The Value of the Bible

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right.

[SPEAKER_00]: Join me in second Timothy chapter three this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you will, second Timothy chapter three.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are going to start a brand new series this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be a six week series called We Are Rooted in the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've been talking through value statements for our church.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've preached on two of them so far being we're building everything on Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: How many of you know, that's a good value right there.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then we're also relentlessly driven by the mission.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's why we're having a trunker treat this week and we're just making it happen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Or as me and Ashley have started calling it in private tort, because we write it on the

[SPEAKER_00]: Hallelujah, and so those are our two values we've talked about so far today.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to get into a new value we are rooted in the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to be talking about this for six weeks, but today I'm going to lay some foundation.

[SPEAKER_00]: So starting in second Timothy chapter 3 verse 14, it says, but as you continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed.

2 Timothy 3:14

[SPEAKER_00]: knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you had been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: All scripture is breathed out by God, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

[SPEAKER_00]: That the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

[SPEAKER_00]: Somebody say amen to that, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: So again, we're gonna start a series today called, we are rooted in the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I wanna start this message with a confession.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody gets tense when the preacher gets up and says, something about confessing, but I want to make a confession to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I became a Christian.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was born again in 1997.

[SPEAKER_00]: So towards the end of 1997 in the fall, I gave my life to the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: And thank God, I'm still saved, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't like that y'all didn't respond to that, like you might question it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure, preacher.

[SPEAKER_00]: We haven't been around you long enough.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I was born again in 1997 in 2004.

[SPEAKER_00]: I went into the ministry full-time right out of high school.

[SPEAKER_00]: I started traveling with an evangelist.

[SPEAKER_00]: I worked in a church.

[SPEAKER_00]: I did quite a few things there for a few years.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then in 2006, I had settled down into a church for the greatest purpose to find my wife, amen,

[SPEAKER_00]: And that year, in 2006, I became a credential holder with the assemblies of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, 1997, I was born again, 2004.

[SPEAKER_00]: I went into the ministry.

[SPEAKER_00]: 2006, I became a credential holder with the assemblies got a minister on paper, a minister with a card, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: And not when I had to print for myself, praise God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I did not start reading the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: until April 14th, 2011.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you may say, how do you know it was April 14th, 2011?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because Apple Photos is awesome.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I was able to reverse engineer that day, day, man.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so April 14th, so for nearly 14 years as a Christian,

[SPEAKER_00]: uh... seven years in the ministry five years as a credential holder with the assemblies of god i had no personal interaction with the scripture of any substance obviously i had a bible a carried a bible around i was with bible

[SPEAKER_00]: but the Bible wasn't with me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I could just preach it like that, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I was not regular in the scripture.

[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, right now, I've been saved about 28 years, somewhere in that ballpark.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can pretty much slice down the middle, my faith of time in the Word and time out of the Word.

[SPEAKER_00]: I can tell you, time in the Word has changed my life.

[SPEAKER_00]: The scripture has changed my life.

[SPEAKER_00]: The last 14 years have been dramatically different than the first 14 years.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the reason I tell you this is because for the next six weeks, I'm gonna be talking to you about how important the Bible is.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we're gonna shift gears in the middle of this thing to where I start talking to you about a quiet time with the Lord holistically.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I'm going to shift to talking about the whole spectrum of spending time with the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the reason that I tell you this is because if you don't know where I started, there is a foothold for condemnation to come in on you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I need you to know, I was saved for 14 years.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was in ministry for seven years.

[SPEAKER_00]: We saw hundreds of people saved.

[SPEAKER_00]: We saw God move in a powerful way in our ministry.

[SPEAKER_00]: We were in moments where we saw the glory of God move in in our ministry appointments, and I still wasn't in the word.

[SPEAKER_00]: So there is no condemnation for you if you are not currently a Bible reader.

[SPEAKER_00]: However, there is also no excuse.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because if you want to go to the next level in your life, you not only have to know better, you have to do better.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: This will be a good.

[SPEAKER_00]: You'll have to say amen a lot or the people sit next to you just be going, they don't read the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you got a lean in.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now since 2011, I will tell you I have read the Bible a little over 30 times.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the best we can figure it in.

[SPEAKER_00]: Track it well in the beginning.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've tracked it well for the last five or six years, but I've read the Bible through and through.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm about to,

[SPEAKER_00]: Finish it up in the next week again, and then I'm going to, I'm already getting bogged down on shit a buy new Bible, should I get on a new plan, but I want to make sure that as the pastor of this church, because I know the power of the word, I want to make sure that I am constantly driving you back to something you have access to.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that is time in the scripture.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have access to that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, when I talk about being engaged in the Bible, you're going to hear me use that phrase some, being engaged in the Bible, this is the standard that I consider being engaged in the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I know some of y'all leave sermons from preachers sometimes and it sounds good, but you're kind of like, I'm not sure what that means.

[SPEAKER_00]: I always want to over explain this stuff because the truth will set you free.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: But first, you got to know the truth.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, somebody got to say the truth.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to tell you what to me.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is my standard for being engaged in the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: Being engaged in the Bible is reading the Bible at least four days a week.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now the reason for this is I believe if you do it four days you win the week, because four beats three.

[SPEAKER_00]: So as long as you cross four times a week, you've at least won the week.

[SPEAKER_00]: You've read the Bible more than you have it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, there is another reason that I just heard about in the last few years.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't remember how recent this survey was, but the Center for Bible Engagement did a survey.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is incredible.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they found that people who read the Bible one day a week, two days a week, and three days a week, show virtually no improvement in their spiritual development or quality of life, compared to people who do not read the Bible at all.

[SPEAKER_00]: But at four days a week, the results in people's lives skyrocket, the chart absolutely takes off.

[SPEAKER_00]: And here's what's even more interesting.

[SPEAKER_00]: From four days to five days to six days to seven days show virtually no change again.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's something powerful about reading the Bible at least four days a week.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's the first qualifier.

[SPEAKER_00]: The second qualifier is that you read through the scripture at least every 18 months.

[SPEAKER_00]: Every 18 months.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are some ways that we engage with the Bible that aren't actual Bible engagement.

[SPEAKER_00]: but the verse of the day ain't going to get you through it.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you go to the hospital today and they say those scary words stage four, verse of the day don't cut it no more.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: So at least reading every 18 months, that means that you're spending probably at least bare minimum nine minutes a day reading the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then the last quality is that you repeat this when you finish, or at least in ten to repeat it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you read it all the way through and then you read it all the way through again, you rinse and repeat.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: You rinse and repeat.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now by those standards,

[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't have a study on this, but I've kind of extrapolated the information.

[SPEAKER_00]: By those standards, only less than 2% of American Christians, less than 1% of Americans, but less than 2% of American Christians are engaged with the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if you do not read the Bible by the standard that I just mentioned to you, you're not alone, likely most of the people in this room would be with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is likely.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's statistically what we see.

[SPEAKER_00]: So this morning, what I wanna talk to you about is, we start this process of being rooted in the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: I wanna talk to you this morning about the value of the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: The value of the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're ready, give the Lord a shout-up race.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, a 35 of you are ready, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Number one, number one, the Bible's valuable because the Bible is inspired.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Bible is inspired.

[SPEAKER_00]: We started just a moment ago in second Timothy chapter three, which says this phrase in verse 16 that the scripture is breathed out by God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of your Bibles use the phrase given by inspiration.

[SPEAKER_00]: given by inspiration or inspired.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the theological term.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the word, the Greek word for inspiration, is, is a Theo Newstos.

[SPEAKER_00]: Theo Newstos.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's comprised of two words, one being Theo God and Newstos breathed.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the translation, it is God breathed is very accurate.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the Greek word for breathed,

[SPEAKER_00]: is very, very interesting because it's the same root word for breathe, for wind, and for spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's the same word for all three.

[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, if you look at Acts chapter two, it says that there was a sound as they were gathered in the upper room.

[SPEAKER_00]: A sound is a mighty rushing wind.

[SPEAKER_00]: The root word there is new stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then they were all filled with the holy spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: the root word is newstos, both places.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when we see this, the best way we can tell from even just the Greek word, outside of the systematic study of Scripture, is that the Bible is inspired in that, the Holy Spirit was placed on men by God and they wrote the Scripture.

[SPEAKER_00]: But every word in the Scripture comes from God.

[SPEAKER_00]: God is the author, men were his quill.

[SPEAKER_00]: So he yes, used men to pin the text, yes, that's why we have to look at context.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, it's important for us to know that God did not just hit the ground with a fire and a scroll pop out.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is a practical way that this happened, but it is inspired it is from God.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is God-breathed.

[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, there are four times in the scripture that God breathes.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's four times in the scripture that God breathes.

[SPEAKER_00]: The first time he breathes, he gets man.

[SPEAKER_00]: The first time he breathes, he gets man.

[SPEAKER_00]: The second time he breathes, he initiates the church.

[SPEAKER_00]: He initiates the church.

[SPEAKER_00]: The third time he breathes in the second Timothy is, he gets a Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's the fourth time he breathes which he has yet to do yet.

[SPEAKER_00]: He hasn't done it.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the next time he breathes will be the fourth time, and at that moment Jesus will return.

[SPEAKER_00]: When God breathes, it's powerful.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are one of the breaths, you belong to the second breath, and you can hold in your hand the third breath.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's how powerful the word is.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, we don't just believe that the Bible is inspired.

[SPEAKER_00]: We believe, and this is a theological term.

[SPEAKER_00]: We believe it as an organization.

[SPEAKER_00]: I believe it as a person.

[SPEAKER_00]: We believe in what's called the verbal plenary inspiration.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes that's pronounced verbal plenary, depending on your level of education, Hale Lua.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the verbal plenary inspiration and the best way to explain that is that we believe that every word in Scripture is inspired by God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Every word is from the Lord, not just the thoughts, not just the concepts, not just the big ideas that you like, every word is from God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And because the Scripture is from God, it has the final authority on everything.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've said it before, I'm gonna say it again.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Bible says it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I believe it, that settles it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Number two, the Bible is trustworthy.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Bible is trustworthy.

[SPEAKER_00]: Second Peter chapter one, starting in verse 17 says, for when he received honor and glory from God the Father and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.

[SPEAKER_00]: We ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven for we were with him on the Holy Mountain.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place.

[SPEAKER_00]: Until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation.

[SPEAKER_00]: What that is to say is that even though men are involved in the writing of the scripture that does not compromise, it's trustworthyness.

[SPEAKER_00]: And there are three theological terms that I could give you this morning that I'm not gonna give you, but those three theological terms are in-errant.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Bible is in-errant.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is without error.

[SPEAKER_00]: In-fallible.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Bible is infallible.

[SPEAKER_00]: It does not fail.

[SPEAKER_00]: God will do what he said.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's gonna do.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's infallible.

[SPEAKER_00]: And third, this one probably the most important one right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's immutable.

[SPEAKER_00]: It does not change.

[SPEAKER_00]: It does not change.

[SPEAKER_00]: The word was the word yesterday, the words the word today, and the words gonna be the word tomorrow.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_00]: But instead of talking about these three words in detail, I want to give you kind of some practical reasons that you can know that the Bible is trustworthy.

[SPEAKER_00]: The first reason is that it's reliable.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is reliable.

[SPEAKER_00]: When it comes to the early New Testament manuscripts and fragments that we have,

[SPEAKER_00]: You'll hear from time to time people say, well, you can't trust the Bible because men have messed with it over the years, men have changed what it means and they've, okay, well, when we go back to the earliest manuscripts that we have access to, some as early as the second century.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, we're talking 100 to $199, AD, all right, or whatever they call it now, praise the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: C-E-C-B-B-C-C-C, I don't know, oh, I'm praying in tongues up here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Holly, Lydia, but some of these manuscripts go back to as early as the first or the second century, when you look at all of these manuscripts that we have access to, which by the way is roughly 25,000

[SPEAKER_00]: So this isn't a small sample, like Gallup can call like 4,000 people on the phone and call it a survey and makes statistics out of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're not talking about a smaller, we're talking about 25,000 copies.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is only 0.5% variance in those copies.

[SPEAKER_00]: and of the 0.5 percent, meaning 99.5 percent of those copies are all in agreement.

[SPEAKER_00]: Of the 0.5 percent, none of them change any major theological issue, none of them challenge any theological issue, and most of that variance is people spelling stuff wrong when they copied it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I could have helped with this, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's insignificant stuff, but smart people and smart places that do smart things can look at all of these manuscripts and see what's actually supposed to be there.

[SPEAKER_00]: They know how to look at that stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know that the internet blog has got you worried about the Bible, but I'm telling you the Bible is trustworthy because it's reliable.

[SPEAKER_00]: The second reason it's trustworthy is we get to see the results.

[SPEAKER_00]: We get to see the results.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I could tell you what the Bible says about the results that it's going to produce.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I could also give you testimonies of what I've seen in my life and other people's lives.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I actually want to tell you what Harvard University has discovered about the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: In 2017, Harvard University's TH Chan School of Public Health created something called the Human Flourishing Index.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the human flourishing index is designed to measure what activities increase a person's quality of life and decrease a person's quality of life.

[SPEAKER_00]: They measure several things that five things mainly happiness and life satisfaction, mental and physical health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue and close social relationships.

[SPEAKER_00]: The intention of this study was not to find out what Bible reading did for people.

[SPEAKER_00]: It just happened to be one of the things that they measured as an activity.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when they measured it, they discovered that people who regularly read the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: Scored 19% higher across the board on the index compared to those who do not.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm telling you the word works.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen, hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now since we're talking about the trustworthiness of the Bible, I want to refer to this chart for a moment and I want to explain to you a little bit about Bible translations because if we're going to read the Bible, we will read a good one, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a very simple concept.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Bible was not written in English.

[SPEAKER_00]: King James did not write the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, the Bible was not written in English.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was written in Hebrew in the Old Testament, Greek in the New Testament, and there's a little bit of aromate just sprinkled in there to keep things spicy, Hale Lua, all the Cajans ought to appreciate that, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so you have two different styles of Bible translation that take the Bible from the original language to English.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have what's called formal equivalency, and then you have what's called,

[SPEAKER_00]: dynamic equivalency.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't let the preacher get heard up here, but we've got insurance now.

[SPEAKER_00]: I can fall.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: And, uh...

[SPEAKER_00]: After all, they're years of worrying about preachers falling off the stage.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to be the one, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so a formal equivalency essentially is a more word-for-word translation.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, you can't do a strictly word-for-word translation, though you can find them like a young's literal translation, but they don't make any sense.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like someone talking in gibberish because how many of you know like Spanish to English?

[SPEAKER_00]: You can't.

[SPEAKER_00]: just do word for word because the Senate structure is different.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's the same thing with these ancient languages.

[SPEAKER_00]: So formal translations are a little more literal, a little more word for word.

[SPEAKER_00]: They are what I prefer.

[SPEAKER_00]: Probably the most literal you can get is the new American Standard Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love the new American Standard Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's actually my favorite, but you've probably noticed, I use the English Standard Bible, the ESV.

[SPEAKER_00]: The ESV is an incredible translation.

[SPEAKER_00]: I would encourage you if you want a more literal translation.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is probably the one you should use.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then you have the new King James version, which is an update from the King James version.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, watch out to hear me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't have a problem with the King James version, but if you're not a Bible reader today.

[SPEAKER_00]: I would not recommend getting one, because you have to translate it twice.

[SPEAKER_00]: You got to translate it from Hebrew to Elizabethan English back into whatever you know.

[SPEAKER_00]: I actually was listening to somebody read one this morning, instead of a little girl that called her a damsel.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I guess also if you like,

[SPEAKER_00]: Dragons, I don't know, because you got to rescue the damsel, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's a great translation if you're in it, keep it.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're not new King James should be as far on that spectrum as you go.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then there's kind of the middle of the road.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have the new international version, it's a great middle of the road version.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what Ashley uses all the time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Despite my best efforts to get her new Bible, she keeps going back to the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: She's had four years.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's it right there.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's not imprint anymore.

[SPEAKER_00]: I just bought some more of them for when that one inevitably falls apart.

[SPEAKER_00]: Just in case.

[SPEAKER_00]: So in Ivy, you also have the Christian standard Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a great translation.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't particularly like it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think it reads funny.

[SPEAKER_00]: But CSB's good.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then all the way over here too, like an extreme dynamic you have the new living translation.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you are not great with reading, I would encourage the new living translation.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's incredible.

[SPEAKER_00]: And actually, even if you are good with reading, it's still a great translation.

[SPEAKER_00]: But you can't get down in the words.

[SPEAKER_00]: The further over here you get.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can dig into a word over here.

[SPEAKER_00]: These are thoughts, these are words.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody with me on this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now I want to talk to you about a couple of translations you need to stay away from.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to be clear on this this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: The first one is, you don't have to stay away forever, but you got to stay away to some degree from the message.

[SPEAKER_00]: The message is a great Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is not a great everyday Bible, messages it is, it is one man's paraphrase of the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now to his credit, the man who paraphrased it is genius.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it's a paraphrase when we know this.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is not the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you can use it if you want to read through it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's fine, but you shouldn't use it all the time.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what you definitely shouldn't do is come argue with me about something that you read in the message Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm gonna hand you a link to this message.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: About the message.

[SPEAKER_00]: Charlie Lou, yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the message, the way I would say this is it's insightful, but it's not inspired.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, there are other translations you have to stay away from altogether.

[SPEAKER_00]: One of those being the new world translation.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you happen to get your hands on a new world translation, that is the Jehovah's Witness Bible, it is a deceitful Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is full of lies.

[SPEAKER_00]: They have changed things that have intentionally changed the meaning of the text.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is bad news, bad news, bad news.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do not use a new world translation.

[SPEAKER_00]: And while we're on it, even though it's not a Bible, if you have a copy of the Book of Mormon throw that bad boy in the trash today.

[SPEAKER_00]: Or hang on to it for another month.

[SPEAKER_00]: That paper probably start a fire real nice when it gets cold.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Crawl stover now.

[SPEAKER_00]: So those are both filled with lies.

[SPEAKER_00]: You need to stay away from them.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's another Bible version that is getting very popular that I'm going to encourage everyone to stay away from as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's called the Passion Translation.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Passion Translation is a version of the Bible that lacks integrity of translation.

[SPEAKER_00]: These Bibles are translated from the original languages to English,

[SPEAKER_00]: with large committees.

[SPEAKER_00]: Large committees, lots of accountability.

[SPEAKER_00]: The passion translation was one man say any heard from the Lord and got a new way to translate the Bible from the Holy Spirit and started

[SPEAKER_00]: Translating the Hebrew and the Greek on his own.

[SPEAKER_00]: By the way, if you listen to that and you have any whereabouts on the book of Mormon, sounds exactly like what Joseph Smith said.

[SPEAKER_00]: Stay away from the passion translation, it lacks integrity.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not terrible on paper, but the philosophy behind it is terrible.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is the worst thing that the charismatic church has ever put their silver approval on.

[SPEAKER_00]: I am disgusted that we have so many people using it in the pulpits.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let me just say that to you, preacher.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're using the passion translation, you need to get real and get your real Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a thousand options for you and you chose the one that's gonna be a nonsense problem for you and your church.

[SPEAKER_00]: Get rid of that nonsense.

[SPEAKER_00]: Get it out of your church, get it out of your pulpit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sorry, that wasn't for y'all.

[SPEAKER_00]: I feel in that though, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Passion translation.

[SPEAKER_00]: Number three, number three.

[SPEAKER_00]: How do you transition from that?

[SPEAKER_00]: Good, God Almighty.

[SPEAKER_00]: Number three, the Bible is powerful.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Bible's powerful, Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12, it says, for the Word of God is living an active sharper than any two-edged sword piercing to the division of soul and of spirit of joints and of marrow and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart, says that the Bible's like a sword, a sharp sword.

Hebrews 4:12

[SPEAKER_00]: But how can you work with a sword?

[SPEAKER_00]: the handle.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think I said somebody's serious in here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Remind me to buy eggs at 430 p.m.

[SPEAKER_00]: This helping them out.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: The way you handle a sword is that you have to grab the handle.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have to grab the handle.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you don't grab a sword by the handle, you'll get cut.

[SPEAKER_00]: You'll get hurt.

[SPEAKER_00]: You'll be sitting back going, I can't believe all of this happened.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you mishandled the sword.

[SPEAKER_00]: You got to grab the sword by the handle, not by the blade, but not only does it protect you, it also keeps you in control of the battle.

[SPEAKER_00]: So long as you got the handle, you're in control of whatever you're facing in Jesus' name.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the handle puts you in charge.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now I want to show you what the handle is this morning, because I know what the handle for the Bible is.

[SPEAKER_00]: Psalm 119, verse 160, I think this is one of the most important verses in the entire Bible, says, the sum of your word is truth.

Psalms 119:160

[SPEAKER_00]: The sum of your word is truth.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how long you've been out of math class, but in case you need a refresher, the sum means when you add it all up.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you add it all up, that's the truth.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the handle for the Bible, it's the cover.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the handle right there.

[SPEAKER_00]: See, you get a handle on the word, and then you got everything in there because the sum of his word is truth.

[SPEAKER_00]: See, some of y'all are defeated, and you don't know why, because you walk around saying, well, the Bible says, well, honey, what else does it say?

[SPEAKER_00]: What else does it say?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, the Bible says, a greater is he that's in me, but not when you willfully go do stupid garbage all the time.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Bible says, no weapon formed against me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, not when you keep grabbing it by the blade.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can't use it wrong and then be upset.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can't be uninformed and be upset.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the handle of the Bible is the cover.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Bible is true in its context, in its context.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can't just take the Bible any other way that you want to, and use it.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Bible is true in its context, and yes, it's true in its cultural context, but it's true more so in the context of itself.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is a principle in Bible interpretation that says that the Bible will interpret itself.

[SPEAKER_00]: The father of the Protestant Reformation, he said, Scripture is its own light.

[SPEAKER_00]: The best and sureest interpreter of Scripture is Scripture, it's self.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I just want you to know that when people get around you and are goofy with the Bible, and they get goofy, and they act in this Pentecostal church, I'll ought to be looking at me like you met three of these people at least.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know hundreds, I mean, but when they get around you and they act goofy with the word, you know why they act goofy?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because they only have enough Bible to act goofy with.

[SPEAKER_00]: But if you'll get the sum of his word,

[SPEAKER_00]: The truth will set you free, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Acts chapter 20 verse 27, Paul said this.

Acts 20:27

[SPEAKER_00]: He said, I didn't shrink from declaring to you the whole council of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can get a lot from a Sunday sermon.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can get a lot from the verse of the day.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can get a lot from your little calendar with the cats and the Bible verses on it, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I'm here to tell you that there is power in the whole council of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Somebody give him praise in this place.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to try to end this thing, land this plane here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Last year, I was in prayer, and I just received a little word from the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he told me he said that breakthrough is built on the back of Revelation.

[SPEAKER_00]: Break through his built on the back of Revelation.

[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, if you look through the Scripture every time that God did something, there's usually a word attached to it.

[SPEAKER_00]: some type of prophetic or a command or an obedience, breakthrough is built on the back of revelation.

[SPEAKER_00]: Nothing gives you more control of your personal flow of revelation than being engaged in the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is the easiest way to open the fountain of revelation and let it flow into your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: I heard a preacher say one time, he said that

[SPEAKER_00]: is within the realm of possibility for those who will seek His face.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you will open this fountain of revelation in your life, I promise you'll begin to see breakthrough after breakthrough.

[SPEAKER_00]: Several biblical examples, King Josiah reforms Judah by revelation.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus was born by revelation.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was an angel that came and pronounced what was going to happen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Creation was brought about by Revelation.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was the word that created all things.

[SPEAKER_00]: Creation was brought about by Revelation.

[SPEAKER_00]: Elijah was saved by it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jeremiah was affirmed by it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Daniel prospered by it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Breakthrough is built on the back of Revelation.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, normally in a message like this, this would be the moment where I throw up a QR code and say, now you download this Bible reading plan, it's gonna change your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this would be the day I'd get you to go home and start reading the Bible today.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm actually not gonna do that, which a little strange makes normally when I do stuff like this.

[SPEAKER_00]: I only have one Sunday where people to do it.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I've got plenty of Sundays with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I take my time, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm actually not gonna encourage you to go home and try to jump into the deep end of the pool today.

[SPEAKER_00]: Over the next several weeks, we're gonna unpack things and I believe we're gonna help you greatly.

[SPEAKER_00]: And prepare you for the new year.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you can start 2026 with a relationship with the scripture that you may not have now or maybe at another level than what you have right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: But if you give me a few weeks, I really believe I'm gonna set you up for success as we talk through this, especially these first four weeks.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then, for those of you who have sat here this morning and you say, well, pastor, I read the Bible a whole lot and you really haven't preached anything that helps me this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hang with me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think one, I have some insight on these things that are going to help you over the next several weeks.

[SPEAKER_00]: But when I get to the second half of this series, for those of you who are faithful to the Scripture, I am going to rock your world.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have the Jason Mayfield guarantee on that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: This will crescendo throughout the whole series, and I believe by the time we get to the end of it, you're gonna be able to jump in at your level and start receiving from the Lord at a way that you have not been able to thus far in your journey.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the Bible is inspired, it's trustworthy, it's powerful.

[SPEAKER_00]: Next week, we're gonna start talking about the first of four levels of hearing from God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm gonna teach you the first level of hearing from the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: Trustworthy.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's powerful.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you receive that this morning, give the Lord a praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.