This morning I was listening to a new podcast from David Platt entitled “Pray The Word” with David Platt. (I highly recommend!!!) He was explaining & then praying through the verse from Philippians 4:9 where Paul is writing to the Christians in the Roman colony of Philippi.
Philippians 4:9 say:
What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me – practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Did you catch those words? Paul is not only saying that they were to learn & receive what had been taught to them, but he is also saying that they were to look at him (Paul) and do what they have seen in him.
Paul was showing them by his own actions and the way he lived that he not only learned the Word, receive it, heard it but then also did it. What Paul was saying is that we must not only be taught the scriptures but we must live it out. James 1:22 says, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only”.
Warren Wiersbe has this to say,
“Paul balances four activities: “learned and received” & “heard and seen”. It is one thing to learn a truth, but quite another to receive it inwardly and make it a part of our inner man. Facts in the head are not enough; we must also have truths in the heard.
In Paul’s ministry, he not only taught the Word but also lived it so that his listeners could see the truth in his life.
Paul walked so closely with Jesus that anything that God asked him to do or told him to do he did it. It was that simple. Paul was a “doer” and not just a “hearer”.
So here are the questions: Are we living a life each and every day that points people to Jesus or are we pointing them to the world? Are we truly living out the truths of God’s Word or are we just listening to them as suggestions? And can the people that we are around every day see these truths being put into practice?
It has been said that you are the only Bible that some people will ever read. What are the people around you learning and seeing from you today?
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