God’s Words

INTRODUCTION

The Outline has been developed for all leaders of

the Cell Ministry to serve as a guide for our Bible study meetings in the month

of August. The subject is ‘Words’,as taught by our Man of God during the

class.

This outline is in 4 parts. Part 1 introduces the study,

highlighting the importance of spiritual growth and its indicators; and also, the

meaning of grace, and what it means to grow in grace. Part 2 teaches on words, what

they are, and the power of words. Part 3 expounds on the importance and

description of words; while in part 4, we learn the value of words, and how to

use them. Each part closes with related questions, to be taken and answered by

members of the group.

All Bible study class teachers and cell leaders are to

ensure that their members have their Bibles; all the Scriptures in the outline

are read during the meeting; and the members look into their Bibles while the

Scriptures are read. As clearly stated by our Man of God, at the beginning of

this teaching, the purpose of this class is to help the

individual member understand the value of words and how to use them. So, don’t rush

through the subject as you teach; remember that our intention is to have every member of the class understand God’s Word

on the subject matter, and become acquainted with the Scriptures.

TABLE

OF CONTENT

• Part 1…………………………….3
• Part 2…………………………….7
• Part 3………………………….....13
• Part 4…………………………….18

PART 1 –

Introduction:

At the end of this chapter, each member should

understand:

• The importance of

spiritual growth to the Christian, and have knowledge of the indicators of spiritual

growth.

• What grace is, and what

it means to grow in grace.

"Ye

therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also,

being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.

18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen" 2

Peter 3:17-18

Every

Christian must work on growing; your spiritual growth as a Christian cannot be

overemphasized. It’s important to be conscious that you are growing and making

progress in your spiritual life. Growth is neither an accident nor a miracle,

but it is attained through the application of revealed principles and means.

There

are indicators to show you are growing in your Christian life. In your physical

body, for example, you may not see actual growth take place, but you do see the

results – for example, the size of shoes and clothes you wear change overtime; these

are indicators of your physical growth. In the same way also, in the spirit

there are indicators to show that you are growing.

Indicators of spiritual

growth

Below

are some indicators that reveal spiritual growth:

• Are you more excited about the Word today than you used

to be?

• Are you happy to be associated with your brethren?
• Are you demonstrating more love towards the brethren?

Demonstrated love is one of the ways to know if you are growing, stagnant, or

moving backwards.

• Do you find fewer faults and mistakes with the

brethren?

• Do you see the brethren as being more perfect?

It

is vital to use the indicators of God's Word to guide yourself, because the

more you grow, the less of the faults, mistakes and imperfections you’ll find

in others. You’ll notice that you are full of love for the brethren and that

all their wrongs are somewhat non-existent to you. The Bible says, “We know that we have passed from death unto

life because we love the brethren…” (I

John 3 v 14).

The

more you grow, the more perfect you find others to be, and the less of their

imperfections you see. This means the less faults and mistakes you see in the

brethren, the more growth you are experiencing; but the more faults you find in

the brethren, the less growth you are experiencing, because you are not giving

yourself to the Word of God.

Growing In Grace

From

2 Peter 3:17-18,we see how important grace is, such

that God wants all His children to grow in it. But what is Grace?

Grace

is:

• The expression of God's life and glory in you.
• The beauty of God in your life.
• The love of God expressed through you.
• The joy of the Spirit expressed through you.
• The glory of God’s Word manifested in you.
• The revelation of God's kingdom exuding through you.
• The beauty of God's love in you: the outward reflection

of an inner glory.

The

grace of our Lord Jesus Christ brings joy into your spirit. The more you know Him, the more you reflect Him; but the

less you know Him, the less of Him you reflect. The Lord Jesus is the Word of

God, and the Bible teaches that the Word of God is a mirror. So, the more you

look into His face, the more you see yourself in Him, and the more like him you

become; then His life and love are expressed through you even more.

Your

most important prayer should be that you continually increase in passion for

the Master, because the more passionate you are for Jesus, the less you

consider other things, and the less you consider yourself. He becomes

everything; He becomes your focus and dream, and consequently every other thing

fades away. The Bible says, he that continues to look into the perfect law of

liberty, not being a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall

be blessed in his deed (James 1v 25).

Therefore…

• Consider Jesus in your life.
• Consider him in dealing with other people.
• Consider him in dealing with your brothers and sisters.

Let Him be your motivation; let Him be your reason for all, and you will always

be happy.

Questions & Answers:

• We know that we have passed from death to life

because we______________________

• Love the brethren
• Admire the brethren
• Fellowship with one another
• Attend church services
• All of the above

Answer: A

• The more

faults you find with the brethren the less growth you are experiencing because

you are not _______________________

• Discerning properly
• Praying often
• Giving yourself to the Word of God
• Attending Sunday services
• A&B

Answer: C

• All these

are indicators of spiritual growth except:

• More excitement for the Word
• Joy in associating with the brethren
• Being full of love for the brethren
• Seeing less of the imperfections of the brethren
• Always complaining about the mistakes and

imperfections of the brethren

Answer: E

• The following

is true of Grace:

• Grace is

the expression of God’s life and glory in you

• Grace is

the beauty of God in your life

• Grace is

the Love of God expressed through you

• Grace is

the Joy of the spirit expressed through you

• The

revelation of God’s kingdom exuding through you

• 1 & 2 only
• 2, 4 & 5
• 1, 4 & 4
• All of the above
• 1, 2, 3 & 5

Answer: D

PART 2 –

Introduction:

At the end of this chapter, each member should

understand:

• What words are; and,
• The Power of Words.

What are Words?

Words

are sensible sounds of a language through which messages are communicated and

can be identified by natives of the same; that is, natives of that language.

Words

are important and should be valued just as money is valuable; however some

people don't have value for money so they are wasteful. The way to be rich is to have good value for money and

the sense of wisdom to use it. In the

same vein, it is important to learn the value of words and how to use them; if

you do, you will live an extraordinary life of success. This is true because the Bible shows us that words are

very important, and from the very beginning God began to demonstrate to us

the value of words and how to use them.

The Power of Words

Genesis 1: 1-2

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth

was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the

Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters"

Notice

from the verse of scripture above that although the Spirit of God was there,

the earth was still chaotic. This shows that though the Spirit of God was

present, it did not mean everything was all right; God had to speak to the

situation.

Genesis 1 v 3 “And

God said, Let there be light: and there was light”. In the proper

rendering God said "Light be". The first change came when God spoke definite Words; and

those Words came to pass.

Genesis 1 v 4

"And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from

the darkness".

This

is a marvel; the light was not separated from darkness before this time. It is

interesting to note that only God knew there was light, but if man were looking

without the eyes of faith, all he would have seen would be darkness. Always

look at circumstances and situations with the eyes of faith; that is, the faith

of God. A scripture that’s

connected to this is in the New Testament; 2

Corinthians 4:6 "For God, who commanded the light to shine

out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge

of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ".

God

called the light to come out of darkness; this shows all things are possible. It

doesn't matter how dark your world or circumstances may be, light can shine out

of that darkness. Glory to God!

All

through this chapter, God commanded one thing and the other to be and they

became. Throughout creation, God spoke words; He said let there be light, and

there was light, He spoke the heavens and the earth into being, showing us the

power of words.

Let’s

take a look at God’s relationship with Adam in Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 v 1-4

“Now

the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had

made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every

tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the

fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in

the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall

ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not

surely die"

The

devil challenged what God said; he told Eve that you will not surely die if you

eat of the tree – he deceived her.

Genesis 3 v 6

"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was

pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of

the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he

did eat.

Notice here that although the serpent was talking with

the woman, Adam was there with her. This is contrary to the notion that Adam

had gone out to the farm when it all happened; no, he was there right with Eve,

because the Bible records that she gave the fruit also to her husband with her.

Genesis 3

v 8-9 - "And they heard the voice of

the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his

wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the

garden. And the Lord called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?" They

heard the voice of God walking and talking. They did not see a form; they heard

a voice.

Genesis 3

v 10-11 "And he said, I heard thy

voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the

tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat"

The

first thing God asked them was ‘who told

you that you were naked?’ This is significant because when God made man, he

was to receive spiritual information on how to live; he was to live according

to what he was told. We are to live by what we are told, that

is why God gave us His Word. Jesus said, “man shall not live by bread alone but

by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4 v 4).

Man

was created to live by the Word of God, not by imagination or observations.

Living by your imagination or observation is dangerous. Be careful of the source

of your thoughts; don't live your life by worldly wisdom, or by your own

acquired wisdom, live by the wisdom of God's Word.

In Genesis

3 v 10, when Adam said I heard your voice in the garden, it showed that God

primarily revealed and manifested Himself with a voice. He gave him instructions

in Words and when He came looking for Adam, it was the voice they heard, showing

the importance of words.

Words are valuable

Hebrew

11 v 1-3 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things

not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through

faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that

things which are seen were not made of things which do appear"

The

word ‘worlds’ here is translated from the word Aion. Aion is the course of life, a destiny, one’s

life in the world and the circumstances associated with that life. The word ‘framed’

also used in the Scripture above, is translated from the word Katartizo. Katartizo means to repair, mend, perfect and

restore.

When God wanted to change any situation or

circumstance, the material He used were words - the Rhema of God; that

is, the spoken Word. God effected changes,

repaired the earth through words; so for whatever challenge you may be facing

in your life, you can change it through the spoken Word of God.

Note: Use of terms and expressions in

scriptures

There

are different connotations and expressions for words used in scriptures such

as:

• Voice: the voice is the Word of God (Genesis 3 v 8) “And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the

cool of the day…”

• Words of God and Word of God: these mean the same thing; whether singular or plural, it refers to what God

says.

In Genesis we see

how God spoke creation into being. Over in the

New Testament, we find a beautiful introduction of the Word in the book of

John.

John 1 v 1 "In

the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God The

same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without

him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was

the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness

comprehended it not”.

Reading

through verses 1 – 12 of John chapter 1, it tells us that the voice of God

created all things. That same voice of God that came into the garden made all

things. John 1 v 11 - “He

came unto his own, and his own received him not”. This is the same picture we

see in Genesis, where God came to Adam, but he ran away and hid himself from

God.

John

1 v 14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his

glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth”.

The

Word was made flesh and dwelt among us; this is that same voice that Adam heard.

Adam did not see a form, he heard a voice; the same voice that said let there

be light, the same voice that spoke and creation came into being; that same Word

took on flesh and dwelt among us.

It

is essential to understand that when we talk about the Word of God, we are not

just talking about words in themselves but we are referring and dealing with something

of the substance and nature of God. We are dealing with something deeper than

units of a language; we are dealing with something supernatural, beyond this

world.

In Genesis 4 v 3-7, we learn from the story of two brothers - Cain and

Abel. They both brought offerings to the Lord; however, Cain offered what he

liked, but Abel offered what God wanted. God rejected Cain's offering because

he gave what he had, not what God wanted, but Abel gave what God wanted.

Genesis 4 v 3 -5 “And in process of time it came to pass, that

Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. 4 And Abel,

he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the

Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: 5 But unto Cain and to his

offering he had not respect”.

As a Christian you cannot live for God as you

choose, you live for Him, as He wants you to. How do you worship God? Different

religions worship God the way they think God should be worshiped, but God has

shown us how to worship Him and we can discover this from His Word.

Questions for personal meditation

• Are you pleasing God or yourself?
• Are you living the way God wants you to or are you

living the way you think?

• Are you doing what God is asking you to do, or are you

doing what you think is right?

• Is God happy with what you do?
• What is His will?
• How does He think?
• What is on His mind?

These

are the questions you have to bear in mind. And to answer

these questions, you have to know God’s Word, study God’s Word, and know what He

wants.

Questions &

Answers:

• If you learn the value of Words and how to use them you will live an