The "word" of God

When words are spoken, the sound waves travel through the air, and they come into our ears, and they push a little drum that bangs on something and sends it over, creates an electronic impulse that travels down to the brain, and you and I hear something. And when that word enters into our brain electronically, it affects us. We come alert, and those words have a certain impact upon us. If you'll remember that in Proverbs 18 and verse 17, it says, the first one to plead his cause or his case seems right. The first one, when we first hear something, we think, oh, that is something right there. Kind of like when Eve heard something. Oh, well, that's something. That's something to think about. Words can be very powerful, but what is the source of the words, and what is the accuracy of the words that we hear, and what should we allow them to create in our minds? In Hosea chapter 4 and verse 1, we find that many words are just the machinations of men.

Hosea chapter 4 and verse 1. Here, the prophet of Hosea says, hear the word of the Lord. Now, this is the word of God. What do you think when you hear something that God says? You children of Israel, for the Lord brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land. And what is that charge? There is no truth in the words that are said, or mercy, or knowledge of God in the land. So that which is being heard and having an impact on Israel at the time was not accurate. Verse 2, by swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint with bloodshed upon bloodshed. We have to watch very carefully about words. Who is speaking the words? There are other words in John chapter 6 and verse 63 that are truth. Jesus says this of other words, breaking into the middle of the verse, the second sentence of John 6 verse 63, the words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life. Now when you and I speak words, they're not spirit. They're not perfect. And if anything frustrates me, it is the imperfection that I as a human being am and the imperfection of what I do and the imperfection of what I say. And yet when we pick up these words and we hear these words and we hear the word of God, it is truth. It is accurate. It is spiritual. It is life. During this sermon, I'd like to examine words, the sources of words and the effect of words on you. The title of the sermon today is The Word of God. The Word of God is a different type of word than you and I can speak. It's special. It's unique. It is life bringing.

The New Testament opens with the Word. In John chapter 1 and verse 1, it says, In the beginning was the Word. All the way back at the beginning of time, the beginning of anything physical, the beginning far before the beginning of creation, in the beginning, whatever the beginning was, the Word was there. The Word actually is the origin of the universe. The Word is the source of truth. Let's go to Titus chapter 1 and verse 2. Titus chapter 1 and verse 2 says, In hope of eternal life which God who cannot lie promised before time began. So we find this God whose words can only be truth, his Word is truth, cannot lie, made promises before time began that were truth. He's always been the source of truth. Concurrently, there exists another voice. John chapter 8 verse 44. You'll be familiar with this.

Breaking into the middle part of the verse, John 8.44, talking about the devil when he speaks, when his words come out, when he speaks, he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

Verse 45, But because I tell the truth, we see that he is in contrast. So you have truth and error. You have God and man. You have God and Satan. And the Word of God is the only absolute pure truth that exists, and it's always existed pure from the beginning of time. Jesus said of himself, I am the way, the truth, and the life. So the truth is Jesus Christ. It is God. It is that which has always been truth before even the foundation of the world and continues to be. He is that. Jesus is perfect, and he is perfect truth, and he brought perfect truth to mankind, and he was the truth, and today he is the truth. And that truth provides the way of life, and that truth lights that path to life in the darkness of Satan's world. You and I have that source of life if we want to follow the path, if we want to let Jesus Christ be our light, if we want to follow him.

David said in Psalm 119, verses 43 through 50, that he absolutely relied on God as truth.

Psalm 119 begins in verse 43. Take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for I have hoped in your ordinances. He believes in them. He has hope. So I shall keep your law continually for ever and ever. It's something we can believe in, absolute faith and trust in, because it's true. Verse 45, and I will walk at liberty, for I seek your precepts. I will speak of your testimonies before kings. I will not be ashamed. I will delight myself in your commandments, which I love. So he sees the word of truth in written form, which he had to write out as king. He had to write out that law. He says in verse 48, My hands also will, I will lift up to your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes. You know, it's interesting when somebody writes something, and you buy a book at the store, you don't take it home. It's like, wow, I just want to read that one sentence over and really get the meaning of what the author meant there. Maybe check the original dictionary meanings of some of these words, or really draw out the meaning of whatever is written in a novel. You think, well, no, in fact, I didn't want to read it that carefully. I just want to get the high points and throw it away. But with God's word, here he's meditating. He's focusing on them. Verse 49, Remember the word to your servant upon which you have caused me to hope. This is my comfort and my affliction, for your word has given me life.

We first saw that the word of God is truth, and now we begin to see the word of God also gives life. The word is translated from the Greek word logos. In the beginning was the logos, is what John 1.1 is saying. And the word of God, or the logos of God, is actually defined as being Jesus himself. In many different types and forms, written, spiritual, literal, he is the logos of God. And he performs various functions for you and in you. Let's go to John 1 and read the first three verses. John 1, beginning in verse 1, In the beginning was the word. I was not saying in the beginning was the Bible, it was in the beginning was himself. And the word was with God the Father, and the word was God, part of the God family. He was in the beginning with God. In verse 3, All things were made through him, and without the word, nothing was made that was made. So we see he also is the creator.

He is the one who came as the light. He gave himself and his life for mankind, so that we can have light and we can have life. The word also is the recorded message, of course, written for our edification. It says in 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17, All scripture is given by inspiration of God. It's profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction, and righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. So we have this, which we can read, we can study, we can reflect on, meditate on. But we also have the word living in Jesus Christ himself. How can we believe this word? How can we believe what God has said, the Bible, Jesus Christ? You know, it's a process we find in Romans chapter 10, verses 13 through 17. Romans 10 and verse 13, and anybody who tries to short circuit the process won't end up believing in the word. It says, For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's a quote from the Old Testament. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Verse 14 of Romans 10. How then shall they call on him whom they have not believed? So there's a process. Next question, how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? Now you start getting into words, people telling you things about God, about Jesus Christ. Are those words accurate? Most of them are not. Some contain some accuracies, some stretch things, some combine and co-mingle with fantasies and ancient paganism and all kinds of mythical gods. And you get a hodgepodge of mistruth. So how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? The next question is, how shall they hear without a preacher? There's lots of preachers in the world. Lots of preachers. I get emails nearly every day, not every day, sometimes more than one a day, from preachers around the world that want to be part or want to be supported or somehow want to be recognized. Who appointed them? Verse 15. And how shall they preach unless they are sent?

So you see, preachers don't...preachers of the truth, those ministers of Jesus Christ, are called and appointed by him, it says in Ephesians 4, verse 11. Not those who just take it upon themselves. Oh, I think I'll start preaching. I think I'll start writing. I think I'll start creating a ministry. I think I'll get a website. I think I'll just start pinning all kinds of stuff and using the Bible and be a self-appointed individual. Those individuals create partial truth, they use partial truth, and partial fabrications because God simply is not inspiring them. And they're left to their own imaginations. But to the minds that God opens, the Word of God brings knowledge and then understanding, and then wisdom by which we can live, by which we can understand, first of all, our sinful human nature. This process is very important for us to follow. We don't just sort of, oh, I learned the truth today, yes, jump up and down, great, I'm just hoping Jesus will come, oh, I think I'll be a minister. And then 10 years from now, oh, I think I'll get baptized. You know how people are. They're just impulsive. They're running all over the place.

In 2 Timothy 2 and verse 24, we find that there's a process that God leads each of us through.

2 Timothy 2 and verse 24, it says, A servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition if God perhaps will grant them repentance. When I counsel people for baptism, I have to tell them, I can't give you repentance. I'm helpless to give you repentance. And without repentance, you can't be baptized. And without baptism, you cannot receive God's Holy Spirit. Repentance is a gift of God. But we can mention the laws and the commandments of God and teach them in the hopes that, as Paul tells Timothy, in the hopes that God perhaps will grant them repentance. That's up to an individual to ask God for, to daily ask for repentance, to see my sins. As David said very clearly in Psalm 51, to open me, show me, expose me, and create in me a clean heart, and wash out what's there.

Going on. So that they may know the truth. You know, you can't know the truth according to this process without repentance. We can't understand the Word. We can't have the Word in us. We can't know the Word. We can't hear and process the truth unless, first of all, God grants us repentance. Then, once we repent and are baptized and receive the Holy Spirit, things begin to change. Verse 26, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will. That's what we, as humans, have been. We have been of our Father, the devil, and doing the deeds and following along the course of this world, the spirit of this world, the sons of disobedience. That's what we do. The next phase, after we are granted repentance and come to our senses, kind of have that awe, wondering, what do I do question that Peter was asked. Let's go to Acts 2, verse 37. Once, just as he was preaching to these individuals, and the preacher told them of sin, and God opened their eyes and gave them repentance, they say, what do we do now?

And the answer was, Peter said to them, verse 38, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. Our sins block us from contact with God. Our sins build a permanent, impermeable wall between us and God. He says, your sins are there so that I cannot hear you, I cannot see you. And Jesus Christ is willing, if we will enter into a covenant with Him, to forgive and break down that wall of partition, one of at least seven walls of partition that you can count, if you look very carefully at the way the temple is constructed, the temple in Jerusalem, the way it was constructed, barrier after barrier, that that barrier people from people and people from God. But Jesus Christ will come in and He will knock down all the barriers, including the big thick curtain that was in front of the Holy of Holies, and rip it all apart and give us access to God. But repentance has to come first, and the removal of sin.

So that's an important step. Once we're baptized, then we receive the Holy Spirit, He says.

Remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Let's see an example of how the word, the Logos, works in you and for you. Ephesians chapter 1, verses 13 and 14, is a very interesting passage of Scripture that puts all of this together. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 13, says, In Him you also trusted. Him is referring to Jesus Christ. So we trusted Jesus Christ, how? After you heard the word of truth. Where was that from? It was spoken by a preacher, appointed by God, going on, the gospel of your salvation, in whom, in whom who? Jesus Christ.

Also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit. What's the Holy Spirit? That's actually the Word of God in you. That's the Logos, Jesus Christ. I will not leave you. I will come to you. My Father and I will come and live in you. It's another version of the Logos, or the Word of God, being sealed with the Holy Spirit, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of His glory. This Word, we think of the Word of God, and Jesus Christ the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit, which is the Word of God living in us, because you and I are the temple of God's Spirit, and that's where they come and live. This Word of God is written in our minds and our hearts via the Holy Spirit. So it's not just here. The Holy Spirit will bring to your mind remembrance of these things that I have taught you. It says that, "...after those days a new covenant I will make with them. I will write my laws in their hearts and in their minds." My laws, the Word, will be written in hearts and minds. How? God is there. He is the Word, the Living Word, and He is there. So this complete interaction that we have with the Word of God involves bringing Christ's faith into us. He steers us towards His kingdom. He puts His Word in our minds. He writes His Word in our thoughts. He is the Living, the Written, and the Spirit. And all of these comprise the Word of God, the bread of life, the light of life. It's called.

So Jesus' statement where He says, "...sanctified them by your word," in John 17, "...your word is truth." What are we sanctified by? Well, we're sanctified by the Logos, by the Truth, who is Jesus Christ through His blood, through our sins being washed away, through being impregnated by the Holy Spirit, those who are led by the Holy Spirit. These are the sons of God. All of that sanctifies us. In other places, it says, Christ sanctify us. This is an interrelated combination of God in us, the written Word, the Holy Spirit, the Law written in our hearts and minds. And so, when Jesus said in John 14.6, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, He is the Living Word of God. He's the Way. He's the Truth. And it's life to us. What I'm trying to convey to you today is when we think of the Word of God, it is a complete interaction of God and you. It is living, acting, leading, following, obeying, participating, doing, doing the Word, obeying the Word. It says in one place, the Word of God embodies all that Jesus Christ is and does for you.

Spiritual growth is only possible by the Word of God. That Living Word of God, the written Word of God, that integrated combination that's necessary for the spiritual development, which is the bread of life. It's the foundation of all knowledge. But knowledge, if it's not used, if it's not acted on, is just knowledge. It's just something to say, well, this is really precious. It's something to store in a cabinet and say, this is really wonderful. My special Bible that I keep in a glass case at home and once in a while I'll take it out and read it. Oh, that was wonderful, wonderful words. But that's not the Word of God only. The Word of God is something that we are to eat, to read, to ingest, to have in us, to lead us, to guide us, to motivate us, to live like the Word and become like the Word. Let's go to Hebrews 4, verses 12 and 13. Hebrews 4, verse 12. It says, For the Word of God is a living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Now, you might think we're talking about the Bible here. Now, let's just compare that. The Word of God is living. Is this living? Mine isn't. I don't know if yours is moving around on your lap. This is not living. It's not really sharp. It doesn't really pierce anything. You'll probably get a paper cut off of it if you're not careful. But, you know, it really isn't piercing. Let's read on. Whatever this Word of God, the Logos is here, it's piercing even to the division of the life and spirit and the joints and the marrow. And it's a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Is this thing discerning my thoughts and my intents? No, it's not. It's just words on a page. Pages. What is this referring to? We're going to find out here in just a few words. And there is no creature or person hidden from his sight. Now we find out what the Word of God that's living and powerful and can look and dissect is. It's Jesus Christ. But all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. The Word, this Logos of God, is Jesus Christ in many ways that He interfaces with us. Not to discount the written Word at all. In John 14, verse 23, He says, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. Written, oral? He will keep my word.

And my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. So, you as the Temple of God's Holy Spirit actually become the abode, the dwelling place, the home, the temple, the place that God is dwelling now. And a very special person that you are to God is nothing more precious to Him than His children. And He has developed this universe and all of its systems and you and all of the prophecies and all of the future because of you. Because He wants you to be part of His family. And He is there to help. But He wants you to keep His word as well. Not just appreciate it, not just hear it. He wants you to keep it. And if you do that, they will live in you.

Notice here when He says He will keep my word, this Logos also refers back to the Bible, which we are taught right here. Let's go to James chapter 1 and verses 22 through 25 regarding this written word. James chapter 1 verse 22.

He says, But be doers of the word.

Jesus just talked about people who would keep the word. What about doers of the word? It is another way of keeping it. Be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourself. This is so very important to understand. I know we say it and we kind of get an idea of, yes, we need to keep it, we need to do it. But what does that really mean? I'm going to get into that in just a moment. The doers of the word are not deceiving themselves, but the hearers only are actually deceiving themselves. The hearers of this pure truth, the Word of God, the hearers, the believers, the appreciators, He's saying, are deceiving themselves if that's all they do with it. Why is that? Verse 23, 4, If anyone is the hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a carnal man observing his face, his carnal natural face, in a mirror. For he observes himself and he goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. If you simply read the Word of God and you're inspired by it, oh, that's great, and then you leave, what did it do? What did it motivate? What change did it make? What repentance did it bring? What motivation to become an active, godly individual did it cause? Nothing! You just immediately thought, well, that was great! I just really was encouraged by that song. That story was just great to hear about that individual, that rotten guy and what he did, and how God saved those people. That was just so encouraging. We immediately forget what kind of man I am. I didn't learn anything about me. I didn't learn anything that I needed repent of. Verse 25, But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful here, but a doer of the work. The Greek word here is ergon. It means toil, putting to use the words of God, actually living by them, the doer of the toil. This one will be blessed in what he does. See the difference? And what he does. There are many individuals today who know the truth. They believe the truth. People get all excited, oh, there's a group that knows the Sabbath and the Holy Days. Somebody else is heading into the kingdom. Oh, really? Not necessarily. Lots of people know the truth. We've been associated with probably 90% of all the people we've ever known have known the truth. They would have died rather than give up the truth. The knowledge of the Sabbath and the Holy Days of tithing and clean and unclean meats, the kingdom of God, the prophecies, all that goes with it, our Lord and Savior, all the plan that God has for mankind. Didn't mean they were in the church. Apostle John says they went out from us because they were never of us. Just having the truth and believing the truth is very, very different from living the truth. There's a law that's written on paper, and there's a law that's written in the hearts with God's Holy Spirit directing, motivating, living in us, motivating us to live it and do it. Do the work. Do the toil. You know, there's a huge difference between the United Church of God and other groups, not everyone in the United Church of God and other groups. But people say, well, you're all the same. You all got the same doctrines, and we do. All have the same Holy Days. Yep, all the same prophecies. Yep, pretty much. So they're all the same. You know, it doesn't matter which one you go to, it doesn't matter which feast site you go to, it doesn't matter which church you attend. It's all the same. As somebody told me recently, as long as they got the truth, they know, I'll attend with any of them. Well, there is a difference.

In 2 Corinthians 2, verse 17, Paul said, For we are not, as so many are, peddling the word of God. I'm not trying to put anybody down. But there is a reality of those who talk about the word and peddle the word. If I want to peddle the word to you, it would be something like this. You, brethren, are very special. You are God's special people, and you will be going to a place of safety. You are the Philadelphian era of Revelation chapter 3. Not those other people. You are. You are special because you have the right governance, the right name, the right structure. God loves you more than any other. The rest of them are going through the tribulation. But you, as I can prove to you, are very, very special. Don't associate with them. Don't spend time with them. Cut yourself off from them because it's all about you. You have the perfect knowledge. And I have this booklet that I wrote that nobody else has. It's special truth about something written in one of the prophets. Nobody knows this, but you know it. That's what makes you special. And that's peddling the Word of God. To make people think that the truth is the thing that grants them salvation, it's not. It's the Word of God leading us to be like Him. It's those who are led by the Spirit of God that are the sons of God. And there's a very, very big difference. Now, I'm not a promoter of churches by names or corporations. And I don't mean to say that we've got some special thing, but we are different. We very much are different. Matthew 7, verses 22 and 23 are the words of Jesus Christ Himself on this particular topic. Matthew 7, verse 22. Well, let's start in verse 21. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, and you have to go a long way before you call Jesus Christ, Lord, Lord, with enthusiasm, with vigor. You really have to know. You have to believe. You have to appreciate. He says, not everyone who says that will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does, not he who appreciates, who treasures, who loves the will of my Father, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. And what is that will? Repent, be cleansed, overcome, grow, produce fruit, become like your Father in heaven is, grow up into Christ, put on the mind of Christ. That's God's will, so that we can be in His family and live forever. Those who use this as some kind of an another instrument or some sort of an identity or a specialness and shift into some gear of all we have to do is be here or be of this or you know be of that missing it all. As proof, let's go on. Many will say to me, not a few, not just some, many. Now when I was young, my pastor, Mr. Armstrong, would say, what that word means is the many or most, not just many. You know, it says many are called and few are chosen. We're talking about lots and few. The many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not done your work? Our group was all about doing your work. Why, we did the Ezekiel message of going out and crying aloud and sparing not and telling everybody else their sins. We didn't have any. We preached the gospel better than everybody else. You know, we were on this media or that media.

We prophesied. We knew the prophecies. We had prophecy booklets. We had tons of prophecy. We had prophecies about prophecies. We knew more about prophecy than anybody else. You know what Paul said, even though I knew all the prophecies and could declare everything that was going to take place right when it happened, but if I hadn't developed that love of God, the mindset of the God family, it was nothing. And so this is what Jesus is saying. We have cast out demons in your name. Look, we've gone up and actually gotten rid of the bad side, the dark side. That proves that we're on your side. And we've done many wonders in your name. We've done everything, in fact, God except become like you. We have done everything except not slander, not to fame. We've not humbled ourselves. We have not repented daily. We've not said that we are sin and all of our righteousness is a filthy rags. We have not gotten on our knees every day and begged you to forgive us as we forgive others and only as we forgive others. We haven't done those things, but we've done a few other things instead. Is that something that God can then take the fruit of? Well, they weren't actually like us, but they have some other stuff. We were looking for fruit, but we've got worms. Bring worms into the kingdom instead of fruit. It's not what God's looking for, is it? Then I will declare to them, I never knew you. You know, those who know God, John says, are those who love. Because love is what God is. I never knew you because they didn't develop the active, humble, sacrificing love. That is what the Word of God is. If there's anything that Jesus Christ is, it's humility and it's deep sacrifice. I'll ask you this question. You want to think all the church groups are the same, that have the same doctrines? Ask this question. Who is promoting daily repentance and saying that they are sinners? Who is decreasing personal status and saying, no, I am not worthy. I do not want more for me. I want more focus on the members, the sheep that God is calling. The most important resource to the God family is the church members who is promoting Christ-centered servant leadership that was rejected for years by those who are no longer with the United Church of God. I had one of the leaders of the new organization cut me off in three sentences when I asked what happened to Christ-centered servant leadership, got mad, sliced it three times, and that conversation was done. It happens to be the top priority on the agenda of the Council of Elders and the new president who is promoting this humble Christ-centered servant mentality that we are to be growing in. Who is promoting sheep versus promoting shepherds? Let's go to Philippians 2, verses 5-9. I want to make this point for you, because Jesus said, My sheep will hear my voice and will not hear the voice of others.

What is the voice that Jesus Christ sends? Is it just, keep the Sabbath in the holy days? Is that what it is? Preach the Gospel at the ancient descendants of Israel and tell them their sins? What is it where He said, My sheep will hear My voice? What is Jesus Christ's voice? What is the Word of God about? Come to Philippians 2, verse 5. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. What is that mind? Verse 7, made Himself of no reputation. Here is the God, the Creator, the one at the right hand of the Father, made Himself lower than the angels, His own servants. He made Himself lower than His servants. He made Himself of no reputation of mortal man, not even among men did He have a reputation. He took the form of a self-chosen bond slave, one who said, I'm going to choose to be a slave to help others. Let that mind be in you. That's the voice you and I should be hearing. My sheep will hear My voice. Be humble, lower yourself, promote others, sacrifice, serve others, take on by choice the giving, the serving, the slavery, as it were, to help your brothers and sisters in their life and in their pursuit of eternal life.

And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even to the death of the cross. He went through all of that to promote you and Me. Let that mind be in you. When Jesus speaks in His word, that's what we should be hearing. When someone else is about self-promotion or some sort of advancement or some sort of discount or discredit of other people rising themselves up, that's not a voice I hear. I've had one precious person in her 90s smell that one many, many months ago and just, psh, that's wrong, all on their own.

I heard an elderly man in his 80s tell me, I got one of those letters that they wanted the ministry to sign. I read the first two sentences and threw it in the trash. You know, they're just things you're not going to hear. My sheep won't hear the voice of others. That's why I don't go and read stuff when you start start into one. I first saw those things that came out with the letterhead that were false. I read two lines, took all three of them and dumped them in the trash. I didn't say, oh, I better read these so my members, so I can help my members. I'm not going to fill my stuff, my head with this garbage. You've got to be kidding. Now, years and years ago, I go back in the ministry, I don't know, 37 years, we've had other groups leave and people write stuff and books and stuff that were confusing to them. Mr. Elliott, I've read all this stuff and now I'm really confused. Here, will you read it and fix it for me? No, I won't. How did you get here? How did you get so messed up like the aluminum foil?

You've got it all balled up and you hand me the ball and say, will you make this all shiny again? No, I don't want to get in the sewer with you and end up with my little ball and your little ball of aluminum foil and then we'll kind of... I don't want to go there. No, thank you. God's sheep are going to have the mind of God growing in them. You know, just a personal point. God's sheep are not called to support a corporation. This is a notion we need to get passed as a church. It's not always been this way. But I firmly believe that you were not called to support a corporation. You don't exist to pray and pay so that the corporation can succeed. The corporation exists so that you can succeed. It exists for the sheep. We sometimes get that turned around backward. Remember, there is nothing more important than God's children. There is nothing. There never will be anything more important than God's children.

What did Jesus say after his resurrection to Peter? Peter, feed my sheep! Ten my lambs! Feed my sheep! That's what you do. Go into all the world and cast the net, and those whom the Father is catching in the net, bring them in, baptize them, and teach them, feed them. That's the purpose of the church. That's what we're here for. Anything else? We're on to machinations of men. Yes, we need to cast the nets, and we need the organization to help cast the nets. But the purpose of casting the nets is to catch those whom the Father is drawing at this time. We all should love others, at least as much as ourselves. We don't want anybody around the world, no matter where they live, to not have the opportunity that you and I do. So we want to preach the gospel to everyone we possibly can reach. So that those who hear the truth from the preacher that's sent, if God peradventure will grant them repentance, can be baptized and then can be fed and grow as fertile soil producing that fruit for the kingdom. That is our goal. The human mind cannot understand the spiritual word without God's Holy Spirit. The mind of Jesus is Spirit. Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 11. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 11.

I hope you can understand what I'm trying to convey today. I'm a human. I'm imperfect. My words are imperfect. They're hitting your ears. I'm trying. But when we get into the Word of God, now it's pure. That's why I like to use so many scriptures in my sermons. Because when we're reading scriptures, it's all pure. When I start talking, we run the risk of impurities. I apologize and I take all the blame for things that I don't get just exactly right. But first we read these 2 and verse 11. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? A good example. Go look at Nebuchadnezzar. The spirit of man is pulled. He's like an animal crawling around the grass for 7 years. The spirit of man comes back. He says, my reasoning returned to me. Once again, I could understand. Even so, no one knows the things of God except the spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. So we need the word of God living in us. Otherwise, we don't have the spirit. We can't understand. Those of you who have been baptized will remember the day before you were baptized. You could read, you could understand, but you knew there was a barrier. You knew there was more on the other side. You told the minister that. You said, I understand that I can only learn so much. I feel there's more there. I can only do so much on my own as far as overcoming. I just need the helper. And when the helper comes, the brain, the mind gets open to spiritual things. It's because God's mind is vastly higher than your mind or mine. His words, his thoughts are vastly higher. How could we possibly ever be able to understand the thoughts of God that are higher above yours and mine than the heavens are above the earth? Well, the answer is, who has known the mind of the Lord, but we have the mind of Christ? We have the Word of God living in us. 1 Corinthians 2, 16. That's what the Spirit gives us, the mind of Christ. Again, you and I desperately need the Word of God. We need the bread of life. We need it, as Jesus said, because it's the bread which came down from heaven that one may eat of it and not die. That's what the Word of God is to us in all of its forms.

We need to eat it daily so as to grow by it. Jesus said to pray this way, give us this day our daily bread. We need Him. We need to feed on Him. We need to feed on His written Word. We need Him in our mind. We need Him to direct us. We need to repent. We need our sins washed away every day. Human life is a wonderful gift. It's filled with a lot of things. It can bring some fulfillment. Yet, stacked against us is our human nature that wants to draw us away from any form of lasting fulfillment.

Jesus said, I am come that you may have life, real life, not just being alive in the physical fulfillment, but that you can have it more abundantly in John 10. We might say, what? I'm already alive, and you're telling you've come that I can have life? I'm already alive. Some people think this is what we need to focus on, but it's not. Jesus said, you know, you eat of regular bread, you're going to die.

But you need to feed on the spiritual bread. You need to feed on the Word of God. And so it is written in 1 Corinthians 15, 45, the first man, Adam, became a living being. Yes, that's great. But the last man, Adam, became a life-giving spirit. You and I have the living being part so far. But in verse 21 of 1 Corinthians 15, it says, for since by man came death.

That's what you and I have. That's the end of all that we have been given so far. But by Jesus Christ, that man also came the resurrection of the dead. Now don't assume that this is easy. Don't assume that we can just sort of say, okay, I appreciate or I accept the Word of God. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 15 and read verses 33 and 34.

We don't often pause on these verses because 1 Corinthians 15, we focus on the resurrection and how Christ is the resurrection, the resurrection is coming, we're going to be risen at the last trump. But right in the middle in verse 33 and 34, don't assume again that this is easy. Be very, very careful in this life that you have been given. Do not be deceived. Evil company corrupts good fruits. It's interesting where this is. Verse 20, Christ is the first fruits.

Verse 23, Christ the first fruits after those it is coming. Verse 51, we shall all be changed in a moment in a twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. Dead center between the two. Don't be deceived. If you want to be part of this resurrection, remember that evil company corrupts good habits.

It's not a cakewalk. Awake to righteousness. And do not sin, for some do not have the knowledge of God. We may have the word of God, but we don't have the knowledge of God in all cases. And we can hold this word and treasure it in all the laws, but not do it. And therefore, we don't love and develop that nature by which we are going to be harvested as the first fruits. So today we've seen that the word of God, the Logos, is the source of truth. It is the way. It is the life. Jesus' statement, Your Word is Truth, really speaks to Him.

It's an interrelated combination of the source of truth, of the Father, of His Son, of the Holy Spirit, of them living in us, of that word written in our hearts and minds. Jesus constitutes the source, that light, that way, the propulsion, the understanding, the forgiving, the stitching, the healing together of us and the God family. When you think of the Word of God, you desperately need the Word of God. You need it living in you all the time, motivating you in all of its combined forms. I'm going to close by reading you three scriptures. You don't have to turn to them.

First is Psalm 119, verses 105. Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. That's what the Word of God can be for you as you walk that narrow, difficult path.

Give us this day our daily bread, Matthew 6, 11. We need to eat that word and be involved in that word on a daily basis. I am the light of the world. John 8, verse 12. He who follows me, not who believes in me, who appreciates me, he who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Brethren, your life depends on the Word of God.