0:05 [Music]
0:07 welcome to back to the Bible radio
0:09 featuring best-selling author and
0:11 internationally known Bible teacher
0:14 Warren where's being Father in Heaven we
0:18 give thanks for our great Savior and for
0:21 the great salvation we have through him
0:24 we're thankful for the Word of God open
0:27 our eyes to understand your word open
0:30 our hearts to love and receive your word
0:34 and may we be nourished and encouraged
0:38 and helped today I pray father for our
0:40 worldwide listening audience that your
0:43 grace will be upon each listener may
0:45 each one hear the word of God and
0:48 respond to it and bless and meet the
0:52 needs that are in each life I pray in
1:00 1st Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 13
1:04 for this reason we also thank God
1:07 without ceasing because when you receive
1:09 the Word of God which you heard from us
1:13 you welcomed it not as the word of men
1:16 but as it is in truth of the word of God
1:21 which also effectively works in you who believe
1:22 believe
1:25 Paul is once again giving thanks for
1:27 something that was true about the
1:29 Thessalonians Paul was a great
1:30 appreciate horror
1:33 it's a tragedy when a pastor a
1:35 missionary Sunday school teacher becomes
1:38 a critic now we're trained to have
1:41 discernment we are trained to as it were
1:44 criticized in the right way we have high
1:47 ideals we want to apply the Word of God
1:50 to everyday life let's also learn to be
1:52 thankful there is so much to be thankful
1:56 for in our people chapter 1 verse 2 of
2:00 1st Thessalonians Paul gave thanks for
2:01 their work of faith and labor of love
2:05 and patience of Hope in chapter 3 verse
2:09 9 he gives thanks for the joy that they
2:12 brought to him and the fact that they
2:16 were standing firm in persecution
2:19 chapter 5 verse 18 he says in every
2:22 thing give things Paul was a thankful
2:25 servant of God if you want to take a lot
2:27 of the burden off of your life just
2:29 learn how to be thankful now for what is
2:32 he thankful well he's thankful for the
2:36 way they responded to the Word of God he
2:41 gives to us three responses that they
2:43 showed to the Word of God remember these
2:47 people did not have a printed Bible when
2:49 Paul came into the city of Thessalonica
2:52 he came preaching the gospel and sharing
2:54 the Word of God these people had never
2:57 heard the gospel before as a result of
2:59 Paul's preaching these people were born
3:03 from above born again and Paul rejoiced
3:07 at their responses to the Word of God
3:09 now they had a three-fold response to
3:12 the Word of God according to 1st
3:16 Thessalonians 2:13 and you and I should
3:19 have these same responses in our lives
3:23 today if you want your Christian life to
3:25 grow have the right response as to the
3:28 Word of God they appreciated the word
3:32 they appropriated the word and they
3:36 applied the word they appreciated the
3:39 word for this reason we also thank God
3:42 without ceasing because when you receive
3:44 the Word of God which you heard from us
3:48 you welcomed it not as the word of men
3:51 but as it is in truth the Word of God
3:54 notice that central phrase not as the
3:57 word of men but as it is in truth the
4:01 Word of God we do not treat the Word of
4:04 God the way we treat any other word
4:06 there are some people who give more
4:09 attention to the weather report than
4:11 they do the preaching of the word of God
4:13 there are some people who when they read
4:15 their newspaper give greater attention
4:18 to the stock market report than they do
4:22 when they read the Word of God now these
4:24 people heard the word faith comes by
4:27 hearing and hearing by the Word of God
4:31 they heard the Word of God today I find
4:33 that as difficult
4:35 for many people to discipline themselves
4:40 to here we talk about dull preachers I
4:42 trust I'm not one of them but Hebrews
4:45 chapter 5 talks about dull hearers
4:49 people who are not disciplined to listen
4:51 you see when the pastor gets into the
4:54 pulpit to preach the Word of God whether
4:57 he be a gifted preacher or not that's
4:59 not important the important thing is
5:02 he's bringing us the Word of God when
5:04 the sunday-school teacher is teaching
5:07 that teacher is bringing to us the Word
5:11 of God and that word demands from us
5:15 absolute attention they appreciated the
5:18 Word of God they were attentive to the
5:21 Word of God they said listen Paul is
5:25 giving to us the Word of God now it's
5:28 easy to be distracted in fact even
5:30 listening to a broadcast like this it's
5:33 easy to be distracted I've had people
5:35 write and say that when they listen to
5:37 back to the Bible they do crossword
5:38 puzzles or they have some other
5:41 occupation frankly I'd have a hard time
5:43 listening to someone teach the Word of
5:45 God if I were doing a crossword puzzle I
5:49 don't have that kind of a gift we should
5:53 give our full appreciation to and our
5:57 attention to the Word of God by the way
6:00 do you appreciate your Bible you say
6:02 what's a strange question I'm listening
6:04 to back to the Bible let me ask you
6:07 again do you appreciate your Bible I
6:09 keep a marker in 1st Thessalonians
6:14 chapter 2 and turned back to psalm 119
6:19 now as you know psalm 119 focuses on the
6:22 Word of God every verse except probably
6:26 for mentions the word of God in some way
6:29 now whoever wrote psalm 119 and we don't
6:31 know who it was it may have been david
6:33 may have been jeremiah i don't know
6:36 whoever wrote it though had a great love
6:41 for the word of the Living God psalm 119
6:45 verse 72 the law of your mouth is better
6:46 to me than thousand
6:49 of shekels of gold and silver would you
6:51 rather have God's Word than have money
6:56 look at verse 127 therefore I love your
6:59 Commandments more than gold yes fine
7:06 Gold verse 162 of psalm 119 I rejoice at
7:08 your word as one who finds great
7:10 treasure here's a man saying I'd rather
7:13 have the Word of God than have money now
7:16 that's a quite a statement to make my
7:18 greatest treasure is the Word of God and
7:20 when I get an opportunity to hear the
7:23 word of God it's like money in the bank
7:27 it's like receiving great wealth
7:29 now Aiken didn't have that attitude
7:34 you'll recall in the book of Joshua when
7:37 they conquered the promised land God
7:40 said to Joshua don't let anybody take
7:43 anything from Jericho no spoil from
7:46 Jericho but Aiken did he saw some gold
7:49 and some silver and a Babylonian garment
7:50 so he took it he'd rather have the money
7:53 than have the Word of God you recall in
7:56 Genesis chapter 14 when Abraham defeated
7:59 the kings he came back and the king of
8:03 Sodom offered him all of the loot all of
8:06 the the spoil from the battle he said
8:08 take the money just give me the people
8:12 and Abraham said I've lifted my hand to
8:15 Almighty God God Most High I won't even
8:17 take a shoelace off of you I want the
8:19 Word of God I don't want money many a
8:23 Christian has been taken away from
8:26 devotion to the Word of God simply by
8:29 wealth the false wealth of this world
8:32 seek you first the kingdom of God and
8:34 His righteousness and all these things
8:37 shall be added unto you look at psalm
8:44 119 verse 62 at midnight I will rise to
8:46 give thanks to you because of your
8:51 righteous judgments psalm 119 verse 147
8:55 I rise before the dawning of the morning
8:57 and cry for help I hope in your word my
9:00 eyes are awake through the
9:03 watches that I may meditate on your word
9:05 would you rather have God's Word than
9:08 have sleep do you set your alarm clock
9:10 so that early in the morning you can get
9:12 up and read the Word of God meditate on
9:14 it would you rather have God's Word than
9:18 have sleep that wasn't true of Peter and
9:20 James and John they were up on the Mount
9:24 of Transfiguration Moses appeared Elijah
9:27 appeared Jesus was there in glory and
9:30 the three men talked about his decease
9:33 his Exodus his death that he was going
9:35 to accomplish in Jerusalem and the
9:37 disciples were asleep here they were
9:39 sleeping through the greatest Bible
9:41 conference ever held on earth the
9:44 greatest subject the cross the greatest
9:47 speakers the Lord Jesus and Moses the
9:50 law and Elijah the prophets the greatest
9:53 glory the greatest opportunity and the
9:55 disciples were asleep I wonder how many
9:58 times we have slept through the Word of
10:05 now when we're hearing the word of God
10:08 we have to give it attention they
10:11 appreciated God's Word and like the
10:13 psalmist they'd rather have God's Word
10:16 than have money or sleep how about food
10:20 it's not as life demands nourishment the
10:22 inner person has an appetite when you're
10:26 saved God gives to you life down inside
10:29 and your inner person gets hungry for
10:33 spiritual food the Word of God makes it
10:36 very very clear that unless you have
10:39 that kind of an appetite down inside you
10:44 may not truly be born again the Word of
10:47 God we discovered is the nourishment
10:51 it's bread Matthew 4:4 it's milk first
10:55 Peter two one two three it's meat first
10:57 Corinthians three and Hebrews five and
11:03 it's honey some 119 103 and I'm sure you
11:06 know that Psalm 19 verse 10 says the
11:09 same thing more to be desired are they
11:12 meaning the judgments of God than gold
11:15 yea than much fine gold sweeter also
11:21 than honey and the honeycomb psalm 119
11:27 verse 1 over 2 my taste sweeter than
11:30 honey to my mouth rather have the Word
11:32 of God than have honey honey was the
11:34 sweetest thing that the Jew would know
11:40 in the book of Job job says in job 23:12
11:43 let me read the verse to you I have not
11:44 departed from the commandment of his
11:48 lips I have treasured the words of his
11:51 mouth more than my necessary food now
11:54 honey would be dessert but job said I'd
11:56 rather have the Word of God that have my
12:00 necessary food Jeremiah had something to
12:04 say about this Jeremiah chapter 15 and
12:08 verse 16 listen to what he said your
12:11 words were found and I ate them and your
12:13 word was to me the joy and rejoicing of
12:16 my heart he ate the word of
12:19 the Living God feeding on God's Word
12:21 would you rather have the Word of God
12:24 that have food if you had the choice of
12:26 going to a banquet or going to a Bible
12:29 conference where would you go you see
12:32 the Word of God has to be appreciated
12:34 these people appreciated the Word of God
12:37 please don't treat the Bible the way you
12:41 treat any other book now I know there's
12:43 sometimes you can't help it because
12:45 churches are not always built for
12:47 convenience but I hate to see a Bible
12:51 put on the floor of a church I'm always
12:52 glad to be in a church building where
12:55 they have little shelves in the pews or
12:58 the seats where you can put your Bible I
13:00 don't like to see a Bible on the floor I
13:02 don't like to see other books stacked on
13:04 top of a Bible the Bible ought to be on
13:08 top I don't like to see someone throw
13:11 the Bible or drop the Bible we need to
13:14 treat the Word of God with sincere
13:18 devotion and appreciation these people
13:23 appreciated God's Word as I'm talking to
13:25 you right now I trust that you will
13:28 receive the Word of God as the word of
13:31 God not the word of man so often
13:32 somebody says well brother with me
13:34 that's your interpretation well
13:36 sometimes my interpretations may need
13:40 help but pay attention to the Word of
13:42 God they appreciated God's Word secondly
13:46 they appropriated God's Word notice
13:49 first Thessalonians 2:13 for this reason
13:51 we also thank God without ceasing
13:54 because when you receive the Word of God
13:58 which you heard from us you welcomed it
14:00 we have two different Greek words here
14:02 the first word is the word received the
14:05 second is the word welcomed you welcomed
14:08 it it's the picture well it's the same
14:11 word that's used of Simeon when he
14:14 received the baby Jesus into his arms
14:17 do you welcome the Word of God into your
14:19 mind and heart the way you throw your
14:22 arms around someone you love they
14:26 welcome the Word of God they received it
14:30 they appropriated God's Word now the
14:30 Word of God
14:33 in our hand is good the Word of God in
14:35 our head is better the Word of God in
14:39 our heart is best and when the Word of
14:41 God gets into our head and we understand
14:44 it and gets into our heart and we love
14:47 it then it can move over to our will and
14:50 we can obey it did you know that God has
14:54 given to us three editions of his truth
15:00 for example the word is truth John 17:17
15:02 jesus said sanctify them through your
15:05 truth Your Word is truth
15:07 not your word is true that's a valid
15:10 statement your word is truth the very
15:13 essence of truth comes in the Word of
15:17 God the Word of God is a book to learn
15:21 your word is truth it can take hold of
15:23 the mind I can't explain this the
15:26 psychology of it eludes me all I know is
15:28 when the Word of God gets into your mind
15:30 and you think on it and you meditate on
15:34 it something happens to your mind romans
15:36 12:2 calls this the renewing of your
15:39 mind it makes us start to think the way
15:42 God thinks your mind becomes as it were
15:46 a receiver and a transmitter of the very
15:50 truth of God God's truth is a book to
15:53 learn for my mind but God's Word as a
15:57 person to love Jesus said I am the truth
16:02 john 14:6 now this is for my heart the
16:05 lord jesus christ is truth therefore my
16:06 heart can love him
16:09 the word of god is truth therefore my
16:14 mind can learn it first John 5:6 we read
16:18 the Spirit is truth now the Holy Spirit
16:21 of God wants to work in me both to will
16:23 and to do of God's good pleasure the
16:26 Spirit of God wrote the word of God
16:28 the Spirit of God teaches the Word of
16:32 God so when I appropriate the truth into
16:34 my mind I learn it and when I
16:37 appropriate the truth into my heart I
16:40 love it because it tells me about Jesus
16:44 I also appropriate the truth into my will
16:44 will
16:47 and I asked the Holy Spirit of God to
16:50 help me to live the truth it's not
16:52 enough to learn the truth it's not
16:54 enough to learn the truth and then love
16:58 the truth we must live the truth God's
17:01 Word has been given for us to obey these
17:04 people appropriated God's Word and it
17:06 went to work in their lives which leads
17:08 us now to the third response they
17:11 applied the truth we must appreciate the
17:14 truth we must appropriate the truth and
17:16 we must apply the truth notice what he
17:20 says the Word of God which also
17:24 effectively works in you who believe
17:27 Paul likes this word works as a
17:29 translation of a Greek word that gives
17:34 us our word energy or energize he says
17:36 the word of God is what energizes you
17:39 the Word of God is living and powerful
17:43 the Word of God has life this is the
17:46 Living Word in other words of men do not
17:48 have life they eventually die and decay
17:52 now so much of what we manufacture has
17:55 no life in it it doesn't last I've seen
17:57 ministries come and go I've seen
18:00 testimonies come and go but you know
18:02 when they're based on the Word of God
18:07 there is a fixedness about the ministry
18:09 there is something that says this is
18:11 going to last he who does the will of
18:15 God abides forever the Word of God has
18:18 life in it like seed the great need
18:20 today is for life our world is a vast
18:24 cemetery and the corpses are walking
18:27 around spiritually dead physically alive
18:31 and all how desperately they need the
18:34 life of God and that life comes through
18:37 the word I have a large library I try to
18:39 use it I've noticed that there are
18:41 statements in books that have been
18:43 forgotten there are great people whose
18:45 words have just been forgotten
18:48 occasionally a statement will show up in
18:51 a quotation book but here are vast
18:54 libraries of material written by people
18:56 whose words have been forgotten they died
18:57 died
18:59 but the Word of God is living and
19:02 powerful and when the Word of God gets
19:07 into our lives our mind understands the
19:10 truth our heart loves the truth our will
19:13 then obeys the truth a miracle takes
19:16 place the Spirit of God takes the Word
19:20 of God and energizes us as we believe in
19:22 his word
19:25 this word of God which also effectively
19:30 works in you who believe how did God
19:33 create the universe through his word and
19:36 God spoke and it was done and God said
19:39 let there be and there was how does God
19:43 run the universe through his word he
19:45 said the Jeremiah that I'm going to
19:49 watch over my word to perform it now how
19:51 does God work in our lives through his
19:55 word by the way you don't get blessed by
19:57 learning the word you don't even get
20:00 blessed by loving the word the blessing
20:03 comes when you do the word isn't that
20:05 what James told us you know that
20:09 statement James chapter 1 he tells us
20:12 the Word of God is like a mirror if you
20:14 just glance into the mirror and go your
20:17 way it doesn't help you but if you stare
20:20 into the mirror and find out what God
20:23 wants you to do and do it you'll be
20:27 blessed in what you do James 1:25 but he
20:28 who looks into the perfect law of
20:33 Liberty and continues in it and is not a
20:36 forgetful hearer but a doer of the work
20:39 this one will be blessed in what he does
20:42 not in what he learns not in what he
20:46 feels in what he does the blessing comes
20:50 when we obey the word of God let's not
20:52 just be hearers don't look at your
20:54 outline you've written down and say well
20:57 I have a new outline today oh no ask God
20:59 Lord what do you want me to do
21:01 that's what Paul asked what do you want
21:04 me to do I think a lot of people are
21:05 fooled into thinking because they hear a
21:08 lot of preaching and a lot of sermons
21:11 and they hear a lot of radio message
21:12 and read a lot of books they're growing
21:16 no we grow in the doing of the Word of
21:20 God and not just in the hearing let's
21:21 appreciate the word
21:24 let's appropriate the word let's apply
21:27 the word this is the way God gives us
21:31 his best blessing now let's pray
21:34 together we're grateful father that you
21:36 give to us all that we need that we
21:39 might have a life of godliness help us
21:42 to listen to your word to obey it to
21:43 feed upon it
21:46 help us Heavenly Father to live to
21:49 glorify you Oh may we not bring disgrace
21:52 upon the name of the Saints the name of
21:55 the church the name of the Lord this I
21:58 pray in the name of our Lord Jesus
22:02 Christ and for his sake amen [Music]
22:04 [Music]
22:06 thanks for being a part of our back to
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22:10 wonderful to have you with us each day
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