South Shore Pentecostal Church

Voiceover: Welcome to the Apostolic Truth Radio Program with Pastor Craig Ouellette, our radio ministry of South Shore Pentecostal Church, located in Whitman, Massachusetts. At a time when many Christians do not know what to believe, South Shore Pentecostal is honored to bring you clear biblical teaching on which you can confidently build your faith. Thank you for joining us.

J. Craig Ouellette: Welcome and we're going to open our Bibles to those scriptures there. We're going to be talking about the Bible, the Word of God today. Amen. And we're going to read these scriptures as a little foundational text. Amen.

Starting at Psalm 119, verse 89. Psalm 119, verse 89, it says, "Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven." God's word is already settled in heaven. He's not waiting for us to make it up and he's not going to add to it. It's already complete. Amen.

2 Timothy 3:16, Paul writing to Timothy. And Paul makes this statement. He says, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." So if you want to be a man or woman of God, read your Bible. If you want to know what God wants, read your Bible. Amen.

2 Peter 1:20, Apostle Peter now speaking here and he's letting us understand, again, similar language as Paul. And he says, "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." We've got a holy book. We've got a book that's come from God.

And so we're going to touch this this morning to just to explore this concept a little bit. I mean, we could spend a number of lessons talking about this, but the Bible is unique. If you ever take a little time to think about it, it's usually the only book that they really ban. Okay, they don't they don't ban pornography a lot of times, you know, they do kind of out in the open, but they let it go by.

But they don't ban a lot of other philosophies and ideas, but the Bible they'll ban. And that ought to give you a clue that there's something about that book that's different than the other books. You see, the devil doesn't want the Bible out there because the Bible gives you the instructions on how to get free, how to live for God, and how to beat the devil, and how to get to heaven.

So he wants the one book that can explain that. No philosophy explains it, no encyclopedia explains it, no professor explains it unless he's talking about the book. The Bible's got the only instructions if you want to get saved. Amen. There might be other creeds and different things that have some elements of truth, but what they have is already in the Bible and they're missing the essential things of who God is and how to be saved.

So if you want the real truth, go to the Bible. Amen. So as we already read, the Bible's inspired of God. We read in 2 Timothy 3:16, all scripture, not most of it, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. It's profitable for doctrine. You want good doctrine, read your Bible. You want to be corrected, read your Bible. You want to know how to live right, read your Bible.

Amen. Amen. So it'll make you perfect, it'll mature you, it'll thoroughly furnish you unto all good works. Now, that word inspiration, it's a Greek word, *theopneustos*. It means God-breathed. So what it's trying to tell us is God moved on these men to write what they wrote. They didn't just think, oh, I think I got an idea. I think I know what to say.

Oh, I've been around enough and, you know, I think I can summarize it. No, they're writing what God wants written in that book. Amen. What's in the Bible is there because God has ordained it to be. So all scripture is profitable for doctrine. Amen. So that word inspired means that God was actually moving on those people with his spirit.

Again, commenting on the scripture that Peter had written there in 2 Peter, the prophecies in the Bible are the result of God's spirit moving upon men and inspiring them to write the words which are recorded. Amen. They're not just putting their own opinion there. They're not just interpreting from their cultural background.

Amen. They're not just interpreting from the area that they live in the world. They are writing what God wants written in the book. They're writing something that, no matter where you live on this planet, is going to work for you because it comes from God. Hallelujah. Amen. We're talking about the Bible. Amen.

And the reason a lot of people have a lot of confusion is either they don't know the Bible or they use parts of the Bible and they use other parts together. It's okay if you got other things as long as they do not contradict what the Bible says. But when you add something that contradicts what the Bible says, you're not going to end up in the right place that God wants you to end up in.

Wasn't that the problem in Jesus' time? Right? They had so many laws and traditions that you couldn't do the word of God. They were nullifying the word of God, Jesus said, by putting in traditions in place of what God had ordained to do. So when we start putting in traditions in place of the word of God, we're going to miss God and what God wants us to have. Amen.

So the Lord chose men. He chose men that were able to hear his voice and would write and communicate what God wanted us to know and understand. Now, I don't find that to be a fantastic thing or a hard thing. If God can speak the universe into existence, surely God can find a man that will write things the way he wants them written.

Praise God. And that's exactly what God did. We read in Psalm 119:89 that God's word is recorded in heaven. Since it's in heaven, it's settled in heaven. He's not adding to it or taking away. It's not being modified. It's already settled in heaven. It's already up there.

Since it's already up there, that means it's not a national or cultural word, it's a universal word. It's in heaven. It's not based on a country, it's not based on a race or an economic condition. It is based on the spirit of God. Amen. If you want to know God, serve God, it's not cultural, it is Godural, if you will.

Praise God. Amen. So the Bible is composed of 66 books written over approximately a 1500-year period by over 40 writers, yet one author, God. Now you go back to Moses, almost 1500 BC, when that's written, 1450, 1500 BC. So those books that Moses writes, what they call the Pentateuch, the first five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.

Believe it or not, they're written before Confucius. They're written before Homer's Iliad. They're written before a lot of books that people call ancient foundational books. The Bible is already there. God's already laying down a foundation of who he is. Amen. It's back there, it's survived. God's written with these different authors across 1500 years, ending with the New Testament about the year 100 with the Gospel of John and the book of Revelation.

1500 years covering people writing in different countries, even in different languages, but always agreeing with the principles of the same God because the same God moved on all those men to write. Amen. The writers themselves, just to take a couple things out of that for ourselves. Moses, in Exodus 21, he said God spake these words.

He didn't say I learned them in Egypt or I learned them from my father-in-law in Midian. He said God spoke these words. He gives the Ten Commandments. David, he says, "His word was in my tongue." David recognized that God was moving upon him to say certain things. David's the writer of many of the Psalms.

David received the plan for the temple of Solomon. Solomon built it, but God gave David the plan. Amen. Isaiah, "The Lord has spoken." Jeremiah 1:4, "The word of the Lord came unto me." Ezekiel, "The word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel." And in Revelation 1:1, he says, "The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him."

It's a holy book, inspired by God from Genesis to Revelation. Amen. If you'll put that word into your life, if you'll build your life on the word of God, you will get eternal life. You will get God in your life. You're going to get the things that God wants you to have. Amen. Hallelujah.

So let's talk about applying the word of God today to our lives, just in a few different ways. The word of God is given to us to guide us and instruct us. God's word in our heart will keep us from sinning. Amen. Are you got God's word in your heart? There's some things you might feel like doing, but you know you're not going to do them.

Psalm 119:11 says, "Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee." You see, we all have a conscience, but if I got a word that I know came out of the Bible, it reinforces my conscience. Now it's not just my feeling. Because you got a lot of people out there, well, I don't feel that's right to do, I shouldn't do that. No, I don't feel like you shouldn't lie.

But the Bible says I shouldn't lie. Oh, I don't feel like I shouldn't kill, but the Bible says I shouldn't kill. Ah, I don't feel like I should have idols, but the Bible says I shouldn't have idols. Amen. So when I got a word from God in my heart, it reinforces my conscience and helps me to live the way God wants me to live. Hallelujah.

Amen. That's why the devil wants to take the Bible away from you. That's why he wants it out of the public square. Amen. You got kids doing things, they feel like it's not right, but nobody else is saying anything. But if you got a word from God in the Bible, amen, you know that it's not right. Amen. You know what's right to do.

Amen. Praise God. God's word will show us how to live and serve the Lord in this world. It says in Psalm 119:105, again, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." Amen. As you live your life in this world, you can think about it as you're navigating on a path, trying to get from point A to point B.

And we don't always know the way of that path. And sometimes we're going with people that we trust, but sometimes they don't know the way either. But if I've got the word of God in my life, I've got a guide that helps me in the midnight hour. I've got a guide that guides me when nobody else knows.

I got something that's supernatural that's going to help me live the way I need to live. I know what's the right way from God, the word of God. It's a lamp unto my path and a light unto my feet. Amen. It shows me if I'm standing in the right place. Amen. It's a lamp where I'm standing.

Sometimes we're not in the right place. Sometimes we need to get out of the place we're in. Amen. Sometimes something's coming our way and we're going to get caught up in it because it's not God's place. Amen. Lot had to get out of Sodom and Gomorrah, but God sent an angel, gave him a word: Get out of here unless you want to be caught up in the judgment.

Amen. Get the word of God in your life. It'll show you if you're standing in the right place. If it's okay to stay there or do you need to move? Do you need to go some other place? Do you need to follow the spirit of God? Amen. And when I start to walk, I need a lamp and a light unto my path to know that where I'm walking is the place God wants me to walk in.

Amen. The word of God will show you where to go and how to live. Hallelujah. Amen. Again, God's word in our heart gives us understanding of God's ways in life. Again, it says in Psalm 119:130, "The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding to the simple." Amen. The entrance, now it's not just in my mind, but it's gone beyond my mind where my heart is considering it.

And when I let the word of God get to my heart, all of a sudden I start to understand things that I didn't understand. All of a sudden I start to understand that God knows what's going on. I start to understand that God is able to keep me. I start to understand that God's ways are the right way and if I go that way, it's the safe way and God will bless me.

I start to understand that not every good person is going to heaven. I start to understand I need to be born again. I start to understand I need to change the way I live and live the way God wants me to live. Hallelujah. When the word enters into me, I'm going to change. Hallelujah.

That's why a lot of people, they go to church, they can quote verses, but the word has not entered into their heart. Because when it enters into your heart, it's going to start to do something in you. It's going to change how you act. It's going to change how you think. It's going to change what you want to do. Hallelujah.

Amen. The word of God will strengthen us. Amen. When we are fighting or struggling to do right or to find right and to live right, the word of God will strengthen you. Amen. Paul said in Philippians, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Listen, when you go to live for God, you are going to come to places where it seems impossible.

You're going to come to places where I don't have the strength, you say. You're going to come to places that your mind is overwhelmed and your spirit does not have strength. But you'll get the word of God and you remember I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me.

Amen. And you reach out to do what God says. And all of a sudden you make it through the impossible. You make it through the unbelievable. You make it through a way that nobody could make it through because God is strengthened us. God is giving us help inside. The word of God, I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me. Hallelujah.

Let's give him praise. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Again, sometimes we don't have things we need, even though we're trying to live for God and do the best we can. But the Bible says, "And my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

Amen. I've had God supply it on the moment. Amen. When I didn't have enough. I've told this story recently a few times, but back a few years ago around 2020, we had to put in a septic tank. I was retired. It's $35,000. We had to take out a loan and I said we don't have money.

And I prayed a prayer. I laid my head on the bed that night, said, "God, we need some money." The next day a man called me and said, "I'm sending you $10,000 because God told me to." Amen. I'm trying to let you know God is not a respecter of persons. God will do that for you.

If you make your mind up, I'm going to serve God. God says you're my sheep, you're my child, I'm going to take care of you. Amen. If there's really a need, I'm going to meet you on that need. Hallelujah. But make your mind up, I'm living for God. I'm going to do it God's way.

I'm not going to do it my parent's way, I'm not going to do it my culture's way, I'm going to do it God's way. Hallelujah. Amen. God will supply. Amen. I've had God do it so many times. Amen. I remember I've said this story before too, but I remember when I was working for Foxboro as a development engineer, amen, and I'm still pastoring the church, got two daughters we're raising, and I'm working as an engineer and driving to Foxboro and back.

So usually it's about 11 or 12 hour days every day, four days of the week, sometimes being forced for overtime. It came around this time of the year and I didn't have any vacation left and I was exhausted. It was a Monday and I thought I can't make it to Christmas. Amen. It's so long.

And my boss a few hours later walked around and said they had a program they're giving free vacation to people, I put you in and you got a week of vacation. Nowhere, out of nowhere, not everybody got it, but God gave it to me. I'm telling you, God is not a respecter of persons.

He'll do the same thing for you if you'll serve him. You make your mind up, I'm living for God and God says I got you, I got you, I'm on your side. Hallelujah. Again, sometimes we get overwhelmed by our situations and our circumstances and we get afraid. And if you're going to live for God, you're going to have to learn to fight the spirit of fear.

That's right. You're going to have to fight the spirit of fear. The devil comes in with fear and intimidation. Amen. And God will let it happen because you got to learn how to fight his way, God's way. You got to learn to rely on the Lord and his word to fight.

So sometimes God will let you confront fear, the spirit of fear. Amen. A darkness comes in, an overwhelming feeling comes upon you. Amen. You feel hopeless. You feel like you don't know any answers. You wonder where God is. But you remember the scripture, "God has not given me the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

Amen. You can grab that devil and cast it down to the ground. Amen. It's not coming from you, God. Amen. I'm not taking it because it's coming from the devil. I got a sound mind, God said. I got the power to love God. I got power to overcome. Hallelujah. Amen.

I'm grabbing hold and I'm holding on to what God says I can have. I'm going to have the victory that God's got for me. God is not a respecter, hallelujah, and he's not giving us the spirit of fear, but power, love, and sound mind. Amen.

I'm telling you, you need to get the scriptures in because if you make your mind up, you're living for God, somewhere you got to fight the devil. That's right. Somewhere you got to fight the devil. That's why Paul said put on the armor of God. Hallelujah. And then again, in Ephesians 3:20, he's writing to the church there, Paul is, he says, "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in you."

You got the Holy Ghost? God is able to do even beyond what you can imagine. Amen. A lot of times all we just need to do is tell God we need help and God knows what kind of help we need and he'll give us what we need and oftentimes he gives us more than we do need.

Exceeding and abundantly above what we're asked to think, able. Amen. We sometimes don't know how to pray, but God knows. That's why you need the Holy Ghost again. You get the Holy Ghost, you pray in tongues. You don't know how to pray. Amen. But you're praying in tongues.

Amen. And the Holy Ghost is praying through you, God praying through you by the tongues. Amen. God knows what to pray for. God knows how to put it. God knows exactly what you need. Amen. And sometimes we can't figure out how to put it together in words, but the Holy Ghost in us, the Holy Ghost in us, makes intercession for us with groanings and utterances that cannot be uttered.

Amen. It doesn't make sense to you, but God understands and God is hearing your prayer. And the prayer is good because you're not making it. God is making it through you. Oh, come on. Let's give God praise today. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. My God, my God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Amen. Amen. The word of God will comfort you. Hallelujah. When you're going through a trial and the devil is telling us that God's left us or he won't help us or the situation is greater than we can bear. But the Bible says there is no temptation taken you but such is common to man.

And God is faithful. Say faithful. God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that that ye are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it. Amen. What's he saying?

He's saying if God allows a temptation, now it's implied that you're living the way you're supposed to be living for God. Because we can fall into temptation because we're not serving God. We can fall into temptation because we decide to do things our own way or go about it or go where we want to go and not where God wants us to go.

But if I'm doing what God wants me to do, God is watching my steps. God is watching your steps. If I decide to do what I want to do, God says, "I gave you free will. That's okay, but I'm not necessarily going to shield you from everything that's coming your way down that path. My protection for you is on this path."

We can make an analogy with the children of Israel coming out of Egypt. God is there with them in the wilderness with the cloud in the day and the pillar. If some of those Israelites decide to go back to Egypt, God will let them go, but God is not back there with them. He's with them out there in the wilderness because that's where he sent them to be.

They're on a journey. So they can choose to go back. Some of them in their mind did. That's why they ended up dying. Sometimes you got people in church but their mind is out in the world. They really haven't come out of the world. They're still thinking in the world. They might be in here singing the songs and praising God and even know a lot of scripture and even have God use them, but their mind is out in the world.

Amen. And when my mind goes out in the world, if I don't bring it back and put it under God's way, eventually I'll end up in the world because that's where my mind is. And my mind is eventually going to affect my heart and my heart is going to lead me. Amen. And so if I'm where God wants me to be, then God is going to watch everything.

Just like he did with Job. Devil comes and accuses Job and God says, "This is all you can do. You can only go this far. That's it. You can afflict him, but you can't kill him." Amen. God is watching. God is watching. And so when we face a temptation, we're not facing something that nobody else has ever faced, although sometimes we feel that way.

When we're in that trial or that temptation, sometimes we feel like we're the only one. Sometimes we feel like, well, they may have gone through it, but ours is more intense. We can feel that way. But the Bible's trying to help us understand there is no temptation taken us or you such as common to man. And God is faithful.

God is faithful. Not 99%, God is faithful all the time. Not to let a temptation come upon you that is greater than you can bear. What does that mean? That means that you already have lived long enough for God, you know enough scripture and have enough relationship with God to go with him to deal with the circumstance.

Again, trials. Sometimes we try to deal with trials by ourselves. Doesn't work. A trial is a supernatural thing. I need supernatural power to deal with it. Amen. So I need the spirit of God and I need the word of God. And when there are trials, there's usually spirits that are involved in it that are anti-God that are there to work.

There are spirits for alcohol, there are spirits for sex, there are spirits for cursing, there are spirits for drugs, there are spirits for atheism, there are spirits for all kinds of attitudes you can think about. There are spirits for transgenderism, there are spirits for homosexuality and gay. That's why it comes strong on people because it's not just a mindset.

They're dealing with spirits. But our government and people don't want to talk about spirits, but spirits are the issue. God doesn't let a devil the devil place a temptation on us as greater than we can bear. So God is faithful. Look over in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 23 I think it is.

1 Thessalonians 5:23, "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly," the word there completely, "and I pray God your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." See God's interested in all of us. Not just our soul. God's interested in your body, your soul and spirit.

And he says in verse 24, "Faithful is he that calleth you, who will also do it." In other words, God will take care of us. If we'll serve God, faithful he that calleth, you respond to the call of God for your life and he will do it. Can you say amen? Praise God.

The word of God is a comfort. The word of God comforts us. We don't always feel the spirit of God. You get the Holy Ghost and a lot of times you do feel the spirit of God. You can feel God more often than not, but you have times where you don't feel God. And you're in a situation and sometimes you need to recall what the Bible says about God and God's presence in our life.

So Jesus on the night of the Last Supper, he's talking to his disciples and he tells them, "I'm going to send the spirit, the spirit's going to come, another spirit's going to come to you." And then he makes the statement, "I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you." He's letting them understand I'm really the Holy Spirit, I'm just in a physical body right now.

So he said, "I will not leave you comfortless." Listen, sometimes when you need God and you feel alone, if you'll stand on the word of God, God will show up. Yes he does. And I've said this one before too. When I got sent to Saudi Arabia, went to a Muslim country, hardly any Christianity there, illegal to be a Christian openly there.

They had four Philippine people in prison for passing out tracts and they were going to behead them that were there while I was there. And I went there by myself without any other Christian people. And when I got there after a couple days, they all went one by one off on their weekend and I was left by myself in a hotel in a strange town.

And I felt kind of alone. And I walked back in that room and I felt alone and then I remembered the scripture, "I will not leave you comfortless." And I said, "God, you said that. I need you now." And the presence of God came and I wasn't without God's presence till I left Saudi Arabia.

Tangible presence. The comfort. Oh, I'm not alone. They may not understand me, there might not be any other Christians, but I'm not alone. I feel God's presence. And I had a song every day. Not because I had a CD player with me or eight track or some kind of cassette thing. God would put a song in my heart.

And I'd walk across that refinery in 110 degrees of heat with a song in my heart. Amen. He is a comforter. His word is true. Amen. God's word is a comfort. They're not just nice things. They're not just philosophical jingles. They're not platitudes. They're things that God has spoken.

And if it can get into your heart that you can believe that it's God that spoke, you can go to God and say, "God, you said this." Not in a rude way, it's just as a matter of fact. God, you said this, now I need this. I'm believing you. And God will show up. Hallelujah.

Another one I had when I was first pastoring here, we were living over in Brockton. I got up one Sunday morning with a bad headache, kind of nauseous and I couldn't it was real bad but I thought okay in a couple hours it'll be okay. You know I get up at 5 and church wasn't until 10 and stuff.

But about by about 8 o'clock, I'm not getting any better. I got a bad headache, don't feel good in my stomach, nauseous. And I told Sister Ouellette, I said, "Sister Ouellette, you guy I think you're going to have to teach the lesson here this morning because I'm sick. I'm going to go to bed and and I'll get up and come tonight."

Then I remembered the word of God said that if there's any sick among you, call for the elders of the church. Remember that word in James, right? And I remembered that my assistant pastor and his wife lived upstairs. I said, "Go get them, have them come pray for me." Now my mind was, okay, God says that so I'll do what God says.

I'm going to do what I'm going to obey God. I'm going to do what he asked me to say. Then I'm going to go to bed and I'll be there for tonight. That's exactly how I was thinking. They came down and prayed for me. In the middle of that prayer like a switch, something happened and I was healed and I got up and went to church and preached.

Now what happened? I obeyed what God said to do. If there's any sick among you, call for the elders. He was an elder. I had him, his wife, my wife pray for me and God healed me on the spot. I'm telling you the word of God is real. The word of God works.

The Bible is the word of God. But you have to get to a place where you're willing to stand and claim what the word says. Amen. If you're willing to settle for less, God will let you settle. But if you want what God's got for you, God's going to meet you.

God's going to give you an abundance. Amen. God's going to give you abundance. The word of God declares that if we're born again, we're part of the kingdom of God and we're children of God. Again, it says in John 3:5, "Except a man is born of the water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."

So I've got to be born again to be part of the kingdom. Romans 8:15 says, "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father." So when I'm born again, amen, I'm part of God's family. And his spirit in me, the Holy Ghost, makes me feel connected with God, makes me feel a part with God.

I feel a part of the family of God. I don't feel strange in God's presence. I'm looking for God's presence. When there's somebody you love, you want their presence, right? Okay, so I'm not just looking for a visitation of God. I'm looking for fellowship with God. See, a lot of times people go to church, they just want a visitation.

That's not what God's looking for. God might visit, God wants a relationship with us. God wants us to want him even if he doesn't show up or do it the way we like him to do it. Will I praise him if it doesn't work the way I want? Will I praise him and love him even if it's hard?

Will I praise him and love him if I lose a lot of things? Amen, because I believe that he's worth it. That's how God tests relationship. Amen. Again, applying the word of God will bring blessings into our lives. Amen. Psalm 1:1 through 3, I didn't write it all up there on the screen because there's a bunch of verses.

But the Bible's trying to tell us that if we apply the word of God in our lives, God will bless us. God will prosper us. Doesn't mean he'll make us all millionaires, it doesn't mean that. Doesn't mean there won't be any problems, but God will give us what we need and more.

So Psalm 1 and 1, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." In other words, he's not letting the world around him dictate his way of living. That's what that's saying. He's not letting the philosophies, the trends, what's popular, that's not what dictating his way of living.

Blessed is the man. He's not walking in the counsel of the ungodly. He's not standing in the way of sinners, he's not hanging out with the sinners. He's not sitting in the seat of scornful, he doesn't have a bad attitude about life and other people around him. Amen. But his delight is in the law of the Lord.

Now understand he means God's word in a general way. He doesn't mean that you got to have a delight in the law of Moses, but he means you delight in what God says and God's principles and living for God. His delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

When people love God, they don't just read the Bible on Sunday. When you love God, you don't just think about God sometimes. When you love God, you're going to be thinking about God throughout the day. When you love God, you're going to want to remember the words. If somebody that you love and care for says some things to you that are really meaningful, you don't just throw that off to the side, you remember it.

If God is saying something to us that's meaningful, we're going to want to remember it. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. In other words, when you do it God's way, God is going to plant you. God will plant you.

If God plants you, hurricane of melt or whatever hurricane comes through, everything else might be gone, but you're still standing. If God plants you, you can't be moved unless God says move. Come on. That's right. God planted the three Hebrew children so they couldn't burn them out. They can't be moved out.

God planted Daniel there, they can't chew him out. He's in the lions' den, he can't be moved out because God put him there. And he's doing it God's way. And this is given to all of us. That's not just given to certain people. Amen. God will plant you.

You'll be fruitful. Amen. Plant you by rivers of water, bringeth forth his fruit in his season, his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. When I read that verse, I think of Joseph. Right? He sold into slavery out of envy of his brothers. Never see his family, he goes down to Egypt a slave, sold into Potiphar's household.

But God blesses what he does and the master sees. So he does all the right stuff and then he's accused of trying to seduce Potiphar's wife, so he's thrown in prison. But the head jailer sees that God blesses what he does. What is it? He's down there because God ordained for him to be there.

So he's going to be prosperous no matter what the circumstance. God is going to bless him. You get down where God wants you to be, God's going to take care of you. God will plant you. Amen. Nothing can move you. There might be some ups and downs, but God is going to help you. God's going to make a way through it. And you're going to be fruitful in your season. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Again, God will plant people that value his word. Psalm 19, Psalm 19:9 says, "The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned and in keeping of them there is great reward."

You start to apply God's word in your life with a right heart, God's going to bless, God's going to take care, God's going to work. Amen. Now it doesn't always happen instantly because seasons, seasons. And when God's planting you, sometimes it takes a while for something to produce. Seasons.

God plants you in the winter, you gotta wait till the spring. Amen. But it's telling you, you do it God's way and in the long run, God is going to make you prosperous. And when again when I'm saying prosperous, it's not all about money. You know it's better to have less money, have your soul right and your family right.

That's right. It's better to have less money in the bank and have your soul right and your family right than to be rich and lose it all. Amen. God knows what we need. He's the one that made us that we need clothes, we need a house. And again, it says it in Matthew 6, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you."

Matthew chapter 6, you back up, he says the Gentiles are looking for clothes, they're looking for house, they're looking for food. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. God will take care of you. Yes he will. Amen.

God will take care of you. The word of God will cleanse us if we hear it and apply it to our heart. John 17:17, Jesus is praying and he says, "Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth." See, when you apply the word of God in your life, it starts to separate you. Sanctification is talking about being separated for God, unto God, and for God's purpose with our life.

This is sanctification. So when you get the Holy Ghost, God sets you apart for him. We saw on Wednesday night, if you were here on Wednesday night, we talked about redemption. Says we're bought with a price. So when God saves us, the price of Calvary, the blood is applied to your life when you get the Holy Ghost.

God's applying blood, God's paying a price, redemption. So God sets us apart for him. God sets us apart to live for him. The word of God applied in our lives will set us apart. You start putting the word of God in your life, your thinking will change. You start putting the word of God in your life, your actions and speech will change.

You start putting the word of God in your life, your goals will change. And pretty soon, what's motivating you is not what's motivating the rest of the world. You're being motivated by what God has said and the world is being motivated by what they feel they need or want. John 15:3 says, "Now are ye clean through the word which I have spoken unto you."

Hearing the word of God helps cleanse us. We hear the word of God, it helps identify. You know sometimes you look at something from a distance it doesn't look that bad and you get up near close and you find out you need to scrub it. Right? Same thing happens with our souls. You know out there in the world we look and it might not look that bad, we come in the church we realize I need a scrubbin. Amen.

The word of God will cleanse us. The word of God when we hear that it identifies how we ought to live. And again if a people don't want to be God's, if they don't want to live God's way, the word of God makes them very uncomfortable because now they got a challenge, either they're going to have to deal with their discomfort and do it God's way or they are going to have to push off what God says.

And again in Ephesians 5:26 it says, he's talking about Jesus died for the church, gave himself, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. There's a double meaning there. Washing of water by the word is getting baptized in water the Bible way, but it also means that when you hear that word of God and you apply it, it washes you spiritually. Amen.

Many times we all suffer because we're living in ways that violate or oppose God's word. You know there's a lot of people today that are doing things that they regret and they're doing them because they got to make a decision, they're in a bad spot but it's legal in the society. Because it's legal, they do it. And then things get bad. They get depressed, they get upset, things don't work right, they hit a bunch of bumps in the road and they wonder what's going on.

And it's because they're doing things that are not God's way. And just because society allows it doesn't mean that God allows it. All right? So God, when we get to heaven, God's not going to say what country did you come from? Okay, we'll use the Americanized version of the Bible. He's not going to say that.

He's not he doesn't care, he knows where we're at. He's going to pull that remember the words settled in heaven forever. He's going to pull that same word out whether I'm Alaskan, Russian, Indian, Native American, doesn't matter. Jamaican, African, doesn't matter. Same word God is going to apply for all of us.

He's not going to filter it through my denomination. Were you Catholic, were you Jewish, were you Lutheran, Baptist, Presbyterian? He's not going to do that. He's going to use the word of God. And if I didn't do something because my denomination said I didn't need to do it, I don't get a pass. God's going to do it by what his word says.

If I didn't do something because my family didn't do it and they were raised in church, I still don't get a pass. God is going to use the word of God. So I've got to apply the word of God. When we break the Ten Commandments, we're violating God's word. When we have idols in our lives, we're breaking the first commandment.

When I place family, job, entertainment, career, goals ahead of God, I'm making those idols. I might not have a statue. I might not have a little cubicle in my house. But I'm bowing to that in place of bowing to God. If I bow to something emotionally or with my time that I should be giving to God, I'm making that thing an idol.

Do you understand what I'm saying? That's why it's important that you be careful about not being in church. If you don't go to church because you're having a family gathering or, you know, all kinds of things are going on, be careful. Now God understands if there's some family you haven't seen in 10 years or they don't come in very often.

But if you start to make a way of that, you're missing church because sports, your kids are playing sports, you got an idol. Amen. If I lie or steal, I'm breaking God's commandments. It doesn't matter if my boss says it's okay to lie. If I lie, I'm lying. If my boss says I can steal, I'm still a stealer. Amen.

Sometimes we ignore the word of God because it's in the Old Testament. This seems to be the biggest problem that people I see people have today. They don't understand the Old Testament. First thing they understand about the Old Testament is the law of Moses doesn't really come into effect until Exodus 20.

So all of Genesis is not under law. From Adam and Eve up to the children of Israel with Joseph in Egypt, that's not under the law. And God is giving us principles of how he deals with man and how he'll deal with us. So you can't say, well, you know, yeah, Noah had to build an ark, but I don't have to do anything, I just have to have faith.

No, he's trying to show, that's not law now. That's before law. God is dealing with principles. You've got to obey what God says if you want to get saved. You got to do it God's way. Amen. And even when we get to the law, there's still principles within the law that apply.

So I don't have all the regulations of ceremonial dressing and food and different things, but I still need to live holy. I still need to live holy. God gave all those things to make his people distinct and he did all those things to make sure there was boundaries between his people and the rest of the world so that they didn't get intermingled and you couldn't tell the difference.

There was a principle of separation. God said, "Be ye holy, for I am holy." The New Testament, God says, "Be ye holy, for I am holy." That means we're going to be different than the world. And being different in the world isn't just saying I believe in Jesus. That's a good start, but let Jesus believe in you.

We're called to be a holy people. There's still a difference in how Christians live from the rest of the world. You're sanctified by the Holy Ghost if you got it. God sets you apart. If God filled you with the Holy Ghost speaking in tongues, God has signified that you now belong to him and you are supposed to be set apart for him.

That's what that means. It means that God owns you. That's why it talks about being sealed in Ephesians 1:13. God seals with the Holy Ghost. He's put a stamp on you that says, "That's mine and I'm coming back for them." Amen. We're called to be saints. That means called to be holy, called to be separate, not living like before.

Ephesians 4:20, he says, "But ye have not so learned Christ, if so be ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus, that ye put off concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind." What's he trying to say?

He's trying to say that now that you're saved, you're going to have to make an effort to get some things out of your life that aren't supposed to be there. And you're going to have to make an effort to put on the things God wants you to put on. The Holy Ghost gives us the power, the Holy Ghost gives us a desire, but God does not make us become what we're supposed to become.

And so I'm going to have to look at myself before God. I'm going to have to look and say, oh, I shouldn't talk that way. And after a little bit I realize I shouldn't think that way, that's why I'm talking that way. Then I realize I shouldn't go to that place because it's making me think that way.

Or I shouldn't listen to that or watch that because it's causing me to think that way. Or I shouldn't dress that way or go here because all these other people are dressing certain ways and I don't need to go there. So we have to make an effort to work with God.

Now God's the potter, but I got to get on the wheel, I got to stay on the wheel, and I got to let God shape me the way he wants me to shape. Amen. And if we're Christians, we should really be looking for the coming of the Lord. You know, if your heart is really in heaven, it helps you deal with losses down here.

You lose a lot of money in the stock market, well, you couldn't take it to heaven anyways. You don't have a big house, that's okay, you won't need that house, big or small, in heaven. Amen. Praise God. So again, just the results of not obeying God and we're just trying to give the other side applying the word of God.

Israel suffered because they didn't go to conquer the land when the Lord told them to. Are you familiar with the story? It's in the book of Numbers, okay, Numbers 13, 14, 15, 16, around that area. It's in there. They searched out the land, they found out it was just the way God said, it was a land that flows with milk and honey.

But they found out there's some real obstacles there. There's giants, there's strong cities, there's a lot of people, they seem to be more capable than us. So they got scared and they didn't go do what God told them to do. They didn't go to possess the land.

Now if they'd taken time to think about it like Caleb, the reason they were in the wilderness is because God was keeping his promise. God had said your seed's going to go down to Egypt and the fourth generation I'm going to come and bring them out. God had told them there. Then God had done that with Moses to lead them out.

They'd heard the voice of God at Mount Sinai, heard the Ten Commandments and now God's saying, "Go possess the land that I have promised you and I have brought you out to do this." But they looked at themselves. They looked at themselves and they didn't look at what God could do. So they didn't do what God told them to do.

What was the result? 40 years of wandering. Now the same thing can happen in our Christian life that we don't do some things the way God tells us to do them and we end up wandering in a wilderness of our life situation because we didn't do what God asked us to do. All right? That's why we're saying this, okay?

So Israel's lack of faith led 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. The point is is living for God requires faith, faith in his word. So God was not asking them and God had already done a whole bunch of things so that they could have their faith built up, right? Right, he'd worked ten plagues and after the three plagues he isolated Israel and just worked them on the Egyptians.

Tenth plague he told them what to do to escape it, gave them a miracle through the Red Sea, destroyed the Egyptian army, turned bitter waters by throwing a tree in it into good waters, gave them water from the rock, gave them manna, gave them a cloud. They heard God's voice, audibly all of them, not some of them.

So God's built their faith up to let them know he's there, he's real. God does the same thing with us. Amen. God brings us to a place where he's going to work things in our life, but there comes a place where we've got to step up and start to do what God said to do.

Amen. So 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, "We walk by faith, not by sight." In other words, we're not looking at the situation to determine whether we can deal with it, we're looking at what God is saying. Does God say walk that way? Then I need to walk that way.

Hebrews 11:6, "But without faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." So let's stand here this morning and it really comes down to this this morning.

Applying the word of God really starts by obeying the plan of salvation. Applying the word of God in our life really starts by obeying the plan of salvation. If you want to apply the word of God, you need to get born again first to properly apply it. So Peter said unto them, Acts 2:38, we're familiar, then Peter said unto them, "Repent, be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins," or freedom from sins, "ye shall receive and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

So there's many promises in the word of God. Many of those promises only apply if you're in the kingdom of God. Sometimes we're claiming God is our father and we're not born again. Then we're wondering why what's going on. Why? God, you're my father.

Sometimes we're claiming God you said you'd take care of me, but you didn't do what God asked you to do the way God said. And then we're saying, well, how come God's not answering? Right? Sometimes situations are happening. God said live holy, but we say, well, I'm not going to live holy because people look at me a certain way or they might call me a prude.

If Charlie Kirk had worried about what people were going to call me, he wouldn't have been out there in the first place. Amen. So we enter the kingdom of God through being born again and we apply the word of God and be blessed.

And the Bible says we follow by faith and patience. Amen. And so let's apply God's word today. Amen. I'm just trying to give you a little bit to understand that applying the word of God is going to help you, it's going to bless you.

If you apply the word of God, you will not be sorry. It's not going to make things worse, it's going to make things better. Amen. You apply the word of God, you're going to avoid a lot of things that other people fall into, but you've been warned by the word of God, so you avoid them.

Amen. This altar's open here this morning. Lord God, we thank you for your word. Again, it's our lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path, Lord God. Help us to see the value of applying your word in our lives, Lord God. Help us to see, Lord God, that you've given us the word to guide us, to be a light, to be a lamp, to show us the way we ought to go.

Help us to understand you want to bless your people. You want to bless all people. Hallelujah. You want us to be fruitful, Lord God. You want us to prosper, Lord God. But, Lord, we've got to follow your voice. We've got to follow you as the shepherd.

We've got to go into the places you want us to go into, Lord God. Lord, we're asking you, Lord here today, if there's those that are struggling with applying the word, Lord God, to help them have faith, Lord God, to obey the word of God in their lives.

Help them to realize that it's going to be a fearful thing to come into your presence and say I didn't obey because I was afraid my mom or my friends or my parents. Hallelujah, Lord God. We're asking you, Lord God, to move in a mighty way, open hearts and minds.

Give them understanding about your word. Give them understanding, let them see clearly, Lord, that it's a blessing that you're the God of all things, that you can keep us in all circumstances and situations, Lord God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Fill cups, Lord God.

Many here today that are striving, Lord God, to obey the word, bless them, continue to strengthen them, guide them. Lord, open up their understanding, Lord, to understand the value of the word even deeper, Lord God. Give them revelations that'll bring them closer to you, Lord God. Give them strength to reach for you, Lord God. Hallelujah, Lord God. Lord, we praise you, Lord, give them faith to believe your word, we pray, Lord God. And we give you praise in Jesus' name.

Tina Ouellette: Thank you for joining us today as we have studied the word on Apostolic Truth Radio. My name is Tina Ouellette, wife of Pastor Craig Ouellette of South Shore Pentecostal Church, located at 58 West Street in Whitman, Massachusetts.

If you love praise and worship, you will love services at South Shore Pentecostal Church, and we invite you to come and worship with us. Sunday School for all ages begins at 10 a.m. and our Sunday evening service begins at 6 p.m. Adult Bible study and children's church is held on Wednesdays at 7 p.m.

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