Episode 1

Thank God for His Word (North OC)

In this sermon, Marcel Hall kicks off the holiday season series titled 'Thank God For...' by focusing on the transformative power of God's Word in believers' lives. The sermon draws on Psalm 19 to highlight the perfection, trustworthiness, and joy found in God's commandments. Marcel encourages everyone to apply the Word in their daily lives and stresses the necessity of having God's Word as the standard for all aspects of life. The sermon concludes with a call to action to study, reflect on, and pray about the role of God's Word in their lives, followed by a communion prayer.

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OC Church of Christ

Transcript
Marcel:

It's the holiday season.

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Are you guys excited about the holidays?

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You have a Thanksgiving, we have

Christmas, we have new years time to

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eat a lot, perhaps maybe eat too much.

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I know that's my sin during this time,

but uh, it's a season of holidays

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and particularly Thanksgiving.

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It's a season of giving thanks.

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So I want us to do this in, in

pairs and in threes and fours.

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Answer this question right here.

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What are you thankful for?

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What are you thankful for?

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Just whatever it is.

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Go ahead right now.

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Share what is something

that you are thankful for.

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All right, let's get it.

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Let's get a couple people to share.

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Let's hear a couple of things here.

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What's one thing that

you are thankful for?

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Let's go ahead.

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Let's have some people share one

thing that you are thankful for.

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Okay, you were just talking.

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All right, so here we go.

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All right, Alan.

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Yes.

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Okay.

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He said he's thankful for the body

of Christ and being in the church and

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how he can get help and receive help

during with his struggles and whatnot.

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Okay.

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Amen.

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That's awesome.

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All right.

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Yes, sir.

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Mr.

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Artechi.

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Okay.

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For those who couldn't hear,

Will said he's thankful for his

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mother in law, Joyce and Joyce.

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If you know, we've been praying for Joyce.

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She just had surgery and

look at her in the house.

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Come on, representing.

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Let's go, Joyce.

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Joyce is a lovely woman.

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Now, if she can be here after heart

surgery, you better not have an excuse.

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Talk about my thumb hurts.

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You know what I'm saying?

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She's worshiping the Lord.

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Amen.

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We are thankful for you, Joyce.

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All right.

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Any others?

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Any others?

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Something that you're thankful for?

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Yes, Jane.

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She says she's thankful for her family,

how God is always taking care of us.

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Awesome.

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Okay.

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All right.

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We'll go one more.

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Uh, Stacy.

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I'm thankful that Jessica.

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Okay,

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awesome.

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Stacey shared that her niece, Jessica,

uh, which we're gonna announce she's

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getting baptized today after service.

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Amen.

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Come on.

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Amen.

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Let me ask you this, these are all things

that we can think of for ourselves.

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What are some things that

we all can thank God for?

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Okay, so go ahead and

answer this question there.

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What are some things that

we all can thank God for?

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And if you're online, go ahead and

put in the little chat there, uh,

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some things and answer that question.

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What are some things

you can be thanked for?

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So let's go ahead and give

you about 30 seconds or so.

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What are some things that

we all can thank God for?

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Alright.

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Let's go ahead and, uh, let's get

some, some, some more sharing here.

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Alright, right there, my man in the,

uh, is that a Dodgers hat right there?

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Okay, yeah, go ahead.

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Okay, we're thankful for God's grace.

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Yes, that's so true, right?

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We all can be thankful for just

the fact that we're living today.

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It's a sign of His grace.

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Yes, others?

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Uh, right here, Dallas.

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God's consistency.

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Okay, there you go.

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How God is consistent in

who He is and what He does.

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Okay, awesome, awesome.

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Alright, any others?

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What are some things we

all can thank God for?

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Yes, uh, Daniella.

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His protection.

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God protects us.

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All right.

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Yes, Josephine.

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His second chances and his promises.

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Okay.

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All right.

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Uh, yes, Mr.

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Barber.

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This beautiful Southern

California weather, right?

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Yes.

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We're all so grateful.

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It's getting cold in the morning, right?

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But then by the afternoon,

it's pretty good there.

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Yes, we all can thank God for a

number of different things that

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apply to every single one of us.

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And so we're actually going to start a

sermon series here for the holiday season,

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uh, and it's called this, it's called

thank God for, and we're going to walk

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through what we can all thank God for.

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And so we're going to be

talking about that today.

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And today we're going to be talking

about how we can thank God for his word,

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how we can thank God for his written

revelation, what we call the Bible.

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Let's go to God in prayer.

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Father, thank you so much for your word.

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Thank you for the church.

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Thank you for your consistency.

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Thank you for your grace.

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Thank you for your mercy.

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Thank you for your promises,

your second chances.

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Thank you for your faithfulness.

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Thank you for allowing us to be here.

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Thank you for the family of believers.

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Thank you that we can see Jessica

get baptized here later on today.

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Thank you for this chance to

worship you here in Placentia.

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God, we thank you so much.

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We can spend hours thanking you.

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But God, it's because you are good.

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And we thank you for being that to us.

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I pray right now that you will speak

your word into our hearts so that

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we may respond the way we should.

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In the name of Jesus, Amen.

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All right, we're going to

go over to Psalm chapter 19.

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Psalm chapter 19.

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It's one of my favorite

passages in the Bible.

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We're going to read in

Psalm 19 in verse seven.

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Uh, and we're gonna see what's

so special about God's word.

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I know many of us, we can, we can

preach a sermon ourselves on how

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special and awesome the word of God is.

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But we're gonna go ahead and,

and look at this passage.

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It's gonna reveal to us why God's word

is so special and why we can be thankful.

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And we're going to take it up in verse 7.

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The first 6 verses talk about God's

creation and how God's creation,

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because of God's creation, because

of the stars and moons and all these

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different things, we can praise God.

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And it makes this transition to

now talking about how His word

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leads to our praise of Him.

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In Psalm 19 in verse 7.

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Church, are you with me?

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It says, The law of the Lord is perfect.

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Refreshing the soul.

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The statutes of the Lord are

trustworthy, making wise the simple.

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The precepts of the Lord are

right, giving joy to the heart.

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The commands of the Lord are

radiant, giving light to the eyes.

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The fear of the Lord is

pure, enduring forever.

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The decrees of the Lord are firm,

and all of them are righteous.

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They are more precious than gold.

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Than much pure gold.

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They're sweeter than honey.

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Than honey From the honeycomb

by them, your servant is warned.

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In keeping them there is great reward.

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We'll stop right there.

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David is the writer of this song,

king David, and he writes this and

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he's talking about God's word and he

mentions God's word being perfect.

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Trustworthy, right, radiant, precious.

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It's sweet for the soul.

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And David, you can see, has so much

respect and love for God's word.

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He's moved, he's stirred

to write these things.

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Here's what's incredible.

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Actually, me and Karina were talking

about this in the morning here.

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Is that King David probably has,

more than likely, really, the

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first five, six books of the Bible.

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And maybe a couple songs.

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So he doesn't have all the John 3 16.

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He doesn't have the Romans 8 28.

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Oh, God works in the good for all

those who believe he doesn't have.

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I know the plans I have for you.

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He doesn't have any of these

scriptures that you and I say are

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some of our favorite scriptures.

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All he has is the first five,

maybe six books in the Bible.

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And we know a song from Moses.

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And if you've ever read Leviticus

and, and, and Numbers, those

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could be some difficult reads.

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And what does he say?

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After just reading those books of the

Bible, it's perfect, it's word, it's

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trustworthy, it's radiant, it's sweet.

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Wow.

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His view and appreciation of God's word.

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And again, it's not all the

scriptures that you and I have.

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So we could testify to this,

now having The rest of the

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Old and the New Testaments.

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And it's interesting, right?

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Because David is called man,

a man after God's own hearts.

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And you see his what?

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His view and appreciation for God's word.

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Is there a connection between his heart

for God and his view of God's word?

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I think there is.

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And that tells me something.

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Is that if you and I want to be a

man or woman after God's own heart,

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we need to have the right view.

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We need to love and appreciate

and consume God's word.

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Because that would transform

us into the image of Christ.

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Are you with me, brothers and sisters?

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But David captures how

powerful the word of God is.

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He says it's perfect.

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It's radiant.

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It's trustworthy.

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It's right.

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He says, it will refresh the soul.

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It will make you wise.

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It'll give joy from within.

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It will give light to the eyes, and it

will, it will reward you and warn you.

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I don't know about you, but I want

all of those things in my life.

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Do you want any of those

things missing in your life?

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Of course, we want all of those things

Again, how do we receive those things?

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It's by consuming God's eternal word.

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But let's break this down

some brothers and sisters.

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Are you with me here?

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All right, here we go.

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Let's get into it.

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It says it is perfect.

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It needs no additions.

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It's perfect.

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It has no omissions.

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The word of God is perfect.

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And what does that perfect word do?

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It refreshes the soul

or can be translated.

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It revives our souls.

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It's so it brings soul.

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It brings life to our very being.

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Some could call it the true soul food.

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Y'all know I love some soul food.

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Especially some macaroni cheese as we

talk about the Thanksgiving and Christmas.

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You know what I'm saying?

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But this is even better than all of that

because it nourishes our very being.

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Our soul.

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It says that the word of God is what?

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It's trustworthy.

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You can rely, you can

depend upon God's word.

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You can bet your life on God's promises.

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You can trust his word.

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It says it is wise,

making wise the simple.

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You can learn how to handle

life, how to handle situations,

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how to handle relationships.

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Learn how to be successful

in school, in job, etc.

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We can learn these things because

it'll make us be, it'll make

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us transition from being simple

and maybe foolish to being wise.

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It says it is right.

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I mean, it's not wrong.

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It's the standard above

all, above opinions, above

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feelings, above what's popular.

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It says it gives joy to the heart.

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It feels good when it comes in and we

have the right response or the right,

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right, right, right, right, right.

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Receiving of his word, but it

feels good when we actually follow.

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You ever do something in the Bible,

you're like, man, that feels good.

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It encourages.

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The Word of God inspires.

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It transforms.

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It changes our character, our hearts.

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It changes our lives.

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And it goes on and it says it is radiance.

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It's glorious.

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It shines.

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It is beautiful.

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Kind of like that southern

sunny California weather.

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It gives light.

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We can now see clearly.

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We can see what's true.

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We can see what's right.

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We can be able to distinguish good from

evil because of what the word God does.

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It helps us not to be

in the dark spiritually.

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It goes on and it says that the

word is firm or another word

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that can be used is sure, meaning

it's steady, it's dependable.

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And we all need security in life.

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We need something that's

dependable, don't we?

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It goes on and it says

that it's righteous.

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It's more precious than gold,

sweeter than the honey, honeycomb.

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And these were precious

things in ancient times.

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And so what is it saying?

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It's more valuable than all

the wealth in the world.

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The word of God is sweet.

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It tastes good when you consume it.

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It says sweeter than honey.

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Whenever I read that passage,

I think of Winnie the Pooh.

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Some of young folks are

like, who's Winnie the Pooh?

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Just Google that later.

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It's a bear.

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He loves honey.

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You know, you think Winnie

the Pooh, you think honey.

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You know what I'm saying?

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And I go, wow, I need to spiritually be

like a Winnie the Pooh with God's word

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and just taking that scriptures in.

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Scriptures are finger licking

good, you know what I'm saying?

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It says and it warns us and it rewards.

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It warns us.

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There's trouble ahead.

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It also said there's

rewards when we follow it.

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Again, this is God's word.

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This is how powerful God's word is.

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This is what God's word does when we

consume it and we apply it to our lives.

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Let me ask you this.

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Can you relate?

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Can you relate to God's word being

or doing these things in your life?

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I know many of us, we can testify,

we can relate, we can say, God's

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Word has done those things.

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It's been that in my life.

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I know I can testify to this being true.

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The Word of God has

radically changed who I am.

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Radically.

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I got my Aunt Martha here in the house.

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I was, my mom is over there with the kids.

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They can testify that Marcel Hall

of today is radically different from

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the Marcel Hall from before Christ.

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And all of you should

say hallelujah for that.

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Cause we might not have had a good

experience, you know what I'm saying.

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But I can testify what's

radically changed my worldview.

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How I view the world,

it is totally different.

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Even with politics coming up.

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I mean, my world view

is just different now.

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I view things differently.

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My character is different.

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My work ethic is different.

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My morality is different.

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My choices, what I deem to be

right and wrong, true and false,

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it's all different because God's

word has directed and changed me.

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What I view as important

and what's valuable.

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My integrity.

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My relationships.

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Directed and stirred and

steered by the word of God.

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I think of my relationship with my mom.

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That's grown and it wasn't a bad

relationship but man because of

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God's word it has transformed that.

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The word of God helped direct me to

have reconciliation with my father.

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The Word of God has transformed

my relationship with my siblings.

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And hallelujah, the Word of God

has helped me in my relationship

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with my wife and my kids.

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If it wasn't for the Word of God, my

life would be a three course mess.

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I would have ruined it twice over.

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Probably with no chance of redemption.

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But the Word of God, Has

given life to my soul.

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It's giving light to my eyes.

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It has warned me and it has rewarded me.

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And I know there's so many of

you that can testify as well.

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Am I right?

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I know there's so many of you can testify.

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That it has revived your

soul, your faith, your hope.

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When you were discouraged, or you

were depressed, or you were doubtful.

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The Word of God did

something in your life.

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So many of you can testify how

you handle situations better

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because of the Word of God.

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You are gonna go into that situation,

and then the Word of God, and you said,

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You know what, I better not go that way.

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And you said, Hallelujah,

I follow God's Word.

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And you remember, when you used to

handle things differently, when it

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was just your opinion, your thoughts,

your feelings, and how things would

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radically be different, and probably

destroy certain things in your life.

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Many of you can testify you've

seen it to be true of relationships

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and human behavior, especially

when you read the Proverbs.

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You're like, that is

human life right there.

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So much wisdom.

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I understand people and I understand

myself even more because of the light

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that the Word of God has given me.

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You many of you can testify has

helped you to know the truth,

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the truth of who you are.

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The truth of life.

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Again, what's valuable?

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What's important?

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The truth of what the world feeds

us and be able to distinguish.

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That's not right.

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That's not right.

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That's not true because of God's word.

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You've been able to distinguish

that you've been able to testify,

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man, this is some good soul food.

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You know, God's word's incredible

when we take a step back, right?

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We started thinking about what is done and

we start to realize how powerful it is.

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And one of the things it

does is it makes you what?

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Thankful, thankful that you have that.

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Where would your life

be without God's word?

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I don't even want to think

of where my life would be.

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In fact, I get a glimpse when I

look at my life prior to Christ.

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Now I know there's some of us

in here who can't relate to

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the things that I've shared.

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And the question then is, why is that?

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Which leads to, what does that reveal?

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If you can't relate to anything that

I'm sharing, what does that mean?

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What does that reveal?

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I believe it probably means you're not

consuming God's word the way you need to.

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You don't have the word of God in

your life the way it should be, so

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therefore you're like, I don't really

know what you're talking about.

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That seems more like theory

than it does my experience.

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But here's the thing, I have some

encouragement for every single one of

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us, and direction for every single one

of us, is that here's the key, and here's

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what God is calling you and me toward.

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And that's not to only be

thankful for His Word, but it's

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this, it's to live by His Word.

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We are called to live by God's Word.

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The Word is to be followed,

not just read and liked.

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It's not just something you buy at the

home goods store or whatever and you get

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a little plaque and you put that on your

wall and you go, Oh, that's really cute.

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I like that.

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That's not what the word

of God is supposed to be.

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It's not just a cool little quote that

you see on social media and you like

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and now you repost or you reshare.

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No, the word of God is supposed

to be lived out in our lives.

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That's when we start to taste and

experience, wow, this thing is powerful.

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Wow, it is good for my life.

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I need more of it, and I want to

share more of it with other people.

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You know, let's be

reminded of this passage.

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Many of us are very

familiar with this passage.

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It says, All Scripture is God breathed

and is useful for teaching, rebuking,

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correcting, and training in righteousness,

so that the servant of God may be

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thoroughly equipped for every good work.

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I love the way the NIV, you phrase this.

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It says, The Word of God

is to be, it's useful.

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And when something's useful, what

are you supposed to do with it?

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Supposed to use it, right?

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Now I have, uh, uh, uh, a,

um, uh, African, uh, drum,

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uh, uh, a djembe at my house.

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And, uh, many people have seen

the African drum in our house,

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and many people have come over.

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And they'll grab the drum, and they'll

start to play, and they'll look at me,

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and they'll go, Marcel, do you play?

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And I go, no, I don't play.

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:

That's a decoration.

428

:

They're like, Oh, you don't play?

429

:

No, I don't play.

430

:

And in fact, in my heart, can

you please stop playing that?

431

:

You know what?

432

:

I'm just playing.

433

:

Cause some of y'all are

like, Man, that was me.

434

:

I'm just playing with you, okay?

435

:

But they're over here playing and

they're like, Man, you don't use this?

436

:

I'm like, Nah, man, it's decoration.

437

:

Man, look at the rest of the place.

438

:

This is a decoration.

439

:

And here's the thing.

440

:

Spiritually, some of us,

that's what the Word of God is.

441

:

It's a decoration in our faith.

442

:

We're not using it.

443

:

It's there, it's there, it's around,

it's present, but it's not being

444

:

used the way it's supposed to.

445

:

And so it's a decoration.

446

:

So therefore we're not

experiencing its blessings.

447

:

We're not testifying to its power

and its goodness because we're

448

:

not putting it into practice.

449

:

You see, when we apply God's

word, here's what's really cool.

450

:

Then we see Psalm 19 become true.

451

:

We can testify.

452

:

And then what happens is we're

grateful for God's mercy.

453

:

We're grateful for God's word.

454

:

And then we start to see that

we need more of it so that we

455

:

consume more of God's word.

456

:

And this cool cycle takes place.

457

:

Do you guys get what I'm saying?

458

:

Because I'm excited.

459

:

I'm grateful.

460

:

I'm like, man, I need to apply this.

461

:

And as I apply it, I go,

wow, this is really good.

462

:

Hallelujah for it.

463

:

I need more of it.

464

:

And the cool cycle takes place.

465

:

But you know, it also takes

place is when we don't have

466

:

the word of God in our lives.

467

:

Another bad cycle takes place.

468

:

We think, Oh, it doesn't help me.

469

:

It's not true.

470

:

God's promises aren't reliable.

471

:

So maybe he's not reliable.

472

:

So therefore, let me take a

step back from this faith thing.

473

:

Let me take a step back from

the brothers and sisters thing.

474

:

In my life, let me take a step

back from trying to follow Jesus.

475

:

And we keep going and next thing

we know, we are distant from God.

476

:

And so when somebody gets up there

and says the word of God's powerful,

477

:

we're so far over here, we're

like, I don't think that's true.

478

:

'cause I haven't seen it in my life.

479

:

But we didn't realize it was all the

steps prior that led us to that point.

480

:

And I believe that Psalm 19, the opposite

is just as true as the affirmative.

481

:

What I mean is this, is that if it gives

light to our eyes, when we don't have the

482

:

word of God in our lives, what happens?

483

:

We're blind, spiritually, we don't have

the joy in our soul, but now we maybe have

484

:

anger and sadness that can't be quenched.

485

:

And instead of it making us

wise, it makes us foolish.

486

:

Because we have removed God's word in

our lives, and now we're making poor

487

:

choices leading to the destruction.

488

:

Maybe not initially, but as the

years go by, to our very souls.

489

:

And so this is why.

490

:

We need to make sure that we

just don't like it, but that we

491

:

apply God's word to our lives.

492

:

Brothers and sisters,

are you with me here?

493

:

We need to apply God's word and

once we do, it will be incredible.

494

:

Uh, many of you know I went on the Price

is Right, well some of you know, I went on

495

:

the Price is Right when I was in college.

496

:

And, uh, I showed the, uh,

the clip, I think my first

497

:

sermon, uh, that I was here.

498

:

Uh, I showed the, uh, the clip of, uh,

uh, me being on the Price is Right.

499

:

And one of the things that I won

is I won an electric fireplace.

500

:

And, uh, so I won this electric

fireplace and I'm in college.

501

:

And so what am I going to do with an

electric fireplace in my dorm room?

502

:

So I didn't do anything with it.

503

:

So I, I, I had, I kept

it at my mom's place.

504

:

And so it was, it was in boxes.

505

:

There's three big boxes.

506

:

And it was in these three big boxes.

507

:

And so whenever my mom moved,

those three boxes went with her.

508

:

And when I moved, those three

boxes stayed with my mom.

509

:

And so then I went and I get married.

510

:

I still don't have, I still

have never opened this thing.

511

:

And about ten years go by.

512

:

I tried to sell this

thing a couple of times.

513

:

Never saw it.

514

:

And then we're in this home, and

we're in this home, and we don't have

515

:

central heating or central air, and

there's this breeze that's coming in,

516

:

right, in our place, and it's freezing.

517

:

And we're like, man, we gotta

do something, man, like,

518

:

I'm getting cold at night.

519

:

And so then I go, you know what,

man, I got that electric fireplace.

520

:

I said, man, I need to open that thing.

521

:

It's been 10 years, it finally was

with me, and my wife said, boy,

522

:

you better get that fireplace.

523

:

So I finally take it, and I take

it out the box, there's three

524

:

big boxes, and I go, wow, this is

actually really easy to assemble.

525

:

I don't have to do anything.

526

:

I thought I had to have, you know,

hammers and screwdrivers, nothing.

527

:

All I had to do was put the

three things on and it was good.

528

:

So when I was humbled by that, and

I put it on and I go, wow, this

529

:

actually looks a whole lot nicer

than what I remember the picture was.

530

:

Because The Price is Right

sent me a nicer version.

531

:

They said, hey, the version

you saw, that's actually not

532

:

the one you're going to get.

533

:

We're going to give you a nicer one.

534

:

It was like 2, 000 more, you

know, I was like, Whoa, and I'm

535

:

looking like, wow, this is nice.

536

:

And I said, Karina, let's

try to put this in our room.

537

:

We put it in, hallelujah.

538

:

We were heated up and we kept that thing.

539

:

And guess what?

540

:

I have kept that thing to this day.

541

:

It's nice.

542

:

We, we love it.

543

:

It heats us up.

544

:

I'm like, what was I thinking?

545

:

I had this treasure for 10

years and I didn't even use it

546

:

spiritually.

547

:

It's what we do with

the word of God though.

548

:

This treasure.

549

:

This source of heat, this source of

refreshment, this changing of our lives.

550

:

It's there, but it's in a box.

551

:

It's on the side.

552

:

You know, old school, we used

to just put it on the table

553

:

or put it in the bookshelf.

554

:

Now it's just an app that's not used.

555

:

And in fact, maybe it's closed.

556

:

And it's not being used and we're like

forfeiting all the treasures and the

557

:

blessings because we're not using it.

558

:

What would things be like if

we actually used this powerful

559

:

Word of God in our lives?

560

:

It would radically, continually change

us more into the image of Christ.

561

:

And so this means that the Word

of God must be our standard.

562

:

And I have this little table up here,

and I want to Want to get my bag Dallas.

563

:

I'm literally in my bag.

564

:

You know what I'm saying?

565

:

There you go.

566

:

There you go.

567

:

I got this, uh, this scale here.

568

:

All right, there you go.

569

:

Brother bought this.

570

:

I'm trying to, you know, lose

a couple of pounds there.

571

:

All right.

572

:

Help a brother out there.

573

:

And, uh, I have, uh, I have this

little Pyrex here and, uh, and

574

:

a little measuring tape here.

575

:

Now, what are all these things for?

576

:

To measure, right?

577

:

We use all these things to measure.

578

:

And here's the thing.

579

:

It's important that we actually

have something that's a

580

:

standard for us to measure by.

581

:

In fact, Eric, Eric, can you come on up?

582

:

Let's, let's get both Erics.

583

:

Let's get both Erics.

584

:

Can you, both Erics, can you come

up on stage here real quickly here?

585

:

Come up on stage here

real quickly, alright?

586

:

We're gonna do something here, alright?

587

:

Alright, there you go.

588

:

Okay, you gonna transfer?

589

:

I was actually talking about Erica,

uh, uh, uh, Ennis there, but, you know,

590

:

if you wanna, both of y'all come up,

both of y'all come up, here we go.

591

:

We got all nations in here.

592

:

Alright, there you go.

593

:

Here we go, here we go, here we go.

594

:

Come on over, come on over.

595

:

Here we go, here we go.

596

:

This is Eric Azarte.

597

:

Can you say hello to Eric there?

598

:

There you go.

599

:

Wow, they're all Erics.

600

:

There you go.

601

:

Come on, here we go.

602

:

This is really cool.

603

:

This wasn't planned.

604

:

This is the Holy Spirit.

605

:

Wow.

606

:

Here we go.

607

:

Alright.

608

:

We have Eric Hughes and then we

have Eric Ennis here, right here.

609

:

Alright.

610

:

Now, here's what they used

to do back in the day.

611

:

I don't know if you knew this.

612

:

But back in the day, and this is

how we get the terms here, uh,

613

:

back in the day, the way they

would measure is really a foot.

614

:

They would literally go by your foot.

615

:

And so somebody would go,

okay, well, it's four feet.

616

:

And then by hand, that's how

they would measure, uh, by the

617

:

hand there for, for horses.

618

:

And a cubit was from your nose

all the way to your fingertips.

619

:

Let's do that real quickly.

620

:

Okay.

621

:

All right.

622

:

So let's go ahead.

623

:

Can you put your hand out here?

624

:

Okay.

625

:

All right.

626

:

There you go.

627

:

We're going to go ahead and

measure here for a quick second.

628

:

Uh, how long that is

from your nose, brother?

629

:

I'm not gonna try.

630

:

There you go.

631

:

All right.

632

:

Thank you so much.

633

:

Hold that tight there, brother.

634

:

Okay, here we go.

635

:

All right.

636

:

We got about a, let's just give

you, let's say 30 inches here.

637

:

Okay.

638

:

There you go.

639

:

All right.

640

:

Eric, can you go ahead here?

641

:

All right.

642

:

Look straight there.

643

:

Okay.

644

:

We got you at about 30,

35 inches right there.

645

:

Okay.

646

:

There you go.

647

:

Alright, we got tall Eric in this here.

648

:

Okay.

649

:

Oh, okay brother.

650

:

All right.

651

:

Yeah.

652

:

Eric feeling good about himself,

you know what I'm saying?

653

:

Alright.

654

:

Let's say that's about 40 inches.

655

:

They're right there.

656

:

40 inches.

657

:

Wow.

658

:

That's incredible.

659

:

Right?

660

:

Now, just imagine we told them to go ahead

and, uh, let's all build the same thing.

661

:

Let's all build these chairs, or

let's build tables and you're gonna

662

:

use it by your qubit measurements.

663

:

How's that going to work out?

664

:

Because his was what, 30, 33

was it, 30, 35 was it, and 40,

665

:

how's that going to work out?

666

:

It's not going to work out is it, why?

667

:

Because they're not using the same

standard measurements are they?

668

:

And so here's the thing, we might do

that with a chair, I wouldn't care.

669

:

I'm hopeful that they didn't

do that with these chairs.

670

:

But would you want to do that

with your plane, your vehicle,

671

:

or bridge, or your house?

672

:

Let's just guess.

673

:

Here's what I think.

674

:

Or if you're cooking, right?

675

:

If you're cooking.

676

:

You know, my kids like to cook

there, you know what I'm saying?

677

:

Well, uh, in my opinion,

here's how many milliliters.

678

:

In your opinion, here's how many.

679

:

Let's just use our hands.

680

:

How's that gonna work out?

681

:

Tell me how that cake is gonna taste.

682

:

Hallelujah, Chick fil A doesn't do that.

683

:

They got a standard.

684

:

Each Chick fil A you go to, boy,

you taste that same goodness, right?

685

:

Here's the thing here.

686

:

If we go ahead and use ourselves as

the standard, we're gonna be a mess.

687

:

And we're gonna go off of him, but

then off of, it's gonna be a mess.

688

:

Because here's the thing, hallelujah,

these are great men, but they

689

:

don't know what they're doing.

690

:

Because only the Supreme Ruler, God

Most High, knows what he's doing.

691

:

He's established the earth.

692

:

He's established the laws of life.

693

:

He knows what he's doing.

694

:

So what does that mean for you and me?

695

:

It means that we need to make

sure that the Word must be

696

:

our standard for our lives.

697

:

We need to measure

everything by God's Word.

698

:

We need to make sure, hey, how does this

work when it comes to my relationship?

699

:

What does God's Word say?

700

:

When it comes to my dating, my romantic

interest, what does God's Word say?

701

:

When I parent my kids, let me measure it.

702

:

Let me use God's word to guide me

the way I treat my parents, the

703

:

way I treat my kids, the way I

share my faith, the way I live.

704

:

It has to be based on what God's

word, if it's based on anything else,

705

:

brothers and sisters, we're a mess and

we're in trouble, but wait, we can,

706

:

we know that because all we have to

do is think back either to our lives.

707

:

Before or our lives when we're not

doing well spiritually, or we just look

708

:

at society today and we can see what

it's like when we use anything else

709

:

than the measurement of God's word.

710

:

Let's go ahead and thank

you these brothers.

711

:

Thank you so much.

712

:

Appreciate you being on here.

713

:

Here's the thing, brothers, sisters,

whether it's big decisions or small

714

:

decisions, they need to be based

on the word of God or world views.

715

:

Need to be based on the

principles laid out in God's Word.

716

:

What I watch on TV.

717

:

What I wear.

718

:

How I speak.

719

:

What jokes I share and laugh at.

720

:

What I spend my time doing.

721

:

Does this align with the

truth revealed in God's Word?

722

:

What are the principles in God's word that

direct our views, decisions, and actions?

723

:

Because we can say, well, that's

not clearly in the Bible, but

724

:

there's biblical principles.

725

:

And when we don't know or we don't

understand, guess what we do?

726

:

We utilize the church to help us

to see and discern and decipher and

727

:

distinguish what are godly decisions.

728

:

And that's called seeking godly advice.

729

:

And so our dedication to the

word must be our hallmark.

730

:

I remember a time in our church,

real quickly, I remember a time

731

:

in our church when it was clear

the word of God was our standard.

732

:

I mean, it was clear.

733

:

I remember being so inspired when I

came out to church in Washington, D.

734

:

C., our church in Washington, D.

735

:

C.

736

:

And I saw every, just what I remember, I'm

sure it wasn't 100%, but every member I

737

:

saw had, and this is old school days, they

had their physical Bible and they had a

738

:

pen and paper and they were taking notes.

739

:

Because they wanted to know and

they wanted to take the word back

740

:

home to their life and study it

out so that they can apply it.

741

:

And we would talk to each

other, what are you learning

742

:

in your Bible study right now?

743

:

Now, and when we would counsel and

encourage and sometimes even challenge

744

:

one another, we opened up the word of

God and we let that be the standard,

745

:

not our feelings and not our opinions.

746

:

And I remember that day and

I remember that and I was so

747

:

inspired by that and even recently

I've been, I've been convicted.

748

:

I think it was like Wednesday or Thursday,

the Holy Spirit, I felt just convicted

749

:

me cause I, I, it hit me as I was praying

and I was thinking, you know what, wow,

750

:

I don't I'm not using the word of God

in my interactions the way I used to.

751

:

There used to be a lot more in

my text messages and my talk.

752

:

In fact, uh, part of me, I realized, felt

a little insecure sharing the word of God

753

:

because I thought, oh, people, they're

gonna, they're gonna be offended by this.

754

:

Oh, what in the world?

755

:

That's, that's an indictment on me.

756

:

That I'm, I'm having this view.

757

:

And I'm realizing, wow, you know what?

758

:

I'm not sharing.

759

:

I'm referencing scriptures as opposed

to just looking at the scriptures.

760

:

Hey, bro, you know, it says

here as opposed to let's

761

:

just open up the scriptures.

762

:

Let's open up the app on our phone.

763

:

Let's look at it so that the word

of God may minister to you and

764

:

not Marcel Hall minister to you.

765

:

And so I made a decision.

766

:

I'm repenting of it.

767

:

And I want to call the whole church back

to where we are a people of the word.

768

:

Where it's our hallmark.

769

:

It's our standard.

770

:

It's who we are.

771

:

Anybody would have walked in those doors.

772

:

They say, you know what?

773

:

I don't know a lot about those

people, but there's a couple things.

774

:

I know they love and they love God's Word.

775

:

They treated me with love

and they obey God's Word.

776

:

If anybody's gonna say anything

negative, man, they're fanatics.

777

:

They're crazy.

778

:

Hallelujah.

779

:

But you know what?

780

:

They love and they love God's Word.

781

:

That should be us.

782

:

Why?

783

:

Because we are God's people, and as God's

people, we should be people of God's Word.

784

:

It is and must remain always

to the day Jesus returns.

785

:

It's the standard for our lives.

786

:

Again, we will see the fruit of it.

787

:

But it's our beloved Lord's Word.

788

:

Church, are you still with me here?

789

:

And may we see the blessings.

790

:

And the rewards from living by his word.

791

:

Let's close it out here.

792

:

I want to give some action

steps here, alright?

793

:

Some action steps here this week.

794

:

Go ahead.

795

:

Now if you're visiting here with us,

whether you're online or you're in

796

:

person, uh, thank you for coming.

797

:

I want to encourage you this.

798

:

This applies to you.

799

:

To go ahead and study God's word.

800

:

And what I mean by this is to

set up a time to, uh, uh, get

801

:

together and study the Bible.

802

:

Every single one of us, we need help

to understand how we apply God's word.

803

:

So I want to encourage you to

apply God's Word by studying

804

:

God's Word with someone this week.

805

:

Next up, uh, to reflect.

806

:

To reflect on your current view and

your current obedience to God's Word.

807

:

Just get a time to reflect.

808

:

Maybe this afternoon, it'd

be great tomorrow morning to

809

:

start the week off reflecting.

810

:

What's my view of God's Word?

811

:

What's my current obedience like to God?

812

:

And the Spirit will minister to you

and give you direction and insights.

813

:

And then lastly, to pray.

814

:

And first off, to pray

thanking God for His Word.

815

:

Thank you so much for all that it is

and all that you do through your Word.

816

:

And then also pray that we as a

church, that we may live by God's Word.

817

:

We don't talk about God's Word.

818

:

We don't just preach God's Word.

819

:

But we live by God's Word.

820

:

Right now we're going to take communion.

821

:

Amen.

822

:

The, uh, the emblems, the juice and

the crackers representing Jesus's body

823

:

that was broken and his blood that

was shed for our salvation and we're

824

:

reminded that Jesus is the embodiment

and fulfillment of the Word of God.

825

:

In John chapter 1 and verse 14,

it says, speaking about Jesus,

826

:

it says, the Word became flesh

and made his dwelling among us.

827

:

We have seen his glory, the

glory of the one and only son.

828

:

Who came from the father

full of grace and truth.

829

:

Again, Jesus is the fulfillment

and the embodiment of God's word.

830

:

He shows us how to live, what it

looks like to apply it, and so as

831

:

we thank God for his word, we're

thanking God for his son Jesus.

832

:

Let's go to God in prayer.

833

:

Father, thank you so much for your word.

834

:

Thank you so much.

835

:

Thank you for his, uh,

spoken word that is recorded.

836

:

Thank you so much that he

reveals your truth to us.

837

:

Thank you so much for the

scriptures testifying and

838

:

prophesying about his coming, his

resurrection, and his sacrifice.

839

:

Lord, we thank you for fulfilling that.

840

:

Thank you so much for, uh, uh, uh,

uh, fulfilling every part of the

841

:

old covenant and issuing the new

covenant through your sacrifice.

842

:

Lord, we pray that we can

respond with faithfulness.

843

:

We can respond with love.

844

:

We can respond with gratitude for

your son, for your word, and for

845

:

this grace that you have given us.

846

:

We pray in the name of Jesus, Amen.

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