Never Leave Home Without It
Never Leave Home Without It
Ps. Michael delivers a message on the essential role of God’s Word in the life of every believer, urging us to treat Scripture not as an optional extra but as a daily necessity. He compares the Bible to a spiritual multi-tool, highlighting its versatility and impact. First, it is a light that guides our path—just as a lamp provides clarity in the dark, the Word illuminates the next steps in our lives, even when the full picture isn’t clear. Second, it ignites our faith—reading Scripture stirs a supernatural response in our spirit, filling us with the courage to act in obedience. Lastly, it equips us to fight—the Word is described as a sword, able to divide soul and spirit, truth and lies. It helps us recognize God’s voice and stand firm against spiritual opposition.
Through personal stories, biblical insight, and relatable moments, Ps. Michael challenges believers to stop treating the Bible as a convenience and start carrying it as a daily essential. He encourages memorization, reflection, and deeper engagement with Scripture. When the Word of God is deeply rooted in our lives, we walk with greater clarity, faith, and readiness for every challenge we face.
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Never Leave Home Without It: The Power of God's Word in Your Life
In a world filled with distractions and challenges, there's one tool we should never leave home without - the Word of God. Just like a multi-tool that offers various functions for different situations, the Bible provides us with exactly what we need for every circumstance we face.
How Does the Bible Function as a Multi-Tool in Our Lives?
The Bible isn't just a collection of stories or words on a page. It's "God-breathed" as 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us, meaning that when we read it, that divine breath is released into our lives. The Scripture is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness - making it truly multifaceted in its application.
Let's explore three powerful ways the Bible functions as an essential multi-tool in our daily lives:
How Does God's Word Light Our Path?
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." - Psalm 119:105
As humans, we have both a natural attraction to light and a dependency on it. We function poorly without it. In biblical times, light was even more precious and necessary than it is today. Merchants traveling between cities at night, shepherds protecting their flocks, and families visiting neighbors all depended on lamps to guide their way.
But notice something important about this verse - it doesn't describe God's Word as a floodlight illuminating the entire road ahead. Rather, it's a lamp that provides just enough light for the next step.
When you feel like you're stumbling in the dark, questioning God's purpose for your life, or unsure about major decisions, the greatest thing you can do is open the Word of God. It won't necessarily show you the entire journey ahead, but it will give you enough light and confidence to take the next step.
How Does the Bible Ignite Faith Within Us?
"So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of God." - Romans 10:17 (KJV)
Have you ever been watching TV when a commercial for a juicy cheeseburger or crispy fried chicken appears? Suddenly, though you weren't hungry before, you find yourself craving that food. Just seeing something triggered a reaction inside you.
The Word of God works similarly with our faith. When our eyes read Scripture, it triggers a supernatural reaction within us. The Bible isn't just words on a page - it's spirit-breathed. When we get it into our spirit, our spirit cannot help but be ignited into a fire of faith.
Think about David, who at just 14 years old had the faith to face Goliath when no one else did. Throughout his life, David constantly reminded God of the promises found in Scripture. His lifestyle of understanding God's Word built a faith inside him that was enough to face giants when others cowered in fear.
Are you facing giants in your life? Do you need more faith? Open the Word of God. There is a supernatural reaction that happens when we engage with Scripture - faith is ignited within us for challenges we previously felt unable to face.
How Can We Use God's Word as a Weapon in Spiritual Battles?
"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." - Hebrews 4:12
The Word of God has the unique ability to perfectly slice through what is of us and what is of God, what is of sin and what is of the Spirit. When we're confused about whether a thought is our own or from God, Scripture helps us discern the difference with surgical precision.
The Greek word used for "sword" in this verse is "machaira," which referred to the short curved blade Roman soldiers carried with them at all times. A Roman soldier was only effective because he never left home without his machaira. Similarly, we should never leave home without being equipped with the Word of God.
As Ephesians 6:12 reminds us, "our battle is not against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world." When we equip ourselves with Scripture, these battles become much easier to fight. The Word of God becomes our weapon against anxiety, identity confusion, greed, and every other challenge we face.
Some powerful verses to equip yourself with include:
Psalm 139:14 - "I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."
Philippians 4:6 - "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."
Hebrews 13:5 - "Don't love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, 'I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.'"
Life Application
The Word of God is a multi-tool that can do things in our lives that nothing else can. When we equip ourselves with it and make sure we never leave home without it, our lives begin to change.
This week, I challenge you to:
Memorize at least one verse that speaks to a current challenge you're facing. Write it down, carry it with you, and review it throughout the day.
Set aside dedicated time each day to read Scripture - not just skimming, but reading with intentionality and allowing God's breath to fill you.
Apply what you read by identifying one specific action you can take based on what God reveals to you through His Word.
Ask yourself:
What areas of my life feel dark right now, needing God's light?
Where do I need more faith to face the challenges before me?
What battles am I fighting that require the weapon of God's Word?
Remember, the Word of God isn't just for Sunday mornings or occasional reference. It's a daily essential - a multi-tool for lighting your path, igniting your faith, and equipping you for spiritual battle. Never leave home without it.
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A discussion guide for the sermon can be found here.
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And so when we read it, that breath of God is released into our lives. As we meditate on it, as we read it, as we soak in it, that breath that exists within the Word of God comes into our lives. You with me this morning? But I love what this verse says. It says it's useful for a whole myriad of things.
It's useful for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting and training in righteousness. We get this picture that the Word of God has multifaceted uses. It's multidimensional. There is a few different options that we can choose to use the Word of God in our lives. And when I was reading this this week, it got me thinking that the Word of God is kind of like that multi tool that I would use at youth.
If I needed a screwdriver, there it was. I could just flip it out, there it was. If I needed a little pocket knife, flip it out, there it is. It's ready to go at all times with me. If I needed a little pair of scissors to cut something, cut some rope or whatever it is, I would just flip it out and there it was, ready, go, ready to be used.
And I want to present to you the idea this morning, church, that the Word of God is the same thing in our life. See, the word of God is not just stories. It's not just words. If we read it with intentionality, it has multiple uses and multiple ways that it can affect our lives. And so this morning, what I want to do is I want to talk about some of the ways that the Bible has really impacted my life.
And we're going to go right back to basics. Is that all right? This morning we're going to go back to basic Christianity. Not going to do anything too complex this morning because I really feel like this is something that we need to get passionate about as a church. And I'm not just talking about connect Christian church, but as the wider church.
Because, you know, hands up, if you brought a physical Bible with you to church this morning. We've got a few people. Hands up if you are like me and you brought a digital Bible to church this morning, a lot of people, right? You know, I think there's a. I'm not trying to shame anybody for this, but I think it is a little. How can I word this politely?
It is a bit of a shame, isn't it, that we've kind of lost this tradition of bringing physical Bibles to church, isn't it? I mean, I brought a digital one. I didn't bring a Physical one this morning because it's got all my sermon notes on it. It's easy, it's convenient. I can make highlights in that digital Bible and not worry about the ink ruining the pages in the Bible and things like that.
And so it's very convenient. But, you know, I feel like we've lost a little something in that transition from predominantly physical Bibles to predominantly digital Bibles. There's just something in the essence of the way that we read it, the way that we carry it with us. We've lost a little something in that transition. You know, I sent Harry this funny video the other day because I was like, oh, we should do this to our youth kids.
Absolutely embarrass them. I saw this video and this youth pastor had checked all the Instagram pages of his youth kids. And you know, sometimes youth kids, what they'll do is that on your Instagram page you can have a little section about who you are and a little about yourself. And they call it the Instagram bio. And so they looked at the Instagram bio and some of these kids had verses in their Instagram bio to be like, oh, yeah, this is my favorite verse.
John 3:16. I love that verse. That's my favorite verse. And then what they would do is they would go up to the kid at youth and then filming them and they go, hey, what's John 3:16? And they're like, oh, I don't know, I forgot.
And it's like, come on, man, you're advertising it on Instagram that this is your favorite verse. And when you're asked about it, you can't even remember what that verse is, you know, And I think if we're all honest, I think we've all a little bit like that, aren't we? Where we know there's so much good stuff in the word of God, but when it comes to memorizing it, when it comes to having it readily available with us, I think we've lost the art form of carrying the Word with us. Amen. And so I want to go into it and I want to talk about the importance of the Word of God and how we can apply it to our lives and.
But I want you to walk away today with the understanding that when it comes to the Word of God, we should never leave home without it. Amen. Turn to the person next to you. Say, never leave home without it.
Never leave home without it. So I'm going to give you three tools, three parts of the Bible that we can flip out like that multi tool, little Screwdriver, a little pair of scissors, little knife, three things that we can flip out, tools that we can use in our lives with the word of God. You with me this morning? Come on. All right, point one.
A tool to light. Everybody say, a tool to light. We're gonna look at Psalm 119, verse 105. It says this. We'll have it up on the screen as well.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Come on, hands up if you've heard that scripture before, huh? I think most of us right. You don't have to be in church very long before you hear this verse. It's a great verse.
It's a very encouraging verse. It really talks to, you know, us in the fact that God is leading the way and is gonna lead us into our pur. But, you know, I really want to talk about just how important that lamp is, because I think as humans, we have a natural attraction to light, don't we? You know, whether it's fireworks up in the sky or whether it's a campfire, you're getting around, and you just find yourself staring into this campfire. You guys would know before when I've preached that I'm a little bit of a pyromaniac at home.
I love just making fires and staring into them. It's a little bit weird, but that's all right. We have this natural attraction to light, right? But, you know, we actually have a dependency on light as well. We, as humans, function very poorly without light, isn't it?
I mean, if all the lights went out in this room, we'd all freak out a little bit. Wouldn't we be like, oh, no, what's happening? We need this light. We need that light. And I don't know about you, but have you ever tried to walk around your house without any of the lights on?
And you quickly realize that this space that you thought you knew very well, turns out you didn't know the space as well as you thought, isn't it? For me and my wife, Gabs is. She's an early bird. She gets up very early in the morning, and she goes to bed early. For me, I'm a night owl.
I can't do it. I wake up late, and then I go to bed late. That's just who we are. And so we get this in between time, where Gabs is already in bed, and by the time I'm ready to go to bed, she's already been asleep for a few hours. So I don't know if anyone else is like this.
But if you're in that situation, I've seen a few nods if you're in that situation. You know the dance where you turn off all the lights, you don't want to wake anybody up, and you just start slowly crawling through your bedroom, isn't it? And you're like, wait, where was that piece of furniture again? Want to make sure I avoid it. But then every once in a while, I don't know how it happens.
I think there's not much furniture in our bedroom. It's just one bed. But for some reason, my pinky toe always seems to find the edge of that. That bed frame, isn't it? You know?
And then in that moment, you. You start shouting some things that you didn't think that you were gonna shout, you know, but for me, I'm a pastor, I'll just speak in tongues when that happens. It just.
That was a joke, obviously. No, but it's true, isn't it, that when the lights are off, it doesn't matter how well, you know, that space, everything becomes a lot harder when we don't have the light, isn't it? You know, but I want to really put this into perspective around this verse, because this verse was written, you know, 2,000, maybe 3,000 years ago. And so people at the times, even more than we do today, had a real dependence on light. Because today, man, light is so easy to get, isn't it?
You know, all we've got to do is pull out our phones, we got that little flashlight button that we can press, and then, hey, presto, we've got light. How good is that? You know? But back in the biblical times, light was something that was actually a lot harder to come by. I mean, sure, they had palaces where they had whole teams of people that at night were lighting candles and lighting lamps, and they were doing all these things in order to make sure that there was light.
But, you know, all of people's lives really depended on lamps. Because back in those times, the culture was that you would work during the day, and then if you wanted any recreation, well, that would happen at night. Day was for work, the night was for recreation. So if you wanted to go over to somebody's house, you would have to take your lamp, you would leave your house, you'd be walking down the street as a family, you want to go over to some. Visit someone's house for dinner, you're with your lamp, you're walking through.
You're trying not to stumble on the rocks. And the different ditches because they didn't have these great paved footwalks, like what we've got today. And so they'd be stumbling through, and then you'd get to the other person's house, and if you didn't have that lamp, it would be a lot harder to do that. Right. But think about professions as well.
Back in those days, there was a dependence on light. You know, if you look at merchants back in the time, what merchants would do is that they would travel to one city, they would buy a whole bunch of stuff that that city had a lot of, then they would travel to another city where they didn't have those things, and they would start selling them off. Right. And so as a merchant, you would be traveling from city to city during the night, ready to be able to sell at the markets during the day, the next day. Right.
And so you're traveling a lot. And we see a lot in the Bible that the Bible talks about thieves and bandits and robbers that might be lurking on the streets ready to at attack people and steal the valuables that they have. And so if you're a merchant and you're traveling between cities, really the only thing that's there to comfort you is just that little lamp that you've got. And it doesn't cast a light that's very far, but it's just enough to give you a sense of peace that, okay, I can see that there's no robbers up ahead, there's no bandits up ahead. I've got a confidence, I can see what's in front of me.
Or you think about shepherds, right? We see all throughout the Bible that shepherds are often looking after their sheep. And a lot of the time they have to protect their sheep from animals that are normally attacking at night. You know, David, when he's fighting Goliath, he talks about how that he's not afraid to fight Goliath because when he was a shepherd, he was protecting his sheep. You know, there would be times where the wolves would come.
And the Bible tells us that David says he would snatch wolves by the jaw. Could you imagine that? Grabbing a wolf by the jaw and then clubbing it to death? That's what he would do. This is what shepherds would have to do.
You know, I feel like shepherds are like this kind of symbol of peace and tranquility. And I've got these fluffy little sheep that I'm leading behind me. But these guys were serious. They were no joke. They were not to be messed with.
Right? And so you can imagine if you're a shepherd at night and all your sheep are asleep and you're protecting them. You're out in the middle of nowhere. You're out in some wilderness taking your sheep to wherever they need to go to, and the wind starts to whistle, and you're thinking, oh, is that the wind or is that a wolf? And in that moment, you probably get very scared, wouldn't you?
But what have you got to comfort you? You've just got that little lamp. You've got this little lamp with you, and it doesn't cast a light that's very far, but it's enough to give you confidence that for the moment you are safe. And so you can see what this verse is really talking to us about. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
What is it talking about here? Is it talking about some big floodlight that casts the light as far as we can see, and it's. It's lighting up every area and we can see well into the future of what's happening? Is it talking about that? Or is it talking about the little lamp that the merchants and the shepherds and the family had, and it kept them from stumbling, and it didn't cast a light that could see down the road too far, but it was enough to give you confidence to take the next step.
Amen. It was just enough to give you a sense of peace and a sense of confidence. And I'm wondering if maybe there's some of you here this morning that you feel like maybe you're stumbling around in the dark a little bit. Maybe you're here and you're questioning God on the purposes for your life, and maybe you've been praying recently about a whole bunch of different things. Hey, should I take that job?
God, who is the person that I'm going to be marrying one day?
God, what have you got for my life? God, I feel like I've got all these gifts and talents that are not being utilized at the moment. God, what have you got for my life? You know, can I encourage you that the greatest thing that you can do when you feel like you're stumbling around in the dark is open up the word of God. Amen.
The word of God is a tool that is going to light up the past before you. But don't get it wrong, because as Christians, we would love if it was like a floodlight that would illuminate the entire road that we're on and the journey that we've got. But that's not what it is. God's not saying he's going to illuminate the entire pathway for you, but he is going to give you justice enough to give you the confidence to take the next step. Amen.
And so I don't know what you've come in with this morning. Maybe there's some steps that you're afraid to take, or maybe you're taking steps at the moment and you feel like you're stumbling and falling over rocks or whatever it is. Or maybe you're just unsure. Can I tell you that when you open up the word of God, there is a confidence that is given to you as God illuminates what's going on in your life. Amen.
You know, can I tell you, in my own life, this is exactly what I found. You know, I. I remember a couple of years ago, back when I was at my old church and I was a youth pastor there, there was a church that offered me a job to be their creative ministries pastor. To be like, kind of, what, like four, you know, it does with rosters and leading the band and things like that. And I really wanted to take this job. I'll tell you, I really wanted to take this job.
It was a big church, had, you know, thousands of people. I met the pastoral staff, and they were awesome, and they were super, you know, kind and caring to me and Gabs, and we attended a few of their services, and we thought, oh, this could be an awesome opportunity. But, you know, I thought, all right, I better do the Christian thing. And I know God's going to say yes to this, but I'll just ask him anyway. And so I opened up my Bible and I just was praying to God and I just said, okay, God, I don't want to take this job if it's not from you.
Right? I don't want to do anything if it's not from you. And so I said to God, God, show me, should I move to this other church and take the position that they've given me? And at that point in time, I was reading through Genesis, and literally the next verse that I read after I said that was this. It's Genesis 26:3.
And it says, stay in this land. Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. And I went, oh, God, surely you've got that wrong. What are you talking about? And, you know, we can.
I feel like in those moments, we can. We can question ourselves and we can go, well, you know what? This verse didn't really say explicitly. Michael Henderson, you are not to take this job that you really want to take. And I know for Harry, maybe, you know, Harry's just stepped in as the youth pastor.
I'm sure that when he opened up the word of God, there was nothing that said, harry Funke, you shall be the next youth pastor. Right? There's no verse that explicitly says those words, but who knows that the scripture, the word of God, it's God breathed, isn't it? The spirit of God operates within that word. And so even though these words didn't say, Michael Henderson, you are not to take this job, it was enough that even though I'd read that verse hundreds of times, literally hundreds of times in that moment as I read it, because it applied to my situation, it's like the spirit of God hit me like a ton of bricks.
And I knew that, I knew that. I knew that God was telling me that this job was not for me, you know, and it's funny actually, because I caught up with that same pastoral team a couple of months ago and I get along with them really well. And I was just, oh, man, so good to see you guys. What's been happening in the church and hearing about everything that's going on in the church and it just made me think and I was like, God, why did you steer me away from being a part of this? I get along with them really well.
We all seem to be aligned in the heart. And you know what God showed me, he really showed me. He was like, holy Spirit was revealing to me. And he said, michael, I didn't allow you to go there because those people are exactly the same as you. And so if you wanted to grow as a leader, if you wanted to grow in your journey, it was not going to be under these people because their weaknesses are the same as your weaknesses.
Their strengths are the same as your strengths. And you know, I reflected on it and I was thinking, you know what? I'm actually so glad that God brought me to this church for a myriad of different reasons. I'm in love with this church. I love being here and I love being a part of this church.
You know, I was really reflecting on it and I was thinking about Pastor Adrian, right? You know, some of my biggest weaknesses are Pastor Adrian's biggest strengths. And so God led me to someone that was actually going to be able to push me in ways that those people might not have been able to, you know, and so really reflecting on this and I was really going, in my mind, it seemed like a no brainer. Everything lined up. In my view, biblically everything lined up and made sense.
And I thought, this is what God's got for me. But at the end of the day, the word of God stopped me from stumbling into something that could have capped my potential as a leader. And I think sometimes we can go through life where we think, everything seems to be logical, everything seems to line up, everything seems to be make sense. Maybe you're here this morning and you're thinking, well, God, you know, this will make sense. Like, this should be something that you're blessing.
Can I tell you, if you're thinking that this morning, open up the word of God, because the word of God will confirm and illuminate the path before you. Amen. He will always do it. There is no chance that he won't. And it's not going to be explicit words, it's not going to spell it out for you, but you're going to read something and the Spirit is going to hit you like a ton of bricks.
And can I encourage you, Church, when you're in that moment, to take it seriously? Because that is the Holy Spirit talking to you. Amen. Amen. A tool to light, A tool to light.
The second tool is this. Everybody say, a tool to ignite.
A tool to light, a tool to ignite. Let's look at Romans 10, verses 17, and we're going to pull out the old school King James translation. I don't do it often, but you know, the way that it phrases this verse, I absolutely love it. It says this. So then faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of God.
So faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. You know, I want to ask you this morning, have you ever been in that situation where you're sitting on the couch, watching tv, scrolling through your phone, whatever it is, just minding your own business, and then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, bam. On the screen, big juicy cheeseburgers, or maybe it's fried chicken, and that salt is being sprinkled over it in slow motion. The fries are looking golden. They're looking just perfect.
They're doing that slow motion swirl with the Coke and you're thinking, oh, man, that thing looks so good right now. And what happens in that moment? You weren't hungry five minutes ago, but you're watching this commercial and then all of a sudden you start to think, oh, you know what? I'm a little bit peckish. I could actually go for a snack right now.
I'll tell you that. That's probably happened to me a little bit too many times than I'd like to admit, but it is that thing, hey, where it's so funny because our eyes, the actual eyeballs that we have, have nothing to do with how hungry we are. Not really anything to do with our stomach or anything like that. But just by seeing something, it's triggered a reaction inside of us. We're seeing one thing and we're feeling another thing, isn't it?
This is the power of marketing. This is the power of slow motion. Coke squirrels. This is just what they do. That thing looks like an oasis in the desert.
Can I encourage you that the word of God does the exact same thing for our faith?
The word of God is spirit breathed. It's God breathed. So they're not just words on a page. They're not just stories that we read, like a storybook. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
When your eyes are reading the word of God, it has no choice but to trigger a supernatural reaction inside of you. Can I encourage you that maybe you're here and you're thinking about some things that God's been asking you to do and maybe you're a little bit scared to do it or whatever that looks like. Whether it's, you know, speak to a co worker at work about God or share the gospel with someone or, you know, apologize to that person that might be in your life. You know, there's so many things that we can find. We don't have faith to do it.
But can I tell you that when we open up the word of God, when we get it into our spirit, our spirit cannot help but be ignited into a fire of faith. Amen. There is just this reaction that happens, and it is supernatural by nature, but you cannot help but getting on fire for God when you read the word. Amen. You know, I think about David King.
David, one of the greatest men of God that we've ever seen in history, had his shortfalls, yes, definitely, but did some great things and led Israel into the most blessed that they had ever been in their lives. You know, when David, David was 14 years old when he fought Goliath. Well, that's at least what theologians estimate. It's about 14. You know, David, all of his brothers were fighting in this war.
He wanted to be a part of this war. He wanted to go check out what was happening. Can I tell you? David left his home, went to the battlefield, saw Goliath, and he was the only person in all of Israel that had faith enough to conquer Goliath. Could you imagine what David's life would have amounted to had he not left home with the faith that he had that day?
Because we would have all just totally excused David. If he rocked up to the battlefield and he saw just muscles popping out of Goliath's chainmail, he's pulling out his sword and it's like the length of David's entire body. You could imagine that a little 14 year old kid would be like, you know what, I don't actually feel like dying today. And we would have all excused him. We would have been like, yeah, David, you know what, that is perfectly reasonable.
But how different would have David's life been if he hadn't taken that moment seriously? If he hadn't left the house without some face in his gut? And you know what I love about David? As we look at his life, there's one thing that really shines through more than anything else. All throughout David's life, David has constantly, in every single moment that he is feeling down or he feels like he's about to lose or he's going to fail, he is always saying to God, God, I know the promises that you have in my life.
How did he know what those promises were? The scriptures, what was revealed to Joseph, what was revealed to Moses, what was revealed to Abraham. All these promises that God had for the nation of Israel. David all throughout his life is always saying to God, God, I know these promises that you have for me. And so I've got faith in order to see them come to fruition.
Can I tell you, David had a lifestyle where he understood what God was saying in his life. And in that it built a faith inside of him that was enough to take out Goliath when nobody else had faith in to do it. David had faith to do it. And I'm wondering if there's anything in your life this morning you might be facing some Goliaths and you're saying, man, I just need a little bit more faith in my life, man. Can I be honest?
I'm scared. I'm scared right now because I don't know if this thing is going to turn out the way that I want it to turn out. Can I encourage you? There is a natural reaction, sorry, a supernatural reaction that happens. Just like that commercial when we see the burger that's dripping with cheese and we go, oh, you know what, I'm starting to get a bit hungry.
When we open up the Word of God church, there is something that happens inside of us where all of a sudden a faith is ignited inside of us. So what we felt like we couldn't do before. We open up the word of God, we read it and yes, it's just words on a page, isn't it? It's just stories. But because it's God breathed, because the spirit is moving inside of it, we open up that thing and they're not just words anymore.
It's something that ignites a faith inside of us. Amen. So can I encourage you? There is so much potential in this room. I look at everybody in this room and I go, man, God wants to do something incredible with every single person here.
There is a strong calling in your life and maybe you've never heard that before, but can I encourage you this morning? There is a strong calling in your life. God does not want you to just be a spectator. Christian, Christian. He doesn't want you to just come on a Sunday, sit in the seat, sing the songs, raise your hands and then go back home like nothing happened.
Now God wants to use you in pretty incredible ways. But just like David facing Goliath, we got to make sure that we've got faith inside of us in order to step into it because we don't know when that moment is. David didn't know when he was going to all of a sudden be fighting Goliath. When David left that day, he didn't know he was going to fight Goliath. But because wherever he went, he had faith inside of him.
When the opportunity came, he was ready. Amen. He was ready. And so we got to make sure that we are never leaving the house without some faith in our spirit. Amen.
Never leave the house without it. Always be in the word of God, because he will fill you with faith. If you believe that, say Amen this morning. The third thing is this.
And we're going to open up to Hebrews 4:12. So this for the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing to the division of the soul and of spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. You know, I saw this video on Instagram the other day and this pastor at a men's conference was preaching about this and he, he actually had a physical sword, like a real sword, a sharp sword, metal one in his hand. And he was swinging it around like this and I could see there was a sweat dripping on his head. And I thought, oh my gosh, if this guy sweats anymore, that thing is going to slide out and this thing that's meant to be living inactively is actively going to be unliving Someone you know.
And so I thought, I'm not going to do that to you this morning. But it's true, I think that when we think of this verse, because again, hands up if you've heard this verse before. Come on. A lot of us have heard it. This is a verse that we see all the time.
We tend to end it after the sword bit. We say, for the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any two edged sword, full stop. That's it, isn't it? That's normally how we hear this verse.
But there's a bit more to it that I think we don't talk about as much. Piercing the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. What is it talking about? Because if you first look at it, it doesn't really make sense. What is this talking about?
It's talking about this. It's talking about the fact that the word of God has this unique ability to perfectly slice through what is of you and what is of God, what is of sin and what is of the spirit. You ever had that moment where you're thinking, you're going, oh God, is this my thoughts or is this your thoughts? Is this just something that I'm thinking about? Or God, is this you actually speaking to me?
That's a tough space to navigate, isn't it? So what's so beautiful about this verse is that it talks about the fact that even though that is such a complex thing, I mean to the ability to separate joints and marrow, I mean that is medical grade precision that is needed in order to do that. But the word of God is able to perfectly cut through and find the difference of what is of sin, what is of spirit. And so it gets me a little bit puzzled if I'm honest about this verse, because I go, it's a bit of a weird analogy, isn't it, that this precision is represented by a sword. Because I mean, if I was on the operating table about to go through surgery and the doctor said, all right, Michael, we're going to be, we're going to be doing some stuff in your body and we're going to have to separate joints and marrow.
And so don't worry, we've done this before, it's all. And then that doctor pulls out a sword. Click on, well, man, get me out of here. This is not a doctor. This, I don't know, trying to sell my kidney on the black market or something crazy.
You just would never see that, right? And so why is it used in this analogy here? Why is it that when we're talking about such a medical grade precision, this ability to navigate very complex things, is it that we're using a sword in this analogy? Because if we think about the Bible times, right, they had instruments that could do this. Daggers, much easier to be precise than a sword.
You think about chisels, engraving tools, knives, sheep, shearing tools, all of these things are a lot more precise than a sword is. And they all existed back in those times. And so why is it that the author here is choosing to uterght and you know, I was wrestling with the Holy Spirit on this all this week. I was going, God, what is it that you're trying to say here? And this is what I believe, Church.
I fundamentally believe in my spirit. That the reason the spirit is telling us that the word of God is precise, like these medical grade equipment, but is also represented by a sword is simply because, hey, when you're in a battle and you're in a fight, it's not a chisel that you're taking into the battle, it's a sword you're taking into the fight. So the third tool of the Word of God is this. It's a tool to fight, a tool to light, a tool to ignite the faith inside of you, and a tool to fight.
Can I get a little bit Bible nerdy with you this morning? Is that all right? Can we dive into some Greek? Is that okay? The Greek word that is used here to represent what we translate into sword is the word mashera.
Everybody say meshera. Meshera. Now, there's a couple of different words that the Greeks use to talk about swords. The one that is being used here is a meshera, and it's a commonly used word. It would talk about a short curved blade.
And the reason it was such common tongue is because famously, the Roman soldiers at the time would all carry with them a meshera blade. Equipped with them at all times was a meshera. And you gotta imagine that the author of Hebrews is talking to a people that are still under the rule of the Roman Empire. And so they would have commonly seen every single day of their lives, the Roman soldiers policing their towns, keeping people in order. If anyone tries to go against a Roman soldier, they are immediately pulling out their meshera.
It is with them at all times. In fact, a Roman soldier is really only effective because they didn't leave the house without their meshara. Can you imagine if you are someone that's up to no good in Jerusalem or Wherever it is. And you see that a Roman soldier forgot to bring his meshera that day he left the house without his sword. You'd probably think to yourself, I can get away with a few things today.
But it's because they were equipped with this meshera that they were able to come against anybody that might oppose them. And you know, when we apply this to our Christian faith, I love what Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 12, it says this. For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Can I tell you this morning, Church. The word of God is precise in that it's able to separate what is of the spirit and what is of sin, but is also meant to be wielded like a weapon.
And that you should never leave your house without being equipped with your mishearah, the word of God in your life. Come on, like that Ephesians verse just said our battle is not in the physical space. Our battle is for our own soul. There are things that are actively trying to attack us. And now I'm not saying that every negative thought is an attack of Satan or anything like that.
Sometimes you just have a bad day. But what I do know is that when I am equipped with the word of God every day of my life, that battle becomes so much easier, isn't it? When the word of God is equipped to me like a sword, that battle becomes so much easier. You know the whole point of a meshera, it was a curved blade which meant that it was this. I could deal damage very, very quickly.
The amount of motion it took before I could strike someone was very, very small. And so when the author of Hebrews here is talking about the word of God being like a sharper than a double edged masherer, what it's saying is that that thing should be equipped to you so that in any battle, when anyone might come against you, when any negative thought, when anything that is not of God is coming against you, the amount of time it takes you to suddenly be ready to fight against that thing is zero to none. It is so minimal. You know, I love many of you would know my dad, Trevor Henderson, he's the lead pastor at our peninsula location. And you know, before that he was a part of Connect Frankston here for many years.
And you know, I remember the, the first time I really came to my dad at the as a teenager and I told him, I said daddy and I'm just really struggling with Sin, this temptation in my life, and I'm really struggling with it. And to be honest, I don't know how to. I don't know how to get through this. You know what my dad did in that moment? He immediately wrote down verses on a page and he handed it in my hand and he said, michael, I really want you to read these verses every single day of your life.
You know what he was doing in that moment? He was putting a weapon in my hand. See, I was trying to battle that sin under my own strength. I was trying to battle that sin under my own ability. What my dad was doing in that moment is saying, hey, you know what, son?
God has already given you a weapon to fight. And guess what? It is perfectly able to separate what is of you and what is of sin. So if you want that to sin in your life, equip yourself with this weapon. Do not leave home without it.
Equip it every single day of your life. So then when that battle comes against you, it is ready and you are able to strike that thing down. Come on. Can I tell you, the word of God is like a weapon in our lives. You know, I want to show, show you a few of my favorite weapons if I can.
You know, it says in Psalm 139, verse 14, I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. My soul knows it very well. You know, for a kid that grew up with a lot of anxiety, that was bullied a lot, that didn't consider himself to be of much self worth, this verse was a real weapon against getting that out of my life, getting that out of my mentality. You know, I look around today and there is such a problem with identity in our culture.
Who am I? What am I meant to be? What should I believe in? What makes me me? This is such an issue.
Can I tell you, hey, this is a weapon that we can go into the world and start cutting the sin out of people's life. Amen. The things that aren't of God. You know, Philippians 4, 6, it says this. Do not be anxious about anything.
But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
You know what's great, Church, is that whenever I'm feeling anxious, I've got a God that is there to comfort me. So when I've got those feelings of anxiousness, if I equip myself with this verse and it is ready to come out whenever I need, it doesn't matter if I've got Those feelings of anxiousness because when it happens, I pull that sword out, I pull that masher, I pull the word of God out in my life. And it will perfectly cut those things that aren't of God out of my life. Amen. You know, I love what it says In Hebrews, chapter 13, verse 5, don't love money.
Be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, I will never fail you. I will never abandon you. You know what's so sad? Church, me and Gabs, a couple of our friends, we just found out a couple of weeks ago that they're about to get divorced.
They've just been married for a couple of years and you know, we've been talking to them a little bit about what's going on. And you know the thing that keeps coming up, money, money, money, money, money. Start to get an insight into their hearts and what's going on. And in the bitterness of all this situation, there's this. It keeps coming back to this theme of money, money, money.
I want more money. I want more freedom in my money. This is my money. It's not your money. And it's a wreck to their marriage.
Come on. Who knows that there is a world that needs to hear this Word of God. Amen. There is a world that needs to equip themselves with this Mashera, with this Word of God. And maybe you're here this morning and you're going through similar things, whether it be money, whether it be anxiousness, whether it be stress, a purpose, identity.
Do you know what? There are so many things in the word of God that we can equip ourselves with in order to fight that battle. Amen. You know, I love that my dad gave me those verses. You know, every single morning I would see him, I would get up at 6am in the morning.
Gone are those days. But I would get up at 6am in the morning and you know what? I go into the lounge room and my dad was already up and he was on his knees, Word of God in front of him, praying over our family, praying over his job, praying over all of us. That's such a great foundational spirituality that our dad was setting for our family. Can I tell you, I've done youth for many, many years at this point.
And there's one thing I know to be absolutely true, that I can look at a kid and sadly I can see which kids have had parents put these weapons in their hand and the kids that don't have those weapons. And you know, one of the things that I love more Than anything else in this whole world is working with parents, sitting down with parents and going, hey, this is what we're teaching your kid in youth. And they see the difference. You know, I was just talking to a mom last night and she was saying, you know, since, you know, this kid's been coming to youth, it's just started something in their lives. And now they're praying with their friends at their school.
It's just started something because we started putting weapons in their hand. And I'm not saying that's just youth. It was the parents and the community around them in the church as well. But when you put weapons in the hands of your kids, man, can I tell you, something starts to really change in the spirit, man. Those walls that you saw were never gonna come down, start to come down.
Those chains that you feel like you've been shackled with forever, can I tell you, they break in Jesus name. If we can put weapons in our hands, man, the spirit against our flesh and our sin becomes so much easier. Amen. So can I encourage you to this morning, the word of God is this multi tool that can do things in our lives that nothing else can. When we equip ourselves with it, when we make sure that we never leave home without it, our lives start to change.
Amen. And this is what I would love. Church, because I really meant it before. There's been. I'm not saying digital Bibles are bad.
I'm not saying technology is the devil. I, I love this thing. It is so easy to keep my sermon notes, keep thoughts on Bibles and revelations. It's so easy to just have all that be synced and in a neat place. But I think as the church, we have lost the ability to equip ourselves with that word of God, to leave the house, memorized verses in the word memorized in our head.
Do you know how many times I have gone into a situation and a verse that I have not thought about for years suddenly springs to mind? Because what I memorized years ago became relevant today. And you don't know the good that it's going to do in your life when you really take the word of God seriously. Memorize it, equip it, treat it like that multi tool, multifaceted in never leaving my side. Because when you run into those problems, you're going to think, man, I wish I had that tool.
If you're already equipped with it, if you made sure that you didn't leave home without it, man, God can do some powerful things in your life. Amen. So this is what I would love to do. If we could just all close our eyes here this morning.
Maybe you're here this morning and you didn't realize that there was a God that wanted to move quite like this in your life. Maybe you've never been to church before, or maybe you've been coming to church and you've just been testing the waters. I would love to just give you a moment right now. If you have never accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, if you've never invited God into your life, and you would like to do that, because you're thinking, man, if that's what the word of God can do in my life, I need that in my life. It says in the Bible that if we confess with our tongues that Jesus is Lord, that he will save you from your sin.
Guess what? He. 2,000 years ago, he died on a cross for your sins. He was the sacrificial lamb. He gave up his life in order to receive the death that you and I deserved.
Because of our sin, because of our actions. But you know what's even greater than that? Is that three days later, he rose from the dead, having conquered death, having conquered every temptation in this world, all so that he could offer that to you as a gift. Jesus is saying, I want to offer you the gift of salvation. You might have been struggling in your life.
You might be going through things, and God is saying, I would love to take that pain and that misery away from you this morning. So if you are here this morning, you've never accepted Jesus before into your heart, but you would like to do that now. No one's looking around. Could you just raise your hand for me? I would love to pray for you.
Awesome. Is there anyone else? Yeah, I see that hand. That's awesome.
Anyone else?
Awesome. Thank you for that hand. That's very cool. Well, like I said before, if you confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, he will consider you saved. And so that's what we're gonna do right now.
And we, as a church, we're all gonna pray this prayer together. And everyone's gonna repeat after me. And this is just a simple prayer that's saying, yes, Jesus, I accept you into my life. And so let's all repeat after me, say, dear God, thank you for sending your son to die on the cross for my sins. God, I've been struggling in the dark.
God, I need you to ignite a fire of faith in my heart. God, I want to go into the fight armed with your word. I accept you, Jesus. As my Lord and Savior, would you save me this morning from my sin and deliver me from temptation? God, I put my trust and my anchor in you.
And everybody said, in Jesus name, amen. Come on, can we give a hand for those that made that decision for the first time this morning? How good is that?
I just want to do one more thing and then we'll finish up, we'll close up, we'll go get some coffee and we'll go fellowship together and it's going to be awesome. Can we just do one more thing?
If you are here today and you want to take this thing seriously and you really want to equip yourself with the word of God, can we just do one thing? And I want you to be brave this morning. We're all family, we're all friends here. Can you just stand to your feet where you are and just raise your hands? You're saying, yeah, God, I want to take this seriously, Lord, I want to equip myself with the word of God in my life.
Maybe you were doing it really well before, but you're saying, you know what, I need a new season where I'm taking it even more seriously again. Maybe there's people in your life that you know, I need to start meeting with them equipped with the word of God. Come on, if that's you, if you're fighting for your family, if you're fighting for people to come to salvation in your life, and you're saying, I want to equip myself with the word of God this morning. He's saying, you need some encouragement to do that. You need some strength.
Come on, raise your hands to heaven this morning. I just want to pray over you. God, I thank you for every single hand raised right now. God, I thank you that you are moving in the lives of your people. Father God, I just pray that right now that you would release your spirit this morning.
Give everybody a sense of strength and of encouragement and of joy to dive into their word. Father God, I just pray that as they open up their Bibles, Lord, would you highlight verses to them that they can equip themselves with? God, give them the ability to memorize that verse. And Lord, I pray that that memorization would last years with them. Father God and I just pray that as they go about their business, as they go into their workplaces, as they go into their families and their friends, Lord, let their Mashera be equipped with them at all times.
Father God, and I just pray that they might be struggling to see in the dark, to see the pathway in front of them. They might be struggling to ignite that passion of faith inside of them. They might be struggling in the fight. But God, I know that in your word that you can do all of these things in our heart. So God, we thank you for it.
We ask that you strengthen us today in it. We pray all of this in your name. And everybody said amen. Thank you. Church.
Want to give Michael a hand? Stay standing really quick. I forgot one thing. Pastor Fua Naughty time of giving. I just quickly want to say that there was a team that came in on a Friday and they steam cleaned all the carpets and here in the foyer, forgetting all the places and the kids church and in the parents room in that and all those things has a cost.
And I want to say thank you. Thank you for your giving. Thank you for your heart. It reflects the heart of Jesus to see life change. Thank you very much.
Church. We've been Pastor Buckets. If you're here and you're far, you're one of the people that raise their hands to give their hearts to the Lord. We want to give you a free Bible out there in the foyer. I'm sorry we're going over time, but didn't Michael do a great job?
Hey, that was awesome. So let's finish up next week, New friends lunch. Here we got Pastor Adrian preaching the word. Amen. Church, thank you very much.
We'll see you then.
Related Bible Verses
1. Psalm 119:105 — ESV
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."
🔗 https://www.bible.com/bible/59/PSA.119.105.ESV
2. Romans 10:17 — KJV
"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
🔗 https://www.bible.com/bible/1/ROM.10.17.KJV
3. Hebrews 4:12 — ESV
"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."
🔗 https://www.bible.com/bible/59/HEB.4.12.ESV
4. Genesis 26:3 — NIV
"Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham."
🔗 https://www.bible.com/bible/111/GEN.26.3.NIV
5. Ephesians 6:12 — NLT
"For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places."
🔗 https://www.bible.com/bible/116/EPH.6.12.NLT
6. Psalm 139:14 — ESV
"I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well."
🔗 https://www.bible.com/bible/59/PSA.139.14.ESV
7. Philippians 4:6 — ESV
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."
🔗 https://www.bible.com/bible/59/PHP.4.6.ESV
8. Hebrews 13:5 — NLT
"Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, 'I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.'"
🔗 https://www.bible.com/bible/116/HEB.13.5.NLT