Core Training: Primaries, The Hill of Authority

Hey everybody, this is Pastor John Ewart from Inglewood

Baptist Church in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina.

Thank you so much for tuning into our podcast.

You're going to hear from God today as we share from his word

about important issues facing your life that can guide you

according to the Bible. So tonight as we begin, I'm so

thankful that you've joined us. If you're listening to this

online, then then welcome. Thank you.

I hope that you'll go back and listen to the entire series if

you haven't done that. I appreciate those who are here

physically in the room as we record this.

I'm also appreciative for those, some of you who are here

physically this time. But you know what you're it's

the season of year for vacation and it's always, it's always

encouraging to me to hear the testimonies of people who are

listening to these things when they're on vacation and they're

away. And I just want to encourage

you. I also want to encourage

everybody who's listening. And for those of you here that

we are recording another series of podcasts right now called

Walking in Prayer to it that would actually accompany you

either for your personal daily quiet time when you pray.

You could use it just for that in your living room or as you're

taking a walk around your neighborhood or the track or the

mall or wherever you might walk. This, this would actually be a

prayer guide that would guide you in various prayer

experiences. We have some that are general

prayers. We're going to have some praying

for lost people. We're going to have some praying

for those Christians who have, who have kind of gone wayward.

We're going to have one coming up on worship.

Another one. How do I pray for sick people?

And about 8 of them that the, the, the pastors and I are

putting together. So for those listening to the

podcast, check those out too. You'll enjoy those.

Take the dog out, wives, take your husbands out, drag them

along and you all listen and and pray as you walk through your

neighborhood. So it'll not only help your

prayer walk, but it'll just help you walk and pray, you know,

and, and you'll just, I think it really enjoy that.

We've really enjoyed putting those together for you and

appreciate that. But as we move through this

series called core training that we're in session 3 now and I

call, I'm still referring to primary doctrines.

I refer to this as the hill of authority because there are

certain hills worth dying on. And as we move through this

series on theological doctrine, and sometimes I think of that

word and I think, does that bore people?

I mean, does that just make people not want to study that

word doctrine? Because I know sometimes that

can be kind of a highbrow type of word or maybe.

But all I'm talking about it is this is what we believe as a

believer. This is what we need to believe

according to the Bible in order to be a believer.

So don't make that word a barrier of any kind for anybody.

But, but these are also priorities and there's certain

things that need to be primaries and, and a couple of reasons we

these are apologetically significant.

What I mean by that is, and I've been talking about this to some

of these doctoral students that I teach when we're dealing with

this, this post postmodern pre Christian world, which is what I

label our culture as now. And I promise, I keep telling

you, one of these days I'm really going to parse that out.

But when we're talking to this world out there, we need to not

only kind of understand where they're coming from, but we

really need to know what we believe and we need to know why.

And, and so one of those issues that we really need to

understand is what do I believe about this book?

What do I believe about this book?

And why does that matter? And so thank you so much for for

listening and for being here for this, because this is really

important because some hills really are worth dying on.

When Jesus was on trial before the Roman leader Pilate, in John

John 18:38

chapter 18 verses 38 or 37 to 38, it says this.

Then Pilate said to him, so you're a king.

And Jesus answered, you say that I'm a king for this purpose I

was born. And for this purpose, I have

come into the world to bear witness to the truth.

Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.

And Pilate said to him, what's truth?

And that's the question of this world.

The the question of this world is what is the truth?

Or is there the truth? Can I make up my own truth?

Do I get to pull this piece and this piece in some syncretic way

and and put together a jigsaw puzzle of my own truth?

This is one of the reasons and and this is one of the things

that makes us a post postmodern culture.

I'm sorry if that didn't make any sense.

Messiologist talk. But after 9-11 and then after

some other episodes that have happened in our culture, we live

in a world now that has a fear base to it.

And they're looking for what I call pure communities of truth.

And that's a phrase worth remembering because that's why

social media works, and that's why reality TV works.

And there's an entire generation that, frankly doesn't understand

it. There's an entire generation of

why in the world would anybody care?

What, for me to take a picture of what I had for breakfast and

post it on the Internet? Why does anybody care that I

just left my house and I'm on my way to another house?

Yeah. And yet there are people who are

constantly letting you know where they are, what they're

doing, why they're doing it. And here's a photograph, often

selfies. And one of the reasons that

works is that is they have a network of followers.

Think about the language. They have followers.

And there are people who are they're in a community with and

for the lost World. This is often their source of

truth. They're looking for people who

agree with them about their truth.

And this is also why they're fixated on reality TV because

they also derive that same thing.

So what is truth? It's a vital question.

I'll get off culture. And so it's it's a question and

it's maybe the question of our world today.

And the answer determines how you're going to live and it

determines where you're going to spend eternity.

The answer to that question will determine what happens to you

after you die because either you believe a certain truth or you

don't and you have to believe a certain truth in order to be

saved. We're going to talk about that.

So not simply what do you believe, which which we're

talking about in this series, obviously, but why do you

believe that? And how does that determine the

way? I must now listen to my verbs,

though? How did that determines the way

I must act? I must decide.

I must choose. I have no choice but to choose

this because of this truth I've shared with some of you before

about a story. I'm sharing it today in class.

And so I'm sorry sometimes for my redundancy, but, but, but

these stories drive home truth. I'm on an airplane.

I'll hop an earlier flight because, you know, I used to

live in airplanes and I'm I'm by the window, which is not

Normandy for me. I don't fit there too well.

But I'm in, in by the window and a guy comes and sits down in the

seat and he's obviously from Germany.

You can tell by his accent. Plane takes off.

I have people who pray for me that whoever sits next to Doctor

Ewart will start the conversation.

So it's very common for somebody to turn to me and says, what do

you do for a living? So at that point, I'm telling,

you know, I'll tell him what I do.

And I eventually get to the place to where I say I'm a

Southern Baptist professor, pastor.

Oh, Now, I learned along the way that he was a physician in that

initial conversation. So he's a medical doctor.

But then he says, you're going to hate me.

And I said, why would I hate you?

I just now met you. He goes because I'm gay and I

know you people hate gay people. So then I go on a fake rant.

How dare you judge me so harshly without even knowing me.

And I go on and on and on. He starts laughing because he

knows what I'm doing. He I'm reversing what often gets

thrown on us back on him. He's laughing.

He goes, I surrender. I get it.

I get it. I get it.

And I said listen, I don't hate you.

I said, would you like me to actually tell you why I can't

condone an active homosexual lifestyle because of what the

Bible teaches? And I believe the Bible's the

truth. And so I and so I can't condone

it. I must choose the way.

I must choose because of God's Word.

He goes, yeah, I'd really like to hear that.

So I take him to Romans, one in several different passages where

it's very, very clear. Listen, one of the dumbest

things I've ever seen in media is when a politician stands up

and says you want to hear what Jesus says about homosexuality.

Then he does this silent thing that's just ridiculous.

The Bible is very clear about what it believes about same sex

marriage and homosexual homosexuality, etcetera.

Now, that's not tonight's lesson.

We can do that some other time maybe.

But anyway, I'll walk him through several passages of

Scripture. And I said, but that's really

not the issue. The issue is you.

You think I hate you. And, and I said, how dare you

judge me like that? I mean, I'm just pushing him

because I mean, I'm smiling and I'm joking because he knows what

I'm doing, because he knows that that's how he feels like I'm

doing to him. And and I said, listen, I want

to talk to you about the difference between not condoning

a sin and still loving the Sinner.

And I talked about the woman caught an adultery story and

several things about Jesus. Now listen, I'm telling you at

this point, I had every row around me turning around

listening to me because I don't hear too well out of one ear.

And when I'm on an airplane, I don't hear well at all.

So I was going about like this probably didn't he?

I wasn't trying to be. I'm just telling everybody

people are. I mean, everybody there, people

across the everybody. Here's the bottom line.

Bottom line wasn't the conversation then we can talk

about that some of the time. The bottom line was we, we have

this, this very intelligent, sincere, honest conversation.

And I talk about how, because I believe this is the Bible, I

can't, I can't have any other decision about an active

homosexual lifestyle like that. So we land and he gets up and he

turns around and says, John, I want to shake your hand.

And I said, why? I thought you thought I hated

you. I'm still pushing him and he

laughs and he goes. I just want you to know this is

the first time I've ever had an intelligent conversation with a

Christian. And for that, I thank you.

We need to know why we believe what we believe.

We need to know where it comes from so that we can have honest,

intelligent conversations in an authentic way with people who

are, who are not believers, right?

So we recognize this, that, that it's not simply what do we

believe, but why do we believe it?

And that determines everything. And, and this world doesn't

understand the biblical answers. And the world's going to seek to

redefine and dismiss those answers, often because they want

to create their own truth. In fact, this world will condemn

Christians for condemning anything, which is ironic and a

little hypocritical. So we get condemned for

believing in something, but we're told to be tolerant of

everything else everybody else believes in.

And so it seems like at times every other belief is valid.

Every other belief is to be supported and upheld except

biblical Christianity. And so it really is kind of a

fascinating hypocrisy that Satan has done a good job of

performing. It's it's art, it's satanic

artwork. And so we're judged for being

judgmental. And that irony is lost on the

lost because they're spiritually blind.

So we're, we can be ridiculed and we can be dismissed as

ignorant, backward people of superstition and myth.

I mean, you got to think about the questions that the world

throws at us. How can, how can we believe in a

loving God while there's so much suffering in the world?

How can we be so hateful to be against a woman's right to

choose or for people to identify with and or engage in any and

every active lifestyle of their choosing?

Right. Or how can I believe in the

Bible when it's obviously so full of errors and science has

obviously disproved it right? And perhaps it's partly our

fault. Perhaps as Christians, we're not

always good about talking about what we're for.

We spend a lot of time talking about what we're against.

And maybe some of it's our fault.

Maybe we need to spend more time talking about in a proactive,

loving, joyful way, about what it is that we love.

But accusations like this grow daily in the news and media

platforms. Therefore, there are some key

doctrinal issues I need to resolve in my own heart and be

able to articulate to others if I'm going to answer these

questions biblically, if I'm going to have gospel impact, I

may never completely understand the why of the world.

I may not completely ever understand the way the world

thinks or again, why they believe what they believe.

But I need to be certain I know what I believe and why I believe

it. And thus this series.

So let's focus on one doctrinal hill worth dying on tonight, a

primary issue that we must nail down.

What do you believe about the Bible?

What do you believe about its authority, and why does it

really matter? Remember, I showed you last time

I believe a a show I mentioned a short list of major doctrines

found in some very popular conservative evangelical

theological textbooks. You have things like the Word of

God, you have revelation, you have the doctrine of God itself,

doctrine of creation, doctrine of humanity and sin.

You have the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.

If you had last week's handout, you'll have these Trinity

Salvation Church last things. So the Word of God and the

doctrine of revelation are obviously members of a primary

list. So we need to fully understand

as these as well as be able to tell them to tell to somebody

else what we believe. And the right answer falls

within the understanding this is important sentence.

The right answer falls within an understanding that every single

human being follows some source of authority.

And that's just the truth. We all follow some source of

authority, even those who would deny that still do.

Our authority is going to provide the foundation.

Our authority is going to be our guide from which decisions are

made, beliefs, values are formed, and then our acts are

conducted the way we live. So our authority therefore must

be true in order for the rest of our life to be based on

objective, reliable truth. But in our world today, the

concept of that source of authority is totally subjective.

It's totally it's abstract. Who gets to define and determine

truth? Yourself, Someone else, social

media, your experience. And so people justify decisions

and actions with. I was true to myself, I followed

my personal truth. And they believe they get to

vote on what the actual truth is, that somehow there's some

ballot out there and I get to vote on what truth is right.

And so the problem with that is, is your life and eternity are

defined and determined by your authoritative truth.

Questions like what is sin? Which that word might not even

be known to the world in that way, but to us we would call it

that. What is sin and who gets to

define that? Who decides what's right and

what's wrong and how right? What's holy?

What what? What do you value?

What do you love? What do you fear?

What is your purpose? How do you find peace?

How do you find hope? These are all defined and

determined by your authority. It's either yourself, someone

else, or something else. So being true only to yourself

and following just your own truth, I unfortunately have to

say out loud. It's just going to lead you

straight to hell. It will not save you.

That's not the truth. Are you really smart enough?

Are you really self-contained and self-sufficient enough with

everything else around you? You alone?

You're so self confident and so able all by yourself to be the

sole source of your own authority.

This is really a very old issue. It's not new.

It's not just a part of this culture.

It's always been around. It's a very, very old issue.

Eve thought so in the garden. She thought she got to the

truth. I really get to define what God

really said. I get to define what's right and

what's wrong. So this goes back to the very

beginning. It it is a root of sin.

And so we recognize that this is a big deal.

And so throughout history, humanity has just made the same

mistake as it searches for the truth.

And as a result, they've dismissed, perhaps even attacked

the Word of God throughout history on multiple levels.

And you may never convince a lost person to believe what you

believe about the Bible. They may not be able to grasp

what your authority is or that the word of God is the truth.

But my plea is simply this, that you know and that you're willing

to die on that hill and then you share with them in a loving and

truthful and authentic way and allow the Holy Spirit to work in

their hearts. So the Bible teaches that God is

sovereignly omnipotent. He's all powerful, he's

omnipresent, he's everywhere and he's omniscient.

He knows everything and and as as such, he is creator and

Savior and he deserves the right to determine truth and to be our

ultimate authority. See, he's earned that right as

creator, as savior, as omnipotent, as omniscient, as

omnipresent. And so just what is this ancient

book? So one other story that I know

I've shared with some of you before, but again, it'd be good

to get it on the podcast is is one time out in Arizona, I was

asked to speak in a comparative religions class.

I was the token Christian the week before was a Buddhist monk.

The week after was a Native American shaman.

So each week they had a representative from a different

religion and the invitation. I was a pastor there and that we

had connections at this major junior college, huge junior

college. And the idea was is that.

Is that I would come in and I would share basic principles of

Christianity for 20 minutes and take questions for 20 minutes.

So in other words, I'm going to show the gospel to a bunch of

people who need to hear it in a classroom.

And so I get there's a huge amphitheater room 150 students,

and there's a little lab table down at the front.

I've set my Bible in my notes there.

I know some of you've heard this before and this was my

introduction. The professor comes up, he picks

up my Bible and he says this is John, blah blah blah.

He talks where I am. He goes, this guy actually

believes this ancient book is the literal word of God and it

defines truth instead of our culture.

And he slams my Bible down on the lab table, says I can't wait

to hear this. So that was my introduction.

And so I realized I needed to backtrack a little bit and talk

about why I believe the Bible is an authority first.

So I do that and then I walk through the whole grand

narrative from Genesis to Revelation about how the story

is all about Jesus. And I show the gospel 150 people

in the room. And you can understand in this

part of Arizona, there's a lot of it's Mormon dominated and New

Age movement dominated. And a lot of these kids were

actually in a New Age cult and the priestess was in the

classroom. I found out later a Wiccan

witch, new age priestess combination thing.

And a little girl in the back who's a part of this raises her

hand and says, why do you Baptist think Jesus hated women?

Now, I hadn't said anything about any of that, but I knew

where she was getting it and she was getting it out of the media.

There was some stuff about gender roles in church and

whatnot, and I shared with her a little bit about what the Bible

actually taught about women. I won't go into all that right

now. And then I also talked about

she's actually talking about Ephesians, 5 wives submitting to

husbands, that kind of stuff. So I, I walk through all that

and I'm done. Use the whiteboard, give a, give

a Bible lesson on what she's talking about.

Well, then the priestess stands up.

She looks like a priestess and she points her finger at me.

She says, I don't agree with you.

As I've said to you before, God had to shut my mouth at that

point because I was about to say, well, duh, but listen to

her. And I've said this to you

before. Listen to what she said, she

says, But for the first time in my life, I understand that if a

person believes the Bible is really the word of God, that you

must believe what you believe. And for that, I thank you.

And she and I could have sat down over herbal tea and talked

about Jesus. You know, all I can be is true

to the truth. So let's talk about this.

So let me share some truth with you about the Bible.

The first thing we see is that it's the revelation of God's

truth. Volumes have been written about

the doctrine of revelation. So I don't have time for volume

for volumes, obviously, tonight. David Dockery, who's the right

now the president of Southwestern Baptist Theological

Seminary in Fort Worth. He's been the president of Union

University and several worked at Southern when I first got there.

But he says this revelation means an uncovering, a removal

of the veil, a disclosure of what was previously unknown.

Now, it's really important. And some of you would have

already taught this and know this, but you got to understand

there are two different kinds of revelation.

And this actually will also help us later on when we talk about

the problem of evil. There's what we would call, and

they're different names for this, but let me just use the

most common. There's general revelation and

specific revelation. General revelation is God's

revelation of himself to everybody.

Millard Erickson, Doctor Erickson, who wrote a

significant systematic theology book that's used by a lot of

conservatives. He says because man is finite,

if man is to know God, it must come come about by God's

revelation of himself to man. In other words, God reveals his

presence, and he does it through nature, He does it through

history, and he does it in the nature of man himself.

In other words, there's something innate in us that

often thinks of the divine, which is one reason why there's

some form of religion in every single culture.

And so there's a there's an aspect of general revelation

that is even out there in nature.

And this is and there, there's something within our created

being, something within our conscience that recognizes this

need. And God speaks in his word of

general revelation. The psalmist wrote in Psalm 19,

one the heavens declare the glory of God in the sky above

proclaims his handiwork. Again, in Romans 1, it says, for

what can be known about God is plain to them because God has

shown it to them. For his invisible attributes,

namely his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly

perceived ever since the creation of the world and the

things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

This also deals with your question about the person who's

never heard about Christ. And so here's the kicker though,

and you got to understand this, you cannot be saved through

general revelation. So even though you can't be

saved through general revelation, 1 is held

accountable by it. And we can grow in our awareness

of and the presence of God and the reality of God through

general revelation. But this misinterpretation or

distortion of general revelation has also led to a lot of heresy.

So man tends to worship sometimes the creation rather

than the creator, idol worship, nature worship, etcetera, or or

man may even worship himself as part of the creation.

So specific revelation is absolutely necessary for us to

personally know God and to be saved.

And God specifically reveals himself so that we can know his

truth. And so obviously the most

important culmination, the most clear culmination of specific

revelation is Jesus Christ and who he really is as God

Incarnate. So the gospel story is his

specific story of specific revelation and the, and the plan

of truth. Now, unfortunately, I, I don't

have time in this session. I may do this later.

I actually do have teachings about this that I'd like to do

with you all sometime. I I don't have time in these

sessions to talk about how our present Bible came to be in its

current form, the Canon of Scripture, how the various books

were chosen, the various church councils that were involved, the

transfer, even translations, different things like that.

I'd like to do that sometime in the future though, with you

because the, the it's not an important and, and these are

trustworthy processes by which it occurred.

I have no, no doubts about them as I've studied them, but that's

an entire study in and of itself.

I've done an entire series on how we got the Bible in its

current form, and some have created other versions.

Frankly, some have some really bad translations that they've

made-up themselves and the differences and those various

differences have led them to all kinds of false teaching and and

heretical truths. But today we need to address

what we believe about the Bible as we have it in the evangelical

church, the Bible you and I use and know we've got to focus on

that because of time and what we have here today.

So Paul discussed sources of strength with Timothy as, as, as

he kind of faced A downward slide of society.

If you think that we're living in the worst culture or the

worst time in history, you, you need to study history.

History does cycle and that's why I refer to us as a post

postmodern pre Christian culture.

I'll never use the word post Christ.

I don't like that word. I don't believe in that word.

Jesus is always on his throne and the Bible says people are

always going to be getting saved and so until the end of time.

So I don't believe in a post Christian.

That's a common thing and I understand what they mean.

But I'm going to talk about pre Christian because I actually

think we're much more like the 1st century than we ever have

been where people just don't know.

People don't have a clue. But Paul's encouraging him as as

Timothy was in a in a downward cycle of society and increasing

persecution. And Paul spoke of harsh times

ahead and he pointed out the characteristics of ungodliness

that are going to be running rampant, including those who

invent and teach false truth. It's very much like our world

today. It just sounds all too familiar

as Paul shared the example that he sought to be for Timothy.

So and who he wanted Timothy to be.

And and then there's a passage that I shared with you recently

in Second Timothy chapter 3 and in verse 14, he says, But As for

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly

believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from

childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred

writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through

faith in Christ Jesus. So we need to learn and firmly

believe in this real truth. And you can see the crucial

discipleship that he's trying to put into Timothy's life.

And you can see how crucial discipleship and continual

learning from the sacred writings, as he would call them

here, which would have been the Old Testament writings primarily

for Timothy, but but for him to continue in that discipleship

and how significant that becomes for a healthy church.

Listen, I'm telling you all week long in a doctoral seminar that

I've been teaching, we were talking about the top critical

issues in church health. That was basically what the

seminar was about, critical issues in church revitalization.

And, and we have a list, we, we ended up with about 30 different

key issues. And I promise you, the lack of

discipleship is right at the top.

And so if you think I'm being redundant and you think I'm

being obnoxious and you think I'm being, I'm meddling in your

life by telling you to be in a Connect group, there's a reason

for that community together. It's not just because I'm trying

to build up the attendance of Connect groups.

I'm trying to get you into a best discipleship place.

So Paul focused on this influential teaching in

Timothy's life. They taught him the truth.

Timothy needed to continue in that truth, right?

And the word continue that he uses in that, in that, in that

verse actually means to hold on to or to remain.

It means to be steadfast in something.

And the way it was written, it means to continue to remain.

Don't ever leave you continue and continue and continue in

that study and learning of those sacred writings.

Don't you ever leave it. Don't you ever run away from it.

So following Christ is obviously not someone time event kind of

thing. It's not sometime some kind of

one time event of salvation. It's a life of continual

dependence. It's a life of continual

obedience. It's a it's a life where I'm

constantly seeking after the truth and the word of God that

belongs to Christ my King. And, and, and it also says that

he had firmly believed and what that wording can mean is he was

convinced that that word actually can mean being

convinced in my. So he was absolutely convinced

this was the truth. He knew it was and he staked his

life upon it and he lived in it and he remained in it.

And that that that word believed, that's in that verse

is that same word I've shared with you 400 times.

It's that verb form of faith. He faith in it.

And he remained in that faith thing.

I'm going to faith in the word of God.

I'm convinced that it's the word of God and I'm going to live in

that word and I'm going to continue to live in that word.

That's how that verse is actually flowing.

So the real truth brings wisdom leading to salvation.

So the source of that truth was the again, for him, it would

have been primarily the Old Testament oral writings and

stories about Jesus. The gospels were coming out and

Paul's letters were obviously being written, but we don't have

the entire New Testament yet. So it's an interesting time in

history. So something that's really

important for you to understand and I'm going to give you three

ways that are not original with me, but these are about as

simple as I can find. How do I actually see the Bible?

Let me give you 3 options. The first option is called human

constructivist. These are fancy words.

Those are on your sheet, correct?

Those are on your handout. Human constructivist.

Don't don't make that hard. It means it Constructed by who?

Humans. That's right.

This is a completely human book. This is no different than Harry

Potter. This is no different than Lord

of the Rings. It's just a work of fiction that

human beings wrote, right? And that's one way to look at

the Bible. And there are many people who

look at the Bible that way. It's the best selling work of

pure fiction in history. And it continues to be the it's

the best selling book of all time.

It will continue to be the best selling book of all time.

Nothing even comes close to Bible sales.

In fact, Bible sales in the United States are actually up

dramatically right now, amazingly.

And so it's the best selling work of fiction, but it's simply

an expression of fantasy. So you can go to just about any

secular university and you can take a literature course on the

Bible as literature where they look at the incredible poetry,

they'll look at the stories, but it's nothing more than any other

any other work of fiction. It's like Greek literature,

Roman literature. It's just an ancient work of

fantasy and fiction, human constructivist.

You can imagine this is an anti supernatural, extremely liberal

or lost view of the Bible. The middle one is the scary one.

It's called human response. Now follow this.

God spoke in part, man responded and wrote the Bible.

So here's the sentence that's always used about this

perspective. The Bible delivers God's Word,

but it is not literally God's Word.

So it contains all kinds of errors and mistakes put in there

by man. And it's always interesting to

me because as I've travelled the world 462,000 times, I get into

conversations with people and airports and airport lounges and

airplanes and hotels and restaurants, etcetera.

And I'll have people talk to me about the errors or the mistakes

in the Bible. Always interesting to me because

the first thing I'll always ask him is show me 3.

And you know, I've never had anybody be able to do that yet.

Now, every now and then I'll run into somebody in academic life

who actually has things that they want to point out.

They've researched it and they think they have ideas about

mistakes in the Bible. Usually it'll be about the

number of people killed in some Old Testament battle or

something like that, You know, kings versus Samuel or

something. Nothing at all that affects any

kind of theology or anything at all.

And so it's always fascinating to me that they're going to

stake their eternity on something they read on the

interwebs, something they heard from somebody, something that

was once told to them by somebody without any evidence

whatsoever that it's actually fact.

And so it's interesting because the Bible is full of that.

They, they flippantly say that. And this leads me to the idea

that I get to decide which parts are God and which parts are just

man. This view, it's Jeffersonian

again. At Monticello, they used to have

it on display. I don't know if it's still there

or not. The Jefferson Bible where he cut

sections out, if he didn't like it, he just cut it out and threw

it away. And so I get to decide, what's

God? There used to be a seminar.

I don't know, they still do or not.

There used to be a group of quote UN quote scholars who met

together and they voted with black marbles and white marbles.

Did Jesus really say that or not?

And they'd vote with black marbles and white marble.

And so it's always interesting to me because I've been around

these kinds of scholars in my academic life and and they have

no justification for where they're coming from with this

other than their own opinion based upon their own perspective

of truth. They're bringing massive filters

into it in their prejudgments. So the Bible is not my source of

truth in this, in this kind of response, I am, I'm my source of

truth. I get to decide, I'm deciding

what what parts of the Bible are true or not.

I'm the editor. I'm the one who decides truth.

I'm my own authority in this view of the Bible.

But this is this is a liberal to moderate view of the Bible in

churches today as well. So be careful.

And then the third area, which is where I land is obviously

divine inspiration. The Bible is God's inspired,

infallible, literal word. It's inerrant.

I can trust the whole story, the entire Canon of Scripture, of

the whole grand mythological narrative that God has revealed

to us. And, and I can depend upon it,

every word of it as truth, the truth.

And this true understanding of Scripture then leads me to

wisdom. It leads me to true salvation

and helps me in terms of understanding.

It's revelation. But the second thing we want to

talk about for a few moments is the inspiration of God's truth.

So Second Timothy chapter 3, verse 16 says all Scripture is

2 Timothy 3:16

breathed by, out by God and profitable for teaching, for

reproof, for correction, and for training and righteousness.

It's God breathed. Newt Larson, who's a theologian,

said this. He said the power of the Bible

to affect change and demand obedience resides in the fact

that all Scripture is inspired. God breathed, it's from him.

Peter wrote this in second Peter 1.

He said, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of

man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the

Holy Spirit. I mean, that's a great image of

this, that that Greek word carried along is, is just that

what you might think it is. It's a sailboat being pushed by

the wind. Always remember that the Greek

word for wind and the Greek word for spirit are the same thing.

Pneuma. It's the same word.

And so and so it's pushing them, blowing them along.

So God is speaking, blowing them along, right?

And so men, men wrote the words, but the words and the substance

they wrote came directly from God.

Now Ericsson really helps us here.

Listen to this. This is good.

This is you. You'll want to remember this

one. Inspiration is the preservation

of revelation. That's a great phrase by

inspiration of Scripture. We for natural influence of the

Holy Spirit upon the Scripture writers which rendered their

writings an accurate record of the revelation, or which

resulted in what they wrote actually being the Word of God.

Inspiration guarantees that what the Bible says is just what God

would say if He were to speak directly.

Now, lost people are going to fight this.

They're going to fight this for a lot of different reasons, but

one of the reasons they're going to fight this is because then

they would have to admit the Bible, Bibles, and thus God's

authority over them, and they would then have to admit that

they're accountable for their sins to God.

Lost world doesn't want that. The lost world doesn't want

accountability. The lost world wants to be able

to do what it wants to do yet yet the Bible itself claims also

to be the word of God. Don't miss this.

Jesus knew it when it, when, what it was.

Jesus knew what it was when he prayed in John 1717.

Sanctify them and the truth, your word is truth doesn't get

much simpler than that. Why?

Because all of it. Every word is the inspired word

of God. Not parts, but all of it.

So we don't have the authority to pick and choose what we will

follow. And because this is God's word

and God does not lie, we believe in what's called absolute

inerrancy. Wayne Grudem, who wrote another

large theological systematic theology textbook, says this.

He says the inerrancy of Scripture means that Scripture

is God's Word, and God's Word is the ultimate definition of what

is true and what is not true. God's Word is itself truth.

Thus we are to think of the Bible as the ultimate standard

of truth, the reference point by which every other claim to

truthfulness is to be measured. And since the Bible is inspired

like this, then he can go on in that passage in Second Timothy 3

and say that the inerrant truth of God is indeed profitable.

It's profitable. It, it's helpful.

It, it's useful. It, it, it, it teaches us and,

and, and, and reproofs us and corrects us.

So let's talk about that for a minute.

It's the inspiration of Scripture, the truth that is the

truth, because it's God's truth that makes it true.

And then it's truly profitable for my life, truly see.

So let's talk about #3 the instruction from God's truth for

a minute. So it's profitable for teaching

and training. That verse says the Bible is the

source of true doctrine and theology.

Again, don't let those words throw you.

It just means what we should believe.

It's the basis for this entire midweek series.

The word training. There's the same word that's

used in Ephesians chapter 6 with parents and children.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

We're used to train them develop Christian truth in the child.

So the the Bible should lead us to believe, to live, to make

decisions and define issues and to interpret events in a very

certain, very specific, very truthful way.

I have to believe the way I believe and I have to choose the

way I choose. And I have to condone or condemn

what I have to condone and condemn.

Now I can do it in a way that's loving.

I can speak the truth in love. So the way I address people is

it is another matter. But what I have to believe is

uncompromisable. I can't, I can't, I can't I, I

can't compromise on that. So remember, sin is anything

that we think, do or say that is contrary to this word, that

contrary to the will of God. And so the word is a standard

that we compare all of life to. And of course we all know, and

we've talked about this a lot, that we're all sinners and the

wages of sin is death. So we depend upon God to deal

with that sin and death problem through the cross and the

resurrection. And he does that because Jesus,

who himself says He is the way, the what, the truth and the

life. And nobody can come to the

Father but through me. John 14, six.

So we recognize that. But listen to what the writer of

Hebrews said. We can talk one day about who we

think that is. For the word of God is alive and

active. This is Hebrews 412 and 13.

Sharper than any double edged sword.

It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit joints and

Morrow. It judges the thoughts and

attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is

hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid

bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

So the Bible is alive, it's active.

And and this, this makes it totally different than Harry

Potter, makes it totally different than Lord of the

Rings, makes it totally different than any other writing

ever in history. The word for active here is our

English word for energy. It has energy.

Chuck Swindoll once said this about it.

The Bible is no dead book. The gospel message is no empty

mantra, and Jesus is no mere figure of history buried by

centuries of myths and legends. Jesus is alive, the gospel

saves, and the Bible is always relevant to everyday life.

Why? Because it's inspired.

Because it's breathed by God. We're actually taking in the

breath of God. Now think about this.

How did he create? How did he create life?

He breathed life. This is life.

See, so God created man in Genesis, gave him breath.

He created the heavens and the earth with a word.

And so the word of God is alive because God is alive, and this

word carries out his will. That's not a guess.

Listen to the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 55.

Isaiah 55 · chapter mention

For as the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not

return there, but water the earth, making it bring forth and

sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall

my word be that goes out from my mouth.

It shall not return to me empty. Or a lot of your translations

will say void. You might know it that way, but

it shall accomplish. This is often, yeah, people

often stop there. You got to keep going in the

verse. But it shall accomplish that

which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I

sent it. I mean, it's like a living

creature. I've sent it out to accomplish

something. His word accomplishes things.

See? So the ultimate expression of

this obviously is Jesus as the Word who became flesh in John

one. But also we recognize that the

Bible is a sharp sword in that description.

It penetrates, it invades, it pierces, it judges and it

convicts. And my friend, Satan worked so

hard to tempt and to encourage the world to hate it, to, to

ignore it, to dismiss it, because he knows that the Bible

can change lives. He knows that and it can lead

them away from him. And so he will work to do

anything to keep lost people from the Word of God.

And he'll do anything he can to keep you a saved people from

studying the Word of God. He'll give you every

distraction. He'll give you every boredom.

He'll give you everything in your world to keep you from your

personal Bible study. Doctor Mohler said this

scripture untangles the human heart and unearth sin like no

other book can. No other book can discern the

thoughts and intentions of our hearts.

Only God's Word can do that. Scripture is like a scalpel

wielded by God to perform spiritual surgery.

So the Word of God and the Holy Spirit combine to cut through

sin and to restore spiritual health.

It it strips away the falsehood because it is the revealed

truth. It changes lives.

And we can depend upon that clarification of Scripture.

We we can know what we believe. We can know why we believe.

The Bible's profitable for teaching and training.

It's also profitable for reproof and correction.

So correction, this is the only time the word is ever used here.

So by the time we move into this, this point #4 this

correction point that we've been in, we recognize that that's the

only time this word. And, and, and a person can not

only be shown what they they're doing wrong, but the Bible can

also help us to restore us to do what's right.

It can correct us. It can put us back on the path.

It can put us back in the proper perspective with God so we can

be restored to to that which we had forfeited.

And we need to graciously and lovingly but truthfully seek to

guide other people into this, which again is why I want us to

be in Bible study communities together.

To be in that obedience. We need to be fully engaged with

the word ourselves and together as a church, as a community.

Paul wasn't done with Timothy. He said in Second Timothy

2 Timothy 3:17

chapter 3 verse 17 that the man of God may be complete equipped

for every good work. The the word here means to be in

shape. It means to be in fit condition.

We, we need to complete this to be complete to accomplish the

purpose for which we have been created.

In other words, for what are we designed for?

For why were we born? What is our purpose in life?

Why, why do you exist? Why do you get to breathe air?

There's a reason there's a purpose here and we're to be

completely furnished to do that. We're we're, we're completely to

be, to be able to live that that out.

And the word of God helps us do that.

I don't know who you are, all of you, and I don't know why you're

here. Some of you and I don't know

where you are spiritually, but I do know this about every single

one of us in this room, every single one of the people

listening to this podcast. God has designed you.

God has created you, and he has a very significant purpose for

you that He wants you to accomplish.

And I watch humanity toss it aside.

I watch humanity ignore it. But I also watch Christians do

that sometimes. I watch Christians wasted.

We can't be apathetic. We can't be comfortable.

We need to be desperate, desperate to understand what is

it you want me to do? In fact, in the Greek language

in this verse, it indicates an abiding connection where we're

constantly being in strong spiritual shape.

We're constantly working out spiritually in the word of God.

And this demands intentional discipleship to be fully and

constantly prepared in order to to face this world, to be able

to face it's false authority, you know, and enable to to face

the false truths that are out there.

We've got to be in shape. We got to be fit, we got to be

strong. And people who neglect, ignore,

dismiss the truth, those who reject the authority of God's

word and his purpose for their life, they do so at great risk.

At great risk. It's perilous.

So later Paul even continues his challenge to Timothy in Second

2 Timothy 4 · chapter mention

Timothy chapter 4. He says this in verse one.

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is

to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing in

His Kingdom. Preach the Word, be ready in

season and out of season reproof, rebuke and exhort with

complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when

people will not endure sound teaching, but have itching ears.

They will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit

their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the

truth and wander off into myths. We live in that world and

sometimes even in the church, we live in that world.

And then the fifth point here, let's just look at some of the

marching orders of God's truth from that passage because the

language here, Paul's actually sharing 5 military commands and

the way it's written, these are in commanding tones.

These are, these are imperatives.

These are, these are these are orders that he's giving Timothy.

We're commanded to act. He says preach the word.

He says proclaim this truth. Don't proclaim any other truth.

This is the truth to proclaim nothing else.

And he says be ready, literally, to stand guard, to protect from

attack. Be ready, be, be steadfast, be

on guard. There's an idea of urgency.

There's an idea of vigilance here to stand strong by

preparing, being prepared yourself and by helping others

to be prepared. And then he says this is this is

be ready to reprove. It means to convince.

It means to prove the idea here. Now follow me here.

The idea is I'm replacing incorrect ideas with the true

ideas. You got to take the incorrect

ideas out and, and replace them with the true ideas.

That's what that word means in Greek.

I got to help understand, help people understand the truth

about their sin. All right.

And we rebuke, we call attention to wrongdoing, we assign

responsibility, we take responsibility, but we also

exhort. And that means that we're going

to walk alongside somebody. The root of that word is the

same word used for the Holy Spirit.

We're going to walk alongside somebody.

We're going to coach them. We're going to help them.

So we're not just going to judge you.

We're not just going to condemn you.

We're going to pick you up and help correct you.

We're going to put our arm around you and walk right beside

you and help you walk the way you ought to walk.

That's the church why you need to be in a community to have

people in your life who can help you, encourage you, pick you up,

catch you sometimes, right. So we've got to help people see

their lostness and their sin and their truth, but we also got to

help lead them out of it. So sometimes in our secondary

and tertiary opinions and theories, we, they, they might

make for dramatic conversations, but the mandates of Scripture

are so essential for salvation that we've got to prioritize

some of these things first. Now listen, some people are not

going to listen to the truth because they don't want to

believe the Bible is what it really is.

They, they, they're like that professor.

They just want to slam it down on a table and mock it.

They want to please themselves and they want to support their

false truth, right? They want to live their own way.

They want they want to follow their own self appointed self

defined authority. I get to decide it's not new.

Again, listen to the prophet Isaiah, for they are rebellious

people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the

instruction of the Lord, who say to the seers do not see, and to

the prophets do not prophecy to us what is right.

Now listen to this. Speak to us smooth things,

prophecy, illusions. Leave the way.

Turn aside from the path. Let us hear no more about the

Holy One of Israel. And there's a world in which we

now live. Humanity works hard to fortify

itself against truth. This world works hard to

rationalize and self justify. They deceive themselves.

They turn away, as they said back in Timothy, they wander off

into myths. It's interesting that word back

in Second Timothy 4, to wander off is a strong medical term.

It actually means to sprain your ankle or to twist your knee.

It's so strong they're going to twist their ankles and blow out

their knees to get to get to their myths rather than the

truth. They're going to work that hard

to not listen and to run away, but because others refuse to

believe cannot deter us from the way we believe and what we're

going to share with them and the way we're going to act again,

Second Timothy, chapter 4, verse 5.

2 Timothy 4:5

As for you, always be sober minded, endure suffering, do the

work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

So we must keep our head on straight and act on truth with a

continual need for alertness while we share.

Again, Chuck Swan Doll says this steady as she goes.

Stay balanced. Remain a model of self-control.

Don't attempt to compete with the ear ticklers.

An insane world needs a steady voice.

So regardless of how difficult it might seem, keep sharing the

truth. Keep sharing the gospel, believe

in this book, believe in this word, right and I promise you

lives will be changed if nobody else's yours will be.

And so we were to fulfil. He says we're to do the work of

that an evangelist, fulfil your ministry.

The word there means to bring to complete fullness, to bring to

satisfaction, to live out that purpose and calling over and

over again. Paul says you got a purpose and

you need to live it out according to what God wants you

to do with your life. We're too sinful to fully

understand. Sometimes we need the help of

the Holy Spirit, but so do the lost people.

And This is why they can't always understand.

This is why they disagree according to their own truth,

because they don't have the Holy Spirit living inside of them

yet. They don't have His help and so

they're not saved. They are spiritually blind.

And so the Bible, the truth, makes this very clear.

Listen to what Paul wrote to the church at Corinth and 2nd

Corinthians 4/4. He said in their case, the God

of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep

them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of

Christ, who is the image of God. Our First Corinthians chapter 2,

1 Corinthians 2:14

verse 14, the natural person does not accept the things of

the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able

to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

They don't know the right way to go to get out of where they are

or to get to the right spot, because they're still dwelling

in that sinful nature, in the fog, in their blindness.

We're born with a sin nature. We commit personal sin on top of

that, and the resulting spiritual blindness adds up.

So people think they know the truth.

I can, I got this covered. I can handle this.

You know how many men have told me that kind of thing?

But all they see is a blurry image.

They can't see clearly. They don't know what the truth

you, you need the clear, truthful focus of the Holy

Spirit and the gospel truth. So Paul shared one more

challenge to Timothy. We should see, he says in Second

2 Timothy 2:15

Timothy 2:15, do your best to present yourself to God as one

approved a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly

handling the word of truth. So in contrast to the false

teachers that were all around him and to the Pagan backgrounds

that were often a part of the believers lives, these false

teachers who would invent their own truth, we must know how to

rightly handle the Bible. And that word means to cut it

straight. It means to to cut straight

through the false ideas, to cut straight through the inaccurate

opinions. You cut it straight when you

handle the word of God this way. And God shows his approval to

the one who can cut it straight and handle the word of God

correctly in that way. We bring in glory when we do

this and, and, and we have nothing to fear when we do this.

If we proclaim, we believe in the truth of the Bible.

So why do I believe the way I do and why does it really matter?

Why must I act the way I do? Why must I oppose certain things

that our world supports and for which it also condemns?

Because my authority is not myself.

My authority is not the world's opinion.

My authority is not in what someone writes about their truth

online, my truths from the Bible, because I firmly stake my

life and I reside, I stake my eternity on the fact that the

Bible is the inspired, infallible and an arrant word of

God. Therefore I cannot believe

otherwise, Grudem again writes. He says the authority of

Scripture means that all the words in Scripture are God's

words in such a way that it that to disbelieve or disobey any

word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God.

We call this the absolute sufficiency.

I don't know if you've ever heard that phrase before.

That's what you call the absolute sufficiency of

Scripture. It means that it contains all

the words of God He intended for people to have at each stage of

redemptive history, and it now contains all the words of God we

need for salvation and all the words we need to obey Him

perfectly in discipleship. It has everything we need.

It's absolutely sufficient, and I not only don't have to hide or

be ashamed of my belief in God's Word, but I can take it and

proactively impact this world with it.

Ephesians 6 even tells me that our offensive weaponry to face

this life includes the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit.

Because this world is fragile, this world is fleeting, but real

truth is not. In fact, the Gospel of Matthew

writes Matthew 2435. Heaven and earth will pass away,

but my words will not pass away. They're eternal because they're

alive. They're active.

Truth is eternal. It's not self defined.

Even Adam twisted it when Satan tempted him and they were

defeated in the garden. Follow this Satan, Adam and Eve

twisted it and they were defeated by Satan in the garden.

Jesus used it truthfully to defeat Satan out in the

wilderness. You got to choose which will be

your story. You're going to fall prey or are

you going to be victorious again?

The prophet Isaiah and 48 says the grass Withers, the flower

fades and so will this world and its self-made self appointed

truth. But the word of our God will

stand forever. So Inglewood again

constitutionally says that we believe in the Baptist Faith and

Message 2000, which is a summary statement of what most Southern

Baptists believe. This is what it says about the

Bible. So this is an official doctrinal

statement of our church. We affirm the Holy Bible as the

inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God, and it's the only

basis for our beliefs, which is represented by the 66 canonical

books of the Old and New Testaments.

So united we stand under the authority of God's Word, by

grace and love to fulfill God's mission to make disciples, and

we seek to bring him great glory in Christ's name.

So that's why I believe what I believe about the Bible, and

that's why it matters. When I was first saved, I didn't

own a Bible. You got to stand where I've been

and what I've been doing. But back in about fifth grade,

some men were able in those days to come right to my school and

they gave me one of those little New Testaments.

Remember them? And I looked in a drawer and I

found that little New Testament King James version.

Can't remember if it was the red one or the green one.

Red one. I've got it in my office, but I

have a green one and a red one. I get confused which one's

which. I still have it, but it's but I

have both colors and I couldn't, I can't remember which one was

which. And I read that dude, I read it

from cover to cover and I learned these and vowels like

you wouldn't believe. I was the in and thou and

everybody Then friends came along and gave me some other

translations in a complete Bible so I could study more.

And so I just want to share with you what I do.

And I'm not telling you this is what you ought to do, but I want

to close with this. I just want to tell you what I

do. This is what I do and Teresa, I

hope will be a testimony and a witness to me.

I journal. I don't write anything important

ever, but I journal on my personal quiet time.

And so I I I'm probably and don't I don't recommend this.

If that were you, stick to one book.

I tend to read about 5 different books of the Bible at the same

time, but that's, you got to understand there's some ADDOCD

schizophrenia stuff going on in here.

So but anyway, so but, but, but I write and I've got a Bible on

my desk here where I study some books in the Bible.

And then I have journals at home where I study at least two books

at the same time, an Old Testament, New Testament, and I

try to spend every morning in that word.

Now some of you read the Bible throughout the year.

We have Bible reading plans on our website and that's

fantastic. I'm all for it.

I'm not. And if that's what you do, do

it, keep doing it. I don't do that.

I'm sorry. What I do is I look at the

subheadings and I look at context.

And so some days I'll read that much because that's where that

subheading hits. Sometimes the subheadings are

true. Sometimes you got to work around

them because they're not always great because they're not

inspired. And so, but I, I read a

contextual story out of this book and I want to chew on that.

I want to think about that passage of scripture.

So it could take me a year to work through Matthew right now.

I don't recommend that. That's totally descriptive, not

prescriptive. Here's what's prescriptive.

Read your Bible every day and study it and then and then be in

church in the most in the in the most possible number of

opportunities. You have to study the word of

God with people and learn from one another.

It's vital and and everything out there is going to tell you

don't do that. Everybody out there will say

don't do it. Satan is going to try not to get

you. Satan does not want you to do

that. But if you want to be, if you

want to be strong in life, if you want to be able to stand up

and articulate what you believe, you've got to be in the word.

It's got to drive us. One of the number one issues in

the last three days breaks my heart.

I couldn't disagree with him, but one of the pastors said my

church has turned away from the word of God.

He's in a church up in some northern states that's it's not

their fault, location's not their fault, just happens to be

where he is. And he has to argue with his

church members about everything that world believes in because

they want to adopt it, because their truth is being defined by

a different authority. Their culture is defining their

truth. And either they're too scared to

stand up for that or they too ignorant and they don't know, or

they're lost and they're too blind.

You want to be equipped? You better take up the sword of

the Spirit. Jesus used this word to defeat

Satan. It's a that's an example for us.

Paul beaded into Timothy, be in that word, be in that word, be

in that word, stand on that word.

I can't over emphasize it enough.

Next week we're going to talk in a very similar way about who is

Jesus really. I, I need you to understand why

not? I know you might think you know

this, but we really need to talk about this doctrine of the

incarnation. We don't do it enough.

It's, it's interesting to me, we talk about the crucifixion, we

talk about the resurrection, we don't talk about the incarnation

and the ascension enough. And so we've really got to

understand who is Jesus really? And that's what makes all the

difference. How did that work?

What, who was he really? And how did and what did he

really do for us? And what do we really need to

believe about him? It's primary.

These are hills worth dying on. These are hills worth

proclaiming. If I could sing, I could.

I could talk about how the hills are alive.

But instead, instead, I won't twirl.

Some of you are too young. It's like, what is he talking

about? Let me pray for it.

Father. We're so grateful now.

Father, we really got to we really got to digest this.

You spoke all of this into existence with a word.

You breathe a life into human that human beings with your

breath. And Father, you have created

revelation for us to see you to know you.

Father, you show us the reality of your existence by everything

around us. And then, Father, the Word

became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory.

Glory is the only begotten Son, full of grace and truth.

And Jesus died for us. And Father, I'm sorry that he

had to do that. I'm sorry that you, you had to

enact that plan. I'm sorry, Father, that we have

failed you so many times. But Father, thank you so much

for grace. And Father, surely, surely we

owe you the time and the effort and the focus to read what

you've given to us. Father, I'm mindful of the fact

that all around the world, the Father, if, if we were to

dissect every language and dialect of the world, we'd be

somewhere in the 11 to 12,000 languages and dialects and that

your incomplete Bible has only been translated in somewhere

around 500 of those. I mean, they're just, they're

just millions and millions of even believers who don't have

the whole Bible in their heart language.

They couldn't hold one of these books in their hands in their

own private possession. They, they, they live in a place

where if they did that, they could be arrested or, or that

it's just not available. Father, there are people all

around the world who would love to have one of these that they

could read, one of these that they could take home and pour

over. Father, I know believers who

have to share Bibles, churches that have one Bible for the

whole church. And Father, I look on my shelves

at all that I own. So Father, I better take

advantage of that luxury. I better take advantage of that

opportunity because Father, when much has been given, much is

going to be expected. And we live in a place where

we've been given much, we've been given much, we've been

given much and much is going to be expected of us.

So we don't have time to waste. We don't have an ounce of energy

to waste. Father, we've got to share with

people this truth. We've got to tell people about

this truth. We need to study it.

We need to feed on it. We need to help one another live

it out. So thank you for the church.

Thank you for this church. Thank you for these people who

have come this night or who are listening to this online because

they want to know you more. I pray, Father, that if anyone

here needs to talk to me about knowing you, that they would do

so, because Father, I'd love to share your truth with them.

And Father, I thank you that the only way we can even do any of

this, the only way we can be saved, the only way we can even

pray, is because the Word became flesh, died for us.

And because of what He did, we can pray in His name that we're

allowed to come, that the veil has been torn, the barrier has

been removed, and we can come to you.

And so we dare do that only in the name of Jesus, Amen.

All right, God bless you all. Thank you all so much.

Thank you so much for listening today.

And I also hope that you'll go to

[email protected] as well as our app and find many

other resources that will bless you and your families.

Thank you once again.