Power Of The Word

I read a story about a pastor who was visiting one of his members. The lady of the house was trying to impress him about how committed to God she was by pointing out the large Bible on the bookshelf and talking in a very reverential way of it as "the Word of God". Her young son interrupted the conversation, "Well, if that’s God’s book we better send it back to him because we never read it!"

Week after week I stand up here and talk to you guys about the Word of God…The Bible is the most powerful tool you have during this lifetime, when life gets you down you can find the answers to whatever your facing in this book, which is the very Word of God.

It is infallible – without error…

Accurate – geologically, archeologically, and historically…

This is the only book in the history of the world that can claim that it is 100% reliable, and trustworthy.

Yet, people don’t use it like they should…we ignore it, we take it for granted, and often times people misrepresent it!

However, if you ask a believer in China, Russia, or other parts of the world that have been persecuted simply for having possession of the Bible, they would tell you of it’s great importance!

So why do we in America take the Bible for granted…why do we ignore it, believing that we will have another day to read it, and simply go on doing seemingly more important things! Why do Christians devote more time to ESPN, NBC, ABC, television in general, movies, music, exercise, than we do reading God’s Word?

The Word of God is full of Power!

The Power of God’s Word

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

The first thing we are going to consider today about the power the Bible has is it’s:

1. P-enetrating Power

a. God’s Word penetrates the heart of sinners. It brings forgiveness to those who repent and believe.

A young Colombian Girl received a new testament in her school. She read the new testament until one day her father caught her reading it…and told her not to read it any more because it was full of lies and fantasy…

But the girl kept on reading until one day her father came home unexpectedly found her with the NT grabbed it from her hands and put it in his pocket.

The father went off to work where he was a mining engineer. Several hours later sirens went off in the community there had been a cave in at the mine. The father was trapped in the mine. The rescue workers took 5 days to finally reach the men, but it was too late. All 31 men died including the father of this little girl

Curiously, workers found the man clutching the NT between his praying hands.

When they opened the front cover they read a note

“To my daughter” Keep reading this NT, it is true and right, and I will see you one day in heaven.

Then they turned to the back page where the father had signed the commitment card after having said the sinner’s prayer.

But that was not the end of the story,

Turning the page there were signed the names of the other 30 workers. (This illustration came from the Gideons International)

b. God’s Word penetrates the hearts of his people who are loaded down with burdens. It provides comfort to his trusting children

Psalms 119:165

Great peace have they who love your law,

and nothing can make them stumble.

Maybe your going through something today…or you have some kind of issue in your life, and you’ve looked to people for advice for answers, and they just don’t have any. God’s Word can bring you comfort and it can answer life’s questions! Maybe if you were asked today about peace, you would laugh at the question because you haven’t known what peace was in a really long time…God’s Word, the Bible can and will bring you the peace your after.

2. O-vercoming Power

I don’t believe there is a better story in all the Bible that can explain the overcoming power of God’s Word as well as the temptation of Jesus…let’s read it together.

If you have your Bibles you can open them up to Luke chapter four…if you don’t that is okay…it will be up on the screen as well…

Luke Chapter 4

The Temptation of Jesus

1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.