is absolutely remarkable now the emphasis in this longest chapter in the bible is on the ministry of the word of god in the life of god's people this is a powerful chapter of god's word this chapter this psalm describes how the word enables us to grow in holiness and in our obedience this psalm tells us how the word can help us handle the pressures and the persecutions that always accompany a true walk of faith nearly every verse in this chapter contains a direct mention of the word of god so psalm 119 is literally the word talking about the word that's why it's so powerful and this writer uses at least eight different words to describe the power of the word of god he calls it the law the hebrew word is torah and that's a body of prophetic revelation and teaching it's not just teaching it's not just law but it has a purpose to reveal god to us he calls it the commandments or the the mitzvah and these are the conditions of the covenant the commandments of god if you want to be in covenant with god you've got to keep his commandments he calls the word the judgments that's mishpat and that's god's righteous pronouncements like a judge would sit in a courtroom and he would declare the judgment on the accused or he would declare someone innocent when god pronounces a judgment in his word that's something you need to reckon with he calls it the testimonies and the testimonies that's a wonderful way to describe the word of god because these are commands but they're commands based on god's character so god commands us to be holy because he is holy he commands us to love because god is love and etc he calls this uh the word he calls it the precepts and that is instructions about human conduct how we should treat each other that's part of what the word of god does and he calls it the statutes and i i love this descriptive word that the word uses about itself it's the statutes because statutes are principles that go beyond just the letter of the law jesus did this you remember the law says don't kill jesus said oh wait here's a statute for you here's a principle that goes beyond the letter of the law it's not just don't kill it's don't hate somebody in your heart because if you hate them in your heart it's the same as if you wanted to murder them it's equivalent to murder so that's a statute and then the word describes itself as the way it's a road it's a path and for those of you that have been serving jesus for a few years you already know this that the word leads you and the word guides you and you walk with jesus as you walk with his word it's beautiful and it's powerful and finally of course the word just describes itself many times using the hebrew word the bar it's word this is a direct utterance of god and the bible tells us about itself that this is god breathed that holy men wrote as they were moved by the holy ghost i don't care what voices you hear from what sphere of education or what sphere of criticism what sphere of politics or any other thing in this world you can trust the word of god this is the word that god gave us now you might think that with all that emphasis on laws and commandments and judgments and statutes and oh my goodness you might think that that would make psalm 119 a very heavy book kind of a negative book but it's actually the opposite the psalmist loves the word of god he exclaims in verse 97 oh how i love thy law he delights in the law he rejoices in god's commandments and he enjoys telling all of us about it he couldn't get stopped he was the first long-winded preacher 170 verses it's amazing he even turns god's statutes into songs he says in verse 54 thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage he said your laws your commandments your statutes your precepts they're like a song to me god imagine if a local orchestra maybe at one of the high schools took our traffic regulations and set them all to music stop on red you know and it wouldn't be very inspiring because most of us don't consider laws to be a source of any kind of joyful song but that is exactly the way this writer looks at the word of god your law is like a symphony to me your law is a joyful song that i can sing every day that i live you see christians don't read the bible as a textbook or a law book we read this as a love letter that's how we read the word of god and because we love the lord we love his law because we know him as our loving heavenly father we joyfully obey his commandments we don't make any bones about it if god says it we want to do it because we love pleasing god we we studied this when we went through john's writings john said this is the love of god that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous that is the attitude of this writer we don't know who he was we don't know when he lived we don't know the circumstances of his life but when he sent his pen to parchment he just went on and on and on saying the word of god the law of god the commandments of god they're like my song i rejoice in them they bless my life they don't burden me they don't bother me i rejoice in the commandments of god and that's pretty remarkable when you consider that this anonymous psalmist he didn't even have a complete old testament let alone a complete bible all he had was up to the psalms all he had was the torah and maybe a few historical books and we don't know when he wrote he might have had a couple of poetical books maybe not he didn't even have a complete old testament let alone a complete bible and yet he said oh this word of god it's like a song in my heart it blesses me it helps me and it leads me how many christians and even some pastors today basically ignore the old testament except for a few of its popular stories but here's a man who writes this longest chapter in your bible here's a man who rejoices in the old testament scriptures that's the only word of god he had reminds me of a story i heard from one of our missionaries that uh they they came across a preacher a pastor in one of the mission fields and he had a bible and it had been ripped apart and you could see it was all tattered and torn and it started with the gospel of john just a page because he'd ripped it in half and they said you need to respect the bible more you need to be careful of your bible he said oh no brother missionary he said i have a brother who's also a pastor and he didn't have a bible so i tore my bible in half and i gave him three gospels in the old testament and i've got the gospel of john and the rest do you understand that when you've got bibles stacked up at your house and on your electronic devices and you can look them up on kindle or google or wikipedia or whatever do you understand how blessed we are we are surrounded by the word of god and we best appreciate it like this old testament psalmist did this man loved the bible it was the only word of god he had his love for the word puts many modern christians to shame if this writer with his limited revelation and limited resources if he could live godly and victorious feeding only on a portion of the old testament how much more should we be able to live in victory how much more should we have deep abiding joy today how much we should be able to just live for the lord and not just survive but thrive not just tough it out but rise above everything that the enemy throws against us until the books of the new testament were written and then distributed sometime in the latter first century do you realize that the old testament scriptures were the only word of god possessed by the early church they didn't have all the epistles like you do they didn't have the book of acts like you do they didn't have all four gospels they didn't have the book of revelation they didn't have any of that the only bible that the new testament church started with was the old testament yet with only the old testament and the help of the holy ghost those early christians were able to minister and they were able to win the lost in a dynamic way peter quoted the old testament prophet joel on the day of pentecost that's how he explained the baptism of the holy ghost he quoted the book of psalms to prove the resurrection of jesus christ when stephen stood accused before the jewish council do you know what he did in his little address he opened with genesis he closed with isaiah and somewhere in the middle he referenced exodus deuteronomy and amos he preached to them using only the old testament philip taught the ethiopian eunuch about baptism in jesus name and all he used was a few verses from the middle of the scroll of the prophet isaiah he didn't have acts 2 38 that hadn't been written down yet he didn't have all paul's epistles he didn't have any of that but he was able to say there's something that you need and he explained it from the old testament james concluded the jerusalem council of the churches by quoting the prophet amos paul even quoted one old testament verse about oxen to teach churches you need to support your spiritual leaders financially so in their theology and in their decisions and in their ministry the early church depended on guidance from the old testament scriptures i've got to tell you that the further we go into the 21st century the less that is the case many believers today are guilty of totally ignoring the old testament except for reading a few favorite passages and that's why so many believers in so many churches today are totally ignorant of what the law of god teaches and they say things that are sound good but they're absolutely wrong they say things like keeping the law can't save me they just twisted romans 3 20 into a pretzel but this psalmist would respond oh i know keeping the law can't save me but listen keeping the law can sanctify me it can make me holy it can tell me how i need to live to please god people today say well the law that's bondage they just twisted galatians 5 and 1. but this psalmist would declare oh no the law of god is my freedom the law of god is my liberty people today say oh the law that's just darkness that's just shadow they're twisting hebrews 10 and verse 1. but this psalmist insists no never the law is not darkness the law of god is light to me it leads me it shows me the way people today say oh the law that old testament it's death they're twisting romans 7 and 11 and other verses but this psalmist would say absolutely not the law of the ever-living god is not death this law is life but many christians and many churches and even many pastors today don't understand that you see the sinners the law of god is an enemy because it condemns their sin to carnal christians the law is looked on as some kind of harsh task master that robs them of their freedom but to apostolic believers the law is a servant that leads us to christ and helps us see the will and the ways of god the old testament psalmist we don't know his name but whoever he was the guy that penned this longest chapter in your bible the longest psalm in the collection of a hundred and fifty he wasn't satisfied to have the law of god in his home or in his hand or even in his head he said i've got to hide your word in my heart i got to get it way down inside of me he wanted it he wanted the law the commandments of god the word of god so we could love what was holy and do what was right the way we love and obey the word of god reveals the way we love and obey the god of the word you can't separate god from his word so tonight we're going to begin our study of psalm 119 but in doing so we want to look far beyond the borders in this first message in this first lesson we want to look far beyond the borders of a single psalm about the word because i want to establish in your mind and in your heart the absolute power and the absolute authority of the word of god the bible that you read the bible that you carry the bible that you hold it is not just the world's best-selling book the bible is a supernatural book it is a miraculous book if you get the word of god into your heart it will change your life it will alter your eternity it will do for you what nothing else on this planet can do and the witness is everywhere in the word of god moses said to israel when recounting their history he said god humbled israel he suffered you to hunger and he fed you with manna which thou knewest not neither did thy fathers know god allowed you to wander in the wilderness and gave you the same menu every day for 40 years god didn't give you what you wanted he gave you what you needed and he was teaching you a lesson every day for 40 years that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the lord that's how we live let me tell you something i know you need nourishment to survive physically but you need this nourishment to survive spiritually don't think you're going to survive being an apostolic believer without a relationship with the word of god the word is your light the word is your rock the word is your source the word is your food the word will sustain you when trials press in on you moses said god taught you something in the wilderness israel he taught you that you don't just live by bread you live by the words that come from the mouth of god solomon said these words he said blessed be the lord that hath given rest unto his people israel according to all that he promised this is beautiful there hath not failed one word of all his good promise which he promised by the hand of moses his servant that's an old testament king talking to an old testament people about the old testament bible that they had up to that point i got one better i've got a whole new testament and my testimony is still the same not one word of the word of god has ever let me down or failed me it's never messed me up it's helped me up it's never pushed me down it's brought me out the word of god has never failed king david wrote these words he said in god will i praise his word now we don't normally say that we say praise the lord or praise his name or praise jesus david said i'm going to praise his word i'm going to brag on the word of the lord for a little while i like some of our old-time elder christians because they love this word so much their bibles are tattered and worn but you know a tattered bible a bible is all kind of messed up it usually belongs to a person whose life is not messed up because they've been in that word and they've got that word into them so david said in god will i praise his word and in case you missed it in the lord will i praise his word david why are you bragging about the word of god he said here's why in god have i put my trust i will not be afraid what man shall do unto me guess what you get a bulletproof vest right there the word of god sustains you and when the fiery darts of the enemy come it's the word that will repel them when the attacks of trials and tribulations come you can get a word from the word and you can stand strong and if there's anybody that's ever done that i wish you'd do what david did and just thank god for his word in the sanctuary tonight this church isn't built on a handbook or on a church council or on a pentecostal policy we are built on the word of the lord thank you jesus david wrote these words he said i will worship toward thy holy temple and i will praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy truth so far so good we would expect him to say that and then he gives us the punchline we probably wouldn't be expecting this he says for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name stop the presses right there what in the world does that mean god you've magnified we know how great the name of the lord is but the bible says about itself thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name what in the world is that about well three times in the gospel of john jesus told his disciples you will receive whatsoever you shall ask in my name he says that in john 14 15 and 16. three times he says whatsoever you shall ask in my name you'll receive it so in other words jesus is explaining that his name it gives us authority to ask for whatever we want his name gives us the authority to bind some things and to loose other things all using the authority of his name anybody believe that that didn't sound very convincing to me anybody believe that when you ask in the name of the lord he hears and his word says he'll answer anybody believe that so does that mean you can ask jesus for anything like anything i've told you the story before but it just struck me so funny at the time i was an assistant pastor this lady came and she talked to the pastor she said pastor please pray with me this week i'm praying about whether to stay with my husband or move in with my boyfriend you can ask anything in his name well i don't like the husband i got i'd like her husband i don't like the wife i got i'd like his wife jesus in your name you can ask anything in his name absolutely not you know why because the word outweighs the name the word is magnified above the name it's the word that reveals the name so if what you are asking for and what you are praying for doesn't line up with the word of god you can ask jesus until you're blue in the face but you're not going to get that prayer answered why because god always honors his word so much so that he has magnified his word above all his name you read the bible you'll find out god has a lot of phenomenal names he's the lord our healer he's the lord our banner he's the lord our shepherd he's got all kinds of names but his word has been magnified above all his name that's why you need to know the word that's why you need to love the word that's why you need to have a relationship with the word of god it was jesus himself who told those disciples he said not everyone that says unto me lord lord is going to enter into the kingdom of heaven it's not just the people that use my name he said it will be the people that do the will of my father which is in heaven now here's what jesus said many will say to me in that day lord lord we prophesied in your name and and don't you know in your name we cast out devils and in your name we did many wonderful works we did all kinds of great stuff jesus and we put your name on all of it and we did it in your name and jesus said and on that day i will profess to them i never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity now there's a frightening little passage of scripture jesus said not pastor raymond jesus said that it's not claiming him as lord or just using his name that's going to get you into heaven anybody can say jesus is my lord anybody can use his name but jesus said no it's the people that do the will of god and where is the will of god found the will of god is found in the word of god and that's what gets you into heaven those that do the will of god and again i say to you you need a relationship with the word of god and that's why to me psalm 119 is so beautiful and so powerful more than any other chapter in the bible it is literally the word talking about the word now if you've read it you've got some favorite verses if you've been reading for a while in the scripture you probably can quote some of these verses but here are some of my favorite verses they might not be your favorites but they gave me the microphone so these are my favorite verses some of them verse 11 thy word have i hid in mine heart that i might not sin against thee verse 16 i will not forget thy word verse 25 quicken thou me according to thy word verse 28 strengthen thou me according to thy word verse 42 i trust in thy word you know on the staff pastor jack is the eternal optimist the rest of the staff are somewhere in the middle i'm the eternal pessimist i can see disaster coming i can snatch defeat out of certain victory every single time i don't trust in a lot of stuff i've seen too many fly by night operations and too many deceptive warped twisted people but i trust in his word i don't trust everything and everybody but i trust in his word verse 58 be merciful unto me according to thy word verse 74 i have hoped in thy word verse 89 you know this one forever o lord thy word is settled in heaven and you know this one 105 thy word is a lamp unto my feet and it's a light unto my path that's what you need to do with the word of god you don't need to figure out six weeks from sunday or two years from wednesday you just need to walk in the light that the word has given you thus far and when you get to the end of that it works like the headlights on your car you drive as far as you can see and when you get to the point where the light was there'll be more light ahead of you that's the word of god it's a light it's it's a lamp and you just follow along and obey it and god will give you more revelation 1 16 uphold me according to thy word keep me together jesus hold me together i'm falling apart but your word can keep me i love this verse it's probably one of my favorites in the old testament psalm 119 verse 133 order my steps in thy word my goodness if god can just help me to negotiate and walk in his word there's nothing the devil or the world or anything else can throw at me that i can't get through psalm 119 verse 160 thy word is true from the beginning verse 161 my heart standeth in awe of thy word i rejoice in thy word verse 162 verse 169 give me understanding according to thy word verse 170 deliver me according to thy word in 172 and i'll quit because i could go on i could read all 176 verses they're all good my tongue shall speak of thy word god i'm going to be like old king david i'm going to brag on your word i'm going to thank you for your word i'm going to worship because of your word and it's everywhere in the bible folks the bible has a lot to say about itself please hear pastor raymond tonight you need a relationship not just with the wonderful pastors not just with our wonderful church family you need a relationship with the word of god for yourself you don't have to have a degree in hebrew and greek you don't have to know everything about prophecy and eschatology and soteriology and pneumatology i know all those words but you don't have to know any of those words the theologians have a 17-syllable word for everything simple in the word of god you don't need to know any of that start somewhere that's easy start in one of the gospels start in the book of acts start in the book of psalms and just read and make it your prayer you don't have to read chapter after chapter after chapter i'd rather you read five verses and get something out of it then read 15 chapters and not even remember a word that he said but you need to pray before you read and say god show me something from your word today god give me strength from your word today and he'll do it for you isaiah said this so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth it shall not return unto me void but it shall accomplish that which i please and it shall prosper in the thing where to i sent it now pentecostal preachers are notorious for this that they like to preach and they like to have people swinging from the chandeliers when they preach they love response and i don't know why they took all the chandeliers out of here because it's really inhibiting this service tonight they're nothing to swing off of pentecostal preachers are probably about the worst in the world for that preaching and they love that response and the people of god and you've been there i sit in audiences a lot and they're always baiting us you know anybody got a baptist nod and a presbyterian cough and a catholic burp and they they just bait us all the time it's awful and i don't think the baptist and the presbyterians the catholics really appreciate it pentecostal preachers are the worst of the world but here's what i've come to understand in all these years of teaching and preaching the word of god the word doesn't return void you can preach the word of god almost in a vacuum and somebody will hear it maybe five weeks from now and it'll be exactly the word that they needed and it will turn their life inside out and upside down in a good way and all of a sudden you realize hey that text came to me and it said pastor raymond pastor jack pastor somebody that was exactly what i needed for this moment in my life you see god said my word it won't return void if you preach the word you can preach about yourself it's not going to do much you can tell stories about our church it probably won't accomplish a lot but if you preach the word the word doesn't return void it's like a guided missile it'll follow you all this week it'll follow you into next week and about six weeks from now when you're in the middle of a trial and you feel like giving up boom the word of god will land in your spirit because it will not return void my goodness jeremiah they they threw him in a pit he sunk up to his armpits and mud that's in the bible it's kind of gross and he didn't know if he was ever going to get out and jeremiah wanted them to stop persecuting him and so he said this and he wrote it down he said okay i make a deal i will not make mention of god i will not speak any more in his name i am tired of the grief and the persecution i am sick to death of all the opposition so i'll just zip my lip and i will keep quiet but his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones and just as i got weary of persecution all of a sudden i got weary of being quiet i got weary of forbearing and i couldn't stay i couldn't keep quiet and i just started preaching all over again you know every once in a while the devil tries to push you down and knock you down and drag you back to your old life and every once in a while you just think to yourself you can be honest it's church you think i just might as well give up this isn't working i don't know if i'm doing this right and some of you the thought has entered into your little brain and you've said i might as well go back to the world i might as well just shut up and sit down and give up not so my brother not so my sister any time you feel like that you need to get into the word because the word is like a fire shut up in your bones it'll light a fire in you that makes you want to go one more day you don't have to live for god a year at a time can you do it for one more day that's all you need to answer can you do it for one more day can you live right for one more day can you serve god for one more day because he'll give you your daily bread he'll walk with you every day oh my goodness somebody lift up your hands and thank god for his word my goodness you need the word of god you need to know it you need to love it you need to read it you need to believe it another old testament prophet named ezekiel my goodness he didn't have an easy time of it either god set him down in the middle of a valley filled with dry bones and god said son of man can these bones live and ezekiel said oh lord god thou knowest i don't have a clue and again god said unto me prophesy upon these bones and say unto them here's what resurrected the deadness and the dryness in ezekiel's vision o ye dry bones hear the word of the lord i know sometimes you get in a valley and it feels dead and dry it feels all messed up and you can't even hardly see light at the end of the tunnel or look up to touch bottom but it's in those moments you need to do what ezekiel did you need to say deadness and dryness and fear and perplexity and anxiety hear the word of the lord i am more than a conqueror i am a victor i am a child of god i am filled with the holy ghost greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world deadness and dryness and devil hear the word of the lord but you can't say that if you don't know this oh my goodness solomon wrote in the book of ecclesiastes where the word of a king is well we got a better king than king solomon or king david or king saul where the word of a king is there is power and who can look at the king and say what do you think you're doing you see we've got power when the world closes in we've got power when the devil attacks there's power in the word of a king and we quote this verse often because it's so beautiful and powerful the psalmist said he sent his word and healed them we quote that part but the next part's just as powerful and beautiful and god delivered them from their destructions it wasn't the devil that messed them up it wasn't some enemy that messed them up they messed themselves up they made the mistake they took the wrong turn they sinned they rebelled it was their destruction but our god is so merciful and his word is so powerful he sent his word right into the situation that they had created he sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions and brothers and sisters that's just the old testament here's the new testament in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god you don't understand what you're holding in your hand when you carry around a bible it's a wonder it doesn't drain the battery on your ipad when you have a bible program on there the word of god is so powerful because the word was god the word is god and the word ever shall be god you can't separate god from his word but because in the old testament it was far too easy to have the word down here and think of god up there so god said i'm going to do something different in the new testament and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth the reason god intersected human history the reason god took on a body of flesh is so you could just look at him and know what god was like so you could just read his words and know the thoughts and the mind and the love and the mercy of god that's why he became flesh and so you see it everywhere in the new testament it's the pattern for the new testament church as the word grows the church grows as the word increases the church increases as the word prevails the church prevails that's why we have always been and we shall always be a church that is built on the word of god we don't back up from preaching it we don't apologize for it this church is built on the word of god mark 16 the very last verse in his gospel account and they went forth and they preached everywhere and the lord worked with them and here's what god did he confirmed the word with signs following and mark says amen now i love our music we've got anointed singers and musicians and they work and they practice and they prepare so you can be blessed and so we can be ushered into the presence of god and i appreciate every minute that they spend helping our church and and we've got wonderful pastors and wonderful leadership in this church and they work diligently on your behalf and if that wasn't enough we've got awesome saints in this church that have lived for god and accumulated centuries if you put us all together we've lived and walked with god and we've prayed and it's all wonderful but listen god doesn't confirm wonderful music god doesn't confirm the ministries of pastors god doesn't confirm the life of a saint here's what god confirms he confirms his word so we got to know his word we got to believe his word we got to love his word we got to preach his word and god help us all we need to respond to his word when the least little preacher gets up here and with a trembling cracking teenage voice says you know we need to believe the word of god the church needs to come unglued in the spirit cause that young man or that young lady just said something that we agree with that the word of god is the foundation for everything we are and everything we have and everything we believe he confirms his word it happens everywhere in the new testament so mightily grew the word of god and prevailed and when the word prevailed the church prevailed and when the word expanded the church expanded and the devil thought i got a solution for this paul seems to be the mouthpiece for this movement so i'm going to get him falsely accused i'm going to get the political machine and the religious people i'm going to get them all against paul and i'm going to throw him in a dirty dank dark roman jail and so he did and even when he was in prison the apostle paul put his trust in the word of god here's what he wrote from prison finally brethren pray for us pray that i get out pray that somebody puts a key in a cake and brings it to me for my birthday that's not what he prayed he said pray for us that the word of the lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you pray that the word of the lord keeps expanding and the word of the lord keeps growing and the word of the lord gets greater i'm not so concerned about getting out of prison i'm concerned that we still hang on to the word of the lord can i just tell you a modern equivalent not nearly so dramatic not nearly so intense i don't really care what life throws at me what i care about is that the word of god is magnified through my life i've met beautiful saints of god and they get a sickness or they go through a trial or the circumstances of life close in around them and it seems like the devil has locked him up in a jail but you know what they say don't worry about me i'm going to be just fine just let the word of god be magnified in my life if i'm sick let me be a testimony to the word of god if i've got problems let me be a testimony to the word of god it's one of my favorite scriptures in the new testament pastors have to be pretty careful about saying this is my favorite verse because somebody always comes to you three weeks from now when you say something else is your favorite verse i have a different favorite verse just about every day so let me be paul wrote this in the last book in the last letter he would ever write he said timothy my dear young friend they have locked me up chained me like an animal and it doesn't look like i'm getting out until they take me to my sentence my trial and they put me to death he said i'm in this prison it's not nice it's not comfortable wherein i suffer trouble they're treating me like an evil doer timothy they're talking about me like i was a common criminal timothy they've chained my hands and my feet i am bound but the word of god is not bound i wish i could transplant that little verse into the innermost part of the spirit of every child of god that's part of our church so when the trials of life come against you you don't freak out or panic but your attitude is this i may be bound but the word of god is not bound i might be sick but the word of god is not sick i might be knocked down but the word of god is not knocked down i might have enemies but there's no enemy that can prevail against the word of god let me hasten the word of god is so powerful and it's so eternal it outlasts everything on this earth the writer of hebrews said this word of god that you hold this bible that you read it is quick and powerful it is sharper than any two-edged sword it can pierce and divide asunder soul and spirit joints and marrow but here's what you need to know this word is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart your heart is deceitful above all things and it's desperately wicked and the bible says about your heart who can know it so if you really want to know what's going on inside of you don't take the the word of your friend take the word of the word of god and just let the word discern what's really going on in your life peter wrote this the pentecost preacher he said all flesh is as grass we eventually get old we eventually get feeble we eventually lose our strength and we begin to wither all the glory of man is as the flower of grass the grass withereth and the flower thereof falleth away we are so fragile as a human race if anything has come out of this pandemic we've realized how fragile our world is how fragile the human race is but the word of god the word of the lord it endureth forever and peter said oh yeah and this is the word by which the gospel is preached unto you all you people at some precious pioneer preacher he explained the gospel to you you got baptized in jesus name you're filled with the holy ghost you've lived for god and walked with his word all these years you have not been wasting your time when we have your funeral and send you on to glory and shed our tears and try to pick up the pieces and move on guess what that word that you believe that word that you live for it endures forever and because the word endures forever and you obeyed the word you're going to endure forever jesus said it heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away and i'll close because i could go for a while i have permission i got 176 verses in one chapter so i preached short tonight go to the far end of the scripture go to the closing chapters of the word of god go to the great scenes in the book of revelation and the great events unfolding in heaven and on earth and john the revelator writes these words and i saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true and in righteousness he doth judge and make war this isn't your meek and humble little lowly manger-born jesus no this time his eyes were as a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood and his name in the final wind-up of the word of god his name is called the word of god oh my goodness what are you saying john i think john's saying this the name contains the word and the word contains the name and it's all one and it's all powerful and if you give your life to the name of jesus and the word of god you're gonna be okay and hell can't touch you and hell can't even handle you and when we get to the end it's all going to be over but the rejoicing in heaven for millions of years until we begin a little series on psalm 119 without even reading hardly anything from psalm 119 but i just wanted you to know that this word of god it is inspired it is eternal it is dynamic it is miraculous it is in the word that we meet jesus christ please hear me tonight our response to the word of god is our response to jesus you can't respond positively to jesus and negatively to the word of god because the name contains the word and the word contains the name and it's all rolled into one so if you say yes to the word you've said yes to jesus and if you say no to the word you've said no to jesus last scripture paul wrote it he told us how to get dressed every day it's called the armor of god and here's how he concludes and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of god i know you're busy i know your family and your boss and your priorities and your job are calling you and pulling you in a thousand directions but without this you have no weapon to beat down and beat back and beat off the enemy of your soul who would like to take you down and take you out and make you one more sad statistic in the history of the christian church but i say no because i've got a weapon it's the sword of the spirit it's the word of god and when i know it and when i believe it and most of all when i obey it i've got a weapon that is stronger than any attack of the devil and any trial of this life and any circumstance i find myself in the word isn't something to sit on your shelf and collect dust the word is something that you wield as a weapon and you can push the enemy out of your life it is the word because there's no other word that matters it's not a word it's the word it's not my word it's god's word and it is eternally powerful i'd like you to raise your hands right now and i'd like you to get a little bit of holy ghost grit in your voice and i would like you to pray over whatever situation it is that is causing you grief anxiety and concern maybe it's a health problem well the word says i am the lord that healeth thee maybe it's a child that's wayward well the word says thou shalt be saved and thy house maybe you don't know what way to go tomorrow well the word says i know the plans i have for you declares the lord they are plans to prosper you and not to harm you they are plans to give you an expected end so you can have confidence in the word of god oh my goodness that's really good but it's about at five percent it needs to be at about a hundred and five percent just lift up that praise to god just lift up that prayer to god if you can't think of anything to pray go home get you a scripture and pray that go home get you a verse and pray that it's all the word pray it over yourself pray it over your life because the word is forever settled in heaven [Music] in jesus name would you stand and would you as you stand if you're with somebody in your bubble take them by the

Channel: Capital Community Church

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Keywords: capital, community, church, fredericton, nb, new, brunswick, canada, upc, upci, united, pentecostal, international, apostolic, sermon, preach, preaching, bible, study, teaching, bible study, the, word, the word, psalms 119, 119, psalms, pastor raymond woodward, pastor, raymond woodward, raymond, woodward

Id: m2UU1w3jyDs

Length: 63min 12sec (3792 seconds)

Published: Wed May 12 2021