Sermon Central
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Fuel Up With The Word Series
Contributed by Patrick O'loughlin on Sep 17, 2008 (message contributor)
Summary: Rising fuel prices have people seeking for alternative sources of energy. The Bible offers answers.
Fuel Up With The Word. (James 1:16-27)
Introduction
2008 has being the year of rising oil prices. Therefore there is a great push to discover and develop alternative sources of energy.
Last week we talked about “Be Fueled with Prayer.” How to be fueled with Prayer? Jesus said pray in secret and secondly pray like you mean it.
Today we want to add “Be fueled with The Word” to “Be fueled with prayer”
Text: James 1:16-27
Notice straight off that the very first verse of our text (v16) begins with a warning. The warning reads “Don’t be deceived my dear brothers.”
“Don’t be deceived my dear brothers” is a warning label. But a warning label for what?
“Don’t be deceived my dear brothers” is a warning label to put on the cover of your Bible.If we are not fueling up with the Word it is because the Devil has deceived us.Likewise if you are fueling up with the Word it is because the Devil hasn’t deceived you.
Look at 4 areas where the Devil has successfully deceived people from fueling up with the Word. If you are struggling with studying the Bible you are going to find the cause today.
1. The Devil has successfully deceived too many people about where the Bible came from.
2. The Devil has successfully deceived too many people about the Bible’s content.
3. The Devil has successfully deceived too many people about the Bible’s purpose.
4. The Devil has successfully deceived too many people about how to get help from the Bible.
These 4 deceptions are corrected for us in our text.
1. Where did the Bible came from?
Ask people the question “where did the Bible come from?” most people will tell you that some men wrote it thousands of years ago.
1. If that is true then the Bible is really no different from any other book.
2. Because it was written thousands of years ago it badly needs to be updated.
Where did the Bible come from?
V17 “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
1. According to v17 the Bible came from God Himself.
2. According to v17 because God is unchanging He got the Bible right the first time.
“Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 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.” (Matthew 5:17-18)
“All scripture is God-breathed…” 2 Tim. 3:16
Application: Don’t Be Deceived.The Bible is not like any other book. When you fuel up with the Word you are fueling up with the unchanging Word of God.
2. What does the Bible contain?
What do you think most people would say if you asked them the question “What does the Bible contain?” (Stories, legends, contradictions, strange customs…,)
What’s wrong with these answers? They rob the Bible of it’s authority over our lives.
But what does the Bible contain?
(V18)” He chose to give us birth through the word of truth…”
According to verse 18 the Bible contains the word of TRUTH.
4 DISTINCT MEANINGS FOR TRUTH
1.What is fact, reality, the actual state of affairs, correct or accurate as opposed to what is falsehood, error and wrong.
2.Truth as opposite to types, emblems or shadows
3.Truth as in integrity, sincere, genuine, open and true
4.Truth as in absolute truth, ultimate truth and divinely revealed truth
Application: Don’t Be Deceived!When you fuel up with the Word you are filling up with the truth.
3. What is the Bible’s purpose?
What do most people believe to be the Bible’s purpose? The purpose of the Bible is to take all the fun out of life.
What’s wrong with all this answer? It discourages people from ever reading/studying the Bible.
So what is the purpose of the Bible?
(v25) “But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.”
The purpose of the Bible is to bless your life!
“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” (Psalm 1:1-3)
