THE POWER OF THE WRITTEN WORD

Jeremiah 36:20-26
King Jehoiakim burned Scripture. But now, as then, you can burn Bibles, overlook the Scriptures or try to ignore them, but the power of the Word remains unchanged. Its truth remains unaltered and its promises remain unshakeable.

1. IT IS WRITTEN TO CONVICT US

Nehemiah 8:1-9
All who could understand stood and attentively listened to the word of God. For six hours - daybreak to noon - Ezra read the Scriptures and for six hours the people listened - and at the end of it all the people were convicted. The people even shed tears.

The Scriptures are supposed to and designed to convince, convict and convert our hearts.

Q. Have you been so moved by the word of God lately that you have shed tears?
Q. Is your study of the Bible bringing conviction and change to your life?
Q. When was the last time that you were convicted by the Scriptures?

If your heart is hard then you will not get anything from the Bible regardless how much time you spend studying it.

Nehemiah 8:12-19

The people went beyond shedding tears. They obeyed. And with their obedience came very great joy. And as they felt joy they continued to study the Scripture, then obey and then experience great joy. Joy comes from studying and obeying the word of God.

2. IT IS WRITTEN TO ENCOURAGE US

Romans 15:4
The Bible is the greatest source of encouragement. It is incredibly uplifting to get direction and inspiration from the Bible. Through the encouragement of the Bible we get hope.

Q. What Scriptures have kept you going?

When you are not happy or are going through difficulty, open up your heart to others so that they can help you, but also open up the Bible and study it so that the Word can encourage you.

1 Kings 19:1-10
Don't rely on the past for your encouragement. Past success does not guarantee spiritual strength today. Elijah had, a few chapters earlier, spectacularly defeated prophets of Baal, but that was not to encourage him here. He needed to go to God all over again in order to be encouraged.

Past success is encouraging, but we must on daily rebuilding the foundation of Scripture very day.

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