What If one Chapter could change your life?
What if there was one passage of scripture that allowed you to leave the past behind you to look beyond your present challenges and provided the hope for a brighter tomorrow.
Turning the page to these powerful words can turn a page in your life, giving you the confidence you need.
For every step you take words that contain God’s desire to breathe renewed life into you through a divine promise just waiting to be claimed, a promise that you will never be abandoned, never be alone and always be cared for a promise that you are chosen and called by God.
How would your life change if you knew you could endure every trial that nothing could stand in your way knowing there’s nothing God wouldn’t do for you?
Is it too hard to believe that such an arrangement of simple words composed, beautifully authored divinely nearly 2000 years ago could be so great.
What is this chapter? Romans eight, the greatest chapter in the Bible.
Hello, I’m David Jeremiah and I am preparing to teach my series, Romans eight, the greatest chapter in the Bible right here on turning point.
But first, I want to share a special message entitled The Written Word.
It’s about an important spiritual practice that has become lost for many believers.
As the title suggests, that practice is writing out God’s Word by hand. In today’s special message.
We’ll discover that Israel’s first king was required to write down his own personal copy of the covenant God had delivered to Israel through Moses.
Why was he required to do that?
I believe there are four essential reasons and those reasons apply to us as well as I have followed this practice in my own life.

I have discovered that the words of God I write by hand are much more likely to be written on my heart.
So today I invite you to rediscover this important spiritual practice.
As you join me right here on turning point.
The act of writing out scripture by hand is a powerful practice.
In fact, it is a command directly from God.
God understood how writing with your hand imprints the words on your mind.
And that’s why Doctor Jeremiah has created the written word journal, use the written word journal to write Paul’s wonderful rich letter to the Romans word for word.
As you do record your thoughts, reflections, notes and prayers on the adjacent page, charting your personal journey with God through the book of Romans.
The Written Word journal is yours.
When you give a gift of any amount in support of this program and if you give $60 or more, Jeremiah will also send you his current teaching series, Romans eight on CD or DVD, along with a correlating study guide.
Or if you give generously to the ministry, you will receive the written word journal and a genuine letter Jeremiah study Bible in the new King James version.
Contact turning point today. Thank you for watching turning point.
Now, here is Doctor Jeremiah with his message.
The written word Donald Jackson is one of the world’s best and most well known calligraphers.
In fact, he is today the official scribe and calligrapher to the crown office of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The person responsible for creating all of the official state documents for Queen Elizabeth the second.
But his greatest accomplishment is a project that began as a childhood dream and took decades to complete.
It’s the creation of a handwritten illuminated Bible.
The project began in earnest in the early 19 nineties while attending a retreat in New Mexico.
He sketched out a concept of what a handwritten Bible might look like.
A few years later, he traveled to Saint John’s Abbey, presented the monks there with an idea about collaborating on a millennium worthy project, which was officially commissioned in 1998.
On March 8th, 2000 Jackson pinned the project’s first words on a page of vellum in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God, Writing with quills made of goose Turkey and swan feathers dipped in 130 year old Chinese ink.
It took Jackson and his team of scribes another year to complete the gospels and the book of acts.
And for another decade after that, the team continued copying the rest of the nearly 775,000 words in the Bible word for word.
Finally, in December of 2011, the project achieved completion when Jackson wrote the word amen on the final page of the Book of Revelation, he said now that I have inscribed the final amen.
I realize that over the long years of this task, a boyhood dream, I have gradually absorbed an enduring conviction of the pin sharp revel of these ancient biblical texts to the past, to the present and to the future of our personal and public life and experience these texts he wrote, have a life of their own and their life is a mirror of the human spirit and experience.
Today. The ST John’s Bible that he completed is on display at the Al Qun Library on the campus of ST John’s University in Minnesota.
It’s bound in seven volumes. The Bible contains 1150 pages.
It weighs £165 and it measures two ft tall by three ft wide.
When it’s opened, The cost of the project came in at $8 million.
And if you’re interested in purchasing your own copy, be prepared to shell out 100 and 50 grand for a copy of the hand written Bible handwriting.
The Bible is not anything new.
In fact, I am told that an entire Bible transcribing movement has existed in South Korea Since the 1980s.
One woman I read about there has copied the entire Bible by hand-12 times in three languages.
Korean, Japanese and English. But the practice actually goes back thousands of years in the Old Testament.
God’s people had scribes whose job it was to pass on God’s word by making written copies.
And throughout history, monks have transcribed the Bible devoting their entire lives to studying and living out God’s word.
But I think the best example of all of it is found in the book of Deuteronomy in the 17th chapter.
And I want to tell you a little bit about what’s going on in this chapter.
So you’ll understand in this chapter, Moses is outlining the most important priorities for the future king of Israel.
At this point in time, they do not have a king, but they’re about to get one.
And Moses is telling the people what will be expected of the king, what he is to do and what he is not to do.
In verses 14 through 16 of Deuteronomy, 17. Moses lists five things that Israel’s future king must not do.
He shall not be a foreigner, he shall not multiply horses for himself.
He shall not cause the people to return to Egypt.
He shall not multiply wives to himself and he shall not multiply silver and gold to himself.
But when we come to the next verse, verse 17, moses leaves the negative prohibition list behind and he tells the king to do some very curious things.
Here is Moses positive instruction to the king of Israel.
It shall be when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself, a copy of this law in a book from the one before the priest, the Levites and it shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the Lord, his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left that he may prolong his days in his kingdom.
He and his Children in the midst of Israel. That’s a little wordy passage.
But in this section of scripture, we discover that there are three commands and four blessings associated with God’s word.
And let’s look at each one of them one at a time.
First of all, the king was commanded to copy God’s word verse 18 says it shall be when he sits on the throne of his kingdom.
That he shall write for himself, a copy of this law in a book from the one before the priest and the levites.
Now, the law at that time were the first five books of the Bible.
But that all was considered to be the law in Deuteronomy 17 18 Moses commanded the king to make his own personal copy of that.
And he was to put it in a book and this was probably a tanned leather scroll made from some sheep skin or goat skin.
And he was to do this in front of the levitical priests so they could make sure he didn’t make any mistakes in the Old Testament.
The command to write out the text of scripture was not isolated to the king.
You’ll find it in several places. Here are a couple of illustrations.
Here is one passage from Deuteronomy chapter six verses four through nine.
Here o Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one.
You shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength and these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.
You shall teach them diligently to your Children.
You shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and shall be front between your eyes, you shall write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates, the people of Israel were told to write God’s word on the outside of their house.
And toward the end of the book of Deuteronomy, as Israel was on the verge of going into the promised land.
Moses said this, it shall be on the day when you cross over the Jordan to the land which the Lord your God is giving you that you shall set up for yourselves, large stones and whitewash them with lime and you shall write on them all the words of this law.
When you have crossed over that, you may enter the land which the Lord, your God is giving you a land flowing with milk and honey.
Just as the Lord God of your fathers promised you the Israelites were to write the word of God on the doorposts and gates of their houses and on large white washed rocks or stones of memorial.
Now, we wouldn’t do those things today.
And I can honestly tell you I haven’t done those things, but I have discovered the important benefit of writing things out, writing them down.
If you came to buy a little study in my house, you would see a little pile of tablets.
They’re a special kind of tablet. I gotta have exactly the right one.
I drive my secretaries nuts trying to find them because they’re not easy to find.
But when I’m going to read an important book, I get that tablet.
And as I’m reading, I copy out of the book, the things that are important to me.
In fact, it’s kind of embarrassing.
I have a couple of tablets that are almost a reproduction of the book itself because the book was so important.
I do this because this helps me remember what is in that book.
And I can honestly tell you and I, I don’t say this other than to illustrate this point that when that process has happened, I hardly ever forget what’s in that book.
And sometimes I can even tell you where it is on the page and how to find it.
Often. My first step in preparing messages to bring to you on the Lord’s Day has included handwriting out the main passage, word for word, using pen and paper notice.
I have not yet used the word computer.
I’ve discovered that something wonderful happens when I take the time to slow down and write out a passage of scripture, word for word on a piece of paper, new details about familiar stories, stick out phrases that I have skimmed over for years and thought I have read, I now discover truth that I had missed new meaning, new questions, new connections in my mind.
It’s as if the words I am copying flow from the paper through the ink and into my heart.
When I copy God’s word, I have to slow down how many of you can imagine because you know, me, that’s a big deal for me to slow down.
I was built more for speed than comfort. How about the rest of you?
I don’t have a low gear. I don’t even have a second gear. I just have a high gear.
But when I copy God’s word, I have to slow down This week.
I read that people check their smartphones on average every 12 minutes during their waking hours, 71% of people with a smartphone never turn it off.
and 40% say they check their phone within five minutes of waking up in the morning, focusing on God’s word without distraction.
For a few minutes a day is a wonderful antidote to the frantic pace of a world that is centered on technology.
Just put your electronic things away, get basic, get your pen and your Bible and get ready to do something that is life changing.
So if you want to remember what you read, write it down.
So the first thing that Moses said, the new king had to do was he had to write a copy of the law.
And it says for himself in a book, he obviously didn’t need to do that.
So he would have access to the law because the priests and the scribes were at his disposal.
This wasn’t for anyone else, it was for him. It was so that he could benefit from this discipline.
Then the Bible says he was not only to copy God’s word, but he was to carry God’s word.
Deuteronomy 17 19 says, and it shall be with Him.
Everywhere the king went, he was to take his personal copy of the Word of God with him.
He was encouraged to take that with Him.
Wherever he went, it was to be his lifelong companion and source of guidance and strength.
I’ve always felt guilty when people said we should meditate on the word of God.
I don’t consider myself a good meditator.
But what we’re going to tell you about today will be the closest thing to meditation.
Most of us will probably ever do. And all those promises in the Bible of benefits to people who meditate.
They’re just out there waiting, waiting for us to take hold of them.
The king was to copy God’s word. He was to carry God’s word.
And finally, he was to make a commitment to God’s word.
He was to read it all the days of his life.
The king was to read the word daily as long as he lived. Does that sound overwhelming?
I want you to see that all of this has a purpose that is anchored in a blessing, these things that the king was told he must do to copy it to carry it with him and commit to it.
They weren’t just given him an agenda.
They were precursors to the blessing of God that Almighty God was waiting to pour out upon him.
And here are those blessings. Let’s read the rest of the text.
Do these things king of Israel that you may learn to fear the Lord, your God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren that he may not turn aside from the command to the right hand or to the left that he may prolong his days in his kingdom.
He and his Children in the midst of Israel. And that’s a very powerful paragraph.
So let me ask you these questions. Do you want to grow in the fear of the Lord?
So that all of your other fears will shrink and go away?
Do you want to grow in humility and increase your love for your friends and family and even for your enemies?
Do you want to grow in the confidence of a secure future and a lasting legacy?
Commit yourself to the written word?
The Lord himself promised us that if we would do that Joshua 18, if you meditate in it day and night, you may observe to do according to all is written in it.
If you do that, listen carefully, you will make your way prosperous, you will have good success.
Did you know that verse as far as I know is the only verse in the Bible where being prosperous and having good success are in the same verse?
Do you want to be prosperous and have good success.
I’m not talking about material success all but I could be a part of it.
But success when you hear God speak of it is becoming everything God created you to be and total fulfillment of your person.
Being completely a part of God’s purpose for your life with no reservations.
That’s what it means to be successful and to be prosperous according to God.
And God said the way you do that is you meditate in this book and you make it a part of your life, you make the word of God a part of your life.
And I wanna say to you today, men and women that you can do that, we all can do that.
No book has ever impacted the world like the Bible.
It’s the most popular and powerful book on earth and its influence is growing stronger every day.
No matter what you hear, many people spurn it.
Many people ridicule it and attack it and trash it and even burn it.
And you would think with all these generations of some people going out of the way to do it, there wouldn’t be anything left of the word of God.
But now the word of God is being translated into almost every language of the world.
There is a place now in Washington called the Museum of the Bible.
If you go there, there’s a special room in that museum of the Bible.
Where you go and you can get a visual picture of all of the languages of the world and which of them now have the Bible.
They have it all organized and little by little because of all of the ability that we now have to translate and to create languages for people that don’t have them.
The word of God is being inculcated into the cultures and languages of the Bible.
Within just a few years, there will not be any people groups that do not have the word of God.
It is on the March, it is still alive, it is still making a difference.
The word of God is God’s wonderful gift to you to help you be everything you’ve always wanted to be and everything God created you to be.
Let me just pause for a moment and just get really very real about all of this with all of us for 40 years.
I have been teaching the word of God in this church and you are all such wonderful students and I have had so much joy doing that and continue to do it.
But sometimes I wonder how much of the word of God that I have taught has gotten into your heart.
You know, it’s possible to be a student of the Bible and the Bible isn’t changing you at all.
The Bible isn’t meant for us to study so we can be smarter.
The Bible is meant for us to study so we can be better.
And if the Bible just gets into your head and it doesn’t get into your heart, it doesn’t have the opportunity to make the changes in your life that need to be made.
This is not about my telling you anything. This is just about allowing the Bible to get into your system.
You say, well, there’s parts of the Bible, I don’t understand. There’s a whole lot of the Bible.
I don’t understand, but I refuse to miss the part.
I do understand because I’m intimidated by the part I don’t understand.
So I just keep studying and keep learning and I promise you that if you will use this opportunity and this exercise to get the word of God into your system, it will come into your heart and all of a sudden you will begin to notice something and I’ll let you discover it for yourself.
So here are my final words of encouragement about this little project. Pace yourself.
It’s better to copy five verses a day and enjoy it than 20 verses a day and dread it.
The book of Romans has 433 verses.
So if you copy just five verses a day, you’ll finish it in under three months, you will have copied out in your own hand.
One of the key books in the Bible.
If you take it one day and one verse at a time, I think you will reach your destination and it might even feel like you did it without particular effort.
Whatever you do remember, the main reason for studying the written word is so that you get to know the living word.
The Lord Jesus Christ. This book is nothing. If it is not the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
To us, we read this book so that we can know God better.
We know God better because he has revealed himself through his son Jesus Christ.
So when we read this book, we learn about God, we learn about Jesus Christ and the living word is revealed to us in the written word.
If you get lost in the written word and forget why you’re doing it.
It can be a very tedious process. Don’t get so caught up in the written word that you forget.
It’s just a means for you to know the living word better.
Many years ago, one of England’s leading actors was asked to recite for the pleasure of his fellow guest and he consent in and ask if there was anything special that his audience would like to hear.
After a moment’s pause, an old pastor present said, could you sir recite for us?
The shepherd psalm the 23rd psalm. A strange look came over the actor’s face.
He paused for a moment and then he said, I can and I will with one condition that when I am finished, when I have recited it, you my friend will do the same thing.
I said the clergyman in surprise, but I am not an elocutionist.
But if you wish I will do it impressively, the great actor began the psalm.
His voice and his intonation were perfect. He held his audience spell bound.
And when he finished a great burst of applause broke in upon the guests. Then it died away.
The old clergyman arose and began the psalm. His voice was not remarkable.
His intonation was not faultless when he had finished.
No sound of applause broke the silence, but there was not a dry eye in the room and many heads were bowed.
Then the actor rose to his feet.
Again, his voice shook as he laid his hand upon the shoulder of the old pastor.
And he said, I reach your eyes and your ears, my friends, he reached your heart.
The difference is just this. I know the 23rd psalm.
He knows the Shepherd And men and women.
I don’t want you just to know the 23rd psalm. I want you to know the shepherd.
This is how you get to know the shepherd.
And I pray that you will push through your times of discouragement and wondering if this is doing any good and allow yourself the opportunity to discover what the written word can do for your heart.
Doctor Jeremiah will return in a moment to close today’s program right after this.
Thank you for watching. Turning point.
Dr Jeremiah would like to offer you the written word journal.
Romans sent to you in appreciation of your gift of any amount in support of this program.
And for a gift of $60 or more, Doctor Jeremiah will include his current teaching series, Romans eight, the greatest chapter in the Bible on your choice of CD DVD and a correlating study guide.
Or if you give a generous gift of $100 or more in support of the Ministry of Turning Point, you’ll receive the written word journal and a genuine leather Jeremiah study bible in Doctor Jeremiah’s preferred new King James version.
Thank you for your support of turning point. Contact us today.
And now with one last word for today’s program, here is Doctor Jeremiah.
The only thing better than having the written word of God embedded in your mind is to have the living word of God.
Jesus Christ, living in your heart.
When we receive Christ as our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit illuminates and empowers the word of God in our life.
My prayer today is that you have accepted Christ by faith into your life.
If you would like to learn more about beginning a relationship with Jesus Christ, I hope you’ll request our free booklet, your greatest turning point and to encourage your daily growth in Christ, we will gladly send you our monthly devotional magazine turning points.
Now, both of these resources have helped thousands of people deepen their relationship with God through faith in Christ.
And we will send both of them to you free of charge if you will just contact us here at turning point today.
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Next time on turning point, if you’re a Christian, your sins have been covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.
You are forgiven, you are free. You are not under condemnation. Thank you for being with us today.
Join Doctor Jeremiah. Next time for his message, a revolutionary freedom here on Turning Point.