And God Said

keep your Bible handy and you may be seated a half-dozen times on the Bible's first page no fewer than nine times in the first chapter does the holy scripture declare that God said you should never doubt it makes a difference what God says because his words are spirit and they are life but unbelievably to many those words remain tonight an anomaly for regarding the Bible researchers say that two-thirds of Americans don't read it regularly nor can they name the four Gospels more than half of America can't tell five of the Ten Commandments and a majority of them find so they say the Bible irrelevant still yet it remains the biggest seller of all time it's not the Book of the Month it's not the book of the year it's the book of the ages despite the fact that Western Reserve University Research of five denominations clergy reveals that 57% of the Lutheran pastors and 57% of the Baptist pastors and 81% of the United Presbyterian pastors and eighty-two percent of the Methodist pastors and 89% of the Episcopal clergy none of them believe the Bible is inspired but still yet the sales are booming it's up 50 percent and 91 percent of all Americans own at least three translations of the Holy Bible and they say they hold it in high regard but they don't read it so it's timeless truths its promises remain locked away on its pages and their lives remain burglarized of the bounty and blessing of God one major newspaper recently reported the effort some various religious organizations to what they call jazz up the Bible two of which have hired celebrity endorsements and produced a snazzy theme song and they planned a fifty City promotional tour and they're putting ads on The Oprah Winfrey Show in the words of one of their executives he said people have to understand that that it's cool the Bible he means I personally think that be better serve to understand that it's true and that they're in it it's more than human guesswork it's more than philosophical conjecture I come tonight to come in that your consideration the Holy Scriptures of God they are the foundation of our faith a faith that stands on more than just the testimony of our forebears of the opinion of some sentimental soul our faith does not rest on the rock of someone's recollection or the musings of a mortal mind our paint does not stand on sentiment or emotion or experience no experience can be a powerful proof but our faith stands it firmly stands only inspired the infallible the immutable word of our God I come tonight to tell you that I believe the Bible unlike that other 91% I read and I believe the Bible and not without cause because the Bible said that where the word of a king is say there is power payroll spoke and Joseph was elevated saw spoke and a him elect was slain David spoke in Uriah was sent to his death because where the word of a king is there is power solomon spoke and a temple was braille a have spoke named us vineyard was taken Jehoshaphat spoke and the angels ambushed Israel's enemies the cause where the word of a king is there

is power Nebuchadnezzar spoke three Hebrews went to a fire Belshazzar spoke and Daniel went to a lion's den Herod spoke john the baptists was beheaded Wester spoke and paul was spared because where the word of a king hears there is power now under the king eternal and immortal and invisible the only wise God be glory and honor forever I've come tonight to tell you that our King spoke and there was creation our King spoke that was an incarnation our King spoke and there was salvation come on get your Bible in your hand and she'll yes who is the blessed and only potentate the king of kings and the Lord of lords who only hath immortality dwelling in the light that no man can approach who no man has seen hallelujah to him be power and glory everlasting this teen spoke and restoration came this King spoke there was justification this teen spoke there was Clara fication where the word of a king is there is power and his word is in this place and his word is in this people so there's power in this place there's power in this people because where the word of a king is there's power when those when those priests gingerly settle the ark into its place and Solomon's Temple and pulled away the staves and stepped aside first Kings eight reminds us that that sacred symbol had been pillaged that that holy box had been plundered by heathen hands and out of it they had taken the golden pot of manna God's provision they had taken Aaron's budding almond branch emblematic of God's power the only thing they left behind all that remained in the ark were the tables of stone though seemingly worthless rocks with writing on them they left him there they left the word in the box and the word was enough without the manner and without the burning rod it was enough so that when the priest stepped away from that burglarize box a cloud of glory so fill the house that no man could stand to minister in that sanctuary because where the word of a king is there is power I come to tell you there is power in this sanctuary tonight not because of who's here but because this holy inspired infallible immutable forever settled Word is in this house reality reveals that even the church can be dramatically affected by the dynamics of contemporary life notwithstanding that more millions than ever profess to have faith in the virgin birth and the Incarnation and the cross of Calvary in the resurrection and the second coming it remains that having and holding on to our faith in this hallow Borbon age is no small thing Jude warned us to be ready to contend for the faith that was delivered under the Saints and you can believe that there are a legion of deceptions that are ready to libel God at every turn and to obliterate our faith if you will have faith you will fight for it if you will have faith you will embrace this book you resist the words and ways of those who try to torpedo its forever settled truth and you will stand on the promises of God you will remember that in the beginning was the word that's something that can't be said about anything else and the Word was with God and the Word was God and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and had the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of

grace and truth so before there was a mountain to climb or a man the climate before there was a galaxy above us or grass beneath us before air of pallu or a fish swam before there was a blossom on a flower or a bloom on a rose in the beginning before it all was this word quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword able to defy the sonder soul and spirit the separate joint from Mara to discern the thought and intent of the heart it was written on two continents in countries hundreds of miles apart some of it in Syria some of in Arabia parts of it in pagan Italy another in Gothic Greece portions of it were put down in the deserts of Sinai others of in the wilderness of Judea it was peeing in a cave in a dull and a prison house in Rome it was pinned on the Isle of Patmos and in the palaces of Shushan and Zion it was written by the rivers of pedalin and by the banks of the river Chebar this strange mosaic of truth miraculously emerged from all of these diverse scenes and circumstances but there's no other literary phenomena in time that can compare to this Bible that you hold in your hand tonight the holy was it written in a diversity of locations the diversity of languages as well not one but three Hebrew and Aramaic and Greek hallelujah some of the writers wrote literally hundreds of years either before or after others the earliest of it was written fifteen hundred years before the fellow who in that it was even porn it was pinned over sixteen centuries of time by King on his throne and a herdsman with his flock in the field these words were divinely inspired but they were put down on the parchment by princes and poets and philosophers and fishermen and prophets and priests even some politicians and publicans some men who will learn in the wisdom of Egypt and others who were educated in the schools of pavulon and one who was trained at Gamaliel spiit there were men of every grade and every class and they did it in tents and in deserts and in cities and palaces and dungeons some of it they wrote in times of him in a danger some of they wrote in seasons of ecstasy in joy they wrote it in poetry and prose in letters in allegories in parables and proverbs I say what a book I say what a book I say what a book this is your Holy Bible and it is the foundation of your faith tonight hallelujah it is the foundation of our faith it was written centuries literally millennia before men would finally stumble into many of their discoveries but none of the misconceptions that were indigenous to that age are in this book even back in that ancient time this book told us in Leviticus 17 that our life was in our blood it told us in proverbs 14 that our heart is what circulates that blood it told us in job 26 and our earth was hanging out on nothing in space it told us in Isaiah 40 that the earth was round and not square Columbus didn't think that up it told us in Ecclesiastes 1 about the circuits of the wind in Genesis 22 about the number of the stars and you got to understand that that was flying in the face of those astronomers who is late as a hundred and fifty years before Christ had decided there were a thousand and twenty six stars and two and a half centuries later they still had only found two dozen more but 600 years before Bethlehem an old dude named Jeremiah told us that the hosts of heaven cannot be numbered and now we know he was right in fact the science that imagines its help qualified to disqualify this book is itself in constant change and just one in just one library in the city of Paris France there's three and a half miles of bookshelves that hold nothing but the obsolete science book section you're going to build your life on

something if you're going to build your ministry on something you're gonna put your hope in something if you're gonna preach something if you're gonna believe something I suggest that you understand that the foundation of our faith is that book 1861 the French Academy of scientists published 51 indisputable facts that they said prove the Bible was wrong today there's not one single scientist who believes one of those 51 indisputable facts but the word of the Lord Standish or and forever or Lord that word is settled so so what's going to come out of it out of all this diversity of place and people and tongue what what's this book gotta be like this cord confusion philosophical chaos no it's got one form of doctrine it's got one system of ethics it's got one plan of salvation it's got one rule of faith it's got one prea minute person it's got one Lord and one faith and one baptism and one God father of all who is above all and in you all god bless forever I've come to commend to you tonight the holy forever settled scriptures of Jesus Christ let's build our lives on this book one preeminent person living breathing on every page towering above it all Jesus Christ challenging us with his own words to search the Scriptures but these are they which testify of me for of him and by him and to him are all things this Bible is a book of divine disclosure all 66 of its books are brimming with this person with his power with his presence you can see him when Abraham offers Isaac in sacrifice you can see him the brazen serpent is raised in the wilderness see him when Joseph is sold for silver Jesus Christ was foreshadowed in them all he's on every page he's an atom the head of a human race he's in Melchizedek a priest without beginning or ending of days he's everywhere he's in David the king of his people in Aaron the high priest under God all of them were just shadows of the substance that was to come in Jesus Christ Noah's Ark the Tabernacle in the wilderness the water that flowed from the Flint Rock the manna that came down from on high the pillar of cloud by day and the parable night all of them found their fulfillment in Jesus Christ in so much that in him we live and in him we move and in him we have our being and we are complete in him because the Bible is a book about God Salman Chase Chief Justice called it a supernatural book that has come from God John Quincy Adams said it was an inexhaustible book of knowledge and virtue Sir Isaac Newton called it the most sublime philosophy of them all Sir Walter Scott the man of letters went so far as to say there is but one book and it's the Bible Jesus Christ son of God said heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall abide forever our faith has a foundation and it's this Holy Bible and you can stand on this because man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God I want you to understand with me and I take nothing away from anything the glory that's been in this house the last 24 hours it's not the ministry it's not the music it's this forever settled immutable infallible Word of God for the word of a

king is thirst power keep that book handy see what what man makes man can destroy but every effort to discredit everything to destroy this book is failed 300 years 300 years after Jesus Christ dark leishan tried to obliterate the Bible and all of its beliefs he turned the political and military might of his formidable kingdom against God's Word and edicts were issued and so many Bibles were burned then he thought he had them all and he raised a column over the image of a Bible with the inscription that said the name of Christians has been extinguished but diocletian's did and the Christians and their Bibles are still here somebody shout yes more than two centuries ago Voltaire said fifty years from now the world will hear no more of the body oh here we are 150 years past the deadline and we're preaching from it still you might find it fascinating to know that in the same year that a first edition of all tears work sold for eight cents a British Museum paid the Russian government 500 thousand dollars just for a copy of an ancient Greek Bible and I'm going to tell you something bald pear would turn over in his grave if he knew it but in 1950 the world Bible Society put their headquarters in his old house you go ahead and get excited about whatever you want to I'm gonna get excited about this holy book that is the foundation of my faith everything that you've heard in this place everything that you felt every miracle every promise every glory all of it flows out of our understanding of that book everything we know everything we experience we know it out of that book child yes hope you brought yours Emmanuel Kant was an 18th century German philosopher whose influence is still powerfully felton modern philosophy he said there would be no Bibles left by 1900 it's 2000 there's no Immanuel caught but there's still Bibles just let it grow on you Thomas Paine wrote the age of reason he was not quite as optimistic as Kant he said when I get through they'll not be 5 Bibles left in America his age of reasons not much more than a literary curiosity but they're more Bibles on that on this platform aren't there he got him the poster in his book are gone but the Bible remains because the grass withereth and the flower faded but the word of our God shall stand forever unchanged by the geologists hammer unchanged by the chemists crucible unchanged by the investigation of the archaeologists forever o Lord thy word is channel and the word of the Lord standeth sure we get excited about his name and we all - but the psalmist said he had magnified his word above his name according the Apostle Paul this word is never bound not by time not by

circumstance you and I can be bound physically financially socially intellectually circumstantially spiritually emotionally we can be bail but this word it's never bound as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven and return if not thither but watered the earth and make it that bud and bring forth then it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth it shall not return unto me void it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it I'm telling you tonight that the Bible says God watches over his word to perform it he watches over he watches over to perform it whenever wherever ah whomsoever this word is spoken he's watching over it to perform it in so much at the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the earth seeking someone whose heart is right toward him then he might show himself powerful in their behalf this word is not bound by time it may take days it may take decades it may take dispensations but every promise is going to come to pass when that unnamed prophet from Judah arrived at jeroboams altar he came to cursing he predicted that a child would be born out of the house of David he named him he said his name will be Josiah and he'll destroy this altar and then on the ashes of this altar he'll sacrifice the bones of the priests of the high places it was 322 years before Josiah was even born it was 348 years after that pole nameless prophet had stood there and prophesied when the Bible says of Josiah at the altar that was at Bethel which Jeroboam had made he break it down and he burned it and he stamped it to powder and he turned around and he got on his horse and he started to flee but the hand a prophecy pulling back and the Bible said that Josiah spied the settlers and took out the bones of the priests and burned them on the altar according to the word of the Lord this word is not bound by time Snowbell my circumstance come with you yes that generation believes what I'm preaching I said that generation believes what I'm preachin that the foundation of our pain is that book say it's not bound a circumstance it doesn't matter how many barrels of water Elijah pours on the sacrifice the fire still fallen Bernadette the pole balding prophet Elijah passed away and died with his 14th and final miracle still having done that unfulfilled prophetic utterance of his mentor hanging like a democracy or over his head and so he was he was dead but he wasn't at rest but God was watching over his word to perform it so there was a gang of guys going to bury one of their buddies and they spied a band the Midianites and they panic and they took their dead buddy and threw him in the nearest hole and that poor dude hit the bones of Elijah stop the hell a sin is not bound that corpse hit the bones of Elijah life came back into him he shot

up out of that hole and the old puppet rolled over and went to sleep because he knew that God's Word had come it's not bad it's not bad it's not bad kept your hands in you got a Bible John 20:1 Jesus told Peter he said when that was young you girded yourself and where you wanted to go but he said when you get old another is going to gird you they're going to take you where you don't want to go and this fakie to him of the death which he should die so when Herod cut off James his head and threw Peter in the jail you can be seated and said I'll kill you after the holidays over when the angel came to get him out Peter was fast asleep and I'll tell you why because God is sin when they were told and Peter knew he was known and so Herod couldn't kill him with an atom bomb I'll tell you what you just look in here and find your promise find your promise that your promise that your promise and remember that this word is not bad nothing can buy this book ah haha stop Marilyn and pursue it to that do I come tonight to try to convince us that we need to seize it and say it and pray these promises to pass because we're told in the scripture clearly forever O Lord thy word is settled say in heaven I'm not in heaven may be settled in heaven bless God but I'm not in heaven and there's a lesson in that line for me because what settled in heaven is not necessarily always settled on the earth you don't have to look too closely and figure out that what's true and eternity is not always true in time that was true in heaven is not always true in the earth sometimes these same promises that help us come back and haunt us read that book and we see the disparity that exists between what we read in our reality we see this dichotomy between the promise and our performance and his words and our ways between our expectations and our experience and there is a disturbing conundrum that develops and not infrequently many of us find ourselves confounded but there's an answer and that's this this prophetic word that has been spoken and forever recorded that is settled in heaven Jesus said that word is a seed and so conception has taken place God has spoken it and conception has taken place it has been planted and there is life but before anybody plays with a baby somebody's got to bring that dude to birth before there's any connection between what we read in our reality between our expectation and our experience before was settled in heaven is settled on the earth we have to pray the promise to pass jesus said behold I send the promise of the father but in the same breath he said now you go tarry in Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high it was settled in heaven but they had to settle it on the earth in first Kings 18 the prophet sent word to Ahab he said you better get the up and get to Jess real for I hear the sound of abundance of rain the very next verse says he went to the top of Carmel got his face to the ground put his hand between his knees and prayed that in migraine now the sea was planted and Concepcion had taken place and the word had been spoken but Elijah had to pray that

promised the path don't read that and freak out and think my god that word is not true not true it's all true I've just got to get in there and find it and then speak it and pray it to pass I've got a saddle on the earth what God has handled in heaven for the profits for the Apostles for us whenever we speak that word there's a miracle in our mouth for this commandment which I command thee this day it's not hidden from me and neither is it far off hallelujah it's not in heaven that thou should it say who will go into heaven for us and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it neither is it beyond the sea that you might say who shall go over the sea for us and bring it unto us that we might hear it and do it but the word of faith is very nice unto thee in thy mouth and in thy heart that battle may s do it how powerful is this word when Jesus Christ wanted to reward him for the use of his boat he wanted to work for Simon Peter he said unto Peter launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a dropped and naturally Peter started protesting he knew the fish were not in the deep in the early morning and he was right he said we toiled all night we've caught nothing but there was something in Jesus stare that caused him to reconsider that incredulous look of God and the soul admittedly and nobody say without believing shout without believing he didn't even imagine any measure of success Simon Peter dutifully responded he thought he would humor Christ and he said nevertheless at thy word and what's this I will let down the net he's only gonna let one down cuz he's cleaned all the rest of him and he's not into this to start with now come on just stay with me for me he's not acting out of inspiration he's not acting out of faith he's not even acting out of hope he is simply acting in accordance with God's Word that's all he has no inspiration he has no faith he has no hope and without so much as a word of explanation dr. Luke writes and when they had this done they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net break because they could not handle the hall now listen because when Simon Peter said nevertheless at thy word notwithstanding his doubt when he aligned himself with this word even in the absence of inspiration when he acted in accordance with that word he put himself in harmony with the heavens say no faith say no inspiration say no hope shouted chanted shouted he simply acted in accordance with that word put himself in harmony with the universe and now anything could happen he's in harmony with the Sun and the moon and the stars he's in harmony with the Seraphim and the cherubim and elders and the angels he's in harmony with God himself hallelujah he was right the fish were not in the deep but they were heading there I said they were headed there they were on their way Nicole Simon Peter had acted on this word and this word was going to put those fish there he opened up his life for the same power that controls the highest and holiest of heavens hosts the

word that makes the cherubims pal and the Seraphim flying though it because David said bless the Lord he has angels that excel in straight that do His commandments harkening under the voice of his word he put himself in harmony with the power that made the heavens above us and the earth beneath us for by the word of the Lord or the heavens made and through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God he's in harmony with the hand that's holding it all together for the Bible said he opposed all things by the word of his power align yourself with that word act in accordance with this word and you put yourself in harmony with heaven stand on it even in the absence of inspiration stand on it when you feel no faith stand on it when your hope is gone just stand on this word because when you act in accordance to this word anything can happen marry millet because when she set their dumbstruck at that angels Annunciation she finally surrendered to what he was saying and this is what she said nevertheless be it unto me according to thy word and instantly the Christ was conceived in her because the Word was made flesh so that's why when she was at the marriage of Cana and the wine ran out she looked at those servants and said I got a I got a deal for you she said just whatsoever he saith unto thee just do it right why the cause without faith without inspiration without hope without knowledge if you lack in accordance to this word you put yourself in harmony with heaven and absolutely anything come on Chad yes chant yes Chad yes wrap your hands under the Lord's you all that stuff that makes us happy we wouldn't even know it mil the 17th century was a historical fire in London the fire penetrated the earth so deeply that it warmed the soil and there were seeds that had been long buried in the soil of London trodden into the ground by the heel of man and suddenly even though these flowers were not even indigenous to that city suddenly they sprang to life flowers that were unknown to that entire nation had been awakened by the fire and the heat Jesus said that his word is a seed and just as surely now is then and just as surely here is their and just as surely spiritually as naturally somewhere sometimes somehow by someone that seed has been planted in us perhaps buried and harder mine beneath decades of experience and over trodden by circumstance in time but if we let the fiery energy of the Holy Ghost penetrate the soil of our souls it can awaken that seed and it can bring to pass every promise that has been put there this word that started creation this word over which he watches to perform this word that is not bound this word that will not return void this word that will accomplish what he pleased this word that will prosper in that thing whereto he sends it when we act in accordance with that word we put ourselves in harmony with heaven and anything it happened

God God gave Abraham that incredible promise and he got hooked up in Eliezer syndrome he couldn't have kids and Eliezer was having them right and left how was his servant so Abraham went to God he said look I think I misinterpreted your promise he said this dude's having babies every year I've got none he said maybe what you meant was that the promise was going to come from my house but not from me and so I'll just and God said what are you talking about so then he graduated he moved up one step and he got caught in the Ishmael complex and he succumbed to Sarah scheming mine and went and sired a son with a heathen and then tried to convince God that his substitute that Ishmael was in fact good enough dude was nearly a hundred years old by the time he got around to believe in this right but but but but once you get it once you grasp it once you embrace it once you take hold of it what's you act in accordance with it anything so this guy has Isaac at a hundred and Paroles Sarah's ninety but see once you once you get up don't after Sarah died that dude got married again had six more boys this cat that thought he couldn't have one at a hundred had six more after that it's God trying to tell us something you ever wrap your heart and hands around this holy book I'm here to tell you that it will open up the windows of heaven absolutely nothing will be impossible this word is not bad it will accomplish it you can put yourself in harmony with heaven stand your feet listen on the last page of the Bibles last book there's one word say one word that opens the door salvation to anybody one word just because it's in this book there's one word that literally stops Hale in its tracks the spirit and the bride say come and let him that is athirst come and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely it's the same let that's on the Bible's first page when it says let there be light now that wasn't a suggestion when he said let there be light it meant it doesn't matter how long or thick the darkness stand aside darkness cuz the lights coming right and the Bible ends the way it began he said let him come so what that is that's not an invitation that's not an altar call he was talking to every fiend of hell and he said when the weakest one among rise is to come you just stand aside baby and you let him come when he said let him come that was a command for every power of Darkness to stand aside and let the weakest world of humanity come to Calvary I find it fascinating to consider that the last thing that the devil is ever going to hear is the Word of God when God destroys him he's not gonna do it with a cherubim he's not gonna do it with a Seraphim he's not gonna do it with the holy host of heaven but the Bible said that he'll destroy him with

the breath of his mouth after after orchestrating millennia of mayhem after a reign of terror that has stretched for thousands of years God's gonna put the devil completely out of business with one word that's how powerful is that word that's how glorious is that word that's how strong is that learn an entire lifetime of heaven an entire lifetime of terror and mayhem will be brought to us preaching home by just the word of Jesus Christ and so I rise to tell this all stare group of men and women here tonight that there is absolutely nothing that is more vital that is more valuable to our lives individually and to our ministries collectively that are building our lives on this holy book and believing that every word in that book is going to come to pass that it's not pound that he watches over it to perform it that when we act in accordance with it we open the windows of heaven to our lives hallelujah somebody shout yes shout yes shout yes chant yes tap your hands on the Jesus Christ shout with a voice of tire oh yes if you got your Bible put it over your head and wave it and Lashelle under God like thunder all right go right No