Leon Fontaine - The Mighty Word
One of the things I noticed as a young teenager when I begin to become very aware of leaders, of men and women who are leading for God. I would find people who are very skilled and I love skills. We should always add skills to our gifts. But I would notice people that had a depth about them that others didn't. There were people in my dad's church, pastors that would visit. Some did, some didn't. And as I begin to grow, I begin to recognize it was the Word of God working in them. And that's what I'm going to teach you on today, is how to get the Word of God working mightily in you and keep it there working. Because it has a phenomenal ability to change you, to grow you up.
Now, as a young 19-year old, I remember reading the Scripture where it said that if you would get God's Word working in you and love the Word. It says that as a young man, you could be wiser than your teachers, wiser than your enemies, and wiser than people older than you. To you young people who are listening today, who look ahead and go, "Man, I'm just so young. I don't know". I've got news for you. I made a decision. Today, we love our youth so much. Everyone's trying to look younger, be younger, talk younger, dress younger, nips and tucks to look younger. Everything we can and we've forgotten the incredible brilliance of those who have got some age under their belt. Some experience under their belt. And as a young man, I had a lot of friends and my parents. That I would listen to them as they talked the Word, as they shared what God was communicating with them. And I want to encourage you.
Listen to God's Word, grow in God's Word. And you can have an absolute head start on everybody else your age because those who have God's Word working in them. You'll have a head start beyond anything else you could imagine. And so let's dive in, another area when it comes to getting God's Word working mightily in you, is that when you meditate in the Word of God, you are literally allowing the nature of God to rise up within you rather than your soulish worldly nature. I meet a lot of people who are born again. Their spirit man is born again. When they die, they're going to go be with Jesus. But they've never learned to get the Word of God working mightily on the inside of them. And so they struggle with jealousy, and they struggle with envy and malice and pride. And everywhere they go, all they can think about is, "You know, what do people think about me". And what you don't realize is that when the Word of God begins to work on the inside of you, it causes this soulish, self-centered, never good enough, what do people think about me, etcetera. And you'll live your entire life and never do the great things God has called you to because you're struggling with this soulish worldly way of thinking.
And so as you focus on God's Word, and as you meditate on God's Word. Hebrews 4:14 says, "Hold fast your confession". Your confession of what? The Word of God. God begin to deal with me about my study time because I love studying the Word. Whenever you read the Word, He said, "Read it out loud". And so now whenever I read the Word, I read it out loud. So that I'm speaking it out because there's something about the spoken Word. That is uniquely powerful over your body. The Bible says even the angels of God obey the voice of His Word. You can be the voice of His Word. In Hebrews chapter 4, another thought I want to leave with you. Verse 15, it says, "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin".
Did you know that Jesus was tempted? He was tempted in every area that you're tempted in. He knew loneliness. He knew rejection. He had desires that every physical person has, and all of these things He had to deal with. And as you go through times in your life where you need help to avoid temptation. If you'll take the Word of God and speak the Word of God. It's not a robotic thing. It's Jesus loves you. He cares about you. And as you are speaking His Word, you can confidently know that the throne of grace is there for you. We've got to understand that.
Now in 1 Thessalonians 2:13, it says, "For this reason we thank God without ceasing". And this is Paul, that when you received the Word of God. Did you know that when someone is preaching or your pastor is teaching, that you must receive the Word of God. Another verse says you must mix faith with what you hear or it profits you nothing. It says here, "Because when you received the Word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in the truth. The Word of God which also effectively works in you who believe". Do you know there are two kinds of people who come to church.
Now there's lots of reasons why people come to church. But there's two kinds. One will open their heart and receive the Word and believe the Word and let God's Word get working on the inside of them. They'll talk the Word. They'll share with their spouse, their friends what the Word meant to them. And this just causes the Word to effectively work on the inside of you. You know, one of the things that I have been teaching as I've gone into pastors' conferences is what it was like when I was a teenager and my mom and dad who are both pastors would have guests come and preach in the church. They would come from other countries, other cities, other experiences. And when the ministry was done Sunday morning and Sunday night. So probably about 9:30, 10:00 o'clock at night. They would come over to the parsonage where mom and dad and we, where we all lived. She'd put us all to bed as boys. There's four of us then. And they would sit around the table.
Now, they would sit around the table and talk. Today when it happens with me and many of the people that I meet with, you know, you're talking systems and structures. Leon how did you guys do this, and how did you raise money there. How do you hire staff about this, and what did you do for the traffic flow of getting kids through. And it's, I don't mind all that stuff. But that's not what they've talked. They would get around and they talk God's Word. They would talk about what do you see? What you've been preaching on? What is God putting on your heart? And they would talk the Word of God. Things they were seeing in the Word of God. And it's like, the kitchen and I can still see it as a young man. I would sneak out of bed. I was actually a young boy and a young teenager. I would sneak out of bed and I sit around the edge to the hall and they will be talking. And as they were talking about God's Word, it was just this sense, this anointing.
Now I look and I realize it was the presence of God that was filling up that that dining room. And I would listen to them talk about Jesus, talk about the Word. And as they would teach and encourage in what's God saying to you, what's God saying to you. And often they would minister to each other. I remember it them saying things like, you know, they look at my mom and said, "Jackie, there's just something that God's been putting on my heart for you and Cam". Or mom and dad would say to the person visiting, "You know, as you were ministering, God put something on my heart. I want to encourage you with". And then you'd see tears at this table as people begin to weep as they realized God had spoken. It's fascinating. When you begin to talk the Word, speak the Word. Find people that love to talk about the Word of God. When you get together with them, it does something to you. It causes the Word of God to be effectively working on the inside of you.
I've been talking for a little while now about that faith and how that faith isn't just a onetime thing. But you've got to work the process. There's a process of faith. And it doesn't mean you're earning faith. It just means that you're renewing your mind. You're making your body a living sacrifice. You're planting the Word in your heart. You're allowing the Holy Spirit to give you visions and image. There's things we need to do with the Word. And as a young man, I remember so vividly at 17 years of age is when I began to listen, back then it was taped. I began to listen to cassettes every day of men and women, my mom and dad teaching the Word, teaching the Word, teaching the Word, and I would just listen.
If I had a bad day, rather than go out like many of the guys there and get drunk or high or low, or try to pick some woman up. I would just go and I begin to listen to God's Word. And I learned to get the Word of God working mightily on the inside of me. And I want to challenge you today. I don't care whether you're a pastor. Leon, I'm not a pastor. I don't care what you are. If you are a child of God, when the Word of God begins to work in you mightily, it affects your finances, your career. It affects your marriage. It affects every area of your life when God's Word is effectively working.
All right. Another, another point that is very crucial. It's number 4, for anyone who's taking notes, who's going to go through all of our messages here. What Jesus has already won for you on the cross must be received by the Word of God working in you. This is crucial. This is where so many people miss this. In 2 Peter 1:2, it says, "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord". Well, where do we get the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord? Two areas. Number 1 is the Bible. Number 2 is getting to know Him. Now, grace is God's favour. It's God's ability in your life. And peace. Man, this peace literally means healed, prosperous, happy. This word peace is way huger than we use it.
Now how do you get grace and peace multiplied in your life? Through the knowledge of God. Did you know that as you begin to meditate in the Word of God, as you begin to keep the focus on God's Word, that grace begins to multiply. Now multiplication is a very powerful word. Let's look at the difference between addition and multiplication. If you are going to go 10 plus 10, that's only 20. But if you go 10 x 10, you're blasting to a 100. If you go a 100 plus a 100, that's 200. But if you go 100 x 100, you're looking at 10.000. Multiplication has this stunning, amazing ability to cause you to grow fast. When you focus on God's Word and you begin to realize Jesus has already won it. You are working God's Word because you need to believe what the Word says. So Jesus won on the cross every promise. How do you get it working in your life? By getting the Word working in you first. So it says here God's favour, His grace is multiplied as you begin to know His Word. Get the Word working in you. Then it says, "As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and Godliness". How? "Through the knowledge of Him who's called us by glory and virtue".
Now Jesus won your healing. Jesus has won your prosperity. Jesus has won your peace, your place in heaven. He has, He has secured all of these promises. How do we get them working in our lives? You don't have to earn them. You don't have to make your life good enough? It's not because you're not living good enough. There's always going to be a problem somewhere. The next verse says, "By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that by these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust". When you find a promise in God's Word, did you know that now that we are new covenant people. That that promise has been, you have been qualified for it. If the promise is for healing, it's yours. If the promise is for protection, you've already qualified because Jesus qualified you. If the promise is for prosperity. If the promise is for peace. If the promise is for joy. If the promise is for generations of your family doing well. These promises Jesus has already qualified you for.
Well then, how do we receive them? Verse 4 says, "You can partake of them". It says, "By getting the promises in you". And so as the Word of God begins to work on the inside of you, all the doubt. You know, you and I have been raised where, "Well, I'm not as smart as everybody else". And, you know, we always think that that somebody on the other side of the tracks is better than us. Some have been raised in homes where they told you, you were the black sheep of the family. Many of you have done things you're so embarrassed with. That you're worried the God's not using you. And all, when God's Word gets inside of you, it begins to clean all that out. And the Word begins to work in you mightily. And all of a sudden, this faith, this believing begins to rise up. And you begin to partake of this divine nature of healing. Partake of this divine nature of peace. Partake of this divine nature of power, courage, confidence, prosperity, blessing, that is flowing out of Jesus, flowing out of God. And you and I are children of God. This is something we've got to understand.
The Bible is so precious. It's God's thinking. It's how He looks at things. It's the Logos. The divine revelation of God. That's why Jesus is the Word and the Word is Jesus. We want to be partakers. In 1 Peter 1:23, it says, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, by the word of God which lives and abides forever". You'd better start looking at the Bible as the absolute book because Satan is going to try to make you feel like, "Is the Bible real? Does it really work? Is it God"? And you better settle that because that's how we got Eve. Eve had a Word from God, and he got her doubting that. He, you know, as soon as people start doubting the Word. It's amazing how, "Well," What are you going to look to? Even the Word of God, if the Bible is not the whole recipe for life and it's not the wisdom of God. If you don't see it as divine. If you don't see it as God's Word. What are you going to do? Because you can't even be born again. You can't even be guaranteed heaven. Unless you believe the Word of God. The Word of God is not corruptible or killable seed. It's incorruptible. You know, when you talk about men and women having babies. Now that the sperm is the seed.
Did you know the Word of God, that's what it's talking about here. The Word of God is seed. It gets planted in your heart. You begin to believe on Jesus and something new begins to grow on the inside of you. You better make a decision. God's Word is true. Everything, that let every man be a liar but God's Word is true. You better understand the authority of the Word. The power of the Word. Because it is the Word we're banking our life on. It is this Word that my entire future and my kids and my grandkids and my great grandkids and all that goes on. I'm expecting to spend eternity forever with them. It's the Word that we are banking this on. You've got to see the authority of the Word. The power of the Word. That it's final. It is settled with God when it comes to the Word. All right, let's go to our fifth point today. It is important for you as a believer to get into a strong fantastic shape spiritually. You know, it's one thing to watch somebody who's in great shape and know that they had to work at that. Did you know that you and I need to be in good shape spiritually? And that that requires the Word of God working in us.
In 1 Peter 2:1 and 2, it says, "Lay aside malice and guile and hypocrisy and envy and evil speaking. And as newborn babies desire the sincere milk of the Word that you can grow". All right, stop right there. Woo! Did you know the Word of God is so powerful. That when you feed on the Word and you get God's Word working on the inside of you. That it begins to grow you. You begin to be strong. The Bible talks in other places from strength to strength. You begin to rise up. You can meet people strong in the Word, unshakable, immovable right to their death bed. I've had the honour of being with people, a lot of people when they die. And I call it an honour.
Some people are so afraid of death, but I'm honoured to sit beside a believer who's going to be with Jesus. And they know that this short life here. Well, it was great. I had a great kick at it but now I'm going to spend eternity with Jesus. And everything they believed for, they get a chance to see it. Heaven and the angels and the people who have gone before. There's something about people who know who they are. And as you stay in God's Word, God's Word makes you strong. God's Word pushes out fear. It pushes out all the things that this world struggles with. Who am I? Where am I going? All the navel gazing. All the low self-worth. All the, "What do people think about me"? All this mess that our poor psychologists and psychiatrists and counselors are trying to deal with. People who are struggling with so many things. That they got to keep making up new names for new psychological issues that are going on. And all we need is God's Word, in so many cases to get God's Word in there. And let the Word begin to work mightily on the inside of you.
Number 6, when you read God's Word, you need to read God's Word to know Jesus. God's Word is not a text book like chemistry, physics. The Bible says in John 1:14, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace, full of truth". When you read the Word of God, you need to understand, you're not just seeing the wisdom of God, the revelation of God, the way God thinks. But you are getting to know Jesus. Can I just share something with you? When God is trying to communicate with mankind, do you realize how much He has to ratchet His vocabulary down, His thinking down, or not His thinking, but His analogies. He's got to ratchet His incredible brilliance down to our level. It's like talking to a 3-year old and trying to explain something to them. You have to use what they you know, their analogies. You're going to compare it to sharing their toys.
The Bible is filled with analogies and pictures and words with God trying to come from every direction He can, and to show you who He is, and what He does, and what He's like. And as you read the Word and you get a sense of understanding of how much God loves you and cares about you, and you begin to see Jesus. The Word of God needs to be working in you mightily. And if you don't, then your focus begins to get on this world and other things and you seek other things. You can be a born again believer, heaven your home. But yet all that you're focused on, you can be filled. And you know what, instead of the Word of God working in you, somebody else's words can be working in you.
I remember talking to someone who said, "Yeah, my uncle told me that I was the black sheep of the family". This was a grown man and in the last 15 years those words owned him. Those words made him get out and do all kinds of destructive things. He didn't even believe he could live right. Why? Because an uncle's words were, "Yeah, hey, you're kind of like me, dude. You're the black sheep of the family". And that just was on the inside working mightily. What's working mightily in you? Is it an experience that you had? Is it a failure? Is it a sin you've committed? Is it shame? What's going on?
Because when you begin to dive into the Word of God, God's Word is alive. And His Word is literally when you begin to read the Word, it reads you. It begins to clean out every wrong thought, every wrong belief. It begins to heal up every brokenness, every hurt. It begins to raise you up with who you are for sure, for real. This world has no idea what a human being is like made in the likeness and the image of God. But as you get into the Word of God, and if the Word of God is working mightily in you. Then you begin to rise up strong. You begin to rise up and you're able to use the abilities this world hasn't even discovered yet in a human being who is born again, who is aware of the Word of God on the inside of you.
Father, I pray right now. That every person that's listening. That You would touch them in a very special way. That they would just fall in love with Your Word. They would set their love on Your Word and on You. And they would choose to get to know it. From the youngest teenager listening Father, to the oldest grandpa or grandma. I pray that we would keep Your Word working mightily in us and do great things for God.
If you're watching today and you don't know Jesus as your personal Saviour. You're not born again. That means you've been born from a woman, but you need to be born again of the spirit. Jesus died on the cross for you. So that you could have access to His family to be forgiven. Just say right now:
Jesus, come into my heart. I choose You. Thank You for dying in my place. Thank You for paying for all of my sin. From today and on, I'm following You as my Saviour and Lord. In Jesus' name, amen.