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Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason and I'm one.
[00:00:04] Speaker B: Of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the.
[00:00:08] Speaker A: Teaching from God's word you hear today.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: Will bless your life and draw you closer to him. If you're ever in the Madison, Alabama area, we'd love for you to worship with us on Sundays at 830 or 10:30 a.m. if you have any other questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison church, find [email protected] dot. Be sure to also check out our Bible study podcast, Madison Church of Christ Bible studies. Thanks again for stopping by.
[00:00:37] Speaker A: Good to see all of you this morning. Thankful to have you with us and especially if you're visiting, man. We are so excited to have you with us this morning. I want to share with you a couple of announcements real quick before I move into the message.
One of the things that I want to just say is how excited I am that we are moving forward in our project to expand our facilities. It's going to be exciting to see more classrooms, more fellowship area, more opportunity for us to be together as a church family. And I hope that you guys will all get behind that and encourage our shepherds to keep moving forward. Just an exciting time to see the number of people coming, their return, and the growth that we've experienced and to see how that has pressed us, maybe called us into action a little bit. And that's really, really good. So I'm excited about that. Looking forward to what that's gonna provide for us. But then also, I actually dropped the ball. I was supposed to send a video to our guys up top, and I neglected to do that. But I want to share with you what that video was about. It was about a minute long video from one of our missionaries from India. His name is John Dean. And what we were hoping is that we could put a video up there to remind everybody that we have all these mission efforts going on and maybe put a name and a face to that mission work that's going on. He is going to be with us next Sunday from 945 until 1015. And during that time, he's going to be up in the balcony area, the cyp old classroom up there. I think it's 02:01 from 945 to 1015 next Sunday. So those in the early service can stay a little bit later, and those of us who are in the later service can come a little bit early, capture a little bit of what's going on in India and really support and encourage this mission effort. Definitely. If you want to be a part of that, come and be a part of that. 945 to 1015 next week. When I was in college in 1993, that summer after my freshman year, I agreed to do something that most people would think is absolutely insane. But I thought it would be the funnest and best time of my life. And that was I signed on to be a camp counselor for Faulkner University. And what that means is that you represent Faulkner everywhere you go. And as you were doing that, you hand out scholarships. And, yes, I was 19 years old, and they gave me the authority to hand out scholarships to people who might be interested in going to Fulton University. And so it's a great thing. And you can imagine going to camp is fun, right? And so, like, when we think about the brochures, when we think about what we envision camp, this is it, right? It's a lot of fun. It's stimulating. It's, it's exciting for us to be around new friends. We get taught the scriptures. We're fired up. We do lots of fun games and crazy things. We dive around in the mud and all that's wonderful. But then what happens is we ultimately leave the camp and we come back home. Right? And when we come back home, what happens? We just collapse, right? We get really, really tired. Well, at Faulkner, if you work camps the way it was supposed to work is you do four or five weeks consecutively of camp, and that gets you exhausted. But then they would give you, like, a week off where you could go back home, rest it off a little bit, and come back and finish the rest of the ten weeks of your assignment. And that was great. So I took off, and each week you'd have a different partner, and you would go and spend some time with them, and you'd drive from one place to the next. Camps were all over the place. I'm talking all the way to Palmetto Bible camp in South Carolina to Eustace, Florida, and central Florida Bible camp, all the way west to Sardis Lake Christian camp over in Mississippi and everywhere in between. Gulf Coast Bible camp, North Georgia Bible camp, I mean, all over the place. And so Montgomery was sort of the central hub. And then you would travel in partners, and you would go to these places, stay a full week. You were the counselor. You were Bible class teachers. You were song leaders. You were doing all these things to represent the school and to go and help plug gaps in some of these camps where they may have had a few people shy of what they really needed. So again, you'd go and you'd go for several weeks and then you'd take a break. Well, as it turns out, some of the people that were supposed to work camps that summer went about two or three weeks and said, I can't do this, I'm out. It's just, it's just too much. It gets me exhausted. I can't handle it. I'm not sleeping well and as a result I'm grumpy. And when I go, I'm not a really good influence at this place, you know, you can imagine how that would get you going. But for those of us who loved it, they said, hey, we've got some gaps now, we've got some people missing. So we're going to kind of break some of these groups up and send you to all different places. And unfortunately that means you won't be getting a break.
So I went eight consecutive weeks of Bible camp. Now, if you've been to one, you know that you come back from camp and you finish up, what, on Saturday morning you get back home the best you can and then you drop, right? You go and you take one of those naps that you don't wake up till the next morning for church, right? You get home Saturday, you wake up next morning and when you wake up, everything in your body is kind of like jerky and you just don't have all your bearings just yet. Right. Well, after this 8th consecutive week of camps, I got one of those naps. But unfortunately it was in this setting that I got that nap. I was on my way back, I assume home, not real sure, but it was my 8th week and I was driving apparently, and I woke up to horns, not one horn, but multiple horns as cars were around me trying to wake me up. And my mouth was wide open and I don't even know if I had my hands on the wheel, but I'm driving somewhere where there's like four or five lanes of traffic.
And so I don't know how long I was out. It may have been 3 seconds, I do not know. But I got so deep that when they woke me up, you know, I was alarmed and immediately like tried to figure out what to do. Kind of got off the road, off on the shoulder and just collected myself. I was so tired. I can't even express to you how tired this was, that I did not know where I had been and I had no concept of where I was going.
I sat there for a good five minutes going.
I mean, where was I I don't even know what camp I was at. I had no concept of it, and so I thought, okay, I've got to find some way to orient, you know, and I would grab my cell phone, but this is way before that time. So there's no cell phone, there's no. There's no gps. There's no anything to give me an idea where I am. And all I see is lanes of traffic. So I stay on the shoulder, and I drive maybe, you know, a half a mile or so, and I get a mile marker. Again, a mile marker tells me a number. It does not tell me where I am. Drove a little bit further, finally saw the interstate number, and then I broke out. What is a paper map? Okay? It's an atlas. You guys know that you're older than me. You know what that is? We'd pull those things out, and it would look something like this. This is me. This is not me, but this is like me standing over the hood going, where am I? And how do I get where I'm going? And I'll be honest with you. After realizing how close I came to, you know, death or an accident, I was appreciative, because in that lost moment, I couldn't call anybody. I couldn't do anything, and I had to have some way to know where I was. Well, the beautiful thing about the map was it did two things for me.
It oriented me to where I was. I was able to find the interstate, the exit number. I could pinpoint where I was, open up the bigger map, and see where I had to go and how I had to get there, calm back down, and begin making my drive where I needed to be. It not only oriented me to where I was, but it gave me insight into where I needed to go and how I needed to get there.
And when I think about it, that's our spiritual journey, is it not? We're living our lives. You know, we can cause ourselves exhaustion. You know, last week, Richard talked a lot about busyness, and we can be doing a lot of great things, but you can look up and spend all your time doing things, but not enough investing in what really will get you where you need to go.
And so I'm thankful when I look at the Bible, that I can recognize that the Bible is sort of that roadmap for us, isn't it? It gives us the orientation when I look at myself compared to what God says, but it also gives me a sense of where I'm going and how I need to go about getting there. So I find comfort in passages like this. Psalm 119 105.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. And I love that text because it tells me there's something to be done right here and now. There's a reality that my feet are lit up. I know exactly who I am and where I am and what I need to do. The next part of that is it gives me that sense of direction and where I'm going and how I go about getting there. And so we're going to be studying this for the next several weeks. We're going to be opening up God's word and finding out about how powerful it is. You know, the Bible says, you know, it's all scripture is given by inspiration of God. And it's profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction and righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly equipped unto every good work. We recognize that as the inspired word of God, and it makes it a powerful thing for us.
But we're going to take some time to break it down and talk about, like, the practical nature of how God's word really does refine us and help us get where we need to go. It's a lamp, but it's a light. And so the Bible is so powerfully written that it informs us not only of our now circumstances, but our to come assurances. And I think that's a beautiful thing for us to think about. I asked, we asked a couple of guys to think about that and to put some things to thought and to share with us, maybe from their perspective, how God's word had sort of helped them in these ways as well. So we're going to have a quick video here of two men from our congregation here who have given us some good insight.
[00:10:43] Speaker C: To me, one of the greatest blessings of the Bible, the word of God, is the promises that God makes to us in his word.
I've had some very difficult times in my life recently, and God's word has provided great comfort.
I've read there that God will never leave me nor forsake me. He's made those promises, and I'm grateful for that. So I know that every day he is walking beside me, holding me up, giving me the strength to get through that day.
He's also promised to be the father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all of our trouble. Second Corinthians, chapter one, verses three and four. And I'm feeling that comfort. But without his word, I would not know of those promises. And thereby be able to claim them. So I am so grateful for the promises of God that I find in his word.
[00:11:37] Speaker B: What excites me about God's word is all the uses that it has for us in our lives. God has given us a book that can solve any problem we have. No matter how important our problem is or how minor our problem is. We can use the God's word in so many different ways. It is just infinite, the different ways we can use it. He's given us his wisdom and all of his advice and all of his knowledge, and we just have it on us at all times. And I think that's a beautiful thing that God's done for us. And we can even use the Bible to not just help us, but help those around us, and we can use it in different subjects, such as history, science, math. The possibilities are endless. And I think that is awesome. And that just shows God's power and his love for us and his willingness to save us. That there are infinite uses that the Bible can use to help us in our lives. And that's what gets me excited about God's word.
[00:12:31] Speaker A: Can you fast forward to the next slide, please?
I appreciate both of these guys very much. I really do appreciate Ronnie, and I know you probably couldn't hear everything that was said about that, but I want you to that Ronnie talked about how God has given him certain promises, that he has recognized that there are certain things that God provides. And one of those things is comfort. He's gone through some tough times, and there are lots of you who have gone through that. But it's the God who've comfort who teaches us how we in turn take the things that we go through and we use it to comfort others as well. And Ronnie says, I would not know about that if it weren't for God's word giving me those promises, and he could lay hold of it and lay claim to it. And then Jackson talking about how God's word really kind of handles everything in our life right now, the things that we're going through, but not just the things that we're going through, but it equips us to be able to help other people along the way. I really appreciate both of them taking some time to just think about how God's word has been powerfully utilized in their life. There are a couple of verses in the bible that also give us a little insight to his word and how powerful it is. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. So not only is it one of those things that we can count on in the here and now. But it's the kind of thing that has the lasting effect. It's not just good guidance and good advice that's temporary in some way. No, it's good guidance that takes us further down the road, and it will stand forever. And then, as Hebrews chapter four, verse twelve, says that the Bible is living and active, it's still powerful, and it has the ability to reach inside of our hearts and convict us and to challenge us in ways that maybe we're nothing, what we need to be. And so I'm thankful that the Bible gives us this kind of instruction and insight. And so, as we're looking at this, I want to take our minds to these thoughts. Jeremiah, chapter 15. The prophet said this, your words were found, and I ate them up. I mean, literally, that's why I consumed them. I just took those things in. I swallowed them whole. They were so powerful. They were so good that I did that. And now what does it say? It came to me a joyous and a delight of my heart. For I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts. What he said is, it's an honor to be told by the God of the universe the very things that will change my life, that will help me get from one place to the next. It tells me who I am now, but it also gives me the insight into what's taking place down the road and how I can get where I need to be. And that's a beautiful thing. It's the same Jeremiah who later, in his frustrations, would say, hey, I really didn't want to say anything else, but his word is like fire in my bones. I just can't help but express those things. And the point I want to make in all this is God's word is so powerful that it can help change us and shape us. And we're going to. That leads us to a good segue into Isaiah, chapter 55.
Give you just a little bit. We're going to. If you want to turn your bibles there, we're going to go there here in just a few moments, but give you just a little bit of an overview of Isaiah. Isaiah is a prophet who has been sent to send word to all of Israel and all of Judah.
Unfortunately, as you go back and you look at the history when Israel and Judah split, when there's the divided kingdom, there's a series of bad kings, okay, maybe a few sprinkled in, but mostly it's guys not really putting God first. And as a result, they're embracing, like, idolatry and building up high places and doing all these things that take us further, that took the Israelites and Judeans away from their God. And in that process, God is sending word through Isaiah to, hey, hey, there's still a covenant. There's still a promise. And in your rebellion, I just want you to know that I still love you and that I'm sending a king to bring you out, to bring you back to victory. And so he talks about that. If you look in the early parts of Isaiah, there are several prophecies that deal with this coming messiah, the anointed one, that king who would bring deliverance and bring, you know, rest in their hearts and give them that assurance that God had promised them in advance. And so, like, that's. That's one thing that we can look at and see that he's telling them, you've got a king coming. When you get to Isaiah chapter 53, we find out that that king who is going to rise up in power is the very king who will suffer for our sakes. Remember the whole Isaiah 53. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was, you know, he was chastised for our peace. And by his stripes, we are healed. We hear about the suffering savior, the one who would come and bring salvation, but that he would also have to be punished for us and take on our burdens. Well, that, you know, gets us to the point where, okay, God's promises are there. Isaiah, chapter 54 then goes on to say, I want to renew that covenant with you. I want to bring you out, and there are some things that I need you to do to help restore that relationship. You've wandered away, but I can tell you I still love you, and I want you back. And so this rolls over into Isaiah chapter 55, where we get to the question of, well, how do we respond? What do we do about this? Now that you have the savior, you're gonna bring the savior. And we know that that's gonna be the restoration of this covenant, that you're gonna bring us back to a proper relationship. How do we go about it? So consider the comfort of these words in Isaiah 55.
Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.
And he who has no money come by and eat.
I love that. It's like a free buffet. It's like everybody's invited. And God is saying, hey, if you really, really want to cash in on these promises, I need you to do some things. And so he says, come buy wine and milk. Without money and without price. Why do you spend your money on things that are not bread and labor? That is not, that doesn't satisfy you. The point he's trying to make is, I have got something that you are going to enjoy, and it's free, and you can come in and you can partake of this. And he says, you don't have to have special status. You don't have to have money. You don't have to have anything of your own, but just come. Just come and be a part of this. And he says, in the middle of this, there's a little bit of an indictment in that. He says, why is it that you have been chasing these things that really don't bring you this satisfaction? I want to bring you that satisfaction. So the God of the universe invites us all to his feast, and the only requirements are these two things. Come thirsty and come hungry.
And just for a moment, imagine you're lost. You're in a space of despair, you're in a place of difficulty.
And it's the God who created everything who reaches out to you and says, hey, I got you. There's a promise for you. You just have to turn back. And in that turning back, I want to give you some things that are going to help you, and it's free to anybody. You can all come. Bring all your friends, bring everybody. Help them to understand that you don't need anything to come. You could just come and partake in this beautiful feast. But then he says, listen to me. Listen to me diligently, because you may be saying to yourself, well, there's a buffet, but what does the buffet involve? What is it? What is going to be provided in this buffet?
Listen diligently to me and eat what is good and delight yourselves in rich food. I don't know how many people this will speak to, but when I was growing up, my grandparents didn't have a lot, but when we would go over, there was always food. But you know what? That food was two things I remember. Potted meat.
Can I get a collect potted meat and vienna sausages. And to this day, I'm not even really sure how to say that because my grandparents called them viner sausages. All right? And we ate those sausages with crackers.
And my grandfather would make me a potted meat. And mater Sammich, that's s a m m I t c h. Okay?
And that was the food that we ate.
We're not talking about potted meat and Vienna sausage in this feast. He says, come and enjoy the richest foods. Like think of the most refined, beautiful steak. And then, like, imagine just having that as your feast, metaphorically speaking. What he's saying is, my words are different than anything else you've ever tasted in your life. And he says, here's what you've got to do. You've got to incline your ear and come to me here, that your soul may live. So it leads me to this question. Why would we settle for the junk food of emptiness when we can have the soul food of restoration? Now, how many of you right now are thinking, I want soul food right now? I do, too. It sounds really good, doesn't it? But stay with me just a few more minutes.
Why would we taste those things that are no good, that are empty, that don't bring us that satisfaction? When God is saying, hey, I can get you right where you need to be. I can take you out of this despair. I can take you out of this. This complex evil moment, and I can bring you to a place that's going to take you to a place that gives you that life that you've never imagined before.
James says it this way. He says, therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. Notice back in that text, in Isaiah, chapter 55, he says, hey, you got to turn back to me. You got to put away those evil thoughts. You got to do away with things that are taking you away from me. And you got to turn and just consume, take in the things that I'm sharing with you. So when we think about God's word, recognize that it is that thing that will take us back to this beautiful experience with God. And his provisions are the very best, and his feasts are the only thing that will satisfy us. You can try all the other thought processes that are out there. You can try all the different philosophies that are out there. But all of those things may, they stimulate your mind. They may make you think higher thoughts in some way or another, but they're not going to bring you the satisfaction that God's word is going to bring you.
So he says this, this is a reminder that time is limited. You know how the Bible talks about life as a vaporization? You know, there's one that talks about how it's just, you know, it's like dead grass. You know, it just. It's here for. Here for a moment, and then it's gone. So he says this, seek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way. Let the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
The God who gives you these instructions is not the guy looking to zap you because of your disobedience.
He's the guy saying, you've traveled away. You've wandered away from me. But it's okay. Here's the instructions to get back. You ever had that phone call with someone where you're driving in an area and you don't know where you are and it's dark and you're scared, and someone says, hey, here's what you need to do. Turn around and go back this way. Find this place, turn left there, and they guide you gently back. What a sense of peace that is. And that is kind of what God is saying here is, you have an opportunity. There will come a time. And if, as I look into the prophetic word here, what he's saying is there's coming a time, even in Christ, that he will come and he will do his part. And we all have certain number of days in our lives to turn ourselves back and to go and follow him. But there will come a time where our life is temporary, it will end. Or that time will come when Jesus returns back. And as we look at that, he's saying, the time is right now for you to do this. So while he may be found, seek him with all your heart. And he says this, that this God that is guiding you back, that is giving you this guidance, is a compassionate God, and he's going to pardon you abundantly. I'm reminded of this passage just earlier in Isaiah where he says, therefore, the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and he waits on high to have compassion for you. Is that a different God that maybe you heard about growing up? I know I heard a lot of God was just hard on us and difficult and those kinds of things. And I heard people say those kinds of things, and it kind of hurt my heart because I don't know what exactly made me want to go and follow this God who looks for ways to condemn me and to. No, this is the God who loved you, sent his son to die for you so he could bring you back himself. He sits on high, waiting for these opportunities to show you compassion and to bring you to deliverance, he's doing everything in his power to pull you back to himself. That's why when we see these texts like Luke chapter 15, and the prodigal son, he is standing ready, excited to bring that lost person home. And so I look at this, and he's given us his word, and he's throwing us this compassion. And yet I see passages like this in psalm, chapter ten, that says, the wicked, in his proud countenance, does not seek God, for God is in none of his thoughts. The idea here is that while God is compassionate, he wants to show us his favor. He wants to give us that pardon. There's something about us that says, well, maybe I can find another way to do it that doesn't cost me anything. I don't have to make any adjustments in my life.
And the Bible here is telling us that that kind of pride can be that thing that separates us. In fact, the only thing that stands between my sin and my forgiveness may be my pride. That's it. When we think we have figured it out, when we think we've got another way, when we think, I'll just do enough good things here and there, and that's enough. Nope. It's a full surrender. He's saying, come and feast on what I have to offer you. His word has the ability to transform us and to shape us and to help us be instructed on how we come to him and receive that pardon and that forgiveness.
And he reminds us in verse eight, my thoughts are not your thoughts, and neither are your ways. My ways, declares the Lord. What he's saying is, hey, there's a certain way of thinking. And what you may have uncovered on your own and in your own pursuits, those things are not going to lead you to this level of thinking. So God has given us his word to help instruct us and give us clarity on that. So he goes on to say, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways. Higher than your ways. And my thoughts and your thoughts. You know, we are still learning about the universe. That expanse. It just seems like it's continuing to get further and further out. They cannot find an end to that. So as far as we are from this earth and the end of the universe, as far as those heavens are from the earth, that's how much different God thinks than we do when left in our own devices.
But it's his word that kind of opens up our heart, takes us to a little bit more clarity about where we are, what he's done for us, what we need to do moving forward.
Isaiah 40, verse 28 says this about him.
The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of all earth. He never grows weary, never grows weak, and no one can measure the depths of his understanding. See, his thoughts are not my thoughts. His ways are not my ways. He's so far beyond us, and yet he's given us guidance in the form of his written word, but also in the embodiment of Jesus Christ, to know what his will is to bring us back to him.
So I look at this. God is greater. He's better, he's superior, he's wiser, he's higher. All of those things.
And there's even a text here in psalm 138 that says that his name and his word are exalted above everything else on the earth. Right? And so you may say to yourself, well, that almost sounds untouchable. That almost sounds like he's so great that I, in my filthiness and in my sinfulness, I cannot attain to where he is. I will never understand him, so why even try? But what I want to draw you to is in this text, it says, I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name. Why?
Because this God, who is higher and greater and superior, has steadfast love and faithfulness to you.
His kindness has been shown in innumerable ways. And the clarity with which he provides that for us is through the written word that he has inspired and given to us so we can follow those things. So if we look at all that, we have to stop for just a moment and realize what God's word does for us. The first thing is it enlightens us. Right? It just gives us insight into who he is, how he thinks about things, and how we can be more pleasing to him, it opens up our heart to do new ways of making decisions that challenge us and make us do things differently than maybe we would just on our own instinctiveness. And we begin to make decisions that push ourselves closer to him. And what happens is, as we continue to bring in God's word and we put it into our heart and empowers us, it gives us this sense of, hey, I know where I'm going. I find the confidence to know that this is how I'm going to live my life, and this is direction I'm heading, this is where I'm going, and this is how I'm going to get there. It empowers us. But also in the middle of all that empowerment, it emboldens us because we know that this is working in our lives, because we are seeing the blessings of it. It gives us this kind of extra measure of confidence to go and share it with somebody else. Hey, you're lost. I can tell you the way to get back. And God's word is the answer. It's not because I know it, but because God has said, and his thoughts are higher, and he's going to direct you to that path that gets you where you need to be. But then finally, as I'm doing all these things, as I have been enlightened, as I have been empowered and emboldened, what happens is I normally see within my life God's blessings, I begin to be more and more aware of how he's working in my life, and it gives me such strength. And so that's why it's important for us to trust in it and to honor it and to live by it because of all that it does for us. He uses a beautiful analogy here in verses 1011. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there, but water the earth, making it bring forth sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth.
The water cycle is kind of a fascinating thing, isn't it? Water comes from the sky, hits the ground, waters, the nutrients and everything, and those things together will cause a seed to burst into growth, and then it sprouts, and then it creates this plant, and that plant turns around and gives us the grain that we need in order for us to put food together.
When you look at this text, you got to understand something he's saying in the same way that that water comes down, and it has a very definitive purpose to it. My word, though you may think it just disappears when it lands, it's not, it has its effect. It'll be out there and it'll be doing the things that it needs to do, but it's also multiplying.
God's word has this multiplying power. The seed planted in our hearts becomes a field of produce, and then that gets us ready to feed others desperate in their hunger. I loved what Jackson Ortner said.
God's word gives us answers to all the things in our life, whether it be a really important and big time issue that we're going through, or whether it be something that we may think of as trivial. Goddess gives us the answer to that, but it's not just for us. He gives us those answers so we can use it to help other people get where they need to go as well. So this is one of those evangelistic moments where it just reminds us that God does this as a blessing. Yes, for us, but that blessing is meant to be used as a blessing to other people. So he says it, God's word shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing which I sent it.
God's word doesn't come back void. It has its impact. And we can either be receptive to that and a part of that process, or God will open those doors up to other people. It's a gift, and it's an invitation to everybody. As far as I can tell, everyone in the world is invited to this big family feast. You don't have to pay any thorn. It's just yours for the taking. And God has provided it for us. And it comes with this guarantee that it'll be successful. And he says this, this is how it's going to affect you if we choose to take the Bible, God's word, into our heart and recognize the power that it is. Here's what happens. It says, you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace. The mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and the trees on the field shall clap their hands. In other words, it's going to change everything about your perspective. And our obedience to God's word produces in us. It implants inside of us this idea of joy and peace, joy in the sense of, I know who I am, what I need to be, where I need to go. And that excitement of God working in my life, but also the peace that comes from my sins have been taken away. And I can rest easy. I don't have to figure anything out. He's given it to me in abundance for me to enjoy and to be blessed by. And what happens in my life as a result of that kind of acceptance and that joy, my perspective changes. And it says, instead of the thorn shall come upon the cypress, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle, and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. Catch what he's saying here. God's powerful word of restoration can take the barren and the cursed and exchange it for fruitful, for beauty and fruitfulness.
What am I saying here?
The people in the day of Isaiah were in need of rescue.
It felt barren. It felt deserted. You know, thorns and briars were symbols of just desolation.
And they found themselves in there just in need of something, in need of hope. And God is pouring this out to say to them, here's what happens when you turn from me, when you accept what I have to say and you begin putting those things into practice and you start living. It's like everything in the world is celebrating with you. And what happens is the things that are in your life that are desolate, that are barren, that are unfruitful. God replaces all that and replenishes you with the ability to see the beauty all around you, and also to be fruitful in all the things that you do as well.
Your word is a lamp to my feet, right where I am.
And it's a light to my path, helping me know my direction and my goals in life.
So maybe today you're this guy, having figured out now where he is, where he needs to go, and you gotta get back on the road to where you need to be.
And I know that there's probably someone in here this morning. I feel like, because I know I find myself in these places all the time where I just need to get back and do the right thing. And it may be that the only thing still standing between your sin and your forgiveness is your pride of drop that this morning and recognize that God's word is a lamp to our feet right here and now, to address all the things that are going on in your life.
But it is the blessing and the assurance of eternity later, when we follow God's word.
I hope this morning that there is someone who is ready to make that step, to make things right with God, to push away sin, to turn back to him and to give their best to him. But I also hope that there's someone who's thought about getting on track and has just lost their way. This morning is a great time for all of us to be united in our efforts to follow God, and we all want to support you. If there's anyone who has a need this morning, please come while we stand. And Singhenne.
