Here's Pastor Alan Wright with today's blessing—a biblical, faith-filled vision for your life. Child of God, the blood of Jesus has been shed for you. The work is finished, and I bless you to believe it, and I bless you to apply it. You're like the Hebrew fathers in Egypt who were told to take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel, Exodus twelve seven. The sacrifice has been made.
The promise is sure. Wherever there is the blood, the destroyer shall not be allowed in. When I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Exodus twelve thirteen. That's what the Lord assured.
It wasn't about the Hebrews' righteousness. It wasn't about the father's merit. It was about the blood. May you walk and live and love with confidence and joy. Because you know the blood of Jesus has been painted.
Over your life, pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Allen Wright, it'll make you fall in love with the Word of God if you think it's like a mysterious seed that could come inside of me and could grow to such a height that'll transport me to another realm, another realm where though there might be still scary warfare that's going on, that even a little child who is humble enough can see through it and can plunder the enemy's camp and ultimately. Defeat the enemy because of this mysterious seed that had risen, and you and I are the ones who, in the name of Jesus, by the invisible and mysterious working of the Word of God within us, are transported to a different place of understanding, where we have been filled with every spiritual blessing in Christ, in unspeakable riches that are ours in Him. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt.
Excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series "Gateways to Grace" as presented at Renolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now, which can be yours for your donation this month to Allen Wright Ministries. As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org, or call eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty.
That's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. While at our website, please let us know how we may pray for you. Submit your prayer request to our prayer wall and be uplifted and encouraged as the community around this ministry starts praying for you and receive notifications as you're. Request is prayed for. That's the prayer wall at Pastor Alan dot org.
We're honored to stand with you in prayer. More on all of this later in the program, but right now, let's get started with today's teaching. Here is Allen Wright. One big tear started rolling down his cheek, and he said, "Are young people really meeting Jesus in that way because of these changes we made?" I said yes, they are. And then a huge grin came on his face.
He said, "That's wonderful. I'm sorry I've been so upset." I said, "Oh, I understand. That's fine." And we started walking upstairs. And halfway up, he turned to me like a different countenance and said, "I feel like the weight of the world's been lifted off my shoulders and gave me a huge hug, and everything changed." Do you see how one little revelation can clear your whole mind and set you free? Who wouldn't want that?
We have it in the Word of God every day, all the time. The Word of God that is so cleansing. And I think what happens also is that the holiest longings inside of you. I'm talking about the deeper longing. Like when the stuff of the world and the allures of the flesh are trying to pull you away, what I'm saying is that inside of you, I believe, there is a deeper longing for that which is healthy and right and good.
There's a holy longing inside of you, and what happens when you come to the word, even if you came only out of raw discipline, to open up the Bible and start reading it in a given day, that holy longing inside of you. Inside of you is going to start resonating with the sound of the word. It's like two sounds that then begin harmonizing with one another, and then they're just together like this. And I think there's a holy longing inside of you that is inside of every single born again Christian, because Jesus said the flesh is weak, but the spirit is willing, and that word could be translated desiring. There is.
A deep spirit alive within you. You are alive, a living spirit, and your spirit is longing for the Word of God. And the more that you feed on the Word of God, the more that the stuff of the world does not appeal to you, and the Word just cleanses and cleanses and cleanses.
So, if you want to fall in love with the Word of God. Forgive about all the times that somebody bashed you overhead with moralism, because the Word of God is not condemning; it is cleansing. And even if you are convicted by the Holy Spirit, it is for the purpose of drawing you in to the Father's heart. And here's a fourth way: I would say stop seeing Scripture as static. I couldn't think of a better word.
It just means it means it means Frozen in place and wooden, and and not moving and not organic. Stop seeing it as static, and start seeing it as life-giving, eternity infused, spiritual seed. And see your heart as the soil. This turns everything away from trying to have a daily devotional. And then I remember sometimes as a young person go, Well, I read the Bible today.
I read a chapter, and I didn't get anything out of it. It's the wrong way to think about that. It's not about me saying whether I got something out of it. Here is what it's about: if it's seed, it's about something of it getting into me. My heart's the soil.
The word is the seed. Jesus told a parable about a sower. He sowed some seed.
Some was trampled.
Some was eaten by birds.
Some fell on rock.
Some got mixed up in the thorns. But some found good soil, and when it did, it sprouted and it produced a hundredfold. And Jesus didn't always explain his parables, but he did this one. Luke eight verse eleven.
Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God.
So Jesus sees. The word, like seed, like little seed that can germinate and grow into something much bigger. That's what seed is. Seed has life in it when it finds soil. First Peter one twenty three.
Since you've been born again, not of perishable seed, but imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God. Say this is a different kind of seed. This is the stuff of eternity. This has got the life of God in it. Wow.
Verse twenty-four: For all flesh is like grass, and its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers; the flower falls. But the word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you. It's seed, and it's eternal, and it's imperishable.
So it gets in you, and it can't be stopped. The writer Hebrews said in chapter four, verse twelve: The word of God is living. An active means when you take in the seed, even one little seed, it's not just you got some information; it's you got something of God inside of you that can germinate. And you may not feel it today, but it might be sprouting a year from now. But it was in you.
I don't know, you know, why I thought of this, but you know, some of these children's stories, what these fables and stuff—they were horror stories. Why do we read those things? I was thinking of Jack and the Beanstalk. Don't read Jack and the Beanstalk to your kids. Y'all have nightmares.
That thing is a terrible story. You know, this boy is told by his mother to go to town and sell the cow, and instead, somebody says, "I'll give you five magic beans," and he trades the cow for the five magic beans. He comes home, the mother so frustrated with him that the boy just runs up to go to bed with no supper, and she throws the beans out the window. And one of them finds root and springs up into this magic beanstalk, and it goes up into a whole other realm, and he climbs up in there. But there's this terrifying giant up there.
I had nightmares of this giant. Fie, fie, fo, fum! I smell the blood of an Englishman. Be he alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread. What?
Why do we read this stuff to our kids? But the boy sees a sack of gold coins, and he sneaks out, stealing the gold coins, and he scurries back down the beanstalk and gives the gold to his mother, and she's happy. And then later, he climbs up again, and there's the same scary giant, fee, fie, fo, fum! I smell the blood of an Englishman. But this time, he sees a hen, and the boy takes the hen and takes it back down.
The hen lays a golden egg, and his mother's happy. When the boy climbs up a third time, he takes a magical harp that made beautiful music. But this time, the giant saw him. It's terrifying, and the giant ran after Jack. But Jack shimmyed down that beanstalk before the giant.
And as the giant tried to come down, he cut the beanstalk, and the giant fell down and hit the ground and died. Whoo! Oh, I would tell those stories, except for maybe some of these stories. Don't realize that they are telling our story. I am not saying that the Word of God is magic, but I am saying it's spirit-filled.
It is mysterious, and the writer Hebrews says it's living and it's active. It's not static; it's doing something in you. It'll make you fall in love with the Word of God if you think it's like a mysterious seed that could come inside of me and could grow to such a height that'll transport me to another realm, another realm where though there might be still scary warfare that's going on, that even a little child who is humble enough can see through it and can plunder the enemy's camp and ultimately defeat the enemy because of this mysterious seed. Had risen, and you and I are the ones who, in the name of Jesus, by the invisible and mysterious working of the Word of God within us, are transported to a different place of understanding, where we have been filled with every spiritual blessing in Christ, in unspeakable riches that are ours in Him. Wow.
So, if you want to fall in love with the Word of God, then don't see it as a little instruction book. There's wisdom there, of course, and there are principles to learn. But see it as a big story, and start seeing it as your feast, and let your deepest appetite get connected to the feast of God's grace that is available to you there. And think of the cleansing power. Of this word, and think much of how the word of God's like seed, and then finally, if you want to fall in love with the word of God, stop thinking of discovering principles, and start thinking of meeting a person.
John one, verse one: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God, and all things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
In the beginning was the Word, the Logos. The whole ordering principle of the cosmos, and Jesus is that living Word. The Word became flesh, and we have beheld His glory. All of Scripture is about Him. All of Scripture is pointing to Him.
All of Scripture is introducing Him. When he was with the disciples on the road to Emmaus on the day of the resurrection, and those disciples were utterly despondent, and Jesus steps up alongside of them, and they didn't even recognize him. And he said, "What are you talking about?" They said, "Are you the only one in Israel that doesn't know the events of this week?" There was one, Jesus of Nazareth. We had hoped he was going to be the Savior, but he's been crucified. They were just bemoaning all the horror of the events, and they they didn't know they're standing next to Jesus.
And then they fellowshiped with him, and and he began to share with them. The text says, all the scriptures concerning himself. He began unveiling to them that all of the Bible was actually about Him. That the first Adam was really ultimately pointing to there would be a second Adam, and just as though all were born in the first Adam in the flesh, anyone who trusts in Him is born into a second Adam who is holy and pure. He began to show them how the Passover Lamb and all the sacrifices year after year were actually about the one true Passover Lamb who had to be sacrificed and His blood was shed.
And how it was Him, the Lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world. He began to talk to them about the images that Daniel had about how there would be kingdoms that would become crashing down one after the other, and two, there was a kingdom that would endure, and that it was the kingdom of God. And this is why He had said, "Behold, the kingdom of God is at hand, and is in your midst." He began to teach them about proverbs and how. When wisdom was spoken of, personified that actually He is the one who was all wise. He took them through Isaiah and he looked at the scriptures about how there would be a savior who would be born of a virgin, how there would be someone who would suffer great suffering on their behalf, and that by His wounds they would be healed.
He was showing it was Him, Jesus. He showed them the whole of the scripture and said, "It's all about Me." And then the text says, "Their hearts burned within them, and they had a meal together. And their eyes were open in the breaking of the bread, and they saw Jesus. And they ran for joy to tell everyone, 'This is what is offered to us in the Word of God—a daily meeting with the Savior of the world.'" You can fall in love with the idea of reading scripture because you can fall in love with the the textures and taste and beauty and riches of the word of God. Don't see it as an instruction manual.
See it as a beautiful once upon a time and happily ever after. Let whatever it is that you're hungering for, that deepest hunger within you, what is it for? Purpose, fulfillment, peace? What are you looking for? Let that hunger say, "Can the world satisfy that?" No, it can't.
And let that hunger come, and taste and see that the Lord is good, and eat this scroll, and find it like honey in your mouth. And when you read the word, let it be like antiseptic. Let it be cleansing agency to you. Let it be the washing of the word, like water, giving your mind a bath, where you find yourself liberated from the clutter of muddied thoughts, and find yourself filled up with this wonderful sense of your holiness in Christ and the cleansing power that just makes. You feel pure on the inside.
Again, long for that. Expect that from Him, and let this incredible, powerful Word of God do an amazing, living, active thing in you. As if, as if you're a farmer and you get to just sow the seed into the soil of your heart, not knowing how high that beanstalk might grow. And every time that you open up the Bible, I suggest you say, "Jesus, this is your word. This is your story.
It's all about you." And I've come to spend some time with you in your word. I'd like to meet with you, and I'd like you to talk to me. I'd like to see you in these pages. I'd like you to help me see myself where I fit into this story, and I open my heart to commune with you. I love the Word of God because I love the Living Word, Jesus Christ, and every page is about Him.
It's the best-selling book of all time, so it's worthy of reading for everybody. But for the believer, it is our daily, daily joy, and that's the gospel. Pastor Alan Wright, our good news message: Five ways to fall in love with the Word of God. It's from the series "The Gateways of Grace," and I encourage you to stay with us because Pastor Alan is back here in the studio sharing a parting good news thought for our day. Here in just a moment.
What if growing closer to God isn't about trying harder?
So often, we approach spiritual growth with a list of things we need to do: pray more, read more, be better. But what if the secret to spiritual transformation isn't found in greater effort, but in experiencing more of God's grace? In his book *The Gateways of Grace*, Pastor Alan Wright invites you to discover a fresh perspective on spiritual growth through timeless practices like Scripture, prayer, meditation, wonder, and rest. You'll discover how to create space for the Holy Spirit to work in your life. These spiritual disciplines aren't obligations that earn God's favor; they're gateways that open our hearts to experience more of God's goodness, peace, and transforming grace.
When you give to Allenwright Ministries, you help share the gospel with listeners around the world. And when you give today, we'll send you Pastor Alan's book, The Gateways of Grace, as our thanks to discover these aren't just disciplines; they're gateways. Step through them and discover the grace that's been waiting for you. The gospel is shared when you give to Allen Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.
When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Allen Wright Ministries. Call us at eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. That's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty, or come to our website pastorallen dot org. Back here now in the studio with Pastor Alan, the conclusion of five ways to fall in love with the Word of God.
So let's recap them. Stop seeing the Bible as an instruction manual and start seeing it as epic good news, one big story. Start seeing the Scripture as spiritual food, and bring your deepest appetite to it. What do you need? What do you crave?
God's Word is the food. Stop seeing Scripture thirdly as condemning, and see it as cleansing. I think some people feel like I am just going to feel guilty if I go to the Word of God. No, the Bible says of itself that it's cleansing. Stop seeing Scripture as something static.
Start seeing it as life-giving. Like if you really see that it's full of eternity, spiritual seed, and your heart's the soil, you want to take in life. That's what you are doing. Stop thinking of discovering principles. And start thinking of meeting a person.
Think of meeting Jesus every time you open up the Word of God. You start thinking about those five ways, and you are going to fall in love with the Word of God. Thanks for listening today. Visit us online at pastorallen. dot org or call eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty.
That's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. If you only caught part of today's teaching, not only can you listen again online, but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching, delivered right to your e. Email inbox free. Find out more about these and other resources at pastorallen dot org. That's pastorallen dot o r g.
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