First Church of the Nazarene
Pastor Henecke's Sermon Outlines

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Pastor Henecke's Sermon Outlines

The Woodland Street Pulpit

July 25, 2004 AM

According to the Scriptures

2 Peter 1:16-2:3

It was not a fabricated myth, however cleverly devised, that we relied upon when we made known to you the power of our Lord Jesus Christ’s coming; rather it was with our own eyes we witnessed his sovereignty. He was invested with honor and glory from God the Father, in a voice proclaiming to him out of sublime glory, "This is my Son, my Beloved, in whom my favor resides". We ourselves heard this from heaven when it affirmed him, being with him on the sacred mountain.

All of this confirms the message of the prophets, to which you will do well to be attentive; it is a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises to illuminate your hearts. First understand this: no prophetic scripture is a matter of personal interpretation! It was not by human initiative that scripture came, but by compulsion of the Holy Spirit messengers spoke from God.

As Israel had false prophets, there will be false teachers among you, who will introduce their own disruptive views, even disowning the Master who liberated them, thus bringing swift damnation upon themselves. They will gain many disciples of their blasphemies, causing the Way of Truth to be brought into disrespect. In their lust they will exploit (merchandise) you with sheer heresies.

  1. Introduction

    1. How did we get here? How has the church moved from the visitation of God to the people of ancient Israel to our modern Bible classes and churches?

      1. This is what we affirm today

      2. We profess as Gen. Supt. Dr. Chapman wrote:

      The Church of the Nazarene, from its beginnings, has confessed itself to be a branch of the "one, holy, universal, and apostolic" church and has sought to be faithful to it. It confesses as its own the history of the people of God recorded in the Old and New Testaments, and that same history as it has extended from the days of the apostles to our own. As its own people, it embraces the people of God through the ages, those redeemed through Jesus Christ in whatever expression of the one church they may be found. It receives the ecumenical creeds of the first five Christian centuries as expressions of its own faith.

    2. Today let us give ourselves to the Word

      1. How it came from God to us

      2. How we are to regard it

      3. How we must refuse to tamper with it

  2. The Mystery of God Expressed:

    1. It all begins in God

      1. He expresses himself – we call it his word (truth)

      2. What God expresses is his own self

        1. The Word (logos) goes forth from God

        2. It is true to God (its source)

          1. All that it is - is of God

            2. Genesis 1:3 God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

            John 1:1-4

            In the beginning was the Word: the Word was with God for the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things came into being, not one thing came into being except through him. What has come into being in him was life - life that was the light of all humanity.

          2. The Word is God

    2. All your eyes can ever see … all your mind can ever conceive … All that is – beyond your imagination – is God’s expressing self

      1. All begins in God – all is of God

        1. The universe is his

        2. We have been given the ability to know this

        1 John 1:5-7

        The message we learned from him and proclaim to you is that God is light and in him is no darkness at all – none! If we say that we have fellowship with him when we walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live the truth. If we live in the light, as he is within the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.

      2. To know him; and live by that knowledge

    3. The nature of the Word of God:

  1. The Word is God’s expression – spoken

    1. It is his speech which creates history – time

    2. Speech creates hearing

  2. God’s Word is life – existence

    1. No human word can smite or slay – has power over life

    2. Only God can speak his Word – we can speak scripture but not the pure Word

  3. God’s speech is an act of God

    1. Psalm 33:9 God spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.

    2. It is irreversible and eternal

    Isaiah 55:10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return without watering the earth, making it produce grain, giving seed for sowing and bread to eat, so it is with my word issuing from my mouth; it will not return to me empty, without accomplishing my purpose, and succeeding in the thing for which I spoke it.

  4. God’s Word is first spirit then natural - Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed by the Word of God, so that what is seen came forth from the invisible.

    1. So is life – natural life is out of God

    2. Only God’s Word is absolute – all else is exegeses

      1. Our interpretations are less than God’s Word

      2. Scripture is a secondary form of his Word

  1. The Word is made Flesh

    1. God’s Word must complete its purpose
      1. It is at home in what it produces
      2. The speech of God reveals its source
    2. This God speech is the source of life
      1. Necessary for life

        2. Matthew 4:4

        "Man is not to live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

      2. And is the source of our existence
    3. This Word – God’s speech - is what became incarnate as Jesus
      1. Jesus was God speaking to us

        2. John 1:14

        So the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

        1 John 1:1

        What existed from the beginning, we have heard, we have seen with our own eyes, we gazed upon and touched with our hands - the Word of life. That life was made visible; we saw it and are now declaring our testimony to you of the eternal life, which was with the Father and revealed to us.

      2. What he spoke is/was life
      3. This is why, when many left Christ Peter said:

      John 6:68

      "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we believe; we have come to know that you are the Holy One of God."

    4. It is through this Word that we are born of God

      5. 1 Peter 1:23

      You have been born anew, not of mortal seed but of immortal, through the living and enduring Word of God;

      1. God’s Word is our only hope
      2. Our profession is dependent – built on - the word
    5. But – the Word is a person

Hebrews 4:12

The Word of God is alive and active. It cuts more keenly than any two-edged sword, piercing so deeply that it divides soul and spirit, joints and marrow, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Nothing in creation is hidden from him; everything is bare and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render account.

  1. How are we to Know the Word
    1. So, God unveils himself in his Word – as Jesus
    2. Those who saw him (direct witnesses) and heard him
      1. They were inspired to write it to/for us (I John 1:4)
      2. The unchanging sacred texts
    3. This is how you are to hear and believe
  1. God speaks to us as/in Jesus
  2. Those who heard and believed both proclaim and write
  3. The church preserves the true writings
  4. Those who believe the preserved Word are born of God
  5. They proclaim it to us and we believe and are born of God
  6. The true preacher is a messenger (not an author)
    1. He does not add to the Word
    2. In faithfully repeating the sacred text God is experienced
    1. This faith is the key to your living a victorious life of faith:

1 Thessalonians 2:13

We thank God continually because, when we handed on God’s Word, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it truly is, the very Word of God, at work in you believers.



Pastor Henecke's PM Sermon Outline


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Last updated: July 21, 2004