Sermon Central
-
The Word Of God Is Powerful Series
Contributed by Davon Huss on Mar 7, 2011 (message contributor)
Summary: The Word of God is prevailing, persuasive, projecting, and penetrating- based on Hebrews 4:12 (Conclusion and invitation taken from Rolland Bouchard's "It's Alive" on Sermon Central)
Introduction:
The B-I-B-L-E, yes that’s the book for me. I stand alone on the Word of God, the B-I-B-L-E!
WBTU:
Last week we talked about how the Israelites didn’t enter into God’s rest.
Hebrews 4:2, 6, 11
What can we do to make sure that we enter that rest, heaven? By looking at vs. 12
Thesis: The Word of God is... 4 things this morning.
For instances:
The Word of God is prevailing (living)
To prevail is to prove superior in strength, power, or influence.
Why is the Word of God always going to prove superior in strength, power and influence? Because it comes from the living God. Psalm 47:2: How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth! Like Pharaoh -“So let it be written, so let it be done!”
Jesus himself said that the Word will prevail. Matthew 5:18: I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
We know that the written Word will prevail because we know that Jesus Christ prevailed over death, sin and hell. Jesus Christ is the ultimate Word come down from God the Father. John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:14: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
Mankind took the Word and like Jesus said in a parable- “This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.” So they nailed him to a tree. He died and they buried him, but on the third day he rose from the dead. Revelation 1:18: I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
This verse (Hebrews 4:12) is talking about the written Word more than the Word, Jesus Christ, but it does apply. Since the Word, Jesus Christ, lives on so will the written Word, the Bible.
1 Peter 1:23-25: For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.
The French philosopher Voltaire, a skeptic who destroyed the faith of many people, boasted that within 100 years of his death, the Bible would disappear from the face of the earth. Voltaire died in 1728, but the Bible lives on. The irony of history is that 50 years after his death, the Geneva Bible Society moved into his former house and used Voltaire’s printing presses to print thousands of Bibles.
The Word of God is persuasive (active)
When I preach I try to be as plain and simple as I can be. Look at what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:2-5: For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.
We don’t need persuasive words because the Word of God is persuasive enough. I love taking one verse or many verses and preaching from them. Why? Because the Word is persuasive.
Holman Standard translation says it is effective. Isaiah 55:11: my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
C. S. Lewis, one of this century’s great Christian thinkers, was an agnostic, who wanted to disprove Christianity. He did so by going to the Bible and trying to prove it faulty. Instead of finding the errors that would discredit the Christian faith, he found the living God, and became an able defender of the faith.
The Word of God is projecting. (Judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart)
What is it projecting (like a projector)? Reminds me of two people in a heated conflict and one person gives one story and the other person gives another story about the same episode. Let’s say that to eliminate errors and discrepancies between the two people we have 10 cameras upon that same event and we play those in court. We will see and hear all the words, actions and body language there. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before our eyes.
