God put His life in His Word for a tangible connection, access to the spiritual

Paul writes in Ephesians 6: [13] Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

[14] Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

The idea of the loins is that’s the core of your trunk; your body. He’s talking about having a belt of truth. The core of your being is to be cinched down tightly and under the control of God’s Word, explains Richard Jordan.

In I Peter 1 is a comparative verse in the kingdom program, because this is the way God’s Word works in whatever the age is: [13] Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

What you’re girding up is the thinking process that controls everything in your life. The “revelation of Jesus Christ” is the truth for their program.

It has to do with applying in your life the truth of who you are in Jesus Christ—different aspects of who Jesus Christ is to you and different aspects of the warfare that we’re involved in.

The way the Spirit’s going to work in the warfare, defensive and offensive, is the Word of truth, the “word of His power,” as defined in Hebrews 1.

God has taken His power and placed it into a Book and that power in that Book is the WORD of His power.

The work of the ministry of the Apostle Paul was marked by the power of God.

I Corinthians 2: [3] And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
[4] And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
[5] That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

In other words, the Spirit of God worked, and the power of God operated in the ministry, not because of Paul’s eloquence but because of the truth of the word of His power.

In I Corinthians 4: [19] But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power.
[20] For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.

There’s all kind of weird ideas and attempts to demonstrate the power of God. That’s what Paul was talking about in I Corinthians. They had all kind of people trying to do all kind of different things to demonstrate the power of God in their life and ministry. And Paul said, “I’m going to come and it’s not going to be all about your talk and your fleshly demonstrations. I want the authentic thing.”

Because the dynamic transforming power (“the gospel of Christ because it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth”) needs to be demonstrated.

There’s a living dynamic of God’s Word. There’s a great verse in II Thessalonians 1: [11] Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power:

It’s your faith resting in the truth of God’s Word that releases the energizing power and working of God the Holy Spirit. We should do the work of faith as an assembly, as individuals, with the power of God.

When you look around you in the world we live in you can ask yourself, “Where is God’s power?” I mean, where’s the power of God to keep Christian young people from the degradations of the world? To keep them away from the violence, the filth, the materialism, the fascination with evil, the living for self and indulgence? Where’s the power to save them from that?

Where’s the power of God to stem the onslaught of the cults and the fake pagan religions that are flooding our culture today?

For centuries paganism was kept away from our shores and people don’t understand why. What’s kept paganism away has been the preaching of God’s Word.

The reason Satan hates America so and seeks to destroy it is because America has been the greatest source of preaching of the gospel of the grace of God—from here the gospel’s gone around the planet. And Satan hates that.

When people who feel they have been mistreated get in control, you know what they do to people they perceive as mistreating them? Swat them.

When the light of preaching God’s Word goes out, that’s what takes over and when it takes over, it takes over with a vengeance because all it knows is to get even and the satanic spiritual forces are full-scale invading our country as the light’s gone out.

There’s this spiritual battle going on and let me ask you this: How many times this week have you talked to lost people about the gospel? And we’re the ones who are supposed to have the truth, and we do have the truth. We’re the vehicle for it to work but we get diverted.

Where’s the power of God to change that reality? It’s in God’s Word. Where’s the power of God to stand against the attacks on the Bible and dispensational truth?

Hebrews 11: [3] Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

By faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God.

We understand by what God said (Genesis 1:1) that the worlds were framed by God’s Word. God spoke and they came into existence.

Psalm 33: [6] By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

That’s called inspiration in the Bible. That’s called “God SPOKE and created everything."

Hebrews 1: [3] Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

He didn’t simply SPEAK the universe into existence; the Word of His power causes it to continue the way He spoke it.

Colossians 1:17 says that by Him “all things consist.” The reason the universe stays together—the power of His Word is what produces all of that.

God has taken His power, expressed it in some words. I talk to you about how we’re “People of the Book.” He’s taken those words and put them in a Book.

There’s a verse I quote quite often--John 6:63 where Jesus is talking to His apostles and He’s had a long discussion with them about some spiritual things and then he says:

[63] It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

So life comes from the spirit. The flesh profits nothing; it’s not where profit is in life. It’s not where life is. Life is in your spirit.

So God takes His Word, puts His spirit in His words and puts the life in His words and it’s the words where the Spirit of God and the life of God are going to be located.

The tangible link between that which is seen and that which is not seen—the physical is a manifestation of the spiritual. It’s always that way.

You can take sheet music and tear it into pieces but you don’t destroy the music. Music is a spiritual thing and so is thinking.

The point is the invisible becomes tangible in the physical and the physical is simply the manifesting and bringing into your reality where you can touch it in a tangible way.

So what God did is He put His life in His Word so there's a tangible connection that you can hold in your hand, read and see and through which you can have access to the spiritual.

The only thing you’ll ever have in your hand that is a tangible connection with the spiritual life that God gives you is that Book. That’s why we keep making the issue about the Book.

(editor's note: will give the true story of Patrick of Ireland tomorrow among other stuff)