In our message series, The Book of Life, we’re looking at the importance of the Bible to every person’s life. The Bible, God’s Word, is the one and only essential guide to living a successful life. Today, my message is entitled “Guided by the Word.” We’re going to be learning how God’s Word can guide your life, directing you away from paths that lead away from God and guiding you on the path that God has designed for you.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV) All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
These verses tell us that all of the Bible, not just some, is useful to train and equip us to do the things God wants us to do in life. The good works this verse talks about has to do with all of your life, your family life, your work life, your church life and any other aspects of life. God’s Word is useful and essential to equip you to live for God in all these areas. Too many people think that the Bible simply has to do with church, but it clearly speaks to every area of life.
Today, we’re going to be looking at a portion of the longest chapter in the Bible, Psalm 119. The topic of Psalm 119 is how God’s Word can help you through the trials and troubles of life, keeping you on track with God. Psalm 119 is an amazing psalm. It is an alphabetic acrostic in the Hebrew language. It consists of 22 stanzas, each line of each stanza of 8 verses begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. I’d encourage you to read the entire psalm this week and highlight the verses that speak to you about the importance of God’s Word.
Our country was founded on the godly principles found in God’s Word. Our country’s founders recognized the importance of the Bible to guide the formation of the guiding principles of America. Sadly, today, the Bible is regarded by many as just one of a number of “sacred” books. Biblical principles are not often used in guiding governmental policies. However, as we learn how to be guided by God’s Word in our personal lives, we will also learn how to use those biblical principles to guide our voting. And so bring godly principles back into our government. Some people erroneously claim that biblical principles have no place in government, but nothing could be further from the truth. If biblical principles are not followed, than ungodly principles will be followed to the detriment of the country and all its citizens.
Proverbs 14:34 (NIV) Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.
The laws and statutes of our county need to reflect righteous biblical values in order for our nation to be exalted.
Isaiah 5:20 (NIV) Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
If godly principles are not the basis for our lives, institutions and government, the ungodly principles will be used. There are no neutral guiding principles. We want to follow the biblical principles of God’s Word.
Today, we are going to look at 2 stanzas of Psalm 119, related to the Hebrew letters, mem and nun to learn how you individually and our nation as a whole can be guided by the Word.