THE LIVING WORD - PS PHIL PRINGLE WEEK 3/3 - SUNDAY 27 MAY, 6PM When God talks, it s truth! Trust the Word. The Word of God has power, more than any words of man. When I was unsaved and I prayed for God to reveal Himself, I found myself saying the Lord s Prayer. We had prayed this every morning at the school I went to as a child. This surprised me immensely. He revealed himself to me and I was shocked that God was the Christian s God. I didn t like the Christians, well not the ones I had met, so I wanted the cool god the Beatles and the cool people were into. The point is, the Word of God surfaced inside me when I reached out to the Lord. In the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13), the sower went out to sow seed. He sowed the Word of God, not opinions. Let the Word do its work. The success of the seed isn t depending on you. All you have to do is share Scripture. The power is in the Word. Anyone can be a sower of the seed, the Word of God. Trust the Word. It s alive and full of power. This is why it s important to memorize Scriptures, so you can share them with people. Share Scripture with people who don t know Christ. God s words fulfil themselves. God cannot speak without power. He causes life with the words of His mouth.
Not a word failed of any good thing which the LORD had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass. Joshua 21:45 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Matthew 24:35 For no word from God will ever fail. Luke 1:37 Prophecy Major portions of the Scripture are prophecies. J. Barton Payne s Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy lists 1,239 prophecies in the Old Testament and 578 prophecies in the New Testament, for a total of 1,817. These encompass 8,352 verses. 27% of the writings of Scripture are prophecies. Prophecy is the most credible proof of the uniqueness and divine inspiration of the Bible. Its importance can hardly be overstated.
If hundreds of biblical prophecies have been meticulously, accurately fulfilled, then it stands to reason that what the Bible has to say about other things such as the nature and character of God, creation, the nature of man, salvation, and the existence of heaven and hell are 100 percent accurate as well. It also demonstrates that the Bible s content is not man-made but rather has its origins outside our own time-space continuum. God has been to the future. He lives in timelessness. He is able to reveal the future to the present world as and when we see these words fulfilled we are able to believe and apply the Word of God to our lives today. Jesus in Prophecy You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. John 5:39 Jesus fulfilled 353 prophecies. I ve listed 8 of those below. These prophecies about Jesus were written by men from different times and places between about 500 and 1,000 years before Jesus was born. There was no opportunity for helping each out or for creating artificial, fake information.
1. The Messiah will be born in Bethlehem 500 BC: But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting. Micah 5:2 01 AD: Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, Matthew 2:1 2. A messenger will prepare the way for the Messiah 500 BC: Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming," Says the LORD of hosts. Malachi 3:1 37 AD: The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
John 1:29 3. The Messiah will enter Jerusalem as a king riding on a donkey 500 BC: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey. Zechariah 9:9 They threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it. Matthew 21:7 4. The Messiah will be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver 487 BC: And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. Zechariah 11:12 They gave him thirty pieces of silver. Matthew 26:15
5. The betrayal money will be used to purchase a potter s field 500 BC: And the Lord said to me, Throw it to the potter the handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord. Zechariah 11:13 And they consulted together and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in. Matthew 27:7 6. The Messiah will remain silent while He is afflicted 600 BC: He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. Isaiah 53:7 Then Pilate said to Him, "Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?" But He answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly. Matthew 27:13-14
7. The Messiah will die by having His hands and feet pierced, crucified. 1000 BC: For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; Psalm 22:16 Then they crucified Him Mat 27:35 8. His garments are divided by casting dice. 1000BC: They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots. Psalm 22:18 30AD: The soldiers took his robe, but it was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said, Let s not tear it but throw dice to see who gets it. John 19:23-24
A combined total of 88 billion people have lived on Earth since the time of these prophecies. The probability of all 8 prophecies being fulfilled accidentally in the life of one person is one in one hundred quadrillion! When people say that the fulfilment of prophecy in the life of Jesus was accidental, they do not know what they are talking about. Keep in mind that Jesus did not just fulfil 8 prophecies, He fulfilled 353. Accidental fulfilment of these prophecies is simply beyond the realm of possibility. Promises Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses. 1 Kings 8:56 Promises are similar to prophecies, except they are the promise of good things, whereas prophecies tell us of both good and bad things that are going to happen. Prophecies tend to rely on the sovereignty of God alone, whereas promises are about us following the guidance of God and acting in faith to possess those promises. There are over 3000 promises in Scripture. One area of promise God has given is that He will provide.
He promised He would provide bread and water every day for three million Israelites, every day for forty years. They were sustained by this promise of provision for forty years. Bread fell from the sky every night and they collected it every morning. After Moses had struck a rock with his rod a river four foot deep and 3 feet wide flowed from the Rock that followed them in the wilderness. Not even their clothes or sandals wore out. For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. 2 Corinthians 1:20 All the promises. No matter how many promises God has made, they are YES in Christ. Not maybe, not in the right timing, not after you ve preformed properly but in Christ, YES! Often, we feel it s too difficult to muster up courage to try and believe, but you can rest assured if you are in Christ, God is seeking to make His promises a reality in your life. You re qualified in Jesus alone. and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. Amen means to establish.