“By The Living Word Of God I Shall Prevail”
Last week the big idea of the sermon was that while God has incommunicable traits, we can still know Him. He has attributes that set Him apart from us—He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and present everywhere. Yet, He has not hidden Himself from us. He is knowable.
In the devotional I wrote last week, I said:
“How do we know what kind of Father God is? To allow the truth of God as Heavenly Father to impact our relationship with Him, we need to get to know Him. We do that primarily through Scripture, and then through prayer and daily dependence on Him (living out His commands through the power of the Spirit—Galatians 5:16).”
The primary way we learn about who God is and what He desires from us is through Scripture.
This week our big idea is: “The Bible is God’s inspired, authoritative Word—our foundation, truth, and life.”
One of our hymns for Sunday is Standing on the Promises. The big idea is that the promises of God are our foundation for life; they guide us every step of the way.
This brings me back to a similar question to the one I posed last week: How do we know what these promises are?
The answer is in verse 2 of the hymn:
Standing on the promises that cannot fail
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail
By the living Word of God I shall prevail
Standing on the promises of God
So, if the answer to “How do we know who God is, and what He expects from us?” is Scripture, and the answer to “How do we know what God has promised to do for us?” is also Scripture, that leads me to one more question:
“What is your relationship with Scripture?”
If you were to articulate your relationship with Scripture like a friendship… Are you the kind of friends that check in once in a while, maybe only during a hardship? Or are you friends who text back and forth throughout the day?
2 Timothy 3:16–17 says:
“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.”
Scripture:
- Teaches us the ways of God
- Shows us what we’re doing wrong
- Corrects and redirects us
- Trains us in the ways of God
No matter what stage of the Christian life you’re at, there is always a need for the Word of God—to teach, rebuke, correct, and train us.
Last week we sang the song 10,000 Reasons. In it there’s a line that says, “10,000 reasons for my heart to find.”
I think there is a natural flow that happens when we engage Scripture.
We learn through Scripture. We become aware—God opens our eyes to His ways. Then we begin to see those truths on display in our lives, and knowledge moves from head to heart, from information to belief, from theory to lived truth. This then leads to authentic actions and real life change.
But it’s really hard to get there if we don’t engage Scripture on a regular basis.
One time I was driving—back before the time of GPS! I knew how to get where I needed to go, but I had no idea how to get around outside of that route. So I was a little unsettled when I came upon a detour. In theory, all I had to do was follow the detour signs and eventually I’d get back to where I knew my way again. But here’s the thing: I missed a sign. I don’t know if it wasn’t there or if I just overlooked it, but soon I realized I was lost. I no longer had any idea which direction to go.
That’s kind of what our lives are like. We may think we know how to get where we’re going but more often than we realize we have no idea where we are going or what direction to take.
How do we avoid getting lost? How do we know where to go when we are lost?
We rely on God’s word. Scripture is the thing that will guide us. If I had had a GPS at the time, I wouldn’t have gotten lost. Scripture is the GPS that guides us in a direction that honors God.
Scripture should be, something we rely on to guide and direct our lives. As Pastor Chuck pointed out Sunday, “Trusting God’s Word means obeying it daily and letting it shape our lives.”
A few questions to ponder as we prepare for worship this week
- How much time are you spending in God’s Word?
- How much influence are you giving God’s word over your life?
May we allow God’s word to inform us, show us the error of our ways, correct us, and train us in a way that leads to authentic life change and faithful obedience to God.