God's Word — 1 Thessalonians 2

0:04 All right. Good morning, Good morning. Happy to see you all here and happy Labor Day to everyone with the holiday weekend. I'll start by making this little quotation of a song that I think you all know. The B.

0:22 I. B. L. E. Yes, that's the book for me.

0:26 I stand alone on the word of God, the B I B L E. And you could you could shout out Bible if you wanted to if you... Yeah. Yeah. Let's...

0:37 I'm going to pray here and as we get started this morning. And that's going to be our our topic. Sometimes, we we know you we share the responsibility of speaking and sometimes, you know, we'll ask each other, hey, what are you speaking on today? And you know, if you don't want to like get let the cat out of the bag, you you you sometimes you say like, oh, something from the Bible. You know, like but today, if you were asking that question, I would say, we're going to speak about the Bible, okay?

1:12 And so that's going to be our topic. And as we pray, I would encourage you pray... This is this is the word of God. God's got a message for us. I'm I'm excited to give the the message that I feel like he's been directing me toward for this body, for for us as a group.

1:31 And so we're going to pray just now. Ask the Lord to show you what he wants to show you from his word, about his word, and how applicable it can be directly to you. Heavenly Father, we want to bow right now. We acknowledge you as our heavenly Father. Remember the Lord Jesus Christ even said to the disciples, when you pray, say, hallowed be thy name.

1:54 Meaning holy, reverenced, awesome. We're we're standing before you as god. We're standing before you as a collective group of people, and we're acknowledging you as an all powerful god. We're acknowledging and recognizing that you've given us scripture. You've given us your word.

2:14 And father, we know that you've got a message for us this morning. We know that you've intended to to speak to us along life's pathway. You've given us a measure of food for the day. And we're... This morning, we're here to receive this this measure of food, this spiritual input into our life.

2:36 We want your message for us. And father, we know that you've given us opportunity to have individual times. You've also given us an opportunity to have a corporate time. And that's where we are right now. This this group this group time together with the Lord Jesus in our midst, the Holy Spirit working here, we trust unhindered.

2:59 And we wanna hear from your word this morning. We would... We ask this now in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.

3:06 Please take your Bibles and turn to first Thessalonians chapter two. First Thessalonians chapter two and verse 13. Our topic this morning, God's word. And I put a little tagline up here on the slide, the importance of the word in our everyday life. First Thessalonians chapter two and verse 13.

3:34 I'll remind us that this is Paul writing to the Thessalonian church. And Paul is writing and he's writing to the believers in that area and he says this, for this cause also, thank we god without ceasing. So, you can see he's he's very encouraged. He's he's excited about what's going on in Thessalonica and he's he's saying, I give thanks to god for you. Now, look at what he's thanking him for.

4:00 I'm giving thanks god for you without ceasing because because when you receive the word of god, there's our our topic this morning. The word of god. When you receive the word of god which he heard of us, this would have been Paul and those others preaching with him. We know that Sylvanias and and Timothy were in that region preaching as well. When you receive the word of...

4:25 From us, look at this. You received it not as the word of men. You didn't see it received as Paul's word or a wise man's word or a good man's word or the word of man, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually works also in you that believe. And so as we we want to just jump right into this and think about God's word and how it's important to us, we see that Paul's writing and he he says, I I I know you receive this and you recognize just kind of like we prayed in our prayer. We recognize this is god speaking to us and and Paul's saying these people that heard the word, they recognize when Paul was preaching, Paul was presenting the word.

5:18 It was god's word to them. And then he says, it was truth. I want to recognize that. It was truth. And that it was not the word of man, but the word of God.

5:35 And then notice that word that effectually works in you. Effectually works in you. I looked up that word and it it means to to be active. To be active. So like Paul Paul is saying, look this word that you heard, this word that you received, this word that you believed, he says that at the very end of the verse, it's it's working in you.

5:59 It's effectual in you. It's active in you. It's making a difference in you. And so this is the word of God. What an example for us.

6:10 Hear it. Receive it. Let it be effectual. Let it be active in us. Why would we do without it?

6:18 Why would we leave it out of our routine? Is it important in our daily life? Well, the... These folks, these believers that we're reading about here, they thought it important. They thought about it like, okay, this is not the word of man.

6:52 Psalm 19 is attributed to David. And I'll just make comment about how it starts. We're gonna be looking a little bit later in the... In this chapter, but look at how it starts. David writes this, inspired by the holy spirit.

7:13 The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork. We can... If you want to peek out the window, you can probably see today it's it's a beautiful beautiful sky. Jacob, any clouds out there? Beautiful blue sky.

7:30 And don't you ever notice like if you look at the sky, like right now today, that you look at the sky, the more you look at it, it's like the cooler it gets. It's like, man, this is it's so blue. How does it get that blue? And look at this is it's just lighter shade on the horizon and everything's so vibrant and we look and we think about like now a little bit later today, the the the moon's going to start rising. The the sun's going to set.

7:55 The moon's going to rise. We'll look at all the stars And it's like, here God, the creator, it says that he has declared himself to us through through his through his creation. The heavens declare his glory. And this is the God, the very God that we prayed to this morning. The very God who we say...

8:14 We recognize this is his word in our hands. This is who he is. And so God's revealing himself through the creation multiple ways. He's revealing himself through creation. He's he's revealing himself in his word.

8:29 And so here, we we look at this Psalm 19. The heavens declare declare the the glory of god and the firmament show his shows his handiwork. Day unto day, other is speech. Night unto night showeth knowledge. So there is no speech nor language where his voice is not heard.

8:49 God wants to reveal himself to us. Now drop down to verse seven, please. Anybody else dealing with foul allergies? There... Something's blooming right now that's...

9:05 Verse seven. Look at this, the law of the Lord. And we want to remind ourselves we're in Psalm here or we're in we're in the book of Psalms. And and so what we have is this reference, the law of the Lord. You might see the statutes of the Lord, the commandments of the Lord, the precepts of the Lord.

9:26 These are all references to the word, to the to the scripture itself, to the Bible. And so look at what it says. The law of the Lord referring to the Bible is perfect. It's perfect. Remember, what Paul said to the to the to the those in Thessalonica.

9:44 You recognize it as truth. You recognize it as the word of god. You know what? We might say this, they might have recognized it as perfect and and and this is what David's telling us. The the word, the law of the lord, the word of god, it is perfect and we would agree.

10:00 We would say that god's word, god's direction, god's instruction, god's precepts for us are perfect. If they're perfect, they're important, right? They're they're reliable. They're helpful to us. The law of the lord is perfect and now, we're look at this next phrase.

10:21 Mine the King James says, converting the soul. Maybe your version says, restoring the soul. It restores the soul. It converts the soul. And so we wanna make this connection back to first lesson...

10:36 First Thessalonians chapter two and verse 13, where we work... We read about that effectually working in you to be active in you. This is the phrase converting the soul. You see, when we take the word of God in, there is a result. There's a positive result.

10:53 And so we want it to be active. We want it to convert our soul. We want it to restore our soul. This is the word of God. It's perfect.

11:22 You see the benefit here? It's gonna it's gonna change us for the good. God's word's gonna change us for the good. God's word's gonna address our need where we are, Whatever the need is. Exhortation, comfort, encouragement, instruction.

11:44 God's word is going to... It's the converting of the soul, the restoring of the soul. I I like to think of it in the fact of like, okay, here I am. My soul is lacking. I read god's word and it fills me up.

11:58 I read god's word and it brings about a change of mind. I read god's word and I make a wise decision. Making wise the simple. It's sure. It's true.

12:09 It's reliable. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. Look at verse eight. The statutes of the Lord, God's word, are right.

12:25 Rejoice in the heart. You know, we think about... We look at this and we say, okay, do I want to be refreshed? Yes. Do I want to be wise?

12:34 Yes. Do I want to have a happy heart? Have a good good outlook? Yes. These are all benefits of the word, taking in the word.

12:45 We're trying to to remind ourselves of the importance of God's word. And we start to we start examining like, oh, wow. Okay. There is benefit here. It's not just a it's just not a time filler.

12:58 It's just not something to do to check off a list. There's true benefit to spending time in the word of God. The last phrase in verse eight says, the word, the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes, opening the eyes, showing light to your path. You know, we hit up on different life circumstances that are hard. We've all experienced things that are well, we don't know the answer to.

13:39 Or we might say it this way, it's bigger than we are. We hit up and go on things that is bigger that's bigger than we. Sometimes we say, I don't know what to do. Well, go to the word. The word is perfect.

13:52 God's word is perfect. God's word is going to restore you, refresh you. God's word is sure. It's got a it's got a track record, a proven track record. It will give you wisdom.

14:08 God's word will rejoice your heart even in the midst of trial. Even in the midst of trial, there'll be a peace. God's word is sure, reliable, dependable. I'm facing a trial. I don't know which way to go.

14:28 I'm rejoicing in heart. The commandment, God's word is pure. It opens my eyes. It gives me understanding. I like the way Paul said it in the book of Ephesians.

14:45 Open, he prays this, open the eyes of our understanding, enlighten the eyes. This is how David said, enlighten my eyes. See, when we're in the word, we're... Our eyes are being opened to things that we we would not otherwise know. Our eyes are being opened to spiritual things.

15:04 We get this this gauge, this barometer, this ability to to be in this world and to see the things that are temporal for temporal, and to see the things that are spiritual for eternal. And so this is the benefit. These are the benefits of being in the word. Look at verse nine. The fear of the Lord is clean.

15:46 The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. We read about the fact that it was right in verse eight. Now he says it's righteous righteous altogether. So we see these benefits, these little collection of benefits that are put out to us for... In the word.

16:09 Whatever you're facing, you can you can take the scripture and it'll be light for your path. It'll be it'll be a lamp unto your feet. It will be like a like a compass. Your... It'll be a compass.

16:26 It'll point to the true north. This is God's word. It's important. I thought about our group that's even here today and, you know, like Mason and Moriah are freshly back from a honeymoon. They could take God's word and find these same benefits, saying these same truths.

16:57 Justin shared the other night that he's facing a health got some health problems, asked for prayer at the prayer meeting. He can take God's word and see these same things realized. Every, some of us, some of you are starting back school, maybe facing some hard, hard circumstances. Kathy's got to live with Don. I mean, you know, like Just think about these things.

17:37 I summarize want this and we'll move on. But think about this. The scripture, your Bible is perfect. Your Bible has the ability through God's working to restore your soul. The Bible is sure.

17:55 The Bible will give you, will lead you to wisdom. The Bible is right. The Bible will rejoice your heart. The Bible is pure. The Bible will open your eyes to things that you have not seen before.

18:14 The Bible is clean. Wherewithal shall a lot... Young man cleanse his way by taking heed unto your scripture? The Bible is enduring. It's forever.

18:26 The Bible is true. The Bible is righteous. Now, if you will, look at verse 10. Look at this. It says, more to be desired are they, meaning the scripture, more is the scripture to be desired than gold.

18:43 And then he says this, yea, much more than much fine gold. And I see that like in a three step a three step way. It's like more is is the the the word, the value of the word is more valuable than gold. Then he says, it's more valuable than fine gold. And then he says, it's more valuable than much fine gold, like a lot of fine gold.

19:07 Like three three increments of of growth. I mean, don't think you can put much more value on it, can you? More than gold? More than fine gold, the best gold? More than much of the fine, best gold.

20:18 You've to have them to live. And so there is this aspect of like, okay, it's a part of daily life. It's a part of necessity of everyday life that you're going to spend money. You got to make it to spend it. That's a better way to do it, make it than spend it.

20:36 So God said, he may or like we're making this comparison. The word of God is more precious, more valuable than your money. And we all we all get the analogy like we spend more time making money than we do pursuing or unearthing the riches of the word of God. And then we all, every day, we eat. He uses this analogy of a material thing and edible thing.

21:10 We all eat. We all take time in making preparations for the eating. And so here here we are given this stark contrast. And and I think what the psalmist is wanting us to hear, what David's wanting us to hear here, maybe what God's got for us this morning is to say, look, I want you to understand and realize the importance of my word. I'm not saying that you didn't read it today, shame on you.

21:36 I'm not saying you gotta read it because it's a have to. I'm telling you that it's so valuable, It's so it's so precious. It's more to be desired in the than the gold that you desire in your present life. It's more to be desired than the food that you seek after or the meal that you're thinking about. It...

21:54 I'm saying like realize the value of it. We still deal with gold, you know, all the guys right now, all the Dave Ramsey's and the and financial advisors are saying like, make sure you diversify, you got some of your things in gold. That's still traded, you know. It's a solid investment. Now honey, I don't know, does anybody eat honey on a daily basis?

22:25 You eat honey. Eat honey. Do you eat honey on a daily basis? Know? Like, here's here's maybe what we'd say to put it in the present day language.

22:36 Let me let me read the verse this way. So we're talking about, we understand gold, the concept of that, more to be desired are they, and it's also sweeter than Mitchell's ice cream. And wild berry crumble. You know? Like, we get that.

23:04 I mean, like, oh, yeah. That's pretty good. Pretty good stuff. More to be desired than they are gold, a much fine gold, sweeter also than the honey and the honeycomb. You see, as we keep on reading, we see in verse 11, it's another benefit.

23:37 We're going to see danger. We're going to avoid things. We're warned. And in keeping them, there is great reward. Not only do we get the benefit, the natural benefits, but we also see that God's plan is the best plan.

24:02 Verse two, who can... Or verse 12, who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me.

24:18 Then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. And he finishes this little this little psalm with verse 14. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight. O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. We'll only know the Lord as my strength and my redeemer if we spend time in his word.

24:48 I said that we were talking about god's word and the importance of of our of it in everyday life. I've I've gone through and there's there's 12 times that the Bible makes a reference to itself with a phrase or a title, if you will. And we're just going to hit these rapid fire on a quick list, but I'm going show you the verses that go here, and you don't have to turn to them. I am going to spoil you by putting the verse on the front here, on the screen. Okay?

25:22 So let me get my... Here's the first one. This is out of... This is the verse that I just read to you at the opening of our of our meeting. For this cause also, thank we God without ceasing because when you received the word of God, which was heard of us, You received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth.

25:47 The word of God, which effectually works in you also in you that believe. The word of God. This is one of those phrases. The the the Bible itself calls it the word of God. There's several times that we we would do this.

26:03 You recognize this verse from Ephesians chapter six. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. He calls it a weapon for us. Remember, we're thinking about the importance of it, the the benefits of it. And as soon as we read about the word being a sword of the spirit, it it reminds us of Hebrews chapter four.

26:23 For the word of God, that same phrase, is quick and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and the joints and marrow. And it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The word of God. Look at... We're getting ready to start this book in...

26:46 Of of Acts, but look at verse verse 13 or chapter thirteen and forty four. And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of god. Now, listen. Hey, could you imagine such a thing? That here they are there the word of god is going to be preached and it says, the almost the whole city.

27:13 What about if almost all of Westlake came right here this morning? The word of god was going to be preached. You see the value they put on this? You see the importance they put on this? That that it was known the word of God was gonna preach and they all came to hear it.

27:36 Do you and I put that same value in our daily life? I think I got... So there's the first phrase, the word of God. And I'll say this, remember when they came to hear the word, it was effectually working in there. It was converting their soul.

28:20 Represents a a an image or a concept in our mind. Lord also introduces a a different version of of a concept in our mind. We think about, well, don't know about you, but when I think about God, I think about God the Father. And I have that kind of an image as a as a heavenly father. When I think about Lord, I think about Lord like as my the supreme, the top, the top notch and so we have the word of the word of god and now the word of the lord is called.

28:50 This our scripture is called the word lord and and so we read and they, when they had testified and preached the word of the lord. This is, I can't remember if this is Paul or Peter preaching right here. Returned to Jerusalem and preached the gospel in many villages and in Samaria. This is what they were doing. They were preaching the word of the Lord.

29:12 And now look at this next look at this next verse. It was Paul it was Paul and Barnabas. Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch teaching and preaching the word of the Lord with many others also. And some other days after, Paul said to Barnabas, hey, let's go up again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the lord and see how they do. I love this because, you know, like here they are.

29:42 We we we in Thessalonians where he's saying like, I'm so that you heard the word and you you're you're you're obeying it, you're believing it, you're receiving it. It's effectually working in you and look, he's saying, look, we preach the word. Let's go see how they're doing. You know what? Another way we can say that is, let's go see how the word is working in them.

30:03 Let's go check and see the is it being effectual? Is it being active in them? Is it restoring their soul? Are they happy Christians? Are they recognizing that the word is right?

30:14 Are they see it? They see us pure. It's keeping them from evil. You see, the... Are they really recognizing all the benefits?

30:22 Are they placing the proper priority? The the importance on the word of God, the word of the Lord. So we see these two phrases, the word of God and the word of the Lord. Next, we find another phrase, the word of salvation. Also in the book of Acts, men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you fear God, To you, it is the word of salvation sent.

30:51 The word of salvation. Wow. God's plan of redemption presented. It's the word of salvation. The Bible calls itself that.

31:05 We would we would not know what faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. We would not know how to be saved if it were not for the scripture. This is God's way, this is God's method of using all these things together. The heavens declaring his glory, the Holy Spirit to draw men unto themselves and to convict the man of sin, the word to give instruction to be a standard, a barometer, an equal playing field, the law to lead us to be a schoolmaster, to teach us our fault, and that we're... We fall short, and and the word made flesh to dwell among us.

31:47 All these things that we see, the word of salvation. Now we hear the word of the gospel. And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, men and brethren, you know how that a good while ago, god made choice among us that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So we see this as a fourth fourth title. Remember God's word is important in our everyday life.

32:54 Romans ten and eight says, but what says it? The word is dear to you even in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith which we preach. I see a similarity between these right here, the word of the word of salvation, the word of the gospel, the word of his grace, the word of faith. And so these things being being similar as a result of our our enjoying our salvation.

33:27 This is God's scripture. The word of reconciliation. To wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and have committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Second Corinthians five nineteen. So there we are.

33:49 There's six of them already tracking through. The word of truth is the next one. By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left. I love this verse, having these three different things mentioned in there. The word of truth, the power of God, the armor of righteousness.

34:11 We see, we'll hone in on the word, the fact that it's called the word of truth. How about Ephesians one thirteen, in whom you've also trusted after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. In whom also, after that you believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Also, here we find this admonition, study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Second Timothy two fifteen.

34:47 Is the word of God important? Are there benefits to it? Does God want you to study it? Does God want you to have it a part of your everyday life? God's word is important in our everyday life.

35:03 We've got our our our list is growing. There's seven. The word of God, the word of the Lord, the word of salvation, the word of the gospel, the word of His grace, the word of faith, the word of reconciliation, and the word of truth. Next, we find out the word of life. Holding forth the word of life that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run-in vain, neither labored in vain.

35:26 Philippians two sixteen. Look at John one one, that which was from the beginning, we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled, the word of life. The Lord Jesus Christ himself, the logos, God in the flesh. Next, we find the word of righteousness. For everyone that uses milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.

35:59 Hebrews five thirteen. And then our well, close to the end of our second to the last one is the good works. We've added an adjective here. He the writer of Hebrews, he had to be different. You see?

36:18 And he put the good word of God. You have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come. Reminds us of that, what we saw, read in the book of Psalms in 19, in Psalm 19 there, that the goodness of the word of God. And then our last phrase is the word of prophecy. We have also a more sure word of prophecy when you were where you do dwell that you might take heed as a...

36:54 As unto a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. Second Peter one nineteen, the word of prophecy. It tells us the things that are to come. And so here we have it, the 12 titles found within. The word of God, the word of the Lord, word of salvation, the word of the gospel, the word of his grace, the word of his faith, word of reconciliation, the word of truth, word of life, word of righteousness, the good word of God, and the sure word of prophecy.

37:32 These are the things that the Bible calls itself. And so I was going to look this up and I forgot to actually look back at my old notes, if I could have found them. But I remember the first time that I ever gave a message on Romans twelve:one and two. I here at Westlake. It would have been back in the 90s.

38:04 And in Romans twelve one and two, it starts off this way. I beseech you, brethren. And that word beseech, and I like, I was like wrestling through like, okay, what is this word? Beseech, I don't know like I don't really recognize this word. Don't understand it.

38:23 I don't know what it means. And as I studied out that word, I came to understand that the word beseech in the Greek means to to beg or to plead, to strongly urge. That's what... That's the that's the emphasis that was being given. I beseech you now, brethren.

38:43 And so I think that's a word. If I would if I would pick out a word today, I might use that word beseech. I beseech you. I I beg you. I plead with you, I strongly urge you to recognize the importance of the word of God in your daily life.

39:10 I I beg you to like examine, am I seeing activity? Is the word active in me? Do I see the result of the word in me? Is it effectually working in me? Is it converting my soul?

39:32 Am I being restored by the word? Am I realizing all the true benefits of God's word? We would all would we would all benefit. So I'm just I'm saying, listen, I'm directing, I'm saying as we go out today, I'm directing you to latch on to the word of God. Maybe you just you say, Lord, what do you want me to do?

39:54 How do you want me to make it important? How do you how do you want me to use it in my daily life? Read it, memorize it, spend time with it, understand it, make list, realize the importance, the value of the word of God. Our heavenly Father, we give thanks for what's been directed to our hearts this morning. We're thankful for what Paul writes.

41:01 And we ask this now in Jesus Christ's name, amen.