Infinite Fellowship Ministries

Guarding The Deposit Of Truth Entrusted To You: Sermon By Deaconess Jackie Wandia

And this is why I am suffering as I do. Still I am not ashamed, for I know (perceive, have knowledge of, and am acquainted with) Him Whom I have believed (adhered to and trusted in and relied on), and I am [positively] persuaded that He is able to guard and keep that which has been entrusted to me and which I have committed [to Him] until that day. Hold fast and follow the pattern of wholesome and sound teaching which you have heard from me, in [all] the faith and love which are [for us] in Christ Jesus. Guard and keep [with the greatest care] the precious and excellently adapted [Truth] which has been entrusted [to you], by the [help of the] Holy Spirit Who makes His home in us. 

2 Timothy 1:12-14 (AMP)

God is intentional in all that He speaks to us in every season. His Word sustains us in the season He speaks it.

How do we guard the Word of God?

We first must listen. We must understand it. We cannot guard what we have not heard or understood.

To guard means to watch, keep or preserve.

The deposit of truth is the word God has spoken to us. We ought to watch that for the Word not to be diluted.

Why Do We Need To Guard The Word?

1. False Teachings Exist.

There are many false teachings that are there and many people are led astray.

The souls of men depend on this Word we have received. There are souls that are thirsty to hear God’s Word through us.

2. To Pass It On.

We need to pass it on to other reliable people and the next generation.

And the [instructions] which you have heard from me along with many witnesses, transmit and entrust [as a deposit] to reliable and faithful men who will be competent and qualified to teach others also. 

2 Timothy 2:2 (AMP)

Guarding means not to distort the word that we have been given to suit popular opinion.

Every word of God is tried and purified; He is a shield to those who trust and take refuge in Him. Add not to His words, lest He reprove you, and you be found a liar. 

Proverbs 30:5-6 (AMP)

Your word have I laid up in my heart, that I might not sin against You.

Psalm 119:11 (AMP)

I have not gone back from the commandment of His lips; I have esteemed and treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food. 

Job 23:12 (AMP)

The truth and the Word of God is whole in itself. It is pure. Do not add or subtract from it.

We cannot guard what we don’t value. You cannot guard the Word of God if you have not esteemed it highly.

The condition of your heart will determine how you receive the Word of God. Our hearts needs to be the fourth ground. How we receive the Word of God is illustrated by the Parable of the Sower in Luke 8.

The Word that you value shall transform you because truth is transformational. If you value and believe in it then you will change.

We need to have a Berean spirit concerning the Word of God. Going back. Hearing it again.

We are to guard it because the enemy is there to steal the Word that we have received he looks for every opportunity to steal the word, one of the ways that he does that is through the challenges we face.

Let’s stay vigilant especially in the face of temptation. The devil will bring you to a point of doubting what God has said. May your response be: “It is written”.

God will ask us to guard the Word.

God’s Word sustains us in every season. It is bread for us. We are to be responsible for the Word that we get.

Why Does God Entrust His Word To Us?

To entrust – to charge or invest or make someone responsible over something.

1) God’s Word Reveals Who He is.

To trust and have faith and have a relationship with Him. God gives us His Word so that we may know Him; to have a relationship with Him.

2) We Live By It.

We live by every Word that the Lord speaks. God gives us His Word so that we may live. It is by His Word that we live.

But He replied, It has been written, Man shall not live and be upheld and sustained by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God. 

Matthew 4:4 (AMP)

3) For The Continuity Of The Gospel.

God gives us His Word so the gospel may continue. We don’t get saved to get to heaven, otherwise we would die when we get saved. But we get saved to share the truth of God with others.

Guard and keep [with the greatest care] the precious and excellently adapted [Truth] which has been entrusted [to you], by the [help of the] Holy Spirit Who makes His home in us. 

2 Timothy 1:14 (AMP)

We guard the Word of God not by our own strength but by the power of the Holy Spirit. God has given us the Holy Spirit as a divine helper to help us guard and live by His Word to us.

Our hearts need to be fertile soil for the Word of God but we also need to ask the Holy Spirit to help us guard the seed of the Word given to us until it matures fully.

But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you. 

John 14:26 AMP

We need to plough our hearts to a fourth ground dimension.

O Timothy, guard and keep the deposit entrusted [to you]! Turn away from the irreverent babble and godless chatter, with the vain and empty and worldly phrases, and the subtleties and the contradictions in what is falsely called knowledge and spiritual illumination. [For] by making such profession some have erred (missed the mark) as regards the faith. Grace (divine favor and blessing) be with you all! Amen (so be it). 

1 Timothy 6:20-21 (AMP)

The Holy Spirit helps us discern truth and that is why it is impossible for us to live a godly life without the Holy Spirit. He causes us to remember what is already hidden in our hearts. The Holy Spirit draws out the Word of God hidden in us to remind us of it in the season we need it.

How To Guard The Word Of God?

1) Meditating On The Word of God.

This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success. 

Joshua 1:8 (AMP)

2) Proclaiming The Word Of God.

Herald and preach the Word! Keep your sense of urgency [stand by, be at hand and ready], whether the opportunity seems to be favorable or unfavorable. [Whether it is convenient or inconvenient, whether it is welcome or unwelcome, you as preacher of the Word are to show people in what way their lives are wrong.] And convince them, rebuking and correcting, warning and urging and encouraging them, being unflagging and inexhaustible in patience and teaching. For the time is coming when [people] will not tolerate (endure) sound and wholesome instruction, but, having ears itching [for something pleasing and gratifying], they will gather to themselves one teacher after another to a considerable number, chosen to satisfy their own liking and to foster the errors they hold, And will turn aside from hearing the truth and wander off into myths and man-made fictions. As for you, be calm and cool and steady, accept and suffer unflinchingly every hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fully perform all the duties of your ministry. 

2 Timothy 4:2-5 (AMP)

3) Believing The Word Of God.

The Word that you believe is the one that you will walk in. You will confess it diligently and hide in your heart.

Truth is undeniable. Proclaim it in love and see it make a difference.

God’s Word is effective in and of itself.

For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart. 

Hebrews 4:12 (AMP)

So Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in Him, If you abide in My word [hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them], you are truly My disciples. And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free. 

John 8:31-32 (AMP)

Only when you apply God’s Word will you be able to break free from strongholds and in times of testing.