The People of God

Where God's Word Lives

July 29, 1993

Colossians 3:16

Introduction

"It has become a family story..."

Ben went to the doctor who lifted his shirt and listened to his heart with a stethoscope.

"What are you doing?" asked little Ben.

"I'm listening to your heart," was the reply.

"Jesus is in there, " said Ben, matter-of-factly.

"I think I hear Him," said the doctor with a smile.

My young grandson Ben's statement to the doctor: "God is in there!" Ben certainly did/does not know the ramifications of an indwelling Presence in the very soul of the believer. But his statement that God is in his heart comes close to summing up what genuine Christian faith can be: incarnational faith!

Paul says: Let the word dwell in you richly!

I. WHAT THE WORD OF GOD IS

  1. The Bible is God's WRITTEN Word. It is probably the first thing that comes to mind, especially for those of us brought up in the Christian church. We believe that the Bible is God's revealed Word on salvation. It is a great and good thing to have the words of the Bible hidden in our hearts.

    But the Bible is the written Word that tells us of the WORD.

  2. Jesus Christ is God's WORD. He is the LIVING Word. John in the Prologue to his Gospel says, "In the beginning was the WORD!" The text says "Let the WORD dwell in you!" To have the WORD in us is more than Bible memorization: the living WORD can come and live within us! In Ephesians 3:17, a similar passage, instead of saying "Let the Word dwell in you.." Paul says "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.."
  3. Then, with Jesus Christ LIVING— ALIVE in you and in me... WE the CHURCH— become THE WORD INCARNATE! Three great miracles of INCARNATION or INTER-FACING of God and Humanity— the Bible, the WORD, and the Church made up of born-again believers— speak to a world that is hungry for God.

    It is our task to abide in Jesus, the WORD, and to let His WORDS abide in us— and then we can share in His mission to let the world come to know God:

II. A PARTICULAR, SPECIFIC REVELATION FROM THE 1993 GENERAL ASSEMBLY

  1. World Mission Society
    1. Thunderous media presentation— impressive! Scared little children almost out of their wits!
    2. Winsome, genuinely spiritually alive singing groups from Korea, from Barbados, as well as outstanding orchestra, choir, organ and piano from US colleges were interspersed with pictures from many foreign fields.
    3. And then "a still, small voice"—

      Mel McCullough came out with a little Russian girl about 12 years old, all dressed in white, and she sang, very simply, with almost no accompaniment, "Da, Jesu loov meit"

      Then Mel McCullough told about young Nazarenes, in Russia and in Romania, caring, loving, living out the message of God's love— THE WORD INCARNATE— in hospitals where people lay for months with no attention because they had no means to pay attendants— our young people cared, loved, took them out into the sunshine.

      One of the translators assigned to the first group was so impressed (Galena) that she gave her life to Jesus Christ, and was there with the Nazarene delegation from Moscow.

    4. This Friday night service closed with the challenge of pioneer missionaries standing at the front, and hundreds of teens responding with a willingness to do as God would have them, and hundreds of older people "standing back of them."

      I was sitting with Joel Scott and Bob and Mike Johnston. I am proud of both Bob and Mike (having brought in unsaved school friends this year, who were won to the Lord.) Joel saw his mother and dad way down at the front, and he left us, made his way to the bottom of the upper arena area, jumped over the wall and I watched him make his way probably seventy yards more to the platform area to try to get near his parents.

  2. SUNDAY SCHOOL MINISTRIES

    The speaker Saturday evening was Donald Owens. His text was our text for this morning: "Let the WORD dwell in you richly..." The "guests of honor" were a thousand or more Sunday School teachers representing all those who teach in all the Nazarene churches around the world.

  3. COMMUNION SERVICE
  4. WORLD MISSION

    Theme: That the World May Know 1- Jesus said: "I will build My church." 2- The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed 3- His truth is Marching On!

    Twenty new countries entered in past four years:

    Thailand Transkei Ghana Liberia Rawanda Tanzania Zaire Eritrea Lesuthu* (Stotlers) Angola Bangladesh Ethiopia Cambodia Romania* (Scotts/ Dorothy Tarrant/ ENC-ers) Russia Solomon Islands Sweden Ukraine Albania Madagascar (Galena) (China, not allowed to evangelize)*Reiders

  5. Monday's opening DR. GREATHOUSE brought the devotions from John 17, calling the church to personal holiness; to the consecration of all of life to the love and service of Jesus.
  6. EDUCATION SERVICE Donald Young honored.

Returning to Colossians 3

III. THE PEACE, THE WORD, THE NAME

  1. The PEACE to "rule:" (15) Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which you are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
  2. The WORD to "abide" and give stability: (text 16) Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
  3. The NAME to empower and authorize. (17) And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.

Conclusion

We are called to be HOLY; not simply so that we can bask in our goodness, but so that Christ can indwell us, and speak of His love and righteousness and grace to a world that wants to know God!

We are given what is necessary for us to live this CHOSEN life: God's peace; His Word; and His great name— the name of Jesus!

Into the Ritual of Communion
Inviting the Living WORD to abide in us!