21/11/2016
*IPPC 2016*
Sunday, 20th November
*Pastor Chris*
It's been an inspiring and uplifting time...
*Forms of The Word:*
*1. The Spoken Word*
God spoke His Word directly to man; to Adam, Abraham, Moses. Angels also spoke God's Word to man.
The Bible gives us the information that God gave His Word first by spoken Words. He also gave His Word through His prophets.
Hebrews 1:1 _"God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,"_
And then God moved on by commanding His prophets to put the Word in written.
*2. The Written Word*
This was given to God's people for evidence and reference, so that His people will always have counsel.
*3. The Incarnate Word*
God gave His Word through men but this time not through prophecy but in flesh in the person of Jesus Christ.
John 1:43-45 _"The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. 1:44 Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 1:45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."_
John 1:14 _"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."_
The Word became flesh. From Jesus after His death, the Word was taken forward again...
Mark 16:15-20 _"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 16:17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 16:18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. 16:19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. 16:20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen."_
4. The spoken Word takes off again not through the prophets but through the apostles, through us.
Hebrews 2:2-3 _"For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; 2:3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;"_
After Jesus had communicated to His Apostles and they believed and went to to preach, something happened, the power of the Holy Ghost was made manifest.
You cannot preach Jesus Christ without facing one form of persecution or the other because the message itself is troubling for the unsaved.
Once something is written, it creates a better image in your mind than what someone else tells you. When it's written, it stays. God gave us the Word to study it and get our lives transformed.
If you would meditate on God's Word, you'll not have a hard time observing it.
Joshua 1:8 _"This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."_
Notice it didn't say, "shall not depart out of thy heart" but thy mouth. If you'd medicate, you'll do. Success is right there in the Word. *You cannot medicate on God's Word and live accordingly consistently and be failure.*
The Word is again Incarnate in you. Remember that the Word of God tells us that we are a production of the Word. Every Christians must remain connected to its source to live. You have to remain in the Word to live.
1 Peter 1:23 , _"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever."_
2 Corinthians 3:1-3 _"Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? 3:2 Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: 3:3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart."_
You're the epistle of Christ. God's voice. Christ is alive in you manifesting His glory. The Word is Incarnated in you.
Acts 6:7 _"And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith."_
The Word increases and is living through you. If the Word increased it's because the increase. Jesus was the Word made flesh and is alive in the church.
Acts 12:24 _"But the word of God grew and multiplied."_
It's not enough to increase, you've got to grow and then multiple (2 Peter 1:2: 2 Peter 3:18). Until and unless you make the Word of God a central thing, the most important and focus of the church, there will be no growth. Build your life, the church and everything on the Word and it would be unshakable.
Acts 19:20 _"So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed."_
*You increase, grow, multiple and when you've so grown, you prevail. At this point you no longer pray against challenges and persecutions because they are bread.* There are people that want the prevailing Word when they have not grown. You've got to grow until you become the walking talking Word.