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Sermon: Full Immersion Part 1
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Pt 1:
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Pt 2:
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Pt 1-2021
Pt 2-2021
As you all know, I spend my days in the Web Site office answering Bible questions. The questions come in from both the public and members of the Body of Christ. They range from the simple to the complex.
From the Body of Christ; those with the Holy Spirit, I receive 3 recurring questions. These are the most asked questions of members of God’s church. They are:
1) How can I get closer to God? 2) How can I know God’s will? 3) How does God Speak to us?
The key to answering all 3 of these questions is often so obvious that we overlook it. And even if we know what the answer is, we sometimes do not fathom its power.
So, what do I tell all these many people who ask about getting closer to God, or knowing His will or understanding how He speaks to us?
I tell them to go immediately to their Bibles. Sounds pretty simple doesn’t it? It is not.
I do not tell them to refer to their Bibles or to read their Bibles or even to study their Bibles. I encourage them to much more than that.
What I ask them to do is the purpose of my sermon today. It is what I am asking all of us to do between now and the return of Christ.
To get closer to God and to know His will…
Immerse yourself Fully, into the Word of God.
Do you remember your baptism?
You experienced Full Immersion. You were covered completely by the water. What I am asking us to do is the same thing with the Living Water of God.
It is what God has planned for all mankind:
Isaiah 11:9---speaking of the future They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
Notice the totality of that verse? God is going to immerse the whole world in His Word. If He wants full immersion then, why not with us now?
There is much in the Bible and in the statements of men to show the totality of God’s Word. The totality of its depth, its power and its nature.
Let us take a look at some of these.
Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
The Word of God is Spirit and the Spirit of God is alive. Notice…
1 Peter 1:22-23 22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: 23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
The Word of God is alive. That is because it is Spirit. Spirit abides forever. God’s Word is Spirit. Anything made of Spirit abides forever.
Now Hebrews 4:12…
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The Word of God is a descerner of thoughts and our intents. So we find not only God’s will but our own in the Word of God.
Now turn to Psalm 119 and beginning in verse 33…
Psalm 119:33-40 33 Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end. 34 Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. 35 Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight. 36 Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. 37 Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way. 38 Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear. 39 Turn away my reproach which I fear: for thy judgments are good. 40 Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness.
This whole passage speaks of total commitment.
He is giving his whole heart to the Word of God. He is talking about the Word of God as if it were active and alive; which it is. He is describing full immersion.
Notice the attitude we must have toward the word…
Isaiah 66:1-2 1 Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? 2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
Isaiah 66:5 Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.
David Jon Hill, a noted minister in the Church once said, “This Bible that you are studying is the very MIND AND THOUGHTS OF YOUR CREATOR-GOD!”
I believe this to be absolutely true and it answers the questions of how one may get closer to God and to know His will. Immerse yourself into the Mind of God. God’s Word IS His mind.
One individual once said, “The Bible is no mere book, but a Living Creature, with a power that conquers all that oppose it.” That person was Napoleon Bonaparte.
Abraham Lincoln said, “I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this Book”
Another president is quoted as saying, “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible. That president was George Washington.
Now listen to this from the fly leaf of the Bible published by the D. L. Moody Institute:
The Bible…This book contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of life, the doom of sinners, the happiness of believers. Read it to be wise. Believe it to be safe. Practice it to be holy.
It gives light to direct you, food to support you and comfort to cheer you.
It is the traveler’s map, the soldier’s sword, the Christian’s chart.
It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently, prayerfully.
It involves the highest responsibility, rewards the greatest labor, and condemns all who trifle with it.
All of these verses and all of these statements together show the fullness and totality that the Word of God is.
Isn’t this true regarding everything about God?
He owns everything. He wants to give us everything He demands 100% obedience He demands your life….TOTAL COMMITMENT He wants total commitment to Him and His Word.
He wants FULL IMMERSION in everything.
So, How does one fully immerse themselves into the Word of God?
1) First, do the obvious:
Pray all you can. Read the Word all you can. Study all you can. Meditate all you can.
2) Start treating this book (the Bible) as if it were alive and dynamic and active or animated.
Let me illustrate:
We have God’s Holy Spirit---it is alive and dynamic and active yet we can’t see it.
God is real………He is alive and powerful and dynamic and active, yet we cannot see Him.
Angels are real…..they are alive and there are several in this room right now. Can you see them? No, we can’t but they are there.
It is like that with the Bible. It appears to be just a book with paper and ink like any other book but it is the only book that is made of the same Spirit that is in you and the same Spirit that is God.
Imagine for a moment that God sent you a message written on a piece of paper. Can you visualize that? Something real and tangible. Wouldn’t you hold on to that piece of paper as your most precious possession?
Well, He DID send you a message on a piece of paper (the Bible) and He wants you to hold it just as precious at that other piece of paper.
Now item 3 on how to fully immerse yourself in the Word of God. Item 2 was for your attitude and mental state. With Item 3 we begin to talk in practical application and procedure.
One way to immerse yourself in the Word of God is, while you are studying, to get all the scriptures…
3) Get All the Scriptures
No one scripture can Of Itself, taken OUT OF CONTEXT, be used to establish the Truth.
God has put His Bible together in a very unusual manner. He has written it so that men could study it for a lifetime and YET NEVER COME TO A KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH.
Isaiah 28:9-10 9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. 10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
This is how the converted mind is to study the Bible. The unconverted mind does not fully know how to do this. It takes the Spirit of God to understand the Bible.
And doesn’t that make sense? The Word of God is living Spirit and only Spirit can know Spirit. This is an astounding truth.
Let us go through an example of “Getting all the Scriptures” using a verse we hear all the time:
1 Thessalonians 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
If this is the only verse we know or use, we are only getting our feet wet. Let’s get fully immersed:
Listen as I read, line upon line:
Matthew 7:15-16 15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Point: “fruit” here is defined as adherence to scripture, so you must know the scriptures.
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Point: We must be “renewing” our minds (a process). A part of proving all things is proving what the will of God is.
1 Corinthians 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
Point: To prove spiritual things, we must have God’s Spirit.
1 Corinthians 14:27-28 27 If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret. 28 But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.
Point: Part of proving things is talking to God.
Philippians 1:10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;
Point: We must be sincere and without offence.
1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
Point: We must try spirits including our thoughts which often come from spirits.
Revelation 2:2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
Point: We must prove our teachers and ministers.
Acts 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
Point: The key here is “readiness of mind”. The only way we can have readiness of mind, the only way we can “prove all things” is to IMMERSE ourselves in the Word of God.
4) Understand that the Bible does not Contradict Itself.
Malachi 3:6 states that God changes not.
This being so, there cannot be contradiction in the Word of God. Let’s look at what some say is a contradiction: Turn to Proverbs 26, verses 4 and 5: Proverbs 26:4-5 4 Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. 5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.
These two verses appear to be in contradiction but actually, are not.
They actually complement each other. The key is in the last part of each verse. Each describes a specific situation.
In verse 4 the reader is being instructed to avoid arguments with people who are more interested in attacking you and just picking a fight to waste your time. The verse is instructing you to NOT stoop to their level and arguing back.
In verse 5 we have a completely different situation. It describes a person who sincerely thinks he or she is in the correct belief about something. If this is the case, it is important to answer them lest they begin making decisions based on false information. If you do not speak, he will think himself wise.
There are good examples of Christ invoking verse 4 in his dealings with Pharisees. In other New Testament passages, we see Paul invoking verse 5.
I would go through these with you but finding these examples will be the next Homework assignment in our Leadership Training Class. To resolve these alleged Bible contradictions and to complete your Leadership Training we are all going to have to immerse ourselves in the Word of God.
Now, as my final procedure for today, which will aid you in experiencing Full Immersion into the Word of God…
5) Check the Context
If a person is using the Bible as a reference book or an occasional read, they are going to be living and believing by single verses. True Bible study comes from immersing ones self into the context.
Imagine someone living by and believing in Luke 17:21…
Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Many believe this to be a key verse in Christian belief. They often just quote the final 6 words…
“The kingdom of God is within you.”
But is that what the verse is saying? Let us immerse ourselves in the context…
In order to check the context, you merely read the Texts which come with the text or verse in question.
In doing so you must answer the questions, What?, When?, Where?, Why?, Who? and How?
In other words, you must ask yourself, if “the kingdom of God is within you”---WHO is the YOU that the Bible is referring to. Notice verse 20 which is the text before verse 21.
Luke 17:20-21 20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
These verses are saying that the Who (where the kingdom is) are the PHARISEES!!! These are the same Pharisees Jesus calls hypocrites. How could the kingdom be in THEM, assuming it could be in anyone?
Knowing the “Who” here tells us that the problem must be in the translation of the word “within” you as “kingdom within you”.
And there it is, right in the margin of my Bible. It says that the word “within” should be rendered “among” you. The meaning is now clear. Jesus is referring to Himself as a Representative of God’s Kingdom and is saying that the Kingdom of God was among them in the form of Jesus Christ BECAUSE Christ is the WAY to the Kingdom. In other passages of the Bible, one must read a whole chapter to have a clear understanding of something at the end of that chapter.
If you are in the Context of God’s Word, you are in Full Immersion.
Now, this sermon is only the beginning. Hopefully, I have gotten all of you wet. Maybe I have thrown one or two of you into the deep end of the pool.
The rest is up to you.
Time is short. Christ is coming soon. Let’s
all get FULLY IMMERSED while we have time.
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