Introduction:
We proclaim the authority of God's Word without apology.
Isaiah 55:10-11 - For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but sit shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."
Romans 10:17 - So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Psalm 19:7-9 - The law of the LORD is perfect, previving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.
The Life Stages of the One Who Receives God's Word (Psalm 19:7-9):
- New Life . (Ps 19:7)
- Wisdom for living. (Ps 19:7)
- Joy . (Ps 19:8)
- Light for my path. (Ps 19:8)
- Clear Conscience . (Ps 19:9)
- Confidence . (Ps 19:9)
How to Let the Word Rain on You (Psalm 19:10-14):
- Want it. (Ps 19:10)
- Apply it. (Ps 19:11)
John 13:17 - If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
- Ask for God's help with it. (Ps 19:12-14)
1 Corinthians 1:24 - but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Romans 1:16 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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Over the next four weeks, we will be looking at the four pillars of Harvest Bible Chapel.
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This is who we are.
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So if you're new around here, and we see a lot of new faces around here, which we are so thankful for, but if you're new around here, this will get all of our cards on the table.
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There's no secrets here.
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This is exactly who we are as a church.
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And if you've been around for a while, this series will be important for you too, because Because it's so important that we remind ourselves who we are as a church so we don't get off mission and so we don't stop pursuing the advancement of the gospel in the way that God has called us to serve him.
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This is who we are.
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And it all starts with pillar number one.
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We proclaim the authority of God's word without apology.
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We'll talk about that statement today.
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How do we proclaim His truth the first way, the first word I want you to think about is the word "authority." We proclaim His truth with authority.
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Now imagine you're walking down the street and some guy across the street hollers over at you, "Hey, stop for a second, I need to talk to you." And what are you thinking?
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You're thinking "Creeper!" and you keep walking, right?
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Okay, same scenario, you're walking down the street and a guy across the street says, "Hey, stop for a second, I need to talk to you." And he pulls out a badge.
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It makes all the difference, doesn't it?
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Why?
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Because of the authority, right?
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Authority, defined, is the power or right to give orders, to make decisions, and to enforce obedience.
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And when you go through God's Word, when you read the Gospels specifically, you see it over and over and over that when Jesus taught, It says people were amazed.
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People were astonished at what?
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Very specifically, it says, at his authority.
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Jesus never buried the truth beneath both sides of the argument.
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Jesus never discussed multiple interpretations.
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Jesus never tried to make people feel comfortable.
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That he didn't chase after people that walked away.
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Jesus just said, "Hey, here's the truth.
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"Here it is.
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"This is the word of God.
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and you've got to deal with it.
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At Harvest Bible Chapel, God's Word is our authority.
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Everything we do, everything we believe, everything that we strive after as a church finds its origin in this, the Word of God.
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So we proclaim His truth with authority.
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How do we proclaim His truth?
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Without apology.
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Proclaiming the authority, God's Word, without apology.
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We are not apologizing for something that God said.
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We're not gonna do that.
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I mean, could you imagine what those sermons would be like?
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We got up here, whether it's me or Alex or Ryan or whoever gets up here to speak, and we're like, "Hey, I want you to open up your Bibles, "and I gotta tell you ahead of time, "I'm really sorry to have to tell you this, "but God wants you to turn from your sin.
03:11-03:35
"I'm really sorry, but God, "God is asking politely, and I'm sorry to tell you." And if you've come here seeking spiritual guidance, I'm sorry to tell you that Jesus Christ, according to the Bible, it seems that maybe Jesus is the only way to heaven.
03:35-03:40
If you take the Bible straightforwardly-- and I'm really sorry that I've got to tell you that.
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And since I'm apologizing for all these things God said, really sorry to tell you that if you refuse God's grace it seems that maybe if again if the Bible is true and if God was speaking straightforwardly it seems that if you refuse God's grace you're going to be separated from him forever in a place called hell and if that offends you I'm really sorry. How long would you attend this church if those were the servants? I would hope not at all. When it comes to God's truth, listen, we're not sugarcoating it. We're not dressing it up and we are certainly not trying to update it. We are just trying to do one thing and one thing only and that is make it clear. That's what we're going after. So that's the how. I'm sorry, that's the what rather, God's Word. And the how is with authority and without apology. That's not what I want to talk about today. Today I want to talk about why. Why do we do that? Like why is Why is that a pillar? Why is that the first thing we're talking about as we're talking about the pillars of the church?
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Why? Why do we proclaim the authority of God's Word without apology?
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And the answer is because God commanded it and I could be done today You're like really you weren't here last Sunday and that's what you did over the last two weeks I said I could be done, but I'm not going to be but God commanded it, but there's another reason behind that There's another there's another why that I want to show you today Why do we proclaim the authority of God's Word without apology?
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Because God's Word always succeeds.
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Isaiah 55, are you there?
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Isaiah 55 is all about salvation.
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And when you get to verses 10 and 11, he's talking very specifically about the Word of God.
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And the Word of God is this vehicle that brings the salvation message to man.
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And I want you to see, we're just going to look at two verses here.
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verses 10 and 11. It says, "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth." Let's stop there. Now you see obviously he's talking about the word of God and I want you to look at the metaphor we're going to talk about this for a few minutes this comparison he's comparing the word of God to rain and Isaiah is saying with both there is a coming down from heaven to the earth that's how rain falls and he says the word of God is like that from heaven to man. That is how God comes near to his people. Every time you read the Word of God, every time you hear a biblical sermon, or you sit in a biblical true to the text Bible study, every time you are exposed to the straightforward reading, understanding, preaching, teaching, proclamation of God's Word, what is happening is God is coming near to you.
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That's how he does it.
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You're like, well, how effective is that?
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Well, let's look at the rest of verse 11.
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He said, "It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." See that language?
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He says it's not going to return empty.
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Anytime the Word of God is proclaimed, the preacher can't step back and say, that did nothing, because God said it did.
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He says it accomplishes his purpose.
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He says it succeeds the thing that he sent it out.
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Let's talk about that analogy.
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The word of God is like, first part of verse 10 says, rain and snow.
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Let's forget about snow for a second.
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Let's just talk about rain, right?
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Where does rain come from?
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Well, it comes from the heavens.
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And where does it go?
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It goes to the earth, but you know, it always goes where it needs to go to give life to the plants, which in turn is to feed us.
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And that's what he's talking about here in verse 10, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater.
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He says, that's how rain works.
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It comes down from heaven to give life.
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Now just talking about rain for a second.
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Have you ever worried about the rain?
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I don't mean like during a drought or something like that.
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I mean, have you ever looked out your window when it's raining and maybe you look out and you look at your garden and you say to yourself, boy, I sure hope this rain works this time.
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You ever done that?
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You ever looked at the rain and said, what if this rain is too dry?
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What if those raindrops are too slippy?
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What if it doesn't take this time?
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You ever done that?
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Or have you ever tried to figure it all out?
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That you're sitting there watching it rain and you're like, well, how does the same water get used for thousands of years?
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Because you realize it's the same water we've had from the beginning, right?
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There's not like a factory in Cleveland that's making new water.
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How does a dead seed sprout?
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How does it grow?
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Have you ever tried to figure all that out?
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No. You don't worry about the rain and you don't try to explain the rain.
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You just simply believe it because...
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because that's just how it works. Right?
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That's just the way it is.
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You don't control the rain, but you know that when it comes down, it's going to do what it does.
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It's going to give life and growth. That's what it does.
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That's the way it works. That's the way it always works.
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And that's the point of the analogy with God's Word.
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is when He rains His Word down, it always succeeds.
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And there is great confidence in that.
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Whoever's up here speaking, so long as the Word is being proclaimed, I've never wondered, is it gonna work?
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Is it gonna be effective?
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Is it gonna change lives?
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Is it gonna transform people?
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I don't have to wonder about that, because God says it does.
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I'm just like, bring it, bring it, let it rain down.
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It will do what God says it does.
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That is why we preach the Word straightforwardly at Harvest Bible Chapel.
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I want to see people saved.
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I want believers to mature in their walks with Christ.
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I want everyone knowing Jesus Christ and growing in Him.
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And there's only one way that that happens, and that's through the faithful teaching and proclamation of the Word of God.
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And I've got to tell you, I just don't understand churches or pastors that neglect that.
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And at the risk of sounding critical, here we go, it's just baffling to me.
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It's absolutely baffling to me that God would give such a clear command.
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Say, "Hey, tell people what I said." And then God backs that command with a promise.
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You tell people what I said and my spirit's going to make sure that it works and that life and growth happens.
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I'll take care of that.
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You just tell people what I said.
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I just don't understand how we can have such a clear command with such a powerful promise and churches are content to get up and give a pep talk or a feel-good emotional booster or a cute devotional.
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It's like we want to give people the warm fuzzies as they're on their way to hell.
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And I have to ask, are we that concerned with the here and now?
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Really?
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That's our drive?
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drive?" You're like, "Yeah, but Pastor Jeff, someone might get offended." You know what? God might get offended. Has anybody thought about that? Do we care about offending God by getting up here to people who need life and growth and giving them some stupid, "Here's six ways to be a better employee at work." this week, and we're all, "Oh, that was so nice.
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My pastor just said I'm gonna be such a better employee at work this week," and hip, hip, hooray.
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And there's no thought of reoffending God.
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People need life and growth and salvation, and God says this is where it comes from, right?
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So in New Testament, same teaching, Romans 10, 17 says, Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ.
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Where does faith come from?
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The Bible tells us.
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Faith comes from the Word of Christ.
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It comes from the Word of God.
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And the way people grow in their faith is through hearing the Word of Christ.
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The life and growth bloom under the reign of the Word of God.
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So what does this blooming look like?
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I want you to turn back to Psalm 19. We're going to go through this quickly.
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I just want to show you what this blooming looks like.
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Because the Bible is so clear in how it illustrates.
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Psalm 19. Psalm 19 shows us the effect accomplished by the Word of God.
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The very thing Isaiah 55 is talking about.
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And in Psalm 19, verses 7 through 9, we get a synonym for the Word of God.
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You'll see very clearly. But I want you to look at the effect.
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because you're going to see this progression life stages of the one God's word if you're taking notes the first of all look at verse seven it says the law of the Lord is perfect reviving the soul. Number one new life that's where it has to start see that it says revives the soul that's the first thing God's word does it takes a dead person and turns them into an alive person it transforms them by nature you are dead in your sin you are alienated from God That's your natural state.
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You were born into rebellion from God, and it is the Word of God that leads you to Jesus Christ.
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So that's the first step, the first part of this blooming new life.
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Look at that again, verse seven.
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It says, "The testimony of the Lord," again, another synonym for the Word of God, "The testimony of the Lord is sure," look at this, "making wise the simple." That's wisdom for living.
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Interestingly, that word for simple literally means somebody that's easily seducible.
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Do you know somebody that will just believe anything you tell them?
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Don't point.
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Don't don't don't like nudge.
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Don't do any of these.
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This person right here, Pastor Jeff, my husband.
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But that's that's what the word means.
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It's somebody that will believe anything, anything you tell them easily seducible.
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And the word of God takes somebody that believes everything or doesn't know what to believe and gives wisdom.
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guiding in choices that bless us and honor God. Wisdom for living. Thirdly, look at verse 8, it says, "The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the hearts." Third stage in this blooming, we get the new life, we get wisdom for living, and the third thing is joy. And there is no one on earth that is happier than the one who knows Jesus Christ and walks in his wisdom. There's no one on earth happier than that. The person that says, "My sins are forgiven. Heaven is waiting for me.
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I have the presence of God. I have the promises of God. Nothing will ever separate me from the love of God. There is not a greater joy to be had." That's the next part of blooming.
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Fourth one is light for my path. Verse eight continues. It says, "The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes." We live in a dark world. Have you noticed? Have you We've been under a rock for the past week.
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We're in a dark world and it's the light of the Word that guides us.
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God's Word lets us see things for what they really are.
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Not what the media tells you they are.
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Not what your neighbor tells you they are.
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God's Word shows you life and reality for what it really is.
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Light for my path.
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Number five, clear conscience.
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Says the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.
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That word clean means without blemish.
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spotless. In other words, nothing in the Word of God is going to steer me wrong.
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You know, I have never in 25 years or whatever it's been of following Christ, I have never regretted choosing to follow the Word of God. I've never done that.
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Where I've said, "Okay, this is what the Bible says, so this is what I'm going to do." And then after the fact, I'm like, "Oh man, I totally should not have done that. I should have done my own thing." That has never happened. It's never happened. Why? Because God, that's what he says here, it's clean, it's spotless.
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I have a clear conscience so long as I apply the word of God.
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And then finally, last stage of blooming here, just write down the word confidence.
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It says the rules of the Lord are true and righteous, all together, true and righteous.
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In a world of growing obvious evil, in a world of fake news and misinformation and censorship and all these other things that we're dealing with, you know what, I'm sticking to this.
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Because when it's all over, when the curtain closes on human history, there's only one thing that's gonna be standing, and that's the word of God.
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This is going to be the final witness.
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To everyone who has ever received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we have this testimony.
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This will stand your inheritance of eternal life.
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But I also have to say, for everyone who has ever rejected Jesus Christ, this is going to stand as a testimony against you.
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That I didn't know, and I should have, and I was going to, and I never got around to.
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We have a testimony right here. Today's the day of salvation.
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The Word of God gives me confidence, whatever happens, I have confidence that the Word of God will stand forever.
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So did you see the progression?
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the bloom, new life, wisdom, joy, life from my path of clear conscience and confidence.
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And I would just ask you, who doesn't want a life like that?
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Is there really someone who would look at that list or listen to the last few minutes of this message and say, I hear what you're saying, but you know what I want out of life, Pastor Jeff?
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I want the opposite.
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I just want to walk around like a simpleton, not knowing what to believe, a joyless life.
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I just, you know, no confidence in anything.
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I just, that's the kind of life that I want to live.
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Really?
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Not me.
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I know for most of the people that are sitting here in this room, and for the people that are watching this at home, or overseas, or wherever you're streaming this, this describes exactly the kind of life that you want in Jesus Christ, empowered by his word.
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And that's why at Harvest Bible Chapel, we proclaim the authority of God's word without apology.
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The Word of God does the work of God.
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This whole ministry is built on that statement.
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We believe that the Word of God does the work of God.
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I could close here, but I'm not going to.
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Like, "Oh, Pastor Jeff, stop teasing us." "Pastor Jeff, I will make my baby cry." And to you I say, "I don't care." Because I've told you when I hear a baby crying, it sounds like, "Amen, Hallelujah, preach it, brother," in my ears.
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That's what I hear.
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Bring it, babies.
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Bring it.
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I wanna close talking about you.
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Because just like that ground, that seed, the water has to be let in, right?
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You have to let the word of God in you.
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You have to let it.
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In other words, using this rain analogy, if I went out in my yard and I built this canopy over the garden to make sure that not a drop of rain fell on the garden. I can't wonder why it's not full of life, right? I can't keep walking out saying, "Why isn't this thing growing? Why is the ground all dry?" Because I blocked the rain. And it's the same for you. If you refuse to let the Word of God soak into you, don't walk out of here wondering why you haven't changed. "I sure don't see the transformation that he was talking about today, are you letting the Word soak into you?
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Like, well, how do I do that?
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Well, I figure since we're already in Psalm 19, let's just close.
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I wanna look at these last few verses because he tells you.
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Here's how to let the Word rain on you.
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He tells us very simply, a letter A, verse 10, first thing, want it.
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You gotta want it.
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You gotta want the Word of God.
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Look at verse 10, it says, "More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb." You gotta want it.
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See, I can share the Word of God with you as clearly as I can.
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I can do everything to help you understand it, but the one thing I cannot do for you is make you want it. I can't do that. I wish I could, but I can't.
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No one can.
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You're like, "Well then, how can I want it?" Well, the Bible tells us right here, using our two strongest drives.
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Did you catch that?
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Or I should say two of our strongest drives.
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You can probably think of one or two more.
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But our two strongest drives, money and food, right?
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More to be desired than gold, sweeter also than honey.
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So let me ask you, what makes people want money and food?
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What makes people want that?
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Don't think too hard.
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What makes people want money and food?
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It's a simple answer.
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It's seeing the personal benefit.
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That's why people want money in food.
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I want that money because of what I will buy with it that I think will make me happy.
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Or I want that food because I think it will taste good and I will enjoy eating it.
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There's a personal benefit.
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It's this sense of this will make me happy.
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And I'm not gonna talk about the money thing because Alex and Stacy are gonna talk about that with financial peace.
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And they're more the experts on that.
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But you know what?
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it on, watch it. The food part was not a good place for it, amen. It says, the Word of God is a sweeter also than honey in the drippings of the honeycomb. Now if I was going to rewrite the Bible, and I'm not, but if I were, I would say sweeter also than a Milky Way midnight. That's what I would put there. I'm not going to do that, but I'm just saying to me, I get that analogy. Do you know who likes Milky Midnight's everybody who's tried them right people who have tasted them then eat the entire bag of them as happens in my house you taste it and you love it and you gotta have some more you see God's Word is like that once you taste it I mean really taste it really sit down prayerfully God help me understand Help me to take this in.
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The people that taste, really taste the Word of God, can't get enough of it.
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Like honey, like Milky Way Midnight, like insert your favorite candy here.
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But the point is you've got to want it.
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You've got to want it.
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You try it, you will.
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When you see the personal benefit, you'll go ask.
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Let it be. You've got to apply it.
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Apply it.
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In verse 11, he says, "Moreover, by them your servant is warned, and keeping them there is great reward, warning, reward, warning, reward.
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What's the difference?
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The difference is in the phrase, in keeping them.
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That's the difference.
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In keeping them.
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Jesus said in John 13, 17, "If you know these things, "blessed are you if you do them." You see, it's like any diet, exercise program, budgeting plan, right Stacey?
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That knowing all about it does you no good, unless you actively make it a part of your life.
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That's how the Word of God is.
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You have to want it.
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You have to apply it.
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But here's the thing with applying it, it's impossible to make that happen by yourself.
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That's why we have letter C here.
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We see it next thing in the text.
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You have to ask for God's help with it.
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See, I can't say to you, all right, now go out and apply God's Word.
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See you next Sunday, tickety-boo, apply God's Word.
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You can't do that on your own.
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You just can't.
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You have to ask for God's help.
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Look how clear this is.
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He says, "Who can discern his errors?
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"Declare me innocent from hidden faults." He's praying here.
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He says, "Keep back your servant also "from presumptuous sins.
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"Let them not have dominion over me.
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"Then I shall be blameless and innocent "of great transgression.
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"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart "be acceptable in your sight, "O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." You gotta ask for God's help.
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If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, God has given you His Spirit, who indwells you, and He's given you His Word, and the two always work together.
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And that's what's so beautifully demonstrated in this short prayer at the end of Psalm 19.
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Right after God's Word is so clearly described, the bloom of the growth of God's Word is so beautifully illustrated, the very next thing out of the psalmist's mouth is, "God, now help me be the person that you've called me to be.
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Help me to be the person that you said I am in Jesus Christ.
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You pronounced me that.
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Oh God, help me to be who you need me to be.
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So incorporate God's word into your prayers and let it soak into your heart and ask God for the faith to apply it and then receive the life it promises to bloom in your heart.
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Why do we proclaim the authority of God's word without apology?
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Because it always succeeds.
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It always succeeds.
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Did you know there's only one thing really in the Bible that's referred to as the power of God?
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Well, Jesus Christ himself is called the power of God.
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That's in 1 Corinthians 1.24, right?
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It says that Jesus Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, but Jesus Christ is God.
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So, I'm saying aside from God himself, aside from his person, there's only one thing that the Bible refers to as the power of God.
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What do you think that is?
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Like, oh, I know, it's like the plagues in Egypt, right?
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No?
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What about like the storms and the earthquakes and these big natural disaster things?
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That has to surely be referred to as the power of God.
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No, that's not it either.
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Like, oh, I know the miracles of Jesus, right?
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When he was raising the dead or giving sight to the blind.
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That, that's the power of God.
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Well, that's certainly power of God, but that is not specifically what the Bible refers to as the power of God.
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Do you know what the Bible calls the power of God?
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Romans 1:16 says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, "for it is the power of God, "for salvation to everyone who believes, "to the Jew first and also to the Greek." The gospel message, according to God's word, is the power of God.
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I want nothing more for you, church, than to see the power of God in your life.
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And the only way that I can unleash the power of God on you, aside from staging some kind of a pseudo Benny Hinn thing, I'm slapping you around, not gonna do that, but I can unleash the power of God on your life through the clear proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, because that's the power.
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You know those unsafe family members and friends and neighbors and co-workers that you have?
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And you think, man, I would just love the power of God unleashed on their life.
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You can give them that by giving them this.
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The power of God is the gospel.
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And that's why we proclaim the authority of God's work without a pause.
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Let's pray.
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Father in heaven, I feel like we barely scratched the surface on everything Your Word says about itself.
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Father, I pray for all of us that we would leave here with a renewed confidence in Your Word.
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Your Word is Your power manifested.
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Your Word brings life and growth.
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And You have very clearly said that Your Word always accomplishes the purposes for which You send it out.
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So God, I pray, as a church, by Your grace and Your strength, we would never veer from a straightforward proclamation of Your Word.
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Whether it's in small groups, or ladies' Bible studies, or men's Bible studies, or whatever, Harvest Kids, all of these opportunities that You've given us, Father, let Your Word be front and center.
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Let Your Word be our authority.
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Let Your Word, Father, continue to bring the transformation power through your spirit, according to your promise.
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We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Isaiah 55:10-11 and Psalm 19:7-14
What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
In Isaiah 55:10-11, God's Word is compared to rain. How is God's Word like rain?
Suppose someone asks you, “Why does HBC only do expository (verse-by-verse) preaching?” How would you respond?
On a scale of 1-10, how much do you desire the Word of God? (1 = not at all, 10 = I constantly want it). Specifically, how can you want it more?
Breakout
Pray for one another to grow in your hunger and application of God's Word.