What The Bible Says About God's Word

 I'm going to be sharing what The Bible Says about God's Word. 

I first want to share a scripture with all of you that comes from John 1 verse 1 that says: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

We are now going to look at some different scriptures that talk about it. The scriptures we will be taking a look at and reading from are, 2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 16-17, Matthew chapter 24 verse 35, Isaiah chapter 40 verse 8, Colossians chapter 3 verse 16, Proverbs chapter 30 verse 5, Romans chapter 10, verse 17, and Luke chapter 11 verse 28.  Thank you all for reading.

When we take a look at the scriptures we read, and the one I started with, we see a pattern. The pattern we see, is that no matter what we read there is always One thing that remains, and that is God's Word. God's Word never changes, because it always stays the same and it remains true. We can always depend on God's Word to help us through any trial or struggle that we face in life. God's Word is the Living Word, the Word that helps us  to grow. The Word that helps us to see that there great things God has not only done for us, but is continuing to show us. He has wonderful plans for us, and He brought us into the world for a purpose. God's Word is what we need but we also need God to help us share His Word with others too. 

I would now like to share a song called Word Of God Speak and the lyrics that say this.

Word Of God Speak, would you pour down like rain washing my eyes to see, your majesty to be still and know that you're in this place, please let me stay and rest in Your Holiness, Word Of God Speak.

I am now going to share a quote with all of you that says: God's Word is not just to be heard and repeated; It is to be breathed, lived, and emulated with each action. 

I would like to share another quote that says, The Bible is not Man's Word about God, but God's Word about Man.

There are two last things, I would like to share with you.

The first thing I would like to share comes from 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 13 that says: And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the Word of men but as what it really is, the Word of God, which is at work in you believers.

The second thing I would like to share with you is another quote that says: Through the written Word we discover the Living Word- Jesus Christ. 

I wanted to leave with these two things because just like in a song from Veggie Tales we remember this: And so what we have learned applies to our lives today

And God has a lot to say in His book

You see, we know that God's word is for everyone

And now that our song is done, we'll take a look

What Does It Mean To Use Our Gifts And Talents

 Last week we talked about what it meant to feel left out.  I want to talk about what it means to use the gifts and talents God has given us. 

So we are going to look at different scriptures but before we do, I first want to share some song lyrics with you to help us get a better understanding of the scriptures we will be reading from. The first song I would like to share with you is called Well Done Good And Faithful Servant by Dana Dirksen. 

I gave him five talents and ten I got back.

I gave him five talents and ten I got back.

I gave him two talents and four I got back.

I gave him two talents and four I got back.

Well done good and faithful servant, well done.

You've been faithful over a little, well done, well done.

I gave him one talent and one I got back.

I gave him one talent and one I got back.

The next song I would like to share with you is a song called The Only Song by Blessid Union Of Souls.

You are the melody, the words, You're the chorus

Cause You gladly laid Your life down for us

All the blessings that You bring

You're the only song I ever wanna sing.

All the sinners and the saints got something to say

But we know who gave 'em voices

And we're all down here in the atmosphere just making joyful noises

Birds are singing in the air, thunder crashes like a drum

Your song is everywhere; it was my first number 1

You are the melody the words, You're the chorus

Cause You gladly laid Your life down for us

All the blessings that You bring

You're the only song I ever wanna sing.

The last song I would like to share with you comes from a movie called A Week Away and the song I want to share is called Good Enough.

Can't help but wonder if I'm good enough

I just don't think I am good enough

There's just no way that you're not good enough

Don't let them tell you you're not good enough

A little weird is a good thing

God made you just how you should be

Good enough

More than good enough 

The only way you could go wrong is if you doubt yourself

Confidence is everything, no need to be someone else

As we hear the lyrics from each song we are beginning to realize that God is calling us to do so much more and with that, we are going to now take a look at Matthew chapter 25 verse 14-30, 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 10, and Romans chapter 12 verse 6-8.

as we look back at we just read we see how God shows us that when we keep putting our trust in Him, we don't have to be afraid to do what He has placed on our hearts but we don't have to be afraid to be who He created us to be. 

I would like to share something I read when I was preparing for this because when I read it, it fell into place of what I just shared.

This comes from a blog called faithsisland.org The title says: Your Gift WIll Make Room for You- Proverbs 18:16 Explained. The person who wrote this shared that scripture which says: A man's gift makes room for him, And brings him before great men.

Now there was more to this but it is a little bit long but as I was reading and I looked at the scriptures we read a few minutes ago, and I see this last one, we again see that God is showing how we were created uniquely and wonderfully made by Him. We see that His purpose is greater and we see that He does have a place in this world for us because He loved us from the time we were brought into the world He created.

I would now like to ask these questions to all of you.

What does it mean to you knowing that God created you to be uniquely and wonderfully made?

How has God helped you through this year by finding what He has called you to do?

When do you remember God revealing or showing you the plans He had for you? 

I would like to now share some quotes that I feel can help us be encouraged throughout this week to know that the gifts and talents He has given us are going to be used for His Purpose and Plan He has for all of us even when we don't understand it sometimes, He does.  

There is a quote that I heard in a movie where it says, ''You just have to trust God and Trust God and Let Go.'' 

The next quote I would like to share says, ''You were given your gift for the joy you may give in return.'' ''Never dim your light because others are too afraid to come out of the dark.'' ''Mere talents does not give glory to God but a humble heart.'' 

The last two quotes I want to share with you say this: Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God. Your purpose in life is to use your talents to help other people. Your journey in life teaches you how to do that.

the final thing I would like to leave with all of you is this: Your gifts and talents + your hearts desire = Your Purpose. I chose to leave with this quote because it's true we have to keep praying and letting God speak to us, to remind us and let us know what He wants us to do and what He has called all of us to do.

What The Bible Says About Reverence

 Tonight we're going to look at what the Bible says about Reverence

I want to say that before we go into scriptures, that this was one topic I felt God laid on my heart to talk about for one of my December studies, but the more I thought about what I wanted to be able to talk to all of you about for tonight, I felt like God wanted me to share it on here, instead of waiting to share about it later.

The scriptures we're going to be looking at tonight is, Psalm 111 verse 10, 1 Samuel 12 verse 24, Acts 17 verse 10-11, Hebrews 12 verse 28-29, Proverbs 9 verse 10, Ephesians 5 verse 21, Leviticus 19 verse 30, Exdous 3 verse 5, Hebrews 5 verse 7, Matthew 4 verse 9- 10, and the last scripture we are going to look at is Phillipians 2 verse 12.

In the scriptures we see how God throughout all the different books and chapters and verses we read, that not only do we seek Wisdom and knowledge from God, in having Him help us know what we should do but we also seek Reverence. Now, before I go into sharing more on what God's Word tells us about it, I want to share a song.

The song is called Speak O Lord. The lyrics say this: Speak, O Lord, as we come to You, To receive the food of Your Holy Word

Take Your truth, plant it deep in us

Shape and fashion us in Your likeness

That the light of Christ might be seen today

In our acts of love and our deeds of faith

Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us

All Your purposes for Your glory

Teach us Lord, full obedience

Holy reverence, true humility

Test our thoughts and our attitudes

In the radiance of Your purity

I now like to share something I found on google from a website called christianity.com and the article headline that said: What does it mean to have Reverence for God?

22 Ways to Develop A Spirit of Reverence for God

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” 1 Corinthians 10:31

Developing a reverence for the Lord is a practice that creates awareness of God in our lives. God’s Words show us that reverence for God is doing everything in word and deed out of love and awe for God. Revering the Lord is like having a light illuminating our path in the dark.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength remembering that Jesus says that those who love Him will obey Him.

Recognize that God’s wisdom is infinitely greater than any human wisdom. Trust Him more than self.

Delight yourself in the Lord and trust Him to use all things, the good and the bad for your good and His ultimate glory.

Desire to know Him. In prayer, ask Him to have a desire and thirst for His Word.

Meditate on His Word. Memorize it.

There is more to this but I wanted us to be able to see how when we put our Faith, our Hope, our Love for God in Him and we trust in His ways, then we can start to build our Relationship with Him further, we can go deeper in our Faith walks with Him, and really go into more of how we can show the Reverence for God that God wants us to see. We see how with God all things are possible, and nothing is impossible for Him.

I want to share some quotes with all of you.

Do everything with gentleness, with kindness, with reverence. That is how grace moves; That is how love dances. 

A simple childlike faith in a divine friend solves all the problems that come to us by land or sea

Worship means reverence and humility it means revering your real self  and humbling delusions.

The more reverence we have for the Word of God, the more joy we shall find in it.

Here are the last few things I would like to share with all of you and leave all of you with tonight. 

If we want revivals, we must revive our reverence for the Word Of God. 

Friendship with God is reserved for those who reverence Him. With them alone He shares the secrets of His promises. Psalm 25 verse 14. 

To sanctify God is to reverence Him in our hearts, and to represent Him in the glory of His holiness before men. 

For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.  2 Timothy 1:7. 

What Does The Bible Say About Inclusion?

 Tonight we're going to be looking at different Bible verses and how each scripture relates to us in our own life. 

I first want to say thank you for allowing me to be able to lead Warriors In Faith because I feel we're all Warriors in Christ that have been given the opportunities to do what God has called all of us to do. 

Tonight's message is on inclusion. When we think of that, we go back to a point in our life where we have all felt excluded and felt like we didn't belong. I want all of you to think of a time where you felt that you were alone in this world, and that you didn't fit in because you were different from your peers. I want you to think of that for a moment because when it comes time for some questions, I want all of you to be able to share if you would like. 

The first scripture I would like us to take a look at is Exdous chapter 4 verse 11-16. The second scripture we will be looking at is Luke chapter 14 verses 12-14. The next verse we will look at is John 14:6 and the last chapter we will be looking at is John 3:3. 

From the scriptures we read, we see that each verse in each book has something in common. We see that God has shown mercy, grace, wisdom, perseverance, strength, and unconditional love to us. With that, I would like to ask these questions to all of you.

Q. Have you ever felt called by God for a certain task? How have you responded?

Q. What personal struggle makes you feel most helpless? Where do you turn?

Q. Creative people often find ways to transcend the limits put on them. What do you feel hems you in? How can you achieve God's will despite obstacles?

Thank you all for sharing, I would now like to share some song lyrics I feel can help us not only know that God is working in our lives for something greater but helping us know we're not alone.

The first lyric of the song by Mass Anthem called Through People Like Me says this: People like me we feel so ordinary, looking for a place where we fit in. And people like me we lie awake and worry we're gonna miss a moment when life kicks in. It's nice to know I'm not alone because this is what gives me hope. Your the God who goes before your the God who comes behind, your the God who dreams big dreams with the perfect plan at the perfect time. I can only see what is, You see what will be, I believe you change the world through people like me. 

In the song by Matthew West called My Own Little World it says: I'm going to break my heart for what breaks yours, give me open hands and open doors. Put your light in my eyes and let me see that my own little world is not about me. What if there's a bigger picture, what if I'm missing out what if there's a greater purpose I could be living right now. I don't wanna miss what matters, I wanna be reaching out. Show me the greater purpose so I can start living right now, outside my own little world.

Finally in Micahel W. Smith's song Place In This World it says, If there are millions down on their knees, among the many can you still hear me? Hear me asking where do I belong? Is there a vision that I can call my own? Show me.

As we hear these lyrics from each song, we remember that God shows us that when we feel like we can handle the things that we can take control of and we feel that we don't need help, that is when we stop and really take time to reflect that we do need help and God shows us that the greater purpose He has for our lives is beyond our control. He shows us that while a lot of us, if not all of us are wondering if we belong and fit in, God shows us again that we have always belonged and have fit in because He has accepted us from the moment He created us to be who He wanted us to be. He shows that we have a place in this world and that His plan is continuing to be revealed to us each and every day.

I would like to ask three final questions before we go into any final comments or prayer requests. 

Q. What do you feel you can do this week and everyday to be a light to someone who doesn't know Christ but wants to know Him?

Q.  Does your faith resemble the childlike faith of Psalm 23 or the barely hanging on faith of Psalm 22?

Q. What obstacles do you face when you try to talk to people about God?