Joyce Meyer - The Power And Promise Of God's Word

I just love the word. I hold my Bible. I hug my Bible. I've even been known to kiss my Bible. I love the Word of God. I love teaching the Word of God. I love to watch what the Word of God does in people's lives. And I admire you and respect you for taking your time to come out to hear the Word of God and for all of you that are watching by television, for taking the time and many of you on a daily basis, to receive the word because the Word of God has power in it. The words that we're speaking when we speak God's word, they're not just ordinary words but God's word has power inherent in it, that means it comes with little power bullets that have the ability to change our lives.

And so, we're gonna start first by talking about the creative power of the Word of God. Genesis 1:3, "And God said". Isn't it amazing that the Bible starts out with God saying something? And the good thing is what he said came to pass. "And God said, 'let there be light:' and there was light". Words contain power just like this glass has water in it, words have something in it and if the words are God's word, they're full of creative power. If they're nonsense words, or useless words, or vain words, or evil words, then they're also full of power but they're full of destructive power. We all know that if people say right words to us, it can just do wonderful things on the inside of us and if they say wrong words to us, it can be crushing and sometimes start a whole lifetime full of devastation.

So, words have power and God has given us his word, and he wants us to believe the word, to meditate on the word, and to speak the Word of God. There's nothing that can be any more important to us in our walk with God than learning how to speak the Word of God out loud out of our own mouth because angels, now listen to this, angels harken to the Word of God. They don't listen to my complaining, they don't listen to your complaining, they're not moved by our grumbling, but they are moved to action on our behalf when they hear the Word of God. Amen?

Now, we have this little book that we call the purple book, and it's actually, "The secret power of speaking God's word out loud". This is one that you want to have because let me tell ya something, learning how to do battle with the enemy with the Word of God is the best thing you can learn. The word God is the sword of the spirit. It is a weapon against forces of darkness. "Let him who has my word speak my word faithfully". Isaiah 55:10 and 11. How many of you take time on a regular basis to confess God's word out loud? Okay, well, that's about maybe 30% of you. So, we've got a good audience today to learn something new and the rest of us can just get all encouraged to be even more faithful to speak God's word. Amen?

We can call those things that be not as though they are. We don't have to call things that are as if they're always gonna stay that way. Yes, I'm gonna say that again. I said, we can call things that be not as if they are. God does that. He speaks of nonexistent things as if they already existed. It's in Romans 4, but what we do many times is we'll have a situation and we talk about it like it's never gonna change. And we need to say, "You have to change. You wicked circumstance, you have to change because God's plan, and God's power, and God's promises are greater than my circumstance". And I know Isaiah's in here but it's hard sometimes to talk, and preach, and find stuff all at the same time. "For as the rain and snow come down from heaven, and return not there again, but water the earth and make it bring forth and sprout, that it might give seed to the sower and bread to the eater".

Now, let's think. Let's don't just read, let's think. Rain comes down from heaven and it doesn't go back up. It comes down and it does something. It waters the seed that's in the ground and we get a harvest. So, we got a word picture first here. "So shall my word be", this is God speaking to us through the prophet. "So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return to me void without producing any effect, or useless, but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it". So, God is saying, "When my word is spoken, something is gonna happen. Something is gonna happen when my word is spoken", and that's exactly why you will take a vacation day, which many of you have done, to come and listen to the Word of God today even though it would make no sense at all to the world why you would do this, you know the value of God's word. And by the time this morning's over, you're gonna know the value of God's word even more than you ever have before.

Things are happening in here as the word is preached. Do you know that Psalm 107:20 says, "He sends his word and he heals them and delivers them from the pit and from destruction". And I tell ya what, I have had my faith out for years on that scripture that when I speak the Word of God, it's not me, but the Word of God, that people are healed physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, financially, socially, and in every way that they can. And I believe that and I think that I've got my part right, and I want to talk to you today about being a better receiver. I have a goal today. My goal is hopefully to help all of us come up higher in how we receive the word, and how we appreciate the word, and how we even respect the Word of God. When you go to church, don't ever think you're just going to put your time in.

Go expecting. "I'm excited to hear the word. When I hear the word today, something is gonna be released in my life. Something good is gonna happen in me. I'm gonna change. Circumstances are gonna change". And go in and be attentive like it is the most awesome thing that you could ever hear in your life. Don't sit and piddle on your phone. I'm sorry, maybe I'm a little old school but, you know? Now, I know a lot of people take notes on their phone today and if you're taking Bible notes, that's a different story but I mean I've had people tell me, "Oh, I had to text my friend while you were preaching and tell her what you said".

Well, that's not a time to tell everybody else what I'm saying. That's a time for you to get it. That's a time to drink it in. I don't think we should be late when it comes time to go hear the word. I don't think we should leave early. I don't think we should get up and run to the bathroom. Don't you think I ever have to go to the bathroom when I'm up here? And I have never one time left. I mean 40 years I've never once left the platform to go to the bathroom, and I can tell you I would have liked to have sometimes, nor have I gone to get a drink of water, or make a phone call, or do anything else. Amen? And I'm helping your pastors right now. I am helping them because I don't want you just to do this when you come to one of my conferences. I want you to do it if you're watching the word on TV. I want you to do it when you're in your churches. Let's have a greater respect for the Word of God and God is gonna do greater things in our lives. "The word that goes forth out of my mouth".

Now, I've kind of decided that if my mouth is his mouth, then the word that goes forth out of my mouth will have the same effect as what's talking about here in Isaiah 55. So, I believe when we confess the Word of God out of our mouths, don't look at your kids and say, "You are never gonna change". Don't ever look at anybody and say, "You are never gonna change". That is the worst thing in the world that you can do to somebody. Don't sit at lunch with your friends and say, "My husband's never gonna change. My kids are never gonna change". What you need to say is, "I'm praying for them and I believe that God is working right now in their lives".

You know what? It does us no good at all to sit in service after service and have shelves full of Christian books and all these things that we have if we're not going to stick with the word in hard times and hold fast our confession of faith when things look like it's never going to change. But let me tell ya something, your miracle may be right around the corner and the devil wants nothing more than for you to give up. When God's word is spoken, it produces an effect, something happens. It convicts. It convinces. It encourages. It saves. Six hundred and twenty-two people gave their life to the Lord last night. Something happened. Everybody say, "Something's happening in here". And I'll tell you the truth, if you just, if you like just don't even get what's going on in here.

You're like, "I don't get it. Why are these people excited? What's with the clapping? What's with the lady? I don't, I don't get it". I don't care if you don't get anything. If you just sit here, if you just sit here, the atmosphere in here is better than anywhere else that you could go. You know why? Because we all carry an anointing and the presence of God. So, in here, you don't feel the pressure of wickedness and evil that you feel in other places. There's light in here. There's not darkness in here. And it's just a good place to be. If you're in a good church, just go and just sit there and soak in the anointing and the presence of God.

Don't ever go, "I'll be glad when they get done, I'm hungry". I mean, you know what? If you're gonna do that to me, just don't even come. It just 'cause I can tell ya, if you want to get a lot more out of your spiritual leaders, you be attentive, you pray for them, you be excited. Amen? Because your faith can draw the best out of people that are ministering to you. Come on, put a demand on my gift. Put a demand on the gift by releasing your faith. And you say, "God, I'm expecting you to give me answers today. I'm expecting you to break these chains of bondage off of me. Your word is powerful. Speak to me through my pastor. Speak to me through my teacher". And then you sit there ready. Don't just come in and go... "Oh, I heard a buzz, oh".

Now, I'm just having a little fun with ya, but you know, it needs to be done. Amen? Obviously, not everybody does that kind of stuff but there's more and more of it going on and it just, I love you guys, but it annoys me. How'd you like it if I was in the middle of preaching and I stopped to answer a text? That sounds ridiculous, don't it? Sounds totally ridiculous. Well, all right, Hebrews 4:12, "For the word that God speaks is alive and full of power". Let's say it again, "The word that God speaks is alive". See, that's why you can come in to something like this and you're just like dragging, inside, outside, just dragging. But the music, and the worship, and the excitement, and the atmosphere, and the word, there's life in it, and something happens. And you go out, and you got some hope, and you feel better, and you feel better physically. Get around something good. "The word that God speaks is alive and full of power making it active, operative, energizing, and effective".

So, here's the thing, the Word of God is operating on you today, cutting stuff out that doesn't need to be there. Amen? "It's energizing, and it's effective: it's sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life, the (soul) and the immortal spirit, of joints and marrow of the deepest parts of our nature, exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and the purposes of our heart". God's word is powerful. God's word is alive and bursting with resurrection power. God's power is inherent in his word and the word "Inherent" means existing in a person or a thing as a permanent or an inseparable element.

So, every time you say, "God's word says that he will meet all of my needs", something happens in your finances. You may not see it yet, but something happens. Now, if you say on Monday, "I'm a giver and God's word promises that he's gonna meet all of my needs according to his riches in glory". Let's just act like kids for a minute. What happens if when you say that an angel is released with your financial answer? But then on Tuesday, you're having lunch with your depressed, miserable friend who's been that way for 20 years and has no intention of ever changing, not somebody you really need to be hanging out with because they just drag you down but in the process of talking about all your problems again, and again, and again, you end up saying, "Yeah, we're just broke and I just feel like we're never gonna have anything. I can't afford that. And I can't afford that". And blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, I guess the angel just has to go, "Whoops, go back".

Come on, we're pretending but I think it's real, okay? And so then maybe on Wednesday, you get, you turn my program on, you're like, "Oh yeah, oh yeah, I need to believe God. Yeah, praise God. God's gonna meet all of my needs". And the angel starts back again. Amen? Let's holdfast to our confession and be firm in what we believe. God loves you. He's got a good plan for your life. You are the righteousness of God in Christ if you are a believer in him. He wants to do good things for you, and he will meet all of your needs. If you are giver and you keep it up, and keep it up, and keep it up, you have to have a harvest. Now, James chapter 1, water your seed with the Word of God. After being here today, I hope and pray that you'll speak the Word of God out loud more than you ever have before in your life.

James 1:21, "So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and in a humble (gentle, modest) spirit". Now, here we go. This is how we're gonna receive the word. "And in a humble (gentle, modest) spirit receive and welcome the word which implanted and rooted in your heart", I love this, now, get this, "Contains the power to save your soul". Now, as believers, we're already born again. Our spirit is already in good condition. God lives in there. Holiness is in there. Sanctification's in there. There's all kinds of good things in there, but our soul is still a mess. I'm talking about when we're initially born again. So, I can be just as saved as I can be and still have bad attitudes, and bitterness, and resentment, and unforgiveness. Your soul is your mind, your will, and your emotions. And it needs to be saved and that happens through a process called sanctification.

We are made holy in God, through Christ, but the Holy Spirit then comes to gradually, little by little, by using the Word of God, work that out in our lives and as our mind is renewed and our attitude improves, we change. And that does not happen without megadoses of God's word. That's why, if you think that you can get by going to church on easter, Christmas, and maybe thanksgiving, and sleeping through a 20-minute sermonette...

My gosh. I remember going to a church one time and it was a big religious organization type thing. I don't even know why they asked me but they did. And so I'm sitting up between bishop this and doctor that, so on and so forth, thinking, "What in the world am I doing here"? And they asked me how long I wanted for my talk. Well, first of all, I didn't plan to talk. I planned to preach. I love it when people say to me, "I love your talks". They said, "How long did you plan to talk"? And I said, "About an hour". And their eyes got big and they said, "We never have... We... It's... We only... We only give 20 minutes". And Dave's attitude would be, "Well, if you want her to talk 20 minutes, you better get her started in the back and let her wind up 'cause her introduction's longer than that". I mean, when you're hungry, you don't want a snack. You get an appetizer to help you survive until the meal gets here. We gotta eat, amen? Yeah, who don't? That's our problem.

But now, watch this. Here's what I love. Let's go back to James 1:21. "So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and in a", now, what kind of attitude do we come and receive? "In a humble". In other words, "I need this. I don't care what you're preaching on today, I need this". You know, if I told everybody what I was gonna preach on tonight, some of you wouldn't come back because you would think, "Oh, I don't need that". We need it all. There's none of it we don't need. And I don't care how many times you have it underlined in your Bible that doesn't mean you don't need it. Even if we're, gotten pretty good at doing it, we still need it because we have to be refreshed and reminded over, and over, and over again.

So let's have the attitude, you know, people say, "What are ya gonna preach on"? It don't matter what I'm gonna preach on, you need it. We shouldn't pick and choose. "Well, you know... Mumbling"... Matter of fact, I think I will tell you what I'm gonna preach on tonight, just to see how many of you have got some real courage. Pride and humility. Now, I'll find out if I got some real Christians. Yeah, go ahead, gather up every haughty, high-minded, full-of-themselves person that you know and drag 'em back here tonight. Offer to feed 'em, people'll go anywhere if you feed 'em. In a humble (gentle, modest) spirit, receive and welcome. "I need this, I need this". Welcome the word.

Now, respect the word, honor the word, and expect the word to work in you. Don't ever leave where you have heard the word preached unto an anointing and think, "Well, I didn't get anything". Even if you don't know what you got, you got somethin'. Because God's word is full of power. Now, there's something in the Amplified Bible that's said a lot in Psalm 119. Which if you've never studied Psalm 119, I wanna give you a homework assignment. It is all about the power of God's word, the entire Psalm, all 166 verses is about the power that's in God's word. It is an awesome piece of Bible literature that will just encourage us and teach us. And so, one of the things that Psalm 119 says, like for example, 119:56 says: "This I have had as the gift of your grace and as my reward: that I have kept your precepts", so, he said, "My reward is that I have kept your word".

See, obedience to God is a reward. Living an obedient lifestyle is a reward for us because we feel so good when we know that we're doing the right thing. And then, this is what I like. It is brought out in this particular translation. "This is what I did with the word. I heard it. I received it. I loved it, and I obeyed it". I love that. The phrase, "Hearing, loving, receiving, and obeying it", is found 17 times in the Psalms, and 15 of them are in Psalm 119. Study Psalm 119. How many of you will do that? I mean, you're just gonna love it. Study Psalm 119, and if it takes you a week I don't care. But study it, and really think about what it's saying. It just shows us the value of the Word of God.

Now back to James 1:21, "So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and in a humble (gentle, modest) spirit receive and welcome the word which implanted and rooted in your hearts contains the power to save your souls. But be doers of the word obey the message, and not mere listeners to it, betraying yourselves into deception by reasoning contrary to the truth. For if anyone only listens to the word and doesn't obey it, being a doer of it, he's like a man who looks carefully at his own self, natural face, in a mirror. For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like. But he who looks carefully into the faultless law of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer who obeys, he will be blessed in his life of doing. He will be blessed in his life of obedience".

Now hearing the word is great, but our lives are not blessed from hearing it. Our lives are blessed from doing it, amen? We need to be doers of the Word of God, and he says a very interesting thing in here. He says if we're not doers of the word it's because we reason out some way in our mind that even though we agree that it's true that it's okay for us not to do it. And one of the excuses that people use is it's just too hard. I'm just not ready for that yet. Or you take giving. The largest majority of Christians don't tithe, and the Bible's clear about it. You say, "Well, wait a minute. That's Old Testament". Well, you wanna hear my answer for that? I've got a great answer for that. How many of you wanna hear my answer? You're going to anyway, but I just, if you think tithing is Old Testament law, if they could give 10% unto the law I wonder what we should be doin' by grace.

Now, see, you're afraid to clap for the thoughts of givin' away 10% of your money, but God's lettin' you keep 90%. We wouldn't have anything if God didn't give us what we have. We would have absolutely nothing. Well, why should I do that? Bless God, you've got a better car than me. Well, first of all, don't look at it like you're givin' to people. Give it to God. Give it to God, and expect God to bring a reward in your life. Now i, you know, I'm not gonna harp on tithing and giving because I don't feel like it, and maybe you don't either. But the point is, is that it doesn't matter what I think about it. If God says it and it's clear and I can see it and I don't do it, then I'm not doing it because some way in my mind I've figured out a reason why it's okay for me not to do it. Well, maybe you got a reason, but you missed the blessing. Oh, come on.

Now you know why people act like that 'cause they don't wanna give their money away. How many of you know you cannot outgive God? You just absolutely cannot outgive God. I mean, that's just the bottom line. God is a giver, and you cannot outgive him. But there's many, many, many other things that the Bible talks about, and if we will get very serious about obeying the word, then our lives are gonna change dramatically, absolutely, phenomenally dramatically. We need to meditate on the Word of God. To meditate on the word means to roll it over and over and over in your mind, to mutter it under your breath, to think about it. In other words, I put down here, "Preach to yourself".

Do you know I'm really on fire about these messages because I've already preached these to myself several times? I mean, I was up this morning at 6 o'clock preachin' to myself. While I was doing my hair I was preachin' to myself. Well, see, by the time I get here I open my mouth, and it just rolls out 'cause I've been preachin' to myself. Well, if you preach to yourself more in your quiet time and private time, when you get out around people you're gonna behave a whole lot better than what you would've if you spend your morning thinkin' about who all you're mad at.

How many of you have ever told your kids, "Now make sure you chew your food. Don't swallow that whole. Chew your food. Chew that better"? Well, when we meditate on the word it's equivalent to chewing it, and when you chew your food that's how you get all the nutrients out of it. If you swallow it whole and don't chew it, then there's vitamins and life-giving nutrients in it that you don't even get. It actually can give you indigestion and a tummy ache if you don't chew it, and so meditating on the word, it's like it's not good enough to show up in a building and sit there and kinda halfway, sort of, maybe a little listen to what's being said. No, we need to focus. We need to have a humble attitude. We need to be hungry for the word. We need to believe there's power in this. "I don't wanna miss any of it. It's working in me right now. This word is healing me". I believe that people when they sit under the word can be healed of sickness and disease if they'll release their faith and believe that there's power in the word. There is power in the word.

Meditate on the Word of God. John 8:31 and 32, "Jesus said, 'if you abide in me and my word abides in you, you will know the truth. The truth will make you free'". And the word "Abide" means to live, dwell, and remain in you. Now, the Word of God is truth. How many of you agree with that? Okay, now let's talk for a minute about some of the stuff goin' on in the world today. Is there any absolute truth? Well, of course, there is. I mean, if there's no absolute truth we have all got a really, really, really huge problem. I mean, I trust that gravity's always gonna be there, and you say, "Well, I don't believe in gravity". Well, it doesn't matter whether you do or not. It's not gonna go away.

Well, see, people who say, "Well, I don't believe the Bible's true. I don't believe God's real", you know, to me, to be honest, it would take more faith to be an atheist than it would to be a Christian. I mean, how can you just believe that some little bug crawled up somewhere on a beach jillions of years ago, and, boop, here we are, and, you know, we used to be apes and monkeys? And the thing that I don't understand is what happened to all the ones that didn't evolve? Some got left out 'cause here I am now. You know, we've evolved, and we're no longer like that. But now they're still there, so what happened to them? So i, you know, I'm sorry, but I just gotta go with creation. I am created by the hand of God in my mother's womb, amen? He specially, intricately formed me with his own hand, and he has a purpose for my life, and I'm gonna die happy with that knowledge.

Let us ponder what happens if we buy into the humanistic idea that there's no absolute truth. Well, this view contends that a thing may be wrong for one person but not for another. It could depend on your culture, your personal preference, or your political viewpoint. I mean, it's really just dumb when you think about it. Therefore we may have our own opinions of right and wrong. Well, then that leaves us with no standard to live by. Do you know how dangerous the world becomes when there's no standard and everybody just makes up their own idea of what they think is right and wrong? "Well, that may be right for you, but it's not right for me".

Listen, if it's right according to the Word of God, then it's right for all of us whether we like it or not. We can't live with this attitude that anything goes, "Whatever a person wants to do is acceptable. We need to be tolerant and just accept whatever". Well, that's a good idea unless a serial killer's making the decision then we might be in trouble. That's a good idea unless a rapist is making the decision and you're a woman out walking late at night. Just 'cause he wants to do it, you know. There are absolute truths. And the Word of God, excuse me, but I'm gonna die saying this, and I'll shout it from the rooftops, and I'm happy to say it today on television where it's going all around the world. The Word of God is absolute truth. I believe it. I believe all of it, from cover to cover. I may not totally understand all of it, but I believe it. Amen? And, pretty good chance that I'm happier than the people who don't believe it.

There are absolute truths. I'm doing this because I love people and I wanna see God honored in the earth today. I wanna help make the Lord's name famous. And I don't wanna see people just keep compromising, and keep compromising, and keep compromising until there's no standards at all left and we're all in a lot more trouble than what we can possibly imagine. Hmm...

There are a handful of things that Paul said in the Bible that were cultural issues, and don't apply today, but nothing Jesus said can be looked at in that way. For example, women had to have their heads covered in church or in prayer as a sign of submission. Men were not to have their heads covered. It was a cultural issue. That's not the thing today. It was a shame for a woman to cut her hair, women were not to wear jewelry, or have fancy hairstyles because only prostitutes did that in those days. And so, Paul was encouraging the women to make sure that they behave themselves in a godly way.

Women were not to speak in church, but if they had questions, they were to ask their husbands at home. Some of the comments that Paul made about women, keeping quiet in the church, were cultural. First of all, women were uneducated, and women sat on one side of the church and men sat on the other side of the church. And when the gifts of the spirit showed up, there was a lot of ruckus about what was going on. And if you study history, women would ask their husbands across the church a question, and Paul said, "Women should be quiet in the church, and if they have a question, they should ask their own husbands at home".

And now, because of that half of the people out in the world say that God can't use women. Well oops, it's too late, he is. Because you see, here's what Jesus said, "There's no more male nor female, no more Jew nor Greek, but we're all one in Christ Jesus". God doesn't look at you and say, "Oh, I can't use you, you're a woman". How silly is that? I'm having fun up here this morning, I don't... You can do what you want to. I'll tell you one thing. If God can't use women then Jesus was sure confused when he came out of the tomb and he told Mary, "Go and tell my disciples, 'he is risen'". First Gospel message, right there. Okay, we'll get off of that before I make a bunch of people mad, now.

Okay now, you know, today, people fight for their right to sin. It's like, "I have a right to live like that if I want to". Well, can I tell you something? The government doesn't need to give us that right, God already did. God will protect your right to go to hell if that's what you wanna do. Because he already said, "I set before you life and death, good and evil, you choose". Come on now, hang with me a minute. So, we don't need people telling us we can sin. We don't need people to legalize our sin, God already said, "You can do whatever you want to, but here's the deal. If you do what I tell you to, your life is gonna be awesome, amazing, blessed. You're gonna be happy. You're gonna have joy. And if you don't do what I tell you to, then the ride's gonna be a little bumpy and you're not gonna be so happy, and it's not gonna be so good". So, we can all do anything we want to, but every decision that we make carries with it a result. Is this okay? Are you all okay with this today?

Now, this is gonna be one of those messages, when this goes on television, we are gonna get letters. Whoo! We get letters. Man, but they only give me the nice ones. Far as I'm concerned, everybody just loves me to pieces. That's all I see. I don't have time to fight off all that other stuff. I'm too busy trying to help people. Basically, what I'm trying to say today, is please as a child of God, please don't buy into the nonsense that's going on in the world today. This is the truth. God means what he says. If we come to the word, and we hear it, we love it, and we receive it, we obey it, our lives are gonna be amazing. That doesn't mean they'll be completely trouble-free, but I'll tell you one thing, I'd rather have a big problem and have Jesus in it to help me than I have a little problem and be by myself trying to solve it.

God is good. Why would you not want a relationship with God? He is good. And everything that he tells us not to do, it's for our benefit. Everything, God's not trying to take your toys away from you, he's trying to keep you from killing yourself. God wants us to have a good life, an amazing life. You gotta be very careful about trying to take things out of the Word of God, or make it say things that it doesn't say. I think that somebody needs to read this, so I'm going to, right now. Revelation 22:19, "If anyone cancels or takes away from the statements of the book of this prophecy these predictions relating to Christ's kingdom and its speedy triumph, together with the consolations and admonitions or the warnings pertaining to them, God will cancel and take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the city of holiness".

So, God's saying, "You can't", I don't know what in the world's gonna happen, if they start trying to take stuff out of here. And I'll be honest, I'm concerned it's coming down the pike if we don't stand up and say, "No, you're not gonna start taking stuff out of the Bible". That's what I believe. Amen? This is not a time for us to compromise, church. This is a time for us to say, "I love this book. I love what's in it. It's full of life. It's full of health. It's full of healing. It's full of wholeness".

Do you know that every answer to every problem that you could possibly have is in the Word of God? There is not a problem that you have that you can't find an answer to and God's word. And the Bible says that if we will love the word, hear it, receive it, and obey it that it's gonna bring healing into our life. So many wonderful things in Psalm 119. "Blessed is the man who orders his conduct and conversation according to the Word of God". "You'll be so blessed that you'll be envied". "You will not wander from God's ways". "Young men may cleanse their ways by conforming their life to God's ways". Living according to the Word of God is a choice. We put our hope in God's word. Listen to these three scriptures. "Those who reverently and worshiply fear you, will see me and be glad because I've hoped in your word".

Isn't it wonderful to be able to put your hope in the... How many of you feel more hopeful since you walked in here today? Don't you feel more like that God can do something amazing in your life? Okay, let me close with Ezekiel 37. Whoo, somebody's happy. I hope you're not laughing, 'cause I said I was gonna close. I'm teasing, I'm just having fun with you. We gotta have fun, don't we? Thank you. I get myself in trouble, once in awhile, but I gotta say what I feel like God wants me to say. Ezekiel 37... How many of you know that we gotta hear some straight-up teaching in the days that we're living in, or we are gonna just.. I mean, I don't know what's gonna happen if we just... We gotta hear it. Don't compromise, stand strong, if you lose every friend you've got, stand strong. If you lose your job, stand strong.

Don't start compromising on the Word of God. Eternity is a long time and I wanna be in the right place. How about you? "The hand of the Lord was upon me", I'm in Ezekiel 37, verse 1. "The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the spirit of the Lord and he set me down in the midst of the valley: and it was full of bones. And he caused me to pass round about among them, and he said, 'behold, there are very many human bones in this valley and they were very dry'". You ever feel like that? Like, your life is just nothing but a bunch of dead, dry bones. "And he said to me, 'son of man can these bones live?'"

Can things really change in your life? Can your circumstances change? Can you make a lot of really bad mistakes and have a new beginning? Absolutely. "And he said, 'son of man, can these bones live?' and I answered, 'o Lord, you know, you're the only one that knows, God'". Now, get ready. "And again, he said to me, 'prophesy to these bones and say to them, "O you dry bones, hear the word of the Lord"'". "Hear the word of the Lord". Every time that you turn the TV on and listen to my teaching or somebody else's who's really teaching the Word of God, they are prophesying to the dry bones in your life.

Now, watch what happens, and you can do it yourself. "Thus says the Lord to these bones: 'behold, I will call breath and spirit to enter you, and you shall live'", and it goes on and on, and on, and on, and on. Long story, and then it says down here, "And the bones got up. Bone to bone, flesh and sinew you came upon the bones and they stood upon their feet, a mighty host and a great army". And you know what? All of us started out as a bunch of dead dry bones, and here we are today, a mighty host and a great army for God. Amen? All because of the power of God's word. Grab your Bible if you've got one, give it a good hug. I'm gonna pray for you.

Father, I pray that we would all have a greater respect for your word. I pray that we would realize what a precious treasure we have in being able to turn the television on and get the word, turn the radio on and get the word, and have CD's, and DVD's, and books, as many books as we wanna have, and conferences and things where we can have the word, in churches and pastors. What a wonderful privilege it is God, that you've provided the word in so many different formats. Help us to always love your word, to receive your word, to be respectful to your word. And I believe that there's power in the word to change our lives, to save our souls, and to help us stand up on our feet, a mighty host, doing great things for you. Help us not to compromise in the days that we live in, and help us to stand strong on your word, and believe it even if we don't fully understand all of it, to believe it and say, "I know that everything that God says is true". In Jesus' name, amen.