Good morning Church!
What a joy to get back together and to meet you all in a conventional fashion after a long time. We thank God to allow us to praise and worship him, it is indeed Hos grace and mercy. May our hearts and ears be open and may our eyes be fixed upon Him.
We will continue with the Part-3 of our ongoing series, i.e.”Unclogging the wells!”
(Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.)
Genesis 26:15
In other words, filled with dirt. When the enemy saw the prosperity of Isaac, they were not happy. However, God favoured Isaac and raised him above the expectations of his enemies. Abraham dug this well for future generations, but when enemy saw this, they attacked the very source with dirt and filth. The living water which come from the well, if stops, we may die of thirst.
No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.
Isaiah 54:17
The living water is compared with the word of God. When Jesus walked on this earth, one of the common and repeated question He asked was, “Have you not read?“
There are several reference where we can see, (from all Gospels) that Jesus asked, “Have you not read?”
– Matthew 21:42
– Matthew 22:31
– Mark 2:25
– Mark 12:12
– Mark 12:26
– Luke 6:3
Any hungry heart or thirsty heart will never find satisfaction unless he or she consumes the word of God.
Do not allow enemy to clog your well of living water, i.e. The word of God. The Bible affirms that the word of God is living and satisfies your hunger and thirst.
The enemy filled Isaac’s well with earth. Today, is your well filled with earth or your life with spirit of God?
I want to talk about two things that I want you to understand carefully:
1: God expects us to read the scriptures.
And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:6-9
While there are great examples for people who followed the word of God, however, there have also been records wherein people who haven’t followed the word of God, set an example that “Why you should!”.
Abraham obeyed God and God blessed Abraham. Are we obeying like Abraham? Are our children prepared the way Abraham raised Isaac? Or are children are hooked to gadgets, mobile phones, video games etc?
We are not reading with word of God and on the other hand, we are reading news or watching world media who are suggesting what is going to happen.
Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.
1 Timothy 4:13
Do you read scriptures on priority? Ask yourself this question this morning.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
2 Timothy 3:16
John Calvin once said, “This is a principle which distinguishes our religion from all others that we know that God has spoken to us and are fully convinced that the prophets did not speak at their own suggestions. But that, being of the Holy Spirit, they only have turned what they have been comissioned from heaven to declare.”
Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’
Matthew 22:9
2: God wants us to put the word of God into action.
In order to put the God’s word into action, you need to understand the word of God.
There is a new aspect where Jesus is asking the leaders that “Don’t you know, have you not read?” He asked this to Pharisees, Chief Priests, Seducees etc.
He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
Matthew 12:3-8
Have you not read this Scripture: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
Mark 12:10
And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?
Matthew 19:3-5
The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.’ Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. So too the second and third, down to the seventh. After them all, the woman died. In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her.” But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.
Matthew 22:23-33
There is a reason for everything God says. Follow, for it is for your good. So that when you receive instruction from God, you can put it into action.
Christ is the giver of all things, you need to cultivate your heart. A lipservice will not affect God; only honest, hungry, thirsty and broken person can convince God, when you do it with your heart. The word of God should impact your spiritual life.
If you feel, word of God isn’t changing You, that means something is wrong with.It us not the non biblical proverbs which can motivate us or encourage is. It is only Holy Spirit, which can transform us.
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
James 1:22
Do not fool yourself! Jesus said they the Scriptures must be obeyed and followed. Thats the view of Jesus on the word of God.
This morning, I want you to make a commitment that you will read the word of God and not just read, but also apply in your life. If you feel there is a lot of distraction, in that case, you need to oray and seek God’s intervention.
We thank you for joining us, we look forward to see you all next Sunday. God Bless.