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Series: God's Word Changes Everything
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We're starting a new series today focused on the Bible and God's word. Many of us have experienced moments when reading the Bible has challenged us, encouraged us, or completely changed our perspective on life. Christians believe that through scripture, God speaks to us, shapes us, and draws us closer to him. God's word isn't simply information to know—it's truth that transforms us.
Before we begin, let me read from Isaiah 55:10-11:
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish so that it yields seed for the sewer and bread for the eater. So my word that goes out from my mouth it will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purposes for which I sent it.
The Bible really can change everything. Everything changed when somebody gave me this Bible 35 years ago. The Bible has changed the world because it's the most read book in the world. But what makes it different?
The Bible isn't just a book—it's a library, a collection of 66 books. That's why they call it the Holy Bible. Some people call it the good book, but there are loads of good books in the world. There are lots of great books. I love books—I've loved reading my whole life. One thing I love is how something that took somebody 20 or 30 years to learn, I can just pick up a book and read it and find out about it in just a few hours. What a brilliant investment of time that is.
But this book is unlike any other book if you read it. That's the "if" that really counts. If you read it, you're going to find it has power—a supernatural power inside of it. No other book has the power to change lives. Why? Because the Bible is the word of God.
The Bible is written by humans but inspired by God. It's not just a human book—it's God's word. It's not just an ordinary book. It's not a bunch of stories. The Bible itself says, "We didn't follow cleverly made-up stories." It's not just a history of Israel. It's our story from beginning to end, and happily ever after if we follow what it teaches.
The Bible calls itself theopneustos—God breathed. That's how inspired it is. The reason why the Bible has the power to change our lives is because it's not just words in print. It's not philosophy or pop psychology. It's the word of God. And the word of God is the most powerful thing in the universe.
God's universe was created by his word. Look at how the book starts. Genesis 1:1-3 says:
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now, the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light." And there was light.
What does that tell me? God said it. This is how the whole universe was created—by the word of God. God spoke it into existence, over and over again. God speaks and it happens. God said it, then God saw it. Whatever he wants to happen happens by the power of his word.
For centuries, philosophers and scientists believed the universe was infinite and eternal, with no beginning and no end. We now know that's not true because of Einstein and the theory of relativity, and later the calculations of people like Stephen Hawking and many others. They've now caught up with what the Bible said all along: that the universe had a definite beginning and it will have a definite end.
They like to put numbers on that—like billions of years ago. But you know what? That's guessing. None of them know because they weren't there. But God does, because he started it. And our God knows the beginning from the end. Jesus Christ is the alpha and the omega. We know it will happen. It's not a new discovery for a Bible student because the Bible said all along that we're not here because of a cosmic accident. The world was created with a purpose by a God who had a plan.
The universe was planned and created, and there will be an end to it as well as a beginning, because God has other plans yet to be fulfilled according to his word. Psalm 33:6 says:
By the word of the Lord, the heavens were made. Their starry host, by the breath of his mouth.
That tells me that in a fraction of a split second, all those billions of galaxies and stars were spread out everywhere. How? By the word of God. It was spoken into existence. God said it and God saw it and it was good. He created it all. It wouldn't have just happened. It didn't just happen by chance.
Chance never made anything happen. It takes an enormous amount of faith to believe that all of this was just an accident—that something comes out of nothing, that everything comes out of nothing. I can't believe that. I haven't got enough faith to believe that. When there's a cause, there has to be an effect. When there's an effect, it's because there was a cause.
So the word of God spoke. God said, "Let there be light." And there's light moving really fast. Then God said, "Let there be stars and sun and skies and seas and seeds and slugs." Bam. He says it, and then he sees it. He says it and he sees it over and over. God creates people and he speaks life into them. "Be fruitful and increase and fill the earth and make it like heaven." Everything he does is by the power of his word.
Then we get to the New Testament, and John starts his gospel sounding quite similar at first to Genesis, but then he says the word became flesh. John chapter 1, verse 1. And in Revelation chapter 19, he tells us Jesus is the word of God.
When Jesus, the Son of God, was walking around on the planet 2,000 years ago, he did everything by the power of the word. He healed. He brought people back from the dead. Simply by the power of his word—as the Holy Spirit breathed life through his command. These were widely witnessed miracles, not just accredited by a few people. Hundreds, thousands of people heard Jesus speak and saw people healed, or they ate the food that he multiplied, or they saw people set free from the power of the devil or from death itself.
And when people wondered how, they just said, "He does it all with a word."
I don't have power like that. You don't have power like that, because we are not God. But when I read the word of God and believe the word of God and activate it by faith, I start to say what it says, and I start to see things change. Everything changes by the power of God's word. Healing and hope and wholeness can come because God can still create light. God can still burst the darkness by the power of his word.
Jesus said his words were more than just words. He said they were spirit and life. John 6:63 says:
The words I've spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
In other words, Jesus says, "When I talk, it's not just words. My words have spiritual power to bring about new life. Power to transform society and history and anybody. These words can do the impossible."
How? Hebrews 4:12 says:
It's because the living word of God is alive and active. It's living and active. The word of God is a living word. It's actively alive. It's living and active.
The word "living" there is the Greek word zoe—we get the name Zoe from it, as well as zoology. The word zoe means to live. When you read the Bible, it will bring you life. And it's active. The Greek word there is energos, which is the word we get "energy" from. God's word has the power to be able to change things—to change anything—because it says it's sharper than any double-edged sword:
It penetrates even to divide soul and spirit, joints and marrow and it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
When I read the Bible, the Bible reads me. God says his word is sharper than any surgeon's skilled scalpel. It cuts right to the heart of the issue. It points out what's wrong, what needs to be corrected in my life, what I need to do.
God's word changes my life because it can mold my character. God's word can unleash his power and his promises. As I eat the word, as I drink it, breathe it, think about it, declare it, and unleash its power by faith over my doubts, I see what he says happen in my life because I know it's true.
And you can know it too. God's word changes everything.
