Sold out for God?

Notes from a prayer meeting held on Tuesday 25 August 2015

1 Thessalonians 2 verses 1 – 10

“Ye are witnesses and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe.”

Paul is speaking here of the importance of a life lived.  Yes he was speaking of himself as a preacher but also to every individual in Thessalonica too.  There’s a great burden on our hearts to be in the right place with God.  Yes God draws us to salvation but there is more to it than that, there is that power which helps us to walk with God.  In verse 9 Paul talks about the sermons he preached but now in verse 10 he refers to the life he has led as well.  He went in and out where the Thessalonian believers where.  How they thought of him as a person.  The apostle Paul can say “ye are witnesses and God also”.  What is he testifying to?  The God of heaven – “ye know how we were, you know the life we lived.”  As we come to another gospel mission are we sold out for the mission?  That is what it takes.  Paul was on the streets of Thessalonica, cared not what people thought of him but what God thought of him and how he lived before these people.  He is speaking of a behaviour that is important to him and to God.

Paul talks of a reverence for God.  Peter speaking of a day yet to come in 2 Peter 3 verse 11, warned them there would be scoffers in the last day.  They will say “we have heard this all before but nothing has happened so why should we believe you?”  Peter asks them a searching question in light of this “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness.”  The word “conversation” refers to lifestyle and behaviour.  As Christians living in the light of the Lord’s return we should be doing all we can to see souls saved.  It is one thing to know that Jesus is coming again but that should affect my behaviour, my living.  Jesus told of a man who was going into a far land.  First of all he equipped his servants with talents and told them “occupy till I come.”  That word “occupy” means to possess something but also improve upon it.  He wanted to see them investing in these talents wisely.  When he came again he wanted to receive much off them.  That takes us back to what God has given to you and I.  He has given us salvation and a promise of a home in heaven but one day he is coming back for us and there will be a day of rewards.  Every one of us will be called before him to give an account.  Will we be able to show an improvement on the investment he has given to us?  Or will we stand with empty hands?  We need to have reverence, holy awe of God, adoration love for God and his house and for his word also.  Moses halted in his tracks at the burning bush.  He had been leading the sheep out into pasture when his attention was drawn to the burning bush that didn’t burn away.  God spoke to him out of that bush “Take off your shoes you are standing on holy ground”.  Whenever we come into the house of God we are on holy ground.  The moment we come into the house of God we should be captivated by God.  We should have a reverence for God.  That is why Paul could say “you are my witnesses to that reverence we had before you.”

Now Paul turns to men – “how holily and justly”.  Paul is speaking about his fellow man.  People who came in to walk alongside him and to win souls for Christ.  The word “justly” means living up to a mark.  Paul said “you know how we were, yes we have reverence for God but secondly we had respect for the people of God.”  Verse 11 says “every one of you.”  Paul walked with every one of them.  It didn’t matter whether they were poor or rich, young or old.  Paul had respect for who they were and what they were.  He lived before them in testimony to God and their souls.  We need to be that too - have we a reverence for God and a respect for others?  The Christian must respect others and their views.  In Philippians 2 verse 20 we read “For I have no man likeminded who will naturally care for your state.”  Paul had thought of all the people he could send to Philippi and he said this of Timothy.  What a tremendous tribute and testimony for the apostle Paul.  We need to care for souls, we need a respect for souls.  Not only have a burden for souls but a respect for them too.  The Psalmist said “no man cared for my soul”.  Wouldn’t it be awful to have that attitude?  Paul didn’t want to do anything that would hinder God saving a soul.  It was a care that was cautious.  Paul writing to Timothy talked about his behaviour reflecting the testimony of God “If I tarry long that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” (2 Timothy 3 verse 15).

There is a responsibility Paul shared – “unblameably”.  Paul was living his life in respect and reverence and he was unblameable.  No one could point the finger and say “you didn’t come up to the mark.”  Paul was living a life in reverence for God, a respect for others and had a responsibility to be blameless.  Ephesians 5 verse 15 “See then that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise.”  When Paul used that word he didn’t use it lightly.  He was using it as someone who had lost control of themselves.  In other words “let the Holy Spirit take complete control of your life, hand all over to him and let him have control.”

The attacks on the Word of God

Notes from a sermon heard on Sunday 2 August 2015

HEBREWS 4 VERSES 1 – 16

When you go into the book of creation Adam and Eve see the first attack come on the word of God.  Satan came into the Garden of Eden, got Eve separated from her husband.  He tried to confuse Eve with the word of God.  “Hath God said”.  The bible is the foundation of the Christian faith.  “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”(Jude 1 verse 3)  “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:” (1 Peter 3 verse 15)  “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? (Psalm 11 verse 3)  We see a chipping away at the word of God today.  There’s an attack on the word of God today.  We have to be up to that challenge, have to be up to what the word says.  “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; (Ephesians 4 verse 14)  Satan wants to move you away from the word of God, not building your life on the word of God.  Satan himself hates the word of God being opened.  Why does the devil hate the bible?  Hebrews 4 verse 12 says “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

The devil hates the bible today because of the character of the word of God.  This is a living word, not something written years ago and means very little today.  This is the word of God, able to bring life to us today.  That is why the devil hates it.  As sinners hear the word of God new life will come to their souls.  The devil’s plan and purpose is to damn every soul he possibly can.  The word of God is to bring life abundant life to everyone who believes.  John Wycliffe saw a great need in the 1300’s, the importance of placing the bible into the hand of every man in their own language.  At that time it was only in the pulpit, only the priest could handle it.  The layman had no authority.  He couldn’t understand it, couldn’t take it in as it was written in Latin.  Wycliffe set about to put the word of God into the language of man and woman that they might understand it.  It is a word that is living and not dead.  John Wycliffe’s body was dug up and burned 30/40 years after his death.  “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” (1 Peter 1 verse 23)  Remember Jesus spoke of the sower going out to sow and the seed fell on various parts of the ground.  Some fell on hard ground representing those who heard the word of God but did nothing about it.  The birds of the air picked the seed up and took it away.  Maybe the person was challenged but did nothing about it.  The devil comes and takes it away.  This is a living word.  In the Old Testament Josiah was made king at 8 years of age.  He loved the Lord and set out to reform the name of God.  The temple doors had been closed for 200 years, there was no worship in the house of God.  Josiah sent a convoy of people down to renovate the place of God.  As they were doing that the priest put his hand into a cubby hole one day, cleared it out and found something.  It was the word of God given by Moses.  God preserved that word, kept it alive.  The priest brought it into the presence of God, opened it up and began to read the word of God.  The king fell on his face and rent his clothes when he heard it.  It is a living word meaning it is quick.

Notice the composition of the word of God.  It is powerful.  The make up of the word of God is something very powerful.  That is why the devil hates it.  John 3 verse 16.  The Holy Spirit can right this moment take that word of God and apply it to your heart.  Whenever we begin to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ something happens.  Lives are changed, the word of God can reach down into your soul and reach that which is corrupted by sin.  When we think of some of the medicines we have today and the composition of them it makes us realise how some poor person in an accident coming through time of trauma, see these medicines administered to their body.  Their composition has the ability to reach down and take away some of the pain.  Look at the composition of the bible.  The 2 disciples on the road to Emmaeus were making their way home.  Jesus drew alongside them and for a time no-one spoke.  They testified later “did not our hearts burn within us when he opened up the scriptures."  He opened up from the book of Psalms and the Prophets showing them all things concerning the word of God.  The make up of this word is so powerful.  In Thessalonica for 3 sabbaths Paul opened up the word of God.  He took one scripture and built on it.  The result was those who were saved of the spirit of God and built that church.  Paul wasn’t afraid of going on with the word of God.  The word of God is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.  The devil hates the word of God. Why? Because it could save your soul today.  If the devil could he would damn your soul in a lost sinners hell.  Wouldn’t it be awful to close your eyes in death and open them in hell?  God has given us the word of God and it is quick and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword.  Think of Lydia who attended church every week but one day Paul preached and something happened.  Her heart was opened for the first time.  The word of God is powerful.  In Ephesians Paul talked about the soldier before him.  He saw all the pieces of armour.  He would have a sword fastened to his armour which was sharp on both sides.  Paul said for the Christian to take the word of God and use it it will do what it is supposed to do because it is sharper than any two edged sword.  Peter on the day of Pentecost preaching the word of God faced his enemies.  The people around him stood with their mouths opened aghast listening to this uneducated fisherman about God’s plan and purpose to go all the way to Calvary to shed his precious blood for you and I.  Peter said it was you with your wicked hands and sinfulness that took him and placed him on the cross of Calvary, you who condemned him to death.  That word pierced the peoples heart and what they must do now.

Satan hates the word of God because it is convincing.  It is the word of God that judges, guides and discerns.  As you lay hold of God he shows you the way.  “As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him”. (Psalm 18 verse 30). “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Psalm 119 verse 105)  It is as if God knows the very thoughts of your heart, discerning the heart, convincing you of your need of salvation.  That is why the devil hates it.  The word of God under the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

There is a converting power with it.  You will realise that you have sinned and come short of the glory of God and then you realise something of the nature of God.  He sent his son to die for your sin.  As you take it on board and believe the word of God “faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”

Notes on a sermon from Sunday 9 August 2015

GENESIS 3 VERSES 1 – 24

Paul said “all scripture is given by inspiration of God.”  That word “inspiration” means God breathed.  When we leave it there God used the instrument of man to write the word of God.  It is the very word of God coming from the heart.  It is profitable to you and I today.  It will do something, It will not return unto God void.  It will accompany that which God hath sent it forth to do.  It is profitable for doctrine.  This book tells us what we need to believe about Christ, the cross of Calvary, our sinful state, a heaven to be gained and a hell to be shunned, resurrection of the body and soul.  That is why it is profitable.  Imagine going through life without instruction.  "that the man of God may be perfect or mature, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."  Is it any wonder the devil is against this book?  This book is our instruction manual, road map through life because it convicts, corrects.  The devil seeks to ensure an opportunity to blot it out.

The very first question that ever appears in the bible makes its way into human history comes from the devil himself way back in the day of creation.  It is a word of scorn upon the word of God.  The devil made use of the serpent on this particular day.  The devil can use those to infiltrate and cause disturbance, to bring people down and that is what he did way back in the days of creation.  He came to Eve and tempted Eve.  The serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field “yea hath God said”.  What is he doing – getting a dispute with Eve, disputed the authority of God in the Garden of Eden with Eve, disputed the authority of God’s word.  God’s word is our final authority on all we do and say.  When we get into the situation, come into the crossroads in life, some advising us to go this way and some advising us to go another way we must come back to the word of God for the final word on anything.  Every other thing means very little.  Here’s what Satan does – disputes God’s authority.  Satan caused doubt in man’s mind.  All these documentaries about the word of God are all there for a purpose  - to put a doubt in our minds about the authority of God.  It comes directly from the devil himself.  As Eve answered this question she already had the word of God in her heart.  I’m sure Adam told her all about God and how he had been given instructions to eat of any tree in the Garden but the tree in the centre of the Garden they couldn’t eat.  Can almost imagine Eve asking why this tree could not be touched.  You will not die physically but spiritually, separated from God for ever.  That is the consequences of that sin today.  We are separated from God today because of eating of the tree by Adam and Eve.  In disputing with the woman he sows the doubts in woman’s mind.  Who is God that he should tell you this?  Remember Isaac and Jacob.  Isaac came to the land and there was a famine in the land.  He thought he would go down to Egypt where there was food but God came to Isaac “go not down to Egypt but dwell in the land I shall tell you.”  Jacob was faced with the same problem some years later in Genesis 46.  He knows there is food down there, knows the experience of his father, told him not to go down to Egypt.  God says to Jacob “fear not to go down to Egypt for I will make of thee a great nation.”  It was what the word of God said.  When we go by the word o God it will be good for you.  Voltaire said “in a 100 years from my death this bible will become a museum piece, Christianity will be totally eradicated from the world.”  50 years after he died the Geneva Bible Convention bought his house and from his printing press in his front room printed the Bible.  There are many today who don’t like to think the Bible is God’s authority, just like Satan coming to Eve and saying “who is God to say what you should and should not do.”  In the book of Judges men and women did that which was right in their own eyes because there was no king.  We are living in society just like that today.  If it feels right do it.  We are to take on the full armour of God, the shield to protect us from the fiery darts of the enemy.  Society is moving on, education is moving on, people are smarter but they are still trying to put down the word of God.  How can we be sure of this book?  Moses commissioned by God in desert went down to Egypt at God’s command.  He stood before Pharaoh “the Lord has said let my people go.”  Pharaoh turned around and said “who is this Lord to tell me what to do.”  People are closing their heart, not acknowledging the God of heaven.  Satan says the authority of God has to be done away with.

This dispute was on the accuracy on the word of God.  Satan takes Eve to one side.  She is looking on the tree.  That is what Satan will do.  He will not attack your beliefs as you sit in the prayer meeting, as you read God’s word, he will attack you on a Monday morning.  The old devil comes to get doubts going, doubts on the accuracy of the word of God.  Now he brings it down – do you know what God says?  “Study to show thyself approved unto God.”  Paul told Timothy we need to get back to the word of God.  The Bereans searched the scriptures after they heard Paul speak to them.  “Are you sure God said?”  We are challenged on the accuracy of God’s word, not only what was said but who said it.  The devil took Eve back to the word of God.  If as Paul said all scripture is given by inspiration of God, if God has spoken in such a manner then we need to be careful as to how we read the word of God.  The Bible tells us about a sect called the Sadducees.  They lived among the Pharisees and had many things in common with them.  One of their features was they didn’t believe in the resurrection.  One day they came to the Lord and challenged him on the accuracy of the word of God.  They came with their pet theory, took the Lord back to the book of Moses “Moses has said”.  It is written here in the book of Moses, Moses taught us if a man dies having no children then his brother would come and take his wife and raise up a family in honour of his brother, then if he dies another brother should come and takes the woman as his wife.  This happened 7 times and they then asked "at the resurrection whose wife will she be?”  They disputed the accuracy of the word of God.  Jesus said “For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.” (Matthew 22 verse 30)  He took the Sadducees back to the word of God.  They were making a mistake because they didn’t know the scriptures.  What a terrible error to one day through error open your eyes in a lost hell for all eternity because you didn’t know the scriptures.  Eve did the same thing in her dispute with the devil “ye shall not eat of it neither shall ye touch it lest ye die.”  She was building another bit onto the word of God.  The devil had her right where he wanted her to be.

A dispute about the application of the word of God.  'How can you apply your life to something outdated and not relevant to today' people ask us today.  'You have a book only man has written, we are not sure God has written it at all?.  Attack after attack is being made against the word of God.  Remember when Peter toiled all night?  The next day he was mending his nets.  Jesus came to him and said "Peter have you caught nothing?  I want you to launch out into the deep and let down your nets."  Peter said “I have toiled all night and caught nothing but never the less at thy word I will let them down.”  Many are criticising, disputing the word of God.  We need to simply apply it to ourselves.  Sometimes we might have to go to our own way of thinking.  If God is showing me something here I have to apply it to my life.  Remember Balaam in the Old Testament, Balak tried to get him to curse the people but he wouldn’t do it.  Balak told him "God has kept you back from harm I would have given you so much but he knew he couldn’t go against God’s word."  People tell us don’t go too much into it because God only wants to spoil your life.

Notes from a sermon Sunday 16 August 2015

Jeremiah 36 verses 1 – 8, 20 – 24

In the 36^th chapter of the book of Jeremiah we are taken down another road, another attack on the word of God.  This time it is from the hands of the king – verse 23.  Jeremiah is called to write the words of the Lord down.  God comes to his prophet and he speaks into his heart.  Jeremiah was going through a difficult time, under a strict guard.  God breaks through though – verse 1.  It doesn’t matter what the situation is in our lives he wants to break through that barrier and speak to us directly.  Some 20 years before God had spoken to Jeremiah and now God is asking him to write those words down, write them all on a scroll, now take them to the people and maybe if they hear the word they might turn in repentance and tears to me.  God doesn’t want us to come here for a good time, he wants us to listen and react to the word of God.  Imagine the response to it.  Baruch now tells him something has happened.  The king has taken the scroll and burned it in the fire.  Look at the time difference – verse 1 “It came to pass in the fourth year” and in verse 9 “and it came to pass in the fifth year.”  God tells him to write all the messages he had given to him.  A years work going up in the flames of the fire.  I’m sure it discouraged him very much.  The same is true today.  Sometimes it can be discouraging preaching the gospel week in and week out.  Maybe you are going through a discouraging time.  God is there to lift you up.  We are living today in such a time where the word of God is constantly under fire.  The main problem today is the same as was in Jeremiah’s day.  The king didn’t like to hear what was written.  He was hearing about sin in his people, in his nation.  He thought he would take the words and cast them into the fire.  

Here we find in this attack as the king takes the book I believe it was a frustrated attack.  I can almost imagine the king in sheer frustration attacks the word of God, cuts it up and casts it into the fire.  Jehoiakim came from a good home.  Josiah was his father who came to the throne at 8 years of age and brought many reforms to the nation of Israel.  He believed in the God of heaven and he wanted to walk in the footsteps of his father David.  He had that influence in his home.  This is the life he enjoyed.  Now he is so frustrated, he wants to take it out on the word of God.  Maybe there are times when he heard the voice of his father worshipping God, when he was taken to the house of God, heard the word of God proclaimed.  Maybe he saw his father praying and pleading with God.  What an influence.    Maybe there were times when he saw his father sacrificing things to please the living God.  Now he is at an age when he is totally frustrated at the word of God.  There was a young man in the gospels who knew the faith of his father, grew up happy but one day decided to leave it all behind.  He wanted all the restraints lifted, there were too many restrictions for him.  Jehoiakim probably thought the same.  If only I could get rid of the word of God.  Men today don’t like what the bible has to say and attack it with venom.  Verses 4 – 7.  The Lord was giving them an opportunity and he takes it to the king and the king burn it.  He didn’t get that from his father Josiah who brought many reforms to the nation of Israel.  There was a time when Josiah ordered that the house of God be repaired so that worship of God would once again take place.  The word of God had been hidden for many years in a secret place.  One day as they repaired the house of God one of the scribes found the word of God.  He realised it was the word of God given to Moses for the children of Israel.  He ran straight to the king, rolled the scroll out before him and reads it to Josiah.  Josiah rent his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes and repented of his sin.  The word of God touched his heart and he needed to repent.  For Jehoiakim the word of God caused anger and rage so much so that he cut it up and threw it in the fire.  Maybe some people will get angry and rage, walk out of the meeting because the word of God is being reflected in them.

Jehoiakim thought he could destroy the influence of the word of God.  He thought it was the end of the matter to cut up the scroll and throw it into the fire.  We hear it every day on our televisions and radios “we don’t go by this book anymore.”  We have set it aside.  This book is what made Great Britain great according to Queen Victoria.  Many churches were based on the word of God at one time but today rarely hear the word of God proclaimed from its pulpit.  The reason for the kings wrath was the word the prophet brought – instructions to turn back to God and perhaps in mercy he would forgive them.  The king thought if he could destroy the parchment it would stop this message going forth.  He tried to cut the word of God and throw it into the fire.  Evolutionists don’t believe God created the heavens and the earth so they cut out some of the words, particularly the very first words recorded in the bible “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  We have people today who believe there is a gap between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2.  It is called the gap theory.  Somewhere in that gap everything came into being.  When you read Genesis 1, 2 and 3 you will find the morning and the evening were the first day.  God divided it up.  In the original Hebrew when you get a number behind the word day it means a full 24 hours.  The humanist will believe there is no life after death, you are just like the animals, go into the ground and there is nothing more.  Man doesn’t think today of judgement, after death there is nothing.  The bible says “it is appointed unto man once to die but after this the judgement.”  Man doesn’t like to be responsible to stand before God and give an account for what he has done with his life.  In Acts 17 the people listened to Paul and said he was a good preacher but when he started to talk about the resurrection they laughed and scorned and mocked him.

A futile attack.  In his rage Jehoiakim cut up the word and threw it in the fire.  He would have arrested the prophet but the Lord hid him.  Psalm 91 verses 1 - 4 “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers and under his wings shalt thou trust; his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.”  What did God tell Jeremiah to do?  Verses 27 and 28 “Take thee again another roll and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll.”  It was futile trying to chop away the word of God.  A fatal attack – verses 29 – 31 “And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, Thus saith the Lord; Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast? Therefore thus saith the Lord of Jehoiakim king of Judah, He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David; and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.  And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they hearkened not.”

Notes from a sermon on Sunday 23 August 2015

Matthew 4 verses 1 – 11

We have been thinking on the attacks upon the word of God which are designed by the devil himself, planned and purposed in the pits of hell.  The Bible tells us the word of God is the very foundation on which we stand.  We are told not to be hearers only but doers also.(James 1 verse 22)  Jesus said there are those who hear the word of God but go out and neglect it and they are like those who build their houses on sand.  If we have ours built on sand the foundations will crumble.  Then there are those who read the word of God and apply it to their lives.  They are those who take time to dig in and build a firm foundation so that when the rains come the house will stand firm.  That is why I say the bible is the very foundation on which we stand.  It is the living word of God.  It abideth for ever.  It will not pass away.  There are attacks on it day and daily.  What will the righteous do if the foundation be destroyed. (Psalm 11 verse 3).  That is what we are doing today.  People are chipping away at the foundations.  If we have no foundation there will be nothing to hold onto.  In this reading today we find the Lord Jesus being confronted by the devil.  They try to tell us today there is no such person as the devil.  As Jesus is confronted in the wilderness this is a verbal attack on the Lord.  He defends himself in verses 4, 7 and 10 by going back to the word of God and telling the devil “it is written”.  In verse 6 notice how well the devil knows the bible as well “for it is written”.  The devil was able to turn it up to the Lord and show him this scripture.  Jesus was not having anything of that.  He turns the word back again.  The devil knows the scripture as well.  That is why we need to be well equipped in the word of God.  The bible is under attack today.

I would defend the bible by looking closely at the plan of God.  There are many books, how is this the one to consider when looking at the plan of God?  It is united right from the beginning of the bible to the end.  Not a mismatch but a harmony runs through this book.  The plan God has for this world is a great plan of redemption, salvation, regeneration.  We can see that right from Genesis to Revelation.  Exodus 17 verse 14 “and the Lord said unto Moses write this for a memorial in a book and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua or I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”  It was to be written in a language he could understand and others could hear.  He wanted this to be a memorial.  As we look through the bible we have a tremendous memorial of God’s plan for this old world.  In Genesis 1 we read that God spoke and everything came into being.  God had it in his heart, a great plan but in Genesis 3 Satan came in with his plan, tempted Eve and she disobeyed God’s word.  A great plan was devised then and there to bring man back to God.  In Genesis 3 verse 15 we read of the first promise given to man.  He promised to send the redeemer to him.  He spoke there of the cross work of Calvary.  In Leviticus we see the sacrificial lambs being brought to the altar to be put to death.  We find a shadow of the Lord on the cross of Calvary in the Old Testament days.  People were saved by looking to the lamb, looking forward to cross.  We are saved by looking back to that same place.  We see the unity in the books of the bible.  66 books, 40 different authors, over 1500 years yet tremendous unity, all of the same mind.  Moses was the boy put into the ark of bulrushes in the water for safe keeping.  Brought up in the palace of Pharaoh, raised as son of the daughter of Pharaoh, given the best education.  Contrast that with Peter the fisherman.  Educationally speaking he was poles apart.  Nehemiah sent out from the palace in Shushan to Jerusalem was given tremendous words from God.  Contrast it with the poor man sitting begging on the streets in Jesus’ day.  Solomon was the wisest man ever lived contrast with his father David, a poor shepherd boy on the hill sides around Bethlehem.  There is harmony in the word of God.  The 2 disciples on the road to Emmaeus.  As they walked along they were sorrowful.  Jesus came along side and went with them.  Their hearts and heads were troubled and discouraged.  Jesus asked why are you so down.  They began to tell him why and the Lord took them to the scriptures and began first with Moses then the prophets then to the psalms.  He pointed them to all the scriptures to show them that Jesus Christ must suffer and there was a plan originated in God’s heart.  Peter did that on the day of Pentecost.  The people wondered what was happening.  Peter took them back to the prophet Joel.  This is that which was spoken of by the prophet.  When someone says how do you know this is the word of God?  Point them to the plan God had for this book.

Thank of the apostle Paul – he goes for the power of the bible.  Whenever Jesus spoke to those who came in the Garden of Gethsemane to arrest him they fell backwards.  That is the power that is in the word of God.  If a man is accused of a crime he must appear before the courts.  The jury is there to hear and listen, to make a decision.  They have to gather the evidence first in line with the prosecution or defence.  We need to gather the evidence with the plan and power of God’s word.  Its outcome and unity is marvellous and miraculous.  Behind the plan and power is the one person.  In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit moved on people by the power of God.  Holy men whose hearts God touched.  He gave them a word to write down.  The apostle Paul had one argument – the word of God is sufficient for me.  That is why he could say “I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation.”  Paul speaks in the book of Romans of when the word of God is suppressed, held down.  The devil knows the power of the word of God.  If he preached it in all its fullness it would convict men and women of sin.  It would have a tremendous power as it goes forth.  “For Christ sent me not to baptise but to preach the gospel not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.” (1 Corinthians 1 verse 17)  He spoke of many who he baptised.  The Lord didn’t send me to baptise but send me to preach the gospel.  There are many standing behind the sacred desk and God hasn’t sent them.  They have no message.  They are afraid to preach what this book says.  That man is a sinner and the only way out of that state is to come to the Lord in childlike faith.  The word of God is a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces. (Jeremiah 23 verse 29)  The moment you trust Christ as Saviour all the old things of the past are gone.  You become a new person.  It doesn’t change who you are but what you are because at this moment in time you are a sinner, going out into a Christless eternity.  To trust Christ you are made a new person in Christ and living for heaven and home.  The bible says I will be forgiven of my sins if I trust in his name.  James said we should receive the engrafted word of God which is able to save your souls.  “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom ut in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” (1 Corinthians 2 verse 4) That is why Paul didn’t come with his own philosophy or teaching.  He wanted to preach a plain gospel, point men to the cross of Calvary and in so doing they would stand not in his words but in the power of God their Father.  It doesn’t need to stand in any denomination or preacher but in the power of God and in his precious word.  The unity and the power that God’s word has.  Paul said in Corinthians know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves, greedy people, drunkards, slanderers and robbers will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6 verses 9 and 10)  Paul didn’t mince his words.  “And such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6 verse 11)  Paul came preaching the word of God and they were totally transformed.  That was the power of God.  That was the power of the word of God.  The plan of God, the power of the word of God.