Thy Word Series

“THY WORD” Psalm 119

FBCF – 9/20/20

Jon Daniels

INTRO – A former park ranger at Yellowstone National Park tells the story of a ranger leading a group of hikers to a fire lookout. The ranger was so intent on telling the hikers about the flowers and animals that he considered the messages on his two-way radio distracting, so he switched it off. Nearing the tower, the ranger was met by a nearly breathless lookout, who asked why he hadn't responded to the messages on his radio. A grizzly bear had been seen stalking the group, and the authorities were trying to warn them of the danger.

If we turn off the instructions that God has given us in His Word, we put ourselves & so many others in danger. That’s why today, we are going to talk about the importance of Bible intake w/ this message entitled, “Thy Word.”

So far, we have pulled 2 tools out of our “Spiritual Growth Toolbox”:

- Time alone w/ God & prayer.

- Oswald Chambers- “Find an inner room in which to pray where no one even knows you are praying, shut the door, and talk to God in secret. Have no motivation other than to know your Father in heaven. It is impossible to carry on your life as a disciple without definite times of secret prayer.”

Just as it is impossible to carry on your life as a follower of Jesus w/out definite times of prayer, it is also impossible to carry on your life as a follower of Jesus w/out definite times of being in the Word. So today, we are going to pull out the tool of “Bible Intake.”

- Remember the title of the series – “My Spiritual Growth Toolbox” – You grab your toolbox when there’s a job to get done.

- The job? Our spiritual growth & maturity.

o It’s a job that we are going to be working on our entire life. Never fully complete it until we get to heaven.

o It’s not a laborious drudgery of a job, but a job that is filled w/ joy & purpose & meaning as we experience God working in us to make us more like Jesus.

o Philippians 1:6 – “And I am confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion in Jesus Christ.”

o Philippians 2:13 – “…God is always at work in you to make you willing & able to obey His own purpose” (GNT).

And just as there are multiple verses & passages that we could study related to prayer, there are multiple passages we could study related to the Bible:

- 2 Timothy 3:16-17 – “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

- Hebrews 4:12 – “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.”

But one of the passages that always comes to mind when I think about the Word of God is Psalm 119. So open your Bibles to Psalm 119 & let’s look at some different verses in this chapter – v. 9, 11, 18, 32, 105, 160, 165

EXPLANATION – Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the longest book in the Bible. In fact, it is the longest chapter in the entire Bible – 176 verses - An amazing chapter to read. Do that this week sometime.

One major theme – to show us the priority that the Word of God should have in our lives. Just the fact that this huge chapter points to that one overarching theme tells us that God’s Word is a priority to God Himself. It is literally the “A to Z” of God’s Word b/c it’s an alphabetic acrostic, meaning that the first letters of each line in Hebrew follow through the alphabet. It’s just awesome to see how God is so precise in the ordering of His Word. He wants us to know that His Word is all-sufficient in guiding us through our lives, no matter what we face or encounter. Listen to these facts:

- Nearly every one of the 176 verses has some mention of the W of G.

- There are at least 8 different words used to refer to the W of G in this Psalm: law, testimonies, precepts, statutes, commandments, judgments, word, & ordinances.

- There are at least 8 attributes of God that are covered in this Psalm: His righteousness, trustworthiness, truthfulness, faithfulness, unchangeableness, eternality, light, & purity.

THE WORD OF GOD IS SIMPLY AWESOME!

- Randy Frazee – “God knows that without Him, we drift alone, lost, unprotected, into treacherous waters. He gave us a North Star, the Bible, to provide the light we need to lead us where He wants us to go. His Word is the Star that will lead you to True North. Follow it! You can depend on it!”