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