We need to be united with the Word.  The confidence that God watches over His Word to perform it, praise God!  That’s where our confidence is.  In Him.  We could give you a number of verses, but I’ll just give you a couple to put in your notes.  Isaiah 55, verse 11, His Word will not return void or without effect, it shall accomplish that whereunto He has sent it; amen?  If you’ll allow that Word, through obedience, to take root in your life, God will see to it that it comes to pass.  I’ve hidden Your Word in my heart.  Psalm 19 says in verse 7, this Word is perfect, converting the soul.  That Word converting just means “to save” or “to restore back to God’s original intent.”  Our souls that were marred by sin, as the children of Adam, we’re born insane.

We’re born with egos that give us the same spirit of Satan.  “I will be as God.  I’ll replace God as it pertains to my life.  I will make the decisions for the course of my life.”  That comes to us, how many times a day, sometimes, that we have to pull that down.  And God brings us the assurance of our sonship and Satan reinjects, “Has God said?  This doesn’t apply to you.  It will never work in your life.  Look how many times you’ve already failed.  You think God’s going to give you another chance?” Well, if God can take a regenerated man who still has sin in his members and require a minimum of 490 times a day that I forgive, I think He, in His infinite holiness, can pull it off; amen?  In His infinite love, in His omniscience.  Don’t believe those lies.

God has promised you all the benefits of redemption and He will never leave you nor forsake you.  Guard your heart!  Break up the fallow ground.  Give that seed some good ground to continue to grow.  We know the other truths, so many other truths in Scripture!  Thank God, even to that place where the mercies of God, His heart is to dung around it one more year; amen?  Always, just to give mercy and grace.  But we see, also, in that parable and in those truths that there is a place where things are cut off.  There is a place where that can finally strangle you to death.  Our rebellion, our self‑indulgences, our pride.  One of the most dangerous aspects being, “Oh, I know that’s the case in most people’s lives, but I’ll never leave You, Lord.  I’ll never deny You.” Take heed when you think you stand.

Psalm 119, verse 130, “Your words give life and understanding to the simple.”  Anybody here qualify to be simple?  I know I’m believing right now and just encourage some of you to pray for us, also.  There have been incidents going on recently, for the last months, and I notice there are breaks in my thought process, even as I’m teaching at different times.  From the natural perspective, and the things that the enemy would try to indicate, there are remaining consequences to that extreme loss of oxygen.  I don’t accept that.  As we just continue, in incidents similar, as it applies to these great principles, he talked about this understanding to the simple.

It encourages us as new believers.  It encourages us as those who might be academically challenged.  I say “those of us.”  Do you know the hours it takes to have as much of the Scriptures stick as I have inside of me when you’re fighting ADD?  Where it takes, most times, if you give me the simplest thing to try to memorize it could take me 30 minutes to try to memorize a few lines.  My mind is everywhere!  Believing God to give us disciplines, the hours and hours, the repetitions!  I even gave up trying to memorize Scripture.  I just did it by sheer volume of time and repetitiveness.  It’s not something I can do, to just sit down and memorize something.  But if in the context, and you’ve read it 100 times, it starts sticking.  I’m just talking about the fact that for all of us, there’s no excuse for us not to hide the Word of God in our hearts; amen?  To fill our minds with the Word of God.  Now one of the consequences of that I really hate is that as you’re doing that, you’re not storing up the address.  So, for many of these verses in my memory, I can’t tell you what the address is.  But I can turn to the exact page in here where it is and then go, “Oh, it’s that chapter!”  But I knew it was in the left‑hand column, up to the right, because I’ve been there a few times.  I’m only making that point to say let’s study to show ourselves approved unto God, workmen (Amen?) that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.  It can never rightly be divided if it’s not applied.

Father, we thank You for Your Word and for the grace You’ve been showing us as a people as You’re preparing us for Your soon coming.  Father, we thank You that You would help instill in us a zeal for Your house.  So many places to be distracted, let us love You more.  Your church constantly being attacked, Satan comes immediately to remove the Word.  If we don’t move immediately to apply the Word it will be quickly removed from our hearts.  It will be trampled under the feet of worldly ideology, humanism, secularism, because we have no mind, we have no sword to combat, destroy the enemy of our souls.  O, Father, how we need the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit, praying always.  We give You the glory, Father, for Your promises and for what You’ve worked on our behalf.  Let men see the good works and glorify our Father which is in heaven, is the prayer of our hearts.  We ask it, Father, in Jesus’ name; amen!