The Power Of God's Word

February 8, 2026

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:10):
First Wednesdays, we've been going through how to
study methods as a class I teachat Foster College.
The Lord saying, you know, youcan teach academics, why you
can't teach the people, so Isaid, okay.
So uh we kick it off this pastWednesday.
So every first Wednesday, we aregonna go through that if you're
interested in learning how tostudy even more the scriptures.

(00:33):
We want to help you understandthat.
So just really feel there to saya word about the word and to say
something also during thismonth.
I don't know if I'll get to itin February, but I'll definitely
get to it in March about theblack church.
And those issues out there thatthe black church is in an
ethnocentric, it's beenuniversal-centric.
So even though it has beenspecifically called out for a

(00:57):
certain ethnicity, black people,it has always had a universal
outreach.
And all ethnicities have beenwelcomed in the black churches.
I want to be very clear on that.
But I want to say somethingabout the word today.
So, Isaiah 55, verses 6 through11.

(01:20):
And here's what the prophet saysseek the Lord while he may be
found.
Call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake theirways, and the unrighteous their
thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, andhe will have mercy on them.

(01:43):
And to our God he will freelypardon.
For my thoughts are not yourthoughts.
Neither are your ways my ways,declares the Lord.
As the heavens are higher thanthe earth, so are my ways higher
than your ways, and my thoughtsthan your thoughts.
As the rain and the snow comedown from heaven, do not return

(02:08):
to it without watering the earthand make it blood, bud, and
flourish.
So that it yields seed for thesower and bread for the eater.
So is my word that goes out frommy mouth.
It will not return empty.

(02:33):
But will accomplish what Idesire and achieve the purpose
for which I sent it.
Amen.
Somebody say, Thank God for theword.
And I want to talk about thepower of God's word.

(02:53):
Hear me well today.
We live in an unfortunate era inwhich those in positions of
power have opted to distort andeven go so far as to erase the
American story, mostspecifically, the African
American story.
They promote dangerouslyunfounded narratives and

(03:17):
misinformation regarding thehistory and the experience of
black people in this country.
Thus, black history serves notonly as a solemn duty and
responsibility to the truth, butour moral imperative to preserve
with diligence the authenticaccounts of our past.

(03:38):
And if you don't think the truthof history is not under assault,
it's not an accident that thisadministration did what they did
during Black History Monthregarding former President
Barack Obama and former FirstLady Michelle Obama.
And in light of that, we musttell and amplify the truth and

(04:01):
dispel the lies and make sureour history reflects the rich
and complex experiences ofAfrican Americans throughout
history.
In a word, we gotta tell our ownstory.

(04:24):
And the African proverb takes itone step further.
Until the lions have their ownhistorians, the hunter will
always be the hero of the story.
Tell your neighbor, we gottatell our own story.
And nothing can be truer on thispoint than telling our story of
faith.

(04:45):
We are a people of faith.
And as a people of faith, we'vebeen a people of the book.
It was the book that taught usabout a God who cared for us
with an unconditional love.
It was the book that told usabout the story of redemption
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

(05:05):
It was the book that told us thetruth about justice and
liberation, and that our God wasa God of the oppressed and the
marginalized.
It was the book that told usthat we were made in the image
of our Creator and neverdestined to be treated as a
seventh-class citizen.
It was the book that gave us adesire to read and to write and

(05:28):
to pursue education and skill.
It was the book that inspiredchurches to build HBCUs, black
businesses, and hospitals.
We've been a people of thefaith.
And by default, that makes us apeople of the book.
And just a quick perusal of thesacred music tradition of the

(05:52):
black church, the spirituals,the hymn book of our ancestors,
reveals an abiding love andfaith in the book.
Sounds like God me, O God, greatJehovah.
Pilgrim through this barrenland.
Calls the 40-year wildernesswanderings of the nation of

(06:13):
Israel.
Then we took it another stepfurther and said, Bread of
heaven, bread of heaven, feedme.
Somebody know this song till Iwon't know more.
And that reminded us that Godsent us in the person of Jesus
Christ.
The bread of heaven that canfeed our weary souls.

(06:33):
Songs like Mary, don't you weep,Martha Don't You Moan, for
Pharaoh's army's been drowned inthe Red Sea.
Two stories that absolutely havenothing in common.
And yet the black churchcreatively tied them together to
project to us the unmitigatedpower of God.

(06:57):
That if God can deliver Israelthrough a Red Sea, Mary and
Martha, you don't need to moanand cry.
Jesus can handle a dead Lazarus.
I'm simply trying to say thatour forefathers knew something
about the power of the wordthrough slavery and
reconstruction and Jim and Jane,Jim, uh Jim and Jane Crow in

(07:22):
separate but allegedly equalsystems, racism and now
Trumpism.
The church has trusted the powerof the word.
There's power in the word.
And that's what Isaiah is tryingto remind the exiles here in
this text in Isaiah 55.
He wants them to know now thatthe word still has power.

(07:45):
Matter of fact, I don't haveanything deep in terms of a
thesis statement this morning.
It really repeats what Isaiahwould say.
There's still power in his word.
Anybody know there's still powerin his word?
There's still power in his word.
Chapter 55 captures theaspirations of the exiles living

(08:09):
in Babylon.
Been there for some 70 years.
They're longing for a day ofredemption.
A day in which God will bringIsrael back home.
These folk had been in exile fortoo long and they wanted to go
home.
And how many of y'all know Godis able to do exceedingly
abundantly above all that we askor think?

(08:31):
Here in Isaiah 55, God says, No,I'm gonna do a little bit better
than that.
Not only am I gonna take youhome, but I'm gonna lay out my
universal plan of salvation.
In 55, he gives us the crescendoof that plan.
And Isaiah paints this pictureof a banquet spread, a royal
banquet fit for kings anddignitaries, a state dinner for

(08:56):
foreign leaders that come tovisit our country.
God lays it out, sparing noexpense, laying it out in
exquisite fashion and dignity.
And he doesn't just lay it outfor the special and for the
leaders and the kings, but helays it out for all people and
all nations.

(09:17):
And God himself serves as thehost of this banquet, and he
invites the world to come andthe feast at its banquet.
He invites Jews and Gentiles, Heinvites Americans and
undocumented workers, He invitesDemocrats and Republicans, He
invites Latinos, Asians, black,white, single, and married.

(09:41):
He invites all to come.
And the cost to eat at thisbanquet is free, signifying the
grace that we now have in JesusChrist.
Because in Isaiah 53, he paysthe price.
And we get the full benefits ofthe price in Isaiah 55.
And God literally prepares atable before the world where

(10:04):
there are no enemies, noadversaries.
He anoints every head with oil,every cup is overflowing because
God's salvation has been madecomplete by the great, great
work of our Savior Jesus Christ.
And the vision is so grand, andthe vision is so magnanimous.

(10:28):
Vision is so good, too good tobe true, that the people don't
believe it.
They say, God, that that's not avision, that's a fantasy.
You mean to tell me Babyloniansand Israelites gonna sit down
together?
You mean to tell me Palestiniansand Jews gonna sit down together
in peace?
That is a fantasy.

(10:49):
It'll never happen.
And Isaiah comes back and said,No, no, no, you got to remember
this this is not some fantasythat 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 comedown from heaven, he says, So
also is it with my word.

(11:09):
It will not return empty, itwill accomplish what I desire.
And in a word, Isaiah says, theword still has power.
And I don't know who I'm talkingto today, but maybe you're
feeling what Israel is feelingin this text.
Israel was suffering from a badcase of uh unexpected, extended

(11:32):
layover.
They were in a place longer thanthey had expected.
Those of you who travel, youknow something about those
extended layovers.
When you have an unexpected,extended layover, after a while
you start getting a littleanxious.
You begin to doubt, you begin towonder, wait a minute, can this
airline handle my travel?

(11:54):
You kind of get a little bit ofan attitude because you feel
justified because you're nowherenear your destination and they
got your own hole.
Matter of fact, you startthinking about purchasing
another airline ticket onanother airline.
And you're wondering, can theyhandle it?
Matter of fact, if they keep youlaid over for too long, you say,

(12:15):
I will never fly southwestagain.
I'll never fly Delta again.
I'm done with this airline.
That's what the people werefeeling in this text.
They were feeling an unexpected,extended layover.
I don't know about you, thatain't something that happened
some two and a half, two, uh,2,500 years ago.

(12:36):
But sometimes God has a way ofworking in our lives that we
feel that we're in our ownunexpected, extended layover.
Some of you this morning, youhave an unexpected, extended
layover in your unemployment.
You've been laid off for longerthan you had planned.
You have an unexpected, extendedlayover in your loneliness.

(12:56):
You've been by yourself forlonger than you had planned.
You have an unexpected, extendedlayover in a bad relationship.
It's time out for this.
It's time to move on.
Somebody here's having anextended layover in a bad
marriage, in family, andchildren.
And how many of y'all knowsometimes it's even dealing with
church folk?
That can be an extended layover.

(13:18):
And God here says to his people,I've come to tell you, I know
you feel like you've been in aplace too long, but there's
still power in God's word.
God's word is able to sustainyou and keep you.
God's word is able to dosomething new in you.
Matter of fact, Isaiah says itin this book: the grass withers,

(13:40):
the flower faded, but the wordof the Lord will stand forever.
The word still has the power tobring us through.
A couple things, and I'll be outof your way.
Number one, the word reminds usin those extended layovers of
God's mercy.
It reminds us of God's mercy.

(14:01):
He says, Seek the Lord while yemay be found.
Call on him while he is near.
Let them turn to the Lord, andhe will bring mercy, he will
have mercy on them, and he willfreely pardon.
In other words, the word remindsus, no matter where we are, no
matter what we're going through,that God is on our side.

(14:22):
That God knows exactly whatwe're going through, and God has
not forsaken us.
Even when we've done the thingsthat may have displeased God,
does anybody know God is stillthere to give us mercy?
He's a merciful God.
The psalmist was right, hismercy endureth forever.
In other words, I may have a lotof issues, I may have a lot of

(14:44):
challenges, I may have a lot ofstuff going on in my life, but
it can't outlast the mercy ofGod in my life.
Matter of fact, if I can testifyhere what I'm going through, I
don't want to hear a little cuteBible verse.
Don't give me your little tired,irrelevant theology.
No, if you want to help me, tellme that God is still on my side.

(15:06):
If you want to help me tell methat in a dark alley, I may feel
like I'm by myself, but God iswith me in the darkest valley.
If I'm walking through thevalley of the shadow of death,
remind me that God is with me.
I can't see my way, but there'ssomebody with me that can see me
through it.
Tell somebody that's God'smercy.

(15:27):
But don't miss what Isaiah said.
He says, Let them turn to theLord.
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 Lordunless 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.

(15:50):
Y'all not hearing me today.
And that's what's going on inthe text.
The exiles, they have doubt,they have skepticism.
They've been in a 70-yearextended layover, and they're
falling away from God.
And God says, No, now is thetime to turn to me.
Now is the time to trust me.
In a word, sometimes it's thoseplaces of exile that reveals

(16:15):
what is out of order in me.
It reveals what God is workingon in me.
Dr.
Charles Dayton of ProgressiveBaptist Church in Chicago,

Illinois, said this (16:24):
the Bible's purpose is to bring order to the
chaos that sin created.
In other words, many of us knowthat our society is out of
order.
Can we agree on that?
Our society is out of order.
Many of us know that our nationis out of order.
Many of us know that sometimes awhole lot of people that we deal

(16:44):
with are out of order.
Does anybody know that churchfolk are sometimes out of order?
Many of us know that familiesare out of order.
But we gotta be honest withourselves.
Sometimes I'm out of order.
And the good news is when I comebefore God and I admit that I'm
out of order, does anybody knowhe has mercy for my life?
Does anybody know he hasforgiveness for my life?

(17:08):
God has mercy for me when I holdon to the power of his word.
See, I don't need mercy if I'mnever out of order, church.
Mercy is for the folk who needit.
If you don't need it, guesswhat?
You don't need mercy.
You're never out of order.
But but one writer said it sowell, the deeply formed life,

(17:29):
Rich Validos.
He said, many times we have tounderstand 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 likethis.
He said, a lot of times we wesee an iceberg and we know that

(17:51):
the 10% that we see above thewater 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 waterthat sank the ship.
And he says, from that parallel,a lot of times we can see the

(18:13):
10% that God wants to work on inour lives.
But it's the 90% that we can'tsee that can destroy our lives.
But the good news of the gospelis God has mercy for the 10%
that we can see, and the 90%that we can't see.
Somebody ought to thank God forhis mercy.

(18:36):
Ha, number one, number one, thepower of the word reminds me of
his mercy.
But then number two, the powerof the word reminds me of God's
character.
God says, the reason why youdon't believe this is because
you think you know me, but youreally don't know me.
For my thoughts are not yourthoughts.

(18:57):
My ways are not your ways.
High as the heavens are higherthan the earth, so are my ways
hiding your ways, and mythoughts hiding your thoughts.
In a word, God says, I'minexhaustible.
There's a part of me that youcan know me, but you can't fully
know me.
Just when you think you knowthree layers of me, there are
three million layers of me thatyou don't know.

(19:19):
God says, I'm inexhaustible.
The next time you think youfigured me out, just step
outside, look up, and as high asyou can see in the sky, that's
about how close you've come tofiguring out what I'm doing in
your life.
God says He is inexhaustible,and we struggle with that.
Because just when we think weknow God, He reveals a layer to

(19:43):
let us know you don't know melike that, baby.
Tell your neighbor, you ain'tall that.
This gets into what we calltheology in the academic world.
And I know theology has anegative connotation sometimes
for us because it can be soacademic and forensic that it
doesn't have the spirit of Godor the power of God to make a

(20:03):
difference in our lives.
But the truth is, though many ofus are not technically
theologians, we all have atheology.
I don't have time to chase thatdown.
We all have a belief system interms of how God operates in our
lives.
And so when academics use theword theology, what they mean is

(20:25):
they're trying to give us thelanguage and the context to
understand how God revealsHimself.
That's the goal of theology isto translate this
non-translatable God into alanguage and into a sound that
we can understand.

(20:46):
And so there's usually twocategories how God is described.
The first is called communicableattributes.
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 sharecommon attributes with God on

(21:09):
some level.
There's some things we have incommon with God.
And so, for example, we know Godis gracious.
And that means we can begracious.
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 beloving.

(21:31):
And so we we know that God iswise.
But we know also that as humanbeings, we can be wise.
Those are communicableattributes.
Those are things we have incommon, we share in common with
God.
But where we miss the bothsometimes is that God has what
is called incommunicableattributes.
That is, these are traits thatwe don't have in common with

(21:55):
God.
And sometimes we struggle whenit comes with God.
And so, for example, we may havea little knowledge, but we're
not omniscient.
In other words, you may knowsomething, but you don't know
everything.
We may have a little power, butyou're not omnipotent.

(22:15):
You don't have all power.
So you got to buy your power alittle bit in his presence.
We have a sense of presence, butwe're not omnipresent.
We're not everywhere at the sametime.
David said, if I descend down inthe Sheol, Yahweh there.
God is everywhere at the sametime.

(22:37):
Even when I can't feel him in adark 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 wasalready there.

(23:00):
And when end ends, God will bethere as well.
He has no beginning or end.
Because he's eternal.
That's why Moses says, Fromeverlasting to everlasting, Thou
art God.
God never gets tired.
Bible says he doesn't sleep orslumber.

(23:21):
And like my younger son said onetime, my wife told him he was
scared to go to sleep.
And so he wanted to sleep withthe light on.
And so my wife told him, Hesaid, Well, did you know that
God doesn't sleep or slumber?
He said, Well, ain't no sense inboth of us be up all night.
He went to sleep and has sleptall night ever since.

(23:43):
Because God doesn't get tired.
But here's the one we strugglewith.
God is independent.
It is.
God is the only independentbeing in existence.
Pastor, what are you talkingabout?

(24:03):
I'm independent.
I can do whatever I want to do.
You're not independent like Godis independent.
You may be independent in thatyou can go wherever you want to
go, do what you want to do, orwhat have you.
But you still need air tobreathe.
You still need food to eat.
You still need some structure inyour life to have a sense of

(24:25):
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 givesus life.
That's why he told Moses, I amthat I am.
I'm everything you can possiblyneed.

(24:50):
He's independent.
Watch this.
He's independent because he madeall things.
He's independent because hesustains all things.
He's independent because heknows all things.
Which means he has authorityover all things.

(25:10):
And that's where we struggle.
And when we say God hasauthority of all things, watch
this.
He don't need our opinion.
Y'all gonna get quiet on me now?
My mentor, Pastor FreddieHaynes, would say if he isn't
Lord of all, he ain't Lord atall.

(25:31):
God knows all things, he madeall things, he sustains all
things, which means the onlything he understands from us is
humility and submission.
Shay tried to tell you it'sworship.
There's nothing else to bring toGod but our worship.

(25:53):
There's nothing you can help Godout with.
He doesn't need my help, hedoesn't need my opinion, he sure
don't need my vote.
Okay?
And wait, he don't need to havea conversation.
Well, God, let's just sit downand talk about this trust.
No.
I've been to beginning and end.
I've made everything.
Why in the world would I consultyou on what I'm trying to do in

(26:15):
your life?
Our struggle is we struggle tosubmit and humble ourselves
before an Almighty God.
Ah.
So God is a is a is God hasauthority over all things.
But watch this.
God has good authority.

(26:37):
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 doingin my life, but if I trust him

(26:58):
and look back over what he wasdoing, I'm gonna be better with
him than I would have been withmyself.
Y'all are not getting this.
So here it is, here it is, hereit is.
State of Texas has the authorityto give us the freedom of the
independence to drive on theirhighways.

(27:19):
They have that authority.
You get a license, tell yourneighbor, you're supposed to
have a license.
Tell your neighbor.
And insurance.
And insurance.
You get a license and you getlegal insurance.

(27:39):
State of Texas will let youdrive wherever you want to go.
You can go when you want to go.
You can drive how you want todrive.
As long as you obey the signsand the traffic laws.
Now, watch this.
The laws are not designed tohinder you.

(28:03):
The laws are designed to keepyou safe.
In the same way, our God is goodauthority.
His word is not trying to hinderus 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.

(28:24):
My last thought, now I'm out ofhere.
The word reminds us of God'spattern.
When he talks about the word,and he talks about its ability
to not return void, he's talkingabout the creative power of the
word.
It's a word that goes back toGenesis chapter 1.
He says in Isaiah 55, 10, hesays, My word will not return

(28:47):
void.
It's a hyperlink back to Genesischapter 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 doingsomething it had no business
doing.
Because God called light, lightwith the running.

(29:11):
It had no choice.
The point is the power is in hisword.
And here's what I love about it.
He's basically saying all yougotta do is look at creation and
all that I've done in the worldto know that if I can do all
this, what do you think I can doin your situation?

(29:32):
See, see, Shay and Reggie, theyjust made good music today.
Had a good song and had goodmusic to go with the song.
But when they created that, theyhad to get the lyrics and the
notes from somebody else.
Anytime we create something, wegot to get some help from

(29:53):
somebody.
They had to get the notes, thewords, the songs, the beat, the
feel from somebody else.
Just like I got some good cooksin this church.
Folk that can flat out throwdown.
But make no mistake, the recipesthat they use that work, they
got the recipe from somebodyelse.
And though they made a greatdish, they got some help to make

(30:16):
a great dish.
It doesn't matter what it is.
Maybe you're trying to write anovel.
You gotta do some research firstbefore you sit down and write
the novel.
You didn't just create the novelout 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 bringlife.
Women is pain, I can bringhealing.
With them is confusing, I canbring harmony.

(30:57):
Cause the power is in my word.

SPEAKER_01 (31:02):
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
Oh, I feel this.
So let me show you how Godshowed up this week.
Help me put this thing together.
He said, Archie, you knowthere'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.

(31:24):
That's where we go relax.
And we have a nice flat screenTV.
Amen.
But the soundbar was tripping.
Soundbar was tripping.
I thought I was getting old andjust couldn't hear.
I said, the devil is a liar.
I'm buying another soundbar.
So I bought another sound bar.

(31:44):
But I couldn't get the soundbarto sync with one remote.
And so for about a day, I had touse the soundbar remote to turn
up the sound and use the TVremote to change the channel.
How many of y'all know that'sjust old and tired?
I got tired of that.
So I started searching theinternet, went with AI.

(32:08):
Is there a way that I can syncthe 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, andnone of it worked.

(32:28):
I was ready to give up untilsomething told me, go read the
instruction manual.
Y'all know I'm going somewhere,right?
Go read the instruction manual.
I picked up the instructionmanual, and the manual told me
that you have two outputs inyour soundbar.

(32:52):
An audio optical sound put andan HDMI soundput.
If you use the audio opticalsoundput, 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?

(33:17):
I was using the audio opticalsoundbar output.
I changed it over to the HDMIsoundput.
And because I went back to theinstruction manual, it sinked
together the soundbar and theTV.

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 youto get in the word.
I dare you to get in his word.
There's power still in his word.

(34:51):
Come on, let's bow before theLord and prepare our hearts for
the Lord's Supper.
That's what our forefathersleaned on, y'all.
And God used the word to bringthem 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.