Your Word Is A Lamp!
Sermon Notes
Saturday, January 20, 2007 &
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Rev. Jim O’Neal, Senior Pastor
Pastor’s “Uncut” Version
For Home Study
(480) 895-8766
Psalm 119:105 NRSV
“Your word is a lamp to
my feet and a light to my path.”
Psalm 119:105 KJV
“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,
and a light unto my path.”
A. Introduction
1. Daniel Webster
a.
Daniel Webster the statesman and orator loved to read and learn
as a boy. He developed his faith at an
early age and often read from the Bible.
One night reading from his Bible by candlelight, he accidentally set the
bed sheets on fire.
b.
Young Daniel was scolded soundly for this incident. His response was this: “Mother and father, I was just in search of
light, and got more than I desired!”
2. Today’s Scripture: Psalm 119:105
a.
The Bible is a book of light.
The Psalmist proclaims:
“Your word
is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105 NRSV)
b.
The Bible is a guiding light that gives us truths to live
by! The Bible is a dependable light; its
words will last forever! And the Bible
is an eternal light, which shows us the way to Heaven!
B. The Bible is a guiding light!
1. Old Army Scout
a. A
couple of easterners wanted to go hunting out west. The folks in the little western town said,
“Hire Old Joe. He’s an old Army Scout
and the best tracker in these here parts.
He knows the track and sound of every animal
round here. Why he can listen to the
ground and tell you who or what’s comin’.” So the two fellows got directions to Old
Joe’s cabin.
b.
Just outside his cabin they found Old Joe lying flat on the
ground with his ear pressed against the earth.
Joe spoke: “Big wagon. Pulled by two white horses
and full of bales of hay. Man
driving the wagon, long beard and wearing buckskin. There’s a woman wearing a calico dress. And the wagon’s painted yellow.” “Wow!” the two fellows said. “You can tell all that just by pressing your
ear to the ground?” “No.” grunted Old
Joe. “That’s the wagon that ran me over 30 minutes ago!”
c.
Human guides are not perfect.
Human guides will fail you at times.
However, there is a book called the Bible, which is inspired by the Holy
Spirit of God. This book will give you
the truths to live by!
2. Soren
Kierkegaard
a.
Danish theologian Soren Kierkegaard
said this: “The Bible is a letter from
God with our personal address on it!”
b.
The Bible is a drama of all that God has done, is doing, and will
do. The Bible, also, contains directions
for living written to guide you and me personally.
3. Ted Lewis and His Lamp
a.
There is a children’s book entitled, “Ted Lewis and His
Lamp.” It tells of the adventures of a
boy named Ted and how every time he got into some dark place or experience he
would turn to his special lamp for guidance.
At the end of the book you discover that Ted’s lamp is the Bible.
b.
My friends the Bible is God’s word. Are you turning to the holy pages for
guidance?
C. The Bible is a dependable light!
1. Voltaire
a.
The French writer and philosopher Voltaire said, “Within
one-hundred years the Bible will be a forgotten book. One hundred years from my day there will not
be a Bible on earth – except one that is looked upon by an antiquarian
curiosity seeker.” He said this over two
hundred years ago and the Bible is still around! Indeed twenty years after the death of
Voltaire the Geneva Bible Society bought his home and from this building they
have printed and sent millions of Bibles around the world!
b.
The Bible has lasted because the words, and the values, and the
truths are still valid today.
2. Robert Ingersoll
a.
In the late 19th Century, atheist Robert Ingersoll went around the country refuting the miracles of
the Bible, and denying the very existence of a higher power. He used to brag, “In fifteen years I’ll have
put the Bible in the morgue.”
b.
In fifteen years Ingersoll was in the
grave, and the Bible was still around.
Today, the Bible is still around and as powerful as ever! Whereas Ingersoll
is forgotten by all but a few of us preachers who lift him up as a bad example,
and a fool for thinking his words could possibly outlast the Bible!
3. Space and Spirituality
a.
Walter F. Burke was the General Manager of both the Mercury and
Gemini space programs. He was, also, at
one time Vice President of McDonnell Aircraft Corporation. And he taught Sunday School
at his Church for years. A reporter who
seemed surprised that this scientist was a man of faith interviewed Burke. Burke responded: “I have found nothing in science or space
exploration to compel me to throw away my Bible, or reject my Savior, Jesus
Christ, in whom I trust. The space age
has been a factor in the deepening of my own spiritual life. I read my Bible more now. I get from the Bible what I cannot get from
science – the really important things of life.”
b.
Nowhere else can you get the laws, morals, and values that the
Bible teaches. The Bible alone has the
values that work and last. Only in the
Bible do we hear of God’s love for us in Jesus Christ, and God’s desire to be
with us forever.
D. The Bible is an eternal light!
1. Bible in outer space!
a. When
Apollo 8 orbited the earth and the moon there were four Bibles on board. The Gideon’s Bible Society had donated three
of them so that each astronaut would have God’s word. Commander Frank Borman,
a devout Christian, also, took his own Bible and read from it on Christmas
Eve. He read from Genesis, Chapter one
where it reads, “In the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1 RSV) In the vastness of outer space, Frank Borman was making a statement of faith. God has been forever. God created the “heavens above” or the
universe, and God has a place called Heaven where we may go forever!
b.
Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell placed a microfilm copy of the
Bible on the moon. It was his way of
affirming the eternal value of the Holy Bible!
2. “If this book is
right…”
a.
Historian and author Edwin Rushworth
had been a skeptic all his life. He
doubted the existence of God and did not believe in an after life. One day his long-suffering and less educated
wife issued a challenge. She said, “You
criticize the Bible and deny its truths, yet you have never read it. I challenge you for the next month to read
for one hour each day from this book which you have so long derided.” Edwin began his study of the Bible. The first week he said, “If this book is
right, I’m wrong.” The second week he
said, “If this book is right, I’m lost.”
A few nights later he said, “If this book is right, I may be saved.” Edwin read for a few more nights, came to his
wife carrying the Bible and said, “This book IS right and I AM saved.”
b.
The Bible shows us the way to Heaven, the way to be with God
forever: It is by faith in God’s Son and
our Savior Jesus Christ.
3. Jesus the handyman!
a.
Mother asked five-year-old Megan what she had learned in Sunday
School. Megan said, “We learned about fixin’ things.” Mom
queried, “Fixing things? You mean you
did crafts?” “No,” Megan said, “We
learned how Jesus fixes things. It was
our memory verse. Jesus says, ‘I go to
repair a place for you.’”
b.
Close, but not quite right.
Jesus said, “Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in
God, believe also in me. In my Father’s
house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I
will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be
also.” (John 14:1-4 RSV)
c. The Bible gives us Jesus’ promise that
there is life eternal. Jesus has already
prepared a place for you. Trust in Him
and the gift is yours!
E. Conclusion
1. Today’s Scripture:
Psalm 119:105
a.
The Psalmist proclaims to us:
“Your word
is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105 NRSV)
b.
The Bible is a book of light.
2. Recap
a.
The Bible is a guiding light that gives us truths to live by!
b.
The Bible is a dependable light; its words will last forever!
c.
And the Bible is an eternal light, which shows us the way to
Heaven!
Your Word Is
A Lamp!
==========================
1. The Bible is a guiding light!
2. The Bible is a dependable light!
Psalm 119:105 NRSV
“Your word is a lamp
to
my feet
and
a light
to
my path.”