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Understanding the Word to be fruitful What we physically eat gives us nourishment for the body, if it is not good food, it can make us sick. The Scripture, the Word of God, is called the truth, is also spoken of as bread, milk, and meat for our nourishment. If you learn from those who teach distortions or heresy, that is what you will live by, you will form your life to their false teachings, and you will be misled. And one day you will end up reaping what you sowed. Jesus said the ‘truth will set you free,’ Jesus, who is called the Word, is the Truth. The Spirit of God is called the Spirit of truth, and he will never contradict himself. You cannot interpret or teach the Bible from just one place in the Scripture. This is why we must first understand the whole picture before we start looking to understand the details; there are many topics and subjects the scripture addresses, some are major, and they have sub-teachings that connect to them. While it is important to read through the Scripture in context, it is just as important to study topics, to draw what is said on each topic from different books and letters, and to get a full understanding of what is conveyed by the apostles and the prophets. When one chooses a topic and delves into the different writers' inspiration from God, we learn that there are no contradictions. Only what we perceived as opposites that can be reconciled into a harmonious revelation. This is the conclusion of many who studied his truth over the years and centuries. So this becomes a process, to study and to rightly divide the Word, allowing God to teach you as you build upon the foundation of Christ correctly. We have to constantly check to see that we are on track and interpreting the meaning accurately. Learning what coincides with what you are reading from elsewhere in Scripture so that it becomes a cohesive message delivered by the many writers over the centuries as the books were revealed. In other words, what was true 2,000 years ago does not change. It is true today because God’s Word is eternal. As we read “I the world do not change” (Mal. 3:6) Heb1:10-12 “You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.;They will perish, but You remain; And they will all grow old like a garment;;Like a cloak You will fold them up, And they will be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not fail.” (Ps.102:26) God is the creator, the world and the things of men can change, as it has many times… But his words do not change. God has told us the end from the beginning. And it all makes sense because it is the truth. Do you not hear? Are you not listening? From ancient times, he proclaims Deut. 32:1-3 “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. Let my teaching drop as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, As raindrops on the tender herb, And as showers on the grass. For I proclaim the name of the LORD: Ascribe greatness to our God.” God says in Ps 49:1 “Hear this, all peoples; Give ear, all inhabitants of the world.” Is anyone listening anymore? The dilemma is in the church, as many who claim to be believers do not have a problem with false teaching, heresy. They don’t recognize it, because they don’t know what it is or how it can affect them; they are oblivious to its influence. They do not recognize it for what it is because it is often disguised by clever men among words of truth. John 14:24 “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.” There are many reasons why many are not living by His Word in the days we are now living in. One of the main ways is listening to men’s words that mislead; they claim to speak for God, but they do not. They have become more familiar with these men’s words than God’s. False prophets have been with us for thousands of years. As far back as Jeremiah, he warned in Jer. 23:16,speaking of the false prophets,“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless.” In Matt. 24:11-12 Jesus tells us at the end of the age, “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound,…We are in that time of lawlessness, just look at the condition of the world. If one is not familiar with God's Word, how He speaks, they cannot tell when someone is teaching or prophesying contrary to the Word. They are like sitting ducks in a shooting gallery of those who have taken aim at them. If you are untrained, unfamiliar with the core teachings of the word, you cannot discern what is wrong from right, truth from error. From the beginning God has given us a choice, and it has been consistent We have numerous examples in the Old Testament of him speaking and for us to listen. From the beginning God spoke to man, we see this with Adam in the garden. Job 34:2-3 Elihu said to Job, “Hear my words, you wise men; Give ear to me, you who have knowledge;For the ear tests words As the palate tastes food.” And yet Job's friends and even Job himself were tested. And God spoke to Job (38:1-3) “Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:“Who is this who darkens counsel By words without knowledge?;Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.” As God continued to speak, His words were written down for the people then living and for future generations. Many pray for God to give ear to their prayer, but what God asks first is for us to hear him. Ex. 15:26 “heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes.” Ps 78:1 “Give ear, O my people, to my law; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.” Isa 28:23 “Give ear and hear my voice, Listen and hear my speech.” Isa 42:23;“Who among you will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear for the time to come? Isa 51:4;“Listen to Me, My people; And give ear to Me, O My nation.” Micah 1:2 “Hear, all you peoples! Listen , O earth, and all that is in it!” Jer. 13:15-16 “Hear and give ear: Do not be proud, For the LORD has spoken; Give glory to the LORD your God.” These phrases have been said by the prophets, and Jesus repeated this throughout his ministry, saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” Matt. 11:15, 13:9, 13:43; Mark 4:9; Luke 14:35. Mark 4:23 “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Mark 7:16) Luke 8:8When He had said these things He cried, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” Jesus basically made his teachings simpler by using parables, “I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: 'Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.' (Matt. 13:13-14) In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled. And he would explain the parable to those who had an interest. Matt. 13:18-19 “Therefore hear the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.” We do not hear because the words do not penetrate the soil of our heart. Matt 15:10 He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear and understand.” Not only are we to hear (pay attention);but to understand his words (seek the meaning),so we can be fruitful. (Mark 7:14) If you cannot hear, it may be because you are not in the shepherd's fold, you never came in the way He said to, or you have either wandered away. (Jn.10:-16). John 10:3 “the sheep hear his voice.”V.27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” After confronting those who refused to believe “mainly the Pharisees) he said, “He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”(John 8:47) What God spoke to all mankind he has delivered plainly for all to understand. Mission accomplished Isa. 46:12-13 “Listen to Me, you stubborn-hearted, Who are far from righteousness: I bring My righteousness near, it shall not be far off; My salvation shall not linger. And I will place salvation in Zion, For Israel My glory.” And he did just that, by becoming man,. Jesus, was born among his brethren of whom the covenant was made through Abraham (Gn.12:1-3), though Isaac, and through Jacob. Isa 45:19 “I have not spoken in secret, In a dark place of the earth; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, 'Seek Me in vain'; I, the LORD, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.” Isa. 48:16“Come near to Me, hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; From the time that it was, I was there. And now the Lord GOD and His Spirit Have sent Me.” Who is this he who was sent? The one whose righteousness is brought near, his salvation was placed in Zion. Matt 1:21-24 “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying:“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”Immanuel was sent to save His people from their sins. It was done just as the Scripture was written, as the prophet Isaiah describes (55:11)“My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”Jesus is the Word made flesh, God’s only begotten Son. And everything he spoke of, the when and how on his return, will also be fulfilled exactly as it was written.
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