Please open your Bibles this morning to 3 places First let's go to John chapter 1 verse 1 In the

beginning was the Word and the word was with God and the Word was God Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12

for the word of God is living and active and full of power making it operative energizing and effective

And Romans chapter 12 verse 2 Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of

your mind The word of God is alive It is living It is active and it is powerful

And it is alive and living in every believer if it is activated in their lives The word of God

is transformative when we renew our minds to it Jesus is the living word Not only

is he living but his word is also living in us Today I want to talk to

you about Jesus Christ the living word and the life-giving life transforming power of the word In John chapter

the Greek word is logas So we can read it like this In the beginning

was the word the logos and that's making references to Genesis chapter one verse one The

beginning of all things the beginning of the creation of the world In the beginning was the Word

who was with God and who was God And through him all things were made and in him

was life Which was the light of all mankind As you examine that text you'll see that this passage identifies

Jesus as the pre-existing word It identified Jesus as the creator of all things and the source of life and

light This life transforming word was in the beginning God spoke the word and the world came into existence

Jesus Christ is the word He is the living word and this living word was revealed to us John

chapter 1 verse 14 The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us And we have seen his

glory the glory of the one and only Son from the Father full of grace and truth In John chapter

was made flesh He is spirit but he was made flesh and this is God's

ultimate revelation of Himself to you and I his creation And God revealed himself in the person of

Jesus Christ who is his embodiment of divine grace and truth and this word that was from the

beginning this word that has been revealed to us is alive and is full of power Hebrews

chapter 4 verse 12 says for the word of God is living and active and full of

power The word of God is not dead It's just not a book that contains words The

word of God is alive it's living it's active and it's full of power And this word wants to operate

and be effective in your life So let's break down Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 First thing it says

is living That means it's active it's dynamic it's powerful It has life It's effective to accomplish its

purpose Isaiah chapter 55 verse 11 says this So my word that proceeds from my mouth

will not return to me empty void useless without results but it will accomplish what I please and it will

prosper where I sent it So we got to understand this about the word It's God's word It's God's revealed

word He made a promise to you and I and God says that his word

that proceeds from his mouth will not return back to him void empty without results but it

will absolutely accomplish what I please and it will prosper where I sent it That's why we stressing

this ministry We need to get to the word and stay in the word because God is

revealing his will his plans his purpose to us and our faith has to be aligned with God's will plans

and purpose Wherever you are in life right now be assured that God is going to honor his word He's

gonna fulfill his promise He's watching over his word to perform it but it's gonna be in his time

It's gonna be in his season That's why we have to have faith to believe to trust to rely on

to depend on the word of God This word of God is not dead The

author of the word of God is alive He's the living word He's the logo

The word of God is not dead but it has living power to transform lives John 6:63 Jesus

said this It is the spirit who gives life The flesh profits nothing The words that I have spoken to

you they are spirit and they are life The life transforming Jesus said in John 10:10 I

have come that you may have life and have it in all its fullness The

Greek word for the word life is Zoe That means he's designed us to have life in its abundance to

the full and to it overflows Now this life is found in the spirit The spirit

is the one who gives life So if you're born again You have the spirit And this word that's

alive and active and powerful wants to transform your life The right that he came

that you may have and enjoy And have it in abundant to the full to overflows And

that's not saying nothing is gonna be wrong in your life It's not saying that

every day is gonna be sunny It's saying that as we live move and have

our being God's active powerful dynamic transformative word is in us The word is living and it's powerful meaning that

the scriptures are full of power and the reason for that is because it's God's word and

God is gonna on his word The word of God is active is effective it's powerful it's productive is

capable of causing things to happen but it depends on our faith Do we believe

the word If you believe the word you will receive the word And if you receive the word you're

gonna act on the word and it's in the acting on the word that you will

see the effective powerful productive word come to life James tells us in James chapter 1 verse 22

be doers of the word and not hearers only because we're just a hero you're only deceiving yourself

So the word of God is living is powerful The word also cuts The word also divides The

scripture says that the word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword because it cuts both ways meaning

the word is gonna comfort you but it is also going to convict you The word is going

to build you up but the word is also designed to tear you down if you're prideful not humble The

word both convicts and it converts When people hear the word of God it's gonna do two

things It's either gonna convict or it's gonna convert That's a two way sword that we're talking about It

both heals and it hardens It makes us alive And it also puts to death the sin in our life

So the word of God is a two-edged sword because it cuts both ways You gotta be

careful about how you hear people teach the word today how they proclaim the word today because they

are always on one side That side is accurate that side is truthful God is a good God Oh

yes he is and he's good all the time Yes his grace and His mercy shall follow you all

the days of your life Yes The blessings of the Lord will overwhelm you and

overtake you Yes All of the promises of God are yes and amen to include the cutting

part We don't talk about the cutting part We don't talk about the convicting part We

don't talk about the condemning part The word of God that's alive and active is sharper

than any two-edged wards and it cuts both ways The word of God is like a sword It cuts to

the heart with conviction and it's designed to defeat the attacks of Satan We see that in

Ephesians chapter 6 verse 17 We have to take up the shield of faith and the sword of

the spirit which is the word of God So yes the word of God cuts and

it divides It's a two-edged sword it cuts both ways What this illustrates is the depth of

the words penetrating power to reach the innermost parts of a person's soul and the spirit Oh yes the word

of God exposes and the word of God cuts deep Now God has a purpose for all of that

because God wants to work in you and He wants to work through you to will

and do his good pleasure But before he can do that he got to work in you That

means he gonna have to cut up some things He gonna have to prune some things He gonna have

to get some stinking thinking about your life You gonna have to deal with some attitudes and behaviors And

then he wants to use you He wants to work through you He wants to

use you as an instrument of his glory So that's why the word penetrates deep to the utmost parts

of a person's soul and spirit to expose those things that are not pleasing and acceptable in the sight

of God The word of God is also discerning The word of God is the ultimate judge It discerns

the innermost thoughts and motives of man The heart represents the center of man's will center of man's emotions and

the word of God judges the heart You hear people talking about you can't judge

me Well listen you've already been judged If your life is not in alignment with the word of

God you've already been judged and that judgment is eternal death But the good news is while

you're still alive while you're still breathing you have the opportunity to become a child of God to be

born again But you don't have to let the word work in your life You don't

have to let the word do what it's intended to do and that's to convict and convert And

the word is discerning It is the ultimate judge When we stand before the Lord not for

salvation but for rewards We're gonna be judged based on the word Did you do what

I required of you to do after you were born again after you were saved Because you know

all the things we did before is covered under the blood of Jesus Hallelujah Thank you

Jesus So as believers we're not going to be judged for past sins past transgressions that's

on the blood Now the unbeliever there's no blood but they're gonna stand before the Lord in judgment and

condemnation We're going to stand before the Lord to receive rewards There's 5 crowns we talked about

in the Bible that you can receive as a believer for the work that you've done here on this

earth Some believers will receive many some believers won't receive any but they are in heaven without any rewards

The word of God exposes meaning it's gonna show you your shortcomings It's gonna show

you the things that you need to work on that you need to deal with in your heart your

thoughts your attitudes your behaviors The word of God judges the heart and exposes the hidden motives and bring

them into alignment with God's standards There's nothing hidden from God No no God sees all If

you're really concerned about your life being pleasing before God So God can work in you and through

you you would be like David Lord expose to me any hidden thing that's in my heart Creating

me a new heart that loves and desires you so I can live for you but you won't

do that if you don't let the word expose these things And a lot of people didn't like the

word because the word is cutting is exposing and they can't deal with it because they thought that what they

were doing was a secret Ain't supposed to know this but the word exposes the hidden motives of people for

them to bring their lives now in alignment with God's standards God is not lowering his standard And we

need to know this as believers because we're in the process of sanctification We're in the

process of spiritual growth and the Lord's standard has not changed He's holy and he requires his people to

be holy like he's holy First Peter chapter 1 verse 15 to 16 In this

process of sanctification and being like Christ yes expose Lord any hidden motives any hidden thoughts behaviors

attitudes that I may have So I get the word on it so I can bring

my life in alignment with your real plans and purposes Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 emphasize

the dynamic and penetrating power of God's word which is able to transform lives We transform our lives through the

power of the transforming word Romans chapter 12 verse 2 says Do not be conformed to this world but be

transformed by the renewing of your mind Then you'll be able to test and approve what is good and

pleasing and perfect will of God Again the word how do you know if you're conforming to the world or

not The word is going to expose that How do you know that your life is being

transformed into the image of Christ which is good and pleasing and perfect the sight of God The word will

expose that And Paul was saying here in Romans 12:2 do not be conformed to this world but be

transformed by the renewing of your mind renewing of your mind to what The word of God God's will God's

plans God's purposes God's standards Then You'll be able to test and approve what is good

and pleasing and perfect will of God The word then is time word You're not

going to be transformed by reading one scripture It's a process It's a process of

not becoming conformed to the world There's a process of being transformed by renew your mind It's a

process of resisting the world and conforming to the word Then you'll be able to test

and approve what is the good and pleasing and perfect will of God What Romans

chapter 12 verse 2 speaks of it speaks of the interchange that occurs when we allow the word of

God to work in our lives People think they can change outwardly put on a suit wear

a certain type of dress give the appearance of We talked about this in Timothy They

have a form of godliness but they not the power because they want to look the part

Transformation is an inward chain that will manifest itself outwardly over time So many times with new believers you

want to clean them up dress them up We're dealing with the outward man but it's the inward

man that needs to change And the word of God will change you from the inside out

when you renew your mind to the word Romans chapter 12 verse 2 it warns us

about adopting the patterns and behaviors of this world the world's patterns and behaviors the world's values and practices

They are contrary they are against the will of God So why in the world would you want to

adapt those patterns those behaviors those values those practices We used to be in the world now we are not

in the world we are in Christ Those things might have been acceptable before Christ

but now That you're in Christ you have to renew your mind And when you renew your

mind you'll see clearly that the things I used to do I can't do no

more The way I used to think I can't think that way anymore The way I

used to act I can't act that way no more I'm being renewed from the inside out I'm

being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ So I can't adopt the patterns of this world

the behaviors of this world because they are contrary they are against the will of God Nothing

in the world has any value for the believer Let me say it again because somebody

didn't hear me There is absolutely positivity nothing in the world that has any spiritual value in

the life of a believer Nothing 1 John chapter 2 verses 15 to 17 Do not love the world and

we're talking about the sin of the world that opposes God in His word or anything

in the world If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him Meaning If

you adapt the practices the values the patterns the behaviors of the world if you willingly adapt

those things and continue to do them the love of the Father is not in you But

I go to church every Sunday The love of the Father is not in you

But don't the Bible say so love our neighbor The love of the Father is not in you

Listen we're talking about the sin of the world not the people of the world God will love the

world that He gave His only Son that whosoever believed in Him should not perish

but have everlasting life That's that agape love that's that God sacrificial giving kind of love

But we're not supposed to adopt the sins of the world We're not supposed to adapt every ungodly thing

and not bring it into the church If anyone loves the world the love of the Father

is not in him For all that is in the world Here's a list This is what's in the

world The desires of the flesh the desires of the eyes and the pride of life The Amplified says pretentious

confidence in one's resources or in the stability of earthly things The world is full of fleshy

desires the desires of the eyes the pride of life These things are not from The Father but

from the world The world is passing away along with his desires but whoever does the will of

God remains forever So how do you know if you're doing the will of God or

if you're desiring The things of the world you get to be in the word You have to let

the word transform you from the inside out We were in the world but now

we're not of the world anymore We belong to Christ We're kingdom citizens We belong to

him Now James chapter 4 verse 4 he says you are adulteresses Do you not know that friendship

with the world Is hostility towards God Therefore whoever chooses to be a friend of the

world renders himself an enemy of God Amplified version says do you not know that being the

world's friend that is loving the things of the world is being God's enemy So whoever chooses to

be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God And there's a

lot of enemies of God in the church today because they've adopted the ways of the world

that are contrary to the ways of God So we see in these verses that believers are urged

not to love the world or anything in it Listen God brought us out of the world Why are

we trying to go back to the world God brought us out of the world that was

full of death The wages of sin is death and he gave us the gift of life eternal

life which is found in Jesus Christ Why are we trying to go back to the world and then

expecting God's blessings and now getting confused when the Lord ain't blessing our lives Why

Because you have adopted the ways of the world and not the word So you and

I as believers we are to resist we are to reject the immoral unethical standards of the world that are

not aligned with God's kingdom principles So what do we talk about today This is part one

We said today that Jesus is the living word He's the logos Here's the one that existed from the beginning

In the beginning was the word and the word was God and the word was God And that

word that was from the beginning was revealed to us made known to us so that we

can abide by his teachings as he reveals the real plans and purposes of God to the world

We are to believe that he is the Son of God manifested in the flesh

and he came to make God known to mankind We talk about Jesus Christ the

living word the logos This word is alive and it's full of power and it has the ability

to transform our lives The word will not come alive in your life until it's activated And how

do we activate it We activate it by faith and we activate it by the renewing

of our minds to the word of truth God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we

can ask or even think but it is according to the power that works in us our faith Our faith

makes the word come alive Our faith gives the word power to transform our lives when we activate it and

believe it It all starts with the renewing of the mind to the word of truth So the next time

we assemble we will continue the study of the transforming power of the word of God

being transformed by the living word So I pray that this teaching has been a blessing to you

and that you have been edified and encouraged today by the living word of God

Be blessed