PURPOSES FOR THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD

Proclamation:

"For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of The Scriptures we might have hope."  Romans 15:4 (NIV)

Explanation:

These words were written in a letter to the believers in The Church at Rome by the Apostle Paul under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  Paul told them that The Holy Scriptures were written to teach them, to encourage them, and to give them hope.

Application:
The same is true for us today, The Word of God was written to educate, edify, and enlighten us in addition to being there to comfort, console, and encourage us, and to give us hope for the future.  As Paul told Timothy, The Word of God is good for learning basic fundamental Christian principals, for instruction, and for correction of wrong doing and thinking with respect to being Christ-like and righteousness. (2 Timothy 3:16)  Often The Word of God must be explained to us, as Jesus had to explain His words (Matthew 13:36 and 15:15) and The Scriptures (Luke 24:45) to His disciples.  An important function of preachers today is to proclaim and explain The Word of God to the people, saved and unsaved, to teach us, correct us, encourage us, and to provide us with hope that is needed for the future so that we can carry on and go forth.  We could also help ourselves with our situations if we would read and study The Word of God more for ourselves. 

Words Of Comfort The Lord Is Always There

 "But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief ... My face is red with weeping, deep shadows ring my eyes; yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure ... Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high.  My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man He pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend." Job 16:5 & 16-21 (NIV)

After suffering all of the losses of his possessions and his health, Job told his tree friends that their words of comfort were not very comforting.  He said that if the roles were reversed, he could do a better job of comforting them than they were doing for him.  He also said that although he was suffering, he would continue to pray and The Lord in heaven would be his intercessor and plead his case before God The Father.

When our friends are dealing with the death or illness of a loved one, it is difficult to find the right words to say.  Telling them not to cry is useless and maybe even unhealthful.  We can remind them to pray, and we can pray for them.  We may never understand why God allows bad things to happen to us and to the ones that we love.  Our limited finite minds cannot possibly comprehend all that He knows, for He knows all.  After all that Job went through, he said though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. (Job 13:15)  Let's pray for the strength to keep the faith and to indure each trial that we face.  Remember, He said that He would never leave us or forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5)

Keep The Faith Don't Turn Away From God

"See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called 'Today', so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first." Hebrews 3:12-14 (NIV)

The unknown author of the book of Hebrews is telling the scattered Christians not to turn away from the true and living God. He warned them not to develop a sinful unbelieving heart during the hard times that they were enduring after the death of Christ. He encouraged them to hold on to the faith that they had when they first believed.

It is not hard to find a person who claims that they used to believe until something happened, like the death of a loved one or the development of a serious health problem, that caused them to lose faith and become a non-believer. What is hard, is not becoming one of those people ourselves when we face very difficult, faith testing times. Jesus said, "No one who puts his hand the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:62) Jesus also said, "... but he that endureth to the end shall be saved." (Matthew 10:22) Giving up when the going gets hard is never looked upon very highly. The world has a saying, "Winners never quit, and quitters never win." We are winners, we have already been assured of the victory. (Romans 8:37; 1 Corinthians 15:57; & 1 John 5:4) Don't give up the faith. And, let us do what we can to encourage others to also keep the faith.