The Word Of God

The Word of God

You cannot come to church on Sunday and expect to receive everything that you need for your Spiritual nourishment in one 1hr. sitting as much as you can expect to be physically nourished by eating lunch today and not eating again until next Sunday. We must eat the word of God every day constantly in order to grow.

This is why God gave to us the Holy Spirit. To teach us individually and guide us to all the truth.

If you don’t study on your own you will never know if what I’m preaching is correct.

If you don’t study on your own you will never grow. Faith comes by hearing the word. But growth comes by reading it and exercising your faith, by prayer, by testing, by exercising your Spiritual gifts that God has given to you, by fellowship with others in the church and by works. (No one can DO THESE THINGS FOR YOU!)

We stress ALL THE TIME about the importance of personal devotional time, the importance of taking notes so that you can study what is being said and for meditation. Also attending the Bible studies that the church offers for your own personal enrichment.

If you are not growing in the word, you have no one to blame but yourself.

There are several ways to receive the word of God and each one of them has a distinct function.

#1. The preached word of God.

2 Tim. 4:2, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”

The preacher is encouraged to be ready at all times

To be ready at an instant, at any moment God is going to use him to speak to someone in need.

This is because the preached word is designed to speak to the person about the exact problem that they are going thru.

It’s a word that exhorts, reproves and rebukes.

F you are feeling down it exhorts you, if you are doing something wrong it reproves you, if you are sinning it rebukes you.

-Its design is to stimulate you to search for more, to make you hungry for more, like an appetizer at dinner, its not designed to feed you entirely that is why it’s so important to take notes and use them throughout the week in your own personal devotional.

- A word of exhortation is designed to stimulate the unbeliever as well as the believer. To speak to the newly converted as well as the person that has been in Christ fifty years.

-It motivates the whole body of Christ that has come together to worship the Lord. That is why they call it a worship service. The preacher that delivers the message is not the one who is talking; it’s the Lord motivating His people who have come together.

Notice that; All Scripture is profitable for teaching sound doctrine, for bringing reproof, correction, and for instruction in salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, who is himself the incarnate Word of God.

The preacher has a job to do in delivering the message; the listener has an equal part. To listen, to eat it, to taste it, to meditate on it and to apply it and walk it.

*Hebrews 5:13 says; Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. [1]

Look at *Matthew 7:24, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

#2 the second way that we receive the word is when it is taught.

*Hebrews 5:11, “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again.” You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”

It wasn’t that Paul was not teaching them. Paul says; “You should already be teachers”.