God’s Word! (Hix)

Joshua 1:7-8-Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Verses 1-6 God gave Joshua a promise and in verses 7-8 God gives him the tool that he will need to claim those promises!!

The one reason that the Israelites haven’t entered the promise land was because they did not believe God’s Word!! (He told them, He would be with them, protect them and give them victory!)

What can keep you and me from being successful or victorious in this life, is when we don’t believe God’s Word!! (Holding up the Bible) That’s what this is!! God’s Word!!

From Genesis to Revelation it is God’s inspired Word!

It’s God’s love letter to the world!!

Hebrews 2:1-Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.

You see, we can take for granted this prize possession, we can completely ignore this book that is full of wisdom, and guidance, help and encouragement!!

We need to pay attention to God’s Word, because whether it is a Word of warning or a Word of encouragement or a Word of wisdom….What we read or what we hear in the past can help us in the present!!

What you might need for tomorrow, is what you might read or hear today!!

In Deuteronomy God told the Israelites that He was going to give them…Large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant!

We need to recognize that we have been given something wonderful, that’s right here in our hands!

God has went thru a lot of trouble to get His Word written down, so that it would be available to us!

A lot of blood, sweat and tears have went into compiling these 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament!

People have literally shed their blood making God’s Word available to people!!

1,260 number of promises given in the Bible

6,468 commands

3,268 Fulfilled prophecy

3,140 Unfulfilled prophecy

The Bible contains every conceivable subject from poetry, romance, mystery, biography, science, history.

It was written over a period of 1,600 years by more than 40 writers from all walks of life. Kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, poets, statesmen, scholars. They were from three different continents, and wrote in three different languages. They wrote from prisons, in temples, on seashores, and on hillsides, during peacetime and during war.

Charles Colson-"The BIBLE -- banned, burned, beloved. More widely read, more frequently attacked than any other book in history.

Generations of intellectuals have attempted to discredit it, dictators of every age have outlawed it and executed those who read it. Yet soldiers carry it into battle believing it more powerful than their weapons. Fragments of it smuggled

into solitary prison cells have transformed ruthless killers into gentle saints"

To borrow some lines from Gloria Gather…Emperors have tried to destroy it, Philosophies have tried to stamp it out. Tyrants have tried to wash it from the face of the earth with the very blood of those who claimed it, yet it still stands.

Isaiah 40:8-The grass withers, the flower fades,

But the word of our God stands forever.”

What does the Bible mean to you? Is a book or is it the book?

How often do you read the Bible?

Do you believe all of it or some of it?