March 27, 2026

The Bible says it… I believe it… that settles it. Have you ever heard that phrase? I recall seeing it on a bumper sticker years ago. Years ago, I would have agreed with that sentiment without question. Now, I think the Bible is doing much more than that.

That is why the practice of Scripture has been such a refreshing spiritual rhythm for me during this past year and why it is that we’ve spent some focused time at White Oak in the last few weeks preaching and teaching on this practice.

If we consider ourselves followers of Jesus, we must begin to be firmly acquainted with this body of material we call the Bible. Jesus believed the that the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament) were in fact the very Word of God. He referenced them and quoted them numerous times.

¹⁷ “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them…” -Matthew 5:17

In turn, the New Testament writers viewed their works as being the very Word of God (Scripture). Peter says this about Paul’s writing in 2 Peter 3:15-16.

¹⁵ Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. ¹⁶ He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

Hebrews 4:12 says, ¹² For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

The Word of God is seen and described as an authoritative, powerful, living and active being. It begs the question: How do words on a page bound in a book move, and live, and have active being in the world? Isn’t God done speaking? Doesn’t the Bible have all we need? Yes and no.

Does the written Word of God contain everything necessary for us to know God through Jesus and experience full and lasting life? Yes. Is God done speaking? Far from it.

Ephesians 1:4 says, ⁴ For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In other words, before the Bible was written or existed, God spoke us forth into the world in love and with purpose.

Robert Mulholland reflects on this idea in his book, Shaped by The Word.

“Being holy and blameless is the same as being conformed to the image of Jesus in our being and our doing. The heart of matter is that God has spoken us forth. Some saint has said, ‘You are the breath of God, and God is right now breathing you.’”

In Genesis 2, the breath of God was breathed into Adam. Mulholland goes on to say, “The ‘word’ that God is breathing us forth to be is God’s will for our wholeness in Christ’s image… We are created to be incarnate ‘words’ of God.”

The Gospel of John in its opening chapter mimics the pattern of Genesis 1-2. John says that everything comes into being through the Word, is sustained by the Word, and has life in the Word. This means that even our ‘word’ that is spoken forth from God is spoken forth within the context of the Word.

The Bible consistently speaks of three manifestations of God’s Word: Jesus is God’s Word, we have God’s Word breathed into us, and we have God’s Word represented in human language (the Bible). Neither of the three will ever contradict any of the others. They all must align into one truth. The exception is that the ‘word’ breathed into us is distorted by sin. This is why Paul is constantly praying for Christians to know God more deeply!

¹⁷ I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. -Ephesians 1:17

It is in knowing God (the Word of Christ who lives in us AND the Word of God which we can read in the Bible) that we will be tested, refined, and formed into the ‘word’ that God has breathed us into the world to be. He is still speaking, acting, and moving all around you to transform you into the image of his Son.

May your reading, meditating, memorizing, study, and obedience to Scripture be a practice that tunes you into the Word that is alive and working inside you.

Filled with God’s breath,

Nathan

Nathan Hinkle

Lead Pastor

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