Solid: Doers of the Word

Text: James 1:18–27

James, the brother of Jesus, is writing to followers of Jesus who were facing persecution from outside the church but also some conflicts within the church. If you’ve read this letter, you know that James is very direct and practical. Faith is based on a set of beliefs but is always expressed through actions.

His letter is written on the premise that an encounter with Jesus will change not only what you believe but how you act. Early on in his letter he describes the relationship that a follower of Jesus has with God’s Word.

James’s message is that true faith in Jesus produces “doers” of God’s word.  It’s not just a call to do but a call to embrace the totality of what it means to commit to doing God’s word. There are four things we can get from this passage:

1. God’s word produces new birth.

2. God’s word, when its implanted, saves you.

3. God’s word practiced frees you.

4. God’s word shapes your behaviour.

God’s word produces new birth.

Verse 18 says, “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth.” The way we are initiated into this new, eternal life is through the word of truth. Of course, it involves the work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit draws us and opens the eyes of our understanding. But our eyes are opened through the word of truth.

Paul says in Romans 10 that if you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved.

New birth, and then new life, comes when we embrace the word of truth. But it’s not only the basic truth about Jesus. When I choose Jesus, I put myself under the authority of God’s word.

God’s word implanted saves you.

In verse 21 James calls them to “humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.” The word “accept” carries the idea of embracing something as you would welcome someone into your home. It’s the word used to describe hospitality. 

His reference to God’s word being “planted in you” is a statement about its permanence. When a person experiences new birth through the word of truth, they then embrace the word that is planted in them.

The word “save” here speaks of the continual, ongoing growth and maturing of the believer. So, we begin our journey with Jesus through God’s word, we continue the journey, and we navigate the journey by the ongoing commitment to practicing God’s word and living accordingly to the truth of God’s word.

God’s word practiced frees you.

There is so much packed into these verses. Let’s go through this almost line by line.

Verse 22 “Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

There is something that happens when you listen to or read God’s word. You’ll be challenged and feel conviction. When you hear but then don’t follow it with doing, you deceive yourself.

When I hear a convicting sermon, I feel bad. It identifies something I need to change, and I feel guilty. I feel good about the fact that I’m hearing the truth of God’s word, but then I don’t follow through. I go on my way unchanged in my actions and behaviour.

Just feeling conviction and feeling the need to change—unless acted upon—changes nothing. James states over and over that saving faith is much more than mental assent to a set of truths.

Verse 25, “But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”

Note the words, “looks intently.” It literally means to stoop down to take a close look. It’s the same word used in the gospels when Peter and another disciple look into the empty tomb. They look intently and are absorbing what they see. They’re thinking through the implications of what they are seeing. James says, “that’s how we approach God’s word.”

Look at how he describes God’s word, “the perfect law that gives freedom.”   When James speaks of the scripture in terms of the perfect law it speaks to the authority of God’s word set in place by God. Every part of the Bible is authoritative for my life. 

Note that he says that the perfect law gives freedom. To the Jewish mind, freedom had to do with the ability to fulfill what you were designed for.  We view the scriptures as God’s loving authority designed to enable the greatest freedom we could ever enjoy.

“and continue in it—not forgetting what you’ve heard but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”

The blessing is in the doing. James is echoing the famous words that God speaks to Joshua in Joshua 1 as he assumes the leadership of the nation of Israel.

Joshua 1:7–8 says, “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”

When we hear prosperous and successful our minds often go to money. God’s definition is far broader in scope. Prosperity and success have to do with living in the flow of God’s blessing, enjoying the favour of God and people.

Think about the only One who in all human history who was the consummate DOER of God’s Word. There is only one person who did it perfectly. 

In his most well-known sermon that we call the Sermon on the Mount he teaches about the Kingdom of God and at the very end he says, “Everyone who hears these words of mine AND PUTS THEM INTO PRACTICE is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

He goes on to tell the story of the two men; the wise man who builds his house on a firm foundation of rock and the foolish man who foregoes the foundation and simply builds on the sand. A storm comes and the wise man’s house stands and the house of the foolish comes crashing down.

Jesus makes it clear that both men HEARD Jesus’ words but only the wise man put JESUS’ WORDS INTO PRACTICE. Putting Jesus’ words into practice built the foundation. The good work of hearing PLUS the hard work of doing is what gave the house the ability to withstand the storm.

The word shapes our behaviour. 

James gives three examples of how God’s word shapes our behaviour:

•  We keep a tight rein on what we say and how we say it.

• We look after orphans and widows. The term “orphans and widows” speaks of the vulnerable, those with little power and few resources, those who need advocacy and support.

• We keep our lives free of the things that pollute our lives.

This final point could be a whole sermon or a sermon series. But here’s the point: God’s word is an invaluable gift that shapes my character, my behaviour, my habits, my relationships—everything about me and how I live this life.

I Hear it. I Read it. I Do it.

 — Notes from Pastor Marvin Wojda’s sermons on February 26th and 27th, 2022.

CLICK HERE to watch the sermon on YouTube.

Solid: Canonicity

Psalms 119:89, 97–100, 105

How did we end up with the 39 Old Testament books and the 27 books that make up the New Testament? How was that decided?  

In the popular novel, The Da Vinci Code, the author promotes the theory that Emperor Constantine hired people to put together a New Testament that suited his slant. It’s claimed that more than 80 gospels were considered but only four were chosen because those four omitted the more human side of Jesus and emphasized Jesus’ divinity.

Brown’s conclusion is that the Bible we have is a hoax used to cover up the truth about Jesus. It got people wondering about the claims of the movie and I kept reminding them that Dan Brown is a novelist who is writing fiction designed for entertainment. 

What about canonicity? There are scholars who have developed an understanding of how books of the Bible were included in the Bible.

Canon is the Greek word for a rod or a straight piece of rounded wood that was used for measuring. It is a standard measurement. It’s the instrument that provides authoritative, agreed upon measurement.

The Apostle Paul uses the word “canon” in Galatians 6:16. He says, “Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule” (this canon). Paul was affirming that what he had written was the standard of truth.

So, who decided on these 66 books? Were these the only books considered? What was the criteria? 

The Old Testament

When we think of the 39 books that make up the Old Testament, it wasn’t a group of people in a room who decided. Rather, it took shape in three stages: The first five books are called The Law and were written by Moses. By about 600 B.C they were recognized as God-breathed. Then came the prophets and, thirdly, there are what was called “the writings.” 

There were at least a couple of criteria:

• The human author was a recognized credible spokesperson or prophet of God.

• There were no errors of history, geography, or theology.

I love the story in Luke 24 that takes place on the day of Jesus’ resurrection. His disciples don’t yet know that Jesus has risen from the dead. They are still grieving, confused, and scared. 

Luke tells the story of two disciples of Jesus who are walking on the road when Jesus enters the conversation. In verse 27 Jesus says to them, “And beginning with Moses n(The first five books of the Old Testament) and all the prophets he explained to them what was said in the scriptures concerning himself.”

Later in Luke 24 Jesus is now huddled with his disciples he says to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you; Everything must be fulfilled that is written in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”   

We can conclude that Jesus fully accepted the whole Old Testament as the canon.

The New Testament

The 27 books that make up the New Testament emerged over time as it became clear that they were God-breathed. There wasn’t a group of people who decided on the books but rather, Godly people recognized these 27 books as being divinely inspired. 

Four criterion emerged as important tests:

• Was the book authored by an Apostle or someone closely associated with an apostle?

• Was the writing consistent with what the Apostles taught?

• Was the book regularly used privately and used in churches? In other words, was this book affirmed by godly people as something to be read and practiced?

• Was the book recognized and used by succeeding generations?

When these four tests were applied, only 27 books remained. By 370 A.D. a council came together to settle that the New Testament canon was closed. When you open your Bible, you can be confident that you are holding the “canon,” the standard by which absolute truth is measured.

Psalm 119

Psalm 119 is the longest of the Psalms with 176 verses. It’s divided into 22 sections of 8 verses each, each section corresponding to one of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

Look at Psalm 119:89, “Your word Lord is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.” In the verses that follow the Psalmist gives us three amazing benefits of turning to and relying on God’s word:

1.  Verse 98 “Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies”

The Bible is the stabilizing force of my life. No life is exempt from people who oppose us or situations that seem to be orchestrated to bring us down. We don’t know what David was going through when he wrote this but read David’s story and see that he had no shortage of enemies. 

David had come to understand that when the word of God attends my life there is a strength and a power that enables me to stand when my enemies want to knock me down. To the Hebrew mind, “wisdom” is about right living, right responding.

And the scriptures do that for us. In this book we have the wisdom of the one who designed us and created us. Look to God’s word to bring stability and wisdom when enemies want to shake you up. 

2.  Verse 99 “I have more insight than all my teachers for I meditate on your statutes.”

This Bible offers us the amazing gift of insight. The word insight carries the idea of being able to see beyond what is obvious—to comprehend things in a godly way and to act wisely. When you meditate on God’s word, you’ll have insights and comprehension beyond what those who are smarter are able to impart to you. 

Teachers can impart information and even insight but when you allow God’s word and God’s ways to permeate your life, it will result in a measure of success that’s not possible apart from living and walking in truth.

3.  Verse 100 “I have more understanding than the elders for I obey your precepts”

David noticed that when he obeyed the precepts (the commandments) of God’s word that it produced a maturity beyond his years. That requires believing with all your being that the Word of God is true. 

It will mean that I live out a Biblical ethic when it’s difficult or when I don’t see the practical advantage of obedience to God’s word. If you stake your life and future and reputation on this book you will be mature beyond your years.

Those who embrace the Word of God walk in obedience to it, they grasp life’s issues, and they respond to life’s situations in a way that seems to be the way God designed life to be. They may not get it right every time but it’s obvious that they have embraced the rule of God. 

Let me conclude with three quick questions:

• Do you want a life of stability?

• Do you need insight?

• Do you desire to be mature?

If yes, then I have a book for you.

 — Notes from Pastor Marvin Wojda’s sermons on February 19th & 20th, 2022.

CLICK HERE to watch the sermon on YouTube.

Solid: God Breathed Book

2 Timothy 3:14–17

Some context: The Apostle Paul is once again in prison. His days on earth are numbered, but he’s been thinking about his protégé, a young man named Timothy. Timothy is the pastor of the church in Ephesus and Paul is writing to him because he’s concerned.

There were things happening in the church that were causing Timothy discouragement. There was dissension among some leaders. There were false teachers who were gaining ground. It appears that young Timothy was intimidated and being pressured to back off of his commitment to the truth or even to quit.

Not only were there pressures from within the church but living and serving Jesus in the city of Ephesus had its challenges. Biblical truth was literally a foreign concept. Earlier in this letter, Paul describes the moral and spiritual condition of the culture; lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, lovers of pleasure, etc.

Timothy needs to know that when he stands to preach that it’s a message of truth. He needs to be confident that the scriptures are true, that they are authoritative, and that they indeed come from God. I think we need that today. In a day with so many opinions on so many debatable issues, we need truth upon which to base our lives.

So, hear what the Apostle Paul writes:

The source of Scripture

In verse 16 Paul writes, “All scripture is God breathed.” Paul is stating the fundamental truth about the source of Scripture: it comes from God. The scriptures are the inspired word of God. 

We need to be careful here because the word “inspiration” has various meanings. When it’s used to describe how we got our Bible there are several things that “inspiration” doesn’t mean:

It’s not natural inspiration.

It’s not simply a high level of human achievement. You can look at a great painting or hear a great speech or listen to a great song and it’s obvious that the artist or the orator were inspired. But that’s not what we’re talking about when we say that the scriptures are inspired. The Bible is not a collection of writings by highly skilled authors.

Inspiration is not only in the thoughts of the writers.

God didn’t just inspire a writer with some ideas and then they wrote their own words and thoughts to convey those ideas.

In 1 Corinthians 2:13 Paul writes, “This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.” These words are the words that are taught by the Spirit. Inspiration is not just about the concepts but in the words used to express the truths and concepts.

Inspiration is not just the act of God on the reader.

Some people believe that inspiration is determined by the reader so that as you read there are verses that inspire you. While that may happen to you, there may also be times when you feel nothing upon reading the Bible. When you feel nothing, it’s still inspired. 

God-breathed

There are other ideas about inspiration but think about inspiration as “God breathed.” God has given us a written record. The Bible is 66 separate books written by 40 different authors who wrote over a period of 1600 years. 

Each one reached the point that God intended, and God directed the free choice of the author to write down the words of God. The human authors were not automatons whose will was taken over by God. God literally selected the words out of the author’s life and personality and vocabulary and emotions. The writers put pen to papyrus, but they were carried along by the Holy Spirit to where they needed to go.  

Note the words “all scripture.” In verses 14 and 15 when Paul refers to the scriptures that Timothy knew from infancy it’s a clear reference to the Old Testament. 

So, what about the New Testament? Did the writers know they were writing scripture? We’re not certain but here’s what we do know: In 2 Peter 3 he is defending the Apostle Paul’s writings as authoritative. He writes this, “His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort” and then this, “as they do the other scriptures.”  Peter recognized Paul’s letters to be on par with the Old Testament scriptures. 

The power of Scripture

In verse 15 Paul reminds Timothy how from infancy he had known the Holy Scriptures “which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.” We know from Chapter 1:5 that Timothy’s mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois, were committed followers of Jesus. Paul describes them as having “sincere faith.”

From infancy on these two-woman had trained Timothy in the scriptures.  We know that his dad was a Greek speaking Jew who was not committed to the scriptures. But his mom’s and grandma’s influence had conveyed faith in Christ to this young man.

If you boil down the message of the Bible to its basic message it tells the truth about humans and the truth about God. Humans are sinful and need a Saviour. God came to our rescue through Jesus’ death and resurrection.  He is our Saviour. That’s it. 

The message of the Old Testament is that humankind is sinful and incapable of rescuing ourselves. The Old Testament law only confirmed human’s inability to live a perfect life. The message of the New Testament is that a Saviour is here to rescue us.

The usefulness of the Bible

This God-breathed book is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.

Teaching

Teaching focuses on the Bible as giving us the truths we need to live our lives as our Designer intended. The Bible teaches me not only about salvation but about money and about marriage and about how to treat people and how to resolve conflict and more. 

Rebuking

Rebuking sounds harsh, but it really means “confronting my wrong ideas, attitudes, and behavior.” All of us carry misconceptions and distortions about God and ourselves and life. Those need to be confronted and changed.

Correcting

This is similar to rebuking, but it focuses more on behaviour. All of us wander off the path of life. The scriptures bring us a course correction.

Training in righteousness

The word “righteousness” means right living. I need to be trained in it. It doesn’t come naturally. The Bible provides the necessary training for me to live right.

So that

Paul then adds a “so that.” If you embrace the scriptures for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in right living you will be thoroughly, completely, fully equipped to live a purpose-filled life.

All scripture is God breathed—that’s it’s source. It’s also what brings me to salvation. And when I embrace it and live it, I live out the Designer’s will and purpose.

 — Notes from Pastor Marvin Wojda’s sermons on February 12th & 13th, 2022.

CLICK HERE to watch the sermon on YouTube.

Solid: Is the Bible Reliable?

2 Peter 1:12–21

We all observe and maybe even study human behavior and we see the best of what people can do, and we witness and experience human behavior at its worst. What I’m more interested in is why people do the things they do. If you dig down just a little bit, what you’ll find are a set of beliefs. Those beliefs become our authority. 

Foundational to how you live is what you believe. And what you believe is foundational to who/what you accept as your authority. For the follower of Jesus how you view the Bible is foundational to your life. 

As we turn to 1 Peter, we’re looking at the reliability of the Bible. If it’s our authority, why can we trust it?

In verse 12 Peter says, “I will always remind you of these things even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have.” He was saying that there is a body of truth that is the authority on life and how to live it. 

In the next sentence he lets them know that his death in imminent, but he was leaving them this letter so that “after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.” And then he launches into my first point:

Why the Bible has authority.

Look at verse 16; “For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.”

Here’s Peter’s argument; “We were eyewitnesses.” In the New Testament God has spoken through two sources:

• People who saw Jesus with their own eyes. Peter is one of them.

• Those who spoke with eyewitnesses. That would be people like Luke who speaks to eyewitnesses and records what they have seen, heard and experienced.

In this passage Peter speaks specifically of the transfiguration of Jesus. It’s the account recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke where Jesus takes three disciples (Peter, James, and John) with him up a mountain. 

There Jesus is transfigured before them. His face shines bright as the sun and his clothes become white as light. Moses and Elijah appear and speak with Jesus. 

It’s such a holy and impactful experience that the three disciples fall face down on the ground, terrified. For a few moments they get an eyewitness glimpse into Jesus’ divinity. 

In John 1:14 and Acts 2:22–23, Peter is preaching to a vast crowd 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection in the city where it all happened. Why did no one challenge Peter? Because it was common knowledge in Jerusalem that a man named Jesus was crucified and then rose from the dead. 

Virtually all of the N.T was penned within 30–60 years after the resurrection. There were many eyewitnesses of Jesus alive at the time the gospels were written who could have discredited the writings if they were made up stories.

Peter then refers to the Old Testament prophets in verse 19. He states here that they are completely reliable. Peter is reflecting what he observed from Jesus’ words about the Old Testament. Read the gospels and you see that Jesus saw the Old Testament as true, reliable, and authoritative.

Jesus based his life on scripture. Remember the story of the temptation of Jesus? Every time Satan came to Jesus with a temptation, remember how Jesus responded? “It is written.”

The scriptures were the operating principle of Jesus’ life. He lived with full confidence in the scriptures. The scripture was His authority. For Jesus, the scriptures were God’s word. If you’re a follower of Jesus, you can’t faithfully follow him without embracing the scriptures as the authoritative Word of God.

How we know the Bible is reliable.

Those who question the authority and/or the reliability of the Bible often argue several things:

• The Bible was written by people. It’s just a bunch of people who wrote down their own ideas and over time someone selected the writings that had a common theme.

• We don’t have the original manuscripts so it may have started out as reliable but there have been so many copies of copies of copies that we can’t trust that we have the genuine thing.

Let me address these objections. In verses 20 and 21 Peter writes that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. True prophecy doesn’t originate in the human will but rather, “prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

The word translated “carried along” has as one of its meanings, what wind does to a sail on a boat. Human authors wrote—and they did it in a certain style and with a certain vocabulary—but the Spirit got them to where they needed to go.

So, what about manuscripts? The integrity of any historical document depends on the number of manuscripts that can be referenced and compared. There are 14,000 Old Testament manuscripts that were copied from 500–800 years. When you compare the copies, there are variations in one out of every 1580 words and virtually every variation is a difference in spelling.

What about the New Testament? There are 24,000 manuscripts and in all of those transcribed over hundreds of years there is less than one variation in every 1000 words. These are minor variations that don’t affect the meaning.

So, what does this mean?

In verse 19 Peter writes, “you will do well to pay attention to it as to a light shining in a dark place.”

The scripture is a light shining in a dark place. The human heart, the culture, and the world are all dark places. Only scripture shows you how to live.

Throughout history this Book has profoundly affected positive change in the lives and destinies of countless numbers of people. It's amazing what happens in a person’s life when they approach God’s Word with faith and humility and surrender. 

I have seen it again and again; a person may start out with objections and intellectual reservations about the Bible but the moment they surrender their heart, mind, and will, the lights go on and this Book becomes a shining light that lights the path of life.

  — Notes from Pastor Marvin Wojda’s sermons on February 5th & 6th, 2022.

CLICK HERE to watch the sermon on YouTube.

Solid: The Bible as Truth

John 17:14–17

A few years ago, a comprehensive study was done in the U.S. by the American Bible Society titled, “The State of the Bible.”  A bright spot in the findings: despite many aspects of society that devalue the scriptures, penetration of the scripture remains high, even among younger people. 79% of 18–28-year-olds own a Bible. 

A negative finding: neutral or negative attitudes towards the Bible are more commonplace. The percentage of adults who believe that the Bible contains everything a person needs to live a meaningful life declined substantially in the two years between surveys.

Here’s my disclaimer as I begin this series: I hold to the authority of the scriptures for life and godliness. I believe that the scriptures are God’s eternal word for all people. I believe the Bible is reliable for us when it’s properly interpreted. I believe it contains everything I need to live for God now and then to gain eternal life when this life has ended.

Beginning in John 14 Jesus is preparing His disciples for the events that will unfold shortly. He was leaving them. He was going to prepare a place for them in his Father’s house. When he’s asked by Thomas how they can know the way to be with Jesus in heaven, he makes the definitive statement, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Your word

In Chapter 17 John records Jesus’ prayer. Twice Jesus uses the words “truth” and “word.”

Look again at verse 14, “I have given them your word and the world has hated them, …”  In the opening verses of his gospel, John refers to Jesus as “the word.” He’s expressing that Jesus is the embodiment of who God is and what God has said. In John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God and the Word was God.”

It’s the Greek word “logos.” John was establishing that Jesus is God. Calling Jesus “the word” refers to the fact that Jesus came as the personification of the written and spoken word of God. The testimony that God revealed through the Old Testament was now made human in the coming of Jesus. 

He is God, and because of that he is the embodiment of truth.  So, when Jesus prays, “I have given them your word,” he was referring to the fact in his earthly life he had fully lived out the expression of who God is.

In verse 17 when he says, “your word is truth”, he was stating that he, Jesus is the truth. The scriptures reveal him. The scriptures are authoritative and reliable because they speak the truth about Him.

The Bible is not a book to be worshipped. The Bible is not a list of rules to be followed. Open the pages of the Bible and discover the wonder and the beauty and the glory of Jesus. Read it to discover how to live to glorify him.

Your word is truth

I want to circle back to Jesus’ words here. When Jesus says, “Your word is truth” it immediately raises the issue of defining truth. 

We understand that the Bible is not a science book or a medical journal. It doesn’t answer every question about everything, but in matters of how to live life and how to follow Jesus, it is truth.

For so many today, there are many competing truths. Sometimes, your opinion is seen as your version of truth. In Jesus’ prayer he was letting us know that when you embrace Jesus as the ultimate truth and the scriptures as the testimony of ultimate truth,  it’s going to step on people’s toes.

Few if any are ever argued into the kingdom. Most are loved into the kingdom. It’s God’s kindness that draws us to repentance. In 1 Peter 3:15 Peter admonishes us to “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”  And then he adds this important proviso, “But do this with gentleness and respect.”

Jesus’ prayer for his disciples and for us is that we stay engaged in the world and that we enjoy a sense of God’s protection and favor as we are committed to truth. 

Perhaps you are the odd person out in your workplace or in your family. You don’t stand on a soap box to preach in your lunchroom, but you live your life by the truth and directives of the Bible. You walk with integrity. Jesus’ prayer for you is not that you be taken out of that environment but that you would be protected from the evil one.

Sanctify them by the truth

Let’s look briefly at a phrase in verse 17, “Sanctify them by the truth. Your word is the truth.”

What does the word “sanctify” mean? “Sanctify” means, “to be set apart for God’s service.” In 1 Thess 5:23 Paul’s use of the word carries the idea of the progression of spiritual renewal and growth in the believer so that increasingly they become more and more like Jesus. 

We often talk about “growing in faith” or “spiritual growth.” Here in John 17:17 the word, “sanctify” incorporates all of this. Jesus’ prayer for his disciples is that they be more and more committed to serving God and that they would become more and more like Jesus.

We grow our capacity for effective kingdom service through a number of things, but the primary way of growing is by the truth. That happens at least a couple of ways—through prayer as you connect with the God of truth and through regular engagement with the Scriptures.

In order to help our church family regularly engage with Scripture, we offer the Vista Bible Reading Plan. Together as a church we are reading through the New Testament in 2022. You spend about 5 minutes, 5 days a week and then take time to reflect on the passage. (Find the reading plan here)

The story is told of Sir Walter Scott the famed British novelist and poet. He was also a committed Christian. On his deathbed Scott is reported to have said to his secretary, “Bring me the book.” His secretary thought of the thousands of books in his library and asked him “which book?” “THE book—the Bible—the only book for a dying man.”

I would add that the Bible is not only the book for the dying. The scriptures are the authoritative revelation of God’s eternal truth.

 — Notes from Pastor Marvin Wojda’s sermons on January 29th & 30th, 2022.

CLICK HERE to watch the sermon on YouTube.