The Word of God (part 2)

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In the last post, we saw that the apostles took special care to use the Word of God in evangelizing. The reasons for this are very important:
1. We are born again by the Word of God. (1 Peter 1:23)
2. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. (Romans 10:17)
3. The preaching of the cross is the power of God for those who are saved. (1 Cor. 1:18)

We often want to evangelize the lost by various methods which we think will "appeal" to them and "attract" them to Christianity. In doing so we are placing our faith more in our own abilities, and to be blunt, it is dishonest to do so. Instead we should believe what the Bible itself has to say about it. In Luke 8:4-15, Jesus told the people a parable about a sower who went out to sow his seed. His seed fell on different types of ground, each with different results. When His disciples asked Him about the meaning of the parable He answered, "Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God." (Luke 8:11) Paul used a similar example in 1 Corinthians 3 when he said, "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase." Previously in verse 2 of that chapter, he said, "I have fed you with milk..." 1 Peter 2:2 also says, "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby."
So we can see that it is important to proclaim "all the counsel of God" (Acts 20:26-27) and let God do His part of convicting and drawing. Again it comes down to the fact that "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Romans 10:17)
We see over and over again throughout the Bible that the emphasis is on the Word.

And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. (Luke 4:3-4)

For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. (1 Peter 1:24-25)

Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. (Proverbs 30:5-6)

It is also imperative to note the warnings the Bible gives against altering God's Word:

Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. (Deuteronomy 4:2)

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (Revelation 22:18-19)

But perhaps the greatest exhortation one could be left with is the fact of just how high God elevates His own Word through the psalmist David:

Psalm 138:2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.

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