Now obviously, the most important element in the ministry of the Church is our commitment to the Word of God.
And I have battled for the truthfulness of the Word of God, the priority of the Word of God, the centrality of the Word of God all the years that I’ve been here. And the battle shifts and moves and the front changes from time to time.
But there is also the necessity of affirming the truthfulness, the priority, the centrality and the glory of Scripture, nor as an end to itself but as a means to an end.
It is the means by which people are saved and sanctified and equipped and trained and motivated and given the hope of glory.
It is not the end but it is the single means by which God does all His work.
It is the Spirit using the Word of God, the Word rightly understood and applied.
In every service opened up the Word of God. We want to hear God speak. We know that He does His work through His Word.
The Bible, the Word of the one true and living God, the truth and the only source of truth
that convicts of sin,
warns of judgment,
saves the sinner,
purifies,
cleanses,
matures the believer and
gives the hope of eternal glory.
And because it is the revelation of God by which God does His work to His own ever-lasting glory, it is the priority for the church and for every believer. It is also always under attack, always under assault by Satan and his demons and the people in the kingdom of darkness. Attacks on the Bible have never ceased, they’ve only accumulated through the years.
