03 Jun Hebrews 07 – The word of God

Hebrews 4:12-13

¹² For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ¹³ And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Today, we are only going to cover two verses. Some of you are like, “Yes, short sermon.” Don’t bet on it. Even though it is just two verses, it is one of that your pastor hold very dear in his heart. So today is the 7^th sermon on the book of Hebrews. There are two things that I want to accomplish today. One, is to explain what these two verses meant to the original audience and how it applies to us. This is what I try to do every time I preach. Nothing new. But there is another thing that I want to accomplish. From this sermon, I want to share with you one of my personal conviction on what makes a church, a church. You are going to hear my philosophy of ministry that I try to apply in RSI as well as I can. For some of you who have been with me for a while, you might be aware of it already. For some of you it might be a new thing. Either way, today you will hear what I believe about the Bible and how it governs everything we do as a church.

Let me start with a question. What makes a church, a church? What makes a church distinct from every social organisation out there? Because today we live in a culture that have many churches that are not church. They call themselves church and they have services on Sunday but they are not church. They look no different than social clubs. So, what makes a church, a church? The Bible gives us many traits that makes the church distinct from every other organisation in the world. However, there is one trait that governs every other trait. If we have this one thing, then all other traits that makes the church distinct will follow. But if we do not have this one thing, then all other traits of the church that we have means nothing. There are things that I will say in this sermon that might sound harsh to you. And hear me out on this. It is not my intention to talk bad about other churches out there. We are not their judge. They are accountable to God on how they do church. But I am also accountable to God on how we do this church. And today I want to share with you one of my deepest conviction as your pastor. Hopefully after this sermon, things will make more sense to you why we do what we do.

What makes a church, a church? In preparation for this sermon, I listened to a pastor who gives a list of things people look for in a church. They ask questions like: does the church have a good parking? Are the seats comfortable? Are the bathrooms clean? Are the kids program good? Are the people in the church like me? Does the songs suit my taste of music? Is the pastor cool? Are the sermons engaging? Are they short? So let’s try to answer these questions using our church. Do we have a good parking? I would say yes since I park downstairs but I heard some of you gave up on attending church because of parking. Are the seats comfortable? Yes, except the broken ones. Are the bathroom cleans? Praise God for Ps Lydia and Iluh. Are the kids program good? What kids program? Are the people in the church like me? All of us have black hairs even though we are an International church. Does the songs suit my taste of music? Mine, yes. Yours? I am not sure. But I am sure all of us agree on the next few questions. Is the pastor cool? Definitely! Are the sermons engaging? Of course! Are they short? Yes compare to the Indonesian service.

Now, all of these things are things that are nice to have. But they are not what makes a church, a church. A church can have all of the above but if they do not have this one thing then it is not a church. What makes a church distinct from every social organisation out there is the Biblical preaching of the word of God. “Wait. Doesn’t all the church do that?” Unfortunately, the answer is no. Hear me clearly on this. This is a strong word. There are many talks out there that are called preaching that are not preaching at all. Did you hear me? There are many talks in the church that are extremely engaging, funny, relevant, and appeal to your emotions but they are not Biblical preaching. Is it wrong to be engaging, funny, relevant and emotional? Of course not. But that is not the primary purpose of Biblical preaching. Biblical preaching is speaking for God by exposing the people of God to the written word of God in its context. This is Biblical preaching. Can you be engaging, funny, relevant and emotional when you preach? Of course. I am not advocating for a boring sermon that makes everyone fall asleep. But I am saying that Biblical preaching need to be rooted deep in exposing the people of God to the word of God. Hence I firmly believe in expository Biblical preaching.

Let me explain what I do not mean by expository Biblical preaching. Expository Biblical preaching does not simply mean that you preach verse by verse on the book of the Bible. You can preach verse by verse on the book of the Bible but not preach Biblically. Rather than exposing people to the word of God the sermon is filled with human ideas and concepts. I have heard countless of those sermons. Expository Biblical preaching also does not mean that you cannot preach topically. There are times that we need to preach on particular topic that requires us to pick and choose different verses. However, we can never take a verse out of its context. We are free to pick and choose verses that we want to use but we are not free to ignore its original context. Biblical preaching is speaking for God by exposing the people of God to the written word of God in its context.

David Platt gives a very good illustration on how Biblical preaching looks like in the context of swimming pool. There are three different approaches in how preacher uses Bible text during a sermon. The first approach is to treat the text like a diving board. So you start with the diving board, jump off into the water and never return again. You only uses the Bible to support what you want to say without explaining the meaning of the verse and ignoring its context. The second approach is to treat the text like pool furniture. As you jump off the pool and swim, you give occasional nod to the Bible verses you used. So you make your points, tell stories and jokes, and gives occasional glances to the verses. But you never explain the meaning of the verses in its context. The third approach is to treat the text as the pool. So the whole sermon is about jumping into the pool and swimming in the pool. And this is what I try to do every week. Every time I preach, I am taking you for a swim with me. We are swimming in the text. Does it mean every preacher must have the same style? No. You are free to choose whether you want to swim in free style, breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly, or the rock stroke if you can’t swim. What is important is that you jump into the text and immerse in it. This is Biblical preaching.

This is what makes the church distinct. It is not the Praise and Worship although Praise and Worship is important. It is not the kid’s program although kid’s program are crucial. It is not the parking, the seats, the bathroom, or even how awesome and engaging the pastor is. What makes a church distinct is the Biblical preaching of the word of God. This is not the only thing that makes a church distinct but it is the one trait that shapes every other traits. You get this right and other traits will follow. You get this wrong and a church ceased to be a church. Have you ever wonder why we spend so much time in church listening to someone talk? If you are not aware of it, you spend 50 minutes of our 105 minutes together listening to me talk. That is almost half of our time together. Why do you do that? You are busy people and I am sure you have lots of things in your mind that needs your attention. Why is it important for you to listen to me for 50 minutes? The answer is not because I love to talk. And I hope the answer is not because you feel obligated to listen to me knowing that I spend 18 hours of my life in preparing this talk. So why do we need to listen to Biblical preaching? I’m glad you asked. Now, let’s go back to the book of Hebrews.

If you still remember, last time I preached on the book of Hebrews, I preached on the importance of striving to enter God’s rest. The author of the book of Hebrews reminded his audience and us to not repeat the same mistakes as the Israelites. The people of Israel in the exodus generation saw the works of God but they were not able to enter God’s rest because of their unbelief. He then commanded his audience to strive to enter God’s rest. They are commanded to trust God and believe in him despite the persecutions that they experienced for being Christians. That is how they can enter God’s rest. This is how we can enter God’s rest. By God’s rest we mean the full experience of joy, gladness and satisfaction at Christ’s perfect work that we will experience in Heaven. That is where we left off last time. Now verse 12 begins with the word “for.” The author of Hebrews is going to explain to us the role that the word of God play in helping us striving to enter God’s rest. So the goal is to enter God’s rest. The goal is for us to finish the race and experiences the joy and delight that God has prepared for us. And for us to reach that goal, we need the word of God. We need the word of God to strive to enter God’s rest. We need Biblical preaching of the word of God. Why? Once again, I am glad you asked.

Three things that the author of Hebrews teaches us about the word of God. The word of God is living and active; the word of God penetrates us; the word of God exposes us.

The word of God is living and active

Hebrews 4:12 – For the word of God is living and active…

This is what we believe about the Bible. The Bible is not a dead book. Yes it is written by men who were already dead long time ago. But the Bible is not only a written word of men but it is also the very word of God. The Bible consists of 66 different books written by more than 40 different authors through different generations. Yet what unites all those 66 books together is that all of them were inspired by the Holy Spirit. Hebrews 3:7 – Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says… If you still remember, the author of Hebrews is actually quoting Psalm 95 which was written by David. Yet he writes that it was the Holy Spirit who was speaking. Yes it is the words of David but it is the words of God at the same time. This is why we stand on our feet when we read the Scripture before the sermon. We are honouring the word of God. And do you know what the word of God can do? The word of God has the power to create everything out of nothing. Genesis 1 tells us that in the beginning there was nothing. Then God speaks and puff, the universe. This is very different from word of human. If we want something to happen, we cannot just say it. You can say, “Let there be light.” And you know what will happen? Nothing. Unless you walk to the flicker and switch on the light. Our words cannot accomplish anything. Human words is just a mere words. The best human word can do is to command something to happen. But someone has to do the command. You can say, “Yo mom, Indomie.” But you will not have Indomie unless your mom went and cook Indomie for you. But the word of God is different. The word of God is living and active. It does not need your mom to do the job. The word of God has the power to accomplish what it want to accomplish. That is why my role as a preacher is to expose you to the word of God. What is able to transform you is not how engaging I am as a preacher but the power of the written word of God.

The word of God is living and active. It will not fail to accomplish what it sets out to do. This is powerful. We can see how powerful the word of God is in the story of Jesus and Lazarus. So Lazarus, Jesus’ good friend was really sick and they sent news to Jesus to quickly come and heal Lazarus. But you know what Jesus did? He stayed where he was for another two days. By the time Jesus get to Lazarus, Lazarus was already dead for 4 days. 4 days. Not 4 minutes. Not 40 minutes. But 4 days. Lazarus was dead-dead. And now came Jesus. Jesus stood in front of the tomb and cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” And then Jesus walk into the tomb and gives Lazarus CPR in order to revive him. No that is not what happen. The moment the word comes out of Jesus’ mouth, at that very moment, life enters Lazarus’ corpse and Lazarus opens his eyes and walks out of the tomb. The word of God is not only alive but it is also active. It accomplishes what it sets out to do.

Isaiah 55:10-11 – “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

I heard David Platt once told a story of how a missionary shared the Gospel with a guy on the street. The missionary was holding a New Testament Bible with him and the guy was smoking cigarette. After they talked for some time, the guy said, “You know, the paper in that book you are holding looks really nice for rolling cigarette and smoking them.” The missionary was offended at first. Then he thought, “Wait, this could be a good opportunity.” So the missionary replied, “Okay, I will give you this book if you promise me one thing. Promise me that if I give you this book, before you took a page out and roll it into a cigarette that you will read what is on that page first.” And the guy said, “Okay. I can do that. That is a good paper you have there.” The missionary then gave the New Testament Bible to the guy. Few weeks later, the missionary saw the guy and asked him if he kept his words. The guy responded, “I read and smoked my way through Matthew. Then I smoked my way through Mark, Luke and all the way to John chapter 3. Then I read verse 16 and it daunted on me that God loves me. That God send his son to earth to save me. So I gave my life to Jesus. I put my trust in him and I decided to follow him.” And to add cherry on the top, the guy who smoked his way through New Testament is now training to be a pastor.

How amazing is the word of God? Now, I do not recommend you try this method of sharing the gospel with unbelievers. “Hey, do you want to smoke your way through the New Testament?” No, don’t do that. But my point is, the word of God is living and active. The word of God has power to save anyone. It has the power to accomplish what it sets out to do. It does not need our help. Do not believe the lie that we need to make the Bible more relevant to our days. The Bible is always relevant. It is the very word of God. God wrote it. Everything in this world keeps changing. Philosophy of church keeps changing. Method of ministry keeps changing. Music trend keeps changing. Church growth movement keeps changing. But let me tell you what never changes. The word of God. Today we live in day and age that undermine the word of God. But this is nothing new. The word of God has been constantly under attack from the very beginning. People try to attack it. People try to change it. People rip out pages that does not make sense to them. But I have good news for us. All those attacks come and go but the word of God remains. Why? Because it is the very word of God himself. This is the word of the eternal God who is the same yesterday, today and forever. Everything else come and go but the word of the eternal God remains the same yesterday, today and forever. That is why Isaiah declares, Isaiah 40:8 – The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Church, we can trust the word of God to accomplish what it sets out to do. It has the power to transform us and our church.

The word of God penetrates us

Hebrews 4:12 – For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

The word of God is not only living and active but it is also extremely sharp. It is able to cut anything that stand in its way. It is sharper than any two-edged sword and it is able to pierce to the very depth of our being. It has no blunt side. The point of saying, “the division of soul and of spirit, of joins and of marrow,” is not giving anatomical analysis of human beings but it is a poetic way of saying that there is nothing in a person that the word of God cannot cut. The word of God cuts us like a hot knife cuts a warm butter. And not only that, the word of God is also able to discern the thoughts and intentions of our heart. Here is something that I know true about myself. There are many times that I did a good thing with a wrong intentions. Anyone? But here is another thing that I also realized. Most of the time, I am not aware of the thoughts and intentions of my heart. Why? Because of the deceitfulness of sin. Sin lies to us. Sin tricks us into thinking that we are okay. We are often the last person to realize that we are in trouble. And one of the remedy is small groups. But here the author of Hebrews is giving us another remedy to the deceitfulness of sin. It is the word of God. The word of God is able to penetrate deep inside of us and reveal the lies of sins that we believed.

Let me share with you one of the many times the word of God cuts deep into my heart. Last Saturday morning, someone was banging on my front door. Iluh opened the door and the guy gave her a stack of documents. I heard the guy mentioned my name but I thought it was nothing. Then as I was about to leave the house, I went to the kitchen and saw the documents with my name on it. I read it and found out that it was a letter from the legal court of New South Wales that informed me that I’ve been sued for $14,300. What happened was I was involved in minor car accident on February. I already reported everything to the insurance and I thought the problem was already taken care of till I received this notice. I was perplexed and the first thing I did was I messaged my future lawyer, who shall remain unnamed. I explained everything to him and being a good lawyer he is, he told me that he was not supposed to advise me on what to do. But he did anyway. Thanks Josh. So I know what I needed to do. I first need to draft a letter to ask the person who sued me, “what the heck is going on?” and I also need to call my insurance to find out what happen. But it’s Saturday which meant I had to wait till Monday to find out what happen. So I had to spend the weekend wondering what happened. And what complicated the matter was I had a super busy weekend last week. That afternoon we had a volleyball game. And on Sunday, I had to preach two different sermons, which meant I had lots of sermon preparation to do. And as if that was not enough, I had a 3000 words essay due Monday midnight which I had not start writing.

I tried not to think about the $14,000 but how many of you know it was impossible? If it had one less zero, then maybe I could. But it was $14,000 and I am a college student and a pastor. Translation – I am not loaded with cash. So throughout the day, my mind kept coming back to $14,000. When I played volley, it distracted my mind for a bit but as soon as my team was not playing, $14,000 said hi to me. When I did my sermon prep at home, $14,000 kept waving its hand. I could not concentrate. So I switched to my essay and same thing happened. “3000 words, $14,000.” Finally I gave up and decided to sleep at 11. But I could not sleep at all. I tried not to think about it but my subconscious mind was restless. I ended up sleeping only half an hour that night and I had to preach two different sermons, one at Indonesian and the other at English service. And here is the clincher. Do you guys remember what I preached on last week? Entering God’s rest. The rest that Jesus has purchased for our soul. The kind of rest that enable you to sleep and wake up refreshed in the midst of chaos. Yet I only sleep half an hour the night before because I was restless. And as I was preaching the sermon to you, the word of God penetrated deep into my heart. Hebrews 4:9-10 – So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. The word of God revealed the condition of my heart. My soul was restless. And my restlessness was because I did not believe in God. For a while, $14,000 seemed bigger than God. I was preaching on rest but the word of God revealed to me that I needed that rest as much as you do.

My friend, this is what happened every time we read the word of God. We think we are reading the word of God but what actually happen is that the word of God read us. It reads our every thoughts and intentions. It reads all of our being and it is able to cut whatever is in its way. And let me tell you, it is painful. Every time the word of God cuts you, you will feel pain. You will bleed. But it won’t leave you there. The word of God cuts you in order to heal you. It is like a surgeon who uses his scalpel to pierces through your body to remove the tumor inside of you. This is what the word of God does. It cuts deep into you to remove the tumor of sin from our lives. The only one who has the power, skill and precision to do it is God through his word. The word of God cuts you in order to heal you.

The word of God exposes us

Hebrews 4:13 – And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

It simply means this. God knows. He knows. There is absolutely nothing you can hide from him. Nothing can escape the word of God. The author of Hebrews is comparing the word of God to the eyes of God. It is able to see through everything and exposes every heart, every act, every thought and every desire. No matter how clever you are in hiding things, God knows. You might be able to hide it from your parents, you might be able to hide it from your spouse, you might be able to hide it from your pastor, you might be able to hide it from your best friends, and you might even able to deceive yourself into thinking that very thing you try to hide does not exist, but God knows. The word of God exposes us. All are naked before his eyes. The word of God has power to reveal things about you that you did not even know it exists.

The word ‘expose’ is actually a Greek verb that is used to describe a wrestling match where one is utterly helpless. I used to watch WWE back when I was young. One of my favourite sports. I used to think that it was real. Till one day I realized, “What a minute. How can you get punch in the face repeatedly and not bleed?” Then I found out that it was all fake and everything was narrated. But I still love it anyway. “If you smell….” Okay, move on. There are mainly two ways you can lose a wrestling match in WWE. First, you get smack down. And the ref will hit the floor three times and if by the third count you still can’t move, then you lose. The second way is to get locked by your opponent in such a way that you cannot do anything but surrender. Then you will tap the floor three times as a sign of surrender. This is the imagery that the author of Hebrews used. The word of God locks you in such a way that there is no escape. You only have one choice: surrender. And not only that, one day you will have to stand in front of God and give account of everything that the word of God exposes. There is absolutely nothing you can hide from God. God knows the very best of you and the worst of you. The word of God reveals all.

“Yos, this is not the Gospel. This is a terrible news.” I know. But you need to understand the bad news in order to appreciate the good news. Remember that the word of God is like a two-edged sword. It has two sides. In the same way, one of the function of the word of God is to cut you deep. It reveals the depth of your sinfulness. It shows you God’s condemnation against sin. No one can defend themselves against the sharpness of the word of God. No one can stand in front of God and say, “I am good.” The word of God reveals everything about you. But for those who trust in Christ, the word of God cuts you but it does not condemn you. The word of God cuts you in order to heal you. How come? Because the word of God took on flesh and became our high priest. Hebrews 4:14 – Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. We have a great high priest who took the sword of condemnation upon himself so that the sword of God no longer kill us but sanctify us. For those who trust in Christ, the word of God exposes us and cuts areas of our lives that are contrary to the will of God in order to make us more like Jesus every day. This is the primary way how God leads his people to enter his rest. This is the word of God.

Applications

I have two applications. One is corporate and one is personal. Let’s start with corporate application as a church. As a church, we will preach the word. We are committed to Biblical preaching that exposes the people of God to the written word of God. We will not treat the word of God as a diving board or pool furniture but we will take you for a swim in the word of God. We believe that the word of God is living and active, and because of it the word of God has power to penetrate deep into our being and exposes everything that is hidden. This is how we can enter God’s rest. No human words can do this. Only the word of God can. Therefore, we will preach the word!

What does it mean? Few things. First, the preaching of the word will be central to everything we do as a church. There are people out there who are convinced that preaching the word is no longer relevant. They emphasis more on other things such as drama, music and many other creative means. Here is what I say to it. Drama is cool. Skit is awesome. Music is great. But they cannot replace preaching the word. Whenever we do church, we will preach the word. We as a church will give our utmost attention, effort, focus and time in the preaching of the word. Because we are convinced in the power of the word to accomplish what it sets out to do.

Second, do not expect your pastor to preach a ‘self-help’ sermon because it won’t happen. Do you guys know what I mean by self-help sermons? If you go to bookstore, any bookstore, you will find that the biggest section is dedicated to self-help books. “10 steps to overcome debt.” “How to be rich in one year?” “Be a better you overnight.” “7 steps to satisfy her in bed.” It is basically books written in order to help you do better in life. They make promise that if you just read the books and do what is written in the book, it will solve your problem and give you the life that you always wanted. Here is what I say to it. “Cut the crap.” It is ridiculous. Let me tell you that 99 out of 100 it’s not going to work. I dare you to try. It will only create more frustration in you. But people loves it. They keep buying it. So, many churches adopt the same idea. The only difference is they add Jesus in the equation. So it is basically the same idea and concept as secular self-help books with Jesus and out of context Bible verses from Deuteronomy and Leviticus that you never read sprinkled here and there. You hear these kind of sermons in TV, radios, podcast etc. It is extremely popular. We think that now with Jesus in the equation that it’s going to work. So people write books such as “10 steps to have your best life now with Jesus” “7 steps Jesus teaches to get rid of your debt” “How to improve your sex life with Jesus” etc. At the end of the day it is basically a self-help movement with a sprinkle of Jesus and out of context Bible verses. We will not go there. By the grace of God, we will preach the word of God and only the word of God.

Third, we will make much of Jesus in every sermons. This is connected to the earlier application. I am personally convinced that the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation points to Jesus. I remember having a conversation with a very well-known pastor in Indonesia. I asked him how does his sermon preparation looks like. And to my horror he told me, “I begin my sermon preparation by asking the question, “What is the need of the people?”” And then I also attended a church conference where one of the speaker said, “The preaching in the church must answer the need of the people.” Here is my problem. And I am being very honest with you guys. I do not know what you need! And even if I do, everyone has different need all the time. I am not smart enough to know what the people need nor to give answer to their specific needs. Can we be honest and admit that even the Bible does not have the answer for many of our specific needs? “Who should I date? Billy or Bobby? Which job should I take? CBA or Westpac? Is it okay to invest in bitcoin? What should I do when my kids is giving me headache? What should I do when I am majoring in a subject that I absolutely hate?” There is no Bible verses that answers your specific needs. I can’t open the Bible and show you the verse, “Yosia 1:1 says that you shall date nor Billy or Bobby but Henry.” That verse does not exist. Often times we treat the Bible as a manual for life. And if the Bible is primarily a manual for life, it is not a good manual. Some preachers try to turn the Bible into one and no wonder people are disappointed in the Bible. They hear the sermon, “5 steps to have peaceful family” and they go home and apply all those 5 steps and their mother in law is still as annoying as ever. Then they said that the Bible is no longer relevant because it does not work. They miss what the Bible is all about.

The Bible is not a manual for life but it is so much better. The Bible is a book about Jesus that has the power to transform you to be like Jesus. And this is what we need most in life. What we need most in life is not a manual for life but to be like the giver of life. The Bible has the power to transform you to be like Jesus that enable you to face whatever circumstance you face in life. So, Bobby or Billy? The Bible is silent. But here is what the Bible does. As we make much of Jesus through the living and active word of God, we are being transformed to be more like Jesus. And the more we are transformed to be like Jesus, the more we desire what Jesus desires. Our thoughts and our desires are shaped by beauty of Jesus. Our priority and the way we see things begin to change. And once our thought and desire are changed, the way we speak and act begin to change. The way we carry ourselves is different. And then it will affect people around us. Our community begin to change. Our world is shifting. Our life is different. So, Bobby or Billy? Maybe neither. Maybe once you are transformed to be more like Christ, your desire changes, your mindset changes, your behaviour changes, your community changes. And then maybe you will meet Henry in your new community. Now do you see what happen? The same is true about every specific needs that you have in life. In your relationship with one another, in life big decision, in work conflict, in raising kids, whatever it is that you need, what you need most is to be like Christ. And Biblical preaching gives us Christ. Listen carefully. I am not called to preach a sermon that is primarily about answering people’s need. I am called to preach the word of God that transform the people to be like Christ. My role is to expose you to the word of God and show you the beauty of Christ through it and let the word do what it sets out to do. The word of God will not fail to accomplish what it sets out to do.

The other application, the personal application is simply this: read your Bible every day. If we want to be like the Word of God in flesh then we have to immerse ourselves in the written word of God. This is extremely basic but it is extremely crucial. For many of you, you are quick to say amen to everything I said about the word of God throughout this sermon. But here is my question: Do you really believe it? Do you really believe that the word of God is living and active and it is able to penetrate and expose your heart? Do you really believe that it can transform you to be like Jesus? If you do, then you would jump into the pool of God’s word and swim in it every day. The reason that you don’t is that you are not convinced that the word of God is what you need. Of course you would not say that with your mouth but you say it with your life. So here is my encouragement and I am done. Set aside time every single day to immerse yourself in the word of God. Every part of the Bible is inspired by God. Including Leviticus. And as you immerse yourself in it, the word of God is transforming you to be more and more like Christ. And that is exactly what you and I need the most in life.

Discussion

1. What is the one trait that makes the church distinct from every other social organisation and why does it matter for the church to have it?
2. What is Biblical preaching? Does all the church preach biblically? Discuss
3. What does it mean for the word of God to be living and active?
4. How does the word of God penetrate and exposes us?
5. What is self-help sermon? Discuss the advantage and disadvantage of it.
6. How does the word of God enable us to strive to enter God’s rest?
7. “If we want to be like the Word of God in flesh then we have to immerse ourselves in the written word of God.” Agree or disagree? What stop us from immersing ourselves in the Bible every day?