The Power Of God's Word

February 8, 2026

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:10

First Wednesdays, we've been going through how to study methods as a class I teach at Foster College. The Lord saying, you know, you can teach academics, why you can't teach the people, so I said, okay. So uh we kick it off this past Wednesday. So every first Wednesday, we are gonna go through that if you're interested in learning how to study even more the scriptures. We want to help you understand that. So just really feel there to say a word about the word and to say something also during this month. I don't know if I'll get to it in February, but I'll definitely get to it in March about the black church. And those issues out there that the black church is in an ethnocentric, it's been universal-centric. So even though it has been specifically called out for a certain ethnicity, black people, it has always had a universal outreach. And all ethnicities have been welcomed in the black churches. I want to be very clear on that. But I want to say something about the word today. So, Isaiah 55, verses 6 through 11. And here's what the prophet says seek the Lord while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways, and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them. And to our God he will freely pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, do not return to it without watering the earth and make it blood, bud, and flourish. So that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater. So is my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return empty. But will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Amen. Somebody say, Thank God for the word. And I want to talk about the power of God's word. Hear me well today. We live in an unfortunate era in which those in positions of power have opted to distort and even go so far as to erase the American story, most specifically, the African American story. They promote dangerously unfounded narratives and misinformation regarding the history and the experience of black people in this country. Thus, black history serves not only as a solemn duty and responsibility to the truth, but our moral imperative to preserve with diligence the authentic accounts of our past. And if you don't think the truth of history is not under assault, it's not an accident that this administration did what they did during Black History Month regarding former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama. And in light of that, we must tell and amplify the truth and dispel the lies and make sure our history reflects the rich and complex experiences of African Americans throughout history. In a word, we gotta tell our own story. And the African proverb takes it one step further. Until the lions have their own historians, the hunter will always be the hero of the story. Tell your neighbor, we gotta tell our own story. And nothing can be truer on this point than telling our story of faith. We are a people of faith. And as a people of faith, we've been a people of the book. It was the book that taught us about a God who cared for us with an unconditional love. It was the book that told us about the story of redemption through Jesus Christ our Lord. It was the book that told us the truth about justice and liberation, and that our God was a God of the oppressed and the marginalized. It was the book that told us that we were made in the image of our Creator and never destined to be treated as a seventh-class citizen. It was the book that gave us a desire to read and to write and to pursue education and skill. It was the book that inspired churches to build HBCUs, black businesses, and hospitals. We've been a people of the faith. And by default, that makes us a people of the book. And just a quick perusal of the sacred music tradition of the black church, the spirituals, the hymn book of our ancestors, reveals an abiding love and faith in the book. Sounds like God me, O God, great Jehovah. Pilgrim through this barren land. Calls the 40-year wilderness wanderings of the nation of Israel. Then we took it another step further and said, Bread of heaven, bread of heaven, feed me. Somebody know this song till I won't know more. And that reminded us that God sent us in the person of Jesus Christ. The bread of heaven that can feed our weary souls. Songs like Mary, don't you weep, Martha Don't You Moan, for Pharaoh's army's been drowned in the Red Sea. Two stories that absolutely have nothing in common. And yet the black church creatively tied them together to project to us the unmitigated power of God. That if God can deliver Israel through a Red Sea, Mary and Martha, you don't need to moan and cry. Jesus can handle a dead Lazarus. I'm simply trying to say that our forefathers knew something about the power of the word through slavery and reconstruction and Jim and Jane, Jim, uh Jim and Jane Crow in separate but allegedly equal systems, racism and now Trumpism. The church has trusted the power of the word. There's power in the word. And that's what Isaiah is trying to remind the exiles here in this text in Isaiah 55. He wants them to know now that the word still has power. Matter of fact, I don't have anything deep in terms of a thesis statement this morning. It really repeats what Isaiah would say. There's still power in his word. Anybody know there's still power in his word? There's still power in his word. Chapter 55 captures the aspirations of the exiles living in Babylon. Been there for some 70 years. They're longing for a day of redemption. A day in which God will bring Israel back home. These folk had been in exile for too long and they wanted to go home. And how many of y'all know God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think? Here in Isaiah 55, God says, No, I'm gonna do a little bit better than that. Not only am I gonna take you home, but I'm gonna lay out my universal plan of salvation. In 55, he gives us the crescendo of that plan. And Isaiah paints this picture of a banquet spread, a royal banquet fit for kings and dignitaries, a state dinner for foreign leaders that come to visit our country. God lays it out, sparing no expense, laying it out in exquisite fashion and dignity. And he doesn't just lay it out for the special and for the leaders and the kings, but he lays it out for all people and all nations. And God himself serves as the host of this banquet, and he invites the world to come and the feast at its banquet. He invites Jews and Gentiles, He invites Americans and undocumented workers, He invites Democrats and Republicans, He invites Latinos, Asians, black, white, single, and married. He invites all to come. And the cost to eat at this banquet is free, signifying the grace that we now have in Jesus Christ. Because in Isaiah 53, he pays the price. And we get the full benefits of the price in Isaiah 55. And God literally prepares a table before the world where there are no enemies, no adversaries. He anoints every head with oil, every cup is overflowing because God's salvation has been made complete by the great, great work of our Savior Jesus Christ. And the vision is so grand, and the vision is so magnanimous. Vision is so good, too good to be true, that the people don't believe it. They say, God, that that's not a vision, that's a fantasy. You mean to tell me Babylonians and Israelites gonna sit down together? You mean to tell me Palestinians and Jews gonna sit down together in peace? That is a fantasy. It'll never happen. And Isaiah comes back and said, No, no, no, you got to remember this this is not some fantasy that we made up. This is thus saith the Lord. This is the word of God. This is what God has planned. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, he says, So also is it with my word. It will not return empty, it will accomplish what I desire. And in a word, Isaiah says, the word still has power. And I don't know who I'm talking to today, but maybe you're feeling what Israel is feeling in this text. Israel was suffering from a bad case of uh unexpected, extended layover. They were in a place longer than they had expected. Those of you who travel, you know something about those extended layovers. When you have an unexpected, extended layover, after a while you start getting a little anxious. You begin to doubt, you begin to wonder, wait a minute, can this airline handle my travel? You kind of get a little bit of an attitude because you feel justified because you're nowhere near your destination and they got your own hole. Matter of fact, you start thinking about purchasing another airline ticket on another airline. And you're wondering, can they handle it? Matter of fact, if they keep you laid over for too long, you say, I will never fly southwest again. I'll never fly Delta again. I'm done with this airline. That's what the people were feeling in this text. They were feeling an unexpected, extended layover. I don't know about you, that ain't something that happened some two and a half, two, uh, 2,500 years ago. But sometimes God has a way of working in our lives that we feel that we're in our own unexpected, extended layover. Some of you this morning, you have an unexpected, extended layover in your unemployment. You've been laid off for longer than you had planned. You have an unexpected, extended layover in your loneliness. You've been by yourself for longer than you had planned. You have an unexpected, extended layover in a bad relationship. It's time out for this. It's time to move on. Somebody here's having an extended layover in a bad marriage, in family, and children. And how many of y'all know sometimes it's even dealing with church folk? That can be an extended layover. And God here says to his people, I've come to tell you, I know you feel like you've been in a place too long, but there's still power in God's word. God's word is able to sustain you and keep you. God's word is able to do something new in you. Matter of fact, Isaiah says it in this book: the grass withers, the flower faded, but the word of the Lord will stand forever. The word still has the power to bring us through. A couple things, and I'll be out of your way. Number one, the word reminds us in those extended layovers of God's mercy. It reminds us of God's mercy. He says, Seek the Lord while ye may be found. Call on him while he is near. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will bring mercy, he will have mercy on them, and he will freely pardon. In other words, the word reminds us, no matter where we are, no matter what we're going through, that God is on our side. That God knows exactly what we're going through, and God has not forsaken us. Even when we've done the things that may have displeased God, does anybody know God is still there to give us mercy? He's a merciful God. The psalmist was right, his mercy endureth forever. In other words, I may have a lot of issues, I may have a lot of challenges, I may have a lot of stuff going on in my life, but it can't outlast the mercy of God in my life. Matter of fact, if I can testify here what I'm going through, I don't want to hear a little cute Bible verse. Don't give me your little tired, irrelevant theology. No, if you want to help me, tell me that God is still on my side. If you want to help me tell me that in a dark alley, I may feel like I'm by myself, but God is with me in the darkest valley. If I'm walking through the valley of the shadow of death, remind me that God is with me. I can't see my way, but there's somebody with me that can see me through it. Tell somebody that's God's mercy. But don't miss what Isaiah said. He says, Let them turn to the Lord. Let them turn to the Lord. I'm gonna say that again. Let them turn to the Lord. I'm gonna say it one more time. Let them turn to the Lord. You can't turn to the Lord unless you turn away from the Lord. And I don't know about you. When life doesn't go our way, it's easy to fall away from God. Y'all not hearing me today. And that's what's going on in the text. The exiles, they have doubt, they have skepticism. They've been in a 70-year extended layover, and they're falling away from God. And God says, No, now is the time to turn to me. Now is the time to trust me. In a word, sometimes it's those places of exile that reveals what is out of order in me. It reveals what God is working on in me. Dr. Charles Dayton of Progressive Baptist Church in Chicago, Illinois, said this: the Bible's purpose is to bring order to the chaos that sin created. In other words, many of us know that our society is out of order. Can we agree on that? Our society is out of order. Many of us know that our nation is out of order. Many of us know that sometimes a whole lot of people that we deal with are out of order. Does anybody know that church folk are sometimes out of order? Many of us know that families are out of order. But we gotta be honest with ourselves. Sometimes I'm out of order. And the good news is when I come before God and I admit that I'm out of order, does anybody know he has mercy for my life? Does anybody know he has forgiveness for my life? God has mercy for me when I hold on to the power of his word. See, I don't need mercy if I'm never out of order, church. Mercy is for the folk who need it. If you don't need it, guess what? You don't need mercy. You're never out of order. But but one writer said it so well, the deeply formed life, Rich Validos. He said, many times we have to understand that our lives are just like an iceberg. He says like an iceberg. If you saw the movie Titanic, you know that that iceberg is what sunk the ship Titanic. And he said, he said it like this. He said, a lot of times we we see an iceberg and we know that the 10% that we see above the water is incomparable to the 90% below the water. And when it came to the Titanic, though they saw the 10%, that's not what sunk the ship. It was the 90% below the water that sank the ship. And he says, from that parallel, a lot of times we can see the 10% that God wants to work on in our lives. But it's the 90% that we can't see that can destroy our lives. But the good news of the gospel is God has mercy for the 10% that we can see, and the 90% that we can't see. Somebody ought to thank God for his mercy. Ha, number one, number one, the power of the word reminds me of his mercy. But then number two, the power of the word reminds me of God's character. God says, the reason why you don't believe this is because you think you know me, but you really don't know me. For my thoughts are not your thoughts. My ways are not your ways. High as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways hiding your ways, and my thoughts hiding your thoughts. In a word, God says, I'm inexhaustible. There's a part of me that you can know me, but you can't fully know me. Just when you think you know three layers of me, there are three million layers of me that you don't know. God says, I'm inexhaustible. The next time you think you figured me out, just step outside, look up, and as high as you can see in the sky, that's about how close you've come to figuring out what I'm doing in your life. God says He is inexhaustible, and we struggle with that. Because just when we think we know God, He reveals a layer to let us know you don't know me like that, baby. Tell your neighbor, you ain't all that. This gets into what we call theology in the academic world. And I know theology has a negative connotation sometimes for us because it can be so academic and forensic that it doesn't have the spirit of God or the power of God to make a difference in our lives. But the truth is, though many of us are not technically theologians, we all have a theology. I don't have time to chase that down. We all have a belief system in terms of how God operates in our lives. And so when academics use the word theology, what they mean is they're trying to give us the language and the context to understand how God reveals Himself. That's the goal of theology is to translate this non-translatable God into a language and into a sound that we can understand. And so there's usually two categories how God is described. The first is called communicable attributes. C-O-M-M-U-N-I-C-A-B-L-E. It's not communicable disease. Say amen. Communicable attributes. And what that means is we share common attributes with God on some level. There's some things we have in common with God. And so, for example, we know God is gracious. And that means we can be gracious. We know God is patient. Catch me on the right day, sometimes I'm patient. We know God is loving. But that means we also can be loving. And so we we know that God is wise. But we know also that as human beings, we can be wise. Those are communicable attributes. Those are things we have in common, we share in common with God. But where we miss the both sometimes is that God has what is called incommunicable attributes. That is, these are traits that we don't have in common with God. And sometimes we struggle when it comes with God. And so, for example, we may have a little knowledge, but we're not omniscient. In other words, you may know something, but you don't know everything. We may have a little power, but you're not omnipotent. You don't have all power. So you got to buy your power a little bit in his presence. We have a sense of presence, but we're not omnipresent. We're not everywhere at the same time. David said, if I descend down in the Sheol, Yahweh there. God is everywhere at the same time. Even when I can't feel him in a dark alley, God is there. Because he's omnipresent. Bible says he's eternal. We have a beginning. God does not have a beginning. When beginning began, God was already there. And when end ends, God will be there as well. He has no beginning or end. Because he's eternal. That's why Moses says, From everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God. God never gets tired. Bible says he doesn't sleep or slumber. And like my younger son said one time, my wife told him he was scared to go to sleep. And so he wanted to sleep with the light on. And so my wife told him, He said, Well, did you know that God doesn't sleep or slumber? He said, Well, ain't no sense in both of us be up all night. He went to sleep and has slept all night ever since. Because God doesn't get tired. But here's the one we struggle with. God is independent. It is. God is the only independent being in existence. Pastor, what are you talking about? I'm independent. I can do whatever I want to do. You're not independent like God is independent. You may be independent in that you can go wherever you want to go, do what you want to do, or what have you. But you still need air to breathe. You still need food to eat. You still need some structure in your life to have a sense of sanity. God doesn't need any of that. God doesn't need food to eat. God doesn't get hungry. God doesn't need air to breathe. He made, he's in air and gives us life. That's why he told Moses, I am that I am. I'm everything you can possibly need. He's independent. Watch this. He's independent because he made all things. He's independent because he sustains all things. He's independent because he knows all things. Which means he has authority over all things. And that's where we struggle. And when we say God has authority of all things, watch this. He don't need our opinion. Y'all gonna get quiet on me now? My mentor, Pastor Freddie Haynes, would say if he isn't Lord of all, he ain't Lord at all. God knows all things, he made all things, he sustains all things, which means the only thing he understands from us is humility and submission. Shay tried to tell you it's worship. There's nothing else to bring to God but our worship. There's nothing you can help God out with. He doesn't need my help, he doesn't need my opinion, he sure don't need my vote. Okay? And wait, he don't need to have a conversation. Well, God, let's just sit down and talk about this trust. No. I've been to beginning and end. I've made everything. Why in the world would I consult you on what I'm trying to do in your life? Our struggle is we struggle to submit and humble ourselves before an Almighty God. Ah. So God is a is a is God has authority over all things. But watch this. God has good authority. Not like this administration, bad authority. He has good authority. And his authority, watch this, when I humble myself, is good for me. I may not like what God is doing in my life, but if I trust him and look back over what he was doing, I'm gonna be better with him than I would have been with myself. Y'all are not getting this. So here it is, here it is, here it is. State of Texas has the authority to give us the freedom of the independence to drive on their highways. They have that authority. You get a license, tell your neighbor, you're supposed to have a license. Tell your neighbor. And insurance. And insurance. You get a license and you get legal insurance. State of Texas will let you drive wherever you want to go. You can go when you want to go. You can drive how you want to drive. As long as you obey the signs and the traffic laws. Now, watch this. The laws are not designed to hinder you. The laws are designed to keep you safe. In the same way, our God is good authority. His word is not trying to hinder us or break us, but it's trying to keep us safe and to bless us. Oh, let me finish this thing up. Here we go. My last thought, now I'm out of here. The word reminds us of God's pattern. When he talks about the word, and he talks about its ability to not return void, he's talking about the creative power of the word. It's a word that goes back to Genesis chapter 1. He says in Isaiah 55, 10, he says, My word will not return void. It's a hyperlink back to Genesis chapter 1. How did God create? He just spoke it into existence. He said, Let there be light. Light had to show up. Even if light was doing something it had no business doing. Because God called light, light with the running. It had no choice. The point is the power is in his word. And here's what I love about it. He's basically saying all you gotta do is look at creation and all that I've done in the world to know that if I can do all this, what do you think I can do in your situation? See, see, Shay and Reggie, they just made good music today. Had a good song and had good music to go with the song. But when they created that, they had to get the lyrics and the notes from somebody else. Anytime we create something, we got to get some help from somebody. They had to get the notes, the words, the songs, the beat, the feel from somebody else. Just like I got some good cooks in this church. Folk that can flat out throw down. But make no mistake, the recipes that they use that work, they got the recipe from somebody else. And though they made a great dish, they got some help to make a great dish. It doesn't matter what it is. Maybe you're trying to write a novel. You gotta do some research first before you sit down and write the novel. You didn't just create the novel out of thin air. That's not how God creates.

SPEAKER_02 30:33

God says I don't need a thing. All I have to do is just say it. And it comes into existence. Women is death, I can bring life. Women is pain, I can bring healing. With them is confusing, I can bring harmony. Cause the power is in my word.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh, I feel this. So let me show you how God showed up this week. Help me put this thing together. He said, Archie, you know there's power in my word. I said, Oh Lord, I know. But I didn't see it. So in my house, my wife and I, we have a wonderful game room. That's where we go relax. And we have a nice flat screen TV. Amen. But the soundbar was tripping. Soundbar was tripping. I thought I was getting old and just couldn't hear. I said, the devil is a liar. I'm buying another soundbar. So I bought another sound bar. But I couldn't get the soundbar to sync with one remote. And so for about a day, I had to use the soundbar remote to turn up the sound and use the TV remote to change the channel. How many of y'all know that's just old and tired? I got tired of that. So I started searching the internet, went with AI. Is there a way that I can sync the soundbar and the TV on one remote? And I got all kind of ideas. And none of them worked. Some said try this, try that, try this. AI chat GBT said try this, and none of it worked. I was ready to give up until something told me, go read the instruction manual. Y'all know I'm going somewhere, right? Go read the instruction manual. I picked up the instruction manual, and the manual told me that you have two outputs in your soundbar. An audio optical sound put and an HDMI soundput. If you use the audio optical soundput, it may not sync your remote. But if you use the HDMI output, it will sync the remote and the soundbar. I looked behind my soundbar, guess which output I was using? I was using the audio optical soundbar output. I changed it over to the HDMI soundput. And because I went back to the instruction manual, it sinked together the soundbar and the TV.

SPEAKER_02 33:37

And the Lord said to me in that moment, if if if bows can think a sound bar with a TV, what do you think that word can do for your life? It is word.

SPEAKER_01 34:31

There's still power in his word. God's instruction, man. Tell your neighbor, I dare you to get in the word. I dare you to get in his word. There's power still in his word. Come on, let's bow before the Lord and prepare our hearts for the Lord's Supper. That's what our forefathers leaned on, y'all. And God used the word to bring them from slavery to reconstruction.

SPEAKER_00 35:14

And racism. And all the other isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 35:22

We need to get there more than us.