Today, Derek begins a new series on the gifts of the Spirit. Any questions you may have about this subject are sure to be answered this week as he teaches line upon line and precept upon precept. You’ll not only be thoroughly informed, but you’ll also be entirely engaged he shares from his extensive experience and many interesting personal stories this week.

In today’s message, Derek talks about how God’s Word is our judge. Many people don’t like to think about judgment, but the fact of the matter is that judgment is a part of God’s total dealing with the human race. Furthermore, in the last resort, the final judge is God Himself. This is clearly presented throughout the whole Bible. Someday we will all have to answer to God.

Derek shares in the ways in which God’s Word is our mirror. When we look into the Word of God, it shows us not our outward, external features, but what we really are inside. It’s our mirror.

God’s Word is the means by which we can cleanse and sanctify ourselves; that is, to make us holy. God’s ultimate purpose goes beyond simply making us pure and separating us from sin. His ultimate purpose is to make us share in His own holiness.

Is there a way to lead a pure life in today’s world? It often seems almost inevitable that we’ll be involved in immorality and various forms of impurity. But the psalmist says that a young person can keep his or her way pure. How? If we follow the principles that are laid down for us in the Word of God.

God’s Word is the source of mental illumination. Derek explains how it penetrates our minds like a ray of light and dispels the darkness that has been produced by our alienation from God; and how, just as there is no substitute for light in the physical realm, so there is no substitute for God’s Word in the spiritual realm.

God’s Word also provides for your physical body. Through His Word, God offers us healing and health for our physical body. How? Scripture says, that God’s Word did three things for the people who cried out to Him. It says He saved them, He healed them, and He delivered them from their destruction.

Derek explains how God’s Word provides suitable spiritual nourishment for the new life that has been produced in us by the new birth. This nourishment comes in various forms based on the stage of our spiritual development: first, milk for new-born babes; then bread for those who are growing up; finally, solid food, or a complete diet, for those who are mature.

God’s Word in you can produce the greatest miracle that any human being can ever experience—the new birth. Derek explains that God’s Word is like a seed received into our hearts. The Holy Spirit brings forth out of that seed a completely new kind of life—imperishable, eternal, divine.

Derek discusses the first specific result that God’s Word will produce in us—that is, faith. Scripture says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. The three successive phases: first, God’s Word; second, you hear it; and third, as you hear it and receive it, it imparts to you faith.