Sermon Player - Sunday, Jan 9 2011
Uncategorized 11:59 pm
God’s Word is more than good enough Saturday, Jan 8 2011
Uncategorized 6:49 pm
God gave us His Word…and that’s good enough.
“1 ¶ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 ¶ And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” (Joh 1:1-5 AV)
Love God’s Word
The human soul is trusting by nature. When man was created, he looked to the infinite supply of the Father. There was nothing that man could need that God could not provide. God’s Jehovah Jirah (provider) nature continues to this day to those who are washed in the blood of the Lamb.
It is in the corruption of the world that skepticism finds its most fertile soil. In it we sow seeds of unbelief that blossom and flower into the thorny rose of striving. Now I am not going to launch an assault on self-help courses and materials here, but I am going to digress for a moment as to where I believe they originated. When we have no one bigger than ourselves to trust, we begin to marinate ourselves in things that we believe will make us more equipped to take on life. While many times, these efforts prove to be a positive force in making it through this world, it is not God’s plan. Because it is only a patch, the “fix” is short-lived and it’s on to the next fad. We have become so obsessed with these “hole plugs” that he has even dragged them into the realm of the church. God’s Word clearly explains that it is not in these things where we will find our answers.
“1 ¶ Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly––and indeed you do bear with me. 2 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present [you as] a chaste virgin to Christ. 3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or [if] you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted––you may well put up with it!” (2Co 11:1-4 NKJV)
Clearly, the provisions of man have become “another Jesus”. Paul warns us that through the simplicity of the Gospel message we risk believing that “the answer just couldn’t be that simple”. So we are off and running for a way to make the trip easier by coming up with something on our own.
Learn God’s Word
We are fearfully and wondrously made in the image and likeness of God. (Psalm 139:14) As children, we watch and aspirate the characteristics of our earthly parents. We observe their movements, what makes them laugh, what makes them cry. When we grow and become parents, we become acutely aware that the habits and the lives we live before our children are ever being observed by those precious little ones. That’s why if we smoke, there’s a pretty good shot one of our kids will pick up the habit. If we use “colorful language”, it’s a pretty good bet that one of our kids will be making sailors blush one day. That process is called “learning”. Learning is something we all do. We learn from who we are around. We learn from the stimuli that surrounds us. God’s Word allows us to “be around” the Father. It gives us insight into his personality. His Word tells us repeatedly of his love for us and his wonderful plans for our lives.
One of the simplest things in the whole of the Kingdom of God is right before us. In the past, churches have placed such an esoteric spin on understanding and decoding the passages within the scriptures that it has intimidated many a believer into simply sitting still and being preached to rather than a more aggressive stance of grabbing hold of the Bible and devouring its goodness.
In his second letter to the church at Corinth, Paul admonishes believers to passionately seek God.
“9 Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, 10 who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver [us], 11 you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift [granted] to us through many. 12 ¶ For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you. 13 For we are not writing any other things to you than what you read or understand. Now I trust you will understand, even to the end” (2Co 1:9-13 NKJV)
There are no hidden messages, no need for a decoder ring, no conspiracy to keep the truth from the masses. There are not any other things other than what we read and understand…simple things.
